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toointojoelmiller · 8 months

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Blind to it all: a last of us fic

Prompt submitted by @two-birds-alone-together ❤️

Heads up for blood and disturbing stuff.

read at ao3 here

———

“I still can’t believe it,” Ellie whispers.

Her face is buried into Joel’s flannel, fuzzy and warm and smelling like soap, because for all of the stress and pain that staying at the hospital has involved, it’s also meant showers every god damn day, as many as she wants, and a sink to wash laundry in every week.

She’d scrubbed her skin raw the day they’d arrived – after the drama subsided. Joel was knocked out for a while, which left her feeling panicky and unanchored. Even though the friendly Firefly surgeon – Doctor ‘Call me Jerry’ Anderson – had offered to show her around, bragging about the machines and equipment they’d managed to salvage, she refused to leave Joel’s bedside until he was up. When he’d eventually rolled over, meeting her eyes with his, she hadn’t been able to hold back the tears. They actually made it.

“I know,” Joel says softly. “I can’t either. But it’s real.” He breathes it out shakily, his voice trembling. She feels the words rumble through his chest and presses her face in against him just a little bit harder. It kind of sounds like he’s still crying – everyone has been, pretty much all day.

They’re curled up together on the small stretcher in the corner of the little room they’ve been staying in for the past month and a half. “Told you they’d have a room ready,” he’d said, leaning against the doorway and grinning at her as she turned the sink on and off – so fucking relieved to see running water again after the dirty, gritty, painful slog here from Colorado.

They’d tried to push back against them being in one room together – tried to push back on Joel being there with her at all, really – but Joel said they were a ‘package deal’, which made her feel all tingly. “You touch him, I’m done,” Ellie had snarled, holding her knife up to her throat when Marlene had first tried to suggest he wasn’t welcome to stay. “I’m not doing shit without him here – I’ll fucking kill myself if you try to take him away.”

Dramatic, maybe. Joel hadn’t really approved of her approach but, hey – it was effective.

The way he’s holding onto her now is the way they’ve spent so many nights here, his arms wrapping her up in a big bear hug as she snuggles against his chest. With his arm covering up the ear that isn’t pressed against his chest, the sounds of music and yelling and cheering from the hallway are a bit muted.

“If anyone could save the world, kiddo, it’d be you.” He says softly into her hair, with so much emotion in his voice it makes tears start welling up all over again for her.

The door bangs open. “Cheers, you two,” Marlene says, as she walks in holding onto two cups.

Joel shifts a bit, his arms tightening just slightly around Ellie in a way that makes her smile. He’s always so fucking protective. “What have we here?” Joel says with a chuckle. “Do I need to remind you she’s only fourteen?”

“Hey!” Ellie says, slapping his chest and getting a laugh out of both of them.

“Fourteen. Forty. Look, she can have anything in the fucking world she wants, as far as I’m concerned,” Marlene chuckles. She puts the cups down on the bedside table, her eyes bright and soft as she looks at Ellie. She looks like a completely different person than the hardened woman who’d sat in front of her and changed her whole fucking life back in Boston. So long ago, now. Everything’s changed so much. She wiggles in even tighter against Joel, like she’s trying to merge into him.

“It’s just juice – don’t worry.” Marlene says to Joel. “Only brought the hard stuff for you.”

She gives him a wink, and Ellie realizes that she’s hammered. She can’t hold back the laughter – luckily, Joel and Marlene are laughing too, caught up in the giddy insanity that seems to be taking over the whole damn building right now.

Ellie sits up eagerly to grab the cups, passing one over to Joel, but giving it a sniff first. The sharp smell of alcohol makes her shudder, and Joel and Marlene both laugh at her.

Her own cup is a bright yellow colour – apple juice, her fucking favourite. She’ll never get used to a drink tasting so good. She downs it in a few chugs, not taking the rim of the cup from her lips until it’s drained. To her delight, Joel does the same, tossing back his drink in a few swallows.

“Not bad,” he says, tipping the now empty cup to Marlene before tossing carelessly it into the corner.

“Thought you might be a whiskey drinker,” Marlene says.

Ellie giggles and chucks hers in the same direction. This whole fucking day feels like a fever dream. She never wants to wake up.

“Well - it probably ain’t gonna be easy, getting to sleep after all of this – excitement. Drink’ll probably help me out, so thanks for that – but I’m thinkin’ we really oughta get some rest. Been a long day.” Joel says out loud, to both her and Marlene.

Marlene nods, slapping her hands on her thighs. “Right. Still leaving tomorrow? Sure you’re ready to say good bye to all this?”

She gestures around to the stark, almost bare room, and snorts at her own joke.

“Soon as things are organized,” Joel confirms. “What time do you think everything’ll be ready?” He’s moved his hand up to stroke Ellie’s hair and she feels her eyes closing involuntarily.

“Shouldn’t take too long,” Marlene says.

“You’re gonna give him his dose first thing, right?” Ellie says without opening her eyes.

“Yep,” Marlene replies. “Don’t worry – you’ve made it really clear that Joel’s going to be part of the first round.”

Ellie listens to her footsteps getting further away, and then stop. She opens her eyes to peek, and sees Marlene standing in the doorway, looking at them. The look on her face is suddenly so different. It makes Ellie’s stomach pang with worry. She looks - sad, maybe?

Her voice sounds more somber too. “I want to say… I know this hasn’t been… and easy process. For either of you.”

Ellie snorts at the understatement, thinking of all of the pain from all of the nightmarish testing - the hours she’s spent shaking and puking on the cold floor while Joel wiped her face off and tried to keep her from losing her mind – the awful, out of body flashback she’d gotten lost in for a day when they kept insisting she needed to be in a hospital gown for tests, and she found herself flat on her in a cold room, looking up at faces she couldn’t recognize, touching her and hurting her - thinking of when Joel had broken off a piece of the wooden bed frame in a rage, wedging it under the door when the nurses came knocking for her early one morning and she’d broken down in tears, pleading, needing just one fucking day to sleep –

Yeah. It hasn’t been easy.

Marlene shakes her head, like she can’t believe any of this. “You both understand. I know you do. How important this is. So thank you, for everything you’ve given up so far. For all of the – for everything. I know it’s – there’s been a lot of suffering. The world won’t ever forget it. Won’t ever forget the two of you.” And then she leaves, closing the door gently behind her.

Ellie doesn’t think she’s ever going to be able to sleep. Her heart feels like it could explode – excitement, giddiness, overwhelm, shock. Gooey, warm, stupid affection for the grumpy old man who seems just fine with holding her like this, even though she’s basically a grown ass adult. Who keeps staying with her, even when it doesn’t make any sense.

But Joel’s steady hand stroking her hair has never failed to do the trick, and just a few minutes after Marlene’s gone she’s feeling the tug of sleep, her whole body going mushy. Joel must be falling asleep too – she can feel his arms relaxing around her, the hand in her hair slowing down. So even with the noise of the celebration going on in the hall, she drifts off. The last thing she remembers is Joel kissing the top of her head and whispering, “We’re finally going home, baby girl. You did it.”

----

It takes a long time for her to wake up, and a lot longer for her eyes to open. But as soon as she can feel her body again, she knows something is horribly fucking wrong.

There’s tight pressure on her wrists and ankles. Cold, and hard. It’s fucking metal – thick bands locking her in place against the hard chair she’s in. Her heart starts pounding – this can’t be real. This is just a nightmare – this isn’t - she tries to squirm but she can barely get her muscles to move. Her neck feels floppy, too, like she can hardly hold it up, and her blood runs cold as she realizes she’s been drugged.

The fucking drinks – Marlene – Joel -

She’s in an empty room. The walls are concrete blocks. There’s almost nothing – just speakers in the ceiling overhead, a solid brown door in the wall to her left. A long, wide window in front of her, showing what looks like a dark room. She glances down and sees that the legs of the metal chair she’s in are bolted to the ground.

“What the fuck,” she tries to say, but she can’t get the words out right away. Her tongue feels thick and heavy in her mouth.

“Looks like she’s waking up,” she hears someone say faintly, and after a moment she realizes it’s coming from the other side of the window.

“Joel? Joel?!” Her words come out in garbled, slurred sounds. She tries to scream and it’s hardly a whimper.

All of her senses feel like they’ve been cranked up – she’s shaking, feeling every bead of panicked sweat that’s building up on her skin - hearing her own rapid breaths coming and going, faster and faster. Her mouth goes dry – she’s going to throw up -

There’s a sudden loud click, and a crackling noise floods the room before a voice starts talking. Ellie jumps before she realizes it’s coming from speakers overhead.

“Ellie, it’s Marlene,” she hears. “Don’t be scared.”

But she is fucking scared, because Joel’s gone, and that can only mean one thing.

“Where’s Joel?” she whispers. “I want Joel. I don’t – what’s –”

“You’re okay,” Marlene says. “I’m – I’m so sorry, Ellie. We don’t have any other choice.”

“Let me go,” she tries to say, having a bit more success with getting the words out.

“We’ve done some… really interesting preliminary tests,” another voice that she vaguely recognizes but can’t pin down starts to talk, cutting Marlene off.

“We’ve discovered some frequencies that seem to – have an interesting effect on active cordyceps infections. We’ve done some promising trials with live infected, and we have reason to think that this might be a pathway towards a potential cure.”

She’s getting more control back in her limbs and starts straining hard at the restraints, her skin aching as she digs her flesh into the metal edges. Her breathing is getting more and more panicked - she’ll be lightheaded soon, she knows, if she keeps it up.

“But we have the cure,” she gasps, desperately. “We – we already –”

“No, Ellie. We don’t have a cure. We have a vaccine, because of you,” Marlene says, her voice soft but sounding distorted through the speaker. “And none of us can ever thank you enough for that. You’ve saved so many people. So many lives. But - a vaccine can only keep people safe if they haven’t already been exposed. It won’t help anyone who’s already turned.”

“Why am I tied down? What’s happening?”

“There are so many more people to save, Ellie,” Marlene says, talking faster and sounding a bit breathless herself. “And we think we might have a way to make that happen. I know how much that matters to you. It’s – Anna would be so proud of you.”

There’s a long pause, and then the speaker clicks off. Ellie can hear a whining sound coming out of her chest and throat. She doesn’t fucking want this – she wants Joel, and he isn’t here, and it’s harder to breathe with every second that she can’t feel him next to her, where he’s supposed to stay forever.

“Where’s Joel?” she cries. “Please – I want Joel. Please.”

The silence continues for a few more seconds before the crackling sound comes back. “We’ve learned a lot from our previous tests,” a male voice say, one that she knows well. A nice person – someone she’s grown to really like and trust.

“Doctor Anderson,” she sobs, “Jerry – help me, please -”

“We learned a lot, Ellie – but we need to know more. We need you. None of our previous… subjects could communicate with us. You’re going to be the key to this - we need your help.”

“I’m not helping with fucking ANYTHING UNTIL JOEL IS HERE!” She yells, kicking her legs furiously and making zero headway other than worsening the pain from the metal cuffs. She can feel the bruising pain with every strike of her ankle bone against the metal. She can’t stop.

“He’s gone,” Marlene says. “He left-”

“You’re a fucking liar!” Ellie screams. The sound of her own voice is bounced back at her, her eardrums throbbing from it. “What the fuck did you do to him!”

“This is a waste of time – we’ve indulged this brat long enough,” another gruff voice says, and then there’s some back and forth arguing that she’s too distressed to really make out before the harsh sounding man says firmly, “Carly, please, get the sample ready – are we recording?”

Something in her brain falls apart. She doesn’t know what the fuck is about to happen, but she knows it’s going to kill her.

“Time is 0600 - first phase of testing – baseline, reference number B203 at - 50% initially - ”

The speaker clicks off and the voices stop.

“Let me go,” she’s sobbing.

A noise starts coming into the room from the speakers. It’s a low, humming sound. It goes on for about a minute while she thrashes around and yells, struggling against the restraints in what she knows is a hopeless effort to get away.

The sound stops, and with a click, another voice starts talking. “Do you feel nauseous?”

“Fuck you,” she snarls, “I’m not doing this – I’m not doing another fucking thing for you pieces of shit –”

“Do you feel nauseous?” the voice says again.

Ellie decides that the only option she has is her hands – and it won’t make a fucking difference with her ankles still attached, but if she’s going to die she’s going to at least try every fucking way to survive first. She starts trying to force her hands through the metal cuff, wincing but not letting up as her skin pinches and tugs painfully and the pressure on her bones builds up. She tries to curl her hand as narrow as she can get it, yanking hard – letting go and then yanking back again – she can feel her bones screaming in protest, but she’ll fucking break them all if she has to -

The door bangs open. She turns to look and feels her heart fall into the pit of her stomach.

It’s Joel. Held up by three men, one of his feet rolling to the side and looking like he’s barely able to stand. There’s a pillowcase over his head, horrifyingly bloody. His hands must be tied behind his back.

“You’ll answer every question we ask if you want him to live,” the voice says.

“Joel,” she wails.

As soon as he hears her voice, it’s like something is possessing him. His entire body jerks and the men holding him are instantly struggling to keep him contained. Another couple of guards slide into view to help control him – “Ellie!” he yells, so much fear and rage in his voice – but his voice cuts off completely with a loud and pained wheeze as he’s hit hard in the stomach, folding forward – fresh blood pouring out from the pillowcase, down his neck, soaking into the fabric -

The door slams shut.

All she can hear is the sound of her own rapid breathing. His yell echoing in her ears. Her heart is racing so fast she thinks it’s going to stop.

How can this be happening? She thinks about snow and blood and stitching up a warm and gushing wound, just for him to die here – fire and brains spraying onto her, into her hair -

“Do you feel nauseous?”

“No,” she whispers.

“Do you have a headache?”

It goes on for a while –

“Is your vision blurred?” -

“Have you lost sensation in any part of your body?” -

“Count to thirty, and then count backwards to zero by twos.” –

When the questions are finally done, another sound starts up – over and over, until she loses all sense of how much time has passed. More fuzzy, low, weird sounds, but sometimes shrill and sharp and high – always getting louder, sometimes left playing for minutes at a time. Sometimes hurting to listen to.

One sound in particular is so loud she thinks it’s going to make her lose her hearing – she tries to shrug her shoulders up, desperate trying to cover her ears with no success. They let it run for a long time.

She can’t think of what the fuck to do. Joel would find a way out of this, somehow. But with their threat hanging over her all she can think to do is answer their questions.

What if they’ve already killed him? What if they closed that door and ended his life right there?

After the awful noise comes to a halt she says, “Prove he’s still alive. Or I’m not answering anything else.” She can hardly hear herself over the ringing in her ears.

There’s nothing but silence for a few long seconds, and then a click, and a voice saying, “Answer or he dies. We’re not saying it again.”

She probably shouldn’t, but her temper is so fucking flaming hot she can’t hold back - “If you kill him this is fucking finished,” she screams. “You’ll get fucking nothing from me.”

The door opens again next to her and she spins her head to face it, wide eyed and desperate to see Joel, but it isn’t him. It’s a man she doesn’t recognize. He’s wearing what looks like a fucking space suit, plastic and white and crinkling as he walks over to her.

“Fuck you,” she hisses, spitting at him.

“Ha - that’s what the suits for,” he says casually, barely looking at her. He has a butterfly needle in his hand, and he pins her bicep in place as he jabs it harshly into her elbow, taking two vials of blood. He still doesn’t look up, but he says, with a menacing sort of grin on his face, “We’ve got plenty of ways to make you talk. Don’t start thinking you have any control here. This whole thing is bigger than you.”

Before he walks out, he grabs her head firmly and forces it to stay still while he looks into each of her eyes for a few seconds each. She squeezes them shut but he uses his fingers to pry them open. “Nothing yet,” he calls out loud. When he lets go she tries to bite at his hand, and he laughs in her face.

The door closes.

“Do you feel nauseous?”

She’s hit with a new wave of despair, sobs rolling through her.

A light is turned on in the room on the other side of the window. It wasn’t empty at all – just too dark for her to see anything. There are so many people, all staring at her – Marlene leaning against a counter against the wall with her arms crossed, not looking at Ellie. Tears leaving streaks down her face that shine in the light. Dr Anderson is talking into a little rectangular device - one of the nurses that was always so nice to Ellie is sitting next to him, taking notes on a clipboard.

And then she sees Joel – still alive. The guards are surrounding him, pinning him against the wall as he struggles. She can see the blood-soaked pillowcase moving side to side as he fights to get free. A rifle is pressed tight up against his head.

The light goes out.

“Do you feel nauseous?”

She feels like she’s going to float away from her body as she goes through their questions. When they’re done she hangs her head.

This can’t be fucking happening.

She closes her eyes and tries to go back to before – end this nightmare – get back to being wrapped up in Joel’s arms and feeling like everything was finally going to be okay -

“Time is 0710 hours – initiating testing series zero-one at full volume –”

The sound that pours into the room is like nothing that’s come before it.

Instantly, pain blooms in her head. There’s a stomach curdling, shifting, dragging sensation behind her eyes – movement – and she starts to scream, the jagged noise ripping out of her throat. She has no control over any part of her body anymore – it all feels like it’s burning, itching – her head rolls back in agony as her muscles clench so tightly they feel like they’re going to explode –

The sound cuts off after only a few seconds, and in it’s absence she can suddenly hear what she knows is Joel, yelling, roaring on the other side of the window, accompanied by loud thuds.

Ellie’s head hangs limply, chin against her chest. She’s going to pass out soon, she thinks. She’s pulling in ragged, painful breaths that don’t feel like they’re doing enough. Her whole chest is on fire.

The crackling sound that comes next isn’t followed by the question about being nauseous, but rather the voice of fucking Jerry – the same guy who used to sneak her extra popsicles after dinner and shot the shit with Joel about sports and raising a teenager – asking excitedly, “What did you just feel? What happened?”

All she can do is sob. A few seconds pass before Jerry says, like he’s begging her, “Ellie, come on. Don’t make us do this the hard way. Please.”

Quietly, behind Jerry’s voice, she can make out the sound of Joel groaning - crying.

“Hurt,” she whispers. “My – head.”

It takes a few minutes for her to get out more words, and then come the routine questions. As they get to the end she starts to panic, her body filling with terrified dread at what is going to happen next.

She’s right – it’s worse.

A new noise comes out of the speakers, and she feels the most severe pain she’s ever felt. Her whole body rocks forward and backwards, and then she’s arching up in the chair, trying desperately to get away from it – her muscles tensing and twisting until she thinks she’s about to snap her wrists from the force – and a knife is twisting into her head. The moving sensation behind her eyes is unbearable – revolting, disturbing, unrelenting - she hears herself shrieking as her vision goes black.

And then there’s a sudden popping noise. She can’t tell what it is, through the pain and the blaring, droning sound – but then the window shatters in front of her and she recognizes faintly that it’s a gun. She wonders if she’s going to get hit with a stray bullet and wishes for it, anything, anything at all for this to stop.

The sound is abruptly cut off and she goes limp.

She can make out other noises -

A few more shots. A yell cut short. A heavy weight, slamming into the ground. Gurgling.

The door swings open once again, and -

“Ellie - I’m here, baby, I – oh my god.”

“Joel,” she sobs, writhing desperately in the restraints.

“Fuck,” he grunts, and she feels him digging his fingers between her ankles and the metal rings. “I gotta – I gotta find somethin’ to get you out of here, baby girl – we’re gonna be okay – ”

There’s more shouting in the distance, getting closer. After a few loud, ear splitting gunshots it’s quiet again.

“I gotta – I gotta find the key, baby, I’ll – I’ll be right back,” Joel gasps.

“Don’t leave,” she wails, knowing it isn’t fair and doesn’t make any sense, but too exhausted to stop herself.

He lets out a sob of his own. “Ellie, I have to – I’m sorry baby, I’m – I’ll be right back - ”

She cries as she listens to him run out of the room. He’s back in a few seconds that feel like hours, rushing to her side.

“I got you, it’s okay now,” he says. His voice sounds more panicked and afraid than she’s ever heard it.

His hand briefly touches her face – and then he’s fiddling with the bottom of her jeans, trying to find where the cuffs unlock. The metal feels so cold against her hot skin. She can hear the clanging of metal on metal a few times – his hands must be shaking – and then he finally gets one of her legs free.

“Okay – just a few more and we go,” he’s saying.

“I can’t – Joel, I can’t –” she says, crying, struggling to get the words out.

“You’re okay,” he says, “Everything’s gonna be okay –”

Finally she gets herself to say it. “I can’t - I can’t see anything.”

The sound of his frantic movements stops. He chokes out, sounding like he’s been punched, “Can’t – see?”

She starts bawling so hard she can barely breathe. “Everything went black,” she sobs. “I can’t – I don’t know what’s – Joel, please.” She melts into tears, not able to get any more words out.

“Okay – you’re okay,” he says. She can tell he’s crying again. “I promise. You’re gonna be okay. I’ve got you.”

She feels her grip on reality starting to slip. Everything feels fuzzy.

As soon as Joel gets the last restraint off of her wrist he’s grabbing onto her, sweeping her up in one fluid movement and cradling her in his arms. She buries her face into him, breathing him in as she cries. Fuzzy, warm, soapy.

He starts moving – rushing forward, almost in a run. Ellie feels him press his lips against her head, whispering, “We’re going home, baby girl.”

----

cross posted to ao3, feel free to leave me a kudos if you enjoyed :)

#bad things happen bingo #last of us fic #tlou fanfiction #the last of us fanfiction #joel and ellie #joel did nothing wrong #ellie and joel #tlou #the last of us #prompt: sound torture

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maysileeewrites · 2 years

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three little words - Anakin Skywalker x gn reader

Summary: The first time Anakin says some certain three words …

Warnings: this is honestly just dripping with fluff; soft! Anakin, smitten Anakin, a bit of angst

Word Count: 2.3k

AN: just a (disgustingly) sweet lil scenario I came up with. Don’t worry, Part II of something there is coming as well :)

I have a masterlist :)

„How are you so good at this?“, you panted, trying to regain your breath.

Anakin just smirked, shrugging lazily. „You know, lifelong practice and stuff like that … „, he said, casually twirling his lightsaber.

You rolled your eyes at his words, reaching for the lightsaber Anakin had given you to practice with once more. You were slowly becoming used to the feeling of it in your hand, though it seemed to you as if it was even heavier than a few moments ago, when Anakin had knocked it out of your hand once again.

„You know that lifelong practice means that you’ve actually been practicing lightsaber fighting techniques for a lifetime - which in your case isn’t true“, you told him, getting into a fighting stance.

„Details“, Anakin said, grinning. „Woah - easy there!“ He was at your side in the blink of an eye, catching the lightsaber that had slipped out of your grip with his hand, winding his metal hand around your waist, steadying you. You could feel the hard planes of his muscled body and his steady heartbeat as he held you flush against him.

„I’m fine“, you protested, trying to wriggle yourself out of his grip, but Anakin just held on tighter. You smiled grimly and closed your eyes, knowing what was about to come. If only you hadn’t been so stubborn, wanting to prove that you could still go on practicing.

Sure enough, the next thing Anakin said was: „Want to stop there for today?“

You immediately shook your head. „No“, you said, looking into his sky-blue eyes, willing him to see your resolve.

Anakin grinned at your stubbornness, but the concerned and slightly worried expression wouldn’t leave his eyes. „Alright, we can go through the moves one more time“, he said.

You opened your mouth to protest - going through the moves he’d shown you today only one more time wasn’t enough to truly master them -, but Anakin shook his head. „We’ve been training for nearly two hours already, and you’ve got a fancy dinner to attend later today“, he said. You grimaced at the reminder of the dinner your parents had insisted on you coming along to. You’d tried to argue that there was no need for you to be there - they were the Senate members, not you -, but they’d already made up their minds.

„Fine“, you said, freeing yourself from Anakin’s hold and getting into a fighting stance once more. You wanted to ask Anakin if he would train with you tomorrow as well, but you decided to pose that particular question later. Anakin already seemed to be thinking that you were exerting yourself too much with all the training you insisted on doing, and you didn’t want him to stop training you altogether.

You weren’t a Jedi - technically, there was no need for you to learn lightsaber fighting techniques. But you’d always been curious, always eager to learn new things and you also wanted to be able to defend yourself. Though that hadn’t been the reason why you’d initially asked Anakin to train you.

No, the reason you’d initially asked him to show you some lightsaber fighting techniques was because you’d wanted to get to know him better. You’d first met him when your parents had been attending another Senate meeting on Coruscant a few months ago. As always, they’d insisted on you coming along to the dinner party afterwards. You’d felt miserable for the first half of the evening - listening to the same vain, self-obsessed people you’d known half your life talk about their newest accomplishments and mentally patting themselves on the back could lose its charm very quickly - until you’d accidentally stumbled into Anakin.

You’d felt immediately better, talking to him. There was just something about his presence and his open smile and his sky-blue eyes, always full of emotion, that made you forget that you’d felt lost and miserable only a few moments before. You’d asked Anakin if he could show you some lightsaber fighting techniques that very same evening, and he’d agreed. During the months that had followed, you two had quickly become friends and then, after that one day were Anakin had shown you a new move and his grip on your hand had lingered just a bit too long, something more.

The first time he’d kissed you was after you’d managed to successfully disarm him for the first time, without him deliberately giving you the upper hand. You’d been so thrilled about your accomplishment, you’d hugged him so enthusiastically that you two had fallen over backwards, and you’d landed on top of him. Your cheeks had been bright red from embarrassment, but Anakin had just laughed joyously, before kissing you softly.

„Hey, Y/N, you ready?“, Anakin said, interrupting your thoughts.

„Wha- sure, sure“, you said, shaking your head, trying to focus on the present moment again.

„Good, I thought I’d lost you there for a second“, Anakin said, laughing softly. You couldn’t help but smile upon hearing his laugh - it was your favorite sound in the whole Galaxy.

You tightened your grip on your lightsaber, looking at Anakin.

He nodded at you, smirking challengingly. „Show me what you’ve got“, he said.

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes at his words and tried to focus your thoughts on the sequence Anakin had taught you these last few days. Though you knew that you’d never be nowhere near as good at lightsaber combat as he was, you still wanted him to see you as his equal. It was a stupid notion, you knew that. Anakin had stated time and time again that he didn’t care that you weren’t a Jedi - in his eyes it was simply a fact. He was a Jedi, and you weren’t. He was Force sensitive, and you weren’t.

In your eyes it wasn’t all that simple though. What if you two got attacked - not exactly an unlikely scenario, since he was a famous Jedi General and you were the child of two famous politicians - and Anakin wouldn’t only have to defend himself, but watch out for you as well? You didn’t want to be a hindrance, slowing him down.

And, worse yet, what if someday he would get bored of you and your non-existent Force abilities? You hadn’t been together that long, but sometimes you worried that one day Anakin would realize that you were nothing special. You weren’t Force sensitive like he was, you didn’t have your mother’s sharp analytical mind or your father’s ability to get an entire room full of people to listen to him and cling to his every word. You were just you. You -

„Whenever you’re ready, Y/N“, Anakin said, still grinning, but his eyes had taken on a worried expression once more. He must have picked up on your confusion and the irrational fears churning through your veins.

Not wanting to linger on these fears any longer, you took a deep breath - and activated your lightsaber, before you sprang forward, attacking.

Anakin parried the strikes of your lightsaber with ease, and soon you two were locked in a dance of the sequence he’d shown you, striking and then blocking the other’s move, before attacking again.

You both knew that Anakin could easily overpower you if he truly wanted to - he could just use the Force to do so -, but during the months you’d been training together, you’d slowly but surely gotten better at fighting. Anakin was the more skilled and accomplished fighter of you two, but sometimes, he could also get distracted very easily.

Like right now.

„Is that all you got, Skywalker?“, you said teasingly, getting ready to strike at him with your lightsaber once more.

„Not even close“, Anakin replied, smirking. His eyes were focused on your lightsaber, so he didn’t see your right foot swinging out, locking around his legs.

„Really?“, you said, drawing your foot back, making Anakin lose his balance.

He stumbled, and then he was falling. You grinned, not quite able to believe that you’d actually pulled of this move, when you felt a hand close around your wrist.

You landed on top of Anakin, who was looking at you with a wide smile on his face. „That was really good!“, he said, blue eyes locking onto yours.

„Really?“, you said, already beginning to doubt yourself again. Disarming Anakin had never been that easy, he couldn’t have been that distracted by your words. Maybe he’d only pretended to be caught unaware by your move, deliberately letting you win, because he’d sensed you worrying earlier.

„Yes, really, Y/N! You’re so great, I love you!“

„I - what?“, was all you could manage to say, your eyes widening in shock. Had he really just said these words you’d been dreaming about hearing him say for so long?

„I love you, Y/N“, Anakin said, smiling softly, blushing. His blue eyes were still locked onto yours and in them you could see a swirling ocean of emotions. Joy. Excitement. Hope. Love.

Love.

There were so many things you wanted to say to him - you wanted to tell him that you loved him too, and that you’d been working up the courage to say those three little words to him for a while now. You wanted to tell him that your life had truly changed for the better since you’d met him and that you loved him for that. You loved him for always being there for you. He made you feel that you could be yourself around him - truly yourself, with all your flaws and weaknesses and your annoying quirks - and you loved him for that as well.

You wanted to say all of these things, but the only thing that came out of your mouth was: „Really?“

Anakin furrowed his brows in confusion. „I - I mean, you really - you really - love me?“, you hastened to say.

„Really“, Anakin said, his expression softening. He reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind your ear. You shivered as his fingertips touched you, leaning into the touch.

He loved you. Anakin loved you. He loved you. He loved you. No matter how many times you thought these words, you still couldn’t believe them, not really.

„Say it again“, you whispered breathlessly and Anakin smiled, gently stroking your cheek with his fingertips.

„I love you, Y/N“, he said softly, before leaning up to capture your lips in a featherlight kiss.

He broke away, still smiling up at you, his blue eyes filled with love. „I love you, Y/N“, he said again, and his other hand came to rest on the small of your back, drawing lazy circles on your skin. „I love you. And I don’t care that you’re not a Jedi. I don’t care that you’re not a politician, either. I don’t care about any of that. I don’t care that you’re not Force sensitive. I love you because you’re you. I love you for being you. You’re perfect just the way you are, and don’t ever let anyone tell you any differently.“

„I - „, you started to say, but stopped when you felt your throat close up. Anakin sometimes had a certain way with words that made anything you could think about saying in response seem bland and lackluster in comparison.

„You don’t have to say anything“, Anakin said, as if he’d read your thoughts. „I just wanted you to know that I love you.“

He kissed you again, longer this time. You felt your heart swell with joy, just thinking about the things Anakin had just said to you. You buried your hands in his curls, needing to ground yourself. Anakin loved you. Already, you wanted to hear him say these words again. And you wanted to tell him that you loved him, too.

So you broke away, smiling shyly at him. „I love you too, Anakin“, you said and before you knew it, he’d captured your lips in another kiss.

„You don’t know how long I’ve been dreaming about hearing you say these words“, Anakin said breathlessly, after he’d broken away from you.

„Me too“, you admitted, blood rushing to your cheeks.

„Well, you know that now I’ll need to hear you say it all the time, right?“, Anakin said and you laughed. He could be such a dork sometimes.

You kissed him once more, before nuzzling your face into the crook of his neck. Anakin immediately closed his arms around you, before reaching for your hands and lacing your fingers together.

„I wish we could just stay like this forever“, you mumbled into the skin of his neck.

„I know“, Anakin sighed, squeezing your hand, „but your parents will murder me if you show up late to that dinner.“

„Can’t we just stay here?“, you whined.

Anakin laughed, causing the butterflies in your stomach to spread their wings once more. „Trust me, I want nothing more than that, but I really don’t think that’s a good idea.“

„I know“, you said. You knew how your parents could be.

So you kissed Anakin once more, before getting up and carefully laying your lightsaber to the side. Still, you lingered around longer than usual after changing out of your training clothes and back into your regular clothes.

„See you later tonight, after the dinner?“, you asked Anakin when you were hugging him goodbye.

„Of course“, he said. „I love you, Y/N.“

„I love you too, Anakin“, you said, smiling as you turned around. The smile didn’t leave your face as you walked away from Anakin. You were smiling the whole night long, all through the dinner party and all the different speeches you had to sit through.

Anakin loved you. You were certain that this thought - and the memory of hearing him say these words - would get you through anything.

divider credit: @racingairplanes

taglist: @ahqkas @zelzablues @khaleesihavilliard @stxrrielle

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mangoshorthand · 9 months

Text

Thing of the Past- [Five Hargreeves x F Reader]. Ch6 (Hard Feelings Part 4)

SUMMARY: You can't avoid it any longer: Five has to meet your parents. It goes more wrong than you could possibly imagine, spiralling to bring up secrets he'd rather stay buried.

⚠️TRIGGER WARNINGS⚠️ Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven/Epilogue

The morning after, Five's memories and self-blame still haunt him

⚠️Please heed content warning⚠️

Chapter 6: My Twat Now

You’re glad you woke up first. Half of you was convinced he’d have disappeared by morning. By now, you’ve brought him a cup of coffee that he sips on the bed. His eyes are still puffy and he's still in his shirt and trousers. You’re faring little better, although you've wiped off the remnants of yesterday’s makeup and put on a robe.

After allowing himself to be held last night, this morning he’s taciturn and unwilling to respond to you. He’s clearly on edge.

There’s a rap at the door.

Five jumps, nearly spilling his coffee.

“It’s just breakfast,” you soothe, crossing to the door.

But it's not breakfast: It’s Lila, holding Aoife.

“Hi,” she says, with uncharacteristic tentativeness. “Is…Five in?”

“Erm…”

“It’s just…I think I may have upset him last night and I wanted-”

“Go away Lila,” he growls.

She doesn’t listen. She walks smartly around you and around the corner to the bed. She stops dead when she sees Five.

“My God, you look like shit.” Her words might in-keep with their usual banter, but her face and voice don’t. She’s clearly concerned.

He looks daggers at her but she only passes Aoife to him. He puts his coffee on the bedside table and takes her. He’s upset that Lila’s barged in, but once he’s held his daughter to him for a few moments, his anger abates slightly. He turns his face to Aoife’s cheek while she pulls his hair.

Meanwhile, you make another pot of coffee. While you’re busy, they begin to talk.

“Diego told me what happened with Geri just before the ceremony.” The flicker of anger in Five’s worn eyes makes her hold up both hands in placation, “I didn’t tell him... what we talked about." she gives you a quick, worried look, "he just told me it creeped him out.”

Your head snaps towards them.

“What happened?”

Lila looks from you to Five. He jerks his head: "She knows about your Mom. You can tell her about hers."

“Diego says she got...creepy. She stroked your neck? Stuck her fingers down your collar?”

You make eye contact with Five and he gives a confirmatory nod. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath:

“It was the way she looked at Diego when she did it. Like he was next once she'd finished with me." Five shudders, “it was like insects crawling inside my skin.” he jerks his neck, sliding Aoife onto the bed as he recoils into himself, rubbing at the spot, “It was like….”

He doesn’t finish but, when he opens his eyes, they glance at Lila.

“When I asked you about my Mum, I swear I didn’t know that had happened. I shouldn't have mentioned it at all, all right? I'm sorry."

He shrugs. He just wishes she'd brought it up years ago; before it would kill him to do what he needed to do. Lila continues,

"I was thinking, the stuff with Geri. It probably brought it all up anyway?”

“I guess it did.”

You’ve stopped in the act of stirring Lila’s coffee. The extra context fits everything together. He said he’d been through all that and he just…put up with it when your Mom cornered him in her kitchen? He laughed about it?”

You leave the coffee and the room, letting the door slam behind you.

Five looks in the direction of the door, hurt and abandonment writ large on his face. But it’s for the best. They have a daughter together, sure, but the marriage can be annulled. They can co-parent but you'll be out of his life. Out of his…cycle of abuse. He puts his head into his hands as he realizes he probably shouldn’t even see Aoife. He’s dangerous, dirty, perverse. He can barely look at her on the bed beside him.

He fingers his wedding ring. He wants to blink away, to disappear from their lives, but he can't muster the energy. Instead, he draws his knees up again and covers his face with his hands.

“Hey.” Lila’s voice is soft. "Don't worry. She just needs some time to get her head around it."

He doesn't respond. She can't even hear if he's crying. She walks over to the bed and sits down on the end. She reaches out to touch his calf but thinks better of it. Seeing Five like this is extremely disquieting. She’s seen him upset before, but never desolate.

“Come on arsehole,” she says, “don’t crack up on me.”

Out in the hall, you aren’t sure where your legs are carrying you until you’re knocking heavily on Ellie’s door. In times of trouble, she’s always the one you run to; the one who understands.

She had been the one you’d stayed with to recover after Five’s aborted attempt to assassinate you. So far, she had never pressed, never demanded answers. She would just be there for you, as you would for her.

When she opens the door, you fall into her arms and she guides you unquestioningly inside.

He stood outside his hotel room, somehow knowing she was in there. He felt like a prey animal: a rabbit scenting a vixen on the breeze. He closed his eyes, biting his tongue and gripping the briefcase’s handle even more tightly, giving himself a few moments to prepare.

‘Come on old man. Get it together. It won’t be so bad.’

He didn’t let his hand shake as it fished his keys out of his pocket. It did, however, brush his dick. It wasn’t hard, not even semi hard, but it seemed…aware of his situation. Pushing down the shame, he squared his shoulders and pulled his hat more firmly onto his head.

The door clicked closed behind him. She was sitting on his bed, legs crossed at the knee. Her top leg bobbed, drawing attention to one of her heeled shoes, dancing in mid-air. He tried to seem unconcerned, as if her appearance here was of no concern to him.

“I thought I’d find you here,” he said, removing his hat.

She smiled slowly, knowingly; drawing out the seconds before replying to him. She wanted to make it clear that she was in control here. She was wearing a structured red velvet suit; the jacket tight to the waist and the skirt falling to just below the knee. White ruffles frothed from the cuffs and collar.

“Well, hello Number Five. Haven’t we surpassed ourselves?”

“Nice suit,” he murmured, putting the briefcase and hat down on the dresser and removing his coat.

“Thank you,” she said, stroking the jacket’s hem. “It’s Chanel. You think I’d come to Paris in 1938 and not pay Coco a visit?”

She drew his eyes conspiratorially, bringing a hand with sharp, painted nails to her mouth, as if to shield her words from listeners.

“This piece is supposed to end up in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art…but I won’t tell if you don’t.”

His small talk depleted, he simply gave a strained smile and fell into a parade rest several feet away from her.

“How can I help?”

“Oh, Five,” she gave a tinkling laugh, “why so dour? I’m here to congratulate you. I always knew you were a good investment but today you just knocked it out of the park.”

“Thank you.” he said, stiffly.

“You never do things halfway, do you? Am I right in thinking you know why you’re here?”

“ Édouard Daladier, right? I was supposed to take out Jean Michel so he doesn't stop Daladier signing the Munich agreement?”

She patted the bed beside her and he shook his head mutely. She pouted, a gleam of amusement in her eyes, but answered him nevertheless.

“You couldn’t get to Jean Michel, so you took out that little boy instead. May I ask why?”

Five strolled to the small hotel minibar, trying to appear relaxed.

“I knew there was only a limited window so I had to think on my feet. Jean Michel happens to be having an affair with his secretary, Adele Bonnet.” he raised his eyebrows in The Handler’s direction, silently offering her a drink.

“Open that champagne, Five. We’re celebrating a job extremely well done. On the company, of course.”

He nodded his acknowledgment, popping the cork and pouring it carefully into two glasses. She gave a little ‘Ooh!’ of concern as it almost fizzed over the rim of the glass. Immediately after handing her one, he stepped back and leaned up against the minibar with one leg crossed over the other in a good impression of casual unconcern.

“Adele’s son is Claude. In a few weeks, Claude gets ill. He catches a throat infection. He keeps Adele up all night, so she isn’t willing to sleep with Jean Michel the next day, freeing up Jean to piss off Daladier so much on the morning he’s due to travel to Munich that the whole agreement falls apart.”

Her head tilted to one side.

“And what does this have to do with little Christian?”

“Christian is a schoolmate of Claude's. He passes him the throat infection. With him out of the equation, Jean will be too busy boning Adele to get in Daladier’s way.”

She smiled, genuinely impressed, “My, my. Aren’t we the clever one? How did you work it out?”

Five shrugged, “Just math. I put together a quick probability map. It led me to Christian quickly.”

She gave him a tiny round of applause, one hand clapping softly against the one holding the stem of her glass.

“Very, very good…but I’m sorry to say you trod on some toes back at headquarters.”

He lowered his brow and waited.

“Your orders were to terminate Jean Michel.”

“And I couldn’t get to Jean Michel,” he said, tersely, “would you rather I’d left it?”

She stood up and walked over to him slowly, again dragging out time at her leisure, enjoying keeping him on conversational tenterhooks. She was inches from him, in his personal space; so close he could hear the fizz of her champagne.

“You misunderstand me, Five.” Her free hand drifted up to his chin and stroked him, “I’m very, very proud of you. It’s those bores back at HQ. They say you're a loose cannon. A.J. Carmichael was talking about dropping you straight back in the 2060s where I found you... but don’t you worry yourself about it," her voice turns doting, "I fixed it for you.”

Her hand was cupping his entire face now, rubbing his cheek in small circles. A squirming sensation crept up the back of his neck. Somewhere below his waistband, he felt reluctant stirring. She pouted again:

“Well? I put my ass on the line for you. Don’t you have something to say to me?”

He hesitated. Which response? Should he capitulate here and keep her happy? Or would that just be the first capitulation of many? If he didn’t, would that spur her to worse revenge?

“…Thank you.” he said, compromising by saying it with a hint of sarcasm.

“There we go. That’s a boy...my best asset.”

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. He closed his eyes and tried to remain emotionless- to go somewhere else. The kiss was close-mouthed and chaste but for her hand creeping under his suit jacket, nails deliberately scraping a nipple still covered by his shirt. When she pulled away and he opened his eyes, he found her staring at him, unblinking.

“You just need to learn to follow orders,” and then, with a smile spreading like butter across her face, “so take off your clothes.”

“…No. N-no thanks.”

“Take off your clothes.”

He tried to withdraw, but the minibar left him nowhere to go.

“I don’t want to. Let’s just have a drink. I need to sleep- I need-”

She placed a single finger over his lips.

“You need me. You know you need me more than I need you. Is A.J. right? Are you a loose cannon?”

He breathed in, breathed out and reclosed his eyes. He removed his jacket and discarded it.

“Good boy,” she crooned.

Her patronizing tone made annoyance build. His eyes flew open again and he looked briefly into her face, hatred welling within him. Good: hatred was better than the alternative. He let his anger lend his fingers efficiency, stripping off his tie and shirt in a matter of seconds.

“Now we’re eager, aren’t we?”

“Just get it over with.” he said, growling it through his teeth as he removed his pants and underwear, exposing his semi-hardness to her.

She tut-tutted, looking from his crotch to his face with wry amusement. Then, she stepped back to free up his passage to the bed, hands going to her skirt fastening.

“You’re in for a treat,” she said, nose wrinkling in an indulgent, mocking smile, “You have the tendency to make quite the mess, and there is no way I am endangering an original Chanel. So, today, you get to see the whole of me. Tits ‘n’ all…let’s call it an attaboy.”

“Lucky me,” he muttered darkly.

As she straddled him, undressed, he looked pointedly away from her. He studied the bedside lamp. Her hot breath crept across his skin as she lowered her head, lips brushing the shell of his ear.

"So tell me," she whispered, "did you enjoy it?"

He never talked to her during and he was not about to start then.

"How did it feel to kill a child?"

By now, room service has arrived in the bridal suite and breakfast is set out on the table, Lila eats one of Five’s waffles uninvited. He ignores it, drinking a new cup of coffee and watching Aoife butt-shuffling along the floor.

He starts as you re-enter the room. After a quick cry, now you can be as strong as he needs you to be. Lila looks over at you, clearly relieved but annoyed too.

“Where were you, shithead? You had him thinking you’d left. Thought I’d have to give him a cuddle!”

“I’m sorry. I just needed to get my head on straight. I’m fine now.” you turn fully to Lila, “Can you give us ten?”

She nods, picking Aoife up as she leaves the room. You give her a grateful nod and she pulls you into a one-armed hug.

“I’ll stay close.” she murmurs into your ear.

When the door closes behind her, you sit in front of Five. You make eye contact and hover your hand above his foot. He nods almost imperceptibly so you lay your hand on it, stroking him. He’s silent for a while, twisting his wedding ring on his finger as you rub his toes through his sock, working tension out with careful thumbs. You don’t speak, getting him used to your touch again. At last, he closes his eyes and leans his head back.

“We should still go to Marseille.”

His eyebrows contract and then relax. The corner of his mouth spasms and then he looks away.

“I don’t feel much like honeymooning.” he mumbles.

You try to smile.

“You promised me vineyards, Mister.”

He snaps, “Wouldn’t want a little thing like me getting raped get in the way of that now, would we?”

It's the first time he's said it. It seems to have taken him by surprise. You squash your own feelings and rub him deeper.

“I'm sorry, darling. I was joking."

He tosses his head as if trying to dislodge a fly.

You add your other hand to his foot, massaging the arch, allowing him some time to calm down. Not only are you glad to hear him say the word, you're relieved to see his characteristic bite appear again. He’s bent, but not broken. After a few minutes, you hit the right spot on his foot and he breathes out contentedly, seemingly in spite of himself.

“I think we should go because you need to rest. We don’t even have to leave the room if you don’t want to. You can talk, you can stay quiet, whatever works. Thanks to Herb, we can stay as long as you need to get back to yourself. We’ll be back before Aoife even knows we’re gone.”

He draws his knees up again. You follow his foot and place your hand on top, patiently waiting for him to reply.

“You’re supposed to have sex on a honeymoon.”

“But we don’t need to.”

“I’d want to.”

“Good. So would I.”

He shakes his head again, angrily. You lift both his legs, stretch them out again and place them on your knee, now using both hands to rub his feet. He sighs minutely and you feel him relax a tiny bit.

“Do you want to talk it through?”

He huffs, “What good would it do?”

“Okay. Fine. Just…come away with me. If sex happens, it happens. If not, it doesn’t. No pressure, no expectation. Come with me and relax. You spend all your time trying to do what’s best for your family, but you’re the foundation stone of my family. Let me look after you like you deserve.”

He meets your eyes, his thick lashes shading his irises. His expression is inscrutable. He looks away and seems to come to a decision. He takes a deep breath and says:

“Okay. If I shower now, can you start getting the luggage ready?”

You smile, surprised it was this easy to persuade him,

“Of course.”

He heaves himself off the bed, takes a lingering look at your face and heads for the bathroom.

He stops short of the bathroom door. His hands slip into his pockets and his hips tilt slightly. As his shoulders hunch, he speaks, not looking at you.

“…I love you. Whatever else, I really do love you. And...thank you for...last night. For everything."

"I love you too. And that's what partners do. We look after each other."

Still facing away from you, he nods slowly. Then, he disappears into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

You're left staring at the wall separating the bathroom from the rest of the suite. Your stomach gives an anxious squirm.

After twenty minutes, you have the suitcases collected in the center of the room with the briefcase beside them. There’s no need to pack your wedding dress; it will still be here when you get back; in what will seem like ten minutes after you leave.

He’s usually fast and efficient when it comes to washing himself. An unpleasant suspicion nags so you tune your ears to the shower, listening for the tell-tale irregular sounds beyond the water’s flow that indicate it splashing off a body rather than just into the shower tray. You don't hear any uneven drops.

“Five?”

You jimmy the privacy lock with a thumb. The shower stands running empty and his wedding ring sits on the side of the sink.

Down in the lobby, Five hears her blink out of the mimicked portal as he stalks towards the street.

“Leave me alone Lila.”

She blinks again, directly in front of him now with Aoife on her hip. She places her hand on his chest.

“Don’t even think about it.” she says, dangerously, “Otherwise, Auntie Lila is going to hand Daddy’s ass to him, isn’t she Aoife?”

Five’s jaw sets. His hair, only towel-dried, clings to his forehead.

“We both know I could kick your ass into next week and then some,” he thrusts his chin towards her face, threateningly, “Leave me alone and mind your damn business.”

“It is my business, shitstain. She was my Mum and you’re my…brother-in-law. And you’re my mate’s bloke, so you don’t get to piss off like this!”

Aoife whimpers then. She’s just been blinked twice without a warning and now Daddy and Auntie Liley are shouting. Five looks from Lila to her and the harsh lines of his face relax some. As she begins to cry, her expression makes her look like you. When she stretches her arms out for him, he takes her without question, without thinking.

“Vieni da me. Mi dispiace, bimba. It's okay, sweetheart. Too many blinks, huh?”

She makes a tearful, babbled response in which the word “Papà” is discernible.

“I know. I know, little girl. Non andrò”

Her warm weight anchors him in the real, the solid: the almost normal life he's built for himself. Blink away- from this? Leave his baby girl? How could he have entertained it, even for a second?

To Aoife, he's nothing but her gentle, loving Daddy. The man whose warm arms and familiar smell comfort her when she's sad or tired or sick. Aoife's Daddy would never let his past get in the way of loving her because he had none; he sprung into being along with her. This has to be his new focus point; he has to be Daddy now. If he can do that, then all the rest goes away; like it never was. Like it never happened.

Except it did. The bleeding and all.

“You’re a…really good Dad.”

He looks back up at Lila, already knowing that he will be going back upstairs with her- that he will be putting his wedding ring back on and going to Marseille.

“Don’t throw it away because she made you think you don’t deserve it. Don’t let her take that from you too. She tried it on me and I won’t see you let her win.”

“Oh great,” he says, planting a kiss on Aoife’s cheek “so you feel sorry for me?”

“No, of course I don't! I’d feel much worse if Mum had raped a nice guy. I still think you’re a total twat. But...” she punches him gently on the shoulder, “you’re my twat now.”

He should be offended, but he isn’t. It’s actually nice just to be treated normally. It’s bizarre that this makes him feel better…but it feels like confirmation that she still sees him the same- that he's not some freak or, worse, a victim. He looks at her and she reads some small part of his gratitude on his face.

She quickly shakes off any small threat of sentimentality in her tone.

“Come on. Get your arse back upstairs. You’ve got some grovelling to do.”

Tag list: (please comment to be added or removed.) @dilfjohhny , @sunsunhe, @w4stedtr4sh, @nevbrooke-555, @theredvelvetbitch, @td-miley01, @five-hxrgreeves, @rorygi1more, @jamiebower88

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hsmtmts-arrows · 7 months

Note

the secret is... maddox is half-siren. her brother jet is fully siren.

her mother was ashamed of having loved a human so she dropped maddox onto shore with a note that simply said 'be kind.' (maddox found it, years later. she doesn't know if her mother meant whoever took her in, or to maddox herself.) the person who took her in was sweet and kind, but her biological father insisted that that was his kid, got it proved in court that maddie was 'stolen' and he officially got custody of her:((( he wasnt a Great dad and he threatened to tell the town (which wasn't so accepting of merfolk in general) about her being nonhuman, which scared her into listening to him most of the time. however, this didn't stop her from becoming a bit of a rebel and singing in a few bars and enchanting the townsfolk (think this clip)

but years down the line, when maddox was around 12-13, when she went down to the beach at night (when her dad was asleep and couldn't berate her for whispering to the waves), she was surprised by a siren who looked worse for wear. she only tells maddox that, in her mother's final moments, she'd told her to go to this harbour, where 'his sister could keep him safe', and she just goes ??????BROTHER????? HUH?????????? and she thrusts a sleeping, slightly injured child at him then, with a terrified glance at the town, darts back underwater.

maddox now has a siren brother to tend to, and she doesn't even know shit about sirens beyond the books she keeps hidden in the floorboards underneath her bed.

naturally, she runs away from her father, skipping from town to town and getting money for food, medical supplies and shelter. jet, her brother's name turns out to be, is by now fine and a little frustrated at this random human taking care of him but he hushes, partly because maddox is a talented siren, partly because he's kinda in awe of her. his mom has only mentioned his sister in passing.

cue maddox one night, counting her coins, when a guy comes up to her. she instantly backs away, hand jumping to the knife she keeps strapped to her side, and he raises his scarred hands. "hey, kiddo, i'm not gonna hurt ya. how old are you? surely, you're too young to be doing this gig?" he gestures at the bar. "hell, aren't you too young to be here at all?"

and she glares and basically tells him to fuck off, and brushes him off when he expresses concern. he asks what she's doing here, she just says money, and he agrees to that. a moment passes, and out of the blue, he asks. "would you wanna join my crew?"

maddox is surprised by the lack of further prodding and shocked at the question. he briefly explains the pros and cons, but to her the pros far outweigh the cons... with just one thing. jet. he tells her he can find her at the docks, then leaves.

she makes up a plan to have jet, who's pretty much fully healed by now, to follow the boat, and when he expresses skepticism, she says its her- it's their chance at a free life. he can see how much she longs for it, but says yes.

(it's the reason why they argue later on. jet wants to be fully free. he's tired, and doesn't know just how much maddox has sacrificed for him - he was too young to really understand. he sees her happy, living her own life, while he's stuck chasing a ship for what feels like eternity. maybe it is.)

so, basically, maddox sneaks food and stuff to jet, and sometimes even sneaks him into the lowest part of the ship :))) that's the secret!!!

KJHFKJFHDSKHJ FHSDYES YES YES LETS DO THIS I LOVE THIS AU SO FUCKING MUCH ALREADY THEY'RE MY BABYS I WANT TO PROTECT THEM SO MUCH

#maddox as a pirate in general has changed my brain chemistry #pirate au #AS A SIREN TOO? KFJHKFDH #like yh that kinda checks out

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proudspidermom24 · 1 year

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Family Meeting

Big Mama sits everyone down at the round dinner table, Jennika across from her, and the other children scattered at random chairs. Scylla is sitting (more like crouching, her feet are flat on the chair,) next to Crollo, who is sitting next to Big Mama on the right. To the right of the Rion Children, sits Theo, and to the right of him sits Tenzu and Miko. To the left of Big Mama sits Venus, Splinter, Aarav (who just showed up, for some reason,) and Willa. Sheena is sitting next to Jennika.

“So…” Big Mama starts. “Who would like to start? Jennika?”

"Why am I even here?"

Sheena purses her lips, but doesn't speak. Her arm moves under the table as if she's grabbing Jennika's hand.

Big Mama raises an eyebrow at her second eldest, tilting her head. “This meeting is about you, Jenny. You’re hurting, clearly. We, as a family, have not been as attentive as we should be, to you. And that is an issue. So, we should talk about it.”

Crollo nods vaguely, clearly off in his own head, as Scylla kinda shuffles oddly in her hair, tapping on her kneecaps. Miko, stretching their paws a little, looks over at Jennika.

“Kiddo, we’ve been looking at your blog. You’re clearly not okay. And you’re listening to the anons, who are telling you outright lies. We’re… sorry you feel that your siblings aren’t listening to you,” Miko says coolly, whipping Scylla’s feet out from under her so she’ll sit properly in the chair. Scylla gives a surprised yelp at that. “But if you’re feeling hurt, you need to tell us about these things. Not bottle it up.”

“Yeah… we’re worried, dude.” Crollo says softly. Everything he’s done lately has been soft. Quiet. “And I know this is stupidly hypocritical coming from me, but you gotta tell us stuff. We do care about you, a lot. And we’re sorry we don’t listen to you. Right Scy?”

Scy blinks for a minute when everyone turns to look at her. “Uh. Yeah. We’re… sorry, Jen.” It does sound genuine, despite her general demeanour. Which is very rare, coming from Scylla.

Splinter and Aarav say nothing, understandably. They’re just here for the pancakes Big Mama is going to make later. Sheena also doesn't speak, continuing to silently support her wife the best she can.

“We’re sorry we don’t listen to you, and that we screw things up, and that we don’t take care of ourselves.” Venus says. “We don’t mean to make your life so difficult.”

“Yeah.” Scylla mumbles in agreement.

Jennika’s brow tightens in frustration, her jaw setting angrily. It’s an expression Big Mama has seen on her quite a few times, her eyes dark and stormy as she tries to control what little anger is still festering after hers and Theo’s fight.

Theo keeps eating the leftover pancakes that Big Mama provided early. Slowly. Almost comedically.

“Jennika, do you actually believe any of the things you were told?” Crollo asks. “From the asks, I mean. You really can’t believe anything they say, sis, I’m serious. They’re… mean.”

“Yeah.” Willa nods.

“They’re just a buncha bullies, Jen.” Scy adds. “They did this to Crollo, they did this to Shiro, they did it to like, half my friends… You can’t listen to them.”

“They did it to me.” Splinter hums. “And I know I’m not exactly part of the family conversation, but I have been in this situation. These people will lie to you, Jennika. Try and get in your head, which you have clearly allowed them to do.”

“Exactly.” Crollo points at him.

Aarav sneaks over to Theo’s side and steals a pancake. As does Willa. Theo glares at them in mock offense.

Jennika stares at the table for a bit, until Sheena puts her hand on her back, and her expression flickers slightly.

"It's different when they're things you've already told yourself beforehand."

Everyone goes a bit quiet for a second, some in concern, some in… quiet agreement. Theo mumbles, “Yeah. I know.” and Big Mama feels her heart squeeze.

Scylla can feel barbed wire wrapping around her throat, tears burning at her eyes. It’s her fault, is it not? She just had to be argumentative and stupid and stubborn.

Crollo bunches his hoodie in his hands. If he wasn’t so damn scared, he would just tell her why it wasn’t her fault, any of their faults, but no. He had to be a coward.

Sheena's eyes shine with unshed tears, feeling as if she hasn't done enough to help Jenny. She takes a deep breath and lays her head on Jenny's shoulder, trying to provide more comfort.

By far though, the parents in the room feel the most guilty. They should have taken care of their daughter, should have paid more attention to her.

Just because a pillar is the strongest, does not mean it does not need the support of others.

A vaguely translated proverb that come to mind. One Big Mama’s own mother told her when she was young.

“Do you really believe all of that?” Scy mumbles.

“...Well.” Jennika, her expression what would usually be considered stone-faced, though to her family reads as contemplative, a little pained. “Clearly no one cares about how much I try to help. I try to get you guys to help yourselves and you just brush me off.”

Every one of her siblings is generally at a loss for words. None of them are exactly… fantastic with emotions. And expressing said emotions.

“We’re sorry you feel that way, what would you like for us to do to change that?” Miko says, their voice soft.

“I don’t know. Listen to me? Actually talk about your issues instead of doing the literal dumbest shit possible?” Jennika sighs a little. “And please, Scylla, for once stop getting up while you’re healing and being an idiot? Perhaps?”

Scylla tries really hard not to simultaneously cry and joke about her being fairly sure she can’t die. Fell 20 miles from a space ship and only lost a leg. And feeling in her lower back. And a good half gallon of blood.

“Okay.” She manages to mumble out through barely held tears and intrusive thoughts.

“Well, one of the things you tell us to do all the time is go to therapy…” Tenzu hums. “Maybe we could all go together? As a family thing?”

“Ah yes. Family bonding.” Crollo mumbles, Theo laughing a little at that. Even Sheena manages a smile.

“...That sounds good.” Jennika nods. “At least you guys wont be doing dumb shit.”

“Okay. That sounds good. Right, Arachne?” Miko looks over at Big Mama, who nods.

“I can get in contact with Xio.” She hums.

“...Do I have to come-”

“Yes.” Everyone cuts Theo off.

“Okay then.” He sighs.

#rottmnt venus #rottmnt ask blog #rottmnt oc #rottmnt #big mama rottmnt #big mama #jennika #crollo rion #scylla rion #rion siblings #theodore #miko inu #sheena #aarav #willa #rottmnt fic #minific

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drawing-way-outside-the-lines · 8 months

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➖ Mature content, 18+ ➖ check the trigger tags each time ➖

Chapter 49 - I need your advice.

Episode 3. Sam: At some point along his sobbing, he got enough, got off the floor and walked to his room, grabbed his laptop, walked to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of McKinney-made alcohol and poured a glass, wiping his eyes while he quickly found his way to the only thing he could think of right now. Pornhub!

Adrian: I need your advice.

Raven: He startled surprised and turned around, looking at Adrian standing behind him in his living room all of a sudden Well good evening to you too he spoke in a slightly amused tone and stood up so he could better face his uninvited boyfriend, then frowned soft as he noticed the look on Adrian's face, stuck somewhere between sadness, anger and confusion What happened? his voice soft and concerned now

Adrian: He sighed deep It's Sam… I feel like he's slipping from my hands.

Raven: I see he slowly walked closer, grabbing one of Adrian's hands how about we sit down with a beer and try to figure it out, together?

Adrian: He nodded soft, then surprisingly wrapped his arms around Raven's waist and buried his face in his hair, softly sobbing

Raven: It's okay, we will find a solution. He quickly wrapped his arms around Adrian, stroking his back soothingly

Andy: He had been parked for a while, not far from the drama at Sam's house, trying to take care of business on his own, he had already finished twice, but it wasn't doing it for him. He needed more. Much more. He looked at the time, it wasn't late enough for bar patrol yet, but it was too late for a diner hook up. He could head for a portal, jump to NY… although it would be way too early in the day over there…. he could do the forest. Yes. He nodded to himself and opened the glove department, grabbing a joint, lighting it Get lit, get fucked he chuckled hoarsely to himself and lit the joint, taking a big drag of it, then suddenly noticed a small bag in the bottom of the car, kicked a bit to the side on the passenger floor wtf? He grabbed the bag, noticing the teddy bear Shit! *He contemplated a bit what to do, while still smoking, deciding the house would be full of people, so no danger in dropping off the bear, right? He turned the ignition, but his car just made a sad sound and didn't start. He tried again. Nothing. And again. Still nothing. You piece of shit! *he shook his head and grabbed the bear and his keys* Guess we're fucking walking then! He got out of the car, right away regretting it, when he realised he was still only in a tshirt, sweat pants and boots Fuuuuck me!! He chuckled hoarse and held up the bear, pointing in the direction of Sam's house It's just through these damn trees… a couple minutes max… are you up for it? He chuckled hoarse and shook his head and started walking alright, let's just get it over with. They reached the house within 3 minutes, and gently knocked the door before entering, not in any form of way expecting what they were about to walk in on

Sam: Half laying over the kitchen counter, legs spread wide, fucking himself with a large cucumber, moaning soft, while watching Andy on pornhub, fucking some random twink fuck me daddy!

Andy: biggest meltdown of his life

Sam: Slowly turning his head, noticing his dad DAD! He quickly stood up, the cucumber slipping out of him, taking two drunken, stumbly steps towards his dad, forgetting his pants around his ankles and face planted down on the kitchen floor with a loud slam

Andy: Jesus Christ! he kicked the door shut with his heel and rushed towards Sam in the kitchen Are you alright?!?

Sam: No! I'm not fucking alright! He peeled himself off the floor, quickly pulling his pants up I'm humiliated, embarrassed, Sad, angry, confused, lost, hopeless and so ashamed of myself and what you just saw and how I reacted when I screamed everyone's head off and not only told Alex and dad that I wanted them to fuck me on top of all the fucking baby stuff, but also if no one was going to fuck me in the baby room, they could all piss off!

Andy: He couldn't help but snort you did what?

Sam: It's not funny dad! I just wanna dig a deep hole and hide there the rest of my life! He shook his head lightly it's not funny. I don't want this pregnancy, and I don't want these hormones. I don't want Sparrow and I know that's cruel, she's so little and innocent, but I asked for none of all of this! And it's too much! I can't recognize my own life, I can barely recognize myself or my partner! And now you walked in on me while I was trying to live out a dirty fantasy about you, hoping it would be a one time thing and I'd be over it so I can return to some sort of normality again, but not only am I more frustrated and horny than before, I'm also completely fucking humiliated and he got interrupted as Andy's loud voice sounded from the laptop speakers behind him

Andy on speakers: Yeah, tell me what you want me to do to you!

Sam: ….. he shook his head lightly fuck me… just fuck me

Andy: he stood up slowly and walked to the counter, closing down the laptop screen, then took a deep breath and placed the bear on the counter it would be taking advantage off a situation. It would be taking advantage of one of the people closest to me. I can't do that, no matter how much I want to. God knows I want to, Sam!

Sam: Yeah. He slowly stood up, and scratched his arm awkwardly I'd like you to leave then.

Andy: Can I call someone else at least before I leave? I don't like the thought of you being alone right now.

Sam: I'm fucking still alone dad! No matter who you call! No one is going to fuck me right! Everybody is so fucking busy wrapping me in cotton! I don't need to be wrapped in cotton! I'm a filthy fucking whore and I want someone to skull fuck me till I fucking pass out!

Andy: Sam, I -

Sam: Yeah, it's totally fucking okay when you say shit like that, and everyone is supposed to find sympathy and cater to your needs, but as soon as it's me, holy fuck! everyone turns into baby sitters and oh we gotta be careful cause maybe this isn't what Sam really wants! You know what?!? On a regular basis, I'm one of the fucking only sane people around here, so if I were to regret shit later on, I'm pretty fucking sure I could take responsibility for my own fucking actions and own the fact that I was the one wanting it, and I got what I asked for! Just like I already did with Niyol and his party potion! You wanna know what happened? I laid for at least an hour, moaning, sweaty in a pool of my own cum, imagining you fucking me through a glory hole, taking me like I have never been taken before, inviting strangers to use me while you watched, and I have never been more turned on in my life! And I fucking liked it, I was begging for more! And then the others woke me up, cause poor little Sam couldn't handle it! Most of the time I want to knock myself out just to be able to go back! So yeah, maybe I am more like you than anyone ever guessed, but then again, Evan isn't exactly vanilla in bed either, so why should I be?! Maybe I have been holding myself back this whole time, or maybe it's all you fucking people around me holding me back! Maybe you're so fucking busy being the town slut that there's no space for anyone else!

Andy: … right. He took a deep breath and nodded at the bear I just wanted to bring you that since you forgot him. He shook his head lightly and quickly walked to the front door You know what, Sam? I might be the town whore, but at least I'm not the town bitch! he quickly walked out the door, slamming it after himself. Groaning loud as he once again was met with the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt Fucking fantastic! He quickly marched through the tall pines separating Sam and Adrian's houses, surprised to find the gate locked and the house dark. He kicked the gate fucking awesome! My car wont start and the only fucking town mechanic isn't home! He turned on his heels and marched out on the road, then through the trees he had walked through earlier, nearly slipping twice Goddammit! finally reaching his car and unlocked it with shivering hands, slamming the door hard as he got in, trying to start it again, but to no use. He punched his steering wheel and shook his head, then grabbed his phone, dialling Congo's number. No signal You gotta be fucking kidding me!!! He threw his phone on the dashboard and contemplated where to go next. Doru was only few meters down the road, but it was rare he was home at this time of the evening. Lina was further up on the other side of Sam's house, at least she would have a warm home and a phone. He took a deep breath, trying to prepare his shivering body to return to the snow, as his car door opened on the passenger seat and Sam got in, slamming the door after him Awesome! he spoke loud and sarcastic

Sam: He sighed deep I'm sorry.

Andy: ….

Sam: I was pretty horrible.

Andy: Yeah well… not gonna take that away from you.

Sam: He frowned soft I don't know what's going on with me, and it's terrifying.

Andy: And you forget I know…

Sam: I know…

Andy: Look I get that you are overwhelmed and hormonal, gawd I get it, Sam, but you are attacking everyone left and right, which probably, to be fair, proves that you are more like me after all he sighed soft and forced a half smile Look, I of all people understand how much it sucks to get your needs pushed aside, even if it means people mean well. He took a deep breath look, I know you enough to know you don't ever have this strong reactions. I have never heard you be rude and you have never raised your voice at me before. Beside I am quite shocked you said those things to Alex and even more so Evan, and in front of everyone else. You're a private person when it comes to your sex life, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But hearing you say all those things are quite frankly both startling and shocking-

Sam: I know, I'm so sorry, I really don't know what's gotten into me, I'm a horrible person! I would never ever-

Andy: Sam… I know he placed a hand on Sam's thigh I know. But consider that maybe you're not the only one who gets scared and confused about it all.

Sam: He nodded soft

Andy: On that note he moved his hand again, and ran it nervously through his hair It's also fucking hot

Sam: … what? he looked at his dad questioning

Andy: Yeah he bit his bottom lip lightly hand on my heart, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with you. According to society I should probably ask you to see a shrink. But I can't point fingers at you for wanting to do something I have already been doing with your brother for years, though it is a slightly different case, none the less, it's still my own son I'm fucking from time to time, though that's way less lately and quite frankly leaves a void in me…. but yeah… I also want to help you. Not just from a town whore point of view… mostly from being your dad and I simply can't stand seeing you suffer like this. But without trying to brush your needs aside again, and knowing you are probably right that you are one of the sanest people around here and you could probably take responsibility for your possible regrets in the future, I still don't want to be your regret… Do you get what I'm saying?

Sam: He nodded soft and lowered his head, feeling heard and understood, but still his needs weren't being met. And it all exploded into a deep despair, leaving his body aching to be touched, his skin buzzing, and his eyes filling with tears that soon enough started spilling over

Andy: Sam his voice got ultra soft as he noticed his son's tears dripping down on the floor, and reached out, stroking his cheek gently

Sam: He sighed longingly from feeling the touch, though it was cold, and leaned his face into the palm, his lower lip brushing against his dad's thumb with a surrendering sigh I wont regret you… he whispered softly and looked up at his dad with wet, pleading eyes

Andy: He bit his bottom lip, trying his best to hold back, but realising he'd once again be pushing Sam's needs aside then. You better not… I'll ground you then!

Sam: He snorted softly, appreciating the joke

Andy: He took a deep shaky breath and let go of Sam's cheek I'm scared he chuckled nervously I'm actually scared… how do we even do this? I mean, surely you don't want it to happen here, do you?

Sam: I don't know? he shook his head lightly I didn't really think this far

Andy: Yeah he shook his head lightly maybe this is a bad idea…

⛔ DISLAIMER⛔ The following scene, is the main reason I haven't posted any story updates lately. It's been hard for me to make this public, cause I myself have questioned if I even want this in my story. It's crossing the line, even for me, but I've always strived to write what my characters want/need, even if I personally disagree. I don't see a point writing a story that isn't somewhat challenging me as a writer, and this scene certainly did in many ways. Alas, I've decided to keep it, and also include it here. But be warned, this is going to be a quite long intimate scene between two closely related people. If this turns your stomach, I don't blame you, and you are free to skip this chapter part or my whole story for that matter. I do not condone or promote what these characters do, they are fictional, supernatural and this is not to portrait sex in real life or my personal life. Thank you. ❌Sex scene START - readers must be 18+❌ Sam: He looked at his dad, he was clearly hard, his dick standing tall under the lose sweatpants, creating a tent, and there were nothing he wanted more than feeling it inside himself, the thought only nearly made him cum, so he wasn't about to let the possible slim opportunity slip away that fast, so he quickly turned his position on the seat so his whole body was facing his dad and reached out, stroking Andy's dick outside his pants

Andy: The car was significantly dark, but the surrounding snow had been a good help in at the very least lift the evening veil to a point where he could see most of what was going on in the small cabin, and there were no doubt Sam's eyes were very hungry as he slipped a hand inside Andy's sweat pants and dragged his dick out Sammmhh he let a good amount of air out, feeling the cold air against his warm dick, and Sam's warm hand, fumbling nervous yet determined what are you doing to me?

Sam: Stroking your dick he let slip, hushed and somewhat questioning, his heart pounding fast and hard as he quickly slipped a hand inside his own pants and dragged his own dick out touch me

Andy: A long sigh of pleasure escaped him, and he quickly pushed himself forwards, leaning over to Sam's side of he car, quickly locking his cold hand around Sam's dick, leaning his forehead against Sam's and sighed soft with longing and lust. Tell me I'm doing the right thing…

Sam: You're doing the right thing he whispered steamy against Andy's lips don't stop.

Andy: He moaned soft from Sam's words and shivered I need a bit of help… this is very unfamiliar ground…

Sam: He nodded soft what do you need from me? Stroking Andy's dick more firmly

Andy: Tell me where the line goes…

Sam: No line…

Andy: No line? their words just steamy whispers by now

Sam: He nodded soft no lines

Andy: So if I were to do this he leaned in, kissing Sam's neck demanding

Sam: A soft moan escaping him as he looked at the window, starting to fog up with all their steamy heavy breathing

Andy: It would be okay?

Sam: Yesss he arched his back, his body starting to slowly move back and forwards, gliding his dick inside Andy's hand

Andy: He moaned soft as he felt Sam slow fucking his hand and tightened his grip starting to slow fuck Sam's hand God I want you!

Sam: He moaned again and slipped a leg in between the two seats, spreading his legs as open as the tight space allowed, rubbing Andy's dick against his butt I want you too…

Andy: He moaned deeper fuck! leaning into a deep French kiss, now more or less laying on top of his son

Sam: Half laying, half sitting, feeling intensely dizzy and weak as his tongue greedy massaged against Andy's, feeling an over powering lust rush over him, whimpering soft from frustration and impatience

Andy: He pulled slightly out of the kiss, hesitating by Sam's whimpering Should I stop?

Sam: He shook his head fiercely Don't stop, please! his eyes flickering I'm fucking desperate, if you stop I will literally melt into a pool of shame and-

Andy: Then tell me what you need, please…

Sam: Fuck me! And don't hold back! he whispered soft and pulled Andy back into the kiss

Andy: He moaned deep as all his bravery and attempts to hold back went out the foggy windows, and he grabbed his sons pants and forced them enough down his ass, to be able to push himself inside Sam with a relieved moan Fuuuuuck!!!

Sam: He moaned surprised and grabbed onto Andy's shoulders, holding on for his dear life

Andy: *He quickly built up a significant strength behind his movements, pushing himself deep and demanding in and out of Sam, a couple of soft grunts escaping him, hardly able to believe this was happening!

Sam: He moaned deep and lustful, digging his fingers into his dad's shoulders, answering his dad's movements by pushing his ass tighter against him, leaning up towards his face, quickly locking his lips with his again, French kissing him sloppy and uncoordinated, feeling as if he wasn't able to force his mouth open enough, and kissing Andy deep enough!

Andy: He moaned soft into Sam's mouth and started moving a bit faster, picking up a fast rhythm, a soft clapping sound starting to form in the space around them, the sound of his own warm groin clapping against Sam's ass. Sam's ass… SAM'S ASS!!! Fuuuuuuuck!!! he moaned in Sam's mouth and got caught up, starting to fuck him hard and demanding

Sam: He moaned loud and surprised, pressing one hand against the roof of the red car, the other hand against the foggy window, slipping a few cm down it, a couple louder moans escaping him as he opened his eyes and fully realised who was fucking him! Dad he gasped soft and felt so close to cumming

Andy: Mh he suddenly frowned and felt wrong about the whole thing, scared he had gone too far and fucked up their usually tight and solid relationship, quickly stopping his movements and got off Sam, pulling his own pants back up and returning to his seat I'm sorry, I can't do this.

Sam: He looked at his dad in disbelief, his heart pounding in his throat, as he felt more humiliated than earlier, laying there butt naked, ready to cum, and then get denied like this! He quickly sat up, hardly believing that he of all people would get denied by his dad, pulling up his pants as he stumbled out into the cold air

Andy: Sam! Can we talk about it please? he yelled from back in the car

Sam: No! Fuck you!!! he screamed back at the top of his lungs and started running off between the trees, hurt, tears pressing in his eyes, another panic attack further overwhelming him

Andy: Sam! He rushed out of the car and ran after his son stop!! Wait up!!

Sam: NO!!! I FUCKING HATE YOU!! STAY AWAY FROM ME! He nearly slipped, stumbling a few meters till he finally managed to grab onto one of the tall trees, preventing himself from falling

Andy: Sam! He caught up with him in a matter of few steps, grabbing onto his arm

Sam: Don't ever fucking touch me again! I want nothing to do with you! I completely exposed myself to you and you weren't even a decent enough asshole to fuck me! You call yourself a whore and a pervert and then you can't even fuck the shit out of me when I literally beg you to!! And I have to parent you, guide you through it and get your dick out! You have literally over 100% fucking porn videos with strangers online for everybody to fap to! You're literally a fucking 24 hours open slut and cum dump and you can't even keep it up enough to fuck the son you claim you have wanted to fuck since I was a teen! What the fuck is wrong with you?!??!

Andy: He grabbed Sam's other arm, shaking him furiously You want a parent or you want a fuck?!??! I'll give you both you spoiled self-intitled fucking brat!!! Stop fucking attacking everyone just because we might be just as lost and confused as you are!!! Don't force people to have sex with you just because you have an itch and stop blaming your inability to seek what you need in a healthy way on everyone else!!

Sam: That's rich, coming from the guy who would rather snort coke off a strangers dick in a public bathroom than ask the next guy he's crushing on to be his boyfriend. Tell me dad, did you have the courage to fuck Dalton yet, or is it just me you're a complete useless pussy with?!?

Andy: He glared at Sam with angry eyes Don't fucking drag him into it! And I will give you fucking useless pussy! He roughly slammed Sam face forwards up a tree, pinning him against the cold surface, as he got his own dick out and aggressively tore Sam's sweatpants open by the seam, thrusting himself back inside Sam, fucking him fiercely

Sam: A deep surrendering moan escaping him as he looked at his well lit house in front of them, only few trees and a dirt road separating them yeahhh… fuck me daddy! it fell from his lips

Andy: Oh god! He instantly felt ready to cum and grabbed onto Sam's hips, fucking him absolutely merciless Say that again!

Sam: He moaned deep and dug his fingers into the bark, feeling strong shivers down his spine ….. fuck….. me …… daddyyyyyyhhhh he roared loud and surrendering as he came so hard his legs literally buckled and he fell against the tree and down on his knees on the snow covered ground, panting for air as he nearly face planted into the snow, his whole body shivering from overwhelming pleasure

Andy: Shit! Are you okay? he quickly pulled his pants up and stepped closer to Sam, observing him as good as he could in the dark, the snow thankfully making their surroundings less hard to read

Sam: He nodded slow and tried his best to get back up on his shaky legs, slipping twice

Andy: He caught him second time, grabbing Sam's hips firmly You alright? he spoke in a lowered hoarse, husky voice, his breath steamy hot against Sam's skin

Sam: Yeahhh he nodded in slow-motion, then shivered

Andy: You're getting cold… fffuck I'm getting cold! he shivered as well and chuckled hoarse Is there any way we can take this inside, or at least back to my car? A motel? Anything?

Sam: He nodded fast and quickly walked off in between the last few trees separating them from the road, separating them from Sam's warm house

Andy: He quickly followed his son, no longer able to think clear

Sam: He made a sudden stop on the road, and turned around towards Andy, quickly grabbing his hand as he was within reach, locking Andy's hand around his own boner with a soft moan

Andy: Fuck! He firmly stroke Sam's dick, sighing a heavy amount of steamy air out

Sam: mmmhhh he moaned soft and felt intoxicated, looking up at the moon, loving the intense feeling of Andy's hand, the cold and the pull of the moon

Andy: He slowly got on his knees, not giving a fuck about the snow any longer, as he hungrily swallowed Sam's dick, sucking it firmly

Sam: He moaned surprised and leaned his head sharply backwards, a long loud howl escaping him as he finally gave fully in to not only his hormones but also his animal instincts

Andy: He gagged surprised as Sam suddenly thrust his hips demandingly forwards and his dick gently poked into Andy's throat, then it happened again, this time stronger, more determined, and as a result he gagged harder, this time pulling his head away from Sam's dick, a string of saliva dangling from his mouth as he coughed and pulled down his pants, starting to jerk himself almost aggressively Again!

Sam: A wide almost animalistic grin appeared on his face as he quickly pushed his dick back into Andy's mouth and started face fucking him fiercely

Andy: He coughed and gagged several times, saliva running down his chin, tears gathering in his eyes from the sheer impact, his arousal exploding and he came with a loud relieved moan

Sam: He came as well, hard, stumbling a few steps backwards, then finally regaining balance, just to pant hard from growing hunger, looking at his dad, looking at the house, then pointed at the house Inside!

Andy: He got up so quick he stumbled a few steps then slow ran after Sam, catching up with him, as the two of them stumbled through the kitchen door, grabbing Sam by the hips, forcefully slamming him up against the counter, pressing his boner against Sam's cold ass, while desperately kicking his own pants off completely, then pushed himself back inside Sam with a deep groan, right away, fucking him no mercy

Sam: OH YeeeeeeeaHHhhHHHhhhhhhh!!!!!! he roared so loud it was echoing out into the garden, the front door left wide open

Andy: Tell me you want it!

Sam: I want it!!!

Andy: Tell me you need it!

Sam: I need it!!! his upper body collapsing down on the counter, faceplanting onto the cold wood, his legs trembling so much he was sure if he wasn't already faceplanted against the counter, it would be only seconds before he'd crash onto the floor

Andy: Fuck you just take it he mumbled to himself between pants and gave Sam a couple extra large pounds

Sam: He roared loud again and gasped for air Don't hold back, don't hold back!

Andy: He moaned loud and long from Sam's words, and quickly slipped a couple fingers inside him as well, wiggling them around

Sam: A long earpiercing roar escaped him this time, and he came just as Andy's dick accidentally slipped out of him, making him squirt down on the floor

Andy: Oh my fucking god!!! he bit his bottom lip hard, and observed Sam's dripping hole Do that again!

Sam: M-m-make me! He stuttered, and shivered from pleasure

Andy: He grinned wide and jammed his dick hard back inside Sam, and started fucking him rather violently

Sam: His head got knocked into the kitchen wall with each pound, nothing but leaking cum and soft whimper escaping him at this point

Andy: Fucking Sam like a mad-man, then all of a sudden dragged his dick out of Sam

Sam: He squirted again, clear liquid splattering down on his kitchen floor, a long begging whimper escaping him

Andy: He forced himself back inside Sam and came with a loud roar

Sam: Barely there, fading into the feeling of the warm cum inside him

Andy: Ramming Sam harder than before, completely loosing it

Sam: Head knocking against wall, over and over, faster and faster till everything became black.

#Trigger warning:#strong language #nudity #s*x #unicorntales #Adrian Blackwood #Sam #Samuel Cullman Thompson #Andycorn #Andy Shaw-Thompson #Raven McKinney #Brandubh McKinney

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a-tale-of-legends · 8 months

Text

More ( main) oc thoughts I guess.

Jin and Kenji flying together :) They like to race each other. Jin definitely cheats by changing the wind currently in their favor. That just leaves Kenji open to cheat as well. Danica would have to watch them to make sure their races don't turn into full on fights( all in good nature of course).

Elliot can heat things up with her hand, and generally isn't super affected by heat/can't get cold. However, she does occasionally "overheat" as in her feelings get so intense that she literally starts burning up. It's a good thing she has a gf/wife that can cool her down :).

Eva is slightly....concerned for Carol's ice powers. Given how it tends to....take over? Or maybe that's the ghost side. To be fair, Eva isn't a fan of the cold, ironic given who her legendary is, but even so, she feels like Carol is one of the Chosens that she really should do some tests on.

Speaking of tests, Eva is kinda the one that operates that. Her devices are built with Chosens in mind, with the help of Kyurem and other legends that are willing to give their input. Outside of the Legendaries themselves, Eva helps out a lot in the "what the fuck is happening to me" process. Though it's funny how she came midway through the timeline currently. And even then being able to do the s didn't come until years later. So everyone was still stumbling around. Still are but it's slightly easier.

Kenji paints, Danica bakes and Jin is into fashion design :)

Naomi only knows half the stuff on the Internet thanks to Carol, who is terminally online. She's horrified when she hears Calyrex use modern slang.

Kenji: Yeah, my heart stopped beating for a bit, but then I told it to start beating against and now I'm all better :D

Aiko:

( referring to the fact that Kenji can literally revive himself. Hasn't happened in canon yet I think)

Danica likes to visit the Distortion world time to time. She finds it serene.

This is an idea that I'll probably explain later, but either after Adaman dies or sometime during their life together, Sakura traveled the world both for herself and to hide away the True Arceus Plates.

Dante actually picked up archery since. You know. That's his weapon. It took him a while to master it effectively. Thankfully, his Chosen Weapon makes things easier for him as he practiced outside of that.

Luca doesn't like getting crushes cause that means he's gonna be the one to get teased about it. It doesn't help that he's not really subtle about it.

Ever since returning from PLA, Kiran actually awoken a tiny tiny fraction of Sakura's own powers. It's not much but it's something they definitely didn't have before.

Debating on whether or not Kiran would still have the arc phone after PLA.

#r rambles #legendverse #legendverse ocs

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dreamqueenkala · 9 months

Text

WHERE SUMMER ENDS, THE HUNT BEGINS

Previous Chapter

Laura Kearney is my best friend and is currently missing.

Max Brinly is my best friend and is currently missing.

Ryan Erzahler is friendly towards me.

Jacob Custos is easily flustered around me.

Abigail Blyg is distasteful of me.

Dylan Lenivy finds me adorable.

Emma Mountebank greatly enjoys my company.

Kaitlyn Ka is entertained by me.

Nicholas Furcillo is protective of me.

Travis Hackett has no relation to me.

Chris Hackett finds me reliable.

I am alive, sane and unharmed.

I have yet to have a clairvoyant vision.

No paths have branched.

|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|

Tape loading...

Load complete.

Viewing Tape #7

Hackett's Quarry Summer Camp Entrance

17:07 August 22–Carter Rhodes

Emma stood in the middle of the dirt road, waving off the bus at it retreated down the trail back towards the interstate. "Bye!" She called, lifting on her toes for a moment with a smile.

Nick, standing on the balcony beside Dylan, smiled slightly with a soft tone to his voice. "Laters!"

Dylan grinned that familiar dopey grin of his, sending the kids off with a salute. "Peace and love!"

Snickering softly, I tossed a peace sign up in the air, wolf whistling playfully. "Adios, little dudes!"

Kaitlyn, perched on the steps with Jacob, folded her arms over her chest. "See ya later, kids!"

"Yeah! Hackett's Quarry forever!" Jacob cheered, arm draped over the shorter girls shoulders. I shook my head, standing beside Emma as she blew a few air kisses after the bus, one final wave on her mind. The blonde, despite being taller than me, had quickly become one of my best friends here at the quarry. She was incredibly outgoing which more than made up for my typically shy nature, and I found myself confiding in her more often than I did the camp owner.

After spending two months here, taking care of much younger kiddos surrounded by nature and rambunctious teens fresh out of high school, I'd grown to miss my home slightly less. It was far more peaceful here than back home, at least, it was for me. I didn't have the best family life, living with a single mother that couldn't stand half of the stuff I was into—supposedly because I was either too much like my dead father or not enough like him. Coming here was my safe haven, rescuing me from a summer that would've been shrouded in storm clouds—ironic because I love thunderstorms.

It would've been better if my two best friends had actually made it, though. We'd planned to work here together this summer, but Max and Laura decided it would be best to head in a day early. I'd told them I'd had a bad feeling about the idea, what with my strong sixth sense and all, but Laura was quick to shoot down my concerns. She claimed it was my social anxiety, and Max and I had no other reason not to believe her. I showed up the day after and unfortunately discovered they hadn't arrived.

According to Chris Hackett, the camp owner, they'd called in and claimed they weren't going to make it. My gut feeling didn't agree with the excuse he gave us, but I didn't pry. It wasn't my place to. Despite the lack of Max and Laura's presence beside me this past summer, I still enjoyed my time here. I was honestly a bit down to be leaving this place.

Branch Selected

Skeptic BFF: Having been best friends with Max and Laura, I knew they weren't okay. With their absence, I grew skeptical of Chris Hackett and his promises.

"Dude, this summer was frickin' epic." I hummed thoughtfully, hands buried in my ripped jean pockets. Emma slung an arm over my shoulder, leaning into my side with a small chuckle, her cocoa eyes wrinkled slightly with her pearly smile.

"Um, duh, because you spent it with me!" I snorted, ruffling my short blonde curls gently as I let my eyes rest for a moment. Deciding to stay kind rather than flirty or cynical, I smiled at her from the corner of my eye.

"Hey, you're pretty damn quick-witted and smart, Emma. Makes being around snot-nosed little brats a helluva lot more tolerable when you're keeping me entertained." I replied, feeling her rest her chin on my shoulder.

Emma is flattered by my response.

"Hm, yeah, I am pretty awesome." Rolling my eyes, I nudged her side gently, coaxing her towards the minivan. "Right, well, why don't you go see if you can find Ryan or something? I'm going to go toy with Jacob before I look for Abi."

"You're tearing his poor heart strings, drama queen." I cooed playfully, grinning as she walked away.

"Yeah yeah. It's just a summer fling." She shrugged, skipping her way towards Jacob and Kaitlyn. Turning on my heel, I proceeded towards the cellar, pleasantly satisfied to find a familiar face leaning against a post with his earbuds in. His eyes were closed as he bobbed his head slightly every so often, most likely listening to his podcast. I made my way to his side and nudged his shoe, causing the guy to tilt his head up to look at me.

I smiled down at him as he removed one earbud, returning the gesture. "Hey, Ryan. Mind if I sit down?" He shook his head and I took my place beside him, legs curled to my chest and head resting on my knees. "So? The podcast?"

His dark eyes lit up almost immediately, lips pulling tight in a genuine, relaxed smile. "Yeah. New episode came out today." I grinned lightly, always warmed when I saw his or the others eyes light up about something they were into. I don't know why, but I'd always found myself with a knack for making others smile.

"That's cool. Been a week, right?" He nodded, and I found myself easily slipping into conversation with him about it. It wasn't hard, actually. I'd always been a pretty charismatic person, finding it incredibly natural for me to come up with things to talk about. To be honest, if I really wanted to I could manipulate people, make them feel or think a certain way. But I wouldn't do that. I wasn't that type of person.

"Yeah. It's a bit of a long one, though, so hopefully it's a really good story." I nodded, closing my eyes. I suppose he took that to mean he could continue listening because after a moment of shuffling, I could barely make out muffled audio from his earbuds. I kept my head buried in my knees for awhile, enjoying the peace and quiet, 'til heavy footsteps made their way over.

Peeking up, I waved at Jacob, whom waved at both myself and Ryan. Ryan, of course, noticed and waved in reply, but didn't do much else. Jacobs eyes flitted between the two of us awkwardly as he shifted his weight before he turned on his heel. I glanced at Ryan and shrugged my shoulders, standing up and dusting my pants off.

Urging myself to follow after Jacob, I trekked up the lodge steps to the front door just as it slammed shut in Jacob's face. "C'mon man!" Jacob huffed, the sound of soft chuckling muffled by the closed wood. Now realizing his predicament, I debated assisting him for a moment. I tapped his shoulder, startling the teddy bear of a guy as he spun on his heel.

"Try the window around the side. Library window is always unlocked." He grinned, ruffling my hair with his large hand, cheeks the slightest tint of pink.

"Thank you, little dude!" I pouted at the nickname he'd never dropped, puffing out my cheeks as he made his way around the side.

"I'm, like, a foot shorter than you, Jacob!"

Jacob is amused by my response.

With a huff, I face the door again, knocking gently. It swung open in seconds, the same dopey grin I'd come to adore greeting me, doe eyes searching my face with glee. "Well, hey there, tiger stripes! Looking to join the cool kids?" I snorted slightly at Dylan's word choice, unable to resist the grin tugging at my lips.

"Oh yeah. Heard the coolest of the cool were here." I decided to play along, hands once again buried in my pockets. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find them, would ya, kind sir?"

Dylan hummed thoughtfully, placing a hand on his chin dramatically. "Hmm, I dunno. Where could those two super cool dudes be?"

Taking the sight of his much taller frame in, I decided to take a leap of faith. "I've also heard they're the most attractive, if that helps?" His cheeks flushed and his brown eyes flicked back to my grey ones, his smile softer.

Dylan is flustered but pleasantly surprised by my flirtatious reply.

"U-Uh, yeah! Yeah, they're right here, come in, come in!" He stepped to the side, finally allowing me entry. As the door clicked shut behind me, I spotted Nick sitting by the stairs and waved. He smiled back slightly, curling his fingers in a lazy wave just as Jacob entered his line of view. Turning to face Dylan, I found he was already staring at me, my eyes widening for a second at the realization.

"Dyl? Is there something on my face...?" He blinked and flushed again, shaking his head. One of his pale hands scratched the back of his neck whilst the other slipped into his back pocket, chocolate doe eyes flickering away from me awkwardly.

"N-No, sorry. Just got...lost in thought."

"Right..."

"I-I'm gonna go get our phones, so...." Dylan quickly jogged towards Chris' office to gather our phones, disappearing from my sight.

Blinking away the awkward moment, I turned and moved further into the lodge, eying the walls and tables for any random items lying about. It seemed Dylan and Nick did a great job cleaning, though, because I couldn't even find dust under the tables. With a satisfied smile, I perched myself on one of the many benches, fiddling with my long black sleeves as I waited for Dylan to return, suddenly feeling a bit isolated and shy.

Granted, that was my own doing coming in here while the others were busy, but it still agitated me slightly all the same. Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed the small rectangular paper piece stuck between the floorboards below me. Furrowing my brows in curiosity, I leaned down and plucked the object up, gazing over it with narrowed grey eyes and parted lips.

It was a tarot card, specifically the Temperance card. What appeared to be an Angel in white with red wings rested on its center, a chalice and wine in her hands. It was old, the corners slightly tattered, and appeared to have been lit aflame recently as it's edges were still a faint orange glow.

My head began to hurt and I winced, placing my free palm against my forehead. My vision swam and my ears pulsed with a sound like rapid water, pressure building in my temples. I groaned, head swaying before I abruptly blacked out.

It was dark, the fire lit before me, my friends surrounding me. Jacob tossed a beer can my way, a pocket knife in his outstretched hand. I debated it for a moment as I caught the beverage, then stood and accepted the blade so I could shotgun the beer, pocketing it afterwards.

I gasped as I came to, forcing myself to open my eyes as my hands shook. I'd somehow fallen from the bench, and just now realized that Nick was leaning over me, his hand hovering over my side. His dark eyes were full of concern, searching my pale face for any signs of discomfort or pain.

"Hey? You okay, Carter?" I blinked a few times and nodded, swallowing thickly as he helped me sit upright, his palm warm and firm on my lower back. I grunted and rubbed my temples, the buzzing of the vision I'd seen leaving my mind scrambled. Glancing down at my left hand, brows furrowing again as nothing but a trace of ash left in my palm. "Carter?"

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a dizzy spell." Though he seemed reluctant to accept my response, Nick nodded, gently helping me to stand. I grunted and popped my neck, wiping the ash inconspicuously against my white-washed jeans. My skin was paler than normal and coated in a thin sheen of sweat, my pupils dilated.

Nick is concerned for my health.

Nick, noticing how pale I seemed, opened his mouth to speak, his hand gripping my arm slightly to steady me. Before he could, a familiar head of soft brown locks popped into view.

"Yo! Got the phones!" Dylan greeted, grinning as he waved the case with our phones around. I shot the boy a grateful smile, avoiding Nick's gaze as Dylan gently handed me my phone, the familiar black and blue glittery case comfortable in my hands.

"Thanks DJ." I smiled slightly and pressed the power button, watching the apple logo come to life on my screen.

"No prob, Tiger."

"Thanks man."

Unlocking my phone, I huffed, pouting my lip. "Dammit, no bars. 73% though."

Nick messed his for a moment before nodding along. "No bars, 42%."

"Ah, shit, I'm at 6%."

"Should've turned your phone off, dude."

Dylan scoffed at my words, reaching over to ruffle my blonde locks as he stuffed his phone in his pocket. "Zip it, pipsqueak."

"I'm not that short, dammit!"

Nick and Dylan laughed as I whined and complained, fixing my hair as we made our way outside onto the balcony porch. Dylan leaned against the rail on my right, Nick on my left, and I hoisted myself onto the banister, legs over the edge and my arm resting on Dylan's shoulder. Jacob and Kaitlyn stood below us around the minivan, the former having just recently tossed the last bags inside the crammed trunk.

Dylan, having tossed the box, now held an array of phones—most likely belonging to the others—in his pockets. Nick, however, held a familiar black rectangle in his own hands, a mischievous grin growing on his tanned face. He shared a subtle glance with me, reassuring my disapproving look with a shrug as Dylan spoke to the duo.

"Hey Jacob!"

The tall athlete turned to face us, the relaxed expression on his face quickly falling as his gaze caught sight of the object in Nick's grasp. "Dude, no! N-No, c'mon, please! Don't!"

With a chuckle, the lithe Aussie tossed the object into the air, crying, "Go long!" Jacob scrambled to catch it, fumbling it slightly before his fingers managed to find purchase around the slim frame of his phone. He cheered, holding it up with glee before breaking into a very sexual and lewdly inappropriate dance.

"Boo yah! There it is!"

I groaned and scrambled down from the banister, Dylan's palm quickly covering my eyes which elicited a soft giggle from me. Dylan guided me down the stairs as we joined the duo, his hand still covering my sight.

"Good save, man!" Nick's voice cheered, and Jacob's erotic grunting got louder.

"Oh my god, this sounds so much worse when I can't see." Dylan snorted behind me, removing his palm as Jacob finally settled his behavior.

"Ooh, I wish I had some singles." Dylan yelped as my hand met his shoulder harshly, a blush and a glare on my face.

"Freaks. I'm surrounded by freaks." Kaitlyn exclaimed, completely disgusted by Jacob's behavior.

"No, you're just friends with a bunch of horndogs." Kaitlyn scoffed at my reply, but her unamused expression quickly altered to one of delight as Dylan passed her phone over.

"Oh thank God. I get the whole 'no technology' thing, but take me back world!" Her expression fell as she checked her notifications to find nothing, a groan of distaste leaving her lips. "Oh come on! Not one cell tower!?"

As the two conversed I felt something under my shoe and peeked down. Moving my left foot to the side, I found another card buried in the dirt. Picking it up, I gazed over the tattered surface, examining the image framed across the Strength card. A boy in a hood was hobbled over a wolf, his hands drawing its jaws apart.

The buzzing returned and I faltered, staggering slightly. My vision blurred and my ears popped, my head swaying again. The sound was louder than before, louder than buzzing but quieter than a ringing. It made my ears hurt and I covered them, clenching my teeth.

I held my breathe, back pressed to a boulder with Abigail beside me, hands over each other's mouths. A silhouette clambered above the boulder beside us, it's glowing red eyes searching the earth, snarling as it's saliva dripped against my shoulder and made me shudder.

"Woah, woah! Easy there, Tiger." I yelped, stumbling as Dylan steadied me, his hands on my shoulders to hold me upright as my knees buckled. His eyes and Kaitlyn's searched mine carefully, both sharing a worried glance. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, dehydrated, maybe. I'll be fine."

Dylan and Kaitlyn were weary but accepting of my reply.

Jacob's voice drew my attention, along with Kaitlyn and Dylan, whom turned to face him in unison. "Man, you would've thought Mr. H could've charged our phones just a little bit."

"Nothing's ever your fault, is it?" Kaitlyn raised a brow, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dylan, deciding to be his usually quippy self, smirked playfully as he spoke. "You know, you should probably just save it for emergencies only. Unless, of course, is being dumped an emergency?"

I winced at the mention, the memory of that encounter still fresh in mind. Emma and Jacob had been in some form of a friends-with-benefits relationship this past summer. I'd caught them going at it on multiple occasions in the bathhouse, and that's probably why Jacob was always so flustered around me. Though, last night Emma broke it off with him, claiming it was just a summer fling and the long distance wouldn't work. I'd come with her to dump him on account of her complaining how 'she needed moral support', but I rather ended up comforting the big teddy bear afterwards.

I'd honestly felt pretty terrible just witnessing the breakup. Especially since, in my blatant opinion, Jacob was one of the sweetest guys I'd ever met. Personally, I'd have taken the chance and tried Long distance just for him. He deserved that kind of happiness.

Nick chuckled, a taunting grin on his lips, one hand set on his hip. "Burn!"

Though his expression fell momentarily at the mention of Emma, he was just as quick to snap back as usual. "Ah, well, at least I had a relationship this summer."

"Damn, now we burned!"

"Shut up, Nick." I snickered, shaking my head. Dylan glanced at me and flushed slightly, bottom lip extended in a partial pout.

"Yeah, well, maybe not everyone is looking for a hookup, okay? So—"

"Okay, okay! Can you guys put your little dicks away and let's get this show on the road, huh?" Kaitlyn intervened quickly, her sensible and reliable self able to just about smell the testosterone boiling between the two tallest people in our group.

Under my breathe, I mumbled. "I know at least one of their dicks ain't little." Nick, having heard me, whipped his head in my direction with wide eyes and I flushed, waving him off shyly. His expression spoke louder words than I did—'We're discussing this later' he mouthed.

"Where's everybody else?" Nick inquired, changing the subject quickly as he surveyed the lodge interest curiously. His gaze settled on Jacob as he spoke, quirking a brow.

"Wha-Why would I know that?" The tall ravenette inquired.

Nick shrugged, hands in his pockets. "I dunno. Sometimes you know stuff I don't."

Jacob blinked incredulously. "I-I...I don't even know how to respond to that."

Nick's quick wit stayed just as strong as both Jacob's and Dylan's. "You say, 'Nick you're way smarter than me and you're a super hot guy who gets all the chicks he wants.'"

"You may be the most attractive in Emma's cabin, but mine would not have agreed with that statement." I quipped, tossing a playful grin his way. The Aussie stuck his tongue out at me in reply, though he no longer had a comeback in mind.

"Keep dreaming, Junior." Jacob huffed, his tone slightly aggressive. I gave him a shy but awkward smile, but for once, he failed to return it, instead redirecting his gaze to his feet. My heart dropped, turning my head to face the area under the lodge.

"Aaaaanyway..." Kaitlyn once again directed our attention elsewhere after a long silence.

"Do we just, like...wait? Or...?" Dylan spoke, tilting his head.

"Yeah."

"Boringggg." I rolled my eyes at the quirky brunettes complaint, stepping closer to him and leaning my head against his left bicep—goddamn, the guy didn't look it but he was toned.

"Yeah, I need to charge my phone. You think Mr. H would let me pop in and give it some juice before we leave?"

Kaitlyn gave him a baffled look, shifting her weight on her feet. "Why didn't you charge it before we got to camp?"

"I dunno. I figured we'd still have them at camp."

"Why would you assume that at a summer camp?"

"Nobody said they would take them!"

"Even I figured that one out, dude." Jacob added, shrugging his shoulders. The two broke into a small argument and I sighed, moving away from Dylan. Making my way to the trunk of the minivan, I dug through my bag—which was thankfully on top of the discombobulated pile—and retrieved my inhaler, along with its backup. Pocketing them, I made my way to Jacob's side as Emma and Abigail came into view.

"Heyyyyy!" Emma called, sidling up to the group with a dejected-looking Abigail behind her.

"Where are your bags?" Nick asked, just as confused as the rest of us over their unsuccessful mission.

"Mr. H locked them in the cabin already."

Jacob scoffed, eying the blonde with the smallest hint of adoration in his eyes. "Why? To keep out bears?"

"...Apparently." She sighed, shaking her head.

Dylan leaned forward a bit, shifting his weight with a curious glint to his eyes. "Well, why didn't you just...break in?"

Abigail scoffed, gesturing between him and Emma as she spoke. "Okay, because Dylan thinks that would've been a good idea, that confirms we did the right thing." Emma waved her off, obviously displeased with the girl.

"Oof, ow. I like my ideas." Dylan took it in stride despite how underhanded the comment was, shrugging slightly. I hummed and pursed my lips, glaring sickeningly sweet towards the artist.

"Sorry not everyone's a picture perfect goody-two-shoes like you, Blyg." I cooed, grinning sarcastically. Abigail grit her teeth and wrinkled her nose but otherwise said nothing.

Abigail was irritated by my smart remark.

It wasn't really a secret that Abigail and I never got along. We just didn't click like the others did. On top of that, she's quite naive and too obtuse during conversation, often saying things without thinking about them first. She took the 'n' of out of fun, leaving 'f u'.

"Hey, has anyone seen Ryan?" Emma inquired, gazing about the group as she realized one of us was still missing.

"Oh yeah, he's probably off being all broody and mysterious and alluring somewhere." Dylan quipped, the faintest pink tint on his cheeks.

"Your dick runs your mouth a lot, doesn't it?" I teased, the brunette flicking me off as his cheeks darkened.

"I'm here." My grey eyes fell on the dark-skinned counselor I'd spent half my summer with when Emma wasn't around, his earbuds now dangling over the collar of his shirt.

"What're you doing under there? A little 'me' party?"

"Uh...I was listening to a podcast, actually." Ryan answers Kaitlyn's question, somewhat reluctant to express his interest with the group. I smiled reassuringly at him, watching his shoulders relax as he caught my gaze.

"Oh, podcast, that...that's cool." Dylan hummed. He wasn't even interested in the topic, his eyes gazing over Ryan's face almost love struck.

"What's it about?"

"Yeah, what's it about? Is it about me?"

Ryan flicked his eyes over to Dylan, brows furrowed as he missed the flirtatious remark. "You...think I was listening to a podcast...about you?"

"Okay, if anyone had a podcast about themselves, it'd be me." Raising her hand slightly, Kaitlyn nonchalantly expressed her affirmation of her awesome personality, earning a chuckle out of me.

"Yeah, if there was a podcast called 'How to look and smell like a butt'."

"Dylan, you're hormones are showing." He stuck his tongue out in my direction, the girls snickering lightly.

"Shut up, Carter." He groaned.

"No, it's—it's a paranormal podcast." Ryan continued, slowly drawing closer to the group, though still outside the circle we'd formed.

"The one about Hackett's Quarry?" I inquired, earning a look of surprise from Nick and Jacob.

"You listen to it, too?" The former asked.

"Nah. I love listening to Ryan talk about it though. He's a really good story teller." The guy in question smiled at my compliment, slightly flustered.

Ryan was grateful for my display of interest in his hobby.

"It's, uh, called 'The Hag of Hackett's Quarry'."

Perking up at the mere sound of it, a slight buzzing formed in my ears, something like a whisper sending a shiver up my spine. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"You've probably heard it before."

"I'm sorry. The what of whosit what now?" Kaitlyn seemed thoroughly confused, lips parted and brows raised.

"You don't know about 'The Hag of Hackett's Quarry'?" Dylan all but gasped, an expression of dramatic shock on his face.

"Would I be asking if I did, dumbass?"

"Tell her about 'The Hag of Hackett's Quarry'."

Catching on to the playfulness Dylan had acquired, the corner of Ryan's lips lifted. "I don't think she wants to know about the Hag of Hackett's Quarry."

"Can we please just stop saying 'The Hag of Hackett's Quarry'?" Kaitlyn snapped, quickly losing her patience with the two. Dylan's mouth snapped shut and Ryan began to explain.

"It's just this campfire story for the kids. It's um... There's supposedly an old woman who died in a fire a few years back. She haunts the woods looking for her lost baby boy." He started, eyes darting between each counselor to gauge their reaction. "There are like reports of whispers, or whatever, and this figure that floats around... You know, textbook ghost stuff. Some people say that if she catches you alone, she'll try to turn you into her son... or kill you or something, I dunno... It's never really been clear. Anyways. 'Hag of Hackett's Quarry'." It was silent for maybe a moment as everyone let his ghost story sink in.

"Y-You made that up." Kaitlyn looked miffed at her stutter, eying Ryan skeptically.

"It's right here in the podcast, man."

Jacob shot the guy a smile, nodding his head along. "Cool story, bro."

"Yeah, Ryan, that's actually pretty sick, man. You amaze me with those stories, dude." I chipped in, earning a delighted smile in reply.

Ryan was reassured and happy with my response.

"You guys should've seen the kids though. Scared them shitless, I swear." I snickered, sharing a grin with Dylan.

"They weren't that bad..." Ryan mumbled halfheartedly.

"Gotta be careful with that stuff, man. That shits true." Dylan's comment seemed to cause Kaitlyn and Jacob some momentary discomfort, as the former shifted her weight and the other snapped frantically.

"C'mon—dude, bullshit!"

"What's the hold up, Hacketteers?" I yelped at the voice overhead, turning my head to face our coffee-loving, shorts-wearing boss, Chris Hackett.

"Heya—ah, we, uh—w-we're almost done, Mr. H!" Jacob stammered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, hop to it, kiddos! You're wasting daylight."

Emma stepped forward with a scoff, hand on her hip. "Coulda-woulda if our bags weren't locked up."

Narrowing his eyes on her with distaste, he tilted his head. "What's that? Sounded like you said 'of course Mr. H, we're on it, Mr. H!'"

Abigail, sensing our boss's waning patience, stepped in. "Sorry, Mr. Hackett, but our...our bags—"

"Right. Cabin. Huh."

"We're really bustin' our butts here. Well, except Ryan who's trying to scare the pants off our butts with his weird ghost stories." Kaitlyn added, eying the teen as an after thought.

"Okay, okay, enough with all the butts..." An expression of minor disgust crossed the man's wrinkled brow as he waved his hand. "Eh—and what...what's this about ghost stories?"

"The 'H' of 'H's' 'Q'."

Ryan cleared his throat, head bowed slightly. "'The Hag of Hackett's Quarry.' I was just—"

"Oh for Pete's sake, Ryan." Chris scoffed, disappointment heavy in his tone.

"Hey, dude, lay off. He likes his ghost stories, some sissy kids gotta learn to grow up eventually." I snapped, glaring up at the man hovering on the porch. Ryan glanced at me with temporary relief, whilst Mr. Hackett narrowed his eyes down on me with a grunt.

"Hey, uh—" Kaitlyn stepped in again, sensing the growing tension once more. "You still got the van key, Mr. H?"

I rolled my eyes and turned to face the van, leaning against a tree near its hood as I closed my eyes. The buzzing hadn't gone away, and closing my eyes made my head swim. My left hand came up to rub at my temples, a sharp exhale escaping my nose as I rolled my shoulders. I'd been feeling off for the past week—lightheaded, exhausted, weak—but ever since I'd picked up that first tarot card my discomfort had multiplied tenfold.

I'd always been sensitive to the unnatural or spiritual. My dad used to tell me I was gifted with the sight, more commonly known as being a medium or clairvoyant. I had a knack for sensing danger and sometimes seeing things in my dreams that had yet to occur—the same thing that elicited moments of Deja Vu later on. It usually was pretty relaxed, occurring fairy rarely and otherwise leaving my life as normal as it could get. However, since arriving here my clairvoyance had been going off the rails—whether it be that sixth sense kicking in when a tree was going to fall or a kid was going to get themselves hurt half way across camp, or it was a dream three nights early warning me of a bear in the woods or a coyote sneaking into one of the cabins. I hadn't had a full nights sleep since early July.

Grumbling slightly, I straightened up as Mr. H made his way to the minivan with Ryan and Jacob in tow, surprised I'd been out of it for so long. The man tossed the keys to Jacob, an anxious smile spreading across his face.

Dylan, most likely replying to whatever Chris had just said, huffed out desperately. "I try not to dwell on the past, man."

"Good, cause it's time to dwell on the minivan and get on with our respective lives! Move it, let's go!" Chris urged, waving Jacob into the car.

Baffled by Chris' urgency in trying to make us leave, Emma stepped forward. "Hey, what about our bags?!"

"Oh, Emma. I'm gonna have to ship 'em to you tomorrow first thin—" His indifference to her question irritated the blonde, a scowl on her face.

"Hell no! No. I am not leaving without my—"

"Hey! It's the way it's gotta be." Chris snapped, efficiently convincing Emma to shut her mouth.

"Ugh."

"Come on, Jacob! Start 'er up!"

Jacob turned the key in the ignition, though the only response the minivan gave was a sharp squeal and loud sputtering. Confused, I furrowed my brows, leaning closer to the hood to try and make out where the sound was coming from.

"What's the problem?" Chris' voice had grown more urgent, impatiently moving near the hood, as well.

"Ugh... Dude. I don't know. I-I think there's something wrong with the engine, Mr. H." Jacob hummed. His voice took on a lilt that screamed guilty to me, though Chris seemed too anxious to notice.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Yeah dude, it's just like... kaput!"

"Alright lemme try." Ryan stepped towards the drivers side, peering at Jacob through the open window.

"What? Dude, I'm telling you, alright, it's busted!"

"Well maybe you're doing it wrong—"

"Duh- 'Well maybe you're doing it wrong!'" Jacob's tone baffled me, my eyes shooting up to glare at him through the front windshield.

"The fuck, dude?"

"Enough! Enough, both of you! Shit." He stepped up to the car, opening the drivers door and tugging at Jacob's sleeve. "Come on, come on let's go."

Stumbling, Jacob stepped out of the vehicle, brushing himself off. "Alright dude, chill! Chill dude." As Chris attempted to start the car, smoke began to seep from the lip of the hood, startling me.

"Uh, Mr. H? Pretty sure it's not supposed to do that..." His eyes widened at my words and he jumped out of the car, dragging me away from the tree I was leaning against.

"Holy smokes! Everybody back, now! No, now, now!" He exclaimed, urging the rest of the group backwards. Jacob, however, disregarded Mr. Hackett's warning and moved to the front of the vehicle, popping it open to view the engine. A blaze had formed near the fuel tank, our eyes widening at the sight.

"Jesus Christ!" Jacob exclaimed, skirting the edge of the car.

"J-Jacob, c'mon, get away from it!" I exclaimed, my heart racing in my chest. I hated fire, loathed it, memories I didn't want to recall lingering at the forefront of my brain.

"I-I got this!" He reached into the drivers side, grasping at water bottle. He ran back to the front of the vehicle and I yelped, darting past both Ryan and Chris.

"Jacob, don't—!" The water splashed over the engine just as I curled my fingers around Jacob's wrist. The flames rose and my back and arm, which were facing the hood, were splashed with oil. A scream left me as my skin burned through the fabric, recoiling closer to Jacob and cradling my burnt arm to my chest. "Fuck!"

"Shit, shit! Are you okay? Fuck!" Jacob cradled my arm in his large hands, blowing cool air on the red skin peeking through the freshly singed hole in my sleeve and shoulder, electing a whimper from me. Chris appeared beside us with a fire bucket in hand, dumping the sand in it over the engine and successfully smothering the flames.

With a heavy sigh, he dropped the bucket to the ground, brows furrowed with distress. "This things toast."

"Well, uh- Look it's not that big of a deal, okay, we'll just spend one more night out here." Jacob quipped after a moment, patting my back lightly as I babied my injured arm with a hiss, resting my head against his shoulder.

"No—NO. Just stop. Let me think." Chris snapped, hands running I've this face as he paced for a moment. Chris slammed the hood with an angry yell, startling me and Jacob. "Arrrrghhh! Okay. Dammit. You're right. You're right, yeah. Yeah, you're right."

"What?" Ryan seemed utterly bewildered with Chris' behavior, brows furrowed as he glanced at us. Chris tossed him the keys to the lodge as he walked past, Ryan successfully grasping them midair.

"Hey Ryan. Come here for a sec." Chris waved the boy over as he clambered into his own car, rolling the window down. Jacob guided me away from the cars towards the others, hand on my back.

"Shit, dude, I'm really fucking sorry, I didn't—"

"It's fine. You didn't know. It's cool. It's cool." I huffed, cutting off his apology. I knew he didn't mean to get me hurt, and it was only a second degree burn. With proper treatment I'd be okay. I was more concerned for Jacob's current emotional status—the guy didn't handle pain and sorrow very well.

I smiled up at Jacob to reassure him when words didn't work, nudging his side with my good arm. "Really, bear, I mean it. I'll be okay." He glanced between both of my grey eyes for a moment before relaxing, his lips forming the tiniest smile.

"Okay."

Jacob is reassured by my kindness and empathy.

"So, what was all of that about?" Dylan's voice drew my attention behind me as Ryan rejoined us, Chris and his car out of sight.

"He uh... said to stay inside. That we're not leaving until the morning." Ryan answered in a slow, uncertain tone, eyes lingering on my burn.

"Are... you kidding me?" Emma scoffed, tossing her hands up with irritation.

"Em..."

"Are you kidding me!? What are we supposed to do?"

"Well, we should go inside. Like he said."

Dylan tilted his head side to side, an inquisitive expression crossing his soft features. "We could go inside. Until morning..."

"Yeah—"

Quickly cutting Ryan off, Dylan smiled mischievously. "Or... Or we could do something else."

"What... are you talking about?"

"No Mr. Hackett. No screaming kids. Just a bunch of grown-ass adults ready to cut loose and get down with their animal side." I deadpanned at this, blinking slowly as I attempted to register what the hell he was going on about. Jacob, however, seemed to both understand and become eager for the idea.

"Ohh, hell yeah."

"P. A. R. T... Why the fuck not!? Alright, it seems like the stars have aligned for us. No?" I sighed through my nose, gnawing at my lower lip anxiously, which did not go unnoticed.

"Okay, okay, okay..." Kaitlyn began to nod thoughtfully, contemplating the tall brunettes offer.

"One last epic bonfire blowout for all time."

"Oh, dude. Fuck yes!" Jacob pumped the air, gesturing to the only Aussie in the group. "I'm in. Nick, you're in."

"Yeah I'm in."

"Dylan's in. Obviously. My man. Kaitlyn?"

After some momentary hesitation and a quick glance around the group, the short Asian woman conceded. "I go where my people need me."

"Yeah! Okay... Em, what do you say?"

"Yeah, I'm in." She grinned, hands on her hips.

"Mr. Hackett seemed pretty insistent we stay in the lodge." Abigail suddenly cut in, dampening my mood further with her voice.

"He was just trying to freak us out. You know, like um... Like one of Ryan's stupid ghost stories."

"Why would he want to scare us?"

Probably because he doesn't fucking like you, Abigail. I hissed in my head, scowling at her from under my long black lashes.

Ryan, looking miffed and uncertain, sighed through his nose apprehensively. "I don't think he was trying to freak us out, Jacob. I think he was really freaked out by something."

"Jesus Christ."

"Chris seemed real serious about this, guys."

Dylan slumped slightly, off put by Ryan's mood dampening behavior. "Just say you're in, man. Come on. One last night. Dude. He won't even know."

"Yeah but I promised, I—"

I had to grab Jacob's arm to stop him from stepping forward with his irritation, encouraging him to just speak calmly. "No no nah, dude, dude. It's all good. Alright, we get it, you know. You, uh... You don't wanna disappoint 'daddy'."

Ryan's eyes narrowed on Jacob and his nose wrinkled at the underhanded remark. "Whatever, man."

Dylan stepped in quickly, attempting to keep the conversation calm. "It's gonna be fine, man. Trust me. It's gonna be chill."

"I'm sure he's just looking out for us. No big deal." Ryan muttered this, mostly to reassure himself.

"Alright. Yeah! Party!" Dylan cheered, grins spreading on the rest of their faces.

"No, I didn't mean—"

Dylan put his hand up for a high five, grinning at the deep-toned male with excitement. "High five—Touch my hand, Ryan."

Ryan hesitated, eying the brunette before glancing at me. I nodded hesitantly, worry still on my mind. With a sigh, he lifted his hand and pressed it against Dylan's. "Alright, fine..."

"But I just want to go on record and say that this is a bad idea."

Jacob deadpanned and shook his head. "Oh my God, dude."

"Ugh. It's gonna be fine, man. Trust me. It's gonna be chill." Dylan did his best to reassure the guy he'd been pinning after half the summer.

Excited once again for tonight's plan, Jacob rubbed his hands together. "Alright, alright, alright, Hacketteers! Party planning committee. Let's do this!"

He gestured to Nick and Abigail, tilting his head side to side. "Um, okay. First things first, Nick and Abi... you go get some firewood. Uh... Emma and I will go to the store for some supplies. And, uh, Dylan, you just... I don't know, figure out how to charge the phones or something..." Dylan and Nick shared a thumbs up with the jock before he clapped his hands. "Alright let's do this!"

Hesitating, I glanced among the group and hit my lip, the buzzing behind my ears urging me to speak up. I could tell them what I'd 'seen' so far—knowing they were likely to listen to it as my clairvoyance was well known—but risk dampening the mood. Or I could keep it to myself and hope that everything would be okay. Besides that, who would I join? Abi and Nick? Dylan, Ryan and Kaitlyn? Emma and Jacob? Or should I find something to do alone?

Wha t would you do?

|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|

Laura Kearney is my best friend and is currently missing.

Max Brinly is my best friend and is currently missing.

Ryan Erzahler is appreciative towards me.

Jacob Custos is concerned for my health and attached to me.

Abigail Blyg is distasteful of me.

Dylan Lenivy finds me adorable.

Emma Mountebank greatly enjoys my company.

Kaitlyn Ka is entertained by me.

Nicholas Furcillo is protective of me and concerned for my mental health.

Travis Hackett has no relation to me.

Chris Hackett finds me reliable but aggressive.

I am alive, sane and burned but otherwise healthy.

Tarot Visions:

Temperance

Strength

Branches:

•Skeptic BFF: Having been best friends with Max and Laura, I knew they weren't okay. With their absence, I grew skeptical of Chris Hackett and his promises.

#my stuff #fluff #fanfic #the quarry #the quarry fanfic #mxm #bxb #horror #magic #dark magic #psychological horror #gore #violence #mature #apocalypticnova

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namelesschurch · 9 months

Text

Weekly update:

Lev: Lev's back. Honestly, that's the biggest thing for me. She hasn't told me much about what happened. She says she got caught in some sort of VR world with a slightly reasonable megalomaniac? When I asked her about that, she just said "no one died" and then also proceeded to try and reassure me that there was no risk of dying for her - cause of Rook - who was this spellcaster that Lev mentioned earlier before she went on that month-long mess. I think I bawled half the time and yelled at her for the other half.

And now the idiot is picking fight with gangs. Gangs with guns. I can't. I can't lose her. I need to figure out how to distract her in someway. Maybe I should reintroduce her to Crow - her once guardian a timeline ago - at the very least, I can tell Crow that Lev wants to be a vigilante, cause she has massive opinions about that and kids. It's a low blow, but I will not lose her again. She'll either be strong enough to overpower everything that's out there or stay put until she is ready.

----

Mads: So. Mads became a god. Of second chances apparently. And I also made a stupid mistake assuming that Mads would be accepted like Kris is. Needless to say, I was forced to reveal some things about Chi and myself to remedy it. But I don't regret it. I have a bad feeling that if I had gone with my original plan and waited... well, it wouldn't have been good for Mads.

Hopefully, he won't make the connection. I really am the most pathetic goddess apparent, and Chi is unfortunately dragged into my mess by virtue of being her.

I am concerned as to the sort of mannequin-like state when the World Boundary had thoroughly suppressed him. Is that his vessel? Like I've heard that angels were created - and that for them to exist in the mortal world, they require something of Malkuth - of the physical realm - a vessel to exist in. Well, this is assuming the angel he is and the angels I know are similar. But why is he afraid of other mannequin / puppet-like things then?

Kris: He's gone exploring into Chi's Dream World and will have an update when he's done. I hope it's a good distraction for him at any rate. And...I am curious as to why Chi is connected to that world.

...especially if it is that dream world I am thinking about - the one that Lev always chided me on wasting skill points on. How did it end up turning into a game?

Crowley: I'm glad to see that seaweed hell hasn't eaten her. What is a little ominous is her reply tags to my enormous crab MTG post. I hope this is just her "the horrors are normal everyday things" sorta humor - and not y'know having an island-size crab that needed dealing with.

Erna: She's probably the one I'm most worried about. I don't think I can stop it either. Like Lev said, if she's the only one who has not been called... she'll likely accept the Calling willingly next time it happens.

bookkeeperofthescions: Will need to ask in the next week if she needs help with anything. It sounds like almost all of the Scions are down and likely in need of life-sustaining treatment - both soul and body-wise. I might not be able to teleport stuff myself, but the BC's can at least transport things - even if they tend to eat the stuff they transport.

Yugi / Seto / Mokuba / Joey / Rook? : Seems like the card game squad has come back safe and sound - Lev did say that. I am admittedly a little bit worried about Joey given his inactivity, though I'm fairly sure if anything did happen to him, Yugi or Lev would've mentioned it, right? Like I keep telling myself that if the events that happened to them were incredibly dangerous, I feel like one of them would've mentioned it - and then I remember Yugi has a talent for understatement, and Lev's opinion of danger is that it probably has to be city-ending for it be on her radar.

Nata: It seems she went back to Seattle after the damage from the alien? person. Was it the right thing to go "no I will not bring them back?" I can't really say. I know that if Lev disappeared, I would do all I can to bring her back - I did do all I can, limited as it was. But for random people I don't know, I probably wouldn't. Life and Death and Reincarnation have its place - messing with those things probably created the term "playing god."

Lark: Seems to be going to school, I guess? He obviously doesn't like it. Should also keep in mind to refer to him as a witch and not wizard - he's made clear the difference in societal context. Might be some personal context to, given how vehement he is about the subject.

holyhappyhour: Have not seen a response from Le after her comment on the moon. Hopefully, this is just her doing her periods of inactivity thing. Not everyone treats social media as their journal after all. And not someone as cagey as her.

Wayne Enterprises: I do not know what they are playing at. Inviting me to a dinner I do not have the qualifications to be part of - and then inviting me to a partnership that honestly seems fair on paper for the vertical farming project seems almost too good to be true. All I can think of is that I somehow hit some sort of alarm when I started asking about developing caves in the area - an alarm that's present in pro-company, the water is now poison, Gotham. Are they worried about me doing something - or are they already doing something in the caves? I don't have the connections to go blindly investigating - maybe this partnership could be a bribe even. But that's less likely. There's a lot of stuff a multibillion dollar corporation could do to make my life - a millionaire - and my company miserable. They don't need to cater to me.

plushwave: It is hard to tell how much it is Rose's very bad sense of humor coming out or if she's actually being serious. Also interested in the set-up of her world as mentioned by her comments of "Qin." I have also learned that completely different cultures and countries prevents direct comparison of cultures and countries - like you'd think this is a given, but it's a lot harder to actually put into practice when half the stuff it sounds like should be common culture. Or at least that's what I think. Anyway, cares a lot for Aloisia clearly.

enqueter: enqueter. Because I don't think I've seen any mention of name on enqueter's posts. Has some sort of genetic-related powers going on utilizing ADAM and what's called Plasmid. enqueter is a private eye that deals with ADAM-related stuff enough to be a sorta expert on the subject - has a related ADAM power called electrobolt?Not much information as of late. Will keep any eye on.

#penofdamocles #malleablepersonage #plushwave #enqueter #millenniumdueled #creepy-crowleys #witchofthescions #holyhappyhour #7wolfmoon #bookkeeperofthescions #hulizi #blueeyesking #redeyesandchilifries

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the-letter-horror-lover · 2 years

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Notes:

Fourth Common Sense Tip of the Day, Partially Taken by our Protagonist.

Hopefully you’ve found a decent bakery nearby by this point, within screaming distance of the person you know for a fact is perfectly capable of protecting you if stuff goes down, which by this point you know it will. Make friends with them and hope they’re not completely insane.

I was legitimately giggling the entire time from the moment Rena entered the Undertaker’s shop until she left. He’s just so much fun to write! Teehee. We're getting to established events next chapter (this will follow a somewhat blended manga/anime timeline), so stay with me!

Chapter 5: Developments

Notes:

Develop — chess term: In the opening, moving a piece from its original square to make it more active. To redevelop a piece means to move it to a better square after it has already been developed. Efficient, effective development of one's pieces is one of the key objectives of the opening phase of the game.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

As Rena fell into a relatively predictable pattern of living, a full month passed. Reflecting, Rena thought about the lessons, terror, and blessed Sundays off that the month had contained.

At the Phantomhive estate itself, Rena had learned her pieces well. Yet despite her plans for pure survival, she found herself actually befriending the household. She would help Finny in the garden, planting flowers and trimming trees, or simply keeping him company while he did so. (She had also, in a burst of spontaneity, helped him build a bird feeder, which was now hanging on a branch well away from the house where only the two of them knew its location.) Rena had made Finny trust her.

With Baldroy, she listened to what stories of the war he was willing to tell, sharing in return her father’s stories of his experiences (all true, though the dates were changed). Often, though, they would simply end up sitting outside, Baldroy smoking while she read something out loud. A quiet, slow-paced relationship that she knew was the exact opposite from his life as a soldier. Rena had made Baldroy relax around her.

Mey-Rin had been the easiest. Social codes had been set aside in favor of the fact that there was another woman in the house, and Mey-Rin had quickly told Rena all the things that the others didn’t realize Mey-Rin knew. Rena had made Mey-Rin someone who would confide in her.

None of this had helped Rena assess the particular timeline she was in, but it was still interesting to hear the stories from the individual themselves, and not from a manga page or anime episode. Mey-Rin had even agreed to teach her the basics of handling guns, something Rena had asked for following an attack on the mansion, in which she had nothing to do but sit with Ciel in a safe-room on the top floor of the mansion. While she had not minded that, she would have preferred to be able to defend herself and Ciel if necessary, even knowing that Sebastian was only a sentence away from Ciel. There was no guarantee he’d be willing to protect Rena too.

The only unknown piece within the household (much to Rena’s discomfort) was Tanaka. She had no clue how he felt about her, with his ever-present response of “ho, ho, ho.” However, Rena knew that Tanaka was quite wise (having now served two generations of Phantomhives), and was deceivingly adept at both his former butler duties and protecting the mansion. If he had not voiced an opinion, it was unlikely that he was disturbed by her presence, or (a slightly more concerning thought) was simply biding his time. She’d sat down to tea with him a few times, talking to him about how she was fitting in (truth), how much she missed her parents and family (half-truths, mostly), and her concerns over this job (changed reasons, but only slightly fake). His response was predictable, but comforting, especially as Rena suspected he knew more about the household and Sebastian than he let on. Overall, it was not those four pieces that concerned her.

No, it was Ciel and Sebastian who she truly worried about.

Ciel, of course, was the Earl Phantomhive, the Queen’s Guard Dog, and Rena greatly suspected that if he became aware that she possibly knew much of his future, he would have no hesitation in ordering Sebastian to get the information out of her, one way or another. Rena had found that his drive for revenge ran deeper than she had ever suspected when she was only reading and watching these lives unfold. So she tread cautiously, allowing herself to mesh with the household, slowly letting Ciel acclimate to her presence. She was under no delusion that he would ever trust her as much as he did Sebastian (for obvious reasons), but she was determined to get as close as possible.

Yet such things must be done carefully, and so Rena never pushed Ciel, instead choosing to simply exist in his proximity. It had begun to work its magic after two or three weeks. At first, Ciel had asked her to play chess with him one evening after she had played piano for him upon request. That one evening had turned into a second, a third, and a fourth. A week later, and the two were playing chess together nearly every night. They often sat in silence, as Ciel preferred. However, he would occasionally and rather abruptly ask a question some nights, which would spark a short discussion (mostly in riddles and half-answers, as suited both.) They were rarely personal (and if they were, Ciel refused to talk about himself, preferring to hear about Rena, who by this time had woven together a rather complex life.) Her answers always had an element of truth to it, to make it all the more believable. Rena still dreaded the day that Ciel became suspicious, however, and sent Sebastian to investigate.

Yes, Rena had lied about never telling Ciel a lie. However, she reasoned that if he called her out on it, she could always “admit” to having a life similar to one of the other servants, something she had no desire to discuss. But he never did, and so the half-truths continued.

Which half was the truth? Rena wasn’t even sure anymore, to be honest. She remembered her life back in her world, to be sure. But her constant fiction had become cemented in her mind, fake memories to go with her fake life. She could picture her two “sisters,” easily based off of her best friends. Her father and mother, transposed to the 19th century. Her brother… actually, while she had let it slip that she’d had a brother, she had immediately clammed up, refusing to speak on it more. Ciel had graciously allowed her that, especially when she allowed three small tears to roll down her face. He had immediately started blushing and stammering, dropping the subject and turning his attention back to the chess game, making a poor move in his distracted state.

Rena had won that game.

The chess games had turned into dinner every Thursday night, and the relationship between the two thawed out, at least on the surface. Below, Rena suspected there was an iceberg, ready to tear them apart should Ciel learn of her true nature. So she continued to tiptoe, trying to turn into someone Ciel at least marginally trusted. She needed him to do so, to believe she was a piece in his game of chess.

Rena was unsure as to where people stood in her game, though hers was one of survival, rather than revenge. It scared her, sometimes, when she would find herself staring at the twisting shadows which were rapidly becoming familiar. She would find herself thinking of her new friends and acquaintances as chess pieces. Yet she knew she was not playing with a full set — there were still many people whom she had not met.

Yet even as Ciel thawed slightly, the live coals which were Sebastian Michaelis still caused concern.

From the moment she had stepped into the Phantomhive mansion, she knew Sebastian had kept a suspicious red eye trained on her. On her third Sunday out, she had sensed him following her, and she’d stopped near an alleyway. Looking down it, she had stated, quietly — but in no uncertain terms — to abide by the agreement between her and Earl Phantomhive, that Sundays were hers to do with as she pleased, no questions asked. She had immediately sensed his withdrawal, and had continued on. In a calculated risk, (and as a slight apology for calling him out like that) Rena had subtly slipped him some catnip for the cats she knew he kept in his room the next day. His eyes had widened, and Rena had only smiled knowingly. That small event had temporarily caused more suspicion from him (on top of the small concern he felt from her noticing his presence on Sunday), but as Ciel failed to comment or yell at him about keeping cats in the house, Sebastian’s distrust of this sentiment had dimmed with each instance of Rena bringing catnip back from London.

On top of this, he had seen her petting a stray cat once, and the tilt of his head showed some interest in the fact that she seemed to like cats herself. Rena had smiled at him in a friendly way when she noticed his presence (despite her terror at suddenly having the demon standing next to her). “I used to slip out to the stables to cuddle the cats that lived in there.” Rena had explained. (Only a half-truth, again. While they had not been outdoor cats, her family kept at least three cats when Rena was growing up.)

Sebastian’s obvious suspicion had continued to die down with these events, but she knew that the slightest misstep would cause that suspicion to flare back up, ready to burn her. She still treated Sebastian as one would any flame — with respect and caution. He was something that could not be manipulated in the same way as others. So they were generally civil to each other, though the knight and the bishop failed (and perhaps refused, to some extent) to see entirely eye to eye.

Outside the Phantomhive household were many variables which had yet to be explored. Rena did not know entirely who existed in this world (as she had two separate timelines to consider), but she knew that there were four or five constants she had not integrated into her game of survival, and a few opponents to consider. Claude and Alois, (who would both be likely to kill her without hesitation); Madame Red (who would likely die, unless Rena’s presence had massively changed the timeline); Lau, with his “businesses” and Ran-Mao, his “sister” (personal assassin); Grell (along with the rest of the reapers by extension); and the Midfords, specifically Elizabeth.

Rena shuddered at the thought of Elizabeth. The girl was a fascinating person, one that Rena suspected would be important to her survival. But if she was disliked by the girl, if she felt Rena was a threat to her beloved Ciel… Rena knew exactly how skilled she was with a blade, and becoming one of Undertaker’s “guests” remained an unsatisfactory end to her game.

The thought of Undertaker brought a smile to Rena’s face. Her Sundays out had — without fail — brought her to the Undertaker’s shop, which was situated in a part of town with very little traffic, so her visits remained unknown. She wasn’t quite sure how she had managed to make it there in the rain, but she chalked it up to destiny, fate, whatever one wished to call it. Those afternoons were some of the most entertaining she had in this world. Slowly, she was befriending the Undertaker, knowing that should she end up in trouble, only good things could come from having the most powerful shinigami on her side (or perhaps she was on his side. Her perceptions seemed to break down around him. Rena could only assume it was the lack of visible eyes.)

Certainly, her first voluntary visit had surprised the Undertaker. Rena chuckled remembering it. He had popped out of his coffin, giggling about having a customer and custom-made coffins, only to stop short when he saw that it was Rena. Genuine surprise had crossed his face before it was replaced by a grin.

“The governess came back~ I must say, I didn’t expect I’d made that much of an impression, ehehehe…”

Rena gave him the look. “It was this or the bookstore. I still feel that the bookstore may be a better choice.” The Undertaker looked slightly disappointed, so Rena amended that statement, her traitorous face coloring ever so slightly. “Although, the company here is a good bit more lively than the bookstore.” She added quietly.

The grin returned then, and Rena quickly found herself in the back of the shop, sitting in the chair she’d been in before, with a beaker of tea in her hand. The Undertaker placed a container of the dog biscuits in front of her with a grin. “Eat up, dearie~” He taunted.

Rena, finding herself with a passive-aggressive nature around him, defiantly ate one, which caused the Undertaker to laugh nearly as much as it had the first time.

“I’ve never found someone who will eat those more than once~” He gasped out.

Rena simply sighed and shook her head at his amusement, which caused more laughter.

Once he recovered, they chatted about everything and nothing. Where she was from (she recited her half-truths, which she knew by heart now), where he was from (she didn’t know if he was lying or not, but the truth about his nature certainly didn’t come up), how working in the Phantomhive mansion was (he kept silent on his opinions of the family, though she sensed his concern for her well-being), if any interesting bodies had come through (Rena had taken a full year of biology classes), what other interests she had (she admitted to a fascination with graveyards and what you could find out or imagine about people by their tombstone, something the Undertaker appreciated), and how he had gotten into being an undertaker (which he had admitted was a “career change” when he got tired of dealing with the living, something Rena had smirked into her tea over). Rena had slipped out a few hours later, leaving the Undertaker giggling hysterically over nothing in particular.

Visits after that had gone much the same, though the Undertaker was rapidly becoming accustomed to her dropping by, and often didn’t bother to be in his coffin when she would walk into the shop. (Rena wondered if he was able to sense individual presences approaching.) Along with that, he would genuinely offer a biscuit with no teasing in recent visits. Rena had quickly found herself becoming strangely accustomed to the odd flavor of the treats, and began to associate the slight cinnamon taste with the Undertaker’s shop, a fact which she kept well hidden.

Putting all thoughts of the strange man out of her mind, Rena turned her attention back to the mansion and its inhabitants. She had the uneasy feeling that events were rapidly evolving, and the period of which she had knowledge was about to start. It was early September now, and the Jack the Ripper cases were beginning to make it into the newspapers, though they were not headlines yet. Unfortunate — but disconnected — murders, Scotland Yard still said.

Reviewing events prior to that case, Rena realized they had not had the corrupt businessman for dinner yet.

Rena suspected that would happen soon, and she was proven correct the next morning during lessons with the Earl Phantomhive. They were studying history when Ciel had off-handedly mentioned that a Mr. Damiano was coming for dinner that evening, and that he would like Rena to be in attendance both before and during dinner. Rena had tried to protest, though she was pleased he trusted her to be there (or perhaps needed, she amended internally).

“But my lord, I am your governess, not a lady of high standing. Would it not be… odd, for me to be present?”

Ciel waved it aside. “Few people are aware that you are teaching me, Miss Remington. All I have to do is instruct the staff to treat you like a guest for the evening, and with that, you are a friend of my late parents, come to see their son. Besides,” here, Ciel got a hard look in his eye as he looked directly at Rena. “I have excellent reason to believe that he has not done his duty as an employee of my company. I would like someone else there who understands people the way you do.”

This last comment surprised Rena. “I do not pretend to understand an individual person any better…” Rena tried to deflect, but to no avail. Ciel cut her off with a smirk.

“Ah, ah, remember our terms, Miss Remington? I recall you stating that you would not lie to me, especially as ‘lies are merely a version of the truth, an invention of those who refuse to see what is already evident,’ if I recall your words correctly, do I not?”

Rena shut her mouth, partially because she had no response, and partially because she was surprised he remembered her words so clearly. Ciel noticed, and the smirk became bigger. “I am aware that you appear to be capable of understanding a person’s intent more clearly than most. You have used it on all of us at one point or another, I believe. However, you also swore loyalty to me, and the other staff all appear to like you, so I continue to assume you have not used it for ill intent.”

Rena regained her voice then, looking down. “I am sorry, my lord. I have had this ability ever since I was a child, and I assure you I have never used it for a dishonest reason.” One of the very few full truths she had given Ciel in their time together. She’d had it ever since her brother… left. Rena refocused on Ciel, who was watching her intently. Once again, she hoped a fatal mistake had not been made.

Thankfully, it did not appear that it had. Ciel had slouched back, closing his eye. “Everyone in my employ has some ability they prefer not to discuss, though I generally have to go searching for them. They do not often turn up on my doorstep, ready to play chess.”

If Rena didn’t know better, she’d almost assume Ciel was teasing her slightly. She allowed a smile onto her face. “I do not imagine many people would be willing to play chess with a master such as yourself, seeing as how they would be nearly guaranteed to lose. Now, shall we continue with lessons?” Rena successfully changed the subject, and the day continued on.

Once, Sebastian had brought a light snack, only to get in a brief argument over bringing Ciel sweets. Rena had calmly agreed with Sebastian's point of view, knowing she was in good enough standing with Ciel to risk irritating him, but that gaining Sebastian’s good opinion (or simply a better opinion than he likely currently had) would possibly save her life someday, even taking into account the demon’s somewhat sociopathic nature. The only part of the incident that caused Rena to feel uncomfortable was Ciel’s sudden backing down, only to give Sebastian an order.

“Fine then. About the portrait in the hallway…” Ciel trailed off for a second, and the temperature in the room dropped from simmering to freezing faster than Rena would have thought possible.

“Yes?” Was Sebastian’s response, hiding his boredom. If the temperature hadn’t dropped before, it was frigid now.

Ciel continued with a flat voice, one unnatural even for him. “Take it down. I am Ciel Phantomhive, son of Vincent, and I am the head of the house now.”

“Consider it done, my lord.” Sebastian left, leaving Rena alone with Ciel, who was simply staring out the window, lost in thought. Rena did not have the heart or the motivation to disturb him, and after that small display of power and resulting climate, she felt the need for a more temperate location. So she slipped out, leaving an unnoticed note on Ciel’s desk telling him to read a few pages of one of his books before dinner, and that they would discuss it tomorrow. Rena figured she’d see what the servants were up to, and if she could lend a (useful) hand somewhere.

What she found was Sebastian chewing out the three, who had all managed to create massive messes and disasters in their respective areas. Rena slipped into a kneeling/sitting position next to Tanaka, who gave her a quiet “ho, ho, ho” in response as Rena noticed an extra teacup nearby. She sipped at the warm liquid as she watched Sebastian remain surprisingly calm in the face of ruin.

“Calm down, all of you. Perhaps you should try taking a page out of Tanaka's book, and start behaving like…” Sebastian glanced over, only to see both Rena and Tanaka sitting there quietly sipping tea in a traditional Japanese fashion. Rena held up her teacup and gave a tiny smile to Sebastian (much as she still disliked the demon in general, despite his cooking ability), knowing exactly where his thoughts were running. A subtle hint of surprise ran across his face before realization set in. “Everyone. Listen closely and do exactly as I say, understand?…” He barely spared a second glance at Rena and Tanaka, though she suspected he was as close to gratitude as he was capable of being. For some odd reason, the thought didn’t comfort her. She just wondered if he still wanted to kill her.

The afternoon passed relatively uneventfully after that, though Rena insisted Ciel finish his lessons for the day, something that the Earl was not pleased about. He stated that if she was going to make him finish his lessons when other business was more pressing, that she had to help entertain their guest on top of confirming Ciel’s suspicion of the man. Rena sighed and agreed to flirt with Mr. Damiano for the evening.

Rena was regretting that decision heartily. Damiano had arrived soon before dinner, and was quickly escorted to the drawing room where Ciel and Rena were waiting. Upon seeing Rena, he had immediately turned into a slimy flirt, only restrained by the fact that he was there on business. Rena was currently smiling and pretending to be interested in their conversation, very much aware of the sleazy looks Damiano was giving her, paired with the mildly amused ones from Ciel. At least someone thinks this is funny, Rena thought to herself, once again hiding a grimace as a hand was lightly placed on her own, forcing her to look at the man. Rena forced herself to smile as the talk continued.

“The progress we've been making with the East India Factory is quite astonishing. We already have the makings of a top-notch staff.” Damiano was saying.

Ciel seemed unimpressed and distracted, though Rena knew he was listening carefully. “Bewitched by the eyes of the dead. What terrible luck. It appears I lose a turn.”

“Right now is the perfect time. We should begin expanding the company and building a strong labor force, it would—“ Damiano was cut off as he tried to continue.

“Go on. It's your turn.” Ciel stated. Rena shuddered as the hand moved up her arm. If Sebastian doesn’t kill this guy, I will. Rena was starting to understand Ciel’s discomfort when dressed as a girl.

“Oh, yes. I just spin this then. Okay there, five spaces. Now, what I wanted to ask you. Perhaps you could contribute another 12,000 pounds to support our expansion?…” Rena tuned out again to preserve her sanity as the hand continued towards her shoulder. She didn’t tune back in until the hand was removed as Ciel spoke, clearly finishing a conversation she had missed, though she vaguely recalled what had been said.

“I'm afraid once something is truly lost, sir, that one can never get it back again. Your body is burnt by raging flames.”

Thankfully, (as Rena sensed the hand try to move back) Sebastian took that moment to knock and enter the room. “Pardon the interruption, but dinner is served.” If Rena had hated the demon before, her opinion of him had just raised considerably.

Damiano, distracted by the promise of food, had retracted the slowly creeping hand. “Oh, dining out in that exquisite stone garden? Shall we go, my lord? Miss Remington, if I may?” He added the last question while offering an arm as he stood.

Rena was saved from that horror by Ciel taking her other arm in a nonchalant fashion, much to the obvious disappointment of Damiano. “Very well, we'll finish the game later.”

“Oh, is there any real need to finish it? It's obvious I’m going to lose.” Damian tried to brush off the game, much to Ciel’s well-hidden displeasure.

“I'm not in the habit of abandoning games halfway through.” He turned to leave, Rena following, only to hear Damiano mutter something under his breath about “childish.” Ciel stopped short, and Rena, having slightly fewer scruples (especially after the man’s behavior that evening), turned her head, regarding Damiano with a look that condemned his lack of tact.

Damiano scrambled to explain, only digging his grave deeper in Rena’s mind. “Oh I, I mean that sometimes it takes a child's eyes to see what's really important…Maybe that's what's made the Phantomhives the nation's foremost toy makers…”

Rena simply turned her head away, suddenly finding the architecture of the house fascinating as the small group made their way outside. Thankfully, once seated at dinner, Rena found herself placed squarely between Ciel and Mr. Damiano, but far enough away from the man to keep his hands off her. Rena sat quietly as tuned out a good deal of the conversation, choosing instead to keep an empty smile on her face and maintain a calm facade as she began eating her dinner.

Unfortunately, this caused her to miss Mey-Rin’s reaction to Sebastian’s proximity, and she noticed Mey-Rin’s awkwardness too late. Rena sighed inwardly. It was unlikely she would have been able to do anything about it — especially as she was a “guest” this evening — but she would have liked the option of saving the poor woman from some embarrassment. The tablecloth was suddenly whisked out from in front of her, and Rena cast a mild glance toward Ciel, who was maintaining a neutral expression while Sebastian was frowning slightly. Rena couldn’t see any of the servants.

Damiano looked up. “Oh? Where did the tablecloth go?” He took this opportunity to give Rena a flirtatious look, which she did not miss and had to repress the urge to throw up.

“A speck of dirt, most unsightly. I had the cloth removed so it wouldn't distract us. Think nothing of it.” Ciel continued eating.

Sebastian looked smug. “Please accept my apologies, sir. Do continue. Enjoy the meal at your leisure.”

“Oh, Oh my! Lord Phantomhive, once again you have truly impressed me. What an able butler you've acquired.”

“Pay him no mind. He merely act as befits one of my servants.” Ciel, looking up, also took the opportunity to glance at Rena with some superiority. Rena promptly returned the look with one of irritation, conveying that she did not appreciate the implication that she had acted as Ciel’s servant that evening. He simply smirked and looked down again.

Sebastian, subtly taking the last word, bowed. “My master is quite correct about that. Naturally, you see, I am simply one hell of a butler.”

Ciel gave a soft “hmmph” as Rena hid a smile. However, the rest of dinner went smoothly and uneventfully, and they were soon back in the drawing room, Rena unfortunately sitting near Damiano once again, who was attempting to weasel out of the game and into a contract. Fortunately, Ciel was having none of it.

“Children can be very demanding about their games. Surely you wouldn't want me to get upset.” Rena, having spent a month in close proximity to Ciel, knew full well that he was already angry, but bit her tongue as she felt a hand on her side.

“No, no of course not. Perhaps you would permit me to use your telephone?”

They were once again interrupted by Sebastian, and the hand was removed.

“I've brought some tea for you, Mr. Damiano, and Miss Remington, my lord.”

Rena thought quickly. While she wasn’t particularly fond of Sebastian, and hated to ask a favor of him, she was quickly finding him the lesser of two evils in this particular situation. Damiano was worse in real life than he ever was on a screen. However, she was broken out of her thoughts by a quiet question from Ciel once Damiano had excused himself from the room as Sebastian poured three cups of tea.

“I am correct, am I not?” Ciel had no need to elaborate.

“Yes, my lord.” Rena said, between gritted teeth forced into a smile. She had gotten one too many looks in those eyes throughout the evening. Ciel smirked at her response, but returned back to his typical cool demeanor as he asked Sebastian a question about the tea, reacting with dislike. Rena took a sip and had to agree with Ciel’s poor assessment of the liquid, though she suspected it was slightly tainted by the man it had been brought for as well.

Ciel frowned slightly as he spoke again, Rena having missed what was said before in her own test of the tea. “We must show him every available hospitality. The Phantomhive family is known for its courtesy.” Rena, despite discomfort with the look in Ciel’s eye, also felt a need to show “Phantomhive courtesy” to the man, something that caused unrest in her mind.

“Yes, my young lord.” Sebastian turned to go, and Rena quickly excused herself to follow him. They stepped out into the hall, and Sebastian turned to her.

“Yes, Miss Remington?” He sounded bored and mildly annoyed.

Rena stood up a little straighter, and looked Sebastian dead in the eyes. “Is there any way I may assist with our hospitality?” She wasn’t quite able to keep the bitter tone out of her voice, causing Sebastian to smirk.

“I see our visitor was unable to impress either of our chess-masters this evening. He must be a very poor player indeed.” Sebastian mocked.

Rena frowned. “He is not a player at all, merely a child pretending to be one.” Rena shoved the growing unease in her mind down to a corner, telling it to be quiet. This was her personal revenge for the humiliations this evening — and after all, Damiano didn’t die. Rena tried to justify her possible future actions, only succeeding in a slight degree.

Sebastian cocked his head, the smirk never leaving his face as he leaned closer. “I see… the innocent governess has started to become dangerous. It’s an excellent thing that it’s not directed towards this household.” Sebastian whispered the last part close to Rena’s ear before giving her personal space back.

Rena resisted the now-familiar urge to simply give in, taking a step back instead. Sebastian clearly did not trust her, even after a month and their mutual love of cats. However, Rena did feel some odd comfort knowing where the Knight stood.

Sebastian shook his head then. “Much as I find your enthusiasm… cheering, you are unable to assist in this matter. You should stay in the drawing room with the young master.” With that, he bowed and strode away.

Rena huffed slightly and returned to the drawing room, Ciel’s eyes following her as she sat down. He seemed to know her mind, but did not comment, instead gazing out the window as he waited for the imminent sounds of terror. Rena, despite her own wrathful mindset, once again reflected on how chilling Ciel’s wrath was. It did not visibly flare up, only to cool quickly. No. It simmered beneath the surface, ready to lash out quietly and quickly at whoever dared to raise the lid of the pot.

So they sat there in silence. They did not have to wait long before the sounds of screaming filled the night. Ciel turned his eyes to the door. “What an unattractive scream. He sounds almost like a pig taken off to slaughter.” He snorted. “What presumption, first he sells the East Indian factory without telling me, and then he dares to ask for more money? Did he think to retain my trust?” Ciel mused to himself as Rena turned her eyes to him.

Ciel looked her in the eyes, causing Rena’s hair to prickle, though he was speaking of Damiano and not her. “I'm afraid once something is truly lost, one can never get it back again.”

Notes:

Common Sense Tip of the Day, Not Ignored:

Don’t tick off the people you work for. Do whatever they want (within reason) and don’t make them suspicious. Also, while lying is bad (too much to keep track of) don’t tell them everything you know. Keep yourself useful.

Another 5500 words, good grief. I know this chapter is kind of bridge-y and boring, but this is not my favorite episode/chapter set. Plus, I really wanted some character reflection from Rena’s thoughts (Finny and Baldroy’s relationships with Rena will be explored at a later date) before stuff starts really happening (though let’s be honest, this is mostly a character story, not an action one.) Unfortunately, we’re getting into the bit where I am forced to use some established dialogue, but I am trying to keep it to a minimum. I hope the next few chapters will be less awkward as I figure out the best way to weave it in.

Chapter 6: Fool's Mate

Notes:

Fool's mate -- chess term: The shortest possible chess game ending in mate.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Oh, Miss Remington?” Ciel spoke as Rena was about to leave the room.

“Yes, my lord?” Rena turned back and tilted her head inquisitively.

“We will be having guests this afternoon. The first one should be arriving momentarily.”

Rena curtseyed and left the room. She had no need to inquire as to Ciel’s reason for telling her this. In the past three weeks since the incident with Mr. Damiano, Rena had become quite used to being a “visitor” at the Phantomhive mansion. Pausing and reflecting slightly, it appeared as though Ciel had determined his strategy and was pursuing it without hesitation. Rena, with her ability to “see” an individual mind (as Mey-Rin had put it), had smoothly slipped into her role. Beyond the obvious reasons for using Rena in this manner, Ciel seemed to find some amusement in forcing Rena to flirt with any gentlemen who were at the house that evening.

While some of the gentlemen were nice enough, the individuals Ciel worked with ensured those were few in number. So Rena counted how many times she had a hand placed on her side or arm and tried to laugh about it later. In the moment, Rena would simply bite her tongue and smile.

However, Rena couldn’t think who would be coming this evening. Ciel had not specified, so she supposed it was just another business associate.

Well, she was partly right.

“Where is my nephew?” Rena spun around, only to come face to face with Madam Red herself, who was looking as dignified as Rena had expected her to be. Thankfully, Rena managed to mask her surprise and interest.

“He is in his study, Madam.” Rena replied, as smoothly as she could muster. So that’s where they were now. Rena felt vaguely uneasy. If she was meeting Madam Red, it could only mean the Jack the Ripper case was not far off. However, Rena forced the uneasy feeling to retreat slightly, only for it to return twice as strong a few seconds later.

“My lady, I have the bags!”

Oh… please no, Rena thought. She turned her head slightly to the side, looking toward the front door. If there was no image to maintain, Rena would have face-palmed. Oh… yes it is, she groaned internally, though she did have a sudden urge to giggle hysterically, which she (with great difficulty) managed to repress. Coming in was none other than one Grell Sutcliff, though he was currently disguised as a human. Grell promptly tripped, and Rena hurried over to check on him.

“I do hope you are uninjured?” Rena asked, gently assisting Grell in rising to his feet.

“Yes, yes, my lady. I am sorry for troubling you.” Grell adjusted his glasses and focused on Rena, despite knowing Grell’s status as a — frankly psychotic — reaper, maintained a facade of concern as he picked up the bags again. She followed him until he got to the stairs, at which point she turned back to Madam Red, who had watched the scene with a curious gaze.

“Why would you care so much for the well-being of a mere butler?” She asked, with dueling notes of curiosity and disapproval. Rena stepped closer.

“It is how I was raised, Madam. Everyone, even the youngest of scullery-maids, is deserving of respect.” She stated respectfully, with a small bowing of the head.

Madame Red raised an eyebrow slightly, but smiled nonetheless. “Who are you, if I may ask?”

Rena was prevented from replying by the sudden appearance of Ciel at the top of the stairs.

“Madam Red. I see you have met Miss Remington.”

Madam Red looked up at Ciel. “Earl Phantomhive. It is a pleasure to see you again.”

Rena watched in silence. If she didn’t know any better, she would never suspect these two were related, much less nephew and aunt. Rena mentally filed away the small lesson in acting for future reference. However, both people were now focused on her.

“Will you be joining us this evening, Miss Remington?” Madam Red inquired.

Rena smiled. “Indeed I shall, Madam Red.”

Ciel, watching the exchange, maintained a neutral expression. “Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, if you would join me in my study, Madam Red?”

The two women nodded cordially to each other. Madam Red then turned to follow Ciel, leaving Rena alone in the foyer. She watched them go, wheels in her head beginning to turn again.

So, here were another two of her own pawns. This meant Lau and Ran-Mao would be in attendance as well. Her set was rapidly completing itself. Elizabeth would appear shortly, completing her set of easily reachable allies (or non-enemies, at the least). Rena had decided not to count the other reapers (specifically William T. Spears) in her calculations, as they were neutral in most instances. Rena walked upstairs, retiring to her room for a short while. She needed to think.

A few short hours later, Rena found herself in the billiard room with the “Aristocrats of Evil.” Ciel had not referred to them as such, but Rena knew. She was sitting back in the shadows near Ciel, wearing a hat with a veil that hid her face, but allowed her to see everyone in the room clearly enough. She could see why the Undertaker preferred to hide behind his bangs. There were advantages to observing from behind a mask. The servants could be heard running past the room. One of the men — whom Rena identified as Randall, of Scotland Yard — raised an eyebrow.

“Quite a commotion going out there, It seems you're experiencing a rat problem as well.”

Another man who Rena could not identify piped up. “Speaking of which, how long will you let the vermin run wild? Filthy monsters. Someone really ought to take care of them, don't you think?”

Lau, who had arrived shortly before the meeting began, gave a half-smile. “And someone will. He is just waiting for the opportune moment.”

Rena had immediately taken a mild dislike to Lau, though he was by no means her least favorite person. Rena had the advantage of knowing his actions, which were entirely in self-preservation — something she could not fault.

Madam Red leaned forward, smiling. “Indeed. He prefers to settle things with one blow. Will you pass on this turn too, Lord Phantomhive?”

Ciel smirked. “I'll pass. It's my policy not to shoot if I know that I'll miss.” Randall shook his head.

“That’s all very well, but when will you handle the problem?”

Ever the policeman, Rena thought.

Ciel shrugged. “Any time you like. The rats will come soon come looking for their forbidden cheese, and I hold the key to the storehouse.”

Rena’s eyes roamed the room, landing on Vanel. She watched him closely as he muttered under his breath and began to squirm inwardly. Rena shifted slightly, trying to get a good look at his eyes. While she already knew he was the rat on this occasion, she found her task of observing… fascinating. In her world, she had rarely had the opportunity to simply observe, instead being forced to be a participant more often than not. With her sudden liberty, she found interest in truly taking time to read the motivations and reasoning of people… it was a complex thing. She especially valued these rare instances where she was allowed to sit in the background.

She listened quietly, her smile hidden by the shadows. She found all this roundabout dialogue nearly as intriguing as watching a grown man squirm, though he hid it behind mockery as he smirked at Randall’s insult towards the Phantomhives and Ciel’s response to it.

“Ha, you're in trouble now, Randall. What next, Lord Phantomhive?”

Ciel stood. “It’s time to put an end to this worthless game, don't you think?” As he walked past Randall, he muttered something to Randall, who responded in an equally low tone. Ciel continued towards the pool table, gracefully jumping to where he was perched on the edge.

The unidentified man looked shocked. “You passed your turn twice and now you're after them all in one go?”

Ciel took aim. “Naturally.”

Randall watched. He spoke quietly, but his voice carried. “Careful, or your greed will undo you.”

Ciel shot. Balls scattered, rolling into pockets. He hopped down and closed his eyes, leaning back against the table. “Am I undone?”

The meeting had not lasted much longer. Now, Rena was sitting in the drawing room with Madam Red, Ciel, and Lau, having afternoon tea. She had abandoned her hat at Ciel’s request, and it was now lying on her lap as she continued to observe in a more open manner. Rena was snapped out of her observations when Sebastian was practically assaulted by Madam Red. She forced herself to maintain a straight face in spite of the rising feeling of victory and urge to smile. Sebastian had only smirked on the rare occasions when she’d complain to him about the men she’d dealt with. It was only fair the compliment be returned.

Ciel coughed slightly. “Ahem! Madam Red.”

Madam Red had the decency to blush slightly. “Oh, Sorry. I couldn't help it. He looked like he needed a physical. Just a doctor's habit.” Rena nearly choked on her tea, but maintained her composure as Grell looked about ready to faint in the background. And so it begins, Rena thought.

The conversation continued, picking up where the meeting had left off. If the others were an outer circle, then this group was Ciel’s inner circle. Interesting the people he chooses to trust, fluttered through Rena's head briefly before Madam Red and Lau got into a verbal spat over Ciel. He made eye contact with her briefly before slipping out while the others were distracted. She stood and walked out with him as he held a hand to his forehead. Once they were outside the room, he stopped.

“Who?”

Rena considered whether he should know. There was no harm, she supposed.

“Vanel.” She stated flatly.

Ciel nodded. “Accompany me to my study?” He asked, sounding very young indeed. Even the Earl had his limits.

Rena hesitated slightly. She had found that some of her memories were beginning to fade. On her next trip to London, she would have to buy a journal to write down all she could remember. She would have to hide it well, lest Sebastian or one of the servants find it.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be one of the instances that had faded, so she could not remember what happened next, though she had a vague impression that it wasn’t good. She nodded hesitantly, and they began to walk, only to be interrupted by Sebastian.

“Master? Today's dessert is a deep-dish pie prepared with flesh apples and raisins. It will be ready soon. Would you like to eat with your guests?”

Ciel sighed. “Bring it to my study. I'm done here.”

Sebastian bowed. “Certainly, my lord.”

The two continued their walk in silence, Ciel clearly thinking deeply. Rena pondered her own matters, and they entered the study. Only then did a memory click, and she rounded on Ciel with a sudden gasp.

It was too late, however. She felt a hard blow to the back of her head, and everything went black.

She regained consciousness to Sebastian kneeling next to her, a hand on her shoulder as he looked somewhat concerned about Ciel’s obvious disappearance and her unconscious state. He stood up once he had determined that she was relatively uninjured.

“Where has the master gone?” He inquired.

Rena grimaced as pain flooded into her head. “I suspect Vanel took him.” She lightly touched the back of her head, only to wince. “Hitting a lady. How uncouth.” She muttered.

Sebastian looked contemplative, then turned to walk out, Rena following him closely. “Do not tell the servants what has happened.” He requested. Rena nodded, the movement causing more pain. As they stepped out, and began walking towards the foyer, Sebastian quietly thinking out loud, Mey-Rin came running at them, huffing and puffing.

“Sebastian! I just found the letter, yes I did!”

Rena did not miss Sebastian’s glance to the side, and slowly backed up to where she was not visible from either of the nearby windows.

Sebastian looked back at Mey-Rin. “Addressed to whom?”

“Oh…” Mey-Rin checked. “To the servants of the Earl Phantomhive.”

The next few seconds happened in a blur. Rena turned away from the suddenly shattered window as Mey-Rin let out a scream. When Rena looked back, Sebastian was lying on the floor, Mey-Rin on top of him. He seemed unperturbed, though Mey-Rin was blushing profusely. “Mey-Rin. the letter, please.”

Mey-Rin handed it to him, and he stood, reading the letter to himself. Rena stood next to Mey-Rin, who was still blushing. The other servants came running, as did Madam Red and Lau, with Grell close behind.

“Sebastian!” Finny called out.

Madam Red looked around in shock, as did Grell. “What is going on here?” She asked.

“Sorry for the noise my lady. I assure you nothing is wrong. Please don't concern yourself.” Rena muffled a snort. Understatement of the century right there.

Madam Red didn’t buy it, to her credit. “Humph, nothing, are you sure?”

Sebastian handed the pie he had been carrying at Baldroy. “Everyone, I have business to attend to. Would you mind cleaning this up?” He walked off, everyone distracted for the moment, including Rena. When she glanced back up, Sebastian was gone.

Baldroy hadn’t quite noticed yet. “Um. So, when you say clean uh... that means we can eat it, right? …Sebastian?” He glanced around, helplessly.

Rena forced herself to smile despite the still-throbbing pain in her head before taking charge, as there was nobody else to do so until Sebastian returned in a couple hours with Ciel. “Go ahead and eat it, Baldroy, Finny, Mey-Rin. Save me a piece if you would.” She turned to Lau and Madam Red. “I will have a carriage brought around front for you. I apologize for the inconvenience.” Lau nodded and walked in the direction of the foyer, but Madam Red hesitated before leaning close to Rena.

“Miss Remington, I am glad my nephew has someone like you nearby. Visit me in London sometime, would you? I would appreciate furthering our acquaintance.”

Rena smiled and tilted her head. “I would be honored, Madam Red.” Rena found herself meaning her words. Despite the horrors Madam Red inflicted on others, she found herself genuinely pitying the woman. Her life had been a tragic one, and if she could make these last few months of her life a little brighter, then she would. A white piece in the midst of black ones. Madam Red walked off then, Grell following, casting a curious look backwards at Rena.

A shiver ran down her spine as she watched them walk away, before turning and meandering in the direction of her room. Rena shuddered at the thought of Grell’s curiosity once more, not knowing where she stood with the red-haired reaper. She could only hope it wasn’t on the sharp end of his scythe.

Notes:

Common Sense Tip of the Day, Taken:

Hide your face from people you don’t trust. Become a ghost in the night. Be that weird lurker at the bakery that nobody quite notices.

Urgh. These storylines, not allowing for my desired level of character development and exploration! At least the next few chapters start leading to/are the events of Jack the Ripper, something filled to the brim with intrigue (and Grell xD). Small blessings.

Chapter 7: Cover

Notes:

Cover — chess term: To protect a piece or control a square.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Rena chuckled as she listened to the commotion

#black butler fanfiction

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cinnamonest · 3 years

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I am still thinking about modern Xiao being a horrible porn/hentai addict... Why talk to 3D girls (who might get mad at you or say no or reject you and break your heart or judge you) when you have anime girl figurines and porn and girls you can pay online to do things on camera?? It's only logical.

And consequently he has built up a... Collection. Multiple Google chrome bookmark tabs, not even just a single "porn" folder no, our boy has the Library of Alexandria going on over here with organized categories (it's the only organized thing in his life really). And while vanilla things are good, the preferences tend to very clearly lean in a... Darker direction.

Once he *does* get a nice little captive girlfriend, it's only normal to want to try these things out right? For so long all he could do was jerk off to the image of these things... But the back of a girl's throat probably feels a lot better than imagining his hand is the back of a girl's throat. And so far, really, he's appalled that those fleshlights he owns at least one or two of were such false advertising. It absolutely does NOT feel like the real thing. How could he have gone so long thinking cold plastic felt anything like wet and slick and warm fleshy insides? How misleading. To think he had nearly resigned himself to be content with that for the rest of his life.

But now he doesn't think he ever COULD go back to that. It would be torture. Almost seems like a waste of the collection, but he'll never need porn again. Except... as reference material.

His logic is that if she can do it, so can you. I mean, why wouldn't you be able to pull off the same acts as a seasoned porn star? It's the same parts you're working with right? You're just... not relaxing enough. You're too tense. I mean, look, the girl on screen shoves that guys entire dick down her throat with ease, so clearly it's very easy, if you just relax you'll be fine.

Or, stop whining, your body can totally bend that way, with some... Help. Come on, this is only #37 of the 122 positions he has listed to try, and if you don't get them done quick enough he won't remember them well enough to make a comprehensive mental ranking and remember which ones were best.

And anal's not that bad, really. There wouldn't be so much porn of it if it was that bad. See, they do it just fine. You just have to get used to it. It'll just take a few times or ten. But don't worry, it's ok if it hurts or you cry, painal is a favored category for a reason, that just means it's going well and you're getting stretched out so it'll hurt less next time. But it feels really really nice, so, you can't blame him for not stopping, right? What, you want him to pull out?? Do you realize how utterly torturous that would be? Cruel, even. You can't honestly expect him to pull out of you, when just railing you harder and cumming deep inside is an option, can you? Besides, it'll help you get used to it.

He finds credible resources (read: pornhub tutorial videos and reddit threads) on how to... Properly train your body. Lots of plugs and lube. And you can have a dildo to practice deepthroating and train your gag reflex while he plays games. For that purpose only. Don't think about using it for anything else. Make sure you practice breathing exercises too so you can hold your breath.

As much as he likes watching it, though, he's not quite patient enough for the rope stuff. It's so complicated. You two tried it once, but it takes so much time that he could be spending balls deep in you already. Well, there's always the type of restraints that can be easily locked on and off instead.

It occurs to you from a glance that some of the... Preferred categories are a little concerning. Facial abuse and heavy bdsm and lots of titles with words like "forced" or "brutal" in them. He doesn't seem to think anything of it when he loads a page on his phone and holds out the video as a demonstration of what he's talking about doing with you, and doesn't get why your eyes widen with horror and you cringe as your watch some of the most brutal acts of intercourse you've ever witnessed go down. Why are you shrinking away? It'll be fun. This is only like, slightly a bit non-vanilla, really.

But, also, you seem to have another problem. You just whimper kinda quietly. You don't squeal and scream the same way the porn girls do. Hmph. Well, whatever. That's only a minor issue. What's much worse is that, apparently, rawing you for a minute and a half with no foreplay whatsoever doesn't make you cum? Why is that? It's supposed to, you know. That's what they do.

See, again, you're not relaxing enough. If you did, you'd scream and squirt from like 45 seconds of rough PIV too. Or maybe the issue is a mental block. You're still insecure and getting over this whole "trapped here forever" thing. Well, practice makes perfect. Once you go at it a lot more times, you'll get more comfortable.

Besides, he already made a forum post asking how to get you to like him more. A follow-up post to the whole "how to get this girl I like to date me?" one he made a few months ago, where they told him to "be direct", which he thinks he followed pretty well by snatching you off the street directly into his car. Internet stranger advice worked before, so it'll work now, probably. And their advice is to just keep having more sex. There was something in there about asking you what you want, but he thinks that was less important.

#releasing this from drafts bc my queue is empty ahhhh #i will be going through the inbox and answering asks later today #.x

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soulmate-game · 3 years

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Harley’s Plea for Help: Chapter 2

Chapter 1

“How long do you think it’s gonna take before she decides to sneak out?” Nightwing asked over his comms, lazily leaning against the balcony railing in front of him with his head resting on one hand.

“Dude, I started sneaking out almost twenty minutes ago,” a girl’s voice made Nightwing squeak and turn around, to reveal a teenage girl leaning against the door that led to the balcony he was on. “I didn’t want to draw attention to myself by doing unnecessarily showy gymnastics down from my hotel room’s balcony, no matter how much fun that would be, so I just snuck out one of the hotel’s back exits. Then I looked up to admire the moon and saw you here, staking out what is clearly my suite, and decided to come pay you a visit.”

“How long have you been there? And how did you even get behind me? I hope you didn’t break and enter, that’s an actual lived-in apartment behind us right now,” Nightwing asked, turning around to analyze the daughter of Harley Quinn for the first time in person.

She looked just like in her pictures, of course. Jet black hair like her father’s, except it seemed to have a bluish shine in the light. And her eyes were definitely Harley’s— thank goodness for that —vibrant blue and clearly analyzing him with the same amount of intensity as his did her. He had to bite back a chuckle. In a turn of complete irony, she really did look like a Wayne kid. Fit all of Bruce’s usual criteria to be adopted. But she was tiny, even smaller than Harley’s lithe form. He, Bruce, and Tim were of the hypothesis that the exposure both her parents had to Ace Chemical’s vats of acid likely had an effect on her DNA that stunted her growth. Perhaps there were other effects that they wouldn’t be able to figure out until they got to know her better, too, though it was clear that her skin was a likely one. It wasn’t unnaturally pale like her parent’s after their acid dips but it was paler than normal for sure, just a shade or two shy of being paper white.

And he could see, now, what Harley meant when she referred to Marinette as a powerhouse. It wasn’t very noticeable in pictures, but up close Dick could see the carefully honed muscle of an acrobat curling over her otherwise slim build. Combined with the knowledge that Marinette had been taught at least some serious self defense from a young age, he could see how such a tiny package could be a remarkable threat when necessary.

Marinette grimaced as the other Batfam, who were all nearby staking out her room from different angles, dropped onto the large balcony with them.

“Uh, well. I didn’t break and enter, I rather not get off to a criminal-ly start on my first night in Gotham, you know? But I realized that even though I was able to figure out the exact room you were staking me out from, I realized as soon as I got into the first floor of the building that I had no idea how to actually get to you. So I just climbed the stairs all the way to the roof and scaled my way down to this balcony, and pretended I’ve been here for a while when really I was barely able to hear you ask when I was gonna sneak out. I’m still out of breath, actually,” she put a hand on her chest and sure enough her breathing was still slightly fast. But not enough to be worrying or even all that noticeable. Yet another piece of evidence to show that she was a very active individual and had resistance built up to physical activity.

“Yup,” Robin groused grumpily, crossing his arms. “With all that rambling, you couldn’t be anyone else’s child but Quinzel’s.”

Marinette’s face immediately flushed pink all the way to her ears. “I’m sorry! I’ve been trying so hard to quit that habit, too!” She grumbled a bit to herself, putting her face in her hands. They all chuckled at the display. Red Hood ambled over, draping his arm over her shoulders (he nearly had to bend in half to do it, the height difference was that bad).

“As adorable as your freak out is, why’d you even come up here anyway? There’s no way you’d scale down a ten-story building just to say hello.”

She let out a heavy sigh at that, slowly peeling her face out of her hands. “Yeah, I recognized you guys right away. And honestly, as much as Momma Harley would be super proud of me for managing to give an entire group of vigilantes the slip, she’d also ground me for life if she found out that I saw you guys and still snuck away even though she probably swallowed her pride and asked you guys to babysit me, right? Self preservation. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have some.”

“Wait,” Red Robin held up a hand, brows clearly furrowed under his cowl. “You expected her to ask for our help?”

“Well,” she made a so-so motion with her hand. “I didn’t think of it beforehand, but it all clicked once I saw Nightwing. I know how much my mom is worried about me, especially since you-know-who broke out a few days ago. She is more than worried enough to ask you guys for help. Even if she does complain about you guys, a lot actually, she also has made it clear that she trusts you guys with the stuff that actually matters.

“‘You know who’?” Batman repeated, arms crossed. If Marinette squinted, she thought there might have been a grin on his lips. “Is that how you always refer to him?”

“What else am I gonna call him?” she asked, face going deadpan. “Sperm donor? Source of a large amount of my self doubt and depreciation? The prime reason I haven’t been able to see my mom in person more often over the years? Oh, I know! How about I just always refer to him as ‘that bastard I wanna punch,’? That sounds good!” she rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Only one person in this world has the right to be considered my father in any capacity, and it sure as hell isn’t him. Genetics notwithstanding.”

Red Hood straight up guffawed at that, landing several rough pats on her back that made the girl stumble a bit. “Yep, I like this one! But as fun as it would be to see you give that jackass a mean left hook, it’s better if he never finds out who you are or knows that you’re here,” the vigilante’s voice got dark and serious very quickly. “He doesn’t forget people he finds interesting easily, and if he ever finds out about the connection you have to him, he’ll be a constant threat in your life.”

“I know,” Marinette agreed with a nod. “And if this conversation was happening two years ago, I’d say that my mom’s concerns aren’t unfounded. That I am too easily emotionally compromised and despite my deep seated issues and hatred for that man, I couldn’t guarantee he would be unable to get to me.”

Batman straightened up, as did all of his sons around him. None of them had missed the ‘if’ there. Batman’s voice went from charmingly deep to it’s usual gruff grumble. “What changed in two years?”

They all watched as Marinette gulped, taking a deep breath as she stalled for time, looking out at the view on the balcony before seeming to steel herself and return her gaze to Batman’s. When she did, it was suddenly full of iron will.

“I didn’t lie when I told Mom that I came to visit her— but that isn’t the whole truth, either. If I just wanted to visit her in Gotham, I would have waited until I was eighteen like we agreed. But I can’t wait, Paris can’t keep going on like this. I entered that contest because it was the fastest way to see you. I didn’t know if I would win, but… I had to take the chance. There was no way I’d be able to get to Gotham behind my mom’s back otherwise.”

“What are you talking about?” Robin hissed, stepping up to his father’s side. “Paris has been silent. If anything were happening, we would have heard about it by now.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Marinette corrected, never losing that ironclad look in her eyes. “Because a combination of magic and politics is keeping it quiet. No news about Paris’ situation is able to leave the city limits. Magic makes any non-native who leaves Paris think that everything they experienced was just a crazy dream. Natives won’t forget, but politics has all of us under very strict NDAs if we leave city boundaries, and all of our local news and social media is blocked from being accessed by anyone outside the city. But, I figured a little breaking of the rules wouldn’t exactly put a stain on my family’s reputation or anything, so,” she dug in her pocket and pulled out a thumb drive, holding it up for all of them to see. She swallowed again, but never stopped her eye contact with Batman. She held out the thumb drive.

“I came to Gotham to ask for your help. This sped things up, I didn’t expect to see you on my first night here, but two years in Hawkmoth’s Paris has really taught me how to roll with the punches. This,” she shook the thumb drive. “Holds videos of every fight since HawkMoth first showed up. It has all the information I’ve gathered over two years, tracks his movements and lists all his targets and— everything. But I’m not a detective, I’m a designer. I make clothes, I spar on the weekends, I am not good at getting evidence to prove that someone is a magic-abusing villain holding an entire city hostage.”

“We’re gonna need some details, Little Q,” Red Hood finally removes his arm from around her shoulders, instead crossing his arms and looking down at her sternly. “If your city has a villain holding it hostage, is anyone fighting him? And if you do have someone fighting him, why don’t you need our help, or why didn’t they call the Justice League? The JLE should be in Paris, right?”

Marinette snorted, face scrunching up in obvious distaste. “I’ll have to answer those a little out of order. First; the JLE was kicked out of Paris. They moved their headquarters to Italy about five years ago, I’m just surprised they apparently kept that secret from you,” she gestured to all of them, who indeed seemed very caught off guard by that tidbit. But Marinette just sighed and continued. “Though that’s a good thing, actually. We do have heroes, it started out as just a pair but it’s grown into a small team out of necessity. They didn’t call the Justice League because the last thing we need is any powered heroes coming in and making it worse— your league doesn’t have the best reputation for letting newer heroes take the lead even on their home turf, you know,” she pointed out, which made Batman shift a bit guiltily. He knew the JL was often a bit… heavy handed in their methods.

“What makes the situation so bad that you don’t want to bring experienced heroes into it?” Red Robin cut in, sounding as if the whole situation was a puzzle he was determined to sort out. Which, really, was exactly what Marinette had been counting on. She shot him a finger gun, grinning.

“That’s exactly the point! Hawkmoth uses a magical artifact, like I said— but this artifact can brainwash anybody who experiences even the slightest negative emotion. Sadness, anger, fear— anything negative. And it gives them powers, but puts them largely under his influence,” her expression twisted again, this time into a wry little grimace. “I guess you can say that my momma’s psychiatry background has secretly come in handy a lot over these past two years. And Hawkmoth is exactly why I try to tell Momma Harley to stop visiting me— I have worked my butt off to keep her from finding out about his attacks or getting Akumatized. Every time she shows up it gives me a heart attack!”

“Akumatized?”

Marinette waved a hand dismissively. “It’s the term used for when someone is turned into a super powered villain because of HawkMoth. The brainwashing— really it’s more similar to a straight up corruption. The person usually lacks their usual moral compass, and just seeks to soothe whatever set off their negative emotion in the first place. Usually, that means they seek a bloody revenge. And if someone who already has extensive training or extremely strong powers gets Akumatized, guess what?” She made jazz hands even though her face was deadpan. “Extra powers, or amplified ones, for the metas or superheroes who are Akumatized. And imagine what someone with, say, Batman’s level of experience could do if he had powers and no moral compass,” the silence that followed her words was deafening. She just nodded, knowing she had gotten her point across. “I’ve been working my butt off to stay positive, because if I’m Akumatized…” her shoulders fell, and she had to swallow a lump in her throat. “... I have no idea what I’d turn into, but if you take into consideration both my training and my family history… it’s really best if we never find out what kind of magic-powered supervillain I’d make.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Nightwing said after another long moment of silence for that to all sink in. He gestured at her with an open palm. “You’ve been dealing with a terrorist for two years who targets emotional vulnerability, you apparently have never been corrupted by this magic at least to present day, but your mother still worries about you being very emotionally fragile. And your heroes are not detectives, which is clearly what you need or you wouldn’t have asked us for our help.”

Marinette nodded. “I used to be very impressionable. At the start of all this, I was a huge people-pleaser. I got attached to new people in a matter of minutes. My mom always said I reminded her too much of herself— but two years of fighting off a guy trying to get into my head—“

“Wait,” Batman nearly barked, taking a step forward. “He’s been targeting you? You specifically?”

Marinette nodded grimly, mouth a straight line. “Not from the beginning, but this past year it’s been painfully obvious. He might be able to sense the strength of people’s emotions, and unfortunately I don’t exactly experience my emotions very… gently. All of my emotions tend to the much more intense side of the spectrum. If that’s true, then he might know that any negative emotion I feel will make an extremely strong Akuma. Either that, or he’s going by process of elimination. All of my friends, except for one, have been Akumatized already. So has my Papan and my grandmother. But it’s obvious when he’s targeting someone, I’ve felt him try to override my will on several occasions. But I can’t just repress all of my negative emotions forever, so consider us working against the clock right now. That thumb drive has all the details you need about our heroes, how exactly Hawkmoth’s powers work, and so on.”

“Do your heroes know you’re asking for our help?” Red Robin asked, gaze burning a figurative hole through Marinette’s face. “Better yet, if this drive has as much information as you say it does, how did you get it?”

Marinette handed the drive over to Batman, who finally took it and tucked it in his belt as she answered.

“Momma Harley might have a lot to say about your detective skills, but you are all still strangers to me. So consider this a test of your abilities— I expect that you will all go to extreme lengths to verify all of the information I gave you anyway. After all, I’m still the daughter of your most hated enemy. Right?” She met each of their gazes, one by one, with a challenging one of her own. “You’ll just have to figure out my connection to the heroes on your own. And how I got the information, too. It shouldn’t be too hard for the so-called world’s greatest detectives. And maybe this can double as a trust exercise. I fully expect you guys to scour through every inch of my past, and dig up everything you can on me. I encourage you to try to find everything you can, so that hopefully you can decide to trust me on your own once you have all the details laid out in front of you. By the way, for your own sanity? I’d start with reading about all of our heroes’ powers and abilities before you watch any footage of past attacks.”

Red hood rocked back on his heels, trading glances with the other vigilantes before they all shared a nod. Apparently having decided their course of action, Red Hood leaned down and hoisted Marinette up into a princess carry. All traces of her previous iron will melted away in favor of the high pitched squeal of surprise she gave, and once more she became an overly flustered teenager.

“Alright, little cutie. Let’s get you to your mom’s place before she and her crazy plant lady fiancé come hunting us down.”

“I can walk! I can freerun on my own! Mon dieu please let me down! Eeeeek!” She squealed again as Robin slapped a domino mask over her eyes and Red Hood wasted no time jumping over the balcony railing with her still in his arms. The fact that they were lowered down by a wire wrapped around Hood’s waist didn’t seem to take away any of the fright that came with a sudden drop over an eighth-story balcony.

Part 1

@emotionalsupportginger @alysrose-starchild @emistar0 @kibastray @justanotherfanficlovinbitch @alyssadeliv @blackroserelina @blackstarlight-co @readingalldaysleepingallnight @maanae @aespades @jaybird-and-co @fleursroses @probably-a-hologram @misterpianoman (didn’t work sorry)

#dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #maribat #bio!dad au #Bio!mom Harley Quinn #Bio!Dad joker #mlb x dc #ml x dc #Harley’s Plea for Help #platonic brucinette #platonic jasonette #platonic Harley Quinn x Marinette

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