#i got this vision at 3 am and i fell asleep and now we have this

[fallouttboy]

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) // Out Magazine (August 2008) photographed by David Roemer // Pete's Blog [thisismynewperspective](September 2009) // Pavlove by Fall Out Boy (2008) // Pete's Blog myheartisbetweenmyknees - archived (September 1, 2006) // Pete's Blog [insincerelypete] (December 21, 2013) // The Kids Aren't Alright by Fall Out Boy (2013) // Pete's falloutboyrocks blog - archived (December 20, 2006) // Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) // Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) // Pete's Fueled By Ramen blog - archived (September 18, 2006) // Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) // Out Magazine (August 2008) photographed by David Roemer // Pete's Fueled By Ramen blog - archived (May 26, 2005) // Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) // Black and Blue as performed by Louis Armstrong // Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) // Gray by Pete Wentz (2013) // The Boy with the Thorn in His Side by Pete Wentz (2005) // Pavlove by Fall Out Boy (2008)

[anki-of-beleriand]

A Heart Made of Glass ch. 11

Summary: Ten years ago you left Wanda and the Avengers to heal your broken heart. You never stopped being a hero, just as you never stopped being in love with her. But life had to go on.

Now, after all that time, she is back and with her is a young woman needing help and an enemy that may not be as afraid as Wanda to lay a claim on you.

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff x Powered!F!Reader - Scarlet Witch x PoweredF!Reader - Past Wanda Maximoff x Vision

Warnings: Angst, drama, mentions of cheating, fluff, violence, smut, Switch!Reader, internalize homophobia, hurt, comfort, Wanda being a complete mess, anger management issues, jealousy, Requited/Unrequited love, idiots in love, swearing, mentions of alcohol. More tags as the story progess.

Author's Note: This story is a continuation of Dirty Little Secret I was really surprised at the response I got for the story, I did all the tags you guys ask for but if I forgot someone please do not hesitate to tell me. Thank you for the support.

I am back!! This chaptr took longer than I anticipated, I didn't know exactly how to continue even though I have an aidea of what I want. So here it is the new chapter, hope you guys like it!

Wanda is finally getting there, and Reader has to face so harsh truths about herself and those around herself.

Please, do remember English is no my mother tongue so forgive my grammar, spelling and funny mistakes.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Epilogue

Chapter 11

Wanda and Scarlet

Everyone left as soon as you disappeared with the twins upstairs. 

The time seemed to pass without your consent, and by the time the twins had fallen asleep and you were back on the first floor the world around you felt different. You stepped into the living room, your shadows flickering to make sure you were alone while you wandered around the place to take a closer look at the pictures decorating the place. You had always like pictures, and in general, you were good at photography; you realized every single one of the pictures you were seeing had a single purpose: to tell the story of yours and Wanda’s life.

It started with a simple friendship, the both of you were young and as the images move through the years you could see fear behind the attraction, the realisation of love and the tentativeness of a relationship until, at the end, all you could see was a happy ending. You tilted your head, your eyes checking the images over and over again until they fell on a missing section. A missing part of the timeline.

“We broke up one day,” you held yourself tight, your ears twitching with your eyes narrowing lightly, the woman behind you approached slowly, her voice sending a shiver down your back.

Wanda wrapped her arms around herself, her voice carried the weight of unwanted memories. 

“I was scared, it was the first time she said she loved me.” You turned slightly looking at the woman out of the corner of your eye.

“Did you cheat on her?” You couldn't help but ask, your voice dripping with old resentment. 

Wanda finally stood beside you, and she was so much different than your own Wanda. Taller, calm, with a confidence that poured out of her with an electric jolt of power you were not familiar with. The woman dropped her eyes, then you found yourself looking into her green ones.

“I broke her heart, and then I started dating Vision.” Wanda pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing lightly. “I pretend to be normal to honour my parents by being what they expected me to be.”

You clenched your jaw, the tension evident in your posture. 

“We almost got married until…I almost lost her.” Wanda whispered, her face breaking into a mask of pain. “She had disappeared on me, I couldn't reach her out and then, one day she…she came back and saved me and Vis…”

Wanda let out a bitter laughter, tears rolling down her eyes. 

“I almost lost her because I was afraid and I just…I couldn’t let her go afterwards. I fought hard to earn her forgiveness, and her love again.”

You swallowed down your own tears, turning away from this Wanda before letting your eyes wandered around a story you had always wished for. You could feel the weight of her stare on you, the poking of her presence waiting for the right moment to either talk to you, or push for answers to questions you were not ready to hear.

In the end you stopped on the one picture you had feared, the one you had seen before but with a different individual smiling back at you.

“They look like you…and me.” You finally said turning to Wanda, this time around the smile that broke her façade was one of pure bliss.

The other woman stepped forward, her eyes drifting to the picture and then to you. She had seen enough inside your head to know this might hurt in ways she could only imagine, and a part of Wanda was completely baffled by the mistakes done without a single thought of the consequences. She had to wonder, though, how much of those mistakes grew into resentment and how many of them were fear of allowing love in.

“They were our little miracle.” Wanda whispered, her voice softened all of a sudden before she closed the distance between you and her, and this time around you couldn’t look away or stepped away from her overwhelming persona.

“They were possible because of you and me, Y/N.” Her words made you shiver, the touch of her skin against yours was electrifying. “We weren’t even trying, and when I found out it had been me the one getting pregnant I was scared of you finding out.”

“Why?” You finally asked furrowing your brows, Wanda cocked a brow with her eyes gleaming challenging at you.

“Because of your thoughts, because of your doubts.” Wanda sighed cupping your face with her hand, “when I approached you my main fear was of you thinking I cheated.”

Your body tensed hardening your stare trying to ignore the tenderness and the understanding in those green eyes you had dreamed about so many times. It still hurt. It hurt like the very first time you fell in love with her, and the first time you saw the video of her and Vision. You closed your eyes, but never stopped feeling the woman in front of you, so much like your Wanda, yet so different than her.

Wanda opened her lips, her heart yearning to get you closer to feel as if you were real. As if you were her Y/N, but she couldn’t stop feeling the coldness, the anger, the sadness pouring out of you from your every pore.

When Wanda spoke again, she did so with the same tone of voice she used that very first time. The one that had always told Y/N that she was loved that she was cherished, that she was everything Wanda needed.

“When I told her about the pregnancy, Tommy and Billy made sure to help me out. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why…” Wanda let out a breathless chuckle, “but when I told her, it just clicked. It was as if she could feel them, and she could sense the familiarity in them. They were as much hers as they were mine.”

“I felt them.” The words left your mouth before you could prevent it. You lifted your face to the ceiling, furrowing your brows while your powers ignited with the familiarity the twins brought to you. “It was strange, yet familiar…And I…”

You stopped right before you could say more than you meant to, you lifted your eyes only then taking notice of how close this Wanda was to you. You could feel her warm breath on your face, her eyes gleaming with a deep green that showed all the love she felt for you.

Correction, for the version of yourself in this universe.

Not you.

Never you.

Your whole demeanour changed in the blink of an eye. Your body tensed, and you stepped back until there was only coldness and distance between you and Wanda. And in that moment, your heart broke all over again for the things you had just discovered in a world that was not your own.

“I can’t…” You whispered; Wanda lifted her hand but she hesitated stepping back as well.

It was in that moment you thought about the videos you received; those chapters of a story Wanda had lived in world she had created. The twins that had come to life as the children of Vision, the sudden mess that became out of such a magic, and then the piercing pain inside your chest when you realized Wanda was even further away than where she had been the first time the both of you broke up.

Your mind quivered breaking into a flow of memories you had tried to contain behind the shadows, and your chest shrank into a deep void filled with coldness and emptiness that left you breathless with desperation clinging to your senses.

Wanda stepped back; she creased her brows watching as your powers flickered around her. You clenched your jaw tilting your head until your footsteps take you out of the house. The world around you trembled surrounding you in complete darkness until all that was left was the single, crimson light of Wanda gleaming in the distance.

“Why are you so hurt, Y/N?” She asked, and her voice was like a dagger piercing your soul and twisting the memories of what could had been.

Instead of answering, instead of voicing your frustrations you broke down with tears rolling down your cheeks and the woman you loved holding you tightly. You hugged her tightly knowing, in this world, she was yours as much as you were hers and, even if it was for a brief moment, you could pretend this was your life.

And that was all that matter at the moment.

________________________________________________

You had been watching the routine from afar.

Billy and Tommy were extraordinary, their powers had been developing along with their physical attributes under the watchful eye of your counterpart and Wanda. Your heart twisted every time they looked at you or addressed you in such a familiar and loving way. The way kids sought out their parents, and it broke your heart the same way it was breaking Wanda’s.

“You were quite good to them, though I am pretty sure Billy noticed you were not his mother.” The voice was familiar to you, you had heard him a thousand times teasing and overall being a complete nuisance until he was finally killed by Thanos.

Loki Odinson was looking completely different to the Loki you had met back home.

His hair was around his shoulders, and he was wearing a dark suit with a tie matching the green of his magic. He gave you a quick once over, his eyes cold and calculating, while his hand twitched around calling upon a spell. You turned completely getting your body ready for a fight, the god smirked and soon you let out a gasp filled with an exclamation of pain as your back hit the ground.

“Not as fast as you used to, I see.”

“You just wait until I get use to this stranger’s body, then you will wish I was this slow.”

“Indeed.” He replied with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice, he stood by your side stretching out a hand to help you up.

You eyed the hand before taking it, the strength he used was enough to tell you he was not someone to mess with. Yet, there was something different about this Loki; he was calmer, more collected and with a hidden force that made you curious just to know the story behind the Asgardians in this universe.

“So, you played for the good guys in this universe?”

Loki scowled at the question walking past you until he reached the porch steps sitting down.

“I have never been part of the bad guys, but I have never seen eye to eye with Thor or some of those idiots he calls friends,” Loki leaned back settling his eyes on you, “I find it insulting to label people in such a black and white vision of life, when you and I know, that people and everyone in general is just…”

“Complicated.” You finished narrowing your eyes at Loki, the young male smirked tilting his head to one side.

“Exactly. Now, let’s get down to business, how much do you know of what happened before you got here?”

__________________________________

Another day sneaked through the clouds, the sun shone right above the heads of the agents surrounding the area around the dome. 

Yelena was playing with the knife you had given to her for her birthday, her eyebrows creased together while the TV got ready to play the same chapter of your boring life over and over again. Yelena wished whoever was controlling the show would at least get new ideas, or at least let all of you spice things up because this was getting ridiculous.

There was a loud beep coming from the screen, and the image in the TV flickered between colours and black and white. Yelena almost fell off her chair when you appeared on the screen, this time around the story was different, and for the first time Yelena wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad thing.

“Natasha! You better come here right now!” 

*****

The morning light sneaked through the bedroom curtains. The warm of a single ray of sunshine shook you from your slumber, without really opening your eyes you tried to cover up your face knowing that full consciousness poked through your brain.

Continuing with your marvellous sleep would not be possible anymore.

You furrowed your brows, turning to the side while stretching your arm to try and hug the woman you shared your bed with. 

Wanda.

A jolt of electricity went from your brain to your body, your heart beating at an anormal speed while you sat down in the bed. You glanced around the room but everything was the same as the day before, and the before that one. You frowned lifting a hand to your face, your thoughts came crashing down without any specific order.

Your wife. Her name was…

You turned to your bedside table, your mind flashed the memory of a single frame with the woman holding onto you smiling brightly. Your frown deepened, the name dancing inside your mind but unable to make sense.

It's going to be okay, my love, don't take the pill. Don't take it and you and I will be together again.

The voice inside your head whispered, the sweet tone was familiar, your heart jumped with anticipation. You turned on your side ready to leave the bed when the door of the room opened and another woman came right in.

She had dark hair, her lips full and red, while those eyes gleamed with a strange light.

“Good morning, baby, did you sleep well?” She came onto you leaning in to seal her words with a kiss.

It felt wrong, but you answered to the kiss lazily with the pretension of being just awake for a couple of minutes. The woman narrowed her eyes though the smile never left her face, she leaned back before making her way to the curtains and opening them with a yank of her hands.

“Today is a beautiful day, and last night was just amazing my love, I really enjoy it when you let me use you hard.” Her words pretended to be flirty, with a teasing undertone she tried to converge with the sultry stare she sent your way.

You shifted uncomfortably, this time around you wandered through your body to validate the veracity of her words. You didn't feel sore, but of course it could also be the effect of the drug or whatever it was you were in. You stood up making your way towards the woman.

Agatha.

Your face broke into another smile, your arms wrapping around her before leaning in to suck on her pulse point. Agatha lifted her hands closing them around your biceps, a sudden gasp left her lips and she tilted her head to give you more access.

“I love it when you let me be in charge, love.” You whispered in her ear, your lips teasing the shell of her ear, your eyes narrowing when the fixated on the flickering reality behind the woman.

“Mmm, I can tell you want more, but today we have the event in the school and we cannot miss it, I'm still competing for first place in the desserts contest.” Agatha stepped back her eyes dark and dangerous, a hint of lust gleaming inside them.

This was the very first time you approached her out of your free will, and the woman was excited. If you were already looking Agatha out and making these advances it meant her magic was growing bending the reality and helping her get what she wanted. Soon Scarlet and Wanda would no longer be an issue and you would be next.

“Very well, but you won't escape, Missy, I will have you later on.” You winked at her turning to make your way to the bathroom, Agatha called out to you stepping closer while lifting a single pill in her hand.

“I will wait patiently for you, now be a good girl and take your medication and take a bath.” 

Your smile never faltered taking the pill you put it right away in your mouth swallowing in front of the woman before entering the bathroom to get ready for the day. Agatha stood there for a moment, her eyes squinting trying to catch anything unusual but soon the shower started running and you started humming distractedly. The dark-haired woman smirked and left, the world around her flickering from purple to red.

*****

The day was bright and warm.

It was a complete contrast of the weather America had suffered in Norway. She glanced at the sky, then at the buildings around her, noticing for the very first time the forms of other people walking around the lanes in front of their homes. She frowned stepping back inside the house where Wanda had been recovering after her session with Agatha, she knelt beside the other woman lifting a hand to measure the temperature.

“Today I don't have a fever.” Wanda opened her eyes offering a half smile to the teen.

“That's good.” America sighed checking Wanda before sitting down on the floor. “You look weak.”

“I'm okay.” Wanda sat down slowly, she grabbed the pillows on the sofa tightly clenching her eyes close. “Scarlet is the one doing most of the work.”

America scoffed looking away from Wanda, that was another part of this crazy plan she didn't like. Whatever had happened before America came into the game, Wanda had detached herself from her powers and the part of her that had always been ready to fight for you. She had seen the suffering behind those green eyes, the pain in Wanda’s voice and the defeat in her posture, she had come to terms that you would never be Wanda’s and that she would always be in love with someone that didn't want her back. 

The world had been unfair to you and Wanda, and the both of you had given into miscommunications and pride to even attempt a shaky friendship. America pursed her lips glancing at the coffee table where Wanda had placed the necklace she wore at all times. 

“You are Scarlet.” America finally replied, locking her eyes with those of Wanda, “you and her are one and the same, you told me yourself that you could feel everything she did and that…”

“I know.” Wanda stood up on shaky legs, she pressed her lips together leaning in to grab the necklace. “Let's get ready, Agatha is finally confident enough that the world around her is of her own creation and we need to make the most of this chance to wake Y/N and get her help to break the spell.”

“Wanda?” America asked tentatively, she could tell the other woman tensed waiting for the question.

America hesitated before stepping closer, “are you sure this is going to work?”

“It has to.” Wanda sighed glancing to the floor, “Agatha won't rest until she had completed the ritual and drained me of my powers, then she would move onto Y/N…”

“And finally, me.” America wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes tearing up hating people around her kept being hurt because of her powers. Because of who she was.

Wanda put her hands on her shoulders, she offered a tender smile and her eyes gleamed with determination.

“Nothing bad is going to happen, we will make this work and then we will deal with Agatha.”

“Would you fuse with Scarlet?” America gauged Wanda's expression, she could see the fear behind those green eyes. “I mean, she is you after all and perhaps in that way you and Y/N…”

“Even if we were to do this, America, she is…she would never…” Wanda let out a heavy sigh, her hand putting her hair back holding onto everything she wanted to say, everything she had been experiencing ever since she got a chance to see you again.

“It's never going to happen, she doesn't love me anymore and I broke any chances to be with her a long time ago.” 

America opened her mouth to say something but Wanda silenced her with a gesture of her hands.

“No, she is not…when I accepted this I knew what I was getting into.” Wanda couldn't help the bitterness in her voice, “I knew it would hurt and we would never be nothing more than allies, I just…”

There were no more words, Wanda strsightned up turning her back to the teen.

“I’m going to get ready, I suggest you do the same.”

Wanda didn’t say anything, without tuning around she made her way back to her room and got the bath ready. She held back her tears, tired of the pain this reunion with you had brought to her heart. She knew she had to pay for her sins, what she didn’t know was how high of a price she would have to cover for everything to at least be forgiven. She had been paying her mistakes from day one, without a single moment of peace or redemption.

The water fell on her washing away the painful pressure resting on her chest, her fist clenched tightly as she went along with the plan, with the memories, with everything Agatha made her lived all over again in order to get deeper into her powers. Wanda was not completely sure she understood, and Scarlet had been unable to be cooperative unless you were involved; everything turned out to be a complete mess, and the young witch had to wonder if perhaps outside this reality there was someone trying to help them out solve the mess they were in.

If there was someone out there that was not blaming Wanda for yet another invented reality.

Wanda closed her eyes, her body flinched with the sudden jolt of electricity that went through her limbs all the way to the very core of her soul. She clenched her jaw close, the world flickered for a moment until she felt the pulse of energy gathering around her hands. Scarlet was ready, and they were running out of time. With a single sigh, Wanda turned off the water and went to get ready.

They only had one chance, she needed to be fast if they wanted to safe Y/N and themselves before it was too late.

And, after seeing her weakened state, Wanda knew time was not on their side.

___________________________

Time was relative.

And, apparently, space bent to the laws of time.

Loki had been very clear in his explanation of the multiverse, and his role in getting you in the right timeline and the right body. You heard everything he told you, with your mind taking the bits you thought important while trying to understand those you found hard to believe in. The theory was solid, but it certainly was meant for someone with a deeper knowledge on these matters like Hank, Tony or even Bruce. You went along with the game, believing what the god was saying to you while formulating a plan that could help you out without disturbing the timeline or the multiverse.

But for Loki to make it work, he would need time, and that meant you would need to live in a world you already found was destroying you little by little.

Without a doubt, this universe was going to be the dead of you.

When you were young and left the Avengers, you used to torture yourself with the ‘What ifs’. What if you forgive Wanda, what if you had been enough, what if you and her were still together. What if.

You remembered those long nights in which you imagine a normal life with her, the thought of getting married and forming a family. These thoughts grew inside your mind until you hit the rock bottom and you had to start a real healing process, you had accepted what happened and you stepped out of the shadows to move forward. You were a hero, with or without the Avengers, you were still pretty much a person that could help others so that was what you did.

You never forgot Wanda, and those little what if scenarios would come at nights or on those specific moments in which you were alone with your thoughts. Your heart used to ache with the shadows of the past while facing the light of the future; and now, trapped in this world, you were face to face with the biggest what if there was dancing inside your mind.

What if you give yourself a chance to love her again?

What if you forgive her?

The door of the basement opened and closed with a heavy thud, you shook your head turning to see Wanda Maximoff coming down the stairs with a plate filled with sandwiches and a three glasses of orange juice. Your eyes went from the tray to the woman then back to the book you had been staring at, Loki snorted knowingly sitting down while flickering his hand around.

The lights grew in intensity, and Wanda shot a quick glare to Loki before shaking her head in defeat. She settled her tray on the table taking a seat right beside you, her eyes softening lightly as they read on your face the torturing thoughts dancing inside your head that multiply when you realised Wanda had prepared your favourite sandwich. The young woman offered an affectionate smile before turning to Loki.

“It is quite evident they had been dream-walking, whoever has been doing it, at least, has become quite adept at it and has been creating a complete mayhem while doing so.” Wanda grabbed a sandwich furrowing her brow while opening the book and showing some graphics filled with runes and letters you did not understand.

Loki tilted his head eating in silence while glancing at the graphics, he turned to you then back to Wanda who continued speaking while filling up in the gaps that you did not know. Those that you had not been a part of while on in this universe.

“When we first encountered America, she told us about the multiple encounters she had with strange creatures chasing her around the multiple universes.” Wanda pursed her lips furrowing her brows, “something happened though, there was a moment of peace and then when they came back, she fell into our world.”

“Is this the part in which everything else happened?” Loki asked tilting his head thoughtfully, “but there was a moment of peace as well, was it not? Stark mentioned a time of peace in which she was getting use to this place…”

“And to us, yes.” Wanda shifted lightly, her eyes flickered to where you were already finishing your sandwich, your tongue tucking out cleaning your lips before you went back to your food. She couldn’t help but smile at the gesture, it seemed that some things didn’t change in between universes.

“Dream-walking is a powerful technique, not just anyone can do it and whoever decides to enter in such a realm of dark magic usually gets affected,” Loki leaned back closing his eyes for a moment, “whoever is behind this know what they are doing, and they had probably been planning this for a very long time.”

“I’ve been having dreams I shouldn’t have, dreams with Scarlet sneaking inside a different reality.” You chewed on your lower lip drinking from the glass before continuing, “some of them are pretty real, everything that she does it’s usually pretty real, yet I know it is not Wanda. It feels different, she is different even if they look the same.”

There was a moment of silence in which you tried to ignore the stares from Loki and Wanda on you. You distracted yourself with the food and the beverage while playing with the ring on your hand, you shifted on the chair ready to speak until Loki beat you to it.

“You said you saw a rune before the explosion, right?” Loki inquired, he produced a piece of paper and a pen that lend you waiting for you to draw what you saw.

“Yep.”

Wanda observed as you drew the rune, she leaned forward softening when her nose caught up with the aroma of your shampoo and special scent that was innately yours. She couldn't help the hand that rested on your arm, nor the tenderness behind her caress. You shifted on the spot, your back going rigid the moment you felt the familiarity behind the touch.

“There is something I don't understand yet, why do you call her Scarlet and referring to her as a third individual?” Loki finally asked furrowing his brows, you scrunched up your nose turning to Wanda then to Loki.

“Because they are not the same?” You knew something was not right the moment those words left your mouth.

Wanda and Loki glanced at one another, breaking their eye contact almost right away. 

“What?” You could see the hesitation but it was Wanda the one who answered.

“I am Scarlet, Y/N. That was my alias when I was part of the Avengers.” She clarified, you noticed just how closed she was to you, the twitched of her lips just as her hand cleaned up the crumbs of bread on your clothes and face. 

“Okay, well…look, I don't know what happened there, but my Wan…” You scoffed at the slip, stepping back and giving your back to Wanda you spoke again, “Wanda and Scarlet are certainly not the same. If anything…Scarlet is more…”

“Daring? Powerful? Mischievous? Straightforward?” Loki cocked his head, he smirked when you turned to him, narrowing your eyes. “That's Wanda alright, I will add an annoyance, and a pain in the ass.”

“Thank you.” Wanda glared at Loki who bowed his head, the relationship was almost as confusing as seeing Steve squirmed when talking to Loki.

“I wouldn't describe it like that…” you trailed off remembering the dreams, the touches and her words. 

You clenched your hands, this world was certainly driving you mad. 

“Is it possible this Scarlet is from a different Universe?” You asked looking at the circle on the floor, “perhaps a more deranged and obsessive version of Wanda from a different Universe?”

Loki stiffened at the question, he shifted from one foot to the other before stepping forward with a flickered of his hand a book appeared out of thin air. He grabbed the article, turning to Wanda before stepping forward into the circle.

“A cup of tea would be nice,” Loki sat down on the circle opening the book in front of him, the world soon darkened only to ignite a green flame. 

You stood your ground, stepping inside the circle making the magic around it flickered dangerously. Your eyes went black, leaning forward with your arms firmly placed at your sides.

“Answer the question.” You demanded to which Loki merely shrugged.

“Wherever there is a Wanda, there is always a Scarlet Witch, Y/N. They are one and the same.” Loki then twirled his fingers sitting Indian style while closing his eyes, the electric current of his magic pushed you away. “The fact that you are telling us there are two versions of Wanda only tells me what I should look for.”

“How can you know this? How can you be so sure that they are not two versions of different universes?”

“Because something like this has already happened before.” Loki waved his hand away frowning, “now, hush, I need to do this right or else I may take far longer than necessary and you need to go back to your timeline before something catastrophic happens.”

You observed the god with his hands position to the sides, flickering as the book finally revealed golden pages and he smirked. You were about to speak again but your body went completely rigid when a hand placed itself on your shoulder, you turned around only to see Wanda looking directly at you. Her touch was tender, and almost tentative, but it was enough for you to stop whatever you were about to do or ask. For a brief moment she waited, until you finally relaxed and stepped back.

“Come, this may take a while and I think we still have a conversation pending.”

You hesitated with your shadows flickering around you, whatever power or will to fight you had in you was soon eased out when Wanda sought out your eyes. You swallowed down your weakness before this woman, and without a single word you turned around and left the basement. The door close behind you with a flash of gold and green filling the basement before the closed door stopped any other intrusion from the magic.

You rested your back against the door, the young woman standing beside you bounced for a moment before she went into action and made her way to the kitchen. At first, you only follow her with your eyes, the confidence she was usually wearing faltered from time to time, and you could see the tension building up inside her while she grabbed the tea pot and got everything ready. Her back was turned towards you, but you were completely sure she was pretty aware of your presence and what you were doing.

After a while, and once it was pretty obvious Wanda had nothing else to do but wait for the water to boil you pushed from the door walking towards the kitchen and sitting down on a chair near the counter.

“When I first learnt about my powers, I started hearing this voice inside my head.” Wanda started talking out of nowhere, you sat down waiting for the story to continue.

“It was not a stranger's voice, it was mine though it held an influence and power that soon became part of me.” Wanda turned around, this time around she made sure it was impossible for you to look away. “While I was being experimented on, the voice kept on infusing me with confidence and power, I understood that the magic in me was talking but then…”

Wanda trailed off and her face broke into a painful mask of the past. The memories came rushing in, she lifted a hand to grab her arm hugging herself protectively. You swallowed down holding onto the counter, your heart twisted wanting to go over there and comfort Wanda. You clenched your jaw, looking away and hating the emotions running rampant inside of you.

“I was then given to my parents, my adoptive parents.” Wanda put a hand on her forehead, her voice breaking lightly. “She never told you?”

“She decided to cheat on me instead of trusting in me.” You replied through clenched teeth.

“It's so easy to judge others, isn't it?” Wanda shook her head leaning forward. “Have you ever asked her about the experiments? About the abuse? About the training?”

“Perhaps it was different from her that it was for you.”

Wanda leaned back, lifting her chin, “perhaps, but something tells me our worlds differ in the way we react to the past.”

“Does it make a difference?” You leaned forward, for the very first time spitting out anger while hitting the counter. “She broke my heart in the worst way and then…then came back with a set of troubles that only brought confusion and memories I didn't want!”

Wanda shook her head pointing a finger at you.

“If this is what you think then, you never knew her and you never understood her.” Wanda opened her mouth to say something else but she stopped, her eyes taking in the form of her wife and her heart yearning to have her back. To feel the sweet caress of her eyes on her. 

“She should have been more open, then. I was patient! I was always there for her! Even after Pietro died…”

“What?” Wanda paled at this, she opened her eyes trembling while she approached you, a piercing pain breaking through her chest.

You blinked confusedly shrugging, the anger still lingering in your features. 

“The day she became part of the team, that day Sokovia was destroyed. Pietro died saving Clint.” You hesitated to take notice of the pain crossing Wanda's eyes, “I'm sorry.”

Tears piled up in her eyes, her hand went to her chest. It was quite evident this news affected her greatly, even if her own brother was alive and her country was still pretty much a functional place with a stable government and amazing landscapes. You looked away, unable to face the tears or the sorrow coming from Wanda.

“And then, she lost you.” She whispered, leaning back, Wanda opened her mouth before closing it again. 

You shrugged, passing your hand through your hair, everything was messed up. Your emotions, the situation, the fact your heart ached to comfort Wanda, that you still wondered if perhaps being with her was possible. 

“I just…I want this to end. I don't know if this was…”

“You really don't understand,” this time around Wanda approached you with a tentative stare in her eyes. You stepped back the muscles of your face tense, with your chin lifted slightly.

“I think I understand enough after I saw her fucking Vision while she was still dating me.” You spat out, your eyes black while your powers flickered behind you.

Wanda had seen it.

The treason, the broken heart, the pride and the anger, but she had also seen the love, the nostalgia, the confusion as to what to do, how to proceed. She had seen enough to approach you, to place a hand on your shoulder. This Wanda had seen it all, and she had lived it before; the only difference was that she never hide herself from who she was and what she was experimenting with you. She had to face it because if she hadn't done so, she would have lost you and she was not ready to let you go.

It was getting harder to breathe, your thoughts came rushing inside your mind creating a spiralling of emotions that pierce through your very soul. Those green eyes were looking at you with understanding, there was a hint of sadness there but also hopefulness, and you just dropped your shoulders with your eyes glancing to the window.

“I can't look at you without remembering my pain,” you mumbled grabbing your chest, “I can't be here, and I can't be part of this fight if it means I have to be close to you. To her.”

“You still love her?” The question made you shiver, the darkness in your eyes increased and this time around the shadows wrapped around your body.

“It doesn't matter.”

“It does to me.” Wanda squeezed your shoulder tenderly, there was a hint of a smile but otherwise the woman was trying to be as open as she could be with you. “I can't believe she did what she did, it was something that crossed my mind but I never…”

“Yes, well, things are different in every universe, right?” You tried to move away but the hand tightened her hold and Wanda kept you closer. 

“When I broke things up, and I started dating Vision something happened.” Wanda started, her voice carried the weight of memories while her magic flickered around you and her. “It was confusing at first, denying you, denying me, trying to convince myself that I was living in sin and that I have to change to be the perfect daughter, to be the person I was raised to be.”

You listened carefully, it was the very first time you heard Wanda after what happened. And while this experience was completely different to the one you lived with your Wanda you could perceive the similarities. The relationship with Vision, you running away, the conflict in the world, the need for the Avengers to save the day, everything came crashing down and the fight was almost lost because Wanda had lost herself and her mind. She was becoming a different person, her powers getting out of control. Until she was faced with her powers and the presence inside her mind.

“It was strange, at first, but it was as if I had created a different version of myself, a powerful one that had no limits on the magic she could use, my magic,” Wanda then let out a bitter smile, “I almost killed my Y/N when she tried to reach out to me, that was what made me snapped.”

“I don't understand…” you crunched up your nose, creasing your brows while replaying the story inside your head, “what do you mean another person? Powerful? I mean, my Wanda created a whole new reality for her and…Vision.”

“Are you sure it was for him?” Wanda stepped back letting go of you, “there is something about this whole mess that has been bothering me ever since America stepped into our reality.”

“You mean, besides my consciousness being trapped in the body of your wife?” The sarcasm in your tone made Wanda roll her eyes, though this time around she did smile.

“The magic feels familiar, yet tainted. As if there was something else in there.” Wanda leaned back against the counter, “you mentioned a Scarlet and a Wanda, I was never two different people in here, I became the Scarlet Witch and owed my powers the same day I decided to fight for you and your forgiveness.”

You tensed turning away from the intense stare Wanda was shooting your way.

“I don't pretend to defend my counterpart, her sins are her own, and her demons had been chasing her far enough to leave her alone in your world,” her words crashed the barrier in your heart, and not for the first time you longed to see your Wanda and comfort her. You had seen the loneliness, the misery, and the weight of her mistakes wearing her down.

“But, have you considered perhaps Scarlet is her way to escape who she really is? That perhaps, everything comes down to this Agatha and the world Wanda created for herself?”

You couldn't answer the question that left a burning mark in your mind, the house started trembling and soon the air filled with magic. You and Wanda turned to the door where the sheer strength of the magic being used was making it tremble on its hinges. 

“What's happening?” You narrowed your eyes, your body getting ready for whatever would come out of the door. 

Wanda approached the door tentatively, her hand stretched out but before she could reach the doorknob there was a small explosion. Out of instinct, you grabbed her through the shadows putting her out of harm's way while the hall got completely destroyed. Your arms wrapped protectively around Wanda, your eyes wide open as they glanced at the woman that was kneeling beside you.

“Are you okay?” 

Wanda swallowed down, nodding, she looked away from you, turning her attention to the hall. There was no more magic, and everything was silent. The place looked trashed but otherwise the house was silent, with only remnants of humming power prickling at your skin. You couldn't help but set your eyes on Wanda, the woman holding onto you submitting to your protective embrace. 

“Loki.” There was real concern behind Wanda's voice, with some reluctance she stood up getting ready to go down the stairs when Loki finally appeared behind the threshold. 

“Loki! Are you alright?”

Wanda was on him in no time , her hand gleaming red scanned the body of the male frowning before slapping his arm. Loki scoffed, rubbing the spot she had hit, glaring at the woman.

“What was that for?”

“I told you not to trash the house!”

“Yes, well it wasn't my fault.” He stepped past Wanda, directing his eyes to you. “Tell me everything you know about Wanda and Scarlet, and what exactly do you know about this Agatha.”

You cocked your head, your nose crunching up with just a hint of hesitation in your eyes. The world might have changed in this part of the universe but Loki was still Loki; what could he do to help? What was more, why was Wanda looking at him as if he held the answers to this mess?

“We don't have time for this, but I'm not the Loki you know…” here Loki trailed off, his feet taking him to the teapot, every single moment measured and carefully designed for him to serve himself a cup of tea.

Wanda came behind you, you sensed her hesitation before she too stepped past you and joined Loki in the same activity. You couldn't believe the strangeness of this world, the obvious power these two individuals held, and the secrets behind their powers. You glanced at the mug in front of him, then at an admiring Loki.

“By mere chance, I ended up in a place where all the timelines are stories I can tamper without any effort.” He shrugged, taking a sip from his tea, “while witches and wizards everywhere need to dream walk or steal the powers to reach other realities, I can do so by stepping into the sacred timeline.”

“What is…?” You started and for the first time you saw real annoyance behind Loki's face.

“I could explain to you my part of the story, but I believe our main focus must be for you to go back to your world, and our Y/N to come back.” Loki shrugged, looking at Wanda sideways, “that's why I need you to tell me everything.”

There were many questions in your mind, but with a nod you opened your mouth telling them about your first encounter with Wanda, whatever you found out about Agatha and then the subsequent explosion that led you to this world.

___________________

Wanda was ready to hit someone.

She really was ready to give up and do something drastic. The red magic concentrated on her hand, her eyes gleaming dangerously until a soothing hand wrapped around her forearm, America was torn between being amused and slightly concerned. For what seemed weeks they had been trying to get their plan into motion but every time they got to it you were ensnared deeper into the hex Agatha had placed on you.

The days were changing slowly, instead of the temporal loop they had experimented on those first days, now it was possible to go from one day to another, different days, different scenarios. Agatha was growing stronger while Wanda and Scarlet weakened little by little.

“You told me we had to be patient.” America stated trying to block Wanda's eyes from the scene playing in front of her.

Wanda huffed looking away from you and Agatha.

“She is doing this on purpose, she keeps using Y/N by having her under a spell, and we…”

“We are working on a solution, and the solution is here.” America rolled her eyes, still not believing she was the adult at the moment.

America knew most of Wanda's reaction was jealousy, the other part was guiltiness. Whatever was happening in the basement whenever Agatha dragged Wanda down, America knew the young woman had to face things she was not ready to face. Wanda usually came from those sessions tired, drained and miserable, while it became difficult for her to handle her magic.

America pursed her lips glancing at you and Agatha, Agatha placing your hand on her abdomen while you looked at her adorably. The principal of the school and the woman America and Wanda had met the first time they arrived in Norway were smiling congratulating the happy couple.

“How did she get the…” Wanda couldn't even said it, she turned around and everyone seemed to be having a good time in the school grounds.

“Well, you told me that's what you did…”

“Her magic was not like mine, she really is draining all my powers and here I am…” Wanda turned around and walked away.

America followed her walking faster to keep up with the other woman.

“Wanda, it's going to be fine, this is what we have been waiting for, right? We got her distracted and then you tried to wake Y/N…” America then hesitated pursuing her lips, “you told me your counterpart would help, right? With the signal she would help…”

Wanda stopped her passing, she squinted her eyes before nodding curtly.

“She said she would help.” Wanda didn't want to share her concerns with America in regards to her counterpart.

When they had met, Wanda had been scared out of her mind. The woman standing before her held the full power of chaos magic while being a construct of an inexistent reality. She had spoken harshly to her, blaming her for your indifference and for you to seek out other arms to be happy. Wanda had seen her life in replay, the past and the mistakes, the pain and the wrong decisions, everything that had led her to be alone and forgotten, trapped in a hex out of her control.

“Wanda?” America asked tentatively, Wanda straightened up shaking her head before offering a shaky smile.

“Let's do this.”

America smiled nodding, Wanda sighed begging to whoever was listening to her that this worked, or else, she didn't know what would happen once Agatha had gotten what she came for.

“You know what to do, right?” Wanda asked a very enthusiastic America, the young woman nodded with a smirk forming on her lips.

“Yep, please, Wanda just go for her… I know things will be okay.”

Wanda watched as America left ready to join the rest of the teenagers she had known back at school, soon she pretended to be just like everyone else trapped into the loop while Wanda sneaked around ready to reach out to you. With a single tap into her magic, she signalled Scarlet and soon she felt the surge of power going through her body as an answer. 

There was a loud bang, everyone exclaimed in surprise and soon people were laughing and clapping. While Wanda saw the subtle flickered in the reality, the purple changed into a light red. It was time. Without wasting more time, Wanda sprinted towards you spotting you right away while you laughed at some of the kids putting you away ready to show you some of their works and Agatha was distracted by the mother's asking about her pregnancy. The scene was so absurdly familiar, and stereotypical Agatha never noticed Wanda coming closer, or you walking into the school building.

The place was completely quiet, there was not much light but whatever light sneaked inside the building was enough for Wanda to locate you in the far corner of the building. Her heart skipped a beat, she glanced around knowing at any moment the reality could break and Agatha could get everything under her control.

“Y/N?” She called tentatively, you turned around with a scrunched-up nose and brows knitted together.

Your eyes met hers, and Wanda felt her breath taken away. You looked just the same, the way she remembered, with the same serious facade and the eyes filled with kindness and wonderment. She wished she could reach out to you, that she could gain your forgiveness…

The distance between the both of you shortened, but before Wanda could say anything you did something that left her and Scarlet defenceless.

You kissed her.

Wanda gave in right away, her eyes opened wide only to close slowly while she submitted herself to the kiss. Your lips on her sent an electric jolt through her body until her heart was twisting inside her chest and a hoard of butterflies exploded inside her lower abdomen. She forgot her own name, and everything stopped when your arms pulled her close and your warmth engulfed her with your teasing lips eliciting sweet whimpers of need.

For a brief moment Wanda forgot all about her past, she forgot the problem they were in and even why she had been looking for you. Wanda gave in, and kissed you back with the same tenderness, with the same need, with the same love.

“My Love, I missed you so much.” You said smiling tenderly at her, Wanda whimpered when you went back to her, your lips pressing tentatively before you pressed your forehead against hers.

“By the gods, Wanda, what's going on? Where is everyone? Billy and Tommy? Are they Okay?” You broke the kiss cupping her face in your hands, your questions soon went through her foggy mind, and Wanda felt as if a bucket of cold water fell on her.

“What?”

“Is it Pietro with them?”

Wanda felt her world crumbling around her, and you just went to kiss her again when a ball of purple mist came in between the both of you exploding and sending you flying away from Wanda.

You groaned, hitting the wall, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

“Honey, I can't take my eyes off of you or you go back to Wanda's arms, tsk even after she fucked Vision you’re like a lost dog after her “

You pressed your hands on the ground lifting your face, your brows knitted together while Agatha held onto America and Wanda. You eyed the woman in front of you, she wore a dark dress floating just above the ground with America trying to grasp for air. Agatha smirked at you, her free hand twitching slightly until Wanda fell on the ground with a purple rope tightly wrapped around her neck.

“Wanda!” You stood up stretching your hands and your eyes darkening completely, you hardened your features stopping only when you heard the groan of pain from America and Wanda.

“Nu-uh, dear, I can be quite jealous and if you even care about these two you will lower your guns and…”

You were not even thinking about the threat, you had found an opening in the hex and in the powers used by the woman in front of you. Your fingers wiggled, and the shadows went into attack mode but you weren’t the only one joining the fight without giving it a second thought. Scarlet and Wanda had been planning it all along, they knew they needed one another to bring Agatha down, the same way the did that first time but they were not counting on you.

Or, the golden and greenish spark of magic that broke into their space, the explosion that followed blinded everyone, and soon they were there no more.

_____________________

The charts and the monitors were going into overdrive, Tony was trying to fix some of the readings with Monica and Friday helping him out while Carol was standing outside the dome getting ready for action.

Yelena and Natasha stayed behind, they had been watching the fill show for more than a couple of hours watching the time passed differently entering into days and nights as if time didn’t really matter.

Yelena was chewing on her lower lip, hitting the table as soon as she saw you running towards Wanda crashing your lips against hers.

“I told you! Didn’t I?” Yelena turned to Natasha pointing an accusing finger at her.

Natasha rolled her eyes trying to go back into the scene, getting other angles only to see Agatha freezing the scene around her and grabbing America harshly by the neck. She saw the way she roughed America up, putting her to her before making her way to the school. Her eyes went from one screen to the other, this time around she noticed Scarlet breaking the chains around her arms, legs and neck, almost crawling outside the house faltering before gathering some energy.

“Yes, Yelena, you told me, you are amazing at this but…” Natasha pointed to the screens, Tony and Monica coming over shaking their heads.

“Whatever the hell is going on is…” Tony trailed off turning around to see a huge explosion affecting the dome.

The earth trembled, and soon everyone right outside was running around screaming orders in different languages.

“Guys, you need to see this!!” Carol was standing right outside the trailer, her face was completely paled, with a hint of worry in her eyes.

Natasha was about to exit but stopped when Yelena grabbed her hand, she turned to her sister to see the concern in her eyes.

“That’s not her.” Yelena was completely serious, with just a hint of fear in her tone.

“I know.”

“Who was that?”

“I don’t know, Yelena, but…”

“Hey, you two, you better come out because we just got a huge problem right now.”

Yelena scoffed turning to Tony, “what could possible be more important than the fact that was not Y/N?!”

Tony tilted his head shrugging, “perhaps the fact they just disappeared.”

“What?!”

Natasha and Yelena soon joined the rest of the team outside the trailer, the cold winter breeze of the north hit them straight in the face. The town was left almost untouched, with people on the ground being attended by the medical team; the dome had disappeared but besides some buildings being scratched and the people around being confused and left on the spots, there was nothing else indicating something strange had happened.

Natasha stepped forward watching the streets, and the sky, her heart almost leaving her chest when she turned around to see everyone looking at her. Yelena came forward as well, she crossed the street glancing around until she realized she was right in front of the street Agatha had used to name the street you were living in.

“What…what happened? Where are they?” Yelena finally asked turning to Natasha who merely shrugged just as baffled as her sister.

Instead of watching the same destruction Wanda had provoked a few months ago, what they found was a city that had been frozen in time. With all the inhabitants trying to remember what had happened, why they seemed to be a little disoriented; meanwhile, Yelena and the others had to wonder where you and the others had gone to.

“Where are they? Where is Y/N?!” Carol asked turning to Natasha and Tony. “You told me this would be fine! That you guy would find an answer before anything happened! Well, guess what, something happened!”

But there were no answers, and while everyone was fighting over what they should have done, or discussing what they should do, Yelena grunted exasperated running back into the trailer ready to get her eyes square while watching the screens. Something must be hiding in the broadcast, something she probably missed, something that would bring you safe and sound back into their reality.

At least, that’s what Yelena hoped for.

______________________________________________________________

Next Chapter: Loki miscalculates and creates a vacoon in the multiverse, Wanda has to face her counterpart and two different versions of Reader, America is ready to save the day and it was Agatha all along.

[maxinexstars]

Wolfy

Request by anon:Could you do a Nefera fem reader where the reader is a werewolf and her father doesn't approve of them (maybe set during boo york)

Nefera x fem reader

“Y/N,your turn,how'd you meet your girlfriend?” You were sitting with your friends and somehow got into talking about how some of them met their partners.

“Well I was walking down the street when I bumped into someone”

"Get off of me! Eww, don't you know who I am?" That was the first time you met Nefera,which led to no one believing you when you told them that you were dating. You had been with her for 3 years after managing to get through her rough bitchy exterior,she was sweet but only towards you. As you were talking Nefera grabbed your face and started kissing you "I missed you, babe" in between kisses. She sat next to you,asking you "What are you talking about?" You laughed

"Just explaining how we met” She laughed

"I remember that day. I thought you were just some lowlife trying to talk to me" Putting her arm around your shoulders as she leaned her head on yours. You playfully punched her arm,yet her comment somehow hurt. You did feel insecure against her,she was practically royalty and you were just a werewolf. Plus there was the fact that her father hated you,and thought you weren't good enough for her. "Hey, hey" Nefera gave you a serious look "What's wrong?" she started stroking your hair lovingly, sensing your discomfort

"Nothing,just worried about the upcoming full moon" You lied there was a full moon coming but you weren't worried about that. Your friends who you were telling the story to,had slipped away at some point but you didn't care right now.

"You know, babe, I don't care that you're a werewolf. You're still the best person I have ever met" She started kissing your neck "You don't think you're not good enough for me, do you?"

"No,just the moon thing"

"Well, once you turn, I'll still love you. I'll be right by your side the next morning, just you see"

"Aren't you heading to Boo York with your sister and father tomorrow?" She had been talking about this trip for the last 3 days,about some fancy gallery event.

"Oh, boo york! I almost forgot. My flight leaves tomorrow and I still haven't packed" She pulled away and grabbed your cheeks "Promise me you'll be careful tonight, alright? I don't want my favorite wolf getting hurt"

"I'll be fine,I promise. I'm gonna miss you" Nefera kissed you

"I'll miss you, too. But I'll call you every night before I go to bed. And I'll be back before you even notice." She gave you one last kiss "I have to head back to my place and finish packing. You,be careful!" You watched her walk off before you left. The rest of the night was difficult. You tossed and turned, and by the time you finally fell asleep, the moon was already high in the sky. It's light shining through your window awoke you. You stood up, feeling disoriented and confused. As you stumbled around in the dark you suddenly realized what was happening. Your vision began to blur and you tried to cry out, but all that came out was a low growl,you woke up the next day with mud on your face and small sticks in your hair. you slowly sat up, and looked around at the forest you had run through in your wolf form. You stumbled to your feet and quickly began to make your way back to your house when your cell phone began to ring. Quickly grabbing it, you saw that it was Nefera. Answering the phone, you held the phone up to your ear

"Hello?"

"Hey babe, how's your morning?" you heard Nefera's calming, familiar voice on the other line, and suddenly everything feels less overwhelming

"It's better now"

"Aww, you know just what to say, don't you?" she said with a small chuckle "What are you up to right now, wolfy?"

"I'm on my way back home,I kinda wolfed out last night" You explained and her answer made you stop in your tracks.

"Then hurry up,I'm waiting for you," Nefera said.

"What?"

"You heard me" The phone cut off and you realized that, although her words sounded demanding, her voice was laced with excitement. What was going on? You felt like you were practically flying back to your apartment, trying to make it home as fast as possible. The second you reached your complex you sprinted up to your floor and fumbled with your keys as you tried to unlock the door to your apartment. You could already smell her from miles away. As you opened the door, the full force of her scent hit you. It was intoxicating. You shut the door behind you and slowly walked into your living room. There she was, sitting at your coffee table.

"What are you doing here,I thought you were supposed to be on a flight in like an hour?" You asked,she smirked before saying

"I'm here to help you pack,because you're coming with me"

"Wait, what?" You were in utter disbelief "What about your father? He'd kill both of us if he found out I'm going with you"

"Don't worry, I'll figure something else out. Now,get cleaned up. I'll pack your stuff for you"

"Nefera,I shouldn't go with you. I mean fancy parties,gallery openings and high society isn't my thing. Just look at me,I-" You were still covered in dirt and with sticks in your hair,meanwhile she looked perfect.

"Hey, hey, look at me wolfy" Nefera cupped your face in her hands "You're my favorite, alright? I love every single messy, wolfy bit about you, got it?" She leaned in to kiss you, but suddenly pulled back and made a disgusted face "Ew, you have a leaf on your face. Why am I kissing a dirty dog?"

"Hey" you said annoyed.

"Don't 'Hey' me! Go take a shower, you're a mess" She began shoving you toward the restroom, and you suddenly realized that she was blushing a tiny bit. You quickly washed your hair and showered. Walking out to see that Nefera had already packed for you and prepared you and outfit. Your dress laid out in front of you as Nefera was digging through your jewelry. "Alright" Nefera grabbed the dress, and handed it to you "Change into this." The dress was gorgeous, a shimmery teal that hugged your body in all the right ways.You had forgotten that you even had it. You quickly changed. "You look so hot, babe" She put a few accessories on you and stepped back "There, perfect. Now we just have to fix your hair" You sat down and she fixed your hair. After a few minutes, your hair finally looked presentable. You couldn't believe how quickly she was able to transform you into such a different person "We have to go now, the limo's out front" You followed her out and as you were on your way to the airport you asked.

"Isn't your father gonna be angry that you brought me with you,I mean he already doesn't like me?"

"Yeah he'll probably be mad, but I don't care. He'll get over it" She gave a small scoff as she waved her hand dismissively "Now, let's talk about something more interesting. Do you know how to dance, wolfy?"

"You mean like a waltz?" She grinned at you .

"Yes, precisely. You'll have to dance with me at the ball, so I'm curious if you know how. Do you?" You felt embarrassed to admit

"A bit,but I'm not good" She began to giggle.

"That's cute. Don't worry, I'll teach you so you don't mess up the steps. Then, you'll be dancing with me without even looking down at your feet. Don't worry, it's fairly simple, I'll have you ballroom dancing in no time" A few hours later and you landed in Boo York. As you walked out of the airport, the cool Autumn breeze hit your face, sending a chill down your spine "Boo York" Nefera smiled at you "You ready for the time of your life, babe?"

"As long as you don't leave me by myself I'll be happy" She grabbed your hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Don't you worry, I won't leave your side" You could see the city in the distance, lit up by a million colorful lights. You suddenly felt excitement mixed with nervousness.

"Before we get too far into the city there's something I want you to have" You gave her a whistle,one only werewolves could hear.

"What's this?" She eyed the whistle with curiosity, admiring its simplicity. You could see her mind running a million miles a minute, trying to figure out what it was for.

"It's a whistle only werewolves can hear,just in case we get separated" She looked at you, a mixture of surprise and appreciation in her eyes

"You know, most people wouldn't expect you to be this romantic." she gave you a soft smile and put the whistle around her necklace before throwing her arms around you "Thank you, wolfy"

"Now,what's first on the agenda?" You hugged her back briefly. She gently kissed your cheek and began walking, her arm still intertwined with yours

"First, we're checking into our hotel, then we're doing some shopping, and then finally we have the gallery event, which I am already completely ready for" She gave you a smirk before asking "Any objections?"

"None what's so ever"

"Perfect! Lets go" She grabbed your hand and began leading you towards her limo, talking about something or another, but you were too busy staring at the city with awe to understand what she was saying. You had never traveled before, let alone to a city so big. This was something that would stay with you forever and you wanted to enjoy every last bit of it. Although the lights and sounds were getting overwhelming. Your ears moved quickly to every sound,but it was starting to hurt slightly. Just as soon as things started to get too much, a soothing voice broke through the chaos in your head "Hey, babe, you alright?" Nefera was looking at you with slight concern lacing her sharp features "You seem a bit overwhelmed"

"There's just too much,but I'll be fine. How much longer until we get to our hotel?"

"Just a few minutes more" She gave a reassuring smile "You think you can hold out for that long?"

"Yeah,but we should move a bit faster"

"Alright, let's go" She increased her pace, and soon the hotel came into view. It was huge, easily one of the most extravagant hotels in the city. The valet took Nefera's keys and let the pair of you out, which you thanked him for. She grabbed your hand and pulled you into the lobby of the hotel, which was almost just as elegant as the outside. It was a bit quieter and you were able to relax a bit.

"Now, we should probably get to our room. We still have a lot to do." As you and Nefera waited at the elevator, you once again began to marvel at her features. Although you always thought she was gorgeous, there was something almost ethereal about the way she looked in the city lights. You wanted to kiss her then and there, but you managed to suppress the urge. You were still feeling as if your head would explode,you put your hand up to your forehead. She noticed that something was wrong and placed her hand on your forehead as well

"You're burning up. Are you sure you're alright?”

"I just need to lay down for a bit and I'll be fine"

"Why don't we skip the shopping? I'll stay with you in the room until you feel better" She gave you one last concerned look and pulled you into the elevator once the doors opened

"No,just give me a few minutes and I'll be fine. It can be a lot when your sense are heightened"

"Alright, if you say so" The elevator doors opened and the pair of you walked down to the hotel room, which was as lavish as the lobby. The second the door was closed, Nefera pushed you down on the couch and began placing her cold hands all over your forehead, attempting to break your fever with her ice-like skin

"This is the one time I'm grateful for your cold hands"

"Yeah, you better be grateful. It's the only reason your head isn't steaming right now" She kissed your forehead gently, her cold hand still pressed against your warm skin. "You need to be more thankful" She gave a small chuckle as her cold touch sent shivers down your spine. She began running her fingers through your hair, attempting to soothe you. She let out a chuckle and continued what she was doing, but soon her touch lingered and changed into kisses, which spread from your forehead and down to your collarbone. Suddenly there was the sound of knocking at the door which made her groan in disappointment before sighing "Wait here" She planted a kiss on your cheek before heading towards the door. You heard her talking to someone, but the sound of her voice was faint, and when you tried to listen harder your head began to spin. You heard the door shut, and you saw Nefera walking back, with a look of pure frustration on her face.

"Hey,what happened?" She let out a grunt, and sat down next to you before wrapping her arm around you

"That was my father, he wanted to call to see how the trip was going, and to see how I'm treating you" She gave a small scoff and then leaned her full weight on you. The two of you sat like that for a few seconds before she spoke again "My father really hates you, you know"

"Yeah,I figured that when he saw me the first time"

"It's stupid. He hates you for such ridiculous reasons. Like because you're a werewolf" She began tracing circles on your palm as she continued to talk "But I love that your a werewolf, and he just doesn't understand that"

"Well,you hated me when we first met" The two of you sat in silence for a few moments before she let out a small laugh.

"It's insane how much you've grown on me. It seems your wolfy charm is rubbing off on me"

[katuschka]

Scene One – Lampshade

Jake Kiszka x f!Reader (1st person narrative)

2.541 words

On my bedside table, I have a beautiful art deco lamp. When my lover leaves, he ties a scarf he wore for days on top. And when he’s gone I let my window open just a bit, the gentle breeze sets the scarf on motion, just like the waves in the tempestuous ocean.  Once or twice, I swear, I could smell him in my dreams.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, intended for adult readers. Any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental. Also, if you're under 18, go find some other entertainment elsewhere.

Warnings: longing, alcohol consumption, penetrative sex, phone sex and masturbation, sex toys, phantasmagorical dream visions

Taglist

It’s been almost three weeks since I last saw him. I’m trying to convince myself that it’s not that bad, but the truth is that I always start missing him the moment he leaves. It’s a bittersweet feeling. I’m a grown, independent woman, engaging in my daily routines...or breaking them, just to stay sane. 

But, it feels as if a part of my soul got attached to him. It travels with him wherever he goes and I feel it tugging at my insides every now and then. At first I thought it was just a side effect of the early stages of falling in love. I believed that it would get easier with time, but it never did. If anything, it only got worse. 

It’s bearable during the day. My mind’s too preoccupied with my job, thank god. It’s not really much different from when he’s here. I still have my work to do and he’s busy too, until we finally meet at home to share a glass of wine or two. And then we fuck.

That’s why early evenings are the worst when he’s away. The house is just too big, too quiet, and my mind too restless. No sound of the strings being plucked greets me when I get home, no smell of savory dishes waiting for me in the oven or on the stove. I’m too lazy to do it myself, so I just order in, only to be reproached by him later that I’m not taking proper care of myself. My lover does all these things. My body’s spoiled with constant hugs and my cheeks peppered with warm kisses. So, on days like these, this is what his lady misses. 

He knows that, so he tries to call anytime he can. It’s easier in between shows. He makes sure to call me around eight, even when it’s already 3 am where he’s at. Him being a night owl, this has never been a problem. Sometimes it’s just a quick hello to make sure I’m ok. Other times we talk for hours. 

I didn’t expect anything like that today. He might call late or not at all. Probably not at all because today’s show was too important. He wanted me there, but I couldn’t go this time. I had an important project to finish and came home pleasantly exhausted. In a perfect world, we would celebrate our respective achievements together, but this world is not perfect, so I have to content myself with the fact that he is. 

Well, not really, but I wouldn’t change a thing about him. 

So, I just poured myself a glass of wine, climbed in bed early and tried to read, only to find myself checking the Instagram updates constantly. I don’t do it very often, because I’m not really keen on seeing hundreds of women swooning over him, but someone might be streaming the show, and I just couldn’t miss it. 

Before he left, he fastened his scarf on my lampshade. That little piece of fabric is basically marinated in his scent – his strong, yet religiously comforting cologne mixed with the warm smell of him. I made sure to leave both the bedroom door and the window open, to create a slight draft. After three weeks, the scent had already faded a bit, but I still could get whiffs of him while falling asleep. Just like today. The livestream I found ended mid-show, but I wasn’t really paying attention anymore. I could feel my eyelids getting heavy long before the concert ended and without even bothering to turn off the light, I fell asleep with my phone still in my hand. 

Except I couldn’t sleep. The thunderstorm in the distance and the billowing wind kept me awake. The sky was clear when I went to bed, so I couldn’t understand where the clouds came from. It didn’t matter anyway. 

He was here. In my bed, sleeping. The intoxicating scent of clove and incense mixed with his musk wrapped around me like a second comfort blanket. The bedside lamp illuminated his disheveled hair and the clothes he had carelessly thrown over the armchair next to the bed. He was naked and all of the sudden, so was I.

It was our bedroom…and it wasn’t. The southern wall was gone, exposing us to the elements outside. Our garden turned to a stony shore, with the waves of a rough sea crashing upon it. Somewhere in the distance, I could see the storm raging.

I was feeling snug under the blanket, the warmth he elicited sheltering me from everything else around. I reached out to touch him. His skin was warm and dry and I snuggled closer to him from behind, inhaling the comforting aroma of his relaxed, sleeping body. 

He never slept much. Sometimes I wondered how he could function after yet another sleepless night, and the dark circles under his eyes often worried me. But when he did fall asleep, he looked like a baby boy, his full lips slightly parted and his brows turned upwards. A man of paradoxes. He would fuck my brains out just moments after he spoon-fed me pistachio ice-cream. My doe-eyed barbarian. A romantic adventure, but a reptile too. Always offering something new. Just like the sky outside, with the full moon now illuminating the stormy sky. Where did it come from? It was hanging there in mid-air in front of the clouds, so big, so close it seemed that I could reach it with my fingers if I just stepped outside of the room. 

But I didn’t want to. Instead, I slowly swirled around him like a serpent. I could feel him stir, his body responding to mine. It was a silent dialogue. He turned to me and pushed my chin upwards to nuzzle the soft skin behind my left earlobe. I could hear him murmur a prayer, the words of which I didn’t recognize, but I understood it anyway. I could feel his hand travel slowly down my belly, pulling my thighs apart, his palm sliding gently to my pussy and his middle finger slipping in between my folds. It’s been too long… My body reacted immediately. I arched my back and gasped for air as his moistened fingertip glided over my clit in slow circles. He kissed my shoulder and I could feel his parted lips stretch in a smile before he nibbled lightly on my skin covered with goosebumps.

He spread my thighs even more, like the petals of a blooming flower. I felt the weight of his body on mine as he shifted, obscuring my view, silencing the wind, his porcelain face dimming all the celestial lights behind him. He was coming home. 

I cried out when he entered me, grabbing pillows on both sides of my head. He, too, yelped like a puppy, laying his head on my bosom just for a while, to gain his composure. I felt every exhale of his quickened breath on my skin, and enveloped his body with my limbs in a false promise to never let go. 

He started moving inside me and I felt absolutely lightheaded, as if we were floating in an empty void. It got darker with each deep, long thrust until time and space around us disappeared and the only thing that tethered me to reality was the rhythm of his beating heart and the alluring sounds of his raspy moans. We moved together languidly, drunk in love, and the waves of pleasure running through my body intensified with each passing second. My fingernails dug into his skin…so deep until he suddenly stiffened and screamed in pain right next to left ear…

…nooo…at first I couldn’t tell where I was or who I was until the sound of my phone ringing on the pillow next to my head slowly brought me back to reality. I couldn’t believe it. What? Why? I looked at the screen and saw the name of the only person whom I could forgive for calling me right fucking now!

“Jake? Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I breathed out. 

A moment of silence before the man on the other side responded. I must have sounded pre-t-t-y irritated. “Babe? Did I wake you up?” 

Of course you did. What day is it? Oh yeah, it was slowly coming back to me. Madison Square Garden… “What time is it?” I breathed out.

“Almost one am here, your midnight. We just arrived at the hotel a moment ago, I haven’t even had a shower yet, I just had to hear…”

“Urgh,” I interrupted him with a groan, not in a reaction to what he said. My still not fully awakened body was just fighting with my mind as I tried to sit. I was still slightly disoriented and my coochie weeped. “I, uhm, I’m sorry baby. I just had a very intense erotic dream…the first one in years. And you just happened to interrupt it at the worst possible moment.”

“Oh, daamn!” he chuckled. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Not funny Jake. No one else but you could ever make me this wet. The sheets below me are literally soaked through.” I heard him inhale sharply on the other side. It took him a few more seconds to respond. “You’re wet?” It sounded a bit like a stifled groan, followed by him clearing his throat. Poor Jake, he was so taken aback by my response that Oliver had to take over. “Thaths probably because I was absolu-te-ly on fire tonight, my love! Telepathy must be one of my many superior powers. Now I need to clean the mess…”

“What do you mean?”

“Phone sex, obviously.” 

I laughed. Nah, I’m not a fan. I love his voice, don’t get me wrong, but it couldn’t possibly make up for all the stuff that my subconsciousness flooded my brain with just a moment ago. Also, I’ve always found the idea of phone sex strangely disconcerting. We could do the most obscene stuff face to face without even batting an eye, but to be describing to him how I’m touching myself? No, thank you. I’d be embarrassed. Don’t know why. That’s just how it is, And that’s what I told him.  

“Oh come on, let’s try it.” Jake was back. “Besides, it’s a mutual obligation now. I’m already hard.” 

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. “Ok Jake,” I crooned monotonously, “what are you wearing?” 

“Oh GOD!” he moaned theatrically. “You sound so sexy when you’re bored. Mmmmm.”

I laughed again, in earnest. “Sorry,” I chuckled. “Ok, let’s try it. But I’m not going to describe what I’m doing. You tell me what to do.”

“Deal.”

I heard his sheets rustle as he shifted on his bed, which meant he already had me on speaker, so I did the same. I adjusted the pillows, stripped off my babydoll and tried to find a comfortable position. “Ok Jake, I’m ready.”

“Good girl. Now, close your eyes and cup your breasts. Let your thumbs draw slow circles around your nipples. No pressure.” His voice suddenly sounded huskier than before. 

“Are you jerking off?” And then I heard it. The unmistakable sound of his fist sliding rhythmically up and down his cock. Of course he was. 

“You can’t blame me sweetheart,” he breathed out. “I got here, still full of adrenaline from the show, only to hear you tell me that I was fucking you in your dreams. I couldn’t wait any longer.” 

The sound of his heavy breath made my pelvic muscles contract and my heartbeat quicken. I licked my fingertips and let my hand slide between my legs, trying to ease the ache. “Talk to me Jake. Forget the nipples. Guide my fingers.”

“Who’s impatient now?” He let out an involuntary moan, swallowed harshly and continued: “Squeeze your clit between two fingers, scissor-like. Now rub from side to side and gently pull.”

I knew what he meant. His technique was completely different from mine and effective in its own way. I never tried to recreate it before. I did now, and it all suddenly came back to me. The dream, his touch, his dick, stretching me, fucking me, our loins dancing together to the rhythm of our heartbeats…

“Not enough,” I whined. “I need more, Jake.”

“Ok, time for Mini Me.”

That was yet another thing my lover did for me. We found a company that makes custom dildos using castings of real customers. Now, a cold piece of silicone can never compete with the real jake, but it was the next best thing whenever I needed to release the tension after a long day. I loved the shape of it. It was mine. I opened the drawer and reached for the toy. “Now what?”

“Ride me,” he groaned. 

“How am I supp…”

“Let’s pretend we fell off the bed.”

“What?”

“Off the bed! Now!” he commanded. I climbed off the bed and attached the dildo to the wooden floor. “Mini Me’s ready. What now?”

“Now sit.”

I did as I was told. I got on my knees, placed the tip between my folds and slowly slid all the way down. Our roles reversed for a brief moment as I was now guiding him through. I heard him spit into his palm and groan with relief. It was his time to take the reins again. “Move,” he rasped. “Grab your hips and pretend it’s me. Set the pace, but tell me.”

I started moving my hips in a slow, sensual rhythm, while whispering up and down and up and down to him. I was now close to my bedside table, the fragrant scarf only a few feet from me. I closed my eyes. The illusion was almost perfect. 

“That’s my girl,” he moaned. “Do you want to go faster?”

“No, this is fine.”

“Ok, continue baby. Let me hear you.”

We continued like that for several minutes, eyes closed, listening to each other. I could hear that he was close as his low moans turned to high-pitched whimpers. My thighs started shaking and I had to catch hold of the bedside table to ease the tension in my legs. I opened my eyes and that’s when I saw it. The multi coloured lampshade. As I was moving, so were the colorful lights before my eyes. It was like being there, under the stage lights, as I was listening to my man. The most beautiful song. It overwhelmed my senses and I came, screaming. From the haze of my own high, I heard him finish shortly afterwards. 

I wanted to hear every detail of his show, and he wanted to know about my project, but we were both already too exhausted, so he promised to call me again in the morning. I knew he would, because that’s what my lover does. 

@its-interesting-van-kleep @takenbythemadness @edgingthedarkness @writingcold @ignite-my-fire @klarxtr @jakekiszkasbuttsweat @fleet-of-fiction @lvnterninthenight @myownparadise96 @GVFstuddedmajesty @josh-iamyour-mama @jazzyfigz @sanguinebats @thewritingbeforesunrise

[kusagrasskusa]

An Eye for an Eye, ‘Til the World goes Blind

Chapter 3- Italian Food

Intro, Cha1, Cha2, Cha3, Cha4, (Chapter Selections! Click this to find later chapters)

Lovely Y/N gets ready for her date. He really is something so dreamy- so fine. He invites her back to his place after good food <3 Although maybe agreeing to go back to his place was not so smart. Maybe she should learn Italian to recognize the little pun in the restaurant’s name.

There’s just one thing on her mind. Why did they look like her?

There was one thing they were thinking of. When were they going to reach her?

…

Buzz buzz

The ringing of her phone is what got Y/N to snap out of it. Her eyes were wide and her vision blurry as she daydreamed, not even realizing that she’d been holding her lip gloss on her lips for the past 5 minutes as she stared into her reflection.

“What am I doing,” she furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head to herself, dismissing the oddity and picking up her phone. “Hello?” She said with a smile.

“Hey, I’m here whenever you’re ready!” Tim’s deep voice replied through the phone, “I got my truck parked out front.”

“Okay! Give me just one more minute, I won’t keep you waiting!” She replied cheerfully, feeling the heat rise to her face and chest as she heard his voice. It was so dreamy!

“No rush, Y/N. I’ll see you in a minute.”

An intense anxiety and curiosity rested on her muscles. It was rare for Y/N to ever go out, let alone with a man who looked to be about 5 or 6 years older. Gosh, how would Mateo think of this?

But we all gotta live and rebel a little, you know?

“Yep, I will be there in one minute,” Y/N said out loud as she replied to her date, a shy smile on her face. Okay, she thought, play it cool. Cute guy asked for her number earlier and now he’s taking her out. Perfect.

Y/N grabbed her purse and fluffy coat and quickly walked out of her bedroom. However, she made a sudden halt as she passed the open door to her office- her furrowed eyebrows and pouted lip making her concern in plain sight.

No, she must be getting out there. She wouldn’t wanna keep him waiting after all.

But she hadn’t had the chance to just see if the girls’ faces were really similar to hers. With all the weird things the last 24 hours have brought, it could be enough to settle something deep in her mind.

Oh, he can wait a few more minutes.

Y/N plopped down into the chair, opening the monitors and following the same steps she had done many times to unlock her brother’s case files. Her legs shook with anticipation as she waited for the computer screen to load- a commonality in 2010 unfortunately- hoping what she saw was just a dream.

But that led her to think again. When did she fall asleep? There’s no way she fell asleep after looking at the photos, but she doesn’t remember falling asleep at the desk either.

Finally, the proper screen pulled up. “Here we go,” Y/N mumbled quietly to herself as the mouse clicked on the case photos, watching as the many bloody and graphic images flashed onto her screen. Her eyes scanned the entireties of the victim’s faces.

Next case’s photos, followed by the next, and then by the next. Each victim’s bloody face was blue, cold, and stiff; the daughters’ faces worse each time. It made her think of the daughter she saw dead yesterday, and how the back of her mind made that connection.

So, if it’s confirmed that each girl looked very, very close to Y/N… then when did she fall asleep between the time she looked through it and when she sat back?

A deep sigh escaped her lungs as Y/N stood up, pulling her coat over her arms and hurrying out the door. No more dwelling. What difference does it make, she thought, since it’s not like the nightmare was real. She felt annoyed with herself for letting the question bother her so much.

Something about the faceless man in her dreams just seemed to move her in a weird way, I guess.

“Well, took you a bit more than a minute,” Tim joked as he smiled at her, leaning against his white truck as she stepped out of the apartment building. He flicked his cigarette ash onto the road before sticking it between his lips.

“Heh, sorry,” Y/N shyly said, rushing down the stairs and over to him. She blushed heavily upon seeing the man, like a middle school girl would to her crush.

He was wearing the same red flannel from earlier, and nicer jeans and boots. It also looked like he combed his hair a bit.

“No worries,” he blew out smoke as he opened the door for his date, “ladies first.” Y/N grinned at him as she got into the car, the door shutting behind her. Moments later, he got into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle.

“This is nice, Tim,” she shyly complimented, looking out the window and onto her apartment. Out of the reflection of the window, she could see his smile as he looked over at her.

“And you look real nice yourself, Miss L/N,” he replied.

The small talk continued as they drove to the restaurant- a nice little Italian place called L’inganno. It wasn’t too far away, but definitely a different area than where she usually goes. The two stepped inside, got a table, and thus began the date officially.

“It smells so good in here,” Y/N couldn’t help but smile widely as she spoke. You know that feeling when something you have been dreaming about for a while happens? Like, for example, getting asked out by a guy with good tastes? Because that was how Y/N felt right now.

“Yeah, I’d never been one for Italian food, but I know the ladies like ‘em, hah hah,” Tim joked, running his finger down the menu as he read the options. Y/N giggled at his comment, nodding her head.

“You choose right then,” she replied as she took a sip of her water. “Say, I noticed your accent and I’m curious: where are you from?”

“Alabama,” he replied as he looked up from the menu and into her eyes. “I must not be good at blending in, hmm?”

“Mister, I’ve lived here all my life and you stick out like a sore thumb,” Y/N replied in an exaggerated Southern accent, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms, inciting a playful smile out of her date. “So, that brings me to wonder, what business do you have in these parts?”

“Well, since I apparently talk like this,” he replied in an equally exaggerated accent, “I said I had to do sum internet installations out this way, ya hear? Not that fun of stuff. Now, how ‘bout you tell me more ‘bout your job?”

Y/N giggled playfully as Tim leaned forward, holding his arms on the table. Not his elbows though; a small detail that showed a lot of etiquette. “Well, I’m in school for criminal justice and sometimes work with my brother Mateo; he’s a pretty high-ranking detective here, just like our dad was,” she replied in her regular voice. Tim nodded his head, taking a sip of his drink.

“You lived here all your life then, huh?” Y/N nodded her head, looking back down at the menu. Seconds later, the waitress came to take their order before walking away with the menus.

“How long are you going to stay?” Y/N asked, scooting forward in her seat and looking up at the man.

“That depends. I could go back once my work here is finished, but recently I met a pretty lady in town. She might make me stay for a lil while longer,” he replied with a wink. Y/N felt her face flush as she looked away, a smile creeping on.

“She must be really nice then,” Y/N said, fumbling with her fingers, “I wonder what she could do to keep you here longer.” Oh, Mateo would be so unhappy if he witnessed this.

“There’s a couple of things,” Tim said thoughtfully as he tapped his chin. “I could never force anything though. Maybe all we could do is enjoy dinner, talk for a bit, maybe hang out for a bit afterward too.”

Her heart sped up as he spoke. It’s funny how when a girl feels herself falling for a guy, she loses her appetite at times. Her stomach felt warm and her legs numb.

And finishing dinner couldn’t have come soon enough for her.

They stood at the front counter for a minute as Tim paid; Y/N swaying her legs back and forth with anticipation. When they finally walked back over to the truck, it was a matter of a second before she was wrapping her arms around his neck as he held her waist. Y/N had never kissed a man like this before but she could tell he was experienced. Not very surprising for a man that attractive.

“Wanna go back to my place?” He whispered raspily, his voice inciting feelings within her. As much as she didn’t want to stop touching him, she knew it would be way better somewhere else than the outdoor cold on the side of a truck.

As the two got into the truck, Y/N pressed her legs together and fumbled with her fingers. “You just can’t wait,” Tim pointed out with a cocky grin. His face was flushed as well.

Y/N giggled, nodding her head shyly. “You’re gonna teach me a lot tonight, Tim,” she said.

“Oh yeah?” He replied as he turned out of the parking lot and onto the road, “Good thing you’re in good hands.”

The flirty remarks continued back and forth as he drove down the highway, turning into a backroad and continuing down. It wasn’t too far away from the restaurant, but she couldn’t tell if it was closer or further away from her apartment. It’s not like she was paying attention though; until Tim suddenly cussed under his breath abruptly and pulled over to the side of the road.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she furrowed her eyebrows. Tim sighed with an annoyed expression.

“I just gotta check somethin’ real quick. I’m sorry but I’ll be fast, I promise.” He leaned over in her direction and gave her a quick kiss before stepping out of the vehicle, leaving the door wide open. The cold winter night air seeped in, letting out some of the warm air from the heater. She listened as he stepped towards the bucket of the truck.

It was that moment she took in her surroundings. It was dark and thick with woods all around. No streetlights or a single passing car- a perfect scene for a horror movie.

A few minutes passed without a single sound or word from Tim, making her grow a little uneasy. Y/N shivered as she opened her door and stuck her head out, calling out, “Hey Tim, is everything okay?”

No reply. Y/N hummed to herself as anxiety crept up her body. Okay, that’s a little weird.

“Tim?” she called out again as she stepped out of the truck, closing the door behind her. She made a face of worry as she slowly walked towards the back of the truck, looking around and seeing that he had just disappeared. “Hey, if this is some kind of joke, it’s not funny…”

Nothing; no reply. Y/N huffed, furrowing her eyebrows in annoyance. She swiftly spun around, gasping loudly as she came face to face with a large hooded man who was barely illuminated by the moon. His face was dark; maybe there was a mask concealing it from the moon’s light. His orange hoodie shun, however.

“What the fuck!” Y/N screamed as she jumped back, spinning her heel and breaking it for the opposite direction. That moment she felt her fucking heart skip a beat; a sentence she never once related to literally until this very moment. As well as the moment another man jumped out of the woods, forcing Y/N to a halt as she looked upon him with wide eyes.

He wore a feminine white mask that glowed in the moonlight, as well a yellowish jacket. The two men were much taller and larger than her; in fact, one of them was exactly as tall and large as Tim.

“T-Tim?” Y/N whimpered out as she felt tears sting her eyes. The man came stepping closer, before the man behind her quickly wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest. Her survival instinct kicked in with her limbs flailing all around, trying to escape. The hooded man reached his hand up to her mouth to muffle her louds screams as he effortlessly held her smaller form.

Meanwhile, she watched as the masked man pulled out rope and effortlessly held her arms and bonded them together, unreactive to her kicks. He then grabbed her legs and tied them together. Once he finished, he walked over to the truck door and grabbed a rag and a bottle, pouring its liquid into it. Fuck, Y/N already knew what it was.

The hooded man released his hand from her mouth as the other pressed the rag against her nose and mouth. She whimpered out cries as the tears flooded down her frozen face. She tried not to breathe but she couldn’t relax enough for it to be easy- her body needed the air and took in the smell of the chloroform as well as whatever other drug it was laced with to make the effects kick in fast. Her vision began to turn blurry as she looked all around, trying to avoid the face of the fucker.

Her eyes were met with a dark figure in the woods. It was familiar- its face white and blank yet looking back at her. Thank God she got knocked out before she could stare at it for too long.

[maryannecrimsworth]

Stubborn

Gif belongs to @tvandfilm

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9

Guide for tormented hearts

Pairing: Wednesday Addams x Selective Mute Reader

Warnings: self-destructive behavior; violence; flashback

Summary: You had a nightmare --- you got poisoned. And Wednesday insists on taking care of you.

Some reader's characteristics: R has anxiety disorder, selective mutism, and is a really unique type of outcast. Reader's background it's derived from my Wednesday fic, The Hunt.

"What do you mean ‘I fell asleep’?” You stood up abruptly, your nails craving into your own skin. "Did I transform?"

"Stop." She ignored you completely. "Stop scratching." She tried to reach you, but you flinched, backing off while your forearms started to bleed.

"Please, tell me." You pleaded, the readiness and burning crawling up to your face. "Are you sure I didn't turn into the Alp?"

"Yes."

You laughed. You laughed brightly and loudly while your hands went up to your neck.

"Stop it." Wednesday grabbed your wrists. "Stop laughing, stop scratching."

"Wednesday." Your voice made her look up at you: your lips closed in a content smile as your eyes shone, locked on hers. "I slept."

"You had a nightmare." You tried to move again but Wednesday immobilized you by intervening your fingers. Her grip was strong and, surprisingly, her touch was not cold. "Possibly a vision. Tell me what you saw."

"I saw my mother, the Hexe." You swallowed dryly, the burning spreading to your throat and mouth. "And someone just like you."

"Like me?"

"Is there any witch in your family?"

"My mother. My grandmother. My aunt."

"No, someone older, from the pilgrimage times." You breathed out, freeing yourself and scratching the back of your neck with violence. "Someone who was condemned in a witch trial."

"Yes." Wednesday whispered, her face frowning as her thoughts grew faster. There were a few cuts in your neck by the time she looked up again and grabbed your hands. "Goody Addams."

"She saved me." You choked, being stopped from moving again. "Can you please—"

"No." She was holding you tightly, her fingers closing around yours with as much intensity as her eyes were targeting you. "You need to calm down."

"I'm not nervous, I am itching." It was unbelievable that Wednesday was stronger than you. "There were larkspurs in the dream, I think I'm reacting to them."

"Larkspurs?" Wednesday's eyes widened abruptly, her expression so suddenly explicit that shocked you. You've seen her scared before, fragilized, with tears in her eyes; but, this time, her gaze was fast. Quick and wild, like she had to act immediately. Like there was an imminent danger  "We need to go." 

"Wednesday." You held her back, your hands now gripping her tightly. "I'm okay."

"You are not."

"I am."

"We need to go." She ordered after pushing you one more time. "Obey before I—"

"No." Your voice was firmer. Firmer than she had ever heard. 

Stubborn. How stubborn you were. Wednesday had to bite her tongue in order to not yell at you.

"I fell asleep!" You said suddenly, as if it mattered, as if it explained your stupid, reckless, destructive behavior. You smiled at her as if the wounds growing on your skin weren't burning. As if they couldn't make you scratch until...

"It doesn't matter, you have to—"

"I haven't slept since my father…" You whispered. "Wednesday, I—"

"We need to go!"

"I don't want to!"

You were grasping her. Your hands were so tightly closed you could feel her sweat, her fighting, her skin against yours. Her fingers, entwined with yours, started to absorb your warmth. The heat, the poison you were feeling --- that had spread all over your body and system, intoxicating you, burning you --- somehow, reached her too. It was the only possible explanation for the redness in her cheeks and the gleam in her eyes.

You let her go and stepped back suddenly. "I don't want to go. I don't want you to go."

Surprisingly, you were the only one moving away.

"I..." She stepped closer, her voice now matching yours: low, whispered, honest. "We have to go."

'We'. It was strange. Strange, odd, exquisite. It couldn't sound worse in Wednesday's voice, and yet, it made you smile. .

"Larkspurs are poisonous." She shook her head and lowered her gaze abruptly. "If you have ingested any particle of it, in any way, it will…"

"Oh, don't worry, I've become resistant to poisoning."

You could hear Wednesday gritting her teeth. 

"What does it take for you to listen?" She hissed. "I have my axe with me."

"I have one too. Viking kind." You were not kidding. You were smiling at her. "What's your plan, boss?"

Wednesday rolled her eyes.

"Just follow me." 

So you did.



X



"I know you said it didn't matter." You followed Wednesday through the hallway, stepping closer to her as she wandered through your brother’s cabinets. "But it matters to me. A lot. And I don't know how you did it."

"We'll talk about it once you stop scratching yourself." Between glasses, bottles and jars, Wednesday reached a small bag with dry oats. "Found it." She headed to the toilet and you followed.

"Ravens can build bridges among the worlds." Wednesday entered the restroom, quickly turning on the bathtub faucet. The water started to drop as she handled the bag carefully. "Maybe, maybe you…" Your mind was spinning. Your mind was spinning and your body was burning and there was not a single part of your skin that wasn't red and bruised.  No matter how hard she tried, Wednesday couldn't make you stand still until the bath was ready. "Why would Goodwoman Addams contact me?" You shook your head, barely noticing Wednesday's approach. "Why would she save me? She should hate me, I'm Hexe's son." Your eyes were lowered, frowned, your attention was in your mind, in your own head. You didn't notice Wednesday's fingers traveling up your shirt. "The Larkspur field. Why would she be there?"

A cold wild suddenly hit your chest – you flinched and crossed your arms, stepping away unconsciously. "Can you talk to her?"

"I need you to take your clothes off." Her words made you look up. 

Your coat was in her hands, and half of your shirt was unbuttoned.

"Oh." You hid your exposed skin. "Why?"

"The bath will help with your itching." She explained, pacing over to you again. She stood a few steps away from you, and remained still, watching you as you watched her. "Do it. What are you waiting for?"

"Why…why would you…" You muttered, holding your shirt even tighter. “Why are you doing this?” Her eyes rolling met your confused expression. She didn't move for several seconds, in an attempt to figure whether you were able to understand it by yourself or not. You were not. 

“Because that’s what friends—”

“No.” It was your turn to step closer. “Why are you not answering me?”

“It does not matter, not now.”

“It’s a mystery, of course it does.” You were leaning over her slightly, curiosity pulled you closer as she watched all the bruises over your skin. “For you it always does.”

“Not when you are in pain.” She ended the distance between you two, grabbing your shirt and undressing you in a unique, fast motion. She grasped your wrist right after, dragging you to the bathtub. “Why are you always so mulish when it comes to ceasing your own wounds?” She immersed you into the oat water before sitting on the edge of the tub. “It's almost as if you want me to smother you until everything stops.”

“I-I…” You stuttered. “Sorry.” You whispered, lowering your face, your shoulders diving deeper into the water. You were hiding, your whole body was now submersed. “I got used to it.” You kept avoiding her gaze, but Wednesday noticed it nonetheless: she noticed how your smile disappeared, she noticed how the frown between your eyes faded away, she noticed how your bruised skin turned pale as you tried to speak. “I've always had to do it in a hurry.” A tear fell from your eyes; you did not wipe it. 

You weren’t able to say anything else.

“So the werewolves wouldn’t track you.” She spoke after several seconds of silence; you nodded slowly at her words. “Still, I thought Hank would teach you to act more carefully.”

“No.” You whispered. “He can’t stand it. Me.” Your head rested on the wall beside you, you were as far away from Wednesday as possible, your eyes also distant in some diffuse corner of the room. “I can’t let him.”

And silence again. You remained still as Wednesday’s brain tried to understand your speech: as she tried to interpret every small feature, gesture and breathing; as she tried to discover what was wrong with you, what has been done to you.

“You can’t let him do what?” She finally inquired: you did not make sense. 

What has happened to you?

“Take care of me.” Your eyes closed in a tired, beaten expression. “The last person who did it…” Your voice disappeared, so did your breathing and any sign that Wednesday could catch — you stopped, as if the memories that crossed your mind stopped your world and your own body; you said nothing, did nothing and saw nothing. You were closed inside your own mind. 

Who did it? 

Wednesday reached her hand out to you, but you moved before her fingers could touch your wet, bruised skin — you shook your head suddenly, moving towards her as your hands grasped the edge of the tub.

“You saw it.”  Your gaze was watery, but intense and motionless. It froze her while you spoke: “The mere act of speaking to me is dangerous. Anyone can become a target.” You shook your head again, and your countenance changed completely: you got agitated, fast, messy — scared. “Rachel became. Hank became. And now you…” You breathed out: moving around frantically, soaking Wednesday’s clothes as you huffed and sank completely into the water. 

You were hiding? Were you closing yourself inside your mind again? Inside your own memories?

Why can’t you just talk to me?

You did not go back up. Minutes passed and you remained still: motionless under the water, only bubbles came out to break the silence that conquered the room. Your silence. 

Wednesday had to grab your arm and lift you up in order to keep you from drowning. 

“Stop!” She roared at you while you gasped for breath; her hand pulled you closer, higher, away from the water and closer to her. “How many times do I have to say it?”

“You understand this more than anyone!” You whispered, eyes still closed, heavy breathing hitting her face, words sending shivers down her spine. She did understand — and you knew she did it because you saw it. You had been inside her mind, you saw and knew her, but she didn’t. She doesn’t. For her, you were confusing, chaotic, unpredictable. And to watch you being like this — reckless, doleful, in pain — made her mind rush as much as her body; the mystery intrigued her brain as her hands closed around you, as she held you like your life depended on it. On her. She felt like it did. “I’m trying to give you a choice.”

A choice? There wasn’t a choice — there was not. How could it be? How could someone choose to let you drown? To let you sink into the water, into yourself, without pushing you back up? Holding you like this, keeping you from isolating yourself, from abandoning everything, making you resist and fight, endure and survive your worst fear — it wasn’t a choice. For Wednesday, it was an urge. She had to. She had to do it with you. She could not do otherwise — she could not watch you sink.

“Goody Addams contacted you.” Wednesday’s grip became tighter. Her hands were as out of control as her voice: it became harder, firmer, without any intention or composure.  “That’s the proof that my choice has already been made.” These words made you look at her. 

You were not crying anymore — you were fighting against it, resisting it. Your neck moved with dry, repetitive swallows, you held the tears back as Wednesday’s kept staring at you, holding you. Part of you did not believe — but a part did. A part screamed to you to not let it go. Not this time. 

You cleaned your throat and pushed the memories away. You have to reminisce, but not about her. Not about Rachel. She was long gone — no, you had to remember your mother. Your father. The Hexe and the Bard. The Circe and Orpheus. The witch and the poet. 

It was hard. Too hard. 

You had never talked about him.

“So I must tell you.” You spoke, and her fingers finally freed you, even though she hadn't distanced herself. Her body was still towering over you, eyes down in a curious, stoic expression: watching you while you moved silently in the water. You were gathering your words: she could tell by the way you twisted your lips and closed your eyes. “The tale.” You said suddenly. “Hyacinthus. My father used to tell me every night.” 

Apollo. Hyacinthus. Zephyros. 

You swallowed dryly as the names kept repeating inside your head.

“He said that the Hexe wasn’t supposed to be my mother. He didn’t love her.” Your voice was sharp, hurried, choked. “He didn’t love her but she did. She was obsessed with him. And when she realized that he loved someone else, she…” Tears were falling down your face one more time, but, somehow, your voice was firm. Low but steady. Deep and enamored. It sounded warm, although melancholy. It made your lips smile at the memory of your father, and it made you cry at the reminder you would never meet you again. 

You stood quiet for a second, rubbing your eyes as you smile sadly. 

Wednesday tried to cope with your state: her mind tried to connect your words with your expressions, tried to figure out what you were feeling — and what happened to make you feel like that. But she had no idea — you were smiling and crying at the same time. She could not read you, so her mind remembered the Greek tale instead. 

“She did just like Zephyros.” Wednesday guessed.

“And my father died like Hyacinthus.” You shook your head again, your wet hair falling over your forehead, the smile now fading away completely. “The larkspur field. He died in the larkspur field he planted himself. Surrounded by the flowers that grew with his blood, by the flowers that grew because of Hyacinthus’ blood—” You choked. “Why was Goody Addams there?”

The poisonous, former flowers dedicated to the Spartan Prince, to the deceased Apollo’s lover, your father’s favorite plant — it was beautiful, scented and dangerous, after all. The larkspur would keep any unwanted visitor away from your little cottage — no dangerous animals, no dangerous people, only you and your vatter. Only the two of you in your poisonous, secretive garden, in the larkspur field. 

“You should ask her yourself.” Wednesday broke the silence abruptly. 

You frowned. 

“I…” Her gaze faltered before yours. Your teary, deep eyes now held an intensity, a purpose and willingness she had never seen before. “I will make you sleep, Y/N.”



X



“This is…surprising.” Tyler touched the wallpaper of his new cell. Of his new room. It was new, clean and perfectly normal. It seemed like it belonged to a normie teenager — not to a monster like him. Not to a prisoner like him. “I….”

“You didn’t like it.” Hank sounded sad. 

“No!” He turned to Hank immediately. “That’s not it! I liked it, but I…you said it was a camp.”

“It is.” 

Tyler’s eyes widened. “Uh…It is not?” He stepped around his new room, feeling light for the first time in months, his wrists and neck tingled from the lack of metal surrounding them. “What about the guards?” He whispered the question. 

“Not really necessary.” Hank flopped down on the couch. “Wow, I could sleep here for ages.”

Tyler frowned. 

“Will you explain to me what's happening?”

“You already know.” He laid on the sofa, stretching and placing both hands behind his head. “It’s in the letters.

“No, it is not.” Hank finally looked at him, face completely blank. Tyler stepped closer in an attempt to change it. “What is this place? Who owns this place?”

Hank chuckled. His silence made Tyler get closer, moving towards him until only an inch kept them apart.

“Ask your new little friend.” He grumbled as soon as he noticed his approach. “I’m sure Aretha will appreciate it.”

“I don't think she knows where Rachel is.” Tyler smiled suddenly. “Her corpse, I mean.”

“Why?” Hank sat up, his eyes not moving away from Tyler for not even a second. “Would you like to join her?”

“Threats do not fit you, Hanky.” His voice made Hank grit his teeth. “Does your brother know she’s here?”

Hank stood up: he faced Tyler with an exquisite posture — closed fists, puffed chest, furious gaze, locked jaw. It didn’t quite seem like him, and, yet, it was how he looked every time Tyler behaved like this. His hot, fast and faltering breathing made the Galpin smile. 

“It’s wonderful to be free, don’t you think?” Hank whispered. “It would be a pity to lose it.”

“Is his mother as wicked as yours?” Tyler asked, his grin growing wider. “Is she a demon like you?”

Hank remained quiet. 

“Oh.” Tyler laughed mischievously. “Oh, no.”  He whispered into Hank’s face: “No one's been worse to Y/N than you, no?”

Hank tried to move away, but Tyler’s hands clenched his body. 

“You—”

“Tell me the truth.” Tyler’s eyes flashed. Hank knew that look. “Tell me.” His hands went up to his neck: the air was taken away from Hank’s lungs as he stared into Tyler’s eyes. Hyde’s eyes. “You’re a monster like me.”

Tyler’s grip closed around his neck — Hank gasped quietly as his body burned in flames; he tried to avoid the Hyde’s gaze at all costs. 

“TELL ME!”

“YES!” Hank yelled, his voice so deep and raspy that it barely sounded human. It wasn’t human. “Yes.” He grabbed Tyler’s wrists, his touch burning his skin. “And you shouldn’t do it.”

A loud snap came from below, Tyler grunted and winced as his body tried to transform. Tried and failed. His limbs snapped until he had no more strength and he fell to the ground, shivering in pain, dread and sweat. 

Hank was still holding him.

“You should not touch me.”



X



The tires scraping the soil created a painful noise along with the radio screeching. In the region surrounded by trees, tall plants and inhospitable hills preventing the arrival of any kind of signal and external communication, the old, battered and noisy car crossed the green sea in darkness. No lights on, no map at hand: the driver had been down that same road many times before, Hank knew what he was doing. But, this time, he had no intention of going back. With each passing second, meters and meters were left behind: the camp distanced itself, and a relieved smile drew closer to the faces of everyone inside the car.

Time, amidst the night, was a fuzzy and archaic concept; for Hank, who counted his own heartbeats as his foot sank on the accelerator, the seconds dragged by as if they were hours. For you, the blood trickling down the side of your shirt created an illusion of slowness: your body trembled, weighed, your eyes insisted on closing, and before you could notice, all your effort to stay awake had worn away hours. It was too fast, so fast that time didn't even seem to be moving; the only thing that proved to your mind that the moon was moving over the sky, that the night was deepening as the car went on, were Rachel's restless movements beside you. 

The girl, despite the free seat between the two of you, moved incessantly toward you; her leg, her elbow, her shoulder, her head - she moved and pressed herself against you to make sure you wouldn't fall asleep. To make sure that the time didn't pass too fast.

To her, every hour was like a minute, and every second that was not filled by her own voice was wasted time. She needed to keep talking - you needed to keep answering her. Even if the content of the book in her hands was insensitive, and her readings and assumptions could offend you and Hank.

She started to read out loud another chapter.

"Geez, can you shut up and hold still for a fucking second?" Hank barked from behind the wheel. "My ears hurt, literally. Go sleep!"

"Nope. If Y/N’s staying up, I'm staying up too." The girl fought back, sitting up on the back seat and staring at Hank's nape. "Besides, I'm helping him to reach his dreams."

You laughed.

"Dreams?" Hank's voice sounded like a roar, but there was a smirk on his lips. "Which dreams?"

"Oh, well..." Rachel moved dramatically, blinking to you before starting her monologue. "Make a living out of his music, live a terrible, deep, beautiful love story, have a family with the most disturbing creature of this world!" She went on and on, every word receiving a different hand gesture. "Everything, Hank! If Y/N gets better, he can reach all of his dreams."

Better. She wasn’t talking about the wound on your rib; she was talking about you, about your silence. It was not the first time she had talked about it.

"There's nothing wrong with him, Rachel." Your brother retorted right away.

"There's something wrong with all of us, Hanky." Her voice was tense: bossy, loud, sharp like it used to be when she talked to Hank. "Here, listen" She opened her book again, leaning on you while she read it for Hank. "Social phobia? Check. Panic disorder? Check. PTSD? Check. Eating disorder? Check." She made a quick pause, expecting his silence to become a sermon. "Oh, here, Paranoia and Delusional Disorders. Now I can get a name for what you're too."

"Oh, fuck you!" Hank turned around immediately, grabbing the book from her hands and throwing on the empty seat beside him. "Sleep, you little mouthy brat."

"I’ll see you in my nightmares, you big beary dumbass." She hissed back, her curses hiding the smirk on her lips — the one that only you saw. "Hey, boy." She whispered to your shoulder, leaning over you and embracing you warmly. "You good?" Her hands traveled slowly to the wound on your rib, touching the bandages carefully, checking if they were still dry. "Holding up?"

You shook your head, stroking her hair as she laid down on your lap, arms and legs crawled in a fetal position, hiding herself from the lights of the empty road.

"We'll find a place soon." She whispered. "And we’ll rest. Don't worry."

I am not. Your smile told her — your whole calm, content expression showed it to her. 

And she believed in you. 

Rachel moved fastly to give you one last hug and then she laid on your lap again, ready to sleep — ready to give her body a rest after fleeing through the woods, through the L/N’s Camps. After running around carrying you, pressuring the wound on your torso as the werewolves chased you. 

After taking you to safety until Hank returned, white skin soaked in blood, bright, blue eyes instead of brown ones — his demonic, natural figure drove all furs and hunters away, leaving you three alone. Safe. 

The path  was now clean to freedom — clean to liberty and love, clean to your small, made-up family. Clean to a life, not only survival. 

Clean for the night.

Your last night with Rachel.

[micvick]

Between the Sea and the Sand

Themes and Warnings for this chapter: Strong Language, Violence and Threats, Emotional Distress, Psychological Trauma, Suicide Mention.

Disclaimer: English is not my first language, and most of this text has been translated. The original text in Spanish is this: "Entre el mar y la arena".

Capítulos: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

THIS SON OF A BITCH KISSED ME IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE CAPITOL? THIS BASTARD LITERALLY GAVE ME MY FIRST KISS, IN THE CAPITOL, THE CAPITOL. SHIT, I'M GOING TO KILL THIS FUCKER.

I held back my fury and smiled. He hugged me, and I reciprocated so the Capitol folks would think this was mutual when in reality I WANT TO KILL HIM, I'll kill him when I can. As soon as we passed a bridge, I felt myself being pulled into the bathroom next to that room. Once I saw we were out of the Capitol's sight, I slapped Finnick so hard that his face turned red. After that, he started laughing and said,

"You're so delicate, it was just a kiss. Besides, this will get you more sponsors, it makes you desirable."

"IS EVERYTHING ABOUT SPONSORS TO YOU?!?" I yelled at him.

"It should matter to YOU," he said seriously.

When he said that, I broke down crying. When I least expected it, he hugged me. I pushed him away and opened the door without thinking someone might see me. I saw my brother in the room, but I didn't care and ran straight to my room. What I didn't imagine was that Enzo would be there, putting stones on a dress. He turned when he heard me open the door and smiled at me. But soon he looked surprised to see me; I imagine he didn't expect to see me crying. He sat on the bed and invited me to sit next to him. It was hard to walk because I cried so much, my stomach hurt. When I sat, he looked at me and took my face to show me the dress. It was a dress full of pearls and stones, with a fishing net in the back. The stones must have been very heavy; how am I going to wear all that? But it was so beautiful, I couldn't see it well through my tears. He gave me a small hug and began to describe the dress, the fabric it was made of, how he made it, the inspiration, until he stopped talking and said,

"Do you want to stay a little longer?" I didn't have the strength to speak, so I just nodded my head. We stayed hugging for a while longer. I could hear a commotion in the other room, Kai yelling things at Finnick that I couldn't even understand. I just ignored it because I want to ignore everything. I want to ignore what is going to happen and what happened. I want to forget I exist. I dreamed, and Enzo stroking my head didn't help me stay awake, and I fell deeply asleep.

I opened my eyes and was on a beach, in the water, and Finnick and Kai were fishing with a net. I only know I was looking for shells in the sand, looking for them because, strangely, I had a clearer vision of the water than my friends. Still, as Finnick and Kai moved so much, they stirred the sand, and it got into my eyes.

"Stop messing around, don't you see if you keep moving, the sand will move, and I won't be able to see."

"Damn, so early, and you're already getting pissed, girl, see if the hen laid somewhere else."

"Kai, calm down, we can move. Anyway, there aren't many fish here."

"Thanks, Finnick, it's cool that you're not a grump." Kai rolled his eyes and dived into the water to go somewhere else.

"Just because we're best friends doesn't mean we're the same. Well, I'll go follow him, or he'll say I spend too much time with you." I laughed and said goodbye before diving back into the water. It was clearer now, and I found more things, like five mollusks. But they were strange, almost radioactive in color. The first thing I thought was that it could be something from mutts, that it could be poisonous, but so what? I've touched thousands of things supposedly poisonous, and nothing ever happened. I took them, put them in my bag, and went to the shore. I opened one of the shells, and there were a lot of pearls, but they were strange, each a different color, very bright and beautiful, like diamonds. I got up and went to our little picnic, where Annie was with Esteban, one of our friends. He was half-Italian, so his way of speaking was very strange. He was helping Annie with the bonfire while she cut the bread to eat with the fish Finnick and Kai were fishing. It was a sunny summer day, and we didn't have school, so we could spend the whole day here if we could, and I loved that idea. I loved not having worries, no complications, not knowing what was going on, and not caring.

"Marina, show me what you got," said Annie excitedly. I handed her my bag and showed her all the shells, pearls, and artifacts I found.

"I don't have much because the crazy Finnick and Kai were moving a lot and got sand in my face. Oh, wait." I took out the shells and sat on the wooden pieces surrounding the bonfire. I tried to open the last shell I had, but it was very closed. I had nothing sharp; Finnick and my brother had all the tools. I was trying to open it with my teeth when I felt it snatched from my hands, and when I saw Finnick, he opened it with a knife.

"You were going to break your teeth like a fool," he said while stroking my head.

Finnick sat next to me while opening the other shells. When he inspected them, he found many pearls, but there was one very beautiful, navy blue, Finnick's favorite color. I took a fishing line and made a bracelet with the pearl in the center. I took Finnick's hand and tied it on his wrist.

"What a coincidence, I have something for you. Give me your hand." I gave him my hand, and he tied a beautiful bracelet, pink with pearls of different sizes, and a light pink bow. "I didn't make it; I bought it because I saw you liked it a lot when you went with me to the main city."

"Thank you so much, Finnick. I don't know how to thank you."

"No need to thank me. I do it because I like to see you happy."

I smiled and kept looking at the bracelet. When I turned around, there was no one, everything was empty. I got up and walked towards the water. When I dove, I saw an abyss under my feet. I raised my head to the surface, and there was no coast, just sea and more sea with no end in sight. I decided to dive into the abyss and could distinguish a bright light coming from the bottom of this abyss. I went towards it as it got darker, the only light being that sphere that shone like the sun. When I got in front of it, I approached slowly, and when I touched it, it disappeared like a gust of wind, leaving me in complete darkness.

Suddenly, I feel hands massaging my entire body, with a smell of lilacs and... (wait, how come they're massaging my whole body?) I opened my eyes in surprise, and when I did, I saw a guy touching my thighs while I was completely naked. Obviously, I was paralyzed, looking at the boy. He looked at me and smiled.

"I see you're awake, darling. Young Enzo told us not to wake you, but you know, the parade starts in 2 hours, so you need to be ready," he said while stroking my skin. "I'm Fran, by the way. I'll make you look like a queen, sweetheart." This guy was extravagant, with pink hair and wings on the sides of his eyes. He had a very strange voice and an even stranger accent than Enzo's.

Then, a boy with a strange haircut, like a bowl, came in. He had very pale skin and was shorter than Fran. He was with a group of girls with a jar of strange cream. When he approached us, Fran stopped him and said,

"Look at this beauty, not a single hair."

The other boy looked and said,

"Are you telling me you called the waxers for nothing?"

"Calm down, chubby, sorry for not warning you, I was distracted by this girl's skin."

"YES, I NOTICED, YOU IDIOT," he turned and said something I couldn't understand to the stylists. I saw Fran cleaning his hands, finally, because the sensation of creams all over my body was disgusting. I felt the table I was lying on lowering, which made me realize how tall these people were, even the short guy was taller than me.

"You can get down now, sweetheart." I got off the table and stared at him, waiting for a robe. I think he read my mind because he gave it to me the second I thought it. He took my hand and slowly led me to a chair, placing my hands on a kind of board full of tubes like paint. The other boy took my hands and looked at Fran.

"This part you need to work on, her hands are all messed up." Ouch, how rude.

"Matias, stop being such an idiot for two seconds, please," Fran looked at me and gestured for me not to pay attention. Now I know his name is Matias. He stood behind me, took out the hair tie, and my hair fell like a waterfall. He examined my hair strand by strand; it wouldn't be strange if he didn't know how to handle my hair. I don't even know how; it's always been heavy and abundant. My brother never knew how to comb it, the only one who knew was my dad, but I don't remember how he did it, but I always had beautiful curls.

"The amount of hair you have is impressive. All the hair you don't have on your body is on your head." Just when I least expected it, he pulled my head back to pour cold water on it, and my whole body trembled when he did that. I saw Matias laughing; I didn't find it funny.

"Matias, stop being so cruel to the little girl," said Fran, who was filing my nails, while another person, whose arrival I hadn't noticed, was working on my feet. God, these stylists are so quiet.

"The good thing is that you're not as whiny as the other girls we had to fix," said the girl filing my nails. "Their whining is so irritating."

"Wow, I'm curious to know when anyone asked for your opinion. Why don't you shut up and do your job instead of making crappy comments?" When Mati said that, the girl fell silent and looked down.

I saw Matias roll his eyes, and his face showed he didn't like what she had said. He approached me and whispered.

"Spaniards are all a bunch of troublemakers; don't pay any attention to them," he said while putting shampoo in my hair.

"Mati, remember that Enzo told us to keep her curls, no straightening products."

"Yeah, I know, stop nagging me, please," he said as he now poured hotter water on me.

"Stop being rude, Mati, we're in front of a little girl."

"Shut up, Mr. Saint, you're much ruder than I am." Why do they talk so much with SH? But my curiosity got the best of me, so for the first time, I spoke to them.

"Where are you from?" They looked at me, and Fran laughed.

"We're from Argentina, sweetheart. Why do you ask?" he said while placing a fake nail on my real one.

"It's just that you talk funny."

"Ha, look at the world's best speaker," said Matias, and Fran gave him a deadly look. I found it funny, so I let out a small laugh. Fran looked at me and smiled.

"What a beautiful laugh you have, that must be what made your boyfriend fall in love." Boyfriend? What boyfriend?

I heard some "Uyyyyy," and I realized that's in every culture, that "uyyyyy" can be heard even in mine. I don't know how to describe it; it depends on the context, but now it's like an "uyyyyy, she has a boyfriend, she has a boyfriend." I'm used to it. When I spent time with Finnick, everyone- Oh, I get why Fran said that. The whole Capitol thinks we're a couple.

After about half an hour, they finally allowed me to lift my head, and I saw my nails. They had a design of sea waves and tiny pearls at the bases of my nails, less extravagant than I had thought. They made me stand up, and Enzo entered with a dress identical to the one I saw before I fell asleep. It was very beautiful, and it was time to put it on, as there was only an hour and a half left before the parade started. I took off the robe, feeling a bit shy.

"Turn around, please," he said very calmly, while he was looking at my whole body.

"Oh, by the way, she has scars on both sides of her waist and neck," said Fran.

Enzo turned me around and touched my scars. I never knew when I got them; I asked my brother, but he never knew either. Besides, he has identical scars to mine, but they are less noticeable. I've always had them for as long as I can remember. Enzo looked at me and smiled.

"They look like gills," he said while continuing to touch those scars. "Well, it's time for you to try on the dress."

I walked timidly towards my dress. Enzo took the dress off the mannequin and put it on me. I noticed it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be; rather, it was very light. And honestly, I felt relieved, as I remember the parade of the 61st Games where Morena Ríos, a girl from my hometown, was literally dressed in nothing but fishing lines. She was completely exposed. She committed suicide. Without anyone noticing, she got a rope and hanged herself from a tree on the third day, or so they say, because they didn't show her death on screen. Imagine what my fate will be. I obviously won't win, but whether you win or not, from the moment you enter the arena, you're destined for tragedy.

"I see you like it, but we can't waste time; we need to do your hair and makeup," Enzo grabbed me, and we went to another room with the whole team of stylists. I saw many devices there. They sat me in a place with a circular object right above my head. Matias put some objects in my hair and started rolling them up. When he finished one layer of my hair, he sighed as he ran out of those round hair tools.

"My God, you have so much hair. Enzo, can we really not cut it?" I saw Enzo look at him and shake his head.

"Her hair is part of her personality; it's her distinguishing mark. If you cut it, what would be her distinguishing feature from the others?" he said while holding my hand. Curiously, that's what my dad used to say all the time. He loved my hair, loved doing my hair and styling it in all sorts of ways. Now that he's gone, my hair isn't as well cared for.

"If you say so." Immediately, Matias shouted something in English to the Spanish girl, and she brought more of those round hair tools.

When he finally finished doing my hair, he placed that round thing on my head, and Fran started applying some drops of a strange liquid on my face and then put on the foundation. Why does it make my skin lighter? Anyway, Capitol things. After another hour of makeup, they let my hair down, and Enzo brought some sandals with pearls and embedded stones and put them on me. I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror; I was very beautiful. I didn't look like myself. I turned around and gave my stylists a small smile.

"Thank you very much for fixing me up."

"Oh, sweetheart, we didn't have to fix anything; you're the prettiest little girl I've ever styled," said Fran, smiling at me.

"It's true, we didn't have to fix much except your disastrous hair, it was a mess," said Matias. I just looked at him as if I was going to kill him, and he just laughed and said, "But you look pretty, dear," and he winked at me, and I just laughed back.

That's when I realized, I like these people, and they're from the Capitol. How can people who live off the suffering of others be likable to me? Is it wrong? Am I a traitor because I like them? I'm confused. I don't have time to think more as Enzo grabs my hand while saying goodbye to his assistants. I also say goodbye, and then we go towards an elevator. (Wait, is it time already?) I think. When we get in, he holds my hand and says,

"Fifteen minutes until the parade starts. Are you scared? Don't worry; this will go by quickly. Parades usually last an hour or less."

"I know, but I don't know how to act in this parade. How can I win over the sponsors?"

"I don't know if you realize, but you've already won over many sympathizers."

"How?"

"First, what happened at the reaping moved a lot of people. And second, the kiss made you more desirable to the sponsors."

"Desirable how?"

"Desirable enough so you don't die of hunger in the arena."

Before I could ask him anything else, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened, and I saw my brother. He was dressed in a blue suit with stones on the shoulders simulating fishing nets. He also had pearls and emeralds in his dreads. When he saw me, he was talking to his stylist, and he gestured for us to come over.

"Little sis, you look beautiful," he said while grabbing my cheek. I hate that, but I let it slide; it's a habit of his. "Are you ready to give a show?" he said sarcastically.

"No, but I have no choice," I laughed a bit. I know it's not the situation to laugh, but I have to enjoy the little I have left of life. I look around and see that everyone is looking at me, not at my brother and me, just at me.

"Brother, why is everyone looking at me?"

"It's because of what happened yesterday. Thank Finnick."

Oh, just when I managed to stop thinking about it. I think I was very rude to Finnick; he did me a favor in his own way. After all, he has experience in this. He was always good at captivating people; he had many admirers in my town and in the neighboring villages.

"Yes, Marina, say thank you," he walked towards me. He held my hand and put a ring on it. My brother pushed him away.

"What did I tell you about getting close to my sister, you jerk?"

"Unfortunately, it's no longer your decision. The Capitol loved our couple's act, and at least until the games are over, we have to keep this up."

"And what's the ring for?" I asked curiously. It was a beautiful ring, but what's the point of this thing?

"Here in the Capitol, it means you're engaged to marry someone." My brother and I were left with a shocked expression.

"What the hell? Are you telling me my TWELVE-YEAR-OLD sister is engaged to you?"

"First, it wasn't my idea; it was Enzo's." I looked at Enzo, and he just let out a little laugh. "And second, it's only until the games are over." Yeah, because I'll surely die before the games end.

I checked the time and realized there were only about 5 minutes left before the parade started. I looked for Enzo and saw him talking to my brother's stylist, Mags, and Finnick. I touched Enzo's shoulder and asked him.

"And how am I supposed to act in the parade?"

"Damn it, Enzo, you didn't tell her how to act?" Mags said, slightly irritated.

"It's not necessary; she'll captivate so much that she won't need to do anything."

"I agree; she already has plenty of sponsors," said Darana.

"Just wave and hold Kai's hand; that will cause a stir," said Finnick.

Before I could add anything to the conversation, the bells rang, signaling us to line up to enter our carriages. Finnick quickly grabbed my hand and accompanied me to line up with my brother, his stylist, Mags, and Enzo. Then I heard the Panem anthem. I saw the kids from District 1 get into their carriages, and I heard extremely loud screams. Then the kids from District 2, whose screams were even louder, and the kids from District 3, who didn't make as much noise. Now it was our turn, and I saw the carriage and was paralyzed by how beautiful it was. It was painted with sea blue colors, and the front part had the shape of waves, and our horses were painted like seahorses, very common in our district. I was trembling, and my skin had goosebumps. My brother entered the carriage first, and then I entered, and even then, Finnick didn't let go of my hand. He held it and then kissed it before letting go when we started moving. I grabbed my brother's hand tightly.

"Don't worry, sis; they will love you." I don't care if they love me; what matters to me is that you survive. That's what I wanted to say, but I was too nervous to speak.

When the carriage passed under the bridge that covered the view of the exit area, I heard the loudest screams I had ever heard in my life. Children, young people, and adults were screaming my name. I just raised my hand to wave at them, and when I saw everyone looking at my hand and screaming even louder, I looked at my hand and realized what this was all about. Finnick is very smart. Now people think we're going to get married, and they will support the future Mrs. Odair. Yeah, right, as if I could win; they're going to kill me the second I step into the arena.

When all the tributes from the districts were out, we headed towards the presidential mansion, where we were positioned in the front row with a perfect view of the mansion. It was completely white; I wondered how much money they spent on white paint, probably repainting it every month. When all the tributes were in order, a man, who I estimated to be around 70-80 years old, came out onto the balcony. He was a short man with very white hair and a very intimidating face. He began to speak, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. I could only catch some things like: dark days, District 13, etc., etc. Cheap excuses for a dictatorship that has lasted much longer than 68 years, and it’s going to continue for a long time.

When the speech was over, they took us back to the apartments. From the inside, they didn't look that big, but from the outside, they were a pile of gigantic apartments, barely reaching the sky, or maybe even more than that, I think. We entered and were guided to a room where all the tributes were talking until we were allowed to enter the elevators. I don't know what happened, but they didn't let us enter the elevators to go to our respective rooms. I was next to a boy from District 1. He was tall, well, not that tall, since my brother was probably a head taller than him. Well, I think, because right now he wasn't here with me (Oh, but where is my brother). Without realizing it, I accidentally kept looking at the boy.

"Hey, girl, are you daydreaming or what?" said the boy I had been looking at by accident.

"What? Do you speak Spanish?"

"And what am I speaking, girl? Chinese?" He said, laughing. "My name is Juan, but for you, pretty girl, it's Juani." He shook my hand and then kissed it.

"My name is Marina, nice to meet you," I said with a smile. He reminds me a lot of Fran, but not in appearance because Fran is thinner, blond, with straight hair and blue eyes. Juani, on the other hand, was a bit more robust, shorter, curly, with brown hair and light blue eyes. But they expressed themselves the same way.

"Marina, how could I not know the Capitol's favorite? And with that stunning dress, how could I not?" I blushed at his comment. Suddenly, some horns sounded, interrupting our conversation. We turned to look at the speakers.

‹‹Sorry for the inconvenience, we had a technical problem. The male tribute from District 7 has been disqualified.››

[theapprenticeofthanatos]

TAoT: Chapter 34: Kindred Spirits Part 3

WE LIVE!!! ACK.

We are truly sorry for the lack of updates on this fic, life has been rough (still is) and we lost motivation there for a bit. Sorry about that!!! Hopefully IRL things will calm down a bit, but it’s unlikely. BUT we are still going to do our best to update at least once a month (even though we didn’t manage to last month… or the month before 😬).

To everyone who made it this far, thank you for sticking with us, y’all are the best! 😭

~~~~~~~~~~

Danny POV:

As Danny returned to consciousness, he groaned miserably. His head felt like a little elf was taking a sledgehammer to his skull. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was…

Ellie.

She… she had literally shot him in the back! Why that little… Danny blinked, hissing as pain shot through his eyes. When he got his hands on her—

But then he froze. Where… was he?

Immediately, he could see that he was trapped in the same black and green containment cube that Vlad had imprisoned him in the first time they met, in what he assumed was one of Vlad’s many secret labs (how many secret labs could one billionaire have?). To Danny’s right sat a large computer terminal, and on its screen were pictures and videos of him; fighting, flying, morphing… it looked somewhat like a video game character info screen. There were even simulated strands of his DNA.

Eww.

The next thing that Danny noticed was the fact that there were lit candles scattered all over the room. They smelled like stinky cheese and rotten eggs, and they made Danny’s eyes water. What was that all about? Had Vlad decided to do a bit of redecorating? Spice up his lab a little bit? Because it wasn’t working.

There was movement in the corner of his vision, and Danny craned his neck to see as Vlad emerged from the shadows, with a pleased grin on his face; he looked every bit like the cat that caught the canary.

“You’ve been spying on me?” Danny said immediately, disgusted. “Y’know, am I even really surprised? Of course a fruitloop like you would keep files on me.”

Vlad’s smile fell instantly, replaced by a look of indignant rage. “I am not! A! FRUIT! LOOP!” He snapped.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Danny retorted with a smirk. “What with this whole villainous lair setup you’ve got going on.”

Vlad growled, but then his anger seemed to fade as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed tiredly. “I am not a villain, either. All I am, Daniel, is a man… that wants to be loved.”

Vlad pressed a button on the wall beside him, and there was the sound of machinery moving behind him. He stepped to the side, revealing a tube-shaped containment pod, inside of which was…

Me?

No. A clone. A seemingly perfect, identical copy of none other than Danny Phantom was standing in the pod. Its eyes were closed as if it were asleep, and would wake at any moment.

A chill ran down Danny’s spine, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. This was beyond creepy.

“It has taken months,” Vlad rambled on. “But now, at last, the good clone is nearly ready to accept your DNA.”

The good clone? That meant… “Wait, Ellie’s a clone? Of me?”

“If by Ellie, you mean Danielle,” Vlad drawled disdainfully. “Then yes.”

“And the others…” Danny was connecting the dots now. “Frankenstein, and the bedsheet ghost! They were clones, too?”

“Yes,” Vlad confirmed. “Bad clones. Mistakes.” He snapped his fingers, and the miniscule specter Danny had been chasing around town suddenly darted into the room. It whizzed around Danny’s head like an annoying fly, before coming to a stop at Vlad’s side.

Suddenly, the tiny ghost grew in size, until it was Danny’s height. And now that Danny could see it in close, gruesome detail, he felt like he was going to be sick.

The ghost looked… well, the best way to describe its appearance was that it looked like it had spent a few minutes inside of a microwave. Its skin looked like melted cheese on a hot, greasy pizza, and bits of it fell away, slopping onto the floor where they bubbled away into nothing. The ghost bared its fangs at Danny and hissed, and its left eye suddenly fell out of its socket, landing on the floor with a wet splat before it disintegrated into goop.

Vlad continued monologuing as if nothing had happened. “And I would watch a hundred more failures dissolve into ectoplasm to get the perfect half-ghost son.”

“Oh, yeah,” Danny chuckled dryly, scowling at the other halfa. “Nothing loopy about that. Y’know, once I get outta here, maybe I can help you find a nice cat to care for, instead of growing humans in your secret lab!”

Vlad merely smirked at Danny’s taunting. “Are you under the impression that you’re getting out of this? I need a DNA sample of you mid-morph to complete my work. And then…” Vlad sneered as he snapped his fingers, and the goopy clone shrunk back down before darting towards Danny. “You will be obsolete.”

The miniature ghost struck Danny in the center of his forehead, and burrowed into his flesh like a tick. Pain immediately flooded Danny’s body, igniting every inch of his nerves like lights on a Christmas tree. It felt like every one of his muscles was seizing, and he struggled to fight against the ghost as it attempted to overshadow him.

“Get… out… of me!” Danny growled, his teeth grinding together as his eyes rolled back in his head. But then a spark of cold flickered to life in his chest, and Danny felt stronger. It was like his core was trying to burn away the invading spirit, and Danny worked with it, gathering every bit of strength to push the clone out. Out, out! Get out!

But then Vlad pushed a button on his computer console, and Danny screamed as electricity shot through his body. It arced along his spine and made him feel like he had been dipped in battery acid. The shock stopped after only a few seconds, and Danny’s head slumped forward as his vision went black, and he fell unconscious.

.

Sam POV:

Sam and Tucker stood on the sidewalk, staring up at the brick facade of FentonWorks. They needed to get inside, but 1) they didn’t have Danny with them as an excuse, and 2) school was still in session. A peek through the window revealed Jack and Maddie Fenton sitting in the living room, and the two teens knew that they would be questioned immediately on sight for their truancy.

“How are we going to get inside now?” Tucker lamented.

“Back door.” Sam answered simply. “Come on.”

She led Tucker around the street corner and to the backyard, where she proceeded to boost him over the fence before climbing over herself. Together, the two teens scurried across the backyard and came to a stop at the back door. Tucker peered through the kitchen window, before giving Sam a thumbs-up: the coast was clear.

Carefully, Sam slowly turned the doorknob. The latch released without a sound, but the hinges did squeak as she pushed the door open. Luckily, the sound was drowned out by Jack’s voice in the living room.

“Why, when I get ahold of those kids, they’re gonna get the scolding of a lifetime! They’ll be cleaning out beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks for weeks!”

Maddie sighed. “Let’s just hope that a summer at Camp Delphi will teach Danny to be a little more responsible with his learning.”

Sam tuned out the rest of the adults’ conversation as she closed the door behind Tucker. Moving as silently as they could, the two of them made their way across the kitchen and down into the basement. Once they had made it down the stairs, they abandoned any pretense of stealth in favor of quickly grabbing what they needed to rescue Danny.

Tucker hopped into the Specter Speeder and started its warm-up sequence, while Sam grabbed the Boo-merang from its spot on one of the counters. Spying the Specter Deflector, she decided to snag it as well; maybe it would come in handy later on. Sam really wanted to stay and grab just a couple more gadgets—they were going up against Vlad, after all—but they were already running on borrowed time. So with both devices shoved into her backpack, she ran back to the Specter Speeder and hopped in.

“Ready to go?” Tucker asked her.

“Sure,” Sam muttered testily. “Let’s go with that.”

Tucker wisely kept his mouth shut and returned his attention to the controls in front of him. Sam moved to close the door of the Specter Speeder, but she froze when the familiar, booming voice of Jack Fenton came from the top of the stairs.

“Sam! Tucker! Get out of there!”

Frick.

“Uhh, whaaat?” Sam called back, her heart pounding like a timpani as a nervous sweat trickled down her back. They were gonna be so dead when they got back. “I can’t hear you over the, uhh, roar of the rockets!”

Sam slammed the door shut and whirled around to face Tucker. “Could you activate the roar of the rockets, please?” She hissed.

“On it!” Tucker squeaked, his hands flitting over the controls.

Sam could feel the vehicle coming to life under her feet, and she took her spot in the passenger’s seat just as the gateway to the lab’s underground tunnel slid open, and the Specter Speeder shot forward like a bat out of Hell. They flew down the tunnel and surfaced outside, quickly taking to the skies and leaving the Fenton household far behind them.

.

The two teens and their stolen hovercraft came to a stop once they had cleared the tallest of the buildings in Amity Park, and Sam powered on the Boo-merang as Tucker opened the windshield of the Speeder.

“Okay.” Sam stood and looked down at the tracking device in her hands. “Find Danny.”

And with that command, Sam drew back her arm, and threw the Boo-merang as hard as she could out into the open air. The device took to the air like a bird, and it immediately zipped off towards the horizon, in search of Sam and Tucker’s ghostly best friend.

Sam sat down as the windshield slid shut. “Tucker, follow that stupidly named tracking device!”

.

Danny POV:

Danny awoke with another pounding headache. Whether it was the same one from before or something new, he didn’t know or particularly care. And as he blinked his eyes open, he saw that he was now inside one of the containment pods he had seen earlier. His wrists were cuffed to the sides of the pod, and a light tug revealed that the metal restraints weren’t going to break easily.

Scowling, Danny gritted his teeth, preparing to rip the handcuffs from the walls. But then he heard the clicking of a dial, and suddenly his world lit up in blinding, electrifying pain. Danny screamed as his muscles spasmed, and he could feel his body trying to transform against his will.

The cold in Danny’s core tried to protest, but it was quickly smothered by another presence. A presence that felt like an invader, that was trying to take over his body and make him bend to its will.

The clone. It was still inside of him.

White rings of light formed around Danny’s waist, but he bit down on his tongue hard enough to draw blood as he fought against the transformation. With a great deal of effort, the rings shrank, but they didn’t dissipate like he had hoped. It was clear that the clone was fighting against him, intent on obeying Vlad’s orders so the crazed fruitloop could get Danny’s mid-morph DNA sample, and then… what?

Make a new, more obedient Danny? And put the old one out of commission?

Yeah, fat chance, pal.

As Danny fought against the clone within his body, he could just barely hear voices outside his containment pod. It sounded like Vlad, and… his mom?

The shock of hearing his mother’s voice caught Danny off guard, and it gave the clone a chance to take over. The transformation rings crept over his skin again, before Danny managed to push them back down with a pained scream.

The sound of two more clicks reached Danny’s ears, and then the pain was suddenly amplified. He could hear the electricity buzzing in his skull, and feel it as it shot up his arms and down his spine, rooting him to the ground where he stood. It was like thousands of fire ants crawling under his skin, their touch like battery acid to his flesh.

But Danny wasn’t going to give in. He wasn’t going to let Vlad win. He couldn’t, because if he did, then Vlad would kill him. He didn’t want to die!

The cold in Danny’s core grew stronger, and the clone doubled its efforts. He could feel it inside of him, its essence trying to smother the cold in his core and force his ghostly transformation to take over. But he couldn’t let that happen. He needed to get out. He needed to get away.

Suddenly, a surge of cold erupted from Danny’s core, freezing the metal restraints holding him captive, and covering the window of the pod in frost. Through the pain coursing inside of him, Danny could just barely make out the voice of his mom again.

“Containment chamber beginning to overload.”

The clone in Danny’s body seemed to be frantically trying to change him, but Danny wasn’t going to let that happen. The white rings crept up and down his torso, and out of options, Danny dug into his core, searching for every last ounce of strength that he had. If he could just break these chains, and escape the pod, then he would be free. He just needed to push… a little harder…

All of a sudden, the electricity zapping through Danny’s body grew stronger—so strong that the pain it was causing was almost unbearable—and then a split second later, there was a deafening BOOM, followed by the shattering of glass, and the electricity was gone. A billowing, acrid smoke filled the air, and with his restraints now broken, Danny had to fight to keep from collapsing right then and there.

He couldn’t feel the clone in his body anymore. Whether that meant it had been pushed from him in the explosion, or it had disintegrated like the others he had fought before, he wasn’t sure. But far more importantly, he was free. Now, he just had to…

Mustering what strength he had left, Danny finally allowed his ghostly transformation to wash over him. Feeling strangely detached from his body, Danny floated up from the wreckage of the containment pod, and drifted forward into the smokey room. Vlad emerged from the smoke in front of him, looking completely shocked at the devastation Danny had caused to his lab, but Danny didn’t care. He just turned intangible and passed right through the elder halfa, ignoring the angry shouts that echoed after him as he glided up to the ceiling, and left the confines of the underground laboratory.

.

It took Danny a bit to find his way through the maze that was one of Vlad’s many mansions. He was so exhausted that he had to stop, falling to his knees as he reached what looked like a den of some sort. It was complete with a roaring fireplace, a lush armchair, and stuffed animal head trophies hanging from the walls.

So, they were in Vlad’s Colorado mansion, then. Danny remembered it from back when Vlad had stranded Danny and his mom out in the mountain wilderness, only to “rescue” them and make a move on his mom.

Danny weakly shook his head. Not important right now… need… to get away…

But how? He didn’t have the strength to fly away now. He couldn’t even stand. He was thousands of miles away from home, how could he possibly get back…?

Shadow-travel. That… that was an option. But he definitely didn’t have the energy for that. He didn’t want to risk trying to shadow-travel home, only to be ripped apart if he wasn’t strong enough to hold himself together…

Thanatos. He could shadow-travel to where Danny was, and take him back home. Yes, that… that would work…

Exhaustion weighed on Danny’s shoulders like a heavy stone as, with a trembling hand, he pulled off his right glove. His apprentice mark glowed brightly against his skin as he brought his fingers to the silvery letters…

But just as Danny’s fingertips brushed against his forearm, a blast of green ectoplasm shot up through the floor, striking him in the gut and sending him flying. Danny hit the wall on the far side of the room and fell to the ground, cracking his head against the stone floor.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Danny’s head spun, his eyes watering as he looked up and saw Ellie standing in front of him. The girl glared at Danny, but as she raised her hands he noticed that there were tears in her eyes. Before Danny could question her, she shot another ecto-blast his way, and Danny barely managed to throw up a weak ecto-shield that cracked immediately on impact.

A green cloud of smoke filled the air between the two halfas, and Ellie’s ecto-blast flickered out as Danny’s shield shattered and fell away. As the smoke cleared, Danny watched as Ellie growled and immediately began charging another blast between her palms.

“Stop fighting!” She shouted, and a smirk formed on her lips, but it was clearly forced; a weak attempt at looking confident. “I know you’re too weak to beat me,” Ellie goaded, but the words fell flat in the air between them.

Something… something was wrong. If Danny didn’t know better, he’d say that Ellie seemed scared.

Danny’s gaze fell to the floor, and his eyes widened in alarm as he saw that Ellie’s feet were beginning to melt into goop—just like the other clones had. “Ellie, stop!” He cried.

Ellie sneered; the expression looked rather out of place on her childish face. “Why? Are you scared?”

“No! But every time I’ve fought a clone, they’ve turned to goop.” Danny pointed a shaky hand at Ellie’s feet. “Like you are now.”

The cockiness fell away from Ellie’s face instantly, replaced by shock, and then fear as she looked down and saw the green ectoplasmic goop leaking from her legs and onto the stone floor. She shrieked as she stumbled back, the ectoplasmic charge flickering away in her hands as it was completely forgotten. After a few tense seconds, Ellie’s boots resolidified, and it was like nothing had even happened; she looked completely normal.

Ellie looked at Danny then, and the look on her face was that of a terrified child. Danny’s heart ached for her as he got to his feet with a grunt of pain. “Ellie, please,” Danny wheezed; he was pretty sure that his ribs had been bruised at minimum. “I don’t want to fight you.”

“Then let my father have your morph DNA!” Ellie pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes. “So he can save me! I-I don’t…” Ellie sniffled, and Danny was sure that his heart was going to break in two as she tearfully whispered: “I don’t want to die.”

“Neither do I, Ellie,” Danny told her. “But if Vlad succeeds in getting what he needs from me, then I will die.”

Ellie frowned, seemingly confused by Danny’s words, and she shook her head. “No, he… my dad wouldn’t let that happen. He’s not that kind of guy.”

Clearly, Ellie didn’t know Vlad as well as Danny did. “Oh, yes, he is.” Danny argued. “And once he gets what he wants—the perfect half-ghost son—then he’ll forget all about you.”

That wasn’t the right thing to say. Ellie’s expression immediately soured, and her face flushed with anger. “You’re a liar!” She snapped.

“Oh, yeah? Then why is there another clone?” Danny countered. “The one in the containment pod. You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”

Ellie’s lack of an answer was confirmation enough.

“If you were what he really wanted, then why aren’t you the one in the pod?” Danny asked her, hoping she would realize that he was telling the truth. “Why aren’t you the one all prepped and ready to receive my DNA sample? Why are you the one doing Vlad’s dirty work?”

But despite Danny’s earnestness, Ellie wasn’t having it. She shook her head furiously as she covered her ears with her hands, and when Danny took a step forward Ellie screamed. Before Danny could react, Ellie threw up her hands and shot him in the chest with a two-handed ecto-blast that sent him crashing into the wall behind him.

The impact caused white spots to fill Danny’s vision, and his limbs to stop listening to him. Danny fell, unable to catch himself as he collapsed on the floor. He could feel himself fading from consciousness, and as his vision faded, he just barely caught a glimpse of Ellie kneeling down beside him.

“You’re a liar,” Ellie whispered, but Danny could still make out the tremor of fear in her voice. “And I’m going to prove it.”

.

Thanatos POV:

Clockwork didn’t even look up as Thanatos appeared in the center of his clock tower. “Doors exist for a reason, you know,” he said wryly to the death god. “You’re supposed to knock on them.”

“Can you find Danny?” Thanatos asked, completely ignoring the Primordial’s comment.

Clockwork raised an eyebrow at the question, his expression slightly insulted. “I can find anybody in any timeline. Why do you ask?”

“According to Danny’s friends, he has been kidnapped.” Thanatos ran his fingers over his mark again, his brow furrowing with concern as he felt nothing in response. “I would prefer to just find him myself, but… for a reason unbeknownst to me, I cannot sense him.”

“I see.” Clockwork glided over to one of the seeing glasses and placed his hand on its surface. “Then I will just…”

However, Clockwork trailed off. Thanatos looked up at him, concern growing in his chest. “What is the matter?”

Clockwork was quiet for a long moment, and when he spoke again he sounded rather confused. “I cannot sense him either.”

Thanatos felt his stomach drop. He walked over to Clockwork and glanced at the screen in front of them, which was swirling with green mist. “What do you mean? You are a—”

“Yes, I am a Primordial,” Clockwork cut him off, sounding more intrigued than frustrated by the problem. “But Clockwork is only a small part of my true form. An astral projection, if you will. I can only do so much in this state. And right now, someone is interfering with my search.”

“What? Who?” Thanatos asked.

Clockwork was quiet for a long moment, his expression screwed up into one of concentration. “A god…” He muttered, his frown deepening. “But as for whom, I am not sure.” He slid his hand across the glass, and images of Danny—at various points in time—began to scroll by quickly. “I can still see Daniel’s past. I will look at the last point in his timeline that I am able to see before my sight is blocked. Perhaps that will shed some light on this situation.”

Not a second later, the screen froze on an image of Danny in his ghost form, standing beside a girl with white hair and a jumpsuit just like Danny’s.

“Ah,” Clockwork hummed thoughtfully. “It’s time already, is it?”

Thanatos was becoming annoyed at the lack of answers. “What are you going on about now?”

Clockwork sighed and backed away from the seeing glass, his hand falling to his side as he gave Thanatos a sympathetic look. “Apologies, my grandson. But I cannot help you in this search.”

Feeling his heart rate suddenly spike, Thanatos closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. He then looked at Clockwork and managed to politely ask, through gritted teeth, “Why?”

“My hands are tied,” Clockwork said simply, but Thanatos could swear that there was a pleased tone to the god’s voice. “I am not to interfere.”

“Couldn’t your apprentice help?” Thanatos suggested, feeling desperate.

“No,” Clockwork replied firmly. “She—They cannot be involved. This moment… it is crucial to their timeline.” He gave Thanatos a small, frustrating smile. “But don’t worry. Everything will turn out as it is supposed to.”

Thanatos bit back a growl of frustration and turned away from the ghost. Why had he even bothered going to Clockwork in the first place? He had thought that maybe Clockwork would be kind enough to assist him in finding his apprentice, but no—all the ghost had done was try his best to get under Thanatos’ skin.

Thanatos would just have to find Danny on his own. And when he did, he was going to have a talk with Vladimir Masters.

Suddenly, to Thanatos’ surprise, a flicker of faint magic sparked to life along his right forearm. His apprenticeship mark.

Danny.

The sensation disappeared just as quickly, but it had been enough. Thanatos had been able to get an idea of where his apprentice was being held: Colorado, USA.

And that was a start. It didn’t matter who was trying to keep Danny away from him, be they god or mortal.

No one could hide from Death.

.

Danny POV:

Danny was getting sick of waking up with pounding headaches. Why couldn’t he wake up gently after being so violently knocked out? Twice, might he add! Here was a better question: why couldn’t people just not knock him out? He was sure he had some form of brain damage by this point. Being knocked out so often couldn’t possibly be healthy.

Through the pain, Danny managed to crack open an eye, and he was dismayed to see that he had been placed inside a brand-new containment pod. The one he had destroyed was off to the side, still billowing bluish-gray smoke. And in the pod directly across the room from him was the so-called “perfect clone.”

Great. Fantastic, even. Well, at least he knew where he was this time.

“Ah, you’re finally awake.”

Danny opened his other eye, and saw none other than Plasmius floating in front of his pod-shaped prison. The older halfa looked… perturbed. Annoyed, perhaps?

Good. Let him be annoyed. Danny thought. All he cared about was escaping, but first…

“Where… where’s Ellie?” Danny croaked. Would it be rude of him to ask for a glass of water?

“Whatever Danielle is doing is not important right now, Daniel.” Vlad answered dismissively. “What is important is you telling me where that tattoo came from.”

“Tattoo?” Danny repeated, confused. He didn’t have a… wait a minute.

Danny looked down, and saw that his elastic bandage was gone, leaving his right forearm bare and exposed. Vlad must have removed the bandage while he was unconscious.

Vlad scowled and rolled his eyes. “I’m not an idiot, Daniel. I know a tattoo when I see one.” He turned to one of his various computers and pressed a button, and on its screen appeared a picture of Danny’s forearm, with the black lettering of his mark on display in high definition for anyone to see.

Danny’s blood ran cold. Thanatos had warned him of the dangers if others were to ever learn that he was Death’s apprentice; they would want his powers for themselves, and they would do whatever they could to get it. And Vlad… definitely seemed like someone that would fit into that category.

Thankfully, it seemed that Vlad hadn’t figured it out just yet. And Danny hoped he would be able to throw him off the scent.

“It’s not a tattoo, fruitloop,” Danny scoffed with a dramatic roll of his eyes. “Or, uhh, not a permanent one, anyway. It’s just, y’know, one of those temporary tats you find in cereal boxes and stuff.”

It was clear that Vlad did not believe him. “Oh, really? And in what cereal box did you find that?” He asked incredulously with a wild gesture towards the computer display.

“What, you don’t know?” Danny retorted snarkily. “Being a fruitloop yourself, I thought you knew all about different types of cereal.”

It took a second for Danny’s comment to register in Vlad’s mind, and when it did the elder halfa’s face flushed green with indignation as he realized that Danny was intentionally messing with him. Danny smirked, and if he weren’t trapped in such a dangerous situation then he might’ve even laughed.

Vlad clenched his fists, and then he sighed tiredly. “Sometimes, I truly wonder how you have survived for so long with that smart mouth of yours, Daniel.” He muttered bitterly.

“I’m pretty sure it’s all thanks to my charming personality,” Danny responded cheekily.

Vlad growled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I am not having this ridiculous conversation right now, Daniel.”

“Seems to me like you are, actually,” Danny pointed out.

But Vlad didn’t rise to the bait that time. Shame. Danny still had more sass to dish out. Though really, he knew he should be more focused on escaping than antagonizing; he didn’t want to be here any longer than he needed to be.

But he hadn’t been able to contact Thanatos. He hadn’t been able to speak the summoning phrase—he had barely managed to brush his fingers against his mark before he was captured again.

Hopefully, somehow, Thanatos had still noticed Danny’s meager call for help. But in the meantime, Danny would have to try his best to escape on his own.

“Y’know, you really should let me go,” Danny said coolly as he glanced down at his restraints, looking disinterestedly at them as if they were irritating slap bracelets at best. “I’m sure that my friends are looking for me, and when they find out that you kidnapped me—”

Vlad cackled, sounding every bit like the two-bit villain he appeared to be. “Oh, please. I’m not afraid of a couple of teenagers.”

“W-well, I’ve got another friend!” Danny shot back. Thanatos was his friend, right? Acquaintance, at least? … boss, perhaps? Whatever, it wasn’t important right now. “And he’s, uhh… he’s pretty scary. And he’ll definitely be looking for me, so you better let me go before he gets here.”

Danny had known that it was a long shot that Vlad would cave to his vague threats, but he hadn’t expected the other halfa’s demeanor to immediately turn cold and serious.

“Oh, another friend, you say?” Danny could hear the venom and hatred in Vlad’s voice, and it made him wonder just what exactly had happened between Vlad and Thanatos at the airport just… what, eleven days ago? Seriously? It hadn’t even been two weeks from his return, and Vlad was already causing him problems? Come on!

Danny looked up at the sound of squeaking metal, and he watched as Vlad dug through a filing cabinet. The halfa pulled out a piece of paper covered in strange scribbles, along with a couple of those awful-smelling candles.

“Luckily for you,” Vlad called over his shoulder as he taped the paper to the nearby wall and sat the candles on top of one of his work desks, setting them alight with a snap of his fingers. “I’ve prepared for your new friend.”

Seemingly satisfied with whatever he had done, Vlad turned to face Danny with a triumphant smirk. “I know how to hide from the Ancients, Daniel. You learn a trick or two when delving into things that you shouldn’t be.”

“… what?” Danny said bewilderedly. “Ancients?”

Vlad gave Danny a rather unimpressed look, as if to ask: how stupid are you? “Well, duh. Obviously that’s what your new buddy is. I’ll admit he’s a little… different from most old ghosts I’ve met.” If Danny didn’t know better, then he would’ve sworn that he saw a shiver run down Vlad’s back. “But I have measures in place for protecting myself. After all, you don’t learn as much as I have by being nice and asking permission. Of course I’ve upset a few mighty spirits along the way,” Vlad emphasized with finger quotes. “But there’s nothing ghostly that a few stinky candles and ancient runes can’t keep at bay.”

Well, Danny was pretty sure that a few stinky candles were going to do absolutely nothing to stop an immortal god of death, but he certainly wasn’t about to tell Vlad that.

But before Danny could think of anything else to say, he noticed a flicker of movement behind Vlad, and he watched as Ellie phased through the back wall of the lab. Their eyes met, and Ellie quickly placed a finger to her lips in a silent command: don’t say anything.

Oh, Danny was going to say something. And certainly not something that Ellie wanted to hear.

Ellie was a good person; Danny could tell. She was just misguided, and she refused to believe that her “father” could possibly be as evil as Danny claimed him to be. Danny couldn’t blame her—he had seen time and time again that Vlad was an expert at manipulating others into trusting him. But Danny knew that Vlad didn’t care for Ellie in any way; it was obvious in the disdain that crossed Vlad’s face whenever Ellie was so much as mentioned. It was more than clear that Ellie was expendable, considering Vlad had sent her to do the dirty work of capturing Danny, instead of doing it himself.

Ellie was an unstable clone—she could have died obeying Vlad’s orders. But it was as clear as day that Vlad just didn’t care. And the clone in the pod across from Danny was the most damning evidence of all. If Vlad really cared for Ellie, then why wasn’t she the one waiting to receive Danny’s DNA sample? And why couldn’t she see it for herself? Why couldn’t she see that she was being used?

If Ellie couldn’t believe the truth from Danny’s mouth, then he was going to make sure that she heard it from Vlad’s.

“So, what’s the deal with Ellie?” Danny saw Ellie’s eyes widen in alarm at his question, but he pressed on anyway. “She’s different from the other clones I’ve fought.”

“What about her?” Vlad drawled with a roll of his eyes, clearly irritated by Danny’s inquiry. “All of my previous attempts at cloning you have yielded one mistake after another. She just happened to have fewer mistakes than the rest.”

“What mistakes?” Danny pushed back. “She seems just fine to me. Why did you even bother making another clone after her?” Ellie drifted closer, but Danny was careful not to look at her as he glared into Vlad’s red eyes. “Why isn’t she good enough for you?”

“Because she’s a brat!” Vlad finally snapped, his eyes flashing bright with anger, and his shouting echoed through the room around them as he went off on a tirade. “Biologically she’s like you in almost every way, but mentally and emotionally it’s like—like dealing with a toddler! Throwing tantrums, having meltdowns, just—being a dolt! A simpleton! With this next clone, I made sure to put a lot more effort into their brain power.”

Ouch.

Danny had a front row seat as he witnessed what he was pretty sure was Ellie’s heart breaking, and it hurt to watch. Tears welled in her eyes, and the tiniest hiccup broke from her mouth.

And it was deafening.

The anger fell from Vlad’s face instantly, replaced by shock, and he turned to see Ellie standing right behind him.

“Is that… what I am to you?” Ellie asked quietly, her voice just barely above a whisper as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. “An imperfection? A mistake?”

For what was likely the first time in Vlad’s life, the elder halfa seemed to be at a loss for words.

And Ellie wasn’t taking that silence for an answer. The tears continued to fall, and the hurt was still written as clear as day across her face, but the sadness in her eyes changed, morphing into anger. She grit her teeth as she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, and her cheeks flushed green with fury as she glared hatefully at Vlad.

“D-Danielle,” the sorry excuse for a so-called father finally managed to stammer out. “How… how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.” Ellie growled. Her hands started to glow a dangerous green, and Danny frantically began to struggle against his restraints. No! Was she crazy? She couldn’t fight Vlad on her own!

Vlad seemed to have finally gotten over his shock, and he cleared his throat. “Alright, that’s enough.” He said coldly. “Danielle, listen to me—”

“No!” Ellie shouted. “I’ve listened to you enough!”

And with that, Ellie darted forward, running at Vlad with both fists glowing bright green with ecto-energy. Vlad seemed to be startled—if only for a split second—but then he widened his stance and raised a single hand, and Danny watched in horror as the older halfa’s fingers flared to life with blindingly pink ecto-fire. Was he going to kill her?

No! Danny couldn’t let that happen, but he couldn’t break free of these stupid chains—

Ellie screamed in rage as she leapt forward, and Danny felt like he was watching a devastating car accident in slow motion. Vlad aimed his ecto-blast right at Ellie’s chest, and fired. The beam of hot pink ecto-energy shot forward, and Danny cried out as he watched it make a beeline for Ellie’s core.

But the shot never landed. At the last second, Ellie ducked down and slid across the tile floor between Vlad’s feet, completely missing the attack that would have undoubtedly killed her. She slid to a stop at the foot of Danny’s containment pod, and got to her feet just as Vlad turned around to face her, his face one of complete surprise.

“How’s this for a mistake?!” Ellie shouted, and she slammed her fist into the release button on Danny’s pod.

“NOOO!” Vlad roared.

But he was too late. Danny’s restraints clicked open and fell from his wrists, and Danny punched through the glass door with an ecto-charged strike. It shattered on impact and fell away instantly, leaving nothing standing between Danny and his captor.

Danny leapt from the containment pod, only stumbling a bit when his feet hit the floor. He felt lightheaded as he turned to look at Ellie. She sniffled as she wiped the tears from her eyes, and Danny’s heart sank at the sight. “Are you… okay?”

He regretted the question as soon as the words left his mouth. Of course she wasn’t okay. But thankfully, Ellie didn’t smack him upside the head for asking something so stupid. Instead, she turned to him with a tired, yet confident smile and said: “Do you wanna ask questions? Or do you wanna kick some butt?”

Danny only had to think about it for a second before giving his clone a nod. After the day he’d had, kicking butt sounded pretty good right now. So Danny took a deep breath and allowed his ghostly form to wash over him as he and Ellie turned to face Vlad.

The oldest of the three halfas still seemed to be reeling from his shock, and Danny wasn’t going to give him the chance to recover. He looked at his clone, and they both gave each other a nod. Together, they raised their hands, and before Vlad had a chance to block or dodge the two Phantoms shot him in the chest.

The combined power of their ecto-rays sent Vlad flying backwards, and he slammed into the containment pod that held the other clone. Vlad slumped forward and faceplanted onto the concrete floor, and Danny wondered if that was it; had Vlad been knocked unconscious that easily?

But he didn’t get a chance to check. The loud creaking of metal echoed across the room, and the containment pod holding the perfect clone tipped forward. It seemed to fall in slow motion, until it landed on Vlad with a resounding CLANG, accompanied by the shattering of glass and the fizzling of electrical circuits shorting out.

Ouch. Vlad would sure be feeling that in the morning. Danny almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Danny turned to congratulate Ellie, but faltered when he saw her face. Her mouth was set in a firm line, and her eyes looked… tired. Hurt. Distraught. When Danny rested his hand on her shoulder, he could feel the slight tremor that shook her frame, and he could only imagine what she was feeling in that moment. Betrayal, loss, fear for the future…

What would happen to Ellie now? Because there was no way Vlad would let her stay after this betrayal. Not that Ellie would possibly want to stay with him after what he had said.

Speaking of the devil, it seemed that Vlad wasn’t down for the count just yet.

The sound of creaking metal began again, and Danny watched in disbelief and Vlad pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. The destroyed pod fell to the side with a thunderous crash that shook the floor, and rolled onto its side, revealing what was left of the clone it had once held.

And it wasn’t a pretty sight. The air in the room seemed to be poisonous to the clone’s skin, judging by the way that its flesh was quickly bubbling away into slimy green goop. The clone reached for Vlad with a feeble hand, but there was nothing that could be done; its entire body disintegrated away into nothingness within mere seconds.

And that seemed to break something inside of Vlad. His solid, blood-red eyes were almost manic as a deep, guttural scream tore itself from his mouth. “NO! NO! NOOOOO!!!”

Danny didn’t know why Vlad was so upset. Sure, he had probably just seen months of his time and effort fall apart before his very eyes, but he wasn’t the one that had just watched an identical clone of himself melt like a popsicle in a microwave. Danny was sure that that scene was going to haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

Vlad turned on the two teens then, and he looked every bit like a bloodthirsty tiger that had cornered its prey. He snarled as he got to his feet and stalked towards them, his cape billowing behind him and making his presence just that much more intimidating.

Ellie clenched her fists and brought them up in front of her, but the way that they shook didn’t go unnoticed by Danny. “I can do this,” she whispered, and Danny wasn’t sure if he was saying it to reassure him, or herself.

Danny stepped forward and put his arm out in front of Ellie protectively. “You don’t have to,” he told her. “Get behind me, and cover your ears.”

Danny opened his mouth and took a deep breath, and he could feel the bitter cold forming inside of his ribcage, swirling into an angry blizzard that was ready to be freed. Ready to bury the man that had caused so much pain. Not only to him, but to Ellie, and to the other clones as well. He could feel his core thrumming with anger—with power.

So Danny gathered all that power into the center of his chest, closed his eyes, and released his Ghostly Wail.

The sound was deafening in the enclosed, underground room. It reverberated off of the walls and came back, seemingly growing louder and louder as it threatened to destroy all that stood in its way.

And it was pushing Vlad away. Despite the man’s best efforts, he was knocked off his feet by the sheer strength of Danny’s ecto-charged voice, and sent careening into the brick wall behind him. Cords and various instruments were ripped from the walls, and Vlad’s multi-million dollar cloning lab was destroyed in mere seconds.

Good.

Danny could feel cool liquid trickling from his ears, and his throat burned as if he was breathing fire. All too quickly, the last of his energy faded away, and Danny fell to his knees as his ghostly form fell away and left him weak and human. His arms shook with effort, and he couldn’t hear anything through the deafening ringing in his ears. He felt ready to collapse.

But it was worth it. All the pain and suffering was worth it to take this place down, and make it so that Vlad couldn’t hurt him anymore, or Ellie, or any more clones that he had planned to make.

It was worth it.

Danny’s head spun as he looked up and saw Vlad lying in a crumpled mess against the far wall. The elder halfa had reverted to his human form, as well. And it didn’t look like he would be getting up anytime soon, which was a relief. Danny didn’t have the strength left for another fight.

Ellie wrapped an arm around Danny and helped him to his feet. He could see that her mouth was moving as if she was speaking, but he couldn’t hear anything. And as he finally managed to get his own feet under him, he noticed a thin trail of green ectoplasm leaking from her ear.

Was… was that because of him?

But before Danny could say anything, a rumble shook the entire room, and the ceiling suddenly caved in. Danny knew he wouldn’t be able to get out of the way of the falling debris (and the Specter Speeder? What?) and he was sure he was about to be crushed.

But… that didn’t happen. Instead, he felt someone’s arm wrap around his waist, and pull him out of the way of the Specter Speeder with surprising strength and speed. Danny watched in shock as the Specter Speeder crashed into the wall, right where he and Ellie had been.

There… there was no way Ellie had moved him. She didn’t have the power to do that. Certainly not after their fight. So who…?

Danny saw movement from the corner of his eye: Ellie. She looked like she was yelling at someone behind him, but Danny was more distracted by the sight of Tucker and Sam climbing out of the Specter Speeder. They… they had come to rescue him? What? And how?

Honestly, Danny didn’t care. He just knew with a surety that he had the best friends in the world—scratch that. The universe. And if he could stand in that moment, then he would’ve run over and tackled them in a bone-crushing hug.

The arm that had grabbed Danny sat him gently down on the floor, and it was then that Danny remembered there was a stranger standing behind him, who had dragged him out of the way of certain death. So Danny slowly turned his head, looking away from his friends (who had run over to check on Vlad, apparently), and back at Ellie. She was still shouting, but Danny couldn’t make out the words over the ringing in his ears. And the person she was yelling at… despite the blurriness of his vision, Danny could still tell who it was.

“Thanatos…?”

The god turned at the sound of Danny’s voice, and the glowing gold of his eyes left afterimages in Danny’s vision that made him feel like he was going to be sick. Yeah, okay, so he might have a concussion… but that was better than being crushed by a two-ton flying machine.

Ellie’s eyes bugged out as she gestured wildly towards the death god standing next to her, and Danny could finally make out what she was saying. “Woah, woah, wait a minute! You know this weirdo? Who the heck is he?!”

Danny flinched as her shouting sent a shot of pain through his head. “Yeah… but could you tone it down a bit? You’re too loud…”

Ellie looked at Danny incredulously. “Could I tone it down? You’re the one making people’s eardrums rupture! Now who is this guy?! And why is he here?!”

“Oh, uhh…” Danny glanced at Thanatos, who looked equally confused, but about Ellie. He was staring at the ghost girl with a perplexed expression—as if there was something about her that he couldn’t quite place. “Thanatos? Are you—”

But Danny was cut off by Sam and Tucker, who tackled him to the ground in a group hug. He didn’t even care that them doing so reignited the pain of his many injuries; he was just so glad that they were okay; that they had come to rescue him.

“Danny!” Sam exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear as she pulled away from the hug. “You’re okay!”

“Well, somewhat okay,” Tucker commented dryly. “You don’t look too great, if I’m being honest.”

Tucker barely dodged a smack from Sam, and Danny chuckled. “What? Nah, I’m fine,” he said weakly. “Couldn’t be better. How did you guys find me, anyway?”

Tucker held up the Boo-merang with a proud smirk. “We followed this little guy across the country, and he led us right to you. It actually landed over there, with Mr. Moneybags.” Tucker jerked his thumb over his shoulder in a lazy gesture towards Vlad. “By the way, don’t worry about him causing us any trouble. I left him with the Specter Deflector as a parting gift.”

But Tucker’s triumph was disappointingly short-lived, as a pained groan echoed from the other side of the room. They all turned to look, and saw Vlad slowly pushing himself up from the rubble. Honestly, Danny was kind of impressed—the man was like a human cockroach.

Okay, that was a little rude. But Danny was allowed to be rude after the day he’d had.

Thanatos took a step forward, but Ellie was quicker. She stormed over to Vlad, her fists clenched by her sides, and delivered a swift, football-launching kick to his face before anyone else could react. There was a sickening crack when her boot met his nose, and he fell to the floor once more, definitely unconscious, and Danny was pretty sure he wouldn’t be getting up quite so quickly this time.

“Stay away from me, and my cousin,” Ellie growled.

… wow. Honestly, Ellie was kinda scary when she wanted to be.

A hand gently grabbed Danny’s shoulder, and he turned to see Thanatos kneeling next to him. The god was holding what looked like a slice of lemon bar, and he offered it to Danny. “Here. It is for your ears.”

Huh? What was wrong with his ears? Confused, Danny gingerly brought his hand to the side of his head, and when he pulled it away he saw that his fingertips were slick with a shiny red and green liquid.

Oh. That… that wasn’t good. Maybe using his Ghostly Wail in an enclosed underground area hadn’t been the best idea.

Danny took the proffered food from Thanatos and turned it over in his hand, wondering how exactly a sugary pastry would help his ruptured eardrums.

“It’s ambrosia,” Thanatos explained. “From Persephone. She told me to give it to you, since… well, you seem to get injured rather often.”

Well, Persephone certainly wasn’t wrong…

Hesitantly, Danny nibbled at the corner of the ambrosia bar. And to his surprise, he felt better almost instantly. The buzzing in his head cleared immediately, and his hearing returned to normal as all of his aches and pains quickly faded away.

Surprisingly, the ambrosia did not taste like lemons, like Danny had been expecting. Instead, it tasted like… oranges. Sweet oranges, and honey, with a hint of… cinnamon?

Strange, but the taste filled Danny with a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling. One that made him feel like a little kid again, before all the stress of school and fighting took over his life.

It reminded him of his mom.

Danny moved to take another bite, but Thanatos reached over and smoothly snatched the ambrosia away from him.

“That’s enough, Danny,” Thanatos said as he dropped the little bar into a small white satchel, which held a couple more slices of the godly food. “I don’t need you spontaneously combusting yet again.”

Thanatos handed the bag over to Danny, and gave the halfa a stern look. “This is for emergencies only,” he warned. “Use it sparingly, and do not give it to anyone else.”

Danny took the little cloth bag and stared at it, feeling rather confused (it seemed that ambrosia didn’t cure plain old stupid). “Uhh, okay… Thanks…?”

Thanatos nodded as he stood, and turned to leave. But he froze when he saw Ellie standing in his way. She was back to her human form, and scowling as she placed her hands on her hips and stared down the god of death.

“Okay, great. Danny’s fine,” she said. “And my psycho of a dad’s got a broken nose. Awesome. Now who are you?”

Thanatos seemed to be at a loss for words, but Ellie didn’t give him a chance to speak either way. “Why are you so spooky?” She continued, pointing a finger at Thanatos threateningly as she proceeded to straight up interrogate him. “Why are you wearing a dress? Why are your eyes weird? And why do you have giant pigeon wings?!”

“Hey!” Danny leapt to his feet and stepped in front of Thanatos, holding his hands out towards Ellie in a placating gesture. He knew that most ghosts seemed to become pretty spooked around Thanatos for some reason, but that didn’t mean she had to jump straight into insults. “Ellie, be nice. This is Thanatos, my mentor. Thanatos,” Danny began, turning to face said god. “This is Ellie, my…”

He trailed off. Thanatos was staring at Ellie with a haunted look in his eyes, as though he had seen a ghost (Danny facepalmed internally at the comparison; this was not the time for jokes). “Uhh, Thanatos?” Danny said, concerned. “Are… you okay?”

Thanatos flinched as if he had been struck, and glanced at his apprentice for only a split second before returning his attention to Ellie. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out at first; it was like he didn’t know what to say.

But at last, he spoke, his voice no more than a whisper, and said:

“… Dianthe?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Danny passed out, like, three times this chapter. Poor guy. People need to stop knocking him out, he doesn’t have that many brain cells left to spare!

And just so you know: DANNY IS NOT THE REINCARNATION OF DIANTHE. Promise. We know it may look like that, but that is not the case. However, please allow us to reference a line from Chapter 22 that may help you put the pieces together, if you haven’t done so already:

“Once, Danny and his mother had looked almost the same[…]”

Danny and his mother looked very similar??? Hmm… And Thanatos has seemingly mistaken Ellie for his first apprentice??? Hmm… interesting. 🤔😈

First: Prologue

Previous: Chapter 33

Next: Chapter 35

[chososcamgirl]

this one’s a long one.. heh… 😈 hope ur ready to hear me yap abt (mainly) toge 🤤‼️

HEYHEYHEY SIGMA ALPHA IYA OH MY GYATTT THE NEW CHAPTER WAS SO 🫣😍😩 HAD ME BARKING N SHIT.. THE SUKUNA PART??? HELLO??? I fear we may have fumbled… OK BUT LIKE IM SO HOOKED CANT WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER CUS I CAN ALREADY SMELLLLL THE TENSION3&33$3!3?3 THE TOGE PART… LITERALLY ON THE FLOOR. ALL 4.. ARR RT HTJRSTSHDTJJTDDTJDTJJDTTDJYDTJDTDJ WAKING UP RO A NEW CHALTER IS ALWAYS YHE BESTTTT I LIT JUST GOT UP SO NO DAILY YAP 😣😣 UGHHH UR PLAYLISTS ALWAYS FUCKING HIT IM LITERALLLY HAVING AN EARGASM RN 😩‼️🐺😈🔥 LIKE I SWEARRRRR IF SOUNDMATES WERE REAL WE WOULD B MATCHED 😈🔥‼️CUS I WONT ALLOW A STEPCEST INDULGER SLIDE IN MY DMS… UGHEBEBEJEBBE IM LITERALLY DROOLING 🤤 UR FEEEDING US GOOOOODDDD MGMTMMFPPHHHHH 😣🤤‼️😈 IM SO 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 FOR TOGE PLEASEEEEEE MATCH MY FREAAKKKKK MEOWOOOWWWWWWW… oh and uh… megumi’s there too ig… 😒😒 UGHH ANYWAY IM LITERALLLY FEINING RNNNN 🤤😩‼️🔥 I NEEEEEEEDDDDDDD A NEW CHAPTER ASAPPPPPEEKEJNENR ILY IYA THANK YOU FOR PROVIDING US WITH A FEASSSSSTTTTTTT IM LITERALLY IN FUCKING HEATTTT AURGHHHHHH ILYSM IYAAA ILL KILL U IF U DIE 👿👿 SUKUNA AS YNs EX IS SO PERFECT LIKE UGHHHH I LOVE HOW UR BRAIN WORKS WERE LITERALLY TELEPATHIC LIEK STOP MATCHING MY FREAKK SO WELLL UGHHH IM ALMOST THEREEE 😩 AND THE SOMF YOU CHOSE FOR THE TITLE?? UGHHHH ILYSMMMM SHES MY COLLAR IS LITERALLY MYYYY SHITTTTT OMGGGGG U MATCH MY 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴 SOOO WELLL IM SO DOWN BAD FOR TOGE PLEASEEEEEE… FOAMING AT THE MOUTH FOR HIMMMM ARGHHHH EVERYTHING ABT THE CHAPTER WAS BEYOND PERFECTION 🤤🙂‍↕️ARBRBRRBHRHRJSIEJE IM BARKINGGGGGGG FOR TOGE PLEASEEEEEE UGHHH THE COMPLIMENT AND THE HUG… DONT stop I’m SOOOOO CLOSEEEEE 😖😩🤤‼️… GIVE ME ONE CHANCE ILL LITERALLY START PRAYING AND SPIRITUALLY CONNECTING MYSELF SO HE NOTICES ME.. 😼😼

ANYWAYYS… HOW ARE YOU IYAAAAAA??? HOPE U ATE WELL AFTER FEEDING US SO GOOODDDDD ARBRBRBRBRJJEBE I LOVEEEE U SM I WANT TO CRAWL IN YOUR SKIN AND THRIVE IN YOUR BRAIN SO I GET EVERY SINGLE IDEA YOU HQVE FOR SJAPPPP I WAS WAITING FOR THE CHAPYET I FELL ASLEEP IN MY MAKEUP BUt ITS OKAY CUS I WOKE UP TO A NEW CHAPTERRR UGHHH I LIT LOVE U AND TOGE SMMMM FEINNINGGGG 🤤🤤🤤🤤 VRO MY RECENTLY USED EMOJIS ARE SOOO FREAKY BECAUSE OF THE NEW CHAPTER UGHH IDECCC IM SO CLOSEEEEEE.. OK IM GONNA GO TAKE OFF MY MAKEUP NOW 😣😔😭 BYE IYA SIGMAAA ILYSMMM IM GONNA FLY TO AUSTRALIA AND GIVE YOU THE WETEST KISSESSSS 🤤😩😍

- 🐺

HI ALPHA!!! 🐺🐺🐺

i just finished work!!! i was saving this to answer after incase i had a bad day at work (i didn’t) so DOUBLE YAY. let’s begin😈 LMFAOO im glad you like it! i was STRUGGLING to excecute my vision like it took a lot out of me to finish that chapter HELP but i’m happy with it and im glad it’s out now!! the tension was THICK let me tell u that. i loved the cliffhanger at the end bc i love edging yall 😏😏 LOL toge seems like a fan favourite along with sukuna now surprisingly. I WILL NOT DIE!! unless panda’s bounty changes to me… i’m WEAK😭 u r so funny alpha pls never die or ill have to kill off toge in honour of u💔

it’s always goddamn hot in there idk if that’s just me but i’m always HOT😭 work was okay i was just covering the lunch breaks and then i get to go home :3 i am eating rn actually! rice paper rolls mmmm. i will let u live in my brain🙂‍↕️ NOT U FALLUNG ASLEEP IN UR MAKEUP OMF THATS THW WORST FOR ME😭 LMFAO it’s bc UR freaky 🫵 yes i will greet u at the airport with balloons and a big sign saying “welcome home alpha”😏 i hope ur day was good alpha! lmk!! also did u end up finding ur airpods… also the teacher! tell meeee!! <3333 iya out !!!

[reminiscentreader]

Love your fics!😩 Can u write one where there is an event the Hawthornes+Avery have to attend but they haven’t left the house cuz Grayson is late and everyone is confused, and then one of his brothers come to check on him in his room only to find out he’s asleep cuz he’s feeling sick, and then that brother stays with him??😭

Thank you for being so patient! I’ve been wanting to write this for a while but I’ve been really busy 😭

Anyways hope you enjoy xx

_________________________________________

Jameson

The annual Hawthorne gala, Hundreds of important rich people from al over the world coming to see the Hawthorne heiress, my Hawthorne heiress. I watch as Avery slips on her deep green dress, it fits her perfectly, she is perfect, “Jamie,” I sit up a little straighter, “zip me up will you?” I make my way off our bed and towards her “of course heiress.” After I zip up her dress I rest my hands on her shoulders and tuck my head into the crook of her head, “you look so beautiful tonight heiress” I reach my hand out to stroke down her braid, “I love you” Avery leans down and presses a soft kiss to the top of my head, “I love you too.”

Grayson

I feel awful. I don’t ever get sick but right now I feel like curling into a ball and dying, I can barely stand up or see and there are tears streaming my face. I hate how vulnerable I’ve made myself, I’m ment to be attending the annual gala for goodness sake, so if I don’t sort myself out in the next five minutes, I’m fucked. I desperately try to make my way to the bathroom but I’m hopelessy stumbling around, tears blurring my vision. What would the old man say if he saw me now? Your letting yourself get sick Grayson? Hawthornes don’t get sick. They are fighters. We don’t let anything get in the way. Kill yourself tobias, is what I would’ve probably thought if he wasn’t already dead.

I don’t know how long I’ve had my head stuck in this toilet for, violently vomiting to the point of passing out, I suddenly feel light headed, maybe I should get some sleep, maybe I should take a break from work? No. Weak.

weak.

weak.

weak.

weak.

weak….

Nash

I clap my hands to get everyone’s attention, “Right ya’ll, everyone here ready to go?” 7 heads nod back at me, “alright let’s head to the car room.” About five minutes into walking Avery exclaims, “Grayson, Have you got the papers we need?” Nobody responds. “G-Grayson?” Everyone starts to look around murmuring, “Now where the hell ‘as Gray gone.” I say looking for him in the crowd of people following me, “Jesus Christ, did anyone see him come out?” Again in response I get a couple of murmurs, “Nobody?” They all shake there heads, “Guess I’ll go find him then.”

After walking all the way back to the house, I was starting to wonder if Grayson wasn’t even in the state, maybe he went to go visit his sister or something, nah, I know gray wouldn’t miss this if he was half dying. I’d stopped to ask one of the maids if they’d seen him, “M-mister Hawthorne hasn’t been out of his wing all day.” I quickly thanked her with the tip of my hat and headed towards graysons wing.

so here I am, stood outside graysons wing I’ve already knocked five times, five times with no response, “GRAYSON DAVENPORT HAWTHORNE I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DONT OPEN THIS DOOR IN 5 SECONDS IM KNOCKING IT DOWN.” No response. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.., still nothing, I know how much grayson hates privacy invaders, but it’s for his own safety, he could be dead in there for fucks sake. So Nash kicked down the door.

Grayson

the first thing I heard when I woke up was the bang of what I assumed to be someone kicking down my door, I tried to pull myself up, to see who it was, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything without it hurting, the next thing I saw was Nash standing at the bathroom door, “oh gray” Nash knealed down to my level and pushed a bit of hair that had fell into my eyes away, “what’s up?” I only grunted in response, I didn’t trust myself, “ok gray let’s get you into bed.” He helped me up, I was shaking so badly, I was tired, so so so tired. I fell asleep almost immediately, I heard Nash pull up a chair next to my bed and say something like, “Get some rest gray, please.” He helped me into my bed and the minute my head hit the pillow I fell fast asleep.

—————————————————————

Nash stayed with Grayson that night, and when his brothers arrived home, he did not tell them what had happened, he simply let them guess, when Grayson woke up, he did take a break from work. The night Grayson Hawthorne missed the annual Hawthorne gala, would become a secret between the two oldest Hawthornes, that the others would never found out about.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><> I am so so so sorry for how long this took 😭 I really hope you enjoyed it ❤️❤️

[atomsminecraft]

Past, Present, and Future. There Consequences

*Coughs violently*

This fic is a continuation of @dotster001​ ‘s fanfic which can be found here, I was given permission to make this and proof for that is the replies in that post.

Because it’s Lou’s birthday today, I decided it will be a great idea to post this now especially with the time of events this fanfic was finished.

This wasn’t 100% proof read, if there’s any mistakes then you now know why lmao

Warning: This series may contain spoilers for the princes path. I have only gotten to chapter 3, if any information is inaccurate then please understand.

Before we start I just want to clarify a few things.

N/N = New Name (not MC’s name)

L/N = Last name (MC and her rebirth don’t have the same last name.)

And with that, enjoy this series of unfortunate events.

Genre: Fluff(for now-)

——————————

I felt the last of my strength leave my body and the world go dark as my eyes finally closed. They did it. Iritium succeeded. They won.

I will never forgive Lou for his betrayal. In this life or a new one. How could he do this? Wasn’t he meant to be the neutral one? Wasn’t he meant to be the one I wouldn’t have to worry about using me like many others would have if given the chance?

…

I guess I was wrong.

I hope he’s happy with this outcome.

…

…mumbling… I hear mumbling… wait, what? Why am I hearing people talking? Am I being revived? Was my death not enough for them? Everything felt wrong. I felt myself being pulled down by an invisible force. Oh god please tell me it’s not what I think it is!

A sudden bright light filled my vision. Everything hurt and there was a strong smell I couldn’t pinpoint that overwhelmed me. Crying. Was I crying? … …No. It sounded more like loud whining. I hated these new sensations, I hated the overwhelming smell and the new feeling of a touch I couldn’t recognize. And as quickly as it started, I felt myself being put into an embrace. A comforting one.

Why was I mad again? I couldn’t quite remember… One after another of failed tries to remember, the bright light diminished as I fell asleep in the new comforting embrace.

I wonder why I was mad in the first place.

~~~~

“Miss N/N, please slow down!” My nanny, Cathryn, called out. I laughed as I ran away from her in this newfound game of chase.

My 8-year-old legs can only take me so far yet I continued to run and dodge the attempts at catching me and I hid behind a tree. I covered my mouth to hide my laughter as Cathryn called out to me. Hehe, she can’t find me!

I ran again until I found myself in a forest area. This should be harder to find, right? I went to find another hiding spot.

A shuffling in the bushes causes me to halt. Was I found already?! But Cathryn would have called my name out by now… The bush was also too small for her to fit in there! I walked to the bush and pulled away the leaves to find an injured cat. Blood stained its white fur.

“Aw no! Poor kitty…” I paused for a moment. Should I bring it back home with me? Maybe we can keep it! But it’s injured…. What can I do to make it feel better? Maybe I can kiss it better? Momma does that whenever I get hurt. Yeah! That sounds like a great idea! I slowly went up to the cat and it hissed and swung at me and I backed away. Uh-oh.

I kneel, “It’s ok, I won’t hurt you!” I let it smell my hand once it seemed to calm down and I gently pet it once I got the OK. Hehe, it’s so cute! I gave the cat a kiss near the wound and began to pick it up. “Alright, let's get you home!” I got up and looked around to try and find where I’d come from, I think I came from this way!

I started walking and I looked back down to the cat. The wound seems to have stopped bleeding, that’s good! Wait, no, the injury is gone completely! I stand there confused. Weren’t they hurt just a moment ago?

“N/N! Where are you?” My name was called out again. Maybe I can ask Cathryn about this?

“I’m here!” I ran towards where I thought I heard her voice.

“Milady! There you are!” Cathryn runs towards me, tears staining her red eyes. Weird, why did I feel strange about being called milady? She calls me that all the time. “You can’t run away like that, I was sick with worry when I couldn’t find you!”

In the end, I wasn’t allowed to keep the cat and I couldn’t find the time to tell her what happened. She wouldn’t have believed me anyways.

That was one of many weird things that happened to me.

~~~~

“Mama! Look what I found!” I ran up to my mother with a flower in hand and gave it to her. “For you!” I smile at her and she smiles back.

“Thank you, darling! You seem to have a knack for finding flowers, don’t you think?”

“She certainly does!” My father says as he picks me up. “She’s our flower so she obviously must be able to find other beautiful flowers!” I laugh as he spins me around.

“Be careful with her, Morse!” My mother warns though she’s also laughing at our antics.

“Again!”

“You sure? Alright! Whoosh!” I get spun around in the air a few times before he puts me down and ruffles my hair.

“Lady Mortisha, I have what you asked me to fetch for you!” Cathryn says.

“Oh, perfect! N/N, may you come here for a moment?” I walk up to my mom as she takes the box. “I have prepared a special gift for you, will you open it for me?”

“Okie!” She hands me the box and I open it to find a golden necklace with a red gem inside. There’s also a small pouch inside the box. “So pretty…” I say aloud.

“Try it on then check inside the pouch.” I do as I’m told and put on the necklace then check the pouch. There’s a small mirror inside. I look into it to find myself and two red eyes. What happened to my black eye? I look up at my mother in confusion.

She smiles at me. “Now your black one is hidden. There’s no need to hide it anymore!” Wait what? But why would- My dad puts his hand on my shoulder and interrupts my train of thought.

“Make sure not to take it off, alright?” He kneels to my height. “Promise me you won’t.”

“I promise!” I replied.

“Good. Thank you” He smiles at me and ruffles my hair again.

That night, I swear I heard a familiar voice. “Your very existence here will shake this word to its foundation.” Wait what? “You are but a defenseless chick here in the magical realm.” The voice is distant and barely coherent. “Listen to me: you are a rare and wonderful creature.” Who is that? I just barely caught those last words before falling asleep.

~~~~

The shops in the town aren’t things I normally see, so it was a nice surprise when my parents said we were going to town together. I saw clothing shops, bakeries, restaurants, and many more! I looked around curiously as my mom and dad both held my hand.

“Mama! Can we go to the flower shop?” I ask.

“We can go after we get what we need.” My mom said, holding my hand tighter so I can’t try and escape.

My dad laughed. “How about we go now, Morticia? It wouldn’t hurt to go for a few minutes.”

My mom sighs, “Morse, if we go then she won’t want to leave and we’ll be stuck there for hours. Let's go find the clothing shop first and get what we came here for then we can spend as much time there as she wants.”

I pout. “But I want to go nowwwww!”

“N/N. I said we’ll go after we finish. Do you want to go or not?”

“Yes, mama….” There are a few moments of silence before my dad interrupts.

“Can you two stay here for a moment? I’ll be quick about it.” My dad says.

“What’s wrong?” My mom asks.

“Just stay here for a moment, alright?” He kneels to my level and he ruffles my hair. “Behave for your mother, alright? I’ll be right back.” He gets up and walks away.

“Mama, where’s dad going?” I ask.

She sighs and holds my hand a little tighter. “I guess we’ll find out when he comes back.” We stood there for a few minutes before I saw my dad with his hand behind his back. “Oh my creator…”  I look to see a look of surprise and amusement on my mom’s face. Now I'm even more confused. What’s going on?

“N/N, close your eyes and open your hand for me for a moment, will you?” I do what he asks and I feel him put something in my hand. “You may open them now!” I opened my eyes to see a flower was given to me. My dad grins at me, “Does this satisfy your need to go to the flower shop until we finish our shopping?” I smile at him and nod and he smiles back at me. “Alright, let’s go then.” He takes my hand and we walk to the clothes shop.

…

“So you found her?”

“Yes, your majesty. She appears to be about the age of 9.”

“Keep an eye on her. I command you to watch her whenever you have a chance.”

“With certainty.” The valet bows and goes back to work.

~~~~

The smell of the seawater fills my nose. I look out at the sunrise, enjoying the changing of colors. My current destination? The Royal Academy of Concordia. Tomorrow is the entrance exam.

I feel a bundle of emotions, excitement, nervousness, and fear. This is the first time I’ve been away from my parents, the freedom of them not always watching me however is freeing.

When the ship docked, I found an inn and got a room. I’ll be staying here for the next few days so I might as well get comfortable.

…

The day came and went and now it's the next day. students filled the exam hall and I quickly found an empty seat. The classroom was filled with talking and laughter, I liked how cheerful it was even with the exam happening any time now to decide if we actually got in or not.

“May I sit next to you?” I looked up to find an Invidian girl. I nod and she sits next to me. “I’m Arya, nice to meet you!” She smiles at me.

I smile back, “I’m N/N. It’s nice to meet you too!” We engage in pleasant conversation and before we know it, the exam starts.

A hush falls in the classroom when a man in white shows up. He looks around the classroom and introduces himself as the headmaster. His gaze lands in my direction and stays there for longer than he does with the rest of the class. I wonder what he’s looking at?

The exam finally begins.

~~~~

Dear N/N L/N,

You are hereby granted a place within the Royal Academy of Concordia.

Royal Academy of Concordia

Headmaster Lou.

~~~~

Some time has passed and new students are walking around the academy and figuring out their new room situation. I am doing the same. My room is at the end of the hallway in dorm Tradis. The room feels strangely familiar but I conclude it’s because it’s somewhat similar to my room with the star pattern to the bed. Something feels missing though…. It’s probably nothing.

I look at myself in the mirror and at the choker that is my sigillum arcanum. My necklace dangles around my neck, making it look as if I have two.

I heard a knock at my door, “Just a moment, please!” I fix myself up to make myself more presentable then open the door. “Arya! What are you doing here? How did you know where my room was?”

Arya laughed, “I actually just saw you walking around and followed you to try and surprise you! I’m glad I remembered where your dorm room was or this would have been really awkward.” She laughs.

“Do you want to come in?” I ask and I step aside. She nods and comes in.

“Wow, your room is beautiful! How come you got a pretty room?” Arya jokes.

“Does your room not look similar? These were in here when I arrived…”

“Maybe it was from a previous student who forgot to take it back? Perhaps you should ask the headmaster about it when you get the chance.” Arya said.

I sigh, “I’ll do so tomorrow after it’s hopefully less busy, I wouldn’t like to bother him with how busy he likely is.” I look around my room again. I can maybe buy something similar once it looks how it’s supposed to. “Have you looked around yet?”

“I haven’t, actually! I was hoping we can go together and familiarize ourselves with this place.”

“I like that idea. We may go now if you like.” She nods and we walk out of the room to look around our new school.

Perhaps if we look around, I can distract myself from the feeling of being watched.

~~~~

Our first class started a few days after the move-in. Arya saved me a seat near the back and I of course sat next to her.

“Is it just me or does something feel off?” I ask.

Arya looks at me confused. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know why but I was expecting a lot of the girls to be at the front of the class…”

Arya thought for a moment before speaking again. “I think a lot of the girls used to do that when the kings were students here. Are you talking about that?” Before I could respond, however, the professor walked in. To my strange surprise, however, it became silent.

“What is going on with me…” I thought to myself.

Class started as any other would. Since this class is Introduction to Magic, we’re learning the basics.

“Correct again, Miss N/N. Very good.” The professor says. He laughs, “Have you by chance already learned this? You might as well be in more advanced classes.”

I try to laugh it off. “Thank you, but I don’t think that will be necessary.” Even I can't explain how I know this, to be honest. It’s as if I already learned this before without having the memory of it. Spell after spell, question after question, I seem to already know the solution on how to do it.

“You should help me study with how much you already know of this lesson.” Arya teases. I give her a small laugh and continue with the lesson.

Once the class ends, however…

“Miss N/N L/N, right? You seem to know so much about what we were learning in class! Can you perhaps become my tutor?”

“Miss N/N! You did amazing! Did you study this subject before?”

“Miss N/N! Can you-”

Students were asking me questions left and right and I tried my best to make excuses for them. I quickly grab the rest of my stuff and run out of the classroom in hopes of avoiding more questions.

~~~~

The forest at the academy is a good place to get some quiet, I learned. Not many people will go looking for you here, especially if you go off the path. It’s only been a few classes already and I seem to already be popular…. Arya joked that at this point I might become an A rank after the first few tests.

“…I probably just studied this when I was younger.” I thought to myself. Yeah, that must be it! I walk deeper and deeper into the forest, getting farther from the main path, and mentally drawing a map so I remember where I came from.

…

I heard a soft rumble just over yonder of where I am. Did I just hear snoring? Is someone sleeping? I go check to see who it could be. To my horror and gratitude, a magical beast was asleep. What’s a magical beast doing here? Especially so close to the academy? I slowly back away, not wanting to wake it up. Luck, however, wasn’t on my side as the beast’s snores stopped and its eyes opened. Dragon's teeth…. I hid behind a tree but the beast seemed to have seen me already as attacks started. I curse myself while trying to dodge attacks and hide behind trees. I really wish I learned defense magic before coming here! Think, N/N, think! What spell could help you here?! “Wait, no!” In my distraction, I slipped as the magical beast attacked. I try to brace myself for impact. The attack slammed me against a tree trunk, my vision blacked out.

…

Cheering… Why were there people cheering? My body moves on its own and I open my eyes to see what looks like an arena.

“Do you still intend to fight?” I look up to see a man in red with black hair on a dragon. Where am I?

“You’d better believe it!” Was that me talking?

“Grooh-rooh!” Whosoever body I’m in right now climbs on the back of another dragon and they fly into the air.

“Straight up, Shifah!” The inhabitant of this body says. The man narrows his eyes and starts chasing us. Wait, is this the familiar Royal? We dive straight down before I could register what’s going on. I look back to see ‘Shifah’ slap their tail at the other dragon’s side, causing the dragon and the rider to get off balance. “Take that!” Wait, is this…?

“Steady now, Ertl!” The man says. The two right themselves and before I could blink, we collided with the ground.

“Gruh-rrr-ruh!” Shifah doesn’t look too well…

“Shifah?!” The inhabitant of this body tries to lift themself only for me to feel a pain in my, er, their wrist.

“You cannot stand, can you?” The man in red asks, next to us.

“I can and will.” I don’t think we can…

“Yield.”

“No.” The man chuckles. “Huh?” I’m just as confused. Why is he laughing? I feel myself being floated in the air.

“What the…” We land in the man’s arms right as he gets down from his dragon’s back.

“You have done well.”

Cheering is heard across the stadium. “Victory to Guy Avari!” Wait, Guy Avari?! As in the king?! My vision goes dark at this realization.

~~~~

“How…-”

“concu…- she ne…-”

“N/N!-”

“Calm…- frac…- ..st.”

These voices were distant. Everything was sore and I felt like I couldn’t move. Everything went silent after a little while…

…

“Mmh…” I opened my eyes to find myself in an unfamiliar room. I sit up but flinch at the pain in my back and in my head. I notice I'm in an unfamiliar bed. Where am I?

“Oh my creator! N/N!” I feel someone hold my hand and I look over to see Arya. “You’re awake! How are you feeling?! Are you in any pain?!”

“I-“

“Stay here for a moment! I need to go tell the medic you’re awake!” Before I could say anything else, Arya ran out of the room to presumably find the medic. I sigh to myself as I relax into my pillow more, relieving the pain in my body slightly. What was that dream? Who was that? That memory seemed so familiar yet I couldn’t explain why. Why was His Majesty there? I heard the door open and I looked to see Arya with someone who I will assume is the medic. “I brought the medic!”

One medical examination later, I was finally able to relax again. “If I may…” I start, “Who saved me? I don’t remember seeing anyone while I was being attacked by the magical beast.”

“The headmaster saved and brought you here, miss N/N.” Said the medic.

My eyes widened. “WHAT?” How did he even know I was there?! I know he’s the headmaster and he watches over the academy but unless he was already in the forest he couldn’t have known I was there, right?! I’m grateful he saved me and all but that still doesn’t answer any questions!

“If you seek answers from him, you may ask him the next time you see him. For now, please rest so your injuries can heal, miss N/N. I’ll come and check on you again later.” And with that, the medic walked away. Arya stood there in silence for a moment before hugging me.

“I’m so glad you’re ok! You have no idea how worried I was when I saw the headmaster fly into the academy and I saw you were in his arms injured! What happened back there?!” Arya interrogated. She let go of the hug and gently held onto my shoulders as I explained to her why I was in the forest and how the magical beast attacked me. “You should have stayed on the path, it’s a path for a reason!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry for worrying you. I won’t stray from the main path again, I promise.” I say in hopes of reassuring her.

“You better! Otherwise, I’m not letting you out of my sights!” I laugh and she laughs with me. “Do you need anything? I can get you something from your room or the refectory if you want something.”

“I’m fine for now, thank you. By the way, how long have I been unconscious?”

“Since yesterday. I’m surprised it wasn’t more considering how bad your injuries were…”

“I would have thought longer too, to be honest. I guess I’m lucky! Even with the magical beast attack, haha!” I joke. She smiles at me and looks at the time on her pocket watch and sighs after putting it away.

“I need to get to lectures soon. I’ll give you the notes to the lessons you miss so go ahead and rest. Got it?”

“Got it. Good luck!” Arya leaves the infirmary. I should thank the headmaster for saving me. Maybe once I heal I could buy him something to show my appreciation. What could I get him though…. As I get distracted, I fail to notice that I’ve fallen asleep.

End of Past, Present, and Future, Their Consequences — Part One.

[deep252]

Exploring the Essence of Pushtimarg

I know it's late...but yesterday my mood changed in a some microseconds because of my own fault.... and didn't had courage to write bout anything(╯︿╰).

It's 4th September 2023, 11:54pm...writing yesterday's blog. Today I'm not writing about my past i have something different to write.So, I'm writing something about 'pushtimarg'(It is the path of devotion, which is mentioned in the 'Bhagavadgita'. related to people who are following vaishanav dharm).Yesteday, i listened some podcast about 'pavitra ekadashi', '3 tatv of pushtimarg' and 'born of 'shreemad vallabhacharya'.

Before that, something about yesterday(3rd sept)....

It was Sunday, so woke up at 8 am. had a breakfast(pauva) with a janudi and sameep. When we talk about sunday...the first thing we like about it, is a 'pauva'...so we pack pauva in lunchbox...after that, i revealed janudi's one of the biggest secret (his crush) to sameep (after taking janudi's permission). Then, did nothing till lunch. Had a lunch with sameep, janudi and 'amul cool+ pauva'(authentic). Then, did a meeting about healthcare project with friends.

After that, scrolled youtube to explore something about 'pavitra ekadashi mahatmay' from 'Dwarkeshlalji Mahoday'. "On the midnight of this Pavitra Ekadashi, a light broke out and Shrinathji appeared in the supernatural form of Raseshwar(પૂર્ણપુરષોતમ સ્વરૂપ) and Shrimahaprabhuji had a vision of this form. 'Shrimadhurashtakam' appeared from the mouth of Mahaprabhuji after seeing this beauty and sweetness of the Lord. Then Shrinathji asked "હે, શ્રીવલ્લભ આપ શા માટે ચિંતા કરો છો?". ShriMahaprabhuji answered, "કેમ પણ કરીને આજના જીવ નો આપની સાથે સંબંધ કરાવો".

back to me... Then, I woke up janudi at 4 pm...had a tea with sameep and janudi...and snacks with sameep(for janudi chess got more priority than snacks). Then, again i listened podcast about 'thakurani teej' and 'pavitra ekadashi'(from that day, i got more interest in 'pushtimarg' and i'm proud of it) . So, now it's time for dinner and it's 'pav-bhaji' had to deal with it. Then, we(whole room) went to pick up jenil(jenitsu) from olive greens because he came with 4 bags. Then our room (room 18) had a chess tournament and i was not involved in that(cause i had no mood for chess) so i scrolled youtube again to find a new phone for me.

Then, had a deep conversation with janudi in which my mood got better and meanwhile i fell asleep.

so that's it for yesterday..

"|| त्वदीयम वस्तु गोविन्द तुभ्यमेव समर्प्यते ||"

[returntosaturn271995]

November 17th-18th: Euro-vision (Part 1)

How does one capture the magic of a week-long, sleepless, fun-filled Euro-trip with romance, friendship, and a couple of twists and turns along the way?

I can't. Not really. I can just say I'm happy and feel small in the best way. So with that in mind: here's a high-level recap.

Friday the 17th:

1). Smoked the wrong weed the night before and had a mini panic attack about the trip. Calmed myself down by drinking copious amounts of water.

2). 9-hour plane ride to London from San Diego with a stop in Seattle. I slept as much as humanely possible and didn't read or watch movies. The time difference basically made the flight my entire day and when I opened my eyes it was Saturday morning in Heathrow.

Saturday:

1). When I landed in the airport I put on makeup and my "walking through London in a rom-com" outfit: Leather trench coat, black sweater with key-hole neck design, dark wash jeans, black boots.

2). Took the tube to Paddington Square and met up with Martyn, flirty kiss and then we dropped off our bags at the hotel he booked: The London Lodge.

3). Walking tour of London punctuated by coffee and hot chocolate I didn't have to tip for. Big Ben, the London Eye, the River Thames, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, and a million beautiful streets. Split the G and had a baby Guiness.

4). We got back to the hotel as it grew dark and had sex that was 10/10, I lost a press-on nail so that became 9/10.

5). Grabbed a Cheeky Nandos and Martyn ate legitimately an entire chicken. He described me in the third person as a girl who likes the finer things in life. I reminded him "I am one of the finer things in life."

6). Pub crawl in Soho with an amazing live singer, we were shoulder to shoulder with everyone in the bar. I got hit on by a 6'10 trust fund kid right in front of Martyn who offered me a spot at The Queen's Club. Yes, that Queens Club. Martyn took this gamely.

7). We bounced to a gay nightclub called Heaven. Now it was Martyn's turn to get his ass pinched. All the music was about 5 years too old from America and I forgot to not tip on the drinks. Balloons fell from the ceiling at midnight and we had a dramatic superhero kiss in front of the industrial strength fan near coat check. Redbull Vodka's still in hand.

8). Took the tube, a double-decker bus, and a black cab so all transportation was covered.

9). I fell asleep on his shoulder riding the Tube. We got to the hotel (Our concierge had no idea what she was doing) from the gay club and did some decidedly straight things. Fell asleep talking.

[honeybeedewdrops]

G-Loc | P. Mitchell

Summary: You're helping Maverick with an exercise and it doesn’t go to plan.

Warnings: Going down in an aircraft.

A/N: Hey guys I'm back and so I hope you like this. I also am putting the fishing touches on my first ever request. I'll be posting that later this week once I think its perfect as always thank you.

-Honey Bee

__________________________________________

You sat on yours and Maverick's bed reading a book before bed. You set your book down the minute Maverick came in ready for bed as well.

He looked deep in thought as he laid looking up at the ceiling "what's on your mind" "Lot's of things" "anything I can help with?" You ask leaning on your elbow. "No, but I would like your help tomorrow in an exercise" you nod "ok and what is this exercise" "pulling G's" you nod. You hated pulling hard G's but for Maverick you'd do anything. You both fell asleep tomorrow on your minds.

**

The next day you both got to the base and walk into the classroom. "Good Morning, Many of you know Admiral Y/N "Y/CS" Mitchell they will be helping me today" You nod to the class before Maverick goes on. "We have 10 days until the uranium enrichment plant is stocked. The plant is at the base of two mountains. Your target is 3 meters tall and 3 Meters wide" Maverick starts. He explains the part before the steep climb thats when you really start to listen. You knew the plan of the mission but this was a good refresher. "You will have a steep climb up the second mountain and the g's are pulled so hard that 1600 pounds of force is imposing on your lungs"

"How many g's are we going to pull?"

"9 minimum" and Maverick smiled walking out you close behind.

Most of the time you had watched giving pointers but Maverick had you fly close behind a couple as if you were a fighter jet after them.

You were on your last round and Your body was starting to get tired you had pulled so many G's but this was the last one so you pulled through.

As you were going up your vision started to get blurry and you couldn't see you then feel something drip down your nose. You lift your hand up and pull it away seeing blood. "I-I-I think--" you say as it started going black.

It was super scary you could hear the voices yelling but it was faint you knew it was bad hear Maverick's panicking voice. You feel your vision coming back and you had just enough strength to pull the ejection handles as everything went black again.

You woke up to beeping and someone's hand in yours. You groan hearing the beeping speed up everything hurt. You open your eyes and hear snoring you look to your left seeing Maverick in the chair sound asleep. You snort at how dumb he looked. You look up seeing a nurse come in "oh good you're awake. You took quite a fall you have two bruise ribs, a concussion, and a fractured ankle." she says checking your vitals. You nod now knowing how serious this was.

You jump as Maverick shoots up out of his chair clearly having a nightmare. He looks to you and sees you awake. "Y/N thank god you're awake I thought I lost you" He says pulling you into a hug making you hiss in pain. "i'm sorry, i'm sorry" You give him a pained smile. "it's ok. i'm fine and I'm not going anywhere" Maverick smiles at that and gives you a kiss. "Y/N I'm sorry I should have known making you do that many G's at a time would do a toll" "Maverick Honey look it's not your fault I should have known. I should have said I wasn't feeling good enough for that last one what's done is done" "but--" "no but's Maverick I am higher rank than you so as your boss and your partner I want you to stop blaming yourself" He sighs but obeys.

The nurse leaves and says to call if you're in too much pain and she'll see what she can do. The rest of the night was spent cuddling and spending as much time together before falling asleep in each others arms.

A few days later you were released and made a speedy recovery.

[alonezz]

Hi! I know this can be a sensitive topic so its fine if you dont do but could you make a aot girls + hange (please add hange if you do it) finding their s/o attempting suicide

TW: Suicide Attempts (cutting, hanging, jumping and overdose are mentioned). Please if any of you ever feel like ending your life, reach out to someone. I know it's easier said than done. I am always here if my babies need to talk to anyone, my DMs are always open! Know that life is worth living, and things may seem hard right now but it does get better, I promise. <3

Includes: Mikasa, Annie, Hange, Pieck, and Historia.

Hange: 

“Y/N?” Hange called as they walked into your apartment. You two had planned on having a study date and when you didn’t answer their calls and texts they assumed you had fallen asleep.

You were in your room, standing on top of your chair, the rope felt harsh against your hands. You were a little scared in your dark room, ready to end all of your suffering. The world was gloomy and grey but when you saw through the circle the rope created, you saw color.

Hange walked through your kitchen, noticing the lack of food and they quickly made a mental note to surprise you with groceries. Your living room was a mess, and they decided they were going to clean it even though their room is probably as messy but you used to hate messy things, what happened? they wondered, growing slightly worried.

They made her way through the familiar hall until they were in front of your room. They didn’t bother on knocking assuming you were sleeping so when they burst through the door and saw you looking through the hole of a rope their heart stopped.

“Y-Y/N?” they said, their voice shaking slightly.

Your eyes widened and your vision became blurry. They weren’t supposed to come here, what were they doing here?

“Hange,” you whispered breaking them out of their shock and they quickly made their way towards you, pulling you down from the chair and hugging you tightly. So tight it felt like they were crushing you.

“Why are you here?” you said making them pull away and look at your numb face with a frown.

“We were supposed to have a study session,” they whisper. 

you hum in approval, mentally cursing yourself for being so stupid.

“Why?” they said, their voice breaking slightly and you dropped your head in their chest. They quickly wrapped their arms around you once again.

“m’ tired,” you muttered agains their shirt and they pressed a kiss to your temple. The truth is, as smart as Hange was, they had no idea what to do in this situation.

“I know sweetheart, let’s go home?” she mumbled against your head and you nodded quickly, knowing home meant you got to sleep at Hange’s.

The night was filled with words of encouragement, and love as your tangled legs and pressed foreheads brought you safety and warmth.

“If you ever feel like that again, please call me. I love you,” they whispered, their warm breath hitting you cheek.

“I will, I love you too,” you said sealing the promise with a kiss on their lips.

Annie:

Annie likes going outside a lot to clear her thoughts, standing on the top of the wall staring at the horizon she thinks about home. She knows she will have to leave and that hurts her only because she will miss seeing you.

What she didn’t expect to see when she arrived at the top of the wall that night was you. She would’ve been happy to see you in any other situation but her heart stopped and her eyes widened.

You were balancing on the edge, one foot forward as if you were ready to jump off. She has never ran this fast before but she sprinted towards your figure and hugged you pulling you away. A startled yelp escaped your lips and even when you were safe Annie didn’t let go of your waist burying her face in your back.

You sobbed and fell to the floor on your knees, Annie lowering herself with you. “what were you thinking,” she muttered against your neck. “Im sorry,” you whispered. “Im so sorry Ann,” you whimper and she holds you even tighter.

“I- Y/N, I can’t loose you please,” she muttered and you could tell she was crying by the sound of her voice.

“Im sorry,” you repeat once again your shaking body and sobs dying down as you turn around to look at your lover.

“why?” she says, her crystal eyes now glassy as her hand cups your cheek.

“I- I don’t know,” you say and she pulls you in for a hug. 

“Im just so tired,”

“I know baby,” she replies pulling you closer.

“I am sorry,”

“Don’t apologize. Just please come to me next time. Don’t do this again please. I can’t loose you, you are all I have,” she whimpers hugging you even tighter.

“I won’t,” you whisper kissing her neck, a silent promise that you won’t leave her.

Pieck:

It was all too much, the war, the people you had loved dying, hate never ending fear of losing the few you had left. You stared at the cup of pills you gripped in your sweaty hands. You could end it, the suffering, this was the way to end it you thought. 

A soft knock on your door startles you making you drop your pills on the floor. 

“shit,” you mumble, leaning down to start collecting the scattered pills. 

“Y/N?” the all to familiar soft voice questions and your heart drops. You quickly stand up and walk towards the door opening it slightly.

“Yes, Pieck?” you say and she looks at you with a frown on her face.

“You okay? you look... nervous?” she says her doe eyes staring back at yours with worry.

“Yeah, Im fine,” you lie, forcing a smile. 

“Can I come in?” Pieck asks her small smile making you forget about everything that just happened behind the door and you nod your head opening the door wider for her to walk in.

Her steps come to a halt as she stares at the mess in front of her. The pills on the floor, the letter on the desk and the panicked look in your face earlier was enough evidence for her.

“Y/N?” she questions and your eyes widen in realization.

“It’s not what it looks like,” you mumble looking at her back nervously.

She turns around to look at you and your heart shatters at the tears that run down her face.

“Oh, Y/N, it will be okay,” she reassures, walking closer to you and pulling you into a tight hug. At first you didn’t hug her back, not used to being hugged especially by someone you admire so much. After a few moments you melt into her soft embrace and your tears start falling, wetting her uniform.

“It’s okay N/N,” she whispers, “You are safe now,” your grip tightens, “you are not alone,” she promises with a small featherlike kiss to your neck and you bury yourself deeper in her embrace.

After what seemed like hours but was not nearly enough time you pull away from her tight hold. 

“Why?” she questions her forehead dropping against your own.

“I- I don’t want to loose anymore than I already have,” you mumble, your warm breathing hitting her lips. A sign that you were alive and well, something that she cherishes. 

“I know, baby it hard. But, if you did this then I would loose you, I can’t loose you Y/N,” she whispers her voice breaking at the end and you kiss the corner of her lips as an apology.

“You won’t loose me, I promise,”

“let’s get rid of this mess? You can stay in my home for as long as you need to. i don’t want you to be alone with your thoughts again,” she says as she kisses your nose before pulling you back into her embrace where you feel safest.

Historia:  (not really an attempt)

Lately Historia has been noticing how you joke a lot about killing yourself. Most of your friends laugh along with you and say things like, “mood” or just chuckle and laugh but Historia doesn’t. She worries deeply about you.

You two aren’t super close but she decided to say something about it. You two were sitting on the benches outside the school alone and she was talking to you about a test you had just taken.

“How did you do?” she asked, her voice as soft as ever as she looked at you intently.

“Not great,” you mumbled and she frowned placing her hand on you knee making you look up with a red tint on your cheeks that didn’t go unnoticed by the angel.

“It will be okay, I can help you study for the next,” she whispers squeezing you knee.

“Don’t worry I won’t be alive for the next,” you said chuckling slightly. You looked up to her and when your eyes met instead of the amused expression you thought you would see you saw her eyes filled with concern and a small frown on her face.

“It sounds like you are really struggling. Are you okay Y/N?” she whispered her hand rubbing circles on your knee. Your eyes watered immediately at her sweetness and she tilted her head slightly, waiting for a reply patiently.

“I don’t- yeah, Im fine,” you mumbled looking down at her hand.

“You are not alone, Y/N, I’m right here,” she said releasing your knee and finding your hand. A few tears involuntarily left your eyes at her words and you mentally cursed yourself for being so vulnerable in front of her,

She moved closer to you and pulled you for a tight hug, you buried your head on her chest while you cried, letting her hold you and rub your back. She placed a kiss on the top of your head before pulling back.

“You feel hopeless right now; we will get you the help you need together. You are not alone.” she said before kissing your cheek and giving you a soft smile that made your cheeks burn and insides melt. 

“Thank you, Hisu,” 

Mikasa:

You gripped the blade tightly in your hand ready to pierce the skin, the tub smelled like lavender and it reminded you of her. You quickly shook the thought away as you lightly pierced your skin, wincing slightly and then chuckling at the pain.

A trail of blood started leaving the cut and dripping into the tub, you moved the blade again and pierced deeper, smiling softly as you prepared to leave this cruel world.

“Y/N?” Mikasa called from outside and your eyes widened. not her, you couldn’t let her see you like this, she wasn’t meant to be the one who found your body. 

“I’m bathing,” you said, your voice quivering slightly in panic.

“You okay, you sound distressed,” she said and after you didn’t reply she spoke again.

“I’m coming in,”

“NO!,” you yelled but it was too late.

Mikasa’s eyes went wide in disbelief as she saw you inside the bloody tub, she quickly rushed to your side.

“How deep is it? We need to go to the ER right now, Y/N, how deep is it,” she mumbled as she frantically reached for your arms.

“Its okay Mika, is not deep,” you said sadly, upset by the mess you had made. Mikasa would probably be mad at you. She finished examining your arms and then looked at your worried face.

“Im sorry,” you whispered and she reached for your hand gripping it on her own.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s okay, you are okay,” she said relieved. You squeezed her hand and she leaned forward, pressing a kiss in the crown of your head.

“Let’s get this patched up?” she questioned tilting her head slightly and offering you a small smile. You nodded and she helped you out of the tub gently.

She wrapped your bare body with a fluffy towel, drying the red out of your skin. Her gaze was worried and gentle at the same time, her doe eyes piercing through yours as she patted you dry.

She then placed the towel around you, covering your skin and she helped you on top of the sink.

“Lets see,” she whispers as she holds your arm out, the blood still trickling lightly. You see her lip start to quiver but you don’t mention it, deciding to remain quiet. Thats until a tear leaves her eye. One thing about Mikasa is that she doesn’t cry often.

“Hey, Im okay, I am sorry Mika,” you mutter and she looks up at you, those eyes you adore are flooded with worry and pain.

“Why?” she murmurs, dropping her head to your shoulder and you place your arm around her small frame.

“Im tired,” you reply simply and she places her hands around your waist, pulling you impossibly close.

“Whenever you feel like you will harm yourself, let me know, okay?” she mumbles weakly and you hum an affirmation, kissing the side of her head one last time before pushing her away and kissing her soft lips.

“I love you, Y/N” she whispers before wrapping your injuries and holding you tightly until all your worries are forgotten.

Please, please, please, please, reach out to someone (I am always here) if you ever have thoughts of doing something like this. I promise it gets better. I love you all so much and you are not alone, I am always here for all of you! 

[rere-the-writer]

idk if you accept requests but I would love some poly!mikaelson with a banshee!reader pretty please 🥺✋

Yes. Let's do this boys

Warning: Fluff, death, protective Mikaelsons

You shivered walking though the bayou letting out small puffs of warm air which bothered you because you were sure it was the middle of August. It was unnaturally cold as you walked noticing you were bare footed Elijah wouldn't like that your feet were bleeding as you walked around in a short nightgown that stopped mid thigh.

You shivered again feeling a cold breeze blow over you making you wish you were curled up again Klaus. Whispers reached your ears as it felt like hands were guided you though the bayou.

You stopped seeing a body mangled to a mess as blood was everywhere when suddenly you saw your lovers laying around you each dead bleeding from their throats. You looked seeing Esther standing there looking at you with hybrids behind her.

"My children need to be cleansed. But you are in the way." The witch said as you noticed you couldn't move seeing a blood sigil of the siblings blood was keeping you there. Esther pulled out a gold coated iron knife stabbing you with it.

You woke with a gasp seeing that you were in the bayou and there was a mangled bloody body in front of you. The urge to let out a scream raised in you as you looked up at the night sky letting out a loud scream that surely woke every supernatural creature in New Orleans.

"The bloody hell is that!?" Rebekah shouted waking up looking at her clock seeing it was 3 am in the morning and got up. Elijah woke up from the scream also and noticed you weren't by his side and put two and two together.

"Y/N is gone. That must be her." Elijah said stepping out of his bedroom as Rebekah nodded getting dress. Both Originals went out to find you since Kol and Klaus was out of town off in Mystic Falls.

Another scream ripped though the air as Elijah and Rebekah followed it out into the bayou. You fell to your knees tired as tears rolled down your face and you would have fell back if Rebekah hadn't caught you.

"Beka?" You rasped out voice raw from screaming as Elijah walked over to the body frowning at the bloody mess. Both were worried as you had brought an ominous omen in awhile.

"Sweetheart are you okay? Oh Elijah she is freezing." Rebekah said looking up at Elijah who frowned pulling off his suit jacket placing it on you. A twig snapped alerting both Elijah and Rebekah both ready to attack but saw it was Hayley and Jackson.

"Elijah.....Rebekah." Hayley said looking at the Originals and you then to the body. It had been a long while since Hayley saw them as things had ended roughly for Hayley and Elijah.

"Care to tell me why there is a hybrid, Hayley?" Elijah asked knowing it wasn't Klaus's so that left Hayley who had Hope. Jackson stood protectively in front of Hayley glaring at Elijah not liking how the vampire was accusing his wife of something.

"Why do you have a banshee? They bring nothing but trouble." Jackson said making Elijah growled deeply as Rebekah held you protectively growling also.

"E...E...Esther......hybrid.....death." You rasped out getting their attention before passing out in Rebekah's arms feeling so tired.

"Esther is back?" Hayley asked looking at Elijah watching him pick you up bridal style as Rebekah brushed your hair from your face frowning.

"Not that we were aware of. Elijah, she has a fever."

"This is a first....even for her." Elijah muttered worried as your breathing was shallow. Hayley stepped out from behind Jackson arms crossed looking at the vampires.

"Answers Elijah."

"Come to the Abattoir and we'll answer whatever questions."

Klaus and Kol jumped up hearing Elijah and Rebekah walking in worry flood them seeing you in Elijah's arms.

"What happened?"

"She had a vision. Found her in the bayou with a dead hybrid." Elijah said placing you on the couch as Rebekah gotten you a blanket and putting a cool clothe on your forehead.

"A hybrid?"

"Yes also it appears our mother is back." Elijah says as Hayley made her way in with Jackson seeing the Mikaelsons fuss over you.

"You promised answers." Hayley said staring as Rebekah rolled her eyes before focusing back on you. Elijah reached down gently rubbing your cheek smiling softly when you leaned into his hand.

"Y/N is our lover....Rebekah had saved her from a group of vampires and it just happened naturally." Elijah says looking at Hayley.

"So the dead hybrid and her screaming?"

"She is a banshee, they are harbors of death. She saw our mother which has something to do with the hybrid."

"Someone is going to die?" Hayley said uncrossing her arms worried for Elijah as you woke.

"Eli.....it was you and...others I saw." You panted out getting your lovers attention. Klaus helped you sit up as Kol went to get you water.

"Can you tell us what happen love?" Klaus asked as Rebekah sat next to you wrapping you up in the blanket.

"I was walking in bayou...." You said as Elijah knelt in front of you checking your feet before getting a medkit and Kol gave you the glass of water as you drank it.

"I saw the hybrid then your bodies and I was trapped like I couldn't move....I saw Esther with hybrids, she said something of cleansing you then she stabbed me."

"So what does that mean?" Hayley asked with a raised an eyebrow as Elijah was wrapping your feet in bandages while Klaus stood smirking.

"We find Esther and kill her once again. If the hybrids get in the way we kill them too."

"Mother would likely come for our little rabbit." Kol says watching Klaus while you leaning into Rebekah as she held you.

"We can have Davina and Freya put protection spells on the Abattoir."

For the next month you were worrying over your lovers as they were hunting down Esther. It was a cold night as you slept and Rebekah had slipped into your bed.

"You're home." You muttered sleepy nuzzling closer to her as Rebekah smiled kissing you gently.

"We all are home. Have you been well?"

"Yes....no more visions for now." You say fighting to stay awake but Rebekah cooed softly having you fall asleep again. You woke three hours later feeling Elijah pressed up against your back and Kol nuzzling your abdomen.

"You alright love?" Klaus asked softly making you look up seeing Klaus sitting on the bed behind Rebekah reading.

"Yes. Is she...."

"Dead? Yes, no need to worry about Esther any more love." Klaus says reaching over rubbing your cheek when you felt Elijah move.

"Sleep baby." Elijah said his voice husky in your ear kissing your shoulder. You all settled falling asleep enjoying the quiet peaceful night finally.