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mistypurplespark · 1 month

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Chapter 28: First Day of Business

Chapter 28.1: First Day of Business

Translator(s): Zryuu

Editor(s): juurensha

In the Chi Le Chuan region, nomadic residential areas beyond the pass occupied vast areas comparable to large cities within the pass like Ye City and Xiangyang. Areas were divided according to the tribes; the Tiele tribe lived in the east. The Great Chanyu’s living quarters was surrounded by mountains on both sides and faced this settlement beyond the Great Wall with no city wall. Beyond the settlement, a lot of nomads travelled here their families, and after spending a short summer here, they would join the Ancient Covenant and prepare to usher in the prolonged winter that would arrive soon.

Chen Xing thought that it was really beautiful here. There was peace in the bustle, and the scenery was gorgeous as well. After climbing halfway up the mountain at the back, one would have a panoramic view of the plain. Xiang Shu’s clansmen were very unconstrained and lively as well; they would ride horses, play ball games as they wished, and idled their time away all day. Cheering joyfully, laughing all the time, idling their time away, not doing anything productive, all the while waiting for winter in the meantime.

But why is it that Laozi, a guest who came from afar, needs to clean your room for you?! It’s not like I’m a servant! Chen Xing really wanted to throw the cloth onto the floor, but he couldn’t resist his curiosity as he glanced around the place where Xiang Shu lived.

It doesn’t seem like a place that belonged to a man with a wife and children, but he could tell that someone used to live here.

Chen Xing grew up living with his master and found this kind of feeling very familiar. Xiang Shu may have lived with his father before he grew up, and his mother was probably around at an even earlier time.

He casually wiped the bookshelf and flipped through the books on it. He hardly recognised any of the words written in them, but he could identify

quite a lot of pictures. Most were illustrations of martial arts, manuals for horsemanship and archery, records of weapons, expositions of veins and acupoints by outsiders, as well as a map of the area beyond the Great Wall. There were numerous registers of names as well.

When the sun was setting in the west, people singing and dancing could be heard outside. Xiang Shu came back.

Xiang Shu, “What are you doing? Don’t touch my things!”

Chen Xing almost threw the rag at Xiang Shu’s face and said angrily, “What do you think? Is it a rule here for guests to clean your rooms?!”

Xiang Shu was stunned, but he smiled.

Ever since he returned to the Chi Le Covenant, Xiang Shu mood has improved a lot. It was Chen Xing’s first time seeing Xiang Shu smile, and once he smiled, this guy instantly seemed more handsome. The air around him that rejected all strangers immediately disappeared, and what took its place was a warmth that was even more gentle and amicable than that of Tuoba Yan.

But Xiang Shu immediately withdrew his smile and said, “Get dinner ba, follow me.”

That night, Tiele held a grand celebration. Bonfires were lit throughout the whole Chi Le Chuan to celebrate the return of the Great Chanyu. They drank wine, roasted fish, and ate meat under the mountain range, their singing voices resounding through the skies. Chen Xing sat next to Xiang Shu. A subordinate offered a roasted leg of lamb and handed him a silver knife. Chen Xing’s appetite was greatly whetted; he sliced off the meat and was about to eat it when the people around him chided him angrily.

Chen Xing, “?”

Everyone started berating Chen Xing and motioned for him to serve the Great Chanyu his food. Chen Xing grabbed the knife and really wanted to stab Xiang Shu to death.

“They said that you aren’t being sensible.” Xiang Shu casually said, then explained to the surrounding people before everyone slowly sat back down.

So Chen Xing could only slice the meat off and hand it to Xiang Shu first. Xiang Shu only ate a bit before raising his hand and said, “Leave it for yourself ba.”

So everyone began to eat dinner. Not long after, a woman supported an elderly man over, who should be the elder of one of the tribes. He sat down and exchanged greetings with several elderly people that Xiang Shu had brought back from Chang’an, engaging in some idle chatter with them. Xiang Shu didn’t interject and just drank some wine. He would glance at Chen Xing from time to time. Chen Xing ate his roast lamb and kept speculating from the expressions of the people around him. He heard Fu Jian’s name being mentioned many times and guessed that they must be badmouthing him.

Xiang Shu placed an empty glass next to his hand, signalling to Chen Xing to pour him some wine.

Chen Xing said, “You plan on storming into the pass, taking Fu Jian down, and seizing his place as emperor?”

Xiang Shu casually said, “Depends on my mood.” Chen Xing, "......"

Chen Xing poured a full cup of wine for Xiang Shu, then asked again, “What about your promise to take me to that whatever mountain to look for the Dinghai Pearl? You said you’d take me.”

Xiang Shu, “Wait.”

Although Chen Xing knew it was a bit impertinent of him to urge Xiang Shu to start working on the first day of his return, but he still had worries on his mind so he couldn’t help but say, “You aren’t lying to me ba?”

Xiang Shu glanced at Chen Xing in disbelief to mean, “am I such a person?”

“If you don’t believe me, then get lost right now!” Xiang Shu said angrily.

As soon as Xiang Shu raised his voice, everyone stopped talking and looked at them. Chen Xing immediately said, “Don’t get angry, don’t get angry, it was a slip of the tongue. Come, Great Chanyu, I’ll give you a toast!”

Chen Xing was afraid that this bunch of barbarians would cause trouble for him, so he quickly filled his cup with wine and smiled as he wanted to give everyone a toast. He motioned to the rest to convey that, see, we’re not fighting. Yet Xiang Shu held Chen Xing’s head with one hand, held the wine bowl with the other, and forced the wine down his throat.

Chen Xing: “!!!”

The other attendees could only hear them speaking in the Han language and didn’t know what had happened, so they soon resumed their conversation.

Chen Xing was choking badly, and he said angrily, “You……”

But Xiang Shu ignored him. He faced the people on the other side and asked in the Xianbei language, “When will the Akeles tribe come?”

That person answered respectfully in the Xianbei language as well, “Great Chanyu, according to the usual practice in previous years, they will rush to Chi Le Chuan before the third of October.”

Chen Xing suddenly thought that this wine seemed pretty delicious? It was sweet and didn’t burn his throat, so he started pouring and drinking it on his own.

Xiang Shu casually said, “The Akeles tribe is a branch of the Xiongnu. They operate somewhere far north, and as for the exact location of Mt. Erchilun, this tribe is clearer about it than I am.”

It was the fifteenth of September today. It was still alright to wait until the third of October. Chen Xing drank his wine and said, “If you’re busy, you can just draw a map for me, and I’ll go by myself.”

Xiang Shu revealed a ridiculing expression on his face, “Do you know what it would be like during winter if you continue heading north?”

Chen Xing, “At worst I can just wear a few more layers……”

The guard on the side said in Xianbei, “Wait for Che Luofeng to come back, he may be able to bring with him news of Akeles.”

“Che Luofeng is my Anda,” Xiang Shu didn’t look at Chen Xing, and instead stared at the bonfire in a daze, “Who grew up with me. He left Chi Le Chuan and went to the North to hunt. He went quite far away this time; I can ask him when he gets back.”

Chen Xing ate a lot of roast lamb that was on the salty side, so he felt quite thirsty and lost count of how many bowls of wine he drank in succession. His head was spinning; the wine tasted sweet and seemed to be brewed from honey and goat’s milk. He unwittingly drank more and more of it, then his head knocked onto the table. He didn’t hear what Xiang Shu said before he collapsed, thoroughly intoxicated.

Xiang Shu, “……”

“He drank a whole vat!” A guard sitting on the other side cried in surprise, “Not bad!”

While Chen Xing was drunk, he felt as if he had been carried back to the tent by Xiang Shu. A blanket covered him, and he felt thirsty at midnight. Singing and drunken laughter could still be heard outside. He said, “I want to drink water.”

So Xiang Shu had to feed him with a water bottle. Chen Xing then turned over and fell asleep.

Early in the morning, Chen Xing woke up. The marble white colour of dawn appeared on the horizon; the merriment throughout Chi Le Chuan had died down, and everyone was still sleeping soundly.

“Xiang Shu, I want to take a bath……” Chen Xing scratched his body, sat up, and said.

“What?” Xiang Shu had been tormented by Chen Xing for an entire night. He wore an unlined garment, got up, and glanced at him irascibly.

“I want to take a bath,” Chen Xing said, “Where can I go to get some hot water?”

“Wash yourself in the river.” Xiang Shu said impatiently. Chen Xing, “I’ll catch a cold. I want to take a hot bath.”

“You don’t want a hot bath.” Xiang Shu rejected Chen Xing, “Say another word, and I’ll throw you into the river.”

Chen Xing, “……”

Xiang Shu only properly woke up when the sun had risen three poles high, then he took Chen Xing to a stream to take a bath.

“It’s so cold.” Chen Xing wailed as soon as he entered the water, but Xiang Shu just looked grumpy. He stripped himself bare and went into the stream. Chen Xing had seen this several times, and they had bathed together when they first entered Chang’an. But for some reason, his face suddenly felt hot to the touch, and he was a little embarrassed.

Xiang Shu’s figure was like a wild horse’s -- slim, yet it had a very manly ruggedness. His skin was fair and smooth, and didn’t seem to contain the slightest hint of the Tiele people’s boorishness. Especially the contours of his back and long legs -- they were absolutely alluring.

“Wipe my back! What are you looking at?” Xiang Shu said.

Chen Xing, “Why should I? I’m not your slave! I’ve had enough! Xiang Shu! If you treat me as your servant again, I’ll……”

“You’ll what?” Xiang Shu mocked, “What will you do?”

Chen Xing, “Do all of you look down on the Han people? I finally know now; when they asked you who I am, you said that I’m your ‘servant’, right? You don’t harbour good intentions after all; you just got me to come to your tribe to serve you!”

“What else then?” Xiang Shu asked in reply, “You want the Great Chanyu to serve you?”

“You’re a Protector!” Chen Xing said.

“Get lost! Wipe my back!” Xiang Shu said, “Will you do it or not?”

Chen Xing held up a cloth. Xiang Shu wanted to reach out and press him down, but Chen Xing quickly dodged. In a moment of carelessness, he slipped while in the water and almost fell in. Xiang Shu grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the water, so Chen Xing could only help Xiang Shu wipe his back angrily.

Xiang Shu casually said, “If you’re capable enough to let them witness your strength, no one would dare order you about like a servant.”

Chen Xing, “Okay. Even if you aren’t a Protector, is this how you guys treat your guests?”

“You’re not a guest.” Xiang Shu studied Chen Xing’s naked body, and he was about to say, “You followed along by yourself,” but his breathing stopped for no reason, then he slightly turned his body sideways.

Chen Xing, “Don’t underestimate people.”

Xiang Shu avoided Chen Xing’s gaze, turned his head sideways, and raised an eyebrow at him to signal, ‘please do as you wish’.

Chapter 28.2: First Day of Business

“Quick, save him! He’s my Anda, you have to save him no matter what! I’ll do anything you want me to!”

Translator(s): Zryuu

Editor(s): juurensha

Chen Xing took a bath in a hurry, put on his clothes quickly, and returned to the tent. Meanwhile, Xiang Shu wore his underclothes and didn’t attempt to shun anyone. He had breakfast in his tent while entertaining guests; a lot of people came and went. Some were there to pay their respects to the sovereign, some were there to send their greetings, while some came to discuss matters with him. Although Xiang Shu was dressed in white from head to toe, and his wet hair hung loose as it draped over his shoulders after his bath, it didn’t conceal his kingly demeanour at all.

“How do you write ‘sick’ and ‘see a doctor’ in the Tiele language?” After Chen Xing had breakfast, he sneezed. He didn’t want to serve Xiang Shu anymore, and he asked the young man who spoke in the Xianbei language before him.

The other party looked baffled and wrote it out for him on the ground. Chen Xing asked again, “How do you say ‘doctor’?”

The other party taught him. So Chen Xing went out, found a plank, wrote it down, and hung it outside Xiang Shu’s tent.

Xiang Shu, "......"

That afternoon, some people came to see a doctor. Half of Xiang Shu’s tent was used to entertain guests, while the other half was being used by Chen Xing to see patients. The Tiele person first looked around for a moment. Chen Xing moved a short table over and sat down, then waved at the outside of the tent to motion for him to come in. He then started taking his pulse and checking what illness he was suffering from.

“Can you speak Xianbei?” Chen Xing took a wooden stick and pressed down on his tongue. He asked the patient, “What are you sick with?”

That person jabbered away in a long string of words, and question marks could be seen hovering all around Chen Xing’s head. In the end, Xiang Shu had to send all his guests away and thank the ones who had come that day. He said, “His stomach hurts.”

Chen Xing said, “Help me translate, what are you just sitting around for?”

Xiang Shu stared at Chen Xing in disbelief and said, “Where did you get your nerve from?”

Chen Xing, “He’s your clansman! Ask him what he has eaten recently, and how long his stomach has been hurting for.”

So Xiang Shu could only suppress his anger and translate. Chen Xing identified the patient’s ailment smoothly and prescribed some medicine for him, then got Xiang Shu to write in the Tiele language on a piece of paper with a charcoal brush to help him find the medicinal ingredients.

Xiang Shu didn’t expect Chen Xing to start ordering him around for an entire afternoon, but he was the only one who knew the Han language throughout the whole Chi Le Chuan, and the ones who were sick were his clansmen, so he couldn’t just leave them alone. If it was just translation, then so be it, but the others did not understand the medicinal ingredients of the Hans, so the Great Chanyu himself had to sit at one side and play second fiddle to Chen Xing.

“Could you open up shop somewhere else?” Xiang Shu couldn’t help but ask when there were no patients around.

“I can’t.” Chen Xing said, “If there are a lot of patients, how would I be able to close shop? You’re the Great Chanyu, they won’t dare to pester you at night as well.”

“You……” Xiang Shu really wanted to hit Chen Xing, but in a twinkling of an eye, someone was here to see a doctor again. In Chi Le Chuan, no matter if they were Tiele, Xiongnu, or any of the sixteen Hu tribes, they were all

considered Xiang Shu’s clansmen, and they regarded the Great Chanyu as their parent. Xiang Shu couldn’t bear to see his clansmen be ill either. The doctor of the plains would only come once every few months; he didn’t have a fixed residence and would just travel everywhere to treat people. When people fell sick, most of them could only let it drag on or resign themselves to fate, and when the doctor came, he would only just perform some bloodletting treatment. This move by Chen Xing was clearly of great help to the Ancient Chi Le Covenant.

In less than three days, the valley was full of people waiting in line to see a doctor. Xiang Shu’s royal tent was so crowded that not even a drop of water could trickle through. He couldn’t do anything else every day, and could only simply sit next to Chen Xing and help communicate with the patients through various Hu languages.

Another day passed. The conditions of the patients who had come to see Chen Xing were all taking a turn for the better, one after another, regardless of whether they had a cold or a fever. His fame as a “divine doctor” spread like wildfire, and most of the patients in Chi Le Chuan flocked to the Tiele settlement. Eventually, Xiang Shu had no choice but to move his royal tent to the center of the open space outside the valley.

“How long has it been growing for?” Chen Xing looked at the Xiongnu elderly with much concern. There was a tumour growing on the patient’s back. Chen Xing thought that if Feng Qianyi knew that he was treating Hu people, he would probably berate him thoroughly from the underworld.

“Three years.” Xiang Shu translated indifferently.

“Why would you only come get it treated now?” Chen Xing asked.

Xiang Shu couldn’t be bothered to translate such senseless words. Chen Xing prescribed her some medicine to apply on the tumour, then got the next patient to come over. During the inquiry, he suddenly saw Xiang Shu staring at him, his expression a little dazed, and Chen Xing’s hair was standing on end from how Xiang Shu was looking at him.

“Wei!” Chen Xing said, “Say something ah!”

That “wei” instantly frightened everyone in the tent so badly their souls scattered. Xiang Shu snapped out of his stupor and said impatiently, “Rheumatism! Knee pain! Foot ache!”

“What about here?” Chen Xing attended to another old man. He didn’t mind the old man’s festering wound at all and cleaned it first before prescribing him some medicine.

A woman came up.

“What about you?” Chen Xing asked, “What are you sick with?”

Xiang Shu answered, “Been having nightmares, can’t sleep well at night.”

Chen Xing, “I can’t help with that, prescribe her some Anshen Decoction. There are still some ingredients at the back, help me bring them over.”

Xiang Shu helped him dispense the medicine. He didn’t expect that as the Great Chanyu, he would actually be ordered around like this by Chen Xing. After getting treated, all the patients would thank Chen Xing first, then kowtow and thank Xiang Shu. Xiang Shu just waved his hand to send them away.

“Why are you always looking at me?” Chen Xing said, “Look at the patients ah.”

“You……” Xiang Shu took a deep breath, wanting to say something but holding himself back.

“Nothing.” Xiang Shu said, “His ribs hurt, and it’s been half a year now.”

Chen Xing pressed down on the man’s chest and said, “Do you always lie down on your stomach to sleep? Go back and soften your bed a little, don’t always lie down on your stomach……next.”

A hubbub suddenly erupted outside the tent. A girl’s wailing could be heard, and Chen Xing immediately had a hunch that a patient was here, and the patient was on their last legs, so he got the patients in line to wait first and said, “Come in!”

Xiang Shu frowned slightly, then a young man was carried in on a stretcher.

“Che Luofeng?!” Xiang Shu immediately got up, lunged forward, and fell on his knees.

Chen Xing hurriedly motioned for everyone in the tent to get out. He saw that the young man lying on the stretcher had a ghastly pale complexion. His body was riddled with wounds, and there was a earthenware bowl on his stomach. A stench was emanating from his whole body.

“Che Luofeng!” Xiang Shu cried anxiously. “Shulü……Kong.” That young man murmured.

“The two of you know each other?” Chen Xing glanced at Xiang Shu. Ever since they met, this was his first time seeing Xiang Shu in such a flustered mess -- he now seemed like a completely different person!

“Quick, save him,” Xiang Shu grabbed Chen Xing’s wrist, his voice trembling, “He’s my Anda, you have to save him no matter what! I’ll do anything you want me to!”

“I will!” Chen Xing’s wrist hurt; Xiang Shu’s grip was so strong that his wrist almost broke. He said, “Let go! I’ll save him, even if you don’t promise me anything!”

At one side, a young woman and a Rouran woman were crying. Chen Xing couldn’t focus because of their cries, and he said, “I’ll try my very best to save him! Where’s the injury? What was he hurt by?”

Chen Xing untied the bandage on Che Luofeng’s belly and gently uncovered the bowl. Sure enough, as he expected, his stomach had a gaping hole, and his intestines were spilling out. Two wounds that were the result of being sliced through by a sharp blade could be seen on this young man’s abdomen -- his stomach had been sliced open.

Aside from that, there were a lot of scratches on this young man’s body that were left behind by the claws of a wild beast.

“Wolf claws and a knife wound.” Chen Xing muttered.

Xiang Shu hugged Che Luofeng’s upper body and let out a prolonged breath. He was struck with grief as he held him tightly in his embrace.

“Stitch his stomach up first.” Chen Xing went to prescribe medicine, then said, “Simmer a bowl of Mafei Soup for him to drink, I’ll prepare the needles.”

Translator's Comment:

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dragon-grunkle · 4 years

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star wars and flight rising are in the same universe and here’s why, a ted talk by stanley

in an effort to both 1. talk about my lore more often like i’ve been meaning to and 2. explain what i meant when i went off about it in the tags of my last post, i’m gonna attempt to explain my rationale for deciding star wars and flight rising can totally coexist in the same universe.

there’s a tldr at the very bottom! i do use rebels as a basis for some of this lore, since it basically just confirms concepts i was already thinking of before i even watched the show, but it IS a little spoilery sometimes.

SO. what do we know about sornieth? here’s a summary: it’s the fourth planet from its sun. it has at least one but possibly two or more moons. powerful beings of pure elemental energy sprung up in the early days of the planet’s formation. a darkness from beyond attacks the planet, and the gods build a pillar to keep it out. after this, humanoid races flourish and they learn to combine magic with technology, but eventually someone gets too arrogant and builds a big machine that blows up all of civilization. from this, the arcanist is born. he grows curious and encounters the shade, which breaks the pillar. the other gods see this and decide to go their separate ways. they create dragons.

this new society has reached a point roughly equivalent to the 1920s, and that’s as far as we’ve gotten. that’s it, that’s flight rising. no aliens mentioned, except for the shade (and possibly the forbidden portal enemies if you count those, but that’s for another time).

what about star wars? as we all know, it’s set ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’. there is a lot of history here that isn’t really relevant, so i’m just going to talk briefly about the layout of the galaxy: it isn’t named, but there are different sections to it that are, and they’re grouped according to how far away a planet is from the center of the galaxy. you have: the core worlds, the inner rim, the mid rim, the outer rim, and wild space. generally, planets are more densely populated towards the center of the galaxy and less as you go out. compare coruscant, a core world entirely covered by a city and inhabited by trillions of people, to tatooine, an outer rim planet that wookieepedia states has 200,000 inhabitants total.

-----

where does sornieth fit in this map? the answer is simple: wild space. this region lies beyond the outer rim, where not many bother to travel because it’s just not worth it, and it’s where i’ve placed sornieth in this scenario. wookieepedia says:

Unlike other regions of the galaxy, Wild Space existed along the entire circumference of the galactic disk and on the borderlands of the Unknown Regions. It was inhabited by sentient species but not fully charted, explored, and civilized.

star wars: rebels touches on wild space a bit: one of its main characters is a lasat, a species thought to be wiped out by the empire. lasats come from lasan, but they have a legendary ancestral homeworld called lira san. except it turns out that lira san isn’t a myth: it’s real, it’s populated, and it’s in wild space.

the fact that an entire species believed their original homeworld was a myth means we can easily set sornieth there without ever having to worry about political groups such as the republic, the empire, and the rebellion coming across the planet and mucking up our established rule of No Aliens Besides Shade (And Maybe Arcanist). it’s conveniently out of the way AND protects the lore of both continuities very well, ensuring that they don’t interfere with each other by introducing a previously-unheard-of super-powerful flying magical race to the galaxy, or having stormtroopers invade the southern icefields, or something else fucky like that.

------

now that we’ve got location covered, we have to talk about the force, magic, and the gods. i’m gonna get a little handwavey here, but it’s also, i think, the most interesting part of this whole thing, so here we go.

first off, the force. what is it? here’s how obi-wan describes it in a new hope:

It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.

with that description in mind, i want to draw attention to one little throwaway line from the flight rising lorebook chapter 1: the first age:

From this bedlam, the magical energies themselves began to concentrate and change. Similar particles receded into four great beings, each overwhelmingly dense with a different element. As if eager to proudly display their emergence to some unseen divinity, these beings took on the shapes of great wyrms.

that ‘unseen divinity’? yeah, that’s the force. you could even take the ‘similar particles’ bit to mean midi-chlorians, if you want to acknowledge the prequels’ interpretation of the force.

as we know, some people are stronger with the force than others. these people usually become jedi or sometimes sith, depending on whether they use the light or the dark side. but the jedi and sith aren’t the only force users out there: there are plenty of civilizations who have different names and explanations for it and how it manifests itself varies from person to person. in fact, the lasat people i mentioned earlier recognized the force as something called ‘the ashla’. so different concepts for the force exist across the galaxy, and it’s very possible that what we know as ‘elemental magic’ on sornieth is simply how dragons see different aspects of the force. as if that wasn’t enough, we also know some force users can use the force to manipulate the elements themselves, like how palpatine can use the dark side to create lightning.

so really: i don’t think it’s a stretch to say some intensely powerful creatures born of the universe itself could specialize in a specific aspect of the force and manifest entirely that way.

[billy mays voice] But Wait, There’s More! i’m gonna reference rebels again. yeah, i know. on the planet of atollon lives the bendu, a being of the force who is neither light nor dark. he’s powerful, and at one point, turns himself into a giant storm and strikes down ships with lightning to defend his planet. loth-wolves are a similar concept. they’re animals which are shown to have a deep connection to the force, but only as it relates to the planet they call home, lothal. at one point a character asks if the loth-wolves are on their side and the answer is "they're on lothal's side.” this is how i see the gods as existing in the greater star wars universe: powerful beings intrinsically linked to the planet they originate from. they’re capable of great feats on their own, but can guide others (like humans or dragons) to use the force / magic in their stead.

the gods are real inasmuch as the force is real, and act as extensions of one another. if we wanna go a step further, the deities could all be light-side users and the shade is their dark counterpart, which is a REALLY fun concept to explore.

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phew, that’s it. i’ve covered most of it except for how dragons get off sornieth and into the wider galaxy, which is...somewhat less essential than the stuff i talked about above, but i still want to address it, especially since we’ve established they have no outside contact and are limited to 1920s tech. to keep it brief, the easiest answer is...magic.

i don’t want to get tooooo deep into rebels stuff again, but space-time portals do exist in star wars, which is really exciting for me personally, and also a nice setup for dragons to get out into the galaxy - if they have access to them, that is; in rebels they only appear in a jedi temple, but i think it’s possible other access points exist, given that other force-societies also exist. the point is, being handwavey and saying ‘eh, portals’ is a valid excuse that doesn’t totally break either universe because they are canon to both universes. you could also go the route of magic experiments gone wrong, the deities picking off a few special individuals and sending them out, or crazy lighning-arcane tech mergers shooting dragons off into space, never to be heard from again.

there’s any number of possibilities here, ranging from crazy space wizard shenanigans to early spaceflight gone very very wrong.

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tldr: sornieth is located in the far reaches of the galaxy, away from major events, and has remained undiscovered. the deities are manifestations of the force channeled through the planet itself; the gods and the force are extensions of one another. sometimes dragons can get off sornieth, but not often, so dragons are rare in the wider galaxy. there is no conflict of lore that says these two things CAN’T exist in the same universe, and in fact, the lore sometimes even supports them coexisting.

or in other words: star wars and flight rising coexist because i want them to, but also because i have legitimate justification for it. i’m too powerful and nobody can stop me from making star wars dragons now.

#flight rising #star wars #fr lore #crossover #flight rising lore #stanley says stuff #wait i dont have a lore tag.....a travesty #stanley loves lore #<- bc it has to be alliterative in some way #there we go. lore tag exists now #if anyone reads this i will be shocked lmfao #i will go feral if anyone reads and asks me questions about this shit #im still debating whether or not i should post that 10k monster lorefic but for now theres this #bc i sorta needed to organize my thoughts for myself too + bc i need to explain my mando dragon who ive already shown off

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anjuschiffer · 5 years

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The Host Club’s Busy Week: Who Let the Rich in the Bakery?!

So during the middle of the night (at least it was for me), a group of us in the Maribat Discord server came up with this AU and thus this was born. Wanna thank @ficsforthestars for instigating this AU! I had a blast writing this.

Also, some things to know before you read: Mari goes under the name Marin when she's part of the school and Mari/Marinette outside of school. Adrien and Felix are called Twins since they look identical despite their different personalities and having different surnames.

With that, I hope you enjoy this!

@-@-@-@-@-

AO3

@-@-@-@-@-

“A competition?” The twins asked, Adrien and Felix looking at one another and then back at Damian.

It was another day at the Host Club, the boys lazing around as Mari was crowded by the clients that were in the club at that moment.

Today’s event: Tea with Marin (with cakes made by Marin).

Damian smirked.

“Marinette’s parents own a bakery, correct?” A series of nods. “Well, it just so happens that they’re very popular despite being a small commoner’s business, which leads to my next point.”

Damian shows them a flyer, Richard and the rest of the boys wondering what it was.

“A piece of paper.” Tim says after skimming the flyer, going back to resting his head on the club’s pillow stash. “A flyer to be exact.”

“Correct.” Damian puts the flyer back into his case, Felix noticing other photos and templates in the leather file. Templates were marked in red, some notes scattered around the paper.

What was Damian up to?

“What does this have to do with Marinette and her parent’s bakery?” Richard asked, something in his gut not sitting right.

“Well, the bakery needs part-time workers or any volunteers that can help them this upcoming week.” Damian pulled out his remote to summon the club’s screen projector, showing some photos of Marinette’s parent’s bakery filled to brim with customers ordering cakes and other pastries, Sabine and Tom wearing panicked faces.

Many of the orders and pastries were pink and red themed, the boys quickly picking up on the theme: Valentine’s Day.

“But we also have our Valentine Day’s event coming up.” Jon chirped in, worried about possibly having to cancel their event to volunteer at the bakery. Not that he minded. Maybe he’d get to try some cakes there.

“Like if we would ever raise a finger to prepare for the event.” Felix reminded the group, everyone nervously chuckling except for Damian.

“Back to the matter at hands, we’ll be competing to see who can deliver the most pastries for that entire time we are there.”

Damian changes the slide, showing a map of the area around the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. There were dots scattered across the city, a lot circling around the outskirts of the city and around the bakery itself.

“Sounds fun!” Adrien squeals, Felix placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Seeing as this is a competition, I’m sure there’s a prize involved.”

“Nothing gets by you, does it, de Vanily?” Damian wipes out a tiny envelope.

“What’s it got?” Jon asked, wondering what a small envelope the size of Damian’s hand would contain.

“A one day baking class with Marinette.” The boys simply looked at each other and blinked, turning back to Damian new with confused faces.

“We can literally just ask if she-“

“-with just Marinette teaching you in the bakery.” Damian grinned as he watched everyone straighten in their seats, wanting to laugh at the serious expression that morphed onto Grayson, Agreste and de Vanily. “A one-on-on class. Usually it’s take a lot of membership points to even gain a class with her parents, but with their daughter?” Damian chuckled. “You’d have to buy a year’s worth of pastries to gather the amount of points needed to purchase the class session.”

“We’re rich.” Tim bluntly stated, gaining a few agreements. “We can literally buy three year’s worth of-“

“Drake, do they look like a factory to be able to produce that quantity of goods?” Tim mumbled a no. “There you have it.”

“So, who’s in?” All the boys raised their hands. “Let the game begin.”

Marinette felt a shiver go down her spine as she drank some tea with the ladies, turning her head to see the boys arguing with each other.

A storm was brewing.

----

“STOP GROWING MUSHROOMS BY THE OVEN SENPAI! YOU’RE GOING TO RUIN THE DOUGH!” Marinette screamed, pulling Dick away from their oven, allowing himself to get dragged out of the kitchen and into the staircase that lead to the apartment.

Adrien and Felix giggled as they watched their friend get scolded by Marinette, quickly going over to the counter to hand Damian over the money they had gotten from their recent delivery.

“Did he mess up again?” Felix asked Damian, accepting the water bottle the Wayne had offered.

“He sure did.” Tim replies, sipping on his coffee.

“And he was so sure he was going to get it right this time.” Damian grinned. “He ended up getting lost towards the end and had to get our driver to help him, only to be off by a whole number.”

“Should’ve seen how embarrassed he got when he knocked on the wrong house door and apologized for bothering them.” Tim said, smirking into his coffee. “Wish I had known about this instant coffee sooner. Don’t have to wait for it to be grounded or anything! Just add water and it’s done!”

“Well thanks to you, we’re a bag short.” Marinette scowled, causing Tim to jump. “I swear I just saw you drink a cup a minute ago.” Mari said, rubbing her temple as she made her way back into the kitchen.

“It was actually five minutes ago.” Tim mumbled, taking another sip from the coffee before planing it down to help ring the customer at the counter.

“Wait, just how much has he been drinking?” Adrien said, turning to Damian for answers.

“For every five cups he pours, one of them ends up for him.” Damian answered, glaring at Tim as he attempted to steal another cup. “This coffee is for the elderly lady over there so you can’t have it.”

“Party pooper.” Tim muttered, watching Damian give Jon a blind eye.

Said boy was sitting with the elderly lady, chatting away as the two ate some brioche.

“I thought you guys were here to help, not to be babysitted.” Marinette growled through her teeth, making everyone go back to their respected jobs.

She knew, she just knew it.

That shiver that rippled down her back that day was this. She was being warned about this disaster.

When the Club appeared at her door that morning -at four of the morning mind you-, she knew something was up, she knew they were plotting something.

And today was not the best day to interfere with her life. Today was one of the busiest days of the year, so Mari didn’t need this ball of stress to start the day, knowing there was more stress awaiting for her further on.

But just as she had finished scolding them and demanded them to go back home, her father decided to walk by, his face brightening upon seeing them.

He started to cry and hug Marinette and thanking her for getting her classmates to help them out, thanking Marinette for always being so concerned for her parents.

As Tom welcomed them in, Mari could only watch in complete annoyance as she watched them have their way.

Oh the work that awaited them, which led to now.

Felix and Adrien had finished delivering their 49th order while Richard was still on his 23rd.

While Mari wished she could go and encourage Dick, but she couldn’t, even if she wanted to.

Her parents had their hands full and she was needed in the back, trusting Damian with the money, counter and managing his monkeys.

He wasn’t the Club’s manager for no reason after all.

With a heavy sigh and after slapping her hands on her cheeks, she headed back to the kitchen.

-----

“Thank you all for helping us today.” Sabine said with a bow, the boys also bowing, though at different times.

“Marinette’s lucky to have wonderful friends like yourselves.” Tom said, patting his daughter’s head. Marinette gave her father a smile but dropped it when she turned to see the club members, her eyes narrowed.

“If anything, we’re lucky to have Mari for a friend.” Jon said, running up to Sabine. “Now we know where she gets her kind personality from!”

Thank Jon was the only thing that rang through the member’s mind, thanking the oblivious boy and his sunshine personality.

Sabine hugged the boy. “I’m just so happy that my little girl is getting along with her classmates and making friends.” She let go of Jon, who wobbled to compose himself. “We were worried she wouldn’t make any, seeing as it’s a very prestigious school the lot of you attend.”

The twins looked at each other before grinning, Mari not liking it one bit.

“Don’t worry about a thing Mme. Cheng!” Adrien said with a chirp, Felix noticing the cue to continue.

“The three of us are in the same class and club.” Felix said, smiling at the cooing Sabine gave them. He continued. “We are very close friends, spending a lot of time together, working on club activities and schoolwork.”

“And because we spend so much time together, we’ve practically her favorite duo. We are best friends after all!” Adrien ended with a smile, shaking Felix’s hand behind his back upon noticing how Dick wilted at their right.

“Oh Mari!” Marinette was smoldered by hugs, the Club enjoying every bit of it.

-----

“So, who won?” Felix asked, sipping on some Earl Grey.

The weekend had passed, the Club spending their glorious three days there, getting fed by the Dupain-Cheng’s.

Jon -in particular- adored Sabine, one of favorite things about her was how comfortable he felt around her. Almost like having a second mother.

Tim enjoyed simply being in the bakery, to sit in the aroma of freshly made coffee was heavenly.

The rest simply liked the bakery because of Marinette and the feeling of being home despite only being there for a few days.

“Yeah! Tell us Damian!” Jon chirped, stuffing his face with some cookies the Dupain-Cheng’s had given him.

“Well,” Damian pulled out his screen projector again, taking out a pointer. “Seeing as Jon and Tim lost interest in the competition as soon as they set foot in the bakery, that leaves the rest.”

He changed to the next slide, showing four lines on the map along with dots of the same color.

“Ooo, what are those lines and dots for?” Jon inquired. On the map, there were lines of different colors along with matching dots.

“These four lines show the route each of us took when delivering the pastries. The dots show the orders that were successfully delivered.”

At the corner, there was a guide that named which color belonged to who. Damian smirked when he saw Richard cower behind Tim while the twins glanced at each other before Cheshire grins graced their faces.

Felix tried his hardest to not laugh while Adrien didn’t bother to hide it. Turning around from his place, Adrien laughed at his senpai.

“Look at yours Richard! Your blue line is all over the city! And you only got 30 dots on the map!”

Richard curled into himself, his face burning with embarrassment.

It wasn’t his fault that all the streets looked alike!

“Sad to see that you got lost while being a few meters away from the bakery.” Felix added, smiling at his amount of dots on the map: 96. Meanwhile Adrien felt cheated.

“Why does Felix get 96?! We went the same way! We should’ve gotten the same amount!”

“You only got 69 because you failed to notice Felix sneaking in other orders as he joined you.” Damian filled in, wondering why-

“Wait… how do you have over a 100 orders?” Oh. So the sleep-deprived idiot noticed. “You were inside the bakery the entire time. Did you cheat?!” Tim accused, Damian raising a brow.

“Me, cheat?” Damian put the projector away. “No my dear brother. I simply found a loophole.” He took out another remote, the boys watching in anticipation. “I simply used drones to deliver the orders, no walking necessary.”

“SO YOU DID CHEAT!” Adrien and Richard yelled, Felix simply frowning.

“And as I’m the sole winner, I’ll be using the opportunity to gather more photos for Marin’s monthly magazine.” Damian smirked. “It has become a club favorite, even gaining more demand than his Majesty himself.” Damian wanted to laugh upon seeing Richard wilt even more, dragging himself to a corner to mope.

“I should’ve known.” A voice spoke up, causing everyone to whip their heads to their eavesdropper.

“Mari.”

“You did all of that just for fun?” She growled, walking up to the boys, her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot. “For your entertainment?”

“A bit, yes, however-“ Damian was shortly interrupted by a fuming Marinette.

“So you did!” Marinette yelled, grabbing Richard’s attention. “I can’t believe you guys!”

“Marinette, we didn’t mean-“ Adrien started, only to see Richard walk up to Marinette and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“It started as a competition.” Richard said, dropping his hands once he had her attention. “And we shouldn’t have treated something so serious like that as a simple form of entertainment. Sorry.”

Marinette looked at Richard, averted her gaze and turned away from him.

He had that look again. Glazed baby blue eyes and a thin line for a smile… the chirp in his being gone.

Letting out a sigh, Marinette turned back to the ashamed group of boys.

“It’s fine. I’ll look over it this one time.” Marinette turned to Damian. “However, whatever prize you were thinking of giving better not be rewarded as a condition for me turning a blind eye.”

Damian nodded, ripping the envelope from the beginning in half, making the boys scrunch up their faces.

“We’re sorry Mari. We promise not to do something like this again.” Jon spoke up, making Mari feel guilty for getting angry at the group. Darn him and his baby doe eye strategy.

“Like I said, it’s alright.” Marinette restated, now wondering how she was going to tell them what she came for.

“Did something happen Mari?” Jon asked innocently, the club fully knowing she was the softest for him.

The perks of being a young, childish prodigy.

“Well, my parents wanted to thank you all for helping out at the bakery the other day, so they want you guys to come over next week.”

“Next week?” The boys sang, watching Marinette fidget under their gaze.

“You see… it’s my birthday next week.”

Everyone went haywire, Richard quickly picking up Mari and spinning her around, shouting that his little girl was growing up. Damian started to jot something down and made phone calls. Tim simply blinked before muttering something into his phone and falling asleep.

The twins managed to pull Mari away from Richard to only squish her between the two, throwing one arm each over her shoulder. They talked about how they felt betrayed that Mari kept her birthday a secret and how now they had to go shopping for her gift.

Something about a house and a new building caused her to break away from them, warning them that they better not do anything of that extreme for her. Ever.

Jon offered her to buy her his favorite cake from this world-renowned patisserie, which upon hearing their name, Mari paled.

She knew that person, her parents’ idol and there was no way in hell was she going to allow Jon to buy her something worth thousands of Euros over a simple birthday cake.

Damn rich kids.

But seeing them fawn over her like this, to argue and have fun like this… it was like a dream.

A dream that was her reality and that she was thankful for.

She was blessed to be surrounded by such loving people.

She couldn’t wait to tell her parents that they all said yes.

It’d be a nice day filled with friends at her parent’s bakery, having cake and-

The floor began to rumble, scaring the entire club members and the other people there, a few of the girls screaming for dear life.

The floor parted open, Nino standing on a rising platform, light beams beaming pastel colors and Nino bopping his head as party music blasted from his speakers. His turntables glinted and his mixer sparkled as people began to gather around the uprising studio.

“Who invited that moron of a DJ?” Damian snarled, noticing the twins tense. “It was you two, wasn’t it?”

They looked at each other and then at Damian. “What? He’s cool.”

Everyone watched as Nino lowered the music and whipped out a microphone, grinning madly.

“Hey dudettes! You’re probably wondering why I’m blasting party music, but get this!” A spotlight came out of nowhere, landing right on top of Marinette, causing her to freeze. “Starting today, we’re going to countdown to Marin’s birthday! Give it up for the soon-to-be-birthday dude!”

All the girls that were present at that moment turned their heads in unison to look at Mari, proceeding to squeal and surround her, asking her why she had hidden her birthday from them.

This was why Mari thought to herself as she was pushed and pulled on from the mob of girls she was surrounded by. She listened as some girls promised to bring her some pricey fabrics, threads, perfumes and other things from high-end brands Mari only wished to glance at and never touch.

This is why she didn’t say anything, but Nino just had to go and say something, didn’t he? Nino and his loose-lipped self.

-----

That following week, up until her birthday, Mari came home with a mountain of gifts, her parents panicking upon seeing the gifts and not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, one thing rang in her mind.

Damn these rich kids.

After settling on what to do with the gifts, Mari excused herself to her room, her eyes landing on a box on her desk upon setting a foot in her room.

She picked up the box, noticing how delicately it was wrapped, a pastel pink paper with ladybug print all over it, a single red ribbon at its side with a note underneath.

The note had her name, Marinette using this sign to open it and cry upon seeing the picture.

In a simply glass frame with a single ladybug in the corner, there was a single picture of the day the stupid idiots went to volunteer at the bakery, everyone smiling at the camera.

Marinette wiped a tear as she placed the frame on her desk, a single phrase in her mind.

Damn these rich idiots… what would I do without them?

#maribat #maribat x ohshc #anju writes #had fun writing this #might make more in the far future #maybe

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flying-nightwing · 4 years

Text

Dark Fox (7/7)

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read Dark Fox! It was my first longer serie ever since my writing hiatus, and the first one I actually finished ever lmao. It was quite an adventure and I really enjoyed writing this persona. This is the last chapter to close the story. I hope you like it gang!

Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader

Word Count: 6821

Warnings: usual

You hadn’t had a lazy morning in years, and you had all but forgotten how good it felt.

A single sun ray warmed the bed, making the temperature under the thin sheet just ideal. The slow, steady rise and fall of Jason’s chest under your head was soothing, as well as the random pattern his hand was drawing on your back. Usually, you’d have already trained and eaten by that time. Today, you had no intention of leaving the bed anytime soon. The last night had been spent fucking so many times in so many different ways, you were both exhausted and happier than before. Jason was even wilder than you remembered (or he got even better?), so much you were still riding the absolute high you had reached.

You traced his scars with your fingers; some old ones he had told you about, some you had put there yourself, and some others your had yet to know how he got them. You had a lot to catch up about.

“The last time we found ourselves like this,” You began, trailing your soft touch up and down the browned mark on his shoulder. It was as large as your sword, and a witness of the rocky beginning of your relationship. “I begged you to come back to the League with me”

He angled his head toward you. You could feel his eyes on you, half closed and relaxed as he’s even been. “But I begged you to follow me back here first”

It had been a heartbreaking moment. The build up of the unanswered question for a whole year had lead to there. None of you had wanted to talk about the time his training would be done, you had rather wanted to keep doing your stuff and ignore the impending separation. That morning hadn’t been unlike this one, with the sun coming through the hut and with you both on the hammock, naked and intertwined under the fur cover. He had broken the silence, asking you to forget the League and stay with him. Back then, you were so sure you could only reach Luthor through it. So you asked Jason to instead join the League at your side.

He had dressed up and left the hut, and you hadn’t heard from him from then until you crossed paths in Ukraine.

“I guess this is the fight you won” You smiled, flicking up your gaze to his. “Seeing as I’m here”

“The fight I won?” He raised his eyebrows. “Implying I didn’t win any other fight?”

“You did, but…” You teased, gently tapping your fingers up his collarbone. “Let’s face it, I still won most of them”

He gasped. “Excuse me?”

You smirked.

Before you could see him move, he rolled on top of you and caged you underneath him between his arms. His eyes were narrowed in indignation as he channeled his mean face on. It once might have worried you, but it had lost most of its purpose now. Especially since you were both naked.

“I’ve won plenty of fights against you” He sneered.

“Mhmm” You hummed, knowing all too well how he didn’t like to be challenged. You hadn’t poked at his pride in too long, so you couldn’t pass the occasion. “Sure you did”

“Have you forgotten what happens when the fighting range gets too small?”

You simply blinked.

“Or when I truly got angry? Or…”

You cocked your head to the side as he halted his words. Then, understanding flashed through his expression.

“You’re still riling me on purpose” He sighed.

“What did I like to say again?” You asked rhetorically, pausing for emphasis. “Ah, yes. When you’ll stop falling for it”

“I hate you”

“Don’t blame me for being such an easy target” You rolled your eyes. “Now come here”

“Bossy” He finally grinned. “I love it”

He lowered himself so his lips touched yours and kissed you softly. However, the moment didn’t last long, as his cell phone vibrated on the nightstand. You could feel the shift toward annoyance in his mood, and it only grew when the phone vibrated one more time, and another one after that. With a long sigh, he rolled off of you and to the side of his bed. He frowned, then all trace of displeasure at the interruption wiped off of his face.

“What is it?” You asked, peeking over his shoulder. He shut off the screen immediately.

“You’ll see” He chuckled. “Get dressed”

“Ooookay” You nodded slowly, watching him throw his legs on the side of the bed and reach for his shirt on the floor. You put on your clothes from the day before and went for the guest bedroom you had, changing into something clean. When you got out, Jason was waiting for you leaning on the doorframe.

“First though, breakfast”

You followed Jason, as you were still unfamiliar with the place. Sure, you had mapped the way from your room to the cave, and from the cave to every close escape around. But for the rest, you had barely the time or desire to explore. All this space was pointless to you, as you couldn’t figure out who would need all of this. However, it did provide a good way to avoid any Wayne during your stay, you’d give the manor this point.

But it didn’t allow you to avoid Bruce this time.

He caught you around a corner, and you three remained in a stare off for a few seconds. You knew it probably wouldn’t result in a fight, but your hand still hovered above the blade hidden at the back of your waistband.

“I think you have overstayed your welcome here”

Jason gritted his teeth, but you remained calm. You had expected this.

“I will be gone by tonight” You replied on a neutral tone, then pulled Jason with you to side step him.

“One more thing”

You halted your steps in the doorframe to the next room, turning your head to look at him. He hadn’t moved.

“I don’t want to see you in my city again”

“You must be fucking kidding me” Jason yelled, but you held up your arm to stop him from marching back to Bruce.

“Absolutely not” He turned to face you. “Ever since she’s came, she has conveniently disclosed very precise information on the weapon’s whereabouts, except when it mattered. And hid her family ties to Luthor”

“You think she’s working with him?” He scoffed.

“I don’t know, is she?”

Jason glanced at you, about to reply something, but you just shook your head at him. It was pointless to try and convince Bruce Wayne, especially since you knew your word could never overturn your suspicious behaviour. He rolled his eyes and walked away, and you were about to follow him before you paused.

“I’m not” You spoke up, and you could feel Bruce’s eyes on your back. “If you must know, I’ve come here to kill him, and I don’t need your permission for that”

With that, you walked away, not waiting for an answer from Bruce. You joined Jason in the kitchen, who was already working on cooking oatmeal. His jaw was still clenched, and his posture tense.

“I can’t believe the fucking audacity” He grumbled.

“He is entitled to his opinion of me” You shrugged and leaned on the counter next to him. “I don’t really care what he thinks about my intentions”

“Still” He sighed. “Are you still planning on finishing your mission?”

You crossed your arms against your torso and furrowed your eyebrows. You could just leave Batman and the others take care of it, and leave them to deal with Luthor. But again, you hadn’t came all this way to just give up.

“Bruce was very clear on his stance about me remaining involved in this shitshow” You hummed, before glancing up at Jason. “But we do have a bio weapon to stop, and I’m far from done with Luthor”

His disappointment morphed into a grin at your words. “Attagirl, that’s what I like to hear”

“I most certainly don’t like to leave things unfinished” The corner of your lips lifted. “You okay with going against Batman’s orders?”

“Oh my dear” He chuckled as he poured the oatmeal in two bowls. He glanced at you with an excited glint in his eyes. “Nobody has a better record of disobeying him than I do”

“Good”

He put a spoon in each bowl and handed you one. “Now we need to have a game plan for what’s next”

“Any idea?”

“I sure have” His grin widened. “I want to show you something”

He motioned you to follow him as he ate his oatmeal mid walk. He got down to the cave and led you to a small side room, where he grabbed the tablet on the table. You slowly ate your breakfast as you watched him press buttons and mumble to himself. Then, he turned to you.

“You ready?”

You nodded, unsure of what he was talking about. He dramatically pressed one more button, making the wall in front of you turn on itself with a woosh. Your eyes widened as you took in the content of the compartment.

“So?”

You blinked at glanced at Jason. Your grin slowly stretched to match his.

“Oh yeah” You nodded again, this time, with way more assurance. “This will definitely do”

----

Jason heard Bruce coming from miles away.

Even if he technically didn’t, his course of action was so predictable that the Bat’s dramatic landing on the rooftop behind him was no surprise at all.

“I thought I had made myself clear”

Jason stood up from his crouched position and turned to face him, arms crossed against his chest. “You did”

“Then what are you doing here?” He sighed in annoyance.

“Well obviously you’re blaming your wrong intel and failures on someone who has nothing to do with it, which is a classic you” He taunted. “So we’re here to finish the job. Her and I really do work well together, thanks for noticing”

“Red Hood” He warned.

“Batman” He mimicked.

Someone landing next to them grabbed their attention.

“Red Robin” Tim announced himself under Bruce’s hard glance and Jason’s amused one.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, I knew something was up when I didn’t see Foxy in the cage all day” He explained. “So I followed you here. By the way, where is she?”

As if on cue, a shadow dropped behind them. The movement did no go unnoticed, and as if on instinct, Tim spun around and threw a shuriken. His expression quickly changed as he realized who was in front of him.

There you were, still crouched from your landing and holding his shuriken mid air inches away from your face. You were smirking under your mask as Tim stared at you in disbelief.

“Twice” You spoke as you stood up fully. His eyes quickly scanned you from head to toes, almost overseeing you handing him back his shuriken. “Twice you have thrown one of these at me”

“Where’s the League suit?” He asked, slowly taking back his small weapon. “And you’re stupid bow?”

You shrugged, sharing a knowing glance with Jason. “I thought it was time for a change”

Then, understanding washed across his face. “Oh, oh my. You’ve dropped the League”

He did another once over. You had ditched the heavy coat for a lightweight suit made of silk and leather, with armored plastic on the stomach, the upper arms and the back. The arm bracers had smaller spikes than the previous ones, and you no longer wore a heavy mask. Instead, you had only kept your half mask and wore a hooded robe crossing on your torso. Your grappling hook was now in your utility belt, and your arrows were replaced with sharper, more volatile darts kept in a sheath on your thigh. You now had 25 regular darts, five explosive and your two classic sedatives. Only your sword remained on your back, so it would “unclog your aesthetic”, as Jason had put it.

You did like it better like that, the bow wasn’t your style anyway.

The new gear was still all black, for the exception of a silver kitsune draw into the back of the armor that would show if you took off the robe. It was comfortable and flexible, and resistant to bullets and stabbing. Jason had hit the target right on with the design.

“Do you keep your wrist shooter?” He asked, squinting his eyes.

You raised your arm and shot over his shoulder to prove your point. He caught the small arrow mid air, nodding impressively.

“Still the best part of the suit” He muttered to himself.

“I thought you said you’d be gone” Bruce cut in. Your eyes went to him.

“I still have a couple of hours” You replied without missing a beat.

“Talking about” Jason said. “Your time window just opened”

“You can either help us or stay out of the way” You told Bruce as you adjusted you comm. “But this is happening regardless”

He didn’t speak right away, taking a moment to ponder your words. Then, he voiced his thoughts. “Are you going to kill him?”

You held eye contact for a few seconds more before taking off. You ran along the ledge and jumped on the next building, then letting yourself slide down the fire escape. You chose not no reply to him, as you didn’t need to give him another reason to come after you. Granted, not replying was practically the equivalent of giving a positive answer, but at least it could give you the benefit of the doubt for what it was worth.

Using the shadows of the city, you quickly made your way through the blocks by the back alleys until you reached the imposing tower in the middle of the Diamond district, the same building you and Tim had sacked for show barely a week before. Whatever damage you had done, it didn’t show anymore. It was like nothing had happened.

This time, you came in by the front door. The second you walked through the glass doors, all activity stopped. You took a few step forward, and four guards met you halfway in the lobby. Without a word, they escorted you past the front desk and through the metal detector going off like crazy. Anytime you could have easily gotten rid of them, but you held back for now. You waited a short time for the elevator, then got in and up to Luthor’s floor. He was waiting for you by the window, and turned around with a smirk once you got in his office. You pulled back your hood and unclasped your mask.

“I see you’ve got a new look” He pointed out. “Changed your mind about the league?”

“Something like that”

“Well, I’m most certainly pleased to see you’ve decide to do the right thing” He took a step forward. “This is where you belong”

Slowly, you reached for your sword and took it out. A shadow passed across his face, and nodded to something behind you. Or rather, someone. You dropped to a crouch to avoid the tazer being stuck in your back--once was enough--and thrusted your sword in the legs of the guys around you. You rolled forward and shot the four guards coming your way, before jumping on the desk and holding them in your aim. Luthor now had four new guards around, letting you know more would come if he needed. You reloaded your crossbow.

“I’m disappointed” He revealed with a sigh. “Those were good men”

“Let it be a reminder I can and will take them all out if they're in my way” You twirled your sword. “Step forward and none of them die with you tonight”

“How noble” He chuckled, not concerned at all. His hand rested in his pocket and his stance was relaxed. “Did your boyfriend with the red helmet tell you to do that?”

You shot an arrow to his knee, but he easily side stepped it like he had predicted that move. He raised an eyebrow.

“I see” He hummed. “But I had expected you would deny your destiny. So I decided to help you make a choice”

Four more men came in the room and ran at you. You vaulted over them and landed behind them, taking them by surprise. Before the could fully turn around, they were on the ground. You wiped your sword in the crook of your elbow and faced Luthor again. He was watching, unwavering, almost out of the door. He was stalling, that was clear, but you didn’t know for what yet. He smirked again, and you knew he’d finally reveal his thoughts.

“Now I know you won’t back down like last time” He taunted, and your jaw clenched. “So I guess you can come at me now, tear through my guards and get to me…”

You narrowed your eyes, knowing there was something more coming. He wouldn’t make it that easy for you to get to him.

“But like I said, I had expected trouble from you, like your mother before you” He sighed sarcastically. “So I prepared a backup plan. I decided to launch my weapon sooner and instead use it elsewhere, since you forced my hand. In twenty minutes, it will discharge quite literally the plague in the city aqueduct”

You tensed, your hand going to your ear to your comm and turning it on.

“Ah, I don’t think telling your friends will work” He tsked. “The only way to stop it is through my genetic code”

“Therefore mine” You concluded.

“Smart” He mocked. “Yes. So you can either kill me here and get it over with, or you can run around and save a bunch of people, and miss your shot. Again. But you don’t have the time to do both, I’m afraid”

You calculated his ultimatum, and he was right. If he kept the men coming, it would be enough to stall you too long for you to go from the diamond district to the aqueduct. He had planned this move carefully, knowing he’d get a win in either case.

“Don’t worry, the cure is ready to go, there won’t be much casualties” He brushed off. “You came here to kill me, didn’t you?”

You flexed your fingers on the hilt of your sword.

“Do it” He challenged. “That’s what you are. You were made to finish what you started, to stop at nothing to get what you want. This is how I made you, even if I disapprove what you’ve done with my gifts. So go ahead, kill me and prove me right”

He was almost in your face now, staring right at you. You straightened your back and levelled up with him, feeling something strange, yet not unwelcomed, swelling in your chest. You thought about Jason and what he said, about those civilians you saved from a certain death, and about the man in front of you. Seeing him from so close, you realized every ounce of anger you held toward Luthor was… Gone. You thought with him so close you would be tempted to fight him, but all you could feel was indifference. He didn’t matter to you anymore, he never should have. He represented your insecurities, and tried to drag you down with him to excuse his own failure in making you a copy of himself. You became aware he was a pointless chase, and you had better things to do than indulge in it.

“I’m the Dark Fox” You jutted your chin up, squaring up your shoulders. “Don’t fucking tell me what to do”

You turned around and jumped over the desk, grabbing an explosive arrow and throwing it in the window. You jumped through as it exploded, plunging down the building. You pulled out your grappling line and hooked it on your shooter, then aimed for the roof. It slowed your fall midway, and you used your glove to slow yourself down.

As your feet touched the ground, you saw Jason’s motorcycle pull in in front of the building. You put back your sword in its sheath and your mask on your face, then your hood up.

“Aqueduct, we’ve got fifteen minutes” You spoke as you climbed on the bike.

“Yep, I heard everything” He had a grin in his voice. Yet, he didn’t go yet.

“What?”

“I am so fucking proud of you”

You felt your neck heat up as you looked down, even if he couldn’t see you, in fact, you were glad he couldn’t. You never knew his praise would make you react that way, or that you would be so important for you to hear it.

“And for the record” He added. “It was very hot, too”

“Fucking hell, Jay, go!”

“Fine” He sighed and sped away from there.

“Okay so what is your thing with jumping out of windows?” Tim said through your comm. You had no idea he had stayed.

“It makes me feel less dead” You replied, and Jason audibly laughed.

“You madwoman”

“Since you’re here, I have a task for you” You said. “Could you pull out the files on the weapon and figure out how the failsafe works?”

“I’m already on it”

Then, a bullet barely grazed your shoulder. The sound followed closely after, but it was like in slow motion. You raised your arm to protect Jason's shoulder, letting the bullet hit your arm brace instead. Reacting quickly, you turned around facing backwards and shot an arrow through the gun aimed at you. You then noticed five motorcycles following you, probably tasked with taking you down.

“What’s going on? How many?”

“Keep driving” You ordered. “I’ll take care of this”

You shot another arrow, but it bounced on the body of the motorcycles, and from your position you couldn’t aim elsewhere. You emptied your arrows to get one good shot, and it was enough to take one down. But looking at your recharges, you only had ten darts left, and potentially more people to take down around the bomb. You looked down, then up again to the guns aimed at you.

“Fuck it”

You reached for one of Jason’s gun on his thigh and clicked the safety off. Then, you shot.

“Holy shit” Jason yelled, and you could only imagine his expression. “HOLY SHIT”

“Did… Did Foxy just use a gun?”

“I wish I could have seen that” He whined. “I am so turned on right now”

“Too much information Jaybird”

You clicked the safety back on and turned around again, then slipped the gun back in his holster.

“I thought you thought guns were disgraceful”

“I kind of still do” You smirked under your mask. “So don’t get used to it”

“You’ll at least do it once when I look, right?”

“Hmm, maybe” You hummed.

“Aww, aren’t you two the cutest”

“Shut up Tim” Jason warned.

“Alright then, I won’t tell you what I found on turning off the weapon”

“Speak, Tim” You contradicted Jason’s order.

“First you have to apologize for throwing me out of a window”

You thought for a moment before answering. “No”

“Then no intel”

You sighed.

“Let’s compromise then” You suggested. “I will not apologize because I am not sorry, but for the intel and not telling on me after you found out who I was, I will consider not pushing you out of a window again”

There was silence radio, then he spoke again. “Good enough for me. There should be a code pad, I decrypted it and the code is 0000. Yes I know, but then you’ll see a slit, and you gotta put your left hand in it. It’ll read pulse, heat, fingerprints, and more. Since you should share all of this with Luthor, it’ll stop. Or it’ll explode, that was unclear”

“Well that’s reassuring” Jason grumbled.

“Alright, we’re almost there” You rolled your eyes. “Thanks”

“See ya later”

You turned off your comm and reloaded your shooter minutes before Jason pulled in the aqueduct yard. He parked his bike and you both easily climbed the barbed wire fence, and even though the place looked deserted, you remained careful. Luthor wouldn’t have left his device without surveillance. You grabbed your sword and fell in step behind Jason, who had his guns up. Then, he halted his steps and held a hand for you to do the same. You had this feeling you were being watched, and you could only imagine he had it too.

“Get ready” Just as he said that, bullets began raining over you. “Go find the weapon, I’ll cover you!”

You held an arm up to protect your face and disappeared into the darkness. You kept running along the walls of the building, allowing you to get in undetected. You reached the main water room, where you could see from the upper platform about eight guards surrounding the very device you had been hunting. The countdown indicated 2:37, so you had no time to lose.

You jumped over the ramp and landed quietly on your feet behind the men. You approached the first one and swung your sword around to let it rest on his neck. You used him as a shield as the other guards noticed you, blocking their bullets. You raised your arm and shot your five darts at them. You pushed the dead man off of you and faced the two remaining guards, taking a fighting stance and swirling your sword at them. Before they could start shooting again, you lunged and knocked their guns out of their hands. They kept fighting around you, trying to get to you with punches and kicks. But they were sloppy and predictable, and even after one fetched a small blade from his belt, they were no match for you. You glanced at the countdown, and it almost reached the one minute mark. Your eyes then trailed on the two guards around you, still trying to get the upper hand. They both extended their arms at the same time for a hit, so you dropped to a crouch.

Like you did during training with Bruce and Damian, you sweeped your sword in a quick motion. Unlike them, however, your current opponent weren’t quick nor skilled. The blade of your katana sliced their knees, making them collapse on the ground. You quickly reloaded your last round of arrows and sheathed your sword, then made your way to the device. You easily found the locked pad and entered the code, then pulled off your glove and stuck your hand in the slit. You pressed the button and watched as the biometrical scan began.

You heard noise behind you as backup reached the room, and without taking your hand out, you turned your body and aimed. The first five men fell, but there were still five coming your way, so you reached for your shurikens in your belt. But you didn’t get to take them out as other, all too familiar shaped shurikens reached the goons first. You sent a deadpan look at where you noticed none other than Red Robin standing there smugly.

“Oof, I hope you didn’t have dibs on them”

“I had it handled” You replied.

“I’m sure you did” He smirked as he walked past you and took a look at the countdown, then at the weapon. His expression turned grim. “Twenty seconds”

The scanner was still working.

“If it doesn’t work, you’ll have to slice the pipe off” You said, analysing the situation. Cutting the water and flooding the building would bring less casualties than letting the virus flow in the water system.

“What!?”

The system unlocked. You quickly entered the command to stop, and the countdown halted. You pulled your hand back and put on your glove again, then grabbed an explosive arrow. You planted the dart in the slit and backed up, pushing Tim with you. Soon enough, it went off and the weapon went up in smoke.

“Phew, that was close” He blinked. “Well played”

“Motherfucking Dark Fox!” Jason dropped from the platform at his turn. His helmet was off and he had a wide grin on his face. “That’s what I call making a difference! The League could never”

“That was really cool” He nodded in approval. “By the way, what happened to, you know..?”

“Did you do it?” Jason’s eyes were now on you, his grin not so intense now.

“He’s gone” You said, but it didn’t help ease the questions in their eyes. “As in, I don’t know where he is. I let him flee to come here instead”

Jason’s eyes widened. “And you’re fine with this?”

You shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me anymore. His time will come, like everyone else. I just won’t be involved when it does”

“That was unexpected” He whistled. “But hey, what goes for you goes for me. Love the new mentality”

“Killing him was what the League would have wanted”

“That’s nice. Good choice” Tim nodded. “So you’ll stay here then?”

“Well, not here, since bats and foxes apparently don’t get along” You snorted as you unclasped your mask and pulled back your hood. “But I’ll be around”

“About that, how does Blüdhaven sounds?” Jason chimed in again, sliding a hand around your shoulder. You raised your eyebrows at him “I’ve got a pretty nice place there, and it’s technically not Gotham”

“That won’t be necessary” A deep voice came from behind you. You glanced over your shoulder where the massive shadow of Batman stood. “I’ve seen you work tonight. You acted good, I can allow you to stay in Gotham as the Dark Fox”

Jason coughed in surprise as you blinked, then turned around.

“Thank you” You began, nodding respectfully. Jason’s wide glance was now directed to you. “But no thanks. Besides, I still don’t need your blessing to stay, or to be me”

Bruce stared at you blankly, not moving or commenting. Your guess was that he wasn’t expecting this answer, or at least not delivered this way.

“Oh, B” Jason mocked as he put back his helmet. “Nice try. Anyway, we should get out of here before the cops show up”

You put back up your mask and hood and followed Jason out, waving at Tim on your way out. You left the aqueduct and waited until you were further into the city before ditching the bike and finding a rooftop to station yourself on, just in case you were being followed. The masks and helmets came off once again, and you took a moment to breathe the air from up there. It was a clear night, with a good wind chasing the clouds away. Jason observed the city lights with you, crouched on the ledge. Then, you heard quiet shuffling behind you. You spun around, then held Jason back when he was about to lunge. You kept your eyes on the outline of the figure in the shadows, knowing all too well who it belonged to. You took a few steps forward.

“You look different” Talia smiled. “A good different. I’m glad you finally found yourself”

“Thank you” You lowered your head. “For allowing me”

“I only want the best for you” She stepped closer to you, her smile never wavering. “Has he taken good care of you?”

You both glanced at Jason for a moment, and you chuckled. “He has. He was gentler than I’ve been to him”

“I figured he would” She winked. “You two were meant to be”

Your smile dropped as you looked down. Surely, she would know what it meant. Her sympathetic eyes fell on you and her hand rested on your shoulder. You had chosen to part with the League, therefore, with her. It would be the hardest part for you.

“You don’t have to explain” She reassured. “I knew this would come to this, and I am here to free you”

Your eyes shot up.

“I talked with my father” She explained. “Seeing your unwavering service for all these years, he has agreed to relieve you from your duties to the League. All he asks in exchange is for you to remain out of the League’s affairs, and he gave his word he will not come against you or your family”

“Really?” Your voice was barely above a whisper.

Her smile was encouraging as she nodded at you. Slowly, you took off the black robe, exposing the silver fox on your back. Then you took out your sword from the sheath in your hands, kneeled and offered it to her. She took it and held it upright in front of you, just like the day you had been initiated in the League.

“In the name of Ra’s al Ghul, I release Thaelib fi alzalam from her servitude to the League of Assassins” She spoke. “Your debt has been paid and your bounds are no more. Rise”

You got back on your feet, your breathing hitching in your throat. You reached for your sword in her extended arm, looked down at it and putting it away again.

“Thank you”

“You’re very welcome” Her hand went to your cheek. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I will be there for you”

“And I for you” You gave her a genuine smile. She offered her arm, and you took it at the elbow like she did. Your foreheads touched for a few seconds before you pulled away with a step back.

“It was nice to see you again, Jason”

“You too, Talia” He nodded with a small curve on the corner of his lips.

“Take care, children” She said before disappearing in the darkness again.

Jason approached you and took your hand, gently pulling your around to face him. He had this glint in his eyes, it was full of relief and happiness like you had never seen on him. To be honest, you were feeling the same way. It was like a burden had been lifted off of your shoulders, and you had never felt lighter. Sure, it brought you uncertainty to navigate without the League’s guiding hand, one you had relied on for most of your life, but it felt right. You knew Jason would help you like you had helped him, and things would start to look up from now.

“So, what now?”

“I don’t know” You chuckled. “It’s the first time I don’t need to follow any agenda. I’m kind of lost”

“Ah, this calls for the return of Teacher Todd” He grinned. “Lesson number two, you get to learn what fun and freedom taste like”

----

The grass was high as your mid thigh and small bugs swarmed up with every step forward you took. You didn’t mind though, you prefered it ten folds to the smog of Gotham.

For Jason, however, it was a different story.

He was sweating and grunting, and even if he was behind you, you knew he was getting annoyed by the flies and mosquitoes around. He was swatting his hand wildly and you could tell he was slightly regretting sharing his suggestion to you. The sun was high, and even for the end of the summer it was surprisingly hot.

“Ugghhh”

You rolled your eyes, but didn’t stop.

“Are we there soon?” He asked. “Jeez I had forgotten how far was that thing”

“Come on, stop lying to yourself” You teased as you spotted a familiar path up a small hill. “You like this”

He scoffed. “It reminds me of my ass being kicked”

“As I said” You smirked over your shoulder, and he raised his eyebrows at you.

You climbed up the small hill and came face to face with a small, half decaying structure with the roof caved in by the elements. Moss and grass was growing on the outside of the round walls, but the feeling of home you had subconsciously associated with it was very much intact. Jason stopped behind you, his annoyance completely gone and replaced by fondness over the sight in front of him. There were so many memories tied to the small hut, some bad but mostly good, and it was like you could feel them all at once. You dropped your bag on the ground and took a deep breath.

“So, was the trek up here worth it?”

“Fuck yes” He sighed in amazement, his eyes never leaving the hut. “I missed this place so much”

“Even if we had to work hard for survival?”

“Being here alone with you far outweighed any inconvenience this place brings” He stepped closer to you, his arm wrapping around your waist. Who would have ever thought? His nose nuzzled on your neck and your relaxed in his arms. “We’ll still have to do a bit of renovation around though”

“I hope you’ll help me this time” You looked up at him innocently. Last time you had built the hut alone before Talia had brought Jason, and even if he had been there, you would have absolutely not trusted him to help you with anything

“But you’re so hot when you work” He pouted. “I wanna watch and enjoy the view”

“And how would you make up all that work to me?” You asked, then you felt him smile on your skin. A smile full of mischief and promises.

“Oh, I have plenty of ideas”

“Oh me too” You grinned, stepping out of his arms, then you winked at him and disappeared in the hut. Only one hammock was still up, the other had fallen on the ground due to broken ropes. Stones of the small fireplaces were kicked in and weeds were growing around. The kitchen supplies were scattered around the makeshift shelf, but otherwise the place seemed to have been left untouched by human activity. Jason followed suit and took in the damages.

“Do you think we can still both get onto this hammock without the ropes breaking?” He asked, side glancing at you. You rubbed your chin in wonder, then hummed.

“There is only one way to know for sure” You tilted your head to the side. You nodded at each other and he walked around you, with you in tow. He carefully lowered himself first, then opened his arms for you. You joined him, and waited for a few second to test the resistance of the ropes. You heard them creaking and straining, but you were still hanging. You relaxed, and barely a second after, the ropes snapped.

In a blink, you were on the ground, and both of your weights made the wood give in. You ended up in the dirt, directly on the forest floor. yOu remained in silence for a moment blinking at each other.

“Well” You sighed. “The hammock could not support us both”

“Alright, there is a lot to do” He conceded. “How about you fix this baby, and I’ll gather the wood for the fire, hunt dinner and get the herbs for tea?”

“That’s more like it” You said as you stood up and dusted off your pants. You offered a hand to Jason and you pulled him up with you. “Do you remember where are the bows and arrows?”

“In the bark of the oak facing the boulder, yeah”

“Good” You chuckled. “I wasn’t sure you’d get it right”

“Come on” He groaned playfully. “I was quite a good student”

“Oh not at all” You laughed, taking a step in his personal space and looking up at him. “The worst, actually. You’re lucky you learned fast, or we’d still be there”

“Then I should have dragged my training on purpose” His lips hovered above yours. “You’d still be my incredibly unforgiving yet very hot teacher, and I your wild, stubborn and irresistible student”

“Hmm, does another sword in your shoulder sound good?”

“Only if I get to face you hand to hand”

“You’ve got yourself a deal” You whispered, before backing away abruptly. He blinked in confusion. “But it’ll have to wait. It’s almost sundown and we need to be installed by then. So get your sweet ass out there and stop distracting me here”

He sighed. “Why do I like it so much when you order me around?”

“I have no idea” You tapped his chest. “But the quicker we prepare everything, the sooner we can go to the lake for a swim under the stars”

He perked up at that, and with wide, excited eyes, he shot out of the hut faster than you could register. You chuckled and leaned on the threshold, lazily crossing your arms against your chest and taking a deep breath. You stared outside for a moment, enjoying the breeze and the sound of nature surrounding you. It was peaceful and beautiful, taking it in fully.

Then, you got to work.

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wonderful-writer · 4 years

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08 - Hallucinations

Summary: As Y/n, Bellamy, and Clarke embark on a day mission to visit an aid depot, tensions run high when Clarke attempts to talk with Bellamy about the exodus ship and Jaha. As Y/n and the others hallucinate, she talks with someone she hasn’t seen in a very long time.

Word Count: 3.80k

Based Off: 01x08 “Day Trip”

You were healed enough to start walking around, but Bellamy made sure that you knew you couldn’t do any heavy lifting. So you were on food duty with Jasper and Monty, who kept eating the Jobi nuts as a snack while they worked.

“You know, if you did your job instead of eating our supply, we might get this done quicker.” You commented with a raised brow.

Clarke came to check up on you for the second time that day as Monty and Jasper talked about the grounder, leading you into your tent. “How are you feeling?”

“Bored out of my mind.” You admitted. “Bellamy won’t let me do anything besides pack away and sort through the food and I’m dying to do literally anything else.”

Clarke laughed at your words as she wiped down your wound and replaced the bandage. “Well, I won’t be in camp today, and neither will Bellamy. Get Jasper to clean around the wound before you go to sleep if I’m not back, okay?”

“You’re leaving camp? Where are you going?” You asked, hopeful that you could tag along.

“They gave us coordinates to an aid depot that could keep us safe throughout the winter.”

“Can I come?” You asked and Clarke immediately protested.

“No, you’re not healed enough.” You begged her even though she kept saying no.

“Look, you’ll be able to check my wound and replace the bandages while we’re there, and you can help if anything happens to me. I promise I won’t carry anything too heavy, I can bring the food and medical supplies so you won’t have to.” She sighed at your words but nodded anyway.

“Fine. But if you rip your stitches, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. From both me and Bellamy.” You hugged your friend in thanks and started to stand up with her help.

Just then, Bellamy poked his head through your tent’s flap as you let go of one another.

“Clarke, let’s go.” He pulled his head out of the tent and you grabbed your pack, heading over to the food as Clarke stalled.

“Why are you taking the food?” Monty asked.

“I’m going out with Clarke and Bellamy,” You replied simply, taking a small sac of Jobi nuts and showing them into your bag.

“No you’re not.” Jasper cut in protectively.

“Don’t worry, Jasper. Clarke is gonna be with me the whole time, and if anything happens she can help me. I’ll be fine.” You assured him. You grasped his hand tightly before letting go and walking over to Clarke and Bellamy.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Bellamy asked defensively.

“With you and Clarke.” You said casually, strolling along until Bellamy caught your arm.

“No, you’re not. It’s dangerous and you haven’t fully healed yet.” He bore holes in your face with his eyes, but you ignored it.

“I asked Clarke and she said it was okay, so I’m going. I have medical supplies in my bag in case anything happens, and I promised I wouldn’t do anything that could rip my stitches.” You pulled your arm from his grip and walked with Clarke as he sighed and trailed behind.

You made your trek in silence, snacking on the Jobi nuts you packed with you, until Clarke spoke up.

“You know, the first dropship is gonna come down soon.” She said, swallowing a jobi nut. “Pretty sure you can’t avoid Jaha forever.”

“I can try.” Bellamy snipped, ducking to avoid a branch.

Clarke pulled out a map as you looked at the wasteland of what looked like a part of a city. You tucked your nuts back into your bag as Clarke said that the depot was supposed to be in the area.

“There’s gotta be a door.” Bellamy guessed.

“Maybe he’ll be lenient.” Clarke suggested.

“Look, I shot the man, Clarke.” Bellamy snapped, fed up with her talk of Jaha. “He’s not just gonna forgive and forget.”

“Let’s just split up, cover more ground. Stay within shouting distance.”

As Clarke moved down the hill and Bellamy moved in the opposite direction, you caught his arm. He turned to look at you, his expression tired.

“Hey, are you okay?” You asked, tone genuine.

He sighed, but answered with a hesitant, “Yeah.” Before walking off again, leaving you to turn and explore the other side of the hill.

Not long after, Clarke called out to you and Bellamy. “Over here! I found a door.”

You slid down the hill and walked over to where they were to find Clarke trying to pull on the handle. “I think it’s rusted shut.”

Bellamy broke the lock with his axe as they pulled the heavy door open. You went down after Bellamy, Clarke handing you and him flashlights.

“Do you really believe this place hasn’t been touched since the war?” Bellamy asked.

“You never know,” You responded honestly. You trudged through the insanely dark aid depot in relative silence, aside from a sigh and the sound of footsteps. As you went down the stairs, Clarke caught sight of a skeleton.

“Hell of a place to die.” Bellamy commented. You said nothing, but quickly brushed past the body.

“So much for living down here, this place is disgusting.” Clarke stated. You nodded your head, knowing that she couldn’t see you.

“Anything left down here is ruined.” You said, taking note of the water damage.

“They must have distributed most of the supplies before the last bombs went off.” Clarke said. You all opened different containers, Bellamy’s had glow sticks and Clarke found some blankets.

When you opened yours, there wasn’t much in it. Just a few empty ration packets and a sword. It caught your attention, so you picked it up. You unsheathed it, the sound catching Bellamy and Clarke’s attention. You smiled at the weapon, shiny and in pristine condition.

You looped the sheath around your belt, just above where your daggers still rested on your thighs. Bellamy tossed the glow sticks down the hall to help light the way as Clarke told him that at least it was something.

“Well how about a canteen or-or a medkit or a decent fricking tent?” Bellamy raged. He slammed his hand down on an oil barrel, noticing the sound it made had indicated that it wasn’t empty. He opened it and saw that it was full of some liquid that he hoped could be water for us to drink, but upon sticking his fingers in it he realised it was grease.

Angry, he kicked over the barrel, hearing something fall out of it. You all turned your attention to it, Bellamy shone his light on it to reveal a shit ton of guns. The three of you took the guns out of the water and cleaned them off, making sure none were damaged. Bellamy painted an x on one of the blankets and hung it from the ceiling as a makeshift target.

“This changes everything. No more running from spears.” Bellamy said as he made his way back to you and Clarke. “Ready to be a badass, Clarke?”

“Look, I’m not gonna fight you on bringing guns back to camp. I know we need them but don’t expect me to like it.” She told the man.

“We’re lucky the rifles were packed in grease. The fact that they survived means we’re not sitting ducks anymore. You need to learn how to do this.”

You sighed and picked up a gun. “I mean it is pretty cool. I, for one, like the protection of a gun. Beats getting stabbed at close range.” You joked with a smirk, and Bellamy turned to you, taking the gun from your hands with a stern look on his face.

“You aren’t going anywhere near a gun until you’re healed. Understand?”

You scoffed at his words and moved to the side, leaning up against the container of blankets. You felt upset at the fact that he was keeping you from learning how to properly learn how to shoot a gun and let Clarke have one even if she didn’t want it.

You didn’t see a problem with having a gun before you were healed, but apparently Bellamy did. You watched him and Clarke as he got really close to her, and it unnerved you.

“I’m gonna get some air, this place is stuffy.” You told them, walking away and ignoring their weird looks.

You grabbed your bag and walked up the stairs and down the dark hallway, back up the main staircase and into the fresh air. You walked deeper into the woods than you probably should have, but you didn’t care. You didn’t understand anything anymore.

One minute you were in the woods and the next, you were in darkness. You couldn’t comprehend anything, reaching blindly out into the void. “Bellamy?! Clarke?!”

You ran around, panicked, until a spotlight came down on you, and then someone you thought you’d never see again. “Mom?”

She smiled at you and held her arms out for a hug. “Hi, honey.”

You ran to her, but as you tried to hug her, she vanished. You turned again and there she was.

“You’re not actually here,” You concluded. She nodded sadly and walked closer.

“You’ve grown so big,” She noticed, small tears glistening in her eyes. You nodded at her sentence before she spoke up again.

“Listen to me, Y/n. I don’t have a lot of time.” She warned.

“But I’ve been watching over you. And I know you’re upset at your father, and you have every right to be. But he’s worried for you. He heard about your wound and he’s scared.” You scoffed and rolled your eyes, but let her continue.

“Y/n, don’t blame him for what happened to you, please. He loves you with his whole heart. He didn’t trust himself to take care of you after I was gone, he couldn’t. He loved you and he didn’t want to screw up.” You felt her hands on your cheeks, even if she wasn’t there.

“And that boy that you’re friends with, Bellamy? Do you trust him?” You nodded at her.

“I trust Bellamy with my life, mom.”

“Good. He’s good for you. And you’re good for him, I can see it.” She gave a big smile.

Tears leaked out of your eyes and she began to speak again. “Bellamy is a great man, stay with him. You need each other more than you think.”

There was a knowing look in her eyes and you nodded again. You felt her start to fade away as she told you one last thing. “I love you, bug.”

“Mom?!” You called as she faded with a smile. “Mom, come back! Mom! Please!” You fell to your knees and let the tears fall.

You closed your eyes and when you opened them back up, you were in the forest again. It was much darker than before, the sun completely set. You heard talking nearby, and you assumed it was Bellamy and Clarke. “Bellamy?”

You stood up and made your way to where you heard the voice, still a little bit loopy from the vision you just had. When you made it to the clearing you saw Bellamy lying on the ground and Dax standing over him with a gun to his head. He attempted to shoot Bellamy but his gun clicked. Bellamy reached for something you couldn’t see, but when he held his hand up, there was nothing there.

You noticed Clarke standing a few feet behind Dax with a gun of her own, and got her attention quietly, then signalled for her to wait. You then ran as fast as you could, picking up speed as you went, then running into Dax’s body as hard as you were able and sent him toppling to the side. You straddled him as he put his hands out to push you off, but you managed to fight them off and punch him twice in the face.

It was then that Dax got the advantage and rolled over, so that he was now on top of you, with a knee to your chest. He grabbed the discarded gun and stood up, kicking you in your left side before moving over to Clarke. She tried to shoot him as he explained that Shumway said no witnesses, and you held onto your wound as you struggled to stand up.

Your hands were wet with your blood as Bellamy attacked Dax and fought him off, but Dax had the upper hand and hit Bellamy with the butt of his gun before attempting to choke him with it. Clarke ran up to Dax and tried to get him away from Bellamy, but Dax kicked her down before she could try anything.

As Dax did so, Bellamy had a window of opportunity and grabbed the bullet that fell from Dax’s gun and shoved it into the side of his neck, effectively killing him. Bellamy panted at his actions and went over to you, hoisting you up by your shoulders and dragging you to the tree Clarke rested herself on to recover from being winded.

You were sitting between the two of them and were reminded of their actions, but didn’t think about it much as you remembered that you ripped your stitches. Groaning in pain, Clarke turned her attention to you, even though she still needed a few minutes to recover herself.

“Stop, Clarke, I’m okay.” You protested, but didn’t move when she lifted your shirt.

“You’re okay, Bellamy.” You told your friend, but the look on his face said otherwise.

“No, I’m not.” He disagreed. “My mother… If she knew what I've done, who I am- she raised me to be better, to be good…”

“Bellamy-”

“And all I do is hurt people.” He cut you off. “I’m a monster.”

“Bellamy, look at me.” Your hand reached up to his cheek, forcing him to look at you. “You are not a monster. The things that you’ve done, Bellamy, you did to protect the people you love. And I understand that. You were willing to do whatever it took to find Octavia and to keep her safe.”

“You brought a grounder into camp and if you hadn’t done so, I would have died. Bellamy, you know that the chancellor survived and because of all that you’ve done for the camp, he might help you. And I can make sure of it.”

“How?” Bellamy asked tiredly.

You moved to pull yourself up, but Bellamy helped you instead. “My father can help, if I talk to him. I know, I hate him, but if it gets you out of being killed, I think it’s worth it.” You gave him a small smile as he asked who your father was.

You looked down at your wound as Clarke began to sew it up again, wincing. “My father is Marcus Kane. He can help -- that is, if he doesn’t hate me.”

“I doubt it.” Clarke cut in softly. “As soon as the radio was working he asked for you, if you were okay.”

You nodded and absorbed this information, thinking back to your mother's words. ‘He loves you with his whole heart.’

Clarke finished up your wound and replaced the bandages as Bellamy looked back up to the sky. His arm was still around your torso to support you, but you didn’t mind it. Once you all found the strength, you carried all the weapons you could find, along with blankets and whatever else was salvageable back to camp.

You only carried the blankets as Bellamy and Clarke dragged the guns. When you got back to camp, everyone was in a panic because the grounder escaped.

“Let the grounders come,” Bellamy interjected. “We’ve been afraid of them for far too long, and why? Because of their knives and spears. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being afraid.”

You smiled at Bellamy’s words. You knew that he was talking about something entirely different, and you were happy that he was going to face Jaha instead of running from him. Clarke and Bellamy shared a look as they revealed the many guns they found to the camp, while the delinquents gasped in astonishment.

“These are weapons, okay? Not toys.” Clarke told the camp. “And we have to be prepared to give them up to the guard when the dropships come. But until then, they’re gonna help keep us safe.”

“And there are plenty more where these came from.” Bellamy resumed. “And tomorrow, we start training. And if the grounders come, we’re gonna be ready to fight.”

Later that night, you had Clarke set up a meeting for you and Bellamy with Jaha. She tried to protest and ask if you were okay with her going in instead, but you were persistent. “If push comes to shove, I’ll talk to my father. I won’t like it, but I’ll have to face him eventually, and if it keeps Bellamy alive and with the camp, then it’s worth it.”

She only nodded and went to go get him for you. You took a deep breath and wiped your palms on your pants, until Bellamy came up to you.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked.

“I should be asking you that question.” You laughed, before heading into the tent.

“Mr. Blake.” Jaha addressed as you sat down and put your headsets on. “I’ve wanted to talk to you for quite some time now.”

“Before you do,” You spoke up. “I’d like to say something. When you sent us down here, you sent us to die. But miraculously, most of us are still alive. And a large part of that is because of him. Because of Bellamy.”

You looked over at him with a small smile before continuing. “He saved my life, among the many others here. He’s one of us, and he deserves to be pardoned of his crimes just like the rest of us.”

“Y/n, I appreciate your point of view, but it’s not that simple.” The counsellor said.

“It is.” Bellamy spoke. “If you want to know who on the Ark wants you dead.”

Jaha looked up from his hands and into the camera before speaking. “Bellamy Blake, you’re pardoned for your crimes.”

As the words left Jaha’s mouth, a dam of relief flowed through you. He wasn’t going to be killed. You got to keep your best friend.

“Now, tell me who gave you the gun.”

“Commander Shumway, sir.” Hearing the name gave you flashbacks, one you didn’t want to have. These kinds of flashbacks induced panic in you, and all you could see was his face. You whimpered in fear, the image of him beating you as his friends laughed striking fear in your heart.

You felt a hand on your wrist and in your panic, you screamed and shook it off, falling out of the stool you were in. Your breathing picked up and you felt a weight on your chest, causing you to start hyperventilating. There were hands on your cheeks and you didn’t fight them, you couldn’t focus enough to do so.

Everything in sight was blurry, memories of the Ark blending with your sights of the tent you were in. You felt a pull and then your face was pressed against something, but you still couldn’t tell what it was until Jasper’s voice filtered into your ears.

“You’re okay, Y/n. You’re okay. You’re on Earth, remember? You’re not up there anymore, he can’t hurt you. Just breathe with me and you’ll be fine.” You copied the movements of his chest and soon enough you were back on Earth, in Jasper's arms, with a panicked Bellamy in front of you.

“S-sorry.” You smiled awkwardly.

“Are you okay?” Jasper asked, and you looked up to meet his eyes.

“I’m fine now, Jasp. Thanks for helping me out. I haven’t had a panic attack in years.” You patted his arm and he released you, so you got up and hugged him before he left the tent.

Bellamy’s eyes were still locked on you and you tried to comfort him, but counsellor Jaha cut in. “I apologise, but there’s someone here to speak to Y/n.”

“Who?” You asked as you turned to the camera.

“Your grandmother.” Your heart swelled at the thought of speaking to your grandmother again, and Bellamy left the tent to give you some privacy. You slipped the headset back on and sat on the stool as your grandmother came on screen.

Tears welled in your eyes as she smiled warmly at you. “Hi, Nana.”

“Hi, darling,” She greeted. “How’s Earth?”

“It’s fun down here, Nana. It’s so green and smells fresh, you can plant the tree down here and it’ll grow nicely. The rain feels amazing, too.” You raved. Her laugh filtered through the headset and you almost cried. You missed your grandmother more than anyone else.

“I miss you, Nana.”

“I miss you, too. But soon I’ll be on Earth with you and we can plant the tree together, okay?” She proposed. You nodded gratefully and wiped the happy tears from your face as there was a comfortable pause.

“So, who’s the boy?”

“Nana!” You called. “There is no boy! I’m too busy running a camp full of teenage criminals to have any boys in my life, besides Jasper and Bellamy.”

A smile grew on her face as she looked at you knowingly. “Ah, so his name is Bellamy.”

“Nana, it’s nothing like that!” You spluttered. “Bellamy also runs the camp, and he’s just my friend.”

“Okay, okay,” She raised her hands in mock defense. “I’ll see for myself when I get there, bug. But it sounds to me like there’s a little more that’s going on than what you think.”

“There’s nothing to see, Nana. He’s my best friend, and he helps lead camp, that’s all.” You explained.

“I know there’s more to it than that.” Vera prodded.

“Okay, so he saved my life a few times, what’s the big deal?” You admitted casually.

“I knew there was more to it, there always is. A grandmother can always tell.” Vera smirked and you laughed.

“There isn’t anything more to it, Nana. Like I said, he’s my best friend.” You shrugged.

“I’m sure he is, sweetheart. They’re telling me I have to go now. Would you like to talk with your father?” Your eyes cast downwards at the mention of your dad, but you looked up to meet your grandmother.

“No, I’m okay. I’ll see him when he gets here, and I’ll see you then, too, okay?” You told her, and she nodded.

“Bye, sweetheart.” She blew you a small kiss and you returned it, seeing her small smile once more before she got up and left.

Taglist: @soullessbabee | @hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis | @dummythiccwitch | @sireddobrev | @gxvrielle

#bellamy blake #bellamy blake imagine #bellamy blake series #bellamy x reader #bellamy x you #bellamy x y/n #this is war series

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insomniac-dot-ink · 4 years

Text

Never Alone

The yard sale spread out like a little girl shook her dollhouse and the contents sprawled into messy piles across the grass. There was a box of second-hand shoes that you had to find the mate for yourself and rickety card tables with rusting legs holding knick-knacks ranging from toy trains with gunk in the wheels to stained cloth napkins the color of one of the seven deadly sins.

Two neighborhood houses on Chestnut Hill had decided to get together and sell the insides of their attics to the unsuspecting masses. I wrinkled my nose at an old toy chest with a yellow finish and long scrapes across the top.

I glanced over to where a tall brunette was inspecting a plastic tea-cup with flower designs on the side. “How long do you want to be Ollie?” I asked sourly as the sun licked over my brow. It was barely even eleven and I could already feel the heat of the day sinking its teeth in.

Olivia barely looked up as I addressed her, she was in “shopping mode” which was a space I couldn’t personally penetrate with either manners or an industrial-sized hammer. “A couple minutes. Ten tops.” She lied and I wrinkled my nose.

I shook my hair back in irritation, “you promised you’d try that new brunch place with me.” I stuck my bottom lip out, “Derick and I were gonna do it… but you know.” Olivia looked up long enough to flash me a sympathetic look and held up two fingers, “just a couple of minutes.” She gave a long pause and tried to wave me off, “Go find something you like. It’s a big sale there’ll probably be something.” I rolled my eyes and turned back to the messy zig-zags of junk. “Ugh.” I walked away with my shoulders hunched.

Olivia Henderson was my roommate and best friend and had a thing for yard sales, second hand stores, people’s closets, junk piles, and anything that smelled a little funky from the lost and found. Her tastes were as inexplicable as the fact she worked in banking. She collected shoddy 18th century reprints and people’s old key chains with anime characters on them and weird bomber jackets covered in patches.

To say the least, she was going to be awhile.

I rounded an burnt ironing board and watched an old couple inspect a bright green bike parked up against a table. I glanced down at my phone and saw a healthy number of notifications which I immediately flicked away out of habit.

The old couple laughed at something as the owners of the house rounded on them and asked something probably included lines like “lovely couple” and “this will be perfect for you…” I rolled my eyes and went around a box with old roller blades and worn jackets for sale inside.

I checked my phone again and there was a new text.

Mariene: I heard about you and Derick :(

Mariene: Want to talk about it? :)

I shook my head like there was something I was trying to dislodge and jammed my phone in my back pocket. The sun simmered above and I kicked a box of board games lightly before weaving back and forth toward the back of the house.

It was a two-story carbon-copy kind of house that was painted grey and felt grey and oozed that bland grey choke hold sensation of suburbia. The houses around it were beige and cream and off-white and had families in them that were working on holding down decent jobs, having 2.5 kids, and then dying. The whole thing made my stomach churn.

I eyed an old rocking chair that at least looked reupholstered recently and heard the last of the old couples voices: our grandson just turned eight…

Their grandson just turned eight. I felt my phone buzz from my back pocket and glanced over my shoulder to check that Olivia was still collecting slightly bent silver forks and drapes with bowling alley designs.

I was ready to leave. I was ready to get brunch and bitch about Derick and Serina and the fact they were now “Derick and Serina.” How the last thing he said was “I love you,” before cheating on me. I took another meandering step toward the house when my eyes landed on a doorway. There was a series of concrete steps laid into the ground itself, tucked away right behind some bushes and at the back of the house.

I eyed it for a second. The door itself was brown and faceless and the only thing interesting about it was that it was open. I cocked my head to the side as a little basement entrance was fully exposed. It reminded me of a scab begging to be itched.

I looked one more time over my shoulder to check that the owners were still talking to the old couple and Olivia was still in love with her oddities. I skipped down the garden level steps toward the door.

Snooping and boredom usually went hand in hand and I justified it in the back of my head with a quick “maybe they have better junk they’re selling down here.”

A few steps down and the light seemed to shift above my head. It became honeyed and slightly cloudy-- like looking through colored glass. The voices of the yard became more distant and I poked my head inside a very cramped looking room.

It was a finished basement that unlike my parents house wasn’t just concrete floors and water damage. I stood up straight as a blast of AC hit me in the face and I took a few more steps into the room to feel that sweet cold air across my skin.

It seemed to be another storage room which was impressive since they already seemed to have an entire universe of junk on their lawn outside. There were brown boxes stacked high and a wooden dresser alongside a big classic baby crib with wooden bars. The cool air inside the room was heavenly, but there seemed to be a sheen of dust through it. The late summer light streamed down through floating bits of something and my nose began to tickle.

I glanced around the boxes and curiously made my way to the baby crib because I hadn’t seen one like that outside of movies and museums. It looked like it was made of real wood and whittled by hand with a certain amount of care.

My parents had bought plastic industrial-made cribs and quickly got rid of them the second me and my sister were old enough for bunk beds. They weren’t the type of couple to hold onto sentimental keepsakes or make anything by hand.

I delicately touched the railing of the crib and it was warm and the wood was soft like smoothed stones you find near lakes. My eyes glazed over for a moment and some part of me wanted to take the crib home with me. It was handsome and strong and I didn’t own a lot of things with history behind them.

I shook the thought out of my head after a moment because I never planned on having kids. I never wanted to live in a beige neighborhood where people settled for their jobs and settled for each other and settled for raising bratty kids they didn’t even want. Kids that in turn grew up to settle for shitty governments and shitty societal systems and stop dreaming and start focusing on collecting piles of junk and dying on top of them.

I turned around quickly as if to bundle myself up and run away from the whole vision of it. I pivoted and stumbled into a vanity that I hadn’t noticed was right beside the crib. I hit it hard with my whole body. “Oof!” I yelped.

It was a big solid vanity with four drawers and spindly legs and a round clear mirror in the very center of the wooden body. It looked like the same wood as the crib. I had a moment to catch my own panicked eyes in the mirror before the thing teetered backyard.

“No!” I reached to stop it from thundering backward, but it happened quickly. The vanity toppled backward and crushed two small boxes behind it that sent up an entire storm of dust into the air.

I sneezed rapid-fire as the dust exploded and my head rocked back and forth.

“What’s going on?” A sharp voice barked and someone was at the side door. “What are you doing in here?!” I sneezed again and turned around to find one of the owners-- the woman in a pink cardigan, staring daggers at me. Her mouth went round in perfect horror as she saw the vanity toppled backward and me standing in the very center of the dust plumes.

“Sorry,” I said quickly, “I didn’t mean to, but it’s not broken or anything, promise.” I said before sneezing again and wiping at my nose.

“Get out!” Her voice was strained and barely a pitch below hysterical. “Get out of here!”

My brow furrowed and I plodded back toward the door, “It was open--” She pushed me physically from the room and into the stairwell, “you fool.” She spat, “don’t ever come back here and pray to God it didn’t--” She paused, “just pray.” “What?” I backed away from her. “Anika?” Olivia poked her head around the corner as the light beat me over my head. Olivia eyed the owner looking like a bull with red paint in front of her, “Uh?” “We gotta go.” I said flatly. Personally, I thought the woman was overreacting since nothing was actually harmed.

The owner turned to me. “Leave.” I didn’t need to be told twice. I hurried up the stairs and grabbed Olivia’s wrist, “Come on.” I tugged on her.

“Wait, I found this weird map I want to buy.” “I think we just sorta got banned.” I clarified and tried not to wince. I reminded myself it wasn’t my fault the woman completely lost it.

“What?!”

“I’ll make it up to you.” I said quickly, “lunch is on me.”

I glanced over my shoulder and the last thing I saw was the woman hurriedly locking the door with a huge old-fashioned key and muttering to herself. Something cold dropped into the pit of my stomach and I ignored it.

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

“I can’t believe you guys are going out without me.” I pouted as I watched my roommates finish gathering their bags and checking their makeup and phones for updates on their Uber.

I lived with three roommates because it was New York City and I wasn’t a billionaire. Olivia was a strange artsy girl who worked in accounting, Carmen was an outgoing career girl with a type-A personality, and Molly was a soft, quiet girl who was getting her PhD in something useless. They were all my type of people, but it didn’t help when they all just stared blankly at me as I moped on the green armchair by our windows.

Carmen puckered her lips, “Hey, we told you to come with us.” She said with an arched eyebrow, “it’ll help get over your bastard ex.” I gave a dramatic sigh, “I’m not ready for a rebound guy yet.” I said tersely and shifted in place. “And I’ve got a headache.” I lied mostly for the effect.

Molly shot me a sympathetic look. “We don’t have to talk to boys--” “Speak for yourself.” Olivia joked.

“It’s our girls night. We've been planning it for weeks now.” Molly simpered.

I stuck my chin out stubbornly. “Can’t we just stay home and watch TV? I have a breakup ritual to get through.”

Carmen clicked her tongue, “I bet Derick would be so jealous if he saw you already hot and ready to trot right now.” I made a face at them. “I don’t want to make him jealous. I don’t care about that cheating asshole anymore,” I lied again and turned away, “but you guys have fun.” I knew I was mostly refusing out of spite, didn’t they care that I was going through something right now? It didn’t matter either way though as Carmen cheered, “Our Uber’s here! Come on ladies.” “Be good, Anika,” Olivia waved, “don’t get banned from anything else while we’re gone.” She said with a twinkle in her eye and a reference to our outing that morning.

I flipped her off, “Go enjoy getting yourself gonorrhea in a club bathroom.” “We will.” And just like that they were out the door and to their “girls night” without a care in the world.

I groaned and hung my head back. I heard my phone buzz probably with yet another text from my sister. She never got the hint when I didn’t want to talk to her or listen to another one of her lectures beginning with “start growing up already, Anika, you’re almost thirty.”

I closed my eyes and wanted something to scream into.

The apartment was a clean space with dark carpets and low ceilings. It was decorated by Olivia with misshapen nautical lamps in the corners and heavy curtains that Carmen put up so she could Skype with her international colleagues early in the morning.

I stared at the ceiling as I listened to my roommates reach the elevator and the doors dinged. I frowned as the noise faded and something else took its place. It was a faint sound.

I perked up and looked over to the apartment hallway. It was almost so distant I couldn’t make it out, but there was unmistakable shuffling coming from the narrow space. “Hello?” I said and narrowed my eyes.

More sounds of scuffing came from the soft carpets. I stood up. Some animal-instinct sent off alarms in my head and I peered around the corner. I swept my eyes across the closed doors and a dying houseplant by the bathroom.

I looked to the ceiling to check if maybe rats were in the vents, but I heard the noise again: pat pat pat.

I looked right in front of me where the sound was coming from. Nothing was there.

Pat, pat, pat

I looked down. There were two dark indents in the carpet that seemed to be moving. I backed up until I reached the opposite wall.

Pat, pat, pat

Something was padding across the floor in front of me, slowly and deliberately. But I couldn’t see anything there.

Some sort of dread settled in my stomach that I couldn’t place, cold and hard and tying knots in my guts. I stared for another moment at empty space, and then ran for the door. I shoved my feet into my shoes, looked at my phone, and then booked it into the hall and down to the stairwell.

“Hey!” I waved as my friends were nearing a blue Mazda. “I changed my mind. I want to come.” I didn’t think I was actually that torn up about Derick, but the mind is a terrible thing, and I didn’t need it playing tricks on me all by myself in my apartment.

--------

My fingers clacked on the keyboard with a certain satisfying fury. The deadline was the day after tomorrow, but that meant it was even more important to get most of the leg work out of the way that night.

The shine of the fluorescent lights was almost feverish and angry above me and my right wrist ached from typing. It was past midnight by then and it was only me and a lowly intern finishing up work for the night. The building was always “on” in the way that the city itself was always “on,” but I had an article on current campaign finance reform failures that I needed to finish.

It was almost 1am by the time I blinked and Kenny the intern was turning off his desk lamp. I looked up and he looked right back at me. “Um,” he was a sweaty kind of kid with a round face and freckles that popped like pock marks on his cheeks. “Did you, uh, want that on?” He asked nervously as he pointed to his desk lamp for some reason.

I shook my head, “I’m basically done.” I looked at my article. It would need a lot of cleanup tomorrow morning before it went to the presses the next day, “I’ll be right behind you.” I let Kenny get to the elevator first and head downstairs so we wouldn’t have to share any awkward small talk when all we really wanted to do was head home. I was revising the last paragraph-- the one with the real “punch” to it when I heard something.

I looked up just as a soft shuffling sound came from across the room. My neck prickled and I closed my laptop.

Pat, pat, pat.

It had a slow pace and strange rhythm to it, but I was certain this time that it was footsteps. I hunched over, finished closing my bag up, and stood.

Pat, pat, pat

It sounded a little quicker this time, but still slow and steady. I jogged to the elevator and was grateful that it didn’t seem able to run itself. I clenched my jaw and looked over my shoulder. Nothing was there again, and some rational part of me felt ridiculous.

I glared, “I know you’re there.” Pat, pat, pat

It was getting closer now. Closer than it was before.

I bared my teeth, “I don’t know what you want--”

Ding

The elevator arrived and I threw a withering look over my shoulder. “But you’re not going to fucking scare me. Go away.” Pat, pat

It was almost right in front of me now. I darted quickly into the elevator and pushed the button a dozen times to get the doors to close faster. I exhaled when they finally gently clanked shut just as the steps arrived right where I had just been.

I was massaging my neck and thinking about going to shrink when I heard the creature really arrive at the door.

Sccrrrtchhh

I sucked in a quick breath and that same cold dread shook through my nerves. The elevator started descending to the street level, but all I could hear was that same sound over and over again: sccrrtchhh

It sounded like claws on metal.

I spent the whole walk home looking over my shoulder and listening for invisible things and slow footsteps. I waited for its claws to finally arrive and slit my throat. However, nothing seemed to pursue me in the crowded streets or the subway.

It was probably all in my head. Or it was just trying to scare me a little and would go away-- maybe it enjoyed the hunt and not the kill. But something told me that wasn’t the case.

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

“So,” I said and a long drawn-out silence passed between us over the phone. “How’s Josh? How’re the kids?” I asked casually and waited for the other shoe to drop.

My sister cleared her throat on the other end of the line, “He’s fine. They’re fine.” She sounded prim and measured as always, “You’re the one we’ve been worried about.” I scowled off into nothing as I sat in a large park with pigeons pecking at the ground nearby. The weather had been turning and the sky was readying itself for the first snow, “Why?” I said without meaning to.

“Because of Derick. You guys had been dating for ages,” she said slowly, “Plus… you know.” “What?” “You only call when you need something.” She said with both a hint of humor as well as accusation in her tone.

“Well it’s not about Derick.” I grumbled, “I was actually calling about…” I drew a deep steadying breath. “I’ve just been straining myself at work a little too much.” I stared at the ground with a hard look. “And maybe gotten a little over stressed.” “Oh?” Mariene waited.

“So,” I forced the words out. “I know you got a good doctor after Liam was born.”

“You mean a therapist?” She said and it sounded triumphant. “Because he handles mostly postpartum depression, but I could find you someone really good. What do you think the problem is?” “There’s no problem.” I said quickly between clenched teeth, “I just need a better way to unwind or someone to… I don’t know. A second opinion.” “On what?” Mariene sounded truly concerned now.

I looked up at the slate-grey sky and sighed, “it’s nothing.” My shoulders drooped, “it was nice talking to you.” I said in a tone that didn’t really convey the sentiment at all.

“Wait,” Mariene said quickly, “Anika, don’t hang up. If it’s really bad, you can stay with me. Or maybe get an apartment of your own! You’re almost 30 and living with 3 other people is--” “Goodbye Marienne.” I hung up. I looked over my shoulder as I had been doing for weeks now ever since a that first panic pumping night. That first feeling of something, something I couldn’t see approaching.

I checked the park one more time but only saw the squirrels in a trash bin and an old man sleeping on a bench nearby. I got up and told myself that I hadn’t heard from it in awhile now. “I’ll just go back to my apartment,” I rubbed my face. “And sleep.”

“And sleep” was mostly wishful thinking at that point. I hadn’t slept well in awhile. Soft bits of snow started to fall and catch in my hair and eyelashes. I took a deep chilly breath that prickled in my lungs and grounded me. I started walking. I had taken to wondering at night and going in random directions.

I had to use google maps to get home on these nights. I followed the little blue line on my phone down a dark narrow street that directed me toward home. That’s when I heard the distinct echoing.

“Oh.” I said.

Clack, clack, clack

It’s steps reverberated through the dank street and I looked around me. Belatedly, I realized that I had chosen the one street in all of New York that was empty. “Do you only come,” I looked behind me and it seemed even quicker than the last time we met. “When I’m alone?”

Clack, clack, clack

Did it keep getting faster, closer, better at this each time? I couldn’t tell. I started hurrying down the long dark street with empty buildings on either side of me. I needed to find people. I just needed to find some other living breathing person.

Clack-clack-clack-clack

I looked behind me and in the soft fallen snow I saw it’s footsteps. They weren’t shoes or toes or even paws. It was something much worse.

I let out a scream and turned a corner. I ran straight into an old woman with her hair falling out and a sallow look to her skin. “Oh thank God,” I grabbed her and turned, “do you see that?!”

I pointed to the place where the steps were misshapen and lumpy in the snowfall.

“See what, dear?” She asked with her eyes squinted and I remembered to breath again.

“Nothing.” I collapsed onto the ground next to her, “nothing at all.”

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

Things were different after that. I went out more. I went dancing so much the blisters on my toes had blisters. I stayed in crowds. I never stayed home. I considered getting a cat, but then what if it hurt the cat when we were finally alone? I knew I had started to bother my friends. They gave me irritated looks when I third-wheeled on nights out with their boyfriends. I knew I was getting annoying when I clung to them and looked over my shoulder wherever we went. I knew I was distracted and not much fun.

It didn’t help that Molly saw me sliding a giant knife into my purse. It didn’t help when Olivia asked me what was in my pocket jokingly and reached in to find handfuls of sand. I couldn’t give her the proper explanation. I couldn’t tell her that I needed to see if it was coming.

It stayed at bay though, as long as I was never alone.

I went back to the house on Chestnut Hill. I suspected that’s where it started-- with the dust and the baby crib. However, when I finally found the address that Olivia gave me the place was completely empty with a “for sale” sign out front.

I couldn’t find the owner’s new address and when I tried to find the basement I couldn’t find that either.

It was midwinter when my friends finally had an intervention.

“We think you need some me-time.” Carmen said factually as we sat in the middle of the living room. “Why don’t you stay home tonight and give yourself a spa night?” She smiled tightly.

They all stared at me from places on the couch and I didn’t even care that we hadn’t had fun together in months. I just needed them to be in the room.

“Sure.” I said with an absent nod. “We can do a spa night tonight.” “Well, babe,” Olivia said slowly, “I’m going to do some me-time tonight in my studio. By myself. Carmen is going on a date with her boyfriend. And Molly is going to visit her parents tonight.” I turned to Molly. “I’d love to see your folks. It’s been too long.” I gave a strained smile.

Molly shook her head. “They saw you last week.” She said with an equally strained smile. “And I was thinking… it would be nice to be only me and them. You know, with my dad being sick and all.” I clenched my teeth, “Of course.” I went on, “but I’d love to give him some get-well presents.” “And you can!” She said, “but not tonight.”

She got up to leave and I turned to Carmen. I opened my mouth and she put her hand up. “No.” She said, “I let you come out with me and Isiah last time and you wouldn’t even leave us alone on the pier. Just, no.” My face fell as she got up to leave as well, “this isn’t healthy.”

I got up as well, “fine.” I said, “I’ll go out by myself.” I could certainly spend a night in the park or at yet another club again.

I heard a collective sigh and Olivia took my shoulder, “do what you need to do.” She kissed my cheek, “but you need to get some rest.”

Rest? It sounded like a joke at this point.

I shook my head. “Let me just get my bag and I’ll go downstairs with you all.” I said and hurried to my room. I expected them to wait. They always waited before. Olivia was my best friend and she would never leave me.

I came back to the empty living room.

Pat-pat-pat

It was so fast now. I let out a small cry before dashing out into the hallway. I barely made it out where I banged on every single one of my neighbors doors. “Please,” I hit 603 with my bare hands and tried the door knob, “please, please come out.” Pat-pat-pat-pat

I ran from door to door banging and yelling and running as the thing’s enormous weight bore down. I felt a hot breath on my neck.

“What is it?” A family-man with a beard burst out of room 610. “Are you alright?” I exhaled as the heat from the things mouth disappeared. The tears were streaming down my face then and I reached for my phone, “I’m sorry.” I said and then I made a phone call to the one person I thought might still want to see me.

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

Derick walked in the door with his slouchy jeans and tousled brown hair. He wore a sheepish look on his face and hung back the second he entered the apartment. He was just in time after the guy from 610 left. Derick rubbed the back of his neck as we exchanged looks, “Uh, I guess you heard me and Serina broke up.” I shook my head. “I heard.” Derick seemed to see me for the first time, “babe, why are you holding a baseball bat?” He frowned, “And why did you call me here? Last time we talked you said you’d like to see me dead.” “It doesn’t matter.” I said blankly. Robotically. “None of it matters. You still want me. Yes?” “I mean,” he shifted from foot to foot. “We had fun together. We dated for five years, that wasn’t nothing.” “It wasn’t.” I agreed. “And we could be together again.” His face emptied, “You said we wanted different things though, like, kids and a house. I still want those things, Anika.” I was so tired. I dropped the baseball bat and walked over to him. I wrapped my arms around him so he wouldn’t escape and buried my face in his chest. “Let’s have kids.” I said blankly, “lets have as many kids as we possibly can.” “Alright?”

“But you have to promise me,” I squeezed him tightly around the middle and he grunted as I dug my nails in. “Never,” I seethed between my teeth. I was still shaking somehow and maybe I would never stop shaking. “Never ever leave me alone.”

#horror story #supernatural #writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #original story #my work #creepy story #short story #cw: long post #any and all feedback would be appreciated!

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underthewingsofthblackeagle · 4 years

Photo

After her marriage with Frank Randall has failed and Claire Beauchamp flees from her violent husband, she finds refuge in the house of the Fraser/Murray family in Berlin-Wilhelmshorst. But then tensions arise between Britain (which has since left the EU) and some EU member states. All holders of an English passport are required to leave EU territory within six weeks … and suddenly Claire’s fate looks more uncertain than ever.

This story was written for the #14DaysofOutlander event, hosted by @scotsmanandsassenach

Note: This chapter contains descriptions of violence. If this triggers something in you, please skip it. It is also probably not very interesting or exciting for most readers, but it lays important foundations for later chapters.

Chapter 12: 14 Men (8)

After their conversation with Ferdinand Groide, Jamie had also not gone to bed immediately. He had stood in front of one of the windows of his apartment for a while and looked out into the garden. Then he picked up his smartphone. The 'special' office at 'In Vino Veritas' was occupied around the clock. Jamie got connected with an employee he knew well and who he knew was on night duty. With a few words he gave this man an assignment. Then he sat down at his desk, took a blank piece of paper from one of the drawers and began to take notes. Now and then he looked over at his smartphone, but it remained silent. Apparently Claire had fallen asleep. At least that's what he hoped. An hour later, he too went to bed.

“Breakfast” by contatoartpix

Ten minutes to eight the next morning, Claire woke up to the ringtone of her smartphone. At the same time she received a text message:

"Breakfast in 40 minutes, in the dining room, downstairs. Hope you slept well, Jamie."

She smiled, then stretched and counted down from five to zero. Even before she reached "zero" she had already knocked the blanket to the side and lifted her feet out of the bed.

They had breakfast together with Jenny. Ian, Claire learned, had already gone to the company to represent Jamie that day. When the doorbell rang at just after nine o'clock, Jenny pointed at the door:

"That'll be Stephanie Svart. Go ahead. I'll clean this up with Helene."

Jamie took one last big sip from his coffee cup, then he got up and hurried to the door. Claire emptied her coffee too. She folded her napkin, and then Jamie’s, which he had carelessly put aside. Then she thanked Jenny and followed Jamie into the hall.

When she arrived there, he had already welcomed the lawyer. Stephanie Svart was a slender, 1.75 meters tall woman with fine features. To Claire's surprise, the approximately 40-year-old woman's head was crowned with a similarly impressive mass of curls as hers. The lawyer wore an elegant black business suit and matching shoes. Timeless, classic pearl earrings and a pearl necklace emphasized her face. After Jamie had introduced the two women to each other, he led them into the library. But when he wanted to sit down with them, Stephanie Svart put her hand on his right arm:

"Thank you, Jamie. But this is a confidential client meeting. Its contents are between myself and Dr. Beauchamp."

"I understand …”

It was not easy for him to leave Claire alone with someone she had just met. He looked over at her, but she nodded her head in agreement.

"If you need anything else ..."

He pointed to the bell by the door, then he went outside.

The conversation between the two women lasted just over ninety minutes. Jamie spent that time with his sister in the kitchen. Jenny knew her brother all too well and she knew how hard it must be for him not to be with Claire now. Once Jamie had "taken someone under his wings" and felt responsible for their well-being, he found it very difficult to bear being excluded from anything.

Then suddenly they heard the voices of the two women in the hall and only moments later there was a knock on the kitchen door. When Jamie opened, Claire was standing in front of it:

"Mrs Svart and I have decided that it is best if we go to the Forensic Medical Institute for an examination today. Could you ..."

"Sure. Jenny?"

His sister, who was sorting groceries in the pantry, called out:

"Yes?"

"I'm taking Claire to the Charité."

Within seconds, Jenny was standing beside him:

"Is she not well?"

"No, no. We're going to the Forensic Institute."

“Ah.”

"Don't wait for us to have lunch. We may not be back until later. I'll call you."

"Aye."

She nodded while Jamie put his jacket on.

“View of the Charité site from Humboldthafen“ by Marek Śliwecki via Wikimedia Commons

It took them almost an hour to reach the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Berlin University Hospital. From there, the man from the security showed them the way to the Outpatient Clinic for the Protection against Violence at the Charité. The lawyer had made an appointment there by telephone during her conversation with Claire. Together they entered the entrance hall, with Jamie letting the women go first. Stephanie Svart approached a woman at reception and explained why she and Claire had come. The employee made a quick phone call, then led the women into the examination area. Meanwhile, Jamie had sat down on a chair in the waiting area, but then got up again. He had wandered back and forth indecisively for a while. At some point he had sat down again and tried to distract himself with his smartphone. But he was unable to concentrate and continue reading in the ebook he had downloaded before his trip to Argentina. Suddenly, Jamie assumed that over an hour had passed, Stephanie Svart came out of the examination area:

"Are you coming out with me?"

He looked at her questioningly.

"I need a cigarette. And there's no smoking allowed in here."

Jamie nodded and rose.

As they stood in front of the building, the lawyer jerked a pack of cigarettes out of her purse. But then she was unable to get the lighter to work. Jamie took it out of her hands and then held it out to her with the lighted flame. With trembling hands, she took a first, deep drag.

"That bad?"

"Jamie, you know I can't tell you anything about my client ..."

Stephanie Svart inhaled again. Then she looked at him and shook her head.

"I'll tell you just one thing about me and one thing about a person I don't know and I never want to know. First of all, I have never seen anything like this in all the years I have been a lawyer - and I have seen a lot. Trust me."

Again she took a deep drag, then she wiped some ashes over the trash can standing in front of the entrance.

"This body looks like a … a … map, blue, greenish, red, black. I thought I had to vo..."

Jamie and the lawyer had to step aside. Two police officers, carrying a man in handcuffs, had come up the stairs and entered the lobby. When the men had moved a few feet away from them, Stephanie Svart bent over to Jamie and whispered:

"Second, whoever this Frank Randall is, he's a monster. An intelligent, very intelligent monster. But nothing as a monster. He belongs behind bars and he belongs there for a long, very long time. I could imagine some other punishments for him as well, but they would hardly be compatible with our laws. Remember how Lisbeth Salander punished her guardian?"

Jamie's eyes had become darker. Stephanie saw him tapping with his right hand against the outside of his right thigh. The lawyer squeezed out the rest of her cigarette.

"Come on, let's go back inside. Claire should be done in a minute, and then she'll need a friend, not just a lawyer."

And, in fact, Claire came out of the examination area just a few minutes later. Stephanie Svart exchanged a few words about another appointment with her new client, then said goodbye.��

Jamie handed Claire the jacket she left with him and helped her inside. He would have loved to take her in his arms and hold her tight, but he knew that was impossible, at least for the time being. It was clear to him that this appointment had taken a lot of her strength. Her reddened eyes betrayed that she had shed tears. So he touched her shoulder only slightly. Then he led her down the stairs and across the parking lot to the car.

"Do you want us to go home or do you want to stay in the city a little longer?" he asked as they sat in the car again.

Claire looked at him in astonishment.

"Don't you have to go to your office?"

"No, Ian is covering for me today."

"Sorry, I forgot."

She shook her head like she was trying to clear away some fog. Carefully, Jamie put his right hand on Claire's left.

"No problem. I took the whole day off so I could come with you ... at least ... as far as possible."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it. If you don't mind, I'd like to see a little more of the city. I think it will help me get away from all this. At least for a moment."

A faint smile flitted across her face.

Jamie nodded. Then he started the car.

“Berlin-Tiergarten park with the 'victory column' in the middle, followed by Südliches Hansaviertel, Spree and Moabit” by beedubz via WikiMediaCommons

On the way they agreed to have lunch in an Italian restaurant near the Tiergarten. When they were back in the car Claire asked Jamie if he knew a pharmacy where they spoke more than just German.

"There is a pharmacy just a few streets from here where English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Polish and Arabic are spoken. Is that enough?"

Claire gave him a gentle nudge in the ribs with her elbow.

"Ouch! Now we need an ambulance!"

"Are all Scotsmen so theatrical?"

"We're not theatrical! We're sensitive."

They both started giggling slightly.

"What's next," Jamie said, "Are we going to that pharmacy? It's very close. We'd better walk there. I don't think we can get a parking space there at this hour of the day."

After they got out, they went up the street where Jamie parked the car and then turned left. Claire saw the British flag immediately after they turned into the street. Jamie confirmed that the building was the British Embassy. When they reached the side of the building, they stopped for a moment. Then they turned away and walked on quickly.

When they were a few hundred yards from the Embassy, Claire put her right arm through Jamie's left, pulled it closer and whispered:

"Aren't you worried that they will recognize you if you walk this way? There are tons of video cameras stuck to the building!"

He smiled. Then he bent down to her and whispered:

"But you're with me."

"Jamie!"

"No, I'm not. I would just take you hostage. Surely your countrymen wouldn't allow a Scottish barbarian to harm an English lady. Would they?"

A wide grin appeared on his face.

"Fraser! Seriously!"

"No," he said reassuringly, "I'm not afraid. You didn't recognize me with a beard and different color hair, either."

“The British Embassy at Wilhelmstraße No. 70 in Berlin-Mitte” by Jörg Zägel via WikimediaCommons

The street turned into a big boulevard.

"Where are we?" Claire asked in surprise.

Jamie pointed to the left.

"The Brandenburg Gate."

"Oh!"

After they passed the embassy, Claire assumed they were near the centre of the city.

"This street is called ‘Unter den Linden’. We are right in the heart of Berlin," Jamie said. Then he pointed straight ahead:

"If you look straight ahead, you will see Madame Tussaud’s Berlin branch. Up the street on the right, towards the Brandenburg Gate, is the American Embassy. The building to our right is the ‘Adlon’, Berlin's most famous hotel."

Claire looked around with interest.

"The pharmacy is in the opposite direction."

They turned left and walked slowly up the street. A few minutes later, they were in front of the store.

"Should I come with you or would you like me to …”

"I can do it all by myself. Thanks."

Claire walked up to the entrance and Jamie stood in front of one of the big display windows from where he could watch her. He saw a tall, thin older man walk up to the counter and say hello. Claire said something and the man in the white coat listened to her attentively. Now and then it seemed as if he was asking something. Then he disappeared in the back of the pharmacy and came back shortly afterwards with some bottles and cans, which he spread out on the counter in front of Claire. She subjected the things to a thorough examination, picked up each jar, and seemed to read the attached contents. She then set aside one bottle and one can and spoke to the pharmacist again. The older man disappeared with the rest of the things back into his storeroom. Shortly afterwards he returned with a bottle and a can of the same kind as Claire had put aside. They talked and the game started all over again. Only this time it wasn't bottles and cans that the pharmacist spread out in front of Claire, but small packages. Jamie assumed that they were medicines, probably painkillers. Claire examined each package, selected some and placed them with the two bottles and cans. The pharmacist put the goods in a bag and put the prices in a cash register. To Jamie's surprise, Claire paid cash. Then he saw the man give Claire a small white card, which he had stamped several times before. As the pharmacist came out from behind his counter to escort Claire to the exit, Jamie walked a few steps further and looked into one of the other shop windows.

"Well, is there anything you could use?" Claire asked when she reached him.

"No, there are only breast pumps for young mothers and rheuma patches for old men. So nothing for me."

"As for the breast pumps, I agree with you. I'm not so sure about the rheumatism patches, though."

"Well, well," replied Jamie, who could think of nothing else to say. Then he reached for the bag Claire had brought from the drugstore. She hooked her arm up to his again.

"What are we going to do now?"

"Now we go back to the car. But first I'll show you something."

Jamie steered their steps up the street. (He had been thinking about what he could do to distract Claire a bit since dinner. In the end, he had thought of nothing better than to give her a little sightseeing tour. Now the opportunity presented itself.) Shortly after, they stopped in front of a monumental white building, which at the first moment left the impression of a palace to Claire. A white-blue-red flag was flying on a tower that crowned the building.

“The Russian Embassy, Unter den Linden 55-65, in Berlin-Mitte” by Jörg Zägel via WikimediaCommons

"May I present the Embassy of the Russian Federation. Well-preserved old Soviet style."

"Oh, that ... is ... yes ... really ... huge."

"Aye. But you won't realise how big the whole complex is until you walk round it.”

Jamie pointed one hand straight ahead. They walked slowly past the building complex, then turned right, and just after that they turned right again into another street. After about ten minutes, Jamie pointed to a wall.

"This is the end of the embassy/consulate grounds."

"My dear. This is huge.”

"The whole area is about twice the size of the American and British Embassies combined."

"How come?

"The Russians, the British and the Americans had diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Prussia quite early on, including embassies in Berlin. The Russians were the first. In 1706 a permanent diplomatic representation of the Tsar's Empire was established in the Prussian capital. But the embassy moved to this location only later. In 1732, a large town house was built on part of the property that houses the present embassy. During the 18th century it changed hands several times, it was rebuilt and enlarged. In 1805 it came into the possession of Duchess Dorothea of Courland, who sold it to Tsar Nicholas I in 1837. Afterwards the so-called 'Palais Kurland' was rebuilt and extended twice more. The building then served - with interruptions during the two world wars - as an embassy. In 1944 it was destroyed during air raids. After the war, the Soviet Union bought additional land adjoining the site and had the building we have just seen erected. After the dissolution of the USSR, the Russian Federation took over the complex as legal successor. The British came ten years after the Russians. They opened their first diplomatic mission in 1716 and since the beginning of the 19th century they have owned the land on which the present embassy is located. However, as long as the GDR existed, their embassy was located on the street Unter den Linden. After Germany’s reunification, they moved their headquarters back to the original location.

“Embassy of the United States of America in Berlin at Pariser Platz” by Times via WikiMediaCommons

Diplomatic relations between the USA and Prussia existed since 1797. The location of their embassy changed over the years because they mostly rented the buildings. In 1931 they bought a building at Pariser Platz, the so-called 'Palais Blücher'. But that burned down shortly afterwards. They had it repaired, but then diplomatic relations were broken off because of the Second World War. After the war, the Americans set up an embassy in West Berlin. Later there was also some kind of field office in East Berlin. When Berlin became the capital again in 1990 by a decision of the Bundestag, the German parliament, the branch office of the embassy in Kirchstraße was declared the official embassy of the US. Then the land on which the current building stands became their property again and in 2008 the new embassy building located there was opened.”

"How do you know all this?"

"Well, if you know Ferdinand Groide ... it won't take long and you know half of Berlin."

Claire and Jamie were now back on the same road leading to the British Embassy. Claire glanced over once more and Jamie noticed her grip on his arm tightening.

#From Boston to Berlin in 14 Hours #Outlander #Outlander Fan Fiction #Modern AU #James Fraser #Claire Beauchamp #ClairexJamie #Frank Randall #Boston #Berlin #Ian Murray #Jenny Murray

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jinmukangwrites · 4 years

Text

Whumptober Day 5

Failed Escape | Rescue

Ao3

Warnings: nothing that's not tagged. Canon typical violence.

-o-o-o-o-

Dick didn't know how or when he first realized something was wrong with Bruce. Only that one night they were alone together in the cave, having sent Damian upstairs for rest and everyone else out doing their own things at their own places. He didn't know if it was the way Bruce's shoulders would tense whenever Dick came near, or if it was how clipped and angry his voice was on the comms during the rare—even for him—times he talked.

Maybe it was just a third sense located somewhere in Dick's mind, set to scream whenever his gut instinct decided that something was off. Not right.

"Bruce?" He asked, taking a cautious step forward even though he couldn't think of any reasons why he should be so cautious. Bruce tensed the moment Dick came too close, his muscles bunching like a viper, ready to strike the second it was able to. Dick realized too late that the thing he was preparing to strike at would be… Dick himself.

Dick took another naive step forward, unaware just how much danger he was in until Bruce turned from the computer and in a blink of an eye, he grabbed Dick by the hair and slammed his face on the keyboard of the batcomputer.

Immediately, blood erupted from his sinuses following the sound of a sickening snap. Tears filled his eyes because of the pain, and it was all he could do to throw his body away from the monitor to avoid getting his skull caved in by a heartless fist.

Lettered keys went flinging as Dick went rolling on the hard floor of the cave. His ears rung as bats screeched from above like some sort of audience. Excited to see who would win.

A kick came for Dick's stomach, which he was just barely able to scramble out of the way of. His heart pounded in his chest like a startled cartoon character as he forced himself to his feet, blood dripping over his mouth and off his chin. He didn't need to touch his nose to know it was definitely broken. He could feel it clear as day--the pain like two knives shoved up his nostrils.

Now that Dick was on his feet, he immediately got into a defensive posture, latching onto the first sight of Bruce through his teary vision. His heart skipped a beat at the sight before him; Bruce clutching to the back of the computer chair, his mask pulled off his face to show that the whites of his eyes were now red, pupils blown wide and mouth turned down into a snarl.

Bruce's eyes darted up from wherever he had been looking towards to stare right at Dick, but he didn't make any moves to attack. Confusion, hurt, anger, and betrayal swirled in Dick's gut like a specialty drink at a bar.

"What the hell is-" Dick started, but Bruce's stare turned intense, causing Dick to subconsciously stop mid sentence.

"Dick," Bruce grunted, his voice sounded like he'd just been strangled by a python for a few hours. Filled with gravel and sandpaper. It sounded painful. Physically… and perhaps emotionally too. Dick's rather good at reading Bruce, even though everything he was seeing right now was so… so wrong .

Then Bruce continued, gurgling out a single word that activated every single flight or fight response in Dick's body.

"Run."

Dick took a moment to catch his breath, watching helplessly as Bruce moaned painfully--clutching the chair even harder than before, as if it was no longer a way to keep his balance, but a way to keep him from going anywhere. Something very, very wrong was going on. Well, that much was obvious. Bruce didn't… he didn't hit Dick. Anymore at least. Not since Spyral... and It wasn't like anything verbal was said between the two since then. A sorry for every time Dick found himself at the punching end of a fist normally directed to the worst of the worst in the city of Gotham. But Dick could tell. Bruce regretted it. Dick had forgiven him. So there had to be… a reason for this. A reason that wasn't Bruce falling into old habits and mistaking Dick for a punching bag.

So what was it? Brainwashing? Drugs?

Dick knew Bruce told him to run, but he… he couldn’t just leave Bruce there while he was clearly fighting against something.

Slowly, he moved a foot forward, the soles of his suit’s shoes scraped against the rocky ground. He lifted his arms, hoping to look pacifying and non-threatening. He didn't know what set Bruce off, but he'd like to at least take basic soothing motions to avoid another face-to-keyboard event.

"Bruce?" Dick asked, his voice sounded way stronger than what he felt, even with the change in tone thanks to the broken and bleeding nose. He lifted his arm to his nose and used the sleeve of his suit to wipe away some of the blood. "B? What's going on?"

" Run ," Bruce snapped, causing Dick to stop in his tracks and stare wide-eyed. "I can't- it's strong- I'm fighting it but-" Bruce gasped a deep breath, his face scrunched up in what looked like physical pain. "Dick RUN . Lock me in here- I don't- arrgh- !"

And that was the only warning Dick had before Bruce was barreling forward once again, an emptiness in his red eyes that wasn't there a moment before. Thoroughly freaked out now, Dick took Bruce's advice to heart and turned tail, already mentally mapping his route to the grandfather clock and the emergency lock down on the other side. It was not the first time something sinister had crawled it's way into the cave, and it certainly won't be the last.

All Dick needed to do was make it up the stairs before Bruce caught up.

Which, like most things, was easier said than done.

He was just barely up several stairs towards the exit when a hand suddenly wrapped around his ankle. For a moment, genuine fear spiked through his chest as the hand yanked on his leg, causing Dick to lose balance and fall forward. He brought his hands down in front of him, using them to catch his fall, but the sudden velocity and movement caused his nose to pulse angrily like it had an upset heartbeat of its own, which in turn caused his head to go light-headed for a moment. A moment too long.

He twisted onto his side, kicking out with his free leg right where Bruce's hand still wrapped around Dick's ankle. Bruce growled when Dick's heel met flesh, but barely even flinched. Just yanked Dick downward, the edges of the stairs hitting his spine whith every foot dragged away from escape.

As Dick kicked again--this time at Bruce's face--he thought about his options. He could escape this grasp on him, easy, but Bruce was fast. Faster than most people, especially considering his well muscled build and weight. Dick was lighter, shorter, and quicker on his feet, but Bruce knew how to chase people that were faster than him. Bruce was always like a predator of endurance whenever he and Dick sparred, using Dick's quick movements against him until Dick was forced to take a breath. They say you can walk a runaway cat to exhaustion. It was much the same way with Bruce.

Whatever was going on, Bruce knew how to fight, even with his potentially brainwashed or controlled mind. If Dick ran back up the stairs when he got free of the grinding grasp on his ankle, there was a pretty high chance that Bruce would make it there anyways and stop Dick before Dick could lock him in.

If that happened, then Bruce wouldn't have any reason to stick around in the cave after fighting and potentially beating Dick. He'd move around the manor, looking for more fights, or for whatever this new version of Bruce wanted to look for if not just a fight, and eventually he'd run into Alfred.

And Damian.

Dick's known Alfred long enough to know the man had no issue with fighting back dirty. But Damian… Damian refused to fight Bruce under most circumstances. After that whole Joker fiasco where they were all abducted and mentally tortured by the Joker and forced to believe the skins of their own faces had been peeled off, Dick had overheard Bruce lecturing Damian on the importance of fighting back, even if the person you're fighting back against was your own family.

Dick didn't know what exactly went down that resulted in the capture of Damian by the Joker's hand, but it must have involved a Jokerized Bruce and a Damian who didn't fight as hard as he should have because he was too afraid to hurt his father.

If Bruce escaped to the manor now, like this, brainwashed or mind controlled as he is, Damian won't fight back like he should.

Dick could not let Bruce into the manor, not under any circumstances should he leave Alfred and Damian to fend for themselves against a Batman who wasn't in his right mind.

With his mind made up, he kicked one more time at Bruce, using as much force as he could within the tight range of motion he had on the stairway. His heel whacked against Bruce's jaw, forcing the man's face backwards with a snap. The grasp on his ankle loosened ever so slightly, allowing Dick to tug himself out of the hold and grab into the railing of the stairs above him. In one fluid motion, Dick was one his feet, watching as Bruce recovered quickly from the blow.

With a split second to execute his decision, he didn't even look where he was going. He just grabbed the railings and swung under the bars as Bruce's hand shot out and just barely missed gripping and tearing out a chunk of his hair. The fall to the floor of the cave wasn't long, and he was able to easily lessen the strain of the landing by rolling onto his back and jumping upright onto his feet, leaving him able to immediately begin sprinting away from Bruce. He could hear heavy footsteps pounding after him, and while that made his heart clench in a very agonizingly painful way, it also filled him with just the right amount of adrenalin to ignore how light-headed he was from the broken nose. He could barely taste the blood on his lips, his tears were beginning to dry.

Or he was just getting used to blinking them out of his eyes the more they formed. He hoped he didn't have tear streaks on his cheeks, mixing with the blood and dripping down onto the ground as he ran like he was in some sort of gore film.

He came to a skidding halt right beside the batcomputer. He didn't need to waste any time searching for the button he needed to press, it wasn't the first time they've had to lock down the cave from the inside. He smashed the emergency button just as a fist grabbed onto the back collar of his suit, dragging him back in a choking tug as the soft yellow and white lights above the cave shut down with a whirl, the color being replaced quickly by harsh and flashing eye drilling red.

A piercing alarm screamed out as a heavy arm wrapped over Dick's throat. Dick felt crushing pressure immediately begin to press on his windpipe, and with a choked cry, Dick grabbed onto the arm and bent forward with all his strength, hitting his elbows into Bruce's gut. He flipped Bruce over his back. The sound of Bruce in all his heavy armor hitting the cave ground as bats screeched and alarms blared was almost comical, but Dick didn't stick around long enough to figure out how funny Bruce thought it was.

He would be stuck down here for the next who knew how long. No way out, no way in, not until the right codes, used by the right people were used. And in this case, because Dick activated the alarm with Bruce in the cave, two codes used by any other member of the family will have to be used as a precaution. Because Damian was still young, he didn't have the clearance for that. It would have to be Alfred who put his codes in from the outside as well as somebody else.

The closest bat with shut down codes would be Tim who was currently on the other side of Gotham, probably asleep in the penthouse. Jason would probably be closer, but honestly Dick wasn't sure if Bruce gave Jason access to that level of security in the cave yet.

Hopefully the emergency texts sent out like they're supposed to. Every bat within the borders of the United States should already have their messages. In twelve hours, if the issue wasn’t resolved within the cave, bats outside the country will get a text. Twelve hours after that, the Justice League would be notified.

Dick hoped it didn't get to that point.

Tim. It would have to be Tim.

Dick ran as fast as his legs could carry him toward a particular hiding spot in the cave he'd known the existence of since he was a kid. It was just large enough for Dick to crawl through when he was still sporting pixy boots and a cape. Now it would be a tight squeeze, with Dick having grown over the years, but thankfully his body type remained small and lean so with enough wriggling he should be able to get in.

Bruce was on his tail, panting like a bloodhound on the trail of a startled rabbit. Dick didn't dare waste time and look behind him as he retreated. Bruce would only catch up faster that way. So Dick ran past the most used parts of the cave down towards where the stone became uneven and filled with puddles, stalagmites jutted upwards and the ceiling and walls became less wide.

He jumped over a small underground stream, then latched his hands around a formation of rocks that were slick with water. He then proceeded to use those rocks as hand and footholds to climb up the low hanging ceiling towards a small hole carved into the rock thanks to the centuries and centuries of running water. He dragged himself upward into the hole, wincing at how the rocks clawed into his sides and stomach, but thankfully he was able to quickly slip in before he heard the stomps of Bruce's footsteps approach ever closer.

Dick had never been more thankful for night vision than what he was just now. It made it possible for them to not waste power by supplying light only to the most used parts of the cave, which, in turn, caused dark shadows to form where Dick hid. He squeezed himself back as far as he could into the pocket of space that was chiseled into the ceiling, then watched with wide eyes as Bruce finally came into view.

He looked like a demon. A hulking, beast of man with teeth bared and fingers splayed like claws. Bruce growled and looked around the surrounding cave, making increasingly frustrated grunts the more time that passed with Dick not being found.

After a few minutes, Bruce seemed to get a mixture of too-frustrated-to-care and bored, so with a final growl, he turned cape and stalked back towards the main sections of the cave.

Dick released his breath about a minute after. His heart pounded so loudly that he was sure for a minute there that Bruce would find him by the noise alone. But for now, it looked like he was safe.

He let himself relax ever so slightly, letting the adrenalin drain to the point he could actually feel how messed up his nose was.

He lifted a hand to his nose and tapped lightly on the tender skin and bone. He winced, knowing even without a mirror or a doctor's opinion that this wasn't the kind of break you could just snap right into place. Dick was lucky Bruce hadn't slammed him down harder. The shards could have gone to his brain.

With that morbid thought, he pushed the pain aside when his communicator began to beep urgently in his ear. He poked his head out of the hole to see Bruce pacing the middle of the cave, his hands in his hair and his footsteps rushed and unsteady. Dick slowly brought his bloodied fingertips to his comm and took a deep, low breath.

"Nightwing," he muttered in answer to the beeping. He winced at his own voice. Barbara used to make fun of him saying the reason stakeouts and covert missions always went wrong whenever he was a part of them was because boys didn't know how to whisper.

Static flickered in the earpiece, the lock down of the cave causing the signals to be bounced and absorbed in the walls. He frowned and tapped the wiring, fighting a flinch as Bruce yelled angrily in his section of the cave, causing something heavy and glass to shatter on the floor.

" -ser Dick, what- --"

It was Alfred's voice. But Dick could barely make it out. No doubt Alfred and Damian were in a frantic panic upstairs, confused and worried about what could have caused the cave to go under lockdown. While Bruce restarted his pacing, Dick spoke as quietly as he could into the comm.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but Bruce has been compromised. Something is… warping his mind to be violent. Don't open the cave until you're sure whoever is on the other side can take him down. N out."

More static vibrated in his eardrums, cut off voices of Alfred and maybe Damian demanding he elaborated, but Brice was deathly still now. He stood in the middle of the main section of the cave, unmoving as a statue. Immediately, Dick felt his adrenaline begin to rise again.

That couldn't be good.

He reached up as slowly as he dared to take his static filled communicator out from his ear—which was probably something he'd regret later, but for now the noise was distracting him—and watched as Bruce's arms slowly began to move in slow, jerky movements that could only be explained by Bruce probably not knowing if they belonged to him.

Bruce flexed his fingers. Looked around the empty cave, then immediately began to remove his utility belt. Dick watched in a cocktail of confusion and curiosity as Bruce held the belt in his hands for a moment before hurling the accessory away from him toward one of the drop offs that lead to the underground rivers below.

What the hell?

Those rivers didn’t lead anywhere. There were a million different channels with hundreds of twists and turns, spelunking these caves would be like signing a death warrant. There wasn’t any telling where the belt would end up. Why did Bruce…?

And then Bruce grunted and grabbed at his hair, shaking his head, lips moving in some sort of silent fight with himself.

Whatever was controlling Bruce: Bruce was pushing back against it. Bruce lost the belt so he could insure he wouldn't use it against Dick or anyone else who eventually entered the cave.

Then, Bruce turned and stalked towards the lab tables, grunting and snarling at himself as he stuck a needle in his arm and drew blood.

Bruce was back. He was doing blood work on himself to cure whatever was going on.

Excitement and relief flooded Dick's veins, and he nearly began to exit his hidey-hole, but then Bruce proved himself to be ever vigilant and paranoid. "It's not done, Dick. Don't come out."

Dick froze at the tone. It was still glutal. But there was something laced in there that almost sounded worried and afraid.

"I don't know where you are. Keep where you are, stay silent, stay safe."

Dick longed to ask what was going on. Why Bruce was like this. Dick wasn't ever very good with being kept in the shadows, he liked his colorful suits for a reason after all. He wanted to go out and help while Bruce was in this odd period of lucidity, but for all he knew, the distance between the two could be what was helping Bruce stay sane at the moment. Perhaps the violent tendencies were activated by close proximity.

Dick was definitely not about to test that theory.

He swallowed and settled back, listening to Bruce work on his own blood, trying to figure out whatever had made him act this way and cure it.

A few minutes passed, minutes filled with Dick feeling more anxious than an opossum faced by a group of angry humans. His heart refused to stop thudding against his ribcage as he listened to the tinkling of glass and mixing liquids.

Maybe this could all be over soon. Maybe this will be just a normal Wednesday night and they'll all soon be back in bed and laughing about this.

When Bruce spoke up again, Dick knew the night could only get worse.

"Chum?" Bruce asked, and that was how Dick knew it was really Bruce talking. No evil villain or brainwashing drug had ever managed to make Bruce say that word with that much meaning. "Don't answer, but the solution will need time to become active. The… urge to become violent is becoming stronger. Like it can sense I'm trying to stop it. To avoid… destroying the antidote, I am going to try and…" a grunt escaped Bruce's throat. A deep breath. Dick wrapped his fingers around his opposite wrist. "-and sedate myself before that happens. I need you to get me to the med bay and restrain me until the antidote is completed."

Dick almost wanted to laugh out a joke. Something with a " awe, sleeping on the job while I do all the work ?" or " Gosh, B, this is the fourth time you've been hit with a mind altering drug this year !" but he choked down those words and swallowed them. He remained silent, like Bruce told him to bee, and slowly began to squeeze out from his hiding spot. As he did so, he watched with critical eyes as Bruce turned from the lab tables towards the med bay, a purpose in his step even though there was a slight lethargic drag to his bending knees. It was almost like Dick was watching a robot, one that didn't know it's own body yet and had to intently focus on each body part before it moved. When Bruce entered the med bay, Dick lost sight of him. The medical area of the cave was in its own separate room, carved into the cave and lined with layers of cement and insulation to keep it the perfect temperature for whoever was injured inside. Bruce left the door open though, so once Dick was on the ground of the cave, he was able to sneak over to the foot of the dinosaur and see just barely inside the medbay.

His heart sank at what he saw. Of course it couldn't be easy. Of course Bruce couldn't have lasted a little longer to get the sedative into his own arm.

He was just standing there, the sedative in his hands, glaring at it with an angry downturn to his brow.

Dick took a silent breath and weighed his options once again. He could go in there and try to sedate Bruce himself, or he could go back to his hiding spot and wait this out.

Bruce suddenly turned his head and Dick just managed to squish himself further behind the dinosaur to keep himself hidden. Dick couldn't see anymore, but he could hear. And what he heard was a few terrifying heartbeats of silence before footsteps began to echo around the cave walls.

Did… did Bruce know Dick was here? A pool of unease swirled in his gut; feeling something like a swarm of moths. He couldn’t honestly predict if he'd be able to fight Bruce and take him down on his own. Not with how little was known about this entire situation. He'd fight if he had to, but how bloodied and bruised he'll be after it was in the air.

Right when the sound of Bruce's booted feet slamming against the cold, stone floor became almost unbearable, Dick finally realized that those aforementioned footsteps were actually walking away from the T-rex.

With a spoonful of bravery that he dug up somewhere from his gut, he poked his head around the leg of the dinosaur.

And Dick realized that moment that he didn't have any choice anymore. Bruce was walking towards the lab with clenched fists.

The antidote.

Dick was generally known as an impulsive person. Most people, when they thought of the phrase "leaping without looking" they would oftentimes link Dick to those words.

Dick liked to think that he planned ahead more often than not. That he didn't always make split second decisions based off from adrenalin and the heat of the moment, but right now, he barely even knew that he was running until his arms wrapped around Bruce's throat—his chest going flat against the older man's caped back—and he was tugging back with all his might. Bruce's fingers which had been previously reaching for the in-process antidote hung mid air for a moment, but that moment did hardly nothing for Dick to prepare for just how quickly Bruce moved while being mind controlled.

One moment he was struggling to drag Bruce back, and the next he was in the air as Bruce used the very same move Dick had executed earlier to get out of a similar chokehold.

All the breath in Dick's lungs left in an aching whoosh as his back hit the ground. His vision swam and his nose pulsed with a newfound revenge. With lightning quick reflexes he'd been honing ever since he was a kid, he turned to his side to avoid a heel on it’s way towards meeting his jugular. No thank you, he really didn't want a crushed windpipe or broken neck today.

He sucked in a lungful of air and pushed what will definitely be a giant bruise on his back to a corner of his mind that he'll deal with later. He kicked out at Bruce, hitting the man in the shins, before he scrambled to his feet and grabbed his escrima sticks from his back. He really didn't want to use these, but with how violent Bruce was, he really didn't have a choice.

"Okay," Dick said, hyping himself up by bouncing on the balls of his feet. Bruce stood stiffly before him, eyes narrowed and blank, like the lights were on but no one was home. His body moving for him, calculating the next best step for him. "Okay. Bruce, I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

Bruce growled, and not for the first time Dick was reminded of a wild, feral animal.

Dick's body went on autopilot immediately after that. Everything became a blur of dodging and dealing blows. Bruce surprised Dick at first, but now Dick was ready. He knew what to expect. He's fought Bruce in similar situations to this before, all he needed to do was treat Bruce like he would treat any other dangerous villain. Punch until concussion. Deal blows until they're down. And don't you dare fall down first.

For a while, they're pretty even. Bruce was missing as many blows as Dick was, but when Bruce hit, he hit hard . And he played dirty. Grabbing at Dick's hair, going for his groin, looking for those tiny millimeters of a window to throw his fist through. After a particularly forceful blow to his stomach, Dick just barely managed to avoid a knee aiming for his already shattered nose by forcing himself to fall back instead of forward like his knocked out air desperately wanted to.

Dick though, he went for the legs. Most people when they fight Bruce think all they need to be is quicker and stronger than him—or have the bigger weapons. But Dick knew that Bruce had more muscle on his upper body than lower. Bruce trained his legs to carry him across the city and do amazing feats of parkour, but you're more likely to get a fist than a foot heading your way while fighting him. If Dick managed to get him down onto the ground, he had a split second chance to get him restrained and knock him out.

It was a plan more easily said than done. This… warped and controlled version of Bruce had no restraint. He didn't pull his punches, he didn't take things slow for the sake of his own body, multiple times Dick caught his fingers twitching to where the batarangs would be inside his utility belt just to remember with a snarl that he had gotten rid of the whole accessory.

However, Dick could feel the close quarter battle beginning to wear him down. Throwing punches and taking hits were exhausting. Dick was confident that by the end of this, he'll have bruises to match his suit, maybe even a few broken bones if things went downhill.

Well... more downhill.

Dick slammed his escrima into Bruce's jaw, finally landing a blow hard enough for Bruce to stumble. Not wasting the opportunity presented to him, he dove under Bruce's arms and turned the electricity of his escrima on. He was just about to slam the lightning tipped ends of his weapons down into Bruce's thighs when all of a sudden, Bruce recovered quicker than what should have been possible. Dick only had enough time to think oh no before Bruce swirled out of the way with a flick of his cape. Instead of meeting a fleshy body in his attack, he ran into the darkness of the cape, the weight and firmness of the material forced him to drop his escrima unless he wanted to shock himself. He tried to back out of the way, but then Bruce used that to his advantage. He wrapped the cape around Dick's upper body then punched violently into Dick's gut.

Immediately, all the air was knocked out of his body and his eyes widened like a bug as he started into the dark kevlar, brain struggling to come up with a plan b.

There was no Plan B. It was get Plan A right from the get go. Plan B was figuring out just how far Bruce would go. If Bruce would kill him.

The cape unraveled from his body, and Dick soon found himself being shoved blindly forward. His eyes took in information rather quickly though, and it took every hairsbreadth reflex he had to not completely hurtle himself off the main platform of the cave and down below into the white waters to follow Bruce's abandoned utility belt.

He threw his arms back and desperately dug his heels into the ground, but the world began to spin when Bruce shoved him one last time.

Somehow, within the chaos of being shoved down into the cave waters and the pain his bruised body was in, Dick managed to grab onto the ledge in just the knick of time. His legs swung below him as the strain on his fingers and biceps immediately began to burn. He hung there for an agonizingly long moment, trying to make heads and tails of the new situation he now found himself in, before a dark figure above him came into view.

Dick's never seen that angle of Batman before. All anger. Violent. Below a lifted boot. Dick winced as the sole of Bruce's shoe stepped slowly onto his right hand.

He was officially, royally screwed.

And with that thought, a million more flooded into his brain like a damn burst. He was going to die here. Bruce would kick him into the waters and Dick will never be found again. Or, when he is found again, his body will be bloated and long without a soul to occupy it.

He supposed it could be worse. Bruce could have beaten him to a bloodied pulp and left his corpse on display for whoever came into the cave next. This way, at least, no one would have to see the light gone from his eyes, like he had seen all too often in his own sibling's faces. He'll be dead, gone, untraceable. His only hope was that Damian wasn't the first one down here. The first to realize Dick was dead.

For good this time.

And that was when the complete panic set in. The thought of dying again . He knew what death felt like. He had felt it happen. He remembered exactly what it was like to take his last breath. His last blink. His last struggling move. Sometimes, he'd wake up in the dead of night, hyperventilating and in a cold sweat, wiping at his mouth desperately because he could still feel Lex Luthor there, holding his hand over his mouth and nose, forcing an acidic tasting pill between his lips.

How long would it take this time? Was the drop long enough for the water to feel like cement when he eventually hit it? Would the jagged rocks knock him out before he could really taste death again? Against his better judgement—the better judgement screaming that there was no point delaying the inevitable—he reached with his free hand to grab Bruce's ankle. He didn't want to drag Bruce down with him, but he was scared , and he didn't want to die feeling alone .

Once his left hand was crushed, he would let go.

The pressure continued to come down onto his fingers, Dick grimaced and ground his teeth. This was it, huh? These were his last moments alive?

Right when he felt something on his hand give away with a snap and he was sure that it was time to end, Batman all of a sudden jerked back, small arms wrapping around his throat in a blur of red.

Dick scrambled to keep his grasp on the ledge as Bruce stumbled backwards out of sight; he definitely had a broken finger and his biceps burned with the need to let go. His ears were ringing now, pulsing to the tempo of his heart, but somewhere above him he could hear yelling and the exchanging of blows. Fists hitting flesh. There were multiple voices as well, all yelling above each other, tones mixing with tones. He couldn't tell who was here. All he wanted to do was push past the weariness settling in his bones and heft himself up to help fight. Bruce wasn't someone you could just… fight on your own.

Dick needed to help.

He bent his arms, sweat dripping down the back of his neck, but his strength suddenly left against his will, mocking his title as an acrobat, sending him jerking down and losing the grasp he had with his right hand.

He was hanging on with one hand now, swinging dangerously, just a brush away from falling and getting lost in the underground ocean forever.

He didn't want to die. Not like this. He never expected to live past thirty, but // still . He was twenty-seven, hanging by the tips of his fingers, about to fall.

He was twenty-seven . Younger than what his parents were.

There won't be a body to bury.

He was going to die.

His five fingers trembled under the weight, no amount of adrenalin or hope could get him to climb up on his own power. He hoped Bruce and whoever he was fighting up there won't feel too bad about not getting to him in time.

He finally lost his meager grip, and for a moment he was weightless. Hanging mid air. Eyes wide behind his mask as he stared past his empty hand reaching towards the roof of the cave.

Then, everything jolted. A pair of strong hands wrapped around his wrist, bringing everything to a halting stop. He gasped, cherishing the rush of air that ran past his throat into his lungs, and looked up with wide eyes as none other than Damian hung over the lip of the drop, the edge digging into his armpits, his face turning red as he struggled to hold onto over a hundred and fifty pounds. Damian could hold Dick for a little while, but eventually he'll either fall with Dick or let go.

"Dami-" Dick gasped, his heart twisting like an abused foam ball between the hands of an anxious teen. "Dami no-"

"I won't let go," Damian spat with a fire in his eyes. "I won't."

Dick wanted to yell at him to let go and turn away. Don't watch. The last thing Dick wanted was for Damian to watch.

"Damian!" A new voice shouted, and Dick almost did a double-take at it. Jason?

"I have him!" Damian shouted, tiny, thirteen year old fingers so tight around Dick's wrist that it was almost bruising. "Hurry!"

Jason didn't answer. Or maybe he did, and it was just drowned out by the sound of battle. Perhaps pushed aside as a new hope soured in Dick's gut.

The minutes ticked, and eventually Dick managed to get his hand sporting a broken finger up to clutch Damian's little hands. He couldn't do anything other than that to help Damian hold on. There was nothing else to grab onto.

And that was the point of Robin, wasn't it? To catch Batman if he should fall?

Or maybe that was just Dick's legacy, and it dripped like ink into the ideologies of the suit until it stained the fabric red.

He didn't get much time to think about it more, because a second pair of arms suddenly came out of nowhere and grabbed onto Dick's wrists. Dick looked up into Tim's masked eyes as the two boys began to work together to drag him up. It was painful and time consuming. Hard work between two brothers. But soon enough, Dick found himself hooking his elbows over the lip of the drop-off, his brain struggling to take in the entirety of the scene before him.

Jason was kneeling over Bruce, his knee to his back as he locked cuffs over the definitely unconscious man's wrists. Duke stood a little while off, watching Bruce as if he was afraid Bruce would stand up with blood in his eyes any moment now. Steph stood behind Tim, hands outstretched to help grab onto Dick's waist and drag him the rest of the way up. Dick almost questioned how they all managed to take Bruce down so quickly, but then Cass ran up to help Dick get settled in a sitting position so her delicate fingers can brush over his swelling nose, concern pulled between her brow.

They called in the calvary.

He turned his face from where the majority of his siblings were—sitting next to him and worrying about him, asking him questions about what hurt and what happened—and he watched Alfred step up to Jason and place a hand on his shoulder before the both bent down to get Bruce on a gurney to transfer to the med bay.

And the waterworks, right in front of his family, turned on right then and there.

He felt Damian crawl into his lap and wrap his bare arms around Dick's torso. Dick hadn't even noticed Damian wasn't even dressed. He came down here in a white tee shirt and fuzzy Batman pj bottoms to help out. Through teary eyes, he could see that everyone else was in various states of dress, capes gone forgotten, masks not bothered to be put on, only the most important bits of armor applied. Dick had no idea how they all came together like this to fight Bruce and rescue Dick, but he won't question it for now.

He just sat there, trying and failing to hold back choked sobs, clutching Damian as close as he could as warm bodies settled around him.

He sat like that, in bittersweet bliss, until the wrinkled hand of Alfred settled into his shoulder.

"Let's get you looked at," he said, his face pinched in parental worry and relief. Dick sobbed out a laugh and allowed the others to get him to his shaky feet. They led him to the med bay and sat him down in a cot next to the unconscious, bruised, and restrained Bruce. A stab of worry settled in his gut, but it was quickly squashed when Alfred sat in front of him, hands with years of experience hovering above his nose with a what will we do with you now, Master Dick glint in his eyes. Dick flickered his eyes towards the open medbay doors where the others were all either hovering or assessing the damage done in the cave.

"Now don't you worry," Alfred said, bringing Dick's attention back to him. He helped Dick lay back into the cot and inserted an IV into the crook of his elbow without a second thought. He must've put the good stuff in that bag hanging above Dick's head, he immediately felt sleepy beyond belief. "Everything will be fine when you wake up again, Master Dick."

And Dick breathed a sigh—a breath that he had previously thought he would never be able to take—and let the tension in his body fall away.

Dick believed Alfred, because Alfred was always right. And the sooner he fell asleep, the sooner he’d wake up and find the world back on the correct axis again. Bruce would explain what went wrong and why he went crazy, and the others would all dramatically regale their part in the whole thing.

He let his eyes fall closed, safety and sleep working together to lull him to a comforting sheet of darkness.

-o-o-o-o-

Reblogs and comments are always appreciated

#dick grayson #nightwing #batman #bruce wayne #batfam #jin writes #fic #fanfic #whumptober2020 #no.5 #rescue #failed escape #violence tw #blood tw #mind control tw

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bitchin-beskar · 4 years

Text

Lost

Chapter 2: Escape

Rating: T

Word Count: 2.9k

A/N: I know, I know, I'm sorry, Mando isn't in this chapter like at all, AND I left it on a cliffhanger. But I PROMISE he will be in the second story, and from there on out. I'm planning for each story to have somewhere between 2 and 5 chapters, but I have no idea how many stories I'm going to end up writing. I will hopefully have the first chapter of the second story, Found, up sometime next week, but no promises. As always, my work is un-beta'd, so all my mistakes are mine and mine alone. I really hope you guys like this story, as I'm trying to set the building blocks for the rest of the storyline!(Also, as a side note, keep an eye out later this week for a completely unrelated one-shot involving Din and a different OC, with a much more mature rating! It'll be my first attempt at writing any kind of fic with sexy-times, despite my extensive experience with reading them, so I hope you all enjoy that one as well!)

As it turned out, Cerliah didn’t have a lot of time to think about an escape plan. She’d lain down to go to sleep when the sound of a blaster shot coming from her mistress’s room had her shooting up in bed. Eyes wide, she leapt out of the bed and scooped the child up from the cradle, holding it tightly to her chest. Then, a second blaster shot rang out, and she fought back the urge to scream. She moved over to her small wardrobe, opening the door quietly, and placing the child inside, amongst her few meager gowns.

“I need you to be quiet, little one,” she whispered, rubbing one of its ears as comfortingly as she was able. “I’ll be right back, stay here.”

Closing the door to the wardrobe, Cerliah turned and made her way to the door that connected her bedroom to the closet of her mistress. As quietly as she could, she leaned against the door, placing her ear to the thin crack, attempting to discern if there were any voices. After waiting for what felt like forever, but could have only been a couple of minutes, she slowly slid the door open.

Creeping into the closet, she moved through the darkness until she reached the master bedroom, and as she gazed into the room, she had to cover her mouth so as not to scream.

Laying haphazardly in bed was the Grand-Moff and his wife, clearly dead. The Grand-Moff had a blaster burn directly over his heart, and his wife, her mistress, had a shot directly to the face. It was clear that whoever had shot the Grand-Moff had been startled when her mistress woke up, and reacted without thinking.

Blinking back tears, Cerliah crept towards the door that led to the hallway, pausing in terror when she heard voices. She darted to the corner of the room that was still bathed in darkness, and tried to listen over the pounding of her heart.

“Where the fuck is the bounty? You said it was here!” One of the voices whispered harshly, the tone promising danger. Cerliah’s eyes widened. Bounty hunters. If they were making an effort to be quiet, that meant that they were trying to keep their presence there a secret. Maybe the rest of the household hadn’t suffered the same fate as their masters.

“How the fuck am I supposed to know? All I know is N’Jando said he saw the uppity bitch buy him at the market today, and bring him back here! But no, you had to kill her, so now we're screwed!”

The other voice was just as quiet, just as harsh, and just as deadly as the previous. Cerliah had to hold in a gasp when their words registered in her terror-addled brain. Their bounty was the child! The one her mistress had purchased today!

There was no time to waste. Cerliah had to get herself and the baby off this planet before the bounty hunters found them. At least it sounded like they didn’t know where the baby was, so they were safe for the moment. Cerliah waited until the voices had faded before she began to move. Quickly making her way over to the far wall, she moved the expensive painting hanging there. Underneath was a hidden safe.

Creeping towards the bed, she looked down at the blank face of the Grand-Moff, steeling herself, before she reached down and gathered him in her arms. Half carrying, half dragging the large man, Cerliah struggled over to the safe. After carefully lowering him to the floor, she grabbed his left hand, raising it up and placing it on the scanner carefully. After a few tense seconds, there was a beep, and the door swung open.

Inside the safe, there were two important things. The first was every single one of the slave triggers, meticulously labeled with the corresponding names. The other thing inside the safe was money. The Grand-Moff was a paranoid man, and didn’t want to rely on storing all of his money in one place, so he kept a secret stash of both Imperial credits and Wupiupi on hand, in case of emergencies. She was pretty sure this counted as an emergency.

Grabbing her mistress’s purse off the vanity, Cerliah scooped the pile of credit chips and wupiupi coins into the purse, grabbed all of the slave triggers, and dumped them in too. She snuck back to her room, dumping the purse on the bed as she moved to her wardrobe. The baby sat calmly on the floor, and looked up at her when she opened the doors.

Picking the baby up, she grabbed her satchel out of the wardrobe, along with her few items of clothing. Moving to the bed, she set the baby down as she dressed, pulling an ankle-length tunic over her chemise, and tying a belt around her waist. After lacing up her boots and pulling on her hooded cloak, she quickly packed her other clothes. Taking the purse and tying it to her waist, she swung the satchel over her shoulder, and picked up the child.

She made her way to the hidden door, and she quickly descended the staircase. She cautiously opened the door to the kitchen, and saw the Matron sitting quietly by the stove. She slipped into the room, shutting the door behind her. The Matron turned, but before she could say anything, Cerliah began to speak.

“The master and mistress are dead,” the Matron’s hand flew to cover her mouth. “Two bounty hunters came looking for the child, and killed them. There may even be others.” Cerliah swallowed, terror filling her once more as she said the words aloud. “I need to get the baby off-world, I’m taking one of the ships in the hangar.”

The Matron looked at her oddly. “What are you still doing here then, you stupid girl?” She hissed, glancing at the shadows as though they were hiding an assassin. Cerliah opened the purse, and pulled out the slave triggers. Quickly finding the ones designated for her and the baby, she held the others out to the Matron.

Stunned, the Matron gingerly took the triggers, fingers caressing the one that bore her name. “I managed to find all the triggers, distribute them quietly, and tell everyone to leave as soon as they are able.” Cerliah hugged the Matron tightly, stepping back and wiping her eyes. “Be careful, please.”

“You as well, dear child.” The Matron murmured, watching as Cerliah swiftly exited through the door that would eventually lead her to the hangar. “You as well.”

Cerliah managed to make her way to the hangar without running into any trouble. As she walked into the hangar, she took stock of the vehicles. The least conspicuous there was a refurbished Nubian N-1 Class Starfighter. The yellow paint had been stripped, leaving the ship a plain silver color.

“Well, certainly better than a TIE fighter, wouldn’t you say?” Cerliah muttered to the child, crossing the hangar and approaching the ship. She climbed the ladder, balancing the baby on her hip as she did so. Once she’d settled inside, she placed her satchel at her feet, and strapped herself in. Holding the child on her lap, she started up the fighter, glancing over the controls.

While she hadn’t ever flown a ship, she’d read about them. A lot. Thankfully, her mistress hadn’t wanted an illiterate slave, and made sure she could read. So, to pass time, she’d read nearly every datapad in the large library, including multiple instructional datapads on how to fly different types of starfighters. The controls for the Nubian N-1 Class weren’t difficult, and they were soon ready for takeoff.

Cerliah took a deep breath. They’d made it this far, there was no use getting cold feet at this point. The bounty hunter’s hadn’t found them yet, and Cerliah wanted to keep it that way. She closed the hatch, and initiated take-off. As smoothly as she could, Cerliah flew the starfighter out of the hangar, and into the still-dark sky. As they left the planet’s atmosphere, Cerliah looked down at the baby sitting calmly in her lap.

“The whole galaxy is open to us, little one,” she said softly. “Where do you want to go?” The baby clapped excitedly, and Cerliah wondered not for the first time if it knew what she was saying. The child pointed in a direction. “That-a-way, huh? Alright, what’s that way?” Cerliah looked at her maps. There were a couple of promising planets in that direction, but the best seemed to be Markon-Vel. A small world, with no large exports to speak of, it was relatively anonymous in terms of planets. No spaceport, no big cities, mostly little farming villages and some old ruins to forgotten gods, and most importantly, no slavery.

“How about it, huh? Markon-Vel sounds like a good place to start over?” The baby let out a noise of excitement, and Cerliah couldn’t help but smile. Setting their course in the nav comp, she sat back and watched as the stars flew by as they left Lyerra behind. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out their two slave triggers. Fingering the small metal devices that held so much power over her and the little one, she felt a small twinge of regret that she didn’t know how to disarm them. That information had certainly never been placed in the Grand-Moff’s library.

She pulled the chain of her necklace out, toying with the small metal design on the end that always brought her comfort, though she knew not it’s origins. Removing the necklace, she threaded the two small metal triggers onto the chain, tucking it back under her neckline. She would rather die than give anyone those two triggers, so she would keep them close to her heart until the day she died, or the day she found someone trustworthy to disable them, whichever came first.

The flight to Markon-Vel would take roughly six hours in the N-1 class, so she settled down to wait out the flight in the somewhat uncomfortable seat. Despite her discomfort, she knew she was heading to her freedom, and that more than made up for it.

Over the course of the six-hour flight, the baby explored what little it could reach of the cockpit, trying to press buttons and move levers when Cerliah wasn’t watching. She tried to keep it occupied, playing little games in the confined space, but nevertheless, she was relieved when Markon-Vel came into view. Securing the baby on her lap, she began initiating entry and landing procedures, scanning the surface for the best place to land.

Finding a small village that was roughly forty klicks from the capitol, she set the nav comp, and began the descent into the atmosphere. The kid looked thrilled to be heading towards solid ground once again, and Cerliah couldn’t blame him. She maneuvered the craft, touching down on the outskirts of the town. As she shut down the controls, she noticed a few brave townspeople making their way over to her craft.

“Alright little one, you ready for this?”

Cerliah helped him climb into her knapsack, and secured it safely on her back. She exited the craft, climbing down the ladder, jumping off and hitting the ground with a soft grunt. She turned towards the townspeople, smiling softly at their looks of awe as they gazed at the starfighter.

One woman stepped forward, worry lining the skin around her eyes. She was older than the others, and looked to be in a position of power in the village, based on her slightly more elaborate dress. Cerliah dropped into a small curtsey, showing her respect, and hopefully showing that she meant no harm.

The woman watched as Cerliah straightened, and when she spoke, her words were wary, but not outrightly hostile.

“What brings an outsider to our little village?”

Cerliah bowed her face in respect, and spoke quickly, but softly. “I am merely looking for a place to settle. My home was attacked, and it was no longer safe for me to stay there. I can pay for my lodging, and I am willing to work.”

The woman’s brow raised. She was not surprised that this young woman was looking for somewhere to live quietly, but she was not yet convinced. “How do I know that you will not bring destruction upon our village in the same manner as your home?”

A young woman stepped forward at that, laying her hand on the older woman’s shoulder. “Grandmother, that was uncalled for-” Cerliah cut her off with a raise of her hand.

“‘Tis a valid question, I should think.” She offered softly. “Those seeking to destroy my home were not looking for me specifically, but those with whom I lived.” Cerliah winced internally at the slight falsehood, but continued on. “They found their targets. I escaped unnoticed.”

The older woman sighed. “We don’t accept credits here, none of our traders use them. Unless you have wupiupi, then our conversation can go no further.” Cerliah opened her purse, and pulled out a handful of wupiupi, thankful that her master hadn’t only stockpiled credit chips.

The woman’s eyes widened as she saw the amount of coins in Cerliah’s hand. That many wupiupi could feed the village for the next few months at least. Cerliah took the woman’s expression to mean it was not enough, and she frowned, concerned. “I can pay more-”

This time, the younger woman spoke. “For that amount, you could buy the whole village,” she exclaimed softly. “What did you desire for lodging?”

Cerliah sighed in relief. “Somewhere far on the outskirts, if possible. I’ve had enough excitement in my life to last for a while.”

After paying the still-shaken older woman, who Cerliah learned was known as Grandmother, she followed Katriel, the young woman who had spoken up in her favor, towards her new house.

The house was a small, one story building only about a step up from a shack. But it was clean, well-built, far from the main town, and most of all, her own. She’d bought it with her own coin, and it was her’s. For the first time in a long time, she owned something that hadn’t been given to her by a slaver.

Katriel showed her where there was a plot of land for a garden, and in the far corner of the property was a small pond, with brightly colored fish swimming around. Thanking Katriel, Cerliah moved inside the small hut, taking in the modest kitchen and dining area. Beyond a doorway was a small fresher, and on the side of the room, a hallway led to a small bedroom, with a bed taking up most of the space, with room for a small chest at the end, presumably for clothes. Katriel had told her that the previous owners had moved off world, and the villagers had yet to sell the property. Cerliah smiled a wide, beaming smile. It may have been small, but it felt so very cozy and warm, the way she imagined home must feel like.

“What do you think, huh? Bet we can build you a cradle to fit next to the bed,” Cerliah murmured as she slowly took off her knapsack, opening the flap to reveal the child looking up at her, big round eyes even wider than usual with excitement. She pulled them out of the bag, setting them down gently on the soft sheets, watching in amusement as the small child clambered their way down the bed, and toddling off to explore the house more thoroughly.

Here, the baby wouldn’t have to worry about what could have happened had they stayed on Lyerra. While Cerliah would always mourn life lost, she found herself feeling surprisingly little sympathy for the pair who had owned her for so many years. Looking out at the trees swaying in the wind, she hoped that finally, they might be allowed some peace and quiet.

That peace and quiet lasted about three standard weeks.

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

Cerliah was outside, kneeling in the garden while the baby, Little One- she’d taken to calling him that, as she’d learned he was a him, but still knew not his name- was hopping near the small pond, chasing the frogs that lived near it. He’d damn near given her a heart attack when one day, she’d come out to find him stuffing a full-sized toad in his mouth. Since then, she’d learned that he favored frogs and toads for sustenance, although in a pinch, he would eat the small fish in the pond. She still tried to get him to eat more normal food, to varying degrees of success.

The sprouts she’d bought in the village market were finally starting to grow, and she found joy in knowing that her hand were bringing life to the small plants, that she was able to work for her keep, but if she didn’t finish the tasks she’d laid out for herself, she wouldn’t be punished.

She was working on pruning a small stalk of Balka greens when a bright light glinted off something in the distance, walking towards her hut. She looked up, and immediately felt her heart simultaneously leap into her throat and plummet into her stomach. There, walking towards her, a tower of shimmering beskar, was a Mandalorian.

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summoner-kentauris · 4 years

Photo

The United Fódlan-Magvel Post-Time Skip Map, Type 1

Previous Post | Next Post

FIGURE ONE

Figure One is simple enough, it’s just the important places in Fódlan with names on it.

FIGURE TWO

This is where it gets juicy. We’re going to go through each of these places more or less individually, so this is going to be a long post, be forewarned. Now, all of these are located roughly where they ought to be in relation to one another. Which means, in many cases there isn’t much choice behind the decision. Still, there was at least a little bit!

[Keep Reading Link Below]

North Magvel

The Black Temple

The Black Temple was placed directly on top of the ruins of Garreg Mach Monastery, as detailed in Post One. This is the site of the Holy Mausoleum, and makes a perfect one-to-one translation to the place where the Demon King Fomortiss’ body will be sealed. Likewise, Garreg Mach is located right next to the Sealed Forest, the one place in Fódlan known for, well... sealing and darkness. From the Sealed Forest will come Darkling Woods. This leads us nicely to...

Caer Pelyn

As some of you may yet be tired of hearing from me, Morva makes a wonderful Seteth. Caer Pelyn has to be near the Black Temple anyway, but there’s something terrifically poetically sad about the last Nabateans hovering around whats left of Garreg Mach.

Neleras Peak

Let’s go ahead and say that whatever disaster laid waste to Faerghus and the Alliance, it involved the javelins of light. One was sent to Garreg Mach, but, as we know, it is protected. Instead, Neleras was detonated, and left in a state of lava-y Ailell hell.

This, again, is is the only site whose location will be completely disregarded. I feel like putting it here again so you don’t have to click all around: in the lore, Mt. Neleras is supposed to be within the Darkling Woods. The Darkling Woods is centered around Caer Pelyn and the Black Temple. Now, the way I see it, you could have that forest cover all that land and still reach across the continent across two countries to where Mt. Neleras is supposed to be. You could also not do that very unpleasant thing. Just- just move it. It’s easy. Look, I’ve done it myself right here.

Melkaen Coast

It’s a coast. It’s located on a coast. Nothing special going on here.

Hamill Canyon

We’ve moved this quite a far bit. For one, a large offshoot of mountain range is no longer here in places. For two, remember that chasm Byleth fell into? Yeah, me too.

Midwest Magvel

Renais

Renais grew from what was left of Remire Village. Much like on the original map, it is protected on the east by mountains, which also render Caer Pelyn inaccessible from Renais.

Za’ha Woods

Now, if I were to remake this map, I’d stick the Za’ha Woods in the Sealed Forest, because Zahras is too linguistically close for me to not want to line them up.

Borgo Ridge

There is actually a small ridge on the Fódlan map right in the vicinity of where Borgo RIdge needs to go. So that was a no-brainer.

Teraz Plateau

It’s a plateau. Near vaguely altitude-y places. Not much else to say here.

West Magvel

Frelia

Frelia is located within range of the Brionac Plateau. You have no idea of deeply desperately I wanted to put it ON the Brionac Plateau. A pegasus-culture located on a giant fantasy plateau? SIgn me the fuck up. Anyway, Frelia is SUPPOSED to be on the coast, though. So, on the coast it goes. Why are there so many plateaus on this map anyhow?

Fort Rigwald

This isn’t located near anything important on the Fódlan map. The Magvel country borders are quite different, so it makes sense that new forts would have to be constructed. I’m still sad about it, though.

Border Mulan

On the Fódlan map, this location is listed as the Western Church. We will assume for this map that whatever they built was strong, and exists in some for or another in Magvel time. At any rate, this location is now Border Mulan.

Ide

North of Borgo Ridge. End of statement.

The Tower Of Valini

This is located on Lake Teutates. There already is the ruins of a tower there already so. Why the fuck not?

(Answer: because Lake Teutates sucks and I wish I could wipe it off the map with my bare hands. Indech do not interact.)

Visual aid for those of you who haven’t been forced to look at Lake Teutates for fifty thousand years and also never used the zoom in mode:

Some other interesting information about Valni/Teutates here:

Valni is Russian for waves (волны). Interestingly enough, the singular form волна is the name of a specific submarine launched ballistic missile.

The Tower of Valni is, of course, notable for having those terrifically obnoxious light beam weapons. Three House is, of course, notable for dropping actual fucking missiles on you. Missiles called javelins of light.

I’m bolding all of that because I’m very excited about it.

Port Kiris

Port Kiris is located in Magvel near the coast of the Northern Sea. I made a minor error in this map, and didn’t place Kiris far enough west. Anyway, in this map Kiris is also located at the end of a river that connects it both to Border Mulan and Frelia, which gives this town more trade power. It is a sea port and also, a river port. Hurray!

The Bay

Serafew

Serafew could be in a range of places. We’ve placed it in the central north of the bay. It is fed by a whole lot of rivers, which would help maintain the city from a logistics point of view. I’m guessing they have a lot of fertile land from the Adlas Plains, as well.

Adlas Plains

Adlas remains at the north mouth of the bay. There is a notable lack of Adlas’s forests in Fódlan’s map; on the other hand, there aren’t really any forests displayed on the map.

Bethroen

Bethroen’s path on the Sacred Stone’s map curves oddly; here, that is replicated and also reinforced by the mountains that back Bethroen. Presumably, here the path is curved because it is a path through the mountains.

South Magvel

Renvall

I really wanted to put Renvall on the ruins/same place as Fort Merceus. Renvall is also located, though, at the base of a river. There is one of those slightly to the left of Merceus. Plus, as we’ll get to in a second, Grado has a pretty set location. All of that means Renvall can’t really go on Merceus. It’s honestly the most reasonable choice, given what happens to Merceus in some of the routes.

At any rate, this is generally where Renvall goes. South east of Adlas, north of the Empire. Both Grado and Adrestian.

Taizel

Taizel is probably the one I’m least happy with. That area on both to Fódlan and Magvel map is occupied. However, in Magvel, that spot is just some town, whereas in Fódlan, its the whole capital of the empire. 800 years is a long time, but to completely wipe the importance of such a well established city? I just don’t know.

Either way, the location lines up wonderfully. As an additional note, both Enbarr and Taizel have rivers to the east of them, and this is continued here.

Za’abul Marsh

It’s a marsh. It goes both near a river, and directly between Taizel and Grado. Not much interesting happening here as far as all that goes. Fódlan provides that excellent river mentioned above.

Grado

Ah, the big one of the region. Grado is near the peninsula. It’s not directly below Renval, or Jehanna Hall, but rests somewhat inbetween the two as far as longitude goes. This area on the Fódlan map has something called the Morgaine Ravine. Now, I’ve finally finished all four routes and as far as I can tell, this fucker has come up exactly zero times. Still, it’s a place notable enough to get a name on the map, and more than that, it’s got earth-splitting connotations with that ravine name. Sounds like a perfect place to stick Grado’s capital if you ask me.

East Magvel

Jehanna Hall

I am so tired. Okay. Three left. So, Jehanna. I don’t know about you, but when I see a gigantic tasty fields-and-plains region, I think, what if desertification? Anyway the point is, Gronder et al. can’t stay delicious and green forever. Especially with everyone and their brother dedicated to fighting on it, or burning it down, or stepping all over it, etc. On this map, this area becomes the desert that Jehanna Hall sits itself right down in.

Now, if only I could figure out who Metis is...

Narube River

Now, strictly speaking, the Narube is located to the east of Jehanna Hall. Why be strict, though, when the Airmid is right there. I mean, its right. there.

Rausten Court

“Hey, wait!” you cry. “Where the hell did Neleras go?”

“Now hang on,” I say. “I feel like I ranted about this. I mean though I can definitely go again, here let me just get my-”

Okay, now Rausten Court

Rausten lies across the River, to the east of Darkling, and occupies its own space away from everything else, really. Of note here is that it’s right behind the Great Bridge. I think that’s pretty neat.

Lagdou Ruins

FINALLY! I‘VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE.

Shambhala. End statement.

Alright, not actually the end of statements. But let me just say: Shambhala got hit by missiles, not destroyed. If people can make it out of there, bits of that place are still intact. And that’s setting aside the fact that, if you look in the zoom in map, that place is a hell of a lot bigger than just the field of combat. Anyway. All that I’m saying: Shambhala real.

AND, lest we forget. The ninth floor of Lagdou is in fact lava-burn-y. Which could jsut mean lava... or the predictable and regularly desribed aftermath of the lances of light that Shambhala gets hit with in canon.

Anyway. All that I’m saying: Shambhala real.

Because of this, Lagdou has experienced a bit of a shift. It is still located next to all the proper geographical feature, it is just that the removal of Neleras means that part of the continent is a bit stretched.

Aaannnd that’s the end of this post! Stay tuned for the next post, which is just the nice final fancy map.

#fódlan magvel #long post #worldbuilding references

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sweethazzababy · 5 years

Text

Not So Professional- Chapter 2

Plot: Y/N gets the job as Harry Styles’s personal assistant. Working for him, she deals with the ups and downs of his career ranging from difficult breakups to music celebrations and everything in between. How will her and Harry’s relationship develop?

CHAPTER 1

A/N: YOU. GUYS. It has been very long since I’ve posted, and I feel so bad for leaving everyone with just one chapter up. Life got in the way lol and I honestly lost inspiration to write. Recently, I’ve been wanting to and I had some of this written already. I can’t promise you I’ll update every week or something, but I want to develop this story. Thanks guys :)

P.S. I apologize for any typos...it’s 1 am as I’m finalizing and posting lmao

Chapter 2

Nervously typing each digit one by one, I anticipate the dreaded phone call with my mother. Her and I never really saw eye for an eye. We have completely different ways of viewing life, which always results in many arguments and pointless bickering. At the youthful age of 18, I had decided to move out after graduation and figure out life for myself. She of course, was absolutely livid. Ever since then, there’s been a lot of unspoken tension and distance. However, I miss her sometimes. She’s my mom, and although we have many differences I constantly wish we didn’t end things the way they ended those years ago. The only times I see her is for holidays, and every blue moon she’ll come to the city for lunch. Other than that, we don’t speak much at all.

But this news is something I have to tell her, especially since I’m going to be traveling the world assisting the world’s biggest heartthrob. Reluctantly, I take a breath and hold the phone up to my ear. Out of an anxious habit I tap my nails against the counter while rolling my ankle as my elbows rest on the granite. It rings a few times, and I start to pray she doesn’t answer. Until the ringing cuts and I hear a sigh.

“Y/N?” She sounds surprised. Shocked that I’m calling her at such a random time. My heart sinks at her tone and I realize how long it’s been. My mouth is dry and my mind is reeling, words jumbling in my head not knowing what to say back.

“Hi Mom. I-uh..I am calling um..because tomorrow there will be a uh, a big change.” I stumble, taking big gulps as I speak. My voice is trembling just a tad, and I know she can feel how nervous I am through the phone.

“What do you mean?” Her volume lowers, her voice timid. My fingers grasping my phone start to ache and I realize how tightly I’m holding it, knuckles turning white.

“I got offered um, a very, very large promotion… One I never expected and uh I was told today, but I’m leaving tomorrow… to London.” My rambling picks up as I speak, just wanting this conversation to be over. My eyes wander the room as I start biting my lip gently waiting for her response. I can tell she’s speechless, not knowing what to say.

“Oh wow…Y/N that’s, that’s amazing.” She breathlessly responds, a hint of pride in her tone. A small smile creeps onto my face, not believing this. She’s happy for me. Never in a million years did I think she would be proud of something I’ve done. She’s been holding a grudge ever since I left, ignoring every accomplishment I’ve had. But this time, she cares. And she’s proud. A few lone tears prick the corners of my eyes. Rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of my emotions, I wipe them away quickly.

“Thank you Mom…I’ll be assisting Harry Styles. I’ll be…traveling the world. This is something I have dreamed about.” I start getting more comfortable, telling her how excited I am.

The conversation continues on for only a few minutes, but my heart warms at the way it turned out. We said our goodbyes, she wished me luck and to send her pictures of the places I see. She finally sees that I’m successful and doing just fine on my own, even though I left her at such a young age. And that’s all I could have wanted from her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It’s about 6:00 now. I’m sitting on my bedroom floor with clothes and other miscellaneous objects scattered all around. Having to leave so last minute is incredibly stressful and I find myself not knowing whether to pack one item over another. Groaning in frustration I decide to get my Bluetooth speaker. Maybe playing some music will make this a little bit more enjoyable. As I’m scrolling through my lists of playlists on Spotify, a thought popped into my head. Rather than choosing one of my playlists I go to the search bar and type in “Harry Styles”.

Curiously scrolling through his 10 songs, I click on the song Only Angel. Immediately a choir blasts through my speaker and it’s almost like a sense of euphoria is washing over me. A little bit of piano comes into play making the beginning even more dreamy. As I’m getting used to the angelic sounds, all of the sudden a shriek of some sort interrupts. My heart feels like it’s about to break from my chest, and I jump from the unanticipated change of sound. What I thought would be a relaxing tune, turns into a rock song. When he starts singing my breath start to hitch in my throat. I’m quick to notice the rasp in his voice, like I’m wanting more and more as he sings so passionately within the first verse.

Open up your eyes, shut your mouth and see That I'm still the only one who's been in love with me I'll guess I'll be getting you stuck in between my teeth And there's nothing I can do about it

The attitude radiating from his lyrics is oddly attractive. I’ll have to admit that this is a lot different than his One Direction stuff, and like it even more. It’s refreshing to see a former boyband member go in a different direction other than pop. It tells me he appreciates really good music that actually uses instruments. I continue to listen to the album as I pack and can’t help but fall in love with his music. Sign Of The Times is a tear jerker. Once the chorus hit me, I felt like I was frozen in time. The production, the raw emotion in his voice, his gorgeous vocals. It all hit me like a bus and the next thing you know, I have tears running down my cheeks.

But then I listened to From the Dining Table. Acoustics so soft and melancholy, his voice so low and quiet. The vulnerability and loneliness I felt from his lyrics took my heart and dropped it to the pit of my stomach. The hopefulness from the bridge as the melody and harmonies pick up that soon turned back into sadness as if all that hope vanished, left me absolutely breathless. The kind of pain he experienced, I hope he never has to go through again, oddly enough. His music makes me feel instantly connected to him, a power not many artists have. He’s an incredible musician, and I’m disappointed in myself for never realizing it earlier. I think back to the picture I was shown and my heart flutters again. With a voice and looks like that, let’s hope his personality is decent too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beep…beep…beep. My blaring iPhone alarm disrupts my sleep and my first instinct is to grab it and chuck it across the room so I can fall back into a slumber. I groggily turn over on my stomach shoving the pillow over my head, groaning hoping it would stop on its own as if it’s alive. Having enough of the disrupting noise making my ears bleed, I bring myself to roll on my side and grab my phone from my bedside table. While pressing the stop button I glance at the time. 7:00 AM. I know that it’s not super early, but on days I normally have off I developed a habit of sleeping in till 12. It’s like my body knows what day it is. My plane leaves at 1. I should leave my apartment by 11:45 to get to JFK and give myself some time before my plane boards. These thoughts are running through my head, as I’m trying to have some sort of plan for myself.

Mapping out my day in my head, I reluctantly get up and walk straight to the kitchen starting up my Keurig. Coffee is an absolute essential in the morning, or at any time for that matter. You don’t want to talk to me when I don’t have caffeine in my system. Luna comes trotting into the kitchen, her little legs moving at a fast pace giving me a bark good morning. Smiling, I pick her up in my arms and gently pet the top of her head as she licks my hand. My mom reluctantly agreed to take Luna while I’m away… to my surprise. It’s going to be hard not having her by my side like always.

After eating some breakfast and giving Luna her breakfast as well, I finish up the last of my packing. I throw on an oversized white sweater after my quick shower, feeling comfy for the long plane ride. I pair it with black leggings and throw on my black slip on Vans. Pulling my damp hair back into a French braid and putting on a little bit of makeup, I sigh realizing how soon I’ll be in a whole other country. At this point, it’s already 11:30. Before grabbing all of my bags, I give pick Luna up and cradle her into my arms. Holding her against me, I give a kiss to her head and I hug her a little too tight. My heart sinks at the fact that she has no clue what’s going on and she probably thinks I’ll be coming back after work like I usually do. I left a spare key for my mother so she’ll becoming by in an hour or so to pick her up. Opening my door, I give a last and longing look at my apartment and take a deep breath. Onto a new chapter in my life.

The airport is complete madness. I’ve always hated airports. The smells, the loud noises, people running to make it to their terminal while alsorunning into other people. Many times, I had to dodge myself from another person coming at me full force with a panic-stricken face. It’s about 12:45 so my plane could be boarding any minute. To occupy myself in the time I’ve been here I got myself another cup of coffee and read some magazines. There was an article about Harry Styles actually. Intrigued, I read it wanting to know more about the person I’m going to spend all of my time with. Something about a new fling. This boy is in the tabloids so much I wonder what’s true and what isn’t. No doubt, he’s a lady’s man.

Love on the Weekend, a song by John Mayer is playing through my headphones. The soothing tone of his voice and the calming melody helps keep me sane in the midst of such a fast-pace and crazy environment. Everyone else’s stress, stresses me out. As I’m reading through the magazine I hear the intercom notify us that my plane is now boarding. Grabbing all of my bags in my hands, I make my way onto the plane. London here I come.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The sudden bump of the airplane wakes me, along with some woman shaking my shoulder to tell me we’ve landed. Squinting my eyes because of the brightness I take a look out my window and see it’s pitch black. Oh. Right. It’s about 1:30 in the morning now.

I make my way off the plane into the UK airport. Jeff mentioned something about a car service coming to pick me up to take me to a hotel. Standing in front of the terminal my eyes are in a frenzy as I frantically look for a sign, anything, to let me know who is here for me. After about a minute of searching, I see a sign that reads “Y/N, Y/L/N”. Letting out a sigh of relief I walk over and shake the man’s hand. I have never had my own personal car service before so I’m pretty star-struck by all of this.

“Good morning Ms. Y/L/N.” The kind man greets me with a pleasant and cheeky grin. I chuckle to myself realizing he said good morning. After all, it is 1am.

“Good morning to you do!” I laugh, feeling a sense of comfort which is good since I’m in a huge country by myself

After exchanging some small talk with my chauffer, we get into the vehicle. Completely forgetting how I’m in Europe, he opens the driver side door which happens to be on the right side rather than the left. Glancing out the window I try and see what’s outside, what London looks like. The blackness of the early morning is preventing me to see nearly anything though.

We finally pull up to the hotel, and I thank the driver while giving him a generous tip. This hotel is absolutely gorgeous. My eyes wander the room in awe. I walk inside with my bags and right away, a bell hop helps me out and gives me a cart to push everything. I walk up to the front desk and give them my name. Jeff also said he already booked about two weeks for me. I can’t be anymore grateful for everything he and his team have provided to make sure I’m comfortable. Eventually I’m going to use my savings and the money I make to pay for it myself and hopefully rent a small apartment here in London. I retrieve my room key and make my way up the elevator towards my room. After getting settled in, I lie in bed on my laptop. I received a few emails from Jeff informing me of the address and time I need to be at the office by. Seeing the time, I decide it’s probably a smart idea to get some sleep and turn off the light, close my eyes, and nervously await the next day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stepping foot out of the car, I take a look at the building in front me. It’s quite small, definitely not as big SONY back in the States. I was told this was a casual meeting, so I wore a pair of dark skinny jeans, a nice blouse that shows off a tiny bit of cleavage, and black heels. I tried my best to look good since I am meeting Harry today. I just can’t get his face out of my mind. The way he smirks, his dimples peeking through completely erasing the intimidating look only to make him seem absolutely adorable. Shaking the thoughts from my head, I tell myself that this is a job. Professional.

I walk into the building and meet up with Jeff. Finally meeting him in person, he has dark hair and dark eyes. Scruff on his chin and around his face forming a little bit of a beard. He has a youthful and relaxing glow to him, calming my nerves. There’s no need to feel so uptight

“Ahh finally I meet the famous Y/N!” he gives me a big cheery smile and pulls me into a hug. I let out a giggle and return his hug.

“I can’t believe I’m finally here…it’s so surreal.” I say breathlessly. He smirks, looking down at his feet and clasping his hands together.

“I know but trust me it’s an opportunity you wouldn’t want to miss.” He leads me down the hall and into a room with a few couches and a table. “I figured it would be a little bit more comfortable and casual to meet Harry in a place that isn’t a business room.” He explains to me, shrugging his shoulder.

I feel the sweat on my palms start to kick in and rub them along my jeans. The nerves start to settle in at the thought of meeting Harry. Jeff and I talk a little bit before all of the sudden there is a quick knock on the door. My heart feels like it’s beating outside of my chest, assuming Harry Styles is standing on the other side of that door.

“Yeah!” Jeff yells casually as he scrolls through his phone.

My eyes are peeled on the door when it opens, my teeth gently biting into my bottom lip. Harry walks in with that damn smirk on his face. He’s wearing a plain white t shirt, his tattoos running all along his left arm. My eyes try and keep up with all of them, trying to decipher each one. The swallows on his chest near his collarbones are peeking through the top. His pants are not what I expected from him. They’re black, high-waisted, and are extremely flowy and loose around his legs. I’d be lying to myself if I said I didn’t want a pair, noticing how comfortable they look. He has a pair of black sunglasses on the top of his head, pushing back his locks in the front. Curls are peaking through near his neck, behind his ears. So endearing.

He’s even more lovely in person.

Then finally, he sets eyes on me. His blue-green irises meet with mine and I feel my breath leave my body for a split second. As he’s staring at me, I notice his eyes glance down at my top, setting on the cleavage I’ve shown. He bites his bottom lip as he looks at me, and I can’t help but blush and look down at my feet. This interaction only lasted about 2 seconds, but it felt like it was moving in slow motion. He strides over to me and puts his hand out for me to shake

“Hello. My name is Harry.” The deep and husky tone rumbles through his throat. He speaks at a slower pace and his eyes are even more mesmerizing close up. He gives me a little smile, dimples on full display, crinkles by the corners of his eyes. I grab his hand and return the shake, his palm engulfing my small one. The warmth radiating from his hand is a comfortable one, and it sends shivers down my spine. He has multiple rings on his fingers, something I find very attractive. After shaking hands, I immediately wipe my clammy hands against my legs once more.

“Hi. Y/N Y/L/N, your new personal assistant.” I say with a friendly tone, giving him a smile back. I tuck a loose strand behind my ear shyly. He takes note of it and gives me another smirk, chuckling to himself at my awkwardness.

“Here, have a seat while we chat a bit.” His British accent is a little more obvious this time around. Jeff tells us he has to take a few phone calls and leaves the room. Harry sits opposite of me, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. The metal of the rings are glistening in the light, catching my eye. He has a ring shaped as an H and one as an S right next to it. Peering my eyes away, I try not to make my curiosity too obvious. The fact that he has personalized rings like that, makes me wonder how much money he actually has. I can tell he noticed my gaze, a small smirk forming on his face. But he doesn’t acknowledge it and continues with the conversation. We already have a nonverbal understanding of each other and I just met him.

“So, tell me a bit about yourself Y/N. Obviously, we’re going to be workin’ with each other every day, so I figured I could get to know yeh now.” Harry rambles on, clearly unsure of what to say.

“Well, I-uh, I’m from New York City. I originally worked at the SONY headquarters, but obviously I’m not anymore.” Harry jokingly rolls his eyes and laughs at my comment. “Um, I have a dog named Luna, but my mother is taking care of her while I’m gone, and uh yeah.” I finish not really sure what else to say. I’m sure he can feel my awkwardness from here and my cheeks heat up at the thought. Why am I so embarrassing?

“As entertaining as that was, that’s not what I meant.” Harry replies cheekily, a small chuckle leaving his lips. Blushing, I glance down at my shoes wanting to avoid his gaze because of my embarrassment.

“What are some favorite things of yours? Maybe we’ll find common ground or somethin’. I don’t know…like, your favorite ice cream flavor, or favorite movie. Both very important questions f’me if I’m honest.” Harry explains with a playful tone and I struggle to find the answers before I respond. I just feel so overwhelmed at this entire situation, and I think he can feel it too. “I want to get to know Y/N. Not Y/N Y/L/N from SONY.”

Harry looks into my eyes and gives me a comforting smile. He gives off such a calm and collective vibe that suddenly makes me feel a little less overwhelmed. I appreciate that. He makes it easy to talk to him. He raises his eyebrows, waiting for my answer. I giggle at the unprofessional and light-hearted reality of the situation.

“My favorite ice cream would have to be either cookie dough or mint chocolate chip…” Before continuing on I observe his facial expressions. At the mention of cookie dough his eyes light up but right when I mention mint chocolate chip, he scrunches his nose in disgust which makes me giggle. “What, you don’t like mint chocolate chip?”

“Toothpaste doesn’t belong in ice cream.” He quickly insisted.

“I don’t think so either.”

“Then why do yeh like mint chip?” His confusion is so adorable, but I try and keep a straight face.

“Because… it doesn’t taste like toothpaste. Mint and chocolate is such a good combination, you’re really missing out.” The fact that we’re having a serious debate over ice cream is so funny to me, but it makes me excited to work with him.

“Nope, not at all.” He scrunches his nose once more, and my heart flutters at the cuteness. “Okay enough about ice cream, favorite movie?”

“My favorite movie? That’s such a hard one, I mean I love so many movies I can’t pick just one.”

“Sorry love, yeh gotta choose. For my sake.” He light-heartedly says,,

“If I had to choose, oh God this is so embarrassing…the Little Mermaid. It’s been my favorite since I was little and I idolized Ariel” I giggle at my ridiculous answer. I’ve always found it childish and a little bit embarrassing to say that my favorite movie is some animated Disney movie, but it was a huge part of my childhood and I still love it.

“That’s actually quite cute that’s your favorite movie. But idolizing a mermaid? How’d you react when yeh found out they aren’t real?” Harry amusingly banters back. He runs his hand through his hair, lifting his sunglasses as he does so only to put them back on his head. Such a simple gesture, but it has me staring at the way his fingers glide through his locks.

Easing back into a more comfortable position, he rests his arm stretching it along the top of the couch and lifting his leg to rest it across his thigh. His casual form makes me self-conscious about my professional appearance. Harry also seems to be enjoying our conversation, and that eases my subtle nerves. Butterflies form in the pit of my stomach at the sight of him.

“Really? Everyone always makes fun of me for it since I’m 24 and admitting my favorite movie of all time is a fucking princess movie.” Harry chuckles, crinkles by his eyes forming. “I also was devastated when my mom broke the news. 10 year old me was mourning over the fact that mermaids don’t exist. I felt like my whole world was crashing down.” I reply with a grin, a more playful tone in my voice. He lets out a burst of laughter, his smile so wide and contagious it makes me break into a bigger smile.

“I’m curious, what’s your favorite movie?” I switch the roles, asking him. Giving a deep sigh Harry answers.

“The Notebook or Love Actually.” He says hesitantly. My jaw drops a little bit, surprised. His cheeks start to turn a shade of dark pink, expecting my surprised reaction. He lifts his hand and runs his fingers through his hair again, I’m assuming it’s a nervous habit.

“That makes me feel a lot better about my answer.” I joke with a laugh. “I can’t believe the famous Harry Styles’ favorite movie is a rom-com.”

“What can I say, Ryan Gosling is just too irresistible.” He jokes back, his eyes sparkling as we speak. I roll my eyes at the comment, shaking my head at the silliness of the conversation. The ease of our banter doesn’t go unnoticed and I can tell he’s thinking the same thing. It’s like we’ve known each other for years.

“He is, isn’t he?” I sigh, the image of Ryan Gosling in my head. I never expected Harry to be as playful and amusing as he is. The tabloids make him out to be this intimidating popstar, but all I see is a normal guy with a witty attitude.

“Okay so as much as I love this conversation, I have to lay down the procedures and rules of the job.” Harry states, rolling his eyes. Already, I know he’s going to be pretty laid back about it. “I’m not gonna be one of those guys that order you around asking you to fetch me a coffee, or a muffin, or anything ridiculous like that. You’re a friend not an assistant. Just helping me along the way”

His sincerity is something I’m already admiring. Not to mention his complete and utter kindness. For someone so famous, I’m surprised at how humble he appears to be. Jeff walks in as we speak some more, shoving his phone in his pocket.

“How’s it going?” He asks, plopping down next to me. A small smirk is on his face, eyes wandering from me to Harry.

“Great! Should be fun.” Harry replies, but he keeps his eyes on me with a devilish smile, dimples appearing at each corner. Blushing I tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear.

This is gonna be a ride.

A/N: Again, thank you for your patience! Let me know what you wanna see as I develop this story, I’m open to plot suggestions :) Also, let me know what you think in general, my DMs and requests are always open. Love you guys!!

If you haven’t yet, read Chapter 1 here

#Harry Styles #harry styles stories #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles writing #harry styles one shot #harry styles one shots #harry styles story #harry styles book #harry styles tour #harry styles live on tour #harry styles fluff #harry styles fluffy #harry styles blurb #harry styles blurbs #harry styles fan #harry styles 2019 #harry styles chapter #harry styles lights up

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romera-rp · 4 years

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3508 years ago, titans ruled Romera. No one knows for certain what wiped them out and allowed the era of small beings to begin, but in the years after their demise, Romera thrived in chaos. No law existed yet, no order, and no control or restrictions on magic. Spellcasters rose to power and used dangerous magic to maintain that power. Magical warlords rose and fell, power-hungry wizards experimented in the forests and fields with terrible results, and sorcerers with little ability to control their wild magic left scars across Romera. The very soil and rock beneath their feet became imbued and steeped with powerful, unstable magic.

The scars, while not easily visible to the naked eye, have lingered for thousands of years. The plants and animals that grow in the scar territory are sometimes… changed. A squirrel may have sapphires growing from its fur, a bird might be singing in Sylvan, flowers that ought to be blue may grow red, or a river might flow backwards for a period of time. People have attempted to map the scars, to avoid building civilization atop the risky fault lines of magic, but they shift and morph. The strange effects are rare and difficult to spot. For the most part, these scars are dormant. Until they aren’t.

IN CHARACTER DETAILS

This event will take place between May 24th to June 7th and your event threads may take place at any point during those in-game days.

TIMELINE

BEFORE DAWN (May 24th) In the wee hours of the morning, before the sun had risen to chase away the morning dew, Romera quaked. Just south of Myrefall, a magical scar erupted. The whole of the city and the surrounding area was struck by an unexpected earthquake. The poorly maintained streets of Myrefall cracked open as the subterranean sewer tunnels and Bashaba tombs collapsed. Undead began to flood the affected streets.

MIDDAY (May 24th) It at first appeared as though the earthquake was the only symptom of the eruption. Researchers were already flocking to the area to study what had happened, desperate to learn about the scars. As the sun rose, however, it became clear that the scar had changed the surrounding earth. The eruption left behind a literal scar in the earth: a hundred foot deep chasm. Sprouting from this chasm were unbreakable roots that clawed into the surrounding ground. Strange flowers that oozed viscous liquid, shot out barbed spikes, or smelled like entrails sprouted from the roots. The grass around it turned all shades of the rainbow and the surrounding trees wilted and re-grew a dozen times in a day. Animals near the chasm exhibited strange behaviour. Deer walked on two legs, squirrels threw insults at the observing researchers, and birds dove into the chasm without warning. These changes weren’t isolated and they began to spread out from the chasm. Very rapidly the strange magic was spreading and infecting.

THE MORNING AFTER (May 25th) Everyone who remained in the affected area overnight wake up changed. Every individual’s race has changed without warning, without reason, and with no patterns. A family of elves will wake up as an orc, a goblin, and a gnome while a dwarf might awaken as a dragonborn. The shift is painless and abrupt. Clothes and other worn items don’t change shape or size with the transformation. (More information for this portion of the event are below in the OOC section.)

By the next morning it’s clear that the strange and infectious magic has spread into the city. The undead that still flood the street are covered in beautiful blooms or toxic mushrooms. Some have begun to sing. Strange occurrences and changes are evident throughout the city and continue to happen with spontaneous magic surges. There’s no rhyme or reason to the surges and they range from minor irritants, such as someone suddenly going color blind or all glass windows turning opaque, to mildly catastrophic, like a building collapsing under the sudden weight of millions of thorny roots or all metal becoming red-hot in an instant. Someone began to float quite suddenly and did, unfortunately, float away before anyone could catch him. Someone else keeps coughing up diamonds.

THE AFTERSHOCKS (May 26th to June 5th) Myrefall appears to be cursed. The magic surges continue constantly, day and night. Havoc reigns and chaos conquers as strange happenings continue to… happen.

The Temple of Doom and Despair has been entirely enveloped in sweet-smelling flowers and vines. The once imposing building is now quite inviting and nice and the clergy aren’t sure what to do about it. Stray cats and dogs, many of which are also strangely affected by the magic, have begun to flock to the once glum and frightening place.

The Catacombs are still unstable and are now infested with more than just the undead. Terrible, horrifically morphed animals have made their way into the dark, potentially from the original chasm that now marks the eruption site. Birds with the call of weeping children swoop overhead, rats crossed with bears in the worst way lumber in the shadows, and squirrels now have venomous fangs and some raccoons now possess minor fire magic. Many big game hunters and researchers have set out bounties for the acquisition of these strange animals, dead or alive.

Unfortunately, the Whitewood Psychiatric Institution has suffered greatly. Specifically, part of it exploded for an unknown reason and many of the patients have escaped. The guards have put out warnings regarding these escaped patients. The doctors of the institution are now advertising room availabilities in the institution.

The children residing in Mercy’s Home, Myrefall’s orphanage, have taken advantage of their new races and easily disguised identities and have fled the clutches of Matron Keyzana. The matron in question has been frozen in place within the orphanage’s primary building, fully conscious, but paralyzed. She’s currently only capable of moving her steely eyes.

Despite the sudden and severe upset, The Velvet Curtain remains open and offering despite some employees having found themselves in new and unfamiliar bodies.

Dongorzal, owner and operator of Myrefall’s favorite burlesque bar, The Inferno, has decided that the chaos needs one thing: a never ending celebration. From dawn till dusk, and then also from dusk till dawn, the bar remains open and booming. Magic surges are met with resounding cheers from the party goers and the revelry doesn’t stop even for catastrophe. Drinks are half-off for anyone who has changed races and are free for anyone with further afflictions like sparkling skin or sneezing bubbles because it amuses Dong.

Grimfell Alley, where the desperate and the terrible go to shop, has become flooded with phony chaos cures. Merchants offer anti-eruption potions, wild magic resistant armor, and special glasses that claim to be able to show the wearer the locations of spots that are vulnerable to further magic surges. Unfortunately the alley was one of the streets that was most damaged in the initial earthquake and is persistently flooded with the undead. This makes shopping rather difficult. Anyone who enters the alley and then leaves no longer has a shadow.

Among the more affected buildings is The Silent Conclave. The nice, normally neat building has been entirely infested with bubbles of all colors and sizes. They flood out of the doors and windows and into the street. When popped, the bubbles scream, sing, yodel, or otherwise make very human-like noises at incredible volume.

Gang wars have gotten out of control in the Lictomp Yard. With new-found abilities in many of the members, the violence has only escalated. Several of the mansion and mills that line the river have been completely decimated in the conflicts. The river, normally well-contained, has spontaneously flooded several times, wrecking foundations and sweeping gang members and homeless away. A herd of magically rabid strays have also taken to lurking in the unused buildings and attacking anyone that remains outside after dark.

RETURN TO NORMAL (June 6th to June 7th) The magic surges have decreased in frequency and the strange effects have slowly receded back to the chasm. Spontaneously grown plants have withered and disintegrated, animals have reverted back to their usual shapes and abilities for the most part, and any acquired abilities or afflictions have ceased. At dawn on June 7th everyone whose races were changed by the eruption have reverted back to their original race with no lingering side-effects. The city is working semi-diligently to repair the damage done to public buildings and the tombs. The city is calling for volunteers to help remove the remaining undead and offering monetary reward for their eradication.

OOC DETAILS

In real-time this event will be taking place from May 24th to June 21st, at which point event threads should be wrapping up.

The worldbuilding post for Myrefall can be found here.

In your threads, you may use and experience any of the magic surges and effects listed above, but we also encourage you to use your own magical surge and wild magic ideas. Lists of wild magic surges are available on the internet for inspiration. If you’re unsure if your idea is appropriate or too overpowered, ask an admin and they’ll help you decide. The goal of this event is to have fun, so be destructive and be creative.

OOC DETAILS FOR RACE SHIFT

We have two different race tables available for the race-shift portion of this event. One includes the more common and more playable races and the other includes all allowed races. We’ve done this so that no one, unless they want to tempt fate with the second table, ends up as a Kenku with limited speech ability or a race which has water dependency that might be less enjoyable to play. The safer chart may be found here, while the riskier one is here.

You may roll again for the race shift, but if you roll a second time you have to use your second roll. Any roll that gives you your character’s starting race doesn’t count, unless you would like to choose a different subrace, and you may roll again. You don’t have to roll twice on the same table. If you want you can tempt fate on the full table and then roll again on the “safe” table.

For races with multiple subraces, such as a Dragonborn where you might be a green or a bronze, you choose which subrace your character becomes.

If you want to, you may create a second character sheet with your character’s temporary race, but this isn’t required and you may continue using your normal sheet and normal stats for this event.

If your character has a secondary race, i.e. is a revenant or a lycanthrope, that secondary race remains. By extension, there is no option to roll for these “races” that are conditional. Revenant, vampire, and lycanthrope are not options. Likewise races that were created, like the warforged and simic hybrid, aren’t options.

Remember, you aren’t required to participate in this portion of the event if you don’t want to.

#romevent #dnd #dungeon and dragons #fantasy rp #magic rp

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mezzopurrloin · 5 years

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Chapter 2-5: The Fall of Silvermoon

With both elfgates down, Arthas makes his way to Silvermoon, the capital city of Quel'Thalas.

Tichondrius teleports in as Arthas arrives.

Tichondrius teleports out.

Oh right, we still have to deal with you too. When she reaches about half health, she turns invisible and flees, making her a major annoyance.

Sylvie's base will send out runners to Silvermoon. If they reach the city, that's major trouble for us. Thankfully they're easy to kill and don't bring an escort.

Thankfully we've got a new unit that's just the thing for hunting them down.

Time to shoot the messenger.

Gargoyle: Dread flying beast that can cover long distances quickly. Attacks other flyers in melee and fires blades of wind at ground units.

Stone Form: The Gargoyle lands and turns into a statue, drastically increasing armor and HP regeneration but preventing it from moving or attacking.

I kept these four Gargoyles on the path so they could intercept any more runners that came by.

Black Citadel: Final upgrade of the Necropolis, unlocking all technologies.

One thing I forgot to mention about the Halls of the Dead, which also applies to the Black Citadel: Upon upgrading the Necropolis, it gains an attack similar to Spirit Towers. Considering how high its HP is, this can turn it into a pretty major threat.

Ghoul Frenzy: Increases Ghouls' attack rate and movement speed. Requires a Black Citadel to research.

This is a good upgrade to get even if you're not using Ghouls for combat, as it also increases their lumber collecting efficiency.

Weirdly, Necromancer Master Training is not unlocked for this mission, even though everything required for it is. I'll have to wait for the next mission to showcase their third spell.

Looks like there are more heroes to deal with than just Sylvie. This Archmage is pretty weak.

The second runner tried to escape via boat, but the Gargoyles sunk it before it could reach the shore.

Another Archmage came to say hello. This one was a bit tougher, but still fell to my defenses.

I decided it was time to take action and assault the base the runners were coming from. Good old skeleton rush came in handy here.

Arthas reached level 6 and learned his ultimate ability here.

Animate Dead: Reanimates up to 6 nearby corpses as whatever unit they were in life. Reanimated units are invulnerable.

This is thematically similar to Resurrection, but has a bit more utility since it can be used on allied or enemy corpses. The drawback is the units are temporary. Reanimated caster units can't cast any spells. While they're invulnerable to standard attacks, Arthas can still use Death Pact on them to heal in a pinch.

There, no more runners. I thought Sylvie would be here, but she failed to show.

Oh, because she's over here. She turned invisible and fled again after Arthas fended her off.

I took the gold mine from Sylvie's base as my secondary expansion. The Undead don't actually need to build a second Necropolis to expand, as a Haunted Gold Mine can work on its own by summoning the Acolytes needed at my main.

Sylvanas makes her last stand in front of the city gates.

Arthas kills her by forcibly ripping her soul out of her body. Yikes.

This unlocks a new unit type.

Banshee: Ghostly caster whose undeathly screams chill the living.

Banshees in this mission start at Master rank, and all of their spells are already available.

Curse: Hexes an enemy, causing it to miss on some of its attacks. Missed attacks are denoted by a little 'miss' appearing over the unit as it makes its attack. Can be autocast.

Anti-Magic Shell: A shell that temporarily gives an allied unit magic immunity. It can be removed by dispelling effects.

Possession: Displaces an enemy unit's soul, granting you permanent control over it. Sacrifices the Banshee when cast. Can't be used on heroes, flying units, or creeps above level 5.

In the original campaign, Sylvanas was just a unique Banshee with a little more health, and didn't regain hero status until the expansion. Now the Banshee Queen is a hero in her own right, even if she doesn't have her body back yet. This is mainly a preview of the abilities she'll have when we reach the Frozen Throne Undead campaign.

Silence: Prevents units in an area from casting spells. Additional levels increase the area and duration.

Howl of Terror: A terrible howl that reduces the attack damage of all enemies that hear it.

Life Drain: A channeling spell that gradually drains health from an enemy and heals the user. If the enemy moves out of range, the drain effect stops.

Now we can enter Silvermoon proper. Like with Stratholme, this map was changed significantly from its original version, apparently to match how the city looks in World of Warcraft.

Some of the Archmages defending the city drop Runes of Healing when they die. Rune items provide a power-up effect when picked up, this one restoring HP to all units in a radius around it.

There's a winding path to follow and a whole lot of defenders to face down.

I was ambushed here by a pair of high level heroes: Anasterian Sunstrider and Thalorien Dawnseeker. These two weren't in the original map. Anasterian I know is the king of Quel'Thalas, but I have no idea who this other guy is.

They easily wiped out my forces.

Time to make use of that Altar and bring them back, plus build up a bigger army. By this point my first mine had been exhausted, but the secondary kept me going. Good thing too, since I didn't find any other gold mines on this map.

I sent the Acolytes I had stationed at the first mine as scouts, since I wasn't really sure what else to do with them.

With a much bigger force at my back, I was able to push through.

Unfortunately, they teleported away before I could finish them off.

Here Arthas uses Frostmourne's power to make an ice bridge. This is cool, but why didn't you do it in the last mission?

Anasterian and Thalorien make their last stand at the gate to the Sunwell. Once they're dead, the mission is complete.

Kel'Thuzad is reborn as a lich.

Wait, I killed 10 heroes in this mission? Wow.

#mezzo's screenshot lps #let's play #warcraft iii #warcraft iii reforged #reign of chaos #arthas menethil #kel'thuzad #tichondrius #sylvanas windrunner #the fall of silvermoon

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pigeontheoneandonly · 5 years

Text

Serendipity

I saw a reply to a post over @ao3commentoftheday suggesting it’s impossible to write a slow burn in less than 10k words. My dumbass brain took this as “challenge accepted”. Who knows if I hit the mark, but I’m pretty happy with the result! This baby clocks in at 2487 words. Tucked under a read more, because that’s still a lot for tumblr.

Fandom: Dragon Age

When we met, I couldn’t see any part of you beneath the mud you’d earned trying to kill me. I don’t know why I took you with us, except that you were an elf without anywhere to go, and in Ferelden an elf with no home was good as dead, and we just don’t do that to each other. Naturally none of the shems understood. I bound up your wounds alone, thinking it would’ve been easier if you’d just fucking died.

The first prick of sympathy came when we arrived at the Dalish camp. You called me my dear warden, mocking the double-meaning of my title and your technical captivity. You flirted shamelessly with me the whole way, undeterred by my gender or my cold silence, and put me in a bad mood because I couldn’t tell if it was genuine interest, or something you felt you had to do, offer yourself to me, to stay in my good graces. With a man for sale it could go either way. But I saw how your ears went red and your tongue fell silent, when our wilder cousins sniggered at your tattoos, your so-called “city vallaslin”. It’s horrible to be an in-between, unwanted alike by the society that spawned you and the one you live with, to be lumped in with those who keep you in squalor and kill you at will. Watching their whispers subdue you angered me more than all the flirting put together. And fuck, wasn’t that annoying.

I bought you a pair of gloves. I don’t know why. They didn’t deserve my money, you didn’t deserve my kindness, but you looked at their tooled leather like you were reading a secret map, and I had to know what you saw written there. You didn’t say thank you. But you told me your mother was Dalish. I told you mine had died. I told you how she died, even though that’s a thing I don’t tell anyone, because my mouth moved before my mind could scream stop.

You made a joke. I shoved you hard into the underbrush and stalked away before I killed you. We never talked about it again.

In fact, we barely spoke at all, the whole long, rainy road to Orzammar. We didn’t speak through the political battle, we didn’t speak cooped up for days in a king’s mansion, and we didn’t speak as the heavy stone gates of the deep roads clanged shut behind us.

I had been a Warden for all of eight weeks. Alistair warned me that Wardens Joined in a Blight always were more sensitive, and all my newfound awareness remained raw as a fresh-hewn board. In the deep, I could hear them everywhere. Feel them, crawling through my skin like worms; smell them in the still and sour air. I could fucking taste them when we stopped to rest and I had no distraction.

The dwarves told me this was where Wardens went to die. I hugged my knees in the weak torchlight of our camp, feeling myself lost in the dark with them pressing in all around me, until they tore me apart, and for the first time, I hoped the Blight would kill me. Sleep was a fantasy. It showed, more and more, the deeper we went.

I didn’t notice the first time you offered to carry my knapsack, so tired I gave it over without question, numb to anything but the need to keep walking. The occasional darkspawn nest was a respite. Better to fight them than sense them waiting, a constant pressure of millions of eyes on the back of my neck.

I didn’t notice when you started staying up with me. I figured you weren’t tired, either. I still wasn’t speaking. But you rambled, about your childhood, about your exploits with the Crows, reciting snippets of awful Antivan poetry and singing bawdy songs you couldn’t quite remember. But it came as a shock when I woke up, the first I’d slept since we entered the roads, curled up against the cave wall, beside you. You smiled, still awake. Wished me good morning.

We fucked for the first time the first night we camped above ground again, drunk on dwarven ale and being out of that thrice-damned hole, that endless crushing darkness. In the morning we agreed it didn’t mean anything. Just the mindless choice of two bodies almost sick with relief.

You flirted less, after that. I talked more. I told you about coming up to the sealed gates of the Denerim alienage, hearing the word purge from the indifferent shem guard, and how I still didn’t know if my father or Shianni or any one of these people who’d been my entire world were alive. The ridiculous story I made up for those two kids, because elves survive on hope. My absolute disaster of a wedding, doomed long before the kidnapping; I was all my father had left, and the truth, that my inclinations were not reproductively compatible, would have crushed him. That if I closed my eyes, I could still feel a ghost of euphoria remembering my sword plunging into Vaughan’s gut, that I was only sorry I only got to do it once.

I don’t know why you listened. Put together, the whole thing rang absurd, not very sane and certainly not much like a Warden.

I do know that when the sloth demon snared us in nightmares, and I saw you stretched on that rack, my vision went red. When I came back to myself, your brother Crows were in pieces and you were gone. A little of whatever-the-fuck that was lingered when we woke; I took two running steps toward you, so damn happy to see you without joints popped and bruised. You stumbled one step back, on instinct, a portrait of humiliation. I faltered and the moment died.

You moved back to your own tent. We’d taken to sleeping side-by-side. The nights grew colder as the season waned, and the Blight spread, and the presence of another body in the night was an affordable comfort. I stared at the large space you left behind, startled to miss you this much.

Things stayed like that as we marched back to Denerim for the Landsmeet. Cordial, but distant. Hurt without reason and annoyed over it, to the point that Leliana warned me that compelling a Landsmeet as an elf would be hard enough without a pissy attitude. Maybe that was why it was so easy for Anora to betray us, because irritation makes me impatient and rude. But you snuck and charmed your way through the most heavily fortified prison in Ferelden to get us out— to get me out. And somehow I was still annoyed.

I said you must be really hard up for protection. You crowded me into the wall. For a wild moment I thought you’d shank me, and then for an even more terrifying one, that you’d kiss me. Instead, you told me to consider your blood debt paid, and shoved off down the street. Angry as I’d ever seen you.

And what was worse, you stayed angry, and I stayed on edge, and maybe that’s how we got jumped by a dozen Crows in a dead-end alley, one of your bad decisions come home to roost in earnest. Their leader offered to wipe your slate, to take you back to Antiva, make up a story and let you go home. Not like an order, but like a friend, offering you a way out.

You looked at me. Months on the road, and I couldn’t read your face. And what I remember isn’t thinking I was about to die, but that I was about to lose you to this smug shem jackass, of all people.

Then you said no. And the shit hit the wall.

We lived, somehow. Your old friend went down last, and hard, your Crow-hilted dagger quivering between his ribs as his heart pumped itself out. You fell down beside him. Uninjured beyond a few nasty scratches, curled into a ball on the cobbles like you were dying, too.

I asked something that amounted to what the fuck. And it all came pouring out. You grew up together, you and him and some girl named Rinna, a little family inside the unending terror of Crow education. If you couldn’t love the Crows, you could love them, and for a time the comfortable rewards of your harsh training were made sweeter by their sharing. Until Rinna betrayed you to a mark.

He killed her while you watched, you told me, your head in my lap. While she begged your help, you taunted her. She died with her love for you on her lips. You both went forward with the job, a loose end to clean up, and discovered there proof of Rinna’s honesty, her fidelity. You killed her together and now you’d killed him, too.

The silence stretched as the torrent of words finally stopped. Feeling your face damp on my leg. There was nothing to say, but that silence was a wounding kind, so I told you the stupid story about the bluebird in the vhenadahl. Recited rhymes we used to sing as kids, playing hopscotch and tag in the dirt. On and on, until the sun slipped below the buildings, and you were able to sit up, and we left.

It never came up between us again. In fact, very little had changed. A mild thaw in an undercurrent neither of us wanted to address. It seemed impossible we’d be able to swim it; diving in could only lead to drowning.

Returning to the alienage put it out of my mind. My family spared by the purge, but still not safe. Murder and disease and hints of darker things make good distractions. When we discovered elves were disappearing, you volunteered to scout, as you had so many times before. I thought nothing of it. Until I was sitting up alone at my childhood dinner table, more than a day past when you should have returned, too paralyzed to do more than stare at the door and plead with the Maker or the gods or whoever might be listening for you to walk through it.

Sometime after midnight, you finally did. You caught sight of me, and tendered a look of exasperation. My dear warden, you said again, chiding this time, and before you could continue I flung my arms around your neck, too tight for you to get anything else out. And we stood still there, like that, because if I let go I’d slap you. I hated you. You were the most important person in my world, and if you died it would change me, and I hated you for it.

We went into that warehouse together, and pulled people— my people— out of cages together. We read the manifest of those already sold away. You put your arms around me, when I stepped into an alley after it was done and screamed and screamed and screamed into my own hands, because even if we somehow got justice this time, there was no undoing it, and no way to stop it happening again. Because this was the Black City we all had to live in. You told me then that you’d been sold, too, into a different fate but one ugly in its own way. And my hand slipped into yours where it wrapped around my chest, just for a moment, until someone called us back to the mess we’d made.

You watched as I took the bastard Loghain’s head, and if it didn’t feel like justice for my kin, it did feel good. You stood beside me as I promised a collection of the most powerful people in Ferelden, shems all, that I could save their country, and hours later, when I was sick back at the manor where we stayed.

You weren’t there when Riordan told me I was going to die. It’s hard to remember now how out-of-our-minds, slap-happy with relief Alistair and I were when he showed up, fucking finally a senior warden who knew what he was doing. That went up like a matchstick when he explained a grey warden giving their life to contain the archdemon was the only way to end the Blight. He said some other things after that, but I didn’t hear them over the sound of one solitary thought: I cannot put Zev through that again. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t…

And you weren’t there when Morrigan caught me as I shambled from that room, weak with shock and grief. You weren’t there when she told me there was a way out. You weren’t there to see my revulsion— not at what she suggested, but at myself, because I knew my answer immediately. I could not do that to you, not even with the entire world in the balance. That whatever the consequences, whatever pain this brought on me or on the child to come, if it spared you another heartbreak, the price felt fair.

I stumbled to your room no more than half-dressed. You smelled the sex on me immediately. Your face twisting with hurt and rage, until I fell down at your feet, my head on your knees, and told you everything. What waited for us in the heart of the Blight. The blood magic Morrigan wrought. That I’d done it for you, that I begged your forgiveness, that if you left now I’d never be the same and please, please, Maker, please stay.

Your hand lifted my chin. Your expression like I’d never seen before, tender and fond and something else. Something electric. Your voice a whisper. “My dear warden…”

“I love you,” I said. It was what I’d been trying to say through all the incoherent babble. Maybe for a lot longer than just this night.

You bent and kissed me. And in the softness of your mouth, every worry and doubt melted away.

We’d seen each other many times before. But you never trailed your thumb slowly across my every scar, from the faded wounds of Ostagar to the scrape from just this morning. I never traced over the swirls of your tattoos with my tongue. We never drifted back to each other every other moment for a lingering wet kiss, never burrowed a face into a neck or tangled our legs or clung so close together that we seemed more one person than two. It never felt right, not like this.

And as I looked into your face in the dying firelight, brushing my fingers over your cheek, I thought about you covered in mud and pain and waiting to die. Maybe the world didn’t care about us, but in its making, if there was just enough serendipity to let me find you, maybe that was all the care I needed.

#dragon age #dao #zevran arainai #m!tabris #zevran x tabris #slow burn speed run #alt title: dao in 3k words or less #i think i was possessed when i wrote this #not mass effect #enemies to lovers

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