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broiderie · 8 months

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Lost Princessa: Meet the Reaper 23

It's finally here guys. SO sorry. This had been a hell of a summer. Not to get too into detail, but I've been dealing with heart trouble all summer. Recovery just isn't as swift as I'd like it to be - especially with me still working full time and sometimes a lot more.

I'm not getting a lot written every day so I'm behind. Very behind. I am still writing. It's just behind as hell.

Without further ado - here we go.

As always, please do not repost, translate, or otherwise reuse my work.

Warnings: none as far as I know. I don't think I even curse in this one. As always let me know if I missed something. This is a fluffy daddy-daughter day.

Hank chuckled as Megan broke down into a fit of giggles at her godfather and aunt’s play. She snuggled back into his lap and lifted her face to his for a kiss. He kissed her gently and smiled again.

“So… what do we do until the meeting?” she asked.

“Well… You are going to take it easy, Poquito. You’ve been going nonstop for days,” Bishop said, sipping his coffee.

“But Tío…”

“Don’t ‘but Tío’ me in that cute voice. I know you’re healing just fine, but even so - a day of rest won’t hurt you.” He smiled softly. “Don’t make me assign you a babysitter. Your prima would be happy to oblige, I’m sure.”

Taza laughed at the pout Megan was giving the Mayan president. “How about a compromise, Chica?”

She perked up a little. “Like what, Papa?”

“If you promise to take it easy, we’ll go to the tack shop and find you a saddle, hmm? One with stirrups short enough for you to ride.”

Megan’s face brightened considerably. “I promise not to overdo it, Papa,” she assured him.

He looked to Bishop. “Fair enough?”

Bishop nodded. “Fair enough. But it’ll have to be without Hank.” He looked at the large Mayan who was cradling her still. “I need you with me today. Need to start planning the next shipment for Galindo.”

Hank sighed and nodded. “Alright.” He glanced down to meet Megan’s big brown eyes. “You’ll be okay with Taza, right?”

She smiled a little and nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

He pressed a kiss to her lips and smiled. “Any chance I could talk you into taking my bank card with you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Not in the least.”

Diana laughed as Hank made a face. She looked to Marcus with a small smile. “And you, mi rey?”

Marcus affectionately tugged her off the arm of his chair and into his lap. “I am spending the day with my girls before they have to head back.”

Tessa peeked around the kitchen doorway. “Really, Papa? The whole day?”

He smiled and waved her in to sit her on his other knee. “Until I have my meeting this evening - yes. The whole day.”

As the dishes were finished, both clubs split up to take care of day to day tasks. Marcus took Diana and Tessa to the movies for family time. Bishop, Creeper, Riz and Hank split for the clubhouse to begin discussing routes for the next heroin protection run. And the others all split off to do their own things leaving Taza and Megan home alone.

Megan quickly went to get her boots on - cowboy boots today - and slipped her back up gun into her ankle holster. She used the waist holster today for her 9mm to better conceal it under her hoody.

Taza rapped at the door gently. “Want your hair done, Chica?”

“Please, Papa? It should be dry enough now.”

He grinned and moved to stand behind her at her dressing table. “How do you want it today?”

“Can we just do one braid today? I’m going to wear my hat.”

“Of course.” He quickly french braided her hair into one long braid, fastening it with the hair tie she handed him. He reached and got her cowboy hat from where it hung on the corner of her dresser mirror and handed it to her to settle. “Beautiful, Sweetheart. Let’s go get our kuttes on so we can head out.”

Megan settled the off white hat on her head with her good hand and smiled. “Alright, Papa.”

Megan picked up Rex’s leash from the hook by the door, but left his harness. His collar would be enough for the feed store.

Taza loaded Rex with a smile and settled into the driver's seat of Megan’s Mustang. He’s already helped Megan to buckle up and now it was time to fulfill the promise he’d made her on her second day of knowing him. They were going to get her a saddle.

The tack and feed store was on the other side of town from the ranch, but neither of them minded the short drive. They spent the time talking about what kind of tack Megan preferred.

Taza was surprised when Megan admitted that she’d owned two different kinds - a roping saddle and an Australian saddle.

“I figured you had a roping saddle. I saw the videos of you doing goat tying. I just figured that’s what you always rode,” he said smiling at her when they stopped at a red light.

“Well - I loved my roping saddle, but it wasn’t practical for cutting competitions. I couldn’t grip the saddle horn well enough to stay on. My Aussie had breakaway stirrups and a much taller horn. Besides, it was so much larger than my roping saddle. That meant I could ride the bigger cattle horses.”

Taza shook his head, amazed at how she could break down the sports that she spent her teenage years doing. “Well Chica, we can probably find you a roper today. We can ask about the Australian though. I don’t think that’s a common saddle here.”

She laughed. “I’ll ride anything that I can reach the stirrups on, Papa. I’m not picky.”

It wasn’t long before Taza parked the Mustang in front of a small, rundown store outside town. Megan could see silos behind the building and a peeling sign that stated that it was the “Feed Store”. Taza quickly came around to help Megan out of the car and unload Rex.

“Alright, Chica, c’mon. I want to introduce you to Evan. He does barn chores for me when I need him to. He’s also the one who will be delivering the feed, so we should probably introduce him to Rex so he doesn’t get eaten next delivery.” He grinned as Megan settled her hat better and adjusted Rex’s leash so that she’d have better control over the big dog.

“Lead the way, Papa.”

After introducing Megan and Rex to the teenager who Taza paid to take care of his hoofstock, Taza led the way to the back room of the store. There were racks of saddles there, new and used.

Megan took a deep breath and smelled saddle soap and leather. She smiled and felt the smile grow as she moved to examine the saddles closer.

Taza chuckled and tugged Rex’s leash out of her hand. “Go on Chica. See what you can find.”

Megan never stopped smiling as she went to work. She kept coming back to a black saddle with minimal tooling on it though. It was a Mexican Roping saddle which meant the saddle horn was larger than the one she’d had in Tennessee, but the stirrup length was highly adjustable. There was very little decoration on it. Just a few stars tooled into the skirting in black on black along with a single star on the saddle horn. She finally looked up at Taza. “Papa?”

“Sí, Chica. Is that the one you want?” he asked.

“If you don’t mind…”

Taza chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind any of them, Sweet Chica.” He called Evan over. “Do you have a breast band and bridle that match that one?”

Evan checked the item number. “We do. The bridle has star conchos on it in silver.”

“We’ll take them then. And a saddle pad,” Taza said. He grinned at Megan. “I tend to double blanket, so the saddle pad can just go under the blanket you pick.”

She laughed. “Alright. But I don’t know if this one will fit Trucker. He’s huge.”

Evan checked the size. “You won’t be able to double blanket him, but it should fit well enough for trails. Shouldn’t be a problem with Rocket and Sugar though.”

Megan breathed a sigh of relief.

Taza grinned. “She’ll probably be on Rocket the most. She was a barrel racer,” he explained to the boy.

“Ah yeah. That one will fit Rocket real well. It’ll look real pretty against his coat too,” Evan said. “I’ve got that new snaffle in for you too, Taza, and I’ll find a black tie-down to add to this for the ranch trails. Need anything else?”

Taza looked to Megan who shook her head. “I think that’s it Ev. Just add it all to my bill this month, will you? And can you deliver the saddle this evening?”

“Sure. No problem. You want me to ring you up now or…” the teen asked.

“Just charge it, please. Megan doesn’t do well when she knows the prices of things.” Taza chuckled as Megan stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

Even grinned. “Yes, sir. I’ll bring it by when I come to muck out this evening.”

“Good.”

After a little more polite chit chat, Taza excused them from Evan and they loaded back up in Megan’s Mustang. He grinned as he settled into the driver’s seat. “Ready, Chica?”

Megan looked puzzled. “For what, Papa?”

“Well - I’ve got you all to myself until this evening so I thought we’d do something fun.” He slid his round sunglasses on and handed Megan gers.

That made her giggle as she slid on her own. “Alright. So where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Megan smiled and settled down into her seat as Taza drove. Every once in a while, Rex would nudge her good arm with his enormous head for scritches.

They weren’t driving very long when Megan caught sight of a ferris wheel in the distance. “Papa. Are we going to a carnival?” She looked at him excitedly.

He laughed. “Your tíos saw a poster for it. They’ve got a rodeo going today too.”

Her eyes lit up even more. “Seriously?”

Taza nodded. “Probably just the minor and pre-events. The big stuff like bull riding and the finals will be tonight while we’re in Mexico. I thought maybe we’d have some fun on the midway and watch a few events.”

Megan bounced in her seat. “That sounds awesome!”

Taza chuckled and shifted gears to turn down the gravel road. He paid for them to park in the field across from the midway. After helping Megan out of the car, he put the top up to keep the dust out.

A few minutes later they were walking through the gates to the middle of the carnival.

With Megan’s arm still injured, rides were out of the question, but the games were still an option. Taza bought Megan some cotton candy and won her a stuffed duck throwing baseballs at milk bottles. When it came to the shooting games though, Megan beat his score every time. He had great aim, but Megan was still better even one handed.

As it approached lunch time, Taza convinced Megan to eat from one of the local charity booths. He ordered them both ribeye sandwiches with cokes. Once they’d claimed their food, he led the way to the arena in the back. Megan chose seats halfway up the metal bleachers in the center of the stands. As they situated themselves, the announcer came over the loudspeaker.

“Ladies and gentlemen - it is now time for our junior girls speed competition. These beautiful young ladies will compete for the best time as they dodge in and out, weaving between these poles on their horses. May the best lady win!”

“Ooh! This is a fun event,” Megan said, sharing a bite of her sandwich with Rex.

“Yeah? Did you ever compete in it?” Taza asked smiling as he watched her sit forward to see.

“Once or twice before I was really old enough to ride barrels. It takes a different skill set than barrels does. Your horse can’t be just fast. They need to be able to change direction really quickly too.” She pointed at the horse and rider entering the arena. “Oh - these are the littles too. They’re so cute.”

Taza chuckled at the girl who was lining up to run. She was probably a pre-teen, but her shirt and tack shone with rhinestones. “I kinda wish I had pictures of you from your first rodeo day.”

Megan laughed. “I wasn’t nearly as sparkly and shiny, I assure you. I think when I rode my first time, I’d just been thrown while exercising one of the ropers' horses and was covered in red clay dirt and manure.” She thought about it. “It probably wouldn’t hurt to contact my old coach though. We might be able to find some.”

Taza smiled. “Yeah? You think?”

“Maybe -” Megan sat up straight. ��Oooh - here she goes!”

Taza laughed as Megan cheered each little girl at the top of her lungs. He had to remind her to eat between competitions.

Two events later, the loud speaker crackled to life. “Ladies and gentlemen, we will now release a group of calves into our arena. You will notice that each animal has a number. For our next competition, these young people will be cutting a specific animal from the herd and keeping it separated for a set amount of time. It’s now time for our junior cutting competition.”

Megan grinned at him and bounced in her seat a little.

Taza smiled back. “That was your event, right?”

“Mmmhmm. These are the juniors though, so if it’s like back home they’ll probably be like eleven to fifteen. I started in the seniors when I was sixteen. Some of the ones at home had been doing it their entire lives though so they could have easily taken on older competitors.” She shifted excitedly on the hard bleacher seat and absently scratched Rex’s ears.

“So- what’s key here? What should I watch for?” he asked curiously. He loved how animated she got when she talked about it.

“Well - we’d draw a number and separate the matching steer or calf from the herd. We had to keep it separate for a certain amount of time depending on what level we were competing at.”

“Sounds pretty self explanatory…” he prompted.

Megan grinned. “Except you have to do it without appearing to move at all with the perfect form while your horse turns on two feet.”

While they were talking the arena workers had released about twenty older calves into the ring. The calves all milled around nervously. The first competitor was announced and a young girl entered on a horse that almost looked too big for her.

Megan grinned again. “Watch. She’s trying to find her target.”

Taza watched as the girl slowly moved the horse into the herd. Once she’d spotted the number 99 on the side of a calf, she managed to quickly separate it from the herd.

“Oh! She’s got it! Now the fun part…”

Taza watched as the girl gripped her saddle horn with one hand and appeared to lay her other hand down and not move the reins. The horse wheeled and spun on its back feet to cut the calf off as it tried to dart back to the herd. It didn’t look physically possible for the tiny girl to stay in the saddle. He winced as the horse ran full out to block the calf again before spinning to cut it back off when it changed direction. The entire time the little girl on its back held tight and didn’t move the reins from the horse’s neck.

“Is she in control or is the horse just that well trained?” he asked Megan in an awestruck tone without taking his eyes off the arena.

Megan chuckled. “Probably a bit of both. She’s using micro movements and weight shifts mostly. We just can’t see them from up here. Either she was raised in that particular horse’s saddle or that’s a beautifully trained animal. She’ll probably take the competition.” She smiled as the buzzer sounded and the girl picked up the reins to tell the horse to release the calf.

Taza took a deep breath. “How old were you when you started to do this competition again?” He turned back to her with wonder on his face.

“Seriously? About fourteen. I dabbled the year before that, but never had my own horse to actually get very far. Honestly the politics of it is insane off the circuit. When you only ride shows and not rodeos like this - you usually end up burned out from the damn politics and not the riding. Rodeo is better. There’s no ‘girls vs. boys’.” Megan shrugged as best she could.

“Damn Chica. Did you ever get really injured?” Taza’s forehead creased in worry.

“Mostly dislocated shoulders. Had a mare fall with me once. I got caught in the stirrup and couldn’t bail. I got lucky though. Broken arm, ankle and ribs. After that, I always rode breakaway stirrups.” Megan turned back to the arena as a boy in his early teens started his run. “Nope - too sloppy,” she muttered.

Taza watched the kid as his thoughts raced. His daughter had ridden this competition. This dangerous sport. She’d been injured - seriously, from the sound of it - but thought nothing of it. He watched Megan out of the corner of his eye as she continued to enjoy the event.

A few kids later, the arena M.C. asked them to clear the arena. Taza glanced down at his watch. It was getting late.

Megan caught the movement and smiled. She knew Taza didn’t want to drag her away from the rodeo. “Papa?”

“Yes, Chica?” he asked, meeting her eyes.

“Can we get a caramel apple before we go? They’re my favorite,” she said, standing to stretch a bit. “I’m getting stiff sitting on these bleachers.”

Taza chuckled and stood as well. “Of course. Let’s go find you one. Maybe some more cotton candy too.”

Back at the car, Taza loaded Rex and then helped Megan back into her seat. She was contentedly munching on a corn dog. Taza sat the bag with the other treats in it in the Mustang’s center console. They’d gotten Megan’s caramel apples in a few different flavors as well as kettle corn and more cotton candy for home. A giant cup of fresh lemonade was in the cup holder between them. He started the engine and they pulled out of the field where they’d parked and back out onto the gravel road.

“Thank you, Papa. That was a lot of fun,” Megan said as she leaned her head back in her seat.

“You’re welcome, Sweet Chica. The rodeo was eye opening. I never really paid that much attention to the little events.” He patted her knee. “I’d like to see you compete one day.”

Megan smiled softly. “It would be fun, but cutting horses are expensive. We’d have to find one already trained. I don’t have the skills to train one on my own.”

Taza turned onto the main road and headed back towards the clubhouse. “We could ask Evan to keep a look out for one though. I think I will. I’ve got plenty of room for another horse even if you decide not to compete.”

She laughed.

At the clubhouse, Hank met them as Taza parked the car. The ignition wasn’t even off before he had Megan’s door open and he was helping her unbuckle. Megan giggled as he guided her out of the passenger seat and straight into a deep kiss.

Taza laughed and let Rex out on his side.

“Damn bro - let the Princessa breathe. She wasn’t gone that long!” Angel called from the clubhouse porch.

Megan wrapped her good arm around Hank’s neck and flipped Angel off with a giggle.

“Oh - I see how it is, Shorty. See if I save your ass from him again,” Angel grumbled loudly.

Hank finally broke the kiss with a chuckle. “Welcome back, mi amore. Did you find a saddle?”

Taza shook his head exasperatedly but grinned at Bishop. “We weren’t gone THAT long.”

Bishop grinned. “Long enough for Hank to realize that he left without giving you her pain pills. He’s been worried sick all damn day.”

Taza started as he realized Bishop was right. He hadn’t had her pills which meant that she’d been without pain relief all day. “Shit! Why didn’t he call or text? We’d have come and got them.” He turned to watch Hank murmuring a question to Megan.

Bishop shrugged. “I told him you’d call if she needed them.” He nodded at where Megan was shaking her head and popping up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to el pacificador’s mouth. “Looks like she is just fine to me, Hermano.”

Taza sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

“Did you end up taking her to that carnival?” Bishop asked as Taza climbed the stairs and accepted the beer Bishop held out to him.

That made him grin. “We did and we watched some events at the rodeo too. Even caught the cutting competition.” He shook his head. “Brother - it brings a whole new appreciation for her tenacity watching that event with her.”

Bishop grinned. “Maybe we all need to go sometime.”

“Megan would probably love that.” Taza went back to the car to pull out one of the caramel apples. “C’mon Chica. Let’s go cut up your apple,” he said with a grin. “Much easier to eat that way.”

Once everyone was back in the bar and Megan’s apple had been cut, they settled in to wait for Marcus and Chibs. It was time to go meet Adelita.

taglist:

@jemmakates

@msjava1972

@drabbles-mc

@delightfulheroshoeflap

@xeniarocks

@iamthegraham

@oureternalbond

@lyly00

@camelia35

@anaeve

@tallrock35

#lost princessa #mayans mc #meet the reaper #taza x daughter!oc #che taza romero #hank loza #lost princessa sequel #megan(oc) x hank #mayans mc fanfic #bishop losa #angel reyes

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biggest-stupidhead · 3 years

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Hi! :D I saw that request are open, soo can you do a reader x levi where reader and reiner were a couple, but she found out about him being the armor titan and now she is a mess and levi is making her forget about reiner or something like that, pretty please? 🥺

Oooo I like it :)

Summary: Reader is heartbroken with the revelation of the identities of the Armored and Colossal titans.

Word Count: 1.8K

You sat numbly at the dining room table. It had been one day since Reiner and Bertolt revealed their secret. You and the others were still in shock, denial even for some of you. Connie sat to your left, his face in his hands, shoulders slumped. Levi and Hange had left you and the others alone to update the commander on the current situation. It felt wrong, to be without the blonde, someone who had slipped into your heart and become a constant in your life effortlessly. Someone you trusted implicitly with all your heart, he had been more than a comrade to you. More than a friend even, the two of you shared countless nights under the stars during your cadet days, talking about anything and everything. But now you wandered if it was all an act, an elaborate scheme to blend into the ranks, seem human. Because no human being could slip between roles the way that they had. But he had felt human when you kissed him, held him, talked to him.

“Your turn to be on duty.” Sasha said, coming into the small space, shotgun slung over her shoulder. Mikasa held an armful of kindling, which she set near the stove before turning to retreat into the back room where Eren was resting.

“Okay Sash.” Connie said, his tone deflated and dull. Sasha handed you the shotgun and Connie shrugged a cloak on, pulling the hood over his head as the two of you walked out into the night. You stood on the makeshift towers that had been constructed, looking up at the same stars that you’d gazed at with Reiner ages ago. It was all so fresh, the sting of the steam hitting your face as they transformed, the clap of thunder. The way he had begun throwing titans left and right with no regard for his former comrades, for you. All of you had nearly died in the fiasco, yet you couldn’t bring yourself to be mad at him. No you were just plain hurt. Connie perked up beside you, pushing his hood down when the sound of hooves thundering down the deserted path became clear.

“They’re back.” Connie stated the obvious as he climbed down the tower, you followed him. Once the superiors arrived you took the reins of their horses and rushed to put them away, eager to hear your next orders. With the horses fed and watered you both ran back into the cabin. You hung the rifle by the door and Connie threw his cloak onto one of the coat hooks. The others had already gathered at the table, Historia sat at the head of the table, a humble meal was prepared and placed on the table, soup and stale bread as always. You listened as Historia told you her story, of her true identity and what that meant for all of you. Levi and Hange informed you that the government was fed up with the scouts and planned to punish Erwin Smith. Everything was falling apart, the little family that you had found was about to come crumbling down once more. As soon as Levi gave the order for all of you to go to bed, the cadets fled to the two rooms, one for the girls the other for the boys. Hange left once more, something about checking up on the pastor and keeping Erwin company. You were doing dishes with Armin who was drying them with shaky hands.

“Go to bed, I can finish this.” You assured him, wanting to be alone and do a mindless task to help you dissociate.

“I couldn’t-”

“I need this Armin, just go to sleep.” You came across a bit hostile but at the moment you couldn’t care less. He frowned but set the towel aside and retreated with slumped shoulders. Levi cleared his throat from behind you as he came back into the kitchen. You didn’t even spare him a glance as he reached into the cupboard for the tea leaves, he filled the tea pot with water and began to boil the water. As he waited he sat at the kitchen table in silence.

“Finish those and head to bed.” His cold voice made you jump a bit, due to the randomness of his order.

“Yes sir.” You answered as you scrubbed at the ancient dishes. Your hands were sore, they had been burned during your assault on Bertolt. The bandages were wet now, the salve Hange had applied earlier in the day had long since dried up. As you finished the last dish you turned and dried your hands off, a involuntary hiss escaping your lips as you applied too much pressure to your wounds.

“What’s wrong cadet?” Levi asked as he poured hot water over the bitter leaves.

“It’s nothing, just burned my hands yesterday...” You answered as you pulled at the bandages.

“Hm I see.” Levi mused as he reached into the cupboard once more, you watched him carefully, waiting for him to tell you to get lost. But instead he produced another cup, pouring tea into it and walked over towards the door. You watched, confused when he paused before the door.

“Bring the roll of bandages and that salve Hange had earlier. They’re in that bag over there.” He said with a vague nod in the direction of the humble living room. You found the bandages and salve, you carried them out into the cool summer evening, the sound of cicadas and tree frogs felt familiar and comforting. You found him on the porch on one of the rickety old chairs. The cups were steaming as they sat on a small round table, he watched you with a dull expression as you sat in the other chair and placed the bandages and salve on the table.

“Let me see them.” He sighed, holding his hands out, his own palms were littered with callouses and old scars. You timidly obeyed, placing the backs of your hands in his palms. He inspected the bandages for a moment before he began to unwrap them. You watched as he uncovered your wrecked palms, the flesh red and blistered from doing the dishes and other chores all day long.

“You should have said something.” Levi scolded as he unscrewed the lid of the salve and dipped a finger into the cool substance.

“It wouldn’t have been fair. We’re all injured.” You pointed out as he began to smear the salve onto your left palm.

“You’re no good to me if your hands get infected and need to be amputated.” He shot back, his dark eyes focused on the task at hand, you frowned but said nothing.

“I suppose.” You said after a moment, your eyes taking the opportunity to study his features as he worked, the soft curve of his nose, prominent cheek bones and delicate brows. He was undeniably handsome, you had known this obviously, the women of the walls always threw themselves at his feet.

“Tomorrow you will do look out rotations instead of cleaning or getting wood. Your hands need to heal.” He stated as he wrapped your left palm back up in fresh bandages. The burning had subsided with the aid of the salve, now he turned his attention to your other hand.

“Yes sir.” You answered obediently as you watched him unwrap the bandages once more.

“How is your knee?” You attempted to make conversation, eyes traveling to inspect the injured knee. He paused and looked up at you, his eyes weren’t as hard as they’d been moments ago, the sudden softness caught you off guard.

“Better.” He answered with a clipped tone as he held your hand tenderly. His thumb rubbed the space over the inside of your wrist and your brows raised in shock.

“You were close with them?” His words and actions alike caught you off guard, you blinked dumbly at him as he waited for an answer.

“I was....” You said, his grip on your wrist tightened then eased up almost instantly.

“It’s a shame. They were good soldiers.” He said nonchalantly as he ran his salve covered fingers over your torn skin.

“Yes.” was all you could manage as he began to wrap your wounds. When he finished he sat back, crossing his legs, one ankle resting on his opposite knee. He reached for his cup and took a sip of the bitter tea, eyes wandering to scan the forest. Not knowing what else to do, you grabbed your own cup with your freshly wrapped hands and took a sip of the calming liquid.

“Where are you from cadet?” Levi asked, once more shocking you.

“A small village in wall Maria.” you answered, the memory of your cozy home and the unfortunate end that it met coming to your mind.

“Hm, that why you joined the scouts?” He mused, eyes still not on you.

“Yes, mainly.”

“Mainly?” He looked at you now, eyes curious.

“I wanted to fight alongside my brother.” You answered, remembering how he had been killed by the female titan during the 57th.

“Ah I remember him now.” Levi said, his tone soft and understanding.

“Good soldier, he would be....proud of you I’m sure.” You looked at him with wide eyes, he was being so kind. Did he put something in his tea?

“I can only hope...” You said, taking another sip of the tea, hoping now that there was alcohol in it to calm your nerves and help make sense of this weird situation.

“We must remember our fallen, that’s what I fight for, their memory.” Levi said, the vulnerability in his voice making your heart skip a beat. He had lost people too in that expedition, their deaths were the only reason that you’d been assigned to his squad.

“Yeah..” you said lamely as you tried to make sense of where all of this was coming from.

“Sir?” You started, unsure of if the next words you were going to speak would be appropriate or not.

“Hm what is it?” He asked over the rim of his cup.

“C-Could you...tell me a story or something? I can’t stop thinking about-”

“What do I look like? Your mother?” He snorted, setting his cup down, you blushed profusely, instantly regret flooding your chest.

“No forget about it, it’s stupid” You said, shaking your head and standing quickly. Levi leaned forward and caught your wrist.

“Sit.” You dropped back into your seat without a second thought.

“I guess...I could tell you about the time-” He trailed off, a thoughtful expression replacing his dull one. You found yourself admiring the rare expression fondly.

“The time that I had to knock Hange unconscious to bathe her, filthy animal.” Levi scoffed and leaned back into his seat when he saw that you were no longer trying to get away.

“That sounds perfect.” You sighed and sat back as well, ready to hear about the antics that Hange and Levi went through to get your mind off of the betrayal.

“She got into some mud after a mission, wouldn’t bathe. Said there was too much work to do-” You closed your eyes, letting the baritone voice wash over your senses and sweep any other thoughts out of your mind. That night you fell asleep to Levi’s voice for the first time and the melody of cicadas and tree frogs.

Kinda got carried away with this one. Honestly feels a bit cheesy but I kinda like it.

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bellesque · 4 years

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can I request a Loki/reader fan fic where Loki and the reader are dating but their sex has been pretty vanilla because he is worried about hurting or scaring her with his darker dominant side and his strength but one day he discovers she is actually into that and he indulges her wishes please? happy birthday and thank you for this!

Kneel (Loki x Reader)

Read on my AO3.

Summary:

Loki’s a little banged up from battle, you’ve got some very specific (read: dirty) thoughts, and you find that’s all it takes for the God of Mischief to indulge in a few of your fantasies.

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 3.4K

Warnings/Tags: Smut (duh), Rough Sex, Wall Sex, Cum Play, Overstimulation, Blow Jobs, Slight Dom/sub Dynamics

A/N: My birthday was on the 12th okay YES I KNOW THIS IS SO LATE but I hope you guys enjoy the first of the three fic requests! Loki kind of just took it his own direction, I’m not sure what happened—anyway, if you guys want a part two to this just let me know hihi okay enjoy!

Tag List: @shiningloki @imnotrevealingmyname @wolfsmom1 @hanyasnape @lukeyirwy @toozmanykids (Tag List is currently open! If you’d like to be a part of it, let me know!)

YOU SHOULDN’T BE lying on your cozy spring mattress, with Loki’s arm sprawled across your waist, entirely comfortable, sated from sex, and yet somehow wide awake.

You should be asleep. As knocked out, if not more, as Loki is right now. His breath comes in even pants behind you, a telling sign of the quality of his current rest. While you’re relaxed and your mind is absolutely prepared for bed, you can’t seem to fall into a state of drowsiness.

There are a few late night musings that currently keep you from it. Mostly about, well, sex.

Not that you’re complaining. Loki’s fantastic in bed. He’s gentle, he’s passionate, he’s nurturing and careful… maybe to a fault.

Again. Not that you’re complaining.

It’s just when you date someone like Loki, a literal god, you expect a little more… spice. A little less nice.

But why the restraint? It baffles you. You can tell he’s holding himself back. When you think Loki’s about to slam into you, bruise your hips with the harsh grip of his fingers, he rocks into you with long, slow strokes, kissing your neck and murmuring how amazing you are.

Again. You’re not complaining.

But you wouldn’t be opposed to a little more… bite. As much as you love his romantic lovemaking, you essentially, well—you want to get fucked.

And you’ve tried to make it happen. On multiple occasions. You wrestled him onto his back once, topping him right in the middle of sex. You were expecting him to put you back in your place, even at least instruct you from his position underneath you, but Loki only let you ride him, unbothered in the least.

Okay, maybe you weren’t clear. Maybe he just thought you wanted to try a new position. Fair, fine—it was only the first attempt, you told yourself.

The second time around, you thought you were a bit clearer with your intentions. You got on all fours, wiggling your ass at him as you arched your back and whispered in a sultry tone, “Come get it, mischief.”

Except he rubbed a palm over your ass once and flipped you right over.

It’s not that you’re undesirable. You know Loki loves you with his whole heart. Your gut tells you that there’s more to the rejection to your advancements than he lets on.

Do you come on too strong?

No, you’re sure you don’t. You got the tiniest taste of the forbidden fruit once and just from that, you just know the desire is somewhere inside him, buried deep.

Oh, that moment. That singular, unrestrained moment gives you shudders until now.

You clenched around his cock particularly hard, and Loki rutted into you with a sharp snap of his hips, burying himself deeper, his teeth biting at your earlobe.

You let out a surprised gasp of pleasure… and that was it.

So what do you have to do to get that moment again, repeated into hours and hours of mindblowing, rough sex?

(As it turns out, nothing.)

You drape Loki’s arm over your shoulders, doing your best not to buckle under the weight of him. He’s so fucking heavy, and he knows that—instead of putting his weight onto you, he pulls you closer towards him like some kind of reverse crutch. You huff in frustration. “Lean on me.”

“Which would leave us one too many injured. No, thank you.”

You pull on his singed sleeve. “Lean.”

“Can you handle it?” Loki manages to sound amused despite the current grimace on his face.

A flare of annoyance rises in you together with a fleeting thrill. “I-I can handle it,” you say, neck heating up at the double meaning.

He probably doesn’t think much of it. But you—it’s been eating at your subconscious for a consistent few nights now. Especially when you’ve watched him train every day, those lean muscles rippling and covered in a light sheen of sweat, in preparation for today’s battle.

One which you know he lost.

You and Loki are quiet when you enter the Tower in the dead of night. The weight of defeat hangs heavy in the air, and Loki’s stiff and distracted when you enter the elevator and punch in the button to your designated floor. Carefully you maneuver around him, making sure not to brush against any of his bruises and scrapes, and tilt his chin so you can see him in the elevator light.

Loki gazes at you affectionately, some of his previous frustrations now disappearing from the creases in his face. “You’re awfully concerned, little one. Have you forgotten Asgardians heal faster than mortals?”

“Just let me look at you.”

“You’ve looked at me before.”

“I don’t need your smartass mouth right now.” You brush your thumb against the corner of his mouth, noticing a cut running along his top lip. You soften. “What happened?”

Loki exhales, his expression hardening when he turns away. Your hand falls from his face and the elevator dings. Wordlessly you support him as you walk to your room, keeping in step with him and making sure his limp isn’t too bad.

But hell. He’s heavy.

Once you make it inside, you don’t press further—instead you clean his wounds, help him bathe, and make sure he eats and drinks despite his insistent “I’m fine.” You wear him down. It’s part of your charm. It’s what you do best.

Loki holds you after that. Says nothing about the battle of today’s mission, or his scars; he tucks your head under his chin and rubs your back while you listen to the steady beat of his heart until it lulls you into sleep.

“Do you want to see?”

The deep rumble of Loki’s voice makes you stir. You open your eyes, groggy, and peer up at him. From the looks of it, he’s been awake for a while, staring contemplatively at the ceiling.

“What?” you say, a beat late. You admire his face, no matter how stoic he seems right now.

He looks at you. His face has mostly healed, the cut on his lip now a light scar. “What happened.”

You perk up immediately. “Only if you want to. I mean, you can trust me.”

Loki nods, bringing your foreheads together. Instantly you’re a spectator in the middle of battle. The stench of blood and sweat are pungent in the air, the clatter and clang of weapons mixed with battle cries roaring in your ears. There, a few feet away from you, is Loki.

Pride and attraction weave together and swell inside you as you watch Loki in his element. Graceful. Cunning. Strong. Powerful. You’ve seen him fight, but… but not like this.

His opponent moves to punch him—but Loki catches his fist easily. He anticipates it. Doesn’t even flinch. His heels don’t dig into the dirt like his opponent’s do. The scepter in his other hand pulses blue and he kicks it off the ground, using the momentum to swing it into the man’s face.

“Yield,” he growls, shoving the scepter’s blade against the man’s crumpled form.

Ah, fuck—the way you mishear it and think he says kneel doesn’t exactly help your tendency to gravitate towards dirty thoughts. Your pussy clenches as an image of Loki snarling that single word to you flashes in your mind. You see yourself submitting pretty easily, sinking down onto your knees, eyes trained on his Loki’s pleasured face, and—

The room comes back into focus as you’re whipped back to reality. Loki’s staring at you with wide, curious eyes. Near disbelief, pulled with slight awe.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

His beautiful green eyes darken, a smirk stretching across his lips. Butterflies erupt in your stomach and your heart slams against your ribcage as Loki slowly rolls on top of you, pinning you beneath him.

“I saw… while our minds were connected…” He laughs in a short, breathy kind of way, head falling on your shoulder and nipping at your collarbone. A sharp spike of arousal courses within you. “Oh, sweet, is that what you want? For me to ask you to…” He brings his mouth against your ear, dropping his voice to a seductive purr. “Kneel?”

A shudder slides down your spine.

“Or perhaps”—he trails the tip of his tongue around the helix of your ear—“a command.” Loki bites down on your earlobe, quick and sharp and hard, and heat pools like molten lava in your center. “Kneel.”

Your head is spinning. How is it that you’re so turned on already?

Loki shoves a hand between your legs and you whimper. His fingers hook at your damp underwear, pulling it to the side and trailing a finger along your seam.

“Look at how excited you are,” he breathes. “Already so wet, my love?”

You release a shaky exhale. “Loki…”

He pushes himself off you, but not before he whispers, “Turn around and take your clothes off,” in a rough voice.

Your throat feels like it’s dry and watering at the same time, anticipation rushing into you like a waterfall. You flip over, kneeling on the bed—you hope to be kneeling in front of him soon—and shuck off your pajamas.

Once you’re naked, you’re about to ask Loki what to do next—but without warning, he pushes you down, and you fall forward with a faint squeak as he straddles you from behind. You feel his strong, bare chest heaving against your back, his hard length throbbing between your butt cheeks.

Oh, he’s heavy—in more sinful ways than one.

“You’re going to kneel for me later, little one,” he says, his breath warm against your nape. He positions your arms overhead, your fingertips grazing the headboard. He runs his palms along the outside of your body, until his hands close around your hips.

And then he yanks your bodies up, your hips rolling backwards into the air while your torso remains flattened on the mattress. Loki pushes a knee between your legs and nudges them apart, and you suck in a breath you didn’t know was knocked out of you. He rubs his large palms against the side of your ass cheek.

“Will you follow when I instruct you, pet?” He slaps your ass, hard, the meat of it jiggling even after his palm connects to you.

You bite down on your lip. “Yes.”

“Good.” He smacks your ass again, that same intensity as earlier, and you whimper from the pleasurable sting.

“Do you like that, pet?” He rubs circles over your ass.

“Yes—”

He deals another blow, and you arch your back further. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, Loki, yes!”

A satisfied growl emerges from the back of his throat, and hooking his forearm over your torso he brings your back against him. His hand finds its way onto your breast, which he kneads and squeezes, rolling your nipple between his fingers.

He bites down on your neck when your head falls back against him, sucking on your sensitive spot and drawing moan after moan from you. Your body is extremely warm now, the need to be stuffed with his cock growing, but at the same time, you want to savor this moment. You don’t know how long Loki’s going to play this game with you.

He releases the skin of your neck with a quiet pop. “Get on the floor, sweet,” he rasps, “kneel for me.”

With your thighs trembling, you crawl to the floor, obediently awaiting him with your chest heaving. Loki slides off the bed, standing in front of you, his cock at your eye level. He’s so hard, veins traversing over his thick shaft that throbs ever so slightly.

You want it in your mouth.

Loki rakes his fingers through your hair and guides your head onto his cock. Your lips slide over him slowly, taking in his length until the head hits the back of your throat.

You hollow your lips and suck once, and Loki hisses.

His grip on your hair tightens considerably, trying to get you to swallow him deeper, and you do until you gag a little. Loki stiffens, and you place your hands on his hips and brush his sides slowly, trying to convey that you’re okay.

And then he’s actively guiding you by the hair, cock sinking into your mouth in a steady tempo while he alternates between stroking your hair and neck.

“That’s it. Good girl. Deeper, love,” he husks, hips moving gently in time with you. He looks down at you with desire written all over his face. “Suck my cock. You’re doing so well. Faster. Ah—your mouth is exquisite, pet, come now… milk my cock, make me cum…”

You hum against him, your tongue fluttering against his frenulum, and Loki curses, hips moving faster while you bob on his length. Your tongue swirls around the head when you pull back and you suction your lips at the base of his cock, and soon Loki’s holding your head in place, your jaw going slack as he jerks into your wanting mouth.

You can tell he’s close, and your wetness intensifies when you visualize his cum sliding down your throat.

But then… then he’s pulling out of your mouth and pushing your head back when he pulses with the telltale sign of release. Instead of cumming in your mouth, his seed shoots out in thick ropes over your chin and chest as he groans out his orgasm.

You scramble forward after admiring the spurt of his cum from so close, and you wrap your lips around his cock before he can finish cumming, sucking on him with newfound vigor. He groans again, fisting your hair even tighter, keeping you in place while you flutter your tongue against the ridges of his cock head. You swallow his load, and some if it dribbles down your chin and onto your breasts.

You know he’s watching you, and in the spirit of being bold while you have this chance, you do something bold. You look up at him through lidded eyes, and using your fingers to scoop up some of the cum on your chest, you bring it to your face. You pop off him and slide your cum-covered fingersinto your mouth sensually. You suck and lick your digits, keeping innocent eye contact, and watch his eyes darken.

“You’re a cum thirsty little slut, aren’t you?” he growls, collecting his cum on his fingers and shoving them into your mouth. “Suck. That’s it, like it’s my cock.”

Your pussy is aching for attention now, your body taut with arousal, and you suck on his fingers like your life depends on it. “You taste so good, Loki,” you whisper. “I just want to be filled by your cock. Your cum. Loki, please, give it to me…”

He pulls his fingers from your mouth and hoists you up by the nape of your neck like it’s easy. Oh fuck, his intensity and his strength are dizzying. He throws you over his shoulder like you weigh nothing and he smacks your ass.

From this position, you have a clear view of his glutes. And his muscled back. You reach down and just give a tiny squeeze—

He slaps your ass again as he walks you two to the side of the room. “You think you can speak out of turn, little one? Touch my body without my express permission?” He sets you down on your feet with surprising, firm gentleness, and pins you against the wall by the window. “You’re lucky I want to be inside your pussy right now,” he mutters before sealing his lips over yours in a blistering kiss, tongues battling as his hands grope and squeeze at every part of your body. After he sucks on your tongue and leaves you panting and lightheaded, he distances from you to spin you around so your front is to the wall.

He bites down on your shoulder as his cock slips into you and you cry out in pleasure.

“Hands up,” he orders, and you brace your arms against the wall as he pounds into you from behind with unrelenting speed.

You moan, fingers clawing at the wall, trying to find something to ground yourself to. “Loki, your cock, it’s perfect—fuck, Loki, cum inside me, once, twice, fill my fucking cunt—”

He pushes your feet farther apart and lifts you up slightly, the angle causing stars to explode behind your eyes. “Fuck!”

His own hand comes up to brace against the wall beside yours, and he drives deeper into you still. Somehow. “You want my cum, pet? You want to be filled so much that my cum drips out of this delicious cunt for hours?”

Your pussy clenches around him as your orgasm begins to build with a ferocious intensity. Your closed eyes snap open when there’s a noticeable cracking sound by your head.

Cracks spider out on the wall from where his fist is. And that… that single revelation, evidence of his strength, is enough to topple you over and into orgasm.

“Touch yourself,” Loki grunts suddenly, his hands clasping around your wrist and shoving it between your legs.

“I—” you gasp, a shudder wracking your body as your orgasm pulses, “I’m still—”

“Do it.”

You swallow, shaking fingers finding your clit and you rub yourself in rapid circles; Loki hasn’t slowed his pace one bit, and from the overstimulation it doesn’t take long until you’re cumming again.

“That’s it,” Loki coaxes, your toes rising off the floor with every strong, unyielding thrust, “cum all over my cock. Good girl.”

With his cock still inside you, he brings you towards the bed, feet off the floor. He maneuvers you so you twist on his cock and your chests are pressed together. Your back meets the soft mattress and you look up at Loki hovering above you. One of Loki’s hands is braced on the headboard; the other circles your clit lazily. Your mouth stays parted as you stare up at him with glassy, sex-sated eyes.

“Loki…” you say, weak. You feel like jelly, but you aren’t exactly ready to give up the euphoric state of bliss you’re in. “You… you can go even harder—if, if you want to.”

His movements slow to a stop and his eyes fill with quiet adoration. “Are you sure that’s what you want, sweet? I never want to hurt you, or scare you, with my strength.” He manages a small though equally sexy smirk. “And I am a very strong Asgardian as it is.”

You clench, bringing Loki deeper inside you, and he groans. “As hard as you want,” you affirm.

Loki’s eyes widen imperceptibly and his pupils dilate in the same millisecond. And then he’s kissing you fiercely, shoving your knees up over his shoulders and he bottoms out, both of you moaning at the sensation.

“I love you,” he whispers, and you almost can’t hear it. His hips are then slamming into you at breakneck speed. He pins your arms above your head, sucking another bruise into your neck at the same time. The sounds of your sex obscenely fill the room, your already swollen, overstimulated clit stimulated even further with every stroke, and soon you’re screaming hoarsely that you’re about to cum.

Your third—fourth, fifth?—orgasm unravels when you start gyrating as he thrusts into you, your body convulsing with the pleasure that shoots through you. Loki cums seconds later with a shout, burying himself to the hilt as his cock pulses inside you. He murmurs dirty nothings against your skin, pressing open-mouthed kisses in between.

He pulls out of you, nuzzling your neck, and his hand travels down towards your spent cunt. He spreads your juices across your swollen lips. “How are you, dove?”

“Never been better,” you slur, letting out a relaxed sigh. It’s true. It’s like a nagging itch has finally been scratched.

“Are you sure about that?”

Your eyebrows pull together. “What do you mean?”

Loki grins, dark mischief and desire clouding his eyes. “Quite bold of you, pet, to assume we’re finished.”

He flips you onto your stomach again, his cock hardening behind you as he pulls your arms toward the headboard. There’s a click and the gleam of a metal chain shines in the morning sun.

Loki presses a kiss to your neck, nibbling at the spot behind your ear and whispers something that makes your skin tingle with fresh arousal.

“I’m far from finished with you, pet. Now. On your knees.”

#am i physically incapable of writing requests shorter than 3k #probably #fic request #reader request #loki smut #loki #loki x you #loki x reader #loki fanfiction #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston smut #tom hiddleston fandom #loki imagine #smut #by belle

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elsanna-shenanigans · 3 years

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August Contest Submission #16: The Transfer Student

Words: ca. 2,000 Setting: Modern AU Lemon: No CW: Bullying, arranged marriage, mild angst, talk of suicide

Elsa was a new student on Arendelli High in Tokyo, Japan. Despite her constant reminders to her parents that she didn’t need their help picking school, they had persisted, Elsa had had to give in eventually. The school was what Elsa expected it would be, full of very antagonistic, rich, spoiled brat students. She quickly rose to popularity which she kind of expected. Not only was she the heir of a well-known, rich CEO and granddaughter of a corporate empire, she was also conventionally seen as attractive, which had both perks and cons. One of the cons was being constantly bombarded by the popular kids as they tried to get her into one of their ‘exclusive clubs’, which she had to persistently decline.

Which earned her the title of ‘Snow Queen’ in no time at all. “As usual,” she sighed. “It’s like some sort of a tradition.”

This time she wasn’t going to just give up. She didn’t hate them, per se. She just couldn’t stand them. They were wildly immature, highly superficial if her overhearing their very loud gossip in the stall was any indication, back when she happened to be in one after helping to clean the bathroom. They also bullied the only person she actually wanted to get close to.

See, Elsa had a secret, just like everybody else, but this secret she cannot let anyone know. Not her parents nor her friends. Not if she can help it.

She’s into the same sex,

swings the other way,

flower napper,

gay for girls,

You get the idea.

The girl named Anna was from her class too, she was really smart and got a scholarship to the school, so she wasn’t from money, as Elsa heard from one of the gossips. That was why a lot of the superficial ones bullied her. Elsa fancied that the real reason they were so harsh on Anna was that she was more beautiful than them and they felt threatened by her beauty, it might actually be true. Elsa once bumped into her ‘accidentally’ at lunch and was about to talk to her and maybe invite her to coffee but the redhead only apologized profusely and excused herself.

Elsa felt guilty after that. She felt like she should be doing something to change this situation, she feared that the bullying might get to her one day. She wanted to do something for the girl so despite her hesitance she contacted someone she can even remotely consider her ‘friend.’

“Yellow?” Elsa sneered as soon as she heard his voice.

“Oh, Elsa I can hear your sneer from here, if you need something from me then you would have to be a bit nicer.”

Elsa conceded and breathed in. “Fine. I need your help with something… and yes I can hear your grin reaching from ear to ear here too.”

“Oh, dear Elsa. What might this help be? Is it something your Mommy and Daddy cannot solve for you?” Hans replied.

Elsa snapped at that comment. “You bring up my parents and I hang up,” she threatened.

Hans knew that she meant it. “Alright Snow Queen, tell me what has got your ire this time.”

“It’s not a what, it’s a who.”

“Already? You just moved in the school.” “It’s not that!” Elsa said, flabbergasted the situation that she was in. “I…I want to court someone.”

“Oh, so it’s that,” Hans replied, seemingly reminiscent.

Elsa doesn’t blame him. Sometime they forget that they’re more similar than they think, since Hans is gay too.

See here: Hans and Elsa were to be betrothed, and so both of them had hired investigators to follow each other and find a reason to cancel the marriage. This was how they had discovered each other’s secret which, oddly enough, is what got them to keep the arrangement, since if it came to it, they’d let each have more leeway or even a chance to pick who they really love. They decided they are both fine with that kind of arrangement since eventually they’ll give in to their parents’ request and they would rather end up with someone they can negotiate with.

“Can’t you just…I don’t know. Charm her or something, like talk about how you’re the daughter of great CEO and have a corporate empire or something?”

“Hans,” Elsa said, as she held the bridge of her nose, she’s just basically done. “I’m not like you, and it doesn’t work like that.”

“Hey, just throwing around ideas out here.” Hans defended himself. “Also it worked for me.”

“Well, I’m not like you. Prince Charming!” Elsa pointed out.

“Yeah, I wonder why? Miss Snow Queen!” Hans retorted. “Have you tried the ‘Accidental bump method?’”

“Yeah, and it didn’t work.” Elsa sighed, remembering how much it hadn’t worked. “It even kinda backfired.”

“Oof, a tough one huh. When did you get so picky?” Hans quipped.

Elsa sneered again. “I thought we’re here to, I dunno, help me court someone? Not judge my choices?”

“I know, I know. Sheesh…” Hans attempted to diffuse the situation. “Have you tried giving her a flower?”

“Ha Ha, that’s really stereotypical,” Elsa said.

Hans continued. “Look, Elsa. The goal here is to court someone, you kinda do need it to be stereotypical in a way or, if you prefer, predictable.”

“But it’s too obvious,” Elsa argued.

“That’s kind of the point.” Hans laughed. Then he was quiet for a while.

Elsa thought about what Hans said. He did, kinda, have a really good point, Elsa had to admit. If only he used that brain of his to do good things instead of just goofing around and causing mischief then she might actually like him, not too much though, Elsa still for sure preferred girls.

“Elsa, I gotta go,” Hans said a minute later. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, and thank you,” Elsa replied. It was at these times that Elsa was happy that she let him stick around.

Elsa followed Hans’ advice and went to buy flowers. She would have to be careful about this, else she might just be at the bullying end and she couldn’t help Anna that way. Though she does think there can be sort of a camaraderie in that, she prefers if it didn’t happen. Not if she can help it.

What she decided to go with was yellow crocus flowers, as they were apparently a great symbol of hope and joyfulness. Which was definitely the message she was looking to send. Winter will indeed end, spring will come again and life will go on.

She arranged them in a vase with water to keep it fresh and left it at Anna’s desk as they were going to class next morning.

However, Elsa didn’t get quite the expected reaction. Yes, students were talking about it when they saw it but they had sort of a look of dread in their face instead of curiosity and intrigue which worried Elsa. That can’t be good but it’s not as if she can undo it now. She needs to know what’s wrong, then it came to her. It was sort of a slow realization.

“What if the culture around flowers here in Japan is vastly different compared to where I’m from?” she thought and the gears on her head started to turn. She leaned in a bit to the other table and calmed herself enough to listen in to their conversation.

“Do you think the Gyaru girls did it?”

“No even they wouldn’t stoop this low.”

“What kind of asshole would tell someone to kill theirself?”

That was the last straw for Elsa, she is still confused as to how this all worked it but if it was bad enough that even the gyaru girls won’t do it then she’s royally fucked. She was going to remove it now no matter what, reputation be damned. Then Anna walked in and headed directly to her table, on when she reached the table did Anna notice the flowers. It was like scalding hot water being poured on her when Elsa watched Anna’s expression shift from bad to worse.

Anna went running out of the room. Elsa followed quickly after, determined to comfort her properly this time. Anna was fast walking and then running and Elsa almost couldn’t keep up with her. This was a very unfortunate day to wear heals. Elsa followed her to the rooftop expecting to see her sulking there, but what she saw was something else.

Anna was on the edge of the school rooftop, she had her shoes off and she looked like she was about to… no… nooo… please don’t do it, please don’t jump.

“Hey, don’t do it, please.” It just came out of Elsa’s mouth without her permission, but she was glad that it did.

“Let me be,” Anna replied, her voice full of resolution.

“It was me, I was the one who put the flower with the vase there. Whatever it meant, it was not my intention.” Anna looked at her like she had grown two heads but Elsa kept going, she had Anna’s attention now and that’s good. She’s also slowly getting closer to her as she spoke. To pull her away if needed.

“I didn’t… I just wanted it to be your hope in this trying times. I wanted to be…”

“You’re not just making this up to make me feel better?” Anna asked, still guarded.

“If you want to, I can show you exactly where I purchased the flowers and the vase but I can’t really do that unless you get down from there first.” Anna seemed to realized she was still outside the protective fence of the rooftop, she seemed to blush at the realization. Must be from the height, Elsa thought. Anna finally moved to get to a safer location and Elsa helped her. After she was safe and sound, Anna grabbed at Elsa’s hand. For the first time since Elsa got to the roof, Anna finally met her gaze.

“Then why didn’t you just tell me?”

Elsa looked into Anna’s eyes, she didn’t find any blame or sarcasm there, it was just genuine curiosity.

“I tried and I failed the first time, I guess…I should have just tried again.” The situation of the earlier encounter was finally getting to Elsa, crashing down on her like huge waves on an unassuming shore, she holds on tighter to Anna’s hand “I’m just, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Anna traces soothing circles on Elsa’s hand.

“But I almost killed you,” Elsa says to Anna. Anna reaches for her to remove the tear that fell from Elsa’s eyes.

“I’m also being stupid, to be fair, I wasn’t in a great place but still it’s a stupid move. I’m not saying you’re off the hook, just saying it wasn’t just you.” Anna patted Elsa’s back and it worked wonders. She breathed as she hears that and despite herself, she felt a bit of relief.

“What did it mean anyway? The flowers and the vase on the table?” Elsa asked after she had retrieved her handkerchief to clear her nose with. Her back turned to Anna as a polite gesture.

“It means the whole class wants you to be dead. It’s like sending someone a coffin while they are still alive.” Anna replied.

“Oh…that’s,” Elsa started to say, “kind of morbid.” she thought outloud and Anna nodded to her in agreement.

“I think I should be more careful about this, culture difference and knowing the norms in this place.” Elsa concluded, still a bit guilt-ridden over what happened.

“It’s fine, you were new so you didn’t know. Now you know what not to do next time.” Anna replied to Elsa, and then she flashed a smile to her direction, “Like I said, still not off the hook though,” she reminded her. “You still need to make it up to me.” Elsa didn’t get it at first but when she did, she blushed profusely. She didn’t want to misunderstand more things but she’ll be damned if she doesn’t take this opportunity “So uhh…coffee?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t pass on that, but I prefer hot chocolate.”

“Me too.”

#elsanna #submission #august 2021 contest #prompt: flowers #cw: bullying #cw: arranged marriage #CW: talk of suicide #CW: mild angst

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vonbaghager · 3 years

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more DBD killers

all the ones from the last batch

these ones are The Gremlin, a tiny saboteur that can rig the various props in the game with destructive traps, and The Boogeyman, a shadowy horror that easily tracks isolated survivors.

The Gremlin

A nasty little piece of work believed to be born from human superstitions, the Gremlin is actually one of the surviving Fair Folk nearly driven to extinction by the march of human progress. It burned with hatred for humanity and sought their ends, using their own inventions against them, ripping apart what they had created and crafting devices of exquisite cruelty that it used to torture, maim, and kill. Even its kin soon began to view it with fear as its thirst for revenge turned into sadistic malice, its devices becoming less machines of elegant execution and more engines of unnecessary suffering. They believed it to be no better than the humans with its methods, which drove it to hate its kin as well.

Rather than spurning iron, the Gremlin learned to work with it, driving spikes and hooks of the substance into its flesh to terrify and bully others of its kind into submission, exposing them to the same machines it used to torment humanity. Unable to bear what their once-brother had become, the Folk cast the Gremlin from their home and into the smog and oil of mankind’s march. Rather than wither and die, the Gremlin grew strong in the misery that surrounded it, seeking to amplify it as much as possible.

The Entity pulled the creature from between the teeth of two massive gears it had attempted to sabotage, its attempt at collapsing an entire factory ended by a single mistake. Now, however, the minuscule horror can malice hapless humans to its hearts content, no longer bound by the weaknesses it once had.

Base stats: 120% speed. 32 meter terror radius. Small size (stands at roughly stomach height for the average survivor).

Passive: Tiny Threat. The Gremlin is smaller than every other killer in the game. It vaults windows 30% faster than any other killer, and kicks pallets/generators 20% faster to compensate. The Gremlin does not carry survivors over its shoulder, but drags them on the ground behind it. It takes 2 extra seconds to hook a survivor, due to it needing to physically lower the hook first.

Active Power: Bladed Bomb. Has 3 charges, which refresh at a rate of 1 every 30 seconds. Places a trap on the ground in front of the Gremlin, which arms itself after 2 seconds. A survivor that draws within 1 meter of the trap will trigger it, causing it to screech for 2 seconds before detonating, injuring all survivors within 2 meters and placing injured survivors in that radius into the dying state. The Gremlin can face a bomb (in a manner akin to Demogorgon’s teleport interface) and press the special action button to instantly trigger it.

If the Gremlin is facing a hook, a chest (opened or unopened), a generator, or a pallet, it can place a Hidden Bomb within the prop to sabotage it in a specific manner. A survivor that sabotages a trapped hook causes a loud noise notification, suffers a deep wound, and is hindered for 10 seconds. A chest that is sabotaged unleashes a spray of glass particles once opened which creates a noise notification, then blinds and exhausts the survivor for 30 seconds. A sabotaged pallet unleashes a deafening whooshing noise, rendering survivors within 1 meter of it oblivious for 10 seconds. After 10 seconds, the bomb explodes, destroying the pallet. A sabotaged generator detonates immediately if the survivor misses a skill check, and releases a hissing noise if the survivor performs a Good skill check (a Great skill check does not activate it), alerting them to its presence and giving them 3 seconds to run more than 1 meter away before the generator explodes. The detonation removes 4% of progress from the generator and causes deep wounds in all survivors in range. Like the Bladed Bomb, the Gremlin can face one of its Hidden Bombs and use its special action to detonate it instantly.

The Gremlin, without addons, can only maintain six bombs at a time. If a seventh is placed, the oldest bomb defuses and breaks.

Unique Perks:

Tortured Steel: The cruelty of your attacks on technology can briefly make the Entity believe its own machines are capable of suffering. After kicking a generator, that generator becomes blocked by the Entity for 14/18/22 seconds. Only one generator can be blocked by Tortured Steel at a time. Tortured Steel has a cooldown of 60/40/30 seconds.

Hex: Blood and Oil: The power of this Hex makes steel and iron thirst in a way only the living normally can, drinking from the injured who foolishly place themselves too close. Injured survivors repairing generators have a 20% greater chance of triggering Skill Checks. If an injured survivor fails a Skill Check, the generator crushes their hands, preventing them from making further repairs until they’re healed or until 10/14/18 seconds pass.

Hex: Bane of Progress: Where one may succeed, all others will fail. When a generator is repaired past 90%/70%/50% while the Hex Totem still stands, all other generators with any amount of progress on them immediately burst, losing 5%/6%/7% progress and beginning to regress. Bane of Progress has an 80 second cooldown.

----------

The Boogeyman

A creature from mankind’s fears given flesh, the Boogeyman hunted the small and the easy. The scared child, the lonely wanderer, the lost vagrant, all were easy prey, but as humanity continued to grow, so too did their bravery. Lights became more common, and not just the light of a candle or a lantern’s glow; harsh, white, burning light, as though harvested from the sun itself began to invade the darkness. There were less places to hide, less places where it could find someone alone and scared, less places it could hunt without being hunted in turn. And so, desperate and starving, it fled into the wilderness in hopes of finding settlements untouched by civilization, where the demon that was electricity could not find it.

What it found instead was the Fog, inviting it into a realm in which the sun would never rise, where intoxicating fear runs rampant, and where humans can never truly fight back.

Base stats: 115%. 36 meter terror radius. Medium height (Clown height).

Passive power: Scent of Fear. Survivors further than 10 meters from one another begin building up Panic at a rate of 1 point every 5 seconds, to a maximum of 10 points. At 10 points of Panic, if the survivor is within the Boogeyman’s terror radius, the survivor is highlighted by Killer Instinct until a generator is repaired, until they are within 20 meters of another survivor, or until their health state changes (in any direction).

Panic is reduced by 1 point every 10 seconds they are within 10 meters of another Survivor, by 3 points when their health state decreases, by 5 points if their health state increases or if the Boogeyman is blinded or stunned through any means, and is completely removed when a generator is fully repaired. Survivors on hooks do not gain Panic.

Active power: Alone In The Dark. The Boogeyman charges for 3 seconds, then blasts a wave of shadows 20 meters in every direction, which travels through walls and into lockers. Survivors struck by this wave scream in terror and gain 3 points of Panic (survivors inside lockers instead gain 5). Then, any survivor with more than 5 points of Panic become Blinded until their Panic is reduced to 4 or less. A survivor at 10 points of Panic becomes Terrified, a status similar to the Doctor’s Madness III, in that a Terrified survivor will scream every few seconds and can take no actions but Calm Down, which reduces their Panic by 5 but takes 13 seconds to perform.

Alone in the Dark has a 35-second cooldown. The Boogeyman can be stopped by Lightburn while charging it.

Unique Perks

Claustrophobia: What once offered safety now only harbors fear. Survivors inside lockers and your terror radius at the same time for 5/4/3 seconds are highlighted by Killer Instinct while inside, and for 6 seconds after leaving.

Hex: Zoophobia: The power of this Hex causes the crows of the trial to become supernaturally terrifying, briefly overwhelming the survivor’s minds. Survivors alerting the crows while the Hex Totem stands scream in terror. Survivors are so startled by the crows taking off that they are Incapacitated for 2/3/4 seconds.

Monophobia: You spark weakness in the heart of one survivor, so that they cannot stand being alone. You become Obsessed with one survivor. Your Obsession suffers a 20%/30%/40% penalty to repairing and healing actions if they are further than 22/18/14 meters from another survivor.

#DBD #dead by daylight #the boogeyman's power is probably too wonky but im too tired to adjust the numbers #you can understand what im going for at least #bastard hybrid of doctor and freddy

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spacesuitsforemergency · 4 years

Text

Weapon Hex

Chapter 1: The Runaways Run Away

Word Count: 1.7k

Originally Requested by: @amateurwriterbigdreamer

A/N: love that Onawa was requested to be in this! I’m not giving her a huge part until she turns into a villain so that it’s centered around Y/N for now! These are all gonna be short chapters since there’s not a whole ass movie to cover. Hope you like it!

“I said no!” You yelled at the STAR Labs scientist, who had been trying to hook up a machine to you, to observe your brain waves. The other kids you had escaped the Reach with were watching from across the room, waiting for instructions. They watched with their eyes wide in fear and concern as the scientist cornered you.

“Y/N, you have to calm down.” He told you calmly, despite the annoyed tone of his voice.

You crouched in a defensive stance, snarling at him to tell him to back off. Two security guards grabbed your arms, and you thrashed in their hold, warning them to let you go. Your heart rate began to pick up as they held you down, and the scientist picked up a needle. You knew the drug wouldn’t work on you, none of them did, but you had to act like it would.

Your plan was to be calm and act out of it once they “sedated” you, so that they wouldn’t see you as dangerous. Then, once their guard was down, you’d attack.

“No! Stop!” You yelled as the needle stuck into your arm, and you slowly pretended to get tired. You made your eyes droop and breathed very slowly, so that when he checked your pulse it would be at the rate it should be with sedation in your veins.

“Put her in a straight jacket.” The scientist ordered a guard.

“You can’t do that!” Virgil Hawkins stood up.

“That’s way out of line!” Tye Longshadow glared at the scientist.

“She’s far too dangerous.”

“She obviously doesn’t want your help. You can’t just force her to do stuff!” Eduardo Dorado Jr. snapped. The scientist ignored him as the guards put your arms in a straight jacket, then sat you down in the last chair. You pretended to be half asleep, but when no one was looking you winked at the other 6 kids before they were called over. You shut your eyes and your head fell back against the wall, you figured you’d might as well rest. Your thoughts wandered to your father, and the horror stories about Stryker and the Weapon X program.

Your father was James Howlett, AKA The Wolverine, and your mother was Jean Grey, another X-Man. She had died half a year ago, destroyed by the Phoenix Force. You had run away from the X-Mansion because of it. You were treated different by the other kids, and even your team, Excalibur. Nightcrawler, Gambit, Rogue, Colossus, Lockheed, even your best friend, Kitty Pryde, treated you differently than before the Phoenix killed your mother. They treated you as if you’d turn on them any second. As if you’d attack them. As if you were an animal. A monster.

Your father had become even more distant and angry than before, which was something you didn’t think was possible. You didn’t know how to comfort him, and he didn’t know how to comfort you. Nobody was there for you while you grieved for your mother, and you felt feared and unwanted. So, to make things easier for them, you left. You planned to just wander, maybe even steal a motorcycle and follow in your fathers footsteps. You had been waiting for a bus when the Reach kidnapped you. When you woke up, voices were talking in your head. You were terrified, but then you heard your mothers voice. Whether it was actually her or just your subconscious, you didn’t know, but she helped you control the other voices. You were extremely intelligent, so it didn’t take long for you to get the hang of telepathy. When you finally escaped, you were put back into more testing. It made you anxious and panicky, since you knew what happened to your father and many mutants when they were tested on. You remembered the mutants that died being experimented on by Trask, and the lifelong trauma it brought your father.

“If we let you out, do you think you can handle getting some food without throwing a fit?” A security guard asked you, mocking you as if you were a child.

You lifted your head and nodded slowly, manipulating his mind to think your pupils were dilated, a sign of sedation. Once he was satisfied he unbuckled the straight jacket and helped you up, but you convinced him you could walk on your own. You walked out to the hallway and stopped at a corner, watching the others who were listening to Eduardo Jr and Eduardo Sr arguing very loudly. They looked away when he storms out, slamming the door.

“Uh...we should get lunch while we have time.” Virgil suggested.

“This is so messed up.” Tye snapped. “STAR is as bad as the Reach and worse than home.”

“Wouldn’t go that far.” Onawa Longshadow, who you figured out was his sister, mumbled.

“But STAR wants to help us.” Neut, some other escapee said quietly.

“Whatever, Neut. I just know I can’t take much more of this.” Tye said through his teeth.

“You won’t have to. Cause we’re busting out. Tonight.” Virgil says with determination. This perks your attention, so you walks towards them.

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Eduardo asked. “This place is a fortress.”

“You’ll need me.”

They all spin around and see you, perfectly awake and not sedated at all.

“You faked it, didn’t you?” Tye asked you, grinning.

“That’s what he said.” Virgil whispered, Eduardo snickering while Tye rolled his eyes.

“Drugs and medicine don’t work on me.” You shook your head. “The doctors are idiots.”

“Is that your metahuman gene?” Eduardo asked.

“No. That’s my X-Gene.” You shake your head as you looked around to make sure there’s no guards spying on you guys.

“Wait...” Tye mumbled. “I thought you were a telepath?”

“Holy shit! You’re like Wolverine, right? With a healing factor!” Virgil exclaimed.

“What?” A guard overheard from the other hallway. You rolled your eyes and erased the last few seconds from his mind, then created a “mind link” with the others, translating for Asami at the same time. Not Neut though, you knew he wanted to stay and report you. So you erased his mind as well.

‘Don’t yell. Talk to me through this.’ You ordered as you all started walking towards the cafeteria. ‘Yes, Wolverine is my father. My X-Gene developed when I was little, but the Reach activated my meta gene as well.’

‘No fair, so you’ve got like, a hundred powers?’ Virgil asked.

‘Can you even count? She’s got two.’ Onawa rolled her eyes.

‘So you know how to get us out of here?’ Tye asked. He seemed to be the most restless and adamant about leaving, which you took note of.

‘We leave tonight. I’ll take care of everything.’

•

“Please, tell me you're not serious about running. Running, escaping, whatever you want to call it, we're gone. This is serious. I nearly blew up Central City. My powers may be gone now, but what if they come back, you know, escalate out of control all over again? What if your powers escalate? Dude, you can't control them now. Look, I know Wilcox is a pain. STAR is a pain, but they're trying to keep us safe. Or at least keep the world safe from us.” Neut tried to reason with you.

“I’m outta here..” Virgil scoffed as you led him towards the door.

“Oh yeah.” Tye nodded, his sister following behind.

“Adios.” Eduardo waved to Neut.

“Are you coming Sam?” You asked her.

“I think so?” She tilted her head.

“That might mean yes.” Tye and Eduardo both led her towards you.

You spun around when alarms suddenly blared, and you saw Neut at some control panel.

“Sorry. But I can’t let you do this.” Neut narrowed his eyes.

“Bold of you to assume you were letting us in the first place, punk!” Onawa glared at him, starting to charge at him before her brother tugged her back.

“Let’s go!” You shouted at them, rushing down the hallway. Virgil and Eduardo sprinted ahead of you, right at the door. Virgil tried to open the door, but it was locked.

“The alarms put the whole place on lockdown!” Virgil alerted you.

“Great! Now what?” Tye asked.

“No idea.” Virgil admitted.

“Well what was your escape plan?” Eduardo asked.

“Uh...I didn’t really come up with one.” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck. “Y/N, weren’t you supposed to be in charge here?”

“I am. Just wait for it.” You told them. You knew guards would be at every exit any minute, and you wanted to show them something.

“Ed? Can you teleport us out?” Virgil asked, trying to figure out why you were just standing there staring down the hall.

“Haven't you been paying attention? I can only teleport myself and only along sight lines. Which makes escaping from a windowless, locked hallway somewhat difficult!” Eduardo shouted, accent becoming thicker in his anger.

“No problem! Tye can do his thing, right?” Virgil turned to Tye.

“Wrong! I can’t control ‘my thing’! It just happens!” Tye shook his head.

“Onawa? Can you do some magic or something?”

“No way! If I try to tear apart the door I could tear you apart too! I don’t have control yet, you-“ Onawa opened her mouth to say some god awful curse.

“That’s enough.” Tye smacked her arm.

“Look out!” Asami pointed.

You grinned when some guards ran up, channeling your inner Wolverine.

“You kids need to come with us!” A guard warned.

“Don’t think so.” Eduardo said darkly.

You charged at the guards, finally sheathing your claws. You made sure to not cut any vital parts, only making flesh wounds to keep them down. You snarled at them, baring your sharp teeth. Once they were all down, you turned around and charged towards the others. They all jumped aside as you went for the door, easily tearing through the layers of metal. You retracted your claws, standing straight and feeling your shoulders and back crack loudly. You turned around, everyone staring at you in shock and fear.

“Let’s go.” You say calmly, before running off into the night.

#weapon hex #tye longshadow x howlett! reader #tye longshadow x reader #tye longshadow #onawa longshadow #the runaways #yj runaways #dc #young justice #request

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whumphoarder · 4 years

Text

Beanimia

Summary: While Peter is visiting Tony and Morgan at the lake house for a long weekend, the six-year-old manages to accidentally break his nose. Unfortunately, Spider-Man's super-healing decides to go on holiday the same weekend that he does.

Word count: 3,877

Genre: Fluffy illness/injury, whump, hurt/comfort, humor

A/N: Thanks to @xxx-cat-xxx and @sallyidss for beta-reading and to @awesomesockes for plot, summary, and title ideas <3

Link to read on Ao3

“So”—Tony snaps the single use ice pack to activate the chemicals and gives it a few shakes as he moves back over to the kitchen table—“which one of you is going to explain what happened here?”

Morgan shakes her head gravely side to side. “Peter didn’t catch the beans...”

“Well, to be fair,” Peter points out, his voice significantly more nasally than usual due to the wad of paper towels he’s pressing to his heavily bleeding nose, “you didn’t really warn me you were about to chuck a can of beans at my head.”

“But I did!” the six-year-old defends. “I said, ‘I’ll throw down the supplies.’”

“Supplies for what?” Tony questions. He passes Peter the ice pack, earning a grunt of thanks.

“For the mission,” Morgan explains as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “We were playing superheroes and we needed to pack the supplies to take with us ‘cus we had to go fight the bad guys in space.”

“She’d been stockpiling stuff for the last couple days in the treehouse,” Peter goes on, “so she was just tossing everything down for me to put in the bag. Which, y’know, was fine for the stuffed animals and the walkie-talkies and the plastic lightsabers”—he gingerly touches the ice to his nose—“just not for a sixteen-ounce can of refried pintos.”

(Tony winces in sympathy.)

Morgan lets out an exasperated exhale. “Well, we had to bring something to eat—it’s a long way to Pluto.”

Huffing out a laugh, Tony shakes his head slowly. “I guess it’s hardly Peter’s first experience getting injured before a mission officially even begins...” he muses. He grins at the teenager. “Remember when you tripped off the quinjet ramp and sprained your ankle two minutes after we landed?”

Peter rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed. “That was one time, Mr. Stark.”

“Memorable though,” Tony quips. He gestures to the kid’s messy face and sighs. “Alright, let’s see the damage.”

Reluctantly, Peter pulls the paper towels away and fresh blood starts to trickle down. There’s a cut at the bridge of his nose and it’s rapidly swelling, a dark bruise already starting to form under his eye.

Tony prods carefully at the break, making Peter wince. “Well, it’s definitely broken,” he reports after a moment, “but it seems pretty well-aligned at least. Nothing to reset.”

Peter lets out a short, breathy laugh. “Probably because it was already a little crooked from the last time I broke it. Guess she knocked it back.”

“So… I made it better?” Morgan asks hopefully.

Tony turns in his daughter’s direction. “Oh no, don’t you start thinking you’re off the hook here, Little Miss Budding Plastic Surgeon,” he says, holding up a stern finger. “You still need to be more careful where you’re chucking your beans.”

Peter snorts, then instantly seems to regret that as he groans and adjusts the ice pack on his face.

Morgan’s expression sobers and she drops her gaze down to her feet. “I just thought he would catch it. He always catches stuff when I throw it to him…”

Her comment gives Tony pause. Now that he thinks about it, it’s not the first time since Peter arrived at the lake house for their long weekend that the kid has seemed rather sluggish and off his game. He’d dozed through most of the drive over on Friday afternoon and then slept in until almost noon the next day. Even now, he can see the dark circles under Peter’s eyes and the pallor to his cheeks that can’t be completely explained by his current blood loss.

“It’s okay, Mo,” Peter reassures her with a small smile. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. It’ll be all better by morning, okay?”

Morgan perks up at that, so Tony pushes aside the twinge of worry in his gut. After all, Peter’s been taking seventeen credit hours at MIT this semester, not to mention his Boston vigilante activities and the additional part-time lab assistant gig he’s picked up; that’s enough to make anyone run a little ragged.

“Why don’t you two just watch a movie or something?” Tony suggests. “Give Peter’s nose a little time to sort itself out.”

Morgan and Peter agree, so Tony rustles up some of Peter’s super-strength painkillers and sets the kids up in the living room with some weird movie that Morgan inexplicably loves about a talking parrot whose biggest goal in life is to see the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. Before they even hit the fifteen minute mark, from out of the corner of his eye, Tony sees the ice pack slide down Peter’s face as the boy drifts off.

The combination of pain pills and the usual post-injury recovery time knocks Peter out and he sleeps straight through the rest of the movie. He’s still a little groggy and disoriented when Tony wakes him for dinner, but years of mentoring a reckless teenage superhero have taught the man that this is all par for the course.

Given that the pork chops Pepper left for them to reheat (before heading to her sister’s house for the weekend) require a bit more chewing than Peter’s face is up for at the moment, Tony whips the kid up a smoothie to drink instead.

Peter peers warily into the glass Tony hands him, swirling the green contents around. “What’s in here?”

Tony shrugs. “Whatever I found in the fridge. Blueberries, yogurt, scoop of protein powder, a banana, some spinach…”

“Ew, why would you drink spinach?” Morgan interrupts, her nose wrinkling up in disgust. “That’s gross.”

“Says the girl who put mayonnaise on her graham crackers last week,” Tony points out.

“It was good!” she defends.

Peter takes a cautious sip of the drink. He looks contemplative for second, then must have decided that he approves of the flavor because he just shrugs and proceeds to down about half the glass in a few gulps.

Morgan makes a dramatic gagging noise. Tony rolls his eyes and flicks her arm playfully.

“It’s actually really good,” Peter admits, lowering the cup back down. “Been awhile since I’ve had real vegetables.”

“Ugh, lucky,” Morgan groans as Tony adds a few pieces of asparagus to the little girl’s plate. “They’re the worst. Except for artichokes—those are good.”

“You like artichokes?” Peter questions.

“Uh huh.” She grins. “And turnips!”

“Well, Gerald likes turnips,” Tony clarifies, “and Morgan likes feeding them to him.”

This comment inspires Morgan to launch into a long-winded explanation of all the things she’s ever seen Gerald eat—from grass, to broccoli stalks, to a weird-looking bug—and which of those were his favorites. Peter nods along to her rambling, but seems far less engaged than usual and doesn’t even react when she mentions Gerald’s favorite type of cookie is double stuffed Oreo.

(Tony, on the other hand, interrupts at that point with a stern lecture for the six-year-old on what she can and cannot feed the alpaca moving forward.)

Once dinner is over, they all migrate back to the living room. Morgan wants to play Uno, and Peter obliges for a while, but his overall lack of focus persists.

“Peeeterrrr,” Morgan whines for the third time, poking his arm to snap him out of his daze. “It’s your turn again. You gotta draw two.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Peter takes two cards from the deck and adds them to his hand before reaching up to rub tiredly at his temples.

Tony’s brow furrows. “Headache?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Peter admits. “It’s not bad, just like… there.”

“Hm.” Tony nods. Turning to Morgan he says, “What do you say we finish this game up tomorrow?” Morgan’s face screws up and she looks like she’s about to protest before he adds, “Pretty sure there are some fudge-pops left in the freezer. I won’t tell Mommy if you don’t.”

Morgan drops her cards with an excited whoop and jumps up to run to the kitchen.

Tony gets to his feet to follow her. He glances back at Peter, who has sunk into the cushions with a relieved sigh. “Fudge-pop?” he offers.

Peter makes a non-committal noise in his throat. “I dunno. Think I might just head to bed.”

Tony glances at his watch. It’s just shy of eight o’clock—even Morgan doesn’t usually go to bed for another half hour. He knows Peter’s healing always takes a lot out of him, but he’s seen the kid looking less drowsy and out of it after getting slammed into the airport tarmac in Germany and cracking three ribs than he does at the moment. “Think you might be coming down with something?” he asks.

Peter shrugs once more, prompting Tony to press his hand to the kid’s forehead. He definitely isn’t detecting a fever—if anything, Peter’s skin is a little cold.

“What’s not feeling good?” Tony clarifies. “Head? Stomach? Throat?”

Peter hesitates a second. “Just… just my head I guess.” He sighs. “I think I’m just tired. Haven’t really been sleeping that great lately,” he confesses.

Tony’s forehead creases in concern. “Kid, you know May and I talked to you about overloading yourself your first year at school.”

“No, I go to bed,” Peter clarifies, “I just don’t always, like, sleep.”

“Why?” Tony’s frown deepens. “Are you having nightmares, or…?”

“No…” Peter exhales deeply, running a hand through his hair. “It’s not that. I just can’t always, like, settle down? I don’t know—it’s really not that bad,” he quickly backtracks. “I think I just need a good night’s sleep. I’ll be better tomorrow.”

(Like an idiot, Tony believes him.)

“Alright, well, sleep well kid,” he says as Peter shuffles off to the guest room.

“Okay, so... this is a little weird,” Peter says as he enters the kitchen the next morning.

Tony glances up and blinks at the sight of Peter’s very swollen and now darkly bruised nose and cheekbone. He sets down the bowl of waffle batter he’s been whisking and moves over to get a closer look.

“What the hell, kid?” Tony mutters under his breath, running his fingertips carefully over the still-clearly-broken bone. “You once healed from a compound fracture overnight.” He pauses a beat. “Of your femur.”

“Eh...” Peter shrugs tiredly. “Super-healing isn’t really a science, is it?”

“Well it’s certainly not an art,” Tony retorts. He gestures to the kid’s nose. “Unless this is your Black-and-Blue Period, Picasso.”

Peter groans, sinking down onto one of the kitchen chairs. “That was almost as painful as my face,” he complains.

It’s clear the kid meant it as a joke, but that admission does nothing to alleviate Tony’s concern. He finds Peter a fresh ice pack and doses him out another painkiller before resuming making breakfast.

Somehow even a second night of sleep doesn’t seem to have restored much of the kid’s energy. Peter sits hunched forward with one elbow on the table to hold the ice to his face and has his phone resting in his lap. He scrolls idly through it, looking like he might nod off any second.

After a few minutes, the backdoor to the kitchen swings open and Morgan re-enters with pieces of hay still stuck to her boots.

“I gave Gerald two turnips,” she announces. “And he hummed at me and then he tried to steal my hat but I got it back ‘cept for the fuzzy thing.” She points at the red knit hat on her head, which is missing a pom-pom.

Tony groans as he ladles more waffle batter onto the iron. “He didn’t swallow it, did he? Because if that vet has to come out here one more time, I swear—”

“Peter!” Morgan blurts, suddenly noticing the boy at the table. He startles and looks up from his lap as the six-year-old runs over to him. “Your face looks so bad!”

Tony clears his throat. “Uh, Morgan, we don’t—”

“So, so, so, so bad,” she emphasizes, as tears well up in her eyes. She throws her arms around his waist. “I’m really r-really sorry!” she cries. “I didn’t m-mean to hit you with the beans!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Mo,” Peter assures, wrapping her in his arms. “It’s gonna heal really soon, okay? I’m a spider, remember? I always heal fast.”

“But sp-spiders don...don’t heal fast!” Morgan sobs into his chest. “You can squish ‘em re-really easy and they d-die if it gets too c-cold or if they get sprayed with bug killing stuff, an-and…”

Peter glances up and shoots his mentor a look of utter helplessness.

In return, Tony shrugs his shoulders in an exaggerated fashion. “Don’t look at me, kid. I’ve been wondering the same thing since we met.”

Still holding the crying child, Peter rolls his eyes at him.

“Kidding, kidding...” Tony says under his breath. He abandons the waffle iron and heads over to gather the sobbing six-year-old up into his arms. “Morgan, sweetheart, listen to me,” he says as he rubs her back gently. “Peter isn’t really a spider, okay? He’s actually more of a mutant.”

(Morgan only cries harder at that.)

Peter huffs out a short laugh and leans back against the chair. “Doing great, Mr. Stark.”

“...And because he’s a mutant,” Tony plows right along, “his DNA is different from ours and that’s why he usually heals freaky fast,” he explains over her tears as she buries her face in his shoulder. “Except it’s just being a little slow today, so we’re gonna just let him rest and eat some good food and that should help fix him up, okay?”

She hiccups a few times. “So he ju...just needs some w-waffles?” she manages to get out.

That jogs Tony’s memory. He spins around to see that the iron is still very much on and the waffle is starting to burn, smoke wafting up around the edges. “Ah shit,” he mutters.

“It’s okay, I got it,” Peter says, pushing himself quickly up from his seat. But the moment he gets to his feet, he staggers sideways and grips the table, his face draining of color.

“Pete?” Tony goes to set the still-sniffling six-year-old back down, but before he’s able to get her feet on the floor, Peter’s knees give out.

Tony curses and shoots a hand out just a second too late as Peter crumples first to his knees and then to the ground, landing directly on his already-injured face.

Morgan’s eyes go wide. “Daddy!” she shrieks.

Tony plops her down abruptly. “Go unplug the waffle maker, okay?” he instructs her as he drops to his knees next to Peter. He figures the last thing they need to add to the chaos is a smoke alarm.

Eyes still locked on the scene before her, Morgan nods and runs over to the counter to unplug the device. Meanwhile, Tony rolls Peter over onto his back and instantly grimaces at the sight. Besides the deathly pallor, the kid’s broken nose is definitely crooked now and fresh blood is streaming down.

“Is he… dead?” Morgan asks, horrified.

“No, no, of course not...” Tony presses two fingers to the pulse point in the boy’s neck, relieved to feel a strong, albeit fast, beat. “He just fainted—he’ll be fine,” he says, shaking the unconscious boy’s shoulder.

“He looks dead,” Morgan whispers, still staring.

“Yeah, but he’s not,” Tony says firmly. Not wanting the blood to run down Peter’s throat, he continues to roll the kid over until he’s on his side in a sort of modified recovery position. “Pete, c’mon, this isn’t a good look,” he mutters, tapping Peter’s cheek. “We’re all getting enough trauma therapy as it is…”

Finally, the kid’s eyelids start fluttering open. “There you go, that’s it,” Tony praises when Peter blinks up at him. “You back with us yet?”

Peter groans and lets his eyes close again. “Do I ‘ave to be?”

“Yes,” Tony says curtly. He starts shaking Peter’s shoulder again, though gentler now. “I need to know how I’m taking you to Bruce—car or ambulance?”

“Ugh… How ‘bout neither?” Peter mumbles. He lifts a hand up tiredly to wipe a bit of blood off his upper lip. “‘M alright. Just got a lil’ dizzy…”

“Nope.” Worry is quickly taking over Tony, though it comes out in the form of briskness. “You’ve got sixty seconds to get off the floor or I’m choosing for you,” he declares, already pulling out his phone.

Morgan’s voice comes out small and quavering. “Peter...?”

Ultimately, that sound is what it takes to make Peter move. With Tony’s support, he pushes himself up and sits there for a moment, blinking wearily as blood trickles down from his nose. Tony sends Morgan to fetch a box of tissues and a clean shirt for Peter, then loads them both into the car for a little field trip.

“Anemia?” Peter repeats, incredulous.

The kid is sitting on an exam table at the SHIELD Medical base, his recently-reset nose now splinted. Meanwhile, Morgan sits in the chair beside Tony, entertaining herself with a handful of wooden tongue depressors and a roll of medical tape.

Bruce adjusts his glasses as he scans the results from Peter’s blood panel on his tablet. “Yeah, that’s what the tests are showing. Basically, it means that your body isn’t getting enough iron to produce hemoglobin, so it can’t carry oxygen effectively. This results in fatigue, lightheadedness, insomnia, headaches, shortness of breath, and—apparently in your case—a reduced healing factor.”

“But how did I get anemia?” Peter balks. “I’m Spider-Man.”

“Well, there are a few possible causes,” Bruce explains, “but based on several nutrient deficiencies I’m seeing in your bloodwork, my best guess is from your diet.”

“Ah.” A look of understanding flickers across Peter’s face for a second. “Yeah, okay, that checks out...” he mumbles.

“Wait, how exactly does that ‘check out’?” Tony asks.

Peter shrugs. “Well, I just… haven’t been eating the best food lately.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Doesn’t MIT’s cafeteria serve a pretty decent spread?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so,” Peter allows. He rubs a hand at the back of his neck awkwardly. “I just haven’t been really… uh, going there?”

Tony blinks at him. “Why the hell not?”

“That’s Mommy’s word,” Morgan pipes up without looking up from the two wooden sticks she’s connecting together with tape.

“I just don’t have a lot of time between my classes and job and stuff, and the cafeteria is all the way across campus,” Peter explains. “So I mostly just eat my own food.”

“Which would be…?” Bruce asks.

Peter hesitates. “Ramen,” he says after a moment. “The chicken flavor one.”

“Hm, okay…” Bruce nods, jotting this down on his tablet. “Not really the most nutritious option, but definitely a college staple. What else?”

Dropping his gaze to his lap, Peter starts picking at a piece of fuzz on his sweatshirt. “Uh… sometimes I get the beef one?”

Tony blinks at him. “Beef ramen?”

“I tried the lime chili shrimp one once. Not a fan.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Tony blinks again. “Peter, I’m paying for you to have three square meals a day at that college—not three styrofoam cups of dehydrated noodles.”

“I also eat granola bars,” Peter says. “And bagels.” He starts ticking foods off on his fingers. “Microwave burritos, yogurt, uh.... those little frozen chicken taquito thingies? But like, only if my roommate isn’t using the freezer for his weird cult ritual stuff. That’s why I usually stick to the soup.”

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose and heaves out a sigh. “Jesus take the wheel…”

“Oh! I had an apple last week!” Peter throws in.

Bruce runs a hand through his own hair, exhaling a carefully measured breath. “Okay, Peter, you know that you have an enhanced metabolism, right? That means you need to eat significantly more food than the average person.”

“Right, and I do!” Peter nods. “I always make sure I get enough calories.”

“And that’s good,” Bruce says, “but you also need to make sure you’re getting enough nutrients. Calories are just a part of that. With your unusual physiology, it’s especially important that you’re getting all the required vitamins and minerals to support the rapid regeneration of your cells, and a diet of cup noodles and bagels—”

“And frozen burritos,” Peter interrupts.

“—is simply not nutritionally dense enough for you,” Bruce finishes. “Not by a long shot.”

There’s a beat.

“Oh.”

“What does ‘nu-tri-tion-al-ly dense’ mean?” Morgan asks. Her tongue depressor creation has folded over itself and vaguely resembles a collapsed bridge now.

“It means Peter needs to eat more vegetables,” Tony butts in. “Just like you and Gerald.”

She sticks out her tongue. “Gross.”

“Alright, we’re gonna start you on some iron supplements,” Bruce addresses Peter. “But it might take a couple weeks to get your levels back up enough to reverse the anemia. I’m also going to give you a list of foods high in iron—things like dark leafy greens, broccoli, dried fruit, nuts, red meat, kidney beans—”

“NO BEANS,” the other three all declare in unison.

After hauling the kids back to the lake house, Tony sets Peter and Morgan up on the couch with another movie (Pirates of the Caribbean this time) and heads to the kitchen to fix them all some lunch. Potatoes and turnips are both high in iron, so he cooks and mashes up a big potful with some milk, butter, and salt, figuring that would be easy to chew without hurting the kid’s face too much. He scoops some into a bowl for Peter and then whips up another green smoothie for him to drink, as well as sandwiches for himself and Morgan. Once everything is ready, he piles it all onto a tray and heads back.

As he approaches the living room, Tony can already hear Morgan’s voice floating towards him in the falsetto stage-whisper she always uses when she’s voicing make-believe characters.

“Help me! Help me!” she cries. “Oh no, I’m falling!”

Tony stops in the room’s threshold to watch. The movie is still playing in the background, but neither kid seems to be watching. Instead, Peter is lying on his back on the sofa with his eyes closed, giggling quietly while Morgan kneels on the floor in front of the cushions, dancing a single M&M around the edges of the boy’s open mouth.

Suddenly, she drops the candy into his mouth with a dramatic gasp. “Noooo… the king has fallen into the pit! The anemia monster got him!” she cries.

“The anemia monster?” Tony asks in amusement.

Peter’s eyes snap open. “Uh, we were just playing a game.”

Morgan turns back to look at her dad, grinning. “Chocolate is on the list Uncle Bruce gave him!” she says, waving the piece of paper in Tony’s direction.

“Pretty sure that says dark chocolate,” Tony says, eyes narrowing at them as he crosses the room. “Not leftover M&Ms from the Christmas stash.”

Morgan’s face falls. “Aw…”

Tony sets the tray of food down on the coffee table. “Don't worry, kids,” he says, passing Peter the kale and fruit-rich protein smoothie. “Iron Man to the rescue.”

Link to all my fics

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Morgan Stark, M.D.

Dad Level: 3000

Long Distance Dadding

#sick peter parker #hurt peter parker #irondad fic #peter parker whump #hurt/comfort #blood #injury #broken nose #nutrient deficiency #anemia #fluff #whump #humor #peter parker is a mess #tony stark has a heart #morgan stark is adorable #my fic #mcu writing

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kiwiimmellon134 · 4 years

Text

TURN IT OFF — PART ONE

summary — in which a gemini wedding doesn’t go as planned

word count — somewhere around 2.5k

paring(s) — vampire!poe dameron x fem!witch!reader / rey x warlock!ben solo

warning(s) — angst, a wedding, blood

notes — heavily based off of jo and alaric satlzman’s wedding scene from the vampire diaries. also the solo twins are in this so ben and kylo are different people in this

The wedding of Ben Solo and Rey was an event you worked your ass off to plan. Even though you was a witch, a wedding was something you wanted to plan naturally. No magic involved. Being a Gemini witch, however, did have its perks but it have many more disadvantages.

You were not born a twin, however Ben was a twin. They weren't 22 yet, which meant they were safe. But when they do turn 22, Ben and his twin would have to do something called the Merge. It's when two Gemini twins merge their magic. It's a battle of will and power.

The strongest twin will absorb the other twin's magic while the weaker twin dies. Then the victorious twin will lead the Gemini coven until the next line of Gemini twins are born. Now, Ben's twin— Kylo Ren— was put into a prison world because Kylo killed his foster family.

He was a sociopath. And the Gemini's locked him away. Ben and Lysa lived their lives free of Kylo Ren's shadow. Ben met Rey through you and they fell in love. You also had your own fair share of love with Poe Dameron.

You exhaled quietly and rubbed your hands together nervously, looking at the altar you prepared. You were wearing your bridesmaid's dress since you were the maid of honor. The dress was a nice lavender color and nearly touched the floor.

"Hey," A voice said from behind you. You turned around and smiled, already knowing who the voice belonged to. "Hi," You replied. Poe Dameron walked up to you, "You look nervous."

"It's not even my wedding and I'm anxious," You joked, laughing softly. Poe sighed happily and moved a strand of your hair behind your ear, "It's beautiful. Almost as beautiful as you."

You scoffed, "Get your twentieth century pick up lines out of here," You smiled.

"Oh come on, that line would've killed in the 90's," Poe replied.

"It's not the 90's, babe," You countered. You and Poe leaned in for a kiss. Another voice shouted your name, making you and Poe pull away from each other. Ben Solo beamed happily and walked up to his cousin.

"Hey, Ben," You smiled, hugging him.

"It's beautiful. You outdone yourself," Ben replied, hugging you back. You shook her head and pulled away from Ben, "It was nothing."

"So," Ben asked, looking over Poe and you, "When are you two gonna seal the deal?"

"We can't," You said softly. You and Poe looked at each other sadly and then Ben frowned, "Right."He said, "I'm sorry I forgot. He's immortal. And you're not."

"Yeah..." Poe mumbled.

"But that doesn't mean we don't love each other," You said, trying to lighten the mood again. "Right, Poe?" You asked, looking up at him and grabbing his hand.

"Of course," Poe answered, interlocking his fingers with yours.

"I'm gonna go finish getting ready," Ben said, "It's good to see you both." You and Poe smiled and Ben left you two alone.

"We could still do it," You said once Ben was out of earshot. Poe shook his head, "I'm not letting you throw away your magic for me. You love being a witch."

"Yes, but I love you too," You replied, letting go of his hand and turning her body to face him. "And if being with you means I have to give up my magic... Then fine. I'll give up my magic."

"Can-Can we talk about this later?" Poe asked. You nodded in agreement, "Yeah... The-The wedding starts soon... So... I need to go find Rey and make she's ready."

"Hey," Poe said softly, "Just because I don't want to turn you doesn't mean I don't love you." You nodded, "I know. You're just thinking about what would happen after... And I understand. It's risky turning a Gemini witch."

"I love you," Poe said.

"I love you too," You replied. You backed away from Poe and walked down the hallway toward the dressing rooms. You opened the doors and saw Rose fixing Rey's hair.

"Hi," Rose said, looking over her shoulder. You smiled, "Hi." You moved next to Rey, "How you feeling?" You asked.

"Good. I feel fine," Rey replied.

"That's good." You said softly.

"What about you?" Rey asked, "Are you okay? You don't sound happy."

You shook her head and smiled, "It's nothing."

"No," Rose spoke up, "What wrong?"

"It's just... Me and Poe, I guess." You replied.

"Is everything okay between you two?" Rey asked, worried. You nodded again, "Yeah... We're fine. I think we're good."

"You sure?" Rey questioned, "You've been acting weird ever since you agreed to plan the wedding."

"It's just..." You shrugged, "I might not get to do this. So... If I can help my friends do this then... That's enough for me."

"Right," Rose nodded in understanding, "He's immortal and you're not." Rey sighed and turned around, causing Rose to drop her hands from Rey's hair.

"Is that why you're upset?" Rey asked, grabbing your hands. "Because you and Poe might not have the chance to live a normal life?"

"I want a life with him. I really do... But... Normal just seems weird when it comes to our current lives." You answered. You sighed and smiled weakly at Rey, "I'm happy for you."

"I know you're happy for me," Rey replied, "But I know right now you're not happy. Have you talked to Poe about this?"

You nodded, "Yeah... We've talked about it." You shook her head and pulled her hands away from Rey's. "You're getting married. We're not talking about my relationship until after you've said 'I do'." You said.

About an hour later and the wedding was about to start. The sun had gone down and the moon was just rising. You were talking to Poe while drinking a glass of champagne. You finished your glass and waited in the back for the music to start.

Ben was standing by the reverend in the front, waiting for the ceremony to start.

Everyone began finding their seats and you exhaled shakily. "You ready?" Poe asked, handing you a small bouquet of flowers. You nodded and took the flowers from his hands.

"Yeah. Let's do this." You replied. The music started playing and you and Poe hooked your arms together and walked down the aisle. You and Poe unhooked their arms and walked to opposite sides of the altar.

Finn and Rose walked out after them and then did the same thing you and Poe did. After a moment, Rey appeared in the doorway and walked down the aisle. She smiled at Ben as she got closer and he happily returned the favor.

Rey walked up the small flight of stairs and in front of Ben. They turned to each other. "Welcome family and friends on this magical evening," The reverend began. "To the wedding of Ben Solo and Rey. I believe Ben and Rey have prepared their own vows."

Rey turned to you and you stepped forward and took the bouquet of flowers from Rey's hand and backed up again. Rey and Ben grabbed each other's hands.

Ben cleared his throat, "Neither of us should be here right now. We've spent our live dodging fate... And beating the odds. But because we did... I got to meet you. The most beautiful, hilarious, and intimidatingly brilliant woman I have ever known. You've inspired me. You've shown me that happiness is actually something that I can have in my life."

You glanced past Rey and Ben and met eyes with Poe. You smiled at him and he smiled back. "And so," Ben pulled the ring out from his pocket, "I promise to be with you and love you and dodge fate with you..."

Ben picked up Rey's hand and slid the ring up her finger, "For the rest of our lives."

Rey smiled as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Ben beamed at her and Rey couldn't keep her smile back. "Rey?" The reverend asked.

"Oh God," Rey said, "That's gonna be tough to beat." Rey sighed softly and grabbed Ben's hands, "Here goes. You are—"

Suddenly the doors flew open, catching everyone's attention. Kylo Ren stepped into the room and looked around.

"Oh my God," You whispered shakily.

"How are you here!?" Anakin Skywalker shouted, standing up.

"It took my forever, but I finally escaped your prison world," Kylo said.

Ben put a protective arm out toward Rey. "I was gonna wait until the 'till death do us part' bit, but... Seemed a little on the nose." Kylo added.

"Anyways, you all should watch what you put in your drinks. You don't know who could link all the Gemini's together." Kylo pulled out a knife and stabbed his hand. You exclaimed in pain, as did all the other Gemini's in the room.

You looked down at her hand and saw blood coming from her palm, although there was no wound, the pain felt too real. Ben winced and Rey looked at Kylo then Ben fearfully.

"What are you doing?" Katnina Arami asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kylo asked, "I'm killing you all." Kylo raised his hand and a loud ringing echoed in everyone's head causing them to scream in pain. Nearly half of the people in the room passed out from the pain. Kylo jerked his hand, causing the window to shatter inwards.

Kylo turned the knife on himself and stabbed himself in the heart. You screamed in pain, as did Ben along with the Gemini's in the room. "No!" Poe shouted. He used his vampire speed to get to you before your body hit the floor.

"Oh my God!" Rose shouted.

"Ben!" Rey yelled.

Poe bit into his wrist and held the open wound to your lips, "Come on, drink it. Come on..." Poe mumbled. You slowly grabbed Poe's wrist and pulled it closer to your mouth, drinking a couple drops of his blood to try and heal you.

Rose rushed down to Ben and Rey and tried to stop the bleeding from Ben's chest. "Why isn't she healing?!" Poe asked, turned to look at Rose.

"I think their lives are linked to Kylo's. Whatever happens to him happens to her and them..." Rose explained, crying softly. "I don't know what to do... I'm sorry."

Poe looked back down at you, "No, no, no, no. You're not dying." Poe said softly, "Not like this."

You coughed up some blood and cried in pain. "It's okay, I'm here," Poe said. Finn hurried to Poe and you as best as he could.

"It's..." You whispered, "It's okay..."

Poe brought you closer to him, "You're not dying like this," He said softly. You slowly moved her hand on top of his, "It's okay..." You managed to say softly, "I love you..."

"I love you too..." Poe replied, moving your hair from your face, "I love you too..." Poe could hear your heartbeat slowing down by the second.

"Ben..." Rey cried, her hands on either side of his face. "I'm sorry..." Ben whispered weakly. You exhaled softly and her hand fell from Poe's and onto the ground. Ben's head turned to the side and he closed his eyes.

"No!!" Rey screamed. Rose wrapped her arms around Rey in a comforting hug.

"Hey..." Finn spoke softly to Poe. Poe shook his head and lifted you up to him, he cried into your shoulder. Finn put a comforting hand on Poe's shoulder while also trying not to cry himself.

Poe pulled away from your corpse and looked around at the damage. There were dead bodies scattered around and glass littered on the floor. Then, you gasped for air and Poe looked down.

Finn, Rose, and Rey turned their heads in confusion. You coughed and groaned in pain.

"Holy crap..." Finn whispered.

"How are you here?" Poe asked softly, cupping the side of your jaw. You winced in pain and Poe saw a glimpse of what looked like vampire fangs.

Then he remembered you died with his blood in your system. "You need human blood." Poe said softly.

"Poe, what just happened?" Rose asked.

"She died with my blood in her system. She's in transition. She needs human blood." Poe said. Rose turned around and offered up her bloody hand, "Here."

Poe gently grabbed Rose's hand and led it to you. You looked at Rose's hand, smelling the blood on it. "It's okay. You need this to survive." Poe coaxed.

You took Rose's hand and licked a stripe of blood on the side of her thumb. Rose pulled her hand away and your eyes turned red and grey veins ran down from the bottom of your eyes.

"Poe?" You asked softly.

Poe helped you sit up. You looked around and barely remembered what happened before you died. You thought this was all a nightmare and you would wake up soon.

"What... What happened?" You asked.

But you were wrong.

"I'm sorry." Poe began, "Kylo came and he... He killed the entire Gemini coven by linking them together with some linking spell."

You shook her head in disbelief. You couldn't believe it. Your family was dead? Your witch coven was dead? Killed by someone you thought they handled a long time ago?

"No..." You shook her head, "No, no, no. You're..." You wanted to say 'lying' but you knew they were telling the truth.

"I'm so sorry, baby..." Poe said softly. Then Poe remembered what it's like being a newly turned vampire. "Hey," Poe said, gently grabbing the sides of your face, making you look at him.

"Listen to me, every emotion you're feeling right now it's heightened. It's bad, I know. You're feeling a lot of pain, right?" Poe asked. Now that he mentioned it, you did feel a lot of pain.

Your chest hurt, physically and metaphorically. Physically from being magically stabbed and metaphorically from your heart aching from losing your family.

Your mouth hurt. It was probably the vampire fangs growing in but damn did it hurt.

What you couldn't feel was your magic. It was the one thing you would have to give up to become a vampire. Your magic. You couldn't be a witch and a vampire at the same time. "But, you're gonna get through it, okay?" Poe added.

You had no idea what to do. You wanted to scream and cry. You wanted revenge. But the person that killed you and the Gemini's was already dead. You needed someone to blame. You thought it'd be easier to blame someone.

But you couldn't find anyone to blame. You pulled away from Poe and turned toward the ruins. You stood up on wobbly legs and Poe helped you stand on your own.

Behind you, Rose, and Finn stood up on their feet and watched the two vampires while Rey stayed by Ben's body. You took a couple steps forward before you turned back around.

"Why did this happen?" You asked, tears falling from your eyes.

"I don't know," Poe replied.

"They're all dead." You said, "My coven... My family. What am I supposed to do now?" You asked.

"I don't know what to do," You continued, "How am I supposed to— They were... I-I can't... I don't know how to..." You trailed off.

You began sobbing as you fell to your knees, overwhelmed with all kinds of emotions. Poe rushed to you and hugged you, bringing you close to him which allowed you to cry into his chest.

"I know... I'm sorry..." Poe whispered, stroking your hair.

#poe dameron x you #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron #star wars #writing #au

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hopelessromanticspoonie · 4 years

Text

Helping Hands - Chapter 2

Series Masterlist here

Chapter Summary: Loki shows Haley a bit more of the world she hadn’t had the opportunity to discover. Tony and Bruce begin testing and a painful truth comes to light.

Chapter Warnings: Needles, Implications of neglect, light descriptions of injury

A/N: I was absolutely stunned by the response for the first chapter! It definitely motivated me to get this next bit out to you! Thank you again to @vodka-and-some-sass for Betaing for me!

“Um, FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Haley?”

It was odd to address a room like it was a person, even after Tony had explained in the simplest terms possible the AI that lived in every fiber of the tower that would be her new home. She hadn’t left her room yet, choosing to stare out of the tinted windows at the bustling city below. It was awe-inspiring, to know that so many people existed, going about their lives without any knowledge of the horrors behind her eyelids. Now the city sparkled with glowing lights darting around beneath her, chasing away the darkness from the overcast sky. Did anyone sleep?

Odder still was to be given a name for her own. A moniker not meant to harm her, insult her, or one based solely on the powers that were both a blessing and a curse. Maybe the introduction of a name could be a new start for her. Perhaps a chance to become more than just what she could do for others?

“There isn’t any food in here, and I’m starving. What do they do for food?” she asked, closing her hands over her almost concave stomach as it rumbled loudly as if seconding the meekly asked question.

“In the common area there is a communal kitchen used by all Avengers living on-site. During business hours, various restaurants and the cafeteria are operational for faculty, staff, and visitors on campus,” the pleasant female voice responded, sounding from somewhere over her head.

Haley ran a hand over her spiky short hair, staring at the door as if it would bite her. “And is it business hours?”

“Unfortunately not. But if you follow the map currently on your television screen, it can get you to the kitchen.”

It wasn’t like she had any money, anyway. Didn’t you need money to buy something from a business? Tony had said that whatever she wanted, all she needed was ask, but she doubted that extended to the entire tower. Glancing once at the screen that flickered to life against the wall, she committed it to memory before slipping her socked feet into a brand new pair of sneakers that Pepper had dropped off a few hours ago - along with enough clothing and toiletries to last her an eternity.

Using the hand scanner to leave her room, she hovered in the doorway of her temporary sanctuary, staring out at the shadowed black hallway. Soft light illuminated one end of it, trickling in from the same direction FRIDAY had indicated for the kitchen. She steeled her nerves and anxieties with a deep breath before slowly making her way in that direction, ears perked for any sound that would send her scurrying back to her room. Her body had known hunger before, and it could wait.

A high-pitched whistling sounded from the kitchen when she stepped into a large room which appeared to be solely for relaxing. Various couches and plush armchairs were scattered about in loose formations, some facing bookshelves stacked high with more books than she knew existed, others televisions bigger than her wildest imaginings. She froze, her heart leaping into her throat, large eyes darting to the source of the sound.

Soft footsteps sounded on the shining marble floor, interrupted by the clanking of dishware and a heavy sigh. Her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly at an enticing aroma that drifted her way through the air conditioning, and she cursed softly under her breath when the domestic sounds ceased for a split second.

“I will not harm you, little one.”

She was almost positive that voice belonged to Loki, the more outspoken of the group with the intelligent eyes. He hadn’t given her any reason to fear him - yet. Balling her hands up into fists at the shiver of anxiety that coursed down her spine, she stood up as tall as she could manage and followed the sounds and smells into the warmly lit kitchen.

Her assumption had been correct. Loki stood in the middle of the room, swirling a spoon in a steaming cup that clinked quietly with each minute movement. He had exchanged his daunting leather outfit for something much more comfortable. The black, soft-looking pajama bottoms hung low on his hips to reveal a sliver of pale skin just below his fitted white t-shirt. It was startling to see such a change in the intimidating man, who peered at her with a quirked brow.

“Anyone with ears would be able to hear your stomach complaining, and your cheekbones are so sunken it appears painful,” he commented, a hint of sadness lingering on his velvet voice. It wrapped around her, a caress to her frazzled nerves that lowered her hackles just a bit. “What do you like to eat?”

What did she like to eat? Any food she had been given was meager and tasteless, the scraps leftover from Mr. Shaw’s meals or unwanted food to be tossed to the dogs. Food wasn’t meant to be enjoyed, but for fueling her body, keeping her strong enough to heal her owner. Embarrassment flushed down her face and neck as her thoughts came up empty, and her hands twisted together unseen in the confines of her sweatshirt.

If he was bothered by her lack of an answer, he didn’t show it. She got the sense that he didn’t reveal much behind his finely sculpted features. Indifference suited the straight line of his nose and the press of his thin lips. It was… nice to watch the straight line of his back as he bustled about the kitchen, gathering various foods on a plate and pouring a second cup of his steaming beverage. He said nothing, merely tilted his head in her direction before setting the spoils on a vast table with enough seats to fit all of the faces she’d seen earlier on the Quinjet.

She sat at the seat in front of the food at the wave of his hand, shoving her hands beneath her thighs as she watched him take the seat opposite her. He pulled a book from thin air, and she gasped, shrinking back into the wooden chair as if it would swallow her whole. Had he…?

“My apologies,” he purred, the words a warm caress to the fear that had her heart thudding against her ribcage. “Simply a bit of magic, pulling my belongings to me should I need them. Eat.”

She hesitated, her hand hovering over the selection of brightly colored fruits and thick, buttered bread, waiting for him to take the plate from her and laugh at the gall she had to hope for fair treatment. He reached over and plucked a glistening green grape from the bunch on the plate, popping it into his mouth and chewing slowly before cracking open the book to peruse the pages.

Magic? He mentioned it so casually, as if it was an understood fact about him. But with how little she knew of the world, it could very well be so. She could take the injuries from others, and that certainly didn’t seem natural. Quickly, she picked several grapes and pushed them into her mouth, resisting the urge to moan at the delicious sweetness that exploded across her tongue. Before she knew it she had the plate held to her chest protectively and she couldn’t eat fast enough. Never had she been given such a veritable feast of such exquisite flavors.

Only when the plate was empty did she look up. Loki acted as if she hadn’t just devoured her meal like a wild animal, regarding his book with quiet curiosity lighting on the furrow of his brow. Her slightly shaking hands gripped her own impossibly delicate cup, warm to the touch from the fragrant beverage within, and she sipped it delicately, afraid of getting burned. The warmth flooded her body, reaching the tips of her toes and unfurling within her with a comfort she was wholly unused to from something as simple as a drink.

“Earl Grey,” he supplied, looking up at her briefly over his book. “The tea. You enjoy it.”

Enjoy. She never got to enjoy anything. But this tea - Earl Grey - and the filling fruit and bread he’d gathered for her, she’d thoroughly enjoyed that. She enjoyed the foreign feeling of fullness in her belly and the layered aroma wafting up from her cradled cup.

She could even see herself enjoying Loki’s presence, stoic and calm and wholly unbothered by her existence as he allowed her to sit in his shadow. He radiated a strength that she longed to glean for herself.

“I do.” She hummed quietly after taking another warming sip. “Thank you.”

“We just want to draw a bit of blood and give you a routine physical. There will be a needle for the blood bit, and then I’ll take your heartbeat with this,” Tony held up a device hanging around his neck, “and check your overall health by just taking a good look at your body. At the end, I’d like to hook up a few monitors and have you do a bit of healing, but only if you’re up for it. How’s that sound?”

Haley shifted uneasily on the cold metal table, casting a quick glance at Loki, who stood still as a statue against the far wall, watching Tony and Bruce with narrowed eyes. He had quietly inserted himself into her presence whenever she had left her room, and it felt right to trust the mysterious man. Loki gave her a quick nod before watching the two men in front of her again, his face lowered so that his long, raven hair framed his face and cast a shadow over the planes of his cheekbones.

“Okay.”

The two men were respectful as they worked around and on her, asking permission before Tony touched the cold metal disc to her chest or Bruce gently squeezed her leg with what looked to be a set of pliers. None of it hurt, and she didn’t even blink when Tony drew several vials of blood from a needle he slid into her arm. Were these men doctors? They didn’t look the part, with Tony’s perfectly styled hair and trimmed goatee, and Bruce’s threadbare button-up shirt that hung on his frame.

A monitor beeped out the drum of her anxious heartbeat for all to hear from sticky pads connected to her chest. Tony had also attached a few to her scalp, all while muttering to himself, “At least she doesn’t have a lot of hair to get in the way.” All of the eyes in the room settled on her, and it took everything she had not to curl up from the weight of their gazes on her bony shoulders.

Bruce stepped in front of her, rolling up his shirt sleeve to reveal a small, raised red line across his forearm. He offered her a smile that begged her to relax. “I burnt myself on the oven the other day. Should’ve known better than to try to cook,” he gave a self-deprecating laugh full to the brim with warmth. “Can you heal this?”

Of course she could. But burns were her least favorite to handle. They weren’t any harder for her to heal than any other injury, but the raw, itchy skin was her least favorite. Still, these men had offered their home to her, given her food and clothing and medicine and a place of her very own without demanding entrance to it. This small burn that hadn’t even blistered wouldn’t take long to dispatch at all. A small price to pay.

“I’m going to touch you. Okay?” she asked quietly, mimicking the permission that they had asked of her for the entire time she’d interacted with them. Everyone she interacted with had taken to asking her before doing anything, a luxury and kindness she wasn’t accustomed to. How long would that last after they saw the extent of her abilities? Just until one of them got injured beyond what they were willing to deal with. That was how it worked.

“Bruce.” Loki’s warning came from over her shoulder, thick with veiled threats that she wasn’t certain she wanted to know how he would uphold. Even as he had chipped away at the protective shielding around her heart, she still felt the danger that he posed, carried in his confident stride and unhurried movement. So averse to the showy bravado she was accustomed to, guns waved around and threats growled over hands clutching the collar of her shirt. He didn’t need that. His reputation was enough, it seemed.

Bruce nodded and offered her his arm. His breath quickened beneath his shirt when her thin fingers slanted over his skin, and his pulse practically matched her own ringing in her ears. It was all too easy to direct the rush of electricity beneath her skin through her fingertips in the golden glow she’d come to dread for the pain it promised. Sure enough, she bit her bottom lip between her teeth at the stinging sensation that scratched at her forearm where Bruce’s burn once was, hidden by the thick sleeves of her new favorite sweatshirt.

“Incredible,” Bruce breathed, rubbing his hand over the freshly healed skin as if it were some parlor trick. A common reaction when she first healed someone, before they got greedy and jaded to her powers.

Tony pulled out a pair of yellow-tinted glasses and leaned over a computer, typing away furiously as his eyes darted over all the data he could consume.

“Leave us,” Loki commanded, and the heat of him practically pulsed at her back.

“But, I, this is my lab!” Tony stammered, chest puffing out as he stood up and pulled his glasses off to glare at the man whose breath fanned over the top of her head.

“Come on, Tony, we can have FRIDAY send the data to the other lab.” Bruce dragged the other man out with a hand on his arm, closing the door behind them to leave a deafening silence in their wake.

Loki stalked around the metal table until the front of his thighs almost brushed her knees, staring down at her with too many emotions warring on his face to name. He moved slowly, his hand reaching out to encircle her wrist and seize the fabric tucked beneath her clenched fingers into her palm. His fingertips were calloused, rasping against her skin with the heat of his touch as he slowly pulled up the baggy sleeve despite her pulling away in protest.

“Don’t-”

He flipped her now bare arm over to reveal the burn that had etched itself into her skin, dragging his finger just beside it to make the shiny skin catch the light. “You do not heal them. You take their wounds for your own.”

There wasn’t any use denying it with the evidence grasped in his careful touch. “I do.”

A growl ripped from his throat, feral and animalistic and so terrifying that she pulled her knees up to her chest and held them with one arm wrapped around her shins. He released her from his hold, allowing her to cradle her arm to her body against the conflicting singing of her skin from his touch and painful burn she’d brought upon herself.

“Unacceptable.”

And then he stormed away, leaving her curled in on herself on the table, staring at the door with the intoxicating masculine musk of his cologne still teasing at her nose and the incessant beeping of the monitor betraying her conflicting emotions she couldn’t even begin to place.

~~~

Series taglist: @kneel-before-queen-loki @alexakeyloveloki @from-hel-i-with-love @cleocc @cateyes315 @coldbookworm @rjohnson1280

Little Bit o’ Loki taglist: @myownviperroom @grahoundart @darealbellabelleoftheball @boubouinscarlet @iamverity @rt8815 @lots-of-loki @otakumultimuseoc @ms-cellanies @rosierossette @thathedonistgirl

Whole Shebang taglist: @just-the-hiddles @yespolkadotkitty @nonsensicalobsessions @vodka-and-some-sass @he-is-chaotic-she-is-psychotic @myoxisbroken @blah666 @brokenthelovely @myworddump @polireader @wiczer @littleredstarfish @the-broken-angel-13 @arch-venus25 @xxloki81xx @jessiejunebug @tinchentitri @sllooney @devilbat @vikkleinpaul @bouquet-o-undercaffeinated-roses @angelus80 @wolfsmom1 @kthemarsian @toozmanykids @princerowanwhitethorngalathynius @sabine-leo @lovesmesomehiddles @peterman-spideyparker @wegingerangelica @bluefrenchfries604 @catsladen @silverswordthekilljoy

#loki fanfic #loki #loki x ofc #slow burn #angst #protective!loki #protective loki #helping hands #hopelesswrites

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beautyandthewarcanons · 3 years

Text

Echo's Beacon: Part Seven

[You can read part six here! All BATW & DTTR characters belong to @poisonappletales ! ❤]

In the lounge, some of the group reclined after finishing breakfast. Jasmine and Rosemary entered the room after cleaning up, taking a seat on one of the couches. Jasmine glanced over to see Night sitting in an armchair, and he gave her a nod. Unknown was sprawled out in another chair, watching the room.

"Ambrosia, darling... won't you come sit with me?" He practically sang.

"No thank you, Sir Unknown. That chair is for a single occupant." She replied.

"You could always sit on my lap." He grinned, widening his legs. Thankfully, he was wearing sweatpants.

"She said no." Arsenik said firmly, glancing at the other man sharply. "You'll treat her with more respect."

Unknown turned his head a bit. "Perhaps if princess Jasmine sat upon her 'Night' in shining armour... Ambrosia and I could have more room on the couch."

Jasmine straightened up then. "Certainly not. That's improper."

"Besides, he doesn't even like her like that!" Rosemary exclaimed ignorantly.

"Hm... they did spend quite some time on the porch last night. It was a chilly evening... perfect for warming each other up..." Unknown slowly leaned forward. Ambrosia glanced over at Night warily as Jasmine quickly shot up, about to excuse herself.

"Don't run, little raven. I'm talking to you." Unknown smirked. "So... what's the story? Did you kiss under the moonlight? Did you hold him in a caress? Did you-"

"I don't think she's the type that kisses and tells." Night surprisingly cut him off. "May as well give it up, Unknown."

"But you did go see him, didn't you? The first night." Unknown asked.

"Sir Unknown, for the last time, I am not an improper woman. I needed some air from the grief my cousin was giving me. It was during that time I heard lady Kara in distress." Jasmine answered, exasperated.

"What?! I was giving you grief?! YOU were being mean!" Rosemary shouted.

"Because you're ridiculous." Jasmine snapped.

"So it's perfectly alright for lady Kara to have nightmares but I'm not allowed to be afraid of thunder?!"

"I'm not saying lady Kara's behavior patterns are any better. Typically, lady Ambrosia takes on the burden of easing lady Kara's nightly outbursts." Jasmine explained.

"But lady Jasmine, she can't help it. She's had these night terrors since she was little." Ambrosia chimed in.

"She's not a little girl anymore. Both she and lady Rosemary need to grow out of the past already."

"And all of you need to be quiet already." Wind finally spoke up. "Seriously, how can you stand to do so much talking?"

"I have to grow up?! I have more maturity in one finger than you do in your whole body!" Rosemary crossed her arms.

"That couldn't be further from the truth. You do have a great deal of hot air stored in that head of yours, though." Jasmine snapped.

"Yep, I'm out of here." Wind sighed, leaving the room as the pair of Phoenix women continued their bickering.

Back on the grounds, I entered the barn, the door creaking as I looked around the old structure. Withered hay was spread about on the ground, covering the wooden slats beneath. Along the wall were some old tools and equipment, rust covering a good majority of them. I turned, walking along some of the closed horse stables. There was no sign of life in here- however, I spotted something on the far end of the barn. A long, worn trenchcoat hung on the wall by a single hook. I slowly made my way over, extending a hand to feel the somewhat tattered material.

Just then, I heard something from behind me clatter to the ground, looking over my shoulder to see a pitchfork had fallen off the wall. I furrowed a brow, about to go over there to pick it up-

One of the horse stable doors burst open, a sudden bellowing shout making me fall. I scrambled back, my eyes shut tight as I screamed. The shouting quickly transitioned to laughter, my eyes popping open to see Brooks and Wildfire tossing off their rugged disguises. More worn trenchcoats were discarded on the ground as I shakily got to my feet.

"Well, looks like we found it!" Brooks exclaimed.

"Yup. A big, scared, chicken." Wildfire smirked.

When I finally comprehended what was happening, confusion and fear switched to anger. "Are you insane?!" I shouted then. "This is what you brought me here for, to scare the crap out of me?"

"Better than bringing US to this place to bore us to death." Wildfire let her head sway to the side. "See? You said make the best of it, and we just did." Wildfire pat my shoulder firmly. "Thanks for the laughs."

My feet were planted where I stood as she shoved past me. "Hey, come on! Live a little, will ya?" Brooks nudged me as she followed her friend. I continued to breathe heavily, my brows furrowed as I tried to recover from the humiliating incident without success.

Inside the manor, Wind sighed to himself as he traversed through one of the corridors. Never again, he thought to himself. Not even Ambrosia was going to convince him to go on another group trip. He would give anything right now to be back home, among the trees, the serene silence-

He stopped when a sound reached his ears.

It was soft, subtle, but not beyond escaping the detection of an Imugi. He turned to face the wall, staring at one of the dark wood panels as he growled lowly. His eyes narrowed, his upper lip retracting in a low snarl. His yellow eyes glistened with alertness as he pressed an ear against the wall.

Just as he was tuning his hearing, chatter from the other side of the corridor neared.

"I won fair and square, Trold- just admit it." Viktor boasted.

"You just got lucky, Hulder! I'll beat you next time!" Chase clenched his teeth.

"I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, I'll take my claim as master of darts, thank you very much!" Viktor smirked, moving ahead of Chase as he seethed.

As Chase rounded the corner, he noticed the pair of Valkyrie coming toward him, laughing as they passed by. Shrugging, he continued on to see Wind standing in the middle of the hall.

"Oh, hey pal!" Chase perked up, the Imugi groaning in annoyance.

"Don't any of you know how to be quiet for five minutes?" Wind spat.

Just then, I appeared in the corridor, disappearing just as quickly into my room as I shut the door firmly behind me.

"Hey, she seems pretty upset. Do you think she's okay?" Chase asked.

"How should I know?" Wind replied. "If you want to find out, no one's stopping you."

"Yeah... you're right." Chase smiled, and Wind growled lowly when the Trold pat his back. "Thanks, Wind."

As Chase left him, Wind sighed when he didn't detect anything behind the wall anymore. He moved a few steps closer to a door, opening it as he peered upon a flight of stairs descending into a dark basement. Grumbling to himself, he shut the door, shaking his head as he walked away.

I walked up to the door, opening it to see Chase standing there.

"Hey Chase. Did you need something?" I asked, trying to keep my gaze downcast.

"Well, uh... I saw you just now, and... you seemed upset." He replied.

I shook my head. "I'm fine. I appreciate your concern, though."

"Hey... come on, you can talk about it. I know the others have been kind of rough." He insisted. I lingered for a moment before turning, leaving the door open to let him in. He went to close the door behind him, but it ricocheted a bit, remaining slightly ajar.

I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the floor as I felt him sit beside me. "Chase... so you think I'd fit in with any of the clans on Virgo Island?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, you're not royalty, so the Vi wouldn't take you... unless you decided to join Barium's harem. You... don't want to do that, do you?" I shook my head. "Thought so. Don't tell him I said that. I may not like him, but I don't want him sending Onyx after me."

I couldn't help but grin a little. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Hm... you don't have healing blood, so you wouldn't make a very good Phoenix. N- Not that your blood isn't fine the way it is. The Hulder... just, no. The Valkyrie... I mean, you are a girl-"

"No."

"Hm?"

"I wouldn't fit in with them."

"Why not?"

"... I would be the butt end of their joke."

"Hey... why'd you say that?" He glanced my way.

"I'm sure they're bragging to everyone how they scared me senseless this morning down by the barn."

"That's why you're upset." Chase frowned. A few moments of silence elapsed. Chase extended an unsure hand, finally resting it on my back. I glanced over at this, and he drew me a bit closer, his arm hugging my shoulders. "You know..." He started. "... you wouldn't make for a very good Trold, either. My brothers and sisters wouldn't let you hear the end of it if you tried." I tried to move away at that, but he stopped me. "But... then you wouldn't be you, anyway."

I looked over at him as he said this. "Maybe you're right. But... being me has its disadvantages."

"Maybe. You don't have any special powers as a human. But... I like you anyway." Chase said.

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, thanks."

"Maybe you don't need to fit in with a whole clan. I mean... man, I'm bad at this." Chase scratched the back of his head.

As we spoke, Arsenik was making his way along the corridor. He stopped for a moment, able to see Chase and I through the crack in the door. Thinking it rude to eavesdrop, he continued on.

"Sometimes I have trouble articulating how I feel, too." I said.

"Art... tickling? Huh?" Chase asked.

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Articulating. It's something like... properly expressing."

"Oh, right. I hate when Hulder use big fancy words like that. They go out of their way to make me feel dumb. Like that Viktor."

I cringed a bit. "How'd your dart game go?"

"I lost." He grumbled. After a moment, the corner of his lips poked into a mischievous grin. "You know what might cheer us both up?"

"What's that?" I asked.

"Art tickling." Chase grinned.

"... Huh?" I rose a brow.

In the lounge, Arsenik had found Ambrosia, the pair having a pleasant conversation. However, it was soon interrupted when Wildfire and Brooks entered, Viktor wincing as he sat in one of the other armchairs.

"Heya! Got some room for us?" Brooks laughed as Wildfire crashed on the couch on the other side of Arsenik. The Hulder straightened uncomfortably, instinctively taking Ambrosia's hand.

"Forgive me." He mouthed to her. She didn't shy away, clearing her throat as she placed her other hand on Arsenik's arm.

"Sir Arsenik, perhaps I could show you some of the juices I found in the kitchen? An afternoon drink may suit you-"

"What's the rush?" Wildfire asked, rolling her head to the side to look at Arsenik. Her arm slung around his shoulders, Arsenik stiffening even more.

"Miss Wildfire. Please take your arm off of me." He requested firmly.

"Why? I can't give it a rest after all the exercise I got this morning?" She asked.

"Get off of me!!!" Viktor suddenly exclaimed as Brooks draped herself sideways over the armchair, seated in his lap as her legs hung over one of the arm rests.

"Well, y' weren't making any room for me, stud!" Brooks threw her head back, laughing.

Just then, Unknown wandered into the room. "Someone's getting lucky." He chuckled.

"Lucky?!" Viktor exclaimed. "Why don't you be useful and help me get her off!"

"You're the one who's supposed to be getting off, silly boy." Unknown laughed.

"How can I when she's sitting on me?!" Viktor whined. "Arsenik, do something!"

"Excuse me." He grasped Ambrosia's hand before she could protest anything going on around her, leaving the room. Wildfire watched them leave, her jaw rigid as she clenched and unclenched the hand she just had around Arsenik's shoulders.

"What- I meant help me, not leave-" Viktor grunted in frustration. "Unknown, why don't you take her off my hands, this is your sort of pleasure isn't it?!"

"Mmm... it would be nice... but it's also entertaining to watch you squirm." He smirked.

"You really are a disturbed individual!" Viktor exclaimed as he tried to maneuver Brooks off him.

"Someone's getting grabby, huh?" Brooks giggled. Wildfire rolled her eyes, letting her head fall back.

I fell back on the plush mattress in a fit of giggles as Chase tickled my sides. After a few moments, I felt the sensation cease, blinking my eyes open to see him staring down at me. His gaze seemed to be lost for a moment before he returned to the moment, clearing his throat and helping me to sit upright. His hands remained on my shoulders for a moment.

"Well, I think you were right. That seemed to cheer both of us up." I remarked.

"Yeah... it did." He smiled.

"And to make you feel better... I think you won that tickle fight." I added.

"I thought it was art tickling." He replied. "It didn't feel like we were fighting."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. I was about to get up when Chase beat me to it. He opened the door, his face souring a bit when Barium stood there.

"Oh. Hello Chase. Isn't this Kara's room?"

"I'm here." I spoke up, Chase moving aside as I approached from behind.

"I'm... not interrupting anything... am I?"

"No, we were just talking. What's up?" I asked.

"Well, Bo wanted me to ask if you wanted to bake something with her. She's with Ambrosia and Arsenik in the kitchen. We owe you a treat for being so kind to her."

"Oh, sure. I'll join." At this, Chase bit his lip, annoyed.

"Say... are you alright? Were you crying?" Barium frowned. Chase grit his teeth as Barium instinctively tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Thanks your- uh, Barium... I'm fine. Chase was talking to me just now and that helped." At this, the Trold glanced over, his smile returning.

In the kitchen, Ambrosia smiled as Bo giggled, the pair of women kneading some dough. Arsenik smiled lightly, noticing a stray helix of hair hanging along the side of Ambrosia's face. As he made his way to her, Barium returned, entering the kitchen with Chase and I.

"Miss Ambrosia, allow me..." He extended a hand, tucking the strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey, Ambrosia!" Chase said with a wave.

I stopped for a moment, noticing the small gesture Arsenik had made before remembering to smile. "Ah, sir Chase, lady Kara. Thank you for bringing them, your highness. I had been missing my sister today." Ambrosia beamed, and my smile grew warmer.

"Good afternoon, miss Kara. Are you faring well?" Arsenik asked.

"Yeah... I'm doing fine. How are you?" I replied.

"Quite well, thank you." He nodded lightly. He glanced over at Chase for a moment. "Miss Ambrosia had been wondering where you went off to."

"I've... been around." I nodded, my gaze cast toward the floor.

"Kara! Come help us make some bread!" Bo chirped, and I snickered when I saw she had some flour on her face.

To be continued...

#beautyandthewar #poisonappletales #beauty and the war x playing pieces #beauty and the war #donttakethisrisk #ambrosia #dont take this risk #arsenik #unknown #horror #suspense #fanficton

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kiminicricket · 4 years

Text

Swords and Opals - Part 10

A Ruthari fic based pre-show. adventure. friendship. bad-assery. fluff. angst. romance. and of course, Ruthari. What else could you need?

Need to catch up? From the Start Previous Chapter

“Working shirtless again I see. You know, attractive as you are, I’m afraid my heart belongs to someone else!” Tiadrin swooned dramatically as she sauntered into the workshop and helped herself to a drink of water. She poured one out for Ethari too, who turned from the forge to accept it.

“Thanks,” he said gratefully, downing the glass quickly and wiping some of the sweat from his brow. Rehydrated, he grinned at his friend and flexed his pecs, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You mean these babies don’t do anything for you?”

Tiadrin laughed and grabbed the towel from the hook where he kept it, flinging it into his face.

“Save it for someone who cares you hot piece of ass.”

Ethari wiped his face, laughing as Tiadrin tried to take a peek at his sketchbook, laying open on her new sword design. He quickly slid it out of her reach.

“No fair!” She pouted.

“I told you, you get to see it when it’s done.”

Tiadrin grumbled but didn’t argue. “How is it coming?” She asked instead.

Ethari shrugged “I mean it should be good when it’s done. It’s kind of ugly looking at the moment.

Tiadrin shot a worried glance towards the hilt of her sword as Ethari leaned back against the counter.

“I dropped by your house a few times, but you haven’t been there.” He said, conversationally.

Tiadrin blushed, “Yeah I’ve been spending a lot of time in the healing huts.”

Ethari said nothing, just raising his eyebrows, waiting for more. Tiadrin sighed.

“Damn it Ethari I really like him. Like, more than I expected to. It’s kind of scary.” Her voice had dropped into a whisper.

“Why?” Ethari asked.

Tiadrin shot him a look of disbelief. “Because what if he doesn’t like me back?” She asked as if it was obvious.

Ethari frowned, thinking back to their mission, how Lain had followed her everywhere, how he had risked his life saving hers, how he had watched her. “I mean I don’t think that’s likely, but if it’s true then he’s an idiot.”

Tiadrin smiled softly, staring off into space. “Oh he’s an idiot all right.” The fond smile on her face belied the words.

“How is he doing?” Ethari asked.

“Oh he’s being stubborn, insisting he’s absolutely fine and doesn’t need to be there despite barely being able to walk down the hall unassisted.” Tiadrin huffed in frustration. “Solana has told him three more days and he is begging me to bust him out.” She blushed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’m not going to do it of course, he still needs more recovery time, but dang, the boy can be persuasive!”

Ethari laughed. “You can be pretty persuasive when you want to be.”

“Especially with a sword in my hand!” Tiadrin grinned at him.

“Oh yes especially then!”

They fell into comfortable silence for a moment.

“It wasn’t so bad was it?” Tiadrin eventually asked, “Being grouped with Lain and Runaan?”

Ethari smiled, thinking back to his panic when he had found out about the grouping. He had thought it would be much more embarrassing than it was, but aside from getting flung around like a doll by a giant sand monster he had actually dealt with the trial fairly well.

“I thought I would stick my foot in it much more often than I actually did.” Ethari said thoughtfully.

Tiadrin grinned at him, “And what happened between you and Runaan while Lain and I were away?” She asked suggestively.

“I think we became.. friends,” Ethari said, thinking about Runaan opening up to him, their conversation that lasted well into the wee hours of the morning. The dance back into the silver grove.

Tiadrin raised her eyebrows, “Just friends?” She prodded.

Ethari smiled indulgently. “Yeah, what else would there be. He is Runaan. I’m just me.”

“I mean if Lain is an idiot for not liking me then Runaan is most certainly an idiot for not liking you!”

“Runaan’s not an idiot.”

“So he likes you then?”

“No, he’s just not an idiot.”

Tiadrin came right up to Ethari and planted her palms on both of his cheeks. Ethari looked down at her in surprise.

“Ethari. Get this through your thick skull. You are worthy of love, and any man would be a fool not to love you.”

Ethari smiled softly down at his best friend, pulling her in for a hug. She returned the tight embrace for a moment before wriggling around to try and catch another glimpse of his sketchbook. He promptly lifted her up and carried her to the door.

“Time for you to go now missy, how am I supposed to get any work done with you showering me with compliments?”

Tiadrin huffed but willingly started moving away. At the door they noticed Runaan down by the pond, looking up in their direction. They both smiled and waved. Runaan stiffened but waved back, before turning and darting towards the training fields.

Tiadrin let out a huff of laughter. “I mean he’s a weird dude, but I can see the appeal.”

“Stop,” Ethari said, gently nudging her.

“Love you,” she said, moving towards the healing huts.

“Love you too.” Ethari called back before moving back towards the forge.

***

Tiadrin stood up and stretched. Lain had just drifted off to sleep after telling her a story about his childhood. She tried to imagine him as a rambunctious child and smiled at the image it brought to mind.

“Uh Tiadrin?”

She whirled to see Runaan hovering in the doorway, looking nervous. It wasn’t unusual to see him here, he visited with Lain daily, but he had already visited today, and it was unusual to see him twice.

“Hey Runaan.”

He smiled. Or tried to. From what Tiadrin could tell. At the very least his cheek twitched.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah buddy, what’s up?”

He seemed to hesitate, taking a deep breath and opening his mouth before closing it. Tiadrin watched him, puzzling over his actions.

“Do you need something?”

“Uh, no.”

“Do you want a minute with Lain? I was about to get dinner anyway.”

Runaan shook his head, “No, its… It’s about Ethari.”

Tiadrin perked up.

“Is he… are you…” he couldn’t seem to get the words out, and a blush was forming on his cheeks. He sighed helplessly, gesturing with his hands as though Tiadrin should be able to pick up on what he was saying.

Tiadrin frowned for a moment before putting the dots together.

“Wait, me and Ethari?” She laughed, “Oh dear, no, I’m most definitely not his type.”

“Ok.”

It was hard to read Runaan’s expressions, but Tiadrin thought he looked a little pleased at the news.

“You two are… close though?”

Tiadrin smiled, “Yeah he’s been my best friend for a long time now.”

“He seems a good friend to have.”

“A better boyfriend I’d wager.” She said with a grin and a wink. Someone had to egg this guy on.

Runaan stiffened and then nodded formally.

“Right, well I won’t keep you from your dinner.”

“You’re welcome to join if you like.”

“Thank you, no. I have uh, a previous engagement.”

Runaan disappeared through the door and Tiadrin watched him go with a smile. Ethari was right then. Runaan wasn’t an idiot.

***

Ethari stoked the flames, making sure they were rising nice and high. He wiped the sweat from his brow and put the bucket into the hottest part of the flame. He held it there a moment before withdrawing it, giving it a little swirl and then re-entering it in. He repeated this several times until the metal within was pure liquid and the bucket was glowing red hot. Retreating from the heat, he hurried over to the mold, pouring the liquified metal in, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as it smoothly ran between the various elements that he had crafted the mold to fit. He heard the door swing open and slam shut, but he dared not remove his gaze from the mold - he had a very strict amount of this metal, and he couldn’t afford to lose a single drop. Finishing the pour he grabbed the other half of the mold, pressing it together and strapping it in place to hold the metal while it cooled. He dropped his tools and looked up for the first time, seeing Runaan standing at the door, eyes wide, cheeks red.

“Oh hey Runaan,” Ethari grinned and wiped some more sweat off his brow, missing the way Runaan’s eyes were glued to him. He grabbed a towel from the rack on the wall, “I thought you were hanging out with Lain today.”

Runaan blinked and nodded stiltingly, not saying a word. Ethari regarded him carefully, tilting his head.

“You ok?”

More blinks and nods. Ethari frowned, confused, but turned to head to the back of the shop.

“Ok well give me a minute, I’ll grab my shirt and be right back.”

Not sure what was eating at Runaan, Ethari ducked into his living area. He quickly towelled off the rest of the sweat and pulled his shirt over his head before heading back out to the main part of the workshop. Runaan hadn’t moved and was looking at him with something akin to disappointment as he took in the top Ethari was wearing. Ethari tugged at the hem, unsure, and Runaan’s eyes lifted to his.

“Uh, they’re letting Lain go home today.” He blurted.

“Oh that’s great news!”

Runaan nodded distractedly, still eyeing Ethari’s shirt. Ethari thought he noted a hint of distaste. Maybe Runaan didn’t like purple? Either way Ethari tried to shrug it off as he turned to make sure the safety was in place for the furnace.

“Shall we go welcome him back to the real world?” He said once it was done.

“I think he’d like that.” Runaan agreed.

***

Lain had been awake for the last several days, and insisting that he was fine, however the healers had wanted to keep him in for observation a few extra days. Tiadrin had made herself a nuisance, but healer Solana had developed a soft spot for her, and let her hang around. That left little room for Runaan and Ethari to visit, but they had popped by when they could and Lain had bemoaned his ‘imprisonment’, trying to convince them to break him out. The three of them were more than happy to leave him in the care of the healers however, as even yesterday he had still looked quite pale.

They got to the healers tent just as Lain was getting out, half listening to a lecture from Solana.

“No strenuous activities for at least another two weeks!” She called out as he walked away. “Three would be better.” She muttered, shaking her head and returning to within the healing huts.

“Runaan! Ethari!” Lain called out, embracing each of them by turn. “It’s so good to see your faces in the light of the sun! I was going crazy in there! I swear I would have broken out days ago if Rin hadn’t kept me entertained with stories of the dragon guard!”

At the nickname Ethari shot a questioning glance at Tiadrin, who blushed but shot him a don’t even start look. She was following just behind Lain, ready to dart in and assist if needed, but Lain was walking around as if he’d never been hit.

“Whats this?” Runaan pointed to a new braid on the right side of his face.

“Oh you like it?” Lain reached up to hold the new braid out. “Rin gave it to me while I was convalescing.” He said dramatically, tilting his head to show off the braid.

“Rin?” Ethari couldn’t help but ask. There was murder growing in Tiadrin’s eyes as he said the nickname and Ethari quickly bit his tongue. “Right, Tiadrin. Sorry.” His smile widened though at the obvious affection between the two. A nickname - especially for Tiadrin - was no small thing. He glanced over at Runaan but he hadn’t seemed to notice.

“It’s good to see you out and about.” Runaan said, clasping Lain on the arm.

“Its good to be out and about! I was going crazy cooped up in there!” Lain stretched and let his gaze wander around the village. He breathed in deeply and smiled.

“The healer said there was some poison on the talon that got you,” Tiadrin reminded him. She turned to the others, “Thats why he took it so hard. That and he lost a lot of blood on the ride back.”

Lain grabbed her hand at this, noticing her curling into herself.

“They also said you got me to them in the nick of time.” He said softly. “If it wasn’t for you I probably wouldn’t have made it.”

Tiadrin bit her lip and nodded. Lain looked up and grinned.

“This calls for celebration!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be taking it easy?” Ethari questioned. “We all heard Solana.”

Lain waved his concern away. “Pssshhaw, I will be taking it easy. We can go to the meadow, have a campfire, do some dancing. nothing strenuous about it.”

Tiadrin looked up at Lain eagerly. Runaan looked across at Ethari and raised his eyebrow in question. Ethari supposed Lain couldn’t get in too much trouble with the three of them there to look out for him, plus there was a metal deposit not too far away that he could drop by to get some extra materials. He had a new idea for a dagger that he wanted to get started on right away. He realised after a moment that the other three were looking at him, as if waiting for his answer. He grinned easily.

“Yeah ok, sounds fun!”

Part 11 Now up!

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helly-watermelonsmellinfellon · 4 years

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So an Insidious Leatherface decides to be an ass and camp the Basement in the boat on the swamp. He’s at the top of the stairs and slightly off to the side behind some boxes/barrels, out of line of sight from the one direction that I guess he expected ppl to come from because that side is where the Basement is? His terror radius is GONE. Anyway, I saw him at a distance and Urban Evaded around to the other entrance of the boat and slipped behind him and into the Basement. I was waiting for one of the others to come closer so he’d move - revealing his terror radius - so I could use Borrowed Time(and it worked!). So while Laurie runs, I loudly rush into a Locker and then slowly get out and Urban Evade behind the side wall by the Hooks. Laurie makes use of Borrowed Time and gets away, and Leatherface comes down, goes right by me toward the back to check the Lockers and I slip around him again and use Sprint Burst to get out. He must have seen my scratch marks because he rage-quit before I even got off the boat! XD

Got several great swf Escapes(Tuesday)! Running Unbreakable and Borrowed Time with friends is the best decision. And we both were running Flashlights too!

So we had a match against a Ghost Face and Friend asks me, “What Rank would you say this is?” cuz the dude was whiffing a shit ton on all of us and got Gen-rushed. I suggested “Rank 17″ to which I was told I was being way too generous. And when he got my friend on a Hook finally I was right there to unHook him with BT and while I got downed, he used it to get me with BT and we 360′d GF a few times, Flashlight Blinded him each, then ran away, Healed up in the shack, and finished the Gens. We were able to Rescue Meg from the Hook by distracting and body-blocking all the way to the door Ace opened, and the Killer kind of gave up after ruthlessly tunneling Meg for the last 3 Gens. He stood there while we Healed her up in the door and then we all teabagged and Flashlighted him for points before leaving. Turns out he was a Rank 17 and it was then that we felt bad for our endgame behavior. Juking a newb with only two Tier 1 Perks isn’t something to get cocky about even if it provided amusing content.

^I don’t teabag or Flashlight Flick until I’m inside the door because doing so mid-match is inviting the Killer to be a douche in return. If I were to do that and get tunneled and then camped, I wouldn’t mind because I knew I invited it upon myself. Simple. And you know, GF did not Disconnect so he’s got more guts than a lot of Red Rank Killers out there.

Got to lead a Huntress on a long loop while the last dude lay dying on the ground next to us. He crawls away while I’m looping and ducking under Iridescent hatchets, and uses Unbreakable to get away. She gets distracted, looking for where he went, and I use Sprint Burst to get to the shack so I can loop her there instead. It was great! Eventually I was able to use Urban Evasion to get away from the shack and she stayed there for like 2 minutes, looking for me in the lockers up top and then in the basement while I did the Gen near the shack that gave me a perfect view through the window. I finished the last Gen, David was going for the far door(the 1 was next to me and he wouldn’t dare be on that side of the map with the Huntress while Injured), and I used Adrenaline to get across the map to him. She rage-quit before we actually got out.

I had 6 matches in a row today(Wednesday), where it was Red Ranks against newb Killers. All Ranks 17-20, all running Tier 1 Perks. All whiffing so badly that they all ended up rage-quitting about a minute into the match. I waited about 20 minutes each time just to get into a match, only for the Killers to DC because they don’t get their way in the first 60 seconds. But you know, there’s nothing wrong with the MMR right now! We’re all just whiny babies over here.

Had a Huntress with Whispers and when she’d search my area I’d pick a hiding spot and end up hiding next to a Hex Totem! She had 4 Hex Perks! Anyway, I Cleansed all of them and then Urban Evaded a distance away to watch her check the area out and find nothing!

Did the Exhaustion Build again! I had some great games and then I got Shelter Woods. It’s the only map without a drop point. There’s a big tree in the center of the map that you can kind of run up on the roots, but the drop isn’t high enough most of the time. Few people manage to do it just right to get Balanced Landing to work. It was a bit of a bummer.

Got an Oni to waste his precious power on me 2 times in a row, because he sucked at turning mid-sprint. 3 Gens got done in that time and he finally left me because he used up all the blood in the area leftover from the beginning of the match when a Nea ran him for a bit. He never got in a hit and refused to try to hit me for the rest of the match, which let me get a whole Gen done by myself!

Ended up bullying a Rank 19 Wraith who only had Tier 1 Deerstalker and a Bone Clapper add-on. He came at me in the beginning and I ran him around the same loop in a corner for 2 minutes before I randomly threw down the pallet and the used Lithe with it on my next run around. We ran him around so bad and then felt bad in the endgame lobby when we saw the details. This matchmaking is really bad right now. It isn’t fair to all players.

Had a Michael on Midwich. Ran around with this Nea cuz she had Prove Thyself and we got a Gen done and most of another before she ran away cuz Michael was coming. He tunneled Nea for the last 3 Gens because she made him drop someone with her Flashlight. So it’s her last Hook and she has Borrowed Time on. He finally downs her, but she has DS and gets free. I’m following behind in hopes that I can help somehow. She gets him to the other side of the building and downstairs before going down in a room with no Hooks. I make him whiff once in the room and the once in the hall. Adrenaline pops and I get in front of him in the room he’s going for to stand in front of the Hook. She had Boil Over so he was swaying side to side and missed 2 more hits from that alone. Then he landed a hit on me finally and I crouch away. She wiggles off! She blinds him! And then again. It was a chain-blind that was like 12 seconds long. I’m crouching away so my Exhaustion goes down. I’ve got a Syringe which is 16 seconds before I’m Healed up totally. I use it and then get behind her as she runs. Exhaustion is finally over! I wait for Michael to get close enough and then Dead Hard to a nearby window so he misses and I get distance. I lose him in the next room and the Syringe takes effect! I run for the exit to find it open. Nea comes flying around the corner and vaults for distance. I get between her and Michael and he lands a hit on me instead as the remaining Survivors come to the door. We all teabag before leaving. That Nea sent me a message that was basically lots of BROOOOOOOO GGs BROOOOO FUCKIN SICK! I’m so proud! Also, I won’t pity Michael cuz he tunneled someone the whole fucking match! Rank 12 or not. Too bad.

Got a Ghost Face using Insidious. He kept coming back to the same Gen and Nea and I would climb out the window and watch him from the other side as he'd kick it. So for the umpteenth time, he chose to stand in the bushes beside it and his terror radius vanished. She and I were on either side of the window, able to see him but he wouldn’t have seen us if he looked in our direction. We were teabagging and pointing at each other the whole time! The last 2 Gens popped while we goofed off and GF rage-quit immediately when he realized no one was coming back to that Gen! Rank 1 Killer btw.

I can’t seem to get Sprint Burst to work on Meg. I tried several matches with other Survivors and it works fine for them but not Meg. I’m still getting Exhausted as if I used it though. wtf???

Played some Trapper for a few Challenges and had 3 Basement games in a row! I had all the traps on the map surrounding the Basement on all sides! Either side of the window, in one doorway, plus at the outside corners in the grass if someone tried to loop me. At the top of the stairs and the rest haphazardly on the floor of the shack so they’d have to do some intense workouts to get out of the building. My build made it so no matter how far they ran from the shack I could carry them all the way back there with no problem. Dead Hard would save them from 1 trap(usually the one blocking the stairs) but not all of them and that was the plan! And I had a Stitched Bag for more traps, and an Iridescent Stone on so any un-set trap re-sets itself every 30 seconds. So even if one was disarmed, it’ll re-set itself soon without me having to work for it. Usually in the time it takes for them to safely unHook and then to get everyone up the stairs! ^-^

At least the auras don’t look like shit anymore.

#stuff

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saiilorstars · 4 years

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It Had To Be You

Ch.19: Wild Girl // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Barry struggles to help Belén get a hold on her powers' darker side. At the same time, they have to worry about the fact Iris is getting closer to figuring out who they really are to the city.

{Previous chapters here}

"You want me to...what?" Belén looked straight ahead at the STAR Labs training field in despair.

Beside her stood Barry, in his Flash suit with his hood off, who once again explained to her the motive of this visit. "You can't let your powers control you, Bells. It's quite simple actually. You-"

"Um, I believe the one that turns into a poisonous flower is me, Barry. No flower powers, no opinion."

"Fair enough," Barry conceded with his hands held up. "You said that when you 'change' it was usually because of some radical emotion you were feeling at the time."

"Yeah, when I was mad or frustrated actually."

"But you never actually learned to control it?"

"Um...no, that would be a definite no."

"And that's why we're here today, to help you gain control."

Belén once again looked at the empty field before them. Barry told her no one from STAR Labs knew about their little visit and no one would know about future ones till she was ready to talk about her untapped powers.

"I don't...even know how," Belén crossed her arms self consciously.

"And that's why we're here," Barry took her arms and gently put them to her sides. "I'm not an expert, but I do have some training on my side okay?"

"Are you gonna shoot me like Oliver did with you?" she innocently asked.

Barry laughed and shook his head. "No, I promise I will not shoot you. I don't do that sort of training."

"...you promise?" Belén asked quietly, still overly guilty she'd let Oliver do that to him the last time he was in the city.

Barry smiled at her, still answering her despite thinking it was obvious those tactics weren't his style. He stepped closer to her, lowering his head a bit to touch noses. "You think I'd shoot my girlfriend?"

Belén blushed. She felt like a teenage girl honestly with all the heat in her face and the jolt her heart kept giving. It'd been a couple of days since their first date so they were still getting used to their new relationship. It involved a lot of blushing, shy touching and some kisses here and there.

"Maybe to get back at me for Oliver's arrow tricks?"

Barry lightly chuckled. "No, I'm getting him back later on. Now, c'mon, you can do it Miss Azalea."

"If you say so," she took in a breath to calm her nerves. "How...how do I even start?"

"We need to trigger it first of all, and once we have it, we need you to learn a way to hold it off until you decide to change back."

"Oh, right, easy-peasy," Belén crossed her arms. "Except I told you it only happens when I get mad or frustrated."

"So then I just have to annoy you? I can do that," Barry grinned and took off without giving her a chance to ask what he had in mind.

She barely shifted her feet when a strong gust of wind pushed her backwards. She stumbled for a couple of seconds, blinking wide and fast, and then was hit with the same force. "Wait-" she nearly fell forwards but Barry returned again and made her do the opposite.

He went back and forth, truly irritating the hell out of her because she didn't have the opportunity to get her balance back.

"BAR-" but she whirled in her spot again. On one try, she actually fell to the ground. When her eyes snapped open, there was a new wildness sitting in them. A rapid scaly green crawled over her skin afterwards. "STOP!" she roared and jumped back on her feet.

Barry came to a skidded stop, stunned to see her change. Belén had narrowed eyes on him and without a warning shot a vine right at him that smacked him to the ground. With a groan, Barry opened his eyes to see the sky up above.

Well, at least it worked, he thought though he was sure there were some fine bruises forming on his back. Thank god for the super healing.

Belén started blowing her poison which, in her state, turned out to be stronger-packed with poison than thought. Barry got on his feet and coughed for a moment due to the poison. He started to run around her just like he usually would but this time Belén conjured up a a series of vines and spun on her feet to swing them at Barry. The speedster crashed straight into it and was thrown a great length away.

"That one actually hurt, Barry pushed himself upright. He saw Belén was coming towards her with the same strange wild eyes and frankly, it did scare him a little knowing she wasn't in full control. He was sure, though, that with the right training, she would beat it. "Bells?" he called to her. "It's time to reel it back!"

But she kept coming.

"Belén?" he called louder as he stood up. "Belén, I know you can hear me! C'mon, take control!" She drew one arm back, getting ready to attack again. Barry hook his hand at her, frantically calling to her. "Belén! I'm not fighting you anymore, see!?"

She growled and fired boomerang-like bits of vines with thorns all around them. Barry sped out of the way and came up from behind, ramming her to the ground. She gasped and Barry saw how quickly the scaly green vanished from her skin. Her usual warmth filled her eyes soon afterwards, signaling she was back.

"I'm sorry..." Barry apologized and got off her.

Belén groaned and rubbed the back of her head, groggily looking around. "I couldn't get back, could I?" Barry's face said it all. Belén sighed and covered her face with her hands. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, you just..." Barry pursed his lips and thought about it, "...kind of kicked my ass."

"Well if I'm gonna do that I'd rather do it as myself," Belén pushed herself up to her feet and fixed herself up. "This was a mistake."

"What? No! It wasn't-"

Belén raised an eyebrow at him, none too pleased he was trying to downgrade whatever she'd done. "I wasn't in control and if you hadn't knocked me down, I probably would've actually hurt you."

"Belén, c'mon," Barry walked up to her and took hold of her by the arms, "You've been suppressing this side of your powers so it's natural that they're gonna be harder to control but-"

Belén shrugged his arms off her and stepped back. "Then maybe it's best if I just leave them alone. Maybe if I let them stay inside they'll just...go away."

"I don't...I don't think it works that way," Barry hated the mortified look on her face.

"I don't want to hurt people," Belén whispered. "So maybe...maybe for now it's just best to leave things alone. I-I need to think..."

"Belén-"

But the woman shook her head, meaning the conversation was over. "We're done," her order was frail and quiet, but its finality stood out.

~ 0 ~

"Your brother hasn't been answering his damn phone," Angie told Maritza the moment the latter walked into Angie's apartment. "And for that matter, he hasn't been around for days."

Maritza would've liked to roll her eyes at Angie and tell her off for being so annoying but in this case...she happened to be right. Rayan was slowly getting...weird. She didn't know what it was - nor did Angie or Noah - but Rayan was acting differently. No longer was he all a genius put together. There were moments where he...spazzed out. He had mood swings, moods that he never really exhibited.

"I think we should try that warehouse," Angie's voice brought Maritza back to the present. "It's the only place where he could be."

Maritza agreed it was a good idea and so the two headed out of the apartment in search of Rayan.

~ 0 ~

Through his many problems, Barry could only manage so far to only add new ones. Rushing into the city's morgue caused him to collide with Singh, knocking over the man's drink over his new coat, and partially dropping the drink on Barry himself. After dozens of apologies, he moved over to Joe to discuss the newest crime scene left behind last night.

"What's with all the water?" Joe inquired, gesturing to the emergency sprinklers on the ceiling. "Did the sprinkler system go off or something?"

"No, I checked all the sprinklers. They're all intact. But look at this," Barry led him to where the coroner's corpse laid on the floor. He bent down beside it and, with some tweezers, picked what looked to be like a small particle of ice off the ground.

Joe titled his head, confused. "What is that, ice?"

"Mm-hmm." Barry then pushed the coroner's shirt to reveal purple bruises left on the stomach. "The coroner has multiple impact bruises on his torso, all the size of a tennis ball. Judging by the amount of ice and water on the ground, I'm guessing he was killed by hail."

Joe was even more lost. "Hail? In here?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think this was Snart?"

Barry straightened up and shook his head. "No, his cold-gun couldn't have done this."

Eddie moved over to the two holding a tape recorder. "Joe, we got something. The Coroner's office just installed an automated dictation system. Listen to this."

He played them the tape which revealed that Mark Clydon was alive and searching for the coo responsible for his brother's, Clyde, death. In the end, the coroner gave up the name that turned out to be Joe's.

Needless to say, Barry felt an extra layer of pressure to find this new metahuman quicker than normal.

~ 0 ~

Iris shuffled papers for one of Mason's stories, barely paying attention as she was busy looking around. She was pretty bored without her close friend in, so when she saw Barry coming in she perked up at the little distraction she would soon have. Leaving her papers on Mason's desk, she walked for him. But as she neared, she picked up on some odd, yet totally familiar, things in him.

The moment she got close enough to be heard without shouting, she voiced them. "Hmm," she crossed her arms, "That nervous face, the shifting, and the sole little Azalea in your hand could only mean one thing…" her lips widened with a teasing smile, "You had your first couple fight."

Barry saw no point in denying it. Sooner or later Belén would tell her something. "Something like that," he settled for.

Iris chuckled. "What was it? Week-a-versary? Oh! Or you-"

"Iris," Barry cut in sharply, "It's not the moment to be funny. I need to see Bells."

"Well I'm sorry to inform you but she's not here. She left early for dance practice."

"Damn," Barry mumbled.

"You know," Iris began, coming closer and letting her arms fall on her sides, "I could help you out."

"No offense, Iris, but I don't think you can…"

"Sure I can," Iris assured. "You just let me get her to a place and watch how things get sorted out." Barry gave her an unsure look, clearly preferring to do this on his own. Iris nudged him, pegging him on. "C'mon, I can help. Let me help. Pleeeease?"

Barry knew when he was at a loss, and against Iris West he was always at one. "Alright, fine."

Iris clapped and cheered, one main idea already forming in mind. "You won't regret it, I promise!" While she hugged him, Barry was still yet to feel so confident.

~ 0 ~

Maritza and Angie both walked into the warehouse they'd found ages ago to come around and practice their powers. It was the same one Rayan took an office for himself before coming to find Maritza and revealing he was alive.

"Rayan?" Maritza called as the women looked around. "You around?"

"Clearly not," Angie had walked into the office already. Maritza followed in a couple seconds later and found Angie gazing over a couple empty pill bottles on the desk. Angie picked one of them up and tilted her head. "These are headache pills. I bought some last week and they've all gone missing."

"My brother is not a pill abuser," Maritza warned Angie not to even go there. She came further inside and took a look at the state of the room. It was a mess, even for Rayan. "My brother is not okay..."

"You think?" Angie sarcastically gasped, making Maritza glare. "Oh c'mon, I'm not an idiot. Rayan's been...losing it, for a lack of a better word. I think it's your sister's fault."

"Belén did nothing," Maritza frowned. She was still fairly upset about Belén choosing the Flash over her family, but what Rayan was exhibiting had nothing to do with her actions. She suspected it was something biological that was hurting Rayan but up until now he hadn't shown anything besides headaches.

"Then where is he?" Angie gestured to the empty room.

Maritza went around the computer and pushed Angie out of the way so she could pull out a drawer. Rayan had a hidden laptop inside and so Maritza pulled it out to see what was inside. Unfortunately, he'd shattered the screen.

Angie's eyes widened. "Well, he's getting worse. Why do you think he would do that?"

Maritza decided not to answer. She put the laptop back inside the drawer and gazed at the papers over the desk. It appeared Rayan was taking notes for something. She grabbed a couple and skimmed some lines.

We're all losing. It's over. We must end it.

"Rayan...what the hell...?" Maritza lowered the papers and looked up at Angie, for the first time with honesty since they'd met. "We need to find him.

~ 0 ~

"I have never bowled a day in my life," Belén sighed as she and Iris walked down a bowling alley. She was only mildly interested in the place but she knew how much Iris loved the place so she just went with it.

"Easy win then," Iris rubbed her hands with a widened smirk.

Belén rolled her eyes. "I would think so. Why am I here again?"

But her answer did not come from Iris herself. She spotted Barry and Eddie halfway down and blamed herself for being so clueless this time. When she glanced at Iris the woman was cheekily smiling, turning and walking backwards to the guys.

"Iris West, one day...I will get a clue," Belén weakly pointed at her friends and followed after.

"Hey guys," Iris greeted, going straight to Eddie who was tying his bowling shoes on the couch.

"You are one sneak," Belén promptly accused Barry who'd gotten up from the other couch. Barry stuttered and somehow tried saying a sentence that involved apologizing. "I'm not mad with you, Barry, I hope you knew," she spoke quieter while Iris and Eddie got ready to bowl. "I'm mad with myself because...you know…"

Barry nodded, feeling relieved but not enough knowing she was still conflicted with herself. "You shouldn't be. Maybe I pushed you too far-"

"No, you didn't. I'm just...I don't know what to do," Belén admitted with a bitter chuckle. "I don't want to hurt anyone but the powers...they're my powers and I should be able to use them."

"Exactly," Barry was glad to see her perspective had changed since the last time they saw each other. "And we can work on it. Everyday. I want to help you. Can I?"

Belén looked to the side. She felt she was being overly complicated but she couldn't see herself agreeing right there. She didn't feel...ready. "I need some time. I don't think I can jump back into that training again tomorrow. I can't."

Barry took his win where he could. It was a compromise in the end. He wouldn't push her but she wouldn't let it go.

"Hey?" Iris called, making both metas look at her. "We bowling or what?"

"I've never bowled in my life," Belén sighed to Barry.

"I can teach you," he said, now eager to play. He took Belén's hand and led her towards the other couple.

Iris cheered as they began to play. Barry took his first turn, and with Belén intently watching him, he made sure to take his best shot. He swung the bowling ball down the bowling lane and made a perfect strike. Gasping in awe, Belén clapped for him. In his excitement, Barry did a little dance of triumph that involved sliding his feet and waving his arms.

Belén laughed for him as he came back. "That was adorable," she commented while his face flushed.

"Yikes," Iris, too, was laughing from her spot with Eddie, the latter trying not to laugh, "Belén, it's not too late to switch for a nice cop."

"Oh, thanks," Barry sarcastically said, glancing at her sharply.

"Aw, I like scientists better," Belén shrugged, winking at Barry.

"Thanks," Eddie mimicked Barry's sarcasm.

Belén winced and sheepishly smiled at him. "No offence."

"Let's just let Bells take her turn," Iris offered. "I can help you if you want-"

"No you won't," Eddie yanked her back the steps she'd taken towards the other couple.

"What? Why?" Iris frowned.

Barry had taken Belén back to the bowling ball retrieving space. To answer Iris' question, Eddie pointed as the other pair moved for the bowling lanes. Barry placed his hand over Belén's hand that held the bowling ball. He instructed her how to bend and move her arm. Together, they moved in sync and swung the ball down the lane. Although it wasn't a perfect strike as Barry's had been, she still managed to knock eight out of the ten pins. Belén squealed in delight and whirled around, practically jumping on Barry and giving him a hug.

"That's why," Eddie told Iris.

She gasped and looked up at him. "Is that why you took me golfing? To hold me?" Eddie cheekily smiled and went for another bowling ball.

As the night progressed, Iris proved to be a better bowler as she and Eddie increased their scores. Midway through, Belén felt so bad she was causing their loss she told Barry it was better for him to go solo.

"That's no fun!" he shook his head, plopping down on the couch beside her. He reached for one of the french fries she had on her plate over her lap.

"You know, I'm making you lose," Belén said, making a face at Iris who'd taken a seat on the other couch. "And I gotta be honest, I'd feel a little less guilty if someone-" Iris looked up with a wide smirk, "-didn't tease you about it."

"Good going Iris, you're making my girlfriend feel bad," Barry shot her a sarcastic look. Belén whacked his arm, making him laugh. He only stopped when he caught Belén yawning behind her hand. "You tired?"

"A little. I was up early today," she nodded.

"Maybe we should call it a night, then," he looked back at Iris and Eddie as he came back with a soda in hand.

"I'm sorry," Belén apologized as she left her plate on the middle table and got up with Barry.

"Don't worry about it," Iris waved it off. "I'm just glad you two are fine again. Whatever it was you were fighting about…"

Barry and Belén exchanged looks, both agreeing not to touch that subject right now. Barry ushered her towards the counter where they would switch in their bowling shoes for their regular shoes. Denying Iris and Eddie's offer for a lift, they headed on their own towards Belén's home.

"This was oddly fun," Belén said as they watched Iris and Eddie drive away.

"Oddly?" Barry quickly looked at her, suddenly afraid their fight was still an ongoing thing.

"I'm not exactly the sports girl," Belén gestured to herself with a light chuckle. "I don't like them very much."

"To be honest this is probably the only sport I was ever good at," Barry shrugged, "In case you were hoping you scored yourself a sporty boyfriend…"

"I'm happy with who I'm with," Belén reached for his hand. "My singing scientist."

"We're never letting that go, are we?" Barry laughed and shook his head.

"Nope! I've still got the video on my phone," and Belén could promise him right there and then that the video would always be there with him.

Barry brought them to Belén's front porch and with one glance at the driveway Belén concluded that her sister wasn't home.

"I wonder where the hell Maritza went," she thought out loud as she began to check for the lights from the living room window. "She's teaching tomorrow in the morning. And Axel..."

"It's eleven..." Barry said after checking his phone for the time. "Aren't four year olds supposed to be sleeping by now...?"

"Mhm," Belén was now checking her phone as well. She found one text message from Maritza sent over an hour ago saying Axel was left with their neighbor, Mrs. Andrews, and was waiting for Belén herself to go pick him up. "Oh my God!" Belén's eyes widened in alarm. "I should've picked him an hour ago!"

"Well, it's not like it's far," Barry reminded Belén the house was literally just across the street from them.

"Funny," Belén playfully rolled her eyes. "I need to go get him. Hopefully Mrs. Andrews is still awake."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, that's fine. You have work in the morning too, I remember," Belén wagged a finger at him. "But thanks for offering."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, then?" Barry reached for her hand, gently stroking small circles over the back of her hand. "If...you want...?"

Belén chuckled. "I want. Definitely want." She leaned forwards and kissed him goodnight, something that left them both blushing.

From there, the two split. Belén had an interesting time trying to figure out where it was her sister had gone to. Axel didn't even seem to know, and much less Mrs. Andrews.

~ 0 ~

Mark Mardon would have expected anything nowadays, but his hideout's door flinging off its hinges was not one of them. A man in black and grey leather walked in with a complete straight face. His brunette strands seemed about the only messy thing about him.

"You have got to clean up," Rayan remarked like this was just going to be a casual greet and meet.

"Who the hell are you?" Mardon stood up, hands extended to threaten them.

"Put the hands down please, it's gonna be a waste of time if we fight first then talk," Rayan walked in, looking around the cluttered and dirty apartment.

"Why would I talk with you?"

"Because we essentially want the same things," Rayan stopped on a side, hands behind his back.

"I doubt that," Mardon snapped, bur Rayan remained at ease.

"Your brother died because of an officer and the Flash. More importantly, he died because of that Particle Accelerator. It's only fair we take them out in retaliation."

"I want bigger," Mardon clarified his intentions.

"Course you do, and on that I believe we differ but if we work together we can take it all down. I, personally, want the Flash but I'm willing to compromise."

Mardon scowled at the man. "I don't need any help!"

"If you would-"

"I said no!" Mardon practically screamed his powers off but Rayan deflected any potential threatening away from his body.

Telekinesis was by far the superior metahuman power, he thought. He also felt smarter, incredibly smarter than your average human. "I feel like you still wanna try your own luck against the officer. Do it. And when it fails, I'll be back to discuss how we can work together." Before he left, though, he made sure to leave behind a way to be in contact. He was sure Mardon would come around eventually.

~ 0 ~

"Hellooooo?"

Cisco looked up from a half-finished metal wand-looking device. He beamed at the second call for someone.

"Cisco! Boom!"

"Sweet!" Cisco laughed as he turned on his chair to greet Belén and Axel. "Axel! Welcome back!"

"You are not in charge of him anymore," Belén warned as Axel ran up to the empty chair beside Cisco.

"What are we going to make today, Cisco?" Axel pushed his chair closer to Cisco's, eager to see what was on Cisco's computer screen.

"Uh, you are going to make nothing," Belén warned them both before they got any ideas. Maritza entrusted her to watch Axel and that's what she would do. After getting back late last night, Maritza asked Belén if she could look after Axel for the day while she went off to work. Mrs. Andrews had other plans for the day and since Belén had the day off...it was all set.

"We are," Axel whispered to Cisco, though not as quiet as he thought because Belén was warning Cisco with a glare not to even try it.

"So...you want to check something cool out?" Cisco gestured to his computer screen.

"Always," Belén moved around to Cisco's other side since Axel was already leaning forwards on the right.

"I remembered the laat time we had a run-in with Mardon, Clyde Mardon-"

"Em - you mean that period in which you all decided I shouldn't know anything about metahumans?"

"Let bygones be bygones, Belén," Cisco said in a rushed manner, wincing at Belén's 'Mhm' in return. "I was tinkering with something to help attract unbound atmospheric electrons."

"I speak English, not nerd."

"Well Barry understood it."

"Mm, I rest my case," Belén patted Cisco's shoulder.

Cisco looked up at her, obviously offended. "For real?" Belén just shrugged in response. Cisco shook his head and continued to explain. "Basically, this thing would work like a sponge and suck up all of the particles in the air that allows Mardon to control the weather."

"Oh, that sounds good," Belén smiled at his excitement.

"Yeah it does!"

"Yeah!" Axel repeated in the same excited voice Cisco had even though he knew the boy didn't have a clue about the conversation. He decided to instead give Axel a live show by creating a new weapon that would win them the fight against Mardon.

At some point, Belén heard her phone vibrate from her purse and went to answer it. It was a text from Iris, and its content was...alarming. She quickly forgone the text to dial Iris instead. She motioned Cisco to keep an eye on Axel while she talked out in the hallway. "Iris, what is this nonsense?"

"Well, you tell me," Iris countered. "Mason showed me some pictures-"

"Iris I thought we discussed this - Mason is an idiot. You shouldn't even be following his so called 'lead'."

Iris thought she should point out that if she - Belén - had the confidence in her to tell her what exactly went on with STAR Labs and its workers, she wouldn't be following Mason's lead at all. But instead, Belén kept it all quiet. "I just wanted to know what was really going on with Dr. Wells and-"

"There's nothing, Iris," Belén sighed, rubbing a hand over her temple. "There's no story - I should know."

'Yeah, you should,' Iris thought rather bitterly.

"Bells?" Barry's voice made the ombre-blonde jump on her spot.

Quickly hanging up - much to Iris' irritation - she turned around. "H-hi, Barry," she greeted, hoping to God he hadn't heard anything, especially Iris' name.

"What did Iris want?"

Dammit, Belén gritted her teeth behind her closed lips. "Just...work stuff," she began her weak explanation.

"Why are you holding your phone like that?" Barry inquired after noticing she was practically clutching her phone to her chest.

"Hmm?" Belén looked down at her hands and quickly moved them to her sides. "No reason, just...stressed. What are you doing back?" she decided it was best to slowly lead him into the cortex to prevent any other questions.

"There was an incident with Mardon. He tried attacking Joe and I earlier."

"Is Joe alright!?"

"He's fine, but he's confined to the station now so...Cisco?" Barry gave a call, making Cisco look up from Axel. "How are we doing with the, uh…?"

"Wizard wand!" Cisco exclaimed, causing Axel to giggle and wave his finger at Barry and Belén.

"Like Harry Potter!"

"Uh, no, he has a wand," Cisco reminded him and pushed Axel's finger don.

"K, see that's why I don't want you in charge of my nephew," Belén crossed her arms and shook her head at Cisco.

"How does it work?" Barry asked after struggling not to laugh.

"Think of it like an active lightning rod," Cisco said and got up from his chair. "You just point it at the sky, and it'll suck up whatever energy's floating around it like a sponge."

"And it'll stop Mardon?"

"At the very least slow him down," Cisco pointed at her with the wand. "If there's no atmospheric electrons available to him, there's no way for him to control the weather."

"Sounds great," Belén laughed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go get this to the station and explain how it works for Joe," Cisco said, understanding the situation was even worse there. "Bye Axel, and remember? Sonic?"

Axel happily threw his arms in the air. "Boom!"

"CISCO!" Belén shouted but Cisco had already dashed for the exit. Barry had to laugh himself as he turned back for the desk. Belén decided to leave that behind to focus on something a little more important. "Um...would it be wrong to ask of you like a big big favor when we're like barely starting to date?"

"Well, considering we've been friends for months more, I think it should be fine," Barry tried to humor her. He was no fool - he knew Belén was trying to hide something.

"I have to go into work just for a bit - tiny bit of a second - like a quarter really, well not exactly, it'd be more but you probably got the jist-"

Barry surprised her by planting a kiss on her that lasted well over a minute. They missed the quiet "yuck" Axel uttered while he got into some drawings on the desk.

"U-uh...w-w-what, what...was that...for?" Belén blinked pretty fast afterwards, trying to catch her breath.

"Just...thought it would be nice," Barry crookedly smiled, although now he was becoming self-conscious about what he had just done. "But, maybe now...that I think about it...it might have not been the best way, to, um...to interject…"

"N-n-no, that...was excellent," Belén flushed bright red, "I mean...feel free to do that again...yeah, anytime."

Barry laughed, slowly returning to normal. "Alright, so, this favor...what was it exactly?"

"Right," Belén sucked in a breath. "Um, I just really need to go back to CC Pictures to talk to someone. Can you take care of Axel for a bit?"

"Yeah, no problem. Want a lift?"

"I...don't...I really need to do this on my own," Belén warned, knowing Barry's persistence in helping others.

"Then I stay outside with Axel," Barry compromised after getting the sense this was something more complex than just a simple pop back into the workplace.

"There's no way you're letting me go out on my own are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine," Belén went to grab her purse off the desk. "Axel? Come here, please."

Axel obediently went to his aunt. "Are we going to go help Cisco?"

"No, you're going to stay with Barry for a tiny bit, okay?" Belén explained to him what would happen in the next couple of minutes.

Axel glanced at Barry for a second. "Can you make a wand like Harry Potter?"

"I can make a cooler one," Barry easily replied to, earning himself a big grin from the boy.

It was all he needed to have Axel's comfort and trust. So, he took hold of Belén and Axel and in a second he had them inches from the CC Pictures. After pleading Barry for him to stay in his spot with Axel, Belén went inside the place. First thing she did was locate Mason. It wasn't difficult catching him on a coffee break at the snack table.

"Mason?" she called while making a straight beeline for the man. "We need to talk."

Mason took a short sip from his coffee mug. "Isn't it your day off today?"

"Why the hell did you insist on the stupid STAR Labs story with Iris when I specifically told you there was nothing more!?"

"Because I didn't believe you? I thought that was self-explanatory?" Mason arched one eyebrow.

Belén was in no mood to entertain his common sarcasm. "You listen to me right now you overbearing-" she began jabbing her finger on his chest, "-self-righteous man, you better leave my friend Iris out of this ridiculous story. Stop putting ideas in her head!"

"I think-"

"I don't give a damn about what you think!" she snapped. "You will stop, or I will come back and make you wish I never even entered this place."

"Such determination," Mason's observation didn't make Belén falter. This wasn't a game for her - it meant Iris' credibility as well as safety from any potential crazies who took her words seriously.

"You've been warned," Belén turned on her heels and strode out of the place without so much of a glance.

True to his word, Barry had remained outside caring for Axel. When he saw Belén coming towards them it wasn't difficult to see something had changed in her. "What's wrong?" He went for the direct question.

"Nothing, you wanna walk instead?" Belén went past him into a hasty walk.

"U-uh, sure," Barry hurried a little to catch up with her.

"I want Jitters."

"Okay," Barry tried leaning forwards to see her face, "Are you okay?"

"Honestly, no," Belén shook her head. "But don't worry about it I'm taking care of it!"

"Really?" Barry was now eyeing her balled up fist in her jacket pocket. He stopped and abruptly grabbed her by the same arm, revealing a mildly emerald green fist. "Because it doesn't look like it." Belén was staring at her hand with terrified wide eyes. Gently lowering it while also covering it with his own, Barry made a step closer to her and tried to understand again. "I want to help, so tell me how to help."

Swallowing hard, Belén stuffed her hand back in her pocket. "It's Mason again. He's...he has this crazy idea that there's something suspicious going on with Dr. Wells. And he doesn't stop there, oh no, he now has Iris asking questions."

"What?" Barry frowned. "What could he possibly have against Dr. Wells?"

"I don't know!" Belén exclaimed. "He knows what happened to Simon Stagg. Apparently, nobody's heard from him or seen him since the night you stopped Danton Black."

"Okay…"

"But he's wrong, God everything is so wrong! And I'm trying to make things better but it just doesn't seem to want to be fixed!"

Barry quickly wrapped her into a hug - along with the help of Axel - and kissed her hair. "You shouldn't leave all this for yourself, Bells. I can help you - I want to help you."

"Then please help me because I don't know what else to do," Belén admitted.

"Of course," Barry barely got the two words before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He saw the text message urging him to get to the police station. "I gotta go," he said to Belén who didn't need further explanation than his facial expression. With a kiss on her cheek he was out of the street in a second.

Belén resorted to making her way back to STAR Labs on foot as she had originally planned minutes ago - though stopping first by Jitters. By the time she got back to the building, she heard from Cisco and Caitlin about the terrible thing that happened back at the station involving Barry's boss - Captain Singh - landing in the hospital thanks to Mardon.

"I should have been there to help," Belén couldn't help blame herself after hearing the story. She was looking at Axel who'd taken interest in drawing on a lone paper Caitlin supplied for him along with a pencil. He was deadset on a new Harry Potter wand.

"Where were you anyways?" Cisco curiously asked, but upon receiving a sharp look from Caitlin he quickly added, "I mean, just...just out of curiosity...though if it was some date with Barry I would rather not hear it."

Belén laughed and shook her head. "It wasn't that, honestly. It's...well...I know Barry is going to tell both of you at some point so might as well get over it. One of my co-workers thinks there's something weird going on with Dr. Wells."

"Weird as in how?" Caitlin crossed her arms, trying to understand.

"Like, he's not who he says he is or...I don't know, maybe he's hiding something?" Belén shrugged, thinking it even more ridiculous with each time she said it out loud.

"That can't be," Caitlin scoffed and went back to the desk. Cisco, meanwhile, became silently pensive. "Dr. Wells is a fantastic man."

"I think it just might be a gruge from the accident with the accelerator," Belén admitted. "But I just don't like the fact that this co-worker is bringing Iris into it."

"I'm sure everything will work out fine," Caitlin sent her a reassuring smile.

"I guess," Belén sighed and started gathering her things. "Anyways, I think I'll be heading home. Hopefully everything works out for Barry's boss. Keep me posted okay?"

"Yeah, goodnight," Caitlin said, watching the woman pick up her nephew.

"Goodnight," Cisco mumbled and also watched Belén leave.

Caitlin was shutting off one of the computers when she noticed Cisco's extra-pensive demeanor. "Cisco, you okay?"

"Honestly, no, Bells is making me think about Dr. Wells' true persona…"

"What?" frowned Caitlin. "You don't actually think what her co-worker says is true do you?"

"No, no, it's more than that. Joe said that maybe Dr. Wells was somehow involved in of Barry's Mother's death and her murder."

Caitlin wondered how many idiotic things she would be hearing about Wells that night. "That's absurd."

"Yeah, I know, and that's what I said, and we proved that that wasn't the case, but I'm just saying, some things aren't adding up."

"Like what, for example?"

Cisco motioned for Caitlin to follow him into one of the side rooms. "Come here, look at this." He stopped in front of another computer and typed away. "The night we trapped the Reverse-Flash in the force-field, he escaped because the containment system failed, but I checked that data three times, and the super-capacitors were still fully charged when he got out. The numbers don't add up, Caitlin. There's no reason that the containment system should have failed."

Caitlin could understand his confusion but to say that Wells had something to do with it was beyond ridiculous. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation."

"One perfectly good explanation is that Wells did something to the trap."

"Are you suggesting that Dr. Wells is in league with The Man in the Yellow Suit? I'm... We all saw that thing nearly kill him that night."

"Yeah, nearly…"

"Cisco, what you're saying doesn't make any sense. That's crazy."

Cisco turned to Caitlin, very serious, and asked, "Can you keep Wells out of STAR Labs tomorrow morning?"

~ 0 ~

"You went to who?" Angie's high-itched voice filled the apartment without even trying.

Rayan popped in another headache pill and motioned her to wait. After quickly swallowing it without water, he repeated his story again. "I went to Mardon - the new meta that's causing trouble. I knew he was probably going on a hunt for the West detective and-"

"-you thought you would just strike a deal?" Noah was just as confused as Angie. "What for? I thought we decided not to bring anymore in? It's a nuisance-"

"-tell me about it," Rayan still eyed the man with regret for Maritza's choice of bringing him in. "New recruits tend to be useless."

Noah ignored the insult and got back to business. "So what the hell did you even see this guy for? Gonna cause a big storm over the city?"

"I went back because I saw an opportunity to get to the Flash," Rayan got up from the couch. "I want to know who he is." Noah exchanged a confused glance with Angie.

"What for?" Angie was dumb enough to ask out loud.

"Because I want to know who the hell managed to get my sister to leave her family!" Rayan's shout made her flinch.

Noah rolled his eyes. She had to ask. "Who cares who's behind the mask," he said. "I say we just start taking whatever we want."

Angie perked up at that idea. "I can get behind that!"

"NO!" Rayan once again screamed and this time he caused a portrait hanging behind Angie to crash straight on the floor.

The blonde woman growled as she saw her graduation frame all broken. "STOP DOING THAT!"

Rayan flung his hands to the side and threw both metas to the ground, using his telekinesis to pin them there. "Let me get this straight for you," his voice was dark and final, "I'm going to find out who the Flash is, and when I do I'm gonna kill him. And maybe then my sister will reconsider her life choices."

Despite their attempts to get off the grounds, Angie and Noah found themselves stuck there until Rayan felt otherwise. Still, they could both see a small trickle of blood oozing from Rayan's nose.

~ 0 ~

Knock, knock, went the door of the West residence. Instead of being received by Iris, Belén was received by none other than her new boyfriend. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?" she tilted her head in confusion but nonetheless allowed Barry to take her bag and let her inside.

"Slow work day," he said cheery.

Belén hummed in thought and spotted Iris coming out of the kitchen, apparently ending a phone call.

"I can't get my dad to answer," she frowned, leaving her phone on the coffee table. "Hey Bells, what's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Belén said politely.

"Right now?" Iris made a face. "I don't get into work for another two hours. Barry and I were about to get lunch if you wanted to…"

"No, I want to do it here away from all things Mason," Belén said sharply, letting her know what the subject was going to be about.

"Oh…" Iris' eyes flickered from Barry to Belén, wondering which one would be lying to her face today.

"I don't know what he's been telling you but you can't listen to him," began Belén.

"I don't know what's real and what's not, but all I know is that he's got some sort of big article coming out about Dr. Wells," Iris shrugged.

This was new information to both Belén and Barry.

"What kind of article?" asked Barry.

"The sort that exposes him I would say?"

"This is the kind of crap that I'm talking about," Belén slapped a hand to her forehead. "He's gone berserk."

"Look I don't know what he's got written for that article but I can guarantee that I had no part in it." With that clarified, Iris picked up her phone from the coffee table and made a gesture she would be upstairs getting ready for work.

"I tried," Barry began with Belén about the whole ordeal with Mason, "But she keeeps giving me the same responses."

"You think she's not believing in us anymore?" Belén worried they would begin to lose the trust Iris had for them if they kept up all this secrecy.

"I hope not," Barry, too, was also thinking the same thing.

"I guess that's it for me here then," Belén sighed, shaking her head. "I thought I could make a difference but I guess I was just wrong."

"No, c'mon, wait up," Barry grabbed her arm and gently turned her around. "If Iris wants to believe something then we can't force her to change it, and we can't blame ourselves for it either."

"It's our job to protect those we love and right now I feel like Iris is going to get herself into trouble. Remember what happened with that blog of hers?"

"I know," Barry agreed with the gravity of the situation. "But we can't stop it. I mean, the best we can do is just keep an eye on Iris. We won't let any harm come her way. I promise."

Belén fully trusted him, and she trusted herself to be strong enough in case Iris ever needed them.

~ 0 ~

News spread fast about Joe West's abduction, and while Iris was distraught she knew Eddie was doing all that he could to bring her father back. However, things grew worse when she received a call from Mardon himself asking her to come to the waterfront on her own. She wouldn't be alone, she was promised by Barry and Belén who'd been with her at the time. They figured if things came to worst, one of them - most likely Barry - would be able to sneak off to fight as the Flash while Belén stayed with Iris to make sure she was alright.

Before heading off they tried contacting someone at STAR Labs for backup, but no one answered...which was weird for them. But for time's sake they didn't dwell on it. If they had known that Cisco was facing the Reverse Flash himself, revealed to be Wells, perhaps they would have given it a bit more consideration. By the time the trio reached the waterfront, the sky was darkening with rumbling thunder. Immediately, they knew who was behind it.

"Oh my God," Iris was terrified by the sight. She could see in the distance a faint gray boat in the ocean where her father was surely hostage.

"Barry I think we might need to do that disclosure now..." Belén mumbled to him.

Barry agreed with a sigh. He glanced at Iris, sadly, and wondered why it had to be like this. "I'm sorry," he told her before speeding off.

Iris' mouth gaped open and she pointed in the direction he went off in. There weren't words at the moment that she could use.

Belén turned around to her, placing her hands on Iris' shoulders. "And breeeathe, please. Listen Iris this isn't exactly how either of us wanted you to know but…"

"He's the Flash, isn't he?" Iris sucked in a breathe, her eyes flickering from one side to the other.

"Yes, and the only reason we didn't tell you was because..." but she trailed off when she saw a park bench coming directly at them. "DUCK!" she pulled Iris down in time.

Iris winched as the park bench crashed into pieces not too far from them. "What just happened!?"

Belén quickly got back on her feet and spotted the culprit. She gulped. "Iris, you have to leave..."

"What? But I want to know what's going on!" Iris searched for the culprit as well and figured it had to be the man across them who was coming towards them. "Who's that? Enemy of Barry's?" the sharpness in her tone didn't go unnoticed by Belén. She was mad. Mad as hell.

"No...that...that would be my brother," Belén stepped forwards, hands forming into fists.

Iris' eyes widened in alarm. "But...but he's-"

"Crazy, by the looks of it," Belén inwardly sighed. What had her brother come to now? She took another step forwards and raised her hands. "Rayan, whatever you want-"

"It's time to go!" Rayan didn't waste time in openings nor chit-chat. He knew exactly what Mardon was going to do and he needed to get his sister out of there at once.

"Go? Go where!?"

"Away from here, to safety," Rayan calmly stopped a couple feet away from her. "She-" he nodded to Iris, "-is not welcomed."

"How is he still alive?" the indicated woman asked.

"I murdered my captors," Rayan said plainly then returned his attention to Belén. "You coming the easy way or not?"

Belén raised an eyebrow. "You're threatening me now? Is that what we've really come to, Rayan? Seriously?"

"I'm looking for your safety, Belén. I've already warned Maritza and she's getting Axel out of here but-"

"-you've talked to Maritza!?" Belén wondered how that went for her poor sister.

"Let's go," Rayan motioned Belén to come walking towards him but Belén shook her head. "Belén, let's go."

"No, we've got to help these people," Belén glanced back at the water, which was building up into what looked like would be a tsunami. "That's going to take out the city-"

"-which is why we need to leave now-"

"RAYAN!" Belén suddenly screamed, trickles of scaly green going down her cheeks. "Listen to me, dammit! We need to help!"

Rayan balled his fists now, eyes closing for a second. He felt that pain in his head begin to increase. "I don't have time, Belén. I really don't. Let's-"

Belén saw this was going to be a useless argument so she decided to focus on the more important factors around them. "Iris, leave this place. Just...go to STAR Labs. I'll try to help-"

Rayan rolled his eyes and made a motion with his finger for something to come over. Broken metal legs of the park bench he threw at them earlier now shot towards them again. Iris gasped and shut her eyes, expecting to feel the immense pain at any moment. Instead, Belén swung an arm to the side and captured the bench pieces with a vine that wrapped around each piece.

Now furious, she turned on her brother. "GET OUT!"

Rayan was surprised to find the scaly green all over Belén, and even more so when she retaliated against him. Lasso vines tried to capture him so he jumped back a couple steps - a decent distance - and in that time Belén once again urged Iris to get away from them. Not wanting to be a liability for her friend, Iris decided to head over to STAR Labs.

Rayan telekinetically caught the lasso vines, leaving Belén to continuously try to pull them out of his pool of energy. "Amazing, you worry about everyone except your family," Rayan said.

"Are you kidding me!?" Belén openly shouted at him. "You've attacked people - you just tried to hurt someone you knew! You are not the brother I used to have! You're just like any other metahuman the Flash and I catch." She left the vines and conjured up new ones. She swung them like boomerangs at her Rayan but he would deflect them with his fingers.

Belén could hear the pandemonium around them as the waters behind grew bigger and got closer to the city. In one of her distractions, Rayan actually threw her an empty baby stroller and knocked her closer to the ledge. As she got up, she saw Barry, as the Flash, zipping around the coastline over and over.

"If I have to take you unconsciously then I will!" Rayan's warning pulled her back into her fight.

"Try me," she said with no hope of making up after this. She charged on back towards him with every intention of defeating him and putting him away in the pipeline like she once promised.

Thanks to a quick chat with Caitlin, Barry was intending on creating a 'vortex barrier' along the coastline to stop the tsunami. It was the only way to keep everyone safe, he just hoped he was fast enough. On each round that Barry made along the coastline he could see brief glances of Belén trying to strike a man he hadn't seen before. He couldn't figure out who it was, but it looked like the fight was heated.

I need to finish to help her, he pushed himself harder to keep going.

Belén was too enraged with her brother to realize she was losing herself again. The wildness was coursing through her, giving her an extra layer of strength against Rayan. Thorn-covered vines stabbed Rayan's chest and one of his palms. As he screamed, she lunged onto him, tackling him to the ground.

But somehow, it all vanished. Everything from Barry's eyes began to disappear. There was a loud, eerie noise that filled his ears and the next thing he knew he was running under a dark Central City street. He came to an abrupt stop in a familiar intersection and looked around.

He saw the same woman calling for a taxi as he did the previous night. He saw the dog owners, the running man on his cellphone...everything.

Where was he? When was he?

#the flash #barry allen #arrowverseocs #ocappreciation #ocapp #barry allen fics #the flash fics #barry allen imagines #the flash imagines #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

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bloodys44 · 4 years

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Silence and Cigarette Smoke

-Original story and bonus content found here! ↓↓↓↓

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13289933/1/Silence-and-Cigarette-Smoke

Prolog pt. 2 - Meeting The Boy Who Smokes

785

Lucy's POV ~

When Lucy awoke for the second time, reality was a cold plunge from the warmth she had previously been enveloped in. The scorching heat that dripped off her skin was replaced with cold stark hospital sheets, folded and constricting over her delicate frame. The smell of antiseptic swarming her nose, fogging her senses. Her own limbs felt foreign to her body, weighted and disconnected. She gave her head a slight shake, attempting to put her thoughts into a coherent line before pushing her eyes to open. Fluttering lashes peeled back to reveal blistering white, bright and gleaming. She was in a hospital room of sorts. The area spacious yet cluttered, stacked with recognizable medical tools and equipment. Three more beds lined the wall to her left, neatly folded green sheets perched at their heads. Their equipped side table decorated with delicate assortments of flowers. To her right, a grand mosaic styled window, allowing rays of warmth to comfort her chilled skin. Most of her vision, however, was obstructed by a large pearlized sheet, hung limply on ceiling hooks. A rather hideous pattern embroidered over the fabric. Lucy let out a slight huff as she shifted her weight, squirming to peer around the offending curtain. Her eyes blowing wide when her strained neck allowed her to peer over the hem. Across from her were two figures, seemingly unknowing of her newfound consciousness. A woman, with her back turned towards her, hips swaying as she tended to the man perched on the gleaming countertop to her front. Her hands precise and trained as they cleaned and stitched his open wounds. The man, she recognized to be her saviour from the previous night. He looked relaxed, leaning his head against the tiled wall with his eyes closed. Even during her state of haze the evening prior she had thought he was beautiful, but looking at him now she was almost breathless. The mid-morning sun casting over him like a golden aura. The rich tan of his skin stretched over the spance of his bare chest. Pink tendrils crowned his scull obnoxiously, demanding some of her attention. His ears were lined with multiple gold piercings, a few hoops and studs littered across the cartilage in uneven numbers. The first and second holes at the bottom of his lobe matched, decorated with small golden dragon heads and smaller diamond studs respectively. Lucy had never seen a man like him before, pieced together so flawlessly. His features so strong and pronounced one would never be able to forget his face.

"You've really done a number on yourself this time Natsu." The woman finally spoke, her voice sweet, dripping with honey. She pulled away a step, her hands continuing to hover slightly over his chest. "Mira's going to pull such a fuss that you stitched some of these yourself, your handiwork is atrocious."

"Damn, and here I thought I'd be coming home to compliments." Natsu's face stretched into a wicked smirk as he spoke, an amusingly playful tone pouring from his throat. His eyes stretched open slowly, revealing deep rich obsidian. "Least I made it home in one piece."

The woman snorted, placing her hands on her hip."I suppose that could be considered an accomplishment for you." She shook her head lightly, stepping away from him to rummage through drawers. "What am I supposed to do when you come home in a multitude of pieces? I won't even know where to start."

This time Natsu snorted, leaning forward to remove his head from it's resting place. His long arm swung forward to loop around the woman's neck, stringing her into him with a noticeable force. "Ah Lissana, you worry too much. I'll always make it home to you." The woman giggled slightly, pushing up against his arm in a playful manner.

It was sweet really, their out front care for one another. Lucy couldn't help but feel she was spying, a dirty feeling pooling in the depths of her stomach. She leaned back slowly, only to freeze when her elbow connected with a glass that was apparently on her side table. In a swift movement, she tried to capture the glass between her fingertips before it shattered with an obnoxious clash. She most definitely had the other attention now. Nervously she glanced up, meeting their fixated gaze. They both looked a little stunned, eyes wide and gawking at her. "Oh, I wasn't expecting you to be awake so soon." The woman mused, tossing her head slightly to remove short tendrils of white from her view. She stepped away from Natsu, brushing his arm off her shoulder. She was a rather petite woman with a dainty exterior to match. Pale skin complimenting the blunt white locks that hugged at the edges of her skull. Her features were soft, melting into her face with refined opulence. And god, the most demanding electric blue eyes Lucy had ever seen. She looked almost whimsical, gliding across the tiles beneath her. Dressed in a light blue tunic that fell slightly past her full hips, a snowy cloak trailing over her shoulders. Pure crystallized beauty radiating off her skin. An unmatched goddess donated by the clouds themselves.

"W-who are you?" Lucy croaked, wincing at the crack that travelled down her throat. The uncertainty in her voice almost thick enough to peel away. The woman glanced up quickly, batting dark lashes that curled upwards towards her brow.

"My name's Lissana." She exhaled sweetly. "And yours?" Lucy simply shook her head, eyes never leaving their fixture on the woman. The panic thrumming through her blood was etching its way into her skin. She had enough people searching for her as it was, and with no actual knowledge about her current position, cautiousness was something she couldn't afford to overstep. "I suppose that's fair." She sighed in response. "Natsu-san said those awful royal guardsmen were giving you a fairly rough time." She tossed her head upwards softly, granting Lucy a kind smile. "I'm sorry you had to go through that... Those men really are despicable, taking advantage of a lady like that." Lucy nodded slowly, allowing her eyes to bounce back towards Natsu. He was staring burn holes into her skull. His expression firm and curious. She wanted to dive into his mind, unravel his thoughts and learn the story of the god-like man presented before her. She couldn't understand the magnetic pull towards him, why he stood out so much against the world. Her head was still throbbing and trying to focus on the persistent questions that were pouring from Lissana was such a hassle when all she wanted was to look at him. Lucy tried to refocus her mind, she looked back towards Lissana who gave her a sad smile when she realized Lucy hadn't been listening to any of her medical history questions. "Not to fret," She sputtered, taking a seat at the foot of the bed. "Let's just start with how you're feeling?"

Lucy turned to her leg, attempting to roll the limb under the restricting sheets. It screamed at her, a pulsing shot knawing at her nerve endings. The pain in her leg was understandable, the spasm a constant reminder of her miss-step the previous evening. But what truly caught her off guard was her wrist. The revolting snap still fresh against her eardrums. And yet, it was completely fine. A simple bandage sealed her skin away from the light of day, but the immediate pain had subsided, leaving an ignorable dull ache. She held her arm up in front of her, examining her joint with concentration as she unwove the silky fabric binding it. She looked back at Lissana, who was staring patiently with a hopeful grin. "How long have I been asleep for?" She questioned instead of granting an answer. The miraculous healing of her wrist throbbing at the back of her mind.

"Only for a few hours actually, it's fairly surprising considering that forceful head injury you endured. Not to mention the amount of smoke you inhaled." A look of confusion overtook Lucy's features, her eyes darting downwards to her wrist. She lifted her limb softly, holding it out towards the snowy woman while gesturing towards it with a slight nod. Lissana smiled weakly, opening her mouth to answer before a loud screech wafted from the hallway.

"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE NATSU!?"

Lucy perked up instantly, keening onto the words that slipped through the gap of the doorframe. Lissana looked startled, gripping the edge of the bed while muttering under her breath. "WHY WOULD YOU BRING AN UN-REGISTERED MAGE HERE?!" The large wooden door that capped the far end of the room flung open, creaking hinges echoing down the hall. She found herself almost frustrated by the fact that everybody here seemed to be uncharacteristically good looking. The new figure rolling in on a chilled breeze. He was tall, lean and sculpted, the muscles rippling down his arms and over the plane of his stomach. Everything on show from his lack of shirt. Dark jeans strung casually over his defined hips by a flimsy belt, a black chain complete with a jewelled cross hung in the same manner around his pale neck. A structured 'V' definition peaking from above the metal clasp of his buckle. His face carried a grim but soothing expression. As if he was sweet yet unapproachable at the same time. A deep scar split the skin between his brow bone and the black hair crowning his head. He looked a little dishevelled, stunned at the three pairs of eyes now focusing solely on him.

"What was I supposed to do? Just leave her there with those filthy bastards to burn in the forest?! Fuck off you over masculated ice cube tray." Natsu retorted back, sliding himself off the counter.

"YOU BURNT DOWN A FOREST?!"

Natsu raised his brow slowly, moving to grab his previously discarded sweater off the far chair. "Not the whole forest dumbass, just most of section 8." He slid the black crew-styled sweater over his head, sliding it down his ridged abdomen mindful of his new stitches. "Would ya quit yelling, you're gonna wake the whole guild."

"The magic council's going to string you up alive when they hear about this." Natsu shrugged at the man, apparently unfazed at the mention of a council Lucy didn't even know existed. So they were all mages? It was strange, the way they spoke so openly about magic. It, being a taboo topic in their modern culture.

"I-I'm sorry... Did you say magic council?" Lucy half-whispered, curiosity getting the better of her. The two men almost jumped at her words, as if they were so focused on one another they forgot about the other woman in the room.

"Wait, is this her?" The second man muttered under his breath, casting a weary wide-eyed glance at Natsu who nodded casually. "Uh... Good morning?" He tried, looking slightly disgruntled about how he was supposed to approach the situation. Lucy gave him a confused expression which only seemed to make the newcomer more uncomfortable. "My name's Gray, and this," He swung his arm back to point beside him. "Is Natsu." She nodded slowly, her confused expression still on display. Gray looked uneasy, shifting his weight to his other foot. It was odd, his lack of confidence in the current situation, considering his brash reaction a few moments ago. He ran pale fingers through his dark locks slowly, eyeing her from head to foot. It was almost like he was sizing her up, seeing if she would leap out and bite him.

"God, you really have a way with a woman." Natsu mocked in a teasing manner. She almost had to hold back her own giggle, Lissana doing the same off to her right. Gray scowled at Natsu, deep cold eyes a contrast to the slight flush in his cheeks.

"It's not that it's just the matter of.." He paused, trying to string together a coherent sentence to ask her.

"I think brain freeze is trying to ask what type of user you are." Natsu finished, a creamy laugh following his words. Gray let out an exasperated sigh, nodding slowly in defeat.

She raised a brow, confusion painting her face. Lissana had now stopped her busy-work, listening intently with a pointed expression. Lucy felt like shrinking under all the scrutiny. It wasn't that she wasn't used to all the attention, just that their gaze was firm, boiling her blood with the intensity. Her lower lip began to tremble, biting it being the only way to stop its quiver. If these people knew of her enchanted blood already she was screwed. If these people really weren't mages, her beheading would be scheduled before the days light slipped past the horizon line. The laws of the land were firm, and those who opposed them were treated just as poorly as the ones born against them. She pulled her lip into her mouth harshly, sucking in a shaky breath and tried to muster her most confident expression. "I'm not a witch." She deadpanned, deciding blatant denial would probably serve her the best in this situation. "Why would you accuse me of such treason before you even knew my name?"

Natsu's face contorted, his pupils blown wide for emphasis. A scowl blooming over his expressive features. "What are you talking about? I knew you were a witch from the second I saw you." He leaned in closer, studying her with exact precision. Lucy's breath caught into her throat, letting her lip fall from between her teeth with a careful whimper. "Drop the act, I hate when people play dumb with me." The temperature spiked in the room, like his onyx gaze was melting her organs into liquid fire. He was so intense, his presence alone petrifying when it needed to be.

How could he have known? She hadn't used her magic in years, let alone in front of this man. She was very particular about when she would let the enchantment rise to the surface of her skin, fairly certain that only her parents had ever witnessed it. And after her father's reaction, she wasn't too keen on letting a random stranger in on the secret. "H-how could you tell?" Natsu's expression faltered for a mere second before a smirk ebbed its way to his lips. Violently pointed canines peeking past the tan flesh.

"I could practically smell it on you from the forest line. Royal blood tends to reak." His smirk grew wildly, giving her an open few of the rest of his teeth. Placed perfectly with accurate precision and gleaming white. She could have sworn she witnessed a stream of smoke sneak past his teeth. His statement snagged the attention of everyone in the room, all their jaws hanging open slightly. Natsu didn't seem to notice the others, entertained completely by the flustered mess he had created out of the blonde. She was baffled. In a matter of two minutes, this man had ripped apart her most guarded secrets. Ones that she had dedicated the last three years of her life protecting. "Judging by your reaction I would even go as far as guessing that you just might be our one and only lost princess." He leaned in closer, gaging her reaction. His ridiculous smirk never leaving his quirked lips. This time she was certain of the smoke, a deep gray whisp forcing past his lips. "So I'll ask once more, what type of user are you?" His voice had dropped at least three octaves, the latter of the sentence losing the playfulness he had begun to pick up.

"Natsu, stop. You're scaring her." Lissana moved forward, placing a delicate hand over his rough shoulders. She was eyeing Lucy tenderly, the glimmer of her irises silently asking if she was alright. Natsu didn't retreat, keeping his stance firm as he loomed over the edge of her mattress. if Lucy thought her blood had been pushed to boiling under their original gaze, she figured at this point she was utterly evaporating.

"I'm n-not sure."

The room temperature spiked fiercely. Natsu's face contorting as his patience was ground down. Gray stepped forward, looking at her rather unpleasantly. "Look, I understand this is probably a lot to take in just after you woke up. I know you didn't ask for any of this, but because of this morons antics," He shoved his finger towards Natsu's chest from across the bed frame, earning a displeased scoff. "You ended up here. We really don't mean you any harm and we promise to help keep you safe if your willing to work with us. So please, just answer his question." Lucy nodded before tossing her head down, letting the bedsheets take up her vision. Gray certainly was kinder with his words, and she did feel a little less uncomfortable now. But the panic at the back of her throat had yet to subside completely.

"I'm sorry... I really don't know." She exhaled her words carefully. "I have almost no knowledge of magic, or how any of it works." She could feel the redness of her cheeks overtaking the rest of her face and crawling down her neck to splay over her chest. The embarrassment of her lack of skill taking over. "Really the most I can do is make my hands glow a little bit."

"Can you show us?" This time when Natsu spoke, his voice was calm. Soothing over her worry like a milky glaze. She tossed her head forward again, wincing at the slight throb just above her nose. His eyes were soft and endearing as he peered forward, waiting patiently for her to make her move. The contrast of his quickly changing moods almost giving her whiplash. She closed her eyes in focus, inhaling harshly as she forced all the heat in her chest to the tips of her fingers. A gentle hue of flaxen light coating over her palms and down her fingertips. She ripped her eyelids open when a forceful hand connected with hers. Natsu eagerly pulling them towards himself.

"No way..." He muttered, his words slipping out under his hot breath. The sultriness drizzling over her fingers and causing her light to spark recklessly before going out completely. He tossed his head to the side, catching Gray's stare. "Do you really think we found one?" Gray shrugged his shoulders slowly, eyes darting back towards Lucy's hands. She exhaled shakily, pushing her lips apart to question the two men, only to be caught off guard by the oak door swinging against its hinges violently.

"You," The newcomer lashed, striking a finger in Natsu's direction. "Have a hell of a lot of explaining to do."

Natsu's POV ~

Natsu dropped Lucy's hand instantly, casting his attention to the figures in the doorframe. It appeared their Guild Master had returned from his trip unexpectedly early. And if the annoying expression plastered over his features was anything to go by, he wasn't too pleased by his own extravagant entrance. One might think after years of burning various things into pillars of ash, that people would get used to it. Sadly the reaction stayed relatively the same."So, what have you got to say for yourself?" Their headmaster practically spat, waving a stack of folded envelopes above his head dramatically. His small exterior greatly decreasing the intimidating aura he was obviously going for. The crevasses of his ever defining wrinkles scrunching as he contorted his face further. "You've really done a number this time Natsu. The council is furious with me for letting you galavant around so carelessly!" His voice was rough, the old man almost shaking with intensity. Natsu let a puff of smoke roll of his lips, deciding to focus instead on the figure beside their Master.

"I think what he means to say is good morning." The words rich on her tongue as they slipped past pearlized teeth. A soft chuckle capping her speech. Mirajane. A woman of utter sophistication. The elder sister of Lissana Strause, their resemblance uncanny as they stood across from one another. Her complexion held the same pale exterior but with such a rosy undertone one might believe she bathed only in the finest rosewater. Unlike her sister, her snowy locks fell in long relaxed curls that billowed at the extreme curve of her hips. She exhaled a sweet harmony over the gloss of her full pink lips. Working them into an amused pout while she raised her remaining hand to wrap her cinched waist. A dress coloured of deep coral donned her figure, the neckline deep, complimenting the dip of her defined collar bones. Her every movement felt calculated, meticulous even. Her only goal to radiate complete and utter perfection. She released her hold on the Headmaster's shoulder with a slight pop of her wrist, sweeping forward across the tiles to circle around Natsu. A glorious smile overtaking her pout as she pinched his cheeks. "It's so good to see you back, you've been gone an awful lot lately." Natsu jerked his head backward ungracefully, detaching the abused flesh of his cheeks from her slender fingertips. "You look older, more filled out even." She tapped his chest pointedly, smirking up towards him. "And you need to shave."

Natsu shifted his weight to his other foot, rubbing the underside of his jaw self-consciously. "Good to see you too Mira." He utterly playfully. She had easily become one of his favourite people over the years, kindness basically radiated out of her pores. Her motherly figurative a welcoming beam of light over his shambled life. Although he still found it rather perplexing that she was engaged to one of the most hard-headed men he had ever met. His daunting personality alone was 'shock' enough. "How's Laxus been?"

"Well enough I suppose." She hummed gently. "I'm sure you can ask him for yourself when he catches up to you later. I've already asked him to have a word or two with you." Natsu raised his brow suspiciously as Mira crossed her delicate arms across her ample chest. "I mean seriously Natsu, gone for months and without letting a single person know you were even leaving. How irresponsible of you. Had me in such a worry. You know what they do to us if we're caught out there." She flicked her wrist softly, waving it in the air in front of her. "Not to mention you seem to be the least inconspicuous out of all of us. We've been tracking damage reports all over the content, trying to pin down your location."

"Ah Mira, you worry too much." He chided, giving her a wild smirk. "Lissana already gave me the same lecture."

"Wait until you see the mess of stitching he's done to his chest." She piped in for good measure, to which Natsu couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Mira shook her head, mid scoff. "How could you be so reckless? That fire was far to close to home. Think of all the attention you've drawn this way. Elfman was on watch last night, said he spent the whole shift diverting royal guardsmen away from our enchantment line." It was rare to see Mira look anything but overwhelmingly cheerful. The worried expression plastered over face felt foreign and wrong. He really did feel guilty for causing such a commotion, but he stood by his actions. He truly believed he did the right thing.

"Not to mention you've breached all of our safety restrictions by bringing an unregistered here." Lucy jumped slightly, realizing that the short man's attentive gaze was now pointed in her direction. Mira shot the man an aggravated look at his aggressive words. Typically preferring to keep a calm mind about things.

"When I saw what those bastard guardsmen were doing to her, taking advantage of her like that, I guess I kinda lost my temper." Natsu shrugged, brushing the situation off. "Anyway, when I went to go check if she was alright she kinda just grabbed on to me. And I could have sworn her hand was glowing gold, I just got excited that maybe I found a real celestial. I mean her blood is definitely that of royals, so I brought her back with me." He cast his eyes toward the very flustered and confused looking blonde, his lips curling into his famous smirk. "And get this Gramps, I just got her to do it again."

The Headmaster raised a brow, folding his arms across his chest. "Out of all the excuses to choose from, you pick the most outlandish and expect me to believe you?"

"Master, I think he's really telling the truth. I just saw her do it myself." Lissana spoke up, moving to join the circle of people around Lucy's bed. "I really don't believe she holds any threat over us. She hasn't even been taught how to control her energy." She raised her pale fingers to cup the underside of Natsu's jaw, her frame continuing to face the older man. "I know his actions may have seemed uncalled for, but above it all, he did save a life. Not to mention the fact that Freed's barrier charm has never been stronger. Attention to the area or not, I don't believe they'd be able to actually find us here." She giggled, crouching down to match his shorter height. "I think you should let her stay. If she really is a celestial, we could help unlock her potential. Plus, I don't believe she has anywhere else to go. Would you really kick a child to the street?" She gestured towards Lucy, who (if possible) looked more confused than before.

"Ah, Lissana, ever fateful with bailouts." The Headmaster snorted, crossing his arms roughly. She smiled genuinely, nodding her head slightly before standing again. He turned to face the recovering blonde, raising a brow in curiosity. "I suppose I can deal with Natsu's destructive behaviour later. For now, let's start with your name?"

Natsu once again let his sightline fall to her, the pretty blonde woman wearing a perplexed expression. She was easily one of the most stunning women he'd ever come across, entrancing him from the second she fell in his peripheral. The way she was sitting, sprawled in the tall grass while those vile men encircled her. Moonlight basking over the expanse of her creamy skin. Expression firm even in her bleak situation. The way she had clung to his jaw when he finally approached her. Chocolate irises reflecting the golden light of his flames. Chest heaving, searching for lost breath. Her body, so delicate against his rough arms. When she had called him an angel in her disorientated state, it did more than stroke his ego lightly. And even now, wrapped up in a starch hospital gown, a grayish bruise dusted over the slope of her elegant nose. Blonde tendrils dancings over the small of her back in effortless curls. Shorter strands framing the heart shape of her face and dipping under the graceful curve of her chin. The way her words poured like thick cream from her slender top lip, pooling over the plumpness of her bottom one. "Lucy." Fitting, he almost snorted. Of course, she would have a beautiful name to accompany her opulent exterior. "It's Lucy Heartfilia." She was nervous, quivering slightly under the scrutiny.

"A Heartfilia? Looks like I guessed right then." Natsu snickered, raising his arms to cross behind his head. Lucy nodded, casting her eyes back towards the sheets.

"I thought all the Hearfilia women had passed?" Their Headmaster questioned. "Seem's only yesterday the Queen was executed before the public."

Lucy flinched, her fingers toying with one another absentmindedly. "S-she helped me run away. I think my father was embarrassed he wasn't able to find me. So he announced that my own execution would be private." She looked up, sad eyes locking with the old man who nodded in return.

"How did you end up in the forest?"

"Somebody must have recognized me while I was travelling through Magnolia." She mumbled, trying to hide the twitch of her lower lip. "The local guardsmen chased me from town." Their Master seemed satisfied enough with her answer, moving to the end of her bed before hopping up to perch on the fabric.

"So you knew nothing of what was located in this forest before your arrival?" He questioned, his tone was light while his eyes were serious. Lucy shook her head, golden locks bouncing with every sway. "I suppose that means our cover has yet to be blown." He nodded in approval before shifting his arm forward, offering his hand towards the young woman. Natsu winced slightly. This was their Master's final test to gauge if she was a threat or not, and it most certainly wasn't a pleasant one. At least in his case, it hadn't been. Headmaster Makarov Dreyar was an exceptional man, with abilities unmatched by the common mage. He had spent years of his life dedicated towards the magical arts, earning the title of Wizard Saint early on in life. One of his wondrous abilities was that of mind searching. Rare in its own right, giving the caster access to the memories of their chosen victim. A complete unlocking of one's mind. Or in Natsu's opinion, a complete invasion of one's most sacred and darkest memories. Forcing the victim to relive them while he searched. He turned away when he heard the breathy gasp escape her lips. Closing his eyes against the dull sapphire glow. When he finally peeled them open again, Lucy was sitting with a hurt expression over her features, clutching her previously extended hand against her chest. Neither of them spoke for a moment, allowing her to catch her breath before moving on. Natsu knew their Master would never utter a word about another's memories, but the thought of him having all this knowledge of someone was still rattling to him, despite the ample trust he had for the man.

"I'm sorry about that." Makarov apologized gently, tapping the blanket cast over her uninjured leg. "It's vital I dismiss any doubt of your character before allowing you access to my home and family." Lucy nodded slowly, her puzzled expression returning. Natsu let out a shaky breath, relief pooling in the pit of his stomach at her acceptance. "This place," The old man gestured around, "Is sector three's mage compound, code dubbed Fairy Tail. A completely self-sufficient guild created for the safety of mages like us." He smiled, the grin almost childlike against his aged exterior. "It was founded many years ago as a resource for mages to find work and housing and continues to provide that to this day. After the announcement of criminalization against those with magic blood, Fairy Tail, along with other guilds on the continent created a hidden network to aid witches and wizards in their daily life."

"That's amazing," Lucy whispered breathily. Natsu was scanning her again. His lips twitching into a smirk as he watched the light begin to slip back into her eyes. "Nobody ever speaks of it anymore, but I just knew there must have been a sanctuary of sorts for the enchanted." She was grinning now, a sheepish curl overtaking her mouth. "I knew my father would never be able to wipe magic away completely, it's far too strong for the likes of him."

Makarov nodded, hiding his own smirk behind the white mustache coating his top lip. "I am Headmaster Makarov, the keeper of this guild. I dedicate my life to the grounds and those who live here. In my opinion, there is no safer place for a mage to be in today's world."

"It's really more of a fact than opinion," Gray added, crossing his arms. "If you have any life ambition as a mage, a guild is where you want to be."

"And as a mage in need, I offer with complete sincerity a place of residence for you. There is no pressure in my offering, only available aid. We can train you here, help you to develop your skills in all things including magic. You can work for your keep as the other residents do, through listed quests and job postings as well as more clerical jobs around the base. I can offer you safety if you agree to live by the code and rules of our guild." The headmaster spoke evenly, keeping his attention on the blonde. Her excitement seemingly growing with his every added word. "It's up to you, child."

Lucy was beaming, glistening straight teeth on show for the group. "This really is like a dream." She hummed. "I think I would be insane to decline such an offer."

Makarov nodded approvingly. "Well Miss Lucy, on behalf of our guild I would like to offer you a warm welcome, as well as an apology for the situation that brought you to us. I hope you will come to love it here just as I do." He slid off the edge of the bed, now making his way towards the door. "For now child, you should rest. Come tomorrow morning we can see about housing arrangments for you." He peered over his shoulder at her, granting a kind smile, then turned towards Natsu. "And you," he spoke sternly, pointing a finger at his chest. "Come to my office, I believe we still have much to discuss about your recklessness.

"And I am most certainly will be having a look at those stitches Natsu. Let's not add more than we must to that collection of scars." Mira scolded firmly. Natsu let out a smoky huff before following the older man out the door. Only sparing a single glance back towards Lucy before turning down the hall.

Lucy's POV ~

Everyone continued to file out of the room after Natsu, leaving her alone with an overly beaming Lissana. "I just know you'll love it here. Fairy Tail has become a home for so many others like you, I have no doubt you'll fit in." She hummed, her glorious smile never leaving her lips. Lucy nodded happily, her own smile crawling across her lips innocently.

"Is everybody here proficient in magic?"

"Almost all the current members are yes, but others were like you when they were recruited." A dreamy look overtook her blue orbs as she seated herself at the foot of the mirroring bed. "If I remember correctly, even Natsu-san struggled to make sparks when Gildarts came across him." She let out a breathy giggle. "And look at the powerhouse he's become! I'm sure you'll progress quickly enough."

"Did he really burn an entire section of forest away?" Lucy couldn't help herself from prying about the boy, still overly curious about everything he had to offer. "How did he manage that?"

Lissana snorted, rolling her shoulders back carefully "One does not simply explain how Natsu manages to do half the things he does." She huffed, tossing her bangs with a flick of her neck. "Although, as disastrous as his methods seem to be, he always manages to save those who need saving." She was smiling again, a goofy-looking grin plastered over her lips. She stood slowly, turning to dig through a drawer in the desk across from the bed. "He comes across a little brash sometimes, but I promise you he's rather amazing."Lucy relaxed lower into the bedsheets, deciding that the woman ahead of her was just blatantly that nice. Maybe she really would be safe and hidden here. The thought was charming, having a solid place to stand on for a while. Even the clean sheets of the infirmary a considerable upgrade from the cheap rooms she had been renting.

"He saved me too, ya know. A long time ago, when we were young and foolish." Lissana spun on her heel gracefully, leaning against the worn wooden siding of the desk. Her cloak rippling around her legs with pure grace. "I owe him everything." Her lips curled upwards slightly, smiling at the ground as if it would respond to her sincerity. It was almost endearing, hearing her speak so highly of somebody. "It really isn't that terrible being indebted to somebody like him." She was beaming at the floor foolishly now and this time it was Lucy's turn to snort, amused at how this woman was so clearly drooling over Natsu. Though she could hardly blame her, he had been astronomically beautiful. Even the gods seemed uncomparable. She nodded slowly, returning Lissana's warm gaze.

"Now," Lucy spoke softly, trying to regain her confidence. "Can you tell me what a celestial is?"

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