#bc it's already such a blur and I really do want to SEAR it into my memory

[ervotica]

liam mairi x reader where he literally loses it during the torture chamber over seeing her hurt

pairing; liam mairi x fem!reader

warnings; torture lol, graphic depictions of violence and injury, liam is a little unhinged (as much as a golden retriever can be) and also the best bf ever. also xaddy makes an appearance <3

a/n; for argument's sake, liam is alive and well (also for my sake bc he's my baby and i adore him) this is a little different to the plot in the books as liam isn't *technically* there during the torture chamber scene, so this diverts from the original plot. this is gonna get like 4 whole notes but idgaf because liam is taking up my entire mind atm i just want that boy to smother me in love and i can kiss his perfect face<3

Knuckles crack against the already swollen expanse of your jaw and your neck whips sideways awkwardly as blood fills your gasping mouth. Your ears ring, vision beginning to blur and blacken at the edges as Liam roars.

You can't see him for the soldiers crowding your line of vision, but the guttural sound that rips its way from his throat is unlike anything you've ever heard before. It's raw, full of untethered fury that no one would expect from a kind soul like Liam. But, then again, no one's seen the lengths he will go to to keep you safe.

"I'm fine, Li," you murmur, neck cracking as you wrench your head upright to reassure him. The swarm of bodies part somewhat, and they back against the wall; you watch him thrash against the restraints, teeth bared like a predator; it's a stark juxtaposition to his usual - docile - countenance.

“Touch her again and I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill all of you!” he bellows, voice permeating the otherwise relatively silent chamber. It cuts through you like glass, and you wince as another blow collides with your cheekbone. You feel it shatter, growling through grit teeth at your attacker.

“You have all the power here,” he croons. “Tell us what we need to know, and I’ll let you go.”

“Fuck you,” you seethe. “You really think I’ll break that easily?”

He cracks his knuckles slowly, one by one echoing through the empty room as he paces, his head tilting curiously as though he's enraptured by your resilience. “No. But he will.”

Your nostrils flare, eyes darting to where Liam’s still struggling to break himself free. His eyes are dark, cerulean replaced with black onyx as the rage consumes him.

“You underestimate us,” you say simply; your chin juts out indignantly. “We’re not telling you shit.”

Your ribs are next to break with a sickening crunch, and when you scream, the sharp yell of your boyfriend takes up all the space left in your brain. It's all you hear, all you can decipher through the thick cotton wadded into your ears, the only thing you can manage past the searing flames that set your body alight with agony. Your lids start to droop, lips parting to croak something indiscernible; and Liam's begging, pleading with you to stay conscious, but even as you gaze up at him through sticky, tear-soaked lashes, the darkness wraps its cruel fingers around your throat and you can't fend it off.

You don't know how many days it's been when your eyes peel open, glued shut with sleep. Every nerve ending in your body ignites, set aflame with pure, unrelenting excruciation. Your chest heaves and the movement triggers another cataclysmic inferno; a sob claws its way from your throat almost involuntarily, your body relying purely on survival instincts.

Xaden's standing over you in an instant, a warm palm cradled against the curve of your jaw to keep you still when you shout and thrash, trying to rid yourself of the unyielding pain that courses through your veins like liquid fire.

"Shh, shh." He's doing his best to placate you, but you're manic, eyes wide and frantic as you attempt to orientate yourself in the room.

"Liam," you croak. "Where's Liam?"

"He's okay. He's fine. I need you to stay calm, okay?" A tear slips past your clogged waterline and runs over Xaden's knuckle, his thumb following its downward path to brush it away.

"I want Liam," you wheeze, a pain that transcends physicality blooming into your aching chest. "Please."

There's a scuffle and a flash of blonde before Liam is crouching at your side, a thick fingered hand anchoring against the top of your head.

"I'm right here, my girl. You didn't think I'd leave you alone, did you?"

You shake your head vehemently despite the throbbing in your temples, your own fingers looping around his wrist to keep him close, to keep him touching you.

"It hurts, Li," you whimper, and it's the first sign of true weakness he's seen you expose in this long, painful week. You're safe to fall apart now, safe with the knowledge that he'll help you put yourself back together.

"I know. We just need to get you fixed up and you'll feel better."

He tips forward on his toes to press his cheek to yours, and the warmth of his breath tickles at the shell of your ear. His face turns, nose squishing into the soft flesh of your cheek, lips puckered in a kiss against the corner of your mouth. You feel the scab, long dried over, and the groove in his lip where it's split; when he tilts his head sideways to watch you, your eyes fix on it.

"You're hurt," you sniffle. "It's my fault."

"Oh, this old thing?" He waves you off, flippant as the tip of his finger prods at the dried skin. "Doesn't even hurt, angel. Don't you worry about me."

"I do worry about you."

You use the little strength you have left to turn on your side, tuning out Liam's abrupt protests until there'e enough room for two on the bed. He knows what you want from no more than a pleading glance.

"I can't-" he starts, and the complaints die in his throat when your fingers dig into the worn fabric of his uniform.

"I need you," you admit. His shoulders slouch in defeat.

"You promise to go to sleep?"

He lifts your tender body, propping you against a muscular forearm as he slides beneath you, and settling you between two thick thighs, your back to his chest. His warmth seeps into your pores and he feels you sag, only succumbing to the exhaustion now you know he's safe.

Fingernails scratch at your scalp and dimples crater into the centre of his cheeks when your head tilts to nuzzle deeper into the touch. The flaring pain resides to a dull - but manageable - ache.

"I'm tired," you say, muffled.

"I know, my girl." You don't miss the thrum of his pulse, the way it picks up when he catches sight of the deep bruises that mar your skin, the swelling from broken bones. He's angry.

And he's going to make them pay for this.

[shyrose57]

Oooo maybe some real life plants! but they are .. off somehow, I think that the end should mostly keep its dull very color drained vibes so the colorful things just seem more. So the greens are so gray you could barely call it green, and for subsitute water? Maybe liquid magic. Becasue this place has to run off of magic, they are floating over a void...

SPACE WHALES! Flying Rays, JellyFish! A lot of deep sea horrors fit very nicely into space horrors (and wonders bc I'll cry if the whales are mean :( ) and would do nicely to fill the endless stretches of just void with no land in sight. and Anglerfish... maybe not a fish, or floating in the void like the others but something land bound that uses a hypnotic lure? It lures you in with the feeling of safety and home. There is a reason that the abandoned cities where off the ground :)

Anyways floating over a void, the end (in my head canon) is the source of all magics in Mc (all the planes are connected and it diffuses into the other dimensions, but it is SATURATED in everything in the end, the dragon is pure magic, a manifestation of the end itself, so a lot of things there are magic or sustain themselves on magic (things that stay there (live over generations n stuff our group is fine) get warped by it which could be how over world plants got in there and established themselves, they would not survive in the over world any longer, the sun would kill them, their roots would thirst to death on water. they have magical properties, some of them glow. ) Though there are a lot of End Native plants too (the trees that are only trees when you stretch the definition, that thing that Moves, and has what you could only call teeth but it is not an animal, so it must be a plant) Oooooo maybe the warped fungus ;) I mean everything in the nether is terrified of it, so maybe it doesnt really belong there, and hitched a ride on fleeing endermen

A lot of things glow, (its how we have those stars in the end, they are creatures off in the distance, and whenever the wastelands that stretch on for miles give way to not-trees or shrub-lands, something is gonna glow, which gives the areas eerie shadows that make the wide vulnerable wastelands they came from seem safer than whatever is found in there. The magic running in the rivers sometimes spill out into the abyss and dissipates to start the cycle anew. Things lurk everywhere and kind things are few and far between. The End is full of Life, and That Is Horrifying

Endermen are nomadic and travel in haunts (Im taking this from Human Error :D), and are generally friendly until you look into their eyes (Eyes are windows to the soul, how can they bear to look at you? You are so bright, so Warm. It Sears their eyes, It Burns their very being. Stop looking, It Hurts. Stop Stop Stop-) They are willing to trade and talk Enchanting (So All 3 Dimensions have a Sentient Race :DD) and are very magically inclinded. A lot of mages are endermen or have ender blood in them. The end is very deadly, and Haunts keep eachother alive because their death could mean death of the group (they are very close knit and that leads to very protective (what Im saying is when Tubbo gets back his Husband is going to smother him and fret over one of the 3 members of his Haunt (Tubbo, Michael, and Tommy :) )) when One finds themself without a haunt, many try and find safety in the other dimensions as they will not survive alone in the end.

( I Have more ideas, but the more I think the more I make more and I already think im dumping a lot, so sorry if I wrote too much. I tried to break up the text wall to to make it easier)

Oh, that's a good idea! Mainly dull colors-especially for the more dangerous plants, they'd need to blend in to catch their food. I feel like there'd be some more colorful ones though-the chorus fruits are pretty saturated, after all. Maybe purple colors are brighter, and others are more dull? Or no?

So many space creatures, oh gosh. There'd be very few grounded ones, with so much of the End being void, so sea-based creatures are definitely a good call. That'd be so pretty too?? And we've gotta blur the line between space wonder and eldritch horror for at least a few of them, of course!

The jelly fish are absolutely huge! Massive and glowing through transparent skin, they mainly hang out far from the islands, being mistaken as stars, and their tendrils glow so faintly you can only see them up close. From a distance, they're beautiful, but up close they're terrifying.

Flying rays the size of horses that can be used to cross the void between islands like striders for lava?? Flying rays that's tips fade into an abyssal black so deep it looks they merge into the void? Flying rays with a possible relation to phantoms? Seeking out the sleepless, but only watching, merely drawn to lure them to sleep with the mesmerizing patterns that run along their bodies.

Space whales!!!! Titans so ancient and old, parts of their bodies are overgrown by End islands and forest, making them for all purposes, living, breathing islands. Magic so deeply tied to them that even when they pass, they remain afloat, creating graveyards of still islands, that even still seem to breath when stepped upon. Gentle giants in that they are untouched by anything, and so curious of the new wonders the void welcomes.

A thing that stalks the islands it inhabits, singing out a call that seems ripple across the starry expanse-it sounds like love and warmth and understanding, and it says i love you, the universe loves you, in the same way the poem must rung in your ears, must nestle under your ribs. Love, love, love, it croons. Except then you get too close, and it catches you, and the sound is empty and hollow, and it's grip is tight, and nothing leaves it's arms or island alive, drained of life and magic.

Safety is only in that it is bound to the land, and no creature dares approach it, instinctively knowing of the danger. The islands that even the stars avoid...

Magic dragon?? Yes! Manifestation of the End?? That means it must somehow know how to take the appearance of one. Maybe smaller little space dragons, that play among the bones of the long-gone giant ones. The Ender Dragon isn't as large as they might've been, but it mimics the appearance as best it can-I wonder why. How long has it had that egg, again? How long has it waited for it to hatch?

So we can totally have some of the minecraft plants end-ified! Ooh, and since some adventurers probably brought them there to maybe try surviving in the End, there'd be things like crops and weeds and grass, long mutated as they grow along the ruins of what might've been a home once. E N D M O S S. It glow.

Warped fungus!! But more! Because this one wouldn't have ever been to the Nether, never mutated in such a way. It's home, but somehow, it still feels so very alien to those that look upon it. Maybe no orange?? Orange is Nether-color. Darker blue, or more purple-ish, possibly.

Everything is luminescent. The things that aren't are much more dangerous than the things at are, don't stare into the dark for too long-it might start looking back, and trust me, you don't want that :).

The Endermen Know they are not supposed to be here, even if the newcomers do not Stare with all of the heat and warmth and burn. One may bear the Wings, and two may speak their language, but they are too soft, and colorful, and bright, but not glowing. They are Outsiders, and Outsiders must go home.

Because nothing good comes from those that stay-how do you think that thing knows the universe's lullaby?

They ally with the four, if only to save themselves, but the Outsiders grow on them. Maybe they will visit, but the Outsiders must stay out.

(Ranboo does not let his Haunting out of his sight for awhile. Tommy and Michael too yes, but mainly Tubbo and Phil. They could have strayed too far, they could have not come back. He doesn't Know in the same way the others do, but even he is aware of what he could lose, and what could become)

(Tell me A L L of them, I beg of you)

[livralph]

Too late- drarry angst but it ends in fluff bc I can’t commit to angst

Harry winced as Draco applied the murtlap essence to the cuts and scratches on his arm, but other than that managed to hide the discomfort it had put him in. Draco hesitated, looking uncertainly at him. His hands were reaching to the table to pick up the bandages that were sat atop of it. “I’m fine.” Harry said through his teeth, proving how obviously not fine he was.

“You aren’t, but I’m going to put the bandage on no matter how much it hurts because otherwise that will get infected.” Draco countered, shaking his head lightly when he began wrapping the bandage around his friends upper arm.

“It won’t get infected-“

“It will.” He said harshly, eyeing Harry reproachfully before allowing his gaze to wander to the bruises on his chest. “Those will take ages to heal. I’d prescribe you something, but seeing as you refuse to go to St Mungo’s I can’t.”

“Draco.” Harry muttered pleadingly. “I can’t go, because I’ll have to say what happened.”

The bandage on Harry’s arm finally covered the wounds effectively so Draco cut the end and secured it to stop it from unravelling. “You could at least tell me what happened.”

After not even a second of thought Harry shook his head. “No I can’t.”

Of course, this had been what Draco had expected. It happened so often. Harry would come to his with an injury and refuse to explain it. Years ago, when Harry was still an auror, he didn’t ask for an explanation, only laughed and muttered something about Harry and his need to be a hero. But that had been years ago. Now Harry worked in Diagon Alley with Luna, a small cafe which they also sold second hand muggle books and books detailing the various creatures Luna’s mind obsessed over from. There was no reason for Harry to come to Draco’s with new injuries that were obviously not from simply tripping over every other week. He’d once had a broken collar bone and Draco practically dragged him to St Mungo’s, still being non the wiser about what had happened.

“Tell me.” Draco implored, looking over Harry’s form sadly. The bruise upon his ribs were shaping out to obviously be from punches. There was one mark on his stomachs that were certainly left by magic- the cruciatus curse, and Draco couldn’t even bare to think how he’d gotten it, let alone who had given him it. “Please.”

Harry shook his head, though he looked closer to giving in than he ever had before, eyes screwed shut, eyebrows furrowed. “I can’t. I can’t, because if I did I’d have to tell you something else that I can never say.”

Draco’s hands fell to his lap and he became very aware of the pain in his legs from kneeling beside the sofa for so long. He knew what that was, of course he did. The thought was dismissed as soon as it arrived. Now it would be crewl to retract what he’d said years ago a while after they’d become friends. They were drunk, in Harry appartment. Pretending that two years previously the war hadn’t ended, Harry hadn’t died and somehow come back when so many children and adults and magical creatures were lost. Harry hadn’t spoken for a few minutes, nor had Draco. They were just sat in the kitchen, sipping their fire whiskey gently.

Or, Draco had been. Harry has been looking at Draco as if he’d just had some revelation. He saw the look in the corner of his eye and grimaced. The words he’d said were so vivid that he played them on repeat each time Harry and him went out to eat together, when Harry came to his house with muggle movies when Narcissa had fallen ill and forbade him from moping at her bedside, every time they’d seen eachother and felt that the line of friendship they’d managed to maintain had become blurred.

The words were right there because he’d said them and however much he hated that he had he couldn’t allow himself to tell Harry he hadn’t meant them. Draco had meant it eight years ago and he still meant it with Harry lying shirtless on his sofa, seconds away from explaining it.

“There were some people, teenagers really, in the Alley between the cafe and Ollivanders. They were being loud, shouting about death eaters and I heard a few screams, so I went down- to make sure no one was in trouble, y’know.” He breathed deeply. “They always get excited when they see me- famous Harry Potter. The wizard who killed Voldemort, who’s parents died when he was a child, who lost fucking everything that could have been good. They only see the first bit. I said hi, made sure they were all right. Then they explained what they were doing.”

Draco laughed, but there wasn’t a drop of humour to it. He could guess where this was going. “They we’re putting up pictures of ex-death eaters who hadn’t been prosecuted. Or just followers of Voldemort who they thought deserved some shit.”

Harry nodded. “Posters of you, saying there was a reward if you were given to the ministry alive, bigger reward if you were dead. Other names too, Slytherin’s, all of them. Some of them were first years when we were in our eighth year. I told them to stop. Didn’t go to plan, especially when I told them I know you.”

“For fucks sake, Harry-“

“I old them you’re a good person, said your a healer now- bloody good one too. And then-“ Harry lifted his less injured arm and gestured at himself. He bit the inside of his cheek when he felt a sharp pain sear across his shoulder blades. “It happens all the time, Luna keeps trying to get me to report them. Same kids every time.”

Draco covered his face with his hands hunching over himself and speaking, though it was to muffled to be in any way comprehensible. He looked up a few moments later. His eyes were glassy, as if he were trying not to cry. “Why don’t you? Look at yourself, these aren’t even all from today- they’re from the three weeks ago because you haven’t even managed to heal from the last time they attacked you.”

Harry just let out a deep breath and shook his head.

“Why do you stop them?” He muttered weakly, not wanting to know the answer. “Even Pansy wouldn’t stand up to them, hell, Luna doesn’t stop them. Why do you?”

“You know why. I know you do.” Harry put his hand out towards Draco, begging him to take it.

He laughed bitterly, looking at the outstretched hand and to where his own were still in his lap. “I told you not to fall in love with me.”

When he accepted that Draco wasn’t going to acknowledge his hand more than he had he sat up a little more so that he could rest his hand on the side of Draco’s face. His friend flinched, eyes closing to stop his tears, falling one was already making its way down his face.

“Harry-“ Draco began, only to be stopped when Harry’s thumb brushed across his cheekbone, wiping away the tear. He exhaled shakily.

“Too late.”

Draco clenched his jaw. Maybe if he wished hard enough this wouldn’t be real. Harry wasn’t actually telling him he was in love with him. This was all some wicked dream to torture Draco more than ever. At least usually when he had dreams about Harry they had no trace of truth, he could simply brush it off and go on with life. That was the only was he knew what was going on wasn’t a dream, never would his imagination be this crewl.

“You’re in love with me.” Draco said, meaning to ask it, but it came out as a statement. He felt Harry nod, which surprised him enough to open his eyes. Harry had moved to be sat on the floor in front of Draco they were at eye level. “You’re an idiot.” He breathed against Harry’s mouth.

“Maybe.”

“Just maybe?” It was bordering teasing, but the air was too thick for it to work. It sounded deadly serious from the circumstances. That was probably for the better.

“Well, can’t be that bad; I know you love me too, don’t I?” The air was thin again, Draco could feel his limbs.

“Do you?” But even as he spoke his hands were moving to rest on the back of Harry’s neck and find the hand that wasn’t on his cheek.

“Maybe.” Their fingers wove together.

“Just maybe?” Draco repeated, his tears now mingled with Harry’s both of their cheeks.

Harry opened his eyes, and somehow Draco did this around the same time. He shrugged shyly at the blonde, eyes fixed intently on the grey ones inches from his.

Draco took this moment to press a delicate kiss to Harry’s lips. “Of course I love you, Harry.”

He allowed a smile to grow on his face. “I love you too.”

Draco snorted, “I’ve been trying to convince myself that that wasn’t true for years.” Harry tensed in his arms. “I don’t deserve you- I don’t, Harry. Or- I thought I didn’t. I was in such a bad place and things were just going worse. There’s this muggle thing I read about. Karma; I learnt about it in our repeat seventh year. I took muggle studies.”

“I remember.” Harry breathed.

“Of course you do.” Draco laughed as said the words, more tears falling from his eyes and they only fell harder when Harry wiped them away. “But, I thought it was karma for what I’d done for Vo- for Voldemort. The threats that I still get, my mother’s death, so many other things. I figured if we were in love it would go to shit. It wasn’t difficult to decide losing you all together would be so much worse than being just friends.”

“Well, let me tell you something, you’ll never lose me completely. I’ll always be here for you no matter what you need me for.”

Draco pressed their foreheads together lightly and kissed Harry again because he could. “Stupid fucking hero complex.” The words were muffled as Draco spoke them directly into the other mans mouth, but Harry laughed all the same.

[random-mha-thoughts]

Sick (Todoroki x Reader) Birthday Special!

Pairing: Todoroki x Reader 

Genre: Fluff (fluffed myself into devastation again)

Summary: It’s your boyfriend’s birthday, but unfortunately you’re feeling less enthusiastic about it because you’re sick as a dog.  So what happens when the birthday boy finds out you’re in less than top condition?

Inspo: Me, myself, and I bc I was sick this past week (and I’m still not over it), and this Tik Tok bc I’m a loser.

Word count: 1,698

Tags:  @yuki-osaki​ @liviitehe​ @iamsoftsodonttoucheume-blog​ @bunnythepipsqueak​

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ONLY ICYHOT THAT MATTERS TODOROKI!!

I decided to combine a birthday special with an idea I had about a sick reader that I was going to write anyway because softboy Todo is the best Todo (besides the ones where he’s flirty but that’s different)

Don’t judge me for being on Tiktok, my cousin was showing me all the cosplayers and I was sold, the cosplayers are so talented, I’m really jealous T.T.  Not to mention there’s actually some really great fanfic fodder floating around there, so don’t be shocked if I post some others inspired by Tiktoks.  Anyway, enjoy the story!

I feel like I've been run over.

Every muscle in my body is either aching or stiff, my nose is stuffed, my throat hurts, and my body is cold and hot at the same time despite wearing flannel pajamas.  At random times last night, I woke up between whatever snipets of random dreams I can remember.

In short, I feel miserable and I've only been awake for 10 seconds.

I was hoping it wouldn't get to this point.  Two days ago, I started taking vitamin C supplements because I felt the tickling scratchiness starting up in my throat, and yesterday I was out with the Deku squad in the cold because Uraraka wanted to go to some wings place in the city in the freezing cold.  Never did I think it would escalate to this.

I blame Denki.  The idiot was coughing like a dog all over the place.

At first, I'm happy it's a Saturday and I can probably just lay in bed and sleep all day.  When I finally gather enough energy to roll over and look at my phone, I feel infinitely worse.

Fuck. It's January 11.

Today's Todoroki's birthday.  And I'm sick.  What kind of twist of fate is this?  I wanted to take him out to eat or go to an arcade or something just to spend the day with him, but it takes too much energy to get up.

I huff, guilt eating at me.  I have to do this, for my baby.  Kicking the covers off, I slowly roll up to sit at the edge of my bed, wrapping myself in my blanket and trudging to the bathroom.  The soreness in my limbs beg me to go back to bed, but I repeat the mantra, "For Shouto, it's for Shouto " to keep me going.

As soon as I see myself in the bathroom mirror I whine.  My face is so pale that my dark circles are more prominent, emphasizing my obvious lack of good sleep.  After I complete the strenuous task of brushing my teeth, I shuffle back to my bed and faceplant down at the foot side since I'm too tuckered out to get in properly.  I'll wait for Shouto to come after breakfast.  I'll just go back to sleep, I persuade myself as I drift off.  Maybe I can ask him to only spend half a day so I can come back and sleep, I'm sure he'll understand...

After some time, I'm startled out of my half slumber by a soft knock at the door.  "Love?  Are you awake?  It's me."

I smile at my precious angel's manners.  "Coming, just give me a sec."  I gather all my strength and try not to make it look like I'm dying on the inside as I open the door.

There Todoroki stands in his casual clothes, his endearing, ever-neutral face present as usual.  "Good morning.  You weren't down for breakfast, did you eat already?"

"No, not yet, I just woke up," I answer, my voice slightly hoarse.

His brows furrow.  "Did you drink any water yet at least?  They say it's good for starting your metabolism in the morning."

I shake my head.

He studies me, his heterochromatic eyes scanning me up and down in my blanket-clad state before scrutinizing my face.  "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Not really..."

He crosses his arms over his chest and steps towards me, making me take another one back.  "You know I don't like it when you don't take care of yourself.  You know what that means."  A dark aura washes over his face.

I cling to my blanket and screw my eyes shut, somewhat afraid of him when he gets like this.

A warm hand comes down on my head.  "You feel warmer than you're supposed to, the heat's radiating off of you.  Not to mention you're pale," he comments.  He removes his hand.  "Get back to bed, you're not going anywhere today."

"But it's your birthday, I wanted to spend the day with you," I cough at the end.  The muffled noise and the pain in my ears that follows males me realize my hearing is shot along with everything else wrong with me.

"We can spend the day in bed together," he argues, pushing me gently down to recline.

I groan at how stubborn he is.  "Can't we go out for half a day?  I promise I'll rest later."

"No," Todoroki dismisses tersely, refitting the blanket across my sheets.  "We can save that for tomorrow, you need rest."  He places a gentle kiss on my forehead and pauses.  "That's definitely a low to mid grade fever.  Can I trust you to stay here while I gather some supplies?"

I blink.  What.  "Yes, I'll stay put," I surrender.

After almost half an hour, Todoroki returns, awakening me from my slumber with arms full.

"What the-"  I eye the huge pot in his hands and a tote bag hanging off his arm.

He set the pot down on the floor.  "I took the liberty of making you chicken soup with some ginger for your throat.  I also brought some medicine for your fever, a box of tissues, a humidifier, some nose spray for the congestion, a bag of cough drops, a thermos of water, a carton of orange juice-"

I whine out loud like a child, feeling a huge rock of guilt on my chest.

"Is something wrong?  Are you in pain?"  His affectionate gaze flickers to me in worry.

"You're killing me, Shouto!"

He sits next to me on the bed, brushing my face with his fingertips.  "Did I do something wrong?  I'm sorry-"

"No, it's not you," I sigh.  "I just feel so bad.  Today's your birthday, and here you are taking care of me because I got sick instead of doing something fun.  I'm terrible."

His fingers brush my hair off my forehead.  "Love, it's not your fault that you're sick on my birthday-"

"Yeah, it's Kaminari's," I interject with a pout.

Todoroki chuckles.  "I'll fix him later.  I don't need anything special, I just want to spend time with you.  Besides, you being ill gives me the perfect excuse to stay by your side all day."

Warmth blooms in my chest at his loving words.  I sniff, "You're too good to me."

He kisses my forehead again.  "I'm fully expecting the same treatment if I ever get sick as repayment."

"Huh?!"

A heart-melting smile cracks across his face.  "Kidding, Love.  Just finish your soup and let me take care of you.  That's more than enough repayment."

The rest of the day passed in a comfortable blur.  Todoroki fed me soup by the bowl every few hours for my meals, made sure I drank water throughout the day, and gave me orange juice to drink.  "You need the Vitamin C to help your immune system work," he says.  All day, he wrapped us in blankets as we binge-watched shows and movies on my laptop while regulating my temperature with his quirk.  He catered to every need I had from my stuffy nose to my muffled hearing.  He even started massaging my sore muscles to ease the dull pain.  My heart couldn't feel fuller knowing he willingly nursed me back to health when he could've been doing something more fun or at least productive.

"Shouto, don't you want to at least go train today?" I ask.  "You don't have to sit here with me the whole day."

His hand around my body squeezes tighter.  "I'd rather be here with you than train."

I weakly hit his chest.  "You sound slightly obsessive."

Todoroki's cool fingers absently play with my hair, brushing my cheeks.  "If you fall asleep, I'll step out for a little so I don't bother you."

After a moment, I tilt my head up at him.  "I want to give you your gift at least.  It's in the top drawer."

Quirking an eyebrow, he gets out of bed and opens my chest of drawers.  "You didn't need to get me anything."  He pulls out a thin, black cardboard box on top.

"I'm warning you now, it's kind of stupid, but I didn't know what to get for a boy who already has everything," I admit, nervously watching him sit back next to me and open it.

Inside is a simple string bracelet with two silver balls flanking a golden Sun symbol.  Todoroki takes it out and immediately puts it on his right wrist to admire it, though his expression is blank as ever.

"I know you don't wear jewelry, but I wanted to keep it simple.  Besides, it's actually a couples set," I nod over to my bedside table.  "Mine is over there."

He surveys the mess and locks eyes with a bracelet of similar design except a silver crescent moon is in the middle.

"You get the Sun one because you're my precious sunshine boy," I chuckle before coughing to clear my throat.  "Sorry, that was really cheesy-"

Todoroki cups my face and seals my lips before I can finish.  I almost kiss him back instinctively, but I pull his hands away.  "Shouto, I'm sick-"

"Thank you."  A soft smile appears across his features and his eyes glint in affection, washing me over in warmth.  "I'll wear it every day, when I'm not training so it won't break."

Before I can respond, he tackles me in another kiss, sending my heart into a frenzy of irregular beats.  His kisses are sweet yet searing, pouring all of his love as he moves against me, clinging to my body like a lifeline.

When Todoroki finally pulls away, my head spins, but I can't miss the grin on his face as he caresses my cheek.  "I love you," he whispers.

And just like that, my heart feels squeezed again.  "You're gonna get sick."

He pecks my nose.  "At least it's from you."

I bury my face in his chest, heat rushing to my cheeks and ears.  "I love you too, you big dork."

The rise and fall of his chest and his soft touch in my hair lulls me to sleep in his arms, a smile on both of our faces.

[xoxoemynn]

Oh my God!! You danced with Randy??! That's like... more than a dream?? I'm so jealous rn XD Some more details please :D :D

Okay, that statement is so true because it was honestly the most magnificent blur that it genuinely does feel like a dream...so much so that I had to ask my friend who was sitting next to me to confirm my memories and also fill me in on what happened when I was dancing in a daze, so some of this is from me, and some of it is from her, haha. 

Putting behind a cut because it got a bit long and normally I don’t make a big fuss asking people to please read but PLEASE READ THIS AND SQUEE WITH ME OKAY IT WAS HONESTLY ONE OF THE MOST SURREAL AND WONDERFUL MOMENTS OF MY LIFE AND I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH ALL OF YOU.

First off, we were CLOSE to the stage. As in, imagine the front row. Good. Now imagine a random row of chairs IN FRONT of that front row. That’s where we were. When we saw the show on Friday night we were front row center, but on Sunday we were off to the left. It was incredible. I actually preferred our Sunday seats, because when you’re that close and up center, especially during Cabaret...literally, all I could think of was the line from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend when Rebecca does her pole dance and White Josh says “I think I saw inside of her.” Yeah. You see everythinggggg. I mean, it has its appeal, but then you also have the very real fear that Randy’s thrusts will put your eye out, haha. But our Sunday night seats allowed us to see everything RIGHT up close, but a little less in your face. There were definitely moments when I felt like Randy was looking RIGHT at me (especially at one point in the show where he holds his thumb and forefinger in a circle and thrusts his index finger inside of it, it took ALL my willpower to meet his gaze head on, hahaha) but I chalked it up to the Power of the Performer Connecting with the Audience. However, my friend said she definitely thought he was “flirting” with me from the stage, and the people behind us asked if we knew him because they had noticed it as well. 

So for those of you who haven’t seen the show, Randy as the Emcee comes out in a dressing gown as they transition to the second act for “audience participation time.” He always makes a few jokes about if everybody’s gotten a drink/had a tinkle, and then he finds one lady and one gentleman to dance with. He always basically has the same routine, but it’s fun to see how the people he picks react, so I always love it. So, as always, he said “hello, lovelies! It’s audience participation time. I need a partner. Hmmm....” and then walked RIGHT up to me. Except this time he walks off the stage and comes RIGHT for me. I kind of thought it might be a possibility just given how close we were to the stage, but seeing Randy Harrison, especially made up as the Emcee, just WALK RIGHT UP TO YOU and HOLD OUT HIS HAND is surreal, to say the least. And then he said “How about you? Come dance with me?” And who am I to deny him anything? Haha.

So he leads me out toward the aisle and says “what is your name, beautiful?” So I tell him Emy (well, actually I tell him my real name, but for the sake of this story, LOL), and turns to the audience and says “Emy! Welcome Emy!” and as they cheer we begin to dance. We get a few steps in and he says “you’re a very good dancer!” so naturally, being a polite lady, I thank him. He asks if I had been to the Kit Kat Klub before, and I say a few times, and he says, “ohhhh, a woman with experience! You’re a glutton for punishment.” Then he says “You’re not from Berlin, are you?” I say no, I was not. He then asks me if I had any German in me. And I knew this was coming and I could have said something far more clever but honestly at this point I was so distracted by his stage makeup (SERIOUSLY the eyelashes especially were SO jarring to me, like those plastic Halloween spiders on his face, haha, and also there was SO MUCH GLITTER) and also just the fact that I was dancing with Randy Harrison, that I was holding his one hand and his other hand was on my waist, was just...exceptionally mindblowing, haha. So I was just truthful and say “a little bit,” and he says “ooooh, would you like some more?” Much laughter and applause. I apparently gave him a look with a smirk/raised eyebrow that was like “oh, naughty, naughty.” Then he said “spin for me?” and raised his arm so I could give a little spin. Here I feel obligated to point out my outfit for the evening, since I’m told it had a dramatic effect, hahaha. I was wearing fake leather leggings and a burgundy blouse that has kind of bell sleeves that billow out a bit like wings when I raise my arms. Apparently it was quite lovely to watch when I did my spin, and complemented the Emcee’s look nicely, hahaha. Then he said “thank you, gorgeous,” and then told the audience to applaud for “the beautiful Emy!” Since this was probably the only time I’d ever have an entire opera house applauding for me, I decided to do an exaggerated curtsy as he also took his bow, and I am told once again my flowy sleeves looked really cool, hahaha. Then as he led me back to my seat by the hand he said “such talent! I don’t often get to see that at the Klub!” And then I took my seat and he WINKED at me, and as my heart slowly started to return to its normal tempo, he went off to find his next victim...I mean, dance partner. *g* Oh, and then after he danced with the man (whose name was Todd and who I didn’t think appreciated the honor as much as he should, lmao) he went back up on stage and said “And now, ladies and gentlemen, Emy, Todd, presenting the Kit Kat Klub Band!” and went back off to change for his next number. That’s a little thing, but I don’t have a super common name (hence a big reason why I don’t use it on this blog), so ngl, it gave me a bit of a thrill to hear Randy literally shout it a few times. 

Honestly, not to sound like a total fangirl, but it was one of the more surreal and incredible moments of my life. I really thought I was over my starstruck phase as far as Randy is concerned, but he’s just so charming as the Emcee that it’s so easy to get swept away. And even though I knew exactly what questions he was going to ask me, it was so hard to think of anything witty or clever on the spot because he’s just LOOKING AT YOU like you’re the most fascinating, graceful person on the planet. And honestly, no matter what way you look at it, you’re lost. If you’re just thinking about him as the Emcee, it’s this charismatic, charming man who’s also quite the graceful dancer lauding you with compliments as he sweeps you off your feet. But then if you think of it is Randy, it’s just like...omfg, at this exact moment I am DANCING with this man I’ve seen on TV countless times and he is TOUCHING me right now and EVERYBODY IS WATCHING THIS HAPPEN WHY CAN’T I HAVE AN OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE AND WATCH THIS HAPPEN AS WELL AND WHY IS PHOTOGRAPHY NOT ALLOWED IN THIS THEATER?!?! And also, I don’t care if all his compliments were said in character, I am taking it as the gospel truth that Randy Harrison thinks I’m beautiful and gorgeous and talented, LMAO. 

So......that’s basically it. Like I said, if you’ve seen the show, our dance wasn’t all that different from what he’s done with other women, but it’s definitely a memory I’ll cherish forever and honestly, it was worth every canceled flight and excessive hours on the train while sick and trekking through the snow as the wind turned my face bright red hahaha. 10/10, do recommend, would dance again. 

[c0ronas-blog]

Can you do some Finch writing? Like maybe Finch/Crutchie or RedFinch?

heck yeah i’d love to >:)

p.s. y’all better start specifying fluff or angst bc when you don’t, i totally totally definitely never ever take that opportunity to kill all the newsies

p.p.s. this is a little over 1.7k words so the rest of the story is underneath the cut :)

warnings: drowning; death; a hella ton of angst

“FINCH! HELLO?”

Finch shook his head wildly, dropping his feet from where he’d rested them on his desk. “I’m here, Albie, don’t worry,” he said. His grip on his phone became tighter as he tried to refocus. “Say that again?”

Albert sighed and muttered something not-so-nice, both actions completely heard by Finch over the phone call. “I said,” started Albert, “that my cousin dropped out of going scuba diving with me. There’s a leftover spot and I was wondering if you wanted to come.”

“Oh!” Finch’s face lit up. “Really? Of course I’m going, Al!” He was already leaping from his chair and marching to his room, sliding open the closet doors. “It’s not that far, right?”

“Nah, Finch, you’re good,” Albert assured him. “Pack a day’s worth of clothing, with some extra shirts.”

Finch was quiet as he started grabbing shirts from their hangers. “Ooh, hawaiian sh-?”

“No!” Albert hissed. “No hawaiian shirts.”

This time it was Finch who sighed. “Okay, fine,” he mumbled, dropping the shirt he’d selected to the floor. “When are you gonna pick me up?”

A series of weird, squeaking noises emerged from Albert’s end of the line. Finch couldn’t help but smile at it. “Is noon okay? There’s a little bit of a drive and-”

“It’s great, Albert,” Finch agreed. “See you then?”

“See you then,” repeated Albert, confirming it. “Bye, Pat!”

“Wait!” Finch blurted. “Do you know CPR?” Silence followed and Finch’s brow wrinkled, worried that Albert had already hung up.

“Finch.” Albert’s voice was quiet, discreet, but Finch could’ve sworn he picked up a hint of amusement. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Finch flushed a brighter red than any sunburn. Hell yes, he wanted Albie to kiss him. He’d wanted that since fifth grade and here it was, the summer before their final year of high school.

“No! No, I-” Finch took a deep breath, trying to will his heart to stop pounding. “What if I drown or something? You’d need to know CPR to-”

“Oh.” The single word, small yet harsh, interrupted Finch. “Okay,” Albert murmured.

Finch was confused. Why was Albert so… disappointed? Angry? He didn’t know what it was, but whatever feeling Albert had conveyed in that word, Finch was genuinely bewildered at its meaning.

“See you there?” Finch asked quietly, unsure of what else to say to break the quiet.

“Sure.” And then Albert hung up.

It was back when Finch was in first grade that he met Albert. They were only a few months apart in age and got along very well after discovering they shared a number of the same interests.

Okay, so, being a Power Ranger was definitely not Finch’s greatest aspiration, but back then it seemed like a great idea - especially since Albert wanted to be one, too.

By the time sixth grade rolled around, they’d grown out of their superpower-ninja phase and moved onto better things. Finch became obsessed with videogames, as did Albert. They spent many Saturday afternoons playing Halo and Assassin’s Creed.

It was only a year later that Albert gave Finch a huge hug on New Year’s Eve underneath the fairy lights they’d strung up all over Albie’s room that Finch felt something stir. Something that had always been there had just… awoken.

In high school, Finch would always smile and laugh at Albert’s jokes. He’d grin and be happy whenever Albert was looking his way. But as soon as he was out of Al’s view, it all faded.

Finch was Albert’s friend, nothing more. Albert was Finch’s friend, of course, but Finch felt more strongly, more deeply, about him.

And it crushed him to know that Albie was never going to see him that way.

--

“Look at the water! This is- this is so cool, Al,” breathed Finch, reaching out to squeeze Albert’s arm. Finch held on a moment longer than he felt he should’ve, but Albert didn’t seem to notice, thankfully.

They were walking down the beach, scuba gear stuck tightly to their bodies. It had made Finch blush brightly to see certain things so obvious. Albert, though? He just laughed.

“Have you never seen a coral reef before?” Albert grinned, gesturing widely to the rippling water in front of them.

“You have?” Finch chirped, his voice far higher than usual.

“Well, does Google Images count?”

“Al!” Finch hit Albert’s arm lightly. “Seriously, though - have you done this before?”

“Nah,” Albert assured him. He went quiet for a moment as he squinted at the sun. “Do you have tan lines?”

Finch stopped mid-pace. “Are you trying to get me shirtless?”

Albie wiggled his brows, making Finch snort. “As if I haven’t seen you without a shirt before,” he said with a wink. “But…” He reached out and tapped Finch’s chest. “You didn’t have pecs before.”

“ALBERT!” But Finch was laughing. “I’ve been working out, okay? It’s summer after all, and I wanted to impress the guys and gals.”

Albert nodded solemnly. Finch’s bisexuality wasn’t unknown to him and he often referred to Finch as a ‘bicon’ - which, naturally, made Finch flush a vibrant red that was brighter than Albert’s hair.

“Well,” began Albert, his eyes sparkling. “I can say for sure that you’re certainly impressing someone.”

“Oh, please,” Finch spluttered, flustered. The conversation continued after that as they slipped into the water, but Finch was on autopilot. Had Albert…?

It was wiped from his mind as soon as Finch’s gaze hit the huge reef. The mouthpiece - a regulator, he’d been told - almost slipped from his mouth as he gaped. Woah.

Judging by Albert’s wide eyes behind the green goggles he wore, the two had the same reaction. They shared amazed looks before swimming closer, careful not to disturb any of the coral.

Finch was enrapt by the intricacy and colors - not to mention the fish that swam about, their tails waving as they flitted away from him. What felt like only a few moments - though Finch knew they were much, much longer - flew by before Finch turned to Albert.

And that’s when he saw it.

Albert’s face was paling and he looked terrified, confused. Awful things.

Finch moved closer, his swimming skills in bad shape since he hadn’t done any true swimming in over a year. His breaths were small and quick as he sucked in air from the tank attached to his back. Worry was filling him, fast.

As Finch grew nearer to Albert, he watched in what was like slow-motion as the regulator floated from Albert’s mouth. Bubbles flowed quickly as Albert reacted, his first instinct being to drag in air.

But he was wrong, so wrong.

Finch could feel a scream building up in the back of his throat as he struggled to get closer to Albert, shaking his head wildly as if to say, “Don’t breathe.”

Despite seeing this, Albert’s chest heaved, up and down, up and down, trying desperately to pull in a wisp of air.

Panic shot through Finch’s veins, his heart pounding too loudly for him to process any coherent thoughts. All he knew was that he had to get to Albie, and fast.

He finally managed to grab Albert’s wrist. He pulled Al closer, wrapped his arms around his waist, and began to swim up. To the surface. To air.

Tears clouded Finch’s vision and he blinked them away, trying to shove away the cold fingers that were attempting to clench at his heart. Help Albert, he thought. Help him. Hurry.

Albert grew still after a moment and Finch almost froze. No longer did Albert flail about. He just lay, limp, in Finch’s grasp. Finch told himself that this was because Albie was trying to help him out by reducing any conflicting movement, but he knew, deep down, otherwise.

They finally exploded above the water, waves crashing into Finch’s face. He spit out his regulator, ignoring the nauseous feeling forming in his gut as he swam for shore.

He screamed out, calling for help, for a lifeguard. Someone, anyone. Help Albie, please. Please.

People came, pulling him and Albert to the sand. His grip was torn from Albert’s body and tears finally spilled down over Finch’s saltwater-soaked face.

His vision blurred and his memories blurred. Noises became distorted and all he could hear was the screams of help replaying in his mind.

Thoughts filled his head, full of moments he and Albert had shared. There was the car ride to the beach, the first time they’d met, so many things.

Was this the last one? Was this what Finch was going to see whenever he closed his eyes? Whenever he paused from his work, when he let his thoughts roam?

And it terrified him, because… was it?

Hands grabbed his shoulders and lifted him up. A misshapen face moved into Finch’s view and he stared into their eyes. Tears filled this person’s eyes as well but Finch didn’t question it; the overwhelming sadness in his heart muddled any question.

“Is Al- is he okay?” choked Finch, his throat closing up when he tried to say Albert’s name. “Albert - is he alive?”

“Pat,” came the person’s whisper. Soft and gentle, caring and calm. The slightest bit of a drawl and the crisp pronunciation of Finch’s name… it reminded him-

“Al?”

“I’m okay,” Albert assured softly, his grip tightening on Finch’s shoulders. Water dripped from his wavy hair, falling down his freckled face and slipping off of his chin. Red marks outlined where his green goggles had been and Finch traced them with a finger.

“You’re okay,” he repeated. The hesitance in his voice made it feebler than he realized, but Finch didn’t care. Albert was- he was alive.

“I did die there for a second,” Albert said, sounding almost thoughtful. “So now I can check off ‘resurrecting’ from my bucket list.”

Finch didn’t smile, didn’t laugh, didn’t sigh. He watched Albert’s mouth as he spoke, searing the way each word was pronounced into his mind.

Albie’s lips were a bit blue - pale, still, and chapped. But that didn’t matter to Finch.

His gaze moved up, locking with Albert’s. “I love you,” he whispered. “And I’m not losing you again.”

Albert was silent, but the glimmer returning to his eyes made Finch’s heart warm. “I love you too, Finchie, but my being resurrected is pr-”

Finch’s lips crashed against Albert’s, his fingers threading into Al’s sopping wet hair. Albert let out a ‘mmph!’ of surprise but soon was leaning into the kiss and cupping Finch’s face with both hands.

Finch pulled away, tilting his head to their foreheads touched. The taste of saltwater lingered in his mouth as he whispered, “Don’t leave me ever again.”

Albert’s warm smile filled his world. “I won’t,” he whispered back. Then, he pulled Finch closer for another kiss.

this was almost 2k words okay, gimme some love here

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[ashenworth]

OKAY hear me out. I had the sudden urge to finish my Twilight s/i’s story. I couldnt just leave it unfinished it was eating away at me. so here it is, The whole ass backstory i wrote for my Twilight s/i. im so sorry if mobile doesnt show the read more, bc its fucking LONG

words: 10 560

Ashley Hale (formerly Ashley Davidson)

Born: Sept 15, 1942

Turned: 1962

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Born near the end of the second World War and raised in Edmonton, Ashley (but she prefers “Ash”) lived a relatively normal life until the age of 20. Her father, who was deemed unfit for service, worked as a bank teller. Her mother a nurse, before becoming pregnant.

One night, in July of 1962, she and her family were taking a road trip to visit some relatives outside of the city. Rain was pouring down, but they were only about 10 minutes from the nearest rest stop. Her father, not wanting to spend any more time in the rain than needed, decides to speed up a little in the hopes of arriving sooner. Nobody would have thought that it would be an issue, as the roads had been empty for most of the trip so far, but that would prove to be wrong. With all the rain, he failed to notice the deer that had just stepped onto the road until slightly too late. He swerves and successfully avoids the animal, but the wet ground fought against them and caused them to tumble into a ditch.

When Ash regained consciousness, the car was beat up and laying on its side, having flipped a few times over. Weakly, she manages to pull herself out of the busted window, adding even more cuts and bruises to her frail body. As she falls to the ground, head spinning and vision blurring, she glances inside the car to see her parents, completely still and covered in blood. Before she can make any sense of it, she passes out from blood loss.

Her vision slips in and out, creating a slideshow of the events to follow. A few shots of nothing. Click. Two pairs of feet near the car. Click. One pair is now closer, wearing combat boots. Click. The other pair, sneakers. Click. Both pairs, now next to her. Click. Long, curly black hair and set of golden eyes. Click. Then, black.

Pain

Searing and unrelenting pain. It floods her body in a wave, and is so powerful that she can’t think. Writhing and screaming for what feels like hours. Is there no end? Please, it hurts.

It hurts.

It hurts.

Please, it hurts so much.

Please.

How long has it been? It feels like weeks. Months even. It doesn’t stop. Why hasn’t she died yet?

Wait.

It’s subsiding. Is she dying? Is it finally over?

The pain lessens. Only a touch, but enough for some relief. Then, ever so slowly, it lessens more and more. When it’s finally over, she lies there. Unconscious, but peaceful.

She has a dream. It’s blurry, but, she sees a couple. A man with pale skin and bright blonde hair. His arm is around a woman. Same pale skin, with brown, almost red hair. They’re smiling warmly at her. Her head turns. There she sees four other people. All with the same pale skin. She feels happy to see them. One of them, a dirty blonde haired man, steps towards her and holds out his hand.

She wakes up. As her eyes adjust to her surroundings, she starts to panic. She’s in a log cabin that is completely unfamiliar to her. She sits up. Before she can survey any more of the room, she has another dream. This time, while shes awake.

The same scene as before, but shifted in perspective. Her hand is outstretched. She’s seeing through the dirty blonde’s eyes. In front of her is a short haired woman. She’s mesmerizing. As this short haired woman looks into her eyes, she feels warm. Like these people are family. The short haired woman smiles, and takes hold of the hand in front of her.

She comes back to reality, to the unfamiliar scene she found herself in. Her mind is racing. What is happening? Why did I see that? Who are they? Where am I? Shouldn’t I be dead? Before she can calm down, the door opens.

The black haired woman she saw at the scene of the car crash slowly comes in, but freezes when she sees Ash awake. Quickly, she shuts the door, and footsteps can be heard walking away. She comes back with a cup in her hands, and holds it in front of Ash’s face

“Please, drink this.”

“What’s going on? Who are you?”

“Before I answer any questions, I need you to drink this. You’re thirsty, right?”

Ash almost didn’t notice with all the chaos, but her throat is burning. She can smell the drink so strongly that it’s almost like it’s calling to her. She takes the cup and starts to drink as fast as she can without even looking at it first. Her thirst subsides enough to calm down a little.

“There, is that better?”

“Yeah, it helps.”

“My name is Helen. My partner, Jo, and I found you in that car wreck.”

“I… don’t really remember much of it.”

“And you probably won’t. Your life… it’s going to be very different from now on. You were dying. Holding on by a thread with the little strength you had. We saved you. Jo was against it, but, I couldn’t just let you suffer there…” Helen trails off. She looks down and remembers something. “Oh! Right, let me get you a change of clothing! I promise, when Jo comes back, we will explain everything.” Helen gets up and leaves the room.

Ash looks down. Her clothing is torn and covered in dried blood. Right. I guess she didn’t really get a chance to change. Helen returns with some clothing in her hands.

“Here you are! They might be a little big but that’s nothing a little alterations can’t fix!” She hands Ash the clothing and starts to walk out of the room. “Oh, by the way…” Helen looks at her feet, a little sheepish. “We never managed to find out your name.”

“Oh! Uh, Ash.”

Helen nods. “Ash. That’s a beautiful name. When you’re done, please, come on out.” She smiles, and leaves the room.

Ash’s thoughts keep racing through her head as she changes. I’m alive. I was saved. But, there’s so much I still need to know. The burning in her throat intensifies again. That drink she had earlier still lingering on her tongue.

Before she can leave the room, Ash hears muffled voices through the door. Curious, she places her ear to the door. It’s hard to make out fully, but she can hear some of what is being said.

Helen: “...woke up…”

???: “....thought…..wake up...tomorrow….”

Helen: “Go….hello”

Ash hears footsteps coming towards the door, and she backs away quickly. Helen knocks

“May I come in?”

“Oh! Yes, it’s fine!”

Helen opens the door and her eyes light up when she sees Ash.

“Oh, those clothes fit you well! I’m glad.” She shuffles to the side of the door to let someone else in. A tall, stocky woman enters the room. Red curly hair comes down just past her shoulders, and she’s wearing what seems to be hiking gear.

“Ash, this is Jo. My partner.” Helen introduces the two of you, a slightly nervous look on her face. The tall woman, who you now know is Jo, has a blank expression.

“Hey, uh, sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. We weren’t expecting you to come back to us so soon.” Jo mutters.

“That’s alright. I’m still not really sure what’s going on anyway…” Ash trails off, sensing a little but of tension in the air. Jo shoots Helen a look.

“Jo, she just woke up. I wasn’t sure how to handle it on my own.” Helen admits, head turning towards the floor. “Why don’t you come out into the dining room, Ash? We can explain everything there.” The pair walk out of the room, hand in hand.

She follows suit, walking into the main area of the cabin. It’s a lot larger than she expected when you compare it to the size of the room they were just in. Ash takes some time to take in the sights. From the paintings on the walls to the decorations all around the room. Slowly, she makes her way into the dining area, where there’s a table big enough to fit 10 or so people.

“Please, have a seat. I’ll get you some more food.” Helen walks to the kitchen while Jo sits at a chair. Ash isn’t quite sure where to sit, so she takes a spot just diagonal of Jo as to not make things weirder.

“How you feelin, kid?” Jo’s raspy voice cuts the silence like a hot knife, startling Ash slightly.

“Uh, not awful, I guess. My throat is killing me. I have this..very strong craving. I don’t exactly know what I need though…” Jo sighs.

“Yeah, I remember that feelin’. Don’t worry, it’ll be a bit more clear soon.”

Helen comes back with a pitcher and a few glasses on a tray, one glass already full and ready to be served.

“Here, Ash, drink this. It will help with that burning in your throat.” She encourages. Ash ignores the irresistible smell coming from the cup for a very short amount of time to examine the liquid. It's crimson in colour and thick. Without a second thought, she downs the whole glass.

“God, that's good.” She groans, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

“Huh...I’ve never seen a newborn with that much restraint.” Jo somewhat mumbles to herself.

“Yeah, they’re usually so...feral.” Helen murmurs, a puzzled look on her face as she gets lost in thought. The two give each other a quick look as they continue to think aloud.

“I guess she’s just different. It’s not like we’ve seen every newborn in the world.” Jo quips.

“You’re right. Hell, we haven’t even seen a gift with our own eyes. Just talk.” Helen replies.

“Um...I’m sorry to interrupt…” Ash quietly speaks up. The two turn their heads to her, looking like they forgot she was even in the room. “What’s going on? What do you mean by ‘newborn’? Like, a baby? And why can’t I stop thinking about...” She trails off before finishing her sentence, not wanting to say it out loud.

“It’s okay, Ash. It’s going to be alright.” Helen tries her best to comfort the younger girl. “Uh, this might sound really weird but-”

“Yer a bloodsucker.” Jo cuts Helen off.

“JO! What the fuck!”

“She deserves the truth and she deserves it straight.” Jo leans back in her chair, crossing her arms.

“Wh-what? Do you mean like...Dracula? Like, old legends and myths?” Ash’s brain is running a million miles a second, jumping from question to question and the overwhelming craving she has. “Is...that what I want so desperately right now? Is it blood?” Her heart would be pounding if it was even moving at all.

“Yes. Jo and I are vampires as well. That craving is going to stay for a while. When things get settles down, we were going to take you hunting.” Helen says, being careful to choose her words.

“Hunting? For...humans?”

“Oh, Lord, no! Jo and I only hunt animals. There are plenty here in Northern Alberta. We don’t touch humans”

“If you show that kind of restraint out there like you did in here, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem when it comes to feeding. Not many people up here, anyhow.” Jo reassures. Ash stays silent as she tries to sort out her own thoughts and process this new information.

The room stays silent for a minute or so, before Helen cuts through it.

“I’m sorry, Ash. I’m sorry for making you this way.” She puts her head down in remorse. “We smelled all the blood from the car crash. When we got there, the two in the car, who we assumed were your parents, were already dead. You were just lying there in the grass, hanging on within an inch of your life. I felt that you deserved a second chance. It was all my idea. I was the one to change you and I swear I will help you through this.” She says through gritted teeth, determined to finish what she started. Ash stares at her for a few seconds.

“Thank you. For giving me a chance. I’m still so confused, but I feel like I’m going to be okay now.” She smiles warmly at Helen. Helen smiles back, perking up at Ash’s words.

“Okay then, how’s about we try some hunting?” Jo remarks, standing up from the table. Helen and Ash follow suit. As Ash stands, another vision comes to her.

It’s the same set of people, but in a slightly different scenario, They’re all sitting together in one big living space, talking and laughing. The scene pans over and she sees the same beautiful woman from before. The woman looks at her and smiles warmly. Ash is filled with a strong feeling of love from looking at her.

The vision fades and Ash comes back to the real world to find Jo and Helen staring at her.

“Sweetheart, what just happened? Did you see something?” Helen asks, walking over to the dazed girl and placing a hand on her back. “Please, tell me.”

Ash explains the visions that she has seen in great detail, even down to the colours of insignificant background pieces of furniture. Helen thinks on it before speaking.

“I think you may have a gift, Ash.” She says, smiling brightly to the girl.

“A gift?”

“Yes. Some of us have what we call ‘gifts’. I’ve heard of things like mind reading, future seeing, or, the ability to inflict pain without touching a person. Not everyone has a gift, so, you’re a bit special in that way.” Helen starts walking over to Jo.

“So, what gift do I have?” Ash questions.

“Well, we’re not completely sure. It could be future seeing. We would have to do a little bit of testing before we can figure it out.” Helen stretches out her hand. “For now, let’s go do some hunting, okay? You look parched.”

Ash takes it, and they walk out the door and into the dark of night.

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    The year was 1920 when Mary Alice Brandon (aged 19) was changed. She lost her memories, but her visions of the future were only intensified. Her first vision after changing was of herself and another vampire. She and this male vampire were close, holding each other and whispering into each other’s ears. She saw this, and could see that they were in love.

    Her second was of herself and this man together, surrounded by a beautiful family. They were all talking together. She knew that she belonged with them..

    Her last vision was vague. It was of herself, running through a forest. When she stops, she looks around. Then keeps running. She stops again, and looks around once more. Before she can take off, she comes face to face with a woman. Her dark red hair catches the eye of Mary Alice as it moves with the wind. They lock eyes for a moment, in shock.

    And it ends. She wants so desperately to see more, but nothing happens when she tries. She decides to set off in search of those she saw in her visions.

    Some time passes. She changes her name to just “Alice” and her search for the man from her visions finally comes to an end in 1948. He finally shows up at the empty diner they were fated to meet in and Alice is elated to finally see this mystery man, who she learns is named Jasper, in person. They bond and become closer than they could imagine, however, they both can tell that they aren’t meant to fall in love. They decide to stick together and brace this world with a newfound companionship.

    Two years later, they find the family from Alice’s vision. The Cullens, they were called. Carlisle was the oldest. A doctor with incredible restraint and a calming aura. His wife, Esme, who was gorgeous and caring. Edward, a somewhat closed off boy with the gift to read minds. Rosalie, a hardened woman who was given a second chance she didn’t want. Lastly, Emmett. A burly manly-man who is head over heels for Rosalie. They accepted Alice and Jasper into their home and into their hearts quickly, which meant the search was over.

    Alice spent the next few decades with the last of her visions in the back of her mind. She didn’t have any follow up to this mysterious girl and where she would be able to find her, so she would just sit and wait for another vision, like she had done so in the past.

    Then, one day, she finally got one.

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    The year is 1967, 5 years after Ash Davidson turned. Her newborn years have come and gone and she’s come to terms with her new life.

    With nowhere else to go, she still stays with nomads Jo and Helen, the women who replaced her parents after the change. They taught her how to hunt, and they answered every question Ash had about this new form.

    “Do we burn if we go in the sun?”

    “Nope, myth. But, our skin takes on a glittering effect that would give us away to any human who sees us, so be careful.”

    “Are we invisible in mirrors?”

    “Nope. You could have just checked that one yourself.”

    “Do we need to be invited to be able to enter someone’s house?”

    “Nah, that’s all folklore.”

    And so on. Every question they could answer, they did, as they guided this young vampire through her new life. Now, they’re helping her train her gift.

    “Okay, now, I want you to stay here in the house. Jo and I will leave and you’ll hear a loud noise. That’s your signal to start. You got that, Ash?” Helen, the black haired woman, is standing outside of the door to the log cabin that has become home with Jo, ready to start training for the day.

    “I got it. Listen for the noise and start.” Ash gives her a thumbs up and watches as the two of them disappear into the woods. After a few seconds, a loud crack can be heard from the direction they headed, and Ash takes that as her cue.

    Ash closes her eyes and focuses on Jo. She searches for her in the woods, winding through the trees and bushes until she finds her.

    Ash opens her eyes and finds herself in the woods, leaning against a tree. She looks to her left and sees a small tree trunk cracked in half. In her hands, she’s got a piece of wood and a knife and is whittling something. When she looks up, she sees Helen, who seems to be speaking gibberish.

    “Wolf. Hairbrush. Scalpel. Orange. Baseball. Zebra.” Helen is repeating this set of words in this exact order, with her fingers making numbers to match. Wolf is three, hairbrush is five, scalpel is ten, orange is two, baseball is one and zebra is ten again. Helen repeats this pattern  a total of 5 times.

    “Okay, I think we should be good.” Helen says, as she turns around and heads back in the direction of the cabin.

    Ash blinks and she’s back to where she was, standing in the living room of her home. She waits for a few minutes before she hears the other two return and open the front door.

    “So?’ Jo says, as she walks towards Ash, holding a knife and a piece of wood in her hands. “Whatcha got?”

    Ash repeats the six words and their numbered counterparts exactly as she saw them back to Jo and Helen. Helen beams

    “Oh, sweetheart, that was perfect! You did so good! You were faster than ever, too!” Helen wraps her arms around Ash in an embrace.

    “Yeah, good job, kid.” Jo mumbles, staring down at her project. Ash closes her eyes again and looks through Jo’s for only a second before coming back.

    “Jo, I know you’re happy, too. No need to hide it anymore.” Ash puts on a sly grin as Jo shoots her a glare, and mumbles something to herself about “that damn kid and her gift”.

    For the years to come, Ash would train her gift to the point to where she didn’t have to search for the person she wanted to find, she could just focus on them and see what they do. She tried endlessly to see any of the people from her first activation, but to no avail. She wouldn’t get anything until a little over a decade later, in 1979. The same year that Alice Cullen finally had her second vision of the dark red haired woman.

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    It’s been 29 years since Alice and Jasper joined the Cullen family, 31 years since they met and 59 years since Alice turned and had her very first visions of the future as a vampire. 59 long years that she waited for something to turn up about the woman she saw in her visions. Alice knew that this woman would mean something to her. She just wanted to know more.

    When the vision came, she stopped dead. She was out hunting with Jasper, Edward, and Esme. Along with them was Tanya from the Denali coven, another vegetarian group that the Cullens have been staying with for quite some time now.

    Edward, who had become accustomed to when Alice had a particularly important vision, clued in instantly and was watching with her.

    She saw herself following the dark red haired girl through the woods and up to a cabin. She took in the sights and noted the cabin as the girl led her inside. Alice sees two other women, both vegetarian vampires.

    The vision ends and Alice can barely stand. Finally, a clue. A big one, at that.

    “Alice, that was the girl, wasn’t it?” Edward asks, knowing all about Alice’s search from her own thoughts. Alice nods lightly, and Esme drops to her side.

    “Girl? What girl?” Tanya questions. Jasper cuts in.

    “When Alice turned, she had three visions. One of myself, one of the Cullens, and one of another vampire girl. She’s been searching for this girl for almost 60 years with nothing to go on. This is the first time since then that she’s seen her.”

    “This girl, is she friend or foe?” Tanya asks, nervous about the intentions of this stranger.

    “We don’t know. We just know that she’s important to Alice.” Esme pipes up, her hand on Alice’s back, comforting her.

    “I think I know where she is.”  Alice says quietly. Edwards follows.

        “That cabin, we saw it on our way up to Alaska, didn’t we?” Alice nods.

    “I think so. Tanya, do you know of any other vegetarians nearby? The three I saw all had golden eyes like us.” Tanya shakes her head.

    “Not that I know of, but, Carmen and Eleazar might. We separate when hunting and they may have come across some nomads before. I can ask when we get back.” Alice nods, then stands up.

    “Okay, let’s get back to hunting. I’ll need to be at full energy if I’m going to look for her.”

    “You mean we, right?” Jasper raises his eyebrow at her. Alice shakes her head.

    “I’m sorry, but I think I need to do this alone. She might get scared if a cavalry shows up looking for her.” 

    “We can’t just let you go alone! We don’t know her intentions, or why she’s important to you.” Jasper raises his voice, his concern growing as the conversation continues.

    “What if she’s important because she’s the one who kills you, Alice? We don’t know anything about her because you haven’t had any visions.” Edward chimes in.

“She won’t. I know it.” Alice says, getting more and more frustrated.

“No, you don’t! If you knew for sure, then I would know, too!” Edward yells.

“I can just feel it, okay? You have to trust me!” Alice yells back, getting into Edwards face.

Jasper puts himself between them and places one hand on each of their shoulders. Instantly, the tension dies down.

“Stop, you two. Alice, don’t you think it would be smarter if someone came along with you? They can just watch from a distance. She doesn’t even have to see them.” Jasper asks, hoping to convince her.

“Fine.” Alice caves, knowing fully well that they won’t give up on it. “But, they have to stay far enough back that she won’t know anyone’s there.”

“Then, I’ll do it.” Edward offers. “That way, I can hear what she’s thinking and step in if i need to.”

“You won’t need to…” Alice mumbles under her breath as everyone prepares to finish their hunting trip.

Edward says nothing when Alice’s thoughts are filled with protests to the idea. “Okay, let’s get going. I think there’s some deer to the north.”

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The day that would change Ash’s life forever. It started out normal. At sunrise, she sat outside and watched the sun come up through the trees. A tradition she started after a few years of staying with the two nomads who found her. 

Then, using her power, she would check the perimeter to make sure no one was near the cabin by ‘expanding’ her senses to cover 100 metres all around the house, a skill that she developed while training.

When nothing was found, she went back into the house to do some cleaning. Dusting, vacuuming, etc. When she was finished with that, she would use her free time to do various other hobbies. Training her power, reading, or knitting. Those are what she was currently invested in.

Today, she decided to train for a bit. She wanted to try expanding her search radius from 100 metres to 200.

She goes back outside and sits down in the snow. Then, she closes her eyes and starts to expand her senses once again.

Within seconds, she hits the 100 mark. Slowly, from there, she pushes herself further. 101, 102, 103. It takes a few minutes but eventually, she hits 150. She opens her eyes and pulls back, happy with the results. She closes them again and goes a second time, hoping to speed up and to hit 200.

Although, this time, when she hits the 200 mark, she picks up on something.

When her vision returns, she running through the trees. On the surface, she’s calm and collected, but underneath, her emotions start running wild. Hopeful, but nervous. Excited, but worried.

Ash comes back to her own eyes and panics. Someone’s actually near the cabin for the first time since she’s turned and she has no clue what to do.

Thinking quickly, she closes her eyes once more and searches for more people. She gets a hit, someone who is a few metres behind the first person. All she can see through their eyes are the trees in front of them and the other blurry figure running through the forest. They’re extremely worried for the one they’re following.

She comes back after searching. Two other vampires, coming straight for the cabin. A situation she has never had to deal with until now.

She stands up. I have to take care of this on my own. Without alerting Jo and Helen, who are sitting blissfully unaware inside the cabin, she heads towards the unwanted guests.

Making sure to stay quiet, she slowly comes up to the place where she last saw them and hides behind a tree. Then, she enters the first person’s eyes. They’re standing in the middle of a clearing, looking around in circles for something.

“It was here, wasn’t it?” They say to themselves. It’s a female voice. Her emotions are still running wild, but this time, she’s more hopeful.

When this girl looks around, Ash notices that she’s not at all well hidden behind the tree she picked. As if on cue, the girl notices the same thing and slowly started to walk towards the tree.

Ash comes back to her own eyes. Her mind starts racing with all the options she has but as far as she can tell, none can end well. Taking matters into her own hands, she decides to confront them.

She quickly comes out from behind the tree, baring her teeth and ready to fight. And she sees it.

In front of her is a face she knows all too well. A face that she’s been searching for since she turned in 1962, 17 years ago. The face she knows as the ‘short haired woman’.

And she’s standing right in front of her.

Instantly, Ash notices the shocked expression on the short haired girl’s face.

“It’s you.” The woman says, unable to muster anything else.

“W-what?”

“I...I’ve been looking for you. For 60 years.”

“Si- you…” Ash sputters out, unable to stop the rapid thoughts going through her mind right now. Slowly, the girl gets closer and takes Ash’s hand into her own.

“I’m Alice.” She says, with a smile.

“I’m...I’m Ash. How...how did you find me?” Ash asks.

“My gift. When I turned, I saw you in a vision. I’m a future seer. I saw this place, that cabin, and you, just a few months ago. With the help of some friends, we were able to track you down.” Alice replies.

“You...you saw me? When you turned?”

“Yes. I knew somehow that you would be important to me. But, I couldn’t see you after that. I couldn’t see you no matter how hard I tried. Then, I finally did. And it brought me here.” Alice explains, her face beaming.

“I saw you when I turned, too. My gift allows me to see through someone else’s eyes, and to feel the emotions that they feel. I saw you, and a group of others. Then, I never found you again. I tried and tried but nothing happened.”

Alice brings her hand up to Ash’s face, caressing it lightly as tears form in her eyes, and smiles.

“We...saw each other? That means that our fates lead us together.” She says.

Ash nods, taking her own hands and placing them on top of Alice’s. Then, she remembers something.

“Wait. Someone was with you, right? Who was that? I can’t seem to find them anymore…”

“Oh! That was my brother, Edward. He was with me just in case out meeting didn’t go well. I think he backed off once he realized that things were okay.”

Ash closes her eyes and quickly checks on Jo and Helen to make sure they’re still okay. When it’s confirmed, she grabs Alice’s hand.

“Come with me. I want you to meet my family.” She says, as she pulls Alice behind her towards the cabin.

Periodically, Ash looks back at Alice. Sometimes, in disbelief that she’s even here. Sometimes, she just wants to keep looking at Alice’s face. She’s even more beautiful in person.

When they reach the cabin, Ash stops.

“Wait out here, okay? I want to explain the situation first.” She says. Alice nods in response.

Ash lets go of her hand and opens the door to the cabin.

“Jo? Helen? Where are you guys?” She calls out to the two nomads. She could easily find them with her gift, but the last time she tried that, she found them having sex. After that, she decided just to ask.

“We’re in the kitchen!” Helen calls out.

When Ash enters the kitchen, she sees the two of them sitting at the island, talking to each other.

“Oh, so you guys decided this room wasn’t getting enough attention?” She quips. Helen laughs.

“We just decided to switch it up for once.”

“Alright, so. I gotta talk to you two about something.” Ash says, her voice growing a but shaky.

“Hey, what’s up, kid?” Jo asks with a worried expression on her face.

“Okay, don’t get mad. I was training my power earlier. Y’know, trying to expand my search radius. When I managed to hit 200 metres, I, uh...I got a hit.”

Jo stands up.

“You WHAT?”

“Just calm down! Everything’s alright, I dealt with it myself.” Ash tries to reassure Jo, but fails.

“You dealt with it ALONE? We told you to tell us if you found something!” Jo yells. Helen stands up and grabs her arm.

“I know! But, I wanted to deal with this on my own. I figured that if things went south, I could yell loud enough for you to hear me.” Ash jumps back at the sound of Jo’s booming voice.

“What happened, Ash? Who were they?” Helen steps in.

“Well, that’s the funny part. Hold on a second.” Ash says, quickly running to the door and bringing Alice inside.

“You guys…” She says as she pulls the shorter girl behind her into the kitchen.

“This is Alice.”

Jo and Helen are silent as they stare at Alice, who smiles brightly back at them.

“Hello. I’m Alice Cullen of the Olympic coven. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Alice greets them and curtsies with a nonexistent dress.

Jo and Helen don’t respond. Instead, they eye her over from head to toe. Helen takes notice of her features and it clicks.

“Ash, is this…” Before Helen can finish her question, Ash nods.

“It’s her. Alice is the girl from my vision. She found me.” Ash smiles wide. Helen starts to tear up.

“Oh my gosh...it’s really her? You’ve been looking for her for so long…”

“Well, she’s been looking longer.” Ash retorts.

“60 years, to be exact.” Alice says.

“60 years? Oh wow. How did this all happen?” Helen asks. The two spend some time explaining the whole situation to Jo and Helen. How they both saw each other, about Alice’s vision, and the meeting. When they’re all caught up, Jo is smiling to herself while Helen is basically full on sobbing.

“You two...this must be fate pulling the two of you closer together.” Helen says through her tears.

“Nah, this is just some freaky bloodsucker coincidence.” Jo shoots back with a quip, smirking. Helen smacks her arm.

“Jo! Stop that.” Everyone laughs.

“Well, I think we should give these two some privacy. Ain’t that right, Helen?” Jo shoots Helen a look.

“Right! We’ll let you two talk alone. I think you both probably have things you want to talk about.” Helen and Jo get up and leave the room for their own.

“Come on, it’s getting dark. I want to go sit under the stars.” Ash grabs Alice’s hand once again and brings her back outside. Together, they find a spot in perfect view of the sunset and sit down in the snow.

They spend the whole night talking to each other. About their lives before and after turning, their gifts, their families. Any topic they could think of they had a conversation about. Through the whole night, they grow closer and closer. By the time the sun comes up, they both can tell that they’re meant to be together. Whether it’s love or friendship, it doesn’t matter. They’re supposed to be together. Right here and now.

As dawn breaks, they stop talking to admire the sunrise. Alice rests her head on Ash’s shoulder and grabs her hands in her own. Together they sit, peacefully in the glow of the morning sun.

In a window from the cabin, Helen can be seen watching the two of them huddling together.

“I think those two are mates.” She says to herself. Jo lets out a loud laugh.

“Ya think? Hel, the whole time that Alice would talk, the kid couldn’t take her damn eyes off of her.” Helen giggles in response.

“Yeah, you’re right. Alice did the same exact thing.”

“So did you when we met. Every time I’d look back, you would turn your head so damn quick but those curls gave you away.” Jo laughs to herself.

“Yeah, yeah. Not like yours did you any favours.” Helen snaps back. Together, they laugh as they reminisce about their pasts.

When day fully breaks, Alice suggests that Ash come up to Alaska to meet the Cullens, since Alice already got to meet her family. After a long talk, Jo and Helen caved and agreed. They lectured her for hours before they left.

“Remember, try not to let anyone see you in the sun.”

“And don’t go using your gift all willy-nilly, alright? Save it for when it’s needed.”

“And find some food before you go! You’re going to need your energy for the trip!”

After lots of “yeah” and “I know”, they set off. A few yards from the cabin, they meet up with Edward, who stayed just far enough to hear them just in case something went bad. I think this one’s the mind reader, right? I still remember his face. Ash thinks to herself. Edward chuckles.

“Yeah, this one’s the mind reader.”

Ash gasps and instinctively throws her hands over her mouth even though it wouldn’t help at all.

“It’s alright. I hear worse on a daily basis.” Edward laughs again. “So, what did you mean that you ‘still remember my face’?”

While on the road, Ash shares her story to Edward. She describes everyone she saw in her vision while Edward and Alice tell her who they are.

“So, the blonde man and the dark brown haired woman? I assume they’re a couple.”

“Yup, that’s Carlisle and Esme. Carlisle is the one who turned most of us.” Edward says.

“They’re basically our parents. At least, they are when we’re living normal lives” Alice chimes in.

“And the beautiful blonde woman with the burly man?”

“That’s Rosalie and Emmett. They’re mates as well.” Alice explains.

“Yeah, Rosalie can be a bit harsh so don’t take anything she says to heart. Emmett’s a manly guy. He’s the strongest out of all of us by far. Might want to fight you when you meet.” Edward warns.

“That leaves...the dirty blonde man. I’m guessing that’s Jasper.”

“Yeah! He’s the one I told you about. How we met after I turned.” Alice beams when talking about Jasper.

“Right! Your partner in crime.” Ash retorts.

Suddenly, Alice stops. She stares into nothing as she has a vision. Edward quickly watches along, looking concerned, but his face softens as he sees it as well. Ash, seeing the two of them, decided to try something. She closes her eyes and focuses on Alice’s. When she gets her bearings, she sees nothing but the forest that Alice is staring at.

She focuses a little harder. Slowly, a vague outline of something starts to show. A group of people. She can’t see their faces, just their outlines. Then, the vision ends.

Alice and Edward are smiling together while Ash adjusts back to her own eyes.

“What was that, Alice? I tried to see it too, but, I just got some blurry outlines.” Ash asks.

“Wait, you saw something? From my vision?”

“I think so. I saw maybe 7 or 8 people. I think they were people…” Ash trails off, trying to remember all that she saw. Alice’s eyes widen.

“Yes! I had a vision of us! Of you meeting my family! You can see my visions!” Alice yells excitedly and she clasps her hands onto Ash’s shoulders.

“Yeah, I guess I can…” Ash trails off, thinking of how she could start training this aspect of her gift.

“Wait a second. What is your gift again?” Edward asks, confused by the conversation.

“Oh! I guess I never fully explained it. I can see through someone else’s eyes. Let’s say you were looking at Alice while I was 100 feet away staring at a tree or something. I could put your vision into my mind and see Alice from your point of view. Does that make sense?” Ash rambles.

“Yeah, I think I get it. Actually, I’d like to try something. Alice, could you walk a few feet away from us and look in our direction? Make sure you can see the both of us.” Edward requests of her. Alice looks puzzled, but obliges.

“Okay, Ash, can you look through her eyes for a second?”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Ash replies, catching on to what Edward is trying to do. She closes her eyes and pops into Alice’s. She can see herself and Edward from between some trees.

“Alright, I got it.”

“Okay good. Now let me just-” Edward cuts himself off with a gasp.

“I can see what Alice sees. From your mind. I can see us.” He says, a hint of excitement in his voice. “This could be a good strategy for hunting.”

“Yeah, it could be.” Ash says, distracted by her own gift. While what she can see may be fairly boring, her ability to feel emotions is overwhelmed by Alice. Her heart is so full of love for the two that, for the first time, Ash can’t handle feeling two people’s emotions at the same time. Quickly, she cuts the connection and returns to her own body.

“Did-did you feel any of that?” She asks Edward, feeling physically strained from this exercise.

“Feel? I can only see, I can’t ‘feel’ anything when I read someone’s mind. What did you feel?”

“My gift lets me see someone else’s eyes while also feeling their emotions. The emotional response was too much, I had to stop.” Ash says, plopping to the ground to get her bearings. Alice sprints over to the two of them.

“What happened? Are you okay?” She asks, worry flooding her voice.

“I’m alright, I’m alright. I just wasn’t expecting such strong emotions from that.” Ash leans against a tree to relax for a minute. Alice’s face washes over with an embarrassed look.

“I’m sorry. I was just...so happy that you two were getting along…” Alice trails off, covering her face with her hands. Ash laughs.

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. I’m just not trained enough to handle it yet.” Ash reassures Alice as she stands back up. “Okay, let’s get this show back on the road. I think it’s time for a meal.”

The three of them spend a day hunting for food in the woods. Edward and Ash decide to test out their new strategy by having Alice go ahead and send animals towards them while they wait to trap them. It works out well enough, but the constant use of her power drains Ash of all her energy.

“Sorry, I’m not used to using my power so much. I never really used it back with Jo and Helen.”

“You didn’t use it much? Most vampires use their powers as much as possible in the first 25 years. Then, they usually get bored of it.” Edward says.

“I just...never really had the chance to. It was just us three out there, so there wasn’t much to see really. The only time I ever really used it was when I was training.” Ash mumbles to herself.

“Surely, you must have encountered other vampires, right? You would have used it then.” Edward asks. Ash shakes her head.

“So far, you two are the only other vampires I’ve met other than Jo and Helen. You guys showing up at my cabin was the first time I ever had to try to defend us. Luckily, there didn’t have to be any fight, but…” She trails off.

“But, you still don’t know what to do in case someone malicious does show up.” Edward replies, having heard from her thoughts. Ash nods.

“Well then, we’ll have to teach you then.” Alice pipes up. “We’ve dealt with our fair share of nomads. Usually, you won’t have any problem with other vampires. Those who feed on humans may show up hoping to find some, but will leave if they realize there are none around. Others tend to think that you’re in their territory. That would be the only time you may have to fight someone.” Alice gives a lecture of the ins and outs of fighting other vampires. She lists off reasons another vampire may want to fight, different techniques, and how to thoroughly kill a vampire.

“Do you have any experience with fighting vampires?” Alice asks.

“Uh, Jo and Helen taught me some basics before the end of my time as a newborn, but, that’s about it.” Alice sighs. It’s like they never wanted her to leave the cabin…. Her eyes widen as she thinks of something.

“Wait, have you ever been around humans?”

“Oh, yeah! We have to go into town sometimes to pick things up. The first time was extremely hard on me, but Jo and Helen were there with me so it helped. After a while, I got used to it.” Alice puts her hand to her chin, wanting to ask another question but isn’t sure how to bring it up.

“Have you ever had human blood before?” Edward asks suddenly, startling Alice. After reading her mind, Edward decided it would be best to just outright ask.

“Yes. I had human blood on my first day as a newborn. I didn’t kill anyone for it. I didn’t turn anyone for it, either. Helen gave it to me in a cup. She’s close with the nearest town’s doctor and was able to convince him to give her a pint. After that, we hunted for the first time and they told me all about how animal blood won’t be as satisfying, but it does the job. Trust me, I’m not that secluded from the world. Jo and Helen know a lot and have taught me so much.”

Edward nods and takes a step back, satisfied with her answer, and gestures Alice to continue.

They spend the few days it takes to get to Alaska talking about how to defend yourself against other vampires, stopping every so often to practice together. It’s a long journey but, eventually, they arrive back at the Olympic-Denali coven household. As soon as the enter the door, they’re greeted by Esme, who comes over and brings both Edward and Alice into a big hug.

“Oh, I’m so glad you two are finally home. I’ve missed you guys.” She says, holding them tight.

“Esme, come on. We were only gone for like a week.” Edward says, embarrassed. Esme laughs.

“I know, I know. Everyone was just worried.” She says, as she loosens her grip. Then, she turns to look at Ash.

“Esme, this is Ash.” Edward introduces them. Esme shoots Alice a quick look, and Alice nods in response.

“Hi, It’s nice to meet you.” Ash says, holding out her hand. Instead, Esme pulls her into hug.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you. You’re like a local legend around here.” Esme laughs to herself. Ash giggles back.

“Well, it’s nice to finally put the rumours to rest.”

Then, the rest of the Cullens come bounding towards the door, all ready to greet their family members after the trip. They all huddle together to say their greetings.

“Welcome home, you two.” Says Carlisle, as he wraps an arm around Esme.

“Yeah, we thought you two mighta died out there.” Says Emmett, as he punches Edward in the arm.

“Well, we’re just glad you’re safe.” Says Jasper.

Carlisle turns to their guest. “So, I think we can all guess who this is.”

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Ash. You may all know her as the infamous Red Haired Girl.” Alice says as she wraps an arm around Ash’s waist. Ash chuckles.

“Funny. In my house, you were Short Haired Girl.” She looks at Alice and smiles.

“So, Ash, this is-”

“Wait. I want to try this myself.” Ash cuts Alice off.

“Let’s see. This-” She points to Carlisle. “- is Carlisle. He’s got his arm around Esme. This-” She points again, this time at Emmett. “- is Emmett. Next to him is Rosalie. And way in the back must be Jasper.” She point once more to Jasper, who’s looking a bit disinterested. Everyone nods in response.

“Well, I see you’ve done your research.” Carlisle says.

“Well, I think Ash and I have a story to tell everyone. Could we move this into the living room?” Alice starts to usher everyone away from the front door and into the living room, where they share their story one more. They explain their visions and their meeting, and talk about what they did at the cabin. They all talk for hours. Soon, the conversation lands back on the ‘local legend’.

“I swear, she thought about you night and day. I would go weeks sometimes only hearing her thinking about finding you, or even just replaying that vision in her head over and over. It was like a broken record sometimes.” Everyone laughs along with Edward’s story as Alice holds her face in embarrassment.

“Well, Edward was the only one who actually knew what you looked like. The rest of us just had to take their words for it.” Rosalie comments. “Honestly, I sometimes thought maybe you weren’t even real.” She laughs to herself.

“Oh, Rosalie. Let’s be fair to Alice, she has been hoping to find her for 59 years.” Carlisle pipes up, placing a comforting hand on Alice’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I got the lucky side of this deal. I’ve only been hoping for 17.” Ash says, grabbing Alice’s hand and squeezing it, hoping to make her feel better.

“How did it happen, anyway?” Jasper cuts in from the other side of the room, silencing everyone.

“Jasper, you can’t just-” Edward’s about to tell Jasper off before Ash cuts it short.

“It’s fine. Do you mean ‘how did I die?’” Jasper nods.

“Well. I was in a car crash. In 1962. My parents and I were driving down country roads in the rain one night. Almost hit a deer. We swerved a little too much to avoid it and landed in a ditch. When Jo and Helen found me, my parents were already dead, but I was still hanging on. Just barely. They decided to give me a second chance.” Ash’s voice lowers as she recounts her past, still fresh in her mind.

“How old were you?” Jasper asks.

“Twenty. Just a few months shy of twenty one.”

“...Sorry.” Jasper puts his head down.

“It’s fine. I have to face it. It happened. Now, I can move on and live different lives.” Ash says, flashing a small smile at Jasper. Quickly, the conversation shifts to a different topic.

When the conversation picks back up and becomes lively once again, Ash gets an idea. She closes her eyes and connects to Jasper for only a second before opening them again. Just long enough to get a hit on his current emotions and to disguise as a blink. In that split second, she noticed a lot of different emotions, none of them positive. The only one she could identify was worry. It was the strongest out of the bunch, thus she picked up on it first.

Edward on the opposite side of the room as them notices the commotion in their thoughts and clues in.

Why does it seem like he’s been hounding me since I got here? What’s going on in that guys head?

Well that’s obvious. Edward thought to himself. He’s extremely protective of Alice.

Jasper’s thoughts, on the other hand, were a different story.

What the hell was that? What the fuck did I just feel? He shoots Ash a look. What gift does she have and why did she just use it on me?

Edward smirks to himself at this new information, and decides to stay silent.

“By the way, Ash, you said you saw a vision of Alice, right?” Jasper speaks up again. Ash turns to him and nods.

“Alice saw you because of her gift. I’m just wondering. What kind of gift do you have? It may seem strange, but, I thought I could feel it just now.” Jasper calls her out.

“Actually, my gift is the ability to see through someone else’s eyes. If you were in the other room, I could describe every inch of it without having ever set foot in it. All from your vision.” Ash replies, turning her body towards him.

“Is that what that was then, you were looking into my eyes?” Jasper accuses.

“Actually, Jasper, the reason I connected with you was to figure out what the hell you were feeling. I can pick up on your emotions as well and I’ll be honest, you’ve been giving me dirty looks all night and I just wanted to know what was going on.” Ash snaps back at him. Alice reaches her hand up and grabs Ash’s arms. A few moments pass without a word said in the room before Jasper stomps over to Ash and grabs her hand, pulling her out of the room. Alice stands up to protest but Edward stops her, reassuring that they’ll be fine.

Jasper pulls her into another room and slams the door shut. Then, he takes a second to calm himself down, which by proxy also calms Ash down.

“Listen. Alice has been looking for you since the day she turned almost 60 years ago. I’ve been with her almost since day one. I love her to death and I couldn’t imagine how she would feel after finally finding you. Forgive me for being skeptical, but, I can’t help but keep her best interest in mind.” Jasper explains to her while pacing the room.

“Jasper. I know. I know about how you and Alice were together before joining the Cullens. I know how close you are because she talked about you so much. I know how much you care about each other, so I can understand why you were worried. You have to remember. I’ve been looking for her, too. Maybe not as long, but I had those same feeling she did. The worry, the hope. Everything she felt, I did too. Not just her, but all of you. I saw all of you in my vision. Your feelings are completely justified because if I was on your side of this equation, I would be scared too.”

Jasper sighs. He walks over to Ash and grabs her hand into his.

“I know the love you two share. I know you’re not going to hurt her. From the moment you two walked in the door, I could feel the joy radiating off of the both of you. I just want Alice to be happy and safe. I know now that with you, she will be.” Jasper shows a small smile before letting go of her hands. Then, Ash puts one out for a handshake.

“Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Ash.”

Jasper chuckles and grasps the hand with his. “I’m Jasper. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

The two of them share a laugh. Ash closes her eyes and connects to Alice.

“We should get back. Alice is so worried, I think she might explode.” She says.

“Whoa.” Jasper clutches at his chest.

“Hey, you alright?” Ash asks as she cuts the tie with Alice. Jasper let’s go and stands up straight.

“I think...I think I felt what Alice was feeling. Through you.” He says. “Hey, try someone else.”

Ash obliges and connects to Esme. Her heart is also filled with worry, but it’s mixed together with the overwhelming love she has for her family.

“Whoa. Okay, that much love and worry in one place? That’s gotta be Esme.” Jasper says, taken aback by the force of her emotions.

“Yup. She’s got a lot of love packed inside of her.” Ash opens her eyes and cuts the connection. “So, uh, that’s pretty cool. Edward can see the visuals, you can feel the emotions.” Ash comments as she stares at nothing and gets lost in her own mind, thinking of ways that this information could benefit them. Jasper grins.

“This could be useful for fighting…” He trails off as does the same. They stand there in silence for a moment, lost in thought, before Jasper snaps out of it.

“Hey, we should get back out there. They’ll be worried.”

“Oh! Right.” Ash opens the door and steps out.

As they both turn the corner, Alice’s eyes lock on to the both of them, hoping to figure out what happened in there. The two of them laugh together before joining the rest of the group, and the weight lifts off of Alice’s chest as she sees them acting friendly. As Ash approaches, Alice grabs her arm.

“How did it go?” She asks quietly. Ash chuckles

“It went great. Things are fine now.” Ash smiles widely at Alice, hoping to reassure her. Alice sighs in relief and smiles back.

The hours pass as they all talk together, laughing and joking like they’ve known Ash for years. When night falls, people start to split off to do their own things, and eventually it’s down to just Carlisle and Esme together with Alice and Ash.

“So, I think it’s safe to say you two are mates, am I right?” Esme asks.

Alice and Ash share a look and nod to each other.

“Yeah, I think we are.” Alice replies.

“Then, where do you two go from here?” Carlisle cuts in, looking concerned. “It’s hard for mates to stay away from each other after they’ve found one another. Ash, you have a family in Canada, right?”

“Yes, I do.” Ash answers.

“Have you thought about what would happen in this situation?” He asks. Ash thinks for a moment.

“No, not really. At least, we didn’t talk about it…” She trails off.

“How about you, Alice?” Esme asks.

“No, I haven’t either. Because this is my family. I couldn’t ever imagine leaving you all.” Alice says with a confident look on her face, that then subsides when she realizes what’s at stake here. She looks down at Ash who is still lost in thought. “What about you?”

“I...I love Jo and Helen. They taught me everything about this new situation I’ve found myself in and raised me to become who I am right now. But...I hate myself for even saying this. I think I belong here. In the Olympic coven. When I saw you all in my vision, you felt like family to me. Then, I actually met you all, and it was like seeing an old friend for the first time in years. And, I didn’t want to let go of that. I still don’t.” Ash rants for a while, trying to make sense of her feelings as the words spill out of her mouth. After she finishes, Carlisle nods.

“I think I can speak for most of us when I say that we all felt the same way as well. I truly believe you belong here with us. But, there is no rush. It’s your choice.” Carlisle says as he stands up and grabs Esme’s hand, leading the two of them out of the room to let Ash and Alice talk.

Ash leans back in her chair and sighs loudly.

“You know, I can come live with you too.” Alice says, hoping to break some of the tension. Ash shakes her head.

“No. Alice, I’ve already made up my mind. I want to be here. I really do think I belong here with you. I’m just trying to figure out how to tell Jo and Helen.” Ash sighs again. Alice leans over and kisses her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it in the process. When Alice pulls away, she smiles.

“Just remember, you don’t have to do it alone. I’m here now.”

Ash smiles widely and grabs Alice’s face, pulling her in for another kiss.

“We’ll come up with a plan.” Alice mumbles against Ash’s lips. She pulls away. “Remember, we still have a week to think about it.” Ash grins at Alice’s reassurance.

“Come on.” Alice says, standing up and grabbing Ash’s hand. “I still haven’t shown you my room.”

Ash smiles again as she’s pulled along by Alice up the stairs.

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

    The week goes by quicker than Ash thought it would, and if she had any doubts about her decision to stay with the Cullens, they were gone before she could make it back to her own place.

    With a few hugs from the Cullens, Ash and Alice head out the door to return to Alberta for what may be the last time.

    Time passes, and soon enough, they arrive at the little cabin in the woods. When they get to the door, Ash stops for a second to compose herself.

    “You alright?” Alice asks, wrapping her arm around the other’s waist and pulling her close.

    “Yeah, I think so. This might be the hardest conversation I’ve ever had to have.” Ash sighs, trying to muster up the courage to open up the door. After a few deep breaths, she puts her hand on the knob and twists.

    “Guys! I’m ho-” Ash cuts herself off in surprise.

    “Ash?” Alice walks in beside her.

    On the floor next to the door are 4 suitcases, stacked up and open, revealing the contents inside. Clothes, trinkets, books, etc. All items that belong to Ash.

    “What...the fuck?” Ash thinks aloud.

    “Surprised ya, didn’t we?” Helen’s voice can be heard as she steps into the room with a smirk on her face, Jo trailing behind.

    “What is all this?” Ash asks, unable to process what she sees in front of her.

    “Sweetie, it’s your stuff. Pack and ready for the big move. Our little birdie is finally leaving the nest!” Helen turns to Jo as she says this last line and wipes away a fake tear from her eye.

    “How...did you know?”

    “Ash, it ain’t that hard to figure out. You and Alice are mates. You two would never want to be separated ever again after finding each other. And the way that you spoke about the Cullens in your vision made it all the more obvious to us. They’re your family.” Jo speaks up from the back.

    “But, what about you guys? I mean, you basically raised me from my second birth. You’re both okay with this?”

    “Well, of course we are! Ash, we love you. As they saying goes ‘If you love something, you gotta let it go.’ It’s time to let you go, sweetie. Besides, it’s not like you can’t come visit us!” Helen replies enthusiastically, with a giant grin on her face. Ash turn to Alice, a soft smile on her face.

    “Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.” She laughs. Ash walks to Helen and Jo and gives them both a big hug. “Thank you. For everything.”

    “Now, come on Ash, you’re not leaving yet! Stay for a while and we can all have a chat.” Jo waves them all into the kitchen where they sit at the island and talk for hours. When the sun starts to set, they know that time is now up.

    Ash and Alice stand at the door, carrying Ash’s suitcases. They turn back to Jo and Helen, and give them a nod, before heading off towards their future, together with the Olympic coven.