#him returning in 815 at the turning point of things - and things getting back to ‘normal’

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Sick day potentially being the first of the 2 parter has me intrigued - it’s kind of giving me under pressure or 7.1 vibes!!!

I’m guessing we’re getting some kind of bio terrorism type situation - a pathogen of some sort making everyone sick in LA somehow and Buck and Athena team up to figure out what’s going on (kinda thinking that Bobby might be one of the ones who’s sick - which is why they team up!)

Something something about Buck being in denial and it making him ‘sick’ - making him unwell - possibly physically but mostly psychologically - and he needs to face his feelings - embrace and accept them in order to be well - which he will do by the end of the 2 parter!

[yeonmuse]

BUTTON EYES

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | All Chapters

PAIRING | OT8, MC SEONGHWA

WORDS| 815

GENRE | Coraline au, angst, suspense,

SUMMARY | What happens when Seonghwa returns to the home he was once fond of as a child? This time around making his return as a full adult with the company of friends. Nightmares and old friends return and the button eyes that Seonghwa desperately escaped as a child have returned to haunt he and his friends.

WARNING | Graphic descriptions, mentions of death, ghost children, witchcraft, grsphic nightmares, arson, lost memories

MORE | Based on the childrens novel & Henry Selick film Coraline

Before i go any further i want it to be known i am in no way claiming Coraline as my own. I wrote a concept for a part 2 or spinoff long ago and I just felt that it was time to finally put it to use. I do not own Ateez or any Coraline named Characters in this story but the Storyline is indeed a self made one.

"What about the ghost children he's been seeing..Mingi well Mingi saw one of them too.'' The sisters shared a look.

"They're getting restless, if it has now gotten to a point where others can see them then...the wave is bigger than just Seonghwa now, they've been trapped within this town for years..Seonghwa was the only one to have gotten away from her yet he is still marked, they're waiting for him, they've been waiting all this time.'' Mrs. Spinks voice turned serious.

"Mr. Bobinsky..he said..he said the mice told him that she and the children were still there..still in that house.'' Seonghwa spoke, looking over at yeosang who had now come to realize his grandfather was not crazy nor had he been schizophrenic, the entire time he was simply telling the truth.

"Seonghwa you need to find that necklace, find the key and leave that house immediately.'' Mrs. spinks tone now worried not only him but the others as well. As if a lightbulb had flickered to light in Hongjoongs head he immediately stood from his seat.

"Jongho.'' at the mention of their dear friend every one of them stood from their seat and ran from the door, all aside from Seonghwa who stayed behind for one last question.

"How do I do it...how do i get rid of her..?'' The two sisters looked at one another before giving seonghwa a piece of paper.

"Free the children, find their belongings and once you have that as well as the necklace and the key then you burn that house Seonghwa burn it to the ground and read this incantation. Her bind to this world will be lost and whatever deal she has made, she'd have failed to pull through with her end of the bargain. If others can see the spirits if others can sense their presence than seonghwa you don't have much time, hurry.'' With that seonghwa slipped the paper into his pocket before leaving the house. The sisters both looked to one another before looking back at the door where all of them had left

While everyone else had left to speak with wooyoung and sans grandmother jongho found himself aimlessly walking the halls. Jongho was the only one that wasn't afraid to be in the house alone and well that was only because he didn't believe in any of it, he hadn't really seen anything to make him believe it either. After searching around and finding nothing he decided to go take a shower and freshen up before the others returned to the house. It had felt like hours passed before he finally heard what sounded like a door closing and footsteps outside of his door.

"About time you guys get here can we get food? I'm starving.'' he whined as he made his way to the door only to find that the hallway was empty.

"Okay...you guys are really playing out this whole ghost thing I see . I'll play along.'' Jongho rolled his eyes as he made his way down the stairs. Behind him he heard a set of footsteps again and what sounded like childrens whispers. Okay now he was just getting annoyed.

"You jackasses are seriously playing this out? It's just annoying.'' it was then he heard it again, the whispers and he felt a rush of cold wind brush across his neck that sent a chill up his spine. He then heard a knock and his eyes shot to the stairwell where it seemed to have been coming from upstairs, but as he made his way up there was another knock, this one seeming to have come from downstairs. At this point he was getting fed up. Stomping his way back down the stairs he found himself following the faint sounds of the knock which only ended with him standing at the wall at the bottom of the staircase.

"What..what the fuck.''

His eyes scanned over the wall that seemed to be hiding something behind it, his eyes shot to the bottom corner of the wall where the wallpaper seemed to have been peeling slightly, not thinking anything of it he peeled the wallpaper back revealing a small door that had been hidden behind it, no doorknob just a simple keyhole. As his fingers brushed over the keyhole the door slammed open behind him and ran Hongjoong.

"Jongho get away from that door.'' Jonghos eyes widened, he had thought that they were in here the whole time that this was all some sort of group orchestrated prank or weird roleplay. He thought that they had all been here messing with him but the whole time they were alone in the house.

"Get your stuff, all of it, we're leaving.'' yunho pushed past hongjoong before running upstairs to gather his things, Mingi not too far behind.

[dailyreverie]

Traces

A/N: Thank you so much for your request @moodnoodl3 This was going to be a quick blurb and then it wasn’t becasue I kept picturing the whole thing 💖

#39: Drawing/painting them

Oscar Isaac character week ✨

Pairing: Poe Dameron x reader (Modern!AU, College!AU)

Word count: 815

Warnings: Mature references at the beginning and end .18+ only warning.

***********

Poe’s touch is traveling up and down your bare back as you lay on top of his chest, skin to skin as you breathe in each other filling your body with warmth. You are not sure if you have fallen asleep, or how long you’ve been wrapped in his arms, but it is warm and it is quiet and there’s nowhere else in the world where you’d rather be.

You are pretty sure Poe did fall asleep, though, as his chest rises and falls peacefully and not a sound has come out of his mouth for longer than it usually does; the movements of his fingers along your back could be done by muscle memory alone at this point.

Perking up your head you confirm that, actually, he is wide awake and staring at the ceiling, a content smile on his lips and a relaxed gaze on his eyes. You can analyze him there, from the comfort of his chest you can see the hard features of his face, the curve of his nose, the shape of his jaw, puffy lips from being against yours, the turns that every strand of hair does… all that coming together in perfect harmony, carved by some ancient God by hand. That’s just from an artist point of view, of course.

“Hey” His raspy voice speaks, and you hadn’t realized that he was looking at you.

“Hi.” You say back, not able to avoid the goofy smile on your face.

“You alright?” At his question you simply nod, propping against your elbow to get a better look at him. At how his nose dips at the bridge, and at how his cheekbones sink at the curve of his eyes. It was a tricky face, full of edges that your trained hands had never dared to try to replicate.

A ray of sun hits his eyes then, and the way he looks just makes you laugh incredulously; it’s a work of art, simply put. “You have somewhere else to be?” You ask, your muse suddenly making an appearance in your head.

“I have a lecture in a few hours, why?”

You reach over him to your night stand, pulling out a sketch pad and a couple charcoals from the drawer. “I want to try something.”

“Do art students really just pull out notebooks from everywhere? I thought it was a myth.” He jokes with a laugh included, receiving a hand swatting at his chest in return.

“Are all history majors assholes?” You ask back, feeling his hands grasping your waist as you sit on the bed wrapping the sheet around your torso before leaning to kiss him softly. “That’s definitely not a myth.” You speak against his lips.

“Oh, no, that would be just me.” Poe winks. “What are you going to draw?” He gets fidgety when he notices you are sitting right in front of him, eyes traveling from the paper in front of you to his face.

“Stay put.” You warn him with a quirked eyebrow as your fingers begin to trace the outline of his face.

“Do I get credits for being an art model? A naked art model? I was not warned about this.”

“I’m not drawing your body, Dameron, don’t worry.” Your eyes were focused on the paper, only ever so slightly going up to look at his face, your hands moving his chin around for you to look at the part of his face that needed to be looked up close at.

And he could not keep his eyes away from you, from the way your bottom lip was caught in between your teeth in concentration, from your entire process of grabbing a piece of him and placing it on paper to last forever. Poe felt naked, both literally and figuratively, lying basically underneath you, surrounded by your sheets, and never had he been looked at with such depth before.

“I’m done.” Nesting in between his arm and his chest, you lifted your sketch up in front of you for both of you to see. Poe remained still looking at the drawing of his face. “What do you think?” As you look up at him you see the corners of his mouth lifting. The way he looks at you was now forever captured by your very own hands. “You have a pretty tricky nose, did you know that?”

His hand reaches for the notebook and yanks it to the side as he attacks your lips. “I’m keeping that forever.” He states against your lips, pressing you against the mattress as his tongue chases yours. “I love it.” He states, his stubble against your face making you giggle.

“You really do?” Your excited question makes him look at you with nothing but love in his stare.

“I do.” His rough fingertips began ghosting up and down your body, his lips leaving a trail from your lips to your jaw, to your neck, to your collarbones… “Now it’s my turn to trace you.”

✨✨✨

Thanks for reading! Reblog and comment if you enjoyed it!

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[wolfish-trickster]

Show, don't tell

Loki x female!reader

Word count: 1 815

Summary: your friends dare you to tell your crush how you feel. But since you're mischievious just like him, you'll do it in your way

Warnings: none i guess (besides my bad grammar, but you already know that) and Loki is slightly ooc

Tag list: @gaitwae @lucywrites02 @hard-to-be-the-bard @birdgirl90 @laramoonworld

When you were a kid you saw a little boy at your favourite playground. He never spoke, he only moved his fingers and hands strangely. When you asked your parent, they said it's called sign language and people who can't hear use it to comunicate.

Later in your life you met a girl in school who was deaf and lonely. You wanted to become her friend so you took few classes and learned sign. You two were always together, best friends till the end of the school. You two stayed in contact after you went your separate ways.

That was the past. Now you had another person in your life who knew sign language: Clint Barton. Actually, you taught him sign when he lost hearing in an accident on a mission. You were friends ever since. He introduced you to the rest of the Avengers and they became your friends as well. You began spending a lot of time in the tower, you slept over sometimes so Tony gave you your own room. It was smaller than the rest of the Avengers' and was practically the attic of the tower, but it was cozy and you liked it.

It was a cloudy friday and you just entered the tower. You and Natasha wanted to hang out (and how better than having a sleepover with movies, nail polish and classic girly thing Nat doesn't get to enjoy in her hero time?)

As you stumbled across the living area you heard voices. Most likely coming from the party deck. Strange, Tony didn't mention any parties.

You walked one floor upstairs and saw Clint, Nat, Steve, Bucky and Thor sitting on couches, a single glass bottle layed on the table. Everyone had their heads turned towards the ceiling. You looked up and saw Peter making a giant web.

He sticked a big spider plushie inside and swung himself down to couches. "Alright, my turn."

"What are guys doing?" you sat down next to Thor.

"Playing truth or dare of course," Peter explained as he spinned the bottle.

"We are teching Thor what people do to embarass eachother," Natasha chuckled as she was showing you her pigtails and childish make up.

"Can I join?" you asked.

"Sure, who knows, maybe it will land on you."

The bottle stopped right as Nat finished the sentence. Its openening pointing to Clint.

"Alright mister Barton, truth or dare?" Peter asked.

"For the last time kid, just Clint. Truth, I already picked dare twice. Let's hear your question."

"Alright, ummmm," Peter held his chin inbetween his fingers, thinking. He snapped. "What happened in Budapest?"

Clint and Natasha looked at eachother smirking. This will take a while.

~

After few more rounds the bottle finally pointed to you. Your heart pounded with excitement and fear at the same time.

"So," Steve sat a little straighter, "truth or dare?"

"Uhm...... I'm a big girl, dare!"

"Okay then, I dare you to-"

"How in the nine did that web get there?"

All of you turned to the entrance hall. Loki stood there, arms crossed, leaning against a wall.

"Uuuuuh a giant spider?" Peter smiled sheepishly trying too hard to be believable.

"We are playing a game to embarrass eachother. Join us. It's way more fun than I expected," Thor invited Loki.

Loki shook his head. "I have no interest in games today. Maybe later I shall join," his eyes locked with yours. He smiled softly and waved at you. "Hello Y/N."

You blushed and waved back. "Hi Loki."

The younger prince then turned, walked to Tony's stash of alcohol and found himself a glass.

You smiled to yourself. He ignored everyone in the room and said 'hello' to you. Only you. It felt good being noticed.

You felt stares on yourself. Everyone looking at you. Clint smirked and whispered something to Steve. Both of them smirked (almost mischeviously) as they leaned against the back of the couch.

Steve licked his lips. "I dare you to tell Loki you have a crush on him."

"What? No, no way. I change my mind, I want truth."

"I may be too old for this but even I know that's not how this game works, doll," Bucky chuckled at your poor attempt to get yourself out of the dare.

"But- I can't do that, I mean.... I like him, really but not like-," you noticed Natasha raising an eyebrow at you, "-that. Oh gosh, is it obvious?" you asked as you hid your burning face in your hands.

A loud and clear 'yes' was said in unison. You groaned and pulled your knees towards your chest hiding you even more. "This is bad guys. I can't tell him."

"A dare is a dare, you have to."

"But I can't! I can be glad a god, and a bookworm one, considers me his friend. With admitting my true feelings to him I risk looosing him for good!"

Thor huffed. "Loki is not mean. Well, not THAT mean at least. Besides, worse could have happened. Like that one time he and this maiden-"

"We are NOT discussing his previous love life infront of her!" Natasha interrupted Thor's story.

As they started to argue Clint smiled at you and started signing: *I may be deaf, but I'm not blind. I can see it in his eyes. He likes you and I doubt he will reject you. There is something pure between you two, would be a shame if not explored and deepened. * he winked at you as he signed the word "deepened".

His encouraging words helped you sooth your anxiety. He was right. There is something between you, you just aren't sure if that something is romantic.

You took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm going."

You smirked secretely when all they could see was your back. Oh, you are going to tell him, but in your way.

You found Loki sitting at a bar, book on the table, a glass of wine in his hand. You sat on a chair next to him and tapped his shoulder. "I thought you don't drink," you gestured at his drink.

He chuckled. "Just because I can't get drunk from midgardian alcohol doesn't mean I can't enjoy their taste. Do you want some?" he held out his glass to you.

You put a hand on his own and pushed the glass away. "No, thank you."

You heard a cough behind your back. Those bastards must be watching. Time to confess.

"Actually, Loki I came here because I got a dare."

"And what is that?"

You cracked your knuckles and signed out: *I love you Loki*

You made sure it was visible enough for the audience behind you. From the sound of facepalms and groans, they saw it crystal clear.

Loki on the other hand was completely confused. "Eeeh, they dared you to move your hands in my presence? How is that embarrassing? They clearly never played a REAL embarrassing game."

You shrugged. "A dare is a dare. I did it, now it's my turn. Want to help with my revenge?" you tried doing his signature smirk.

He grinned. "I would love to, my dear."

~

Few days passed since you 'confessed' your feelings to Loki.

Nothing changed between you two, he was still polite and charming as ever and you were comfortable in your role of a friend.

Now when you think of it, he began touching you more, not in a creepy way. He also started to make you cups of tea or hot chocolate whenever you visited or when he accidentally brusged his hand along your cold one. He let you borrow his books and when you returned them he eagerly asked you about your opinion.

Maybe something has changed. Maybe, just maybe, he started catching feelings for you too.

Your mind wandered to Loki again just as you were unlocking door to your apartment after a long day at work. You sighed, taking your clothes off and planing to sleep until it's time to sleep for real.

A giant bouquet of red roses on your kitchen table surprised you. You jumped as you heard Loki's voice behind you. "I just couldn't come bare handed now, could I?"

"Loki! What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I had to see you."

Your heart sped up. "R-really? Well, that's nice but you could've just called, you know?"

"I still have to ask Tony to get me on of those phones. Listen, I.... do you remember that night, when you played truth or dare and you had to move your hands in front of me?"

You smiled at the memory. Everyone was so annoyed you tricked them. Loki would probably be proud of you. If he knew.

"Yes, I do. What about it?"

"Well, uh- could you do it again?" he asked with, what was it? Shyness in his voice?

"Oh, okay," you said and your hands and fingers spelled out your confession once more.

Loki smiled at you softly. He raised his hands and started signing *I love you too Y/N, I have for a long time. Can we, perhaps, be in a relationship? * he dropped his hands and looked at you hopefully.

You couldn't believe your eyes. He knew how to sign? Since when?

"I've been learning ever since that 'truth or dare' night happened. I wanted to know if your dare wasn't putting a silent curse on me."

You stared up at him. "Did I ask that out loud?"

"No, but you had it written all over your face," he chuckled and tucked stray hair from your eyes. "So, now that we know how the other one feels, can I kiss you?"

As much as you wanted to say yes, you had a different idea. "Even though I enjoy the effort you put into the confession, could you say it out loud? You know, just to be sure," you smirked.

Loki chuckled. "I know I fell in love with the right person. I love you darling."

You stood on your toes and your nose brushed his. "I love you too," you softly pecked his lips. His hands held onto your waist as your own snaked around his neck.

When you two parted he rested his forhead on yours.

"Loki?"

"Yes dear?"

"Can you stay here and cuddle with me? I'm incredibly tired."

You felt his lips on your cheek as he led you towards your couch. "I would love nothing more."

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #815: Last Straw (Super Smash Bros Ultimate X Persona 5)

2:12 p.m. at the Isle Defino's Restaurant.........

Pink Female Pianta: (Smiles Brightly at Mario, Peach, Ren, and Makoto After She Place Their Meals Down on the Table) I hope you all enjoy our meals for today!~ (Turns to Mario with a Dark Expression on her Eyes) Especially you, you no good criminal of a plumber....(Went Back to Smiling Brightly Again Before Walking Away) Goodbyeeee!~

Mario: (Chuckles Awkwardly) I see that.... we're....(Puts on a Deadpinned Look on his Face) Still on that phase, aren't we?

Peach: (Groans Which Pinching her Nose a Little)

Mario: (Turns to Peach While Placing his Hand on Top of Her Other One) Are you okay, Peach?

Peach: (Turns to Mario With a Reassuring Smile on her Face) I'll be fine, honey. ('Sigh') I'm just trying not let those Piantas get the better of me. I'd never realized it would be so challenging.....

Makoto: I'd say. I could never imagine getting over it that easily if I were in that position.....

Ren: ('Sigh') Tell me about it. (Turns to Mario) I'm surprised none of this is bothering you in the slightest.

Mario: (Smiles Sheepishly at Ren While Rubbing the Back of his Head Back and Forth) I wouldn't say it doesn't bother me completely. I just try and look at the brighter side of all of this, you know? I even tried not to think too hard on the messier part of the past.

Makoto: (Raised an Eyebrow) How "messier" are we talking about exactly?

Mario: Welllllllll.....For starters, back when Shadow Mario kidnapped the princess and took her to Pinna Park, there were a few eye witnesses that saw the whole incident going. It was practically a golden opportunity to prove the fact that there were two of me and all of this was misunderstanding to begin with. Yet.....They still think I was a criminal.

Makoto: (Couldn't Believe What She's Hearing) My God.... That's terrible.....

Peach: It was.....(Turns to Mario) I'm so sorry I wasn't much help to you during that time around, Mario. I was going scream out for help, but Shadow Mario, who was Bowser Jr at the time.

Makoto: (Nodded While Understanding What Ren is Telling Her) Okay.....

Ren: Yeah......

Peach: ...Taped my mouth shut at last second.

Makoto: But some of the citizens still saw you getting kidnapped during that time, right?

Peach: Yes, but....('Sigh') They were panicking for the most part.

Makoto: And there were no policemen involved?

Mario: (Shook his Head) Not a single one I'm afraid. Didn't make any better when tried telling them everything that happened during that time and even when Junior first tired to kidnap the princess, they kept telling me that I was slacking off and that I should get back to work on cleaning the Island.

Makoto: (Starts Facepalming Herself in Disbelief) I don't believe this......

Ren: I know, right? Their police system are million times worst than the one in our universe......

Mario: That..... wasn't worse of it......

Makoto/Peach: It wasn't?

Mario: Nope. (Turns to Peach) Do you remember those Star Sprites they wanted me to gather to restore the brightness of their island?

Peach: Yeah. You had to go through other worlds to obtain them, right?

Mario: .....For the most part.....There were a few citizens here that had them already. They only gave them to me after I do their chores for them.

Peach: ('Gasps')

Makoto: (Turns to Ren) Ren, is all of this is true?

Ren: Yep. And it's not even the worst of it.

Makoto: Oh sweet, merciful Johanna....What now?

Ren: (Points at a White House Standing on the End of the Dock) You see that house over there?

Makoto: (Turns to the House Ren is Showing Her) Yeah? What about it?

Ren: There these two raccoons who lives over there and they have a crap ton of Star Sprites inside. But the only way to get any of them is to trade them-

Mario: Blue Coins. ('Groans a Little') I remember how exhausting it was to get them all........(Chuckles Lightly) Good thing I got it all over it and made it back in one piece.

Peach: ............................

Mario: Uh.....Peach? D-Darling?

Peach: (Starts Taking a Deep Breath Before Speaking) Let me see if I get this right....You mean to tell that there are raccoons who are living in that house, trading Star Sprites for Blue Coins as a currency....The SAME Star Sprites that were SUPPOSED TO BE USED to restore the brightness of the entire Island.....AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT NO ONE, NOT EVEN THE AUTHORITIES, EVEN BOTHER TO QUESTION THEM AT ALL!?

Mario: .........Pretty much. Yeah.

Peach: .......... That's it. (Immediately Gets Up From her Table) I'mma sue 'em.

Mario: ('Sigh') Peach....

Peach: (Turns to Mario With a Form Frown on her Face) No, Mario! Ever since the day we arrived here, I have tried SO hard not let all of this get me. But after everything they've put you through, even AFTER you risk your life to save them, I cannot sit here and let this slide anymore! Enough is enough!!

Mario: But how are we going to find ourselves a lawyer here? We've never got one the last time we went to court.

Ren: (Already Has a Smirk on Face) No worry, you guys. Makoto and I know someone who can help plead your case no problem.

Makoto: Wait. We do? (Eyes Widened For a Brief Second Before Sighing at the Fact That She Figured Who Ren is Talking About) Ren, we're not asking my sister to come over here to court.

Ren: Ah c'mon, 'hon. She's the only person we know who has any experience being in a courtroom.

Makoto: But what if she already working this remaining week!? We can't just back to Shiyuba and ask her to come with us! She'll decline the offer quicker than you can say-

???: Why, hello my dear little sister.

Makoto yelps while quickly jumping into Ren's arms before turning around to see that it's none other than her older sister, Sae Niijima.

Makoto: Sis? W-What are you doing here!?

Sae: My boss gave me a few days off yesterday. So I decided to come here to spend the rest it with you. And before you ask, I used one of your Dimensional Rings to get here.

Makoto: Oh sis...(Hugs Sae Lovingly) You have no idea how happy this made me~

Sae: (Giggles Softly) Likewise. I'm really happy to see you again, Makoto. (Kiss the Top of Makoto's Head Before Turning to Ren) You too, Ren. I hope you're treating my little sister well as usual.

Ren: (Happily Nodded) Yep.

Peach: Ms. Niijima, I know you've just arrived here and everything, but could you please help us with our case in court?

Sae: (Simply Nodded) Of course I can, your highness. I may be prosecutor for most, but I have learned a thing or two about being lawyer in the paat. So you and Mario-san are in good hands.

Peach: (Gasps Happily Before Grabbing Both of Sae's Hands) Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!~ Is there anything we can do to return a favor!?

Sae: Only if you don't mind having me be a part of your family vacation....(Turns to Ren and Makoto with a Smirk on her Face) And that I get to share a room with Ren and Makoto in the process.

Ren/Makoto: (Eyes Widened in Complete Shock) WHAT!?

Mario: (Chuckles Lightly) You're here already, aren't you? Of course you can be a part of our family vacation! (Turns to Ren and Makoto) You two don't mind having Sae in your room for the time being, do you?

Ren/Makoto: ('Sighs in Utter Defeat') No.......

Makoto: (Turns to Ren) I knew this was a mistake.......

Sae: (Place her Arms Around Ren and Makoto's Shoulder) Oh don't be like that, you two. We should focus on something more important at hand: Winning this case!

One Court Session Later......

'Jail Cell Closing'

Sae: (Standing Behind the Cell Bars With Genuine Surprise Look on her Face) I was not expecting the courtroom to be that stubborn.......

Mario: (Sitting Next to Peach on One Side of the Cell) I can't believe they locked us up in a matter of minutes!!....And call me crazy, but I think this might be my second time coming back to this prison cell again.

Sae: (Turns to Mario) How can you tell this one is yours?

Mario: (Points at the Craved, Written Words at the Top of the Wall) It has my name up there.

Sae: (Looks Up and See the Name Mario on That Said Wall) Ah. What a...... Strange discovery....

Ren: (Sitting Next to Makoto on the Other Side of the Cell) Being in jail isn't too bad. (Crosses his Arms) Got locked up twice in row and I was still fine enough as it is.......(Suddenly Starts Shaking his Arms in a Bit of Fear)

Makoto: (Starts Worrying For her Boyfriend Before Hugging Him Lovingly and Reassuringly)

Peach: (Looking Down at the Floor With Regret on her Face) I'm sorry I put you all into this.... If I didn't thought of suing them in the first place, then none of this would've happened.

Mario: (Places his Hand on Peach's Shoulder) Your heart was in the right place through all of this, dear. It's okay. And besides.....(Starts Blushing While Smiling a Little) I thought it was really sweet of you to go out of your way to do this for me to begin. Even though you...really didn't have to.....

Peach: (Immediately Turns to Mario) But I wanted to do it for you, Mario! You've done so much for me since the day we first place. Whether it's saving me from getting kidnapped, giving me all the support and care I needed, helping me go through my common and personal problems, or everything else in between. All I ever wanted to do is to be there for you too. Because you mean so much more to me than just being my hero o-or my Knight in Shining Armor....(Tears Starts Falling Down From Her Eyes) You're the man I wanna love and be with for the rest of my life.....

Mario: (Heart Begins to Melt by Peach's Words) Oh Peach.......(Gives Peach a Loving Hug) You know just as well as I do that you've done so much for me than anyone thinks you do. Besides my own brother, I wouldn't even be half the man I am today if weren't for all the love, care, and support you've given me throughout the years. Heck, you being here with me at all as already made my day and many others before and after that, all the more special to me and I can't even begin to tell you how much you mean to me too. (Smiles Brightly) But all I know is that no matter what happens, I'll always love you from the bottom of my heart, Princess Peach.

Peach: (Heart Begins to Melt as Well) Mario.......('Sniff') (Immediately Hugs Mario Back Lovingly) I love you too!~ Never ever ever ever ever ever EVER forget that, okay!?~

Mario: (Chuckles Lightly) Of course, dear~

'Jail Cell Opens'

Blue Police Pianta: Alright, troublemakers. You're free to go now.

Daisy: (Pops Out From the Back of the Policeman on One Side) Heeeey, Cuz!~

Luigi: (Pops Out From the Other Side of the Policeman While Happily Waving at Mario) Hey, Bro!

Peach: (Eyes Widened at What is Happening Right Now Along With the Others) Daisy!? Luigi!?

Mario: You two bailed us out!?

Daisy: (Smiles Brightly While Resting her Arm Onto Luigi's Shoulder) Yep! We used the money from the safe whenever one of us get arrested.

Luigi: (Smiles Brightly as Well) We even brought the safe from the home with us the entire just in case. Are you okay?

Peach: (Smiles Reliefly and Brightly) Oh you two have no idea how-

Orange Police Pianta: Yeah, yeah. Tell 'em all about it when you get outside. Now, come on! Out of the cell! All of you!

Few Minutes Later Outside..........

Police Pianta: Now, I hope you five learned a valuable lesson about causing trouble to this town.

Daisy: But.... all they did was trying to sue you-

Orange Police Pianta: QUIET!

Blue Police Pianta: Now, as what I was saying, we'll be watching you, pals. We'll know right away if you start causing more trouble.

Luigi: Uhhh...

Mario: (Whispers to Luigi) They won't do anything, bro. Trust me on this one.

Luigi: (Shrugs) Okie Dokie. (Starts Walking Away Along With The Others)

Makoto: ('Sigh') Well.....That was a lot more eventful than I could ever imagine.

Sae: Agreed. I never thought I would start my vacation here in a prison cell....(Turns to Luigi and Daisy) Has anyone else in the Smash Family actually got arrested before all of this?

Luigi: (Smiles a Bit Sheepishly) Well, Dedede was arrested two years ago for raiding across the Area 51 by Naruto running.

Sae: ........ You're Kidding.....

Daisy: (Giggles Softly While Hugging Onto Luigi's Arm) Nope!~ It was all around the news when it happened. He even got his chewed out by Peach afterwards. It was priceless!~

Luigi: And effective.

Sae: ('Sigh') You know, I'm starting to think our arrest is more meaningless than before.........

Peach: (Sighs While Resting her Head Onto Mario's Shoulder) Well, I'm just glad all of this is over now.

Ren: Tell me about it. Don't know about you guys, but I can really go for a nice, relaxing back massage right now-

?????: RENNNNNN!!!!

And with that, Palutena and Bayonetta, along with all the members of the Phantom Thieves rushes over and hug tackle Ren into the ground one by one. All was right in the world yet again.

@keyenuta

@caleb13frede

@princekirijo

@ma-lemons

@albion-93

@italian-love-cake

@cyber-wildcat

@26shann

@shumakoweek

[bvidzsoo]

War in Love (Part 2)

 Author: bvidzsoo

 Warnings: mentions of blood, injuries, violence and war

 Pairing: Kim Junmyeon x female reader

 Word count: 10, 815

 Summary:    After Commander Kim’s return to Busan, things seem to change. He doesn’t change his attitude towards you, but you start feeling things you weren’t supposed to, he makes your heart beat quicken. But there is war and a group of resistance appears and it just so happens you are part of it. What will happen between you and the Commander?

 A/N: First of all, I’M BACK AND IT FEELS AMAZING! Secondly, yeah I used the same moodboard because I think it fits this part too and the summary isn’t brilliant but what I have written is, hehe, so please read it and give me that feedback all authors love! Enjoy it now! <3

     The second the Commander left, the city turned upside down. Riots broke out and violent fights lead civilians and soldiers to the Hospital, where I was required to treat them. I felt happy hearing the Commander was gone, thinking the Southern army would do something about it, attack his troops and chase them away but apparently a document was written that for as long as the North is at power, they shall not attack each other and the two armies shall work together to keep the peace inside the city. I was outraged when I learned about this but being a nurse, and a woman, I couldn’t do anything about it, only watch as we were being destroyed further.

It was Saturday, a rather chilly day, as the wind blew harshly, one more day until the Commander’s return. I wasn’t counting the days, because I really have no reason to do so, I hate him, but his actions left me confused. What did he want? What did that kiss mean? I wanted him out of my life as quickly as possible but for that I needed him back to sort things out with him. 

I sighed as I walked down the isles in the market, pulling my scarf around my neck and mouth tighter to keep the cold away. People were buzzing around me, sellers shouting to gain the attention of the possible customers. Irene gave specific orders that we needed lettuce, tomatoes, chilly pepper and some apples. It was getting harder to find food as the North was taking it all.

Stopping in front of a cart with various vegetables, I leaned down to inspect them. They had to be clean and perfect or else Irene would send me back after shouting at me for wanting to poison us. Not true, but we don’t question Irene, not when she’s the leader in the house.

“I’d like that lettuce” I spoke up as I pointed my hand towards a healthy looking lettuce. The old man nodded wordlessly as he wrapped it in some newspaper then handed it to me. I gave him the money before placing the lettuce inside my little shopping basket. With a sigh, I turned around and started walking down the isles again, hopeful that there were still flowers growing in gardens. But winter was approaching quickly, killing every seed and flower that was still holding on. Just like the North was doing the same to us. Shaking my head, to get rid of those thoughts, I turned to leave the market when shouting caught my attention. Closer to the center of the market people started gathering around, curious, as there were loud shouts. I shook my head, probably someone said something rude and got in a fight. But before I could take my next step, an all too familiar scream rang through the market as the crowd went quiet. Eyebrows furrowed, I turned around abruptly and pulled the skirt of my dress up to be able to rush towards the crowd. Basket falling from my hands, I started pushing the people away from my way as I quietly apologized, heart beating fast. Pushing past the mass of people I was greeted with the sight of my sister being held by two Northern soldiers as one was pointing a gun at her head. I gasped, fear creeping through my bones. No, I can’t watch this, they can’t kill Yeri too! I won’t let my sister die!

“No!” I screamed loudly, taking off as I ran towards them, “Don’t you dare hurt her!”

But before I could reach my sister, arms wrapped around me and abruptly hauled me back.

“One more step and you’ll have a bullet in your head” The voice behind me said sternly as I felt something cold pressing against my temple.

“This lady was caught stealing food from an old lady” The soldier pointing his gun at Yeri spoke up loudly, eyes wandering around the market before they fell on me, “The punishment is death”

I saw Yeri’s lips tremble as she looked at me terrified, asking for help wordlessly.

“I did it” I spoke up, my whole body shaking with fear for my little sister, “I was the one who sent her to steal. She shouldn’t be punished for it” 

“No, what are you saying!” Yeri snapped with her voice trembling as she looked around panicked. I followed her gaze only to find her looking at Baekhyun who’s eyes were teary and he looked close to fainting. I should have known it was his fault, curse that Byun boy, Irene was right all this time.

“And why shouldn’t she be punished for what she did?” The soldier raised a mocking eyebrow, gun still pointed at my sister.

“She’s just a naive and stupid girl who didn’t know better. Punish me instead” I said after gulping and taking a deep breath.

“She was caught doing it” The soldier shrugged, the mocking clear on his face. My blood started boiling as the fear slowly disappeared and all I could feel was rage towards that soldier, Byun Baekhyun, my sister and the cursed Northerns in our city.

“You could be lying to save this--bloody thief. Is she someone important to you perhaps…” The soldier continued, eyebrows furrowed as a small smile appeared on his lips.

“I said, punish me instead” I spat, anger radiating from my body as I started wriggling around in the hold the soldier had on me, “What are you waiting for, huh? Shoot me already, if you are a big boy, Northern soldier might I add, do it. Pull the bloody trigger” 

I knew I was playing with fire but my hatred for them was too much for me to be able to control, words coming out of my mouth before I could think twice. The Northern soldier’s mouth twitched as he marched up to me, two guns pointed at me now as he glared at me harshly.

“I would shoot your brains out right now--”

“What’s holding you back, huh?” I asked with a mocking chuckle and watched as he looked at the soldier holding me before giving a nod to the other two holding Yeri.

“We are taking this...woman, to jail for going against the law and insulting the soldiers of the Northern army. She’ll get the punishment she deserves--Everyone get lost now!” People jumped when the soldier started shouting, quickly scattering away as they were afraid of them. The soldiers let Yeri go and she fell to the dirty ground as they pushed her harshly.

“Y/N--Y/N!” She yelped, standing up quickly as the soldier holding me started dragging me away.

“No!” I snapped, turning my head towards her as I fought against the grip on my arms, “Go home and don’t step out until I return!”

“But--”

“Yeri!” My shout made her jump as I turned around and elbowed the soldier holding me for pushing me forward harshly.

“Once the Commander returns, you will be dead” The soldier in front of me said, mouth pulled in a smirk. Commander Kim?

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that” I said with a chuckle as he threw me a warning glance as they continued on dragging me to the residence of the Northern army which was two streets away from the Southern one. They wanted to keep close tabs on them and for sure weren’t passing up on an opportunity like this one. 

~~~

   I can’t say the soldiers were soft, because I really wasn’t expecting them to be like that, but they could have treated a woman a bit softer. They dragged me through the headquarter before going through the back garden and then down to the jail. It was underground and it was dark. The air was bad and it smelled like rotten flowers. I was thrown into the first cell, the iron door snapped shut loudly. I hissed as my knees hurt from the fall, I was unable to prepare myself for it as it came so suddenly.

“Look at that” I heard the same mocking voice from the market, “Already on your knees, darling?”

My face went red at the insinuation and I jumped to my feet, turning around to face the soldier. He had dark hair and sharp teeth as he grinned at me, his eyes shamelessly going up and down on my body.

“I never tortured a woman before, there was no need for it, but now--I can’t wait to lay my hands on you” He bit his lower lip before slowly turning around and walking away, leaving my heart beating quickly. 

“Go to hell!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, looking around helplessly. They can’t do anything to me, right? What did they say? Until Commander Kim returns they can’t touch me? The Commander wouldn’t let them hurt me, right? But what if--what if he’s like that too? He was mocking me too with that kiss on my cheek. He’s the same like these men. 

I started shivering at all the scenarios forming in my head and tears were close to falling when suddenly there was a commotion outside my cell. I couldn’t see what was happening as I ran to the iron bars, but hearing it was enough for me to know.

“Get out of my way!” The usually calm and quiet voice, snapped so loudly I was surprised.

“I’m sorry, little Miss, but we can’t let you in here. The Commander is the only one that can grant you a permission...and he’s not here” The soldier on duty spoke with a monotone voice. I leaned my head against the bars, sighing. They won’t let Irene see me, why did she even bother? I told Yeri to go home and don’t leave the house, Irene should have done the same. What have I dragged us into?

“Listen to me, little soldier, tell your Commander I don’t give a damn about his permission. You have my sister in that cell behind you, without a clear reason, and if you don’t want to end up in the cell of the Southern’s jail, I propose you let me pass” There was a deadly pause as Irene suddenly chuckled, her voice melodic, “I bet they can’t wait to catch one of you, Northerns”

There was another pause of silence before keys rustled and footsteps hit my ears. Irene was in front of me in seconds, her eyes big as she gasped.

“I can’t let you in though” The soldier muttered quietly as he appeared beside Irene, looking around cautiously. He’s also risking his job.

“Thank you” I looked at him before Irene could speak up and he only nodded, stepping back to give us some privacy.

“Oh my God” Irene muttered as she extended her hands and took my face in them. I smiled at her, knowing it wasn’t the time to show fear or weakness. Poor Irene, she has to worry about us all the time.

“I’m so sorry, Irene, I swear I didn’t mean to--”

“Yeri told me already” Irene’s jaw went stiff as she looked away for a second, “It’s all that boy’s fault, Y/N”

“I know” I muttered quietly, taking her hands off my face as I held them in mine, “I saw”

“I told you he was bad! But the two of you never listen to me, Y/N! What am I supposed to do now? Huh, you stupid girl! Both of you, you keep acting like a little girl and always going against the North and now Yeri! I can’t keep up with you anymore! I’m worried every time you step out the house that you might be doing something dangerous--” Irene’s voice died out as tears welled up in her eyes, I squeezed her hands for support.

“I promise, I will get out of here untouched” I whispered, showing her a smile full of hope.

“How?” She asked tiredly, leaning her head against the bars.

“I know someone who might help me, just trust me once again, Irene” I smiled, leaning my forehead against the bars as well, “I will be home by dawn”

“Yeri is never again leaving the house alone, do you hear me? That’s a rule from today on” She said sternly and I rolled my eyes.

“She will hate us if we do that to her” I muttered, always on Yeri’s side. She’s my little sister, I have a weak spot for her.

“She won’t, she was the one who proposed and I’m glad she is clever enough to know the consequences” Irene pulled away, and took a step back. She glanced back and saw that the soldier wasn’t looking our way so she grabbed something from underneath her skirt.

“Take it, who knows until when you’ll stay here” I smiled and took the small bread and hid it as I nodded at my sister.

“You better be home by dawn, you hear me!” She pointed her forefinger at me in a warning manner and I chuckled.

“See you tomorrow, sister” I smiled at her as the soldier went to take Irene’s forearm but she gave him a glare and he decided against it. I smiled as I watched her march away with anger, not looking back for even a second. The soldier looked back at me with a small grin.

“Are all of you like this?” 

“Excuse me?” I asked confused, eyebrows raised.

“Commander Kim told me about you, I see your sister is like that too” He chuckled and my eyebrows furrowed at his words.

“Commander Kim spoke to you about me?” I asked quietly, watching the happy soldier.

“He’s my closest friend, we tell each other everything” He chuckled and I watched him surprised.

“Everything?” I asked with a small smile but the soldier only shook his head with a small grin.

“You’ll have to ask him, if you want to know something, I’m afraid” And with that he turned around and walked back to his previous place, where Irene found him. I hummed and leaned my head against the cold bars as I started thinking.

What did Commander Kim tell him then? He spoke of me, why? We don’t even know each other. My only concern right now should be about how to get out of here.

~~~

   As the hours passed I felt colder and colder and more frightened by the shadows the dimly lit hallway was creating. The soldier left me all alone around two hours ago and I had to stay on guard if that disgusting man from the market would return. I didn’t forget to eat the bread Irene brought for me, having nothing to do I found myself hungrier than usually. Humming quietly to myself and walking around in circles, I heard the big iron doors open and jumped. Was it the soldier coming back? There was only one man approaching, judging by the footsteps and the light was becoming brighter. I backed away from the door just in case it was that disgusting man, to be prepared to attack but it wasn’t him. 

My heart involuntary skipped a beat as I saw the man standing on the other side of the iron bars, lamp held high in his right hand and back straight as always.

“Well, well...look at that” His voice didn’t change, no, it was full of amusement right now and his grin didn’t fail to hide it either. There was a sudden flame that travelled through my body and I straightened up, eyebrows furrowed and eyes defying.

“Commander Kim” I greeted him with a cold voice, “I thought you were supposed to return only tomorrow”

“Ah” He chuckled, averting his eyes to the dirty ground before looking back with a playful spark in them, “So you have been counting the days, Miss Bae”

“I was most definitely not counting the days, at least not for your return” I let a small smirk graze my lips as The Commander raised a perfect eyebrow.

“Then why so?” His voice held curiosity as he let his eyes travel over my body. For a reason, I wasn’t as bothered by it like with the other disgusting soldier.

“I was counting the days to keep my spirits up thanks to your absence, and to know for how much longer we’d be free of your unpleasant presence here” I spoke loudly and sternly. His face fell for a second but he masked it quickly with a cold face. He nodded and grabbed for something from his pocket.

“Very well, Miss” He nodded to himself as he opened the iron gate with the keys, “I came with good intentions but your attitude is ruining my good mood”

“I bet you must be tired after traveling all day, why bother coming here?” I asked curiously, watching closely as The Commander walked further inside the cell, looking around as if he was searching for something.

“I had to see it with my eyes…” He chuckled as he shook his head, “I knew you were reckless but I never imagined you’d land yourself in our jail”

“I had to do what I had to do” I shrugged and looked The Commander in the eyes as he stopped in front of me at an arm’s length distance.

“I heard about what your sister did in the market--”

“Don’t bring Yeri into this!” I snapped, my heart quickening out of fear, “I did it, everyone else is just--”

“Lying?” The Commander interrupted me with a sigh, “I think that’s a bit hard to believe”

“Who are you going to believe, Commander Kim?” I raised my eyebrows, taking a small step toward him the gap between us still big though, “Them...or me?”

His eyes searched my face as I refused to break the eye contact. No one will hurt Yeri, I will protect her with my life if needed.

“I must believe myself, Miss Bae, as I do not wish to see you here for any longer” The Commander said after a long pause and a cough.

“What does that mean?” I asked confused, watching as his lips pulled into a cheeky smile.

“It means you are free to go home--” My face lit up hearing his words but I knew there was a catch, he wouldn’t let me go just like that, “But I’m afraid you’ll have to go on a walk with me”

“Go on a walk with you?” I asked with my eyebrows raised, “I refuse to be seen with a Northern soldier”

“I thought after a week of my absence you’d forget about your prejudice of us” The Commander chuckled and I sent him a harsh glare.

“I will never forget that, Commander Kim, so don’t even bother thinking of that again” I said sternly and the man standing before me only hummed.

“Well then, you must go on a walk with me, Miss Bae” A smile appeared on his lips as I watched him warily.

“If I accept to go...will you let me out and forget about this incident?” I asked quietly as The Commander was quick to nod.

“Yes, I will” I hummed after looking at his serious expression. He was being honest. I guess going on a walk with him won’t be that bad, I’ll get to ask about his actions before he left. 

“Goodnight then” I bowed my head a bit before hurrying away as both doors were left open. Leaving the underground jail, I saw that there was no one guarding the main gate, which is weird, so I quickly fled the place walking home as fast as I could. Dawn was approaching quickly and I made a promise to Irene I was not gonna break.

I decided to head home following the path on the beach as the ocean always did wonders and calmed my nerves, released my anxiety. These times were trying us, breaking the weak ones and scratching the strong ones. I’m afraid we will run out of ingredients if the Northern soldiers keep coming to our Bakery for food and on top of that, they are robbing us of all our food. The market isn’t as full as before, those who used to have now they rather keep it to themselves. If it wasn’t Mrs. Young, we’d be on the roads right now. What a scary place they are in times of war. 

I was surprised to see light coming from the kitchen window. Weren’t the girls sleeping already? Or did they leave the light on for me? It is a habit of ours, after all, to leave the light on if one hasn’t returned home before everyone goes to bed. Entering the house quietly, I sighed contently as I pulled my shoes off and let myself enjoy the warmness of the house. That cell was indeed cold and the breeze didn’t help in warming up. I headed to the kitchen with the intention off blowing out the candle light but I jumped at the figure sitting at the table.

“Y/N!” Yeri exclaimed quietly, probably to not wake Irene.

“What are you doing still up, silly girl?” I chuckled as Yeri ran into me, engulfing me in a tight hug. I caressed her head to my chest, as I’m the tallest of all the sisters, I tower over them.

“I was so worried and scared, Y/N” She whispered into my chest and I sighed as I let my chin rest on her head.

“I should give you a beating now, but I’m just glad I got you out of trouble” I muttered and Yeri quickly pulled away and looked me in the eyes.

“I’m very very sorry, I promise, I really do, I will never again see Baekhyun. If you say I can’t leave the house until I turn forty, I promise I won’t leave the house” Yeri spoke quickly, her hands squeezing mine.

“Let me guess...Irene told you that, didn’t she?” I asked with a chuckle and Yeri smiled finally, nodding her head.

“Well, I’m not Irene so how about...thirty?” I arched an eyebrow and Yeri chuckled as she nodded her head.

“Just don’t tell Irene” I giggled as I pulled her back into a hug.

“Why did you do it?” I asked quietly as Yeri only sighed.

“Baekhyun hasn’t eaten for two days...his grandmother is sick...I wanted to help him” Yeri whispered, eyes casted down as she pulled away and took a step back.

“Listen to me, Yeri” I placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, “Tomorrow, while I’ll be at the Hospital, somewhere at noon, tell Irene I asked you to bring me some food. I will speak to Mrs. Young before heading there in the morning. You go there and take the food Mrs. Young gives you and you have twenty minutes to go to Baekhyun, give him the food and come back. Okay? Irene musn’t know or else I’ll be grounded for life, unlike you. Okay?”

A wide smile graced Yeri’s lips as she quickly nodded her head, giving me a tight hug, “You are the best Y/N! I’ll head to bed now”

“Yes, you better go and rest” I nodded and watched her run off quietly, headed upstairs. I went to take the lit candle with a sigh before I headed upstairs. Tomorrow will be a long day.

~~~

     Indeed it was a long day. Taking care of patients was never easy, rather tiring and draining. But it was my choice to be a nurse and seeing people heal and get better and better day by day always brought a smile on my face, made me happy that I helped them feel that way. I was saving people, and in times like these, it felt like a beacon of hope. 

My shift neared its end as I checked up on my last patient for today, an injured soldier. The one who I promised to save and bring his fiance to him.

“You are getting better and better day by day, Soldier Ahn” I said with a smile, putting the injection away.

“All thanks to you, Nurse Bae, I’m very grateful. I can’t wait to see my fiance” I chuckled as I looked at him.

“From those letters, she’s getting rather impatient as well...but at this rate, you’ll be able to go home in two weeks” I grabbed my tray and headed to the door.

“Thank you, Nurse” I bowed my head a bit before leaving the room. Walking down the hallway I greeted Nurse Kim and went into the supply room to place everything back to its place before I changed into my regular clothes. Just as I adjusted my skirt, there was a knock before Nurse Park poked her head inside.

“Your shift is over, right?” She asked, her voice quiet. I nodded as I pulled on my long coat.

“Yes, why?”

“There’s a Commander waiting for you at the entrance, he asked me to tell you” My eyebrows furrowed as I watched Miss Park, heart picking its pace up. Commander? Is it...no, it can’t be, right?

“I’ll use the back door so that I--”

“Y/N” Miss Park only ever uses your name when it’s something serious, “Don’t make him angry, he asked me to see you out and make sure you arrive in five minutes--we’ve got two minutes until he bursts in here himself and I know you won’t like that at all”

I looked up at the ceiling as I took a deep breath and slowly pushed it out, “Okay, you go do your job, I’ll go and see him”

“He said--”

“I don’t care what he said, Sooyoung, just go” I muttered as I brushed past her and quickly ascended the stairs, indeed seeing Commander Kim’s back turned towards me. I took a deep breath before approaching him.

“I heard you were asking for me” I said with a neutral expression as I watched a small smile appear on the Commander’s lips.

“Good evening, Miss Bae” He went to grab my hand but I quickly placed it behind my back as I straightened myself.

“What do you want?” I asked with eyebrows raised.

“Your shift is over, isn’t it?” He acted like nothing happened, the smile still plastered on his lips, irritating me to no end.

“It is, why?” I replied with an exasperated sigh and the Commander nodded his head.

“Let’s go then”

“Where?” I asked confused, watching him as he placed his cap back on.

“Home, of course” The Commander laughed as if I said something funny.

“You have no home here, so what are you--”

“Your home, Miss Bae” His expression tightened at my words, no smile, but he played it off as nothing.

“I can walk home on my own too, Commander” But as if he was deaf to my words, he went and opened the hospital door for me, standing there with another smile on his lips as he stared at me expectantly. I bit my lower lip as the cold breeze came inside and started walking, not wanting to make this longer than necessary.

Once we were walking down the street, the Commander walked close to me, looking around as the lampposts illuminated the dark streets.

“I don’t want to be seen with you, Commander, so if only you’d stop following me--” But it seemed like I was speaking to no one once again as the Commander chuckled before glancing at me.

“Since when are you someone that cares about others opinions? Anyways…” He cleared his throat and placed his hands in his pockets, “I was called to Pyongyang for some military services. My father also wished to congratulate me and wanted to hear an update about how things are here, but I know he just actually wanted to see me. He won’t admit it, but I know he worries about me and my brother. That’s why he probably won’t let him come here with me--”

“Why are you telling me that?” I asked with eyebrows furrowed as I looked at him.

“Why?” He sucked in a breath as he glanced at me, but didn’t answer. I huffed as I looked away from him and hurried my steps. He chuckled as he quickly caught up again, leaning a bit too close for my comfort.

“May I know why you were arrested while I was absent?” He asked with a cheeky grin and I rolled my eyes as I stopped walking and turned towards him.

“You still ask, as if you don’t know already” I snapped, crossing my arms in front of my chest, “I was caught while I instructed someone to steal for me, what a shame, isn’t it? I wasn’t having a good day…”

“Really?” The Commander smirked as I threw him a glare before taking off again. He continued walking by my side and it was quiet between us. We took a curb and arrived in the street my house was at. I bit my lip as I tried not thinking about the memory that’s been bugging me all this time. I thought I forgot about it already. I was supposed to! So then why did my heart start beating so fast?

“Why did you kiss me that night?” I finally blurted it out, feeling my cheeks heat up. Wait, am I seriously blushing? Oh my God, what is happening to me?!

“Oh” The Commander sounded surprised as he scratched his neck, “I mean--”

I cut him off as I abruptly turned towards him, “Don’t ever again touch me, did you hear me?”

“I’m not carrying any disease around with me--”

“I said” My eyes widened as I stared up in his eyes, “Don’t ever again touch me”

The Commander stared into my eyes as I grit my teeth together and he huffed quietly, “It was just a good luck kiss, a kiss between friends”

My mouth opened in a quiet scoff as my eyebrows rose. After a minute of the Commander watching me, an amused smile graced my lips, “Friends?”

I asked lightly and I saw as his eyes started sparkling but before he could say anything, I made sure to ruin his enthusiasm, finally letting my disgust and outrage show.

“I could never be friends with you, Commander Kim” I snapped, my eyes glaring up into his. I watched as his eyebrows furrowed and head tilted.

“You are a beast, killing innocent people, I will never be friends with someone like that” I declared clear and loud, coldness dripping from my voice. The Commander’s jaw suddenly tightened as the spark disappeared from his eyes and he leaned down a bit to be eye level with me.

“Beast? You think--I didn’t lose people?” His eyebrows rose as I opened my mouth, but he didn’t let me speak, “I lost my soldiers, my friends I grew up with, in that ambush your army dropped on us five months ago!” 

The friendly, calm and smiling Commander Kim was gone and now was standing in front of me someone I haven’t seen before. The Commander was always nice to me, no matter how rude and harsh I was to him, but now, there was fury in his eyes and his jaw was tensing more and more. I felt a shiver running down my spine at the darkening look in his eyes but I didn’t let it show, I didn’t take a step back like my instincts were telling me. I won’t show weakness to him.

“My brother was about to--” He gulped as if it was hard to say the word, “die. If my father wouldn’t have come in time, he--”

My heart clenched as the word died in his throat, because I know what he was saying. I understood the weight of his words because I almost lost Yeri. I understood the pain and fear felt just at the simple thought and I almost reached out a reassuring hand for him.

“So you have no right to tell me those words, because, you are beasts as well” He snapped and I glared back at him, gulping down my sympathy for him as I felt a fire burning in my chest. He’s making us the beasts now, huh?

“Are we really the beasts?” I raised an eyebrow as I stepped closer, with my back straight as I maintained eye contact with him, “Who started this bloody war? You! You started it and have the audacity to call us beasts? When all we did was defend ourselves! If only you weren’t so greedy for power, money--”

“Greedy?” The Commander’s voice rose as he stared at me with a mix of shock and anger, “My people are dying because of poverty. You shut us out when we needed you! You turned your backs on us, you the South, when we asked for help! If you would have helped us out when we asked for it, there would be no war right now. You started it by turning your backs to us”

I huffed, feeling offended but there was a small voice in my head asking me if this was true. We were told a different story, so who lied to us?

“So let me get this right, Commander Kim…” I pretended to think as the Commander’s eyebrows furrowed, “You are making us the bad guys now? Turning it around, lying, to be seen in a better light? Is that what you were told in Pyongyang to say when you return, Commander Kim? You want to make us feel guilty so that we give you everything before you destroy us all?!”

A smile appeared on the Commander’s lips, but it was far from being friendly. It looked malicious, and for the first time I felt afraid of the Commander. He was a commander after all, and he could do to me anything he wanted and no one would come to my rescue.

“Now, Miss Bae, your choice of words are rather offensive and I think you forgot you are speaking to a Commander, which might be my fault as I have gone easy on you. If you know what’s best for you, Miss Bae” The pause in his words, in his threat, made me shudder visibly, “I suggest you choose your next words carefully, unless you want to be arrested for assaulting a Commander verbally and then shot, for not respecting your higher ups. Until you fight for your country like a man, show me some respect!”

The fear went away the second his last sentence left his mouth. Until I fight like a man? Does he know what it means aiding all those hurt soldiers? Watch them hopelessly as I can’t do anything to save some? To stitch up what they have damaged? Does he know the weight of having to stay at home and make food and pray this would be over? It might not be enough to compare to holding a gun and killing the enemy, but it’s just as important as his job. The fire in my chest only fueled me to say more, my heart beating fast, knowing I was really testing my luck and the Commander’s patience and limits.

“If fighting like a man means getting rid of all the scum Northerns, I would gladly anytime hold a gun and--” The words died in my throat with a loud gasp and I was harshly pulled into the Commander’s body, his grip on my forearm so strong it almost brought tears in my eyes.

“Shut up until I’m asking nicely” The Commander’s growl was quiet as his body heat radiated onto me, but I heard his words perfect clear. I wasn’t gonna let him win this argument and my mouth spoke before my brain would give him permission to let the words slip through.

I rosed on my tip toes, leaning closer to the Commander, our lips closer than ever as I watched him in the eyes with the darkest glare I could produce, “The next time an attack occurs, Commander Kim, I hope you die. I hate you”

If my words hurt him, he didn’t show it. Another dark smirk graced his lips as his next words left his mouth, “If I die, this city burns down with me, Miss Bae”

My heart picked up its pace again as I harshly stepped back, pulling myself away from him, his words ringing in my head. The Commander turned around and stormed off as his hands formed into fists. I looked ahead in the dark, hands shaking and breath shaky as I felt light headed, his words constantly ringing in my head. I was on the verge of breaking down when I felt a gentle hand grip my arm. I jumped and squeaked as I turned around only to see Mrs. Young with a frown on her face.

“Mr-mrs Young?” I whispered confused as she just nodded and starting pulling me after her, “Did you...did you hear...that?”

She only nodded wordlessly and I took deep breaths to try and calm myself down but my eyebrows furrowed when we walked past my house. 

“Mrs. Young--” She shushed me as she lead me down our street to her house, quietly pulling me inside after her.

“Is everything okay--” I asked confused when she opened the basement door and I saw the light on and heard voices. She nudged me forward softly and I cautiously descended the stairs as Mrs. Young followed after me quietly. My eyes widened when I saw at least ten men in the basement, gathered around a table. The room went quiet as they stared at me curiously and I stared back at them confused.

“Nurse Bae Y/N is joining our resistance group” Mrs. Young affirmed loudly and I looked at her confused.

“I’m what?” I asked with wide eyes.

“From today on we will help the Southern army to get rid of all the Northerns from Busan at the command of the Colonel, you will report to me personally and I shall give the informations to him” Mrs. Young spoke loudly and clearly, back straight and eyes narrowed. It was like someone changed the old and nice lady who lived down the street by the beach. 

“First we shall speak of everyone’s role in this resistance” She placed a hand on my back and ushered me further inside, “Y/N is an important piece in this, she shall never be hurt. You will protect her at all costs all the time, but before that...let’s speak about our next step. A riot.”

~~~

     My mind felt hazy and chest hard. I couldn’t tell about the resistance anyone, not even Yeri or Irene. I was the chosen one, the one to help, and no one else was to know. If even a little word got out, we’d all be killed by the Northerns either way, so because of that we needed to be quiet and subtle. The meetings weren’t planned, they would be held at random times, in Mrs. Young’s basement. We’d be informed by an old men who sells apples daily while going from house to house. It was our way of communicating for now and since Minseok was part of it, we were never allowed to speak about it outside or anywhere given. It was easy to take my mind off of it when I was at work, but when I was at home I felt like a filthy liar for keeping it a secret from my sisters. We have sworn after we lost our mother as well that we will not keep secrets from each other, no matter how important or crucial they are. But I realized, by telling them, I would only place them in more danger than we already were.

For the past four days I haven’t seen nor heard from the Commander, it seemed like he finally understood my wishes. It felt weird to not have him breathing down my neck every second, but after that one week of his absence, it wasn’t that weird at all. I felt quite more at ease, if I ignored the pressing on my heart thanks to our harsh argument that night, but it was easy to pretend nothing happened. My spirits were lifted and my patients noticed it as well.

“What’s got you smiling for the past days, Nurse Bae?” Soldier Ahn asked while I checked his blood pressure.

“Oh” I chuckled as I shrugged and went to take the injection shot, “Nothing specific, I’m just in a good mood”

“Perhaps…” He grinned cheekily as I gave him the injection, “Could be because of your partner?”

“I have no partner, Soldier” I huffed as I placed my things on a tray and went to leave the room, “Don’t wonder about me though, I think you’ll be good to go in less than two weeks”

“Amazing news to hear, thank you Nurse Bae” I bowed my heat at the soldier before leaving his room and going to the supply room. Just as I was about to wash the tray and injection flask, shouting echoed down the hallway.

“Nurse Bae!” The voice got louder as it got closer. Alerted, I quickly exited the room only to find a nurse running towards me.

“Come quickly, we need all nurses” Eyes wide, I quickly took off after her as she lead the way to the entrance of the Hospital.

“What happened?” I asked panicked, almost running into a patient that was standing by the wall as she saw we were in a rush.

“There was a riot in the market!” Riot, in the market? Oh no, the resistance group already started it! Why was I not informed, what if Yeri or Irene--

“The Commander was also injured and--”

“What?” I exclaimed, eyes going wide as we finally arrived to the entrance. Soldiers and citizens were laying on stretchers, moans echoing in the hallway. Some looked badly injured some only scratched a bit, but there were at least twenty people in here. Before I could lose myself, I looked around, eyes searching for one person only. The Commander.

“Y/N!” I heard a masculine voice screaming for me and I turned around, to find Dr. Oh with his eyebrows furrowed leaning over a man, “I need your help, now!”

I quickly rushed to his side, just as Dr. Zhang rushed past me with Nurse Park by his side, and my eyes widened at the sight. The Commander was lying unconsciously on the stretcher with blood smeared everywhere on his uniform. 

“Come, quickly” Dr. Oh’s voice was breathy as he started pushing the stretcher towards the back door, where the operation room was, other two men helping him. I was rushing after them, heart beating fast as I watched the Commander’s bloody face. No, I wished for this. If he dies…”This city burns down with me”, no, he can’t die! My heart tightened at the thought and I slammed the doors closed as The Commander was placed on a bed.

“Come here” Dr. Oh pushed a white cloth into my hands as I stood opposite him, “Push it against his wound, I need to stitch up his forehead”

With shaking hands, I ripped his already damaged uniform open and gasped at the wound. His shoulder was all purple and bloody as I looked at it, “Dr., the bullet is still in, I need to take it out”

“Take it out then” Dr. Oh muttered as he carefully but quickly started stitching the Commander’s forehead. I took a deep breath as I took in hand what I needed to take the bullet out and tried to control my shaking hands. The bullet wasn’t in too deep so it was easier to take it out than most times, but my shaking hands made it seem difficult. Once it was out, I quickly cleaned it up with a wet cloth and poured some alcohol on it, disinfecting it. The Commander’s brows were pulled in a frown as if he was feeling everything. I stitched up the small wound as Dr. Oh went to inject some painkillers and a sedative.

“He’ll be fine but he lost a lot of blood, my best guess is he was first shot and then hit in the head…” Dr. Oh sighed as he looked at me, “He was brought here in time or else…”

I gulped loudly as I glanced back at the Commander, before straightening my back, “I’ll go now help the other nurses, they need me”

The Doctor just hummed as he washed his hands in the sink behind him but spoke up loudly, “Thank you for putting aside your prejudice and helping me”

I bowed my head before I rushed away, I felt no prejudice this time, only dread that the Commander could have died.

~~~

   The night was hard to get through, my mind didn’t let me sleep. All I could think about was the wellbeing of the Commander. When was he going to wake up? Was he going to even wake up? Dr. Oh said it was nothing too serious, but he lost a lot of blood. He needed to rest then, a lot, in order to recover fully. The next day I felt like a zombie, I had to be up early and working until night, and not sleeping all night did not help at all. 

It was noon and I was quiet as I checked up on an old lady that was at the market when the riot broke out. She broke her arm when she fell and had some wounds on her legs.

“When can I go home, Nurse?” She asked quietly as she gazed up at me.

“When your arm heals” I answered with a small bow before I walked to the next bed, but the doors of the salon opened and Nurse Park walked inside with a sour expression. I raised my eyebrows at her while I checked the temperature of a sleeping little boy. “Come here” She mouthed as she looked around the quiet salon. Most were sleeping while others reading. I walked up to Miss Park and raised my eyebrows at her.

“I’m asking you kindly with all of my heart,” She said with an annoyed whisper “go and change Commander Kim’s bandages”

“What” I asked confused, I wasn’t assigned to him, “Why?”

“Because he refuses to let any other nurse touch him and he’s been throwing tantrums all day long and I’m just--” Miss Park rubbed her temples as she looked back at me, “I’m tired of his bloody attitude, what’s he? Five? So I’m begging you, Y/N, just go and do it”

“But I--”

“No, you will go right now” She pointed an accusing finger at me as I sighed.

“Okay, I will go” I muttered and took the tray she pushed in my hands and took of towards the Commander’s room. Suddenly my heart started beating faster and my fingers twitched as I gripped the tray harder. Come on, Y/N, he’s just a patient and you have to check up on him. This is your job, Dr. Oh said so already, suck it up woman!

I knocked on the door quietly before entering it. The Commander was sitting on the edge of his bed and I made eye contact with him before quickly averting my eyes. He kept his eyes on me as I placed the tray on the bed and gulped. His torso was naked and I haven’t seen a man naked before, it was quite hard to not stare at his well sculpted body. He was looking ahead as I hesitantly reached for the bandage around his shoulder and wound. My eyebrows furrowed as I realized I was acting like a foolish little girl and cleared my throat as I started working. I undid the layers of bandage and once it was off, threw it away. I took some alcohol and cleaned the wound once again, The Commander didn’t even flinch, but his jaw was tightly set. I took the clean bandage and started rolling it around his wound, shoulders and lastly torso, to secure it. I felt my cheeks warm up when I had to lean closer to him, his body heat rather inviting. I stiffened when I accidentally brushed over his abdomen muscles with my fingertips. Once done, I quickly straightened up and took a step back, feeling like I could breathe again. The stitches on his forehead seemed okay so there was no need to check those more thoroughly so I picked up my tray and took two step to exit the room, before I abruptly stopped. My heart was beating like crazy and I bit my lower lip nervously.

“I’m sorry” My voice seemed too loud in the quiet room as I turned to face the Commander again, “For wishing for your death, I--I didn’t mean that, I really didn’t. It’s an awful thing to wish someone that and I clearly wasn’t thinking straight that night” 

I searched for his eyes but he refused to return the eye contact. I felt a pang in my heart as I quietly waited for a reaction from him.

“We both used harsh words that night, Nurse Bae” I expected his voice to be warm and friendly, like always, but it was cold, like mine when talking to him. I looked up to the ceiling before I abruptly turned around and left the room, slamming the door shut behind me. His cold response took me by surprise, I didn’t know how to react but I did know that I didn’t like it.

~~~

   The Commander refused to stay for longer in the Hospital so he was escorted back to the mansion he’s staying in and Nurse Park was assigned to visit him daily with Dr. Oh. It bothered me for a bit, that the Doctor chose Sooyoung instead of me, but I think he still thinks I’m against the North, which is true, but I wouldn’t refuse in taking care of the Commander.

I was glad when I finally took off my nurse uniform and walked home, hurrying a bit as the breeze was cold tonight. The sky was dark as clouds covered the stars and moon. Cold days were ahead, winter approaching faster and faster. 

Once arriving in front of my house, my eyebrows furrowed at the bouquet of red roses. I looked around but obviously saw no one. Who sent this? Was this perhaps for Yeri from Baekhyun? No, it can’t be, that boy has no money and roses like these cost a fortune. Perhaps, is there a suitor for Irene? Picking it up, I entered the warm house and walked inside the kitchen with an amused smile. Irene was baking some pie while Yeri’s hand was furiously writing something.

“Who has a secret admirer?” I asked loudly, catching my sisters attention.

“A what?” Irene asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

“That’s not from Baekhyun” Yeri muttered with a pout and Irene threw her a warning glare.

“Well, I found this in front of our door, they are really pretty” I said with a smile as I smelled them. A little paper caught my eyes and I picked it up and turned it around. My smile faltered as my eyes read the words, Commander Kim Junmyeon.

No, I don’t need these. With a scoff, I walked to the dashbin and threw the bouquet inside with the little note and angrily stormed off. Why is my heart beating fast? Probably because I threw some beautiful flowers away. I took my shoes and coat off before storming back to the kitchen. Yeri and Irene looked at me wide eyed as they both stopped giggling, Irene holding the big bouquet while Yeri slowly lowered the note and plastered on a serious face.

“I threw them away for a reason” I snapped, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Irene and Yeri locked eyes before running up to me.

“Come on! These are too beautiful to be thrown away!” Irene giggled as she smelled the roses.

“Yes, but I--”

“I’m really sorry about what happened that night. I accept your apology, Miss Bae, and I hope you can accept mine through these roses. Commander Kim Junmyeon” Yeri read in a mocking masculine voice and I glared at her.

“I only have one question” Yeri muttered after stepping back when I tried to snatch the note, “I thought you hated the North but here you are, getting flowers and a note from...The Commander himself, we deserve an explanation, don’t we?”

“We do” Irene nodded her head innocently and I huffed loudly, snatching the bouquet from her hands.

“I hate the North, they are evil and I had an argument with the Commander, there’s nothing else you need to know” I snapped before snatching the note from Yeri and walked up the stairs to my room, unable to block out Yeri and Irene’s laughs.

~~~

     The Hospital was quiet as I strode towards the supply room to have lunch. Irene cooked some food yesterday and she packed me some this morning before I could leave. I usually just ate whatever the Hospital offered for us, but today I was feeling rather unwell and decided a homemade meal would be better. The bouquet of roses and the note made me feel a bit uneasy. Why did he not tell me that in person? Why did he send the roses if he could have just sent a simple note? I didn’t want to keep it, but when I woke up in the morning the bouquet was placed inside a vase with water and on my desk, it must have been Irene. Why are they so calm about it? It is from a Northern soldier after all, they should be outraged or worried! Why are they taking it so easily? I feel like I’m going mad with all these questions and the resistance, the resistance I am part of caused the injuries of the Commander, he could have died, and it would have been my fault as well. So if I hate him and the North so much, why does this thought bother me so much? 

“Miss Bae?” I jumped at the voice calling for me from behind, “Y/N, are you alright?”

I turned around to find Minseok poking his head inside the room, “Sorry, have you been calling for me for a long time?”

“Not really, you seemed lost in thought though” He muttered with a small smile and I hummed as I walked closer to him.

“You can come in, you are a nurse too, Minseok” I chuckled as I watched Minseok shily open the door widely.

“Yeah, Sooyoung told me not to come here anymore...she said” His eyes narrowed as he made air quotations, “This room is for girls only and I might see and hear things I wouldn’t want to”

I chuckled as I shook my head, “Yeah, Sooyoung says many things that aren’t true, this is a supply room not a ladies restroom”

“I told her that, anyways…” He glanced around before taking an apple out from his pocket. My eyes widened as I was confused for a second.

“I heard you haven’t eaten since eleven in the morning, this apple would do good to you” He smiled as he handed me over the apple and I took it warily, eyebrows furrowed.

“Indeed, I’m quite hungry” I muttered as I glanced down at the apple.

“Well, I’ll see you around then, Y/N” I bowed my head as Minseok left the room.

“Take care” I called quietly before I glanced down at the red apple. Tonight at eleven there’s a meeting at Mrs. Young’s place, great, another sleepless night for me.

~~~

   Irene and Yeri went to bed and I offered to clean the kitchen and living room in order to be able to sneak out. There was a curfew ever since the Commander returned from Pyongyang and people weren’t let out on the streets after ten o’clock in the evening. Just perfect for me to get caught. Dusting off the counter for the last time tonight, I pulled on my coat and placed a scarf around my head to protect it from the cold breeze and to aid me from being easy to be recognized. Mrs. Young’s house is literally down the street, soldiers usually don’t walk around this part of the neighbourhood, there’s no way I will get caught. But still cautiously, I locked the front door and took of towards Mrs. Young’s house. I was confident I won’t get caught because of the reasons listed above but my heart jumped to my throat when I heard the voice.

“Stop right there!” It was loud and clear in the dark and quiet night. Seriously, fifteen more steps and I would be inside Mrs. Young’s house!

“What do you want?!” I asked loudly, playing oblivious to this soldier as I stood with my back towards him.

“You do know it’s past curfew, Miss Bae, right?” I hissed at the amused voice and turned around abruptly.

“And you do know you are not supposed to be out of bed for two more weeks, Commander Kim, right?” I raised an eyebrow at him as he walked closer to me.

“You need to give me a serious reason, Y/N, because I caught you and I will have to take you to jail for not following the Northern rules” The Commander’s voice got quiet as he was a few feet away from me.

“As if I would--” I stopped myself before I could start another argument, the scarf slipped down from my hair and I sighed, “I just wanted to take a walk on the beach, there’s thoughts troubling me and a walk on the beach under the moonlight always helped me”

“We shall walk together then and this way you won’t get in trouble” He offered me his arm but I just looked at it dumbly, “I promise not to speak or bother you”

But you are the one already bothering my thoughts, Commander.

“Do not worry Commander, I’ll just head back inside” I cleared my throat as I knew I was no doubt late to the meeting and I probably won’t be able to attend it as I’m sure the Commander won’t leave the street for a long time, “I don’t want to trouble you furthermore. And you should rest as well as you are seriously injured, Dr. Oh wouldn’t be too happy to hear you’re out of bed late at night and out in the cold, Commander”

The Commander bit his lip as he stared at me underneath the moonlight and I gulped as I bowed my head a bit and sidestepped him to walk back to my house. However, a hand on my forearm, much more gentle than last time, stopped me from leaving as I was pulled back barely space between us.

“You know, the letter I sent--” The Commander’s voice was quiet as he looked into my eyes, “I meant those words”

“I did not read the letter, Commander, nor did I keep the flowers” I blinked a few times, trying to mask my lie. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it’d jump out of my chest anytime. The Commander’s eyebrows furrowed and he licked his lips angrily.

“Why do you keep pushing me away, Y/N? You keep hurting me, using malicious words, and you know the effect they leave behind yet you still do it and--it’s hard for me, because I--I--” My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at the Commander confused, heart beating fast as I anticipated his next words.

“Because I have never felt this way before for someone, I like you, Bae Y/N” His words left a deadly silence between us. I opened my mouth to fire something back at him but the words died in my throat, the rapid beating of my heart was all I could hear. He was staring at me expectantly and I sucked in a sharp breath of cold air and straightened my back. Don’t let them affect you, you can’t show how you feel. Not to him, because you should feel nothing in the first place.

“Commander Kim Junmyeon” My voice was ice cold, no emotion flowing through and the Commander’s eyebrows furrowed, “You are just a soldier from the North, who took away whom I loved most. You mean…” I gulped as our eyes connected, “Nothing to me”

The frown was gone from his face as it showed anger now. It all happened so quickly, I couldn’t even pull back in time. Two hands holding onto my neck as I was pulled forward, lips pressed against soft lips. They were warm and it felt weird, I have never kissed anyone on the lips before. It felt...good. 

My eyes widened realizing this was Commander Kim Junmyeon I let kiss me and I abruptly pulled away, his eyes wide like mine once we both opened them. His mouth opened to say something but my palm collided with his cheek before he could do it.

“I-I-I--” My hands were shaking as he held his cheek with a hand and stared at me stunned, “I told you not to touch me ever again, Commander!” 

I took a step backwards and shook my head at him when he stepped forward.

“Y/N--”

“Miss Bae?” My head whipped around at the sound of Mrs. Young’s voice, “Are you alright, my dear?” “Yes, she was just wandering around and I--” Mrs. Young coughed and threw a glare at the Commander who shut up instantly.

“I’m afraid you are not Miss Bae, are you now, Commander?” I quickly pulled the scarf around my head again as I rushed to Mrs. Young’s side.

“Come on dear, you should give me my injection, you know these old bones won’t hold on for long without it” She muttered as she took my arm and threw a last glare at the Commander before pulling me after her. I could still feel the flesh of his warm lips against mine and my heartbeat seemed to be going crazy as it wouldn’t slow down. The Commander kissed me on the lips, he shouldn’t have done that.

“You were late so I knew something must have happened” Mrs. Young muttered as she lead me inside her house.

“Mrs. Young, you…” My eyebrows furrowed as she opened the door to the basement, “You saw nothing, alright? That--thing--meant nothing to me”

“I have no idea what you are talking about” Mrs. Young threw me a cheeky grin as we ascended the stairs to the basement. Once down, the attention was on us until Minseok cleared his throat.

“Now that Miss Bae joined us, let me inform you of what will happen” He stood up as he folded his hands in front of him, “I heard Doctor Zhang Yixing talking to Lieutenant Choi yesterday about a surprise attack the army is planning for the North. They will need the Hospital to help them with supplies and nurses. However, they will need us there as well”

“We will be the distraction” A man with deep voice spoke up and Minseok nodded as he looked around the room.

“However, the distraction must target Commander Kim as he is the head of army here in Busan” Mrs. Young cleared her throat and all heads turned towards her.

“Y/N will be the perfect distraction for the Commander” My eyes widened as I looked at the old lady alarmed. What is she saying? My heart felt heavy as the men in the room started agreeing. I can’t do that! I can’t lead someone on and then just...kill them! I’m a nurse, I save lives not take them away! I can’t hurt the Commander because...because...I like him.

My wide eyes looked at Mrs. Young in realization and I was ready to beg them to not use me, no, I can’t hurt him. Not after tonight, not after everything.

“The Commander hates me” My voice was a lot steadier than how I felt right now, “I will not distract him, so there’s no use to using me in this mission”

“A woman can charm any men she wants, you are pretty and smart, Miss Bae, you are our secret weapon in this secret mission” My heart sinked to the floor at the words of the man.

“The North is going down!” Minseok suddenly exclaimed and the rest of the men chorused after him.

Do I want them to go down? Yes. Do I like Commander Kim? Yes. Can I let them go down then? No.

~~~

Part 1

[voidendron]

Outnumbered, Outgunned

One-Shot, 1′566 Words Star Wars/JSE Egos Crossover

doing a bit of backtracking to during the Galactic Civil War (mostly just because I wanted to write a battle scene during the war); the AU is mostly set after the Empire fell, though. In other words, while Jameson was still an Imperial officer for the AU. This fight’s what cost JJ his voice - also, this serves as a good reminder why JJ and Jackie (former Rebel pilot) hate each other so much to start the AU off. they /really/ don't get along ^^"

Warnings: Violence, Minor Character Death, Major Character Injury Characters: Jameson Jackson, Minor Characters

“Where is Colonel Sil with the rest of his men?”

Only frantic shaking of heads and scrambling for buttons answered. Then, “We don’t know, Sir; communications are down!”

Voices started drowning each other out with shouting, chaos, noise Commander Jackson couldn’t make himself heard over.

“—has infiltrated the perimeter!”

“—speeders incoming—”

“—lost another signal—”

“That is enough!” No one heard. They were too loud, too panicked. Setting his jaw, Jackson pulled his blaster from his hip, pointed skyward, and shot a bolt into the ceiling. “Silence!”

Finally, finally, shouting fell quiet. The troops at Sil’s outpost were undisciplined; they’d never expected to be attacked and panicked at the first sign of such an event. Jackson would need a word with whoever put Sil in charge. He’d heard good things about them when they were the ones leading an attack. Clearly, the same didn’t apply when roles were reversed.

“Now.” He holstered his blaster, cast a cold glare through the room. A few stormtroopers, but otherwise the rest were unarmored and outgunned. Most of the ones Sil had left behind worked on computers, save a few troops left behind to patrol the halls and protect the perimeter. The now breached perimeter. They would be on the outpost soon.

The intercepted transmission had been a trap. Of course it had been a trap—Jackson and the two hackers who had accompanied him to Sil’s outpost had even warned the man!—but the thickheaded colonel wouldn’t listen. He needed to lay off on his trigger finger.

“Are base intercom systems still functioning?”

“Ah…yes, Sir.”

“Good, good.” He cut toward the man who had spoken. His boots clicked in the silence to have fallen over the command room. “Until Colonel Sil returns, I am in charge.” He reached for the comm but paused as he saw the looks a few of the men were giving each other. His mouth twisted into a frown.

“Sir, you command spies and hackers, not—”

“As I am aware. Do you have a better idea, soldier?” No answer. “Then this will have to do.”

Three cadets were ordered to strip their armor plating, leaving only the black bodysuits beneath. They were given what blasters and explosives they could carry without making noise, then helped into the ceiling vents by troopers. They were to try and outflank the enemy when they made it into the halls, catch them from behind, try to move positions before they were pinpointed and start it over again.

“Try not to get yourselves killed,” Jackson ordered.

A fourth woman, one of Jackson’s hackers and also small enough for the vents, stayed behind. For now. The information that needed to get to the higher-ups was being uploaded to a small drive that she would take with her into the vents. She would hide away in the ceiling with it, wait until she could safely leave the vents.

If it came down to it, the computers themselves would be destroyed to keep the enemy from getting to the information on them. It would take too long to wipe the files—they could easily miss something. That drive needed to stay safe, as there may not be anything left from the computers otherwise.

Jackson punched the intercom button, leaned down, listened for his voice to echo through the outpost. “This is Commander Jackson. To all stormtroopers still on base: Gather explosives and hide yourselves. Ambush the insurgents from behind and change position before they have a chance to fire on you—”

“Guerrilla tactics?” Jackson couldn’t see the speaker’s eyes beneath his cap, but he looked skeptical. “That is the enemy’s—”

“And it has worked for the enemy before, has it not? We’re limited on men and firepower. This is the only chance we have if we want to hold the outpost until Colonel Sil returns.”

“It has to work.” A heavy trooper was nodding. She’d been injured in a mishap, left behind by Sil because she couldn’t walk properly with her leg so banged up. She would’ve been a liability to him and the rest of his troops. That worked out for Jackson. An explosives expert, good.

He sent four men to gather blasters, explosives, whatever they could get their hands on to bring back to the command room. He had the injured trooper squeeze into a place she would remain unseen unless the insurgents were right on top of her. She would shoot from there, and be the one to destroy the computers if it came down to that. They needed her firepower, but they also needed her out of the way.

Maybe Jackson didn’t know how to order troops for a battle, but he did know how to treat something as espionage-turned-sabotage. A spying mission gone south, think of it that way. Ambushes and well-timed explosions were the only way to get through this.

The outpost shook. Jackson’s hacker took the drive and scurried into the vent. The enemy was upon them.

Deep breath. Sil would return soon. He had to.

The four returned from their collecting, handed blasters off to those who had been unarmed, offered explosives to the few stormtroopers in the room.

An older human leaned over a computer (Jackson couldn’t recall his operating number but knew he’d served the outpost since its formation), watched it with a careful eye. Then, “The west wall has been breached. The insurgents are here.”

Jackson ducked behind the center control panel, held his blaster to his chest.

An astromech wheeled past him, to which he nudged it with a foot and jabbed a finger to the other side of the room. “Get communications fixed. Now!” It chittered and obeyed. He could only hope it got them fixed soon.

Another explosion.

“They’ve made it into the south wing, but it seems the cadets and other troopers have them slowed down.”

“Only temporarily,” Jackson reminded. “They’ll keep advancing until they reach us. We can only hope the cadets and troopers in the halls have thinned their numbers.”

More banging, explosions—Jackson could hear the blaster fire, now.

“Approaching east wing.”

“Don’t let them destroy that mech. We need those communications!” The room shook violently. “They’re here.”

The explosion to tear through the door took out one of their troopers. The rest of the room opened fire.

The insurgents were left scrambling to avoid being shot.

They hadn’t been expecting much of a fight from this room. They’d only expected a few troopers, while the rest would be mostly computer workers. Defenseless, that’s what they’d anticipated.

Jackson glanced to the stormtrooper to his left. He tipped his head toward the blown open door. “Roll a grenade through it,” he ordered in a low whisper.

Another explosion soon after the trooper obeyed.

Blaster bolts nearly hit the working droid. Jackson grit his teeth and growled, raised his weapon, peered around the terminal, opened fire. “I said protect that mech!”

Nine.

He could count how many of their men were left in the room and the Rebels just kept coming. They were down to two stormtroopers. The rest were the computer workers.

Eight.

Jackson cursed as his blaster was shot out of his hand. He clutched his hand to his chest and tucked himself behind the terminal. Wait for a weapon to become available.

With bared teeth he watched the trooper nearest to him fall.

Through blaster fire, Jackson lunged and rolled for the next terminal, wrestled the blaster out from under the downed trooper.

Seven.

They were dropping, one-by-one. They had one stormtrooper left, the one hidden out of view, but she wouldn’t last much longer. None of them would.

Six.

Jackson’s remaining hacker was gunned down by a particularly pissed off Twi’lek Rebel.

The droid started chirping, spinning—communications were back online, but only temporarily. Jackson lunged for the next terminal, hissed through clenched teeth as a shot connected with his leg.

Five.

He reached blindly for the comm and pressed the button down from behind the terminal; hopefully his hand wouldn’t get shot. The signal was weak—the droid wouldn’t be able to hold it for long.

“This is JSE-815—we are under attack! We require immediate assistance, I repeat—argh, no!” A blaster bolt hit the astromech, ending the transmission short. They could only hope the fleet above the planet had caught it before it cut off.

Four.

Jackson and two others were forced to back up, back toward the center of the room, as the enemy closed in. The officer could only grit his teeth as he forced his injured leg to cooperate with him.

“Sir!”

The remaining stormtrooper threw her bag of grenades; one of the others caught it just as she was shot straight through the visor on her helmet.

Three.

The three who remained backed against each other.

“Drop your blasters,” Jackson ordered.

“But, Sir—”

“Take and arm as many grenades as you can. We must destroy the room; we can’t allow the enemy to reach the computers. Don’t allow them this victory.”

The other two glanced to each other, but nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

They rolled the grenades so they would remain unseen through the smoke. Rolled them toward the computers, the entrance, the shorted-out astromech.

One of the Rebels noticed only too late when he kicked one of the rolling explosives toward a wall.

“Grenade! Get d—”

Boom.

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 75

AKA “Nest Of The Yuan-ti”

Adventures in Taggeriell

Session 75  (Date: 13th December 2019)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Varis”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

Nil

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by Travis>

Summary

- Toilday, 9th Pharast in the year 815 (Second Era). Late Spring.

- The party begin this session, in the early evening, within the dusty ancient tomb of Diderius.

- Spending some time exploring two connected rooms now that the battle with the tile Chimera is over. They explore the pool chamber room, examining and trying to decipher the function of the room but to no avail. After Sir Krondor risks his life by jumping into the black waters of the pool, he discovers the large claw marks of an unknown creature on the surface of the pool walls and he quickly exits the waters. After splashing water all over the stone floor of the chamber, Trenchant drops the stone bucket into the pool to block the smaller feed hole on the bottom of the pool, fifteen feet below the surface of the water.

- The party move back to the strangely shaped long chamber, that Varis “discovered” when he was rolled into it by the trap. Eight large ancient tapestries hang from the walls, their colour and designs long since faded away. A single stone door, and a pair of large stone double doors lead on from this chamber.

- As Trenchant approaches the set of large double stone doors, he hears a voice in his head. He tells the party about the voice, warning him that they must offer humility in the manner of Mystril. The party discuss this and some of them recall that the followers of Mystril, the Goddess of Arcana, Magic and The Pursuit of Learning, sometimes performed a ritual by bowing low down, head lowered, with a lit lantern held above. This ritual was supposed to show the humble seeker of knowledge using the light of truth to find their way.

- Trenchant uses a lit lantern and performs the gesture near the double doors, as he does so, from around the room,  the muffled sound of low, crackling voices come from behind each of the eight tapestries: “You may pass.”

- The party look around the room, nervously, unsure of what lays behind the tapestries.

- Varis speaks, “Do we want to look behind the tapestries?”

- Trenchant, Sir Krondor and Labarett each respond in unison, “No!” and the party quickly move through the stone double doors into another chamber. A stone throne sits upon a massive dais resembling a floating cloud concealing a golden sun. Standing next to the throne is a twelve foot tall, regal figure dressed in gold armour with a flowing red plume from his golden helmet. This figure stands near a single stone door. On the other side of the room are another set of double stone doors. The golden figure points to a small pile of treasure and a voice bellows “Ye who seek Diderius’s insight must first furnish tribute, that Diderius might work his mighty magic. Lay such tribute at my feet or depart.”

- One by one the party each place a valuable offering down before the figure and then after failing to get the figure to answer any other question, they proceed through the single door near where it stands. The figure allows them to proceed.

- Moving down a set of stairs the party enter a long rectangular chamber. Three solid stone tables are here. An open archway has more stairs going downwards, with dried blood visible at the top. A single stone door lays at the far end of the chamber. Six bearded devils are seated or standing around the room, some are wearing large oversized travel robes with hoods, others have discarded the robes onto the floor. They are all looking at the bloody stairs leading downwards, and only momentarily turn to look at the party silently before returning their gaze to the downward stairs.

- The party look at the Devils silently in confusion. Trenchant speaks softly, “OK, this is weird.” He hails the Devils and the party enter into a strange dialog with the Devils. They can speak Common, but badly, and just keep repeating that they must kill anything that comes from the bloody stairs. The party deduce that these are the large strange figures seen travelling with Varram The White and are under his control, by order of the Archduchess of Avernus, Lady Zariel, the planes of Hell.

- The party are not able to obtain any useful information from the Devils as they can not speak Infernal and the Devils only know a limited amount of Common. The party decide not to go down the bloody stairs but instead move through the single stone door and find themselves in a large chamber that holds a single curved circular stone pool, which is currently empty but stained black. A stone channel leads from one wall towards the pool. A dead body of a Cultist, with one single wound to his heart lays near by. Broken stone arrows with strange markings lay all around the floor.

- The party explore and search the room and deduce that the black pool in the other chamber must channel water into this stone basin. The party decide not to go back and try this but instead move onwards through a set of large stone double doors. As Trenchant and Sir Krondor approach the doors they both hear a voice warning them not to disturb the resting place of Diderius. Trenchant uses a spell to disguise himself as a Cultist.

- Carefully and cautiously the party open the doors and move into a rectangular chamber lit by braziers that flicker with green flames. A massive stone sarcophagus sits atop a stepped stone dais. The plaster walls are decorated showing unknown figures and strange scenes.

- The party enter and once again Trenchant uses a lantern to hold above his head and bow down low, speaking out that they seek the great Diderius.

- The ancient voice of Diderius, with no emotion responds from the sarcophagus. The party learn that Varram did pass here and that he was taken by the Yuan-ti. They learn that the Draakhorn is somewhere where all the Dragons dwell, so too is “One Eye”. Diderius tells the party that he will open the passage onwards when they are ready, they only need place a hand upon his sarcophagus.

- The party ready their weapons and all stand around the sarcophagus and touch it. A hidden stone door quickly slides up revealing a secret passageway. A single lit torch illuminates half a dozen unarmed and unarmoured Lizardfolk wearing simple robes.

- The party move into battle formation as the Lizardfolk prepare to respond. Varis lets fly an arrow at one of the Lizardfolk who easily snaps his hand out to grab the arrow and then throw it back towards Varis. All six Lizardfolk then enter into obvious martial art poses and stances.

- “Oh great! They’re bloody Monks!” bellows Sir Krondor as he rushes forward to engage them.

- The battle erupts with the party having to improvise and change their normal tactics. The Monks are able to grab all ranged projectiles and use them back on the party, forcing the party to get close. But the Monks are very agile, able to leap over the parties lines of defence and their flurry of blows can render foes stunned. Luckily for the party the Monks are somewhat fragile and soon they are dropped, even with the arrival of two Yuan-ti to help them.

- The party now have to deal with the next obstacle, a slopping stone bridge slick with wet moss, that spans a pit who’s bottom can not be seen. Two Yuan-ti archers wait on the other side, ready to pick off the party as they approach. Thanks to Trenchant sneaking ahead though, the party are forewarned of the Yuan-ti, and they launch a sudden attack against one of the Yuan-ti dropping the creature quickly. Sir Krondor is forced to walk the slippery bridge in a mindless wander, following the Suggestion of remaining Yuan-ti, who is also quickly dropped. With his awareness and control returned, Sir Krondor uses his climbing kit gear to crawl over the bridge setting pitons and rope along the entire length. This allows the rest of the party to safely cross.

- The party proceed to a junction where either they have to travel down a strange multiple branching corridor where the floor appears to be moving snake scales or enter a large chamber filled with statues, suits of armour and with walls lined with hundreds of holes.

- The party decide to head down the corridor with the moving scales, though it appears the scales are just an illusion as they can not feel the scales and it has no effect on their movement.

- Proceeding down the corridor, ignoring connecting passageways and closed doors, the party press on wards. Half way down the corridor they are attacked by four Yuan-ti from behind, who quickly overcome Naillae and bring her to the ground in a death grip as one of the Yuan-ti uses his snake body to coil around her.

- The party desperately try to turn back and save Naillae but then another foe appears. A much larger Yuan-ti, muscular body rippling with green scales. Two massive arms end in long razor sharp claws and the beast has a long stretched powerful jaw filled with jagged teeth. This Abomination leaps towards the other end of the party, its powerful attacks ripping into them. The party fight back, unable to retreat or reposition and desperately try to inflict as mush damage as possible as quickly as possible.

- Through sheer audacity and a bit of luck, the party kill all the Yuan-ti. As they stand around, catching their breath and checking each other for injuries, they each look over at the size and muscular form of the Yuan-ti Abomination. One of them nearly overpowered the party, and the same thought runs through each of their heads: these things better not attack in groups.

<And as the party catch their breath after that hectic battle, pushing forward into the Yuan-ti nest in search of Varram The White, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- “The Light Of Truth” Avoid The Guardians Of Mystril (WISDOM) = 250 XP

- “Shiny!” Furnish Tribute To Diderius = 250 XP (Individually awarded to each person that did so)

- “Don’t touch ANYTHING!” Respect Diderius’s Resting Place (WISDOM or KNOWLEDGE) = 250 XP

- “Why did it have to be snakes!?” Avoid Falling Into Snake Feeding Pit = 250 XP

- “Take The Easy Path?” Avoid Detection On The Snake Corridor = FAIL

Creatures Overcome

- Lizardfolk Monks = 2700 XP

- Yuan-ti Malisons (Type 1) = 3500 XP

- Yuan-ti Malisons (Type 3) = 2100 XP

- Yuan-ti Abomination = 2900 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Rob : 87178 + 2242 = 89420

Arthur : 68544 + 2242 = 70786

Travis : 78999 + 2242 = 81241

Paul : 67875 + 2242 = 70117

Bob : 74303 + 2242 = 76545

NPC (Naillae) : + (1121)

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Homeward Bound (3/?)

Summary: After Miles and Sawyer follow Claire when she wanders off after her father in the dead of night, Claire and Aaron are safely returned to the beach and head towards the freighter and freedom from the island.

But as Claire learns a few years later, the island has a way of bringing people back…

A fix-it that diverges from canon at S4Ep10 “Something Nice Back Home”, in which Claire becomes one of the Oceanic Six and gets to raise Aaron herself, away from the island.

Rated: T

[Part One] [Part Two] [AO3 Link]

===

Part Three: The Lies We Tell

“They’re calling you the Oceanic Six. Not the best title for us, but hey, it’s catchy.”

Claire cradles Aaron in her lap, wondering what’s in store for them all now. As happy as she is to be back on solid and known ground, she still can’t shake the feeling that she really doesn’t want Aunt Lindsay to be the first person she sees when she gets off this plane. Although the antagonism had mellowed between them in the last few months before Claire left for Los Angeles, and Lindsay had taken Claire back into her home without a word when things had fallen apart with Thomas, they’ve never been close, and whilst everyone else is getting heartfelt reunions with their families, she knows that a reunion with Aunt Lindsay will be awkward, not the exuberant welcomes that Hurley and Jack are getting from their own relatives.

And of course, there’s the undeniable fact that Aaron exists and is here in her arms, and despite what she told Aunt Lindsay before, she’s not going to give him up for anything now. When they finally make it home to Sydney, she’s going to have to live with a small baby, at least until Claire gets back on her feet. She wonders quite how she’s going to do that now, with a baby in tow.

She had never envisaged being a single mother, but on the island it had come so naturally to her. This isn’t the island, though. This is the outside world, and everything is different here. Nothing is ever going to be the same as it was on the island, and for the very briefest of moments, she misses the freedom and the confidence that she had gained there. She shakes her head. No matter how she might have grown as a person, she is better off away from it. Flashes of memory have been coming back to her for the past couple of days, and she remembers the odd hazy image of her father in the forest with Aaron in his arms, except it couldn’t have been her father, because she remembers Sawyer’s voice telling her that he was dead and his coffin was on their plane.

She shakes her head, trying to get rid of the unnerving memories that might not even be memories, and she hangs back in the plane with Kate, knowing that she needs to move but at the same time not wanting to make that final step just yet. As soon as she’s back here in the wider world, it all begins, all the lies that she’ll have to keep spinning for the rest of her life.

“It’ll be ok,” Kate says, reaching across and closing a hand over one of Claire’s where she clutches Aaron close. “Whatever happens, just focus on Aaron, ok? He’s safe, and you’re both going to be fine.”

Claire nods, and steps out into the sun. And she blinks, because the first person that she sees is her mother.

“Mum?” She can’t believe it. For a moment she thinks she’s back on the island with her father who couldn’t and shouldn’t have been there. But no, she thinks as she pinches herself, this is definitely reality. “Mum!”

Aunt Lindsay is there as well, but she stays on the sidelines as Claire runs to her mother. For several minutes it’s all just a litany of apologies and all the things that Claire said in the hospital but never thought that she’d have the chance to say in person. But then it’s all out, and tears are dried, and Aaron is introduced, and Aunt Lindsay’s actually smiling for the first time since forever, and Claire can’t believe that everything has actually turned out for the best. It’s almost too good to be true. There are so many questions: how is her mother awake and so fully recovered? Even if she woke on the very day that Claire left for LA, months ago now, she had been in the coma for so long that it ought to have taken a lot longer for her to be up and about and making international flights to Hawaii to come and greet her daughter. The doctors had already warned them that it would be a long recovery process. So many things to ask, so many things to do. Glancing over her shoulder, Claire sees Kate still hanging back, no-one to greet her. Her legal situation is still complicated and Claire knows that she was fully expecting to find a dozen US marshals ready and waiting to escort her back to custody as soon as they landed. She waves her over, and Kate comes towards them, a little unsurely.

“Mum, Aunt Lindsay, this is Kate. She delivered Aaron, and she’s helped me out so much.” She feels that it’s important that they know the real Kate, despite whatever they may have heard in the papers about her.

Carole smiles. “Thank you so much, for everything that you’ve done for Claire and Aaron. We’re so grateful.”

Kate smiles, accepted into the Littleton family for a while at least, and maybe now there’s the hope that things are going to be all right for her too.

All too soon, though, it’s time for the press conference, and it’s time for the lie to begin. They’ve been over it so many times since they got onto Penny’s boat and started thinking up the things they’d have to say to cover their tracks, it’s been imprinted on their brains. She still worries that something’s going to upset the carefully planned out story though, some rogue question that will point out the discrepancies in their story. Claire remembers what Jack said in the plane coming over to Hawaii:

“If you can’t answer something it’s ok, they’ll think we’re in shock.”

“We are in shock, Jack,” Sun had replied.

It’s true. Everything happened so quickly, from getting off the island on the helicopter to getting onto Penny’s boat to getting off Penny’s boat and effecting their actual rescue. It’s been hard to process everything, and Claire’s still coming to terms with it. She has an advantage, she supposes, in that of everything that has happened on the island, not all that much of it has happened to her. Well, being kidnapped and drugged up for a couple of weeks by Ethan notwithstanding. Her story needs very little embellishment.

They file into the hangar and take their seats, and Claire focuses her attention on Aaron rather than the words of the Oceanic Airlines representative who’s telling their story to the press. She wonders how many of the reporters actually believe what happened.

Then the questions begin. Someone asks about Kate’s legal status and is quickly shut down, and everyone directs most of their questions to Jack; even now he is still seen as the nominate leader of the group. Well, it’s his lie, so he might as well be the one to reinforce it.

“Miss Littleton.”

Claire forces her mind back into the present and turns towards the journalist who’s standing up, notebook and pencil in hand.

“Miss Littleton, what was it like giving birth on the island?”

“Scary.” At least that’s never going to be a lie. She’d discovered a strength in her that night, one she never thought she’d ever possess. She’d assumed that she’d be giving birth in a hospital with doctors and nurses and midwives on hand. Or at least with pain relief on hand, in a sterile environment. At a couple of points she’d been convinced that she was going to die bringing Aaron into the world, which had only caused even more panic because how the hell was a newborn supposed to survive on a dangerous island without his mother? But Kate had got her through it, and she and Aaron are both all right now.

“Miss Littleton, is it true that you were travelling to Los Angeles to give up your baby for adoption?”

“Yes.” Claire decides that it’s easiest to just stick to one word answers that are the absolute truth. There’s no use in embellishing a lie more than they have to. They’re going to have enough work to do to keep their cover story going without adding any further tangled threads to keep track of.

“Will you be going ahead with the adoption?”

“No.”

“What about the couple that were set to adopt your baby?”

Claire narrows her eyes. She can hardly tell them that there was never a couple, that the entire thing was a ruse made up by a psychic because he knew that Oceanic 815 was going to crash and he knew that her getting on it was the only way to ensure that she raised Aaron herself. Well, at least Richard Malkin can rest easy knowing that his wish was granted, although at what cost she doesn’t yet know. Perhaps she’ll go back to him once she’s back in Sydney, and ask him what the hell he thought he was playing at.

Jack steps in smoothly to deflect the aggressive question, and Claire gives him a grateful look.

“Birth parents change their minds over adoptions all the time; it’s a probability that the system is prepared for, even without taking into account the two months that Claire’s already spent looking after and bonding with her son in overwhelming circumstances.”

He’s a medical professional so they’ll believe him, and the journalist sits down, knowing he’s been defeated and will get nothing sensational from Claire.

No-one asks her any more questions. They want to know more about the island and how they survived, about what is going to happen to the survivors now that they’re back in the world. Jack is a hero, Kate is a fugitive, Hurley is a millionaire, Sun is the daughter of one. Claire is no-one, really, the only interesting thing she’s done in her life is crash on a mysterious island. She’ll return to Sydney with Aaron and attempt to rebuild her life. There’s nothing else to it, nothing interesting for the media to chew on.

Finally it’s over and they can relax and go back to their families and try not to let slip that there is anything amiss with their story. Claire is relieved to get away from the tense atmosphere, and she avoids the other survivors, slipping away into a quiet corner to feed Aaron. It’s so strange seeing him in proper baby clothes after he’s spent the first couple of months of his life just swaddled in blankets. She’s not going to miss washing out cloth nappies though. There are definite advantages to being back with civilisation, no matter what difficulties their return might bring with it.

“Claire, sweetheart?”

It’s her mother, and Claire nods for her to sit beside her, resting her head on her shoulder. Now that she’s back, it’s so easy to slip back into the role of a daughter needing a mother’s care, despite the fact that she’s now a mother herself.

“I don’t know how you managed, Mum,” she said. “Raising me alone. And now I’m doing the same thing, and I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. But I did, for those couple of months on the island I survived and Aaron survived, and we were strong and we made it because we had no other choice. But now I’m back and I just don’t know where to go from here.”

Carole just holds her daughter close, and gazes down at her grandson.

“You’ll manage. You’re so much stronger than you know, Claire, and you always have been. I don’t know that I could have done what you did. Giving birth out there in the wilderness with no pain relief, no medical help…”

“I’m so sorry. For everything that happened.” For everything that’s going to happen, she adds mentally, because she knows that life will never be simple for them, ever again. The shadows of what happened on that island will always be with her. She turns away, looking down at Aaron as she wipes his mouth and tucks her breast back into her top. “It was all my fault.”

“Claire.” Carole gently turns her daughter’s face towards hers again. “It was an accident, Claire. A freak accident. It wasn’t your fault.”

For a moment Claire wonders. All the details of the accident, Carole must have got from Lindsay, and since Lindsay always thought that it had been Claire’s fault, she must have changed her tune at some point in the last three months. Probably when the wreckage was discovered and Claire was declared dead.

“No matter what anyone might say,” Carole adds. “Whatever happened, it’s in the past, and you can stop blaming yourself now. You’ve held on to that guilt for too long, and it’s time to let go and start afresh.”

Claire nods. It’s not going to be as simple as that. It never is. There is still so much left to say, to hide. One question remains.

“Mum, when did you wake up?”

“First of November.”

Something chills in Claire’s blood.

“That’s the day Aaron was born.”

Mother and daughter look at each other, and even though neither of them say anything, there’s no need for them to. They both know that there’s something bigger at work here, that it can’t just be a coincidence. Carole waking up on the same day as Aaron coming into the world… Her miraculous recovery… It’s all linked to the island, and Claire hates the feeling of being in debt to that place. She knows now; she’s never going to be able to leave it behind. Not only is it a part of her, it’s a part of her family now as well. As wondrously grateful as she is that her mother is alive and well and she can go on and make up for everything that happened before, she still can’t quell that fear that’s bubbling in the pit of her stomach, that the island isn’t quite done with them yet.

Claire can’t help but cry, which in turn sets Aaron off, and when she finally quietens, her mother is still there beside her.

“Come on, baby. Let’s go home and put all this trauma behind us.”

Claire nods, although she knows now that this will never be behind her.

[irescot]

Edinburgh - Friday

NOTE: I strongly dislike Shutterfly because it has changed not for the better, but that's where my pictures are. Since there is no real information in their help, I've decided to give each of you my login information into Shutterfly so you can take a look at the pictures. I think the blogs make more sense with the pictures and vice versa.  So here are the instructions: + go to shutterfly.com + on the top line, click on Sign In + use jolowiczk@earthlink.net as the username and fan4fan3 as the password + that should take you to the My Shutterfly page; click on Albums under My Photos + Click on Ireland and Scotland on the left hand side (or anything else you want, got no secrets) + click on the album name to view the photos (thumbnails); to view full size, double click on first photo and then use the right key to go through them.  Shutterfly puts them in whatever order they want within date taken, so who knows. + When finished, PLEASE LOG OUT, I don't know how many people at a time Shutterfly allows access to with the same logon, so if you log out, it may allow someone else to get in.  That other person could be me trying to upload additional pictures.  

For most entries the name of the blog post corresponds to the album, but there are a couple of exceptions.  The IreScot 815 to 819 contains all the photos taken while driving from Dublin to Waterford to Galway to Killarney and back to Dublin.

END OF NOTE

Carol and a friend made plans to scatter a portion of the ashes of the friend's husband at the St. Andrews golf course, since it was his favorite course. Today was the day we decided to do that.

We slept a little late today and had a cab pick us up at around 10:45 to take us to the Waverley Station to take a train at 11:35 to Leuchars, the train stop that is about a 15 minute cab ride to St. Andrews (the town and the links).  You can also transfer to a bus at the train station that takes you very close to St. Andrews Golf Course. We had any time return tickets, and this time 1st class tickets.

When we got to the station we used one of the ticket machines to print out the tickets Carol had purchased online.  A great number of tickets printed out; we had so many that we weren't sure which was for what, so Carol went to the information desk (and I tagged along) and got the guy to tell us what each set of tickets was for.  We discovered we had assigned tickets going to Leuchars, but nothing on the way back since we hadn't gotten tickets for the return trip. We also had tickets for the bus (going and return) plus a Summary ticket of the purchase.  The guy was ready to rip that one up, but I stopped him because we had used that last time when one of us lost our ticket (which you need to get out) and we used it as proof that we had had a ticket (which they accepted).  The guy also told us that the first class tickets are either on the first car or on the last one.  

When we went to the main platforms we were still half an hour early, so there was no posting of the platform, but it appeared as though our train might be delayed.  The train was going to Aberdeen, with Leuchars one of its stops.  Finally, with just 5 minutes to go, they posted track 16, which is what our information guy had told us it would probably be.  So a bunch of us trooped out to the train and after everyone departed, we got on and found our seats and settled in.  5-10 minutes later, an official looking person came around and told everyone to get off the train, that we were going to be departing now fom track 14. We got out and went to track 14, and started to get on the train, when the conductor(?) was getting off and he said, you should be on track 16...I replied that we had just been told to come to 14 from 16. Then he asked what train we wanted and I said Aberdeen, to which he replied, yes this is the train to Aberdeen.  Jeez!

We settled in again into facing seats, and a voice came on and told us that the other train had an engine failure, and pardon the delay, etc., etc. Later when an announcement was made of the stops, I had to listen very carefully to hear our stop, Leuchars, because it's not pronounce the way it looks, but I can't reproduce the "ch" sound which is made in the throat.

Shortly afterwards, a steward came by with a little basket with various edibles including the thing the three of us love to eat, shortbread biscuits (read cookies).  He asked if we wanted something to drink, coffee, tea, orange juice, water.  We all three requested water.  The steward and having plugs seems to be the big difference between first class and standard class. And depending on the train, facing seats.

Once we were on the way, the three of us were busy reading or using the train's Wi-Fi.  The view out of the windows seemed to be mostly tall hedges that obscured views beyond the train, so we didn't other looking up.  At some point, we noticed that we were looking out at a very large body of water and we weren't sure what it was. Looking at the route of the train, it went across the Forth Bridge and then followed the coast for a while before going back inland for a straight run at St. Andrews, which is further up the coast.  So what we were seeing was the ocean past the estuary of the river Forth.

A little later we saw ships out on the ocean, they might have been fishing boats but I don't know what they look like.  I just liked the picture they made, a splash of color in a picture otherwise made of greys.

I also liked some of the houses I saw but once again, I could only take pictures on my side of the train.

We were supposed to get to Leuchars at 12:27 but in fact got there at 12:55. Also I'm pretty sure we skipped one station.  Leuchars was supposed to be the third stop, but it was the second stop.  Also they made an announcement that they would skip two other stations. Passengers going to those stations were advised to go on to Dundee and take trains back to those stations.  What a pain for those people!

Took a picture outside the station when we arrived because I was curious about those long bumps in the field. Wasn't sure if it was a way to cut and stack the hay preparatory to baling, but I'm hardly familiar with the words I just used, much less have any idea what I'm talking about.  But that's never stopped me from making things up.

We had to take a bridge that went from the station to the other side of fence that separated the street from the tracks and platforms. On the other side, we could see a taxi rank. Because of the delays, we had missed the bus we had planned to get on, so we decided to take a cab.  I thought (don't know why) that St. Andrews had 3 courses, but our driver told me that there are 7 and that in addition there were another 6 near by, and that in fact there was another being planned.  All of those courses are public.

Carol had made reservations for us to take a tour of St. Andrews so she could get on the course and do her thing with the ashes, but as she read more on the subject, it turns that it was not at all rare to have people want to have their ashes scattered there. Carol spent some time in the shop looking at things she could buy for some of her brothers who are avid golfers, and then decided to think about what she wanted and then buy online so she wouldn't have to arrange for shipping.

Meanwhile our tour was going to start in 15 minutes or so, so we wandered outside. I took pictures of the Old Course Hotel, that runs the length of the Old Course, and a of part of the town of St. Andrews.  Went into the shop where there was a separate room that housed picture of the courses and of the town for sale, and saw a beautiful pen drawing of St Andrews - the city and the links.

There were some beautiful flowers in planters outside the clubhouse, and then I realized I had not taken a picture of the clubhouse itself.  And then more flowers along the side of the clubhouse.

Meanwhile, Carol had realized that there was no need to go on the tour, she could just walk out on the course, there was nobody to stop her.  So she waited until the foursome finished the 17 hole and had put the flag back in the hole, and checked that those on the 16th were not ready to tee off, and went down to the hole and disposed of the ashes of her friend.  

Since we didn't need to go on the tour (neither of us are golfers), we decided to have lunch at the restaurant there.  It was, like all meals we have had this trip, very good.  While we were eating, we heard a loud thunk, and an older woman had fallen down hard, right out of her shoes.  Several people rushed up to help and one of the staff brought a chair over so she could sit down after they managed to get her up again.  She rested for a while, and when she got up, she seemed to be more embarrassed than hurt, so all's well that ends well.

Paid the bill and went to reception, and I noticed a big mural with my boy Jack (Nicholson) who I had a big crush on back in the day. Took a picture and then we ask the reception to get us a taxi, which arrived within minutes, and we were on our way back to the station.

There was supposed to be a train to Edinburgh at 3:30 and we heard an announcement that seem to indicate it would be late, but the 3:30 was announced on time and off we went. This time when we went into 1st Class, all seats but two were taken (since we had a return anytime, there were no reserved seats for us) so Carol chose to stand. Very shortly after, a gentleman offered his seat to Carol who was standing on the platform outside 1st class, which she accepted.  His friend also left to keep him company on the platform, so the net effect was there was an extra seat.  

Before we left the station, took another picture of the same fields as before, but this time at a different angle.

Once again there was not much to see on the way back, so we mostly read. At the Forth Bridge there were no hedges to block the view and it looked lovely, but no pictures because on the wrong side of the train. And the rest of our journey to Edinburgh was uneventful.

Back in Edinburgh we decided to walk to the bus, but first we had to make sure we all had exact change.  Sharon didn't have any change, and I had forgotten the little bag of change I carry with me, so it was all up to Carol to come up with the exact change for 3 people.  She rummaged in her capacious purse, and kept coming up with change (including American money) and pretty soon we had 1 pound 60p for each of us.  Then we went outside and on the lookout for a bus stop for one of our buses. On the way the queue at the taxi rank was ridiculous; it would have taken longer than our bus ride to finally get in a cab, so we were happy we had made that decision.

Took a couple of pictures of the Giant Wheel, and of the building above The Mound, that was built in 1846, and of the buildings to the right of it. Also of the flowers on The Mound, and in the other direction, the Sir Walter Scott Monument.  

I thought I knew where there was a stop that would be the right one for one of the 4 buses we could take, but when we go there, it turned out I was wrong.  Then Carol was able to look up nearby bus stops, and we find one for our good friend, the 23 bus, at a stop not far away, but it was all uphill.  The bus eventually got there, and Sharon and I got on.  Carol was behind a young guy who was behind us.  But the driver told the young guy to get off because he couldn't take any more.  So we ended looking at Carol on the other side of the closed door and trying to tell the driver that she was with us, but of course that didn't matter to the driver.

For the first time, we didn't have to ask the driver to tell us when we got to our stop, which he would have been unhappy with, considering how crowded the bus was.  But we could finally tell where we were when we got close to our stop.  

Walking to the apartment from the bus stop, we wondered whether Carol had waited for the next bus or had decided to take a cab.  If she took a cab, we expected to see her waiting at the apartment because the cab woule have been  faster than the bus; if not, we would not see her for 10 or 15 minutes.  When we got to the apartment, she was sitting outside, waiting for us (they only gave us one key and I'm the official holder). It turns out she took the next bus, but it passed ours at some point, and that's how she got there before us.  

And that's how Friday went.

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 93

AKA “The Banished Son”

Adventures in Taggriell

Session 93  (Date: 24th January 2020)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Varis”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- John (Known as “Ragnar”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male. <Played by Bob>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by Travis>

Summary

- Moonday, 8th Desnus in the year 815 (Second Era). Summer.

- The party begin this session, in the early morning walking through the ancient and misty Aerion Forest. As the party progress they see more and more deformed and changed creatures. Labarett uses a Ritual of Speak To Animals to talk to one of the changed creatures. The party learn that an Elf with a Green mask is changing the creatures of the forest to do his bidding through dark magical means.

- Continuing the party come across many ravens perched high in the trees, scanning the area as if on watch. These birds have four eyes and are arranged in a long line, as if guarding an area. The ravens do not appear to be able to see the party however, and each of the floral head bands the party wear, is now warm. The party surmised that the floral gifts given to them by the strange Druid must be hiding them from the eyes of the ravens.

- Able to pass undetected, the party arrive at a massive waterfall set in a lush cliff face. A small pool at the bottom of the waterfall indicates that the water must be passing into one or more underground rivers. The party quickly sneak up on and dispatched two resting guards, a pair of Dragonwing Enforcers.

- After Sir Krondor checks out the pool, a large cave is discovered hidden behind the waterfall. The party enter the cave and find a large cavern, illuminated by green moss growing on the cavern ceiling. Labarett slips on the wet, smooth stone floor of the entryway and slides into a large cavern to see four armoured and armed Elves stare at him in surprise and alarm, their hands moving to draw their weapons.

- Labarett immediately jumps to his feet and engages the closest Elf in combat. Trenchant uses his arcane arts to force three of the Elves to stop fighting and instead guard Trenchant from harm, leaving only the largest and most heavily armoured Elf left to fight. This remaining Elf, a Knight Gladiator, calls out for assistance to break the charm on his people whilst he expertly attacks the party and avoids any attempt to hurt his own charmed people.

- Sir Krondor can smell Trolls nearby and warns the party.

- More Elves appear as the battle continues and the party fight their way into the cavern. A large group of armed Elves starts running from an upper balcony towards the party, whilst three expert Elven Archers ready their Elven bows. A female Elven mage appears, obviously concerned with her people’s plight, but especially concerned about the severe injuries that the Elven Knight Gladiator shows from the battering he is receiving from the party. The Knight is barely alive.

- Trenchant senses something is not right, and tries to convince the Elves to stop fighting, but fails to do so. Sir Krondor, Royal Envoy of Fanur, steps forward and pleads with the Elven Mage to halt the fighting. The diplomatic skills of Sir Krondor prevail, and an uneasy and fragile truce is called.

- The party learn that these seventeen Elves were taken as prisoners from Kaniateir when the Cult attacked the village. They are now forced to protect the entrance to the lair of Chuth the Green Dragon and serve the orders of the Green Dragon rider. The Dragon rider, the Green Wyrmspeaker of the Cult, is Neronvain. Labarett gasps as he recognises the name as that of the long ago banished first born son of King Melandrach. It appears that Neronvain is both dangerous and insane, a deadly combination.

- The party try to convince the Elven prisoners to help fight against Chuth and Neronvain but the Knight Gladiator, Sir Myrill, will not break the Oath he gave to Neronvain, as it would endanger his son, Katar, who is still back at Kaniateir. The party realise they spoke to Katar before leaving the village. Though the Knight will not directly attack the Dragon or the Cult, as he gave his word, he will not stop the party from proceeding onwards.

- Thankful for not having to attack the Elves, and for avoiding killing anyone on either side, the party take a short rest with the Elven prisoners before heading into the rest of the lair to deal with the Cult forces. The Elves have never been past this point so can not give the party much information to assist.

- After an hour, the party press onwards, moving through a solid wood and iron bound door in the cavern. Eletha, the Elven mage and wife to Sir Myrill, bestows a Greater Invisibility spell upon Gim which will work for only one minute.

- The party push onwards quickly, hoping to use Gim’s invisibility to their advantage before it runs out. The party come across two chambers set opposite each other on either end of a long T-junction. One chamber is lit and has a small group of Cult forces within, eating, drinking and talking. The other chamber is dimly lit with another small group of Cult forces mostly sleeping.

- Gim, who has snuck up to the lit room, tries to signal to the rest of the party what he can see in the room. He holds his hands up with six fingers, and then motions with a come here signal for everyone else to move up. No one does. Again the Dwarf waves his hands about and again the party do nothing. He does this several times.

- Back at the intersection the rest of the party are waiting for Gim to return to tell them what he saw. After a moment Naillae sighs and speaks, “He’s not coming back, is he?”

- Trenchant lowers his head, “That bloody Dwarf is probably waving at us, forgetting he’s invisible!”

- Varis starts to move forward, “I’ll find out what’s happening.”

- Varis moves forward slowly and quietly, and then moves up to the lit corner. Gim, still invisible leans forward and whispers, “What bloody took ya so long! I’ve been waving at you to come forward for ages! You blind?”

- Varis whispers back, “We can’t see you! Bloody fool of a Dwarf, you’re invisible!”

- Varis turns and waves for the party to approach, holding up six fingers.

- A battle starts on both ends, with the most of the party fighting the Cult forces in the lit room, six Dragonwing Enforcers lead by a Dragonfang Enforcer, and with Labarett making the mistake of single handedly taken on the other similar enemy force of Cultists in the opposite chamber, when he is heard trying to sneak about. Labarett is quickly surrounded and battered relentlessly, his Barbarian Rage the only thing keeping him on his feet but death is staring down the Elf.

- Ragnar’s fireball spell erupts around one group of Cultists but these Enforcers are attuned to Fire, being resistant to it and being able to wield it too. The Fireball does little to them.

- Gim, still invisible, is cutting down foes one by one effortlessly. The party are getting badly injured but manage to eventually dispatch the Cult forces in the lit room. Trenchant is forced to order his injured sabre tooth mount back after it is healed back from death.

- Labarett, almost dead, is finally joined by the rest of the party as they rush in, spells and weapons a blaze. Now that the party are focused again, the other Cult forces are soon dispatched too. The party are very badly injured, and remember once again that the Cult Enforcers are not to be taken lightly.

<And as the party catch their breath, wondering how many more Cult Enforcers lay between them and Neronvain, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- “Floral Blessing” - Arrive at Dragon Lair Undetected = 500 XP

- “Forceful Negotiations” - Avoid Killing Any Elven Prisoners = 500 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Dragonwing Enforcers = 6300 XP

- Dragonfang Enforcers = 3600 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Rob : 119982 + 1557 = 121539 (Level up to Level 13)

Arthur : 95965 + 1168 = 97133

John : 90505 + 1557 = 92062

Travis : 109880 + 1557 = 111437

Paul : 99363 + 1557 = 100920 (Level up to Level 12)

Bob : 109245 + 1946 = 111191

NPC (Naillae) : + (778)