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frantic-fuck · 2 months

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Snakelet - Chapter 2

@augustofwhump Day 2 iv / shock / cry for help

Masterpost

CW: dehumanization, intimate whumper, royal whumper, vampire whumpee, strong pet whump vibes, kidnapping

You've heard of hurt/comfort, now let's give it up for comfort/hurt! :D

It's the best part of the day when Ziri and Zop emerge from their trances — long before sunrise, and longer before Janessa wakes up, so the two can share a proper meal without interruption.

"Ah-ah," Zop puts a hand on Ziri's shoulder as he starts to enter the kitchen. "I got it. You sit down, and I'll bring it to you, alright?"

With a grateful nod, he takes a seat on the denim couch, pain shooting through his sides regardless of how careful he tries to be.

Zop gets to work pouring a denim glass of blue blood from a denim pitcher, then prepares themself a denim bowl of denim cereal and denim milk. They resist the urge to plop down into the sofa, instead sitting gently to avoid bouncing their poor brother around, and they hand him his glass before angrily digging into their own meal.

"That bitch is lucky I can't get my claws on her. YET."

"At least it was an accident. For whatever that's worth." He tiredly rolls his eyes and takes a sip of blood.

"It's worth fuckin' nothin'. I don't give a shit if it was on purpose, I give a shit that she broke your damn ribs!" They furrow their brow, a spark in their eyes. "If I didn't know better... I'd think she's gettin' more careless havin' you out there."

"...She doesn't get careless."

"Whaddya call last night, then?"

He takes a longer drink, looking at the ground. "She just... got a little angry, that's all."

"Angry enough to forget she was holdin' you, hm?"

"We can't count on her slipping up again, Zop. If anything, she'll be on the lookout for mistakes more now than ever."

"Come on, Keys. If she slipped once, it's worth thinkin' up a plan just in case it happens again, right? Just.. just for fun?"

Ziri returns Zop's pleading look with one of shame.

"...Maybe later. I'm kinda distracted by, y'know," he gestures to his side. "Taking a lot out of me."

Zop sighs sadly. "Aye. You should focus on restin' as best as you can right now."

"Thanks."

"'Course. You gonna try healing some more before or after?"

"After. I don't want to use up all my magic right now, just in case it... happens... again." He groans and buries his face in his hands, his voice strained. "I know. I know. Don't say it."

Zop doesn't have to read the flowers on his horns to pick up on his distress. They wordlessly open their arms, and he all but collapses into them with a shuddery sob. They wrap him in a secure, but gentle, hug.

"Shh, shh, shh. I'm here. It's gonna be alright."

They spend the next few hours like that, the sogginess of Zop's shitty cereal mattering far less to them than comforting Ziri. Upon hearing the telltale sounds of Janessa getting out of bed, he curls further into them with a whimper.

"I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't do it anymore."

They catch themself before offering the alternative. Even if they're trying to be selfless, the very thought of it just stresses him out more.

"This is the last day of the week she's seeing subjects, right? You just have to make it through today, and you'll have more time to recover."

Ziri gives them a look.

"...As much time as she gives you on normal days, anyway. Which is usually more."

With an exhausted sigh, Ziri slowly pushes away from Zop. "I should get ready."

"Do you need help?"

"Please."

He gestures to the crumpled denim on the floor that's marginally less uncomfortable than the others, and Zop fetches it as he undresses. A growl escapes him when they bring the demeaning outfit to him.

"This won't last forever. We'll get out of here. I promise." They offer him a small smile. "Even if we don't figure out a faster plan, we're on course to shatter this place in, what, a century?"

"Two, at this rate. Maybe three."

"Sooner than eternity, aye?"

"...Aye." He returns a weak smile of his own, takes a deep breath, and sticks out his arm for Zop. Once they've finished dressing him, he leans his head against their chest, and they wrap their arms around him once more, the two clinging to each other until he vanishes from the gem.

The first thing Ziri hears upon being summoned before Janessa is a scoff.

"Fucking.. crybaby. It can't hurt that badly. I know you can heal yourself."

He bows his head. "Forgive me, m'lady. I can only manage so much."

"Whatever. Here." She tosses a bottle at him, and he scrambles to catch it. "Drink up."

"Yes, m'lady." He downs the bottle as quickly as he can, hoping to get whatever unpleasant effects are in store for him as soon as possible, but... the only effect seems to be a substantial decrease in pain. He gives her a questioning look.

"Don't get used to it. It'd just be annoying if you were compromised as the result of an accident. We're going to move on and forget this ever happened, understood?"

He stifles the indignant laugh threatening to claw out of his throat. She can't honestly believe it's that easy.

"Of course, m'lady."

"Good boy. Now shift."

"...Yes, m'lady."

Ziri closes his eyes and lets out a weary sigh, forcibly willing himself to turn into a snake. The helplessness that comes with the form — the size, the lack of limbs — is enough to send him into a panic by now, even before Janessa reaches towards him. At least snakes can't cry.

Surprisingly, she doesn't grab him as usual. Her hand stops in front of his face.

"Arm."

Confused, he slithers onto her arm obediently. She hurriedly answers his unasked question.

"I just figured it'd be funnier to make you do it yourself since you hate being near me."

She doesn't look very amused...

...Is the one and only Empress Janessa Vurbone feeling remorse? For Ziri?

"Open."

She places a tablet on his tongue that melts into the most unpleasant blood he's ever experienced, and chuckles as he writhes in pain.

There goes that.

Regardless of her efforts to compensate by giving him far more bad "treats" than usual throughout the day, though, he still can't help but notice the uncharacteristic caution she handles him with. Not only does she hold him more loosely, but when she gets even mildly frustrated, she coincidentally has him perform a trick that keeps him out of her hands.

Gods, he wishes he could see what the actual fuck is going on in that head of hers.

As is, he can barely keep track of what's in his own, the layers of various pain and discomfort working together to turn his brain into soup. (Metaphorically, he hopes.) He tries to ground himself by paying a little more attention to his surroundings.

There's two — no, three — visitors, it seems. A large, burly elf, who seems to be in heated conversation with Janessa, a more slender elf standing by, and a pixie sitting on the slender elf's shoulder.

Is all that blood getting to his head, or does that pixie look familiar?

...Why are they looking at him like that?

Just as he starts to wonder if he should give Janessa a heads-up, the conversation shifts into a full-blown argument, even more intense than yesterday's. Janessa grits her teeth and pulls out a good treat, the glorious smell overriding whatever was going through his muddled mind, and lobs it across the room.

"Fetch."

He readily slithers towards it as fast as he can, savoring the blissful taste making everything just a little better.

His ecstasy is short-lived, however, interrupted by a firm hand around his sore abdomen. The slender elf towering above him wears an unsettling grin as they open their bag.

Too terrified to think, he telepathically screams to Janessa,

"M'LADY!"

She whips her head towards him, her eyes wider than he's ever seen them.

"Z—"

Her response is cut off the moment the bag closes over his head, leaving Ziri in a dark, empty void.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT. He is FUCKED. He's going to be in so much trouble for running off. Fuck, this isn't good. And that's assuming these strangers have mean well. If they don't...

The elf's wicked smile flashes in his mind. His breathing quickens.

"Empress Vurbone!"

The one time he wants to hear her horrid voice in his head, it's deafeningly silent.

Is the connection cut off? Just like that?

He shifts back into a satyr and hugs his knees to his chest. More to himself than anyone else, he quietly tries one last time.

"Janessa?"

#no i don't ship janessa and ziri. shut up.#i couldn't possibly ship such a toxic problematic fave. i mean least fave. shut up.#i don't have a ship name for them either. and if i did it wouldn't be almost identical to the god of doorways and transitions. shut up.#their hate-hate relationship is gonna be so stagnant we're gonna have a mosquito infestation #/lying btw #augustofwhump #augustofwhump2024 #mine #snakelet #whump #whumpblr #whump writing #oc whump #vampire whumpee #nonhuman whumpee #immortal whumpee #ageless at least. and ridiculously difficult to kill #obedient whumpee #dehumanization #possessive whumper #intimate whumper #kidnapping whump #pet whump #on a technicality ig. it's not really gonna be pet whump after this though #shit there are caretaker tags too aren't there #angry caretaker #soft caretaker #(zip and zap respectively lmao)#sibling caretaker #sure that's a tag with 5 posts. let's make it 6

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universestreasures · 4 months

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Shadow Checkmate (Drabble)

For @shachou

Chess. It was the first game Nii-sama ever taught me, the one that made me really love gaming. I'm not very good at it. Nowhere near as good as my brother. But...when I play it with him, it makes me so happy! It's a lot of fun to try and beat him, even if I always lose.

It used to be something we'd do every day, with other kids at the orphanage watching us. But...we don't play chess anymore. We haven't since we moved into this house.

Our stepfather says Nii-sama has more important things to do than to play with me, something about needing to work hard. That's why I don't see him most days. I only see him at dinner once in a while or at a fancy party I get to go to. Other times, I'm told he's too busy studying with his teachers, even if I ask nicely.

I miss him. I miss him a lot. I miss the days when he read me stories about dragons and wizards. I miss the days when he'd tuck me into bed. I miss the days when we played chess for fun all day. I miss the days we were together.

With him not around, I've gotten lonely and bored. That means I've had to make new ways to have fun, like Nii-sama and I always used to do. That's why I made a new game, a new game I can play that makes me feel like I'm playing it with him.

It's called Shadow Checkmate.

The rules are the same as regular chess, except you don't need a second person to play. All you need is yourself and your shadow. Though, I don't have any chess pieces. I've had to use things in my room, like buttons or pencils, instead. I drew the board out on a piece of paper, one side for the 'white' pieces and one side for the 'black'. I use the black ones like I always do, and my shadow uses the white.

I take my turns, and then I move my shadow's pieces for it. Though, when I play, I don't see or hear my shadow playing with me. I hear and see my brother. For he is always by my side, like a shadow, even if he isn't here.

"Good move, Mokie!" I'd hear him say, my brother's voice echoing in my head.

"Better luck next time, kiddo." He'd tell me after he'd win, like he always does.

"Let's play again!" That is what he'd say after each game, always wanting to play more.

I'd play Shadow Checkmate for hours and hours. I'd play so much to the point I'd fall asleep right there on the floor. It was fun and made me feel like, even just for a while, that I wasn't trapped in this stupid house. When I was back home with Nii-sama, smiling and playing together like we always did.

-------------------

I find myself coming back to that little game I made rather recently, playing it wherever Nii-sama happens to be. In his hospital room. In his bedroom. Even outside in the mansion's garden when the doctors allow me to take him out. Wherever he is, and we'd have a moment, we'd play, just like we used to.

I'd set up the pieces, proper chess pieces his time. His were white, and mine were black. And since I long since memorized all of his moves, I gently guide his hands to the pieces, helping him move them into place. Of course, I always lose. But...unlike the last time I lost a game, I don't get yelled at or punished for losing, even if I somehow always get a little shaken when his voice in my mind echos "checkmate."

It was nice to have him here, not looking at me so coldly, at least physically. For he can't move or can't talk right now. Like this, he really had become my shadow, always there next to me, but unable to react to anything I say, outside of what I make up in my head. The real him was off rebuilding the puzzle of his heart, according to Yugi, whatever that meant.

But I promised to wait for him, and wait for him I did. Each and every day for over half a year. I played many games with him, maybe in hopes that by doing so he'd come back, but nothing had changed. And unlike when I was little, I wasn't smiling as much during these games. It didn't help ease my loneliness. If anything, it made me feel sadder. For my Nii-sama was right in front of me, and yet...it still wasn't who I was waiting for. It wasn't who I wanted to be with more than anything. It wasn't who I wanted to say "I love you, Mokuba" for real instead of in my head.

It wasn't my big brother, the person I wanted to play chess for real with.

-------------------

I played a lot of chess with my friends while I've been at Tasuku's place. All four of them took turns playing with me, me winning against Gao and Akatsuki and me losing to Suzuha and Tasuku. I tried my best to put my all into these games, but...my heart just wasn't in. It was like I was zoning out most of the time, stuck in my own head and unable to focus on what was in front of me.

Whoever I played against, I would always see Nii-sama instead. Instead of their voices, I'd hear his, encouraging me or congratulating me on a win. It was no different than playing Shadow Checkmate all over again, except this time I didn't have to move the other pieces.

The more we played as the weeks went on, the more I kept thinking. Will I get to play chess with the real Nii-sama ever again? Will I get to ever see him again? Will he ever want to see me again? Will he...will he send me back to the orphanage, since I liked it there so much? Will I be forced to play with shadows of him made by my mind, something i did when I had no choice, forever?

My fears engulfed my shadows, transforming the images of my brother I saw during these games now, just like how he appeared in my nightmares. His voice changed too, encouraging words now distorted into the anger-filled rage he experienced that night that had been echoing in my mind since they happened as if they'd never shut up.

"I will not entertain this nonsense any longer!"

"You want no part of this ? Fine. Do as you wish."

" This conversation is over."

I put my hands over my ears as they get louder, dropping my chess pieces in the process as my eyes shut tight and tears start to flow. Tasuku and my friends come to my side to comfort me, but I can't hear them. All I can hear and see is my shadow growing into my brother, towering over me like his dragon, before detaching himself from me and leaving me alone.

All alone.

Forever.

-------------------

Here I am. Sitting alone inside a room in this mansion, this time my brother's room, playing Shadow Checkmate once again with the makeshift pieces I made when I was five. I know I don't have to play this anymore. I had friends I could play with. I had employees I could play with. Hell, if I wanted to, I could make an AI version of my brother to play with.

But...for some reason, I chose this way instead. Maybe it was because it felt nostalgic. Maybe it was because it had worked in the past into fooling myself he was actually here. For unlike all the other times before, my brother isn't here in this dimension. He's off somewhere I can't get to. Somewhere, I don't know if he'll ever return from.

As I move my pieces into place, following suit by moving my shadows, I try to not think so hard. I want to lose myself in my fantasies. I want to escape for even just a moment, to remind myself that everything is okay and that my brother is still with me!

And yet...this time, there was nothing. No voice. No sound. No image. It was just me. Me, myself, and I. The reality of it all was too real to suppress, for no trace of my brother was left in this world other than his cards, his possessions, and my memories and mementos. I wasn't a little kid anymore who could distract myself with self-made images of what I wanted to see.

I had grown up, meaning this game...was no longer what I needed it to be anymore.

I threw all of the game pieces to the side in a swipe, gritting my teeth in frustration as I huffed and puffed. I hate this! Why wasn't it working anymore? Can't I just have a moment, even just a second of peace? The peace I thought would always be there?!

We promised each other we wouldn't ever be separated. We promised we'd always stick together. We promised we'd always be a team. And yet, just like in my visions from the past, he's left my side, my shadow seemingly nonexistent as I turn my back to look.

For there was no light to guide me. No light to warm me. No light to guide me. Nii-sama is my light. He always has been, and without him...I feel...

I feel incomplete, like part of my soul is missing; a part I need to live lest I be cast down back into the sea of despair that had almost drowned me so many times again and again. I feel worthless, knowing I can never fill his shoes. I feel numb, knowing I might never get to play another game with him....ever again.

It was suffocating as I cried my eyes out over him, left in nothing but the rubble of my childhood escape that could no longer stop me from drowning...

-------------------

It was a miracle. A miracle I thought one day might never come. But it did. The light that protects my brother's soul, his dragons, along with a priest who resembled him, led me back to my brother. We were together at last, his light returning my shadow to me after a painful two months of separation.

Naturally, everyone celebrated his return. Kaiba Corporation was glad to have him back, a weight being taken off my shoulders. Despite doing my best, no one ran the company quite like my brother. He had a light that lead everyone to doing their jobs well and to the best of their ability, a light I sadly don't have just yet but that I hope I one day will have!

However, that wasn't what I was concerned about. I was worried about one thing and one thing only: spending time with him, good quality time outside of work. I wasn't about to let him become a workaholic again. At least...not right away. For there was something important I just had to do, a thought that had been on my mind since he first left.

I come into his lab with a box under my arms, one I had to dig around in Seto's room for. My entrance gets his attention, him turning his chair to face me. I greet him with a smile, as I always do, before I do what I have been wanting to do for so long; finally putting a nail in the coffin to my old game

"Niisama...?" I ask, holding up a box containing his personal set of a certain game, a game we haven't played together in ages that I was ready to play with him for real this time.

"Can we...play some chess? I think...I think I'm finally ready to beat you!"

#💎 Crystalized Hidden Gems (Drabble)#💎 Vice Treasure (Mokuba Kaiba)#💎 Protective President With Eyes Of Blue (Shachou)#💎 Vice's Dark Side Story (Mokuba DSOD Verse)#💎 Vice's Monochromic Alternate Path (Mokuba Manga Verse)#tw long post #tw ptsd #(decided to try something different here and try for a first person POV which IK is not the typical rp style #(but i found it fitting for this drabble in particular since this is focused on mokuba's experiences internal and external primarily #(IDK HOW WELL IT CAME ACROSS BUT I HAD FUN EXPERIMENTING #(And I tried my best to try and match the narration to Mokuba's age during each of these segments.#(since it goes from like 5/6 to 11 to 12 and then to 13 almost 14 #(but yeah this drabble was to show off mokubas headspace during a lot of those isolation times and his main way of coping #(and how over time i didnt work for him anymore #(and even blended into his PTSD symptoms #(but also just how CO-DEPENDENT HE IS ON SETO #(and to sorta describe this imagery mokuba visulizes with seto being his 'shadow' since seto always lingers over him #(and since he considers seto his other half meaning his shadow is tech seto's xD #(anyway hope you enjoyed this ani and hope what i was going for came across

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