#chapter thirty four

[redux-iterum]

A Kindling: Chapter Thirty-Four

(AO3 counterpart here.)

The race for home was an eternity in itself, made worse by the slowed pace of the wounded warriors trying to avoid hurting themselves further. Firepaw’s stomach clenched and iced over the longer it took to get back to camp. His mind refused to come up with images of the aftermath. He was too afraid to guess.

They arrived to the sight of broken ferns and scuffed soil, kicked up by paws both big and small whose owners had already taken their leave. The fear-scents of ThunderClan and ShadowClan cats assaulted his nose. Blood was everywhere, some speckled on the ground and brushed onto plants that no one slowed down to inspect. Bluestar led ThunderClan and RiverClan through the entrance, skidding to a stop only once she was far enough inside to let everyone else through. Firepaw got to the head of the crowd and involuntarily cried out in distress.

The scent of fresh wounds clogged his nose, small beads of blood clumped together on the sandy floor. One trail led to the huddled forms of the elders, now cleaning their wounds. One-eye huddled over Smallstorm, a paw on his unmoving side. Ashfur was close by, just as lifeless, his mouth open and teeth bared.

Patchpelt, his nose and muzzle shredded, looked up wearily at the returning warriors. He sat up straight and immediately almost fell down again. His front legs wobbled hard enough that Ravenpaw, running to him, had to help him stay up.

“They took the kits and Willowpelt,” he said with a rattle to his voice. “We tried to stop them, but… there were so many. Rogues and warriors, all of them.”

A thunderous growl pierced the camp. Firepaw jolted to look; Goldenflower was more red than gold now, and she was struggling to get back to her feet.

“Goldenflower!” Tigerclaw pushed through the crowd and rushed to her side, tailed by Lionface and Firepaw.

“Leave me be,” she spat through her bloodied teeth with such rage that Firepaw stopped in his tracks. She forced herself up with visible difficulty and shouldered past the giant toms, her head low but her amber eyes burning with the rage of the early greenleaf sun.

Bluestar regarded her for a moment before looking at the approaching hag. “Tell me what happened, quickly.”

“Damned stars didn’t warn me of this,” the hag croaked. Her own face was scratched up and her ears were tattered enough that Firepaw was amazed they hadn’t fallen off. “Brokenstar sent his lackies to take the kits as hostages. Their mother—she was overpowered. Would’ve died had I not told her to go with them quietly.” She nodded to the elders. “These cats fought valiantly to keep them, and it cost us two lives, as you can see.”

Bluestar bowed her head and sighed, jaw clenched. “We lost Redtail helping WindClan, too.”

“That vile little—” A warm brown tom from RiverClan that Firepaw thought looked familiar stepped forward, speaking to Bluestar. “We don’t have time to rest, obviously. What’s the plan?”

Bluestar didn’t look at him, but she replied, “We’re following them to the marshes, and we’re getting our cats back.”

The tom looked to Crookedstar. “I’ll fetch WindClan and have them meet us over the road, yeah?”

Crookedstar glanced at Bluestar, who nodded, and echoed the gesture. “Be swift, now.”

The tom turned and weaved through the warriors, disappearing down the entrance and back into the forest.

Bluestar lifted her head and turned back to the hag. “Where is ShadowClan camp? Tell me—”

“I’ll do you one better,” the hag said. “I’ll show you. I’ve strength left yet in me and a bone to pick with that slitprick.”

Goldenflower lurched forward. “I’m coming, too.”

Bluestar appraised the matriarch with narrowed eyes. “You can barely stand, Goldenflower. You’ve done your part; we’ll take it from here.”

“No, you won’t.” Goldenflower’s claws flexed and dug into the sand. “It’s my role to protect them, and I didn’t. I’m coming along and I’m getting them back myself, no matter what you say.”

Unsteadily but with purpose, she stalked up to Bluestar. The cats around her backed away in alarm.

Bluestar raised her voice a little, stern and tired. “I’m sure you did everything you could, but—”

Goldenflower’s fur stood on-end, making her seem twice the size of her sleeker leader. With muzzle wrinkled and teeth bared, she growled, “You are taking me with you.”

Firepaw stared at the gentle matriarch, now a titan coated in blood and torn flesh, almost too wounded to believably be standing tall, ordering the leader of ThunderClan around with an unmatched, steadfast fury.

The blue-gray molly looked up at her, evenly matching her glare with cool yellow eyes.

A tense silence hung over the camp.

“Lick your wounds and get ready,” Bluestar finally said. “If you slow us down, we leave you behind.”

The matriarch’s deep golden fur didn’t flatten, nor did her ears raise or her nose smooth out, but she stepped back and out of Bluestar’s face. Firepaw glanced at her mate, his dark face surprised yet his amber eyes gleaming with pride.

Nightpelt limped forward, tailed by Palecloud. “What can we do to help?”

“Stay here and help clean the others up,” Bluestar said. “We’ll come back for you when everything’s resolved. You don’t need to fight any further.”

Unlike Goldenflower, the elders relaxed at the dismissal. Palecloud nodded and turned back to approach Halftail, who was silently licking at a gash on his leg.

Bluestar turned to the hag. “Nameless.”

“Follow.” The seer stalked through the crowd of warriors, weary but forcible enough to push these much bigger cats out of her way. Bluestar and Crookedstar went after her, followed by the rest, some glancing back sadly at the bloody camp. Firepaw and Greypaw waited for Ravenpaw to lean his head on his grandfather before hurrying to join them.

The mixed party spread out on their way to the marshes, evenly blended between ThunderClan and RiverClan, led by a ShadowClan seer. Some walked with their sworn enemies in silent determination, united by a fierce purpose.

But as soon as the night’s over, the war for those stupid rocks is back on, Firepaw thought bitterly.

The hag’s stomps turned more into hobbling the longer they went on, but she never slowed her pace, nor did she utter a sound of complaint. Firepaw caught Bluestar and Crookedstar sharing a concerned glance at one point when the hag stumbled and forced herself onward. Goldenflower stalked close behind, bristling larger than Tigerclaw, who was hovering at her side, could ever hope to be. 

The hot scent of iron wafted from the mated couple. They’ll be forced to rest for half a moon if they keep their wounds from healing. The warriors surrounding them often made pained growls or offered words of concern to their neighbors. Goldenflower was silent, her mussed tail lashing back and forth. Maybe the emotions are dulling the pain, Firepaw assured himself.

The sky in the east was losing stars by the time the party made it to the road. RiverClan cats wrinkled their noses and whispered prayers to StarClan at the stench of rotting remains from the elder, Brightflower, though her body had long since been picked apart and carried off in pieces by other animals. Firepaw hadn’t been out this way since finding the elders. He fought the urge to vomit.

WindClan was close to the meeting point as the other Clans carefully crossed the road, a few cats at a time. No cars came their way, but Firepaw still glanced side-to-side nervously when it was his turn. The black stone attempted to be flat like the floors of a house, but a few bumps and mounds cropped up here and there. Combined with the stink, Firepaw was actually grateful to cross into the warzone and join up with WindClan’s warriors as Rookstar spoke quietly with the other leaders.

Maybe it’ll be alright, Firepaw thought, looking around anxiously. They can give up peacefully, can’t they? But then what will happen to Brokenstar? Will he get away free? What if he—

“Warriors!”

Bluestar had hopped onto a stone just tall enough to put her over the heads of everyone else as they turned to her.

“Thank you all for assisting us. We’ll end this quickly; the escapee from ShadowClan is with us—she’s leading us directly to their camp. I’m told it’s a bunch of brush lumped together. When we get there, surround it on all sides. Do not attempt to go in without a word from any of the leaders here, and do not engage in a fight unless attacked first. We’ll assess what Brokenstar intends to do once there and try to negotiate peacefully. Any questions?”

No one said anything. A calico near Firepaw pinned her ears back and twitched her lip, but stayed silent.

“Then let’s go.” Bluestar jumped down and, flanked by the tom leaders, started north. The Clans followed, once again melding together into a singular unit.

Firepaw was at least grateful that he wasn’t the only one struggling through the marshes; many cats had to pause repeatedly to avoid falling off a mound of soft earth and into a stream within a dell hidden by tall, coarse grass. The air was sticky and tiny bugs whined in Firepaw’s ears, ones he’d only seen before at a neighbor’s house which had a little water fixture in its yard. Occasionally a croak similar to the hag’s voice sounded off, and the soft shift of grass was sometimes accompanied by a hiss or curse when someone stepped in water. The cacophony of strange birdsong (though he overheard a RiverClan cat call it frogsong) drowned out his thoughts.

“Halt,” Rookstar said suddenly, and at once everyone did. Firepaw, on the edge of the spread-out party, peered around a WindClan cat to see what was going on.

A grey tom, too big to be a ShadowClan cat, had just popped his head up through the grass. He stood in the path of the leaders, claws out, but even from the apprentice’s distance he could make out the tom’s shaking frame. Behind him, a few tiny heads peered through the grass, all big eyes and terrified faces.

“You can stop there,” the tom said unsteadily. “Go back home, and… and…”

“Idiot boy.” The hag growled a sigh and stomped up to the tom, who leaned back like she was a ThunderClan warrior. “Take yourself and the little ones east and wait until the daylight.”

The tom stared at her.

She snorted. “Yes, yes, I live; be over with it now. Look at the kits you bring with you, Bouldernose—I’d not say they could handle a patrol this large, no?” She squinted one eye at the kittens, who immediately clumped together. They were shaking even more violently the grey tom. “You’d send them and yourself to die for him? Fool that he is?”

Bouldernose looked up again at the massive troop. He looked back at the apprentices (or kits, really). He turned back to the hag, breathed in, and shakily let it out.

“This isn’t your fight, lad,” Crookedstar said. “Nor is it theirs. Let us through.”

The grey tom shut his eyes tightly, face pinched like he was preparing to say something painful. He didn’t. He just stepped to the side, gently nudging the kit-apprentices a little back so he could stand before them.

“Atta boy.” Crookedstar nodded to him. “Seer, lead on.”

The hag took a moment to jut her chin at the tom. “ShadowClan is an odd place for you to choose to be, boy, but they’ll be grateful after this, should you stay.”

Bouldernose said so quietly that Firepaw almost didn’t hear him, “I have a name now. I’m not going anywhere.”

The hag harrumphed, sounding amused, and then started off again. Bouldernose kept his guard in front of the kit-apprentices as the Clans marched forward. Firepaw tried to catch their eye and give an encouraging nod and friendly blink, silently trying to reassure them that things would be okay.

Very soon, a clump of brush came into view—one that looked half-dead, unlike the rest scattered about the territory that Firepaw had seen. The sickly smell of ShadowClan wafted from it, as did unfamiliar cat-scents. Were all the rest in there?

The invaders spread out, forming a ring around the bushes that was several cats thick. Whispers and shuffling branches betrayed ShadowClan. A few eyes glimmered in the shades, but they quickly went out.

“Brokenstar!” Bluestar barked.

No response. Cats glanced at each other in apprehension.

“You’re not blind, twit,” the hag croaked. “Gander out. You’ve no choice but to surrender.”

“We can negotiate, prra,” Rookstar said quietly.

“There are words to be said between me and him,” the hag growled. “And me and this shoddy Clan that let this fool reign for this long.” She raised her voice. “Hark! Cowards, all! Be sensible for once in your hare-hearted lives and shove him out to be dealt with! Have some nerve! There are more of you than him!”

“I have—” Brokenstar’s voice was more of a squeak than a shout. “I have reinforcements, Murkpelt! The Aulmir cats still stand with me!”

“You mean the ones that ran off when ThunderClan came to help WindClan?” Crookedstar snorted. “Right lovely help they’d be about now.”

“Your lackeys ran for the Aulmir, Brokenstar,” Bluestar added, voice steely. “Whatever cats you have left with you won’t be enough to hold us all off. We’re here for Willowpelt and her kits.”

“And you in the bargain!” the hag shouted. “Plan to run? Escape your crimes?”

Bluestar opened her mouth, probably to admonish the hag for speaking again, but several scattered threats and challenges rang out from the ring of warriors and apprentices.

“Come out and face justice!”

“We can wait all night, peace-breaker!”

Goldenflower raised her voice to a bellow. “Stars help you if those kits are hurt!”

A shrill yowl echoed from the bushes.

“Take one step forward and they die!” Brokenstar shouted back. He said something else, but it was too quiet and indistinct for Firepaw to catch it. The brush shivered. As a bloodied shape tumbled out of the cover.

It took a heartbeat to recognize her, but beneath the mess of loam and blood was the slender pale grey form of Willowpelt. The cold clutch of fear gripped Firepaw’s heart until the queen let out a growl of pain, pushing herself off the ground. She panted labored breaths, and when her one-eyed gaze landed on Firepaw, his heart broke for her. 

“Willowpelt!” came from several ThunderClan cats. Whitecloud had to stop Brindleface from moving forward, and Goldenflower’s fur flared, her claws digging into the soft loam.

“Take your queen and go, if you like,” Brokenstar added, not a small tinge of uncertainty in his voice. “But the kits stay with us. If you try to come in, we will kill them. All of you, leave immediately, and they won’t be hurt! In fact, we’ll even release them to you as soon as you’re back on your own borders!”

Another wail split the air, raising Firepaw’s fur with the anxiety of another’s pain.

“I mean every word that I say!” Brokenstar spat. “Leave! Now!”

Another voice started, “Brokenstar, please, this isn’t—”

They stopped. Whatever Brokenstar was doing, it was enough to frighten them into silence.

“Mark me, boy,” the hag snarled, her rasp somehow thunderous. “Any drop of blood of theirs you spill will be paid back thricefold, by you. You should have killed the matriarch if you wanted any safety tonight.”

Firepaw glanced over at Goldenflower. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl and even from his distance, he could hear the restrained snarl under her breath. She looked like Horoa himself ready to strike, only Tigerclaw and Lionface’s combined efforts to restrain the matriarch preventing her from diving into the dell.

The dark tabby murmured something to her. Her tail thrashed harder, kicking up dirt and battering a crushed, strong-scented plant.

“Brokenstar, don’t make a mistake you’ll regret,” Crookedstar said. “You’ve made enough of those tonight, and all nights before this. Release the kits—”

“Get back to your territories first!” Brokenstar shouted. “Their fur isn’t thick enough to protect their throats!”

“Brokenstar!” someone within the bushes gasped.

“Go out and be killed yourself if you like!” he snapped to them. Several cats cried in alarm. He yowled back to the outside, “Leave and no one needs to die! Stay and these kits suffer for your idiocy! Have I made myself clear?!”

[renee-writer]

Out of Time Chapter Thirty -Four

AO3

“Do you know what is causing it?” Jenny asks Claire. “Since you are in the military?”

“We have the capacity and since…” her she hesitates, “he was involved, maybe they did make it. Not the main people but a fringe, maybe.” She sighs and looks at the beakers and other lab equipment they brought from the other shelter. “He was immune as are the other two men we encountered. We took a sample of his blood. Maybe we can figure out what makes them so.”

Jamie is focused on that, his head down over the microscope. Mary has returned to teaching the children including Ian Jr. Maggie holds on to her mammy’s leg. The strangers are still a bit scary to her.

“Aye, he hoarsely says. He has been up for quite awhile. “That is the goal.” He looks up and stretches. “We can’t stay down here forever.”

The supplies had been organized. They are able to feed everyone, for now. Supplementing with the MRE’s they have food for the next month, if they are very careful. Mary and the children get the most. The others eat a few times a day. It is working but won’t for long.

“No, we can’t .” Jenny lifts Maggie onto her hip. “What will we do?”

Claire and Jamie ‘s eyes meet. It is a good question. One they can’t answer. There is no way to move them out to far. The oxygen tanks won’t last. Besides, where else is there? If their neighbors had hidey holes, they don’t know where they are.

“I shall figure it out. That bastard wasn’t good for much else. His blood has the answer. It has to.” He turns back to the microscope. Jenny looks at Claire. She tries to give her a reassuring smile. It doesn’t quite teach that level. Jenny, no dummy, knows that his blood is their only hope.

“There is no way to determine what it is made of?” she softly asks.

“Another thing we are working on.” Claire responds. She nods.

“Good.”

“Jenny,” his voice breaks a little, “I swear to do all I can to see to you and the bairns.”

She places a free hand on his shaking shoulder. “I know brother.” Her voice is equally shaking. Claire bites her lip and says a quick prayer.

“Please God! Please help us.”

[isabellafoster13]

WARNING: REFERENCES TO ABUSE!

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Big Dog

Lucy stared at the fire that was beginning to dwindle as she took a bite of her breakfast. She, Freed, and Midnight sat around the fire as they ate in silence. Virgo had summoned herself to cook the three of the something. Pancakes and eggs. It was good, very good. Though, Lucy had already known that Virgo's cooking was good. 

Freed was the one who broke the silence. "Any suggestions on where to begin our search? Or even how to conduct our search?" 

Midnight then spoke, "it'd take far too long if we search together. Might be best if we do what I believe you two and Rufus did when I caught up with you guys: split up and use Lucy's keys to signal that we found it." 

The two men looked at Lucy, wanting her say on the matter. Lucy continued to stare at the fire as she took another bite of her eggs. The forest they were in wasn't particularly big, and probably could barely be considered a forest, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be difficult to find Sirius' key. They were, after all, in a forest. The damn key could be anywhere. 

Lucy swallowed her bit of food and finally answered, "I agree that it would probably be best if we do what we did on the night that Midnight showed up. We can go in different directions and each use a key to signal if we find Sirius' key." She gave a sigh, gaze drifting to the food in her hands. "Let's hope that we'll find it soon. We can't make Rufus wait long. They'll do terrible things to him if we don't find him soon." 

Her voice sounded empty even to her own ears. She hadn't meant to bring the mood down more than it already was, or make Freed and Midnight feel worse than they probably already were, but once she started thinking about what Terra, Lust, and Nyx were capable of putting Rufus through, what she had gone through, it wasn't exactly something that she could help. 

She felt an arm slide across her shoulders, giving her a sort of side hug. She looked over to find Freed sitting next to her and giving her a comforting smile. She almost missed the light dusting of pink on his cheek that wasn't hidden by his green bangs. "We'll save him before any actual harm can come to him. I promise, Lucy." 

Lucy knew that he wasn't entirely sure if what he was saying was true, it was clear in his uncovered, sea-green eye that she had always thought was beautiful, but it was an honest attempt at comforting her, and she appreciated it. She leaned closer to his side, letting him fully give her a side hug, as she responded, "thanks, Freed. I feel a little bit better." That was a lie, but she did want to make Freed feel as though his comfort attempt had worked, if only a little bit.

Lucy and Freed were brought back out of the comfort bubble that they had somewhat formed by Midnight abruptly standing and saying, "we better get looking while it's still daytime." 

Lucy pulled away from Freed and gave Midnight a puzzled and slightly concerned look. She couldn't quite put her finger on what emotion his tone was reflecting, but it didn't sound happy to her. Was he upset? What upset him? Did her talk about what could happen to Rufus make him worried? She hadn't meant to worry or upset either of her friends. Her facial expression shifted to one of sympathy and guilt as she watched Midnight take down the tent and roll up the sleeping bags. 

Deciding that she should apologize and put his worries to ease, or at least try, Lucy placed her now-empty plate on the ground and stood up, holding out her hand to Freed to help him up to his feet. Once she pulled her guildmate up off of the ground, she turned to Midnight and said, "I'll summon Virgo and she can clean up here." When Midnight straightened up and looked at her, she walked closer to him until she was close enough to continue in a low voice, "I'm sorry about just a few minutes ago. I didn't mean to make you upset or more worried." 

Midnight was silent for a few moments, just staring at her with a look that Lucy couldn't identify. Then, he finally sighed and responded, his voice just as low as hers was, "it's not your fault. You were just being honest. Can't get mad at you for that. Let's just get going so we can save the Sabor." 

Lucy nodded and requiped a few keys into her hand. She first summoned Virgo and asked her to take care of the campsite. Once that was finished, she handed Taurus' key to Freed and Gemini's key to Midnight, keeping Virgo's key for herself. 

She turned back to Midnight and instructed, "sending a signal with these isn't difficult. Just channel some of your magic into the key like you would any other magical object and form a circle with the key above your head. It'll send up a firework that Freed and I should be able to spot." 

Midnight looked down at the golden key in his hand and nodded before he raised it above his head and moved his hand in a circle, golden sparkles following the movement. Within just a few seconds, a firework burst in the air, a flurry of golden sparkles showering down before they disappeared before they could reach the ground. 

Lucy nodded at Midnight. "Yeah, exactly like that." She then stepped away and turned around to face her two friends. "Freed, you go West," she pointed in said direction, "Midnight, you go South," once again, she pointed in said direction, "I'll go North. We work toward the East. If we don't find Sirius' key in our designated directions, then we'll look together in the East." 

When Freed and Midnight nodded, the trio quickly headed off in their assigned directions, keys held tightly in their hands. 

Lucy trudged through her foresty surroundings, bending down and stretching as far as she could every few moments to look inside of holes in the ground and trees. All the while, she reached out her magic, hoping that she would feel an answering wave of magic from the key she was looking for. 

She sighed and sat on a stump, flexing her feet and rolling her ankles in hopes of somewhat soothing the aching in her feet from walking for hours. She cast her eyes up to the sky, taking note of how far down the sun had gone. It was barely visible through the trees, inching closer to the horizon. She guess that it was the beginning of the evening hours. 

"This is taking a while, huh?" 

Lucy jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to see who had spoken from behind her. Loke stood there with his hands in his pockets, a warm smile on his attractive face. She sighed, "Loke. You scared me." 

The celestial spirit chuckled as he sat on the ground beside her stump. "Sorry, didn't mean to, Princess." 

Lucy rolled her eyes. "My feet hurt." She rubbed her feet through her shoes. 

Loke gave a sigh and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not surprised." 

"Why is Sirius' key here? If he and Orion are so tied together, then why aren't their keys together?" 

Loke was silent for a while. Lucy watched him with her brow furrowed in confusion. She knew that it wasn't likely that Loke would know the answer, not unless he was in regular contact with either spirit, but she had to know why two spirits who were so closely connected that one could not appear without the other having their keys so separated. 

Loke stared down at his hands that were wringing together in his lap, almost nervously, it seemed. Lucy was tempted to go back on her question, starting to get worried that she had said something that caused Loke to become upset. However, her voice would not come when she tried. She could only watch Loke in silence as he seemed to mull over the question as he avoided her gaze. 

After a felt like several minutes, Loke finally spoke, "Orion hide Sirius' key...at some point in the past." There was another long pause. Loke lifted his head to stare across from where he sat, at the trees that stood there. "All of us celestial spirits have had abusive keyholders. Some have had it worse than others." Another pause. 

Lucy was able to guess where this was going. She didn't want Loke to feel like he had to tell her, but she also wanted him to tell her if he was fine with doing so. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and said, softly but with a hint of firmness, "Loke, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to. I understand that talking about abusive keyholders is difficult and painful for you. Don't say anything that you aren't comfortable with saying." 

Loke shot her an appreciative smile, his hazel eyes glistening with unshed tears. He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear, "it's alright. I'm fine. I promise." 

Lucy doubted his words, just a little bit, but she still nodded her head and allowed him to continue.

Loke heaved a sigh before he spoke again, this time louder after he cleared his throat, "Orion and Sirius were two of the ones who got it the worst. Eventually, Orion decided to hide both of their keys...separately. I guess he cared more about Sirius than himself, if he hide that hound's key this well. I'm not surprised, though. He always did have a major soft spot for the mutt." 

Lucy nodded. "That makes sense. I feel terrible that he felt like he had to go to those types of lengths to keep himself and Sirius safe." 

Loke placed his hand onto hers. "He's not the only one. Others have hidden their keys. A lot of us have hidden our keys at some point." 

"Even you?" She looked down at him, her voice barely above a whisper. 

"Yeah. Even me." Loke looked up at her, a sad smile on his face. Upon feeling a few drops of tears escaping from his eyes, he wiped them away. He then sniffled before he looked back up at Lucy, a smile still on his face, and said with a voice that was a bit brighter, "but I have no need to do it now. Not since you're the one who has my key. And I know that whoever will have my key next will be just as kind as you. You won't let any of our keys go to someone who would be any less." 

Lucy smiled down at him. She moved off of the stump she was sitting on and to the ground right in front of Loke. Kneeling in front of him, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight, warm embrace, one that Loke returned quickly. 

"You're right, Loke. I will never give any keys to someone who I don't trust with all my heart to treat you all with the love and respect that you all deserve." 

"Thank you, Lucy. This is why you're the best celestial wizard to ever exist." His voice was shaky with tears. 

Lucy didn't say anything else. She simply continued to hug her friend as she tried to blink away the tears that were stinging her eyes. 

They eventually pulled away from each other when they heard a faint bang. Lucy looked up at the sky, seeing a shower of golden sparkles in the distance. It was in the direction that she had just come from. South. Lucy turned back to Loke and said with a smile, "it looks like Midnight found Sirius." 

Loke looked up at the sun, which could scantly be seen through the high branches and many leaves of the trees. "About time. You guys were losing daylight." 

Lucy nodded and stood up, taking Loke's hands and pulling him up as she did so. With another hug and a quick goodbye, Loke dismissed himself and Lucy ran as fast as her legs could carry her in the direction that she had seen the signal come from. 

Lucy found Freed and Midnight standing underneath a tree, both staring down at a hole at the base. Upon her approach, both men turned to face her. "The key is in this hole, but neither of us can reach it." Midnight pointed at said hole. 

Lucy nodded, taking back the two keys that Freed and Midnight handed to her and requiping them back to join the others. She then smiled at her friends and responded, "don't worry, I have a spirit that can grab it." She requiped a silver key into her hand and pointed the blade at the ground in front of her. "Open! Gate of the Little Dog: Plue!" 

With a puff of smoke, Plue appeared in front of Lucy, greeting her happily and shaking, as per usual. When Lucy picked him up and hugged him against her chest, Freed chuckled. "I haven't seen this one in a while." He then stepped closer and rubbed the top of Plue's head in greeting. "Hello, Plue. How have you been?" 

Plue answered with sounds that nobody could understand. Nevertheless, Freed chuckled again and continued the pet the top of the celestial spirit's head. Lucy smiled at the sight. It reminded her of when she first summoned Plue around Freed. They had decided to take a job together in an effort to get to know each other better. To her surprise, Freed took a great liking to Plue. Ever since, Freed's always enjoyed having Plue around, even if he never actually said it. He never needed to, though, Lucy could tell by the way her guildmate would seem to always be petting or holding Plue. And Plue, of course, liked Freed a lot due to the attention that the green-haired man would give him. 

"I hate to interrupt, but we have a key to get."

Midnight's voice dragged Freed's and Lucy's attention over to him and the hole at the base of the that they were all standing underneath. Lucy's brow furrowed a little in confusion. Midnight's lips were pulled into what looked to her like an irritated frown and his brow was furrowed considerably. Was he upset? What could have upset him? Lucy wasn't sure. Maybe she should ask him. Or would that be prying too much? 

Lucy sighed, deciding to just focus on the key. She stepped closer to the hole and kneeled in front of it, placing Plue on the ground. "Alright, Plue, I need to try and grab the key that is there." 

Plue gave a happy salute and hopped over to the hole, diving headfirst into it. It took only a few seconds for the little dog spirit to emerge, a silver key held above his head in triumph. 

Lucy cheered, "good job, Plue." She took the key and allowed Plue to return to the Celestial Spirit World. She then stood up, turned around, and walked forward so that she was a few steps ahead of Freed and Midnight. She looked over the key in her hands. Its bow was circular and had the black silhouette of a large dog on it. The blade was shaped like a dog's paw print. She pointed the blade away from herself and called, "I connect to World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Big Dog: Canis Major!"

In front of Lucy, a bright, silvery light shined and a large bell rang. Lucy smiled at the sight, happy to be one step closer to finding Rufus. However, her smile quickly fell when the sound of menacing growling reached her ears. The light soon faded and Lucy was faced with a sight that greatly scared her. 

A large, black dog stood a few feet in front of Lucy. It was much bigger than Lupus, its shoulder reaching her breasts. Its eyes were frightening, blood red color, and its sharp teeth, which were now bared as it couched into a threatening posture, were a glistening white. Its muzzle was long and thin and its ears were large and pointed, from what Lucy was able to tell despite them being flat against the spirit's head. 

Sirius gave a loud bark and snapped its large jaws at Lucy, causing her to yelp and jump back. In an instant, Freed and Midnight had both jumped in front of her, shielding her from any attack that Sirius might try to launch. As Lucy watched the stand-off, her stomach had dropped to her feet, heart picked up its pace dramatically, and her body practically froze, she questioned what she should do. 

She didn't like the idea of fighting a celestial spirit, especially one that's been harmed as much of this one has been, but she supposed that she didn't have much of a choice. At least, not unless she could get Sirius to calm down. She took a few steps back. How could she calm Sirius? 

The dog barked again and launched itself at the mages. Midnight grabbed Lucy and pulled her to the side, out of Sirius' way as Freed drew his rapier and quickly threw his own attack, calling out as jumped away from the large dog, "Dark Ecriture: Pain!" 

Lucy watched with wide eyes as the spell had no effect. Sirius only turned its threatening gaze onto Lucy and stalked closer to her. Freed gaped, "my magic had no effect!" 

Midnight stepped in front of Lucy. "Mine will!" He then raised his arm and swiped it from one side of himself to the other, calling out, "Spiral Pain!" 

This too didn't have an effect. When a vortex of distorted air swirled around Sirius, the spirit only stopped walking. Once the spell came to an end, Sirius snarled back and continued to stalk toward the pair. 

Midnight backed himself closer to Lucy's front. "How the hell is this thing immune to our magic?" 

Sirius then bounded forward, pushing Midnight to the ground off to the side. Fear filled Lucy as she was backed up against a tree by the hound. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, her body trembled, and a few beads of sweat raced down the sides of her face. She could faintly hear Midnight groaning in pain as he stumbled back to his feet and Freed yelling at her to run. She wanted to run, her mind screamed at her to run, but her body refused to listen, and her legs remained rooted to the ground. 

As Sirius slowly stepped closer, growling and glaring, Lucy's hand tightened on the object that she was holding onto as if it would save her. Her eyes glanced down at the object in curiosity of what it was, having somehow forgotten that she was holding Sirius' key. Upon the sight of the silver key in her hand, an idea kicked its way into her mind. 

Wait! Orion! Lucy requiped Orion's key into her other hand and pointed it at Sirius. Screwing her eyes shut, she called out, "Open! Gate of the Hunter: Orion!" 

A flash of silvery light signaled the arrival of Orion, something that Lucy was relieved to see. She watched as a large man, so large in fact that Sirius' shoulder reach his hip, appeared. The man's reaction to seeing his hound was instant. "Sirius! There's my special girl!" Just as quickly, Sirius went from being threatening and scary to playful and happy. When Orion kneeled in front of her, Sirius jumped onto him and licked his face affectionately, tail wagging. This caused Orion to laugh and pet her fiercely. 

Lucy slowly walked around the pair and back over to Freed, who looked pretty shaken by the encounter, and Midnight, who was rubbing his back with a grimace on his face. She smiled at the sight of hound and master reuniting under one wizard. 

The reunion came to an end soon when Orion stood and commanded his hound, "heel." Sirius instantly obeyed, sitting right beside her master. Orion then looked down at Lucy with a smile. He was tall and muscular, intimidatingly so. His skin was brown and his hair was long and tied into a low ponytail. A few locks of hair framed his handsome face. He was shirtless, the only pieces of clothing that he wore being a large piece of dark green cloth that was wrapped around his waist and held there by a brown belt, and a pair of brown sandals. On his back was a quiver filled with large arrows and in his hand opposite of Sirius was a large, wooden bow. 

Lucy smiled up at him, her body already recovering from the earlier scare. "Hello, Orion. It's nice to finally meet you. I was a bit worried that something was wrong when you didn't come when I first summoned you." 

Orion's red eyes softened as he responded, free hand rubbing the back of his neck, "yes, I apologize greatly for that, My Lady. I simply refuse to work under a wizard if they do not also have Sirius. I also greatly apologize if Sirius scared or harmed any of you. She does not kindly to celestial wizards. However, not that you have me too, I'm sure that she'll warm up to you." 

Lucy nodded, gaze drifting to Sirius, who simply gazed back at her blankly. She looked back up at Orion and spoke, "no harm was done, so it's perfectly fine." She then quickly added, "I'm Lucy, by the way, but you might already know that." When Orion nodded with a kind smile, she continued, "so, what days can I summon you two?" 

Orion answered, "any day at all, just as long as you summon both of us." 

"What can you two do?" 

"I am skilled with the bow and arrow, though, not as skilled as Sagittarius, I must admit. Sirius is a tracking dog. She is also quite the fighter." 

Freed spoke up, "I have a question, if you don't mind. When Sirius tried to attack us, she seemed to be immune to our spells. How is this possible?" 

Orion gave a laugh. "She is impervious to magic attacks that are not elemental based." 

Lucy then took her chance to do what she's been waiting several hours to do. She summoned Virgo, the maid spirit dutifully appearing with a "you summoned me, Princess?" 

Lucy requested, "bring me Rufus' hat please." 

When Virgo disappeared, she explained to Orion, "one of your friends was kidnapped and we need your help to find him. Loke, ah, Leo, told us that you could track down anybody with just something that they own. Could you please help us get him back? The mages who took him are incredibly dangerous." 

Orion chuckled before he smiled kindly down at her. "Of course, Lady Lucy. I would be more than happy to find your friend." 

When Virgo reappeared, she handed Rufus' hat to Lucy and dismissed herself back to her own realm. Lucy then handed the hat to Orion, who remarked, "it's not so much me who can track a person, but rather, Sirius who can. I'm simply the only one who can understand her and keep her under control." 

He then lowered the hat to Sirius, commanding, "sniff, Sirius." The dog did as commanded, sniffing the hat several times. When she pulled away and barked, Orion commanded once again, "track, Sirius." The dog followed the order by walking away and pointing with her nose in a direction, one of her front legs raised. 

Orion turned to Lucy and explained, "she's located your friend." He handed the hat back to her before he continued, "I would advise that you use Auriga to keep up with Sirius, she's quite fast and does not stop until she reaches her destination."

Lucy nodded and requiped Sirius' and Orion's keys to where the rest were before she requiped Auriga's key into her hand. She pointed it and summoned, "Open! Gate of the Charioteer: Auriga!" 

In an instant, a large, brown and white horse with a large, red and gold chariot hitched to him. She hopped onto the chariot and motioned with her head for Freed and Midnight to join her. Orion walked over to Sirius with the statement, "we are going to be incredibly fast, so hold on tightly." 

Lucy nodded before she turned her attention to Auriga, ordering, "follow Sirius, Auriga!" 

The horse neighed and gave a single stomp in understanding. With that, Orion gave Sirius the command to lead them to Rufus' location and the group took off with great speed. Sirius and Orion ran ahead, leading the way, and Auriga ran just behind them as Lucy, Freed, and Midnight held onto the sides of the chariot for dear life as the wind whipped at the faces and picked up their hair. 

[batmads-ao3]

[ace-and-ranty]

Reading A City in Mars, and this is the most Murderbot-ass paragraph ever:

"One analysis of every single reported in-flight health issue in all shuttle flights from April 1981 to January 1998 found a total of thirty- four events of “behavioral signs and symptoms,” giving an incidence of about one for every three person-years of spaceflight. That’s amazingly low when you consider that the thirty-four events include things like “anxiety” and “annoyance.” We had thirty-four anxiety and annoyance events just editing this chapter."

[monako-jinn-stories]

Crosshair X Fem!Reader FanFic

It Started with a Vacation

Main Master List

Story Master List

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty Four

You wake up early and throw on some casual clothes before meeting up with Sans in the courtyard. He’d asked the day before to join you in picking up Cyar’ika from Mrs. Dure since Codo had to take Tayah off somewhere, and you of course agreed. He’s wearing comfortable clothes that accentuate his physique, and his skin glows beautifully in the early morning light. He turns to you when he hears your approach, and his smile is warm as he takes you in. “Good morning, Queen Monako,” he says, “are you ready to be escorted to pick up your daughter?”

You huff and roll your eyes at his formality, a smile breaking across your lips. “Of course, Commander Sans. Thank you for waking up so early to ensure my safe travels.”

He takes your hand into his and pulls you slightly closer by it. “I’d wake up any time to ensure your safety,” he replies with a kiss to the top of your hand, “and I’d do anything for you.” You can’t help but fluster at his words, his flirting giving you a new feeling since Crosshair left you broken hearted. His hands brushing against your cheek doesn’t help, either. “How did you sleep?”

“Fine,” you reply, “a bit fitful because I’m nervous about today. I realized half of these games, if not all of them, aren’t really fit for someone Cyar’ika’s age,” you admit. 

“I’m sure she’ll still enjoy being there,” he replies, “all her uncles will be spoiling her, so it can’t get much better than that.”

“Well, not all of them,” you correct with a laugh, “there’s about two million more of you that don’t even know of her existence.”

“Alright then, her favorite uncles,” he clarifies teasingly, “since you want to be so accurate.”

“Hey now, I was just correcting you,” you defend with a giggle.

He huffs and folds his arms sassily, saying “whatever,” like a teenager would. You nudge his side playfully before deciding to take off, surprising him before he runs after you. “I can’t protect you if you run from me!” he calls after you, and you just laugh loudly as you enjoy the feeling of the early morning breeze whipping around you. 

When you finally stop, you're breathing hard, but your body feels like it’s buzzing. You haven’t had that much fun in a while, even if it’s just playfully running from Sans. When he catches up to you, you’re surprised that he wraps his arms around you and picks you up. You let out a yelp before laughing some more as he twirls you around, holding you up in the air and watching you with his own laughs falling out endlessly. 

In the moment, the entire galaxy falls away from you. You forget about the war. You forget about Dohbar. You forget about Crosshair and Cyar’ika. In that moment, it’s just you and Sans, and you feel whole. Your heart swells with love and you want to stay in this moment forever, just you and Sans.

Before you know what’s happening, Sans’s lips meet yours, and your eyes subconsciously flutter closed at the contact. Your lips move in tandem with his, and your hand tangles into his curls. A sigh leaves you as his hands rest on your waist, pulling you gently closer to press into his chest. When he pulls away, his eyes sparkle with so much love, and you can’t help but melt into his hand that is now resting on your cheek.

“Y/n…I love you…so much.”

You blush, the words making a smile paint your face. “I…I know, Sans,” you reply before looking down and swallowing hard. “And…I love y-”

Suddenly, it seems as though time has skipped and you’ve just woken up again to find yourself at Mrs. Dure’s place. The smell of fresh bread baking fills the air as Sans opens the door for you, and when you walk in, giggles meet your ears. “Mama!” Cyar’ika calls out in her small voice, a toothy grin lighting up her face. 

“How is my little Cyar’ika?” you ask while walking over and going to pick her up. She notices Sans, however, and bolts away from you to run to him.

“Up!” she commands, and Sans chuckles before reaching down and picking her up, setting her onto his shoulders. “Woo!” she cheers, and Sans begins jogging around the inside, making her giggle even more. Your heart swells again as you watch the two of them, hearing their laughs and the absolute joy on their faces. When he comes to a stop, Cyar’ika’s face is glowing from her laughs, and you can’t help but wish she could laugh like that every day.

“Mama?” she says, turning to face you while holding onto Sans’s head, “can Sans be my papa?”

You gasp slightly, eyes darting to the man who is now staring at you. His eyes are wide and he blinks at you a few times before chuckling and turning to gaze at Cyar’ika. “Cyare, you already have a papa,” he says with a chuckle.

She pouts, her bottom lip sticking out before she shakes her head. “I don’t want that papa, I want you!”

Your heart breaks and you can’t decide how to feel. You love Sans, you truly do, but you can’t take Cyar’ika away from Crosshair more than you already have. She hasn’t even met him yet. 

Sans looks to you, his eyes gently asking for help. “Cyar’ika,” you say, “Sans is your uncle, but he can be the best uncle there is. You can view him as a father figure, like how I view Codo as one. Would you be happy with that?”

“I guess,” she huffs, dropping her chin onto Sans’s head. 

“Cheer up, Cyare,” Sans says, “I’ll buy you a treat. It is your birthday, after all, and you’re my little birthday princess!”

She giggles again and points over to the counter where the tasty treats are sitting behind glass. Sans kneels down to let her get a better look, and you smile softly as you watch them.

“You really should consider this one,” Mrs. Dure says as she sweeps the floor behind you, “he’s a good man, and a good soldier. He could provide well for the two of you,” she adds while glancing at Cyar’ika giggling in his arms. You look at them as well, and watch as their noses boop together, bright smiles covering both of their faces. The sun gleams in, making them almost glow as they dance around the place, their laughter the most beautiful song to you-

BEEP! Wake up! BEEP! Wake up!

You jump awake, heart pounding as your alarm scares you. You stare up at the ceiling for a moment before you groan into your hands, reaching over and shutting the alarm off. Sighing, you shiver out of bed and immediately change into warm clothes before going to get ready for the day. You don’t notice the flash of lightning outside of your room, but you definitely hear the sound of the thunder as it shakes the palace. 

“Oh, for karks sake,” you grumble, knowing that no one will be wanting to have an entire birthday party in the pouring rain. Your troopers deal with the elements enough as it is, plus you don’t need anyone getting sick. And Cyar’ika doesn’t need to track mud through the palace again, you received an angry transmission from Kwol about it the last time.

A knock at your door startles you and you head to answer it as your toothbrush hangs from your mouth. “Morning, sleeping beauty,” Sans says as he grins cheekily at you, “ready to go get Cyar’ika?”

“Does it look like I’m ready?” you mumble around the toothbrush, and he shrugs while chuckling softly.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you brushed your teeth on the way. Though, we might want to make it quick, the rain was sudden and it doesn’t look like it’ll let up any time soon.”

“Perfect,” you reply before going to the bathroom to spit. You rinse your mouth briefly before leaving the bathroom to put on a pair of boots. “I have no idea what to do now. Everything’s pretty much ruined.”

“We’ll come up with something, don’t worry,” Sans says, “the boys are already on it.”

“Thanks,” you sigh in relief, knowing that they’ll come up with something perfect. You huff, remembering a bit of the dream you’d had. You look at Sans as you walk together, and you wish you could see what dream you saw. Or maybe you do, maybe it’s just too soon after Crosshair.

“Y/n?” Sans asks, waving his hand in front of your face. “Hello?”

“Huh?” you say, shaking your head and turning away as your face heats up with embarrassment. 

“You were staring at me as if I was the sun,” he chuckles, “did you finally have a moment of realization that I am your true love?”

“Something like that,” you mumble, “I had a dream where you were. We were in love, it was kinda nice.”

“Wanna try it out sometime?” he says, slinking his arm around your waist.

You huff, pushing his arm off of you and smirking at him. “Yeah, just give me about sixty more years.”

Sans lets out a dramatic sigh and flails his arms up. “You’re killing me, y/n,” he says. You just giggle to yourself as he continues to joke around, and when you reach the doors you sigh as the rain pours outside. “Do you have anything to cover up with?” Sans asks, and you nod before heading to a closet to grab a couple umbrellas, making sure to bring the small one for Cyar’ika as well as a pair of rubber boots for her. 

The city is empty as you walk to Mrs. Dures and lightning strikes in the distance. Water splashes onto your shoes and you hurry through the rain to make it to the desert part of the city. You can feel the air getting more dry as you get closer, and soon enough sand is mixing in with the grass. 

“I’ve always wondered how your planet changes biomes so quickly,” Sans thinks aloud, “it just doesn’t feel natural to me.”

“Dohbar has a lot of secrets that many people will never know or understand,” you reply, “I can’t say I truly understand it either.”

“Really? Not even the queen knows all of her planet's secrets?” Sans teases while nudging your side. 

“Nope,” you respond casually, shaking off your umbrella when you’re finally clear of the rain. “Science isn’t really my thing anyway. I’m stuck with boring politics.”

“Would you be into science if you had a choice?” 

You think for a moment, considering all the things you had learned in school as a child. You never paid too much attention to anything other than politics and Dohbars history, since you had grown up with your parents pounding into your head that you were the future of the kingdom. “I don’t really know,” you finally respond, “I’d have to go back to school and learn about everything again to know what I’d truly want to do. That is, given I wasn't a queen or Jedi.”

“I think you’d be a lovely model,” Sans says cheekily.

“I know you do,” you reply with an amused huff. “No flirting with me in front of my daughter, she might think that you’re going to become her stepdad.”

“Aww, would that really be so terrible?” Sans questions while throwing his arm around your shoulder.

You jokingly shove his arm off and grin at him. “Yes, yes it would be,” you tease before sticking your tongue out and sprinting off toward Mrs. Dure’s. Sans doesn’t take long to catch up, and soon it’s a race to the destination.

When you reach Mrs. Dure’s, sweat is trickling down you and Sans’ faces. You laugh breathlessly as you both try to catch your breath. “Y’know, you’re the only woman who has ever run from me,” Sans chuckles when he can make words again.

“I’m pretty sure I’m the only woman you’ve ever tried to catch,” you snicker back.

“I suppose you’re not wrong there,” Sans agrees before holding the door open for you, “after you, my Queen.”

You walk in with a playful eye roll, the delicious smells floating to your nose. Cyar’ika’s giggles come from the kitchen, and you walk over to the counter and ring the bell to get her and Mrs. Dure’s attention. Cyar’ika waddles out with a tiny apron and chef's hat on, and you giggle sweetly at the adorable sight as she climbs onto a stool. “What do you want?” she asks in a friendly tone, and you put a finger to your lip, pretending to look at the menu. 

“I think I’ll have a birthday cake for a special birthday girl,” you reply with a grin. She jumps down, racing to the back, her hat bouncing in her head as she goes. 

“She really is adorable,” Sans says with a chuckle, “she definitely gets her cuteness from you.”

“Really? I’m so surprised that you would think that,” you laugh. You hear some movement and look around the corner as Mrs. Dure comes out carrying Cyar’ika’s birthday cake.

“The little princess helped me design it,” she says sweetly while presenting it to you. “I think you have a little artist on your hands.”

You and Sans both look at it in wonder, amazed at how well she had done for such a young age. “Have you been practicing art, ‘Rika?”

“Mhmm,” she nods quickly, “uncle Kwol teach me.”

“Well then, I suppose we’ll have to show him how well you’ve done,” you reply with a smile before looking at Sans. “I wonder if his art lessons are why I’ve always got so much paperwork to do.”

“Maybe,” he says, “I would say it does look like it. I never knew he was an artist, though.”

“All the paintings in the palace were done by him,” you explain, “even original portraits of long dead royals were done by him. Granted, he did copy them with the originals as his subject.”

“Well, I guess there’s more secrets to Dohbar than I realized,” Sans comments before looking down at Cyar’ika. She’s standing at his feet, arms up while doing grabby-hands. “Does my little angel want up?” he chuckles before bending over to hold her on his hip. 

“No! Up more!” Cyar’ika says. 

Sans chuckles again before setting her down and turning her back to him. “Ready?” he asks, and she nods before he lifts her up and places her on his shoulders. 

She cheers and claps before grabbing his ears. “Home!” she says while pulling slightly. Sans winces quietly and nods his head. 

“You alright with the cake?” he asks you, and you nod while taking it from Mrs. Dure. 

“Thank you for making her cake, and watching over her,” you say to her. “Are you sure you don’t want to come to the party? We can cover for the profit you miss out on.”

“I would love to, my queen, but you know me,” Mrs. Dure chuckles, “besides, I can’t let my customers miss me. Unless that one handsome clone will be there.”

“Of course I will,” Sans replies with a wink, and Mrs. Dure playfully whacks him with a towel.

“She’s talking about Hunter,” you giggle, “and no. Unfortunately he won’t be there.”

“Ah, well, next time they come to visit, let me know,” she says with a wink, “I’d like to see that fine piece of man again before it’s my time.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Dure,” you say, “you’ll see him plenty more times. We should get going, now, but thank you again!”

“It was my pleasure,” she smiles before waving as the three of you head out. 

On the way back to the palace, Sans sings and jokes around with Cyar’ika, making her giggle almost every second of the way. When you reach the rainy area, he slips her rain boots on, even though he’s still carrying her, and holds the umbrella up over them both, with her help, of course. 

You can’t help but catch glimpses of them from the corner of your eye and feel a deep sadness. Deep in your heart, you wish you could have fallen for Sans and had a family with him. You know he would be a great father, and a great lover as well. But you’d fallen for another man, and now Sans can only be an uncle to your daughter. 

When you get inside, you hurry up and take the cake to the dining area for Ahnimaka to set up with everything else. “Wow! That is amazing!” she says as she admires it, “she really did that herself?”

“Well, at least part of it,” you say while sneaking a roll while she’s distracted. “She told us that Kwol has been giving her art lessons. I didn’t know that.”

“Well, it was supposed to be a surprise for you, eventually,” Ahni says while counting over the rolls and giving you a quick glare. “We wanted her to be able to do something quite amazing for you when she was older and have it be a big surprise.”

“You still could, I mean it’s not like I’ll know what it’s of,” you say while stuffing a cookie in your pocket. “I’ll go tell all the boys to come look at the cake, in turns so that you’re not overwhelmed with all of them,” you laugh.

“It’s too bad that there’s not enough for everyone,” she says before a helper comes in.

“Queen Monako, Senator Caree,” she says, “Mrs. Dure has arrived with a…cart full of cake.” You and Ahni exchange a look before rushing outside to see what she meant. It was exactly as she said, there was Mrs. Dure, a bright and happy smile on her face, with plenty more cakes for all of your troopers to enjoy.

“Mrs. Dure,” you say in shock, “when did-how?? Who paid for this?”

“It was a little surprise present for my favorite little niece,” Kwol says while stepping from around the cart. “And of course, I had to make sure all the guests were provided for.”

You look at the amount of cakes in wonder, slowly shaking your head as you do. “Well, let’s get them inside before the rain ruins them,” you say after a few moments. Kwol nods and continues to push the cart inside, and Mrs. Dure walks with you and Ahni to the kitchen. “You two need to stop spoiling Cyar’ika so much,” you tsk at Ahni, “I don’t want her getting used to not working for her earning.”

“That’s a bit bold coming from a queen,” Ahni giggles, “especially when you can give her pretty much anything she wants.”

“Well you know how I grew up,” you reply smoothly, “the king and queen always made me work for everything. Sure, they were not good parents to me, but it did teach me to work for my rewards. I don’t want Cyar’ika to grow up and think that she can just be handed everything. Especially as queen, she’ll have to actually put some work in to rule this kingdom.”

“Y/n,” Ahni says softly while placing her hand on your shoulder, “she’s only one. She can be spoiled at this young age. She can grow out of it, with reduction of the spoils. Let her have a good childhood.”

“I’m not saying she can’t have a good childhood,” you reply, “I’m just saying that she doesn’t need to be handed everything, especially things that she probably doesn’t need. I don’t even remember you doing this for the twins.”

Ahni sighs, moving to grab a plate and start to put some pastries on it. “You’re right. Maybe I’m trying to justify it because we didn’t get to spoil them enough before Ringo was taken to train as a Jedi. And maybe we do it because we don’t want Cyar’ika to miss out on having parents that love her and want to give her the world.”

You pause, letting the words settle and process in your mind. You tighten your fist at your side briefly before releasing it. “Are you saying I’m not doing good enough? That I don’t love her enough? I want to give her more than the world. I want to give her more than this galaxy. It’s not my fault that I am a Jedi and a general, and that I have many different duties on top of being a mother.”

“Being a mother should come first,” Ahni bites back, a rare hint of anger in her tone. “You can leave the Jedi. You can leave the war. You can come back here and be only a mother and queen, but you choose day after day to put Cyar’ika and your kingdom second, behind fighting a petty war.”

“This war is far from petty!” you say harshly, “I didn’t lose Bomber to stand here and listen to you say it’s just petty. I’ve lost so many soldiers and Jedi friends. I’ve seen Masters have to watch their Padawans get slain by the Separatists. I’ve seen clones looking in horror as they realize they’re the only survivor of the squad they had been a part of since Kamino. It’s only petty because it hasn’t reached Dohbar yet. You, Senator Caree, should know the true reach and importance of this war. I hope the day never comes that it reaches us, but if it does, maybe you and Kwol will finally understand what I have to live through every day.” When you finish, you turn and walk from the room, not giving Ahni a second to reply. 

You head out to find Jawa squad, wanting to know the plans that they’ve come up with to save the party. When you try to go into the room, however, Uma stops you and shakes his head. “Not allowed in there yet,” he says with a grin, “it’s a surprise for you and for Cyar’ika. Don’t worry, we cleared it with Hex.”

“Well, if Hex approves, then I’m sure I will,” you say with a smile. “Can I get a hint at least?”

Uma opens his mouth to respond, but a hand reaches out of the door and pulls him close. You see Lightweight whisper something into his ear, to which Uma nods in response. “Steele is on his way with Cyar’ika! Just wait here for them, I have to go get into position. No peeking!” Uma says before slipping inside. 

You huff and roll your eyes, letting a small smirk cover your lips as you wait for Steele and Cyar’ika. Soon enough, you see them coming down the hall. Cyar’ika has a small look of boredom on her face that causes you to giggle when you look at how tired Steele seems to be. “Did someone wear you out?” you laugh as Steele and Cyar’ika stand in front of you.

“Yeah, she took off her socks and shoes and wouldn’t let me put them back on without a game of catch me if you can,” Steele sighs, and you can see his exhaustion more clearly. “She definitely likes to run away like her mother.”

“I don’t run away, I run towards the danger,” you correct.

“Yeah, away from us.”

“That’s just because I know you’ll be following along right behind me,” you laugh, nudging him in the side before taking Cyar’ika’s hand. “Are you ready for your birthday surprise from your uncles?” you ask, and she grins while nodding excitedly. You head over to the door and Steele holds it open for the both of you. Your mouth drops and Cyar’ika lets out a small surprised gasp of her own. “How did you all get this done in so little time?” you question quietly.

“Kwol let us know last night after you went to bed that the weather wasn’t going to be nice today. Other squads had been taking turns with setting up, and so we got up and took over.” He brings up a hand to stifle a yawn, and you look at him with a bit of concern.

“Did you get enough sleep?” you ask, furrowing your brows slightly. “You can go rest if you need to.”

“I was fine until the little squirt here wore me out,” he chuckles, “I’ll be alright, I promise, y/n.” You nod and head in proper, looking at the massive ball pit that practically filled the entire room. There was a little slide, and then a bigger one that you had to crawl through some weird playhouse or child's rope course type thing to get to. “Oh, this is also just the first of many rooms,” Steele says with a grin, “I can show you the others and then let you play around if you want,” he says while squatting to be closer to Cyar’ika’s height. 

She looks up at you and grabs your hand, pulling on it and pointing to the ball pit. “You wanna go play there first?” you ask, and she nods with a grin. “Alright, I’ll be over here keeping an eye out, but you should go play with your uncles,” you say with a slight giggle, looking up to see all the troopers already having their fun.

“Steele!” she says, and he looks at her with a gentle smile, “I wanna do a slide with you!” 

“Which one would you like?” he questions while reaching down and taking her hand. She points to the big one, and he chuckles as she tries to run off and pull him along with her. You smile warmly at them, and you can’t help but feel your heart swell as all the other troopers seem to pause and greet her as she runs by.

“She really is something special to all of us,” Sans says, startling you for a moment. “Sorry,” he chuckles, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” you reply with a smile, “and yeah, I can tell. I just hope that everyone she meets will see how special she is.”

“I’m sure they will,” Sans says assuringly, “especially Crosshair,” he adds with a soft smile. “I know everything will work out for the best between the two of you. And she’ll meet her father one day, and he’ll love her more than anything.”

“I hope so,” you sigh, and Sans slips an arm around your waist and pulls you closer.

“I promise you, it will,” he says gently, reaching up and brushing your cheek lightly. His smile is warm, and his eyes are soft. Everything about him radiates love, happiness, comfort, and care. You can’t help but lean into him, letting these feelings completely surround you. Looking up to see his expression again, you’re met with slight surprise at your reciprocation of affection. You give Sans a reassuring smile, and he smiles back happily. You move your head to look away, but his hand stops you from turning fully. “You don’t have to turn away from me every time,” Sans says softly as his thumb brushes against your cheek. “It hurts, you know.”

“I know,” you reply, “it hurts me too.”

“Then why do you do it?”

“Because,” you sigh, “I…my heart…”

“Is for someone else,” he sighs, and he starts to pull his hand away, but you stop it with your own. You look at him for a moment, scanning his eyes to figure out all the emotions swirling in them. 

You don’t even realize you’re kissing him until your mind starts wondering if it’s right to do. You don’t even know why you did it, but you can’t stop it now. Your lips move in sync with his as you debate if you do love him somewhere deep down. You press a bit harder against his lips, trying to dig down to that love and free it.

But you know it won’t work. You don’t love him that way, you never have. And you have just been dumped by your actual love, leaving an empty space that you’re desperately trying to fill. You want to feel something like that love again, but you want it to be real. This feeling isn’t real, it’s forced, fake, a shadow of what you do want. A shadow of what you had.

You pull away from Sans and meet his eye for a second before diverting your own gaze. You take a breath, steadying yourself and holding the tears back. “I-I’m sorry-”

“Don’t say that,” he begs quietly, “please, y/n. Let me believe you meant this. That…even just for a moment, you loved me back the way I love you.”

“I can’t,” you say while shaking your head, “I…don’t want you to look back and think that I was just using you to get over my own grief.”

“Is that what you did?”

“I don’t know,” you reply honestly, “all I know is that…I’m desperately heartbroken and lonely without Crosshair. I still love him, and I want to feel that love again.”

“But you didn’t feel it with me.” Sans’s voice is hollow, and you wish you could give him some sort of comfort.

“I wish I had,” you mumble as tears fall down your cheeks. In an instant, his arms are around you, holding you gently as he always has when you’re like this around him. He lets you nuzzle your face into his neck, crying quietly as you do.

“It’s okay,” he promises, “I will still always love you, y/n. You are the only person in the universe for me.”

“I’m sorry, so sorry, Sans,” you whisper as you pull back to look up at him. He smiles gently and wipes your tears away.

“Don’t be. The heart wants who the heart wants. I know you can’t help it.”

“I wish I could,” you sigh while giving him a small smile. You notice his eyes divert from yours to look at something behind you, and he smiles at you again before nodding.

“Queen Monako,” one of the helpers says as they approach, “there is another ship that has just landed in the palace hangar. I believe it is your special guest.”

“Thank you, Nex,” you say while giving them a warm smile, “I will go greet him now.” Nex nods and gives a slight bow before walking away. 

You take a deep breath and Sans moves to stand next to you, nudging you slightly with his elbow. “It’ll all be okay,” he says with a tone of reassurance, “Tech will love her. And I know the rest of that marauding bunch will love her as well when they get the chance to meet her.”

“I just hope that will be sometime soon,” you reply before looking at him again. “I really am sorry, Sans. I had this wonderful dream last night where we-”

“Y/n, my love,” he says, grabbing your hand softly while giving you a loving smile, “I would rather not know. I would prefer to keep my yearning to myself, and not have it fueled by your dreams. It is enough to know that you love me the same in your dreams as I wish you loved me here. Now, go get Tech so little Cyar’ika can meet her geeky uncle,” he says with a chuckle before bringing your hand up to kiss, “I’ll be joining the rest of Jawa squad.”

You nod and head towards the hangar, opening the door just as Tech reaches the top of the steps. “Oh, you did not forget me as I had supposed,” he says as he looks up from his datapad. “Is everything alright?”

“For the most part,” you say while giving him a smile. You look at his arms and notice a present tucked under one while the other holds his datapad. “I’d give you a hug, but…”

“Shall I leave my datapad somewhere else? I would prefer to know it is not in danger of being misplaced among the other guests.”

“Sure, on your ship would be best,” you suggest. He nods and quickly takes it back before heading right back over to you. He sets the gift down and wraps his arms around you, surprising you at the fact that he was the one to pull you in for a hug.

“I…am sorry for, well, my brother’s actions,” he says before pulling back, “I know this won’t mean much, but he did not truly mean what he said. He was simply-”

“I don’t need to hear this from you, Tech,” you say to cut him off, “and I’m not quite ready to forgive him. I still need some time.”

He’s quiet for a moment before he nods, picking up the gift again and giving you a smile before you turn to open the door. “I don’t quite understand your emotions,” he says casually, “I understand them on the chemical level and how they are created by your brain and the chemistry of it, and I understand how they work, but I don’t think I quite know what they feel like. I am mostly aware of them from the descriptions I get from others.”

“That’s okay,” you reply, “some of us are different in that way.”

“You don’t think I am somehow…less than?” he asks, and you pause to look at him, confused by his genuine tone.

“Why would I view you as less than?” you question back, “you’re sentient, are you not? You’re a living and thinking creature. Just because your mind is different, it doesn’t make you less than. Being neurodivergent is not something that is wrong, it is just a certain difference that you have. You’re still amazing, smart, and incredibly knowledgeable. But in your case, you simply don’t feel or understand emotions in the same way as others, and that’s perfectly okay. If anyone tells you differently, send them my way, and I’ll teach them a lesson with the deadly end of my lightsaber.”

“Thank you, y/n,” he says after a few moments of silence, “I am glad that I am still viewed as an equal to you.”

“Everyone should view you as an equal, because we’re all really the same when it comes down to our core. Well, maybe not exactly, but we’re all sentient beings just trying to make our way in the galaxy. Our paths may be different, but I think we all have the same goal–to be happy and content with ourselves.”

“I believe you may be correct in your thinking,” he says as you stop in front of a room. 

You open the door and lead him inside. Piles of gifts line the floor, and you do a classic Obi-wan thinking pose as you look for a spot to put the one he brought for her. “I think you can put that over there,” you say, pointing to a somewhat sturdy looking spot.

“I would rather hold onto this so that I can give it to her myself,” he replies, “it is a customized gift.”

“Oh?” you question, “well would you like me to go get her or have Steele bring her here for us?”

“I would like to wait here for Steele to bring her. If the others of Jawa squad would like to join as well, they are welcome.”

“Alright, I’ll have them meet us here and then afterwards I’ll let her tear into all her other gifts,” you say before comming the squad.

Within a few minutes, Jawa squad, Quin, and Trix are in the room with you and Tech. Cyar’ika immediately runs to your side and you pick her up, smiling before turning to let her get a look at Tech. “Cyar’ika,” you say gently, “this is your uncle, Tech. He is your father’s brother.”

“Father?” she questions while looking at him, and he shakes his head while giving her a soft smile.

“Uncle,” he replies while placing a hand on his chest. “Uncle Tech.”

“Uncle Steele!” she says happily as she points at Steele, “uncle Hex! Uncle Aid! Uncle Sans! Uncle Pie!”

Steele snickers and nudges Hex when he hears Cyar’ika yet again mess up Tie’s name. “And to think it’s one of the easier ones.”

“I can hear ya, ya moron,” Tie harshly whispers back. Quin sets a calming hand on his husband’s knee, and Trix just raises a questioning brow at her dad.

“Uncle Tech,” Cyar’ika says somewhat uncertainly after she finishes going around the room. 

“Yes, that is correct,” he replies with a smile.

Cyar’ika grins before wiggling around in your arms, signaling that she would like to be put down. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she quickly walks over to Tech and makes a pouty face up at him before sticking her arms up at him. “Up!” she demands, and Tech looks at you briefly, a slight look of fear on his face. “I uh…I have never picked up a child before,” he admits while looking back down at her. “I am worried that-”

“Oh, don’t be afraid of hurting that little rascal,” Steele says with a dismissive wave of his hand, “she’ll scrape up her knees and run it off as if it’s just a little bit of dirt on her pants.”

Tech looks at you again for reassurance and you nod with a soft smile. He gulps before reaching down and awkwardly picking her up. He holds her out in front of him, looking at her from eye level. She giggles as his fingers seem to tickle her, and her feet kick out into the air.

“Do ship fly!” she demands, and Tech looks at you in confusion.

“She wants you to make her ‘fly like a ship’,” you explain with a small giggle. Tech thinks for a second before nodding, adjusting his grip slightly before taking off to run around the room with her held out in front of him. Cyar’ika’s shrieks and giggles of joy fill the room, and soon everyone is laughing along with her as she enjoys her fun with her uncle Tech.

“Alright, put’er down b’fore she gets sick,” Tie says when he catches his breath, “y/n will be awfully angry with ya if she has to take care of a sick daughter on that daughter’s birthday.”

“That’s right,” you laugh in agreement. Tech stops and lets her down, immediately catching her as she loses her balance. “We’ll give her a minute to calm down before we let her open her other gifts,” you tell the others, and they nod in agreement while Hex gives out the comm to all the others. 

The rest of the night and celebrations went by quickly from there. After you all had watched Cyar’ika open her gifts, it had been time to eat. After Cyar’ika, you, Kwol, Ahni, Quin, and Trix had gotten your food, Jawa squad and the rest of the 17th dug into the rest. There were no leftovers, and everyone had eaten to satisfaction. The cakes attracted everyone’s appraisal and compliments as they studied the amazing designs that Cyar’ika had done for her age. 

Even Tech seemed to be completely enamored with his niece. He could not stop mentioning her silver hair that was exactly like her fathers. He said he even noticed a bit of his snark in her attitude, which elicited a humored snort from you. “Yeah, it’s a lot worse when she doesn’t want to do something,” you had replied after he pointed it out.

“I am sure she is only ever an angel,” he replied back while bouncing her on his knee. To your surprise, he knew how to braid hair, and after she calmed down and was able to sit still for more than 30 seconds, he managed to loosely braid her hair.

“That looks amazin’,” Quin commented when he’d seen it, “I’d like to do somethin’ like that for my lil girl Trix, but she says it’s a part of her Mirialan culture to not let others see her hair.”

“That is correct,” Tech stated before going on a ramble about Mirialan culture, which was intriguing for everyone except Cyar’ika, who ended up hopping off of his knee and wandering over to another group of uncles eager to get their time to talk to and giggle with their little niece.

By the end of the night, the palace was a mess, but no one seemed to mind as they all filed into rooms to rest in. Tech slept in the same room he and the rest of the batch had stayed in on their visits, with Cyar’ika begging to stay and spend the night in the room with him. You allowed her to, since the other night she’d been stuck with Mrs. Dure. Of course, Jawa squad, as well as the rest of the 17th, was jealous of her seemingly new favorite uncle.

When you wake up, Tech is eating breakfast with the 17th and Cyar’ika. Ahni and Kwol are helping the helpers with cleaning, and you decide to join them in hopes that the extra hands, with force sensitivity, would help clean up faster.

“Shouldn’t you be eating with your daughter?” Kwol asks while trying to toss a ball of trash into the trash can. He frowns when it misses.

“I thought you guys might like some help,” you reply while using the force to pick it up and throw it away properly.

“Well, we do,” he starts, “but you do have a limited amount of time with her.”

“I know,” you sigh, “I feel bad and all as well, but…I don’t know. I want to put her first, but with all my obligations…”

“It’s hard,” Ahni offers with a smile. “I understand now, a bit. When the twins were born, I had the hardest time balancing taking care of them and being around them with my senatorial work, but I took every second that was given to me. It’s the best that you can do, besides making it possible to take care of your obligations while being around her.”

“I don’t know how well I could focus on paperwork or official monarchy or government things if I have her in the room distracting me,” you admit with a smile.

“But you can go eat breakfast with her,” Ahni replies with an encouraging grin. “Now go, we can take care of this. Besides, if we need help, we’ll get the cleanup crew on it. There’s two specific squads of troopers who are responsible for most of this.”

“Let me guess, Sans, Hex, Steele, Aid, Tie, and then Uma, Bullseye, Ripple, Skipper, and Lightweight?”

“Precisely,” she confirms with a small giggle, and you roll your eyes while letting your own small giggle slip out.

“I’ll go tell them when I get there,” you say before turning to leave the room. Once you get there, you tell the boys their orders and watch as they groan and complain, well, that is Sans, Steele, and Tie do, before they drag themselves out and go help to clean up the mess. Everyone else slowly ends up leaving once they have their share, and soon it’s just you, Tech, and Cyar’ika left.

“Are you liking your uncle Tech,” you ask her with a smile. She nods vigorously, clinging onto him tightly.

“Stay,” she says, and Tech chuckles softly while running a hand over her hair.

“I am afraid I cannot fulfill your request at the moment,” he tells her, and she looks at him as if he’s speaking another language.

“He said he can’t stay,” you explain in simpler terms for her. She immediately frowns and starts kicking her feet aggressively, and you tell her off gently to get her to stop. 

“I will come visit you again soon,” he offers to her, and she immediately lights up and becomes happy again.

“Tomorrow?” she asks, and Tech chuckles again while shaking his head.

“I am afraid I do not exactly know when, but it will be soon,” he promises her. She pouts for a second before he offers her his pinky finger. “I promise,” he says, and she grins while wrapping her tiny pinky around his. You relish in their smiles and giggles, feeling as though a part of your heart that you hadn’t known was empty has suddenly been filled.

***

“Thank you again for coming to meet her,” you say as you walk out to the hangar with Tech. The 17th is loading up onto the Venator, and once you and Tech say goodbye, you’ll be boarding your respective ships and flying out for missions. “It meant a lot to her, and me.”

“Anything for the two of you,” he says with a gentle smile. “Take care, y/n. I hope I will see you soon.”

“Probably sooner than we know it,” you laugh before heading in for a hug. You both take a moment to bask in one another’s warmth before you step away.

“Good luck, y/n, and stay safe out there. Your daughter needs a good mother like you to come back to her, alive.”

“I will do my best,” you reply, “and you as well. She needs all of you guys. May the force be with you,” you say before pulling the hood of your Jedi robe up. You walk over to the Venator, glancing back to watch as Tech flies out, before you continue your ascent up the boarding ramp. Within minutes, you and the 17th are off back to Coruscant, awaiting and preparing for your next mission.

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[foodsies4me]

⭐⭐:DDDDDD

Because I know you like AWG, here is the director's cut on how the fic was conceived and how it was supposed to go before everything went sideways and down a cliff.

The initial plan was for the first chapter to be the way it was and for everything else to more or less fit in with canon events. The first chapter was also supposed to be the only chapter in Alec's POV.

The second chapter would have been Magnus finding out about being Alec's soulmate, coming to terms with being bonded with a soulmate, and the (mistaken) belief that his soulmate's words is a steak pun.

The third chapter would have been a collection of short, small scenes that we know from the series - Alec training shirtless in the institute, Alec kissing Magnus in front of the Clave - that leave Magnus swining between happiness, confusion and upset because Alexander is glamouring his mark which clearly means he's ashamed of him, but then he kisses Magnus so maybe he's not. That confusion would have continued to grow until the last scene that would have been their first time scene from the series. Magnus takes Alexander's shirt off and breaks when he notices Alexander is still glamouring his mark even when they're alone and by themselves. This ends up in the reveal and Alec handing his notebook to Magnus because he physically can't get the words through his lips, even now after they're already together. Cue Magnus feeling even more guilt, some reassurance on both sides, and Alec's soul mark changing to what it was at the end of AWG.

As you can see, a LOT has changed since that initial plan. The scene with Magnus changing the words in Alec's notebook stayed (largely) unchanged though. While the when and where was different, the words Magnus changed it to was the first scene I wrote for AWG, so while it has been changed to fit the way the story changed the words and the gesture stayed the same.

[caterpillarinacave]

sometime's I sit and think about how interesting an AU where the curious cat was after Roman instead could be, but then I remember that Roman would just. not.

[potatobugz]

i was going to WRITE something but ouh the sleebgyness. life is not fair

[allylikethecat]

Chapters: 1/4 Fandom: The 1975 (Band) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: George Daniel/Matthew Healy Characters: Matthew Healy, George Daniel, Adam Hann, Ross Macdonald, Denise Welch Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Birthday Series: Part 5 of The Infection 'Verse Summary:

He never thought that was a milestone he would reach, he never thought that he would live past twenty seven. He was a tortured artist, a heroin addict, it had all but been accepted, it had all but been decided that he would be joining the twenty seven club. He would be laid to rest well before his twenty eighth birthday. He wondered how many more birthdays he would have, and he wondered if they were all going to hurt this much.

.

AKA The Birthday Fic™️

[marypsue]

I’m now finished four chapters of former heroes who quit too late (aka the third and final part of the ‘(almost) everybody has powers’ AU)! Have a tiny sample to celebrate my finally making it to chapter five!

...

Joyce isn’t sure what woke her. What got her up, in the middle of the night, to wander into the hall in nothing but her robe. But whatever it was that woke her, it’s a good thing it did.

Because the house is on fire.

The walls are engulfed in columns of flame. The edges of the ceiling are outlined in searching orange tongues, licking up and over her head. The hall is dark with choking smoke. The window at the end of the hall explodes, as Joyce watches, warped in a heat she knows must be immense but somehow can’t quite feel. The fire lets out a dull roar as it consumes – everything.

The panic, when it comes, is as sharp as Joyce’s movements are sluggish. The hall seems a million miles long, her legs heavy as lead, the boys’ bedroom doors always a few feet ahead of her no matter how she tries to run. She knows, with a hazy, terrified certainty, that Will and Jonathan are both sleeping soundly, unaware of the flames. That El’s tucked into her bunk in Will’s room and just as dead asleep. But Joyce can’t seem to get to them to warn them, to get them out – and every scream stays stuck, silent, in her throat –

“Joyce?”

The voice that says her name is so familiar, the relief that the sound sends flooding through her almost overwhelming. But the dread comes creeping back in when she spins and sees Hopper leaning against the burning frame of her bedroom door, like he hasn’t even noticed the flames. “What’s going on?”

Joyce stares.

“Fire,” she manages, at last. Her screams are still strangling themselves out in her throat.

Hopper looks around, like he’s just now realising they’re in a burning building. He doesn’t seem to feel any of the panic clawing at Joyce’s ribs, any more than he seems to feel the sparks catching in his chest hair. Doesn’t seem concerned at all. “Yeah, it’s on fire. You coming back to bed?”

He takes in the look Joyce is giving him and immediately gets defensive. “I don’t know why you’re making a big deal out of this. Look at yourself.”

Joyce frowns at him, confused. Hopper just nods, wordlessly, towards her.

Joyce looks down.

Her robe is gone – maybe burnt away, maybe just gone – leaving her naked as the day she was born. And every inch of her is wreathed in blazing, blackening fire. The arms she raises in front of her horrified eyes are twisted and withering to ash as she watches, as the greedy flames leap higher and higher, devouring her alive –

Joyce wakes up with a choked-off shriek, sitting bolt upright in bed.

She can smell smoke. It takes her a second to realise it’s not lingering from her nightmare, or bleeding from the walls. It’s coming from the handful of blankets she’s gripping tight in both fists.

Joyce drops the blankets with a gasp, but the damage is already done. Two irregularly charred circles stand out against the faded colour of the bedspread, still smoking slightly. Joyce bites her lip and stares down at them with her hands raised, too scared to move, to touch anything, in case she makes it worse. She can’t put a word to how she feels. She just knows she doesn’t like it.

Beside her, Bob stirs, rolling over to look up at her. “Joyce? Are you all right?”

He takes one look at Joyce’s face, and sits up, too, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her against his chest. She wants to relax into the warmth of him, but she can’t seem to untense, even as he rubs soothing circles into her back. “Hey. Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

He pauses for a second before he asks, “Another nightmare?”

Joyce nods into his shoulder, shutting her eyes.

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Meet my new puppy Honey

She tiny

Emma doenst know what to think, she's confused and jealous (they'll become buddies eventually)

Look at this adorable tiny bab she's only half of Emma's size 🥹

[buginateacup]

.

[renee-writer]

Out of Time Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-four

AO3

“I can’t believe this.” Mary rocks her babies, keeping them close to her. Her mind can’t get past the shock of the whole Charlie and William situation.

 

“It is unsettling.” He looks down at his sleeping children. It still tears at his guts, the idea of them not existing, or not as his anyway.

 

“I couldn’t imagine Alex or Naomi going through something like that. I am not for termination of pregnancy but, in this case…”

 

He shakes his head, even as he reaches for Naomi, needing to hold her while he can. “Jamie would never. He takes his Hippocrate oath seriously. First do no harm.”

 

He sits across from William. The lad is shaking and can’t meet his eyes. “I didn’t know. It felt good and safe to be held that way. I was scared, missing my parents and…” He shakes his head, “I didn’t know I could…”

 

“You aren’t to blame and neither is Charlie. It wasn’t done on purpose. Accidents happen.”

 

“Jamie. I can’t… I don’t know anything about being a dad. I’m just a lad. How am I to?” He breaks down crying. Jamie draws him into his arms, with a sigh. What will they do if this doesn’t work?

 

“This wasn’t on purpose?” Jenny and Claire sit across from her. She feels nauseous. How could they think…? “You tried before, recall?” Jenny answers her unspoken question.

 

“I wouldn’t with a child! What type of person do you think I am?”

 

“I don’t know.” They glare at each other until Claire says,

 

“Enough! There is enough going on. She says she didn’t  and I believe her.” She turns to the mum-to be, “It was as you said, just comforting that got out of hand.” She nods. “Look Charlie, we have no idea whether this will work. Are you prepared to raise this child, with our help, if it doesn’t ?”

 

“Better then going back there.” Stated flatly. The two older women share a look and Jenny thaws some.

 

“We will try to rescue, if it is necessary.” She says.

 

“Man oh man! William had sex and made a baby! That is bonkers!” Fergus exclaims. He and Ian sit in one of the cabins, talking. The news reaches the children with the speed of a breaking wave.

 

“The sex part was probably fun but a baby… I know what it is like to have one a wailing at night when I wish to sleep. I ain’t even responsible for Daniel. William will be.”

 

They ponder this.

 

The combination of the situation with the children and the anticipation of possibly, changing time itself, has everyone on edge.

 

The new mama stay to themselves, seeing to their babies and trying to soak up as much time with them as possible.

 

Murtagh would love to spend the time, until they reach Scotland, with Naomi and Alex, but he has planning to do. To that end, he finds himself talking with Claire and Jamie.

 

“It needs to be me.” He explains, “if this works, you still need to find each other, and Charlie and Fergus. To protect the family we have built here.”

 

Jamie frowns, “What of Mary?”

 

His Godfather shakes his head. “She will have her husband, Alex. Wee Alex will have his papa.”

 

No one mentions Naomi.

 

“You can do this?” He nods to Claire.

 

“Aye, I might die in the aftermath but I will see the bastard dead, I promise you both.”

 

Claire would love to be the one but, with the pregnancy and Juliaellen to look after, it is impossible. She trusts Murtagh to handle it. He has the same steely determination as her husband does.

 

“Alright then.”

[batmads-ao3]

[aparticularbandit]

Please understand.

I go back to the OAEI rough to fact check and also to pull quotes for OAFC (because Kyoko sometimes has stuff she or Junko said come to mind (Mukuro Ikusaba, the 16th student, lying hidden somewhere in this school)).

I do this...often. Perhaps not frequently, but often.

And then get stuck rereading the fic for. way too long.

It's my fic. I like it. I reread it. It amuses me.

And like...not all of my fics are like that?

Anyway.

I like reading it. Even knowing everything. And I hope y'all like reading it as much as I like reading it.