#b) he STILL is really tall and taller than his human form

[lazycats-stuff]

👋Hello, hope you are having a good day/night?

If you're interested in writing it I thought of an idea Bruce(Bats) x tall male werewolf reader

Reader is on the run from hunters and is hiding in Gotham. He's way taller than Bruce, a little rough around the edges and a total badass. No one knows he's a werewolf till some hunters come to Gotham, maybe they want to kill reader because he's a werewolf or want his pelt because its rare? Your choice. And maybe a lil bit of batfam?

Of course I'm interested. It sounds interesting. I do wonder how Bruce would react to a werewolf boyfriend.

Summary: Bruce meets a werewolf. Of course he doesn't realize it right away, but once he notices different people lingering around (Y/N), he is not sure that he knows everything about (Y/N).

Warnings: Violence, shifting into a werewolf, murder, Bruce being scared of the reader (for a moment)

(Y/N) walked back home. It was 2 am and he had just finished his shift as a security guard at the club. His statue and attitude in general made is great for a security guard in a rowdy club. And it worked well in Gotham. Criminals don't really come near you and they leave you be.

And if necessary, you could help out someone. Although, even the people he helped out were afraid of him. Could he blame them? No. He is tall as Mount Everest, with muscles and looks like he is one step away from murder.

Either way, it was great.

But this city was not. He now officially hates this city. There was far too noise for his supernatural hearing. He wanted to move away, somewhere far away from everyone, with woods near him. He doesn't like to be able in human form for a long time.

He checked his watch. 2:14 am. He will be back in ten more minutes and then he will sleep. He will have to text his boyfriend that he got home.

He took a quick look around, his paranoia acting up. He went through a lot over the years, he saw a lot of violence, death and destruction. Most of his friends were gone and he was now the definition of a loner wolf.

He looked down at his phone. His boyfriend was calling.

" Hey B. "

" Hey, are you near the apartment? "

" Close. I still can't believe you would stay up so late for me. "

" You are my boyfriend who works nightshifts. I'm worried about you walking around Gotham alone. I know you are taller than me and strong as me, but I still worry. "

" Well, there is no need. I will talk to you later and go to bed. "

" Will do. "

(Y/N) hanged up and put the phone back into his pocket. He took his keys and unlocked his apartment building. He needs to get in and sleep. He was about to unlock his apartment, but the smell made him stop. Who the hell was in his apartment? He took a sniff. It smelled familiar, but he couldn't pin point where he smelled it. That wasn't good.

He unlocked the door, moving quietly inside. He pounced at the figure waiting for him. (Y/N) pinned him to the ground, freezing when he saw the face. His old friend, who was supposed to be dead.

" What... You are supposed to be dead... How are you alive? " (Y/N) asked, shocked all the way to his core.

" I faked my death, my dear friend. "

(Y/N) stood up from his now alive friend, allowing him to get up.

" Why? "

" There are hunters coming to Gotham, but they are far more dangerous then the ones you encountered before. They are looking for your pelt my friend. "

" These aren't the ones that kill? "

" No, " the man shook his head, " They are far more sadistic. They will torture you until you turn and then skin you alive. And if you are lucky then they will kill you. " He said, sitting down on the couch.

" What name do you go by? " (Y/N) asked, crossing his arms.

" Alex. You need to leave Gotham now. "

(Y/N) shook his head. He can't. He can't leave Bruce and most definitely not his boys. He loved those boys as if they were his own. He considered them a part of his pack, people he needed to protect.

" I can't Alex. I... "

" Oh my God... You got connected with someone. You got a little pack! " Alex exclaimed.

" Keep your voice down. "

" Oh my dear friend... Well, you either tell them what you are or leave them. One way or another, the hunters will come for you. "

" I know that. "

" I hope you do. I have to go, I got to go now. Stay strong. "

" What other choice do we have? " (Y/N) asked Alex, who shrugged his shoulders.

He left the apartment and (Y/N) had sat down on the couch, leaning down and putting his head in his hands. What was he going to do? He needs to tell Bruce, but for the first time in a long time he was afraid. He feared the rejection more than the hunters... His priorities were messed up.

" Shit... "

But Bruce deserved to know the truth. He could at least do that. But could his heart take the rejection? (Y/N) muttered out a fuck then he looked for his phone. No... He is going to call him in the morning and ask him to meet. He has the weekend off and the time won't be the problem... Now he has to think about what to tell Bruce. Great...

(Y/N) was driving to the manor, trying to ignore the twitching oh his fingers on the steering wheel. His heart was beating so hard that (Y/N) thought that it was going to jump out of his chest. He got past the gate and parked the car. He saw Bruce waiting already at the entrance of the house. (Y/N) took a deep breath, trying to compose himself.

He stepped out, going straight to Bruce. Bruce reached out, but (Y/N) stopped.

" Bruce, I... I need to tell you something... Well, I need to show you this, otherwise you won't believe me. "

Bruce tilted his head, clearly confused. (Y/N) took his hand and dragged him to the back of the house, the part that was covered by the woods. He could show him there.

" (Y/N) what are we doing back here? What do you need to show me?"

" Now, you are either going to hate me or kill me... Nothing in between. Are we alone? " (Y/N) asked taking his shirt off.

" Yes we are, but why are you taking your clothes off?! " Bruce asked, completely thrown off by (Y/N)'s behavior.

" Bruce, I am a werewolf. "

Bruce laughed for a second, but the laugh stopped when he saw (Y/N) in his boxers and then shifting.

The sound of bones cracking, as if they are breaking, the limbs turning into paws. Bruce saw fur that was black as night and then the most blue eyes he has ever seen. And the wolf was the biggest animal that Bruce has ever seen. And Bruce?

Bruce was in shock, eyes wide. (Y/N) whimpered and then lowered himself onto his belly. He wanted to show Bruce that he had nothing to fear, that he wasn't going to hurt him.

It took Bruce a moment to snap back. He crouched down, reaching out to (Y/N)'s head. He wanted to pet it. Why? The fur seemed soft and (Y/N) lowered himself on his belly.

" It's okay, I'm not going to hate you. " Bruce consoled his lover. (Y/N) sighed in happiness, moving closer to Bruce, wagging his big tail. He gently licked Bruce's hands.

Bruce smiled, scratching (Y/N)'s ears.

" I have a secret to tell you myself. Well, I have to show you too. "

(Y/N) shifted back to his human form, now only in boxers. He put his clothes on quickly, then hugged Bruce.

" Thank you... For not rejecting me... "

" I would never do that hun. Did something happen? "

" Yeah... Can we go inside? "

Bruce nodded, taking his lover inside. They sat at the couch, holding hands.

" So, if you are not a human in this world, there are going to be hunters after you. If you are a werewolf, you will hunted for your fur... But now, there is a new type of hunters. The ones that are far more sadistic, the one that torture you until you turn and then make sure you stay in that... Form as they skin you..." (Y/N) stopped, choking on his breath.

Bruce squeezed his hands, to calm him.

" Sweetie, that won't happen to you. "

" How do you know that? " (Y/N) asked, closing his eyes for a moment.

" Because I am Batman. "

(Y/N) opened his eyes and looked at Bruce. What? But... Everything fit together.

" Oh my God... "

" Yeah... " Bruce said, turning his head to the side with a small, nervous smile.

" I have questions about your werewolf side. Way to many. And I would like to get rid of those hunters for good. Well, not kill them, but... Make sure that they won't come back to Gotham. "

" What are we going to tell the boys? And Alfred? "

" They will understand, trust me hun, we have seen stuff that... Well, we have seen a lot. I think they will even cuddle with you even more. Damian will love you even more. "

(Y/N) smiled, moving closer to Bruce, kissing him gently. Bruce wrapped his arms around (Y/N), bringing him into his lap.

" Okay, you two need to get a room. " Jason said, turning his head away.

(Y/N) and Bruce moved away from one another, trying not to blush.

" Jason, why are you home earlier? " Bruce asked his son.

Jason has shrugged his shoulders and went to the kitchen. (Y/N) glanced at Bruce with a small smile. It will an interesting evening to say the least.

The reveal of (Y/N)'s werewolf side went well. Damian was the first to hug (Y/N)'s wolf and demanded that (Y/N) be in his werewolf form more. He won't take no for an answer. But they were mad once they heard about hunters trying to hurt their new dad.

Bastards. Jason was ready to kill them. (Y/N) had to restrain him to not do anything stupid. And that's why Jason was now on (Y/N)'s lap. He didn't mind it.

" Okay, then what is the plan? Hunters are close to Gotham and we need to protect you. You are like our second dad... " Dick said, looking down at the floor.

" Well, I wanted to ask you this question for a while... Would you like to move in with us? " Bruce asked, hope shining in his eyes.

" Of course. You guys are my pack now. "

Jason leaned back, wrapping (Y/N) arms around him.

" It's official. You are our new dad. " Jason said, nodding to himself.

" Well, I say we set a trap for the hunters. " Damian said, standing up from the chair he was sitting in.

" An ambush you mean? " Tim asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

" Of course. (Y/N) gave us the descriptions and we can track them easily. They are going to pay. " Damian said, fire burning in his eyes.

Bruce looked a bit worried, but he couldn't exactly blame his son either. Nobody should go through what (Y/N) went through. Nobody.

" Hun, you stay put and we will deal with them. " Bruce said, taking his cowl. Jason stood up from (Y/N)'s lap and joined the others. They got ready and with a hug went to the car. Bruce gave (Y/N) a quick kiss and then a hug.

" Wait here, we will be back soon. "

(Y/N) nodded, sitting back down. He glanced at Alfred, the person who was quiet this entire time.

" I'm happy you are here master (Y/N), don't worry about my opinion. You have made master Bruce happy and the boys have accepted you. What more could I ask for? " Alfred said, smiling at (Y/N).

" You know, I have always wanted your approval. "

Alfred hummed, smiling at the werewolf.

" Well, you don't have to worry about that. I see the way you look at Bruce and the boys... You love them like they are your own and you are not freaked out by master Bruce night job. You are quite okay with that. And maybe I favor you more than Bruce. "

(Y/N) nodded, standing up and then hugging Alfred.

" Thanks Alfred. "

Alfred hugged back. (Y/N) was finally happy. He found the man he loves, the kids he loves as if they were his own... He found his pack. He finally found his pack.

[blobbei-art]

I love the friendship between this tiny middle aged lady and this not-even-he-knows-how-many-because-i-dont-think-he-counted years old large dinosaur(????) god

(felt like drawing Eva interacting with Kasifer in his true form)

[whump-me-all-night-long]

Jeweler!Sapphire AU (not canon)

Welcome to 3k words of this amazing AU idea that may or may not become a multi-parter. No editing, we die like.. idk. Please let me know what y'all think!!

Tagging the usual group (let me know if you only want to be tagging in canon stuff): @newbornwhumperfly @unicornscotty @itsleighlove @whump-scribbles @getyourwhumphere @skunkandgrenade @penny-for-your-whump @lektric-whump @just-a-whump-lover @thelazywitchphotographer @restrainthenmaime @angstyachesplus @lilbitwhumpy @leaderofthebeanarmy @aquard-skaii @whumprincess @thatgaysnail @finaldreams1106 @reveriedeludesme @kemonoinuzuka @circlingravens @whumpasaurus101 @spicy-wendigo @femmewithadhd @wafflestakethecake @lonesome--hunter @as-a-matter-of-whump @broadwaybabe18 @whumpinggoodtime @temporary-whump-sideblog @dumb-and-lesbian let me know if you want to be added/removed!

CW: talk of death (in a pretty disrespectful manner), talk of human trafficking, intimate whumper, hair pulling, noncon touching, some pretty noncon vibes near the end, uhhh Saph/Dustin is a real asshole, let me know if I need to tag anything else!

Masterlist

---

The sound of a ringing phone woke Dustin. With a groan, he rolled over in bed, blankets tangled around his legs. Blindly groping along his nightstand, he found his phone and answered the call, from an unknown number, blue eyes squinting against the flash of the bright screen.

“Yeah?” he answered, stifling a yawn.

“Is this Mr. Moore?” a timid male voice said.

Rubbing a hand across his face, Dustin sat up, glancing at the clock with a groan. “Yes, this is he,” he responded, voice tight. “Now who the fuck is calling me at four a.m.?”

A throat was cleared on the other end of the line. “Sorry to disturb you, sir, but I’m Nicholas Jameston.” There was a pause, as if he expected Dustin to recognize the name. “I’m your uncle’s lawyer.”

Dustin blinked, brow furrowing in confusion. “My uncle? You mean.. Uncle Spence?”

A curt “Yes, sir.”

“Okayyyy,” he drew out. “Listen, I haven’t talked to him in years. Since I left for college at least. Probably before even high school. You see, my dad and him, they didn’t really get along-” He cut himself off. Why was he telling this man anything? “Anyways, there must be some confusion. I don’t know why he wants his lawyer contacting me all of a sudden.” Shit, he thought. Did I break or steal something last time I was at his place? Is this what this is about?

There was an awkward beat of silence before the lawyer cleared his throat again. “No, sir, there’s no mistake or confusion. You see, you’re Mr. Spencer’s closest remaining blood relative.”

Dustin was really not awake enough for this conversation. “Just say what you need to and be done with it.”

“Your uncle is dead,” the lawyer finally said. “And you’re his sole heir.”

-

Dustin pulled up in his car, a shiny BMW he’d bought using his dad’s life insurance money a few years ago. He squinted against the darkness of early morning, checking the address again. This place looked less like a family home and more like a fortress. A prison.

He wondered, for the millionth time since getting rudely awoken and told that a man he’d met only a handful of times was a) dead and b) giving him everything, what exactly he was doing here. His dad must be rolling over in his grave. Not that Dustin particularly cared about that.

He knew that the brothers had never gotten along, that his dad, the older brother, had apparently “abandoned” the family business because it was “amoral,” but Dustin had never really been privy to the details. He rolled his eyes just thinking about his dad and his need to be righteous and perfect all the time.

That apparently had gone out the window at some point, but the bastard was too proud to go back to his brother - their parents were already dead by that time - and instead decided to start his own company, selling.. who knew? Certainly not Dustin. No, the young twenty-six-year-old was perfectly content enjoying his bachelor playboy lifestyle, feeding off mommy and daddy’s blood money.

“Mr. Moore?” A man was standing on the doorstep, fidgeting nervously with a thick manila envelope.

Dustin took one look at him and barely withheld a sigh. This man, short, balding, oily, was a lawyer alright. He raised one lazy eyebrow. “Jameson, I presume?” he called back, making his way slowly up the path to the door.

“Uh, it’s Jameston, sir,” the man corrected quickly.

Dustin didn’t bother to hide his smirk. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with. It’s early and I have a busy day ahead of me. Left a pretty girl waiting for me to call. Wouldn’t want to disappoint.”

Not bothering to wait, Dustin stepped up to the door and opened it, stepping inside a grand foyer. He whistled softly, taking in the shimmering chandelier, the sweeping staircase, with a gold-woven rug running down the middle, and the many large and well-furnished rooms branching off from the entrance.

“Now this is a nice playhouse, huh?” he said, grinned indolently.

He saw Jameston’s jaw tighten fractionally. “Yes, sir,” he responded. “Now, I can give you a complete tour of the house now. However, Mr. Spencer’s real estate agent can do that when she arrives here in-” he glanced at his watch - a fake, Dustin had noticed - “a couple hours or so. Furthermore, there was a, erm, rather sensitive matter that Mr. Spencer tasked me with familiarizing you with personally.” He adjusted his tie slightly, clearly nervous, before motioning Dustin down one of the smaller hallways to the side.

His curiosity piqued, Dustin followed. “What do you mean? Oh, don’t tell me, was the old man into some shady illegal business? Drugs? Girls?”

Jameston shook his head, Adam's apple bobbing. “No sir. Your uncle, he was an.. art collector, of a sort. Well, he created his own art, really. However, it was not necessarily, um, legally acquired.”

Dustin barely held in a laugh at the lawyer’s clear panic. “Of course it wasn’t,” he scoffed. “Do you know how much shady shit has gone on in this family?” He couldn’t stop the bark of laughter this time. “Of course you do, you’re the lawyer.”

Jameston’s face flushed but he remained quiet until he reached an indiscreet door at the end of a short hall. If Dustin didn’t know any better, he’d assume it was a closet or something. Jameston cleared his throat as he opened the door. “Welcome to the Jewelry Box, sir.”

-

Carnelian sighed, his head falling back against the wall as he stretched his legs out along the small bed. The only sounds in the large room was the occasional movement from one of the others.

“That’s it,” he muttered, standing up and marching over to the glass wall. “Is anyone else wondering where the bastard is?” he called, frowning as he caught the gazes of several of the others.

Emerald just shook his head, silently warning him. Amethyst, however, scoffed, picking at her nails intently. “Why do you care?” she snapped. “It’s not like you’re ever doing anything but yelling and cursing.”

“So?” Carnelian shot back. “Aren’t you at least a little curious as to what’s going on?”

As if to answer his questions, he heard the door hiss open. Turning his gaze towards it, he felt his lips tugging down into a frown.

“Here we go again,” he muttered. “I knew the bastard would be back before long.”

Then he met the gaze of a stranger, arrogant and lazy and startlingly bright blue. Eyebrows flicking up, he blurted, “Who the fuck are you?”

Smirking, the stranger glanced at a smaller man next to him, one Carnelian had glimpsed down here once or twice before, always with the Jeweler. “I think I’d like to ask you the same question.”

The small man cleared his throat and began speaking, quietly enough that Carnelian couldn’t hear. Instead he took in the stranger, as if he couldn’t quite tear his eyes away.

The man was attractive, annoyingly attractive from Carnelian’s perspective. His skin was a bronzed tone, clear and smooth. He was tall, probably taller than Carnelian, with a lean, slightly muscled body. He had on a dark t-shirt that clung to his body and somehow looked expensive, with form-fitting jeans and some Converse high tops on as well. His dark brown hair was slightly wavy, with the top grown out long and falling into his face. Carnelian’s eyes drifted down towards his mouth before he forcefully pulled them back up to his eyes, which were-

Still on him. Carnelian felt himself blush and then scowl as he met the man’s gaze. Already he was getting on his nerves. And where the hell was the Jeweler? Was this stranger some new client of his, looking to buy one of them? At that thought, Carnelian felt a flash of panic through him and glanced over at Emerald, who was looking subtly at him as well, clearly thinking the same thing.

Carnelian tuned back in when the stranger exclaimed, “Are you shitting me right now?” The stranger was now looking at each of them, studying them more intently.

His gaze almost completely skimmed over Diamond and Ruby, both of them still curled up in their beds, watching with wary and confused gazes. He barely even noticed Amber, the new one still drugged to high heaven after mouthing off to the Jeweler yesterday. Carnelian doubted the kid could even remember their own name right now, much less stand up from where they were sprawled in their bed. He took a bit longer looking at Emerald, his defensive stance, wise eyes, then Amethyst, with her crossed arms and haughty expression, before finally settling on Carnelian.

After several long, tense seconds, he looked back at the other man. “So you’re saying,” he drawled slowly, deliberately. “That this, all of this, the house, the business, the.. Jewels-” his mouth twisted into a cruel smirk- “they’re all mine?”

Swallowing, the other man nodded. “Yes sir, that’s what I’m saying.” He drew out a piece of paper and, clearing his throat, began to read. “‘I hereby give the entirety of my properties, including my family home, my businesses, and my Jewelry Box, to my closest remaining blood relative upon my death.’ That would be you, Dustin Moore.”

There was a gasp from one of the other cells, where Diamond had stood up, flying to the window, eyes wide and frantic. “Death? Wait, no, Sir, he- he can’t be-” They dissolved into sobs, sliding to their knees on the floor.

Carnelian glanced around at the rest of the Jewels, the only sound coming from Diamond. The rest of them had frozen as well, not sure how they were meant to respond. Carnelian was reeling, glancing down as he took a shaky breath. On the one hand, he was glad the bastard was dead. On the other, well, the Jeweler had never looked at him the way the stranger, Dustin the other man had said, looked at him. The Jeweler looked at him like some prized object, something to be shown off proudly and then put back into storage. The Jeweler treated him less than human; Dustin’s gaze said he knew precisely how human Carnelian was, he just didn’t care.

Before he knew it, Carnelian was raising his head to glare at the other man, only to find him still looking at him. As Dustin slowly moved forward, he asked, “Did my uncle give these.. Jewels any names? Because I think I’m seeing a theme in them.” He stopped a couple feet away from the glass, his head tilted slightly. “The only one I can’t seem to figure out is this one.”

Carnelian’s lip curled. “Stay the fuck away from me,” he snarled softly, looking him up and down before raising his brows slightly. “Bastard jr,” he added.

Dustin almost seemed caught off guard before letting out a laugh. “I thought you said that he trained them to be all submissive and whatever,” he called over to the other. “Jameston, this one seems to be a bit feral.” He stepped even closer, lifting one hand to touch the glass. Carnelian fell back a couple inches, eyes still narrowed.

Jameston cleared his throat yet again. Carnelian would almost feel bad for the guy, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was complicit in letting him stay kidnapped. “Yes sir, your uncle had his ways of training them. However, he didn’t train them all the same way. He found that one’s fight to be..” He skimmed his notes quickly. “..rather appealing, sir.”

Carnelian made a noise of disgust as Dustin grinned. “I can’t say I blame him.”

Carnelian barely breathed until Dustin stepped away, turning back to Jameston. “Well, I’ve seen them all. Let’s go back upstairs now. I think I saw a nice liquor cabinet that I’d like to raid.”

Once they were both gone from view and the door had hissed shut, Carnelian leaned his head against the cool glass.

“You okay?” Emerald asked.

Carnelian just shook his head, a sudden lump in his throat. “The way he looked at me,” he said softly.

“I know,” Emerald murmured back.

He glanced up to find the older man looking at him with concern and pity.

“Well then,” Amethyst said loudly, breaking the silence that had fallen thick and heavy. “That was certainly something.”

Diamond sobbed loudly. “That.. that can’t be true. Can it?” They looked up, searching the others’ faces. Carnelian felt a twinge of pity for them. After over a decade of being trapped down here, they had been reduced to a mere shadow of whoever they might have once been. At whatever they might’ve seen on their faces, Diamond dissolved back into inconsolable sobs.

Resting her head on the wall, Ruby quietly asked, “So what happens now?”

There was a beat of silence before Emerald replied, “Now we wait.”

-

Back upstairs, Dustin was finally alone after getting rid of that annoying lawyer. He had had to practically shove the man out of the house to get him to leave. Even then, he had only left with promises to call later about the details.

For now, Dustin was sprawled out in a large, overstuffed armchair, a bottle of expensive whisky and a half empty glass next to him. He was already on his second glass, and he had no plans on stopping any time soon.

His mind drifted to the one who had glared and cursed at him. The smaller one, with the hard gaze, numerous freckles, and bright curly hair. The one Jameston had said was named Carnelian. Dustin looked up the stone and smiled at the pictures that were pulled up. Bright, fiery stones, of varying shades, Dustin had to admit, he could see the resemblance.

Pouring himself another glass, he sunk down further into the chair. He supposed he should be more concerned with the fact that there were six human beings locked in some creepy basement that he had apparently just inherited. But, after living the life that he had lived so far, Dustin had to admit that this was far from the craziest thing he had seen. He knew plenty of friends whose families had, well, less than legal people working for them, and now that he thought about it, he swore he could remember some show a few of his friends had gone to where the host had all his pets or whatever they were called designed as gemstones.

He laughed softly, quietly murmuring, “Carnelian, huh?” before draining the glass and pouring one more.

-

It was hours later when Carnelian awoke in the darkness. The bright lights, luckily, were still on their automated timer, so they had shut out at their usual time. It had been hours since Diamond’s sobs had slowly petered out and since the others’ quiet, stilted conversations had dwindled. Now, everyone was asleep.

Well, everyone except Carnelian. It took him a moment to figure out what had awoken him, a soft tapping on the glass wall of his cell. With a soft groan, he rolled over, out of the bed, squinting in the dim light.

In front of him stood the silhouette of a man. A couple seconds later, Carnelian recognized him as Dustin, his new.. owner. He almost snorted at the title. This man wasn’t any older than Carnelian, and he looked and behaved like an entitled, overprivileged frat boy.

Carnelian slowly walked closer. “What the hell do you want?” he whispered, because he didn’t want to accidentally wake the others and unleash the chaos that would bring with it. It took him a moment to realize that Dustin was fiddling with the lock on the door.

Without answering him, Dustin finally figured out how to unlatch it and swung the door open. He looked back up at Carnelian and made a silent motion for him to follow as he padded back towards the door.

Frowning, Carnelian carefully stepped out, towards him and the hallway beyond, where he could see light spilling out from the door. Knowing it probably wasn’t very smart, Carnelian walked into the hallway, squinting slightly at the suddenly bright lights.

Before he knew what was happening, there was a hand fisting in his hair and pushing him up against the wall. Carnelian looked up, eyes wide, to find Dustin standing much too close to him and several inches taller than him.

Feeling his breath stutter and his heart skip a beat, Carnelian breathed out, “What the hell do you want?” He barely dared take his eyes away from Dustin’s.

With the hand not pinning him to the wall, Dustin leaned closer and wrapped a curl around his finger, pulling until Carnelian wince slightly before letting it go, watching it bounce. This close, Carnelian could smell the whisky on his breath.

“Are.. are you drunk?” he asked, swallowing hard when that steely blue gaze met his, hazy yet surprisingly clear.

“That’s irrelevant,” he said, smirking as he pushed closer to Carnelian, who tried to pull away, but one vicious yank on his hair had his eyes watering and stilled the rest of his body. Dustin raised a hand and slowly traced over Carnelian’s cheeks, ending with one finger following the outline of his lips. “You’re Carnelian.”

Carnelian barely resisted the urge to squeeze his eyes shut and instead held his breath, eyes wide and searching Dustin’s. He didn’t dare to breathe, much less speak, so he didn’t ask why Dustin had said something he already knew the answer to.

It felt as if an eternity had passed before Dustin pulled away, shoving Carnelian roughly back towards the door. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said glibly, pulling the door shut once Carnelian was through, leaving him back in the darkness.

Immediately, Carnelian went back to the one place he never thought he’d call safe. Once he had pulled the glass door closed, hearing the lock click, he curled up in his bed, as far away from the door as he could get, the thin blanket pulled over him as his heart beat in his throat.

He didn’t sleep a wink for the rest of the night.

[adiabolikpastel]

Title: Lunar Eclipse Masquerade

Shu pt. 2

Rating: PG

Word Count: 2,577

Pairing: Shu x ? (m/f)

ღ Being in charge is not easy for someone who hates pressure. As Shu attempt to run from his responsibilities, another one arrives - much to his dismay. ღ

Mun Yu: We made it to the second wave of LEM. I hope you all enjoyed the set up, and are ready for the main event. Our Lunar Eclipse is in full swing as the masquerade beings. These chapters will be longer.

Additionally: I would love to thank @dialovers-translations for translating the Shu and Reiji versus CD which show cased them during the Lunar Eclipse. It helped me greatly to write his personality.

☆+ ﾟ .+ .ﾟ.ﾟ｡ ﾟ ｡. +ﾟ ｡ﾟ.ﾟ｡☆*｡｡ . ｡ o .｡ﾟ｡.o｡* ｡ .｡

Despite what most people think, demonic beings are very social creatures. The elites hold countless balls and parties, celebrating their immortality together, and entertaining one another with stories. Typically, they are done in celebration for something – though this is not always the case. All types of beings from across the Demon Realm will come if the host is of high enough prestige.

There would be no such host if it was not for Karlheinz. Seated as the head of the Bat Clan (vampires), Karl’s reach spans far. Being the widow for the former Demon King’s daughter, and having children of the first blood, an invitation from the Vampire King is not one to refuse. Though why would you? In his immaculate castle within the Demon Realm, Eden Castle, it is always quite the spectacle. While the celebrations held in his Human World mansion are nice, nothing compares to a true night of pleasure within the true home of the King.

On this night, there was to be a Masquerade in honor of the first Lunar Eclipsed Moon in over two years. While this night may serve each species differently, the idea to celebrate its return was simply too tempting. For this reason, Karlheinz took it upon himself – or rather – his house, to host the event. This extended to his offspring as well, regardless of their personal agenda. Members of every social elite race accepted the offer, and gathered for a truly unforgettable evening.

So nosey. That was the only thought going through Shu’s mind as he arrived to this unnecessary event. There were so many guest in attendance, part of him felt it was a personal attack from his father. The man knew everything – so he found it hard to believe that he and Reiji could actually attempt to surprise him. That thought alone made him weary to even come, but it was better to follow orders than to disobey. He’d learned that lesson long ago.

Before coming to Eden Castle, it was rather nice to be back in the old mansion. He’d been gone for a year – being able to nap in all his old places was great. Not to mention, two of the louder brothers weren’t in the house – it was perfect. Then again, Subaru and Kanato were noisy on their own. Not to mention seeing Akumu – that was... a thing.

Not that things had ended badly between the two – far from it actually. Akumu’s place simply wasn’t meant to be at his side forever. Despite any attachment that may form. Subaru was going to have a much harder time letting go than Shu did. For him it was as simple as telling him that he was leaving. In typical Akumu fashion, the robo-boy simply nodded. That was something Shu liked about Akumu though, there was never any pressure with him.

Things were easy, because there wasn’t really anything to get. He was simply there to be used as needed for whatever was needed. Simple. No attachments. Shu had every intention to keep things that way. Hell, even during his short time back in the house, he used Akumu’s body to soothe some needs. Honestly, Shu felt like that was the type of relationship he could have forever. No stress. No expectations.

With all of his brothers finding some kind of ‘love’, Shu found himself thinking on the topic in passing. Though he never gave anything much thought. Especially since Reiji approved him with this new task – his fate seemed to remain alone. It would be cruel to bring someone into this, not to mention his own personal baggage. This was easier. Better even. The relationships his siblings had were so much effort – though that may steam from them being with humans. Shu could never see himself with something so common as one.

Now here at this party, however, he could see the appeal of having a partner. It was bothersome to have to be alone in a place like this. There was nowhere to sleep, and of course Reiji wouldn’t just let him make an appearance and then leave. His brother went so far as to have him stay close and actually speak with people. It was draining. The same phrases on loop. Again and again. To faceless person after faceless person. Shu could care less about any of these people.

Reiji urged him that these would be his people, if their plan came through. The idea made things slightly more bearable, but there would always be a certain disconnect between Shu and the rest of the world. How could there not be. He made that barrier long ago. After losing the one thing in life that made him happy. Even after learning that his friend was alive, that didn’t change the years of grief and torment. But now wasn’t the time for all that. Stand up straight. Smile. Pretend. If this was just a sample of what was to come, Shu was having major second thoughts.

The stress of dealing with so many people each day. Throwing parties for stupid events. Living each day under constant watch. Honestly, it was overwhelming. So much so that, he had to get away. With a small excuse, he left Reiji to finish the greetings. He had to get away for a moment. Out of this room. So he leaves the ballroom, wondering the halls.

The worse thing about Eden Castle was its ability to react to those inside it. Shu closed his eyes, groaning, and letting himself rest against the wall. He refused to open them. Not now. This castle would warp around his distress, turn him around, make him lost. That was the last thing he wanted. He simply needed a moment to breath. Preferably nap, but that wasn’t an option.

It was moments like this that really made him think about the future. How was he going to function as a leader? When all of this made him so uneasy. Even with Reiji at his side, all of the pressure – Shu lowered himself into a seated position. He hadn’t felt like this in years. Fear. Anxiety. It was suffocating. Shu couldn’t stop the memories flooding into his head. Why was this happening?

He wasn’t sure how long he sat in the hallway. He wasn’t even sure if he was really still in Eden Castle or not. The panic racing through him placed him in the past. Where his mother still lived, and lectured him daily. Where Reiji plotted and schemed against him. Where Edgar… Enough! Shu had to snap out of this, and in an attempt to do so, he gave himself a smack. This was ridiculous. It had to be this place, stirring up the memories he’d so desperately rather forget.

Picking himself up, he forces his will onto the Castle. Shu could feel its magic attempting to twist the view to his emotional distress. Perhaps all the training this past year wasn’t for nothing? Forcing himself up, Shu walked back into the ballroom. Upon his arrival, Reiji was dealing with some kind of mess. A table was over turned, and there were desserts all over the floor. What a hassle. He had planned to simply tell Reiji he was leaving, but that plan wasn’t going to work if his brother tried to get him to help.

As he debated with himself, an all too familiar presence made itself known. Shu searched the crowd to find the source. It was overwhelming in his current state of mind to ignore, like he normally would. Against his desires, his body followed where the call came from. It was almost sickening, this influence. Soon he found himself face to face with the one beckoning him, Karlheinz.

“There you are Ririe, I have been waiting for you to join us.” The vampire lord’s voice held such weight, even though he spoke so calmly. Normally Shu was able to resist most of his father’s influence, but for some reason tonight it felt stronger. Could it be the moon?

“Ah~ Shu-san, you look so handsome in that suite. I knew that design would complement you perfectly.” Another familiar voice chimed, as a woman made herself known next to Karlheinz. Shu would tell then why everything felt off. It wasn’t just from the moon.

Before Shu had a moment to speak, Karl placed a hand against his back, moving him closer. “There is someone special I have been trying to get you to meet.” He informs raising a hand to beacon someone over. Shu wanted to move out of his father’s grasp, but there was no escape. “Ajax, I am so pleased to finally get these two together.” He addresses someone Shu had never seen before.

This ‘Ajax’ was a tall, broad man, standing well over all of them, probably pushing about 8 feet. His skin was tanned, and his hair looked as though it were the mane of a lion. Similar to his father, it was long and held with a ribbon, but his bangs were pushed back from his face. While on most people they would slick back, his seemed to flare outward, in excitement, perhaps? He was dressed in an embroidered long-sleeved formal shirt rather than a suite, with a mask to match.

Next to him were two smaller women, one that came to about 6ft tall, and the other shorter than Shu. They both also had tanned skin. The taller one wore a two piece outfit, it stood out amongst the many dresses in the room. While it was simply a blouse and skirt, it seemed elevated, majestic even on her. The shorter female was dressed much closer to the tone of the event, with an off the shoulder ball gown, yellow in color with a navy lining.

All three of them had a pair of horns on their head, though each were different. Ajax’s were large, and split into three different pairs. The longest set on top of his head, moving back with his hair. The next were not as long, and the third fell just over where his ears would be. The larger woman had a pair, but they were much smaller in comparison. Just a single pair, that formed a perfect wrap around her ears, the ends sticking out just slightly. The smaller females were a combination of both. Only have one set, they dipped down as if to begin to wrap, but instead moved back, and extended upwards.

The three approached the Vampire King, bowing respectfully, “Karlheinz, It has been some time since we last met! It is good to see you well!” Ajax, voice was booming, but not with malice. He held great enthusiasm, and respect in his words. “So this is the young lad you had in mind? I can see the resemblance in you! Haha!”

Shu was utterly confused by what was transpiring before him. Just who were these strangers? Why would he of all people be introduced to anyone? Surely he meant to call on Reiji. Then again, he did use his true name, what could his father be planning.

“Yes, this is my eldest son, Ririe. As we look towards our futures, there is not a better son I could think of to join our families.” Karl goes on to Ajax. “While he does share my genetics, I assure you, he looks much more like his late mother.”

Ajax laughed, and scratches his head, “I should say the same for my daughters! They all carry their mother’s beauty that is for sure!” The taller woman next to him smiles but clears her throat. “Ah! Yes of course, my dear!” The large man moves to the side, and brings forth the smallest female. “How rude of me! I present to you my lovely youngest daughter, Callista.”

He all but pushes the female into Shu. Who was still trying to process what was happening in this moment. As he looked at the girl, he could see she was embarrassed to stand before him. What was he supposed to say? To do? “Um…” She was the first to break the silence, looking up at the young vampire. “It is… a pleasure to finally meet you, Lord Ririe.”

Shu just stared at her. How could his father even suggest this!? He had always sent brides to the home, but this… this was more arranged. This was – “You’ll have to forgive him, Lord Ajax. He must be in total shock from your lovely daughter’s beauty.” Shu could hear the enchanting tone in his father’s escort’s voice.

“Haha! Of course! Like all of my daughters, she is a beauty beyond compare.” The tall man boast happily.

“Perhaps we should allow them some time to become acquainted.” Karl suggested, and before Ajax could protest, the other woman clears her throat once more, elbowing Ajax a little. “Come, let me give you a small tour of the Castle. I am sure Burai would also enjoy seeing you as well.”

As the rest of them started to leave, there was one final word from Ms. Escort. “Do your best, Shu-san. Your father will be counting on you.” Her words were soft, much too soft for anyone but Shu to hear, as she followed after Karl and the others.

Leaving Shu and this girl, Call-something. Shu looked after his father, trying to decipher the meaning to all of this. While the final words of his escort rang in his head. Such a noisy thing. Clearing his throat, Shu took a moment to gather himself. There were far too many forces attempting to influence his mind, and he was growing tired of it all.

With a disgruntled sigh, Shu turns from the girl. He would have no part of this nonsense. Not once had he ever shown interest in the human’s their father threw at them. He sure as hell was not interested in a demon bride. Just because he was the eldest, did his father think he could simply marry him off? Ridiculous. Disgusted by the entire offering, Shu planned to leave. Leave this entire charade behind. Reiji would have to find someone else to take on the role of heir, because he was not the one.

As he began to walk away, a small hand grabbed onto his arm. “Wait just a moment.” It was that girl’s voice. He had no intention of listening to her, and shrugged her hand off. “Um, excuse me, I am talking to you.” She followed after him, he could hear here the sound of her heels behind him.

“I have no intention of doing as my father states. Leave me be woman.” It was cold, but Shu knew no other way to be.

That must have set her off, because before he knew it, the smaller being was in front of him. Hands on her hips, “The least you could do is speak with me. For just a moment. You may not like it, but I have a duty to uphold and-" While she was talking, Shu move around her, uninterested in what she was try to say.

Oh boy did that make her mad. The demon girl stamped her foot, and continued to follow him. “Listen, I know it is not ideal. I am beginning to think that you were not told about this beforehand, like I was. This must be a rather overwhelming moment, however, I will not be ignored. Lord Ririe we are to be married whether –"

Shu stopped in his tracks as she uttered the word ‘married’. It was so abrupt that she ran right into his back, letting out a soft gasp. Shu turned slightly to look at the girl once more. She was not hideous. Hair curly, skin tanned, body… Now that he looked at her, damn if her shape was not ideal. Curvy in all the right places. A nice pair of tits. Thin waist. Round hips, which he was sure translated to a large ass as well. Not to mention her eyes were piercing. A golden color, that looked similar to a predators.

Perhaps ignoring her was the wrong approach. He could be persuaded to use a bit more effort, since she was his type. “I’ll speak with you then. Not here though. Come with me.” Shu orders and holds out his arm for her to take. She is obviously confused, but she links her arm with his none the less. “Appearances. Don’t want anyone coming to attack me thinking I am upsetting you.” He says softly leading her outside.

“Well… I wouldn’t say I blame you. It was rather shocking to me as well when father told me of the news.” She says blushing slightly. Shu did not respond to her as they walked through the crowd. He could feel multiple eyes on him. Just who was this girl? She was clearly the daughter of a demon lord – though Shu had no idea which.

☆+ ﾟ .+ .ﾟ.ﾟ｡ ﾟ ｡. +ﾟ ｡ﾟ.ﾟ｡ TO BE CONTINUED ☆*｡｡ . ｡ o .｡ﾟ｡.o｡* ｡ .｡

[91percentpynch]

jean moreau + dogs

i‘m combining my two favourite things like ever: jean „the loml“ moreau and d o g s,,, it‘s a mess and kinda long but this made me so emotional and happy

jean gets his first dog when he‘s at the trojans. as he can never be alone and has a lot of issues for obvious reasons his therapist said he should get a dog for emotional support

it‘s a dachshund, her name is chérie which means darling in french

jeremy is quite jealous cause he wants jean to call him that (but that‘s a different post)

okay so jean takes chéreie everywhere - classes, training, nights out with the team

chérie brings back exy balls, jean‘s new favouirte hobby is playing exy with her

jean talks to her when he‘s upset/ sad/ lonely

he will just sit on the floor, softly stroking her, tears running down his cheeks and tell her what bothers him

„chérie, you‘re my only friend. i love you. i just wish someone would hug me and hold my hand. but i don‘t need these assholes, i got you right?“, he mumbles in french, his voice soft, sometimes through a sob. chérie will lick his tears off his hands. jeremy watches from the kitchen and his heart b r e a k s

so with chérie he is doing way better, he makes friends, he opens up, she helps him with his trauma and anxiety and his countless issues

the second dog is his graduation gift from kevin. it‘s an irish red setter. he calls him flamme (which is fire in french)

chérie and flamme are the most important things in his life - besides perhaps his boyfriend jeremy knox

he takes his pups everywhere and every morning he takes them on his morning run with jeremy, each of them holding a dog, soft laughter in the early morning hours and it‘s the happiest moment in jean‘s day

flamme always sleeps on jean‘s torso, he just jumps on the bed and sleeps on his human. chérie sleeps on his feet, as she did since he got her. jeremy just wants to cuddle his boyfriend but the dogs said no and he can‘t hide but smile everytime he sees it. his lockscreen is jean sleeping with the two dogs on him, a soft smile on his lips, hair messy, scarred hands on the dogs

the third dog comes quite shortly after flamme. it‘s a tiny black and white shi tzu. she might look innocent but she‘s like a little tornado, licking everyone‘s feet and hiding under furniture because she is just a tiny little bit scared of this gigantic human and the other dude who comes and goes at what seems random times

jeremy goes pro, jean doesn‘t but that‘s again another post

so jean just sits on the floor for h ou r s calling the tiny dog and he remembers the days in evermore and he u n d e r s t a n d s the tiny little girl

so he calls her lune cause that‘s what jeremy calls him and it makes him think of how strong he is and he get e m o t i o n a l

anygays so he sits at the floor for h o u r s for like three weeks and lune got more and more couragous and eventually she comes out of whatever furniture she would hide under and carefully come to him and he pets her and she lays on her back so he can scratch her tiny little stomach and he does and flamme and chérie come and he‘s surrounded by dogs who lick his face and arms and legs and he gives them so much love and just pets them and they‘re all so in love and he just talks to them

so when jeremy came back that day lune was about to run away but jeremy talked to her in french, very softly and she slowly came back to him and sat next to him and jean told jeremy to carefully come to him and sit down and let her smell his hand and then stroke her and he did and lune stopped being scared

„she reminds me of you mi amor“, jeremy says softly to jean. „that‘s what i thought. that‘s why i called her lune. you used to call me that and it made me feel as if i made it“

jerejean weren‘t lunes‘ first humans, she was with another man before and he used to hit her. that‘s why she hides when your hand comes from a certain angle (my dog does that, lune is basically my dog)

she never loses that habit, even though she knows nothing will happen to her with jerejean and the other dogs

so chérie adopts lune and she‘s really protective of her and so is flamme. on their morning runs jean would hold lune and chérie and jermey would run with flamme, which is funny cuz just imagine 6“5 jean moreau with these tiny little dogs and his boyfriend (5“3 in my head) with this big ass dog and i‘m getting too emotionally attached to that now

so to jean and jeremy‘s one/ two year annivarsary jeremy comes back home form training with this gigantic puppy. and jean looks at him with heart eyes.

„you got another dog?“ jean would say with so much love in his voice.

„look i know they make you happy and i love your smile more than anything and i thought ‚why don‘t we ge the most beautiful man in the entire universe a dog for our anniverssary‘ and just got him. well actually getting him took m o n t h s did you know you have interviews for puppies? apparently this dude here is a very special little snowflake. anyways it‘s an irish wolfhound and those dogs are gigantic, i think they‘re getting 3 feet high? okay i‘m talking too much i‘m sorry i hope you like him because i kind can‘t bring him back“, jeremy started to scratch the back of his head somewhere in the middle of his rant

„i love him, almost as much as i love you“ jean got on his feet and he runs to his boyfriend and he bends down and kisses him and then he takes the dog from him and lune follows him every step he takes and behind her are flamme and chérie and it just makes jeremy feel so much love and happiness

„i only got you this“, jean said, handing jeremy a little portrait of him with a poem on the back. „i made it for you“, jean said, blushing. „jean i love this, i love you and i feel so honored that you d r e w me. oh lord i love you so much“, jeremy starts to cry

anygays jean sits on the floor and introduces the new puppy to the other dogs. he calls him géant (which means giant in french).

so the sleeping arrangments change: flamme still sleeps on jean‘s torso, he‘s just taller and it may or may not become a bit uncomfortable to sleep on his human but he won‘t stop. like ever. and chérie still sleeps on his feet. lune sleeps on his side, always touching him somewhere, his hand on her sides, they are like spooning. and géant sleeps on either above or under lune, as well always touching jean somewhere. jeremy almost doesn‘t fit in the bed anymore.

so the next day they‘re getting a bigger bed. for the dog‘s sack. yes.

so jean spends his days drawing and playing the piano. talking to his dogs. going for walks with his songs. meeting friends, with his dogs. he won‘t leave the house without at least one dog. actually he won‘t leave without all of his dogs.

one day jeremy walked in on him sitting on the floor, the dogs and him sitting in a perfect circle, a tiny tea cup in front of each dogs. they were having tea. on the floor. jeremy took a picture of it and sent it to kevin and andrew. this was his family and he felt so many emotions and he started to cry because it was just so c u t e. there was his tall ass boyfriend, who looked quite scary, on the floor, talking softly in french with his four dogs. and he was just about to leave them be when he said a bit louder „you can join us darling. i left a cup for you on here“ and jeremy just went to his boyfriend and their four dogs and they had tea on the floor in front of the tall windows watching the moon replace the sun

it became kind of an tradition

just like the dogs sleeping in their beds

i like to think that each dogs represents a part of them: chérie is jeremy in college, lune is jean in colllege, flamme is jeremy now and géante is jean now

okay so jean gave up exy in my head BUT he still plays exy with the dogs

jean makes jeremy and him matching jumpers with the dogs in winter

the apartment is full and i mean FULL with pictures of the dogs and jean with the dogs and jeremy with the dogs and jerejean of the dogs, like every wall is full with pictures, every shelf that doesn‘t have drawings of jean is full with pictures of them with the dogs, the piano jean plays on each day when jeremy comes back from training is full of dog pictures, they are literally everywhere. there is even one on the toilet

sometimes when their friends over it gets just Too Much and he has to leave the room and the dogs follow him and he just has to sit on the floor and talk to them and stroke them and everything gets better

jean loves his dogs so much, they are like his best friends, they understand him, they make sure he is never alone, even when jeremy has to leave for away games or interviews and comes home late

jeremy might have put his pieces together but the dogs are like the glue that keeps them together

it also became tradition that jeremy always takes the tall dogs on their morning runs and jean runs with the small ones. when lune and chérie are tired he will carry them

sometimes you will find jean moreau with jeremy knox on his back, lune and chérie in each hand and flamme and géante on each side

people sometimes look funny at him, but he doesn‘t care

the dogs saved his life, made it something happy and bright, like jeremy knox. never did he dare to think jean could be that happy. but now he is in this bright apartement, sitting on the floor, painting a portrait of jeremy, dogs all around him sleeping and he just can‘t help but smile

[writemywaytoyourheart]

Onsra-Chapter 33: Did You Miss Me?

banner created by: @envity ♥️

pairing: vampire!jungkook x female reader (also vamp!tae x ga-in oc & vamp!jimin x yuri oc)

genre: romance, drama, horror, angst

word count: 8k

warnings for this chapter: blood, guns, knife wound, death of insignificant characters, asshole vampire, panic attack, language, dead deer, u might want to kill me after this chap idk ;-;

Onsra: ML, Previous

I'm trying my best, pls bear with me y'all ;-; 'm sorry. But I really hope u like this one!

____________________________________

“I want to do it.”

Jungkook’s head whips sharply over to where the eldest is stepping into the middle of the open circle. The hush over the crowd of vampires makes Jungkook’s stomach clench.

What the hell is he doing?

This wasn’t a part of the plan.

Yoongi is staring at Seokjin in shock, his brain trying to come up with some way for their plans to work with this unexpected turn. The tall black-haired vampire’s face contorts in rage for a split second, then it snaps right back to a cocky expression as he looks Jin up and down. The vampire smirks and cracks his knuckles, taking a step into the circle and grabbing a handful of the human girl’s hair, making her wince when he pulls it.

Seokjin stiffens and the vampire chuckles.

“You think you could punish a stupid little human better than me?”

Jungkook sees the eldest cock his head from behind, but he doesn’t see the smirk dancing across Jin’s face when he speaks. “Yeah, I think I could.”

What the fuck are you doing, hyung?

The leader tuts and roughly shoves the girl back on the ground, “You must be new here, no one that stays here and knows who I am is stupid enough to talk shit to me, and think they can get out of it alive.”

Jin doesn’t seem fazed as he casually stares back at the vampire advancing slowly. That seems to set him off as he glares at Seokjin angrily.

“You want to fucking fight, asshole? Seems like you have a death wish.” He seethes and to everyone’s surprise, Jin just chuckles darkly.

“The fact that you’re a little taller than me gives you a slight advantage. So, sure. I think it gives you a fair enough chance to hold your own against me.” Jin muses absentmindedly.

Some shocked gasps sound from the crowd and a few chuckles float around at the sight of such a daring newcomer. Jungkook glances around the crowd and sees most of the faces are shocked, but a fair amount of them are just amused, wanting to see how this whole thing will play out. He curses under his breath and silently hopes that Seokjin knows what the hell he’s doing.

Another survey of the room shows him that a little more than half the vampires are male, and the rest are female, all of them starting to eagerly await Jin’s fate. The leader vampire stops a foot away from Seokjin, smoke practically coming out of his ears as he appears to try and stay calm.

“You asked for it. Vera, get this bitch out of the way, he can do whatever he wants to her if he comes out of this alive.” The girl vampire immediately drags the human girl to a corner of the room and shoves her to the floor. Jungkook hears Namjoon curse quietly, no doubt trying to come up with some way out of this.

Then Yoongi leans close to Jungkook’s ear and whispers so quietly that Jungkook almost misses what he says. “Once things start to look sour, we’re going to start a fight. You hit me and then we’ll go at it like a couple of schoolboys. Get everyone’s attention toward us and hopefully we can start some chaos. If everyone starts fighting, we can start picking them off and it’ll be hard to pinpoint who’s fighting who. Tell Namjoon.”

Jungkook nods subtly, then waits a few seconds before leaning into Namjoon’s ear to relay the message. He’s almost flooded with relief that Yoongi has come up with some kind of a plan to deal with this, even though they have yet to find out if it works.

At least it’s something.

Namjoon doesn’t acknowledge the maknae’s words, but Jungkook knows he heard them. Then they turn back to the scene unfolding before them. The circle has gotten a little bigger to accommodate the two with enough room to move around, and the looks on the vampires faces have all turned into bloodthirsty grins as some of them even chant for their leader to rip Jin’s throat out.

Jungkook hears the name Jeong repeated a lot, so he’s assuming that’s the leader’s name. Jeong is a few centimeters taller than Jin, but it doesn’t look like it’ll do him much good. If an outsider came in and made a bet on who they thought would win, Jungkook is sure they’d pick Jin; he might be a little shorter, but he’s still tall and he has more visible muscle than Jeong. The only thing that makes Jungkook nervous is the fact that Jeong is probably a vampire that wasn’t turned from a human, so even if he doesn’t look like he has more muscle than Jin, he’s going to be a lot stronger anyway. Jin doesn’t look nervous though, as he sizes his opponent from head to toe with a laidback manner.

The first swing is so sudden that no one was expecting it, except Jin that is, who ducks swiftly and sends a quick jab at his opponent, hitting him in the stomach and making him stumble a little. But Jeong has gained his balance after a split second and is angrier than ever when a titter of amusement floats through the crowded room.

“I’m going to fucking kill you.” He hisses at Jin, and Jungkook doesn’t doubt for a second that he means his words. Jungkook tries to look on the leader to see if he’s hiding something, like a weapon. Because there is no way he’s going to let Jin live, but he can’t kill him with anything but silver.

A couple minutes pass as the two throw a few more punches, the tension in the crowd growing. That’s when Jungkook sees the tiniest glint of something in Jeong’s pocket. The vampire starts to reach for it after getting a hit at Jin, and Jungkook realizes with a pit in his stomach what it is.

He has a knife.

And Jungkook is willing to bet that it’s made of pure silver.

So, he turns to his left suddenly and hits Yoongi square in the jaw, sending him a silent apology for no warning. He holds back as much as he can, but Yoongi still stumbles and falls right on his ass, the shock that slowly turns to anger on his face is something Jungkook doesn’t think he’s trying to fake.

Thankfully, a few vampires noticed it and jump back in surprise. Yoongi gets to his feet and lunges at Jungkook. He’s a lot shorter, but he is no weak vampire. Jungkook braces himself for the hit he knows is gonna hurt, only flinching a little at the bone breaking pain his older brother sends him in the form of a punch right in the nose.

Fucking ouch.

Then he’s inwardly praising Yoongi’s acting skills as he takes another swing at him, “You little shit! I’m going to fucking kill you!”

Ok, maybe he isn’t acting.

Jungkook dodges his older brother’s hits and notices with satisfaction that they’re drawing the attention their way. Namjoon picks up on what they’re doing and when it’s chaotic enough for him to get away with it, he turns and punches a random vampire in the face. “What the hell? You fuck!” He yells as if the other vampire had done it first.

That sets all hell loose as fists start flying all around the room, some just wanting to join in the fight and others in retaliation for getting beat for no reason whatsoever. Jungkook almost starts laughing at how easy it was to get the room of vampires riled up, but he holds back his laughter as he starts to realize maybe he hit his hyung a bit too hard when Yoongi lunges angrily at him again, getting another good punch in for revenge.

Sounds come from all over the building as other vampires run to find out what the ruckus is all about, Jin and Jeong’s fight completely forgotten by everyone but the two of them. Jeong was distracted enough with the initial disruption for Seokjin to catch him off guard and tackle him to the floor, where they now roll around and punch and kick each other fiercely, bloody mouths spitting angrily.

When Jungkook has a second to breathe, he looks up and does a double take when he sees Jimin through one of the windows, waving his hands frantically and screaming something that Jungkook can’t decipher. Then Jimin seems to see something behind him and ducks back into the darkness.

What the fuck is he doing?

Then, Hoseok bursts through the back door, panting as he scans the chaos that ensued while he was gone. He’s got blood on his chest and hands and Jungkook sighs with relief with the knowledge that Hoseok must have taken out the group that went hunting. Then he turns and barely misses getting clocked by a girl vampire that was swinging a wooden club at his head with a crazed look in her eyes.

He grabs the club before it hits him and kicks her in the stomach, sending her flying across the room. Jungkook flinches and moves to punch whoever grabs his arm, but when he turns and sees Hoseok, he checks himself and lets the older drag him away from the fighting.

Hoseok is shouting something, but Jungkook can’t hear him.

“What? I can’t hear you! What are you saying?” Jungkook screams back, trying to be louder than the absolute roaring in the building. Hoseok’s eyes are huge with fear as he grips Jungkook’s shoulders and yanks him closer, screaming into his ear.

“HUNTERS!”

That’s when the front door flies open and people dressed in all black, masks and baseball caps helping to hide their faces, stream through the door. They’ve got guns with silencers on them as they start shooting at random. Jungkook’s stomach plummets to his feet and he pushes Hoseok towards the back door just as Taehyung and Jimin barge in, their own guns up and shooting at the vampires, being sure to not hit one of their friends.

The Hunters aren’t so careful.

Jungkook sees Namjoon in a fight with a male vampire and yanks him away, pushing him towards the back door before plunging back into the fight and looking frantically for Yoongi and Seokjin. He finds Jin still tangled on the ground with Jeong, his nose and mouth bleeding freely. Jungkook spots a Hunter making his way through the crowd swiftly, heading right towards them.

“Hyung! Come on!” Jungkook screams and Jin looks up to see what’s going on, his eyes widening as he grabs Jeong’s hair and punches him in the face until his grip loosens. Then Jin is up, Jeong groaning on the ground but quickly starting to recover. Vampires drop like flies around them as Jin and Jungkook maneuver their way out of the fight. Jungkook sees Yoongi fighting another vampire and he goes to grab him when Jin pulls him back and shouts in his ear.

“I’m going to go get her!”

Jungkook watches Jin disappear into the crowd and growls in annoyance. They don’t have time for this! The Hunters will take care of her if she isn’t dead already. He trips over a body on his way to get his hyung, who seems to not have noticed the Hunter infiltration, he rights himself quickly and grabs Yoongi’s arm. Yoongi’s eyes widen when Jungkook gets his attention and he finally realizes what’s going on. Then, they squeeze through all the vampires and Hunters, trying to get to the eldest.

Jungkook sees Jin on the other side of the room, in a tousle with a Hunter that has a gun. Another vampire pops out of nowhere and grabs the Hunter, pinning him to the wall and moving to bite his neck. Jungkook sighs in relief, then his throat closes when he sees Jeong stumbling across the room as Jin hesitates. He can’t get through all these fucking people to get to him and his shouting is drowned out in the din of the fight.

“Hyung!”

Why in the fuck isn’t he running?

Then it clicks in Jungkook’s brain and he watches in disbelief as Seokjin leaps forward to rip the vampire off of the Hunter that was just trying to kill him a moment ago, freeing the man that stumbles away in shock.

The Hunter doesn’t seem to care that Jin just saved his life as he raises his gun to shoot him. But he’s too late.

Jungkook watches in horror as Jeong comes up behind Jin and reaches his arm around him to stab him in the side. Jin doubles over instantly, his hand moving to the knife as Jeong pulls it back out. The eldest falls on the ground, blood already seeping through his white shirt.

“Jin!!” Jungkook screams and fights his way towards them, finally getting through and grabbing Jeong by the shoulder, tugging him towards himself before sinking his teeth into the vampire’s neck. Then Jungkook grabs the knife out of the vampire’s hand and stabs him where his heart would be, watching the vampire crumple to the ground within seconds.

The small girl is suddenly by Jin’s side and pressing her hands to his wound as Taehyung rushes towards them. Jimin grabs Jungkook’s arm, shaking him out of his shock and screaming, “Get out of here, Kook! Go to the front!” But Jungkook shakes him off and strides towards the eldest, scooping him up and then turning to make his way out, hoping they don’t get shot before they can escape.

~                   ~                       ~

You stare open-mouthed at Jungkook in amazement as he finishes telling you what happened at the vampire hide-out. Then you look back at Jin and feel tears brimming in your eyes, watching him breathing heavily, his eyes shut tight.

“He’s hurt because he saved the man that was trying to kill him?” You whisper quietly and Jungkook nods. You sniffle and gently pat Jin on the head, relieved that you and the mysterious nurse girl were able to stitch him up and stabilize him a little while ago. You really thought you’d lost him when you saw all the blood. Your heart is still racing with fear as you feel Jungkook take your hand gently, bringing it to his lips to give it a small kiss. He pecks each of your knuckles before putting his head down and resting it on your closed hand.

“Thank you, y/n. For saving him.” He whispers and you hear his voice break. You lean up to plant a quick kiss on his hair. “We did what we could. He should wake up in a little while, and then we can give him something for the pain. We still don’t know why he turned human though…” You muse as you glance at the sleeping eldest once more.

Jin is like a big brother to you, and you can’t imagine what would have happened if he didn’t make it. You would all fall apart at the seams, you’re sure of it.

Jungkook lifts his head to look at his oldest brother, then he bites his lip and stands up. “I’ll be back in a little bit. You should have someone keep an eye on him while you get some rest, you haven’t slept all night.”

You nod and stand up to follow him out of the living room. Hoseok is just coming down the stairs, and he sends you a smile small. “You need to get some sleep, y/n. I’ll watch over hyung, alright?” He whispers kindly and you thank him quietly.

Jungkook slips out the front door, but you don’t ask him where he’s going. You know he would tell you if it was something you needed to be worried about. So, you head up to your room to find the girl from earlier curled up on the floor, a bunch of blankets under her to form a make-shift mattress and two more blankets on top of her as she looks over at you with wide eyes.

Ga-In is sitting on the floor next to her and a moment after you close the door, Yuri opens it and comes into the room, having been to the restroom. You walk over and sit down next to the girl, offering her a smile.

“Thank you for helping me earlier, I couldn’t have done it without you.” You say softly, noting the slight fear in the girl’s eyes that she tries to cover with a small smile.

“Of course. But I think you had a pretty good idea of what you were doing.”

That makes you laugh internally, feeling like you looked like a blubbering fish out of water as your head spun around in circles, trying to figure out how to save Jin. You look back at the girl and recognize the anxiety in her gaze, even as some of it is covered with relief.

“What’s your name?” You ask and she wipes her eyes tiredly. “My name is Sooyoung.” She whispers, making you smile.

You introduce yourself, finding out that her and the other girls had already gotten a bit acquainted while you were downstairs. Sooyoung tells you that she had been with that particular group of vampires for two weeks before the boys showed up. They had kept her alive because it amused them to make a game out of her fear. You feel like there is more to it and there’s something she’s leaving out with the way her eyes shift around, but you stay quiet.

Maybe she’s just nervous.

You don’t push it, just listen intently when she tells you that she was grabbed one night a couple weeks ago as she was walking home. You learn that she’s twenty-five years old, and as she had mentioned before, she is a nursing student. She was staying late with some classmates to study for their big exam that night and while she was walking home, she was knocked out and taken before she knew what happened. Sooyoung woke up in the back of a van full of vampires as they took her to that building the boys came to.

When she finishes her story, you four talk about random things to try and keep her mind off the vampires, hoping she knows she’s safe for now. More or less.                          

You know what it’s like to be taken and have no idea what’s going on, then to wake up in a place full of people you don’t know that will take amusement in your torment. You just hope she’ll be able to put it behind her and not come out of it too hurt.

You offer her your place in the bed, but she assures you that she actually asked to sleep on the floor, and she prefers it that way. She used to have a little mattress on the floor in her old apartment, and it reminds her of home.

A little while later, you lie in bed and stare at the ceiling even though you can’t make out anything in the dark. Today went better and worse than you had anticipated. Thank goodness no one was more seriously injured, but it was a close call for Jin…You turn on your side and put a hand to the side of your head as you try to think hard.

Why is Jin a human again?

It just doesn’t make sense.

There was no girl that kissed him…

You huff out a sigh and move to your other side, knowing you don’t need to worry about the two heavy sleepers on either side of you. You frown into the darkness.

Being kissed and turning human seems very farfetched, this isn’t a fairytale.

So, why did Taehyung and Jimin turn back after being kissed?

This is all too confusing and not something you think you’ll figure out anytime soon. You run your hands down your face and groan quietly. There’s also this Sooyoung girl, that you feel is hiding something.

She seems sweet and genuine, so you don’t feel like she’s keeping something that will hurt anyone but herself. Several times it looked like she was going to say something, then decided not to, biting her lips and darting her eyes away. If it wasn’t for her, you don’t think Jin would have made it. You sigh again and turn onto your back to resume staring at the ceiling.

This is all too confusing.

~                   ~                     ~

The next morning, the breakfast table is awfully quiet. Everyone is silently eating the pancakes that you made, which are good, but they don’t taste the same as Jin’s cooking. The bite in your mouth feels like paste as you try to swallow it.

Seokjin is asleep on the couch still, and the lack of dad jokes from him is really bringing the mood down.

Hoseok clears his throat and forces a smile onto his face, always the one to try and brighten the atmosphere. “Hey, cheer up everyone. I know things look bleak, but Jin hyung is alright! Thanks to everyone’s help, he’s pulled through. Now, we just need to make sure he doesn’t try to get up and mother everyone.” That causes a few giggles around the table and he continues. “It’s his turn to get a break and be babied…but nobody tell him that I said that, he’ll have my hide.”

Another round of laughter sounds and the mood lifts a little, everyone reminded that he’s okay, and the vampire camp was taken out. Jungkook comes in then and sends you a smile from the entrance where he’s hesitating. You wave him over and he comes in to sit next to you. He’s acting shy around everyone again, you notice.

Jungkook takes your hand gently under the table and you feel a blush dusting your cheeks, you don’t think you’ll ever get used to his sweet affection. After breakfast is done, everyone splits up the chores and go to do their work so that when Jin is awake, he’ll be waking to a clean house.

You and Jungkook take the kitchen. Jungkook insists on scrubbing the dishes while you dry them, saying that the washing part is harder, and you deserve a break. You giggle as he hums while cleaning the plates, soapy suds up to his elbows. His muscular arms look a bit out of place with Jin’s pink dish gloves on as they dunk into soapy water and clean thin glass plates decorated with flowers. You just keep trying to hold in your giggles and smile, so he doesn’t catch you staring.

Jungkook hands over the last plate and sees the smile you’re trying to bite back. He raises an eyebrow and leans his arms on the sink, flipping his long hair back by jerking his head and grinning at you as he takes a break. “You like what you see?” He asks teasingly and you feel your face burst into flames.

Your voice shakes a little as you dry the plate and try to look casual when you tease him back, “Maybe I do. You know, the helpful husband look looks great on you.”

Jungkook freezes at your words as he’s about to dunk his gloved hands into the sink to wash the forks. His lips twitch and you swear he would be blushing right now if he was a human, with the way his eyes dart around, trying to figure out what to say.

Your own cheeks heat up even more when you realize that what you said is also embarrassing to you. That wasn’t supposed to backfire like this.

Jungkook regains his composure and gives you a side glance that has your heart thumping in your chest. “Mm, really?” You see him smirk to himself as he rinses a handful of forks before turning and holding them out to you.

You reach out and wrap your fingers around the forks, then Jungkook pulls you towards him and you squeal when you almost smash into his chest. You stop a few inches from him and look up to see him grinning at you.

“Have you thought that about me before?”

You look away and will your blush to go down. “No.”

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” He chuckles and you snatch the forks out of his hands, moving to a different part of the kitchen to escape his teasing. As you dry the forks furiously, you feel him watching you from the sink. Then he finally goes back to washing the cups.

Stupid.

Annoying.

Tease.

You wish you could find a way to get back at him without embarrassing yourself while you’re at it. He’s too good at this teasing thing and it’s getting on your nerves that you always end up being the one that gets flustered by the end.

You’ll think of a way to get him.

Jerk.

The both of you finish the dishes without you combusting into a flame of humiliation as you wipe the counters while he sweeps before you declare your job to be done.

Jungkook puts the broom away and lifts his hand up to you, which you clap with your own as he smiles. “Good work, partner.” He smiles sweetly.

Damn it, Jungkook.

~               ~               ~

“Ohh, no way!” You squeal and snatch the tattered blue book from the bookshelf that caught your eye as you were scanning your options. Jungkook chuckles and leans against the bookshelf as he watches you with a sparkle in his eye.

“Kookie, look! It’s the original Beauty and the Beast!” You exclaim and show him the title. He nods with a huge smile on his face.

He never knew watching someone look through old books and getting excited about what they find could be so endearing. But then again, you’ve proven him wrong about a lot of things. You always love when he reads you the book he found a while ago, so he proposed that you find a book to read him and you could take turns.

You trace over the delicate gold etching in the blue book, following the lines of the title with your finger.

La Belle et La Bête

“I want to read this one to you.” You say quietly and Jungkook wills himself not to scream from how cute you are.

“I’d like that.” He says calmly, opposite to the absolute storm of emotions swirling inside of him.

“I’m going to read some to myself first, though. I always read better when I’ve read it before.” You say shyly, keeping your eyes on the book. Jungkook tucks a stray strand of hair behind your ear, “Alright. We can start whenever you want to.”

“Ok.”

Oh gosh, he is really going to need you to stop being so cute if he’s going to live through this.

~                   ~                  ~

“Hey there, bookworm!”

You look up from the book you’ve been so engrossed in for the past two days since finding it, your back leaning against the trunk of the willow tree in the clearing. Tae is striding towards you with a smile, waving his hand in the air as greeting.

You wave back and smile. “Hey, Tae! What’s up?”

The pretty boy stops in front of you and nods towards the book in your lap, “Whatcha reading?”

“Beauty and the Beast.”

“Ah, very fitting.” Tae smirks and you roll your eyes, “Shuddup.” He laughs again and you shake your head in amusement before closing your book. “It seems like you were looking for me, did you need me?”

He takes a seat next to you on the grass and groans as he stretches his long legs out in front of him. “I’ve been meaning to talk to someone about this, but every time I bring it up, they get uncomfortable and upset.”

“Even Ga-In?”

“Especially Ga-In.” Tae sighs sadly, “She has a tender heart.”

“She does.” You agree quietly, then you set the book down and give him your full attention. “What can I help with?”

Tae bites his bottom lip for a moment before responding, thinking about how to word it. “I know you must be thinking this too. I’m just wondering how Seokjin hyung became human…that’s all…” He mumbles before glancing at you. You nod in agreement, “I’ve been wondering that too. It really scares me how he could’ve died from that knife wound, being human and all.”

Tae shakes his head and you look at him curiously as he speaks slowly, “Actually, I think him turning might have saved his life.”

“What do you mean?”

“He must have been turning before he was stabbed, or else the silver knife would’ve killed him as a vampire.” Tae muses, his brows furrowed as he thinks about it.

Oh…

Oh gosh, you never thought of that.

You lick your lips to wet them and clear your throat, “H-how does that work, anyway? The whole silver thing.”

Tae keeps his eyes straight forward as he answers you, “I don’t really know why silver kills vampires. All I know is it needs to be pure silver, and if you get them in the head or where their heart would be, it’ll kill them almost instantly. But if you hit them in the arm, or say, in the abdomen like Jin hyung, it’s almost like a poison that will spread and lead to death slower.”

You nod, your stomach turning at the thought of Seokjin almost being poisoned slowly by silver if he hadn’t turned human before being stabbed.

So that leads you back to the main question.

Why and how did he turn human before he was stabbed?

“I just don’t get it…” Tae grunts in frustration. “I don’t get why Jimin and I turned, and why Jungkook hasn’t. And now Jin hyung turned and there wasn’t a girl involved at all.”

You try not to snort in laughter at the way that sounded.

“I don’t get it either. How could a kiss turn a vampire human again?” You wonder aloud, not bringing up the fact that it didn’t work for Jungkook.

Tae squints as he racks his brain. Then he turns to look at you, “Unless, it wasn’t the kiss.”

“What else could it have been?” You ask, your brain turning to figure it out.

You’re both grabbing your heads and gently knocking them with your fists, almost like you’re trying to physically beat the answer into your minds. After another minute, Tae growls and stands up, his hair a mess from pulling at it. “This is driving me crazy, gosh.”

“Me too.” You sigh.

“I’m going to take a walk and hope it comes to me. Enjoy your story.” He sends you a grim smile before turning to leave.

That’s when it hits you.

Tae whips around at the exact moment that you gasp. His eyes are wide and you’re sure he’s thinking the same thing.

“The story!”

“The book!”

You both shout at the same time, and Tae rushes over to sit next to you again. “Oh my gosh!” He starts laughing maniacally, his eyes wide and shining. “It wasn’t the kiss!” He shouts and starts to laugh again as you finish his thought.

“It was when they said they loved you.” You speak quietly and he nods tearfully. “It’s because they love you guys…you.”

“I guess that’s what happened in your story too, right?” He says and you nod. “Yeah, Belle loves the Beast for who he is inside, not outside. But what about Jin?”

“It’s because he saved that man…the one that tried to kill him.” Tae whispers breathlessly.

You both look at each other in wonder at your realization. “You turned human again when it was proven that you didn’t lose yourselves!” You shout, then clamp your hand over your mouth, looking around before taking your hand away and whispering. “Ga-In and Yuri saw the goodness in you two, and it proved you weren’t monsters. So, you overcame the darkness and became yourselves again.” You have tears in your eyes as Tae wipes at his own.

“Seokjin hyung.” Tae wipes his eyes again. “He didn’t need someone to fall in love with him, he proved his humanity by saving someone who tried to harm him…he never lost his kindness.”

You start crying freely as everything clicks into place. You’re feeling such overwhelming emotions right now, you don’t know what to do. You’re beyond happy about your new findings, but now your hope for Jungkook is plummeting.

You know he has a good soul.

But why won’t it work?

You love him, you know you do.

So, it’s because of you. It has to be.

Your love must not be strong enough to combat the darkness.

You failed him.

Tae watches your smiling face slowly start to crumple, another tear slipping out that he can tell isn’t from joy. He knows exactly what you’re thinking as he reaches out to touch your shoulders. “Hey, y/n. It isn’t like that, alright? You love him, and he loves you. There’s no denying that. I don’t know why it didn’t work, but it isn’t your fault. We’ll figure this out, ok?”

You nod and wipe your eyes, pushing the feelings of hopelessness, anger, and pain down and corking it inside. “We’re not going to lose him, y/n. Don’t despair, not now and not ever.”

You give him a sad smile, encouraged by his words of comfort. Then Tae frowns, “I don’t think we should tell the others.” You look at him in surprise.

“Why not?”

He messes with his fingers and looks away from you. “I love the boys, of course I do. But I also know them, and I know how badly they want to be human again. I’m afraid if we tell them, it’ll make them feel as though they aren’t good enough and they are beyond hope.”

You nod slowly in understanding as he continues, “They might also try to do something that will turn them human, and we can’t say if that will work, or if it has to happen without your knowledge of it. And again, if they do something and don’t turn back, they’ll lose hope. That’s the only thing they have left…they can’t lose hope.” Tae whispers so quietly that you’re leaning in to hear him.

You pull back when he’s finished and nod your head, “Ok, let’s keep it between us for now.”

You aren’t happy about the decision, but you know he’s right. You already saw Jungkook having a panic attack and not drinking blood because he was afraid it was his fault after he somehow found out that Jimin and Tae turned because of Ga-In and Yuri.

This is best for now.

After another minute of silence, Tae takes your hand and helps you to stand. “Well, let’s get back and see how Jin hyung is holding up. When I left, he was scolding Namjoon for dusting the mantel the wrong way.” He rolls his eyes playfully and you laugh as you grab your book and follow Tae back to the house.

You never saw him.

You never heard him.

Jungkook stands with his back pressing against the willow tree where he hid himself after hearing an odd conversation between you and Tae.

He was coming to sit with you…he thought maybe you could start to read to him today.

Now he’s trying his best to breathe evenly, and not panic.

Don’t panic.

Don’t panic.

Jungkook feels tears prick in his eyes and he covers his face with his hands, sighing shakily. “Fuck.” He mumbles into his hands. He knew he was too far gone. There isn’t any human left in him. He’s going to turn. He can feel it already, and he’s panicking.

Jin hyung never lost who he was.

Tae hyung never lost who he was.

Jimin hyung never lost who he was.

The rest of them still act like themselves and they will all turn back. They’ll all turn back and leave him all alone.

Fuck.

Oh fuck.

Jungkook brings his hands down, his eyes glazing over and slowly turning a deeper shade of red as the anger and panic swarm his mind. Then he pushes off the tree and moves deeper into the forest.

~                   ~               ~

“Jungkook~” You knock on his door three times, then you wait. You have your book in hand, ready to start reading to him today. When he doesn’t answer, you frown and knock again; three soft raps.

“Kook, open up! Don’t you want to read?” Your frown deepens at the silence that follows, then you crack the door open and peek your head in. “Kookie?”

The room is empty. His plain grey bed a little messed up, but everything else is in its place.

Oh, maybe he’s out getting some blood?

He usually hangs out with you during the day, so that’s the only explanation you can come up with for him being gone. You sigh and close the door, then you make your way back downstairs to hang out with Seokjin and wait for Jungkook to get back.

“Hey, Jinnie!” You call happily when you see him sitting up on the couch, propped up with pillows as he sips on some broth. A huge smile breaks out on his face as you situate yourself on the chair next to the couch. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve just come back from the dead.” He grins and sends you a wink, making you laugh. “What are you reading?” He glances at the blue book in your hands and you hold it up to show him. “Beauty and the Beast! I was going to read it to Kook today, but he must be out getting some blood.” Jin nods in understanding. “Well, that’s a good choice. I’m sure he’ll love it when he gets back.”

You and Jin keep talking, a few people coming in every once in a while, like Namjoon making sure Jin has taken his pain medicine, and Sooyoung shyly refilling his bowl of broth. Before you know it, the sky is starting to darken. You look out the living room window and frown, not having seen or heard Jungkook come back yet.

“You can go and see if he’s outside.” Jin says kindly, noticing the look on your face. “Don’t feel like you have to sit and talk with an old man like me.”

You look back at Jin to glare at him. “Don’t talk like that. You’re one of my closest friends, and you’re not old.” You grumble, crossing your arms. Seokjin’s eyes light up and he smiles brightly, “Tell that to the little shits next time they tease me. Thanks y/n, for everything.” He says quietly, “But seriously, go and see if he’s outside. He might not be feeling well, and I’m more worried about him than myself.”

You nod reluctantly, but only leave when Namjoon comes in to hang out with Jin. You make your way out the front door, glancing at the sky again and hurrying down the porch steps to find Jungkook before the sun sets. You decide to head to the clearing, hoping he might be there.

~               ~                ~

“Maybe you misunderstood, yeah maybe you heard them wrong.” Jungkook wrings his hands, smearing the blood on them and coating them even more as he tries to calm himself down. He takes another shaky breath and refrains from touching his face as he looks back down at his bloodied hands and tries not to let the tears fall. Jungkook swallows thickly, “Ok, just calm down. Calm down and go back to y/n, she can help you. She can fix this.”

“You turned human again when it was proven that you didn’t lose yourselves!”

Your words ring in his ears and he feels his chest tighten with anxiety. He’s been trying to convince himself this whole time that he’s okay, and that you love him. Now, he knows he’s too far gone. There’s nothing he can do to stop himself from turning. And it’s all his fault.

A choked sob leaves his throat and he wipes his nose with the back of his hand where there isn’t any blood.

Fuck.

They’re going to leave him alone…all of the boys are going to turn human without him and you’re going to see that he really is a monster, that he is too far gone and then you’ll leave him too.

He’s going to be alone forever and he’s going to be trapped in this body that he wants nothing to do with anymore, forced to drink blood forever.

Jungkook sobs again, grabbing at his hair. He doesn’t want this, he doesn’t want any of this. Why did this have to happen to him? What did he do to deserve this??

His legs start to shake and he pulls at his hair roughly, trying to focus and not break down. But he can’t do it. He can’t calm down. A pained and angered scream leaves Jungkook’s throat and he goes into the forest again before his right mind can convince him to think rationally.

A few minutes later, Jungkook is standing over a dead deer, no memory of killing it in his mind. He’s covered in blood down his entire front, his shirt soaked with it, a deep red that makes him sick to look at. Jungkook wipes his hands down his shirt, trying to wipe it clean, but he only succeeds in making it worse.  

He stumbles out of a clump of trees into the clearing that he must’ve somehow found his way back to. Then, his legs give out underneath him and he’s on the ground, curling his legs inward and holding them tightly to his chest.

“C-c-calm down…calm down. You didn’t do it, you didn’t hurt the deer. That was not you, you just need to go home and see y/n and go to sleep. Y/n will make it better.” Jungkook whispers to himself, his voice hoarse and panicky as he tries to convince himself that he didn’t just brutally kill a deer and drink its blood.

Tears well up in his eyes as memories of him drinking the Hunter’s blood and shoving you to the ground in the psych hospital flash through his mind. The way the sun hurts his skin when he stands in it and the fear in your eyes when you looked at him after you had been lost in the woods all night. The hurtful things he’s said to you, and the fact that even you loving him can’t save him.

He is too far gone. He always was.

You’re right, you are fucked.

Jungkook flinches violently and covers his ears with his bloody hands, “Oh fuck. You’re not here, you’re not here, you’re not here.” He looks around frantically as if someone is about to come out of nowhere and pounce him.  

Did you miss me?

The voice chuckles wickedly and Jungkook feels his throat constrict and his chest tighten with horror.

You didn’t think you’d actually gotten rid of me, did you?

~               ~              ~

You just step into the clearing when you hear a scream come from somewhere over by the willow tree. Your heart leaps to your throat as your feet take off toward the sound, praying that he isn’t hurt. You know who it is.

Jungkook is crouched on the ground, folded almost into a little ball as he plugs his ears and screams at the top of his lungs.

“GO AWAY GO AWAY GO AWAY!”

You run over to him and gasp, your hands flying to your mouth when you see him covered in blood. His shirt is drenched in it, it’s up his arms and on his face too. Your fear only lasts a split second, then you’re rushing to him and kneeling next to him on the ground, pulling at his arms to try and get him to look at you.

“Jungkook! Jungkook, look at me, I’m here! I’m here, Kookie!” Tears stream down your face, unnoticed by you as you tug on him firmly. His eyes fly open and he looks over at you, then he pushes you away from him and moves himself back until his back is pressed against a big rock.  

“D-d-don’t touch me.” He cries and wipes at his arms and face. “P-please don’t look at me, y/n. Don’t see me like this.” He breaks down in tears again and chokes on his sobs. “I can’t do this! I never wanted this! I don’t want to be a monster!” He’s screaming so loud you’re sure someone miles from here could hear him.

Your heart breaks into pieces at his words and how vulnerable he looks pressed against the rock and desperately scrubbing at his messy arms and face. You crawl forward and grab his wrist, pulling it to you and wiping his hand with your clean shirt before he has time to protest. Jungkook watches you, his chest heaving as you make quick work of taking his other hand and wiping it clean as well. You get up on your knees and shuffle closer to lift your shirt and get his face cleaned off gently. Jungkook’s whole body is shaking as he watches you with wide red eyes. Fear, confusion, and relief swim in his gaze when you look at him.

“I- I didn’t do it.” You hear him whisper, almost as if he’s talking to himself. You pet his hair gently and stroke his cheek, “You’re okay, Kookie. I’m here now, and you don’t have to be scared.”

Jungkook blinks a few times, his eyes trying to focus on you again. “Y/n?” He asks quietly and you nod, “I’m here.” When you put your hand on his cheek, he leans into it a little, then something flashes in his eyes and he pulls away.

“I’m fine.”

“Ok.”

You don’t want to push him, not when he’s just had another panic attack. Jungkook looks down at your shirt and mutters, “Your shirt is ruined.”

“It was getting old and ratty anyway, this gives me an excuse to call dibs on the ones we found in the attack yesterday.” You reassure him, waiting for him to give you a small smile like he usually does, even when he’s upset.

But it never comes.

Jungkook takes your hands and moves you gently away from him enough for him to have room to stand. You look at him sadly, but he doesn’t make eye contact with you. Jungkook stands and starts walking to the house, silent as a grave.

You follow him quietly, watching him from behind and hoping he just needs some sleep. When you two make it to the house, he goes upstairs to his room, shutting the door before you get a chance to say anything.

The next morning, Jungkook doesn’t come to the kitchen archway.

He doesn’t smile shyly at you and sit next to you.

He doesn’t hold your hand under the table or help you feed Koko, giggling at the way the little fish gobbles down his food.

He doesn’t offer to read to you or pick flowers with you.

Jungkook doesn’t even talk to you.

You’re sitting on the front porch, your chin in your hands as you look out at the afternoon sun lighting the forest with its warm glow. A small sigh leaves your lips as you stare at a patch of blue flowers and will yourself not to cry.

You don’t move when the front door opens, but when you see it’s Jungkook walking down the front steps with his hoodie up, you straighten and call out to him.

“Kookie! Can we please talk?”

Your hearts sinks to your feet when he completely blows you off, making his way into the shade of the trees without sparing you so much as a glance.

A single tear slips out and you take a shaky breath.

This is what you’ve been so afraid of.

You thought maybe you were just paranoid, overthinking things like you always do.

But as you watch his back disappear into the woods, you know it’s true.

You’re losing him.

____________________________________

a/n: sorry :'(

Tag list: @jjungkook99 @ditttiii @xxxanimangxxx @rubinora @nikikookie @howbizarre @mygukandonly @hopeworld-baseline @adelina1299 @krystle1990 @karissassirak @lettersforjoon @squidyelmosquidbutt @jeonjungkookismyfuture @fekitza @your-best-behaviour @elliegrace1999tvd

[timeskip]

OC writing, individual scenes of all 6 of my main OCs at some of their lowest moments. 2316 words.

For the sake of clarity: Palinorous and Storm are the same person, but after they were erased from existence / “killed” for knowing too much, everyone forgot their name and began to call them Storm only.

---

The world is ending and Palinorous is in the center of it.

Fate. That is the name of their destroyer. Their hands fold into the book describing Fate, as if to hide the words. Palinorous is breaking in half, split, torn. They weren’t supposed to find out about Fate—what will become of them if they let it slip that they know they’re being controlled? Maybe humans are the real gods, Angel told them, because they knew, they fucking knew. Palinorous, granted the title of the God of Storms, is no god here—controlled and confined, sitting alone with the books that tell the only truth they know.

How can they accept this? How can they do anything but pretend they never saw, that Angel is simply trying to get them killed for knowing too much? But Palinorous asked for this; they’ve been searching for the reason they’ve felt off, the reason things haven’t gone correctly. And they found it.

They found it, and they hate it. They want to be their own person, their own god. They want to be everything, but all they end up doing is lowering their head into the book and trying to stop tears from staining the pages.

---

The world is ending and Caelestis is barely there.

He compresses himself into this feeling—grief swirls within him like nothing he’s ever known before. He’s never had to grieve before, never known love to die with a god Caelestis cared about. It was always distant, in his immortality. Humans die—Caelestis has spent enough time with them to understand that every connection he makes with them will burn into nothing.

Storm was not supposed to be the same. Storm was not supposed to end up as a blank in his mind, secrets locked behind memories he can’t feel. He knows there’s something he’s forgetting; all he remembers is their smile, their grin, the way they dragged him around as if he wasn’t larger than them, making him follow.

He doesn’t remember why he let himself go along, and that makes him sick, lying on the floor and staring, staring, staring. What did Storm mean to him? Why? Why? Why?

He spends a week numbly on Earth, surrounded by humans. He knows they’ll die, which doesn’t make it better; he sits on the floor and only opens his eyes when they speak to him, giving him offerings. He’s a god, after all, isn’t he? He’s in pain, isn’t he? He needs his anxiety soothed, doesn’t he? He used to get that from Storm, maybe. The humans don’t remember Storm at all. Their existence is gone.

His throat tightens, and he cries in the middle of a building built for him. Wind swirls around the circular room unbidden—Caelestis’s powers are out of his control now, only matching his emotions.

---

The world is ending and Tempest is dying because of it.

There are certain expectations placed on them as a successor of the God of Storms, and they grasp at them; they will become a new God of Storms, in the only way they can, as the God of Thunder is only half as brilliant.

First; Topaz tells them that they don’t need to live up to those expectations, that it’s all in their head, that the light of their god weighing on them is just that of someone dead, a god that Tempest needs not bow to. Tempest is a god too, after all. And Tempest believes Topaz; how could they not?

And still, when faced with Storm in the flesh, Tempest is simply a human next to them. This is the god they’ve dedicated their life to understanding, brought back to life by Topaz’s hand. It should be easy to fall into that, to try to help Storm, to call them by their real name—”Palinorous,” they say, heavy on their tongue. “May I call you by your name, Palinorous?” They finally know the name of the God of Storms. It does not give them the comfort they thought it would.

Storm gives them a withering look. The answer is no. Storm doesn’t like them, after all, or their sibling, or anything about them. They get shown what Tempest has worked on, formed from fragments of Storm’s memories, and they get a horrified look.

This is not love. This is worship, and Tempest has failed to please their god.

This is when Tempest really becomes their own—like bursting from a cocoon, skin shattering on impact. Their past self is dying, decomposing by itself. Storm is not happy with Tempest’s actions, and that is everything to Tempest, who has tried and failed to break free from them. They still believe themself to be based on Storm’s DNA, only themself when Storm is waiting for them to complete something.

Tempest is a god at the end of the world, their strings cut and collapsing alone, away from Storm’s bright yellow eyes, from Topaz’s concerned gaze, from the sound of Palinorous on the other’s lips.

---

The world is ending and Araceli no longer believes it can be fixed.

She has suffered before; she has fallen and scraped her knees on the concrete of humanity’s creation, when they experiment on her godly body as if she were an object with no thoughts. She once thought herself irreparable, fundamentally changed by the experience. Maybe she still does, though she buries that beneath love and power, standing above the others and making sure things get done. Araceli was cold and she still loved the other gods.

She does not love Storm, but Storm loves her. They visit her everywhere—they used to do this in the past, too, but they don’t talk about that much, and when they do it’s with a sadness and softness uncharacteristic of them. The past is a wound for both of them, and Araceli swallows down who they used to be bitterly.

Both of these things should be the end of the world, but they aren’t. Araceli is stronger than the others, does not break under the pressures of human or god. She is more powerful than Storm, simply shutting them down when they grin and grin and grin.

Until.

Storm tells her about Fate. They whisper the truth in her ear, that she isn’t actually powerful, that she is basically a human, that she hates humanity because she must hate humanity, that they cannot exist without gods like her, who want to destroy them. Fate controls her every movement, and Storm seems to think that Araceli is tied to it more than the others. They give her that sad look again, and tell her that they love her—they want to protect her, they want her to break free of Fate.

“The only way to escape your Fate is to know about it,” they say, taking her hand. Their hand is so much smaller than hers. She remembers when she thought of them as good. “We escaped. Now it’s your turn.”

She throws their hand off. She doesn’t want to hear about it. It’s a vile truth, one she can’t swallow down like memories or blank voids left by the hands of humans.

They return. They talk about her, in all her glory. Again and again. She wears jewelry because she wants to be better than humans, but they also wear jewelry. Her hair is flowing like clouds, multicolored and strange and inhuman, but Storm runs their fingers through it and makes her spine tingle until her stomach is sick and she’s on the verge of tears. Storm calls it pretty, but asks why she keeps it.

She doesn’t reply, because it’s easier to ignore than to admit that she needs it for a reason she can’t explain, even when it was touched over and over. (Is this Fate?)

But Storm continues. And Araceli crumbles with each word from their mouth, each explanation for why she has no control over her life, how she’s an Overseer Goddess but she is still controlled, always a puppet, never her own self. She hates the world; she hates humanity, and she hates gods like Storm, and she doesn’t think she can be fixed anymore.

“And you’re tall,” Storm is laughing. “But not so tall that you’d stop looking human. You’re basically a human—”

Their eyes widen as Araceli stops looking human at all, body warping and twisting, horns sprouting viciously from her skull, torso growing taller and less defined, fuzzy on the edges where Storm is still soft in their humanity.

---

The world is ending and Ry is losing himself slowly.

Tempest is sitting across from him. Their eyes focus first on his face, and then to the empty space beside him. “They didn’t come.” It’s not a question.

Ry doesn’t know why Storm likes him better than they do Tempest. They’re both the same, in essence; twins made from Storm’s remains before they came back. Ry is the one who asked for them to come back. Ry is an idiot. He should’ve stayed afraid of them, and he did; when he avoided Storm, when he believed them to be dangerous, they spent more time chasing after him than they did even looking at Tempest. It just fuels Tempest’s hatred of Ry, and the feeling that he’ll never be able to reach out for his twin.

It’s funny. They should be a family, all born from the same mold, but they’re fractured in all the worst ways, cracks running through them like lightning into the air. Ry, the God of Lightning, is aware that he caused these faults—that Tempest hates him because he is himself rather than someone else, and that he hates Storm and Storm’s legacy more than anything else.

But he still arranged for them to be brought back. Even Storm themself doesn’t know about that.

And now Ry sits across from Tempest on two couches held parallel, as if to force them to look at each other. Storm is not coming; it’s their own decision, and regardless of how Ry feels about it—anxiety swells at the idea of them coming, so this is a relief, except that Ry wanted something more than absence—he has to accept that this conversation will only be his and Tempest’s.

He’s calm. Too calm. There is nothing in him that can be called a person, but he also barely believes in his own godhood. The longer Storm is around, the more Ry feels himself slipping away, devolving into something else entirely.

He built himself around the idea of not being Storm, but when Storm came back, they had no answers. Is Ry a part of Storm? Is Storm simply the predecessor to Ry? Will Ry never be able to fix this, because he keeps thinking of Storm as that same monster he was warned he should never become, that same thing he laughed at Tempest for pursuing? Ry has never been able to escape this—he asks questions of the universe and humanity, and gets nothing back.

“I had a lot more of Storm’s memories than you did,” Ry tells Tempest, and there’s something so gloriously fake about it, behind his sharp teeth and the reality that he’s been running from Storm this whole time.

The world is ending, and Ry is smiling while it happens. The world ends quietly, like the ground slipping from beneath his shoes and leaving him to fall before he can scream.

---

The world is ending and Topaz will be the one to end it.

The first time she met the Higher Being who granted her freedom, she didn’t understand a single thing. Now she knows she can reclaim her Fate as her own; she’s been controlled by the Higher Being that they call Fate for too long, but she’s watched it slowly decay, grasping at all the awful things it’s given her and crushing them.

The world that Fate created is cruel. Topaz knows that best of anyone, waiting for decades, centuries, longer and longer, biding her time and keeping secrets and hoping to be free. She’s known all about Fate, and known that if she revealed it she’d die.

She and Storm are the same in that way, but when Storm told her she needed to fix things instead of keeping it secret, she felt like laughing.

How can she fix things? She’s trapped in Fate as much as they are, and they died for it, they changed themself until they died, until Fate snapped them in half. Topaz is different. Topaz is stronger, and will keep herself alive as much as she needs to. She’ll do anything Fate needs her to, only disobeying when she knows she can. Topaz has become quite attuned to Fate’s needs, and sometimes it doesn’t even grip her anymore.

She’s breaking free. She doesn’t need to be glitched by Fate anymore, and she will force it to the ground, where she will snap it just like it snapped Storm. Fate is over, and Topaz will free herself once and for all.

Topaz knows how this works; Fate was created for humanity. She is aware of the twists and turns, the ways gods were made to control humans, which the Higher Beings couldn’t touch by themselves. But Topaz is no longer a regular god—she no longer needs the Higher Beings, and she no longer needs humanity.

Her jacket hangs off her shoulders, a brilliant red like the flames she prided herself on as the Goddess of Fire.

She won’t kill humanity with fire this time, but they will die to pave the way for her freedom. She feels no guilt from this, and how could she? She’s spent too long waiting. She’s done fixing the world, controlling herself, staying within the lines.

If the other gods hate her for it, she couldn’t care less.

(Or, at least, that’s what she tells herself. It’s better this way. It’s always been better this way.)

[maribatshipper]

Trollhunting Lantern Chapter 1

A/N: This was written down long before Wizards, about two/three years ago, so this is an alternate universe.

“It’s Marnie & Campo, on River 94.9!  We play the best music mix from the 80s till now!”

The song “Hungry Like The Wolf” starts playing as two strange figures fight in the early morning light. Technically, morning shadows. They don’t touch the light.

“Yield, Trollhunter Jim!” One of the figures exclaims.

This figure is terrifyingly tall, has glowing yellow eyes, and a crimson coloured armour all around him, only revealing the glowing eyes. He has a long sword in his right hand the same colour as his armour.

The other figure, who has now been identified as Jim, replies, “A Trollhunter never yields, Venjo! I’d rather die!”

Jim is a tall creature that looks like he was once human. He has teeth pointing out of his bottom jaw, blue skin, horns on the top of his head, messy black hair, blue eyes, and red/black armour on with a sword made of the same material as his armour.

A human female with brown hair, a white streak and hairclips in her hair, reddish-brown eyes and purple armour jumps into the fray.

“& I’ll kill you if you kill him!” She exclaims.

Venjo smirks, “Terms accepted Trollhunter. Flesh-bag! This is not your battle!”

Jim smirks, “I can take him, Claire. Get out of here. Stay with Blinky.”

Claire smirks, “And let you have all the fun?’

Venjo jumps at Claire, who dodges and slams into him with her armour.

She smirks, “I gotta thank Merlin for the armour.”

Jim scoffs, “You’ve already thanked him a dozen times!”

Venjo slams into Jim, causing Jim to come dangerously close to the sunlight.

“Master Jim! Careful!” Another male voice calls.

Jim jumps away from the sunlight and slams into Venjo. Venjo gets thrown across the ground. Jim holds his sword towards Venjo.

“Your reign of terror will soon be over, Venjo!” Jim frowns.

The sunlight touches Jim’s armour, causing it to burn. Jim panics, & Venjo takes this opportunity to kick him in the face. Jim flies away, close to another beam of sunlight, with his sword in the sun. Venjo gets up, ready to run into Jim. Jim reaches into the sunlight to grab his sword, burning his hand. Claire keeps Venjo occupied while Jim shakes the sparks off his hand. Venjo hits Claire away, into the sun, which doesn’t affect her has much as it does the other two creatures.

“There is nowhere left for you to run, Trollhunter! Give me the Amulet!” Venjo yells.

Jim looks towards the circle on his chest. He jumps up a tree, trying to get away from Venjo for a short while. But every now and then, the branches snap underneath his weight. Jim stops and looks around for Venjo, when Venjo hits him from behind.

“OW! That was worse than your breath!” Jim groans.

Claire jumps on the branches too; her weight being supported more than Jim’s and Venjo’s. Venjo pushes Jim close to the end of the trees, where the sun is shining.

“It ends here, Trollhunter. It’s either me or the sun. Either way, you’re doomed.” Venjo laughs.

Claire hits Venjo away from Jim, who is burning.

“Doesn’t matter. The Amulet will find a champion. That Trollhunter will stop you and your schemes.” Jim groans.

Claire gasps as she realises what he’s saying.

“JIM! NO!” She screams as he jumps into the sun.

As he burns, he turns to stone. He smashes as soon as he hits the ground. Claire runs towards Jim’s remains.

“No! No, Jim, no.” Claire cries.

 ***

An alarm goes off at 7:00 playing “Eye of The Tiger”. A girl climbs out of bed. She has brown, curly hair, blue shining eyes, and looks like she’s only 13. She sings along to the song as she gets changed. She slides to the kitchen and cooks herself some scrambled eggs. She sets the table for the rest of her family, with six plates on the table, at six chairs, then she removes a plate. She puts milk, Milo Cereal, oats, and Rice Bubbles on the table. She continues to sing. Her family comes out with a smile on their faces.

“Face to face, out in the heat

Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry

They stack the odds 'till we take to the street

For the kill with the skill to survive!”

A boy slightly taller comes out and yells, “Shut up, Scarlett!”

The girl now identified as Scarlett ignores him.

“It's the eye of the tiger, it's the dream of the fight

Risin' up to the challenge of our rival

And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night

And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger!”

The boy yells, “If you don’t shut up, Scarlett, you’re gonna regret it.”

Scarlett stops, then looks at him.

“You know, if you had taste, and were a proper brother, Nick, you would be encouraging me, not patronising me for being happy. I have every right to be happy. You, Nicholas, should be happy too. But you have no idea what it’s like to be happy anymore. You don’t even know what it’s like to work at Maccas! I had to slave over a grill, a HOT grill, & clean it while it was still on!” Scarlett frowns.

The boy now identified as Nicholas smirks, “How many jobs have you had?” thinking he has the upper hand.

Scarlett retorts, “How many jobs have you kept for more than a month?”

Nicholas stumbles, and two young girls laugh.

“Thank you, little sisters. Now I must be off, to my ACTUAL and real job. Unlike your big brother here, who, A, I didn’t put a plate out for, because he needs to learn to do things himself, and B, is a freeloader.” Scarlett smirks.

Scarlett walks out the door with a satisfied smirk. She grabs her bike and sees someone.

“Hey Greeny!” Scarlett exclaims.

A girl with short red hair, a yellow shirt, blue eyes, and a few bruises rides up and sighs, “What did I say about calling me that? I’m trying to keep my secret, and if you blurt that all over town, they’ll figure it out.”

Scarlett giggles, “No one’s gonna find out, Bracha. When someone calls someone else a Greeny, they think the person is either a vegetarian or a person who cares too much for the environment. Not…”

Scarlett points to a little green ring on Bracha’s right hand.

“I get it. I just don’t like it. What if there are other people who know about them?” Bracha asks.

Scarlett sighs, “It’s fine, Bracha. Talking about Extra-terrestrial’s is all the rage now. People are even going to storm Area 51 according to the internet. They won’t find anything. It’s all been moved to Area 49b.”

Bracha asks, “What makes you say that?”

Scarlett giggles, “It’s what my Arcadian friend Eli told me before he told me that he had to study abroad in Cantaloupia.”

Bracha asks, “Cantaloupia?”

Scarlett giggles, “I believe he actually meant he was visiting an alien planet to be the human ambassador or something. Speaking of, have you visited any new planets?”

Bracha smirks, “Akaridian-5. The species there are made pretty much entirely of energy, and their hearts they call “Cores”, and if someone dies, as long as their core is intact, they can come back to life through regeneration chambers. Or that’s what I gathered from the peace treaty. Queen Aja seems to be a wonderful queen. She recognised me as being human though.”

Scarlett asks, “Are they blue?”

Bracha falls off the bike in surprise.

“How did you know?” She asks.

Scarlett hops off her bike to help Bracha up.

“I’ll show you later. Let’s just say, Eli knows two. He was surprised I was actually sixteen. He swore I was alien.” Scarlett replies.

“Scarlett...”

Scarlett stiffens.

“Did you hear that?” Scarlett asks.

Bracha shakes her head.

“Scarlett...”

Scarlett notices a few rocks. She points to the rocks and sneaks over, as if a snake were going to jump out.

“Scarlett!”

Scarlett gasps, “Rocks are saying my name. If I get a ring from digging in that, and it’s green, I’m requesting to be on your team.”

Bracha makes sure no one is around and whispers, “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light.”

A green costume forms around Bracha, and a mask appears over her face. She thrusts her ring towards the pile of rocks and what appears to be a laser goes over them.

“I’m getting an energy reading, but it’s not a Lantern energy. It’s something else. It registered the stones as k-spar.” Bracha frowns.

Scarlett turns and sighs, “Take that off. Someone could see you.”

Scarlett picks up a rock to show a glowing blue object.

“An amulet?” Bracha asks.

Scarlett sighs, “I thought it would be a ring. I was hoping. So I could hang out with you more often.”

Bracha’s green outfit disappears. Scarlett looks up and sees something white in the trees, then it disappears.

“Ever get that feeling you’re being watched, but you find no proof of it?” Scarlett asks.

Bracha nods.

“Let’s go. I’m gonna be late for work. Besides, if something does happen, I’m sure we can fight them off. Or you can.” Scarlett jokes.

The girls hop back on their bikes and ride off.

Meanwhile, above in the trees, a creature with blue skin and six eyes gasps.

“It chose a female human?” He asks.

Claire sighs, “I’ll keep an eye on the green girl. You keep an eye on the new Trollhunter. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be like Jim’s time as Trollhunter.”

 ***

 Scarlett smiles, “Will that be all for today, Ma’am?”

A woman replies, “That’ll be all honey. Too much damage to my account.”

Scarlett giggles and receives the payment. As the woman leaves, someone pats Scarlett on the back.

“Well done, kid.” A guy smiles.

Scarlett replies, “Well, like you said, Jack, at Macca’s, we strive to put a smile on every seat. Correct?”

Jack smirks, “Good job. You going soon?”

Scarlett sighs, “I gotta do some mopping, but I’ll go after that. Red bucket for customer space. Right?”

Jack smiles, “Right again, Scarlett. I’m going on break. Seeya tomorrow?”

Scarlett replies, “Sure Jack.”

Scarlett washes her hands and gets the mop. She mops the customer’s area, and a familiar figure comes up behind her.

“Anything interesting happening in there?” Bracha smirks.

Scarlett rolls her eyes, “Nothing really. I barely even know anyone outside of work. They are all old enough to be my cousins!”

Bracha smirks, “That’s rich. You have, like, fifty cousins. Half of them are much older than you. And they are on your mother’s side. I haven’t even met your father’s side.”

Scarlett smirks, “You & I both, kiddo.”

Bracha frowns, “I hate that nickname.”

Scarlett giggles, “I call everyone that looks young kiddo. Especially if they are younger than me. Like you.”

Bracha sighs, “Alright, Alright. But I still don’t like the name.”

Scarlett rolls her eyes and sighs.

“I’m done my mopping. I have other work to do. Seeya later, Greeny.” Scarlett smirks.

Bracha sighs, “Don’t call me that.”

Scarlett walks away and notices a young girl sitting down with a white stripe in her hair. It reminds her of Disney’s Princess Anna. Scarlett continues walking into the staff only area. She goes into the staff break room, where her workmates are having fun on their breaks.

“Is she still following you around, Scarlett?” A girl with blonde hair asks.

“She’s my friend. I’ve told her she can stay around as long as she doesn’t come into the staff area and doesn’t pick any fights. Besides, it’s safer when I ride home.” Scarlett replies.

A tall guy sighs, “Well, it’s none of my business, but a girl seems to have taken an interest in the two of you.”

Scarlett sighs, “Who, Caillou?”

Caillou replies, “A customer. Her name is Claire. She’s got a white stripe in her hair.”

Scarlett frowns, thinking.

“Could she know? No, she couldn’t know. Or maybe she does know Bracha’s Identity. Maybe that’s why she was looking at us.”

Scarlett sighs & realises her shift is almost up.

“Got to go, guys!” She smiles.

“Seeya later, Strange Scarlett.” Everyone smiles.

Scarlett laughs as she goes & grabs her bag. She shoves a jumper on so people know not to go to her for food now. She signs out & walks into the customer area.

“Scarlett! You ready to go?” Bracha calls.

Scarlett sighs, “Sure.”

 ***

 Scarlett frowns, deep in thought while riding.

“You okay, Scarlett?” Bracha asks.

Scarlett answers, “Yeah... I’m fine. It’s actually about a customer. I’ve been told she took an interest in us. She had a white stripe in her hair. Funny thing, I could’ve sworn I saw her in the forest, but no one was there.”

Bracha stares at her ring.

“Well, maybe the ring went haywire and didn’t see her.” Bracha suggests.

Scarlett smiles, “Well, we gotta split now. Seeya, Bracha. Good luck with the GLs.”

Bracha smiles, “Call me if that thing does anything.”

The girls split up and go to their separate houses. Scarlett opens the door and walks in.

“Hey, Scarlett!” Her father smiles.

“Hi Dad! How were the busses in Brisbane today? Anything special?” Scarlett asks.

Her father says, “Just your normal day. There were a few grumpy customers. I met a weird old man. I think he was at a costume party. He had armour on.”

Nicholas comes in and says, “Hi, Michael.”

Scarlett gasps, “That’s Dad to you!”

Michael sighs, “I’ll deal with it, Scarlett. How about you tell your mother about your day?”

Scarlett smirks. She knows not to get her Dad angry. She walks into the loungeroom.

“Hi Mum. How was Joshua today? Did he give you a hard time?” Scarlett asks.

Her Mum says, “Not really. He was actually quiet today. And you know that’s hard for your brother.”

Scarlett nods.

“Hey, Heather, where are the Wasabi nuts?” Michael asks.

“In the pantry!” Heather answers.

“I’m gonna put my stuff away.” Scarlett smiles.

“Alright honey. Your dad and I have to visit someone. Can you take care of your sisters tonight?” Heather asks.

Scarlett answers, “Sure Mum. As long as Face-ache is gone before you go.”

She walks to the room she shares with her sisters.

“Scarlett’s home!” The youngest exclaims.

“Hi, girls. Oriel, did anything happen today?” Scarlett asks.

The girl with sandy blonde wavy hair replies, “Sophie wanted to hang out. But since Nicko’s here...”

The girl with straight brown hair growls, “I really want to-”

Scarlett sighs, “Crystal, I know what you want to do, but it’s not that simple. If he hurts you again, do all you can to fight back. Just use a broom to whack him. By the way, I’m in charge tonight.”

Crystal frowns.

“Ring-ring-ring, Ring-ring-aling. Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-aling. Get your phone! When someone calls. Get your phone!”

Scarlett answers the phone.

“Hello.”

“Has it done anything yet?” Bracha’s voice asks.

Scarlett sighs, “Nope. Nothing yet.”

Bracha asks, “You’ll tell me when it does something, right?”

Scarlett giggles, “Yes. Should I Pinkie Promise to ease your worries?”

Bracha sighs, “Alright.”

Scarlett rolls her eyes, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, Stick a cupcake in my eye I will tell you when it does something.”

Bracha giggles, “Thanks. I’ll ask tomorrow. Got to report in for the corps.”

Scarlett smiles, “Got it, Bracha. TTYL!”

Bracha hangs up.

“She still a Lantern?” Oriel whispers.

Scarlett’s sisters are the only other people that know about Bracha’s secret.

“Of course. It’s rare to be fired from her job. She’s still one of them.” Scarlett smiles.

“Girls!” Heather calls.

All the girls run towards their Mum.

“It’s time for us to go. Scarlett, you’re in charge while we’re gone.” Heather smiles.

Crystal hugs Mum & Dad first and gives them both a goodbye kiss. Oriel gives them a goodbye hug.

“What? No kiss?” Michael asks.

Oriel exclaims, “Yukky!”

Everyone giggles. Scarlett gives them a hug & a kiss.

“Seeya later guys.” Scarlett smiles.

Michael and Heather walk out the door. Scarlett’s sisters almost immediately run to the TV. Scarlett pulls the Amulet out of her pocket.

“What exactly are you?” Scarlett whispers.

Suddenly, all the girls hear a crash in the basement. They see Joshua is sitting on the couch. Crystal and Scarlett grab brooms and Oriel stays with Joshua. Scarlett opens the door and walks down with a torch in her mouth. Crystal stays behind in case something comes up behind Scarlett. Scarlett holds her broom like one would a katana.

“I hope it’s not snakes.” She mumbles.

She goes over to a pile of boxes and looks behind it. She notices strange footprints on the floor. Meanwhile, something comes up behind her.

“Lady Scarlett!” It exclaims.

Scarlett turns as fast as she can and whacks the creature with the broom. She now sees it has six eyes.

“Ow… Master Jim wasn’t so violent on his first encounter.” It comments.

Crystal comes down and goes to hit it when Scarlett grabs Crystal’s broom.

“Before we start attacking, and sorry, it was instinct, what are you?” Scarlett frowns.

The creature smiles, “I am Blinky. A troll. And you, Lady Scarlett, are the Trollhunter.”

Scarlett and Crystal exchange glances, look back at “Blinky”, then laugh. Blinky frowns in confusion.

“Sorry, Blinky. We just had to get that out of our system.” Scarlett smiles.

Crystal grips the broom again and goes to hit Blinky. Blinky winces when Scarlett grabs the broom, again.

“As you can see, Crystal’s prone to hit things that she doesn’t understand. I have adapted after living with her for thirteen years. Now, better explanation please before she hits me.” Scarlett asks in a deadpan voice.

“You have to fight evil trolls.” Blinky replies.

Crystal seems happy with this answer, then runs upstairs.

Scarlett sighs, “I’ll grab a mattress.”

She pulls a mattress out from behind some other boxes and puts it near the stairs as Crystal pulls Oriel and Joshua downstairs. Joshua acts like nothing’s different, and Oriel screams, promptly fainting on the mattress.

“You need to go before my parents get home. Either that, or get another beating, only from my mother. GET!” Scarlett orders.

Blinky leaves.

 ***

 Scarlett throws water on Oriel, and Oriel gasps.

“What was that for?” Oriel coughs.

Scarlett replies, “Simple. You fainted after seeing a troll. Crystal’s fault. She showed him to you. If I end up hanging out with him, getting rid of evil trolls, you two have to cover for me. Especially you, Crystal.”

A knock is heard upstairs.

“Mum and Dad!” Crystal gasps.

Scarlett orders, “Not a word. Oriel, shower.”

They run upstairs. Scarlett prays it’s not Nicholas. Oriel runs to the bathroom and the others finish running to the door. They open the curtain to see-

“Nicholas. I jinxed it!” Scarlett mumbles.

They open the door and scowl.

“What are you doing here, you monster? Didn’t Dad tell you that if you’re not back before Eight, don’t come back at all?” Scarlett asks.

Crystal growls in a growl that sounds like a lion’s growl.

Nicholas scoffs, “You’re not Dad.”

Scarlett feels her face go red in anger when suddenly, Crystal jumps on Nicholas and pulls his hair out, little bit at a time. Scarlett stares in shock when Oriel comes down, shower finished, and stares, slack-jawed.

“Is Crystal…?” She asks.

Scarlett nods, “Uh huh.”

Oriel pulls Scarlett’s phone out and records the ordeal.

“This is going to be awesome.” Oriel smiles.

“What is going on here?” everyone hears a voice asks.

Oriel stops the recording and hides the phone while Heather and Michael stare at Crystal and a boy that looks like a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing.

“What did you just do?” Heather freaks out.

Michael just stares in shock.

“Uh… Mum, Dad, He had it coming for eight years. She’s done enough for both of us.” Scarlett sighs.

She pulls Crystal away from Nicholas and takes both of the girls to their bedroom, and collapses on the floor.

“This day went from normal to the craziest day I’ve ever had in my sixteen years of living. And I bet this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

 ***

 Nicholas comes back from the hospital, with his face and left arm in a cast. Heather walks upstairs and sits on the bed.

“I’m very disappointed in you girls.” Heather sighs.

Crystal frowns, “I’m sorry Mum. But he deserved it after all that he did to us!”

Scarlett keeps quiet, feeling ashamed.

“I know, but it wasn’t right. I know you have… issues, honey, but you should not do it. Scarlett, I know you were in shock, but please, take her off next time.” Heather frowns.

Scarlett nods. She walks over to the window and stares out.

“I understand Mum.” Scarlett frowns.

“I hope you all will be more responsible in the future.” Heather sighs as she walks out.

Oriel facepalms, “I can’t believe we let this happen.”

Crystal frowns, “Not my fault. He had it coming for years!”

Scarlett just continues staring out the window, a blue glow emanating from the amulet she now has in her hand.

“We have bigger fish to fry now. Like what showed up in our basement.” Scarlett whispers.

The girls stare at Scarlett.

“So, what do we do, Trollhunter?” Crystal smirks.

Scarlett giggles. It’s funny how her family can be upset and angry one second, then can be happy as Larry the next.

“Well, first, I need to find out more about this thing. It seems to be connected to Blinky. I have a plan.” Scarlett smiles.

Oriel frowns, “What are you doing?”

Scarlett whips out the phone.

“Hi, you’ve reached Bracha. Unfortunately, I am unavailable at the moment, but I will call you back as soon as I can. *Beep*”

“Hey, Bracha. Big news. I have to tell you something in person. One question I have to ask though. Ever heard of a Trollhunter?” Scarlett says into the answering machine.

 ***

 Scarlett looks at her glow-in-the-dark watch and sneaks out the window. She looks at her sisters as they put pillows under her blanket. Scarlett gives them a thumbs up and walks as far as she can down her yard. Living in the middle of nowhere gives you a fairly big property to live in. She stops near the dam. She never goes this far from fear of snakes. Especially at night. She looks at the Amulet, which is glowing blue. A language comes up, which Scarlett finds familiar. Maybe Japanese or Chinese. It changes to another language, and another, then English.

“For the Glory of Merlin, Daylight is Mine to command.” Scarlett reads.

A few blue lights start going into the left side of her chest, and she floats into the air. Armour appears around her, which is slightly bigger than herself. The Amulet is right where the blue lights went. The armour glows blue, then changes its size so it fits perfectly.

“Awesome. Now my sisters will want one.” Scarlett laughs.

She holds out her hand and as another blue light goes into her hand, putting a sword in her hand, only slightly bigger than she can hold. It drops to the ground, making her groan in pain.

“I hope it works for this sword too.” Scarlett sighs.

The sword slightly shrinks to fit Scarlett’s muscles.

“Much better. So this is what that guy meant.” Scarlett giggles.

She waves the sword around and gets it stuck in a tree. She relaxes, then the armour and sword disappear, and the amulet falls onto the ground.

[hatsampixie]

Spy vs Spy - Curse of the Were-Pyre, part 2

(Small note, this chapter is longer than the first, and I may have gotten a bit lazy writing it towards the end.. :T)

-

Agent Black groaned as his eyes tiredly pried themselves open, he had reverted back to his normal form hours ago.

As his vision became clearer, he gave a cough and looked around. Upon scanning the area he saw that he was back home in his apartment, lying in his bed. As his energy slowly came back, his rubbed his head as a painful ache suddenly kicked in. "M-my head.." he groaned as he sat up in bed, 'what happened to me?' he thought to himself, he somehow remembered walking home on his own for some odd reason, Black flinched as his vision turned to the window and the bright sunlight seeping through the gray-colored curtains. Getting out of bed, he looked at the time on a nearby watch, he immediately woke up upon seeing that he was gonna be late, his eyes widening. Dashing out of bed and grabbing his black wide-brimmed hat, Black was about to walk out the door to get to the elevator, but when he opened it, he saw that his next-apartment neighbor, Frank was standing right there; causing the spy to yelp in fright. "A.B, we have to talk." he said, Black breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Black, do you actually know what happened to you last night?" Frank asked, the two of them had sat down at a table in a small kitchen, Black responded by silently shaking his head, obviously a 'No'. "You were like groaning and growling like a.. a beast! I mean, you just came in by yourself. So, you didn't listen.. But did you get to know any ladies?" Black gave the fellow a not amused look. "No, Frank, I didn't. There were like no girls there apart from Agent Gray." There was silence for a moment or two. After a bit, Frank sighed. "..But that's not the point, you didn't listen to me, and I'm actually pretty scared; I heard those growls, and if you ask me, they didn't even sound human. Do you need to get to the hospital?" Once again, Black responded with a head shake. "No, I feel fine." he said, "I think everything's okay." Black and Frank got up and walked to the door, "Just get to work, don't cause any trouble, and.. Seriously, don't scare me like that again. White found out and told me that you walked home alone, and I'm just.. Grr! Any more nonsence, and I'm calling the police." Black shot him a stern look and glared. "Dude, I AM the police." Black finally walked out and shut the door, as he was beginning to walk down the seemingly never-ending hallway, his eyes narrowed as he noticed Agent White standing nearby, as if he was waiting for him. "White, why'd you tell on me?" he growled, venom entering his tone. "Well.. You know, I really hate to tell you this with all the fibers of my being.. But.. I was actually worried about you, you were acting pretty scary last night." White said. Black turned and gave an annoyed sigh, and started walking towards the elevator, "Stop going on about that, let's just get to work, c'mon White!" Black made his way to the elevator, his rival following after, he pressed a button and the lift's doors closed as it made it's descent towards the lobby floor.

"Alright, people, listen up! Because this day's report of mine is basically why you shouldn't talk to strangers." Vice (or actually temporary, the real chief was on break at the time) Chief Rodger told the agents that were sitting down at a large table in the meeting hall in the S.P.Y HQ. Agent Black raised his hand, as if he were a kid being taught in a classroom, drawing attention to himself. "I did!" he said, Rodger laid eyes on him and scowled, "No, B, I don't want to hear you're rubbish." The temporary chief has had some history with Black in the past, but Black didn't listen. "Well, last night I got like.. bitten by a vampire and a werewolf, and I kicked a robber's ass." Black said with a serious tone.

He remembered very little of some of the vents from last night, but the memories were still blurred, he didn't tell Frank because he didn't want him to be worried.

The tall man that was Rodger rolled his eyes. "Shut up, you're spouting rubbish. Okay men, ignore him, just ignore him." "..But, it's true, I did!" Black said, raising his voice a bit, even tilting his head to show him the marks from the healed neck bite, much to other people in the room gasping. One of the men chuckled upon hearing that, the black-attire-wearing spy simply glared at him, thinking that the fellow didn't believe him, "Look, pal, I did." he said, "I-I swear I did, even Rodger d- ..Gray, White, didn't you hear me growl last night like a ..weird beast?" Gray and White both nodded, "We did, we really did." The two both said in unison. "Well, it's because I got bit by both a vampire and a werewolf, and that made me a Were-Pyre." The black spy added sternly, Gray simply got a nervous look, glancing away for a moment and looking back at him, as if to say: "Black, why are you telling me this now?"

Rodger's voice breaking out made all the people in the room flinch: "People, calm down!" he bellowed, "Alright, Black, any more stories, and you won't get your break hours for today!" "I'm not lying-!" Now Rodger's eyes seemed to become bloodshot in his rage as his short temper acted up, and the veins in his neck now were now showing. "THAT'S IT! NO BREAK HOURS FOR YOU TODAY, BOY!" he roared. Unfortunately, the rage seemed to be contagious, because now Black looked annoyed, and his canines looked a bit longer than normal, and he started growling in his rage, and like Frank had said, the growls sounded inhuman. Some of the people sitting beside him started moving away from him, "Oh my god, B.. I'm getting REALLY ANGRY! That's it! I'M GONNA.. !" Rodger shouted once again, he was now looming over Black, raising his fist for the strike. At that moment, Gray stood up in her chair, as did White. "W-wait, wait, wait, don't! you can't hit an agent!" Gray spoke worriedly, Roger turned to her with a psychotic look in his eye. "Oh, YEAH?!" And then the crazed man hit Black with such a force that it knocked his hat off, and blew him into the chairs behind him, it was just too much, Rodger's strength was beyond what should be possible.

There was complete silence in the room.

Slowly, Black clumsily stood up again, putting his hat back on and breathing heavily, his eyes shut. It looked as if he had survived the blow without a scratch on him, one of the people in the crowd gulped in fear. As Black's creature-like breathing intensified, with a monstrous snarl, his eyes shot open; revealing that his pupils were now cat-like slits.

And his gaze was locked on Chief Rodger.  

The crowd, even Gray and White watched in fear as they saw something else happen, right before their eyes.

They witnessed Black transform.

Black's teeth became longer and more sharp, his ears grew visible, longer and wolf-like, and he also grew a wolf tail as well. He grew a foot taller, and his hands metamorphosed into giant bat wings.

And after this, Black looked right in Rodger's eyes, and let out a loud screeching roar.

The rage immediately went out of Rodger's gaze, and it was replaced with a parody known as horror. "OH, MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT?!" He screamed with fear in his voice, he had no idea what the heck just happened, but he knew one thing for sure as the rest of the people in the room did: Black was right. But there was no time to think as the now transformed spy lunged at Rodger at a frightening speed, shrieking.

Black knocked Rodger straight into the wall behind him, with the same force that the man had used to smack him, this instantly crushed the man's vertebrae, killing him. And Black started tearing into him, using his dagger-sharp teeth and claws, and started feasting on him like a hungry wolf.

The people looked on in horror at what was happening before them, one of them slowly got up out of his chair and tried to sneak away, but unfortunately, he wasn't wearing the right shoes for this, and a soft 'squeeak!' sounded off.

Black immediately froze, his wolf ears twitched, with rage in his eyes, he slowly turned to the crowd behind him, and with blood dripping from his claws and fangs, he lifted his head and unleashed a loud lupine howl.

The people in the room instantly went into all-out panic mode, screaming, waving their arms, tripping and scrambling over one another, desperately trying to get out of the room and away from the transformed Black Spy.

"Holy crap, Black, what happened to you?!" White screamed, Gray grabbed him by the hand and they both disappeared into the stampeding crowd, "There's no time to explain. Right now, head for the elevator!"

Three people didn't make it out of the crowd, and the first two had already been mutilated, and the room was now a mix of gray, white, and crimson red.

Breathing heavily, the Were-Pyre turned his attention to the third person left behind: the brightly colored weirdo from the party, who had now started backing away slowly, whimpering until he was now in a corner.

And as you all know, backing up into a corner when a monster's on a rampage is a very poor choice.

The rest was all a blur: the frightening screech, the terror-filled scream, the horrible sound of flesh getting torn, and the blood.. all the blood.

-

Black had once again um.. blacked out, and also turned back to normal. As he came to, he looked around and saw that he was in a small stone room.. blocked with large steel bars.

Oh no..

He woke up and saw that he was now in shackles that were attached to the walls, and in front of him, behind the steel bars, there was a man standing before him dressed in a camouflage outfit, he wore several badges, and a hat to match, and beside him, there were two other people in black suits with dark glasses, it was clear that this man was a General.

And that he was in a prison.

"..W-what am I doing here? Let me out! I'm behind bars, I shoul-!" Before the worried spy could finish, the general began to speak to him in a commanding sort of voice: "Sir, I don't know how you've done it, but there were severed limbs, blood everywhere, and people ripped to shreds inside the S.P.Y HQ. And how on earth you did this is beyond me. Agent Black, you cannot leave this cell." The black spy's eyes widened upon hearing this dreadful news as he struggled against the restraints, but this tactic didn't do any good. Slowly, he calmed down and took a more reasonable approach. "..But, how would I have been able to cause all of that?" he asked, his mind being a total blank, due to him blacking out after losing control. "Well, I'm getting reports about some bizarre things that you're some kind of 'Were-Pyre'." The general said, "But we've got some experts on board: We've got a priest, a witch, and a scientist. However, I cannot cure you, and I cannot kill you. So we have no choice until they each try to help at a time, If this fails, then all is lost." The general cleared his throat, "We first have the witch.. Ma'am, you can come in now please." A nearby door opened, and a woman came in through the door, chuckling softly. She wore a long black rope with a hint of purple, and her hair was long and black, the style was also wild and completely unkept. One of her teeth was sharp, and appeared to be made of gold. "I am Madame Ivy," she spoke with a low and yet raspy sort of voice, "And I believe that he has the spirits of a vampire, a werewolf.. And pure rage. So, I'm going to have to take you to my hidden camp, and do magical potion experiments on you, I will splash this potion on you, and we will be there sooner before you know it, dear." She said with a strange gleam in her eye.

Black, however, didn't like the sound of this one bit, and began struggling again. "Wait, wait!" But then she threw the potion bottle at him, it landed 2 feet away from him and shattered, strange purple smoke emitted from the spilled liquid. "No! take that!" the strange woman yelled. The purple smoke started hitting Black right between the nostrils, and he saw his vision get blurrier and blacker. "Wait! Ohhhh.. Not again.." he whimpered as his world went black.. again.

As Black began coming to, only one thought was in his mind, 'I'm getting sick of blacking out, here..' Glancing around quickly, he saw that he was in a huge forest, lit by the full moon shining through the trees. he was also near a campfire, and the Witch was chanting some weird incantation, and nearby was a large cart filled with strange potions, each of them glowing an ominous bright color. There were two others there as well, one looked like a goblin, and the other.. appeared to be a zombie. Yes, a real zombie. Black sat up immediately, with a confused and worried look in his eye, "Woah! what are you doing?" he asked. The witch simply responded with that suspicious look in her eyes, "We are trying to remove the demons from you." she whispered, "Child, you will turn into a beautiful butterfly!" The confused look on Black's face turned into a not amused glare as his eyes narrowed, picking a witch to cure him was the wrong choice, and this was on the path to getting nowhere. "N-no, I don't want to be a butterfly." the spy grumbled, "Oh.. Well, you will turn into a beautiful princess!" "No, I don't want to be a-" Suddenly, the zombie he noticed before popped up next to him, it was wearing a traffic cone on his head, and it was looking at him with a un-intelligent expression, drool oozed from it's mouth. "Aurrrgge.. I got a cone in mah heahd.." it groaned, Black gasped in horror and scrambled away from the creature. "Woah, stay away from me!" he yelped, the undead monster attempted to follow him, but ended up repeatedly, and stupidly, bumping into a tree. "I got a cone..Bweeahhhrrgg.."

"Woah wh-?!" See what I mean? Road to nowhere. "You need to be careful, child. One of these days you will.." The witch said creepily, and Black was already starting to get annoyed.

The zombie was meanwhile stumbling around on the sidelines, loudly groaning as it did so. "I got a cone..!" the spy flinched at this, "Just be quiet!" he said, raising his voice. This didn't do anything, the zombie continued rambling on and groaning, "Just be- grr.. You're making me angry." Black growled, his canines grew longer again, and you know what this means..

"IEE GOT A COEN ON MAH HED.." The zombie groaned even louder, now the witch was getting annoyed, she stopped chanting, and looked up at the creature, "Oh.. Calm down-!" she said, but then the zombie stumbled into the fire pit, now it started running around the camp on fire, screaming at the top of it's lungs, it's arms flailing about: "AHHHHH!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Black covered his ears which were now beginning to grow longer and furry, "Oh my g- rarrg.. ROAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Black roared as he transformed into a Were-Pyre.

The witch turned and ran off into the forest, "Oh my goodness, Stay back! STAY BACK!!" she screamed, the Were-Pyre opened his wings and flew after her through the woods, as she ran, she turned and threw a potion at him, with a quick dash to the side, Black dodged it. Then the witch stumbled, having tripped on a tree root, Black took advantage of her temporary weakness, tucked in his wings, and dove at her like a falcon, screeching.

Blood splattered on the ground and trees.

The zombie and goblin had meanwhile ran off in the opposite direction, and had barely managed to escape.

And when the priest tried to cure him by saying the lord's prayer, the fellow was basically a crazy nutjob; he didn't say the prayer right at all, got Black annoyed, and the rest is history.

But when they brought the scientist in.. It had better results.. "Where am I..?" Agent Black asked, with just a hint of a peeved tone, getting tired of blacking out. Where he woke was inside a giant glass containment tube, with several chains attached to his arms and legs, and in front of the glass containment tube was the scientist, he had a scar across his right eye, which was also blind, his left hand was also robotic. And beside him was a creature he made who basically resembled Igor, but with a missing stumped left hand, not to mention his teeth were rounded, resembling gums more than actual teeth. "Exactly." The scientist said, "I knew Agent Black would be here." "Master! master! I knew he would be here-!" The hunchbacked creature beside him spoke up. His creator cast him a glare. "Zigor, be quiet please. If you're not loud, and keep quiet, he might not get annoyed, you know." Black gave a confused look, which slowly turned into a glare, which was in fact a bluff. "Well, I don't think that'll work.. Y-you're annoying me already. I'll turn into that thing and I'll break your face!" he said, Zigor flinched in fear and backed away, the scientist pushed some buttons on a nearby control panel. "Calm down now, Black. We're ready to do a test." he said calmly, a worried look came into Black's eyes again. "Oh, please don't, I'll kill you." "Listen, doing this test will transform you back to normal. Are you ready?" Black responded by shaking his head, "Master! Master, I'm ready!" Zigor shouted with a grin.

The scientist pulled a lever on the side of the control panel, and a bright light filled the containment tube.

"W-what?! No! wait-wait-wait-wait-WAIT WAIIITT!!!" Black screamed as he started transforming again.

As the light faded, the Were-pyre roared as he used his claws and large wings to bang on the glass, attempting to smash his way out of the glass cage, then he shrieked when he felt something small and sharp hit him in the shoulder blade, a small needle, attached to some sort of a robotic limb, injected him with a strange red liquid. "YAAAaaarghh! what are you doING?!" he yelled afterwards, before he started roaring and shrieking again. The scientist grinned upon seeing that Black came out for that one moment, "See? It's working!" he said. "Master! Master, keep doing it!" Zigor grinned, the scientist pushed more buttons on the control panel.

Black threw his head back and howled like a wolf in pain as several more needles came out and injected him with more red liquid. "Let ME OUT!! LET ME OUUUT!!" he screamed, at the same time, his canines grew smaller. "Masterr!! We are doing it!" Zigor squealed, clapping with glee.

Black continued screaming as he began transforming, his ears became less furry and started shrinking, the bones in the bat wings shifted and also shrank and turned back into hands, his tail bone grew shorter, turning back as well, but also leaving a hole in his pants. He also became a foot smaller.

His pupils widened.

The needles retracted into the mechanism above him.

Breathing heavily, the young spy glanced around him. "Oh, my goodness.." he panted, he looked down at his hands, they were no longer hideous bat wings! "..I-I changed!"

"See? we did it! Agent Black, you can come out." The scientist pressed a large button on the panel, and a hidden door opened and slid to the side on the containment tube, and Black stepped out of it.

"Well, that was easy." The spy said with a shrug.

"Exactly."

"How'd you do it?" Black asked.

"I just gave you the blood of Zigor, and it changed you back."

"Master, I told you my blood would work!" The hunchback said, still grinning.

"How'd it w-?"

Zigor interrupted, "I have the blood of many different species. I'm not even human."

"Woah.. But, in that case, thank you very much, I'm out, and I'll see you later." As Black was about to walk out the door, a robotic left hand grabbed his shoulder. "Hold it right there."

"What?" Black growled.

"Let me give you a piece of advice: Do not walk home alone again." said the Scientist.

"..Do not walk home alone again, okay? Otherwise, you'll be in big trouble.. hehe." Zigor said, chuckling a bit crazily.

Black held his hands up a bit, "G-guys, I'm sure I'm fine, alright? Thanks for curing me, see you later. ..Weirdos." The spy said, walking out the door.

"Byeee!" Zigor purred.

Did he listen this time? Answer: No, he did not.

Black walked along the dark, moonlit streets of Monochropilous, this time, using a map to find his way back to his apartment. "I wanna walk home alone every single time now, I finally know that this map is a really big hel-" The sight of two tentacled, three-eyed figures appearing right in front of him broke his train of thought, Black screamed and fell backwards in surprise. "WOAH! Who are you?!" The two creatures smiled, showing hundreds of sharp teeth, then they started speaking in unison. "We are the Grothians, and we just want to adopt someone who walks on his own.." Black started backing away, "Wait, I didn't mean to walk on my own, please! I've been a Were-Pyre for two days straight, I-I don't want to be on my own! Seriously, guys, you have to understand t-that I'm good." The two aliens turned and grinned menacingly at each other and nodded. "You're not a good fellow, but we have a Mountain Dew.." A tentacle reached out and pulled the spy back on his feet, then another handed him a can of Mountain Dew. Black grinned slightly, "Oh.. Does that mean I'm good? or.. Do I get a soda if I'm bad?"

"No, you don't." the aliens said, "You're going to be abducted."

Suddenly, a bright beam of light shone on him from above.

And then he couldn't move his legs.

"Help! Please! I can't move, someone help me!"

As the tractor beam from the alien ship was taking him up, Black grabbed onto the top of a lamp post and held on for dear life.

"NOOOOO!!! I SHOULDN'T HAVE WALKED HOME ALOOONE!!" Agent Black sobbed.

-The End..?

[tired-college-student-writing]

Here we go Loopty Loo pt4

Summary: Graduation was supposed to signal the final time they all spent time together at UA, to show they have all grown into the Heros they dreamed of being.

It was supposed to be, but when has anything ever been easy for class 1-A?

pt 1

pt 3

pt 4 (HERE)

pt 5

___________________________________________

Loop #49

___________________________________________

To ask for normalcy in this class was too much, Aizawa knew this.

It was like asking it to rain gumdrops to expect these 20 idiots to behave like normal human beings for five minutes in the original timeline, and it had only gotten worse as they all fought off apathy at their time stuck just kept going.

But how Aizawa wished they would stop getting caught so he didn’t have to deal with the other teacher questioning it.

Cockatoo: Uh Shouta?

Cockatoo: Should I ask why Bakugo and Kaminari are yelling ‘Fuck your chicken strips!’ at a shellshocked Todoroki?

YallMight: I think it has to do with them finding out that Endevar and Hawks are dating.

Chloroform: THEY WHAT????

Sleepis4theweak: I wish Yagi was joking

YallMight: At least they aren’t singing ‘She thinks my tractor’s sexy’ this time.  

He glared at the tall blond he was eating lunch with, “Fuck you, I know you put them up to that.”

“No proof,”

“Shut it,”

“If I make you smile will you, forgive me?”

“Maybe,”

Yagi just grinned, “I just helped Jiro finish a parody song of Aint No Rest for the Wicked, called Aint No Rest for Endeavor, where they diss Endeavor for three minutes straight, including some�� uh, classified information and are going to play it during the Cultural Festival with Shoto taking lead vocals.”

Aizawa wasn’t fast enough to stop the snort from escaping, “These fucking kids,”

“It’s better than Bakugo’s idea of writing a parody of “Fuck You” to call out Overhaul or All for One… or both.”

“As long Dabi gets a recording,” Aizawa chuckled, “I’m going to allow it.”

“You were going to allow it either way,” Yagi teased, not even batting an eye at the fact that Aizawa basically adopted the villain, “But I suppose he would like to see his younger brother roasting their father.”

Aizawa shrugged, “I’ll talk to the kids when we get back, making sure they time the parody when they have the largest crowd. I’m guessing I’m going to be on ‘Stop Endeavor from burning down the school’ detail again?”

“I can take Eri during it if you would like,”

“Nah, I’ll let Mirio handle her, she misses him anyways. They can’t make more of a scene then the Host club they held last year. ”

He glanced back down at his phone, to see the flurry of texts had continued.

BloodyMess: Why is your class full of the troublesome ones? And why haven’t you expelled any of them??

Cockatoo: Cause Sho is soft for his ‘problem children’

Chloroform: Yeah, plus they take care of his daughter like they’re her big siblings and I’ve never seen Sho look softer.

YeeHaw: Soft? Are we talking about the same man?

Cockatoo : *SmilyBoi* Read em and weep

BloodyMess: Oh shit, the dude can actually smile and not look like he’s trying to murder you

SpaceCadet: Aw, he’s wearing a bow!

Cockatoo: Eri put it in his hair, he wasn’t gonna remove it after she called him dad

Cockatoo: Oh shit

Chloroform:???

Cockatoo: Monoma said something to a table of Class 2-A kids and Shinsou appeared out of nowhere and brainwashed him. He’s now dancing to Toxic by Brittany Spears in the middle of the courtyard.

Chloroform: Omg, please say you’re recording!

Cockatoo: I am, but now Kaminari and Sero are being backup dancers

Cockatoo: Mina just had to stop Kirishima from taking off his shirt when he joined

Cockatoo: We have a full-on flash mob going on right now.

Cockatoo: Sho, come get your kids. I don’t know when they had time to choreograph this stuff but it’s not really school appropriate

BloodyMess: Aizawa, control your class

Chloroform: He’s probably trying to stop a migraine from forming

YallMight: No, he finds the whole event funny.

Cockatoo: How do you know????

Yagi smirked snapping a picture of the usually stoic teacher wheezing at the mental image of his stupid kids before the picture was texted over the group.

Chloroform: Oh? Having a picnic together, are you?

Sleepis4theweak: And? Aren’t we talking about my dumbass class?

Cockatoo: Pretty defensive there Sho, anything you want to share?

Sleepis4theweak: I have no idea what you’re talking about

Cockatoo: Come on Sho

Chloroform: Let’s change tactics

Chloroform: @YallMight are you fucking Aizawa?

YeeHaw: You trying to kill the man, Midnight?

BloodyMess: The man spits up enough blood without you being like this nem

Aizawa shot his companion a look, “Don’t you dare,”

Toshinori raised a brow, a shit-eating grin crawling onto his face, “Too late,”  

YallMight: Rawr (*ΦωΦ*)

Aizawa could hear the screaming from here, though that was probably just Mic losing control at the unexpected response from the world’s Golden Boy for all that was good and pure.

Oh, if they only know how corrupting spending 145 years with mostly horny meme teenagers is.

Aizawa couldn’t breathe at this point, putting his head down on the table they shared, gasping for breath around his gales of laughter the stitch on his side pulling. Toshi looked way too pleased with himself, as his full belly laughter echoed around them. After a minute the taller man shifts and looks away, laughter drying up almost as quickly as it had started.

Aizawa squinted up at him, “What?”

“Should we let them think we’re dating?”

Shouta felt a slight flush crawl over his cheeks as he leaned across the table, “Aren’t we?”

Yagi relaxed at the words, “I… wasn’t entirely sure where we stood on that. You know how tricky emotions are in these loops.”

Aizawa shrugged because he knew the man was right. Sexualities and attractions seemed as fluid as everything else in the loops. He’s gone through marriage, dating, divorce, breakups, flings, and hookups at this point, whether he weathered them himself or just recalled them from the memories he received from each loop. He had been romantically involved with Hizashi, Nemuri, Tensi, Oboro, Emi, and even Yagi at one point or another.

In this timeline, however, he had been devoid of any romantic attachments, his timeline memories not recalling a single long term partner, and only a handful of one night stands. His emotional attachment for the kind, gentle, flawed man went beyond anything that resembled normal, but what in their lives was normal anymore, and he wasn’t going to deny that even in the timelines where he was straight the number one hero was attractive in both forms.

He would admit that this was a loop where his physical attraction was... fairly overwhelming.

Aizawa just grasped Toshinori's hand in his own instead of answering, earning a blinding smile that made his heart flutter. If the attraction is mutual then, why not allow themselves some happiness in this mess?

His phone pinged again, his Class chat text tone… That rarely bore good things if he was tagged in it.

Sonic : *MaybeWeWentTooFar?* @dadzawa @DadMight um help?

“I’m gonna kill them,” He sighed as he opened the picture of Monoma standing on what seemed to be an ice version of Pride rock, holding Nezu aloft while most of 2-A and 2-B were kneeling at the base.

“And having them all prank you before you remember them next timeline?” Toshinori teased, puffing up as he rose from his seat, “I don’t think so.”

The homeroom teacher sighed but silently agreed. Dying before graduation seemed to dump affected loopers earlier in the loop then everyone else. They could arrive anywhere from a few hours before everyone else, to years earlier and there didn’t seem to be a set reason for how long they were sent back.  After the first three times, the class seemed to come to a silent agreement to mess with each other as much as they could during the time they spent before everyone else remembered. Aizawa was still proud to say he had the best prelooping revenge on his problem children, even if it started accidentally.

“If I told Hizashi that we were engaged, what would you do?”

The sunflower man choked slightly at the out of the blue question, coughing up a mouthful of blood as he deflated once again.

Aizawa continued walking hiding his smile into his capture weapon as he neared the courtyard.

Yagi jogged slightly after him, already puffed back up, before offering a counter with a shit-eating twinkle in his eyes, “If you dodge the question until tomorrow I can have rings by morning.”

He slipped his hand into the other’s hands in his way of answering. They were practically married anyway, pretending to have a secret engagement wasn’t gonna be hard in the slightest. Toshi even came over enough that Eri probably not question it either, and it just gave them longer to be the happiest they could be during the loops.

His hair rose as he glared at Shinsou, capture wiping out to grab Nezu away from Monama as his grip slackened as the mind control faded from his system.

The whole courtyard whirled to look at them, and Aizawa notices too late how Midoriya’s eyes flash between him and Yagi, down to their hands and over to where Mic was still filming, a straight-up evil smirk flashing for barely a second before it was perfectly covered in a scandalized mask.

“OMG AIZAWA-SENSEI ARE YOU FUCKING MY DAD?!?!?”

Welp murder was outweighing the possible embarrassment of preloop pranks. Maybe he could bribe Dabi with those embarrassing pictures Toru had taken of Endeavor...

“Young Midorya!” All Might gasped, chopping his hand through the air similarly to how Tenya would do, “That is highly inappropriate! What my fiance and I get up to in our free time is our business and our business alone!”

Make that two murders.

Definitely two murders.

___________________________________________

Taglist: @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @plaguedoctorsnake (I’m so sorry for forgetting to tag yall in pt 2)

[bluepenguinstories]

Remoras Full Chapter XVII: Starry Night

What a wonderful thing humanity was! Such a grounded reality, where a human could look down and see dirt. Upward, that same human could see the sky. Beautiful and mystifying, day and night. Many sights awaited humanity, and even without sight, there was always something new to learn just around the corner.

That was why I was so glad to be human.

Many a day was spent on two legs, one foot in front of the other and a prayer every now and then. Such steps brought me to places with dirt roads, brick roads, sand, and roads with black, pressed stone and strange objects scattered around. Every road, every pathway, had such interesting things to see. Strange and beautiful sights to learn more about; tall brick and stone buildings. Straw and wood, ceramic tiles. Little signs written in languages I didn’t know, but would loved to have learned. Yet I never did. I continued to walk.

Each place I passed through had their own smells, aromas. Foul and sweet scents alike. I passed through gardens with beautiful shapes of petaled plants in colors I didn’t know the names of. Bright and dim alike, twists and turns. Little creatures which flew and crawled onto those plants. Moments would pass where I wondered if I could learn to be one of those little creatures, if I wasn’t already human. Learning all I could about what I was, that brought me greater fulfillment than anything else I took in.

Where I found myself was in a land of layered frost and soft, dew-filled grass. There were little bodies of water scattered about and the silhouette of a shimmering star in the sky. Deep breaths escaped from my mouth, and the rigid air drew its way in.

“Amen,” I whisked the word into the air once the image of a long, metallic structure came into view. Its doors were open and my sense of wonder took over as one step over the other, I found my way inside.

One step, then the next. That same process, repeated, until I found a room in which humans dwelt. My eyes orbited those still shapes in front of me, those same shapes that were so similar, and yet different to mine. Sprawled out, their eyes closed, and little movement or sound save for faint hints of breathing. I didn’t know what they were doing, but I wanted to learn.

One human – Aurora, (or Eos, but not Dawn, as I came to know her), was the first to open her eyes. I didn’t learn what she and the other two humans were up to. For all I knew, they could have been praying, just as I did, only in longer bursts.

Aurora taught me some wonderful things about being a human. There was still much more to learn, and I felt that the knowledge and experiences I gained was only a fraction of a series of other fractions of a whole when it came to human experience. Each new observation granted me a gift, and I couldn’t await for the next gift to arrive.

Which it did, in the form of a brave soul in the shape of someone with a similar stature as myself. She called herself “Tigershark,” a peculiar name, but as far as names went, all came with their own interesting origin. I was no exception.

If I had to have a theory on humans and names, it was that I had a name because people had to have a name. Like some prerequisite for existing. Whether one gives it to another, or one gives it to themselves, it appeared it was a necessary application. But then, the possibility of meeting someone without a name was a fascinating thought as well.

As for when that day would come, I didn’t know. Where I found myself a little after meeting Tigershark was not the spot I had stayed in for days, and instead was a place called a ‘diner’.

Everyone I knew from the Aurora Borealis Bandits was there, having wonderful conversations with one another. Aurora B herself, was slouched over her seat and her legs were up on top of the table. She and a few of her friends, (I believe their names were Alan, Ivan? Isaac? Ismark? Oh, there I was, forgetting names so soon even though I knew the importance of a name. The third one was Ezmeralda, that I knew) were huddled together and singing songs in unison. Aurora strummed on a little ukulele whilst doing so.

“Mama, just killed a maaaan –” Aurora started.

“– Mama, we all go to hell,” the rest sang after her, then she strummed real hard on her ukulele.

“Put a gun up to his head, pulled the trigger now he’s de-e-a-d,” she continued. Then more frantic strumming. I stood up and walked over so I could observe the others.

Aside from Aurora, her crew, and Tigershark, the others who occupied the diner were unknown variables. Earlier, when there was a great commotion outside, I caught a glimpse of the new faces: one stood tall and muscular beside the train with Tigershark. Another was shorter and held a knife. The last was someone else, similar to the first person in terms of size and shape, and held a long gun in her arms, aimed at one of those fascinating creatures.

At the moment, she sat at the far end of the diner, slumped over with her head rested on her arms. The purpose of doing so eluded me. There were few traits I could infer from her, but I was excited to learn more, as there was always something to learn from each human I met.

I tugged at her sleeve. She looked over and had a confused or curious look about her.

“What? Are you going to ask me if you know me from somewhere? That I look familiar to you?” Her voice was like a low groan, but it didn’t sound bad at all. I smiled and turned my head from one end to the other. For whatever reason she asked me that, I answered her with the only way I knew how.

“Quite the opposite. I find you interesting because you are new and I don’t know you yet,” I closed my eyes as I spoke. “Amen.”

“That’s just as bad. Trust me, it’s better not to know about me,” I believe her reply was also in earnest.

“It will be difficult not to be aware of your existence now that I have seen you, but if what you say is true, then I thank you for teaching me something so fascinating. Amen.”

I walked away and to my side I could see an outline of her, with her head turned, and mouthed the word “what.”

Tigershark was in the kitchen. It was the place where she made food. In time, I would like to be taught. Food was a fascinating thing, and even more so that someone would cook it. I didn’t know why humans ate, but it was a fun enough task every now and then.

One of the new faces had a small sheet of paper and a pen. She was the short one I spotted with the knife. Just a little taller in stature than me, and her hair was wavy green. When she spoke, she didn’t really sound very interested in the questions she asked. I found that most interesting.

“What will you be having?” She asked Aurora.

Aurora slammed her cup on the table and laughed herself into a wild fit.

“Another beer, for one! And this is a diner, right? Then how about some biscuits and grits? Sausage? Pancakes? I want it all!”

Those words I didn’t know, but in the context of the setting, I assumed they were food.

“Yeah. Sure. Just so you know, since there’s not a price for anything, you’ll be paying for the meal with the money you guys stole from us,” she informed them.

“What are you doing?” I asked her. She turned to me and looked startled. Frightened, even.

“I’m just taking people’s orders. Can I take yours?” She explained, and then I understood.

“So you’re part of her crew, too? And you wish to serve her?” I sought to confirm. However, her reaction was one that most surprised me; she leaned her head back and gave a look as if I said something most foul.

“No, if I were to want to serve anyone, it would be Re – forget it.” She walked off in a huff. Aurora called after her.

“Yeah, how ‘bout it, Demetria? Why don’t you ditch that loser Remora and join our crew? You’d have much more fun with us! It’d be more fulfilling, too!”

I looked over to the one who had ‘taken their orders’. Who Aurora called ‘Demetria’. She lowered her head and I heard her mutter something like “I just want to do my job.”

For the time being, I let her be. After all, there was one other who I felt compelled to introduce myself to.

At a booth right next to Aurora sat the tall strong lady who threw punches. I didn’t have to walk at all to interact with her.

“Y’know, now that you aren’t robbing from us, you ain’t half bad!” Her voice boomed and I swore when she smiled that I could see all of her teeth in full view. I didn’t quite know what it was humans needed teeth for, but the same could be said for any other creature. Why did some have tails? Why did a tree have limbs? There were little things that I might have been best not knowing.

“You either, Sunny! Speaking of, I’d be down for a fight sometime!” Aurora replied. “I’d love to see which of us is stronger!”

Rather than stand in place and ponder such a thing, I went for the option which would yield the most immediate answer: I crawled up on the booth and waved my hand in front of the woman’s face. She leaned back and let out a gasp. For what reason, I didn’t know.

Then, her apparent surprise turned to a smile.

“Oh hey! You’re Tigershark’s new friend, right? Astro, was it?”

I stared at her. I didn’t know what an ‘Astro’ was.

“No…” I whispered. “It wasn’t Astro. But perhaps it can be.”

“Hey, Astraea, what did I tell you about sneaking up on people like that?” Aurora scolded me.

It pained me to admit that I couldn’t remember if she had told me anything about sneaking up on people. If she did, it was probably something like, “only sneak up on people if you plan on stealing from them.”

I was in a little bit of a daze, as I struggled to remember what it was Aurora taught me, when the warm glow of Sunny’s voice pulled me away from my pondering.

“Aha! Astraea, right?” She snapped her fingers as she smiled her bright smile.

“Yes,” I looked down and smiled. “That is what I am called. Because as a human, I must have a name.”

What was but a simple statement on my part caused her to let out a chuckle, then a hiccup.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s how it works, huh?” She replied.

“And you? You are Sunny?”

“I am! Just a big ol’ sunflower!”

I nodded. “So you are a human sunflower. Interesting.”

I crawled back down. I could have stood in place and watched Sunny and Aurora have fun. I was already well aware that as soon as Aurora agreed to return to the diner, she and Sunny got along quite well and relayed tales of their exploits to each other. Then there was the drinking contests, which made me wonder if the reason people drank liquids was to compete with one another. After, there was the singing.

Rather than find out what fun the two could have next, a weary voice rang through my ears. My ears perked up and I turned to face the owner of said voice.

“You’re Astraea, right?” Demetria called toward me, less in an urgent manner and more of a groan. “Are you Aurora’s daughter?”

I sat down and gave it some thought. Maybe I could have given an answer if I knew the meaning of the word ‘daughter’.

“Maybe I am,” I replied, the words sailed off from my mouth.

Aurora then burst into laughter and slammed her cup back onto the table.

“Yeah!” She declared, and a grin had made its way onto her face. “I wouldn’t be surprised, anyway!”

“Oh, I don’t see the resemblance!” Sunny remarked. “But that’s okay! I’m sure you’re a good mom!”

“Nah! She ain’t my kid!” Aurora waved her hand away.

“Maybe I’m everyone’s daughter…” I considered.

Sunny, with her arm slung over the top of the booth called over to Demetria.

“Say hun, why’d you think Astraea was Aurora’s daughter?”

That too was an answer I was eager to hear.

“Because, Aurora is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Eos, who had many children, one of them being Astraea,” Demetria explained. Then she added, as if an afterthought, “my mom’s big into that stuff so she used to tell me those things against my will.”

“Ha! So that’s your problem, huh? You’re getting fiction and reality mixed up!” Aurora roared her response, then turned back into laughter. But maybe I thought I heard, whether she said it aloud or I imagined it, “then again, crazy how Eos was my birth name.”

“Right. I know what’s fiction. I just thought it was too much of a coincidence,” came Demetria’s reply.

“ORDER’S UP!” Rumbled the thundrous voice of a Tigershark from the vicinity of the kitchen. Demetria got up from her seat and let out a heavy sigh.

“That’s my cue,” she mumbled.

I watched as she headed toward the kitchen. Her head was lowered and it was only for a brief moment when she was almost at her destination that she glanced in the direction of another: the one at the far end who told me that it was better not to know her. But that glance came and went and she lowered her head once more.

“Perhaps fiction can also be reality,” I thought aloud.

“You know what? I’ve thought the same thing at times,” Sunny stated. I caught her fixated on the cup in her hands as she swayed it from one end to the other. “How the past is just a fabrication of reality, and so is the future. But while the present is the closest thing to reality we have, we don’t get to hold onto it for very long.”

Those words...I really did learn something new!

“Amen,” I replied.

“Ha! You’re drunk!” Aurora told Sunny.

“Yes, that I am,” Sunny’s voice in that moment reminded me of my own. She smiled, and her head swayed just like she swayed her cup.

After that mysterious creature ran off, I had no more reason to be outside, and thus, I went back into the train and sat in the spot where I stayed.

It would have been a lie to say I wasn’t at least a little bit curious about what was going on outside, but I was satisfied just to know there was still so much out there to learn. Tigershark was a pleasant surprise, so were those creatures, and so then, what else would I be surprised by?

As it turned out, much. When Aurora returned, she stopped by my spot and informed me of something most grand.

“Just so you know, not that it really affects you, but we’re going back to that diner. It just so happens that no one in my crew knows how to cook –”

“Do you?” I asked.

“– Don’t interrupt me! Anyway, as I was saying, no one in my crew knows how to cook, and that kid, loathe as I am to admit, does. So we’re gonna make her feed us again, even if that means going back to that place

“I wish you the best of luck,” I told her. Just as I often did.

So the train moved once again. Headed toward the place known as a ‘diner’. I didn’t know what that was, but I knew Tigershark came from such a place, and Tigershark may already be there by the time we got there. I became overwhelmed with a feeling of excitement.

Once the train stopped once more and I saw everyone run out, that feeling only grew. Yes, I could stay in the same spot where I always sat, or I could find out what was inside such a place. The answer became clear, and I picked myself up, whispered a little prayer to myself, and put one foot in front of the other.

Soon each step on the metallic surface changed to the soft soil of the outside world. Then, I crossed the threshold once more, through the door of what had been referred to as a ‘diner’. Upon opening the door, the wind invited itself in along with me, and I couldn’t help but be carried with it, a cool chill against my hair. With it, I was gifted with a smile upon my face.

There was a smell in the air, of burnt logs and the aroma of cooked food. Overpowering it was the sound of chatter between the Aurora Borealis Bandits and the one who I came to know as Sunny.

Right behind the table where Aurora and a few members of her crew sat was the one who had pointed that weapon on the poor creature. Just like she would continue to be, her head was on her hands, with the rest of her leaned over the table.

“So the bank manager was all, ‘we’re call the authorities’ and then I shot the phone out of his hand and declared, ‘I’ll be the authority on that one!’ You should’ve seen his face! Ha!” Aurora boasted.

“Oh dear, that reminds me of Ray and I’s third anniversary. We really didn’t expect that mansion to have such high security!” Sunny recalled.

The whole crew laughed along.

“Sunny, you must do something about these guys,” the slumped one groaned. “They’re really quite a bother. Need I remind you they already stole from us?”

“Oh ho ho! I get it! You’re one of those dark and brooding types!” Aurora, rather than Sunny, responded.

“That’s not it. I just don’t like noisy people…”

“You need to get a grip! Live a little! We’re already going to give you guys back your goods, so lighten up!” Aurora smiled ear to ear, something which I hadn’t seen from her in quite some time.

“Ugh…” Growled the serious one.

So far it seemed like no one had noticed me. That wasn’t a problem for me, as I often liked to be the silent observer more than anything else.

Then I spotted Tigershark, who walked over to the subdued dark haired lady.

“What’s wrong?” Tigershark asked her.

“I’m fine. I just don’t like high energy or noisy people, and right now there’s a lot of it. It gets to me. I’ve always been this way. Whenever I’d go to a tavern, I’d try to sit as far away from everyone else. For the most part, it worked, but every so often someone would try to approach me and that was the worst thing,” the woman told Tigershark. It seemed they had a sort of connection.

“Why aren’t you doing that now, then? You can just move seats,” Tigershark told her, and then the woman looked up and looked around.

“I forgot that was an option…” Then she sighed and added, “I think I wanted to give being near others a try, but no, I can’t do it.”

Tigershark moved over and I saw the woman shift in her seat and get up, then walked over to the far end of the room and sat down there. I watched as she went right back to the same position she was in before, as if nothing had changed aside from her placement.

I intended to speak with each new face and learn as much as I could about their lives as humans, but for the time being, I sat and allowed everything to go on. As if nothing would have changed whether I was there or not.

Of course, when Demetria returned with the food Aurora ordered, everyone was well aware of my presence. Well, almost everyone.

I watched as Aurora shoveled food into her mouth. Yes, I saw her chew and swallow, as well. Just as she had taught me so long ago. Amen. Then, Tigershark emerged from out of the kitchen and ran over to me.

“Hey! I didn’t know you’d be here, too, Astraea!” Tigershark’s excitement could be heard through her voice.

I stood back up.

“I am!” I replied, and then she went up to me and put her arms around me. Surprised, I asked her what she was doing.

“It’s a hug!” She told me.

I closed my eyes and smiled.

“I see. How interesting.”

Tigershark let go and a joyous expression remained on her face.

“It’s good to see you again!”

I nodded. “And you. Amen.”

Sunny then turned toward me and she seemed fixed on an earlier subject.

“Say, Astraea? Did your parents name you, or did you give yourself that name?” Sunny inquired.

“Neither. It means ‘starry night’.”

“Oh, like the painting!”

“I’m sorry,” I informed her. “I don’t know what that is.”

“Oh, well, it’s like a drawing, except like...hmm...I don’t know if I’m sober enough to explain.”

I nodded.

“Well, anyway,” the dilemma of explanation appeared to have been mended. “How did you come about such a name?”

Ah. I believed I understood at last.

“The first utterance of such a name…” I closed my eyes as I focused on the recollection. “It must have been about a few thousand years ago. Not my first memory as a human, but early on in my existence. I had wandered into a town late at night, and someone ran up to me and asked what I was doing out so late at night. I didn’t understand what they meant, so I told them, in their language, that I was walking. They then asked who I was, and so I pointed at the night sky. There was an audible gasp, and then they said ‘Astraea’.”

“Wait, hold up –” Aurora leaned forward. “What’s this about thousands of years? I thought you’ve only been around for 18!”

I nodded. “They have not been sequential years.”

Aurora scrunched up her face and shook her head. “Never mind, I think I’m too drunk to understand!”

“Well,” Sunny leaned forward, still interested. “I may be drunk, but I’d like to know what you mean.”

“It’s simple: some years I’ve existed in have been far ahead, while others, far behind. I’ve visited the 19th century, and the 15th, and now I am here.”

“I see! I think if I got to experience years that way, I’d love to make plenty of memories.”

“Do you not?” I wondered. “Isn’t that how it is for humans?”

To my surprise, she shook her head.

“Not for any that I know, no.”

“I see. How do you experience them?”

“Well, let’s say...there’s this year, then the next year is this one, plus one, and I’m there that year, too. As long as I’m still alive next year, anyway. I was here the year before, too.”

Her explanation was intriguing but as a human, I had to abide.

“I see. Then the next year for you will be the next year for me as well.”

“Cool!” She made her fingers into a weird shape. Like a sideways L. “Can’t wait!”

But those words made no sense. She would have to wait. As would I if I were to experience life the way any other human did.

Tigershark then blinked and looked over.

“Hey, is Demetria okay?” She asked us all. Or maybe just Sunny. For I knew that I had no answer to her question.

Sunny looked over as well, but just like Demetria earlier with that dark haired woman, it was more of a quick glance.

“I don’t know, kiddo,” she told Tigershark. “She’s just been like that since she woke up. Why don’t you try asking her yourself?”

“OK!” Tigershark grinned and ran over to the table where Demetria had chosen to sit at. I followed Tigershark as I wished to learn more as well.

She sat in much the same way that the other one at the opposite end sat; except in Demetria’s case, her face was buried into her arms, so all that could be seen of her head was her hair.

“Hello! Earth to Demetria!” Tigershark leaned in close and yelled when she could have just whispered.

“She is already on Earth, along with us,” I informed Tigershark.

“No, it’s an expression!” Tigershark corrected me.

“A smile is an expression. So is a frown.”

“That’s just what people call it! I don’t know why, either!”

Demetria lifted her head just a little.

“What do you guys want?” She asked in that same weary voice I heard from her earlier. “No one wants to order anything right now, do they? Can’t I take a break?”

“Of course, but I’m worried about you,” Tigershark replied.

“Why? What do you have to worry about? You’re just a kid.”

Tigershark puffed up her cheeks and scowled. Because of the image, I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t.

“So what? Tell me what’s wrong!”

Demetria set her head back down and although muffled, I heard her say:

“Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to help out, and I thought I was doing a good job, too, but…”

“I can’t hear you,” Tigershark told her.

To that, Demetria shifted her head to the side, so that one eye and half of her nose poked through.

“What does it matter? Can’t I be a burden in peace?”

“If I don’t get to, neither do you,” Tigershark crossed her arms as she gave her response.

That made Demetria scowl as well.

“Look, it was all going fine until I fainted. All because I saw something that no one else saw, probably because it wasn’t there. No, it wasn’t just that. I freaked out when I shouldn’t have. I made a fool of myself like I always do and let Remora down and because of that, Sunny had to carry me back.”

“Remora?” I asked. I heard that word once before, from Aurora, but I didn’t ask then.

Tigershark pointed over to the dark haired woman at the other end of the diner.

“She’s the one way over there!” Tigershark told me. “She’s not bad, but a little weird sometimes.”

I nodded. So that was the name assigned to her. Remora.

“Do you think she’s mad at you?” Tigershark asked Demetria.

“Wouldn’t blame her if she was,” Demetria muttered.

“I’ll go ask her!”

“Don’t do that,” Demetria told Tigershark. But by then, Tigershark had already walked off.

“Damn it,” she shook her head. “I was hoping not to be an embarrassment for at least a little while.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but I decided to follow Tigershark. Before I made it very far, I heard Demetria say.

“Just what are you, really?”

I didn’t know if it was addressed to me or another. Since I didn’t know for sure, I chose not to answer.

Although Tigershark was further ahead than me, I heard the exchange before I could make it over. As quiet or loud as it was, noise carries far. Like the creak of a floorboard, or the howls of the wind.

“Demetria thinks you’re mad at her,” Tigershark initiated the conversation.

“Why would she think that? It’s true she can be annoying sometimes, as well as confusing, but she’s not bad enough to warrant anger,” Remora’s voice had hints of confusion, as well.

“Because she fainted!”

“I’m not mad. I just think she should have prepared better.”

“She said she saw something that no one else saw, too!”

“Yes, I didn’t see what she described. I’m not sure what that was about, either. One possible explanation could be that the extreme temperatures made her hallucinate, but other strange things have been happening. Like those creatures. So I don’t want to dismiss her claims outright unless I know for sure that it was nothing.”

“So you mean...um…?” Tigershark didn’t seem to understand. Indeed, there were a few things I didn’t as well. Few, or many.

“I’m frustrated that I don’t fully understand, but I’m not mad. That’s all.”

“What about you?” Tigershark asked, and I saw her hands balled into fists, as if the answer was of an urgent matter.

“What do you mean?” Answered Remora. Wise answer, indeed.

“Are you good? You look down, too!”

“I’m just the same as I always am. I just look this way when I sit, I guess.”

“Oh yeah! That’s true!”

Tigershark then ran toward me.

“Good news, Astraea! Remora said she’s not mad!”

“Yes, I heard,” I let her know.

“Let’s go tell Demetria!”

We headed back. Lucky for us, Demetria hadn’t moved at all from where she sat.

“Remora told me she’s not mad!” Tigershark delivered the news.

Demetria lifted her head and sat up. She still didn’t look too happy for what should have been great news. Her eyes were half open and she didn’t smile.

“Thanks, but I can’t help but feel like I let her down,” she said at last.

“You didn’t,” I assured her. For that, I was certain.

“How do you figure?” She asked me.

“Because you didn’t pick her up. You first have to lift someone up in order to let them down.”

Demetria put her palm up to her face and shook her head.

“I don’t know why I bothered,” she groaned. Then, it looked like a struggle to do so, but she managed something of a smile. “Still, if anyone’s going to lift anyone up, I’d want it to be her lifting me.”

“Yay! You’re dumb again!” Tigershark cheered. “Er...I mean funny!”

“What?!” Demetria spat out. “Whatever, at this point I’ll take it.”

“I like you more when you say silly things!”

“I’m not really trying most of the time, it just comes out that way.”

Then, all three of us looked around. Well, I looked around because the other two were.

“By the way, where did Remora go?” Demetria asked.

“Probably back to her room,” Tigershark answered. “She said she doesn’t really it when it’s noisy.”

“I see. So some people don’t like it when there’s a lot of noise,” I noted. As long as there was more to learn in my current setting, I had no reason to depart.

“Can’t say I blame her,” Demetria said as well. “If I didn’t have to be out here as part of my job, I’d probably be in my room right now with my headphones in and chilling to some orchestral music.”

“By the way, what did you see earlier?” Tigershark asked Demetria. In response, Demetria’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth, but then shook her head.

“It doesn’t really matter. There probably wasn’t anything there.”

For what it was worth, I felt a few words of encouragement come to me, and I just had to dispense them.

“Don’t worry, I believe you saw something,” I told her.

“You do?”

“Yes,” I closed my eyes and smiled. “Because I don’t know everything that humans are capable of seeing.”

“...How do I keep falling for this?”

I walked about the room. There was still much more to take in. Few details of the diner stuck to me. Perhaps I could focus once more on the fog on the windows, how the glass had cracks in a few places. Or how the ceiling lamps which hung above each table were covered in cobwebs. There was also the smoothness of the floor, and how clean everything looked, despite the mess underneath Aurora’s table, as well as a few spots underneath other tables.

But no. Despite how fascinating it all was, I just couldn’t focus on what made it what it was. So I elected once more to sit in the middle of the room.

After a while of commotion, Aurora and her gang decided it was time to head off. I heard, but I dare not move. During the time when everyone had their fun, I had given some thought to a few things.

“Hey, aren’t you coming with us?” Aurora called.

I shook my head.

“I appreciate all that I have experienced with you guys, but I feel that I must venture elsewhere in order to learn more.”

“Fine by me, but I’ll sure miss having a good luck charm around!”

Those were her parting words. As for me…

I was ready to walk out the door and see where my own two feet would take me, but I was stopped by Sunny.

“Are you sure you want to go out there right now? It’s pretty cold out. Plus you never know when a blizzard might hit.”

I smiled.

“As long as I continue to pray and move one step in front of the other, I will be fine. Amen.”

Demetria was also next to Sunny and she asked me a question as well:

“Are you religious or something? What’s with always saying ‘amen’?”

Ah. Something which I could answer.

“My first memory as a human was seeing someone praying. I didn’t know why they did it, but it looked fun. After they said their prayer, they said ‘amen’. So, I figured that must be something humans do.”

“Not really. I mean, certain people do that, but they don’t do it like you do. Do you believe in a god or something?”

“I know no god,” nor did I know what one was.

“Well, maybe it’s better that way, I guess,” Demetria shrugged.

“Why is that?”

Demetria didn’t seem to have a good answer, but then said, “well, I guess it’s fine either way. Besides, you already share the same name as a goddess.”

“I don’t know what that is, either. Are those human things?”

“Err…” Again, Demetria struggled. “In a way? Also, why do you keep saying ‘human’ so much?”

“Because I am one,” I answered. “Amen.”

She shook her head. “For some reason, I’m not really sure about that one…”

Sunny put her finger on her chin and looked up, then said at last:

“Whatever you are, I still think you should stay the night here. Maybe the weather will be better tomorrow?”

Yes. That might have been wise. Or it may not have been. I didn’t know what good or bad weather was. I only saw different weather. Rain, sun, hail, snow, wind. Such nice scenery they produced, but I didn’t see what made them different from one another aside from aesthetic. Still, I put my hands together and decided to pray for my answer.

After a few seconds of silence, I said “amen” and then told her:

“It’s been decided. I must be fated to stay for tonight.”

“Good! I think that’s for the best!” Sunny grinned. Demetria, however…

“Where would she even sleep? I don’t want her in my room.”

Ah, a mysterious word.

“What is sleep?” I asked them.

“I ask myself the same question sometimes,” Sunny laughed.

“Tell me about it,” Demetria added. “Well, g’night. I’m gonna enjoy the silence of my room.”

So I was left alone with Sunny. Tigershark was somewhere. Not where I was. Maybe in another room.

“Where is Tigershark?” I asked Sunny.

“Oh, she’s probably with Remora. They share a room together,” she explained to me.

“I see.”

“As for you, you can stay the night with me, if you want. We’ve got a big bedroom upstairs.”

“There are stairs?” I pondered. Yes. I knew what those were.

“Yeah, c’mon! Follow me!”

So I did, and through a door in the back of the diner was a hallway. Through that hallway, there was a couple of chairs, as well as a desk. But as I looked around, I was at a crossroads.

“Aren’t you coming?” Sunny asked, and I looked over. She had chosen the path on the left.

On the far end of that path was a flight of stairs. Sunny opened a hatch on the ceiling, and then we ascended. Where we emerged was a large room with lots of objects all around the room. Boxes and dresser drawers, shapes of several things covered up by sheets and curtains. There was a dim glow to the room, and on a small dresser was a lamp. When I looked ahead back to those covered objects, I thought I caught a glimpse of darkness in the distance.

Next to the lamp was a thing called a bed, with four stakes on each end and a curtain over it. I remembered what a bed was because Aurora was in one when I met her. Although the purpose of such a thing eluded me.

“Here,” Sunny pulled out an object from underneath the bed: it looked like a caterpillar made of cloth, with a zipper in the middle.

“What is that?” I asked her.

“A sleeping bag,” she told me.

I still didn’t understand what the bag did.

“Can I sit on it?” I asked.

“Uh, sure? Go ahead. Anyway, good night.”

“That it is,” I agreed.

Sunny went into the bed and she laid down, a ritual which I never quite understood, other than it must have been a human thing.

“I may wander around,” I let Sunny know, just in case it were to happen. She might have wanted me to stay put, but I didn’t know if I had it in me to do so.

“Mm. Got some kind of wanderlust?” Her voice seemed to soften as she spoke.

I didn’t know how to answer. That was fine as well.

True to the information I gave her, after an unknown amount of time, I departed from Sunny and made my way back down the stairs. The halls had darkened. Each room I passed, I tried to open the door. One of the doors would not open, as if a spell had been put upon it. But, on the right end of the hallway was a door which did open, as doors often did.

Inside was Tigershark in a ‘sleeping bag’ as Sunny called it. Beside her was a bed, somewhat less fancy, but no less large, and the occupant was Remora. Both of the two had their eyes closed.

“I wonder what they are doing. Perhaps they are praying,” I whispered into the still air of the room. “Amen.”

I walked a few steps closer and sat down next to Tigershark. There was a faint sound of breaths. Inhale, then exhale. As for her face, I leaned my head closer to it until my gaze was directly over her. My eyes were wide and full of wonder. I knew patience. I knew silence. But I didn’t know what she was doing, so I kept my position and waited for her to tell me.

Much time passed yet, and at last, her eyes opened. Wide as well, and she let out a gasp, then sat up.

“Oh, it’s just you, Astraea,” Tigershark spoke through a strange exhalation as she made patting motions against her mouth. “I had a dream there was a big scary monster staring at me, but now I’m not really sure what it looked like.”

I tilted my head ever so slight.

“Dream?” I asked. “What is that?”

“You know, like when you sleep and things happen, but not really,” she explained.

“I see.” Although I still had yet to know what sleep was.

“Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you would have left with those bad guys.”

I shook my head. “I was asked to stay. So I am here.”

“Oh, okay. And what were you doing next to me?”

“I was wondering what you were doing,” I answered.

“I was just sleeping.”

Before I could ask what that was, I heard a shift in the bed next to me, then a low growl.

“What are you doing in here?” Spoke the voice, and I looked up. Remora sat up with a gun pointed at me.

“I was watching Tigershark sleep,” I told her.

“Get out. Now.”

I nodded and obliged as I departed the room. Behind me, I could hear a conversation between Tigershark and Remora play out:

“What was that for?!”

“That thing could have been dangerous.”

“She’s not! She’s my friend! She just got curious! She wouldn’t hurt anyone!”

“You don’t know that. You need to be more cautious.”

While I found the conversation interesting, I didn’t have much of a comment for it. Danger...I knew what that meant, or at least what it entailed. Without any example of it, however, all I could say was that danger was unknown to me.

I decided to take my stroll back up the stairs and I sat until dawn. If there was anything I was disappointed by, it was not having the concept of ‘sleep’ explained to me.

Aurora, Eos. No. Neither of those.

Dawn arrived. Such a brightness leaked through every corner of the room which I occupied, alongside Sunny. The sun and the dawn, how one always followed the other, but in which order, I wasn’t sure of.

Rather than wait for Sunny, I descended the stairs on my own. I’ve come to understand that at times, humans had a routine which they practiced depending on the time of day. Through that hall, into the middle path which once I opened the door at the end of it, I would be brought back into the diner. Before I opened the door, or before I chose to, I heard the voices of Demetria and Remora from the other side.

“I’m telling you, there’s something off about her! I don’t know what, but I just can’t shake this feeling!” Demetria’s tone of voice was as if she were descending a mountain.

“Is this a concern for you, or is this just an excuse to talk to me?” Remora asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Well, even if it’s nothing, I have to admit, seeing her in my room last night disturbed me.”

“Whoa, really?”

I opened the door at last and before I looked in the direction of the two, I studied the floor. Their pattern, like a few of the windows; little cracks, either for decoration, or from being worn down. I wondered what it was about it that made it look so clean in spite of that. Without an answer, I looked back up and toward them, and waved.

“Hello, you two,” I greeted, the frost in my voice spread throughout the room.

Remora got up and reached into her pocket. She pulled something out of it, some kind of circular object.

“Oh, good idea! Scan her with the thing just like you did with me when I returned from that mansion!”

Remora gave a short nod, then poked the object. After a short interval of time, her face stretched to a look of shock.

“What? What is it?” Demetria asked her.

“It’s...I don’t know,” Remora shook her head.

“What do you mean?!”

“This device is mainly for detecting if someone has been infected with a cosmic entity. However, I don’t detect anything of the sort on this thing called ‘Astraea’. That said...I don’t detect anything else, either.”

“Meaning?”

“She’s not an infected human, so there may not be a threat, but at the same time...I don’t think she’s human. Rather, it’s like there’s nothing in front of me.”

I smiled.

“Perhaps your object does not detect humans?” I suggested.

Remora shook her head.

“It would at least show the shape of...something,” she put the object back into her pocket. “For the time being, you don’t seem to pose a threat.”

“It seems that as a human, you too have much more to learn,” I assured her. “Fret not, for so do I. Amen.”

“Maybe it’s that my device only shows someone or something infected by a cosmic entity, but not the entity itself,” she sounded unsure of herself. Conflicted. That, or stubborn.

“I don’t know what a cosmic entity is,” I told her, then I spun around. “I just know what I have learned.”

“It would be bad news if you were.”

Then Demetria also looked in a bit of a panic.

“I forgot! I gotta sweep and mop the floors! And I haven’t even had breakfast yet! Yikes!”

She ran off and I wished to observe. However, my chance at observation would have to wait, as Tigershark emerged from the back.

“Hey! Good to see you again!” She greeted me.

I turned around.

“Could you tell me what sleep is now?” I asked her.

“Um...it’s like...you lay down and close your eyes and after a while you’re not awake?” She made her attempt at an explanation. It was a good one, yet…

“What is ‘awake’?” I asked next.

“It’s like, what we are right now?” She didn’t seem to grasp the concept well. It would seem I would have to find another to ask at some point.

“Say, what would you like for breakfast?” Tigershark asked me.

“Breakfast?”

“Like, food?”

“Yes. Food is interesting. Do you have anything with apples?”

“Uh...I can make an apple pie? But that takes all day.”

“I can be patient,” I assured her.

There were no visitors throughout the day. No new faces. At one point, Demetria commented on it.

“You know, I’m pretty sure Aurora didn’t return all of our money,” she put her hands on her hips and let out a sigh. Tigershark, right behind her, said instead:

“Yeah, but she paid for her food and drinks! That still means we made money!”

“If we didn’t get all of our stuff back, I’m pretty sure that’s a loss for us,” Demetria countered.

Ah, I wondered about Aurora and her gang, myself. Wondered what they were up to at the moment, and where they might end up next. I too wondered that, as I felt the urge to wander into new lands call for me. But before that, I was offered a slice of apple pie.

The taste was like apples, but there was a sweetness to it, and a liquid substance which leaked out from my mouth. The same process applied as with an apple – take a bite, chew, then swallow. But in a sort of twist, a hard and flaky substance also sat next to the apples and sweet liquid. All in all, it was an interesting taste.

“Thank you for the experience,” I told Tigershark.

Then I went to the door, ready to depart to a new land. Sunny was beside me once again, as were the other three humans.

“Are you sure you’ll be safe out there?” Sunny asked once again.

“I will be where my footsteps take me,” I assured her. Before I went far past the diner and into the soft, snowy unknown, Tigershark ran after me.

“Will I see you again?” She asked.

I smiled.

“Yes. Whenever you see stars in the night sky, I will be there.”

“I don’t get it, but okay!” Tigershark grinned. With that, I walked off, and looked back, only a quick glance, back at the others. Before long, however long was, I could no longer see the diner. As for where I would turn up, I wouldn’t know until I knew. Amen.

[daybreak-academy-fanfic]

Daybreak Academy: Chapter 68

The Grand Adventure of Shelby Ryce!

Summary: In which Shelby Copernicus Ryce goes on an adventure to find a certain girl with tasty-looking hair. Word Count: 2,218 First | Previous | Next ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆

Ava had forgotten to put Shelby in his cage before she left her office today. To her defense, she did look like she had to go somewhere in a hurry. She was lucky that the turtle had been placed on the floor before she left- but then again, Shelby would not have formulated a plan to go elsewhere if she had left him at her writing place.

You see, as much as Shelby enjoyed Ava's big cage-tank, it wasn't that big. Shelby knew every corner of this cage-tank by now- even more so than his much smaller one. He needed something new to see. He had already decided to saunter on out Ava's cage-tank, but he didn't quite know what to do when he did leave. Maybe he'd go find that girl with the tasty-looking hair. She always made silly jumping movements when he pretended to snap at her. She could even have a treat for him too!

Yes, Shelby decided with a nod of his head, he'd search out this tasty-looking haired girl. Now, how was he going to get there? Did he even know where the tasty-looking haired girl lived? Ah well, he'll figure it out as he went. How hard could it be?

Shelby kept himself at a light pace as he worked his way down the long walkway. At this time of day, the lights from the small glass walls shown more light than the lights on the top lid. Up ahead, there were two kids, a boy and a girl, coming out of a cage-tank. They both had black hair, but the girl's went down to her back, and the boy's was covered with a funny looking head covering. Shelby watched them closely, hoping that they were heading to the same place he wanted to go. Maybe they knew were the girl with tasty-looking hair lived?

“I can see where Ephemer's coming from, honestly.” the girl said to the boy. “But he could make it a tad less obvious that he's sneaking into her dorm.”

The boy gave a snort. “And you said he was coming off that honeymoon high.”

“He was.” came the short reply. The two approached an odd looking side lid before the girl pressed something near it. The boy let out another bemused smirk as the side lid started to open. Realizing that this was what he needed to get out of this place, Shelby started to walk a bit faster.

As the boy and girl started to enter whatever passage the side lid revealed, the boy happened to notice Shelby coming their way.

“Hold up.” the boy told the girl. “Isn't that Headmaster Ava's pet?”

“Which one?” the girl snorted before her attention fell on to Shelby. Her face fell a bit before noting, “Oh. That one.”

“I think he wants to get on the elevator.”

For a moment, the girl just looked at the boy. “So?” she questioned with a less than bemused raise of her eyebrow. “You're seriously not going to hold the door for a turtle, are you?”

The boy gave a careless shrug as he did, in fact, hold the door for Shelby.

Shelby quickly hustled into the new passage (which, to his disappointment, was just another cage-tank). The boy and girl followed him soon after. The boy pushed something on a glowing rectangle as the side lid started to close. Not long after that, the floor shifted a little before Shelby felt like he was falling. From there a small silence fell on them.

“Miss Ava is going to be upset that he's out.” the girl finally said, casting the boy a skeptic raise of her eyebrow.

“Not my problem.” the boy snorted. “Besides, look how happy he is.”

Oh, this boy was smart. Shelby was happy. He was one step closer to finding that tasty-looking haired girl and maybe getting a snack. All this walking was already making him hungry.

After leaving that peculiar cage-tank, Shelby made his way toward the glass side lid that led to the outside world. He still didn't quite know where he was going. That is, until he saw her. And Ephemer. The two were hand in hand (or, rather, Ephemer had her by the hand and was teasing her about something) as Shelby's tall brother led her toward a certain direction. The girl with tasty-looking hair looked flustered, but Shelby was too far to learn of what. But that didn't matter now anyway; he had his target and he was going to follow her.

Ephemer and the girl with tasty-looking hair used the paved path to go where ever they were going. Shelby could not do the same- the paved path was too hot for his padded feet. Instead, the small turtle walked in the grass. If anyone noticed him, they surely didn't say anything about it. Instead the turtle made neat time in keeping his own pace; by the time he reached a very large cage-tank that seemed to be the right destination, a large shadow from the cage-tank fell over him. It only made it even harder to see him in the grass. But, thankfully, it had also cooled off the paved path.

Shelby got as close as he could to the cage-tank, but had to stop when he noticed the stairs. Stairs were not his friends. As the small turtle contemplated what he was going to do, Ephemer started to come around the corner. Shelby was quick to notice his tall brother and quickly started to make very loud clicking sounds to get his attention. It took a moment, but Ephemer heard him.

A wide grin stretched on Ephemer's face as he walked on over to Shelby.

“Hey there, buddy.” Shelby's tall brother asked in a delighted voice, getting down to Shelby's height. “What'cha doing all the way out here?”

Shelby, to the best of his ability, gestured and chirped to Ephemer his plans. The turtle knew that the human wouldn't really know what he was saying- but he seemed to get the gist.

“Are you going to visit a certain strawberry-pink haired girl?” Ephemer mused as he gave the turtle a little tap on the head. Shelby happily nodded his head at his tall brother. Ephemer let out a small chuckle. “Wish you had told me earlier, buddy. I just came back from seeing her. But you know what?”

Shelby let out a happy chirp as Ephemer picked up his small brother and set him down at the top of the steps. Giving a little snort of amusement, Ephemer even opened the side lid to the large cage-tank.

“This is as far as I can take you, buddy.” Ephemer smiled. “Give Anora an extra kiss just for me- alright?”

Shelby gave him an affirmative nod before he started his way inside. Once the turtle made it on the other side of the side lid, Ephemer let go of it and gave a small chuckle to himself; if he hadn't been so high on love, he probably would have taken Shelby back to his proper cage-tank. For once, Shelby was grateful for it, but if it persisted at dinner time then there would be trouble. Love-sick Ephemer did not share people food as often as normal Ephemer.

The turtle now made his way inside this new cage-tank. He was quick to spot that odd looking side lid from before, and knew what he had to do. It wasn't a long wait before someone opened the odd side lid for him. The ride up was an odd one, as he didn't know which one would lead him to the tasty-looking haired girl. When he happened to see her when the side lid opened, Shelby quickly made his way out of the peculiar cage-tank. He almost didn't react fast enough- the side lid closing when he was only halfway out. Someone must have noticed and opened them back up for a moment.

Shelby then made off in the direction he had seen the tasty-looking haired girl go. To his luck, he saw her enter a side lid; one that she did not close completely. He made his way in and entered the tasty-looking haired girl's cage-tank without her so much noticing. In fact, she was sitting on her resting place. Her back turned away from the door and an uncovered foot hanging off. She was humming something- but Shelby didn't have time to figure out what. Instead, he sneaked his way over to her and -without any warning- nibbled at her toes.

The girl with the tasty-looking hair let out a very high pitched shriek before jumping off of her bed. She wildly looked around before her eyes trailed down to notice him. She let out a surprised, “Shelby!” before bending down to the turtle's eye range. “What are you…?”

Shelby looked back up at her with a happy wag of his tail. She looked like she was about to say something before a noise came from her side lid.

“Anora, are you alright?” a voice from the other side of the side lid worryingly questioned. The girl blinked before focusing her attention to the side lid. She looked at Shelby one more time in conflict. Regardless of whatever she was thinking, the girl with the tasty-looking hair got up and made her way over to it.

Shelby snapped his beak at her. How dare she walk away when he worked so hard to get here!

The girl with tasty-looking hair opened her side lid to reveal another girl. This new girl was a bit taller than the one Shelby wanted; her hair was an orange and divided into two sections. She seemed to be nervous as she twisted her fingers in themselves.

“Are you alright?” the tall girl asked. “I was just passing by and...”

The girl with the tasty-looking hair nodded her head. She then gestured to Shelby, who was still by her resting place.

“Is… is that Headmaster Ava's pet?” the tall girl asked as the two of them went back over to Shelby. They both sat down on the ground close to Shelby before just staring at him for a moment.

“How did he get here?” the tall girl finally asked. “Walking from here to the main building for us is a three minute walk. But for him? It must have taken all afternoon.”

The only answer the girl with the tasty-looking hair could offer was a small half shrug. The tall girl's guess was as good as her own. The two continued to look at Shelby; his answer was in the form of a very bright turtle smile. If he could talk like people, then he'd be able to tell them all about how a boy let him on to the elevator, or how Ephemer helped him up the steps. He's probably leave out the part where he almost go caught by the elevator on his journey upwards- but they wouldn't really need to know that bit.

“Poor thing must be so hungry.” the tall girl then went on to sigh. “We don't have anything to feed him, do we?”

The girl with the tasty-looking hair carefully tilted her head in thought. Shelby mirrored her out of amusement. Yeah, tasty-looking haired girl, do you have any food for him? It's not like he made the trip over here because he liked you or anything.

Eventually, she made a little noise to indicate she had an idea. She went to a four-legged stand beside her resting place, and opened a really small side lid. Shelby couldn't see what she was getting, but he could hear the sound of a very noisy bag as she pulled it out of the side lid container. The tall girl realized what it was before he could.

“Pretzels?” she wondered. “Can turtles even eat those?”

The girl with the tasty-looking hair considered it for all of a moment before giving a small shrug. Out of the noisy bag she pulled out something that resembled the tasty sticks Ava gave Shelby when he had been a very good turtle. These sticks looked a bit different, though; they were brown with little pieces of something white sticking out here and there. Shelby had never seen such a snack before, so he eagerly snapped his beak in hopes the tasty-looking haired girl would give it to him.

As always, she flinched each time his beak clicked, but she did give the new treat to him. Shelby didn't think twice as he started to munch away at this new snack. He barely even noticed when one of the girls wrapped him in a very soft covering and gingerly picked him up.

“Are you going to take him back to Headmaster Ava?” the tall girl asked. There was a little sound to indicate that the girl with tasty-looking hair had nodded. Shelby couldn't check, since she was the one holding him.

“Do you need help?”

There was another sound indicating a shake of the girl's head before she started to head on out. As the girl with tasty-looking hair started to make her way back to Ava's big cage-tank, Shelby tucked himself inside his shell and started to drift into sleep. Today had been a very good, very adventurous one indeed.

[hybridfanfiction]

Yours To Keep

Slightly inspired by Pinnochio

Pairing: Hermit Crab Namjoon x Taehyung 

Word Count: 3,303

As far as life as a captive pet went, little Namjoon the hermit crab had it pretty good. He often missed the coastal home he was taken from, as well as his brothers and sisters that were now undoubtedly scattered all over the country - if any of them were even still alive. He’d learned the hard way during his time in the pet shop that many hermit crabs didn’t live very long, as most humans didn’t feel the need or desire to do all the work to give the crabs a proper home. 

This is why he was eternally grateful that he was picked by the best human out there. He could still remember the day that Kim Taehyung came to the little pet shop and peered thoughtfully into his cramped plastic tank a whole ten years ago. The baby crab did his utmost to impress the boy, though he was surrounded by others, and showed off his shell that admittedly wasn’t the best, but it was the best he had. He made sure the boy saw that he was a beautiful purple color in a sea of brown. When the boy looked around and then reached inside to touch the little hermit crab, he’d allowed it and was very proud that he didn’t pinch the boy even once. 

Taehyung had taken him home that very day and named him Namjoon. The hermit crab now lived as close to a life of luxury as one of his kind could get. Taehyung spent so much time and money perfecting Namjoon’s habitat. He now had a huge ninety-gallon tank all to himself that had the perfect humidity and substrate as well as plenty of fun things to hide in or climb. Taehyung had researched for days to find Namjoon the most beautiful shells of all shapes and sizes, so he never had to work too hard to find a good one as he grew. He even had a separate tank that was used just for playtime since Taehyung loved to do tricks with him. Normally those of his kind had to be kept in groups, but Namjoon had always been a little different than his siblings, preferring solitude most of the time. Besides, this way he had his Taehyung all to himself. 

Namjoon was especially blessed because as a creature that was normally more active at night, he had an owner that was much the same. Taehyung was usually busy during the day as well, but that never seemed to stop him from staying up until it was nearly dawn some days playing video games or watching television. He often took the time to talk to Namjoon, not knowing that the little crab actually could understand what he was saying. He would always angle the television so that Namjoon could watch too, attempting to talk to the crab like he would anyone else as he made comments about the movie or anime. Namjoon didn’t know much about the human world to have much of an opinion, but he did enjoy listening to his Taehyung speak, so he was happy enough. 

The only time Namjoon wasn’t the happiest was when Taehyung had one of his many friends over. Taehyung didn’t talk much to him then and often his friends would try to poke at the little crab and pick him up roughly. Thankfully Taehyung would scold his friends for messing with Namjoon and they all eventually learned that he wasn’t to be handled by anyone except Taehyung. 

Eventually, Taehyung got older. Once he started high school, he began to leave the house more and more. He still took the time to make sure that Namjoon was fed well and his tank was still perfectly maintained, but he didn’t talk to Namjoon as much as he used to. Every now and then he would vent to the little crab as he cleaned up his tank, but no longer did he act like he was his best friend. He had a new best friend now - a human with plump lips and smiling eyes that sometimes brought Namjoon fresh mangos since the human didn’t like them but the little hermit crab loved them. 

Namjoon was often a little sad with this new change, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do. Taehyung was a human with the world at his feet. He didn’t know that to little Namjoon, Taehyung was his entire world. 

The next four years flew by much like this, with Namjoon relishing every moment spent with his human as Taehyung grew taller and his voice deepened. Namjoon loved the way Taehyung’s voice sounded now - so deep and calming that as soon as he heard his human come home he’d scuttle towards the front of the tank to hear more. He’d also heard many of Taehyung’s friends call him handsome, and although he had no real concept of human beauty, he’d always found his boy nice to look at. He always smiled brightly at the crab and his eyes would shine with happiness and that was enough for Namjoon. 

One day, Taehyung came home and Namjoon could hear excited yelling coming from the living room. His parents soon joined in and Namjoon grew curious enough to come out from the little spot he’d been burrowing in and rush towards the front of his tank. He observed his human as he breezed through his bedroom door and dropped his backpack off near his desk. In his other hand was a large envelope. 

“Hey, Namjoon! You’re up early, huh? Guess what? I got into the college I wanted!” Taehyung grinned and peered at the little crab. 

Namjoon clicked his claws curiously. He knew a little bit about college, thanks to the movies and shows that Taehyung’s showed him through the years. It was somewhere humans went to get smarter. But his boy was already smart, so why did he need that? 

“Yup, everything’s all set. In a few months, I’ll be rooming with Chim and studying photography. It’s going to be great...” Taehyung’s smile fell as he stared at the little hermit crab. 

“Oh no! What am I going to do about you? Mom and Dad already told me they didn’t have time to take care of you for me. Am I going to have to sell you? I don’t want to do that. I wish there was some way I could take you with me, Joon,” Taehyung’s eyes went glassy as they began to fill with tears. 

Namjoon was thoroughly worried for the first time in nearly a decade. Not only did he not want to be sold to someone else who wouldn’t take care of him to the extent he’d gotten used to, but he also didn’t want to lose Taehyung. He watched his human make call after call, trying to find a reliable friend that would be willing to take on a hermit crab that needed Namjoon’s level of care. The little crab felt helpless, and if he had the ability to cry he was sure it would be happening now. 

Finally, after many hours and lots of tears, Taehyung fell asleep hugging the giant crab pillow to his chest like he did every night that he was actually home. Namjoon watched over his boy from his tank, knowing this very well could be his last night with him. 

Namjoon snuck a peek towards the closed window, observing the stars twinkle through the small number of clouds. Suddenly, a memory began to tickle at his brain. He remembered vaguely hearing a legend when he had been a tiny thing still living on the coast. It was said that the Goddess of the sea would grant a single wish to any born in her waters. Namjoon was a rather practical crab, and such a legend sounded ridiculous at best. Still, he was desperate, as he didn’t want to leave his boy. So, he closed his eyes and wished with all of his tiny heart to stay with the boy he loved. 

Nothing happened. 

Of course it didn’t. He hadn’t expected it to, really. He’d just be grasping at straws. Namjoon drooped sadly and began to scuttle towards his plants and rocks to hide away for a while. 

Suddenly, the window snapped open loud enough to wake Taehyung, who was sitting up groggily and rubbing his eyes. Namjoon turned back towards the front of his cage and watched as something flew into the room. 

It appeared as a big bubble of water, glowing an eerie blue tint. The little crab’s eyes flickered between the bubble and the boy who was staring at the water with a terrified gaze. Eventually, the bubble stopped near Namjoon’s tank, the light illuminating the set up within. Slowly, the bubble began to change shape until it began to resemble a human form. 

Once it was done transforming, Namjoon stared back at a tall and beautiful woman. Her hair was a dark royal blue and fell to her feet in cascading waves. The eyes that pierced the little crab were the same shade of blue, but glowed and shimmered much like the bubble had. The dress she wore was like fine silk, soft and flowing as though it were made of water. Even a crab that didn’t know much about human beauty could tell that this person was ethereally stunning.

“Hello there, little Namjoon. The call of your heart was so strong I had to come,” the woman said as she peered into the tank. Even her voice was enthralling, forcing the crab to listen even through his fear. 

“Hey, who the hell are you? This is my room. I’ll call the cops!” Taehyung shouted from his spot on the bed, holding his pillow above his head like it made a worthy weapon. 

“Do not worry, human. I mean no harm. I am here because the little one called to me.” 

Namjoon cringed internally as Taehyung’s gaze whipped towards the tank. He hadn’t known that she would actually come! He’d never meant to scare his boy. 

“What do you mean? Leave my Namjoonie alone!” 

“Ah, you have love in your heart for him as well. This is good. It may not be quite the same, but it will grow.” 

The woman peered into the tank again. 

“Do you still want me to grant your wish, little one?” 

Namjoon nodded once and clicked his claws, hoping that she would understand if she was really the Goddess. 

“Very well. So much love in such a little heart deserves a reward, after all. Then you have my blessing. Live a long and happy life, little one.” 

The Goddess raises her hand and the eerie blue light surrounds Namjoon, lifting him up and out of his tank. 

“NO! Namjoon! What are you doing to him?!” Taehyung wails as he scrambles out of bed.  

“Calm yourself, human. He asked me for a boon and I found him worthy,” the Goddess chuckles as she watches Taehyung trip over his bedsheets trying to get to them. 

Namjoon couldn’t begin to describe the feeling of what was happening to him. The blue light felt like it was piercing him straight into his soul and transforming everything. He could feel his very insides changing and shaping themselves into something new. As his body expanded, so did his brain, until he was suddenly experiencing all new emotions and thoughts that he hadn’t been capable of before. He was worried for the boy staring up at him in horrified fascination, but along with that he also felt utter unconditional love, of such depths he hadn’t known were possible. 

The Goddess smiled encouragingly at him as he grew within her blue light until finally he was sitting on the floor as a whole new being. 

Namjoon raised his claws towards his face, only to realize they were hands like his boys instead. He flexed the fingers, giggling as he wiggled them around. He followed the trail of the flesh suit on him, noticing arms and legs and weird hairs, all just like his Taehyung. In fact, he thought he might even be a little larger! Oh, what fun he was going to have being so big! 

“Nam...Namjoon?” Taehyung stuttered, reaching out tentatively towards him. 

“Tae Tae! I’m big!” 

Namjoon smiled excitedly at his boy, realizing that not only was he big like him, but he could also talk like him too! 

Taehyung seemed to freeze when Namjoon smiled, staring at his mouth. 

“And...you have dimples,” he told Namjoon, his voice hushed and cheeks a little pink. 

The crab patted his new fleshy face, suddenly worried. 

“Is that bad?” 

That seemed to loosen some of the tension in Taehyung’s shoulders as he chuckled softly. 

“No, Namjoon. That’s good. Dimples are cute.” 

“Oh,” Namjoon replied shyly. Taehyung often called him cute with one of his big boxy smiles, so he knew that word was a good one. 

“Kim Taehyung,” The Goddess began, smiling fondly at the pair of them. “I give my charge Namjoon into your care, to love and care for the rest of his days. He has used his single boon to stay with you, and I have granted that wish to the best of my abilities. I have made him completely human and he will age at the same rate as you. There is also a packet of papers on your desk that will contain everything he needs to maintain a human life. I wish you both happiness. Love him well.” 

“Thank you,” Namjoon hoped that though his words were still few, she would know that he was overwhelmingly grateful. 

She nodded and smiled at him one last time before transforming back into her bubble and leaving through the window. 

Namjoon and Taehyung watched her leave silently. It wasn’t until Namjoon shivered a little that Taehyung tore his gaze from the open window to stare at Namjoon. 

“Oh! You’re...well...naked. You must be freezing!” 

Taehyung jumped up and ruffled through his drawers, pulling out a pair of big sweatpants and a soft-looking sweater. He handed them to Namjoon and turned his back so he could dress. 

Namjoon struggled, seeing as he wasn’t used to such a big form or so few legs, but he eventually figured it out. The clothes were nice, not as cozy as his shell, but they were soft and smelled like Taehyung. 

“I’m done.” 

Taehyung turned once he heard Namjoon’s whispered words, grinning fondly at the big man dressed in soft pink sweats. He sat down on the floor, and Namjoon dropped to copy him. 

“So, I’m not going to say this isn’t really weird, because it is. But it’s still like, a good weird?” Taehyung mumbled, ruffling his own hair a bit. 

Namjoon nodded, because yeah, even he knew it was weird and he was a crab. 

Namjoon cleared his throat, his new massive-sized brain working hard to figure out what he wanted to say. 

“I know this is strange, and when I made the wish I didn’t think it was really going to happen. I was just sad so I remembered the legend about her and did it. But I’m happy I did.” 

“I think I’m happy you did, too,” Taehyung smiled. “I was so upset that I was going to have to give you away. I even thought about smuggling you into my dorm room, but we could have been kicked out for that kind of stuff.” 

“You could have if you lived in one of those houses with college boys and they drink a lot. There was that one movie where they even had horses in the back. I was a lot smaller than a horse.” 

Taehyung quirked an eyebrow at him. “You paid attention to movies?” 

“Of course! I always watched the movies and stuff you would play, or listened when you talked to me. I loved when you talked to me,” Namjoon told him enthusiastically, not knowing how enthralled the other was by his deep dimples as he smiled. 

“So, how do I look? Am I a regular human?” Namjoon asked, suddenly nervous since Taehyung kept staring at him. Maybe something was wrong? 

“You’re...beautiful. Tall and strong-looking, with a big smile and pretty eyes. And your hair! It’s purple like you were before. I wonder if it’s permanent,” Taehyung mused as he reached towards Namjoon’s head. 

Namjoon was both excited and nervous because this was the first time he was going to be touched in this form. Handling always made him a little nervous anyway, but he trusted his boy. 

Taehyung’s fingers lightly touched Namjoon’s fluffy purple hair, and Namjoon was in heaven. It was so soft and the touch of Taehyung’s fingers ignited new nerves that made him twitch happily. So this was petting! It was wonderful. 

Namjoon butted his head further into Taehyung’s hand to beg for more, making the other laugh giddily. 

“Ah, Namjoonie, you’re so cute.” 

Namjoon sighed happily, pleased that his human still seemed to like him in this form. He frowned when Taehyung pulled his hand away, causing the other to snort a laugh. 

“Relax. I’ll pet you more in a bit. I want to see what else she left you. Hopefully, it’s some sort of birth certificate because right now you’re basically illegal,” Taehyung said as he jumped up and head towards a fat envelope on his desk. 

Taehyung brought the envelope back over to Namjoon and plopped down next to him before opening it. He peeked inside, shuffling some papers around and pulling a few out. 

“Well, welcome to the world, Kim Namjoon,” Taehyung chuckled and handed the paper to Namjoon. 

The words were jumbled a bit at first, but once he concentrated they seemed to arrange themselves until he understood what it said. It was a birth certificate with his name in black bold letters, stating he was Kim Namjoon. This meant he was a real human now, right?

Taehyung gave little huffs of laughter every time he pulled out a new piece of paper. 

“Hey, Namjoon. Did you know you graduated from my high school last year as valedictorian? And oh look, you’re starting college the same time as me.” 

Now that piece of information caught his attention. 

“Is it the same one as you?” 

“Yeah, actually. Although your major is Marine Biology.” 

“So I can stay with you?” 

Taehyung peeked over at Namjoon, blushing slightly. 

“Yeah, Namjoonie. You can stay with me. Chim can find a new roommate. I won’t leave you to the wolves.” 

“There are wolves there?” 

Taehyung giggled. “No. It’s a saying.” 

“Oh, good. But I’m big now, so I can protect you from wolves if you need it.” 

“Okay, Joon.” 

Namjoon suddenly yawned loudly, the excitement and changes with his body finally catching up with him. Taehyung stood up and pulled Namjoon towards the bed. 

“Let’s get some sleep, Namjoon. We can figure everything out later. For now we both need to rest.” 

Namjoon nodded and let Taehyung tuck him under the covers before he slid in next to him. 

But what made Namjoon happiest was when instead of hugging his crab pillow to his chest like usual, Taehyung instead wrapped himself around Namjoon. He’d never been cuddled like this before in his life, but he loved it. He’d never felt so special and loved before. He cuddled closer, smiling softly as Taehyung’s breathing slowly changed. 

“Namjoon?” Taehyung’s sleepy voice asked, muffled a little by blankets and his position against Namjoon’s shoulder. 

“Yeah?” 

“You’re still going to be here when we wake up, right? I’m not dreaming and you’re not going to be the crab in my tank in the morning are you?” 

Namjoon grinned, happy with the answer he had to give. 

“I’m yours to keep.” 

[nelvana]

In which the world’s balance is restored

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: (N/A) Previous: In which there are three for balance

    Deep within the cave that many of the torchic line called home in Scorched Plains, a crowd gathered. In the center of this room, was a large, glowing, orange crystal. Beside it, stood a blaziken and a torchic; Keahi. It was time for her, her who recently decided to be a she again instead of zie, to evolve into a combusken.

    At the front of the crowd, among Keahi’s family, were her teammates and friends. Ceebee was currently absent from the group, as were the B Squadron of Team Galaxy, but Gardevoir and Damien, the latter with only slight complications getting in, were there. Keahi glanced back at them, and Nelvana waved back at her partner, everyone smiling at their friend before she turned back to look up at her father.

    Within Keahi’s family, when a torchic was to become a combusken was treated as a very important moment. It was a time where a child matured, being strong enough in body and mind to decide to change forms. This was something that Keahi in particular had looked forward to immensely, but something that she had only had the chance to do now. While she listened attentively as her dad continued his speech for the ceremony, she teetered her weight from one foot to the other in brimming excitement.

    When Team Galaxy had returned from their mission, evolution had been the first sign that the world’s balance had been restored. Lombre had become Ludicolo in the small gap of time between the restoration of balance and the group’s return, which was as clear a sign as any that their mission had been a success.

    As they had later learned after their return, Lombre had evolved after the town had returned from an evacuation. Palkia going primal had caused a lot of destruction, and while the group had done their best in the fight to stall it, it had been quite the panicked time for those trying to live their day-to-day lives. The B Squadron had quickly made the decision as they were seeing some of the active damage and hearing word from others that Pokemon Square, being incredibly close to a cliff, was unsafe in the current disasters. They had returned once everything had settled, and when Lombre had gone to take out the water stone he had packed in his bag, he became Ludicolo, turning the previous stress of the townsfolk into a time of celebration.

    Other damages had thankfully fixed either before or not long after Team Galaxy had returned themselves. There were some that were irreversible, new canyons, mountains, islands, and possibly even dungeons becoming permanent parts of the landscape, however the Trio of Creation had been able to fix most of the damage. Buildings were repaired either through manipulation of space or matter, of the slight reversal of time, and pokemon that had been teleported by random portals had been located and returned to their homes.

    Which was why, now, two days after the group’s return, Team Galaxy and Keahi’s entire family were able to gather here together for Keahi’s evolution ceremony.

    Blaziken still went on, however there was something about the importance of this speech, especially after everything that they had to go through to get to this moment, that captured everyone’s attention despite how long he was talking for. There was some restless movement from some of the young torchics in the crowd, but no one whispered to each other and if one were to glance at those who surrounded them, they wouldn’t find any bored faces. Though Team Galaxy had never been to a ceremony like this before, it was clear that this one was extra special.

    Through Blazikens words, which were loudly projected to reach everyone, the sound of whispered “excuse me” quietly cut through what had been the silent crowd. Regardless, no one seemed to react too much to the mild interruption, at least until Ceebee flew right up beside her friends.

    “How much did I miss?” Ceebee asked them quietly, respectfully not wanting to distract from the event any more than she may have already.

    “Not too much, Blaziken is still giving his speech,” Alex answered, equally as quiet.

    “It’s a good speech though,” Nelvana commented.

    Alex nodded at his partner’s correction, silently agreeing with her. Ceebee nodded as well, letting out a sigh of relief to know that she had still arrived in time to catch the tail end of the ceremony. Keahi glanced back at the crowd again, her smile only growing bigger to see that Ceebee had arrived in time.

    “How did the talk with Dialga go?” Edgar asked, unable to keep himself quiet through his curiosity.

    Ceebee’s tardiness to this ceremony had come when Dialga, to everyone’s surprise, managed to get in contact with Ceebee and requested her presence. Fortunately, now for her there were plenty of shortcuts between teleporting and portals to get to Temporal Tower, so she ended up hesitantly accepting the invitation. She had missed breakfast though, unfortunately.

    “It was… fine,” Ceebee answered, “I’ll talk more later; now isn’t the time,” she promised him.

    Accepting this answer, Edgar nodded, turning back to watch the remainder of the ceremony.

    Not long after Ceebee’s arrival, Blaziken’s speech finished. He smiled down at his daughter with immense pride, and allowed her to approach the evolution crystal. Smiling back at her father, Keahi nodded to him before looking to face the glowing gem. She paused momentarily, before stepping up to it. She leaned her forehead against it, and lifted her wings slightly to touch it as well, almost like a half-hug.

    The crystal glowed even brighter, some of the glow moving across the surface of the rock and ending up where Keahi was touching it, and then moved to cover the torchic herself, enveloping her in a white glow. Under the light, her form shifted and grew, Keahi growing taller, her build shifted, wings changing into arms. After a few moments, the glow vanished from around Keahi altogether, leaving the crystal glowing just as much as before and a combusken where a torchic once stood.

    The crowd burst into clapping and cheers, and Keahi smiled broadly back at everyone, tears pricking at her eyes as she smiled with giddy joy and glanced down at her hands, slowly moving her claw fingers. Turning to look back at her dad, Keahi hurried over to him. She stumbled slightly, not quite adjusted to how she moved slightly differently now, but caught herself mid-stumble with a giggle before wrapping her new arms around Blaziken in a hug, which he returned enthusiastically. When they eventually parted, Keahi looked back at the crowd again, and ran over to her team next, launching herself into a hug with her partner, who immediately returned the gesture and hugged the combusken firmly.

    “How do you feel?” Nelvana asked, squeezing her partner tightly in their hug.

    Keahi giggled again, “I feel great! I’m so happy!” she exclaimed.

    Giving each other another tight squeeze before giving each other enough distance to look at each other but still easily be within arm’s reach, the pair looked at each other. Now as a combusken, Keahi was back to being closer to Nelvana’s height, but Nelvana still had a good extra foot in height; both because marowaks were naturally taller than combuskens, but also because Nelvana was taller than average. As Alex stepped closer as well, however, he was at equal height now to Keahi, though in this moment he appeared slightly sorted while he hunched, which he quickly corrected and stood up straighter as he saw how tall Keahi had become as a combusken.

    “Do you still have my bracelet?” Keahi asked Nelvana.

    “Of course, here you go!” Nelvana answered, passing over the requested item.

    That morning, Keahi had requested that Nelvana bring the bracelet she had made for Keahi’s birthday with them to hold onto, so that Keahi could wear it properly as a combusken. As a torchic, she had wrapped it over her shoulder when she wanted to wear it, but now she could finally wear it around her wrist as bracelets intended.

    Accepting her gift back, Keahi took the braided string bracelet and carefully tugged it over her hand to hang around her wrist. Smiling at the item, she shook her wrist around, giggling as she watched the accessory bounced slightly with the movement.

    “It’s perfect!” Keahi chirped.

    “I’m glad it fits,” Nelvana hummed, “I made it a bit big when you were a torchic, but I was still worried it would be too small for you as a combusken.”

    “C’mon, give yourself some more credit Nel,” Alex chuckled, “you have a great eye for this sort of thing.”

    “That’s some pretty good prediction skills though,” Damien pointed out, “looks great too; the cooler colors stand out well with your warm feathers.”

    Keahi stuck her tongue out at the gengar playfully, “you act like you’ve never seen me wear this before!”

    “I didn’t pay much attention then!” Damien retorted, but he smiled back.

    From behind Keahi, the arm of Combusken, her step-brother, was slung over her shoulder as he poked his head into the group.

    “Hey sis,” Combusken greeted, “and hey, Galaxy and co. Ceebee, glad you made it, we missed you at breakfast.”

    “Hi Combusken!” Keahi replied, lifting her own arm to pat his. “That was a long ceremony, huh?”

    “You’re the first evolution we’ve had around here in awhile,” Combusken pointed out, “I’m sure dad was really looking forward to it too; he looks super proud.”

    Though already mildly aware of this, Keahi couldn’t help but beam at the latter part, “yeah?”

    Combusken laughed, moving his hand to noogie his step-sister instead of leaning over her, “of course, you dork!” he teased.

    Keahi laughed back at him, shoving him off of her and fixing her head feathers, which despite Combusken’s teasing actions, still only appeared mildly disturbed. Smiling back at her, Combusken stepped back to give some space, and then glanced around at the rest of the group before looking back at Keahi.

    “So, I heard you all have places to be?” he questioned hesitantly, “or can we chat more?”

    “Oh, right, we do…” Keahi murmured, her smile faltering ever so slightly.

    Spinda had insisted on doing something for Team Galaxy to repay them, and thus the entirety of Team Galaxy, with Damien, Gardevoir, and Maurice, had made plans to stay there for the afternoon for some treats and catch up with each other more on what happened while the A Squadron had been out on their mission. Dusknoir had been, hesitantly, invited as well, but he turned down the offer. Apparently, there was something he wanted to tell them before that event though.

    Keahi had been hasty to evolve after learning it was finally possible, and not wanting to shove either events to a later date, they had settled on the evolution ceremony in the morning and the team celebration in the afternoon. While this worked, it did limit the amount of time Keahi could spend just with her family. They had come earlier in the morning for breakfast to make up for the possible lost time, but that didn’t change the fact that they wouldn’t be able to linger for long after the ceremony itself.

    “Yes, we already have plans to be elsewhere this afternoon, sorry about that,” Nelvana told him.

    Combusken shrugged, “hey, just make sure to come back some other time, alright? I’m sure that everyone is looking for time to catch up; more than just the time we immediate family had for breakfast,” he responded, “speaking of though, if you want to head out in good time, you should probably leave before someone drags Keahi off for more conversation and congratulations,” he added.

    Alex chuckled, “that is true. We should head off before someone here decides that if we’re lingering here long enough then we must have time to talk to them too,” he agreed, “it was nice chatting with you though, Combusken.”

    “Yeah!” Edgar chirped, “it was really nice to see Keahi’s family.”

    “Hopefully now we will have more free time, so we shall return sooner rather than later,” Tsuki added.

    “Ha, we’ll see.” Combusken smirked slightly. “You guys are always super busy; we understand if you can’t come back in awhile. But hey, y’all are all always welcome. Yes, even you, Damien.”

    Giving their farewells to Combusken, as well as some other family members on the group’s way out of the cave, they headed outside. The midday sun beamed down on them as they exited, still nice and warm despite them getting later into autumn by now.

    Beside the mouth of the cave, Dusknoir was leaning on the outside wall where they had left him; he didn’t want to be inside with the crowds, but still came out for this trip regardless for reasons that were currently unclear to the others. As they exited the cave, however, he straightened up, moving away from the wall and facing the others. His eye scanned the group quickly, landing on Keahi. He gave her a nod.

    “The evolution went well, I see. Congratulations,” he told her.

    “Thank you!” Keahi hummed, eagerly accepting the comment.

    A pause of silence seemed about to grow, but recognizing this, Dusknoir spoke up again.

    “How did your meeting with Dialga go, Ceebee?” he asked, making eye contact with the celebi.

    “Oh. It was fine,” Ceebee answered, pausing before going on. “They invited me to work with them, like how Celebi did. I turned them down. I don’t think they were too surprised though; they know I’ll always be with you guys.”

    “They invited you to work with them?” Dusknoir repeated, raising a brow.

    “Yeah, I think they’re still mourning. Plus, it’s… kinda supposed to be my role. So, I guess they figured they could try asking and maybe get some company,” Ceebee explained, “at least they won’t really be lonely though, they have their siblings.”

    After the trio had worked together to restore the world’s balance together, there were choices to be made together, how to adjust to working together more. They had agreed to visit at least monthly, to catch up with each other and work through any problems together. Though, for the first while they had plans to meet more frequently than monthly, due to wanting to make sure they got through their adjustment period. For these early meetings as well, the trio had decided to bring along the Lake Guardians as well, as those three would have things to work through after everything as well.

    Until their next meeting, however, each legendary had gone back to their own homes. Dialga went to rest, and Palkia still had more cleaning up to do in the Spacial Rift. Giratina, however, did not have a home. They had spent most of their life in the Distortion Realm, which they were in no way eager to return to anytime soon, and thus any home they had prior to their banishment was long gone.

    In the end though, Giratina only had one place to go back to, to call home; Murky Cave. They had flown out to Remains Island, and while Team Galaxy had not been out there again themselves recently, they had heard that Giratina had manage to settle in alright with the village there. Not that there was terribly much doubt for them, it was clear by the tribute room that most of the townsfolk there respected the deity.

    Dusknoir blinked, “I see.”

    “Well, we’re glad to still have you here!” Edgar hummed, circling around the celebi a couple times. “You’re our friend and our teammate!”

    Ceebee giggled, a smile returning to her face, “thank you, Edgar.”

    “So, Dusknoir, what was it you wished to speak to us about before heading back?” Tsuki asked, shifting the topic of conversation with her question. “You mentioned having something you wanted to tell us here,” she added, in case he or anyone else had forgotten.

    “Ah, yes, of course…” Dusknoir sighed, “I have a request to make to you all. I have done a lot of thinking, during our mission and after it, and I have come to… a lot of realizations. And I believe it would be best for me now to go off on my own. I would like to… discover myself, and I cannot do that here. There is so much more of this world to see, and much more I need to learn about it and myself. So, if I may, I would like go to out on my own.”

    Alex frowned, “why are you asking us for permission?” he questioned, “won’t you just go regardless of what we say?”

    “Because it is your team that placed me under house arrest. With good reason, of course. In hindsight, you acted well to handle your reasonable suspicions of me,” Dusknoir answered, “I will not leave if you do not trust me to. I understand that I have not done much to prove myself to you all. At least, not personally.”

    Slowly, eyes turned towards the time travelling trio; Nelvana, Alex, and Ceebee. As the ones most directly affected by Dusknoir in their pasts, their opinions mattered the most in a case like this. Without a word from the others, it was clear that they trusted whatever verdict their three friends would give to him about this. It took a moment for any of the three of them to speak up, however, hesitating under the breath and mulling over the options. Eventually though, Ceebee exhaled and then spoke up.

    “It may be best for all of us if we let you go,” she decided, “I still can’t really forgive or trust you, but I have sensed honesty in your apologies, so I’ll have to give you the benefit of the doubt that you would like to become better. And if that is true, then I think it would save all of us stress by not having you here,” she continued, “besides, and though I hate to use them to back up any of my points, this seems to be what Dialga wanted when bringing you here, for you to get a chance to live a normal life. So, I guess I’ll let you give that a go. But that’s just me. The other two, which you have certainly had more of a negative effect on, may think otherwise.”

    After another small pause, Nelvana spoke next.

    “I’ve already said that I’m willing to see you become better. I’m fine with that happening without me being there to witness it; frankly I think we’d all do better separated anyway. Again, I don’t forgive you either, but it causes me more trouble than anything to hate you forever,” she told Dusknoir courtly.

    Alex scrunched up his muzzle, “I still hate you, but I’ve done some thinking… I think what Nel has been saying is right. You’re not worth wasting all my energy on, making me stressed all the time. I’ll never forgive you, but I’ll let you go,” he hissed, “but know that if the next time we see you it’s your face on an outlaw poster, we will be the first team going to hunt you down.”

    Dusknoir’s gaze softened, “I would hope that, if I do something to warrant my face on an outlaw poster, that you would be the ones there to stop me.”

    There was almost some resignation to his statement, as if he almost didn’t trust himself for that hypothetical to be a possibility. And that if it did happen… he knew that Team Galaxy would be the best ones to be able to stop him from doing anything worse.

    Realizing that no one else was about to speak, and that these three statements were the complete verdict from the group, Dusknoir went on.

    “Thank you all for giving me another chance. I hope that if we do meet again, it will be under more favorable circumstances than our previous encounters,” he said, “and thank you, Edgar and Damien, for listening to me and helping show me the errors of my ways,” he added.

    Attention momentarily drawn to the other two ghost-types, Damien froze up, his ears flattening and his face darkening slightly, and while Edgar didn’t give off such an obvious reaction like the gengar, the light in his eye flickered momentarily, before he nodded.

    “We’re glad we could help,” Edgar responded, speaking for the both of them while Damien was still too caught off guard to say much.

    Dusknoir nodded back, a smile in his eye. There was another pause, uncertainty hanging over them. Eventually, with one final goodbye, Dusknoir turned around and floated away across the fields. There were no big goodbyes for him, and oddity for the team, but he was an odd case. Regardless, the tension faded as he did into the horizon, leaving only the small and very faint worry that this could have been the wrong choice in the back of everyone’s minds.

    “Well, he’s gone,” Tsuki finally spoke up, letting out a sigh after her words.

    Ceebee patted Alex on his shoulder, “I think we made the right choice,” she said to both him and Nelvana.

    “I hope so,” Nelvana murmured, “either way, I guess we won’t know for awhile, so we’ll just hope for the best. I think… it’ll be better for us in the long run though.”

    “Yeah,” Ceebee agreed, “we need some time to heal, dammit!”

    Alex smiled back up at his friends, before stepping away from Ceebee’s touch, turning around to face her and Nelvana.

    “Actually, speaking of… before we go home, there’s something I wanted to show Nel here, is everyone cool with that?” he asked, glancing around at the others as well.

    “How long should it take?” Damien asked, answering the question with another question.

    “Not too long, I don’t think. Maybe enough for if you really wanted, you could poke your heads back inside here and get some proper goodbyes from family,” Alex responded, making eye contact with Keahi directly for the second sentence.

    “Oh, yeah! That sounds fine. I haven’t gotten to talk to my mom since evolving yet, I should go find her. You two go on ahead!” Keahi chirped.

    Alex nodded back to her, “thanks, we’ll be back in a few.”

    He looked over at Nelvana with a small smile, and she, though not knowing at all what her partner wanted to show her, nodded back to him and followed him as he led her back around the cave.

    “It shouldn’t be far back here,” Alex told her.

    By the vagueness to this sentence, Nelvana could tell that this was meant to be a surprise, and prying wouldn’t get her too far. However, that didn’t mean she could ask something equally vague to what she was actually about to be shown.

    “Is this where you disappeared off to this morning?” she asked, referring to some time during breakfast where Alex wandered out from the cave.

    Alex grinned slightly, nodding again, “yeah, this is where I went.”

    Though he promised it wouldn’t take long, there still seemed to be enough distance between where they had started walking to get here, and Nelvana figured that this walk would either be silent, or she could ask something unrelated that had been on her mind and hope that they had enough time to talk about it before getting to where he wanted to take her.

    “How do you feel, about letting Dusknoir go like that?”

    “Oh, well…” Alex let in a sharp inhale, hissing as the air went through his gritted teeth. “I dunno. I still worry that he’ll go out there and do horrible things again. He hasn’t shown signs of lying in his apologies, but I can’t bring myself to believe him,” he said, “however… I wasn’t lying when I said that I thought you, and Ceebee, raised good points about not stressing over him forever. And…”

    Alex trailed off, taking in another deep breath. Nelvana silently prompted him to go on.

    “I also did some more thinking that I didn’t mention back there. I know he’s capable of showing mercy. He has never done it for us, but he did for me. Once,” Alex continued, voice growing quieter. “After he killed my parents, he left me this scar on my nose, and I fled. You already know that. But I’ve realized… there was no reason for him to do that. He very easily could have aimed for my throat instead and killed me there too. Or he could have chased me further in that forest; I was fast, but I was panicked, he easily could have snuck through the shadows and caught me. I still don’t know why he let me go like that; it went against what he worked for; he probably knew that I would vow vengeance on him. But he let me go, as a small, strange and unknown act of mercy,” he explained, “so, in a way, I guess this is my one mercy to him. He gave me a chance back then; I’ll give him a chance now. But just one.”

    Nelvana nodded along to this explanation, but before she could say anything, Alex stopped walking and then spoke again.

    “Here we are.”

    Stopping alongside the grovyle, Nelvana took a moment to glance around at her surroundings and locate what it was that Alex wanted to show her. They were in a graveyard now, tombstones solidly stuck into the ground through the long grass that was everywhere in Scorched Plains. Just at a glimpse, Nelvana could see that most of the rocks were marked with pokemon of the torchic line; from Keahi’s family. Though squinting further back, there were some graves for other fire-type pokemon. It seemed that this was a graveyard for any families living around Scorched Plains; Keahi had mentioned before that her family weren’t the only ones in the area.

    However, Alex crouched down in front of two specific gravestones, and when Nelvana crouched beside him, she found that these two were not of fire-types at all, and one was not even of pokemon. On the right, were two names, and she recognized them as being the names of Alex’s parents. He had told her them once during a moment of vulnerability and grieving; she was his sister, and he wanted her to know and remember the names of his parents too, so that their memory would live in the both of them, even if she had never met them. On the left, were five names, the names of each of Nelvana’s family members, including Achta, the purloin.

    Nelvana stared at the two stones for many long moments, reading over the names over and over before eventually turning to Alex. She didn’t need to speak to ask her questions, he understood why she would be surprised.

    “Blaziken set this up,” he told her, and she knew right away that he was referring to Keahi’s father. “He asked me about our families, before he knew that you no longer have amnesia and could have asked you. Still, I told him, I know it’s something he had… worried about before. And then he offered to make grave markers for them,” he explained, “I told him that he didn’t have to do that, but he insisted upon it, said we were family here too and our family deserved to be remembered. And well… I had been planning on suggesting to you that we make graves elsewhere anyway, so eventually I caved and let Blaziken set them up here.”

    “That was nice of him,” Nelvana responded quietly.

    “Yeah,” Alex agreed, “so… you’re okay with it then? I probably should have asked, but I hope it could make a good surprise.”

    Nelvana smiled softly, “yeah, I… I’m okay with it. This is a good surprise. Thanks.”

    The pair stayed there for a few more minutes, but knowing that they promised that they wouldn’t be gone long and that they could always come back here if they really wanted prompted them to get up and start heading back. The return trip was quieter than the one there, silent aside from the mention that they should bring flowers next time, but they both felt a bit lighter than when they had arrived.

    As they returned to the others, they found most of them sitting and chatting right outside the cave where the pair had left them. Keahi was absent, but it seemed that everyone else thought it better to allow her some family time on her own while they waited for the other two to return. The others glanced up as the two returned, whatever they were talking about shoved aside in favor of greeting the return of their friends.

    “We’re back,” Alex told them, despite everyone being well aware of this by now.

    “How was your little trip?” Damien asked, twisting a handful of grass in his hands.

    “It was good, thanks,” Nelvana answered.

    Though there was some evident curiosity ebbing from the group, wondering what it was Alex had shown Nelvana, they figured that if the pair wanted to tell them, they would, and there was no point in asking right now.

    “Should we go get Keahi then?” Tsuki asked, “she went inside to talk to family.”

    “Well, unless anyone else had anything that they wanted to do here, we’re ready to head back,” Alex told her.

    “I’ll go get her then!” Edgar readily offered.

    Barely waiting long enough to hear approval to his offer, Edgar zoomed back inside the cave to locate their missing friend. Before long, he returned outside, Keahi right behind him.

    “That didn’t take long,” Damien commented to Edgar.

    “She wasn’t too hard to find!” Edgar replied.

    “I stayed fairly close to the entrance so you guys would be able to find me more easily when you were ready,” Keahi added, “so, we ready to go now?”

    “Sounds like it,” Gardevoir answered, nodding.

    “Alright!” Keahi exclaimed, “hey, we should race home! I want to see how fast I am as a combusken now! Ready? Three, two, one, go!”

    Without waiting for any confirmation to the idea of a race, Keahi sprinted off on the path towards home. Everyone else froze momentarily, caught off guard from the suddenness of it all. But despite most recovering from any surprise quickly, no one still moved right away, exchanging glances with each other instead.

    “I am not running all the way back home,” Damien said, “it’s a half hour walk.”

    Nelvana chuckled at him, “I’ll get her; I doubt any of us could run for that long, and some of us have an unfair flying advantage,” she said, then turning back towards the combusken and beginning to run after her. “Keahi, wait!”

    At first, Keahi did not slow at the call, but she did glance back, and when seeing that Nelvana was the only one running to catch up, she slowed slightly to allow the marowak to stand beside her.

    “Kea, it’s a half hour walk back to the base. No one is going to run that far, not even you,” Nelvana told her once they were close enough to carry a conversation together.

    Keahi blinked, “oh, right. Sorry, I’m just really excited! And also, I feel really energetic! But yeah, a half hour race sounds a bit much. Maybe we could race once we get within eyesight of the base…?”

    “Maybe. But I don’t know how much energy you’ll have by then. Remember what Alex mentioned when I evolved? You feel really full of energy now, but you also burned a lot of energy evolving. You’re going to need to rest later,” Nelvana reminded her.

    “You didn’t need rest right after evolving,” Keahi pointed out.

    “Yeah, but there was that moment we were all forced asleep by Ditto-Darkrai. Also, I basically fell asleep right after getting to my nest.”

    “So did most of us.”

    “Yeah, but it usually takes me forever to fall sleep, even if the day’s events have been exhausting. You know that.”

    Keahi blinked, and then laughed, “you’re right! I can’t believe I forgot.”

    Nelvana smiled, “it’s alright, you’re just excited. Besides, as you said, everyone else fell asleep pretty quickly too. You probably didn’t notice at the time.”

    “Yeah…” Keahi trailed off, smile fading slightly. “Will I be awake enough for the celebration this afternoon?”

    “You should be fine,” Nelvana assured her, “there will be lots of food anyway, we can reenergize you.”

    “Okay! That’s good, I’d hate to be all energetic now and then fall asleep when I need to be awake!” Keahi replied, smile returning to her face. “Well, if we aren’t going to race then… there is something else I wanted to do, now that I have hands.”

    Nelvana stared back at Keahi, silent questioning in her eyes at the combusken’s comment. Giggling to herself, Keahi acted instead of answering out loud, reaching out with her right hand, and grabbing Nelvana’s left hand in it, then moving her hand to intertwine their fingers.

    “There!” Keahi hummed, “we can hold hands now!”

     “Oh.” Nelvana smiled softly, her face feeling warm. “That was… sweeter than I expected.”

    Keahi laughed again, “what were you expecting?” she questioned, only receiving a shrug in response. “Well, for other things I want to try out now that I’ve evolved… I should be able to learn more fighting-type moves, but we’ll probably have to do that tomorrow. For now, I guess we had better start actually heading back!”

    Nelvana chuckled, “yeah, we should,” she said, squeezing Keahi’s hand.

    The pair glanced back to where the others were, who still hadn’t moved from where they were before, staying back to allow the two to enjoy their conversation on their own. Keahi stuck her tongue out at them, and Nelvana gestured with her other hand for them to follow.

    “Come on! Let’s go home!”

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: (N/A) Previous: In which there are three for balance

[qqueenofhades]

Ahem. As discussed, a prompt my good lady...Lucy and Flynn + fake married in Dubrovnik + the inevitable shenanigans...

Okay SO. On the plane over, there was something in the magazine about a website where tourists can go to Amsterdam and fake-marry a local for a day, so their new “spouse” can take them around the non-tourist parts of the city, and then they go their separate ways at dusk and it’s fun etc. I immediately decided that this needed a Garcy AU, for obvious reasons.

Lucy Preston wasn’t really planning on going to Croatia. In fact, she wasn’t exactly planning to go anywhere. But it’s been a rough few months to say the least – tenure meeting cancelled at Stanford, breaking up with Noah, Mom has to go back to the hospital for more tests and it isn’t looking good – and in a fit of late-night frustration, she decided to just fly somewhere over Thanksgiving break and forget about the clusterfuck that was her life for a bit. Somewhere warm, she wasn’t picky. She suggested that Amy go with her, but Amy had work and couldn’t get away, and by then, Lucy had already booked a ticket. She’s heard that Dubrovnik is beautiful, there is a university and a state archive there so she can theoretically disguise it as a research trip, and when she was running through the apparently deeply cursed Frankfurt airport to catch her connecting flight, a text popped up from Amy. Something that she thinks Lucy should try, just for shits and giggles. Some kind of app called Untourist.

Lucy took a look at it and decided that it was basically Tinder for tourists, even if the premise tried to be more classy than that. In short, you can pick a European city from the list (More Locations Coming Soon!, promises the popup), fill in some brief preference Q&As, and be matched with a local, who will fake-marry you in a ceremony complete with photos and then take you on a “honeymoon” for a day in the city. The idea is that you get to have a personal guide, explore places off the main drag – and presumably, if you hook up at the end, that’s a nice bonus, but not one that the app strictly advertises. It sees itself as promoting intercultural connections and lived experiences, rather than anything so ignominious as arranging casual sex with a hot foreigner. Apparently it got its start in Amsterdam, though, so this would not be surprising.

The split with Noah is still raw, and Lucy isn’t planning to use the app for that purpose – or indeed, at all. But after she has landed at the surprisingly tiny airport and has boarded the bus for the drive along the coast road to the city, she downloads it on a whim that she shouldn’t think through and decides it might be fun to have someone to travel with, even briefly. After she’s signed up, created a profile, and filled in her details, she is given two options to match with, and ends up going for the latter: Garcia from Dubrovnik. She thought about Marko from Zagreb, but his profile says that he’s a Dinamo Ultra, and she decided that she didn’t want to spend the day getting a crash course in the finer points of Croatian football hooliganism. Garcia it is, apparently.

Dubrovnik is insanely beautiful, with crystalline turquoise water lapping at towering medieval city walls (souvenir shops every few streets will proudly remind you that they filmed Game of Thrones here), palm trees, red-tiled roofs, old golden-stone buildings, winding side alleys, and sunlight that pours down as rich as olive oil. Since it’s November, it’s not quite as hot as in high summer, and the tourist rush is somewhat dimmed. Lucy sleeps late at her Airbnb high on a very steep side street, as the city is spread out over several hills on the side of the tall blue mountains that rise out of the water, and almost forgets that her fake wedding is today. She jumps out of bed, puts on some makeup (just because she’s not actually marrying the guy doesn’t mean she has to look completely trollish), grabs her bag, and heads down into town, following a winding alley of staircases that are probably going to be a pain to climb back up. She hopes this was a good idea. It was mostly to appease Amy, anyway. Can she cancel, or would that count as leaving Garcia at the (fake) altar?

What the hell, she’s here now, and maybe if she shows that she’s receptive to new experiences, the universe will give her a break. Lucy trots along the palm-treed square above the city walls, finds the door with the Untourist logo by the bell, and steps inside. “Dobro jutro,” she says, which is about all the Croatian she speaks, and most people have been happy to use English anyway. “I’m Lucy Preston, I have an appointment today?”

The slick Unreceptionist greets her, gives her a waiver to sign (bad experiences and/or unsatisfactory spouses are not their fault, any meeting beyond the day is done on personal terms, etc) and they await the arrival of her dashing groom-to-be. It is twelve minutes past their scheduled start time, and the Unreceptionist is making apologetic noises, when the door opens with a bit of a crash and a man who must be Garcia ducks in. He’s tall, dark, and craggy-handsome, probably in his forties, wearing aviator sunglasses, and clutching a takeaway coffee. He addresses the Unreceptionist in rapid Croatian, looks up, sees Lucy, and nods shortly. “Ah,” he says, switching to English. “Right, you’re here. Let’s go.”

“Sir,” the Unreceptionist says, looking as if he’s wondering if Garcia himself read the details and/or the release forms before signing up. “You’re supposed to…?”

“What?”

“You’re supposed to have the wedding ceremony first?”

“I’m supposed to have the what?”

At that, Lucy winces. Feeling as if this might be an opportune moment to interrupt the conversation, and wondering if it’s too late to switch to Marko from Zagreb and risk dying at an Eternal Derby game, she stands up. “Hi,” she says. “I’m Lucy Preston?”

“I know.” Garcia glances at her briefly, up and down, and then away. “What’s this about a wedding?”

“That’s the whole point of the app,” Lucy says pointedly. “Fake-married, take me to places that aren’t touristy, then at the end of the day, go our separate ways?”

Garcia looks briefly pole-axed, then seems to decide that right, well, this is on him for failing to read the terms and conditions. “Fine,” he says impatiently. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Lucy’s cheeks sting. Making a mental note to give him a zero of five stars on any feedback form that she might have to fill in to rate her experience today, she follows him into the back, where they are joined in a very non-legally-binding ceremony, have their photo taken (Garcia looks like this is a real funeral rather than a fake wedding) and finally are released into the wild, as Garcia (who is a good foot taller than her) strides ahead without waiting. When Lucy runs to catch up, he says, “Nobody told me there was a wedding involved.”

“Did you even read what they wanted?” Lucy’s tone is slightly waspish, but then, he isn’t exactly showering her in that supposedly famous Slavic hospitality. The sweet lady at the Airbnb was much nicer than this. “It was right there in the entire premise. If you don’t want to spend a day taking me around the city, fine, but maybe next time, try to actually – ”

“No,” Garcia says abruptly. “You’re here now. Let’s go.”

With that, he strides off toward the gate in the towering walls, down into the Stari Grad. Lucy thinks the view from up there must be spectacular, but she’s not actually going to get a chance to find out, because Garcia derides them as too touristy and refuses to pay 200 kuna to go up them. (This is something like $30, so it clearly is a lot, but the city sees no reason not to profit off all the Game of Thrones fans.) Nor does he think much of the main drag, the cathedral square, the rector’s palace, or any of the other usual sights. He says that Lucy can call him Flynn, but doesn’t explain why. She thinks it’s his last name, but honestly, she can’t be sure. He has the social skills of a broken-down dump truck.

Finally, since there isn’t much of Dubrovnik, at least the old town, that isn’t touristy, Lucy persuades Flynn to let them go up the walls, though by the face he makes at the cashier as he pays for their tickets, the poor man might be found floating face-down in the ocean later. They climb up to the winding ramparts, gazing out over the Adriatic to one side and the crowded, tiled roofs on the other, and on one steep section, Lucy loses her footing and nearly falls. She wouldn’t have gone over the edge, there are plenty of barriers, but Flynn flashes out a hand and steadies her. It’s the first remotely human or non-dickish thing he’s done, and she raises an eyebrow. “Thanks.”

Perhaps sensing by her acerbic tone that he has not been the world’s most satisfactory fake husband to date, Flynn has the grace to blush, or at least look somewhat chagrined. “I’d definitely get in trouble if you died.”

“Thanks,” Lucy says again, even more tartly. “Guess it’s a good thing for you that you have good reflexes?”

“I fought in the Homeland War.” Flynn glances away. It’s the first personal thing he’s shared about himself, in a casual, offhand way that makes it sound no more remarkable than getting milk from the store. “Come on, let’s keep moving.”

Lucy glances at him. He’s made it clear that he’s not here for the fake marriage, let alone small talk, but she paid a decent amount of money to be here with this tall idiot and he can just suffer it. “Are you from Dubrovnik?”

“I was born in Šibenik.” Flynn doesn’t break stride, obliging Lucy to trot to keep up with him. “Lived a few places around the country. It was Yugoslavia back then, though. War started in 1991.”

“I know,” Lucy says. “I mean, I’m a historian, so I was recently doing some work on 1989 and the U.S. response to the dissolution of the Iron Curtain. Technically, Yugoslavia wasn’t Soviet, right?”

“No,” Flynn says, with a sort of grim pride. “Tito and Stalin hated each other. It was…. sort of an in-between place, I suppose. We didn’t need exit visas, there was a certain amount of social freedom, and Tito liked to market it as neutral, a third country between East and West, combining the best of both and the worst of neither. Of course, he was a dictator, but supposedly a benevolent one. Most people liked him. My childhood was – ” He stops. “Well, my mother was American, anyway. Maybe that was what drew her here. Running away.”

Lucy glances up at him. She has a sense that Flynn doesn’t often talk much about his past, and decides that since they are, after all, only fake-married, she doesn’t need to pry. However, since the subject of his mother has arisen, she holds back as best she can, not wanting to dump the fraught subject of Carol Preston on a strange man who has only just met her and treated her one step above gum stuck to his shoe, but finally needs to talk about it with someone who isn’t Amy. She still isn’t sure Flynn gives a damn, but too bad for him. She mentions that it’s been hard, with the Stanford legacy and the cancer and the expectations that she would accept Noah’s proposal, and she just – well, she doesn’t know. Maybe Lucy understands a bit of Flynn’s mother, whoever she was, whyever she came here. Maybe she too was, or is, running away. Even if she has to fly all the way back to San Francisco at the end of this week, some part of her would be more than happy to fling all her responsibilities to the wind, move into some picturesque old flat in one of those tiny streets, and stay.

They descend the walls after completing their circuit, and Flynn deigns to buy her lunch at a small cafe where the menu is only in Croatian and a sign informs customers that they don’t take euros, only kuna. Lucy allows him to order something for her, and they sit there eating in semi-awkward silence. Then Flynn says, apropos of nothing, “Maria.”

“What?”

“My mother’s name.” He shrugs. “It was Maria Tompkins. She was from Houston. She moved to Yugoslavia in 1970, after the death of her first husband and son. She was traveling through Europe, I don’t know that she intended to stay here, but she met my father, so she did.”

“Oh.” Lucy wonders what it would have been like here in the seventies. Probably still beautiful, though much less developed. So Maria Tompkins fell in love, that was what made a young American woman go Red, a move that must have been regarded dimly by her friends and family back in Texas. With that sort of tragedy shadowing her past, maybe it was easier to cut all ties, to get a new passport, to learn a new language, and never look back. Lucy feels a sudden pang of sympathy with this other woman, this unknown fellow traveler, who too found herself in this corner of the world wanting to leave it all behind. Lucy has responsibilities at home, not least her job (even if they didn’t give her tenure, or at least it’s very much in academic bureaucracy limbo), her sister, her sick mother, all the encumbrances and trappings of real life. She can’t do what Maria did, no matter how much she wants to. And for some reason completely unknown to her – it certainly isn’t the pleasure of Flynn’s company – she does.

They finish lunch and head out. It’s warm enough for November that Flynn suggests they can go for a dip, though he gives her a no-clearly-not look when Lucy naively thinks this will be at Banje Beach, the main spot just south of the walls. He leads her up to the street, where they find his car and get in. It’s an Audi, and she wonders what exactly he does for a living. He has a habit of scanning their surroudings, casually flicking his gaze at passersby, in a way that she doesn’t think stems from his military service alone. In fact, she’s starting to wonder if he joined the Untourist app to case the city and/or scope out people without it being too suspicious. Maybe it’s better for everyone if she doesn’t ask about his job. He might have to suffocate her and bundle her up in a black plastic garbage bag in the boot.

Flynn, it transpires, drives like a bit of a maniac, a habit he shares with most of the other road users (especially the scooters and motorcycles). Lucy has already noticed that Croatians seem to have a rather laissez-faire attitude toward personal safety, as evidenced by their tendency to stand outside guardrails overlooking steep drops, walk the wrong way along busy highways, dart across roads in front of oncoming traffic, and jury-rig anything that isn’t actively falling apart. When she mentions this to Flynn, he shrugs. “Slavs are like that,” he says matter-of-factly. “Especially Croatians. Though if you think we’re bad, you should meet the Poles.”

Lucy laughs despite herself, since that’s the first time Flynn has loosened up to flash any bit of actual humor. Well, that’s not quite true; he is remarkably sassy, has a sarcastic comment for most occasions and especially anything involving a tourist making a fool of themselves, but this is the first time that his humor has seemed gentler, more like he’s actually enjoying himself and poking a bit of self-deprecating fun rather than lashing out at the world. They drive along the cliff road for several miles in silence, until Lucy asks, “When did you move to Dubrovnik?”

“About…” Flynn hesitates, and she senses that there’s more riding on the answer to that question than he wants to let on. “Well, I lived in Zagreb until 2014.”

“And you moved here after that?”

“More or less.” Flynn adjusts the rearview mirror, which doesn’t really need it. After a long pause he says, “My wife and daughter died in 2014. I came here for – well, I didn’t want to stay there anymore.”

“I’m….” Lucy feels taken aback, almost guilty that she’s been so derisive of his inability to read app terms and conditions, his clear aversion to the whole fake-married part. Not that they’ve really been acting like it, anyway, but still. She can imagine it wouldn’t be easy for her, if that ever happened, to stand up and play-act some stupid charade for an American tourist hiring you like a beast of burden, not when you’d had the real thing, not when it was gone. “Garcia,” she says, the first time she’s used that since he told her to call him Flynn. She has a sense that he prefers that, that Garcia is some place too personal where he doesn’t let people go, not any longer. “I’m sorry.”

He glances at her, and for a moment she thinks he’ll snap at her, but he doesn’t. He keeps his eyes on the road, navigating the tight turns with ease, until at last he says, “I’m sorry I haven’t been very much fun.”

Lucy opens her mouth by polite reflex to say that he has, and settles for a noncommital hum. Flynn seems to sense that while he might have worked his way up from zero stars, he’s still a way off from five, and parks the Audi in a pullout. They descend a narrow cliff path to the sea, he reaches out to catch her arm when her feet skid again on the pebbles, and Lucy decides she should probably warn him that she’s clumsy before she really does accidentally kill herself. But if she fell into the sea from here, she has an unaccountable sense that he’d dive in after her, no matter how odd and brusque and grumpy he is. It’s less clear whether this is because he’s starting to like her a little, or because it would be an insult to his professional competence. Maybe he’s in the Mafia.

They reach a small quay where a catamaran is tied up, Flynn strides to it and produces two life jackets, and once Lucy has climbed aboard, he swings on, undoes the ropes, and angles the sails out into the wide blue water, endless as a reflected sky. It must be a busy harbor in summer, and there’s still a decent boat traffic now: ferries, jet-skis, a few sailboats and pleasure yachts. Lucy holds on tight as Flynn carves an expert white wake. “Is this your boat, then?”

“No,” Flynn says. “But I borrow it from time to time.”

“Did you – ” Lucy gives him a very narrow stare. “Did you steal this boat?”

“No!” Flynn looks miffed that she would ask. “I know the owner, he lets me use it when I want to. What kind of man do you think I am?”

Lucy opens her mouth, starts to answer, and stops. Truth is, she isn’t sure. An hour ago she would have said a raging, self-absorbed dick with no social skills and possibly black-market employment, and parts of that are still true, but the rest, well… she can’t say exactly. He keeps letting slip these odd, vulnerable parts of him, almost in spite of himself. His past in the war, his mother running away from her old life, his dead wife and daughter, everything else. She isn’t certain what she thinks of him, exactly, but she isn’t wishing that she picked Marko from Zagreb anymore. If nothing else, Flynn is complicated, and challenging, and oddly easy to talk to, and he hasn’t told her to shut up about the family/work/life drama that she occasionally returns to venting about. Lucy thinks she’ll take that, at least. 

She looks at his hands, large and sun-brown and expertly pulling and tying the knots to trim the sail, as he pulls them to a bobbing halt in the sparkling water and asks if she wants to swim. Lucy didn’t put on her bathing suit under her clothes, but she doesn’t want to go to the bother of making him drive all the way back to the Airbnb. So she strips off her shirt and jeans, and, in just her bra and underpants (hey, they’re married, even fakely), she dives in.

The water is chillier than she expected – this is the southern Mediterranean, it’s never cold no matter the season, but it is November, and she splutters and gasps as she bobs to the surface. Flynn, observing from the high-and-dry comfort of the catamaran, smirks at her, and Lucy gives him the finger. “You dick,” she shouts. “You could have warned me.”

Flynn shrugs, apparently utterly untroubled either by this accusation or by her attitude; indeed, he grins as if he appreciates this feistiness, her willingness to talk back at him and tell it like it is. Lucy spends so much time biting her tongue around absolutely everyone else that this reaction is both unexpected and deeply liberating, and once she’s swum around the catamaran a few times and adjusted to the water temperature, she takes a deep breath and dives down under the pontoons. Then she surfaces on the far side, reaches up, and just as Flynn senses danger and whips around, she grabs him by the back of the shirt and jerks him backward.

He’s wearing a life jacket, of course, so he doesn’t go too far under, but the expression on his face is worth every penny that she paid to the stupid app. He shakes his wet hair like a dog as he surfaces, and she has to say, he looks really good while doing it. “Excuse me,” he says, in a tone of deep umbrage. “Who told you that it was a good idea to start a marriage off by throwing your husband in the drink?”

“Maybe if I’m drowning you for the life insurance,” Lucy shoots back, before she can stop herself. She has no idea who this woman is, who has gone from being exasperated and shut off with Flynn to – well, she did in fact just throw him in the ocean, but there’s definitely something different about their dynamic now. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call it flirty, whether or not this is listed in Untourist’s terms and conditions (and as well established, Flynn did not read them anyway). “After all, I think we can say that you deserve it. Tragic boating accident?”

Too late, she wonders if this is a bad idea to joke about, since she doesn’t actually know how his wife and daughter died (she hopes it wasn’t that, anyway) but Flynn actually laughs, and it transforms his whole face. They spend a very enjoyable forty minutes swimming around, splashing each other, and hanging onto the side of the catamaran and letting their legs sway in the current. They’re close alongside each other as they do, Lucy is conscious of only being in her wet underwear (it’s not like he can see anything while she’s submerged, but still), and something passes between them as their eyes meet. His throat moves as he swallows, and after a moment too long, he looks away.

They climb back on the boat, Flynn looses the sail and steers them back toward land, and they disembark, Lucy once more watching for investigative purposes as he ties up. They dry off and she pulls on her damp clothes, as Flynn decorously turns his back and waits until she is done. Then they tramp up the bluff to the car (Lucy was thinking about retiring here, since it’s warm and sunny and beautiful and all that, but if she is elderly, all the climbing might be too much) and drive back toward the town center. The sun is getting low, her paid-for day is almost done, and despite the total disaster that was it starting out, Lucy is oddly reluctant for it to do so. As Flynn pulls up in front of the Untourist office, she says convulsively, “Maybe we should… I don’t know. I think they’re closed, anyway. You don’t have to drop me off here.”

Flynn glances at her, then considers it. He could offer to just take her back to her Airbnb (those streets really were not designed for sane drivers, and Lucy can see why tiny Smart cars are popular around here, but Flynn would absolutely not fit into one) and he still might. Then he says, “Well, technically, the day isn’t over. Do you suppose I could take you out for dinner?”

“You….” Lucy coughs. “I suppose you could.”

They find parking, and walk down into the old town, as the moon is rising over the walls, the towers are floodlit, the city gleams in the cooling dusk like its nickname, the “Pearl of the Adriatic,” and they find another cafe where the clientele is mostly local. They linger late over dinner, and Flynn says that he will in fact drive her back when they’re finally done, and as she’s about to undo her seatbelt and get out, Lucy hesitates. Then she screws up her courage, leans over, and kisses him very fast on the cheek. “Thank you,” she says. “I had – I really did have a great time.”

Flynn looks as surprised as her to hear it, but somehow and shyly gratifeid as well. A fugitive smile plays at the corner of his mouth, tentative, tender. For a moment, she thinks he might be about to kiss her back for real, but he clears his throat and holds out his hand instead. “Er,” he says. “Thank you, Dr. Preston.”

Lucy hesitates, fighting her disappointment, and shakes it back. Then she steps out of the car and unlocks the door of the apartment, as he waits to see that she gets inside without random Ragusan fiends materializing from the shrubbery. Even when she does step in, the car idles a few more moments, and she glances back, wondering – or perhaps it’s only hoping – that he’s chastising himself for letting her walk away. Then the car starts again, she can see his dark figure sitting too stiff and straight at the wheel, and she watches until the taillights vanish around a steep turn, and fade into the night.

[marriedthedark]

Ladybug Week: Day 5 - AU

Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) AU, 3.1k words

A/N: I got a little carried away with this one cause omfg I love this anime. Seriously go watch Demon Slayer if you haven’t already cause it’s so good. TW: Some light to moderate descriptions of blood/violence. Also angst. Lots and lots of angst.

Blake pulled her haori tighter around herself as she felt the cool chill of a crisp night breeze. The wind seemed to swirl up around her and into the trees causing the leaves of the forest to whisper sweet nothings into the night. The full moon glowed above washing the landscape below in a soft silvery-white glow. For the average person, nights like these couldn’t have been any more breathtaking and serene.

But Blake wasn’t an average person; she was a demon hunter. She knew nights like these would all too often prove to be the deadliest for an unknowing village or traveler. Without the sun to protect them, they were nothing but sitting ducks. While most people didn’t believe in demons, Blake was among the unfortunate who knew better.

She closed her eyes and sighed as she thought of all the people she was too late to save. If only she had gotten to that hut sooner, if only she had been able to slice that monster’s head off quicker, if only she had been scouting her territory in the east that one night instead of the south.

If only she could save everyone who needed saving.

She knew it was impossible. No matter how many monsters she slayed, more would eventually come to take their place. The Demon Slaying Corps were a small organization run outside of the government’s control; there simply weren’t enough resources available to cover every square mile of Japan in which people lived.

Innocent people were going to be killed on her watch; that was part of the deal she had signed when she accepted her nichirin blades upon surviving the Final Selection. She knew this, so why did it feel like a knife had pierced her chest every time she failed to protect someone.

She sensed she was being watched. There was a rustle just beyond her in the thicket of trees, too loud to be an animal. Blake drew her dual nichirin blades out, their indigo-gray blades glinting dangerously against the moonlight.

“Who’s there?”

She was answered with another rustle, this one closer to her position than the last.

Blake slowly creeped forward, her blades ready to strike at a moment’s notice. She forced her heartbeat to calm as she prepared herself to come face to face with a hellish creature.

Imagine her surprise then, when she was instead met with the face of a teary-eyed young girl.

She staggered back in surprise upon hearing the girl emit a terrified squeal. Surely, this was not the sound of a bloodthirsty demon.

“I’m s-sorry I didn’t mean to scare you I was just standing here and I heard someone so I got scared and hid cause I thought it was a demon but you’re obviously not unless you’re a weird one that prefers to fight with swords or something oh I don’t know I just didn’t mean to scare you!”

Blake stared at the girl in bewilderment. Her eyes flitted to her waist where she saw the hilt of a sheathed blade, the scabbard hanging from the girl’s belt. This paired with the fact that she knew about demons, Blake came to the conclusion that she must have been a member of the Demon slayer Corps.

She had run into fellow demon slayers before, but none as young and seemingly cowardly as this one.

Upon realizing the lack of threat, Blake returned her blades to scabbards strapped to her back. She observed the girl more closely, taking note of the tear stains on her cheeks and runny trail of mucus streaming from her nose. Despite this, Blake saw no obvious wounds on the girl’s body.

“It’s all right,” Blake finally spoke. “I’m not a demon either. Are you a member of the corps too? What are you doing out here all by yourself? I’m the one who normally patrols this area.”

The other girl nodded as she sniffed against the sleeves of her red coat. Blake caught sight of a black Corps uniform peeking out; the same one distributed to new recruits.

“I-I just passed the Final Selection two weeks ago. I was sent on a mission to a village northwest of here. B-but…”

Fresh tears now started to trickle down her face.

“I got there and there was so much blood. I saw it with someone already in its mouth…I-I couldn’t save them.”

Blake felt her chest clench as the other girl sunk to the ground, burying her head in her knees.

“I couldn’t do anything! I was so angry and I wanted to kill it b-but everyone was already dead! I thought if I made it through the Final Selection I’d be ready for anything, but the things back THERE are nothing compared to what’s out here! I ran away until I ended up here so I could cry in peace. I shouldn’t have done this, I should’ve listened to Yang and my dad and not joined the corps. I’m not cut out for this…”

The sound of muffled sobs filled the air. Blake quickly scanned her surroundings to make sure nothing had tried to sneak up on them during the girl’s story. Once she deemed they were still alone, she kneeled before the girl with a handkerchief in hand.

“It’s all right,” she assured again. “I know how you feel.” She lightly tapped the girl’s knee as she spoke, prompting her to look up.

“My name is Blake Belladonna. I’ve been with the Corps for two years now, but I still remember my first mission.”

She couldn’t fully conceal her grimace at the unpleasant memory.

“It went a lot like yours did, actually.”

The girl looked at Blake with wide silver eyes as she took the handkerchief. She blew her nose loudly into it before using what unsoiled parts were left to clean her face.

“My name is R-Ruby. Ruby Rose.”

Blake smiled at the introduction.

“That’s a pretty name. Makes me think of a thick bouquet of roses you give to someone to let them know you love them.”

Ruby managed a tiny smile. She had never thought of her name like that before.

“I like your name too. It sounds cool and mysterious.”

Blake huffed in amusement. “Trust me, I’m not nearly as cool as other slayers I’ve seen.”

She then rose to her full height, extending her hand down towards Ruby.

“We should get out of here. It’s not a good idea to stay in one place like this.”

Ruby nodded before wiping her eyes with her sleeve. She gladly accepted Blake’s hand as she hoisted herself up off the ground. Now that they were both standing, she noticed that Blake was several inches taller than her.

“My camp is about four miles north of here. Mind having some dinner with me?”

Blake herself was surprised with her words; normally she wasn’t one to be quick with getting close to people. She always viewed herself as more of the loner type, and she liked it that way. Despite this, Ruby somehow managed to squeeze through the walls she thought she had firmly built around herself.

Ruby’s face brightened at the invitation. “I’d love to!”

It was then Blake noticed that their hands were still connected. She felt her face warm slightly as she dropped her hand back to her side.

“U-uh ok,” she stuttered awkwardly before turning her back on the girl. “This way then.”

The duo made their way down the hill with Blake leading the way. As they moved, Ruby decided to fill the silence with more of her personal history.

“My older sister Yang is a demon slayer too. She passed her final selection a few years ago. Now she travels all over, so I don’t get to see her as often. I still live with my dad though! His name is Tai Yang. He’s really cool, he taught both me and Yang how to be swordswomen. He didn’t want me to join the Corps though. I guess he didn’t like the idea of both his daughters spending their free time hunting dangerous man-eating monsters.”

“Understandable,” Blake stated curtly.

“But I just, I wanna help people you know? My mom was killed by a demon. Her name was Summer Rose. She was a slayer too I think, though I’m not really sure. I don’t remember much about her, and dad’s never really willing to talk about her.”

Blake hummed as Ruby spoke, letting the other girl know that she was listening. In reality, she was much more focused on making sure the path in front of them didn’t lead to a savage demon.

“Soooooo, what sort of technique do you do?” Ruby asked. By the way she was speaking now, you’d have never know that Blake had found her as a pitiful sobbing mess.

“I’m a breath of a flower user! It’s an extension of the water breath. My nichirin blade’s color is pink, which is a real bummer because that’s so close to red which is my favorite color, but I’m sure someone like you knows that you don’t exactly get to choose the color of your blade-“

Ruby’s breath halted in her chest as she walked straight into the extended palm of Blake; a signal to stop moving.

“Something’s watching us, and I don’t think it’s human.”

Blake withdrew the blades from her back as she took a battle stance. Ruby quickly jolted up at the realization that trouble was on the horizon.

“Oh right get your blade get your blade,” she muttered to herself as she fumbled with the scabbard on her waist.

Sure enough, the silhouette of human-like form a emerged from the trees ahead. Ruby felt herself tremble slightly as the full form of the demon came before them.

It had a tall and slender frame with long lanky arms. The hair on top of it’s head was as ghostly white as the skin that was exposed from the tattered kimono. A single, jagged horn protruded from the left side of the demon’s head while another unsightly spike jutted out from his right shoulder. Vertically slitted pupils set against sickly yellow irises stared down the two slayers, clearly reflective of the malicious intent of their owner. The demon’s mouth widened to a large, loathsome smile filled with two lines of razor sharp teeth.

“Very astute you are. I am definitely not a human, not anymore at least.”

Blake’s grip on her blades tightened at the demon’s grating voice. Normally she’d have no problem facing a lowlife like this by herself, but this time she had Ruby. She couldn’t do anything that would risk putting the younger girl in danger.

The demon’s brow pinched with curiosity as he continued to stare down the girls in front of him.

“Quite the unusual pair we have here,” he pointed towards Blake before continuing. “You seem to have an idea of what you’re doing. Haven’t seen many dual wielders around these parts.” His finger shifted towards Ruby’s position, “You however don’t seem to have the slightest clue about anything. If you tremble any harder the poor ground will give way under you.”

“Leave her alone!” Blake barked through gritted teeth.

“Oh dear, seems you’re rather protective over that pathetic little flower,” the monster sneered as a thick snake-like tongue licked its chops.

“I guess I know which one I’m sinking into first.”

“Ruby run!” Black screamed frantically as she shoved her back. The demon quickly closed the gap between them yet Blake’s quick reflexes managed to block the savage attack.

The monster reared back in pain. He looked down to his hands to see the gashes left behind from Blake’s blades.

“Not going to lie, that hurt a bit. Lucky for me wounds like these don’t take very long to regenerate.”

True to the monster’s word, the gashes quickly mended themselves. The stains of red remaining on his hands and wrists were the only sign that he had ever been struck.

Blake frantically looked behind her, praying Ruby didn’t somehow get injured in the altercation. Much to her dismay however, she saw no sign of the girl behind her.

She didn’t have much time to worry about that, as the demon once again came to the offensive.

“Seems the brat ran off, so I’ll deal with you first,” he laughed cruelly as Blake jump back against a tree to avoid his fatal blows.

This one is so fast compared to other’s I’ve fought. I can barely evade his attacks!

Blake jumped to a high tree branch out of the demon’s reach, partially concealed in the forest shadows. She drew in a deep breath as she quickly prepped herself for her swords’ technique.

“Breath of the beast first form, shadow strike!” she called out as she launched herself down towards her target, her two blades extended ready to pierce.

The monster however was prepared for such an attack, and was able to move out of the way before Blake could make contact. Blake was unable to react in time to account for her miss, and the demon seized his advantage and delivered harsh kick.

Blake screamed out in pain as she rolled across the ground, only being stopped by the base of nearby tree. The demon however did not relent, and she was forced to roll out of the way in order to avoid another savage kick.

She panted ragged breaths as she desperately struggled to her feet, the searing pain in her upper arm letting her know that bones were probably broken. While she could control her breathing enough to control the internal bleeding, fighting with only one arm would put her at an even larger disadvantage.

Still, she couldn’t give up. She needed to buy more time for Ruby to run away. She had already watched so many people die on her account. She would not let Tai Yang lose his youngest daughter. She would not let Ruby die.

Blake yelled as she charged towards her foe, her still-functioning arm ready to strike.

“Breath of the beast fourth form, umbra assault!”

The demon bough his arm up to shield the blow. While Blake was able to sever it, her wounded side was left vulnerable in the process. Despite the gruesome injury, the demon used his free arm to latch onto Blake’s neck.

The demon raised Blake in the air away from his body. Blake madly used what strength was left in her legs to try and kick her way out. Her swords clattered to the ground as she desperately clawed at the hand to release its grasp around her throat.

She knew panicking was the worst thing she could do; panicking meant wasting precious breaths. But as the demon’s vile grin drew closer to her face, Blake found herself becoming more frantic in her struggles. She felt herself becoming light-headed, and it was only a matter of time before she completely passed out.

“Looks like you’ve met your match, slayer filth,” The monster growled mere inches from her. “Anything you’d like to say before I pluck those pretty eyes out of their sockets.”

“Go to hell,” Blake wheezed in the demon’s deadly grasp.

The demon snarled in displeasure. Blake closed her eyes as she braced herself for what was inevitably going to come.

I’m so sorry Ruby. I wanted to be there for you, I really did…

Her eyes snapped open upon hearing the loud crack of a tree branch. Blake looked behind the monster to see a blur of red and pink.

“BREATH OF FLOWER FIRST FORM, SERRATED ROSE THORN!!”

Ruby screamed as she put every ounce of force behind one single stroke. She prayed to whatever gods may be out there that it was enough to slice through the demon’s neck.

Ruby landed unceremoniously to the ground with a loud thud. Despite the messy landing, she was able to roll herself quickly back to her feet as she stared at the result of her decision.

The demon’s body stood motionless, it’s head lying a few feet away. In spite of this, its grasp remained closed on Blake’s neck.

With tears streaming, Ruby dashed up to the corpse and sliced the remaining arm from the body. Blake instantly dropped to the ground, coughing and wheezing as she struggled to regain normal breathing.

The demon’s body began to turn to dust, it’s decapitated body slowly melting away like sand in the wind.

“I was defeated by YOU???” the head roared as it too began to disintegrate. “You puny, insignificant little WORM!!!-“

Those were the final words of the monster as both the head and body succumbed to the night breeze.

Ruby breathed a small sigh of relief. The monster was dead.

It was short lived however, as she dropped to her knees to quickly take Blake in her arms.

“B-Blake!!! I’m so sorry!! Please don’t die, I wish I could’ve done more but I didn’t want to get in your way. I thought about running but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I left you to die!” Ruby rambled on, her voice brittle as shattered glass.

Blake continued to wheeze, the gaze of her warm amber eyes fixated on bright silver ones.

Ruby bought her hands to gently cup her friend’s face. “B-Blake, please don’t die. Please don’t die,” she begged desperately. Her body trembled delicately as if a mere touch would cause her to collapse.

Summoning what strength she could, Blake raised a hand to place gently on Ruby’s own cheek. She coughed roughly before finally being able to speak.

“You…you saved me,” her voice came out in almost a whisper.

Ruby cried harder as the feeling of genuine relief finally washed over her. Blake was going to survive.

She bought her forehead down to Blake’s, nuzzling the other girl tenderly.

“I wanted to be strong for you.”

Blake smiled weakly as she felt Ruby’s tears drop onto her face, mixing with her own.

“You were always strong, Ruby. You just didn’t know it yet.”