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another-miracle · 3 years

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Nobody actually told Obi what exactly happened to make Shirayuki leave Tanbarun (now on AO3)

Leave it to Sarah to know the exact “right to the good part” scenario I needed to scratch my writing itch. This one’s for you @claudeng80 :) Set before Eisetsu arc when Shirayuki, Obi and Ryuu are still travelling on the road together.

Dinner starts off as a simple affair. Miss cooks up half the dishes while Obi settles the other half in the in-built kitchen of a decidedly-not-small room they’ve found themselves in (wonders what accommodation one affords with all that sweet Wisteria cash; they are delegates after all). A trade-off that they’d agreed on so that they could cook and have dinner in the same space they would reside for the night - instead of going down to the common area. Ryuu sets the table as best he can.

Eventually, they settle down to eat. The conversation steers towards Miss’ early days in the pharmacy - Ryuu still a boy who hid under tables, a fact present-Ryuu did not appreciate being brought up - and Miss still desperately trying to find her footing in a foreign land. It’s new to Obi, to hear of their endeavours before his arrival to Clarines, and he finds himself enjoying the journey down memory lane. That is, until Miss drops a wayward comment that catches the both of them off guard.

So casual, she says, “It’s so funny. And to think I’d almost had to live my life as Raj’s concubine.”

Ryuu freezes and his eyes dart over to Obi. Similarly, Obi’s glass has paused over his lips. It feels like the air in the room has been abruptly sucked out. The word ‘concubine’ rings in his ears as Miss continues to laugh between bites.

“What do you mean concubine?” Obi asks carefully. He’d thought she’d been invited to the palace to be a princess, or perhaps a lady-in-waiting. To be seen, not...

“Oh yes,” Miss shares, something almost fond lining her lips. “Raj and Sakaki-san had pretty wild ideas back then. Sent me poisoned apples and everything.”

“Miss-what?”

Shirayuki looks up, only now noticing Obi’s tone. Next to him, Ryuu lowers his utensils down and places them on either side of his plate. Obi immediately fixates on Miss’ form. His eyes dart down to her arms, searching for any scars, mind desperately rifling through memories of when they first met, whether she had been constantly wearing long sleeves. She’d worn leggings all this while hasn’t she? Obi resists the urge to bend down to look under the table.

“Oh,” Miss starts again, startling Obi’s gaze back to hers. “Oh! He didn’t get to me- I mean, he did. It’s a funny story actually- Zen ended up being the one eating said apple and getting poisoned. I’d only followed to get the antidote, but thankfully-” she glances at Ryuu, “Zen has had quite a resistance against most poisons, and he was fine.”

The sentence is met with tense silence. Ryuu seems to be staring at his plate as if the peas could conjure up a response. A part of Obi wants to shake the boy and tell him not to worry, to crack a joke to diffuse the air. The other part is blinded by red hot anger. The urge to retrieve his knives and march right up to Tanbarun to commit regicide thrums wildly in his temples.

Friend of the Crown? What on earth was Master thinking - working with someone like that. What on earth was he thinking? He’d spent every afternoon for a month, watching, not knowing, as the two - kidnapper and concubine-to-be - traipsed through the gardens of Tanbarun castle, sat next to each other for hours in the libraries. He’d carried the man on his fucking shoulders.

A touch to his hands and his eyes fly open. Miss’s hand is placed on his, on both of their hands. A small smile plays at her lips. Obi turns to Ryuu. The boy looks frustrated enough to cry.

Miss gives a small laugh. “Hey, it’s over alright? I didn’t bring it up to see you guys upset. It was just in passing. And look, we’re all here now. Royal delegates, serving the Wisteria Crown for the greater good of her people!”

Miss glances up at him, then flicks her gaze at Ryuu. Obi suddenly remembers how distraught Ryuu was when they returned to Clarines after their visit to Tanbarun, having only received news that Miss had been kidnapped. He also remembers the fear in his eyes when both he and Shirayuki succumbed to the then-Lyrias disease.

Obi sighs.

His hand reaches out to ruffle Ryuu’s hair. “Yeah,” Obi says, “Miss wouldn’t let something like that get her down. She’s strong, isn’t she, Little Ryuu?”

Ryuu stares up at him, unshed tears, his gaze darting between the both of them. Obi gives him his best reassuring smile; he knows Miss does too, even if he doesn’t look at her.

The boy sniffs. “Yeah- she is. Yeah.”

--------

Later when the plates are cleared and Ryuu has fallen asleep, exhausted from the additional emotional tirade he had earlier, Obi finds Miss by the window. She sits with her feet propped on the sill, arms wrapped around her knees, gaze focused on the distant horizon. The moon is out, deciding to grace Miss in all the splendour and glow her countenance deserves. If Miss thinks he looks good by the firelight, then it should be of no consequence for him to say-

“You look good in the moonlight, Miss,” Obi tells her, holding out a cup of tea and sitting down by her. Miss accepts the drink with a smile before looking out again. She is quiet - more so than usual. Obi sips his tea and waits.

She thumbs at the rim of the cup, looks down, then up at him. With a sheepish smile, she says, “I wonder if that’s something I might have heard from...men...if…”

She trails off, bringing the cup to her lips, the picture of grace and relief. Obi, on the other hand, is struck frozen for the second time this evening. That’s not what he meant. That’s not what he meant.

“Miss-”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Miss rushes out. “That wasn’t fair- it’s just- it’s my fault, I’d brought it up. I don’t mean to say that you’re like any of them- I don’t-”

Miss breathes, a shaky exhale. Obi watches as she struggles with something bigger than her, bigger than the both of them. It’s something more immense than even the distance between two countries, if he’s honest. His heart pulls toward her; the burden she has been carrying for almost two years - the shame, the fear - feelings he has no way of possibly understanding in this lifetime. He aches to reach out for her, but he’s not sure- in that moment, he rehashes every single touch between the two of them. Belatedly, he also finally understands why she’d run when Master kissed her.

“It’s alright,” he murmurs, an assurance that falls flat in the space between them. Miss hums in response, forcing out a smile at him in apology. And- Obi doesn’t want that. How many smiles has she hidden behind? Sweet words that fall from her lips - not just to him, but to the very people who’d wanted to kidnap her, to turn her into an object of possession, to reduce her brilliant mind and her wonderful soul and the endlessly faith-bearing light in her eyes into a mere ornament to be gawked at, prodded until nothing is left. What has he been doing? What have they all been doing?

Obi places his mug down on the table before sidling up to the sill, back to the scenery, hands clasped in front of him. He notices Miss is looking at him curiously. Obi sets his gaze on the ceiling, tracing the cracks in the concrete. He doesn’t do this- doesn’t offer more than platitudes to soothe, doesn’t give others more than he should, more than he can spare another human being. But- he thinks of the broken smile on Miss’ face-

“I’d almost lost my life once,” Obi tells the ceiling. “Thought myself hot shit and went around accepting jobs that were clearly beyond my pay grade. Risked my life because I’d thought it a resource to be utilized when needed - as long as it puts bread on the table, money in my pocket.”

Obi turns down and gives Miss a wan smile. “And it’s funny, because that was me when I met you. You, with all your incredible courage, this red-haired girl who’d walked forward in face of an arrow shot at her. Who’d saved an entire colony in face of a disease no one knew. Who’d jumped off a tower. Who’d walked straight back into the place she’d been running from, head held high, into the den of the very person who’d deigned her an object.

Miss flinches at this. And Obi aches.

“And-” Obi pauses. Breathes. “So much of me just wants to ride down the South back to Tanbarun, go up to Raj’s door and wrangle his neck - him and Sakaki both. But beyond that, Miss-”

Obi stares at her, willing the words, “You are beyond what anyone says of you, beyond whatever value anyone places on you. You’re not some object that someone just picks up and calls their own. Because whatever that’s in there,” Obi jabs his thumb against his chest, “it’s not something that can be assigned by anyone else. You are your own person, Miss. You belong to you. And it’s this you who has toppled boundaries, created antidotes, you and your brilliant mind, and your wonderful soul and everything that is you.

“And-” Obi wrenches his gaze from her, hand coming up to push down on his shoulder. “I can’t imagine myself without you. I’ve changed, because of you. Myself and many other people you’ve met in Clarines - Little Ryuu, too. So please-

“Don’t think you are anything less than who you have made yourself to be. Don’t let anything cause that- not Raj, not Master, not Izana, not even me. You are yours, Miss.”

Obi says it quietly, a whisper taken by the wind into the meadows ahead of them. But he knows Miss hears it all the same. Obi lets the words take up the silence, let them take root. He hopes, desperately, that in between the awkward cadence and messy phrasing, Miss may find some comfort in them. An unspoken assurance that he is on her side - always have, and always will be.

Sneaking a glance at her, Obi is startled to find Miss’ head buried in her knees, shoulder shaking.

He jumps up and immediately frets. “M-miss, ahh- I didn’t mean to make you upset! I’m sorr-”

In an instant, Obi’s hand is enclosed between both of hers, warmth effusing through skin. A warbled laugh escapes her and she looks up from her knees up at him. Arrested by the tears in her eyes, Obi watches as she smiles that broken smile again - only this time, he knows it isn’t forced. She brings his hand close to her, and places the back of it against her forehead. Obi’s hand twitches, almost aching to cup her face and rub the tears trickling down - but clearly Miss is having a moment as she closes her eyes and breathes.

“Thank you, Obi,” Miss tells him, words entangling around his fingers. “It never gets easier- I don’t think it will, but-”

She takes his hand and cups it against her cheek anyway, collapsing all his walls. “You, being here. You remind me that I’m worth more.”

He can’t resist his fingers running across the apples of her cheekbones. He wipes away every tear that falls and bends down close, leaning his forehead against hers. There are no words to describe the monument of a woman before him now, and as he draws strength from this little form of comfort he’s offered, he only hopes she receives the same.

It will not be easy, probably never will, as Miss says.

But Obi will be damned if she ever faces it alone again.

#obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #this has to be one of the most emotionally exhausting fics i’ve ever written #yixin’s fic

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still-a-morosexual-help · 3 years

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OBEY ME! CHAPTER 51 DETAILED SUMMARY + THEORIES

MC goes out looking for them, in the music room the record player starts on its own. MC ends up wondering the empty house on their own, ending up in the library. They reminisce about a conversation with the brothers where they were debating who the real killer of the OG HoL family was. With Asmo & Beel (Beel because he can never imagine family killing each other despite how bad things get and Oh Beel you Sweet sugar plum welcome to the human world~ it be like that sometimes) saying it was the servant, Belphie saying it was a stranger (cause the oldest and the servant are too obvious, and maybe the oldest wasn’t killed cause he was not home at the time) and Satan & Mammon saying it was the oldest brother (with Mammon defending his choice by saying that as they are always the meanest and nastiest it’ll be in an oldest brother’s nature, but also that in the story the oldest never got along with his siblings), Mammon’s argument makes Levi join team oldest. MC chooses who the killer was (it was the oldest c’mon! the guy bought a gun days before a similar model was used to shoot and kill his entire family, and he was seeing arguing with the servant the day before the murder). MC then gets a call on their DDD, and you can choose whether it’s from Satan or Simeon.

MC tells whoever calls what’s going on, while cats shriek in the background of the call (poor Simeon…) One cat is climbing and scratching Satan, Da Vinci and Michelangelo are fighting and the call is kept. They remember more times in the HoL; Lucifer trying to get Belphie to stop napping in the library cause it’s too cold and he’ll get sick, Asmo cooing over how adorable Belphie is asleep, Mammon & Levi arguing about money (Levi: give me my money back Mammon: Chill. Soon. Levi: What’s soon? In 30s? In 1min? In 1min 30s? Mammon: is getting your money back on your bucket list and you’re wondering if you’re gonna croak soon? I dunno I thought it was funny…), Satan yelling at them to find another place to fight cause he’s reading, Beel watching a gory horror movie and devouring snacks, MC is asked if they like horror movies. If they say they like it Lucifer says it’s good that they don’t scare easily, Asmo says they can handle any situation with cool and calm, Levi says they’ve already conquered 7 of the devildom’s most powerful demons so really what’s there to it, Mammon says that either way MC has nothing to worry about, Lucifer agrees adding that they’ll always have the brothers at their side (why is this so sweet?????). MC pines for them rn and tries to reassure themself only to satan to ask them what’s wrong and if they missed him that much (and this is the point irl where I would have taken the nearest solid object and chucked it at his head but MC’s made of stronger stuff)

Simeon is there as well and Satan is covered in powder (he’d been testing a new drink flavour which pissed all the cats and now he’s covered in the flavouring. Simeon says that wouldn’t have happened if there were no cats in the café in the first place. Satan says they are an improvement. Simeon – poor fellow – still has no idea why Satan thinks he wanted a cat cafe), MC screams wtf and they explain that Barbatos had dropped by and they’d asked him to portal them to MC and why hadn’t they done this in the first place? I mean ik they probably all wanted to spend time together via a mini vacation and all 3 of them are probably too scatter brained to think of Barbatos on their own but why did no one else suggest Barbatos? Barbatos had apparently being fuming cause he’d gone to the café to take a small break from his man-child of a boss and his other 24/7 duties only to be placed in charge of a café full of manic cats. Satan thinks being stuck in a cat café is heavenly, Simeon disagrees and says Barbatos will find a way to get back them. MC tells them calm the fuck down cause your brother and your son are missing! Satan says he is calm, heavily implying he was seconds away from losing his shit. Simeon changes the subject by saying that the imitation HoL looks like a carbon copy of the OG, Satan says the books in the library (where they currently are) are different to the ones back home and that the ones in this house are more to satan’s taste than the ones back home. Simeon notes that they all seem to be about art. Satan picks up an odd book out, it’s old and ragged with a picture of a pink geranium on it. The title is Ma…14-31 with the middle part faded out. Simeon stresses that they should be focused on finding the others but both Satan & MC wanna open the weird book. Simeon manages to drag them away though to search for the others and come back to the book but when he opens the door out of the library they’re enveloped in a bright white light.

They end up in a brightly lit forest, with Satan wondering tf happened and Simeon saying he recognises the place, an unknown voice asks who’s there, revealing angel!Beel dncjndsjND is MC time travelling AGAIN!? How many times are they gonna fuck up history!? Also what about Satan!? Man’s gonna lose his shit!!? Also I desperately wish MC remembered their last trip to the past just so they could be like ‘lol hey guys long time no see’ and Satan & Simeon would just ???????!!!?? Beel (who’s a gate protector angel? Something like that) asks who they are and MC (who unfortunately remembers nothing) goes “Beel!? Tf you wearing” and he goes “tf are you”, Satan is stunned silent and Simeon soothes things over by being Simeon. Beel asks Simeon who MC and Satan are and he says they are his acquaintances – MC and Sully…….SULLY!! SULLY !!? SULLY!!!!? Out of respect to everyone named sully I won’t say anything, ANYWAY satan has the same issues with the name Sully as I do but Simeon whispers and tells him he doesn’t know if they’re in the past, in an AU or something else entirely so it’d be safer to keep the name ‘Satan’ a secret. Simeon asks what Lucifer’s doing and Beel tells him that he’s at the Celestial Palace, with Michael and the other higher ups which should include Simeon. Simeon says yes but “you see these two idiots here behind me are so fucking dumb they fell into a hidden pit and called me to rescue them because they were too fucking dumb to remember that as angels they have both magic and wings” Satan has the same issues with that excuse as I do. Simeon asks about the brothers, Beel says the same as usual. Levi’s holed up in his room cause he fears he’ll be made redundant with the end of the war (so this takes place around the same time as the last trip to the past). Satan mumbles about Levi being the same even back when he was an angel, MC asks whether Satan remembers anything from when his brothers were angels, he says he has broken fragmented memories from their times as angels because he only sometimes was able to see through Lucifer’s eyes (and I just realised how similar Satan and MC are? They’re both relatively newcomers to the family, biologically they’re nothing like the brothers and probably the rest of their species (Satan being born from Lucifer’s rage and MC having a fallen angel as an ancestor), they both accidentally became part of the family with Lucifer having no choice when all the others were picked by him, they’re both cool, collected and calm but hide destructive magic, from everyone else in the HoL they’re the more normal ones but are also up for stupid shenanigans, they’re both pretty considerate and seem to show affection through acts of service – with how they look out for the others and their needs and likes, neither are scared to talk back to Lucifer, neither have met any of the celestial realm higher ups or know the workings of the celestial realm, neither have really met Lilith, they both had some kinda beef with Lucifer, they were never part of the war between the demons and angels or part of the fight before the Fall, their few memories of the Celestial realm come from either what they saw through Lucifer or what Lilith showed them, they’re the only ones in the family who are biologically related to someone else who either is or was part of the family, they’re stubborn and hardworking, and because right after the Fall and after Lilith’s death I’d imagine Lucifer being broken and regretful of what he see as his decisions - fuelled by his anger - leading to her death and seeing Satan being created from all that overwhelming anger and pain…he probably saw it as everything he did wrong manifesting in the form of a person. As I said earlier I’m pretty sure Mammon’s the one who raised Satan considering he was the one doing a lot of the heavy lifting during the early days of the fall and Lucifer would only later come to acknowledge Satan, and as far as we know he’s only ever acknowledged that he’s technically Satan’s father twice and by this point after years of the two of them avoiding the topic Satan reacts to that acknowledgment with understandable anger but at some point right at the beginning I’d bet a much younger Satan wanted to be accepted and acknowledged by Lucifer, specially after all the others did so. What I’m trying to say is that MC and Satan’s initial relationships with Lucifer were probably similar too with Lucifer being mostly polite and even somewhat protective over them but also being distant and prickly while he tried to determine whether they were a threat to the rest of his brothers, while they resented him, butted heads with him and wanted to be acknowledged and accepted by him in equal measures after everyone else had already accepted them. Also in S1, specially towards the end, MC making pacts with the brothers became less about freeing Belphie and more about proving something to Lucifer – while Satan always seems to have something to prove to Lucifer. Overall, Satan and MC have a lot of similarities and a severely underrated friendship that I really wanna explore more of – I want them coming to each other for problems that the others won’t understand them having, to talk about the few memories they have of the celestial realm, to diss Lucifer, to talk constantly containing destructive power/anger in them, just I need more of them. Plus would Belphie also have had issues with Satan, initially? I mean imagine your older brother coming to you and saying “so your little sister died in my arms but check out this other kid I just gave birth to”. I dunno Belphie’s grief and anger was irrational thousands of years after Lilith’s death when he blamed her death on the entire human race and you know not the people who actually shot the arrow that killed her (really need to talk about this too), so I can’t even imagine what he would have been like when the loss was still raw and not even a minute after her death Lucifer’s somehow found some new sibling for them.) Right enough rambling. Back to it. Beel says he’s looking for Belphie. Mammon turns up and asks who the shit MC and Satan are, Satan is once again speechless, Asmo’s with Mammon and calls the two of them cuties – poor Satan doesn’t like that one bit. Levi asks for their names and Simeon introduces them – Mammon seems highly suspicious of them, but Asmo accepts it in stride and says ‘Sully’ is an adorable name. Satan looks like he wants to throw hands. Simeon says that he has an idea where Belphie might be and that he & MC will go find him and has asks the others to look after Sully for him. Satan immediately protests but Beel agrees and Levi drags Satan along with them, while Mammon contemplates putting Satan to work to help with whatever they were doing which Satan complains more about (and isn’t this a topsy turvy world), Asmo helps to pull Satan along and Satan screams about where exactly Asmo is putting his hands – Asmo is merely flattered about Satan knowing his name. Satan screams for help as MC and Simeon turn to leave.

Simeon is giggling evilly about Satan’s face when they left him, MC notes he looked happy, Simeon agrees – shocked and freaked out but happy. Simeon said he didn’t leave him back just to be mean but instead because Satan was curious about his brothers’ celestial realm days. MC says “yeah sure you didn’t leave him just to be mean”, Simeon laughs and insists he’s “a nice angel” in the fakest way possible. Simeon says he loves the Celestial Realm air but that this doesn’t feel like the past. MC asks him what past Simeon would be up to – Michael and Lucifer were bossing him around and running him ragged, he says that hasn’t changed since then and that the both of them are sadists at heart who love making things harder for people (Luke vs Simeon’s view of Michael are so different it’s jarring but I also have the picture of someone who looks and acts like Lucifer’s complete opposite with a sweet, sunny personality hiding a cutting, cruel in the same was Lucifer is, even prideful person underneath it all. I just love characters who look and act kind but could and would murder you in cold blood if it benefited their cause),when he wrote TSL – he wrote it after the brother’s left cause he missed them. “No offense to Luke and Satan, who haven’t been born yet but this was the most fun period of my life,” says Simeon to a person who also hasn’t been born yet (also how are angels born? We know that all though there are lots of similarities between the Celestial Realm & the Devildom and Heaven & Hell they aren’t the same places at all, Lucifer refers to God as Father and I’m assuming the other brothers do as well but they’ve said before none of the brothers are actually related to each other, I always assumed God just poofed them into existence. But then how was Luke specifically born? Because it’s heavily implied that Michael is in charge of the Celestial Realm the same way Diavolo is, meaning God – like the Demon King – is probably maybe taking a power nap and Luke is only some hundred years old so he’s probably way after God’s time so how was he and all the newer angels created? I’m 100% sure most of the demons in the Devildom – Diavolo included – were biologically reproduced so did angels learn to do that? Does Luke have parents? But then Raphael saw a normal human party as immoral so, even after so long, I can’t see them promoting sex so then did Michael poof Luke? But if so wouldn’t Luke call Michael Father, the same way Lucifer called God Father? Or is there some cosmic magic energy that poofs out new angels? You guys ever watched that first animated Tinkerbell movie where she was still learning to be a tinker fairy? Remember how she was created? The little dandelion seed that was mixed with that gold glowing fairy dust & magic mixture until it spit out a person? that’s how I imagine OM! Angels are created minus the dandelion part. Swirling unknowable natural magic that mixes with emotions and cosmic matter it draws from its surroundings till it creates an angel.) Simeon makes MC stop and kick a tree as hard as they can (which they do without question) until Belphie falls out.

After Belphie is introduced to MC he asks if they’ve met before and MC very lowkey gaslights him for the sake of the already fucked timeline and Simeon tells him Beel is looking for him. (MC can also tell Belphie they live together and he now considers them a crazy person, unless they are the rat in the attic that’s taken a humanoid form in which case he’s gonna avoid them for the rest of eternity). Belphie says Lucifer had wanted him to do a job but he ‘lol noped’ outta there and now he’s recruiting MC and Simeon to help him with who knows what cause he refuses to explain when MC asks. Belphie is surprised that Simeon has two angels assigned to him and Simeon asks if he’s too much of a low level grunt to be given two angels and Belphie’s like “Dude you’re literally one of the highest ranking people here” and Simeon’s like “oh shit lol we’re in the past” and MC’s absolutely unhinged curiosity and unwillingness to let something go only strikes at the odd moment so they never bother asking how Simeon went from one of the most powerful people in the Celestial Realm to a low level grunt (fucking idiot). Belphie hears Simeon’s oh shit comment and asks what he said, Simeon lies through his teeth and MC comments on angels lying. Simeon gave us the whole white lies speech that our parents gave us at some point. Belphie insists that MC’s familiar and MC suggests in a dream, which Belphie takes cause when you spent most your time asleep reality starts getting warped. Belphie makes Simeon and MC carry 6 blankets, when MC asks what exactly Lucifer made Belphie do he says he made him go get blankets for 6 people & that Lucifer had just given them a list of stuff to get and none of them knew what for. Belphie says that Lucifer’s being gone a lot lately cause the prince of the Devildom keeps calling for him (and so this is definitely after MC’s first visit now and I loved the Devilgram about Lucifer & Diavolo’s first meeting but I need detailed backstory about every meeting since then, about how Lucifer started slowly warming up to Diavolo, how Diavolo was always in awe of him despite how much of a prick he was, how he slowly started doubting the celestial realm and seeing things Diavolo’s way, how he felt like the Celestial Realm was lying to him about how things should be, how he should be and that started building up his resentment and anger that would one day turn into Satan, how he felt more comfortable in the Devildom than he ever had in the celestial realm, how much guilt and anger towards himself all this made feel, I mean all this is briefly touched upon in the devilgram but I need it in depth pls someone come scream at me about this!) Belphie says today is Lucifer’s first free afternoon in a long while. Outside the door they hear Mammon yelling at Satan to catch something.

Outside Levi and Satan are trying to catch fluffy eggs (multi coloured eggs with wings), Levi calls Satan “Sully dear” when he tells him to watch his step which Satan takes great offense to. Satan makes a plan that leads to Levi catching all 6. Asmo comments on how despite just meeting they make a perfect team. They go to the brothers’ secret room where the others were making fluffy egg sandwiches on Lucifer’s orders until Beel let them escape. Beel says he didn’t mean to let them escape cause he only wanted to eat them and Mammon says that’s worse (love to see that Beel’s taken MC’s advice from their previous visit and is not trying to control his snacking). Mammon leaves MC in charge of making sure Beel doesn’t eat the sandwiches and asks Beel when he became so food crazy and he says lately he’s been getting more hungry than normal (I like to think that yeah this is Beel unconsciously following MC’s advice to give in to his urges but also Beel and the rest of the brothers unknowingly already starting their fall into being demons as they become more discontent living in the celestial realm during peacetimes). Satan tells Levi to put only thinner layer of butter on the bread and levi does so, Asmo says that there’s something about MC and ‘Sully’ that makes it feel like despite just meeting them that day it feels like they’ve all known each other much longer (I love how Satan just immediately fits into the group dynamics showing that even though he wasn’t there in the beginning he was always meant to be and how both this and last time MC’s just easily accepted like ‘yeah here’s this weird new angel they’re sticking with us now’). Belphie agrees saying he feels like he’s known them forever. Simeon asks MC and ‘Sully Dear’ if they heard that and that it seems like they all share a special bond. Sully dear takes extreme offense to his new nickname. Asmo tells MC and ‘Sully Dear’ that they’ve now been adopted into the family and that any attempt to resist will be futile. MC tells Asmo that it may not be possible. Belphie’s sad. Beels acts like they didn’t say anything and just repeats that they should stay with them. Mammon adds a ‘forever’ onto the end of that and that Lucifer will make it happen cause there’s nothing he can’t do (do you think if Lucifer stayed in the celestial realm he would have just kept on adopting random misfits and oddballs?). Satan’s daddy issues pop up at the mention of Lucifer and he says that even back then Lucifer was pompous with an over inflated ego (something I like about OM! Is how Satan’s deep issues with Lucifer are never resolved after one wacky adventure. They’re deep and old enough that it’ll take a long time to be fixed but progress is being made after each therapy session with Satan even if there’s the occasional regression. It makes it feel much more real). Satan’s annoyed enough about Lucifer that he doesn’t bother lowering his volume so the brothers end up staring at him silently. Probably shouldn’t have dissed Lucifer in front of people who think he’s the best thing ever. Period. Y’know since sliced bread probably hadn’t been invented at the time. Actually when was sliced bread invented? Wait. July 7 1928. Also apparently sliced bread is banned in the US? Is that true? Oh shit okay I actually read through the article and this happened during WWII and the ban was lifted 3 months later. Also it’s implied the saying “the best thing since sliced bread” originated from Americans pushing back against the ban. Look I don’t wanna start discourse about sliced bread but this one lady wrote to the new york times about how she had to slice 22 pieces of bread everyday to feed her family and like yeah I hate cutting bread too but like damn I’m not gonna write to the papers about it, some people are just so goddamned passionate but then again I don’t need to cut 22 slices of bread everyday – maybe I’d be passionate too in her circumstances)

Mammon, Lucifer’s #1 lil lapdog, says he has no idea what sully’s smoking to be talking about ‘back in these days’ but calling Lucifer ‘pompous with an overinflated ego’ is going too far, Satan’s dumbstruck by Mammon’s betrayal because despite everything Mammon’s always been there ready to badmouth Lucifer. Beel says Lucifer’s a good guy who always thinks about them and does what’s best for them (so it’s the same as now except he doesn’t try to hide all that behind 36 layers of assholery). Belphie says he can be easily misunderstood because he’s cold and blunt. Satan comments on everyone up here loving Lucifer (so it’s the same as now except they don’t try to hide it all behind 36 layers of assholery). Asmo asks why they wouldn’t love him when he’s their ‘beautiful, strong big brother’ and that they’re all proud of him (guys Satan’s seconds away from losing his shit and this is the last chapter dbksnkdsjksdnk next lesson the entire Celestial Realm gets reduced to rubble as Satan goes on a rampage rip). Levi says Lucifer looks after him even though he’s totally useless (he says it so casually too I don’t know whether to laugh or cry). Asmo & Belphie says they don’t know how well Sully knows Lucifer but if he knew him properly it’ll be impossible not to love him (honestly that’s true I hated him till we started learning more about him and now he’s my second favourite character! Guess who’s my first, I bet you can’t!). Satan’s absolutely dumbfounded by the suggestion. Simeon agrees with them saying it’s time to mend fences and maybe Satan can take the first step. Satan seems upset, realising that Simeon left him with the brothers in the hopes that they’d get through to him about Lucifer but then he gets pissed demanding if Simeon set up this whole journey to the past thing. Simeon denies it and tells satan to calm his tits. But Satan’s on a role now, asking if he’s doing it for the status, if he gets Satan and Lucifer to work things out he’ll get prestige amongst the angels which honestly makes no sense but anger rarely makes you rational so whatever. He goes on to ask if Simeon hoped he could control Satan, the same way Lucifer does (and hoo boy the issues. I like to imagine MC’s contemplating jumping out the window right about now.) Simeon tries to deny all of this but is cut off by Satan saying that Simeon thinks Satan needs to understand where Lucifer’s coming from and how he’s not so bad but that Satan doesn’t like Simeon telling him what to do and that he can’t believe Simeon created a whole illusion just to get what he wanted. And then he’s screaming about how if Lucifer is so precious to Simeon he should try being “Lucifer’s sweet, obedient little brother” (to be fair the idea of being micromanaged by your father who doesn’t even want to admit to being your father is very shudder inducing). The brothers obviously where no idea what the fuck is going on (MC has created a rope by tying blankets together and is now rappelling down through the window), Levi stutters and asks what Sully’s talking about, Beel asks if he and Lucifer have history, Satan looks shocked and sad for a second before he storms out (probably not a good idea considering what he is, where they are and when they are). Asmo seems upset he left, Mammon seems agitated and wonders wtf his deal was. Simeon says he hadn’t meant to set him off like that and that after all of MC’s therapy sessions Satan would have been more open to talking about everything but that he realises that Satan’s progressing at his own pace. MC knowing their job is never over (climbs back up through the window) offers to go after him. Simeon thanks them and says he feels terrible and will apologise but to spare Simeon’s head being ripped from his shoulders MC really should go smooth things over first. They find Satan in the woods looking sad and ask if he’s okay, he doesn’t reply. They can either hug him or take his hand. Hugging leads to a kiss there’s no choice (whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy let MC hug their friends and give the option to kiss or not instead of them both being to kiss). They sit silently together under the trees, holding hands and looking up at the Celestial Palace and this is the sweetest type of silent understanding that I love. After Satan’s calmed down he says MC can leave and go back to the others now. Just before they can answer they are confronted by Lucifer who asks them who they are and what they’re doing there. And that’s the end :))))))))))))))) Next Lesson’s either gonna be a long ass therapy session or a full out street fight can’t wait

#obey me spoilers #obey me #obey me!#swd obey me #my posts #my theories #shall we date? obey me!#obey me shall we date

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stilloutofmyvulcanmind · 4 years

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Feathers

Pairing: Harry Wells x Reader

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: Talk of Nazis and Earth-X

Summary: After the events of the incursion from Earth-X, you take a moment to unwind and begin to heal with help from an unexpected party.

A/N: So, this is just a small wingfic I’ve had sitting in my Google drive for ages

~ Walking into the small converted bedroom you were currently calling home, you groaned quietly as you rolled your sore shoulders. After the events of the last few days you were bone weary and wanted nothing more than to fall face first onto your bed and sleep for a week like all the others had done. You weren’t lucky enough to get to do that, and probably wouldn’t be for some time though. Caitlin had taken care of your injuries, but there was still some grooming issues to take care of.

Stripping out of the top layer of your suit and tossing it onto your bed, you stood in front of the large mirror, the one requirement you’d asked for, and let your wings unfurl. You’d had them for as long as you could remember, but you still loved the soft pebble grey feathers tipped in teal, even if sometimes they could be a pain. You stretched them out fully, carefully twisting and turning to examine the damage. The fights that had happened since Barry and Iris’ failed wedding had taken their toll and left countless feathers broken and bent and now that the adrenaline had worn off, the pain had settled in. Before you had any chance of rest, you’d have to groom them, removing the damaged feathers so new ones could grow in their place.

A necessary, but tedious job, especially by yourself.

Wincing when bruised ribs protested at your twisted stretching, you started to slowly pluck out the dead feathers.

A rap on your door distracted you from the task. You hadn’t closed the door fully, so when you looked up into the mirror, you were surprised to see Harry standing there.

“Hey,” you greeted, turning to face him. “Everything okay? I thought you’d be asleep by now.”

“Yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine.” Harry shifted awkwardly, running a hand through already messed hair. “I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“I’m fine, just,” you gestured towards your wings, “need to take care of these.”

Harry nodded. “Do...do you need a hand? Snow said you hurt your ribs...it must be painful.”

“Oh. I mean, yeah, a little, but I can manage. It’s been a long few days, I don’t want to keep you up.”

“I don’t mind.”

Chewing the inside of your cheek for a moment, you nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

Harry moved quickly, entering your room and closing the door behind him. You turned back to face the mirror, just so you could watch him stand behind you. His razor sharp focus was purely on your wings as you stretched them out once again, and you knew he was studying everything about them, the way they moved, how they moved. With anyone else that kind of scrutiny would’ve made you uncomfortable, you’d experienced first hand recently the kind of intrigue they brought, but not with Harry. With him it felt different. Better.

You cleared your throat. “You’re looking for any obviously broken feathers, or any that are loose.”

Harry’s nod was subtle. Then his fingers were brushing over them, running one through his fingers and a shiver ran down your spine. Of course he noticed, immediately drawing back. “Did that hurt?”

“No! No, you’re good. It’s just that other people don’t touch them often, and the last ones to do so were y’know-”

“Nazis.”

“Yeah.”

Blue eyes met yours in the reflection, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

You offered a smile. “I know.”

Harry returned the smile briefly, and you could’ve sworn the tips of his ears had turned pink in the low light, then his gaze left yours and his hands returned to the wings.

He was methodical in his work, just like with everything else he did, carefully running his fingers through the grey and blue section by section, carefully removing the ruined and the dead, and letting them drop into the canvas bag you kept for this purpose. It hurt a little on occasion, when he was forced to pluck a fractured feather that hadn’t quite come loose, but it was the good kind of pain you’d come to associate with healing and regrowth.

Soon though, even the pain was gone, and it was just the soothing sensation of Harry surely but carefully double checking his work, and ridding the last of the loose feathers. Your eyes fluttered shut on their own, getting lost in the feeling of tension draining away. His touch was only on your wings still, but it felt like every muscle in your body was unwinding.

“They’re sensitive,” Harry said softly, breaking the silence that had fallen.

“Yeah.” You opened your eyes again to find that Harry was watching your face now as he worked. Heat spread up the back of your neck and over your cheeks. “Having them touched can hurt like hell...or it can feel amazing, and the touch needed to do either doesn’t vary much.”

“No one would blame you for never letting anyone touch them.”

“I don’t, usually. You’re the first person I’ve willingly allowed in years.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because I trust you.”

The corner’s of his mouth quirked up. “I hope I live up to it.”

“I know you will.”

Harry swallowed, dropping his eyes back to his hands. He was still carding his fingers through the feathers, with less trained efficiency but slower. They were movements no longer designed to groom and tend, both of you knew that task had been completed, but for enjoyment. You wondered if he liked the downy texture sliding along skin.

“Are you really okay?” Harry asked after another minute. “Allen, he said they took you from the rest of them, to experiment…”

“I won’t lie and say it was pleasant. It hurt and I was scared, but I’ll be fine.”

“If...if you want to talk about it...I’m not good at comforting, but I can listen. Offer a glass of brandy.”

You laughed softly, “I might take you up on that. But I’d say you’re pretty good at the comforting too. Having you here has helped tonight. Thank you.”

“Thank you, for letting me. I didn’t know if it’d be best to wait until tomorrow, but I couldn’t. I had to see you were okay. When I found out they’d taken you, I...I realized that one of my biggest fears was something happening to you.”

Harry’s words struck deep inside your chest, and you forced yourself to free your wings from his fingers so you could turn to face him once again. “That’s funny, because all that time over there, I was worried about what they were doing to you. I had no idea if you were...if you were even still alive and that thought was worse than anything they could’ve done to me.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Ditto.”

Harry raised a hand to your cheek, and on instinct you leaned into the touch. “Maybe some good did come out of all this,” you whispered.

Harry huffed a laugh, brushing a thumb over your cheekbone. “Yeah.” A long moment passed, both of you watching the other, but neither knowing what to do. “It’s late,” he said finally, “I should let you rest.”

He started to pull away, but you caught his wrist. “Stay. Please?”

His answer was immediate. “Okay.” He glanced over at the bed, barely big enough for two.

“I know, it’ll be a tight squeeze. If it’s any help Felicity said she’d have my official Earth-1 ID ready soon, so I can get a proper place with a proper bed.”

Harry chuckled, “That’ll be an improvement. Not that I’m objecting to squeezing in.”

You laughed and kissed his cheek. “Of course you’re not.”

#harry wells x reader #harry wells imagine #harrison wells imagine #Harrison wells x reader #earth 2 harrison wells x reader #earth 2 harrison wells

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ineffably-good · 4 years

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Prompt: Glorious

This is part two of my last prompt, which you can read here.

Part of the Good Omens 30th Anniversary celebration prompts. You can read all of the ones I’ve completed over on AO3!

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Part two: Project Heavenly Slumber

Crowley was in Baghdad in the court of Mamun the Great, giving his best effort toward whatever it was demons did – foster discord, disrupt the rule of law, interfere with justice, Aziraphale wasn’t sure. He miracled himself into the outskirts of town, where he’d sensed Crowley’s presence. He found him haggling with a merchant over a pile of dates. The demon had always had a sweet tooth, although he’d deny it vociferously if cornered about it.

“Crowley!” Aziraphale said, touching him on the sleeve. “How lovely to run into you!”

“You didn’t run into me,” Crowley said, not missing a beat as he handed over his pile of coins and took the bag from the vendor. “I felt you appear just a second ago. You’re here on purpose. Come to oversee the translations, I suppose?”

Aziraphale blinked. “Translations?”

“Oh!” Crowley grinned. “All kinds of fantastic things are going on here – they’re building this thing called The House of Wisdom. Big building full of scrolls! Translating all the texts from Greece, Persia, Sumeria. Been wondering when you’d show up – right up your alley!”

“Oh dear,” Aziraphale fretted. “And here I am stuck in the courts of Charlemagne overseeing stupid wars and conquests! I’d much rather be here! If only we could switch assignments!”

The demon smiled rapaciously. “We could undoubtedly work something out, angel.”

“Oh now,” the angel replied, retreating into his prim default. “That won’t be possible and you know it. But I did come here to seek you out.”

“Oh? Missed my sparkling personality?”

“Hardly,” the angel said. “But I need your advice. I’ve gotten myself in rather a pickle. Is there somewhere we could go to talk?”

Crowley laughed so loudly and for so long that Aziraphale began to feel quite annoyed. He helped himself to another generous serving of Crowley’s precious date wine, drank it all in one gulp, and then sat back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

Still the demon laughed.

“Oh – oh my –” Crowley moaned, wiping his eyes and beginning to calm down. “So sorry angel, but that one is a knee-slapper! Gabriel and his glorious presence overpowering the infant Yeshua into unconsciousness!”

Aziraphale giggled a little too at that one. It never got old.

“And – and now –” Crowley tried to regain breath control, but he was still half-laughing. “And now you’ve got to go teach a bunch of idiot angels how to sleep? Oh, for Satan’s sake. I wish I had your job sometimes. No one in Hell ever says anything funny.”

“Yes, well, that’s the problem you see,” Aziraphale said insistently. “I can barely sleep myself! Hardly ever do it. I was hoping you might have some pointers for me?”

Crowley noticed the low level of the wine jug and waved a hand to refill it to the top, then poured himself a mug of it. He took a sip while thinking carefully.

“I suppose I could teach you a few things,” he said. “Things I learned in China. Breathing techniques. Ways to calm the body and achieve other states. A little bit of hypnotic suggestion, perhaps?”

Aziraphale wrung his hands. “Oh dear, I would be so grateful. Anything you have, anything at all.”

Crowley nodded. “When do you have to report in?”

“Tomorrow!”

“Well then,” the demon said, “we’d better get started.”

Aziraphale left Baghdad armed with a sealed jug of date wine, several interesting new relaxation techniques designed to help ease anyone into a peaceful sleep, a scroll or two with some interesting guided incantations in them, and a small packet of a powder that Crowley promised would be safe but which he doubted he would ever feel brave enough to use. He still had his doubts about the demon’s intentions from time to time, and he certainly didn’t want to go down in infamy as the angel who got everyone in Heaven hooked on narcotic powders.

He made his way back home, left instructions with his secretary for things to be done in his absence, and then made a show of riding off on his best horse as if he were off on his travels. Once he was firmly out of sight of any and all of the humans, he set the horse free with a gentle command to find its way back to the stables and blend in, and miracle himself up to Heaven to begin his great and glorious work.

Gabriel was in that irritatingly heightened state he got into when he had come up with another new idea for team building or motivating his underlings. If regular Gabriel was hard to deal with, excited Gabriel was almost unbearable. He all but vibrated with self-importance and celebration, bestowing smiles and hearty claps on the shoulder to anyone he met.

“Principality!” he boomed jovially. “Glad you made it on time. Let me show you to where you’ll be working.”

He led the way through a winding series of corridors, each nearly indistinguishable from the next, past the library and on into an area Aziraphale had only rarely visited before – some kind of large, empty conference room, all white and chrome like the rest of Heaven, barely furnished except for a large stack of pillows and blankets someone had thrown in the middle of the room. Sitting in a half circle on the floor around the pile of bedding were eight nervous looking angels, low ranking guardians and office workers, obviously pulled from other duties and deposited here.

“Interns,” Gabriel announced. “This is Principality Aziraphale, former Guardian of the Eastern Gate, and our premiere expert on humanity. He’s here to introduce you to a human concept called sleep. Please give him your full attention and cooperate with everything he asks of you on this glorious new work. Questions?”

The angels jittered nervously and one fearfully shook her head. Aziraphale thought wryly that this was nearly the nicest thing Gabriel had ever said about him.

“Good then!” Gabriel said, whapping Aziraphale on the shoulder rather painfully. “I’ll check in on you later.”

He strode out of the room and the door sealed behind him.

“Good morning,” Aziraphale said nervously. “Shall we go around and introduce ourselves?”

As the day went by, the gathered angels got less and less fearful. Most of them hadn’t met a Principality before, Aziraphale realized, and they were naturally deferential and timid. Over the course of a few hours, though, they began to loosen up and to realize that this angel, in particular, welcomed questions and comments.

After a few stretching and breathing exercises, one of them raised her hand and waited patiently to be noticed.

“Yes, Anielle is it?” Aziraphale said.

“I’m terribly sorry, Principality Aziraphale,” she said quietly, “but I don’t understand. What is sleep FOR? And why are we supposed to learn how to do it?”

Terribly good question, Aziraphale thought. He tried to remain professional, despite his doubts about the entire project. “No one really knows what purpose sleep serves, but without it humans sicken and die. Also, many of them seem to enjoy it immensely,” he said. “I believe the archangels think we might be able to influence the dreams of sleeping humans, to – well, to guide them towards goodness and help counter demonic influences.”

Another angel raised his hand.

“You don’t really need to raise your hands,” Aziraphale objected. All eight pairs of eyes stared at him uncomprehendingly. “Or for Heaven’s sake. Yes? Plavian?”

“Could we perhaps use it to frighten them back into the path of righteousness, as well?” the angel asked. “In extreme cases of course. Using the nightmares you mentioned earlier?”

About half of the other angels tittered approvingly. Anielle, to her credit, looked upset.

This Plavian, Aziraphale thought, had a bit of Gabriel in him. He was undoubtedly going to be moving up in the chain of command. He could smell the wanker gene on him from here.

“Humans can react very poorly to nightmares,” Aziraphale said crisply, “and providing and worsening them is really more of a demonic tactic than an angelic approach. We’ll focus on methods that don’t actively damage anyone’s psyche. Our Heavenly Mother wouldn’t want us to harm them.”

He stood up. “Now,” he said, “everyone take a blanket and a pillow and find a space to lie down. We’re going to try some relaxation exercises and see if we can get any of you to fall asleep.”

Nothing worked. Nothing. They tried breathing exercises. They tried guided relaxation. They tried tensing and releasing each muscle in their bodies, starting with their feet and working their way up to their eyebrows. They tried calisthenics. They tried music. Finally, in desperation, Aziraphale magically dimmed the lights and read them all a story. He tried to pick a soothing one. A Tale of Two Cities should do, he thought.

The room was quiet and there was deep, even breathing all around when Aziraphale finished chapter two. He softly closed the book and stood up as quietly as possible, peeking around in the dim light. All eight of the angels were still, their hands folded on their chests, their eyes closed.

Were they – were they doing it?

As he leaned closer to the angel nearest him, he noted that she opened one eye just a crack and grinned up at him.

“I think I’m doing it!” she stage-whispered to him. “It feels really good!”

“It does!” someone else echoed from a far corner of the room. “I think I’m sleeping!”

“Me too!” said a third.

Aziraphale tried not to tear his hair out.

“Class dismissed for today,” he said. “Go home and try some of those relaxation exercises in the peace and quiet of your own abodes. We’ll try something new tomorrow.”

“You want to do what?” Gabriel said.

“I want to bring in a meal for them,” Aziraphale said patiently. “Food makes humans tired, so maybe it will help get them into the proper state.”

Gabriel frowned. “This is highly irregular,” he said, “corrupting them with gross matter.”

“You did want me to be thorough,” Aziraphale said primly.

Gabriel waved his permission, and Aziraphale got to work.

“Welcome back!” he said the next afternoon. “Today we’re going to expand our horizons a bit and try a meal.”

The angels filed in, looking curiously at the table Aziraphale had set up and its contents.

“What’s a meal?” one of the angels asked.

“It’s food! Humans consume it for sustenance.”

“So, it’s like the word of God?”

Aziraphale frowned. “Not exactly. Anyway, please take a seat around the table and let’s get started.”

He walked them through consuming a variety of dishes, taking a nibble here and there himself – fruits and vegetables, savory pies, cheeses and breads in various forms, sweets. The angels gamely tried everything, most of them looking somewhat unimpressed and trying to hide their distaste for the experience. One or two of them, though, took to the meal with slightly more gusto, taking seconds of some dishes and seeming to enjoy themselves. Aziraphale took note of these ones; they were potential future allies in his endeavors, he thought, and unlikely to be appreciated here in Heaven.

After they’d finished, they did some stretching and then he lowered the lights, had them all lay down, and he led them through the relaxation program from the prior day. He hoped that being warm, comfortable, and full would ease a few of them into sleep.

Aziraphale found himself fighting off a yawn. He really had been working frightfully hard the last few days.

The principality woke up some indeterminate amount of time later with the most terrible sensation of being watched. He opened his eyes in a panic and found himself ringed by his students, with eight pairs of eyes staring down at him in complete fascination.

Aziraphale pushed himself up to seated.

“Oh, for Heaven’s sake,” he said. “Did anyone besides me sleep?”

“No,” said one of the students. “But you did it very well, sir!”

“You were making the most curious noise,” another one added. “Kind of like this.” The student opened their mouth and started to make a rumbling noise that sounded a bit like an earthquake.

“No, I think it was more like this,” the original student one said, emitting a noise like a kitten purring, but loud.

“And you seem to have created a liquid,” added a third student. “It dripped out of your mouth onto your pillow. Is this part of the process?”

“We tried to touch your dreams,” Plavian said, “but it didn’t work.”

“NO ONE TOUCHES MY DREAMS,” Aziraphale said, leaping to his feet. The students backed away nervously; they had heard what a principality was capable of, in the general sense, and even more, they had all heard strange stories about Principality Aziraphale and his flaming sword. No one really wanted to see him angry.

“Oh, very well,” he said, pulling a leather pouch out of his robes. “Let’s try a little chemistry, shall we?”

“So in total,” Michael said sternly, “you’ve taken eight of our most promising young angels, sullied their corporations with cheese and bread, led several of them to believe that food is equivalent to the word of God, taught them heretical chanting techniques from the Eastern empires of Earth, and gotten several of them severely addicted to opium powder. Is that correct?”

Aziraphale looked at his feet and tried to appear repentant while inside he focused on one thought and one thought alone. He was going to murder the demon the next time he saw him. This was all his fault.

#goc2020 #good omens #good omens fanfiction #Aziraphale x crowley #heavenly projects #angel interns #hijinks ensue

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imagine-attackontitan · 7 years

Text

Stay (Chpt. 3: Little Warrior)

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Original Female Character

Word Count: 5,170

Warnings: Confessions of a man with big eyebrows (why do I think I’m funny?), Cute Levi

AO3 link posted under xOblivion_is_Gracex (yes, this is my sad collection of fics)

Chapter Summary: Erwin looks for Hope only to find her on top of the south tower with Levi-the man who is tasked to kill him.

A/N: This is much shorter than the last chapter, and it may seem like the story isn’t moving fast, but I want to build the character relationships before I send them off into the world. This was necessary to the (completely platonic) Levi/Erwin relationship later on.

Chapter 3: Little Warrior

*Erwin’s POV*

After working through all the kinks, not wanting anything to be out of place when we left for the expedition in the early afternoon, I finally left my office. I had gone for a quick stroll around the barracks earlier when I noticed that Flagon was up and about. After escorting him to his room, I returned to my office, continuing to stew on the formation I had planned. Second guessing oneself lead to errors, so I tried to keep from thinking about it too much. Still, these were people I cared about, and a large portion of them, I wouldn’t see again. Plus, my younger sister, my whole world, was coming out with us, and if the formation failed, her life could be put at risk. If she was hurt or killed...I’d never be able to forgive myself. Hope had stopped by earlier in the evening, but she usually found her way into my office when the night drew nearer, begging and pleading with me to come back to her room with her. She had a hard time falling asleep even when I was with her. Staying asleep was a whole other struggle. There were times in the middle of the day when she would pass out on the couch in my office, waking up less than an hour later, terrified that something had happened. I knew where the fear came from, and as her older brother, I wanted nothing more than to take that fear away for her own peace of mind. She tried so many things to fall asleep and stay asleep, and I watched her struggle, tears of anger and frustration brimming her eyes every time something didn’t work. We tried tea, sleeping with a few candles lit, sleeping in complete darkness, blankets, no blankets, my blanket (because it smelled like me), reading, staring up at the stars. None of it worked. The only surefire way for her to fall asleep was to lay with me. During her nightmares, I’d be right there to wake her up and soothe her back to sleep. If he woke up with a start, eyes darting around the room as the paranoia filled them, I was right there to pull her back into reality. When I wasn’t with her, she would roam on her own. There had been countless times when she would take one of the horses and ride around for hours, or she would just walk away until she felt like turning back. She often went days, which was why I made myself available to her whenever she needed me. However, she had days when she was too proud to ask for my assistance in falling asleep, believing it to be too childish.

Then again, she was never able to be a child.

Because she hadn’t ventured into my office once the moon had risen in the sky, I was sure she was either tossing and turning in her own bed, or she was staring up at the stars on the top of one of the towers or on the roof. I walked toward her room, pulling out one of the spare keys I had made. She had a spare key to my room where we often found ourselves. There were times when I would find her in my bed, curled up under my blanket, hugging my pillow against her chest like it was me in bed with her. So, there were times when she could fall asleep on her own, but never in the week before an expedition. There were times when she would run on little to no sleep, but I heard her reasoning plenty of times. She would always tell me simply and without accusation, “you don’t see what I see when I close my eyes.” She wasn’t trying to put blame on me, and I never took it like that. She had seen a lot. Behind those distant blue-violet eyes was a sadness that was unparalleled and a fear that she would lose everyone she loved just like we lost our mother. I didn’t have to see it happen, though. She did. It was one of those things that I’d never forgive myself for, though. If I had been there, I might not have been able to stop it, but Hope never would’ve had to see what happened. I wouldn’t have let her, and I wouldn’t have let them touch her. If I had been there, she wouldn’t flinch when someone raised their hand. She wouldn’t be afraid to fall asleep. Of course, watching as some of her friends were killed by the titans added to that fear, but she knew from experience that danger lurked both inside and outside the walls.

As I pushed her door open, I took in the sight of the empty bedroom. It was kept spotless at all times. It was one of the many quirks about her that many people found amusing but one that I thought of as quite sad when I remembered the origins of it. I could remember coming home that day only to find her scrubbing the blood off the floors of our family home, digging at the wood until her own fingers bled because the copious amount of blood had stained it. She didn’t shed a single tear and never spoke of that day again, trying to forget the day when her whole world stopped turning, the day when the light died. Even though she had seen the worst side of them she kept her faith in humanity and fought to protect them. Part of her was so diligent to join the Survey Corps to protect me from suffering the same fate as our mother and father. However, another part of her joined to protect the people within the walls, the ones who couldn’t protect themselves because that was just who she was. Even the people who hurt her were deserving of kindness and compassion because she believed that hatred bred hatred and that kindness bred kindness. Part of that theory was being tested on the newest additions to the Survey Corps, the ones who were planning on killing me.

Before closing the door to her room, I noticed that the spare blanket, the one she kept folded at the foot of her bed, was gone. The only other possibility was that she was outside, looking up at the stars, and the south tower was always her favorite place. It was her private area, and everyone was well aware of it, leaving her to her own devices. Looking at the stars-for both of us-helped us feel closer to our parents and lost friends, so we didn’t ask questions when she gathered her blanket and made her way to the As I walked by the room Levi and Furlan shared with a handful of other soldiers, my eyes caught an empty bunk that was made perfectly, not a wrinkle or thread out of place. The bed belonged to the quietest of the bunch, the one who looked at me with cold and angry eyes, the one whose face was shoved into a puddle upon our first meeting. Levi was the strongest, fastest, and most observant of the three recruits. He was cold and calculating, almost the polar opposite of Hope. However, I noticed a softer side of him that came out whenever she was around, a warmth in his eyes whenever he looked at her, a softening of his voice whenever he spoke to or about her. A piece of me knew what was happening, but an even bigger piece hoped I was reading it wrong. If anyone else would go out to watch the stars with her, it was usually Mike, but his door was cracked open slightly, so I knew he wasn’t with her. When he was in his room, sleeping or not, his door was always cracked open, but if he was gone, it was always closed and locked. Then, the possibility dawned on me. If Levi wanted to get to me, hurting her would be the easiest. He could take advantage of how much she cared and how little caution she took when it came to him, and he could potentially hurt her.

Without second thought, I ran through the corridors and up to the roof where I could usually find her with Mike. I had walked through the doors countless times to see them sitting on the edge of the wall, legs dangling off the side or curled up with each other in some way. Her body fully encased by his arms and his nose pressed into her hair. There were times during the day when I would walk by her room and hear his softened voice whispering sweet nothings to her. Still, no matter how much they cared for each other, she never took anyone up to the towers because it was her time to think about all she’s lost. The south tower was her private place. When I saw that the roof was empty, I knew that she must’ve been on top of the tower. The part of me that was most like her, the part they tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, was hoping that Levi was just wandering around and not trying to hurt her. That hope didn’t stop my legs from moving as fast as they could, pushing myself up every stair until I reached the top of the highest tower.

When I finally found her-found them-I couldn’t believe my eyes. Even with Mike, she found it difficult to fall asleep. With me, it was difficult for her to stay asleep. Then, there was Levi. The way he was holding her and the way she curled up into him, their bodies molding together perfectly made my heart swell with joy. It was what she had been looking for all along. The man who was destined to kill me, the one who hated me with every shred of his being, was the one she found peace and solace in. Her body rested so delicately in his arms as he stared down at her like she was a goddess. It was the same way I remembered my father looking at my mother, like he could see the whole world in her eyes. His lips would tug up into a sincere smile, the wrinkles at the sides of his eyes acting as a testament to just how much joy she had given him in their time together. When I saw Levi’s eyes brighten at the sight of her in his arms, I knew that there was no turning back. She would be the object of his affection, and he would be the object of hers. I could do nothing but hope, though, that he would be gentle and loving when it came to her, that he would show her kindness and compassion instead of anger and aggression, something I would not tolerate. While I didn’t see it as my place to interfere with who she had feelings for, she was my younger sister, and I would always intervene if I felt her health and well-being was being put into question. For Levi’s sake, I hoped he respected her and cared for her, carrying on the legacy I left behind for any potential partners.

While I was disappointed that I didn’t find her with Mike, the relationship I had shown unparalleled support for, I was happy that she was sleeping, regardless of who offered her the comfort and protection to do so. We had a big day starting first thing in the morning. While we didn’t leave until between the late hours of the morning and the early hours of the afternoon, we had to get the horses and carts prepared. Hope had a tendency of disappearing before an expedition once her work was done, venturing off to Shiganshina district for a reason I didn’t understand. She would be awake earlier than everyone, and she would disappear before anyone knew she had been there. Her morning routine would be put on hold to focus on the tasks to make sure they were completed in a timely manner. On any other morning, she’d complete her chores, exercise in the yard, clean, bathe, and then find some work that needed to be done. Keith was almost always swamped with work, so she could always count on him to give her a task or two, and he would always be pleasantly surprised with how quickly and efficiently she completed it.

Levi’s grey eyes flickered up to meet mine, finally realizing the intrusion. Perhaps, he realized that I was up there, but he just didn’t care because he was so captivated by the most beautiful woman to grace this world. I knew how biased I was, but my sister had many suitors. I was propositioned time and time again by men looking to marry her, and before I answered, I’d always ask her how she felt. Her response was always something similar to, “I’m married to the Survey Corps.” The constant proposals were a testament to her beauty and grace. With nothing but a kind smile, I sat down on the other side of Levi, putting him in the middle of Hope and I. Crossing my legs over one another, locking them at the ankles, my hands rested gently in my lap, “I had a feeling she would be up here. I had not expected you to be up here, though”

He snickered, his arm tightening around her waist as she pulled her body impossibly closer to his. I realized after a moment that it was the first time I’d ever seen him smile. The anger and resentment he harbored when it came to everyone else melted away and left him with no more than wonder and compassion in his eyes where I thought it had been impossible, “I didn’t have much of a choice, but you know her well enough to know how resilient and persuasive she is” he said, smiling down at the young girl in his arms. Levi and I were the same age-I was only two months older-making him seven years her senior. However, I couldn’t really find fault in the age difference when I actively supported the potential relationship between her and Mike, the man who was a year older than I was and eight years her senior. Levi’s eyes remained soft as our gaze locked, “how did you even know she was gone in the first place?” he asked

I smirked, “I checked her room” I answered, causing him to visibly tense up. The quiet young man had a difficult time showing emotions, but his jealousy was evident. His jaw clenched. While a part of me wanted to watch him squirm for what he was planning on doing, I knew that she wouldn’t have wanted me to do that. She was always willing to meet brutality with kindness, and that’s how I wanted to be remembered as well. I swallowed hard, “she normally has a really hard time falling asleep and staying asleep, especially when these expeditions come around. She knows that some of her friends won’t make it back, and she knows that there’s a possibility that she won’t make it back, so-”

He cut me off, his grey eyes darting over to meet mine with a determination I had never seen in one human before, “she will” he growled before looking back down at her with nothing but wonder and passion in his eyes. If only she could’ve seen the way he looked at her, if only she could’ve heard the way he spoke about her, the intensity in his glare when I even brought up the possibility that she could die. I didn’t like thinking about it, either. She was all I had left in this world, and I’d be lost without her, but he didn’t owe her anything. I owed her everything. The life I have now is thanks to her. I could still remember the one time I was grabbed, the way the titan's hand nearly crushed my spine, the way my legs dangled over his mouth. I could still remember her scream of pure agony when she saw what happened. She was brutal when killing the titan, making it to me just in time. She was only 14 at the time, and it was her very first expedition with the Survey Corps. Usually, we waited until individuals were 15, but she showed a strength that paralleled and even surpassed that of some of our most elite soldiers. I could still see her shooting across the sky, ripping the titan apart and grabbing me to keep me from the fall. I had a reason to fight for her. Levi owed her nothing. Still, I couldn’t find a hint of insincerity in his voice when he spoke again, “I’ll make sure she makes it back”

“There’s always a possibility that the entire expedition could be a failure, and we could all die. It isn’t set in stone, and she knows that” I stated, pointing out the risk we all took. Sometimes, our survival was just sheer luck, and you could only get lucky so many times before your luck runs out. I didn’t want to live to see her luck run out, to see the light in the world fade away, so I tried to stop myself from thinking of it, fighting harder and harder each time to make sure she returned. I’d never let anything happen to her, never again. I swallowed hard, “she has barely slept for just over a week, which will make fighting even more difficult for her tomorrow. That’s why I’m glad she’s asleep right now. Most of the time, it takes quite a while for her to relax and fall asleep when I’m there, but it’s better than no rest at all. It looks like she has no problem relaxing with you, though” I stated, a slight pang of jealousy running through my body as I thought of this new man coming in and taking away the job I held for years and years. It was a job I wouldn’t trade for the world because she had a calming presence as well, which helped me fall asleep after the long day. Her body would curl into mine, a fragile frame in my all-encompassing arms. I’d hold her as close to me as possible, making sure to keep her safe from the world that had forsaken her so many times already. My little warrior.

As I continued to stare at the two of them, seeing the hint of a smile on her sleeping face, I realized that it was my new duty to bring Levi back safely as well. Not only would I be looking out for her and my men, I would do everything in my power to keep him alive, something that would put my life at risk, but I didn’t care about that. All I needed to see was the way her body molded against his, their beings fitting together like they had been created to do so since the beginning of time, “you make her happy” I stated, running a hand through my blonde hair, combing it back. He glanced back over at me, taking his eyes of her again, something he was having difficulty with. He was just as captivated by her as any other man was, but it was different because she was equally as taken by him. I continued, seeing the confusion on his face, “she has smiled more in the time you’ve been here than all her 19 years combined. I’ve seen the way she looks at you and how she’s so comfortable around you after only knowing you for a short time. She cares so deeply about the three of you, not once taking into consideration where you came from or what you did while underground. She knows what has transpired, and she’s perceptive enough to know whatever will come next. She’s spoken countless times on your behalf as well as on the behalf of Isabel and Furlan, defending you three against anyone who thought that passing criticism in front of her would go unchallenged. She’s even spoke out against me when I suggested we keep you and your friends under close supervision in the cellar instead of in the main barracks. Instead, she risked the lives of everyone here to make sure you three were comfortable and felt welcome. She placed complete trust and absolute faith in you as soon as she met you, and I can’t tell you how happy I am that she’s able to do that again, that she’s able to trust so easily and be so open. You’ve made her so happy, and you’ve filled her with a sense of purpose that I’ve never seen in her before. I don’t know how I could ever repay you”

He sighed, turning his attention back over to her, reaching up to brush a stray piece of hair from her face. His hand lingered there as another smile tugged at his lips. He turned back to face me, a sadness in his eyes that was unparalleled, “keep her from coming on the expedition. Force her to stay here. I’ll fight twice as hard to make up for her not being there”

I was taken aback by his answer, shocked that he would ask for something so selfless. I figured that his first request would be a release from the Survey Corps granted to him and his friends. However, when she was involved, I saw a different side of him, a much softer side. I snickered, knowing that he still had a lot to learn about her, “you may not have known her as long as I have, but everyone who knows her knows that she’s not one for staying behind. If I go, she refuses to stay behind. If Mike goes, she refuses to stay behind. The list goes on and on. Plus, she cares about you, too, so it’s just another reason for her to come along. Even if I tied her to the chair, she’d find her way out of it and tag along. She’s done that before and almost got herself killed in the process because no one was there to give her backup if she needed it” I explained, seeing the way his face fell when I denied him what should’ve been the simplest request. Hope didn’t make things like that easy, though, especially when she was dead set on coming with us. I sighed, “listen, Levi, I can tell that you care about her more than you want to admit, that she means a lot to you. She means a lot to me, too”

His eyes narrowed as he glared up at me, anger and rage boiling beneath the surface as if I had no right to compare the way I cared about her to the way he did. I could still remember when I had the same internal reaction when people would tell me that they cared about her in a similar way that I did even though she was my everything. I knew her since the day she was born, and I was the one who raised her after our mother died. I was there through everything. Still, his jaw clenched before he spoke to me, “you have no idea how much I care about her”

He was still so impulsive and so passionate, especially on the topic that involved her. It would get him killed if he didn’t get a good handle on it, but I wasn’t really one to talk. I had nearly jeopardized entire expeditions to keep her safe, but she was also something much more than a crush. I swallowed hard and spoke without thinking of the potential consequences, though I was sure he already figured it out, “she’s my younger sister in case you haven’t caught onto that yet” I confessed, wanting to be completely open with him the way Hope wanted to be and the way I kept her from being.

“Yeah, no shit” he grunted, acting as if he wasn’t at all surprised by my confession. I could tell by the way his eyes widened that he was, in fact, caught off guard. He was simply too proud to admit it, which was another sign that we weren’t all that different. Hope tried to point that out time and time again, but I didn’t want to think that a man like him and a man like me could even be remotely similar. He cleared his throat, adjusting slightly now that he knew the context of our relationship. Before knowing any different, people would often assume that Hope and I were romantically involved with one another, but when they found out that I was her caretaker and older brother, they had a tendency to tone down their affection for her. Mike didn’t care as he continued flirting with her openly around me. Levi’s mood didn’t change too much either, though, as he continued in a teasing manner, “the eyebrows really gave it away. They’re almost as thick as yours” he snickered

“Very funny” I mused, truly admiring his resilience as well as his capability to turn anything into a sarcastic remark. He was an exceptional man with a dark past who made some bad decisions. I didn’t know much about him on a personal level, but I had blind faith in my sister’s judge of character. She did her research on him and even made a few trips to the Underground-trips I wasn’t supposed to know about. Mike was the one who informed me of them when he first realized what she was doing, and he trailed her the entire time, making sure she was safe. His feelings had been made perfectly clear, but even if she didn’t reciprocate them, they were still best friends. Mike was like a brother to me, someone I trusted with every bit of my life, including my whole world-her. If I hadn’t trusted him with her, I would’ve been the one following her down into the Underground City, but I knew why she was doing it. She wanted to learn about where Levi came from and what his life was like. The nights were rough for her after spending the whole day underground, and there were countless tears she shed on the behalf of all the men, women, and children who only knew life in that wretched city. I knew that the majority of those tears were shed specifically for Levi, Isabel, and Furlan. She knew far more about Levi than I did, putting in a true effort to discover who he was.

She didn’t give her full trust to anyone unless she knew they were deserving of it and that they would care for the trust placed in them. I trusted her judgement, and if she was willing to trust them, who was I to argue? All I wanted in life was to have the same level of faith that she had, putting the same amount of heart and compassion into every relationship. Achieving that would be a miracle, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try. I could start by having faith in Levi, faith that he wouldn’t try to kill me. Even if he did, he wouldn’t succeed. I swallowed hard, looking down at how peaceful she looked in his arms, “she’s the only family I have left, and I’m the same for her. After our parents died, we took care of each other. We don’t have anyone else, and that’s what makes our love for each other that much stronger. To see her make decisions that could get herself hurt or killed breaks my heart because every death weighs on everyone’s shoulders, but she just has a harder time letting them go. Whenever I tell her that it’s best to move on, she tells me that their dedication and willingness to die for the cause gives her strength and makes her fight harder” I explained, causing his eyes to soften, “she made the decision to join the Survey Corps the day I joined even though she was too young to truly know what that entailed, to know the kind of pain she would go through. Even when she understood what it was like to lose the people you cared about, she was still adamant about joining, knowing that she would have to experience that pain over and over again. She became one of the deadliest soldiers because she wanted the commander to never think twice about bringing her along. She wanted to be absolutely necessary on every expedition, so she trained harder than anyone else I’d ever seen”

He glanced up at me, tightening his arms around her, “she’s strong?”

“In more ways than just one” I answered with a nod, “I can’t watch her die, but I know I’ll be forced to one day if I don’t die before her. This expedition could get bloody, and you need to be ready to put aside your personal feelings for both her and your friends to focus on the objective. Trust me when I tell you that it’s the hardest thing to do, but when we’re outside these walls, there are no friends or family. We’re a team. We live and fight for one another and for the whole of humanity behind these walls”

He scoffed, “I couldn’t care less about the people behind the walls. They’ve never shown any kindness or sympathy toward me. I owe them nothing. Her…” he trailed off, gazing down at her with unparalleled tenderness in his eyes. I just knew that something would come of it if it hadn’t already. While a piece of me hoped otherwise, an even larger piece of me just wanted her to be happy. He continued with nothing but words of admiration for her, “I owe her everything. I owe you for bringing me here, even though it was against my will and against your better judgement. In doing that, you brought her into my life and filled the whole in my heart that was always there. I can’t imagine my life without her. My main goal is to protect her and my friends, to make sure they make it back. I don’t care if I’m strong and fast or if I could be of use to the Survey Corps. Even if I knew that my death would mean the undoing of the entire expedition, I’d willingly sacrifice myself for her because…” he trailed off, looking up at the stars like they held the answers. His eyes fixated on one star in particular as his eyes glazed over with emotion. I could tell that he was hesitant to admit his feelings for her. Without looking at me, he spoke, “she is my first priority”

“And you’ll be hers”

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