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soysaucevictim · 8 months

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“it feels like my brain (was floating in a fishtank)”

(See warnings/summary on Ao3.)

[ Prologue/Start ] [ Previous ]

Chapter 9: Levitation Nation

Roman sat in his room and dug around for where he shoved the Disney pins out of sight for the better part of the last year.

He hesitated briefly to pull one of those things out, to open his eyes with it in his hands. But when he did, he found himself crying. He carefully rubbed the enamel, actually enjoying the experience for the first time, since before everything. He could still do other things, like look around his room and actually think.

The sting in his chest was gone.

He couldn’t feel his Horror stirring at all. It was strange.

His head felt a clarity and quiet he never had before. As much as the idea of flying around still sounded like fun, he felt like a human being. He was curious about seeing his Horror sleeping soundly, but he couldn’t open up a gate to his own Lair.

He knew distantly, how vulnerable he was like this. That if someone found him like this, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. Neither in the real world or the Primordial Dream. The weight being lifted was just too profound to register it.

He wished he could have a few more days like this. His parents were happy he seemed happy.

If he hadn’t gotten a surprise message on his phone, reminding him of the main reason WHY he finally managed to shake off Steve’s touch, he would think the risk of it all was worthwhile.

It took several replays of the voice-mail for Roman to properly process what he was hearing.

“Robro, it’s been awhile. Can we, uh, catch up later? Halloween is just around the corner and I know you won’t pass up going to Disneyland. I have some promising news to share! You will be there, won’t you? Please, please be there. I-I need-!”

Remus hung up before he could finish the sentence, Roman was rattled by how his brother’s tone shifted too. From this confident, if kind of stilted casualness, to trembling with fear.

When he shared it with his parents, the color in their faces drained.

Everyone was happy to have heard from him, after being sick with worry. But, Roman knew this also meant it was time to reawaken his Horror. He was scared for his brother. He was scared for his parents’ safety in the Primordial Dream. He was also selfishly scared about what it would take to do so – he worried if he was going to hate or hurt his parents after this.

But they reassured him. “We’re only doing this out of necessity, we love you. We love all of you. Dearly.”

Carrie remembered the time Roman vanished after he was shot by Steve. She remembered the feeling of the world disappearing beneath her, staring at the trail of blood he left behind. She was bereft with grief, so many things happened in what felt like an instant and her mind was playing catch-up.

She started having nearly constant nightmares after that happened.

At first they were clear 1:1 trauma flashbulbs, the events playing out in sharp fragments etching deeply into her heart. After Steve had died, the nightmares started to warp into some kind of fairy tale. She realized she had been Called by the Bright Dream, when her broken leg healed so much faster than it should have.

There was a brief moment of elation, to get that cast off and walk normally again. Before long, she started to understand what it really meant to be a Hero. Most of the time, she just wanted to be a normal human mother again. Just concerned with her work at the hangar, staying connected with the extended relatives, and taking care of her immediate family and home.

Those desires would then be tainted by the Bright Dream, “Maybe if your children weren’t monsters in the first place, you could’ve had that.”

Whether she liked it or not, that wasn’t the reality she lived in. Ruminating on it wasn’t helping anyone, least of all herself.

She and Vic stood before Roman’s bedroom. As she looked into her child’s expectant eyes, she knew this was going to be one of those times she might actually be grateful for its Gifts. She hoped it wasn’t going to be the last time.

She held her husband’s hand and they stepped through the shimmering rift into Roman’s very soul, together.

The entrance point the Espinozas had taken led into a long, winding burrow. The only way was forward.

The first thing they were met with were unrelenting gusts of wind, within the Lair. It was surprising how the tunnel’s torches even stayed lit in there – with how the winds stretched them to near-nothingness with each pulse. Thankfully, they had entered with some climbing gear, relying on picks to leverage themselves further inside.

It was a boon granted by Roman’s invitation that the air inside wasn’t too thin to breathe. It was also probably the only reason why they didn’t contend with a bellows effect on those flames while there.

The wind made it hard to communicate. Carrie was taking point, shouting, “I see the first chamber ahead, dear!”

Soon enough they were there, the winds had more room to churn about, but there were other concerns in front of them. Namely, most of the space wasn’t level or stable footing but a deep chasm below. There was barely enough room to sidle along the walls toward the next tunnel.

Roman told them this place technically went to two chambers. Across the top? His beloved Hoard chamber, the place they wanted to be. Down the drop? Smack dab in the Heart Chamber, where the dragon slept, and it was a very, very long fall.

There was a burrow connecting Heart to Hoard as well, so that gave them a couple routes to get there. Either try the direct path to carefully cross the pit, or rappel down and take the scenic route. Hearing about it beforehand, Carrie thought they’d do the former. But, after actually seeing it for herself? “I think our only option is down.”

“Do you think we packed enough rope?”

“We can only hope.”

The noises of the ropes twisting, of cracking stone and fall-away rocks made time feel sluggish and tense. The wind making the two sway with even a little too much slack forced them to slow even more. Carrie was worried her husband wouldn’t keep up, until his magic flared up again, part of the way down. It almost broke her control of her descent – how a wave of adrenaline and goosebumps overcame her. She had to pause to catch her breath, “V-Vic!?”

He cackled, riding the thrill of the spell he just cast, “Just trying to give myself a second wind!”

Vic redoubled his speed of progress down into the Heart, she was worried he was going to get reckless at that rate. Again, her thoughts returned to Remus. “Careful!”

They managed to get close enough to the floor to see the hearth fire that lit up Roman’s Heart and to get a sense of just how short the rope was. It had to be just over a storey’s fall height, by Carrie’s reckoning. She was about to tell Vic to let her jump first, but he let go first.

He wasn’t the most graceful about it, and she followed with a more stable landing. She fretted a bit over him only to find him a little scraped up on landing. They went quiet to the sound of noises, a mix of growling and snoring, loud and low enough to reverberate deeply through the two of them.

They looked across the chamber to see just the immense scale of Roman’s Horror. As Carrie carefully approached her son’s soul, she figured the dragon could eat several people in one go, no issue. She shook her head as the Bright Dream’s echoes pierced her thoughts, “It would be so easy to-”

Vic noticed her starting to shake, “What’s wrong?”

“I-I can’t stay here, we need to get to his Hoard. Now.”

Vic understood, this place filled him with a constant feeling of unease. Seeing Roman’s Horror reminded him where they were, a realm he wasn’t really at home in. Carrie was more in her element, scarily so. She knew which of the burrows to take for the target Chamber.

Before long, they were in the Hoard Chamber and it was stunning and so neatly organized. Everything had this preserved sheen to it, both the brand new items and the vintage ones. They looked around for something to wake up Roman with, and destroy it. Carrie dreaded hurting her son like this, knowing that these were more than simple objects to him. The Bright Dream, however, was gleeful and spoiled for choice.

She winced and grabbed something and Vic’s arm. They were to find the chamber that looked like the Marketplace from there, destroy it, and take a gateway out there. As soon as something was held, a lethargic growl shook the halls.

They couldn’t stop to appreciate the surreal sight when Carrie took a Br’er Bear fursuit from one of the piles and tore it apart with her estoc. Carrie knew it to be an artifact from one of the more ignoble pieces of Disney history. When reminded of the inspiration behind Splash Mountain, it made her son squirm with shame taking it from the Whites. Even if the dirt was necessary to dig up.

Despite all of this, in an instant, an ear-splitting screech was heard. It was filled with pain and fury and froze Carrie. An irrational part of her wanted to face the Horror, some fucked up sense of honor. Vic’s attempts to shake her out of it fell through. The Bright Dream’s compulsions being way too strong.

In moments, the Horror stared them down, snarling. There was no reasoning with it, no illusion of human thought, it simply wanted them to die. It took a swipe and Carrie parried and took a quick stab, almost on auto-pilot. Vic started to panic, “CARRIE. ¡DETENER! ”

After more exchanged blows and screaming from both sides, Carrie suddenly relaxed just enough to realize she was hurting her son. Again. When she grew tired, she knew Vic was casting another spell over her. This wasn’t part of the plan.

Vic carried her off and out barely before they could be licked by Roman’s flames.

The only solace for Carrie was knowing she hadn’t killed him or undid the work to break his anathema.

The plan was for Janus to have Annie wait at the marketplace to pick up the Espinoza parents once they were done. And it was Virgil’s job to make sure Roman didn’t do anything rash upon his Horror waking up.

Virgil had taken him to a safe room they all agreed to convene at, it was Ellis’s old place. Ellis had reinforced and soundproofed it with his magic over the years, making it basically a bunker. It was also good that it was roughly halfway between the Espinoza’s place and the market. It gave them the time to soften the landing ahead of them all.

As soon as his parents had destroyed something from his prized Hoard, Roman was incensed. An intensity well beyond the fury he held towards Virgil or anything in recent memory. He screamed and flailed and cried, as his eyes flared red. Roman was beyond words, growling and screeching like the monster he was. He really was a horrible monster, it was stupid to think he could pretend otherwise.

Virgil was cautious about how he restrained him. He wasn’t sure if Roman was going to have access to his atavisms, like this. Or if Roman was going to hurt himself or anyone else.

The Espinozas looked worse for wear, once they arrived. There, they immediately heard Virgil's speech mixed in with Roman's screaming, “C’mon Roman, you can pull through this. I know you’re strong enough to survive even the worst that heroes can do, let alone one who only wants to help you.”

When Virgil appeared to notice them there, he clearly fumbled to change his tack, “Because you’re an absolute piece of shit who refuses to die. You’ll survive out of spite. You can't just give the world that favor.”

As Carrie and Vic looked at their son with worry, Virgil stepped aside.

Roman thrashed about in the webs as his parents carefully approached him. Carrie was welling up, unable to get close, “Roise, I’m sorry. I’m just so sorry.”

Vic stepped closer to his son, “Te queremos mucho, Champ. I know it was hard...”

The thrashing started to slow down, Roman had nearly destroyed his voice, “N-nanay? Papa?”

Carrie stepped closer, wincing about how he flinched. Vic appeared to grow tired as he used his magic to soothe his son, it worked a little bit. It only tapped the brakes on the autonomic nervous system, in hope that his son’s mind would catch up.

Eventually, Virgil thought Roman wasn’t going to do anything and released him. Roman was immediately hugged by his parents.

The present Espinozas, simply needed to have this moment, Virgil allowed them the space.

It took a couple days for everyone to recover from that endeavor to more completely purge Steve’s grip.

There was still an air of uncertainty about Remus. His spawn didn’t relent and Roman was still in that gorged haze. He knew he needed to make himself hungrier, just in case he needed his claws and fire again.

Carrie wounding his Horror helped that along by itself. He had so much more to worry about then, than how much that whole ordeal hurt to heal from. They all did, there was a heaviness in the air as Halloween approached.

Despite Janus and Ellis’s best efforts, they never could get a bead on where Remus was. There were too many of Remus’s Horrorspawn for Carrie to effectively track her son either. On top of wanting to look forward to Halloween to celebrate instead of dread.

Roman noticed Remus had blocked off the entrance into his Lair, from the chamber they had shared, at some point. So he couldn’t find a way to contact him in the Primordial Dream.

Eventually, after enough run-ins with those things and Roman stewing about how it felt having his Horror being awakened again, his thoughts went somewhere that he was uncomfortable with. He didn’t have much time left to do it, but it was to make his own Horrorspawn.

He learned from Janus that one of their boons was making it easier to deflect anathema. Roman shivered as the phantom aches of Steve’s curse briefly came to his mind. At that point, with it gone, he understood even more why Virgil was so wary of his mother.

He didn’t realize how much mental energy he put in just to manage its effects on his life.

He wasn’t sure who he’d even pick to hold some piece of his Horror inside them, to inflict more nightmares on. He hated that the immediate choices were his own parents, they’ve already been through so much.

He had to ask Janus what to do.

Janus had told the twins a few different ways to conjure Nightmares, over their times together. Remus even shared a few with Roman, before. Janus also said they could learn new nightmares from those considered kin, mages being an example. So on their advisement, Roman went to meet Ellis.

Roman found Ellis in the library again, reading something. “Hey, are you busy?”

Ellis glared back at Roman, “What does it look like?”

“R-right. Janus said you could teach me about Nightmares.”

Ellis sighed, “Yes and no. I need time to make preparations for our Halloween operation. However, I do have a colleague better equipped to help you out with this.”

“Who?”

“Mr. Pfeifer, Virgil works for him. He’s one of those warlock colleagues of mine. I referenced them to your father, once. Let me contact him.”

Ellis pulled out a phone, “Hello. Mr. Pfeifer, are you open for a consult? Good, please come to the estate to-.”

Suddenly, a third person was in the room, startling Roman. It was probably a good thing he was too gorged to claw anyone up, let alone this guy. Ellis looked at them and rolled his eyes, muttering as he returned to his reading, “Show off.”

The stranger chuckled about that. He wore a bright smile, glasses, and had a lot of pink and light brown elements to his outfit. “Mr. Pfeifer?”

Mr. Pfeifer nodded, “Oh. You must be Roman? I guess you desire a little inspiration? I can help with that. All you have to do is ask.”

Roman stammered, “I-I didn’t say anything.”

Ellis groaned at this, only making Pfeifer laugh more. “I suppose Lo-Ellis and Vi- Val didn’t tell you much about the Arcana stuff. Well-”

“H-how do you know my-?”

Pfeifer continued, but his mouth didn’t move, speaking from inside Roman’s head, “Mind stuff is kind of my thing and Beasts are basically my beautiful planar neighbors! You can call me Milo, by the way.”

Roman stepped back and looked around himself, “The hell-?”

Ellis glared at Milo, “Sir. You already know why I asked for your attendance. Get on with it. I have delicate matters to process over here.”

Roman was suddenly more uncomfortable, knowing he was getting pried into, “How about a warning, next time!?”

Milo laughed heartily before speaking aloud again, “You really are a lot like my best hire, huh?”

Roman simply pouted and Ellis was staring daggers into that tome of his. Milo continued, “Alright, you’re lucky you have a lot I can work with in there…”

Roman shuddered, “What?”

“Notice the lack of a certain kind of insight in Disney’s Rogue’s Gallery? Believing their questionable aspects are badges of pride, justifying it just a tad too much? Even though it’s clearly leading to their failures? How do you think you can use that to your advantage out there, Jake?”

“My name’s not JAKE!”

“You’re a dragon and American too, sooo-”

Ellis grumbled, “And THERE it is.”

Roman started to realize what Milo was getting at, after a moment, “Oh. OH. You cheeky-!”

“Well?”

“I-I guess I have some ideas…”

Milo spoke inside Roman’s head again, “You can do a whole lot with that intimidating specimen. Hmmm, I wonder how many omelets you could make with five dozen eggs?”

Roman stared Milo down, deliberately thinking, “Great. Now I’m thinking about Mom’s cooking…”

Milo laughed and answered aloud, “Looks like you got a good one lined up there, I knew you could do it! I’d love for a follow-up later.”

Milo looked down at his watch, “Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!”

Ellis piped up, “Are you quite done?”

Milo nodded at them both, with a more serious expression, “Oh and good luck with the Remus situation. Adieu.”

In a blink, Milo vanished. Leaving Roman to remember how worried he was getting for his brother.

There was a long silence, as Roman tried to process what happened. He had more in his arsenal, the next step was where to use it. Who to use it on.

Ellis stopped reading, looked at Roman, and took a deep breath, “I’m supposing you didn’t miss him almost spilling our True Names?”

“I-I was kind of wondering about that too.”

“Know that if we can’t destroy this threat, we’ll need to at least seal it away. I am nearing the end of those preparations. I think you will be needing mine, and you have permission to share this with your parents. No one else, understand?”

Roman nodded.

“It’s Logan. Sumner.”

Roman snorted, “So. I can call you Nerdy Wolverine, then?”

Logan groaned, “I imagine you will even if I told you no. Given what we’re facing here – I have more important things to be concerned with.”

“Wait, what do you mean sealing?”

“We’re going to need some objects to serve as reliquaries, as there is some documentation on addressing Insatiables in that way. Plural, just in case.”

“Can they be anything?”

“Presumably.”

Roman went on to discuss some of his ideas with Logan. “… and a jar of dirt? Oh well, I’ll take it on board. Oh, and I want to make it clear that I’m also worried about your brother’s wellbeing, too.”

Roman smiled slightly at that, “Thanks.”

Roman visited the Disneyland Park about two weeks before Halloween. Partly to find some solace. Partly to memorize the layout again, to prepare for what may happen. Partly to find potential incubators. He just had to find someone he could stomach doing that to.

The park entrance already had some festive decorations. The line going out into the esplanade was really long and it wasn’t even an hour past opening time for Guests. It was a weekend Carrie had off, and she insisted on coming along with him.

Roman would be annoyed, if not for his peace of mind too.

So there they were in line, there was a woman with a stroller past the person right in front of them. She also had a child, maybe Patton’s age, to her side. The children took her attention away from the line a few times, leaving enough space for a pair of young men to cut in front of this lady.

She didn’t seem to notice, neither did Carrie, but Roman certainly did.

Roman told her, “Will you keep my spot, Mom? I think I recognize those guys from high school…”

Roman didn’t really tell her that third reason he wanted to come here.

Carrie narrowed her eyes a bit, “Sure. But I AM watching you.”

This was totally for that lady’s honor and rightful place in line. Not because Roman took the thought of waiting even longer to actually get in the park personally. Roman definitely wasn’t being petty.

Roman first went for one of the guys that looked like he was just following the other. He seemed a little less sure about the stunt they pulled, even more so as Roman approached them. Roman could smell some anxiety coming from him. Roman smiled. “My, do you look familiar! Remember me?”

“Uh, no?”

“Does the name Isaac ring any bells?”

“Not really?”

The other guy, pretended to look like this was always his spot in line and was annoyed with Roman butting in. He looked at the first guy, “Dash, who are you talking too?”

Dash shrugged, “This guy says he’s Isaac. Do we know any Isaacs?”

Roman piped up overly cheery, “I think you were on the football team, right? I was one of the band guys.”

The line took a few steps forward, as Dash narrowed his eyes at Roman. and then at his friend, “You buy that, Kwan?”

Kwan crossed his arms, scowling at Roman, “You know what? I don’t think I do. The fuck is your angle, man?”

“Oh, fine. You got me. You don’t know me. I’m just gonna say it was really clever of you two taking advantage of a distraction like that! And all you did with that was jump the line. How droll.”

Roman’s eyes flickered red as he stared into Dash and then Kwan’s eyes, pulling them into the same nightmare, smiling eerily.

They were pulled into a tavern, more worn in and dreary than in the movie. The taxidermied trophies were more fantastical and horrifying - dragons, griffons, harpies. The trophy chair was made from dragon hide and so was the rug. There were suspicious splatters of blood in various spots of the venue. The patrons took the facsimiles of the crowd in the real world. Even a few confused looking children.

But what immediately struck terror in those two is how their bodies and mouths were forced to re-enact the scene Roman was pulling. Kwan was Gaston and Dash was Lefou. As Kwan shifted this way and that in the seat, some of its scales sheared off into his shirt collar. As the performance started to get violent – Kwan had taken a disturbing amount of glee in beating the shit out of his presumed friend. Dash just smiled along and sang praises, as blood oozed out of his mouth.

It was all a very grim and uncanny scene. The lyrics were a distorted parody and personalized to these two troublemakers’ “values”. Dash was totally elsewhere when he got crushed by that chair, munching pieces of that rug in the process. He was laughing like a fool as his “friend” smiled down approvingly at him.

As the nightmare took hold, Kwan barked an order at Dash, “Hey! This crone and brat were small fry. We totally could hop those fucking turnstiles.”

Kwan smiled and stammered, “Sure thing, boss!”

Roman tried not to laugh as the predictable happened – them getting pulled aside by security to be disciplined. The woman they cut in front of was utterly baffled as Roman let her through with a bow.

He rejoined Carrie, who knew exactly what Roman just did. Roman flinched when she stage-whispered, “Roman. Isaac. Espinoza. What did you do!?”

Roman whispered into her ear what he did and why. She deeply sighed, “… If all of this wasn’t for Remus, I would probably have you by the ear and shipped home for that, mister.”

Roman sighed with relief, as they made their way into the park.

He felt a heaviness inside his Lair before long, he managed to do it. It was strangely distracting, as he was trying to take in the whole park again. He was kind of scared of checking on it later.

He at least had the presence of mind to grab a park map and schedule along the way.

Roman hesitated to check on his own spawn when he got back from the trip to Disneyland.

He lasted only a day before he got too restless and worried about them being reincorporated.

He used the portal in his bedroom again to get into the Lair. He went to his Hoard chamber, where he knew where the nest was. He passed by the Magic Mirror and noticed his draconic form inside there had a few scars – one across his left jowl and few on both his forelimbs. He gave a low growl, lowering and shaking his head, his thoughts melancholic, “I guess there’s no forgetting what led to all of this.”

After a continued scan, Roman saw a nest made of Disney plushies and themed blankets. It held a pair of his own eggs. He stepped closer, they were pearl-white, with red and gold freckling all over their surface. They looked more like bird eggs than lizard eggs, even though he wasn’t as avid about biology as his dad and brother were. He heard the shape prevented them from rolling away too far.

He cautiously approached the eggs, lightly tapping one with one of his claws. The shells were hard enough that he felt comfortable with the urge to nestle up to them and warm them. It was almost instinctual.

They truly were pieces of him, he started to understand what Remus was going on about.

A distant part of his mind bothered him. The part that looked at the monster he was, disturbed by all the new things he was learning about what he was. Here though? It was barely even a whisper.

When his whole self was within the Lair, he knew he could protect his creations.

The next week seemed to fly by for Roman. He visited his Lair, practically every other day, and time just seemed to stop and a lot of his other worries did, too.

That didn’t stop his parents from getting worried and the mixed responses from the rest of the Brood. Apparently, he was acting strange to them. He was elsewhere, distantly recognizing that this behavior might have looked a little too much like Remus just before he left them all. Not long after that car accident.

Roman vaguely remembered downplaying it to them. At least Janus and Virgil left it alone, once they knew what he was doing. Logan and Vic seemed to be mildly intrigued. Patton followed him around more, whenever they were at the estate together.

Time inexorably marched on until eventually, when Roman returned to his Lair, he saw the spawn starting to hatch. He was so excited to see them emerge! They were fully formed, tiny drakes that made Roman make this strange rumbling purring noise at how they looked. He was taken by surprise by how adorable they looked, precociously galloping and gliding about inside his Lair.

One was a little more red and the other was a little more gold. Roman held the names Rubí and Oro, for them.

They were ready to debut into the real world.

Feel free to ask to be on a tag list, if you wish!

(I’ll probably tag every other cross-post.)

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#spilled musing #sanders sides #begotten au #roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders

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rocorambles · 3 years

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Two Wrongs Equal a Right

Pairing: Bakugo x Reader

Prompt: Eavesdropping

Summary: Eavesdropping isn’t right, but maybe...just maybe sometimes the end justifies the means

A/N: This is for the Anylisum’s SFW collab. Masterlist can be found here. Enjoy!

You giggle, laying your head on Tsu’s shoulder as you catch your breath from the impromptu dance party happening in the dorm room led by no other than Mina. You love the boys, but this is nice, hanging out with just the girls, chatting about fashion and makeup, doing face masks and braiding hair, pretending you’re just normal high school girls and not heroes in training. The boys had sulked, pouting and complaining about why all of you couldn’t hang out together like you always do. But all of you had just smiled and cheekily waved as you locked the dorm room shut behind you.

They’ll be fine. You’re sure they’ll find something to bond over themselves and you laugh at the thought of them doing some impromptu sparring or shouting at each other over a video game.

Yes, they’ll be just fine doing something normal high school boys do. Definitely not quietly crowding around the other side of the dorm door, trying to eavesdrop on what all of you are saying and doing like they’re doing right now.

The boys of class 1-A aren’t nearly as subtle as they think they are accidentally banging foreheads and elbowing each other to try and press their ears against the vertical surface. But luckily for them the combination of the music and your voices drown out their scuffling and they eagerly listen in, curiosity keeping their attention rooted to the commotion on the other side of the barrier.

“That’s not fair. I want to dance too!”

“Shut up, Aoyama! They’re going to hear you.”

The hushed bickering continues as the boys continue to subtly bop their head to the music, trying to make out the snippets of conversation between the rhythmic beat and laughter. But they all freeze, even attempting to quiet down their breathing as the music finally stops.

Is the night over? Do they need to make a run for it before the door opens and they’re caught red handed?

Their questions are answered when after some scuffling and movement the girls resume talking and there’s a palpable sense of relief as the boys relax, leaning in once more to decipher what’s being said.

What girls night would be complete without boy talk? You all knew this topic was bound to come up in this safe all-female haven, but there’s still a tittering of nervous and shy giggles when Ashido brings up the topic with a mischievous grin plastered across her face.

It takes some prodding and some patience, but to no one’s surprise Uraraka is the first to speak up and you all smile knowingly when she begins to ramble on and on about Deku, how much she respects him, how observant he is, how hardworking he is…

“We get it. You like Deku! Seriously it would be shocking if you two didn’t eventually start dating.”

“Think about how cute that would be! A romantic hero couple fighting villains and saving the world together.”

Uraraka’s face is so red you think she might burst, but you hide a smile at the fact that there isn’t even a hint or sound of denial from her as she accepts the good-natured teasing. Unknown to all of you, Deku’s face matches Urarka’s extreme shade of red and the boys smile and nudge him playfully, waggling their eyebrows teasingly.

The light-hearted banter has broken the ice and Momo is the next one to open up, demurely looking at the ground and swiping a stray bang behind her ear as she quietly praises Todoroki for his amazing skills and how rapidly he’s learned and improved during his time at U.A. But what she isn’t expecting is the outpouring of support she herself receives from all the girls about how smart and resourceful she is and how quick on her feet she is. And Todoroki silently nods his head in affirmation of the deserved recognition she receives.

One by one everyone shares their thoughts on their male counterparts, but it’s Ashido who makes everyone burst into laughter once more when she practically screams her approval of Kaminari and Kirishima and how cool and manly they can be, imitating their signature moves as best as she can to everyone’s amusement.

However it doesn’t go unnoticed how Bakugo’s name isn’t brought up and it just seems right to bring him into the conversation if the other two musketeers are being discussed. There’s thoughtful pondering and the girls quiet down as they think of their blonde classmate.

“He’s smart and talented.”

“He’s pretty good looking.”

But there’s an almost unanimous vote that his temper is a little bit...scary. Almost.

The boys try their hardest to stifle their howls of laughter as Bakugo begins to deeply scowl, looking like he’s ready to storm away. But everyone shuts up, eyes going wide when your voice travels through the air.

“I actually think his attitude is kind of cute. He’s like an angry chihuahua. All bark, no bite.”

There’s silence as everyone on both sides of the door processes your words, even Bakugo looks uncharacteristically stunned. And then there’s chaos as the girls begin to loudly question your sanity and the boys hold back a raging Bakugo who’s seconds away from kicking down the door and confronting you.

Needless to say there is no more eavesdropping done that night as it takes the entire male population of 1-A to wrestle Bakugo away and safely back to his dorm room.

Cute? CUTE?

Bakugo can’t remember the last time anyone has called him that damned word, if anyone ever has. Not even his own mother has called him anything remotely as nauseatingly endearing as that recently. There’s nothing about him that’s cute. He’s not cute. He HATES anything cute. Yet as he’s barricaded in his room and forced to mull over your words in solitude, it’s not pure rage and indignation that fills him to his own surprise.

He’s not sure exactly what he’s feeling if he’s honest and that only pisses him off more. Anger is something he knows and holds close. But this...this strange, disgusting, fluttering feeling in his stomach? He doesn’t know what that is and he grumpily forces himself to sleep, to leave all these stupid thoughts and feelings behind him. Tomorrow will be just another day of class and you’ll just be another classmate he’s forced to tolerate as he focuses on becoming a hero.

Except tomorrow does come and you aren’t just another nobody like you were before.

Unlike before where he barely even noticed your presence and walked past you like you were nonexistent, too focused on perfecting his moves, he can’t stop being aware of you. He finds himself watching you without even meaning to, observing your movements, the use of your quirk…

“Kacchan, watch out!”

Turns out even when he’s entranced by you, Deku’s damn annoying voice is enough to drag him out of his funk and he narrowly misses the debris about to rain down on him.

“What’s up, Bakugo? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you distracted-”

“I’m not distracted!”

He is distracted and he can feel his short fuse nearing its limit with every uncharacteristic stumble and sloppy movement as he can’t tear his eyes from you. And when Aizawa-sensei awkwardly tells him to maybe consider sitting out a bit until his head is clear he loses it.

Under all the rage, common sense tells him this isn’t your fault, that he’s wrongly directing his ire at you. But Bakugo clings onto his temper, that fire inside of him that fuels most of his decisions as he storms towards you and shouts at you to spar with him.

He knows he’s being too hard on you, punching and kicking you harder than he even goes against Kirishima and his hardening quirk. And he even feels a pang of guilt when he sees you wince when his fist grazes you as you try to dodge. But you don’t tell him to stop, just looking at him with determined, focused eyes holding a shocking amount of trust that he won’t take it too far and actually harm you despite how his irritation is almost visible.

It’s the same look stupid Deku looks at him with, but he doesn’t feel that familiar buildup of anger rising inside of him. Instead he feels that same strange fluttering feeling deep inside of him and his heart is racing more than it should be for the amount he’s worked out today. It’s all so...confusing and to everyone’s shock, it’s Bakugo who abruptly ends your weird impromptu spar with a scoff, shoving his hands in his pocket as he saunters away, trademark scowl on his face.

That’s only the beginning of Bakugo’s strange behavior and everyone watches anxiously as the angry blonde borderline begins to bully you on a constant basis, practically hovering next to you from the moment you leave your dorm room to the minute you go to sleep at night, growling, shouting, and even just glaring at you. But no one steps in, curious about how things will play out when they see how unbothered you are by your new volatile shadow.

Bakugo doesn’t know what reaction he expected of you. Maybe a slight hint of fear? At least some respect? But he certainly wasn’t expecting how calmly you accept your new fate, how casually you interact with him.

He’s forced to silently blink in shock as his jaw rapidly works to chew the fried egg you’ve stuffed in his mouth when he angrily tells you to sit somewhere else, deciding he wants your seat despite the bounty of empty chairs surrounding the both of you in the cafeteria. (He ends up just grumpily sitting in the available spot next to you when he finally swallows, both of you quietly munching on your breakfast together.)

But although your exchanges start off fairly one-sided with Bakugo usually trying to incite some reaction from you, everyone watches in amusement when you begin to meet him halfway. The blonde is mouthing off at you about something or another during sparring exercises which has become a typical background noise to the class by now, but everyone, including Aizawa-sensei stops in their tracks when your voice interrupts Bakugo’s rant.

“Maybe you’d be able to perfect your new technique if you spent more time practicing and less time barking at me.”

There’s a playful smirk on your face as you utter those fighting words and Aizawa wonders if today is the day he’ll have to prevent Bakugo from committing a truly villainous event. But even his jaw drops when all Bakugo does is scoff at your statement, barking at you to follow him to both your preferred area of the training grounds to resume practicing together.

Both of you look almost...friendly, exchanging punches and kicks, no heat behind Bakugo’s snarky comments, a smile on your face when you give it to him right back verbally. The upperclassmen and the pro-hero faculty watch in amused fondness as overtime Bakugo’s glowering and barking lulls down to a muted calm grumpiness as he continues to trail beside you. He’s not too different than a tamed feral kitten (not that any of them would voice that thought aloud and risk being blasted to pieces).

And as time continues on, everyone gets used to the fact that the two of you seem joined at the hip. You’re just...always together in a strange amicable friendship? Partnership? Relationship? No one knows how to exactly describe it and maybe that’s what finally leads to you overhearing an interesting conversation one morning in the dorms.

You yawn as you make your way to the common room to see who else is up, but you pause before you turn the corner from your hallway when you hear Kirishima mention your name.

“So what’s going on between the two of you. Are you dating?”

You don’t even have to peek around the bend to know who he’s talking to and your face heats up, ears perking up in anxious curiosity as you wait for Bakugo’s response. Realistically, you know you shouldn’t expect much. But it doesn’t make it hurt any less when you wait for Bakugo to shut Kirishima’s well-meaning thought down with a rude “why would I go out with that nobody” or some similar derogatory comment aimed at the idea of dating you or anyone for that matter.

Yet there’s only silence and a secret smile spreads across your face when all Bakugo finally responds with is a quiet scoff and a “it’s none of your business”.

“That’s not a no!”

“Shut up!”

Your heart is pounding as hope blossoms inside of it and you slowly countdown from ten, taking deep breaths to calm yourself down, schooling your face into as neutral an expression as possible. When your excess giddy energy is under some semblance of control, you make your presence known, bidding good morning to both boys and teasingly ruffling Bakugo’s spiky hair in a more affectionate version of a noogie. And Kirishima is left with a gaping jaw as he watches Bakugo merely roll his eyes at your antics and grunt here and there in response to your rambling as the two of you make your way to the cafeteria for breakfast together.

#mha fluff #bnha fluff #bakugo x reader #bakugo fluff #mha fic #mha imagines #mha scenarios #bnha fic #bnha imagines #bnha scenarios #mha x reader

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celestialarchon · 3 years

Text

The Celestial Archon

Chapter Two: The Moonlight Phenomenon

Genshin Impact x F! Reader

Warnings: major Genshin Impact Spoilers! Possible grammar errors.

Tag list: To Be Added. (sorry it needed to be published!)

With the return of a mysterious archon, celebrations began! The night was filled with laughter, food, and memories being made. One person was amiss during the celebration, Mona still found herself unsettled and unable to be as excited as the others. An eerie feeling of unrest and anxiety has settled over our esteemed astrologist as our beloved heroes celebrate.

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“I’ve finally found you,” Mona’s intense astrology session was interrupted by a cheery high pitched voice.

“Hello, Seraphim.” Mona turned to greet the beautiful woman.

She nearly gasped as the woman walked in, her hair now styled and her eyes shining brighter than before, the mysterious tattoos seemed to have faded and though she was still striking she looked far more human than before. The Celestial Archon merely smiled at the woman’s surprise and stepped towards her, hand out.

“We should talk, my child. Fate had brought us together, an astrologist with a water vision instead of a celestial vision is strange enough.” The woman was calm but not cold as Mona took her hand.

Mona was warm as the gentle archon interlocked their fingers and led her to the corner of the room, sinking down into a comfy chair and pointing at the one next to her. Disappointment creeped up in the astrologist as her idol released her hand. It was quickly replaced with embarrassment and a soft flush across her cheeks. Mona was wholeheartedly captured by the mystery goddess.

“I’m sure you’re aware,” The bright eyes goddess sighed, “That my arrival in Teyvat has stirred up some trouble.”

Mona frowned slightly, “There was already trouble, your sudden appearance is not the cause of it.”

“That’s good, but I still feel that my presence is going to stir the pot a bit. I am connected to all the stars and spaces of this world, I can feel and see things so deeply and I am well aware that there are challenges coming. It’s annoying in some ways.” Her eyes were distant again.

Words were lost on Mona for a moment. She couldn’t begin to imagine how stressful it was to feel so deeply, to constantly be overwhelmed by information and one’s connection to the world. Every piece of text written about the Celestial Archon was very vague. Information on the god of stars was hard to find and many details had been lost, yet one thing seemed to stay the same in ever piece of information Mona had consumed.

Even when the world was teeming with elemental energy and gods were far more common, the goddess of the sky, Seraphim, was an oddity. Before the Archon war, Seraphim was a lone wolf being without many ties. The last god of stars kept to herself and had no desire to interfere with the other’s problems, despite knowing so much of them. It was incredibly lonely and sad.

“You said it’s strange that I have a water vision,” Mona finally spoke.

“Yes,” The archon clicked her tongue, “Had I been around, somebody like you would’ve received a vision from me. However, you did not receive one of my visions and ultimately that should’ve impacted your abilities over astrology but it did not. You are quite the gifted character, aren’t you Miss Mona?”

Mona’s face was tomato red at the words of the beloved celestial archon, “I am honored to be complimented by the goddess of stars.”

“You’re very formal,” The starry eyed goddess laughed.

“Excuse me,” the two were interrupted by none other than the acting grandmaster, “I would like a word with the Lady of the Stars.”

Mona was hesitant, not wanting her idol to slip away but nodded and escorted the woman to the door. She was a bit dissatisfied with the conversation they’d had, wanting to know more and more of her long awaited god. The woman turned back to Mona, eyes twinkling, and embraced her. The normally level headed and somewhat haughty astrologist stiffened in shock but returned the warm hug. A sigh escaped Mona’s mouth, but she didn’t mind. The goddess was warm and something about her affection put Mona at peace.

“I am so lucky that somebody as beautiful and gifted as you awaited my return, Mona Megistus. Until we meet again, my darling.” The woman’s grasp around Mona tightened as she whispered in her ear.

The water mage watched as the strange goddess gracefully glided away with Jean. She was ethereal with the moonlight filtering in from tall windows, her skin illuminated as she hung on to every word Jean said. Even the confident and ever busy acting grandmaster found butterflies swarming her abdomen at the sight of the goddess. Jean felt as if she could be swept away by the young woman.

A part of Jean felt guilty for several reasons. As acting grand master, it was her duty to know about the citizens of Mond, it was her duty to work without personal emotions interfering, and her duty to oversee the safety of all the wind borne citizens. The Celestial Archon was challenging all of these duties. It was only natural for an astrologist to be obsessed with a god of stars, and Jean had interrupted the conversation. The Dandelion Knight couldn’t help but feel an innocent sort of crush on the goddess, she was kind and beautiful and she really seemed to want to get to know everyone. Ultimately, Jean was also aware of the danger a new archon posed.

Even so, the beautiful knight couldn’t help but want to push all those thoughts aside and capture the attention of the goddess for hours. She shook off that thought, attempting to focus on her duty as Mondstat’s respected Grand Master. Jean explained the general politics of the city of freedom and the individual jobs of the knights of favonious. She even went as far as to explain the adventurer’s guild and the recent trouble with Storm Terror. The Celestial Archon hung on to every word, nodding and asking occasional questions.

Jean took the time to explain the place they were in, a place between Mondstat and Liyue, and the teleport points that marked both countries. She was diligent and had already prepared some documents for the 8th Archon, maps and other things needed in the world. Jean had even communicated with others to ensure each safe place for the archon was marked. The allied domain was the middle ground, but Mondstat welcomed the new Archon with a living place and much to do. Liyue had also prepared a small home in the city for her.

The archon stared in wonder at the map. The knights of Favonious had prepared a room for her in their own head quarters, even the esteemed Tycoon had set aside a room. Wangshuu Inn welcomed her and Liyue Harbor gave her quarters close to Rex Lapis. Small notes were written for her, both Xiao and Diluc noted the stars were best seen from where they were while the traveler and Paimon had starred their favorite places to eat.

“Ah, Master Jean.” The Goddess spoke slowly, bowing.

“Please, Seraphim, there’s no reason to be so formal!” Jean’s voice rose nervously, “You are an archon after all.”

“Yes, that’s true. You do not serve me though, please refer to me as my chosen name. Formalities aren’t my taste much.” The Archon remarked bashfully.

Jean nodded, rose dusting her cheeks.

“I,” The Archon sighed, “Really need an open space so I can, uh, deal with my weapon situation.”

“Oh, oh!” Realization hit Jean.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” Jean babbled nervously, “Here let us go out to the cliffs, it should be okay, right?”

“Mhm,” The goddess followed the knight to the exit.

Aether and Paimon were also by the exit, turning at the sound of approaching foot steps. Aether grinned and waved at the Celestial Archon, she waved back and beamed. Paimon immediately took off, throwing herself into the Archons arms as the woman giggled. Jean’s face was priceless, attempting to process how this small otherworldly creature could just tackle and archon without shame.

Aether and his companion followed the two women, curious about the weapon another archon would wield. The group made their way to the edge of the cliff, the stars seeming extra bright and the moon full. The goddess lowered herself, feet on the lush grass and put her hand forth, palm out. Swiftly, she struck the air in front of her with her pointer finger, an unfamiliar constellation connecting at each point.

“Return to your master, Destroyer of Divinity.” Her words were clear and calm.

The constellation burst into a ray of white light, Aether covered his eyes as Paimon whined. Darkness fell again and he opened his eyes, gasping at the sight in front of him. The goddess held a long weapon close to her body, above her shoulder was a large opalescent curved blade, below the hip on the opposite side, another shimmering curved blade could be seen. No weapon in Teyvat was even similar.

“I-Is is that a scythe?!” Jean sputtered.

“Aha, well yes,” The goddess blushed at their reactions, “Destroyer of Divinity is an unusual weapon, meant to slice through dimensional and spatial barriers. I didn’t mean to shock you.”

Aether stood, mouth agape, “Even its name is terrifying! What the hell?”

“Ahahaha,” the archon continued to laugh nervously, “Well, its existence is basically to bring judgement from the heavens upon those deserving so yeah it’s a bit intimidating.”

Aether nearly screamed. How could she say something so casually?

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The traveler was feeling a bit nervous, as anybody would if an Archon decided to tag along for their daily commissions. Paimon and the Celestial Archon chattered away as Aether spoke to the Katheryne in Liyue. It did not help that the three had left before the others awoke and the Celestial Archon had left a note declaring it as a “friendly date.”

The last thing Aether wanted was to piss off literally any of the adepti, the Geo Archon himself, and even Jean who had taken a very noticeable interest in the goddess. A cloud seemed to look over the blonde but Paimon didn’t notice. The eighth Archon gave the teenager a sympathetic smile and put her hand on his shoulder, attempting to ease his nerves. Only one thing could make the situation worse, and unfortunately that particular thing was heading straight towards Aether.

“Let’s run,” Aether grabbed the startled archon’s wrist and dragged her to the teleport point nearby, ignoring the calls of a certain troublesome individual.

The archon chuckled, “I didn’t know daily commissions would be so exciting!”

Aether smiled sheepishly and let go of her wrist, trying to focus on which commission to start with. He was distracted by a sudden commotion, people yelled out as a hooded figure darted past the trio. Liyue Harbor’s guards thundered after the thief, knocking the poor panicked goddess off her feet.

The eight archon shut her eyes and prepared for the impact of the fall, but was yanked back by a pair of strong arms.

“Hey, girlie. Hold still.” A charming voice said.

The goddess watched as the lanky ginger haired man moved forward and shot an arrow, narrowly missing all the guard and hitting the suspicious character in the back. Aether’s eyes were filled with shock and panic at the sight of the man. Immediately, the goddess side stepped away from her hero, on high alert.

“Now,” He turned to her beaming, “What exactly is such a beautiful young lady doing with this kiddo?”

Her starry eyes met his azure eyes, “I’m just a new adventurer from Mondstat, learning the ropes from the best.”

“Hmm?” His gaze was questioning, “Well then, I’m Childe. Number 11 of the Fatui Harbingers. We should definitely get to know each other.”

The goddess moved to Aether in a quick swift movement. Suddenly, she wanted very much to escape Liyue Harbor. The Fatui were trouble, the goddess was new to the era but even she knew that they were dangerous. It was one of the first matters addressed at her arrival. She no longer knew the Cryo Archon, and this Tsarita sounded troubling.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” an annoyed voice chimed in, averting the red head’s attention.

A shorter man with a large hat and ominous aura stood behind the tall harbinger. Aether tensed up and the goddess wrapped her arm around his shoulder. Slowly, the trio made their escape at the expense of Childe. The older harbinger was chewing the younger man out for flirting and wasting time, both harbingers bickered as the traveler and his companions fled.

“You shouldn’t be wasting time on trying to get laid you, fool.” Scaramouche scowled, still ripping into his subordinate. “Especially not that woman, even from a mile away I can tell she’s trouble. You’re a harbinger not a host, get your shit together, Tartaglia.”

Childe smirked, looking down on his superior, “So you noticed her, too. I wonder what someone like that is doing with my favorite traveler.”

“We should alert the Tsarita of that girl,” Scaramouche mumbled, avoiding the earlier comment.

“I actually agree,” Childe’s eyes narrowed, “I was hoping to see for myself what she is, but that kid stopped me of course. There’s something strange about her but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I can charm it out of her?”

Scaramouche slapped his comrades back, “Let’s go you useless fucking playboy.”

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Wangshuu Inn looked beautiful and the aroma of food was far too enticing. Aether sighed as he watched his small, chubby companion chase after the eighth archon. The woman was supposed to be divine, yet in some ways he reminded her of a puppy or a kitten. She was somewhat moody with her affections and spacey like a kitten may be, and still somehow clingy and energetic like a puppy.

Luckily for the two, Aether had a commission from Verr Goldet. The blonde tried to maintain composure as he saw a familiar dark haired yaksha speaking with the Inn Keeper, not wanting to admit he’d accidentally led the Fatui straight to the Archon. The traveler watched in fascination and amusement as Verr’s face twisted from composed to horrified when Xiao was knocked over by the goddess. The conqueror of demons merely grunted and stood back up, clutching the ethereal woman to his chest.

Xiao’s eyes were cold as they met Aether’s, clearly annoyed with the boy, but his expression softened at the yawning goddess in his arms. Once again, the traveler was overcome with curiosity at her behavior. Only moments ago the woman was bubbly and hyper, now her eyes were fluttering and she was snuggling up to one of the most dangerous beings in Teyvat. Without a word, the tattooed man spun around and carried the goddess upstairs.

“I’m here for your com-“ Aether began.

“Who was that?!” Verr Goldet burst out, “I’ve never seen Adeptus Xiao so damn agreeable. What just happened? Is this a dream?”

Paimon giggled, “He loooooves her! That person is the one we told you about before! Even Xiao can’t be in a bad mood around her, it’s amazing!”

“Oh,” Verr blushed at Paimon’s words, “She’s that person? No wonder he’s been so restless.”

“Wait, restless?” Aether questioned.

Verr Sighed and beckoned the two to a guest free area. The two followed her into a small back room, exchanging glances. The boss lady pulled out an old book and brushed the dust away. Aether and Paimon peered down at the book, puzzled by its appearance. It was a dark leather with carvings of the moon and clouds on the front.

Carefully, Verr flipped the book open and turned it to the two. Paimon shot up, shrieking. The book looked like a book you’d find in a library but was strange. Instead of ongoing text, the pages had scraps and pieces stuck on the pages with various notes scribbled around. Verr turned to the first page, placing her middle finger at the beginning text and giving Aether and expectant look. The traveler leaned down and began to read the text.

“The moonlight phenomenon: Legend of Liyue.

It is said that there was once a ruler of the stars, one who ruled over the sky as the Gods rule over our land. When tides of war overcame Liyue, Rex Lapis sought out the monarch of the sky to form a contract.

Seraphim granted Rex Lapis the moonlight phenomenon. Liyue’s skies were never to dim even on the darkest of nights, the moon and stars would remain as guides for Liyue always. It is said that this contract assisted in bringing the evil gods to their doom, the sky illuminating the way to victory for Liyue and all of Teyvat.”

Verr flipped the page as Aether exhaled trying to wrap his mind around the strange passage.

“The Contract: Seraphim and Rex Lapis.

The circumstances of the moonlight phenomenon still remain unknown. It is an ancient mystery that many still attempt to solve, what exactly did the Geo Archon barter for his people?

Nobody knows, still. However, the most common theories are that the contract has not been fulfilled or that there was no contract to begin with. Many believe that Rex Lapis and Seraphim were secret lovers, and this was Seraphim’s gift to her beloved. Others hypothesize that Seraphim’s wish was never fulfilled, as her death sealed the victory for The Seven Archons.”

Aether shuddered. People in Liyue believe that The Celestial Archon died in the Archon war? Verr flipped to a page in the middle of the book.

“Liyue’s Priestess Seraphim

It is said that a woman with eyes vast like the galaxy beyond and mysterious astrological powers once enchanted all of Liyue.

Seraphim, the last Celestial wielder was Liyue’s last hope. Though she is not honored as an archon, she is known vaguely as a priestess. The woman who captured the attention of the archon’s themselves and was adored by the Adepti. Few remain, but Liyue’s legends claim that the priestess of the stars was the lover of Rex Lapis, the lover of the Vigilant Yaksha, or the lover another adepti.

Even fewer discuss the devastation that occurred when she fell from grace. Her death was the catalyst of the only known battle between Liyue’s very own Archon, The Anemo Archon and his people, and the Adepti. A lesser known battle that almost forced both Mondstat and Liyue into Civil Wars.

When the dust settled, all that stood was the full moon. Many Adepti still honor the priestess under the moonlight by fighting evil spirits and demons.”

Aether’s eyes widened at Verr. She solemnly shook her head as the traveler’s face fell. Xiao, Ganyu, Zhongli, Venti, all of them suffered so terribly. It was confusing to the boy that every text described the Celestial Archon as deceased. His head began to hurt from the information. Verr sighed and led him back out.

“Once you finish commissions, why don’t you two stay here? I’ll prepare a room for you,” The boss was sympathetic.

Aether grimaced but nodded, leading Paimon out to finish their duties.

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Somewhere in the shadows of Wangshuu Inn crept a Fatui agent, slipping away as the traveler set out. The shadowy figure grinned at the piece of paper in their hand.

“Protected by the traveler and the Adepti. Master Childe will be interested in this,” His eyes were dark as he approached his fellow Fatui agents, “She could be very useful to us, this (Y/N).”

The suspicious shadows began to slink away, overcome with desire to inform their boss of the new information. Only a few feet away, a strange creature ducked down to avoid being seen by the agents, fidgeting.

“The angel is here!” The creature shrieked as the cult like group left it’s sight, “(Y/N) will be ours.”

#genshin impact #genshin impact xiao #genshin x reader #xiao x reader #albedo x reader #genshin impact albedo #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact smut #genshin impact zhongli #genshin liyue #Celestial Archon Series #genshin jean #master diluc #genshin kaeya #genshin childe #scaramouche x reader #genshin impact signora #genshin impact fatui

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water-hates-learning · 2 years

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REASONS TO READ MICOVERSE

Here is my list of reasons that you need to be reading the webcomic Micoverse:

It’s drawn and written by my good friend @mushroomminded! Who you might remember making such awesome work as the Nuclear Winter AU! And Space Quiznos! And Ottosworld! She also makes the talksprites for @nighted-doors-au!

It’s free to read on Webtoon and Tapas! And it updates weekly! You get a new page every week! (and if you subscribe to Em’s Patreon you get a page a week in advance! it’s just one dollar!)

The STORY is SO GOOD! Milo is the main character and he and his best friend Cody are looking for the answers to the mystery of what happened to Milo’s biological father. Along the way, spooky things start to happen; weird goopy shadows seem to be following them around, voices are coming from Cody’s ghost hunting equipment, and a particular shopkeeper is being strangely tight lipped. If you like found family, mysteries, subtle hints of the supernatural, and friendship then you should definitely read Micoverse!

Emily, the creator, has a TON of side stories, aus, and fun little character things on her blog (and her gore blog)! Like Little Ghost, Curious Behavior, Mind Games, Danger Days, Spy AU, and so much more!!

The cast is a fantastic group of wonderful characters! Milo Sumney Jr is the main character and he’s looking for what happened to his missing father, Milo Sumney Sr, who disappeared ten years ago. Milo’s brash and loud and is never seen without his shark hoodie. But he’s a good friend, loyal and stubborn, wearing his heart on his sleeve. This sometimes means that heart can get easily broken.

Cody Bridges is Milo’s best friend and avid ghost hunter. He’s usually the one that tries to keep Milo out of trouble and does his best keep up his friend’s spirits during their search for Milo’s bio dad. Cody is smart and friendly and has a better head for caution--but that doesn’t stop him from wandering into old abandoned houses in search of any lingering ghosts, much to the constant worry of his dad.

Jake Pierly (my beloved) is one of Milo’s adopted dads. He usually feels like he’s out of his depth when it comes to raising a kid but he tries his best to take care of Milo. Jake’s mental and physical health aren’t the best and often cause him to lash out and hurt those around him. It’s his rule that “We don’t talk about Milo Senior in this house”.

Dan Fuller is Milo’s other adopted parent. He’s a kind and gentle man despite his size, pouring all his love and attention into his family. He often puts aside his own needs to take care of Jake and Milo, and is careful not to disrupt the tenuous peace that sometimes exists in the house. But he would put his life on the line to protect his loved ones.

Dom Bridges is Cody’s dad and he would do anything to keep Cody happy, even if it meant ending the entire world. He’s a subdued man with a weight on his shoulders and secrets of his own who tries desperately to keep Cody out of trouble. But he is a kind man with a soft heart and a warm smile. His girlfriend, Dr. Miranda Kearney, is a strong and outspoken woman who cares deeply about Dom and isn’t afraid to show it. She loves Cody just as much as Dom does and considers both of them her family.

Tegan Butter is another friend of Milo’s (though he would deny it) and Cody’s. She’s the curious sort and considers herself an investigative reporter. She’s not afraid to pry under the floorboards to see what she can find, even if the answers are gritty and harsh. Tegan tells it like it is and leaves out the sugar coating--either because she forgot or because she doesn’t see the sense in having it at all.

So when I tell you to read Micoverse I REALLY DO MEAN GO READ MICOVERSE!!!

It’s SUCH a good story, Em works SO HARD on it and she does amazing work! The community is fun and creative and full of awesome fanart and fan fiction! There is SO MUCH to love about it and you should be checking it out right now! It’s free!!! And you’d be supporting my friend and an independent creator!!

GO!!!! READ!!!! MICOVERSE!!!!

#I WILL NOT BE QUIET ABOUT MICOVERSE I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT IT #I LOVE MICOVERSE WITH MY WHOLE HEART #READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT

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gwynrielsupremacist · 3 years

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A COURT OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS

Chapter 1: Voices

Read at AO3.

Gwyn's afternoon couldn't get any worse.

First of all, the morning's training had been horrendous.

Three weeks after the Blood Rite, Cassian and Azriel had thought it was time to start practicing again, since according to them, they had made a lot of mistakes that could very well have cost them their lives.

She was still alive, just like Nesta and Emerie, so at least one thing they had done well, survive.

After 3 weeks of not doing any sports, it was noticeable when you came back with all the energy, especially on a day where the sun was literally burning.

She noticed as she did push-ups that morning how her arms were trembling dangerously, the sweat running down the curve of her breasts, soaking the shirt she had worn.

Gwyn had promised herself that she would go out into the outside world.

That year she had made a lot of progress, she supposed she should be ready to enter society again, but no.

After the events in the Blood Rite, what she wanted was to lock herself in the darkest corner of the library, with a good book, and stay there to live.

Obviously, she couldn't do that. But she would have liked it.

With all the sore muscles, having failed almost all the obstacles the two Illyrians put them, showing a regrettable endurance in each and every one of the exercises, she had to go down to the library to have a pleasant chat with Merrill, who did not understand why her performance hadn't been 100% in recent weeks.

"I don't know, Merrill. Maybe because they pulled me out of bed against my will, left me in the middle of a forest full of Illyrians, while I had to fight to stay safe, as well as having to kill people? Maybe because I had never left the library after Sangravah, and I suddenly found myself in the same situation? " She reasoned, trying to control her pulse, having remembered the events in the Blood Rite.

She detested Merrill.

More than anyone else, she hated her. She often thought that life would be so much easier if people like Merrill just didn't exist.

After leaving her a ton of work to do, the female disappeared, leaving Gwyn with about seven books resting in her arms, already numb from the morning exercises.

She ran to the nearest table, relieved when she put the books down, with a thud.

She rubbed her dazed hands, wincing at the pile of books that awaited her to spend hours and hours together.

She had to research one of Merrill's new obsessions, the ancient and forgotten Prythian gods.

"I didn't even know they existed", she opined, opening a random book to a random page, flipping through the contents.

She got dizzy from so much information she did not understand, closing the pages with force, grabbing a cart that was nearby, leaving the volumes in it and going to her room, to calmly read those pages and pages of useless information, and then do a chapter-by-chapter summary for Merrill.

"Great, it's a good way to spend your free time if you love reading junk." She groaned as she carefully lowered the cart down the stairs.

"It is not junk. It is information that may be useful at some point", answered her subconscious.

At least she thought it was her subconscious.

She didn't remember when she had started to hear that voice, just one day it had appeared, and now it was considered the voice of reason.

Everything that voice said, it was true.

"I know, but I don't know how knowing which are the main and forgotten gods of Prythian is going to solve my problems." She attacked, greeting one priestess that came close to her, passing by her side.

The voice fell silent, apparently it had nothing more to add.

At least Gwyn could answer the voice in her mind. It would have been a strange thing to see a person argue with herself.

Upon reaching the room, which was a simple square with a bed, a wooden desk with a wooden chair that had more splinters than wood itself, and a modest closet, also made of wood.

Yeah, in summer the termites would destroy all the furniture if she wasn't careful.

Closing the door with the latch, one of the little luxuries she had on it, she put the books down with a thump, brushing her hands on the skirts of the gown, which was already heavily encrusted with dust.

She thought of taking off that long dress, which after so many washes the initial blue had ended up in an almost invisible gray, but she did not feel like going to the common baths of the priestesses, because every time she went there, they peppered her with questions about the Blood Rite.

And the last thing she wanted to do was talk about it.

So she collapsed on the bed, pulling back the covers and hugging the pillow with one arm, as she got into a fetal position.

"You have to go out, you can't hide in the bedroom all afternoon." It protested, to which she responded very kindly with a growl as she turned, trying to make it understand that she was going to do whatever she wanted.

"Alright then. If you get caught between the sheets and can't get out, don't come running to ask me for help." it threatened.

Gwyn didn't know how she was going to ask for help to a voice. It was disembodied, how the hell was she going to beg for help if she didn't even know what that murmur was?

She rolled over on the bed, rubbing her eyes and exhaling, disappointed.

She hated not being able to get out of that damn room.

She hated her insecurity and her irrational fear.

"It is not irrational, Gwyn." It assured her.

"Leave me alone." She begged, getting it to shut up.

She lay on her stomach, breathing deeply.

She looked at the time on the only clock in the room, located above the closet.

19.36.

It appears that she had a lot of time to do absolutely nothing.

Maybe she was going to pick up a book that Nesta and Emerie were reading.

Honestly, she was dying to sink her teeth into one that had caught her attention. According to her description, a maiden sent by the gods fell in love with her bodyguard...

Determined, she bolted upright, unlocking the latch, happily heading for the book.

There would be time to examine the books Merrill had passed her.

Anyway, she had a lot of time, reading something that interested her was not going to do anything bad to everyone.

With a broad grin, she made it to the fiction book section. She opened one of the books, tucking her nose between the pages, an exhale escaping from her lips when she smelled the wonderful book scent.

Her gaze sparking, she searched for the novel she was looking for.

"Didn't you forget something?" It asked.

She stopped short in the middle of the shelves, alarming a passing priestess.

Bowing her head in apology, she went back to searching, her eyes narrowing as she searched the thousands of spins with her eyes, finding none that bore the name of the book she was looking for.

"I don't have any errands to deliver to Merrill." She snapped, frowning when she finally found it.

It was at the top of the shelf.

She made a long face, standing on her tiptoes, stretching her arm as far as she could as she stuck her tongue out, focused.

"I don't mean Merrill, Gwyneth."

"Mysterious voice, what are you talking about?" The priestess demanded in a tired voice. She did not arrive. Why did they make the shelves so high? It was not possible that someone could reach them.

Although, don't get it wrong, Gwyn adored the voice. It was equal to the voice that we all have within us guiding us.

The problem was that the voice that she had was a little… annoying.

She looked at the shelves next to the floor, no books in sight.

Maybe if she got on them…?

She put one foot on it, skipping little hops as she judged whether the bookcase was going to fall or not.

Realizing that it was unlikely, she lifted her other foot, raising her heels as much as she could while she stretched out her arm, feeling her muscles go numb.

A little more ... just a little more ...

"You remember that your friend Nesta has a mate, right? And that you promised them that you would go to her ceremony?" As soon as she finished the sentence, Gwyn stopped.

Shit.

Seriously, had she forgotten that?

"There is still time… There are five days until the ceremony." The voice tried to calm her down, but nothing was going to do it now.

She jumped down from the shelf, as she began to walk from one place to another, in circles.

She had to go.

She couldn't do that to Nesta.

"I don't even have a dress. What am I going to wear?" Alarmed, she slightly stretched the strands of her coppery hair, thinking of a way to solve all the problems that had suddenly befallen her.

I have to leave the library to go to the mating ceremony.

The female began to hyperventilate, forgetting the book that she had held less than 3 centimeters from her hands.

That was far more important.

"I can't tell Nesta that I forgot about her mating ceremony. I can't do that to her." Gwyn protested, running her hands over her face, rubbing her temples angrily, forcing herself to search for solutions and solutions and solutions.

But neither of them was going to work.

She had to get out of there, no priestess was going to leave her a suitable dress for the mating ceremony.

But she couldn't go alone. She did not dare to go down to the city alone.

Emerie couldn't help her. It had started the illyrian high-selling season and the illyrian needed the money. She only went to training, then she quickly returned to her store, not staying a minute longer than necessary.

Cassian and Nesta were completely out of the question.

Azriel...

"Ask him." The voice advised.

She needed to name that voice. She could not continue calling it "the voice", that was beginning to be uncomfortable.

"Maybe he can help you get the dress." It continued.

Would it be male or female? Or rather, what the hell was it?

"Are you listening to me?"

She definitely had no idea what it was.

"What are you?" Gwyn questioned, curious as she left the fiction section behind, walking aimlessly through the library.

She loved to wander aimlessly through the thousands of bookshelves, silent priestesses, the whisper of books her only company.

Besides that voice, of course.

"Have you heard anything I've said to you in the last two minutes?" Her voice roared.

"I've heard nonsense, so no, I haven't heard anything." She claimed. "But anyway, you haven't answered my question. What are you?"

"I am everything and I am nothing at the same time."

Now was it was being funny with her?

She rolled her eyes, annoyed "That is not an answer."

"It's an answer if you know how to interpret it." It answered.

She rolled her eyes again.

"Well, at least tell me what I can call you, it's uncomfortable to think of you as 'The voice'" She asked.

The voice fell silent, which she thought meant the end of the conversation.

She decided to head over to her room, assuming she should start Merrill's work, until 'the Voice' answered her.

"Elián"

Gwyn stood in the middle of the bedroom hall

"That is your name?" She asked.

"My real name would burn your lips if you were able to pronounce it" It replied. "But yes, Elián is my name, and I am 'him', I have noticed how you struggled because you did not know if I was a man or a woman. The definition of gender is much more complicated than that, but it will be enough".

"G-Good." She answered.

Elián was quiet at last, leaving her with her own thoughts, as she opened the door, her own scent of jasmine feeling welcoming.

And the proposal he had made, although obviously she had ignored it, she was not wrong to consider.

Perhaps the Shadowsinger would help her out, aiding her finding a decent dress for her.

She closed the crank behind her, sitting on the small bed, wondering if it would be smart to ask him, risking him saying no, or not asking him and risking not having a dress for the ceremony.

Sighing, she figured she should go to the bathrooms to get the sensation of dust - and the dust itself - off her body, so she grabbed change clothes and headed there, deciding at that moment that tomorrow she would ask the Spymaster if he could accompany her to buy a dress.

Inside her, she could feel Elián nodding his head, giving his approval.

TAG LIST (tell me if you want to be tagged or deleted) @bookish-isha @imsointobooks @shisingh @feyretale @niaacotar @flora-shadowshine @tealnymph24 @trashforazriel @hlizr50 @meher-sumedha @heyovivi @positivewitch @greywarens-magician @sageofthegalaxy @valkygwyn @verifiefangirl @verifiefangirl-mainblog @snickerdoodlechittybangbang @genya-berdara @katekatpattywack @frulyall @mercurianbisous @rainbowcheetah512

#omg here's the first chapter #i hope you like it <3 #gwynriel #my fic #acolas #acosf #acotar #nessian #elucien #gwynriel fanfiction #azriel #gwyn berdara #gwyn #gwyneth berdara

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sassyhobbits · 3 years

Note

Yes, another part please!😊

Would That I, part 2

ok, so i have given this HOF AU a title and have a vague idea of where its going. anyway, enjoy this part! its a bit longer than the first one!!

pt 1

~~~

Celaena wasn't sure how long she sat there, curled in a ball against the wall, clutching her chest, and trying to ground herself in a world that had suddenly been swept out from under her feet.

Mate.

It was all that was swirling around in her head. Just that. Celaena Sardothien, half-breed, had found her mate even though she wanted nothing to do with the sort. She had banished all parts of her Fae heritage after the king of Adarlan had butchered them across the continent. It had been so easy to forget that part of herself as she grew but now…

How could it be him? Her mate hadn’t been Sam or Dorian or Chaol but Rowan rutting Whitethorn. Celaena knew enough about the Fae to recognize a mating bond didn’t mean love but… this level of hate? It had to be a mistake.

Mate. He was her mate. Mate, mate, matematemate-

“Are you alright?”

Celaena’s wide eyes slowly lifted from the floor towards the figure standing before her, finding a tall woman hovering with a concerned look on her face. Female, Celaena had to remind herself upon seeing those delicately pointed ears. Not a woman.

When she didn’t respond, the female took a step closer, the torch light spilling onto her face and allowing Celaena a better look at her. Dark, angular eyes and silky black hair left tumbling down her back. She wore the same drab, functional clothes as the rest of the residents of Mistward. Her full lips pressed together tightly as she studied Celaena.

“Are you hurt?” the female asked, crouching down so that she was at the assassin’s eyelevel.

Celaena couldn’t will any words to her lips, not even something mean to score her some privacy. She didn’t deserve this female’s kindness, the concern in her kind eyes.

The stranger swallowed hard, seeming to understand that Celaena was in no position to be answering questions. She placed a hand over her chest before saying softly, “My name is Arya. I’ll take you somewhere you can rest.” Her lips tightened again, giving Celaena a once-over. “It looks like you could use something to eat too.”

Celaena didn’t have the fire within her to argue as Arya began to help her up from the stone ground, wrapping a surprisingly strong arm around her shoulders and guiding her slowly through the halls. She should have been more worried about where this stranger was taking her, but Celaena couldn’t find it within herself to really care.

She was vaguely aware of a few twists and turns down the halls, of curious eyes following her. Celaena got the impression that Mistward didn’t often see new faces.

Arya eventually opened a door and herded Celaena into a small, cozy room. There were a few other females scattered around, lounging on worn couches or sitting in little chairs by the fire. All of them looked towards her as Arya shut the door.

The demi-Fae female didn’t pay the others any mind, leading Celaena to a small seat and urging her to sit. “Leila, could you run down to the kitchens and ask Emrys for some tea?”

Celaena heard soft footfalls and the door opening and closing again, meaning whoever Leila was had followed Arya’s request.

Celaena glanced around the room, observing the other females in there with her. There were two others, both looking towards her with curiosity.

A towering female with dark brown skin took a step closer, nostrils flaring as she scented the air. Her eyes narrowed. “This is the one that just arrived with General Whitethorn.”

Celaena’s heart twisted in her chest at that damned name.

Arya blinked at the new information, about as much surprise as she would show. “What’s your name, girl?”

Celaena hesitated a moment before rasping, “Elentiya.” These strangers didn’t need to know who she was, Celaena or Aelin. It wasn’t any of their business.

Another female with pale skin and a mass of curly red hair came forward, green eyes running over her from head to toe before lingering on her face. “You’re hurt.”

Celaena reached up, running the tips of her fingers over her swollen bottom lip, feeling dried blood flake away. Right. She had forgotten about that. “It’s nothing.”

“Did Whitethorn do that?”

Celaena tensed, fingers curling into fists and looking down. “It doesn’t matter. I deserved it.”

There was pity on Arya’s face. A few weeks ago, Celaena likely would have clawed it out. But now…

The door swung open, a muscular female striding back in with a mug of steaming tea which she unceremoniously shoved into Celaena’s hands.

She held the mug tightly, glancing around at the four females surrounding her, waiting for one of them to say something.

Arya went first. “Well, Elentiya,” she said softly. “These are some of the female barracks. I’m Arya, this is Leila.” She inclined her head towards the female who had brought her tea who was stronger than many males Celaena had ever seen. Her dark hair shifted as she nodded her greeting. Then, Arya motioned towards the tall, dark-skinned female. “This is Sahala, and this-” a nod towards the red-head. “Is Eryn.”

Celaena said nothing, only wishing they would all stop looking at her. She took a sip of her tea to avoid the awkwardness.

“Do you know where you’re staying, Elentiya?” Eryn asked, those bright blue eyes wide and glimmering in the firelight.

Celaena blinked. No, Rowan hadn’t had the opportunity to show her where she would be staying before…

No, she didn’t want to think about that now.

Her silence said enough. Arya nodded slowly. “Well, we have an extra cot in here for you to rest your head for the night. Do you have a change of clothes?”

A shake of the head.

“I have some that should fit you,” Eryn offered. She raised a brow. “I’ll take you to the baths too.”

Celaena didn’t remember the rest of the night, drawing deep within herself. She barely remembered eating, taking a long soak, and changing. The females who offered her a place to stay seemed to understand that she wasn’t in the mood to speak, so they gave her some space.

Celaena was just thankful she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the thin pillow.

It meant she didn’t have to think about Rowan Whitethorn for a moment longer.

…

It wasn’t right.

None of this was right.

Rowan was furious. Beyond furious. That whiny brat, the would-be queen, couldn’t be who he thought she was. That feeling in his chest had to be a trick, a ruse of some sort.

But deep down he knew it wasn’t.

Aelin Galathynius, the princess-turned-assassin, was his mate.

It shouldn’t be possible, not after he had loved and lost Lyria. He had never heard of someone having two mates in a lifetime but… he knew someone who might know more than him.

People practically jumped out of his way as Rowan stalked through the halls. He couldn’t imagine he looked particularly pleasant at the moment, and he already had a shitty reputation here. He figured no one wished to be within a hundred feet of him.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Rowan knew he had left Aelin alone in a place she had never been, but he had other things to worry about first. Besides, he didn’t want anything to do with her at this moment.

Rowan’s feet led him down towards the kitchen. It seemed of freshly baking bread, and he could hear Emrys singing softly. He entered the warm kitchen, eyes immediately locking on the older male.

“You! Story-keeper!”

Emrys jumped, clearly not hearing Rowan’s approach. He placed down his knife and turned, wiping his hands on his dirty apron.

“What can I help you with, Prince?” Emrys asked, voice soft.

“Have you heard tales of someone finding more than one mate in a lifetime?”

Emrys blinked, surprised by the question. He placed his speckled hands flat on the old table before him, a furrow between his bushy brows. Rowan knew the question would raise suspicion, but Emrys knew better than to go blabbing about the compound.

“I have yet to hear stories of that sort,” the old male said before pausing. “Though I haven’t heard any stories negating the possibility either.”

“So you believe it is possible?”

Emrys shrugged. “Who am I to say, prince? I have found my mate, and I cannot imagine another person out there who I could love more but… the gods work in mysterious ways. Who’s to say that there isn’t more than one person out there in the world someone could be matched with?”

Rowan ground his jaw, frustrated that he wasn’t able to get more of a solid answer. Finding a mate at all was rare… finding two shouldn’t be possible.

And yet, here he was.

Gods, had it felt this intense when he had recognized Lyria as his mate? The feeling in his chest was near-overwhelming, but perhaps time and sorrow had muddied his memories of the female he had lost.

The compound felt much too small. He knew that Aelin was somewhere within these halls, somewhere far too close. He couldn't stay here any longer.

Without another word to the cook, Rowan strode from the kitchen out the back door. The moment he was in open air, he shifted and tore into the sky. He had a destination in mind, and place that would hopefully give him the time and space he needed to sort through the anger and confliction swirling inside of him.

He would worry about Aelin Galathynius later.

…

The next day, Celaena slept.

Rowan didn’t come to retrieve her, hadn’t said what would be expected of her during her stay at Mistward. She was in an unfamiliar land with unfamiliar people.

Deeply and terribly alone.

The females who let Celaena stay with them kept out of her way. Eryn had brought a plate of food to her which Celaena didn’t have to stomach to even look at. She was too busy trying to learn how to breathe, to think, to be, with that strange bond strangling her heart.

Sleeping was the easiest way to avoid it.

She heard the females whispering to one another, saying that Rowan Whitethorn had left the compound in a hurry yesterday without news of where he was heading. Celaena didn’t care. He had probably already given up on her. She would take a few days to rest before she left. She would find the information she needed some other way.

She was vaguely aware of the day turning to night, the females she was staying with all retiring to bed. They all said goodnight to one another. They didn’t say a thing to Celaena.

Her sleep was deep and dreamless. She had been fully intending to sleep the day away once more, but it seemed someone else had other plans.

The sensation of someone watching her awoke Celaena early that next morning. Her eyes slowly cracked open, vision beginning to clear only to find a male kneeled down beside her, far too close for comfort.

Celaena gasped, sitting up straight and scrambling rather ungracefully to the edge of her tiny cot. The male released a bark of laughter at her reaction.

“Come, now. Surely I’m not that hideous am I?” he chuckled. “In fact, I know I’m not.”

He was right, Celaena supposed. The male before her was unfairly beautiful with luminous, dark brown skin, tight, golden curls pulled back messily, and eyes that held laughter in him. His pointed ears and sharp canines showed his Fae heritage clearly, as did the insufferable swagger that seemed to ooze out of his pores.

“What the hell were you doing?!” Celaena snapped, wishing she had a weapon or something. But Rowan had taken those.

“I was studying you. I thought you’d be more frightening.”

“What?”

The male shrugged. “Well, I figured if you were able to scare off Whitethorn so easily you would have fangs or horns or scales or something. But no. You’re just about as pretty as I am.”

Celaena dug the heels of her palms into her eye, banishing the lingering fatigued. “Who are you?”

“You may call me Fenrys,” the male said, standing to his full height. “I’m one of Maeve’s bloodsworn. Like Rowan.”

“And what the rutting hell are you doing here?”

“Since Whitethorn had some sort of important, secret business to attend to, he asked me to come here for the time being.” Fenrys smiled widely. “I’m here to train you.”

#rowaelin #my writing #would that i #hof au

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sincka · 3 years

Text

If You Love Me || Sylki Fanfic

...really love me

Loki x Sylvie fanfiction

[LOKI FINALE SPOILERS]

dt @entertainmentforgods

(every mean comments about this ship will be deleted. If you don't like this ship, please just ignore.)

They did it, it was over. The impossible had come true.

Their heart beating wildly, the anguish of their uncertainty gradually fades as they understand the finality of it all.

Loki and Sylvie had joined forces to destroy the true mastermind of the TVA. The overpowered individual who pulled the strings behind the curtain.

The Goddess of Mischief dropped her bloodstained sword on the dark ground, making a loud metallic sound. He Who Remains had just gave his last breath.

Sylvie took a deep breath while staring at the inert body of the one who called himself The Conqueror. As Loki stood behind her, he watched her worriedly. She had just accomplished what she had fought for all her life. So many years feeding a justified anger towards one man, for it turned out that the Time Keepers were nothing but a sham. So many years of hiding, of surviving in the midst of so many apocalypses instead of just living fearlessly. Instead of living happily, instead of laughing, smiling, dancing, singing, enjoying the present moment, observing the universe and its many wonders without them being destroyed around her, loving and being loved in return... All of that was taken away from her, because The Ruler had decided to do so. Because only one man had made the decision to sacrifice her timeline and her family and those she loved. She had lost everything as a child, because a human had condemned her existence.

And now, the latter had just died. He had lived millions of lives, and the last had just ended, killed by the vengeful hand of an innocent orphan.

Slowly, Loki moved closer to her as he kept his eyes on her. Then when he was right behind her, he gently took her hand to try to get her out of her torpor. Her face turned to him as her gaze was drawn to the ground. She was still trying to regulate her breathing and realize the previous events.

"Come with me…" He half-murmurs, his blue eyes tinted with green watching his partner's reaction carefully, anxious to see her breaking down despite her strength to contain her emotions.

It was then that she nodded softly, still too absorbed by this decisive moment in her life. Sylvie turns to him with the intention of following him, no matter where he wanted to take her.

A few seconds later, both found themselves outside the entrance to the Citadel.

Loki went down the few steps, before sitting quietly on one of them. His teammate was not far away and she watched him get comfortable, while thousands of thoughts jostled in her mind. Curious, Loki brought his attention to her. When their eyes met, she began her steps to him to sit beside him on the step.

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she sat down comfortably, her eyes fixed in front of her, finally noticing the awe-inspiring beauty of the sacred timeline they both would have admired sooner if it were in a less disastrous context. But now as they ran after time, it was as if it has just stopped.

The variants observed this painting before them, this masterpiece born from space and the end of the universe. For a moment, a pleasant silence rocked them in a surreal dream. Their eyes shine brightly, illuminated by the cosmos and time materialised in a perfectly fluid and sparkling line. But also, their intense feelings took over and tears had formed.

Hesitant but at the same time strangely confident, Loki turned to Sylvie, only able to imagine how she felt now.

"You're okay ?" He dares to ask softly.

Suffering of an internal conflict, Sylvie keeps her eyes wide open and try to look indifferent.

"I accomplished my mission, how do you think I feel ?" She replies naturally, almost on the defensive.

"Relieved ?"

"Yeah, among other things." She confirms with obviousness.

Amused by her slightly aggressive responses which, according to him, are what make her what she is, the god of mischief ends up stretching a tender smirk, realizing that this tone will never leave her no matter the situations in which they find themselves, as dramatic and catastrophic as they may be.

Innocently, Sylvie ends up looking at her partner.

"Why do you smile ?" She asks.

He smiles a little more.

"The real question is... why don’t you ?" Loki retorts, eyebrows raised.

The Enchantress raised her eyebrows in turn, that desperate, lonely look that makes her charm appearing on her face. What to answer to that? She had learned that Loki was insightful about her, but she wasn't used to being the center of attention that much.

"Why seek answers to trivial questions." She asks rhetorically as she looks away from him.

After a while, Loki also turned away, dissatisfied with her answer but still preferring to let go.

"So this is it..." He starts. "It's done."

"It's done." Sylvie asserts, nodding her head a little.

His eyes going here and there, Odin's son was asking himself lots of questions. Including one in particular.

"What do we do now ?" He wonders, seeming lost.

Sylvie took a deep breath again, ignoring like him the future of events.

"Should we go back to the TVA ?" Loki continues, bringing his gaze back to the one person he trusted.

"Why ?" She asks softly. "They don't need us anymore."

"But we don't have to hide." He responds with a comforting smile. "We are their allies."

"Is that what you want, to go back to the TVA ? But to do what ?" She asks again, looking into his eyes.

He thought for a moment, trying to unravel this enigmatic knot, stepping into the unknown.

"The Sacred Timeline is free" He said, emphasizing the first words in an exaggerated and caricatural way. "Maybe once we get there, we can look for another timeline where we can... fit in ?"

A silence took hold of them, leaving for only words the looks they exchanged.

Sylvie then ends up lowering her gaze in the direction of her own hands, revealing between her fingers the object that the Conqueror kept around his hand. The tempad.

"How about we take a break, until one of us finds a place to go ?" She offers softly, lost in thought as she doesn't take her eyes off the object.

"What, here ?" Loki asks, uncertain and surprised by her answer.

"Why not..?" She replies, her eyebrows raised, her mind being elsewhere. "When you've seen thousands of apocalypses, The Void isn't as bad as it seems."

Loki takes the time to consider this idea, thinking about everything else. The members of the TVA, the sacred timeline that has become completely independent, the very few people to which he is attached. They had just accomplished something huge, should they just ignore the multitudes of consequences their act caused ?

"It's over, Loki." Sylvie said, looking up at him.

Again, his gaze plunged deeply into her eyes

"We did what we had to do." She continues, looking serene.

"What if they still need us ?" He asks, referring to the TVA, specifically Mobius and hunter B-15, the only two people who believed in them and offered their precious help.

Sylvie watched the sacred timeline as it gradually divided, and she sighed.

"I am tired." She admits, ignoring Loki's question. "And you ?"

Loki admired the many timelines that continued to split, before taking a deep breath.

"Yes, me too..." He answers softly, releasing his breath, releasing the pressure he had been holding since his arrival at the TVA and which he hadn't known he had kept in him all this time until now.

However, he couldn't shake off his negative thoughts and all his apprehensions about the completion of their mission and the impact it will have on the trillions of people the universe can create. The god of mischief had, against all odds, developed a conscience and a moral code. Yes, they had delivered the world by giving it back its free will. But for some reason that he didn't quite understand, he began to doubt.

And buried into his torment, Sylvie brought a comforting hand to his.

Loki laid his eyes on this delicate hand, yet belonging to that of a warrior, his heart missing a beat at the gentle contact of the one he had become crazy about. In this moment of complexity, in this major turning point for the multiverse, he almost forgot his feelings. He almost forgot the way they looked at each other in the Citadel as they walked into the darkness. He almost forgot the moment she had gripped his hand in the Void, in front of Alioth, hoping to help him unleash his enchantment powers.

Suddenly caught up in his emotions, he looked up uncertainly in the direction of his partner. Then, she gave him a brief smile, but oh so genuine. The same smile she had given him on Lamentis, while everything around them was death and destruction. Apparently everything was written. But he decided to ignore this detail that the conqueror had shared with too much pride.

Still confused by these unusual feelings, Loki returned that affectionate and heartwarming smile. Only, looking into her expressive eyes - but in the greatest secret, a loving gaze- he realized that the very thing he wanted above all now was to never leave her again. To stay by her side, as long as possible, even forever, better than that : beyond death. His desires made him all the more nervous. He never thought he would be so consumed by his moods, let alone by a loving emotion that possesses him more and more after each day he spends in her company. Nevertheless he wanted to seize this desire and make it come true.

This time, it is the TVA that he forgets, it is the universe that he neglect, it is the time that he ignores.

It is his glorious purpose that he gave up, because he found a new one...

"Sylvie..." He said, drunk with love for her. "I..."

"No, Loki, wait." Sylvie interrupts him, being totally lost and frightened at the same time. "I have to tell you something..."

"Yes ?" He asks, innocent, patient, in love.

She looked at him intensely, trying to express herself. Something seemed to upset her. Loki was trying to read into her eyes, to read her face, when no word could break the barrier of her lips. Disturbed by this confession, it turned out that it was getting stuck between the walls of her throat.

So the Prince of Asgard frowned, intrigued by the torture she was inflicting on herself through this mysterious revelation.

"I..." She starts before her lips instantly seal.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself for another attempt, as Loki's piercing, loving gaze dug into her pupils until it consumed her whole being.

When finally, in complete disarray, she ends up throwing herself at his neck.

Her lips crashed against his, tenderly, passionately but mostly timidly. Surprised but more than grateful for this proof of unexpected love, Loki was not long in returning her kiss with just as much fervor.

Sylvie had never been attached to anyone. She never wanted to be weak because of her feelings. She would never have dedicated herself to someone body and soul, for trusting and breaking down the imposing and solid walls she had built around her was inconceivable. And yet, faced with the many selfless acts of the one who had irrupted into her plan, she had found herself giving him importance. She hated knowing that she was only considering trusting him. She hated the fact that he could climb these walls she had locked herself between.

Worse yet, she was terrified to find herself reaching out to help him climb.

Eyes closed, they kissed each other with fragility, embarrassed to feel such intense emotions but oh how much they surrendered to them.

Sitting side by side, they relished this moment of sincerity and calm after all they had endured. The highlight of their journey. The completion of a battle for freedom, the same cause that the rightful king of Asgard fought against to make it inaccessible to the people of the earth. This cause that he finally chose to defend ; for him at the beginning, but for her on the way, and for the others at the end of their fight.

Slowly, they parted. Loki then dared to rest his forehead tenderly against hers. They kept their eyes closed, as if to immortalized this moment in their memories, for who knows what might happen to them tomorrow.

That's why he whispered these few words :

"You're right, I... I'm a little tired..." He admitted again hesitantly, unsettled by this moment of pure sincerity.

Keeping her forehead against his, Sylvie nodded gently, not daring to open her eyes to face the truth she still had trouble swallowing.

"Let's stay here..." Loki continues.

"Only for a little while." She continues nervously, muttering her desires like him, probably too afraid that someone will hear them or too embarrassed to admit she is weak in front of him, while he is weak in front of her.

"Yes, after all... If something goes wrong, they know where to find us, right ?" He responds with a raised eyebrow as he still kept his eyes closed, trying to reassure himself by making excuses to stay.

"Yeah, of course, nothing prevents Mobius from coming back here." She confirmed casually.

"Well, unless... Unless he had to prune himself." He said worriedly. "But it’s not as if we have no way to reach them !" He adds anyway, optimistic and trying not to feel guilty.

“Yes ! We have the--” She mimics his optimism, as she pulls away from his forehead to observe the object in her free hand.

"T-the tempad..." He confirms by muttering and nodding his head, bringing in turn his attention to the latter.

The taste of her lips was still too present on Loki's for him to think properly. However, he was trying.

Shyly, he finally looked at her again, a quiet smile displayed on his face.

Of course, Sylvie had noticed it. How to ignore him ? So, embarrassed, she gave him an uncertain look, having no idea how they should react now. After all, despite their thousand years of life, the variants had never really been devoted to feelings or romance that seemed more than superfluous and unnecessary at the time. Although they were aware of their emotions, repressed or not, knowing how to react to them was still an area to be explored.

The landscape around them gradually brought her back to reality. Then, looking worried, she turned her gaze to the entrance to the Citadel. She remembered the corpse of the He Who Remains, the one who had wiped out her timeline and certainly thousands more.

Loki frowned, noticing the change in expression on his partner's face.

"Are you sure you’re okay ?" He asks once more with patience.

Lost in thought, Sylvie continued to look at the place where everything had changed with a blank stare.

"No..." she sighs slowly.

The god of mischief was envious to possess the complicated mind of his variant for the sole purpose of finding the source of her ill-being. It would be enough for him to touch her to enchant her, now that he knows the secrets of enchantment. However, would he dare ? He hesitated for a fraction of a second, before totally rejecting the idea away from him. He was incapable of defying her trust, for he knew full well that he would risk a lot if he tried. Especially since he was still cruelly lacking in experience concerning enchantments.

"But when I wake up tomorrow knowing that the one responsible for all this horror is only a memory, then I could savor every second of my life." She asserts returning her attention to Loki as if nothing had happened, speaking with confidence and lightness.

Perplexed but somewhat reassured, he just nodded briefly, straining to accept her answer. However, something in him told him that she wasn't being entirely truthful.

"...Glorious purpose." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Mh..." She only answers, a quiet smirk nestling in the corner of her lips.

Calm eventually took over. Neither of them spoke, only watching the story of trillions of lives forming before their eyes in those many fluorescent lines.

"We're not leaving." He speaks up, his statement sounding more like a question mark.

"We're not leaving." She repeats with a little more conviction than him.

Slowly, he finally took a light breath, before sighing in contentment.

After an extremely difficult journey that could have cost them their lives, even though the Ruler had decided that they would be spared so that they could both achieve their goal, they were going to be able to rest, they were going to be able to breathe. Because even if the gods have more ability than humans to resist fatigue and pain, they could do nothing before the effervescence of their emotions. And as tough as they could be, they were tired, mentally and physically.

Thereupon, on this mutual agreement, the two variants had decided that it was time for them to rest for a while. They didn’t know what they were going to do. But they had decided to figure this out…

Together.

#sylki #pro sylki #sylki fanfiction #sylkie #love is a dagger #loki x sylvie #loki spoilers #loki series #tom hiddleston #sophia di martino #loki #loki fanfic #sylvie #sylki au

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roc-writes · 3 years

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-Laughs Nervously- What am I dooOIIIINNGGGG @prof-peach Well Obviously I’m writing but like, I just....? Goodness I’m sorry. Small backstory, I’ve wanted to write about my pokemon ranger OC and her partner for a While now. And your blog inspires me a lot! So I wrote a tiny little something! Under the Read More!

With her legs leaning over and out of the ship, a grinning pokemon ranger observed as the sight of land drew ever closer. She inhaled the salty tang of the air deeply. “Ahhhhh…! Can you smell that in the air, Sheva?” She asked her Flygon who was leaning their upper body over the protective railing of the ship where its trainer was haphazardly perched. Sheva trilled back, making the ranger laugh. “Same here, I can’t smell ANYTHING other than the seawater!! This is nothing like where we’ve been stationed for the past six months! Johto is absolutely beautiful!” Breaking the peace and comfort of the ferry trip, she felt her pokemon partner press its face into her chest with a small whimper. She rubbed Sheva’s snout affectionately, carting her free hand through the soft fluff that decorated her Flygon’s chest.

“Rrrrrnnn!” Sheva protested, whining.

“I know, I know… It’s scary to think of the reason why we’re headed to Dotaku Island in the first place. But Sheva, Professors Peach and Grey will be able to help you get back into the sky again. And then we can fly across all of Orre just like we used to, we can be official partners again. Just promise me you won’t push them away out of stubbornness.” Before Sheva could respond, the pair heard the ferry captain’s voice on the speakers

“Now docking at Dotaku Isle.”

“Wonderful! Sheva, let's get down and confirm our appointment with Professor Grey!”

~*~

“Oh, San! You made it in person, that’s wonderful news.” San turned her head to the voice that called her, smiling wide when she recognized it was Professor Grey. The young ranger cantered over to the professor, happy that he recognized her so quickly. The two had been in contact over the last few weeks, trying to figure out the exact needs for Sheva and whether she would be better off with prosthetics or a regimen for therapy.

“Of course I did! When you offered to examine Sheva, I was overjoyed I couldn’t stop thinking about it in every waking hour I had! I would have come sooner too, if I wasn’t in a constant kerfuffle with the Orre Police Department trying to get official leave for this trip.” Grey offered a sympathetic smile to her.

“As I understand, you are one of the few pokemon rangers partnered with the Orre force that isn’t stationed in Pyrite, correct?” San exhaled harshly, shaking her head.

“Yes, I’m helping create and clear space for the new Pokemon HQ Lab by day, and in the evening it's usually only Sheva and I who can patrol the sun-parched dunes of the desert.” The exhaustion from San’s almost nonstop efforts to keep the region safe from the likes of danger must have permanently etched themselves onto the creases on her face and the weariness of her limbs by now. She couldn’t remember the last time she even did something for herself.

“I understand, I’m especially relieved you were able to make it then! Now, where’s your partner? In her pokeball?” San shook her head.

“Oh no! Sheva never goes into her pokeball. In fact I don’t even think I bring it with me on the regular.” There was a moment of pause.

“I see… So where is your partner now? You said she was grounded and unable to fly still.” A panic set into San’s body, shaking off her obliviousness to the world around her.

“Sheva? SHEVA?!” Sheva couldn’t have gone far, she felt the dragon pokemon’s claws on her shoulders just moments ago before she went to greet Professor Grey.

“Now, aren’t you the most curious thing I ever did see on a Saturday morning!” San and the professor quickly made their way over, the former of which placed a hand on her chest to calm her beating heart. Sheva was in one of the most capable hands on the island, Professor Peach was already eyeing Sheva with what seemed to be delight and fascination.

“Ah there you are, Sheva! Making friends? And here I was worried you’d be too apprehensive!” Sheva turned to San and crooned delightedly as Peach found one of her favorite spots to be scratched just under its chin.

“I see… You certainly have more wings than I was expecting to see on a Flygon, and you’re spotting some of the softest down I’ve felt on any dragon type I’ve had the pleasure to meet. Ataria descended, maybe? Not quite. Hmm, oh… No! One of your parents must have been a Volcarona!” San couldn’t help but smile as Peach affectionately regarded Sheva, and only snapped out of her stupor when Sheva placed its chin over its trainer’s head.

“H-hello Professor Peach! My name is San and I’ve travelled from Orre in search of some guidance and help for my partner Sheva. Do you think you can help us?”

~*~*~*~

Some small notes in case anyone was wondering:

San is a trainer originally from Unova but was stationed in the Orre Region after graduating from the ranger academy. Sheva is her Volcarona-variant Flygon because I’m absolutely OBSESSED with the idea of pokemon variants and I wanted to include two of my favorite pokemon that can actually breed in the games.

Sheva has more than one pair of wings, I can’t decide if she’d have four or six wings total, but two of them were torn from a bad encounter with Team Snagem who was after Sheva because she was a strange looking pokemon and fully evolved. Sheva also has some chest fluff like Volcarona does! Sheva loves to be petted on the chest and chin especially

Sheva cannot fly as of now, whether it is due to the trauma of the attack or because she’s not used to using one less pair of wings is what San is trying to figure out. That’s why she arrived on the island seeking help and counsel from Professor Grey who is the expert in prosthetics just in case Sheva might need some to fly again.

And I plan on writing a little more down the line too! I have a few ideas of San and Sheva on Dotaku island that I’d like to explore in time.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Ranger #Pokemon OC #prof. peach #First Post Who Dis #LITERALLY #This is my first post and it was just what came to mind #Listen I love Pokemon and I LOVE your blog and got excited #when you said you don't mind our OCs interacting with your corner of the world #Hope its not terrible aaaaa

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novelconcepts · 4 years

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fic: walking with the lady

Every movie, every book, every story about the horrors of letting in the ghosts has prepared Dani for the constant state of alarm. The panic. The discomfort of the situation.

Not a single goddamn one told her how stupid it would be.

***

The first time Viola Lloyd rears her spectral head outside of a dream, Dani is doing her best to enjoy an incredibly pleasant spring morning. She’s been having strange thoughts--strange echoes of night terrors that have been escalating, images weaving as though shot from the depths of some great ocean--for a few months now. Has been trying her very best to take Jamie’s advice and not worry about it. One day at a time. Stop gazing into every reflective surface in the county and just...live.

And she’s been doing that, she thinks, with a decent amount of peaceful abandon for a woman carrying an unknown beast in the depths of her psyche. She’s traveled. She’s seen much of America, and more of Jamie. She’s learned she’ll never get any better at tea, that she’s honestly not terrible at pasta, that she can talk the ear off old women who just want to stop and smell the flowers. It’s been a serene six, seven, eight years, if she lays them all end to end, and she’s glad of it.

But the dreams are coming faster now. With more regularity. Long stretches of night fade into black and white, into memories she can feel with her whole body, but knows aren’t her own. Corsets and sweeping skirts, a sister she never had, a husband. A child. None of this belongs to Dani, so it must be her, mustn’t it?

It scares her. She talks about it to Jamie when she wakes--sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the middle of the night; whether she’s truly awake or not, Jamie always listens. They always hunker back down, holding tight to one another, Jamie whispering into her hair that you’re still here, you’re still you, it’s all okay, Poppins. It helps, as much as anything’s going to.

What doesn’t help is sitting here on this park bench, a list of shopping plans open in her lap, and hearing--hearing isn’t even the right word for it, it’s like a ringing voice coming up from the very back of her head--someone say, “And what on earth is that?”

Dani sits straight upright, every line of her body rigid with fear. “What...is what?”

She’s said the words out loud, she realizes when an elderly man with a basket of stale bread turns slowly to look at her. Her mouth twists itself into a rictus grin of apology, and he shuffles off, looking very much like a man prepared for his own murder at the hands of a lunatic schoolteacher.

“Well,” the voice says, coolly amused. “That was embarrassing for us both.”

What, Dani thinks, the fuck is going on?

“What’s going on,” Viola Lloyd’s deep, accented voice says, “is truly beyond my knowledge. Do you know the last time I had this many thoughts of my own? Must have been...oh, three hundred years, now...”

Why, Dani thinks furiously, are you having them now?

“I certainly couldn't say.” Viola sounds astonished. “The last I recall, I was trying to reclaim my child--”

Flora, Dani interrupts with a rush of anger, was not your child.

She imagines she can feel Viola’s hand flip to and fro, carelessly. “It’s all apples in the end, isn’t it?”

She’s clenching her fists in her lap, she realizes, as if there’s anything to fight. As if she could ward Viola off from inside her own body.

“Oh,” Viola says coolly, “I wouldn’t worry just yet. I couldn’t say for sure--it’s all rather new, you must understand--but I don’t think I could do anything to you. Not yet. Look, here, I’ll try...”

Dani’s muscles strain against an invisible force that never comes. Viola chuckles.

“See? Nothing. The lights are on, my dear, but none but you is really home.”

Then why are you awake? Dani demands.

“Not a clue, darling. It’s nice, though, isn’t it? You really take it for granted in life.”

Take what for--

“Seeing,” Viola breathes. “I haven’t seen anything properly in centuries. I’d forgotten how bright the world was. How full of...color.”

Is it Dani’s imagination, or does Viola’s tone hold an edge of disgust on that final word?

“So, again, I find myself asking. What on earth do you call that?”

Dani allows instinct to turn her head, somehow sensing the direction Viola wishes for her to look. She finds herself staring at a young child playing at her mother’s feet.

I--it’s... And it’s here, in this moment, faced with the nearly impossible task of explaining to the 400-year-old ghost woman who shares her body what a Slinky is for that Dani Clayton decides this whole cohabitation thing might have been a mistake.

***

“Hang on,” Jamie says. “Hang on, she’s awake in there?”

Dani, folded nearly double on their couch with her face in her hands, nods. Her head is pounding. Viola has been, ah, what’s the polite way to put it? Running her mouth. For nearly four hours.

“She’s got some...opinions,” Dani mumbles into her cupped hands. Jamie stops rubbing light circles into her back, curious.

“About what?”

“Might be a shorter list, to ask what she doesn’t have an opinion about,” Dani says. At the back of her head, she feels Viola cross her arms.

“This sounds like you are on the path to impudence, Miss Clayton.”

“But hang on, I thought--” Jamie seems to be choosing her words carefully. “I thought she was just sort of...in there. Tucked away, like the kids said. What do you mean she can see?”

Dani blows out a long breath, wishing dearly for a cigarette. “I don’t know, Jamie, I’m not the authority on carrying Victorian women around in my skull.”

“Bit nearer to it than me, Poppins.” Jamie’s smiling, plainly trying to make her feel better. Dani turns to glower at her.

“I love you very much. Please don’t test me right now. She hasn’t stopped talking for more than twenty minutes all afternoon.”

Jamie raises her hands in surrender. “Can she...can she see me now?”

“Tell her,” Viola says. “Tell her I can see her, and her mannishly-inappropriate hairstyle.”

“I will not be saying that,” Dani mutters. Jamie raises an eyebrow.

“Are you having a conversation now? What’s she saying?”

“Please let her know I find her insistence upon men’s trousers silly at best, her blouses are entirely too loose, and I am bewildered by the wealth of ankle she seems to find appropriate in mixed company--”

“She says you have a nice smile,” Dani says. Jamie’s eyebrows raise to her hairline. Viola makes a horrible little noise of revulsion.

“How dare you place words in my mouth!”

“You are absolutely not telling me the truth, are you?” Jamie says in the same moment. Dani groans.

“Aspirin. I am going to need so much aspirin.”

***

It’s not all the time, thankfully; Dani thinks she’d go mad if Viola were truly there at all hours, yammering away about silks and petticoats and the good old days when a person could just drop dead of the plague with no notice. Sometimes, Viola even goes days at a stretch without saying a word, as though she’s sunk back to sleep in whatever little corner of Dani’s mind she calls a bedroom.

And then, like a thunderstorm, she emerges once more. Usually with something snappy and irritating to share with Dani.

“Are we really wearing that?”

“There is no we, Viola,” Dani grumbles. She’s in the process of trying to choose between a flower-patterned dress and a denim vest, unable to gauge what kind of day it’s going to be when she steps out of the closet and into the chaos. Business has been booming down at The Leafling, which is wonderful, but more than a little overwhelming. And Jamie, god love her, has taken to watching Dani when she thinks Dani won’t notice, always with this worried little crease between her eyes.

It’s making her crazy, if she’s honest about it. Jamie isn’t the worrier in the relationship, and watching her slip into the role is making Dani feel worse about the whole situation. She needs Jamie to tell her it’s all fine, it’s all perfectly all right, they’re going to make it through this new weirdness together no problem.

“My dear, we became a we the night you said the magic words,” Viola says, a bit pettily. “Or have you forgotten me already?”

“How,” Dani grits out, “on earth am I supposed to forget you? Feel like I spend every day just...waiting for you to spring up and ask some idiotic question about cars or airplanes or deodorant--”

“For a schoolteacher, you surely lack for patience, Miss Clayton.”

Dani closes her eyes, searching for strength. Her hands grope, landing on dress and vest and yanking them free. “You know what? Both. We’re doing both today.”

“We most certainly are not! Not even a glove to be found? And again with the florals! We’ve been over how tacky the florals are, Miss Clayton. Miss Clayton, are you listening?”

“No,” Dani says decisively, wriggling into the layers and looking around for her chunkiest pair of earrings.

“You are the scandal of the town, Miss Clayton,” Viola sniffs.

***

“Does she, ah...watch when we do this?”

Dani groans. They’d been having such a nice evening--an old movie fading slowly into wandering hands, Jamie’s mouth making its way down her neck, Jamie’s fingers slipping beneath the hem of her shirt and tickling her ribs. She’d just flipped Jamie onto her back, was just looking to remove the deeply inconvenient articles of cloth between them, when Jamie pressed a palm lightly against her chest.

“Not trying to be weird about it,” Jamie says, breathless. Her eyes are dark and heavy; though she’s stopped Dani moving closer, one of her legs has wound around Dani’s hip, easing her in. It’s giving Dani the worst kind of mixed message, to say the least.

“Would you like us to put this sort of thing on hold until I find a way to exorcise the demon from my head, Jamie?”

“I did not say that. I decidedly said nothing of the kind.”

Dani lets her head fall forward, covering Jamie’s face in a fall of blonde. “Sorry. That was snippy. I just...I don’t know the answer. She’s...” She tilts her head, eyes shut, searching. “Quiet. For now.”

Jamie brushes her hair back, cups the side of her face, thumb moving in a slow arc across her cheekbone. “S’all right then. Can’t blame me being curious, can you? I mean, it’s not every day you find a third party sneaks into your bed.”

Dani leans into the soft stroke of her hand, sighing. “I don’t like it, either, you know. She’s so...judgey. I hadn’t realized ghosts could be judgey.”

“What’s she judging?” The hand on her chest slides, gripping a fistful of her shirt, pulling her toward Jamie. Dani sighs again, letting Jamie kiss her with the soft determination of someone apologizing for stopping this train in the first place.

“Me,” she murmurs against Jamie’s lips. “You.”

“Me?” Jamie sounds affronted. “What’s there to judge about me, I’m a bloody peach.”

Dani laughs, bites her lower lip until Jamie groans. “It’s not anything personal. It’s just...the whole world is so different from what she remembers. There’s TV, jean shorts, women out there having jobs and lives without consent of their husbands...for her, it must be the Wild West.”

“Judges what she doesn’t understand, is that it?” Jamie is doing an admirable job of pretending to still be invested in this conversation, even as her hands are making short work of Dani’s sweatpants. Dani sucks in a breath.

“I guess. Yeah. Can’t blame her for that, really.”

Jamie mulls this over, fingers tracing hipbone. Her nails bite gently into soft skin. “Does she judge us for this, I wonder?”

“Do you care?”

“Not,” Jamie says, twisting her hand and bringing their mouths together hard, “in the least.”

***

“Put it out the window.”

“I am not putting it out the window, Viola.”

“Down a flight of stairs, then! What in all cosmic reaches of hell is this for, if not throwing it somewhere it can never harm another soul again!”

Dani exhales through her nose, slowly, embracing every meditative memory of dealing with errant children. “I am not,” she says slowly to the empty apartment, “going to throw my television anywhere. And I'd really appreciate it if you’d stop making that suggestion every time I turn it on.”

“You are letting your soul rot from the inside out with this filth!” Viola is all but shrieking. Dani imagines her pacing back and forth, back and forth, her hands wild. “Your moral fiber, Miss Clayton. What of your moral fiber?”

“If MTV rots away one’s moral fiber,” Dani says, as calmly as she knows how, “then I suspect we’re all lost causes, anyway.”

Viola is silent for such a long time, Dani thinks she’s done the trick. She turns her attention back to the laundry she’s been folding to the tune of Janet Jackson. Her head bobs gently in time as the videos shuffle past--Madonna, Michael, Paula, George. Then, with the hour change, newer fare. She’s still getting around to some of these artists, still trying to work out how she feels about them.

"Did you hear that?” Viola seethes. “What was that about an anaconda? Is this man suggesting we feed a woman to snakes? What barbarism do your people accept in this age?”

Dani folds a pair of Jamie’s socks with such deliberate care, she nearly forgets to breathe while doing it.

“Moral fiber,” Viola hisses. “Moral fiber is wasted on this age of nudity and...and...hammertime.”

Dani finds herself desperately invested in ironing the wrinkles out of a pair of jeans with her hand until Viola goes quiet again.

***

“You could have such nice hair,” Viola croons. “Such nice hair, if you would only put them away...”

“They’re convenient,” Dani says, scraping her hair back into a pink scrunchie. Viola makes a noise of disgust.

“They’re abhorrent. Honestly, your time and its...fashions. What do you call this?”

She’s gesturing toward the bathroom counter, to the little basket that holds all the hair supplies. Dani sighs.

“It’s a headband, Viola. We like headbands. They keep the hair out of our eyes.”

“There are other ways. Fine hats. Lovely veils. Why don’t you own any lovely veils, Dani, do you want the common folk seeing your every decision in your eyes?”

Dani reaches for the hairspray. Behind her, Jamie bustles in with shirt half-buttoned, suspenders swinging around her thighs. Viola makes another catty little noise.

“Any news?” Jamie asks, reaching around for a hairbrush and kissing Dani’s cheek.

“She doesn’t like scrunchies,” Dani reports. “And she’s started calling me Dani.”

Jamie frowns. “Good sign or bad?”

“Impossible to guess.”

“Tell her you want some veils,” Viola says sweetly. “And for her to learn the value of a fine skirt.”

Dani, ignoring this, reaches around the back of Jamie’s neck and pulls her into a searing kiss. Jamie drops the hairbrush with a clatter, leaning Dani back against the counter and gripping the small of her back like she’s suddenly forgotten they’re both late for work.

When they break apart, they’re both flushed, Dani giggling into the underside of Jamie’s jaw, Jamie’s eyes glazed. In the back of her mind, she hears Viola sigh.

“That is truly childish, you know.”

***

It’s kind of an accidental habit, punishing her inner ghost for bad behavior by channeling her frustrations into sex. She couldn’t explain it if she tried, except to say Viola does tend to shut up when Dani’s properly distracted. Maybe it’s just the way the connection works, thinner when Dani isn’t willing to give it energy. Maybe Viola’s embarrassed. Either way, a year after Viola first speaks, her life with Jamie burns hotter than it ever has.

It’s best when Viola is trying to run her mouth over Jamie’s fashion sense, she’s noticed. It is, in fact, the only way to shut Viola up about the aforementioned fashion sense. Which Dani intellectually understands; coming up from a world 400 years away, where women dressed in endless layers and a person’s value was often found in the shine of her jewels and the rich fabric of her skirts, slamming face-first into the 1990s must have been a trip. Truly, Viola is lucky Dani didn’t cart her out of that lake earlier. If she thinks scrunchies are bad, she should have seen the heyday of shoulder pads.

Honestly, though, the worst thing is listening to Viola trill on about how much better Jamie could look if she’d only bow to the whims of femininity. Jamie, whose primary word on fashion has always been “can I dig a hole in this?” is perfect just the way she is. In fact, as the years go on and her jeans grow cuffs, her shorts grow shorter, her tops crop midway up her stomach, Dani thinks the world is finally suiting Jamie instead of the other way around.

“She’s prancing around for the world to see--”

“It’s ninety-six degrees out,” Dani says in a low voice. She understands these conversations with Viola can be internalized, but she tends to wind up wearing this distant expression every time, and Jamie can spot it a mile off. Best to just mutter aloud in the sanctity of their own home.

“She’s walking her wares up and down the block,” Viola rages on. “Not a shawl to be seen!”

“Jamie,” Dani calls from the kitchen, “have you ever in your life worn a shawl?”

“That’s, uh, one of those blankets with the fringy bits, yeah?” Jamie calls back. She’s bent over the air conditioning unit, trying to coax life into the old girl. The cropped line of her black t-shirt rides up her back, revealing glistening skin. Dani tips her head to enjoy the view. “I’ll pass on account of any blanket in this heat being like to kill me.”

“Best not to test it,” Dani agrees. Viola heaves the longest-suffering sigh Dani’s ever heard.

“It doesn’t bother you in the least, your woman out there, where anyone could see her...her bare stomach!”

“One,” Dani says coolly, “she’s my girlfriend, not my woman. Two, I’ve never once tried to dictate her clothing, and I’m not stopping because a dead woman insists. Three, I happen to like it.”

“Like what?” Jamie strolls back to her, pushing sweaty hair off her forehead with a sigh. She stops a few inches away, rocking back and forth on her heels like she wants nothing more than to close the distance despite the mind-numbing heat.

“Viola is commenting upon your more risqué clothing choices.”

“What? This?” Jamie grasps the exceedingly high-cut hem of her shirt and tugs it gently upward, teasing. “What’s her problem with all this?”

“It’s on display, evidently.”

“As it should be,” Jamie says almost primly. “I’m a fine specimen to behold. Learn to enjoy it, love, it’ll be faster than trying to change the view.”

This last, she says in a slightly louder voice, as though speaking to the shadow behind Dani’s eyes. She’s grinning, and Dani has time to think how strange it is, how quickly they’ve learned to accommodate Viola’s appearances into their conversations--Jamie has taken to leaving beats between her sentences, allowing for Dani to process two people speaking at once--before Jamie is wrapping both arms around her and lifting her off the floor. She squeals in surprise, delight turning to desire as Jamie licks a bead of sweat from her neck.

“Not again,” Viola sighs. “You’ll wake the whole village.”

“Apartment,” Dani corrects, catching Jamie by the jaw and kissing her hungrily. It’s too hot for this, probably, but she can’t quite remember how to care when Jamie pulls free of her grasp and slides to her knees, taking Dani’s skirt with her.

“It’s a nightmare, regardless.”

***

Eventually, Viola proves herself capable of learning a thing or two. Namely, that she is welcome to run commentary on anyone in the world except for Jamie.

Even old ghosts can learn new tricks, apparently, although it takes a number of months, a great deal of sex, and one memorable weekend in which--upon Viola raging over every article in Jamie’s side of the closet for half an hour--Dani simply removed the option of clothing from Viola’s sight altogether.

“This,” Jamie panted, both of them on the floor with a sheet draped over their tangled limbs, “is working for me in the weirdest way, Poppins.”

“I think she’s really starting to hate me,” Dani said conversationally, even as her fingers slipped between Jamie’s legs yet again. Jamie’s hips rose to meet her, one hand burying itself in her hair.

“Well, that makes one of us, doesn’t it?”

***

Not commenting on Jamie, naturally, does nothing to stop Viola talking about every other goddamn thing in the world.

“We’re going to have to have a long talk about not shaming women for their bodies, you know,” Dani tells her one afternoon. Viola has been tearing a young woman to pieces over her short skirt, furious that someone so pristine could soil herself with such impunity. Dani must be getting used to this in the weirdest way possible, because this kind of floral language is starting to feel second-nature.

“I would never shame anyone,” Viola protests. “I am simply stating fact. Men do not value women as it is, and while we may win their games, we get nowhere at all if we do not play them.”

“This isn’t a game, Viola, it’s her life. Her body. She can do whatever she likes with it.”

“But I want her to succeed,” Viola insists. There’s an almost disconcerting eagerness to the words. She really truly believes what she’s saying. “A woman viewed as nothing more than a strumpet will have an even more difficult time securing a dowry, and then where will she be?”

“In college?” Dani suggests blithely. “Traveling? Living isn’t just for men, Viola, I know you know this. You refused the oath of obedience on your wedding day.”

“Of course it’s not for men’s sake alone, but when the law--”

“The law is different here,” Dani says, almost gently. “Has been for a long time. Or haven’t you noticed how well Jamie and I get along without a man to be found?”

Viola’s silence stretches so long, Dani’s sure she’s either gone back to sleep or is finally choosing this moment to let the ugly banner of homophobia unfurl. She’s been waiting for this moment for years, it seems, waiting for the ghost in her head to mimic her mother on the one and only occasion she attempted to send home a letter.

“You’re different,” Viola says at last, very softly. Dani blinks.

“Pardon?”

“You’re different,” Viola repeats. “Jamie is your forever. Does that young girl have her forever, Miss Clayton?”

“Well--I don't know, I don’t suppose it’s my business--”

“Perhaps she will find it in one like our Jamie,” Viola says impatiently. “But perhaps she will find instead the stones of men who have not, over four centuries, really changed all that much. Is it so wrong of me, to have a mother’s care for that?”

Dani doesn’t know how to answer. Doesn’t have the first idea, when faced with a Viola who is not simply catty for cattiness’ sake, but genuine. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, unable to find argument.

“We just. We just don’t pick on girls for what they do with their bodies, all right? It’s...it’s cruel, and it isn’t necessary.”

Viola sighs. “Fine. But we still ought to discuss the pattern choices. Those polka dots are not flattering in the least.”

It’s only later, watching Jamie chop carrots for dinner, that Dani realizes Viola had said our. Our Jamie.

“Oh sweet Christ,” she mumbles.

***

The change is slow. Subtle. If not for the fact of carrying this woman in her head, Dani’s not sure she even would have noticed.

“She what?” Jamie looks up from the plant she’s tending, fingernails grimed with soil, wedding ring carefully strung upon a thick chain around her neck until she can clean up again. “She...sorry, what?”

“I can’t be sure,” Dani muses. “It sounds...crazy. But I think she’s starting to like you.”

“Well, sure,” Jamie laughs. “I’m a deeply likable human being. But this is the Lady, yeah? Same one who dragged Peter fucking Quint to his death? Same one who thinks I show too much skin?”

“I’m...not convinced she thinks that anymore.” It’s really hard to say for sure. On the one hand, it’s possible Viola has shut up about Jamie’s shorn sleeves and shorts because every time she mentioned either, Dani made it her personal life’s mission to make sure Jamie never wore anything else around the house. On the other...

“I think she looked at your butt the other day.”

Jamie raises her eyes slowly, brow furrowing. “Can she do that? Turn your eyes to something you weren’t already looking at?”

“No,” Dani says, a bit stiffly, all too aware of stepping into the trap. Jamie grins.

“Thought not.”

“But it was different,” Dani presses on through flushing cheeks. “I mean--even if I was already looking, she was--I mean--she--”

She doesn’t know how to explain it. How the rumble in her chest, already so familiar at the sight of Jamie puttering around their home, had seemed to expand until it encompassed all of her. How it was like someone had turned the heat in the room to its breaking point.

“I can just tell, okay?” she says, aggrieved. “She looked at your butt, and she liked it.”

Jamie makes a thoughtful face, brushing dirt off her hands with slow, deliberate motions. “So...what you’re saying is...your personal ghostie has a crush on your wife?”

Dani presses her face against the counter, letting the cool metal relieve her blush. “Shit. Yeah. I think she might.”

“This is,” Jamie says triumphantly, pressing up against Dani from behind and kissing the back of her neck, “the funniest thing that has ever happened, by a country goddamn mile.”

***

A series of events, cascading in short order, that Dani almost actually feels bad about. If one could feel guilty about putting strain on one’s personal-pan Casper.

The Britney Spears video, for one. Viola still does not like music videos--or music, frankly, unless it involves a ridiculous number of flutes and orchestral swells--but she’s grown to tolerate them. Mostly.

That is, until Britney sways onscreen in a plaid skirt and schoolgirl pigtails.

“Fuck,” Dani gasps, hand coming down hard against her own breastbone. It’s like someone grabbed the dial on her blood pressure and cranked it all the way up. That someone, she suspects, being the dead woman who has been more and more present of late.

“I--I cannot--I simply am not capable of understanding--” Viola sounds like she’s short-circuiting. “I know we are not meant to comment, but what on earth is she doing?!”

“Dancing,” Dani says sharply, trying to coax her breathing back down. Is this what a stroke feels like? Is her fucking ghost roommate giving her an actual stroke? “Viola, you’ve seen dancing.”

“She is so young! She is a child! Who is protecting this person from the world?” Viola is furious. Viola is exploding. Dani sort of wonders if her chest is going to explode, too.

“She’s...a pop star. This is what they get paid lots and lots of money to do.” It’s a bad answer, she knows. These videos make her a little uncomfortable too, when she thinks on them too long. But Viola? Viola’s rage is a towering beast of a thing. For a minute, lungs scraping at the air, Dani is genuinely afraid this is the point where the switch flips. Where she finds herself staring at the room from the back of her own head.

“Someone,” Viola says in a low, terrible voice, “must protect these children.”

It takes almost an hour to calm her down. Dani doesn’t turn MTV back on for a while after that.

***

“The. The moon?” The opposite end of the emotional spectrum this time. If Viola had been nearly apoplectic over Britney’s choreography, she now sounds faint.

“You should have floated that a bit more softly,” Dani tells Jamie, who looks confused.

“Float what, all I did was mention NASA--”

“The moon,” Viola repeats. “We have seen. The moon.”

“She’s having trouble with the moon landing,” Dani says. Jamie waves her hands helplessly.

“Poppins, I have trouble understanding the geography of Texas, we all have problems.”

“We have,” Viola breathes, “stepped foot. Upon. The moon.”

Dani pours herself another large glass of wine.

***

“How’s this, then?” Jamie gives a very small, somewhat self-conscious twirl. “Too much? Too little? Too, ah, revealing, as the ghost contingent might say?”

Dani, leaning against the bedroom wall, can’t quite find the words. Viola, too, is conspicuously silent.

“It’s bad,” Jamie says, nodding fervently. “Yeah, y’know, I think I knew it when I picked it up. Better on the sales rack, as they say. I can just...if you wouldn’t mind popping the zip real quick...”

“Yes, Dani,” Viola says quietly. “Pop the zip.”

“You don’t even know what that means,” Dani hisses. Jamie raises an eyebrow.

“What’s that?”

“It’s not bad,” Dani says quickly, ignoring the little harrumph Viola utters. “It’s very not bad. Opposite of bad, really.”

Relief floods Jamie’s face. The dress is low cut in a way very little of her clean-up clothes are, with a slit running clear up the leg. Patterned in burgundy petals, the black velvet is stark against her pale skin.

“I won’t get run out of the convention, then? Only they said there’s a bit about drinks and networking, and it was just shy of black-tie. I could do that instead. Get a black tie. Think I’d look nice in a black tie.”

“The dress,” Viola says in a low, conspiratorial voice. “Tell her it is a nice dress.”

“It’s a nice dress,” Dani repeats with comic dazedness. “Best dress I’ve ever seen, maybe.”

“And now,” Viola says soothingly, “you go to her. Walk confidently now, shoulders back, chin up--”

“Are you...wing-man-ing me toward my own wife?”

“Seduction requires confidence, Dani.”

“What’s she saying?” Jamie’s face has gone a curious mix of apprehensive and amused. Dani swallows.

“Seduction requires confidence, evidently.”

A slow grin spreads across Jamie’s face. Dani raises a hand, finger extended.

“Don’t. Don’t make that smug face.”

“What’s smug about it?” She’s moving across the room, arms already reaching. “This is my very natural expression, I’ll have you know. The most normal expression in the world for a woman whose wife is being told to undress her by the ancient rage-ghost sharing her body.”

“Our lives,” Dani says helplessly, already pressing herself flush against Jamie, “are different than other people’s lives.”

“Yes,” Jamie agrees in a low voice, sliding the sweater over Dani’s head. “Can’t find it in me to complain, though, can you?”

***

It’s weird, almost. Weirder, that it’s almost not. That the beast in the jungle, the creature Dani spent nearly a decade dreading, has pounced at last and...mostly, she just seems to want to see Dani happy.

Jamie finds it hilarious, in that pretend-callous way Jamie has of smoothing over genuine concern with soft laughter. She doesn’t like Dani sharing her mental space with someone at all hours, Viola popping up like a wack-a-mole game on high. But, if Dani must share the space with anyone, at least--

“It’s someone who thinks I'm gorgeous.”

“You are gorgeous,” Dani replies, a bit exasperated. “Gorgeous, silly, perfect person. But my inner ghost has a crush on you, that isn’t strange for you?”

“Poppins, my life has been strange since a doe-eyed American strolled into it and told me she still saw her dead fiancé when we kissed.” Jamie reclines on the bed in a sleep shirt and underwear, hands playing lightly with the pillowcase beneath her head. “Strange is my bread and butter these days, and if I had to sacrifice you to have it any other way, we both know how it would go.”

Dani makes a mulish sound under her breath. Jamie cups a hand to her ear.

“Say again?”

“It’s weird,” she repeats, arms crossed over her chest. “She’s weird. I always thought she’d do something bad--walk me off a roof, or strangle someone to death, or try to rob a convenience store. But mostly she just wants to protect young girls from an uncaring world and look at your butt in the shower.”

“That is...very specific,” Jamie says lightly. Dani shakes her head.

“It’s so bizarre. The longer this goes on, the more she sees of the world, it’s like...like she’s getting more real. More Viola, less Lady.”

Jamie sits up, hand sliding to rest high on Dani’s thigh as if to shield her from harm. “But not more solid, right? Not taking up space you already rent?”

Dani shakes her head. “That’s the thing. She doesn't feel like she’s taking over. And it feels...like she should.”

“You want her to?”

“No, no, of course not.” Dani raises Jamie’s knuckles to her lips, raining soft kisses up and down her hand until the tension goes out of her brow. “I just don’t understand what’s happening. This isn’t...what I expected.”

Jamie exhales, shifting her weight until she’s sitting in Dani’s lap. She takes a Dani’s face between her hands, kisses her long and slow until Dani eases back against the headboard.

“This is good, Poppins. You’re a good influence. You were on those kids, and on me, and now on this Lady of yours. Maybe that’s all a ghost needs, deep down.”

Dani leans into her, lets the rhythm of kiss and gentle bite and hands slipping beneath her clothes carry her away for a while. Still, no Viola, and she’s grateful. She doesn’t like to think how that would feel, Viola popping up while Jamie’s curling her fingers deep, groaning soft against her shoulder. There is a time and a place for hauntings, and time with Jamie is something else entirely.

She’s pretty sure Viola even respects that. Which is, like everything else, incredibly strange.

***

Viola attends their second wedding. Their real wedding. It’s bizarre on a level Dani isn’t prepared to deal with, feeling her surface as the plans become reality. Jamie’s got flowers, naturally, and Owen’s catering, and Henry has the kids--who are kids no longer, but fully-formed people with lives of their own--running errands on the day. And Dani...

Dani is looking at herself in a wedding dress for the second time in her life, only this time, she can breathe.

“You are radiant,” Viola says. Dani closes her eyes for a moment, steels herself.

“Nothing else to say? No notes?”

“You chose wisely,” Viola says. Dani sighs.

“I figured lace was classic, and someone told me I had nice shoulders once, so--”

“The dress is beautiful,” Viola says. “But I was not talking about your grooming for the day.”

Dani gives a shaky laugh. “I love her, you know. I really do.”

“I can tell.” A beat of silence. Then: “I did not understand at first. Her. Or you. I suppose I will never understand completely. But...I understand the depths of what you feel. It is a part of me, too, I think. That devotion, sinking into all the spaces where I had forgotten.”

“You’re in love with Jamie, too?” Dani asks, not really wanting the answer. Viola laughs.

“Yes. And no. You and I are intertwined, Miss Clayton. What you feel, I feel, to a degree. More importantly, I have seen your life with her. The life you build with the reckless joy of two people doomed one day to die.”

“Thanks,” Dani says, a bit sharply. She senses Viola putting her hands up, a terribly-modern gesture of surrender.

“You understand what I mean. It takes courage, to love this completely. To do so while carrying a burden neither of us can truly comprehend is...something else altogether. There is a strength there I could not have understood on my most willful of days.”

“You turned Death away at your own doorstep,” Dani points out, smiling. Viola is pleased.

“I did, didn’t I? And I could never regret it, even now. But you. You are doing something so much more incredible. Loving, even knowing what ending love must craft.”

“This is a bit dark for my wedding day,” Dani points out. Viola nods.

“You are radiant. And you are fortunate. And I wish you both all the happiness in the world.”

It is the strangest wedding toast she’s ever heard, and something within Dani’s heart has never been more at peace.

***

“How’s our Lady doing tonight?” Jamie asks as Dani slips into bed beside her. She tips her head, thinking on it. Viola, as she usually is once Dani crosses the bedroom threshold, is nowhere to be found.

“Good, I think. Calm.”

“And my wife?” Jamie looks at her, eyes serious. “You’ve been quieter lately. Fighting her less?”

“She’s been fighting me less,” Dani says. “She...likes it here, I think. Likes us. You know, I thought after this much time, she’d get bored or restless or...go back to her old ways, but...”

“But I’m just too gorgeous,” Jamie teases. Dani slings a leg across her body, holds tight to her with hands that never feel as though they can hold on hard enough.

“I think sometimes...sometimes it’s just about remembering. What it’s like to be a person. What it’s like to be in love.”

“Mm,” Jamie agrees, fingertips drawing dizzying spirals on the bare back of Dani’s shoulder. “Well done, you. You’ve tamed your beast.”

Dani sighs, content. “I think it was a joint effort.”

“Yes,” Jamie agrees, kissing the top of her head. “Because I am, famously, too gorgeous to deny.”

#the haunting of bly manor #the haunting of bly manor spoilers #fanfiction #dani x jamie #jamie x dani #me: I'm gonna take this show incredibly seriously and analyze it in detail #also me: wouldn't it be fucking hilarious if viola just rode around in Dani's mind yapping all the time?#also also me: oh no it went from being stupid to having heart anyway what the hell #anyway this is all karatam's fault and she knows it #and like everything else it isn't as silly as it could be because my dumb heart got in the way

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remscorner · 3 years

Text

False Manipulations (Sebastian x F!Reader)

(A bit of info: this is a fantasy AU where the characters all live in a large town named 'Honocrotalus', name for pelican. Though the layout of the town is not the same from the game, it's much larger.

(There are a few OC's in here but only background characters for the plot)

Narrators POV // 12:00 pm

Y/n strolled through town swiftly, her footsteps barely emitting noise.

She'd come across many 'wanted' banners of her masked face throughout her journey and it was getting tiring.

Ever since she was a child, she'd always been on the wrong side of the family.

At least she thought so?

After years of mental, emotional and physical abuse, Y/n had ran away from a family in which kidnapped her many years ago.

This was the result of having to steal and rob from others in order to keep alive.

It all went downhill from there, she even had the blood of the innocent resting in her hands, using her own blade.

Fortunately the public hadn't known what she'd looked like, nor did they figure out her real name.

The only description being the nickname 'Rabbit' and 'a slim figure wearing an oversized black cloak covering her clothing beneath and a white rabbit mask'.

Y/n never thought the word 'slim' would be a fit description over herself...

At least in her eyes.

But of course, being on the run across the entire country had her starving a bit.

Her stomach growled and she cringed at the soft ache in her belly before sighing and staring at an abandoned sales cart and smirking.

She swiftly stole three buns off the top and stuffed them inside her cloak that had held her mask.

Since nobody knew what she looked like, Y/n was free to roam around town without a care in the world.

"Guards! Draw your swords!" A large voice echoed down the streets, many had crowded around the commotion.

Y/n pushed through in order to find three of her old bandit friends she hadn't seen in years.

One being just a child at age 13.

Her eyes widened at they fought their way through the kingdoms guards, two of the three secretly getting away while one had stayed to hold off the men.

Y/n's teeth gritted softly and she pulled up her hood, quickly putting on her mask before jumping over the crowd to help fight off the imperial guards.

Her sword drew from her scabbard and had stroked at ones shoulder before throwing it back to another right beneath his ripcage.

"N/n!?" (Nickname) The bandit yelled in surprise, obvious struggle hid between her teeth.

"Hey November! You better get to Molly and Ellie now! I'll hold them off don't worry! Elles gotten so big!" She grinned, reminiscing back to when the dirty blonde was only five.

"You sure you got this!?" November yelled in between pants and Y/n nodded with a giggle.

She smiled gratefully before leaving the masked killer to fend for herself.

She was strong enough from fighting off many in the past to get through a couple more guards before one had struck her shoulder from behind.

Y/n yelped and many were shocked to hear how feminine the murderer had sounded.

They'd been looking for her for years and they'd only now, found out she was most definitely a girl.

Just as Y/n had tried to compose her stance, another guard had broken skin right above her knee and she'd looked down in surprise before her hands were pulled behind her back.

"Shit..."

____

Currently at the Wright's castle, lunch was being held awkwardly in the large dining area of the palace.

And yet, with shock sat Sebastian next to his half sister which he'd held a different last name to, just like the rest of his family.

Sebastian McCarthy, the poor isolated boy was different and despite his family's disapprovals, wanted to catch the wanted Rabbit himself.

"What do you mean Rabbits been caught!?" He stood up from his seat, the chair scraping the floor with a trip.

One of Sebastians two knights, Sam, had barged into the dining room with the news just before.

"The other guards are bringing them to the castle now! Your majesty!?" Sam yelled in a panic, staring over to Demetrius.

He'd been king for years now and even had the family's name changed to Wright after marrying the queen, Robin.

Of course Sebastian had kept his previosus surname...

Demetrius nodded with a frown before the family had told up to meet Rabbit at the enterance hall.

"Sebastian I know you've wanted to meet him for a while now but please just go to your room" Robin said in a pleading tone.

"I'm staying here"

"Why don't you just listen to your mother-"

Just as Demetrius was about to scold his stepson for his disruptive behaviour, the castle doors opened and three guards were escorting a young woman with h/l, h/c hair and e/c eyes.

She wore an oversized cloak in which the hood was pulled down to reveal a pretty face.

They'd torn off the cloak to the ground, showing the rest of her features.

She wore a white oversized blouse where the top three buttons had been undone, black pants and a belt where the rabbit mask and an empty scabbard was held.

"Who's this?" Demetrius scoffed, belittling the knights intentions.

Sebastian slowly walked closer to the girl with a curious expression.

She stared back at him, apathetically.

"This is the Rabbit, sir.." a knight to the left of

Y/n said anxiously.

Y/n shot him an irritated glare, eyes catching Robin who eyed her carefully.

"A girl..?" The ginger uttered softly, Sebastian began to grow angry.

"I've been looking for a girl this entire time!?" He exclaimed and Robin let out a snort before turning away from the odd stares shot her way.

It had to sound pretty weird coming from Sebastian who hardly had the interest in girls.

Neither did he have an interest for boys, he had never cared for such silly distractions like love.

"This is ridiculous!" Demetrius scoffed, it was the first time Sebastian could agree with his stepfather.

"Aw shut up old man, I don't wanna hear from you either.. let the prince talk.." Y/n grinned flirtatiously, throwing eyes to Sebastian who'd eyed the sharper canines she'd had compared to his own.

If he'd known any better, he would've thought she was a vampire...

"Wh-" He stepped back and Demetrius yelled out.

"You'll be exiled faster if you wish!"

"Hey Princey, what's it like living in this place? I'm pretty sure you know but I've stolen and sold a couple things from here!"

Y/n ignoring Demetrius, instead spoke to Sebastian with love eyes casually staring into his, she was always good at manipulating others with her deceiving looks.

"You know I've always wanted to see you up close like this, what's it like seeing me so up close?"

"Watch it" Sebastian glared daggers into her head, she snickered softly.

It was amusing seeing such anger fuel up in a bit like him.

"So aggressive..." Y/n said with a smirk, she pouted softly, her stance lightly swaying.

He sneered at her, he felt as if she was mocking him, teasing him for his issues with his anger, his issues with her.

Is she crazy? Does she know who she's talking to?

"Take her to the cells" Demetrius ordered, Y/n sighed with an irritated look before she was led down into the deeper parts of the castle, ones only high ranked criminals would get to experience.

Robin had locked eyes with her as she passed by and Y/n politely nodded to her with a blank expression.

Y/n had left her pondering to herself, intrigued with the killer.

"Strange girl..."

____

"She's in there... be careful Seb, she's got a couple screws loose in there" Sam warned as his prince friend neared the cells, twirling his index finger around with the target of his head.

Sebastian only nodded back before leaving Sam behind him.

It was dark down in the cells, the room was lightly dimmed from torches which gave off the impression the room was brightened with a yellow hue.

Sebastian took a stop in front of the girls cell, the only cell which had been occupied really.

She sat in the corner on a thin, cold bed, her eyes closed.

He could hear her humming to a song he couldn't recognize.

She sat leg straight out, one bending up as she rested her arm on her knee.

Y/n knew he was there, she knew he was there a long time ago.

"Rabbit" Sebastian said, he held his ground.

Chin up, back straight..

"Hello, Prince" she grinned lazily.

Y/n opened her eyes, watching as his broad silhouette shifted in the light behind his figure.

She could see his brows furrow at the nickname.

Sebastian kept his guard, she was dangerous, he knew.

But something about her made him so intrigued with her mindset.

Why had she chosen to kill so many, why kill the innocent.

Though he couldn't care less for the village, seeing his mother so distraught with her people being mercilessly murdered, he had to admit, felt terrible.

He became obsessed with catching the culprit, the bastard who hurt his mother so deeply.

Sebastian wanted to do everything to torture and question the murderer as much as they did with the towns people.

Unfortunately, he didn't know what to do with the girl now.

Seb didn't expect a woman to come striding in, not that he was expecting much of a man either.

He was really expecting more of a monster than the pretty sight in front of him.

"Wanna join me?" Y/n asked, pulling a plate of mashed potatoes and bread towards herself, given to her by Sam as an order.

Though she was cruel and unstable, she wanted to keep her healthy.

The 'she' in question being Robin.

"I already ate" Sebastian frowned, he didn't expect her to be so calm in a situation like being locked up.

"Stay with me then? It's lonely down here" she pouted softly.

Y/n didn't miss the look of disgust on his face, it nearly made her laugh how shocked he was.

Maybe if she was still a kid, she would be hurt by the expression the prince wore.. but now it was more amusement than it ever was with anybody else.

Yoba was it satisfying watching innocent humans like Sebastian grow angry with her.

It was a sign that showed she'd successfully gotten under his skin.

"You'll eat, then I'll join you.. but I won't be here for company" Sebastian growled, Y/n nearly laughed at the mans attempt at being threatening.

It was hard to be threatened when you've killed many...

"I'll make sure to enjoy whatever you'll do to me then"

#sdv #sdv sebastian #gaming #stardew fanfic #stardew sebastian #stardew valley #stardew #stardew sam #sdv fanfic #stardew au

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animezing-fandoms · 3 years

Text

Making Love

Masterlist

Warnings: Smut!

Relationships: Nalu

Summary: Now that they've found the white wizard, it's time for them to leave Edolas and head off to Elentir. But Edolas Fairy Tail offers to let them spend the night first. But Natsu and Lucy are stuck sharing a room, and there's only one bed. And for some reason Natsu's been acting strange around Lucy. And that night Lucy finds out why and sees a side of the man she loves that she's never seen before. My take on what I think would be cool to have happen after FT 100 YQ chapter 67 but I know it probably won't happen lol.

A/N: Here’s a Nalu smutfic based off of the recent 100 YQ chapter. I hope it turned out as good in words as it did in my head lol! Enjoy!

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

“Thank you again for letting us stay the night.” Lucy says as her Edolas counterpart walks her up the stairs.

“Sure thing! Letting you guys borrow some clothes to sleep in is the least we could do after all you’ve done for us!” Lucy Ashley says as she brings Lucy up to the door. “But unfortunately we don’t really have that many spare rooms so you’re gonna have to share.”

“That’s fine. I’ve shared rooms with Erza and Wendy before, it’s no problem.” Lucy assures her alternate self.

“Oh uh…well, you’re not sharing a room with either of them.” She says and twirls a lock of her hair.

Lucy’s heart began to beat faster, her mind immediately jumps to the worst case scenario and sure enough when the door to the room she’ll be staying in opens up, there’s Natsu sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace with Nasha on his lap.

“Natsu?!” Earth Lucy shouts.

“Nasha!?” Edolas Lucy shouts.

“Mama!” Nasha shouts happily.

“Lucy!” Natsu shouts happily.

“Nasha what are you doing in here? I told your father to watch you.” Lucy asks.

“He had to go out somewhere and so he left me with the other papa and said that counts because he’s technically still taking care of me.” Nasha explains.

“That unreliable little...” Lucy grumbles to herself.

“Wait, Lucy why are you here?” Natsu asks.

“Because we’re sharing this room tonight.” Lucy says.

“Wait!? We are?” Natsu exclaims.

“Yep. Apparently so.” Lucy says and scratches the back of her head. “Just the two of us, alone, and there’s only one bed...”

“Oh...” Natsu says.

Wait a minute...was Natsu blushing? Lucy thinks to herself as she studies his reaction to the news. She expected him not to care, but now it would seem like he actually cares a great deal...

“I thought I’d be sharing this room with Gray.” Natsu says.

“Yeah well given how much you two fight and the fact that we don’t have a ton of money for repairs, we figured it’d be best to keep you two separate. So the girls are sharing a room, and Gray is sharing a room with the Exceeds.” Edo Lucy explains as she holds out her arms for Nasha.

Natsu lets her go back to her mother and seems sad that he can’t hold onto her for longer. It was amazing. She wasn’t even really his and yet, he treats her like she’s his own. In fact, it seems like ever since he found out that Edo Lucy was her mother, he’s acted fatherly towards Nasha. Again, Lucy didn’t dare think too much into it, but a little bit of hope couldn’t hurt.

“Besides, after spending some time with this little one, I think it’s clear the two of you could use some one on one time.” Edo Lucy adds with a wink, making the other Lucy’s face turn bright red with embarrassment and anger.

She planned this! But unfortunately she left the room with her daughter before Lucy could point that out. So now here she was. Alone, with Natsu. Well, joke’s on her because it was late anyway so Lucy was just going to change into some sleep clothes and go right to bed.

“So uh, you were playing with Nasha?” Lucy asks as she goes over to the dresser and pulls out a sleep top that looked similar enough to the ones she wore to bed.

“Well I wasn’t playing with her...” Natsu says and his voice trails off when he sees her unbuttoning her top.

To Lucy’s surprise, Natsu turns away. Normally Natsu couldn’t care less if someone was naked or not in front of him but now he was actually trying to give her some privacy? What’s up with that?

“She wanted a bedtime story so I told her a story about the time Igneel took me to the forest to teach me how to hunt. I think she likes dragons.” Natsu says.

“Well she is your daughter, sort of.” Lucy says and finishes changing into her sleep clothes which consisted of a silk top and silk shorts.

Natsu must have heard her finish changing because he turns around as she’s putting away the outfit she borrowed from Edolas Lucy and blushes when he sees how little she’s still wearing.

“Natsu, are you okay?” Lucy asks.

“Yeah I’m fine!” He answers quickly and runs to the bathroom. “Just gotta pee!”

That was strange... Lucy thought. And it would only get stranger once they have to figure out their sleeping situation.

———————

They both took turns using the bathroom and when Lucy came out she noticed that Natsu was making a makeshift bed on the floor in front of the fireplace.

“You’re not going to take the bed?” Lucy asks.

“No you can have it. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.” Natsu says.

“Alright, as long as you’re okay with that.” Lucy says and climbs under the covers.

She was about to lay down and go to sleep when she heard Natsu grunt as he tries to find a comfortable spot on the floor.

Lucy bites her bottom lip and considers her options. Given how weird he’s been tonight, asking him to share the bed with her probably wouldn’t go over well. But then again, she’s also curious about why he’s acting so strange. So maybe she should ask. You know, for science!

“Natsu, do you want to share the bed with me?” Lucy asks.

Natsu stiffens and turns to look at her.

“Uh, are you sure you want to?” He asks. “I thought you would want it all for yourself.”

“I thought so too at first but...it’s cold and you’re clearly not comfortable down there so... Natsu, come to bed with me?” Lucy asks and cringes the second that sentence leaves her mouth.

Did she really just ask him that? It’s not like she didn’t want to but, she never thought she’d be in a position where she had to ask Natsu to come sleep with her. He usually just made himself at home whenever. Sometimes in her bed!

So when Lucy sees the worry on his face as he climbs under the covers and stays on the far side away from her, she has to ask.

“Natsu is something wrong?” Lucy asks. “You seem really nervous around me tonight. Did I upset you somehow?”

“Well you didn’t do anything but it’s just that, earlier today...Erza told me where babies come from.” Natsu says.

“Oh.” Lucy says and blushes, trying to process what that means if having that knowledge makes Natsu suddenly avoid her.

“So now I understand why you were so upset when I asked you to make Nasha with me when we get back to Earthland. I really should have known just what I was asking you to do before I asked it. If I had known I’d have to have sex with you in order to have a baby with you I definitely wouldn’t have asked you for it so casually. So you have every right to be upset with me. I’m sorry.”

Wow. Erza must have really knocked some sense into him! Then again, it’s Erza. If anyone was capable of knocking sense into someone, or just plain knocking them out, it was her.

But the level of maturity Natsu had right now, and the seriousness in his gaze, and the fact that he was shirtless, she couldn’t help but find it all insanely attractive. If only he felt the same way she’d take him right here right now!

“Thanks Natsu. I’m glad you’re learning about the world and respecting me by giving me more privacy because of that. But you don’t have to be so shy around me and refuse to share a bed with me because of that. You’re allowed to touch me and be close to me.” Lucy explains to him.

“No I can’t do that.” Natsu says. “It wouldn’t be right because...it would turn me on.”

Lucy’s heart froze and she could feel the blood pumping in her ears. Did Natsu just say...

“Natsu...you’re attracted to me?” Lucy asks softly.

“Yeah. I’m in love with you Lucy.” Natsu admits and Lucy starts internally screaming. “And I’ve been attracted to you for awhile now actually. I just didn’t realize it until Erza explained everything. I mean, I knew that I liked you and thought of you as more than a friend and wanted to spend my life with you. But now that I know why my dick gets hard every time I see you naked or in some skimpy outfit, I don’t think it would be right for me to be in a bed with you or change in the same room with you, knowing that while that’s happening I’m thinking about how badly I want to shove my dick in you.”

Lucy can feel herself clench at the thought of having Natsu’s penis inside of her. She wanted it. She wanted him. Bad. And now that she knew he wanted her too, why wait any longer than she already has!

“And you think that I haven’t been thinking about that too?” She asks before she can stop herself.

Natsu looks at her in shock.

“When you asked me if we could make our own Nasha back in Earthland I told you we could. And I knew exactly what you’d have to do to me in order for that to happen. And I still said yes. I wouldn’t agree to that if I didn’t want it.” Lucy explains.

“Wait Lucy, do you really feel the same about me that I do for you?” Natsu asks.

Lucy’s heart was pounding. This was every dream she’d ever had come true. She looks up at Natsu with her darkening gaze and reaches for him. Seeing his pupils dilate just like she knows hers are only fuels her conviction to bring his face down to hers and kiss him deeply.

Natsu instantly reciprocates, climbing on top of Lucy as she shifts to lay on her back so that they can kiss easier.

Lucy spreads her legs to let Natsu lay comfortably on top of her as they kiss. They both smile as they break for air.

“Does that answer your question?” Lucy asks.

“I can’t believe it.” Natsu says. “You’re really in love with me? I thought you only saw me as a friend and thought I was too annoying to love.”

“Well you thought wrong Natsu. I’ve been dropping hints that I like you for awhile now. And I always thought you were too dense to think about romance so it would be impossible for you to be in love with me.” Lucy says.

“Well I guess I am pretty dense if I didn’t figure out your hints.” Natsu agrees. “But I definitely love you Lucy. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

“Then kiss me you big dummy.” Lucy says and flips them around so Natsu’s on his back and she’s laying on top of him as they kiss.

As they made out, Lucy could feel an ache between her thighs, so she decides to roll her hips against Natsu’s to get some sweet friction to satisfy herself. Natsu grunts against her minstrations and mutters her name as she releases her lips from his.

Both of their eyes had grown darker with lust, and their gazes remained locked on each other as Lucy sits up and lifts her top off over her head, letting Natsu get a good look of her ample chest.

He couldn’t help but stare at her in awe. The glow from the fire was shining off of her pale skin, making her shine like a star as she gently began to grind her hips against the tent in his pants, making it grow even more. She let out a soft whine as she felt him hardening against her and Natsu shudders as she looks at him with those pretty doe eyes as she begins to rotate her hips, making him reach out to hold them, needing to feel her soft skin under his rough palms.

“Lucy, you’re beautiful.” He moans and stares at her.

“Thank you, Natsu.” Lucy says and blushes under his gaze. “But why are you surprised, this isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.”

“I know but every other time I’ve seen you like this was by accident and it made you mad. Now, you want me to see you, and now I finally know how to appreciate what I’m looking at.” Natsu says and Lucy feels hot under Natsu’s smoldering gaze as he looks her over. “Now I know what those other guys at the guild and Sorcerer Weekly are talking about when they say you’re sexy. But they haven’t seen you like this.” He says and runs his hands up her hips and along her waist, tracing her hourglass figure in his hands. “I’ve seen girls naked before. Hell Erza and I still bathe together sometimes. But I never reacted to her like I’ve reacted to you. Just getting glimpses of you like this made me want you before I even knew why I wanted you. And that’s how I know that you’re the sexiest woman in the world Lucy. And I will never want this with anyone else.” He sits up and cups her cheek in his hand. “There’s no one from the past, future, or any other world that could ever compare to you.”

“Oh Natsu…” Lucy whispers as she tears up and cups his face in her hands and kisses him deeply.

She presses her body to his, needing to feel as close to him as possible, and Natsu reciprocates by holding her tightly in his arms and running his hands along her back. She moves her hands down his torso to the waistband of his sweatpants and begins tugging on the strings to loosen them and pull them down to free his stiff erection from his clothes.

Natsu feels what she’s up to and grunts, pulling her closer to him and releasing her mouth to press kisses along her neck and fondle her right breast in his hand to make her moan as she pulls him out of his pants and underwear. So he brings his mouth down to her other breast and takes her nipple into his mouth and sucks.

“Natsu…” Lucy moans and wraps her hand around his manhood and squeezes.

Then she gasps at the animalistic growl that he emitted from her touch and he releases her breasts and looks at her with a dark gaze that makes a shiver of pleasure run down her spine as he presses a kiss directly under her breast and hooks his fingers into her shorts and panties.

He continues to press kisses down her torso as he lays her on her back on the bed and pulls the last of her clothes off of her, spreading her legs open as his mouth makes his way down towards her-

“Oh!” Lucy exclaims and arches her back as Natsu presses a kiss to her soaking slit.

She looks at him with a mixture of pleasure and surprise. Did Erza tell him about oral, or did he think this was something new that he was making up on the fly or was he being driven by instinct? Either way, Lucy didn’t care. She was already wet for him and now having his mouth against her was only turning her on even more. And then he starts using his tongue and she just can’t contain herself.

“Yes Natsu!” She shouts and arches her back.

He swipes his tongue against her clit and she practically squeals in pleasure and grabs his head. But as much as she loved his tongue, she desperately needed something inside of her aching channel, and luckily, Natsu’s member was aching to be inside of her.

“Lucy…” Natsu moans and looks up at her with a dark gaze. “I need to be inside of you…” He begs and Lucy gulps and bites her bottom lip.

“Good, because I want you inside of me.” She replies breathily.

Natsu quickly climbs back over her, pulling his pants and underwear off the rest of the way in the process and Lucy spreads her legs wider for him. He braces himself with one hand beside her head and uses the other to line himself up with her entrance. They lock eyes and both gasp as her pussy opens up and the first few inches of his dick slides in. After getting over the initial shock of being joined, Natsu finishes the job with a gentle thrust of his hips and Lucy moans as he fills her completely, her hands flying to his shoulders to hold herself steady as their hips meet.

Both of them were looking at each other with wide eyes and gaping mouths as they took in this new feeling of being joined to each other.

“Natsu…”

“Lucy…”

“You’re so…big.” She moans and smiles at him and he smirks.

“Maybe that’s why you feel so tight…” He replies. “Wait this doesn’t hurt does it?” Natsu asks, looking at her with concern.

“No.” Lucy says. “It doesn’t hurt at all…it feels really good actually, having you fill me like this. And it makes me wonder how Gajeel didn’t split poor Levy in half when he did this with her since she’s so much smaller than him!”

“Maybe she’s bigger than she looks? Or Gajeel’s smaller than he thinks? Yeah, it’s probably Gajeel being secretly small. But enough talk about them. Lucy, what should I do now?” Natsu asks.

“You can start thrusting. Just drag your dick out of me a bit and then push it back in.” Lucy instructs.

Natsu gives it a try and they both moan as their hips slap together again.

“Lucy that felt so good, do I just keep doing that?” Natsu asks.

“Yes Natsu! Just like that. Keep going!” Lucy begs and moans as he sets a fast pace.

The only sounds in the room were the sounds of their skin slapping together, and the occasional moans that weren’t swallowed by each other’s mouths.

“Lucy, you feel so good around my dick. If only I had listened to those dumb talks when I was a kid, we could have gotten around to this sooner!” Natsu exclaims and Lucy smiles.

“Yeah, maybe.” Lucy says. “But I’m so happy we’re doing this now. And you feel so good inside of me-oh Natsu I think I’m close!”

“Me too.” He breathes huskily.

He brings his mouth down to her neck and kisses it to find her weak spot. Once he does he bites it and she arches her back into the hand that was fondling her breast.

Considering how wet she was already, when combined with the neck biting and breast squeezing, once her fingers found her clit she was coming in no time and screaming his name as she hit her peak.

Natsu came soon after, having been pushed over the edge by the feeling of her walls clenching around him and milking him of his release.

He rolls off of her to keep from crushing her and collapses next to her.

“Wow Lucy that was, amazing.” Natsu says and runs his hand through his hair.

“Yeah, it really was.” Lucy says and smiles as Natsu leans on his side to cuddle her and she does the same.

“Am I supposed to be this tired afterwards? I feel like I just finished a fight with Laxus.” Natsu says and Lucy laughs.

“Well you lost a lot of fluids so I’m not surprised. Just go to sleep, you’ll feel better in the morning.” Lucy tells him.

“Okay then. Goodnight Lucy. I love you.” Natsu says.

“I love you too.” Lucy says and gives him a quick peck on his lips before turning to face the other way to go to sleep.

Lucy sighs in contentment as Natsu presses himself against her back. She really did this. She lost her virginity to...Natsu Dragneel. Natsu...Dragneel. Natsu Dragneel. She just fucked Natsu freaking Dragneel!?!

Was she really so head over heels for him that the day he found out what sex was she spread her legs and let him have his way with her. Yes. She really did just do that.

And now her womb was full of his semen, and the rest would drip down her thighs during the night. Not to mention her neck and chest were covered in his bites.

It was a little embarrassing to say the least, but she couldn’t be happier. She’d been wanting to do this with him for awhile now. And now her dream had finally come true.

But Natsu still sensed that she was feeling tense so he had to ask.

“Hey Lucy, are you sure you’re okay that we did this?” Natsu asks.

“Natsu there’s no way I would have ever let you do it if I wasn’t.” Lucy laughs and Natsu smiles and runs his hand through her hair. “I mean, I was always taught growing up that I should save myself for the man I marry but I rejected those rules the night I ran away from home. Besides, you’ve already seen me naked so many times and now that we’ve done this, I don’t think I could get married to anyone else but you. Especially since we’re going to be together forever.” Lucy laughs and Natsu looks at her softly.

“Well, then if that’s the case then, Lucy, after we finish this quest and get back to Magnolia, will you marry me?” Natsu asks.

Lucy’s heart skips a beat before warmth spreads through her chest. She always dreamt of hearing a man ask her the most romantic question she could think of. And she never thought that Natsu would be the one to ask her, even now that she knew she wanted him to. But she knew exactly what her answer was.

“Yes!” She exclaims and kisses him deeply before pulling back. “Yes Natsu I’ll marry you and be your wife and then we’ll make our own Nasha and be a family together forever.”

Natsu kisses her deeply and they both have tears of joy streaming down their cheeks as their lips part.

“Lucy, I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.” Natsu says. “I really don’t know much about romance and stuff but I want to make you happy. So if there’s anything you want me to do to be more like those guys in the books that you read, just ask and I’ll try my best.”

“Oh Natsu…” Lucy says and rubs her thumb against his cheek. “You don’t have to be like the characters in my books. I fell in love with you because of who you are. Denseness and all. I mean normally when a guy proposes he’ll give the girl a ring to wear so everyone knows she’s engaged but that only happens if the guy plans on proposing. A spur of the moment thing like this doesn’t need that and it’s still just as romantic.”

“Wait, that’s what the ring is for, so people know you’re engaged and don’t flirt with you?” Natsu asks.

“Well I mean it’s also a sign of love between two people but, yeah it works for that too.” Lucy giggles.

“Damn, I wish I had one on me then.” Natsu says and pouts. “Or I wish I could use my magic here. Then I could just pull one of the nails out of the floor and use my fire to make you one right now.”

“Well, if you really want to give me something, sometimes in my books when a guy proposes to a girl and he doesn’t have a ring, he’ll give her a string to tie around her finger until he gives her a real one later or at their wedding.”

“A string…” Natsu thinks then sits up excitedly. “I’ve got the perfect one!”

Lucy sits up, pulling the blankets up over her chest, not for modesty but to keep warm because it felt drastically colder to be naked in bed without Natsu, and she watches as he picks his scarf up off of the ground and finds a loose thread.

“Natsu!” She gasps, shocked that he’s about to ruin the most precious object he owns. “Don’t do that you’ll ruin Igneel’s scarf!”

“Don’t worry about it, this thread’s not an important one and it was loose anyway.” Natsu explains as he tugs on it then bites it off with his teeth. “And maybe this is why, because I can’t think of a more perfect string for you.” He says as he comes back over to her and she holds out her hand and shows him which finger to tie it around.

“Why is it perfect?” Lucy asks.

“Because Anna made this scarf with Igneel’s scales. That scarf was made by two members of our families. In a way it represents both of us. So what better string to use to show everyone you’re mine?” Natsu explains as he ties the string into a bow around her finger.

Lucy tears up as she looks at it on her hand. The same hand that bore her guild mark that she was only able to get after meeting the man that was now going to be her husband.

She holds up the back of her hand to show it to him, just like she did all of those years ago when she first showed him the guild mark on her hand. And once Natsu made that connection he reaches for her and kisses her deeply.

“You know you’re still a weirdo.” He says when they pull apart for air. “But you’re my weirdo now, and I love you.”

“I love you too Natsu.” Lucy says as Natsu climbs back under the covers and kisses her forehead once before they fall asleep in each other’s arms.

———————

When Lucy woke up that morning, for a moment she worried that last night was all a dream, and that she hadn’t made love to Natsu and gotten engaged to him. But then when she picks up her hand and sees the string tied around her ring finger, and feels Natsu’s warm body shifting behind her, she’s overcome with joy that it was all real, and he felt the same.

She woke up to see Natsu smiling at her and they kissed each other for as long as they could before they had to get ready for their journey to Elentir.

But first, they had to say goodbye to Nasha.

“Thanks for the dragon story and dragon scale!” Nasha says as she holds up one of the scales from Igneel’s scarf that Natsu decided to give her.

“Dragons sound cool! If I ever come to Earthland will I get to meet one?” Nasha asks.

“Well uh...they’re not really around anymore.” Lucy says and Nasha pouts.

“Awww...well that’s okay I guess. I’m still going to get to meet Earthland Nasha sometime right?” Nasha asks and Natsu and Lucy look at each other and smile before looking back at her.

“Yeah. We’ll definitely bring her with us next time.” Lucy promises. “Goodbye Nasha, and be good for your parents.”

“I’ll do my best!” Nasha says. “And I’ll practice breathing fire every day until I can do it like Earth Papa!”

“That’s my girl.” Natsu laughs and waves goodbye to her as they set off on their journey.

As they all walk together, Erza notices that Natsu and Lucy were holding hands, and something instantly clicks in her mind.

“I bet if we ever come back again, Nasha’s gonna have a sibling.” Erza says.

“What makes you say that?” Lucy asks.

“I heard the Edolas Natsu and Lucy in their room last night making some pretty obvious noises.” Erza explains.

Lucy stops dead in her tracks and a blush forms on her cheeks.

“Oh yeah I heard that too!” Gray says and laughs. “It was kinda weird hearing Natsu and Lucy shouting each other’s names like that but at least that’s something you’ll only ever hear in Edolas. It’s not like we’d ever catch you two doing something like that.”

“Yeah...well uh...” Lucy says and taps her fingers together.

“Wait what’s that string for?” Gray asks, noticing it on her finger.

“It’s from my scarf.” Natsu explains.

“Why would you tie a thread from your scarf around her finger?” Gray asks.

“Because after we had sex last night I proposed to her and we’re gonna get married when we get back to Magnolia.” Natsu explains casually.

“Oh okay.” Gray says and then it hits everyone except for Erza and Faris all at once.

“Wait...WHAT?!” They all collectively exclaim. “YOU GUYS HAD SEX?!?”

“And we’re engaged.” Lucy says and blushes as she holds up her hand with the string.

“My heavens when did all of this happen? It couldn’t have been just last night?” Carla exclaims.

“I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO FUCK!” Gray exclaims, still trying to process what’s happening.

“Erza told me yesterday.” Natsu says.

“Erza why did you do that!?” Gray asks.

“Because he wanted to make Nasha with Lucy back at home so I figured now was the time to tell him.” Erza explains.

Poor Wendy was cowering off the path.

“So those noises I heard last night, wasn’t Edolas Natsu and Lucy but...our Natsu and Lucy!?” Wendy shudders.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Faris asks Touka.

“How should I know? I’ve only known these people for as long as you have.” Touka replies.

“Fair enough. It is rather interesting to watch anyway.” Faris says.

“What the hell did Natsu and Lucy do to each other last night? And how could he have proposed without me!” Happy whimpers.

“Way to go flame brain you broke Wendy.” Gray scolds Natsu.

“She’ll be fine in a few hours. Or days. Besides, I know you’re just jealous because I slept with a girl before you did!” Natsu retorts.

Gray fell silent and his face went pale. A man who didn’t even know what sex was until yesterday, had just lost his virginity before him. Juvia was going to become an extremely happy woman once Gray gets back to her.

“Now now, that’s nothing to make fun of. We all find love at our own pace. And I’m happy that my two closest friends have finally found theirs.” Erza says and hugs them.

“Thank you Erza.” Lucy says.

“You’re welcome. But I need to know, am I going to be the maid of honor at the wedding?” Erza asks.

“Uh...” Lucy says. “Honestly I didn’t think I’d get this far so soon. But I’m happy I did.” She says as she smiles at Natsu from over Erza’s shoulder.

Being on an adventure with friends and now the love of her life too? What couldn’t be better?

#nalu #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #nalu child #nasha dragion #fairy tail #lucy ashley #ft 100 yq #FT 100 years quest #Wendy Marvell #erza scarlet #gray fullbuster #ft happy #ft carla #ft touka

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