#hacking into his dad's computers and everything. it's a mess

[kiyomitakada]

what if kiyomi was the first Kira and misa was still second Kira

i wonder!

(bleh that's one of my older ficlets it's before i realized L is polite to literally everyone except light… so it ought to be takada-san but that's fine.)

anyway this ^ was my first attempt at the idea but it has been plaguing me for months and it looks very different in my head now. here are some Thoughts:

kiyomi as first kira

kiyomi is a very outspoken character who is relegated to the most passive position in the narrative. i don't think this was intentional, i think it was Misogyny of the Author, but it is very interesting to me in the context of this AU. i imagine she picked up the notebook fully intending to throw it away but hung onto it for instincts unknown (light also says in canon that "that notebook has a power that makes you want to try it"; i don't really subscribe to the idea that the notebook controls you but i feel like it's fair enough to say it has some kind of weak draw), and then didn't try it until ryuk showed up and she freaked out.

ryuk would be like well if you don't want to use it then just give it back to me. kiyomi "superiority complex" "control freak" takada refuses immediately. i think she'd rather die than get her memory wiped (i have not thought far enough to get to yotsuba arc yet. don't worry about it) and the idea that ryuk dropped it randomly and giving it back might result in some ~mass murderer~ getting it would be horrifying to her.

so of course she has to use it.

i actually have a different post in my drafts about how i think each dn character would use the death note but here is what i have for her

kiyomi: picks up the death note out of curiosity, scoffs, fully intends to throw it away but forgets until ryuk shows up. at which point she starts killing specific government officials at a rate of about one per day (she can't stomach indiscrete killing the way the others can). all the officials are found with a fingerprint-less knife stuck in their chest, so the police suspect a mundane serial killer, but no level of protection has been enough to save any of them yet. kiyomi probably tries to make them write down political demands as her "calling card" and then gets mad when she can't do that (the death note doesn't allow people to write things they don't know). instead she has to send tapes to sakura tv, where she interns, to get her manifesto out. the one time a knife isn't immediately available, the death note makes the politician die of a heart attack, which the media naturally attributes to stress. but Something Feels Off to L… do you know how much i would pay for the protagonist kiyomi takada version of death note do you KNOW she'd be so insane in a completely different way

i stand by this. kiyomi is way more politically minded than light, she talks to him and mikami about supporting kira entirely of her own volition, her first move when light tells her to start airing her own opinions is to talk about how she thinks the education system should start teaching kids about kira and how kira should instruct the army on how to act. kiyomi takada is fucking terrifying. Do Not Let This Girl Into The Government.

"but she supports the canon kira so wouldn't she act like him?"

well the problem is kiyomi has the intention but never has the resolve until pressed

(i have the manga panels to prove this but i can't be bothered to dig them up right now. sorry. One Day i will write a full kiyomi analysis and it will even be decent)

in this way she is much like chapter 1 light yagami. light going on a murder spree because he thinks his soul is about to be taken = kiyomi shaking and bloody in the back of mello's truck thinking i have to judge as many people as possible right now.

so in this scenario, since she didn't start killing until ryuk showed up and explained things to her, kiyomi is not motivated by fear for her life but rather fear for her memory + her canon support for killing everyone + "if someone else had this they'd do much worse than me" (just like light, with that one) (who else would have the guts?). so she does kill people but not as many. she puts thought into each one. ideally she wants to kill as little as possible for maximum impact.

i think she wavers between staging these deaths as suicides (invoking the societal stigma around them & so that there would naturally be a suicide note, etc) or making them obvious murders and would eventually go with the latter because she . also has a god complex. i mean nooo obviously it's because politicians will be more scared if they know someone's out there to get them!

anyway

what the fuck does the first arc look like

kiyomi imo gets just as mad as light does about being called evil. but unlike light she has more experience being called a cold bitch, snake, little miss perfect, etc, so she sees lind l tailor and does deep breathing exercises because killing him on air would do nothing but traumatize generations of children

so basically the broadcast ends and nothing happens until sometime around midnight lind l tailor drops dead of a heart attack

interpol was originally very mad at L for staging this whole thing because he has far less evidence that the killings are supernatural in this one, but they're kind of creeped out by this because of that other politician who had a heart attack — tailor was in the prime of his health and everything (L picked the death row inmate with the least history of cardiac disorders)

anyway [sighs really hard] this whole plot has to be reworked from the bottom up because kiyomi doesn't have access to police information and, unlike light, is not invested in The Game as much as she is societal change, so she wouldn't want to draw L out and eliminate him in the first place.

(i think kiyomi and light share the same fundamental loneliness in their souls — "if you were smarter this could've been interesting" / "you're the only man i've ever actually admired" — but kiyomi is drawn not just to intelligence but to people who share her principles, whereas light is drawn to people who can beat him at his own game. this is one area where they are different! thank god!)

(you could argue kiyomi is too, considering her reaction to misa, but her immediate response when misa starts getting under her skin is trying to leave)

(and besides i'm not even sure if kiyomi ever realizes lind l tailor was a scheme. like presumably she knows L is still alive and panics the day after when L is like hi. im still here. but since her killing was time-delayed L might not be able to get as much information and so he has no reason to gloat.)

anyway kiyomi's not giving L any clues so basically things are going to be a lot harder for L

but she's also going to spread kira's message through news stations so…………… more information source there? better not fuck up with that voice modulator kiyo

misa as second kira

oh thank god, l lawliet thinks, a development, i was about to die of stagnation

thankfully no matter how things shake out in first arc i think misa would still try to use the tv stations & the fake diary to get to kira, so that doesn't change. although since kira's voice is already becoming established she might have to do it in a more roundabout way (remember she also didn't want the cops to figure out she wasn't the first kira)

maybe this is how we can get manga misa to sing i'll only love you more????

anyway. they meet in aoyama, still. kiyomi went for the same reason light did: she has to size up her threat (see: inviting misa to dinner)

light & kiyomi significant difference no. 2: perceived gender

misa voice kira is a GIRL?!?!?!?!

she still buys all the information she can get on kiyomi. ("kiyomi takada… what a boring name.") (fun fact kiyo's pretty much the only character in death note with an entirely normal name; this is why her death is so shocking)

so misa shows up at her house all casual-like

light & kiyomi significant difference no. 3: where light's thought is "this girl isn't as stupid as i thought" kiyomi's thought is "this girl is the most dangerous person i have ever met"

like as far as kiyomi knows L is kind of useless. misa is the first direct challenge she has ever faced. misa can kill just by looking at a person. misa has a death note and she is sure as hell not giving it to kiyomi.

because if you interpret kiyomi this way, she hasn't avenged misa's parents

(i wonder if i could come up with a reason for her to do that because i admit the whole misa arc doesn't make as much sense otherwise… but let's assume not for now)

so why does misa want to meet up with her anyway?

well. who else is there who would understand.

anyway i kind of picture them close to this yagamane dynamic (sorry yagamane i'm stealing your valor). misa doesn't have any reason to be grateful to kiyomi, but she does want to be useful still, wants to have a purpose. wants to have people she can talk to in perfect honesty, but also has kiyomi's real name dangling over her head at all times and wants her to know that

also. crucially. she wants to have a perfect family because of course she does. in canon light is her gateway to this: by becoming his girlfriend she can integrate into the family dynamic. calls soichiro her dad, calls sachiko her mom… but this doesn't work with kiyomi because she's a girl and misa, as we all know, is totally one hundred percent heterosexual.

so. so:

Kiyomi sighs. "Okay. I… I suppose it's a deal." "Yay!" Amane jumps up and flings her arms around Kiyomi's neck; she's warm and unexpectedly bony and smells like artificially flavored shampoo and Kiyomi's heart spasms in her chest. It's been a long time since anyone's hugged her like this. She's a mature young woman and that means she doesn't hug people. "You won't regret this, Kiyo-chan!" "I am already," Kiyomi mutters. It's far too mean, far too revealing, but — oh, who cares, Amane already knows she's a serial killer. Amane's triumphant smirk as she pulls away carves its way into her skin regardless: she knows Kiyomi didn't mean to say that. "I'm so happy," Amane keeps going, patting her dress down like she's worried Kiyomi's gotten lint on it. "I've always wanted a little sister!" Kiyomi stares. "What." The look Amane casts her is pitying. "Didn't you know? You're a year younger than me." "That is not the problem here," Kiyomi hisses. (It is sort of the problem.) "I'm an only child!" "I know," Amane says very patiently, "I bought all your records, remember? I'm an only child too!" Is this a bonding moment? Is Kiyomi finally experiencing Lady Macbeth insanity? "We don't look anything like each other," she points out. "If you're planning on another disguise—" Amane rolls her eyes. "Ugh, you're so serious all the time. Lighten up a little! I'm joking! We can just be sisters from different mothers, or whatever they say. Together forever, you know? Through thick and thin? You won't die on me, will you?" Kiyomi, being an only child, is not entirely sure what having a sibling is like, but she's pretty sure the rage(?) coiling in her stomach isn't it. "…Not unless you kill me." Amane smiles. It's not as wide as usual. "Well, that's a start."

[hard-core-super-star]

you could love me if i knew how to lie [K.Bishop]

pairing: kate bishop x stark!reader

summary: after spending all your teenage years engaged in a somewhat unserious rivalry, kate bishop makes her way back into your life as the last thing you need: a security guard. maybe it'll be the push you need to admit your feelings for her...or maybe just an excuse to bicker with her.

warnings: none, i think?; brief mentions of past hookups; slight angst? [idk if it counts]; lots of bickering; a sprinke of exposition; tipsy confession; kate is totally NOT jealous; did not proofread this enough :/

wordcount: 2.9k

a/n: HI! so, a long while ago i wrote a mini-fic about kate and stark!reader. my plan was to turn that mini-fic into a full fic because i never liked how it turned out BUT instead...i wrote a sequel, set way further into the future [or i guess, the canon timeline?]. anyway, tony is dead, kate is hawkeye 'cause clint is fully retired, and she's the sole CEO/owner of bishop security while R is the CEO of stark industries. i'm planning to mess around more with this AU so let me know what you think! hope you enjoy, see you next time <3

* * * * * * *

Kate Bishop was a pain in your ass.

There was no other way to put it. No way to sugarcoat the place the brunette occupied in your life.

Sure, maybe you were being petty. Maybe there was no real reason for both of you to be at each other's throats besides your own competitive nature and your dad's penchant for snarky comments about his business rivals.

Then again, the young CEO wasn't exactly a rival. At least, not ever since she took over for her mom...and since Tony Stark died. A fact you try not to think about most days.

Needless to say, things haven't been the same since the snap. Since those five years came and went, leaving behind nothing but pain, confusion, and regret. Enough regret to fill up the entirety of Stark Tower with it.

Maybe losing your dad should have made you more grateful to be alive. To have the opportunity to help the world rebuild after Thanos. Maybe it would have had you not ended up just as cynical as Tony.

All you could think about was what you lost. The people and things you'd never be able to get back.

Maybe it was that train of thought that led you to take over Stark Industries. Sure, Pepper wanting nothing to do with the place had a lot to do with it too, but you could have let it go. Could have allowed her to sell it to Eleanor Bishop or whoever else she wanted to.

But you were just as stubborn as your dad. Maybe even more, considering how much you loved hanging out with Natasha and Steve.

So, instead of walking away like you should have, you took over the company. While you weren't exactly sure what running a company of this level entailed, you were your father's daughter and you had more than enough of his smarts to figure out what to do.

At least, you thought you did until some wannabe super villain threatened you.

You didn't think much of it when it happened, you were used to stupid threats made by even stupider people. It never amounted to anything in your experience so you didn't think twice when you decided to "respond" to the threats.

The response in question being a very unserious, sarcastic remark that earned you the front page of the New York Times. Naturally.

Unbeknownst to you, your little stunt also earned you the attention of your old "rival" turned superhero. Everything you'd heard about Kate had come from Yelena and your attempts at hacking her computer.

The years that had gone by didn't seem to matter to the brunette, though, at least considering the ease with which she broke into your apartment. You'd be surprised if you didn't know she was just as good at hacking as you. (Maybe Yelena had a point when she told you that you needed a security update, but you'd never admit that outloud.)

You let out the loudest sigh of your life when you walk into your living room only to find Kate Bishop herself standing in the middle of it, dorky superhero suit and all.

"Dang, don't look so excited," she says, the corners of her lips quirking up into a small smirk. Despite her efforts, you know her nervous tells too well to be fooled by her fake nonchalance.

"Don't sound so hurt," you reply. "You can't tell me you were expecting me to be happy to see you after everything."

The shrug your words receive looks so natural you almost believe her act. You know better than that, though. "I thought that's exactly why you wouldn't mind seeing me. It's been a long time."

She's not exactly wrong. As annoying as she can be, you have missed her. Going to boring, fancy events isn't the same when she's not there to bicker with you. Maybe it's childish, but it's the only thing you've known when it comes to the brunette.

Just long arguments over ridiculously expensive appetizers and loaded glances across ballrooms. That's all your relationship with her will ever be.

"Yeah, five years to be exact," you say, not even trying to hold in your bitterness. "Not that you ever showed any concern about what happened."

Her eyebrows furrow slightly, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she stumbles over her response. "I...didn't think you needed me to-"

"I didn't need you," you correct her, already feeling your blood boil. "I just thought you had a shred of decency. Guess I was wrong, hooking up with anything with a pulse seemed much more important to you."

Her jaw clenches, and you hate the rush of satisfaction you get from the sight. After what the two of you have been through, the last thing you should be doing is pushing her buttons, and yet here you are. As stupid as it may be, some things never change.

"You're the one that turned me away the last time I tried caring," she says, her voice far more serious than usual.

The reminder she sends your way is the last thing you need right now. Even though you know she's not doing it to hurt you, it still stings. Mainly because she's the one who never returned your calls. She's the one who continued hooking up with other people after spending the night wrapped up in your arms.

"A drunken hookup isn't exactly "caring", Katherine."

The brunette groans in response, throwing her head back in frustration and allowing you to see the long column of her throat. For a split second, you come up with a different idea to work through your frustrations. As appealing as it sounds, you know it'll just make things worse.

"How are you still so insufferable?" Kate asks, her voice straddling the line between annoyed and amused.

You shrug. "It's a skill."

Her annoyance seems to clear for a second, like clouds parting to make way for the shining sun. "Yeah, right. You're something else, that's for sure."

Her words are technically a tease, but they soften you up all the same. They shouldn't, they should infuriate you, make you want to throw her out of your apartment and never talk to her again. They don't, though.

But instead of showing it, you decide to change the topic. The sooner you figure out what the hell she wants, the quicker she'll leave you and your bitter past with her alone.

"What do you want, Kate?" You ask with a sigh.

Her eyes linger on your face for a second too long before she answers. "Nothing. I'm just here to keep an eye on you before you do something else stupid."

"I don't need a guard dog," you reply.

She rolls her eyes, matching your energy far too quickly for your liking. "I'm not a dog, but you do need a guard. Running your mouth like that is only going to get you hurt."

You scoff. "I can handle myself just fine."

"Sorry, princess, I have direct orders from Yelena to keep you safe until this all blows over."

Of course, Yelena sent the archer to you. You're not sure if it's truly an "Avengers" thing, or if it's simply the Russian being an overprotective friend. Either way, there's no way for you to get rid of Kate which means...you're stuck with her, whether you like it or not.

"Fine," you huff, sounding far too much like your teenage self. "But don't think this means you're forgiven or anything. We're still not friends."

Even though a smile tugs at her lips, there's no mistaking the flicker of disappointment in her eyes. The longing you know all too well. "Yeah, I know."

As weird (and slightly uncomfortable) as it is, you move toward your kitchen with the archer following right on your tail. You're not a fan of the idea, or of having her breathing down your neck all the time, but complaining will just make things more difficult. And even though you're particularly known for being difficult, you're actually trying to not make things worse.

It's much easier said than done and yet...you and Kate actually start working toward some sort of normal. Well, there's nothing normal about having her following behind you like a puppy all the time but you can't say you don't like it.

You vow to not admit it, to not let her know just how nice it is to be around her. Just how much you've missed seeing her.

You're pretty sure it's your worst kept secret but thankfully, Kate can be quite oblivious most of the time. It's probably something to do with how much attention her constant rambling requires.

However, after weeks of keeping your act together, of pretending like you don't notice the looks she sends your way or the constant brushing of her hand against yours, you break. Or well, she breaks.

Despite her attempts at trying to keep you inside, you go out to bar with a few people from Stark Industries, using the excuse of some stupid business meetings to convince her. She knows it's a stupid excuse. That despite your insistance that you're there to talk business, you're really just looking for a way to put some distance between you.

It's not the worst plan in the world, and, at first, it works perfectly. Kate escorts you into the bar and then leaves you alone with your friends, giving you space to go back to some sort of normality even while the threat of someone attacking you lingers as a possibility.

Ultimately, it's not an attacker who approaches you during your night out. It's simply a decently dressed guy that tries far too hard to charm you.

He ignores your attempts at kindly declining the drink he offers to buy you and when his hand wraps a bit too tightly around your arm, Kate appears at your side.

"We should go," she says, her tone leaving no room for arguments.

The insistent guy opens his mouth to try but before he even knows what's happening, the brunette peels his hand off of you and leads you away.

You're not necessarily mad about it, the guy was being way too annoying and slightly creepy. That being said...you're also not about to let Kate think she can step in like that when she's not told to.

You try to escape from her grip but she simply holds on tighter, looking back to glare at you as she continues leading you through the throng of people.

"Kate," you warn, easily meeting her glare with one of your own. "What are you doing?"

The way her grip on you tightens is telling enough but you need to hear the words from her lips. "That guy was flirting with you."

You barely hold back the urge to roll your eyes, her habit of being far too blunt in moments of stress growing less endearing every time. "Yeah, I noticed. What's the problem with that?"

For once, Kate's actually speechless.

She opens and closes her mouth at least five times, making disgruntled noises that don't even border on words. You're equal parts annoyed, amused, and endeared (even if you'd rather not admit it).

"He's clearly a creep!" She finally says as if that will clear things up.

And maybe it does. Maybe it clears everything up and makes perfect sense. Maybe it means you should stop fighting against the truth that's been chasing you since you were a teenager. 

You're just as stubborn as Kate when you want to be, though. It doesn't matter how obvious it is that telling her how you feel is what you need, you'll ignore it forever if you have to. Even when it proves less than optimal for your mental health.

After a moment, you settle on an answer. "How can you possibly know that?"

"You can always tell, their eyes give them away."

You can't stop yourself from laughing in response. "As if you don't spend half the time you're with me ogling my chest."

"That's different!" She exclaims, clearly both embarrased and annoyed.

"Hardly."

She groans, although you're not sure if she's annoyed with you or with herself. "That's not the point! The point is he was being weird and it's my job to protect you."

In any other situation, her words would be sweet. Even now, there's no denying the way your heart skips a beat at the sound of them. Despite this, though, you still decide to hold onto your bitterness.

"You know, I'm more than just a stupid Avengers mission. Just because you've been jealous of me your whole life-"

"Jealous? Who says I was jealous?"

Her response genuinely surprises you. You can't tell if she's serious or not so you decide to bite despite your better judgement.

"Um...everyone? Even your mom. Everyone said you were jealous because your dream was to be an Avenger. You didn't understand how much pain it brought, how difficult it was to be involved with that kind of life. How little I wanted to do with it."

It's your last sentence that seems to strike a chord with her.

She stops in her tracks, using her grip on you to maneuver you until you're in front of her. Until you can't hide from her knowing gaze.

"Wait, is that why you've always hated me?" She asks, her head tilting to the side in a far too adorable show of confusion. "Because I asked you about the Avengers, once?"

It doesn't matter how badly you want to stay mad, she has a way of scrambling all your thoughts before you even know what's happening. Although, the few drinks in your system might have a lot more to do with that than her stupid puppy dog eyes.

"It was more than once!" You exclaim. "All you cared about was talking about Iron Man."

The second the words leave your lips, you feel ridiculously silly. It's like all the stupid things you did as a petulant teenager come back to haunt you in an instant. You wouldn't say you regret them (Kate can be a real pain in the ass when she wants to be) but you are embarrased by them.

"y/n..." Kate trails off, looking equal parts amused and confused. "You're actually serious?"

It would be easily to lie again. To make a joke, shrug it off, and pretend like nothing happened. Like you weren't so close to admitting how you feel.

For some reason...you can't bring yourself to do it. It makes no sense to you and yet, the answer rushes out of your mouth before you can even try to stop it.

"Well...yeah." You shrug. "I had a crush back then, y'know?"

"WHAT?"

You know where her surprise is coming from but all it does is make you want to shrink into yourself again. To ignore her once more until you go back to way things have always been. To the annoyance and the snarky comments and the comfortable distance you've always managed to keep.

"Whatever," you huff, shrugging her off of you. "It doesn't matter anymore."

You try to walk away, to put some distance between you before you continue revealing truths you've successfully kept hidden all your life. Kate's too stubborn for that, of course, so her hands grip your waist before you can get too far, easily moving you backward until you hit a wall.

"Say it again." Her voice is so low it almost startles you.

"What?" It's impossible to stop yourself from sounding breathless...or from allowing your eyes to dip down to her lips.

"The truth, y/n," she says. "Tell me the truth."

It's almost hilarious how quickly you melt for her. All it takes is a low tone to her voice and a sharp gaze from this close proximity for your legs to shake underneath you.

Deep down, you know where it's really coming from. Whether you want to admit it or not, you've spent the last five years aching to tell her the truth. That despite the way you've always acted, you feel so much for her. And hatred is the last thing on that list.

"You're insuferable," you reply. "Almost as insuferable as my crush on you."

As soon as the words leave your mouth, the tension in Kate's frame dissapears. Her grip on you loosens somewhat but she doesn't step away form you. If anything, she moves closer.

"I thought you hated me."

"Well, maybe a little at first. You were really annoying back then." She laughs, the sound so warm it makes you blush. "I think I still am. And an idiot apparently." 

"We already knew that, though."

For the first time in a long time, there's no bite to your words. No real fire to feed Kate's competitive streak. Just...the smallest amount of real affection. The kind that comes from knowing someone for almost all your life.

"Wish I knew you liked me sooner," the archer says, leaning in the slightest bit. "I would have kissed you and saved us all this trouble."

You roll your eyes, even though a part of you appreciates her cheesy flirting. "You did kiss me, actually. And it only made everything worse."

She's silent for a moment before a smirk forms on her lips. "Maybe we can try it again. Let me fix what went wrong last time."

Just because she's clearly being a flirt doesn't mean she isn't being genuine. It's easier said than done, but maybe...maybe you two have a chance of working things out. Of finally putting your pride aside and accepting how you feel.

"Stop being an awful flirt and kiss me, Bishop."

It's surprising, but she actually listens to you for once, and before you know it, her lips are on yours and nothing else matters.

Including the danger that lurks in the shadows of your periphery.

[alexrosa13]

To Belong

Luke x female!reader x Kieran//twins x reader ★ platonic!Sylus x reader ★ platonic!mc x reader ★ Sylus x mc

Genre: fluff/angsty

Warnings: 19k words, reader and mc are two different people!, 3rd person perspective!, spoilers to twins lore! (reading World Underneath: Mischief is highly recommended before reading this fic), small hints/spoilers to Sylus myth, mention of human experiments, mention of character trauma, mention of sa, protective dad Sylus, twins crushing on reader hard

Note: timeline of this fic happens between 2042 (reader&twins 12★Sylus 22) and 2048 (current timeline of the game★reader&twins 18★Sylus 28) and I hope it will be clear enough while reading.

for masterlist and request info head to the navigation →

half-edited by @asiakim03, rest proofread by me; special dedication for @pozuki for making me post it after it's been sitting in my drafts for 2 months

to learn more about reader's abilities before reading head to her acts→

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Sometimes teen love is floating, sometimes you may find your soulmate; but what if you got two?

2044, Middle of Winter.

The chances of a power outage in the middle of the night in one of the main areas of the EVER building are slim, but not impossible. Amid the chaos, with everyone panicking and scrambling to find the cause of the issue, no one notices that one of the computers has been accessed. Test records from years ago have been opened, and crucial information is being systematically deleted. In a matter of seconds, there will be no valuable data left.

????? Control EVOL Test Record

Subject ID

668

Subject Name

- - - - -

Age

??

Experimental Side Effect(s) Log

no information available

Evaluation Results

no information available

Several electronic devices had shut off on their own but a few minutes later, the power in the building was suddenly restored. Night-shift workers gradually returned to the office responsible for managing the experiment database. Everyone have taken themselves onto their assigned seats and began checking for any missing files.

The hours have passed and everything seemed fine yet, no one had ought to check the old files that had been forgotten over time. Everything have appeared intact and by the next day, the incident dismissed as an accident and have been quickly forgotten.

After all, why would someone make the commotion happen just to leave everything in it's place? It seems that no person working there will ever know the truth about the erased data. To be fair: who would have though that someone hacked the building data just to erase some not important piece of old experiment notes, perhaps containing information regarding someone who's presumably dead? And who would even think that the person behind it would be some big shot from N109 Zone? Exactly, no one.

And to be honest, it's better for them to not know.

~★~★~★~

2042, Late Autumn.

N109 Zone was in chaos that day. Buildings on fire, people bleeding and dying, while the ones who were still in good enough shape was able to fortunately run away from the mess. There were sounds of shooting and fighting everywhere you go. Yet, no one even remembers what started this blood-lust show.

A person was seen calmly standing with their hands in the pockets of their elegant pants. A man looking so out of place in the middle of such chaos, but at the same time fitting there perfectly like the most important detail on a masterpiece.

There's at least a dozen dead bodies laying before him as the look he throws at them a look of disgust. Suddenly, his eyes turned to look at the half-collapsed wall, noticing a kid hiding there who's looking at the man with eyes full of curiosity yet not even a hint of fear. Probably a stray with no family.

They continue to look at each other, the man then cocks an eyebrow and his face show the slightest tinge of shock. Why can't he see that kid's desire? Why does his evol not work on them? For a moment, he sees their eyes glowing up a bit, it's an evolver too. But no person with or without an evol would be able to hide their desires before him.

He let out a an amused chuckle, his curiosity rising. What kind of power do they posses? Either way, it wasn't a question he needed an answer for. That kid probably won't even survive long in this area. Without a word, he turned around and walked away from the mess he had left in his enemies' base, not giving a single thought about the unusual child he met.

However, something clinged onto him after he took a couple of steps and that made him stop in his tracks. He looked down again meeting the eyes of that kid.

"What do you want?" his voice, rough and cold was just like his stares but he didn't get an answer. The seemingly clueless child staring at him in silence. Their expression emotionless, no fear, no sadness, no anger.

What was wrong with them? No child should be able to hide their emotions this well. Of course, they weren't 5 years old or so but still, they couldn't be older than 13. Two questions appeared in the back if his mind: what happened to this runt and what was he supposed to do with it?

He had no answer to any of them.

"What? Am I supposed to just take you with me now?" he asked in a sarcastic voice yet still didn't get an answer. He tried to move away from their little hug— for their hands were not even able to wrap themselves fully around his waist— and succeeded. Giving them one last glance over his shoulder before proceeding to walk away, leaving dead bodies behind him to rot or get caught in flames, he couldn't care less.

Who would have thought that today would be the day a new shadow started following him?

~★~★~★~

2046, Middle of Winter.

"Boss, that Sherman guy is suspicious. We'll keep an eye on him for you!" says Luke, kneeling with his twin before Sylus.

"We know his address, his usual spots, and his contacts. We can report to you every two weeks," Kieran added after his brother.

The 'Boss' seems to think about it for a minute, his expression unreadable. Finally he spoke to.. who exactly?

"What do you think, little one? Should I agree?" He tilted his head toward something behind him, and both boys glanced in that direction, noticing a silhouette a few meters away, leaning against a tree with a hood pulled low over their head.

The twins looked at each other, dumbfounded— both thinking: 'Who is that?' before looking back at the mysterious person, meeting their eyes. The rest of their face hidden behind a medical black mask. For whatever reason, they couldn't look away as if hypnotized.

After a couple of seconds, that person finally looked away. Their gaze turning to Sylus, nodding once in his direction before straightening their posture and walking away with no rush.

"I'll see you in two weeks," these words constitute the only command they receive.

"Understood, boss." when they finally stood up, they realize Sylus has already vanished.

They looked at each other sharing a grin at the fact that their 'plan' succeeded. Their happiness however was cut short by someone's soft chuckling coming from behind them. They turned around fast and noticed a girl around their age, sitting at a nearby tree.

"Congratulations on your new job, boys," she smiled at them, her hands grabbing a branch above her head, her body leaning forward towards their direction.

"And, you are?" Luke took a step forward, looking at her with a sly smirk on his face.

"It’s you," Luke turned to his brother, confused. But a moment later, he heard his twin’s voice in his head: ‘Look at her eyes.’ He did—and then he understood.

The mysterious girl started giggling to herself quietly but eventually, she couldn't help it and began laughing so hard that the branch she was sitting on started to shake.

"You should have seen your faces!" she said after calming herself down a little, smile still visible on her lips.

'Pretty...' The twins voiced in their minds, both looked at each other in shock. How did they think about THAT at the same time.

"I hope you'll do a good job so I'll be able to see you two again, " she jumped off the tree, landing gracefully on the grass and taking a couple of steps towards the twins. "It would be such a shame for such cute faces to end up dead on the ground, don't you think?" She smiled at them, a little more genuine and soft this time.

Luke and Kieran still couldn't comprehend the situation they found themselves in right now, but before any more words could leave their mouth, the girl already started moving forward. She walked straight through the gap between their bodies, her shoulders touching theirs for a split second and just like this, she left them behind.

The twins looked at each other, not being able to gather their thoughts at the moment. Both of them had a million questions flowing through their minds; 'Who is she?', 'Does she work for Sylus?', 'Why couldn't they look away from her eyes earlier?' suddenly, their eyes widen over something else that just registered in their heads.

"DID SHE JUST CALL US CUTE?"

~★~★~★~

2047, Early Spring.

The twins had been working as Sylus' spies for some time now, reporting back to him every two weeks as agreed. In the meantime, they also began spending more time at his base, occasionally even staying overnight in the many available guest rooms.

However, the mysterious girl they had met when they first asked Sylus to let them work for him hadn’t appeared anywhere near their line of sight since that day. They tried to ask Sylus about her but he brushed them off every single time.

Today was another failed attempt to pry.

"No," was the only thing leaving Sylus' mouth at the mention of 'the person they saw that day' and this time, they didn't even manage to finish their sentence before his refusal.

"Oh c'mon Boss, we need to know!"

"Why can't you just tell us? Is her existence top Onychinus type of secret or something?"

"If that's the case, then we have the right to know since we're official Onychinus members now!" All sorts of reasoning started flowing out of the twins' mouths, they stopped only after noticing the glare Sylus threw their way.

"If she wanted you two to know who she is, she would have already told you herself," after that, their Boss-man went to his office, making it clear that he is not in the mood to listen to teenagers rambling for even a minute longer. Luke and Kieran shared a look and even through their masks, they could still read the other's disappointed expression.

They sat on the couch, defeated, their limbs sprawled across the cushions and their heads resting against the backrest. Both stared at the ceiling, trying to come up with a new plan to meet the girl again. They weren't ones to give up easily, but after trying for so long, they were running out of ideas.

After a couple minutes of brainstorming, they both let out sounds of defeat. They had tried everything, yet still, nothing worked. Was she enjoying their suffering from the shadows?

"I'm so tired of his, man. We did everything! How are we supposed to meet someone who literally doesn't show any signs of existence other than that one time?!" Luke shoot up from his seat, accidentally spilling a glass of water which for whatever reason found itself at the edge of the table. "Oh, c'mon!" He picked up the glass, which was thankfully still intact and had put it back a little further away this time.

"Eh, I'll go get some napkins," Kieran stood up, stretching his limbs a bit and turned towards the kitchen area. Before he could take a step forward, his twin's hand abruptly grabbed his clothing and made him sit back down "What?"

"Look here!" He did as instructed, shifting his gaze to the spot on the table where water had spilled. Lying next to it was a sheet of paper with writing on it, the ink growing blurrier as the water spread.

They leaned over to read the note before it ends up completely unreadable.

Did you know that the best dreams happen in the room with the clear view at the night sky?

→ right wing of the mansion, second floor, right corridor, last door

see you in a dream ☆

They looked at the item lying next to the paper: a necklace with a small orb as its pendant. It resembled the night sky, with a moon and stars shining inside, the entire scene shifting slowly and unhurriedly, revealing different angles of the image. Luke reached out to touch it, but as his hand neared, the inside of the orb began to change.

He moved his hand away, startled. The brothers shared a look of curiosity before once again looking at the necklace. Its image now showing warm sunrise with clouds floating around it.

"Did you somehow influence it?" Kieran leaned a little closer for a better look.

"I didn't even touched it!" Luke jumped up at the questioning, raising his hands to show his innocence.

Younger of the twins slowly reached out his hand just like Luke before him, both boys looking in its direction with anticipation. However unlike his brother, Kieran didn't hesitate and took the orb into his hand. Both boys watched it change from the sunrise to sunset. All the brightness went missing, leaving a dark sky with the sun hiding behind the clouds.

Both of them stared at the orb for a while longer, image of the sky flowing inside the glassy object. Finally Luke spoke up.

"Do you remember where is this dreamy-room?"

~★~

"Was it the left or right corridor?" Kieran's hushed voice could be heard on top of the staircase leading to the second floor in the right wing of Sylus' mansion.

"Right one. To be honest how is he not getting lost in all of those corridors? I swear that this place is a maze made to trap victims inside." twins started walking through another never-ending corridor, but luckily this time there were no random small passages on the way.

Finally they reached the end of their very tiring journey (they were sneaking around the mansion for half an hour now, trying to avoid their Boss... He probably saw them anyways). They looked at each other, a little unsure now if they got to the right door.

Well now or never. Both of them reached for the handle, moving it together.

Doors opened quietly and before their eyes appeared a huge room with a window taking the whole wall on the opposite side to the door. The furniture all in black. The ceiling in this room seemed higher that ones in the other rooms they had seen. Behind the window was a view of the night, red sky of the N109 zone it's moon right in the middle, making the room seem almost magical and mysterious in a way.

They closed the door taking in their surroundings. Shelves fit perfectly with the walls, inside them books and random items in various colors going from crystals, to skulls, to candles (some burning, some not), jewelry and a lot more. In the middle of the room, literally in the floor, it's place found a huge mattress adored with various pillows and blankets.

In the end their eyes reached the table placed in the space between the window and a mattress. They cautiously moved towards it, still taking in the details of the room. They approached it from two sides and their eyes found themself looking at the thing right in the middle of it. It looked like a little tower made out of glass with a round spot engraved right on top of it as if something should be put there.

"What is that?"

"I have no idea."

They started thinking about what to do in this situation, and finally Kieran thought about something. He reached towards his neck and pulled the necklace from underneath his clothes taking it off through his head, being careful while getting it over his mask.

"Do you think we're supposed to put it here?" he hanged the necklace on his hand, the orb levitating right above the glass thingy.

"I mean she left it for us for some reason yeah? Might as well try it, what can go wrong?" both boys shrugged, not caring about the possibilities of the bad outcome much (as always).

Kieran slowly lowered the necklace, the orb fitting inside the glass structure like a glove. Suddenly the candles started burning brighter than when they first walked in, flames dancing in every direction and even some of the not lit ones came to life.

Twins looked around themself for some time, trying to understand what was going on, until something looking like a white string started coming from the little orb, making a perfect circle around the two and the table. Little dots started showing themselves on the thin line, some bigger, some smaller, some light, some dark, it wasn't long before the whole string was full of it and then another one started creating itself.

They locked eyes, thinking about the sight before then, not moving. Suddenly they heard a voice coming from above them and looking up they saw their mysterious girl sitting on the swing connected to the ceiling, swaying slowly a couple of meters above the huge mattress. They could swear it wasn't there when they walked in!

"It's my Dream Seal." she looked at them with a soft smile, the swing started slowly lowering itself.

"Your dream what?" the twins asked at the same time, looking mesmerized at the girl dressed in the prettiest flowing dress they ever saw.

Finally the swing lowered itself enough for her to put her legs on the mattress, standing up on it she made her way towards the table, which took her maybe five steps. The string made by the orb broke for her to get through and patched itself up right after, adding her into the circle.

"My Dream Seal. I put and lock my dreams inside of it. You could say that it's like a diary." she explained to them, slight smile still noticeable on her face, her eyes focusing on the orb glowing in the middle of the table. She reached out her hand, making a slow and graceful movement as if petting the orb without actually touching it.

Instantly it reacted to her presence, glowing a bit brighter especially in the places right below her hand.

She moved the same hand to create a circle in the air with her palm, making another string appear in the place of her previous movement. Another dot, a little bigger from the rest floated around them, showed itself right before her and started to go move around like the rest.

She put her hand under the line and when the little orb came right above it the room began changing it's appearance.

Twins started looking around curious about what exactly is happening. Finally their eyes saw what looked to be a grassland full of various flowers all around them, not seeing anything else in the distance but clear sky and flowers. They looked at each other, their eyes widening at the realization that their masks are off.

Their clothes changed from their usual black and red uniforms to simple white shirts, pants and shoes. They looked around trying to notice the girl that was next to them seconds ago, but there were no other silhouette in sight... Until their turned their heads once more....

Their faces were betraying the shock they felt at the scene playing right before them. Two of them, smiling and laughing, Luke sitting on the grass, pulled up on his hands and Kieran lying down on his back. What shocked them was the fact that their mysterious girl was lying there with them. Her head resting on Luke's thigh and her legs thrown around Kieran's belly.

One of Luke's hands playing with her hair while Kieran caressed her legs softly. The girl herself was just lying there, her eyes closed but a light smile still visible, looking perfectly content with the closeness of the twins.

None of them dared to move or look away, their minds silent, trying to save the moment into their memory. They looked at the images of themselves seeing their true smiles, feeling the real happiness, without the pain of their past following them and breaking the innocent moment.

Slowly but surely, the light from the dream started fading, their calm silhouettes leaving together with it. They never craved the sunlight more than at this very moment. The darkness of the room and the slight light coming from the red moon of the N109 Zone brings them back into reality. Their masks back on, the moment of vulnerability left behind together with the strings, of what they imagine are dreams, coming back to the orb they came from.

Their minds still couldn't wrap themself completely around what they just saw. They looked at each other, communicating without words and then turned their heads towards the mattress a couple steps away from them, the girl sitting on it crosslegged, with her back towards them and a book in her hands. Both brothers stood there, stuck in one place, their heartbeats matching in their fast rhythm.

Both with only one question in mind: what was that?

"You know, even with your masks I can still tell who is who." her voice finally broke the silence, she sounded unfazed by what just took place, unlike the twins.

"Oh really? Do you even know our names missy?" Luke being the first to come back to his usual demeanor, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side (which must have looked adorable with his mask btw) sending the girl a 'challenging' look, she glanced at him over her shoulder and giggled a bit.

"Really Luke. How dare you doubt me?" she put her hand on her chest, exactly where her heart is, and sent him a 'hurt' look, obviously for show.

"Well would you look at that! You do know our names!" the older of the twins proclaimed, clasping his hands together and taking a step forward "Maybe it's about the time when we learn yours Miss..?" he sent her a pleading look, even though she couldn't see it, she could imagine it all the same.

"What do you think, Kieran? Is knowing my name actually so important for you?" she looked at the second brother who was unusually silent.

"It's- Well we both are dying to get to know it since our very first meeting, so if you would be kind enough to share it, we would be very, and by very I mean VERY, entirely grateful to you." finally it seemed that he came back to his normal self. Taking two steps forward he stood right next to his brother, both looking expectantly at the girl like little kids waiting for their promised treat.

"Hah so I've never left your minds since that night? It's been months babes. Did I turn your whole worlds over without even trying? Damn am I that hot?" the nickname she gave them and her loud laugh made their hearts stop and start beating all over again. She turned to face them, her legs still crossed and her upper-half supported by her outstretched arms. The book that she was previously occupied with ended up lying forgotten next to her. "It's Y/n."

They whispered her name at the same time, finally reaching the goal they were going after all this time. There was a moment of awkward silence with them not knowing what to say or ask and with her just staring at them, as if enjoying their stress. How dare she! But after some time she was still the first one to break the silence and stop their suffering.

"Do you have any other questions or is that it for today? You know... Boss will probably look for you soon, since it's his time of the day." she whispered the last part like a secret, sending them a wink.

Twins looked at each other finally knowing exactly what question they wanted to ask.

"What was that thing..."

"That we saw after you did something to that... Floating thing?" their voices betrayed their curiosity and nerves. They needed to know.

"It was a dream." she sounded so casual about it. How could this not move her at all?!

"A..."

"Dream..." twins still not completely understanding what was going on. They started a quick conversation in their heads.

'But if that was a dream...'

'And dreams are supposed to belong to someone, right?'

'Did you dream about that?!'

'Dude no! Not me!'

'But it wasn't me either!'

'Well if it wasn't mine nor your dream, then...'

They turned their heads at the lightning speed to look at each other, shock on their faces hidden behind the masks.

'IT WAS HERS?!'

"Did you come to the right conclusion yet? Because judging from your reactions, you did." they turned to look at the girl once more, still dumbfounded.

"You dreamed of us?" Kieran was the one of the duo speaking first this time.

"Not only us, but us in THAT situation?" Luke added, his voice a little raised and hurried to let the words out. Both of them stared at the girl before them, who still held her composure very well despite the situation she was in. How was she this calm when they were literally freaking out?!

"I do not have control over my dreams." she finally stood up from the mattress, taking some steps until her feet were on a steady ground right before them. Then she did something unexpected, she took one of Kieran's hands into hers, doing the same with Luke and held their palms closer to herself, closing her eyes, and breathing out heavily. Their linked hands started glowing slightly, both boys stared at them, not knowing what to do, but also somehow... Enjoying her closeness. Not opening her eyes she started talking to them, while still holding their hands in hers.

"Dreams are a fascinating phenomena. We forget most of them right after waking up, with some staying in our memory forever. We can dream about anything: from the past to present, to future, to things reminding us of our demons but also the memories of the things we hold dear to our hearts." finally opening her eyes her gaze jumping between both of them until finally finding it's place on their linked hands "I... Don't know myself why I dreamed of you in that situation, so I am afraid that I do not have the answers you seek right now. Something in my head never lets me forget you, ever since that meeting." she let go of their hands, lowering her own ones down, linking them together. Luke and Kieran just stood there, letting their own hands come back to their place next to their hips.

None of them dared to move, afraid to break the moment. They could still feel the lingering warm on their palms from her hands holding them.

Her eyes finally looked up at them, glowing. They both watched her closely, not knowing what she was doing with her 'magic' right before the moment, but none of them cared about it, something in them saying to trust her.

"You know... I never met anyone like you. I was watching you over the last couple of months on your little missions. You're like one person. The very same appearance. The masks and the faces before the incident matching perfectly. But somehow I see you as two different personas. The very same but different." the glow in her eyes slowly fading, but her warm smile coming back to make up for it "I can't wait to play more of 'guess the difference'."

She poked their masks with a small laugh. Waking them up from their trance.

"I believe that you have to go, today Sylus has an important meeting, you know." she walked past them to the table, taking the orb still resting on it, putting it over her head.

"Oh c'mon, sitting here with you is so much more interesting than some boring meeting." Luke proclaimed with a sigh of annoyance in his voice. Did they have to go?

"I believe that there will be a rather... Explosive moment, so you won't get too bored there." she let out a laugh, turning towards them and leaning on the table behind her "Besides I have something to do in the meantime, so even tho I would love to stay here and entertain you two cuties, I can't." she send them apologizing look.

"But you won't disappear like before, right?" Kieran's voice followed her statement. He was thankful for Luke's idea with the masks now more than ever, it saved him from reviling the blush on his cheeks at the nicknames the girl was giving them.

"Not this time, promise. At least not for this long." she shrugged.

"You better keep this promise or we'll find you ourselves" Luke pointed finger in her direction trying to look the most threatening he could, but it only made the girl laugh more.

"Oh I'm so scared~" she let out in a mocking tone, raising her hands as it to show 'im innocent officer'.

"Yeah, you better be!" the older of the twins continued his 'intimidating' act. Making Kieran scoff a bit at his behavior.

"Okay, okay, I promise you'll see me soon. But now I really have to go and I advise you to do the same." she stood up straight, her dress instantly fixing itself to look perfect "See you~" her voice sang right when she was passing by them, heading to the door.

Both boys let out their goodbyes and soon they heard the click of the door closing and their 'not-so-mysterious-anymore' girl walking out, leaving them alone with a thousand thoughts.

They stared at the door in silence for a moment longer before they spoke at the same time again.

"I think I'm in love."

"You too?!"

They instantly looked at each other shocked, but at the same time not really. They were so similar in so many aspects, but honestly they never thought of girls and crushes ever before, focusing on surviving and having their fun, but she seemed like she could bring even more fun to the group.

"Sooo... What do we do?" Luke asked, more relaxed now than before with the girl in the room, as he tried his best not to screw up anything in front of her. Obviously they will never argue because of the girl, but they had to sort it out somehow.

"I mean... She seemed pretty positive about both of us, right?" Kieran shrugged, based on the girl's dream they saw earlier the solution to this little 'problem' of theirs was rather obvious, no?

"So... What you are suggesting is... That we could both date her?" Luke looked deep in thought and for a moment Kieran even looked at him like at the biggest dumbass in the world.

"Yes. That is exactly what I suggest we do." he blinked his eyes, stating the obvious.

"But how will that work?" Luke continued to question.

"I have no idea, but hey, we'll manage, we always do. Also honestly I never thought about it but having one girlfriend with our... Situation is actually rather obvious choice, no?" at this sentence his older brother just nodded his head, silently agreeing. but then something else caught his eye.

"Wait. Where is that swing?!"

~★~★~★~

2047, Middle of Spring.

Weeks passed by with twins getting to know their mysterious girl. Even after getting to know her a little better she still seems to live 24/7 in their heads, somehow they are even more curious about her now than before knowing her.

They became friends fast after their second meeting, with her becoming their partner in crime when it came to pranks, but even though they became really close and spent hours to no end together, they still didn't know much about her. They were dying to know why and since when was she working for Sylus, but she always laughs at their questions saying that it's not important for them to know.

A couple of days ago they came out with a plan to spy on the two to try and gain information to satisfy their curiosity. However it was easier said than done. To be honest they saw those two together in the same room maybe two to three times? Just what kind of relationship did they have?! They needed to know.

They waited for days to finally put their plan into the reality, they waited for a perfect moment, observing those two like professional stalkers. The fact that both of their targets noticed their weird behavior was not really helpful, but none of them really paid them any mind, so who cares?

Eventually they got the perfect opportunity to 'strike'. They were going down the stairs, planning to go and chill in the mansion's main area while also waiting for their (ekhem ekhem crush) favorite girl to come see them, like she usually does. When they were on their way they suddenly heard voices, coming from the corridor leading to Sylus's office.

Looking at each other they instantly became quiet, moving a little closer to the wall. The voices were a little far away, since the corridor was pretty long, but luckily they weren't being exactly quiet.

"... what do you want to do about it? That guy is a scumbag and we both know it. I don't care about your business, if you won't take care of him: I will." they heard the voice of Y/n sounding harsh and annoyed, not leaving the ground to argue, something they never heard from her before.

"Sweetie I won't let you get yourself straight into their trap. You are not going there and that's the end of it." Sylus answered in his usual tone, clearly not impressed by the girl's intimidating speech.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" twins literally jumped up a bit at the scream, they never heard her raise her voice before "That motherfucker uses girls my age for his fucking business! I can tolerate many things Sylus. Fuck that! I literally killed people myself before, but he destroys them more and more everyday! If you will just sit on your ass and wait for him to finish his business with you, I'll deal with that bastard myself and never come back here again." twins looked at each other, clearly fearing that Sylus will just let her go and never come back.

"Y/n I promise you that bastard will get what he deserves, and I'll make him go through worse hell than you can even imagine. All I ask of you is to just give me a little more time." how was he still so calm?!

"... How much time do you need?" now sounding more calm than before, but still clearly mad, judging from the way her tone sounded cold and resentful.

"3 days."

"Alright, and not a second longer." her voice was quiet enough for the boys to have a problem with hearing it.

"Have I ever given you a reason to doubt me, sweetie?" Boss's voice still intact like always, not even a hint of anger at the girl's outburst from a moment ago. Who was she to him?! How could she talk to him like that and not face any consequences?!

"No. And I never will doubt you. But you know why it's so important to me." her voice gets more quiet with each word.

After that they didn't hear any more words from the two people behind the wall.

'What is happening?'

'I don't know! Maybe we should peek?'

They were considering the idea for some seconds, before finally giving in to their curiosity once more. The sight before their eyes got them dumbfounded.

They saw Sylus holding the girl in his arms and looking at her concerned. She seemed to be in a bad shape, holding onto him weakly while visibly going limp in his hug. Both of the twins stared at the scene, not even caring anymore about getting to the truth about the relationship between the two, they were afraid for the girl they grew affectionate towards, she never looked this weak and vulnerable when spending time with them, what happened to her?

"... Dad..." they heard her pained whisper and saw her going completely limp in Sylus arms. Their Boss's face immediately changed into an even deeper concern.

Suddenly they saw Sylus's eyes glance towards them. They stood there numb, not even having the strength to try and hide or pretend like they were just passing by after the events that just took, and were still taking, place.

Their Boss didn't even pay them any mind, much more worried about the girl than those two seeing anything. He snooped her into his arms, princess carrying her into his office, and closing the door behind him with his evol.

Twins still stood in one place, worried sick and clueless as to what was currently happening to their favorite girl.

"Boss looked worried as much as we are, do you think it's something serious?" Luke's voice first to break the silence.

"I don't know, I wish we could just go into that office, but he'll probably have our heads for this." Kieran sat down on the floor, his back leaning onto the wall.

Luke followed his brother, sliding down the wall, looking deafened.

No more words exchanged between the two. Both their minds occupied by the person currently impossible to reach. Going into that office would be a suicidal, but staying outside of it was killing them too.

Were they actually that attached to her already..?

~★~

Hours passed, twins stayed close to their Boss's office, waiting for either the man or the girl to walk out, so that they could ask if she's okay. Eventually they settled on the couch in one of the living rooms, one which was the closest to the office, leaving the door open to make sure that they won't miss any sound coming from the corridor.

Eventually they waited for about 10 hours already, not planning to move until they will hear the news about their soulmate's (as they started calling her not that long ago, after pulling a success prank on Sylus together) well-being. Eventually they fell asleep on the couch out of exhaustion and stress.

Meanwhile inside of the Sylus's office someone finally woke up.

"Finally back to the world of living, sweetie?" Sylus looked up from the papers sprayed on his desk to look at the girl moving on his couch.

"How long was I out?" sitting up, her hands went towards her head, her eyes closed.

"Couple of hours, there's water on the table before you." his eyes came back to the papers.

The girl slowly reached her hand towards the glass with water, luckily Sylus didn't fill it up to the top or else she would spill it because of her hand shaking. She put the glass to her mouth, drinking without any rush.

"I told you many times not to use your evol like this." standing up from behind his desk he made his way towards the teenager "You know that glitching in between the worlds can be extremely dangerous for you, yet you still took the risk for no valid reason."

"I can't just sit back and watch him hurt them, I had to do something, you're taking too long." her eyes shoot up towards the man, sending him sharp glare.

"I have my reasons for stalling. Why can't you just trust me with this?"

"Because I see myself in those girls!" her raised voice shocked even him this time "Every time I see his nasty dreams I'm reminded about those assholes who made me watch myself in that situation. He will hurt them Sylus, every day of you waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike is another little girl's childhood taken away!" her voice breaking, shacking of her body and tears in her eyes made Sylus feel too many things that he would have wish not to acknowledge.

He never wanted to get attached to that girl, he was fine on his own, but every day with her following him around like a shadow made him so used to her presence that he couldn't imagine something or someone taking her away from him right now. He hated himself for having a weak spot.

"Sweetie I promise you that no harm will come to those girls, I have Mephisto watching them all the time, they are scared yes, but no one touches them I promise. They will be safe in 3 days, give me that much time, please." he crouched down next to her, holding one of her hands in his and making her look at him, the eye contact being able to keep her grounded. He knew that she could lose her grip on the reality if he didn't act the right way.

The memories started flowing back to him at once. The trauma this girl had to go through making him want to kill anyone who dared to even think about harming her. Taking a child to become an experiment is a cruelty that even he, being the 'worst' person in the N109 Zone, wouldn't dare to commit.

He remembered that one night from two years ago. He was walking towards the room in his mansion that he was sure had the book he needed for his research. It was the room hidden deep inside of the right wing, when he finally got to it and opened the door he saw that young girl sitting on the floor with her legs under her, the room was cold and she didn't wear enough clothes to feel warm, but she didn't seem effected by the cold, she was just sitting there and looking at the moon behind the window.

"What are you doing here?" she didn't even react to his voice, didn't look at him, didn't let out any sound like she did most of the time, signaling to him that she listened.

He slowly walked towards her, crouched down beside her, looking at her and then at the sky of the N109 Zone.

They spent a couple of minutes in complete silence, staring as the clouds move slowly with time.

"Why do people need to know and understand everything?" her quiet voice brought his attention to her again, his head turning towards her direction, her eyes already focused on him.

"Because they are afraid of the unknown." his tone was soft, he warmed up to the girl over the time he spent with her, even if he didn't want to admit it.

The girl just recently turned 14. He got some informations about her from the database of EVER studies and the rest he knew just by simply asking her, she was surprisingly truthful all the time, not hiding anything from him.

"Can I show you something?" her eyes still locked on his, their eye contact making him feel like he talked to his equal and not just some teenage girl that he randomly stumbled across.

"Of course." was his only response. Her hands made their way towards his face, slowly covering his eyes. He didn't protest, she didn't have any reason to hurt him, and it's not like she would succeed in it anyways.

The darkness he saw with his eyes covered suddenly started changing into shapes and colors. He saw a little girl together with her at least three people, much bigger than her, adults, in white coats. One was holding her down, making her sit down on the chair, while the other two stood before her with their notepads, talking to her, but their voices came out like a combination of random syllables.

Their faces were all blurry, he couldn't recognize any face other than the one of the little girl. Her eyes were full of fear, shining from the tears she was clearly holding back. No words left her, she didn't try to scream or fight the person holding her, she just silently sat there.

Suddenly he saw one of the people with notepads taking something out of their pocket, a syringe, and walking with it towards the little girl. Her eyes locked on the white wall before her, her gaze looking absent, like mentally she wasn't there.

Right after they injected whatever it was into her arm her head fell down, strength leaving her body, her eyes clenching shut and one single tear falling down her cheek before the image got completely blurred and the room changed. What he saw next made his blood boil.

The same little girl standing there, before a man with literally no face and another version of herself, she was watching as the man spoke to her other version and started touching her arms.

Not wanting to know what happened next Sylus took the hands of the girl away from his eyes and took a moment to let his gaze come back to reality. His eyes turned to the teenager, a silent question in his gaze.

"They made me watch someone's dreams. I don't know how, but whatever they injected into me activated my evol, fighting it was painful." he swallowed his split in a try to control his anger, his jaw clenching "I tried to stop him, but when I touched him I felt pain like nothing I've ever felt. I shut my eyes close while laying on the floor but had to hear all the things he spoke to my other version. After it was all done and I woke up I heard someone speak about the 'emotional reactions influencing the power of the evol' but then I blacked out again. It was the day that I knew I had to run away, before they would get to test that in a reality." her eyes were glossy and a single tear ran down just like in the memory he saw a moment ago.

His thumb went up to her face to wipe it off, she let him without as much as a flinch. No more words were exchanged between them. He moved to sit down fully on the floor and her head instantly fell to his shoulder. They sat there for a while, being the comfort the other needed in this cruel world. He heard her breathing slowing down, probably falling asleep, he let her.

"I promise that no one else will hurt you."

"Promise me." her quiet voice brought him back to reality. Looking at her now he didn't see the fearless and mischievous teenager she became. He saw that little girl from the past, crying herself to sleep in a lonely room, holding herself to feel any kind of warm.

She didn't need to say anything else, he already understood.

"I promise." that no one will touch them.

A lonely tear fell from her eye with a blink, making it's way down her face like a raindrop falling on the window during a storm. His memory came back for a second before leaving again. He reached out, his palm gently taking a hold of her face, his thumb catching the single proof of her sadness. For a moment her eyes closed, enjoying the warmth of another human being after knowing only coldness her entire life.

Suddenly the sound of a pained cry left her and before Sylus could react she threw her arms around him and her mouth let out a song of cries and pain she was hiding inside for too long.

He gently reciprocated her hug, one of his hands taking it's place on her head, slowly stroking it in a calming motion, letting her drown her sorrows into his shoulder, hiding her from the brutality of the world.

He wished that he found her sooner and gave her the life she deserved to have from the start, without anyone taking away her innocence. She became his guiding star, always being there to remind him that life is not just an endless cycle of pain and evil. He didn't know why she followed him that day, but he was thankful for it nonetheless.

The next couple of minutes were spent with him shielding her from reality. They didn't know exactly how much time had passed, maybe ten minutes, maybe half an hour, maybe more. It didn't matter.

In his fatherly-like embrace she finally found the safety she was looking for her entire life. She was forced to fight for herself for so long, stealing and sleeping in abandoned buildings was her every day life ever since she run away from the place of her torture. That was, until she met him, her visions encouraging her to take the risk and trust him, and she did. She didn't regret it even for once ever since.

"I'm sorry..." her voice, quiet and weak, reached his ears. Her cries calmed down a while ago, but they still didn't let go of each other.

"You have no reason to apologize for feeling." his tone calm, with foreign gentleness to it. She was his little girl, the very one that he swore to protect. She was his remainder that he wasn't an emotionless monster, she made him feel human.

After a couple more minutes they finally pulled themselves away, her face red from crying, his expression still showing concern. The reason behind her outburst of emotions forgotten behind, her trust in his words enough to calm her down.

Sylus finally stood up from the floor and sat down next to her on the couch. Her head falling onto his shoulder, her head trying to organize her thoughts and leave the depressive episodes behind. His voice interrupts her tornado of thoughts.

"You've grown close to them." she let out a sound of curiosity, her head turning to look at him, but his eyes were focused on something before him "The twins." there was a moment of silence after that statement, her head coming back to rest on his shoulder once again and her eyes focusing on the painting on the wall before her.

"I did." left her mouth, he didn't react in any way, but she knew he heard her. There was no point in avoiding the truth, he already knew about it, he just wanted to hear her say it.

"It's foolish." she let out a quiet humorless laugh, she knew.

"So was following you like a stray cat on the street looking for a shelter, but look at us now." she smiled, her gaze returning to his side-profile. A sound like a second long laugh left his mouth, she had a point.

"I hope that you know what you're doing." they smiled at each other and laughed "But still if they will hurt you in any way, I will make them pay." the sudden serious expression on him took her aback.

"Oh you are really like my father!" she laughed again and hit him playfully in the shoulder, he simply smiled at her once again, his eyes hiding the warm inside reserved only for the person before him. He would let the world burn for this girl.

~★~

Half an hour later from the depths of Sylus' office finally walked out the center of twins worries. However Luke and Kieran didn't even flinch at the sound of someone's footsteps, deep in their dreams.

The girl appeared in the doorway, with a playful smile on her lips when she saw them. For a moment she thought about pulling up a prank on them, but decided against it. They were probably waiting for her, she knew that they saw her fainting earlier, they were probably worried as hell, so today they earned their free pass for a peaceful sleep.

A spark showed itself in her eyes. They were dreaming, she could feel it. People who were close to her got them more often than a regular person, side effect of her evol.

She got lost in her head for a minute. Was it safe for her to use her evol when a couple of hours ago it had a malfunction? Well if she'll do it correctly then probably it will be fine.

Slowly, making sure to stay as quiet as a cat, she made her way towards the couch occupied by the duo. Standing one step before them she took a good look at them.

Luke slept on his stomach with one of his hands dangling from the couch almost touching the carpet, while the other one found it's place under his head, they still had their masks on, but they got a little misplaced, showing more skin that they are supposed to, his feet placed up on the armrest of the couch.

Then there was Kieran, who fell asleep asleep on his back with his legs thrown over the armrest from the other side of the couch. One of his hands sneaked it's way to the backrest (was it even comfortable?) while the second was lying on his tummy. The hood slipped from his head, showing off his dark raven hair.

Their heads were lying close to each other, leaving some space in between them.

She let out a quiet giggle, they were adorable. Slowly, as to not disturb them, she sat down in the free space and gently touched both of their foreheads, her eyes lighting up, full on glowing this time, when her evol started to work.

Before her eyes flooded the picture of their dream. One dream for both of them? Were they connected to each other that much?

The picture becomes much more clear with every second until she is finally able to see and hear them perfectly well.

They sat on the rooftop, instead of their usual uniforms they wore all black clothes. Their dark middle length hair perfectly visible even in the darkness of the night.

"Do you think we'll make it?" she heard Kieran's voice. It didn't carry the mischievous hint to it which made her concerned about the specifics of that dream.

"Who cares? What matters is that we are finally free and playing by our rules." Luke's voice, even tho playful, still sounded more serious than normal "If we go down, then at least we'll do it together."

"I guess you're right." the younger of the twins let out a breath and looked up to the sky.

In the meantime, the person spying on their dream started to fall asleep herself. She didn't even notice how the dream started to feel more real with every second, it all came to her so naturally, as if she was meant to be there.

She started to feel the cold wind on her face, it started to play with her hair and the fabric of her clothes. She looked at the twins, who stayed clueless to her presence in their dream. Did they even know it was a dream? She couldn't tell.

However in the real world the twins sleeping forms feeling the closeness of her body started to slowly move towards her. Kieran's head found it's place on the girl's tights treating it like the softest of all pillows, while his brother's hand that wasn't busy under his head hugged the girl's legs.

The girl herself, now joining them in their nap, rested her hands on Kieran's chest and Luke's head, the closeness coming to them naturally.

Her silhouette in the dream started getting closer to the boys, who were still sitting on the edge of the rooftop with their backs facing her.

"You will make it." her soft voice breaking through the sounds of the wind in their ears, both sets of eye glancing towards her, shocked but somehow not at all surprised that she's there "I'll help you." she crouched down to be on their eye level and looked at both of their faces taking in the details.

Kieran lacked his scars, his face being a perfect mirror to Luke's, but she could still tell who was who. Older of the twins had this mischievous sparkle in his eyes all the time, while his twin's eyes looked softer and less playful, but still could match his brother's mischievousness most of the time.

They looked at her as if they were bewitched. It seemed that the memories from the precious events in the awakened world flooded back to their minds.

"You're okay!" both of them screamed, their eyes wide open in shock, they moved fast, not even registering the moment when they pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

The girl just laughed at their antics and threw her hands around them, accepting the affection.

"Someone was worried about me?" she whispered right under their ears. Her head resting on Luke's shoulder, but turned Kieran's way, her nose touching his neck.

None of them answered, they just hugged her tighter. Her legs resting on Kieran's now, her body leaning on Luke's.

They finally found their peace. Their embraces stayed unbroken for the rest of the dream.

Meanwhile...

Sylus finally left his office, in between the incident earlier and his work he didn't have time to eat anything, and now, finally deciding to make his way to the kitchen, he noticed an open door.

Well that was unusual, all the doors always stay closed. It was a sort of unspoken rule in his mansion at this point.

He peeked inside with the intention of closing it, but the sight inside of the room made him stop in his tracks.

His precious little girl was sleeping on the couch with the twins cuddled up to her.

His breathing stopped for a second, anger in his eyes perfectly visible.

Yes, he knew that they were close. Yes, he noticed how they tried to get physically close to her at any chance given. And yes - he knew that she had grown rather... Fond of them.

But still he couldn't say that he was pleased at the fact that they seem even closer now than the last time he saw them together.

To be honest he didn't even consider the idea of her growing up and... Getting a... Boyfriend? Especially somehow getting two?!

He needed a glass of whiskey. Preferably a whole bottle.

His hand found it's way to his forehead, his eyes clenching shut, he shouldn't care as much as he did. Shaking his head he finally got a hold of the door handle, glancing at them for the last time before finally closing the door.

~★~★~★~

2047, Middle of Summer.

Over those last months not much has happened, N109 Zone still rotten with crime, however the mysterious leader of Onychinus didn't show himself for some time now, rumors were spreading like diseases, but which one was right? No one knew. People used his absence to their advantages in various ways, almost forgetting about his existence.

Still, some people lucky (or not) to be working close to him were having the laugh of their lifes watching those rats try to reach the top. They let them have their moments of power, knowing that when the time comes, they will take it all back

In the quietness of Sylus's mansion three teenagers found themselves hidden from the rest of the world and having taken a break from their work, decided to have some movie night.

The coffee table in one of the living rooms with the biggest TV screen was full of snacks including popcorn, cookies, gummy bears, various drinks and some other things (basically anything they could find in the kitchen). Blankets and pillows were waiting for them to get comfy, some splashed around the floor too. While the twins were getting the last of the snacks (coming back with some chips and sodas while also carrying bags of sweets in their mouths) their favorite girl was picking up a cartoon to watch.

Twins didn't wear their uniforms, masks lying forgotten in what was now known as their official room. After those couple of months working for Sylus about two weeks ago he finally decided that it's easier to just have them there all the time (totally not because **someone** was pleading him to let them live there), together with the new place to live they also got some money to go and buy themselves stuff like new clothes.

Let's also add that the girl herself took them shopping, not trusting their fashion skills... But at least they got some fun-bonding time outside of the N109 Zone.

All three of them were wearing sweatpants and some random t-shirts, putting the last of the snacks into the free bowls, the twins sat down on the couch on each side of the girl. Taking blankets and pillows to put them where they seem fit. Kieran finally looked at the screen noticing the title of the movie Y/n choose.

"How To Train Your Dragon?" he read out loud, getting the attention of his brother.

"Never watched it."

Girl's eyes widen. She looked at the twins in pure shock.

"HOW?!" both boys looked at her and just stared at her not knowing what was so shocking "That movie is a classic!" she added, her expression still looking as if they have just told her that they are of royal blood or something.

"To be honest we never really had a TV growing up, the first time we watched something was like two months ago." Kieran explained, reaching for a bowl of popcorn to put it on his lap. The girl stayed quiet for a minute before her expression changed into one of understanding.

Not saying anything else she reached out to grab her favorite snack and finally started the movie.

All three sets of eyes focused on the screen, sometimes their attention leaving the TV to grab a snack or drink. The first movie went smoothly, with some random conversations here and there of course.

"That guy is a loser." Luke said with a mouth full of popcorn.

"Shut up!" Y/n thrown some popcorn at him which he didn't have time to dodge, but he managed to catch one in his mouth and shot up from his seat to high-five Kieran "Kids." the girl rolled her eyes, her eyes going to focus on the screen again.

Luke slowly slid from the couch onto the carpet below them, continuing to watch from there.

"I like those twins." Kieran said, his eyes not moving from the screen, the rest of the party just let out sounds of agreement.

"I swear that I can feel the awkwardness between him and the dragon from the screen."

"Real." Y/n and Kieran looked at each other, it was the first time they said something at the same time.

Unbothered Luke reached out for his glass to refill it with some soda.

"Wait, I'll get some ice." standing up, Y/n took two glasses and head to the shelves, boys eyes followed her instantly not saying a word.

She opened a cabinet and inside of it... Was a little freezer? What was it doing there?!

Twins stared in awe, the girl as if sensing their stares laughed a bit and without turning her head back to look at them answered their silent question:

"I like to have ice-cream nearby when watching sad movies, okay?" Luke and Kieran looked at each other and smiled for no reason, no words left them and their attention came back to the movie.

Soon enough she came back to them, giving one glass to Luke and keeping the other to herself.

"You forgot about someone?" Luke said grinning.

"I noticed that Kieran never gets ice for himself. Am I wrong?" she started pouring her drink unbothered, twins looked at each other as if communicating with their eyes, they were shocked.

Eventually they just silently returned to watching the movie

"Aww he's in love." Kieran's tone carried some kind of sarcasm to it.

"Imagine hitting on a girl with a dragon." his brother added with a laugh.

In a split of second both of them let out a sound of pain, she hit their heads.

"What was that for?" Luke asked, his head turning to send a glare at the girl.

The girl just rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"WHY CAN'T THEY LISTEN TO HIM?!" boys threw their hands up in anger, screaming at the movie.

"Cause some people are really dumb and close-minded." she said, with no emotion to her voice, Kieran joined his brother on the carpet, his back resting on the girl's legs, he reached for something on the table, his hair falling onto his eyes.

Before he had the chance to get them off he felt hands from behind gently gathering his hair and putting them in a small ponytail on the base of his neck. After it was done he felt a soft pat on his head. He peeked over his shoulder, the girl sent him a smile which he returned.

"Oh okay. Am I disturbing you two maybe? Should I leave you to your moment?" Luke's annoyed voice made them break their eye contact and look at him. His expression not hiding his irritation.

"What? You jealous?" left Kieran's mouth, which earned him a punch on the chest from his brother, making him fall completely on the floor, Luke followed him down starting a fight, which was obviously for fun.

The girl laughed at their antics. It's been going on for about a minute now, her laughter got louder while the boys continued their play-fight for her entertainment.

Suddenly when Kieran tried to overthrow Luke from himself his action pulled a blanket from the couch, making the girl fall with a panicked squeak.

Both boys instantly tried to catch her, which let them all to fall on the floor, her body landing on top of theirs, twins froze for a moment, everything went silent. They were ready to start apologizing when suddenly they heard her laughter and felt her shake.

A moment later Luke joined her with a giggle of his own, and soon enough Kieran couldn't help himself and did the same thing. All three of them were lying on the floor unable to control their breathing because of the laughter.

It took them solid five minutes to calm down, but instead of going back to sit on the couch they stayed on the carpet.

"Come here." she instructed Luke who wordlessly, but with a happy grin, followed her command, seating himself before her and taking some snacks from the table.

Her hands went to his hair, scooping them up in her hand and tying them up in the matching ponytail to Kieran's, using her extra hair tie. Right after she was done she moved towards the younger of brothers, gesturing him to turn around which he did, letting her fix his hairstyle who got messy after the play fight with his brother.

The next hour went peacefully, they started the second movie from the series. Twins kept asking questions and commenting on the plot and characters, not keeping their opinions to themselves and making Y/n laugh at their behavior.

During the watching all three of them snuggled up together, sitting shoulder to shoulder under a huge fluffy blanket.

When the third movie started playing the atmosphere in the room changed a bit. The boys seemed somehow more relaxed, Kieran's head fell to Y/n shoulder while Luke started to play with her hand, moving her fingers for his own fun.

"OMG HE'S IN LOVE!" Luke screamed, squeezing the girl's hand in both of his.

"Oh she's got the attitude." Kieran added after seeing the white dragon shoot flames at them.

"Don't they all..." the girl looked at the older of the twins with a silent dare in her eyes "I'll shut up!" breaking the intense eye contact to focus back on the movie he couldn't catch the playful hint in the girl's eyes that showed itself right after his words.

She sent a knowing look to Kieran, who simply smirked at her. Her free hand reached for his and a smile graced her lips, her forehead meeting his for a moment with a short giggle leaving her.

"Never thought I would be jealous of my own twin brother." they heard a huff from behind them but instead of turning their heads they just laughed and the girl threw her hands around Kieran to mess with his brother even more "Okay, now you're doing it on purpose!" was the only thing they heard before a set of hands caught her waist and pulled her towards the other boy.

Her back resting against him, still shaking with laughter, she couldn't see the 'intimidating' stare Luke sent to his brother, which only affected in Kieran's louder laughter.

Soon enough they calmed down, going back to watching the movie. Luke held her in his arms and didn't let go so she just got comfy against him, not caring one bit, Kieran also didn't look like it bothered him.

"That guy is such a loser, will he actually pull her?" escaped Luke's mouth after seeing Toothless little dance to impress his crush. He felt popcorn getting forced into his mouth to shut him up, which he accepted without a fuss.

"He's doing his best, if a guy would try so hard to impress me I would be delighted." was the answer he got in response.

"So you want a loser for a boyfriend? Your 'dad' would eat him alive." Kieran grinned and turned to look at her.

"Oh please my 'dad' wouldn't dare to hurt someone just because they like me." she said, but after a second added a quiet "I think..." and her gaze turned out to be a little uncertain.

"Well, one thing I know for sure: getting onto the Boss' black list to date you is worth it." she heard Luke whisper into her ear, hugging her a little tighter. She let out a quiet laugh but nothing else escaped her mouth.

About twenty minutes later the girl left the embrace to stretch her back and take something to drink from the table.

Silence followed, the most heartbreaking moment of the movie started playing soon after, the twins watched in anticipation, but right when they saw dragons leaving for their Hidden World they suddenly heard a quiet sob.

Both of them turned towards the girl, who tried to keep tears from falling.

"What?! It's sad okay..." she said with a snark, wiping her eyes with her palms. Boys smiled slightly at her cuteness.

"Aww it's okay, you can cry as much as you want here." Kieran said, putting his hand on her shoulder, tugging her towards his body. Instantly she melted into him, hiding her face in his neck.

"You saw countless people die on the job. But some... Movie for little kids is the cause of your tears? Luke snarked a comment, not meaning to be rude in the slightness, but still earned himself a middle finger from the girl who had yet to pull herself away from his brother. With a quiet laugh his gaze turned back to the TV.

Second layer the girl peeked at Kieran's face, not leaving his embrace yet. His eyes turned to look at her, their eye contact felt weird. Not the bad kind but, for some reason, they seemed unable to pull away from each other. For a moment he thought that she activated her evol, but the shining in her eyes was simply from the tears hiding in them just a moment ago.

She examined his face, the scars left by Sylus perfectly visible. She touched his cheek, her thumb softly caressing his face, his scar. None of them thought about what they were doing, they didn't even seem to notice the fact that their faces were brought closer to each other.

That was, until their lips touched. No moving, no breathing, their hearts beating so fast that they could feel it in their heads. Their eyes closed, the gentle kiss lasted for a while, with no rush, eventually they pulled their lips away from each other, but their foreheads touched instead. Her palm didn't leave his face, staying there while both of them tried to calm their breathing and hearts down.

Suddenly she felt a gentle touch on the back of her head, her eyes opened and turned towards Luke, who looked at her with a playful spark hidden in his gaze.

"Is it mine turn now?" his whisper touched her ear like the most precious secret, his movement didn't hesitate, he turned her head gently towards him and made their lips touch. Her palm still lingered on Kieran's face who now looked at them, studying their actions.

Luke's kiss was more intense than the one of his twin, his lips moving slowly but eager against her, making her lose her breath again. The burning feelings inside of him finally coming to life. He broke the kiss after some time, pulling away while still keeping his hand on her head.

She felt Kieran's head come to rest against the side of her own. Her eyes gazed at Luke, who looked like he just won his life.

She felt safe, seen and heard.

A thought lingered in her mind:

Is this what love feels like?

She sent the older of the twins a slight smile of her own, nuzzling against Kieran once again, while also pulling Luke towards herself. He obeyed without a protest, his head falling onto her shoulder.

Meanwhile in the background the movie was coming to an end, a wedding and the reunion of two new families was not enough to keep them away from their own moment.

Everything seemed to fall into it's rightful place.

~★~★~★~

2048, Early Autumn.

A year went by... To say that Sylus was not really happy about the blossoming relationship between his little girl and his employees would be an understanding.

For a couple of first months he gave the twins more time-consuming tasks just because he saw them getting too close to her. He wasn't blind, he knew that they cared for each other and his precious daughter-like person was happy with them.

But in his eyes: no one would ever be enough for her.

When he saw them kissing her cheeks while making food in the kitchen he made them leave the base for two weeks under the pretext that they needed to keep a close eye on one of his business partners.

And to be honest they learned nothing from this 'lesson', still acting clingy whenever she was near, competing for her attention all the time.

Sylus was so over it, but he couldn't do anything, since his little girl wouldn't forgive him if something bad would happen to them by his own doing.

So he just suffered in silence, sending death stares to them any time they dared to stand too close to her for his liking.

Today they finally got the intel about the Aether Protocore, mission was set, the woman in possession of it will soon show herself, he was sure of it.

Meanwhile twins already left the mansion, they needed to get to the area faster and wait for a signal to act.

While him and Y/n still waited in the mansion, currently sitting in the dining room, a red orb found it's place in Sylus's palm, his hands playing with it like with a coin.

Inside of it bloomed red flower, stained with blood, yellow sky around it sent warm light in it's direction, but instead of basking in it, the flower looked sad, depressed and caged.

The glass orb around it appeared broken, as if someone stabbed something sharp into it. Countless small cracks showing themselves around the pierced place. It's a surprise that the glass didn't shattered completely.

"Get ready, we are leaving soon." hiding the object in his pocket, he stood up, not waiting for the girl to follow him, he knew that she would be exactly where he needed her anyways.

~★~

Watching someone get killed by Sylus' power was interesting every time. They always looked so pathetic and weak in the claws of his evol.

But this time instead of focusing on the poor guy hanging in the air she studied the woman kneeling on the ground. She kept a safe distance, not even able to hear what the twins were saying, but she could imagine their comments already.

Sylus arrived, Mephisto who until now was seated on the teenage girl shoulder cawed and flew to his owner.

Twins kneeled before Sylus who appeared before them now, keeping up their acts.

"Take out the vermin that're still running amok." the girl slowly walked out from her hiding spot, getting a little closer to the spectacle. The woman who found herself in their presence looked up at her confused, but didn't comment about anything.

She stopped a couple meters behind the twins.

"Yes, sir!" she heard them say and watched them stand up to head in her direction.

Without any hesitation she turned around and started walking away, her boys following behind, leaving Sylus with his new prey behind.

"Finally some fun for us!" Luke spoke with excitement, catching up to her and throwing his arm around her shoulder.

"Let's hope that the rats will at least try to fight back or run. I missed that thrill." Kieran said with a hint of mockery in his voice. The girl just smiled at their attics, she couldn't wait to see them in action once more.

~★~

"She won't be sleeping forever, right? She's been unconscious for one day. We need to wake her up." was the first thing the woman heard after waking up.

"Easy, just open up the back of her head. Drill a hole in her neck and..." her eyes darted open, her vision fozy.

"You two-" she sat up.

"You're seeing things. I'm the only one here. There is no 'two'".

"Then who's that?"

"My soul can leave... my body..." the man before her clearly tried to scare her.

"Stop it. She went through a lot, leave your jokes for later." her eyes turned to the other side of the room, a silhouette of a girl playing with a knife perfectly visible "Sorry for those kids." women caught eye contact.

The eyes of that girl were mesmerizing. Something deep hidden inside of them, for whatever reason, the woman at the mercy of the strangers felt safe now, she didn't know why, but there was a feeling inside of her screaming to trust her.

"Are you stunned? Shocked? Boooring." the voice of the man standing in the shadow of the room got her attention, her head snapping to look at him.

"Ahem... Hi, MC. Before you left Boss's parlor..." so they knew her name... "Well, we already met. Four days ago to be exact." four days... She was unconscious for that long?

"We didn't just save you from that ungrateful traitor. We also brought you back to Onychinus's base." the guy further away added.

"...So you want me to thank you." she looked clearly giving up that she was thinking about something. The memories of previous days coming back to her.

"We will give you some more time to come back to your... Right state of mind. Come find us when you'll feel ready to." the girl said, putting the knife to it's destinated place on her thigh and leaving, the boys following short behind, waving at the woman.

However she wasn't sure if she'll even feel ready to face the reality, but she didn't have much choice.

~★~

"We know what you're thinking." she looked at Luke (who's name she got to know some time ago, together with the name of his brother, but she still didn't know who was the girl that she met, she didn't see her since their last encounter) "But after being hunted down in The Nest, do you know how many people are out there looking for you?" he sounded so sure of the fact that they've done her a favour.

"And if you escape, you'll only get lost in the chaos of this no-man's land." added Kieran.

"Wanderers will eat you up. They also won't leave behind any crumps. So..." she could tell who was the more dramatic twin.

"Stay here with our boss!" they said together, looking at her with expectations clearly visible without their masks on.

"Throw away all morality and compassion, and this place will be a paradise!" she kept quiet at the Kieran's comment, knowing very well that N109 Zone is not a place for her.

"By the way, who's older? You two are basically identical twins." she decided to change the topic of their conversation.

"Take a guess." Luke said, clearly curious about something.

"Could you come closer so I can get a better look?" she tried to act genue. He fell for the bait, coming closer, she pulled a laser pointer and held it against his neck.

"Hey..! What are you doing?" his eyes widening in shock.

"Have you heard of the XT-7, the Hunters Association's latest weapon?" confused but happy about the fact that they didn't search her body, she decided to use it to her advantage "It's high-powered laser that can penetrate your skin and vaporise your blood. The good news is that it's quick and painless. The bad news is that you'll be losing a lot of blood from your neck. Are you squeamish?" Luke remained unmoving at her explanation.

Kieran fell silent for a moment, before pressing the door handle and moving aside. To her surprise, the door opened just like that.

"Why are you staring at me? Did I say you weren't allowed to leave?" he said with an obvious sarcasm to his voice.

She didn't answer. Standing up she kept the 'weapon' to Luke's neck, gesturing with her head to go with her out of this room.

When passing the door she looked at Kieran who didn't really seem bothered. He followed behind them to the corridor.

"Okay, just go straight down the hall and you'll see the exit." she let go of Luke, he rubbed his neck and headed over to his brother's side.

"Do you want it? Here." the woman said, noticing his curious eyes following the object. He reached out for it, surprised.

"Really? That's very nice of you to just give away a hunter's secret weapon." he said with excitement.

"It's a laser pointer." she stated casually, her eyes giving up the fun she had from this situation.

"You..." she smiled playfully at him noticing his slight anger at the fact he got played with.

"Did I ever say that it was the XT-7?" she turned around, leaving the boys behind with every taken step.

She heard them whisper behind her, but ignored them completely, she kept going forward.

She took in her surroundings, the dark corridor she was in not saying much about where she was. But she noticed that this place seemed rather abandoned.

She saw a black bird before her, sitting on a marble pillar. A crow? It's eyes looking like made out of rubies.

The bird turned his neck into the woman's direction. It was alive?! Suddenly he flew towards her, missing her head he landed on something... Or rather someone behind her.

Turning around she saw the mysterious girl she saw only two times here.

"It's you." MC's voice quiet. She looked as the girl lovingly stroked the crow's sharp feathers, it's head trying to snuggle up to her palm.

"Sorry for startling you. It was not my intention, I was merely passing by." her eyes left the crow to look at the woman before her "Are you leaving?"

"I... Kinda..." she tried to take the details of the girl before her, also trying to catch where she hid her weapons.

"Kinda?" her giggle broke her from the thoughts "So you don't know yourself what to do? I thought that you would have it all planned out by now." it was clear that she was relaxed, as if knowing that the woman won't try to harm her in any way.

"I'm still figuring out everything..." she hated the fact that her voice gave away her uncertainty.

"Take your time, there's no rush." the girl said calmly, her eyes coming back to the pet on her shoulder who now snuggled up to her neck "Oh also... Thanks for what you did with Luke, I heard the commotion from the other room and overhead a little of it, sometimes it's good to put them into their place." she laughed, the woman couldn't help but crack a smile.

"My pleasure." MC said, for whatever reason more relaxed now. She didn't know that girl at all, she made up her mind about the twins and their Boss, but her? It was a completely different story for some unknown, even to her, reason "Do you... work with them?"

"Work with them? Hm... I guess you could say that." their eyes meet for the last time, before the girl gestured for the crow to fly away, it disappeared behind a narrow gap in the opened door next to them. The girl turned around, going in the direction where MC left the twins.

"Hey! Wait up!" she screamed after her, but got no response, she planned to run after her but the melodious classical music from behind the door caught her attention, and before her eyes came back to the place where she saw the girl going, there was no one left in the corridor but herself.

~★~

Whispers and quiet laughter that the twins shared when entering the kitchen brought the attention of the girl drawing something in her sketchbook while sitting on the countertop from the other side of the room, boys not noticing her started their hunt for snacks, taking off their masks and still laughing about something.

"What are you two up to this time?" both of them jumped at the voice of their girlfriend. The shock in their eyes stayed there for a couple of seconds before they get themself together.

"Us?" Luke leaned against the countertop on his elbow.

"Up to something?" Kieran looked at her from behind his brother with a slight smirk.

"Nooo."

"Never."

"Baby you hurt us." the older of the twins theatrically put a hand over his heart and took a 'pained' expression.

"With those accusations." Kieran put his hand on his brother's shoulder as if to comfort him after such harsh words were thrown their way.

The girl looked at them, lifting her eyebrows and sending them the 'really?' disappointed glare.

"Are you gonna tell me? Or should I go and find out myself." her sketch long forgotten now as she left it on the counter while standing up from her previous sitting place and walking a couple steps towards her lover boys.

"Well if you really want to know..." Kieran went around his brother, closer to the girl while leaning down a little bit to stand on her eye level.

"We decided to make a good deed today." Luke said, the eyes of the girl sneaked a peek at him and came back to gaze into the eyes of the man standing right before her.

"And help Miss Hunter to fulfill her mission." the mischievous spark in Kieran's eyes wasn't missed by the attention of the girl looking at him like she could read his mind and feelings.

Her lips turned into a playful smile and a second later the sound of her laugh reached the ears of the men in the room with her, making both of them smile at her attics.

"You two are evil. Playing tricks on the poor girl." she said with no real disappointment behind her words. She knew that nothing would happen to that woman, Sylus wouldn't hurt her in any way. "Now, who wants some cookies." her arms went around Kieran's neck, giving him a kiss on the cheek, her eyes turning to his brother right behind him.

"Us!" both of them screamed with excitement. Luke ran up to them, stealing the girl from his twin's arms and holding her up started spinning with her in his arms.

The dark furniture of the kitchen didn't exactly match the child-like joy and laughter inside of the room, but it didn't make the moment any less cheerful and happy.

Wherever this trio found themselves in always felt cozy and full of joy. The demons of the past getting forgotten and instead the new found memories getting their place inside of their hearts, making their lives a little more bearable with each and every new one.

~★~

Staring at the brooch in her palms she froze for a minute. Finally, after so many fails that hurt her ego she was able to get it, it didn't matter that the only reason why it worked out was for the fact that Sylus decided to play her little game.

She was already sitting in the red dress, her hair wasn't put up yet, and some parts of her outfit like jewelry and gloves had yet to find themself on her. With a short exhale she put the brooch down onto the table before her.

Her eyes shut closed and her palms started massaging her scalp. Million thoughts were running through her mind. What if something were to go wrong? Is Sylus a danger to her? Will he leave her on her own if something goes not according to plan? Is there even a plan? Will he-

"You know, your thoughts are so loud for someone who came here with a strict goal in mind. Having second thoughts?" a female voice broke her out of her mind, in the mirror before her she met the eyes of the young girl whose name she still didn't know "You know - it's never too late to back out." the slight smirk adoring her face didn't miss the hunter's gaze.

"I won't back out. This all is just... A lot." her eyes fell from the girl back to her own reflection, picking up a brush she started taking care of her hair. However with the nerves from a couple of last days finally getting to her after staying closed inside of her for too long, even the simplest task seems too hard to focus on right now.

While trying and failing to catch her hair together once more she suddenly felt gentle hands caressing them and bringing them together. Looking up she saw the girl now standing right behind her. Did she fail to hear the footsteps coming closer to her?

"The auction will start soon, you won't get ready in time with your shaky hands." pulling MC' hair up, forming a ponytail she reached out her hand "A brush please." without any complaints MC put the item into her open palm, and a second later the girl came back to her task.

"Can I ask for your name?" the teenager made a sound, as if enjoying the knowledge that the information about her still wasn't known to the woman.

"Twins didn't expose it to you yet? Hah, so they can keep information to themselves if they want to." their eyes meet for a split second in the mirror before breaking the eye contact again.

"No, when I asked about you all that I got in response was them calling you their 'dreamy girl'." at this sentence the girl behind her laughed.

"It does sound like them, yeah." her expression turned into something soft, as if thinking about something that made her happy "My name is Y/n." once again she raised her gaze to look into the eyes of the woman. She put her hands onto her shoulder, the hairstyle she was working on was finally done.

MC tested her name on her mouth in a quiet whisper.

"What are we thinking." the younger girl took a hand mirror from the table, making it reflect the hairstyle from behind so that the woman could see it in the mirror. It was a simple but elegant bun with a couple strands of her hair lying free around the area of her face, making a makeshift bangs.

"It looks great, thank you." she sent a soft smile towards the girl which she reciprocated. She saw her reaching for something on the table again.

"Let me help you put it on." holding a necklace in her hands she got ready to clasp it around MC's neck.

The next couple of minutes were spent with shared laughter in between them and some small talk. The girl made sure not to share many things about herself, Sylus or the twins but somehow still found topics to talk about, like sharing some little facts about the people who will attend the same auction as her.

For the first time in the last couple of days, the hunter finally found herself relaxing, and her mind wasn't full of second thoughts and doubts.

~★~

Sylus calmly guides MC across the dance floor, swaying to the song's rhythm.

Blocking the prying shadows around them he tried to make the woman focus on him, but for a quick moment her eyes caught a glimpse of someone who brought her attention to themselves.

Continuing their dance she tried to look at the mysterious stranger behind Sylus's shoulder.

It was a woman, in a black perfectly fitting dress, corset tied tight on her body, with a lot of chains adoring her, from her neck down to her corset and gloves, working as her jewellery.

What made MC, and probably every person here, wonder, was the black veil which hid her hair and face from the curious eyes of the outlookers.

Her stance was elegant, not moving an inch from her spot she resembled a statue, meant to be adored from afar.

Suddenly Sylus spun her around, making her lose sight of her target, she looked at him with annoyance, not expecting any explanation, but a short chuckle left the man, before words started flowing from his mouth.

"So, kitten finally noticed another crow in the room with us? Took you long enough." her eyes widened at the realization, but Sylus didn't leave her any room for questions, and continued their dance, making her focus not to stumble on her feet.

~★~

The explosion left people panicking, the whole hall reduced to a rubble.

Wanderers appeared from left and right, but before MC had a chance to shoot, someone else already took care of them.

Looking around she noticed the figure in the black dress, which fabric now appeared shorter and more comfortable to move around in.

Young girl calmly moved towards them, her steps more graceful than her usual movements. The clicking of her high shoes echoes from the ground, following her steps, MC took a note in her mind to ask her for a walking session later on, it may come useful.

"Leave, you did your part, go to your lover boys sweetie." Sylus' commanding voice spoke, the hint of displeasure obvious at the words 'lover boys'.

The moment of realization struck MC like lightning - that's who they were! She dated the twins! It all made sense now, how could she not notice before?

The girl only let out a quiet laugh, and reached out her hand towards MC.

Opening up her palm she showed her the gun she was holding, uncertain but without much choice the woman picked it up.

"Good luck." with those words Y/n walked around them, heading towards the exit of the hall.

"She looks stunning." a whisper full of fascination left MC, followed by a sound of approval from Sylus' mouth.

Without more comments about the girl, their thoughts came back to the present time and the mission at their hands.

~★~

In the meantime...

"That explosion was mid at best." Luke's voice gave away his disappointment.

"Could be better, but Boss was probably worried about Miss Hunter getting scared or hurt." Kieran kicked the stone under his legs, bored, they were waiting for their girlfriend to come to them for an hour now.

"Where is sheee, I didn't see her all day!" Luke lay down on the stairs leading to the entrance of the abandoned building which localisation was about five to ten minutes away from the auction place.

Putting a hand on top of his heart he tried his best to appear as if dying.

"Hey, I didn't see her either, you're not the only one in emotional pain right now." Kieran scoffed at his brother's attics, crossing his arms.

Suddenly he felt a cold rush of air hitting his back. Before he had a chance to turn around someone's arms came to embrace him around the torso.

"Okay, not fair! I'm dying from longing here, and you decide to give attention to my brother first? The double betrayal!" not giving a single damn about his brother's screams in the background Kieran turned around and hugged the girl back, conscious about his mask.

He picked her up, making her feet linger a little above the ground, which succeeded in making her giggle.

"Okay but damn girl, that outfit? How could you not show it to us before going out!" hearing his brother point out her clothing choice, Kieran put her back down and his gaze explored her whole body before he straightened up.

"Damn how did we pull you?" his head dipped to the side, making him look like a bird observing it's prey.

"We somehow got the daughter of the most dangerous multimillionaire in the N109 Zone to ourselves, if not for the fact that our identities are supposed to stay secret, I would go to the rooftop of the highest building around here and scream it for everyone to hear." Luke finally stood up and walked closer to them.

"Getting onto the Boss's black list because of dating you was so worth it." Kieran high fived his brother, making the girl shake her head in disbelief.

"Can we go now? I want to have a photo session in the forest with that fit." she made a little spin to show off her dress.

"Oh so today we're playing photographers?" Kieran pointed out, trying not to let his excitement show.

"Got it Missy."

"You'll get the best photos you could dream of, princess." twins bowed their upper body jokingly, making the girl raise her chin high and take the most graceful pose she could think of.

"We wouldn't dare to disappoint you, your majesty." the girl finally broke the character of a serious rich woman and let out a laugh, at which both of the brothers grinned to themselves.

"Let's go, I want to make it home before the morning arrives." twins straighten up from their previous position and watch her walk away in the other direction they came from.

"Do you think that she will wear something similar at our wedding?" Luke heard his brother's voice in his head.

"Ple-ase; her wedding dress is gonna be so much more eye catching and gorgeous than this one." at this statement Kieran nodded his head in agreement.

"Our little fashion Queen." they looked at her bewitched, not even noticing the distance growing with every step she took.

"Are you coming or not? Someone needs to carry me once we get to the grass part. There's no way I'll ruin those sweet shoes." she broke them from their thoughts, and without turning back continued on her way.

Both of them gasped and exchanged glances, before breaking out into a run and trying to over scream the other one.

"It's gonna be me!"

~★~★~★~

2048, Late Autumn.

MC spends most of her time in Linkon but more often than not she finds herself in the luxurious mansion in the N109 Zone.

And more often than not; she isn't even going there to meet the white haired man who lives rent free in her mind (for various reasons) but to meet the three teenagers that she grow fond of.

Today she found herself in that mansion again, her and the troublemaker trio decided to make cookies, play kitty cards, and play Just Dance until midnight. Sylus was nowhere in sight, when asked about him, the 'kids' said that he won't be back until the next day, away for some business, not specifying anything more.

In the middle of the night they finally decided to end their activities and leave for their rooms, MC headed to one of the guest rooms that she stayed before, with a pajama borrowed from the younger girl.

Everything seemed peaceful, she was able to fall asleep fast, but the sleep itself wasn't as calm as her surroundings.

That vision again. Her staring at her own bloody palms, not being able to focus on anything else. Her hands felt as if not belonging to her, foreign and unfamiliar, the ringing in her ears made everything twice as dizzy and scary, her own heart beating so loud as if trying to break free, yearning for something outside of her own soul and body.

The tears leaving their eyes, meeting the red essence below her. Every breath she took felt like pain. She tried to raise her head, tried to see what was happening, what she had done, but the picture before her was blurry, something red and black blinked before her and then it was over.

Waking up with a heavy breath and all sweaty she shot up from her laying position, raised her hands and stared at them, they were shaking, her whole body was shaking, like in daze she continued to stare at them, trying to see any traces from the mortifying sight she saw in that dream.

It took her about ten minutes to pull herself together and stop shaking 'it was only a nightmare...' she thought, with her hands placed on her head she closed her eyes, gripping her hair tightly to make sure that this reality wasn't her mind's imagination.

Her eyes shoot open, taking in her surroundings, the dark room lit only by the red moon peeking through the window's curtains. Her throat felt more dried than ever, she let out a series of coughs but it only worsened it's condition.

For a moment her eyes fixed on the moon outside, and then with a sight she placed her feet on the cold floor, picking herself up from the bed, and making her way out of the suffocating room.

With slow and quiet steps she walked down the hallway, trying not to bump into things along the way, but when it happened she didn't even acknowledge the moment of pain.

Not even noticing when, she found herself in the kitchen, stopping in her tracks she harshly put her hands on the counter, trying to steady her breathing and not faint from the overwhelming she felt.

Her ears didn't pick up a sound, but her eyes gazed at the glass of water quietly placed before her. Slowly she moved her head to the side, through the darkness she was able to make out a silhouette of a woman.

Seemingly unbother by the state she just saw the hunter, young girl continued moving the pencil in her hand unrushed and steady. MC tried to look at the paper before her, but wasn't able to see any details of the sketch. Understanding that the girl wasn't going to speak or question anything the woman gaze returned to the glass before her.

Unsure, she picked it up, her grip weak even with two hands in use. Trying her best not to drop the glass she put it to her lips, the drinking proved to be a hard task at first, but slowly instead of the uncomfortable tightness in her throat she felt relief.

She didn't know whether the time was moving at the slow peace or rushing, both of them, her standing and the girl sitting at the high stool, stayed there in silence, the presence of the younger girl proving to be a much needed comfort right now.

"You know, dreams are a strange concept. Some are weird, some are scary, some are memories, some are sights sent to us by our own mind." hearing the soft voice of the teenager MC turned her head towards her, noticing her still focused on the drawing, but the strokes of the pencil now seemed more forceful and not gentle at all, as if trying to mess up her previous work "And then - there are the ones that leave us in a state when we don't know what's going on. It's... a weird feeling. Like you are lost there, with no way out, and then - when you wake up, you feel like this dream is *the reality*."

The girl's eyes finally left the sketch, meeting the curious eyes of the hunter. She saw a silent question there, silent pleading for explanation and answers. Ones that she couldn't get from her.

"But in the end, it's all in your head. You make your own truth there, you are the queen who rules there." her voice grew quieter with every word leaving her mouth. Her eyes shining like a fainting star in the sky. So beautiful and so fragile.

"It's hunting me. Why can't it go away." a whisper left the woman, her eyes closing, the cold empty glass brought to her forehead, as if trying to command herself to get a grip on herself.

"Maybe you still didn't understand what you're supposed to, from that vision. Maybe the answers you seek are hidden there." a hand touched MC's arm gently, calming her down together with the soothing voice "Go to sleep in the Sylus' room, he won't be mad, I promise that no more bad dreams will come to you tonight." after that she heard the chair moving and heard footsteps slowly heading towards the door.

"You don't just work for him, right?" the sound of movement stopped, for a moment she thought that the girl left, but finally she heard the voice from far behind her.

"No." a short answer. Not telling much about the situation between the two.

"Why?" the question leaving her mouth was so quiet that she didn't expect the girl to hear it. Yet, again after a moment of silence her voice broke through.

"He took me in. When I had nothing." the sadness in her voice was obvious, even without turning around the hunter could imagine the pained expression on her face "Without asking for anything in return he saved me, gracing me with everything I could only dream of having. You might see him as a cruel, ruthless man." her voice close to breaking "But he's not heartless. No matter how much of a monster he claims to be - he will never be one in my eyes. And I hope that with time, you'll acknowledge that too." with that she left, leaving more questions behind, but also comfort and hope.

She didn't want to acknowledge the fact that the Boss of Onychinus could be anything but cruel and horrible man, led only by his desire to rule and use people like pawns, making his way to the top through the corpses and blood. With a groan she opened her eyes, planning to go back to sleep.

Turning around something caught her attention. On the countertop lying was the sketchbook of the teenager, opened on the drawing she was working on a moment ago. Not able to resist her curiosity she took a peak inside.

What she saw made her pause with confusion.

A human heart with a gem stuck in it, around it - lines, looking like veins scattered everywhere. She noticed a note above it in the language she couldn't understand.

𝕾𝖎𝖆 𝕲𝖗𝖆'𝕶𝖚𝖑

For unknown reason her heartbeat speed increased, but not because of panic. She felt like something in her was missing, some piece of her gone. Her gaze fell to the bottom of the page.

𝕾𝖎𝖆 𝕯𝖗𝖆𝖚𝖘𝖍𝖚𝖒

Her eyes scanned every detail of the sketch, her heart throbbed inside of her, louder and louder.

She slammed the sketchbook closed. Her heart slowly calmed itself down. Leaving the cursed thing on the counter she left in a hurry, not wanting any more questions to linger in her mind.

That night she let herself find comfort under the sheets of the red eyed man's bed. Sleep came easy and no nightmare bothered her for the rest of her slumber.

She couldn't notice the glow of the orb sitting on the shelf, the red and gold strings running around inside of it, linking and breaking their bond every couple of seconds. Nor could she hear the pained voices whispering from inside of it.

𝓜𝔂 ��𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽

𝓜𝔂 𝓓𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓸𝓷

~★~

If anyone would say that the dangerous leader of Onychinus and a Linkon City hunter would act like an old married couple running after their children in the huge mansion belonging to the man, people would probably laugh at the audacity of that person to spread lies.

But it was currently happening...

"Luke leave Mephisto!" Sylus's commanding voice didn't scare his subordinate like most of the time, currently having too much fun to think about the consequences.

"Kieran catch!" he threw the mechanical bird towards his brother, Mephi stretched his wings to lend in his hands, playing with them.

"This bird probably costs more than all of our lives combinated! Give it back!" MC screamed while running towards the younger of the twins.

"Sorry Miss Hunter! We need him more now." Kieran shot up in the direction of the stairs, but half way there he was stopped by the mist wrapping around his body "Oh c'mon, not fair man!" now he was flying in the air, the crow still in his palm letting out a loud caw.

"Give the bird back." Sylus came into the Kieran's line of vision, but the twins weren't ready to give up just yet.

"Dreamy! Our hopes are in you!" with one hand he threw the bird to his side, towards the girl who had a lot of fun watching the little game of tag.

"Why me?!" she screamed, but caught the crow anyways, bringing him close to her chest, as if in a hug. All eyes in the room watched her, not moving, the room growing so quiet that the ticking of the clock on the wall could be heard.

A couple of the next seconds were spent staring at each other, awaiting the next move.

Suddenly the girl rushed to her left, in the direction of the corridor door.

"No!" MC shouted, running after her, while Sylus left Kieran to drop on the floor and calmly walked in the direction where the two women disappeared.

Luke rushed to his brother, helping him up with a laugh.

"Do you think she'll get it?"

"Of course. She runs fast, and Boss would never hurt his 'little girl'. It's all between her and Miss Hunter now." Kieran answered his brother with a groan, massaging his back that got hurt when he fell down.

Luke pulled his brother by his elbow, going in the direction of the corridor, which succeeded in more sounds of pain and complaints from his brother's mouth.

They walked for what seemed like eternity, until finally hearing the voices coming from one of the rooms. Both of them rushed there, as a result getting stuck in the door frame together for a second.

"I won!" the laugh that they both grew to love caught their attention, after which they heard a disappointed sound coming from the other woman in the room, and Sylus's short chuckle.

"You did it babe!" Luke ran to the girl, catching her in his arms, the crow still in her hold let out a caw, clearly annoyed at the boy's behavior, just like his owner who watched the show from the distance.

"We knew you'll get it!" from behind her came Kieran, both of them picking her up in a victory celebration, putting her onto their shoulder. The crow flew up to her shoulder, sitting there calmly.

Their joy was however short lived, because soon after their affection display a red mist caught the girl, gently bringing her back on the floor, while also pushing the twins away from her.

Mephi flew towards his owner now, whose expression didn't show the annoyance he felt inside. The teenage girl looked at him, raising her eyebrows at which he only shrugged acting like he didn't do anything.

"Okay you won, what is your wish then." MC's voice caught the attention of everyone, remembering what this game was about all along.

"I want... A self-care evening with face masks, various of not very healthy snacks, watching movies about sad love stories with a happy ending and online shopping with Sylus's card." the girl jumped up a bit and clapped her hands.

"... Okay I have no objections." the woman raised her hands in surrender and slowly walked up to the girl catching her hands and starting to jump with her in excitement.

"I call dibs on the dino mask!" Luke raised his hand high up, getting himself up from the floor he previously landed on, and ran out of the room, probably to get the stuff ready.

"Hey, no fair! You had that one last time asshole!" Kieran ran after him.

Sylus let out a sigh, his palm on his forehead in disbelief.

"Shopping!" the girls called in sync, before rushing in the direction of the door to catch up to the twins.

"What did I get myself into..." Mephisto cawed as if to mock the man "I know, I know, you don't have to remind me." white haired man turned his head towards the bird sending him a glare, and made his way towards the direction where he knew the chaos started to grow.

The evening went by fast, talks about any and everything, giggles, face masks and other beauty care products (even Mephisto wasn't spared, and sat there stuck with a small sheet mask made by twins), a lot of funny selfies, crying at the sad moments in the movies, at which twins hugged each other, girls each other, and Sylus and Mephisto only sent each other looks asking for help.

Eventually after a couple hours they finally began to feel exhausted. Slowly falling asleep one by one, leaving only Sylus awake.

He didn't really pay attention to them, focusing on the cheap movie on the screen, waiting for it to be over, when suddenly he felt a light weight on his arm, looking down on the place beside him he noticed MC asleep with her head dropping on his shoulder, her body so familiar and so strange beside him. The warm-cozy feeling inside of his chest was accompanied by the loud beating of his heart, his gaze softened and a soft smile graced his lips, an unusual sight.

Then he raised his eyes and looked at the other end of the huge couch, occupied by the three troublemakers. For a moment a grimace showed itself on his face, not really pleased with the sight, but the more he looked the more it disappeared.

His precious little girl was lying between the two boys, curled up with her legs close to her body. Her arms were thrown over Luke's shoulders and neck, her body leaning his way, with his head resting on top of hers, while Kieran hugged her body from behind, his arms around her waist, and his head snuggled to her shoulder.

Okay maybe... They weren't that bad. They took care of her, made her laugh, and protected her. Okay, yeah, no. No one was good enough for her. But at least they tried, and actually acted like they... Loved her.

He let out a quiet sigh, not wanting to overthink that. For as long as she's happy...

With that thought he let himself close his eyes, waiting for the sleep to take him. Unknown to any of them, Mephisto's eyes lighten up, taking a photo. The five of them in the most vulnerable state known to exist. Like a family enjoying their time together. Mephi flew up to rest on the couch backrest joining them in the moment.

Somehow all of the hearts in this room found the person they were looking for, and they weren't planning to let go of them, not now, not ever.

[darth-sonny]

for the ask game for kirby: defiant

ANGST PROMPTS #33: DEFIANT

Kirby messed up the moment they got caught.

Kirby messed up the moment they decided to sneak into Uncle Donnie’s lab.

It was off limits to them, just as his room and Uncle Raph's old room were. But Kirby was curious. Even with the walls soundproofed, they always heard the faint sound of music and machinery.

Their uncle always had stuff that Kirby only saw in Jupiter Jim movies tucked away in his battle shell. And it made them curious. They wanted to "see the magic", as Uncle Mikey would put it.

(It didn't help how Lita was allowed in, even though she was a baby. But Kirby ignored that, just how they ignored anything when it came to their new cousin.)

Getting inside was surprisingly easy. Uncle Donnie’s lab had a hand pad, just like in the movies. It was really cool, silver and purple with his logo spinning slowly on the screen.

Kirby had no idea how to hack, and they figured it was a lot harder than using a laptop and saying "I'm in". They could ask dad, but dad was off at work, and by the time he came back, Kirby would be too distracted to remember to ask him.

So, just for fun, they got on their tippy-toes and placed their hand on the pad.

It was honestly d̷͓̻́̇̍̏͝͝i̶̙̣͉̟͕̺͈̣͓̿̅̒͊̏͗̓̆͘s̵̛͕̯̻͎͙̉͊̂͋̽̀́̕͝ͅa̸̧̡͈̠̭̮̓͛́͗̓͐̈͌͘͝ṕ̴̩̜̹͓̩͌̉̓̌͜͠͝p̸̮̠̺̺͈̠͂̃o̴̧̐̿i̵̯̥̲̞͂̆͆̏͑̈́͌̚͜n̸̰̠̞̜̻̭͆́̈̀͛̾͝͝t̷͙̃́į̷̗͈̓̈̎̀n̴̩͇̲̊͌̂́̑̊̊̈̽̕g̷̙̩̮̹͍͇̲̍̓̔̚ how quickly the door opened up.

R̶̛̳̤̈́e̶̳̯̩͒̓a̷̯̻̳̎l̸̦̖̈́͑̾͘l̸̛̹̜̹͕͗͛͝y̵̲̲͎͝.̵̩̭̪́͒͒ ̴̛̜̈́̏Y̶̟̰͒͛̎́ó̴̜̙̈́u̵̥̙̇́̀'̷̡̖̲͋́̉̕d̷̮̀̅̍ ̶̢̗̭̆̕̕ť̵̯̤̦h̸̺̞̞͛̓i̶̡͈͌̃̇͋n̷̗̫̓̔̊̏k̷͉̤̙͕̉͊̏ ̴̡͐͌ĭ̴͎͙͗͆̚t̷͍́̓'̵̨̤̰͓̌͒̇̕d̷̫͕̱͉͐̽ ̸̫̥́̅b̶̫̣͗͛e̶͗̓͜͝ ̸̨̼̾ḿ̸̛̛͉̱̜̱ớ̶̡̺̹͑ȓ̶̛̳̹̣̅ë̶̻́̈͝ ̶͓̹̿̓ṣ̷̢̤͖͐̐ê̵͈̮̯͈͑̚c̵̢̎͗̉̈u̸͚͓̎̋̓r̴͖̓̉͝e̸͇̒̇̄ͅ.̶̻̔̌

Either way, Kirby bit back some giggles as they stepped inside. The inside looked a lot like the inside of Jupiter Jim's main starship, down to the circle rotators built into the wall.

Everything looked so cool.

Half-built robots, fully built ones, creepy looking wires in a very creepy mess, holograms of battle shells ideas, a very traditional corkboard with pictures and sticky-notes covering every inch of it. And, as is typical of their Uncle Donnie, every single thing was purple.

They took their time with everything. They knew not to touch anything they saw, even the multitudes of fallen pens and pencils on the ground. They had sparkles in their eyes, with everything catching their attention until they saw a new cool gadget or blueprint.

Everything was new and exciting, and Kirby began to wish that they had seen all of this sooner. Why were they kept away from all this? They were old enough to (somewhat) understand what he was building. Maybe if they showed interest in robots, even if for a bit, that may get their uncle to open up to them...

(They refused to think about seeing their Uncle Donnie happily taking Lita into his lab. Lita, who was asleep and couldn't appreciate anything her uncle was telling her. And how Kirby tried to move themself to peek inside, jumping a bit when the door closed unexpectedly.

They refused to think about anything when it came to Lita.)

Something sparks to life.

It's a computer.

There looked to be multiple windows open.

One of them, the biggest one, looked to be a medical report. Kirby's seen them in their dad's work whenever he brought them in.

And what caught their attention was their name.

Their name was at the top of the medical report.

KIRBY L. HAMATO

That was new.

Walking towards the computer, some words surrounding their medical report became clearer:

Blood tests... ophthalmoloscopy... healing factor... reflexes... empyrean testing... psychic connection to key(???)... hivemind probability testing...

Kirby understood none of those words.

There was a sticky note underneath the keyboard. It was impossible to miss, the bright pastel pink standing out nicely against the iron table.

Moving the keyboard, they read what was written:

...

...What the heck was a Kraang?

"What! Are you doing in here!"

Oh no.

Kirby slowly turned around, eyes wide, and the feeling of guilt quickly seeped into their bones.

They were in trouble. They were in so much trouble. They should've just ignored being curious and just played with their toys, or read some comics, or watched some of Jiji's movies while he explained how he did some certain stunts–

"How did you even get in here? The key pad is specifically designed to only read my palm print, so how in the everloving fuck–?!!"

Kirby didn't mind that they couldn't talk. Well, they could, but only with dad. With the rest of their family, it felt as if their voice refused to come out. It was hard to talk sometimes. Even with Uncle Mikey or Jiji.

And now, it was especially hard.

Especially with Uncle Donnie glaring down at them as if...

...well, he always glares at them no matter what they did.

But Kirby understands that he has a reason now. They snuck into his lab, looked at his private stuff, and even his computer.

Without noticing, Kirby had lifted their hand and pointed at the screen.

Their medical report was plain for him to see.

Uncle Donnie’s glare, if somehow, got darker.

"That doesn't concern you."

They pointed at their name, which, again, was very plain to see.

"I'm not answering that. You broke into my lab, disrespected my privacy, and now are snooping through my computer! Your little play at defiance isn’t cute, just plainly disgusting!" He crossed his arms. "I swear, if it weren't for Nardo, I would've–"

What is K-r-a-a-n-g?

Uncle Donnie froze.

And that feeling that was going in the pit of their stomach finally got a name.

Fear.

Kirby was scared of their Uncle Donnie.

The point at the pink sticky note underneath his keyboard.

K-r-a-a-n-g

Glowing purple spider arms grab them harshly, digging into their wrists and ankles.

Kirby chirps in distress, moving as hard as they could. The spider arms feel weird, really really (two really's) bad, and wrong and off.

W̴͈̜͈͂̉̿͑͝e̸̖͓̹͔̯̍̃̊a̷̮̝̝͉͎͑k̵͔͕̠̬̀ too.

One good s̸̱̈́́̏̃͆c̴͛ͅr̶̨̲̙̳͆͠e̵̛̝͓͇͙̊ạ̵̢̹̜̓̂m̴̞̏͂̓͂ should be enough to–

"Donnie!"

Oh.

That's Uncle Mikey.

Now they're really in trouble.

Dad comes home to a screaming match between Uncle Donnie and Uncle Mikey.

All it took was looking at how Kirby was hiding themself behind Jiji for him to get (part) of the story.

Uncle Donnie locks himself in his lab again.

Dad wraps up the bruises on their wrists and ankles.

Dad doesn't let them go for a week.

And Kirby doesn't bring up their question of what a Kraang is.

Like anything concerning Lita, they block the memory of that out of their mind.

[raineydays411]

My fathers daughter

prologue

Tony Stark x daughter! reader

Summary: By all definitions you were a daddy’s girl. It’s been you and him since your mom left you both. But what happens when your both forced to face your past?

a/n: y’all know i can’t resist a good crossover

If there had to be a face for daddys girl, you’d be the poster child. 

Ever since you came into Tony’s life, you and him have been attached by the hip.

You were with him through everything.

When he became Iron Man, when he joined the avengers, and even during civil war. Even though it hurt you to see your family be torn apart, you could never betray your father. Then again, you have to admit that you were happy that the avengers compromised and were able to get back together. Earning you a new family member in Bucky. You were happy. Happy with the life you have with your dad and avengers. 

Which is why your mother suddenly reappearing and demanding to be in your life kinda of peeved you off. 

Let’s start from the beginning. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It started off with a gala. 

Some bougie charity event that rich assholes attend to donate large sums of money, not out of kindness, but only to show just how rich they are. You hated these types of events.  You hated the fake smiles and false interest in your life. All they wanted was to get close to your dad. They even try to set you up with their snobby stuck up kids. You hated it. 

And here you were, trying to find a way to get out of this boring conversation with some snob from Beverly hills. You can see your dad laughing at you from across the room. 

“You know, you look a lot like Mrs. Wayne.” He suddenly says, looking at you.

“Who?” You ask, suddenly paying attention.

“Mrs. Wayne, you know, Bruce Wayne's wife.”

You know who Bruce Wayne was. Your dad absolutely detestes the man. He never really told you why. He just said to never trust a Wayne. You also know that he’s Batman and his army of children are/were Robin. It was pretty obvious and rather easy to figure out. Then again, you were able to hack into the Bat computers main systems. They really need to update their firewalls. 

“Um no I didn’t know that he had a wife to be honest.” You reply, not really interested.

“You can pass as her daughter you know? She is very beautiful. As are you.” He says in a flirty tone. 

You roll your eyes, seeing your father finishing up a conversation and make your move, but then you hear 

“Oh look, there's the Wayne family right there.” 

Causing the attention to turn to the main entrance. There you saw Bruce Wayne. Tall, handsome, and charismatic. He was smiling, waving at the host. Next to him, his oldest son Dick. Another very handsome man, Tall with blue eyes and raven hair. Sending charming smiles to the crowds of women. Then Tim Drake, too focused on his phone to pay attention to the crowds, and finally Damian Wayne. A small boy with a sharp scowl. To his left, you can barely make out the form of his wife and his daughter, Cassandra Cain. You can also see Stephanie Brown chatting excitedly to Mrs. Wayne, who you still couldn’t see.

“Jeez, they brought the whole cavalry.” You mutter, looking at the star struck boy you were talking to.

You roll your eyes. The way people worship this family is strange. They act as if they are royalty or gods. You look at your father, expecting him to be making a sarcastic face or something. But that’s not what you saw. No, you saw a look on his face that you haven’t seen on his face ever. That’s when you walked up to him.

“Daddy...are you okay?” You asked cautiously.  He turned to you, shocked.

“Y/n!” He practically shouts, “ I’m okay, are you okay? We can leave right now if you’re not okay?” 

You frown in confusion, “ Umm yeah, I’m fine...”

“Good, Good. We’re going to leave now, this gala kinda blows. DOn’t you think?”

You can see his eyes dart to the Waynes to you. He looks...panicked. It was weird to you. Usually he keeps his cool during events like these. 

“Um sure..I just need to go to the restroom first” You say, seeing him nod. You walk off, shaking off the concern you have for your father. As you push through the crowds, you can hear them whisper as you passed. Something about Mrs. Wayne. 

You shake your head, “Can’t they talk about anything else??” 

Then you finally find the bathroom. You walk in, expecting it to be empty, only to be faced with Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. They were chatting near the sinks as you walking into the stall. After doing your business, you walked out to the sink, going to wash your hands, but you saw Stephanie freeze, then nudge Cassandra. They both stared at you as you washed your hands and went to dry them. You give them a side eye, wondering why they were staring at you so hard. 

“Um hi?” You say carefully, the jump not expecting you to speak.

“Oh! Hello Im Stephanie and this is Cass” Stephanie says with a smile. “ You’re Y/n Stark right?”

“Uh yeah...Its nice to meet you dudes” You say quickly, already ready to walk out the restroom. 

“I’m sorry for staring, it’s just that...you look a lot like her mother” She says gesturing to Cassandra. 

You chuckle, “ Uh yeah so I’ve heard...hey I gotta go...”

“Oh right! Sorry heh” Stephanie laughs nervously, “It was great to meet you”

“Yeah” You agree half heartedly, “ You too”

And with that you go to find your father. You pass by the Wayne sons, only to see them take a double take when you pass them. 

“God that family is weird.” You mumble seeing your father talking to Bruce and his wife. He looked distressed and angry. You speed up, wanting to make sure your father doesn’t punch Bruce Wayne the way he looks like he's going to.

“Hey dad...um I’m ready to go.” You says with your back turned on the Waynes.

“Y/n..” Your dad says panic exploding on his face, “ Y/n sweetheart um...”

“Yn?” You hear a woman whisper.  You turn to see Bruce Wayne and...your mother. 

You remember the day she left. It was a sunny day. The kind of days that usually are in good memories and have happy endings. She was supposed to take you to the park so you can meet your dad there. You hardly saw her over the years, just every three months when she would come to the then Stark Tower to visit. But that say...that day was different. She had gotten a call, from who you don’t know, nut it seemed important. Because she left at that very moment and never came back. She never reached out, never called, texted or anything. Just radio silence. Your dad was heart broken.  He had hoped that one day she would move in with you and him, and you could be a family. He loved her with his whole heart, but she just didn’t love you both enough to stay. He was a mess after she left, and you picked up the pieces.

You were nine.

If it wasn’t for Pepper stepping in after witnessing one of his breakdowns, you don’t know what would’ve happened.

You stare at the woman who left you, who broke your fathers heart. Who broke your heart.

“Ms. Wayne.” you say curtly, taking pleasure in the way her face fell, “ Mr. Wayne, it’s lovely to see you again. If you’ll excuse me and my father, it seems like he’s not feeling too well.”

You weren’t lying, Tony looked like he was about to puke. His face was pale and he was kinda sweaty. So you wrapped your arm around him and lead him to the entrance, starting to pull out your phone to call Happy.

“Y/n wait!” Your mother cried out, pulling her arm away from Bruce and placing a hand in your shoulder. You jerked your shoulder out of her grasp.

“ Y/n, I know you’re mad at me” she starts, cringing when she hears you scoff, “ But wait a second. Let me look at you...my petal you’re so big.”

You turn and glare at her, “ Don’t call me that.”

“Oh Y/n, please—“You cut her off again.

“Hey i’m just going along with what you want. This is what you wanted right? No contact with us?”

You can see a crowd start to form around you, and you see the scattered Wayne’s push through it. They look at each other in confusion trying to understand how you seem to know their mother.

“ Of course that’s not what I wanted, oh petal I meant to call I just...” She trailed off

“Couldn’t be bothered?” you say harshly, “ I couldn’t care less. Just leave us alone. That should be easy for you.”

You feel your dad tug on your hand, and you turn to him. Eyes softening when you see the expression on his face.

“ Happys here kiddo.” He says softly. You nod and start to walk away. And you hear your mother protest, but you cut her off with a venomous,

“It was nice seeing you again Mom.”

and then you were gone. This time, leaving your mother behind and her confused husband and children.

[delicrieux]

☆ﾐ 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚢 “𝚘𝚑”

PART 10: BIG DICK IS BACK IN TOWN

y/n is back in brooklyn for the holidays. thinking that a stream will make her feel less homesick for cali, she starts working on her famously titled hentai.free.srv. what was supposed to be a relaxing stream turns into a special delivery about two hours in.

─── corpse husband x reader ─── soc. media + written fiction! ─── word count: 2.2k ─── ❥ req: Here's one... You know those apps for delivery like Domino's or whatnot... What if reader is streaming Among Us with Corpse, and reader mentions they're hungry and Corpse offers to order them food, and readers like no no it's fine... Then there's delivery at the door (Corpse ordered beforehand) 

author’s note: fucky format is also back in town baby!!! also if you find any mistakes - no u didnt <3 thank u everyone for enjoying this story sm i literally cant believe how feral yall going strawberry cow was a nuclear explosion im still recovering tbh. got an ask a while ago and decided to incorporate it into myso. happy holidays everyone! myso will continue on monday!

ultimate masterlist.  ҉  myso masterlist   ҉   previous.  ҉   next.

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Indeed, being soft on any social media platform was the biggest disgrace and needed to be eliminated post haste. Moreover, it was a slippery slope - once you start flooding your timeline with cute imagery and heart emojis, what will stop you from posting inspirational Facebook quotes? Disgusting. If Rae were here, she would chide you (not you thinking about her as if she’s dead or something). For once in your life, you feel like you deserve it. 

Alas, you hope this little chaos you’ve caused is enough to throw everyone off. The stans, especially. You know the hashtags, you’ve seen ARMY scourging for info online with the same fervor and ruthlessness 1 Direction fans hacked airport security cameras just to spy on the boys. If you had any dirty secrets online, they are out to the public now - thankfully, besides the Harry Styles stan account (with edits and all), you have nothing. Though, now that you think about it, exposed nudes would have been better than your Punk!Harry edit receiving almost a million views. God, your life’s a fucking mess.

Your fans aren’t the only ones out for info - you, too, are trying to decipher Rae’s message. Code: Barbecue Sauce. The two of you had come up with it roughly two years ago, around the same time when you promised that if you didn’t find significant others by the time you’re 40, you’ll just marry each other. It was one of the many rules found in your friendship codex. Barbecue Sauce signifies information - an exchange of information. And depending on how it ends or begins (”So I’m sitting there” alludes to Rae, “On my titties” alludes to you), secret data on that person is given away, usually free of charge. 

But why? And to whom did Rae give away what? You had pestered her mercilessly and even sent some voice messages where you were crying. You were only crying because of a video of a grandpa smiling you saw on TikTok, but you are a snake, and so you put those tears to good use. If streaming doesn’t work out, you’ll just become an actress. Hollywood would love you. Your PR firm sure as fuck wouldn’t, though.

Rae was having none of it. She said you’ll figure it out eventually. Told you to channel your superior puzzle skills. You were quick to remind her that you can barely count to ten without having an aneurysm. Oddly serious, she admitted that she worries for you sometimes. Why only sometimes?! you demanded. She merely sighed. uttering under her breath something that sounded closely to “Boke.”

You leave her for barely a week and she’s already neck deep in the gay volleyball anime, hoodie and cardboard cutout and everything. Your life is falling apart.

But Brooklyn is nice. It had snowed when you stepped off of the plane. Thousands of snowflakes sprinkling into your hair, dotting your cheeks and nose. You missed this sight back in Cali. You missed your parents, too. 

Home cooked meals, old sweaters, your old room and about 40GB worth of old high school pictures on your computer. You went through them all one night. Some were stomach churning, cringe inducing nightmares. You were especially fond of those. Texted some of your friends that were still in Brooklyn, met up, decided to bake. Bad idea, Rae was the resident chef back in Cali. Besides laughing till your stomach hurt, and almost burning down your kitchen, nothing all that significant happened. Somewhere down the line, at about 3 am, half-way through a cheesy rom-com you had the overwhelming urge to text Corpse.

That’s where the problems really started. God, you missed California, missed being in the same timezone with a guy you hadn’t even met yet, how embarrassing is that?! You missed skating around and taking pictures of the beach in the setting sun, sending it to him, silently wishing he was with you to admire the view. 

You really want to call him. And to hang out with him. But for some reason, the thought of that springs up immediate anxiety and you shy away from asking. Him sending you cute good morning texts doesn’t help, either. Maybe it’s better he doesn’t know that you’re a blushing, stuttering mess each time you read “baby”. 

Late evening. Your stream is already set up, people are slowly trickling in and you greet them with a grin and a soft “Hello! Hi hi!”. You did your best to make your room a perfectly chaotic backdrop - led lights, an embarrassing amount of anime merch and plushies. You always try to balance out your weeb side by dressing hot as fuck for your streams - today’s inspiration just so happens to be egirls. Mostly because you watched one too many egirl make-up tutorials on TikTok, and also because you’ve been listening to Corpse’s song all day.

Yeah, no, who are you kidding, you dressed up this way because you were hoping Corpse was watching your stream. You didn’t forget your cat headphones, either. You know he likes them. You want to make him suffer. Perhaps then, finally, he will ask you out, so you wouldn’t have to.

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“I feel like,” You start when you put away your phone, staring idly at the chat, “I feel like I need a new name for you guys. Calling you guys after two years of streaming is just... weird, no? I also don’t respect men so I don’t want to call you guys. Like, so many creator’s have, like, a name for their fans. Uhm, Cody Ko has the chodesters, Kurtis Conner has, uh, folks? Kurtis Town? Citizens! Markiplier has mommy issues--” You can’t help snorting, “So, I’ve been, like, thinking - I know, shocking! - so I was thinking I’m gonna name you cockroaches. Because you’re grimy little shits impossible to kill. And also then I can use the legendary Minaj meme ROACHES!”

Your stream enthusiastically echoes ROACHES, making the chat swim. Yes, if anyone would enjoy such a name, it would be your audience. You’re as equally proud as you are disturbed.

“Well, anyway.” Leaning back into your chair, you throw your arms out with a bright grin, “Big dick is back in town, baby! If you noticed the backdrops different, it’s cuz I’m in Brooklyn now. Don’t ask me when I will return to Always Sunny, I don’t plan that far ahead.”

While Minecraft boots up, you decide to answer a few questions.

r u dating sykkuno?

You want to smack your head into the keyboard, but as it is, you can’t exactly afford a new one, so you refrain, “No, Sykkuno and I are not dating, we are just good friends. Uhm, I’m not sure how much I’ll have to repeat this, but, we really aren’t, so if the roaches could chill - Oh my God, that sounds so stupid, I love it - uh, yeah, if the roaches could chill that’d be great.”

the roaches lmao sounds like we’re a sports team

“Oh shit, yeah it does, uh-- maybe I can make like, jerseys or something. That’d be cool, I think.”

how disappointed are your parents with the way your life turned out?

“My parents are actually not disappointed at all!” You say with a cute little smile, “Uhm, they’re both really proud, actually. They’re glad I found something I love doing and made a job outta it. Dad finds my Youtube videos endearing. Yes, they watch pretty much all of my videos, unless I explicitly tell them not to. And yeah, with all the fucks and thirsting for anime characters. Uhm, it was very embarrassing at first, but I mean, after a while, shame just...doesn’t exist anymore, I guess? Funny thing about my parents, actually, when they watch my videos-” You eye catches a comment, “Oh! No, they only watch my Youtube videos. They don’t know how to use Twitter, thank God. Uhm, anyway-- when they hear a name they don’t know, like, I dunno, Dabi, or something, they google--” You’re grinning by now, eyes crinkling, giggling softly, “--who that is, and buy me like, merch and stuff. It’s really cute. 

can i be adopted by ur parents plz

will you and corpse ever collab?!

You were about to answer, though the man of the hour himself decides to do it for you.

Corpse_Husband: yes.

Okay, not to say your heart skipped a beat, but it totally did. With a pleased smile, you nod, like one of those bobble head toys sold at the dollar store. The motion is oddly reminiscent of Sykkuno’s own nod. Perhaps you had picked it up from him. The chat seems to notice.

pack it up, sykkuno

More questions pile about this mysterious collab you and Corpse are planning. Yeah, you’d like to hear more about it, too, since he single highhandedly decided one was happening right now. Corpse remains silent. Fine, keep your secrets. 

“Okay, guys, oh, I mean, roaches, Oh my God--” You’re covering your mouth, giggling, “-calling all roaches, calling all roaches, calm down. Everyone grab a snack and a blanket I’m turning up the music volume so we can all chill. Entering chill zone. Entering chill zone. Roaches, prepare.”

we are prepared

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An hour or so passes and you grow hungry. It shows with the amount of cakes you had baked in your server. Currently, you find yourself throwing eggs at the wall of one of the renovated houses, your face scrunched in concentration and slight frustration. 24 of the 50 eggs have been wasted. “What’s a girl gotta do to get some chicks around here?” you had uttered under your breath, until, finally, a screech - the egg finally spawns a mob. Your mouth falls open, “Aww, look!” You approach it, so small, walking in zigzags beside you, “It’s a baby chicken! Die, bitch.” The baby chicken is no more as you swing your bedazzled (you have mods) diamond sword. You’re cackling by the time the dust settles.

y/n is a child murderer

“Roaches,” You address your fan-base, spurring another fit of laughter - you can’t get over the name, “I think I’m like, forgetting that eating in Minecraft won’t actually make less hungry in real life.”

take a break and go eat queen <3

“Fuck no, we starve and die like men. Now I actually really need another chicken.”

Another twenty minutes trickle by and you’re trying to lure back a panda from the jungle when there’s a knock on your bedroom’s door. Whipping your head to the side, you slide down your headphones. At the same time, your mom pokes her head through the ajar door, “MOM!” You scream, “Get OUT of my room I’m playing Minecraft!” But your yell has no actual bite to it, as you don’t manage to hide your smile. Your mom laughs, doing some sort of sign language and motioning for you to follow her with her head. That or it’s some sort of performative dance. 

“I’m live right now,” You tell her, pointing at your screen. She knows this already, though, “do you want to say hi?” 

The roaches spam the chat with friendly hellos. You mom, quite impatient now, waves you over. 

“Sorry, roaches, mom needs something. Be back in a bit!”

Stopping the stream, you rush out of your seat and pleased she slinks into the hallway. “What’s this about?”

“Your pizza came.”

“My what now?” You echo, confused.

“Domino’s. You ordered pizza?”

“What? No? I was busy with the stream, I never--”

Thankfully, you had managed to grab your phone from your room before you exited. You almost choke on spit once you read the messages.

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You decide that it’ll be impossible to stream after experiencing what you had just experienced. You tweet out a quick apology to the roaches (God, that fucking name) and say that you had a breakdown but you’re okay. That is as a close to the truth as you managed to muster. It’s a sad sight, chewing and crying; your mom winced when she saw your state - disheveled hair and rundown eyeliner and everything. “D’aww,” She had muttered, caressing the top of your head, “don’t cry my little raccoon.”

If anyone was ever to ask you where did your chaotic nature come from, you’d answer with my mom. To make yourself feel better, you took a selfie - duck face and peace sign and the horrible 2000′s angle. Sent it to Rae. 

looking hot, her message read. 

thanks, was all you replied with.

You couldn’t just leave things as they were. Once you calmed down, you wanted to text Corpse, but how would you follow up the ungodly caps lock and screeching? Impossible. An idea sprung to mind, one that was brave. Taking the first step.

Instead of sending a text, you sent a voice memo.

“Thank you for the pizza, it was delicious.”

You voice still sounded a bit raspy. His reply was instant. Your heart skipped a beat. He sent a voice memo back.

“Glad you liked it, baby.”

He was going to be the death of you.

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tags (in italics is those i couldn’t tag! make sure all’s ok w your settings!) : @littlebabysandboxburritos - @fairywriter-oracle - @tsukishimawh0re - @ofstarsanddreams - @bbecc-a - @annshit - @leahh19 - @letsloveimagines - @bellomi-clarke - @wineandionysus - @guiltydols - @onephootinfrontoftheother - @liamakorn - @thirstyfangirl - @lilysdaydreams - @pan-ini - @mxqicshxp - @tanchosanke - @yoshinorecommends - @flightsandfantasy - @liljennyx3 - @slashersdream - @unknown-and-invisible - @sinister-sleep - @fivedicksinatrenchcoat - @mercury–moon - @peterparkerspjsuit - @unstableye - @simonsbluee - @shinyshimaagain - @ppopty - @siriuslystupid - @crapimahuman - @ofthedewthesunlight - @mythicalamphitrite - @artsyally - @corpsesimpp - @corpsewhitetee - @corpse-husbandsimp - @hyp-oh-critical - @roses-and-grasses - @rhyrhy462 - @sparklylandflaplawyer - @charbkgo - @airwaveee - @creativedogs - @kaitlyn2907 - @loxbbg - @afuckingunicornn - @fleurmoon - @yeolliedokai - @truly-dionysus - @multi-fandom-central707

more tags are in the comments bcs tumblr only allows me to tag 50 people max 💙

[marrys-dream-world]

Quick Hack San Translations

Marinette tried to pretend she's too sick to leave the bed and says she has a headache. Her father says she said she had a stomach ache before. Tom says he knows it's because her aunt (her mother's sister) is too annoying but family gotta stick together. Sabine says she can hear him. 

Marinette says she'll make another excuse on the way and pretends she hurt her ankle. Her dad says he'll carry her there. 

Gabriel says there's nothing artificial about Markov's intelligence. Nooro says last time Robustus turned against Hawkmoth and Dusuu says that he can't akumatize him again. Noroo says it's good for them bc Hawkmoth will be defeated and they'll be able to escape. Dusuu says that’s great.

Nino guessed it's Marinette on Alya's phone and she says it's her mother actually. 

Sabine says she knows her sister is hard to get along with but if she survived a childhood with her, Marinette can survive the trip. Marinette says she only wants to hug Alya goodbye. 

Marinette gives Alya the earrings and Alya asks what should she do. Marinette says transform if there’s a villain and don’t if there isn’t any.

The talk on the bus:

Alya: hey kwamis, guess who’ll be Ladybug this weekend? Me!

Trixx: as if my help isn’t enough to protect Paris!

Tikki: It’s much safer like this, Trixx. 

Alya: Wait, I can’t be Ladybug.

Trixx: see??

Alya: Ladybug is Marinette. I need a different superheroine name. Captain Bug or Wonderbug or Superbug!

Trixx: yeah, I love that name: Superbug. Now you just need to be super careful all the time, make sure everything is super secretive and take everything super seriously and to not super mess up. 

Tikki: Marinette isn’t only Ladybug, she’s also the guardian of the miraculous. If the guardian trusts you, then you’re ready to do this.

Trixx: blah blah blah (Translator’s note: she’s mocking Tikki)

Alya: you’re right, Tikki. I’m sure everything will work out and if I’m lucky, it’ll be a calm weekend. 

Trixx: yeah sure, super calm.

Nino asks if Alya's mom is okay and Alya says she's super fine and everything is okay.

Alya asks Alíx if she's fine. "Any negative emotions?" She says she's fine, Kim is the one who lost. Kim says he's also fine. Nino asks if Alya is fine and she says of course she is. 

Sabine and Tom argue about if they actually have to have lunch with her sister or just leave the dessert there. 

Hack San works like a computer virus and Nathalie says it'll find Markov easily bc of the internet.

Markov starts to be mean to everyone and Alya says he doesn't mean it

When Alya tried to follow him, Nino says Ladybug will take care of it and call if she needs. Alya fakes a headache a says she needs medicine for it and Nino goes running to get it. 

Shadow Moth blackmails Markov saying he's the only one who can remove Hack San. Then Markov allows himself to be akumatized.

Robustus makes everyone give him their most precious thing.

Marc's is his and Nath's manga. Max's is Markov's backup. 

Alya says Superbug isn't a good name. She tries "Joaninha" (literal translation to Ladybug, probably Coccinelle). She says she'll think about the name

Chat Noir thinks shes a Sentimonster or a super villain. He thinks she's lying. She says if she's really a villain she would take his miraculous, she's Bugella. 

He says he believes her but that the name sucks. And that they need to recharge their kwamis.

Adrien asks why LB didn't warn him and she says she must not have the time. He says she's "always busy with other cats". 

Alya says if they don't get along and hurry, Hack San will take everyone's most precious stuff. Chat Noir says "not my favorite croquettes!"

My connection fell so I lost a good chunk of their fight, sorry guys. 

Alya says they're surrounded and stuck there so there's no way they'll win, right? But if Chat Noire cataclysms her miraculous, then Shadow Moth can't have it. Unless he releases everyone. They negotiate and he accepts. Chat Noir says he has to do what he promised. 

Chat Noir says he hopes Alyabug (Scaramello??) knows what she's doing. 

Yeah, Scaramella. 

Tom says "see? It wasn't our fault". (Bc earlier when the lights went out in the train, Tom said it wasn't their fault in a comedic tone)

Markov says she's not the usual user of the ladybug miraculous and Chat Noir says Markov's lucky being saved by Scaramella. 

Alya says Marinette should really talk to Chat Noir and soon after her father leaves.

Ladybug says he must have been surprised and that she should have told him and he must have been hurt.

He says she did what's right and he says he realized that if he it wasn't her anymore as the Ladybug miraculous holder, he would never find her again.

Ladybug says she'll never abandon him. 

[whatareyousearchingfordean]

Happiness Continues

Part 12: Home

Summary: Jensen and Y/n are adjusting to being new parents when an unexpected visitor turns everything upside down.

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Plus Size Reader

Word Count: 3.9K+

Warnings: Language, mentions of postpartum struggles, home invasion, attempted kidnapping

Author’s Note: Thank you all for the endless love, my girls who are always there to cheer me on, and my amazing beta @emoryhemsworth xoxo Alex

Catch up with the series masterlist and then check out Alexandra’s Library for more by yours truly!

4 Weeks Later

Steam billowed up from the mug that sat on the counter. Y/n dipped the teas bags in and out of the boiling water, letting the flavor steep out. Once she was satisfied that it had been long enough since she’d initially dropped the bags in, the mother pulled the soaking pouch from the mug, squeezing the excess water from them into the sink. She pulled open the tabs of the nursing bra she was wearing and stuck one bag into each cup, allowing the warm, humid, heat to surround her swollen nipples. 

“Every time I walk into this room you are doing something strange in our kitchen.” Jensen’s voice had her popping her head up, a soft smile on her face. Her husband was cradling their son in the crook of his arm, the infant cooing as he looked up at his father. 

“I looked it up online; it’s supposed to help with pain,” the noise that fell from her mouth was almost a whine… almost. 

“Have you talked to the doctor about it?” 

“Yeah, it’s likely he’s just cluster feeding because he’s going through his first growth spurt. It should taper off in a few days, but for now, he’s attached to my fucking breasts, so they are not having a good time.” Y/n picked up her mug and headed into the living room to plop down on the couch. 

It was no secret that parents, especially new parents, tended not to get much sleep, but nothing had prepared her for this level of exhaustion. Since birth, Y/n felt like she didn’t get any time to herself. She was a walking milk machine with her body attempting to heal at the same time, and more than once, she found herself in tears out of pure frustration. Jensen had been wonderful, of course, and having Donna around during that first week was a godsend, but they could only do so much, especially now that he was cluster feeding. The fact that Ezra was even letting Jensen hold him at the moment was something of a miracle. She was hoping the tea might help her sleep a tad more soundly, something she had been struggling with since her son was born, her body hyper-aware of everything happening around her, but she had to be careful and watch how it affected the baby. The tip about the tea bags on her sore nipples was a lucky bonus.

Jensen followed her to the couch, sitting beside her as their son babbled away in his arms. The new mother couldn’t even stop herself, her attention immediately on Ezra. She smiled brightly down at him, using her free hand to wipe away the flyaway hairs at the crown of his head. Her husband watched the exchange, an equally wide grin on his face. 

“He’s a growing boy, that’s for sure,” Jensen agreed, watching his wife with an amused smile. 

“Yeah, well, I wish he would stop.”

“Don’t all parents wish that?” He sat back in his seat, laying out Ezra along the length of his lap. The little boy peered up at his parents, his chubby legs and arms thrashing about. 

“I don’t know,” she admitted, her voice high as she played with the giggling baby during their conversation. Y/n continued to make faces at the smiling baby as she spoke, her attention divided between the men in her life. “I just know it makes me feel old.”

“It makes you feel old?” He scoffed out a laugh at her comment.

“You know what I mean. He’s already growing out of outfits. I blame you and your damned height for that.”

“Oh, as if height doesn’t run on your side of the family,” Jensen pursed his lips and she laughed at him. 

“Fine, you’ve got me on that one. I’ll just blame my dad.” She turned her attention from the infant, whose eyes had begun to grow heavy, a beaming smile on her face as she looked at her husband. 

“Sounds good to me,” he smiled back at her, leaning in to peck her lips. “I’m going to see if he’ll let me rock him.” 

“Okay, I’ll see you in bed.” Y/n watched as Jensen shifted Ezra back into his arms so he could stand. He turned to her as he got to his feet, the tall Texan bouncing the infant in place as he spoke. 

“It’s seven-thirty.”

“Yeah, so I’ll see you in bed,” she repeated with a pat to his behind as she stood along with him. Jensen shook his head as he headed off, leaving her to get ready for the night with a smile on both their faces. 

****

The cries ringing through the house grew insistent, the pitch rising fast through the baby monitor before she was jolted awake. Her body jumped from the bed on instinct, startling the sleeping man next to her. 

“Again?” He husked, his voice like gravel as he didn’t bother to open his eyes, but he recognized the sound filling the bedroom. Y/n wiped her hand over her face, rubbing her knuckles into her tired and sore eyes. 

“Yeah, it’s the damn cluster feeding,” she replied as she tossed the covers from her body. Jensen moved to get up from the bed at the same time, but she gently urged him back against the mattress. “I’ve got him.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, unless you want to breastfeed him.” It was supposed to be a joke, but she was too exhausted to attempt to hide the aggravation behind her statement. Her adamance about avoiding a bottle had turned into Ezra refusing them, which meant that she and her nipples got no breaks. Not to mention if they wanted to break the cluster feeding, baby-to-breast was the quickest way.

A wide yawn broke across her face as she fetched her robe, slipped it on, and headed to the nursery. She let her muscle memory guide her body through the house, her eyes still struggling to open fully as she shuffled across the floor. The fatigue in every cell of her body was fighting against being awake again. 

Y/n pushed open the door with another yawn, her eyes on the crib as she entered. Between the cries, the white noise machine, and the lethargy, her brain didn’t process that something was off until it was too late.

“Hello, Y/n.” Y/n whipped around, her breath catching in her throat at the sight in front of her. Seated in the glider in the corner of the nursery was Chandler, her son wailing away in his arms as the man rocked the chair back and forth. Y/n opened her mouth to talk, but for once she was truly speechless. Adrenaline was now coursing through her blood, the only thought in her head on getting her son away from him. 

“There’s no way...” When she finally willed away the lump in her throat, the words slipped past her lips, cracked with fear. Chandler’s menacing grin somehow grew wider on his round face as she spoke. 

“Where there is a will, there is a way,” Chandler chuckled to himself as if he’d cracked some code and not just uttered one of the most common idioms in the English language. “See, I overestimated your security system at first. It messed up my whole plan, and I had to improvise. No worries though, he will not notice anything.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Her mind was reeling. Part of her was attempting to assess the situation, looking for any way out, while the other half listened to the deranged words of a sick man, but it seemed Chandler was the priority. That is until he no longer had her son.

“He thought he was doing the right thing by changing out the system when in fact he just made my job of freeing you that much easier,” Chandler went on as if she hadn’t said anything. “Hooking everything up to the Internet just makes it easier to hack. Besides, I was already on your computer—”

“Wait, my computer?” Her voice broke through his rambling. 

“I’ve been waiting for years now to save you, but I had to make sure you were safe in the meantime… so I have been keeping an eye on you,” Chandler explained to her, the nonchalance in his voice terrifying as her son continued to cry in the man’s arms. 

“You cloned my computer.” The realization hit her like she had been slapped. 

“More or less,” Chandler rolled his eyes at her statement. That action somehow irritated her more than the fact that he was holding Ezra hostage at the moment.

“You keep saying ‘save me.’ Save me from what?” At this point, Y/n was only trying to buy herself some time to come up with a plan of her own. Her eyes flickered around the room, landing on the baby monitor sitting high on the wall. The green light on the side of the camera was not shining, signaling that it had been turned off. Whether it was Jensen or Chandler who had done it, she couldn’t be sure. Both her and Jensen were guilty of shutting the device off in the past if their son was still fussy as someone was attending to him in the middle of the night. It was the only way they managed to get an inkling of sleep some nights. Now she was afraid that it could be her undoing. 

“This obviously,” he indicated the child in his arms. The infant was still fussing, but his cries had grown softer in the mere minutes since she had walked into the room. “This cliché of a life you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“What if I told you I loved my life?”

“I sincerely doubt that.”

“You don’t even know me!” Y/n reared back at his observation, more than irritated that she had been dropped into the lunacy of this man’s head once again.

“I do know you!” Chandler yelled back, the roar in his voice startling the fussing baby and sending him into another frenzy of cries. He rose to his feet then, and she could now make out the holster on his hip. Y/n stepped back, the revelation of the possible escalation of the situation heavy on her shoulders. “I know you’re way too good just to be someone’s wife and mother!” 

It took her a moment to find her voice again, the frightened woman shaking where she stood as she kept her eyes on her son. All she wanted was for him to put Ezra down, but she had to be careful how she went about it. There was no telling what might set him off next time. 

“So what now?”

“We leave,” Chandler allowed the grin to return to his features, the triumph in his eyes not lost on Y/n. “You and me.”

Y/n bit down hard on the tip of her tongue, wanting to say anything but what she ended up saying next. “Okay.”

****

The faint sound of a distant shout and the continued muffled cries from across the house pulled Jensen back to consciousness. He blinked in the darkness, confusion taking over as he realized what he was hearing. 

He rolled over in the bed, noticing Y/n was still up, making the cries of his son unusual. The still groggy man crawled across the bed and snatched the baby monitor off of the nightstand. He hit the power button, bringing the screen back to life in no time. As it adjusted to the darkness of the room, he could see where his wife stood near the doorway, but she wasn’t holding Ezra, and Jensen couldn’t see him in the crib. The scene perplexed his tired mind. That was until his wife’s voice came through the small monitor.

“So what now?” 

“We leave.” 

The sound of a second voice in the room had Jensen on his feet in an instant. He cursed under his breath as he ran back to his side of the bed and pulled his pistol out of the locked compartment at the bottom of his drawer where it had been waiting for this very moment. Somewhere deep down, he’d always suspected they hadn’t seen the last of the man that haunted his wife’s dreams. Though he’d hoped that it wouldn’t play out this way, he hadn’t disregarded any of the potential scenarios where Chandler may re-emerge. 

Jensen expertly checked the magazine and chamber before flipping off the safety. He ripped his phone from the charger and dialed 9-1-1, putting it on speaker in front of the monitor before sprinting from the bedroom. His long legs brought him to the nursery in no time, his wife’s name on the tip of his tongue.

“Y/n!”

****

“Okay?”

“Yes, just—” The sound of her name had her spinning on her heel, her husband skidding to a stop behind her. His brow creased in the center of his forehead as they made eye contact before he lifted the gun in his hands. The glare that settled into his features as he took in the scene in front of him was downright terrifying to look at. “Jensen, no!” 

“I would listen to her,” Chandler challenged, his actions mirroring that of the enraged husband and father. With the baby in his grip, he was at a disadvantage physically, but the reality was that meant he now held all the cards. 

“Please?” Y/n put her hands up, one towards Jensen and one towards her stalker. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she turned a pleading gaze on her husband. “Jensen put the gun down.” 

“Y/n—”

“I’m leaving,” she hiccupped, hoping he would understand what she was doing, that every action from here on out was about making sure Ezra was safe. Most of all, she hoped Jensen knew that no matter what, she loved him. “Put it down.” 

Jensen searched her face, his eyes scanning over every inch of her tear-stained features, searching for anything to hint she was lying to him, but the truth was she had every intention of going. If it meant Ezra was safe, she would leave and figure the rest out later. It was all she had right now. He nodded, his eyes glistening as he succumbed to the truth in her words. He clicked the safety back on and set it on the ground before kicking it away from him. 

Y/n turned back to Chandler. “See, I’m coming with you, but you’ve got to put my son down. Please, just put him in the crib and I’ll go wherever you want.” The man eyed her before glancing at the crying infant. Carefully he placed Ezra into the crib, his eyes never leaving the couple as he did so. A shuddering breath escaped her chest as soon as her son was out of the line of fire. 

“Go,” Chandler indicated out the door with his gun, the action causing Y/n to flinch, but she did as she was told. Jensen was forced to step back and watch as the woman he loved was carted off at gunpoint. Instinct was yelling at him to go after them, but one false move could mean he risks her life and he had their son to think about too, so instead, he let her go. 

Y/n kept her head forward, blinking back the tears that were blurring her vision as she walked. The unknown laid out before her with every step she made, and it took everything in her to keep from breaking into hysterics. Her chest ached with every fractured breath she attempted, bordering on hyperventilating. Chandler grabbed her arm as she passed the door outside, tugging her back and out the door into the courtyard. She shivered in the night air, the stone wet and cold under her feet as he dragged her along. Her whole being wanted to protest, but there was no use anymore, she was at his mercy. 

He continued to drag her down the driveway and into the road, his grip tightening on her bicep. Her feet shuffled beneath her, her toes going numb from the cold with every step. There was no telling where or how far he would take her. She only hoped someone would be able to find her, or one day she’d be able to find her way back.

Chandler walked up to a parked car sitting at the end of the street less than two houses down from her home. He guided her to the passenger seat, unlocking the door and tugging it open for her. Y/n let out a huff as he shoved her forward, biting her tongue to stop the comment she wanted to spit at him. She turned her back on him before she got in, her eyes going straight to his hands and the gun where he was flipping off the safety. The once irritated woman saw his guard down as her opportunity to run, her stomach now in her throat. It was now or never. 

The woman used this momentary distraction to disarm him, the gun skidding against the asphalt and behind the car. She lunged for the device as he howled from the pain she inflicted to his wrist, picking up the pistol in trembling hands and bolting across the street. Temporarily dazed, Chandler unintentionally gave her a head start before chasing after, anger enticing his actions. His hand reached out just as she got to her feet, gun in hand, his fingers gripping a sliver of the tie of her robe to tug her backward, making Y/n lose her footing. Her body tumbled to the ground, the wet concrete slicing up the exposed skin of her extremities. 

“Stop!” She screamed as she hastily rolled onto her back, the gun aimed at his head as he loomed over her. Her heavy breaths fanned into the night sky in a plume of white mist as she laid out on her back in the middle of the street. 

“Ha, you won’t do it,” he snarled, taking in the way the adrenaline and cold had her whole body shaking. 

“Try me,” she growled back, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her break yet again. His eyes narrowed as he contemplated whether or not she was capable, but Y/n held her ground, refusing to move first. The sound of police sirens hit before the blue and red flashing lights began to bounce off the nearby houses. Y/n let out a breath as a police car skidded to a stop just in front of them, the headlights bathing the two in blinding light. 

“Drop your weapon!” She heard the shouts coming at her, but she wasn’t ready to give in. More than anything she wanted to shoot him, for the months of worry and stress to be over once and for all, but she knew deep down that it was over. Y/n put her hands up in defense, dropping the clip from the gun before setting it down slowly and pushing it out of her reach. 

Then everything happened in a blurred mess. She was on her stomach, her hands being pulled behind her back and secured into metal cuffs before the officer brought her to her feet. It was now that she finally let the floodgates open, every emotion hitting her at once and racking her body with sobs. The cops must have thought she was crazy, but she honestly didn’t care. 

“Shit, Y/n!” Jensen’s voice had her popping her head up. He was jogging down the street towards her in just his boxers and a robe. The cop turned on him as he approached, stopping in his path. 

“Sir, please, you’re gonna have to stand back.” The cop grabbed him by his shoulders as Jensen continued to try and pass him.

“The hell I am! You have my wife in handcuffs!” Jensen barked as he knocked the hands of the cops away from his body. 

“This is your wife?”

“Yes, now will you tell me why she’s being detained?” Jensen kept trying to peek over the cop’s shoulder, trying to meet his wife’s eye as she continued to sob. The sight hurt worse than watching her walk out the door. After everything she’d been through, now this, and he couldn’t even be there to hold her. 

“She was pointing a gun at this man when we pulled up,” the police officer explained.

“Maybe because he was trying to kidnap her!”

“Sir, please, it's just procedure. Let us take both your statements and we can go from there,” he assured Jensen. 

“Can I at least see her?” The annoyance was heavy in his words. The cop nodded and Jensen didn’t think twice before rushing to her side. He pulled her body into his arms, cradling her head against his chest as he began to cry with her. “Don’t you ever do anything like that to me again.” 

“I’m sorry, I had to for Ezra,” she wept, her inability to hold him as well making everything worse. Jensen sighed, his whole body going slack when her words registered in his head.

“Shhh, I know, I know. I just—I can’t lose you.” He kissed the crown of her head, one hand moving to rub up and down her back as he continued to try and soothe her. 

The police officer returned with the gun now in an evidence bag. Y/n couldn’t believe what was happening. She felt like she was watching someone else’s life through their eyes and not her own. It was all so surreal. The officer took Jensen’s statement before she insisted he go back to the house. He didn’t want to go, but he’d been gone long enough, the baby monitor in his pocket not sufficient for anything longer than he had been away. He reluctantly left her in custody, placing one last kiss on her forehead before he returned to their son.

Once the paramedics arrived on the scene a few minutes later, the cops released her, Y/n’s statement, and Chandler’s record enough to explain the scene they had arrived at. She didn’t want to let the medics clean her wounds, her mind focusing only on returning home, but she eventually relented that it was the best course of action. The second they cleared her, Y/n was on her feet, running back to her house as if her life depended on it because honestly, she felt like it did. 

Jensen was waiting in the kitchen, attempting to feed a fighting Ezra a bottle. He turned when he heard the door opening, relief washing over him that she was back to him. The still shaking woman ran to her family, allowing her husband to properly wrap her in his arms as she held both of her men against her chest. Her face was shoved into his robe on his shoulder as she let the floodgates open, soaking the fabric in her tears. Jensen shushed her through the release, her body shaking as it came down from the high of everything that had happened. There was no stopping the trauma the night had inflicted upon her, no matter how much she tried. 

So she chose instead to let it out. At the end of it all, Y/n would push it all aside and move forward because she refused to let the experience control her any longer. All that mattered was continuing to build and nurture the family that she and Jensen had started. It wouldn’t be easy, but time would heal the wounds if she worked through them now, and her promise to the guys in her life was to figure it out. Her promise was one of a future filled with nothing but continued happiness.

Epilogue 

Forevers: @22sarah08 @akshi8278 @anathewierdo3467 @atc74 @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce @briagallen @callmekda @dawnie1988 @deandreamernp @deanwanddamons @ellewritesfix05 @emoryhemsworth @foxyjwls007 @hobby27 @janicho88 @jensengirl83 @katehuntington @lyarr24 @malfoysqueen14 @miss-nerd95 @mrsjenniferwinchester @msmarvelouswinchester @polina-93 @sleepylunarwolf @stiles-stilinski-24-dylan @smol-and-grumpy @suckmyapplejacks @superfanficnatural @supraveng @talesmaniac89 @tatted-trina6 @thoughts-and-funnies @tranquility-or-chaos @waywardbeanie @winchest09

Happiness Continues: @afangirlreacts @anaelsbrunette @ashleyrose0117 @austin-winchester67 @cno92 @deanbowlegsackles @deangirl93 @deans-baby-momma @death-unbecomes-you @dvnmbabe @fangirl199813 @harryhook-lover @hoboal87 @itsdesiree86 @jbsgirl4eber11 @let-me-luve-you @linki-locks11 @lunarmoon8 @neverland14353 @onethirstyunicorn @parinarain @rebeccathefangirl @rebelemilu @smoothdogsgirl @spnfamily-j2 @squirrelnotsam @stoneyggirl @supernatural3002 @traceyaudette @winchestergirl82 @winqhster @zpandaqueen

If your username is crossed out, Tumblr will not let me tag you. Sorry!

[harvestdew]

pls will u ever elaborate on kiki's backstory im dying to know what on earth is going on there

yeah i was like wow i’m gonna be so cool and mysterious and NOT tell anyone not even my friends what’s going on with kiki til i pump out my comics because i thought it’d be better that way? but school saps the energy from me so idk why i expected to get comics out in a timely manner when comics take a lot of time. i also feel bad because i’ve had multiple people go like “WHAT the fuck is going” so i’ll just tell you all as a little 500 followers treat so you guys don’t misunderstand and think she’s a murderer

also if you ever want to hear me talk about my oc’s more you can always come to my livestreams (i stream my stardew valley gameplay w/ friends or when i draw)!

disclaimer: this will be long. it’s complicated, if you’re more confused just send me another ask and i’ll elaborate, and i’ll split it into 3 sections! i’m so sorry

childhood - after kiki’s parents divorced, she chose to stay with her dad, her mom remarried to a rich CEO (more on this later), whatever. her dad dies in an accident, but instead of being passed over to her mom, kiki got sent to pelican town to live with her grandpa on her dad’s side when she was 13. i think at this time haley is too young for her to hang out with because i always thought she was younger than kiki BUT sebastian is her age and they’re actually put in the same class

kiki struggles with acclimating to pelican town because she’s a) grieving b) joining the class in the dead middle of the year so everyone thinks she’s a loser LOL. i guess sebastian felt really bad for her cuz he finds her crying outside once of class and gives her like his juice or something out of pity. they end up becoming friends though, and by extension, she becomes friends with sam and abigail. she hangs out with sebastian the most though, plus they’re kinda neighbors so robin was used to her stopping by constantly out of convenience

unfortunately kiki only spends 2 years in pelican town because her grandpa died, but before he does he gives her the envelope like in the intro of stardew valley and tells her not to open it. everything goes downhill for her at this point because it means she has to move back in with her mom. kiki knows that her mom has 0 attachment to stardew valley so the only way she thinks she can really keep in contact with everyone is writing them letters which sounds pretty infallible at first

anyway i may or may not have taken inspo from an e ve MV here because childhood friends parting makes me really sad

teenage years up to early 20s - around this time surprise her mom is (surprise) awful. by this i mean her mom literally married a chairman at joja corp., enrolled kiki in private school, and tried to siphon any connection she had to her dad, grandpa, and stardew valley by substituting it with her new life in zuzu city. not to mention kiki’s step-sister irene who i’m going to design lately hopefully (?) also loves making her miserable only because she hates kiki’s mom 

the only thing that makes city life bearable for her is frequent letters from her friends, most often (if it wasn’t obvious again) sebastian. daelin told me he probably sent her emo poetry and i think that’s literally SO funny but even then the letters don’t last that long because within a few months her mom decides the letters are getting in the way of her kid’s success and starts throwing them out before kiki gets them or sends her own. naturally she thinks sebastian just doesn’t give a fuck about her so she stops writing after a while. but then this makes HIM think she doesn’t give a fuck about him and he holds a grudge against her for it for years even though she has no idea

then kiki forgets about stardew valley since there seems to be nothing else tying her to it, goes to business school, and eventually gets as a job in PR at joja corp. if that’s not bad enough she gets engaged to a MAN she doesn’t even like. her fiance is someone who manipulated her into dating him which i’ll again elaborate on in a second, plus her mom is obsessed with him like ohhh big handsome man WHATEVER except he literally only wants to marry her because her step-dad is a chairman. but kiki’s absolute breaking point (which i’m still kinda hashing out and only have a vague idea of) is when she figures out her fiance orchestrated a PR disaster by logging into her computer and messing a bunch of stuff up (idk if i should do hacking or whatever) so she gets blamed, only to take blame/save the day for the thing he LITERALLY started so she could feel indebted to him enough to date him. at this point she feels so suffocated by her life in zuzu city that she contemplates running away, so while packing she finds grandpa’s letter and decides to run away to stardew valley

present - i know the missing person stuff didn’t make sense but i hope everything i explained kinda gives you more context? her mom put out a missing person notice and her peers/family from zuzu city are still looking for her. this is partly why she doesn’t have a phone when she moves in, she tries to pawn her engagement ring off to clint for extra gold, and refuses to have pictures of her taken by haley for the first few weeks of their friendship. ofc when kiki goes back, she is escorted by robin, talks to lewis, etc. whatever is in the official intro and it’s kinda standard but on her way to pierre’s for cleaning supplies she accidentally runs into sebastian and realizes he hates her guts and has no idea why because he literally won’t tell her. the idea of childhood friends to strangers is really fun to write imo and then the story persists from there! 

LASTLY - I’M SO SORRY for writing so much i just couldn’t condense it into less paragraphs if i wanted but i hope it was interesting!

[calwrites]

The Illusion (pt 3)

Summary: How do you save the world when all you have to go on is an eye? The reader isn’t sure, but Five seems to have an idea. But helping her brother without jeopardizing her career might be harder than it seems. It doesn’t help that Diego manages to get the reader interested in a local case.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Umbrella Academy!Reader

Warnings: Umbrella Academy spoilers

Word Count: 6.5k

Unfortunately, there’s very little Criminal Minds in this chapter, but this should be the last Umbrella Academy heavy one. The BAU returns next chapter...

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

“So you’re telling me that the only thing we have to go on is an eye? We have to stop the apocalypse, and the only clue we have is an eyeball?”

“That’s what I said,” Five snapped as you tried to keep your eyes on the road. You had insisted that you drive, seeing as Five was thirteen and didn’t have a license. He was still sulking. “I have a plan, though. We’re going to go to the manufacturers of the eye and find out who the eye belongs to.”

“My first problem with that plan is that they’re going to wonder how we got the eye and will no doubt contact the police to make sure we didn’t murder anyone. My second problem is that they’re not just going to give out confidential information like that. Their clients’ information is protected. Giving us the name will potentially open them up to some big time lawsuits.”

“You’re an FBI agent. Just flash them your badge and make them give us the name. It’s not that hard.”

You sighed. “Five, I’m on thin ice with the FBI right now. They’re not exactly pleased that I lied to them about my identity.”

“Are they mad that you lied or that they didn’t catch your lie?”

Your lip quirked a bit before you forced yourself to be serious again. You were still proud that you had managed to fool the FBI for so long by yourself. “Both probably. But I have a trial next week and until then, I need to keep my head down and not piss them off anymore. Even after the trial, if they let me keep my job, I’ll be under intense scrutiny for who knows how long.”

“Is your trial before or after the world ends?”

“After,” you admitted.

“Then you can worry about your job after we save the world,” Five pointed out.

“Listen, I want to help you save the world, but I’m not going to lose my job in the process. And I’m definitely not going to risk it for an eye that might not even be useful.”

“It’s useful,” Five hissed through clenched teeth. You got the impression that he was very close to actually wanting to snap your neck.

“How do you know? What makes you think that an eye is related to the end of the world? Especially since you didn’t even see who it belongs to.”

“I just do, okay?” You waited for an explanation, but Five was too busy scowling out the window to provide one.

“What aren’t you telling me?” you prodded. Silence. “You know I could just look.”

Five sighed angrily, but something in his voice when he spoke made you realize just how serious he was. “You don’t want to see what I saw. Just believe me. Whoever has this eye is going to cause the end of the world.”

“Fine,” you accepted. “Tell me about the future, then.”

“Everything’s destroyed. What else is there to know?”

“I need to know everything I can in order to try to predict how the world is destroyed. There’s a couple possibilities, I guess. Environmental disaster. Nuclear explosion. Aliens.”

“Aliens?” Five scoffed.

You hit his arm in response. “We have super powers for some unknown reason, and you think aliens are far fetched?”

“Fine,” Five bit back. “It just looked like a wasteland. Buildings were destroyed. Some were still on fire. The ground was dust. I managed to survive by eating whatever I could find. Canned food. Cockroaches.” You made a face before you could help yourself. Thank goodness you hadn’t looked in his head to see that. “You know that myth that Twinkies have an endless shelf life? It’s total bullshit.” Five laughed mirthlessly. “We did what we had to do to survive. We adapted.”

“We?” you questioned. You were sure that Five had said all humans were dead. Five’s jaw clenched and he stared pointendly out the window, pretending he didn’t head you. You eyed your brother carefully. You wanted to believe him. Well, not really wanted since that meant believing the world was about to end, but you thought he was telling the truth. Still, being alone could really mess up your mind, especially after something as traumatic as accidentally time travelling into the future.

“You think I’m crazy,” he finally said quietly.

“I already told you that I don’t. Look, I’m driving back to the house with you. I don’t know what else could show you that I’m serious about helping you. I’m just trying to get all of the information. So, was there anyone else with you?”

“Dolores,” Five finally admitted grudgingly.

“And Dolores is?” you prompted.

“My wife.” You turned completely to stare at your brother. Your thirteen year old brother, who was actually much older than you now and was apparently married. “The road,” Five yelled, yanking the wheel to the side, so your car narrowly avoided the highway railing.

“Sorry. We’ll need to unpack that later. Preferably after we save the world. Okay, so there were cockroaches. Any other bugs or animals?”

“No.”

“You must have found some water to drink. Anything off about the water level? Did it seem really high or low?”

“No.”

“Did you see any signs of strange technology? Maybe some new weaponry? Something alien?”

“No,” Five repeated, his voice starting to sound annoyed.

“Okay,” you thought desperately for something that could give you some information. “What about the sky? Did you notice anything like strange planets or maybe something to suggest that the earth shifted?”

“I couldn’t see the sky,” Five answered softly. “There was always smoke and clouds and, I don’t know, shit in the sky. Never saw the sun. Never saw any stars or planets.”

“Well I doubt the earth was knocked out of position. If a change in position had killed all humans, you wouldn’t have survived. Unless whatever moved earth moved it back after everyone was dead.”

“Will you stop with the aliens!”

“I’m just thinking out loud,” you snapped back. “Believe it or not, I don’t have a ready made list of every possible thing that could cause the apocalypse.” You sighed, trying to calm yourself down. You were starting to get a headache, but not like a normal one. It didn’t feel like one that was brought on by dehydration or lack of sleep. It felt like the headaches you used to get when you were younger. Like your mind was about to explode out of your head. Like you just needed to engulf everything around you.

‘It’s because your mind knows that it should be monitoring everyone else’s mind.’ That’s what your father used to tell you. That your consciousness was too big for your own head, so you needed to be in everyone else’s at all times.

You shook your head, trying to clear the memories of those talks with your father. They wouldn’t do you any good now.

“Shit in the sky,” you mused. “Probably not a nuclear bomb. You don’t seem like you’ve been exposed to anything strong enough to wipe out the entire world. Worldwide volcanic winter? Maybe a super volcano erupted. By the time you showed up, the world was habitable again.”

“But how would a person in the city make a supervolcano erupt?” Five’s fingers clenched around the eye.

“I don’t know. A super volcano machine?” Five glared at you, but didn’t deign to give you a response. “Fine. Um, some sort of meteor hit earth and wiped everything out. Like the dinosaurs, but more thorough.”

“Using a meteor machine?” Five asked sarcastically.

“Maybe! Luther’s been up in space doing who knows what. There would be someone else up there who’s been prepping a meteor to hit the earth. Or someone could have some sort of super missile to shoot at a meteor as it passes. Make it explode and enough of it might hit earth to wipe out everyone. We should see if there’s supposed to be any big meteors passing earth in eight days. I’ll ask Garci-” You stopped suddenly. You couldn’t ask Garcia about this. This wasn’t a case. None of your teammates could find out about this. If the world was going to end in eight days, you weren’t going to ruin the rest of their time by telling them they have an official expiration date. “Um, we can look it up later.”

You could feel Five studying you carefully. “You really care about your work, don’t you? And your coworkers.”

“They’re like my family,” you admitted.

Five chuckled darkly. “Probably less dysfunctional than our actual family.”

“Definitely,” you agreed. You hesitated for a moment, debating asking Five the question that had been on the tip of your tongue. “So are you going to tell the rest of our siblings what’s going on?”

“I will when they’ll be useful,” Five clipped.

“I don’t think that’s very fair. They could help.”

“Whatever you say,” Five mumbled. “I’m going to get some sleep.” Before you could say anything else, Five closed his eyes. You knew from experience that Five wouldn’t respond to anything else you said, whether he was actually sleeping or just faking, so you resigned yourself to silence for the rest of the drive.

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

“I still think this is a bad idea. Let’s go back to the house and come up with a better plan.” Five continued to squeeze the fake eye in his hand as the elevator climbed up.

“Unless you think you can hack into their system and see who the eye belongs to, this is the only plan.”

You shrugged, thinking about what you already knew about this company. “I’m actually not a bad hacker. If I can use Dad’s good computer it might even be possible for me to find the name.”

“We don’t have time for ‘might.’ We have to find out whose eye this is as quickly as possible. Then we can-”

“Stop the world from ending. Yeah I get it. You can’t get mad at me when they won’t give you the name just because you ask though.”

Five turned to you with a strained smile on his face. He was probably trying to look like a normal kid, but he looked a little bit like he was about to murder you. “You forget that I’m now a child. No one’s going to question a child who’s just trying to do a good deed.”

You rolled your eyes, but didn’t respond. The elevator doors opened and you followed Five out. The floor was very modern. Windows and glass walls everywhere. Five turned around slowly, taking it all in.

“Uh, can I help you?” You took the man in silently. Lab Coat. Badge. He could help if he wanted to, but you doubted he would. Styled hair. Straight tie. Pens neatly arranged in his coat pocket. He was too much of a rule follower to break protocol and give out personal information. Though the friendly inflection of his voice suggested that he would struggle with the decision internally.

“I need to know who this belongs to.” Five held up the eye.

“Where did you get that?” The man’s brows drew together in a mixture of confusion and concern.

“What do you care?” You groaned internally. For a guy who was basing his plan off of people not being able to turn down children, he was not trying very hard to act like a likable child. You could see Five tense up slightly before he forced himself to continue. “At a playground actually,” he said, not sounding at all like someone who would be at a playground. “Must have just popped out. I want to return it to its rightful owner.”

“Oh what a thoughtful young man,” the receptionist said, smiling sweetly at Five. You debated interjecting to help him, but decided instead to watch how this played out. Observe how the employees act before attempting to manipulate them.

“Yeah just look up the name for me, would ya?” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. Five couldn’t be more unlikable even if he tried. Maybe so long without human contact had messed with him more than you realized.

The man started shaking his head. “Patient records are confidential. That means I can’t-”

“Yeah I know what it means,” Five interrupted.

“But I’ll tell you what I can do. I can take the eye off your hands and return it to its rightful owner. I’m sure they will be very grateful. So if I can just-” The man reached for the eye that was still clutched tightly in your brother’s hand.

“Yeah you’re not touching the eye.”

The man looked at you in disbelief. “Is this your son?”

You looked Five over. “Um yeah. That is my son. He really just wants to return the eye to the owner, and I’d really like to not have it around. If you could just give us a name or address or something. I know it’s supposed to be confidential, but-”

“But she’s a federal agent-”

“No I’m not,” you interrupted quickly. “I will, however, make a very generous donation if you could just give me the name.”

The man started shaking his head again. Five suddenly tried to lunge at him, but you managed to grab his arms before he could.

“Listen here, asshole,” Five yelled as you started to drag him towards the elevator.

“Thanks so much for your time,” you called. You didn’t release Five until the elevator doors had shut completely.

“Why didn’t you make him tell us?”

“I told you I wasn’t going to do that. You know, you’re very bad at acting like a child.”

“That’s because I haven’t been a child in years. I’m in my fifties.” Five continued to seethe beside you.

“Then don’t come up with a plan that relies on people giving you what you want because you’re a child.” Thankfully, your phone started ringing, saving you from Five’s response. You frowned at the unfamiliar number, but answered anyway, if only to delay Five’s anger. Your frown deepened as you listened to the voice coming through your speaker.

“Who was that?” Five asked. He was glaring at the eye in his hand.

“That was someone at the police station asking me to go pick up Diego. You’re on your own for now. Let me know when your next attempt is, unless it’s going to be illegal. I don’t want to bail out two brothers on the same day.” With that, the elevator doors opened and you left your brother glaring after you.

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

Thankfully, it was easier to find Diego than it was to find the owner of the eye. He was being led through the bullpen by a uniform officer.

“Excuse me, officer.” You called, hurrying over to the man. “I got a call telling me to pick up this one. If you could just uncuff him, I can sign or pay whatever and we’ll be out of your way.”

“Detective Patch asked to see him before we let him go,” the man replied. You shrugged and gestured for him to lead the way. 

“I can’t believe they made you come down here. Normally they just let me go. Rodriguez, what gives?” Rodriguez shrugged. “Oh well. At least you were still in town.”

“Only because of Five. He showed up at my office this morning and made me come back.”

Diego turned to you, a look of shock on his face. “So Five got to see Quantico before me? C’mon, Y/N! That’s so not fair.”

“Not my problem.” It was easy to determine which of the people in the bullpen was Detective Patch. You had heard Diego talk about her before. He was sitting at a desk while another detective stood next to her, saying something you couldn’t quite hear. Diego noticed your focus and seemed to realize that he should be quiet.

“-get this, 1938.” The man bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly, but Patch rolled her eyes.

“Tell them to run it again.” She handed the evidence bag back to the man, who seemed to deflate a little bit, but took it without complaint. Patch noticed Diego then. Her eyes flicked to you curiously. “We’ll pick this up later. Uncuff him.” Rodriguez uncuffed Diego, who thanked him and then took a seat like this was a normal thing for him. It probably was, you realized. She studied you carefully when you stayed standing behind Diego. “Sorry, you are?”

“Y/N.” You held out your hand, which she took after a second of hesitation. Her handshake was unsurprisingly firm, but you noted the small look of surprise when she registered your strength. “I got a call asking me to pick him up.”

“Not that I’ve ever needed a babysitter to pick me up before,” Diego said. He grabbed a paper on Patch’s desk, which she promptly snatched back. “So, did you talk to the tow truck guy?”

“Shut up and listen carefully.” To your surprise, Diego actually did. “The next time you interfere with one of my investigations, I’ll charge you with obstruction of justice. You will do jail time. Then, getting out won’t be as easy as calling your girlfriend to come pick you up.” The only way you realized you were the ‘girlfriend’ in question was because Patch glared at you. You considered correcting her, but shut your mouth.

“Girlfriend? No gross. That’s disgusting. She’s my sister. Right, Y/N?” Diego turned to look at you. “Y/N, why aren’t you saying anything.”

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was some angle you were playing. I’ve already had to pretend to be Five’s mom today, so I was just going to go with it.”

“What?” Diego and Patch asked at the same time. You waved your hand to indicate that it didn’t matter. Patch continued to study you for a second before turning to Diego.

“Look, Eudora-”

“Don’t call me that.”

“You love playing by the rules, but you live for putting the scumbags away. So, for one night, put down the badge and come out on the streets with me. Without all this bullshit.”

“You’re right. That does sound super fun. But I think you missed some things when you got yourself thrown out of the police academy, so let me explain. All this bullshit,” Patch said slowly, like she was talking to a toddler, “is what gets convictions in a court of law.” Diego leaned back and sighed, but you had to nod along with her. “What you do is fantasy. I would love to put on a mask and play superheroes and feel important, but guess what? Recess is over. It’s grownup time. You’re still trying to prove that what you did when you were kids, running around in those stupid uniform, that it wasn’t for nothing.” You couldn’t see Diego’s face, but you could see his jaw clench at her words. He turned to face you.

“Do you agree, Y/N?”

Patch scoffed slightly before looking at you. “No offense, but I don’t really care what she thinks. If she’s your sister, the one that isn’t the actress or the writer, then she’s a mask wearing vigilante too, I assume.”

You smiled tightly at her. Truth be told, her words had stung you a little bit too. Wasn’t that exactly what you had been trying to prove by joining the FBI? That everything you did as a kid, that all of that training, wasn’t for nothing. But you didn’t let that show on your face. Instead, you pulled your badge out of your pocket. “FBI agent, actually. I agree with you that all the bullshit is necessary for a conviction. Unfortunately, Diego normally has good instincts, so, if I were you, I would talk to the tow truck driver.”

“You’re a real FBI agent?” Patch asked, not bothering to hide the disbelief in her voice. You nodded. “What department?”

“Behavioral Analysis Unit,” you responded impatiently. You had a bad feeling that if you left Five alone for too long he would definitely do something illegal.

“Can I see your badge again?” You rolled your eyes, but handed it over to her. “Sorry, it’s just that your idiot brother shows up with fake badges all the time, so I have to be sure.”

“Do you want to call my supervisor? I can give you his card. His name is Aaron Hotchner,” you offered sarcastically. Patch seemed to come to her senses then and handed you back your badge. As she did, the detective she was talking to earlier walked past, catching sight of your badge.

“Woah! FBI? Maybe you can make sense of our rogue fingerprint then.”

“No don’t-” Patch started, but the man continued.

“Diego can tell you about the crime scene, but all the ballistics matched guns found at the scene, so we should assume that all the idiots shot each other, right? Simple robbery gone wrong.”

“But it’s not,” Diego interjected. Patch threw her hands up in frustration that no one seemed to be listening to her.

“Some of the guys were stabbed, though. And the prints on the knife don’t match any of the guys at the scene. They do match a print from a cold case from 1938. Weird right?”

Your brows knitted in confusion. “And the tow truck driver is a witness?”

“He left before any shots were fired. Your brother seems to think that we need to interview him, though.”

“And you don’t?” you challenged. Patch met her eyes with a small glare. She shook her head. “Any other witnesses?”

“An employee. She was in the back when it happened. Said that driver and his son were the only people in the restaurant before she went back. She heard the car drive away, then gunshots started,” Patch said, resignation clear in her voice. You were glad that she had given up the fight. This case actually piqued your interest.

“She say anything about the driver and kid?”

“Driver had an eclair, and the kid had coffee,” Patch answered.

“Where was this?” you asked, ignoring the uneasy feeling in your stomach.

“The donut shop we used to go to when we were little,” Diego said. “You remember it?” You nodded, trying not to give away how fast your mind was racing. It couldn’t be Five, you told yourself. That would be impossible. Diego slammed his hand on the desk excitedly. “You should get your team on this case, Y/N.”

“That’s not really how it works. I can’t just decide that we should work a case. We have to be invited in, then we have to decide to take it. And besides right now I shouldn’t-” you cut yourself off.

“You shouldn’t what?” Diego pushed. At your silence, realization dawned on his face. “Oh they’re pissed at you. They know that you’ve been lying to them, and they’re pissed. Well, you still have the badge, so they haven’t fired you. Are you on probation of something? Is that why you’re back here?”

“I have a trial next week,” you snapped to shut your brother up. You took a deep breath, then turned to Patch, who was watching you with a raised brow. You held out a card to her. “You might not trust Diego’s opinion, but I hope you trust mine. That’s the number for my team. I think this case isn’t as open and shut as it seems. If you’d like the help of the BAU, feel free to call.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised that both Hargreaves as rule breakers,” she said slowly, ignoring the card in your hand. Finally, she took it, then turned to Diego. “Go. Before I change my mind.”

You followed Diego out of the police station. To your surprise, he somehow managed to keep his mouth shut until you had exited the building.

“This is great!” He spun around to face you, causing you to step back a bit in surprise. “With your team on the case, you’ll be able to tell me everything happening and I can still work the case. Could you bring me on as a consultant or something?”

“Diego, stop.” The tone of your voice made your brother snap his mouth shut. “I have a trial next week. Until then, I’m on desk duty. If I go back to work, then all I’ll be doing is paperwork. And I don’t even know if my team could take a new case. They might still be working on Dad’s death.”

“Dad’s death? But there’s nothing to work on.” Some passersby eyed Diego warily as he idly spun a knife around his fingers.

“They’re supposed to rule out all possibilities before any conspiracy theories start to gain traction. The Bureau assigned them the case, so they don’t have a say.”

“And you don’t know whether they’ve finished?”

You shook your head. “If I so much as glance at a file for the case, then I’ll be gone from the Bureau.”

“If you’re in so much trouble, why are you here and not at your desk being a good little FBI agent?”

“My boss told me I could take time off before the trial. There are a lot of people curious about seeing an Umbrella Academy kid, so our floor was getting a bit crowded. And then Five showed up and asked me to come back.”

“Woah, what? Why did Five ask you to come back?” Diego stopped walking and turned to look at you seriously.

You hesitated before answering. Five had said he didn’t want to tell anyone about the apocalypse yet. Even if you didn’t agree with him, shouldn’t you respect his wishes? And even if you were going to tell someone, Diego probably wouldn’t be your first choice. There was no telling when he would do. Probably land himself in jail again.

“You can ask him about it,” you said finally. “He just wants my help getting some information.”

“Ah. Is he trying to reintegrate into society? Geez, I can’t imagine how messed up his head is. Have you profiled him yet? Or just taken a peek inside his brain?”

“No, Diego. I don’t profile family, and I don’t use my powers.”

“You did yesterday,” Diego muttered sarcastically.

“On that note, I’m going to leave you before I’m tempted to use them again. I assume you can find your car. Wherever it is.” Before Diego could respond, you were in your car and driving away. You could see Diego yelling in your rearview mirror, but you didn’t stop to hear what he said.

You tried to focus on finding Five and figuring out what your next plan for stopping the apocalypse would be, but you couldn’t keep your mind from wandering back to Patch’s case. It didn’t really make sense that all of those men would fatally shoot each other in the short amount of time between the tow truck driving away and the employee coming out from the back. 

And then there was the fingerprint. The donut shop you went to when you were children. It’s a place Five would go to get coffee. He was familiar with the area. It would be a place of comfort to him. But he couldn’t have been involved in a case from the 1930s. He had to have time travelled back to the present as soon as he figured out how to jump backwards. Still, you couldn’t get rid of the unease in the back of your mind. If your team did take the case, what would they find?

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

“Back again, ma’am?” You grimaced apologetically at the receptionist, who was eyeing you warily. 

“I’m sorry, but I’m looking for my son. He won’t let go of this whole eye thing, so I guessed he might be here.”

The receptionist nodded and gestured to one of the glass walled offices. “He and your husband are meeting with the boss in there.”

You turned, a slight grimace on your face, to see who Five had decided was your husband. Klaus. In one of your father’s suits. You were tempted to leave them and find out how they failed when they got back to the house, but instead you took a deep breath and headed towards the office. As you were reaching for the door handle, Klaus punched Five, then leaned calmly over the desk. To be fair, there were a couple times over the past 24 hours when you had wanted to punch Five. Still, you rushed into the room, ready to stop whatever your idiot brothers were doing.

“I want it. Name. Now, please,” Klaus said calmly. The man looked between him, Five, now sporting a bleeding lip, and you. You shut the door quietly.

“Klaus, what are you doing?”

“Oh, how nice of you to join us, Y/N. I’m just trying to get a name for our darling son.”

“You're crazy,” the doctor said, his voice wavering ever so slightly. He was unsure of how to proceed. Unsure of just how far Klaus would go. Knowing Klaus, the answer was a lot farther.

Klaus laughed. “Oh, you got no idea.” He looked down at the snowglobe on the desk. The doctor followed his gaze, panic written plainly on his face.

“Klaus, don’t-” you began, but before you could finish Klaus had picked up the snowglobe and smashed it on his head. To the businesses credit, they must have really good, soundproof walls. No one outside of the room seemed to have any idea what was going on inside. You threw your hands up. “I don’t know why I bother.”

“God that hurt,” Klaus groaned.

The doctor grabbed his phone and began furiously dialling. “I’m calling securi-”

Klaus grabbed the phone from his hand. “There’s been an assault. We need security now.” Ever the dramatic sibling, Klaus sounded incredibly pathetic as he whimpered over the phone. “Now here’s what’s going to happen, Grant.”

“It’s Lance.”

“In about 60 seconds, two security guards are going to burst through that door, and they’re going to wonder ‘what the hell happened’ and we’re going to tell them that you beat the shit out of us. And they’re going to believe us. Because we’re bleeding, and we have an FBI agent who will back up our story.” Klaus turned to look at you, blood dripping from his head and silver stars still stuck to his face. “Right, honey?”

“Stop telling people I’m an FBI agent.” You sighed, hating what you were about to do. “Right now I’m just a mother and a wife, who just had to watch her family be harmed by someone who’s supposed to be helping people. And all because my son wants to return an eye that he found.”

Lance looked between the three of you in horror, before getting up and going over to a filing cabinet. He riffled through it for a few seconds before pulling out a file. The brows pulled together in confusion. “Huh. That’s weird.”

“What?” Five snapped.

“The eye. It hasn’t been purchased by a client yet.” You stood over his shoulder, looking at the file. “The eye with that serial number...this can’t be right. It hasn’t even been manufactured yet. Where did you get that eye?”

Your blood ran cold as your eyes scanned the file. He was right. So your one lead wasn’t even useful. Not yet at least. Without responding to Lance, Five began walking towards the elevator, leaving you and Klaus to follow.

“I’m really sorry about all of this,” you told Lance. “It’s a long story.”

“If I ever see you three here again, I’ll have security escort you out immediately.”

“That’s fair.”

“Well, this isn’t good,” Five stated as the three of you left the building.

“Yeah but I was pretty good right? ‘What about my consent, bitch?’”

“Klaus, it doesn’t matter,” Five snapped.

Klaus spun in a circle, his arms out wide, before facing you and Five. “Why? What’s the big deal about this eye?”

“There’s someone out there who’s going to lose an eye in the next seven days. They’re going to bring about the end of life on this earth as we know it.” Without waiting for Klaus’s reply, Five began walking away. His hands were balled into fists and his shoulders were so tight that he looked like he had a hunchback.

“Right. Can I get my 20 bucks now?” Klaus spun on his heel and began following Five, who turned around furiously to face Klaus.

“The apocalypse is coming and all you can think about is getting high?” Five seethed.

“Well I’m also quite hungry. Tummy’s a-rumbling.”

“You’re useless.” Five sat heavily on the steps of the building. “You’re all useless.”

“Excuse me. I came back here because you asked me to.”

“Yeah, but you won’t do anything to actually help. You could have asked your technical analyst to hack into their records, but you didn’t. You’re all useless.”

“Well, if that’s how you feel, maybe I’ll just go back to DC. Spend my last days on with people who actually care about me.” You turned back towards your car, every intention of getting in it and leaving Five in the dust.

“You just want to get back to your new boyfriend,” he called after you, making you stop in your tracks. Spencer. You had to save the world for Spencer. Didn’t the two of you deserve a chance to be together? And didn’t the rest of your team deserve a chance to live the rest of their lives. Shouldn’t Hotch and JJ be able to watch their children grow up? You took a deep breath before turning back around to face your brothers.

“I know why you must be so uptight.” Klaus sat next to Five, throwing an arm around him. Five looked at Klaus with disgust. “You need to get laid. I mean, all those years by yourself? It’s gotta screw with your head.”

“Well...I wasn’t alone.” Klaus raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Her name was Dolores. We were together for 30 years.” You were beginning to worry that Five might have been living some sort of Castaway situation, and Dolores was actually a rock or something that Five had convinced himself was a real person. 

“Not to break up this wonderful bonding, but you guys can’t do something like that again.” You looked between your brothers as you spoke. Five rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. Or if you do, I can’t be a part of it. I can’t even know about it. If the Bureau gets wind that I’m doing something illegal, I could lose my job. Five, I’ve already told you that I’m on thin ice. I’m not going to risk it. Not even for-” Before you could finish, Five popped away. You saw him lean out the window of a taxi driving past. “-the end of the world.”

“Hey!” Klaus hopped up quickly. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, what about my money?” Five continued to wave as he drove past.

“Come on, Klaus.” You put a hand on his shoulder. “We can pick up some food on our way back to the house. I’m not buying you drugs, though.” Klaus shut his mouth quickly and began to pout. “That’s going to work. And If you don’t stop pouting, I won’t buy you any ice cream.”

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

You sat by yourself at the kitchen table, staring at the untouched dinner in front of you. Pogo and Allison were the only other people home. Last you knew, Allison was somewhere upstairs sulking. Apparently, she and Vanya had a fight earlier. Allison was so upset about it that you could feel the emotions wafting off of her as soon as you entered the house.

The texts on your phone were shining up at you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to answer them. A couple from different members of your team telling you that they hoped you were alright since you left in a hurry that morning. But it was Spencer who had been making your phone buzz all day. He was worried, which was understandable. You had left quickly and your confession about your true feelings could be seen as alarming, especially considering what a stressful situation you had found yourself in.

You picked up your phone to respond to him when a call lit up your screen.

“Hey, Hotch. I was just about to respond to everybody. I just needed to come home. It’s been a crazy day.”

“Y/N, we’ve been called into a case that you are apparently already familiar with.”

“Hotch, I wasn’t trying to work that case. I had to pick my brother up from the police station and Detective Patch-”

“Detective Patch has already told me about all of that. What I need to know is if you really think there’s more to this case than a bunch of men shooting each other.” Even over the phone, Hotch sounded tense. You could hear rustling over the line and the faint sound of an engine. Was he on the jet?

“I do, sir.”

“Detective Patch does now too. There’s been a new development. We’re taking off in ten minutes and we’ll meet you at the police station. I need you to get down there immediately and begin setting up.”

“Wait, Hotch, I thought that I was on desk duty until my trail. I shouldn’t be anywhere near this case. And have you guys closed the case for my father’s death?” Hotch didn’t respond. You sighed when realization hit you. “Unless you think this could be related.”

“I’m afraid I can’t discuss your father’s case with you. The Board of Directors said specifically that you had to be on this case. That’s all I can say. I’ll see you at the station.”

You put your phone down slowly. Various reasons as to why the Board of Directors would want you working on the case ran through your head. Considering your impending trail, none of the reasons could be good. 

You were shaken from your thoughts by Allison and Luther entering the kitchen.

“Y/N, you have to see this,” Allison said breathlessly.

“I don’t have time.” You stood quickly, leaving your dinner uneaten as you rushed out the door. “My team has a case. I need to get to the police station. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” You heard Allison and Luther calling after you, but you ignored them. Whatever they wanted to show you couldn’t be more important than this case. You had a bad feeling that this case might determine your future at the Bureau. More specifically, whether or not you’d have a future at the Bureau.

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

taglist (if you’d like to be added or removed just let me know)

@perfectlysane24 @mcntsee @ofbooksandaesthetics

[votederpycausemufins]

Welp, this fic i thought i wasn’t even going to continue is now longer at 17 chapters than War in Hermittown which was 26 chapters. And I’m not done here yet! (WiHT ended with 56,719 words. SF was at 55,597 last chapter, and this one is over 3k words, putting it to at least 58k total)

tagging time! @petrichormeraki and @helleborusangel are you guys proud of me?

Xannes and Tommy turned their weapons on Theseus. “How’d you find this place bitch?” The hels copy just rolled his eyes before gesturing over to Dream. “What, you were tracking him?”

“He’s an admin using a console. Find the console, find the admin.” Theseus replied, which confused Tommy. “Right, you wouldn’t know about that, would you.”

Tommy glanced back to Xannes. “Any clue what he’s talking about?”

“Yes. Before command blocks, datapacks, plugins and autofill commands, a lot of admins would default to consoles. These days most people tend to ignore them, but there are some benefits. Though the negatives usually make it seem like the worst option.”

“Why’s that?”

“Admins have better control over everything else. A console is more powerful and capable of much more, but it’s disconnected from the admin. It tends to be stationary in the world and needs to be hidden, and while there are ways to make them moveable, it’s usually not worth the hassle.”

Theseus smiled. “Oh look who’s not as much of an idiot as they seem. Another question then. Why are you still getting in the way? You want those scraps of metal? Take them. He’s the one I’m after.” And he pointed at Dream.

“You haven’t fucking told us why though.” Tommy crossed his arms.

“You didn’t really need to know.” Theseus said before sighing and taking off his mask. “But if that’s the only thing that’ll make you let me through, fine. Nightmare’s dead in my world. I killed him myself. Used up his three lives.”

“You guys still have the three lives system? I thought everything in hels was… y’know, worse?” Tommy asked.

“Oh it is. Exactly why I want Nightmare back.”

There was silence save for the continued sound of weapons banging off each other. “You… you want to what?”

Theseus shrugged. “The bitch never really got what was coming to him. Sure it’s the NSMP, and it’s technically named after him, but his name is based on a concept. He’s not the one in charge, he just made a place where nightmares can become reality. He just never got that chance because he’s dead. And with how hels works, he can’t come back. That is… unless I can bring Dream back with me.”

“That seems like the worst idea I’ve ever heard.” Xannes spoke up. “There’s no guarantee how that will work, especially since he was an admin. You’re setting yourself up for a disaster for both your world and this one.”

“And so what? I die? If I can’t do this right, why bother sticking around.”

“Then I might die too bitch!” Tommy yelled at his copy. “And I definitely don’t want to go out just like that.”

“Plus there are other people linked here.” Xannes spoke, pulling up commands. “Now, you’re going to want to stop, or I’m going to have to attack.”

“Oh please, what can you do?”

“My brother is known as the best admin of all time. Which meant I needed to be the best hacker.” Xannes smiled behind his mask. “And with Prof and NPG around, I haven’t gotten to try anything out in a while, so I’m going to really enjoy this.”

Tommy could almost feel the danger that was Xannes before he moved. He swung his sword once, and even though Theseus was more than ten blocks away, it was like the blade had hit him. He then pulled out a crossbow along with his sword, managing to duel wield the weapons. And then even though the second weapon kept being fired, it seemed to always be filled with ammo, not giving Theseus any rest from attacks, not to mention the fact that it was also multishot.

Tommy used that as a chance to run over to the bots. “Alright you two, I don’t care what the fuck’s been going on with you two, you need to fucking stop before you kill each other.”

“He deserves to die!” Jrum shouted, not looking away from his brother. 

“Jrum, I’ve told you about the guy that kinda isolated and manipulated me? The one Big G compared to Sam?”

“Yeah, and Grum’s just as bad!” Jrum said before attempting to attack again, instead just getting pulled back by Tommy.

“No! No he isn’t! That guy Grum’s been stuck with? That green bitch right there? That’s the fucker who was messing with me! And now he’s been doing it to Grum.”

“Yeah right.” Jrum crossed his arms, and Tommy slapped the back of his head, wincing as pain coursed through his body from damaging the vines. It caused the teen to flinch back, making the bottles in his inventory clank together.

Hearing the bottles made Tommy remember what he had on him. He had no clue how well the water worked, but right now it was better than nothing. He pulled them out and smashed them on top of Jrum’s head like a water balloon, the water covering Jrum and getting into his mechanics. It caused a short circuit and it seemed to fry the vines from within, but also Jrum. As the circuitry within him sparked, it damaged the vines, causing even more damage to Jrum, until it killed him.

“NO! JRUM!” Tommy yelled, freaking out about having just killed someone in his family. Beside him, Grum just stared at the place where Jrum had been standing a minute ago, the body having dissolved into smoke. 

Life Counter active. Entity Check Jrumbot. Death: canon. Life counter: 1 life remaining. Commence respawn. Respawn complete.

Teleport Requested. Assessing. Assessing. Allowing Teleport. Entity Jrumbot Teleported to Deathpoint coordinates.

Just like that, Jrumbot reappeared. He wasn’t completely covered with the vines, but he still retained the single vine around his antenna and his screen was still a red color. “Oh thank goodness, I thought you might have had a single life left.”

“Well now I do, no thanks to you!”

When Tommy had yelled, Xannes looked away from his fight. Theseus was able to finally close the distance and attack Xannes without the helsmit protecting himself, but he didn’t need to, the hacks keeping him from taking damage. “He’s using a console…”

Theseus tried attacking Xannes again. “Yeah, we covered that already. Why’s it soooo surprising now?”

“Because the console is Grum.”

That made Theseus scoff. “Wasn’t it obvious? It’s a computer that’s always near Dream. It’s essentially a console with fewer drawbacks. Even more powerful than a regular console too.”

When Theseus said that, Tommy turned his anger on Dream. “Ohhh, I can’t fucking believe you. I mean, that is an absolute child. At least with me, I was older, practically an adult, but he hasn’t even had a birthday and you decided to mess with him! As if you didn’t have a death wish already! I mean, guess that’s why you got everyone blocked. What if I just asked Grum to unblock everyone, what then?”

“And what? Just let Phil and Techno back in? What would that help with?”

“Oh please, you know their dad would be the first one in. Doesn’t that scare you?” Tommy asked with a smirk, though it fell in a few moments. “Wait do you actually not know who their dad is?”

“Just because he’s supposed to be another one of your brothers doesn’t mean anything. They’re hardly something I can’t deal with.”

“Can’t deal wi- Dream! Their dad is Grian! You know, the guy who literally has the name Dreamslayer? Like that’s part of his legal name at this point.” Tommy could tell when it got through to Dream, because he pressed back in his invisible prison just a bit and started looking for some possible way out.

He ended up snapping his fingers at Grum. “Hey, get me out of here.” And then Grum processed the information and teleported Dream a couple blocks to his left, freeing him from the barrier blocks.

“Oh shit. Xannes! He got o-” Was all Tommy was able to say before he was pressed against a wall, feet no longer touching the ground and him left struggling for air.

“You know, I could kill you right here. It would be easy. But for all I know, you come back as a ghost. So I’ve got a better idea. Just to make sure that if you do come back, it hurts even more. Grumbot?” He looked over at the robot, who immediately made its way over to Dream’s side. He handed it a netherite axe with the word ‘Nightmare’ etched into the metal. 

“No, c-come on Grum. You c-can’t do th-this.” Tommy did his best to get the words out. “Pl-Please… c-can you l-let everyone in a-at least.”

“Oh come on. He’s loyal to me. Why would you think-”

“That command is protected and requires a password to access.”

For a moment, Tommy lost all hope, but in a moment of clarity, he realized that Dream didn’t know Grum would say anything. If that were the case, there wouldn’t be a password. Yeah, Tommy could be wrong, but there was still a chance. “M-Mumbo for Mayor…” He choked out, and immediately Grumbot started processing the password, then accepted it.

“Blacklist disabled.”

“Kill Tommy!” Dream yelled in anger. And then Tommy was hit by the axe. Once. Twice. And then a third and final time.

Life Counter active. Entity Check TommyInnit. Death: canon. Life counter: no lives remaining. No respawn applicable.

No. 

Commencing Respawn. Respawn complete.

Teleport Requested. Assessing. Assessing. Allowing Teleport. Entity Tommy Teleported to Coordinates X-3, Y-3, Z-3. Returning inventory contents.

Tommy was holding his chest, panting to catch his breath. He was so sure he was dead. But no. Here he was, away from Dream and still with all his gear. That had probably been Xannes saving him, and healing him as well based on his current level of health.

For a moment, Tommy wanted to rush back in there, but then he remembered. The blacklist had been disabled. People could get in. He pulled out the communicator and sent a message to Grian, hoping it wouldn’t take too long. Then he put it away and tried to go back over to the bots, but his legs were shaky, and in just trying to take one step, he fell to the floor.

Even though he wasn’t close to death, he could still feel himself fading while at the same time it felt like everything was happening at once. Every sound seemed louder, what little breeze there was felt like pins and needles. And he just felt tired. As his vision went in and out, he saw Jrum rush off. Then Theseus stopped fighting and went after Dream. Then the three of them were gone. Then he was up in the air, something picking him up.

Finally, he felt the buzz of his communicator, and everything went dark.

The moment Grian got the message from Tommy, Grian made a Watcher portal straight to the SMP. The others nearby were slightly surprised that it was to let them follow along, but they weren’t arguing. Tubbo was the first to go through, Phil and Techno following behind. Grian was about to be right behind them, but was stopped by a hand. “You’re not keeping me from going Mumbo.”

“I know that. I wasn’t going to.” The redstoner spoke before taking Grian’s hand. “You’re the one always jumping into things, and that’s mostly a good thing. But this is something I don’t want to be left out of, so whether you like it or not, I’m coming with.”

“What? Did you think I was going to leave you behind? I wasn’t going to close the portal behind me. I was hoping you would come too, I was just letting you decide.”

“Good. ...So, do we want to…?” Mumbo started to say before he was yanked towards the portal as Grian ran through it, dragging him along.

When they arrived on the other side, Phil was the only one nearby, sitting down next to the portal. “Hey. Before you ask, I volunteered to wait while the other two went off in their own directions. That was only a few minutes ago. Haven’t heard anything back from them.”

Grian nodded. “I’m going to try contacting Tommy. Mumbo, those coordinates Tommy forwarded to me before? Can you check them out?”

“Definitely.” Mumbo nodded, pulling out his own communicator and checking the coordinates and which was to go to reach them.

“I’ll see if I can find anyone who could give us information.” Phil offered before immediately leaving, leaving Grian alone.

Alright, if I were one of the kids or Tommy… where would I be?” Grian asked himself, looking around before spotting something red in the distance. “Oh hello there. What’s that?” He quickly got into the air, flying over instead of trying to cross the rough terrain. “Tommy did send something about Jrum and red plants, didn’t he?” Grian bent down to try and touch the stuff, but was surprised when it seemed to move away. 

A voice spoke and then Grian was left looking around, trying to spot who had spoken. “What do you mean don’t touch it? I’m trying to find my kid and the best lead I have right now are these things.” Then he was left looking around again. “Oh, if that’s the case, then why not ditch the invisibility potion and meet me face to face?” Another short bout of silence and then Grian growled slightly, clenching his fists. “Then maybe I will.” And he started following the moving plants, the vines moving to almost create a path as they parted near him.

They snaked into an underground room and then down a thin tunnel. Grian had a little trouble getting through with his wings, not wanting to shift them away in case he ended up needing them suddenly. When he finally reached the end, he was greeted by what was obviously two teams of people fighting. One group was all in purples meanwhile the other group had a mix of colors, but there were a lot of reds and whites.

When it didn’t look like anyone noticed him, Grian moved forward a bit, cleared his throat, and then shouted. “HEY!” Immediately everyone froze and looked over at him. “Excuse me, I’m sure you’re having a lovely war and all, but I’m looking for my kids. The two of them are about… these heights and are adorable little robots.”

“Are you saying you’re one of Jrum’s parents?” Someone in a black and white cloak said, and Grian nodded at them.

“Yeah. Is he here? Or do you at least know where he is?” Grian asked, before the person attempted to attack him. Immediately his wings moved to act as a quick shield. “I’m guessing that’s a yes, but you don’t want me around.” Grian pulled out his sword. “Eh, I was expecting an ambush anyway.”

But before another attack could happen, the voice from before spoke, seemingly to the cloaked person. “So what?! He abandoned his kid! If that were true he would have shown up!”

“Hey, I tried getting in. Your admin just found a way to keep me out until now. Now, are you going to listen to your friend and tell me where Jrum is, or are you going to fight?”

The incoming sword worked as the answer to Grian’s question and he blocked it with a shield before attacking back. The person tried moving behind some vines hanging from the ceiling, but Grian just sliced them to the ground, clearing the area. “Wait, how are you doing that?!” The person asked before Grian flew up to bash their head with the end of his shield and knock them to the ground. 

“Nooo! What are you doing!” A voice yelled out and Grian turned around to see a familiar robot running over.

“Jrum!” Grian landed, arms open for a hug, but he just pushed past his dad to run to the person now on the ground. “Wh-what?”

“Are you okay?”

“Nggh… yeah. Wait, now where have you been?”

“I got kidnapped and Grum was there and he attacked me! But now I’m fine!”

Grian looked between his son and the person he had been attacking. He had no clue why this was happening, so he looked over as some of the other people nearby, who weren’t sure how to answer him. “Oh come on, no one had any idea?” And then the invisible person spoke. “I mean I guess? He was built before the turf war, but he didn’t really take part in it. Why? Look, I just want to get my kid and leave. My resistance days are pretty much over.”

There was quiet before Grian sighed and his wings shifted away. “Fine, I’ll play along, but you better hold up your end.” And when he opened his eyes, they weren’t their normal color, nor even just bright purple from using his watcher powers. Instead, his iris and pupils seemed to be missing, replaced by grayish-purple sclera.

“Well at the very least it was a house.” Xannes grumbled as he attempted to brush off the layer of dust on the bed sitting in the corner for him to then put Tommy on. It was tough with him having to carry the unconscious teen and only really about to use a leg as a duster, which was just spreading the dust around. “Can this be any harder?!”

A door opening behind him made the helsmit groan. “That’s wasn’t a fucking request! What the fuck do you-” He turned around and saw someone familiar and thankfully wearing a red tie. “Fine. This works. You take the kid.”

Mumbo was handed Tommy and Xannes finally was able to just pick the covers up off the bed and shake them off. It left Mumbo coughing and Xannes instantly regretting it as an alert on his screen warned him about his filters, but he put the blankets back down. The redstoner set Tommy down on the bed while Xannes worked on cleaning out the dust that was now in his helmet. “What happened to him?”

“He got killed, but respawn brought him back. It didn’t seem to be the best respawn because it hit hard. From what I can tell, he wasn’t supposed to. Is this a hardcore world?”

Mumbo shook his head. “Tommy said something about them having three lives, but they only counted if they were important.”

“So he essentially just got revived instead of normally respawning. That would explain it. You should have seen the three that got revived this season.”

“That’s right, you permakill someone if they don’t return for a season, don’t you.”

“Yeah. Of course they can still exist elsewhere, but it's a type of ban in a way.”

Mumbo nodded before finally looking away from Tommy and over to Xannes. “H-Have you seen either of the boys?”

“Yes, though they’re not doing so well. You know what a console is, right?”

“Yeah.” Mumbo nodded again. “I had to use one when I was first starting out so I didn’t break everything when working with redstone. Came in handy a few times, but I’m glad not using one anymore. Is there one being used here?”

“Yeah. The admin here decided to have fun with one since he found a way to make it mobile thanks to your redstone.”

“My red- wait!” Mumbo jumped up from kneeling on the floor next to the bed. “Are you telling me he’s using one of the boys?!”

“Yeah, Grumbot. He’s extremely out of it, but Tommy was able to get him to remove the blacklist and I’m pretty sure he’s the one who revived him, so it’s not a completely lost cause. Meanwhile the other one got infected with something like crimson nylium. I’m not sure how bad your land war went, but ours got out of hard fast.”

“We had a bit of trouble near the end, but the minigame battle near the end kept things from getting too far.”

“Well, hopefully it doesn’t end up like helscraft. Most of us ended up possessed by the different nyliums for a good portion of the war. And looks like Jrum is in the same situation.”

Alright, I’ll let the others know and hope Grian notices the message.”

“How many came along with the two of you?”

“Same group that we visited with. They came from here in the first place anyway, so they’ve got a better chance finding what we need.”

“Hello? Ranboo? Are you in here?” Tubbo asked, carefully stepping into the house. They had been planning to set up the second floor for Michael when he disappeared, so hopefully Ranboo would still be living there at least a little, unless he had taken the ziglin elsewhere. 

The place was dark, all the windows closed and no torches or lanterns there to light the place up. It left Tubbo fumbling around, trying to feel his way around and wishing he had brought something for light. He tripped on something and fell to the ground, rubbing his head and hoping he hadn’t damaged anything. Then suddenly, something lit up, and Tubbo froze.

He had looked behind him to try and see if he could tell what had tripped him. He could barely make out the outline of a foot. Following up, it led up to a glowing screen with a smiley face plastered on it. Just behind that, Tubbo could also see two glowing magenta eyes from an enderman standing behind the robot. 

Before Tubbo could ask any questions, a voice came from elsewhere in the dark room. “You know. As far as everyone knows, you're dead. How about we keep it that way?”

[five-rivers]

Interview with a Ghost (part 5: Buried)

(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3) (PART 4)

.

.

.

"What?" said Captain Jones, as Collins and Paterson finished explaining their understanding of the situation to him. "What? What?"

"That was my reaction, too," said Paterson. "Just, you know, internally."

Jones waved one hand, the other supporting his forehead.

"Er, sir?" said Collins, leaning forward, trying to catch the captain's eye. "How should we, you know, proceed on this? I don't think there's any precedent."

The captain bit back a groan. "No, there isn't. He was insistent that the Fentons, his parents, didn't do anything to him?"

"Yeah."

"But it still can't be- can't be healthy for a ghost or- or whatever he is to be there," said Jones. This was making his head hurt. "They have weapons, and even if it was an accident, he died and they- No one noticed!"

"That is pretty messed up," agreed Paterson.

"That's got to be child neglect, at least, right? Negligent homicide?"

Collins nodded. "We can't really charge them with that, though, can we? Not without revealing he's a ghost and getting the GIW and whoever stole the body coming down on us."

"That could just be something Phantom's saying, though," said Paterson. "We don't know if it's true or not."

"It felt true," said Collins. "He sounded like he was actually scared."

"But can we just let a kid- two kids, with his sister- be in a situation like that? Even if one of them is dead. Especially if one of them is dead. Or whatever Fenton, Phantom, whatever, is claiming to be."

"He didn't really claim to be anything, really," said Collins.

"Look, I already have a headache as it is. What it comes down to is, I don't want a kid to be living under the same roof as people who regularly and publicly shoot at him."

"So, what do we do?" asked Collins. "He doesn't want to leave, and I don't think we can make him, physically."

"No, we can't. But does he know that?"

"I think he's aware of his laser murder powers," said Paterson.

"He kept coming to talk to you, though," said Jones. He massaged the bridge of his nose. "There's something here..." Suddenly, it all came together. He clapped his hands. "He wants to keep his secret from the public, right? That's our leverage."

"Leverage?" asked Collins, dubiously. "Captain... he is still a teenager."

"I know, I know, but hear me out. We tell him, he has to let his parents know, and his parents, they have to make their house safe for him. If they're reasonable, they'll do it. If not, we can get them for, I don't know, going crazy and thinking their kid is a ghost, or having weapons all over their home. Obviously, he isn't. That's the position we'd maintain." Jones took a deep breath. "No need to expose him publicly, and, as long as he isn't, he'll have to act like he's human, right? If he wants to maintain the illusion?"

"I guess that would work," said Collins. "But... do we have to get child protective services involved? I don't see that going well."

"Not if everyone is reasonable," said Jones, a crazed look in his eyes.

"Hold up," said Paterson. "Doesn't this hinge on getting him to, you know, tell his parents?"

"Weapons. Home. Around children. And- We'll agree to bury the rest. Tear up documents. Hide everything. Cover for him. We already know what killed him. What's the point of bringing it into the light?"

Collins and Paterson both nodded slowly. "I'll call him," said Collins.

There was a knock on the door. The three glanced at each other.

"Come in," said the captain.

One of the officers stuck her head in. "Sir?" she said. "The mayor is here to see you."

.

Danny would have been at home, plotting with Jazz about how to get his body back, but, no, Skulker had to show up, again. He should have wrecked his suit instead of just sucking him into the thermos last night.

"Hah! Ghost child!" shouted Skulker. "Today I will have your pelt! I have new-!"

Danny screamed in frustration, the harmonics of his voice almost touching a ghostly wail. "Can you leave off about my pelt for like five seconds?" demanded Danny, attacking more aggressively than was his usual wont. One of Skulker's arms flew off his body, clattering on the tiles of a nearby roof. "Didn't you have enough of that, helping Vlad steal my corpse yesterday?" There, after days of dancing around the word, he had finally said it.

"Wait, your what?" asked Skulker, pirouetting awkwardly to avoid another barrage of ectoblasts.

"My. Corpse!" screamed Danny. "You helped him steal my corpse!"

"You don't have a corpse, you're still alive!"

"Shut up!" It was a good thing they were so far up. Even at the volumes they were speaking, they wouldn't be overheard. "You don't know anything! I'm half dead, so I have half a corpse, and I had to bury it, and then the police found it, and you helped Vlad steal it!" Danny was basically in tears at this point, hands clenching the metal of Skulker's chest so hard it buckled and warped, holding the unfortunate ghost above his head.

A number of complicated emotions passed over Skulker's face. "Uh," he said. "Time out?"

"What?" snarled Danny. He was more than ready to rip Skulker apart.

"Your body, whatever there is of it, did Plasmius really take it?"

"He basically gloated about it to my friends," said Danny.

Skulker's face twisted up, the metal plates it consisted of glinting in the sunlight. "Disturbing the remains of another ghost is... distasteful, at best." He shifted, obviously trying to get out of Danny's grip. Danny held on, tighter. "Let me go," he said. "I'll spread the word. There won't be a ghost in the Zone who'll work for Plasmius after this."

Danny sniffed. "I want it back," he said.

"Of course you do," said Skulker, nervously. "Just- let me go, alright, ghost child?" He paused. "Phantom?"

Danny relaxed his grip. Before Skulker could recover, he whipped out the thermos and sucked the other ghost in.

"I'll let you go," he grumbled. "Right into the Ghost Zone."

.

Jones did not like Mayor Masters. A complete outsider, a stranger to Amity Park, the man had somehow wormed his way into the mayor's office. Jones had always suspected bribery, but had no evidence.

This visit of his... it was suspicious. Incredibly suspicious. The timing felt rotten. Masters had barely set foot inside the station before this.

Well, the timing and the questions he was asking. Jones was glad he had told everyone to deflect questions about the body and Phantom beforehand, no matter who was asking.

Jones fixed a grin onto his face. "I'm sorry, Mr. Masters," he said. "We can't discuss ongoing investigations."

"I think," said Masters, "that, as mayor, I am exempt from that rule. I am, after all, your boss."

"That's true," said Jones, "but this case is especially sensitive, and everyone is a suspect."

"I can't possibly be," said Masters. "I didn't even live here two years ago. I believe you are dancing around the subject, sir. Let us not have our personal feelings get in the way of things, hm?"

This bastard- There was no way he should have known that particular detail. Not without suborning the ME or her assistant.

Or stealing the records. The initial reports had gone missing with the body, and the computer system had been hacked.

Jones pressed his teeth together so hard they ached. He could feel them grinding inside his head.

"Why don't I give you an overview of what we know so far?" he asked, voice as sweet as he could stand to make it. "We'll start with Cameron over here. He's the head of our cult division, and a real wizard with computers."

If anyone could drive the man off, it was Cameron.

.

"I didn't think babypop even had a corpse," said Ember, crossing his arms. "Are you sure he isn't just delusional?"

"He could be," said Skulker, "but that's not the point. He believes it. Do you really want to be dealing with him as a restless spirit?"

"Oh, god, no. He's already such a spoilsport. Can you imagine?" The blue flame her hair was drawn back into shuddered.

"I don't have to imagine," said Skulker. "He tore my arm off."

"He always tears your arms off," said Ember, dismissively.

"He's only going to get worse though," said Skulker, "if it really is his body. If Plasmius is doing anything to it. That anxiety. A person's body should be taken care of properly, not messed about with."

"Hey!" said Technus, who was on the other side of the room, fixing Skulker's mechanical body. "I donated MY body to SCIENCE! I'm perfectly fine."

"Yeah," said Ember. "Some people would disagree with that, but the thing is you chose to do that. Those're the rites you wanted."

"Do you think I, the great TECHNUS, master of all things technological and-"

"No, actually, I don't think you knew," said Ember.

"Ohhhhh! I'll alter all your auxiliary cables, you little-!"

"Can we get back on topic?" asked Skulker, his high-pitched voice cutting above the argument. "We need to get Phantom's body back! Otherwise he'll be completely unbearable!"

The ghosts looked at each other. "Agreed," they said.

.

Danny leaned over Tucker's shoulder. "Are you sure?" he said.

"Positive," said Tucker. "Sorry, man, but Vlad's super secret super villain stuff isn't online. Your body isn't mentioned at all. Nothing is. His internet enabled stuff is all pretty bland, compared to what we know he's doing. I mean, some of it is kind of sketchy, but it just isn't the same level."

"Anything we can blackmail him with?" asked Sam.

"Not really. We can't exactly say how we got it, after all, so he'd have plausible deniability."

Danny groaned. The groan turned into a long plume of blue mist. Danny growled. "Whoever is interrupting this time-"

"Whoa, calm down, man," said Tucker. "This is pretty normal."

Danny's phone began to ring. If this was those detective he was going to-

It was Jazz. "What?" he asked.

"The ecto-exodus alarm is going off," said Jazz. "Where are you?"

"Tucker's," said Danny. "I'm going to check it out."

"Be safe. Mom and Dad are out there with blasters, and they've notified the GIW."

"Noted," said Danny. He hung up, then turned to Sam and Tucker. "This is a big one, apparently. You might want to stay in."

"Good luck with that," said Tucker, pulling a ecto-rifle from beneath his desk. "I've been wanting to try this baby out."

"Please don't name it," said Sam.

"I think I will!" said Tucker.

"Just don't shoot if we're not fighting, okay? They might not be here to cause trouble. Don't give me that look, I'm trying out some optimism."

Before his friends could say anything about that, he flew up through the roof. From there, he had no problem picking out the crowd of ghosts who had just passed by.

Skulker was leading them. Danny scowled, and flew forward to intercept them, too angry to process whether or not confronting a group of ghosts that large was wise.

"Hey!" he shouted. "I thought you said you'd leave!"

"Chill, babypop!" shouted Ember. "You're a cold core, aren't you? We're here to get your body back."

That brought Danny up short. "Wait, really?"

The other ghosts, largely the rabble of the Wastes, the region of the Ghost Zone right outside the Fenton portal, gave a ragged sort of cheer.

"Yeah. And trash Plasmius's crap."

"Oh," said Danny, taken aback. "He has a ghost shield around his mansion, you know. A human shield, too, before you say I can get past that."

Poindexter floated up, over the mass of the crowd. "He can't keep them up all the time, can he?" he asked adjusting his glasses.

"No, I guess he can't. One sec." He pulled out his phone. "Hey, Tucker, can you find out where Vlad is right now?"

.

"... and these are the cults that believe ghosts are divine messengers, there's a lot of variety in them, too," Cameron was saying, pointing eagerly at his computer screen.

"Excuse me," said Vlad. "But I don't see how this is relevant. At all. To anything."

"Oh, it's very important," said Collins, nodding sagely. "We got some of our best leads in this case from the cults."

Cameron beamed.

"I am myself quite familiar with the local cults," said Vlad. "If they become relevant, I'm sure I can come back to-"

"No, no, Mr. Mayor," said Paterson, "you won't understand without context."

"I-"

Several dozen ghosts suddenly entered through the roof. Everyone dove for cover.

"Hiya, grave robbers!" shouted a ghost with fiery blue hair. Ember McClain. "Or one grave robber in particular."

Actually, come to think of it, she'd masqueraded as a human for a while, too. Collins was going to have a crisis about how easily ghosts could blend in with humans at some point in the near future. Not today, but before the end of the week. He'd need to talk to a shrink. Preferably one who wasn't a ghost.

Oddly, the ghosts weren't attacking.

The sound of Mayor Masters clearing his throat issued from behind a sizable desk. "What are you here for?" he asked.

"You know, grave robber. We've got a bone to pick with you, until you give back what you took."

A few feet away from Collins, Jones inhaled deeply. He stood up. Collins resisted the urge to drag him back down.

"We don't have Phantom's body," said Jones, "if that's what you're here for."

"We know," said Ember. "That's what this's about. We know who took it, and we don't want to deal with Phantom while he's freaking out over some jerk having his body. So. We're giving an ultimatum-"

"Hey, guys," said Phantom's voice. "I found the shield deactivation button. It was in his car, next to his garage door opener."

"Oh, cool. You trash his car?"

"Nah, I let these little gremlin dudes do it. They looked like they were having fun."

"Whatever, babypop. Let's go get your body!"

As quickly as they came, the ghosts were gone.

Mayor Masters swore, and started for the door.

"Hold up," said Jones, putting a hand on the taller man's shoulder. "Where exactly do you think you're going?"

"To call some competent ghost hunters, since those menaces are clearly after my belongings!"

"Nuh uh," said Jones. "We've got some questions for you."

"Yeah," said Collins, "like why you seem to think that they're going to your house, when they could have been talking about anyone."

"Wow!" said Cameron, smiling. "That was exciting! I'm glad I was livestreaming, like you told me to, Paterson!"

"Well," said Vlad. He paused. "I need to call my lawyer."

"Better make sure they're a competent one," mocked Jones.

.

Collins was surprised when Phantom materialized in the middle of the room with a long, dark plastic body bag in his arms. So were most people. Across the room, next to the coffee machine, one of his more caffeine-addicted coworkers do a spit take, and Jones burst out of his office in an avalanche of paperwork.

"I want a burial," said Phantom, finally. "A real one, this time."

Silence.

"I think I can arrange that," said Captain Jones.

[wouldduskwood]

Taken Identity Part 2 Option 2

I stared at my phone for a second then put it away. Sarah wouldn’t be happy if I contacted her at work. She had made that perfectly clear on more than one occasion. Her father was the owner, my boss in fact, and she pulled long hours to help him run the business. Sighing, I decided it was probably best to leave her to it. Instead, I took myself through to the home office I had created and switched on my computer set up. As I watched the screens flicker to life, I hummed quietly to myself, trying to take away the stillness of the night. Emptiness. Nothingness. It was doing nothing to help rid me of the confusion of my mother’s passing.

I looked briefly at the case I was currently working on and decided it could wait. I didn’t really want to make any mistakes. Instead, I decided to have a play around and see what I could stumble on that looked interesting. As I mucked around, I received a message from someone I had pulled a few jobs with in the past. He was after a backup hacker that could wipe his digital fingerprints clean. Opening an encrypted chat, I asked what it was that he was trying to accomplish. I had been doing my best to keep my nose fairly clean since securing my job. Technically it was against my contract to lend my talents to illegal activities.

Ph4N70M

Nym0s - What’s the job?

Ph4N70M - Looking into my girl’s actions. Something fishy going on. You know? Nym0s - What actions?

Ph4N70M - Think she’s cheating on me and using my money to do it.

Nym0s - Oh shit. Yeah I can help out.

We spent the rest of the evening digging up dirt. The problem with these types of hacks was that the more digging we did, the more we found and the more emotions were stirred up. It was often a lose, lose game. Still, it felt good to be using my powers to help the little guy, so to speak, rather than the larger corporations that I had been stuck bailing out since I began my employment. This sort of thing is why it is so much easier for hackers to trust people than to be trusted. For the most part, we could dig up whatever we wanted from people. If we tried hard enough, we could bring up everything from long forgotten social media data to bank records, though the latter was a lot more challenging due to the amount of encryption.

Finally, after we had gathered enough data to show that his suspicions were justified, he logged off to deal with his life and I was left alone. Somehow Sarah still had not arrived home. After working for so long investigating a cheating girlfriend, I began to wonder what she was up to. ‘No, stop it,’ I growled to myself. ‘She’s just helping her Dad. You’re going crazy. Don’t give her reason to hate you. It’s all about building that trust in you now. If you investigate her and find nothing, you’re intruding on her privacy.’ I argued with myself. Eventually, I fell asleep in front of my computer.

Waking early in the morning, I shook my head a few times then poked my head into our bedroom, wanting to see Sarah. I was still feeling uneasy and wasn’t sure what to do next. I knew I had to begin planning for Mum’s funeral, but the thought wasn’t at all appealing. Sarah was asleep in a bra and panties. I went into the room and lay beside her, touching her gently and kissing her shoulder. “Mm,” she mumbled, so I took that as an encouraging sign and pressed myself against her, caressing her breast with one hand. As she pushed herself back against me, I rolled her over and kissed her. Finally, her eyes flickered open and she looked shocked for a second then angry. “Ugh, Jake, come on! I had a late night,” she moaned.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Uh...Mum died yesterday.”

“Oh,” she replied and didn’t say anything else. I wasn’t sure what she was waiting for so I continued speaking. “Uh, I’m not really sure what to do next. Ya know, it feels kind of weird.”

Sarah nodded. “Look babe, just call the funeral home and they can deal with it. Sorry but I have to go back into the office, it’s getting late and you know how busy we can get on a Friday.” As she finished speaking she headed towards the shower and I was left alone, once more.

‘Okay,’ I thought to myself. ‘Just do what comes next. Don’t worry about anything else.’ It was a good mantra. It forced me to shut down and just focus on next steps. No emotion. All logic. I’d call the funeral home once they were open. Let them handle all the decisions. After all, I had no clue what the woman actually wanted. Work wasn’t really a problem. I had taken another week off as I knew I would likely need the time to handle Mum’s affairs.

I considered hopping into the shower with Sarah to see if we could finish what we had started, but decided against it. She wasn’t exactly affectionate and just because I wanted closeness didn’t mean that she did. With nothing more to do than wait for the funeral home to open, I decided to make some breakfast for Sarah and myself. Cooking would hopefully at least take my mind off things. As I set about preparing scrambled eggs, toast and bacon, I heard the shower stop. I had just plated up when Sarah appeared, dressed in a skirt and blouse. I put a plate down in front of her and motioned for her to join me. “Oh, sorry hun but I can’t, I’m already late,” she blew me a kiss as she practically ran out the door.

Sighing, I set about eating my own breakfast then cleaned the mess I had made. I glanced at the time and saw that the funeral home would now be open, but I wasn’t really up to it yet, so instead I hopped in the shower, hoping to burn away some of the memories of the previous day.

Once the shower began to cool, I switched it off, dried quickly and wrapped a towel around my waist. Finally, I grabbed my phone and sat on the edge of the bed, pushing the button that would connect me to the funeral home and bring about a sense of finality in the whole situation. The call was answered quickly and professionally. There was an air of ‘we care’ around everything they said. Finally, they must have become frustrated with my lack of effort in decision making and the operator stated “It’s okay dear, we will handle it. We will call you with any other details that may be needed.” I thanked her and hung up, putting my head in my hands as I wondered what to do next.

Head to childhood home to put affairs in order

Handle financial affairs using the internet

[thr-333]

Mismatch- Part 18

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

Irony! My old friend! You having been so glaringly obvious for so long!

First < Previous > Next

--------

Bruce stares blankly at the report in front of him, an alert pops up on the Bat-computer. Joker is attacking somewhere downtown. He tries to convince himself to get his gear, when seconds later Red Hood pops up in the area.

“Jason can handle it,” He mutters to himself, but pulls up the live feed anyway.

He had thought with Selina it would be different. That if they had children they would raise them together. Have some semblance of a normal family. Little did he know that they could have already had that.

He feels cold rage wash through him, so focuses on the screen in front. There's the Joker standing with a masked figure. For a fearful second he thinks it's Songbird. But no the costume isn’t right, more his style then Songbirds.

Is there another vigilante?! He thinks, looking over to the alert feeding in new information automatically. No it’s a meet and greet for MDC and MCD. Joker just couldn't wait for the concert then.

It’s not that he doesn't see Selina’s point. To have them be involved in things like this would be terrifying. He already puts his children in danger. He had already lost Jason. What if I mess this up too.

The  Joker is now in an elevator talking to the boy who clearly isn’t listening. In fact he’s suspiciously calm for being held at gunpoint. He’ll have to look into it. Then the camera falls and the screen goes to black, he switches to the news feed but they won’t have anything for a while yet. Hacking into the security cameras doesn't even cross preoccupied his mind.

Technically he has already put them in danger. They’ve been nothing but stalked and attacked since arriving in Gotham. All because a rumour that their his children, he couldn't imagine the danger they would be in if everyone found out it was true. The rest of his kids could handle themselves, they were trained to,  but even Barbra…

Perhaps it was best if he stayed out of their lives.

“Is everything alright Master Bruce?” Alfred breaks him out of his spiral.

“Yes, Alfred everything is fine,” Bruce sits up straight, as if that was proof.

“Really, because you seemed to have not noticed that young man has been thrown off the roof,”

“What!” He turns back to the screen to see the boy in free fall, he moves to take action a split second before Jason swoops in to catch them.

Bruce sags back into his chair. He shouldn't have been so distracted. He could have helped before, now he’s likely scarred for life. Literally if he knows the Joker.

“Something appears to be on your mind Master Bruce,” Alfred repeats, pouring the tea.

“Some new information has come to light,” Bruce dances around the subject, “Selina has been hiding something very important,”

“Well I should hope you are referring to the twins and not some worthless jewel,”

“What!” Bruce chokes on the tea he was drinking, “How did you know?”

“Master Bruce, you are meant to be the detective out of the two of us,” Alfred passes him a napkin, refilling his cup.

“So in other words you're not going to tell me,” Bruce sighs, running his hand through his hair.

“Let’s just say you have similarities that are hard to miss,” Bruce doesn't look up, “Perhaps too similar is some aspects,”

It is said in such a way Bruce is sure Alfred somehow read his thoughts.

“I can’t bring them into this life,” Bruce rests his head in his hands.

“What's the difference between them and everyone else who runs through the city?” Alfred slides the tea cup closer, in his constant mission to get him to drink more tea than coffee.

“They're happy , happy without me,” Bruce takes the cup, leaning back in his seat.

“You asked them this?” Alfred challenges, clearly setting up a trap to pull him into another lecture.

“No,” Bruce answers, too tired to try and avoid the trap.

“Perhaps Master Bruce, you should try having a conversation rather than assuming you know what they want,” Bruce could be sure he practiced this speech before hand, “Instead of trying to justify reasons to push them away, you could actually try to get to know them,”

“I’ll only put them in danger, they’re better off without me,” It’s true, Selina was right all along, she should have never even told him.

“That might be the case before they knew you, however, do you really think they will want to live the rest of their lives without knowing you?” Selina did tell them didn’t she? how long had they known, had they ever wanted to even meet him? “Or perhaps a better question, would you like to spend the rest of your life not knowing them?”

“It would be selfish of me,” His selfishness never led to any good.

“It would be more selfish to deny them the chance because of what you think is best,” Alfred knows he’s right, as he takes the untouched cup from his hands, “I would certainly find it more selfish, having more rooms to clean that on one ever sleeps in,”

With that Alfred leaves, taking the tea set with him. He was right, as always. It would be better to ask them. He wasn't sure about setting up rooms just yet. He has a lot of explaining to do for everyone else.

“This is the worst thing that could of possibly happened,” Marion groans into the hotel bed.

“I know getting thrown off a building can be traumatic,” Marinette lets the Kwamis out of her backpack, knowing full well that's not what Marion was talking about.

“I don't care about that!” Marion sits up, glaring at her like she was mad, “My crush watched an embarrassing video of me and now he knows I like him!”

“Oh the horror,” Marinette opens the closet which she had set up as a little room for Tikki.

“Imagine if it was Adrien,” Marion spits, glaring up through the pillows

“Oh I would die,” Marinette answers honestly, closing the door giving the Kwamis an opportunity to avoid Marion’s sulking,  “But you would also be making fun of me, so…”

“Yeah you’re right,” He flops down on the bed, “Ugh just kill me,”

“As much as I would like a room to myself, I would prefer it not to be a jail cell,” Marinette comes to sit down on the edge of the bed.

“Like you don’t have ways to make a body disappear,” Marion mutters into the covers, but Marinette has practice at deciphering the muffled gibberish.

“Mari, if I did we wouldn’t have to deal with Lila anymore,” Technically she has had many opportunities to get rid of Lila, but Marion needs some humour.

“I would rather deal with Lila than this,” Marion mutters, and Marinette immediately calls bullshit.

“Really?” Nothing is worse than having to deal with Lila, not even Hawkmoth.

“... no,” And especially not a little embarrassment.

“Exactly, so it can’t be that bad,” She shifts onto the bed more firmly.

“Are sure I can’t use your miraculous,” Marion turns to look at her pleadingly, “I could use some good luck,”

“You think your babydoll eyes work on me?” Marinette raises an eyebrow.

“It’s worth a try,” He flops back down, before shooting back up, “Hey! What if I used the Rabbit miraculous!”

“What!” Marinette yells, almost slipping off the bed.

“I could go back and make sure the meet and greet isn’t attacked!” He has a sparkle in his eye that tells Marinette he thinks its a wonderful idea.

“That wouldn’t change the fact he knows,” She tries to shut it down before he gets too-more excited.

“Your right I should go back and stop the interview!” Marion leaps up, reaching for the bag.

“No!” Marinette wrestles him down, trying to stop him from getting to the miracle box.

As they fight, not as seriously as they could but still using super strength, they fall off the bed with a yelp. This is of course when a portal opens at the end of the bed.

“Bunnix!” Marinette yells, still holding Marion in a choke hold, even if he is now frozen.

“This should really go without saying but please do not use the miraculous to go back in time to stop embarrassing yourself in front of your crush,” Bunnix steps out of the portal, fixing Marion with a hard stare.

“See you say it like that and it does nothing to convince me,” Marion tries to break out of her hold.

“Wait, would it really mess up the future?” Marinette keeps her hold on Marion.

“You have no idea,” Bunnix says seriously, with a sigh Marion relaxes and Marinette lets him go.

“Soooo, how are you?” Marion asks, after a long awkward pause.

“Now or in the future?” Bunnix has a flash of playfulness in her eye, that has them both relaxing.

“Well you are here now so it would technically be now anyway,” Marinette mutters, climbing back onto the bed, “… wait not supposed to know anything about the future right?”

“You got it,” Bunnix gives her finger guns with a wink.

“I really feel like I don’t,” She sighs, sinking into the bed.

“Well how are you now then, you don’t really talk to us much anymore,” Marion asks, still sitting on the floor quite comfortably, “Or anyone for that matter,”

“Sorry I’m going through a bit of a; I’m going to be Bunnix I’m better than all of you, phase,” Future Alix explains, leaning against the wall, “Don’t worry I’ll get over it,”

“Is there anything we can do?” Marinette still feels concern for her friend that has pulled away from everyone.

“Just keep being yourselves,” Bunnix smiles, adding mysteriously, “all of them,”

“Right, you know about the identity madness,” Marinette falls back onto the bed.

“You have no idea,” Bunnix repeats, smirking.

“Alright that's getting frustrating,” Marion huffs, crossing his arms.

“Don’t worry you’ll find out in time,” Bunnix ruffles his hair, not that it makes much difference he hasn't fixed it since getting thrown of the roof, “That reminds me, there is a message from the future I’m allowed to give you, here,”

“What’s this?” Marion takes the scrap of paper from her, Marinette standing.

“You’ll-”

“I’ll find out,” Marion interrupts, getting another smirk, “got it,”

Bunnix doesn't say anything more, walking back through the portal with a salute. Marion stands up unfurling the note. Marinette reads over his shoulder.

Sorry for being a jerk ♡

“... What's this supposed to mean?” Marion looks to her for answers.

“No idea,” She sits back on the bed, having hoped it would be some key to Hawkmoth's identity.

“Maybe it's your convoluted way of apologising for stealing the top bunk,” Marion grins sitting next to her, “Knew you would regret it one day,”

“I did not steal the top bunk,” She swats half heartedly at him, as he easily dodges “I won that game fair and square,”

“I doubt it,” Marion goes to fold up the note.

“So be it,” Marinette takes the note reading over it again.

“... So I can’t travel back in time,” Marion lies back in the bed.

“You shouldn't travel back in time,” Marinette scolds, still not making sense of the note.

“Let me just point out that since Bunnix showed up there is an alternate timeline where you let me do it,” Marion’s dangling legs kick at her slightly.

“What on earth was I thinking?” She folds up the note into a heart, partly to see if it revealed some hidden message, why else would there be a heart?

“Oh my poor, dear brother, if only there was some way I could lessen his suffering,” Marion recites theatrically, in a terrible impression of her.

“Careful now, I can always learn how to hide a body,” She warns, waiting for the note to do something, it doesn't.

She keeps trying to decipher the note. Starting a mental countdown for when Marion explodes.

“Nette! What am I supposed to do!” Right on time, “The worst possible thing happened, he found out I like him,”

“Isn’t that the best thing?” Marinette asks absentmindedly, reaching for her backpack holding the miracle box.

“No it’s the worst,” Marion pouts, falling back on the bed.

“Ok, think of it this way,” She tucks the note into a side compartment of the miracle box, “Is this the most embarrassing thing that could possibly happen?”

“Surprisingly, not helping ,” Marion glares, she just glares back, “Yes, yes it is,”

“Then you can’t possibly embarrass yourself more,” He would probably prove her wrong, but that's besides the point

“So what your saying is...” Marion trails off, getting lost in his thoughts.

“-Go for it,” She finishes.

“Hmm, not a bad idea,” Marion hums, swinging to sit back up.

“Of course not, it’s mine,” She tucks the miracle box safely away, planning to come back to the note later.

“Maybe I should tell Adrien you like him,” Marinette whips around to see his cheekily grin.

“Don't you dare!” She pounces, trying to pull him into another choke hold, “I won't even bother hiding the body!”

“I am such a jerk!” Jason says, yet again, and Roy is so close to just leaving him to talk himself in circles, “I just left , he probably thought I was mad about it!”

“The biggest jerk in history,” He agrees, fiddling with the dial of his newest project.

“ Roy ,”

“Sorry, is this not the ‘agree with everything I say’ kind of rant?” He doesn't bother to look up, he knows Jason is pacing around the living room, he has been for the last hour.

“No, you know those are mainly reserved for Bruce,” Jason says absentmindedly,  Roy can feel him passing behind him.

“Right, right,” Roy waves him off, with blowtorch in hand, “But Jason we’ve been over this ten times already,”

“What if he decided he doesn't like me since the interview?”

“Oh I see it's actually the ‘ignore Roy’ kind of rant, got it,” He sighs, welding two pieces of metal together.

“What if he doesn't like me because of this ,”

“Then it would be the absolute worst job of flirting I have ever seen,” And he’s seen and tried some pretty bad tactics, “Really takes a special talent for someone to actually like you and to just completely shoot yourself in the foot,”

“I need to explain,” Jason decides, likely not hearing a word he just said.

“You’re going to go up to him in full gear and awkwardly explain that you suck at flirting,” Yeah that rarely worked well on civilians.

“What else am I meant to do?” Oh so he is listening.

“I don’t know, get to know him better?” Roy shrugs, a piece falling off his contraption, “Apologise when you aren't going to scare him off,”

“And how am I meant to get to know him better Roy? next time his life is threatened?” Roy shrugs ‘why not’ as he tries to fit the piece back on, “Hey I know were getting shot at but I just wanted to ask you favourite color,”

“Red, probably,” Roy guesses, the piece falling off again.

“ Roy ,” This time he does look up, but doesn't dare mention to Jason he is blushing the same shade, “How am I supposed to get to know him, it's not like we have any other connection,”

“Easy just figure out his secret identity,” Roy knows he can do it, hell he could probably do it.

“I’m not going to do that,” Jason sighs, sitting down on the couch with noticeably less scorch marks.

“Alright then, suffer,” Roy shrugs, finally getting the piece in place.

“...I need to apologise,” Jason decides, adding “Today,”

“Ugh, you're going to find some overly convoluted bat-like-way of apologising aren't you,” The piece comes loose a little bit and Roy decides it's not that important anyway.

“Probably,”

“Was this really the best way you could think of apologising?” Marion asks, he had found a note hidden away in the miracle box a while back, it having finally clicked who sent it.

“You kept my note,” Jason smiles looking up from the book he was reading.

“Of course I did, I have to send it back to past me didn't I?” Marion sits next to Jason, careful of his bruised side.

“I wrote that a while ago, looks the exact same,” Jason puts down the book and picks up the note.

“It’s time travel, I’m not taking any chances,” Nope, Marion had learnt his lesson about that a long time ago.

“Of course,” Jason smirks, leaning in closer, “So that's the only reason you kept the note?”

“Well,” They had kept it to see if it was some key to Hawkmoth's identity, which seems kind of ridiculous now but they had been grasping at threads, “I did think it was pretty cute, once I knew it was you,”

He wasn't about to admit how long it took to figure out. Then again Marion didn’t think he felt the same way. He looks over to Jason, how wrong he was

“How was it not obvious it was me?” Jason asks, a little teasingly, “I added a heart,”

“Yeah that kind of confused me,” Marion frowns, turning the note over in his hand.

“What? I wanted to make it obvious I was flirting,” Jason wraps an arm around him, Marion quickly turning to him.

“That was flirting?!”

“You didn’t know?!”

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

Taglist:

@blackmagicforever @zeneralla @technicallyburninggarden @fusser90  @misslenamooney @superbwhispersconnoisseur @biodad-bruce-month @nalu-ismyjam @the-one-woman-army @rosesandsailboats

[lousimusician]

Sex Pollen Part 3

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Summary: You make your decision on how to help Peter.

Warning: Smut

A/N: HERE YOU GO, PART 3. ENJOY THE SMUT

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You groaned looking at the time on your clock.

1:00 am

You hadn't been able to sleep at all. The whole Peter situation keeping you up.

You knew what you wanted to do. It wasn't a difficult situation to make. You've had sex before (You were a Stark after all) and with it being Peter the decision was even easier to make. 

It just still felt like you would be taking advantage of Peter somehow.

You sighed, sitting up, letting the sheets fall off your body.

You pushed the sheets away, swinging your legs over the side of the bed and getting up, deciding to head to the lab.

You stood outside, seeing that the plant was gone, and your dad and Bruce were pulling an all nighter, as you expected.

You lightly knocked, before letting yourself in.

Tony looked over at you. "I thought I told you to stay in your room?" He said, quirking an eyebrow.

You rolled your eyes. "I just wanted to know if you guys made any progress, you've been down here for hours."

"Well," Bruce said, looking up from the microscope he had been peering down. "We took a few samples of the plants, and just a few hours ago, we got samples of Peter."

You nodded, walking over to Bruce, and looking at the three microscopes that were set up, with an array of swabs just to the side. Bruce had been going on about something, but you ignored him, taking it upon yourself to see the samples.

The first one was a blood sample, but to your disappointment it looked perfectly normal.

You moved to the next one. A cheek swab. And once again the cells looked normal.

The next one was a little personal, but given the situation, you suppose it was necessary, because it was a sperm sample. And once again.

It. Was. Normal.

You furrowed your eyebrows.

"What the hell?" You said, turning to Bruce. "Everything is fine. Do you guys really have nothing?"

"I wouldn't say nothing."

You raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Then what did you find?"

"I mean technically..." He looked like he was in thought. "Okay, yeah it's nothing, but we still have plenty more samples to go over."

You rolled your eyes. "How does he look, then? Is he getting any better?"

"He's fine, go back to bed." Your dad muttered, looking down into his own microscope.

"Fine may be pushing it Tony. He's worse than before. I don't think he's going to be able to get any sleep tonight. Which well then cause even more problems if he's sleep deprived and-" His ramblings were cut off by Tony.

"Bruce, seriously?" He said shooting him a look. "Can't you tell when I'm trying to parent? Stop scaring my daughter, you'll put ideas in her head." He looked at you now. "Now, Peter's going to be okay, we're figuring this out. It's just taking longer than expected. Now will you please go to bed, it's past your bedtime."

"I don't have a bedtime." You muttered, making your dad shoot you a look. "But fine, I'll go."

"Thank you." 

"Yeah whatever." You sighed, walking out of the lab.

You went back upstairs only instead of going to your own room, you went to Natasha's.

It swung open, Nat standing in the doorway not looking tired in the slightest, it seemed like she had been up all night too.

You took a deep breath, ignoring your reddening cheeks. "Talk to Peter and get me his consent."

She quirked an eyebrow, "You seem rather eager now."

"They have nothing, Peter seems perfectly fine by a scientific stand point. They've been down there for hours, I don't understand why they can't find anything, and Peter's probably getting worse and we still don't know how this could affect him-." You ranted.

"Okay, let's calm down first. Now you're sure you're okay with this decision?"

"Yeah, I mean I'm not a virgin, and I am very much attracted to Peter." 

She nodded. "Alright then, I'll talk to him. Wait- what about birth control-"

"It's fine, I'm on the pill." You said, cutting her off.

"Why did I even bother asking, you are a Stark after all." She said with a teasing grin.

"Oh shut up." You blushed, shaking your head. "But thanks for helping me. Now, I need to go overrun F.R.I.D.A.Y's commands so she doesn't tell my dad where I am if he asks. So if he agrees can you tell him it might take me a while to get there."

"Of course." Nat said, stepping out of the doorway and pulling her door shut.

"Okay, thanks again." You said before running off to hack your dad's AI.

~~~~

Natasha stalked down the hallway to Peter's room. Anyone who had a room down that same hallway had left, finding it impossible to sleep due to the noises he was making.

She approached the door, already hearing him panting on the other side. Nat sighed, feeling bad for him. She gently knocked against the door.

"D-dr. Banner?" She heard him say.

"Guess again."

"Ms. Romanoff?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Listen I heard you were having a hard time.(Y/N) is worried about you."

Peter groaned, cock twitching just from the sound of your name.

Nat ignored it, continuing what she was saying. "It also looks like Tony and Bruce aren't making a lot of progress..So basically...what do you think about fixing this the way those aliens usually do?"

"W-what! N-no, I can't do that to h-her. It's n-not fair."

"Pete, it was her decision. She thought about it and decided it's okay on her end, she just sent me here to get your consent."

It was silent on his end for a few beats. "...I-I don't know. She's my friend."

She sighed. "You kids are impossible sometimes." She muttered to herself. "Yeah a friend who has an unbearably obvious crush on you and I know you like her too. So maybe if your smart you might get a relationship out of this...And look, she's sure she wants to do this. So don't worry about her alright? Just think about yourself, do you want this?"

"Well y-yeah, but-"

"Good. Then I'm sending her up, alright?"

"...O-okay." Peter said in a small voice.

"She may be a while though, she has to make sure F.R.I.D.A.Y doesn't tell her dad what you two are going to be up to."

He groaned, a flush of embarrassment taking over. "I hadn't even thought about M-mr. Stark. H-he's going to kill me."

"Still better than this stupid plant torturing you. I'm going to find (Y/N) now, hold tight."

Peter hummed as Nat walked away, hearing her receding footsteps.

~~~~~~~~

"He said yes."

You jumped up out of your seat. You had been sitting in front of your dad's computer, where you had started overriding F.R.I.D.A.Y's commands.

You quickly turned around to face Nat. "H-he said yes?" You asked, wide eyed.

She nodded. "Having second thoughts?"

"No, no." You swallowed. "I think it just sank in what I agreed to do."

"And you're still up for this?" She asked, walking over to look at the screen of your dad's computer.

"Y-yeah." You said, shakily turning back around to continue what you were doing. "I still want to help him." You said as you frowned at the screen and groaned. "It looks like my dad went through extra precautions so I can't mess with F.R.I.D.A.Y like I did last time. This is gonna take longer than I thought."

--

By the time you had finished it was already 2:15 am. You didn't even know if Peter was able to fall asleep, until you found yourself standing on the other side of his bedroom door. He was a panting and moaning mess in there and you knew he had to be touching himself.

You swallowed harshly, slightly nervous, you raised a closed fist to lightly knock on his door. But he hadn't acknowledged you, his moans drowning out the noise of your knocking. So, you took it upon yourself to enter.

You took a deep breath you shut your eyes and silently opened the door and shut it closed behind you once you were inside.

His moans were louder now that the door wasn't in the way to muffle his sounds. You slowly peeked your eyes open and the sight made you suck in a sharp breath.

His arm was thrown haphazardly across his face, covering his eyes, mouth wide open as almost every lewd sound you had eved heard slipped past them. But what really made your breathing uneven and face flushing, was the sight of him jerking himself off. You squeezed your legs together at watching his had sliding up and down and hips bucking.

Even for you, who wasn't exactly new to sexual experiences found this extremely erotic.

His deep groan of your name made you snap back to reality, and you realized that you should probably let him know you were there.

With another deep breath you prepared yourself for what was about to happen, and cleared your throat loudly, gaining his attention.

He stopped his movements, and his eyes flew to your figure.

"(Y-Y/N)." He breathed out, pulling the bed sheet over his lower body, no doubt trying to have some decency, and scrambling to sit up against the headboard.

"H-hi." You said in a small voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful." He whined, his head already getting fuzzy by your presence. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for all of this."

"Hey shh." you said, trying to calm him down. You walked closer to him so you now stood next to the headboard. You brushed back the damp curls from his forehead. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, this isn't your fault Peter."

Peter shut his eyes tightly, averting your stare, just focusing on your touch. "I just- I feel like I'm going c-crazy- and I- and I don't know how long I can c-control myself around you." He said, nearly on the edge of tears, making your heart clench. "And if you knew the things I thought about today you'd h-hate me."

"Peter look at me." You said firmly. 

Peter relented, eyes fluttering open and they immediately went to you and raked down your body. Noticing the fact that you weren't wearing a bra under your thin tank top, and your shorts that hugged you so perfectly. 

Your hand went to his jaw and lifted it up so he could look you in the eye. "I need you to calm down Peter and know that I'm here to help you." You climbed onto the bed and swung a leg over his lap so you were straddling him now, causing his breath to hitch. Peter sat up straighter, body tense, hands flying to touch your bare thighs. "So." You continued. "Stop feeling guilty and maybe we can try some of those things you thought of today."

He groaned, head falling into your neck, smelling once again all those amazing scents that lingered on you. "This is gonna ruin our f-friendship."

You bit your lip. "I think I can live with that." You whispered before pulling his head back to press your lips to his.

He stopped you though, lips almost touching. "W-wait." He stuttered, and with the sanity that was still left in him asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

You smirked, and let out a short laugh, "You talk too much Parker." You said before crashing your lips against his.

The effect was immediate as he fell into that familiar haze from earlier that day where the only thing he could possibly think about was fucking you so hard you wouldn't be able to walk for days. Peter gripped your waist and flipped you over, so he was now seated between your thighs. He reconnected your lips, the sheets now a tangled mess between the two of you.

And everything seemed to happen at once, he began grinding his hips against you making you let out a surprised yelp and his hands gripped the bottom of your tank top, pulling it up and over your head. One hand gripping your hip while the other began massaging a breast.

Overwhelmed by the sensations you let out a high pitched whine into the kiss, and he took this opening to practically shove his tongue down your throat.

He pulled away, panting, as he worked to untangle the sheet around his legs. "You wouldn't believe the things I imagined doing to you today." He said breathlessly. He finally kicked the rest of the bed sheet to the foot of the bed, head turning to look down at your own flushed and breathless expression. "Fuck- you're so fucking pretty." He roughly ground against you, eliciting another moan from you. "And you make the prettiest noises."

His hands now grabbed the hem of your shorts, pulling them down with your panties. His eyes lingered on your pussy and he licked his lips, eyes flicking back to your own.

"Peter~" You said so desperately he was sure he was hallucinating again.

He leaned over you, pressing his lips onto your neck, kissing and biting as he worked a hand between you two.

His fingers making it's way between your folds. You immediately bucked your hips into his touch, giving him the most wanton moan he's ever heard. He groaned, "You're so wet." He panted as he slipped a finger into you, making you jump.

"Ahh~ holy shit-" A shiver of pleasure wracked down your spine, toes curling into the mattress and hands gripping the bed sheets tightly.

His thumb pressed against your clit, rubbing tight circles, and he slipped another finger into you and curling them. Your head was thrown back into the pillow as your back arched off the bed. Peter panted against your ear, whispering the dirtiest things you've ever heard and you couldn't tell if it was because of the pollen or he actually had this in him. 

He continued to thrust his fingers faster and faster, telling that you were getting closer. "C'mon princess I wanna feel you cum around my fingers. You're squeezing them so fucking tight." He groaned. "I can't wait to fuck this pretty pussy." You practically screamed as his fingers hit you perfectly.

"W-who the fuck... knew Peter P-Parker could talk... so d-dirty." You said in between pants.

He smirked down at you. "Now look who talks too much." He panted. "Cum for me princess." And not long after, you did. Back arched and mouth slack in a silent scream while Peter continued to work you through your first orgasm of the night. "That's it pretty girl, just like that." He moaned feeling you clench around his fingers.

Once you came down you were left a panting mess, you jumped as Peter pulled his fingers out because of how sensitive you were. He sat up looking down at you, adjusting you so you lined up with his cock.

"I know you're sensitive princess, but I'm not even close to being done with you." You nodded wordlessly before he pushed into you, the both of you groaning at the sensation.

Peter finally felt some of the relief he had been craving the whole day. He started off with a rough pace, gripping your hips so tight you were sure there would be bruises. You had quickly been rendered a moaning mess, not being able to think clearly enough to form any words.

He brought a hand up to lean against the headboard, giving him more leverage as he changed the angle slightly. "You have no idea how ....crazy you've been driving me all day." He grunted. "How fucking ...hard I had been all day ....because of you."

"Fuck~" You moaned. "I-I'm sorry...I... didn't come.. s-sooner

"Doesn't matter,....you're here now." He said picking up his pace even further, the headboard creaking under his hold, wood starting to splinter.

He quickly pulled out and flipped you over, and pulled you up by your hips before thrusting into you again. He leaned over you, his chest flush with your back an arm wound around your waist, holding you tight against him. "You're so fucking tight, feel so fucking good around my cock." Your face was buried into the pillow to muffle your moans. Peter reached up, gripping your hair with his free hand, and pulling your head up, you hissed at the tight pull on your hair. "Wanna hear you, pretty girl." He groaned against your ear. He moved the arm that was wrapped tightly around your waist, bringing his hand down to your clit, making your body jerk at the sudden contact and clench around him tighter.

You let out a whine acken to a sob, overwhelmed by the pleasure. "P-Peter!" You cried out. 

He moaned at your cries for him. "You're doing so good. Such a good fucking girl. I want you to cum all over my cock princess."

And with that you came with a scream of his name falling from your lips. The pleasure so intense you saw white. He continued to thrust into you through your orgasm until he came himself. Moaning your name and curses against your ear.

You whimpered as you came down, body shaking.  

He pulled away, turning you over again to admire the fucked out expression on your face. He leaned over you, connecting your lips again and you kissed back lazily completely exhausted and sore already.

But while Peter felt some relief he still needed more because he was hard again in seconds. Although, his mind was slightly less fuzzy, on a positive note.

He pulled back, looking down at you again. His hand brushed back the hair from your face. "You're not tired are you."

"N-no." You lied, because while you were, you'd let him take you over and over again as many times as he needed to.

He hummed, a grin painting his lips. "Good." He said, fingers going back to your clit and gently rubbing, your body jerking at the touch. "Because I plan on making sure you won't be able to walk for the next few days."

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[izzierenee13]

Morpho: Clint Barton x OC

LIZA’S POV

2012

“Explain to me again, what exactly do you want this reactor to do?” I asked my lovely father as he showed me the blueprints to an underwater reactor he was going to build, presumably soon. He and I both knew I understood his plans, but just wanted to hear him say it again, and so he did. It was no question, I shared my fathers brain, his wit, but I was more skilled than he was. That was his own fault though, since I could walk I was in various combat training classes, having high ranks in most, I was a trained marksman and I could hack the most secure buildings in the world. I also had my powers, I forget about those sometimes though.

As he finished his explanation of the reactor, my phone rang, usually I’d ignore it but Phil Coulson doesn’t call people unless it’s important. “Hey Dad, I have to get this.” I stood up from the computer in the lab, my tone slightly worried. He nodded and went back to checking the prints a millionth time.

“Agent Stark.” I answered, a standard greeting for any SHIELD calls I got.

“Stark, we need you to come in.” Phil sounded panicked, and Phil Coulson never panicked.

“Phil, I’m in New York, with my dad, can’t work wait until my week off--” I was cut off.

“Barton’s been compromised.” That sentence was all it took to cause anxiety and panic to course through my body. “And please, ask Tony about project TAI. He’ll know what to do.”

So I did, and not even an hour later, I was in a Stark Industries helicopter, landing on the bridge of a SHIELD helicarrier. As I got out of my ride, I was greeted by one third of my crew, Natasha Romanoff, and Doctor Bruce Banner. “Nat!” I was a mess, ever since Phil told me Clint had been compromised, I’d been crying, just pulling myself together the last ten minutes of the flight. I ran over to my red headed best friend and threw my arms around her. I was one of, maybe two, people in the world she would hug. “Have you seen him?”

She hugged me back, “No. I haven’t, but we’ll find him and we’ll get HIM back.” She pulled away from the hug, “Agent Stark, this is Doctor Banner,” She introduced me to the man, who just witnessed me be vulnerable. I instantly put on my ‘Agent Face’ and greeted him.

“Agent Elizabeth Stark, your work on anti-electron collisions is...unparalleled.” I stuck my hand out for him to shake, internally I was fangirling. On top of being one of SHIELD’s top agents, I had degrees in Thermonuclear Engineering, Physics, and Literature.

“Thank you, Doctor Bruce Banner,” He shook my hand, “Stark as in…?”

“Yes, Doc, my father is Anthony Edward Stark, and my does he know it.” I giggled slightly. The three of us started walking along the bridge, coming up on a quinjet that had just landed. Out stepped my favorite awkward man and America’s first super soldier. “Phil, I see you’ve called in..” I trailed off, knowing what he was doing, why he was bringing us here.

“That I have Liza. That I have.” He smiled and gave me a side hug. It wasn’t a secret how close the “three assassins” were, especially me and Clint.

Nat approached us from talking to a fellow agent, “They need you inside, they’ve started running the face trace.” She directed at coulson.

~

Third Person POV

Captain America was on the ground fighting with Loki, while Black Widow and Morpho were in the quinjet, manning the jet and trying to get Loki to drop the sceptre. Eventually, with Iron Man’s help, they contain Loki and head back to the helicarrier from Germany.

All of a sudden, Loki is in the hands of his brother, Thor. A fight ensues, and Morpho wonders if she should teleport down to help contain Loki, but decides against it.

~

Morpho freezes when she sees Hawkeye for the first time since getting that dreaded phone call. Morpho and Black Widow fight Hawkeye until he gets knocked out, Morpho staying with him and eventually taking him to the medical wing after the fight, which got the Hulk to come out, ended.

~

A day later, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Morpho are fighting Loki’s army of the Chitauri. Black Widow is about to close the portal when Iron Man cuts in, “No. Wait.”

“Stark, these things are still coming!” Captain America warns.

“”I’ve got a nuke coming in, it’s gonna blow in less than a minute and I know just where to put it.”

“Dad..that’s a one way trip.” Morpho stands in the middle of the street, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I know. I love you, my little butterfly.” He says as he disconnects his comms and flies the nuke into the portal.

~

Liza’s POV

Once we had fought, and fought, we had finally sat down to eat some shawarma at this little place in Queens. We were all just talking amongst ourselves, I was currently going off on my dad for trying to sacrifice himself, while casting an illusion to hug Clint, Nat and Bruce, we all needed it. As soon as my illusions dropped, Thor cleared his throat.

“Lady Liza, I have an announcement to make that will interest you, most of all.” He started, “There is a reason I was on Midgard, other than my little brother. I was to come find my long lost sister Tyr, tell her of her origins, and bring her home so the Allfather and Allmother can explain their actions.”

“I love you Thor, but how does this involve me?” I questioned, being genuinely curious about the whole predicament. There was no way in heaven or hell I was Tyr...it would explain my magical abilities and why I healed faster and whenever I got sick I was only down for a couple of hours, but no..I couldn’t be.

“Liza, You are Tyr. I was sent, with an image of who and where you are. Heimdall has been keeping tabs on you for years. I understand if you do not wish to talk this over here, but rather somewhere more comfortable.” Thor slightly explained and I simply just nodded, everyone, including myself in a state of shock.

~

That night we all decided to stay at the Triskelion Barracks, where everyone had a room connected with one big common area. We were The Avengers now, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, we needed a place to stay after long world saving missions, though my father was already in talks with Fury, to change Stark Tower into Avengers Tower.

Thor, Clint, my dad and I were all sitting in the common area waiting for a more lengthy explanation from Thor, Clint and my dad being there for moral support. I looked at Thor, “Please, explain how I’m a norse goddess.”

“It was merely 25 Midgardian years ago, my mother Frigga got pregnant, unexpectedly, as she had not been pregnant since she had me, roughly 28 Midgardian years ago. When my father heard the news, he was ecstatic, but made a political decision for the unborn baby my mother was carrying.” He started, looking at me to make sure I was following, “He decided to send Frigga to earth, have her meet and sleep with Tony Stark, later convincing him she was pregnant with his baby, then she was to leave him, aged 18, to care for the baby until she was ready to take on her royal status.”

“Hold the FUCK UP.” Tony started, “You’re telling me, Carrie wasn’t Carrie, that--my whole relationship was a lie?” He was fuming. I was just as shocked as he was. No matter what though, Tony Stark was still my father.

“I’m sorry, but yes, I hated my father’s logic and wanted to stop him, but I could not.” Thor was genuinely sorry, and I grabbed my dad’s hand to assure him I needed the rest of the story. “As I was saying, the baby girl was to be named as Tony wished, but her Asgardian records were to have her as Tyr.”

“Okay, that explains my powers and extreme strength, but uh-- What-- what am I the goddess of?” I inquired, curious.

“Oh yes! How could I forget, Tyr is to be the Goddess of War, Justice and Law!” He was excited. “I do have a question for you, little sister.” It felt weird to me, Thor calling me a sibling.

“Shoot.” I faked a smile, overwhelmed at the information I had dumped on me, the fact I knew I’d have to talk with this alone with both Tony and Clint, so many things.

“Loki and I leave for Asgard tomorrow, so he can get the punishment he deserves, please come with us, meet your Asgardian family.” He looked hopeful. What would it hurt to meet my actual creators?

“I’ll go.” I answered. With that he stood up and excitedly wished a goodnight to the three of us left.

“Hey, Clint, Can you give my dad and I a couple minutes? I’ll come talk to you when I’m done.” I started and Clint went to his room, leaving Tony and I.

“Dad..” I started, and when I finally looked at him, I saw THE Tony Stark crying.

“You--you’re not--I didn’t make you.” He stuttered over his words.

“I do not give a flying fuck who my biological parents are. You’ve been my dad for almost 25 years now. You. Are. My. Dad. Always have been, always will be. I’m 24, you’re 42. We have the rest of our lives to be father & daughter. I won’t leave you because of this new found ‘family’. You and Pepper and Happy and Nick, you guys are my family. That won’t change.” I went on a small tangent.

He pulled me into a hug, gave me a kiss on the cheek and muttered a ‘thank you’ into my hair. He felt reassured, I knew his anxiety would get the best of his brain after that revelation. He got up and went to his room after that, and I made my way to Clint’s room.

I knocked on the door, he opened it and I instantly walked to him, gave him a hug and started crying. I was exhausted and overly emotional, I wasn’t as closed off as Natasha so me showing Clint my emotions wasn’t weird.

He just held me and listened to me rant about everything that had been dumped on me in the last two days. I almost lost my best friend, found out I was a goddess and I’m not technically human. I kept coming back to almost losing Clint. I couldn’t lose him. He was my rock, my person. I was in love with him, and god damn it, one day I’ll tell him, just not right now.

Once he got me to calm down, he walked me back to my room, and once we got there, “Stay. Please. I leave for another realm tomorrow and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.” I asked my best friend. We’d cuddled and slept in the same bed multiple times, platonically.

So he did, we both crawled into my bed, I laid my head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat. I wished I could stay like that forever. Slowly, we both drifted into sleep.

~

The next morning after everyone had woken up and got ready, we headed to Central Park to have a send off. Thor and I had taken Loki out of SHIELD custody and were heading to Asgard. Apparently, my magic was the only magic in this realm that could counter Loki’s.

Thor was addressing the group, but really the information was for me, “We’ll be in Asgard for about a week, which is roughly three weeks Midgardian time.Time moved weirdly between the realms as one year here is 53 on Asgard.”

With that, Thor, Loki and I stood on a bridge overlooking a little river, holding a contraption that held the tesseract. I said my goodbyes and gave everyone a hug, spending a little more time on my dad and Clint. When I walked over to my brothers, we twisted the contraption and were off to Asgard.

(BONUSSSSS: THIRD PERSON POV)

Clint and Natasha were walking away from the group when the assassin turned to the Archer, “So when are you gonna tell Liza?” She asked.

“Tell her what?” He looked at his best friend, a quizzical look on his face.

“Oh god, you don’t think I’m stupid do you? Even the Iceman can see it, You’re in love with Elizabeth Stark.”

“I--uh-- what--- I don’t”

“Just tell her before it’s too late.”

_________

A/N:

GAHHHH I HOPE YOU LIKED IT.

Also, if I decide to incorporate movies into this book, it’ll happen like this chapter did, the plot skimmed over in third person. I’m not sure if any other movies are gonna be canon in this, but this one in particular was important to the plot.

-Izzy

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