#going to sleep now i love it when book stab me in the heart repeatedly. goodnight tumblr <3

[darcyolsson]

just finished clockwork princess

[deerydear]

....I read the story of the Death Note when I was twelve... I cherish that a lot. ...when I was fifteen, sixteen, whatever... I read one of the side-stories explaining a different case that the main detective had to work on... It's called Another Note... So, I read it, I went to sleep, I had a dream... I had a dream that I was Beyond Birthday. Except, I mean, it was an event that actually played out in my life prior, and *I* was BB, as a red-headed teenager... and I was actually seeing the dream through L's eyes, who took the place of the other person... It made sense to me, recently, why I had this dream... but like, my personal impression, interpretation, whatever... that I immediately got when I read this book for the first time is that: BB was simply parodying exactly how L acted in his youth, and that L was a huge little dick to BB, and L acted like a dickheaded older brother...... and then I guess L matured, and he regretted it, but he couldn't turn back the cogs of what he had put into motion...

"it's alive and it's inside me now, and you can't tell me what to do." "I don't care if that part of you has gone. It's mine, now. It's superior to whatever bullshit hippie love-and-peace crap you've gone and got yourself drunk on. I'll prove which one is superior, you'll fucking see..."

Like, I had this dream, and when I woke up, the opening notes to THIS SONG tinkled into my head:

"Oh yeah, it's so easy for you to say you think peace and love is the true answer, after you were so cruel to me. Fuck you. I will kill you. I will humiliate you. I will become what you were, and channel it more purely than you ever could hope to, because you are weak and soft. You've allowed yourself to dull your shine. You're a sadsack of an excuse for the man I feared. Fuck you. (...You've betrayed me...)" "I AM THE TRUE CHANNEL OF BRUTALITY" I mean, they say... L could have been the world's greatest criminal, if he had wanted to be so...

also, regarding Beyond Birthday... his natural appearance was a lot like this:

Except, in the initial dream, he was like fourteen... and HE STABBED L'S HAND WITH A FORK, and ran out of the restaurant we were sitting in.

It was a restaurant that someone took me to, when I was fourteen years old. I had been very angry towards her during that time, so I felt that I was seeing it from her eyes, in this dream...

I was so worried about him, because this child was my responsibility. I heard ambulance sirens coming from downtown. He had brought out a bow-and-quiver, and was causing mayhem in the streets.

This was supposed to be me, of course.

I saw his eyes. He was like a deer. Terrified, as he lay seige to the city.

Regarding Howl the wizard: "His heart is still the heart of a child."

Fickle, like the wind. Also, B didn't have horns... this is originally a depiction of Clavicus Vile... WHATEVER!

"At least if you stuck around and were still so awful to me, I could still strive to be just like you, and overcome you... but now you've gotten bored of your stupid little puppet play? Do you see my life as just a puppet in your play? Fuck you. You're in my play. The show goes on. You are my victim, now. " *BANGS FISTS ON DINNER TABLE REPEATEDLY* HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE!

"You said you knew what you were doing. You have an innate weakness. I am disgusted with you."

Some people were born to float. Lord knows I've forgotten how to swim........ Sinking...! Neither of us knows which direction... the air bubbles are.. going...

Everything under the Sun is in tune...

but the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon...

Whatever. I didn't really think about this, because it came to me. I just felt it.

[sirenascales]

-> double black [part three] 18+

-> Chuuya x 1stPOV!F!Reader x Dazai

-> Who knew getting fired from work could lead to this?

-> Content: SMUT, slight angst, violence, murder, swearing

A man is murdered and things get interesting as the investigation starts. [Chuuya x 1stPOV!F!Reader x Dazai]

2,981 words

note: no smut in this one hehe, but things are gonna get fun. enjoy!

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Final || masterlist

"Hey... are you okay?" Kenji asked me a few days later, noticing the scowl on my face and realizing that I had been tapping my nail on my desk repeatedly for the last fifteen minutes. "You seem... pissed?"

I grunted, closing my eyes and slowly taking a deep breath. "I'm okay, Kenji. Just having a bad day." The others shared looks with each other, but chose not to pry. The frown on my face never left, my fists clenched as my blood continued to boil.

Then that all went away, when I felt a gentle hand against the back of my neck. I looked over at Dazai, who had lazily rolled himself in his chair over to me. He grinned. "I could see the steam coming from your ears!"

His hand never left my neck, moving until his fingers loosely wrapped around the column of my throat. Strangely enough, my anger had completely gone away when he touched me, and it felt nice to finally breathe. "With the day I'm having..." I sighed, the whole world seemingly melting away, Dazai's thumb stroking along my jaw.

Kunikida was clearly unimpressed, the man gritting his teeth. Atsushi looked shocked, his face tinged red while Ranpo and Kenji just touched their own necks gently.

"Does she like to get choked?"

"Who knows, man."

"Hey, I know what will make you feel better," Dazai suggested and I tilted my head, waiting for him to continue. He leaned in and would have kissed me if it weren't for a book smacking right into the side of Dazai's head.

"Do that on your own time! We have a schedule!" Kunikida fumed while I quickly turned around to cover my face, simply to muffle down my obnoxious laughter.

"Oh, dude!"

"Kunikida! What was that for!"

"Public indecency!"

Dazai rubbed his head, whining from the pain while I just giggled behind my hands. Dazai almost looked betrayed at me laughing at him and I just shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, that's what you get for trying to play grab ass."

I purposely ignored Dazai's pouty face for the rest of the day, the man clearly upset that he didn't get to kiss me. I shook my head, glaring at him from across the office while threateningly pointing my pen at him.

"Work, dammit."

"I don't wanna! Bella, don't be so mean!"

I fixed him another glare before going back to my work, finishing up the final report for the last case we were on. After going through and making sure it was perfect, I saved and emailed it to the President, just as the door to the office slammed opened.

"He's gone!"

"Keiko?! What the he- Keiko, what's wrong?"

I stood up from my desk, my best friend standing before me in a frazzled state. She looked extremely distressed, tears falling down her face. I rushed to her, the woman collapsing into my arms as we both fell to our knees.

"He's gone!" she exclaimed before she started to sob into my chest. "He's gone! He's gone! He's gone!"

"Keiko..." I looked up at the others with wide eyes, them looking on with alarm. I turned back to Keiko, rubbing on her back as she continued to sob.

Taichi was killed. He was found in an alleyway with multiple stab wounds. Keiko had received a call from the police after his identity was discovered, the detectives revealing the tragic news to her.

"I'm so sorry, Keiko..." I said to her softly, sitting with her in one of the small areas of the office, separated by simple dividers. "... how the hell did this happen? We just saw him last night when he dropped you off at my place..."

Keiko had finished crying, but the terrible sadness in her eyes was a clear indication of how devastated she was. I clenched my fists, feeling my anger from earlier building up again.

"I'm going to have to make my statement," Keiko said softly, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Do you want me to go with you to the station?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No... it's okay..."

"The thing is, you are also one of the last people to see him alive," Kunikida spoke up, standing by with Dazai and Atsushi. "You'll have to give your account too..."

Sighing deeply, I absentmindedly reached under my skirt, pausing when I didn't feel my knife against my thigh where it usually was. I gritted my teeth, shaking my head to myself before I went back to rubbing on Keiko's back in an attempt to comfort her.

Soon, Keiko and I left the Agency and headed on over to the police station. We gave our accounts of the night before when we last saw Taichi, us talking separately with a different agent.

"Now you know, Mr. Kamiya was in the Port Mafia," the agent said and I nodded. "And they have quite a bit of history with your little organization."

I didn't like the condescending tone in his voice, but I kept my cool. "Of course, but none of us have anything to do with this man's murder, and you have no evidence proving otherwise."

He just rolled his eyes at me. "Well, this is all we need. You're free to go."

I nodded before quietly making my way out of the interview room. I met with Keiko, who looked like she had been crying again and I pulled her into a comforting hug. "It's okay. This will be over soon."

Later on, I found myself back at the Agency, Keiko choosing to go home, despite my protests. My head was buried in my arms, not moving as I felt someone put their hand on my head, lightly scratching my scalp.

"Looks like the police will keep on investigating Taichi's murder," Dazai said and I peeked one eye out to find him leaning against my desk. "Thing is, I'm sure the Port Mafia will also be conducting their own investigation. Ohh, this is gonna get interesting~"

"So is it better if we stay out of this, then?" I asked, sitting up in my chair. "I mean, unless we're asked... we don't have to touch this."

Dazai regarded me for a moment, a mysterious smile growing on his face before he just threw his hands up nonchalantly. "I get it, you were friends with the guy."

"Not really," I corrected him immediately. "Keiko is my friend."

"Ohhhhh," Dazai just hummed, tapping his forefinger on his chin. "Well anywho, the police are gonna have their hands full if the Port Mafia really gets involved! It wouldn't hurt to help, right?"

I hesitated, a small smile soon growing on my face as I nodded. "Sure. Let's start tomorrow."

"How about tonight instead?!" Dazai asked with a cheerful smile while I just glared at him angrily, the two of us now standing in the middle of the crime scene.

"Why do I even bother believing a word you say?" I hissed at him, attempting to kick the man but he quickly side stepped me. I gritted my teeth. "Ugh, plus it's already dark, Dazai. It's gonna be harder to find any evidence." Indeed, the only light we were getting was from the full moon up ahead, and the shitty lights above the side door of one of the buildings. "Are we even allowed to be here?"

Dazai simply nodded his head. "Of course, we were assigned to this case, afterall."

"... you told me the police were keeping it," I said, eyebrows twitching in annoyance. Was he serious?!

Dazai just smiled and threw his hands up. "Guess I was mistaken," he hummed and I sighed deeply, rubbing my temples.

"Okay so... what now?" I asked, finally looking around the crime scene. It was obviously taped off and Taichi's body was removed. All there was left was a giant stain of blood, which I now looked at with a worried face.

"Just by the nature of the crime alone, we can easily say it was a crime of passion. If this was a local gang or rival, he would have been shot, or even jumped and beaten to death. Official word is, he was stabbed over sixty times," Dazai explained, standing beside me and staring at the blood. "There is no sign of the murder weapon, no other physical evidence besides Taichi's dead body and blood. We'll have to wait for forensics to give us their final word, but I can tell... this might not be so easy to crack."

I nodded solemnly, my fists clenched tightly.

"Or... will it?"

I took in a deep breath before turning and sending Dazai a sheepish smile. "Well, we got our work cut out for us, huh."

Dazai chuckled softly. "Yeah, but that's what makes it fun."

"So Dazai," I started, crossing my arms over my chest. "I have a question."

"I may have an answer."

"Have you ever killed anyone before?"

Silence followed after my question and I turned to look at the man. His hands were in his pockets, a weird smile on his face. "I have. Quite a few."

For some reason, the answer didn't shock me as much as it probably should. "How do you sleep at night?"

More silence, before Dazai stood before me. I looked up at him, heart thudding when I saw that same dim look in his eyes. His lips curled up and he leaned in, making me hold my breath as he whispered.

"Like a baby."

My breath hitched in my throat, eyes going wide. I licked my lips nervously, nodding my head slowly. "I see..." Just... wow.

"You know, I could have gone without seeing your ugly face, Dazai."

A look of distaste grew on Dazai's face as the newcomer came sauntering up to us. He wore black, a familiar hat resting upon a familiar head of red hair. Blue eyes stared daggers into my coworker, mouth curled into a displeased snarl.

"Ah, Chuuya! It is a small world, after all," Dazai sang, the glare in his eyes not meeting the jovial tone of his voice.

Chuuya scoffed. "I thought you'd be fucking dead by now, but of course, you always love to piss me off."

"'Cause it's so much fun!"

The two men clearly didn't like each other, but that was the least of my concerns. All I could do was stare at Chuuya in shock. Of course, Taichi was one of his subordinates, he would want to find out who his killer was and get retribution. That was just how the Port Mafia worked.

I gulped, carefully trying to back away from the two. They could stand there and bicker with each other all they want. I had to get out of here before-

"Oh wait, meet my new friend!" Dazai wrapped his arm around my neck, wrestling me to his side effortlessly as I tried to break free. He knew I was trying to escape and made sure that didn't happen.

"Hey, let me go!" I hissed, not pleased with being pulled into a damn chokehold.

"Not until you meet my old friend!"

Chuuya growled. "We're not friends, damn traitor!"

Traitor? I grew confused, eyebrows pinched even as I fought against Dazai's hold. Chuuya narrowed his eyes when he finally got a good look at me.

"Hey... do I know you?"

Crap. "Uh..." I laughed sheepishly, Dazai now confused as he looked back and forth between the two of us.

"You know each other?"

"W-well..."

"We met a few months ago," Chuuya spoke up, his eyes widening in realization before his eyes narrowed and he snarled.  "Knew you couldn't be trusted."

"Wait!" I exclaimed, making it out of Dazai's hold and holding my hands up to Chuuya. "I swear... I didn't even know about the ADA when we met. It was just as I said that night, I lost my job and was there to drink my pain away."

"Tch," Chuuya sounded, his eyes still narrowed. "And now you work with this traitorous bastard. Lucky you."

There was that word again.

"What do you mean by traitor?" I asked, at the same time Dazai spoke up.

"How the hell do you two know each other?"

Chuuya scoffed. "I fucked her."

I squeaked, Dazai's eyebrows raising.

"Interesting. I'm fucking her too."

I squeaked again, waving my hands wildly before either man could respond. "D-don't we have a murder to solve, huh?!"

It fell on deaf ears, the two men staring each other down, all before their eyes were on me and my trembling form.

"You know... I feel like we've been here before, Chuuya."

Said man snorted. "When you fucked my girls?"

"Like you haven't fucked mine?"

Okay, now I was confused. "Um... I don't understand..."

"Oh yeah!" Dazai exclaimed a bit too cheerfully, putting a hand on Chuuya's shoulder, earning a withering glare. "Chuuya and I go way back. Were the best of friends."

"No we weren't."

"We were partners! The best there was!"

"... tch."

Partners? What the hell did Dazai mean by partners? I looked between the two men, lips formed in a thin line. Then, the answer struck and my mouth fell open in shock. There was no fucking way... Dazai? I swallowed thickly, shaking my head for this was not the time or place to be thinking about this.

"Okay... I can only imagine just how deep this shit goes," I started, the men looking at me curiously. "But we have a murder to solve. Whatever... this," I gestured my hand between the two of them. "Is... it can wait. Y'all can make out or whatever later."

That was my attempt at breaking whatever tension there was, but I was the only one cackling when Dazai and Chuuya immediately protested.

"I will kill you!"

"That is not funny, bella!"

"Ugggh, I don't have the time for this. I should have known that the ADA would be investigating this, and that just pisses me off. You two should just stay out of my way," Chuuya said, hands in his coat pocket. "Though you... word is that you were one of the lasts who saw Taichi alive."

My heart dropped when Chuuya looked at me and I frowned. "And I told the police that I saw him when he dropped Keiko off at my apartment. There are cameras in the lobby that will show that I never left the apartment. We even ordered food in."

"Fuck. And there is no other evidence right now. No weapon, no hints of DNA. It's like the killer just vanished," Chuuya said to himself and I glanced at Dazai, seeing the amused look on his face.

"What if it was an ability user?" Dazai suggested. Chuuya gritted his teeth.

"Shut up! I don't need your help!"

"Really? Are you sure?" Dazai taunted the red head, quickly ducking when Chuuya swung his foot in a wide kick. Dazai didn't get hit, but the wall behind him took the damage, large cracks forming on the surface. I swallowed thickly. Just how strong was Chuuya?

"H-hey," I started nervously, foolishly getting between the two men before they could start a fight. "We're after the same goal, right? Why don't we just... work together?" The fierce glares I got made me shrink. "O-o-or! Or not! That's fine! Just don't fight!"

"Bella is right... fighting is so beneath me," Dazai said wistfully and I sighed deeply.

"Dazai, I'm being serious. This man was my best friend's boyfriend. I want to find his killer too."

"Just stay out of it," Chuuya growled. "This has nothing to do with either of you. The Port Mafia will handle this."

"Let's make it a race then." Both Chuuya and I were dumbfounded as we looked at Dazai, waiting for him to continue. "A competition to see who figures this out, the ADA or the Port Mafia."

"Dazai... what the hell?" I asked in disbelief, Chuuya stepped closer to him.

"What's the prize?"

Dazai smirked, raising a bandaged hand and pointing right to me. "Our bella."

My jaw dropped. "You're fucking kidding me?"

"No," Dazai answered rather seriously. "I'm not."

Chuuya is strangely quiet, his unreadable eyes now trained on me. I fidgeted under his gaze, looking away to find Dazai staring at me all the same. I shivered. I hated this; hated being part of such a stupid competition as a prize, and I hated that I fucking loved it. I screwed my eyes shut.

"Deal," Chuuya finally said and I gasped when I felt his familiar leather clad fingers cup my face, him moving my head to make me look at him. "Gotta say, I didn't expect to see you again, but I'm glad our paths have crossed a second time." I became extremely flustered and Chuuya smirked. "Tell me, Dazai. What was it like having my sloppy seconds?"

I gasped sharply with Dazai only laughing darkly, suddenly feeling his presence behind me. "Can't say it was too bad..." he answered and I just completely clocked out, breath hitching as I felt a bit embarrassed. And turned on. They knew exactly what to say to get me riled up.

"Okay, I'm leaving! It's late and I still haven't eaten dinner yet! Bye!" I was frantic trying to rush away from them as fast as I could. I didn't even turn back when Dazai called after me.

"See you tomorrow, bella!" Dazai chuckled softly, watching me disappear, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"A race? Really?" Chuuya asked incredulously, eyes piercing as he stared at his old partner.

"It will just make this all the more fun," Dazai hummed.

"You're a bastard," Chuuya scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Just stay out of my way. Taichi getting himself killed just ruined the investigation we had on him."

"Oh?" Dazai raised his eyebrows, amused. "Was he being a naughty boy?"

"Shut the fuck up, Dazai."

-End

I have this headcanon that Dazai and Chuuya definitely stole each other's girls and even shared them and had threesomes when they were partners and ya'll CANNOT tell me otherwise.

[hesgunnalovethis]

Dark Circles

Summary: You’re cramming for a big exam. Until Leonard McCoy finds out you haven’t slept in 3 days.

Bones x Reader

Masterlist!  (thank you for all the love you guys are the best <3)

 TW: bit of sleep deprivation init, strong language, passing mention of death (satirically)

 Word Count: 1514

  You had been working on the Enterprise as a student medic for some time now. With a busy five year mission, an unspoken fling with the Chief Medical Officer and a crew who couldn’t seem to keep themselves in one piece, you’d began to believe you’d never make it that final step to officially become Doctor Y/L/N. So, when The Academy offered for you to take your final exams online, you jumped at the chance. 

The exam was in three days. You’d somehow managed to nab yourself a week clear of shifts. Whoever made up the rotas must have it sweet for you you’d joked to Leonard who was now working a doubly busy week. He didn’t mind, he knew how important this was to you. 

 You were ready to be free from the constant watchful eye of people only as skilled as you and you knew it. But having neglected textbook terminology for three years you panicked wondering if you’d be able to convince Starfleet the same. You’d been hitting the books hard for the last few days. Really, you’d been doing little else. So much so that the words were beginning to jumble before your eyes. 

Your comm rang. You answered to Jim’s shrill voice like you were teenagers on a landline. Jim had been a good few years above you at The Academy but you had always been close. Jim initially approached you as a night out trophy and when you’d firmly put him in his place, even through six vodka blackcurrants, he knew he’d found a good drinking buddy. 

 “Sooo how you feeling!” Jim asked as if your final medical exam was a first date. 

 “Honestly? Nauseous. Although I don’t know if that’s the nerves or the tiredness.” The first time you’d spoken in days, you remembered. 

 “Jeez how long have you been up?” 

 “Long enough to be two and half notebooks down.” You eyed the strewn pads filled with messy words and diagrams. You definitely passed the doctors handwriting stereotype. 

 “Maybe I’ll stop by with another one for you. And maybe some crushed up pills.” He wasn’t joking but you laughed anyway. 

 “And how is... the ship?” You said, head scrabbled but feeling rude not asking about him. 

 “Still in space.” 

 “That is good to hear.” 

 “For real, Y/N, are you alright? Do you need anything? Water? Food? A certain doctor?”

 “I need everyone on this ship to stand still for three days so I’m ready to sit this.” Jim was silent knowing that he couldn’t promise that and that he’d probably be first injured. “Currently skim reading the dermal regenerator chapter. If another ensign gets stabbed that’s on them.” 

 “As your Captain I can’t laugh at that.” 

 “’As your captain,’” you mimicked “shut the fuck up, Jim.”

 “Fair.” Jim said in defeat after a long silence. “I’ll get Bones up to see you in a bit” 

 “Don’t bother him, he’s working all his own shifts and all of mine, he’ll be more of a corpse than me.” 

 “I have never seen that man in any state other than grumpy. I’ll check up on you in a few.” 

 “Catch.” You said hanging up the comm.

 A few hours past and you’d filled up your third notebook throwing it on the pile and picking up a fresh one, like clockwork. 

 Another hour passed and Jim had rang your comm, again. You ignored it. Another hour. Another ring. Another comm ignored. You only had six textbooks left and you weren’t going to let anything distract you. Almost. 

 The door to your quarter opened as you finished notepad four. You didn’t fully register it until you noticed the room become significantly brighter. You’d really been sitting there for long enough for the room to assume you’d died. Interesting. 

 You looked up to silently thank the ceiling and were greeted by two cold hands against your skin planting a kiss on top of your head. You’d recognise those hands in death. Hands that didn’t need to sit this exam. You were jealous of them. 

 You felt him squat behind you hugging you from behind his cheek brushing against yours. 

 “How’s it been?” You asked instinctively about the sickbay. 

 “Y’know,” he began, spinning your chair away from the desk to face him, “It’s been-“ he stopped brief worry passing over his face. Brief but not unnoticed. 

 “What?” 

 “Darlin’ you are so pretty, you know that, but right now you have two friends I don’t know called ‘extremely dark’ and ‘evidently from sleep deprivation circles’ under your eyes.” He said it delicately, you scoffed. 

 “You’re not looking so hot yourself Mr Five O’clock Shadow.” Leonard’s mouth peaked at the corners suppressing a laugh. 

 In that moment you felt silently sorry for Jim who’d claimed never to see Leonard’s softness. ‘Jim’ you thought. 

 “Jim sent you?” You questioned spinning your chair back towards the desk but finding it halted by Leonard’s foot. He shook his head. 

 “He mentioned a few missed comms but I was already on my way here. I assumed you’d be sleeping. It is 4am.” 

 You looked at the time to verify. You swore the last time you checked it had been 5am. 

 “How long have you been awake?” Leonard asked assessing the desk space. 

 “A few nights.” 

 “Nights?” He cocked his eyebrow at you. “Nights are for sleeping.”

 “It’s the same as working a few nights.” You stated. 

 He smiled softly at you, reaching forward to knock your glasses from your hair to your eyes. You could see again. He’d actually gifted you sight. 

 “When we work a few shifts in a row, we take breaks. How many breaks have you taken?” 

 “A few.” 

 “Bullshit.” He was right so you didn’t argue. 

 “I just have a few things left to cover before I can start doing practice exams. I’ll take a break then.” 

 Leonard was already at your desk closing textbooks and tidying flashcards. You tried to interfere but he simply moved your hands and stroked your hair. 

 “You get changed, I’ll get you some water.” 

 You were suddenly thankful someone had pried you away. You didn’t realise how awful you felt. Head pounding, nauseous, eyes failing. 

 “Test me?” You asked. Leonard turned eyeballing you. His facial expressions having a silent conversation. 

 ‘Really?’ His face said. 

 ‘Please?’ Your face said back. 

 “Your patient is paralysed. First point of call?”

 “Neutral transducer.” You shouted from the bathroom not missing a beat. 

 “And how does that work?”

 “By picking up neural signals from the brain to mimic and stimulate appropriate muscles.” You were right. Leonard was silent for a few minutes allowing you to brush your teeth and change. “Keep going.” You shouted back. 

 “It’s pointless you know everything.” He stated. You walked back into the room giving him a sad face. He rolled his eyes he couldn’t say no to you. 

 “What are the symptoms of fatigue?” Leonard said handing you a glass of water. You shot him an annoyed look, his face was pure innocence. 

 “Chronic tiredness.” You said. He urged you to continue, “Dizziness, headache, impaired vision, slow reflexes, muscle weakness, appetite loss.”

 “I think you’re missing a few.” He said. You sighed at him knowing the point he was trying to make. 

 “Poor concentration, short term memory problems, impaired judgement.” 

 “Heck… sound familiar?” He said as you both climbed onto the bed. 

 Leonard pulled you towards him, taking your entire body in his kissing your under eye repeatedly. 

 “It’s been fun ‘evidently from sleep deprivation circles’ but you’ve gotta go. It’s not personal I just love your host too much to keep you around.” Leonard joked and rearranged your pillows to make you both more comfortable. 

 “One more.” You whispered almost completely asleep. Leonard sighed heavily. 

 “Where’s a Vulcans heart.” You laughed at the easiness of the question. 

 “Right side. Between ribs and pelvis.”

 “Oooo, wrong.” He said pulling you closer. 

 “What! No I’m not?!” 

 “Vulcans don’t have hearts. Have you met the one we work with?” 

 You laughed, softly elbowing him in his own ribs for being horrible. 

 “You do this every time you have something big. You work yourself into the ground. It’s not good for you darlin’. Not good for my blood pressure either.” Leonard softly said removing the glasses from your face. 

 “I’m just scared. God knows how long I’ll need to wait to resit it.” You mumbled. 

 “Y/N, you don’t have to scrounge through textbooks for these answers. You’ve lived these answers. Hell I’ve watched you take over from doctors well above your rank when they’ve started feeling the heat. You’re exceptional. Being a doctor is in your damn blood.” You could tell by his tone he was sincere. Your heart sung but your head retorted. 

 “What if I fail?”

 “Then I guess you’ll have no choice but to have me watching over you for another two years.” Leonard rested his head on top of yours allowing your own to fall onto his chest. 

 “I guess that wouldn’t be so bad.” ‘And hopefully a lot longer’ you thought as you finally drifted off to sleep.

[bangtansocean]

Letters: Part 03

Synopsis: Good things never last long, and unfortunately, his promises were a little too good to be true.

⏤𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐: taehyung x reader // slight yoongi x reader

⏤ au: [Historical Fiction, soulmates au]

⏤𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Heavy Angst, smut, fluff

⏤𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: smut continuation- mature content ahead [18+]: Love making, praise kink, overstimulation, creampie, heavy angst ahead. mentions of death and life, lying, health issues.

⏤Word count: 4.7 K

Chapters: 01 l 02 l 03

click here to go back to master list

a/n: Lots of angst ahead, prepare your tissues and I apologise in advance! Thank you for reading, ceci :]

—————————————————————

—————————————————————

Taehyung adjusts himself between your legs, sliding his member between your folds, collecting as much arousal as he can before slowly entering you, making you both moan in relief and pleasure.

Tae fucks you slowly and lovingly, leaving kisses everywhere on your body as he pushes himself in and out of you repeatedly. Both of you moan each other's names as he deepens his thrusts with each stroke.

“Fuck, I love you so much.” He says against your lips as you wrap your legs around his hips helping him deepen the thrusts.

You can feel your third orgasm approaching as Taehyung hits your sweet spot repeatedly, his dick twitching every time your walls tighten around him involuntarily. His thrusts become sloppier but his speed increases, letting you know he is close. He slides his hand between your bodies, ghosting two fingers over your clit, making you dig your nails deeper into the skin of his shoulder which makes him moan your name as he increases the speed of his fingers against the swollen bud.

“Tae, I love you.” you moan one last time before your orgasm takes over you for the third time tonight.

Your confession makes Taehyung pull out, cumming on your folds with a loud moan as he enjoys his orgasm. He pumps his length a few times over your lips and clit, spreading his cum all over your sex with his tip, surprising you when he slams his dick back inside you as he pumps the remaining cum inside of you until he is soft, both whining at the overstimulation.

He leaves small pecks all over your face, lingering a little bit longer on your lips as you feel him soften inside you. He pulls out with a hiss due to the over sensitivity, and manages to roll over to your side as he lays next to you, leaving a kiss on your shoulder and wrapping his arm around your waist, holding you close against his chest.

“I love you.” he says for the 100th time tonight. You turn your head to find him pouting at you, waiting for you to say it back.

“I love you too.” you giggle, struggling to turn your head to kiss his lips one more time before the exhaustion takes over your body, falling asleep in Taehyung’s arms for the second time tonight.

“I love you more princess, I’ll be back, I promise.” Taehyung whispers one last time before he falls asleep too, fearing this could be the last night he ever gets to hold you.

—————————————————————

—————————————————————

You wake up to the sound of the birds chirping, meaning sunrise is happening soon and work is starting in a few hours, which also means Taehyung is leaving soon. You try to move around when the sudden ache between your legs stops you. There’s an uncomfortable stickiness between your legs and the smell of sex that reaks from you forces you to freeze on the spot, making you remember the events of last night. You smile to yourself as you slowly roll to face Taehyung, ready to invite him to shower with you, only to find his side of the bed empty.

“Taehyung?” Panic takes over your body as you look around your room for him. You call his name repeatedly, hoping he will come out of the bathroom or answer to your desperate calling. Your tears are already streaming down before the main door of your chamber cracks open.

“Morning princess.” He stands by the door with his hair wet from the shower, wearing his new uniform and holding a tray with some fruits and tea for you. You sigh with a smile which he reciprocates, his eyes softening at the sight of your tears.

Taehyung walks towards the bed, struggling to close the door with his feet. You sit up on the bed and cover your body with your sheets, drying your tears quickly and tapping Taehyung’s side of the bed inviting him to join you. He shakes his head, letting you know he is not joining you in bed, which makes sense since he is already changed and showered, and the bed, well, the bed is not in the best conditions. He lays the tray in front of you as he carefully kneels on the bed, reaching to connect his lips with yours. You look at him dumbfounded, rejecting his kiss with a frown. He raises an eyebrow as he looks at you in confusion. Did you really just reject his kiss?

“I’m stinky and sticky all over, I haven’t even brushed my teeth” you say with disgust. Your frown makes him laugh as he leans forward to kiss you again, leaving a sweet peck over your pouty lips.

“Yeah and who’s fault is that? Me.” he laughs as he kisses you again, his eyes shining with a very peculiar glisten. “I still think you’re the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the world, stinky and all that” you laugh against his lips as he leaves one last peck before he dramatically sniffs you and fakes a gag, making you both burst in laughter. “Eat up and go shower. I’ll change the sheets for you “ he says as he caresses your cheek. You look at him hesitantly before nodding. He hands you the tea he made for you and with a quiet thank you you begin to enjoy your breakfast with the best company. You finish your breakfast quickly, and make your way straight into the shower.

“I’ll be right back” you sing as you grab the bathroom’s door handle.

“I love you” You hear Taehyung say, freezin on the spot. You turn around and smile at him, his eyes looking like he’s about to cry.

“I love you too.” You say quietly, your eyes getting teary once again. He walks to where you are standing and wraps his hands around your waist, leaning in to leave a sweet kiss on your lips.

“I love you more.” He replies in a low tone, “Go shower, I’ll change the sheets now.” he says as he connects his lips to your forehead, slowly letting go of your body as you turn around again and walk into the bathroom. Hearing him walk back to the bed and take the sheets off.

You hop into the shower and take your time washing yourself, the hot water against your skin easing your muscle pain. You hear the main door shut, and you call for Taehyung as you close the faucet, meeting a dead silence from the other side of the door. You call his name; still no answer. You get out of the shower and wrap yourself in your towel quickly, your shaky hands reach for the handle as you burst the door open.

“Taehyung? Where did you go?” you call for him, your voice trembling as you notice your bed is perfectly made with a fresh set of sheets, a small bouquet of daisies placed in the middle of the bed. You walk towards the bouquet and lean in to see a little note attached to it. You slowly pick up the bouquet and detach the note, quickly recognising Taehyung’s beautiful handwriting:

I’m not strong enough to say goodbye, please forgive me for parting this way.

I love you.

Eternally yours, Taehyung.

The small note falls from your hands as it slowly sways its way to the floor. One hand on your chest, and the other one over your lips to muffle your sobs, tears streaming down at an unstoppable pace. You can feel a stabbing pain in your heart, and the temperature of your body drops. Suddenly the room is spinning, and your vision is blurry.

This can’t be happening.

You can hear someone calling your name, but the ringing in your head overpowers the familiar voice. Not being able to bring yourself out of your state of shock, you’re sobbing uncontrollably as your knees make contact with the cold ground, collapsing on the floor.

He is gone.

“y/n? Hey, can you hear me?, y/n please” the sound of the masculine voice now sounds closer as he slowly approaches you while you sob desperately. A warm body drops to the floor with you, strong arms quickly make their way around you, holding you close as you cry helplessly. “I’m so sorry y/n. I was looking for you everywhere when the troops were being dismissed, I thought-” His voice cracks as he now is crying, too. “I’m so sorry y/n, please don’t cry.” Yoongi’s voice starts to fade away as you feel your surroundings closing in, the last thing you remember is Yoongi calling for the nurse, after that, everything went black.

—————————————————————

—————————————————————

It's been two years.

Two years since Taehyung left without saying goodbye, two years since you’ve heard from him. You won’t lie and say you weren’t miserable for most of the time, but surprisingly things are not as bad as you thought they would be.

Yoongi has been by your side ever since Taehyung parted and has become your most reliable friend. You can remember waking up in the infirmary room with him by your side, holding your hand as he prayed you were fine after fainting on the bedroom floor. His faint voice was always present in your subconscious, always there reading you a book, or singing you a lullaby. You remember he cried when you woke up, and he held you close as you both grieved the parting of each other’s soulmates. Yours being Taehyung, and Yoongi’s being his childhood best friend Hoseok. And a  few hours after you got discharged from the infirmary room, Yoongi made it his personal mission to take care of you until you got better again.

He fed you, sang you to sleep and even helped you wash and change from your clothes on the days when you couldn’t manage to get out of bed, crying until you fell asleep in the prince’s arms. He would read you books everynight, and bring all sorts of activities for you two to do together: cross stitching, painting, puzzles, you name it. He made sure to keep you happy and distracted, helping you heal a lot faster than you thought you could. You were very thankful for him. His patience and love have been crucial to your health and really helped you to move on from the pain, that is, for the first few months. Because even if you felt like things were slowly getting better, it didn’t take long for your world to come crashing down again.

-

“Shh, it’s going to be okay,” Yooongi’s voice comforts you as he rubs your back gently, the scene feeling a oddly familiar to you.

The white walls of the infirmary overwhelm you, the intense smell of sterilizing alcohol, blood, and medicine makes your stomach sick, the nausea taking over you as you are holding the bucket in front of you for dear life. Throwing up has to be one of the worst things in life, you frown at the smell coming out of the dirty bucket.

“Oh my God, please take this away from me.” You shove the bucket towards Yoongi as he calls a nurse to have it cleaned out for you, his hand never leaving your back as he caresses you gently, hoping to provide some comfort to your paranoid and sick self.

“Can we leave? This is so unnecessary.” You complain again, too anxious to care about your rude tone, “I fucking hate this place.” Your eyes get teary as you turn to look at Yoongi’s soft eyes, a pitiful look on his face.

“Let’s just wait for the results, once we know it's nothing serious we can move you to my chambers and we can have a private nurse attending you until you’re fully recovered.” His words comfort you as you nod in agreement, silently hoping you can be out of this place as soon as possible before you empty your stomach into that bucket again.

“You don’t have to, you know, move me to your chambers, I can just go to mine…” you reply shyly, growing embarrassed at the thought of invading the prince’s private space any longer. “You have been so kind to me, giving me your bed for almost three months ever since… you know” the lump in your throat stops you from finishing your sentence. Yoongi smiles at you as he noods, understanding your concern. He takes his hand towards your face, gently brushing his thumb on your cheek.

“I know, and I understand you must feel like you are ‘invading my privacy’.” he whispers to you, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way, I want you safe, and I want you to be okay. I know that room makes you cry, and it holds many memories that make you…” he is careful with his words, not wanting to offend you or trigger your sadness. “What I’m trying to say is, I will sleep on my couch until I know you’re okay, no matter how long it takes, you’re all I care about.” He is now closer to you, his eyes drifting from your eyes to your lips.

You don’t realise you have started to cry at his gentle and caring words, your hand now finding his as you squeeze his hand gently, thanking him in silence for everything he has done.

“Your majesty, a word?” The head nurse politely bows as she waits for the prince to follow her to her desk which is just a few steps away from you, yet far enough for you to not be able to hear their conversation.

Yoongi leans forward, leaving a sweet kiss on your cheek that makes the nurse shift in her place nervously, not knowing how to proceed with the situation. She bows to you as she turns to her desk, Yoongi following her with quick steps.

The head nurse talks at a rapid pace, unable to read her lips and understand what was happening, her anxious expression making you nervous. It wasn’t until Yoongi turned around with a horrified look, his face now pale and his lips trembling, that you realised things were worse than what you expected them to be.

—————————————————————

“Yoongi, please tell me you are joking.” Your words are desperate and panicked. You are now sitting in Yoongi’s bed, the way from the nursery to the prince’s chambers being the longest 5 minutes of your life. You fix your hair with your shaking hands as you stare at him with worried eyes, hoping he would start laughing and end this torturous moment. This can’t be happening right now.

“I would never joke with something like this y/n, the nurse confirmed it already.” He sighs once again, “You are 3 months pregnant… and they think it’s mine.” He says, his words hitting you like a stab to the heart.

“I can’t fucking believe this.” your cry into your hands as you sob violently. This is not how things were supposed to be, this can’t be true.

He slowly slides into bed with you, his arms embracing you as his hand makes comforting patterns against your back. “Shhh, It’s okay. You’re alright, everything is going to be fine.” he coos you as you try to control your breathing and come back to your senses. “We’ll figure this out together.” He whispers against your hair.

“Yoongi, I really appreciate you’re trying to help but I can’t let you get involved in this. It’s too risky.” your voice cracks a little in the attempts of sounding strong and confident. He chuckles lightly at your statement, before he lets go of you and looks you in the eyes.

“As much as you want to handle this yourself, it’s going to be a little harder than that, love.” He says as he reaches for your hands, interlocking your fingers. “We’ve been sleeping in the room for the past 3 months, and everyone in the castle thinks we are already messing around.” He sighs, closing his eyes for a second before he shakes his head and looks back at you. “The second you try to leave this castle with a child that could potentially be the next king’s heir your neck is on the line, and the baby’s too.” He reaches to your cheek, wiping the tears from your eyes as he sighs again, “And I can’t lose you, y/n. As selfish as it sounds, I can’t let you go and grow this child by yourself with the entire kingdom turning their backs to you. You can’t leave the castle like this.” He finishes as he swallows, the idea of you being in danger because of this child makes him dizzy.

“But if I stay, Yoongi, they’ll think the child is yours. Do you know how bad that can be for you? To have people think the next King’s heir is a bastard, with a castle employee?” Your lips tremble as you try to hold it together, not wanting to show Yoongi how much this situation is hurting you. He huffs with an annoyed smile on his face. You both stay in silence for a while, trying to come up with a solution to the situation.

“Marry me then.” Yoongi’s voice startles you. It takes you a second before you can process the words that just came out of his mouth. “Let’s get married before we announce your pregnancy, I can claim the child as mine, and you can stay in the castle as my wife.”

“Yoongi you are talking nonsense why-” Your words are quick and mushed together, not understanding the logic behind his words. “Why would you want to claim a child that is not yours?”

“Even if we say it's not mine, they won’t believe you.”  He says now with pain in his tone.  “You’ve been sleeping in my bed for 3 months, and everyone in the castle has seen us together ever since the troops left. All factors point against our favour y/n. Claiming the child could save your life, and the child’s, without having to send you away from the castle.” You’re now crying against Yoongi’s chest. Everything is happening too fast, too soon.

-

And Yoongi was right. Even if his plan seemed odd, you couldn’t find another way out of the situation without putting the life of your child in danger, or Yoongi’s reputation on the line. So you made your mind up and agreed to marry him, having the ceremony right after he proposed to you in a formal dinner where his father had made public your relationship to the entire castle and kingdom. It wasn’t until a few months later that your belly started to show, and before people could start being suspicious about such a sudden pregnancy, Yoongi made sure to speak loud enough around the cleaning ladies about trying for a child and wanting an heir as soon as possible. It didn't take long for the rumours to spread, and soon enough the entire kingdom was celebrating the birth of the next prince.

The sudden warmth of a body embraces you, snapping you out of your thoughts. “Y/n? baby, what’s wrong? Is everything alright ?” Yoongi suddenly bombards you with questions as you hide your face in the crook of his neck, not being able to answer verbally yet, scared your voice could crack, but slowly nodding with a hum, letting him know that you were okay.

“We need to get moving, birthday lunch starts in a few minutes.” Yoongi whispers before he kisses your forehead. “I’ll get the bath running for you.” He leaves a sweet kiss on your cheek before he leaves the bed, walking into the bathroom as you decide to take a quick walk down the hall to check if your baby is still asleep in his room.

You stroll down the hall thinking about how different your life came around. Laughing to yourself before you bump against an old friend who smiles brightly at you, excited to see him after all this time.

“Jimin! You’re back?!” You hug the small blonde as he giggles in your embrace, his hands reaching for your back as he squeezes you with the same excitement.

“Home sweet home! I arrived last night at the castle, I hear a lot has changed since.” He lets go of you so he can scan you cautiously, nodding to himself. “Yeap, you definitely look like a princess now, who would’ve thought our young handsome king would capture your heart!” He giggles again before he realises what he just said, growing ashamed. You watch his facial expressions change in a frown, before he bows to you, his lips shaking in doubt before he talks again. “ I-I actually came looking for you, your majesty.” He clears his throat as he reaches for his pocket, his shaky hands pulling a folded dirty paper from his pockets. “ I promised Taehyung I would give you this when I came back.”

Your heart skips a beat at the mention of his name, feeling your soul leave your body as you blink repedently, trying to stay calm. “Oh, Okay… Thank you?” you say with a questioning tone, scared to ask the same question Jimin is hoping to avoid. “And where is he?... Taehyung?” You cough as Jimin awkwardly shifts in his place.

“Y/n… He-” You feel him hesitate, his eyes filling up with tears as he takes a deep breath. “He got injured during one of the riots and … the nurses tried everything they could” Jimin is rushing his words, circling around the topic before his voice cracks. “Taehyung didn’t make it.” He looks down as he dries his tears, scared to look up and see your reaction to the terrible news. “The last thing he told me was to make sure you got his letter, he wrote it while trying to recover.”

He didn’t make it. Those four words keep playing in your head.

He didn’t make it.

“Whe-when did he um… die?” You ask, the lump in your throat making it almost impossible for you to talk. Jimin shifts in his place again, dreading the situation.

“He died 3 months after we left.” You feel your knees weakening at his words. “We weren’t able to contact the King to let him know we had lost our commander, so I had to take over until we were able to come back, which was last night.” He looks up to meet your teary face, surprised to see you are not as affected as he thought you would be.

You had made peace with the idea before, and when Jimin delivered you the news, it did hurt, but it didn’t surprise you as much as you thought it would.

You had a feeling something had happened to him, and right after discovering you were pregnant, you didn’t have time to wonder much about his whereabouts. All you could do was think about your child, and do the best you could for your baby. You thought that after so many years of not hearing from Taehyung he must have moved on from you, or lost his life along the way, but you never expected to receive another letter from him. Much less after knowing he was gone, and that his last words are plastered in this letter. The letter that Jimin was handing to you right now.

You take the dainty piece of paper back from Jimin’s hands as you let out a disappointed sight. At least he is in a better place now, you try to convince yourself.

“Mommy!” The loud voice of your child makes you look behind Jimin, the little toddler running towards you as kneel down, receiving your child with a big hug.

“There’s my birthday boy! Are you ready to celebrate tonight?” you ask him in a sweet voice, moving his black curls from his eyes and tugging the strands behind his ear.

“Yes mommy, I’m two!” he giggles as he mimics your actions, tugging your hair behind your ear.

“Hi there little prince” Jimin’s voice startles you both. You look up to find Jimin smiling at the child, his smile fading as soon as your child smiles back, his boxy smile feeling oddly familiar to Jimin. He stares at you with questioning eyes, worry and guilt reflecting on your eyes as he stares at you, perplexed at the oddly similar features this child shares with his long lost friend.

“I’m not a little prince!” He laughs as he releases himself from your arms, extending a hand to Jimin as he grins proudly at your friend. “I’m Taetae.” Jimin's jaw drops to the floor as he stares at you with disbelief, what the hell is going on, he thinks to himself.

“Nice to meet you” he bows. “If you excuse me , I-I’m sorry I-... have to go” He bows before he turns around quickly, ready to walk away from the disturbing scene in front of him before you call out his name.

“Jimin.” You pray he turns around and listens to what you have to say, which thankfully, he does. “I can explain-” you can feel your eyes burning and your throat closing, Jimin’s eyes softening at your scared expression. He walks towards you and embraces you into a gentle comforting hug.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me, I can imagine how hard this must have been for you.” He whispers as he gently pats your hair. “I’m so sorry” He says now before you let out a sob against his shoulder. “Does um, Yoongi know?” you nod against his shoulder and Jimin sighs in relief, Thank heavens Yoongi is behind this, Jimin doesn’t even want to imagine how bad it would’ve been if he didn’t know that child was not his.

“Mommy? Why are you crying?” The voice of little Tae breaks you and Jimin apart, as you quickly dry your tears and kneel back down to face him.

“Mommy is just happy to see her old friend, baby.” you ruffle his hair, making him giggle. “Why don’t you go into the room and find your dad? I heard he is running a bubble bath as we speak!” His eyes shine at your words, quickly jumping out of your lap as he runs towards your room, calling for his dad repeatedly before you hear Yoongi’s laughter bursting from behind the door.

Jimin turns to look at you once again, his eyes filled with worry. “Has no one suspected anything yet?” You shake your head, answering the question that was messing with his head. He sighs in relief as he places his hand over his heart “Okay, that’s good.”

You walk together towards the small bench at the end of the hall, taking deep breaths as Jimin hesitates to speak.

“Are you going to read it?” Jimin asks, pointing at the paper that is placed perfectly between two fingers.

“I’m scared.” you confess to him, not trusting yourself to be able to be strong enough to read it without feeling like you're dying inside. Jimin places a hand over yours as he sighs, understanding how you are feeling.

“If you don't want to be alone, I’m here.” He reassures you as you stare at the piece of paper that's dangling from your fingertips. You sigh as you open the envelope carefully, unfolding the paper and taking a deep breath before you catch a glance of the last words of the letter, already feeling your tears building up as you remember all the times he wrote letters to you, always ending the exact same.

“....With love, Taehyung.”

—————————————————————

—————————————————————

a/n: Thank you so much for reading letters! II hope you didn’t cry as much as I did writing it! I’m thinking about making an extra ‘chapter’ where I include the letter Taehyung wrote before he died. Let me know if you guys would be down to read it so I can work on it and upload it soon!  Please don’t hate me too much, happy reading, Ceci x

[louiseleblancdiggory]

Pumpkin Mangling

31 Days of Spooktober

Day 3/31

Prompt: (from the other list) 4. “Maybe pumpkin carving isn’t your thing...”

Dorian had learned how to deal with strong willed women since he was a child.

He had bee raised with the most stubborn, strong and determined woman he could ever think of, and if someone could survive Aelin, the person could survive anyone.

He knew when they needed space and when they needed company. When they needed help and when they simply needed support. He had made sure that he was always a friend she could count on, and slowly he learned how to deal with situations the required him to proceed carefully.

He knew how to deal with woman. He really did.

And yet.

And yet, even knowing he shouldn’t, Dorian was in the brink of literal tears from holding his laughter in. He knew that, one single chuckle from him, and the seven inch knife on Manon’s hand would be buried on his thigh. Like his best friend, Manon was extremely independent and short tempered. More times than not, she wanted to to everything by herself not because she didn’t want help, but because she refused to ask.

Dorian knew that much of it had to do with her upbringing. Her grandmother was the worst human being he could ever think of, and the fact that Manon had been raised by that monster always made his heart ache. Her grandmother was cold, cruel and unforgiving. She had taught Manon to be the exact same but, although she could be those things, there was a softer side of Manon that she rarely let anyone— even herself— see.

“Baby—“ Dorian started cautiously, but the laughter could be noticed in his voice.

Manon didn’t took her eyes from what was in front of her, hand gripping the knife tighter. “Don’t.”

She had almost growled it, which only made the situation much funnier to Dorian. “Manon, I really—“

“I’ll fucking impale you, Havilliard.”

“I just think that maybe pumpkin carving isn’t your thing.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Manon declared, turning to Dorian. Her golden eyes were aflame, cheeks dirty with pumpkin filling. She was holding the knife as if she was about to take a run and stab Dorian. “I swear to the Gods, Dorian, if you laugh—“

Honestly, Dorian didn’t know what exactly made him snap. He didn’t know if it was the pumpkin all over her face, the cheeks red from anger. He didn’t know if it was the threatening voice, the hand shaking as she held the knife. Or maybe the simple fact that his girlfriend has never carved a pumpkin and she was absolute shit on it.

Dorian had to grab the counter as he doubled over in a fit of laughter. Manon hated being bad at something, and she had only decided to do this when Aelin taunted her about not being able to do something that even toddlers could.

Manon simply replied by saying that it wasn’t that she didn’t know how to do, she just never wanted to do.

Turns out that was a lie.

“Stop!” Manon shouted, letting go of the knife and stomping up to him. Without her usual heeled boots, Manon was comically short near Dorian. The sight of her crossing her arms in front of him, eyes narrowing just made him cackle more. “Dorian, I fucking meant it.”

Dorian took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. “You’re shit at carving pumpkins.”

“I’ll carve out your heart, you bloody prick.”

“You’re so fucking bad. It looks like someone stabbed it repeatedly.” He put a hand over his mouth as he looked at the mangled pumpkin on the table. It had been cut so many times that it was falling apart.

“The first one was worst.” Manon grunted. By her widening eyes, she immediately regretted what she had said.

Dorian guffawed, throwing his head back as literal tears fell down his cheeks. “This is not your first attempt?”

“I hate you. I fucking hate you and I hate Galathynius for making me even try this shit. It’s fucking useless!”

“Nah.” Dorian tried to say seriously. “It will certainly scare off the spirits. Actually, with this appearance, it will scare off anything.”

Manon shook her head, looking at the destruction she had caused. A small smile bloomed on her lips, and she let out a single laugh. “I hate you both. I mean it. I couldn’t have asked for a worst boyfriend and an even worse best friend.”

Dorian took a step forward, hugging Manon. As per usual, she was rigid as a block of cement for the first seconds before letting herself to relax. Manon wasn’t used on physical touch as a form of love demonstration. Dorian was the one who usually hugged her, kissed her and most of the small touches started from him. It never really bothered him, not really. Manon’s love demonstrations were completely different, but not lesser.

She was absurdly smart. She knew so much about science that it was mind blowing whenever she talked to Dorian about it. That was her love demonstrations. Manon was so reserved, so prompt to shove people away that whenever she talked about something she loved, whenever she let Dorian see the excited, passionate part of her, it was her way of saying that she trusted him. That she loved him just as much even though she wasn’t too keen on physically showing it all the time.

Manon would never be a helpless romantic, but Dorian wouldn’t even wish for anyone else’s love other than hers.

He kissed the top of her head, resting his chin on it. “If it is any consolation, I was shit at it when I was younger. Aelin teased me endlessly. Hers were always pretty and perfect, always the artist, but mine were even worse than yours.”

“You were five.” Manon mumbled.

“So? I learned because I had time. I’ll admit, your pumpkin is hideous—“ He was interrupted when she pinched him hard on his side. “But,” he said forcefully. “But you never had it during your childhood, you can’t expect to sit down and do it perfectly on your first day.”

“You said Aelin’s were.”

“Aelin is not human. Besides, she is an artist. The girl has been sculpting since she could walk. Pumpkins are a joke to her.” Dorian reminded Manon.

“I’ll throw this pumpkin on her face next time I see her.” Manon said only half-jokingly. Dorian had never been happier when his best friend and girlfriend became so close, became best friends themselves.

Until he realized what Manon and Aelin being best friends meant.

They were insane.

They had constant prank wars, were always bickering even though it was obvious that they loved each other like sisters. They were the two scariest people Dorian had ever seen, and them being best friends was terrifyingly entertaining.

“Give it to Whitethorn. I don’t think there is anyone whose existence annoys Aelin more. She would combust in anger if he threw a speck of pumpkin on her.”

Manon drew back, eyes wide as she stared up at Dorian. A huge smile appeared on her lips, and she let out a strange laugh. “Dorian Havilliard, you are a genius.”

Dorian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “I was joking. Leave Aelin and Rowan’s situation alone. Those two have been hating each other for years now.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Manon defended herself, but her voice didn’t match her words.

“Blackbeak, I mean it.”

She just laughed evilly, leaving Dorian’s arms to sit back at her stool. “Just sit and relax baby. Actually…”

Dorian waited for her to finish, raising her eyebrows when she didn’t. “Actually what?”

Manon hesitated, taking a deep breath and sighing. “Could you help me? With the carving?”

A part of Dorian wanted to smile and be smug about it, but he knew that if he did that, Manon would never feel comfortable in asking him for help again. It was an unusual thing, and it filled Dorian’s chest with warmth to know that Manon trusted him enough to be vulnerable around him— even if just a little.

So Dorian smiled softly and assented, walking to her. “Of course I can, baby.”

He sat by her side, taking another pumpkin and helping her carve it. They spent the whole evening doing so, laughing when one messed up. Dorian’s cheeks hurt from smiling when Manon celebrated finally carving one correctly.

Things were good.

And when Dorian looked at Manon’s gorgeous face again, he realized that things were actually great.

.

.

.

.

A/N: This is so small but it’s also my first time writing Manorian so it’s uncharted grounds for me, have patience and let me know if you liked it! Also, if you’re not getting tagged but you’re on the tag list, let me know please!

Tags:

@in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jlinez @courtofjurdan @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @ladywitchling @lexflame @sleeping-and-books @annejulianneh111 @perseusannabeth @linshryver @mu-si-ca-l @camilamartinezdunne @dank-queen7 @minaidss @starborn-faerie-queen @booksofthemoon @loveofbooksandwine @jesstargaryenqueen @bluejaberry @multifandommessblog @yesdreamblog @superspiritfestival @ireallyshouldsleeprn @maastrash @queen-of-glass @morganofthewildfire @julemmaes 

[dingdongitsbees]

i just read the chapter… i’m in shock my mind is running in circles i still haven’t processed everything 😭 god your writing is absolutely excellent it just makes those dangerous moments all the more painful, the way you describe every scene makes me feel like my heart is getting stabbed repeatedly. eren and mikasa nearly dying trying to help out, kenny killing the children, the arena being a mix of the previous winners arenas, them ending up in kenny’s old arena, levi and mikasa having witnessed erwin and nick’s possible deaths before entering, the memory of levi nearly strangling reader, the memory of hange nearly witnessing reader dying, and then you end it with the FOG???? ARE YOU INSANEENDNENE MY HEART CAN’T TAKE THIS BEATING PLEASE HAVE MERCY 😭💜

every time i write a chapter i swear to god the bits i had absolutely not planned always end up being my favourite 😭 the thing talking about how levi had trouble sleeping and when he had woken up to choke mc was literally completely unplanned and came out of nowhere but now it lives rent free in my angst bank

plus we love a spicy reference to book 3 peeta ey? 😩

this game will be filled with angst to the brim from the present fuckery but i will also bring every painful flashback in at full force cause i can't help myself, aka a few things that were referenced in chapter 13~ ya know those things

and hell yeah FOG TIME LETS GO, rip to the OG mags, we were tight 🤞 i miss her to this day. i also dont know where you got the idea that i would ever be merciful in this, my only promise is that not everyone is going to die

(also the fog i also came up with on the spot so my plans are going to be half thrown out the window lmao 💀 as well as the fact it was Kenny's arena too 😭)

[flowerfan2]

Part of You Indefinitely - Ch. 6

David x Patrick, 18k so far, M, A03. 

Summary:  An accident sends Patrick to the hospital and terrifies David.  What follows changes their relationship in ways David and Patrick never imagined.  A story of love and its challenges.

Chapter 6

They’re in the car, on their way to physical therapy, when Patrick abruptly turns off the radio.  “I need to tell you something.”

After their too short but still satisfying make-out session earlier this morning David doesn’t think Patrick’s about to ask for a divorce or anything, but it still doesn’t sound good.

“Okay,” he says, glancing over at Patrick, who is looking determinedly out the front window.  “What’s up?”

“I haven’t been going to physical therapy.”

This is patently untrue.  “Um, yes you have, I’ve been driving you there.”

“Yeah, but…” Patrick taps his hand on his knee.  “I haven’t kept the appointments.”

“What, exactly, do you do after I drop you off?”  Patrick has insisted on going inside by himself, and David has been spending the hour systematically trying out every half-decent coffee place in a five-mile radius from the hospital.

“I sit in the cafeteria.”

This is a strange revelation, and David takes a long breath, trying to keep an open mind.   

He slows down and pulls over.  One good thing about living in the sticks, there’s always a place to pull off the road.  He tries to focus on a practical response, while his mind spins.  “Okay, then… there’s not much point to this trip.  It’s certainly not worth going to Elmdale for the coffee.  Should we go home?”

Patrick looks at him.  “You’re not mad?”

David does a quick mental inventory to be sure.  He’s not mad.  He’s confused, and actually a little impressed with Patrick’s out of character refusal to color within the lines, as ridiculous as that is.  “Nope.  Your body, your decision.  Thank you for telling me.”

“Don’t you want to know why?”

David sighs, leaning his head back.  “Of course I do.  I want to know everything.”

“I’m not sure I can really tell you.”

<i>Then why did you ask?</i>  David thinks.  “Mkay.”

Patrick just sighs miserably.

“Ronnie thinks we’re going to break up,” David says, not sure where this comes from – it has been spinning around in his head all morning, but it seems like a non sequitur.

“Because we can’t talk to each other?”  Patrick asks, and yeah, that’s how it fits in.

“Pretty much.”

“Do you think that?”  Patrick asks.  He looks small, and scared, and just as lost as David feels.  

David thinks maybe it’s time to bring up the elephant in the room.  “You know, there’s a thing couples do sometimes, when they’re having…”

“Problems?” Patrick suggests.  

“Challenges.”  

“You think we should go to counseling?”

David has been considering it.  On the one hand, he’s not really interested in sitting on a couch with Patrick while some old white guy picks apart their relationship.  On other hand, he’s really not interested in any universe where he and Patrick no longer sit on the same couch, so giving counseling a try is a risk he’s willing to take.

“Yes.”

Patrick breathes out slowly.  “Okay.  Then take me to PT.  I don’t want to have to tell the counselor that I blew off another physical therapy session.”

*****

David has a feeling that Alexis convinces Dr. Lee to pull some strings, because they get an appointment with a couples’ counselor a few days later.

Margo is young, probably even younger than Patrick, and has several earrings in each ear.  She’s not at all what David expected.  Further, she’s quick and witty, and seems to understand what’s going on with them right from the start.

“Unfortunately, it’s not unusual to go through a period of depression after a trauma,” she says to Patrick, who looks like he’s ready to jump out of his skin.  “Or for situational depression to have a detrimental effect on a relationship, especially where your partner is doing the lion’s share of the caregiving.”  She goes on in this vein for a while until they are both calm enough to hear it, and encourages them to talk to each other after the session about what has been discussed.

But for all that things have been going better between them, they still can’t seem to delve into this stuff outside of Margo’s office.  

At their next session, Margo asks them how their follow-up conversation went.

David tries to stop himself from rolling his eyes, but Margo calls him on it anyway.

“If we had been able to talk about it with each other we wouldn’t be here,” he says, trying to keep his voice light.

“Do you agree, Patrick?”

Patrick’s gaze has been firmly fixed on his hands since they arrived.

“I don’t know if talking about it will help,” he says finally.  “I’m still…”. Patrick waves his hand vaguely at his legs.  “Talking about it won’t change what happened.”

“But would knowing how David is feeling about it, how he’s feeling about you, and sharing your feelings with him, possibly affect your feelings and your mood?”

Patrick glances up at David, who tries to smile at him despite the inner terror he’s feeling.  “I guess.”

David reaches over and grabs Patrick’s hand, trying to figure out the right thing to say.  “I know the situation sucks, but you’re doing better all the time.”  He looks at Margo and then back at Patrick.  It’s awkward as hell, but David’s dealt with awkward before.  “I love you, Patrick.”  

Patrick remains silent.  It makes David feel a little ill, to get no response at all to this.

David turns in towards Patrick, trying to block out his view of Margo.  “Hey,” he whispers.  “What’s going on?  What do you need?”

A tear rolls down Patrick’s cheek, and David just sits there, momentarily paralyzed.  This Patrick is so far away from the Patrick he knows, his confident, competent husband, and it scares him.  David reaches out and puts his arms around Patrick’s shoulders, pressing Patrick’s head against his cheek.  Patrick grabs him and squeezes back, hard, his face against David’s collarbone.  This is good, David thinks, he said he likes it when I hug him.  I can at least do this.  He drops a kiss above Patrick’s ear, right by his scar, and holds on.

“This kind of thing can be hard to articulate,” Margo says.  “Patrick, will you try to think about David’s question?”

Patrick straightens up and nods, wiping his face, and they move on to other topics.  Margo asks David about how they are doing at home, taking the attention off of Patrick for a few minutes.  Patrick chimes in after a while to talk about how he’s figured out how to coordinate with Johnny on the books for the store, doing some of the work himself and showing Johnny how to use his spreadsheets; David doesn’t mention how Patrick curses at the laptop when his hands get tired, or pretends that it’s fine when vendors leave him off their emails to David.

They don’t return to the topic of Patrick’s distress, but Patrick keeps a grip on David’s hand for the rest of the session.  David doesn’t know exactly what’s going on, but at least it seems like Patrick wants him there for it, whatever it might be.

******

“My parents want to come visit,” Patrick announces one night over dinner.  

David finishes his last bite of crab Rangoon.  “When?  I’ll reserve a room at the motel.”

“I didn’t say they were coming,” Patrick answers.

“Okay, that’s fine.”  

Patrick blinks at him.  Apparently he expected an argument.  “You don’t think they should come?”

“Well, they’re your parents.  And god knows I know what it’s like to want a little distance between oneself and one’s parents.”

“My mom keeps emailing me.  She’s worried.  She says she won’t be able to sleep until she sees me in person.”

David stabs his fork into the beef and broccoli.  “You could zoom her.  It might satisfy her for a while.”

Patrick considers this, then picks up his phone and starts typing.  

“Why thank you, David, that’s a great idea,” David says, and Patrick laughs.

******

They’re in the car on their way home after a physical therapy session when Patrick clears his throat and says, “I was afraid it wouldn’t work.”

“Pardon?”

“PT.  It’s supposed to get me back to normal, if it works.  But it might not work, there’s no way to know how much things might improve, or not.  So I didn’t want to go, because if I went and I did what they said and I still couldn’t relearn how to walk, then that’s it, it’s over.  I’m in the chair forever.”

David’s heart stutters in his chest, and he opens his mouth to argue, but Patrick beats him to it.  

“I know that’s not rational, but you deserve to know why I skipped my appointments.  That’s why.”

David is still processing this when he feels his phone buzz repeatedly; Patrick’s does too.

“What’s going on now?”  David wonders, hoping it will be about something less fraught than his husband’s all too understandable fears.

Patrick reads the texts as David focuses on driving.  “Stevie’s stressed because our student intern unpacked a box of lip balms and got them all mixed up.”

David lets out his breath.  This is a problem he can deal with.  “Mixed up with what?”

“With each other.  Apparently there are five or six different kinds listed on the invoice, but they all look the same-”

“Because they’re all-natural and don’t have any artificial coloring.”

“So Stevie can’t tell them apart, and so she can’t label them, and if they aren’t labeled, she can’t sell them.”

“Tell her to sniff them – but don’t take off the cap, then they’ll look used.”

“She says she tried that, but she still can’t tell which is which, and there are hundreds of them.”

David sighs.  “Well that’s clearly an exaggeration, the box holds a gross.”

Patrick types, and then waits for Stevie’s reply.  “She says there are two boxes.”

“Whatever.  I suppose it’s no surprise that she’s hopeless at this.  Tell her I’ll come in tomorrow.  It’s Saturday, we don’t have to go to Elmdale, so I can get to the store early.”

“Maybe I’ll come too.”

It’s all David can do to keep his eyes on the road and not squeal with glee.  He can’t help the smile that tugs at his mouth, though, or chancing a look at Patrick to see that he’s smiling softly too.  Patrick hasn’t been to the store yet since his accident, and here he is volunteering to come in.

“Sure, that’d be nice.  You never know what else Stevie’s messed up that we need to fix.”

The next morning they get up a little earlier than usual, David making sure to get the coffee going before he gets in the shower.  When he comes out, Patrick is in his chair wearing one of his favorite blue button down shirts and his briefs.  His jeans are down around his ankles.

“Don’t laugh,” Patrick says, and David assesses the situation, deciding that this time a joke might not actually lighten the mood.  

“You could wear your sweats,” David says carefully.  “No one would care.”

“This from the man who didn’t want me to wear sneakers to work.”

“I’d like to think we can make an exception to our dress code from time to time.  We can write this one in right after the Stevie Budd flannel shirt amendment.”

Patrick is unconvinced.  He tugs on the waistband of his jeans, but can’t get them up past his knees.  Patrick has gotten much better at moving around, and hardly ever needs David’s help to get from their bed to his chair or vice versa, but this is a task he hasn’t tried yet.  Luckily Patrick doesn’t seem too thrown by the unexpected challenge of putting on his jeans.  “So, are you going to help me or what?”

“Happy to,” David says.  It takes a little wrangling, but between the two of them they have Patrick fully dressed a few minutes later.  David notices that Patrick has chosen not his Levis but a pair of jeans David bought him – designer, but subdued.  They do great things for his ass.  Not that Patrick’s ass is particularly visible from his chair, but still.  David appreciates the effort.

The hair on the side of Patrick’s head is now long enough to cover the red scar over his left ear.  Last week David gave him a trim so that both sides matched.  It would be hard to tell that the left side had ever been shaved, if you didn’t know.  

“You look great, honey,” David says, leaning down to kiss his husband.  “And you smell good, too.  Is that my aftershave?”

“Couldn’t find mine,” Patrick says, a light blush coloring his cheeks.

“Mmm, I like it.”  David loops his arms around Patrick’s neck and breathes him in.

“Let’s go,” Patrick says.

“Okay, but it isn’t even eight o’clock.  Do you want coffee, or something to eat?  I could make French toast-”

“No – let’s just go.”

Patrick’s clearly nervous, but for once his nerves don’t seem to be accompanied by a side of bitchy apprehension.  David will take it.

They park right in front of the store, and David moves as quickly as he can to get Patrick’s wheelchair out and the two of them inside.  He’s pretty sure that no one spots them, although he wouldn’t really mind that much if Twyla came by with some breakfast.  But it’s Patrick’s first time in town in the chair, and David would prefer for it not to be complicated with visits from random busybodies.

David’s been by the store a handful of times in the past few weeks, and he’s pleased to see that nothing looks too terribly out of place.  He has made both Stevie and Jocelyn facetime him so he can supervise whenever they set out a new product, but it’s not the same as seeing it in person.

David can’t help but watch as Patrick wheels slowly around the store.  It’s an odd sight, most of his body hidden from view as he moves past the display tables.  Then Patrick pauses by the register.  He can’t quite fit the wheelchair behind the counter, and even if he could, he’d be too low to work there very easily.  David cringes – he should have thought of this and at least checked to make sure the place was accessible.  He watches Patrick force a neutral expression on to his face, and it hurts to see it.

“We can move that,” David says, knowing he’s taking a risk by acknowledging the problem, but the store is Patrick’s baby too, and it’s just wrong that he can’t work the counter, or maneuver his chair into the small office space behind it.

“No, it’s fine,” Patrick says, backing himself out and turning around.  

“We can sort the lip balms over here,” David says, clearing an already mostly empty space on an easier to reach back table.

“Yeah, okay.”

“And I’ll look for a new counter tonight.  More of a table than a dresser.”  Patrick needs to be able to get his legs underneath.

“It’s okay, David,” Patrick says, his voice tight.

“It’s not, actually,” David mutters.  He lets the subject drop, and finds the two boxes of lip balms in the back room. They spread them out and start sorting.

It turns out it’s not quite as easy as David expected.  Their best seller, honey vanilla, is easy to identify, as is the lavender sage.  The apple rosemary is fairly individual as well, with a sweet fresh scent balanced by the deeper aroma of rosemary.  But the last two – pear basil and cucumber thyme – seem to be almost identical.

After about an hour they have finished a first sweep through one box.  The honey vanilla, lavender sage, and apple rosemary are all separated into baskets, ready to be labeled.  But then there’s still a big pile of “not sures.”

“We could label them all cucumber pear,” Patrick suggests.  “Cover all the bases.”

“Putting aside the fact that then we’d have to order new labels, that completely ignores the admittedly not very noticeable notes of basil and thyme.”

“Call them cucumber pear herb, maybe?”

“Why not just go with ‘fruit and/or vegetable’ and call it a day?”  David sighs.  It’s his own fault for letting this vendor get overly creative.

“’English garden’ might work,” Patrick says, smiling.

David laughs.  “Natural beauty.”

“Nature.”  Patrick takes a long sniff of one of the unknowns.  “Just nature.  Here, try it.  It definitely smells like nature.”

“Hey kids, what’s so funny?”

They look up at the same time to find Stevie coming in the front door.  She joins them in the back and examines the piles of lip balms, sniffing at each of them.

“You can’t tell them apart either, can you?”  she asks mildly.

“Of course we can,” David says, at the same time Patrick replies, “Nope.”

Stevie grins and then pushes past David to hug Patrick.  “Good to see you,” she says quietly, and hangs on to him for a long moment, her dark hair falling around Patrick’s face.

“Thanks.”

Stepping back, she surveys the scene.  “Looks like you made some progress.  Wanna take a break?  I stopped by the café, and Twyla’s dying for you to come in.”  She addresses this comment to Patrick, who gives David a panicked look.

Always good at reading a scene, Stevie backs off.  “Or I could go pick us up something and we could eat here?”

“That would be great, Stevie,” David says, laying a hand on Patrick’s shoulder.  “We didn’t have a chance to eat before we left the house, and I’m famished.”

“Shocking,” Patrick says, and David has to hide a grin at Patrick’s inner little shit showing his face at last.

“Just for that, I won’t let you have any of my pancakes.”

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Undercover Lover prt 25

25

Eren’s plans too a slight turn for the worse. First came sweating with a fever, then nausea, then came throwing up, and finally came being transferred to hospital when his nose started pouring blood and the precinct medic started yelling for an ambulance. Ah. The joys of being handcuffed to a bed. He remembered them well from. Actually, he didn’t. He didn’t remember much about the first few days after Marco had died, it’d all been a blur, but Armin was there to tell him they had to restrain him because he hadn’t taken the news very well. Rushed into emergency, people were yelling, he wasn’t sure he wasn’t one of them as the bright lights assaulted his eyes. Ultimately he lost a day and woke up to Pixis peeling a mandarin while he worked his way through a bottle of brandy. He’d had a severe reaction to alpha suppressants, going slightly feral, his knee had been busted by an officer claiming self defence. Not that he’d been informed who they were but it could have only been one of Rod’s small time thugs trying to get one last hit in in case he shuffled off the mortal realm. Pixis rather jovial as he recounted what Eren had missed. Eren not so jovial as his right knee stung like a bitch.

Things became a real party when Hannes came by to check on his condition. Two of the best men he knew happened to both be functional alcoholics and seemed to delight in exchanging stories of his bullheadedness and opinions on brandy. With fresh officers at his door, and denied pain medication thanks to being a “druggy”, sleep offered the only relief in the whole situation. Levi was fucking going to love this. So, it was Sunday morning he appeared before the magistrate, a special favour called in by Pixis, his bail set and paid, before he was forced onto Hannes... who insisted repeatedly he needed monitoring after his reaction. Now knowing what the hell was going on, Hannes had signed a non-disclosure form, which unfortunately didn’t stop him from giving him hell the moment they’d climbed into Hannes’s blue truck. They’d taken his crutches off him, leaving him hobbling into court with his damn moon boot. Climbing into Hanne’s truck wasn’t so bad, but the idea of climbing out wasn’t appealing. All he wanted was to go home to Levi’s apartment and sleep.

“Eren, I’m talking to you”

Ugh. Red lights. He hated them. Sighing, Eren looked to Hannes tiredly. His head was throbbing, couldn’t the man take pity on him until they’d gotten home? Which reminded him, he still hadn’t contacted Levi. Great. Levi would think he was blowing him off on purpose or some shit

“You know I couldn’t tell you”

“You could have told me something”

“I didn’t exactly plan on being stabbed”

The light turned green, Eren wondering why it couldn’t have done so sooner to save his sanity from this. Maybe he should risk throwing himself out the car? Surely it couldn’t be as bad as Hannes’s “dad tone”

“That’s not the point”

“Undercover work means you don’t talk. I’ve worked my arse off for this...”

“I could have helped...”

Curse Hannes. The man more of a father to him than his own father. Grisha... He’d been there when Eren was younger... then shit happened and now he was pretty much dead to his father... but that was metaphorically. Getting caught in this mess could literally cost Hannes his life

“I didn’t want you to know. Rod is bad news. Between illegal fighting, money laundering, and drug shipments, the last thing I needed was him coming after you. I’ll bet he’s already got someone tracking you down. Going home won’t be safe”

Hannes raised an eyebrow

“That bad?”

“I honestly don’t know why I’ve been released with a clear threat to my life. This is exactly why I didn’t want to get any closer to Levi”

He wanted to see Levi. The second time he’d woken, he’d looked to the side of his bed, thinking Levi would be there. That he wasn’t... it sent Eren’s mind to all the possible dark places

“I don’t think that’s possible. You’re lucky Pixis and Shadis covered for you. The documentation’s been edited...”

“Too late. By now Rod will know I’m an omega of some sort...”

“Then there’s no way you can possibly go back there”

“What am I supposed to do then? Pixis asked me to dig into a certain associate of Rod’s that’s being released...”

“You could ask Levi”

“No”

Absolutely not. No. He wasn’t getting Levi involved. He needed to extract him, yet Levi wasn’t the kind of man to follow anyone he didn’t know in an act of blind faith

“Eren, I think he...”

“I’m not costing him his life! His apartment won’t be safe anymore, and I don’t know if he’s even going to make it home in one piece! Where the hell are we going?”

“Pixis set you up with an alternative place to stay”

“Please tell me we’re not staying at yours”

“Then I won’t”

“Hannes!”

“You need monitoring. A huge dose of alpha suppressants entered your system. There may be more side effects”

“Shouldn’t it be out my system by now?”

“Your system is confused at the best of times. I’ve got the spare room set up, and Levi is welcome to stay”

How could Hannes smile? How could he let Eren into his home knowing he might just get killed for his generosity?!

“How is that not getting you involved?! How do you not get how dangerous this is?”

“And you’re like a son to me. Of course I’m going to be there. I couldn’t be there for your mother, so at least let me be there for you”

Fuck... Hannes... He made it hard to look him in the face when it came to the serious stuff

“That wasn’t you fault”

“I was in the ER at the time...”

He didn’t want to go there. He didn’t want to go anywhere except maybe to Eldia in Marley to see Levi

“She was already sick, just no one knew it... okay. It’s not your fault and you don’t have to act like you have some big debt. You don’t. I can’t contact Levi, I don’t know where my phone ended up, but he’s back Monday”

“Then I’ll take you to see him after work. Try to tolerate this old man until then”

*

Eren wasn’t sure if “tolerate” was the right word for the situation. Hannes’s wife had died due to complications from pneumonia years ago now, and the man embraced a kind of eclectic messiness where he knew where things were and no one else did. Finally medicated, Eren spent most of what was left of the Sunday in bed, a good thing too as Hannes woke him the following morning having decided he should come with him to the clinic where he could keep an eye on him.

Begrudgingly, Eren went. Pixis having gifted Hannes money to buy him something to wear might have been the highlight of damn day. They’d stopped into the local mall before work, Eren grabbing the first shirt and pair jeans that fitted, then remember he needed underwear and fresh socks, Hannes grabbing junk food as he said he needed the sugar to concentrate on the day ahead. Everything being scentless should have made him happy, he had the chance at a semi-fresh start seeing he couldn’t go back to work in a moonboot and Rod probably didn’t want him there... Sniffing his old clothes as he bagged them, they stank of him and his changing pheromones. Unexpected tears welling up in his eyes as the feeling of loneliness struck him out of nowhere. He missed Levi’s scent and now he was crying in the public toilets, missing a man who’d probably got the complete wrong idea about why he hadn’t contacted him. If Levi were there, he’d use some sentence with far too many “shits” in it to describe both the location and him being a brat... Fuck. He just wanted to see him again.

Unable to perk back up, Eren spent the day in a flunk. Using Hannes’s second consulting room, he had nothing to do but sleep and play around on the internet, but there were only so many cat videos a man could watch before boredom set in and both options became boring. His boredom had him almost calling work to see if Rod had returned, though the person he really wanted to call was Levi, who’s number was stuck in his flat phone. He’d offered to pick up lunch for Hannes, but Hannes firmly shut him down over wandering around while unstable. Even if he couldn’t smell himself, Hannes assured him he was steadily releasing a distressed scent that could be picked up on by the wrong kind of alpha. Eren didn’t know what Hannes expected to happen. If anyone made a pass at him, he’d ignore them, and if he couldn’t, he had two very handy weapons to get his point across. This was worse than being in prison. With nothing better to do, he took a page out of Levi’s book, starting to clean up the examination room before Hannes came to tell him he was being too noisy. He couldn’t help it. Sitting still was not his forte.

The hours between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm dragged on. The last hour the worst as anxiety gnawed at Eren’s stomach and he worried his lip until it bled. Everytime he glanced at the clock it seemed to mock him by having moved a minute or two at the time. Levi had to be home by now. He’d have gotten home and seen Eren wasn’t there. He would have been cranky “the brat” had disobeyed him... or maybe he was relieved to come home and find the man who’d thrown his life into chaos gone. Having someone to care about was hard enough, let alone the extra worry given it was his mate who’d spent the past few days surrounded by god only knows what. What if Levi had found someone better in their time apart? What if he’d slept with someone? They weren’t exactly dating, so Eren didn’t have the right to be mad if he did... even if Levi said he didn’t sleep around, alcohol seemed to lower the man’s defences... and hell, Levi was so good in bed... just thinking about Levi like that was enough to make him slick, then whimper at the idea of someone else being beneath his alpha. Fucking anxiety fucking sucked...

*

Hannes accompanied Eren to Levi’s apartment. They kind of had a ready made cover story seeing Eren’s knee was currently stuffed and it kind of was work related. Knocking on the alpha’s door, Eren’s heart was hammering in his chest. He didn’t want Levi to start yelling, though he may just deserve it. He also feared seeing the alpha hurt seeing Levi was terrible at taking care of his own injuries after a fight.

Knocking again, Levi kept him waiting... Eren finding himself nearly in tears again. Knocking for a third time finally summoned the alpha from the depths of his apartment

“Fuck off, Hanji! I’m not in the fucking mood!”

Hearing Levi’s voice made Eren’s heart give a weird beat. For a moment the omega thought he’d be left out on in the hallway, until the door finally cracked open, Eren immediately stumbling forward to throw his arms around Levi, not entirely sure why, only that he wanted to hug him because he’d come home safely.

“What the shit?”

He’d take it. Forcing himself off Levi, Eren tried to smile. The short alpha wearing a very grumpy expression as he crossed his arms and scowled up at him. Not that he’d admit it, yet Levi seemed shorter than he remembered him being

“I’m so sorry. I had an accident and my phone’s been flat so I couldn’t let you know”

Levi’s gaze travelled downwards, narrowing as his gaze came to Eren’s knee

“What the fuck happened?!”

“Twisted my knee. I’ve been at Hannes’s, but it’s nothing really”

“Tch. Do you know how worried I was?”

Eren melted. He wanted to sweep Levi back into his arms, but the alpha had only just showered by the look of him

“I’m really sorry. Hannes has been monitoring me to make sure I don’t have a reaction to the medication... Can we come in?”

“It’s your fucking apartment too”

Thank god Levi was acting like himself. Sure, he was kind of sad the alpha hadn’t immediately let them in, but he’d come back from being with Rod unscathed

“Right... it’s really good to see you”

“Tch. Quit being emotional, it’s only been a few days. Come on in already, before you disturb the neighbours”

Limping his way into the apartment, Hannes followed as Eren made his way over to the sofa. Everywhere filled with Levi’s scent that washed over him like a welcome breeze on a hot day. In the kitchen, Levi immediately went to making tea, Eren smiling at the very Levi action

“How the shit did he manage to get into trouble the moment I left town?”

Eren pouted a little. He hadn’t meant for anything that’d happened to go down

“I...”

“I’m not asking you, I’m asking Hannes”

Hannes sighed, shooting Eren a glance that Eren failed to read

“He got arrested for possession. That’s how he busted his knee. They gave him alpha suppressants, so I’ve had him with me so I can monitor his condition”

Hannes was a dirty rotten traitor. Sure, he might have to explain to Levi what’d happened before the alpha went back to work, but couldn’t Hannes just let him have this?

“Shit!”

Dropping the tea canister, Levi stood there with tea leaves across the kitchen bench. Normally he’d be rushing to clean up the mess, but instead his eyes were firmly on Eren

“I... it’s not so bad. I’m on bail... at least they didn’t throw me back into holding until I see the magistrate”

“You fucking got arrested?!”

“At the garage. I guess I’m fired now”

Leaning against the bench, Levi pushed himself back as he dropped his head

“It was Rod, wasn’t it?”

Fuck. Levi getting into with Rod was the last thing they needed

“Probably... Look, it’s okay. The job there was only going to be temporary...”

Raising his head, Levi showed a rare fit of anger as he kicked the counter door

“Fuck the job. Hannes, will he be okay?”

“He had a pretty bad reaction, but the drugs seem to be out his system now. Given it was a high dose, I’d like him to stay with me for now”

Couldn’t Hannes ease him into all of this? Eren had no idea how he was going to ask Levi to come with them, but throwing everything at him wasn’t the right way to do things

“Hannes!”

“Don’t give me that. You know that I also want Levi to stay for the time being to make sure your hormones settle”

There should really be an age limit for sass. Eren had the sneaking suspicion that it being past “scotch o’clock” was making the doctor cranky. Shit, he was starting to blush simply looking at Levi. Stupid earlier thoughts coming to mind as Levi made him blush harder by asking

“Couldn’t he remain here?”

Hannes shook his head

“I’d like him where I have access to him immediately if something happens. He’s been given the wrong suppressants previously, yet that wasn’t during presentation. I’d also like to keep him in an environment without scent cancellers and monitor his changes”

Eren huffed. He was 27 not 7, or 17. Shouldn’t he have some say?

“I’m not a pet. And I would prefer to stay here”

“Brat, Hannes knows more about this than we do. If he says it’s necessary, then you should stay with him”

“But I want to stay with you!”

Oh. Fuck. Now he’d done it. Raising his voice, both sets of eyes were on him as he died a little internally. His selfishness talking, as he personally wanted to stay by Levi’s side and not just for Levi’s protection. Surprisingly Levi chuckled at his outburst, unsurprisingly, it brought tears to Eren’s eyes as his face burned. Shitty stupid dynamics... He was going to blame them until hell froze over. Hannes placed his hand on Eren’s leg, his tone softening

“Eren...”

“Forget it. I’m going to pack”

“We’re not done talking about this. I’m not...”

Nope. He’d embarrassed himself... again. Why did he have to keep making a total fool out of himself when Levi was in the room? Levi was never going to believe he was a Detective with the Paradis Narcotics Division even if Eren looked him dead in the eyes and told him the goddamn truth about why he was really in Shinganshima. He used to have underlinings. He used to handle cases. He used to handle goddamn briefings and even guest lectured once when meth was in its infancy stage on the island

“It’s alright, Hannes. I fucking get it”

Storming out the room, with his crutches and damn moon boot, his mood hardly conveyed how angry he was at himself. Keeping himself from slamming the bedroom door behind him, he felt all of 17 again. Levi’s scent seemed to follow him in. Sadness hung in the room, and the omega supposed he deserved that much as he sank onto the edge of what had been his bed.

How was he supposed to sort things out with Levi within two weeks?

Three months... they’d been in each other’s orbit for three months. How did explain things to Levi and not make it sound as if he’d spend three months playing the man? Hannes was his friend from his past. Levi had to place a heck of a lot trust in the beta not to be lying to him about the situation. Had Eren been in Levi’s shoes, he could easily see how the results had been faked to keep him close. But he liked him... as a person. He’d liked him before his body started reacting. The crass frankness so damn refreshing after so many lies and the creation of his carefully constructed facade. Now he was sitting in the room Levi had been kind enough to loan him... crying because he couldn’t have things his own way.

Levi came after him. Letting himself into the space, Eren’s face was buried in his hands. Men weren’t meant to fall apart and cry like this. That’s what pretty much every piece of media out there said. His mother used to tease him for showing his emotions, until one day his tears seemed to just dry up

“You okay, brat?”

“I think I’m in the middle of a mental breakdown or a tantrum. I can’t quite decide”

Sighing at him, Levi dropped himself down to sit next to him. Eren resisting the urge to lean into the warmth he knew he’d find in Levi

“Tch. It sounds to me like you’ve had a pretty shitty last few days”

“No where near as shitty as yours, I’m sure”

Being with Rod that long, Eren would have snapped and he knew it. Work was one thing, playing nice and being up close another thing entirely

“It’s over. That’s the main thing”

“Us or Rod?”

“Tch. You really do like to leap to the worst fucking conclusions”

That wasn’t an answer

“I’m sorry”

“Stop it. Now, talk to me. What happened with the medication?”

Telling Levi felt like crying wolf. It was done. No body had the ability to go back in time and change things, nor could they see the future. Mumbling, he wiped at his eyes

“You know the police use emergency suppressants when arresting someone considered violent...”

“Tch. For fuck’s sake. Have you had...”

“I haven’t had symptoms... I thought I was, but it was a bad reaction... You must have thought I was ignoring you”

Levi took a moment to reply. The alpha a master at stomach dropping pauses

“I did. I wasn’t too impressed to find you’d left”

Fuck. Levi’s tone didn’t hold any accusations, only a kind of melancholy that smacked Eren like a guilt train t the face

“I was going to, but... shit. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing... again”

“Sitting on your shitty bed having a cry?”

“There’s that. I kept wondering how you were and if Rod was using this chance to dispose of you now that he’d gotten rid of me”

“With the amount of money I made that fat fuck, his little pecker has never been harder”

Things couldn’t get much worse. Letting himself lean against Levi, Levi didn’t push him away. Eren indulging himself a little more as he kissed the alpha’s shoulder

“I’m... I don’t know why I did that... I’m... I’m really glad you’re safe”

And he sincerely meant that. Levi going missing in Marley would have been so easy to cover up and explain

“Don’t go getting too soft on me, brat. From what I hear, we’re both in the shit”

“I don’t know when I’m going before court. Hannes spoke on my behalf. The cops probably know I’m a shitty beta-omega”

“Rod probably knows too”

“Yeah. Fuck... I keep bringing shit to your doorstep”

“Hannes might be shitty, but he’s not shit. You shouldn’t talk about your friends like that”

Fucking Levi. Despite his low mood, Levi had him snorting with laughter

“This coming from the man who calls his best friends “Eyebrows” and “Shitty Foureyes””

Levi bumped him with his elbow, Eren nearly delirious at all the attention he was getting... really, his face couldn’t possibly feel any warmer at this stage. It had to be the onset of a fever or something

“I know what I’m talking about. Look. Hannes’s place is probably safer than here right now”

“I know that. But I didn’t want him involved like this. I can’t help but feel once Rod learns I’ve walked, shit is going to hit the fan. I don’t want you caught in it”

“Tch. You don’t have to worry about me. I can handle myself”

“I know. Blame the hormones... I’m sorry. I’m not going to make you leave your home for me. I’ll stay with Hannes like a good little omega”

Once again Levi hit him with another of those long pauses. The alpha turning his face away from him

“I’m not good at this shit... I don’t know why, but... I didn’t like you not being here when I got home. It just... shit... I’m not saying this shit right. Fucking hell”

Okay... That sounded suspiciously like caring

“You missed me?”

“Tch. Don’t get too full of yourself... but maybe something like that. Look. I don’t want to stay at Hannes’s but the bigger problem is if you get sick again. So... maybe... for a couple of fucking days, it wouldn’t be so fucking bad”

He didn’t want Levi walking into Hannes’s without being prepared

“His house is a mess and the bathroom has something growing in the corner of the shower. Kind of fucked my knee up so not really able to get that low to the ground”

Growling, the alpha pulled away. Levi running his finger through his short black hair, Eren swallowing hard at the casual kind of sexiness oozing off the alpha. Shit... Maybe he wasn’t just hot...

“Of course it fucking does. I don’t know what an alpha does. I didn’t know if I should go get you. Or if you’d been hurt. Or if you’d fucked off back to your apartment thinking you shouldn’t be here...I didn’t know if you were dead somewhere... Fuck, brat... just shut up and accept some fucking help for once”

Please for the love all things sacred don’t let Levi notice he was starting to slick. Or that the alpha’s scent was starting to change to something way too tempting. Swallowing nervously, Eren forced himself off the bed. Accepting help... It made him feel infinitely worse about the coming two weeks

“If you’re coming, you should probably pack”

“I’m already packed. I haven’t unpacked”

“Then... pack some more... I don’t know”

“Eren...”

“I’m not good at this help thing... and things have all gone to shit. Can I have a few moments alone?”

Levi sighed at him

“Alright. I’m a bit reluctant though. I wouldn’t be surprised if you tripped and attacked the furniture in your state”

“In my defence, I didn’t ask for a fucked knee”

“No. I’m not impressed by that at all”

How Eren wanted to confess then have Levi fix things, but he was in far too deep. Four days he’d been mostly okay, 5 minutes with Levi and he was back to being a mess

“That’s what happens when you put someone with my past in with a bunch of cops. I’m grateful I didn’t end up in a ditch. You should probably pack your work things... and the bed isn’t really the greatest. We’re staying in Phillip’s room and it hasn’t changed since he moved out to go to college”

“What size is the bed?”

Eren blinked, the realised it was a valid question seeing he’d practically insinuated they’d be sleeping in it together

“Queen. Thankfully”

“I’ll pack my own bedding. I don’t want to think about the amount of spoof lingering on those sheets”

“They’ve been washed...”

“I’m sure they have been. Fine. Pack your stuff. But you better call out if you need help”

Both of them knew he wouldn’t, still, Eren forced a strained smile as he answered. If living with Hannes failed to scare Levi away, then maybe nothing ever would?

“Yeah. Will do”

[julemmaes]

You marry me, Alas

"Stop eating all my popcorn, they're for the tree" AU

Thomas Lightwood and Alastair Carstairs Fluff Christmas Holiday AU

Okay I kept on writing because apparently it is fun, and I did a little something for my boo @tyherondaletrash who deserves the world and all the love we can give her. And tomorrow is Monday, so it’ll be a shitty shitty day for her (not for me, schools are closed;)) and I hope I can improve her mood a little.

Just gonna tell you that there’s a little angst, a lot of fluff and SHIT TON of sex references, but nothing too serious, hope you’ll enjoy it

Word count: 2,364

Thomas poured the last pan of popcorn into the biggest bowl and picked up the few who had fallen on the island before eating them. He left everything in the kitchen as he went up the stairs of their new house to go get a needle and thread.

Alastair would never agree to do such a thing, he would probably complain all the time about the grease on his hands or the fact that “food should be eaten, not used to make stupid necklaces”, but Tom really wanted to get him into the Christmas spirit. Because that would be the first Christmas they spent with their families and especially the first Christmas since Alastair and Cordelia’s father got out of rehab.

Thomas had found out from James. One afternoon, when only the two of them had gone out to make gifts to the others, out of nowhere he had asked how Alastair was taking it. Thomas had looked at him frowning, because he didn’t understand what he was talking about, and when James told him that their father was going back to London after all those months out of town, the sky fell down on him. Not because he was upset.

He had mostly panicked and text-bombing his boyfriend, who, busy with a business meeting, had not replied right away. And then Thomas had called him. Fifteen times. And when Alastair came out of the meeting he thought the other was dead. He had called back immediately and was slightly angry when Thomas told him to go home because they needed to talk. He tried to imply that he knew about Elias, but Alastair seemed too focused on the fact that he called him so many times, and so he had to be the one with the issue that needed resolving.

Tom sighed, remembering how he had had to pull every word out of Alas' lips, which eventually gave away and began to cry. He had rarely seen his boyfriend cry, but he had never felt so much hatred and anger in his sobs. It was difficult to feel affection for his beloved’s father at that time. A father who had taken away his childhood and forced him to protect his sister’s.

He found the needle in the drawer of his bedside table and took one of the little balls of white thread that Alastair kept in his drawer (for when the buttons fell from his shirts), and went down to the first floor again. He returned to the kitchen, and did not immediately notice that his boyfriend was sitting on the counter swinging his feet and eating his popcorn… his popcorn!

“Hey! I was eating those!”Alastair shouted when Thomas tore the bowl from his hands.

“Make them yourself, if you are hungry! These go on the tree. And you will help me.” he said, sulking like a child, holding the popcorn in his chest. Alastair shook his head sighing and, making a small leap to get off the island, gave his assent.

They went into the living room and sat on the carpet next to the tree. A tree that had been bought almost a week earlier and still didn’t have a single ball on it. This was due to the fact that since Alastair’s holidays had started, there hadn’t been a minute when the two of them hadn’t rolled around in bed.

Sometimes it was annoying to stay apart all day and then be too tired to do any other activity but sleeping, so as soon as the chance to spend some time together for their own business had presented itself, they had not been able to resist and had locked themselves in the house for a week, receiving complaints from Lucie and Christopher, who wanted to go out with them, but they both had repeatedly refused to make the famous double dates she loved so much and shut the door in front of a very confused Kit.

“So? How do we do these things?” asked Alastair by taking a popcorn and throwing it in his mouth.

“Certainly not like that.” muttered Thomas, taking two meters of thread for him and two for the other boy and starting to stick it in his needle, “First put the thread in the needle and then stab the popcorn, like this.” He showed it to him and continued undisturbed until a sound of frustration escaped Alastair’s control and Tom was forced to interrupt his work. Looking up, Thomas never thought he’d find himself in front of an Alastair red of rage with a twisted thread around his fingers, desperately trying not to prick himself again.

“How the fuck do you put something so big inside something so small?! It’s impossible.” Alastair’s hands were shaking from how focused he was, and that didn’t help with his task.

Thomas' eyebrows shot up and, refraining from laughing, he placed his necklace on the ground, gently taking his boyfriend’s hands into his own, stopping that tremendous trembling, “I don’t think you should make another joke like that, or I’ll be forced to leave this tree naked another day to show you how it’s done,” he whispered to him with a wink. Thomas heard him mutter something about being naked and that as far as he was concerned that tree could also burn in the fireplace. “Here.” passed the needle with the already threaded thread, “you have to hold it from here otherwise it slips out.” Alastair thanked him before he took a handful of popcorn and took it to his mouth. Thomas refrained from snorting and began his work once more. He still felt that the other was confabulating and a quick glance made him realize that he would never accomplish anything.

Not even five minutes passed before Alastair stood up and started yelling at the popcorn, which kept breaking and falling off. He stomped his feet on the ground like a child and at that point Thomas could not hold back any longer, bursting into a loud laugh, with his head pulled back.

Alastair took that laugh as an invitation to do something else and on his way to their room, took all the presents he hadn’t wrapped yet, wrapping paper and tape, before he sat down next to his boyfriend. He stared at the books he had bought for Cordelia for a whole minute before taking a deep breath and really started working.

Meanwhile Thomas seemed to have finished his first necklace and was starting the one he had abandoned. Alastair took the wrapping paper and began to rip it in half, so that he had enough for every book, but of course something had to go wrong and a sharp pain took over his finger. He looked at his hand and two drops of blood came out of his thumb, “For fuck’s sake.”

Thomas, intrigued by his boyfriend’s swearing, turned to him, giggling, “I agree. Today is not your day.” he told him, nibbling a popcorn, “Do you want me to go get you a Band-Aid? At least you won’t stain the books.” he proposed with a shy smile.

Alastair turned to him, to that boy he loved so much that sometimes he wondered how it was possible that everything was real. That Thomas was really his. That he could finally be happy, too, if he had someone like Tom by his side.

“Don’t worry, I can go by myself.” he bent down on the other, brushing his lips with his own, but the other took him by the neck of the shirt pulling him down towards him and the kiss became more intense. Alastair lost his balance, ending up on Thomas, that by now was lying on his back, his hands going up under the other’s shirt.

They split just to catch their breath, and when Alastair finally broke off, Thomas gave a grunt of discomfort at the lack of contact, “We said no sex today. And no sex will be.”

“That was a stupid fucking rule, then.” Thomas said, raising his hips against Alastair’s, making him feel how even that little contact between them made him feel. Alastair closed his eyes leaning his forehead against that of the other, laying a last little kiss on his lips. He stood up, resting on his arms and then helped Thomas, lending him a hand.

“Are you sure you want to go to the bathroom? Isn’t it that with your bad luck, you come in and the patches are gone?” Thomas joked on the way to the kitchen to get a drink. Alastair saw from the croner of his eye that he was adjusting his trouser and could not stop his mind when he thought “Stupid rule, indeed”, but they had to finish decorating the house, tomorrow would be Christmas Eve and all their friends and families would come here. Explaining to his mother that you hadn’t decorated anything because you were too busy fucking didn’t seem like a tempting thing to do.

“No you’re actually right. Could you take it fom me?” He took his finger between his lips and sucked it. At least there was no more blood.

“That shitty rule is ruining my day. At this point we would have finished everything.” he was looking at him like a lioness looks at a gazelle after a week of starving. Yet, that lioness had eaten, even too many times, wondered Alastair. He scoffed, knowing full well that they wouldn’t have done anything if it wasn’t for that one rule.

“Stop it, Lightwood, and hurry up so we can finish early and after we can do what we want.” He smiled greedily, swooped over the couch with an athletic jump and landed just two inches from him. He put the Band-Aid on him, insisting that he needed to touch him somehow, and for Alastair to take the piss out of him, those tiny displays of affection swollen his heart.

They both went back to doing what they had to do, until Alastair finished wrapping and then put all the balls there were to be put on the tree, and all the streamers. He also began to decorate the kitchen and the entrance, putting sprigs of mistletoe here and there at Thomas' request. If he had to be completely honest, that afternoon wasn’t as bad as he initially thought.

He was getting up on the chair to put the last twig on the front door, when a Christmas tune blew up the house at full volume, scaring him and making him almost fall, “Oh hell, no,” he complained softly, but he would never ask Thomas to turn it off. For some strange reason, Christmas made him ten times happier, kinder. Perhaps it was because his past Christmas had been spent with a loving family, in houses full of gratitude and happiness, while Alastair’s had all been spent hiding his father’s eggnog where he could not find it and to buy a gift to his sister at the last minute, because no one ever remembered to drive him to the mall.

He came down from the chair in silence and took it back to the counter, where he leaned with both elbows before burying his face in his hands. Stop it, he said to himself, or you will ruin Christmas to everyone, including Thomas. He took a trembling breath, trying to calm down. His father was fine. Cordelia had told him. Layla, his sweet little Layla, who had gone to see Elias alone because he had refused to see him. Layla, who had been forced to meet an alcoholic father alone after knowing a complete different person for a very long time.

He looked out the window, where the snow was starting to come down slowly. He did not notice the volume of the music being lowered, or Thomas looking at him from the doorframe, again, but this time with a hard, thoughtful look. He did not even notice him when the first sob came out of his lips and he cursed under his breath so as not to be heard.

He only noticed Thomas when he approached him with two big strides, and circled his shoulders with his arms, bringing him close to himself, cradling him as he had done every time. Alastair turned to him, hiding his face in his chest, as a liberating cry made its way into him.

Thomas lifted him from the ground and, holding him as tight as he could, went to the couch, where he sat whispering sweet nothings into his ear.

They were like this for hours, one next to the other. The forgotten popcorn necklaces on the floor next to the tree and the half-packed gifts to keep them company.

Alastair looked up at Thomas only when he was sure he was no longer crying and what he saw on the other’s face stopped his breath. There were traces of tears on Thomas' cheeks as well. Alastair sat up straight, still on his boyfriend’s lap, holding both hands to his face, “Tom,” he whispered passing a finger on his cheekbone. Thomas took his hand in his, taking it to his mouth and leaving a tender kiss on his palm, before resting it on his chest, on his heart.

Thomas looked him in the eye and as every time he looked at him his love grew and grew so much that for a second he was afraid he would explode, he was sure that he would die if he did nothing to let Alastair know his feelings. How much he loved him and how much this love grew every day. For everything that he meant to him and for everything he stood for.

Thomas had a completely crazy idea in mind, but he was sure, sure of that love. Sure that the only voice that mattered in the midst of the thousand that he heard every day was the voice of the man who stood on his lap at that moment. And he was not afraid when he opened his mouth and moved to speak, did not feel fear, only an indescribable emotion, while…

“Marry me.”

“You marry me, Alas.”

[spider-manholland]

Please Don’t Break My Heart | Peter Parker

part one of the mending hearts mini-series

Pairing(s): Ex!Peter Parker x Female Reader, Peter Parker x Michelle Jones, Brad Davis x Female Reader

Warning(s): angst, whole lotta angst, small hints of fluff if you squint closely, swearing, mentions of cheating (but not actually), implications of smut, Far From Home spoilers

Summary: Sometimes it takes losing the person you once loved to make you realize how much they still mean to you.

Requested: Yes / No @decaffeinated-turtle

Masterlist

You knew it was only a matter of time this would happen, you just wished it never came. You lifted your heavy-weighted head up from your lap to stare at your boyfriend, Peter Parker that stood in front of you, your eyes filled with tears as you watched him stand there awkwardly, his hands laced together.

“I don’t understand.” Of course you understood why this was happening. Ever since the “blip”, when everyone that disappeared five years ago came back Peter was never the same. He became distant, never answered your phone calls or replied to your texts, missed dates. He would go days without talking to you. “I-Is it me?” You asked, pointing at yourself. “D-Did I do something wrong for making you feeling this way-”

“No, it’s not you!” Peter immediately replied, shaking his head. “I-I just...” His voice trailed, his eyes flashing something you rarely saw him show. Guilt. “I don’t love you anymore.”

I don’t love you anymore. Those words were like sharp knives, each one stabbing repeatedly in your chest. “I have feelings for someone else.” And that’s when you felt your heart finally break, shattered into a million pieces and slowly falling into the pit of your stomach.

“Who?” You felt yourself instantly ask, but you didn’t need an answer because everything began to piece together. It was Michelle Jones. It all made sense to you. The glances they shared during classes. The times they sat together at lunch, just themselves. Walking home with one another. The whispering between each other in the middle class changes. “Oh my god,” you gasped, tears spilling from eyes. “Oh my god!”

“I’m so sorry,” Peter’s voice cracked, his own pair of eyes becoming glossy as well. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I swear.”

“Did you guys ever-” You began to ask but was immediately cut off when Peter shook his head vigorously. “No, of course not! I could never do that you, ever!”

You nodded your head, having no words to say. And uncomfortable silence then filled your apartment’s living room, nothing but the sound of soft cries coming from you. “I’m really sorry, Y/N.”

“I-I think you just leave, Peter.” Your voice was soft, trembling slightly as you pointed your finger at your apartment’s door. Peter opened his mouth, trying to form the right words to say but just ended up nodding his head. You watched as he made his way towards your door, glancing at you one last time before leaving your apartment and out of your life.

And once the door closed, that’s when you completely broke down as everything came crashing down on you.

- - -

You remembered exactly how you felt when you first found out about your class trip to Europe. You were beyond excited, jumping up and down in your seat as you already began to plan what to do once you got there. But all that excitement completely vanished when your relationship with Peter ended, ruining all of your plans for Europe.

But there you were, walking down the narrow isle of the plane as you tried to find your seat, 32B. As you walked down the isle, flashing your classmates a friendly smile as you passed. You then felt your heart suddenly stop beating as your eyes landed on where you were sitting specifically. Next to your empty seat sat none of other than your ex-boyfriend, Peter Parker and his best friend Ned Leeds.

“Well shit,” you cursed under your breath before stepping towards your row, feeling yourself beginning sweat out of nervousness as your gaze went from the row number to the two boys that were staring at you with wide-eyes. “Hey,” you spoke up awkwardly, receiving nothing but small waves from them. “I sit there,” you pointed at the empty window seat beside Peter.

“Oh,” Peter quickly replied, him and Ned standing up in their seat to give you space to walk in front of them. You and Peter both gave each other awkward smiles before sitting down in your seat, heat bubbling up in the pit of your stomachs as your arms accidentally brushed up against each other.

“S-Sorry,” you both quickly apologized, blush forming on your guys’ cheeks.

“It’s okay.” You smiled softly, before turning your head towards your carry-on backpack and pulled out your favorite book. You then plugged in your earphones and blasted your music as loud as you can as you began to read your book, hoping that the endless number of words and songs would help you forget about Peter, your ex-boyfriend that you still loved so much that broke up with you only two weeks ago sitting right next to you.

And it did, but only for a while. After about three hours of listening to music and reading, you couldn’t help but notice Peter constantly turning around his seat, glancing back and whispering quite loudly at Ned, annoying you. You paused your music, can’t help but wondering what they were talking about.

“Ned, do you think you could ask Betty to switch seats with me so that I can sit with MJ?” He asked quietly, unaware that you were listening.

“What?” Ned’s mouth gaped open, “And make me sit by myself for the rest of the flight?” You couldn’t but smile to yourself at the sound of his tone. You always pictured Ned as a giant teddy bear and that voice immediately made you think of that. “Why can’t you ask Y/N to switch seats with MJ?”

“Are you serious right now?” Peter’s whispered tone slightly raising. “We just broke up two weeks ago, I can’t ask her that.”

“Fine,” Ned sighed, frowning. “I’ll just ask MJ to switch seats with me-” He began to stand up but was then yanked back down by Peter who stared at him with wide-eyes. “No, Ned! That’s worse. I can’t have Y/N, my ex-girlfriend sit next to the girl I broke up with her for.”

That’s when you decided that you heard enough. You yanked your earphones out of your ear and turned to face the two boys. “I’ll ask MJ to switch seats with me.”

“Y/N, I-” Peter tried to speak but you didn’t give him the chance because you were already standing up from your seat, your carry-on in your hands as you pushed past them, praying that they didn’t see the tears forming in your eyes but of course, Peter did.

You slowly walked down the narrow isle, trying to blink away the the sad but angry tears that managed to slip down your cheeks, wiping the rest as you arrived at MJ and Betty’s row, getting the two girls’ attention. “Hey MJ, do you think we could switch seats?” You asked, clearing your throat at the same time your voice cracked, trying to hide it. “After what happened between me and Peter, it’s kinda awkward sitting next to him.”

“Y-Yeah, sure.” MJ nodded her head, grabbing her things and stepping out of her seat, allowing you to sit down before heading back over to your row.

You couldn’t help but watch as she got to your seat, your heart dropping at the bright smile that formed on her lips. You could see her mouth moving but couldn’t make up the words she was saying.

I’m already regretting going on this trip, you immediately thought before sinking deeper into your uncomfortable seat and letting a much needed sleep consume you.

You didn’t know how long you were asleep until you felt the plane jerk abruptly, knocking you right into consciousness. “Shit,” you swore, rubbing your head softly.

“Yeah, turbulence sucks.” Betty spoke up, causing you to turn towards the pretty blonde, nodding your head in agreement. “Are we almost there?” You asked, shuffling in your seat. “I think we have about three hours left.”

“Oh my god,” you groaned, “It feels like this plane ride has gone on forever.”

You then poked your head out and glanced back down the isle, seeing the bathroom sign that currently showed it was occupied. “I gotta go use the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” You then flashed Betty a quick smile before standing up from your seat.

As you walked down the narrow isle you couldn’t but check what used to be your seat, your heart stopping at the sight of MJ and Peter both asleep, her head resting on his shoulder as they both shared the plane’s complimentary blanket.

Fuck, you thought as tears filled your eyes once again, but you quickly blinked them away and continued to head towards the bathroom. When you got there you were then met by Brad Davis, one extremely attractive guy in your class, one of the few that weren’t “blipped” away.

“Hey, L/N.” He smiled politely, leaning against the wall beside the bathroom. “Hey, Davis.” You smiled back, crossing your arms over your chest as the both of you patiently waited for the toilet.

“How you doing, ya know, after you and Parker-” You immediately rolled your eyes, already knowing what he was about to ask you. “I’m fine.” You replied, your soft stare turning into a glare.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Brad quickly apologized, frowning sympathetically. “It’s just that I saw what you did back there, changing your seats with MJ. That’s brave.”

“I don’t know what you mean-” you started say but stopped when Brad just laughed, shaking his head. “Come on, everybody in our class knows Peter likes MJ.”

“Oh,” your tone was soft, your lips slighted parted. “Yeah.” You glanced down at the ground, playing with your fingers.

“Parker’s a dumbass.” His words made you immediately shoot your head up and stare at him confusingly, your brows furrowed. “I mean yeah, Michelle’s pretty and all but damn, you are-” he chuckled nervously, “-you’re drop-dead gorgeous, insanely smart. I could go on if you want.”

“No,” you laughed, feeling yourself blush at his compliments. “You’re good. Thank you.”

“Again, Parker’s a dumbass for letting you go.” He repeated, causing the both of you to laugh loudly and some woman that was seated near the bathroom to shush you two. What you both didn’t know was that your laughter also caused Peter to wake up due to his enhanced hearing, his eyes then landing on the two you talking, feeling something he hasn't felt in a long time go off in his chest.

You and Brad both broke apart when the bathroom door flew open, the man that was inside stepping out. “Ladies first.” Brad then said, holding his arm out teasingly but respectfully, causing you to chuckle at his playful manner.

But as you stepped inside the bathroom you felt yourself stop before you could close the door. You began to hear Brad’s words echo inside your mind.

Parker’s a dumbass for letting you go.

You’re drop-dead gorgeous, insanely smart.

Peter likes MJ.

Peter likes MJ.

Peter likes MJ.

Next thing you knew your lips were on his, pulling him into the small bathroom and closing it behind the both of you.

But neither of you knew that Peter was watching the whole thing. He watched as you placed your lips against Brad’s. He watched as you pulled him into the bathroom and closed it behind you.

And he watched as the bathroom’s sign changed from Vacant to Occupied.

Thank you @decaffeinated-turtle for requesting this! I love this one-shot idea so much that I decided to turn it into a mini-series so stay tuned. Let me know if you want to be tagged for this series in particular or be part of my permanent tagslist.

- Permanent Tagslist -

@laic2299  @starsholland  @untoldstoriescomingtrough  @squid-kidd8

[minervahopebeyond]

Blood Daffodils.

Hello!! So here it is! I hope you like it, we are so near to the battle that I’m internally screaming. Please let me know what you thought!! 💕💕 I love to read your comments, they always make my day a little bit better 😊✨ Ps. I’ve checked but sorry if you find any errors in this one

Chapter 18: Safe house.

He slowly opened his eyes, very aware of the fact that he was alone in Harry’s bed... The memories of the night before flashed through his mind and he couldn’t help but to smile as he turned and buried his nose in the pillow, enjoying the smell of Potter’s cologne. Where was he?

Draco got off the bed and grabbed the night-robe that was on the chair right beside him.

Everything seemed pretty quiet, if Harry had woken up early, normally, he could hear him preparing breakfast downstairs, just because he was bored. But no, nothing.

He started to climb down the stairs, and, with every step he took, Draco was feeling more and more nervous. The flowers weren’t hurting him because they were still too happy from last night, but they were alert and that wasn’t a good thing. When the blond boy opened the door of the kitchen, and didn’t find any sign of Potter, he turned around and ran upstairs.

He opened the door of his bedroom, quietly, just in case that Ron was actually still sleeping and he was just being a paranoid arsehole, jumping to conclusions. The room was desolated, Weasley’s backpack wasn’t on the corner were it always was, and when Draco opened their wardrobe he was not shocked to find that most of his friend’s clothes were gone.

“No no no no no no no.” He mumbled repeatedly as he crossed the hallway to open Granger’s room without knocking.

Clean. Perfectly well made bed, the muggle photographs that she had in her nightstand weren’t there and, just like Ron, most of her clothes weren’t there either.

Gryffindor back-stabbing traitors. No, he wasn’t going to allow this.

He walked to his room again, the house still in silence, and took the map from under his bed. If they were at Grimmauld again he was going to kill them.

And he tried the spell.

And he tried it again.

And again

And again.

And again.

The blood wasn’t moving. It attempted to, it circled but it settled right in the same spot still.

‘Why isn’t it working?’

The flowers were scratching him now, like the drugged haze had finally faded away, and it made him very aware that something was definitely wrong. Like the kind of wrong that he couldn’t fix.

He tried the spell again and the blood still marked the same spot. ‘But they aren’t here, are they?’

“Oh no, weasel. Tell me you didn’t.” Draco pleaded as he reached over to the little drawer in the redhead’s nightstand. The place where he kept the pictures of his family and the little rock that Granger had found in the garden one day, claiming that it had a shape of a heart before leaving it on the grass again, the one that Ron secretly put in his pocket afterwards. Everything that was important to him was kept in that drawer... Now it was empty, except for one thing.

The coughing fit started as soon as he saw it. Fucking weasel, bloody excuse of a best friend, lying to his fucking face, leaving the necklace and leaving him here. The tears started to course down his cheeks, his lungs were burning worst than ever.

He saw a little note taped, almost hidden in the back of the drawer. Desperately, he reached over to take it in his hands. Maybe it was an address, maybe he had tricked the other two stupid parts of the Golden Trio.

He felt like his heart was shattering in a million pieces.

I’m sorry, Ferret. It wasn’t my call.

He let out a cry of pain as he felt the flowers tearing him up inside. His throat was raw from the screaming as he just kept on coughing and crying. Petal after petal, the pain didn’t stop. Not even a bit, nothing.

The daffodils kept on screaming at him, making things worse, they always made everything fucking worse.

‘HE LEFT US, HE DOESN’T WANT US. HE LEFT US, HE DOESN’T WANT US. HE LEFT US, HE DOESN’T WANT US. HE LEFT US, HE DOESN’T WANT US.’

And if that thought alone wasn’t enough for Draco to choke, it was replaced by something much more painful: the truth.

‘HE DOESN’T LOVE US BACK, HE DOESN’T CARE.’

Suffocation. Unstoppable suffocation.

He heard someone running down the hallway, the door being slammed open.

“KID! SIRIUS! COME NOW-“

But Mr. Potter was cut short by Draco coughing even louder, wheezing as the little air entered to be expelled from his lungs as soon as possible. The raw pain in the middle of the chest was something that he felt kind of familiar with... But not quite like this. Never like this.

“HARRY!!” James cried for help and that only made things worse. Because Potter was not coming. Potter had actually abandoned him and left with his true friends. Potter had finally come to terms with him being a fucking liability on the battle field. The same boy that the night before had kissed him before whispering that Draco was perfect.

The unbearable need to expulse the Daffodil took over. He started to force his own coughs, it was like he was finally controlling some of this awful feeling. It sounded horrible, though.

“CAN SOMEONE IN THIS HOUSE COME HERE?? Kid, you are going to be fine, I swear-“

“Harry isn’t here.” Sirius worried voice echoed in the room. He coughed even harder. “Oh, Circe. James! Harry isn’t here” He repeated as he threw himself to the floor and started to hug Draco tightly.

“Little cousin. Listen to me.” His voice was interrupted by the first entire Daffodil coming out from his mouth, all covered in scarlet blood. Yes, the first one, because the chest crushing pain wasn’t going away, which meant that there were more coming. “Oh for Merlin. THAT’S AN ENTIRE DAFFODIL JAMES!-“

“Sirius, you are not helping.”

“Oh, really?” And Draco felt his cousin taking his face in his hands, forcing him to look up, even though the has still coughing and the drops of blood were staining his hands. “Draco: Harry is in love with you. Do you hear me? He’s been in love with you for a long time, he said so. James, tell him.”

“Yes, kid... He would kill us for telling you, but he is.”

And Draco forced himself to cough the second daffodil, all disgustingly red and burning its way up his throat. And once the fucking flower was out, he raised his eyes and hissed.

“Don’t fucking lie to me.” He cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand, still crying. “He left me here! I’m going to strangle him.”

And, suddenly, with Draco coughing a little more softly, no longer in immediate danger, James and Sirius were slapped in the face with the situation.

Harry had ran away. He left. He took Granger and Weasley with him. Draco felt like the tears in their eyes were even more heart breaking than what Potter did to him.

——————————-

“Pack you bags. We are leaving, kid.”

Draco frowned as he lifted his eyes from his book.

“What?”

“We are going to a safe house. The wards are too weak because you are sick and Sirius level of anxiety keeps his magic out of control. I can’t keep them up for much longer. We are leaving.”

His voice sounded so determined, there was no place for Draco’s opinion there. None. And they couldn’t leave.

“They are not back yet!” He said and that made the daffodils hurt him because it was like he kept reminding them that Potter was not here. He coughed a few times before speaking again. “ Your son isn’t back yet.”

“I am fully aware. Pack your bags.”

“NO.”

And the door of his bedroom was opened again, this time Sirius entering the room. It was kind of weird because he could feel him... his magic. Normally he felt everyone’s magic, but in this case? It was like something that burned him, that made him nervous. Mr. Potter said that the more you live with it, the less you feel it.

“Is everything alright?”

“No. It’s not! “ Draco told his cousin, his voice was desperate, trying to find some kind of support. “I’m not going anywhere. They said not to send anything, if we leave then they are not going to be able to find us.”

Mr. Potter was looking at him, Draco could see the purple circles around his brown eyes, the bags under them, and he could notice that he was tired beyong measure... But they couldn't leave. He loved Sirius and James with his entire heart but if this was a choice between them and Potter... It was always going to be Potter. Even if the arsehole left him to rot in this house and had no intention whatsoever in coming back. Even then.

Sirius walked passing by Mr. Potter, and he touched his arm in a very gentle way as he did. He continued walking until he was beside Draco's bed. He sighed and then spoke, his voice cracking in the middle.

"Little cousin, if they want to find us they can. I know that, James knows that and <cite>you </cite> defenitely know that. We can't send a Patronus, but they can, they just are choosing not to." 

Yeah, that or they actually were in danger, hurt, kidnap or worse... But neither Draco or them had intentions of bringing that up. The flowers were already constant reminder of how worried he was and how unwanted he felt. So fucking lonely and angry... and still, here he was, trying to convince them to stay, hoping to hear the crack of apparation and Potter's voice again.

“Can’t we wait another day...? Please.” Draco begged Sirius with the puppy eyes that usually worked on him. Out of the two of them, Sirius was the most permissive and soft. James was much more ‘If you live under my roof you are going to follow my rules’ but given that he looked like a twenty-two year old... well, it looked rather comical for him to be setting rules and shit. But he still did, like right now.

“Jamie, could you leave us alone for a minute?” He asked kindly, looking at the man behind him.

“No, Padfoot. You are going to cave! I can see it in those stupidly gorgeous eyes of yours.”

But Sirius just held his gaze, the corner of his lips moving sightly upwards, and Mr. Potter huffed before excusing himself out of the room.

It was rather cute, how utterly whipped James was. He always thought that it would be Sirius, the one who gave him all... But after living with them for so much time he realized that if his cousin asked for something, then Mr. Potter would just do it. He enjoyed spoiling Sirius. Draco saw himself in Mr. Potter sometimes, doing things just to make Harry happy.

‘Look how that turned out.’

He couldn’t help to cough a little and Sirius turned to look at him again, this time something that resembled pity appeared in his eyes. Draco hated pity.

“We really have to leave. Someone offered us a safe place and we have to take it-“

“Who?” Draco asked as he played with the pages of his book, just to occupy his hands in something other than this horrible conversation, in something other than the constant taste of blood in his mouth.

“Remus.” Sirius answered.

Draco raised his eyebrows and looked up, surprised. They hadn’t seen Remus and Nymphadora since the wedding... Sirius and James had told him that Dora was expecting almost a month after the six of them started to be locked up in the mansion. Apparently she was a couple of months into the pregnancy the last time they had seen them. Harry was desperate to see Remus and Dora, to know that they were okay... and now he wasn’t even here.

Edward Remus Lupin had been born on the beginning of March and Draco craved to meet him, he just wished that it would have been in other circumstances.

“Sirius... Just one day. Is the only thing I’m asking... Give them one more day and if they are not back yet then I go without saying anything.” His cousin sighed, tired.

“I’ll see what I can do-“

“Yes! Thank you!” And Draco pulled him into a bone crushing hug. Sirius chuckled a little as he hugged him back.

“You are not the only one who is hurting you know...” He said and made Draco’s heart ache. “ This isn’t easy for him, he is trying to keep us alive because he cares, because he loves us too.” There was a pause, he felt like it lasted forever. “Do you think that he doesn’t want to go after him? He already missed so much of Harry’s life and now-“

“I know.” Draco whispered with his voice cracking. “I just- I wished they hadn’t left.”

Draco hated to talk about this because Sirius would <cite>always</cite> reply the same way. This time was no different.

“He is too in love with you, it clouds his judgement.”

And, as always, Draco started to cough, staining his cousin’s shirt with the drops of blood. Sirius stopped talking after that.

——————————

Mr. Potter had to sided apparated both of them. The poor man was getting exhausted and it showed on his face. Draco and Sirius were in no state to apparate by themselves, there was no other choice.

They apparated in the middle of nowhere. At least, that’s what Draco thought because there was literally nothing except from trees around them.

“Well, this brings me back.” Sirius said as he grabbed the luggage. Draco couldn’t even carry his own because just walking was exhausting. He felt so bloody weak.

Mr. Potter offered him his arm as support, saying that the house wasn’t far away but maybe it would be too much for Draco to walk alone.

The flowers were constantly cutting him. He became used to the disgusting metallic taste in his mouth mixed with the flowery taste. And the lungs, Merlin. Breathing was so fucking difficult, it was a chore, a job, he had to do it and force himself to keep on doing it because otherwise he would die... But it was so painful, so fucking painful. Like, right then, Draco could feel the breeze caressing his face, he could smell the scent of the forest, but when he tried to take a deep breath it would just end in coughing. The flowers missed Potter and Draco felt the same way, he couldn’t even argue with them about it.

It seemed invisible at first, the wards were so perfectly maintained that you couldn’t even imagine were the cabin even was. Mr. Potter and Sirius clearly knew the path by heart, as to how... it was a mystery to Draco. The trees all looked the same to him.

“Where are we?”

“Cheshire, in the Delamere forest.” James answered with a kind voice. “We used to come here all the time on summers.”

Draco looked around, it was very pretty although for him it was like being in the middle of nowhere. It looked like all was orange and green with the right light. It was almost noon, the sun rays passed through the treetops and formed a halo over some them. It looked rather beautiful... If Draco weren’t feeling like a walking corpse he would probably take a walk around.

Then, just behind a rather large beech, a small wooden cabin appeared into view. Remus and Nymphadora had adjusted the wards for them so they could get in easily. Still, once they were inside of the wards they found Remus standing in front of the house pointing at them with his wand.

“When did you figured out my secret? What did you tell me when you did?” His voice was controlled and steady. Mr. Potter was the one who answered first.

“Second year, after Halloween. I told you that you were the least scary person I knew, that my mom still had the first place when she was angry.”

Then Remus turned to Sirius, asking him what was the thing that scared him the most, the one thing that he confessed to him at Grimmauld.

“You told me that you were scare of being alone again. After I escaped, you were staying at Grimmauld’s in the guest room with the pink lamp that I hate, we were kind of drunk and you told me that you never wanted to be alone again.”

And finally he turned to Draco. It was rather comical because he was so stressed out and tired and he missed Potter so much that he coughed a few petals right there.

“Hello, Draco.” Remus said with a smile. “I heard that you didn’t want to come at all.”

The blond boy sighed and pushed Mr. Potter to move forward and enter the house already. He wasn’t in the bloody mood.

Remus yelled, telling Nymphadora that it was safe to come out, and suddenly, Draco was in front of a one-month-old baby. His cousin was there too, helding the little thing, but he couldn’t take his eyes away from Edward.

He was so so little, his hair was light blue, almost turquoise, it was one of the proofs of his metamorphmagus powers. His eyes were dark, but most babies didn’t show their true eye color until they were three months old...

He let go of James’ arm and began to walk towards little Edward.

He could hear everyone talking around him, the marauders greeting each other, even Dora joking about the fact that Draco hadn’t said hi to any of them but here he was, enchanted by little Teddy.

Once he was finally in front of him, he said a little quiet ‘Hi’ to Nymphadora and then continued to fix his eyes on the baby.

“Hi, I’m your cousin... I don’t have cool hair like you but we are related.”

Edward blinked, it seemed like he almost understood what Draco had said because his eyes were trying hard to focus in his blond hair. He extended one of his chubby hands towards it with difficulty and Draco bowed his head to let this cute baby touch his hair.

He was too little, he didn’t have a strong grip, he was kind of messing up Draco’s hair and trying to pull it but failing in the process and ending up running his fingers through it instead.

“Teddy seems to like you, little cousin.” Nymphadora said with amusement, he was about to respond when he heard Sirius.

“Hey! Don’t call him that, he is my little cousin, find your own.” He could hear Mr. Potter’s laughter and when he moved away from Edward’s to see them, they were already hugging.

“Ignore him, Tonks! He is just afraid that the kid might like you better-“

“I am not!” Sirius exclaimed.

Nymphadora chuckled before responding.

“He is my little cousin too, stupid! And now, just because you said that, I’m going to call him that all the time.” Sirius gasped and Draco couldn’t help but to laugh. Then, Dora turned around and gestured for them to enter already. “I’m preparing lunch. Honey, would you showed them their bedroom?” And Remus nodded, of course.

Draco made an effort to take a few steps towards Sirius to pull him into a hug, stealing him from Mr. Potter’s arms.

“Don’t worry, you’re still my favorite.” He said in a low voice and even though Sirius’ eyes shone with happiness, he just flipped his hair and shrugged.

“Of course I am. It isn’t even a competition because if it were: I would totally win.”

Draco laughed again and tightened his arms around his cousin, walking towards the little cabin. He thought that Potter would love to be here... and the flowers started to scratch him again.

‘WE SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFT.’

And he kind of agreed with them a little.

———————————

At night, Draco laid in the pull out couch in the middle of the living room. The house was quiet and the only sound he could hear was the wind going through the trees, making them move and the animals that chose the night to walk around the forest. That was all he could hear and it was beautiful. The flowers were moving restlessly inside of him. Of course sleeping wasn't an option, these days he could barely get three hour of uninterrupted sleep, they wouldn't let him get more than that. He sometimes felt like they were being ungrateful with Sirius and Mr. Potter... But given the fact that the daffodils were actually Draco, maybe he was the one who was being an ungrateful brat and couldn't admit it.

Draco missed Potter. He actually missed Harry and felt like calling him by his first name did not express how mad he was, or how sad, or even how much he wanted him. 'Potter' was a name that came with so much history, such long years of pining that seemed to never end. Everytime he had let himself think that it was possible, that maybe something  was starting to finally come together... Every single hope he had would get crushed. He hated it, he was tired of it.

But he missed him. He missed him so much that his entires body craved and ached for him. So much that the flowers sometimes would get tired of hurting him, after so much hours doing the same bloody thing...

And he wanted to tell him, he wanted to tell him everything. About the cabin, about Edward, about Remus and Nymphadora. He wanted to tell him about James and how much of an angel he was, that he left this cabin in his will for Remus, that he had to actually fight with him to take it after all this years... He wanted to tell him everything and he couldn’t because he was not there.

No talks after midnight, no stolen kisses in the middle of the day, no listening to Queen while Potter run his fingers through his hair, and no-

He cursed under his breath at the feelin of the flowers cutting him open, coughing wildly. No more nights like the one in the attic.

He moved the covers, freeing himself from them and cursed because of the pain and effort that took standing up by himself. He walked very slowly to the wooden round table in the kitchen and grabbed one of the quills and come parchment that Remus had left there before going to bed. He sat down on the chair, making it creak, look at the blanc parchment and took a deep breath. It wasn’t the same, but it was something. He missed Potter, he missed him and if he didn’t do something about it soon the flowers were going to kill him.

Dear Harry:

[spacedoutwrites]

the past will be the past (but the future is brighter than any flashback)

This is my @irondadficexchange fic for the lovely @iamirondad 🎉🎉🎉

The prompt I chose to use was Peter gets hurt on patrol. The title of this fic comes from the song January White by Sleeping at Last. 

Hope you enjoy!

Post-endgame, Tony saved the world and survived. Life is finally getting back to normal. Peter goes out on patrol and everything is fine, until it's not.

Read on AO3

“Dang.” Peter muttered.

Everything had been going fine, great actually.

It was a few months after everyone returned from their five year disappearance and things were finally getting settled down. Thanks to Doctor Strange, Tony was starting to get back on his feet after wielding the gauntlet. It hadn't been easy, but he was determined to get back to normal, or as close as he could get. Peter and May had a new apartment in Queens, school would start soon, and Spider-Man was finally patrolling again.

But now, it was only Peter’s third afternoon back on the streets and there was already a knife in his thigh.

Admittedly, he had been a little distracted (maybe things hadn't been quite as great as Peter wanted to believe). Putting the suit back on had been harder than he expected it to be. The first few times he tried, he hadn’t been able to put it on at all. Anxiety and fear plagued him. The feeling of crumbling into nothingness, darkness slowly but inevitably consuming him, invaded his thoughts like a dense, unwanted cloud. In his dreams, he watched Tony die over and over and over. The man hadn’t even died in real life, but Peter’s subconscious had decided to play out the worst case scenario repeatedly.

The feeling that the people of New York needed him only heightened his anxiety. All he wanted was to get out there and help people, but he couldn’t, he wasn’t strong enough. The feeling of utter incompetence was paralyzing, shaking him to his core. If he couldn’t be Spider-Man, who was he?

It had taken time, especially time with Tony, for Peter to feel like he was ready to go out again. The nightmares were finally receding, the anxieties lessening. His first two patrols had been mostly uneventful and he had felt great afterward, but for some reason it was different this time.

A guy had stolen some lady’s purse and run off with it. Peter was hot on his heels, hoping he could get the purse back to its rightful owner, and maybe web up the thief while he was at it, but while he was running, Peter’s heart rate had sped up more than usual. His senses tingled, something felt wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He ignored the feeling as he caught up to the purse snatcher, but that turned out to be a big mistake.

The man turned as Peter grabbed his shoulder, immediately plunging the knife Peter hadn’t noticed into his thigh.

As Peter stumbled back, the man continued running, turning down an alley and out of sight.

“Dang,” Peter muttered, looking down at his right leg. The suit was already turning a darker shade of red. He shot a web up the nearest building and swung himself onto the roof.

He wanted to go after the attacker, but his vision was starting to get blurry, his head starting to spin. The stab wound wasn’t that bad, right? He plopped down unceremoniously on the ground, careful not to disturb the knife that was still in his leg. The pain and the fuzziness reminded him of Thanos and the stones and the gauntlet and that stupid planet and watching the people around him turn to dus-

“Incoming call from Tony Stark,” Karen said, interrupting Peter’s spiraling thoughts.

“Dang,” Peter said again, face scrunching up as a wave of dizziness rolled through him. “Decline the call.”

“I’m afraid he’s bypassing my control,” Karen said. Before she could say anything else, the call went through.

“Peter?” Tony’s worried voice rang in his ears. “Are you okay, kid?”

Peter opened his mouth to answer, but he felt like he couldn’t breathe in enough air, so he gasped instead.

“Peter?” Tony’s voice was growing louder and more concerned. “Can you answer me? What’s going on?”

Peter gasped again, finally getting enough air. “I’m fine,” he said, his voice rising about an octave higher than usual. “Just a little accident, everything’s fine.”

“I got a notification from your suit that said it was punctured by a knife,” Tony said, sounding completely unconvinced of Peter’s answer.

“Yeah…” Peter started. “But I’ll be fine, I’m sure it’ll heal up real quick.”

“Absolutely not,” Tony said sternly, “get to the tower now.”

Peter’s breathing was still irregular and labored, “I would,” he said between gasps, “but I think I’m having a panic attack or something.” He paused, “I- I think I’m just gonna lay here for a little while.”

“I’m sending a suit,” Tony said, his voice still agitated.

“Oh, you really don’t have to,” Peter said, “I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“Shut up Parker, the suit’s already on its way.”

Peter pulled his mask off so he could breathe more easily. His chest still felt unusually tight, his throat constricted. What was wrong with him? This wasn’t exactly the first time something had gone awry while he was on patrol. He’d been shot, stabbed, knocked out, pretty much every trick in the book, but he could usually walk it off. This was different. There was a sense of dread and panic lurking somewhere inside of him. He felt as though, at any moment, he would crumble again, floating away, just dust in the wind.

At that mental image, he gasped again, tears were starting to gather in his eyes. He heard something approaching, but he was still laying on the roof, pinned down by his own intrusive thoughts.

“Hey, Pete,” he heard Iron Man’s voice, the outline of the suit coming into view. “I’m going to get you back to the tower, okay?”

Peter didn’t respond, everything was blurring around him again.

“Peter!” Iron Man’s voice sounded upset, almost like he was dying again.

The pain that blossomed from Peter’s leg was suddenly amplified. I’m dying. Was all he could think. Tony’s right there, but I’m dying. It was all too familiar. He can’t save me. No one can save me. In his mind, he could imagine the tips of his fingers starting to disintegrate. Please, not again.

He didn’t realize it, but he was sobbing now.

Iron Man gently picked him up and held him close, careful to avoid jostling his leg. He was saying something to Peter, talking quietly to him, but Peter couldn’t seem to understand what he was saying.

“I don’t wanna go, Mr. Stark,” he gasped.

The suit stopped talking at that, and after a moment they took off from the roof, not flying too fast, but getting Peter back to the tower, back to Tony, as quickly as possible.

When they landed on top of the recently re-acquired Stark Tower, Tony was waiting, Helen Cho by his side.

Tony hurried over to Peter, who was still being held by the suit.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Tony said quickly, cupping Peter’s face in his hands. “You’re going to be okay bud, everything’s going to be just fine, I’ve got you.”

Peter took a shuddering breath, tears still streaking down his face. He let out an involuntary cry, unable to calm himself down.

Tony’s thumb gently wiped at Peter’s cheek. He ran a hand through the boy’s sweaty hair. “We’re going to take good care of you, Pete, your leg will be all better in no time. We have to get you down to the med bay now.”

Tony held onto Peter’s hand as they headed to the elevator, the Iron Man suit still carrying the boy.

Helen injected Peter with pain meds first, a dose strong enough for him to pass out within a few minutes. Under Tony’s watchful eye, she removed the blade from Peter’s thigh, cleaning and stitching up the wound before she left the meds and Peter’s advanced healing to take care of the rest.

Tony stayed in the room while Peter slept, going through the footage from Peter’s suit, trying to figure out what went wrong.

Peter’s frightened cries stabbed at his heart, reminding him too of the worst day of everyone’s lives. “ I don’t wanna go, Mr. Stark” echoed around in his mind.

After a couple of hours, Peter started awake, a frenzied look in his eyes.

Tony was by his side in a heartbeat. “You’re safe, Pete,” he said. “Everything’s okay.”

Peter looked around the room frantically until his eyes settled on Tony. He relaxed, laying back down on the bed with a relieved sigh.

“How do you feel?” Tony asked carefully.

“I’m really tired,” Peter said, rubbing at his eyes.

Tony nodded, “the meds really wiped you out.” After a moment, he ventured further, “what happened out there?”

Peter’s brow furrowed, “I don’t know,” he sat up gingerly. “I started out doing my usual thing. I helped a cat that was stuck in a tree, I stopped someone from breaking into a car, you know, what I always do. But then I went after this purse-snatcher and something felt wrong, but I didn’t know what, and then I wasn’t really paying attention, and then the guy stabbed me and ran away.”

Tony leaned forward in his seat, “did you figure out what was wrong?”

Peter shook his head. “I guess I was sensing the knife, but that didn’t really seem like the problem. It was the first time my senses were warning me that I was in danger like that since… well since I died.”

Tony swallowed hard. “That’s why you had a panic attack.”

“Yeah,” Peter said sheepishly. “I’ve felt it in my dreams plenty of times, but this felt so much like I was going to disappear again that it freaked me out.”

“That would freak me out too,” Tony said. “It did freak me out.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Peter said, sounding discouraged. “I thought I was ready to be Spider-Man again, but at the first sign of trouble I flipped out.”

“It’s totally normal to feel that way,” Tony reassured him. “It can take a long time to recover from something traumatic like that.”

“I know,” Peter sighed, “but I’ve been sitting around long enough. I just want to get out there and do something, start helping people again. I don’t want the past to stop from doing stuff now.”

Tony nodded, “I know how you feel. After Loki and his little army invaded New York, I felt like I was never going to be normal again. Any thought of aliens or wormholes or almost dying would set me off like nothing else. I didn’t feel safe anymore and I let fear control me for a really long time.”

“What did you do?” Peter asked. “How did you feel safe again?”

Tony paused. “I guess I learned to live one day at a time,” he finally said. “I realized that I was taking the present for granted. The past is something that already happened and you just have to look to the future, let it pull you in, away from your past, away from all of the crappy stuff and into something new and exciting and beautiful.”

“Or you could just discover time travel and go back and fix it,” Peter suggested mischievously.

Tony reached out and messed with Peter’s hair. “Only for you, kid. Overly sentimental speeches aside, I just want you to know that it’s okay if you’re not ready to go out as Spider-Man yet. That doesn’t mean you aren’t Spider-Man anymore or anything like that, it just means that you need to take a little extra time to recover.”

Peter nodded. “I think I’ll take another week or two off, see how it goes from there.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Tony said. “We have to fix your suit now anyway.”

Peter laughed, “that’s true.”

“I just finished some upgrades on the Iron Spider,” Tony added. Once we get you in that, you won’t have to worry about silly little knives anymore.”

Peter smiled, “thanks, Tony.”

“For what?” Tony asked, looking mildly confused.

Peter shrugged, “for looking out for me. It’s really nice to know you’ll always have my back.”

Tony couldn’t help but grin. “Of course, kid.” He pulled Peter into a tight hug. “Always.”

[cottoncandyloki]

Sketches of my Love // oneshot

Pairing: Loki x Female reader + Avengers in the background

Word count: 1635 words

Warning: I don’t think it’s ANGST??? But reader cries at one point but only for a short period of time. Either than that, it’s all fluffy.

Summary: Reader is in love with Loki secretly and Loki finds out after a file mix up.

Authors Note: I got so SOFT writing this! Probably because I wrote a great amount of it a 3 am lol but enjoy! <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You’re absolutely ridiculous!," y/n said to Loki while playfully shoving him. "What? All I’m saying is that the solution to that problem is just stabbing the guy!" said Loki while chuckling. "Loki, you can’t just stab someone whenever you feel like it. All he did was sit in my spot so I went and sat somewhere else." "Well, if you want, I have a spare knife," said Loki. Y/n chuckled. "I’ll pass. It’s getting late, are you going to bed?" "Maybe later, I need to finish my book," Loki said grabbing his book off of the coffee table. Y/n loved seeing Loki read. Whenever Loki started reading, he looked peaceful. Vulnerable. It made him seem less mischievous. In fact, y/n loved anything Loki did. She and Loki were friends for years and she was always happy around him. Y/n started to fall for him, but she could never let him know because she didn’t want to ruin what they had. Ever since what happened in New York, y/n and Loki got close after she was hired to look after Loki in his cell. She had promoted to full time and she and Loki have been inseparable ever since.Y/n wished Loki goodnight and headed off to her room.

Her room was right across from the living room so she could see Loki reading perfectly.

Y/n took out her sketch book and started sketching her view of Loki. She had quite a few drawings of him doing various things, but Loki reading was her favourite.

For almost and hour she was sketching away drawing all kinds of thick and thin lines and made sure everything from the hair all the way down to his clothes was drawn to perfection. Finally finishing she looked at her work and smiled at it [see image below]

"Number 15," she said as she wrote on the paper and put it in her journal. Y/n was getting tired and put her journal on her nightstand and went off to sleep.

The next morning, Tony called a meeting with the Avengers. Loki being tired, was still asleep. Everyone sat around the table as Tony and Steve were standing in front of them. "Before we start, y/n, do you have that file I asked you to print out?" Tony questioned. "I left it up in my room. I think Bruce is still upstairs so I’ll text him and ask him to get it."

As soon as he saw your message, Bruce collected the file and made his way into the room where all the Avengers were. "I think I got the file, y/n," Bruce said handing the file over to Tony. That file looked too similar to another one that she had. Y/n's heart dropped. "Bruce where did you get that file?." "From your night sta-". "WOAH is this reindeer games?!" Tony said interuppting. Y/n turned bright red. "Man he sure does look peaceful when he’s reading. Look Cap! I think he’s listening to music in this one." Steve looked through the folder with Tony and everyone started crowding around to look at the sketches. "Tony! GIVE IT BACK!” Y/n said snatching the folder back. Tony's grip was too strong and Y/n's hands were too fast and the folder ripped in two. Tears immediately started running down her face.

"WHATS WITH ALL THE NOISE?!" Loki said as he was barging in the room. "Can’t I get some SLEEP?" Loki turned to y/n and saw her tear stained cheeks. "Y/n... are you alright?" Y/n ran past Loki taking her ripped folder with her as she ran up to her room. Loki quickly followed and was stopped in front of Y/n's locked door. "Y/n darling, is everything alright?" "Yes, now don’t come in." Loki was never one to listen, so he teleported himself inside. "You don’t look 'alright'." In front of him sat Y/n clenching on her drawings with tears staining her cheeks and shirt as she was slouching on her bed. "I told you to not come in." "Darling, you’ve known me for years and you should know that I don’t listen by now. Now can you please tell me what’s going on?" Y/n shook her head in disapproval and slowly started hiding the drawings behind her back. Nothing gets past Loki. "What are you doing?" "Uhh, nothing," y/n said shyly. Loki teleported behind y/n and took the folder. "Hey!" y/n yelled. "I’m the only trickster here, darling," Loki said smirking. Loki opened up the ripped folder. "What is this? Is this...me?" Y/n's face started to flush. "I uh... I can explain... it’s um." "This is... this is BEAUTIFUL," Loki said smiling widely. "I-it is?" "Darling this is incredible! No one ever gets my hair right.I didn’t know you had such talent...but they’re torn?" "Tony..." y/n said quietly. "Shall I stab him for you?" "NO don’t do that.I’m not mad at him.He just wanted to look."Loki started flipping through the drawings and smiling at each one. "All of these drawings are of me. Why aren’t there any drawing of the others. Stark? Thor? Bruce?" Y/n sighed. The biggest smirk grew on Loki’s face. He had a plan.

Loki slowly put the drawings down and inched closer towards y/n. Y/n froze. Loki then took a strand of her hair and tucked in behind her ear and let his hand rest there as he was looking deep into her eyes. "How does this make you feel?" he said not braking his gaze. At this point, Y/n's heart was racing like mad. She had a lump in her throat that she couldn’t seem to swallow and she felt like she was going to pass out. Loki resting his hand on top of hers wasn’t making the situation any better. "Well?" He said waiting for her response. "I umm... it’s umm... you’re um..." “You should’ve just told me, darling," Loki said removing his hands away from her. Y/n let out a big sigh of relief. "I have no idea what you’re talking about." "You DO know who you’re lying to right?" Loki said chuckling. "Not telling me the truth? Unwise." Now Loki held y/n's hand and used his thumb to make small circles on it. He got even closer until his voice was as quiet as a whisper. "Darling, do you want to try that again?" At this point, y/n felt like she couldn’t even breathe anymore and she knew that Loki was having too much fun with this. "Forget it," she said as she freed herself from Loki’s grasp and started to storm off with her drawings. Loki rolled his eyes.He then teleported infront of her barely letting her stop and held her face and kissed her. Y/n didn’t know how to deal with what had just happened so she quickly walked past Loki. "You know that I’m in love with you too right?," he yelled as he was smiling. Y/n stopped walking and turned around to face him, face flushed and staring at the ground. "Y-You do?" She said nervously. "I see that you admit it," Loki said smirking. "You’re stupid," y/n said while shoving Loki. "I’m what?" he said in a confused tone. "Stupid," y/n said. "Oh, you’re going to PAY for that," Loki said in a teasing tone.

He then teleported y/n and himself back to her room. "Hey what are you-" y/n was interuppted by Loki swinging her off the ground and throwing her on the bed and hitting her with a pillow repeatedly. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT YOU WIN," she said as she was laughing. "Darling, I already won when I met you," Loki said smiling. Y/n turned red once again. Loki chuckled. "Here, give me those," Loki said gesturing towards y/n telling her to give him the drawings. Loki then use his magic to seal the rips of each drawing making them look like new. He then gave the drawings back to y/n with the biggest smile. "If you ever want to draw me again, love, tell me. I’ll be willing to model for you at anytime." Y/n smiled at Loki and gave him a hug.

"Great job reindeer games!" said Tony alongside the rest of the avengers leaning against y/n's doorframe. "Stark?! How long have you been there?” Loki said in a shocked tone. "5 minutes give or take, ever since you started hitting y/n with pillows." "I liked the part where you said that you won the day you met her, good job brother!" Thor said smiling with a thumbs up. Loki turned red as he rolled his eyes and y/n started to giggle. "I got the popcorn!" Said Peter rushing to the door, "Aw man! It’s over?" “Alright! Everybody out!," Loki said shoo-ing everyone away, “there’s nothing to see here!" He then shut the door locking everyone out. "Okay darling, now where were we?" Loki turning around to see y/n quickly sketching. "What are you drawing, love?" Y/n then picked up her book and turned it around to show Loki. "It’s you yelling at the Avengers!" y/n said excitedly. Loki laughed at the sight. "You managed to even capture the fear in my brother's eyes." Loki then paused."When you’re done with that... c-can I have it?" "Sure,why?" "It’s to remind me about the day I told you that I was in love with you," Loki said smiling at y/n. Y/n nodded and continued sketching with Loki by her side. She wouldn’t have wanted to spend her evening any other way.

[kathyprior4200]

Helluva Boss Episode Remakes!

 Not too far away from Pentagram City lay a shady place in the bowels of Hell. “Welcome to Imp City: est. 1981” was posted on a worn wooden sign with a white painted eye toward the top. Under a crimson sky, a wide array of buildings made up the city, some with spikes on the roofs. Downtrodden imps of various colors and sizes mulled around the streets and ghettos. Mugging, sex, drugs, poverty, and murder were common aspects of their everyday afterlives. Indeed, being considered “lesser demons” and the “lowest of the low,” not very many had opportunities granted to them.

 Well, save for a unique family of imps, trying to get their business running.

 Just who were these imps?

 A nearby screen showed old fashioned numbers ticking down, 3, 2, and 1. Blitzo, a red and white faced imp, appeared on stage in front of purple open curtains. “Hi there! I’m Blitzo! The “O” is silent, and I’m the founder of I.M.P.!” He put out his hand and the logo appeared above it. The “M” in I.M.P. looked like imp horns, black and white in color. Down below were the words “Immediate Murder Professionals.”

 Blitzo spoke again. “Are you a piece of shit who got yourself sent to Hell?”

 A picture of Blitzo with a mustache and two black top hats over his horns was grinning evilly as a building burned in the background. The sign nearby read “Orphanage for elderly, blind, and newborn dogs.”

 “Or are you an innocent soul who just happened to get fucked over by someone else?”

 The next image showed Blitzo in a white angel costume, happily throwing away a Styrofoam coffee cup in a wastepaper basket instead of a recycling bin in an office.

 In the next shot, Blitzo held up a sign which read “Some guy who hired us!” A buff horned red demon wearing a white Ohio shirt stood not too far from the camera, a 666 News billboard in the background. He punched one fist into his hand.

 “After lovingly killing my wife for fucking a delivery man, you can imagine my surprise when I wound down here, after the state of Ohio killed me. I really wish I could stick it to that yappy jogger who saw me hiding the body.”

 Blitzo appeared again, this time with his fellow imps Millie and Moxxie in the background. A white-clothed altar with a mirror and skulls on it was in the very back. White candles were spread around the room. The two imps were sitting at a pentagram drawn on the floor. Blitzo held a blue Satanic ritual book in his hand.

 “Well, luckily for you, thanks to our company’s special access to the living world…”

 He waved his hand and a flaming portal appeared in the center of the room, causing Moxxie and Millie to scatter.

 “…we can help you take care of your unfinished business by taking out anyone who screwed you over when you were alive!” He happily fell through the portal on his back like it was a mosh pit.

 Then the musical jingle started:

 “When you want somebody gone

And you don’t wanna wait too long

Call the Immediate Murder Professionals”

  “Hand grenade or cyanide

We’ll make it look like suicide

The Immediate Murder Professionals”

 “We do our job so well

‘Cause we come straight up from Hell…”

 “We’ll kill your husband or you wife

We’ll even let you keep the knife,

 The Immediate…Murder…Professionals.

 Kids die for freeee!”

  A white person appeared with a thought bubble of his enemy with a red x. A demon fell to the floor and the person looked up. The I.M.P. logo appeared, silhouettes of Millie with a spear, Moxxie with a gun and Blitzo in the middle, spreading out his arms to make an “M.”

 Fast paced shots flashed through the ad.

 Moxxie throwing a grenade out a window as his companions grinned.

 Blitzo hanging a person in an office building while Moxxie watched. Millie held a suicide note in her hand.

 Then more killing scenes flashed: Blitzo electrocuting a person, Millie using a mace, Moxxie choking his victim.

 Blitzo led the way through a portal to Earth, Millie and Moxxie following. Moxxie tripped on a book and landed on his face while the others posed. They then stood up shocked…at the people in a church staring at them in confusion.

 Millie killed a naked couple with a chainsaw while Blitzo looked greedily at a woman’s underwear.

 Blitzo repeatedly stabbed someone else tied up near a “Blitzo show” sign at a circus.

 The three imps used more methods to kill Earthlings: Medieval torture racks, shark attacks, fire and gasoline on someone, pillow suffocation, crushing someone to death with a grand piano, the electric chair for a prisoner…

 “Kids die for freeeee!” ended the ad.

 Moxxie and Millie sang a murder love song in their living room before the meeting. Moxxie played on his purple demon-face guitar as Millie watched him with love in her eyes. It reminded them of the good times when they would shot at demons together in the streets, drag a bloody sack behind them and when Millie got a grenade as a present and used it to blow up a building.

  “Oh what a thrill when the crimson starts to spill

And my Millie goes in for the kill

She takes away my breath

She’s the angel of death for me

Oh Millie

She a queen, it’s like a dream

When I hear her victims start to scream

Get him out of the sack

She’s a maniac for me

Oh Millie

When the blood starts dripping down the sides

And the bodies start to fall from the skies

My heart skips a beat

When my Millie’s guns a blazing in the night

That’s in love

She makes the murdering fun for me”

 Both of them hummed before Moxxie finished,

  “Of all the imps in Hell…

Millie joined in, “It’s for him that I fell…

“Oh Millie.” They leaned in for a kiss.

  They paused. Moxxie yelled, while looking out the window. His boss, Blitzo was pressed against the window with a video camera. “Are you fucking filming us right now?!”

 Moxxie sighed, as a smiling Blitzo held up a sign which read “Meeting in 20 min: nice job banging yo’ wife!”

  Just before the meeting, the head imp, Blitzo walked into the receptionist room.

 “Blitz!” called Loona, the hellhound, holding a bone shaped phone in her hand. “That clingy rich asshole’s on the phone! Says it’s urgent and wants to talk to you!” Then she added in a lower voice, “Sounds a little DTFy.” (Down to Fuck)

 Blitzo spilled water on himself as he talked with Moxxie by the water cooler. “Oh god that was one time! We wouldn’t have access to the living world…if I hadn’t slept with that privileged asshole!”

 “You what?” Moxxie asked in disbelief.

 “Blitz!” Loona barked in outrage.

 “I heard you already!” Blitzo yelled. He stomped into his office and picked up his red cell phone. He played with little bobble heads of his imp coworkers, Moxxie and Millie. Signs were tacked to the wall, reading: “The Incredible Blitzo! One night only! Tickets now at the Big Top!”

 “So…” Blitzo beamed nervously, “What can I do you for this time, Stolas?”

 The owl overlord replied, lounging on his couch in a royal red robe and a crown.

 “Remember that time when I told you that a political candidate was causing problems up on Earth for a few of my associates? That he tried to convince people that global warming existed?”

 “Yes?” Blitzo answered.

 “And that it does, but more people die when nothing’s done about it? Oh, how lonely I felt.”

 “Okay well, yeah that makes sense,” Blitzo said.

 “But now…” he hooted in laughter. “There are tons of new sinners coming down here every day! I just had a feast and a murder party several nights ago. I wondered why a horde of people arrived and it’s because of a disease called the coronavirus! My, it’s the best thing to ever happen since my wedding with my queen Melody and my darling daughter Octavia’s graduation from flight school. Oh, how marvelous!”

 “Well…I’m very happy for you, sir,” Blitzo said. “I hope that…corn-ah virus does its thing.”

 Stolas sighed. “My wife wasn’t happy with me, though. She said you fell onto a cake in the middle of a lunch with her and the royal officials. What did you say to her?”

 “I said…’sorry I fucked your husband.’” He gulped.

 A tense silence.

 Blitzo examined his chest and arms. “I still have the talon scars and peck marks to prove it.”

 “And she also said that you stole one of my books, is that true?”

 “No! No way!” Blitzo lied, with a nervous laugh. “That was another imp long ago. Can I tell you how great it felt…sleeping with you?”

 “Indeed,” Stolas agreed with a contented sigh. “Your sharp horns and claws ruffling through my feathers, and my talons and beak exploring your multicolored flesh. You know what happens when I’m lonely, Blitzy?”

 “Oh, god fucking dammit…” Blitzo muttered to himself.

 Stolas’ eyes grew red. “When I’m lonely, I become hungry. And when I’m become hungry…I want to choke on that red dick of yours!  **** your ***** then lick all of your *****, before taking out your **** and **** with more teeth until you’re screaming ******** like a fucking baby!”

 Blitzo hung up the phone, the words on Stolas’ picture reading “creepy mouth: aka one night stand bird dick.” and smashed it with a rotary phone. He threw the pieces into a blender and mixed it up.

 “Eat this!” he told Loona who walked in and drank the red liquid.

 “And then you know that bridge over the freeway?” he asked.

 “Yeah?”

 “Shit off it! It’s time for the meeting, let’s go.”

  The imps currently resided in a tall office building that seemed to stand out among the other structures. Along with spikes jutting from the roof and sides, there were a pair of giant black and white imp horns attached to the sides of the building for decoration. The lights inside near the top floor were on.

 Posted on a door were the words “I.M.P. Headquarters” with “IMP Meeting in Progress” written on a piece of paper taped to the door, a smiley face off to the side.

 On a white board was a bar graph and a line graph, the line graph pointing lower at a drawing of a raging horned demon. “Fix this shit!” was written in big bold letters that took up much of the board. “Blitzo is the best, by Blitzo” was scribbled off to the side. Several tall chairs with spikes jutting from the top boarders were set near a brown table in the center of the room. A white pentagram was drawn in the center of the table.

 Up front, a black, white, and red colored imp paced back and forth, sprouting long curved striped horns: Blitzo. He wore black fingerless gloves with what looked like a yellow eye design on each glove. He was dressed in a slender navy blue business suit with light red buttons. A small round pink pin with black eyes and a stitched mouth was attached onto a red undershirt below his slender chin. What looked like a black two-clawed print mark lay over his red forehead. Along with sharp teeth, the imp has red iris eyes with yellow sclera. Like a typical devil, he also had a red pointed tail. He had four red finger-shaped claws on each hand.

 Blitzo began to speak, pacing back and forth. He looked toward his audience of two imps and a hellhound sitting on chairs around a table.

 “Alright, now I know business has been…a bit slow, lately, yes.”

 He mentioned to the board at the downward sloping line. “In fact, there seems to be less people seeking out our services; 1,056 in comparison to the 1,066 from last month. We’ve basically spiraled from the True Blue Market to that of the Raging Bull.” He pointed at the roaring demon head drawing on the board.

 “Shouldn’t it be the Bull Market is good and the Bear Market is bad?” said a voice.

 “Loona, nobody cares,” Blitzo said. He continued.

 “Any decrease could spell disaster for us, not to mention how lots of people use our services and yet look down on us.”

  Blitzo cleared his throat and spread out his hands. “It’s no one’s fault, okay? I’m not naming any names here…Moxxie.”

 Moxxie raised his eyebrows in a “what the hell?” gesture as Blitzo looked at him. The serious imp had a red face, yellow eyes, white hair framing his face and stripped horns jutting off to the sides in slight curves. He wore a large red bow-tie and a navy blue suit. White freckles were present under his eyes.

 Blitzo continued, “Now does anyone have any bright ideas on how we can get business drumming up again?”

 Millie, the bubbly imp raised her hand. She had a red face, messy black hair with a white flower patch near the top, and short black horns with faint white stripes. Her eyes were also yellow and she wore a black top, black torn pants, high heeled shoes and a little black choker around her neck. Her eyelashes extended past her face.

 Millie waved her hand and beamed, eyes shining. “What…about…a car wash?!”

 “This is Hell, Millie. No one cares about cars being clean here, okay?”

 Just then, there came a coughing from the other room. A small cyclops demon with hot pink hair with a patch of yellow opened the door and walked in. She brushed off soot from her hot pink skirt and waved at the group, who stared in surprise.

 “Hi, I’m Niffty! It’s nice to meet you. Are you part of I.M.P.?”

 “Uh yes?” Blitzo replied, unsure of what to make of this random maid.

 “Oh great, because one of my friends sent me here to investigate, he’s a busy chap, you know, and oh so dreamy!”

 She darted around the room and began removing cobwebs from the windows. “It looks like there are two men, a woman and a dog here, a nice balance.”

 Loona, the grey hellhound glared at Niffty, narrowing her red eyes. “What was that, you little shit?”

 Loona had a red cell phone in her clawed paws, the back of the phone displaying a black upside down cross. She wore a grey top with black strings in the shape of an inverted pentagram. A spiked collar was around her neck. Her pants were dark and torn, with a white crescent moon on them. Her feet were bare and her hair and tail were thick with white and dark fur.

 Niffty stopped in her tracks. “Now, did you guys need any cars to be washed?”

 Blitzo shook his head. “We don’t have any cars here, we’re broke as fuck.”

 Millie stared at Niffty and cupped her own cheeks with her hands. “Oh my Satan! She’s so adorable! Can we keep her?!”

 “No!” Moxxie and Loona said at the same time. The two workers then glared at each other.

 Moxxie crossed his arms. “We’re in the middle of a meeting right now. Do you mind?!” He pointed to the door.

 Niffty laughed nervously, “Oh okay, sorry about that, hehhehheh. I’ll be outside if you need me!”

 She scurried out of the room.

 Blitzo paused for a moment, then said, “Oh right! Ideas for our company!” He waved his hands, his eyes shining. “Ooh, what about a billboard?”

 Moxxie crossed his arms. “We can’t afford a billboard, sir.”

 Blitzo rushed over and held Moxxie in a headlock. His voice was rushed and sarcastic, “Helpful, Moxxie. Really glad you’re in the room right now.” He shoved Moxxie away.

 Blitzo stared in frustration. “Have you guys forgotten what service we provide?”

 He picked up a remote and turned on an old fashioned TV.

 After static appeared on screen, the footage showed the group killing off individuals.

 Blitzo bashing a red demon’s head with a mullet.

Moxxie shooting a blue person tied up to a chair.

Loona grabbing a red person in her mouth and shaking the person side to side like a wolf.

Millie beheading a blue person with a spear and laughing.

 Blitzo watched with a relaxed smile on his face, holding up a blue bowl of popcorn. Loona sat on the table, popping popcorn pieces into her mouth. Millie was perched on the table, enjoying the show, but Moxxie stood off to the side with a grumpy face.

 Posters hung from the walls, one showing Blitzo and his two sisters, Tilla (an imp with long black hair) and Barbie Wire (a smiling imp with ram-like horns.) It was a picture of them at a circus, the banner reading “The Amazing Imp Siblings!” Blitzo remembered the good times he had with them when they performed on stage. Barbie Wire would balance on a tightrope, holding a pole with flames on either end. Tilla tamed and evaded manticores, dragons and other beasts that were released into the arena. Blitzo would sing songs about murdering people and they would all pose and bow at the end as the crowd cheered.

 That was before Blitzo moved on to form I.M.P. recruited Moxxie and Millie, and adopted Loona.

 Blitzo moved his hand toward his chest and sighed with content. “Ahh, those were the good times.”

 Moxxie spoke up as Millie ate a piece of popcorn. “I don’t need any reminding, sir, considering you blew most of our salaries on an obnoxious TV ad last week. One that you then additionally paid to have run for a full three hours on a channel, nobody watches.”

 Blitzo turned his head, insulted. “Uh, hey, excuse me.” He stood up. “What’s “obnoxious” about a super-fun jingle, all right? It’s a fun distraction when an advertisement’s spittin’ bullshit!”

 He walked across the room.

 “People love musicals, sir,” Millie added.

 Blitzo smiled. “Exactly, Millie, and we’re basically doin’ a musical.” Blitzo did jazz hands before pointing rapidly at Moxxie with a scowl.

 “Are you gonna crush my musical theatre dreams like my dad did?” He lowered his head.

 “Sir…” Moxxie began, but his boss cut him off.

 “Because right now, all I see is just my dad’s asshole talking to me! Crushing my dreams of being who I truly am inside.” He turned his head away.

 Millie leaned in toward her husband and spoke with a teasing tone. “Are you trying to crush his dreams, Moxxie?”

 “I…what?” he asked, looking at her. Millie leaned in close and stuck out her tongue, tail curling. “I thought I knew you.” Moxxie rolled his eyes; his wife loved to annoy him.

 Blitzo turned back to Moxxie, tears in his eyes. “I can’t believe you, Moxxie. After I made you employee of the month!” He held a picture of Moxxie with his mouth open in a roar, snake tongue showing.

 Moxxie threw up his hands, “Okay, sir! I’m sorry, a commercial jingle is not comparable to musical theatre. Nobody actually likes the jingles.”

 “I liked it!” Millie pipped up.

 Moxxie turned to her, finger shaking, “Do not…do not agree with him in front of me.”

 Loona sat, bored, playing on her phone. Moxxie’s head appeared on the screen but was crushed by a weight and then blown up by a bomb. At one point his face was sliced in half as “boom!” flashed across the screen.

 “Remember when we shot that kid on Earth?” Blitzo asked.

 Moxxie got a flashback. “Oh, right. I shot that boy who was walking around licking strawberry ice cream. It was an accident. He was taken on a stretcher to the hospital.”

 The pink haired nurse had said, “Doctor, he’s not responding!”

 “Cool water, stat!” The blue-haired man had said next. He slammed water down on the boy and said, “It didn’t do anything!”

 The doctor had said, “Damn it! I’m not losing another one! “Clear!” Then they had shocked him and the boy somehow woke up with a gasp. The doctor said “Holy shit, it actually worked.”

 Millie then explained that the three of them sat in the waiting room. Blitzo read a magazine while Millie comforted Moxxie. The doctor had said to the imps, “He appears to be in stable condition, but he’ll need surgery. Now what insurance provider do you freaks have?”

 Then Blitzo asked, “The fuck is insurance?”

 Moxxie sighed, “…and then they kicked us and the boy out and we fell back into Hell.”

  A moment later, Moxxie spoke, hands forward in front of him. “I’d like to go on record and say that incident was Loona’s fault. Dispatch is supposed to give us the right info on the target. It’s very simple.”

 “Oh, sit on a dick, Moxxie,” Loona replied without looking up.

 Moxxie stuttered angrily, looking for a comeback. “You sit! Sit on…a… and the d...do your job!” He slammed his palm on the table.

 Blitzo scolded him. “Hey, now we don’t blame our screw-ups on Loona, okay? She didn’t do anything wrong!” He hugged her and nuzzled his head against her cheek, the hellhound growling at him to get off.

 Moxxie stared in disbelief. “Are you kidding me, sir? She’s awful.”

 Lonna looked at her phone. “The other day, right? I answered the puppy barking phone and said ‘Hello, I.M.P.’ Millie was yelling, ‘Loona, I got stabbed! Call Mox…’ and then I hung up. Wasn’t my problem. My Hellhound Monthly magazine was much more interesting.”

 “Don’t forget about my adoption anniversary gift I gave you,” Blitzo said, scratching his neck.

 Lonna seethed. “Don’t remind me. It wasn’t a cure for syphilis, I didn’t want it, and it so happened to be black spiders, crawling all over me!”

 “Again, I’m sorry it was spiders,” Blitzo said.

 “God damn it, apology not accepted.”

 “You should be thankful that I rescued you after your hellhound family kicked you out,” Blitzo remarked.

 Loona’s ears twitched. Millie stared nervously. “I was perfectly capable of fending for myself,” barked Loona, looking up from her phone for the first time. “There was nothing special about them, other than all the alcohol, meth and drugs they took. My parents never cared about us. I mean, they sent off my other siblings to work for other overlords and were never seen again. Perhaps I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with them.”

 Blitzo had tears in his eyes. He hugged her again. “Well, at least you’ve got me, Moxxie, and Millie as your new family!”

 Loona hid a smile and just bared her fangs. “Get off of me before I bite your face off!”

 Blitzo stepped back.

 Loona then smiled and looked at Moxxie, a look of mischief in her red eyes.

 Moxxie scowled. “Excuse me, did you just fax me an ad for weight loss the other day?”

 “No,” Loona answered. “I was busy watching the princess sing.”

 “Wha-Why…Why would anyone send me that?!” Moxxie argued.

 “Come on, you know why.” She smirked.

 “I’m not chubby, thank you very much! Not to mention, you were the one who ate my avocado salad lunch! How rude.”

 “I took it because I had the worst hangover.”

 “But why would you drink on a work night?” Millie asked.

 “I was hungover from that morning, dumbasses!” Loona said to Moxxie and Millie. “I couldn’t take your assaults. So I decided to blow some fucking steam! I kicked a baby in a carriage and caused some destruction. Felt good afterwards.”

 Blitzo mentioned to Loona. “Look, the point is, Loona is a valued member of our family and you don’t get rid of family.”

 “We aren’t a family, sir!” Moxxie pointed out. “You are the boss! We are the employees! You treat her like she’s some troubled teenager! She’s more like a meth-addicted homeless woman you let man the phone!”

 Loona flipped him the bird.

 “That is offensive!” said Blitzo, walking to the window, pulling open the blinds. “Without homeless people, I wouldn’t have half the joy and laughter I do in this life!”

  Outside, a homeless imp with a broken horn and ragged grey clothing held up a sign that read “Monee helps. Satan Bless.” An imp woman with black clothing and little bat wings blushed at Blitzo who waved and did a playful raise of eyebrows before closing the blinds.

 Moxxie crossed his arms. “While we’re on the subject of “family,” can you stop finding me and Millie outside of work?”

 “Come on, sweetie, it’s not that big a deal!” Millie said.

 Moxxie’s eyes grew wide. “Excuse me, what?! I asked you, ‘Honey, can you get the butter?’ You said, ‘sure sweetie’.”

 ��Spoiler alert, the butter’s spoiled!” Blitzo added. Millie giggled.

  “He was in our fucking fridge! He was spying on me while I was asleep. And worse, he fucking filmed me and you while we were singing and about to kiss!”

 Blitzo giggled. “I still have it on camera.”

 “It’s fine, honey,” Millie replied to Moxxie, patting his shoulder. “The “spoiler alert, butter’s spoiled!” was a funny use of wordplay Blitzo used.”

 “Why was he in our fridge anyway?” Moxxie countered. “And then I was dreaming that my parents were being murdered and Blitzo interrupted it. I wanted to get back to that.”

 “I was just curious,” Blitzo responded.

 “Just. Stop. Doing. That,” Moxxie growled.

 “I don’t see what the issue is!” said Blitzo. “Is there something you don’t want me seeing?” A mischievous silly look crossed his face.

 “No!” Moxxie spat, eye twitching.

 “You a baby weiner havor?” Blitzo asked, another term for a small dick.

 Loona giggled under her breath.

Moxxie was fed up. “Sir, what you say and how you act is totally inappropriate!”

 Millie pulled him down gently. “Calm down, Mox, you’re gonna have another panic attack!”

 “I am calm!” he yelled.

 Millie rubbed his head and soothed him. “Shh, there, there.” Moxxie whimpered.

 Blitzo spoke again with a childish grin, making a hole with two fingers and tapping the opening with one finger. “Look, I don’t judge the boring couple stuff you do outside of work hours, so don’t judge me.”

 Veins popped out of Moxxie’s yellow eyes. “Oh I do judge you, sir. Quite a lot, actually.” He crossed his arms as Millie gasped in horror.

 “Mox, he’s our boss!”

 “No, no, no, it’s fine, Mills,” said Blitzo with a wave of his hand. “Your husband is just…how do I say this without being offensive…retarded.”

 “Does immaturingly insulting me make you feel better about your sad, single, life?”

 Blitzo leaned in toward Moxxie. “It actually does.”

 Loona appeared to agree, because she added to Moxxie, “The only reason you have a wife is because you’re easy to manage!”

 Moxxie gasped. She had called Moxxie submissive.

 “No he’s not, you bitch!” Millie yelled, holding up two middle fingers.

 “Do not talk to my assistant that way!” Blitzo demanded. “She’s sensitive!”

 “Yes I am!” Loona barked.

 Then a squeaky voice sounded from nearby: “You guys are all fucking assholes.”

 Everyone turned and stared at a boy wearing an orange shirt with a planet on it. He had brown hair, a blue baseball cap on and was connected to a monitor.

 Blitzo pointed at him. “Oh shut up, kid, you’re lucky to witness this.”

 Moxxie pinched his nose and sighed in frustration. “Ugh, this company is such a mess!”

 “Did someone call me?” Niffty’s voice rang from the hallway. She opened the door a crack. “I can clean up any messes you may have!”

 “No!” Moxxie called. “Go away!”

 Niffty slowly closed the door.

 An awkward silence…

 “Alright, let’s get back to talking about my outfit!” Blitzo said out of nowhere.

 “Nobody was talking about that,” Loona mentioned.

 “Which is why I’m trying to get that ball rolling. So how does it look? It’s good, right?”

 The kid pointed his finger at Blitzo. He ripped off the wires from his stomach.

 “It’s been a literal hell pretending to be paralyzed so you fuckshits wouldn’t kill me, but now? I want that. I want death. You!” he pointed to Blitzo. “You are a selfish, greedy clown. And I’m a kid! We’re supposed to like clowns…even the creepy ones!”

 Moxxie scoffed. “Hey now, that’s not very…”

 The kid cut him off. “If I wanted to hear from a spineless jackass, I’d rip out your spine and ask you some shit.”

 Moxxie shivered in fear.

 “That’s my husband you’re talking to!” Millie yelled.

 The kid snickered. “That’s your husband?! I figured you for a slut, but I didn’t know you needed dick that bad!”  

 Millie fumed at her husband being called ugly and weak. To think that she would have sex with anyone else at random…

 “And you!” The kid pointed at Loona.

 “What? What about me?” Loona asked.

 The kid crossed his arms. “Nothing. I don’t talk to dogs. I’m a cat person.”

 Loona whined.

 “Wow,” said Blitzo. “You know, kid, you kind of are a piece of shit.”

 “Yeah, after all, he’s kind of a piece of shit,” Moxxie muttered.

 A ding came from Loona’s phone. She smiled. “Oh fuck! Guys, I just got a text from our client. Guess he was the right target after all.”

 “Who?” Blitzo asked.

 “Him.”

 “Me?” asked the kid.

 “Yep,” she confirmed.

 “They wanted us to kill an actual child?” Blitzo asked.

 “That’s what they’re sayin’,” Loona said.

 Blitzo grinned and twirled a gun in his hand. His job just got more fun and easier. “Well Christ on a stick, I guess there is a god!” He fired and shot the boy in the chest. He flopped down dead in a pool of blood, smoke and sparks lingering in the air.

 Blitzo spoke about I.M.P.: “You know folks, with this company, I really wanted to prove that we’re capable of doing the same things anyone else can! Like killing people! So, from us here at the Immediate Murder Professionals group, we promise to settle your unfinished business or your money… is gone and you’re never getting it back and you can write us a bad review, but we’ll play dumb to it because it’s Hell and no one fucking cares.”

 Blitzo, Moxxie and Millie kicked the dead kid on the floor, enjoying themselves. Loona snapped a picture with her phone and recorded the scene. After the imps left with the body, Niffty came in and gasped.

 “Well, time to clean this up. What a mess!” She hummed a happy tune as she mopped up the blood at rapid speed.

 Blitzo and Moxxie wore gas masks and green suits as Blitzo sawed off the boy’s arm and Moxxie sawed his chest, organs spilling out into a sack below. Millie tossed an arm into the sack and Loona helped hold open the sack. Moxxie dropped the boy’s severed head inside and shared a loving smile with his wife.

 Etched in red graffiti on a dumpster behind them were the words “Devil,” “Hell,” “Happy Hotel,” and “I’m always chasing rainbows.” A pentagram, and wide smiles were also doodled on the surface.

 Blitzo embraced the entire group in a forceful hug, knocking the phone from Loona’s hands.

 “You know, even though this kid was a target, he’s still a child. It’s important that we’ve handled this going forward, respectfully.” He wrapped his long tail around the group, all of them smiling genuinely. For despite all their problems, they were still a company family.

 Back in the human world, a crying blonde mother wearing a pink shirt and a necklace held up a paper saying “missing boy.” Below in large letters read on the news: “Mom sucks at drawing own kid!” Words say “There is a missing boy!’ and “Yet another missing kid!”

 The mother spoke into the microphone, “Please! If anyone has seen my little Eddie, please contact us at…”

 She gasped as a sack dropped into her hands. She and the news reporter looked up to see a smiling Blitzo, Millie, and Moxxie through a portal up above.

 “You’re welcome!” Blitzo called with a wave before the portal closed.

 The mother looked inside the bag and screamed. “My son! He’s dead! Noooo!”

Part One: Mrs. Mayberry

Once upon a time, there was an innocent lovely blonde teacher named Mrs. Mayberry who taught at a typical schoolhouse. She was born many years ago on July 24th.

 She taught at a red schoolhouse with a little golden bell at the top of it. “Learning is fun,” was written in bright yellow letters on the side of the building with art of colorful kites and a rainbow on it. A sign at the front read “Puppies Junior School” in sunlight. There were tall green trees and a playground off to the side. The golden bell rang for the start of the day. A blue jay and a cardinal sang from a tree branch as the teacher opened the white curtains.

 The Vivziepop lookalike woman wrote “Good morning!” in white chalk on the green blackboard.

  “Good morning!” She twirled in a dance, catching her piece of chalk. She wore a white shirt with colorful red cherries and a long blue-gray skirt. A green pendant rested on her shirt. She wore cherry earrings and round yellow glasses. Her blonde hair was tied back in a flower-like shape behind her. “Have a bright and sunny day” was written on a poster with a large smiling sun with big eyes on it. Nearby was a calendar and an old boxy computer on a desk. A white daisy was in a flower pot. “The word of the day is harmony,” was written on a schedule posted on a board behind the children sitting at desks. The orange curtains by the windows had white math symbols on it. The schedule read “math, history, reading, grammar, science, art and music” as the many school subjects for the days of the week.

 “I hope you all did your homework!” she trilled.

  The children nodded with a dance to their bodies. One boy wearing an orange shirt spun around in a stool wearing a dunce cap and he faced the wall. The class broke out randomly into song.

 “We love to do our homework and we love our teacher too!”

 The teacher sang, “And when I throw out these fun questions, you should know just what to do.”

 “Okay!” they cheered, arms in the air.

 She wrote on the board 2 + 6 = 8 and added,

“Two plus six is…”

 “Eight!” the class answered.

 “And good behavior’s…”

 “Great!” they chimed in.

 “And now it’s that part of the class when we say the time of day and date.”

 “It’s nine in the morning,” sang a blonde boy…

 “On January 8th…” added a black girl.

 “The sun is out smiling,” said a brown haired girl with a bow.

 “And it’s your husband’s birthday!” reminded the dunce boy with his tongue out.

 As the class sang “la la la,” the teacher found herself scrapping her chalk down in a line on the board. Sweat coated her forehead as the chalk was almost completely broken down. The singing was a constant drone in her head. Her right eye twitched and she turned around.

 “Oh my stars, stop singing children! Hush up now!”

 The class fell silent.

 She put a hand to her forehead. “I forgot it’s my husband’s birthday! I didn’t get him anything special.”

 The brown haired girl stood up and said, “Maybe if we call him, we could do a happy birthday surprise!”

 The teacher and kids gathered around the boxy computer. At the husband’s house, a lone sock fell on the call screen that read “wifey” on it.

 The screen turned on, and everyone gasped in disbelief.

 The teacher’s husband was in the process of having sex with another lady!

 A tie, a bra and a condom flew against the screen as they straddled naked in their bed.

 “We won’t be needing this,” a voice said as the condom hit the screen with Mrs. Mayberry’s face on the other side.

The teacher sat at her desk, looking stunned, her face turning red. The other woman was so young and beautiful. There was her husband, clad naked and showing off his muscles and parts to her.

 “Oh yeah,” the husband giggled, “Not there, not there.” They seemed to be also playing with sex toys.

 With a blank shadowed look on her face, the teacher suddenly stood up and walked away. If she wasn’t going to be able to divorce that cheating bastard…

 “Wait! Mrs. Mayberry!” called the brown haired girl. She took hold of the teacher’s hand. “Remember what you taught us…think before you act.”

 Dark thoughts suddenly festered within the woman and she gripped the girl’s neck before tossing her up in the air through the roof. She stomped out of the room and shut the door. The children ran to the window to watch as she got in her old green car and plowed through a white picket fence. “I love school” was on her license plate. The children rushed to the computer.

 The door to the bedroom was quickly pulled open.

 “Oh shit, sweetie!” said her husband, caught in the act of fucking the young lady on their master bed. “What are you doing here?”

 “Shut up, Jarold!” A newfound rage flared in her eyes. A deadly looking riffle was in her hands. She fired several shots.

 The blonde lady shrieked as Mrs. Mayberry moved closer.

 “You scream like a fish!” the teacher mentioned to the blonde haired lady.

 With a demonic yell, she brutally shot the younger woman across multiple areas of her body. Thick blood splattered everywhere.

 Her husband gasped. “Oh god, what have you done?! She had a family!”

 “We could’ve had a family!” the teacher sobbed, in a flood of despair and rage. She picked up a bullet and shot her husband square in the head. He collapsed to the floor, dead.

 “Oh god, what have I done?” she asked, frazzled, whipping away the blood from the screen. She saw her children stare in horror and disgust. “In front you all.” She broke down into tears, seeing her dead husband in a pool of blood.  She spoke her last words through sobs. “I’m so sorry my children. Don’t forget to work on your timestamps.”

 Mrs. Mayberry knew there was nothing left for her but jail time and grief. There was only one other option. With shaking hands, she shot herself in the chest with a yelp. The children fainted on the floor one by one at the traumatizing sight. The policeman took the wailing blonde lady to the hospital…and found Mrs. Mayberry’s body lying next to her husband’s on the blood-stained floor.

 The blonde lady Martha stared lovingly with a brown uncovered eye at her new muscular husband Ralphie wearing an orange plaid shirt. He had brown hair and an athlete/superhero build. Their two children stood by her bedside as she recovered. The room had bouquets of colorful flowers in every corner. Camera flashed as news reporters talked to her.

 “How does it feel to have survived such a crazy bitch?” a newswoman asked.

 “I just hope that sick woman finally found peace,” Martha drawled in her hospital bed.

 Her husband comforted her, head lowered.

 “You are so brave,” the reporter commended to Martha. “Here’s $2 million dollars!”

 The woman’s face lit up as she was handed a large golden check. “Oh thank you!” She smiled at the cameras with her husband like she was a movie star.

 The stereotypical America family lived in a house near the woods and by a lake. Martha dressed like a housewife with a long polka dot skirt. Her daughter had brown pigtails, a lavender shirt with a tie, and a red skirt, with boots. The younger boy had a beaver-skin cap, a white shirt, brown pants and camouflage boots. On the outside, they were the perfect typical family.

 “You’re a hero,” said more news people as she stood elegantly at a VNN (Vivienne News Network) podium.

 “You’re a hero, girl,” admired a brown skinned jogger with short blonde passing Martha by. Martha basked in the attention and wealth. Who knew that getting shot at would change her life for the better.

 “My mama’s a hero!” declared the son.

 “She is a hero!” The brown haired casher agreed down to him as the family went grocery shopping.

 “Ooooh…You’re a hero!” moaned her husband as he thrust his penis wildly in and out of her as they made love in their bedroom. Their walls were covered with pelvises and newspaper clippings of Martha under “local hero” headings.

 “You’re a hero,” smiled an old praying priest who stood by her at one church meeting.

 Even worse for Mayberry, a new class of children cheered, “You’re a hero!” to Martha when she taught a “How to deal with trauma 101 class.”

 “Oh you’re a hero!” another man groaned as he wildly gave her anal.

  Mrs. Mayberry woke up staring at a crimson red sky. Her form had completely changed… Mrs. Mayberry was now a purple demon with stripped curved horns on her head, wearing rectangular glasses. She wore a pale red shirt with x stitches on it, along with an eye where her pendant was. Her hair was long and white and pulled back with a black bandana. She wore a dark skirt with an upside down cross on it and heels. She also had sharp yellow teeth.

 After finding a place to live and shying out of sight from shady strangers, Mrs. Mayberry had the chance to continue her career where she left off. So she did. It took some learning and adaptation to Hell’s culture but fortunately...it was pretty simple.

 Mrs. Mayberry was soon hired at “Pentagram Penitentiary Place,” one of the top public schools in the district. It was a large school for grades K-12. The name of the school was in black letters surrounded by a red downward facing pentagram over the black front doors. “All grades in one place!” read the slogan. The building was of red-orange brick with three rows of low cracked windows facing the front. The outdoor playground consisted of rusted basketball hoops, a jungle gym, dark asphalt and a swing set that made squeaky sounds every time it was used. The slide was high up and made of metal, so that it was always painfully hot for the young demon children to slide down. A barbed wire fence with swirls of wire at the top surrounded the prison-like school.

 A bunch of middle schoolers were bouncing a demon skull around and tossing it into the basketball hoops. Little preschooler demons rough-housed on the grass-less ground, laughing. One small green dragon kept making burping sounds, emitting orange sparks much to the delight of his peers.  A dinosaur used his tail for a black eyed doll girl to use as a jump rope. There was even a little scary-go round that furry bird-like kids went on to test their flying and spin out of control in the air. One white bird crashed against the fence and slid down with a flop.

 “Loser!” taunted a bulky blue cyclops kid wearing a baseball cap. He spat on the bird’s upside-down head and laughed with his goons. An older demon with a rhino’s horn was spray-painting teal blue penises on the walls.

 “Watch your back!” he called out to a centaur who fired an arrow from a bow, startled. The green lizard demon tied to the target glanced down at the arrow that had almost gotten him in the crotch. He sighed with relief, only to have an ax lodged into his head, thrown by an orange goat teenager.

 Nearby were two purple demons with silvery snake hair sitting on a concrete window ledge, wearing blouses, sequined navy skirts and shoes. They were listening to music from their Eye-Pods. One of them was painting her nails and the other took a drag from an e-cigarette. Every kid had a multiple digit number temporarily tattooed on their necks. An E, an M and an H were before the numbers, for elementary, middle and high school. The following number indicated their grade and the last two numbers were their position in alphabetical order. K or a P next to the E stood for kindergarten and preschool.

 A loud buzzer rang at the top of the roof, signaling class starting. The children were lined up in front of their respective teachers. Mrs. Mayberry stood in front of her line of preschool demons.

 After singing a song about a demonic turtle drowning in a bathtub with the class, she counted each child as they made their way to homeroom. They all filled in and sat at their wooden desks. The demonic alphabet was listed on a nearby poster with translations into English and other languages.

 “Good morning!” Mrs. Mayberry trilled in the windowless classroom, scrapping her chalk against the blackboard before catching it with a twirl. “I hope you all did your homework.”

 The kids fearfully nodded.

 “Hmm, I don’t think you did, EP-04,” she scolded a demon boy wearing an orange shirt with no paper in front of him. “Go sit in time-out.”

 The boy groaned and sat on a stool facing the wall. The white dunce cap burned on his head.

 “The pledge of allegiance,” Mrs. Mayberry led. The class stood up with their hands on their hearts.

 “I pledge allegiance and my soul to the banner

Of His Majesty Lucifer and Her Majesty Lilith

And to the unholy Inferno

For Pentagram City

One nation under Satan

Indivisible

With liberty and chaos for all!”

 They sat back down.

 “Now let’s sing,” Mrs. Mayberry ordered.

 The demonic class broke out into song:

 “We love to do our homework and learn stuff every day.”

 “And when I throw in these hard questions, you should know just what to say,” Mrs. Mayberry sang.

 “Okay!” they cheered.

 She wrote an equation on the board. “Divide this number by…”

 “Zero!”

 “Our favorite paint is…”

 “Bloody red!”

 “And when there’s a stranger danger…”

 “You stab them in the head!” they answered, making stabbing motions with their arms.

 “A poison for a deep sleep?” she asked

 “Wormwood! Does no good!”

 “The geological components of Hell?”

 “Fire and brimstone!” added a girl.

 “If you can’t use love…”

 “Use hate!”

 “Now it’s time for us to say the day and date.”

 “Your death day was on January 8th, right?” piped up a boy in the back.

 Mrs. Mayberry stopped short. “Hush up! We don’t mention that date.” She turned to the class. “Go on.”

 “It’s 3 in the afternoon…” said a boy.

 “On October 31st,” said a green girl.

 “Hell’s heat is still hot,” said another girl, sweating.

 “Let’s watch the episode first!” reminded the dunce boy.

 The demons went “la la la” as Mrs. Mayberry stared at the board, red eyes wide.

 “Oh my suns! Stop singing children. Shut up!”

 The demons fell silent.

 “I forgot it’s the new episode! I’m supposed to be off to pursue my revenge!”

 “Maybe you could scare your enemies at a death-day party!” a girl suggested with her hands up in the air.

 Mrs. Mayberry looked at her hell-phone and saw the last seconds of an I.M.P. commercial. She stood up to walk away.

 “Wait! Mrs. Mayberry,” said a girl, taking hold of her hand. “Remember what you taught us. Act before you think.”

 Mrs. Mayberry pat her head. “I think not. Work on your timestamps and assignments, children. I’m off to pursue a little education of my own.”

 A horn-covered sub man walked in and bellowed, “200 pushups on the double! Or it’s back to your cells!”

 The demons got up from their seats and bent down to do the pushups.

 Mrs. Mayberry called a taxi outside and it drove her off.

 Up on a screen outside her window, Mrs. Mayberry saw a full commercial where she learned of an assassination company called I.M.P.

 “Hi there, I’m Blitzo, the “o” is silent and I’m the funder of I.M.P.! Are you a piece of shit that got sent to Hell? Or are you an innocent soul who just so happened to get fucked over by someone else?”

 The next shot showed a bulky red demon with horns, wearing a white Ohio shirt/jersey. A sign read, “Some guy who hired us!” The demon spoke:

 “After lovingly killing my wife for fucking a delivery man, you could imagine my surprise when I wound down here, after the State of Ohio killed me.” He rammed his meaty fists. “I really wish I could stick it to that yappy jogger who saw me hiding the body!”

 “Guess I’m not the only one who murdered my spouse,” she thought. “I’ve also never seen a guy with…such muscles before…”

 Blitzo appeared again. “Well luckily for you, thanks to our company’s special access to the living world…we promise to take care of your unfinished business by taking out anyone who may have screwed you over when you were alive!”

 The sounds of the imp jingle motivated Mrs. Mayberry as the taxi pulled to a stop in front of the I.M.P. building. She got out, climbed up the stairs and knocked on the office door. It opened and out popped Blitzo.

 “Is this I.M.P.?” she asked.

 “Yes,” Blitzo said.

 “I figured, since I saw the commercial. I have one bad bitch that needs to be killed. And I’ve got a lot to say.”

 “Well, come on in then,” he said.

 Mrs. Mayberry paced Blitzo’s office at I.M.P. headquarters as she told her story.

  “I was a good person before it all went down,” she narrated, pacing to and fro. “I was good my entire life.”

 She continued on, adding details about her personal life. She held a cigarette in her hand. Apparently, it was easy to get into unhealthy habits in Hell.

 “You do everything right in life, play by the rules, and still get sent down here with all the Hitlers and Epsteins of the world. After one measly massacre propelled by blind rage. So that’s why I’m here. To get my revenge.”

 “I mean was she hotter?” Blitzo remarked with a smirk.

 The demon’s eyes flared red in anger, her face partially in shadow by the drawn blinds. A lemon tree was in the background with a sign that read “no whores” beside it. Blitzo casually lounged in his office chair.

 “I’m just saying I had a hard time understanding the unprompted melodrama you just spat at me, tits,” Blitzo chuckled.

 Mayberry growled and her body briefly glowed red. Her cigarette bent in her hand.

 Blitzo rolled his eyes. “Anyway I don’t think you quite understand how we’re operating down here.” He stood up and Mrs. Mayberry glared at him. “You see we take revenge on the living and it sounds like the core cast of your sitcom of a death frankly are all probably down here in Hell with you. Boop.”

 He bonked her on the nose.

 Mayberry’s pointed tail twitched, her purple claws clenched. Her skirt was torn with holes and her feet were cloven hooves. This imp guy was worse than the demonic children she taught.

 Mayberry extended her left claws. “Not all of them. That whore survived. Now they all call her a hero.”

 She continued. “Between the talk shows and bullshit donations she made so much goddamn cash. Getting shot was the best thing to happen to her.”

 Mayberry bashed her fists into the ground, creating cracks. “She’s not a hero!” Mayberry yelled, getting in close to Blitzo’s face.

 “Yeah, okay, yeah, my thoughts exactly,” Blitzo stuttered in a rapid nervous voice. He frantically pressed a red button under the desk multiple times. The red light flashed under the “Deranged Client” label on a dashboard. The other labels read, “More Coffee,” “Soiled My Pants,” “Horny Client,” “Client Giving Birth,” “Ghost,” and “Stolas.”

 Blitzo later burst through the door, followed by Mrs. Mayberry. “Guys, I’d like you to meet, our newest client!”

 The room suddenly burst into flames…Blitzo was furious. He quickly led Mrs. Mayberry outside where she hopped into a taxi to wait back home.

 “Bye and don’t worry,” called Blitzo to her, “We’ll get that skank in less than 24 hours or your first kill is free!”

 She could only hope that crazy imp and his team could do their job.

 As it turned out, Mrs. Mayberry later found out that not only had I.M.P. killed Martha, they also killed her crazy Satanic family. Mrs. Mayberry was very impressed. She held a piece of cake and laughed with the I.M.P. members for a special celebration. Millie talked about how it was okay to kill someone if they tried to kill you back.

 “That’s messed up,” mentioned Mrs. Mayberry. Then she smiled. “But I paid for it!”

 Everyone laughed again. Mrs. Mayberry felt good among her new allies. She had embraced her past at last.

 After the celebration, she got back into the taxi but instead of heading home, she headed further into town.

 There was a red Ohio demon for her to thank.

 Part Two: The Imps’ Adventure

In another room, Moxxie was holding a black and red crossbow in his hands. In front of him was a picture of a smiling family: a father, a mother, a baby and two children. His arms were shaking as the reflector hovered around the man’s crotch area.

 “Moxxie, stop shaking!” Millie chided. “You’re gonna shoot our only hellhound!”

 Loona lay on her back on a gray couch. The family picture was in one hand and her phone was in the other. On the wall were drawings of Blitzo as a horse and a drawing of Robo Fizz with an arrow sticking out from it.

 Loona spoke in a sarcastic tone, “Wow. I feel so loved here.”

 “Just take a deep breath,” Millie told Moxxie, inhaling, “and let it out.”

 “But, it’s a family,” Moxxie argued. “Under what circumstances would we ever need to kill a human family?”

 “I mean if that’s what the client wants,” Millie began.

 “Maybe like a shitty dad,” Moxxie suggested. “Or a mob family.” He spoke through his teeth, “That’s understandable.” He then spoke normally. “But to eradicate an entire innocent, seemingly innocent, upper middle class family bloodline?”

 Loona stared at the picture for a moment before pointing to Moxxie.

 “Hey! You don’t know their innocent.”

 She pointed to the boy. “This kid probably sets dogs on fire.”

 She pointed to the girl. “Maybe this girl gets off to bullying Australian kids online.”

 She pointed to the father. “And this guy…” She narrowed her eyes and spoke lower. “This guy definitely watches.”

 “Exactly!” Millie agreed. “Humans are full of secret nasties. It’s why so many of them end up here. But guilty and innocent aren’t our business, Mox.” She cupped his cheeks. “Killing who we’re paid to is our business. Choose a target.”

 She kissed him before stepping aside. Moxxie positioned his crossbow again.

 “I just think it’s a bit excessive and we could be a bit more selective, is all.”

 Just then, Blitzo barged into the room, followed by Mrs. Mayberry.

 “Guys! I want you to meet…”

 Startled, Moxxie fired the arrow and it ricocheted around the room. Millie jumped into Moxxie’s arms as the arrow hit a computer. It then flew and poked a hole in the family picture that a startled Loona held. The arrow made impact with the bottom of an eel tank, causing it to wobble dangerously. The arrow speed toward Mrs. Mayberry but Blitzo calmly caught it in one hand.

 “…our newest client!”

 The eel tank suddenly fell down, glass and water pouring onto the floor. The eels burst with electricity, casing the room to erupt in flames. Loona, Moxxie and Millie cowered in fear.

 “Dammit, Moxxie! I just bought those eels!” Blitzo yelled in anger.

 Soon, imp firefighters rushed to the scene to put out the flames as the group waited outside. The firefighters also carried the eels away to their red fire truck. Although imps were immune to fire, the buildings were not.

 Mrs. Mayberry climbed into a taxi cab.

 “Bye,” Blitzo waved, “and don’t worry, we’ll get that skank in less than twenty four hours or your first kill is free!” He waved as the taxi drove away.

 “When did we start implementing that deal?” Moxxie asked.

 Blitzo turned to glare at him. He pulled him close, holding his face.

 “When you set fire to my office in front of a…” Blitzo screamed, “client, you fucking dipshit!" He shoved Moxxie out of the way in anger. “Now someone please tell me that fancy book is still intact!”

 Loona stood against the wall, typing on her phone. “You mean our only ticket to the other side?” She pulled out a blue book from behind her. “Yeah, got it.”

 Blitzo came over to her and started to baby talk to her. “And that’s why you’re my favorite, Loony. You get a treat now.”

 He held up a dog treat in his hands, tossed it in the air and caught it with his long tongue.

 “Ew, stop it,” Loona said with disgust. Blitzo pulled the biscuit into his mouth and chewed.

 “You’re so gross!” she remarked.

  A nearby billboard with Blitzo’s face on it read with misspellings: “Goat an asshole in the living worlds!? Come to I Am Pee!!??! Make sure you put this sign up on the rite side. Don’t fuck this up. Also payment may take a couple of weeks because it cums in the mail. –Speech to text- -Blitzo”

 Millie drew a pentagram with chalk onto the wall. The pentagram glowed red and a portal to the human world appeared.

 “Aw stop it, I get enough of that from my therapist,” Blitzo told Loona before she left. He mentioned to the other imps, and moved his fist in front of him. Now let’s go lick some ass!” He pressed his hand into Moxxie’s face.

 “The expression is “kick some ass.” Blitzo,” Millie mentioned before she stepped through the portal. Blitzo let go of Moxxie’ face.

 “Mine’s better,” Blitzo said before following her.

 “Aw, fuck,” Moxxie sighed as he followed them through the portal.

 All three imps stood in front of a small red house by the lake as the sun set. Blitzo and Moxxie leaned against the side of the house, rising from the bushes. Blitzo stood up and peered into a window. A row of white flowers were on a planter on the ledge.

 “That’s gotta be her,” Blitzo whispered. He then chuckled darkly. “This is too easy.” He looked over at Moxxie. “Moxxie, do you want this one?”

 Moxxie looked stunned and smiled nervously. “Me?”

 “Yeah, this one’s simple enough for you to handle. It’s just a happy mother who just got out of the hospital.”

 Moxxie stood up and looked through the window. His face fell as he looked at the happy family enjoying dinner. A pig’s head was at the center of the table. The house was decorated with axes and guns on the walls. A lamp stand seemed to be made out of a spinal column. Ralphie and Martha affectionately rubbed each other’s noses, Martha holding a dinner platter in her hand. Moxxie hesitated; there was no way he could kill any one of them.

 “You snooze you lose, Mox!” Blitzo called out.

 He got out his gun, which was black with flames painted on it. The reflector was an upside down cross and it hovered over Martha’s face. She smiled with large doe eyes and blinked innocently.

 “And I’ve got you, bitch,” Blitzo murmured.

 “Wait, are we actually killing a family?!” Moxxie asked in disbelief.

 “No, don’t be a puss, we’re just killing a mother,” Blitzo remarked. “We’re running a family.” He grinned and clicked his rifle, positioning it.

 “But…” Moxxie began. “Hold on, hold on, let’s just think about it…”

 Moxxie lifted up the rifle just before Blitzo fired. The bullet hit a glass mirror in the house, causing the family members to gasp in fear.

 “What was that, Ralphie?” Martha asked her husband, who sat at the table.

 Ralphie shook his head. “I don’t know Martha, but whatever it is…”

 He stood up with a sharp-toothed grin, holding a rifle in his hands.

 “They’re gonna be tomorrow night’s dinner!”

 Martha set the platter down on the table, downed a glass of wine and smashed the glass on the floor.

 “Alright, kids! Gun’s out!” She called with an evil grin. The kids, too, grinned evilly as they pulled out smaller guns. The boy pulled out his from his brown beaver-skin hat.

 “Looks like we’ve got some rabbits to catch, youngins!” Ralphie said with an evil chuckle.

 Back outside, Blitzo was fuming. “What the fuck was that, Moxxie?”

 Moxxie breathed anxiously before letting out a croak, his snake-like tongue flickering. He fell to his knees, hands over his face.

 “I’m sorry. They just seemed so wholesome and happy.” Tears fell from his eyes. “I panicked.”

 Blitzo face-palmed. “Oh who the fuck is innocent, Moxxie? From the moment of birth, you’re already a parasite leeching off your momma’s tits.”

 He grabbed his chest in an imitation of holding breasts. He leaned in and poked Moxxie painfully on the head. “Now get the fuck over yourself you baby dick prick!”

 A bullet fired through the wall and shot Blitzo in the arm. He cried out as black blood splattered.

 “A new hole!” Blitzo cried in terror. “Scatter!”

 Blitzo and Millie leapt into the air just as another gunshot created a larger hole in the wall. A grinning Martha and Ralphie leapt through the hole and chased after them, guns drawn. Moxxie peered out from behind the bush, rapidly looking around. A child’s hand grabbed Moxxie’s pointed tail and he yelped. He only saw a barrage of fists from the children before passing out.

 Millie flipped backwards along a cobblestone trail before diving into the lake.

 “There you go, little critter!” Ralphie called, firing another bullet. He stepped onto the wooden dock. “Y’all can’t hide long from me!”

 Millie had her head above the water under the dock, a knife in her mouth. She broke through the dock with a crash before landing with a grin, knife at the ready. Ralphie swing a beer bottle at her, but she moved behind him out of the way. Millie jumped up in the air, knife in both hands. Ralphie swung the bottle upwards, hitting her in the head. The glass shattered and she fell to the ground with a loud yelp. Millie struggled weakly to stand, but collapsed onto the dock, eye twitching. Ralphie grinned down at her as the sky spiraled red. He picked her up and headed deep into the woods.

 Moxxie opened his eyes and gasped with a squeak to find his hands and body tied with rope. He appeared to be tied to a stitched up headless dead body sitting on a chair. Moxxie’s face fell in fear as he stared at the boy and girl in front of him. Both their eyes were red and devious grins formed on their faces.

 Moxxie tried to defuse the fear. “Oh. Hello there little ones. Aren’t you cute?”

 The children spoke in low distorted voices, the boy finishing shortly after the girl.

 “It’s nice to have a new critter to play with.”

 Moxxie glanced up in terror at a red spotlight above him. The light revealed a human head high up and several limbs on plaques. The wooden walls were stained with red blood. Tow plaques held stitched up faces of skin. A larger plaque displayed a dead man with long white hair, arms crossed, eyes and teeth bulging out. His upper chest was connected to the plaque. A picture frame made of bones displayed another face made of skin inside it. Human skin was tacked to the wall with “bless this mess” stitched onto it. Moxxie looked and saw a dead human body on a platter, an apple in its mouth. Organs were displayed in a nearby bowl.

 Moxxie took one look at the dead body and whimpered. “Aw. Crumbs.”

 Meanwhile, Blitzo was running for his life in the woods. Four gunshots rang out as Blitzo darted through a bush, leaves falling to the ground. Martha’s evil echoing laughter quickened his pace. The imp slide down a grass hill, landing on his feet. He crouched under the bushes, looking around. He panted, catching his breath.

 “I know you’re hurtin’, little devil,” drawled Martha in a sing-song voice.

 Blitzo darted behind a tree, taking in deep silent breaths. His back was pressed against the bark. He covered his mouth, not daring to move.

 “I promise that I can make that pain go real quick.”

 Martha walked through the woods, not too far away, in shadow. “Just come let Mama Martha put a bullet in that pretty little skull!”

 Blitzo sighed in relief after hearing the footsteps fade.

 Ring! Ring! Ahh!

 A startled Blitzo scrambled to retrieve his yellow cell-phone, which was ringing a yelling ringtone. He eventually caught the phone before pressing it to his ear. The phone had a GFY (Go Fuck Yourself) on it and a laughing devil emoji with imp horns.

 “This is a really bad time,” Blitzo whispered.

 At Stolas’ palace, the owl prince was currently lounging in an ornate bathtub, several lit candles with blue flames positioned around the edges. Astrological symbols glowed white in a circle on the floor. The midnight blue curtains looked like the night sky, with starry designs on them. Floating constellations hovered around the room. He was the prince of astronomy as well as being horny.

 “When isn’t it a bad time, Blitzy?” he mused, stretching his long slender arm. He held a rotary phone to his ear, the speakers shaped like sunflowers.

 Blitzo sighed in frustration. “What is it?”

 Stolas’ four red eyes blinked. “I’ve been meaning to follow up on our last conversation regarding my grimoire?”

 Blitzo’s angry face appeared in a bubble.

 “What did you just call me?” Blitzo asked. Stolas popped the bubble with a finger. “My book, Blitzy. The book I was given to do my job that I have allowed you to use to do yours?”

 Blitzo ducked as a bullet flew through the tree he was behind. Martha’s shadowy figure appeared in the hole, her eyes and mouth glowing red.

 “I can hear ya, darling!” she called out.

 “Shit,” Blitzo muttered, scurrying off.

 “Anywho,” Stolas continued. “I have been thinking. You know, I have been permitting you to access the mortal realm less than legally for quite some time now, but I do need it back to fulfil my duties. I was thinking, what if we worked out some sort of exchange?”

 He ran a finger along the edge of the tub. He then did a walking motion with his fingers as they glowed red.

 “Favors for favors? Doesn’t that sound…” He spoke seductively, “…enticing?”

 Blitzo skidded to a stop as another bullet hit a tree. He ducked behind another one and frantically whispered, “You gotta stop using your fancy-ass rich people talk, okay? I’m trying to concentrate on not getting fucked in my hay!”

 Bam!

 Another bullet hit a spot on the tree.

 “Then let me keep it simple,” Stolas explained. “Once a month, on the full moon, you return the book to me, followed by a night of…”

 His eyes glowed red, his beak open in lust…

 “…passionate fornication.” He briefly slid lower in the tub with a blush before rising up to lean against the tub.

 “And…you get to keep it the rest of the time. Sound fair my little imp?”

 “Fine, whatever!” Blitzo replied.

 Blitzo let out a happy sigh. “Oh Blitzy! I’m so excited! I cannot wait to fill your slimy **** inside of my *****…”

 Blitzo cringed as Blitzo went on about the sexual things he planned to do to him.

 Out of nowhere, Blitzo found himself being pinned against the tree by the bottom handle of Martha’s gun.

 “Got ya!” she grinned. Bltzo’s phone was on the ground, Stolas still talking.

 “So, you’re a little devil, huh?” she asked, a wide grin. “Come to drag me and my kin to Hell? Well not today, Satan!”

 She pressed the gun further into Blitzo. “Gonna send y’all back where ya came from!”

 She hit Blitzo hard and he slumped to the ground. She took him and headed off into the woods.

 Back at the house, Moxxie struggled to free his tied up hands and body. In the reflection of the window, he could see the orange yellow lights of fires. He gasped.

 “Millie!”

 The two kids stared deviously at him. He froze when the girl revealed a long sharp knife in her hands. Moxxie glared, determined. As the girl raised the knife, Moxxie shoved her backwards with the chair. There was a thud as the chair toppled over onto the floor. Moxxie grabbed the knife and cut the rope loose, freeing himself. A “Live, Laugh, Love” sign and a hangman’s noose hung from the wall. Moxxie burst through the round window, a shadow silhouette with glowing yellow eyes. Wasting no time, he raced into the woods and toward rows of torches. Hanging from the trees were red Satanic symbols. There were also tents around the area.

 A full moon appeared in the sky from behind thin clouds. Down below, Blitzo and Millie were tied to a stake decorated with black spikes at the top. Ralphie laughed as he poured gasoline onto the ground by their feet. Martha stood nearby, holding a torch in her left hand. Her blouse was torn and low cut, with polka dots on them. Her eyes were red and she wore skull earrings.

 Blitzo groaned in frustration. “I had that fucking shot. God dammit, Moxxie.”

 “Satan!” Martha declared. “We return your filthy creatures back to the pits of Hell!” She raised her torch. “May the root of evil remain honored as we continue thy work!”

 Martha tossed the torch underneath Blitzo and Moxxie, who still struggled to free themselves. Ralphie laughed again. The stake soon lit up in flames…

 …leaving the imps unscathed.

 “Yeah, that’s not exactly how it works, lady,” Blitzo explained. “Sorry, your fire doesn’t really hurt us, but I mean I could fake it if that’ll get your dick hard.” He smirked and Millie giggled.

 “Oh. Shit.” Martha stared confused and rolled her eyes. “I don’t have one.”

 Then she got a better idea and grinned. “Well, I’ll just shoot you in your smart-ass mouth!” She held her rifle in her hands.

 “That would be more effective,” Blitzo mentioned.

 “Blitzo!” Millie spat.

 Martha laughed again as she raised the rifle, two barrels pointing at the imps. The imps closed their eyes and flinched.

 A loud bang and a yelp was heard. Martha’s eyeball flew from her socket and she collapsed to the ground.

 “Moxxie!” Millie cried, seeing Moxxie hold a gun in his hands. Moxxie raced over and untied Millie and Blitzo.

 “You’re not getting your goddam paycheck for this one, Mox!” Blitzo mentioned before he fell down. Moxxie and Millie embraced each other with small smiles. They slowly moved their heads against each other in affection. Ralphie tripped over Martha’s body before fleeing the scene.

 “Oh yeah, thanks! I’m fine!” Blitzo spoke out in sarcasm.

 Moxxie helped Blitzo up, supporting him.

 “I’m sorry, sir. I compromised our objective and put us in harm’s way. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

 Blitzo pulled Moxxie into a hug. “Apology accepted.” Then he spoke to Moxxie in a low threatening voice. “But if you ever pull off a stunt like this again, I’ll fuck you and your wife.”

 Just as fast, Blitzo separated from Moxxie and announced, “Alrighty! Job well done! Now let’s get off.” Millie lifted her arms in a cheer. From his chest, Blitzo pulled out a gray horse figure with a back mane like a My Little Pony toy. He put it back and retrieved his cell phone.

 “Eh. Yeah give me a moment. I need to get something I left at the house,” Moxxie said.

 “Okay, fine but hurry up,” Blitzo said. He put his cell phone to his ear and spoke loudly, “Loona! We’re ready to come home, dear!”

 Moxxie raced through the woods, determined to set things right. In the background, Stolas was talking to Blitzo, mentioning, “You and I on…peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all night.”

 Back inside the house, the boy and girl were in their father’s arms in a corner.

 “Don’t move!” Moxxie demanded, pointing his rifle at them. The boy and girl looked scared and innocent. The girl even had a dark gray stitched up teddy bear with her.

 Ralphie chucked. “What are you gonna do, little guy? Kill us?”

 “I should!” Moxxie replied, stepping back. “You people are monsters!” Then he lowered the rifle. “But… you should have a chance at a life and a purpose. Look at your children. They have their whole future ahead of them! You are going to face your crimes, justly.”

 He picked up a remote from a stand. “I am calling your earthly authorities and they will make sure you are dealt with, fairly. I am handing this, my way.”

 He pressed a button and a television turned on in the adjacent room. A black and white program played. Moxxie gasped in surprise, then looked down at it.

 “Oh shit,” he muttered. The black remote had pink and white buttons reminiscent of a smiling goofy face.

 “Uh do you…do you have a phone to summon 911?”

 “Yeah, it’s in the kitchen,” Ralphie mentioned behind him.

 Moxxie held the remote. “Then what’s this for?”

 “It’s a universal remote,” Ralphie replied. “Got it for the kids.” The kids smiled and he pulled them in a hug.

 “Aww,” Moxxie smiled, eyes shining.

 He called the police and hurried back to the portal in the dark woods.

 “There he is,” Blitzo said. “Have a good wank-off session, Moxxie?”

 “Excuse me?”

 Blitzo walked over to him. “Well I don’t care where you cum in the living world, just come to your job on time, alright?” He poked Moxxie several times for emphasis. “See you at the office!” He ran through the portal.

 Millie placed a hand on Moxxie’s cheek. “You doing okay, sweetie?”

 “Better now, honey,” Moxxie replied with a smile. “I think I just needed a minute to process.”

 Millie tenderly touched Moxxie’s chest. “You have a good heart, honey.” She playfully pinched Moxxie’s nose. “Just a fuzzy head.” She kissed him and Moxxie’s heart fluttered. He smiled happily as Millie walked through the portal.

 Moxxie heard the whirl of blades and flashes of light. He turned around. There were police cars and a helicopter in front of the house.

 A voice over a loudspeaker said, “We got em’ boys!”

 A missile fired at the roof and the entire house exploded in a fiery inferno. Something hit Moxxie in the face. He stared at the ground and found the head of the teddy bear that had flown off. He stared with a shocked look of disbelief on his face. The family that had a chance to be better was now dead.

 Blitzo grabbed Moxxie hard by the neck and pulled him through the portal.

 Later on, everyone was laughing and celebrating back at I.M.P. headquarters. They were all wearing birthday party hats. Loona and Mrs. Mayberry held slices of cake on plates. A white banner read “Killed the bitch,” in red letters. A white and blue cake sat in front of Moxxie, the blue icing read “We did it! :)” Everyone seemed joyful except for Moxxie. He still felt awful that they had killed an entire family. An evil family, but still…They had come close to being killed or caught. Now here they were celebrating human death.

 Moxxie wasn’t sure if he agreed to the “senseless killing” morals of I.M.P. anymore.

 Millie squealed for joy and hugged Moxxie tight around the neck. “Did you see my little Mox, Mox? We did it! Oh Moxxie!”

 “Well here’s to another mission accomplished,” Blitzo announced, “…and Moxxie finally learned not to fuck up.”

 Moxxie just stared wordlessly at his plate, dark circles under his eyes.

 “And killing people isn’t that big of a deal if they try to kill you back,” Millie added, rubbing Moxxie’s white head of hair.

 “That’s messed up,” said Mrs. Mayberry, “But I paid for it!”

 Everyone except Moxxie chuckled at that.

 “Yeah, fuck that family!” Blitzo declared, raising a fist.

Helluva Boss Episode Two: Loo-Loo Land

Part One: Octavia

 Hundreds of years ago in Hell…Stolas’ Palace

  Before Octavia Goetia was a 117 year old owl princess (Mentally turned seventeen supposedly August 15 2003), she was a cute little child owl living with her mother and father.

 At night, faint blue constellations illuminated against the exterior of the estate. On the lower jutting wall structure supporting a balcony, Stolas’ sigil symbol also glowed blue in the dark. The balcony itself was spacious and decorated with hanging see-through drapes along the pillars. Spirals and a few eyes were also part of the design above the pillars. Bushes were lined up in rows on an upper row above the balcony, with little rows of coffin-shaped windows behind them in another wall. The borders of the building were decorated with difference phases of the moon in gold. Finally, the double doors on the balcony were stained glass in yellow and orange, with a sun on the left and a crescent moon on the right.

 Inside the estate, three candles cast a dim teal light in the darkened master bedroom. The spacious room had a white tall couch off to the side and a rotary phone on a nearby dresser. Hanging on the wall was a mirror and several large portraits of Stolas dressed in red robes and a crown. Rows of small red banners hung around the top of the bed and four red curtains with gold royal symbols were draped tight around the bed. The bedspread matched the curtains.

 “Mommy! Daddy!”

 A child’s cry from another room roused the owl prince from his slumber. One of his red eyes opened halfway, another one a slit near the top of his dark feathery head. His face was white and heart-shaped. He turned his head to where his wife was sleeping. She was a white owl with long eyebrows that extended past her face. She was curled up in most of the blankets.

 “Via’s calling us, Stella,” Stolas groaned sleepily.

 Stella let out a sigh. “You get up,” she replied tiredly.

 Stolas sighed and rose out of bed, briefly putting his fingers to his head. He opened the door to Octavia’s bedroom. The wallpaper consisted of several columns of moons and stars. Astronomy books lined a shelf while tapped drawings on the wall showed stick figures of Stolas and Octavia, labeled “Daddy,” and “Me.” A nearby portrait showed a smiling Stolas giving an overjoyed Octavia a piggy back ride against a blue background.

 Stolas opened the white door, wearing his red housecoat and a pair of demon face slippers.

 “Dear? What troubles you, my owlet?”

 Octavia’s room was small, with a bookcase and strings of lights hanging around. A white and pink chest and telescope were decorated with stray feathers. Her bed was decorated with small stars and a pink crown on the white headboard, sparkling curtains on either side. A stuffed cat lay on the floor. A lavender blanket with yellow stars on it was currently quivering on the bed. A small frightened face popped out from under the covers: little Octavia. She wore pink jammies with white stars on them. Her face was white and her eyes were large and pink with white pupils. Three gray feathers stuck out from her feathery head and she also had a little tail.

 The little girl sobbed and climbed out of bed.

 “Daddy! Daddy!”

 She ran into her father’s arms.

 “I had a dream! A really bad dream!” Her mouth quivered in a whimper.

 Stolas scooped her up into his arms and yawned.

 “A nightmare.”

 He wiped a tear away from her face.

 Octavia spread out her arms. “I was looking all over the palace and…I couldn’t find you anywhere! You weren’t there!”

 Tears appeared from her eyes and she hugged her father around the neck.

 “There, there, Via. It’s okay; you’re okay.”

 He pat her several times on the back and carried her into the room. A blue grimoire with a golden crescent moon on the cover floated into the room in a purple cloud of magic.

 Stolas sat down on the bed, Octavia in his lap. The book hovered next to him and he waved his hand to turn the pages. Stolas looked at Octavia.

 “When you’re sacred and you don’t know where I am, you must remember: I will never be far away from my special little Starfire.”

 He playfully poked her on the nose and she giggled.

 Stolas waved his hand and magic surrounded it. He moved his hand to the ceiling and created a starry portal above their heads. Octavia looked up with wonder in her eyes. It was then that Stolas started singing his lullaby: “You Will Be Okay.”

 “It always seems more quiet in the dark”

“It always feels so stark”

 Both of them floated upward through the hole. A brilliant indigo night sky filled with stars was revealed. A small bright sun and a distant ringed planet hovered in the distance. Stolas stood on the surface of a large white moon dotted with craters of various sizes.

 “How silence grows under the moon

Constellations gone so soon”

 Stolas’ feet made talon bird tracks on the surface as he carried his daughter.

 “I used to think that I was bold

I used to think love would be fun

Now all my stories have been told

Except for one”

 Stolas looked down at Octavia’s innocent eyes as their faces shone from the pinkish light of the nearby star. Octavia was the ongoing part of his life that Stolas continued to live for, day by day. In all the centuries of his long life, no sexual conquests, no battles nor royal duties could compare with the unique experience of raising a child. In a sea of constellations, Octavia was a guiding light to a greater purpose.

 The ringed planet hovered beside another planet bathed in purple-pink light. A rocky meteor caught on fire and soared toward a molten planet.

 “As the stars start to align

I hope you take it as a sign

That you’ll be okay”

 Stolas sat down on a small rock and held his daughter close.

 “Everything will be okay.”

 The meteor slowly dipped into the molten planet, turning a fiery orange. The meteor broke through the planet, causing it to break into rocky pieces. Stolas and Octavia sat on a floating chunk of rock as light burst upward from between the gaps of the planet debris.

 “And if the Seven rings collapse

Although the day could be my last

You will be okay. When I’m gone you’ll be okay…”

 Octavia yawned and nestled into her father’s feathery chest with a small smile on her sleepy face. Stolas knew that even a powerful demon like himself could not live forever. Angelic weapons could kill both Hell-born and Sinners in Hell. The higher class Hell-born could respawn like the Sinners but unlike the dead previous humans, the Hell-born aged slowly and could die of natural causes like mortals.

 Stolas was a part of a powerful ancient clan of demons, one of the first in Hell. The Ars Goetia brothers in arms were very numerous and powerful…desirable targets for enemies like Valentino and the lot. The family living for so many years didn’t lessen the potential sadness that permanent death would bring.

 Like any good parent, Stolas wanted what was best for his child; to pass down some existential knowledge for her to remember later on.

 “And when creation goes to die

You can find me in the sky”

 Seven planets flew toward the sun, creating powerful impacts. The planets turned ashen black before everything burst into an explosion of light. Stolas’ vocalizing face was illuminated by the large pink smoke from the galactic explosion.

 Tears pooled in Stolas’ eyes as the portal closed behind him, now back in the bedroom. A red and gold metallic model of a solar system hung from the back wall. Stolas lifted the starry blanket and draped it over a sleeping Octavia.

 “Upon the last day

And you will be okay…”

 Stolas walked toward the door, looking at her lovingly again before closing it. Octavia slept peacefully in her bed like a happy chick in a nest.

   Stolas’ palace, Dec 9 2020, present day

 Octavia jolted awake suddenly, her pink eyes angular with constricted white pupils. Her hand rested by her face. Her eyes narrowed in anger, her fist clenched as piercing yelling from another room echoed off the walls.

 Her parents were having yet another fight.

 She got out her phone and texted Loona: “Parents fighting again. Fuck my life.”

 Loona replied: “Srry 2 hear that. Currently dealing with asshole boss and Moxxie the dick. Hang out at concert Friday?”

 Octavia: “Hope so. Mom has grudge against imps and hellhounds, what a royal bitch.”

 Loona: “Smh. Hang in there, my friend.”

 Octavia knew that her regal mother, Stella was pissed that Stolas had fucked the imp Blitzo behind her back. Octavia often worried that Stolas would go on some honeymoon with that creature and leave her behind with Stella. Stella wasn’t cruel but she was sterner than Stolas was. Octavia didn’t know which was worse, her father’s childish attitude laced with a perverted nature…or her mother’s cold critiques of Octavia’s behavior. Stella loved her but expected her to mold into the royal role she was given from birth. Stella was more concerned with tea parties, fashionable attire and her appearance than Octavia’s many thoughts.

 Currently, Octavia was just a typical emo/goth teenager who had to deal with a lot of stuff going on.  

 Octavia’s room was different as well. More spacious, it had a couple of slanted windows between purple drawn curtains that let in some light. A solar system mobile hung from the ceiling in the center of the room. A mirror hung on the wall along with several banners with suns and moons on them. A long couch in the style of white feathers sat off to the side, complete with comfy cushions and pillows. There was a smaller purple telescope as well. Her bed still had the sparkling starry drapes and above that, were hanging purple drapes with a small moon on it and a large pink eye at the very top. Her bedspread was midnight blue with crescent moons on them and the chest by her bed was plainer than before.

 Octavia sat up in bed, with her feathers ruffled, quite literally as well as figuratively. With a grumpy look on her face, Octavia inserted earphones into her ears and held a blue phone in her hand, decorated with a yellow crescent moon. Octavia got dressed in her usual pink shirt with stars on it, black pants, shoes and a crown on her head.

 A playlist of songs appeared, the majority of them were by My Chemical Romance and some were by Lilith. An icon with flames and a sad face appeared on the screen and she pressed the play icon. Pop music played in her ears as a person sang: “My world is burning down around me.”

 The screams grew with intensity as she got out of bed and walked down a hall lined with Venus Fly Trap plants of different colors. They were arranged in a pattern of brown, magenta and purple. One poor potted planet crashed to the floor in front of Octavia. She stepped over the mess as she continued listening.

 She could hear the vehement arguments form her parents as she walked into the spacious kitchen.

 There was her mother, Queen Stella in a white dress with the top part of her outfit a light pink. A crown was on her head and light gray feathers fanned from her head like long hair.

 “I can’t believe you slept with an imp, in our fucking bed!”

 “It was unexpected!” Stolas replied. “I didn’t have time to go to a motel!”

 Stella seethed in disgust. “A motel?! Like a fucking plebian?!” (Roman word for commoner)

 “You want to fuck this one too?!”

 In a fury, she grabbed a small white dressed imp butler and tossed him at her husband.

 Stolas flinched, holding up his hands. “No! Of course not!”

 Stella pointed a finger at him. “You are a god damn embarrassment! I’m not spending another moment looking at your pathetic, imp-sucking face!”

 Stella stormed out of the room, tossing and breaking more of Stolas’ beloved plants as she yelled.

 Stolas sighed in exasperation before turning to look at his sulking daughter who was sitting at a table with a box of cereal.

 “Good morning, Octavia!” he greeted. “Did you sleep well, my owlet?”

 “Was that a serious question?” she deadpanned as she drank coffee from a mug.

 “Mm-hmm…” Stolas began as he walked to an old fashioned white refrigerator with the royal crest on it. He opened the door and took out a slab of zebra meat on a plate. In a corner shelf was a can of soda and a cartoon of chocolate milk. In a zip-lock bag were three white dead mice for a later snack. (They are owls after all!)

 “What’s that you’re listening to?” he asked, with a snap of his fingers.

 “This song is called “My World Is Burning Down Around Me.” It’s by Fuck You Dad. It’s a band.”

 “Oh…how charming…” Stolas chuckled bemusedly. He shut the door and fed the meat to a large white potted plant in a small alcove off the kitchen as he pet it. The satisfied plant closed its three eyes. A starry calendar hung on a nearby wall.

 “So…you two done screaming for the day?” Octavia asked.

 “Um…” Stolas began as Stella let out another scream of anger along with a crash.

 Stolas walked over to Octavia, who had a box of Robo Fizz’s Greed Seed cereal next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “You know what I haven’t done in a long, long time? I haven’t taken you to your favorite place in all of Hell! Why don’t we go to Loo-Loo Land?” He mentioned to a portrait of Stolas, Stella and a happy child Octavia in a dress at an apple theme park.

 “I’m not five anymore.”

 “You always were so happy when I took you to Loo-Loo Land! What do you say we go there again, have a day, just the two of us!”

 “I’d rather kill myself,” she deadpanned.

 “There we go!” Stolas beamed, bypassing her comment. “Anything but staying in this house.” He lifted a finger. “Now, I’ll arrange our security.”

 He picked up a white rotary phone carried on a platter by the battered imp servant.

 “Security for a theme park?”

 “We are rich, and we’re hot. People want our money and our bodies!”

 “Our money, maybe,” Octavia said under her breath. Stolas rotated the dial a few times.

 “Speak for yourself, Princess. Now, I’m calling the only man who can fuck me!”

 Octavia looked with disgust, cereal falling from her hand. “What?”

 “Who can protect me! Us. Being part of the Goetia family is rather valuable, you know.” The imp collapsed.

 Octavia groaned and pulled her hat down over her eyes.

 At the I.M.P. office, there was a picture of Blitzo wrapped in a towel with the words “#1 bitch” on it, with the word “boss” in red over the letters. A paper crown rested on one corner of the picture frame.

 Blitzo played with crude representations of Moxxie and Millie made of office supplies. “Millie” was made from a stick and clips while “Moxxie” was made from an eraser.

 “Oh, Blitzo, you’re such a good boss!” Blitzo impersonated Millie. “Yeah, I really want you sir,” he impersonated Moxxie. “Me too!” he said as Millie. “Let’s three-way!” he said as himself before lowering the office puppets to his crotch. The screaming ringtone of his cell-phone interrupted his pansexual fantasy.

 “What?!” he yelled into it. He lounged in his chair, legs propped up as he drank iced coffee from a bloodstained mug. A poster with SpindleHorse on hind legs with “Wild and Free,” hung from the wall.

 “Why hello, my big-dicked Blitzy!” Stolas spoke lustfully.

 Both Blitzo and Octavia forcefully spit out their coffee.

 Blitzo spoke angrily, “What…”

 Octavia said, “The…

 Blitzo: “Fuck…”

 Octavia: “Dad?!

 “Language! Everyone!” Stolas shouted out loud before speaking into the phone. “I have a special request.”

 “Aw look,” Blitzo mentioned, “I just had a chemical peel, so you’ll have to find someone else’s face to plant that feathered ass!” He was in no mood for another intimate session.

 “It’s for my daughter.”

 A session with Stolas’ daughter? “Ah, well make sure she washes it.”

 “Oh! No! No, no, no!” Stolas cried taken aback. “I’m taking my daughter to Loo-Loo Land and I was hoping you brave little imps would accompany us.”

 “We’re assassins, not bodyguards, okay? Don’t invite us to shit unless someone’s gonna die.”

 “I’ll pay you.”

 “With what?”

 “Money.”

 “Done!” Blitzo yelled in confirmation, accidentally smashing his phone against the desk. He glanced in annoyance at the shattered pieces before producing a white megaphone with a painted monster mouth on it. He put the crown on his head.

 “M and M, get in here! We’re goin’ to Loo-Loo Land!”

 Moxxie opened the door to respond. “Loo-Loo Land?” he asked in concern. An excited Millie smashed her head through the glass window of the office door. “Loo-Loo Land!” Her eyes were shining.

 “Loo-Loo Land!” Blitzo yelled excitedly through the megaphone, his long snake-like tongue flickering.

 “Shut the fuck up!” Loona yelled from another room.

      Part Two: Loo-Loo Land

Loo-Loo Land was a knockoff apple themed park located in Mammon’s Ring of Greed. The sky was blue instead of red like it was in the Ring of Pride. Indeed, there were Seven Rings in this Hell ruled by Archdemons and named after the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Lust, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Wrath. Only sinners could dwell in the Ring of Pride; it was Lucifer’s punishment since he hated mortals. Lucifer, Satan, Leviathan, Mammon, Asmodeus, Belphegor and Beezelbub were the Archdemons…but Lucifer was the Ringmaster of all of them!

 A wide array of attractions spun, lit up, whirled and roared to life, some of them reaching toward the sky. There was a large Ferris wheel with a large blue star structure in the center. A star flyer swing ride spun people on swings, while a towering red roller coaster contrasted against the blue sky. A brick tower displayed an eye with pointed ears on the top of it. A white and red stripped circus tent stood between two tall pillars with red painted caramel apples on top as part of the design. Two smiling red apples wearing straw hats were the pillars that flanked the entrance. A teal sign with blinking lights around the border read “Mammon’s Loo-Loo Land” in white, the last “o” hanging lopsidedly. A cardboard cutout of Robo Fizz had an extended hand in an arch holding a welcome sign. A sign read, “Legally he have to say this,” and another sign said “Not affiliated with Lu Lu World.” Another sign read “Money please!” by a ticket booth.

 A dark gray van pulled into a parking spot and Moxxie got out. He walked with a blank expression on his face, wearing a black suit and dark sunglasses like his imp colleagues. A bold red I.M.P. decal was spray painted onto the van door. Moxxie slid open the door.

 There was the hunched black silhouette of Stolas, his four red eyes glowing menacingly in the dark. He got out of the van, a happy tall owl wearing red shorts and a white Loo-Loo Land shirt. There was a brief silhouette of Octavia, her two eyes glowing violet. Octavia seethed in annoyance as she peered out through the door. Blitzo and Millie came along as well, getting up from the red seats. Stolas put on an apple hat with big eyes and excitedly mentioned for his daughter to come along. Octavia covered her face with her black hat before following.

 In a black suit and sunglasses, Blitzo strolled by Stolas with a serious expression as they walked by a booth that sold apple Loo-Loo hats. By a clock with a black crown on it that read 7:30 AM, was another booth with “Balloons Attack” on it.

 “Now remember, this is work and work only,” Blitzo reminded Stolas. “Me and my crew are not here to satisfy your perverted bird needs, alright?”

 “Hey, dad, do we have to…” Octavia complained before Blitzo cut her off.

 “Okay, yeah, hold on right there, sweetie.” He turned to Stolas, holding an accusing finger at him. “If you try fuckin’ my little ass in that park, I swear to…”

 Stolas leaned down and playfully tapped and booped Blitzo on the nose. “You are so cute when you are serious!”

 “I am literally going to be sick,” Octavia deadpanned.

 “Oh crumbs!” exclaimed Moxxie, rummaging through his small gray bag. “I knew today would be a lot! What do you need?”

 Moxxie fished around in the bag, retrieving pill bottles. “Antacids? Ibuprofen? Morphine?”

With a sharp toothed grin, Moxxie showed Octavia eight hypodermic needles with a glowing green substance in them.

 “That was figurative, old man,” Octavia replied, arms crossed before walking away.

 “Oh, right,” Moxxie chuckled sheepishly as he casually tossed the needles into a baby stroller by the cotton candy booth. A red baby imp wearing a bib with a pentagram on it stuck out his tongue and cooed as he reached playfully toward the deadly looking needles.

 “But she said it was ‘literally,’” Moxxie muttered under his breath.

 On a wall of a Plush booth were Robo Fizz posters and several taped signs that read: “Not Lu Lu World! Stop showing complaints,” “Does Lu Lu World have a sex robot? No! Stop asking!” “I would never do that to my BFF Lucifer.” “Everyone is so mean to me.”

 Millie took off her sunglasses and beamed. “Wooow! I haven’t been to this place since I was a tot!”

 An R on an “Apple Core Roll” sign fell off and squashed a poor teen imp below it. Moxxie flinched.

 “It hasn’t changed a bit! Oh! Look! It’s Big Lovely!”

 Near a gray Extermination booth with exterminator plush heads stood a blue animatronic T-Rex dinosaur wearing a shirt with a planet on it. It had yellow lopsided eyes. Three imps stood to watch it. It suddenly opened its mouth and let out a fierce roaring shriek.

 “That is…deeply upsetting,” Moxxie mentioned. Millie pulled him toward her. “Oh come on! It’s fun! You’ve never been here?”

 “No,” said Moxxie. “Theme parks always disturbed me. Especially the mascots,” he shivered.

 The park’s apple mascot suddenly appeared behind Moxxie. It was a large red apple with a big row of teeth with several holes in them. The top of the apple was green and a black top hat rested on top of the costume. The eyes were big, the black pupils shaped like Pacman symbols. The mascot also wore gloves.

 “Well hey there!” the mascot called in a goofy southern accent.

 Moxxie screamed in fright as the imps both turned around.

 “I’m Loo-Loo! Welcome to Loo-Loo Land!” said the mascot, spreading out his arms. “If y’all get hurt here, just try and sue us!” The mascot stood on an apple design on the ground as the animatronic head fell onto another imp. Stolas and Octavia stood near a carousel with monstrous looking horses and a small triceratops dinosaur. Some of the horses had bat wings, painted eyes all over and fiery shaped manes.

 Stolas’s eyes glowed with childish excitement, while Octavia stood embarrassed. “Look! Via! It’s Loo-Loo!”

 “I have a question,” Octavia stated, holding up a finger.

 The mascot leaned in close to her. “Well ask away, little girlie!” The mascot bounced around, an eyeball hanging out as he made “a-hyuk, a-hyuk a-hyuk” sounds.

 “Is it true this park is just a really shameless spin-off of Lucifer’s far more popular Lu Lu World?” Octavia smirked as Stolas looked at her with a pleading frown.

 The mascot paused. “No?”

 Octavia narrowed her eyes and scoffed. “This place reeks of insecure corporate shame.”

 Stolas chuckled in embarrassment before leading Octavia away. “Why don’t we go check out the rides?”

 “That chick’s creepy, huh?” the mascot asked.

 “Ah, wait till her dad tries to diddle your holes,” Blitzo deadpanned.

 “What’s that mean?”

 “Don’t talk to me!” Moxxie called in suspicion, poking a finger at him. “I know you’re a pervert under there!”

 Moxxie and Millie left. The mascot hung his body in dejection as he sighed “Yeah.”

 Moxxie and Millie headed down a pathway while a sweating Moxxie stopped to catch his breath. “You really like this place, huh?”

 “I love this place!” Millie exclaimed. “My parents would bring me and my siblings here, when they could swing it, Money-wise.” Willie and Lillie were Millie’s brother and sister and sometimes they were just as excited as she was. Unlike Blitzo’s mean father Donner and Moxxie’s parents, Millie’s parents tried to do what was best for their children while also attempting to survive.

  An imp wearing loose clothing and a baseball cap pushed a wheelbarrow full of money into a nearby toy shop. A nearby sign on a brick wall showed a Robo Fizz doll and the words, “New! Fizzy Buddy! He laughs, he sings, he swears! Tell your parents to buy me! Over 100 lovable phrases! Posable! Only 48% asbestos.”

 The two imps approach a window where apple plushies and apple shaped novelty cups with Ls on them were sold for $29.

 Moxxie mentioned, “Yeah, the prices do seem rather criminal. I mean, that much for a novelty cup you use one time?”

 “’Cause it’s Loo-loo Land!” Millie said excitedly. Blitzo walked over, slurping from a straw in a novelty cup. He wore a hat with an apple on it and two can holders and straws attached to it. Loo-Loo Land brought back memories of him and his sisters doing jokes and performing at the circus.

 “Listen to your ho’ Mox,” Blitzo said, mentioning behind him. “How ‘bout I take the first watch while you two…” he winked, “have a little fun.” Stolas held up a white shirt with an apple on it to Octavia who frowned.

 “Oh!” Millie cried. “We gotta do my favorite ride!” She picked Moxxie up and carried him as she ran.

 “Oh yeah? Whi-Which one?”

 Millie and Moxxie raced over to The Lawsuit roller coaster, the carts were red with the front displaying a green grin. The ride plunged at a sheer 90 degree drop while on fire. A lone rider hung on for dear life and screamed as the ride plunged into a tunnel in the ground. The mascot posed by a height rules sign. Later on, Moxxie threw up in a trash can as an angry vomit covered imp family glared at them. Even the red three eyed dragon from the petting zoo glared at Moxxie.

 Stolas happily carried a balloon in his hand while Octavia slouched on. They walked by a stand that read “Funnel Cakes: Eternal Suffering” with popcorn and a sausage on a fork. Blitzo snuck around like a secret agent with his sniper rifle. He appeared on a teal-green tent roof of an “Ice Cream Bugs” stand. Blitzo slid with his rifle and knocked over cups at a “Hot and Cold Drunks” stand. The imps glared at him as he toppled backwards onto the ground. A nearby blaster game was titled “Stop that Soul” and showed a frowning sun and cardboard angels in clouds with xs over their eyes. Another sign read “Hax Away.”

 Five grinning imps with knives and weapons peered out from an alleyway at Stolas, itching to kill him and steal the prince’s money. Blitzo slid along the floor, then glared at the imps, causing them to scatter away. Blitzo aimed his sniper again, near a game where imps could knock out mechanical clown’s teeth at “Teeth Off!” Stolas tilted his head upside down and stroked Blitzo’s horns from above. There was a game where one could toss balls into skulls and a ring toss with real spikes to toss them onto.

 “You know, it’s quite thrilling to see you on the job, Blitzy.”

 “Save it, bitch. I’m working.”

 Octavia rolled her eyes. “You both need to get a room.”

 “Hey!” Blitzo called. “I am not a day-hooker!”

 A nearby imp mother and her baby glared at Blitzo.

 “What? I just said I’m not one, prude!” He flipped her the bird. A nearby film sign read “Pirana.”

 Meanwhile, Moxxie and Millie walked along a line of booths, one read “Muppet” and one read “Knock a Bottle.” Millie suddenly beamed and pulled Moxxie toward another vendor. A smug imp wearing a yellow hat and a red shirt spotted them.

 “Hello, hello!” he called. “Step right up and win a thing!”

 Millie’s eyes shone as she gasped and pointed upwards. “Oh, look Moxxie! A thing!”

 The “thing” was a purple stuffed animal wearing pink overalls with stripped imp horns. It had a yellow beak, an upside down cross on it and a tag with “Thing?” on it.

 Moxxie looked at her with a grin. “Oh, you like that thing?”

 “Yessss!” Millie exclaimed, drawing out the word. “I don’t know what that thing is, but I want that thing!”

 Moxxie straightened his bow tie with a smug look. “Finally something I can handle.”

 He walked up to the vendor, took out some money and handed it to the carnie. “Okay! One game, please!”

 The carnie rolled his eyes and handed Moxxie a clown-like blaster with his tail. Moxxie pulled the trigger with one eye shut and the cork projectile hit the bullseye on the cardboard smiling apple’s behind. Millie clapped in the background. Moxxie made a “ricochet” noise and blew the black powder smoke clear of the gun.

 The carnie just grinned. “Strike one, little man!”

 Moxxie stared in disbelief. “But I hit it!”

 “Hmm, I don’t know what to tell you, buddy. The target, see? It didn’t go down. So yeah, no go, bro.”

 Moxxie slammed another dollar bill onto the counter, picked up the gun and fired again. He hit the bullseye but the cardboard apple stayed in place. He slapped the pistol in annoyance. “The Heaven’s wrong with this thing?!”

 The carnie smirked. “Oh man, a real shame I tell ya. Whaa, whaa!” He pretended to cry and rub his eyes.

 Moxxie hissed in anger and slapped another bill on the counter. “Another!”

 Again and again Moxxie tried to hit it, but the carnie rigged the game, not making the apples go down. Soon, the carnie was holding 600 souls of Moxxie’s money, the dollar bills had Robo Fizz on them. He rolled one bill up into a cigar and put it in his mouth.

 “Wow! Man, you’re really starting to make this sad. You know, if you suck, you suck! Guess you won’t win your honey here a prize.”

  Moxxie seethed in anger.

 “Let me try!” Millie said, taking the blaster from Moxxie. She fired it and the cork flew far off between the apples. The carnie grinned mischievously, and pressed a foot pedal, making an apple target go down.

 “Oh, look at that! Lucky shot, baby,” the carnie said. He wiggled the rolled up bill against Moxxie and dropped it. Millie laughed and clapped.

 Moxxie yelled, “Are you kidding me?! You…you…charlatan!”

 The carnie pressed his hand into Moxxie’s face. “Hey, uh get lost pipsqueak, I’m talkin’ to the lady.”

 He leaned toward her and made a purring sound, causing her to flinch back in disgust.

   Meanwhile, Stolas pulled Octavia close with a gasp, letting go of his balloon.

“Look, Via! You used to cry such tears of joy at this show!”

 Stolas mentioned to a large circus tent with promotional signs of Robo Fizz on either side. A mother imp tried to drag her crying child toward the tent.

 “Oh no…” Octavia breathed, her white pupils constricting. A flashback of when she was a young girl came back to her. She was pushed against the stage by other cheering imp children. Robo Fizz was a robotic imp jester who posed on the stage with his arms spread out. An animatronic band was behind him. A neon sign above read “Fizzarolli and Friends,” with the “R” burnt out which made it look like “Fiends.” Robo Fizz sparked and cackled, wiggling his fingers and leering over a crying Octavia. Off to the side, a scowling Blitzo was dressed in clown makeup and attending a food cart.

 Back in the present, Octavia and Blitzo muttered at the same time: “I hate that fucking clown!”

 Meanwhile, Stolas happily waved as he was being held captive in the air by the gang of imps pointing weapons at him.

 “Oh Blitzy! I need my bodyguard, please!” Stolas smiled unconcerned before another imp jumped up and put a purple cloth sack over the owl’s head. Another imp grinned and held Stolas’ wallet. One imp jumped, trying to skewer him with a pitchfork. Blitzo turned around and fired his rifle, shooting the imp in the torso. Black blood splattered against the cloth sack over Stolas’ head. The imps dropped him and quickly scattered away. Blitzo carried Stolas into the tent and set him down on a wooden bench before leaving. Octavia sat next to him, rolled her eyes and removed the blood-soaked cloth form Stolas’ head. The owl blinked, wondering where he was.

 Two spotlights merged into one on the stage and Robo Fizz flapped open the curtains. He wore a jester outfit and his horns were covered with stripped cloth and little bells hung from the ends. A happy face and sad face pin were by his shoulders along with a string of lights as a necklace. His pants were stripped and he wore gloves. His shirt had small white hearts near the bottom and his eyes glowed an eerie green.

 Six lit up arrow signs pointed to him and read: “Fizzarolli,” “Robot property of Mammon,” “Look at him go!” “Yes! Love 2 c it!” “Wow!” “He.”

 Robo Fizz held up a sign with “Lu Lu” crossed out in red with “Loo-Loo, the better one,” on it. He also briefly held out a red and gold contract signed by Mammon: “This is a statement regarding the unfair accusations that my theme park “Loo-Loo Land” is trying to profit off my friend and ruler Lucifer’s park Lu Lu World. This is false. These allegations are baseless and untrue. You are all just dicks. Fuck right off and stop saying that, alright? They are legally distinct. I checked. Signed Mammon.”

  “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey implings!” he said in his showman voice. “It’s me, the Robotic Fizzarolli! Shipped from Mammon’s factory to bring you a wonderful show celebrating Loo-Loo Land (spelled with O’s to avoid lawsuits!) Hit it!”

 Rows of spotlights lit up and he began to sing. The curtains opened and Robo Fizz’s Five Nights at Freddy’s band played. An open clown mouth served as the stage backdrop. Robo Fizz rapidly pointed at a boy imp and a girl imp and made his rounds toward Stolas and Octavia. He moved back to the stage just as Blitzo aimed his sniper at him in warning. The band played on a rising structure shaped like a cake, decorated with eyes and sharp spikes.

  “Loo-Loo Land, Loo-Loo Land!

Everybody sing along with the Loo-Loo band!

Every girl, every boy, every woman, every man

Loves Loo-Loo Land!”

 An animatronic bear and a smaller rabbit meshed together played a red banjo with a pentagram on it. A lopsided dinosaur played a guitar decorated with flames. A green frog with large human teeth played the Robo Fizz head drums and a brown dog played the triangle. The two speakers on either side were shaped like weapons and had skulls on them. “Fizzarolli and Friends” sign glowed at the top.

 “Loo-Loo Land! Loo-Loo Land!

Everything is beautiful in Loo-Loo Land!

Ugly children holdin’ hands

In Loo-Loo Land!”

 Robo Fizz briefly pulled a crowd of imps into a hug before spinning around and tossing them aside. They crashed back into the stands. He hugged the animatronic dinosaur which fizzled and slapped the bear and rabbit, which squirted black ink at a nearby imp.

 He poured gasoline onto a pile of “cease and desist” papers, causing them to go up in flames.

 “Everybody’s friendly, and nobody is mean

No copyright infringement’s ever seen!”

 In an imitation of Princess Charlie, Robo Fizz then posed on top of a piano. He stood on top, hand over his heart in the spotlight.

 “I have a dream (he has a dream)

I’m here to tell (he has to tell)

About a magical fantastic place called Loo-Loo Land!”

 He spun his body around and landed in a pose with arms and legs spread out. Octavia watched with disgust and boredom.

  “Loo-Loo Land, Loo-Loo Land!

Everybody sing along with the Loo-Loo band!

Every girl, every boy, every woman, every man

Loves Loo-Loo Land!”

 The show ended with a pyrotechnic display. Green flames ate up one of the curtains and Robo Fizz laughed as he did a final pose up front. Octavia leaned her head back and pounded her fist on the bench in annoyance. Stolas cheered and rapidly clapped.

 “Ohhohohoho! How delightful! Haven’t had this much fun since the last Harvest Moon Festival…” Octavia hid her face in her hat again.

 Behind Stolas, an imp armed with a wave-shaped keris sword rose from beneath the seats, ready to stab him. The imp’s head was quickly blown apart by Blitzo at the back seats.

 “Oh! My, what aim you have, Blitzy!” Stolas praised.

 “Ugh! I can’t do this anymore!” Octavia shouted in frustration.

 “Octavia!” Stolas reached out in concern as the owl teen stormed off. Stolas chased after her as Blitzo followed suit. Robo Fizz cackled as he spotted the imp dashing along.

 “Ha ha ha hoho-oh! Is that Blitzo my sensors spot up there?” He emphasized the silent “O” in his name. “I bet the kiddies are still running away from you, huh?”

He spun his head around in loops and cackled.

 “The “O” is silent now!” Blitzo stopped and yelled.

 Robo Fizz mocked him some more and did wild dance-like poses. “Uh huh! Just like your audience always was when you to-told your lazy jokes here!”

 Blitzo tossed his sunglasses aside. “I make more money killing people than you do being a cheap-ass ripoff of an overrated sell-out jester!”

 “Oh ho ho! Someone’s salty! Real or not though, people love me! Does anybody love you…”

 His face turned dark and his eyes glowed menacingly, grin stretched wide, “Blitzo?!”

 “No. But I’m really good with guns now!” Blitzo took out his sniper. “Dance, bitch!”

 Blitzo slammed a new magazine into his rifle, switched it to full-auto and opened up on Robo Fizz, who cartwheeled out of the way of the rounds. He rapidly spun like a wheel up the stairs to where Blitzo was. He coiled himself around Blitzo like a snake, before using his momentum to launch the imp out of the tent.

 “Fuck meeeee!” Blitzo yelled.

 Outside, Wally Wayford, an imp with a southern accent was selling lit torches. There were two posters of Robo Fizz, the first was “Fizzarolli and the Handy Dandies.”

The other showed Robo Fizz with handcuffs:  “Robo Fizz Personal Companion. Gives and receives. Ribbed for your pleasure. Real tentacle action. Ten speed vibration. BDSM feature. Machine Washable.”

 “Torches, I say, I say!” Wally said in a southern accent. “Get your inconvenient torches here!”

 Blitzo landed on the cart with a yell, which scattered the green torches everywhere.

 “Ow…I say ow!” Wally yelled.

 The flames lit the big top of fire. The flames rapidly spread to all corners of the park. Burning animatronics fled the tent as Robo Fizz cackled with demonic glee at the chaos.

 Back at the blaster game, Blitzo had crash landed through the roof and into the pervert carnie just in time, saving Millie.

 “Sir?” asked Moxxie, surprised.

 “Oh hey guys!” a dazed Blitzo replied. “You should probably go and uh…make sure Stolas is okay! I got some…unfinished business to take care of.”

 Blitzo stood up and drew a brown flintlock pistol and fired. Robo Fizz swayed creepily toward Blitzo, a red eye showing on his burning grinning face, green flames behind him. The impact spun Robo Fizz’s head around…but the jester was unharmed by the shot.

 “Oh what a mouth!” Blitzo exclaimed as Robo Fizz caught the bullet in his mouth and spat it out. Blitzo grimaced as Robo Fizz rolled at him again. Moxxie, Millie and Blitzo jumped out of the way as the jester hit the booth, destroying it in a large explosion. Shrapnel and several white imp head prizes flew through the air on fire. The piece of a stuffed animal hit a young imp boy on the head, leaving him unconscious. The photographer then snapped the picture of the imp family.

 “Goddammit Nathan!” the fat father yelled. “You ruined another bloody photo! Why were you even born?!”

 Stolas wandered around other booths: Aim and Fire Shoot Apple, Happy Ducking, and a bomb themed Knok Knok game. One was called Eggs in the Basket, Poison Apples sold caramel apples decorated like slimy skulls and a dunking game was called Drown the Sinner.  

 Stolas then gasped. “Octavia!”

 Octavia ran into a fun house shapes like an elongated head of Lucifer. The face was white with the blushes on the cheeks and the eyes were green and snake-like. The steps were positioned onto a long tongue and the fun house entrance was shaped like Lucifer’s fanged mouth. A top hat and an apple reading “Fun House” was at the top. Stolas followed her inside as two grinning imps held rope and weapons close behind.

 The neon interior was filled with eyes, tubes, swinging pendulums, mirrors and disembodied hands. Stolas went further into the room and looked around. A sign reading “Smile” had an arrow pointed down at a tunnel. A shadow appeared behind Stolas as a random imp jumped onto his shoulders.

 “Um, I think I’m supposed to be body-guarded right now!” Stolas said, annoyed.

The imp covered Stolas’ mouth with his shirt sleeve, but was shot in the head, falling to the ground. Moxxie and Millie appeared in the entryway, Millie had just shot the imp.

 “Ugh. That’s better,” Stolas said, brushing his sleeve. “Where is Blitzy? He’s my knight in shining armor, not you littler ones.” Even his apple hat got an annoyed expression on it.

 The imps came over to him, Millie hugging the thing stuffed animal. “He’s…uh busy.”

 “Being a fool,” said Moxxie.

 “What kind of fool?” asked Stolas.

 “The “everything is now on fire,” kind,” Moxxie replied.

 Stolas left the imps, dodging two swinging pendulums, and headed down a tunnel into an adjoining room filled with eyes on the wall. He then spotted Octavia sitting in one of four apple-themed rail cars, crying.

“Octavia…” Stolas breathed. He took off his apple hat and it fell to the floor, the goofy face now a sad face, reflecting Stolas’ emotional state.

 Stolas scooted next to Octavia, leaving a bit of space between them. “I take it you are…not having fun.”

 “I didn’t even want to come here!” Octavia protested.

 “I’m sorry, sweetie. I thought you loved it here.”

 Octavia glared at her father. “When I was a kid and my parents didn’t hate each other, and my dad didn’t flirt with some weird red dickhead the entire time.”

 Both owls looked downcast.

 “I’m sorry, Via,” Stolas said. “I’m sorry for everything happening right now. I know it’s a lot but I…uh…I should have listened.”

 “I just want to go home, but home doesn’t even feel like home anymore. You ruined it.” More tears fell from Octavia’s eyes as she shook her head and wiped more away with her arm.

 “You need to understand, you mother and I…” He stroked the back of his head, nervously. “I just…I felt…she’s always been…I haven’t been” He stuttered, “…we weren’t in…” He buried his head in his hands, “I’m sorry, I-I-I don’t have the words.”

 “Are you going to run off with him? And leave me behind? Go away where I can’t find you?”

 “What? No!” He pulled her close. “No, no, never. I’d never do that. Never.” Both of them embraced in a tight hug. “I think it’s time to leave this place,” Stolas said. Octavia smiled a bit through her tears. Despite his mistakes, her father loved her dearly. It wasn’t too hard to forgive him. Stolas lifted her up into his arms and continued, “You were right. You are too old for it, anyway.” He walked through an apple shaped opening.

 Stolas carried Octavia out of the Fun House as an imp grinned manically in the space above the drop-ceiling. The imp dropped down and flicked open a switchblade behind him. Stolas immediately turned around, his red eyes glowing brightly. The frightened imp was turned to stone on the spot, then was knocked over by a pendulum.

 As dusk feel outside, the park was reduced to pandemonium. Millie tried to shoot Robo Fizz who wildly rolled around. The red dragon picked up Robo Fizz, tossed him into the air before catching him and swallowing him whole. On the dragon’s back, Moxxie gaped in terror.

 Stolas and Octavia left the park gates.

 “So, what would you like to do now?” Stolas asked.

 Octavia smiled. “Oh, can we go to Stylish Occult? They sell weird taxidermy there.”

 “Hmm,” Stolas said reluctantly, but then said “Okay.”

 Octavia let out a small laugh. “Thanks, dad. You’re okay sometimes.”

 Stolas smiled down at her, his face bright against the starry sky above. It was nice to get a compliment from her. “Thank you Via. Thank you…”

 A massive explosion rocked the park, sending green flames shooting up into the air. The I.M.P. imps hurtled through the air, screaming before all three landed in front of the owls. All three were covered with smoke.

 “Way to ruin another good thing, sir!” Moxxie strained at Blitzo.

 “Worth it!” Blitzo replied, holding up a shaking finger. “That slutty toy clown had. It. Coming!”

 Moxxie and Blitzo then fell unconscious.

  In the darkness, Valentino’s hairless black dog Queef sniffed the unconscious Millie, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her still form away…

 Helluva Boss Episode Three: Spring Broken

Part One: Verosika

 The ground-shaking rock music blared as a gray van rolled along the street at high speed. The front hood of the van was loose and rattled up and down, showing a dark opening. The front headlights looked like a dark grate with a few yellow lights at the very ends. The small license plate at the front read “IMP-666” in black letters. Two red stripes streaked across the side of the van while the bold red and white I.M.P. decal was proudly displayed on the side door.

 “I love this song!” exclaimed the leader imp, Blitzo. He was wearing his usual work outfit; a navy blue coat with red buttons and a red pin at the front. Above Blitzo hung small red and white flags. In the center was a white toy horse with a blonde mane and tail. With his hands on the wheel, Blitzo belted out the lyrics:

 “You were the little spicy…uh… demon with the bleach blonde hair Fiendin' for some semen when I caught your stare Thought it might be love but you went too far Fucked all of my friends and blew up my car

 Lit me on fire made me watch rom-coms Made a secret sex tape and showed it to my mom You were a bitch kinda generally Now I'm a wet wild stallion and I'm running free

 You stepped on my nuts and you tore me apart Slapped up my booty and tangled my farts Cut off my dick when you shattered my heart But it grew back twice as long

 MUSTANG DONG!”

 Memories of him and a former lover were already rushing back to him. The song perfectly described his previous love life and though not very pleasant, was still fun to sing to. There were many times in his life where he considered horses to be better companions than his peers. An array of endless horse names and adventures he could conjure up in his head…

 Blitzo made “horn” rocker symbols with his hands as he nodded his head to the beat. In shotgun, Loona made a face of annoyance as she glanced at her black and white cell phone in her hands. She wore her usual shorts, torn gray tank top and black strings in the shape of a downward facing pentagram below her neck. In the back of the van, Moxxie covered both ears as he sat in the long red seat. He wore his usual dark coat and red bow tie. Millie rolled down her window and smiled as the breeze blew through her wild black hair. She had on her black tank top and torn pants as well.

 Blitzo drove the van into a reserved parking lot, surrounded by graffiti-sprayed buildings. A worn white banner on one building read “Buck you Flitzo” in bold capital letters. One of the buildings was decorated with a large red eye made of glass. Bizarrely enough, there was a billboard that advertised holy water. Blitzo haphazardly drove through the lot opening. He was just about to pull into the remaining empty space to the right when a pink convertible car beat him to it.

 “Holy shit! F…” Blitzo yelled, he and Loona both fearful. Blitzo rapidly turned the wheel and the horn sounded. He slammed on the brakes and the van skidded to a stop. The pink car had a red heart with gold trim on the back and a golden border. The license plate read “SUCK-4-LIFE.” The wheels had small white hearts on the dark inside, white rims surrounding them.

 An angry Blitzo rolled his head and turned off the radio.

 Oh, you “suck for life,” do ya?!” he asked as he glared at the car. He pulled out his white megaphone and leaned out the window.

 “Listen up, you unoriginal pink cum dump!” he yelled through the megaphone. “You have three goddamn seconds to get your dick out of my parking spot…”

 A pair of tall high heels lowered to the ground. The shoes were black with pink hearts on them. The figure wore black tight pants with three pink xs on the side. She wore a black and white dress, a black star on the lower half and a large X and O over her breasts. A sparkly light pink fluffy coat covered her shoulders. Her face was dark pink and a black choker was around her neck. She had a pointed tail, little bat wings and curved pink horns with a few black stars on them. Her hair was long and pinkish white, and sunglasses with pink hearts on them obscured her eyes.

 Blitzo lowered his megaphone in shock at the sight of the familiar succubus.

 “Oh shit! Verosika?!”

 The succubus blew a bubble of pink gum before it popped.

 “Blitzo,” she greeted, arms folded. She had pronounced the “o” on purpose to annoy Blitzo.

 Blitzo glared. “I should have known you’d be here. I could smell fish for miles. Which is odd because I believe the nearest ocean is…”

 Blitzo fell out through the window, face-planting onto the ground. He quickly stood up, pointing at the ground, “…three rings down!” He was referring to the Ring of Envy where the oceanic ruler Leviathan resided.

 “And I should have known you’d be here when I heard the Amber Alerts,” Verosika retorted. She held a white and brown flask bottle in her left hand. It was decorated with a small red and white heart near the top. “I.M.P. is a scam!” and “Swear word” were painted on a nearby brick wall.

 “Oh yeah?” he asked. “I’m surprised they let your fat ass out of rehab. I can see you’re still a drunken whore, clutching onto that beelzejuice juice bottle like it’s the last cock in Hell.”

 “They let me out because I’m still famous,” Verosika bragged, flipping back her long hair dramatically, “and rehab is for sad, loser wash-ups.”

 She took a drink from her bottle and wiped her black lipstick mouth with a gloved white thumb.

 “So your sister says hi,” she smirked, implying a temporary sexual relation with Tilla or Barbie Wire.

 Blitzo stomped over toward Verosika. “Why are you parking here?” he growled. “This is the only parking spot my company has. So take your tampon race car somewhere else.”

 Verosika leaned slightly toward him. “Actually prick, it has my name on it.”

 She pointed down at their feet, where “Verosika” and a heart was spray painted in purple over the previous black “I.M.P.”

 Verosika stood up. “I’m doing a bit of freelance for one of the infinitely more successful companies in the building…”

 “No way,” Loona breathed as she peered from the van.

 “…and they wanted to have me come in this week to lead their team during spring break.”

 “A week?!” Blitzo exclaimed. “No, no, you are not parking here for a fucking week!”

 Verosika removed her sunglasses, revealing pink irises with yellow sclera.

 “Aw, you mad, Blitzo?” she cooed in a mocking tone. “You gonna run off, leaving someone else to pay for the hotel room, steal their car…”

 Verosika and Blitzo talked over each other, “…and run three Rings to Wrath and back and max my credit cards on shitty horse riding lessons?!”

 Blitzo stomped his foot. “God dammit whore, you will not let that go!”

 Verosika walked past him, showing a middle finger. “Choke on a sandpaper cock.”

 Loona lowered her head as she walked by. Blitzo angrily followed Verosika.

 “Hold on, you better move that pussy wagon right now or I’m gonna…”

 Blitzo froze as he heard a low growling sound behind him. Towering over him was a beefy dark gray Hellhound man. He wore a torn black jacket decorated with red spikes along the shoulders. A black tattoo of a wolf with sharp teeth and a tongue out was on his left shoulder. He had thick eyebrows, torn pointed ears, a black nose and a scar over his milky left eye. His right eye was red.

 “You’ll what?” he grunted, showing his sharp white teeth.

 Blitzo stuttered and looked around, fearfully. “Or I’ll…um…I’ll…I’ll call HR.”

 Blitzo, Verosika and the Hellhound burst into sudden laughter before they calmed down.

 “Anyway,” said Verosika, “Meet my new Hellhound, Vortex. Unlike you, he actually does his job well.”

 Vortex walked by Verosika’s side as she left. She flipped off Blitzo again before saying, “Ta ta, fuck stain.”

 “Ugh, I wasted so much time with a bag of holes like that,” Blitzo muttered in annoyance.

 Just then, Loona stepped out of the van. “You know Verosika Mayday?!”

 “Huh?” Blitzo asked. Then he casually answered, “Oh yeah, her, yeah, we dated.”

 “Was it before or after she became a pop star?” Millie asked in curiosity.

 Blitzo crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

 “You dated a popstar?!” Moxxie added as he stepped out of the van.

 “Okay, why are you all acting like that’s such a shock?” Blitzo asked.

 “Hello. It’s Verosika Mayday?” Loona replied.

 “It’s you?” Millie said. Moxxie and Millie were surprised that a famous person like Verosika would consider dating someone who was perceived to be far below her league.

 Moxxie scratched his head. “I just…Is she blind? Suffering some form of brain damage?”

 “Okay look, you are all making this into a way bigger deal than it needs to be,” Blitzo said. “I don’t pry into your stupid personal lives.”

 Loona, Moxxie, and Millie did overlapping yells:

  “You do that all the time, sir!” yelled Moxxie.

 “Come on, you do that,” added Millie.

 “You totally do that,” Loona agreed.

 Millie grinned mischievously, her eyelids lowering. “What was sex with her like?”

 “Millie!” Moxxie yelled, taken aback.

 “What?!” Millie shrugged. “It’s a pop star! You’d wanna know what sex with Michael Crawford was like.”

 Moxxie paused in mid argument. “Touché.”

 “Okay look, let’s just drop it!” Blitzo demanded. “Millie, find a temporary spot for that truck.”

 He tossed a pair of keys to a gleeful Millie, who caught them and scampered off.

 “Okay, Loonie, Moxxie, let’s go handle this shit.”

 In the building, Loona led the way between the imps as the three stepped out of an elevator. The dark brown walls were decorated with yellow webbed cracks. I.M.P. was painted in red on an office door window. The Hellhound nervously stepped forward, hands together.

 “Did they see me? Fuck! I did my makeup shitty today!” she muttered. Blitzo stared at her with shining eyes.

 “Oh you look perfect, Loonie. Like always.”

  She flinched away from him, arms crossed as she passed by a water cooler. A look of annoyance crossed Loona’s face at Blitzo baby-talking her.

 “Oh shut up da…” Loona began before seeing a look of adoration and wide eyes on Blitzo’s face. She had almost said, “dad.”

 “Urgh!” she caught herself and shoved him aside. “…Blitzo!” She checked her face in a small hand mirror, a wolf design on it. She then bumped into a long furry arm.

 “Oh. Whoa,” she breathed. Glancing down at her was none other than Vortex. Redness crept up to her cheeks and she wagged her tail. Blitzo briefly smiled at Loona before gasping in shock. He dashed between Loona and Vortex, arms out.

 “Hi big man,” he said. “Where’s your bitch bag of an employer?”

 “She’s in her office,” said Vortex in a low voice. “There wasn’t room on the second floor so they rented one here on this one. It’s way cheaper.”

 Vortex mentioned toward a room down the hall, across from the I.M.P. office. Three neon hearts stood right above two blue double doors. A large pink “V” and a pink “M” were painted on the door windows, standing for Verosika Mayday (and Vivienne Medrando, creator of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss!)

 “Oh come on!” Blitzo yelled.

 Vortex chuckled with a shrug of his shoulders. “Sorry man,” he said before walking away.

 “Oh no you don’t, bitch,” Blitzo muttered.

 “Sir,” Moxxie began. “How about you let me go in and try to reason with her. I don’t really listen to what’s classified as “pop genre” music, so her status to me is…”

 Blitzo tuned out Moxxie’s rambling.

 “Moxxie,” he said, “Shut the fuck up.”

 “All righty then,” Moxxie replied, pushing open one of the blue doors and going inside. Electronic music briefly sounded from inside the room. The room had been converted into a dimly lit recording studio, with mixing consoles, effects units, microphones and separate booths. The neon pink border just under the ceiling gave it a club-like atmosphere, as did the rows of beer bottles on the counters. The silhouettes of Moxxie, Verosika and her gang of demons were visible from a large glass window.

 “Hello Miss Verosika was it?” Moxxie asked, his eyes golden and glowing. “I work for Imp and it is actually rather important for us to retain the singular parking space we were assigned because…”

 A woman succubus with a bob of hair pointed at Moxxie. “Aw, look at the little one. He’s got a wittle bow tie!” The gang snickered.

 “Please don’t condescend me, ma’am,” Moxxie replied. “I…”

 A male incubi leaned close to Moxxie. “Wanna kiss, you little guy?”

 Moxxie stepped back. “A…A kind offer, but…I’m married.”

 Verosika stepped forward as her gang surrounded Moxxie. “Hey, why don’t you send a little message from me back to your limp-dick boss?”

 Verosika and her gang hissed with sharp shadowy mouths over Moxxie. The imp screamed “Don’t touch that!” Blitzo raced over and pressed both hands on the window pane.

 “Moxxie, do not let her access any of your holes!” he cried.

 Moxxie raced back into the hall, his back against the closed doors. He was shaken and battered, with red lipstick kisses all over his face.

 “I…I gotta go lie down…now,” he stuttered as he walked away.

 Blitzo fumed, veins popping in his yellow eyes. “Oh this won’t stand!”

 He boot-kicked both doors open, gaining the attention of his ex and her crew. There were other succubi and incubi with reddish pink skin, horns, pointed tails and small bat wings. A white-haired man wore a black collar with a black upside down cross around his neck. He wore a black short sleeved shirt with a red logo that read “burn forest burn” on it. His taller male partner wore a ripped black tank top with a circled X on it. His hair was black and he had a black goatee. Two demon women partners sat together as well. The first had long dark hair and wore a fishnet top and leggings. The white-haired succubi next to her wore short revealing overalls. Verosika stood poised in the middle.

 “Alright, (censored)! That’s it!” Blitzo yelled, marching over toward Verosika. “If you’re gonna be shitty to my employees…” he pointed a finger at her, “…then I challenge you to a fucking…challenge!” He leaned his head back in frustration. “Fuck, I said that twice.”

 The woman with long dark hair chuckled. “Is this imp boy starting a demon duel?”

 “I think he is,” Verosika replied with a snicker. She bent over toward the imp. “What’s the game then, Blitzo?”

 “Every year, you STD spreaders go topside for easy pickings while spring break is a prime time for crime of all kinds!” Blitzo responded. He grinned, “So I bet…you succu-bitches can’t fuck as many people as we can off by the end of the day.” He briefly made a hand gesture of a gun.

 Verosika and her gang burst into laughter. Blitzo glared in determination. Verosika and the others stopped laughing. “Oh, you’re serious?” Verosika asked. She leaned in and spoke to Blitzo in a low whisper, “Game on, bitch.”

 Later at I.M.P. headquarters, Blitzo stood in front of an easel full of paper and a large whiteboard flanked by bat wings near the top. There was a large bar graph drawn on the board along with horse drawings. On the left hand corner, Blitzo had written, “Potential Horse Names: ‘Grape Fiesta’, ‘Paperclip’, and ‘Soap’, -32.”  Moxxie, Millie and Loona sat in their usual spiked chairs around a long table to listen.

 “Alright, shut your assholes, here’s how were gonna do this shit,” Blitzo announced.

 “First, we find a fuck ton of clients…”

 The animated childish drawings on the paper showed Blitzo, Moxxie, Millie and Loona standing together. A crowd of imps and clients surrounded them and gave them hugs and piles of money.

 “We portal up…”

 The Blitzo drawing snapped his fingers and the I.M.P. figures fell down to earth.

 “We have our fun murder time as per usual…”

 The I.M.P. figures used guns to kill the human figures around them.

 “We pile all the bodies into a big fucking canoe…”

 Drawing Blitzo tossed the dead humans into a canoe that read “S.S. Cum Gutter.”

 “We push said canoe into some water. We light it on fire to attract the sharks and eagles and maybe a goose, too. Fuck it…”

 Animated drawings of sharks, snakes, eagles and a goose ate at the bodies on fire. A large octopus sea monster snapped the boat and everything up in its mouth.

 “They come and eat the bodies, we win the bet…”

 The I.M.P. figures cheered, while the Loona one wore a party hat and blew a noisemaker.

 “We rub it in that sloppy bitch’s drunken whore ass face.”

 The Verosika drawing burst into tears on her knees as the I.M.P. figures flipped her off several times.

 “Do you have any questions?” Blitzo asked as the real meeting continued.

 “Uh yeah, why was that nonsense?” Moxxie deadpanned.

 Blitzo walked over to him. “That wasn’t a question.”

 “That wasn’t a plan,” Moxxie retorted.

 Blitzo put a hand around Moxxie. “I’m sorry, but that was a flawless presentation of what we should do, Mox. It’s not my fault you’ve got a smooth little brain upstairs.”

 “A what now?” Moxxie asked, eyebrows raised.

 “I’m calling you slow, Moxxie. God, why don’t you learn to take criticism, you talentless baby dick troll?” He pointed his finger into Moxxie’s chest several times as he spoke.

 An angry Moxxie stood up on the table. “Well why don’t you take an art class?”

 Blitzo grabbed Moxxie by the collar and threw him back onto the chair. “Why don’t you see how expensive they are?!”

 Loona interrupted the argument, still holding her cell phone. “Hey, is there a way I can come with you guys this time?”

 Blitzo crossed his arms in disapproval. “Absolutely not. I forbid it. Not gonna happen. Sorry, sweetie. Spring break is no place for young vulnerable goth girls. You know the kind of freaks up there who drool all over you.”

 All four characters glared into the camera, breaking the fourth wall.

 “Well, I can blend in with humans easy enough,” Loona explained. “Just let me tag along.”

 “Wait, say that again,” said Blitzo.

 “I can blend in?” Loona reiterated.

 “You have a human disguise?” Millie asked.

 “Yeah. Don’t you?”

 The three guilty imps nervously looked at each other, eyes darting from side to side.

 “You three have been screwing around on Earth this whole fucking time, without human disguises?!” Loona asked in disbelief.

 “Okay, new plan!” Blitzo called, rapidly scribbling on a piece of paper. He placed the paper on the easel, showing Loona surrounded by human figures with tiny hearts around them.

 “Loonie can help lure the humans to us and we’ll take care of the rest. Okay how about that?”

 “Flawless logic,” Millie smiled in agreement.

 Moxxie held up a clawed finger. “I think you’re missing the biggest issue, sir. Isn’t it crucial to have a client who demands enough kills to win this bet? We aren’t just going up to massacre.”

 Blitzo smirked in response. “I got that covered, Mox.”

 Not long after, Blitzo stuck a flyer onto a pole. It read “Spring Break Victim 50% Off!” It had a drawing of Blitzo, a dead victim and little cartoon horses.

 Blitzo strode to Moxxie. “Now, we wait.”

 Moxxie shook his head. “Sir, there is no way we are going to get enough clients by the end of the day with one poorly spelled bad grammar flyer!”

 Both Moxxie and Blitzo paused and looked over to see a line of a dozen creatures looking in curiosity at the flyer under the Pride Ring’s blood red sky. They arrived in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some of them were imps and others were sinners. There was a pink fluffy monster with black eyes, an orange fly trap plant wearing librarian glasses, a fox with thick white hair, a humanoid dog with pointed ears and a hook for a hand. Next to a teal lizard lady with dyed hair stood a tall man wearing a blue suit with a deer skull for a head. Even Travis, a gray owl demon, was there.

 Blitzo elbowed Moxxie with a smug grin before strolling over to the other demons. “Now, who’s first?”

  Part Two: At the Beach

 The beach in the human world was alive with humans from everywhere. Men, women and children happily walked around, relaxed under umbrellas, or had snacks. Several surf boards stood up in the sand by a decorated teal wall with a wavy orange design taking up the center. The crowd was positioned between a wooden dock and a makeshift stage. Two women wearing sunglasses got comfortably close and kissed each other in the shade. A muscular dark skinned man talked with a red haired woman while a blonde guy wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap shook a bottle of pills into his mouth. Above the beach lay a small row of shops. One sign read “Pawn Paradise.” One sign read “hotel” in red letters while another sign read “Sea cream” with a teal ice cream cone structure next to it. Another sign read “Pico Puncho Pizza” and another read “Dagon Juice” and had a green fish with a sailor’s cap on it.

 In the shadows under the dock, the I.M.P. crew emerged from algae covered rocks.

 “Now remember, we can’t be seen, alright?” Blitzo reminded them. “And loose shots will likely cause a panic, so Loona can help with leading targets to a better spot to off them. You got the list, Loonie?”

 Loona skimmed the list in her hands and gave it a sniff. “Got it.”

 She dropped the paper, stood up and walked into the light. A rush of swirling blue magic enveloped her before it vanished.

 Loona was now in human form. She opened her red eyes and brushed her thick light gray hair with her hands. She wore her same dark crop top and high black shorts but she now had white skin, two bars in her right ear and a partially shaved head. She had gray eye makeup on and a black choker around her neck. Her pale midriff, arms and legs were visible.

 All three imps stared in amazement.

 “Oh Loonie, look at you!” Blitzo breathed. “You look downright awful!”

 Loona glared at him.

 Blitzo wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m so proud.” He pointed ahead. “Now go fetch!”

 Loona peered in front of her with a hand over her eyebrows to help block out the light. Her target humans were outlined in red in her vision. Loona smirked and strolled over to a tall dark haired muscular man wearing sunglasses. She moved a finger toward his chest and gave him a flirtatious grin. She mentioned behind her to a private alleyway. Loona led him into the alleyway and leaned casually against the wall. The man reached out to grab her in lust but was immediately shot in the head by Blitzo spying on the roof. He gave Loona a thumbs up.

 Later on, a blonde man ran to Loona in an alleyway with a hungry lustful look on his face. He was caught in a noose by Blitzo. A random “music band” poster hung on the wall. On a rooftop, a brown haired man leaned in to kiss Loona, but Millie knocked him off the roof with a kick. The man fell into a green dumpster that Moxxie slammed shut. Loona walked with a fat man down the sidewalk and a flower pot crashed fatally into his head. Blitzo killed a woman with a knife, Millie killed a white haired woman with a spiked baseball bat, and another woman got shot in the head.

 Blitzo and the gang put the bodies in bloodstained dark trash bags, closing them. In the background, Millie happily jumped on another body.

 “That’s nine kills in the bag!” called Blitzo. “I’d like to see that waily snatch orgasm that many…”

 The imps froze when they heard a voice through a microphone. It was Verosika Mayday on stage, in her human form. Her shadowy silhouette in the clearing smoke resembled her demon form. She had blonde hair, tan skin and wore black leggings and high heels. She wore a pink skirt and a matching frilly top that revealed her right shoulder. She had a small black heart on her right cheek. The background lights were pink, giving the appearance of moving hearts. “Verosika Mayday” was on a pink banner overhead. Verosika appeared on two screens on either side of the stage, showing moving hearts of red, pink and white for the background. Six pink spotlights shone on her.

  “All right spring breakers! Are y’all ready get fucked up and make some bitching bad choices?!”

 The crowd cheered in affirmation. A white teen boy with short blonde hair tore off his shirt and yelled “Verosika!” He had her name written in pink on his bare chest.

 Verosika sang her song:

 “All aboard

 Pack your bags

Sun’s out

Take a vacay babe

Take it straight to Bonetown

 V-time, free time, baby relax

Self-care, no hair, Brazilian wax

Hardtop succu-bus to the beach

Catch some rays while catching some D

 Pack your bags

Sun’s out

Take a vacay babe

Take it straight to Bonetown

 Hot dog, hot bod, sausage and buns

Threesome, fivesome, having some fun

Back to my place, welcome to Hell

Sun’s out, hormones out, how does it smell?

 Pack your bags

Sun’s out

Take a vacay babe

Take it straight to Bonetown”

  Verosika performed her song on stage and took a drink from her bottle. “Fuck you Blitzo” appeared on the screens as Blitzo seethed. The humans made out with others around them. The humans kissed, hugged, and gave each other anal. One dark woman succubus showed a love-struck man a popsicle with semen-like saliva on it. She grinned and threw herself onto the human male. An incubi with dark hair in human form smiled and snapped his fingers at a blonde man…his sunglasses fell off his surprised sunburned face. Several more succubi and incubi grinned and snuck up on the humans.

 Blitzo was furious. “God dammit, that bitch started her godish mating call! Now she’s gonna win all those sex maniacs. We gotta pick things up, guys! He on the list, Loonie?”

 Blitzo mentioned to a vomiting long haired blonde man in boxer shorts.

 Loona appeared distracted, not even looking at him. “Huh? Yeah I think so.” Loona was staring at a tall muscular black skinned bouncer by the stage: a human Vortex.

 “Good!” Blitzo called.

 The blonde man looked up at Blitzo in a stupor.

 “Whoa, what are you? A leprechaun? Hahaha!”

 Blitzo raised a sharp black and red ax. “Oh yeah, pretty cool, huh?”

 Blitzo smashed the man’s head open with the ax, causing blood and brains to splatter.

 “But you sure as shit ain’t gonna tell nobody.” He looked over. “All right, next one, Loonie, come on.”

 Blitzo rapidly glanced around, but Loona wasn’t where she was a moment before.

 “Where’s my baby?!” he cried in a panic. Millie pointed toward the stage. “Look!”

 Loona nervously made her way through the crowd, avoiding a French-kissing couple and tossing aside a bra that landed on her head. A squealing fanboy ran toward Verosika but Vortex punched him into the ground, head first. He dragged the teen away in the distance as Loona watched. A male incubus appeared as a white skinned human with short white hair. Putting both hands on her shoulders, he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her. With a roll of her eyes, Loona landed an uppercut on his chin, causing him to fall.  

 “Now, who wants a piece of this?” Verosika called as she took one last gulp.

 She tossed her flask into the ocean, creating a small golden portal. A fish appeared, which rapidly grew in size.

 Loona walked sideways over toward Vortex.

  “Hey, you,” she tried.

 “Hey,” Vortex replied. “You’re the hound working for my boss’s freaky ex.”

 “Yeah. Sorry if that’s weird.”

 “It’s cool,” he shrugged. “Her beef ain’t mine. I’m not paid enough to care.”

 Loona laughed nervously. “Yeah. Yeah.” She pushed her hair behind her ear. “I’m Loona!”

 “Okay.” In her giddy tone he repeated, “I’m Vortex!” Both chuckled.

 “That’s hot,” Loona said with a grin. Then her face turned red and flustered. “I mean like literally you know because vortexes, you know, they give off heat. Probably.” She pointed both fingers in a snap, trying to act cool.

 Vortex chuckled lightly. “Uh, yeah. I guess. But my friends call me Tex.”

 “Oh yeah. I wish I had friends. I mean no, I mean, I don’t. I…I don’t have friends.”

 Just then, Blitzo arrived, moving himself between them.

 “Am I interrupting something?”

  “Nah man. Just having a conversation,” Vortex replied.

 Blitzo narrowed his eyes and wagged a finger at him. “’Conversation’ leads to HPV!” Loona clenched her fists in frustration.

  Meanwhile, Moxxie and Millie hid behind several metal beer barrels.

 “And… we lost him,” Moxxie declared. “Huh, it’s looking like it’s up to us handle this list.”

 Millie’s face shone in excitement. “Hell yeah! Team M and M, getting shit down, making the money!”

 Moxxie and Millie ran off holding hands in the sunset and killed more people. A sign read “Senpai, notice me.”

  Loona pinched her nose. “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Loona said to Blitzo in concern. “You’re gonna get us all into shit.”

 “I just wanted to see what was so important that you’d be distracted from your job.”

 Loona angrily pulled Blitzo away from Vortex.

 “What, I can’t have a break?”

 Blitzo yelled at the top of his lungs. “We have a parking spot on the line!”

 “Hey dude,” Vortex mentioned as he walked over. “Why don’t you chill out?”

 Blitzo wagged a finger. “Why don’t you stay out of it?”

 He turned back to Loona.

 “Okay, this is our business.” He pointed to the ground and in his tail was a drawing of Blitzo killing a person, a horse followed by an equal sign and dollar signs. “Literally.”

 Loona clenched her fists and briefly leaned forward in anger. “Oh fuck Blitzo! Why can’t you stay out of my face for like five minutes?!”

  “Because I adopted you! And that should mean something.”

  “Oh what does it matter? You’re not my real dad! I was almost eighteen.”

 “It still counts.”

 “Well it shouldn’t. I didn’t need you then, asshole! I don’t need you now.”

 A tense silence followed. Both of them crossed their arms, their backs to each other. Both faces showed hurt expressions.

 As a young pup, Loona had been left to fend for herself by her real neglectful parents. She had lived a life of meth addiction, sex, fighting and insecurity with no real friends. Blitzo was perhaps the first person to truly care about her. He took her in as a teen and adopted her…and she had worked at I.M.P. ever since. Loona already felt bad at what she had just said. But there was no taking it back.

 She stuttered, trying to say something.

 “Uh, Blitzo…I…”

 “Enjoy your break, Loonie,” he replied. “I’m gonna go kill something.”

 Loona sighed sadly as he left.

 “Damn, girl. That was savage,” Vortex remarked sympathetically. He placed a large comforting hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

 Loona blushed heavily, forcing a smile.

 “Yeah, I’m fine. He’ll get over it. He usually does.”

 “I’m glad you could stick up for yourself, at least,” Vortex mentioned. “Hmm. Takes guts.”

 “Thanks,” Loona smiled.

  Meanwhile, Moxxie looked to the left and right from behind the beer cans on a table. Beer can and bottles were everywhere. Moxxie ducked back behind them, watching as Millie loaded her crossbow. The two imps smiled and kissed.

 A man with a baseball cap, sunglasses and a tie-dye shirt that read “Kool” threw down a beer can. “Yeah! Party!” he yelled. The man pointed both fingers in the air and then promptly flipped the table, sending the imps flying. Moxxie landed on the ground as the beachgoers stepped back.

 “Eww!” exclaimed a red haired woman in disgust, pointing down at him. “Oh my god! It’s a fucking possum!”

 Moxxie tried to scurry off, but a man picked him up. “Oh crumbs!”

 “I got it!” called the guy with “Kool” on his shirt, holding up Moxxie in the air. A muscular blonde man held a large beer barrel. The first guy tossed Moxxie inside while the second one closed the lid. “We put him in the keg,” one of them said. The other people cheered as Moxxie was carried away. “Beer is awesome!” they cheered. While he was inside, he gulped down the beer around him. The people tossed the barrel and played catch with it before leaving it behind.

 Millie dashed from behind the beer cans, arriving at the barrel Moxxie was in. The barrel wobbled, surprising Millie. She placed her ear to it before tipping it over. Moxxie spilled out on his back with the remaining beer.

 “Moxxie!” Millie cried.

 “Millie! Hi! Hey!” Moxxie slurred, rolling onto his back and looking at her upside down. “Hey, when did you get four heads? I wanna kiss ‘em!”

 He made smooching noises before Millie picked him up.

   Suddenly, a large gush of water rose up from behind them. A dark shadow passed over their faces, darkening the sky. The humans glanced up in shock. Even the demon gang and Verosika looked on in fear and surprise. A woman pointed upwards and several people ran off. A giant foot crushed a man lying on a turtle towel. Blood splattered everywhere and onto the crowd of humans. Another woman screamed and the humans ran for their lives. Blitzo was in the process of chocking a drinking man from behind, when he, too, stopped to look.

 It was a giant black Leviathan fish monster!

 The fish had large teal eyes, fins, white whiskers and dozens of blue sharp teeth. The beast let out a fierce, ear-shattering roar.

 “Oooh, fish,” Moxxie grinned stupidly in his drunken haze.

 Like a deadly vine, a long spiked tongue wrapped around Moxxie and pulled him toward the fish. Millie watched in horror as Moxxie was wrapped up above the large maw before the fish snapped its jaws shut.

 Millie got into a fighting stance. She glanced to her left and spotted a fat man drinking and wearing sunglasses. She stabbed him with a knife and tore off a piece of his towel. With her knife in her mouth, she lit the cloth on fire over a vodka bottle, creating a Molotov cocktail. Millie tossed it toward the monster, sending the fish stumbling and crashing down into the sea.

 Wasting no time, Millie swam toward the monster and cut upwards along its scaly body with her knife. Using all her strength, she pried open the monster’s mouth. Moxxie was punching the monster’s uvula, still wrapped up in the tongue.

 Millie reached for him with her hand. Moxxie reached too, then gave her a high five. Millie grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him up. She used her other hand and foot to support herself on the monster’s teeth. She pulled as hard as he could, but Moxxie wouldn’t budge.

 Just when she lost her grip, she slashed her knife across the tongue, slicing a piece off. In a roar of pain, the monster spat Moxxie out. Moxxie spread out his arms, enjoying the feeling of flying. Back on the beach, a man flinched as the tongue piece landed on the ground. Moxxie landed in Blitzo’s arms. The man cheered before Blitzo shot him with a gun. Moxxie cheered drunkenly.

  Back inside the monster’s mouth, Millie rapidly punched at the tongue, trying to get out. The monster roared in pain and anger, slashing around as Millie wrestled with it.

 “I love that woman!” Moxxie declared.

 Blitzo smirked. “Oh she totally pegs you, doesn’t she?” Indeed, Millie was dominant in the bedroom and Moxxie loved it.

 Millie leapt into the air, knife aimed downward. She fell back inside the mouth…then sliced off the fish’s head from the inside. A gush of blood flowed out from the monster before it landed with a final thud into the water. Millie walked back to shore and dropped her knife, exhausted.

 Blitzo and Moxxie cheered. “Oh yeah, way to show off, Mils!” Blitzo called.

 “Is Mox okay?” Millie panted.

 Blitzo glanced at the drunken Moxxie. “Oh yeah, he’s fine,” he casually said before dropping him onto the sand.

 Millie raced over and held Moxxie in her arms.

 Moxxie grinned at Millie with a doped expression. “This is funny. I’m soooo… drinky.”

 Millie just smiled and hugged him.

 Blitzo scowled and crossed his arms. “Okay, this is too wholesome for my liking.”

 “Blitzo!” Verosika called.

 “Oh perfect,” he said sarcastically. He turned around to the human-disguised gang of seducer demons. “That must be the whores!”

 Verosika was flanked by four succubi and an incubi disguised as humans. “That was handled rather…obvious, don’t you think?” She grinned a smug grin.

 Millie held up Verosika’s flask. “I don’t think this belonged to any of us.”

 Millie tossed the flask to Verosika who caught it with one hand. She dropped it into one of the succubus’ hands.

 “Would be a shame if anyone found out you guys were behind a giant monster fish in the human world,” Millie added with a grin.

 Even Moxxie laughed out loud, pointing at them. “Oh Satan! You all be so fucked!”

 Verosika briefly looked concerned, then sneered. “Yeah, well you three nasty ass gremlins will be in shit for not being in disguises.”

 Moxxie fell to his knees and face-planted into the sand. He lifted his head up. “A human called me a possum. I am not a possum.” He face-planted again.

 Blitzo stepped forward and moved Moxxie out of the way with a foot. “You know, we could keep this little B movie scene on the down low if you agree to let us use that parking space.”

 Verosika, not wanting to get in trouble, relented with a sigh. “Fine.”

 Blitzo raised both arms in the air. “We fucking won!”

 “Fuck yeah!” Millie cheered.

 “In your face, bitch!” Blitzo taunted Verosika, who scowled.

 She glared at Blitzo one last time. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Tex!”

 Vortex stood with Loona not too far from the empty stage. “Well, guess it’s time to bounce, but hey, if you’re ever down to party, I’ll give you a ring sometime.”

 Loona smiled in excitement. “Really? I mean, Yeah. Yeah.”

 “Yeah. My girlfriend throws a ton of crazy hound parties.”

 “Nice. Can’t wait for my first one.”

 “Let’s get you some friends, girl.”

 Vortex gave her a playful punch before following Veroskia. Loona looked downcast at seeing Vortex leave and being reminded of her confrontation with Blitzo. Vortex already had a girlfriend and he wasn’t coming with her. Now she would go back to doing her usual secretary work. With Hell being “every demon for themselves,” it was hard to make true friends, especially if one was of lower class and lost in dark thoughts all the time. Loona could not deny to herself that she often felt like a lone wolf.

 Millie carried Moxxie and jumped into the portal.

 “Come on, Loonie tooney!” Blitzo called to her. “Let’s go back and park our fat fucking car in our fat fucking space!” He ran off into the portal.

 Loona followed Blitzo and fell through the portal on her back.

 Blitzo mockingly gave Verosika double middle fingers through the portal from behind her. Verosika growled in anger after noticing. She and her gang made their way up the stairs and onto the street.

 A policeman yelled, “Put your hands up, you sick deviants!”

 The gang huddled in fear as guns were trained on them. They were surrounded by police cars, a SWAT team, men on horses and a helicopter. A clown and a mime robot were also with the police.

 Verosika sighed in defeat. “Alright, sluts, get ready to suck a lot of pig dick.”

Her gang members groaned in disgust as they raised their hands in surrender.

[emma-nation]

Till Death Do Us Part - KamilahxMC Fanfiction

Summary: Kamilah’s POV after the events of Chapter 16.

Genre: Angst. A lot of angst.

Rating: T (Warning: suicide attempt and spoilers of Book 2 finale)

KamilahxMC Tag List: @iam-the-fuckin-queen, @annabellewerecorgi, @voltos9, @scorpistraub, @leavemeandmyshipsalone, @jen825, @andreear17, @spacecarrousel, @justejuste727, @aureliaxj, @graceschoices, @sleeping-with-her06, @supersphynxsworld, @gavryllo, @galaxyside-0, @msuhailey, @zoe6111, @ptxgirwaffles, @tigerbryn11, @shanuuh, @ilovetaylor13m, @fal-carrington, @honorablebicycle, @ilovekamilahsayeed, @begging-for-kamilah, @kennaxval

Notes:

- One of the possibilities I thought for Book 2 ending. What if the LIs really believe MC died and she became a Vampire by herself?

- Next chapters of Bloodline and In My Veins will be posted in the following days, when I recover from this ending.

“And I love you,” Kamilah said, tears streaming down her face.

She hadn’t cried in a long time. Possibly centuries. Until now, no pain was strong enough to trigger such a reaction from her.

“I love you!” She raised her voice. “Are you listening, Amy? I love you! Say it. Tell me you’re listening, please…”

But there was so answer. Only absolute silence. A silence Kamilah was used to. The silence of death. Followed by sobs coming from Lily and the sounds of Jax punching the ground.

“Kamilah,” Adrian placed his hand on her shoulder. “She’s… Amy’s gone.”

Amy is gone. It was like time and space had stopped. Her heart started beating in an unusual rhythm. Though Vampires couldn’t feel sickness, Kamilah felt she was about to throw up. She looked down at her hands and her clothes. Amy’s blood had soaked her entire suit and shoes.

“She’s not… She can’t be…"

In an useless act of hope, Kamilah teared her own wrist with one of her daggers, letting her own blood flow inside Amy’s mouth.

"Drink it, Amy. You’re going to be okay. Now Gaius is gone, thanks to you, I’ll finally live… live with you by my side. Remember?”

Minutes passed. There wasn’t a single sign life would return to Amy’s body. There was no pulse. No breathing. Her skin was pale and cold.

“Amy…” she stroked the girl’s soft hair again. “You promised me. You promised we’d never be apart again. You promised you were going to live.”

“Kamilah…” Adrian, who was now crying too, uselessly tried to push her away from Amy’s lifeless body.

Kamilah tried to stood up, only to fall on her knees again. She had no strength. She felt all her forces had been completely drained. The air wouldn’t enter her lungs and she had no control over her body.

The next thing she knows was that she was standing in front of the cursed tree, generated by Gaius’ death. She stabbed it repeatedly with both of her daggers.

“This is your fault! This is all your fucking fault! You took her from me… Like you took everything else!”

The blood from the tree spilled on her face. On her body. On the museum’s floor. On the people around her.

“I’m so sorry,” were the last words she heard, before Adrian snapped her neck, leaving her unconscious.

———

“It was a nightmare,” Kamilah repeated to herself in the morning, before opening her eyes. Nightmares were always recurring in her sleep, either about Lysimachus’ death or the terrible things she had done in the past. This time though, it was real. She was still wearing the clothes from the previous night. The same suit, covered with Amy’s blood.

Even after forcing herself to take a shower, she still smelled like death. The scene of her lover dying in her arms repeated over and over again in front of her eyes.

“I don’t…  want to leave you…”

Amy’s last words echoed in every corner of her apartment.

Kamilah attempted to run to her living room, only to be face to face with the Ancient Scarab Adrian gifted her. The reminder of the first time she laid her eyes on that stunningly gorgeous young woman.

“The scarab is a symbol of rebirth, if I’m recalling my college class correctly?”

It was her fault. She failed to protect Amy and she knew it. She was so fragile as any other mortal. She had no chances against Gaius.

If only she had forced her to stay with Serafine, or even locked inside that mall… she still could be alive. They’d be dead, but it wouldn’t matter. Being dead would be less painful. Less torturing.

In an act of anger, Kamilah slammed her fists against the glass display. The ancient artifact fell right in front of her feet. Holding it fondly in her hands, she whispered to herself, while tears began to fall again.

“I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t say it before, when I had so many chances… But I do…”

———-

The days passed quickly. Kamilah refused to attend the funeral, or receive any calls from the rest of the group. She didn’t want to be comforted, there was nothing that could comfort her, except maybe for alcohol. Only alcohol would dull her pain.

She started to analyze every possible city where she had an office, she started planning where she should move to. Tokyo, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Dubai, Toronto… Anywhere she wouldn’t find evidences of Amy on everything she looked at.

Amy’s presence lingered in her apartment, her office, her rooftop… and also at Adrian’s company, at the Central Park and even at that lame Karaoke bar.

Kamilah couldn’t just pick a location. Maybe more alcohol would help. Except that, in only five days, she managed to consume all the alcohol she had stocked.

She rolled her eyes and wore the very first outfit she could find in her closet. Who cared about looking good? There was nobody else to compliment her anymore. Who cared about that suit collection? She had wasted so much time in that stupid company. Time she could have spent with Amy. Lost time.

In the half-destroyed city, she walked to one of the few bars that was already working and sat down, ordering drink after drink. She didn’t even notice the hours passing… all her eyes would see were the happy couples, walking hand in hand… the people smiling and having something to celebrate…

She had nothing. Absolutely nothing. Gaius took everything from her.

“One more bottle, please,” Kamilah ordered.

“Miss, we’re closing,” the bartender answered. “Besides, you’ve had way too much.”

Kamilah looked at him with the nastiest scowl and opened her wallet.

“I can pay,” she threw a considerable amount of money at the counter.

“ASSHOLES!” She yelled as the security guards dragged her out of the bar. Though she had more than enough strength to fight back, she didn’t feel like it. She felt completely weak.

It was almost morning and she had nowhere to go. Nowhere that would make her feel any less empty and lonely. Kamilah walked, walked until she reached that familiar building. The building she spent multiple nights for the last six months… Amy’s building.

She broke down through one of the windows and lay on the bedroom’s floor, holding one of Amy’s shirts. At least there, she still could feel her scent. She could feel closer to Amy somehow.

“Amy…” she held the shirt closer to her body, “I miss you.”

———-

In the morning, once again Kamilah woke up, hoping for a nightmare, but she was still trapped in that cruel reality. A reality without Amy. A meaningless reality.

She went to the girl’s desk, looking at her pictures and that foolish, immature, decoration. A hint of a smile appeared in the corners of her mouth.

Wearing Amy’s shirt, she went to that living room. While she had coffee, she easily beat all the levels of that childish music game. It was like she still could hear Amy’s laugh somewhere, everytime she got a perfect score.

Kamilah put the guitar joystick away and laughed at herself. She was acting like a child, a spoiled child that was being denied her favorite toy. When Lysimachus or even her Italian lover died, she had no time for that. Her grief was based on revenge, what helped her to keep her mind busy. This time though, she had no one to plot a revenge against. For the first time in her life she was completely free, and without no one to share that freedom with.

She went to Amy’s bedroom to say goodbye one last time. Her family would probably be coming to pick up her belongings anytime soon. Kamilah thought should take at least something to remind her of the woman she loved the most. That remarkable, optimistic and cheeky human being. She started to look for something meaningful, something Amy would want her to have, when in one of her drawers, she found a diary.

It contained pictures and reports of her first days living in New York, her moments with Lily and her favorite songs’ lyrics. But then, her writing began to change, starting by that March 30 when she started working at Raines Corporation. Most of her entries, that became rare between the period of the Awakening Ball and the battle against Adam Vega, mentioned Kamilah. How she enjoyed her company and being close to her.

Amy reported everything later, when she had time, their first kiss, the first time they made love, how Kamilah started to slowly open up to her and act soft. Each one of their encounters was fondly described in those pages, ending on the day all the chaos started. The last entry described Amy’s nightmare, about a bloody tree and a mysterious woman. Deep down she was afraid, as if she knew what destiny was holding for her. Cuddling with Kamilah made her feel safe that night.

“I love her. Today I realized I love Kamilah Sayeed. Like crazy.”

Kamilah took the diary with her and before leaving the apartment, she softly told Amy:

“Don’t worry, Amy. We’ll be together soon.”

———-

2063 years was too much, even for a vampire. Kamilah Sayeed fought in wars, built her own empire called Ahmanet Financial, loved and lost countless times and accomplished things no mortal would ever accomplish. She lived a complete existence.

Now it was time to end this.

For the first time since she bought that luxurious penthouse, she opened her bedroom curtains and windows. She lay on the bed and waited. Soon the rays of morning would invade the room and consume her. Turn her into ashes.

On the other side they’d be waiting for her. Lysimachus, her parents, Amy. It became more pleasant to imagine death, than imagine a life without the one person who made her days brighter. She was finally ready to end that long life. One that should be long gone.

10 minutes. Her skin started to burn. Yet, the pain was not so intense as the pain she felt inside her heart. She smiled.

15 minutes. Her mind was foggy and all her strength was gone. She couldn’t move anymore. She smiled.

20 minutes. She started feeling delirious. Another 10 minutes and the pain would end. Forever. She smiled.

22 minutes. She still could hear her voice, calling for her somewhere close.

“Kamilah…” Amy was crying. “Kamilah, please… open the door… I need you!”

“I’ll be there soon, my love,” she answered.

23 minutes. A loud noise came from her living room. Like if someone had managed to break down the door. Another hallucination, she thought. Only a powerful vampire would be able to get through her security system.

24 minutes. The bedroom’s door opened. Somebody closed the windows and curtains. But she could barely see or hear anything anymore. Darkness consumed her.

———

“Wake up,” the tears falling on her face felt cold, compared to her burning skin. “Please…”

Kamilah slowly opened her eyes. A figure was staring at her, caressing her hair. Maybe she finally achieved her task. She smiled again.

“Amy,” she called.

“Yes, that’s me. Can you hear me?”

Kamilah nodded in response. Feeling too weak to speak.

Her vision became steady and she could actually see Amy, kneeled right beside her. Her clothes were dirty and bloodied, as well as the rest of her body. Her eyes were red and fangs were showing between her lips.

“W-What?” Kamilah forced herself to sit. “A-Amy… is that… really you?”

She hugged the girl, as tightly as she could. She touched every single part of her body and kissed her lips. It wasn’t a vision. It wasn’t the afterlife. She was actually there in front of her. Alive. In flesh and blood.

“Kamilah,” Amy sobbed in her arms. “I-I’m scared! I woke up in a coffin. I was… I was buried… I screamed and screamed for days, no one would come for me. So I fought hard and I caved until I was free. But I wasn’t myself anymore. I was so thirsty… I found this man on the road… God, I think I’ve killed him! I drank his blood! I… I almost lost you too! Only a few minutes and you wouldn’t be here for me!”

Kamilah listened to everything in silence, while she stroked Amy’s soft hair. She had no idea how she Turned into a Vampire, but she was glad she did. She kissed Amy’s forehead in relief, cherishing that moment.

“It’s over now,” she whispered softly. “I’m here for you. I’ll always be. And don’t worry about being a Vampire, you will adjust just fine. We’ll get through this together.”

Amy finally looked at her again. Her eyes had gone back to their usual beautiful color and the fangs disappeared behind her smile.

“Kamilah, we did it. We killed Gaius, right?”

“You killed Gaius. You’re a hero, Amy. The bravest, strongest and most wonderful woman I’ve ever met.”

“You told me that, right before I…” she stopped. “I remember now.”

“And there was something else, something you had no time to listen.”

“What was it?”

Kamilah stared deeply into her eyes and sighed, without hesitation she said those three words. The words she had been keeping to herself for all those weeks, until Amy died.

“I love you,” she said, taking another deep breath. She didn’t want to waste any more time. “Will you marry me?”