#as long as I have my split and my calypso down before the end of the school year I’m good

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Me, just trying to get through dance and doing my across-the-floors:

Some random-ass white woman staring at us through the window in the hallway: 🙎‍♀️

[fbfh]

light up the dark [VI] - leo x reader

genre: mid adventure domestic fluff overture, romance, smutty lemony bit towards the end

word count: 3k

pairing: Leo x gothy!child of eros!fem reader

requested: very much so, yes

warnings: magic manipulation powers, feelings are hard and weird and scary, some innuendos, the phrase hot gusher out of context, the word dirty talk, trying to "proposition [someone] in front of two for one cookie crisp", brief credit card theft, jason thinks ketchup is spicy and gets clowned on for it, one use of the word lube in reference to mechanical lubricant, shirtless leo remember that one piece of shirtless leo viria art?????? remember the caption?????, your facade is beginning to crack, deadpan joke about being dead in space, making out, whole lotta sexual tension, brief mention of a boner, teeny tiny bit of grinding, getting interrupted, c*lypso

summary: after an extensive shopping trip, you, Leo, and Jason settle into your airbnb and wait for the others to arrive. Jason takes a nap, and Leo helps you dye your hair. You return the favor by helping him make dinner which leads to two things; a well timed boner, and a poorly timed visitor.

listen to: power and control - marina, 100 bad days - ajr, all I ask - adele

a/n: let's play spot the zack and cody reference within the first paragraph

also surprise the series isn't dead!! a shock to all but mostly me!!

as with all smexy smutty nsfw content, all characters are aged up to 18+

Standing in front of a wall of hair dye taller than you are should have been exciting. It would have been, except for the fact that all the colors were various shades of honey mist auburn. You really don’t want to have to make a separate trip to a beauty store for hair dye. Your eyes land on a firetruck red box, and gratefully, you realize you won’t have to.

“Perfect,” you muse, throwing it into your cart, along with the other stuff on the list you’d divided between you. You grab a few other things from the beauty section while you’re there; some makeup, eyeliner, a glass nail file, and a tiny pair of oil slick cuticle scissors.

Nearby is a guy a little older than you in a varsity hoodie and sweatpants squinting at a two in one shampoo label.

Perfect, you think, beginning to approach. You work your magic - literally - and within a few minutes you have his credit card. It takes way less time than it used to. You also didn’t have to smile and flirt nearly as much as you used to. You’re relieved that you don’t have to fake enthusiasm around rich douchebags the way you used to, and a new inky drop of fear begins to stain the corners of your mind. You can’t even bear to admit it to yourself, but you’re kind of scared. Before you can begin to question if you know what love is and if you’re capable of experiencing it without the influence of your divine heritage, you shove it all away. Not the place, not the time. You speed up a little, passing an endcap of candy, and knock a box into your cart.

On the other side of the store, Jason checks off items from their half of the list as Leo tosses items in the cart, talking along the way. Of course, you came up in conversation rather quickly.

“She’s… a real piece of work.” Jason says, treading lightly.

“You said it, man,” Leo agrees, sliding a pack of coke onto the bottom of the cart. Jason thinks for a moment before continuing.

“She seems to,” he tries to figure out how to phrase their dynamic, “not hate you as much as everyone else.” Leo laughs at the accuracy of the statement. He can tell Jason has something else to say, so he’s quiet while putting paper plates and napkins into the cart.

“Hey, Leo?”

“Yeah?”

“Just… don’t let her hurt you, okay?”

He stops for a second. He’s so lucky to have a friend like Jason, one that will genuinely look out for him, but sometimes people caring for him still catches him off guard. Really off guard. With no idea how to begin to verbalize that complicated mess, he takes a split second to collect himself.

“Thanks, man.”

His smile is sincere.

Don’t let her hurt you. Can he just do that? Not let someone hurt him? Especially someone like you. He’s only had a few long term crushes before, all just out of reach and only getting further away. Only one had amounted to something - not that he could call what he had with Calypso ‘something’. She certainly wouldn’t. He looks around, trying to shake off the sting. He starts to get that unsettled, itchy feeling when he focuses on stuff like that for too long.

‘At least I got some good stories out of it,’ he thinks, messing with the back of his hair and fixing his hoodie strings.

“Here.”

He turns around, coming face to face with you, holding out a box very close to him.

“Hot gusher.” You say softly. What? His cheeks heat up, pulse speeding up suddenly. He glances at Jason, who’s at the other end of the aisle asking an employee something. Are you implying something? Are you trying to proposition him in front of two for one cookie crisp? He’s unable to look away from your gaze, intense and striking. You couldn’t possibly mean what he thinks you mean. Your fingers brush and he’s struggling to find an elegant way to say ‘hey, maybe the grocery store isn’t an ideal place for dirty talk’.

“W- uh, sorry, what?” he says, laughing in an equally hushed tone, needing to make sure you meant what he thought you did. You glance down, then back up.

“They’re spicy gushers. I thought you’d like them.” the feeling is gone in a split second, the same time it took to arrive, and is replaced with relief. He looks down at the box, realizing he’d taken it from you at some point. He laughs at the ridiculousness of his previous panic.

“Thanks,” he says, a reflective smile on his face.

You realize how comforted you are to see him smile, really smile, when you catch yourself having to keep a neutral face. One of the first times your resting bitch face has been intentional. Before you can say you’re welcome, Jason comes back over. You hand him the card.

“Pin number’s 0401.”

They both stare at you, skimming the label of a granola bar, completely unperturbed.

“How…”

“Credit card theft.”

The logical part of Leo’s brain starts to speak up, telling him to raise his guard, that his stomach should be twisting. If you can just take someone’s credit card without a hint of remorse, who knows what the hell kind of damage you could do to him if he got closer to you? And he really wants to get closer to you.

“Oh,” you pull a small pop top tube out of your cart and hand it to Leo, “this is for you too. You know, since you don’t like coffee,” you trail off as he reads the label. Caffeine and electrolyte drink tablets, red berry rampage flavor. He looks up at you, feeling warm and… something else, something ineffable, at the gesture.

You stare at each other, eyes locked, surprised at the strangely intimate feeling stirring in both of you.

“What are those?” Jason asks, snapping you out of whatever that was.

“Spicy gushers,” Leo says, smiling again, “I didn’t even know they made those.”

“Hot mango,” Jason reads from the side of the box, “that actually sounds pretty good.”

“No way dude, you can’t handle spicy food.” He starts to protest, and Leo continues, “You think ketchup is spicy!” He looks shocked.

“Okay, that was one time! It was a weird brand and there was way too much pepper in it!”

You bite back a giggle at their bickering, taking note of how much better Leo seems to be doing and finding surprising comfort in their banter.

It doesn’t take long to get to the airbnb and get set up. You all dump your bags in your rooms, bring in the groceries, and shove everything into the cabinets in a reasonably organized manner.

Jason heads upstairs to unpack and call Piper, announcing a few minutes later that they should be here in less than two hours.

“Perfect,” you pull out your hair dye from the last bag. It’s not exactly the manic panic wildfire red you’d initially wanted, but it’s definitely better than nothing. You stare at the box for a second, then up at Leo who’s trying to get one more bag of chips to fit in with the others.

“Hey,” you say, just loud enough to get his attention, “do you… can you get the back of my head?” He looks at you, questioning, and you hold up the box dye. He smiles, once again noting your softened edges around him.

“Yeah,” he agrees, and minutes later you’re in the bathroom, adorned in a big tee shirt covered in all your previous hair colors. He’s staring at your shirt, eyes dancing over the swirls and splatters of color. It reminds him of a painting he’d seen once, unable to remember the name.

You shake the bottle, skimming the instructions again, then start speaking to him, eyes still on the box.

“Take a section of hair, about this much,” you demonstrate, holding out a section of hair, “rub in the dye like this…”

You hand him the second bottle of red dye, and he starts on the back. His fingertips start separating out a section of your hair, and you still, a shiver running up your spine. He hesitates for a moment, then continues, and you hope he hadn’t noticed. His breath fans your ear, and you can feel the heat radiating off his chest. Your lungs are shallow suddenly, squeezed tight like a bouquet clutched in a shaking hand. You find it almost impossible to focus on dying the front half of your hair.

You don’t want it to stop, you realize. His fingertips dancing along your hair, the glimpses of his incredibly focused face in the bathroom mirror, the way he’ll gently turn your head to make sure he didn’t miss a spot.

“Shit,” he leans back, hunching forward. You look behind you, eyes landing immediately on the spot of red dye on his shirt.

“Shit,” you echo. He looks back at you, waiting to see how he’ll react.

“Oh, it’s all good - no worries. I already have a ton of motor oil and lube - lubricant… machine grade, petroleum based engine lubricant-” he laughs, “stains on this shirt anyway. Don’t sweat it.”

You almost laugh. A giggle bubbles up from your chest and stomach, but catches in your throat. Before it can come out, he slips off his dye stained gloves, and tugs off his dye stained shirt from the back. It seems to happen in slow motion. In a mere moment, your eyes engraving every detail, every line and curve and freckle to memory.

There’s really no delicate way to put it; he’s fucking jacked. Deceptively so. You’re frozen in place, cheeks flushed. You suddenly wonder what it would be like to be wrapped up in his arms, held so close to him.

You snap yourself out of the thought, all of that occurring in just a few seconds. He leans past you, setting the dye stained shirt carefully on the counter, glancing at you intensely.

“Are you checking me out?”

You make yourself roll your eyes and turn away, replying, “I’m sure you’d love that.”

Angled away from him, you momentarily reprimand yourself, squeezing your eyes shut and mouthing oh my god. You turn back to him, not recalling the last time you had to deliberately keep up your aloof front around someone like this.

“So, are we finishing my hair or just gonna leave it like this?” you ask rhetorically, motioning to your half done hair.

He watches you do this, confirming his suspicion that you’re really not as cold as you let on. A smile blooms on his face, and he doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything as… cute as that.

“Yeah,” he replies, slipping his gloves back on. The things you do around him seem to mean more now. He notices the way your eyes flutter closed for a moment when he plays with your hair, working in the dye, or the way you still for a split second when he gets a little too close to the side of your face, checking that he didn’t miss a spot.

He doesn’t want this to end either. But eventually, your hair is fully saturated with dye, the timer on your phone counting down slowly. There’s still some dye left. He sits on the closed toilet.

“Your turn. Do me.”

“What?” you laugh.

“Yeah, a little streak - up here.” He leans forward, sectioning off a part of his hair.

“Seriously?” you ask.

“Yeah. Unless you don’t want to match…” he muses. Your eyes get this dreamy look for the briefest second, then you’re turning back to shake the bottle some more.

“I guess… I mean there’s too much dye to throw out, we might as well do something with it.”

It’s his turn, now, to feel the warmth from your body, your hands running through his hair. His eyes want to close, and bask in the feeling, but he refuses to miss out on the view of you so soft, so close to him. It doesn’t last nearly long enough for either of you, and much too soon you’re pulling away and throwing away the gloves and empty bottles.

By the time you finish cleaning up and throw out the garbage, it’s time to rinse your hair. Hanging your head over the tub, you let the water flow over your head until Leo tells you it’s running clear. He does the same, and you point out too late that he only had to rinse the dyed part, not his whole head.

You both laugh as you wrap a towel around your hair, teaching him how to do the same.

“Sweet, I’ve always wondered how to do the spa snail towel thing.”

“The spa snail towel thing?” You try in vain to fight another laugh.

“Yeah, you know… cause it looks like a snail, and they do it at spas…”

“Oh… my gods…” you laugh, exiting the bathroom and heading down the hall, “I”m going to get changed.” you call.

“Am I wrong?” he asks after you, and you bite your lip to stop yourself from laughing. He heads to his room to do the same.

A few minutes later, you’re carefully pulling on your top, when he calls through your door.

“Hey, I’m gonna be in the kitchen, come down when you’re ready.”

“...Okay,” you agree.

You check your outfit in the mirror. You can still feel his fingers brushing your neck. Your head tilts at the memory. Snapshots of him pulling off his shirt in slow motion flash in your memory.

You realize how much of an affect the last hour has had on you. Your stomach drops.

You can’t possibly be falling in love. No way. Not a snowball’s chance in hell.

You’re not the falling in love type. At most, you’d hook up with someone a couple times on the rare occasion you thought they were hot, too.

Oh, you decide, that must be what’s happening. I just think he’s hot. I mean, duh. Of course he’s hot. Did you see him in there?

That’s all you have to do; hook up with him once, maybe twice, then you’ll get over it. It’ll make his ex jealous, and they’ll get back together. It will go just like it always has. Then you can move on to whatever the next crisis is.

You take a breath, resolving to follow the plan, exit your room. You throw yours and Leo’s old clothes and towels in the hamper, and head down stairs. He greets you, and pulls you into the kitchen.

“I have something to ask you.” Your brow furrows.

“...Okay.”

He takes your hand in his, the other behind his back.

“Will you…” he looks at you, gaze piercing, “...be my sous-chef.” he finishes, holding out an apron, matching his.

You study him, a hopeful, surprisingly confident look on his face. His hair is still damp. You’re sure yours is, too. You wait a beat, before replying slowly.

“Yes. But I’m not wearing that.”

“That’s fair,” he says, setting the apron on the counter, “I will have to dock your pay for being out of uniform, though.” You let out a puff of air from your nose, biting back a laugh. He pulls out a skillet, bowl, and oil, and begins preheating the pan. You watch him pull out more ingredients, and begin to set things up.

“Right now we’re waiting on that,” he says nodding at the stove. You nod, inspecting a bottle of seasoning he’d pulled out, and settle into a comfortable silence.

He thinks back to the last time you had time like this - playing twenty questions at your apartment. A pit forms in his stomach as he remembers the conversation veering to Calypso, as it always seemed to. He shoves it away. Not this time. He steadies his nerves. “So, you want to play twenty questions?”

You agree, coming closer to him.

“If you could go anywhere, where would you go?”

Your eyes flick over to the clock. You have a solid hour, hour and a half before the others are supposed to get here. You stare at him, brushing hair out of his face.

“I’d be dead in the endless void of deep space.”

He cracks a smile at how on brand that response was. Your fingertips trail down to his neck, rethen shoulder. The smile doesn’t leave his face, not completely. Your heart beats loudly in anticipation.

“My turn. Do you want to make out?”

His head snaps up, eyes locked with yours, trying to tell if you’re serious or if this is another example of your distinct sense of humor. But he can tell it’s not - there’s something a little too close to the surface in your eyes.

“Yeah. Yes, totally-”

You grab his collar, pulling him in for a kiss, and leaning back against the empty counter.

His lips are soft and warm, moving gracefully with yours. You barely register that the first kiss ends before you dive back in. You angle your head, deepening the kiss. He plants one hand on the counter, the other making its way to the small of your back. You flick your tongue past his lips, and his grip on your waist tightens. You clutch his collar tighter, other hand moving through his hair, still damp at the ends.

You can tell he’s enjoying what you do by the way his mouth quirks up ever so slightly at the corners, and by the way he starts to harden beneath you. You roll your hips into his, and he falters, sighing, breath fanning your lips. Not quite a moan, but you’re getting there.

The front door opens before you can.

Leo pulls away reluctantly, very reluctantly, and turns off the stove.

“That was fast,” he says, panting slightly and still very flushed. They’re not supposed to be here for a while, still.

A tall girl enters the kitchen, dark strawberry blonde hair pulled over her shoulder. She looks between you and Leo with a sour expression on her face.

“Calypso,” Leo says.

"...Hi."

[border-spam]

Does troy really have a split jaw or is that fanon?

It's total fanon!

The design of the split lines across his cheekbones and chin coupled with the cheek clips and v shaped hinge outline next to his ears lead to a lot of people coming to that same outcome, that there is something up with his mouth from a prosthetic/mod standpoint.

So much of his design is never mentioned once or referenced in any way (hightech spinal rig with tattoos under it, neuro connector, mech arm that's much older and doesn't seem related to the spine and neuroport, implants on bicep, face mod etc) that like Tyreen's scars and possible lower body Siren markings, fandom took over when it came to coming up with logical explanations for 'em.

This actually touches ground with some Ao3 comments I wanted to share as they are all Leech Lord compliant, so I'll list them here alongside links to the fics they were related to (note warnings!)

You leave no avenue for characterization unexplored. Troy's facial prostheses finally receiving backstory is amazing

- Maw (Gore/Bodyhorror)

I LOVE the idea of it being not just decorative shit on his face, but my MO for any content I make is always based around asking why, over and over, and trying to make sense of what material I'm using in the first place. The modded mouth is a popular piece of fanon but you know... why? Why would he do that shit to himself. WHY would he want to be grotesque, why would he be chasing the reaction people would have to it when canonically he seems to really not be interested in fan attention the same way Tyreen is, what's the difference to him between being adored as his persona or being lusted after as a monster, etc. I just love deep-diving into the logic behind character and world building? It's what adds meat to the bone for me.

Big 'ol character and worldbuilding / lore responses list under the cut -

He could afford better robots but these ones UNDERSTAND Ty, don't you get it?

- Good night in (tooth rotting fluff)

Hey just because it's mangled and broken, and can't perform its intended function to a degree expected of it by everyone around it... and it's got rusty sharp bits it accidentally hurts you with sometimes... and it's cranky but it doesn't mean it... and sometimes it errors out in a way that's mildly disturbing in a way you can't place.. uh.. doesn't mean you should just GIVE UP ON IT you know? He can fix them :) They will be fine :) No one should just throw away something that's trying so hard just because it's damaged... haha... :')

It's so hard seeing how much they tear each other down when they're the only thing they have left. And what a poor self-image Tyreen has beyond all that glitter and bluster...

- Wolf in sheep's clothing

The twins function well enough as a unit till tensions rise, and I was trying to seed in The Leech's influence on them in earlier work like this too - towards anyone else Ty would become MORE aggressively confident, more assured in her complete and utter dominance of the situation, her flawlessness, but against Troy who see's her for what she is, it turns inwards and eats at her instead of lashing outwards. He switches from relatively submissive around her to almost surgical levels of dissection, he knows exactly how to go for the jugular with words, and doesn't hold back. She's The Leech's mouth but he's its eyes and it's only when they lose control emotionally enough for it to claw to the surface of their psyches that you get an idea of how much it really affects them individually. GB had an absolute goldmine on their hands here of cosmic/body horror and the concept of toxic family when all you have is each other, there's so much to work with, and I figure it's a factor in why some people still really enjoy messing around with Calypso content.

I like how you allow Troy to be a disabled character, how his congenital defects and prosthetics colour his outlook and appear in ways big and small in all these vignettes. It's easy, I think, to see him as largely untroubled by his health apart from when he needs a charge from Tyreen in the game, but you allow him to struggle with his weakness.

- Chronic (Drug use)

I'm really glad to hear that's coming through in the writing because it's something I noticed a lot too. Very often when Troy, or other characters canonically disabled / chronically unwell are written it's "told" and not "shown". Chronic pain, illness, it's not something that is just a little tickbox in a life or some descriptive terms added to a character synopsis, it's something you live and deal with. There are bad days. There are times it is a negative that has to be worked around or faced in ways that aren't pleasant. It doesn't make you lesser or weak to have times where illness does leave you unable to function to a level you want to, it's not a failure for you to be unable to perform tasks when a disability or flair up means it's not viable. I feel personally that by showing scenes like this where his health and body issues do have a very visceral and impossible to ignore the effect on his ability to function, and going through his mental processes of dealing with and managing them, it brings the character across as stronger than if he never seemed to be shown dealing with symptoms or weaknesses. People are more than their disabilities and conditions, those aren't just kinda taglines to add onto a character's description and then never address. I feel like doing that in a way undermines what people deal with who manage chronic illness, pain, and who have disabilities that affect their daily lives negatively. Appreciating the effort it takes to manage them is important.

What I really like about these is that you can really understand as a reader how their dynamic must have evolved. How even before Leda's death Tyreen would have felt demonized while Troy got the attention because of his condition, because he was less willful.

- Starlight, Moonbright

Ah man, absolutely - and that shit stayed with them. It wasn't his fault and he never wanted it, but of course their parents would have had their extremely ill child at the forefront of their thoughts, especially during weeks when he was.. bad. Tyreen by nature even without The Leech's influence is a little attention seeker, she'd be the life of any party and she BLOSSOMS if she's got the spotlight, but as a little kid who's got literally no one but her parents and her brother, and who all three of which can't give her nearly as much time as she deserved? That's rough. That's really unfair. That coupled with The Leech's warping effect on their egos as they grew up and the bitterness and resentment they harbored in different ways created a reverse dynamic. She'd never be out of the Galaxy's attention again, and he'd have no choice but to take his rightful place in her shadow.

I love how you illustrate both how much more, and yet how much less Troy is now. How the blameless child, full of potential, is inextricably linked to the brutal, larger-than-life avatar he fashions.

- DeLeon ( Graphic Violence / Gore / Hallucinations)

He's molded the monster he is now out of the bones of the man he should have been - there's no going back really. There's nothing left to go back to. He broke Troy DeLeon apart to build the persona that acts like an iron lung now, suffocating him breath by breath while forcing him to still take them. That life is over, he killed it before it had a chance, but the idea of it is still there in his subconscious. Somewhere in the absolute trainwreck of Troy's brain is the tiny, flickering belief that maaaaaybe one day this will all be over and he can shuck off the bracer and spines, peel off all the shit he's covered his skin with, and just go back to not being Calypso. DeLeon here isn't some aspect of his mental state or his sins haunting him - it's The Leech, spitting venom at a host it loathes in something that's not sound or comprehensible language. His subconscious has just translated it into something it can understand - his greatest regret.

On if Borderlands Humans originated on Earth -

There's a really tenuous link between BL verse and rEarth, but it's there and can't be ignored. The cultures, accents, terminologies, so many are Earth specific despite these people being spread across galaxies, so hell yes - Earth as an emergence point makes total sense. The next question then, is why is it never mentioned - and you can cover for that with a lot of things like say, tt was so long ago that it's not relevant to anything that would ever be discussed, or it could be a mass evacuation from a catastrophe there is little record of now. I like to go with something along those lines, that the first human Siren host emergence on earth just absolutely decimated the planet. Like, we were doing fine till this random woman somewhere in the ass-end of nowhere develops weird markings overnight, then goes apocalyptic. The first Leech maybe, not understanding her powers and having them rip across continents in a spread of crackling electric death that only left husked shells of plants and animals in its wake, or the first Firehawk who went nuclear and burned the sky, or the first Voidgrasp who lost control and began to collapse the planet's core - some extreme shit that had humans fleeing en masse with barely any preparation and HUGE swathes of history and knowledge left behind. That would cover so many social things surviving into the BL verse, cultures, accents, cooking, that shit comes with us regardless of what we were able to throw into escape ships. Like so much data would be stored on any tech and data arrays within the vessels people would use to leave a dying planet even in an insane rush, but that shit waters down over time - if you're farming barely edible plants on some planet that smells like farts, are you really gonna be that stressed about teaching your kids history from a lost planet when your current concerns are not being eaten by something with 19 legs and 4 buttholes? Don't think so.

On if the other Siren entities are as influential to their hosts as The Leech -

I touch on it a wee bit throughout LL, but the others are FAR more passive and meld more to their host's whims. The Firehawk Siren wouldn't.. like.. care? If the host was burning down a planet or fighting off an evil corporation? They are removed from any nonsense happening on this side, they might not even really be able to tell, it's like asking an amoeba or a collection of sentient atomic particles what its opinion is on Brexit. That's not really its priority. The Leech is so aggressive in its control of the twins and desperation to drive them towards an outcome it desires only cause it's split, broken, removed from the song, and completely lost. We're talking a caged, half-mad animal removed from its natural environment and left totally isolated from its own kind for millennia. It's in pain, it's confused, it wants to find its way back to the song and the others and where it belongs, but it's stopped by a barrier it can't comprehend ( the twins and being ripped between them), so in its impotent rage it feeds back that hatred onto them. It's not really sentient in the way we would describe functional intelligence, but it wants, and craves, and FEELS. And it feels very, very angry.

Big thanks to @undergoingcalibrations for talking through so much of this with me!

Asks are Open!

[literaryfic]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: 빈센조 | Vincenzo (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Vincenzo Cassano | Park Joo Hyeong/Hong Cha Young Characters: Hong Cha Young, Vincenzo Cassano | Park Joo Hyeong Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, vincenzo leaves, set five years after he left sk, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, vincenzo and cha-young are exes, they were in a relationship before, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Jealousy, Exes, Getting Back Together, Not Canon Compliant, i wrote this before ep 20, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut

Summary: Oh, how Cha-young wishes she could forget the past five years. Now that her anger has faded, she remembers clearly why she sealed herself in it; after anger comes sorrow, something she’s not sure she can overcome.

And just like the never-ending revolution of the Earth around the Sun causes the perpetual change of seasons — when flowers bloom after the frost melts and Spring follows Winter —, Cha-young finds herself knocking on Vincenzo’s door. They were two supernovas meant to collide and, although Cha-young wasn’t quite sure whether the impact would annihilate them or create a new form of life, she didn’t care.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, Park Joo-hyung?”

He opens the door, letting her in. She marches on, the door closing in a thump behind her. She turns to face him, his jaw is set. Both of them follow the familiar steps of a tango they’ve danced before, playing the part of an opera they know the end to.

“How dare you threaten and intimidate someone close to me?” She screams.

“Is that what he told you? Did he mention the phone call—”

“This has nothing to do with your behaviour!”

“Of course it fucking has, Cha-young-ah” Vincenzo is losing his temper too, and for the first time since they’ve met again, he’s yelling.“That bastard’s cheating on you, for fuck’s sake! Did you just expect me to pretend I didn’t hear anything? I thought you said we should be friends. That’s what friends do.”

“Whether he’s cheating on me or not, that’s none of your business. And I take it back, I don’t want to be your friend, I don’t want to be your anything. Leave me alone.” Cha-young’s index finger is pointing at him, and suddenly she realises how close they’ve gotten in the heat of their argument. She’s flushed, anger shading her cheeks red.

“You’re the one who came to me.” He whispers.

She can feel his breath on her face, and it’s taking everything in her to not look at his lips. His intoxicating scent is making her feel dizzy. She bites the inside of her cheek, the sharp pain bringing her back to her senses. She takes a step back.

“Because you think you can just waltz into my life as you please, Vincenzo.” She’s not looking at him anymore, the edge in her voice softened.

“If that were true, we both know very well that your little boyfriend would be dead by now.” His lips curl. His tone might be playful but she’s not sure he doesn’t mean it.

He’s looking at her and Cha-young knows he’s trying to make peace. He’d never liked to argue with her in the past, and he especially hated screaming matches. To everyone else, Vincenzo was intransigent, intimidating or even frightening. However, during their relationship, and although he’d been stubborn, he’d always been strangely compromising. She started the fights and he ended them. He would crack a joke, apologise and kiss her hand. He would burrow his face in her neck, wrap his arms around her waist and mouth ‘Forgive me’ against her skin. She’d feign resistance until he’d start tickling her. Then, they’d laugh together, forgetting about why they fought in the first place.

Oh, how Cha-young wishes she could forget the past five years. Now that her anger has faded, she remembers clearly why she sealed herself in it; after anger comes sorrow, something she’s not sure she can overcome. Submerged by a wave of melancholy, she can’t hold back the truth anymore.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Vincenzo’s eyes widen, he’s stunned. A few seconds pass, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to say anything, so she goes on. “I lied. I’m here with my employees, he’s my personal assistant.”

Finally, the weight of her words strikes him. “Why did you lie to me?” He asks quietly, his face unreadable. Was it so foolish of her to search for relief in his eyes?

She swallows the lump in her throat. “What, so you could see how pathetic I was without you?”

There it is.

In a few seconds, the man she loved would realise she’d always been nothing more than an empty shell on the shore, discarded by the seas. All her life, Cha-young had been abandoned by the people she cherished. Whether it was intentional or not, it seemed that no one stuck around for long. Contrary to what one might think, her father had been the first one to go. He’d stayed out late, prioritised his clients over his family and avoided them. Then, her mom had gone, her loss altering Cha-young’s life and identity so profoundly she had began to think of herself as split in two — pre-death Cha-young, the one who had been naïve and hopeful, and post-death Cha-young, the jaded and bitter adult who had designed her life around self-preservation. Later, when her dad passed away, abandoning her for the second time, she had promised herself that she wouldn’t let anyone leave ever again. She had wanted to protect those around her: the tenants, Babel’s victims’ families, the innocent.

Slowly, her partnership with Vincenzo turned into something deeper, into something more. She’d prepared herself, readying her heart; he would leave soon. But everything changed when he sealed the promise of forever with a kiss— or so she thought. Cha-young realised a heartbeat too late that she had mistaken an oath of love for an act of war; she had taken him prisoner, put him in shackles and thrown away the key.

Odysseus, the legendary hero set on an epic journey, had accidentally landed on Ogygia, and Calypso, the troubled nymph, had fallen in love with him. How could she not, when he was strong and beautiful, and she was lonely in her exile? She had held him captive as long as she could, but she had no claim over him, and the devastating sadness she had felt after he had escaped was laughable. He had deserted her, the last remains of their love piercing her heart like shards of glass.

“You’re not pathetic.” Vincenzo said firmly, interrupting her thoughts.

Cha-young turned away from him. “Drop it.”

“No. None of this is your fault, Cha-young-ah.” He closed the distance between them, and she could feel him right behind her. “I wanted to tell you later but— I legally changed my name to Park Joo-hyung. Wanna know why?”

“Because it was obnoxiously hard to pronounce?” Her attempt at diversion doesn’t work.

Instead, Vincenzo grips her arms and presses his forehead against her shoulder blades. She’s still not facing him, compelling herself to not look at him or touch him or feel him against her.

“I hated it so much that just hearing it made me sick. I hated myself, Cha-young-ah. Not because of the murders, the torture or all the atrocities I’ve committed— no.” He laughs wryly. “It’s because of what I did to you. Leaving you is the one sin I can’t seem to forgive myself for. And that is pathetic.”

She holds her breath. One. Two. Three. She faces him. Red eyes, hollow cheeks, desperation carving deep lines on his forehead. He looks like a tormented devil.

“What do you want, Vincenzo?” Cha-young whispers, an echo of the past.

Slowly, he locks his eyes on her. Those eyes, she thinks, they’re back.

“To repent.”

One. Two. Three. Cha-young grabs his face and kisses him. At first, Vincenzo stays still, hesitant. She’s about to break the kiss, reality catching up to her, when he opens his mouth and slips his tongue in hers. His hands grip her waist, bringing her closer, bringing her in. Her heart is beating so loudly she can’t hear herself think — or maybe she gave up on thoughts, and now she only feels. She feels him flush against her, she feels his hands; they burn her, leaving the imprint of him all over her body. God, how she had missed him.

There is no romance between them, only a visceral need to possess each other again. Soon enough, they’re on the bed, Cha-young on his lap, her hands pulling his hair so hard he hisses. Vincenzo bites her lower lip as retaliation and she rolls her hips against his erection, staring at him. He moans, head thrown back. Cha-young’s right hand cups his jaw firmly, making sure he’s looking at her. She wants to watch him fall apart, unravel under her touch.

“Take off your clothes.” What she asks, he does — rather awkwardly, she has to move off of him as he gets up, discarding his clothes on the ground without a care. He gets back on the bed from which she’d been watching him strip, lying next to her, completely naked. Their five years apart have somehow made him hotter, his upper body more toned, his biceps firmer. She counts a total of six or seven new scars, one of them still pink-ish and swollen. She reaches out, her finger following the gash running from his navel to his lower abdomen. He gasps when she doesn’t stop where the scar does — she continues on her way, surely, and takes him in her hand.

Vincenzo’s heavy breathing guides her movements, telling her when to stroke faster, when to slow down, when to twist. She stops right before he’s about to come, and the frustration in his eyes turns her on more than anything her last fling ever did.

“Don’t stop.” He asks, going in for a kiss.

Cha-young puts her hand on his mouth, “Tonight, I’m in charge, Joo-hyung-ah.”

His eyes light up and he smiles, “Yes, ma’am.”

Slipping out of her dress in no time, she climbs on top of him, taking his hands in hers and putting them above his head. There’s something thrilling about having him at her mercy, vulnerable under her. He’s hard against her thigh, and although he’s not talking, she hears his silent plea. Slowly, she sits on his cock, savouring the pleasant stretch; he feels so good, and her so full, at last.

“Oddio!” On his lips, God’s name becomes a curse.

She keeps a slow pace, it takes time to revisit a long-lost lover after all. She rolls her hips, turns, bounces. Once she’s figured out how to pleasure herself, she moves faster. Closing her eyes, she frees his left hand and puts it on her breast. Vincenzo is nothing if not an eager disciple trying to prove his worth, and so he caresses her enthusiastically, his thumb brushing against her hardened nipple. What a good boy, she thinks, before pressing her body against his, engulfing him in a kiss.

His hand finds her hair, cascading down her naked back. She kisses him everywhere — his lips, his cheeks, his neck. She needs to have him whole, to consume all of him, so she can keep him in her forever. She feels a familiar warm building up inside of her, but she’s not ready for it to be over yet. She stops bouncing on him abruptly and his eyes fly open, irked. She intertwines their fingers, and whispers, “Look at me.” Once again, he obeys her command, his eyes roaming her face, her breasts, her thighs. They go up and down, taking her in, devouring her. She feels hot under his gaze, and she picks up the pace. He parts his mouth, whimpering faintly. He thrusts back into her hard, and they find the right rhythm. Soon enough, Cha-young is there, right there, a white-hot flash of pleasure overwhelming all her senses.

“Cazzo!” He must have come too then. Fuck, indeed.

Cha-young is still on top of him, Vincenzo still inside of her. She rests her head against his chest, their flushed skin sticky with sweat. He’s playing with her hair absentmindedly, still trying to catch his breath. She looks up at him, and they kiss again, but this time it’s different. She feels it all, his longing, how much he’s missed her, how scared he is that this is all a dream. In this moment, she can’t tell where she ends and where he starts. She’s never been closer to him, never understood him as much as she does now.

Were the tears on her lips hers or his? The time for questions will come later, right now there’s only them, together — an ever-lasting moment they stole from the Fates.

[artificialqueens]

Until We Go Down, 1/? (Katlaska) - Calypso

a/n: turns out you can kill katlaska.

loosely based on throne of glass, i have ideas floating around to make this into a multi-chapter fic, send in your thoughts etc etc

tw: violence, blood

Katya stared into the cracked mirror above her sink, cursing once again that her latest target had been able to get enough of a jump on her to mar her skin. She lifted a lock of her platinum hair, stained now with blood, mud, and the gods knew what else in order to get a better look at the cut that ran from her temple down to her cheek, drops of blood oozing down to her chin.

It could have certainly been worse, but she also knew better.

Knew better than to let herself get distracted like that. All it had taken was a glimpse of blonde hair and porcelain skin out of the corner of her eye, and she’d let her guard slip for just a second. But a second in this game could mean the difference between life and death.

Her life and her death. And she didn’t plan to meet her maker quite yet. Though, at the age of just twenty, she’d already made quite the name for herself, she still had so much to discover. Top of her list, work out who the mysterious blonde was.

Katya had caught just a split second look at her, but she looked tantalisingly familiar. But try as she might, the girl just couldn’t place her. Katya sighed. She had more important things to be doing than driving herself silly trying to work out the identity of the tall blonde. Most likely she was the daughter of one of the nobles Katya’s master was acquainted with, and she’d run into her at one of the insufferable balls her master loved to drag her to.

Speaking of-

“Yekaterina?” a cool voice called from outside her door, and Katya shivered. Drawing her black silk robe around her, Katya strode over to the door and opened it, raising an eyebrow at the tall, slender man stood in the doorway.

“I thought I’d made myself very clear,” he said, eyeing the cut on Katya’s face. “Five minutes to wash up and then report to my office.”

Katya resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“What’s five minutes between friends?” she asked, stepping back into her room and moving away from the man who dubbed himself Lord of the Assassins. Pft. He was good - he had been good. But Katya was better, and she was younger. The Lord was only getting older, and she knew it frustrated him to no end.

One day, sooner than he would like, he would be more hindrance than help to the guild.

Her face split into a cruel smile as she grabbed the silver backed hairbrush from the nearby chest of drawers, and she dragged the bristles through her hair. She never normally got herself into this much of a mess, but tonight - tonight had been different. Internally cursing herself once more, Katya dragged her attention back to the man who was still standing in the doorway.

“Like it or not, you still answer to me. Your debts are not yet paid,” was all he said, before, with a swish of his black velvet cloak, he was gone.

Katya placed her hairbrush down slowly, his words sinking in. He was right. She did still owe him money, more money than she’d like to think about. It wasn’t her fault she was in so much debt. The choice to train at the guild, at her own expense, hadn’t really been a choice. It was either learn to kill, or learn to fall into bed and shut up.

She didn’t regret her choice, didn’t regret the reputation it had brought her. But sometimes she longed for ordinary things. Sometimes she longed to wander the streets without seeing. She didn’t always want to know the best place to hide, the easiest way across the rooftops to a noble’s house, didn’t want to eye up every stranger as though they were an enemy. Sometimes she wanted to attend the balls on the arm of a beautiful woman, there to enjoy herself and nothing else.

But that was a different life. That life belonged to someone else.

She was Yekaterina Zamolodchikova, and she was the greatest assassin the kingdom had ever seen.

**********************************

“Just another minute,” Katya groaned, rolling over in bed and tugging the covers over her face.

She’d stayed up later than she’d meant to the night before, detangling her hair and caring for the cut on her face so it didn’t scar. If she was honest, her master’s words had shook her up more than she’d care to admit to, the mountain of debt looming over her. Though she was free to come and go as she pleased, and had the pick of whichever jobs she wanted, she’d never really be free until the last cent had been paid off.

With a long sigh, Katya shoved the blankets away from her and swung her feet down onto the wooden floor, wincing at the sudden cold. The woman in front of her tsked.

“Have we forgotten how to shower?” she asked, eyeing the dirt still streaked across Katya’s hair and face.

“I sponged,” Katya replied, staring up into the face of the woman who was as close to a mother as Katya got these days. Her own mother was a distant memory, a faint hint of lilac perfume, and the merest hint of a song. The woman in front of her was solidly real, grey streaking her brown hair as she stared down at her ward.

“Sponged?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

Katya merely nodded, not ready to explain any further as she rose from her bed and padded across to the iron tub in the corner. It was already filled to the brim with steaming hot water, and Katya stripped her night-clothes off before stepping into the tub, sighing as the hot water soothed her aching muscles.

Alyssa bustled over, soap in one hand and piece of cloth in the other.

“Hold still,” she instructed, before lathering the soap into Katya’s long hair and scrubbing. It wasn’t often she helped Katya bathe these days, but sometimes she knew when the assassin needed a little extra care, like she had when she was just six years old and had stood shivering in the doorway to the guild.

Katya leaned back into the attention. Alyssa had seen her in every imaginable state, and was the only person Katya felt secure enough around to let her guard down. They stayed in a companionable silence for several minutes, before Alyssa gave her hair one final rinse and nodded.

“There, much better,” she said softly, stepping back from the iron bath and taking a towel down from the shelf to pass to Katya, who stood, water draining from her body, and wrapped the length of material around herself.

Katya stepped out of the tub and headed to her dressing area, disappearing around a wooden screen.

“The master wants to see you in his office in ten minutes,” Alyssa called after her as she conducted a quick tidy of the room, placing Katya’s many unusual knick-knacks back into their place.

Katya sighed, pulling on a pair of trousers made from a tight, flexible fabric, before slipping into her white undershirt and emerald green tunic, the gold detailing that would give her away as a member of the guild only to one in the know decorating the edges.

“Must I?” she whined, already knowing her attempt was futile. Though the last job had taken her the better part of a week, allowing her to get hardly a wink of rest as she’d tracked her target to rinse him for all the information he could give her before dispatching him, the Lord of the Assassins wasn’t one to let a little tiredness get in his way.

Instead of complaining further, she merely pulled on her supple leather boots and tightened the laces, before slipping her favourite black cloak around her shoulders. She eyed up the selection of weaponry that adorned one wall of her room - the only giveaway that this boudoir didn’t belong to an ordinary girl - and carefully selected a pair of daggers that she concealed beneath the folds of her cloak in sheaths attached to her thighs.

You could never be too careful, even inside the guild, and although Katya was more than capable of dispatching a gang of men with nothing but her bare hands, the familiar feeling of her favourite jewel encrusted daggers was a comfort to her.

“I think you’ll like this job,” was all Alyssa said as she watched her ward get ready, a slight hint of sadness in her eye as she watched Katya get ready.

Without saying anything more, Katya gave Alyssa a swift pat on the shoulder and swept out of the room, her cloak billowing behind her in a way Katya was particularly fond of. She’d had this cloak specially commissioned for her, and had specified the exact amount of material she wanted in order to create the most dramatic effect she could.

The expense had paid off, and the swathes of material draped around her body only added to her general aura of intimidation.

Not two minutes later Katya had reached the masters office. With a curt nod to the two guards at the entrance, Katya pushed open the heavy wooden door and strode inside, flinging herself onto the chair opposite the Lord and eyeing him cautiously.

“Manners would cost you nothing,” he said, eyes raking over Katya’s attire, making her feel like an especially choice cut of meat. “At least you’ve dressed appropriately.” Katya stayed silent. Her master sighed.

“I have a job to offer you,” he said, voice deadly quiet. “It’s a big one. Possibly your biggest yet.”

Katya couldn’t help herself. Her interest piqued, she raised one eyebrow. “Go on.”

“It seems like someone has grown tired of the King strutting around like the abject poverty of his people does not bother him,” the master said, Katya growing more confused by the minute. “You are to dispatch his daughter and, in the ensuing chaos, our client has allegedly gathered an army to storm the castle with. Viva la revolution.”

The master laughed, a cold laugh that would have sent a chill down Katya’s spine had she not been stuck on his first words. Kill the princess? But Alaska was barely twenty-two, barely a threat to anyone. Sure, her father had done nothing but raise the taxes, plunge his people into the kind of poverty that was inescapable, and sent most of the crops grown around the city to other kingdoms to trade, but surely there had to be a better way of dealing with the kingdom’s issues than killing a young girl?

But a job was a job.

“The pay?” she asked, her own gaze cold and calculating.

“Handsome,” he replied, his eyes filled with a challenge Katya did not yet understand. “Enough for your remaining debts, and then some.”

Katya’s breath caught in her throat. Enough to - she’d be free. She’d finally be free. It didn’t matter what state the crown princess’ death left the city in, by the time anyone even found out she’d be halfway to her home kingdom, a place she hadn’t seen in nearly fourteen years.

“I’ll do it,” Katya said, pushing down the guilt she felt.

She’d often wondered what price she’d put on her own freedom, if it came down to that. She hadn’t expected the death of a girl two years her senior to be that price, but it would be worth it. To never see the Lord of the Assassins again, to never have to answer to his word - it would be worth it. It would never not be worth it.

Katya could slip away into the night and never kill another if she didn’t want to. Of course, if she did want to that was another question. She was the best assassin in the guild, after all.

“I knew I could count on you,” her master said, before diving into the particulars of the deal.

Katya was to trail the princess for a week, learning how heavily guarded she was, tracking her movements around the castle and the city, and working out the best way to infiltrate the court, before ending the princess’ life on the fifth day with as little fanfare as possible. She was to leave a note with the body, and wait for someone to find her. By the time anyone did, Katya would have her fee, have paid her debts, and be long gone.

What happened after her job was done was none of her business. She had no doubt that the king’s army was good enough to deal with whatever ragtag band of soldiers the client had pulled together, but that was up to them. All Katya had to do was kill Alaska, and her job was done. It was easy enough, though she knew the princess would be guarded night and day.

But it was nothing she hadn’t done before.

After a few minutes more discussing the job, Katya made her excuses and left, head filled with all the things she could do when she was free.

But that was enough of that. Before her freedom, there was a job at hand. Glancing out of the window, Katya decided to make the most of the gloomy, overcast day to begin trailing the princess. No time like the present to discover what her daily movements were.

Stopping by her room only to grab more weaponry that she concealed in a variety of ways around her body, Katya strapped her favourite sword to her back, covering it with her cloak, before slipping out of the guild.

*****************************************

Three days. For three miserable days Katya had been trailing the crown princess, learning all she could about her daily movements.

By the gods she was boring. Barely leaving the safety of the castle, Alaska spent all of her time flirting and giggling. Katya had nearly fallen asleep out of the lack of anything better to do, nearly giving her position away in the shadows countless times.

Sloppy.

She couldn’t afford to be sloppy, not when she was this close to achieving her freedom. But her heart wasn’t in this job. She’d never had to kill a girl so close to her own age before, not that that was the issue. Alaska was just so - well, so normal. Nothing like her tyrant of a father.

At least she’d discovered the identity of the mysterious blonde who had nearly cost her her last job. Katya touched a finger to the healing cut on her face, shaking her head. She wondered why Alaska had been out in that particular part of town at that hour.

Nothing else she’d done in the last three days had been nearly as interesting as that.

Sighing, Katya stretched out her long, muscular legs and eased herself out of the dark doorway she’d discovered gave her a perfect view of the window in front of which Alaska was so fond of sitting. Another day where she’d learnt absolutely nothing.

At least the princess would be easy to kill, though she had no additional information for the client. The king was so heavily guarded that Katya hadn’t bothered even trying to get close. At least she knew how she was going to get close enough to the princess to fulfill the terms of her contract. There was to be a Midsummer Ball held at the end of the week.

It would be easy enough to pose as a member of the aristocracy. She’d done it before, though never for an event quite so big. And if she was entirely honest with herself, she was looking forward to the opportunity to dress up. Not long ago she’d had a new dress commissioned and hadn’t yet had an opportunity to wear it.

Grinning despite herself, Katya set off for the guild, long legs striding confidently down the dank streets of the city. She felt most alive out here. These were her streets, streets where she’d loved and lost and fought to stay alive, and she knew the city better than most.

“Katya,” her master greeted coolly as Katya stepped across the threshold of the opulent town house, one hand resting on his pearl-topped cane and a questioning look in his eye.

Katya shook her head and spread her hands. “Same as yesterday,” she said, offering him no further explanation. He frowned.

“You have two days left before the ball,” he said shortly, Katya nodding.

“I know,” she replied. “I can finish the job, but I have nothing else for you.”

“You are aware of what is at stake here?” was all he said in reply, before turning to leave. “You’re better than this.”

Katya stuck her tongue out at his retreating back, before sighing and turning on her heel. He was right. She was better than this. She had a reputation to uphold.

***************************************************

The day of the ball dawned sooner than Katya would have liked. She’d managed to gather a little more information, but not nearly as much as she would’ve liked.

She’d learned enough to know that there was a rebel movement growing right under the King’s nose, that someone in the palace was rallying the people to support each other where they could and gather strength to march against the king.

Yet, despite her best efforts, she’d no idea who that person was. It would have been useful to be able to identify them for her client. An insider would have helped them in the next stage of their plan. But it wasn’t to be, and as Katya dreamt of far off lands where no-one knew her name, she knew she didn’t care much.

Alyssa bustled around her room, picking out the jewellery Katya would be wearing that evening, the blonde girl occasionally interjecting with her opinion. She really needed to start getting ready. It wouldn’t be long now before she had to leave.

Filled with a sudden excitement, Katya swept up her hair with an exquisite golden comb the master had gifted her for her last birthday, and let her blonde curls tumble down one shoulder. Her dress was stunning - it fit her like a glove, cutting low at the back and plunging even further at the front. It was truly a miracle that it even stayed on, the crystals that adorned the neckline glinting in the candlelight. Katya knew she looked incredible. No-one would ever suspect that she was the assassin they all spent so much time talking about.

Alyssa gave a satisfied nod, fixing the clasp of her necklace and stepping back.

“Beautiful,” was all she said, eyes glinting with a strange sadness. Katya smiled.

“Thank you,” she said, rising from her perch to get a better look. “I’ll see you when I return,” Katya continued, turning to look Alyssa in the eye. “It will be okay.”

Alyssa said nothing further, but slipped out of the room, leaving Katya standing alone.

But there was no time to dwell on her servants’ behaviour. She had a ball to get to.

The master had let her borrow his favourite carriage for the journey, and Katya gazed out of the window as the coachman swept through the gates of the castle and up the winding driveway lined with trees, each one twinkling with tiny lights. It was magical. Katya almost forgot what she was there to do, but the feel of her beloved dagger against her thigh every time she shifted her weight kept the job at the forefront of her mind.

The ball was more guarded than she thought it would be. They’d clearly swelled the ranks of the Kings Guard with lowly soldiers from his army, just for the evening. They’d be no match for Katya and her extensive training, but it was a slight annoyance.

But then, Alaska was only one girl.

One stunning girl.

As Katya stepped from the carriage she caught a glimpse of the crown princess standing at the top of the stairs, greeting her guests, and had to take a moment to compose herself. Her dress was golden, and shimmered in the thousand tiny lights that wrapped around the columns at the entrance to the palace. Her arms were bare, with what looked like hundreds of thin golden bracelets clanking up and down them, miniature diamonds twinkling. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and her eyes were lined with smoky black kohl.

Katya had never seen anyone so beautiful before.

Her resolve wavered. The girl had done nothing. She was innocent, a beautiful innocent, and in a few short hours her short life would be snuffed out. And it would be Katya’s fault.

For the first time since her first kill, Katya felt a dawning horror that she couldn’t complete the job. How could she bring herself to kill one who had done no wrong? Sure, Katya had more than definitely killed innocent people before. Hell, she knew how to torture a man in such a specific way that it would be hours before he died, knew where to inflict the most pain without causing much damage.

But this was different.

Katya didn’t want to murder her - she wanted to kiss her.

But her freedom was so close. And if she didn’t complete this job, it would be her own life on the line. Her master had made it very clear what the penalty for insubordination was, and until her debts were paid she had to answer to him.

Steeling her nerves, Katya swept up the stairs, batting her eyelashes coyly at the princess before dropping into a deep curtsey.

Alaska’s eyes flashed with sudden interest, the bored look leaving her face.

“I don’t believe we’ve met before,” she breathed, taking Katya’s outstretched hand. Katya smiled.

“I am Catalina,” she said, using her usual alias. Alaska grinned.

“Alaska,” she said in reply, Katya laughing softly.

“I know.”

A delicate rosy flush bloomed on Alaska’s cheeks. “I will…see you in there?” she ventured, Katya nodding in response.

Her heart sank. Alaska would see her there. It would be the last thing she ever did.

“I’ll save you a dance,” Katya said, before stepping forward into the palace. She meant what she said. One dance with a beautiful girl wasn’t going to ruin her job, and it would be such a shame to waste such a nice evening.

Katya grabbed a glass of pink sparkling wine from the tray of a passing servant, and took a deep gulp. She tended to steer clear of drinking while on the job, but she’d need all the help she could get tonight. Killing was as easy to her as breathing, but she had a feeling this would be her hardest kill yet.

Lost in her thoughts, Katya didn’t see Alaska enter the ballroom until a cloud of gold and white entered her line of vision.

“I believe you promised me a dance?” came the question, Alaska’s voice throaty, beautiful in a way Katya couldn’t explain.

She gulped, and held out an arm.

“As you wish.”

**********************************************************

Katya didn’t know how long it had been since they’d started dancing. Lost in the music she knew so well, song after song had played and Katya had swept her partner through the various dances, oblivious to the looks they were getting.

It was unusual for Princess Alaska to be monopolised this much, but neither girl cared. Katya was caught up in the moment, not wanting to move to the next step of the evening. Alaska had never been in the arms of such a beautiful woman before, and she wasn’t about to leave to dance with some stuffy dignitary.

Eventually the girls broke apart, faces flushed and sweat decorating their brows.

“Thirsty?” Katya asked, snagging yet another flute of wine and passing it to Alaska, who took the cool liquid gratefully.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she laughed, knocking back the sparkling wine like a seasoned pro. Katya laughed.

“It is getting a little hot in here,” she admitted, fanning herself as best she could with her hand. Alaska glanced around, noting the guards stood at every entrance.

“Want to get out of here?” Alaska asked, slipping her fingers through Katya’s.

Katya felt her heart jolt. “S-sure,” she replied, not entirely sure what to expect.

Her disbelief only grew as Alaska led her from the ballroom and up the wide sweeping stairs. She wanted to shout at the princess to stop being so stupid, as the royal nodded at each guard they passed.

Eventually they stopped outside a nondescript door and Alaska pushed it open, revealing a messy bedchamber.

“This - this is your room?” Katya asked, eyes raking across the clothes on the floor and jewels that decorated the vanity. A whole week spent trailing the girl, and she’d just been invited into her room? Did Alaska have no sense of self-preservation? And more to the point - where was the personal bodyguard she’d been followed by day after day?

“It is,” she confirmed. Katya gaped at her, and Alaska mistook her terror for concern. “Don’t worry, the guards won’t come in here. I - this is my private sanctuary. But they are at the door!” she laughed, leading Katya further into the room.

Katya wanted to laugh, but she was afraid if she did she’d never stop. Little did Alaska know that the actual danger was inside the room, ready to strike.

Katya had to get it over and done with.

Before Alaska could take a step further, Katya had pulled the dagger from where it was stashed in a thigh holder, and had the princess pinned against her, blade to her perfect porcelain throat.

“I wouldn’t even think about screaming,” Katya hissed in her ear, pressing the blade hard enough against Alaska’s throat that a bead of blood welled up around the shining silver.

Alaska’s eyes were wide, fright contorting her perfect features.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice trembling as she held as still as possible. Katya had to force herself to continue, wanting nothing more than to let the princess go and flee as fast as she could. But fleeing wasn’t freedom.

“You are going to die. You have to die.”

Alaska didn’t say anything, but Katya caught her weight as the princess sagged. Katya imagined that she’d never been in a situation like this before, never had to fear for her life or wonder if she was going to make it through the next minute. A hot flush of hatred suddenly flared in her chest, surprising her.

Katya knew what it was like in her position, knew what it was like to think you were going to die.

But unfortunately for the crown princess, she was going to die. Katya just didn’t know why she hadn’t yet made the killing blow.

Katya unsheathed a second dagger and held it against Alaska’s back, the blade perfectly angled to slip into her body and straight into her heart. Alaska gasped, and Katya tightened her grip once more.

“I’m sorry,” Katya whispered, still unsure as to what she was waiting for. “But I have to do this.”

“Your name isn’t Catalina, is it?” Alaska asked, a sudden realisation dawning.

“No,” Katya said, figuring she owed the princess this much. “My name is Yekaterina Zamolodchikova, and I have been sent to kill you.”

Tears filled Alaska’s eyes and caught on the edges of her lashes. “I thought you’d be older,” was all she said, the strength in her voice surprising Katya.

“Everyone does,” Katya said. “At least, they did. Anyone who knows who I am is dead now.”

“So why am I still alive?”

It was a good question. Katya still had no idea. Gods help her, she had absolutely no idea.

“I have to do this,” she repeated. “I am still indentured to my master. Your death is my freedom.”

Katya had no idea why she was offering an explanation to Alaska. She’d never explained herself to a victim before. They were generally dead long before that stage.

“If it’s money you’re after I can get you money,” Alaska pleaded, a desperate note catching in her voice. “Please - please. Don’t kill me. You have no idea what you’d be doing if you did. The people-”

“The people are dying because of your father,” Katya responded, catching the edge of hatred this thought gave her and holding onto it as tight as she could. Hatred would help.

Alaska shook her head. “I’m trying,” she whispered. “I am trying so hard.”

The growing rebel alliance. It was headed by this - by this bimbo of a girl? Katya gasped, her hand slipping. It was enough for Alaska to throw her off and run for the other side of the room, where she paused, looking back at the assassin.

“Don’t do this,” she pleaded, slowly taking another step backwards. Katya stepped forwards, daggers still clutched in her hands. “If you do this - you are doing unimaginable damage to this kingdom.”

Katya shook her head.

“You can’t - but - I don’t understand,” she whispered, caught completely off guard.

“My father - I have never agreed with him. But I can’t go against him, not publicly. Not yet. So I - I smuggle food and money and help the underground alliances. If I am dead, they are ruined.”

“And if I don’t kill you, so am I,” Katya said sadly, the realisation that she truly had no other choice dawning on her. It was either her, or the princess, and she wasn’t in the business of self-sacrifice. “I - I am so sorry.”

And with that, Katya seized every ounce of strength she’d ever had to use and leapt forward, as swift as a snake and twice as deadly, the dagger in her hand heading straight for Alaska’s heart.

Alaska’s eyes opened wide, and she let out a single cry.

[winryofresembool]

Caleo fic: It’s all about the name

Chapter 5

Summary: Calypso is a barista at a coffee shop and one day she gets a customer who refuses to give her his real name. At first he seems really annoying but eventually Calypso finds out not all is what it looks like on the surface. (Coffee shop AU!)

a/n: OK, I lied about this being the final chapter (no one is surprised). I decided it'd be better to split the final part into two because it was getting pretty long and I didn't want to rush it, so here we go. At least we'll get some answers in this chapter :'D The 'epilogue' will be posted soon, hopefully tomorrow already or on Tuesday the latest so stay tuned for that!

Hope you guys enjoy, and please let me know what you think!!

Words: 2,7k+

Genre: fluff, humor

Warnings: none

previous chapters / AO3

...

For a couple of months the Bad Boy Supreme showed up at the coffee shop pretty much every day. Sometimes he stayed a bit longer - those days weren’t that busy at the garage so Jo was fine with him staying – and sometimes he just dropped by to say a quick hi to Calypso, but he still always came. That’s why, when he suddenly didn’t appear anymore, Calypso got really worried. Had something happened to him? Had she done something wrong? Those questions and more went through her head.

On the first day that he was away, Calypso kept glancing at the clock every couple of minutes, and back to the door, but she didn’t see the familiar curly hair anywhere. When a full hour had gone since the guy’s regular break time, Calypso was visibly restless and pacing back and forth behind the counter. It got to a point where Reyna had to pull her to the backroom to talk to her.

“Are you really that wound up over that guy? Wow, Calypso, I knew you liked him but… this is getting kind of out of hands. I’m sure there’s some perfectly understandable reason why he isn’t coming today; he is probably just too busy or has caught a cold or something else completely normal.”

“But… what if it’s something I did?” Calypso asked with frustration, pulling the end of her braid.

“You haven’t done anything wrong; I saw him smile as wide as you can possibly imagine when he left yesterday. So, please calm down,” Reyna tried to reassure her.

Calypso moped at her. “Easier said than done. But about that earlier: who has said anything about me liking him? I’m just worrying about him… like you’d worry about a friend?”

“Goodness, Cal, you should see your face every time he appears. I can see you trying to keep a poker face but your eyes say ‘bésame ahora’,” Reyna teased.

Calypso did have a pretty good idea of what that sentence meant even though she didn’t know a lot of Spanish (although she was more motivated to learn now that she knew the Bad Boy Supreme was a Spanish speaker as well). She felt her face heat at Reyna’s implications but still wasn’t ready to admit that her coworker may have been right.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying now,” she claimed but Reyna didn’t buy it.

“You definitely do,” she stated. “You’re not that amazing an actress, you know. Your voice got squeaky and I could compare the color of your face to tomatoes.”

“Whatever.” Calypso rolled her eyes. “Can we please go back to work now? I don’t want to keep the people waiting.”

“You know just as well as me that it’s quiet at this time of the day,” Reyna reminded her. “But sure, we can go back as long as you’ll stop pacing around like crazy.”

“I will,” Calypso promised. “I don’t owe anything to that guy anymore and he doesn’t owe anything to me either so he doesn’t have to come here if he doesn’t want to.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Reyna.

“He still hasn’t told you his name?” Reyna asked with surprise, having noticed Calypso calling him ‘that guy’. “That’s so weird. I thought he’s just into you as you’re into him.”

“Well, we’re just playing this game…” Calypso started hesitantly. “Ugh, forget about it. I could easily ask his coworkers or something but I don’t want to pry. He’ll slip it eventually.”

“Okay, I’ll just call him Bad Boy Supreme then,” Reyna shrugged before going back to her work.

…

Days passed. The first few days Calypso tried to calm herself down by telling herself that her mystery guy really was just busy and he’d surely come back soon enough. But once a couple of weeks had gone since his last appearance, she became restless again. This time Reyna and the others decided that it was better to just let her be that way until it passed because there really wasn’t much they could say to comfort her. As a result, Calypso seemed more effective in her work but mistakes also happened more often and she had to apologize to her customers at least twice as often as she had previously. The manager luckily brushed it off as a ‘learning process’.

Eventually that phase ended, though. After a few months had gone by, Calypso started to get convinced that the Bad Boy Supreme was not coming back. She was now calm again but at the break time she still kept glancing at the door sadly, hoping to see the familiar figure. She hadn’t realized how much she really had been looking forward to his visits until they abruptly ended and she wished she had gotten a chance to tell him that before he disappeared. But maybe it was better this way; maybe she had been the more interested one, just like in all of her previous relationships.

On one busy afternoon, Calypso wasn’t thinking about the mystery guy a lot anymore. Sure, she had briefly noted that it was the usual break time again, but she was no longer expecting to see him and was focused on serving the customers that were currently present. That’s why, when the bells above the door rang again and in came a new customer, she didn’t pay a lot of attention to him at first. She just nodded and said a quick hi before finally raising her gaze from her work to see who had arrived. Her mouth involuntarily opened into the shape of ‘O’ when she finally registered who it was. There was no mistaking that curly hair and the mischievous, yet warm, almost chocolate colored eyes.

“Oh my gods, it’s you!” She finally managed to squeak after gulping a couple of times so she could get some voice out of her mouth. Her face melted into the widest smile she was capable of and she had to contain herself so she wouldn’t jump over the desk to hug him. “I didn’t… I wasn’t expecting…” She cleared her throat and said with a lower, fake angry voice: “I mean, you’re really late, mister.”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, but still seemingly happy to see her. “Sorry ‘bout that, Sunshine, a lot of weird things happened recently and I just couldn’t come here even though I wanted to.”

“Well, you’re going to have to explain to me what exactly happened,” Calypso demanded. She couldn’t keep her face angry for long, though. “But before that, what do you want to drink? A double espresso?”

“You know well it was a one time occasion and I didn’t even get that drink!” The guy reminded her. “I’d like your freshly made orange soda today, though. It reminds me of Sunshine.”

“Okay, coming up,” Calypso nodded, wondering if the air conditioning didn’t work that day because she was suddenly feeling rather warm.

“Not gonna ask my name today, are you?” the guy asked with amusement while watching her do her work.

“No. I don’t need to,” Calypso said mysteriously without raising her eyes from the cup.

“Oh?” he asked curiously but she didn’t elaborate so he moved to the other counter to wait.

Calypso took her time with the soda and the guy seemed to wonder if she did that on purpose, until finally she stepped forward and gave him the plastic cup with his ‘name’ on it.

“Alright, Bad Boy Supreme, here you go!”

The guy’s thoughtful frown melted into a huge smile immediately. “Did… I just hear right??” he asked and checked the cup. “Did you just say the magic word?”

“I did, but don’t you dare to make a big number out of it!” she warned, but the twinkle in her eye was enough to tell that she wasn’t being serious.

“No worries, no worries, I won’t,” the Bad Boy Supreme reassured her, raising his free hand up. “But what made you change your mind? I thought you refused to say it?”

“I don��t want to tell,” Calypso said reluctantly.

“C’mon, just do it.”

Calypso didn’t answer for a while, pretending to be more interested in swiping the table. When the guy didn’t show any signs of giving up, though, she finally spoke. “The truth is that I promised to myself that if you’d show up again, I would finally give in. Well, I did it. You won. Go ahead and laugh.”

“No, I won’t. That’s kinda sweet of you.” There was a short pause. “Well, I promised to tell you my real name, so here it comes: I’m Leo. Leo Valdez,” the Bad Boy Supreme said sheepishly and looked a bit embarrassed for some reason.

“Leo,” Calypso tasted the name on her tongue. “I think I like it. It does suit you better than Bad Boy Supreme.”

Leo took a swig from his cup to get something to do with his hands. “Eh heh. Listen. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you earlier. It was pretty stupid of me… I didn’t intend to keep that game going that long because I actually wanted you to learn to know me better. And I wanted to learn to know you better.”

Surprising even herself, Calypso said: “Don’t worry about it. If I really would have tried, I’m sure I would have found out somehow, for example going to your boss and asking her. I… had kind of fun trying to guess it. I wasn’t too far off with that Leon, right?”

“That’s true,” Leo grinned. “I was kind of trying to bluff when I started talking about Ed instead so you wouldn’t notice my reaction to that name.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that!” Calypso exclaimed. “I should have gotten the hint.”

“Well, you know now and that’s what matters, right?” Leo asked.

“Yeah. Um, and about that thing you said earlier…” Calypso blamed the air conditioner for feeling even warmer than a moment before. “I’d like to learn to know you better as well. Although thinking about it, you’ve probably told me more than you even realize already. About Emmie, Jo, Georgina, your friends, family, Festus… But hey, you promised to tell me why you were gone so long, so come on, let’s go sit there so you can fill me in.”

Calypso’s workmates knew better than to say no to her when she suggested having a break so she could talk with Leo, and they went to sit at an empty table opposite to each other.

“So, what happened?” Calypso asked once they were seated.

“Well… remember how we one time talked about our future dreams?” Leo asked, to which Calypso nodded. “After that talk I started doing some maths in my head - yeah, laugh ahead, but I can actually count surprisingly well - and discussed the topic also with Jo and Emmie and they said they’d be more than happy to help me give me a chance to continue studying. Practically, it means they’re willing to give me more flexible work hours and they promised that I can continue staying at their house until I want to or have enough money to move to a place of my own. We have some mechanics come and go and many of them stay there for long periods of time so it’s no problem for them. Anyway, after that I learned that the next entrance exam for the mechanical engineering program would be held in about a month so I needed to start studying right away. That’s a big reason why I didn’t have time to come here, but it was worth it, because guess what…” He pulled a big envelope from his bag. “I just got this today. And it says…” he did some drum rolls on the table with his fingers. “I got in!”

“That’s amazing!” Calypso exclaimed and couldn’t hold herself still anymore, instead getting up from her chair to hug him. “I’m very happy for you!”

“Of course it means I’ll have less time to come here in the future but we’ll make it work, right?” Leo said a bit uncertainly once they separated, blushing hard.

“What do you mean with ‘we’?” Calypso asked, not wanting to give herself false hope.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “Um… I… that… of course I still wanna keep seeing you! Why do you think I came to this coffee shop every day for several months even though I don’t even drink coffee?” “You… came because of me? I mean, I thought…”

“For such a smart seeming girl you really are dense,” Leo noted. “Of course I came because I liked you. You made quite the first impression already on the day we met.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything, then?” Calypso wanted to know.

“Because at first I thought you were way out of my league and probably hated me and then you told me you had recently broken up with someone and… yeah. Multiple reasons. And then the college thing happened and my friend Jason got into an accident and… Sorry, I guess I didn’t mention that yet,” Leo finished when he noticed Calypso’s expression.

“Wait, what? Your friend got into an accident? Is he OK?” Calypso asked with concern.

“Yeah, he’s gonna be OK. He had luck on his side because that car accident could have ended a whole lot differently but he’s now recovering in the hospital. The doctors expect him to make a full recovery. But we were definitely quite worried about him for a while.”

“I’m sorry… But I’m happy he’s getting better.” Calypso said, resting her hand on Leo’s for a moment as a gesture of comfort.

“Yeah… It’s a relief…” Leo nodded absentmindedly.

“You sounded like you wanted to tell something else as well.” Calypso remarked after a while.

Leo seemed to snap out of his thoughts. “Well, you’re not wrong… Did I ever tell you that I’ve never met my real dad? Well, I have now. Turns out he’s working at the same college I applied for, I saw him on the day of my entrance exam. A huge technology nerd, it seems. No, I’m not planning to stay in touch with him in my free time – the dude abandoned me and my mother before even legally admitting he’s my father – but… I dunno. It is still kind of interesting to see what kind of person he is.”

“Wow, sounds like you’ve really had a lot going since we last met. But it is good to hear things are starting to work out… and who knows, maybe your father turns out to be a decent guy. Wouldn’t that be great?” Calypso asked.

“I guess…” he shrugged. “But right now I’m more interested in other things.”

“Such as…?” Calypso inquired.

“You really missed me that much that you were even ready to call me Bad Boy Supreme if I showed up again?” Leo teased.

“Oh gods, I was wondering when the jerk would appear again…” Calypso said with partially faked annoyance.

“You still like me, though,” Leo stated.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

A moment of silence.

“Leo Valdez, will you go out with me?” Calypso blurted before she could regret it.

“Yes… I mean… YES?!” He stared at her with wide eyes and she couldn’t help but giggle at his expression.

“Alright, glad to know where we stand.”

Leo was quiet for a while. “Holy shit, I can’t believe you just asked me out…” he looked at the distance with a dreamy expression on his face. “I was hoping but…”

“Well, you don’t have to hope anymore, silly. I really did it.” Calypso smiled at him encouragingly.

“I… I…” Leo was still too flustered to say much else.

“I guess that means ‘I’m looking forward to it’?” Calypso interpreted before glancing at the queue of customers by the counter. “Looks like I should go back to work but I can text you afterwards.”

“Alright…”

The couple exchanged their phone numbers, but before Calypso handed Leo’s phone back, she surprised him once more by giving him a kiss on the cheek. Once she was already long gone, Leo still remained on his seat, his fingers touching the spot where her lips had been.

[annabeth707]

@girl-ghostly I couldn't find a only Harry Potter fanfic so instead I'm posting this Percy Jackson-Harry Potter crossover. If I find and post anymore Harry Potter fanfics I'll make sure to tag you in them.

In this fanfic the seven plus Lou Ellen are sent by a prophecy to Hogwarts. Also in this universe pretty much all of the Harry Potter characters that died are alive and Harry, Ron, and Hermione have returned for their 7th year.

Chapter One

Annabeth's POV

    Percy and I were playing 2 v 2 volleyball against Rachel and Lou Ellen, when suddenly Rachel fell into her all too familiar trance.

    "Lou," Percy said. "Go get Chiron."

She nodded and ran off. Lou got back with Chiron, just as Rachel began to speak.

    "The seven half-bloods will once again unite, this time one more shall join their rank.

A world of magic they will explore, making friends or enemies will be frank.

An enemy risen from the grave, seeks to destory.

Teaming up is the only hope or else there will be no joy."

The green mist around Rachel disappeared and she started to fall, but Percy and I caught her.

    "This calls for a meeting," Chiron says.

    "Percy and I will go grab the other councilors and meet you in the rec room," I say.

     "Very well," Chiron replies. And after making sure Rachel is okay,  Percy and I start the rounds.

    About 20 minutes later, Percy and I enter the rec room. We take seats next to each other around the ping pong table. And as for it seems the first time the table isn't pure chaos, the only is the Stolls seeing how much Cheez Whiz they could put in Clovis' mouth before he wakes up.

    "So, what's the prophecy this time?" Clarisse asks.

    "Annabeth will you please recite it?" Chiron asks me.

    "Sure," I say standing up. "The seven half-bloods will once again unite, this time one more will join their rank. A world of magic they will explore, making friends or enemies will be rank. An enemy risen from the grave, seeks to destory. Teaming up is the only hope, or else there will be no joy." I recite then I sit back down.

    "Well, obviously the 7 are Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Frank, Hazel, Piper, and Jason." Miranda says.

    "Then who is the other going to be?" Piper and Jason ask at the same time.

    "I'll go," Lou Ellen says. Everyone turns to look at her. "What she asks? It mentions magic, and that's right up my alley."

    "Well," Chiron says. "I'll go make a few Iris Messages and those involved meet back here tomorrow morning." We nod.

    That night the nightmares came tonight's were some of the worst, because they included Percy dying. I awoke from the nightmares to Percy in my cabin, with his arms wrapped around me and comforting me with his words. We stayed cuddled up like that for the rest of the night. The next morning, I awoke to find Percy already awake and holding a scroll of paper.

    "What is that?" I ask him. He looks over at me.

    "No idea it was here when I woke up." I grab it from him and I open it to find it's written in ancient greek.

    "It's from Hecate," I say.

    "We better go meet up with the others, we can read it on the way." Percy says. I nod. Percy heads back to his cabin to change as, I change myself. I grab my bag which I had packed the night before, and I meet up with Percy as we make our way to the Big House.

    "Annabeth," Chiron says to me.

    "Yeah?" I respond.

    "Hecate said she sent a letter to you, will you read it aloud to us?" He asks.

    "Sure," I reply as I pull it out and I start to read.

Chapter 2

Percy's POV

    "Dear demigods, I've been informed that you are going on a quest that involves witches and wizards. You see long ago I gave magic to a few mortals, those were the first wizards and witches, since then their population has grown immensely, and they have wizarding schools all over the globe, for this specific quest you are heading to Hogwarts in Scotland. These witches and wizards have recently ended a war of their own. It was against an evil wizard who was known as Lord

Voldemort and his followers which were known as Deatheaters. At Hogwarts, the students are split into houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, the students are sorted into each house by their personality. Gryffindors are brave, Ravenclaws are smart, Slytherins are ambitious, and Hufflepuffs are basically everyone who don't fit into the other categories. At the school only the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, has been informed of your parentage. A muggle is a person without magic. There are also 3 types of wizards, pure bloods, half bloods, and muggle borns, if you are asked reply with half blood. Your cover story is that you are transfer students from America that are spending their final year at Hogwarts. I have granted each of you with magic that can be used through a wand. Once you get to England go to the Leaky Cauldron on Charing  Cross Road in London. Once, inside ask the bar tender for help to get into Diagon Alley, and he will help you. Once, you will need to go to Gringotts Bank which is run by goblins show attached note and they will take you to your vaults which have been supplied with wizarding money once that you all will need the supplies listed at the bottom of the paper. Good luck, Hecate."

    "Wow," I say.

    "How are we getting there, and what about Hazel and Frank?" Piper asks.

    "We have arranged magic transporting to Charing Cross and the others will meet you there." Chiron replies. "Now if you will all stand here." Chiron says motion to right in front of him. Leo kisses Calypso good bye as he moves to in front of Chiron and the rest of us join him. "Ready." Chiron says. And Lou Ellen, Leo, Piper, Jason, Annabeth, and I vanish.

Chapter 3

Leo's POV

    We appeared on a cement side walk outside of an old bookshop. I looked to my left to see that like Chiron has said Hazel and Frank were now with us.

    "Hey, Frank. Hi, Hazel." I say.

    "Good to see all of you again," Hazel says to the group.

    "We can talk later," Annabeth says. "Can we just focus on finding the Leaky Cauldron?"

    "It's over there," Percy says pointing a few shops down. We make our way there and we make our way in. The pub is dimly lit and full of people in robes and hats. We walk up to the bartender.

    "Can you help us get into Diagon Alley?" Piper asks him.

    "You must be the transfers from America, I was told about, follow me." He replies. He leads us out into a small courtyard and taps a brick with his wand, the bricks move around to reveal a door way.

    "There you go," He says.

    " Thanks," Jason says.

    " By the way my name is Tom," the bartender says.

    "Thanks, Tom," Annabeth says and we walk through the archway into Diagon Alley.

Chapter 4

Annabeth's POV

We walked down through Diagon Alley to a large white building at the end. As we entered Gringotts I couldn't help but notice all the vaulted ceilings, and doorways it was really cool and it made me really want to start sketching. We walked up to a goblin at the end of the hallway.

"Indenfication?" He asks. And I hand him the note Hecate gave me.

"Very well, follow me," the goblin says. He holds the note out to me and I take it back then he leads us down a hallway to a railway. He calls another cart and we climb into them. Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Frank in the one in the front and Percy, Leo, Lou Ellen, and I in the cart in the back. We arrive at vault number 213. We climb out of the carts. The door of the vault has 8 locks on it.

"According to the note each lock will open when we say something we have given up for someone we love.

"I'll go first," Percy says. "I gave up becoming a god for Annabeth."

"I gave up learning magic from CC for Percy." I say.

"I gave up being praetor, so that we could close the doors," Jason says looking around at all of us.

"I gave up my safety to save my dad," Piper replies.

"My life to stop her from awakening back in 1942," Hazel says.

"Being a good daughter, I gave it up so, I could train and so I could protect camp," Lou Ellen says. The locks on the door had clicked open as each person said their thing. The vault door opened to reveal gold, silver, and bronze coins.

"Protection, I gave it up to give protection to others," Frank says.

"The Argo 2," Leo says.

"The gold ones are galleons, the silver sickles and the bronze knuts, and remember there are 29 knuts in a sickle and 27 sickles in a galleon," the goblin told us. After, we each collected a reasonable amount of money we, climbed back in the carts and we left the bank.

Chapter 5

Percy's POV

We got out of the bank and we got our supplies. After, collecting the main things we head to Ollivanders for wands. "Hello," an old man says as we enter.

"You must be Ollivander," Lou Ellen says.

"That's me," He replies. "Getting new wands?" He asks us.

"Yep," Annabeth says quickly.

"Many others have too," he said. "Now who's first?"

"I guess I'll go," Hazel replies stepping forward.

"Let's see, try this one, hazel wood, 10 1/2 inches, unicorn tail, slightly flexible," he says handing it to her she waves it around and sparks come out of the tip. "It's a match," Ollivander replies.

Next is Annabeth whose wand is elm wood with a unicorn hair, 13 3/4 inches and unyielding flexibility. Then it's Jason, whose wand turns out to be vine with dragon heartstring, 12 inches and slightly springy. Lou Ellen's is blackthorn with a unicorn hair core, 11 1/2 inches and reasonably springy. Piper's wand is apple wood, with a phoenix feather core, 9 1/2 inches and inflexible. Frank's is larch wood with unicorn hair 14 inches, and slightly bendy. And Leo's is pine wood with phoenix feather core, and is springy. Finally, it was my turn. Ollivander gave me a few wands but after a while, one finally chose me. It's red oak with a phoenix feather, 12 1/4 inches and is slightly bendy.

After, getting our wands we head back to the Leaky Cauldron to book rooms for the night, before we leave for the train in the morning. We book 4 rooms, Jason and I in one, Piper and Annabeth in another, than Frank and Leo sharing one, and Hazel and Lou Ellen sharing the fourth. After, booking rooms it's only around 5.

"How about we explore a bit more," Piper suggests.

"Okay," Annabeth says. "But stay with a buddy, and we'll meet back here in an hour for dinner." And everyone agrees. Annabeth then grabs my hand and we back to the courtyard. I pull out my wand and I tap the same brick that the bartender had and the doorway to Diagon Alley opens. As, our group walks down the alley the group gets smaller first Leo, Piper, and Jason, head off to an ice cream parlor, and Frank, Hazel, and Lou leave to look at a second hand store. So, then it's just me and Annabeth.

"Okay, Wise Girl, how about that really bright, eye catching one over there," I say pointing.

"So, what shop should we go to first?" I ask her.

"I don't know, you chose," Annabeth replies.

"Okay," she says. We walk over to it. "Weasely Wizard Wheezes, Joke Shop," Annabeth reads aloud. "Really, a joke shop?"

"How about we just go check it out," I respond.

"Whatever you want, Seaweed Brain," she replies leaning over and pecking my lips. Then together we walk into the store.

Chapter 6

Annabeth's POV

    Weasley Wizard Wheezes is a store the Stolls would be proud of. The inside was crowded and very brightly colored.

So apparently I never even finished chapter six and I think it was because of my ADHD and that by the time I was writing chapter 6 my hyperfixation was gone.

[lesbian-roguefort]

all of supernova’s lore lol

! disclaimer i wrote this universe like. four years ago lol. !

also it’s split up into three time periods

part one

so basically to preface the concept of the entire au with some context (the details of which i remember the least out of anything): something something the fucking war happens. you know, the one with xerneas and yveltal? they find a compromise to stop tearing humanity apart and shit by choosing a prophet to fight every 200 years or so. whoever gets 5 or so wins in a row (i don’t remember the exact amount) wins the war. the two agree on this and go sleepy.

enter asteria, an aspiring pokémon professor in the region of miramare (a region that i made up out of my whole ass) (tl;dr it’s a small tourist-y island region in the waters between sinnoh and johto). she grows up in a small town on the western end of the island with her friend calypso. they both have big dreams of training pokémon — at least, until calypso’s dad dies in a pokemon-related accident and her mother forbids her from leaving their small town in fear that she’ll die the same way. asteria is saddened by this of course, but continues to pursue her goals

one night, asteria is instructed by her local Pokémon professor, the woman whom she had been taught under, to go out into the forest east of their town. she is told by the professor (prof. redwood, iirc) that that night would be the night that xerneas and yveltal would each choose their prophets, and that scientists were picking up traces of their energy in their own region. asteria understands and sets out for the forest that night. what she doesn’t know is that calypso ends up running away from her home that same night, determined to become a Pokémon trainer like her friends would soon become. do you see where this is going.

something something xerneas chooses asteria as their prophet, effectively trashing asteria’s dreams of becoming a professor, and yveltal chooses calypso as their prophet.

a few days after that night, when asteria has had enough time to process her thoughts, she realizes that oh shit she has to fucking do this because the weight of the world is literally in her hands. she goes back to her professor and chooses her starter Pokémon for the first time. she chooses cyndaquil :)

as she sets out on her journey for the first time, she discovers that, oh shit!, xerneas also blessed her with the ability to understand Pokémon. her cyndaquil ends up telling her that his name is Vincent. vincent is slow to warm up to asteria, but they eventually become friends :)

asteria’s next Pokémon that she catches is none other than sora, a kind little starly who is the actual greatest ever /lh. she and Vincent become friends quickly, forming a sort of brotp together as a powerful double team :) they enjoy training together and they (eventually) become really good friends.

the next Pokémon to join the party is none other than spark, a shinx (which you just saw how he dies. So,). he and sora become friends REMARKABLY fast, hitting it off immediately. spark, who is a little smartass and a bit of a competitive asshole, appeals to the competitive part of sora’s personality and they get along very well.

so sora and spark become really good friends and form a sort of... you know... rivalry :) asteria and Vincent are just standing by each other in the back like 🧍‍♀️🧍

the next Pokémon that asteria catches is a kirlia who was trapped under a fallen tree. she’s very shy at first, but eventually she introduces herself as Eleanor. she’s got A Backstory and tl;dr in her colony her mother raised her to be the leader, putting a lot of pressure on her to act proper and mature at all times. her father was much kinder to her and allowed her to have a lot more freedom, but he eventually died. Eleanor was like ‘ok fuck this’ and ran away.

tl;dr for that tl;dr eleanor had mommy issues

eleanor finds her place as both a healer and a fighter, and she gets along especially well with Vincent, who shares her calm nature.

then, of course, they encounter the very final member of their party: marti. and good lord.

marti is a young misdreavus who traps the team in their little spooky pocket dimension before asteria and the others find out what’s going on and confront them about it. it turns out that marti had lived alone in the forest for as long as they could remember, being a mischievous little bastard and playing around with everyone they saw. asteria enjoys their nature and invites them onto the team.

marti and eleanor become very good friends, with marti especially looking to learn healing magic from eleanor. everyone grows to love them tbh. literally no one could hate marti.

so to start off with how sora and spark’s dynamic develops, we’d have to start with when sora first evolves. spark becomes a little bit jealous with his competitive nature and all and starts training like hell to top her. when he eventually does evolve though, something switches in those two. they go from playful rivals to Rivals Rivals and become a little more bitter towards each other

eventually their bitterness towards each other becomes Serious and they go from rivals to borderline enemies. spark evolves into a luxray Much quicker than sora reaches her final stage, simply because he’s been so fucking. competitive with her. sora’s just fucking tired man she wants to Rest. she likes fighting w/ spark but she eventually gets VERY fed up and lashes out against him. the two fight and sora Finally evolves mid battle, knocking him the Fuck out.

after that, the two agree to be a little kinder to each other, agreeing that mayhaps their fighting got a little out of hand. they become playful rivals again :)

now for eleanor and marti because i love them

i think i originally had them have a kind of falling out like sora and spark had? but i don’t like that anymore actually so it’s getting scrapped 💖

eleanor and marti’s development is best summarized by them becoming closer with one another and marti learning how to heal ppl with their moves n shit. they are literally the fucking cutest help idk how else to summarize it

part one of supernova ends with the team settling down in a house :)

and that’s a wrap babey!!

part two

so remember calypso? yeah? well she’s coming back for part two lol

basically she ends up meeting a young banette with no name who literally fucking murdered their entire family. Lol. she takes them into her team as her first and ONLY Pokémon. fucking idiot

i did say that yveltal chose calypso as their prophet right. because that happened and basically ooOoOoOoO mind control yadda yadda and she’s told of her mission to kill asteria. she agrees because she has literally no choice. calypso ends up telling banette of her mission, who agrees to help her unconditionally because she’s the first person to actually show them love.

basically banette is literally a m//njumper type character who turns out to be a puppeteer-kind. Lol!

so here’s where the story gets a little more confusing lol

it’s easier if i preface this with a little knowledge on calypso’s character. so, uh, fun fact: she really likes knives! like, she really likes knives.

so yveltal blesses her with a special little knife that can mind control anyone it stabs. Wow! incredible

if i remember correctly there were three times that the knife was used prominently. the first time was when a wild Pokémon attacked calypso out of the blue and she had no other choice but to use the knife on it. from there she was able to control it for a bit before releasing it from her control and leaving it unconscious. she kinda goes :o and takes note of how it’s used

she later devises a plan to use it against asteria and co.!

banette sneaks into asteria’s house at night and sets up a sound barrier in the entrance so that no one can hear they’re there. using the power of Spooky Shit they lure the only awake Pokémon on asteria’s team out of their room. and, wouldn’t you believe it!, it’s spark!

banette lures spark in and traps him in a little shadow dome arena type area, where they fight for a bit until banette eventually bests him and stabs him RIGHT the fuck in the chest. bada bing bada bam spark is now under banette (and effectively also calypso)’s control. yay! /s

spark stays under calypso’s control, attempting to blend in with everyone else and, y’know, not appear possessed for several days as calypso bides her time. eventually, she has spark lure asteria and everyone else outside directly into a trap by calypso and banette, who attack them on first sight.

asteria and co are taken off guard and forced into battle, and now spark is against them! oh fucking no! sora is especially distraught by this lol

still though it’s 2 v 4, and marti eventually fires a shadow ball that breaks the knife. seeing that they can’t win, calypso and banette fled, leaving spark Un fucking conscious on the ground in front of asteria and everyone else

so spark is left behind, again, Un Fucking Conscious. asteria and the rest of the team are left to decide what the Fuck to do with him.

after healing themselves all up, they take spark back to their house and are left to just kinda. Wait for him to wake the fuck up? sora ends up visiting him the most frequently because she’s bored when he’s not around . And also she misses him. A lot. Because she Cares Him.

asteria’s like “well shit what now?” and everyone agrees like. “We just wait for spark to wake up because he’s like. Important?” and asteria just goes “yea agreed”

spark stays comatose for a solid six or so days until he FINALLY wakes the fuck up. when he’s questioned about what happened with calypso he explains that all he remembers is getting stabbed before blacking out. everyone just looks at each other like 👀  and they just kinda agree that it was good that they destroyed the knife.

uhhh something something asteria and co end up going to Actual Hell for their final battle with calypso :) and when I say hell I mean The Nether Minecraft. it’s got red stone and lava and yeah it’s literally just the nether fucking minecraft. they fight nearby this fortress built out of dark red stone and it’s literally just a nether fortress.

this time they can’t pussy out of the battle and they have to actually Fight Calypso to the Death so. :)

asteria’s team ends up getting their shit Rocked by banette because of the circumstances and the special Attributes of Hell allow them to mega evolve w/o a mega stone. so they end up getting Big Ass Claws that they use to absolutely FUCK over most everyone. eleanor and marti try their best to keep the rest of the team alive but they’re fucking dying too.

(also special thing abt this universe: in this universe, Pokémon have two health bars! one is the health bar that you see in game, the one that counts down to them passing out. after that health bar runs out, if the Pokémon wills it, they can Wake Up. then they gain a second health bar, which counts down until they Die. Like For Real.)

(this battle is to the death so they Die or they Live.)

in the center of this fortress they’re fighting in is a BIG ass void. like a pit that drops down into a void. asteria and calypso are fighting near this giant ass void, asteria with spark and sora by her side and calypso w/ banette. something something spark gets Severely fucking injured. Like a huge ass claw injury down his side. so does sora but ykyk.

asteria gets pushed and nearly falls down into the void. she’s hanging onto the ledge. just as calypso is about to push her off, she suddenly snaps back to reality in a moment of “oh shit what have i done” and attempts to save her. banette, to put it shortly, doesn’t like this. they have become obsessed with calypso’s original goal of killing asteria and nearly kills calypso getting her away from asteria.

banette, left with asteria alone, pushes her down into the void below, literally killing her. Like Literally Killing Her.

caught up in their victory, though, banette doesn’t see everyone else about to get their ass. tl;dr banette gets shoved down into the void as well and asteria’s team wins the battle, despite asteria being. Y’know. Dead

something something asteria ends up coming back to life through the power of xerneas going “wait she won. She should be alive.”

everything is good and the team is nice and happy and generally alive :)

haha......... unless?

part three

okay, so before we get into how asteria’s team ends up tying in with the crew in part 3. i’d like to preface this with some information on the characters of part 3 :)

alexis is the Pokémon trainer for everyone in part 3! she’s a bit like asteria, just w/o all the prophet stuff. she loves the outdoors and is generally very outgoing and adventurous. she has a huge heart and loves literally everyone. except people undeserving of love but yk

lance is a decidueye and was alexis’s starter pokemon! when we first meet him in the story he’s a dartrix but Eventually. eventually he becomes a decidueye. he’s a little quiet but he’s also very nice and especially enjoys reading a lot :). he’s quick to anger though. so. yes that’s important shhh.

hazel is a ribombee and is literally the sweetest person ever. she’s the healer of the team and is an absolute sweetheart. she’s the kind of person to give platonic kisses. she can be a bit cowardly at times though.

edith is a mimikyu! she’s generally very shy and quiet, but once you get to know her, she’s the absolute best. she would literally give her friends the world if she could. she’s also very skilled in battle and is probably the strongest of the whole team.

cheryl.... gets introduced later ;)

soooooo we all remember spark right? right? ahaha. Haha.

so basically this man goes to sleep one night and then the next morning wakes up in alola. this is obviously terrifying for. Numerous reasons. but the main one on top of him being completely lost is that he is no longer a luxray, but rather he’s been changed back into a luxio. he’s also lost all of his abilities. so not only is he completely lost, but he’s also powerless, too. he’s got damn terrified.

so he’s lost and confused, barely even knowing how he got there, half believing he was in a dream. and then, at last, to top it all off, some fucking dartrix comes flying at him and half scratches his face. and then he gets a fucking pokeball thrown at him. overall, he is not having a good time.

disoriented beyond belief, spark is brought to a pokecenter where he meets his new trainer and teammates. turns out that dartrix that attacked him was a chill dude named lance, and he also had two other teammates, hazel and edith.

(i actually don’t remember how alexis came to know spark’s real name? we’ll just say that edith can speak in alexis’s mind and translate aight)

they all introduce themselves properly, with edith being shyer than the rest. overall though, spark’s terrified and just wants to go back home lol. even at this point, he’s still convinced he’s in a dream of some kind. because, of course, at any time now he was going to wake back up at home. aaaaany time now. /s

the new team end up going through the day together, and spark goes to sleep that night still exhausted and confused.

when he wakes back up in the same place the next morning, he’s even more confused.

despite the circumstances, lance and spark end up becoming good friends. spark also gets along well with hazel, and he eventually is able to befriend edith, too. he’s hesitant to become loyal to alexis, though, because his loyalty still only lied with asteria.

and then he starts getting weird dreams about another island. one with beautiful gardens, tall mountains, and trees. he starts to recognize that something is there, but he’s not sure what.

someone else has a different revelation around this time. surprisingly enough, it’s lance! despite him and spark being friends, he starts finding some things about him to be a bit strange. like how he’s weirdly skilled in battle for being such a low level. and how he hardly responds to alexis. at first he shrugs it off, but then it becomes too strong to ignore. he starts to look for answers.

on their way across the region, lance ends up stopping at numerous libraries, looking for books that might contain the answers he’s looking for. for a while, he finds absolutely nothing, and as he searches, he considers giving up. he starts wondering if everything really is just a coincidence.

at the same time, spark starts getting even more vivid dreams about this place. he discovers that it’s a valley of some kind, one with lots of trees and greenery. it’s nice. one night, he gets the sudden revelation that there might be something there waiting for him. the thought resonates too much for him to leave it alone.

spark also begins to warm up to Alexis as he begins to realize that this could very well just be his life now. he doesn’t want to give up hope that he could go back, but he’s like 🤏 this close. That Fucking Close. the only reasons he’s hanging on are because a) he had literally spent years w/ asteria and b) he has no clue how he even ended up in alola in the first place.

insert the Pokémon moon plot as filler. anyways,

alexis and her team head over to ula’ula island as their next destination! and something that i remember very vividly from the plot was that y’know how you battle hau as soon as you get off the boat? yeah spark gets K fuckin O’d in that battle, but as soon as he’s unconscious, he gets the most vivid dream he’d had yet. he then realizes that ‘oh shit is that valley on this island?’

enter route 10!

meanwhile, lance stays behind to check out the library in town. lo and behold, he finds information on exactly what he was looking for and discovers a little known phenomenon known as the island scan effect, in which abnormal energy levels in an area can cause a Pokémon to have their entire consciousness move into a body that materializes somewhere in another region. the Pokémon’s former body on the other end of the island scan effect enters a coma until the Pokémon dies. or, if the Pokémon’s comatose body dies, then the Pokémon’s new body will become their true one. lance, reading up on this, realizes that it explains a little too much about spark.

the realization then dawns upon him that in order for him to have become so skilled in battle, for him to have taken so long to warm up to alexis, he must have originally belonged to a different trainer.

this causes lance to fall into a spiral of bitterness in which he no longer believes spark is deserving of a spot on the team, and especially not a spot in alexis’s heart.

MEANWHILE, spark walks the fuck into route 10, immediately recognizing it as the location from his dreams! he barely even takes a few steps past from where he made that realization before he’s ambushed just as he had when he’d first awoken in alola: talons to his face.

lo and behold, guess who the fuck it is. Guess. Guess. You definitely can’t guess. Not my fave OC at all. No sir nope not at all. Not predictable whatsoever.

it’s sora because of course she’s here :)

ma’am is in a very similar position to spark: she got bumped down an evolution, and had to live her life in a completely different region. however, when they meet each other, they recognize each other immediately. there’s just something innate about them that brings them to realize that the other was. There.

as soon as they realize that the other is There. In Front of Them. they both become super happy with the reunion :). alexis sees this and goes :)?? but is generally happy that spark has found someone he. Recognizes? she guesses. and, of course, sora joins the party :)

soon after, spark ends up Finally evolving back into a luxray. sora is a little jealous. Just a little.

pov i say meanwhile a hundred times to demonstrate how lance and spark’s stories end up branching off from each other. Anyways,

meanwhile, lance is Thinking about how what the fuck, where is spark even from?? sinnoh??? bitch. and how he just apparently met someone that he previously knew? and how she’s super skilled too? and how she hardly responds to alexis either? he realizes that basically, this is absolutely no coincidence and is absolutely the work of some weird natural phenomenon. his bitterness increases.

meanwhile spark and sora are very happy to see each other again, and they start talking about what the fuck just happened? Like lol they just suddenly got zoomed off to alola? fucking alola? aka completely foreign land and they just had to blend in like it was nothing. they bond over this weird experience and also start to question whether or not they’ll ever get back to asteria again. they decide that even if they never see her or the others again, they’ll still have each other. they’ll figure out a way, of course.

from this point forward it’s mostly just filler with the plot of moon UNTIL...... cheryl arrives :)

alexis trades to get cheryl, a young vulpix who is very sweet but naive. she ends up falling mostly under the wing of lance, who takes her as a kind of daughter figure, acting as her mentor. for a while, he forgets about spark’s whole situation and simply takes care of cheryl. he gets so caught up in helping her out that he stops being bitter for a bit :)

sora and spark enjoy her presence as well, sora especially, who find enjoyment in sharing with cheryl her best battle tactics and strategies. the two end up bonding a lot.

cheryl also ends up being one of the only people who edith warms up to quickly! edith actually ends up loving cheryl /p :) (edith also ends up loving hazel. no slash p we’re girl kissers here)

so as the plot moves forward, cheryl eventually evolves into a ninetales. she also learns the move sheer cold. you know. the one that only has a 30% accuracy but will always kill when it hits? yeah this is important :)

plot progresses yadda yadda and alexis becomes champion! yahoo! now what?

well, as it would turn out, sora and spark are not the only two who have made their way into alola. banette’s there too, but not physically. since ghost type Pokémon can’t truly die (they’re already dead), banette(‘s spirit) goes over to alola to fuck with sora and spark a bit. maybe to get them killed. who knows. they may or may not have manifested themself within lance’s mind and fucked with his bitterness towards spark a bit. Mayhaps.

now, you may be wondering, where’s the ultra specific plot device to propel the plot forward into the climax chapters? well, i’ve got just the thing for you!: a deadly hurricane is on course to hit alola, and as champion, alexis is expected to help deal with it. she doesn’t want to risk any of her Pokémon getting hurt though, of course, so she sends them all into The Box. Ahaha. Ha.

little does she know what terrors will occur in The Box.

so you know how each box will have a background, right? well inside The Box, each sectioned background is a different area. everyone is set down in an area that resembles a sort of maze. they split off, searching for the exit to the maze so that they can find an area to relax a little. spark and lance team up as well as hazel and edith, whereas cheryl and sora split off on their own.

spark and lance find the middle clearing of the maze. from the center clearing, there’s a little open end that stretches out into open sea. spark looks out over that open sea, admiring the water and how the artificial sun sets upon it. too bad he shouldn’t have turned his back to lance, though.

lance takes an arrow and shoots it clean through his throat, just as spark turns around to face him.

almost immediately, lance regrets doing this, of course. because, i mean, what the fuck? and then there comes the cherry on top. guess who discovers the center of the maze just in time to watch that arrow slice spark’s throat?

sora lol

it goes without saying but she is absolutely mortified. she runs over to spark as he collapses on the ground, only to find that he’s already dead and the blow was fatal. she is infuriated.

sora, absolutely blinded by terror and fury, flings herself at lance to get vengeance. she fights him for a good minute until lance leaves himself open for too long and she is able to slice open his own throat with her wing. he also dies pretty much immediately, the blood loss being a bit too much.

this traumatizes sora lol

soon enough, the others reach the center of the maze and sora is forced to explain what happened to them. hazel makes futile attempts to heal the two of them while edith is just fucking depressed, man.

cheryl runs away, sobbing inconsolably.

hazel urges sora to go after her and to try and explain what had happened. understanding, sora attempts to follow cheryl the best she could, taking tips from other Pokémon in The Box at times.

no longer having a host in lance, guess who banette proceeds to infect the mind of next. Guess. Guess. Guess. Guess who’s emotionally fragile and naive enough to fall under their order. Guess. /lh

sora eventually tracks cheryl into a box much farther from where the murder had taken place, discovering that she had gone into a snowy themed area. when she finally confronts cheryl about lance’s death, she refuses to listen. she absolutely can’t stand to hear any justification for a murder like that because lance would never kill anyone, right? she only ever knew him as the kind man who helped introduce her to the team. he would never have killed anyone. especially not one of his own teammates, right?

sora doesn’t know how to respond. she tries again to explain, but before she can speak again, cheryl lashes out at her, suddenly overcome by a foreign power. completely mad with grief, cheryl attacks sora with everything she has in her. every attack, every tactic: everything. sora can’t find it in herself to fight back. all she tries to do is defend herself, but it’s difficult. eventually she slips out of consciousness, and then back into consciousness. as soon as she recovers though, cheryl sends her her final move: sheer cold. it’s dead accurate, and as soon as it strikes sora, the biting cold freezes her to death.

and then she wakes up in her bed back at asteria’s house, surrounded by all of her former teammates.

including spark. Who is alive.

she cries and hugs him. obviously both are deeply traumatized now, and the situation back in alola isn’t getting solved any time soon, but for now they have each other.

also marti x eleanor is canon because i said so.

[fairie-gothmother]

In The Shadow of Starlight, Part 2: Negotiating With Gods

Read Part 1: The Fall

Octavia took a deep breath outside the door, steadying herself in preparation for what Lilith asked her to do. How did she get into these situations? A week ago, she was in her room, sipping on a Moxx-tail and watching a Lord of Skags stream on the EchoNet. Today, she was interrogating the cult leading, pseudo-siren monstrosity known as the God King. Lieutenant Cramer wasn’t making things any easier. He was ready to go. She stumbled when Cramer clapped her on the back a bit too forcefully.

“Enough waiting around. Chin up, kid,” he said. Shouldering his gun and wasting no more time, Cramer kicked the door open. “Look alive, rat boy!”

Troy sat with his head resting on a small table at the center of the dimly lit holding cell. The walls and floor were made of concrete. The only entrances were two heavily reinforced steel doors. The door at the front of the room was the one they had entered. The other one was at the back beside a wide mirror that took up the majority of the wall.

Troy lifted his head. “Aw, that’s adorable. They employ senior citizens here. At ease, Pops. The Corporate Wars ended a while ago,” he said.

Octavia braced herself while giving Cramer a sideways glance.

“Wipe that pedophile smile off your face, boy! I have gray pubes older and wiser than you!” Cramer yelled, his face nearly turning purple.

Troy sneered at him, slowly rising from his chair and standing at his full height. He towered over Cramer in an intimidating display. The sporadically sparking remains of his damaged cybernetic arm dangled from his shoulder. The red light of his siren marks cast eerie highlights across the angled features of his face. 

Octavia stayed close to the door, unsure how this would play out.

Cramer was unimpressed and got right down to business. The dude had nerves of steel. “Commander Lilith has ordered the removal of that smoking fire hazard you’ve been dragging behind your sorry ass. Ellie will be doing the honors. You are expected to behave yourself.”

“And if I don’t behave?” Troy challenged.

Ellie entered the room right on cue. “Then yer gonna make this a lot harder than it needs ta be.” Octavia had met Ellie a few times before. She was a squat, stout woman wearing overalls, every pocket filled with tools and gadgets. “Let’s just git through this. I don’t wanna be here any more than you do.”

Troy put his hand over his chest feigning a broken heart. “Hey, that hurts my feelings.”

Ellie ignored him and flipped her welding mask down over her face with a nod of her head, plasma cutter in hand. Troy got the message and sat down. Loose cybernetic parts dangled from the back of his neck. He winced when Ellie reattached them into the bleeding ports of his spinal implant. The mechanical arm barely hung onto his right side by chucks of charred metal and wires. Ellie removed the arm with little effort. When she reached to do the same with the shoulder brace, Troy grabbed her arm with his remaining flesh hand before she was able to touch it.

“Leave it,” Troy said through clenched teeth.

Ellie yanked her arm from his grip. “Suit yerself. I’m gonna fix the hinges on yer jaw modification. The higher-ups are comin’ and I don’t want ya droolin’ all over the place. Open up.”

Troy slurped and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. His modified jaw split open at the chin revealing rows of pointed fangs. He leaned closer to Ellie, flicking his long tongue. Dear god, Octavia thought. She forced herself to look away.

Ellie was in no mood to put up with any shit. “I could smother you under one tit, string bean! Now back off ‘fore I decide ta weld yer monster mouth shut.”

Unable to articulate, Troy growled in response but did as he was told. Ellie finished the touch ups in a matter of minutes. Without a word, she gathered her tools and stood. Troy snapped his jaws back in place and ran his fingers along the newly repaired hinges.

After finishing her job, Ellie walked over to stand by Octavia. She leaned close to Octavia’s ear and said, “That guy’s creepier than slow dancin’ with a hot corpse. Watch yerself.”

Octavia’s throat felt like sandpaper. She approached carrying her medical bag in what she hoped looked like a confident stride. Never in her worst nightmare did she think she’d meet the Calypso in person. He was thin and monstrously tall. His usual bulky, fur trimmed coat was missing which left his upper body completely exposed apart from the black collars around his neck. Lithe muscle slid beneath tanned, bruised skin. Radiant red siren marks coiled in looping patterns around his left arm and across the left side of his face. Icy blue eyes pierced through deep shadowed sockets with traces of black eye makeup smudged underneath.

“Like what you see?” Troy asked.

Octavia snapped out of her stare. Remembering her bedside manner, she extended her right hand to Troy. “Hello, Troy. My name is Octavia.” Troy raised an eyebrow at the gesture. Octavia quickly recoiled realizing that Troy didn’t have a right hand to shake with. “Right, sorry,” she said.

“Jesus. First the redneck mechanic, now an incompetent doctor.”

Octavia took offense to that, momentarily forgetting her nerves. “While I’m legally obligated to say I’m not technically a doctor, I am a highly qualified herbalist.” Octavia set her bag on the table. After putting on a pair of gloves, she pulled the stopper from a vial. “This is gonna sting.” She hesitated before touching him. Cautiously, she applied ointment to a laceration across Troy’s collarbone.

“Perfect. A witch doctor. Even better,” he said sarcastically. He hissed in pain. “The hell is that? It reeks.”

Octavia continued the application. “Scab root reduction. It’s a plant based antiseptic. It burns like hell and stinks just as bad, but it does the job.”

“Sorry I asked.”

Dried blood flaked from his skin as she applied more ointment to a lesion on his human shoulder. Uneasiness writhed in her stomach as her hands passed over the glowing red tattoos that adorned the limb. She expected them to feel warm to the touch, but they felt exactly like the rest of his skin.

The wounds were deep. She carefully cleaned and stitched them, working until she was satisfied that he was safe from infection. Much better, she thought, feeling pleased with herself. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the condition of the metal brace on his right shoulder. It bent inward in such a way that it likely put an uncomfortable amount of pressure on whatever tissues were underneath.

“I’d like to see the extent of the damage under your…” Octavia slipped the tips of her fingers beneath the shoulder brace. 

Troy lunged forward and shoved her into the wall in one fluid motion. Her head bounced off the concrete causing her vision to blur. His forearm held her across the chest, his body flush against her, pinning her against the wall. Cramer reacted immediately and aimed his gun at Troy from across the room.

“Don’t ever do that again.” Troy’s threat was delivered in a hot whisper inches above her face. His lips curled back in a snarl revealing gold capped fangs on his canine teeth. The stench of blood on him was sickening. She couldn’t move, completely at his mercy.

“Stand down!” Cramer yelled, still aiming a Jakob’s shotgun at the side of Troy’s head.

There was a tremble in Troy’s grip. Octavia noticed he was using his weight rather than his strength to hold her in place. He drew sharp breaths while his lungs struggled with the effort. Despite his incredible endurance, he was still weak.

“Rat boy, if you think for one moment that I won’t put a hole in that greasy head and watch your tiny brain drain out, you’ve got another thing coming! I said stand down!” Cramer repeated.

Troy’s enraged expression contorted into a playful smirk as he released Octavia and backed away. He raised two fingers to his brow in a mock salute to Cramer.

Octavia pressed a hand to her chest both to calm her pounding heart and to recover from just having the wind knocked out of her. Ellie rushed to her side to put a comforting arm around her. “You okay? He’s all bark ‘n no bite the way he’s in. He’s just tryin’ ta intimidate us.”

Octavia nodded. “It’s working.”

After collecting herself, Octavia took a seat across from Troy, who had reverted back to being aloof with his feet propped up on the table. He looked at her expectantly. This dramatic change in demeanor was unsettling. He was ticking time bomb begging for an excuse to explode.

Octavia cleared her throat. “I think it’s safe to assume that anyone else that found you in your condition today would’ve killed you on the spot.”

“Yeah, woulda been the smart thing to do. Which is why I can’t help but wonder why you chucklenuts didn’t,” Troy prompted.

“Lilith sees potential to make something of this circumstance, crazy as that sounds.” Octavia paused, wanting to choose her next words carefully. Her voice softened. “You’ve hurt a lot of people, Troy. This could be your shot at redemption.”

Troy snickered. “Redemption? Yeah, no thanks. The only thing I’m after now is revenge.”

“You’re not the least bit interested? People are calling you a monster.”

“So what? You get in a God’s way, you get smited… smitten… smote? Whatever. Point is, fear turns out to be the perfect motivator. So if keeping the masses motivated makes me a monster, let them think what they want.” Troy nonchalantly rested his hand behind his head.

“That doesn’t bother you? Even if you’re not leading the Children of the Vault anymore?”

“Like I said, let them think what they want.” After a moment, Troy sighed heavily. He glanced at the mirror that ran across the length of the back wall and rolled his eyes. “I get why you Crimson Traitors see me as a monster. Tyreen and I attacking your commander and all. Before you decide to torture me or whatever you plan to do, let me just point out that I spoke up and stopped Tyreen from dusting your precious Firehawk.”

Octavia hesitated. She never knew exactly what happened the day Tyreen stole Lilith’s powers. If that was true- “Why would you do that?”

Troy shrugged. “I have my reasons.”

~~~

Lilith & Maya were listening in on the conversation behind the two way mirror from the connected observation room. It was obvious to Lilith that her siren companion was uncomfortable after this sociopath had subtly told them he knew they were watching. Maya shifted her weight from side to side, arms crossed, nervously drumming her fingers.

“I really don’t like this, Lilith.”

“I’m not sure what to make of it either. If Troy is telling the truth about wanting revenge on Tyreen, he could help turn the tables in our favor. On the other hand, if this is all a trick and he’s still with the COV, it’d be bad news for all of us.”

Maya threw her hands up in frustration. “That’s exactly why we shouldn’t be taking any chances. There are a lot of people that we keep safe, including the ones inside that room. What would have happened to Octavia if Troy was at his full strength?” Of course she already knew what would’ve happened. “The Calypsos took your powers without a shred of mercy.”

Lilith interrupted, “That’s not entirely true. I’m standing here with you, aren’t I? Tyreen had me by the throat, drained my powers, and was ready to finish me off. But Troy stopped her. He said they were in a hurry to leave. I don’t know if I’d call that mercy, but it may not exactly be malice. I want to test where his loyalties lie. We convince him to cooperate, then we can decide how to use him.”

Maya huffed and resumed staring daggers through the two way mirror, her siren marks pulsing in reaction.

What a strange turn of events. Not in a million years did Lilith foresee a situation like this. One of the Calypso twins was in her custody seeking revenge on the other. It was too good to be true. She expected Troy to jump at the first chance to coordinate with the Raiders, but he refused. If he was trying to infiltrate, that would have been his way in. Did Tyreen really cast him out? What was the catch here? Lilith was determined to find out. Enough of this quiet observation. She opened the door, and entered the holding room.

Troy’s gaze instantly locked onto Lilith when she entered. His cold eyes followed her all the way up to the table at which he and Octavia sat. Though her composure didn’t falter, the contempt in his look made Lilith’s skin crawl.

Lilith put a hand on her hip. “Let’s assume what you’re telling us is true. You got denounced, and Tyreen made an example out of you. Surely some of your devoted followers would’ve wanted to help you out.”

“Some tried. There weren’t enough of them to cause a mutiny or anything.”

Octavia chimed in, “So there were others thrown out, too?”

“Maybe,” Troy said. “If there were, they must’ve been poofed somewhere else. I was alone when I got beamed out. It’s more likely that Tyreen ate them all.”

At last, Lilith asked the question everyone was dying to know the answer to. “Troy, why did Tyreen kick you out of the Children of the Vault?”

“It’s a family matter. Kinda personal. I’m sure you understand.”

“We just want to make sense of your situation,” Octavia pleaded.

Troy looked back and forth between the two women a few times, then scrunched up his face. “Are you actually going for the good cop-bad cop routine?”

Octavia suggested, “We could both try bad cop.”

Lilith could tell this wouldn’t go anywhere. “Alright, fine. Keep your secrets. As you already know, the Crimson Raiders are pursuing Tyreen and the COV. As much as I hate to admit it, we could use each other’s help. You know the ins and outs of their entire operation. We’d like to offer you the chance to coordinate with us.”

The expression on Troy’s face was hard to read. “You do know who I am, right? Calypso twin, God King, ex-Holy Father of the Children of the Vault? After everything I’ve done, why would you want to offer me anything?”

“Don’t take it the wrong way. You’re still at the top of the shit list,” said Lilith.

Octavia cut in. “Embarrassingly, we don’t have much on the COV. We’re outnumbered and our intel is outdated. What have you got to lose? You know the saying, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ You get your revenge, we stop Tyreen from leeching the entire galaxy. Win-win.”

Troy was silent, those cold eyes narrowing skeptically. Losing patience, Lilith added, “Or Cramer could keep you company while you rot in a max security prison cell.”

Cramer still stood at attention at the front of the room. When the Calypso looked at him, a vein throbbed in Cramer’s neck and he shouted, “What are you lookin’ at, cock snot?”

“Pff! Screw that. If it gets me out this hellhole, then I’m in,” Troy said. He looked to Octavia. “I guess your good cop strategy worked after all.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phew! I apologize if this one felt a little long winded. I crammed in lots of exposition, some backstory, and foreshadowing. Thanks for sticking with it. Part 3 will be much more exciting, I promise. In all its bloody, chaotic glory. 

Feel free to ask questions or just let me know if you like the story. I am fueled by feedback.

[bombshellsandbluebells]

Ron Weasley, Peggy Carter, Raven Reyes, Will Turner.

Oooooh some good ones I don’t think I’ve ever been asked about!

Ron Weasley (my BOY)

overall: who? / i hate them / i dislike them / kinda wanna fight them / they’re alright / i like them / i love them / *accidentally drops thousands of pictures of them* 

opinion: again, who??? / the purest bean / cinnamon roll / who knows really / sinnamon roll / the problematic fav (in the BEST way because I love how human his flaws make him)

otp(s): Romione

other ship(s): I can see the appeal of Rarry

#noromo ship(s): Harry/Ron are the BESTEST of friends and people need to stop forgetting how joined at the hip these two are. They share a brain. Also I love him with Luna because they both genuinely like each other and find each other funny and are both absolutely thrown by the other thinking they’re genuinely funny, which is cute.

crack ship(s): I mean he 100% had a massive crush on Krum but I don’t know if that counts as a crack ship

fav headcanon(s): Ron is the Mom friend. He shows his love by taking care of people. He’s a huge touch guy - he’s constantly giving people hugs, pats on the back, etc. Sometimes when he knows Harry’s feeling down he’ll just shove his way into his bed and cuddle him - it happens even more after the war, and sometimes Harry will just look at Ron and Ron knows that means it’s Hugging Time. They get so comfortable with it that they’ll just sit there in a conversation with someone else with Ron just hanging off Harry and neither of them acting like it’s a big deal.

He learns to love to cook for his family and provide good food for them like his mom did for him. He’s the one that learns most of her recipes and they spent a lot of time together in the kitchen after the war. The only one who can make food as good as their mom, the Weasleys all agree, is Ron - which is good, because Hermione is an abysmal cook.

He’s the one that takes a more active role in taking care of his kids too and the household duties. Not because Hermione won’t, but because her job ends up being so taxing and Ron loves taking care of his family and kids. (He does talk her into setting a strict schedule for herself though. Sundays are family days and unless a new dark wizard is back, she is not allowed to touch any work for the whole day.)

(I could keep going but I’m going to stop myself.)

Peggy Carter:

overall: who? / i hate them / i dislike them / kinda wanna fight them / they’re alright / i like them / i love them / *accidentally drops thousands of pictures of them*

opinion: again, who??? / the purest bean / cinnamon roll / who knows really / sinnamon roll / the problematic fav 

otp(s): Cartinelli 

other ship(s): Steggy, though I’m not the biggest shipper and I ship it a lot less post Endgame haha, Peggy/Sousa

#noromo ship(s): her friendship with Jarvis is so GOOD and I love them

crack ship(s): none that I can think of

fav headcanon(s): She 100% played a role in Tony’s life and nothing will tell me otherwise. She was (awkward on and off again) friends with his dad. She was besties with his caretaker/true father figure. She was definitely Aunt Peggy to him and adored him.

But to make a lot of Tony’s characterization and the fact they never see each other in the MCU work, I imagine they had some sort of falling out - either around the time Peggy seemed to have her falling out with Howard or after Howard’s death. Or maybe after Jarvis’s death. I imagine Tony pushed her away and eventually they hardly talked anymore. It’s one of his deepest regrets. He didn’t go to her funeral only because he felt like he didn’t have a right to.

Peggy is a terrible cook but really great at all other household chores and super handy. She refuses to call anyone for help when things break and will get them back in working shape through the power of her will alone. When she lives in the women’s apartment building, she gains a reputation as the person you should call if your fridge breaks down or you need to hang a new shelf or whatever. She gets a lot of requests to come fix things and she always does. Sometimes the other women try to pay her and she always refuses, though sometimes she’ll accept her pay in the form of homemade treats. One time she got a full pot roast for fixing someone’s heater. Usually, she just likes the women to keep her company and chat with her while she works.

Raven Reyes

overall: who? / i hate them / i dislike them / kinda wanna fight them / they’re alright / i like them / i love them / *accidentally drops thousands of pictures of them*

opinion: again, who??? / the purest bean / cinnamon roll / who knows really / sinnamon roll / the problematic fav (again, in good ways! her flaws are great!)

otp(s): none

other ship(s): I’m coming around on Braven; also see the appeal in Raven/Echo and Raven/Luna

#noromo ship(s): her and Murphy are little shits together and I adore their friendship; also her and Echo, her and Monty, her and Emori (basically her and all of Spacekru)

crack ship(s): I get the whole Raven/Anya thing haha and wish we could have seen them interact

fav headcanon(s): Raven spent a lot of nights growing up over at Finn’s place instead of her’s to avoid her mom. His parents fully accepted her and treated her as one of their own, always willing to let her stay there, though there was a lot of tension between them after Finn got locked up. Her mom would often trade her rations away for booze, so Finn usually split his rations with her growing up. Raven also started offering to fix things for people for payment, even before she was officially working as an Ark mechanic - usually for food. If you had something broken that you knew the Ark government wouldn’t give a crap about, you knew to go to Raven Reyes, who’d probably fix it better than anyone else the Ark would’ve sent anyways.

She and Murphy end up bonding a lot on the Ring about their mothers and their childhoods. They talk a lot about what it was like to have to scrape by for food when your own mother didn’t seem concerned with feeding you. They relate to each other in a way none of the other Ark-borne kids on the Ring do. 

She has nightmares of ALIE long after the AI is gone, horrible dreams where she watches her own body move without her and do terrible things to the people she loves. She stops wearing the color red for awhile, even though it used to be her favorite color. 

Will Turner 

(I’ve never been asked about him!! Yes thank you!!)

overall: who? / i hate them / i dislike them / kinda wanna fight them / they’re alright / i like them / i love them / *accidentally drops thousands of pictures of them*

opinion: again, who??? / the purest bean / cinnamon roll / who knows really / sinnamon roll / the problematic fav (yes, he’s all three)

otp(s): Willabeth

other ship(s): Will/Jack

#noromo ship(s): also Will/Jack

crack ship(s): Will/Calypso!!!! lmao he is her new ferryman

fav headcanon(s): Will accepts his new duty as ferryman for the dead and never wavers in it, and so he never is cursed or starts growing things out of him and yes I am ignoring the movie that shall not be named because it’s BULLSHIT. He is a kind ferryman. Davy Jones is terrifying, the sailors say. He’ll drag you to his locker as you scream for mercy and trap you in never-ending torture. But then when sailors die at see, a young man with kind eyes and a soft smile approaches them instead. “It’s time to move on now,” he tells them, and when the sailors say they don’t want to, he asks, “Are you scared of death? It’s nothing to fear really. But there is another option if you’d like.”

No one is bound to his service. They can stay on his crew for as long as they’d like, and when they’ve finally had enough and they tell him they’re ready to move on, he let’s them. 

Calypso is well pleased with him. She comes to visit him often and he always has tea (and rum) on hand for her when she does. They usually gossip about Jack. 

Great picks!! Thanks!!

[ddellirrious]

Calypso is no Goddess...

I don't remember how long it has been. Days? Weeks? Months? It wasn't until i woke up in the hospital that i found out i was rescued, afloat a raft in the middle of a wrecked vessel in the ocean. Miles off course from our original destination. I had been missing for almost two weeks and seem to be the only one who survived the wreck. When reporters ask me what happened to them all i can muster is a shaky voice. "...i don’t know"

 That part was true. Though I don’t know what attacked us that night. But i know what it did. And the destruction it caused. We were a crew of thirty chasing an old legend passed down from our families for generations. My mind races on the..thing that took our ship down. The creature had to be at least a couple football fields long. I will never forget the glimpses of it that i saw from the moments when it breached the water. It hit us out of nowhere and seemed to summon a massive storm just before it arrived. It had the body of a long shark, but the torso and head of what i can assume is a mangled human body. Chunks of flesh are missing from the tail and i can see sections of where its just bone. Long, black harpoons jetted out of the beast's back and body some of them older then others. Much. Older. How many years, possibly centuries, worth of hunters has this horrid thing seen. I remember seeing a hood of once again what i can only assume is human flesh stitched and crafted together, it covered the beast's head and stayed on with hooks embedded into the human chest with two holes crudely slashed in the front for this monster to see through. And from what i saw, it look like it was made from more then one human..

I could only watch as this beast tore open the ship like it was nothing and devoured all that it could of my crew. Bodies littered the bloody ocean before sinking into the dark depths below. I tried to scream but i couldn't, every time i tried my lungs would fill with water and i could only cough and sputter before turning my head back up to face it. Those eyes. Those cold, empty dead eyes peering at me through the bloody skin. With each flash of lightning i could just barely make out the shape of its massive head. It stared at me for what felt like an eternity. Why me? Why did it leave me alive yet slaughter the others like cattle? Perhaps as a sick, twisted way to keep this..myth alive? But we were so close! Just what was beyond that ring of water in the horizon? Just out of reach there was a large ring of water pushing everything away. That was our goal. Legend says it's the ocean Goddess Calypso and her island of treasure. It is said to be hidden in an isle surrounded by a circle of waves. We had to go. To find out what was there and if it was real. Once i get let out, i don’t care how, but i am going to find out. The legend not only says a great treasure is in the center. But Calypso herself will grant you one wish. And im going to find it. 

 I didn’t have to wait long for my answer. A few weeks after, when i was checked out of the hospital i got myself a boat and started traveling the same path that my crew took. It takes me hours but i follow old police ships and coast guard boats to the wreckage of our large ship. I carefully use the large broken hull to my advantage and slip past everyone, thankfully, unseen. I try to hold back what tears i can as i see the faces of my fallen friends floating in the now still waters. This monster took its time with them. Some torn apart. Others were in pieces. The ones he didn't devour he left to die by the waves. 

If i am successful then i maybe i can avenge my fallen crew and slay this beast. Maybe i can ask Calypso to bring them back. My mind wonders a bit before i finally see it again. That large ring of water that we were so close to before the storm hit. I pause a moment. Is this the right thing? Should i do this? I grip onto the throttle and shake the doubts and thoughts from my head and rev the boat as fast as she will go to slam against the massive wall of water with great force. The wall proves stronger then i first thought. But i did not come all this way to avenge my friends just to turn around and give up. Pressing down hard on the throttle and with one final push the boat bursts through the wall and to the other side. What i was expecting of a dark, bloody, possible corpse and horror filled waters was actually calm and peaceful. The warm water and the fresh breeze and clear skies, it almost seems like an oasis then the lair of a large man eating beast. 

 I catch a glimpse of a small island and on that island is a small beach hut. Someone lived here? Among the beast? I felt a small nudge as the boat rested up on the beach, as i step off, the sand feels soft and warm against my feet, the water is crystal clear and seems more like fresh water from a pool then the ocean. As i step up more on the sand i catch a glimpse of a man in the hut, while i cant see his face clearly yet, i can see that he is blonde with hints of orange faded into his hair, he has a more tanned appearance to his skin, like he spends his days in the sun most often. And orange swim trunks. There’s a surfboard under his arm and he looks shocked to see me and my boat. Before i can utter a word the water breaks and the beast itself lunges out of the water and lets out an earsplitting roar of anger. I waste no time in getting to the end of my boat and grabbing a large harpoon gun from it inner chamber. This man must not be aware of the beast and he must be a messenger of Calypso. I have to protect him! 

As i raise the gun to the creature, it stares back at me with those same soulless eyes that it gave me on the day it took my friends, my family. A roar of my own escapes my throat and a surge of adrenaline rushes through me to take the killing shot as this fowl beast hovers over me, i aim for the chest and then- 

Twack 

 I feel my vision start to go blurry as blood drips down my face. I whip around to see that the man i was protecting struck me with his surfboard. He looks...angry? Furious even. But...why? Why would he protect this murderous thing?? As my vision darkens i hear him speak. 

 "How did this one get here calypso? Are you ok love?"

Through fading vision i see the creature nod. This...thing is Calypso? It cant be...Calypso is a goddess. A woman of pure and holy being and she will grant whomever finds her a wish. This cant be her! Its...cant.. I let out a gurgle as i feel its massive blood soaked, clawed hand grab me and start to lift me up to its hideous face and it peels back the skin to expose what it looks like underneath. All i can do is cry as a close my eyes. I failed..i failed them all. And now i have to die for it. I feel the beast's hot breath on me as its gaping maw splits open and i can faintly see two rows of razor sharp teeth, ready to devour me, i utter the only thing i can muster...a small prayer and hope that if there is a god that i will be reborn with my friends... 

Calypso is no Goddess... 

 Calypso... 

 Is death...

[marmar-97]

First I want to say thank you @uglynicc-kitchensink for giving me permission to use this pic of your demon Troy drawing, love how you draw him, also got this idea of a fanfic after watching demon slayer and decided on a cross over. HONESTLY THE ANIME IS LITERALLY AMAZING, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T!Sorry this took long Tumblr kept being ass and not letting me upload it. Sorry if it's too long for y'all to read I might have gotten a bit carried away hehe. 😅 but I have a Troy and Tyreen head canon coming sometime this week of their childhood.

To befriend a demon|Demon Troy x fem! Demon slayer

Warnings: blood, biting, smut maybe?

A/N: if you're sensitive to this type of stuff then you probably shouldn't read this 😅

"This is it, final selection. Today I'll become a true demon slayer." You thought to yourself as the ceremony began, although you were a bit nervous thinking you won't make it out alive. You enter and once you're a bit far into the mountains you pick up the scent of two demons as they charge towards you quick. "Pft this'll be easy." You draw your sword out using your technique instantly killing them. "Huh, that was way too easy, they weren't even thinking straight." You walk away putting your sword back and noticed some kid running for his life you saw what he was running from, a demon. He had bat like wings dripping with blood, jet black hair, tall figure, red tattoos in some pattern on his left arm and near his left eye and his jaw was split with blood dripping from it and a long tongue along with razor sharp teeth and he starts speaking. "Every year some dumb child sacrifices their life just to try and kill me? HA! I'm the damn king of this mountain and I'm not going anywhere." The boy falls and the demon grabs his leg with his right arm. "Guess it's snack time!" He says while dragging the poor boy towards him cackling laughter coming from him, screams of terror erupting from the boy's throat as he claws at the ground. "Save him...save him...SAVE HIM NOW!" The little voice in your head said as you jumped out from behind a tree trying to strike the demon but ended up missing as he moves out of the way. He let's go of the person he was about to devour putting his focus on you now. The boy ends up running off on his own now, probably gonna end up getting killed by other demons. "H-hey, don't go off on your own!" You tried calling out to him but he was far gone. "Dammit he got away thanks to you, no matter, I've got new prey now. Heh, more prey asking for a death wish huh? Well then, let's dance shall we? I'll give you a 10 second head start, after that, hide and seek is over, and I'm going to feast on you. Countdown starts... now." You got up and started running as fast as you could away from him. Seconds have passed by already. He was ready for his next treat. "Annnnnd... 1... TIMES UP!" You hear him shout as he extends his wings again and splits his jaw doing the same cackling laugh as before. You managed to jump and dodge tree roots and branches. Taking a glance behind you, you didn't see him in sight making your heart rave a bit. But that's when you knew you messed up as you tripped over a tree root tumbling onto your back hitting your head on a tree very hard. Your vision kept fading in and out as a pair of feet were approaching you. His feet. He had found you. He kneels down next to you. "Well so much for a demon slayer like yourself, heh I could devour you right now but that would be no fun now would it? I like taking my time sometimes when I'm not starving like these other demons out here." You tried moving but he pinned both your wrist to the ground. You tried breaking free from him but he was incredibly strong. You wanted to black out right there but knew you couldn't with a demon around, showing surrender. He saw the blood on your head and licks it. "Ohhh yeahhh that's the stuff, your blood tastes really good, my type of treat." Your body shiver from the feeling of his tongue licking your wound. "Let...me...go!" You knew struggling to break free was useless at the moment since he had a stronghold on you. "Mmm my blood is pumping from the adrenaline, this year's final selection is sure bigger than last year. More blood for me. You demon slayers sure love to come out here thinking you're the shit and could easily kill us demons. Just know that I've survived for so long and became the king. And also..." He shows you his left eye. You couldn't even do anything at the moment but stare at him in shock. He was one of the twelve Kizuki demons, a high ranked one at that. "R-rank 2? S-so who's rank 1?" He must be one of Muzan Kibutsuji's demons." You had a good look of his features up close and noticed how attractive he was, but he was still a demon who devours humans thirsty for blood.

He softly caressed your cheek with one of his sharp nails as his face was inches from yours now as he hovers over you. You closed your eyes thinking he was about to devour you. He still had blood on his face, torso and hands from someone he's devoured before the boy you had seen earlier. "It would really be a shame to actually kill you right here and now, even though I'm supposed to but I think I'm going to have more fun with you. Oh, heh how rude of me not introducing myself, name's Troy Calypso, or demon king, which I go by around here, and what may yours be sweetheart?" He uses his long tongue to clean his face of human blood now. "Ugh, their blood wasn't even good like yours to satisfy my taste." He licks his fingers and hands clean soon after leaving the blood alone on his torso. "Y/N, m-my name's Y/N." His grip on your wrist got a bit tight holding you down still. His lips brushed against yours as he breathed in your scent making you shudder. "Heh, nice name. You smell of, kindness, what a sweet smell." His voice was low and husky. You held your breath as he stared at you with those fiery eyes of his. He held your chin with an index finger and thumb making you look up at him dead in the eye as his lips pressed against yours. Your mind went blank from the move he just pulled. He was kissing you instead of devouring you? You suddenly snapped out of your thoughts and noticed you were kissing him back. Why were you, you weren't really sure yourself. You also weren't sure why he was even kissing you to begin with but you had no other choice. You instead close your eyes as he gets more into it forcing his tongue into your mouth while pushing your legs apart as he moves one of his legs between yours kissing you still. You suddenly let out a low moan from the feeling of his tongue exploring your mouth. He pulls back then sits you on his lap straddling him going for your mouth once more. This time you were whimpering while moaning. You wish you could scream for help but he was preventing you from doing so. After a short while you both pull back to catch your breath. "Guess you humans are worth living sometimes, if only humans and demons could get along somehow."

He goes to kiss your neck or maybe bite it even but gets interrupted when you both hear people shouting for more demons in the distance. You get off his lap as he stands up with his back against you. "How rude of them to interrupt me, well I've got more work to do, maybe when I'm done you and me can continue before you leave this place. Now I must hunt." You see him make multiple copies of himself. "Find them, and bring me their body and soul." They Kneeled in front of him. "As you wish master." And off they went in a flash. He opens up his jaw once more and his teeth get sharp again, along with extending his wings. "W-wait, I can't leave without bringing something back, I-I'll need a head or something to prove I killed a demon." He stops and turns around to look at you. "Fine, here you go." He pops his head off and regenerates a new one shortly after. "You're welcome, now you better go. Don't forget we have some unfinished business before you leave here." And off he flew. You kept the head in a basket as you continued on with your hunt for more demons finally reaching the end. Seems like you've made friends with a demon, or maybe more? You held a hand over your mouth remembering the way he had kissed you. This is a demon you won't forget. You then checked your watch noticing that final selection was over within 2 hours, that also meant the sun will rise up. You've had enough time to wait for other demon slayers to show up. You then saw him him standing there cleaning himself off from the blood that was on him, turning to look at you. "Well I'm full now. Thought you were gonna leave without finishing what we started? You didn't forget our deal now did ya?" You furrowed your eyebrows looking at him now. "I've never made a deal with you." He chuckles low as he walks close to you now. "Oh really? You were enjoying my tongue inside your mouth and didn't fight back so that means you want to continue. You were… aroused. Now, to have some fun, don't worry I don't bite unless you tell me to." You wanted to say something but in one swift move he had you over his shoulder flying off with you now. "What the- HEY WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?! I-I GOTTA GET BACK BEFORE SUNRISE! HEY ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?! I'M NOT VERY FOND OF HEIGHTS EITHER!" He chuckles while having a smug look on his face that you couldn't see. "You'll see soon enough princess, I'm not gonna kill you if that's what you're thinking, like I said, I'm gonna have fun with you, just be patient." You huffed out in frustration as he finally landed near some cave walking in finally letting you down. You looked past him seeing an exit thinking of escaping but quickly knew it would backfire on since he would actually catch you very easily. "Thinking of escaping? Not possible." He picked up on you looking past him making you tense up. "U-uh n-no I'm just, trying to figure out where I am." You watched as he made his way towards you. "You're not lying to me are you?" He didn't seem a bit angry, in fact he had a neutral look on his face. "N-no of course not, but wh-what do you mean by fun?" You asked just to change the subject, playing his little game now. "Hmmm lemme show you." He picks you up wrapping your legs around his waist pressing his lips against yours in a hungry kiss. You could tell he was waiting to feel your lips on his again. This time you went along with it, not because you liked it, but because you knew you wouldn't be able to beat him in your current rank. Plus you wouldn't even be able to escape. You held onto his shoulders for support so you won't fall.

Suddenly he stops kissing you and changes the inside of the cave into a room. It seemed like it was fit for a king. You look around in amazement at how nice it looked and also from what he just did. "Like it huh? Fit for a king like me. Now to enjoy my time with you." He throws you on his bed not too hard making you bounce a little. It was very soft and comfortable. You watched him as he poked his index finger with his sharp nail on his thumb drawing blood from his finger. He then pressed it against your forehead. Suddenly you felt light headed and numb. "H-huh, what just happened?" You felt like sleeping from the feeling of being on his bed and from being numb. "I don't want you feeling pain from what I'm about to do, plus I want a taste of your blood once more. It's been on my mind ever since and I just needed more. Plus just the thought of tasting your blood while getting intimate with you is getting me all riled up." You didn't say anything as he ripped your dress with his sharp nails. His gaze was hungry when he saw your breasts and he immediately sucked and licked them. You would be lying to yourself saying you didn't like the feeling of his tongue on you. You were getting riled up yourself a bit. He then ripped your bra with his nails putting one of your nipples in his mouth sucking and licking it. You arched your back from the sensation letting out a low soft breath. He then did the same to the other one earning a low moan from you. "P-please, s-stop..." He was enjoying this moment. He bit down on one of your breasts hard drawing blood and drinking it. He hummed in approval sinking his teeth in deeper. He was breathing through his nose as he kept drinking your blood then finally pulling back licking the wound. "Fuck I needed that, but I want more." He goes to your other breasts doing the same thing. You felt his length pressed against your hip while he was enjoying his drink. He pulled back once more ripping your panties then going for your thighs now. He licked one of your inner thighs near your entrance making you squirm a bit. A low chuckle was heard from him as he did it again. And then he bit down on it drinking more of your blood, doing the same to your other thigh. "Mm looking good so far, but you could look better." He pulled you into his lap as his length was pressed against your entrance. He bites your upper arm getting another taste of your blood as you held onto his shoulders for support. You started to grind against him as the pleasure was building up inside you more. And without warning he entered inside of your wet folds. He leaned back propping himself up on his elbows watching you with half lidded eyes as you started to move slow, your blood on him getting him more excited. "yes this is just how I imagined it, you feel amazing." You picked up your pace while having your hands on his chest with your head thrown back as low soft moans escaped from your throat. He helped you by gripping your hip with his left hand pushing you down on his full length. Once you were you leaned in kissing him on the lips as he had a grip on your ass moving you back and forth on him. You moaned into the kiss as his tongue dominated your mouth once more. "Why am I even letting this happen? A-a demon? I should know better than that, but he's just so-" You were cut off when he bit into your upper arm. You hear him groan from both the pleasure and taste of your blood. He sinks his teeth deeper reaching bone and breaks them with one chomp. You didn't feel the pain but knew it would hurt so much if you did from the way your bones just cracked. He bends you over positioning himself behind you as blood dripped from his mouth and jaw. "Don't worry, once I'm done these wounds will be healed right up."

He lightly scratched the back of your neck with a nail drawing out some blood. He leans over you licking your upper back working his way to your neck. You felt him push himself back into you thrusting harshly but slow. You bit your lip trying to hold back your moans but failed when he hit that one spot. You weren't sure how you didn't even pass out yet from all the blood you've lost so far. His pace started getting fast and more harsh. He bit down on one of your shoulders while thrusting inside you still. You couldn't help but moan more getting close to the edge, a knot forming in your stomach. He bit down on your shoulder more breaking your shoulder blade. He finally pulls back from your shoulder admiring his work. He was panting slowing down his pace but his thrusts was still harsh. He kept it up until you finally spilled all over him, your orgasm finally hitting you. He chuckled as he pulled out of you releasing himself onto your back. "Heh you were such a good girl for participating in this sacrifice." You felt more numb than before from all the blood you've lost but managed to speak. "S-sacrafice? Wh-what do you mean?" And that's when you saw him, Muzan Kibutsuji appearing right before you. "Well done Troy, another successful sacrifice, you're close to being rank 1, do your master proud and kill the next victim you bring. This one lives another day." And he's gone in an instant. That's when another demon enters the room, and this one was female with a similar appearance to him but much shorter than him and had white hair to the side covering her right eye? "Were you holding back on this one Troy? What did master think?" She saw that you were still alive and sounded disappointed. "He said the sacrifice was successful but to kill my next victim." She goes over to you now hovering a hand inches from your body and heals your wounds and the same clothing you've had on before. "Well that's good I suppose Troy, alright my work here is-" She gets cut off as you start speaking to her now. "H-how do you know Muzan Kibutsuji?" They looked at both each other giving it the okay to tell you. "We both work for him, and I'm rank number 1." She moves her hair out of the way showing you her right eye with the mark, opposite from her brother's. "So are you two related? But how? I-I thought demons weren't supposed to be in a family." She turned on her heels facing the door now. "Let's just say, we stuck together before becoming demons and our bond never gets broken. Plus we're twins." And she started leaving. You looked at your watch seeing that you've had five minutes left before final selection was over. "Shit I've got five minutes left, I have to get back or they'll think I'm dead." He holds you against him flying with you to the bottom of the mountain where no one could see you both. He landed near a tree placing you on the ground. Before you ran off you felt him grab your arm. "So when will I get to see you again?" Seems like he took interest in you. "I'm not coming back, you know that right?" You actually didn't want to leave him but you had no choice. Seems like you became friends with a demon, though it was against demon corps. rules but you didn't know that yet. "I know but, maybe I could try to see you other than the mountain?" You looked at the entrance seeing everyone starting to leave now. "Sure, now I have to go. Also, I did have fun with you." You smiled at him and he smiled back as you ran to join the other demon slayers who made it out alive. "Guess demons and humans can get along in a way." He says to himself leaving before daybreak.

[doom-dreaming]

Hunting Ground

@bettersafethandicks here you go, another one of many gifts, I’m sure. and also for that one anon who keeps suggesting things you know who you are

WARNING: HEAVY GORE, do not read it if you don’t like the idea of being eaten alive

(Read it on Ao3 here!)

******

It wasn’t hard to find a nearly-deserted bar on Pandora. Bars outnumbered pretty much every other type of establishment and the...thin population assured that none of them would be busy. The trick was finding one that served marginally-palatable drinks. But that wasn’t your goal at the moment. You didn’t even particularly care that this bar—Hunting Ground (weird name for a bar, but hey, Pandora)—seemed to be semi-lively. You just wanted a drink.

You stormed up to the counter, slid a few bills across it, and muttered “strongest” to the haggard man behind it. The clear concoction you received in return smelled like battery acid and burned twice as bad. It was perfect. Life on this shithole planet was always terrible, but today had been a fucking disaster. You were prepared to drink yourself to death if that’s what it took to forget it. Two-thirds of the way through the bottle and that was looking feasible.

Apparently the universe had other plans. The sound of the door stopped you with the bottle halfway to your lips. Normally, something like that wouldn’t have even crossed your radar, but the effect it had on the rest of the patrons was what piqued your curiosity. You heard someone to your left start to whisper, “Is that—” before they were immediately silenced by somebody else at the table. Slowly, the previous conversations resumed, though they were almost drowned by the clink of chains and the hollow sound of heavy boots against the metal plate floor.

“Usual, Carlton.” He spoke before you saw him, but you’d know that husky, commanding voice anywhere. Their propaganda had spread through every media outlet across the planet.

The bartender gave a brisk nod and reached under the counter. You tried not to stare as the newcomer leaned up against the edge of the bar, close enough for you to reach out and touch, if you’d dared. Which you didn’t. The Children of the Vault were...an interesting group. You’d thought about joining, once, then promptly talked yourself out of it, reasoning that you could keep an eye on the infamous Calypso Twins without subjecting yourself to...whatever they did inside that stronghold. Still, the siren siblings were fascinating beyond belief and you watched them from a safe distance. Until now, that was.

It wasn’t all that strange really, to see him here. There was a COV base close by and you guessed he had to bounce from location to location and check in, if only to keep up appearances. Still, this didn’t seem odd to anyone else in the bar—

The bartender (Carlton, apparently), placed a disarmingly simple-looking cocktail down in front of Troy, receiving a nod of approval as payment.

—and Troy was here often enough to have a ‘usual,’ whatever it was. Didn’t look like anything you’d ever seen. Thick, dark red, salt rim. Or maybe sugar. You couldn’t tell.

“New around here?”

It took you a minute to realize you were the target of the question. “Uh—” You swallowed, your throat suddenly feeling tight. “—y-uh...”

He slid up onto the barstool next to yours, distant amusement in his eyes. “’Cause I’m good with faces...” He knocked his drink back in one gulp and motioned for another. “...and yours ain’t familiar.”

You tried not to stare as he swiped his tongue around the edge of the glass, but holy shit, you’d never seen a tongue that long—

“Sugar.” He winked. “Carlton, another round for the newbie, here.”

You found your voice long enough to start protesting. “Oh, no, it’s—”

He waved you back into silence. “Everything’s free so long as I’m here.” He gave you a wide grin and your heart jumped as you swore you saw fangs. You blinked and the smile was gone, replaced with a coy smirk. “Might as well enjoy it, no?”

You nodded. Shrugged. You knew the twins were charismatic, but you’d never expected this level of...charm. Maybe this day would end on a good note, provided you didn’t do anything stupid. Compelling as he was, Troy Calypso was still highly dangerous and there were warning bells going off in your head—though, admittedly, they were getting quieter.

“So what brings you out this way?” He murmured his thanks when Carlton set the new drinks out. "Curiosity? Necessity?” His ice-blue eyes studied you over the rim of his glass as he took a much more conservative sip.

You tipped back the rest of your first drink. “Mm—just passing through.” It wasn’t a lie, not technically. You had a few things stashed nearby that you needed to pick up, but once that was done, you’d be on your way out again.

“Lucky chance, then, coming here tonight.” Again, he flashed that dazzling grin and you knew you saw sharp teeth. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my sister, but sometimes she can be a little...clingy. Nice to get away. Meet new people.” He slung his arm around your shoulders and clinked his drink against yours.

You mirrored his smile and reached for the new bottle in front of you. He was surprisingly easy to talk to. You figured he’d be...cold. Aloof. Superior. But all you felt was warmth. Or maybe that was just the alcohol.

It could have been an hour, it could have been a day. All you knew was that Troy’s arm made a surprisingly comfortable pillow and you were laughing about something as if the two of you were long-lost friends. His laugh was deep and rich and you wanted to listen to it forever. There were three empty bottles on the counter in front of you. He still hadn’t finished his second.

“Nn then whad’ya do?” you slurred.

He poked a bright red cocktail sword toward you. “I flipped her off and did it anyway.”

You broke down into a fit of giggles. His own laughter rumbled in the background. You’d been right. This was so much better than what you’d planned on doing. At least you were having fun. Who knew Troy goddamn Calypso would be such a great drinking buddy? You moved to sit back up, but over-corrected and almost went sliding off the other side of your barstool. Troy caught you. You barely felt his cold metallic fingers against your skin.

“Easy there...how ‘bout we go...”

His voice blended into the background noise of the room, but you let him lead you away from the bar, through a door. It was much darker here—wherever you were—and you were grateful for it. Without the lights swimming in your eyes, you could see some sort of couch or bench against the wall ahead of you. You sank bonelessly into it when he released your arm.

“Lay down...” His hands were on you again, pressing at your shoulders, guiding you onto your back. “Good...” He made a sort of funny huff. It might have been a laugh. “You sure can hold your liquor, huh? That shit woulda knocked me flat on my ass.”

A strange sound left your lips, but you didn’t care. The couch was soft and warm and— Suddenly, he was over you, on top of you, one knee on either side of your hips. You felt like you should probably be trying to get him off, but all you could do was lay there.

“You were an easy mark,” he muttered. “A little disappointing, if I’m being honest.”

Mark? What—? You tried to bring your arms up, to push him, to do anything, but you felt as though you were moving through slag.

He just sighed and pinned you down. “Too drunk to put up a fight...” He leaned closer, pressing his lips to your neck, right against your pulse. You laid there, stiff, your moonshine-marinated brain working sluggishly to make sense of it all. After what felt like an hour, he pulled back, grinning. He wasn’t trying to hide it now. Every visible tooth was filed to a deadly point, his canines so much longer than what you remembered from the bar. “You’ll still taste good though.”

It all happened in slow motion. You could see it, but you couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. Something under his skin shifted and you watched in mounting horror as his jaw split, revealing more teeth than you expected; you weren’t sure if there was more than one row or if you were still seeing double. Each of them was either razor sharp or roughly serrated, glinting in the low light. You’d been stupid to let your guard down, to get comfortable, you knew he was dangerous—

The pain cut through the fog, but only after a few seconds of delay. His teeth were already clamped around your neck by the time you managed to force out a broken scream. Your voice gurgled as blood welled up into your throat. This was it. You were going to die. Devoured by this cannibalistic freak of a siren— Heavy cold seeped into your body, moving from your neck to your chest, creeping steadily downward. By the time he pulled away, all you wanted to do was sleep.

“Hhnn...” He licked the blood from his face with that too-long tongue, then snapped his jaw back into place. “Fresh is so much better than that old, stale shit Carlton keeps for me.” His voice sounded different. Rougher. You swore you heard some kind of purring.

All too clearly, it clicked. His drink hadn’t been a cocktail. It was just...blood. He wasn’t drunk. He’d been hunting. And you were the prey. You wanted to vomit, but you couldn’t. You couldn’t even feel your own body anymore. Small blessings, you supposed, given what came next.

His teeth sank into your stomach, straight through your shirt. The only thing you felt was a slight pressure; the paralysis distorted your ability to link any part of your body with any sort of sensation. It was interesting, in a morbid way, watching yourself be torn apart. It almost felt like you were watching it happen to someone else. He ripped and tugged like a feral, ravenous animal, pulling out flesh and organs, swallowing them nearly whole. Every once in a while, he’d come up for a breath, his whole face dripping red. His eyes would lock with yours, just thin rings of frigid blue around wildly-dilated pupils. That wasn’t even the worst part. You still saw humanity when he looked at you. You saw cold, stark pleasure. He grinned. It was nightmarish, too wide, too many teeth. This wasn’t just some base necessity, he was...enjoying it.

You spent an eternity lying there, growing colder and colder, a thin film of black dancing at the edge of your vision. Dying was a funny thing. Half of your brain resigned itself to the inevitability, but the other half still hoped no matter what that you’d somehow walk away from it. Rationally, you knew you weren’t going to leave the bar alive. He’d moved up to your ribs, gnawing the strings of muscle from them. You couldn’t even feel pressure anymore. You were just floating, completely detached from everything, waiting for the darkness to take over. It seemed like he was slowing down, now that he’d taken the edge off his hunger.

You would’ve laughed, if you could’ve. Never in your wildest dreams had you imagined going out like this. Pandora was a deathtrap, but this was just so...bizarre... You watched through glassy eyes as he settled back, licking the last of the blood from his dripping jaws. After a minute, he stood, walking back toward the door you’d come through. You heard faint conversation before it closed behind him.

“...better?” The bartender. His name slipped your mind.

Troy laughed. “Yeah.” He sounded almost giddy. “Made a fucking mess, so...have fun with that. I’d get in there quick if I was you, save the heart...”

Huh, you thought as your vision faded to blissful black. The name of the bar makes sense now.

****** Tag List: @nikyri-reaper @undxsclosxd-desxres @venatoris @ayilachan @tricerathotss @clockworkrobotic @afterthedreamer @corpseyb0nes @mischiefsilvertongue @marigold-magpie @vanderlinde-exe @xgay-edge-lordx

[agent-7-at-your-service]

The Hamartia Arc: Through Brine and Tides (Part 1)

((Agent 7, Bigfin Splatoon, Calypso and Leviathan, Octo Squadron Megalodon, Kimun and the Neanderthal Tribesmen, and Laguna “Garza” Rayne, Abigail Atled Calliostro, and others belongs to me

Agent Blueshift belong to @myzzy

Wonder Inkling and Wonder Inkling Jr. belong to @inklingleesquidly

Agent 0 belongs to @son-of-joy

Ampth, Mercury, and Cell (mentioned) belong to @teamuntyblue

Shadow and Alphaserv Network (mentioned / cameo) belong to @alphaservnetwork ))

Shadow and his band of Mercenaries were already prepared to leave Aomori. Some got on the speed train offered by Agent 7. Some took the long road to go to other parts of Japan. 

Agent 7 was glad to have them helping him in Operation Ezo. The whole purpose of this part of the phase was to push back the invasion of the Great Amemasu Federation of Hokkaido. 

Now the next phase begins.

A counterattack.

Agent 7 and his allies have gotten the word about Senates action to court-martial Agent 7 and the army he built to fight the Federation. The news article from Inkopolis was what brought Agent 7′s attention. He is now left with a choice: Either return to Inkopolis and face the court-martial’s charges which would dissolve his army, or make the counterattack and take the fight to Hokkaido. And waiting for Inkopolis’ Military to come to apprehend them wasn’t an option.

His decision was the latter. This war is far from over.

Agent 7 has a number of boat pilling up in the harbor along with the military warships that were captured. Most of the boats were fishing boats and cargo ships, but they were being offered by resistance fighters who helped liberate the cities invaded by the Federation. He can see them being converted into small warships.

Military vehicles were being maintained and stores on the warships while aircraft were going through brief patrols to protect the harbor.

The army that agent 7 mustered during Operation Ezo also changed. With the Alphaserv Network now moving onto other affairs, the numbers have dwindled in strength. However, their efforts did provide the army with new resources and new recruits. And news of the Operation’s success is new forcing more private military companies to either join or remain in Inkopolis. Inkopolis’ Military was also split, with some beginning to go rogue and head north. But in the end, it doesn’t change the fact that the Senate still have to court-martial Agent 7 and likely the army he formed.

Agent 7 was waiting at the train station, having got a message from several allies requesting a meeting in Aomori. When the speed train arrived, several familiar faces came out: Agent Blueshift, Wonder Inkling and Wonder Inkling Jr. (Junior), and Agent 0.

Agent 7 saluted to them. However, they didn’t salute back.

“Is... there something wrong?” Agent 7 asked.

“It’s about the court-martial,” Wonder Inkling answered before showing the newspapers, “You made headlines around Inkopolis and the Octo-Territories.”

“She sounded pretty pissed when she accused you as some rogue,” Agent 0 added.

“And there is a number of people already split from both the public and the military,” Blueshift added.”

“Who has my back here?” Agent 7 wondered.

“There’s Ampth, Mercury, and Cell, already making moves to make Octo Valley and Octo Canyon cooperate in supporting you,” Blueshift listed, “There’s Sanada and the Ammonites, now funding and campaigning to support your actions. The other refugee clans that Sanada has connections to are also taking action to help the liberated cities. And then there's Captain Cuttlefish who is already responding to Senator Abigail’s decision even if they don’t approve of what you did.”

“How did you take this news when you first saw it?” Junior asked.

“Well first off, I was mad, then Shadow decided to rip it apart.” Agent 7 crosses his arms. “And second, I decided to follow through with performing a counter-attack. What else?”

“Agent 7, you do know you can’t defy the government after pulling that stunt,” Junior pointed out.

“You sure got yourself into a bigger mess after you were freed from exile,” Blueshift commented.

“The Inkopolis executive is still commander-in-chief, why aren’t they doing anything about this?” Agent 7 asked. “I swear Inkopolis can just follow through with this outrageous plan for peace.”

“We tried talking about this privately with them,” Junior explained, “But somehow Abigail has gained control of some communication lines and severed the one between The Inkopolis Defense Force.”

“That and she has somehow got the senate to control the defenses of Inkopolis,” Agent Blueshift noted.

“Agent 7, what makes you think this is outrageous?” Wonder Inkling questioned.

“We can’t make peace with them as long as Hector is leading them,” Agent 7 argued, “And if Senator Abigail wants to make peace, she’s mistaken. She’ll be asking him to raze Inkopolis to the ground starting opening the city’s gates.”

“You got a point there... what happened to those trials and social experiments that he’s performing on you?” Wonder Inkling Jr. pointed out.

“I think it’s waiting in Hokkaido,” Agent 7 turned away, “Does anyone know where the Squid Sisters are at that time of the news?”

They all hesitated. 

Then Blueshift answered. “They were last seen traveling to Calamari County. If it’s about Marie, she’s okay.”

Agent 7 sighed with relief. “With that out of the way, what do you guys say? Are you joining me or what?”

Agent 7 was giving them a fair amount of time to think and decide. If they join him, this would be going against the Inkopolis Government. If they don’t, they would likely have to apprehend Agent 7 and bring him back to face the crimes. 

“I’m in,” Agent 0 decided.

Everyone looked at him.

Agent 0 has his reasons. “I was blackmailed to poison Agent 7, and Hector is gonna pay for putting me in that position.”

“I have to join too!” Junior joined. “That private talk with Hector was so cryptic, but the way this petty feud has been turning you has to end!”

Wonder Inking sighed. “I have to agree. That Abigail girl is beyond reasoning at this point. I’m in.”

And lastly, Blueshift had made his decision, starting with a nod to Agent 7.

“I’m not doing this for Marie, I know you still care a lot for her.” He removes his shades and revealed his face for a moment. “I’m doing this for what is considered my home and for everyone I know, including you.”

Their responses left Agent 7 with a slight smile on his face. He’s confident that he can end this war, once and for all.

“We’re going to a three-pronged approach when fighting our way to Sapporo, the capital of the Amemasu Federation of Hokkaido. I’ll fill you in on what we have.”

The Next Day...

Calypso, Sarah Phenotyne, and Octo Squadron Megalodon were sent off early to take Kojima Island and use it at one of the bases to stop Amemasu Fleets from sailing to the west side of Japan’s mainland. Resistance fighters from Operation Ezo took care of the eastern side of Japan’s Mainland with their fleets.

Kimun was about to leave with his Neanderthal Tribesmen, leading a small fleet that would sail for Hokuto which was Hokkaido’s closest port to Japan. He had another ship sail further north to gather more tribesmen. Agent 7 was saying farewell to him. Wonder Inkling and Wonder Inkling Junior woke up early to meet this Kimun.

“Ah, Wonder Inklings, I would like to introduce you to Tribe Chief Kimun,” Agent 7 introduced, “He’s leaving early for Hokkaido to clear a path for us.”

Wonder Inkling looked at Kimun from head to toe.

“So this is a Neanderthal,” Junior began, curious of Kimun’s appearance, “I can see the similarity with the human fossils in the Sunken Scrolls.”

Kimun had his eyes on Wonder Inkling.

“Mr. Kimun, it’s rude to stare,” Wonder Inkling stated.

Kimun shook his head and came to his senses. “Sorry. Out of all the squids and octopi I’ve seen, you are one of the most—”

“Kimun, focus,” Agent 7 interrupted.

Wonder Inkling knows what he was going to say next. “Oh, sir, you flatter me.”

“Yes... yes... I must go now.” Kimun adjusts his robes and turned. “Some Amemasu need to be fished.” He ascends the rails to one of the warships.”

“Well that was a brief meet-up,” Agent 7 commented.

“We decided to wake up early,” Wonder Inkling replied.

Once Blueshift and Agent 0 were awake, Agent 7 did a roll call with Bigfin Splatoon. He picked up his handheld transceiver. His agents were on a different warship in the harbor.

“Sound off,” Agent 7 commanded.

“Agent Beta 4.13 standing by.”

“Agent Beta 8 standing by.”

“Agent Recruit Jiang, ready!”

“Agent Recruit Tavi, is prepared to depart.”

“Agent Recruit Circe, ready to depart.”

Then two more response came in, and they were the sounds of Zapfishes.

“Hear you loud and clear, Wattsby and Edison.” Agent 7 shook his head, smiling. He then looked to the Wonder Inklings, Agent 0, and Blueshift. “Next stop, Uchiura Bay.”

More than Five Hours Later...

Gravis Blenncove, the Bear-clawed Pikeman, and leader of The Sealine of Uchihara Bay, hasn’t been idle and os wasn’t the Federation. His military contingent has been using the cities around the bay as a set of naval watchtowers to patrol the waters between Hokkaido and Japan. So far, they’ve recalled all naval fleets by the orders of Hector after the invasion was stopped. It was to prepare for an expected counter-attack.

Colonel Jenna, the named Commander-in-Chief of the Federation, and Gavis’s prized asset in his alliance with Hector, she was ready to prove to the people that she was the last line of Hector’s Defense. In fact, she has devised a three-line defense tactic that’s meant to slow down whatever counter-attack was going to be made.

Jenna and Gavis are already discussing this with the Sharkling despot Hector and another ally, Klaveran, Leader of the Lakelike of Lake Toya. Klaveran was Hector’s crayfish teacher before the Federation was established. He appeared with fewer legs and moving on a wheelchair. Their meeting is the island inside Lake Toya.

Colonel Jenna had a map laid out along with markers the represent the three-lines. “The first line will be in the bay which Gravis will command. There will be an ink-mine field from the Koma-ga-take Mountain Peak to the city of Muroran. The harbors in Uchiura Bay will have fleets we’ve recalled. We already secured defense on Tamakomai’s and Sapporo’s harbors if they plan on trying to get to the capital with haste. The second line is in an area between Mount Yotei, Lake Toya, and Lake Shikotsu. We will have to lure them here a surround them. If all else fails, the third line is in the Minami Ward all the way to Hector’s residence. That’s where I’ll form a final stand.”

“Impressive...” Hector commented.

“And I’ve been hearing from Gavis that Klaveran has a secret weapon we could use with the Brine Solution,” Jenna mentioned, “I want to know the progress and when it can be supplied to the lines.”

“From my facilities, the researchers estimate 48 hours to complete the first batch of secret weapons. And it will take less than 12 hours to supply them to each line.” Klaveran held out a laptop. “I suggest you have the first line try and hold out until the weapons are completed.”

“Understood.” Jenna bowed.

“I trust you with these defense lines while I prepare my final trail for the son of Jason Gatz-Ling Cassius.” Hector took a deep breath from his respirator. “I must be on my way then—”

An inkling in the Amemasu military uniform ran in, adjusting his scarf. He then saluted. “Colonel Jenna! There is an attack at Hokuto coming from one of our warships. And there is an aerial strike and an invasion on Kojima Island!”

“Must be the same Neanderthal tribes that snuck past us and stole our ships from days ago. As for the attack on Kojima Island...” Colonel Jenna looked at her map. She slams a fist. “Klaveran, prepare an escort to take Hector back to Sapporo. Gravis, I’m joining you in the first line.”

“Very well, Jenna.” Gavis has no problem with this change.

“What’s in your mind, Colonel?” Hector questioned.

“This is Seven’s way of saying he’s coming,” Jenna calculated. “That is why I must suggest you go back to Sapporo.”

And with that Hector appreciated Jenna’s loyalty. “And that is why I named you Commander-in-Chief.” He leaves immediately with Klaveran following him.

Gravis and Jenna left as well, gathering the men to one of the cities of Uchiura Bay. There, the cities were already in haste, with the military garrison signaling one another.

[etherealblasphemy]

The End of the Beginning

he. it’s rather fitting that i post this on new year’s day.

STARBOUND IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!! I finished at ten last night and promptly fell asleep (oops), but I’ve finished the writing of my very first novel-length bullshittery! Forewarning now, there’ll be a looooong A/N at the end about the future of Starbound, but for now, let’s get right into the tomfuckery, shall we?

(as always, translations for the Vasryian language are at the end of the chapter!)

TW: Mentions of alcohol, intoxication, and referenced murder

   “Does my dress look okay?” They turned again, trying to see how they looked from behind. They scrutinized the pale red fabric, watching how the shadows fell on their back as they twisted, the bottom fanning out. “It’s not too tight, right?” Two gentle hands grasped their wrists, spinning them around.

   “Stop frettin’, ya look right,” the mechanic assured them. “Now hurry ya horse, or we’ll be late!” She fixed her navy waistcoat, smoothing out wrinkles. “Sirs, are y’all decent?” From behind the divider, Dominic called out that they were. The three guards popped out, greeting Cal. All three of them wore the original uniform of the Vasryian Guard, a dark red tunic with a brilliant yellow flower in the center covering silver breeches and a small, sheathed dagger on their sides. Their black riding boots, not unlike the ones Roman wore, also bore the Vasryian seal on the buckles.

   “I can guide you to the Center Hall. The palace seems more like a labyrinth everyday I’m here,” Jamahl remarked, stepping forward. “Let’s go, before Prince Roman throws a fit that we’re not there!” Cal burst out laughing as they set off through the palace, able to see the crowds through the tall, gilded windows.

   “Only a month…” Terrence mused. “Only a month, and His Highness has won back the hearts of the people like Draven never existed… it’s a miracle.” Cal giggled knowingly, sending a silent thank you to their ancestor. “I’m so excited!” the guard continued. “Prince Roman will make such a good king!”

   “He looks more and more like his father every day. I almost called him by his father’s name, did you know?” Dominic chuckled. “It seems like yesterday Her Majesty was scolding Prince Roman for getting lost in the catacombs again, or His Majesty was teaching His Highness how to properly wield a sword.” He sighed. “Those dear, dead days beyond recall.”

   “Fifteen years,” Jamahl chimed in, “since that dreadful day.” He smiled bittersweetly at Cal and Wonder. “Thank you two, for bringing laughter back into these halls.”

   “No, thank y’all,” Wonderling insisted, “for always believin’ in Roman.” A grateful, merry mood settled in them as they moved through the maze of hallways.

   “Anybody know how long this ceremony is going to last? I’m planning on bringing snacks,” Cal joked. “Oh, come on, don’t give me that look, Sir Jamahl! I’m only half kidding!” Laughter echoed across the walls, mixing with the growing clamour from the Center Hall. They could see a crowd beginning to form, a wild throng of feathers, furs, and scales jumbling together in blurs of color. They let out a heavy breath, never one to be at ease with masses. A hand squeezed their arm.

   “Ya gon’ be fine, Cal?” Wonderling inquired under her breath, eyebrows raised with concern. Cal felt their face flush and nodded quickly, focusing on the floor ahead of them.

   The guards escorted them through the growing multitude, bringing them into the Center Hall. Cal’s jaw dropped at the transformation that it had gone through since Draven’s defeat. The windows and chandeliers were newly polished, sparkling with a heaven-like light that cast rainbows across the marble floor. The throne Draven had used, which was ebony with golden ivy winding up the sides, was gone, replaced by the thrones of Roman’s father and mother, his own throne to the left of his mother’s. The three thrones were all made of a silvery wood, with scarlet cushions and elaborately carved reliefs in the arm rests and head crests. Every few feet down the hall were vases filled with blooming flowers of every hue, filling the air with pleasant aromas that reminded Cal of memories that weren’t even theirs.

   Virgil, Logan, and Patton were clumped together at the front, talking amongst each other excitedly. “I’m thrilled to finally be able to listen to Vasry again. It’s been forever since I’ve heard it, and it’s such a pretty language compared to Aresan. Roman and I only used it when we spoke to each other in private,” Patton was saying as they approached. The guards split off from Cal and Wonderling and went into a side room, where their superior was likely giving out orders for the celebratory day.

   “Will they use it in the ceremony, though?” Logan countered, adjusting the glasses perched on his nose. “It is to my understanding that Aresan is the principal language used in the Vasryian palace. Did I misunderstand?”

   “Oh, no, Aresan is only used for diplomatic purposes… usually… maybe he changed it. But Vasry will definitely used. I remember Roman starting to learn the verses when we were kids. He always stuttered back then, but I‘m sure he’ll do fine today!” Patton grinned as he sat down. “Cal, I saved you a seat!” He waved excitedly at Cal, beckoning them to come and sit down.

   “Aw, aren’t ya just a sweetheart, Patton,” Wonderling laughed. “I’ll go find my chair and leave y’all to yaselves for now, but I expect us to chat up afterwards, a’ight?” She smiled sweetly, mirth in her eyes.

   “We literally just fought a battle together a month ago, what is there to catch up about?” Virgil scoffed with glee.

   “Ya gon’ tell me everythin’ about ya and Roman, ya hear me? Or perhaps I oughta ask Patton?” she chuckled as Virgil flushed, unable to retort for fear of a backlash of wit. Wonderling escaped rapidly, finding her own seat a few rows behind where Cal and their friends would sit during the ceremony. As soon as the four took their seats, Cal still nervously adjusting their dress, an organ stuffed in a hidden corner of the hall began to play, signaling the entrance of the ascending prince. Cal immediately rose, as they had practiced at the rehearsal earlier that week, and turned to watch for Roman, eager to see what sort of regalia he had been forced into.

   The mahogany doors at the end of the hall opened with grandeur, and in strode Roman. He wore a simple white tunic with tan breeches and black boots, a stark contrast to the dresses and suits the audience members wore. The soon-to-be-king also wore a golden cape that trailed for several feet on the floor, almost like a bride, with silver designs intricately sewn onto the fabric.  Roman caught the eyes of his friends and smiled anxiously before returning his gaze to the end of the hall, where an old priest waited for him.

   Roman walked slowly but purposefully, as though every step he took had been planned years in advance. He reached the raised platform where the priest seemed to tower above him despite her short stature.

   “Prince Roman,” she greeted, her voice laced with cobwebs and dust. He bowed his head in salutation. “Thou stands before the judgement of the heavens today. Thou wishes to ascend to the Vasryian throne?”

   “I do,” Roman stated.

   “Then stand before thy ancestors and answer with an honest soul.” The priest retrieved a  small, worn book from a shelf behind her, its cover a pale blue that had faded with the unseen sands of time. “Dost thou solemnly and honestly swear to govern and protect the Peoples of Vasryia and all its Territories, respecting the laws and customs of the lands thou reign over?” the priest said, her gnarled fingers curling around the spine of the book of myths.

   “I solemnly promise to govern and protect, to the best of my ability, the Peoples over whom I have been given duty to reign.” They could hear Roman’s voice was shaking, no doubt scared he would stumble over his words and ruin everything.

   “Will every action thou take be for the good and betterment of Vasryia and its Peoples? Will thee put the life of thy Nation before thine own? Will thee govern with an open and just heart, a wise and witful mind, and a humble and mighty soul?” The priest’s voice rang out, filling the entirety of the Hall so that each and every present being could hear the will of the heavens.

   Roman hesitated. “I— I will.” Cal saw him swallow, digging his thumb’s nail into the soft flesh of his finger, almost hard enough to draw forth blood. The priest paused as though she noticed Roman’s momentary rumination, but continued without a word.

   “Dost thou take the oath in good health, good mind, and good spirit, and allow the spirit of our Savior Calypso to take root in your soul?” Roman nodded. “Then all Ye who have objection to the ascension of our beloved and at last returned Prince to the throne of the Vasryian King, speak now or forever hold thy peace.” The priest fell silent, her grey eyes of sagacity turned to the audience, daring any one of them to stand up and speak their cavil. None spoke.

   “The heavens have spoken. Prince Roman Machaizelli Bastian Prionsa of Vasryia shall ascend to the throne and bring balance once more to the lands as our rightful ruler. By the power vested in me by the spirit of Calypso herself, by the will of the Guardian and the Generals, I hereby proclaim thee the King of Vasryia. Come forth, and receive thy blessing from thy forebearers.” Roman glanced back quickly at Virgil, who smiled brightly, giving him a small thumbs up. Roman’s mood immediately shifted, his shoulders releasing their previous tension.

   He stepped forward and kneeled, his head bowed. The priest placed the book she held before him. The prince kissed it, murmuring in his native language. “Eh saeuna fa eh saegha iwa oen na ise Cayso, kirō e talhyn viosa i fa fērka-dai e gal. Mae na Garda yaesen na alma reaga eh noma sha da eh uoye haseo fai na sasha de eh Vasr.” The priest mumbled something unintelligible. “E reja na alma Cayso!” The priest repeated Roman’s word with a shriek, head upturned to the ceiling as though some invisible bird was perched upon the rafters. “E reja na alma na Garda! E reja na alma na Saeona!” The walls of the hall seemed to shake with the fervor in Roman’s voice.

   The priest put her book on a shelf behind them and took a vial of water. “These are the tears of Calypso, shed when she left her world behind.” As she spoke, the priest opened the vial and emptied it, the water spilling down Roman’s flower crown and face. The priest took a bottle of scented oil and poured it, too, over the prince. “This is the sweat of Calypso, shed when she trained with her Generals to protect her new world.” The third and final item the priest poured over Roman was a bowl of dark wine. “This is the blood of Calypso, shed when she died a thousand times to save her home.”

   “I am one with the soul of Calypso. She shall live in me and she shall live in Vasryia,” Roman swore as the priest guided him to his feet. At last, the priest grasped a golden scepter and orb, bringing it in front of Roman. The woman handed them to the soon-to-be-king, her wise eyes smiling despite her emotionless expression.

   “Prince Roman Machaizelli Bastian Prionsa, son of Vasryia, today thou ascends the throne as King of Vasryia. Thou hast sworn to protect thy nation until thy dying day. Thou hast received the blessings of Vasryia and her guardians. Now, turn to thy People and let them see the light of Calypso, the Generals, and the Guardian within thee.” Roman turned to the crowd, who waited with baited breath as he called out in the Vasryian tongue.

   “E sa tu ren!” he yelled, the Vasryians in the audience quickly responding in their native language. Once more, Roman kneeled, bowing his head as the priest placed a crown on his head.

   It was the Vasryian colors, gold and red, but it had gorgeous jewels adorning it in every hue, reminiscent of the Guardian’s wings. From where they were seated, Cal could see the small Vasryian seal embedded on the front.

   “Rise, King Roman, and claim thy place in history.” Roman steadily arose, a new aura about him as he stepped to the throne, sitting down as a king should, elegant and graceful, but strong and proud. His gaze was unwavering, staring straight ahead at the carved scenes on the doors at the end of the hall as the priest kneeled, bowing before her new king. Cal and the others in the hall replicated the movement, bowing deeply. As they straightened, sitting back down, bells began to toll, clanging and ringing and proclaiming the ascenscion of the king at last. A cheer went up through the hall as Roman visibly relaxed in his chair, thankful for the ceremony to at last be over.

   The crowd quickly dissipated, leaving Roman alone with the priest and a few select advisors to sign official documents. Cal heaved a sigh as the doors swung shut behind them. “Party time?” they asked hopefully. Virgil grinned conspiratorially.

   “Party time— Ow! Logan!”

   “The reception does not start for another three hours, and, anyways, Roman won’t be there for another five hours,” Logan reprimanded firmly. “I suggest we go and see the crowd outside, perhaps we can conversate with some of them. Roman will greet them in a couple of minutes, I believe.” Virgil rolled his eyes.

   “Fine, we can be responsible adults for five hours,” he whined. “But as soon as Roman walks in that room I’m going to get him fucking wasted!” He giggled softly as Logan smacked him over the head with a huff.

   The group headed outside, shielding their eyes from the burning sun. The mass of people lined up outside the palace was imposing, almost nerve-wracking for Cal as they stepped out of the palace. It was a warm day, one that without a doubt would end in a beautiful night, and not a cloud was in sight. Unfortunately, this meant that the gigantic crowd waiting to see their new king had absolutely no problem waiting hours to catch a glimpse in the beautiful weather.

   They waited to the side, protected by one of the glass towers from the gaze of the burning star as they watched the crowd. Someone was selling treats to the little children who begged their parents for the sweet pastries, and another vender sold handheld flags that bore the Vasryian seal. A pair of old women sat in the grass playing in a board game to pass the time as their husbands played cards.

   A sudden roar went up among the crowd, and Cal turned to see Roman exit the palace, waving at the Vasryian people. He walked up to the crowd held at bay only by a couple small wooden partitioners and several guards. He seemed to pick up on the eight eyes watching him curiously, and he pivoted to see his family. The royal waved them over, and, after a moment of deliberation, they heeded his request. As they got closer, the sounds of the throng grew, calls and shrieks and laughs and cries all jumbled into one cacophony of life.

   Roman addressed the common people, saying, “E fauna tu hanna fai na meoso de na alda fa na saeuna agus talta tu chaka yai e na saga lune sa cayse de na fin de na ren-vio de eh babusha venna. E talhyn dorioga ferka sahaga e dan iga na alma Cayso-dai, agus e heuyo kaeh ser  tu, eh Vasr, ina baego fa eh itda. Ingan vas irheo bakdan o vas irheo pasha, ingan vas kona o vas kana, ingan vas saeuna o vas fuath, e talhyn tu vas nunra vasya, na Vasr de Vasryia.” A paean went up once more.

    The royal began to greet the people lined up to see him, grinning and saluting each one. He listened to the stories a group of miners told him about how Draven had begun to focus funds on expansion and conquering nearby planets, leaving their mines in dangerous conditions. Roman promised to look into it as soon as possible and pass safety regulations. He came upon a book club later; the individuals all gave him copies of fairy tales, somehow having learned that when escaping the palace, he and Patton had been unable to take their favorite book of fantasy worlds.

   Patton, having grown up in Vasryia, was also a person of interest and recognition to the crowd; some of the braver children asked if they could touch his antlers, to which he agreed, a great delight among the kids. A few old women offered knitted scarves to all five of them, which they gladly accepted. Cal’s heart felt like it was going to explode from so much affection.

   The last group Roman greeted that day, long after much of the crowd as dispersed and gone home, was a cluster of young children from a nearby orphanage. They were dressed in their finest, albeit plain, clothing, ranging from frilly dresses the color of lollipops to dusty suits to simple white tunics and a pair of trousers. The five of them spent a particularly long time with the children, most of them being orphans themselves.

   Patton was very receptive with the youngest of the children, allowing to climb on top of his back for piggyback rides, and drape handmade garlands and daisy chains across his antlers. Logan recited a few children’s stories he had downloaded  during his time as an android, though very few of the children spoke his interplanetary tongue and understood. Virgil and Cal played pick-up-sticks with some of them, purposefully allowing the children to win. Roman, of course, spoke a bit with the present caretaker before he sat with the children and told them fairytales, weaved flower crowns like his own, and played make-believe.

   The caretaker took out a pocket watch and clapped their hands, garnering the children’s attention. They began to round up the kids, who all groaned in unison as they collected their belongings.

   “Do they have to go?” Cal complained to Roman.

   “I know, I want to adopt them all,” he replied with a pout. “But it’s dinner time, so they have to go.” Roman beamed as he waved goodbye to the kids as they walked back home; one paused and ran back, shoving a crumpled sheet of paper into the royal’s hands.

   “Ekka sona?” Roman asked the little boy, who couldn’t have been any older than six. The boy ducked his head shyly as he wrung his hands.

   “E eayo tu seongu na basta taeya. Madda seun tu kkayeong vas. Haepsu,” he breathed, his eyes the size of the moon. “Tu sa eh laoch.” A nearly inaudible gasp left Roman’s lips as the boy hugged Roman’s legs and ran back to the group.

   “Oi! Ekka alta?” Roman called.

   The kid turned on his heel as he ran, cupping his hands to his mouth. “Kit!”

   “You want to adopt the kid, don’t you?” Patton simpered as Roman nodded vigorously. “He said he saw the whole thing,” Patton translated. “He told us we’re his heros.”

   “I’m going to fucking adopt that kid if it’s the last thing I do,” Virgil declared passionately.

   “Alright, is it party time now?” Cal yelped as Logan hit their head in exasperation, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he nodded. “Fuck yeah, let’s get totaled!” they cheered as the five of them at last headed for the revelry.

   They had not expected people to surround them as soon as they walked through the doors, mobbing them with questions and praise and noise. Cal would have gone straight to their room then and there and asked a nearby maid to get them a drink, never to see the light again, if it weren’t for Patton’s grasp on their arm, pulling further into the horde inside the ballroom.

   They said a little prayer for their sanity and put on their best I-don’t-want-to-be-here smile as the others began to greet the mob. For their family, Cal reminded themself, they could do this for their family.

   Cal breathed a sigh of relief when the last guests went away. They hadn’t been able to have a single drink in the time they had been there, which was a problem in Cal’s mind. They rolled their head, working out the kinks in their neck as they spied a waitress walking by with a tray full of fizzy pink drinks. Cal felt themself smirk as they weaved around the crowd for their prize.

   They lost her in the crowd, pushed out of the way by a dancing couple, who apologized profusely, but got them nowhere closer to their cocktail of inhibition. Defeated, they returned to their family, eyes focusing on a shadow behind Roman, gasping as realization struck them.

   An old woman had snuck up behind the Vasryian, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Cal felt for their blade, going numb when they remembered there had been a strict no weapons rule for the coronation’s ceremony and reception. They opened their mouth to warn the royal when the woman suddenly hugged him, squealing.

   “Oh, Roman! You’ve grown!” Roman shrieked in surprise, though the offending noise quickly turned to laughter as he recognized the old lady.

   “Grandma!” he cried with delight as he returned the hug. “Sweet Calypso, I thought… I thought Draven had killed you, too!”

   “Oh, my God, Roman has a grandmother,” Virgil muttered as Logan side-eyed him a silent warning to behave properly.

   “My darling, I may be a Prionsa in name only, but we have the same fighting spirit. I promised I would not fall to that man,” the woman said with a fierce glint in her eyes. Seeing the question in Roman’s eyes, she continued. “Your grandfather did not die at that man’s hands. We hid with my sister on Dageron. He passed on to the heavens peacefully in his sleep some years ago and reunited with Duchess Haaija.” The woman’s eyes grew sad. “You must forgive me, my dear Roman. I’ve held off his funeral in hopes that you and Patton were alive as the guards told me. I thought Iske would like it, if you were there.”

   Roman’s eyes were filled with tears. “I… I don’t know what to say…” He hugged his grandmother tighter, burying his face into the crook of her neck. “Thank you.” The woman outstretched an arm to Patton, who quickly accepted the offer, hugging both of them.

   “From what I researched—” Logan quietly explained to Virgil and Cal, “—Lady Kalopsia married the father of Roman’s mother. His mother’s sister adopted Patton, making him and Roman cousins. It seems all three of them consider each other family despite having no blood relation, like us.”

   Cal chuckled. “Yeah… yeah, like us.”

   Roman and Patton pulled away with damp eyes, Roman wiping away the streams down his cheeks with the back of his hand. “Well, you boys go back to the party, alright? Don’t let an old woman like me stop you from having fun. It’s your coronation day, you should be celebrating!” the old crone said as she pushed her grandsons back towards the festivities.

   “Okay, Grandmama!” Patton acquiesced as he hugged her goodbye. She disappeared into the crowd, just another face among hundreds. Cal watched her go with narrow eyes, truthfully quite jealous of the boys.

   “You good, guys?” Virgil asked, eyebrows upturned in concern. Roman nodded, took Virgil’s hand, and squeezed it, nodding. Roman’s eyes darted up at the crowd, scanning the faces. His eyes lit up with recognition.

   “Vespera!” Roman cried as he noticed a woman pulling a young girl. The woman looked up and broke into a smile as she saw Roman, drawing near despite the girl’s whines. “How are you, dear? It’s been too long,” he greeted as he drew the mysterious woman into a tight hug.

   “It has,” the woman agreed. “I’m doing wonderful, thank you for asking. A little worn out caring for my daughter, Annamer,” she sighed, gesturing to the little girl, who hid behind her mother’s legs as she studied the strangers, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Vespera paused, smile falling. “Did you hear? He tried to invade Dageron during our Festival of Dying Suns.” Roman gasped, shaking his head. “The damn fool thought his petty army stood a chance against ou mages.” The silence grew as all traces of joy disappeared from the Dageronian’s face. “I never thought I’d see you again. Draven told us you had died alongside your parents in a fire at your summer cottage. When I received notice that you to be crowned king, I almost didn’t believe it. It was quite a shock.”

   “Well, here I am, alive and well… I… can’t saw the same for my parents, however.” Roman’s voice broke at the end, his shoulders tensing. Vespera placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

   “They would be very proud of you, Roman. I am very proud of you.” Roman smiled bittersweetly, bowing his head. The woman noticed someone in the crowd and called to them. “Samuel, could you please take Annamer? I think she’s getting cranky, and you can handle her better than I can when she gets testy.” A man quickly came to Vespera, kissing her on the cheek, and took the little girl’s hand, guiding her out of the ballroom.

   Roman seemed to recall his friends were waiting to be introduced to this enigmatic lady and corrected his error. “Vespera, I’d like you to meet the people who helped me throughout my years as an outlaw and who’ve become family to me.”

   “Hello to you all,” Vespera acknowledged, curtsying.

   “You already know Patton,” he said as Patton waved, smiling at the old friend. “This is Logan, the brilliant man who always planned our exploits… even if I never really followed his instructions.” Logan huffed jovially and he bowed his head to Vespera, who curtsied again. “This is Cal, our bold but loveable gunner and leader. They’re the one who inspired us all to take a stand against Draven in the first place.”

   “You’re wings are absolutely gorgeous, my dear,” Vespera commented as she shook Cal’s outstretched hand, her glittering eyes tracing every curve of their wings. Cal gave a curt nod in thanks. “And… who are you?” she asked Virgil, who was staring at the floor, uncomfortable with the attention.

   “I’m Vee,” he mumbled under his breath, shuffling his feet. “I’m Roman’s emaja.” Vespera smiled.

   “I’m Vespera Katriel.” She glanced at Roman, who nodded, gesturing for her to continue. “I… was Roman’s betrothed, once upon a time.” She laughed at Virgil’s surprise and apprehension. “You don’t have to worry, dear. I have my own husband, who I love as much as I’m sure you love yours.”

   “Oh! Oh, we’re not—we’re not married,” Virgil blurted, his face coloring as Vespera hid a snicker behind her hand.

   “Yet,” Logan muttered as Roman’s cheeks turned the same shade as Virgil, who turned in disbelief and smacked his shoulder. Cal snorted loudly, encouraging Vespera to laugh as well. Virgil opened his mouth to spit some witty retort at Logan, when a loud voice interrupted them.

   “Ladies and gentlemen—” Cal bristled, “—we now invite you all to dance at the center of the room. First, however, the king shall perform the ceremonial coronation dance,” the voice announced. Roman cursed quietly.

   “I was never any good at that,” he grumbled as he headed to the center of the ballroom.

   “Vee, you might want to get a good place for this,” Vespera advised, already taking him by the arm and leading him as he spluttered, confused. Never one to miss out on a spectacle, Cal quickly claimed their own spot in the front. Roman was in the center of the circle the crowd had created, head bowed as the multitude hushed, allowing the music to trickle through, a soft piano accompanied by a mellow violin.

   Roman’s eyes were closed as he began to move. He lifted an arm in the air, graceful as the winter winds as he swayed back and forth like a hesitant heart to the music. Roman was nothing less than the evanescent efflorescence of a flower blooming in the dark, a symbol of hope in a boundless void as he danced, spinning and twirling and bending to the will of the melody. Not a soul could drag their eyes away for one second as he danced, some even crying as they watched their long-lost king dance to a tune mournful but proud, bittersweet but hopeful. As the final note ebbed away to a time of what-ifs and yesterdays, Cal, like many others, found themself moved to applause as Roman, grinning despite the flush across his cheeks, bowed deeply.

   “My dear People, friends, and family, I thank you all for celebrating today in my honor. Please, join me in dance and revelry,” Roman announced as the musicians in the back corner stage struck up a jolly tune, one apparently familiar to the Vasryian people who gasped and clapped with recognition and overtook the ballroom in a frenzied, energetic dance. Cal stepped back, bopping their head to the beat as Roman went to Virgil, bowing with his hand outstretched. Though they could not hear the words exchanged between the two, Roman must have delivered another one of his cheesy romantic lines, for Virgil’s face went red and he smacked Roman’s arms despite grinning like the lovesick idiot he was and gladly following Roman to the center as Logan took Patton’s hands and led him in a small waltz and the Drisine laughed, his smile bright as the stars.

   They watched the dancing for a while until they got bored of ogling all the pretty dresses flashing by them in whirls of hues, and retreated to wall, where like-minded people were resting on one of the benches or were simply plastered against the wall in what Cal assumed was a failing attempt to be invisible. They hung out by a vase, the aroma of the flowers nearly overwhelming as they closed their eyes, letting their mind fill with the sound of the piano’s crescendos and diminuendos.

   “Ya seem bored.” Cal was unsurprised at the sound of the mechanic’s voice. They opened their eyes to see her standing in front of them, her waistcoat from earlier gone and two buttons of her top undone. Her face was painted with a faint flush as she nursed an empty wine glass, depositing it on a tray as soon as a waiter got close enough. “Wanna chase away the dog and tell me what this angel hoo diddy is all about?” she asked, gesturing to Cal’s wings. Cal’s face flushed as they laughed awkwardly.

   “Well, I’ve only had them for about a month, so… I don’t really know what’s really going on.” They shrugged, trying to shake off the embarrassment growing in their chest. “I’m, um… not, not what you said… I’m not ‘an angel’. I think.”

   “What are ya, then?” Wonderling smirked. “Besides a kick-ass fighter, I mean.”

   “Logan said I… transformed or something when I touched the Gazer Stone. Apparently, I’m a Stargazer.” Wonderling tilted her head, confused. “You know… the mythical beings who protect the legacy of Calypso and her Generals? ‘Daughters of Calypso and sons of the Guardian’ and all that?” Wonderling shook her head. “It’s—it’s not a big deal, don’t worry about.”

   “Hey, Wonder, I’s wond’rin’ when I’d sees ya!” a man called as he came up from behind them, a pretty young woman’s arms wrapped around his shoulders as he dragged her limp body across the floor. “Ada found the apple jack again. I got’s ‘er a cup of Adam’s ale, but I thinks she just needs a dream before she airs the paunch. Ya thinks ya could give a horse?”

   “Allers, Rowan.” Wonderling took a step forward, taking one arm of the woman and slinging around her own shoulder. “Hey—Rowan, ya never met Cal, have ya? C’mere, I’ll get y’all acquainted with one another. Rowan—Rowan, stick ya hand out, this ain’t Legion!” The man—Rowan—grumbled, but stuck out his hand in a friendly greeting. “Now, Rowan, this is Cal, a friend of the troublemaker boys, though Cal’s much more manageable than the rest of them, battling ancient evils aside.” Cal nodded curtly, firmly shaking Rowan’s almond-colored hand. “And, Cal, this is Rowan, my best friend’s brother—”

   “Hey, I’m yer best friend, too!”

   “Only sometimes, Rowan, sweetie.” Cal hid a giggle behind a cough. “Now, let’s get Ada to bed, how ‘bout it?” Wonderling heaved Ada’s dead weight back onto her, shifting her limp head into a more comfortable position. The mechanic paused, and turned back to Cal. “I wouldn’t wait up for me, Cal. Ada can be a bit much to handle when she’s whittled. Tell the boys I said good night, will ya?”

   “...sure.” Wonderling smiled and thanked them, and started off with Rowan, moving slowly to keep the sleeping woman upright. Cal felt something akin to disappointment settle in their stomach. The mechanic was a beautiful, kind woman, but she had a job—two, actually, two that probably kept her very busy. This was very likely one of the last times Cal would be able to see her, talk freely with her. Unless they did something about it. “Miss—Miss Wonderling?” The mechanic turned around, eyebrows raised. “Would you, um…” Sweet Calypso, it felt like their face was on fire. “...would you like to… to share a glass sometime? I—I know you’re probably very busy and all, but I—”

   “Cal?” They fell silent unhesitatingly, eager to hear their response. She grinned, radiating joy and warmth. “I would love to.” With that, she resumed her assistance again, Rowan and Wonderling continued to guide the unconscious woman to the room where she was staying. Cal sat themself down on a nearby chair, an unbelieving smile on their face.

   Patton came running up to them, his excitement almost touchable. “Cal! Are you enjoying the party?” He quickly downed a tall flute filled with something golden, his cheeks flushing with colors and his eyes glazing just a little bit more as soon as he swallowed the sparkling liquid. “Whoo, that’s strong,” he mumbled. “Are you having fun? I said that before, haven’t I?”

   Cal laughed, taking Patton’s glass and setting it on the tray of a passing waiter. “No more good shit for you, Patton,” they snickered as he pouted, whining at the loss of his liquid oblivion. “And, yeah, I am having fun. It’s been one of the best nights of my life.” They smiled, noticing Roman and Virgil in the center of the room, beneath golden chandelier burning bright with the flames of a thousand candles, their eyes locked as they danced slowly across the floor. “Looks like they’re having fun,” they noted, jutting their head at the lovers.

   Patton smiled softly as he at last sat down next to them, though still extremely energetic, swinging his feet like a child and giggling and hiccuping uncontrollably at random intervals. “Yeah. I’m really happy for them, Cal. Roman and Virgil have both been through so much… they really deserve someone who loves them.”

   “Well, we love them both, right?”

   “We do, but…” Patton’s voice grew a tad more serious, despite his eyelids starting to flutter. “They need someone who will devote their whole being to them. They need something other than friends. I might be fine with family, or people who become like family to us, but Roman, and Virgil, and a lot of other people need someone to hold them and empathize with them and kiss them and love them in a different way. I still don’t really understand it—maybe that’s because I grew up away from my kind—but I’m starting to learn.” Patton’s eyes closed as he leaned against Cal, breathing deeper and slower with each inhale. “I’m really happy for them,” he whispered again as his breathing evened out, eyes staying shut.

   “Patton, if you’re— Oh, well, that’s… alright, let’s get you to bed,” they mumbled as they got up, holding the shapeshifter upright. They tried to lift him up, struggling. Cal let out a defeated sigh. “...I guess we could stay here for a few minutes…” they conceded as they sat back down, maneuvering the Drisine into a much more comfortable position against their shoulder.

   They saw Logan walk by a couple minutes later and called him over so at least they’d have company to conversate with. “What happened to Patton?” he asked, sitting on Patton’s left.

   “He got a little too tipsy, he’ll be fine by the morning.” They chuckled, shaking their head as they thought back on misadventures they had had while drunk. The last time they had had a drink had been at Sleeping Stars. So much had come from that little glass. They spied a waiter passing by and snatched a drink from the tray, downing it in one gulp. At Logan’s raised eyebrow, they teased, “What? Last time I drank enough to actually have courage we ended up dethroning a bastard and making Roman a king. Who knows what will happen this time?” Logan snorted, eyes going wide as he realized the sound he had just made was a laugh.

    Pointing a finger at Cal in an attempt to seem serious, Logan threatened, “If the fact that I just laughed ever makes it way back to Patton, I’ll never let you drink again.” Cal giggled, already feeling the effects of whatever they had just swallowed.

   “Sure, sure.” A thought struck them. “Hey, how much has Virgil had? He’s not good with alcohol either, right?”

   “You’re correct, though I’m surprised you remember that, Cal,” he replied with a hint of admiration.

   “Got to look out for my friends, don’t I?” they contemplated. “Calypso knows where I’d be without you all. Probably would’ve thrown myself into space to fill the black hole inside of me… though I think you guys have done a pretty good job yourselves.” The scholar grinned.

   Logan fell silent, his gaze on the sleeping Drisine. “Who knows where I’d be…” he mulled. “I would still be back home, working with the Guild. I might have actually reprogrammed myself…” He laughed under his breath, shaking his head. “Look how far we’ve come.”

   They let themselves bask in the comfortable silence, needing no words to speak their friendship. Cal almost fell asleep to Patton’s subtle breathing, his chest rising and falling in time with the music that danced and spun and twirled through the hallways. Their eyes were closed, the darkness behind their eyelids no longer cold and distant, but alive and warm like a summer’s night spent exploring fields of fireflies.

   Cal heard the tread of footsteps approach them and opened their drowsy eyes. Roman and Virgil were standing above them. “Sorry, Cal, did we wake you?” Virgil asked.

   “Nah, I was just… resting my eyes…”

   “...Whatever you say, Cal,” Virgil snickered. “It’s suffocating in here, how about we move into the gardens?” Cal nodded, wordlessly standing up, Logan helping them to bring a sleeping Patton to his feet. “Want me to bring him to his room?” Virgil offered.

   Cal waved it off, saying, “It’s fine, I’ll just sit him down on a bench outside. Wouldn’t want you to miss a second of your lover’s coronation party.” Virgil blushed, swatting Cal’s arm playfully.

   The five went outside, where only a few guests milled about in the shadows. Fairy lights decorated the silhouettes of trees, each little spark a different color. It was dark out, stars creeping out of their daylight sleep to shimmer dazzlingly, painting the heavens with life. The shadows of roses and weeping trees seemed to move in the low light, their spirits laughing together and dancing in the firelight of the moon.

   “I’ll miss living among the stars,” Roman whispered, wrapping an arm around Virgil’s side, pulling him close.

   “I’m really going to miss our days of swashbuckling outlawing,” Virgil mused, resting his head on the royal’s collarbone. “I suppose Vasryia has laws against stealing goods and fighting every asshole you come across?” he asked Roman.

   “Fortunately, yes, we do,” he laughed. “Though, I certainly agree, I will miss having complete and utter freedom from responsibilities and consequences and whatnot. But, who knows? Maybe we’ll have some adventures with time.”

   “Oh, please,” Cal snorted with merriment. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll be on another adventure before we even know it.” For a moonlit moment, their eyes glowed silver as the clouds, perhaps just a reflection of the lights strung about the gardens, or perhaps but an auspice. “I just hope you’ll be willing to listen.”

Translation of the Vasryian language:

“Eh saeuna fa eh saegha iwa oen na ise Cayso, kirō e talhyn viosa i fa fērka-dai e gal. Mae na Garda yaesen na alma reaga eh noma sha da eh uoye haseo fai na sasha de eh Vasr.” (“My love for my country shall be as high as the heart of Calypso, which I promise to live in for every day I breathe. May the generals rip the soul out of my body if ever my eyes stray from the good of my People.”)

“E reja na alma Cayso!” “E reja na alma Garda! E reja na alma Saeona!” (“I invoke the spirit of Calypso!” “I invoke the spirit of the Generals! I invoke the spirit of the Guardian!”)

“E sa tu ren!” (“I am your king!”)

“E fauna tu hanna fai na meoso de na alda fa na saeuna agus talta tu chaka yai e na saga lune sa cayse de na fin de na ren-vio de eh babusha venna. E talhyn dorioga ferka sahaga e dan iga na alma Cayso-dai, agus e heuyo kaeh ser  tu, eh Vasr, ina baego fa eh itda. Ingan vas irheo bakdan o vas irheo pasha, ingan vas kona o vas kana, ingan vas saeuna o vas fuath, e talhyn tu vas nunra vasya, na Vasr de Vasryia.” (“I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the love and support you have shown me this past month in light of the end of tyrannical reign of my late uncle. I promise to uphold every oath I took before the spirit of the heavens, and I swear to always put you, my People, in the forefront of my mind. Whether we face hardship or we face peace, whether we rise or we fall, whether we love or we hate, I promise to you we shall do it together, as the people of Vasryia.”)

“Ekka sona?” (“What’s this?”)

“E eayo tu seongu na basta taeya. Madda seun tu kkayeong vas. Haepsu.” (“I saw you fight a big black monster. Mistress says you saved us. Thank you.”)

“Tu sa eh laoch.” (“You’re my hero.”)

“Oi! Ekka alta?” (“Hey! What’s your name?”)

“Kit!” (“Kit!”)

and just like that, a legend ends

ha, who am i kidding? Starbound has closed it covers, and I couldn’t be more happy! Over a year and a half was devoted to this brainchild of mine, and I’m ecstatic to have finally finished and been able to have shared it with you all!

I’ll be honest with you all, I am seriously considering trying to publish Starbound. Naturally, it would be heavily revised (and most of it would probably be deleted but oh well) and all the names would be changed. What do you guys think? Should I try to get Starbound published?

To end, thank you. Even if you only read the original post with the headcanons, or if you’ve read every single chapter. Thank you. You’re interactions and enthusiasm are the reasons I kept writing. If it were any other story, I would have abandoned it within two chapters and moved on to another story that would also end up discarded. But you guys kept me going, and now I can proudly state that I’ve finished a novel. So, despite the fact that I always say this, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I love you guys! <3

tag list:

@asofterfan

@alix-the-skeleton

@hufflepuffsscrewdriver

@v-blue-writer

@sanderssidesstuff

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 21

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Calypso and Annabeth have an important encounter

A/N: Sorry for the lateness! It’s time for some Annabeth action. Just a fair warning, since next Friday is the Christmas day and the Friday after that the New Year, I am not sure when I'm going to be able to post again. Be prepared for at least one week's break, possibly even two. But don't worry because more is definitely coming.

I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think!!

Calypso is the bolded text and Hazel the regular in the texting part.

Words: 2300+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

…

Getting Leo to talk to her again was a huge weight off of Calypso’s shoulders, but there was still more to be done. Annabeth still kept to herself during the history lectures and Calypso didn’t want to force her to talk; she felt Annabeth should be the one to initiate it. From what Calypso had heard, Piper had tried to talk to her earlier, but so far Calypso hadn’t noticed any significant changes in Annabeth’s behavior. When she walked into the lecture hall that day, she noticed the blonde girl on the opposite side of the room, focused on her book. Letting a small sigh out of her mouth, she went to her usual seat pretty far from Annabeth.

Since the lecture wouldn’t start for a few more minutes, Calypso decided to use the time by checking her phone. When she opened her WhatsApp, she considered for a moment to whom she should text. Her first instinct told her she should contact Leo, but she imagined he was probably busy going to his own lecture at that moment, so she ended up scrolling through her other contacts instead. Noticing that Hazel seemed to be online, she started typing to her.

10:05: Hi, Hazel

10:05: Hi there! Was just thinking about you!

10:06: You were? How come?

10:06: Frank just texted me that on his morning jog near the campus today he had run into someone he had apparently recently met somewhere (he didn’t tell me where exactly).

10:07: and they had talked for a while.

10:07: At some point Frank mentioned the guy’s first name was Leo. I’m pretty sure it was /the/ Leo!!

10:08: How can you be so sure? I’m sure there are plenty of Leos around this campus. It’s not a rare name.

10:09: no but hear me out. The description matches with what you’ve told me. He said he’s a mechanic with a dog and when I asked Frank what he looked like, he said ‘dark hair, scrawny, eyes look like there’s some mischief going on in that head of his all the time but he’s not actually that bad when you talk to him’

10:09: I admit that does sound like the Leo I know

10:09: I told you! What a small world it is, apparently the boys we’re interested in know each other!

10:10: Still feels so weird when you put it that directly. You’re the only one who knows so far. So please, if you somehow happen to see him as well, don’t say anything.

10:10: Alright, I won’t. But what are /you/ waiting for? If he’s anything like the boys in our art class I’m sure he’s all over you by now.

10:10: Hazel!

10:11: Sorry, sorry. But you did talk to him after that… situation you had?

10:11: I did. We’re good now. Thanks for the advice the other day, by the way. It did help.

10:12: Ha, so you’re saying I gave you good advice. Could that mean that maybe you should also reread what I just said a moment ago?

10:12: Sorry, I gotta go. Something came up. TTYL!

10:13: Calypso!!

10:13: That’s so rude :P

Calypso hadn’t lied, though. She had noticed someone sneaking from the other side of the hall to the seat behind her, and that someone happened to be her friend to whom she hadn’t properly spoken for several weeks now. Trying to stay on her seat as neutrally as possible, still watching her now dark phone screen, she waited for Annabeth to start the conversation.

There was a tap on her shoulder. “Cal…” she finally heard Annabeth’s familiar voice say.

“Yeah?” Calypso asked tentatively, slowly turning on her seat to see the speaker.

“I think we should talk,” Annabeth stated, sounding more like her usual self.

“Um, sure,” Calypso answered but didn’t have time to say more when the professor stopped her, starting the lecture. “After this class, OK?”

“Right.” Annabeth nodded. Then she turned her focus to the professor, but Calypso noticed that not for long. She started doodling something into her notebook and was tapping on the floor with her foot, a habit that Calypso had noticed was very familiar to Leo, especially when he was nervous. Sometimes it was so easy to forget that Annabeth also had dyslexia and ADHD like him. The information seemed to come to her so naturally… but before the Percy incident, Annabeth had revealed that especially when she had been younger she usually had had to read the textbooks at least 5 times before she had finally absorbed what she had read. Later on, with the help of a teacher that actually understood her learning disability, she had learned some other methods that seemed to help her. One side of Calypso thought that it was relieving to see Annabeth show signs of weakness because usually she seemed so good at everything she did that it was mildly intimidating.

Soon Calypso realized that she herself had trouble focusing on what the professor was explaining while thinking about what she should tell Annabeth after the class. What could she say that she already hadn’t in the previous time? That she absolutely hated Annabeth’s boyfriend’s guts? That her flatmate made her feel weird things when they were in the same room so there was absolutely no need to be jealous?

Once the lecture was over, Calypso packed her things and gestured to Annabeth that they should have their conversation outside the lecture hall. They were walking silently until most of their fellow students had split into their own directions and found a quiet spot by the windows. There were some armchairs spread around the corridor to make it seem more comfortable and the girls sat down on two of them.

“I take it you may have changed your mind about me,” Calypso said directly once she had settled on her seat, feeling there was no need to tiptoe around the topic.

“I… yeah,” Annabeth started, and for a brief moment Calypso thought she showed a tiny bit of fragility. Suddenly she realized that maybe Annabeth wasn’t being her usual confident self, because she wasn’t that great at dealing with her feelings. Things like maths, chemistry and physics were simple to her because there were certain rules that needed to be applied. But the human mind was harder to read, Calypso knew that much. “Sometimes I think there are two different Annabeths: one that is very protective and jealous when it comes to the people she cares about, and then there’s the rational Annabeth who tries to yell to the other one that she is being ridiculous. I’m sorry. I overreacted.”

Calypso shook her head. “No, I think I can understand why it bothered you. I hate keeping things from you, but I promised to myself… I mean, it is safer to not get you guys involved.”

“But… why? What could happen?” Annabeth asked, folding her arms.

“I’m not going to go to details but my father… I’m sure you have figured out by now that he is not a nice guy. When he doesn’t like someone, or someone tries to get into his way… Good things don’t usually follow that. And I mean it. There is a very good reason why I moved this far from my previous home. To be honest, I would have liked to go all the way to Greece but that just wasn’t possible.”

“So you’re saying that your father is what you’re afraid of? And he could get us - I mean your friends - into trouble if you shared too much information with us?” Annabeth collected the pieces of the puzzle together.

“Basically, yes. But please, don’t ask more. I may already have said too much,” Calypso said worriedly.

“Don’t worry. My lips are definitely sealed,” Annabeth reassured her.

“Thanks.” Calypso hesitated a bit. “Um, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead,” Annabeth nodded.

Calypso shifted a bit on her seat, trying to get more comfortable. “If I’m honest, I was not expecting you to forgive me that whole Percy thing that easily. What changed your mind?”

“Well, let me just tell you that you have some very good friends who managed to persuade me.” Annabeth gave her a playful smile.

“Huh? Who?” Calypso knew that Piper had talked to Annabeth but she didn’t know there were others as well.

“First of all, Percy convinced me that there was absolutely no reason to be jealous. I’m not going to tell you how he did it, but he can be pretty sweet when he wants to. Besides, between you and me: Seaweed Brain just can’t lie to me. I can read him like a book.” Annabeth’s smile only widened as she said that.

“OK.” Calypso didn’t think she wanted to hear more about that topic.

“But that wasn’t all. Piper also talked to me,” Annabeth added.

“What did she say?” Calypso asked curiously.

Annabeth’s eyes started sparkling mischievously. “A lot of things,” she started, “but she reminded me of some events that happened before Percy’s arrival that evening.”

“I don’t understand you now,” Calypso pretended to be stupid even though she was already guessing where Annabeth was going with her statement. “What events?”

“I don’t know…” Annabeth tapped her fingers against her forehead. “I think hugging, cupcake sharing and flirty bickering was involved. Keyword: think. I guess the people involved know more about that than I do.”

“That was… that was just us being friendly!” Calypso rushed to deny. “And what was so flirty about our bickering? We do that all the time and I’m not trying to…”

“Relax, Cal,” Annabeth stopped her. “It just kind of reminded me of me and Percy. But if you say so…”

Calypso groaned slightly. “Fine, you won. Again. Maybe… I may be starting to like him. But that doesn’t mean anything. He probably doesn’t like me back. And it wouldn’t work out for various reasons. I… When I moved here, I really thought I could just forget about everything that happened in my past and start to live my life. But it turns out that my past is still following me and stopping me from forming functional relationships. Besides… none of my former relationships worked. I may have been a kid back then but I made some bad decisions and it wrecked my self confidence. I don’t want to get hurt again and I also don’t want to hurt Leo. He has a very good heart, despite his weirdnesses…”

“Calypso, I know from my own experiences that ghosts of your past can be hard to fight. I have had plenty of family issues of my own in the past and they have probably influenced my later decisions, I admit that. But you seem to have taken an attitude that you have to deal with it alone. But you don’t. Let us help you. Maybe I can’t speak for all of us but I know I’m not afraid of your father. It is always possible to fight if you just come up with a good strategy.”

“This is probably a weird comment but that sounded like something I’d imagine the goddess Athena say. Are you sure you’re not her? Or related?” Calypso attempted to joke.

“Last time I checked, all of us were regular people,” Annabeth chuckled. “I admit I’m probably not quite as advanced in the greek mythology as you are although I have studied some of it, of course. But your question reminded me of this book series I read as a kid: Peter Johnson and the Olympians. The characters in it were children of Greek gods and I always wished that I’d be like one of the main characters who was a daughter of Athena.”

“Ooh, I read that series too!” Calypso said enthusiastically. “It was kind of cute although now that I know more about history and Greek mythology, not all the characters are quite like I picture them in my head. But I appreciate the effort to make the mythology more known to young readers.”

“Right! I agree.” Annabeth nodded before realizing they had gotten pretty far from the original topic.  “Sorry, we got a bit sidetracked here. I seriously do hope that you’ll let us help if needed. I myself am gonna try to be more patient and let you do it on your own terms, though.”

“Thanks, Annabeth. Um, about that Leo part, though…” Calypso felt her cheeks heat again and she wanted to curse her silly mind for reacting like that every time she thought about her flatmate. “Would you please be kind and keep it between us? I just really am not ready to deal with that yet…”

“Fine. I’ll let it be. For now. But maybe think about it. Who knows, you could be surprised by what might happen…” Annabeth said mysteriously.

“What do you mean?” Calypso frowned.

“Like I said, there are people who are ready to help you carry your burden even though you’re too absorbed by your issues to notice that. That’s all.”

“O-kay,” Calypso said suspiciously, wondering what Annabeth’s statement implied.

“You should know that one of the people who talked with me was Leo. He said he had noticed that you were feeling pretty down since the… incident and that you seemed to blame yourself for everything. And that you also felt very bad about not being honest. That’s what really opened my eyes and made me decide that I need to get over my grudge that doesn’t even make sense. I got what I wanted, didn’t I? Logically thinking, you should be the one who’s mad at me.”

“That Leo…” Calypso was so focused on that part for a moment that it took her a while to register what else Annabeth had said. “Um, sorry. To be honest, I think the Calypso from a couple of years ago would have been mad. But my priorities have changed and I also realized that Percy is way happier with you.”

“I’m glad you’re not holding a grudge, though,” Annabeth said.

“Life’s too short for that,” Calypso shrugged.

“I guess so. So, we’re friends, right?”

“Right,” Calypso confirmed, giving Annabeth a genuine smile. Some hope had risen in her heart again and she made a mental note to thank a certain mechanic later at home.