#blaze on the other hand stretches herself a bit thin by trying to devote herself to as many different communities as possible

[whimsical-sonic]

redesigning my misplaced au designs, i deffo like these ones a lot better so far

[star-shaped-thoughts]

Kravitz might look like a skeleton with a hood and glowing eyes most of the time, but sometimes he's so much more than that. Or, Kravitz is a biblical angel.

Read on AO3

In the beginning, there is nothing. Nobody knows who created the first thing to be alive, a beautiful black bird with soaring wings that breathes and has a heart. It’s the first thing to live and the first to die. The moment it’s heart stops beating, the Raven Queen was born.

She’s regal, beautiful as a night sky and created from a dying bird, abstract and not human in any way, but she looks ethereal to even the worst of eyes. There aren’t words to describe her, and there would probably never be. But the Raven Queen is kind and lets everyone see her as they want in their last moments; a woman dressed in red, an old grandmother offering her hand, a man engulfed in blazing flames, whatever each person needs to come to her.

The universe keeps growing, and for each thing born it must also die, even if they’re only alive for a day like a mayfly or live hundreds of years. She takes care of everyone, but it’s not easy and she’s lonely. She doesn’t know when the gods started to appear, or when things like destiny became something everybody had. Things had been simpler back then, straightforward in a way that the universe hadn’t been in a while.  

It takes time until she finds what she needs. A young raven looking at her as it’s dying, and she cradles it close when it’s last breath leaves it’s small lungs. In it’s eyes she doesn’t see a new version of herself, instead there’s the reflection of the night sky and black feathers and everything that makes her the Raven Queen. She looks at it and knows as surely as anything that the bird is meant for more.

For the first time, she creates a life.

The first thing Kravitz says to Taako when they meet is “Don’t be afraid.”

Well, it’s like the first thing he says to Taako after he stopped being a crystal golem. Taako doesn’t really get it because yeah okay a skull with glowing eyes in a cape can be scary but Taako’ seen worse. There’s also the accent, which. No.

When they meet again, much later in a different place and less crystals to worry about and more first date jitters, Kravitz once again says “Don’t be afraid.”

It doesn’t make sense, because Kravitz looks good in his suit and hair braided with golden treads. And then Taako doesn’t really have time to think about it anymore, Kravitz is handsome and caring and laughs with Taako and it’s a perfect dinner. He wouldn’t change a thing even if he could, weird greetings be damned.

The moment Kravitz is drowning in the darkness and Taako is too far away to do anything but hopelessly reach his hand out and watch, it feels wrong. And maybe it’s Taako diving headfirst into too deep feelings too fast, but kravitz looks like a bird trashing in an oil spill, desperately trying to lift his wings and getting his body to work to no avail. For a moment he’s neither man nor skeleton. Then he’s gone.

During the battle with John, The Hunger, the arrival of Kravitz with is something straight out of a vision. Taako gazes at him and he knows without a doubt that Kravitz is something different. There’s a mess of darkness around him unfolding with each step he takes forward and it takes a moment for Taako’s eyes to take it in and he blinks.

Kravitz has wings. Six oily black wings curling around him, feathers ruffled and bird like. But he’s still the same man who wants to heat himself up before kissing Taako, and Taako laughs and ignores the fact that there are eyes covering Kravitz all over- even in between the feathers, all of them filled with adoration.

It feels like Taako should have expected something like this, should have prepared for it and maybe had a moment with himself where he actually thought about what it meant to get involved with a man who works directly for a god. Strangely enough, he finds that he doesn’t really care, Kravitz is the same, even if there’s two eyes on his left cheek that sparkles and blinks at him.

“Don’t be afraid, please.” And Kravitz voice is almost shy, and his wings furrow closer to his back and the rest of his eyes glance sideways. He’s holding Taako’s hands, tracing the veins under the skin with his thumb delicately. There’s an eye on the back of his hand just slightly off center, and it closes, melting in with the dark skin on Kravitz hand so well that it might as well not even be there.

“Ah,” Taako blinks and tries again. “This is how you usually look? Or is it like, more eye-ting more fighting?” So sue him it didn’t rhyme or make sense. But Kravitz face didn’t really make sense either, it was all fair.

“No this, this is how I look, sort of.” Most of his eyes were looking away from Taako, focusing on something to the side of him or behind, his hands a bit sweaty.

Taako raises one eyebrow, or at least tries to. “Mhm, you got any other hidden features I don’t know about?”

“I- not anything you need to be concerned about right now?” There’s a blush high on Kravitz cheeks and he looks so cute, but in a very handsome way. It’s a weird mix that Taako appreciates looking at immensely.

“Yeah we’re gonna discuss that later because there’s obviously something, but like, I’d so be up for kissing you again before that.” Kravitz laughs before kissing him again, and again and again. Taako gets so many kisses that his head is spinning at the end.

It feels a lot like love.

He’s with Lup and Barry being guided through wherever they are by Kravitz to his queen. The floor is made out of branches, some as thin as his fingers and others that takes three steps to get over, and he can’t help but compare it to a birds nest. He gets it though, sticking to an aesthetic is important and the Raven Queen chose a bird theme.

Kravitz has a small spring in his steps, walking the uneven path like he’d done it a million times before. He looks comfortable, shoulders relaxed and hands clasped loosely behind him. As he turns his head Taako can see the small smile on his face, the same he wore during their first date. It makes him smile back, pleased to see Kravitz in his own element back home, because that’s where they are. In Kravitz home, and something burns in Taako’s chest, something warm and filling. He’s sure he looks way too excited to visit the god of death but Kravitz blows him a kiss and Lup rolls her eyes.

Taako feels more content in that moment than he has in a long time.

Here’s the thing: Taako has met gods before. He’s seen Istus, he should be used to them. The Raven Queen is not like other gods. She’s incomprehensible.  

Taako can’t even look at her without his eyes straining and his head violently hurting. She’s too much, and he’s frantically trying to describe what she looks like but it’s impossible. She’s the sky- stretching wide and changing color, a desperate feeling of hopelessness and giving up and coming home, she’s a thousand birds and stars twisted together into a form with wings and beaks and light melted down. She has more eyes than he ever thought existed all looking at him and she’s bone deep exhaustion during the night when he can’t sleep, she a monotone note growing louder and louder until it’s roaring in his ears.

He has to turn his head, focus on something to the side and in the corner of his vision he can see her. It’s not much, and its vague, like being stuck in a dark room with the only source of light so faint you can’t see it by looking at it. There’s still ringing in his ears.

She opens her mouths, beak, throat, and the sound that comes out isn’t what Taako expects. It’s high pitched, loud and like a birdsong. He doesn’t understand it at all but he knows that she’s laughing, the motions vibrating in his chest and releasing the tension in him.

“Don’t be afraid.” Kravitz says next to him, reaching out and grabbing his hand and Taako doesn’t feel afraid. Because Kravitz is there next to him looking the same as always, even if his eyes have the night in them and there are dark wings spread out behind him.

“I’m not.” Taako responds, before kissing the lid of the eye on Kravitz hand. It feels a lot like devotion.