#he also did the image descriptions so huge shout out for that as well

[julnites]

Red riding hood comic collab with the wonderful @yeehawpim (go check out their blog for loads of great comics!) 🌷 See the layouts he did here!

[dmcfsstory]

Also available on Ao3: [link]

Full Proofreaded by hotspot_the_626th(@ instagram)

Partner Artist: @wikimb (cover art of this chapter by them)​

Word count: 19163

Trigger Warning: Violence description, mild to heavy depression/PTSD/emotional breakdowns, dadgil angst.

[PART 1]

PART 2

When Vergil was getting pumped up to jump in the battle, Shadow suddenly blocked his way. It was growling something he understood as "wait!" making him and Griffon stop abruptly.

"Wowowow!" Griffon yelled. "What's up, Sir?!"

Shadow quickly gave an angry stare at Griffon, accompanied by growling annoyedly.

"Oh, sorry! 'ma Lady." Griffon corrected himself.

"Hm? Weren't you male?" Vergil asked, surprised.

"Well, we were back on our previous selves. But now, we don't have a biological gender. That's just how she wants to be addressed as." Griffon explained.

"What about you?" Vergil asked with a bit of curiosity.

"Whatever you want, boss, I don't mind," and suddenly Griffon's voice turned into the voice of a very sensual woman, "But I can change to other voices if you want..."

"NO! Stop!" Vergil interrupted in an instant. He felt somewhat uncomfortable with the sensual connotation. "Keep your original voice… It's very similar to the one you previously had."

"Okay, you call it," Griffon said with his original voice.

"Okay… -a pause- but why are you like this now?" Vergil was getting confused again.

"Because we are made out of pure magic now, and magic doesn't have a gender," Griffon replied.

"That's the point I wanted to make!" Shadow quickly said before Griffon said something else. "We are made out of your magic! Everything we can do, you can too! Actually is the inverse; what you do, we can do too."

"Well, in parts. We aren't one hundred percent your magic, just different parts of it with tiny bit copies of your consciousness… like… aaaaaa… a partial doppelganger." Griffon completed Shadow's line of thought.

Vergil couldn't hold his stoic face and made one incredibly surprised. He hadn't thought of that.

"Can't you see?! It's just like what Victor said! Look to yourself, not to others!" Shadow said with very determined energy.

But unfortunately, Vergil didn't get it. He looked at his own hands, lost in his thoughts of how and what he had to do to be able to fight just like his familiars. The biggest question was: would Vergil even be able to use more of his magic? Seeing how much is messed up since Kyrie summoned him, he had many doubts about it.

Meanwhile, the fight against the huge demon was still happening a ways away, but none of the fighters had seen them yet.

Griffon was starting to get pissed at Vergil for how much he was getting lost in that situation.

But Vergil, unfortunately, couldn't help that, his entire life after the incident, he was brainwashed by other demons. He thought that he was weak because of his human half, which was making him powerless. He thought going after the power his father sealed in Temen-ni-gru would help in something, but that wasn't the case either.

The image he made up about himself wasn't letting him understand what Victor and Shadow were trying to show him. He didn't know how to look at himself.

With the dangerous fight getting closer, Griffon decided to take drastic measures. He swiftly and strongly craved his talons in the shoulders of Vergil's coat and shirt, so fast he wasn't able to react.

His new spectral wings could change shape; he changed them to stronger broad wings, so he could fly with Vergil off the ground.

The moment Griffon did the first flap of wings, Vergil shouted astonished, already off the ground, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Desperate situations need desperate solutions!" Griffon shouted confidently.

"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!" Vergil shouted even more, scared, losing his composure. Griffon was getting higher in the sky with him too quickly.

And in less than half a minute, they were high as the tall buildings of the city, chilling Vergil entirely; he wouldn't die from such a fall, but sure it would hurt like hell.

Meanwhile, Shadow could only observe them from the ground. If Griffon let go of Vergil for some reason, someone would have to come to help him. He definitely wouldn't be able to Devil Trigger, judging by the current conditions of his magic.

Vergil looked down for a second, and even the giant demon was looking small at that height. The humans were small as ants too. Instinctively, he held Griffon's legs as if he was a parachute of some shorts. He couldn't keep his stoic face at that situation he was in. He was clearly scared and out of action.

"No, no, no!" Griffon yelled angrily. "Hands free!" and he pecked Vergil's arms, making him let go of his legs.

"What are you-?!" Vergil began to complain until Griffon interrupted him, sounding a bit in a rush, "Listen, man! For kitty and me, our skills come naturally. We know we have them even if no one told us. THAT SHOULD BE THE SAME FOR YOU!"

'Why is he shouting?' Vergil told himself, somewhat annoyed by what Griffon was doing.

Griffon then made his voice tone down for a bit, "But unfortunately, the fuckers you face off during your life made you create a block about that!"

"How do you...?" Vergil blurted, confused.

"I have your memories, remember? But I have only a copy of a piece of your consciousness, so I can look at your memories with a different vision." Griffon explained quickly. He then speeded up his voice, "but let's go faster, the folks down there need help apparently!"

Vergil didn't respond this time and was now curious about what his bird was up to.

"Okay, let's see if this can wake up your lightning magic!" Griffon yelled, feeling confident of his improvised plan.

"Close your eyes," he demanded.

"What?!"

"Close your damn eyes!"

Vergil didn't like to be that vulnerable, but he did anyway.

"The electrostatics of this city is perfect! I want you to focus on it! Can you feel it?"

Vergil tried and tried, but he couldn't feel any energy aside from the magical ones coming from the fight at the ground.

Since Griffon knew what Vergil was feeling too, he yelled to correct him, "No, no no no! Focus on regular electricity! Static! That feeling of getting close to a tube tv and your body hair gets all bristled… or…." A pause to think. "...when a Lisachia is channeling an electric explosion on you!"

That last example helped way more than expected; Vergil fought countless of that demon before, even as V during the Qliphort event. He never imagined he would actually go after the same sensation of having an electrical spell being prepared to be used against him.

He took a few seconds until he began to feel the electrical static of the city. The countless antennas, the electricity distribution system, the impermeability of the asphalt, and the concrete not letting in the static created by the sun's heat go away. That was the perfect magnet for lightning.

"YES! That's it!" Griffon cheered. "Now you gotta get this energy and use your magic to concentrate it."

Vergil took a deep breath and began to try to do what he was told to. That wasn't easy. He never did that before.

Fortunately, he's a fast learner, and in no time, he was already concentrating electricity around him. But he was going too quickly.

"Stop and don't let go! Like holding your breath!" Griffon warned quickly.

Vergil opened his eyes and could see the sparkles of electricity around him. He was full of magical electricity. He looked at his arms, and the energy was blinking all around it like tiny bolts of lightning. His hair was even getting all bristled up because of the static.

"You gotta use your arms to direct the discharge now!"

But somehow, Vergil could feel that he wasn't charged enough to reach the giant demon on the ground with a good amount of damage. He went through the most dangerous route and began to energize even more electricity. His hair was nearly sticking up by that point as he stretched his arms out with his hands pointing at the demon.

"Hey hey hey! Go easy on it! Or you'll explode us both!" Griffon quickly warned.

But that wasn't quick enough.

KABOOM

Vergil released a massive lightning bolt from both his hands in the direction of the demon. The ricochet was strong enough to send him and Griffon away backward. At the same time, the deafening thunder echoed through the entire city.

Unfortunately, the lightning missed and exploded into the asphalt, making an enormous crater a few meters from the demon. The shockwave of the sound exploded all the glass, making it rain the shattered pieces all over the avenue.

Although, absolutely no one could feel that coming, and everyone had a heart test at that moment: the demon jumped on his four legs and fell off over them right after. Dante, Kyrie, and the hunter got immobilized by a moment primarily because of the sound of the impact.

But once the glass reached them, Dante was the one that left his stun first, "WHAT THE FUCK?!" he screamed, scared as hell, while he went to help Kyrie cover her head from the sharp rain; he was taller than her, so she could hide her head under his coat. He looked up in the sky, covering his face with his left hand, looking for the source of that lighting. His exposed arms and a bit of his scalp got some minor cuts from the glass, while the hunter used a small static shield over him as cover.

Griffon didn't let go of Vergil even after the lightning spell cast had thrown them further away in the sky. They spun in the air many times until Grifon was able to stabilize them again by manipulating the shape of his wings to fit the situation.

"HOLYSHITYOURMOTHERFUCKINGCRAZYMANWHATWEREYOUTHINKING," and Griffon kept screaming and scolding Vergil so fast and so angry that it seemed it was all a single word.

Vergil couldn't hear anything of what Griffon was blabbering, not just because the thunder made him deaf for a moment. He was also too astonished about the discovery of his new skill. Vergil was breathing heavily from euphoria and surprise while trying to catch his breath back. His eyes were the widest he could open, he was sweating like crazy, his heart was racing insanely while his hands and legs were shaking like never before.

"IDIDN'TSINGFORTHISSHITLET'SGOBACKTOTHEGROUNDYOUFUCKINGPIECEOFSHIT," and Griffon kept cursing Vergil while he was descending with him to closer to where he saw Dante and Kyrie on the ground.

Vergil kept in shock(no pun intended) about what he just did; did he always have that power? He always could do that? He could only imagine the wonders he would be able to do with such electric skills.

But what else could he do? Shadow has shape-shifting powers, so can he do that too, then? The eager curiosity to know more about himself was slowly taking all of his thoughts. He couldn't help but give a subtle happy smile while his eyes were shining with curiosity, like a child that just got a brand new toy.

Getting closer, Dante saw Vergil and Griffon in the air, but they were still distant, and he couldn't identify them. The sun wasn't helping either, while Kyrie had her eyes on the giant demon.

Vergil spotted the hunter preparing an attack on Dante. Kyrie didn't see it coming, but Dante noticed the threatening aura nearby.

Vergil tried again to charge his hands for another electrical skill.

"Oe oe, whatcha doing?" Griffon asked worriedly.

But this time, he didn't exaggerate. He concentrated a tiny bit of energy in his hands and used his thumb and pointer finger to aim. He shot with his right hand a tiny bolt of electricity at the hunter's feet, making him stop in place and notice him in the air. It also helped to warn Kyrie about him.

"Oooooh! Nice one!" Griffon cheered.

Vergil then shot the charge from his left hand, the hunter stepped back this time, and then he kept interspersing the shots between his hands: right, left, and right again, then left, and so on.

The hunter was hopping backward to avoid being hit by the bolts while Vergil was speeding up the shooting.

"What the hell?!" the hunter said, confused and also annoyed.

Vergil and Griffon had totally forgotten about the giant demon that was getting back on their feet by then.

They only noticed when its shadow covered them, making them look behind; they were about under the head of the monster.

"OH SHIT!" Griffon shouted, scared as hell.

The colossal demon then stood on their back legs and raised the front right one. It was ready to deliver an attack.

But Shadow launched herself out of the ground the fastest she could. In a rushed shape-shifting, she turned the upper part of her body into a big massive ball while the rest turned liquid. She aimed at the demon's back legs; the hit was strong enough to take its right foot from the ground. The monster lost its equilibrium immediately and fell to the ground. However, it used the front legs to not let its head hit the ground.

Closer to the ground and of Dante and Kyrie, Griffon released Vergil. He landed in a roll and ended with a "superhero landing pose" Griffon and Shadow were coming right behind him.

Dante got in shock when he saw the familiars, he couldn't hide his concern and surprise.

Kyrie ran at Vergil the moment she recognized him. "Sir Vergil!" She yelled to call his attention.

"Just Vergil, please." He asked while putting the shoulders of his clothes back in place; he got very annoyed by the holes Griffon's talons made on it.

"Oh, okay." She slowed down her tone when closer. "How's Nero?" she asked in a hurry.

Calmly, he said, "He's with Nico and Victor in the van now. At the end of this avenue, he'll be fine. The Sync connection calmed him down."

That gave such hope to Kyrie. Nero was finally being taken care of correctly. She sighed, relieved, and could "relax" to focus more on the fight now.

Dante was still processing the image of the familiars. They were different but still recognizable to him. He still remembers that he fought them and killed them a bit before facing Vergil at the top of the Qliphoth. The previous Griffon even told him that they didn't have any more connection with Vergil. So what the hell were they doing there?

He walked in short steps closer to Vergil and couldn't hold himself to ask, "Hey, little chickie! And you too kitty! What in the seven hells are you doing here again?! I'm sure I have killed you both!"

Griffon and Shadow expressed shock. They didn't have memories of their past selves.

"Oh… so… that's what happened?" Griffon said low and a bit awkwardly. That statement made Dante even more confused.

Vergil didn't know that information, too… and that made a slight sting in his chest for some reason.

------

V got in shock for a moment. He wasn't aware of that. He knew his previous familiars wouldn't survive without him anyway, but even so, that information could hurt him; in the end, they were more than partners, but friends.

------

The demon began to get back on its feet again, getting everyone's attention. It was making a very different sound now, similar to flesh being manipulated and bones cracking.

"What is that thing?!" Vergil asked in a hurry, without taking his eyes on the giant demon.

"Don't Temen-ni-gru and Seven Deadly Sins sound familiar to you?" Dante replied Vergil in a hurry, sounding a bit angry, with his eyes on the demon too.

The black smoke that covered the demon's, supposedly, face, neck, and chest began to vanish and stay only behind his head, much like a hair. That revealed another part of his body that looked like arms embracing a torso.

"What! What?! Didn't the Sins die when Sparda used them to seal Temen-ni-gru?!" Griffon yelled with a bit of panic in his voice.

While Griffon was yelling, that newly revealed part from the demon began to get out of its chest while unfolding its arms open. Like a snail getting out of its shell, the new body part showed another torso, and the giant quadruple demon was now a centaur-like creature. With its new hands, it grabbed its own horns by a big hole in the middle of each and took them off with not much strength. It adjusted the horns in its hands and held them like swords.

It was ready to engage in battle for real now.

That was a huge problem they got there now, definitely one of the top ten most giant demons they ever faced. But one thing froze Dante and especially Kyrie dead. Vergil only got confused about it; at the upper chest of the demon, it had a white metallic chest piece with the red emblem of the extinct Order of the Sword.

That definitely brought up some bitter memories in Kyrie's mind. But was the Order active again? How? Dante destroyed them for sure five years ago, or that was something old from them that got loose only now? That wasn't time to think about that.

"Can Nero use his magic?" Kyrie asked in a hurry to Vergil as the powered demon swung his right hand sword at them.

Vergil couldn't respond right away. He and the others had to dodge out the enormous sword. Kyrie, among Vergil and his familiars, ran and jumped to one side. In contrast, Dante jumped to the other, thus getting closer to where the other Devil Hunter was.

The demon slammed the ground too hard, making the buildings shaken and crack at the bottom. It got its sword slightly stuck in the asphalt, giving them a tiny window to exchange information.

"Answering you: I don't know," Vergil quickly told Kyrie, "Maybe yes, but someone will have to check out."

"I will go there. That idiot with the spear took my phone's battery out." Kyrie said, clearly annoyed, but then she spoke very fast: "Listen, you have to open that chest crest Envy got there, so Nero can use the least of his magic to take his core out."

"That's Envy… but how?" Shadow said curiously.

The demon finally took his sword from the ground, revealing a fight between Dante and the other guy, much to Vergil's surprise.

"I'm counting on you!" Kyrie yelled as she flew off in her staff on the path to the van.

"Well, that sounded easy. Hey, boss, we'll fight by ourselves. If you want us to do something, just yell it," Griffon said, amused, and then shot a projectile of energy at Envy's right arm, calling its attention. "Hey, sucker! Down here!" he taunted.

It turned at them slowly due to his size and again got ready to fight, totally ignoring the fight between the devil hunters.

Vergil also got in his usual fight stance, ready to use… his…

"HAHAHAHA! OH FUCK! YAMATO! IT'S STILL WITH NERO!" Griffon shouted in an ironic laugh.

"Oh no!" Shadow blurted nervously.

Griffon laughing indeed could embarrass Vergil. He totally did his fighting stance by muscle memory.

Envy didn't give them more time to think. It came with both swords at them. Fortunately, they all could evade it, and the demon made the buildings shake once again, making the cracks get bigger.

Griffon flew high in the sky and used that opening to shoot a lightning bolt against Envy's head; the bolt didn't do too much, only made it blink. It didn't even move its head. Griffon would have to charge much more to do more significant damage.

"Shit!" he cursed, highly annoyed.

He shot again but at its eye, making it roar in pain.

With its right eye closed, it blindly swung its sword in an attempt to get Griffon. It almost did, but Griffon could fly away at the last second with finesse.

While Griffon was trying to figure out the potency of the attacks he should use, he was distracting Envy.

Shadow approached Vergil, "it's my turn now to teach you!" she said in a bit of a hurry with her demonic language.

Vergil didn't question, he was pretty curious about how that would go, and he was also glad that he didn't have to ask.

"Okay, this won't be easy, but we gotta go fast." She started.

"You will have to use your imagination. Let's start simple! Just a whip", she was explaining as she was circling him. "In your case, you can use your arms."

Vergil looked at his hands and arms, wondering how that works, clearly telling Shadow he was baffled.

"This is not like Devil-triggering. Unfortunately, the thing is that you can command your body parts to change to the shape you desire."

That clicked something in Vergil's mind; a feeling of unlimited power was starting to grow in his mind. That was undoubtedly beginning to infuriate him inside, how could he never see he had such power? Did he waste his life looking for something he always had?

"You gotta deconstruct and reconstruct" Shadow showed an example with her own pawn, transforming it into a kind of tentacle.

A loud roaring from Envy got their attention. Dante and the other Hunter joined Griffon in the fight against the boss-like demon.

"As you can see, we didn't get too much time to think, you better try out, or you won't have any melee attacks," Shadow said in a hurry.

"Deconstruct and reconstruct."

To not see his arms with that usual shape anymore wasn't easy. Vergil closed his eyes to better focus, trusting Shadow to protect him just in case something comes closer. Then he concentrated his magic in his arms.

After a few seconds, he heard Shadow yelling at him, "Vergil! Vergil! Look!"

He opened his eyes and looked at the demon, anticipating some dangerous attack on him.

"No! Your arms!" Shadow called out.

He immediately looked at his arms, and from the elbow in front, they were like melting into a black liquid! Going all down till it touches the ground.

He couldn't help but give a short scream, scared, calling Dante's attention. Griffon couldn't hold his laugh, though.

That was the oddest sensation ever. Vergil could feel the black liquid as his own members: thermal sense, touch, and so on. The ooze was of a uniform shape. There was no dripping; indeed, he would lose his original arms if someone tried to cut it out.

Now what? Shadow was just silent, observing him, waiting for him to do something first; she was staring at him as if saying, "keep going, I won't help you." How was he supposed to control that? His arms turned into a liquid. How was that supposed to work? He got frozen in place.

Dante landed close to Vergil, wondering what the hell he was doing there. He heard Griffon yelling that Yamato was with Nero, but even so, he knew Vergil could fight without it.

Vergil's face showed utter confusion and panic while looking at his arms, surprising Dante even more.

But it was when Dante noticed his brother's arms turning into a black liquid that he shouted out a "WHAT THE FUCK?!" loud and clear. He was now just scared as his brother was.

Vergil quickly gave a look at Dante with his eyes wide open, shocked, like a kid caught doing something wrong.

This couldn't get more awkward. Dante seeing Vergil doing magic out of control was ridiculously hurtful for Vergil's pride.

"What are you doing here? Focus on the fight!" Vergil shouted out of his own control while slightly turning away his arms from Dante's sigh.

"No! What are YOU doing here?!" Dante shouted equally out of composure. He could feel that black goo thingy was from Vergil's own magic, but even so, that was still scary.

"Seriously! Are you okay? What the hell is that?!" he pointed at Vergil's arms in the last sentence.

Vergil was starting to blush red like a ripe apple. He was so embarrassed that the words were running out of his thoughts.

Dante was getting really concerned about what his brother was messing up with now. First the familiars back, now that? He can't leave his side for a few minutes, and he's back on his usual troublemaker bullshit?

"WATCH OUT, YOU IDIOTS!" Griffon shouted the strongest he could.

Griffon barely had finished his warning call, and Envy's sword was already very close to the twins and Shadow.

Dante defended the attack with his own sword. It was such a strong attack, but his resistant body sent all the impact energy to the ground, creating a giant crater around him. But the air shockwave threw Vergil and Shadow away.

Shadow landed in her four paws flawlessly. Meanwhile, Vergil instinctively used his arms to control his fall. During his acrobatics, he thought his arms had returned to normal because of the movement he did. However, when he got on his feet, he saw that his arms were still the black goo, but they assumed a shape similar to actual hands and arms.

It finally clicked on his mind how that skill worked: his imagination was the limit. In a quick test using his right arm, he put his "fingers" together and imagined a blade out of it, and at the same instant, the black goo part of his arm assumed the shape of a very sharp curved knife.

He then looked at Dante and saw him holding Envy's huge-ass sword with DSD. Envy was doing all the strength it could to smash Dante like a bug, but his arms and sword were powerful too, and they ended up even. None of them were moving. Just some slight shake could be seen from their muscles because of their conflicting strength.

"Hey! You finally got it! -a pause- Now do something, Vergil!" Shadow said in an annoyed roaring, in the end, trying to encourage him to try out something with his new skill. Shadow knew that if Vergil didn't do anything in the next seconds, she would have to.

Vergil gave a rushed analysis of the situation and had an idea; he turned his arms into whips, and with all the strength he got, he swung them at Envy's sword handle.

The end of the whips made a demon-ish hand shape and grabbed real tight at the sword's handle. Vergil could feel that the move cost a bit of magic energy, so the bigger the transformation he wanted to do, the more magic it would cost.

Envy saw Vergil's black whips in his sword, and swiftly(for his size), it raised his other sword while looking at Vergil.

"GRIFFON! CAN YOU-" Vergil yelled, but Griffon quickly interrupted, "You don't need to verbalize! I can hear your thoughts!"

The moment Envy swung down his other sword at Vergil, Griffon blasted a powerful electric discharge at Envy's left hand. The damage and impact were very significant this time. They shook the giant demon's endurance, making it stop the current attack.

Shadow swiftly turned into a black liquid blob and shot a big whip at the same place as Vergil's.

Envy lost its grip on the right hand, and Dante immediately pushed the big sword back, making the demon lose his balance for a second. But that's what Vergil was waiting for, and using all of his strength combined with Shadow's, they pulled the sword from the beast's grip and launched it against the other one.

The demon wasn't prepared for that and couldn't keep the second sword in its hand. Vergil and Shadow quickly let go of it and had allowed inertia to act on it.

Both swords flew into the nearby building and completely destroyed its columns, making the enormous concrete construction collapse.

Luckily there weren't more people in those buildings. They had evacuated the area when the lesser demons showed up earlier.

The gigantic, thirty-story building began to fall off in their direction.

Shadow quickly made Vergil get on her back and ran away the fastest she could, while Griffon snatched Dante out of the ground like he did with Vergil a few minutes ago. The other Hunter just simply flew away with his electric magic.

Envy couldn't run fast enough because of its size. The large debris fell on the back of the monster's centaur-ish body, burying half of its lower body under the heavy concrete.

Meanwhile, the van was moving away from the city. Nico could see the dust cloud rising on the rearview mirrors from the truck, giving her an immense concern about what was happening. They also felt the ground shaking when the building crashed into the ground.

The familiars could go faster than the vast dust wave that was chasing them. Midway, they heard Envy's painfully roar, which also had a bit of rage on it. It wasn't dead, but indeed it couldn't walk now.

Vergil was out of breath, not just because of all the strength he did and was doing to hold himself on Shadow's back, but also of how euphoric he was. His new skills were terrific; he was so happy and surprised that it made him shout loudly: "JACKPOT!" accompanied by a real laugh of joy.

"OH MY GOD! YOU JUST SAID!" Dante shouted, equally happy from above Vergil. He had a smile from side to side of his face.

"Yeah! Yeah! He said it!" Griffon reinforced but mocking as well.

That immediately broke Vergil's joy and made him more embarrassed than ever. "You heard nothing!" he shouted out of composure while bidding his face on Shadow's back.

Dante couldn't hold his giggles. He couldn't believe his brother just said their childhood catchphrase after all those years of their dangerous rivalry.

Unfortunately, their fun time had to quickly stop as they felt a completely different type of magic coming from the direction they were running in.

The energy feedback was like never they have felt before. It wasn't demonic, although Vergil had a feeling he had felt that somewhere already.

Suddenly, it started to approach their location faster. Griffon landed Dante, but Vergil didn’t get off Shadow's back. The energy wasn't directed at them, so they could guess it wasn't coming to fight them, but it had a threatening aura.

Without previous warning, something passed way above their heads fast like a bullet. It was the owner of the weird energy, but it was so fast they couldn't see what or who it was, only that it had something shining in red on it.

"Dante! Vergil!" Kyrie showed up in a hurry from the direction that thing came from.

She approached the group quickly while riding her staff. Her face was of genuine fright for their surprise. Huffing nervously, she told them, "We gotta go after him! He can't use that magic for too long!"

They had a delay in processing what she just said, Vergil was the first to click something, and then he asked her, "That was Nero?!"

"Yes…" Kyrie replied dryly and directly, with a solemn yet worrisome face.

Vergil knew that magic was somehow familiar, but what was bugging him, and now Dante too, was why Nero had second magic. But why did it look downright demonic? He didn't have that last time they fought him.

No one had an answer. For now, the group just turned and began to rush back to where Envy was trapped. Griffon flew up with Dante again, and Vergil continued to ride Shadow to go faster.

While they were running, the dust of the fallen building began to move strangely. The dust was rising by itself as if it was being lifted like a single uniform mass.

They all could feel Nero's magic all over the dust, but that just made everything more confusing and suspicious. Demons don't have "air" or "earth" magic to manipulate that kind of dust.

The vast dust cloud quickly dissipated in the sky, making the path clear once again. Everyone could see that Envy was still trapped under the debris; apparently, either the monster hadn't any strength to leave that place or didn’t want to.

Once closer, they could see Nero floating in the air a few meters over the ground.

The red shine they saw before was part of Nero: it was a long sleek member coming out of his back, exactly like Vergil's SDT tail but a bit transparent like Nero's own spectral wings, but instead of shining in blue, they were of a red color. It didn't have a spike on its tail like his father's, but rather two hands, precisely like from his spectral wings, holding each other like praying or something. Nero's hair was black again too.

They stopped a few meters behind him. He heard them but didn't turn to look.

Envy was in front of him. It really wasn't trying to leave that state; instead, it was staring at Nero as if he was a god of some shorts.

"Dragon! It's you!" Envy yelled with a strange tone of relief.

Nero was on the verge of passing out. His eye bags were dark purple while his eyes were swollen and red, he was pale like wax, his lips were starting to get purple-ish, his breath was very heavy, and the cracks in his skin were worse. His face showed he was utterly done with life, between angry and sad. He didn't want to be there. He was floating in the air like a loose toy held by the neck.

"Please, I beg you!" Envy continued. "Break this armor at my chest and take my core out! Only then will I be able to help you and your allies!"

"I know that…." Nero said in a meager and breathless voice.

The van was arriving by the area at the moment, getting close enough to Victor and Nico to see what was happening but from a more safe distance.

"Please! Be quick before they get control over me again!" Envy shouted, somehow scared.

Everyone made confused faces at that moment, "Who was that thing Envy was talking about?" it was everyone's thought.

Nero began to charge an insane amount of his current magic while flying up higher in the sky, sending down shivers on Kyrie's spine. She ran forth, still riding her staff, and shouted very worried, "NERO! NO!"

But Nero didn't want to hear her, he kept challenging a lot of magic, and when he descended from the sky, he began to transform into something else.

"Devil Trigger?" Vergil and Dante thought, but it couldn't be because of the entirely different magic he was using; it was something else.

His arms and legs turned into a kind of long feline legs, with paws and everything. The feet had silky black fur by the sides. His four legs had a similar hard skin plus scales structure like his Devil Trigger's legs but a more white bone color and red for the energy lines. His torso also changed for the anatomy of a quadruple animal; his head was something between his human face and a tiger. He had black hair and facial hair with long uniform whiskers coming out his eyebrows. His horns were bent backward instead, resembling goat's antlers. The spectral members were coming out of his back, the same way as in his D.T. too. He now has an actual very long tail coming out of the end of his spine, with a very long black fur at the end. His coloring was of the inverse color scheme of his D.T. He was of a light red with light blue details. His eyes' pupils tho, we're of a horizontal slit instead, but still a shiny golden color. He got more significant in size; he was about the size of Shadow now.

That form shook the twins; that certainly wasn't a Devil Trigger. It was something else. Victor got mesmerized by that form for a moment: "a hybrid not having a human-ish form?" But when he took a look at his tablet, he was getting very different readings; he did some quick programming earlier to analyze Nero's new magic. It wasn't perfect, but he was able to get some information already.

Nico and Kyrie, on the other hand, were distraught and concerned now. They knew something bad was coming.

Nero was flying in the air like an eastern dragon, akin to a ribbon fluttering freely in the wind. He positioned himself a bit far and above Envy. In an instant, he curled himself into a ball, wrapping his spectral members around himself. The scales on it turned into large sharp spikes. He spun at full force and shot himself against Envy's chest armor piece.

Envy didn't fight back and let Nero simply destroy the metal plates at his chest. Sparks rained all over the place.

After 5 seconds or so, Nero leaped away backward and uncurled to land on the ground on his four paws like a cat.

That move surprised Dante and Vergil and (in part) not in a good way, considering that back in Qliphort, Nero wanted to kick their asses for real. Nero's spectral wings back then were something new to them. Imagine if he had that unknown magic, too, that they had absolutely no idea what it was capable of. They were almost sweating in concern now. If Nero decided to fight them seriously again, they would have big problems at the beginning.

The metal chest didn't open completely, but it received a lot of damage. Envy was looking at it with some concern.

Nero then used his spectral members and stretched them at the collapsed metal protection. With his spectral hands, he grabbed some loose parts, and by using a lot of strength and with a bit of his magic, he could rip off the armor, throwing it at the nearby buildings.

Envy immediately fainted after that, like a machine being shut down.

"How is he…?" a voice came from behind Dante.

Dante was surprised by the image of the other hunter; he thought he had run away when the building collapsed. His obsession with Envy was too intense for him to give up on his hunt.

"Envy himself said that only Nero could do it, kid," Dante responded quite seriously.

The hunter gave him an angry stare, like out of patience, and said, "I'm not a kid!” -a pause- “...and I already told you my name! Is it Kain!"

Dante had an unusual lack of patience. Vergil saw that and got a suspicious feeling about that boy; no one can easily annoy Dante just like that. Dante only rolled his eyes and buffed as he returned his gaze at Nero.

Back to Envy, the removal of the metal piece revealed its core; a shiny white ball of metal with some red lights on it, a kind of stone piece could be seen by the small transparent parts it had. The core itself was tiny, just the double size of a basketball. A significant portion of the structure inside the chest was just mechanics to hold and apparently charge the core. It had a very suspicious man-made look.

Nero returned to his human form and floated again until it got the same height as the core. He used his spectral hands again and grabbed the center; this time, the piece just didn't want to let go. It was stuck not just by the mechanical parts but also by solid sealing magic.

He was trying everything he could, but the piece wasn't moving a millimeter. All that effort was starting to make his body in pain again.

------

"Oh, come on! Get the fuck out!" Hintchack yelled out of patience.

"Shit! We have more important stuff to do!" Hintkurt said annoyed

"Please… Kyrie asked us… let's not disappoint her again," N murmured, begging for that work.

For the first time in a very long time, all of them agreed with something.

------

Nero began channeling more of his magic to fight against the magic seal of Envy's core. His nose and eyes were slowly starting to bleed again. Suddenly, without warning, to his surprise and of everyone else, he activated his demonic magic back again BUT without deactivating his new one.

Victor's device began to make many warning noises, scaring him and Nico in the van. The device showed that Nero had not just one, but BOTH of his magics active. And that they were being channeled together at the same potency. When he could understand all that info, he saw both graphics simultaneously: the other magic from Nero was in the total opposite of the magic spectrum.

"This is impossible… It can't be…." Victor whispered, sweating cold and eyes wide open, calling Nico's attention.

When she'd put her eyes in the graphics, too, she also froze, scared like her uncle.

Nero's hair turned partially white, following the same pattern N has. His eyes were shining in a golden yellow, like in his magical forms, but this time his sclera had a four-point star shape. His blue spectral wings showed up and gained some red drawings along its feathers and hands, while the red tail gained some blue drawings along with its scales and hands.

He didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't stop to question it. He just truly wanted to finish that request from Kyrie. He then used his blue hands to grab the core and channeled his demonic magic into it.

Dante, Kyrie, the familiars, and Kairn were paralyzed by the energy feedback coming from Nero. That was the same signal they felt when the Orphanage incident happened a few weeks ago but now, on a way more minor scale.

Vergil was also in shock, but for a different reason. He finally remembered where Nero's other magic was from: Shooting Star Man, the second magic he couldn't identify back then. That paralyzed him for real; he was immobile; wasn't he Nero's father? Is Shooting Star Man'' really real? But how could he Sync with Nero if that's a parent and child thing? His mind was overflowing with doubts, fear, and insecurities at an alarming rate, scaring his familiars.

Suddenly, his vision turned totally black, and Shooting Star Man appeared in front of him with a bit of distance in a literal blink.

Vergil couldn't speak, he was too scared for it, he could only think: "Who are you anyway? What do you want from me?"

In an instant, the man turned into a giant beast, something like a tiger with wings and a scorpion tail, but made of blue and golden light that behaved like a mist. That form of him was about the size of Envy.

There was nowhere for Vergil to run to it.

Swiftly, the energy monster leaped into Vergil's direction, with claws and teeth ready to get him. Vergil wanted to scream, to run, but his body wasn't responding. He could only stare at his death.

And when he was about a centimeter away from slaughtering him entirely, his vision came back. The first thing he saw was Nero ripping Envy's core out of its chest.

Envy's body began to disappear into a black smoke at the exact moment of the core removal.

------

"Okay! Back to the schedule!" Hintchack yelled angrily as he turned his gaze at N.

------

Nero's hair quickly turned entirely black, and his eyes were green again. His spectral wings vanished, leaving only his tails. Still, he lost his grip during the pull because of pain, and the core flew off his spectral hands. The inertia made it go very far away. Although, he had no problem adjusting himself back in the air.

Kyrie and Kain accompanied the core flying away with their heads to see where it would fall; it was going to land very far from them.

The two hunters stared at each other for a fraction of a second, knowing what each other would do next. Both left their places in a rush, going after the core.

"Vergil!" Dante yelled in a hurry, almost scaring his brother. "We can't let that dude get the core!"

Kain was highly determined to get the core. Indeed, a backup would help Kyrie a lot, so Vergil didn't question, and in a sprint, he ran with his brother and familiars towards the falling core.

The core fell to the ground before they could reach it; fortunately, it didn't break, but it kicked like a basketball.

When missing less than a meter of distance, Kyrie stretched her right arm to reach the core. Kain suddenly teleported behind the heart like a lightning bolt. Her face smacked into the bottom side of his spear, thus throwing her out of her flying staff.

Blood flew in the air coming out of her nose and left cheek while rolling in the ground. That was a low move from the other hunter, it didn't knock her out, but she was out of the fight for a moment.

Not stopping to check his opponent at all, Kain stretched his arm to take the core, but he was surprised by Griffon, who almost took his left eye out with his beak in a high-speed dive. He was thankful that he had quick reflexes.

Shadow came right behind, spinning in her double blade form the fastest she could. Kain could do nothing except dodge away to avoid getting sliced in half.

Since Vergil couldn't use his trick magic, he leaped forward, driven by his high speed, and got the core using his newly learned skill of black wimp arms. Shadow and Griffon got between him and the hunter quickly to shield Vergil.

Dante rushed to help Kyrie out; she was fine but a bit dizzy. He helped her to get up while she summoned her staff back.

Nero was recovering from some dizziness because of the magic rush he had, but he was still floating in the air. He turned to look at the fight below him and could see Kyrie, with her nose and left cheek covered with her blood, while Dante was helping her get up.

That image made his blood boil, and he transformed once again on his new form out of rage; he let go a loud roar while doing so, catching everyone's attention. He flew towards Kain fast like a Fury; midway, he turned into a ball without the big spikes.

Kain quickly noticed Nero coming, and he flew away to avoid the incoming attack. However, something he wasn’t expecting was how Nero’s non-demonic magic would work. Instead of going forth and trying to hit Kain, Nero slammed the ground with so much strength that it made a small crater at the place. Using magic, the concrete quickly began to turn into huge spikes, taller than an adult person, going in the direction of Kain.

That was entirely unexpected: earth magic? That was a surprise for everyone, except the girls that already knew about that.

The unwelcome surprise of that new magic stunned Kain for a second, and he was hit by one of the spikes mid-air. The spike slashed the right side of his torso in a not so superficial cut. His blood flew out just like how he did with Kyrie a moment ago.

He used an energy bolt to jump away from the spikes’ path, but Nero already had left the ball form, and it was running in his direction fast like a cheetah.

Nero jumped towards him with the claws from his front paws, ready to slash him in the face. Kain dodged sideways and used his spear to wound Nero by the side of his long torso. Kain could hold the pain of the wound and got his spear ready to counterattack.

The spear touched Nero and ran through his torso, but it didn’t wound him at all, not even a scratch.

Nero landed not so far from Kain, and when he looked at him, Kain was visibly scared, not understanding how that move didn’t hurt him. Everyone else saw that and got scared and for the same reason, except the girls again.

“How… how it didn’t work?” Kain blurted, scared.

Nero gave a very creepy giggle, and with a malicious smile on his feral face, he said lowly (his voice the same as from his D.T.), “That’s a weapon made for devil hunting, isn't it?”

For some reason, that froze Kain, Dante, and Vergil, but they couldn’t tell why until Nero said, still with the malicious smile, “Devil hunting weapons don't work against me in this form.”

That statement made Victor get up from his seat, scared and concerned. Nico was the same way as well. That could only mean one thing...

Kain didn’t show, but he was freaking out from inside. He wouldn’t be able to properly fight against something like that now.

He was slowly losing his composure. He was feeling cornered, he had to take Envy’s core out of Vergil’s hands, but there it was, Nero in that form, immune to his weapons and maybe his demonic skills too? He decided he wasn’t staying there to discover that.

In a rushed, uncalculated move, Kain sprinted towards Vergil and his familiars, ready to electrocute them. Shadow and Griffon were prepared to fight back.

At the same time, Nero slammed his front paws in the ground, making them shake entirely. Kain was floating in the air and couldn’t feel that. A second after that, the asphalt crack opened close to Vergil and company, right at the place Kain was at the moment. Simultaneously, a giant water geyser, probably sewage due to the scent, exploded out of the ground, sending Kain off in the air.

That was water magic.

Kain adjusted his position in the air with his electromagnetic magic. When he realized Nero was less than 2 meters close, he flew towards him faster. Not leaving an opening to react, Nero used a blast of air together with a headbutt he sent the hunter way further.

That was air magic.

“Fuck off!” Nero shouted fiercely.

After fixing himself in the air again, Kain realized he didn’t have a chance against Nero in that form at that moment. “Fuck, the masked bitch was right,” he murmured angrily.

“I’ll take Envy out of you all! Mark my words!” Kain felt he had to shout that out, to make them sure he would come back, and then he left the place in a lightning bolt.

Nero transformed back and descended back to the ground, and, surprisingly, Kyrie was already healed. She now could benefit from demonic healing, giving Nero a nice relief. But strangely, he landed very far from them and reactivated his demon magic, calling Vergil’s attention.

Nico and Victor had left the van during Nero’s last attack at Kain; Vergil had handed Nico Envy’s core. Nico was trying to look inside the ball. A small piece of stone inside caught her attention; she really wanted to take that out of there.

Meanwhile, Nero was just standing there, menacingly, staring at them from far away. Vergil didn’t like that; Nero was with the same energy and face from before Vergil synced with him.

One by one, everyone was starting to notice Nero not getting close to the group, and an awkward silence set up.

They stood like that for a minute or two until Vergil decided to step forward to get closer.

Vergil only took a few steps before Nero summoned his renewed gun and pointed at him, “Go back to the hell you came from!”

To be continued...

[truglori]

Homebody (Ch.9)

Summary: Amiyah is the younger sister of local drug dealer (Durkio). Shy and reserved she keeps to herself and stays out the way. But lately she began to find interest in his right hand man/ best friend (Erik Stevens). Wanting to get him to notice her she discovers that he already had her wrapped around his finger without even trying! There was only a few problems that kept her away from her fantasies , her brother that controlled almost every single breath she took and would kill anyone who looked at her that way and lastly Eriks girlfriend, Alexis , who they called the queen of the hood according to her lavish lifestyle as well as being with the next newest top boy in the making. While Alexis was his girl to the streets all Amiyah wanted to do was be his Homebody...

Pairing: Erik Stevens x Thick OC

Warning: Language, Smoking, Oral

“Nigga you wanna give me one fucking reason why I shouldn’t blow the bitch head off as soon as she step in my shit.” Durk stated calmly as he blew out the smoke of his blunt before knocking the ashes off of it.

Erik shook his head. “Cause nigga it’ll be too hot for you after you do that shit. We don’t know if she told someone she was coming here or not. So take your finger off the trigger and relax.” Digging his hands in his pockets Erik leaned on the desk looking at the office door.

Durk was on edge since he got the call from Alexis two days ago. Erik wasted no time coming down at the auto to meet him. When he made it inside he seen Durk laying on his leather couch relaxed. That’s when Erik knew he was heated for real. Whenever Durk got angry he would be silent before ticking like a time bomb.

So he didn’t take Alexis threat too kindly after making him aware of what she knew. He was even ready to send one of his shooters to her place but Erik had to stop him especially after he got a text from her saying that she wanted to have a meeting with just the two of them. It was hard to get Durk to agree to it but after talking some sense into him he finally gave in to see what she had to say.

Checking his watch it was going on five thirty in the evening. She was supposed to be here by now but Erik knew her to always be late. Out of his peripheral vision he seen Durk getting out of his chair to stand beside him.

“No disrespect but ya bitch is running late and I’m getting impatient.” He stated while readjusting his Rolex.

“I told you that’s not my bitch. She’ll be here.” Erik spoke quietly annoyed with the fact he kept associating them together.

As if on cue the door open revealing Moe,one of Durks lookout guys, and Alexis dressed down in a beige and black Balenciaga sweater dress along with the black trainers. Her hair now back to her natural brown curls with a side part that fell along her shoulders. It was Erik’s favorite look on her and she knew it. Erik started to check her out but averted his gaze when he noticed it.

Walking over to a chair she sat down.“Hello gentlemen. How are you guys-“

“Stop the bullshit and give me a good explanation why I shouldn’t out yo ass after calling me making threats you can’t keep.” Durk cut her off ready to get to the chase.

She laughed taking off the shades she had covering her eyes. “Well one I told a friend, who is by the way a part of law enforcement, that I would be here and that if she doesn’t hear from me within the next 24 hours...come here. Is that good enough for you?” She mocked his tone.

“Alexis why the fuck are you here?” Erik decided to step in before she made the tension in the room any worst than what it already was.

“I’m here because I have a proposition for you. I changed my mind about the $15,000. You can keep it. Because like the saying goes money makes more money.”

“Yeah well I got another quote for you, you can’t take it with you when you die so are you gonna keep wasting my time with ya bullshit ass TedTalk or you gon say what the fuck you got to say.” Durk folded his hands growing impatient.

Erik’s eyebrows knitted together trying to figure out why she was here. Alexis didn’t come to collect the $15,000 she supposedly was going to black mail him for, she came for something else. She wanted to do business..

“Let’s work together. Start us a team.”

Erik chuckled realizing that he was spot on. He knew her too well and knew that she would take on an opportunity like this to make it good for herself. Alexis was money hungry and was will to do whatever it took to get to it.

Durk laughed looking back and forth between Erik and Alexis. He walked over to where she was and pulled up a chair sitting directly in front of her.

“Now you wanna tell me why I would work with a scheming ass person like you? Please inform me.” Resting his hand on his chin, Durk was taking her for a joke.

Alexis rolled her eyes scooting her chair back.

“Because the nigga that you robbed the other night ain’t lose out on shit. You think that million dollars that you stole from him did anything? Nah, you didn’t even take a small portion compared to what he has hiding out in Upsate.”

Now she had both Durk’s and Erik’s attention. Durks because he wanted to know how much more money that Shawn had that he didn’t know about and Erik’s because he wanted to know where she was going with this.

“Why you think he was so quick to give it up without a fight? He got plenty more where that came from and I know where it is. But I want a fraction of whatever you’re able to take. I’ll help you if you could help me.” Crossing her legs Alexis let the information she gave to them sink in.

Durk looked back at Erik searching for any sign to see if she was telling the truth or not but Erik couldn’t tell himself. So he questioned her.

“How we know this isn’t a set up? How do you even know where his stash is? I mean didn’t you just meet this nigga.” He bombarded her trying to see what she knew.

“No it’s not a set up and no I didn’t just meet him. I’ve actually known him for quite a while.” She stated while inspecting her nails.

Erik took in everything she said. He began to wonder about how did she know all of this information and in such little time. He was with Alexis for at least nine months so that only meant that she had to been messing around on him with Shawn.

“So you must’ve have been fucking him after you met me then huh? How do you know so much Alexis.” Erik questioned hoping to catch her off guard not taking his gaze off her.

She turned her direction towards him. “No Erik I’ve actually been fucking him before you and I know all of this because he’s my ex-fiancé. We’re sometimes on and off.”

Silence filled the room for a full minute before Durk began to laugh. He got up from his seat and went to his desk. Taking a fresh blunt he sparked it up doing a long pull.

“I don’t know what’s more fucked up. You fucking around on your fiancé and made my mans here the side nigga or the fact that you want to rob the nigga for everything he got. You one grimy bitch shorty.” He blew smoke in her direction.

Erik stayed quiet.

Getting up Alexis stood in front of Durk. She took the blunt out of his hands before hitting it once herself.

“Listen I don’t give two fucks about him. I wanted out anyway. Now do you think this is something we can work out or should I take my offer somewhere else?”

“Hell nah we not accepting that shit.” Erik retorted with his anger coming out after hearing that she was sleeping around on him. If there was anything that he couldn’t stand the most in this world it was disloyalty.

“Hold on, wait a minute.”

Glancing over Erik seen Durk in deep thought meaning he was taking what she said into consideration. He shook his head with disbelief. Durk was no different than Alexis when it came to getting a bag. It was the power and money that controlled him and he would do anything to remain on top. Even if it meant being friends with the enemy of his enemy and right now Alexis was definitely fitting the description.

“How much does he have?”

She lifted her shoulders up and smiled. “22 million.”

“22 million fucking dollars. You gone make me a young rich nigga. Walk with me.” A huge smile was displayed on Durkio’s face.

Erik watched as Alexis smiled when Durk led the way out of the office. She gave him one last glance and a wink before disappearing.

______________________________

“Ladies I need to see more working and less talking please.” Rhonda shouted from the back room. She was watching the cameras again.

Kelley rolled her eyes silently mocking her. Amiyah laughed while going over to the register. Popping the lid off the tupperware, she dug in the freshly homemade fruit salad she got from Kelley’s house and ate one of the pineapple slices. Hearing the sound of her phone ding she looked down. It was from Cane.

Cane: Thinking about you. See you soon...6:23pm

Amiyah sighed as she clicked her power button leaving him on read. After he kissed her on their date two nights ago Amiyah knew that she made a mistake when she agreed to going with him. The image of Erik stayed on her mind the entire night. When Cane dropped her off after, the feeling of guilt over took her so bad that she cried in the bathroom. She knew she was wrong and wanted to make it right. She planned on telling Erik about the whole ordeal but she wanted to wait for the right moment.

This was the third text she had got from him today that she didn’t reply to and he just wouldn’t get the memo. Kelley noticing her mood change, walked over picking up a piece of fruit and popped it in her mouth.

“What’s wrong girl?” She covered her mouth chewing.

“It’s Cane. He keeps texting me.”

Kelley gave her a confused look. “Isn’t that what you want him to do though?”

“No, of course not. I’m with Erik now, remember?”

Nodding her head she smirked. “Yeah and you were also with him when you went out with Cane. So what’s your point?”

Amiyah slapped her hand on the counter out of frustration. “My point is if Cane wants to be more than friends then I can’t keep him around. I already made one mistake and if I continue to keep being naive then I’m going to fuck everything up with Erik.”

“Well have you told him that you’re not single? Did you tell him you just wanted to be friends?”

Amiyah avoided eye contact with her. “No.” The answer came out just above the sound of a whisper.

“So then tell him! People can’t read your mind Miyah. How is he supposed to know if you’re not making it clear? Sounds like to me you’re leading him on.” Kelley gave her a ‘you know what you’re doing’ glance before walking away.

Amiyah rolled her eyes as she wrote down the chores in the work assignment book. To her there was no way that she was leading Cane on. Yes she kissed him but it was only because he came on to her. Even after the fact ,her vibe had changed and made things awkward during the dinner. How could he not interpret that she wasn’t feeling him the way he felt her.

Feeling the breeze from outside, Amiyah knew that a customer was making their way in. She stopped what she was doing, getting ready to greet them but halted in her tracks. There stood Cane dressed in a Gucci tracksuit holding flowers. He walked up to her with a wide grin.

“Hey...told you I was thinking about you.” He lifted up the flowers and leaned over kissing her on the cheek quickly.

Shock but yet not wanting to be rude Amiyah accepted the roses. “Wow Cane y-you didn’t have to do this. Thank you.”

With his hands now in his pockets he gave a shrug keeping his gaze on her. “It’s nothing. I missed you.” He spoke truthfully.

Cane thought that the date between them went great. Better than he expected. At first he took her out with a motive, expecting to get sex in return but his outlook changed when he got to know her. She was sweet, caring, unselfish, and thoughtful. She was everything he wasn’t used to and the feeling of her lips on his didn’t make it any better. He was crushing on her.

“I remember telling you where I work but how did you know when I would be here?” Amiyah asked him curious to find out.

He laughed. “I had to call up here. A lady name Rhonda told me.”

Amiyah mentally rolled her eyes.

Bringing her hand up to her forehead she gently placed the flowers to her side. “Cane I have something to tell you.”

“Go ahead.”

“We can’t be more than friends. I have a boyfriend and I really hope that I wasn’t leading you on the other night. I’m sorry.” Amiyah was starting to feel bad.

Cane did a quick scoff looking down. “Why didn’t you just tell me in the first place? I would’ve understand.”

“It’s complicated and I just-“

“It shouldn’t be.” He spoke cutting her off.

“What?”

“If he’s ya man than it shouldn’t be complicated. Only simple. I know I wouldn’t let it be and I damn sure wouldn’t let you go out on dates with other niggas...If I was your man.” He stepped closer invading her space.

“I respect you Amiyah and if backing off is something you want me to do than I’ll do it. It might take me some time to get over not seeing your pretty ass smile anymore, but what can I say? You win some you lose some.” His thumb and index finger held her chin up.

Amiyah tried not to blush but failed. “Cane your a great guy but I can’t.”

He shook his head. “Well can I have one last hug?”

He sent her a sweet smile that Amiyah wasn’t able to deny. Giggling she opened her arms. He wrapped his arms over her neck and hers went around his torso. Amiyah inhaled taking in his scent. He smelled so good right now but she had to shake the feeling. They hugged for at least ten seconds before letting go.

“I’ll see you around.” Cane gave her one final wave as he walked out the door.

Watching the whole thing go down in front of her eyes like she wasn’t there, Kelley marched over to Amiyah.

“Sis that nigga was fine as fuck. Between him and Erik I wouldn’t know who to choose either.”

Amiyah gave a light smile. “Well I do.”

________________________________________

Eight o’clock had came around faster than Amiyah anticipated. Kelley had went home an hour ago and offered to wait for her but she declined. She had to stay behind to lock up but also had to make a stop before going back to her place. Amiyah was running low on clothes so since she still had the key to her apartment she figured she can get in and out grabbing her belongings before Durk got there.

It was still early so she suspected she had some time to get it done. When Amiyah reached the lobby to the apartment building the feeling of being homesick rushed over her body. It’s only been a little under a week but it’s the longest she’s ever been away from this place since her and Durk first moved in. It took less than five minutes before making it to their door.

Going inside Amiyah searched around. Everything still look the same besides the few clothing objects that Durk left hanging out in the livingroom. Whenever Amiyah was here she’d have to pick up after him so out of habit that’s what she did. She gathered his clothes and brought them to his room putting them in his hamper. Then she walked into her room. The smell of Glad Hawaiian Breeze automatic spray hitting her nose. She missed it.

Her bed was still made up the way it was before she left. Sitting her purse and phone down on the nightstand she slipped her shoes off and got in. Her eyes closed from the warm plush blanket and mattress she felt against her body. The couch at Kelley’s was starting to become uncomfortable so right now Amiyah’s body was getting the relaxation it yearned for. She was only planning on resting for a few minutes before she got her things and left but the tiredness in her eyes betrayed her as she drifted off to sleep.

Being a light sleeper was always a blessing and a curse for Amiyah but for this instance it was a blessing. With the apartment so quiet that you can hear a pin drop she was also able to hear the sound of keys unlocking the front door. Her eyes opened quickly as she sat up in her bed. Picking up her phone she checked the time. It was 11:52pm. She overslept.

“Shit.” She cursed softly. Walking to her dresser she grabbed three tops and some jeans along with fresh bras and underwear and put them inside of her Pink tote bag.

Her ears was finally met with the voice of Durks who was talking to someone. Even though Amiyah told Erik that she was willing to talk to her brother she didn’t think it would be this soon. She wanted some more time before she had a conversation with him. She felt that they still needed time apart hence why she tried to refrain herself from being here at the same time he was. But there was nothing she could do now but face him. Getting her things she slowly walked out her room.

“Damn nigga I can’t believe that bitch played you.” Durk laughed. He was standing in the middle of the livingroom with his arms folded where he could be seen from the hallway. His body was facing the furniture. That’s when Amiyah seen that he wasn’t alone and looking at the person from behind who was sitting she knew it was Erik.

The creaking noise coming from the floor gave her away. Durk quickly looked in her direction with a hand ready to grab the gun off his waist. His eyes showed that he was both surprised and confused.

“Amiyah?” He questioned to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

The sound of her name coming from his mouth made Erik’s head flew towards him. He followed his gaze and stood up when he saw Amiyah holding a bag of clothes. Observing her he noticed that her eyes were a light red. Like she just got finished either crying or sleeping but when Erik saw the frizzy-ness to her hair he knew she had just woken up.

“Hey I just came to pick up some things. I’m leaving now.” Her eyesight averted between the both of them.

“Why? I mean where have you been? How are you doing?” Being the protective brother that he was Durk rushed her with questions.

Lifting her shoulders in a half shrug she answered. “I’m good and I been at Kelley’s. Which I should be going back to now.” Amiyah tried walking to the door but was stopped.

“Amiyah we don’t have to keep doing this shit. I’m sorry okay. You my lil sis and I love you. I was fucked up kicking you out the way I did but I didn’t expect you to leave for real.” Durk dropped his hands to his sides. He wanted his little sister back home with him.

Amiyah folded her arms snickering to herself. “Not only did you kick me out but you called me a bitch Derrick.”

“And I’m sorry. I was in the heat of the moment. Shit we both said some things that we didn’t mean but to hold grudges, that’s something we never do and you know that. Dad would’ve never let us go this long without talking to each other.” He walked in front of her putting his hand on her shoulder.

With the burning sensation creeping around her eyes Amiyah held back her tears. The reference of their father struck a nerve in her. Her and Durk never mentioned him that much since he was sentenced to life. So when he brought him up Amiyah became emotional.

“Listen Durk I’m sorry for the things that I said. Yes sometimes I speak without thinking and that’s something we both do. But it hurt having my own brother kick me out of a place where I am supposed to feel safe and protected. You gave me no choice but to leave so I did.” Amiyah paused wiping away the tears that fell.

“Look you’re my brother and I love you but I just need a little bit more time.”

Durk nodded before wiping her last falling tear. “Okay I understand but before you go I just want to know if you forgive me. I can’t go another day without knowing.”

Without saying a word Amiyah embrace him. He rested his chin on her head while closing his eyes.It reminded her of the hugs he used to give her when she was younger. Amiyah missed them.

Erik massaged the back of his neck watching them make up. It even gave him a sense of relief that he no longer had to wonder when it would happen. He was happy to be here to see it for himself.

“I have to get back to Kelley’s.” Amiyah separated from the embrace throwing her tote over her shoulder.

Patting down his pants Durk searched for his keys.

“Let me take you-“

“No it’s fine. I’ll take an Uber. It’s how I got here anyways.” She gave a small smile.

“Miyah you know how I feel about that. Just let me drive you there and that’s it?”

“Thank you Durk but I’m fine. Remember I still need some time?” She nudged him before it went quiet.

“I’ll bring her.” Erik stood in the middle catching attention from both of them.

Amiyah smiled in the inside when she heard him speak. Not wanting to be too obvious she faked declined his offer.

“No it’s okay.”

“Amiyah look I know you mad at me and all but Erik ain’t got nothing to do with what we got going on. At least let him bring you. I trust him.” He gave her a look hoping she agreed.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Amiyah did a false sigh while rolling her eyes. Walking past Erik to the door she gave him a quick glance with a smirk.

Erik had to hide his smile as he shook his head. He knew that she was trying to make it seem like she didn’t want him to bring her but he knew it was a front. Getting his things he gave Durk a dap.

“Aye man make sure she make it inside safely before you pull off.”

“Of course. I’ll catch you later to talk more about business.”

___________________

The hip hop station played in the background. Erik was trying to pay attention to the road but failed with the beautiful distraction sitting next to him. They were currently talking about how Amiyah had to fake an attitude just so her brother wouldn’t suspect anything. She couldn’t help herself from laughing as she talked about the look on Erik’s face.

“You did not know, liar.” Her giggles filling up the car.

Erik smacked his lips. “C’mon stop playing with me. I could tell you was faking. I know you ma.” Reaching over he picked up her hand kissing the back of it. He held on to it for the rest of the time.

“Whatever.” Looking out the window Amiyah noticed that they weren’t in Kelley’s neighborhood. They were driving for a while so they should’ve been there but weren’t even close to the area.

“Where are we going?” She asked fiddling with his watch.

“Uh I want to show you something. It’s a surprise.”

For the first time since knowing him Amiyah could observe from his body language that Erik was nervous. The repeated roll of his shoulders with the clutch of the steering wheel gave him away. It was cute to her being that she never seen him in this state before.

“Erik...are you getting nervous?” She teased leaning forward to get a better look at him.

He turned his head blocking her view. “Chill mama.”

Amiyah laughed as the car came to a stop. Looking around they were in a parking lot with a tall building next to it. From her point of view it looked like apartments. She glanced at Erik as he pushed the button shutting the car off.

“What’s this?”

He stroked his beard before answering. “This is where I live.”

Amiyah was taken back when the words left his mouth. She couldn’t believe that he brought her here. To his place. Knowing how Erik was a private person she didn’t think she would get this far at an early stage.

Erik noticed that she hardly said a word. It was making him rethink his actions. “You want to come in or should I bring you back to Kelley’s?” He began to gabble.

“No let’s go in. I want to see where you live.” Her smile was wide. She was curious and couldn’t help herself.

As they walked through the building Amiyah’s wandered everywhere. She was taking it all in. From the structure of the walls even to the boring art work that laid on them. It was the excitement in her that had her roaming everywhere. They reached the elevators and stepped in. He pressed the eleventh floor before closing the doors. Erik stood against the wall and pulled her in front of him holding onto her hip.

“Eleventh floor? You’re living pretty high and mighty Mr.-“ She paused realizing that she didn’t know his last name.

“What is your last name by the way?” She tilted her head looking back at him.

He chuckled. “Why you plan on making it yours or something?”

She blushed facing forward.

“Stevens.”The raspiness of his late night voice had Amiyah clenching her thighs.

“Erik Stevens. I guess it goes together.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer with her back against his hard chest. She could feel her ass pressing into his length. It made her jump from surprise as the throbbing in her kitty appeared. Moving her hair to the side Erik bent down putting his face in her neck.

“Just like you and me go together.” He spoke softly rubbing on her hips.

She panted biting her lip. She placed her hands on top of his not knowing what else to do with them. Erik heard a moaned escape her lips when he kissed her neck. Kissing over the faint hickies that were still there. When the elevator doors opened they walked out hand in hand as Erik lead them to his door. Taking out his keys he unlocked it and it open with his free hand.

When he flipped on the light Amiyah’s face lit up. Her eyes drifted everywhere. She was amazed with how he was living. He was doing good for himself and it looked like a true bachelor’s pad. An all black sectional with grey pillows. A sixty-five inch flat screen tv mounted on the wall. His kitchen was neat and clean which meant he probably doesn’t use it as much or he was just a clean person.

Amiyah giggled softly placing her things on the couch. “Babe you stay here all by yourself?”

Erik placed his keys on the counter before walking to his bar. He pulled out a bottle of Hennessy cracking it open and pouring it in a glass. The burn going down his throat when he took a sip.

He lifted his shoulders. “What you think mama?” He asked her sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes. “I think I want to keep looking around.” She dragged her nails across the couch.

The was a flight of stairs attached to the same wall that the tv was on. Amiyah strolled over glancing at them before going up. When she reached the top she walked through a short hall to be met with his room.

“Wow just wow.”

He was truly living like a king and she couldn’t believe that he was living in this palace alone. She heard footsteps coming up so she plopped down on the bed posing.

“How do I look?” Taking a piece of her locks she tucked it behind her ear.

Erik stepped inside sipping on what was to be his third glass of Henn. The liquor was doing its job as he already felt the effects of being tipsy. He sat the finished glass on his nightstand as he took of his jacket.

“You look like you supposed to be there.” He lifted his eyebrows removing his shirt next with his chain swinging from the sudden quickness.

Amiyah sat up from her spot. Her nerves going crazy when she saw his bare chest. The flex in his muscles whenever he moved his arms created a dampness in her panties. It was the littlest things he did that would always set her off.

“What are you doing?” Her eyes roaming over his body.

“Bout to take a shower. You wanna join?” The look on his face read that he was serious as he asked that question like it was nothing.

Amiyah scoffed with surprise. “No but I’ll take one first...without you.” She stood up walking towards his bathroom. He followed behind chuckling.

“I don’t know why you acting like that. It’s not like I ain’t see that pretty pussy already.” He leaned against his sink. The definition in his arms were showing.

The wetness between her thighs were flowing. She folded her arms glaring at him softly. “Just give me a towel Erik.”

He hung his head laughing as he went into the bathroom closet grabbing an extra wash cloth and bath towel. He handed it to her before going under the sink and grabbing a bar of dove soap.

“Here, hurry up. I want to get in next.” He tossed her the bar.

“And if I don’t?” She asked smartly.

“Don’t act surprised when I come in there with you.” He stated seriously and walked out.

_

It was easy for her to work the shower. The hot and cold handles were separate so there was no difficulty in trying to find which way it went. Amiyah allowed the water to cascade down her body. She gave a relaxed sigh as she foamed her body up with the lather. This was very much needed after the day she had. Being at Erik’s place was so peaceful. It was mellow and quiet. Something she could get used to. If this is what it felt like to live alone than she was definitely going to start putting in application for a spot.

Her shower ended after fifteen minutes. Since it wasn’t her place she didn’t want to be rude and take a long one as well as using up all of his hot water. Reaching her arm out of the glass door she grabbed her towel making sure it was secure before stepping out. She was so busy trying to hurry up and wash the day off she forgot her clothes downstairs.

Amiyah picked up her dirty clothes. She rolled her eyes knowing that Erik was going to see her in nothing but a towel at any moment. She did a light jog downstairs making sure she had a grip on the linen so it wouldn’t fall. Spotting her bag on the sectional she walked over to it. For a minute she thought she was alone until she saw Erik drinking a bottle of water standing between the doorway of the kitchen and livingroom. He cocked his head to the side staring at her as he drunk. Then he called her over.

“C’mere.” With his deep voice it was loud and clear.

Erik watched as she eyed him up and down. The way she looked in nothing but his towel had his dick on ten. How the bottom of her hair stuck to her back due to its wetness. The way her thick thighs had the towel rising up. He was ready to devour her. He was no where near drunk but the liquor was aiding into his horny-ness.

“What do you want Erik?” Her tone was teasing yet playfully annoyed. She grabbed her bra and panties but had no night clothes. She slapped her hand against her thigh when she noticed.

“Come over here and come find out.” His tongue hanging out before swiping it over his bottom lip. When she didn’t listen once again he began to walk over.

Amiyah studied his actions. Watching him draw nearer to her she started walking away going back up the stairs. He followed closed behind. Amiyah felt his stares on her ass. Making it back to the masters she stood beside his bed. She became nervous feeling him up her back. Not sure what to do she gripped the top of her towel to occupy her hands.

“Why you don’t listen ma?” He pulled up the pants that were hanging dangerously below his waist. Lightly grabbing her arm he turned her around. She was gazing up at him the same way he fantasize her doing in the shower the other day. He wrapped his arm around her pulling her in for a kiss but she put one between them creating space.

“What do you want Erik?” Amiyah asked softly for the second time and smiled blocking his advances. She was liking this game of making him work hard for it. This time he was yearning for her and she was in control.

Chewing on his top lip he told her straight up. “I want to eat ya pussy.” His tone was blunt.

When he stepped forward she stepped back which resulted in her stumbling and falling on the bed. They both look down at the same time to see her towel risen up just inches away from showing her treasure. She left it that way.

“You not gonna try and pull it down?” Erik leaned over her placing his hands on either side of her.

Resting up on her elbows she shook her head. “No.”

Amiyah reached up playing with his chain. The ring that accompanied it catching her attention. Erik admire her as he watched. Amiyah was just as horny as he was. She could feel the sticky wetness coating her lower lips. She never received oral before so she was willing to jump at the opportunity that was thrown at her. She leaned into him giving what he was longing for, a kiss.

Erik’s tongue swirled in her mouth. He followed her as she laid flat on the bed. Her legs opened inviting him in. He felt her small hands rubbing up and down his back before they started to tug at his pants. He grabbed her hands holding them down by her hips as he moved his kisses to her neck.

“Can I move this towel?” He asked coming up from her neck.

Amiyah’s eyes shifted down. She wanted this badly but she didn’t know if she was ready for Erik to see all of her yet. The thought of being completely naked in front of him caused butterflies to erupt in her belly. She still had insecurities that she was dealing with.

Erik noticed that she was overthinking it. He kissed her shoulder blade and the open area across her chest. “Get out your head mama. You beautiful.”

Even though Erik wanted to see all of her he could tell that she wasn’t ready. So he respected her wishes but he still wanted to show her how beautiful her and her body was to him. Leaving the towel in place he skipped down to her uncovered thighs. The dove scent being easily detectable. Getting on his knees he pulled her body closer to the edge making her shriek. He kissed the top of them causing her to shiver.

“Can I eat this pussy?” His breath touching her skin.

Leaning up on her elbows once more Amiyah nodded but Erik wanted to hear verbal confirmation. “Speak.” He demanded ready to open her legs and dive in.

“Yes daddy.” She bit her lip hiding the trembling in her voice.

Amiyah’s body shook lightly with every kiss he placed on her legs. He took both of his hands gripping her thick thighs before separating them exposing her wet bare pussy. He bit his lip inhaling her natural aroma. Amiyah was no longer watching as she laid on her back one hand already gripping his covers and the other covering her face.

Erik hooked her by the back of her knees spreading her wider. He gave her light kisses on her inner thighs getting both sides. He watched as they shook after each one. His eyes traveled to her middle finally coming face to face with her phat pussy. His mouth watered remembering the teasing taste that he had on his fingers last time. He’s been craving her pussy ever since and tonight he was going to take her for every drop.

“Hold your legs for me baby girl.”

She replaced his hands with hers and jumped when she felt his fingers spread her lower lips open. Her breath picked up as she felt the heat from his mouth get close to her aching core. Leaning up and looking down in time she watched as Erik gave her one swift lick from her hole to her clit. Her body jolted letting go of her hold on her legs.

“Don’t start that runnin shit.” He held her legs opened again this time her stringy lubricant showing when her pussy lips spread. “Damn ya shit wet as fuck.”

Erik took one hand separating her meaty lips. Using his long pointy tongue he flicked her clit a few times bringing it out of hiding. Amiyah covered her mouth moaning into her hand. The feeling of his wet tongue bringing the vocals out of her. When her nub was nice and perky he swirled his tongue over in a rotation before making a tight suction with his lips over it.

Amiyah ,not used to the feeling, clamped her thighs on his head. The involuntary whimpers left her mouth. She couldn’t stop them from coming. Sitting up she used one hand to try and push his head from between her thighs but couldn’t when Erik gripped them wrapping his arms around them.

“Erikkk...I can’t.” She moaned trying to back away.

He was going back and forth between sucking her clit and giving firm flicks. She wanted him to stop but keep going at the same time. She didn’t understand what was going on. But what alarmed her the most was when she felt her legs shake and muscle jerking from the inside. Amiyah gripped the covers searching for something to hold on to.

Erik continued his movements. Between clenched thighs he watched her make faces that she couldn’t fake. The taste of her cream coating his tongue made him almost animalistic. He wanted to ease up but he couldn’t. Bringing his hands to the back her thighs he snatched them from around his head as he pushed them all the way back. Now standing up he was bending down eating her pussy.

He paid attention to her body and noticed she would always start to jerk when he sucked her clit. So that’s what he did. Repeatedly. He was going to suck that pussy until he made it cum.

Reaching down Amiyah pushed his head into her pussy biting her lip. Tears producing in her eyes. A tight cramp feeling in her lower abdomen. Yet he kept eating her out. Her hips rocked up towards his mouth as she couldn’t explain why she still wanted it even through overstimulation.

“Daddyyy...” She whimper watching him flick her clit. Her toes curled from the feeling.

“Mhmm.” He moaned against her pussy causing a shake within her body.

“What are you doing to me?...daddy.” She whined in hush tone not caring about her towel that had started to come undone.

Erik repeated off and on sucking drove her crazy. He lifted up with a string of her wetness attached to his full lips and beard. “I’m taking care of the pussy. This what you wanted right?” He teased while sending one long slow dripping spit that landed directly on her bud.

Amiyah’s legs jerked when he went back to sucking her sensitive clit. “Mm I think I love youuu.” She threw her head back. The vibration of his laugher could be felt through her nub.

‘Got that ass!’

Erik thought as he laughed while remaining his assult on her pussy. He was ready to taste her nectar. Bringing his hands up to her tittes he pulled and twisted her nipples before flicking them with his index fingers. It took nothing but a few seconds for the double stimulation to have her pussy oozing out her juices right on to his tongue.

Her thrusting hips came to a stop as Amiyah placed her hands on Erik’s that was resting on her breast. Her stomach that was now showing caving up and down as she tried to catch her breath. Looking up at his ceiling she felt his light kisses traveling up her body stopping at her head. She felt exhausted and drained but very much relaxed.

Erik putting his nose in her hair inhaling her scent brought a hand up to her throat. He then moved his lips against her ear and spoke lowly. “You better not give my pussy up to nobody but me.”

He kissed her softly before getting up to take a shower.

____________________________________

Please excuse any mistakes!

Tag-List

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[kintatsujo]

LoZ AU- The Courage of Running Away Part EIGHTEEN

This story is at the point where if you haven’t read the previous post you’re gonna get out of context spoilers so go do that if you haven’t!!

#AU August

#LoZ AU: The Courage of Running Away

Gerudo City Square is hushed at Dinravi’s sudden call for Ghirahim to stop, until he gathers himself and continues:

[Image Descriptions: Dinravi looks shaken, but he’s speaking firmly.  “I refuse to be why you make an orphan today,” he says.  Ghirahim, furious, gestures downward and bellows “He was trying to KILL YOU!”  “And you’ve neutralized the threat!!” Dinravi shouts back.  “Do you REALLY think he’s a DANGER now?”  Ghirahim grumbles, rolling his eyes.  “FINE,” he says, then dismisses his sword.  Astramorus closes his eyes and flops his head on the street with a groan.  Eltani stares at her son. “Belovéd, what’s going on?” she asks sternly.  Dinravi suddenly blushes. Link rushes to Astramorus, falling to his knees, then yanks him up into his arms, much to Astramorus's surprise, and buries his face in his father's shoulder. Ghirahim rolls his eyes.  Zelda approaches them.  “Lord Astramorus...” she says.  “You REALIZE this is a GRAVE offense.”  Astramorus doesn’t answer, only staring to the side as if to say “of course.”  Link looks irritated, tears tracking down his face to match his father’s.  Eltani says, “I’m still a BIT more concerned as to why a DEMON LORD just saved my son, me dear.”  Dinravi starts to say, “Well-” when Ghirahim interrupts with “Oh PLEASE, Chief Eltani, LIKE YOU REALLY DON’T KNOW,” flipping his hair and rolling his eyes.  “Don’t backtalk my mother,” Dinravi tells him. Quietly Eltani tells Dinravi, “We're having WORDS later Belovéd, and he answers “yes Mama” as they descend the stairs to join Queen Zelda and her group, which includes Impa, Tonbo and Marla as well as at least one Hyrulean soldier in armor.  “All right, then, HOW?” Zelda asks Ghirahim.  “You DISAPPEARED from history, it was always assumed you’d been SEALED AWAY.”  Ghirahim smiles, not kindly, down at Link and Astramorus, still on the ground.  “Ah, you know how these things HAPPEN,” he says, then sits down next to Link and Astramorus and leans in towards them.  Link glares and tightens his hold protectively, while Astramorus leans away in obvious horror.  Ghirahim grins flirtatiously.  “Some OTHER little priest with more fervor than sense,” he says.  He then lazily waves his hand.  “He just kept going ON and ON about BLOODLINES and BALANCE- Quite frankly I only left him ALIVE because he was so POLITE.”  He then adds more quietly, “well, that and being SHIFTED ACROSS DIMENSIONS while also being AWAKENED takes a lot out of even a demon.”  Astramorus has looked down, as if thinking. “And did this priest have a NAME?” Zelda asks, frowning. Ghirahim puts a hand to his mouth thoughtfully and hums.  “I’m trying to REMEMBER, actually,” he says.  “One of those silly LONG ones.”  He then reaches to straighten Astramorus’s hair, leaning into him with a grin, much to Astramorus’s horror and Link’s irritation.  “Maybe YOU know him, little priest,” he says, then begins to list traits, counting on one hand.  “Glasses, red robes, a round face and nose, elderly, white hair, short, HIGH RANK, far as I could tell-”  Both Link and Astramorus’s faces dawn realization, and they shout the name at the same time: “SERENUMBRA?!”  Ghirahim grins, sliding down against Astramorus as he points lazily at them.  “Thaaat was it,” he says with a grin, then sits up in surprise.  “WAIT, you DO know him? I was just being SMART with you.”  Astramorus gasps, falling back against Link in shock.  End ID.]

So to make it clear btw the reason Astramorus shouted Dinravi’s name at the beginning of this sequence is because he was fully prepared to take the consequences of assassinating a prince and didn’t realize Ghirahim is immune to long ranged attacks.  That’s also why he makes that face when Zelda points out how serious what he’s done is. 

[Image description: Link glaring up while Astramorus looks numbly off to the side.   They both have tears running down their faces. There is a caption which reads: “Not a good time!” in a font and style similar to the same BotW message that plays when one tries to have Link sit by the fire somewhere the game doesn’t allow.  End ID.]

Incidentally I think I’m doing well now at making them look related to one another; Astramorus’s character design really didn’t solidify until I decided he had to look like he could be Link’s biological father.  

Ghirahim has turned into a huge fucking dork in this AU and I’m pretty cool with that.

Anyway “the guy who summoned a fuckin demon lord and sent him off to corrupt Prince Dinravi to the Dark Side in the name of something something religion maybe” is actually Serenumbra’s original character concept, the fact that he’s done this was in the background his entire conversation with Astramorus.

[Image description: Serenumbra adjusting his round glasses with a wicked grin. They are doing the anime evil-dude-with-glasses flash with a VEEN.  End ID.]

[sashi-ya]

{+18} – Cherry Blossom & Tangerines – Trafalgar Law x Y/n – Part 3

Modern AU. Living in Seoul, SK. Everybody is alive. No spoilers.

Female reader. No physical descriptions. Everybody is +18, canon ages. Chopper is human.

Tw: Mostly SFW. ZoSan. Fluff. A/N: I haven’t had the chance to visit South Korea due to Covid, so everything included is pure research. Excuse me in advance if there is something that’s not 100% accurate! Keep in mind is purely inspired ♥

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31059467

» List of parts: {P1} {P2} {P3} {P4} {P5} {P6}«

Word Count: 4.9K

Law’s slender, soft, skilled fingers played over the silky material of my pyjama shorts. I wrapped my arms around his neck, softly brushing my fingers through his black hair. Our lips still pressed, our senses getting lost on the burning sexual tension that was finally being released.

The soon to be surgeon, slid a hand inside my satin blouse, and grabbed one of my breasts. Caressing it softly at first, but then searching for my nipple to press it firmly in between two fingers.  I moaned his name, almost whispering, after all we were in the kitchen of a house living with ten more people.

Law began to trace a path from my mouth to my neck with sweet wet smooches, mixed with little bites, and I was slowly being taken to heaven, until I heard “Saaaaanjiii, foood!”. I whipped my head to the side and saw Luffy entering the kitchen.

Law and I remained still for a moment, until we realized that this was one of Luffy’s sleepwalks for food. He was technically asleep so he wasn’t aware of us, but the minimum sound could wake him up. So, we gently detached our bodies in silence, until Law had to shout to Luffy to stop. My somnambulist friend was about to hit his face with the fridge door, and Law had to catch him in order to avoid him getting hurt.

I was arranging my clothes quickly when I saw Sanji coming downstairs running and screaming, “Damn Luffy, I heard you shouting my name, what happened?”. The blond cook was covered in sweat and had a little red spot on his neck. I giggled a little looking how annoyed he seemed, but hey, at least Law and I weren’t the only ones who were interrupted.

Luffy finally returned to reality after a few slaps from Sanji and apologized laughing. I couldn’t get mad at him; he is just too sweet. Sanji agreed on cooking something fast for him and began with his work.

“So, guys, what were you doing here?”, asked Luffy pointing at Law and I with his mouth full. I widened my eyes, while thinking for an excuse, but Law spoke first, “I couldn’t sleep, so I came to the kitchen to have some water. Y/n-ya was here having tea, and she offered to prepare some for me, that’s it”.  “Uhum, I couldn’t sleep either”, I said.

Luffy looked at us for a moment, but he quickly believed in our words.

Suddenly, we heard from the stairs Zoro’s sleepy voice, “Oi, nosebleed-kun I’m waiting…”. Law, Luffy and I turned our faces to Sanji, who instantly turned red. I bit my lips trying to stop myself from laughing, but when my eyes met Law’s face, we began to laugh out loud. This was the first time I saw Law laughing, my heart skipped a beat on how gorgeous he looked.

Luffy didn’t catch it at first, but after Zoro entered the kitchen with nothing more than his boxers on, the bell rang on his brain, “oh… hahahaha”.

“Marimo…”, said Sanji mumbling, “Go back to sleep…”. The one-eyed man was now standing still in front of us, probably unable to move, and blushed in his entirety. He simply said “We… we were playing with the Nintendo… uhm it was this idiot cook turn, so…. Uhm, whatever, I’m going back to sleep”. He turned around and almost ran upstairs.

We remained silent and the only sound we could hear was the sizzling sound of the eggs Sanji was cooking.

He turned his back at us and focused on the pan, he was clearly embarrassed, maybe a little sad because of us laughing.

Law stood up, told Luffy to go back to sleep and placed his hand over my shoulder, “Thanks for the tea, Y/n. We can continue our conversation tomorrow”. He said and smirked.

Those words made my body react instantly, a strike of pleasure stung my insides, and the idea of continuing what we’ve started that night installed on me, almost as a necessity.

“Sanji, go back to sleep, I’m sleeping with Luffy and the guys tonight, don’t worry”, said Law and left the room. Luffy followed him.

I waited for them to be upstairs and approached Sanji. “Oi, babe, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to laugh. I’m happy for you two, go back to him. Don’t worry, I’m not saying anything, nor Law, or even Luffy. I’m sure Law is now addressing Luffy at this point. If Zoro or you want to tell us, we will let you do it. Ok?”. I said to my favourite chef, placing my head over his shoulder.

Sanji caressed my hair and finally smiled back at me. “Thanks, Y/n-chan…”. He went upstairs and I put the dirty dishes on the dishwasher. Eventually I went back to bed, and the exhaustion won the fight between my insomnia.

The smell of breakfast made my stomach growl as I was waking up. “Mmm Sanji’s french toasts…”, I mumbled while opening my eyes and stretching my arms. “Good morning, Robin-chan”, I told my friend who had already woken up and was reading a book on her bed. “Good morning, sweetie, did you sleep well?”, she asked, and I nodded back.

Some sun rays were filtering through the big window of our room, we could see the beach and some sailboats on the distance. The sky showed no clouds, it was warm, some sakura petals danced with the breeze and fell to the ground. It was the perfect spring day.

We quickly got dressed and I didn’t even care much about my face. After breakfast I was taking a shower so, I didn’t put too much effort on my image. Robin and I went downstairs and met with the other ones in the kitchen.

Luffy was fighting with Usopp and Chopper for the food, as always. Law was drinking coffee and smiled at me when he saw me enter. Zoro was almost falling asleep over his plate, I guess he had a sleepless night after all… fufufu. Franky and Brook were outside having cola and milk, respectively.

Nami and Vivi come downstairs a few minutes after. Vivi hugged me from behind and scared me, and as she did, my hair uncovered my neck. “Oi, Y/n… what is that on your neck?”, she asked. “What? what do I have?” I started touching my neck in order to feel maybe something. “Is that a hickey?” inquired Nami, almost whispering. Luckily, no one else heard due to the guys fighting. “Nami, shut the hell up…” I sentenced my friend, with my index over my mouth.

“Damn Law, he must have bit me so hard yesterday that now I have a mark…” I thought while covering back my neck with my hair. Suddenly I received a message on my phone. @DrHeartStealer > I’m sorry ;). I looked up to Law and he was looking at me with puppy eyes, that by the way, were fake as hell. He was enjoying this… And I… well… I was kind of too.

“I think last night was a little bit turbulent, right Sanji? Law? Zoro?” Nami, who didn’t want to stop, and that obviously knew everything that happened the night before without even being told, mocked the guys.

“Shut up, baka”, Zoro told her, grabbing his forehead with no energy at all and perhaps affected by the lack of sleep and the hangover. Sanji was more blushed than last night, and Law didn’t show a single emotion, he seemed as if he didn’t give a single fuck about it.

Usopp who had now stopped fighting with Luffy, said “Oi… wait a minute, Sanji, what’s that on your neck?”. I realized Zoro was about to throw a plate at the big nose nosy guy, so I told Usopp to stop only using my expressions.

We finished eating breakfast and decided that today was the perfect day to visit Shinhwa Theme Park. I loved roller coasters and theme parks, so I was super excited to visit the place.

We went to our rooms to get ready when suddenly Nami and Vivi entered mine like a hurricane pouncing on me and demanding me to tell them why I had a hickey on my neck. I couldn’t refuse, so I accepted my destiny and told them of my encounter with Law last night.

Even Robin seemed excited, the girls were jumping and giggling. They were really happy for me, not only because Law seemed like a good catch, but also because it’d been so long since I dated someone.

My girlfriends decided to help me get ready for the park, so they brushed my hair, chose my outfit and even my makeup. I knew I didn’t need all of that, but frankly I enjoyed it, so I didn’t complain at all.

When we arrived at the park, the employees gave us little plastic bracelets and we headed to the first attractions.

I ran to the biggest roller coaster and insisted everyone to come with me, but almost all of my friends refused my invitation right away. “Are you kidding me, Y/n? there is no way I’m riding that huge thing, forget it”, said Usopp.

Luckily, Luffy, who loves new experiences and doesn’t know about fear, agreed on coming with me, as well as Franky. We headed to the short queue and waited for our turn. A few minutes after, Law, who was buying some water bottles when I asked the guys to join the ride with me, approached us saying, “Oi, can I join?”. “Of course, Torao!!” said Luffy, jumping with excitement.

When it was finally our turn, Franky sat with Luffy smirking at Law. “May I sit with you, Y/n-ya?", asked the sexy doctor. "Of course, if you are afraid, you can hug me …", I said, with a defiance expression. "Tsk.. we'll see who gets frightened first…".

“Welcome to the Dancing Oscar! Are you ready to experience extreme fun?! But first, let’s watch the safety rules!”, the safety video began to play on the little screens in front of us. Law and I were sitting behind Luffy and Franky, and as the video finished, he turned to me. “Well, let’s keep you safe…”, he said, coming even closer to my face. Law grabbed the safety restraints that were in between my legs first, caressing the inside of my thighs -that the girls insisted on me showing by using a cute short-, then the ones that were over my hips. He ably fastened them together in the buckle and pulled the belts in order to tighten them real hard. Finally, he tightened the ones over my breasts. I gasped, the pressure, the soft touch of his hands over my skin, the feeling of being taken care of, maybe… even being dominated by him… He was teasing me, and my body was reacting to it. “There, now you are safe”, he said patting my left thigh and smirking.

I closed my legs, pressing my core against the tight straps, mumbling something similar to a thank you.  I was desperate to feel some type of release, and the pressure over my pleasure point was the fastest way. Even though it wasn’t enough.

He secured himself and soon after the ride started.

When the cart slowly approached the highest point took about a minute to finally be released gaining speed faster that I was expecting. Not only me, but also Law, got so scared that we grabbed each other's arms and started shouting. Something flashed my eyes, but I was so scared that I didn’t even think of what it was.

After experiencing the adrenaline of the loops and the ups and downs of the track, it finally came to an end. When the cart finally stopped on the starting point, my heart was pumping harder than ever, my blood pressure was a mess, and my head was spinning. I began to laugh really hard, grabbing my stomach. “Oh, dear Lord, it was amazing!!!” I screamed, Luffy and Franky followed me, while Law looked at me regretting the moment he decided on hopping on. He was pale and seemed as if he were about to throw up.

“Law, are you ok?” I said chuckling. “I am…”. He answered and began to untie the belts.

When we were getting off the ride our friends came to us laughing. “Oi, Y/n, Torao, what is it with your faces? “said Usopp, showing us a photo with the theme park frame of Law and I looking at each other in fear, almost hugging, seconds after the cart began the falling action. “Oh… so that was the flash I saw”, I said while my cheeks turned to fire. Law snickered, grabbing the photo, and said “I’m keeping this one, your face is just too funny”. I looked at him frowning, but I couldn’t deny he was right, after all. Plus, him wanting to keep a photo of us made me feel all bubbly inside.

The day went by with us having fun, riding attractions, buying souvenirs, taking photos. Our cheeks were really sunkissed, as well as our shoulders. The night came, and we were ready to enjoy the firework show the park offered every night.

Everybody gathered in the centre of the park and the brilliant lights drew pretty images over the sky, the soft sea breeze refreshed my cheeks. My friends were smiling, having fun. I could see Zoro and Sanji looking at each other with a love expression on their eyes, Vivi and Nami holding hands, Robin placing her head over Franky’s shoulder. Love was in the air, and it felt wonderful.

I kept enjoying the light show, when suddenly Law approached me from in between the crowd and subtly grabbed my pinkie finger with his. Softly, without taking our sight from the fireworks, I grabbed his whole hand. And we remained like this, holding hands, with a smile on our faces. My heart beating quickly, and soon the feeling of butterflies in my stomach followed. “Is this… more than sexual attraction?” I thought, but quickly decided to stop thinking and simply indulge on the moment. 

The show ended and we let go of our hands. Our friends and we walked to the parking lot and headed back home.

We were so exhausted that we went right to our bedrooms and threw our bodies into our beds. Soon I had the idea of texting Law, and so I did. I grabbed my phone and sent him, “@SunflowerDr > have a good night, sleep well. Remember we got a “conversation” pending…xoxo.” A few minutes after he answered, “@DrHeartStealer > have a good night, doll. I got an idea for tomorrow, we could continue our conversation there…, sleep well”.

“Did he just call me “doll”?” I bit my lower lip wondering about his idea and my body burned in anticipation for the next day.

I passed out soon after until next morning.

The day seemed a little cloudier than the day before, and Nami, who was about to get her degree in meteorologic science, told us that probably a storm was coming to the island at night. So, we thought about a good plan for the day, and Robin suggested visiting “Manjanggul Lava Cave”. Jeju is a volcanic island and the lava flow from the volcanoes had created caves or “lava tubes” on certain places of the island that now are solidified. Who else could suggest visiting a cave more than our archaeologist friend?. We agreed on visiting the place and after breakfast, we quickly drove there.

We all submerged on the underground cold dark caverns. A little train inside the cave took us to the deepest point. Blue, purple, pink lights illuminated the stone pillars and stalactites that were widely spread through the tunnels.

“God, I’m kinda cold, aren’t you?” I said to Chopper who was walking next to me. “Yeah, that’s why I told you to bring a jacket, dummy”, he said to me and was about to give me his jacket when Law appeared from behind saying “Don’t worry Tony-ya, I’m a little hot. Here, take my jacket Y/n-ya”. He took off his black coat and put it on over my shoulders.

Chopper giggled a little and told us that he would be going ahead to take some pictures of a specific rock called the “Stone Turtle”.

We were left alone once again. The ambrosial scent of his coat invaded my senses, a sweet perfume with notes of tangerine, ginger and perhaps a little amber mixed with some marine breeze was the perfume Law probably used every day. I revelled on the smell and kept walking in silence next to him.

Suddenly a few bats appeared flying from a dark spot and I got scared as hell, so I jumped over Law. He held me tight to avoid us falling.  “Don’t worry, they won't hurt you, I read at the entrance that some rare animals live in the tunnel, such as these bats”, he said to me with a calming voice while grabbing me tight in between his arms.

I looked up to him with a pouty face and he smiled at me with cuteness. I wished we could have stayed like that a long, long time, but sadly Usopp, Brook and Chopper came running, escaping from more bats chasing them. “Ahhh get away!!!”, “Ruuuuuun for your liiiiveeees”, “Robin where the hell did you bring us?, yohohoho”. (The bats were obviously being chased by Luffy…).

We separated as my terrorized friends passed in between us. And began to laugh as they kept running to where Nami was. That only meant one thing… a few bumps on their head.

A few minutes after, Sanji started asking us if we had seen Zoro. Of course, we haven’t, he was lost once again. On a big cave, full of tunnels that were almost a kilometre long each.

We spent almost half an hour searching for Zoro, until Robin found him. “Marimo, you have no sense of direction!! I told you not to separate from us!!”, shouted Sanji to the green hair boy, trying to cover how worried he was for him. “Oi, idiot cook, I didn’t get lost, you did!”.

We finally left the cave and returned to the surface. Outside it was warmer enough for us to head to our next destiny, the Sanbangsan mountain hot springs. We only had to drive a few kilometres to get there.

The girls and I were pretty much excited because we could show off our new bikinis, so we got changed into them and headed to the natural pools of thermal water. The boys were already inside, enjoying the warm bubbly water.

“Look at these sexy ladies!, wanna be our friends?” said Franky joking around while helping Robin to enter the pool.

A few beads of sweat ran through my back, but I didn’t know if I was feeling hot due to the steamy water or because of the image of Law half naked, exposing his whole tattooed chest, with his head thrown back, eyes closed and his hair wet.

I fixed my eyes on his anatomy, the well-defined abs, the tattoos on his arms, how his fingers played with the water around him.  I dreamt with open eyes of how I wanted to travel with my tongue all over his tanned skin, every little mark he had, any spot.

Law opened his eyes, and still with his head thrown back, gave me the sexiest look accompanied with a little laugh, “heh”.

If we were alone I might have jumped over his lap and fucked him right there.  “Oi, Y/n!!”. A voice pulled me out of my dreaminess. “What is it Nami?” I asked my friend who was flailing me by my arm. “You two should go and fuck right now, we are getting a little bit uncomfortable with all of that sexual tension you both have”, reprimanded me my redhaired friend. “Shut up…”.

We stayed there chatting and relaxing more than two hours, the sun was setting, and the cloudy sky showed precious colours.

I decided that I should go take a shower to rinse the sodium out of my skin on the community showers of the complex. I had planned the way I was going to stand up, trying to show my “sexy ass” to Law, for the last half hour.  So, I executed my plan almost perfectly… and said almost because when I decided to walk looking at Law over my shoulder I slipped with some sort of slippery substance on the rocks. I almost felt but while trying to keep balance I got a sprained ankle.

Law and Chopper ran to save me, as the good future doctors they were, but I wished I had killed myself. The embarrassment invaded my body… damn.

“You only have a sprained ankle, Y/n-ya, don’t worry with some ice and ibuprofen you’ll be good in no time”, said Law softly examining my ankle.  My eyes were teary, my cheeks red and everyone was trying to hold their laughter. Vivi approached us and told Torao to bring me home first, so I could put some ice there, and as she said so she winked an eye at me. Damn Vivi, she knew me more than anyone there. I realized that   I have created unintentionally the perfect excuse to be alone at last with Law, and she was helping me.

Robin brought me a towel and I tried to stand up, but my foot hurt more than I thought, “Auch, auch, auch…”. Law didn’t hesitate and carried me in his arms bridal style to his car.

“Be careful, don’t hit your head”, Law said while helping me sit on the front seat of the yellow car. I wasn’t speaking, I was too embarrassed to even say thank you.

He started the car and began to drive down the mountains through the winding road. Ahead, a breath-taking landscape was shown. The sun slowly disappeared in between the mountains, and the lights of the city defined the coast. The sky was now fully covered in stormy clouds, and a few lightings began to show in between the menacing cumulonimbus above us.

“Finally, alone”, said Law breaking the silence. I looked how focused on the road he was, worshiping his profile, the piercings on her ear, the muscles on his neck. I plucked up courage and asked, “do you still have the idea you told me yesterday over text?”. “I do, plans might have changed a little, but I think we could still make it, do you trust me?”, he said.

I wanted to know about what was going to happen, but the thrill of it being a surprise, letting him lead the way made me accept right away, “I do, lead the way doctor”.

We finally arrived at the city and the surgeon parked the car without turning the engine off. He grabbed his phone and searched something. The GPS immediately began to give directions to a specific address, so he got back to driving. “Wait a second, do you want something special?, I’m buying you some anti-inflammatories for your ankle”. “Oh thanks, uhm nothing else” I told him while he unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car.

Some minutes later, he handed me the analgesics and a bottle of water. While drinking from the bottle I could see from the corner of my eye how he quickly put away something on the glove box.

I was still using my bikini and a towel to cover me, so I asked Law if he could help me reach my bag from the back seat to put on a dress. He agreed and passed me the backpack, and then helped me put the dress. He also put on a clean shirt over his swim shorts.

“Are you hungry? What about a spontaneous dinner date?”, he said rubbing his thumb over my cheek. I smiled, satisfied, because after all his plans weren’t simply fucking. “Do you prefer something fancy or something more private?, I’m not trying to be cheap, it’s just that if we decide to go somewhere fancy we should come back home to get dressed properly”. Even if I were dressed like a princess I wouldn’t have chosen the “fancy” restaurant.  Truth was that I didn’t want to waste any time, I didn’t want more interruptions, I wanted to be alone with him.

“I prefer something more private. We can go to this place on the beach, it isn’t luxurious, but I saw some photos on my phone”, I said to him while searching for the place web page on my phone. He smiled while looking at the screen of my cell phone. He seemed happy with my choice, and I could see why. He was a quiet and reserved man, so this place was perfect for our “first date”.

We drove to the location and left the car on the parking lot next to the pretty little restó. The intensity of the pain in my ankle was now pretty low so I was able to walk normally. Law, though, told me he would help me and grabbed my arm, so we walked together at the entrance.  I don’t know if it was because of my sprained ankle or simply just an excuse for physical contact. In any case I was happy about it.

A maître that reminded me of Sanji welcomed us inside and took us to a little table next to the sand over a wooden deck with warm yellow lights strips, garnishing the also wooden roof.  In the distance, over the horizon, the moon was vaguely peeping through the stormy clouds. Nami’s predictions for tonight seemed to be a few hours away to come true.

A tall, slim waitress came to us and asked if we had already chosen our food, without taking her eyes off Law. She was clearly trying to flirt with him, and I was burning inside… I got jealous, really jealous. Yet I couldn’t say anything, after all this was our first date. Law calmly gazed at me and told the maiden “My beautiful girlfriend and I will have two bowls of bulgogi”. Wait, what?... beautiful girlfriend?...

The waitress gave me a dirty look and walked away. “Ha, suck it, he is mine!”. I thought and giggled. I preferred not to ask about him calling me “his girlfriend”, but instead I changed the topic. We chatted a little bit about our careers, specialities and about surgery. Despite the unfriendly appearance he radiates, talking to him was easy, I felt as if I have known him for years.

We finished our plates and decided to leave the place. He opened the car door for me and helped me to get inside. To be honest I had forgotten about my injured ankle at that point, but he was still taking care of me in a chivalrous way. Mr. Donquixote raised him well…

“Let’s go to the beach”, he said in an adventurous tone. The storm was then over us and at any moment the rain could start, so I told him, a little confused, “It’s about to rain, are you sure?”. “I am, trust me. You won’t get wet… at least not for the rain”, he said smirking. I squirmed a little with those words, he sounded so sexy…

He drove along the boulevard next to the beach. Suddenly, he parked the car. “We are here, let’s go”, he said. He held my hand and softly pulled me leading the way through a little path over the sand made out of wood.

The path led to the entrance of an old lighthouse. A few raindrops began to wet my cheeks when we got to the entrance of the beacon. “What is this place, Law?” I asked him, curious. “My grandfather was in charge of this lighthouse some years ago, then the government built a more modern beacon on the port of Jeju, so my grandfather retired. Yet the commune decided to maintain it as part of the city, and also because I guess my grandad was appreciated by the people of Jeju.” I saw a copper commemorative plaque with the name “In loving memory of Mr. Trafalgar Law”. “You have the same name, how cute…” I told him as he opened the door, and we entered the place to take shelter from the cold rain that started pouring over us.

He asked me to wait at the entrance and headed to the back part of the place. He turned on the lights and I could see how the place had been decorated with string lights, pillows on the floor, some blankets, and a few candles that he began to light one by one. He did this just for me?...

“I… I hope you like it. I don’t know if you are really into romantic stuff. The guys helped me yesterday, while you went to sleep”.  My eyes got somehow a little bit watery, no one has ever made anything remotely similar to this for me, it was just perfect.  “I love it, Law. This is so perfect…”, I said and ran to him -my ankle did hurt a little, but I didn’t really care -. “Careful…” he said, receiving me with open arms.

I softly planted a kiss on his lips, and slowly we sat over the pillows. He grabbed my face with his hands and stopped kissing me just to look into my eyes. My back slowly approached the pillows and now I was laying there with Law settled over me...

Part 4

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Sapere Aude - Part 7

Book: The Royal Heir

Pairing: King Liam Rys x Queen Riley Brooks

All characters belong to Pixelberry.

Catch Up Here

Series Description: I developed a theory of what I think will happen in TRH Book 4, and I was encouraged by some very lovely people to turn my theory into a fic, so here it is. Basically, Riley is recruited to join the Via Imperii, this series will follow her as she joins them to try and bring them down from the inside, and all of the drama and bombshells she learns along the way. Sapere Aude is Latin for “dare to know” it seemed like an appropriate title.

Rating: PG-13 Adult language, allusions to smut (but nothing graphic), discussions of death, conspiracy, blackmail, and other adult themes.

Warning: The Royal Heir Book 3 Spoilers all over the place.

Word Count: 2,670

Notes: Sorry. I’ve been on a pretty good once a week schedule, but this one is a little more delayed. I had a lot going on this week, so I didn’t have a chance to get it up. But here it is, I hope you find it worth the wait!

Shout out to my pre-reading possy, @texaskitten30 and @txemrn, and @twinkleallnight​ for my moodboard! 

Tags: Do tags even actually do anything anymore? Who knows, but in case they do, they’re added below and also in the comments. Maybe that will help at least a couple of you get them. If you want to be added or removed, just let me know. 

Riley paced back and forth in her bedroom, mind reeling from her meeting with Eleanor. It was bad enough that she was going to have to tell Liam that his mother was alive, but now she would have to tell him that the guard they were trusting with their daughter’s life was actually his brother. She was certain, no matter how stoic and level headed her husband was, this news was going to break him. Riley would just need to make sure that he kept his cool outside of the sanctuary of their quarters. 

Her train of thought was broken when she heard a knocking at her door. “Come in.” She smiled as Drake entered the room. “Hey, when you left you had my kid with you. Don’t tell me you left her out in the woods to fend for herself a la some weird Walker wilderness test.”

Drake rolled his eyes. “Very funny. She fell asleep on the way back, so I just dropped her off in her room. I wanted to come in and see how things went with you.” 

She sighed and sat on the bench at the end of her bed, patting the empty seat next to her. “You’re going to want to sit down for this one, big guy.” Drake had known Liam his whole life, maybe he could help her figure out the best way to tell him about his mother, and now brother. But she had to tell him about his father first. “I learned a lot more in this meeting, and literally none of it was good.”

He put a comforting arm around his friend’s shoulders. “Ok, do you want to talk about it? Maybe I can help you come up with the best way to tell Liam.”

“Well yea, I’m going to need a lot of help with that, like a lot a lot of help, but there’s something you need to know too.” 

She looked up at him with so much sadness in her eyes that Drake felt overwhelmed. He pulled her into a tight hug. “Hey, it’s ok Brooks, whatever it is, I can take it. Just let me have it.”

“Your dad was one of them, he was working with Eleanor. They were partners.” Her voice was muffled against Drake’s chest, but he was able to hear every word she said. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to be there for his friend right now, but this was also a huge blow to everything he had ever known or believed about his father.

“Wait, he was working against Constantine?” He pulled out of the hug and rubbed his hand over his face, letting the information fully sink in. “But he was his lead guard, he saved his life. More than once.”

“I know. He wasn’t technically against Constantnine, and I guess technically he did die protecting him.”

“What do you mean?” There was a hopeful sadness in Drake’s voice. 

“Well, Eleanor said that your dad didn’t agree with the plans to overthrow Constantine, so the assasination attempt that took his life was actually meant for him.” Riley was so upset that she didn’t even realize what she had said. 

Drake didn’t catch it at first either, still trying to process the information about his dad, but once it hit him, he looked over to Riley, utterly confused. “Wait, who said that? Eleanor who?”

Riley’s eyes immediately fell to the floor. “Yea...that’s kind of one of the other things. The meeting I had today was with Eleanor, Liam’s mother. She didn’t actually die, she went into hiding.” The tears she had been holding back all day finally started to flow. 

“Holy shit Brooks, way to bury the lead. Liam’s mother is alive? You met with her? She was here?”

“She’s...she’s in charge of the Via Imperii in Cordonia. What the hell am I supposed to tell Liam? This is going to kill him.” Riley began sobbing into her hands.

“Hey, shh shh shh, come here.” He pulled Riley back into his arms, gently stroking her back. “This is major. It’s going to be a big blow for Liam, but he has you to help him get through it. You guys have been through hell and back, you’ll get through this too.”

They stayed like that for a while, Riley needed to get all of her emotions out. Drake knew this, and just stayed there to be the comforting friend that she needed in that moment. He had to come to terms with his dad, and he would, but the news he got was nothing compared to the devastation his best friend, his brother, was about to receive. 

Riley was able to finally calm herself down. She pulled away from Drake, wiping the lingering tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry Drake, I didn’t mean to break down on you like that.”

“Don’t worry about it, Brooks. You needed to get it out. You need to empty the tank before you bring this to Liam…”

“There’s more.” She interrupted him.

“I’m afraid to ask, but we’ve already come this far.”

“Remember when I was pregnant, and we found out all that information about Eleanor, and how she was pregnant when she…” Riley trailed off. 

“Fuck. That’s right. Liam has a sibling out there somewhere.” Drake ran his hand through his hair. 

“Not somewhere. In the palace, guarding Eleanor.”

“Thomas?” Drake and Thomas were friendly, Drake was friendly with most of the guards. He couldn’t believe that this whole time, he had been talking to Liam’s brother. “Does he know that he’s...that he and Liam are brothers?”

Riley nodded. “He does. Eleanor said that when he learned that he was a Rys, he wanted to be close to his family, and do what he could to keep them safe. That’s how he ended up assigned to the King’s Guard.”

Drake stood and walked over to the fireplace, watching the flames dance as he shook his head. “This is unbelievable. His mother is alive, and he’s had another brother this whole time.” As he came to another realization, he snapped his head back to look at Riley. “Is Thomas his full brother? Like Constantine is his dad too?”

Riley nodded as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Full brother. Constantine had three sons.”

“That means he’s a Prince too. What if he tries to get Liam out to put himself in place?”

“That can’t happen. Eleanor, my Eleanor, is the heir. Liam is the reigning King, so his child would be next in line for the throne…” She paused, taking a deep breath, not wanting to put her next thought into the universe, but it needed to be said. “If anything happened to him, Eleanor would be next in line, and as her parent and legal guardian, I would be Queen Regent, so I would rule until she became of age. They’ve already tried, and failed, to take her away from us once. I don’t think they would do that again.”

“Right, Barthelemy. Jesus, all of our parents sucked. Barthelemy, Eleanor, my dad, Olivia’s parents. Constantine wasn’t exactly in the running for father of the year. You and Hana are the only ones that really lucked out.”

Riley let out a humorless chuckle. “Heh, who would have thought, after everything we’ve gone through, Hana’s overbearing, controlling, parents would have been considered the normal ones.” She walked up to Drake and linked her arm through his. “Drake, your dad was a good guy, he just got caught up with the wrong group. He really did die trying to save the King, just not in the way we thought he did.”

“Yea, I guess.” 

“And you know what?” She grabbed both of his shoulders, turning him to look her in the eyes. “For as shitty as you guys’ parents were, they made some pretty great humans. You, Savannah, Maxwell, Bertrand, Liam, even Leo.” Throwing Leo in there like that got a chuckle out of Drake, which is exactly what she was hoping for. “You guys are some of the most amazing, selfless, caring people I have ever met, and I am truly honored that you all are my family.” She pulled him in for a hug. 

“Alright, that was a pretty good pep-talk. But when you give it to Liam, make sure you mention him first.” They both laughed as they separated. 

“Thanks for the note. I’ll be sure to punch it up before I talk to him.” She smirked at him. “I should go check on Eleanor. Are you going to be ok?”

“Yea, I’ll be alright. I’m more worried about Liam to be honest. Do you want me to be there when you tell him?”

“No, I think this is something he and I need to handle one on one. But I love the concern. See what I mean, amazing human.” She made finger guns and pointed them at Drake. 

“Alright, alright. Well, I was going to head up to Ramsford tomorrow, after we get back. I could take Eleanor with me, she and Bartie could have a slumber party, and you and Liam can have plenty of time to talk.”

“Drake, I couldn’t ask you to do that. You’ve basically spent the whole weekend with her. I’ve already imposed too much.”

“It’s not imposing if I’m offering. I know Liam, he’s going to need time to just deal. He’s not going to be able to do that if you guys have to be in parent mode. It’s no trouble, really.”

Riley was overwhelmed by the generosity of her friend. He had just received news that completely destroyed the image he had of his father, his hero, and his first instinct was to do whatever he could to make things easier for her and Liam. Without saying a word she barreled toward him, the force of her body hitting him knocked him off balance slightly, as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “Number one best friend of life. No question.”

“Alright slugger, take it down a notch. Go get your kid, I’m going to go back to my room and relax for a bit. Come get me for dinner?”

Riley nodded as they exited her room and took off down different ends of the hallway. 

The next day, Riley Drake and Eleanor were in the SUV on their way back to the palace. It had been another sleepless night for Riley, trying to work out exactly what she was going to say to Liam. She came up empty. She was just going to have to wing it. They would have a couple of hours together as a family before Drake brought Eleanor to Ramsford, then she would completely devastate her husband. 

“Mommy?” Eleanor spoke up, pulling Riley from her thoughts. 

“Yes baby girl?” 

“Are you and daddy going to come play with me and Bartie?”

“No Eleanor, not this time. Mommy and daddy have some grown up stuff we need to do.” She reached across the seat and held her daughters hands. 

“Ew are you and daddy going to kiss?” Eleanor scrunched up her face, causing Drake to choke on the sip of water he had just taken. 

Riley burst out laughing at the comment. “No baby, no kissing.”

“Can I play with daddy first? I miss him!”

“Of course. Uncle Drake is going to go home first, and then he’ll be back to pick you up after dinner.” She kissed Eleanor’s hand.

As they pulled into the palace, Riley’s breath caught in her throat seeing Liam waiting for them in the front. Whenever they spent a night apart, they made it a tradition that whoever got home first would wait for the other out front. This was the first time she had ever hated that tradition. She wished she had a little more time to compose herself before seeing him. 

Drake noticed the panic flash across her face and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You’ve got this, Brooks. Deep breaths.”

She nodded as the car came to a stop. She took a couple of deep breaths to compose herself as her door opened. Drake worked to unbuckle Eleanor on the other side of the car.

“Riley, my queen. I’ve missed you.”

The tears immediately started to well up in her eyes. “Liam.” She jumped out of the car, and into her husband’s arms. “I love you, I love you so much.”

He held her close, rubbing her back in soothing circles and kissing her on the crown of her head. “I know, Riley. I love you too. It will be ok, we’re together now. Everything is going to be ok.”

“Daddy!” Their reunion was interrupted as Eleanor ran full force into her parents to join their hug.

Liam pulled back, giving Riley a brief kiss and a wink before diverting his attention to his daughter. “Welcome home, princess.” He lifted Eleanor into his arms.

“Uncle Drake took me fishing. I caught the biggest fish!”

“You did? I’m very proud of you.” He kissed her cheek.

“For the record, it was the only fish.” Drake emerged from the other side of the car, sticking his tongue out at Eleanor, she returned the gesture. 

“That’s alright, going fishing with Uncle Drake and catching the only fish is still a very big accomplishment.” Liam placed Eleanor back on the ground and extended his other hand out to shake Drake’s. “Thank you for taking care of my girls for me this weekend Drake.” 

“For this one,” he signaled down to Eleanor, “anytime. This one,” he nudged Riley, “not so much.”

Riley rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder. Liam chuckled, with everything he knew Riley had to endure this weekend, it made him happy to see her joking around, even if it were just for a moment. 

“Daddy, Uncle Drake is going to take me with him for a slumber party with Bartie tonight! It’s going to be so much fun!” Eleanor tugged on Liam’s pant leg to get his attention. 

He crouched down to meet her face to face. “Really? You just got home and you’re already leaving me again?” He gave her an exaggerated pout, she responded by placing her hands on either side of his face and kissing his nose. “I’m sorry daddy, mommy said you had grown up stuff to do. Maybe if you say please, she will let you come with me. I bet it will be more fun than the grown up stuff.”

Riley sighed as Liam turned and faced her. “I’m sorry Liam, I know you haven’t seen her all weekend, but Drake offered to bring her with him to Ramsford. And the stuff we need to catch up on will be a lot easier to go over if it’s just us.” There was a seriousness in her expression, Liam understood that she didn’t mean the usual catching up they did when they had been separated for a few days. 

“No, of course.” He turned to Drake. “You don’t have to leave just yet, do you? I would like to spend some time catching up with Eleanor before she leaves again.”

“Nah you’ve got time. I’m going to head back to my place, I’ve got a few things for Bartie that I’m going to bring with me. I’ll be by after dinner to pick her up.” He clapped Liam on the shoulder. Liam nodded as a silent thank you to his friend. 

As Drake walked to his truck, Liam took Eleanor’s hand in his, and wrapped his other arm around Riley. “Alright then, let’s go make up for lost time. Eleanor, I want to hear all about your weekend. Don’t leave a single detail out.”

They walked into the palace and up to their quarters. Liam and Riley were both dreading the conversation that would come later that night, but silently vowed to forget about those feelings, so they could enjoy time as a family.

Continue Reading

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[raibebe]

Soft core

Genre: Fluff(?) Words: 11,4 k holy shit this is insane Prompt: Jaehyun in his vampire bdsm outfit he wore in the Punch era but make it sfw Warnings: mentions of blood, brief mentions of member x member relationships, brief descriptions of a panic attack

A/N: This was written for Aimee who loves Jaehyun with her whole heart, happy birthday Aimee 💖 I hope you had an amazing day and like this little something. I know you deactivated but I already started writing this a month ago and I’ll post it anyways in the hope you’ll see this someday and a couple of others will enjoy this as well. I have mixed and matched their outfits and tattoos from both the concept photos and the live stages. Also I’m sorry Johnny, but you fit the role of the shameless flirt so well… Bonus points for anyone who spots all cameos. Special thanks to @burtonized​ who made me keep going with this and listened to all my complaints.

To say you were nervous before starting your first shift at your new job in a reasonably shady bar not too far from your apartment was an understatement. You seriously questioned your own sanity and why you had even applied for the job when you had seen the offer on the beat up wooden entrance door next to an old motorcycle license plate and a bright green neon sign that illuminated the word ‘open’ a couple of days ago. The blue haired man behind the bar had given you a questioning look after you had entered the bar because you couldn’t have looked any more out of place with your soft sweater between the old wooden interior and the leather the barman and a handful of customers were wearing. It had cost all of your courage and a reminder that you needed to find a job for the weekends to walk up to the bar to ask the barman about the job offer. He had asked you a couple of questions like whether you had already waited tables before, which you had (at a place that was lit far better than this one but how different would it be?). The man who had introduced himself as Kun and honestly seemed like a big softie on the inside despite his serious look (it had to be the intense eyebrows) had agreed to hire you on the spot because he had the offer up for a while and no one had come in to ask about it and he couldn’t keep bullying his apparently very chaotic roommates to keep covering the shifts on the busy weekends anymore.

That’s how you found yourself here, a couple of days later on a Friday night, staring at the wooden door yet again (now missing the job offer and not yet illuminated by the neon sign).You took a deep breath and pushed through the door of the bar, this time not looking as out of place as you had before, wearing black skinny jeans and a simple grey v-neck. Kun looked up from where he was wiping down the counter, shooting you a smile. Today he had styled his hair up, exposing his forehead and was wearing a black button up shirt with a bunch of white details that was missing quiet some buttons at the top. “You actually came,” he grinned, “You can put your jacket and bag into the back room.” He pointed to a door with the label ‘staff only’. “We’re opening in half an hour. I’ll introduce you to the others once they decide to arrive.” Nodding you rushed to put your stuff away. You were pleasantly surprised by how clean it was in the back. The beat up interior from the main room was nowhere to be found. So it really didn’t seem too bad if it was only shabby for aesthetic purposes.

After taking a couple of more deep breaths in front of the mirror in the staff room, you felt as prepared as you would ever be and emerged back into the main room of the bar. Next to Kun behind the counter was now another man, clad in the tightest pair of leather pants you had ever seen and a loose, see through black blouse, his long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, showing off a variety of piercings in his ears that were reflecting the low light of the neon signs. When both men noticed you, the blonde flashed you a bright smile and quickly wiped his fingers on the towel he had used to dry some glasses and held it out for you to shake. “Hi, I’m Ten. Kun told me he had finally found someone willing to help us out on the weekends but he missed to tell me how cute you are. Don’t worry the customers are all nice and if anyone gives you any problems, weird stares or makes inappropriate comments, just tell me immediately and I’ll throw them out,” he introduced himself. You couldn’t help but giggle a bit at the image of this petite man throwing drunken men twice his size out of the bar. “Thank you,” you answered before introducing yourself as well. “Would you please wipe down the tables in the back?” Kun asked, handing you a cloth, “The other waiter should be here any minute, so he can walk you through the process.” “You’re all males working here?” You asked shyly while starting to wipe the tall round tables closest to the bar. “Honey, there’s not many woman brave enough to even set a foot in here even though about eighty percent of our regulars and hundred percent of our staff are big softies hiding behind leather jackets and tattoos,” Ten chirped, disappearing beneath the counter to check the tubes of the beer taps.

Speaking of the other staff, as if on queue the door slammed open to reveal a ridiculously tall man with the biggest brown eyes you had ever seen, his platinum hair swept back from his forehead,  a huge grin plastered on his face. “Yooo, the poster with the job offer is gone, did you finally find someone?” The man all but shouted, excitedly bouncing up and down on his way to the bar, shucking off his leather jacket and carelessly throwing it on one of the bar stools to reveal toned arms and a strong chest straining his short sleeved black shirt. “Xuxi, indoor voice please,” Kun groaned, massaging his temples. “Oh sorry,” the other man - Xuxi - answered, flashing Kun big puppy eyes. “We did find someone, please don’t scare her off,” Ten answered Xuxi’s initial question, emerging back from under the counter, smashing the door shut, which caused Kun to groan again. “That thing has a handle for a reason,” he sighed. “It keeps opening itself back up otherwise,” the smaller man shrugged, leaning against the now spotless counter, a mischievous smile on his lips. “Wait, her?” Xuxi asked, eyes wide in either excitement or amazement, “As in she? A girl?” “Yes, hello,” you quietly introduced yourself, stepping out from the corner where you had been cleaning the tabletops.

“Wow, you’re so pretty,” Xuxi said instead of a proper introduction when you walked over to where the three men were standing. You could feel the heat rise to your cheeks, tinting them a rosy color. Sighing, Kun took the dirty cloth from you and rinsed it in the sink. “This is Xuxi, the other waiter for tonight. As you might have noticed he doesn’t have much of a filter, but i swear he is harmless.” “Just call me Lucas at work, it’s easier,” the man in question grinned, not even bothering to correct Kun and extended a hand for you to shake (needless to say because he was unnecessary tall, his huge hand could almost cover your whole fist). “I’ll teach you everything you need to know,” he beamed and even though he had just called you cute, he was definitely the cutest person currently in this room. “Thank you,” you murmured, a smile spreading on your lips because Xuxi’s grin was really infectious and you felt your anxiety disappearing.

In the remaining time before the bar would officially open, Xuxi taught you everything you needed to know. From their system and how you’d take the orders and which tables you would serve to special drinks that weren’t on the menu and what to do if any customers would give you trouble. “There’s probably not much to do for the first two hours or so”, Xuxi concluded, running a hand through his platinum blonde hair, making his muscles dance beneath his shirt, “Like that you can get used to it before it gets packed. Fridays are always busy and there’s a bunch of different people coming. Did any regulars call in before?” He asked the last question to the general direction of the bar. Flipping through a book next to the cash register, Ten nodded. “127 are coming in, they got that big table in the back but other than that, no one called.” “What’s 127?” You asked curiously because that was one of the tables you were supposed to serve. “They’re a group of guys our age, but I’m not really sure what exactly they are to be honest,” Xuxi laughed while fixing the belt that held his wallet before handing you your own one. “I think they are bikers,” Ten supplied, turning around to reorganizing the bottles behind the bar for the third time tonight, “At least some of them have bikes and they sure look the part. Have you seen Johnny’s new tattoo the other week, Xuxi? That must have hurt like hell.” “Yeah, I saw the post with his chestpiece on his Instagram. That man is ripped.” “Well, you’re one to talk,” you murmured under your breath, organizing the contents of the belt to your liking. Laughing out loud, Ten slapped Kun on the chest. “We need to keep her, I like her,” he giggled and Kun just shot you a slightly pained smile, rubbing where Ten’s hand had come down. “Oh come on, old man. I didn’t even hit that hard.” “Stop calling me old, I am literally just two months older than you,” Kun groaned, softly shaking a grinning Ten. Unbothered by the bickering of the two barmen, Xuxi called over from the door: “I’ll switch on the sign!”

Your anxiety came back at full force when the bar started to fill up one hour after it opened. Resisting the urge to hide behind the bar, you approached yet another group of shady looking men to take their orders. Like the other people you had served before, they gave you a weird look while looking up and down your frame once before asking if you were new here. You just nodded and smiled politely while writing down their orders before walking back to the bar where you took out one of the trays and put the note with the order on top so Ten or Kun could put the according drinks on top. “Here, have a little drink, the night is just beginning,” Ten grinned and pushed a glass into your hands before completing the order while somehow also dancing fluently to the music that was playing through the speakers now. You eyed the drink suspiciously, the deep orange color throwing you off a bit. “It’s not spiked, no need to worry,” Xuxi told you, suddenly appearing next to you, placing his own tray with empty glasses onto the counter, winking teasingly before grabbing a colorful bottle to pour a bunch of shots, so Ten and Kun could focus on the other, more complicated drinks on the orders. You drowned the sickly sweet drink quickly and put the glass next to the ones that needed to be rinsed. You mouthed Ten a ‘thank you’ when you picked up your order and he blew you an exaggerated kiss, making you giggle and feel a little more at ease. It was like he had known you were being nervous again.

After checking in with your other tables and earning a big tip from some truckers that actually had been really nice, you made your way back to the bar to help Kun with rinsing the glasses that had been piling up. “You remember those regulars that were coming in tonight?” the blue haired barman suddenly asked, “That’s them.” He nodded towards the door where a group of men were coming in. For a moment, your breath got caught in your throat because Ten hadn’t been wrong earlier when he said that those 127 guys looked like bikers. Honestly anyone of them could have been a model for the leather clothes they were wearing while standing in front of a Harley Davidson or thrashing something with a baseball bat. (Also was one of them wearing a metal harness beneath his leather vest?) “They’re all nice people, no need to worry,” Kun calmed you down, shooting you a reassuring smile before taking the beer glass from your hands that you had started to grip so hard, your knuckles were turning white. “How many are they?” You asked him curiously while eyeing the group as they made their way over to their designated table, greeting other regulars as well as Lucas (one of them was apparently just as incapable of having an indoor voice as him when he loudly yelled ‘Lucas’ before hugging the taller male tightly).

“Yooo, Johnny’s chestpiece looks even more sick in real life,” Lucas said with wide eyes when he came back to the bar. “Also he gave me 20 dollar so I would ask Haechan and Mark if they were even legal when they would order something alcoholic,” he grinned, “I’ll share if you do it.” “How am I supposed to know who to ask?” You asked because even though you were shy, 20 dollars were 20 dollars. “That’s the spirit,” Lucas grinned and threw an arm around your shoulders to turn you in the direction of the table where the men had sat down, not even trying to be subtle about it. “You see the one with the purple hair sitting next to the tall one with half his chest exposed? The purple haired one is Haechan and the tall one is Johnny. Mark is the one on the stool to the left, just ask Haechan for his age first, Mark will be the one to laugh the loudest,” he quickly explained. “You know them quite well,” you said, trying to fight the heat spreading across your cheeks because it didn’t happen any day that you were in such a close proximity to a handsome man like Lucas. “I went to school with Mark,” he shrugged, letting you go when Kun yelled that his order was ready.

Before walking up to their table you took another deep breath to calm your furiously beating heart, repeating in your head how no one had been mean to you yet and that all your coworkers kept on telling you how nice they were supposed to be. “Hi everyone,” you greeted them when you arrived at the table, “Have you already decided what you want to order?” Seeing the chaos that the group was already in, half of them probably didn’t even notice that you had arrived at the table. “Guys!” The pink haired man wearing the harness type thing scolded the others that were bickering in the back of the little booth on the couch. “I’m sorry, they usually behave better,” he smiled and his big eyes combined with his pink hair made him look like he came straight out of an animation. “I’m Taeyong by the way,” the pink haired man supplied, flashing you a genuine smile, “You’re new here, right? I haven’t seen you around before.” “Today is my first day,” you nodded, cheeks heating up under the gaze of the handsome man, nervously playing with your little notepad. “Let’s order, guys!” Taeyong said, the others slowly turning their attention towards you. How all of them were this handsome was beyond your imagination. Shyly you introduced yourself as their waiter for the night for the second time and asked for their orders. One after the other they either ordered plain beer or some really extraordinary cocktails that you had never heard of before. When the purple haired boy, Haechan, ordered his cocktail, you took a deep breath before putting on your best poker face. “Could I see your ID to check your age first?”

As soon as the words had left your lips, the whole table fell dead silent and the boy’s mouth dropped open in surprise. But before you could lose your courage to mutter an apology, the boy that had greeted Lucas loudly before, burst out in laughter, that the others minus Haechan quickly joined and even you couldn’t hold back the grin that spread over your face. “Now that I think about it, could I see yours as well?” You followed up and asked the dark haired boy with the infectious laugh, whose eyes immediately turned into saucers, his mouth wide open while the others couldn’t hold their laughs anymore, the purple haired boy joining in now. “I’m sorry,” you giggled, turning to the last man to order when they all had calmed down, using the napkins on the table to exaggeratedly wipe their tears. “What can I get you?” When the man with the dark hair that was elegantly swept back from his face turned towards you, you could swear that time stilled for a moment. His dark eyes that were accentuated with a bit of eyeshadow fixed yours and you were captivated, unable to look away. When your eyes dipped lower for a second you could see the black ink of a tattoo on the pale skin of his neck. He seemed familiar but you couldn’t quite tell why. Maybe you had seen him around on campus. But even then you should have been able to tell because that tattoo really wasn’t subtle at all. Briefly you were wondering if he could ever work a normal job with something like that. “I think I’ll just start with a beer as well,” he spoke softly, his voice a deep rumble, tearing you from your thoughts. After you had definitely stared at him for way too long than it would have been acceptable, you tore your gaze away from him, quickly scribbling down his order as well, repeating what you had written down for the others to confirm.

“Great, then I’ll be back in a bit with your drinks,” you smiled, after one of them had insisted that they should get a round of shots as well. “Can’t wait,” the tall one with the eagle tattoo on his chest said with a smirk on his lips, adding a cheesy wink that made you way more flustered than you would have liked. You quickly turned to hide your heated face, speed walking back over to the bar to put their order down. “Did you do it?” Lucas eagerly asked, bouncing up and down in excitement where he was helping to dry some glasses behind the counter. “Where’s my money?” You grinned, holding out your palm towards him. “Waaa, you really did it,” he grinned while bouncing up and down excitedly and you could barely hold in the urge to coo at him. He really did resemble an oversized puppy. You barely knew him for more than a couple of hours but he already had wiggled his way into your heart.

“Lucas, you didn’t tell us such a pretty girl would be serving us tonight,” a smooth male voice suddenly interrupted. When you turned around, the tall man from the 127 gang (Were they a gang? Did they do illegal stuff?) came walking up to the counter, leaning against the polished wood. “She’s new here, I didn’t know either,” Lucas pouted, already grabbing two shot glasses to put up on the bar top, putting the third one back down when you shook your head. You weren’t going to drink on your first day of work even though it seemed to be normal when you watched Lucas fill up the two glasses with a shady looking liquid from an unlabeled bottle he had grabbed from below the counter. Clinking their glasses together both men drowned their shots and while the tall biker didn’t even flinch, Lucas broke out into a whole body shiver, squeezing his eyes shut. “This stuff is really fucking disgusting,” he grimaced before refilling one of the shot glasses again, shoving it in front of the other man again, “I don’t know how Ten manages to make these concoctions.” Grinning, the man in question suddenly appeared and snatched the shot glass from below the other‘s fingers, drowning it himself. The blonde only grimaced a little. “I gotta say, I’ve made better stuff but also definitely worse. Lucas, we need a new keg of beer, can you please get one from the back, you’re so much stronger than I am,” Ten pouted, batting his lashes at Lucas and rubbing one of his hands over the other’s muscled arms. “Be nice to her,” Lucas told the man with the big tattoo on his chest and quickly disappeared to the back.

“I’m Johnny by the way,” he introduced himself, running a hand through his dark red hair. “So you’re the one who asked Lucas to embarrass your friends,” you remembered, your eyes getting caught on the intricate feathers of the eagle that spread its wings over Johnny’s broad chest. He smirked when your eyes came back up to meet his. “That would be me. You like the tattoo?” “It looks nice,” you mumbled, embarrassed at being caught staring, “It’s not something you see every day.” “I have some other ones that are pretty interesting as well,” he winked. “Su-Sure,” you stuttered, feeling your face heat up for what must have been the millionth time this night. “You’re cute,” Johnny laughed, the sound bright and inviting, his eyes turning into little crescents. “What did you come over for? Did I miss something on the order?” You tried to move the conversation in a direction you were a little (a lot) more comfortable with. “I just thought I could put my muscles to use and help you carry our drinks, we ordered quite a lot. Also I still owe you money for pulling that prank on Mark and Haechan. Even though their faces were priceless.” “How old are they anyways?” You asked him because you didn’t actually ended up looking at their IDs and Haechan especially did seem quite young. Digging out his worn out wallet, Johnny fished out a twenty dollar bill and teasingly held it up between two fingers. “They’re both of age, don’t worry, they just have baby faces.”

Snatching the bill from his hands, you quickly stuffed it in your pocket. “Thank you,” you grinned, relieved that it really had just been a prank between friends. “How old are you then?” You heard yourself asking after you had glanced at the tray that Ten had been filling up, but a couple of glasses were still missing. The weird cocktails seemed to take quite some time to make (Why there was celery swimming in what looked like tomato juice was a mystery to you). “Let’s pretend I’m in my early twenties,” Johnny grinned, his long fingers playing with the cherries that were stuck to the rim of one of the cocktail glasses. “Pretend?” You were confused. He couldn’t be much older than you were. “It’s improper for old men like me to flirt with such pretty young girls after all,” he winked and stuck out his tongue. “You… You can’t be much older than me though,” you argued, trying to fight your shyness back down. But your furiously beating heart was betraying you. Luckily he couldn’t notice that from his place where he was still leaning against the counter, the long line of his body perfectly shown off; his legs seemed almost endlessly long in the heavy leather pants. Chuckling, he raked his eyes across your body in a similar way you must have seconds ago but you felt like you were burning up wherever he was looking. Within the blink of an eye he was in your personal space, crowding you against the bar. “I’m 25,” he breathed, “How long do you have to work today, honey?”

Before you could even think of an answer, Johnny was shoved backwards by another man dressed completely in black. You recognized him as one of the men from Johnny’s gang, the one with the neck tattoo that had seemed weirdly familiar to you. “Leave her alone, Johnny,” he drawled, his voice barely more than a growl, “There’s someone waiting for you outside.” After a moment of heavy eye contact between the two males, Johnny scoffed and threw you another smile. “See you later, darling,” he chirped before turning towards the exit. “I’m sorry if he made you uncomfortable, he doesn’t know when to stop sometimes,” the handsome man spoke, his voice still deep but way less threatening. “It’s… It’s fine you wouldn’t have needed to step in like that,” you reassured him, “But thank you.” “Yeah, I don’t know, something just didn’t sit right with me when he crowded you like that. Especially when you’re new to this type of environment, it’s pretty different from your usual job.” “My usual job?” You asked, clearly confused, “Do we know each other?” “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you had recognized me,” the man’s eyes widened in surprise and he averted his gaze as if he was embarrassed. “I’m Jaehyun. You know, the dude who keeps killing his plants.” Now it was your turn to be surprised. “No way. You look so different.” “It’s the clothes, right?” Jaehyun was rubbing the intricate lines of ink on his neck, looking up from between his dark lashes, smiling shyly and now that his dimples were almost showing, you did finally recognize him.

He was somewhat of a regular customer at the flower shop you worked in during the week to help out the old lady who owned the shop, always coming in to buy new plants when he had managed to kill yet another one. Now in the heavy leather jacket with more buckles and straps than you could count, he looked so different than when he came to the shop, his dark hair fluffy so his bangs almost covered his eyes and wearing soft sweaters and jeans. You also somehow had never noticed the big tattoo that stretched around his neck.

You could remember the first time he came into the shop very vividly. It was just after your break that you had spent lazing around in the backyard of the shop in front of the little greenhouse, letting the sun shine onto your face, just basking in the moment for a bit, letting all your worries about money or upcoming exams melt away. The job at the little flower job didn’t pay very well because people these days bought less and less flowers and the old lady couldn’t afford to pay more but you couldn’t just leave her alone in the shop. You really enjoyed her presence and learning about the language of flowers and how to bind pretty bouquets. When the distant chirping of the old cuckoo clock in the shop announced the end of your break, you got up from your place and put your apron back on, so you wouldn’t accidentally dirty your clothes. You came back into the shop just in time to see the big load of new plants that was being delivered. Two boys were unloading a colorful truck while continuously bickering in what seemed to be Chinese about where to put the plants in the shop and on the sidewalk outside so people could still walk past. “Urgh, this sucks why did we let us get talked into helping out?” The one with green hair sighed after they had put the last plant down, handing the old lady the papers she had to sign that the shipment had arrived at her place. She chuckled while handing the papers back. “I’ve made some iced tea, have a little break, boys,” she smiled her kind, wrinkled smile at them, taking them to the little kitchen area in the back to pour each one of them a glass even though the smaller of them had declined her offer at least ten times while his green haired friend gladly took her invitation.

Smiling you reassured the old lady that you would rearrange the flowers and plants so you could fit them all into the shop and the small greenhouse in the back. Maybe her grandson would come in later to help you move the heavier plants. He always came to the shop to laze around without having his parents scold him and his grandmother could never say no to his charming smile that made any girl his age swoon. He had recently dyed his hair a soft pinkish shade and had been hanging around the shop a lot more because his parents weren’t quite fond of his style choices. You gently stroked the leaves of the little pink rose bushes (that had kind of reminded you of the boy in the first place) that seemed rather thirsty to you, making a mental note to water them lots after you had arranged them.

While rearranging the cut roses so you could fit the new bushes in between them, the little bell on the door rang, announcing the arrival of a customer. “I’ll be right over,” you said, detangling yourself from the bush you had tried to fit in the display window. “No need to hurry,” the customer answered with a deep voice. It wasn’t often that men visited your store. And most times they just wanted a quick, expensive looking bouquet to either impress a girl or to apologize to their wife. Putting on your best customer friendly smile, you walked over to where the man was eyeing some cherry tree bonsais, his broad back turned towards you. “How can I help you?” When the man turned around, he immediately politely smiled at you, making your heart beat pick up just a little. He was definitely attractive, you couldn’t deny that. His dark hair was unstyled and hung into his eyes a bit, covering his strong eyebrows that every girl would be envious over. He seemed young, about your age. The pale blue hoodie and the fluffy hair made him seem very soft and gentle despite his strong jawline and prominent cheekbones. “Well I’ve moved into a new space and it looks a little empty, so I thought some plants might be the way to fix that,” he explained, fiddling with the hem of his slightly oversized hoodie. “That’s a great idea,” you beamed, trying to seem reassuring since he seemed rather nervous, “Do you have anything special in mind?” “No, I really don’t but those roses you just put in the display window look very pretty, it’s what made me come in,” he said, motioning to where you had been fighting with the roses earlier. “Roses need a lot of attention though,” you warned him, walking over to where you had tucked the little bushes into a corner. “I have a lot of time and like a good challenge,” he answered, a grin tugging at his lips, a set of dimples just barely showing, “You’re bleeding by the way.” He added, gently touching your hand. Startled, you jerked away, heat licking at your cheeks. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he quickly apologized, “But you should bandage that or it might get infected if something gets into the wound.” “Don’t worry, it’s not even that deep,” you concluded after examining the small cut on the back of your hand where you had lost the battle with one of the thorns. You quickly shot the man another smile that you hoped was reassuring.

“So do any of those roses look good to you?” “The pale orange ones look nice.” You couldn’t hold back a small giggle. “What’s so funny?” He asked, his beautiful brows drawn together in confusion. “The color is called peach,” you still giggled, grabbing the pot to show him the petals in the sunlight. “Well it is orange though,” he shrugged. “Men and colors,” you sighed dramatically but couldn’t help the smile spreading on your lips, “You like them and want to try caring for them?” “Yeah, let’s try it. Anything I should look out for?” While walking up to the cash register and ringing him up, you briefly explained how to take care of the roses the best.

“I hope they brighten up your room a bit,” you smiled when he had paid. “The visit sure brightened up my day,” he replied smiling widely, the set of cute dimples reappearing on his cheeks. Before you could overcome your sudden shyness to reply anything, he had already wished you a good day and disappeared from the shop.  

After his visit, the man had crept back into your mind a couple of times. Every time you watered the little twin of the rose bush he had bought, it somehow reminded you of his sweet dimpled smile and his deep, soothing voice. You always scolded yourself when you noticed how you were spacing out, in fact watering the floor instead of the little rose bushes how you were supposed to. (You had been made fun of by a certain pink haired boy one too many times lately.) Your boss had just smiled knowingly and pressed a little bouquet with beautiful yellow Chrysanthemums in the middle, when you had closed up the shop, making your face heat up and furiously deny everything. But like always, the old lady knew you probably better than you knew yourself.

The second time the handsome stranger had visited the shop, he had been wearing a white turtle neck and a simple denim jacket, his hair pushed back with a dark blue hat. “Hello again,” he greeted you, gently smiling when he walked up to the counter where you were currently binding a bouquet with a couple of big purple hyacinths, “I’ll have a little look around. No need to hurry that.” Even though you tried to concentrate on arranging the flowers in the bouquet and picking smaller flowers that would look good with the big center piece, you kept glancing over to the man who was sniffing different flowers, quietly sneezing when he inhaled too deeply.

“Those are really pretty,” he said after he had not so subtly watched you work for a while from his place between the brightly colored geraniums while walking up to the counter. “The man who commissioned them paid a lot of money for them to look pretty,” you smiled, gently tucking smaller white flowers all around the big purple ones in the middle. “Does it mean anything? I’ve never seen this kind of flower,” he asked, seeming genuinely interested. “You’re interested in the language of flowers?” You asked, securely tying the bouquet together, placing them in a vase for the time being. “What languages would flowers speak?” The man asked, sounding genuinely confused. For a moment you could just stare at him, his dark brown eyes widened and his mouth slightly ajar, before you burst out in a fit of giggles. “Hey! What’s so funny?” He asked, trying to sound offended but he couldn’t fight the smile that spread across his lips. “They don’t speak any language, silly. The different types of flowers mean different things. I don’t know all of it but the owner of the shop has been teaching me some of it,” you explained to him. “Ooh, that makes a lot more sense,” he nodded, “What do those mean then?” “They’re hyacinths. The man told me he needed to apologize to his girlfriend. The purple ones stand for sorrow. I doubt she will notice though.” “Probably not,” he chuckled. “What did the rose mean I bought last time? The peach one?” “I’m not quite sure, I’ll ask my boss when she’s back. What brings you back here?” “Well,” he scratched the back of his head and averted his eyes, “I need a new plant, the rose was  kind of a lot more work than I thought it was.”

“Oh no.” You felt genuinely sad. You kind of had expected it not to go well but this was honestly a lot faster than you could have imagined. “I should have listened to you when you told me that they were a lot, I’m sorry,” he apologized, “But I really want to try to keep a plant alive. She looked really good for the time she was alive.” “She?” “Well I gave her a name.” You giggled again. “That’s really cute.” “Not as cute as you though.” It was suddenly so silent in the shop, the only noise the soft buzzing sound coming from the air-conditioning. You stared into the man’s eyes, expecting a his face to heat up in a similar fashion yours was, to see a blush creep up his face or his ears, but his face stayed perfectly pale, not a single blotch of color visible. But he had to be embarrassed as well if the way he was chewing on his lips was any sign. “I’m sorry, that just slipped,” he mumbled. “I… Shouldn’t you at least tell me your name before you start complimenting me like that?” You stuttered when you found your voice again. “Jaehyun,” he supplied, still awkwardly shuffling around, “It’s Jaehyun.” “Alright Jaehyun, let’s find you a new plant that’s not as easy to kill.

From that day onward Jaehyun came to the shop somewhat regularly, either announcing the death of yet another plant or telling you how they were on the brink of death and he didn’t know how it happened or what to do to save them. You were really close to either tell him to stick to bouquets or cacti but when you were being honest, you enjoyed his little visits. He’d stay longer and longer every time, telling you little stories about how he suspected that his roommates were secretly killing all the plants. In turn you told him about your boring life between your classes and your job. And sometimes you even taught him about the language of flowers while he was watching you put together a bouquet for yet another desperate boyfriend.

One visit in particular had stuck with you for some reason. Your whole day had just been bad: One of your professors had caught you slacking off in class and called you out in front of everyone, then at lunch a guy had run into you, making you drop half your food on the floor and then it had started to rain on your way to work. And if that wasn’t enough, the old lady hadn’t been feeling well because of the sudden change in weather and you had sent her off into her apartment that was above the shop, so she could rest. So now you were just alone in the shop, watching the people outside hurry past the shop with their umbrellas. When it was raining even less people were coming into the shop because you couldn’t put any plants outside that often lured people in. Sighing, you continued with the inventory that you had started out of boredom. Of course you also hadn’t brought any useful books, so you could have studied a little.

You must have been deep in thought, moping about how much this day sucked, that you didn’t hear the little bell on the door ringing. So when someone touched your arm to get your attention, you of course were startled and let out a small scream before you lost your balance on the stepladder that you had used to count the spare pots on a higher shelf. And if that wasn’t enough, you also pushed one of said pots down as well. But before you could even brace yourself for the fall, a strong arm had wrapped around you, saving you from crashing down onto the floor and possibly cracking your head open. When you opened your eyes, that you had screwed shut, you saw straight into Jaehyun’s deep brown eyes that were full of concern. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he spoke softly and you could feel how his voice rumbled in his chest from how close he was holding you to his body. “It’s alright, it’s my fault anyways. I wasn’t paying attention,” you sighed, slowly realizing in what kind of situation you and Jaehyun were in right now. His face was so close to yours that you could almost count every single one of his long, dark eyelashes. You could even see the faintest little blush spreading over his cheeks and your own face immediately felt hot as well.

Jaehyun just smiled and released you from his grip, gently setting the pot he somehow had managed to catch with his other hand back onto the shelf. He really must have incredible reflexes and obviously the most charming smile you had ever seen. “Don’t blame yourself, you don’t look too good today,” he spoke softly. “Wow thanks,” you sarcastically said, sighing theatrically while running your hands through your hair in an attempt to smooth it out, but probably messing it up further than it already was. “Hard day?” You snorted. Hard was an understatement. It sucked. But a little voice in the back of your head whispered that now that Jaehyun had come to visit you in the shop, it would get better. “You look like you could use a hug,” he smiled and opened his arms invitingly.

Before you could even think twice about it, you wound your arms around his middle and squeezed him tightly, burying your face in the soft fabric of his cardigan that he wore over one of his many turtlenecks. Chuckling, he grabbed the fabric and stretched it around you, so you were basically wrapped up in it against his chest, before wrapping you up in his strong arms. You were drowning in his by now familiar scent and the way his chest steadily rose and fell with his breath made all stress from your body slowly dissolve. “If you keep holding me like this I will cry,” you mumbled, trying to untangle yourself from him. “I don’t mind, you know? Sometimes you just have to cry to let all the stress out,” he assured you, rubbing soothing circles on your back. “Don’t say that, I will ugly cry in your shirt,” you hiccupped, “I barely know you.” “Oh I think you know me a lot better than a lot of people,” he smiled, “It’s an old shirt anyways.” “Liar, I’ve never seen you wear this before.” “You’re keeping track?” He chuckled. “That’s not what I meant by that,” you mumbled, feeling shy suddenly because how could you not keep track when he just effortlessly looked infuriatingly good every time he walked into the shop.

“You feeling better now?” Jaehyun gently asked after you two had fallen silent, just basking in each other’s presence. He gently tilted your head back from where you had buried it in his neck, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “Yeah,” you breathed, captivated by him. You had never noticed the tiny mole he had on one of his cheeks but you found it really endearing.   “Good,” he smiled, “I brought you coffee from the shop next door.” He motioned to the two cups he had placed on the counter next to the cash register. “You have a heart of gold Jaehyun,” you confessed, a smile slowly spreading on your lips and your heartbeat picking up. You kept the thought that he probably would also make the perfect boyfriend, to yourself. Not that it would matter, you were sure he didn’t see you like that. He just played it off, laughing awkwardly like he always did when he was embarrassed. (Coming to think of it, you really seemed to know him better than you had initially thought.) “Let’s drink it before it gets cold and you can tell me more about your day,” he offered and slowly loosened his arms around you. “Can you tell me about yours instead?” You asked with a small voice. “I’d rather forget all of this stupid day before you walked in here.” “Of course, darling,” he breathed. Your heart skipped a beat before doubling its pace when the pet name rolled of his tongue just like that. Maybe there was just the slightest little chance, he might consider you more than just the friend that worked in the flower shop that he had to visit to get advice on how to not kill his plants. Smiling you loosened your grip on him as well and you two sat down on the counter, dangling your legs and sipping the slightly cold coffee while you listened to Jaehyun ramble about the mess that were his flatmates. Until this day you hadn’t figured out how many people he actually lived with but you couldn’t help but smile at the little stories he told you. And even when he stopped talking, you just enjoyed the silence while watching the people outside. And maybe it was just your imagination but the umbrellas outside seemed just a little brighter with your head resting on Jaehyun’s broad shoulder.

“I’ve never noticed your whole tattoo thing that’s going on,” you said, motioning around your own neck when you came back from your fond memories of Jaehyun. “Yeah, I try to not let it show as much usually,” he replied, almost nervously playing with the collar of his leather jacket.   “Did it hurt a lot when you got it?” “Yeah, the skin is kind of tender around your neck,” he answered, his gaze not meeting your eyes but fixating a point right behind you. “You get that question a lot don’t you?” you gently asked, fingers itching to reach out to touch him. “Yeah, it’s all people talk about when they see it,” he shrugged, “I’m used to it by now.” “Oh, I’m sorry,” you quickly apologized. “It’s fine,” Jaehyun reassured you, gently grazing his fingers over your exposed forearm, making goose bumps break out over your skin. “Yes, it did hurt. No I don’t regret it. Yes I probably can’t work a normal job if I’m not wearing a turtleneck. No, I didn’t get it in prison. It was done in a perfectly sanitary tattoo shop by a professional artist. No, I’m not a criminal”, he quickly addressed every typical question he apparently got about the tattoo in a single breath, a smile spreading on his lips, making his dimples appear and your heart beat faster.

“Glad to know I haven’t been talking to a criminal over the past few weeks even though you did kill an unholy amount of plants,” you giggled, checking again if the order was ready only to find Ten engrossed in a conversation with a group of young men that were sitting at the bar, his work forgotten. “Well I guess I am guilty of that,” Jaehyun pouted and it was weirdly endearing seeing him act playful like that with his dark and intimidating clothing. “So you’re not a criminal but a biker?” “Is that what you think our group is?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. “That’s what everyone told me at least. And you do look the part.” “A couple of us do have bikes, but I don’t think that justifies the title. We’re just a,” he bit his tongue for a bit, “We’re just friends. Friends who like to dress in a lot of leather and black clothing.”

It seemed to be a somewhat touchy subject so you decided to not push any further. “You don’t need to explain it to me,” you smiled reassuringly, quickly squeezing his cold hand. “Jaehyun, stop flirting with my best waitress,” Kun teased, adding the little shot glasses to the second tray that completed the order. “I wasn’t flirting, I-“ but Jaehyun didn’t complete his apology when Kun shot him a knowing look and your face heated up on his behalf because Jaehyun didn’t blush like ever. “Stop making excuses and help her carry all this back to the table,” the barman grinned, returning to his work by pulling Ten back by the hairs on his neck from where he was still talking to the handsome customers sitting at the bar. “I would appreciate some help, that’s what Johnny came over for as well,” you tried to push past the awkwardness. “Like hell he was,” Jaehyun grumbled, grabbing the one of the trays maybe a tad too forceful than he needed to, the drinks almost spilling over. “Don’t be angry with him, he was being nice,” you consoled him, gently petting his leather clad arm (wasn’t he warm in that thick jacket?). “I saw just how nice he was being,” he sighed, rolling his shoulders, “He’s such a goddamn flirt.” “Nothing happened Jaehyun,” you tried one last time, looking into his dark eyes, getting lost in the seemingly bottomless obsidian.

Only the thud of the heavy entrance door made you snap out of it and you quickly turned to grab the second tray. You hadn’t even noticed how you had gravitated towards Jaehyun, it was like his eyes had hypnotized you. “Need another pair of helping hands?” A familiar voice asked and Johnny strode over towards you two again, now with an energetic bounce in his step, his red lips curved into a smile. “We’ve got it,” Jaehyun answered, scrunching his nose as if he had smelled something bad before taking a deep breath. “Don’t wait too long, Jaehyun,” the taller said, his tone suddenly stern and his brows furrowed. “I can handle it, Johnny,” Jaehyun gritted out, shoving past the taller man to make his way over to the table where their friends were still waiting for their drinks. Sighing, you followed him back to the table. It was weird how different he was behaving with his friends around. You had never expected to meet him in any place outside of your job at the flower shop and much less in a place like this. The soft man who liked to wear denim jackets seemed to be buried beneath the heavy leather jacket.

“Here’s your drinks,” you smiled when you put the tray down to distribute the drinks. “You’re not drinking with us?” A blonde man with a scratch in his eyebrow asked when everyone had picked up their shot glasses. “It’s my first day, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” you politely declined his offer. “I’m sure Ten and Kun won’t mind,” he grinned, lifting up his own glass to hand it over to you. “She said no, didn’t you hear, Yuta?” Jaehyun growled and shot his friend a dark look. Unfazed by his behavior, the blonde - Yuta - shrugged his shoulders before drowning his shot himself, not grimacing in the slightest even though the liquid had a questionable amount of alcohol in it, judging by the numbers that had been printed on the label. “But I’m sure we can treat you to something else,” he spoke, before shifting in his seat so his poorly buttoned sleeveless shirt fell open even further, revealing smooth skin that stretched over lean muscles and a promise of something metal hidden beneath. “I-“, you stuttered. What were you supposed to reply to something like that? “You’re shameless,” one of his dark haired friends chuckled, a silver chain glistening in the light when he shook his head. “It’s called confidence,” Yuta defeated himself. “Still shameless,” another one agreed, a grin on his face. “He hasn’t had a good lay in a while, don’t mind him,” Taeyong cut in, shooting you a reassuring smile. “Certainly not because I didn’t had any offers, I’m just picky,” Yuta tried to defend himself, looking scandalized. You just giggled when the other’s started picking on him. You noticed that Jaehyun didn’t join in but his posture was more relaxed than it had been before. You really wanted to thank him for defending your choice to not drink but now didn’t seem appropriate. Silently you collected the now empty shot glasses and picked the trays back up. “I’ll be back to check in with you later then,” you smiled before walking back to the counter after checking in with a couple of other tables.

The rest of the night went down in a blur safe for the one occasion where the slender Ten indeed threw out one of the customers that couldn’t hold his liquor anymore and had fallen when he had tried to walk over to the bar to order more because Lucas had already refused to bring him any more drinks. The times when you had checked in on the 127 table, Yuta had still flirted with you only to be either shot down by Jaehyun or Taeyong. You had also noticed that over the course of the night one or two of them would always leave the bar for a couple of minutes before coming back inside with a new energy and a faint blush on their cheeks. You didn’t know what they did out there but you really hoped they didn’t do drugs or anything like that. They didn’t seem as intoxicated as the other customers no matter how much they ordered. If anything Mark was getting giggly after he had come back inside but that was pretty much everything. They all must have incredible tolerance for alcohol.

When the night died down and more and more customers were leaving, Kun waved you over to tell you that you had been a great help and he would be more than happy to see you again tomorrow for your next shift. You had beamed at him and promised to do your best. “I’m sure you will. Thank you for today, I think Lucas and I can handle the remaining customers,” he told you. “What’s with Ten?” You asked. You hadn’t seen him in a while. Kun just sighed and motioned to the 127 table where Ten comfortably sat on Johnny’s lap, the taller carding through the blonde’s hair that he had freed from the little ponytail. “Are they a thing?” You were confused. Johnny hadn’t been subtle about his flirting earlier. “No one really knows,” Kun groaned, suddenly seeming very irritated, “It’s been happening more lately but last week he went home with Taeyong as far as I remember.” “Oh…” “Don’t think about it too much. I want to say that he knows what he’s doing but that would mean that he’s actually using his brain.” Somehow you thought that he sounded sad. “Just tell Ten that you like him, Kun,” Lucas groaned, running a hand through his by now messy platinum hair. “I don’t like him,” the elder gritted out, violently cleaning glasses and slamming them onto a rack to dry. “Sure and I’ve never thought about making out with any of your roommates,” Lucas teased him. “You have what?” “Never mind I said that,” Lucas mumbled, his ears turning red, before he made a beeline to one of his tables.

You chuckled quietly. “I think he’s fond of you as well,” you softly spoke after Kun had thrown another longing look at Ten who was busy admiring the eagle tattoo on Johnny’s chest. “You don’t need to console me, but I appreciate it,” he smiled but it didn’t quiet reach his eyes, “I came to accept him how he is.” “You should at least try to shoot you shout though, don’t you think?” You tried again, stepping closer to the barman to help him clean the last glasses. He sighed deeply. “I’ve known Ten for too long now, I know he won’t suddenly become monogamous just because I tell him that I might not dislike him as much as I sometimes say.” “You can never know for sure, people do crazy stuff because of love,” a deep voice joined the conversation and Jaehyun sat down on the barstool in front of Kun and you, throwing you a quick smile. “He’s right,” you smiled, briefly squeezing Kun’s hand. “If I say that I’ll think about it, will you leave it alone for now?” You eagerly nodded, looking up at Jaehyun to see if he was doing the same. Instead a smirk played on his lips. “If you give me my drinks for free, I’ll even tell Johnny to not take Ten home tonight,” he grinned, holding up his card between two fingers. “You’re paying for everyone?” Kun just gritted out, snatching the card from the other’s fingers. Jaehyun’s grin widened before he nodded. “Isn’t that going to be a lot of money?” You asked worriedly. You had never asked but assumed Jaehyun must be a student like you, so paying the whole bill for nine men (well eight if Kun was giving Jaehyun his own drinks for free) was a lot. “I lost at rock paper scissors,” he shrugged, “Are you done with your shift?”

“She is,” Kun cut in, smacking the credit card back onto the bartop, “Tell Johnny to send him home, I’m not feeding his cats again because they’re screaming for food.” “Sure. That’s the only reason,” Jaehyun joked, pocketing his card with a grin. Kun didn’t answer, instead leaving you two alone to wipe some empty tables. “Are you going home alone?” “It’s not far from here,” you reassured the dark haired man. “I’ll walk you. You shouldn’t go alone this late.” “Only if it’s not a bother for you…” “Keeping you safe is never a bother for me,” he smiled, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear and you barely suppressed a shiver from how cold his hands were against your heated face. “I’ll tell the other’s not to wait for me and will wait outside for you,” he softly spoke before turning to walk out the door where his friends apparently had already left.

You quickly gathered your things and sorted out your tips from the rest of the money, putting everything back into the place that Lucas had shown you before disappearing into the staff room to stuff the money into your designated tip jar, so Lucas and you could share your tips with Ten and Kun. While you were quickly trying to fix your hair in the small mirror a very grumpy looking Ten joined you, groaning loudly. You had to suppress your smile. Jaehyun really had convinced Johnny to not take Ten home. “Men are trash, honey,” the blonde suddenly spoke, “Don’t fall for any of them.” “Did you get dumped?” You tried to act like you didn’t exactly knew what must have happened. “Can’t get dumped if you aren’t dating,” Ten chirped, smoothing out a wrinkle in his silky blouse, “But something similar.” “I’m sorry.” “No need to be darling, I’ll just annoy Kun a little more, maybe he’ll actually pop a vein these days,” he giggled mischievously. “Be nice to him, he seems like an actual sweetheart,” you said while slipping on your jacket and picking up your bag. “He is, darling. But where’s the fun in that?” Ten held the door open for you and followed you back to the main room. “Be safe on your way home.” “Jaehyun is waiting outside for me,” you admitted, suddenly feeling shy under Ten’s intense gaze. “So that’s why Johnny wouldn’t take me with him,” he grinned. “No, no that’s not it. He just offered to walk me home,” you stuttered to explain yourself. It wasn’t like what Ten thought it was, right? Oh god. Not that Jaehyun was expecting anything now. He just had asked to walk you home though. Was it a code word for something you didn’t know? “I’m sure he only has the most noble motives,” the barkeeper snickered, “Go, don’t let prince charming wait for too long.” With that he waved you off, walking over to where Kun was wiping a table to drape his body over the other’s back, probably complaining about being dumped. But Kun didn’t seem to mind a whole lot, judging by the smile that tugged on the corners of his lips.

After you had barely escaped Xuxi’s suffocating goodbye hug, you stepped outside into the cold night, taking a deep breath. It was quiet for a Friday night but that might have just been the time. Worried you looked around when you couldn’t see Jaehyun’s broad figure anywhere. Did he ditch you? That didn’t seem like him. Curious you looked into the little ally beside the bar where the dumpsters were. At first you couldn’t make out anything in the dark but when your eyes had adjusted, you could make out a figure, no two, in the dark. One of them was wearing a familiar leather jacket with way too many buckles and straps to be convenient. The man was clinging to the second, unmoving figure and the whole scene made Goosebumps break out all over your body.

“J-Jaehyun?” you stuttered, your bag falling from your shoulder, landing on the concrete with a soft thud. As if he was electrocuted, the man with the dark clothes shoved the limp body he was holding onto just a second ago away from him, but no sound left the other man’s lips, nor did his facial expression change in any way. “I can explain this,” Jaehyun said, his lips a deep red and smeared with what seemed to be blood and eyes wide, tinted a bright crimson. You felt a shiver run down your spine, the scream that had been stuck in your throat threatening to spill now. But before it could rip free, a palm was pressed over your lips and your body collided with Jaehyun’s solid frame. “Please don’t scream,” he whispered in your ear which made all the hairs on your neck stand up. What was happening? Why was there blood on Jaehyun? Has his eyes changed color? How did he get across to you within the blink of an eye? What was with the other person? In a panic, your eyes scanned the alleyway and another muffled scream ripped from your throat when you saw that the man was still unmoving even though he was bleeding from a wound in his neck. “Please,” Jaehyun begged, his voice sounding strained, “Let me explain this, don’t hate me.” Being pressed so close to him, you couldn’t help but notice that his chest wasn’t moving in the slightest like it should if he was breathing. What was happening? Panic began to rise inside you and you felt like you were suffocating, your lungs not getting enough oxygen with Jaehyun’s palm pressed over your mouth. Panicking, you grabbed his wrist and let your nails dig into his skin, but the skin didn’t break. Desperate, you tried to get more air into your lungs, meeting his eyes in a silent plea. “Please don’t scream,” Jaehyun repeated firmly before he slowly freed your mouth, but kept holding you close.

You heaved a couple of heavy breaths, feeling the panic slowly disappear but your heart kept beating furiously, the adrenaline coursing through your veins making you dizzy. “Let me take care of this and I’ll explain everything, I promise,” Jaehyun spoke once your breathing had somewhat evened out. “I’ll release you now, don’t run away.” Your voice was still lost somewhere, so you just nodded. After confirming with a nod himself, he slowly uncurled from you and walked over to the other man who was still in a daze, staring straight ahead. “You will walk home now and not remember anything that happened from the moment you saw me approach you,” Jaehyun spoke to him, looking into his eyes intensely and if your own eyes weren’t playing a trick on you, Jaehyun’s eyes had turned a bright crimson color. He leaned into the other man again where his neck was still bleeding and when the man turned to leave and walk away, the area was clean. Instead Jaehyun’s lips were smeared with blood that he quickly wiped into his shirt. “What the fuck, Jaehyun?” You whispered, your voice sounding raw as if you hadn’t spoken in hours.

“I can explain this,” he repeated again, turning his palms towards you in surrender when he walked back over. “How can you explain this? You- That- That man was straight up hypnotized and behaved like an actual puppet. And that blood. This is crazy. I’m dreaming. That’s it right? Or someone must have slipped me something in the bar and I’m tripping right now. Because this looks an awful lot like you just sucked that guy’s blood like you’re a vampire and that’s crazy. Vampires aren’t real. And I’ve seen you walk around in the middle of the day. But then again, your hands are always cold and I couldn’t even scratch you with my nails and you have mad reflexes,” you started to spiral, the words just falling from your lips. “Hey, take a breath. A deep breath, here,” Jaehyun softly spoke, gently taking your hands and pressing the palms on his chest, taking a deep breath himself.   Even though you tried to breathe with him to calm down, you couldn’t help but notice that his fingers weren’t as cold as they had been before and that you couldn’t feel his heartbeat despite the fact that your palm was sitting right over his heart, just separated by his thin black shirt from the skin. “You… You don’t have a heartbeat,” you whispered, your eyes searching his that were a perfectly normal deep brown shade now while you pressed your palms down on his chest harder. “I don’t,” he spoke carefully, scanning your features for any changes, “I haven’t had one for a while.” “You aren’t breathing right now.” “I don’t need to. I keep forgetting.” “You… You’re forgetting to breathe?” “I usually do when I’m around humans but sometimes I forget.” “You say that as if you’re not…” You couldn’t finish the sentence, it was too absurd. “As if I’m not human myself? I’m not. Not anymore.” “Then what are you?” “You’ve said it before, I’m a vampire,” he confessed.

“A vampire…” You repeated dumbfounded. It made sense, everything was adding up but this couldn’t be the explanation. Vampires were just made up. “And the others are too, they’re my coven. That’s why I didn’t want Johnny to talk to you.” “Would he have..?” Your eyes widened and one of your hands flew to your neck, covering where your pulse was fluttering beneath the skin. “I’m not going to hurt you, I could never,” Jaehyun whispered when he saw the fear in your eyes, gently cupping your face as if to prove his point. “I like you way too much to hurt you. And I won’t let anyone of the others even lay a finger on you.” Your eyes immediately flew to his lips that were still stained red when he leaned in even closer so you would be able to feel his breath mingling with yours if he was breathing. “I really want to kiss you right now, is that stupid?” The vampire whispered. “Don’t hurt me,” you whispered back, letting your eyes fall shut. “I could never,” he breathed before brushing his lips against yours in a chaste kiss that send sparks through your whole body. When Jaehyun felt you relax against him, your fingers uncurling from his shirt, he kissed you again, firmer this time, wrapping his arms tight around you as if he was afraid that you would disappear.

When you felt your head start to get light, you gently tapped his strong chest and he immediately retreated, looking at you with a worried expression. “One of us still needs to breathe,” you giggled breathless. “I’m sorry,” he smiled, carding his fingers through your hair, just watching you breathe for a moment, losing himself in your eyes.

“I have another secret to tell you,” Jaehyun broke the silence, his dimpled smile lighting up his face. “I don’t think you can shock me anymore,” you smiled back. “I didn’t actually kill any of the plants I bought. I just needed to have a reason to keep seeing you. Our house looks like a jungle.” You couldn’t stop giggling, leaning into his (not moving) chest that rumbled with his low chuckle. “You’re cute,” you smiled, snaking your arms around his waist below his jacket, somehow not even missing the warmth that bodies usually gave off. “Shut up,” he chuckled, wrapping you up in a tight hug. “You want to know something else?” You whispered into his chest after a while. The vampire just hummed, gently swaying you. “I looked up what the rose meant that you bought when you first came into the shop… You wanna know what it stands for?” Jaehyun hummed again. “It stands for immortality.” This time it was Jaehyun who was laughing, holding your body tighter to steady himself.

[lastxviolet]

The Assistant - CH. 2

Description: Summary - Her sixth year at Hogwarts was supposed to be relatively peaceful but after an incident on the Hogwarts express, Violet Wilkes finds herself the newest target of the Weasley twins. This, combined with a dark family secret, and the Triwizard tournament, makes her first few months back more exciting and stressful than every year before.

pairing: George Weasley x Original Female Character

warnings: pg-13. slow burn, eventual smut hehe

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28218804/chapters/69148695

Cool air stung her face as she followed Sadie off the train. They'd left London completely under the thumb of summer so the autumnal chill was entirely welcome. She sucked in the familiar earthy, forest air, relishing in the arrival at their destination, and shook the image of her family having dinner tonight without her while pushing through the crowd of students chatting loudly. The small Hogsmeade platform was hardly big enough to house them all so she quickened her pace, desperate to emerge from the pack before the crowd was shoulder to shoulder.

As she walked, she eyed the students around her hopefully. There was still one dear friend that she owned a greeting to but she hadn't seen her on the train. She searched the crowd making its way to the enchanted carriages at the beginning of the forest and spotted sporadic curls walking quickly behind a group of Gryffindors, a few feet in front of her.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Hermione Granger outside of their evenings in the library. Her almost two-year-long friendship with the witch wasn't necessarily a secret but it was certainly unexpected and not very well known.

It had been annoying at first, sharing her late-night library refuge with the young bushy-haired witch, until one night they talked so long that Madam Pince had found them asleep at the desks around sunrise. They'd crossed paths almost every night in the library since, spewing factoids, and quizzing each other but also sitting in comfortable silence. She would never admit it to her fellow Slytherin's but studying with Hermione always made her miss her younger sister a little less.

"Alright, Granger?" She called loudly enough to cut through the bleating crowd, accidentally making her friend jump a little. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's necks snapped back towards her, ready to defend their friend, but relaxed and kept walking at the sight of her.

She scowled. If she had to see any more red hair today, she would vomit. She didn't mind Harry or Ron too much, not that she'd ever spoken more than a few sentences with them. But, by the way, they spoke to Hermione when they came to occasionally tear her away from the library, they didn't appreciate the brilliant witch nearly enough, which rubbed her the wrong way.

Hermione abandoned her red and gold crowd briefly to awkwardly hug her shoulders. "Violet!"

She had grown a bit taller over the summer and Violet no longer had to look down on her, now they stood face to face. Her tawny eyes were bright against her freckled skin. A summer of unwinding had done her some good.

"How was your summer," Hermione continued, smiling broadly.

"Excellent, and you," she asked into Hermione's signature curls, as the witch held her tight.

"Quite busy really, I have loads to tell you," she exclaimed. "I'll find you in the library, I've made some astounding discoveries in Arithmancy that I think you'll find interesting."

Hermione let go of her shoulder as Harry and Ron pulled her onto the enchanted carriage, landing next to Neville Longbottom, a particularly tragic Gryffindor.

"I can't wait to hear about advanced potions this year," she half shouted from her seat, waving as they rolled away towards the castle.

That's right, it was her sixth year so she finally got to be in the N.E.W.T level potions class, the most advanced potions course that Hogwarts offered. How had she forgotten? She silently thanked Hermione for the much needed happy thought.

"You'll be sick of hearing about it before Christmas!"

She smiled. Leave it to the Gryffindor to make her look on the bright side of things.

Sadie pulled her up to their carriage and nuzzled into her as they glided through the trees, cold air whipping any exposed skin.

If it weren't so cold, it would've been a nice walk. The Hogsmeade train station was close to the spot she occasionally wandered to in her free time. There were a few feet, closer to the lake where the various protection spells and other charms were weakest and her cassette tape player worked. She stared at it longingly as they passed by. It, and a few books, would be the closest she'd be to the muggle world for another year.

The Great Hall was already hustling and bustling with students scurrying to say hello to friends from other houses before the feast commenced, by the time they got there. The ceiling glowed ominous blue and black, mirroring the storm that was brewing outside. Below it, thousands of candles hovered, glittering the ornate gold accents and casting bright reflections around the room.

One more important hello left, she thought, as Sadie dragged them to their table.

She passed the Bloody Baron, shooting their house ghost a nod, and craned her neck to inspect the head table at the front of the room before sitting down.

Professor Snape was already glowering at the Slytherin table, inspecting them for appropriate behavior no doubt, so all she needed to do was raise her arm in a small wave to get his attention. It took only a second for his eyes to find her. She greeted him with a curt smile, to which he responded with a polite nod. His somber eyes lit up for just a moment at their interaction but it ultimately made no dent in his stoic expression, not that she expected much more than that. He was incredibly guarded, strict, and stoic but she respected him immensely.

"Did you see him?"

Sadie pulled her down to their seats.

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "See who?"

Sadie huffed slightly, aware that she hadn't been listening to her since they walked into the room.

"Graham Montague!"

She'd heard that name too many times come from Sadies mouth to be curious about what was on about. Their tumultuous fling for the past few years had been exhausting to hear about.

"Oh yes, sorry I see him, but I wish I couldn't," she rested her head in her hands and tried to look interested.

"He wrote me over the summer you know," Sadie continued, ignoring the dig. "I told him that he owed me five galleons for making me read his stupid ramblings."

The sound of thunder made the room jump as the clouds on the ceiling broke, signaling a night of rain. Impatience had never been a flaw of hers but silly, elongated ordeals like the first feast of the year brought out the feeling in full force. It was a huge fiasco that took forever. She tried to calm her anxiously bouncing knee but it was torture to be away from the library when it was raining. No one would be there to witness the water droplets ricocheting off the stained glass that contorted the sprawling green grounds outside, transforming the world into a Monet painting.

The front doors opened with a bang and she turned to watch the soaking wet first years scurry down the center aisle. Enchanted music swelled to greet them, much to the surprise of the muggle-born students. They looked like they'd stumbled into a dream as they registered the amount of magic swirling around them.

Her first year, she'd pinched herself the entire boat ride across the lake, waiting for the majestic castle to disappear and be replaced by her bedroom ceiling. Her father's descriptions of the castle and campus hadn't done it justice and she still found new things to marvel at from time to time. She wished there was a way to sneak a camera in next year so that she could capture her sisters reaction.

The festivities crawled at a snail's pace. She politely clapped along for every sorting, ignoring the pang of nerves in her gut when a few of the newly sorted Slytherins scampered over to greet Malfoy with a handshake, clearly aware of the pure-blood supremacy they were joining, and it's leader.

The others nervously stared at their plates, occasionally looking up to search for a friendly face, which she and Sadie were always happy to provide. It was tough, especially for those who were aware of Slytherin's reputation but had expected to be sorted into a different house. Tougher though, for those who had to learn the hard way. She pitied them, as she'd pitied herself. Her father didn't talk about the wizarding world much so she was left to piece together the dos and don'ts through old photos and whispers between her parents. It was a learning curve, especially coming from a muggle school but it took almost no time to realize that a simple green tie could be interpreted in terrible ways.

She glared at the sorting hat as a professor whisked it away.

The shrill noise of echoing metal against glass signaled the room to be quiet. Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat, effectively hushing the students. He extended his arms, the silver of his robes shimmered in the candlelight, as his soft eyes took in the room.

"I have only two words to say to you," he said, pausing pervasively. "Tuck in."

Dinner flooded onto the tables, appearing out of thin air. She craned her neck to watch the first years again, the shock on their faces was hilarious and would probably take a few more meals to disappear. The rest of the room was completely distracted by the lavish meal.

Finally.

"That's my cue," she whispered low enough for only Sadie to hear, turning to swing a leg over the bench.

"I don't think you can escape so easily."

She shot her friend a puzzled look before following her gaze towards the closed main doors, being guarded diligently by the caretaker, Filch.

"Bloody hell," she huffed, glancing around the buzzing room for an explanation. Sadie spotted the Bloody Baron again, making his way down the table and beckoned him to join them.

"Tell me, Baron," she mewed, smiling sweetly. "Why does Filch look like he'd tackle anyone who tried to leave?"

Even in his wispy white form, the Baron's eyes twinkled at the opportunity for gossip. You wouldn't expect it from his name but he had two soft spots; Slytherins and the chance to spread rumors.

"You didn't hear it from me Miss Baldock but the Headmaster wants everyone here for a special announcement at the end of dinner," he answered in nothing more than a whisper. "However, I would be willing to assist you, should you need to make a quick escape." He bared his teeth and shot a devilish glare at the caretaker.

So, she was stuck.

"Thank you Baron but that's alright, I'd hate to miss anything important," Violet insisted, resettling herself back on the bench.

"Suit yourself, Miss Wilkes, I might just go and do it anyway. Excuse me," the ghost floated back through the hall, giving them a mischievous wink.

She glanced back up to the head table. Other than a few more empty seats than normal, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Maybe he had some new professors to introduce? Or perhaps some new school rules to brief them on? Either way, the thought of being trapped was making her restless.

She pursed her lips in thought and begrudgingly returned to the one-sided conversation Sadie was having with her.

"As I was saying, if we don't have Care of Magical Creatures together I will have a fit."

She held her fork and picked at the food in front of her; trying and failing to enjoy herself.

"Oh Sadie, please tell me you're not still on about your obsession with Hagrid," she regarded her friend with a knowing glance.

"I am not ashamed of my lust for a big, daft man," Sadie said, pointing her chin towards the rest of the Slytherin table. "Lord knows none of these twigs could do the job — daft yes —but twigs none the less."

She laughed, easing the nerves in her torso. Sadie's pessimistic view of their house wasn't entirely wrong, the only exceptions were Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, two particularly porky fourth years who followed Malfoy around like puppies. Definitely not the big and dumb that Sadie was looking for.

She'd never really looked at anyone from her house as a romantic possibility. Very few gave her the time of day and the ones that did usually regretted it. Her short fuse and hot temper didn't mesh well with the haughty nature and overconfidence of most Slytherin boys.

She participated in bits of conversation here and there during dinner but was at her wit's end by the time dessert finished. The air shifted from excitement to agitation as the rest of the room finally noticed their inability to leave. Dumbledore must have sensed the unrest because not a moment later, he was situated at his podium in front of the head table.

"Now that we are all settled in a sorted, I'd like to make an announcement," his voice echoed through the hall and drowned out the inquisitive chatter. "This castle will not only be your home this year but home to some very special guests as well. See, Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event, the Triwizard Tournament."

The conversation was instantaneous and ricocheted off of every surface. Students, mostly from wizarding families, picked their jaws up off the floor and tried to explain the exhilarating news to their less-informed peers, like herself.

The noise was enough to make her miss the train.

Over the twittering, Fred Weasley yelled, "You're JOKING," from the Gryffindor table and the room burst into a fit of laughter. Even Dumbledore struggled to stifle his giggle of delight.

"No, Mr. Weasley, I am not joking. Now for those of you who don't know, the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a magical contest."

Their headmaster paused dramatically, and then continued, seemingly satisfied with the awe-struck look on nearly everyone's faces.

"From each school, a single student is selected, and let me be clear, if chosen, you stand alone. Trust me when I say, these contests are not for the faint-hearted." His voice turned eerily serious and a shudder rattled down her back.

So not a fun, light-hearted tournament then, she thought. It had been a shock to learn that most things in the wizarding world came with a good amount of danger, even some of the most common forms of travel were riddled with risk. She was an idiot to think that a school event would be any different. Just look at Quidditch.

"More of that later," he said, snapping out of the somber trance. "Now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies from the Bauxbatons Academy of Magic and their Head Mistress, Madame Maxine."

The doors finally opened and a group of girls clad in light blue silk strutted through, nearly appearing out of midair. She rose out of her seat slightly to watch them flit down the aisle between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, releasing blue butterflies with every step. Male voices erupted into cheers. Not surprisingly, the lewdest and loudest comments came from the Slytherin table.

Disgusting pricks had no respect. Not even for themselves.

"Blimey, I'd crack skulls if I were that big," Sadie gasped.

The giant Headmistress waltzed in behind her students, lead by Dumbledore.

"What a woman," she echoed, trying to tune out the embarrassing howls from her male peers as the French witches finished their show. She'd heard of other wizarding schools around the world but never expected to see their students in person.

She clapped along and admired the flattering Bauxbaton's school uniform. Who on earth had designed the grey and black Hogwarts uniform when other schools got that?

Maybe an all-girls school wouldn't have been such a bad idea.

"And now, our friends from the north," Dumbledore bellowed from the podium once more. "Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and their headmaster, Igor Karkaroff."

With a bang, a group of large, tall, men strode into the hall sporting dark turtlenecks and fur coats. This time it was Sadie shouting lewd comments over the crowd.

"Bloody hell I think I'm going to slide off my seat," Sadie said breathlessly, pretending to grip her arm for support. "Guess I won't have to settle for Hagrid this year!"

She couldn't help but smile and laugh at the unconventional, scandalous humor of her friend.

The Durmstrang boy's faces were stoic and brooding, clearly, the cold northern winters were less kind to soft adolescent features. She wondered how they could be the same age as anyone at Hogwarts.

Sparks poured from the ends of their walking sticks, each strike leaving scorch marks on the stone floor. Gasps echoed through the hall as their quick pace eventually turned into a run, with some bounding forward to show off incredible acrobatics before joining the Bauxbaton girls at the front of the hall. Cheers turned into low murmurs as a man, who she guessed was their headmaster, walked into the room with a very stoic and large boy at his side.

"Fuck me," Sadie muttered. "That's Victor Krum. I can't believe my eyes. He's even better looking in person."

Violet tore her eyes from the pair strutting down the main aisle. "In person? What do you mean?"

"Quidditch of course," she snapped. "He almost won Bulgaria the Quidditch World Cup just last week. It's a wonder how he even has time for school."

Figured. Her father didn't even follow muggle sports, let alone wizarding ones. She'd successfully avoided the Quidditch pitch for a majority of games and could barely name a single ball.

The three headmasters met at Dumbledores podium, but the room was still abuzz, eyeing the celebrity excitedly.

This was her chance.

"Fill me in later," she said, swinging her legs over the bench, once more, to hop up from the table. She crouched and ran, hoping to go unnoticed.

"You're a real bore you know that," was all she heard before a rogue lighting bolt from the enchanted ceiling above helped her slip out the door without interruption.

Filch didn't notice her disappearance and she heard the doors slam closed when she was a few feet away. The noise was canceled immediately. The silence was a relief after nearly an entire day of chaos.

She marched towards the library, trying to stick to the shadows as much as possible, as she didn't normally go out of her way to break the rules like this. The halls were empty except for a few raging fireplaces, lighting her way and the occasional preoccupied ghost.

The isolation was heavenly.

She pressed a hand to the library door and pushed. Locked. Of course. Madam Pince was still at the feast, she thought, pressing her wand to the door.

Alohomora

The unlocked doors opened with a loud groan signaling that no one had been there all summer. The long room with mazes of books, desks, couches, and chairs was stale and less inviting in its dark state, than it normally was, fully lit and busy.

Incendio

She smiled. The familiar flickering orange glow illuminated the room and extinguished the final bit of nerves left from the train ride and annoyingly long feast.

One,

Two,

Three…

She counted the bookcases diligently. It took 40 to get to the hidden alcove at the end of the hall but even if she lost count, she'd know her plush, velvet chair anywhere.

No one except for Hermione ever wandered that deep into the library so the long walk was well worth the refuge and privacy that it allowed.

The sound of rain echoed through the shelves and high ceilings, creating a loud repetitive sound, only interrupted by her thudding footsteps on the rug. She dodged a few self-sorting books, enchanted to move on their own, but other than that, there was no movement.

Thirty-eight,

Thirty-nine,

Forty.

Relief.

The large wingback velvet chair in the corner welcomed her back with a familiar creak and groan as she nestled into her favorite spot. Nothing about the sanctuary had changed. Her chair, the oversized couch, and Hermione's long wooden desk with a few matching chairs sat exactly where they had been when she'd left in June. Satisfied with the familiar surroundings, she turned her attention to the large window. The colors outside were much less vibrant as darkness cascaded over the campus but at least she could still make out the last of a purple and pink sunset reflecting off of the lake.

Accio

A copy of Advanced Potions came barreling out of a bookcase too far away for her to see and landed in her outstretched hand. The familiar purple cover reminded her of all the ways that the castle felt like home.

The first time Snape had given her a copy of this textbook was during her fourth year. She'd worked through it late into the night for almost the entire term, only being befuddled by a few of the more time-consuming recipes. The look on Snape's face as she'd presented him with a box of vials containing the completed potions just before Christmas break, was the closest she'd ever seen him smile.

The pages were crisp as she flipped idly through the instructions, much different than her worn copy, and decided on the chapter about love potions.

After a few hours of leisurely reading, she battled the heaviness of her eyelids in vain. She nodded awake, surrendering to her need for sleep, and muttered a spell to return the book to its place. The library was still entirely undisturbed as she made her way to the door sleepily.

The sound of heels clicking over the whirling wind and rain against the windows signaled Madam Pince's return at the entrance of the library.

"I just cannot keep you away," the librarian said, letting her pass. "Is Granger back there as well or can I lock up for the night?"

Violet grinned. "Nope, just me, and I'll be out of your hair until tomorrow."

The generally stern woman shot her a wink and closed the door behind her. Madam Pince had probably seen enough of her to last an entire lifetime but she always made it seem like she was pleased to see her every time. Violet wondered if it was genuine.

Her exhaustion escaped her as she stepped out into the hallway, finding it in a state of disarray with her peers abuzz, running from one group to another, all gossiping about the Triwizard tournament.

Darting back down the main hall, she dodged running Prefects, and giggling underclassmen, sticking to the wall to avoid any familiar faces. Even on a normal day, it was quite easy to disappear in the vast castle and busy hallways. Steering clear of wandering eyes only took a step into a shadow here, or a quiet shuffle behind a babbling group, there. Which is just what she did as she made her way through the corridor. Only a few more paces of being invisible and she'd be back in the dungeon.

The energy in the hall practically rattled the stone walls. She couldn't fight the feeling that she'd missed something else important. She wondered if she was correct, and if leaving early had been worth it. The answer came as soon as the thought passed her mind, as a familiar voice boomed through the hall.

"They can't do that!" George Weasley yelled. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"

Her heart race quickened as the redhead and nearly half of Gryffindor house came into view only a few feet away.

"They're not stopping me from entering," Fred waved his arms wildly next to his brother. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

Of course, they wanted to enter. There was no doubt in her mind that a Gryffindor would be chosen as the school's champion. They had a tendency for danger, and for proving bravery. She stayed in the shadows but watched the pack's trajectory closely, fearing that it might intersect with hers.

Hermione trailed behind the group, ushering them towards the moving staircase, and pestering them about being the last ones to make it to the common room. The young witch always looked at her whits end around her friends. How she had the energy to herd cats, was a mystery.

Violet accidentally caught her eye and picked up her pace, hoping to escape the group of extroverts with a smile and a nod.

"Violet," Hermione called as they crossed paths. "Can you believe the news about the tournament? Are you thinking about entering? You're seventeen aren't you?"

It would have been easy to lose them in the crowd but she couldn't be rude to her friend. Even if she was accompanied by a pack of lions. Begrudgingly, she peeled herself out of the shadows and met them in the middle of the hall.

"Not until October," she admitted to the group, all of which had their eyes on her. They were significantly less intimidating than her own house, but annoying all the same. The Weasley twins appeared to her left but she refused to meet their eyes.

How was it possible to avoid their hi-jinx for nearly five years, and now, she'd seen them three times on their very first day back, twice before they'd even made it to the castle. Well, she thought, bad things always come in threes so this would surely be the last time having to speak with them.

"The tournament doesn't start until after Halloween so you'll be just in time," Hermione said in an awkward tone, clearly sensing her apprehension. The encounter was uncomfortable but she appreciated the interesting revelation about an age limit. It certainly explained the prominent maturity of the students from the other schools.

The twins pushed between her and Hermione before she could answer.

Her heart rate spiked slightly. The devilish look in their eyes from when they'd entered her train car had returned. Were they going to confront her about the incident? Make her do something worse and in front of everyone?

"An older woman then," George sneered, still looking rather burnt about their previous encounter.

"Whaddya say, Wilkes? Do us a favor and put our names in the Goblet?" Fred echoed.

He loomed over her, his eyebrows arched in question and mouth stretched from ear to ear. She doubted he'd ever held his tongue in a conversation this long, and appreciated the show of restraint.

Regardless, she rolled her eyes. "And watch you get yourself killed?" She took a step around the boisterous twin and squeezed Hermione's hand in a silent goodbye. "I'd be happy to."

The Gryffindors laughed at Fred's protests but she ignored them, pushing through the group, regretting leaving the announcement too early.

She practically flew down the dungeon stairs, happy to have escaped from the interaction with minimal worlds. Freezing air and the smell of stone and musk welcomed her underground. It was good to be back.

The Slytherin common room door came into view and her excitement fizzled. A long summer away had made the putrid password, slip from her mind.

This was, perhaps, when she envied other houses the most. They all changed their common room passwords with the seasons, or just for fun; ad-libbing silly meaningless phrases to make homesick first years laugh as they entered their home away from home.

Not theirs though.

It stayed the same, year after year. She kept it hidden in her subconscious, only acknowledging it for the split second it took to open the common room door. Even then, she tried to regard it as meaningless, simply an old-fashioned tradition that refused to die, but deep down she knew what it was.

Submission.

A forced admission of blood superiority so that everyone knew, regardless of house, who was meant to submit to who. The sour taste lessened the more times she said it throughout the years but the first time back was always the worst.

Her lips curled and teeth bared in order to force her tongue to spit it out.

Pureblood

The stone slab slid away, revealing the elegant stone, leather, and green velvet common room within. She shook off the cloud of disgust and wove through a sea of familiar faces chatting and hanging off of couches and chairs. A group of seventh-year boys boasted loudly to the room about how they would bring Slytherin glory by winning the tournament.

She sucked her lips to her teeth and swallowed a smile. These purebred, pampered, prats wouldn't last a day in the muggle world, let alone with actual beasts, she thought.

Sadie practically pounced on her as soon as she pushed open the door marked Wilkes & Baldock. Despite her roommate's animated pestering, their new two-person suite, a perk for upperclassmen, was quite peaceful. Emerald sheets, curtains, and pillows, accented by dark wood furniture and adorned with silver knick-knacks, memorabilia from alumni past, made the room quite cozy.

She looked around the room once more before submitting to Sadie's chatter.

"Alright, what did I miss?"

"Could you have taken any longer? I've been back for ages," she scolded, pacing back and forth while trying to hold a straight face. "Sometimes I wonder what you would do if I wasn't always waiting around to fill you in on stuff."

She smiled at Sadies attempt to be withholding, especially with such clearly juicy information. Keeping secrets was not her specialty, not that Violet minded. Her lack of scandalous behavior ensured that she only ever got to reap the rewards of her friend's knack for gossip and weakness for babbling.

"But you are," she reminded her.

Sadies half-hearted scowl cracked. "Good point Vi," she said with a bemused grin. "Okay, where do I even begin to begin?"

Violet made herself comfortable in a pile of throws and cushions on the floor and listened attentively in order to correctly adorn Sadies dramatic retelling with appropriate gasps of shock, and bursts of laughter.

It wasn't that Violet didn't like to talk, because she did, but Sadies ramblings were somewhat comforting to her. It relieved her of the pressure to be entertaining, or the center of attention. She liked how relaxed she could be, as her friend had no expectations for her to fill the silence.

She'd missed the arrival of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who had quelled the stray lighting that had covered her escape. Sadie hadn't caught his name but he was apparently very strange looking, not an unusual trait for the rather cursed position in recent years.

Sadie's face lit up as she recounted the looks of shock from everyone in the room when the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation from the Ministry of Magic had stepped forward to warn them about the real dangers of the tournament, and deliver the bad news of the age limit.

Real dangers, she thought. What had they been dealing with beforehand?

Their school definitely seemed more pampered than the Durmstrang's. Surely no one at Hogwarts stood a chance against these men somehow passing for teenagers, who looked like they'd seen worse things on their walk to class than they had in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She didn't even want to fathom the skill hidden behind the pleasant French faces from Beauxbatons.

She couldn't think of a single person at Hogwarts who might fare favorably against the dangerous tasks that had been alluded to. She wouldn't stand a chance unless she could bring a potions kit and be allotted weeks on end to brew. Maybe Hermione, but she was much too busy. If the twins did indeed find a way to enter, they wouldn't stand a chance at surviving, unless the monsters they faced liked pranks and bad jokes.

"Obviously I am going to enter," Sadie said. "I mean I've basically fought half the school already. And I'll take any chance I can get for those Drum — whatever, boys to fawn over me."

Strangely enough, it wasn't Sadie's worst idea.

"I'll happily and safely cheer you on from the stands," she assured her friend. "And help you cheat of course."

Sadie squealed in delight and continued her lecture, only stopping when she noticed how difficult it was for Violet to keep her eyes open.

They changed for bed, and Violet whispered an incantation to turn off the lights, ignoring Sadies not so silent departure from the room shortly after. Probably sneaking off somewhere to argue and then subsequently make out with Graham Montague for the millionth time.

Sleep came for her quickly, and she gladly joined it, despite the ominous impending images of Death Eaters and Dark Marks.

[noteofnaught]

Dante's memory of his mother

Fiddled with what I had written earlier.

The translation was done for me by deepl (translator).

Please let me know if you think it's strange or if there are any mistakes.

The above is purely a personal opinion

Feel free to discuss and exchange.

Dante's memory of his mother

Dante's memory of his mother, or rather that night, seems to have been formally depicted once in DMC5 since DMC1.

So let's start with the DMC1.

In the DMC1 novel, there is a scene depicting Dante recalling the events of his mother's death.

「母さん、母さん……ねぇ、母さん！」

幼子が、地に倒れ伏した母親の身体を揺さぶり続けている。母親の息がすでに絶えていることは、誰の目にも明らかだ。

だが幼子は──すでに自分でもそうとわかっているのだろうが──無

駄な努力を止める気配はない。

「兄さんもいなくなっちゃったんだ！ 母さん！ ねぇ、母さん！」

亡骸からは未だ、温かな血が地面へと広がり続けている。

幼子は半狂乱だった。

We can see in the description that Dante tries to wake his mother up next to her dead body, even though he realises that she is dead but he is still trying to wake her up. This is a reluctance to accept his mother's death, a normal emotion and attitude for a small child to have.

And the second half of his sentence [兄さんもいなくなっちゃったんだ!] It is as if he had searched for his brother, but his tone is one of powerlessness, of helplessness, of feeling negative about the outcome. So here I want to convey not so much that he has searched for his brother to no avail, but a sense of powerlessness about the situation. He tries to wake up his mother in this way.

It's close to one: Mom, wake up. My brother is not here/is gone and I don't know what to do/I'm scared, please get up Come on.

And then in the scene of Neal's death, Dante recalls this as Neal's sacrifice to protect him, just as his mother did that day.

After that he heard the voice of his father's sword, and out of fear and insecurity he was completely drawn to it, thus obeying its words and changing his name until he gained the power to fight against it.

Then, in the battle with Gilvi, when Gilvi stabbed Dante and was covered by the necklace, Dante's internal activity was as follows.

He credits his mother with protecting him (again) as a child.

Where the mother sacrifices herself to save/protect Dante this is consistent with the DMC1 in-game scene. In DMC1 Dante has a similar line after Trish sacrifices herself to save him. This is the diagram from Precious Tears, with Japanese and English, but both Japanese and English convey that Trish sacrificed herself to save him, as did her own (Dante's) mother.

This is in line with the content of the DMC3 comic.

In the DMC3 comic, Dante has a nightmare at the office after his encounter with Vergil, a dream that is not in fully recreated form but like a fragmentary form.

Here the mother has more dialogue than in DMC1, and it is obvious from the comic's footage that there are huge hands behind her that are about to crush her, and Dante reaches towards her as if to retain his mother, who is feeling very scared, while her mother shouts for him to hurry up and hide/hide and not come out no matter what happens. She is then crushed by the huge hand. In the next panel we can see that the demon looks like a bird and says the terrible words "all die". like it is glowing, and on the next page you can also see the huge three foot shadow on the ground, which also looks like the claws of a bird, and the door behind it is the image of burning, while a long shadow is drawn under his feet.

Of course, we know from the comic that Arkham says there was a fire that day, and Vergil's fearful recollection of the house being on fire makes DMC5 even more certain that it was indeed on fire. The glowing eyes, the long, thin shadows and the subsequent bloodstained house in the comic give the impression that something ominous, unsettling and alien is about to happen.

The cartoon after that also shows us Dante waking up with a jolt, his face covered in water, looking at his hand but with only a drop on his end finger, giving the illusion that he has pulled a hook with someone. There is no sweat on his body, however, and of course there are problems of expression in the painting, so it is not painted.

But it is also true that these same fragmentary memories and dreams give Dante unease and fear.

Well, the memory, the feeling of his mother in Dante's vision so far is the following: his mother told himself to hide and not come out, and sacrificed himself to save himself. It is the great selfless motherly love that belongs to Dante.

Although it was a great mother's love, the memory of that day still makes Dante feel uneasy and afraid. The last memory his mother leaves Dante with is the one that tells Dante to hide, and implicitly the will to let him live. If we add the DMC1 novel to the mix here, it is at this very moment that he is drawn to his father's sword.

Again within these memories and fragments, the mother is rendered unknowable to Vergil, meaning that we do not or cannot see in Dante's recollections that the mother ever went looking for Vergil, if not for the presence of the phrase [兄さんもいなくなっちゃったんだ!] we would not even know in this recollection of Dante that he knew that he had a brother. What we can see or what Dante perceives in his vision is that his mother loved him so much that she died in the process of protecting/saving him.

However, it is also a writing device that can be lifted off as suspense.

But again, this doesn't do any damage to the image of Eva as a great mother, because based on what happened that day, the great mother had to choose to save/protect (potentially the closest to her or that she could find) one child and had to give up the other in the face of force majeure. Dante also never said before DMC5 whether his mother loved Vergil or not, whether she ever sought him out or whether she cared for his brother as well.

What we see in Dante's vision is basically what Dante can know, but it doesn't mean all of it. After all, comics or game scenes have an obligation to show us the scenes, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the characters actually see all the textures. We, as players/readers, are a kind of God's eye and we can notice things that are not right or different (also a storytelling technique) but as protagonists we are not necessarily fully aware or in the same position as us.

I think if you have seen suspense films, you will also often see that kind of bridge, we all know that this bomb is going to explode this person to kill that person, although there is that kind of explicitly shown in the footage, but the protagonist is still unaware of the appearance, many viewers are in order to pinch a cold sweat, for this reason anxious hope that the protagonist quickly realize.

And DMC5 gives us a formal depiction of that day, not through snippets like a nightmare, you can see in the game's overstory description that it says Dante dreamed of what happened before, which means this time you are shown real memories.

After all, a nightmare is not necessarily a real memory, it is a condensation of a certain memory. Sometimes we have a nightmare like dreaming of a giant cockroach because we are afraid, so we reproduce and amplify this fear in our nightmares, so that a small cockroach we see in the house becomes enormous in our nightmares, the giant cockroach is not necessarily real but the fear is real. Of course, we are not talking about the formation of nightmares here, but only about the fact that nightmares and some fragments of our memories with fear and anxiety may be a recreation of what we felt and what existed at the time, but not necessarily a completely real recreation.

In the DMC5 Eva process screen.

There is a slight difference between Japanese subtitles and English subtitles, or even Japanese dubbing.

The overall meaning is actually similar to the DMC3 manga, Eva is all over Dante not moving and telling him to hide/hide, the only difference is that she says more words to make Dante forget his past and forget his name and start a new life from scratch/not being Dante but another person to start over. All also contain the mother's wish for him to live well.

The difference is that in the Japanese subtitles, Eva clearly expresses the possibility that she may not return and so tells Dante to listen well to what she says next, whereas in English it is expressed as I promise you will return.

In the English context, although the mother says she will come back, she immediately reverses the 'come back' in the next sentence, saying that she knows it will be difficult, but you're old enough so you'll have to do this if I don't come back. They both mean the same thing, a mother who knows she might not come back and tells her child what she will do if she doesn't come back, as if making a pact with her child: we agreed that if I don't come back, you will remember to do this, I know you can do it.

If you look closely at the animation of the process, you can even see Dante's hand trembling on the cupboard door, he is very scared.

And the BGM here also happens to be called: More Fear

And of course it is here that we first see Eva looking for Vergil, and it turns out that Eva has looked for Vergil! This doesn't exactly match the information we got on Dante's side earlier.

But are you saying that the DMC1 message contradicts the current message? The DMC1 novel only mentions that he cried next to his mother's body, not that she said anything to him before she died, after which he became obsessed with his father's sword out of fear and terror. And his father's sword statement is the same as his mother's deathbed statement but in a very different series.

The meaning of the mother's words is very clear, the words are all about the desire for her child to live well and to stay away from these things that will hurt him, a good expectation and blessing for her child and the expectation and belief that her child will be able to do so.

「今はその名を隠し、目を眩ませ、逃げ延びよ」

“Now go incognito, confuse the enemy and flee far away!”

The overall meaning of the phrase is that it is dangerous to hide the name, confuse the enemy and run away, and the phrase even takes the form of a command that the child must do what he says.

It's a phrase you'd put in the context of a superior to a subordinate, a captain to his teammates, and in the context of a tense battlefield man telling you to run fast is perfectly fine and appropriate. But Eva's words could only be said by a mother to her child.

When all the memories are linked together, our facts about Eva become a little more complete, and at the same time what effect does it have on Dante?

If his mother only died saving him and he hated his father for her revenge which is quite reasonable, this has to be a blowback from his father's enemies. What is necessary to mention here is what Dante's mindset was regarding DMC1 killing the Black Angel.

In the official publication of the 3124 collection, Dante is said to have killed the Black Angel with "no thought", a word synonymous with "remnant", which is generally translated into Chinese as: regret.

And the DMC1 how-to book has a direct description of his ideas.

Dante is talking here about Mundus killing his mother and brother.

This is not the same as what we generally think of as objective perception. In the game we see over the course of the game, the Black Angel looks as if he still has a heart, so naturally we think there is still salvation, after all, he is still alive.

But here Dante does not think that it was his own hand that killed the Black Angel, but that Mundus killed Vergil.

Of course we can parse this to mean that killing the man who was Vergil means, but even so within this passage of Dante he is not one of the reasons for Vergil's death, he has no responsibility in Vergil's death and is not responsible for any act occurring in the process, but rather Mundus should need to take full responsibility.

In other words, it means that even if it was he who killed the Black Angel in the course of the battle, then he is not responsible for it, but Mundus is responsible for it, because it was Mundus who arranged it, and how could he have killed it if he had not arranged it there, it was not his problem, it was Mundus' problem.

than what we generally think of as objective factual rational logic going into the judgement: although Mundus turned Vergil into a black angel like that, he himself didn't recognise the killing, more or less he was responsible for it or felt particularly guilty that he didn't recognise it.

Dante's logic leans more towards total emotional logic: It's all Mundus' fault!

And in DMC5 just as Vergil used to think it was a matter of not having enough power, now it's a matter of having too much power, and now that Mundus is gone, not recognizing Vergil (V) for killing Vergil can only be his active choice, not a passive one, and it can only be that his responsibility has nothing to do with Mundus.

Returning to the mother, what arises is in fact the same question. If before it was his mother's great love for him, which was selfless and exclusive to him, now, at this moment, her love is equal, not just his but also his brother's. The "he" whose mother sacrificed herself to save him in the flashback (DMC5) is not really a "he". His mother's did not hesitate to rush out to save her brother, knowing the danger.

Of course we must also mention nell, arguably the designer of Dante's double shot.

In the novel, Thor wants Neal to commission and pay a deposit for a double gun for himself, one of which is a secret-made gun he stole from a robbery, and the other is the same type of medieval gun that Neal himself received.

nell is so good to Tony, as is clearly described in the DMC1 novel, because Tony looks so much like her child, and her love for her child is projected onto Tony, and she holds on to her job before she eventually dies, not only because of her love for Tony but also her love for her own child, and more so for the work ethic she has taken on this job and should complete.

But all the same, the person she missed most on her deathbed was her own child, something Tony could never replace, nor could he if he wanted to, which of course didn't mean that nell's love for Tony was false, nell's love for Tony was also real, indeed it was love, it was precisely because of the person of her own child that nell loved so deeply that Tony was loved by her.

Whether it is nell or the mother Eva, their love for their child is not solely Dante's alone and only his, or why they love Dante/Tony, it is because they both love their child, and if they were not such, then Dante would naturally not be loved by them.

His mother's protection and sacrifice is something he feels and desires, something that is personal and emotional for him. It also explains Dante's statement to Trish in DMC1 that "his mother died to protect herself", because Trish, like his mother in his feelings and understanding, has what he calls a "heart".

Of course, because DMC1 is entirely Dante's vision of storytelling (DMC1 is Dante's story), his mother is human in Dante's eyes, and Trish acts like his mother to protect him, or even Dante's ideal mother, so Trish is also a person with a "heart", as to how Trish feels or if that is the case. We will not discuss this issue here.

Surely the mother did not save Dante? This is necessarily a negative, but was it to save him that his mother died, or to hold back the demon who tried to kill him so that he could escape? Again, that is a negative. Wouldn't his mother have done that in that situation? That too is a negative. Wouldn't Dante have wanted his mother? No. Must Dante have never been afraid of not wanting his mother to stay by his side to give him security and protection? Did Dante only want to protect his mother and never wanted her to stay by his side to protect him? All the information above seems to be in the negative.

DMC5 is simply a reinterpretation and addition of information from the past, the only thing overturned is Dante's belief that his mother died to save himself.

This message provides us with an explanation of the origin of Dante's hatred for his brother, as is often the case in many films and novels, in which he blames the child for the death of his beloved wife, even though it was not the child's fault, and believes that if it had not been for him, his wife would not have died. He stubbornly believes that his mother died to save him, not to save his brother, and not because of this he is unable to love his brother; he acts as if he wishes he could have the mother's love all to himself.

For if we are to acknowledge the fact that his mother died to save his brother, we also have to acknowledge something else, and that is that he equally did not want to be left/abandoned by his mother.

Of course, this is not a contradiction or a conflict; it is only natural that a child should be afraid and want to protect his mother, and it is equally natural that he should want to protect her.

The above is purely a personal opinion

[redhoodssweetheart]

Legally Dead

Genre: Idk honestly

Relationship: No romantic relations

Requested: No, but it is based on this post that @idkmanicantenglish​ sent me (MY REQUESTS ARE CLOSED)

Word Count: 2K

Warnings: Little bit of angst, fluff, mentions of character death (it’s undone)

Description:  Jason died nearly two years ago.  People that knew and loved him mourned and moved on.  Now he’s back after being resurrected and trying to get the courts to declare him not dead.

Jason had technically died.  The joker had killed him and there had been a funeral and a grave site for him.  His friends and family had mourned and slowly moved on with their lives.  His death had made headlines in Gotham.  Front page news articles in all caps shouting about how the second adopted son of Bruce Wayne had passed away.

Then Jason had come back.

He had been in limbo for a while, on his own traveling, being a vigilante.  He wasn’t sure what he should do with his life.  What could he do?  He was dead.

Talia al Ghoul had taken him in after he had been resurrected and trained him, helped him.  She helped him harness some of the anger that he felt towards Bruce and Joker and himself.  He wasn’t the same as he was before he died, but then again who would be?

Now he was back in Gotham, back with Bruce and the others.  He now had two new brothers.  Tim and Damian.  Both of whom had taken over the Robin role.  There was also Cassandra and Duke.  Coming back to Gotham had been hard especially when the others hadn’t known who he was.  It had taken them a while to warm up to the idea that he was still alive.  For the most part, he stayed out of the limelight.  He didn’t do much or go anywhere during daylight hours.

Bruce had asked him if he wanted to come back, but Jason wasn’t ready for that just yet.  He wasn’t sure if he ever would if he were being honest.

One day Tim had dragged him out of the manor to go get some software upgrades for his computers and someone had seen Jason and Tim together.  Soon a photo was circulating around the internet with the captions “Is Jason Todd, long thought dead son of Bruce Wayne, still alive?”.  

Jason had wanted to bang his head against a wall after seeing the semi-blurry image of him and Tim together.

Soon there were conspiracy theories going around saying that Jason had faked his death, that he had been kidnapped and presumed dead, or that - and this was his favorite - he had been abducted by aliens.

“I think that was one of the theories Ryan presented on your episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved,” Dick said as he was scrolling through his Twitter feed which was going crazy with memes and theories galore about Jason.  “Damian rolled his eyes and asked why any alien would want to abducted you.”

Jason shot a look at his younger brother, “I will have you know I am a delight to be around.”

Damian, unruffled by Jason’s glare, merely arched an eyebrow, “Keep telling yourself that, Todd.”

Bruce sauntered into the room and threw a Gotham Times down onto the table.  In big, bold letters read JASON TODD HAS RETURNED.  The boys all looked at Bruce who now had his arms crossed against his chest.  “So are we confirming that you’re still alive or claiming that this is just someone that looks a lot like you?”

Jason read over the article.  All it said was that someone had managed to capture and image of the supposed Jason Todd who had died early two years prior in a horrible, undisclosed accident.  It also went into all the theories behind his disappearance - sans the alien abduction.  He thought over his options and what he wanted to do from here.  “Maybe it is time I come out of the shadows,” his gaze met Bruce’s.  “There’s no way the people of the internet are gonna let this go.  Especially if we say that it’s just someone who looks a lot like me.”

“I’ll set up a press release then,” Bruce said as he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone and make a few calls.  He knew that this would be huge news and put a lot of pressure on Bruce.  He also knew that he was going to have to get himself declared not dead with the courts which was going to be fun.

He just hoped that this would blow over rather quickly and he could get back to his life.

A few days later Jason was standing beside Bruce inside of Wayne Enterprises where a press conference was about to be held.  It seemed like every reporter in Gotham and from all over the country had shown up to squeeze inside the tiny room that was meant for press releases just like this one.  Suddenly Jason wondered if this was such a good idea.

The story was the Jason had been kidnapped by an unknown person and he had managed to escape back to Gotham.  It was flimsy at best but what else could they say?  Yeah he died, but somehow the timeline got screwed up and now he was back?  That wouldn’t go over well with the public and then they would have a whole new set of questions to deal with.

Bruce stepped up to the podium and smiled at the crowd, “I know you all are anxious to ask your questions about Jason and where he’s been all this time.  Please know that he’s had a very traumatic experience and we’re just happy to have him home.  He’s safe and healthy and I’m grateful that he was able to make his way home.  Please ask your questions one at a time and we’ll try to get to everyone before our time is up.”

Bruce motion for Jason to step up to the podium and stepped aside to allow him room.  Jason stared out over the sea of faces and took a deep breath before choosing the first reporter to ask their question.  All was going well until one asked, “So Mr. Todd are you going to have the courts declare you no longer legally dead?��

Jason gripped the sides of the podium and contemplated his answer, “I guess I should.  I mean I’m clearly not dead.  Bruce and I have been discussing it for some time now,” that was a lie, “but his main priority before subjecting me to that was just letting me get back into a normal routine.”

More hands shot up but Bruce came to the rescue and claimed that they were out of time for the day.  He ushered Jason away some of the reporters shouting their questions at Jason in a last-ditch effort to get the answers they wanted.

“Well Shane this is a first for us,” Ryan was saying.  Dick, Damian, and Tim were huddled around a laptop a week after the press release.  Apparently Buzzfeed Unsolved had decided to add a continuation for Jason’s story on their show.  “One of our unsolved cases has been semi-solved.”

“To be honest I didn’t ever think this was going to happen,” Shane said as he leaned back in his chair.  “I mean come on.  How did this guy survive so long in captivity?”

“I know!”  Ryan shouted.  “I mean yeah he’s home safe now, but who had him?  Where was he?  How did he escape?  The answers at the press conference the Waynes held was flimsy at best.”

Jason closed the laptop effectively shutting Ryan and Shane up.  “Hey!”  Tim protested.  “We were watching that.”

“And now you’re not,” Jason smirked at his younger brother.  “Come on and get dressed.  We have court in an hour and Bruce wants all of you looking your best.”

The three of them got up, grumbling about how they wanted to see Ryan’s new theories on Jason’s disappearance and if the alien story was going to come back up again.  Bruce had been watching from the doorway, fixing his cufflinks.  “Are you nervous?”

Jason looked at his adoptive father and shrugged, “Maybe a little?  I didn’t think I would be going through this if I’m being honest.  I hadn’t ever really planned to let people know that I was still alive.  I liked the fact that I was ghost of some sort.”

“The boys and I will be there with you, Jason,” Bruce assured him.  “And I know that these last few years have been hard on you.  I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you and I’m sorry that I let you down.  There were many times when I wished I could go back and do that whole night over again.”

Jason felt a lump in his throat at Bruce’s words, “Listen it is what it is and it can’t be helped.  We both made choices and now we’re here.  Let’s just get this court hearing over with and try to move on with our lives.”

Reporters were swarming the courthouse when the Waynes’ car pulled up in front of the steps leading inside.  They shouted Jason’s and Bruce’s names trying to get more for their stories.  The whole city had been on the edges of their seats waiting for this day to come.  Jason looked around and saw some people with signs saying “WELCOME BACK JASON”, “I LOVE YOU JASON”, “I KNEW YOU WERE ALIVE”.  He chuckled and ducked his head trying to keep the photographers from seeing his smile.

Inside was much calmer but there were still people there to see the outcome of this court case today.  The judge came and began reviewing the details of what had happened.  She looked at Jason with an arched eyebrow, “Mr. Todd, is it true that you were held against your will and believed to be dead for the past two years?”

“Yes, your Honor,” Jason replied.

“And you wish to be declared no dead?”

“Yes, your Honor,” he said again.

The judge was quiet for a moment looking from her papers to Jason and back to her papers once again.  She seemed to be mulling this over and Jason wondered why she had to think about this.  Clearly he was alive so what was the problem?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Todd.  You will remain legally dead,” the judge pounded the gavel and Jason and Bruce shared a wide-eyed bewildered look with one another.  Even Jason’s brothers shot out of their seats to protest, but the judge was already leaving the room.  A hush fell over the room as everyone stared at each other in confusion.

“So does this mean that if I commit a crime that I can’t actually be charged with it because I’m not technically alive in the eyes of the court?”  Jason asked causing Bruce to facepalm and the room to break out into laughter.

And from that day forward, despite the fact that he was very much alive, Jason was legally dead.

[borealis-strange]

Chapter 1: Better off alone

Summary:

— Darling, we've already talked about this. I know you miss your old school, at least try to see the positive side of it, you will surely make a lot of friends —

Regina didn't want new friends, she didn't need them. She wanted to go back to her old neighborhood and her old school. After the divorce of her parents, her mother believed that they could use a change of environment.

It was probably for the best, but Regina didn't care. All this change was making things even more difficult than they already were.

Notes: Inspired by @bambirexwrites​ and a dream I had the other day, I decided to write this. I know it's not amazing, it's more like an experiment to write something without any fantasy elements in it.

Also, I don't know how schools in the UK work, so I based this a little bit in my own experience.If people like this, I'll consider continue writing it. (Even though I don't know how to continue it

P.S: I'm terrible at descriptions ;-;

— Do I really have to go? — Asked Regina.

Regina's mother sighed heavily.

They were both in the car on their way to "The Queen Academy", Regina's new school.

— Darling, we've already talked about this. I know you miss your old school, at least try to see the positive side of it, you will surely make a lot of friends —

Regina didn't want new friends, she didn't need them. She wanted to go back to her old neighborhood and her old school. After the divorce of her parents, her mother believed that they could use a change of environment.

It was probably for the best, but Regina didn't care. All this change was making things even more difficult than they already were.

Regina sighed heavily and pressed her face against the glass. Neither spoke for several minutes while the radio was in the background.

Regina watched her from the car window, it was quite imposing. The school was huge, gray in color.

— Well ... It's time for you to come in — said her mother — Good luck darling —she said as she kissed Regina on the forehead.

Regina just gave him a smile. She took her things, and got out of the car.

"It looks more like a prison than a school" Regina thought before entering.

The hallway was packed with girls, all in the same boring school uniform. The same gray skirt, the same ugly sweater, and the same uncomfortable shoes. Regina already had the first reason for her to miss her old school, there they allowed them to go with the clothes that she wanted. In addition to the fact that here it was mandatory to go with your hair up.

After wandering the drab hallways she found her classroom. With a bit of nerves she entered.

The classroom was small, with only 20 seats. There were a few girls talking, and others were already sitting in their places. They didn't even turn to see Regina, which she thanked internally.

She quickly scanned the room for a seat  without an owner. The only available spot was next to a curly-haired girl at the back of the room. Regina walked over, avoiding tripping over the other benches, and sat down next to the girl.

The girl had her head stuck in a book, it had to be very interesting, because she didn't even flinch when Regina arrived.

"Should I say something?" The blonde considered "It would be rude of me not to"

— Hi  — She greeted her classmates — I'm Regina Taylor, nice to meet you — she said with a smile on her face.

The girl looked up, revealing her hazel eyes.

"What beautiful eyes" Regina thought as she held her breath.

—I'm Brianna — She said returning the smile — Brianna May. You're the new girl, right?

Regina nodded awkwardly, still lost in Brianna's eyes. Why was her heart pounding so hard?

—Yes… yes it's me — Regina stammered quickly when she realized that she was still staring at  Brianna — My mom thought it was a good idea to change schools at the last minute. And ... well ... Here I am — Regina said nervously.

"God, I already ruined my first impression" Regina thought as she mentally beat herself up.

— Did you change your school two weeks after you started? — Asked Brianna puzzled.

Regina forced herself to laugh a little.

— Yes and no. I didn't actually go to school at the beginning of the semester. I just moved here and well ... my mom and I were busy with all this stuff  —

— So ... you don't know the city? —

Regina shook her head.

— I could show you the city one day. If you want ... of course —

— It would be nice — Brianna looked at her strangely — I mean ... it would be fine —

They talked for a while while they waited for their teacher to arrive. Not about relevant things but to get to know each other a little better. Favorite music, movies, a bit of their family, the usual. Regina discovered that they had a lot in common, a great love for music, especially Rock and the dream of becoming a rockstar. In addition, she learned that Brianna had a great passion for the universe and its origins, which she found adorable.

— Good morning ladies — A woman entered, interrupting her conversation — As soon as she entered all the girls fell silent immediately.

The class was about classic literature.

In itself, Regina did not care much about these things and the teacher did not do anything to make her interested. She had the most monotonous and boring voice she had ever heard. Regina had to fight not to fall asleep.

Not to give a bad image to Brianna, who paid attention and took notes of everything she wanted. So she did everything she could to stay awake, mainly to draw pictures in her notebook.

______________

— You must be quick if you want to eat something in the cafeteria — Brianna recommended as they walked through the corridors of the school — It fills with girls when you least expect it. The only good thing is that this teacher lets us leave her class early.—

The cafeteria was small, compared to the rest of the school, with only about ten tables.

They approached the bar to order their food.

Regina ordered a chicken sandwich while Brianna ordered a salad

When the food was delivered, they both found a table clean enough to sit on.

The food was good, rather, better than Regina had expected. In her old school the food was disgusting, many times she did not even know that they were supposed to be serving (which is why Regina preferred to bring her own food) 

Out of nowhere a girl with short black hair approaches their table. Behind her came a girl with brown hair.

— Hi Brie — Said the girl with dark hair — Do you mind if we sit here? — Asked the girl as she sat down

— Great! — The girl exclaimed before Brie could say something.

The black-haired girl turned to see Regina. She looked her up and down with a look of disgust. Regina didn't even know where to look.

— You're the new one, right? — Asked the girl. Regina nodded slowly — I'm Freddie, nice to meet you — she said with the most fake smile Regina had ever seen. — And this is Joanna, my best friend — She pointed to the girl who sat next to her.

Joanna waved sheepishly.

—I'm Regina  — she said, hesitating with her words. — Pleased to meet you?

Regina sought comfort from Brianna but she didn't say anything. She must already know Freddie and Joanna, although she didn't seem very happy with their presence.

For the rest of the recess, Freddie kept talking about things that didn't matter to Regina at all. Every time Regina tried to change the subject, Freddie wouldn't let her and kept talking. She didn't even understand what she was talking about, it was about fashion or something. She reminded her of their first class teacher, only with much more exaggerated movements.

After what seemed like forever, the bell rang, saving Regina from having to keep listening to Freddie.

________________

Finally, there was only one class left so Regina could go home after a long and boring day.

She was in her classroom, waiting for her chemistry teacher. Regina was copying some notes from the first few weeks that Brianna had lent her. Which she greatly appreciated.

Out of the corner of her eye Regina saw Freddie and Joanna leave the room, in the most suspicious way possible.

"What are the two of them up to?" Regina thought.

In a fit of curiosity, or stupidity, she decided to follow them. Regina had never trusted Freddie, even though he had only lived with her once, but she knew he had nothing good in mind.

— Wait for me a minute — Regina told Brianna before leaving the classroom.

She watched as the girls walked carefully, probably so no one would see them. Regina did the same

Freddie and Joanna entered an office and closed the door behind them.

Regina made sure no one was around so she could look out the small window in the door. She saw how Freddie seemed to be looking for something. She opened and closed drawers, carefully sifting through the papers.

She didn't want to be that classmate who accused the others, but Freddie's behavior was unacceptable.

— What are you doing? — Regina asked as soon as she opened the door

Freddie stopped searching and turned to see the blonde.

— What are you doing here? — Freddie asked annoyed, putting his hands on her waist.

— I'm asking you the same. What are you doing in Professor Reid's office? —

— None of your concern — Freddie said as she rolled his eyes

The door flew open, revealing Brianna's curly hair.

— What are you doing here? — Brianna asked closing her door behind her.

— What are you doing here? — Freddie questioned.

— I asked first — Brianna snapped.

— And I ... asked later —

— You can not be here. We have class and you are doing who knows what —

— Well, I do what I want —

Regina wanted to scold Freddie but Brianna did it first. In a few seconds, the office became a sea of ​​shouting and insults. One said something, the other answered and it was a never ending story.

—Girls — Joanna said in a small voice trying to get their attention.

They completely ignored her, they kept fighting as if she didn't exist.

— Girls — she tried one more time without success.

— Girls! — Joanna finally yelled.

— WHAT!? — Said the three in unison, turning to see her.

Once she had the attention of her classmates she was willing to speak but someone suddenly opened the door.

It was Professor Reid. All the girls froze not knowing what to do.

The teacher watched them one by one until she finally broke the silence.

— Come with me ladies — ordered the teacher.

The girls only limited themselves to seeing each other.

The teacher led them through the desolate corridors of the school. Regina was becoming more and more tense, it was just her first day and she had already gotten into trouble, her mother would kill her as soon as she got home.

They finally made it to the principal's office. The teacher knocked lightly on the door and entered. The teacher approached the headmistress.

The girls stood near the door not knowing what to do.

— Madame Graves — The teacher began — These four ladies were in MY office during class hours. I don't know what their intentions were but I assure you they are not good —

Madame Graves looked at them one by one. Regina only limited herself to biting her lower lip until she felt the metallic taste of her blood.

—Leave me alone with the ladies — said Madame Graves and the teacher left, leaving the girls alone.

The air in the room felt heavy. Regina could barely breathe properly. Madame Graves still didn't say anything, she just looked at them coldly. The seconds went on for hours until the headmistress finally spoke.

— Ladies... — The principal finally spoke — Can I know what were you doing in your teacher's office —

None wanted to speak. Regina knew perfectly well her reasons but not Freddie and Joanna's. They were probably looking to change a grade. Regina quickly dismissed that idea, it was barely two weeks into the new semester. Maybe they were looking for something? It was most likely.

— Is there no reason? — Questioned Madame Graves.

None of the girls spoke. Again they avoided the cold gaze of the headmistress.

— Okay — said Madame Graves — So you don't want to talk, I suppose you will be in detention — Madame Graves got up from her seat — An hour after class, during this week and the next, you will start from today. Are you ok with it?

Regina knew it was an inordinate punishment for what they had done, but she didn't want to raise her voice. Not even Freddie complained.

— Very good. I will accompany you for your stuff to your classroom and then we will go to the library. —

The headmistress escorted them to the classroom. Madame said something to the chemistry teacher before letting them pass.

Regina felt the gaze of the other girls on the back of her neck. She quickly gathered her things up, trying not to look anyone in the eye, and left.

Once everyone had their backpacks, the director led them to the library.

— Leave your backpacks outside — indicated the headmistress — Here you will stay for the next three hours. I will notify your parents of your punishment. You can read a little if you like. Well ... I’ll leave you —

Madame Graves was about to leave when she turned around.

— By the way, don't try anything, the librarian will be watching you — And she finally left.

The library had several long tables and at the back were all the bookshelves.

Freddie and Joanna sat at one of the tables, Brianna and Regina sat across from them.

Freddie would occasionally look at Regina with some resentment and she would look back at her.

It could be her first day but Regina already hated Freddie. It was her fault that they had been punished. Maybe it was partly her fault, she had gone to see what they were doing.

Freddie continued to look at Regina in disgust. She reminded her of those high school girls who bothered her so much but this time she wouldn't be quiet.

— Do you have any problem? — Regina questioned.

Freddie watched her and just wrinkled his nose in disgust.

— Do you want to stop that attitude? — Regina snapped

— What attitude? — Freddie put a hand on her chest as if she didn't know what Regina was talking about.

— That attitude — Regina pointed out — You look at me like I'm the one to blame —

— Well, yes you are, dear. If you hadn't gone spying on us, they wouldn't have punished us—

Regina closed her eyes and breathed heavily. This little girl was trying her patience.

— And who was the one who went to the teacher's office? —

Freddie just rolled his eyes.

— Besides, why did you go? — Regina questioned.

— It's none of your business — Freddie replied dismissively.

— Well now it is my business because they punished me because of you — Regina practically spat with poison.

Freddie avoided her gaze and clicked his tongue

— I went to look for something that they took from me, okay? — Freddie confessed with annoyance.

— And that you went to find what was so important —

— A pack of cigarettes, okay? And stop bothering with that — she crossed his arms over her chest and looked away.

Regina blinked a few times puzzled by Freddie's response. Of all the reasons she came to consider that was the least expected of her. They were 17 years old, where did she get a pack of cigarettes from? And why would she risk punishment for something so foolish? Also, if she had a box of cigars taken away, wouldn't they have suspended or even expelled her r? Unless she was lying and was looking for something else, and from the look Joanna gave Freddie she suspected that was the correct answer from her.

She preferred not to inquire further, she was already fed up with that matter. All she wanted was for this to end as soon as possible.

[rigelmejo]

listening reading method updates

Some updates because I’ve done Listening Reading Method maybe 10-15 hours within the past week and wow is it worth doing (for me) if done properly:

First some notes of what “properly” means for me: It means I’ve done step 2 at some point (since I’m using all books I have at least vague prior context for whether its this past year or in life I’ve seen them before). It means I do step 2 first. Then I do step 3, with parallel text so I keep my place OR do it in Pleco (doing step 3 in Pleco is strangely super effective for me).

So, I’ve been testing my general listening comprehension. How I’ve tested it: listening to some audio file of a chapter I did with L R method, and see if I can understand it better. So no text aid. Also generally some time gap (at least a few days) between when I did L R, and when I listen to test my comprehension.

Limits of test: this is not new material - I have both prior context of the plot, and doing L R method on the material before means I have intensively studied that audio material with L R method at one point. I’m trying to find some ‘totally unknown’ stuff to test with too we’ll see.

Benefits of the test: its easy to compare my progress, because I’ve listened to these audios many times so I know where my ‘comprehension’ of them was at a few months ago. I can more easily compare.

---

So anyway, has L R Method helped listening comprehension? YES god oh my god. 

I listened to Chapter 9 of Guardian’s audiobook just falling asleep, because I didn’t feel like full on L R Method the chapter (I have done Listening Reading Method for chapters 1-8). I could understand enough to follow the entire main plot and all the main scenes - a few descriptive sentences lost me, but I got all the action-related (touched reached stood cried shouted left side pocket held objects movement and set phrases priest uses for certain expressions), key emotion related (like sad cold warm kind sharp worried investigated pushed shivered and set phrases I remember priest using for certain expressions) details, and got all of the main dialogue (this part context helps for though since words like reincarnation and sundial are fairly new to me and I only understand since I already ran into them in previous chapters I’ve done L R Method with). 

I was freaking FLOORED I could just listen and enjoy the story, so today I listened to chapter 1 again. And YEP - same thing applied. I could follow all of the main plot, main scenes, and certain details. I totally missed the part where he talks about his aunt/uncle but I heard his bad grades, got the letter for a job notice, how he hates phone calls, his plan to go, him getting to the place, what the place looked like and Wang Zheng and all the scenes at the job - so like I mentioned, actions/emotions/real objects being interacted with I can mostly follow. The paragraphs of description background (like Guo Changcheng’s upbringing and how his uncle got him a job) are harder for me to catch everything - I am guessing because there’s more description phrases and less straightforward action=response. (For example - xiao guo sees Lao Wu, they respond, so its easy to follow, or he sees Wang Zheng and faints, or he walks into the courtyard and reads the address - all of these moments directly focus on things and react which is easier to follow). 

For the first time I can say I can listen to just the audiobook and follow it enough to enjoy the plot and what’s mainly going on without any text aid. And I’ve only done the listening reading method for 8 chapters! That’s 40-50 minutes a chapter, around 360 minutes or 6 hours. 6 hours spent Listening Reading Method Guardian, and I already see a huge boost in what I can comprehend in listening! (I also did some random L R method chapters of other stuff so add 1-2 hours - that’s still like 8 hours total... that ain’t much). 

Last time I listened to guardian audiobook without any text aid (a few months ago), I could hear some words I knew and some phrases, and had a vague understanding of when he got to the job (heard courtyard and si ming hao), met Lao Wu (i heard him report for duty), when he talked to zhao yunlan and got generally welcomed, met Wang Zheng and thought ‘he has no feet’ and got scared. No fucking details. The vaguest impression of the main plot mainly because I’ve read the chapter before and knew the scenes coming. But that was still eons better than Before That - around 6 months ago i listened to chapter 1 like 5 times until i could hear some phrases instead of just isolated words. 

This time, I could follow things because I could HEAR what was actually going on, not just because I heard some keywords. I could clearly hear the details about Guo Changcheng entering the courtyard, reading the address and special investigations name, go up to Lao Wu and report in and Lao Wu greet him warmly and excitedly mention how lucky it is he came today that their boss is there! And fawn over how cool the boss is, and all the specifics of the convo with Zhao Yunlan (and half of his appearance like how he’s handsome and heroic looking and had a hand in his pocket and seemed cold until he noticed them and smiled and acted warm and friendly). And all the scenes were like that - like with Wang Zheng I could hear all the details of Guo Changcheng freaking out, eventually noticing her head had been cut and it wasn’t a necklace it was like sewn on and how he passed out. It was soooo much better ToT. The amount of comprehension is sooooo much higher than the last time I tried to listen! It shocks me how much better! This is enough comprehension to actually listen and just enjoy it. ToT

So yeah, I’d say Listening Reading Method, as I’m doing it right now, is making noticeable improvements in my reading skill and listening skill. 

So yeah I’m super curious how listening comprehension is gonna be 20 chapters into Listening Reading Method. 

What I do think this would be good for, if you were studying short term? If you wanted to understand a specific audiobook - doing L R Method with the book until you can listen to the rest. It would probably take a short enough amount of study to do within a month if you already have some skills in the language (since this is with 6-8 hours of study). I saw someone once do SRS Flashcard study based on a show they liked in a foreign language, and within a month they could watch that show they liked without english subs and follow the main plot. I think L R Method with a novel works kind of similar - its intensive study on one story. So within a reasonably short amount of time (10-50 hours maybe, something that can be done within a month) you can get enough comprehension skill of that One story to understand it ok. 

I imagine you need to do L R Method longer, and with either a word dense material (lots of varied vocab) or else multiple stories (ideally different authors and genres), in order to get broader listening skill improvement. Like right now my listening skill in general seems to have improved somewhat... but its more like ‘listening to a show without subs’ is now easier. Not like I can turn on a brand new audiobook and follow it this well. So some slightly easier listening activity is now easier, but for other audiobooks I am probably comprehending more but the listening skill improvement is NOT as drastic as it is specifically with Guardian. 

Testing listening comprehension with materials I have not L R Method with:

Alice in Wonderland (story is shorter/simpler than novel): I can follow it mostly when listening only. I can follow it near entirely (know exactly what’s going on just a few words I don’t recognize) if I’m looking at the video (since it has pictures for context - like watching a show). My listening comprehension drops noticeably if I do NOT look at the video visuals for an aid - since I am used to Alice in Wonderland hitting the original novel beats, not this shorter movie-based version. This level of comprehension makes sense, as its written simpler than Guardian so I should have an easier time following details in this. But lack of context means I have to put more effort into figuring out what scene is what if I don’t have any visual cues. So easier ‘written’ audiobook material is much more comprehensible now (easier than Guardian even since I know most words), but I still need context like an image or prior awareness of the overall plot or else I need to pay more careful attention to follow everything: https://youtu.be/HqCg5y8Nwhg

Sherlock Holmes 血字的研究: Some benefit just like Alice in Wonderland in that I have broad context (I know Watson and Sherlock live and work together to solve issues, Watson is a verteran and doctor). First 5 minutes I can vaguely tell its probably Watson narrating, that he lives in London, that before he might have been injured (I heard bing like sick or?) - I’m truly not sure what happened, and now after 5 minutes I heard ‘great friend’ and ‘touched shoulder’ and ‘gaoxing’ so happy. So I’m guessing Sherlock and Watson are interacting now. What improvement in my listening comprehension I can Notice - is that words stick out, phrases, and sentence structures (like finally, since, therefore, actions). So I feel if I paused I might be able to look up some words I notice but can’t understand, to follow along better. As the 2 of them have their conversation I can catch SOME details and I could probably follow what’s going on IF I had some prior context (like what the general case is about). But I only hear - its a pity, what happened last night, poor lad, fangzi, destination. So i’m not sure if someone died or was hurt or what happened the other night?? But again, conversations seem to be the easiest part to follow. For this particular audiobook I almost feel like if I just kept consistently listening or re-listening, I could understand more... like I probably know more words than I’m catching, but since my brain’s working on trying to catch the main gist plot right now its not grasping any details I might otherwise be able to notice. No prior context of plot, no image - hard lol. Unlike guardian, I cannot follow most of it. But I can catch bits of each scene, most clear are the dialogue parts (but cause I have no surrounding contexts I’m still pretty lost). Also the clear action parts are easier to follow (he spoke, moved, reacted to something). Mostly the lack of context is what’s making me struggle. In the descriptions I hear a lot phrases and words I recognize, but I’m struggling to comprehend them together. Unfortunately context is mostly in the description parts I can’t figure out lol. https://youtu.be/J1sbP6_3680

I suspect an audio DRAMA might be a little easier now. Since they’re mostly dialogue, and dialogue seems to be what I’m finding the most improvement in (from very vague to some of the clearest comprehended parts). I listened to tian ya ke audiodrama a few days ago and it was doable to follow along with - but that was before more Listening Reading Method, and of course my prior context (having seen the show/read part of the novel) means it was muchhhh easier to follow cause I had enough context to guess which scene each moment was supposed to be - so I didn’t have to figure out overall context, just details. 

[theatresweetheart]

Thorns and Arrows

Fandom(s): Sanders Sides, G/t

Prompt: “I’ll take real good care of you, I promise.” With prinxiety? Maybe with big Roman and tiny Virgil? — Asked by @arc852

Summary: Virgil, after narrowly escaping capture by humans who believe his witchcraft is demonic, ends up getting caught by Roman instead.

Warnings: Brief mention of Remus, brief mention of Deceit (Darien), multiple descriptions of blood, disturbing use of language, talk of death, character being treated inhumanely, fear, fainting, crying, swearing, fire. (I think that’s it, but please let me know if I missed anything!)

Pairings: Platonic Prinxiety, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Logince

Word Count: 4140 words.

A/n: So, I actually had a lot of fun writing this and getting to play around with different perspectives and such. Also, a huge thank you to the ever lovely @hiddendreamer67 for being a fantastic beta and helping me edit! 

(Also, as a side note, I decided not to add this into the ask with the prompt, only because it had gotten so long. Adding “Read More” into my asks has been problematic for now, so I might do every long story like this and the shorter ones answered in asks. That is still to be decided.)

Anyhow, enjoy! 

Taglist: @isle-of-gold  (Feel free to let me know if you ever want to be tagged in future works!) 

                                      +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

Life is a cruel mistress, some would say.

She taunts and giggles and gifts more misfortune to the already unfortunate.

To those that had been born into a life with little to no chance of success or survival, she can be loving and kind and extend assistance and a caring hand. Or, she would sit by, watch and grin at the suffering she caused.

Virgil didn’t want to be ungrateful, but as he stumbled through the overgrown underbrush of the forest in a panicked escape from the king’s knights close behind him—with swords and shields and bows and arrows ready—he felt as though he had every right to be sour about his life.

“Halt in the name of the King, witch!”‌ One knight shouted, causing the witch himself to reel and press on forward faster. “You will cease your useless attempt and repent in the Halls of the King before the Royal Court!”

If he had wanted to repent and be dragged back to the court to either be hung or drowned, he would have already turned himself in.

The sounds of his own breathing got loud enough that it was the only thing he could focus on. The blood rushing in his ears, the adrenaline pounding through his veins.

His coven had already been ravaged by fire and death and destruction, his familiar was nowhere to be seen—which worried him greatly—and now he was running blindly through a forest he didn’t know his way out of.

He was in an area of the forest that he had never had the chance to see. A place he had never been taken to, or shown around. He was completely on his own when it came to navigating his way out.

To put it lightly, Virgil was terrified.

The sound of an arrow whizzing by his head, nearly nicking his cheek, made him recoil and duck to the other side, catapulting himself over a fallen log and continuing his sprint.

There was just so much that had gone wrong in such little time. This morning had been like any other morning, quiet, relatively peaceful. He was going to try and spend most of his day perfecting his potions, only for that to have changed within the hour.

How had the knights figured out his coven existed?‌ A false accusation by one of the paranoid townspeople, claiming they had seen another of Virgil’s coven commit a heinous act of witchcraft.

It hadn’t been hard to figure out that the townsfolk were bluffing. It also wasn’t hard to understand that the townspeople didn’t like him or his coven in the first place. They were isolated and kept to themselves a lot, only entering the town square when absolutely necessary. To an outsider, they almost did look a tad too much like witches, but they had never been accused of it before.

There had been rumors, Virgil remembered, when he was little. He remembered staying close to Darien, a hand latched onto the older witch’s jacket as they navigated the town. People would whisper to each other, point and stare, but nothing had ever come of it. It remained only as if it were a whisper on the wind.

There had always been paranoia within the town about the forest and what lurked inside of it, which was understandable.

There were terrible creatures that lurked in the night, searching and stalking for an easy meal. If you didn’t know how to fight back, it would be far too easy to lose. Sometimes, even if you did know how to defend yourself, you just weren’t strong enough.

Some of the animals that did haunt the night were wolves and bats and coyotes and such, but then there were mystical creatures as well; the fae, werewolves, and vampires, which were rare, but there. They mostly lived among the people and not so much in the heart of the woods. It was easier to feed that way.

There were even creatures that were so big they’d be able to swallow a human whole if they so desired.

Now those were the encounters that would strike fear into anyone’s being. Anyone that had a rational head on their shoulders would avoid a giant at all costs.

Then there were the so called “giant hunters”‌ who decided it would be a good idea to go after these massive beings and try to claim fame and fortune.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t likely anyone would return from such a quest.

Not that Virgil felt a shred of pity for them. They had made their choice—no matter how stupid—and it had cost them their lives. So, the only way to go about that was to learn from their mistakes and never make the same choice himself.

The twang of another arrow being loosed caught his attention, but the searing hot agonizing pain that rose from his left shoulder was the thing that shattered every coherent thought in his head. The yelp of pain that came sharply from his mouth made the knights behind him cheer in glee; they had hit their mark!‌ It was only a matter of time now before the witch stumbled and dropped.

While his vision was hazy, Virgil wasn’t letting the arrow get the better of him. He needed to get out of here. He needed to find– to find… find what exactly? What was left for him? His coven was nothing but ashes, his familiar was possibly dead and he was being hunted. It really was only a matter of time before he stumbled to his knees and let the knights have their way with him.

But there was also the sharp resilience that said this isn’t what his family would want for him. The fact that giving up meant losing immediately. The moment one gave up was the moment one lost.

Chancing a glance down at the wound, Virgil saw a steady stream of crimson blood oozing down his left arm, dripping off of his fingertips before it had the chance to dry. He needed to dislodge the arrow, find some way to heal the wound before he bled out…but without a safe place to stop and rest, it was pointless.

Without his eyes on the escape route, he had failed to notice the steep drop down the bank in front of him. Just as his foot caught on a stray root, a sharp cry was ripped from his throat and he stumbled and slid to his knees. Unable to hold himself up any longer, he collapsed to the ground and rolled onto his uninjured side just enough to see the knights approaching him quickly.

The sounds of the armour and weapons clattering got closer and closer, until Virgil could see the three knights standing over him. Looking red in the face and furious, but almost mixed with a horrible look of glee. They got to take what they wanted of him. Torture him, kill him.‌ Anything they so desired.

His chest rose in panting breaths, unsteady but in an almost recognizable pattern. Hazily, his eyes slid over each and every knight, taking in what they looked like. Burning their images into his brain as the last thing he would probably see before they ran him through. He memorized every little detail, including their unbearable grins, sneers and sharp looks that said so much more than words could.

“Absolutely pitiful,”‌ the one to his right said, voice dangerously low. He crouched down, prodding Virgil roughly in the injured shoulder and grinning as the witch hissed at the unwanted and painful touch. “A single arrow takes down the last witch of that disgusting coven. You’d think it’d have more fight. At least a will to live.”

Of course Virgil had a will to live, but surrounded like this, too weak to even try and utter a simple spell?‌ His odds weren’t looking great. But that knight could go and take what little knowledge his fat head carried and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.

“I almost feel bad,”‌ a second voice piped up, cruel and unrelenting. “Get it up boys. Bring it back to the King.”

The first knight got down lower, so low that Virgil could feel his breath against his neck. It was a vulnerable section of skin for someone’s mouth to be hovering over and he was half afraid that the knight would take the advantage to sink his teeth into his jugular. Of course it wasn’t a human move, but it didn’t stop Virgil from worrying about it. He even tried to writhe away to the best of his ability but was stuck in place by the third’s heavy grasp. “The King ain’t gonna be happy with you,”‌ he snarled, “I‌ like to think that your coven got off easy.”

The thought that being burned alive in your own home was getting off easy, made Virgil feel so unbelievably sick that he felt bile rising.

There was no way that Darien and Remus had gotten off easy. Buried under rubble with heat from all sides, heat that you couldn’t escape, that you choked on and eventually made your suffering so unbearable—

Virgil coughed, blood painting his lips. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling heat prickling the back of his eyes. The water threatened to spill, but he fought back the urge. The knights already had enough reason to mock him; he didn’t want crying in front of them to be another.

The first knight grinned wider. He pushed himself away from the curled up form on the ground and circled around to the other side of him. He grabbed Virgil under the shoulder where the arrow was still implanted into it, before seemingly like he had a better idea. “Hold the witch down,”‌ he said to the other two. “Roll it over onto its back.”

As he was pushed onto his back, Virgil’s eyes snapped back open, blurred as they were, and they locked on the first knight. They widened as he noticed the knight’s hand wrapping around the shaft of the arrow.

He’s going to pull it out. It’s going to get ripped out without care or precision.

Doing that, could ruin his shoulder for life. There was only so much healing magic could do when you weren’t skilled enough in the practice. The fact that the arrow itself was going to be ripped out the opposite way it had been shot in made his stomach churn.

“N-no!”‌ Virgil had finally found his voice, but the demand came out weaker than he had anticipated it. The three men above him didn’t seem to care about his protest as the arrow was grabbed half a moment later. “W-wait, please! Don’t— don’t do this!‌ I’ll go back willingly…ju-just leave the arrow alone!”

“So, it talks,”‌ The second knight snarked, his hands tightening on his good shoulder. Virgil’s eyes frantically searched the features above him, the world beginning to darken in his terror. “It’ll only hurt for a few days.”

“Don’t worry though,” the knight said, giving an experimental tug on the arrow shaft, watching Virgil’s pained expressions carefully. “I’m sure you won’t live that long anyhow. So, perhaps, it’ll only hurt for the rest of your miserable life.”

Virgil tried to prepare himself for the feeling of something being torn out of his body, but nothing could have prepared him for the excruciating feeling that rippled through his entirety.

The arrow head had been so far embedded into his shoulder that it had nearly been poking out the other side. It had torn through layers of skin and had caused the wound to enlarge. More blood spilled from the gash and Virgil almost felt numb. So much agony was flushing through his body that he could hardly put two and two together.

He choked on his breathing, blood made another reappearance as he coughed, gagging at the unbelievable amount of torment.

It only made the knights howl with laughter, looking down at the witch. He wasn’t a big kid, in fact Virgil was actually remarkably small for someone his age. His short stature only made it easier for the knights to keep him trapped.

Virgil gasped, trying to find a way to steady himself enough to process just what exactly was happening to him.

Die.

The word was so sudden and startling that he almost couldn’t fathom the meaning of it.

You are going to die.

Everything that had happened in his life was going to be rendered meaningless. As if he had never done anything at all. There was no one left to remember him.

They’re going to kill you right here, right now so the King will reward them as heroes.

He squeezed his eyes shut, tears finally spilling over. He choked on a sob and shook his head, trying to get them off. Trying to get them to let him go. Trying to do something that could possibly save his life. Anything.

You’re going to die and there is nothing you can do about it.

His mind was alive and buzzing, but numb and everything was confusing and he couldn’t see straight, he could hardly breathe. There was so much assault happening to him that his senses couldn’t comprehend everything. From the sharp, stinging pain in his shoulder that was going to kill him if he didn’t get it treated to the electric buzzing going on inside his head from the constant movement and chatter, or even when it came to noticing the quaking in the ground that hadn’t been there before.

Wait.‌‌ What the holy hell was that?

“I didn’t think witches understood human emotions,” the first knight said, snapping the arrow between his two hands and tossing it to the side idly.

He seemed to be the only knight that hadn’t honed in on the difference in the air around them. The way the ground kept shaking in a steady and oddly familiar pattern. It was timed and paced, but shook with a passion. It felt like…like… oh.

Oh no.

No, no no no!

Virgil was too scared to open his eyes, knowing that his consciousness was just barely holding on. It was only a matter of time before it was over for all of them. Seeing through the blood loss and tears wouldn’t help either, but he knew what was coming. He knew that it was way worse than what the knights had in store for him.

“L-let me go!” He grit out, almost trying harder but with his strength failing him, he sounded pathetic.

“Now, why would we do something like that?” The knight crooned. “We caught you and now we’re going to fulfill our duty to the King.”

“No!”‌ Virgil’s voice verged on shrill. “You— you don’t get it!”

The footsteps were getting closer, more prominent. The earth shook with every footfall and the force rattled through him as he was laying flat on the ground.

It was then that the knight seemed to realize what was happening. The first knight was turning to see something he did not want to see.

“What?” The knight barked in surprise, immediately on his feet with his sword drawn. The other two followed suit leaving Virgil on his back, heaving with gasps and anguish.

Just as the knight had gotten the word out, the darkness slid over them, casting the four humans into its shadow.

Virgil knew that it wasn’t a cloud blocking the sun; it was something far worse.‌ Far more dangerous.‌ Something that made him want to be dragged away by the knights and thrown in front of the king. He’d rather that then suffer a death at the hands of a giant.

“Now isn’t this quite the sight,”‌ the rumbling voice from overhead made Virgil flinch further into himself, keeping his eyes screwed shut. He had already memorized the faces of his other tormentors, he didn’t need to see this one too. “The King’s men, supposedly meant to protect the citizens of the Kingdom, attacking one of their own.”

“A‌ witch!”‌ The knight barked, his hold on his sword wavering, terror eating away at his insides. It was obvious how frightened he was, but the stubbornness within him refused to let it show. “It is no member of our society!”

Roman scoffed, his eyes locked on the quivering little form on the ground. “I don’t want to assume, but I‌ would believe the witch would prefer to be addressed as a he not an it.”

The knight threatened to take a step towards the witch again, but Roman moved forward more, to match in confidence and challenge the knight. Giving more of a protective loom over the group of three knights.

“Witch or not, he is still a person,” The giant said, a growl just under the tone of his voice. “Or is that too hard for your bitty human brains to understand?”

The second knight reeled back from that, looking white in the face. His terror was clear to read. The third knight was harder, but the quivering of the blade showed real fear. The knight that was still talking back just seemed to be an idiot.

The first knight met the giant’s eyes, fearless and stupid. “I suppose that means monsters stick together.”

A sharper look filled Roman’s eyes, almost immediately the aura darkened, and he leaned down so much so that they were nearly at eye-level. He hovered just over them to assert his dominance in the situation. To further assert himself, he planted his hands on both sides of the group of knights—even though he was carefully aware of where the little witch was cowering, sobbing, bleeding out and shit I‌ have to deal with these fools quick.

So, he focused all of that irritation and frustration into staring, unwavering, at the knights in front of him. Their swords were nothing compared to him. Humans were absolutely nothing compared to him. “Keep using language like that and I will scrape you across the forest floor like old gum.”

Finally, that got the reaction he had been wanting. He wanted fear, and he wanted them to regret stepping into his part of the woods and torturing an innocent person—witch or not—as if they could get away with it. As unbelievably angry as he was, he knew that he would have to treat the little human and his injuries.

“I’m going to give you a single chance to leave without getting hurt,” he said, voice dangerously low. ‌A menacing snarl that reverberated through his chest and rumbled around them like a thunderstorm waiting to happen. “Get out of here. Now.”

The two other knights had no problem sticking their swords into their sheathes and bolting in the same way they came, their armour clanging together as they escaped. The first knight held his ground, but when chocolate brown eyes stayed locked on him, unrelenting and cold and unsympathetic, the knight felt his heart jump into his throat for the first time. He took an unsteady breath and his resolve shattered when he watched Roman bare his teeth in a sneer at him.

It took nothing for him to scamper off in the same direction as his colleagues.

Now, with the threats gone, he could pay some attention to the witch that was still bleeding out on the ground.

His hands moved from their defensive position, that he had been using to keep himself upright, to one that was encompassing the little human. Curled around the tiny shivering form as if to protect him and ward off any further predators that intended to harm.

“Hey,” his voice was softer, as quiet as he could get it to be without causing more alarm. Perhaps after everything though, Roman would still be registered as a threat because of what the witch had just witnessed. He watched the tiny form flinch away from the sound, one hand moving to cover the gaping wound on his shoulder. “This might not sound all that…reassuring, but you don’t have to be afraid of me.”

The witch gave the tiniest shake of his head in a clear and obvious distrusting “no,” but his eyes remained screwed shut. The human’s hands were smeared in his own blood, the ripped white shirt he was wearing had been stained crimson with the thick liquid.

Biting into his lower lip, Roman let his gaze flicker. The creature was obviously in a great amount of pain and he seemed to be losing consciousness. “I‌ know you have no reason to trust me, but would it help if you knew my name?” Without an answer, he was sure the human was starting to doze but he needed him awake. So, talking to him was the only rational thing that came to mind. “My name’s Roman. I know this is an odd way to meet someone, but it makes for an interesting origin story, don’t you think?”

The witch groaned up at him and for a moment, he thought they were actually communicating, only to be let down—unsurprisingly—when the human didn’t react anymore than that.

While he wanted to get him patched up as soon as possible without moving him, as that could agitate the wound further (or so Logan said), Roman needed to get the human back to his home. There, he had medicines and remedies that would help begin the healing process. And, if the knights were right and the human was a witch, he should know some healing spells himself, too.

Quickly making up his mind, knowing that he couldn’t leave the half-conscious human here by himself to go and retrieve medical supplies, he began to close his hands around the tiny form before pausing. The human hadn’t even looked at him once and Roman didn’t want to startle him by just suddenly grabbing him and hefting him high into the air.

“I’m gonna have to move you, alright?‌ That way I‌ can take you back to my place and my friend and I‌ can get you all fixed up,”‌ Roman chattered at him quietly, explaining his plan while also asking for permission. “That way you’ll be right as rain in a couple days. Will you let me do that?”

The witch made a small noise and Roman was ready to roll with that, when instead it opened its mouth. He held his breath, wanting to make sure he didn’t miss anything important.

“…nuh.”

It sounded like a no but even knowing that the creature didn’t want to be moved, Roman couldn’t just leave it here to die. At least, not in good conscience.

His shoulders drooped and he couldn’t do it. “Sorry little buddy,” he said quietly, the apology doubled as a warning.

It seemed the witch understood that much as the eyes fluttered open lazily. The brown eyes were glazed over, that much was obvious to tell. The little one was watching but Roman didn’t think he was actually seeing. Or if he was even able to connect what was happening right now to reality. The little thing had to be inches away from death and, if worse came to worse and Roman couldn’t save him, at least the human would be in safe company when he passed.

Refusing to let that thought rule his motivations, he carefully scooped his palms underneath the tiny being, incredibly savvy to how he cried out with such a heartbreaking noise. The little one was absolutely petrified.

Heart crawling up into his throat, Roman cupped the human between his two hands and lifted the little one off of the ground and out of its puddle of blood, into the cupped bowl of his palms.

The human groaned in agony and Roman was quick to coo to him, making small comforting noises in the back of his throat. Trying to make the awful situation better as he rose to his feet. “Shh, shh. I know, little one, I‌ know,” he soothed, “I know it hurts but I’m going to get you back home and I’m going to get you all patched up. I’m not gonna hurt you, you’ll be okay.”‌

He felt so horribly guilty that he hadn’t heard the commotion earlier. He knew it wasn’t right to blame himself for this, but he couldn’t help it. Not with how the witch was trying to focus on him, only to let his eyes slip closed.

It looked as though he was ready to accept his fate.

Roman couldn’t let him do that—not without at least trying first.

“You’re okay,”‌ he hushed the tiny human, “no one’s gonna hurt you again. You’re safe with me, I‌ swear it.”‌

Roman looked up briefly to make sure he was heading in the direction that would lead him home, before focusing back down on the form in his hands.

“I’ll take real good care of you.” His voice was nearly a whisper, a silent vow as the human began to drift off into full unconsciousness. “I‌ promise.”

[slimesgeneratorfics]

I’m in a Discord server with @onemoontorulethemall , and they shared a whump idea that held me at gunpoint until I wrote a fic. Thank you for the inspiration for one of the longest fics I’ve ever written!

Title: Of Monsters and Men

Fandom: Rick and Morty

Word Count: 1684

Warnings: whump, serious injuries, uncensored swearing, canon-typical familial dysfunction (Seriously. If you’re not familiar with the show, this means quite a bit of dysfunction.)

Description: Based on the first arc (Issues 1-3) of the Rick and Morty comics, but the bug doesn’t escape the garage and... you’ll see. Read that if you want to catch cool references, but hopefully this works as a standalone too. But also, read the comic if you’re a fan of Rick and Morty. It deserves more love.

It had been three months since Morty had returned home without Rick: three full months without adventures, without purpose, and with one less person around to yell at him. Morty still didn’t understand why Rick had let him use the one-person portal out of that prison maze. Maybe Rick was done with this family and had finally decided to leave. Well, Morty was sick of living like this. He had to do something. Morty snuck into the garage, loaded some weapons into Rick’s car, and took off.

He barely made it past Mars when he was pulled over by space cops. The trial was much faster this time- he had already been found guilty, and this time Morty didn’t hesitate to make a mockery of the court system. It wasn’t that he wanted to go die in space prison, but he no longer had the energy to care about being good. If things went south, it was just one last hurrah for Morty, you know? No big deal.

They sent him to the same prison as before- Clackspire Labyrinth. Huge monsters and swarms of smaller monsters, none of which Morty recognized, attacked. Morty used Rick’s hidden panels to find weapons that made it easy to slice through every threat. He didn’t feel tired. He was fueled by spite and the desire to not die pathetically.

Morty heard the sounds of monsters being slashed around the next corner. This was strange- none of the prisoners he’d seen survived more than a couple hours, and there hadn’t been any new drop offs. Suddenly, a voice:

“WUBBA LUBBA DUB DUB! EAT THAT!” followed by a blast. Rick? It couldn’t be. His mind must be playing tricks on him. Or worse, this could be just another part of the torture.

“Rick” killed the monster and ran around the corner, bumping right into Morty. “Morty? Wh-what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Oh don’t act so surprised. I know you’re just another monster.” Morty raised his gun, but despite himself, he hesitated.

“Says you, you’re probably the monster! Why the hell would Morty be here?” This image of Rick was pretty realistic. He looked human, not robotic at all, and he was clearly scuffed.

“Enough! I’m going to kill you.” Morty fired, and a ray blasted through Rick’s chest. Wow, this thing had blood? This prison did not half ass psychological torture.

The fake Rick coughed and sputtered as robotic needles stitched flesh back together from the inside. The real Rick had tech on every organ to make him essentially unkillable, and apparently this monster was the same. “Don’t… cross me, you piece of shit.”

“I’ll cross whoever I want! You- you think I'm going to give up?”

Just then, the Rick monster fired a ray gun at Morty. To Morty’s shock, the mortal wound began to heal itself in the same way the Rick’s had. He didn’t remember any loss of consciousness between the trial and being dropped into the maze, and why would they have put such modifications in a prisoner who was supposed to die? But to assume that Rick, the real Rick, had installed them made even less sense. Morty was always expendable, nothing more than a human shield.

Morty pushed the questions aside. He was not going to lose now. “Just because neither of us can die doesn’t mean I won’t try to kill you. How about I aim for where it really hurts?” Morty aimed for Rick’s skull.

The ray bounced off, but the impact knocked Rick into a wall. The Rick was shaken, but he stood up. “You really think I would leave my brain unprotected? Maybe you really are Morty, because I can’t think of anyone else who would be that stupid!”

“Of course I’m Morty! Who the hell are you?” Morty tackled Rick to the ground and grabbed his throat.

“Morty, don’t you get it? We’re both here. You- you gotta believe me. I’ve missed you so much. I let you through that portal because I knew the long way would be dangerous, and you- you deserved to go home. I may act above it all, and I am, but you’re my grandson, Morty. I didn’t want you to have to live the labyrinth life.”

Was Rick… crying? Damn, this was a shitty fake. “Y-you’re not fooling anyone, you know? The real Rick doesn’t care about anything or anybody. He had a coupon for a free replacement Morty from the Citadel of Ricks. I- I bet he’s escaped and gotten a new Morty, maybe even- maybe even a new dimension!” Or, Morty thought hopefully, maybe Rick was about to come rescue him and tell him what a piece of shit he was for ending up back in galactic prison.

Well, Morty was done waiting to be rescued. He let go of the Rick’s throat with one hand and grabbed his ray gun, shooting the impostor directly in the heart. The blast didn’t make it far, but Rick lost consciousness from the impact. Morty sat back, still holding the gun. Everything finally hit as Morty’s numbness dissipated. Morty never wanted to be a killer. He didn’t want to live “the labyrinth life.” All he’d ever wanted was to see cool shit in the multiverse and pretend that impressing his grandpa was an achievable goal. Part of him wished this monster Rick could kill him just so it would all be over.

As if on cue, the monster Rick woke up. Shit, now Morty looked vulnerable. Maybe he could think of a way to use that to his advantage if he mustered the ability to be heartless again.

“You alright, little buddy?” Rick asked, as if he wasn’t the one who had just been unconscious.

“What do you care?” Morty replied. “Either you’re a monster and you want to kill me, or you’re the real Rick and you’re waiting to laugh at me.”

“Okay, that’s pretty reasonable considering how I’ve presented myself for, uh… always. But what if it’s neither?” Rick looked at Morty gently - hadn’t this torture been cruel enough? - and waited for a reply. Morty just stared at him, daring this Rick to prove himself.

“What if, and I’m just spitballing here,” said RIck, “What if I’m your real grandpa and I’ve always cared about you? I’ve been thinking a lot over the past three months, and I think I leaned too heavily on the god complex. Just because I’m literally the smartest being in the universe doesn’t mean I have to be an asshole about it, right?”

Morty let out a snort of laughter despite himself, but he quickly redirected into a scowl.

“Yeah, I deserve that,” Rick continued. “You know, back in season 1- actually, I don’t know where the comic fits in the continuity, let alone the - alright, ignoring the fourth wall, one time I was kidnapped by another version of me who wanted to steal my memories because I was against the Citadel and because I was ‘the Rickest Rick.’ And while he was stealing my memories, they were playing on a screen he had. I saw you as a baby, Morty. He was playing my memories of you, and I actually teared up. I denied it, of course, but in that moment I was thinking about how I’d endangered you by bringing you on these crazy adventures and how all our fun might end in disaster. I don’t want that for you, Morty. That’s why I installed all that protective gear in you while you were sleeping. I never told you because I always had to keep up that god complex attitude. I felt like I’d be a better person without my attachments, and I thought that if anyone knew how I really felt, they’d just use it against us. Do you see what I’m saying, Morty?”

“That’s a good try at a sob story, Rick. I’m almost convinced.” Morty looked down at his hands. “But there’s absolutely nothing you could say to me that would convince me that the real you could be that vulnerable.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Rick said, and suddenly Morty heard a blast and everything went dark.

…

“Huh? Where am I? What did you-” Morty’s vision cleared as his consciousness came back. He seemed to be in his room. Was he dreaming? Dead?

Rick walked in. “If I was a monster, I wouldn’t have set the gun to stun.”

“Huh,” Morty considered, “I guess you’re right.” He paused. “Did you mean what you said back there? Do you really care?”

“Don’t talk so loud. This stays between us, alright?” Rick said in a mock-threatening tone.

Morty grinned. He got out of bed and hugged Rick. “I love you, Grandpa Rick.”

Rick returned the hug. “I love you too, Morty.”

Rick stepped out into the living room where Beth, Jerry, and Summer were sitting. “You heard nothing,” he announced.

“Okay, sure thing,” said Summer, not looking up from her phone.

“Is Morty okay?” asked Beth.

“He’s going to be fine. I want- I want to really drive the point home that you did not just overhear a tender moment of familial affection involving Rick Sanchez, smartest man in the universe.” Rick crossed his arms and glared at Jerry.

“Whatever you say, Rick,” said Jerry, clearly disappointed that Rick was back and taking charge again.

“Thanks for bringing him back, Dad,” Beth said. “We were so worried. And don’t worry, your secret is safe with us.”

“My secret is not safe with you,” Rick fumed, “because it’s not with you. You have no secret, capiche?”

“Grandpa, get off her case,” said Summer. “I’m sure you’re the same asshole you always were.”

“That’s right! Rick never learns a lesson!” Rick went out to the front door and seemed to shout at the universe in general. “Rick and Morty a thousand years, no emotional vulnerability! Okay maybe a little, sometimes, but only when lives are at stake! The word count on this thing got really out of hand, but you’re still listening! Fuck the fourth wall! Roll credits and theme music!”

[kintatsujo]

LoZ AU- The Courage of Running Away Part TWENTY-TWO

Hoi hoi go read the previous post if you haven’t!

#AU August

#LoZ AU: The Courage of Running Away

So this is an action scene that's more getting planned than anything so that's how I'm presenting it, keeping in mind I think about fight scenes in kind of video game terms in the first place:

We have:

The Silver Hinox- Informally nicknamed Chekov by Ice.  If we're thinking of it in game terms, obviously he would follow the BotW patterns of being a huge pile of hit points, but flavor-wise I think of him as being a very OLD hinox, so he'd have a more complicated attack pattern of doing shit like grabbing his enemies and trying to throw them, which I actually think would be hilariously fun to see in a BotW mod if someone could figure it out lol.  

Normally I think he'd throw bombs at enemies that were too far away the same as a black hinox, but he's in the Hyrule Castle throne room right now so he cares more about slamming people into walls.  Another thing he'd be doing is wide sweeps with his arms because he's surrounded by a lot of little dudes.  

Serenumbra probably keeps him from happy napping time so he is super, super fucking cranky.

The Pikku- They're still focused on getting to Princess Zelda but also on creating as much chaos as possible; the Scarred Woman is the team mage, the Burly Man focuses on brute force, the Average Middle Aged Guy is a tricksy fighter and Shady Guy and Unsuspicious Girl are both scrappers.

The Royal Guard- Doing their best.

King Aldway, Gray and Princess Zelda-

[Image Description: The Burly Man knocks into King Aldway’s back, causing him to pitch forward and Gray to grunt in pain in his arms.  “Papa!  GRAY!” Princess Zelda cries out.  Aldway twists as he falls so that he’s underneath Gray as much as possible, hitting the ground with a thud, and the Burly Man runs off.  The Scarred Woman suddenly appears behind Princess Zelda and wraps an arm around her waist, summoning a teleportation circle.  “Gotcha,” the Scarred Woman says.]

Queen Zelda- I want you to think of her like a very high level version of Bow of Light Zelda from Age of Calamity; she's deathly powerful but slow, and once she's on the battlefield it takes a bit for her more powerful abilities to charge up.  (I've been slowly getting more ideas on what CoRA WOULD look like as a video game but we're gonna leave that for a supplementary post.)  She's also focused on finding her daughter and husband, so after firing a blast off at Chekov to give Link a head start (Basically think of her as starting out with a full bar of A move) she starts trying to locate Aldway and Zelda in the fray.

Impa- Look don't let Impa being in her 40s fool you, she's an agile fuckin powerhouse.  Absolutely think of her as being on the level of AoC Impa at high level.  Impa wants to find Gray but knows he's probably with Aldway or Zelda Jr if he can help it.  She ends up in a scrap with Average Middle Aged Guy, Shady Guy and Unsuspicious Girl.

(Impa is wiping the floor with them.)

Link- Mad as hell and has fought a blue hinox in the training dungeon from hell, so he goes straight for Chekov and starts hacking at his little legs.  This is not the recommended way to fight a hinox but it's the way he's forced to work for him.  He's also still wearing those power gloves, which in CoRA generally improves his strength in all respects and is the only reason swords would ever have durability in CoRA as a game.  I like to think he shatters at least one in the middle of this fight and has to borrow one off one of the guards.  

(Astramorus, staring in horror, says softly, "I have no right to be afraid.")

Ghirahim-Still getting up from where Eltani's loftwing landed in the courtyard; I actually tend to think that one of Astramorus's handful of "this man is not a COMPLETE disaster" skills is that he's actually very skilled at directing his loftwing and that's why Hera was even able to land on the balcony of the throne room.  (Impa saw that's where the action was and used a paraglider to get the rest of the way in the room.)

Astramorus-has no fighting skills aside from the Bow that's still in Gerudo City (it did get put away properly I swear), so when he sees that Link is starting to struggle with Chekov and knowing that it's his own fault Link even tried to take this thing on with nothing but a sword, he throws a chunk of rock at the back of the hinox's head trying to distract it.

This.  Doesn't go well for him.

[Image Description: A rock hits the hinox in the side of the head with a “SPAK”.  The hinox looks over its shoulder at Astramorus, who is preparing to run.  The hinox spins and, with one hand, straight up punches Astramorus with a BOOM, hitting his entire body with its enormous fist.  “FATHER!!” Link screams.  End ID.]

I am so sorry I didn’t draw this part but this is when Ghirahim finally reaches the fight, and between he and Link the hinox finally goes down.  

Link rushes to his father’s side, and Astramorus is very still, and there’s no fairy in sight-- 

but Link’s been picking up every fairy he could catch since Windfish Isle

[Image Description: Link SLAPS a fairy into Astramorus’s forehead with a TING!, screaming, “DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME NOW!”  Astramorus startles alive, and Link leans in to yell in his face: “WHY DIDN’T YOU HAVE YOUR FAIRIES?!” Astramorus stares at him in shocked silence for a moment, then smiles ruefully.  “...Because I was trying to end BOTH your problems by taking out the prince,” he admits. Link shouts in his face again, and Astramorus hunches his shoulders in surprise.  “YOU STUPID USELESS MAN!!” Link shouts.  Tears begin streaming down his face.  “That’s not how you fix ANYTHING!”  He sniffles, rubbing at his face.  “Stop SCARING me like this!” Astramorus stares at him, shocked, sorrowful, then comes to an internal conclusion.  He sits up better.  “You’re right,” he says.  Link stares at him in surprise as he continues, “So first of all I’m sorry for SCARING you and I’ll try not to do it again...” he now turns away, flushing slightly.  “And SECONDLY I’m sorry I used to call you SOFT like it was a BAD THING.”  Link blushes, and Astramorus adds softly, “I mean you didn’t get CRYING EASILY from your MOTHER.” End ID.]

I was honestly not going to have Astramorus manage a fucking proper apology until the sequel but Link just beat a silver hinox with a sword and resurrected Astra by slapping him with a fairy like one of those old stupid “shoulda had a V8″ commercials, AND Link just managed a proper yell at his dad and got through his whole statement so really it felt right.

Next update we finally get to see Princess Hilda properly so I’m excite!

[love-of-fandoms]

A Bag of Blood, Please (Loki + OC + Bucky Barnes) Chapter 3

Chapter 3 of A Bag of Blood, Please (Master List)

Pairing: Loki + OC + Bucky Barnes (Poly)

Word Count: 1683 words

“Wait, what?” Steve gasped, standing and walking to be right in front of Bucky, a hesitantly hopeful expression on his face. 

“I met my mate,” he breathed out in reply, a dopey smile on his face. Before he could say any more, Steve had trapped him in a fierce bear hug.

“That’s great!” he cheered, squeezing his best friend as hard as he could, and Bucky groaned.

“Yeah,” he wheezed. “It would be better if you weren’t crushing me, though,” he said, and Steve let him go with a laugh. They both collapsed into the arm chairs in ‘the den’ as the space was dubbed, and Steve leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees.

“So?” he asked, shifting excitedly in his seat. “What’s she like?” Bucky shrugged.

“I don’t know that much about her, punk,” he said, and Steve rolled his eyes. 

“Okay, but what does she look like?” he asked instead, and Bucky’s dopey smile made a return.

“She’s really pretty,” he muttered, thinking back to her brown eyes. It almost looked like they had gold flecks in them, and they fit her rounded face perfectly.

“I need more than that, Buck,” Steve laughed, and Bucky rolled his eyes, projecting an image of Mina to Steve’s mind, and his best friend furrowed his eyebrows.

“She’s…” he trailed off, as if trying to think of the right word, and Bucky leaned forward with a grin.

“Yeah?”

“Short,” Steve said, and Bucky’s face fell. “Which isn’t a bad thing! I just wasn’t expecting it!” Steve rushed to amend his statement, and Bucky looked at him with a quizzical face.

“What were you expecting?” he asked, and Steve leaned back.

“In your mate?” Bucky nodded, humming in confirmation. “Well, I honestly expected her to look more like Nat,” he said, and Bucky’s brows furrowed.

“What?” he was so confused, and Steve shrugged.

“I mean, when you took girls out in the 40’s they were always…” he trailed off again, and Bucky nudged him with his foot, gesturing for him to keep going. “Skinnier?” Steve finally grit out, sounding nervous about Bucky’s reaction. “Taller, too,” Bucky’s face pinched, suddenly defensive about his mate, and Steve once again rushed to explain himself. “Not that there’s a problem with short and chubby!” he blurted out, wincing as soon as the word ‘chubby’ left his lips. Probably not the best way to describe someone… “I just thought you had a type,” Bucky’s face smoothed out, placated by Steve’s explanation, and he shrugged.

“I mean, I suppose I did,” he muttered thoughtfully, before smirking slightly. “But the 50s kind of changed me, as far as that goes,” he said with a chuckle, and Steve looked at him questioningly. “I mean, heavier women started flaunting it,” he shrugged, still chuckling. “And I liked it,” Steve smirked suggestively, waggling his eyebrows in a way reminiscent of a teenager and Bucky rolled his eyes. “Shut it,”

“I didn’t say anything,” Steve immediately defended, raising his hands in surrender and widening his eyes to appear innocent, and Bucky just sighed.

“Sure, Steve,” he said. “Whatever you say,” 

Both vampires jumped out of their seats when they heard pounding footsteps approaching. They exchanged worried glances and faced the door, preparing for some bad news, but Laura burst into the room with a huge smile on her face.

“Bucky!” she shouted, barreling towards him and giving him a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you!” Bucky stumbled with the force of her running into him, and gently wrapped his arms around her.

“Um… thanks?” he muttered, pulling away, and Laura grinned. “What’s going on?” she couldn’t know about Mina, could she?

“You met your mate!” she exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. Bucky’s brows furrowed.

“How did you know?” he asked, and Laura stared at him for a moment, a ‘you seriously don’t know?’ look in her eyes. “Oh,” he muttered, realizing she had probably had a vision of it. “Wait!” he exclaimed, suddenly looking at her with accusing eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Laura shrugged.

“You were already gone when I got the vision,” she said, and Bucky groaned.

“You could’ve texted,” he shot back, crossing his arms and pouting moodily, and Laura rolled her eyes.

“Would you have done anything different?” she accused, and Bucky froze, pondering for a moment.

“I… uh…”

“Exactly,” Laura smirked, knowing she was right. She usually was. “You should talk to Loki, by the way,” she said, and Bucky’s eyebrows pinched together.

“What? Why?” he asked, trying to think of anything he had done recently to piss Loki off.

“She’s his mate, too,” Laura told him, and Bucky’s eyes widened.

“What?!” he gasped, looking from Steve to Laura in shock. Steve’s mouth was gaping open in surprise, and Laura rolled her eyes at them.

“It’s not unheard of for vampires to share mates,” she said, and Bucky nodded defensively.

“I know that!” he snapped, before taking a deep breath. “But… Loki?” he cringed, trying and failing to think of how this could possibly work out. Laura rolled her eyes.

“Yes, Loki,” she confirmed, shooting a glare at Steve before he could say anything undoubtedly damning about the god.

“You called?” Laura jumped, a hand flying to rest above her heart, at the smooth accent that spoke behind her. Bucky and Steve tensed slightly, eyeing Loki. 

“Not exactly,” Bucky muttered, and Loki raised a dark eyebrow expectantly. Bucky heaved out a sigh. “I uh… went to the blood bank today,” he started, and Loki nodded.

“Yes, Thor told me of the plan,”

“And Mina-the receptionist-she shook my hand and uh… apparently she’s my mate?” if blood flow was still a thing in Bucky’s body his cheeks would be a soft pink. “And Laura said that-”

“She’s your mate too!” the seer cut him off excitedly, beaming brightly at Loki, who just blinked in surprise, eyes darting between Bucky and Laura skeptically.

“I have a mate?” he asked, voice quiet and surprisingly vulnerable. Bucky and Laura both nodded. “And she’s also yours?” he pointed to Bucky, who nodded again. “C-can I meet her?” Bucky and Laura exchanged wide eyed looks as the silver-tongued prince stumbled over his words.

“So how was your first day?” May asked Peter around a slice of pizza. The boy grinned, perking up to say something, but his grin dulled slightly when Mina sent him a look. May didn’t know about the supernatural, and they both had agreed it was safer that she stayed oblivious. He shut his mouth, pondering before opening it again.

“It was good,” Peter shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. “But I didn’t see babysitting anywhere in the job description,” he shot Mina a small smile, and she rolled her eyes in response.

“I was being nice!” she defended herself with a gasp. “And you had no objections!” Peter shook his head.

“I’m joking!” he rolled his eyes. “Jeez, Mina,” Mina went to say something else, but jumped when her phone buzzed on the table, causing a loud vrrrrrrt to sound through the room. She grabbed it and glanced at the screen, brows furrowing when she saw a text message from an unknown number. She quickly opened the message on the screen.

***-***-**** 18:16

Hey, it’s Bucky

Apparently we need some more bags so I was hoping I could stop by tomorrow?

Sure thing, around what time do you think?

After typing out and sending her reply, Mina placed her phone down again and smiled at May and Peter, who were both looking at her expectantly from the couch across the coffee table from her.

“What?” she asked, tilting her head, and Peter raised his eyebrows.

“Who was it?” he asked, leaning forward a bit, and Mina rolled her eyes.

“Nosy,” she muttered, to which he stuck out his tongue. There was an awkward moment of silence in which May and Peter continued to stare at Mina and she pointedly avoided their gazes. After a minute she sighed dramatically, slouching back. “Fine, it was Bucky, the guy we met today?” she shot Peter a pointed look, and May gasped.

“You met a guy at work?” she grinned, and Mina sighed.

“Not like that, May,” she argued, but the woman was already gone.

“Was he handsome? Tall? How’d you get his number? Did you ask or did he?” Mina quickly cut May off before she could get too carried away imagining Mina having a lovelife of any sort.

“He gave me his number so that we could talk about work!” she blurted. “The bloodbank is the supplier for his… hospital,” she explained awkwardly, and May raised her eyebrows.

“Uh huh,” she nodded, entirely unconvinced. Mina rolled her eyes, and just then her phone buzzed again, saving her from carrying on with the awkward conversation. She practically dove for her phone and opened the message.

Bucky 18:20

Is noon okay?

Sure thing, my lunch break starts around 11:45 so just shoot me a text when you get there, I’ll probably be in the staff canteen

Thank you

Of course!

“So what did he say?” Peter asked excitedly, hopping over to sit next to her on the loveseat and trying to look over her shoulder. Mina had to stop herself from rolling her eyes again.

“He didn’t get enough blood bags so he’s coming back tomorrow,” she told him, shoving his shoulder so he fell back against the opposite arm of the loveseat. Peter clutched his chest as if mortally wounded and May raised her eyebrows suggestively.

“He must want to see you again, huh?” she said, and Mina narrowed her eyes at the older woman. She meant well, but her keen interest in Mina’s lack of a love life had gotten old years ago.

“Sure, May, that’s definitely it,” Mina said sarcastically, rolling her eyes, and May held her hands up in a surrender position, her eyes widening innocently.

“You never know!” she defended, and Mina shook her head, exasperated.

“I am so done,” she muttered, looking pointedly at Peter, who hid a snigger behind his hand.