#and when i saw i need items from her to upgrade my armor i was like .... im not gonna shoot out heR TEETH WTF

[ganondoodle]

is it too much of a reach to say that zelda being reduced to basically an object to farm items from in totk just kinda adds more salt to the wound of how badly shes treated?

[mandalorewhore]

Common Ground

Part 2 of Hunter  (formerly Hunter and Prey)

gif by @themandaloriandaily​

Rating: Explicit Content Warnings: SMUT, Oral Sex (fem recieving), Cock Warming, Descriptions of violence/blood , Edging (maybe?), Dirty talk, Praise kink, Size kink, Big Dick Mando, Blindfolded Sex Words: 11.7k AO3 LINK

Summary: Reader and Mando land on Nevarro to meet with Karga

A/N: im sorry to niceguy!Karga in season 2

This would be less awkward if you knew how to talk to the man. 

The awkwardness is probably one-sided though you doubt he’s brooding over what the two of you did last night in this cockpit. You’re not a blushing virgin afraid to talk about sex, but it would be nice if you actually knew  something you both had in common, since you’re going to be spending a lot of time together. The extent of your conversations have been about sex, mechanics, and killing people. That’s pretty fitting for the two of you, you suppose. He is… Officially? your bounty hunting partner now.

However, he’s very comfortable in silence, so much so that it seems to be a central part of his character, much like the armor strapped to his body. Is being reserved a part of the Mandalorian creed too, or does he just prefer it? Does he want to talk about how you sucked his dick mere hours after abandoning your jobs as mercenaries? What is he thinking about right now? You could probably ask him all this, you know. Your internal argument is boiling over like a forgotten pot as you ruminate in the passenger seat of the Crest’s cockpit.

    You woke up in his arms a few hours ago, curled up in the pilot seat together, your face feeling a bit grimey due to  not scrubbing it clean after he gave you that facial. Feeling cozy in the quiet moments that follow waking, you snuggled in closer to his warmth, still only separated by the thin layer of his undershirt. You started when his palm squeezed your shoulder, his way of letting you know he was already awake. 

There’s an unspoken feeling about the way he fell asleep in your presence. You may work together now, but you’re still virtual strangers and Mando is a professional. You doubt he’ll pass out in front of you again. 

Slumped in your seat, you mull over every second that passed between the two of you. Meanwhile, he’s just sitting there like a lump of metal. Unaffected. Impassive. If you didn’t have first-hand proof of the deliciously warm skin he hides, you would’ve passed him off  as a droid. 

Actually when you think about it… when it comes to conversation topics, maybe metal is the place to start. As in, the ship that is now your impromptu home for the foreseeable future. You’ve gleaned that the Crest is like home to the Mandalorian and, come to think of it, he seemingly opted to sleep on his little cot down in the ship’s hull instead of taking up a bunk back on the space station. If he were anyone else, the gesture would’ve been ostentatious. It gave the impression that he was ready to leave at any moment. 

But no one wants to confront a Mandalorian.

Bringing up the Crest is probably a safe option and you’re knowledgeable about ships. You can hold your ground when it comes to the technicalities of mechanics. Plus, you can be charming when you want to be; on merc jobs you weren’t put into the femme fatal role for no reason.  Although you’ve casually lured men to their death, you’re more nervous to chat with Mando. But you’re determined to try. Try to be appealing...

    “I’m curious… Once I have some credits saved up, would you be interested in adding mods to the Razor Crest? I haven’t gotten a good look yet, but I’m floating some ideas around.” You bite your lip automatically out of apprehension, but hoping it comes across as playful. You’re not out of line or anything; it's been hours since you last exchanged any words so it's not like you’ve been chatting his ear off. Still, you worry that you sound extra loud to someone who’s spent so long in stillness. 

“That may be useful. What were you thinking?” Mando’s response comes only a second later, and even though he faces the cockpit’s transparisteel windows as he speaks, you’re giddy at his swiftness to respond. 

    “Well, I would love to touch her up a little. There are some issues with the hyper-drive and coms that could be fixed pretty easy. As for modifying, I saw that you installed a mobile carbonite-freezing chamber for bounties?” He nods to affirm your guess. “I could move that ‘round to utilize the space for storage and better suit two people living here. Either install a bed that can swing down or-”

    “Separate beds are unnecessary. We can sleep in shifts or share the bunk.”

    “O-oh. Sound’s good.” You gulp, feeling a little warm. The implication makes you sweat even if he shot down your idea. “Well, upgrading the deflector shields would be a good idea. Protect her better, plus efficient heat dispersal during atmospheric flight would let us jump into hyperspace faster. If we need to run or just want to fuck off somewhere.”

    “Hm. That is a good idea. She’s fast but there's always room for improvement.” He accentuates his response by patting the console lightly, and something about the way his hand lingers gently on the surface reminds you of a parent touseling their child’s hair. A smile stretches across your face, finally relaxing a little after being so tense all morning. For someone that you thought was so serious, he sometimes reveals a sentimental side to his personality. It makes you want to ask him more, to know more about him and how he thinks, but you’re so nervous about asking him anything even slightly personal, anything that has to do with his preferences or opinions. Your short exchange about his ship went pretty smoothly you think, maybe you can ask him more, you’ll just stay on the topic of starships. That should be fine. 

    “Do you have a dream ship?” You blurt, sounding a little less casual than you were trying for. Oops. 

    He takes longer to respond this time, seemingly thinking the question over. “No. Maybe when I was younger. I have the Crest now, there isn’t a need to plan for another ship.” 

    There's that seriousness again, the way he responds to you makes you think that he has never had to answer hypothetical questions before. It makes perfect sense, the average person doesn’t go around asking tall, intimidating Mandolorians about their hobbies. What a Gonk Droid. I’m jealous he can get away with talking like that. Still, you do want to continue this conversation if only to hear his voice. “Nothin’ about planning Mando, just a little make-believe. Personally, I like an A-Wing, the RZ-1 variant is classic even if the 2 is flashier. X-Wings are neat too, minus the pigs flying them.” 

    A weird huff passes through his voice filter and he finally turns to face you. You’re caught off guard by the sudden eye-visor contact, so it’s a second later when you process what that noise was, and the realization makes you positively giddy. “Oh shit, did I make a Mandolorian laugh? Am I on Spice?” 

    “That’s funny- pigs don’t deserve the nice Starfighters.” He laughs again, clearer this time while warmth feelings bloom within you at his reaction. It’s so unbelievable to you that he’s here laughing at something you said. You never once heard a reaction like that from him before now. “Those fast ships are impressive and great for combat, but I need a bigger space… a YV-929 would suit my needs.”

    “Of course it would, there’s like 1000 guns on that blocky thing. Plus the Empire banned it and you like to break rules.” The ship he named is virtually the same build as the Razor Crest, just with more guns, which is amusing to you. 

Creature of habit, you think, finding yourself leaning subtly closer to his body with every exchange. You don’t think you’re imagining him doing the same.

    “16. Could add more though.” He murmurs and something in his voice makes you think that he isn’t being entirely humorous. 

Maker, he is probably mapping out all the baster mods he could stick on that bulky freighter. You’re still amused by his very literal sense of things. You settle back in your seat to observe the hyperspace light streaking across the cockpit, a comfortable silence falling over the cockpit.

As you sit there and ruminate, the topic of weapons brings forth a vague memory in your mind. 

Someone once told you that Mandalorians aren’t considered great fighters due only to reputation and rumor. Most people are aware that armor and weaponry is part of the Mandalorian culture, but fewer are aware that such items have religious significance, going much deeper than a learned skill. Mandalorians are revered as great warriors not just because of their physical training, but because fighting and waging battle is a form of prayer. 

Despite finding rumors about Mandalorians to be generally exaggerated, you feel this one may be true.

 You’re curious but afraid to ask him to elaborate. The fact that neither of you exchanged more than a few words when you worked together is proof of his preferred privacy. Even though you’re pretty sure he wouldn’t mind giving you some sort of explanation about his culture, you decide to avoid any personal questions. 

Plus you really don’t want to come across as asking about his helmet.

    You break the silence shyly, trying to smoothly bring up a different topic. “Down in the hull… I haven’t explored much of your ship, I don’t want to come across as snooping. But I’m wondering, what sort of manpower have you got stored here?” 

“I installed an armory. Do you want to see it?” 

Fuck yes you want to check it out, his personal collection must be a wet dream.

“Yes, I’d love to!” You reply excitedly. The weapons Mando carried were always fascinating. You especially admired that rifle he slung across his back. You’ve never seen it in action but you heard it evaporated its targets. The two spokes at the end made you wonder how it shot. There has to be different settings on the gun, it would be impractical to evaporate all your targets especially if you need to bring back bounties, dead or alive. The bullets he slung across his chest must be paired with the rifle based on their size and shape when you compare them to the rifle chamber. What sort of charge do they contain to completely disintegrate its victims?

You’re tapping your fingers on your bottom lip, calculating how the rifle might function when his leg brushes past you. Glancing up in surprise, you realize he’s already headed to the cockpit ladder, twisting his upper body as he turns his helmet to look back at you.

“Come on.” You’re unable to read his face but something in his body language makes you think he’s amused by you. Flushing red, you scramble upright from the leather seat to follow him down to his armory. He slides first down the ladder, not bothering to use the rungs. Being unfamiliar with the area you opt to carefully descend one portion at a time, unaware of the view you’re giving Mando. By the time you reach the bottom, he’s diverted his gaze. 

Tall body moving to a panel on the wall, he punches in a four-digit code, prompting a smooth metal cabinet on the opposite wall to slide open with a hiss. You shake your head at this. The man has a tiny metal cot but he installed a hydraulic system for his weapons cabinet. But when you look closer at the exhibit your jaw falls open.

Oh my… Now that’s sexy.

The two side doors hang open to reveal a space in the middle filled with large blasters. His mid-sized guns are stacked horizontally above each other while the longer rifles lay vertically to the right of the center display. The doors contain smaller handguns of varying design and purpose. Each weapon is unique, there is not a single inch of wasted space given to any blaster if it doesn’t have distinct properties. Eyes locked on the arsenal, you scoot forward and make grabby hands at the cabinet. 

“Oo, they’re beautiful! Can I- May I see?” You are immediately drawn to a cylindrical pistol mounted at the very top of the stack, the gun’s sight a smooth metal and grip warm brown. Despite its deadly properties, it is a fucking gun, something about it looks soft to the touch. You’re finding more and more that you enjoy the juxtaposition of lethality and softness. 

Even though you’ve made no specification on which gun you want to hold, Mando reaches out and selects the very gun you’re attracted to and hands it to you. I should stare less, it's like he can read my mind. Despite resolving to do so the thought is fuzzy, unimportant when you’re so excited about handling one of the prettiest pistols you’ve ever seen. Mando watches you from a few feet away. 

“Good choice. I usually conceal-carry that blaster since it’s small on me, looks like the perfect size for you though.” Mando’s compliment has you grinning up at him, feeling giddy and full of light, but you’re quickly drawn back to look at the gun. Turning the weapon over in your hands you admire the polished metal, the texture making a satisfying noise as you run your fingers on its silky surface. The weight is perfectly balanced as you aim it at the wall, lining up the sight with a seam in the metal paneling. 

“You can carry it from now on.” 

What? It’s a good thing you know your trigger safety otherwise you would’ve pulled the trigger in shock, probably ricocheting the blast into your head. The giddy energy drains from you, replaced by apprehension and confusion. Why is he giving me so much shit? 

Of course you’re thankful. You’re incredibly thankful to be on the Razor Crest at all; however you can’t help feeling as if you owe Mando on a level where you’re incapable of repaying him. He didn’t have to take you with him when he dropped Ran’s crew, he didn’t have to indulge your sexual fantasies, he didn’t have to comfort you, didn’t have to partner with you, and he doesn’t need to give you this blaster. It is certainly a collectible, a rarity. A Mandalorian wouldn’t have it on hand if it were some run of the mill E-11 handed out to every Stormtrooper in the Empire. 

But what can you even say to him? It would be incredibly awkward if you refused him right now. Your mind races.

Best focus on the easy stuff. As long as he doesn’t drop me off on some wasteland I’ll be fine. That blaster is too pretty to decline so with your willfulness broken by aesthetic pleasure, you holster the gun on your hip, opposite the blaster you already carry. 

“Thank you. I’ll put it to good use.” You try to inject as much gratefulness into your voice as possible, even though you still feel odd about taking it.

“Yes, you will. Get ready and come back to the cockpit, we’ll be on Nevarro in a hour.”

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

 You’re used to men like Greef Karga but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop being annoying.

The way he speaks like he’s owed something from you just because you’re listening, the way it’s clear that every decision he makes is in self-interest, the way he eyes the women around him, yourself included. He isn’t outright dismissive like some men; such as the guard placed behind him only having eyes for your partner; but you can tell he either doesn’t take you seriously or he is more concerned about how he can sexualize you. 

He definitely isn’t treating Mando as a joke. Annoying.

          But, it’s not all bad. You got a kick out of how a hush came over the dusty cantina when the Mandalorian entered. He had been walking behind you which, with a little imagination, gave the effect that they were all reacting to your presence instead. Even though in reality, no one had ever reacted to you that way unless they were leering. You like how they fear him. It's a turn-on. 

You wish they would fear you like that.

          Someone says your name, startling you out of your thoughts. You realize that everyone at the table is looking at you expectantly but you didn’t hear the question at all. Kriff, you need to show yourself up more. Mando’s reputation is practically handing you the job but you still need to sell your skills to get anything decent out of Karga. He’s so stingy with the quarry's, even with Mando despite how he kissed the Mandalorian’s ass when greeting him. You figure that Mando didn’t take on bounties often, which put his skills in high demand.

          “Uhh, sorry. A bit distracted. Can you repeat the question, please?” You reply, accentuating the please with a bat of your lashes while looking Karga full in the face. If he’s going to objectify you, you may as well play into it. Smiling, he leans forward and pushes a glass of Spotchka into your hands, lingering a little longer than necessary when your fingers meet.

          “I asked if you wanted a drink. Take it, I can see you need one.” He winks at you while you stare indignantly, wondering what he means by that. It’s not like you’re sweating bullets in here. You’ve been here countless times on countless planets. Seedy cantinas with seedier people. Hopefully, he’s just flirting and doesn’t think you’re nervous. Maybe the flirting is backfiring.

You grip the glass and wet your mouth with the drink, enjoying the burn for a moment. Mando tilts his helmet at the way you accept Karga’s drink, seemingly looking sideways at you. Narrowing your eyes at him, you drink again and turn back to Karga.

          “Thank you, the Spotchka here is lovely.” It’s average, but flattery can’t hurt. Karga laughs robustly at this.

          “It’s no Alderaan wine, but it’ll do.” He drains his glass then pours himself another, filling it to the brim before turning to your partner. “So, Mando! Word travels fast around here. I take it you’re a full-time guild member now! I’m not surprised, always took you for the loner type. In fact, I already updated your status to full-time before you landed.” Karga waits for a response from Mando but the man sits silently at your side. Unbothered, Karga continues, “But, I am surprised you stayed that long with Ran in the first place. Must be the pretty ladies he keeps around.”

          The comment makes you cringe but you still smile brightly back at him since what he is inferring is clear. Can he just register you already?

          “Not alone. She’s with me.” Mando’s reply is short and flat, with no reaction to how you’re attempting to work Karga’s attention, nor at the revelation that Mando’s departure from mercenary work has apparently spread across the sector. 

          Karga’s smile twists into a smirk as he glances between you and Mando, looking at both of you as if he wants to fit your bodies together like a puzzle. “Well, well, well Mando. Didn’t think you were the type. Is she a bed warmer?”

          Your grip tightens on the glass. What the fuck is he implying? You’re rising in your seat, about to let loose on Karga when a gloved hand settles on your shoulder and pulls you down. Excuse me? Do I have to go off on everyone here? Why the fu-

          “She’s my hunting partner, my equal. Don’t insult us again.” Oh okay, you don’t know why he stopped you and he still doesn’t sound all that offended, but at least he’s defending you. 

Not wanting to be spoken for, you add on, “I’m prepared with my information so that you can register me in the Bounty Hunters Guild. Pull up your holo, I’m done with the small talk.” Your back is rod-straight in the cantina booth, trying to look down at the Guild leader even if he’s seated higher than you. “Also, your Spotchka is shit.”

          Karga’s is unphased at your reactions, even rolling his eyes. He replies bluntly, “If you’re going to join my guild then you need to prove to me that I’m not wasting my pucks on you. Don’t rely on the Mandalorian’s reputation. If you aren't out of some brothel then you were a mercenary, were you not?”

At first, the audacity of Karga has you fuming, ready to stand again despite whatever Mando wants. However, as you’re looking out of the corner of your eye at the crowd you realize that the bodies filling the cantina are no longer milling around quite as naturally. It's subtle, to an untrained ear and eye not much has changed. The chatter around you remains at a consistent volume and no one is blatantly staring. But your senses are sharp enough to tell that everyone in this room is On Greef Karga’s side. If a fight broke out you’d likely lose, even with Mando being worth ten men and the shiny new blaster strapped to your hip. 

Also, your prospects with the guild would be fucked if you fought everyone right now, which is the whole reason you’re here. You have to play nice and it infuriates you… But you still need the job. 

Taking a deep breath to quiet your anger you look to your left away from Karga, only to be startled by Mando’s visor locked directly on you. Sharing a look, one that you can only guess the meaning behind, you find the patience to calm down. You turn back to Karga, locking eyes steadily.

“Sorry for insulting your drinks, that was petty of me. But I am not sorry about how you implied that Mando would keep some poor sex slave around, nor am I sorry for reacting that way. I’d like to start over… If you’ll accept my apology, I’ll accept yours.” You can’t help letting some stubbornness slip into your words. If he’s supposed to be your boss then you aren’t going to keep up a pretense of respect after that. Not without an apology. 

You’ve never given much thought to how you look to other people, how you affect the crowd when you enter a room. It’s not that you don’t think you’re pretty. Being assigned roles by Ran that allowed you to dress up and distract targets was a direct affirmation of how you looked, even if they were creeps. But when you walked into this place, the only heads that turned were for the Mandalorian. You've never had the experience of being scary to other people. You’re always having to prove yourself and show everyone that you’re someone who can handle what’s handed to them, an equal to every other hard character in the galaxy’s Outer Rim... it’s tiresome. 

Karga is looking at you again, a little differently this time. 

    “I respect you for being blunt. Do accept my apology.” He sounds sincere enough so you nod, lips drawn tight. Heavy metal suddenly settles on your knee, Mando’s vambrace is laying across the soft flesh on your upper thigh. He squeezes, oh stars. Now you’re feeling flushed for other reasons than anger. 

    “Do I get an apology?” Mando asks Karga quietly, voice frustratingly mild just like the other two times he’s spoken up in this booth. The other man grins at Mando, more jolly than he should be considering who he insulted. 

    “My apologies, Mando! Do stay with the guild, your skills are irreplaceable! I’m afraid my jokes can go too far.`` His response is light and humorous but no one is fooled by the tone. A Mandalorian is far too valuable to lose. 

    After a few seconds pass between the two men you clear your throat, annoyed by everyone dancing around each other while you’re still not signed up to hunt bounties. It’s your only purpose here but whatever. Karga directs his smile at you, pulling his holo from behind him out of his guard’s hand.

    “I haven’t forgotten about you, sweetheart. Now, I’m going to put your basic details in… Do you happen to be registered elsewhere, such as under an Identichip?” You shake your head; you always worked behind a moniker. “Great! That makes this easy for me. Simply provide a name, real or not, and I’ll set up a chain code so quarries are tied to your data.” 

    You provide your name while Karga fiddles around on the device. It’s unclear if it is really that complicated to work the thing or if he is just stalling. This feels a little too easy so far. Didn’t he make a huge fuss about proving yourself? You decide to ask outright, wanting to bring it up instead of waiting around for him to finish.

    “I thought I needed to prove myself to you. Aren’t you worried about wasting pucks?” You were trying to tease but the bite in your voice can’t be helped. You worry you might’ve gone too far when Karga looks up at you with open annoyance.

    “Do you want to go out back and shoot a few bottles down? Seems childish to me.” He huffs out a short breath and returns to his holo. “I know that you worked with Ran’s crew on mercenary missions which grants you some cred. You can tell me what your specialties were on such jobs and it might convince me to give you the mid-level pucks instead of entry.”

    This is unfair, everyone knows it, he’s the one who told you to prove yourself and now he’s making you feel stupid for reminding him. He’s the one who was so concerned about wasting his precious pucks. But now that you’re here… you might actually be able to talk Karga into giving you a better quarry. Taking a deep breath, you start to list your qualifications.

    “On mercenary jobs, I usually took a stealth role due to my stature. For certain missions, I would dress to infiltrate a group, sometimes carrying hidden weapons but mostly I would conceal poison in my jewelry, skin powder, or anything similar. I’m a great shot and am knowledgeable about starships. When I first started I had to work my way up the ranks, the lowest being mechanics. Within a year I managed to go from handywoman to assassin... There’s more if you want to hear, although I can’t directly prove anything.” You wish you could actually show all these skills to him instead of just telling him. Karga is right, shooting down dusty bottles like some sort of carnival game would be pretty useless, but at least it would feel more substantial than this. 

You’re about to open your mouth and tell Karga more when you’re interrupted by Mando, and he finally sounds emotive, no longer inscrutable in tone. “This is all true. I haven’t worked closely with her on every job but I noticed her when I did. Her stealth was critical to our success during hits. She often worked on my starship. The Crest always came out in better shape once she looked at it.” You’re not sure what emotion is in his voice but whatever it is, it reminds you that his hand is still resting on your knee under the table.

Trying not to smile too widely, you bring your hand down on top of the one on your leg, giving it a pat of thanks. Karga’s eyes follow your movement but thankfully he stays silent, leaning back with a pensive look.

“Alright, this is all very interesting. Tell you what, and don’t take this as an insult, you can either have two entry-level pucks or one mid-tier. It all adds up to the same amount of credits, however, the mid-tier quarries will boost your rank… Mid also comes with a time constraint.” 

There’s always a catch with this man you think, a little displeased, but at the same time, you understand that he can’t maintain his business if all pucks were given away in good faith. Mid-tier seems like the best deal, and you aren’t just here for the money. Presumably, this will be your job for a while so you may as well aim ambitiously. 

“What are the last known coordinates of the mid-tier bounties?” You ask him, trying to sound like you’ve not already decided to take it. 

“One for Corellia and one for Mimban. Neighboring planets.” You grimace, recognizing the names. How lovely, you get to choose between two shitholes. Karga is correct, the planets are right next to each other, so at least you don’t have to worry about fuel. Corellia is more dangerous but the planet is explored thoroughly when compared to Mimban and you’ve already been to Corellia once.

“I’ll take the Corellian bounty, thank you.” Karga slides the puck across the table with an unpleasant scrape before drawing out three more, stacking them in front of the Mandalorian one by one.

“Two are bail jumpers but the credits for each are decent. I also threw in one S level criminal, let's see how you do with that one now that you’re dedicated to my wonderful guild.” Karga grins at Mando so widely that it is almost a grimace. Well, he didn’t have to beg for the good pucks. Yeesh… Mando’s arm lifts from your knee and he gathers the pucks wordlessly.

Mando moves to leave, rising quickly from the booth and leaving you scrambling behind him, slipping your puck in the pocket on your pants.  He’s at the door by the time you remember to say goodbye to Karga. Not wanting to be rude even if you don’t really like him, you turn and wave. “Um, bye! Take care.” 

He waves back. “You as well, girl.” 

A powerful hand grips your forearm and pulls you none too gently to the doors and out into the acrid, volcanic air.

----------------   

    It would be nice if the man who called you his equal an hour ago would tell you his plans. Instead, he had placed a small bag of credits in your palm and told you to go get some food and wait. You couldn’t find it in yourself to snap at him since you were starving, the last time you ate was probably several days ago, before Cantonica. Your hunger might explain the snippiness you’ve felt all day, actually.

    Having finished your meal of dubious-looking soup, you get up to explore a bit before heading back to the ship. The settlement is small and you think it may be the only town on the planet or at least the only one in the area. The land around you is flat enough to see for miles. It’s impressive that Mando disappeared considering the lack of terrain to hide behind. He must be in the city somewhere. 

    As you wander through the busy main strip, peering at different vendors and booths, you start to feel dejected. Mando defended you, spoke up for you, and even backed up your claims so that you’d look better in front of Karga. Then he just… disappeared. Somewhere. No communication. That's fine.

    It’s a little worrisome, the speed at which you’ve become attached to the man. You’ve been together for less than three days, and you already feel weird being alone. You know that you’re being unfair to yourself right now, it's not abnormal to feel lost on a foreign planet plus you literally just lost everything you’ve worked for as a mercenary. But in the end...

    Being here, alone and penniless, reminds you of home, the one you had as a child. It’s something you try to forget about. 

    Swallowing the memories away into that off-limits area within yourself, you decide to leave the bustling road and wander down a dingy alley. Probably not the smartest move but you do have two blasters on your hip. The sounds of the crowd fade in the background as you wander farther and farther down the twisting path. 

    It’s almost funny how quickly things go south. 

Mere minutes later, you find yourself backed up into a wall with two Rodians aiming their blasters at you, your huddled form reflected in their massive, black eyes. One of them jabs your arm with his gun saying something in that grating, echoey voice that most Rodians speak with. You get that they’re both aiming deadly weapons at you but you’re honestly just irritated. 

    “I don’t have credits on me fellas, you can search me but you won't find shit.” They must understand Basic because one of them pins you to the wall while the other pats your body down, searching for anything valuable. Pulling the empty credit pouch from your belt and throwing it to the ground, he twists you to face the wall, grabbing at one of your blasters. The rare one that Mando just gave you. You start to panic now, the positioning of your bodies making you nervous as you realize how vulnerable you are, fearful that they aren’t just looking for something to steal. Kicking backward at the Rodian pinning your arms, you start to struggle against them, trying hard to wiggle free and pull your other blaster.

    You must’ve connected with a kneecap because you hear a sickening crunch at the same time the Rodian howls, falling to the ground. His companion makes a furious sound then lashes out at your face, fingertips just barely connecting with your cheek as you duck slightly too late. Your face stings and feels wet, his gloves seem to have sharp points on the ends. You pray that they aren’t spiked with poison. 

    The injured member is still preoccupied with his hyperextended knee, granting you just enough time to pull the other blaster from your hip before he joins his partner and turns on you. You throw yourself to the ground, aiming at the same time and squeezing the trigger right before you hit the earth. The shot connects with the Rodian who swung at you and he falls to the ground, shriek cut short. Twisting to your side so you can attempt an evasive roll, you attempt to line the sight up with the chest of your living assailant but your shoulder connects with debris on the ground, jerking it out of your smooth movement. 

The blast misses by a few inches. 

The pain from whatever you landed on shoots to your fingertips, numbing them. Noticing your distraction, he hurls his body at you thankfully unable to jump accurately due to the injury you gave him. Despite that, he lands on your legs and starts to drag you toward him, abandoning his blaster in his rage while dirt billows around your struggling bodies.

    You’re terrified, fear making you clumsy as you handle your blaster. You don’t want to die being strangled by some alien in this dirty alley but the numbness in your fingers has you moving slower than usual, hand heavy as you try to aim again. Sucking in a deep breath you scream, hoping that someone on the busy strip will hear you. But no one is coming for you and there is no time to wait. Panicked, you fire in the direction of the Rodian, not taking care to calculate possible ricochet points in the area. A shot connects, his heavy body falling on your hips, dead.

    Fingers still numb, you hurtle upwards and try to wipe the dust out of your eyes to look at the bodies. The first Rodian you shot is a few feet away, slumped against the wall you were pinned to, blaster marks littering the brick surface from your panicked shots. Disgusted, you shove the dead body off of your legs and stand up.

 As you analyze the second alien you realize something doesn’t add up here. 

Somehow the blaster shot that killed him seems to be on the back of his head. How is that possible? Did I manage to reflect it off something and hit him from behind? You’re approaching the body to look for other possible causes of death when a large shadow leaps from the rooftop, landing heavily in a cloud of dust. You curse and aim your blaster at his head, pulling the trigger before you realize who it is.

He’s lucky his helmet is pure Beskar.

“Mando! What the fuck, I could’ve killed you!” Stomach feeling like it’s full of rocks, you march up to the man and slam a fist into his chest plate, hard. Looking up into his visor you feel a flash of misguided anger, lifting your fist to pound on his armor again. “Where the fuck were you anyway?!”

A large hand flashes up to catch your wrist before it can connect with his chest. He looks at you darkly. “Do you always hit people to thank them?” he asks, while his other hand reholsters the silver blaster back onto your hip.

“What do you mean, you-” The pieces connect in your mind, the impossible blaster shot in the back of the head of the Rodian and Mando’s positioning on the roof. 

He saved your ass. Again. 

You already realize your anger is misdirected, he didn’t do anything to warrant it. But the adrenaline and fear paired with your entire experience on Nevarro have wound you up to the point of lashing out. You shouldn’t be mad at him, and you should definitely apologize for almost killing him. Also, you should be thanking him for saving you even though you probably would’ve survived the mugging anyway. That criminal was unarmed at the end there. 

But you don’t care. You weirdly want to argue with him, to try and break that cool attitude he’s been maintaining nearly all day.

“I could’ve gotten him easily. If I didn’t hurt my arm he would’ve been dead before you arrived, also you didn’t answer my fucking question. I thought I was your equal, Mando.” You mock his earlier phrasing from the cantina, hoping he’ll snap and say something back. But he doesn’t.

Instead, he does something so strange that all the turbulent emotions you’ve been harboring fly out of your body in one instant.

Bringing up one glove to cover your eyes, he holds the hand you punched him with at the bottom edge of his helmet, pushing it up with your clasped fingers. There is a quiet hiss and you can feel the weight of metal digging into your knuckles as the Beskar lifts. Your fingers meet with soft lips, coarse facial hair brushing your skin as he presses a kiss on the blossoming bruises there. Heat rushes to your cheeks and you suddenly can’t remember what you were yelling about. 

It’s odd. You’ve seen the most intimate parts of him but only now, having felt his lips, do you truly recognize how rawly human he is. 

Too soon- he draws away, the helmet settles back on his head. You step back blinking as the light hits your eyes, cradling your hand to your chest like it's been hurt. Which you guess it has. You can’t really feel it. 

Unable to meet his gaze you stare at his boots, “You’re weird and I don’t understand you.” Your words sound embarrassingly breathless.

    He chuckles quietly. “Good.” And after a beat of silence- “Do I get an apology?” 

Annoyed at how he mirrored you throwing his words back at him, you look up glaring, but you’re unable to put any actual heat into your halfhearted expression. You’re still thinking about how soft his lips felt plus, you actually feel bad for lashing out at him.

“Yes, um, I’m sorry Mando, I was only mad because I was scared. I actually could’ve killed you, and those guys almost killed me- or worse.” You shrug, eyes round as you look at the violent scene in the alley. “Plus Karga is an asshole and you disappeared, telling me to wait around like a kid. I was in a bad mood.”

“Yeah.” He offers shortly. Is he gonna say more or- “Karga is an asshole.”

“...Is that all you’re going to address.”

“You’re a good shot. You could’ve killed these muggers without me, I just didn’t want you hurt.” He smoothes away a strand of hair from your cheek, tucking it behind your ear before gripping your chin, twisting your head to look at the scratches the Rodian left. “Pretty girl.”

Flushing red again while frozen in his grip, you stand there with him as he examines your face. His gaze is piercing, and you don’t know what he’s staring at. It doesn’t take this long to examine a face. You think he’s just looking at you.

“Let’s get back to the ship, that scratch needs some Bacta gel.” He drops his arm abruptly causing you to sway at the loss of an anchor. Hand flashing out to grip his bicep, you regain your balance before starting to pull him along, heading to the street. 

----------------   

The walk back to the Crest is short.

 You don’t know your way around this city but shipyards are easy enough to find. You recognize the signs pointing it out after your time spent as a mechanic, streets gradually widening to form into a flat strip of land for the vessels, heavy machinery appearing here and there. As you walk, you oddly find yourself getting dizzy, steps starting to drag as you realize you may have injured yourself in the struggle. You can’t recall if you hit your head or if anyone hurt you aside from the gash on your cheek, which has begun to throb. Did you knock your head on the alley wall? 

The Mandalorian grunts behind you when you trip, quickly overtaking your pace to throw your arm over his elbow, then walking at your side and subtly holding you steady. The Razor Crest rises into view over the horizon, so you speed up, relieved. You want to sit down so badly that you even try to jog but Mando holds you back. His helmet ducks down next to your ear.

“Don’t overexert yourself. I want to make sure that scratch isn’t poisoned.” He murmurs, voice overwhelmingly low. Your stomach twists with desire and surprise at the tone of it, he sounds like he’s flirting with you. 

“Does danger turn you on or something?” You blurt, wondering if there is a pattern to the man's desires. He did let you suck him off right after yesterday's conflict and now he seems to be coming onto you after an attempted mugging. Is this a Mandalorian thing? Weirdo. He doesn’t answer you, but the ship is right there so you break away and march up to the lowering ramp. 

You pause in the middle of the hull noticing some changes. The small cot seems to be upgraded, a patterned blanket is folded at the end and there is even a pillow. That sorry excuse of a fresher is more orderly too, shower hose hung from the ceiling like an actual, well, shower. There’s a sliding metal door for privacy installed on the entrance now too. The previously barren hull has a touch of coziness now, not enough to get in the way of efficiency, but everything is just a little more livable. It is unlikely that he did this just because you live with him now but the gesture is still thoughtful.

“Is this what you were doing?” You ask excitedly, walking across the room to sit on the end of the cot. 

“Not the entire time.” He answers vaguely, fiddling with his vambrace to close the ramp and flick the lights on. You just sigh in response, laying back against the bed, the thin mattress has a soft squish that cradles your sore body. Eyes sliding shut you take in the lovely sensation for a few moments. A shadow covers the light behind your eyelids. You open them to peek at the end of the bed, already feeling a blush hot on your cheeks.

Mando is standing there, towering over you with his legs just brushing your dangling lower half. He leans over your frame, arm reaching over you like he’s going to prop himself on top of your body. Your heart pounds as he comes close enough to settle his hand next to your head, helmet hovering right above your forehead. The visor tilts down to look at you frozen underneath him, heat pooling in your lower belly. An almost inaudible hum comes through the voice filter sounding like the beginning of a word as if he were about to say something but decided against it. 

You find your voice, asking him in a trembling whisper. ‘Wha-what? Did you say something?”

He makes that low noise again, replying, “Those scratches need Bacta,” before he gently shoves his hand under your shoulder and pulls, sitting you upright at the end of the cot. 

Your eyes are round, lips pursed in confusion. Honestly, you forgot all about that. 

“O-Oh yeah…” You manage to stutter out as Mando backs up from the opening, making his way to the storage shelves to rummage around. He comes back to the cot with a tin box, undoing the clasps to fish out a tube of gel and gauze. The imagery of medical equipment reminds you of the throbbing on your cheek, which is now accompanied by a throbbing in your cunt. Very conflicting feelings.

“There’s no discoloration or swelling, you’re likely not poisoned.” He starts wiping at your jaw with a wet fabric that smells of chemicals, cleaning off the rust-colored blood that dried there. “How are you feeling?”

“Ummm, fine pretty much.” His gentle motions make it hard to think, the swiping over your skin is so gentle that you’re zoning out. That is until he reaches the actual wound, which stings harshly from whatever liquid is saturating the fabric. You flinch, “Ouch! Well, it hurts now.”

“That means it's working.” Mando picks up the gel and dabs it on your cheek which helps to soothe the sting. “You say you feel fine yet you were stumbling around a minute ago. Are you sure you’re alright?” 

His question is sweet but you don’t like how he points out your loss of balance. It both concerns you and is slightly embarrassing. Are you alright? You aren't sure, the stumbling could’ve been from a number of things, exhaustion, blood loss, or any other affliction. You feel worried now, grabbing at Mando’s free arm and locking eyes with the visor.

“I-I’m not sure… I’m kinda freaked out, is it possible that a toxin could have a delayed-release? What if I kneel over while we’re in hyperspace?” You finish the sentence a little high-pitched, unable to hide the worry in your voice. The Mandalorian circles your wrist with his fingers, bringing your hand to rest on top of your leg and placing his palm over it. His thumb rubs soothingly over your knuckles. 

“I don’t think you’re in any danger. I’ll take a blood sample for testing then we can stay on Nevarro for an hour, just in case.” You make a sad noise when he removes his hand from yours, but he’s already sifting through the box of medical supplies, probably to find something to test your blood with. Pulling out a tube he turns to you and holds your hand again, which makes you smile until you realize the tube contains a needlepoint to prick your finger with. Oh yuck, you hate needles. A life spent surrounded by danger and that tiny jab still makes you nervous. Breaking out into a cold sweat, you look away as Mando jabs your pointer finger; he must’ve noticed your reaction because his thumb starts up that soothing pattern again. 

“You’re a trained mercenary who is scared of needles?” His tone isn’t mocking, he seems to be trying to distract you. You just stick your tongue out at him instead of verbally responding, worried that your voice will shake. For some reason, Mando freezes at this, one arm halfway to the metal box, the tube of your blood in hand. It is so odd of him that you instantly take note of the reaction, wondering what you did. After a second he starts jerkily moving again, laying a small strip of paper down and dripping your blood on it. He pointedly keeps his gaze on the paper, refusing to face you even when you poke at him. 

‘What? I can’t stick my tongue out at you?” You prod him again trying to provoke a response. You gasp when his hand flashes up and stops your finger in its path, his thick fingers wrapped around your wrist just like when you punched him in the alley.

“Not,” he punctuates the word by dragging your hand down his waist, “When it reminds me of my cock down your throat.”

Your clit throbs again, slickness starting to gather between your legs. “Ummm… sorry?” You reply dumbly, throat going dry when he presses your palm into his growing bulge with a groan. 

His helmet glances at the strip of paper again. “Results are normal. We should still stay on the planet for an hour, just in case… How will we fill the time?”

You don’t know how to respond. Any former thoughts you had in your mind have flown away, leaving you blank. Staring at Mando, your mind races to form a decent response, but you must’ve hesitated for too long because he rolls his hips into your hand, fully hard now. 

Whining, you lean toward him reaching out your free hand to wrap around his neck, but he moves away from your touch leaving you flushed on the cot. His helmet looks you up and down, contemplating something.

“Are you feeling alright?” He asks for the second time, voice an octave lower than before. He picks up the roll of gauze, unused at this point, and holds it halfway lifted in the air in front of you. You aren’t sure what he is going to use it for, you assumed to dress the wound but from the way he is holding it, he must have other ideas. He would’ve already patched you up if this were just about the fabric’s typical function.

“I’m feeling fine. The gel is working.” It’s the truth. You can’t feel your cheek throbbing anymore. The Bacta in your bloodstream has a calming effect as well, soothing your anxiety from before. You feel good even, clear-minded and thrumming with energy. You can’t imagine what he is planning but you know you want him so badly it hurts. Your heart quickens.

“Mando…” You breathe, the way you say his name is both a question and a prompt. He answers by unrolling a strip of gauze and holding it out in front of your face. The breathing through his modulator is audible now, pants heavy with desire. 

“I cant- I can’t go slowly, if I fuck you right now. I want to try something else.” You nod fervently, completely ready for whatever he is thinking of doing to you however, you’re admittedly confused when he starts wrapping the gauze around your head and over your eyes. Mando unrolls several layers of gauze, a decently thick strip obstructing your vision to the point where little light penetrates the fabric. His voice startles you when you hear it right by your ear, asking, “Is this okay?”

You’re still wordless, nodding in response again. Mando hums and parts your legs with his hips, pulling you to his body and grinding against you. You mewl into the empty space in front of you and fling your arms out to find him, suddenly needing to feel as much of him as you can reach. 

Hands connecting with his shoulders, you pull him down hard as if you were going to kiss him. The helmet bumps you in the face instead. 

“Oops..” You murmur, embarrassed. Admittedly, you forgot all about the armor barrier between your bodies. Mando huffs softly and bumps you again, gently as to not hurt you with the heavy metal. 

“Wanna guess my idea? “ He asks, sliding down your body, his fingers trailing over every inch of you, touching you as if to replace him kissing down your body. He reaches your hips and pauses there. You can’t see anything but you’re guessing he is staring at you, the thin leggings don’t leave much to the imagination. A finger presses onto your clothed slit, running up and down the length of your pussy to gather the wetness there. You can feel yourself soaking through your clothing, Mando’s fingertip is gliding wetly along your folds as if you were unclothed. You arch into his touch, needing more from him; the overwhelming sensation has you falling back onto the cot, laying there with your legs parted and the Mandalorian still between your legs.

The world feels like it’s spinning for a multitude of reasons, first and foremost being the desire you feel for the man crouched before you. Other, more complex thoughts on the situation swirl in your mind, paralyzing you with their intensity. You honestly didn’t think he would want you sexually again, especially not so soon. It just didn’t make sense for your idea of the Mandalorian, the image you carry of him as a person, all based on your time together even if much of that time was spent living separate lives. He flirted and inferred to sex a few times today, plus there was that kiss he lay on your bruised knuckles earlier. He defended you, backed up your claims, and spoke of respecting you and your skills. He’s done so much for you today, but you’re still blindsided as you sit here before him, unseeing in more ways than one. Most of all... you can’t stop thinking about that kiss.

Seconds after you physically attacked him and he offers you a kiss. It was the absolute last outcome you expected from your efforts to taunt him, you wonder if he’s even allowed to do that considering his vow to never show his face. You knew he was actively sexual just from your awful experiences on the mercenary station, although you never gave much thought to that drive. It didn’t need much thought, in your opinion. He is a man after all. Face bared or hidden away from the galaxy he still has needs, even if he is devoted to a religion that you can barely fathom the depths of. Your wants and needs seem minuscule next to the enigma of the Mandalorian. 

This all seems unimportant when his fingers hook in the waistband of your leggings and pull. You whimper and lift your hips, trying desperately to speed up the process and bare yourself to him. The blasters you carry are still attached to your waist but you don’t try to remove them. Sex and guns pair together perfectly for the man.

Cool air hits your pussy at the same moment he moans low in his throat. “Fuck, look at you. Beautiful.” 

That reminds you, “Can’t look, can I? N-not like this…” You still weren’t sure about the gauze blindfold he secured over your eyes, your only idea so far is that he must be into this sort of thing. Not that you’re complaining. The temporary loss of sight has heightened every other sense you have, especially touch and sound. You’re certain you’ll remember every word of this encounter for the rest of your life. He’s complimented you several times over the past few days. Pretty. Beautiful. You’ll never forget that. 

“Still haven’t guessed?” The Mandalorian rumbles at your thigh, pulling your pants off your ankles and spreading your legs as wide as the cot doorway will allow. A short growl rips from his throat, his touch leaving your thighs much to your dismay as he fumbles with something. There is a heavy thud that you can't make sense of, he had to have set something large on the ground to make that noise but you don’t know what- oh. Oh, stars I can feel his breath. 

He took his helmet off. For you. The pieces are falling in place quickly but you can’t react to it- you can’t even breathe, every implication of his gesture setting your world ablaze. Your heart is pounding, arms stretched out from the tension you hold in your limbs, you need an anchor, anything-

There's a hot puff of air on your clit and gloveless fingers digging into your thighs. He must’ve removed those too.

It’s like you’ve been sucked into a stasis chamber, the buzz of your cerebral cortex halting all efforts to process what’s happening, enveloped in a place so quiet that you feel fucking crazy. The anticipation is killing you, you’re going to die here and that’s alright, that’s fine, you’d love to die here, in fact- wait where is he? His face is somewhere near your aching center, you know this because you can feel each breath he exhales ghosting over your pussy, the muscles in your hips want to squirm and seek him out but you can’t. Not with all this atmospheric pressure gathering, the weighted air pressing harder and harder down on you and you know you’re about to break. But you’re terrified you’ll disrupt the spell that keeps you both frozen here, still and aching with pleasure. You’re gathering the courage to make the first move when Mando finally breaks the silence.

“From now on,” you interrupt him with a gasp at how different he sounds without the voice filter, the tone is so much fuller and warm, but he then continues unperturbed, “This is fucking mine.”

Your yelp echos off the walls when his hot, skillful tongue liiicks up your slit, flicking at the very top of its path off of your clit. 

Fuck this feels so good, this feels so good, how does it feel like this, so fucking amazing? He barely even talks, how is he so dexterous with his tongue? Tortured noises fall out of your throat as Mando licks through your folds, trying to taste everything his mouth can possibly reach. He rolls his tongue repeatedly over your clit making you tense up and shake from the overwhelming sensation. There's a sound in the hull, you can barely discern the source of it at first but you suddenly realize it coming from your own mouth, a filthy mantra falling from your tongue.

Mando-Mando-Mando-Don’t stop- Please dont-Mando

He stops.

“Hey! What-” Your hands fly down and flounder around finding soft locks of hair and immediately latching on for dear life. Impatiently tugging at his scalp, you try to scoot down and find his talented tongue, your clit feeling cold and achy without his touch. But he’s so strong, a solid pillar of immovable stone and you can’t budge him at all, his only reaction being a deep growl when you yank a little too hard on his head. You must’ve pissed him off because one hand is suddenly on your heat, cupping your pussy with his palm but leaving a gap between your bodies, torturing you with the lack of friction. You whine pathetically at this game. 

“Mando-fuck- why… pleeeaaase.” His touch leaves you entirely and you’re more desperate than ever, writhing to the point where you almost slide off the thin mattress onto the floor. Your inner thighs connect with broad hips again, this time without the barrier of your leggings between you. When your cunt presses into his crotch you realize you can feel more than the cloth of his dark pants, he must’ve pulled his cock out because you can feel his skin, the skin of his cock brushing over you plus just a patch of it from where the hem of his pants is pulled under his balls. A ragged sound tears from both of you when his thick length parts your lips, grinding against your clit.

“I-I thought you weren’t, I mean you said-” 

“I’m not g-going to fuck you-” he gasps out, voice breaking despite the clear determination in his response, “not yet. I want you to use me and make yourself-fuck- cum. Fuck yourself on me.”

You’re speechless, there are absolutely no words in any of the Galaxy’s countless languages, known or unknown, that can succinctly express just how fucking turned on his suggestion makes you. Is this his way of giving back to you after you made him cum the night before? You don’t know, fuck- you don’t care either. Fuck whatever complex you had about owing him, you deserve this and you want it more than you’ve ever wanted anything in your fucking life. 

His broad body is propped over yours, cock grinding into you over and over again as he rolls his hips and groans out, “Well? You want it like this, pretty girl? Or do you-” 

You interrupt him by reaching between your legs and finding his cock, pushing it down your lips to your aching hole. He sucks in a sharp breath and everything is frozen in that quiet place again, just for a split second, before you press his length into your body, sinking down to the hilt. 

A broken sound comes out of you, your throat so tight that your vocal cords can’t rub together to produce anything louder than a squeak. However, the Mandalorian is not without his words, a string of curses tumbling from him in that gorgeous, rough voice. Fuck, holy fuck, you wish you could hear him speak like that for the rest of time, his real voice without the modulator hits you straight in the gut. He called you beautiful yet he doesn’t realize the power of his beauty has completely destroyed you. You’ll do anything for him, for that voice. When he claimed your pussy as his you realized that there was never a point in time where it didn’t belong to him. The Mandalorian moves mountains with his claims. 

He is like a mountain himself, completely stilling his body the second you let him inside you. You clench down on his thick length and drag yourself off of him, leaving only the swollen head inside your hole. You’re burning up, a sweat breaking out over your entire body as you try to take his cock. He’s so thick inside you, stars you can't control your fluttering lower muscles that pulse from the strain. The saliva and slickness helped him slide inside initially but now you’re clenched around him painfully tight as you try and adjust to his size. He lays so still for you, still muttering curses at the feeling of you, yet patient as you work yourself on his cock. But at some point, you can’t help letting out a little wail when you fuck yourself on him, the debilitating mix of pain and pleasure is fucking overwhelming and he can tell you’re struggling.

Mando settles lower on your body, elbows next to your head and armored torso brushing against your upper half, the ridges on his cuirass catching your nipples through your shirt. The movement slightly ruts his hips, an inch of his cock entering you accidentally. You swear and freeze at the sensation, face screwing up-it’s so good but you hurt just slightly. His mouth must be close to your face because you can feel his breath on your skin when he starts whispering filthy encouragement. 

“You’re doing so fucking good for me, taking my cock- fuck you’re so tight, how are you so tight- Maker that has to hurt, you can do it baby, keep-keep trying.” The elbow to your right lifts off the thin mattress, his hand caressing down your body, over your breasts, down your side, gentle trails from his fingertips ghosting over your skin and sending tingles all over. This helps to relax your muscles a little, you feel the walls of your cunt loosen just enough to relieve the uncomfortable ache. Wetness gathers around his cock from his encouragement, as you slide with more ease along him grinding yourself up and down on his solid cock.

It is fucking indescribable, a nearly out of body experience fucking yourself on him, every time you bottom out the thick head presses into a spot that sends flashes of white behind your eyelids. You can't even moan right now, the only noises you manage are shuddering gasps and whines as you feel yourself rise higher and higher. The peak is right there, you can feel it, you’re right fucking there-

“M-Mando, I’m gonna-gonna-fuck, I’m going-I-” You’re frantic, unable to string together the words 

The hand exploring your body diverts its path, reaching between your legs to rub strong circles around your clit.

He’s saying something to you but you can’t understand him, a rush of blood in your ears drowns out all other senses, the only thing you can feel is your blinding climax and the thick cock in your body. You’re clamped down tight on him as the sensation rips through you, building you up and destroying you over and over again. You can’t comprehend how he has the control to just hold himself there, you feel like you’re being wrung dry with how tightly you clench around him with each pulse of your orgasm. Eventually, the white noise fades from your ears and sensation returns to the rest of you, limbs tingling as you stretch the taut muscles.

Mando is trembling above you, arms shaking from the effort of propping himself up for so long. A soft noise leaves you and you wrap your arms around him, trying to soothe the tightness in his muscles like he did for you but the armor gets in your way. He makes a low noise in his throat when you skim over his side, finally allowing himself to rest when he lays on top of you, one arm still holding his full weight back so as to not crush you. You reach an arm under his shirt trying to feel more of his skin, but the padding and metal still attached to his body prevent you from moving more than a few inches.

This time, you’re first to break the silence, “What did-what were you saying?” you ask, not wanting to miss anything he says to you in his real, unfiltered voice. He doesn’t say or do anything at first, his hesitation lasting long enough that you resign yourself to never knowing. But then he lifts his head from where it lays next to yours and you feel the sharp tip of his nose brush your good cheek, over the bridge of your nose to the other side, then press closer into you as his lips meet yours. 

His kiss is so gentle that you forget he’s still hard inside you. All you can think about is the heat of his mouth crushing against yours, pressure held back enough so that he doesn’t dig into your injured cheek but filled with a promise of the energy he holds in his powerful body. You fucking hate those Rodians more than ever because you would give anything for him to kiss you with his full strength right now, holding back nothing. 

But soon -too soon, he draws back from your mouth and pulls his cock out of you. You blush at the obscene noise your wetness makes as he curses and wrenches the last inch away from your pussy, leaving you empty.

‘Come back to me…” You whisper desperately, reaching out for him.

“Fuck I can’t- I don’t want to hurt you.” Mando spits out, sounding wrecked, “I want to so fucking bad but I-”

You try pleading with him, wanting him to feel just as much blinding pleasure as you did from the way your bodies fit so perfectly together. “You won’t hurt me I swear, I can take it-you said I could.” 

He groans in a tortured, painful way, hesitating for a moment and you think you might’ve just convinced him to come back and fuck you- but the hand that eventually touches you isn’t anywhere near your pussy. He’s wrapping the gauze from your eyes, pulling it from your head to press into your cheek. You blink as your eyes adjust to the yellow light of the Crests hull, the usually dull fluorescents are piercing. Still, your vision is not quite blurry enough to hide the gleam of the polished Beskar sitting back on Mandos’s head. You swallow your disappointment at losing the pure tone of his voice to that damn modulator. 

“I can't,” he says softly, “you’re bleeding again. It was too rough.” 

You can’t argue with him. You feel a bit weak and dizzy which is not just from your powerful orgasm. Sleeping in the cockpit didn’t grant you the most restful night; you’re exhausted, slipping away even as he speaks. 

“I’m sleepy...” You mumble, your speech very simple when you’re this exhausted. Mando makes a low noise, indiscernible in tone now that it is passing through the voice filter. You hate that thing for stealing away the depth of his voice even as it fades with your consciousness. 

“Sleep now… I’ll pilot the ship while you rest. Sleep…”

And so you do.

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

     It’s many hours later. The ship hurtles through hyperspace as you stand and examine your cheek in the tiny mirror of the fresher, basked in yellow light. The wound isn't very deep but it’s long, stretching from the high point of your cheekbone halfway down to your jaw. You grimace at the sight. That will definitely leave a scar...

    The Mandalorian is moving quickly behind you in the ship's hull, arranging the carbonite freezing slabs in a way that you can’t make sense of but don’t really care about. You’re too preoccupied with your reflection to consider it. Mando takes note of this. 

    “Warrior marks.” He tells you, walking across the length of the ship to lean against the doorway of the small fresher. “Wear them proudly, burc’ya.”

Wear them proudly. 

And so you do.

[flannel-cladpika]

Avengers x Teen reader

The reader is a brilliant engineer, that makes (grade A+) battle armor & weapons. The Vulture and the reader works together by selling these illegal armor & weapons. (The Vulture even gives the reader profit because the reader lives alone) The reader learns at school (The R is the quiet/loner kid) about Vulture getting arrested and they soon decide to leave New York and disappear. They grab all their money and leave to Tennessee to start a new life. The ending could be the reader starting a new life

Sorry for the delay! Here it is!

Avengers x GN! Teen Reader

You weren’t always like this. 

You had a family once. Loving parents, 2 siblings that were annoying but still kind and sweet. A nice house on the outskirts of New York City. You had the perfect life.

Until the world started ending due to an psychotic AI wanting control of the world.

You’d been out getting groceries while your parents were taking your siblings into the city to pick up some take out for dinner and maybe get something from the Cheesecake Factory.

You’d gotten home earlier than them, which was to be expected.

That’s when you saw the news.

There was an invasion of robots descending on the city. You heard screams in the background of the newscaster. You hurriedly picked up your phone and called your parents. It took three rings until one of them finally answered.

“(Y/n)! Are you alright?” you heard from the other line.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but where are you guys?! Tell me you’re headed home, ple-”

“Sweetie, I’m sorry...I love you...We all love you...No, no, no! God, no! PLEASE!! N-” and with that, the line went dead.

Later, when bodies were being identified, you found out that your family wasn’t among the survivors. That was the day you lost everything.

Timeskip~ 2 years later

You’d thrown yourself into your passion of engineering and tinkering, and worked like your life depended on it. You’d managed to make a name for yourself on the dark web and black market for being a fantastic engineer of unusual illegal weapons, like gloves that could shoot focused high-intensity soundwaves, causing an opponent’s ears to be in extreme pain and bleed, even causing horrible hearing loss.

You’d managed to make enough money from work to put yourself through school and even get yourself an apartment, though it wasn’t exactly the nicest place. But hey, you just needed a place to crash, keep all your equipment, and hide your money. A shady, rundown place was perfect. 

Through your work, you’d met some people. One of those being Adrian Toomes, aka, “The Vulture”. The guy had found out about you through a client of yours, and had apparently liked your products. He’d called you up on one of your  phones (you had several cells, to as to not be tracked), and asked for your help on a project of his. You’d heard of him, and knew he was a reliable guy in the underworld, so you agreed to meet him and see what you could do. Afterall, this guy had connections, which were invaluable in this business.

Turned out, the two of you worked really well together. He didn’t look down on you because of your age or treat you like a little kid. At the same time, he gave you space to work and listened to you. After a few more collaborations, you asked to move your tools into his warehouse, as your apartment wasn’t such a good workspace. He smiled and agreed. 

Adrian, or as you liked to call him “Vultch” was good to you. He would happen to bring extra food in his meals and offer you some. He’d even gotten you a new power drill for Christmas. He knew you were an orphan, and knew you lived on your own, but never pushed for details, which you were grateful for. He was like a father-figure, or at least a caring uncle.

When you met his daughter at school, you actually didn’t know who she was at first. Their last name was the same, but you figured that was probably just a coincidence. As a quiet kid who liked books and formulas more than most people, you didn’t really pay the popular pretty girl much mind.

That was, until you both were grouped together for a partner project. She offered to drive you over to her house after school, which you quietly agreed to.

You two started talking on the way there, and you realized that Liz was actually incredibly intelligent and not at all like the stereotypical popular kid. By the time you reached the Toomes residence, you guys were making horrible math puns.

“Well, we’re here! My mom and dad should be home, but don’t let them scare you. They’re overly affectionate and embarrassing, like every other parent. Come on!”

Liz opened the front door, her mother coming down the stairs with laundry immediately greeting you both. 

“Lizzie! You’re home! And who is this sweetie?” The woman asked her daughter.

“Mom! This is (Y/n). They’re my partner for a class project.”

You slowly raised your hand for a shake. “Hello, Mrs. Toomes. It’s nice to meet you.”

She smiled and shook your hand. “Nice to meet you too, sweetie.”

Suddenly, a voice came from the kitchen. A very familiar voice...

“Honey? Is that Lizzie?” 

Your eyes widened when you saw Liz’s dad come out from the kitchen, bowl of chips in hand.

When the Vulture’s eyes landed on you, he looked like a deer in the headlights for a moment, before shaking it off.

You knew better than to say anything about what you did for a living, and knew that other people in the business had lives outside of arms deals and engineering illegal weapons. You just never thought that Adrian would be Liz’s dad.

You shook your head lightly and stuck out your hand. “Hello Mr. Toomes. I’m (Y/n). Liz and I were partnered for a school project, so I hope you don’t mind my staying here to work on it.”

Adrian lightly smiled and shook your hand firmly. “Good to meet you (Y/n). As long as you two don’t cause any explosions or fires, your welcome to come on in.”

That was the start of an odd but fun relationship with the Toomes family.

Timeskip~

God, you hated superheroes. One minute, you were working with Vultch’s team on a new upgrade to the suit, and the next, you’re hearing of his arrest and trial. You went to the trial to say goodbye to him, holding back the tears. He gave you a warning to run. You promised you would soon.

At school, you hugged Liz goodbye, heartbroken, as she was like a sister to you.

You saw your friend Peter talking to her as she left. You wondered what he said to make her look even sadder.

You packed up what few belongings you had. Adrian had asked you to blow up the warehouse, so that your fingerprints wouldn’t be found. You did as asked via remote from 1/2 mile away.

You took out all the money that you kept underneath a loose floorboard and stuffed it in a backpack, covering the cash with your clothes and personal items.

You bought a ticket for a train heading out of the city, and from there, a bus that was headed towards Florida. You planned to get off in Tennessee so that no one who follow you.

That night, as you waited for the train to come, you heard your name being called. You looked around, the station nearly devoid of other people except one guy with air-pods in and a lady on a phone call

“(Y/n)! (Y/N)! WAIT!” 

You then turned around, seeing Peter running towards you. What the Hell was he doing here?

“Peter, what ar-”

“I know.”

You froze. What?

“What do you mean? What are you talking about Pete?”

“I know you worked with Toomes on creating illegal weapons. I know that you knew who he was.”

You tried acting dumb. “What? Peter, you know me. I w-”

He stared at you with a serious expression that you’d never seen on him.

“You’re right. I do know you. I know you’re a genius with mechanical and electrical engineering. I know you live alone in an apartment that you pay for, which no highschooler could make enough to do, especially if they went to our school, which has a high tuition. You’ve also never talked about your job. I’m not an idiot (Y/n). You have 2 choices, either turn yourself in, or come with me and we can see about putting your skills towards helping others.”

You sighed as you walked towards your friend. “That’s the thing about you Peter. You’ve never been an idiot. I liked that about you. If only you had been just a little less observant.” You said as you heard the train coming

You hugged Peter, making sure you were out of sight from any cameras. He was about to return the gesture, when you stuck a needle into his arm. 

“Wai-”

You whispered, “I’m truly sorry Petey, but I don’t think either of those options is for me. This stuff will wear off in about an hour. I’ll call Ned to come pick you up. I really am sorry, Peter. Goodbye. Maybe someday, we’ll see each other again.”

With that, you slung Peter’s arm over your shoulder, making it look like you were helping a drunk friend. You placed him on a bench before calling Ned, saying Peter passed out from a fight and was at the train station.

You boarded the train with your backpack and sighed as the train slowly started  moving. You looked behind you at Peter’s slumping body on the bench and at the New York City skyline. 

Man were you going to miss this place.

Maybe one day, when it was safe again, you’d be able to come back...

THE END

A/N: Hey! If you made it this far, THANK YOU for reading! 

[sparkexplosive]

Sentiment [Izuku Midoriya] ; 06

Precious Chapters in Sentiment [Izuku Midoriya] SERIES

Warning: Mental Health

Word Count: 2,010

Midoriya Izuku was standing in front of the invention room with his hero costume case because he broke his shoes once again. He is afraid to look at your face, but he needs to face you. Perhaps he isn’t ready to face you yet. He was about to turn around to walk away to ask Mei to fix his shoes instead. To only get startled by the sliding door opening to reveal Misaka. 

“Oh! Midoriya. What may I help you?” Misaka calmly gave off the customer service voice along with a smile. 

Midoriya couldn’t speak properly to the only rush through his word which leads it to be a scrambled mess. 

Misaka’s eye twitches in annoyance. She could never really deal with his random rambles. She looks on both sides of the hallway before grabbing his collar and yanking him inside. Midoriya was about to fall on his face due to the sudden pull into the room. She walks away from him to sit down on her chair to continue working on Kirishima shoulder designs, after testing it would be sustainable enough against Kirishima unbreakable form without shattering into pieces from her previous prototypes. 

She is just ignoring his presence until he learns how to speak. She is already irritated by him how Midoriya is not even standing up for (Name), her best friend. His friends are speaking to her best friend with hurtful words that would break anyone down especially under his watch is unacceptable. A screwdriver floats towards her which reminded him of his mother's quirk. 

Midoriya gulps down his saliva, sensing tension in the air and looks over to your desk to find it surprisingly neat and cleaned as if it hasn’t been touched for a few days. It's an unusual sight to see it so organized compared to the times he has been in here. His eyes wander off to Misaka's side of the room to see her blueprints on the cardboard. He does recall that you did mention that Misaka switched with Hatsume Mei because her room was a lot closer to the inventory room. 

The blueprints of her designs and items for Kirishima Eijirou upgraded costume pinned on the cardboard. She has a mannequin that was holding fabric that could be for his lower cape. In front of her were pauldrons blueprints with the design details. Misaka was adding the details on his pauldrons and messing with internal parts that seem to contain wires. 

“It’s coming out very well, Misaka.” Midoriya tries to break the tension in the air, before speaking for the real reason for his trip here. “Could you perhaps fix my shoes?”  

Misaka glances over to him and walks over to him to hastily take the case from him to evaluate the damage. She did catch his eyes looking over to your working station earlier. 

“She is banned from using this room for fighting one of your fangirls along with damaged property.” 

Misaka answers without him saying it out loud and takes the black metal shoes off his case to only collapse into different small pieces. Both of them just stare at the floor where the metal pieces collapsed into smaller pieces. “Well then. I could make a replica for you. It might be ready in the late afternoon tomorrow, b-” 

Midoriya brims up at the news with a small smile instead of his usual big grins. “Thank you!” 

She stops to turn to face him. “But!”

She stares closes the case hastily, before turning her blue eyes back into his green eyes. “Do you know about the rumors going around about (Name)?” 

Midoriya was taken back at the question but narrowed his eyebrows. “I only know about the check, but it turns out to be true.” 

Midoriya unconsciously flinches recalling the rumor was true and all the emotions that he has been pushing down resurface at once. She evacuates his body language and his eyes to see he is telling the truth. He seems to hang on by accepting the fact that your relationship was building on the bride. 

“Well, your friends are belittling (name) by telling her. She is a whore to slut because of the rumors going around. They are getting dramatized and getting out of hand. The rumors are getting worse every passing day. Unless you set it straight. It would calm down the rumors.” She carefully watches his body language and his eyes. 

From the dark lines underneath his eyes and more messy hair than usual. It seems he has been wrecked as well. The evidence is physical that he hasn’t been sleeping very well. Midoriya hasn't been able to sleep for the past couple of days due to getting nightmares repeatedly. 

But from his expression, he didn’t know at all, filled with shock, and a mixture of surprise was written all over his face. His eyes were wide open and his mouth agape. Before he closes his mouth before licking them and gulping down his saliva. “I haven’t been paying attention of late.”

‘I have been in mind all day and night,’ He thought to himself. 

His demons belittling why him and losing destroying himself confidence. The only time he can distract himself is by burying himself in schoolwork and training to quiet down that voice in his head. The other times, he unconsciously is blocking the world around him which makes his friends and classmates worry about him since he has been a less talkative and energetic ball of energy who is an excellent observer and analyzing at hand. 

Aizawa asks him to go to the counselor's office today or tomorrow. He knows that Aizawa is worried about him to personally ask him to look for help.  

His fingers fidget with the side of his tie as he licks his dry lips to confess.“I have mostly been in my world-”

“You have been in your mind. Midoriya. You are being your own worst enemy. Overthinking to thinking the worst possibilities. That's what you usually do.” Misaka interrupts him, before walking into your work station. 

She opens a drawer to go through it to see your blueprint on what your design to offer to Midoriya. She stares at it for a second before taking it out and reaching underneath the table to pull out brown boxes that contain two metal cases with one of them has a red ribbon. She places the blueprint inside and holds out to him if only he wants to accept. 

“[Name] might murder me for giving this to you. Its new equipment that they overworked themselves making sure this gift to you would be on time. But you know…. This would have been a future design blueprint. Just take a look and give those babies a try.”

Midoriya didn’t know what to say. His throats were dried up but his eyes landed on a red envelope attached to the metal case with red ribbon. It was possible the anniversary gift that she would have given him today. He forgot today was their anniversary before all this happened. They had plans but everything changed. He needed space and time to think. Y/N gave him the space that he asked and respected his decision. 

But the curiosity is killing him wanting to know what they are inside those metal cases. He unconsciously reaches over to grab onto the box to find it surprising a little heavy. 

“Take them and think would someone go through deep ends to create something so accurate for your liking and safety if they didn’t care about you. If you think you don’t want to accept it, you can go back and return them to me. I will have your replacements here waiting for you.” Misaka light heart comments. 

Midoriya looks up from the box to look into her eyes. “Thank you.”

____________________________________

The day before getting emotional after school, surprisingly you had a wonderful time with the loudmouth student from Class A-3, Bakugou Katsuki. He had surprisingly cheered you up with some food and fun time at the arcade. It was memorable and the most fun you had ever experienced in an arcade. The two of you were being competitive trying to beat each other's scores. 

You did realize in his way, he was distracting you from what happened the day before.

“Don’t let those extras get into your head. The only person you need to approve is yourself.” Bakugou advises while pointing at you with his chopsticks. 

Your eyes had widened shows bewildered at his words as if he was speaking from experience, once his words sucked in which brought a wide grin on your lips. 

“Thank you.” Your eyes were starting to shine like before the incident happened with the rumors. Your eyes are a portal to how you feel. 

Bakugou rolls his eyes, “You should know this by now. Extra's opinions shouldn’t matter.” 

He knew you were hurting inside while putting on a strong face in front of everyone. But everyone has their limits by putting on that armor to make people intimate from messing with you. He knows it very well. 

As he refused for you to pay for the dinner bill to pay him back from playing in the arcade. You know arcades are not cheap but expensive. However, he beat you from paying by taking his credit card before you could. 

“Save that money for your mouth-” He exclaims calmly. 

“Bakugou, that's a lot of money. Let m-.” You tried to reason with him, but he continues to shoot you down. 

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Get it through your thick brain!” Bakugou slashing out, clearly getting irritated by you bugging him about paying him back. He clearly refuses to accept your money.  

At the end of the day, you were conflicted about how to feel about Bakugou since you saw another side of Bakugou that you haven’t seen until now. It's like Kirishima said to you before when you asked for Bakugou help for the gloves that you created for Midoriya. 

“He has a good heart, he just roughs around the edges. Give him time, he will get comfortable with you.” 

You had witnessed what Kirishima was talking about yesterday. Bakugou has a different way of showing he cares. However what caught you off guard when he had walked you back to your dorms like your bodyguard intimidating any students from looking over to you. 

You turn around in front of the steps of your dorm to thank him. “Thank you for everything. Bakugou.” 

Bakugou simply nods, like typical behavior for him. When you were turning around to walk up the stairs. He had grasped your wrist stopping you at your tracks. 

“You can call me. Katsuki, only if you want to... Have a nice night.” He lets go from your wrist. 

You were shocked that Bakugou even suggested it, but knew it's a big deal for him to permit him to call him by his first name. It could mean numerous things, but that is the moment you thought. He trusts you. 

Once you had sucked in his words, you only smiled back at him.

“I will be taking up that offer. Good night, Katsuki!” 

Unknown to you, Bakugoug Katsuki could feel his heart skip a beat from hearing your voice calling him by his first name. He couldn’t explain it, but it makes him feel weird in a way that is not normal for him. 

A small smile curls up to his lips while he was walking back to his dorms while recalling what happened that afternoon. He did have a lot of fun playing video games with you in an attempt to distract you from what is happening in school. 

He does care about you but is unsure why he is feeling this sort of way ever since the two of you started working together for your project of gloves. He has gotten comfortable with your presence more than he would like to admit. 

Perhaps, he has a crush on you….

It can’t be…, right?

______________________________

I would love to hear any predictions or theories, you guys have!

Feedback is appreciated!

Please be kind within the comments. I hope you are enjoying the story. Sorry for any spelling or grammar errors.

if anyone wishes to be tagged, either send me an ask or comment below this post! Taglist will be in the comments.

[alderoo]

And They Called Her Cotera

First Meetings-Exterminated Malice

Well I’ve had this fic done for awhile now. I just never actually got around to posting it here. The only reason that I’m splitting this into more parts is because if I don’t I think my computer might die on me. 

Description: A Hylian, a Great Fairy and Wolf. Who would’ve known that the combination would become such great friends

A03 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28003776/chapters/68594853

They used to call her The Great Fairy. 

They used to call her a blessing, a gift. 

And to some, she was even called a sister. 

But most importantly, they used to call her Cotera. 

Long ago, The Great Fairy Cotera was a powerful fairy, capable of a great deal of magic. Tourists, travelers and villagers alike would come to give her offerings of rupees to fuel her powers. 

Some, she recalled, asked her to bless their clothing, others asked to heal the sick. Some came just to see the breathtaking sight that was her fountain. After all, Cotera’s home was by far the easiest to travel to for most Hylians.

For the longest time, it was just her and her sisters, Kaysa, Mija and Tera. That was until the Calamity hit, when malice started ravaging the land. 

Cotera did her best to keep the land around her safe, but even she was powerless against the destruction. Once the visitors stopped completely, she was resigned to what felt like eternity in her fountain, the fairy bud closing around her, blocking out all the light. Until one day, she wasn’t. 

The first time that she met Link, he was confused. He stumbled up to the platform, and Cotera decided that that moment might be her only chance to be free once again. So, she stuck out her bejeweled hand, and spoke.

“Boy,” She addressed, and saw the boy’s back stiffen, a hand flying to his sword, which hung loosely on the back of his Hylian Tunic. Seeing the tunic’s design, she supposed that style had to change a bit over 100 years. 

“Sweet boy… please… listen to my story,” The hero’s eyes widened, and he hesitantly nodded, his body still tense with fear. “I am the Great Fairy Cotera… this place was once a beautiful spring… but as time passed, fewer and fewer travelers arrived to offer me rupees. As a result, my power has abandoned me. I’m nearly powerless now, so I beg your help. I need rupees to become whole again,”

The boy hesitantly took his hand off of his sword, and pulled down his hood. His face was horrendously scarred, twisting on the left side of his face, onto his ear and down his neck, presumably onto the rest of his body. Cotera’s heart cracked at the sight. He looked like he had been through so much, and Cotera silently sent a prayer to the Goddess to spare him from anything else.

“All I need is 100 rupees… once my power has been restored, I can help you do great things, boy. Now, if you have rupees, hand them over to me. Quickly!” Cotera held her large hand out even further, trying to prompt the child. “In order to regain my power all I need is 100 rupees,”

The boy nodded again, and reached into a Sheikah device, one that Cotera identified as the Sheikah Slate, carried by the princess and her knight. It, however, didn’t matter to her whether he was the hero or not, he had what she needed. Eventually, he held out a small bag, radiating with the magic of rupees, and Cotera swiftly snatched it up. 

“Thank you, you are too kind,” She mused. As the power started shifting the flower bud, she smiled. It thrummed with the familiar feel of magic, spreading through her body, all the way to her fingertips. “Ah, the power, it’s overflowing!”

And with that, the bud opened with a puff of purple smoke, its giant leaves dropping down to the ground, displaying a little pond with golden birds on the sides. The boy stumbled back and fell onto the ground, staring up in shock as the water rumbled and Cotera emerged, back to her full glory once more. 

The fairy stretched, not hesitating to admit to herself that it felt good to be back, her sparkling jewelry clinking against each other. Remembering the child before her, she leaned her arm on the side of her fountain, and gazed down at the little one. 

“Oh, what a feeling! That first breath of fresh air after an eternity of decay… it’s just so intoxicating!” Cotera exclaimed, and giggled as the boy stumbled to his feet, staring in wonder at the magic that took place before him. “Thanks to you, I’ve been returned to my former glory. And as they say- one good turn deserves another. I can help you, boy,”

“Allow me to enhance your clothing. It’s the least I can do, but I will need the necessary materials. With the power available to me… I should be able to enhance your clothing a little bit,” The boy thought for a moment, and then nodded eagerly, forgetting his former hesitance. “Which clothing item would you like me to enhance?”

Pulling out his Sheikah slate once more, the boy looked at a screen, one that had three articles of clothing on it, some tattered clothes, and what looked suspiciously like a warm doublet. He frowned to himself, before pointing to the Hylian armor he was wearing, adorned with a red tunic underneath, and a few belts on top of it, matching nicely with the tan trousers and the dark hood. 

“Yes, I think I can enhance the Hylian Tunic, but it’ll require five bokoblin horns,” Cotera nodded, and watched as the now excited boy placed five monster parts into her hand. “All right, let me do my thing!” 

The fairy brushed away her blonde hair, fixed her bracelets, and examined the bokoblin horns with big blue eyes. Then, she crushed them easily in between her fingers and rubbed her hands together, before holding them up to her lips and blowing the powder in a stream of magic at the little Hylian.

He shivered at first, but then smiled at the funny feeling and even giggled, a rough sound, but one that made Cotera smile nevertheless, even if his smile did pull at his scars. 

“All finished! Just a bit stronger now… oh, you’ve heard about set bonuses, right? How a set of clothes that have all been enhanced twice could have a bonus? But only if you wear the whole set! Well, and not all sets have a bonus… do you want me to enhance anything else?” Cotera offered, and the boy stared with wide eyes, absorbing every piece of new information. He nodded vigorously, and Cotera took pleasure in enhancing all the clothing she could. 

And after she was finished, she smiled as she watched the hero pick some blue nightshade flowers, sniffed the iron ironshrooms, and held a silent princess in his hands like it was the most precious thing he’s ever held. 

“Now little one, I’ve forgotten to ask, what is your name?” Cotera questioned as the boy started to wave goodbye. He stiffened, before signing. 

“L-I-N-K,” He spelled out, and Cotera nodded. Could he not speak? The Great Fairy shook off her surprise.

“Well, Link, I hope to see you again,” She giggled, and grew a Silent Princess in her hands, before gently placing it behind the ear of the hero, who couldn’t help but beam. He waved goodbye, and Cotera decided that she liked this child.

**********

The second time she saw Link, he seemed a bit more weary than before. His eyes bore bags, and his steps were a little more sluggish. But still, the hooded figure walked up the platform to the fountain, and Cotera showed herself once more, emerging in a flush of magic that seemed to brighten his mood.

“Ah, welcome back boy. Do you want me to enhance any more of your clothing?” She offered, cracking her knuckles in preparation. It had been three weeks since she had seen Link, so Cotera was prepared to enhance. “With the power available to me… I can enhance your clothing to the max!” 

That seemed to perk him up even more, and he nodded excitedly. He had more clothing this time, stuff like a set of Sheikah Stealth Gear, some Knight’s Armor, and more notable, a blue tunic, embroidered with white stitching in the shape of a sword. The Champion’s Tunic. 

Can you enhance this? He signed, holding out parts of the stealth set, jarring Cotera from her thoughts. 

“I think I can enhance the Stealth Chest Guard. It will need five Blue Nightshade, though,” Cotera added, and Link nodded, handing the clothing and materials over. 

Link watched with interest as Cotera plucked the flowers from the stems, and crushed each one in between her fingers, sprinkling it onto the blue tunic. Now holding stems, she rolled them in between her fingers, and finished adding the magic, rubbing her hands together and blowing the leftover materials at the Link, who giggled as the magic seeped into the land around him, practically making the earth glow. 

“All finished! Do you want me to enhance any of your other clothes?” Cotera asked, and the two went through the lengthy process of upgrading whatever they could, finishing a level on the Stealth set, half of one on the Knight Armor, and another level on the Hylian set. 

“I think I can enhance the Hylian Trousers. I just need eight bokoblin horns and five bokoblin fangs, little one,” It was at the end of the process, with the piece of armor that Link had deemed the ‘last one’. Cotera, however, noticed something else she could upgrade. 

As in their routine, Cotera crushed the monster parts, and embedded them into the clothing, kissing her finger and then planting it onto his head. Link scratched his neck sheepishly. 

“Thank you, Cotera,” Link signed, and started to leave, before Cotera said something.

“Are you sure? I can still enhance more of your clothing,” She offered, and Link hesitated, before nodding. “The Champion’s Tunic, I believe. I wonder, why don’t you wear it? It is yours, after all,”

Link stiffened, and shook his head. Cotera hummed. 

“Well, don’t worry. I understand if you don’t want to tell me, but you should at least rest. It’s very late, you know,” The fairy insisted, and the boy thought it over, before nodding and setting out a bedroll for the night, making a little campfire to cook a small dinner. 

As he laid down, he didn’t seem to notice the smaller fairies blessing him as they went by. Cotera hummed, catching his attention, so he rolled over to face her. 

“Whatever is with that Champion’s Tunic, I do have to say, blue would look quite flattering on you,” She informed, holding up a finger in an intellectual sort-of-way. Link smiled a sleepy smile before falling asleep, the fairies resting in his hood now that he was out. Cotera knew that they had something to do with the boy falling asleep so easily. The Great Fairy could easily tell that most of his nights were not restful.

Most excitingly, he had already made a small effect on the amount of visitors she had at her fountain. An older man named Pikango had visited, saying that Link had gifted him with a few stamina elixirs, ones that allowed him to make the trek. He had stayed the day, insisting that he needed to finish his painting. Cotera laughed at that, saying that she didn’t mind, that she never got much company. 

Another visitor, a little girl named Cottla, had gotten lost in the woods while playing hide-and-seeks with her mother. She was enamored by the beautiful fairy, and enjoyed playing with her for the day until Cotera directed her home. 

So, in thanks, instead of her own sleep, Cotera decided that she would stay on the surface of her fountain that night, making sure that the little hero got the rest that he deserved. Besides, it was a pleasure that he decided to visit, and she hoped that he would come again soon.

**********

Not long after, one of the Divine Beasts was freed. Cotera could sense the malice retreating, and knew that Link was the reason behind it. Of course she knew about Mipha, and worried about the health of her friend. Besides, whatever had defeated such a powerful Zora princess was bound to be strong.

When Link returned, he was wearing a different set of armor, one that had the trademark blue and silver of the Zora. His hood was still on, but Cotera could tell that he was stronger than before, from the way he walked to the way he climbed the steps to his fountain.

“Welcome back, Link. I see you have some new armor. Is there anything that you would like me to enhance?” Cotera beamed, and Link pulled down his hood, smiling sheepishly. 

Do you think you could? He signed, and the fairy nodded. He scrolled through his slate, and brought out his Champion’s Tunic, much to her surprise. 

“I thought that you didn’t want to enhance this?” Cotera asked innocently, making the boy stiffen slightly.

“It’s what I wore in my memories, and I think I trust you enough to make it more durable. I’m afraid that it’ll tear,” Link explained, and Cotera smiled. 

“Well, I think I can enhance the Champion’s Tunic, I’ll need three Silent Princess,” The fairy listed, and the champion handed her the materials to use. 

“Thanks,” 

“Now, if I may, what armor are you wearing now? It looks quite special,” Cotera mused while she embedded the magic into the blue shirt. Link looked startled, before smiling to himself.

“The Zora King said that Mipha made it for me. It’s a sign of-“ His hands faltered. “A sign of engagement,”

“Well, then it’s very special indeed. But let’s get off of depressing topics, what adventures did you have in Zora’s Domain?” Cotera asked before handing the Champion’s Tunic back to Link, who sat down while he brought out his other clothes, ready to tell a story.

“Well, I was trying to get to Lanayru Tower, and when I got to the top, there was a Zora there. His name is Gruve, and he looked like a human fish! I’ve never seen a Zora before!” Link started, and stopped for a moment to continue searching for the necessary materials to upgrade a little bit of his gear. “He told me that he fell asleep there and got stuck on the tower since it rose from the ground. He told me to go to a bridge, and that their Prince Sidon was looking for a Hylian Warrior,”

“Sidon, you say?” Cotera snatched the materials and continued with her work. “Last time I heard about him, he was just a little guppy!” 

“He’s super nice, and he’s huge too! He took the rivers while I took the trail, and it took him all the way to the Domain before someone told him that I was the hero,” Link frowned for a moment, but shook it off. “It didn’t change his opinion, though. He was a lot nicer than the others, too. They blamed me for everything. I can’t blame them though. It kinda was my fault,”

“Now, boy, don’t say that. They can’t blame you for something you don’t remember. Don’t let them get to you. They’re just upset, and they lost someone important,” Cotera advised, and finished enhancing the clothes. Link nodded, but the fairy got the sense that the boy didn’t really believe her. “Well, what happened next?”

“Then, I had to go get shock arrows, but no one had any. They said it was because one of them could kill a Zora, so then…” Link launched into the rest of the story, finding it easy to talk to the Great Fairy, who laughed and followed along with pleasure. 

“So there’s a shrine right in the center of the Domain?” Cotera inquired curiously after hearing the rest of the story. Link nodded. “Don’t forget to pay Sidon visits, then. It’s always nice to keep in touch with a friend. Just like we’re doing now!” 

“You think I’m a friend?” The hero asked, and Cotera grinned.

“Of course! I do enjoy your visits, after all,” She promised, and Link smiled back. “Was I your first friend?” 

“I think. I don’t know much about having friends,” 

“Hmm, we’ll have to do something about that. Sidon is your friend, right? By the way you describe him, he seems friendly. Have you met any nice people in Kakariko or Hateno?” Cotera inquired. Link shrugged.

“Not really. I met you before I met Sidon. Impa is nice, but she seems more interested in who I was then instead of me now,” He decided after a minute of thinking. “Do animals count as friends?” 

“Why of course they do,” 

“Then my first friend was a wolf. He didn’t come here, though. I actually don’t know where he is,”

“Why not invite him then? Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, little one,” Cotera insisted, and before the two knew it, a large wolf had materialized in front of them, a green hue surrounding it’s grey fur, and it looked up at Cotera startling blue eyes.

Link gasped in surprise before hugging the creature, who barked in response. Cotera laughed, a loud sound, startling the pair. 

“Why, you sure are quite the friend. Different from any wolf I’ve ever seen!” It was obvious that the wolf was a spirit, and Cotera has a feeling that it had something to do with the hero before him. Whether the champion knew this or not, Cotera wasn’t going to pry any further. 

“This is Wolfie!” Link signed eagerly, presenting the wolf like it was prized cattle. It didn’t seem to mind, however. Instead, it darted around Link’s feet, and pressed it’s snout into the hero’s hand. 

Even though the wolf was a spirit, it radiated magic, different from any magic that Cotera had ever seen. She could only guess why the best didn’t want to appear there. 

“We should probably get going now,” Link said as if he suddenly remembered something. Cotera frowned. 

“Going so soon?” She pouted, and Link nodded. “Well, can’t be helped, I guess. Be safe, boy,” 

Wolfie barked, making the two giggle. 

“I guess you must’ve been reckless then, based on this little one’s response,” She declared, and the wolf huffed, turning it’s snout away in indignation. It was odd to see such a human-like gesture come from an animal, but it got the point across nevertheless. “Don’t worry, Wolfie. Link seems much more comfortable than he was when he first came here, now doesn’t he?” 

The wolf growled slightly, and Cotera laughed. 

“Don’t be like that!” Link signed, quietly laughing before waving. “We’ll come back soon!” 

As Link ran off, the wolf stayed behind, nodding his head in gratitude towards the fairy. The Great Fairy smiled sadly.

“Now, keep an eye on that one. He needs to learn to live again. Wouldn’t you say the same, hero?” Cotera said, and the wolf’s form flickered before shifting into that of a Hylian, one wearing a pelt around his shoulders, strange marking that mirrored the wolf’s on his face. 

The Hylian nodded, smiling, before shifting back into the wolf and chasing the champion. And so Cotera returned to her fountain, the laughter of the little hero still echoing through the woods.

[ddaengyoonmin]

Faerie Realm 14

Pairing: Ot7xReader; currently mainly Jungkook x reader with past Jimin x reader and um maybe some Taehyung x reader? 👀

Genre: fluff, angst, smut(In previous and later chapters)

Theme: Based kinda on sword art online a lot of similar ideas and themes kinda combining the idea of them trapped in the game, but the world is closer to ALFheim online

Warnings; fiction video game beast killing, (giant turtles it’s not graphic just mentioned) Taehyung gets himself in a predicament. There’s not too much in the way of warnings but let me know if I forgot something.

Word count: 4.4k

Taglist: (no one got back to me on if this taglist is still good or not so I’m just reposting it lol) : @taekookandyoongi @life-anime-food @i-like-puppy-mg @seesawsmin-flower @karissassirak @btsvisuals @vynia

A/n: um... don’t hate me?

Where floor two differed from floor one was its climate mostly it was hotter.  The game had generated similar creatures and plants in most places that were similar to floor one, but everything was just slightly colored more in browns, tans, or warmer colors.  You hadn’t really noticed a trend in the colors but when you think of it a lot of the creatures and plants from floor one were in blue tones, and silvers and deep green. 

The layout of the map was also very similar.  The main town was in a central location just like floor one’s town, and it was also just nicknamed a simple name, “Main 2” was what all of the players were calling it. 

One area though was completely new and different than anything seen on floor one.   Where the snowy ice capped mountains stood in floor one, now stood tall mountains with bright glowing red lava constantly flowing from their peaks. 

No one had been able to get close enough to climb the mountains and see what was at the top yet.  For some reason flying gets disabled once you hit the base of the volcanoes, and you have to climb.  With the lava constantly pouring down the sides, it's impossible to make it up without dying.  No one has even tried to risk it.  But, the theory of some is that the portal to floor 3 sits inside the mouth of the center volcano.  This theory was then further supported by the strange light that some had noticed would shine up from the taller central volcano at night.  Most assumed it was always glowing; it was just so faint that you could only see it when night was at its darkest.  Portal to floor 3 or not, something was up there, and with how hard it was to reach, it had to be good. 

“When you get to level 30 you should pick the extra experience perk over the money when it gives you the option to select a milestone award.” Jungkook suggested to you. “It's not like we don’t already share anyways.” 

“Are you sure?” You sat on the wooden bench, elbow on the table with your hand pressed against your face, staring at your screen, level 29 with your experience bar half way there.

When a player hit level 30 they got the option to choose between a giant sum of money, or a permanent perk for the rest of the game that would increase their experience gained from kills by 50%.  

You did think the experience would be nice to have, leveling up quicker would certainly help you survive.  Then again, so would the money.  It was more than enough money for you to buy you and your whole team all new upgraded armour and equipment, and that would certainly help keep you alive as well.  

Another new thing that level 30 unlocks is potions.  You actually were relieved that the need for your class of fairy was lessened by that.  Now that a lot of players were able to self heal no matter what class they were, you weren’t constantly hassled by strangers on the street to join their teams without healers.  

Even more than that, it put your mind at ease that Jungkook now at level 32 can carry around potions with him wherever he goes. 

You would still have the benefit of all potions you make having extra strong effects due to you being a water fairy.  Hoseok had just reached level 30 this week and he’d discovered this perk in his player profile under his active permanent skills list. 

“I took the experience, I think it's the smartest.  I already make plenty of money kicking ass and being the best at this game.” Jungkook winked at you with that cocky smirk of his stuck to his lips.  You never knew if you wanted to smack him or kiss him when he acted like that, it was a mixture of both. 

The tavern that the two of you sat in was your regular hangout spot now with your team.  Tonight though, it was just you and Jungkook. The girl behind the wooden counter serving beers in giant tin mugs was an NPC with giant breasts and a big smile named Flower, and you could hear her right now repeating a dialogue you’d heard a million times. 

“Welcome to Muspell Tavern, what can I get for ya!” 

“Hoseok took the money.” You commented. “If I took the money I can get you that dagger you wanted to commission?” 

Jungkook shook his head. “No, I already have something in the works for that.” 

This was the first you were hearing this.  You made direct eye contact with him and cocked an eyebrow. 

“Since when?” 

“Since...For a bit alright.  So go with the experience alright.” Jungkook insisted. 

You gave a tiny sigh and nodded.

“It was a close decision anyways, but I’m sure you’re right.” 

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

One of the great things about Faerie Realm was being able to cure your hangover with a simple press of a button. 

Now, it wasn’t free, but 20 gold is still not the worst price for that throbbing in your head you woke up with that morning to clear up. 

You tapped the sleeping Jungkook on his shoulder and when that didn’t work you resorted to putting your pointer finger on his nose and tapping a few times. 

He scrunched up his face annoyed, but the expression was just so cute you couldn’t help but giggle. 

“Time to wake up Kook.  Clear your hangover and let's see what everyone is planning for the day.  I hear Tae and Jin are up already.” You told him. 

Jungkook nodded and sat up. 

Your team had been able to put all of your camp items in your inventory and transfer your camp to a location you found in the woods on floor 2.  So, you and Jungkook had continued to upgrade and build your small tent up to a two room tent with a divider for a bedroom and living room space.  

You got up and left the tent, Jungkook wouldn’t mind if you didn’t wait for him, he might be a while waking up. 

Taehyung and Jin were sitting on logs on either side of the fire pit, each with a wooden mug in their hands. 

“Breakfast?” You asked, chuckling and pointing to the mug in Taehyung’s hand as you sat next to him, your shoulder slightly pressing against his arm now as you scooted to fit next to him comfortably on the log. 

Taehyung didn’t reply for a second, like something had distracted him, he stared at you blankly. 

“Earth to Tae?” You leaned into him pressed against him hoping to jostle him out of his strange state. 

It worked and he shook his head slightly, chuckling and gripping his mug with both hands tightly, staring down into the liquid it contained as if it was some kind of puzzle to figure out. 

“Just, bad sleep.” He mumbled. 

“Ah.” You nodded your head up and down slowly, giving him a look that told him you weren’t buying that but you weren’t gonna press further. 

Jin then spoke up from across the fire.

“Hey can you tell Jungkook that I can’t find that metal that comes from the giant turtles here on floor two?  All of the red turtles here just drop meat, the green ones back on floor one always dropped shell parts so I think we’ll have to travel down there if he wants his dagger any time soon.” 

You looked over at him, confused. 

At that moment Jungkook had walked out from your tent. 

“Jin! Damnit, that was a surprise.” Jungkook groaned. 

“You’re surprising her with you getting a new dagger? Boyfriend of the year.” Jin scoffed playfully. 

Jungkook laughed and punched Jin in the shoulder as he sat down next to him across from you.  Smiling over at you and giving you a cute wink that no one else saw.  Your cheeks warmed up and you felt your stomach start to flutter, it was such a small thing, but you still couldn’t help the wave of happiness that would flood over you when Jungkook would even just slightly flirt with you.  No, you were sure that would never go away. 

“Well. I guess she can know that, since you’ve spilled the beans already.  But, you say anymore and I will kick you so hard you’ll be back on floor one.” Jungkook laughed.

“Noted.” Jin replied, feeling slightly embarrassed to have spilled a secret. 

But, why was that a secret.  Jungkook was collecting materials for his dagger with Jin...did that mean…

“Did one of you open up a blacksmithing skill line?” You gasped with your jaw feeling like it could fall to the ground. 

You heard Taehyung gasp next to you as well, this must’ve also been news to him. 

Jin stood up, his fox ears sticking straight up proudly on top of his head.  He bowed to you and Taehyung with a big grin on his face. 

“Guilty.” He chuckled, sitting back down after his dramatic display. “I figured it would come in handy if our group had our own weaponsmith so I asked around and did the quests needed to open up a blacksmithing and woodworking skill line.  There's still one more skill line called Leatherworking that would be needed if I wanted to make certain outfits and armor.  But, I think I can get there too!” He rambled on excitedly. “I figured my first big item should be for one of you guys, so I asked Jungkook if I could try and make that Shadow Dagger he’s been wanting.” 

 “That's amazing Jin!” You smiled, clapping your hands together. “Well that's settled then! We should all go to floor one today and get some shell parts!” 

“Yeah? You’re fine with that?” Jungkook’s face lit up at your words.  

You nodded “Yeah, It’ll be good for me to just do some grinding right now anyways with how close I am to level 30.” 

The three boys nodded in agreement. 

A sleepy Yoongi now wandered out from his tent with a messy haired Hoseok close behind. 

Hoseok pressed a button on his screen and his hair snapped back to its well styled smooth blue normal look. 

The two of them sat down at one of the other logs around the fire without a word, yawning in completely perfect synchronization causing the rest of your group to break out in laughter much to Yoongi and Hoseok’s confusion. 

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

You got the whole team updated on the plan.   A simple day of collecting shell parts and you’d all send Jin the materials.  

You had managed to wander off and get separated from your group, you weren’t as worried about that anymore on floor one though, with your level the things in this woods would have a very hard time landing any kind of critical strike on you before your team could get to you. 

The two turtles you’d just fought off were right by a beautiful little creek that you’d found. 

‘I wouldn’t doubt that there are a lot of turtles up and down the creek, I should let the team know…’ you thought. 

But for some reason, you hesitated on that. 

It’d actually been a while since you did anything alone, without one of the boys with you, usually Jungkook or Hoseok. 

So while it was extremely selfish you decided to venture down this creek alone. 

There were a lot of blue and white flowering plants lining the once shallow creek, that was actually getting deeper and wider and seemed more to be almost a river now. 

You fought many of the giant turtles on your way there, your experience bar now hovering so close to your level 30. 

It had been about an hour of walking when you reached the place where all of the water in the creek had been flowing from.  

A large waterfall poured down in a graceful veil from about 30 feet high up on a ledge, falling down into a beautiful pool of water, and in the center of the pool was a tiny little island.  It was only a small six feet by four feet wide sandy little piece of land.  But, sitting there was a beautiful silver chest, with a sparkling blue glow around it. 

Without thinking you excitedly ran toward the water at the chest. 

“y/n wait!” a voice yelled. 

You spun around, your feet at the edge of the water almost about to step in. 

Taheyung stood behind you, now reaching forward and grabbing your shoulder pulling you back. 

“Doesn’t this seem like the type of thing that’s gonna trigger some kind of monster fight when you step foot in the water?” Taehyung asked you. 

You looked around at the calm serene sight with the lovely chest just sitting out in the open for anyone to take.  He's right, too good to be true. 

“Your water attacks probably won't be very strong against it if it ends up being some type of water creature which i wouldn’t doubt.  So I’ll attack it and you just keep me healed alright?” 

Taehyung suggested.

You nodded in agreement.  You couldn’t believe how stupid you’d almost just been, walking into a monster fight alone without a thought at the sight of something shiny. 

The two of you stepped into the water together, just enough so you were up to your ankles.  

That was all it took, Taehyung was right.

Only a few seconds after your feet touching the water a blindingly bright light shone up from the entire pool of water.

It was a white shimmering radiant light that seemed to have tints of all colors of the rainbow reflecting off when you looked at it the right way.

You and Taehyung looked at each other with the same confused expression.

The light which you could only now describe as somehow extremely...loud, shone like that for about 30 seconds before it toned itself down just enough so that you could now see standing in the center of the water, next to the chest, a figure.

"Don't be afraid Water Fairy, Sylph Fairy.  Step forward and take the chest." A voice spoke out.  You squinted your eyes and stared forward at the figure who you could now make out as a woman wearing a white dress.  She had wings as well.  You'd almost mistake her for another player if you didn't know better.

But, something was off about her. 

"I don't trust it." You whispered to Taehyung, leaning in to him.

Taehyung nodded in agreement, staring at the Fairy in the center of the pond with a skeptical gaze.

"I think we may have to step forward more still though if we want to trigger the next part of this.  Be prepared to heal both of us." Taehyung added in.

You took a deep breath in and waded further into the water, Taehyung following next to you.

The two of you were now past where you could stand in the water, and still nothing had happened.  The figure was becoming more and more clear, a glowing beautiful blonde fairy dressed in white silk and adorned in gold jewelry.

Once you made it to the small island, dripping wet and slightly out of breath due to your lack of swimming skill, despite your class being inclined to it you'd never worked on that skill line much.

The small blonde fair stood in front of you smiling with a golden staff now in hand that you hadn't noticed before.

"Take this staff from my hand." Her voice boomed loud and commanding, it seemed as if it echoed throughout the whole floor, too large a voice for the tiny girl in front of you.

You and Taehyung exchanged looks of 'what do we do'

It seemed forever passed before Taehyung finally just stepped forward, arm outstretched and leaning forward towards the large and heavy staff tightly clutched in the girls hands.

Almost instantly a loud crack like thunder sent Taehyung flying back so fast that you couldn't register where he went.

He was gone...

Did he just...

No...

You gulped and felt your stomach tensing and your hands shaking. 

You didn't see him anywhere, but you also didn't see the tell tale pixels floating up towards Faerie Realms sky that happened when a player...

"Take this staff from my hand." Her voice repeated exactly the same as before.

Did you have a choice? Should you run and get help? Could you?

If you tried, would the same thing happen that happened to Taehyung?

Most likely.

You needed a different strategy.

"I don't want the staff I just want my friend back." You spoke sternly at the girl in front of you.

"To get your friend back.  You must take the staff." Her voice boomed out again.

You felt your heart start beating normally again, Taehyung was safe, it was possible to get him back.

That made the importance of doing this the right way even greater.

"How much?" You asked.

A strange thing happened, something you'd never seen this game do.

The NPC in front of you seemed to glitch.  Blue pixels took her place for a split second and you heard the warbling crackle of her sound malfunctioning.

"H-H-H-How M-M-M-uch?" She stammered out.

"How much to just buy the staff from you? If that's what I need to get my friend back." You spoke, not too concerned with the games errors and more concerned with getting Taehyung back safely.

"One, One, One, One," She kept repeating.

"One coin?" You questioned, leaning forward to see if you were catching all of her words.

You went into your inventory and pulled out a single gold coin into a physical item so that you could try and hand it over.

You weren't going to feel bad about exploiting a glitch in a game that could actually cost you or your friends your lives.

The girl glitched once more and held out her hand.  You placed the single gold coin in her palm and she closed her fingers around it, handing you the staff in exchange.

You looked around, waiting for Taehyung to appear, but he didn't.

Another loud thundering crack sounded out and the light returned, only for a few seconds.

When it was over the girl was gone, but the staff remained in your hand.

A notification bubble popped up on your screen.

'Acquired: Restoration Staff of the Blue Pool: Amplifies all healing abilities channeled through the staff'

Your eyes widened, it was perfect for you.  It also had the benefit of being incredibly beautiful.  It was heavy and seemed to be pure gold, smooth all the way down the handle with gold vines etched into the metal, leading up to a blossoming tulip like flower at the top.

Suddenly you snapped back into what was actually important here.

"Taehyung!" You screamed. He hadn't been returned...

"Y/n!" You heard a voice echo back after a few long seconds.

He was alive, you sighed out in relief.  But, you couldn't see him.  You spun around in circles a few times to see if you could tell where his voice was coming from.

"Tae!" You yelled again.

"Y/n! I think I'm behind the waterfall!" You heard him shout.

Without missing a beat, staff in hand you sprinted into the water towards the waterfall, swimming until you got to the tiny strip of land that sat to the side of the waterfall.

"Taehyung you're in there?" You tried to push your hand through the water, only to feel a sharp sting and hear the chime of your health bar taking a small hit. 

It seemed that you couldn't just step through.

"I can't get in!" You whined.

"I can't get out either, I already tried walking through and using all my spells and weapons on it.  It's useless." You could hear the desperation in his voice.

"Wait." You looked at the staff clutched in your hands. "The girl said the staff would help.  This must make the water part or something..." You thought for a few moments. "Okay step back." You nodded to yourself, a small encouraging 'you can do this' as you pointed the flowering tip of your new staff at the water in front of you.

"Okay?" Taehyung, not knowing your plan, still listened on faith that you had a good idea in mind and stepped as far back in the cave as he could.  It wasn't a big cave, about the size of an average bedroom.  If your bedroom was a cold, dark, damp, rocky prison.

You used all of your power to try and shoot an attack from the staff.

Closing your eyes you braced yourself for whatever recoil might come with the attack. But, nothing more than a quiet fizzle and spark came from its tip.

Shit.

"Taehyung, you can come back, nothing happened." you groaned, now going into your inventory to check out the description of your staff to see if it had any helpful tips for using it on the waterfall.

"y/n...I-" Taehyung's voice cracked and he stopped himself, sighing and shaking his head.

"I'll get you out of there don't worry." You yelled to him.

You started reading through the staff's summary and noticed at the bottom a count down reading 52:43 and going down. Underneath it read 'Blue Pool Staff Ultimate Ability: "Moses" this move can part any unmovable water force with a recharge time of 1:00:00'

"Oh." you whispered.  So the small fairy must've used the staff to part the water and emerge from behind the waterfall, you just hadn't seen her come out because of the light.

"Taehyung you're gonna be okay!" You giggled. "You just have to wait 50 minutes."

"Oh?" He yelled back excitedly.  You could hear the relief coating his exclamation.

"Hey y/n?"

"Yeah?"

"You're gonna wait with me right?"

"Well I kind have to, I'm the one with the staff."

silence for a moment.

"Well you could leave and just come back."

"Me going off on my own didn't work out so well last time, I think the buddy system is a good plan." you chuckled.

"Y/n I love you."

You felt your stomach fall to the floor and a chill run through your spine.

No. He didn't just say that.

Not him. Not Jungkook's best friend. Not when you already struggle so much with...

No. Hearing this from Taehyung was not good. Because you might actually...

“Y/n?” Taehyung called out from behind the almost unreal blue veil of water separating the two of you. 

“I’m still here…” You spoke quietly.  Not quite sure how to respond to his confession. “I just don’t know what to say.  Jungkook is…” 

“I know.” He cut you off.  

You couldn’t see him well, you wanted to just push through the water and run over to him, shake him, ask him why the hell he thought it was okay to say this to you now. 

“I just thought you should know.”

"Do you want me to say something back to that? Taehyung what the hell." You felt tears now rolling down your face.

"I just...I'm tired of just thinking about it every day and not being able to say it. Jungkook is my best friend. I know. I'm an asshole for this. I know. But...I just can't help it."

Your knees were growing weak, you slowly sat yourself down cross legged on the flat stone ledge you'd been standing on.

"Taehyung. I can't say anything back. No matter how I feel. You know that." You spoke out so softly that you weren't sure if he'd even heard.

It was quiet for what felt like almost the whole remaining hour.

"I think I do want to know." Taehyung broke the silence.

"What?" You replied back dryly. You'd zoned out into thoughts of Jungkook leaving you if he ever found out that once again you were feeling like doing something unloyal.

"I want to know how you feel about me. I need to hear you say it. It's not fair to feel these things and not say they are real." The pain in his voice bleeding through the water between you.

"No." You whispered, digging your fingernails into the palm of your hand.

"Y/n..."

"Stop." You sobbed, your eyes clenched shut, trying and failing to make walls so the tears couldn't escape.

"I love you." He said once more.

At that moment a small ding sounded and a notification popped up that your staff had recharged.

"I'm letting you out now." you muttered, wiping your eyes with the back of your hand and standing up shakily.

You pointed the staff at the waterfall and a bright light came out from the tip.

The rushing water now seemed to have an almost invisible quality. You could see Taehyung standing on the other side, looking almost as much of a mess as you.

"I-" You managed to get out, but nothing more.

"Do you love me back." His voice cracked again on his last word.

You felt your lips trembling as they tried to let the words slip past them. You couldn't say it though, you didn't feel like you could.

How could you tell Jungkook's best friend that you'd always admired him from the moment you saw him? That when you fell asleep on his shoulder, you felt warm and comfortable? That sometimes, right before you'd drift off to sleep you'd imagine the feeling of your lips on his...

Before you could stop yourself you were leaning forward to do just that.

With no hesitation his hands reached around your waist to lay flat against your lower back and pull your close against him.

His lips were soft and gentle against your own moving slowly as if he was trying to drag the moment out as long as possible. You could hear him let out a small happy hum when one of your hands reached up to ruffle the hair on the back of his head gently.

This moment was good. This moment felt right.

So why was it so bad, and it felt so wrong.

You pulled back from Taehyung, your lips trembling again, you recoiled your hand away, as you should've done at first.

"This is a fucking brilliant trend you're getting into y/n." A familiar voice came from behind you.

Shit.

[broken-clover]

AU-gust Day 16- Treasure Hunters

Hmph. I was so sure I’d be able to finish yesterday, but after being stuck in a car so long I guess I was just too tired.

This one isn’t especially long, and I’m not sure if it really counts, either? I mean, treasure hunting is involved, but I mostly wanted to do something with my GG Persona AU. Then again, what, am I going to go to jail if I don’t do all the prompts perfectly?...well, maybe.

(Also this one has a smidge of Sinbed because self-indulgence. Sorry not sorry)

For a guy who wore an eyepatch, Sin had pretty good eyesight, at least when it came to scouting. The good new about that was he made for an excellent finder of treasure chests hidden at the end of dungeon hallways, and seeing how their ragtag ‘Investigation Team’ was made up entirely of schoolkids with shaky paychecks on the best of days, they appreciated any shiny trinkets they could sell off for healing items and weapon upgrades.

The biggest downside was that, though he was an excellent chest-finder, he wasn’t quite as good as noticing the shadows guarding it until it was too late.

“Dammit, it was guarded?” He hissed, recoiling as the dark sludge formed into a trio of Principality.

“And they’re decently strong ones, too! But it doesn’t look like there’s a good way to evade them, we can’t run!” Said Potemkin, balling his large hands into fists. “Should we try and call the rest of the team? I’m not sure if they’re too far away to hear, but-”

“It doesn’t matter!” Elphelt shouted, pulling out Miss Travallier to shoot her card and summon Anteros. “Just don’t let your guard down!”

They didn’t have any major tricks up their sleeve, but between Potemkin’s physical skills, Elphelt’s healing spells, Ram’s fire, and his own pool of Personas on-hand, Sin couldn’t find it in him to be especially worried.

Elphelt boosted everyone’s defense with Marakukaja before taking a step back. Potemkin lunged forward to attack head-on, and Sin summoned Perseus to fire up a Mazionga. They seemed off to a strong start, with the two victims of their attacks taking a decent chunk of their health off before they could even attack. If they kept up the quick attacks, then they had a pretty good chance to make it out unscathed, right? He was feeling confident about that.

...At least until a flurry of cards tangled around Elphelt, and she suddenly collapsed to the ground like a marionette with snipped strings.

“El?!” He shouted, falling back halfway through another lightning strike. Sin dug through his pockets for a revival bead while Perseus took a thankfully nonlethal blow. “Guys, be careful! At least one of them has an instant-kill spell!”

They still had a few beads on-hand, but as soon as he felt Elphelt stir, he heard Potemkin shout in pain and felt the vibration of him collapsing. “S-shit! El! Get up! We’re taking hits!”

“I am injured.” Ramlethal’s voice managed to carry over the other sounds of the firefight, with a definite tinge of concern to her usually-neutral tone. Nike was fast, but she still struggled to dodge the attacks of three enemies all at once, all the while with Ram trying to find a revival item for Potemkin.

The three shadows managed to get lucky with instant-kill spells remarkably often, leaving the remaining members scrambling to use whatever revival items they had while avoiding more potshots, and any hits they could actually land were quickly healed.

“Dammit! My SP is almost gone! Do we have anything for that?!” Sin barked, as Perseus fired a flimsy bolt of lightning that barely nicked one of the Principality.

“I-I think Ram just drank our last coffee…” El stammered in reply, trying to revive Potemkin yet again while only hobbling by on a handful of HP, herself. “I have enough for a few more healing spells, but we’ve only got the one bead left. Are you sure we can’t run?”

At every opportunity, they had tried, only for the shadows to intercept them. He liked being an optimist, but Sin knew that things had gone horribly downhill. When he tried to conjure more electricity, all it got him in return was a hard smack that knocked his Persona to the ground.

“Shit, brace yourselves- !”

“Did someone need assistance?”

A familiar silver-and-purple gundam skated into the room, throwing up a barrier wall to catch a couple of magic blasts.

“Finally! There you are, we’ve been looking for you!” An echoing voice came from the large machine, but its mouth didn’t move. “Good think you make such a racket.”

“Bedman! About time!” Sin felt himself grinning.

“Looks like you’re all in rough shape. Good thing I brought backup.”

The shadows were still too distracted by the new barrier to care much about the newcomers who ran into the treasure room right under their noses. Ariadne and Thalassa carried Bridget and May in their respective free arms, while Zappa ran along behind. The mechanical Persona began releasing purple smoke from its head-pipes, and a glimmering veil surrounded both it and the second half of the Investigation Team.

“Get ready for an overclock!” The echoing voice shouted. “You're buffed! May, you’re on healer duty, but just focus on knocking out those shadows!”

“Roger!” Bridget hopped off of Ariadne, and began barraging the Principality with physical attacks as soon as the barrier wall began to fragment. Zappa trailed behind with curse spells as Mania dangled over him limply. May did as instructed, throwing on a few mild healing spells, but the evasion buffs made it so it was less necessary than usual.

Following the initial difficulty, the battle swiftly shifted sides. The enemies finally burst back into piles of darkness and faded away, leaving behind nothing but a small pile of money.

“Oh, god, finally…” Sin sat on the ground and tried to catch his breath. “Nearly thought we were goners for a second.”

“Don’t run off like that next time!” May chided him. “How did you even get stuck in here in the first place, it’s a dead end!”

He pointed over his shoulder. “I saw a chest! I thought there’d be something valuable in it.”

“Well, if we cleared this room out, more shadows shouldn’t appear for a while, right?” Asked Elphelt, as she wandered toward the unattended box on a pedestal. “And since that almost got us into some hot water, it’d better be something good.”

“Yeah!” Sin managed to spring back up, following after her. “I’ve got the picks, let’s see what we got!”

Everyone else trailed behind, more than a little interested in whatever shiny trinket was so interesting that it nearly got half their team killed. Sin easily jimmied the lock open, pried the creaky lid back, and...

“Uh...looks like a cheap gemstone...and a piece of armor we already have.”

A collective groan went through the group, plus a few muffled curses and less-than-polite gestures. Sin still pocketed the small gem, but he was in the same boat as the rest of them. “Well, I guess you win some, you lose some. Let’s head back to the safe room to take a break. Bedman, think you can carry Pot? I don’t think we’ll have any luck trying it ourselves.”

The mecha nodded, scooping the unconscious man up like a sack of potatoes. “Everyone can hop on if they don’t feel like walking.”

A few took him up on the offer, and they all headed back. Maybe it was just imaginary, but the safe room felt far warmer and cozier than the rest of the dungeon. At least they knew no more shadows would be popping out to take them by surprise.

“Must be nice having a Persona you can ride in, Bedman.” Bridget said, sliding off the machine’s arm. “Ariadne can barely carry me!”

“Morpheus is remarkably comfortable on the inside, though I can admit it was frightening the first time I was dragged into him. For all I knew, he could have been trying to eat me.”

“I’ve got sandwiches!” Zappa chirped, hoisting up a makeshift lunchbox for everyone to see. “The boss lets me take the ready-made ones once they’re passed the sell-by date, but I promise they’re still good!”

“Ah, damn, that sounds perfect right now.” Sin went up to grab half of a turkey sandwich and begin munching on it.

After being revived, Potemkin found a place to sit near his much smaller leader. “I’m glad you were able to figure something out in the end. But next time, let’s be more careful. Treasure rooms are often more dangerous than one would expect.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” Replied Sin, between bites of sandwich. “How’s Kratos?”

“Perfectly fine, I just don’t summon him unless I need him.” Potemkin reached across the table to pull out an egg sandwich, which looked positively miniscule in his large hands. “I’m not sure why you leave yours out so much when we aren’t in battle.”

Sin tilted his head. “Huh? What do you mean? He isn’t out now.”

The man gave him an odd look back. “What do you mean? He’s up there.”

When he looked up to where Potemkin was pointing, Sin was surprised to see that he was right. Perseus hadn’t dissipated, instead he sat on Morpheus’s shoulder, apparently perfectly comfortable where he was. He’d never realized how large Morpheus was, especially odd considering the respective sizes of their owners, but there was plenty of space for his Persona to sit and relax on his teammate.

“Huh?” The girls seemed to notice his staring. “What’s Perseus doing…?”

“I dunno, El. I didn’t make him do that.” He shrugged back. “Why does it even matter?”

“Hmm…” Despite herself, Elphelt had to side-eye the rather affectionate way Perseus cuddled up on his teammate, wrapping an arm around one of his pipe-horns. Hey, weren’t Personas supposed to be a manifestation of their owners...? “Hey, Sin, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, what?”

“Do you...have a crush on anyone?”

Sin balked. “The heck? What does that have to do with anything? What made you ask?”

Behind him, Perseus’ gloved hand stroked Morpheus’ sleek metal head, before he went back to cuddling his horn.

Elphelt glanced away, resisting the urge to blush. “No reason. Just wondering.”

[tamakiamajikistentacles]

Change the Outcome {Denki Kaminari}

Quirks, Denki Kaminari had learned very early on, had limits.

Electrification was a useful and potentially powerful quirk to have, and he wouldn’t even consider trading it for any other, but he would be lying if he said that short circuiting from overuse was an easily dealt with drawback.

He hated when he overexerted himself to the point where he went into what his UA classmates later dubbed “Idiot Mode” but there were times it was necessary. As long as he didn’t do it too often or go too far over his limit, the professionals assured him that he wouldn’t suffer permanent damage.

The villain’s suit was a sleek silver and covered them from head to toe but didn’t seem to hinder their metal manipulation quirk. Black market support items for villains seemed to be becoming more and more sophisticated, which pissed off Katsuki Bakugo, pro hero Ground Zero, who’s explosions didn’t even phase the asshole in front of him.

“FUCK!” he shouted as he landed next to a panting Eijirou Kirishima, pro hero Red Riot.

“Neither of us have even put a dent in that armor,” Kirishima said through gritted teeth as he watched Pinky and Froppy attempt a combo move to take out the villain. It was like the armor itself couldn’t be pierced by any of their quirks, the corrosive properties of acid also unable to inflict damage.

Almost immediately, the girls gave the villain a wide berth and a second later, the silver suit was encompassed in electricity from Denki Kaminari, pro hero Chargebolt. But once again, not a scratch appeared.

"Your limit is ten million volts, but my suit won't even crack until fifteen million," the villain said smugly as the blonde retreated back towards his fellow pros. "Designed with you in mind, sweetheart."

Kaminari clenched his teeth as he brushed his sleeve across the sweat gathered on his brow, trying to figure out another way that they could crack the armor.

Pinky had quickly put together her Acid Man move to try and go toe-to-toe with the villain in the meantime while he regrouped with Kirishima and Bakugo, watching Froppy and his own girlfriend continue to escort nearby workers out of the line of fire.

"You gotta push it to fifteen million,” Bakugo ground out past his grimace. “If the armor cracks, we can charge and take them out while you go stupid."

"You can't expect him to break that far past his ability!" Kirishima protested with a shake of his head, gelled spikes moving stiffly.

"I always say ten million is my limit, but I can definitely do twelve for sure without causing myself any damage. I've never pushed it past thirteen, but I'll try it,” Kaminari said, determination evident in his voice.

"Man, you shouldn't-"

Kaminari grinned. "Plus ultra, right, bro? That's what heroes do."

"I don't like this, but I can't stop you. Don't mess yourself up, alright?" Kirishima pleaded. “Your girlfriend is fired up enough to kick all of our asses if something happens.”

Bakugo clicked his tongue against his teeth in agitation. “Step in with the girls and let them know our plan. I’m putting together some grenades to use as a distraction so you’ll be able to gear up with your disc and then fry the shithead.”

“Got it,” the blonde nodded, springing back into the melee.

Kirishima watched the fight intently, trying to understand the villain’s movements so that once the armor was cracked, he could strike hard and accurate.

Bakugo worked quickly to prepare the grenades, his eyes focused until he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, a flash of blue denim growing closer.

A kid?

"Yo Red, I thought you said you got the last of the civilians on our half?! The fuck is there a kid still here for?" Bakugo shouted, gesturing towards the lanky boy in a grey beanie running towards them. Kirishima’s brows furrowed. "I did! There weren’t any-" The boy skirted to a stop in front of them, gold eyes wide in fear under wisps of dark hair that had escaped the beanie. He was panting hard, but the heroes weren’t sure if it was from running, fear, or maybe both. Before either could ask if he was alright or begin to get him out of the building, the boy started speaking earnestly.

"Listen to me, you can't let Chargebolt go so far over twelve million. If you do, he's going to short circuit himself to the point that he completely fries half of his brain and limits his quirk drastically." "Who the fuck are you to be telling us what to do?" Bakugo bit out reflexively, the boy’s words not registering at first. "Please trust me. He can't... he can't go over that limit. He'll live but he's gonna suffer and his pro hero days are over. I know what happens if he does this!" the boy insisted, looking between the two heroes in front of him. "You can see the future?" Kirishima asked, thinking the boy had a foresight-esque quirk. "Not in the way you're thinking-"

His words trailed off as Kaminari came to land near them after assisting the girls in a few of their moves while also informing them of the plan they had formed. His discs did a lot to help his aim and keep others out of the currents he put out, but he never wanted to take an unnecessary risk. "Red, GZ, we gotta strike, the girls are wearing down,” he said quickly. Then, taking notice of the newcomer, asked, “Who's the kid?"

"Chargebolt..." the boy whispered, awestruck by the sight of him.

“You shouldn’t be here, kid,” he warned, glancing back at the fight. “We’ll give you autographs after we take care of this villain, yeah? But for now, you gotta take cover while we get back in there.”

The kid grabbed his wrist tightly, stopping him from going back into the fray. “No, you have to listen to me! Don’t go over twelve million! You can’t do it or you’re going to end your career as a pro tonight!”

“What the-“

The kid ripped the grey beanie off of his head, black spiky hair springing loose as well as one bright blonde section in the front that was kinked up like a lightning bolt. Glossy golden eyes stared at him in fear.

Both Kirishima and Bakugo’s eyes widened at the full view of the younger boy in front of them. Between the eyes and the hairstyle… if the golden section were farther back on the left…

“My name is Raiden Kaminari and I know it sounds absolutely insane but I’m your son. I came here from the future to make sure you don’t short circuit yourself beyond repair tonight. Auntie always says that no one should meddle with time, but I had to do this. Please, you have to believe me!”

Kaminari couldn’t move. He’d experienced his fair share of bizarre and terrifying scenarios since starting out to become a pro hero at the age of fifteen, but the current situation may have taken the cake for both most bizarre and most terrifying.

The boy—his son?—was looking borderline hysterical as a tear finally rolled down his cheek and his body shook violently.

“You’re telling the truth,” Kaminari murmured, his heart thundering in his chest, but his intuition screaming at him that this kid was his kid.

Raiden nodded furiously. “Yes, yeah, I-I am! I swear, this is all to help you! Twelve million is the limit and even trying to push thirteen so quickly… you can’t.”

“What’s your quirk, kid?” Bakugo interrupted, eyes narrowing behind his mask. He thought the entire situation was insane and too family oriented for his liking but if this kid was here, he was gonna be useful.

“E-electrification,” Raiden stuttered, intimidation causing him to shrink into himself. “Just the same as my d- as his. My limit before I short circuit is five and a half million but the effects only last for about fifteen minutes and aren’t as bad as… well, as you’re used to seeing. My quirk is regulated better because of my mom.”

Kirishima shook his head. “Man, we are not making a kid fight a villain-“

“But I’m training to become a pro hero!” he said quickly. “I’m in my second year at UA in class 2-A just like you were, and I know how to control my quirk better than most!”

“It all depends on your aim,” Kaminari cut in. “I’ve got my disc to help direct my current, but if you can’t aim then we’re gonna have a major problem.”

Raiden shook his head with a grin both Kirishima and Bakugo knew all too well. “My aim’s crap on its own, but that’s why I’ve got these bad boys.” The teen pulled out a pair of glasses similar to Kaminari’s, just a bit more upgraded, it seemed. “I should be able to lock onto your disc the same way and we can combine our currents to crack the armor.”

Kaminari considered the plan for a moment before adding, “Only go five million. We’ll hit with seventeen million between us and nobody will even come close to short circuiting, got it?”

Kirishima’s eyebrows rose slightly, the concerned tone in his friend’s voice sounding distinctly paternal.

“I can do that,” Raiden agreed, slipping the glasses on.

“Toss the hat back on, too,” Bakugo ordered. “We’re going to make our strike from over there where there’s more coverage. Kid, you’re staying out of sight and busting out your sparks from right behind this dumbass so it looks like its all coming from him. We don’t need to explain this future kid bullshit to anyone else. Once that armor is cracked, it’s all on me and Red.” He looked between the three in front of him and when he saw no objections, he turned to begin his trek towards cover. “Let’s move! Pinky, Frogger, and your baby mama have been in the thick of it long enough.”

Kirishima laughed at the sputtering attempt at a protest Kaminari tried to form and the bright red blush on Raiden’s cheeks at the mention of his mother.

The four regrouped behind the covered point near the corner of the warehouse where the battle was taking place, Raiden sticking close to Kaminari. Bakugo surveyed the situation from his vantage point for a long moment before a feral smirk overtook his features. He turned back to the three behind him, tossing a still-pinned grenade between his gloved hands.

“Show time, boys.”

He leapt out from behind their cover and unpinned three grenades in rapid succession, his aim as he threw them flawless. Flanked by Kirishima, he let the villain become more concerned with them on the other side of the warehouse so that their back was to the two electric users.

Kaminari turned to Raiden. “I’m climbing this cargo and launching the disc, so when you hear me call out my voltage, lock on and let loose. But remember, only five million, okay?”

Raiden nodded, and the older blonde quickly scaled the wooden cargo crates to stand tall and launch out the white disc to attach itself to the back of the villain’s armor.

“Twelve million volts!” Kaminari shouted out, his hands extended into finger guns to guide the electricity right towards its intended target. He could see additional currents going towards the disc, thankful that Raiden was able to lock onto the target even with the upgraded glasses.

The villain cried out as their suit was hit with the electricity and each of the pro heroes couldn’t help but smile as the seemingly impenetrable silver suit began to crack beneath golden sparks.

“All yours, Red, GZ!” Kaminari called as the flow of electricity died down, the other two pros jumping into the villain’s space to break him down further so an arrest could be made.

He climbed back down off of the cargo stack, jumping the last meter to land on his feet beside the younger boy still vibrating with excitement. Dusting his hands off on his pants, he smirked.

“You did great, kid.”

Raiden’s face split into a wide grin. “This is seriously the coolest thing I’ve ever done! I know I didn’t really, like, do much battle-wise but I just helped take down a villain! With you! Seeing you in action and-and-and being able to fight alongside you is… it’s insane!”

Kaminari smiled fondly at the boy in front of him, his chest feeling warm at seeing him so happy.

“I’m glad you came to help,” he said honestly when the boy’s excited rambling ended. “You said… earlier you said you came to prevent my hero career from ending. If I had gone for the fifteen million on my own, what would’ve happened?”

“Well, you would’ve short circuited,” Raiden began cautiously. “But going too far over your limit so fast caused permanent damage to the point where mom told me that you were in the hospital for a week with the effects of short circuiting. She always said that it was the worst week of her life because I guess before you would give like a thumbs up? Like, saying you were okay, she said, but that week, you barely moved. She stayed with you and you babbled and cried… she only talked about it a few times.”

Kaminari felt sick to his stomach imagining the effects going for that long. When it happened, he was stuck in his head and couldn’t really speak, only able to gesture and give vague noises to indicate that he was alright or if he needed something. For an hour, it could be funny for his friends and family and even he got a good laugh hearing about his own antics, but God, an entire week?

“After a week you were able to speak and get back to normal, kind of,” Raiden went on. “Mom told me she cried for the first time during the whole situation when the doctors came in to tell you that you’d overdone it so badly that you’d caused permanent damage to your brain and… and your quirk. The memory loss was hard on you because a lot of it was so scattered. You’d remember a specific English lesson from UA but have no idea where you went on your first date with mom-“

Their first date was at a shitty American diner he had frequented during his middle school days in Saitama Prefecture. His shirt had been green, and hers was purple.

“-and as far as your quirk, you can only do five hundred thousand volts as of my time. That forced you into early retirement from hero work. You still did okay, though, because you started teaching at UA; took over literature from Cementoss and I know firsthand that you’re tough when you grade papers.”

“Wow,” Kaminari breathed. “Were… were any of the other pros from tonight injured too?” He spared a glance behind the cargo to see the police beginning to step in to make an arrest and the girls begin to give their statements from being the first ones on the scene.

Raiden shook his head. “No. Uncle Kat and Uncle Ei took out the villain and mom and Aunt Mina went right to you to make sure you were okay. For a long time, though, Uncle Kat blamed himself because he told you to go to fifteen in the first place. You never blamed him, of course, but I think he still carries some guilt about it.”

‘Knowing Bakugo, he probably does,’ Kaminari thought.

“I’m just happy I was able to change how tonight went down,” Raiden admitted, allowing them both a comfortable silence after he spoke.

“You mentioned your aunt earlier,” Kaminari remarked, surveying the remains of the warehouse. “If she says you shouldn’t meddle with time, I guess that means time travel or something like it is her quirk, right? But she wouldn’t help you come, so who did you get to bring you here?”

Raiden chuckled. “Auntie passed on a version of her quirk to her daughter. She and I are close just like you and her dad are. It’s cool I got to meet young him tonight too. Kinda weird to see him without the undercut and earrings, though.”

Kaminari nearly broke his neck turning to look at him. “Kirishima or Bakugo?! Dude, I gotta know!”

“You’ll find out,” Raiden laughed.

“Man, either Bakubro or Kiri land a lady with a time quirk, who’d have thought,” he mused, shaking his head when he realized how wild the future would be. “So, is your, uh, cousin around here somewhere too? Or did she, like, throw you into a portal or something?”

“Not exactly. Her quirk is called Savepoint, and basically it allows her to transport someone to the same location they were in on a certain date, but the dates can get confusing because the savepoints aren’t intuitive to her, so she has to pick a date and she’ll get to the closest savepoint from there.”

“Honestly, my brain hurts just trying to understand that,” Kaminari admitted. “Do you go back to the savepoint to go back to your timeline too?”

“Yeah, when I touch that wall over there, I’m outta here.” He hesitated for a moment before adding in a murmur, “I’m actually a little scared to go back.”

Kaminari cocked his head as they began to walk towards the wall. “Why? You saved me, I’m not gonna be your lit teacher anymore.”

“It was never about you being my lit teacher. You had to give up your dream of being a pro hero after less than two years on the job, and mom couldn’t make herself continue working as a hero when you couldn’t. I just wanted to stop the pain and the guilt you both felt. Neither of you deserved what happened to your careers and everything that came after: the nightmares you still have, the eviction notices that mom hid from you… you didn’t deserve any of it. I love both you and mom for everything you’ve done for our family and make no mistake that we’ve turned out alright back in my time, but you both deserve the happiness of living your dreams just like I’m starting to.”

Kaminari laid a hand on his shoulder, hesitating for only a moment before bringing the boy into his arms and squeezing tightly. “I don’t know how I landed an awesome as fuck son but ohmygod is future me lucky as shit.”

Raiden laughed breathily against his shoulder. “Mom is gonna be pissed you cursed around me.”

“She’ll be pissed you cursed too,” Kaminari chuckled as they released one another. “Keep the secret?”

“You bet,” Raiden nodded, beginning to walk towards the wall he had indicated earlier. He turned back one last time. “I’m happy I got to see you in action, doing what you loved. I hope when I get back that I see more of the same… dad.”

Kaminari smiled, then as the boy turned back to the wall and extended a hand, a thought occurred to him and he shouted out, “WAIT!”

Raiden jumped, startled, and turned back in confusion.

“You said that her quirk takes you back to a location you were previously in. So, you had to have been here already!”

With a mischievous grin Kaminari was sure his own mother had already seen countless times, Raiden called back, “You’ll meet me later this year!” and slammed his hand against the wall. With a quick flash of light, he was gone.

As tired as he was, and as warm as his girlfriend was against him, Kaminari couldn’t sleep. His mind was too preoccupied trying to process everything from the last six hours.

“You’ll meet me later this year!”

That stuck out to him the most. He would have a kid within the calendar year? Possible, sure, it was only mid-January, but he wasn’t married or even engaged. He loved his girlfriend more than anything, but they’d only gotten together about two years prior. Realistically he knew that part didn’t really mean anything, but he had always cared a little too much about what others would think of his circumstances. But also, where was...?

His eyes widened and if he wasn’t frozen in horror, he would have lifted the covers to look at his pajama-clad lap.

“Stop shifting so much,” he heard his girlfriend grumble beside him, elbowing him in the ribs without force.

“Sorry,” he chuckled sheepishly, tightening his hold around her waist.

“Y’should be. You’re not the one who got sent flying into a wall on the first strike.”

Kaminari hummed. “Yeah… I got pretty lucky damage-wise.”

“Well my back’s killing me,” she pouted. “More than it already has been lately, at least, so it’d be appreciated if you could stay still. Or if you’re really desperate to move, gimme a massage.”

“Oh, I’m always happy to give a massage, babe,” he said with a grin, straddling the backs of her thighs when she completely rolled over onto her stomach.

“I’m too tired for that tonight, Denki, just get those hands moving.”

“Yes ma’am!”

He began kneading her shoulders, his intent to gradually make his way further down her back as he usually did. Before he could really start, she turned to look back at him.

“Can you do more on my lower back? That’s what’s been giving me trouble the past week or so. Getting slammed back into that wall earlier tonight definitely didn’t help. Feels like really shitty cramps at this point almost.”

Kaminari froze, his hands stilling to rest on the small of her back.

Wall. Back pain. Cramps?

He never hit the wall that served as the savepoint. He hadn’t even come close to touching it. When Raiden had used it to return to his own time, he had been only a meter or two away, but that was the closest he had been.

“You good, babe?” she asked when he hadn’t moved for a moment.

He took in a breath, shakily exhaling it before he spoke. “Speaking of cramps… when- when exactly is your period supposed to start next?”

“Dunno. Have to check my app,” she replied, shuffling over to her right and reaching out to grab her phone from the night table. Tapping quickly, she toggled between screens until she was on the proper app and studied it.

He considered passing out for a brief moment because of the anticipation. For once, something other than electricity was causing his veins to buzz beneath his skin.

She turned back to him once more, her voice soft as she asked, “Will you short circuit if I tell you that I’m nine days late?”

Kaminari surprised himself when he realized that no, he wasn’t going to short circuit. He wasn’t going to puke or faint or run, either.

He grinned, bending forward to wrap his arms around her waist as his forearms supported his weight over her. His chin hooked over her shoulder and his cheek pressed warmly against her own.

“Nah, I’m gonna tell you that I’m so fuckin’ in love with you, and that Raiden is a badass name for a kid.”

[aire101]

Ferrum Chapter 5

LINK TO FIC MASTER POST

A/N:  Well, I'm definitely not winning Nanowrimo again this year, but I did get a chapter out earlier than previously, and hopefully I'll be updating again soon. Also, this chapter I attempted to briefly show different perspectives on the game being cleared, and both were based on what my own feelings would have been at two different points in my life, so don't come at me about it please. Take care of yourselves, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

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The Town of Beginnings had changed remarkably from three weeks ago.  Sure, the buildings and streets were all the same, but the mood and tension in the air hung like a thick blanket over nearly every person within the walls.  In sharp contrast, the NPC’s on the street continued to merrily hawk their wares and interact with those in the street, most of whom seemed to be ‘out of towners’ like themselves.  From windows above, you could occasionally see a face peering down before a drape would be pulled closed again.

All in all, it was distinctly unsettling, but exactly what Tony had expected.

“I knew some would hole up in the starter town, but this is a bit more intense than I imagined,” said Peter, as they made their way towards an inn.

“Kid, almost two thousands people have died since this game began—two out of every ten people who started.  In all honestly, I’m surprised how many of us have hit the ground running,” said Tony.

“I know, but turning into a complete shut-in seems a bit extreme.  Its not like anything is going to attack you within the city’s Safe Zone…”

“You say that, but that assumption is born from an inherent trust of the system.  A system that has already been previously hijacked and altered to trap us all here on the whim of a asshole with a god complex.  Considering that, who do you really think is crazy?  The ones who can’t bring themselves to trust the system to protect them, or the ones who do?” asked Tony.

“I guess when you put it that way, I see your point.  But still, we’re probably going to be here for a while.  Are they just planning on staying in one room for the next however many years?”

“I imagine some of them will eventually venture out and find their own niche in the world, even if it isn’t battling the local mobs.  Some will start fishing, or hunting, mining, cooking… the skill list for the game is extensive.  Some entrepreneurs will probably start opening player run businesses and establishments.  But I doubt we’ll see much of that until the Level One Floor Boss is found and cleared.  These people are stuck in the dark without a light, believing the system is rigged against them.  They need to see proof of what’s possible, a light to guide them forward, before we’ll see any real progress here.  And even then, there will still be some who never go further than the walls of this city,” said Tony.  “The amount of specialized therapy everyone in this game will need afterward is going to make some psychologists rich.”

Ahead of them, Tony saw a sign for an inn and turned to Peter.

“You can go ahead and get us set up for the night.  I’m going to go and find a tool shop and a smithy, see if I can add a durability upgrade.  Do you need anything while I’m out?” asked Tony.

“Um… Maybe some more potions.  I used the last one back in the West forest.  Though god those things taste like dirty socks,” said Peter, checking his inventory.

“You know, if you stopped doing dumb crap like jumping between me and attacks you wouldn’t have this problem,” said Tony, with a dry tone and a distinctly unsympathetic expression.

“What’s the point of having each other’s back if I don’t guard it?” said Peter, completely unrepentant.

Tony threw up his hands as he turned and walked away, calling over his shoulder, “Potions it is!”

He didn’t have to look back, he could feel the boy’s eyes roll into his head.

As Tony worked his way towards the central market, he took in the graystone streets and buildings with ornate windows and battlements.  Every so often he would come across small barren plazas with lovely fountains and flora, nearly empty cafes and brightly colored vendor stalls. Even an occasional vista located just perfectly to allow someone a majestic view of the city and the surrounding area. Tony sighed, thinking of what could have been for this city that many had spent years of their lives developing.

The Town of Beginnings would have been a beautiful city without the miasma of despair that clung to its inhabitants.

It got him to wondering exactly what had come of his AIs, the ones Argus had requested.  He had almost had one completely coded at the time of their last meeting.  She had been a sweet one.  But since he had woken in the game, he had seen no sign of her.  Did they end up including her in the Cardinal System at all?

Maybe he should start poking around the GM user panel in earnest, see what he could find out.  So far, he had mostly kept away from delving into it, afraid of catching Kayaba’s attention.  But if there was something he could do to help, he would damn well try.  

Up ahead he saw a sign advertising a blacksmith and item vendor.  Eventually he wanted to try and open a smithy himself.  Peter seemed set on throwing himself into harms way (per usual), and if he was going to do that, Tony wanted to make sure he had the best equipment available to do so.  So Tony started learning how to do what he did best— make weapons and armor.

But to do that required a blacksmith’s forge and anvil.  And to get that required a hefty amount of Cor.  So for now, he rented an NPC blacksmith’s resources every now and then in order to improve and repair their equipment.

A bell jingled as he opened the door, undoubtedly triggering the customary NPC interaction.

“Welcome to Varden’s Smith and Sundry!  How may I help you today?” called the man behind the counter.

“I would like to buy potions,” said Tony.

“What quantities would you like?”

“Ten.”

“That will be 1,500 Cor.”

“Ugh…” Tony broke the script to groan.  He didn’t begrudge the purchase, far from it.  But seriously, the kid needed to stop getting hit in the first place.  His heart really couldn’t take this, and neither could their pocket book.

Who would have guessed he’d finally learn the concept of budgeting in his fifties?  And boy did it suck.

Tony opened up his inventory, removing the required amount to place on the counter.  As soon as it hit the counter, the bag of Cor flashed and disappeared.

“Thank you for your purchase!  Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes, I’d like to rent your forge,” said Tony.

“Ah, yes!  Come!  Follow me this way…”

—

As Peter entered the inn, he glanced around the first floor tavern where various parties sat around rough hewn tables over pub fare and pints.  At the bar, several others sat, conversing casually, though a little less intimately than those at the lower tables.  Making a decision, he approached the bar.

“What can I getcha?” asked the barman as Peter sat.

“Whatever today’s special is and a pint,” said Peter, setting the typical meal cost in Cor down on the counter.

The barman nodded, accepting the payment and placing a full pint down in front of Peter before turning to finish the task.

As he waited, Peter took sips of his drink and listened in on the conversations around him.

“Word is they’ve finally found the entrance to the dungeon, as well as a new town relatively close to it called Tolbana.  Hopefully within the next week or two they’ll find the boss and the first floor will be cleared,” said a woman to his left.

The girl sitting on the other side of her shook her head.  “But how many more will die clearing it out?  There’s already almost 2,000 names crossed out in the Monument of Life in the Black Palace.”

“What else are we supposed to do?  We either die trying to get out or die of old age stuck in a virtual world.”

“Would that really be the worst thing, though?  In the real world I’m in constant pain from my condition, some days I can’t even make it out of bed for more than the absolute necessities.  Here I can live without that.”

The woman next to him sighed, “I’m sorry for that, and I understand why you would consider the option of living within the system.  But some of us can’t.  When I dove, I told my husband it would only be for a couple of hours, then we could take our five year old son to the park.  They’re waiting on me to return.  I want to be able to see my child grow up.  So its a risk I have to take.”

The other girl nodded, “I get it.”

It was at that point the barman set a plate of what looked and smelled like chicken and roasted squash in front of him.  Peter thanked the man and began to eat.

“God that looks good…” said the girl a couple seats down.  “I haven’t eaten a proper meal in a couple days.  The black bread is cheaper, though its dry and doesn’t last very long.”

“You really should try and go hunting.  You’ll never make enough Cor or skill points to survive comfortably unless you do.  Even if its just around this area,” said the other woman.  “Going hungry for the next few years would be pretty miserable.”

“Sorry if I’m intruding,” said Peter, “but I’ve been curious about something— how often and how quickly do you get hungry in here?”

“Well, I haven’t really left the city, so I don’t make much Cor to buy food with,” said the girl.  “So I kind of just stay hungry throughout most of the day.”

“When I’m leveling I tend to press through instead of stopping to eat,” said the woman, “But when I am eating regularly, I’d say I start feeling hunger similar to how I would in the real world, about every four to six hours.  But I’m not sure if its tied to our real world feelings of hunger or a virtual schedule.”

“Might be a little of both… I tend to get hungry a lot in RL, but in here its spaced out a bit more,” said Peter, taking a bite of chicken.  

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the girl still looking wistfully at his food.  

“Sir, I’d like to order a second plate, but give it to her,” said Peter, nodding in her direction.

As the barman nodded and walked off, the girl started waving her hands.

“No, you shouldn’t do that.  Save your Cor—”

“It’s alright, I promise.  I’m in here with—”

Shit.  What should he call Tony?

“…Imagine being stuck in here with your dad.”

“Er— my sort of Dad, and we’ve been doing pretty good with the mobs.  So I can afford it.”

She looked for a moment like she was thinking of arguing still, until the plate was set in front of her.  She eyed the food before her eyes teared up a bit, and she nodded.

“Thank you.  I really appreciate your kindness.”

“It’s not a problem.  I’d do the same in the real world.  And what I would do there is what I should do in here,” said Peter.

“Those are wise words,” said the woman.  “And you are uncommonly kind.  I hope you are able to keep that, but don’t expect everyone in here to share your mindset.”

“I won’t, but just because others choose to not do the right thing doesn’t mean I have to.  We all have the power and responsibility to choose to do good,” said Peter, and he felt the intangible feeling within him that he had been wrestling with since the beginning calm.

It wasn’t that the responsibility was no longer his without his powers, it was that the power and responsibility was everyone’s.  

Perhaps it always had been.

And just like in the real world, there were those who used their power for good, those who used power for evil, and those that never used their power at all.  Most thinking they had none, just like the girl a couple seats down.

But if they worked together…

Peter felt his resolve form.

He was going to the front line.

—

As Tony stepped back out onto the street, he considered his options.

Obviously he needed to head back to the inn.  Afterward they could probably head out and take a look around town, seeing as they hadn’t really done so on day one.

But the memory of a café he had passed was singing its song…

He really missed coffee.

Surely they had some digital variation in this game.  If not he was lodging a complaint.

The café was just as vacant as when he passed earlier.  There were a couple people sitting at a table outside, but was otherwise empty of players.

The customary tinkle of the door as he entered prompted the NPC barista to smile and wave.  On the wall behind the counter was a blackboard with various items written— sandwiches and what Tony suspected were types of teas, and in a bottom corner there was a selection of drinks called ‘Kaf.’

“Bingo!  I’ll have a black kaf,” Tony looked at the pastries on display off to the side, spying a familiar donut shape with pink frosting, “And one of whatever you call this.”

A minute later he was sitting at a table out front, facing away from the two other patrons with his visor moved, taking a drink of the weirdest tasting ‘coffee’ he had ever tasted.  If he had to describe it he would say it was more like a tea, with floral and berry notes and a touch of honey, but with a darker color and consistency of a french press coffee.  It wasn’t bad, it just was not what he had been expecting.

Oh well, the donut was a perfect reproduction of a strawberry frosted Dunkin Donut.

“Man, if I make it out of this alive my wife is going to kill me.  She’s been super anxious since the Blip— not that I blame her, you know— and this whole thing was definitely not something she was very confident in to begin with,” said one of the men sitting at the nearby table.

“Damn… you were one of the ones caught up in that?  I lucked out I guess… I’m not really close to anyone and the ones I am were spared,” replied the other.

“Yeah, I know the Avengers ended up saving everyone in the end and I’m thankful for that obviously, but everything is still such a damn dumpster fire.”

That caught Tony’s attention.

The Blip?  Bit of an odd name for an Avenger’s battle.  How were the Avengers even a thing?  Last time he checked Rogers and his merry men and women were still considered war criminals at large.  The ‘Avengers’ consisted of himself, Vision and Rhodey.

“No joke.  Almost every economy is still tanked at the moment.  And I’m pretty sure half of upper New York State is a crater.  Glad that fight was over there and not in my part of the world.”

The bottom of Tony’s stomach dropped out at those words.  

“There was a battle… you won, but you took a lot of damage.  You’ve been in a coma ever since.”

Peter had never said anything else about the battle, and Tony hadn’t pressed.  But if a giant chunk of the state had been completely destroyed because of the battle surely he would have mentioned that?

Wouldn’t he?

Obviously a lot more happened in that battle than Peter had led him to believe.  Tony eventually being taken out of commission in a fight was one thing, but from the sound of things this was on par with the Battle of Sokovia.

So why hadn’t Peter mentioned it?

“It was good to catch up, we’ll have to do this again when I’m back this direction.  Or maybe on another floor if the rumors of the first floor dungeon door being found are true,” said the first man, standing up.

“Sounds good to me, though I’ll probably be pretty busy soon.  Some of us around here have started organizing to try and provide resources for the people here in town.  Some of them are players who don’t want to chance dying in the game, but there’s also some kids who are way younger than what the minimum play age was supposed to be.  A few volunteers have taken up residence with them in a church in town and we’ve been supplying them with food…” said the other man, as they both walked away.

Damn… that wasn’t something he had thought about, but of course there would be kids who either snuck in on a parent’s account or who were allowed to lie about their age to play the game.  Jokes about eight year olds talking crap on Call of Duty were a dime a dozen and everyone laughed about it, but here…

Maybe he should look into that, see what help he could offer.  Though unlike in the real world, simply throwing his money at the problem couldn’t fix it.  Mostly because he didn’t have any money.  Ugh…

Speaking of kids though, he’d need to decide what to say once he got back to his kid at the inn.  

Tony took a few deep breaths, trying to loosen up the hold his anxiety had started to take.  

Obviously whatever had happened had been huge— Avengers assembled (with or without Rogers and co?), massive property damage, Iron Man out of commission, every country feeling the economic backlash.  But unlike what had happened with Sokovia, despite the damages it seemed like the general public opinion after the fact was positive…?  

That was unusual.

Most importantly at this point, whatever had happened had affected people across the globe, but especially one young man from Queens.

Had he been at the battle?  Tony had initially offered the kid a spot after the whole vulture debacle, but after he had actually slept on it a few hours (the first time he’d slept properly in a few days) he had come to the realization that Peter turning the position down had saved them from what had been an awful idea in the first place.  And that was BEFORE May Parker had shown up at the complex in an unholy righteous fury.

So Tony could not imagine having called Peter into a fight, and if it had taken place at the compound like he suspected, Peter shouldn’t have been anywhere near there.

He wanted to go back to the inn and wrangle the details out of Peter.  Who was the fight against?  What was it about?  Was Rogers there?  If so, how was Rogers involved?  Why was public opinion seemingly in their favor for once?  Had anyone other than him been hurt?

Oh god… What if something had happened to Pepper…

No.  Peter would have told him that.  He wouldn’t lie to him about Pepper, and he had told him weeks ago that she was fine.  She was safe.

Tony dropped his head into his hand.

He wanted to ask all those questions, needed those answers…

But even if he got his answers, what could he do about any of it?

And was it worth potentially driving Peter away from him?  His kid.  The only person he knew and could dare to trust with the truth of his identity in this world?

No.  No it wasn’t.

He would just have to see what he could find out from others.  And hopefully Peter would eventually come around and open up about what had happened.  He trusted the kid with his life, he would trust him in this, too.

The walk back to the inn seemed much quicker than the one to smithy due to Tony’s preoccupied mind and nerves.  He was still unsure what to say when he got to the room.  He needn’t have worried though, because Peter fixed that problem.

“I want to start fighting on the front line.  I’m heading to the dungeon tomorrow.”

“Wait— excuse me, what?”

[pineaberry]

Fictober 2019: #17

Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Inspired by all the Quinn love on my dash, here it is:

The Transponder Station Pt. 4: THE THRILLING CONCLUSION

Pt. 1 Found Here: [X]

Pt. 2 Found Here: [X]

Pt. 3 Found Here: [X]

________________________

With some difficulty Malavai managed to focus on the present. The vibroblade handle had skittered across the floor meaning the blade was still inside her. Her belt had tightened around the wound keeping it closed, she must have loosened it. His mind scanned the crew. He would need help, who could he trust to remain calm regardless of whatever dark turn this took?

Broonmark was out of the question. The creature was all fur with claws were too clumsy for something so precise, plus he wouldn’t put it past the savage to try and eat his fallen leader or something equally primitive. Pierce had seen blood before, he might be the least squeamish. Though the bruiser about as dexterous and intelligent as the Talz, he would no doubt recognize the blade and put two and two together. No, that was a confrontation he didn’t want to have while Tremas bled out on the table. Jaesa could help, if she could avoid distress long enough to not to trigger her powers. He wasn’t sure he wanted that kind of observation or that it wouldn’t cause her to do something rash.

Selfish, a voice echoed in his thoughts. She’s dying and all you can think of is keeping up the charade.

Shame filled him but still, coward that he was, he hid behind the fact that he had to save Lord Tremas. If nothing more, he needed to undo the damage he had caused. He turned to the crew exuding the very image of military detachment.

“Everyone out! Vette, you’re with me. Remove her armor while I prep a kolto drip,” he ordered. The Twi’lek was the only one who would allow him to keep breathing should she decipher the truth. Worst case scenario, she was the one easiest to subdue should things go south in the medical bay.

He worked quickly using his medical scanner to find the internal damage. The blade was deeply wedged, but it had thankfully missed her vital organs. He clenched his jaw as the kolto drip mitigated some of the blood loss. The blade would have to be extracted, thankfully the oscillation module on the blade’s handle had been severed quickly by her lightsaber rendering the vibroknife a relatively less deadly knife. He had Vette clean the burn-mark on her face with a kolto infused bandage before going through the painstaking process of removing the blade. Blood streaked metal soon emerged from the tear on her side. 

Unbidden memories of rainy days at Dromund Kaas filtered past his emotional shield as he saw the blade emerge from Tremas’ form. He’d been on his way to procure supplies, a simple enough venture back when there had been only three passengers on board, when out of the blue she had declared that they were all of them going shopping. No doubt their exploits on Nar Shadaa had provided a windfall of credits for her. His Lord had given what had been, in his opinion, an obscene stipend to her Twi’lek slave. He remembered noting how generous she was with her money in contrast to other Siths who had a tendency to hoard their riches. He had attempted to remain calm and professional throughout the trip though he did crack a smile when she saw Tremas’ eye the purple kyber crystals excitedly. His own military stipend allowed for little more than the purchase of an extra uniform, and perhaps an upgrade module for his blaster. His recent promotion and its boost in salary had been stalled going on two cycles, no doubt held up by someone with an ax to grind. And so he had whiled the hours away following his two shipmates and carrying their purchases.

Tremas had insisted on taking them to an expensive bistro high atop a skyscraper overlooking the Imperial Citadel. He'd learned of her taste for green fire sauce, and she of his fondness for Trammistan chocolates and Kopi tea. It was the first time he had felt completely free of the ever present stress after Drukenwell. 

At the end of the day, after setting a course for Tattooine, he'd found a black glossy storage case in his quarters. Upon closer inspection he came to see“M. Quinn” was etched on the side in silver script. After inspecting it for explosives or similarly unwelcome surprises, he opened it to find several sets of clothes and a pair of heavy boots. They were not the standard military issue, but luxury items reinforced with armor, weapon, and even cooling modules. Not only that but there was also a new high end blaster, field medical kit, even a new datapad and to top it all off, the vibroknife he had been eyeing longingly while she’d been bartering for purple crystals. 

She smiled when he mentioned it, of course, as though it were all just a game. He hadn’t wished to be a burden, and he had every intention of supporting himself.

“I’ll not have my Captain traversing the galaxy in rags and tatters.”

It made sense of course, to give him the best tools for the job. He would have believed it was only that, save for the knife. He had no use for it on the field.

“The vibroknife is unnecessary, my Lord. I will not require it to serve you.”

“But you wanted it, Quinn. That’s reason enough. It’s called a gift, welcome aboard.”

He wanted it. That was the only motivation. He wanted it, so she provided it with no strings attached, no ulterior motive. It was such a pure, simple thing, and yet it struck a chord deep inside him that his throat constricted. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had spared a thought about what he wanted.

“I am… overwhelmed, my Lord...”

The memory was cut short as he heard someone sniffling. Vette had begun to cry. Her blue fingertips smoothed dark locks back from ghostly white skin. The stench of blood and kolto was everywhere.

“Please hang on…” she sniffled and it took all of Quinn’s willpower not to break down and cling to Tremas' form like a frightened child. It was his doing. This was what he had strived for since he’d left Balmorra. Yet all he wanted to do was die of shame and guilt.

He sprayed a layer of kolto to seal the wound on her side stemming the blood flow and starting the healing process, before preparing the tank. His hands shook as he prepared her for immersion. He’d done this to her. Every fragile breath, every weakened heartbeat was evidence of his betrayal.

My Lord... my love. Please don’t die.

Idiot. He was an idiot. She could have killed him any number of ways, quick and efficient. Instead she had vented her rage on the droids, allowing him to wear her down to this state. Even then she hadn’t attacked. She could have executed him at once and she didn’t attack.

Even lunging at her should have been easy to block but she… she allowed him near. She had allowed him to wound her to the point of death. Meanwhile, here the traitor stood with only a few minor scrapes and bruises to show for the exchange. He’d mutilated her and in turn, she’d given him his life back. 

Nausea turned his stomach as he felt the slickness of her blood on his hands. Her skin was ice cold and wrong. She who always held his hands and thawed them now lay on a medical bed drained of warmth. Vette was trying to hold back tears as she stood by the Kolto tank.

“What happened out there?” she asked quietly, looking at the Sith Lord floating inside.

He felt a lump in his throat and the prepared words didn’t come. Instead he turned away and attempted to wash his hands wishing his sins could be so easily erased. Vette looked down and saw the ornate blade coated in her friend’s blood. She may have been a lot of things, but she wasn’t stupid. Her gaze fell on the man currently looking as though he were about to retch. Her blood stained his uniform, a fitting image for the things he had done.

“Baras… Baras happened,” the words were like acid on his tongue. Not entirely a lie, no. But his part in the entire sordid affair made the next few words feel like hot coals against his heart, “my Lord was caught by surprise.”

 "You're her tactician! You led her into a trap  and then you just left her? She was bleeding out when she came in! You are supposed to be her support! What kind of field medic just leaves?!"

"My lord ordered me back to the ship before I could analyze her wounds," he said and his words were tainted with the realization that she had probably thought he would take advantage of her wounded state. His heart felt as though it were being crushed under the weight of his guilt. "Even after my failure... my Lord protected me from Baras. This is my fault..."

Until her last breath. Her last words had been spent clearing him of any fault, securing his position with her crew. He was unworthy of her. Whether it was his defeated posture, or the obvious remorse in his voice, his reply was enough to quell any more questions from Vette.

“Yeah, that sounds like her,” she said with a sad little smile, “you know, when I first met her, I thought she looked exactly like what a Sith is supposed to look like. Tall, proud, like she’d never had anyone tell her what to do. I resented her, I hated her... even when she went out of her way to be kind. 

"Then his Tubbiness sent us into a creepy tomb to recover a relic or something. I’d tried to go there myself before and it had been nearly impossible, but with her… it was like taking a stroll on the beach. She kept talking to me even joking but I kept treating her like she was just another weird Sith. After she got the thingie, I hoped to give her the slip. I lagged behind, but got jumped by a pair of crazy Sithlings before I could get very far. I was done for, I knew it. But then she was suddenly there in front of me. Tremas took a lightning blast to the chest to protect me. Shook the pair off like it was nothing, and told me to not to wander off because it was too dangerous. 

“She acted like it had been normal, but I saw the damage at the next medical station. I saw what it’d done to her. She'd taken that blast, and didn't even punish me. When I asked her why she’d saved me said: ‘Because you were afraid.’ Can you imagine it? A Sith stepping in front of a blast of lightning just because some slave girl is scared. I told her she was crazy but after that, I don't think I ever felt safer than when she's around. There’s just something about her. She puts herself in danger constantly for us, I think, we take it for granted sometimes. Everyone sees an undefeated Sith Lord, the Emperor's Wrath, I think... sometimes... we see her like that too and we forget she's a person.”

“I would be a fool to forget,” he said barely above a whisper. He monitored her vitals and avoided Vette's eyes. Hopefully, she would interpret his guilt as a result of his inability to support her properly. “There is little else we can do. You should go inform the others.”

“What about you?” Vette asked obviously trying to determined if he was injured.

“I'm fine, I'll stay here and monitor her progress.”

 Vette eyed him for a moment before reluctantly leaving Malavai with his thoughts. The crew was waiting just beyond the door, and far too late did she realize her clothes were stained with blood. They bombarded her with questions most of which she wasn't sure herself.

For all of its miraculous properties the kolto was working far too slowly for his tastes. She couldn't die, not now... not after having spared him... not after everything they'd done together... not by his hand... His fingers were curled into tight fists to keep himself from shaking.

How little you must think of me. Exactly how stupid did you think I was?

She had known all along and still accepted him. She had known and still had hoped that he would ultimately make the right choice. He had failed her.

It all became too much and he ran to retch in the refresher.

________________________

Read More About Tremas HERE!

Original Fictober Promp List HERE!

[yamayuandadu]

Shanghai dealing with a crush on Mayumi, who's visiting Gensokyo

The drabble is under the read more. Look forward to the ao3 upload after I’m done with the rest of the requests.

Shanghaistealthily observed the room where business was usually conducted inthe Margatroid household from her comfortable hideout at one of thebookshelves. While in theory a simple construct such as an animateddoll shouldn’t have much free will to go around, spending a lot oftime around magicians meant basking in their individualism andgradually absorbing it – and her exposure to them was counted incenturies by now, thanks to her creator’s refusal to part with anymagical items. Of course, her parts had to be swapped, upgraded orrepaired many times since, leaving very little of the doll a teenageAlice Margatroid, the Seven-Colored Puppeteer made when she firststarted investigating her eventual path of career, but as long as shesaw the doll as one and the same, her consciousness would remain thatof Shanghai. “Myname is Mayumi Joutougu. I have been told by the magician MarisaKirisame that you are the finest artisan of this realm,” a visitorclad in antiquated armor explained to Alice as another of the dollspoured them tea. “My master, lady Keiki Haniyasushin, sculptor godof the Garden of Humanity, wishes to obtain samples of local craftsfor her collection and for research purposes, as recent events madeher curious about Gensokyo and its inhabitants. Naturally she’swilling to pay any price you’ll name, or provide other artifacts ofcomparable value in exchange.”That exposition was par forthe course. The magician who brought her to life was unquestionablythe best at more than one craft in Gensokyo and beyond and as elusiveas she was most of the time, her fame spread far and wide, creatingrather high demand for her wares. “Do you have anythingmade by her you can show me? I’d like to evaluate her skill beforenaming my price and preferred payment method,” the dollmakerreplied cautiously. “My body”, Mayumi statedunceremoniously. “I am a haniwa made by lady Keiki.”IfShanghai could talk, she would’ve been screaming. However, as all ofthe dolls were mute, all she could do was stare bug-eyed (bothfiguratively and literally. Her current pair of beady black eyes wasbased on the composite eyes of a housefly fairy, reverse engineeredthrough painstaking magical effort by Alice) at the phenomenon whichmanifested so unexpectedly in her life. Usually the visitorsleft no impression on her. The most frequent ones were her maker’sfellow magicians, the group closest to being acceptable, even thoughtheir pursuits were much less noble than Alice’s own. Completelymundane human craftsmen from the village came fairly often, too,usually in order to ask for advice or commission specific elementsthey couldn’t develop themselves. Occasionally one tengu or anotherwould show up, when  an outfit too unorthodox for their residenttailors was needed,  but youkai pride made it impossible to deal withnormal humans like, say, a rokurukubi would. Simply put, they wereall people a high class doll like herself had no interest in. Peopledriven by vulgar organic hydraulics or their faith-based imitations.Something that required no real effort to craft – they could easilyproduce copies of themselves without much thought, as if they wantedto mock the work of honest craftsmen. This one was different. Whileeasy to mistake for a human from a distance, she too was the productof some form of sorcery. This filled Shanghai with a feeling shenever experienced before.“A haniwa? That’s not an optionparticularly many of us in this field go for nowadays, but… I haveto admit you’re one of the most finely crafted examples I ever hadthe pleasure to witness.. Very lifelike, yet distinctly rooted withinan esteemed artistic tradition. Lady Keiki must be tremendouslyskilled.”“She is”, agreed Mayumi. “As I understand wewill reach an agreement easily now?”Shanghai didn’t listenanymore. All she wanted to do was to observe the unusual client. Thisfeeling didn’t go away even after the haniwa left their house,burdened by more magical crafts than some fabled treasuries were saidto contain. In fact, it seemed to only become stronger. Her doll mindhad a lot of trouble with figuring out why did she want to be carriedaround by someone who didn’t craft her.After a few days, shefinally managed to figure out the cause. Mayumi’s limbs moved withouteffort despite lacking any visible joints. Shanghai couldn’t help but admirethat, which was obviously why she kept seeing herself in these armswhenever she reminisced about the recent visit. To think such marvelswouldn’t come out of her mistress’ workshop first! Clearly all thatshe had to do to make the strange feeling disappear was to wait untilAlice will inevitably manage to design her own version of thismarvelous solution.

[derpywritestuff]

A Scavenger Hunt.

@oddly-tiny-scissors Hello, I am your secret giftee for the Valentine event! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I had fun writing it. Thank you for giving such a fun prompt and I hope your Valentine’s day goes wonderfully! Yoosung yawned as he got out of bed, going over to his computer. It was his free day from school, and he was ready to use it for another day of LOLOL action. As he logged on, he saw he had a message from the number one ranking user of the Shooting Star Server. There was a time when the name Hacker God filled Yoosung with rage, as he seemed to always be cheating to keep the number one spot out of Superman Yoosung’s hands, but now, he could not keep the smile off his face when he read that same name. Quickly Yoosung started reading the pm he had got from the other user carefully, it seemed Hacker God had a scavenger hunt planned out for Yoosung and he was more than happy to play along.

“It is I, Hacker God! I have used my talents to find out that my 606 has a free day today, and this is something that I cannot pass up! There is a new legendary item that has just been added to this wonderful game, but alas it has broken into several parts! The only one who can save this item being lost forever is the one and only Superman Yoosung! Are you up to the task? If you accept this quest, head to the area that we all first see when we are born into this word -Hacker God Meow-ut!”

Yoosung Thought for a second as he read Seven’s first clue. His first thought being the main hub where characters spawn into the game, but after a second he realized that was not really the first place you see in the game. Opening up the options tab, Yoosung clicked a button he never thought he would click...the replay tutorial button.

As Yoosung relearned all the basic skills he already had nailed down, he saw something he could have sworn had not been there before...An NPC with a quest marker above it’s head. Walking up to this out of place NPC, he saw it looked like Zen. When he finally got close enough, Yoosung saw there was an interact button. Quickly he clicked on it, knowing full well this had to be what he was searching for.

“Hello, Superman Yoosung. I came here because one of my fans told me about a new item that got added to this game. Thankfully I was able to use my talent to charm this piece of it from an orc that had found it first. Before I can give it to you though, I must make sure you are the real Superman Yoosung with a question. What is Hacker God’s favorite dish that you cook?”

Yoosung watched as a text box appeared on screen, obviously waiting for him to type an answer in. Quickly he typed the word “omurice” into the blank space, smiling as he recalled all the times he had made it for Seven when he stayed over at his bunker. Soon the text box closed, and the Zen NPC had another maker above it’s head, telling Yoosung to talk to him again.

“It seems you are the true Superman Yoosung. I leave this part in your hands, take care of it Superman Yoosung. As for where you must go next, Hacker God has left me with your next clue… Your sack is heavy with all of your loot. From armor, staves, sheilds, and swords. Though what do you do with what you can’t use? Come to the place that has the answer for the next part of this legendary item! - Hacker God Seven Meow-ou...ACHOO.” Oh, I’m sorry Yoosung. It seems I can’t get away from this stupid cat allergy even if I’m in a game. Have fun with your quest though, I should get back to reading my lines for my next play.”

With that, the NPC became noninteractive, and Yoosung started to focus on his next clue. This one was harder than the last...you could after all throw any items that you didn’t want away after all. After a few moments though, Yoosung had figured it out. He was ready to head to one of the most populated areas in any server…the market.

As Yoosung got to the market, he saw the other payers trading their goods, buying upgraded gear and skins from NPC’s, and the occasional player begging for gold as he as new to the game… or just trying to scam some people. Soon enough he saw another quest icon in the flood of people, leading to an NPC who looked exactly like Jumin. Just like before, As Yoosung accepted the quest, this Jumin NPC started talking.

“Ah hello Superman Yoosung, it seems you have been able to figure out Hacker God’s second riddle. I have to say, he has led us to a very interesting place. There are so many economic systems going on in one place, from a free-market system all the way to a barter one. I should have Assistant. Kang write a report on how such a place could remain economically stable. First, however, there is something we must discuss. I was able to get this part of a legendary item for a reasonable price from a vendor at this market and I need to make sure to sell it again for a reasonable price. The thing I’m interested in though is information. Answer this one question I have and this piece is yours. With that being said, here is your question...What is the best way to spend a weekend?”

Again another text box appeared, and Yoosung was quick to type “playing LOLOL” into the text box before deleting it. Playing LOLOL was fun, sure, but that wasn’t the reason it was fun to him. Every weekend, he would always make sure to go over to Seven’s place and do some form of activity with him. These activities would consist of, playing LOLOL with each other, snuggling on the couch with junk food and a movie, a late night drive to watch the stars or trying to teach Seven how to cook...while Seven tried to find ways of sneaking HBC and PHD. Pepper into everything. After deleting his last message, Yoosung quickly replaced it with “Spending time with Hacker God” as that was the true answer to this question. After he hit enter, the quest icon above Jumin’s head reappeared and Yoosung interacted with him again.

“That seems like a reasonable answer and a good piece of information for our trade. I will keep my end of the deal just as you kept yours, take care of this second piece... Ah yes, before you head out, it seems I was also programmed to give you another clue before you head out ahem… “You are so close my 606, only one more piece to go! Listen to my last riddle, and you will finally claim your prize! When mobs are boring and bosses are beaten, there is only one enemy left while you wait for the next in game update. Go to the place that symbolizes this notion for the last piece will be waiting for you! -Hacker God Meow-ut!” ...Hmm, cute, it seems like hacker god even added a cat pun in his riddle. I must be going Yoosung as I have a very important meeting with an elf prince to start selling his kingdom’s bows in this very market. Good luck on your quest and I hope the outcome is favorable for you.”

Again, like with the Zen NPC, this Jumin NPC became non-interactive when he got this last riddle. He knew what this riddle was talking about right away as the second ranked user in the shooting star server. The only enemy left after completing everything this game had to offer could only be other players, as many had tried to challenge him in PVP to get higher up on the leaderboard. There was one place where PVP was known to happen more than any other place in LOLOL, and that was the arena. With that in mind, Yoosung headed out from the market to where he was sure the next part of this legendary item was waiting for him.

As Yoosung got to the area, he was suddenly spamed by PVP requests from those who wanted to take down the mighty Superman Yoosung, and even though he was tempted to take them down, he kept declining and looking for the one NPC he was sure would be here. Finally, after a few minutes of wading through players, Yoosung found the Jaehee NPC waiting for him with a request marker. Just as he did the last two times, he walked to her and initiated the quest.

“Ah hello Superman Yoosung, I’m glad you have made it. It was getting tiring watching all these people try and fight... their form is very wrong. That being said, we should wrap this up quickly...Mr. Han has just given me a new project to work on, and there's a lot of paperwork to fill out. I was hoping to maybe sit down and watch one of Zen’s plays after this...but it seems that will have to wait another time. sigh for now I guess I should focus on the task at hand and give you your last piece of this legendary item. I’m sure you know how this process works by now so, Superman Yoosung, here is your final question from Hacker God… Will you meet me at the space station?”

Unlike the past questions, there was no box to fill in this time. In its place was a simple multiple-choice question with “Yes” and “No” buttons clearly labeled. The question was an interesting one since Seven joked about a space station all the time in chatrooms, but if it meant he could spend time with Seven...he knew the answer. Clicking on the “Yes” button, Yoosung saw the quest marker he was expecting to see above Jaehee’s head and read what she had to say next.

“It seems you were able to understand Hacker God’s... interesting way of speaking more than I could, here is the last Piece of the legendary item Superman Yoosung. I hope you like whatever Hacker God has planned for you, however I’m sure you will if you have made it this far. I must be going now, as I said before I have a mountain of paperwork I must go through before Mr.Han asks me to watch over his cat again.”

With that the third piece of the legendary item. For a split second Yoosung wondered why he didn’t get another riddle to solve when another popup told him he had another new item in his inventory. It seemed that when all three legendary pieces were put into his inventory, they combined inside to a new key item...a teleporter. Most teleporters where a one time use item to fast travel to any destination or player on the map, but this one was different. When he clicked on it, there was only one destination this item could teleport him too, “The space station.”...a place that he had never heard of in LOLOL before. Remembering the last question the Jaehee NPC told him, Yoosung clicked the use button and the screen became dark as it was loading in the new area.

“My 606! You made it to the space station!” Yoosung heard as the map loaded in. “Seven? Where are we?” Yoosung asked back after turning on his voice chat, looking around this new area. Like he thought, this was not a normal in game area. The inside was metal and sleek, like this map came right out of a si-fi film. The walls were lined with windows that looked out into the vast space that was set up while little stars sparkled about. Planets and moons of varying color and size danced around each other and Yoosung could not help but stare at the sight for a few seconds. As Yoosung moved deeper into the map, he finally saw the avatar he was hoping to find by the end of this, Hacker God. “Seven! What is this place...I didn’t even know something like this was in the game!” Yoosung said, walking closer to Seven. “Well my Superman Yoosung, that would be because it technically doesn’t belong in the game. You and I are the only ones who know of this places existence.” The cheerful voice of Seven responded.”Wait, so you hacked into LOLOL’s code...to create an entirely new map?” Yoosung’s confused voice asked next.“That I did!” Seven exclaimed before letting his voice get softer. “I always told you we would meet at the space station, didn’t I? Even if we can’t do that in person, at least not yet, I can at least do that here. I know you are going to tell me I didn’t have to put the work into making this, and I know I didn’t, but I wanted to. This is our place, away from my work, your school, the RFA, and anything else we need to get away from for a bit. This is our place...our space station.” Seven finished. “I...I..” Yoosung started, tears filling his eyes as he was about to break down. Nobody had ever put this much thought into something for him...“ I... don’t what to say...what I can to repay you.” Yoosung finished, unable to find the right words to express the happiness he felt. “You don’t need to repay me, Yoosung.” Seven’s soft voice spoke up again. “Just promise to stay with me in the space station.” He finished. “I love you Seven.” “I love you too, my 606.”

[a-singleboat]

The Fall of a City

A/N: this is for @theimaginesyouneveraskedfor and their historic marvel challenge :)

WORD COUNT: 2560

“I swear to Zeus above if you don’t stop messing with the wagon I will throw you to the crows,” Eliza threw her hands up in despair, angrily moving towards Anthony who sat by the wagon wheels. The sky above them rumbled as if Zeus had actually heard her threat. Eliza ignored the sound and continued on her warpath towards the inventive man. “If I needed a better, faster wagon, I would sooner get a new ox!”

She swatted his hands away and then proceeded to pull him up by the ear. “Hey, hey, hey!” Anthony protested against the harsh way she was dealing with him. “I just saw the wheel was crooked and went to fix it!”

She glared at him steadily as if asking, ‘Oh really?’ She shook her head and let him go, pushing him away from the wagon. She surveyed the damage and noticed that he had managed to take the entirety of the wheel off the axel. “I want you to fix this, no upgrades.”

He dropped his head and silently agreed, begrudgingly moving to put the wheel back on. Eliza took this moment to survey the city of Troy. It was solidly three in the afternoon and no one else was home but their new Norse neighbors. Two brothers going by the name Thor and Loki lived together in the house next door. Thor, the taller of the two, could be seen through the shoddily placed window. He was without clothes, as he seemed to constantly be, but Eliza wasn’t complaining.

As Eliza leaned against the bracing of her front door, she squinted at a fast-approaching figure. The figure grew more clear as they got closer, Peter from the palace was approaching them at a sprint. The boy, as young as he was, was screaming at the top of his lungs. “The Greeks! The Greeks have broken through our walls!”

The neighboring people screamed just as soon as Peter had run through the streets. Eliza’s eyes widened, frantically calling Anthony back into the house. She closed the doors, bolting them shut before racing up the stairs with Anthony in tow. “What’s going on?”

Eliza ignored the man as she dug through her box of items that she had long since sealed away ever since leaving the Amazons. The fact that she had kept them was a mystery. When she found what she was looking for, she turned around to face the man. “A long time ago, I stumbled on a group that called themselves the Amazons. They offered me a place in their ranks and when I declined, they sent me off with good wishings and this sword.”

She opened her hands to reveal a ring to him. Anthony looked upon it skeptically. “Eliza, you’ve gone mad. This is a ring.”

She rolled her eyes and slipped it on her finger. She pressed down onto the gem and the ring transformed into a sword right in front of her eyes. “Your father, the god Hephaestus, blessed this ring after it was made in his very forges. Only I can wield it. If anyone else were to try without my blessing,” Eliza trailed off.

“What would happen?”

“Nothing very good, that’s for certain.” She shook her head and pressed the gem in the center of the sword. It shrank down to the ring once again and she pressed it into Anthony’s hands. “I’m blessing you, Anthony.”

He slipped it onto his finger and it grew in size to fit. “What does this mean?”

“It means the ring has passed ownership.” Eliza gently rested her hands on either side of his face. “When you return, I will not be here. It was written long ago that I should perish in a battle, I just hoped that this wasn’t the one.”

She let go of him and pushed him towards the door. “Go to see good King Priam and show him the ring. He shall know what it means and he will keep you safe.”

“But what about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you until it’s my turn to go.”

Anthony nodded, a hardened look on his face. He turned on his heel and walked out of the house with different confidence than he once had had.

Eliza turned back to her box and pulled her armor from it. She looked into her own reflection, she was a much different person now than she was when she first put the armor on. She slipped the breastplate over her head and slowly adorned her armor again. She marched over to her closet and flung the doors open. She reached deep into the clothes that still hung there and pulled out her own sword. On the blade, itself were the words inscribed ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ, Of the Athenians.

She set her sword in front of her and knelt down in prayer. Let Anthony survive this war and see another day.  

Eliza stood up tall and proud, turning on her own heel to march down the stairs. She would be ready to fight if there ever was a cause.

A knock at the door caught her attention. She opened it to find her neighbors standing with a coalition behind them. “We fight for Troy,” the blond one, Thor, stated.

Eliza opened the door wider and ushered them inside. Once inside, they took their helmets off one by one. These were people she knew, she realized. Besides from Loki, Thor’s brother, she had gone to school with all six of them. The Norsemen made quick friends, it seemed. “Alright, our goal is to get as many Trojans out of the city. Troy is a people, not a place, and we should do well to honor that.”

Eliza slid on her helmet and the others followed suit. They all marched out of the house and were immediately met with a crowd of Greek soldiers. They fought wave after wave, tirelessly, until they eventually arrived at the palace steps. Spreading out, they fought the Greeks that tried to enter the palace.

“We have to go up!” shouted Steven from the opposite side of Eliza.

“Then let’s go!”

They all moved up the stairs together in tandem, not turning their backs to the enemy. After making it up to the steps, they all converged on the door, keeping their stance.

“We won’t be able to hold this for long, we need to get inside!” Natasha shouted over the screams of the opposition.

“You go! I will stay and hold as many off as I can,” Bruce spoke up, throwing his sword into the fray.

“You’ll die!” Eliza protested, parrying a sword that comes too close to her face.

“Just trust me.” They locked eyes for a moment before Eliza nodded.

“I’m staying out here until I know what you’re doing.”

“Fine,” Bruce stepped forward, breaking their chain. Eliza ushered everyone else inside, holding her own against the now growing mob. She watched as Bruce transformed into a literal hulk of a man in front of her eyes.

At the last second, someone pulled Eliza into the palace doors and they slammed shut.

“What the heck just happened?” Eliza blinked a few times, shaking herself out of her shock. She turned to face the crew. “Did any of you know he could do that?”

Natasha took off her helmet, shaking her hair out. Eliza’s knees buckled ever so slightly. “Yeah, I helped him come to terms with it a while ago.”

Carol took her helmet off as well, causing Eliza’s heart to flutter ever so slightly. “Well, as long as he keeps the Greeks at bay I won’t be the one to stop him.”

“Eliza!” A voice called from down the hall, attracting the attention of the group.

Eliza smiled wide, dashing to meet the man that rushed towards them. “Anthony!” She held him close. “Thank the gods you are alright. How did you fair after leaving?”

“I ran into a few soldiers but the sword helped me along. I found Peter along the way and we fought together to get here,” Anthony held up his hand to show the ring that glistened proudly on his hand.

“Listen,” Eliza turned to the group. “There’s a tunnel under the city that leads directly to Mount Ida. Anthony, you know where it is. I took you once a few years ago.”

“I don’t remember how to get there,” Anthony protested her direction.

“You will. I need you to take as many of these people as you can to Mount Ida. Troy will rise again,” Eliza kissed Anthony’s forehead. “Go, all of you.”

The group looked down somberly. Everything would be lost no matter what was chosen. Eliza pushed them all forward. “Go, I shall send the royal family after you.”

Eliza took off in the opposite direction in search of the King Priam and Andromache. She passed several windows, catching sight of the city on fire. It was a terrible and beautiful sight all at once. She hated it. She pushed herself to move faster, finding herself in the palace temple.

“King Priam, Andromache!” She called for the two of them, hurrying down the steps. “You need to leave, now.”

Priam shook his head, “My dear, Eliza. I cannot leave Troy.”

“Yes, you can. Troy is a people and the people are leaving for Mount Ida. A place where safety is guaranteed,” Eliza pleaded with the King. He took her hands and kissed them both.

“I cannot leave my city,” Priam took up his own sword. “I shall be fine.”

Eliza moved to Andromache instead, coming to terms with the King staying behind. “Andromache, I know Hector had shown you the passageway to the safe place. You need to gather as many people as you can, take Paris and Helen with you. Do not let them from your sight.”

Andromache held Eliza close, sobbing into her shoulder. “You have served well, but you are more than just a servant to the people.”

“I know, but it’s time for you to go.”

Andromache squeezed her hands before pulling her baby closer to her and ran from the temple. Eliza turned to King Priam, pulling her sword from her back. “I will stay here and fight with you and for you.”

“No, my dear. I need you to leave the city. This will not be the battle you die in,” Priam still stood tall.

“Thank you, your highness, but it is my time.” Eliza smiled a tight-lipped smile. “I’ve been living for too long.”

As the thundering sounds of soldiers approached them, Eliza stood tall. She donned her helmet once again and held her sword bravely on her side. The soldiers that burst through the doors ignored the two people in the center of the temple, moving directly to the statues of Apollo. They tear them down and Priam cries out in pain as they crash to the ground.

“Have you no shame?” He screams, moving forward and away from Eliza.

Agamemnon steps forward, sword drawn and ready.

“No,” Eliza shouts, diving for the King. She parried Agamemnon’s sword away, angering him. They fought, Eliza’s main priority on keeping Priam safe. “Your Highness, please! Leave the temple.”

In her moment of weakness, Agamemnon knocks her aside and into the hands of an awaiting Greek. She thrashed, unable to break the grip of the soldier. They held her back as she watched Agamemnon skewer Priam through the chest.

Her elbow caught under a soldier’s chin, sending them backward and then diving for her sword. As she stands, she sees Agamemnon retreating further into the temple. “Coward!” she called after him.

She knelt down to be on Priam’s level, pulling his body behind a toppled statue. “You’re a fool! I told you to leave while you could.”

Priam grabbed her hand, holding it tight. He slipped a ring off his finger and into her hand. “As long as the people live, Troy will live. Make it out of here, Eliza.”

She watched as the light left his eyes, his head falling slack against the marble. “Damn it,” she muttered to herself, pushing the dead man off her lap and standing up. She fixed her grip on her sword and started to attack the nearest Greeks. On the other side of the temple, she saw the friends she told to leave.

Fighting her way over, she stopped next to Steven and fought alongside him. “I thought I told you all to leave!”

“We were on our way, believe me, but Paris decided to come back for his cousin and we decided he couldn’t do it alone.” Steven’s reason was plausible, but Eliza was still upset.

“Where is Anthony?”

“We sent him forward with Bruce after he came back to us,” Carol spoke to her from her left.

Eliza took down a few more soldiers and started to herd the group to where she says Agamemnon disappeared to. “Agamemnon has killed Priam before dashing away further into the temple.”

Natasha and Clint stepped forward. “We’ll go with you if you choose to fight against him.”

Eliza nodded and the three broke off, leaving the group to defend against the diminishing Greeks. Soon, Eliza was confident that there would be none left in the temple.

Eliza led the two towards the center, holding her arm out when she saw Paris with his bow drawn. Next to him stood Anthony, sword out by his side.

“Anthony! I thought I told you to get out of here!” Eliza marched forward, pulling his shoulder back. “This is no time to be rebellious.”

“I’m not a child anymore. You cannot tell me what to do, Eliza.” Anthony refuted just as Paris let an arrow fly. Eliza pulled Anthony back as they watched the arrow pierce the man’s heel.

They watch as Paris sends several arrows into the man’s breastplate before he finally falls.

“Paris, go get your cousin and then let’s leave!” Eliza pushed Anthony towards Natasha and Clint. “Get him out of here, I’ll cover Paris.”

They left, swords up and helmets down. Eliza breathed, thinking they would be alright. “I’m going to get you both out of here. Paris, give me your bow and arrow and get her on your back and run.”

Paris nodded and handed Eliza his weapon. He hoisted his cousin up and took off running in front of Eliza. If there was any time like the present, she would tell you that maintaining a good shot while running is one of the hardest things she would have ever needed to do.

They met up with the rest of the group and they took off running together. They ran in the opposite direction of the Greeks, heading for the tunnel. Paris tripped, nearly dropping his cousin.

Eliza heard a clear, “They went this way!” Footsteps followed and Eliza panicked. She shoved them into the tunnel, closing it once they were all in there.

“Eliza! No!” She was met with resistance from Anthony, who pushed against the door to keep it open.

“Someone needs to close it on this side, Anthony,” Eliza looked into Thor’s eyes. “Keep him safe.”

Thor nodded and pulled Anthony away from the door.

“I’ve lived long enough, Anthony,” Eliza smiled sadly at the boy. “Don’t forget me.”

She closed the door, sealing her fate and surrendering herself to the Greeks.

TAGLIST

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@beautiful-holland @toms-order @starlightfound @rumoured-whispers @lemirabitur @tomhollandandmarvelsworld @fuckyou-imspiderman @peters-vlogs @lovelyh0lland @positiveparker @peterparkersbackpacks

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[cartoonfangirl1218]

Love Potion Extravaganza Ch. 5

Note: Yes, here comes Act 2! Thank you so much again to @pizzansunshine for her patience and her enthusiastic editing. The songs I used in this chapter are, “What am I feeling”. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mXuM2LW79ao. “His status is preferred” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q_n0DytNx5I and “Omg I think I like you” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IGtb-gZcLak#

“OOOH This is so exciting!” Olivia squealed once Naomi explained her suspicions within the silent corridors of Mateo’s workshop.

“I wouldn’t say “exciting” more like a very serious situation.” Naomi cautioned against Olivia’s enthusiasm. She already heard the story of the water spirit Olivia accidentally summoned when she had been too eager to use her magical skills. She didn’t want another mess-up that ended with a kingdom-wide wedding or somehow reversed the spell and everyone wanted to kill each other.

“Right serious. I get it. I’m serious.” Olivia calmed down, her eyes trained on Mateo’s shelves full of spellbooks. “Which one do you think would have the antidote for a love spell in it?”

Naomi looked nervously at all the books There had to be at least thirty of them already, squished together on the small shelves with long, intellectual titles like “1,001 Spells for Healing, Combat, and Other Miscellaneous Items Need for Accumulation of Knowledge.”

“Well, it’s not a love spell but a love potion according to Gabe. The Delgados put in the water supply so it would probably be in a book about potions.” Naomi answered unsuredly.

“Mateo showed me how he organizes his books in categories and Señora De Alva put little bookmarks to separate the good spells from the dangerous spells.” Olivia ran to the lower right side of Mateo’s second shelf. “20 of these are books on potions.”

“20?” Naomi groaned. They could probably get through 20 books but think of how much time they could be wasted looking for the potion in the book, then making the potion itself, assuming that Mateo had all the need ingredients in his workshop.

Olivia saw her impatience and suggested optimistically, “We can split the work. I look through the chapters of 10 books and you look through 10. It can’t be that hard.” Olivia said optimistically, heaving a bunch of books in her arms which fell to the ground due to her weak upper body strength.

Naomi helped her gather them up and Olivia asked, “If the Delgados put the love potion in the water system. How come you’re not affected?” “I haven’t drank water all day. My dad makes me drink milk. He says it’s more healthy. What about you?” Naomi answered, opening a hefty purple volume of potions to its index where a fly flew out.

“I could never fall in love with a boy. Even because of a love spell. They have cooties!” Olivia definitively declared.

“Well I don’t know about cooties” Naomi laughed a little at Olivia’s disgusted face, and thought about Gabe’s less than alert guard skills and Elena and Mateo’s infatuation with each other. Both had completely missed Carla’s escape, “But it does make you blind.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gabe’s face was haunting her and she hated it.  

The way his eyes seemed to fill with unspeakable sadness and how he had been frozen to the spot, unable to move for fear he would lose his stern guard discipline but at the same he was so vulnerable...

Carla didn’t know why she felt her heart tug a bit when she pictured his face. He was the enemy who was a danger to her family by chasing them across the kingdom. He had been a target she was going to use. His broken hearted feelings because of a love potion her mom had made shouldn’t matter to her. “What am I feeling? Is it a feeling? Could I be feeling somehow?”

All of this time I never truly had one.

Why would I be starting now?

But apparently she did have some feelings and it made her chest feel heavy and tight. She wanted to run back and see if he was okay. Maybe he had found a new girl to lust over. “If it's a feeling. Truly a feeling. Why is it hurting me so?

Could it be my first one is a bad one?

How am I supposed to know?

As she trudged into the five star hotel, she cursed herself for putting her tamborita and malvago robes in the closet at the top floor. So much walking! It just gave her more time to think and for Gabe’s sad face to go through her head. “Is it meant to make your insides ache?

Meant to make your chest go tight?

Meant to make you sweat and shake?

How could anything like that be right?”

She wondered if she accidentally drank the love potion too. She had avoided water all day as her parents instructed. She did have a sip of wine too. That didn’t have water, right? “If I am feelin some stupid feeling... Why can't it just go away?

Why did all of these feelings have to start?

Tearing at my armor-plated heart.”

As Carla approached the top floor, a horrifying thought struck her sending the tightness in her chest to go clenching her stomach. What if she did have that love potion? What if she was stuck loving someone who would never have her? Stuck with all these stupid, heart-tearing feelings?

“What if, God forbid, they're here to stay?

How can I unfeel the way I feel today?”

She was one of the most dangerous malvagos in all of Avalor! She could not be experiencing heartbreak or be made to look as devastated as Gabe had when Elena smashed his into tiny pieces. She was Carla Delgado. She was fierce, independent, not to be trusted and untrusting of others. She couldn’t give in to these.. these...

“Excuse me senorita, Prince coming through!” A boy called from behind her.

Carla was so startled by this interruption to her self-pity part that she missed the next step and fell over. When she looked to growl at him for being so annoying, her mouth dropped open. She had seen his face a thousand times when she and Papa had lived in Cordoba. Prince Alonso!

Back then she had had a small crush on him. What with the luscious hair, his money and the fact that he clearly had a wild side, racing his chariots all over the place. She had thought they would be perfect together. She would bring him to the edge of bad behavior and he would make her his princess.

Of course that had been a silly, little girl’s fantasy. Now she was grown-up, much more realistic.

But that didn’t stop the instinctive smile she gave him when he paused to help her up.

“Pr-princy- I mean Prince Alonso.” Carla tried to resist the urge to squeak, “What are you doing here?”

“I am here for a very important trade meeting. But before I do my work, I must have pleasure. Specifically with one of Princess Elena’s grand council members. She was all over me, it was the least I can do to give in and show her the time of her life.” Alonso bragged.

Carla thought back to her time as Rita and who Elena had said was on her grand council. Her abuelos, her cousin, and... Naomi. Seriously, she couldn’t seduce Gabe and that Turner girl was getting to sleep with a prince!

Suddenly an idea flashed through her mind. If she slept with Prince Alonso, it would fix all her problems!!! She could prove to herself that she didn’t have any real feelings for Gabe, literally screw over Naomi after that blonde had foiled her plans one too many times, and she, Carla Delgado, would be sleeping with a prince!

Somewhere a little voice told her that if she tried to seduce Alonso, that she would somehow be putting her family’s big plan at risk. But... she was pretty sure everyone was under the love potion spell already. Did she really need to check on everyone?

Nah! This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Her parents would understand.

“Have fun!” Carla waved as Alonso continued up to whatever room he was going to. “Maybe I’ll see you soon.”

Once Alonso was out of sight, Carla ran up the last few steps to the closet where she had stashed her robe and tamborita, singing to herself, “He's discerning, he's refined.

Eats French cheeses, drinks French wine

He travels all the time

'Cause he's elite

He's Silver Elite

Royal Silver Elite

His status is... Preferred.”

This was so much better than her plan to seduce the Captain of the Guard. As she pushed her robe sleeves back, she recalled Gabe’s words, “Seduce me with a song about how evil you are? Know your audience.”

Carla frowned at the inconvenience. It would probably not be in her best interest to come to his door dressed as a malvago. Back to the stinking waitress outfit it is.

“Fine hotels are where he stays

The kind with grand breakfast buffets

And a chef who can make omelettes a variety of ways

And they don't stick him in some regular room

No, that would be absurd!”

She tucked her tamborita into the makeshift belt made out of rope she found in the janitor’s closet. Not her best look but she wasn’t going to leave it here. She might need to make a quick getaway. Then she pulled her right strap down so it was alluringly dangling on her shoulder.

Once she was prepared she went scouring the floor. Pressing her ear against various doors in hopes of finding Alonso’s, all the while she imagined the luxury his room must have. Grand golden vases filled with roses, gilded wall to wall mirrors. To think, in a few hours, she’d be living like that in the Avaloran palace.

“He gets a suite

A two-room Royal Suite

An Royal City View Suite

With a 400 thread count sheets

Because his status is... Preferred”

She had come a long way from nobody. Maybe if they hit it off, he would consider dating her? Sure he might be a bit upset that she dethroned his friend but that’s nothing a love potion wouldn’t fix. “Oh, can't you see, He's got premiere access to me

My whole life, I've been stuck!

I have waited and waited

To one day be upgraded.

To spread my wings and fly!”

Then she passed a room where she heard Prince Alonso’s voice repeating, “Would you like to see the royal jewels? No no no, how about I charm you in all the right places. No that is not it.” How endearing-he practicing his pick-up lines. Well she could help him with them. She knocked on his door and he opened it eagerly but his face slumped when he saw it was her. Despite his less than enthusiastic reaction, Carla took the time to seize him over, humming her song in her head. “On his wrist, a gold wristwatch

On his lips, a blended Scotch

And I have to stop my eyes from drifting

Downwards towards his crotch!

I can peek, but I have to be discreet

'Cause he's filet mignon

Not just some piece of meat.”

“I know you said you had to meet some other girl but she seems to be running late and I have a preposition for you.” Carla purred batting her eyelashes in a way that she knew drove men wild. To add to that effect, she bended over just enough to give a teasing glance of her clevage.

Score! His eyes flicked down and an unconscious smirk spread across his face showing his interest. He may be some gentlemanly prince, but she was going to bring out the wild side.

”He’s sophisticated

Elegant

Elite

In a word:

He's preferred.

“Oh yeah, he is so much better than Gabe”  Carla thought then she corrected herself, “Better than Gino.”

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

“I think I’d preferred to be in school if there were other royals coming. I mean look at all these people!” Tomiko cried as she and Isabel left their physics class in the University of Avalor. Random townspeople had been corralled into the university’s square by guards since they had been trying to follow Princess Valentina causing a crush of people.

“See you tomorrow!” Tomiko called, waving frantically, as a crowd swept by, carrying her away to her dorm.

“Bye!” Isabel yelled back but Tomiko was too far gone to hear. Isabel had been excused from her afternoon classes at her regular school due to being needed to greet Princess Valentina and Prince Alonso back at the palace. But as she waited uncertainly by the entrance she started to wonder if someone forgot that she needed to be picked up.

She watched the people go by, lots of couples out enjoying the sunshine and each other’s company. She even heard one young man say, “That Princess is right. With love we’ll never have problems again!”

As more and more people walked into stores and cafes, leaving the streets empty she became sure that she had been forgotten.

Isabel groaned, feeling unneeded tears of frustration pool in her eyes. She knew that her sister was busy. She knew her sister had other more important priorities to her kingdom to attend to. But still. She still. She had said that she needed Isabel to be with her to greet the other royals, and now, she forgot her completely.

She could be in Senora Marisol’s right now with her friends learning about history!

But nooo, she was the younger and unimportant princess left by the gate of her university because no one remembered that she even existed.

Once this trade alliance was over she wanted to go over a few things with Elena. She’d let her sister put the kingdom first, but that didn’t mean she should start breaking promises just because she--

“ISA! Watch out!” a voice shouted. Then before she could even let out a scream, a speeding horse and cart barreled across her path and a strong man tackled her out of the way.

Isabel coughed and rubbed her eyes, trying to get the dust out of her face. Then she turned to her rescuer, “Thank you so much!”

The rescuer looked at her and she recognized Gabe’s familiar face. He was forcing a fearless smile but his eyes were clearly filled with worry as he discreetly observed her for injuries.

She was about to thank him again and apologize for not paying attention when her throat closed up. Her heart fluttered frantically in her chest and all she could do was stare at his intense brown eyes while her intestines turned to goo.

Oh Gabe. He never forgot about her existence. Well once, but that was an accident she completely forgave him for.

Gabe was so unlike all the other people she hanged out with. Despite being older than her, he always asked for opinion on things and made a point to include her. She saw how tough and macho he acted in public, but when he was with her, he was always so sweet. She had seen his adorkable side when he met Antonio Agama for the first time. It had been adorable the way he hugged the oversized gecko. And equally endearing when he freaked out over the small geckos.

Gabe pulled her to standing position and said gently, “How about I take you to the palace?” She could only nod in response.

Every inch of him was just so well-built and emphasized his strength. His discipline shown through how tall and straight he carried himself. The small calluses she felt on his hands from rigorous training when he put her in front of him on Fuego. His muscles were firm and highlighted by his guard uniform and encased between them, she wanted to snuggle against his chest.

Just as she was about to ask him how his guard duty was, she felt an unexplained blush rise up her cheek. He looked like a fairytale knight, the way he looked straight ahead with an determined air.

Isabel gasped a little.

Blushing?

One of the sentences she read for homework sprang to mind immediately, “Blushing is triggered by emotions related to self-conscious such as eagerness. This eagerness could be being complimented, put in the spotlight or near a potential mate. This is a natural process...”

Isabel gulped. Sh-she didn’t think Gabe was a potential mate. He was just a friend! He was so much older than she, he...

Those protests of her mind faded away when she looked up again and Gabe met her eyes. He smiled at her. His bright teeth twinkling in the sunlight and his eyes seemed to glow. He was a knight and that smile promised happiness, protection and sweet sweet bliss. She didn’t know how he conveyed it all in one smile but he just did.  

It was all Isabel could do not to melt against his hard, solid chest. A thousand little daydreams swarmed in her head like instead of he taking her to the palace, he’d take her to his family bakery and they’d lick icing off each other’s fingers. Them reading by the firelight of a log cabin. They by a lake and a priest saying “You may kiss the bride.” Gabe would whisper, “Mi amor” and take her in his arms and kiss her passionately..

“Here we are. Have a good day, Isa.” Then he said a bit more subduedly, “Say “Hi” to your sister and her boyfriend for me.”

Isabel barely heard Gabe’s words, she was too busy trying to keep her legs steady. When he put her down again, the touch sent electrical sparks up and down her legs and she was pretty sure she would need help standing up.

Once she was sure the ground was steady beneath her, she saw a glimpse of Gabe riding back to town. His figure framed by the sun shining down. He was so perfect.

She turned and walked into the door, the headache that came from knocking her head against the wood brought her back to her doubts again.

She jittery opened the door which was surprisingly unlocked despite the fact that there were no guards around. Her heart was still doing it’s fluttery dance but her mind was a bit clearer.

“What’s wrong with you? He’s an adult, and you’re not even 13.” She muttered to herself. But that didn't stop her at all. She just pictured herself as a gorgeous 25 year old. Her hair was long and wavy as it trailed down her back. She was wearing a white wedding gown and Gabe was wearing an opened shirt, showing off his defined muscles. He held her in his arms while she gazed into his eyes, reminiscent of an old romance novel she saw her mother reading once.

“But he’s Elena’s friend. He only thinks of you as her little sister.” Isabel reminded herself but smiled as her little wedding daydream continued in her head.

She almost bumped into Octavio who was in a secluded corner with one of the castle maids. The sight of them kissing just made her smile even brighter. Love was so wonderful. Feeling giddy, she twirled and sang through the hallways,

“I can’t stop the image of you and me

Getting married on a hillside, surrounded by ducks

And then we get into a rowboat!”

She got dizzy and fell over with one revelation hanging her mind. Gabe was so not her friend anymore. He was a bona fide crush that was never going to happen. Her heart pounded but so did her brain as headache came about.

“Oh my God I think I like you!”

[xaldinini]

(( Thanks to @theeverbloomingdarkness for this idea. My own bs kh3 theory story nonsense:

-Opening cutscene is of Radiant Garden where we see Lea trying to get into the castle. Ienzo greets him but he looks tired and worn. The two rush back up to where Aeleus is standing protectively over Dilan’s unconscious form but Even is missing.

-Second opening if is young eraqus and young xehanort playing chess. They allude to the ending.

-Tutorial mode is with them actually. We learn that xehanort isn’t his actual name, but rather a nickname a friend of his had given him. That friend being eraqus.

-We start with Sora, Donald, and Goofy appearing in Olympus. They get word that Herc and Co were seen near the mountain since the Colosseum is closed. They make their way over to the mountain and Hades watches from afar. Mal and Pete show up looking for a box. (cutscene stuff here) Hades doesn’t know anything about it. Mal and Pete go to the next world to look for it.

-S, D, and G make their way to the mountain but oh no there are the titans going at it. They don’t know why but they just start fighting because big bad dudes = gotta fight. They make their way up the mountain where Herc and Zeus are doing cool stuff and fighting.

-Someone mentions Old Master Nort at some point.

-S, D, and G head out to a familiar world because Heartless showed up again and they don’t know why.

-Cut to a scene of Lea and Kairi training. Kairi is tried and worn out from the session because she’s not used to it. But she doesn’t give up because she’s delightfully stubborn like that.

-Cut to Riku and Mickey in Realm of Darkness. We now play as Riku in search of something in the Realm.

-They show up at the beach and fight a swarm of Heartless. The battle cuts short and Aqua shows up. She’s slowly turning into a Darkling (from khux) and they snap her out of it via a fight with a final combo with Mickey.

-Aqua has darkness released from her and she’s knocked out for a bit finally getting a chance to SLEEP for a moment.

-Sora and co arrive at Radiant Garden only to have Ienzo there because Lea is gone training on a different world. Sora is disappointed because he wanted to see Kairi. Ienzo gives him the phone and tells him it’s how to communicate with people. We get a glimpse of a group of dark hooded figures again. Ienzo warns Sora about the org and recounts the kidnapping of Even and how they were defenseless and that’s why Lea had to come back.

-Sora actually uses the power to go into Dilan’s sleeping form and reawakens him.

-We get some new spell upgrade or get the dream eater summon here.

-Lea and Kairi cutscene on the hill top where Kairi reveals new outfit. The two actually end up talking about Roxas and Namine. Lea has some memories of another girl but can’t place who or when it was. But he knows there was another girl at some point. Kairi offers her hand to him and some magic something or another happens and the MEMORIES come back to him of Xion and he cries.

-Or they keep talking about Roxas and Lea feels bad at what a jerk he was to him. He cries either way.

-We cut back to Sora who has found a new world of probably Arendel because we need Larxene to show up and explain the new princess of heart things. We do the story line of that world. What we end up learning is of the new princesses of heart things. We are confused as to WHY and WHO but we are going with it anyways. We get a new ride to summon out of this one.

-Cutscene of Lea and Kairi working hard again. Kairi is now kicking Lea’s ass.

-Switch back to Riku and Mickey with Aqua now waking up finally. She’s confused and dazed but she recognizes Mickey and nearly breaks out in tears seeing him again. She and Riku have a quiet moment of her remembering who he is and we get a flash back to when she met him and Sora as kids. Mickey and Riku explains what is happening out in the real world and the three agree to go back.

-Back to Sora who goes through several other worlds looking for these new princesses but can’t seem to determine if any of the girls he finds will work with whatever is needed.

-Marluxia is met in Tangled World

-Vanitas is met in Monster’s Inc World

-Young Nort is met in Toy Story World

-Luxord is met in Pirates World

-Xigbar is met in Big Hero 6 World ALTHOUGH Xaldin could be the alternate here. He’s with that Riku we saw in the trailer with the golden eyes. If it’s supposed to be Data Riku it make sense for him to be there. BUT if it’s Repliku from Castle Oblivion it ALSO makes sense for him to be there because science.

-I actually have a theory on this Riku tho. I don’t believe it is either Riku mentioned above but rather Xion implanted with one or both Riku memories in her. It is exceptionally similar to how she had Sora’s memories in her which made her look like Sora/Ven but now she has the Rikus that make her look like him. The reason she HAS Riku this time around is because they found Vexen’s notes on her and with him back as a Nort he just picked up where he left off and boom Xion is back. And they put Riku in her this time because he’s a master and junk BUT he was the closest to becoming a Nort in KH1. Thus the better choice.

-After about three worlds being explored and completed we will get a cut scene of Ienzo trying to get in contact with Sora but Sora’s out of range or some shit like that. Ienzo feels alone with Aeleus watching over Dilan and he can’t figure out the computer system to get it working again.

-Ansem the Wise shows up again, it’s more of a memory than him ACTUALLY being there. But as soon as Ienzo realizes this the ghost of his touch still lingers as does the words that he spoke to him resonates in his head. He figures out the password to get the computers working again.

-Sora explores more worlds. Meets more people. We get to see some sort of reference to Marvel or Star Wars BUT NO ACTUAL WORLD. We gain more summons and magic as per world per usual.

-The grinding world is still Olympus but now you fight against teams of Heartless that the other gods put together for shits and giggles. It’s actually a lot of fun because you get fun items that will eventually make the ultimate keyblade.

-Random cutscenes of Riku, Mickey, and Aqua making it back to Yen Sid’s tower and Aqua getting some DESERVED rest.

-Another cutscene of Lea and Kairi having another friend moment. But Lea now remembers Xion. Saix actually crashes one of their lessons just for intimidation purposes. He’s accompanied by Xemnas or Xigbar. They don’t attack, just talk. They leave when Lea attempts to attack in a rage but comes up too short to do anything. They both train harder.

-A sprinkling of cutscenes of known Norts showing them talking to other Norts in cryptic messages about the overall plan. Lots of sass for Lar and Mar.

-One cutscene of TerraNort fighting his own armor is actually from the past. It’s a flashback of when they had first clashed about two years prior to the current events happening. It’s there to confuse everyone on the timeline. We see it because someone is talking to some one else and that is the memory that is brought up.

-Jumping back to Mal and Pete, they actually are seen in about a quarter of the worlds Sora and co are in. She is stopping to talk to the big bads and seeing if they know where the box has been. She makes enemies and allies all the while but none take her too seriously. She’s probably the main reason one of the worlds is in the game because Sora follows her and Pete to that one.

-The world they end up in the box is there. Luxord shows up also looking for said box. There is a three way fight over the box. The contents still aren’t revealed.

-The fight is over but a cut scene happens where Mal looks like she’s about to get away but is struck down once and for all by a hooded black cloaked figure. This figure ends up be Luxu who is working with Luxord. The two of them gather the box and disappear into a portal before Sora can stop them. Pete is sent running for his own life.

-Sora will eventually make his way over to Twilight Town because Ienzo made some sort of connection to the mansion. We meet up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette which makes Sora think about Roxas again. We will get a heartwarming moment of Roxas and Sora talking inside of Sora when he focuses on him.

-They go into the mansion and Sora gets into a pod for “testing purposes”

-THIS ACTUALLY TRIGGERS SOMETHING because since he was in that pod before it shocks him into remember CO and Roxas is LAUNCHED into the driver seat of Sora’s body. THUS making it easier to access Ven.

-With Sora deep deep deep down into his consciousness now, he’s able to reach Ven but he doesn’t know it’s Ven. We are now going into a mirror-esque world of Sora and Ven’s heart inside of Sora as Sora in the pod is actually Roxas getting a chance to have a body once more. But Roxas is just sort of using this time to just have some him quiet time and figure out how to get his own body.

-Sorry, back to Sora and Ven. Sora starts chasing after this blond haired kid who he keeps calling Roxas over and over again to get him to stop running away but when he thinks he’s about to get close there is an invisible wall in his way. This gives us timed missions to get things or some sort mini mission led by Chirithy. When these missions are done this wakes up Ven inside of him.

-With Ven awake this triggers Ven’s memories of what happened of when he was a dandelion. Seeing Chirithy is what makes it happen. However it only comes back in bits and pieces. There are holes in Ven’s memory where he can’t seem to form a full memory of what happened so far back in his past. But he does remember Aqua and Terra.

-Ven does remember the unions and how there were five masters. He does remember their names and that there were five others before them. This is in the form of broken flashbacks of KHUX cutscenes now in hd beauty.

-Cue a very confused Sora.

-Sora wakes up and can control his own body again. He explains what happened but is still confused. Now he can hear Roxas and Ven in his head. At all times. It weirds him out.

-It turns out that Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas were waiting on something like this to happen to attack. They had been needing the use of the pods but because of DiZ they couldn’t get into the mansion. With the power going back to the pods, they can finally use them again. They disappear.

-This sends Sora back onto his mission. He goes out to one more world that actually has a lot of plot important points and reveals the final xehanort or something like that. This sends him towards the Keyblade Graveyard.

-We actually get a cutscene where everyone else is told to go to the Keyblade Graveyard.

-When S, D, and G arrive so do the others. Before they can even get intros out or meet up in the same place, the massive attack happens. Ven sees Aqua through Sora’s eyes and he is drawn to go to her but Sora keeps fighting. Roxas sees Lea through Sora’s eyes and he’s drawn to him but Sora keeps fighting. The two inside of him get frustrated enough to BREAK FREE and we get a strange bright flash of light that now has the three of them in separate bodies ready to fight.

-Once the fight is done there are short reunions that will break the viewer’s heart. It’s short because Old Coot Nort is now in full power with all of his Darknesses at the ready. As it turns out they didn’t need the new princesses of light. It was just to get Sora to get the other two out of his body, but they needed more time.

-Old Nort Coot is in full power BECAUSE OF THE BOX. The box had the Master of Master’s body or heart or SOMETHING related to him which is why Luxu was so shocked. Now when Sora and the others first get to the KG, we see Luxu in the distance talking to MX in the distance. We don’t know what they are saying but we can see the box is with them and they both open it. Before we can see what is actually in the box, the twelve other Org members block our view and we fight.

-A giant epic battle happens.

-Xehanort is finally, FINALLY, defeated. He goes into Kingdom Hearts. All of his Norts fade with him. Some random few stay behind, their bodies reverting back to what they were before the Nort had taken them over. They have another chance of life.

-Terra is finally released. We get our wayfinder trio reunion.

-Happiness doesn’t last. Since Terra had been stuck in the dark for so long he actually starts to fade on his own. The armor that is still waiting for him, comes for him. His soul is finally reunited. He can rest now. As he is about to fade we see Eraqus standing in the glow of Kingdom Hearts’ rays. He’s smiling. He welcomes Terra to him with open arms. Terra falls to his knees in forgiveness and Eraqus pulls him into a hug. Ven and Aqua join in on this. The light fades and Ven and Aqua are hugging each other now.

-Braig is there with Isa. Both still scarred and unconscious. Riku and Sora have the option to go in and help them. But only one. They choose Isa. Going into the Realm of Dreams, they awaken the sleeping heart of a child Isa and return him to Lea. 

-Seeing the reunion with Isa and Lea, Roxas doesn’t know what to do. Namine and Xion project themselves next to him and gives him and each other a smile. Roxas can’t see them, but senses two people next to him and he feels good.

-Mickey, Donald, and Goofy hug it out. Happy to be back with one another.

-Sora, Riku, and Kairi finally have a proper reunion. The three have a group hug which leads to compliments to Kairi on her technique and how great she was. Riku teases that she will surpass Sora in becoming a master sooner.

-With Xehanort finally defeated, the groups return to their own homes with promises to keep in touch.

-Sora finally goes home and has dinner with his mother.

ROLL CREDITS

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE

During the credits we see:

-Sora, Riku, and Kairi training on Destiny Islands together

-Braig and Even being brought back to Radiant Garden and being laid up in bed while he appears to be sleeping.

-Radiant Garden itself looking beautiful and more complete with fountains.

-The Restoration Committee congratulating itself.

-Various worlds with their happy ever afters.

-Ven and Aqua returning to the Land of Departure to its original state.

-We see Mickey and Minnie reuniting. Daisy and Donald holding hands. Goofy chuckling on the side as he pulls out a picture of Max at college.

-Chip and Dale keep doing their thing. They actually end up opening up a transportation special for Sora and the gang for the other worlds.

-Pete is seen running around lost somewhere between the worlds in a gummi ship of his own, only to have Chip and Dale pull up next to him like cops. He is brought back to disney castle where he works as a janitor.

-Aeleus, Ienzo, and Dilan finally finished cleaning the castle and opening it up to the rest of the town. They’ve also made a memorial for Even.

-The other recompleted Norts (Lux, Mar, Lar...) all returning to their own worlds, confused and dazed. Or their own timelines......

-Braig and Even waking up in RG, very confused and very weak.

-Sora and Ienzo on the phone with one another with plans on what seems to be another body extraction notes with Namine written on one of the pages.

-Lea, Roxas, and Isa all sitting and eating ice cream together. Lea in the middle.

-One last final cut scene of young Eraqus and young Xehanort playing chess in their time line. The keyblade on the wall disappears.

RANDOM OTHER HEADCANONS

-Kairi refuses to eat and sea salt ice cream with Lea until waaaaaaaaaay later in their training because she doesn’t trust him. She does mention wanting to share some with her boys.

-Xigbar is actually seen in like half of the worlds talking to the other Norts. He just sort of floats around from each world checking on each Nort that is there because he can. The others either find it annoying or actually enjoy having him stop by.

-We will get the other Somebody names in a journal entry.

-Pinocchio comes back for some reason.

-If the Data Riku/.Repliku/Xion Nort doesn’t work out, it ends up being Xaldin. Because that’s the only way I will personally accept that Riku looking Nort to be there. And Xaldin ends up being the final Nort because of another kidnapping that they do at RG. It’s after the second one that Ienzo feels alone and gets that screen time with Ansem the Wise.

-I’m really hoping it ends up being Xaldin.

-The Radiant Garden Restoration Committee is still important, but they are just working on the town more than anything in this game. We will see more of the town being built up and being restored to what it looked like in BBS.

-Sephiroth is still a boss fight somewhere in the game. But he’ll be in another world like Twilight Town for no reason.

-In the Keyblade Graveyard you the player have to fight all of the Norts at some point. They might cut the battle short with another Keyblader coming in and picking up the fight where you left off, but it will be close to that cliffside fight with the FF characters in KH2.

-Kairi will yell at Larxene and Marluxia at some point “This is for Namine!”

-Kairi and Namine actually talk a lot to each other but we will never see it on screen, it only gets alluded to.

-Sora seems like he’s going to fade into the darkness at least three times throughout the game. But it’s all just to be able to pull Roxas and/or Ven out from inside of him.

-I’m slightly weighing on the idea that Luxu and Luxord might be the same person. But I’m not convinced on the idea myself. Therefore they have separate endings.

-Cid and Merlin still argue about magic vs technology is in there somewhere I’m sure. It’s gotta happen at least once.

-The Winnie the Pooh world is meant for minigames. However you will need to reach a certain score with it in order to get the secret ending that shows something in relation to Sora, Riku, and Kairi all sharing a paopu fruit at the same time.

-I really want the secret ending to be the three of them sitting on their island with a paopu fruit in Sora’s hand. He’s sitting between the two of them and he breaks it into three parts and hands off pieces to the two of them. They all smile at each other and eat it at the same time.

-Worlds I can confirm to be in the game: Olympus, Twilight Town, Radiant Garden, BH6, Tangled, Frozen, Pirates, Keyblade Graveyard, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Dream Realm....

-Other possible worlds that they could put in that would tie in with the theme that is searching for something/someone and fighting an inner darkness: Treasure Planet, Brave, Lion King 2, Princess and the Frog, Lilo and Stitch, Robin Hood, Pocahontas, Moana, Elena.... If we want something on time travel we’d end up with Cinderella 3.

-If there is a Star Wars world it would be with the Clone Wars TV show that they have. And if there is a Marvel world it would be in association with Thor or Captain America.

-Riku will just constantly be teasing Sora and Kairi about their fighting styles every time they are together.

NOW I’m done. I’m pretty sure I’m missing SOMETHING important that I can’t remember...... but that’s my headcanon and how I think kh3 is going to go. ))

[freedom-shamrock]

Subtle Valse Musette - Chapter 5

Also on AO3 Chp 1   Chp 2   Chp 3   Chp 4   Chp 5   Chp 6 Marichat May day # 28 - hostage situation

 This chapter includes intimidation, sass, a non graphic fight scene, and the phrase "moth fucker."

Initially, the only thing Marinette was aware of, was how dry her mouth felt.  After a couple of moments licking her lips and not finding any improvement she realized she couldn't move much.  She let out a groan of annoyance, and it echoed in the dark. She blinked her gritty eyes, wishing she could rub them, and tried to take stock of her situation.  

She appeared to be tied to a chair, and it wasn't a nice comfortable chair, but firm wood. She could still feel her feet and hands, but they were starting to get a little prickly.  Her neck was stiff from her head lolling to the side and she rocked it a bit to try to ease the muscles. The room was dark and disturbingly quiet. She tried to remember what had happened, where she'd been before whatever this was had happened.  She recalled her morning clearly. Breakfast at the dining hall, her history of textiles class. She wasn't sure about lunch. Was today the day of her big meeting with Mr. Agreste? Had she even made it? If she missed it, she was going to beat the crap out of whoever was responsible.

She took a deep breath to push down the panic rising in her chest.  She'd obviously been abducted or captured by someone. She pushed her ear against her shoulder, relieved to feel her miraculous stones safely where they belonged.  She had to assume Tikki was hiding, biding her time until they had a good chance. She was clever in a bind and would be on hand to help Marinette when the right moment presented.

There was a mechanical shushing noise, and a low purple light came on around the edges of the room, letting her get a better feel for the size of the place.  The room filled with an eerie fluttering sound. "Are you quite awake over there, Ms. Dupain-Cheng?" a man's voice asked. It was cold and haughty, and while it reminded her rather eerily of Adrien's father, she knew this voice.  She'd heard it when she and Chat Noir faced the akuma face of Hawk Moth at the Eiffel Tower during their first mission.

"What?"  She looked up and flinched.  Hawk Moth stood before her. A vision of gray and purple.  Instead of a simple domino mask like Ladybug, Chat, and Rena, he wore full face coif armor, and the effect was disturbing.  "Who are you? Where am I?" She was freaked out, but as someone who had faced akumas and horrible situations for years, she hadn't frozen in fear, unable to consider her options.

He grinned, which only made him look creepier.  "Surely you know the answer to that question," he drawled.

His entertainment at her expense brought up a rage that shoved aside her initial fear.  She glared at him. "I think you underestimate the strange costumes I've seen. You could be Hawk Moth's latest fashion disaster.  You're giving off the vibe of a badly managed sex dungeon refugee with a butterfly fetish. I guess there's a chance you're Hawk Moth himself.  But seriously, have you seen some of the things the more artsy theaters do?"  She'd helped design and create more than a few artsy theater costumes.  She shuddered, remembering burlap and sequins. "I'm kind of leaning in the butterfly kink direction at the moment, so you should probably clarify."

He scowled at her.  "I'm not sure you realize the precarious nature of your position, Ms. Dupain-Cheng."  His cool voice held a warning.

"Obviously."  She channeled Chloe Bourgeois and rolled her eyes.  "I just woke up in a dark room, tied to a hard chair, with no memory beyond lunch.  I'm kind of missing some critical information here."

Even with the mask, she could see his jaw clench.  "So instead of asking like a civilized human, you thought an attitude would help?"

She cocked one eyebrow.  "Have you not looked at yourself in a mirror in that getup?"  She closed her eyes and sighed. "I was trying to speak in a way a butterfly fucker would understand."  She paused. "No judgement, by the way. You do you. Or do your creepy flock of butterflies.  Whatever works."

His eyes were narrowed and angry.  "I am Hawk Moth. My akuma obey my commands; I do not have relations with them."

"Sure."  She intentionally sounded unconvinced.  "Are you going to akumatize me then?" she asked.  "Send me out to fail to retrieve the miraculous, only to be cured by Chat Noir and Ladybug?"  She shrugged, as much as was possible with her bindings. "Have at it. The sooner you slap me in one of your hideous costumes, the sooner I can get back to my day."  She was pretty sure it wouldn't work, but it was worth a try.

He turned his back on her for a moment before poking at something in his pocket.  A television screen on an arm slid out of the wall nearest her. "Please do enjoy the news."

It was a recorded broadcast from earlier in the day.  Nadja Chamack reported live at the Eiffel Tower as a large cloud of black and purple butterflies coalesced into the shape of Hawk Moth's head.  "Heroes of Paris," the mockery of a human face spoke with that same cold haughtiness. "You will all provide me your miraculous within the next two hours.  I'm through with your games. Chat Noir, I advise you to talk sense into your companions if you ever wish to see your darling friend Marinette again. Ladybug, there will be no negotiation. Your time starts now."

So he didn't realize he had Ladybug; that was promising.  How did Hawk Moth even know that Marinette knew Chat? Alya was the only person she'd told.  It didn't make sense. She decided to stretch out on a limb. "Uh, Hawk Man," she called, looking at him as he gazed out his butterfly-leaded window.  She saw his back tense. "I think you got some bad intel."

"Hawk Moth , not Hawk Man," he snapped.

"Fine, Hawk Moth fucker," she amended.

He whipped his head around to glare at her.

"I'm not friends with Chat Noir," she explained.  "I mean, I'd love to be, don't get me wrong. He is my favorite hero, and that guy can fill out a cat suit, if you know what I mean."  She figured it helped sell the lie because her Kit-cat was hot as hell and she was not blind to that.

"He's rescued you several times," Hawk Moth pointed out, unconvinced.

She rolled her eyes again.  "Yeah. Along with most of Paris.  And to be fair, you akumatized most of my classmates, so I have had a bit more need of being rescued than the average Parisian."

His eyes narrowed.  "You're working on hero themed designs for Paris' greatest fashion house."

The press release had made her abruptly popular at school, mostly with classmates who thought she could get them an in with the elusive Gabriel Agreste.  "Yeah. Lots of designers have done the same."

Hawk Moth took two steps closer.  "You got Chat Noir's approval on the first set of designs."

It was true, but now that he was mentioning it, she recalled meeting with Mr. Agreste.  It was hazy, but there. He'd been the only person she'd given that detail to, thinking it would lend her designs credibility.  "That's true, but it still doesn't mean we're friends. It's not hard to put out a call for one of the heroes. The Ladyblog has a whole section dedicated to such requests."  She shook her head. "I'm not nearly as high a bargaining chip as you think I am."

"So you're telling me you're worthless?" he asked in a low voice that dripped danger.  He gave a little tug on his cane, separating it into a sabre and sheath.

"I'm not worthless," she corrected.  This was definitely not the direction she wanted things to go while she was still tied up.  "But I'm not this… what did you call me? Darling friend?" She shook her head again. She felt sudden warmth in her hands.  Her bonds had come slightly loose, and something was nudging her fingers. She'd never been so relieved to feel Tikki's touch.

The leaded glass shattered, shards scattering across the floor as Chat Noir crashed through the window feet first.  His arc brought his heels into a perfect collision with Hawk Moth's shoulder, throwing the older man across the room, his sabre sliding well out of reach.  Chat snarled, sounding considerably more feral than she'd ever seen him, even as Ladybug. He seemed bigger, too.

Marinette pulled her hands free while Tikki magiced knots on her feet.  By the time she was free, Chat had somehow managed to pin Hawk Moth to the floor, roaring into the villain's face.  He was definitely bigger, with longer shaggier hair. The spikes on his tail whistled as it lashed through the air, a visual representation of his anger.  

"Easy Chat Noir," Carapace called as he leaped through the window, closely followed by Rena Rouge.  "You've caught him. No need to do more." His voice was gentle, but his green and gold eyes held concern.

Chat Growled at his ally.

"Stick with the plan Chat," Rena reminded, moving toward Marinette.  "Are you okay? Let's get you out of here," she suggested.

Marinette dodged the hand her best friend's alter ego held out and approached Chat Noir.  "I'm okay, Kit-cat," she said quietly. "You've saved me."

He looked up at her, his pupils a tighter slit than she was used to, and his mouth set in a grimace to accommodate very sharp teeth.  What had happened to him?

Hawk Moth screamed below him and Marinette realized Chat was digging his claws into the man's shoulders, piercing the hideous suit and the flesh beneath it.

She reached out to brush her fingers along Chat's jaw.  "It's okay. I'm safe." When and how did he get a transformation upgrade?  She could see that he was still her Chaton, but wow. He'd gone from overgrown house cat to a panther, bordering on terrifying.  "Let me help you."

He let out a slow breath and nodded.  With that, the tension she felt coming off the rest of the team dropped noticeably.  They weren't used to this Chat either.

She looked down at Hawk Moth, critically assessing him the same way she would search for an akumatized item.  She reached down and plucked off the butterfly brooch at his neck. It immediately transformed into a button pin, and a wave of purple light washed over Hawk Moth to reveal Gabriel Agreste, Chat's claws still buried in his shoulders.

Chat Noir lowered his face to the other man's and let out a roar that shook the room, sending the shards of glass tinkling and scattering.

"Kit-cat?" Marinette said quietly.  "Let the horrible man go." She was half surprised when he obeyed.

Chat straightened up and rubbed his cheek against hers, filling the room with a rumble that rivaled most cars in volume.

Rena came over with the ropes that had previously bound Marinette to a chair, and tied Mr. Agreste's feet together.  "In a perfect world, I'd want the A team here for this," she said, standing up but not getting too much closer to Marinette or Chat.  "But we haven't been able to reach Ladybug all evening, and Chat's clearly in no condition to meet with the police or the press." She looked conflicted, and Marinette was pretty sure she wanted to bring her friend home safe.

"Chat, can you bring Marinette home?" Carapace asked slowly, stepping into Chat's field of vision.  "I kind of think you two have some stuff to talk about."

Marinette frowned at that ominous statement.  "What do you mean?" she asked.

Chat growled at Carapace, who simply raised his eyebrows.  "Do not go there, dude," he chastised, before looking at Marinette.  "It's his business to tell you." He gestured to the broken window with one green gloved hand.  "The police are on their way, dude. If you can get her home safely, I suggest you do that now. She's probably hungry and tired."

"Mari… Marinette?" Rena said quickly.  "Before you go to bed, try to jot down anything you can remember from today so you'll have it for the investigation.  One of us will be by with the name and contact information of a good trauma therapist tomorrow. Tonight, just do what feels safe and comforting, okay?"

Marinette nodded, feeling bad for her friend, being forced to split her focus between her job as a superhero and her role as Marinette's bestie.  "Thank you." She looked at each of them in turn. "For saving me and for taking down Hawk Moth."

Carapace shook his head.  "We were totally backup. You and Chat mostly took care of it yourselves.  And we appreciate the help." He winced. "Ladybug might kill us later, but you're safe.  Paris is safe, and that's the really important stuff."

Marinette glanced back at Gabriel.  "Someone should go see Adrien," she said.  "He's an old friend of mine, and… I'm worried how he'll handle this."  She didn't like thinking about that. "Tell him he can come to me or my parents if he needs anything."  Chat purred again, pressing his face to hers.

"I'll go see him when we're done with the police," Carapace said.  

Chat scooped Marinette up.  "Home."

"Yes please."  She felt her adrenaline crashing and let herself sag against him.

This started as a 30 minute speed write, but I hit the 5 minute warning timer and realized the only way to finish it properly was to take the time to do so. And I wasn't able to wrap it up until this morning.

One more chapter to come on this story, probably tomorrow (hoping to wrap up both remaining Marichat May stories tomorrow).