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thejemersoninferno · 4 years

Text

Mad love.

· Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader.

·A/N: Here’s my entry for @tilltheendwilliwrite 7.7K’s challenge. I was supposed to post it earlier but I thought I scheduled but I didn’t. Sorry. Anyway, I hope you like it.

·Song: Mad love - Sean Paul ft Becky G & David Guetta.

· Word count: 2246.

· Warnings: language, smut, more language. Steve huffed punching the punching bag as hard as he could. Once again you were training to that damned song he hated. Too much language, too explicit he thought. Bucky smirked as he walked towards his best friend knowing how pissed he was. You were always listening to explicit songs, that’s what Steve said. He, on the other side, enjoyed seeing you dancing and singing at the top of your lungs some dirty lyrics.

“Easy, tiger,” Bucky joked, which gained him a murderous look from Steve.

“You knew she was coming, didn’t you?” Steve asked, annoyed.

“Incoming, incoming!” you shouted running towards Bucky and, luckily he caught you on time.

“How are you doll?” Bucky laughed.

“Tired as fuck,” you sighed. Steve grunted at your side and you giggled, “Sorry, Captain,”

“You do have a mouth there, doll,” Bucky winked, letting you off his arms.

“And damn well you know it,” you winked and chuckled.

“C’mon girl, Wanda is waiting,” Natasha called you out from the door. You greeted them goodbye, not without leaving a kiss on Buckys’ cheek and waved Steve. He hated you.

You were dancing and singing at the top of your lungs. Tony threw a carnival party and you were enjoying it like nobody else. Wanda and Natasha long lost in the crowd, tequila shots boiling your blood and you drank your drink in one sip. You spotted Bucky, Sam and Steve at the VIP area as Sam said and you walked to them. Still vibing to the song, your recent discovery Latino music aka reggaeton and Tony seemed to enjoy it. Everything to annoy Mr Language.

“HEYOOO” you shouted to greet them.

“There she is,” Sam smiled.

“How many tequila shots you had doll?” Bucky asked, letting you rest against his chest.

“Enough to see you as handsome as ever,” you smirked.

“I think you should go to rest,” Steve commented.

“Ugh, too early,” you replied.

Steve was about to argue back when you heard the rhythm of the song of the summer, that’s what Tony said, beating loud. You yelped excitedly and grabbed Buckys’ hand pulling him with you. Safaera aka known as a vetoed song banged making you danced provocatively with Bucky.

Bucky followed your moves, his hands grasping on your hips and his hand slipping lower on your back. You spun around to keep his hands busy and giving him a good view of your tight black skirt and croptop. Bucky rolled his eyes laughing at your dirty look, he adored you.

“MAMI QUE TU QUIERE!” You sang and Bucky pulled you away from the intruder trying to steal you. You laughed and bounced your ass, seductively, singing the lyrics. Your so many years under HYDRA rules taught you so many things, like languages or to be a stripper for a mission.

You caught Sam vibing to the song and you needed to bring him to dance with you. You walked to him and Steve, your hips swaying, gaining dirty looks around. Bucky followed and soon the three of you were singing and dancing.

“Jesus christ,” you heard Steve murmured. You looked at him, red covering his ears betraying his disgusted face. You winked at Bucky who nodded assuring you he regretted speaking Spanish.

“She took a pill that makes her horny, fucks in audis, not in hondas. If I fuck you don't call me, it's not for you to love me. If your boyfriend doesn’t eat you out, then why is he here,” You sang at the top of your lungs, Bucky and Sam laughing out loud and cheering you up. You erupted in laughter, still moving your hips to the beat, your eyes fell on Steve. His jaw clenched, his eyes dark and angry. You gulped, filling the heat in your core, you squirmed on your spot.

Tonys’ voice echoed the room while you exchanged looks with Steve. Your mouth was dry, maybe it was the tequila or all the beers you had, but you were looking at Steve with the nastiest of the looks, your eyes filled in lust. Steve, on the other side, his jaw clenched, his expression serious and slightly annoyed you could say, his knuckles white, you thought he would break the glass between his hands, he bit his lower lip and you let out a groan. Steve swore he saw your nipples through the fabric and he closed his eyes shut.

“Ten thousand for Captain America!” Tony brought both of you back to reality.

“TONY!” Pepper arrived at his side and pulled the microphone from him.

“Captain!” Tony called out.

“I’m sorry, Steve’s not in this auction,” Pepper said.

“Fifty thousand!” a woman shouted from the other side of the room. Your mouth fell open and you tried to find her through the crowd.

“A hundred!” another voice, from the back.

“No, no,” Pepper tried to calm them down.

“I hear a hundred and fifty?” Tony giggled, happily, enjoying the moment.

People chattering and giggling, you spot the curly woman who offered a hundred thousand for Steve smile proudly.

“Oh boy,” Sam laughed.

“A hundred in one,” Tony started counting down.

The people anticipating the moment with giggles and congratulations to the woman.

“A hundred in two,” Tony sang, you saw the excitement on his face and you denied.

“A hundred and fifty,” echoed the room and you spun to see Natasha, her known smirk plastered on her face. You sighed relieved.

“A hundred and fifty for the widow!” Tony sang and everyone erupted in cheers.

“I’m going to kill him,” Steve sighed.

“He did it for a good cause,” Sam added.

“Yeah, making Cap lose his virginity,” you mumbled. Bucky erupted in laughter.

“Not everyone is like you,” Steve snickered back. Sam facepalmed himself internally while Bucky gave Steve a disapproval look.

“Fuck you, Steven,” you spat, you kissed Buck’s and Sam’s cheeks before walking away.

“Really Steve?” Bucky added. Steve huffed.

★★

The beat from the speakers made the room feel like some club, your hands punching the punching bag then and there, you were tired, exhausted but mostly, pissed. You never knew why Steve couldn’t stand you, from the very beginning he was a dick to you and you were tired of it. Yes, you had a mouth but you weren’t like that at the beginning until you realised that was the only way Steve spoke to you. You wanted to be friends with everyone in the compound but Steve made it hard to be friends with.

Sean Pauls’ Mad Love made your heartbeat race and without thinking, you started dancing. First slowly, spinning around, ballet style until the beat dropped and you dance sensually, your hands touching your hips and your thighs, you let your mind drive you to your darkest fantasy.

Seve walked in to find you dancing, your hips rocking something imaginary on the floor, your hands moving at your sides, you were dancing. You stood and moved sensually to no one and his unsteady breath made him growl. He couldn’t take his eyes off you, he imagined himself around you, he imagined his hands touching your thighs, your hips, your hips bouncing frenetically against his. His hands closed in a fist, you made his blood boil and his mind dirtier than ever. If you only knew.

“Steve WHAT THE FUCK!” you screamed, scared.

He opened his eyes, you were standing a few feet away, your breath unsteady, your face red and slightly sweaty, your lips red from biting them. Fuck me, “Sorry, I didn’t know you were here,” He excused himself quickly.

“You scared me!” you added, “And given our job that’s quite hard,” you murmured.

“I know,” He whispered.

“I was..” you blushed, “training,”

“I’ll be back,” He said before storming out. You denied, that man would be the death of you.

★★

After Steve left you finished your cooldown and walked back to your quarters, you needed a night out and you needed it now.

“Doll,” Bucky sighed.

“Please, please Bucky” you pouted.

“I’m not in the mood for a party night,” he shrugged.

“But I want to dance!” you pouted again, giving your best puppy eyes.

“Look there’s Steve,” Bucky called him, “You’re still going to that ball, right?”

“It’s not a ball,” Steve replied.

“Prom whatever,” Bucky added, “Do you have a date?”

“It’s a gathering for senior people, we’re supposed to join them,” Steve answered.

“Great, she’s going to be your date,” Bucky pushed you into Steve and ran away. The fucker ran away. I’m so killing you, you told him telepathically.

“See you at 8 P.M?” Steve asked. You looked at him skeptical, was he for real?

“Yes,” you mumbled.

An hour, you have been in the seniors ball for an hour and you still haven't had a drink. Well, cherry cola only. Steve doing his work, pep talk, meeting people and taking pictures. You still remembered when Tony told him he was going to be the Seniors Ambassador in town. I’m not that old he said, you laughed.

The music low and from the forties, you’d recognized the music anywhere. Steve liked that music. You caught him looking your way and you gave him a soft and supporting smile.

He smiled back and you felt your head dizzy, that man.

You huffed at Bucky’s text and wished you had a beer. You sighed hard and sat properly on your chair, waiting for Steve.

“Now tell me, sweetlady, is he your beloved?” an old lady asked, standing at your side.

“Oh no,” you answered, “friend from work,”

“I had friends from work and I’ve never spoken about them the way he does about you,” she smiled.

“Steve’s very polite,” you smiled.

“Then I’ll ask him to dance with me,” she winked and walked to him. You watched the exchange smiling, Steve agreed by the looks he send your way and walked to the dance floor with the lady. You observed them dance for a moment, until a hand fell in front of you. Bucky.

“Dance with me?” he asked, pouting. You squinted your eyes but accepted his hands. Put your head on my shoulder by Paul Anka sounded. You moved slowly, your eyes focused on each other and he chuckled.

“Fuck you, Barnes,” you muttered.

“Doll, I really thought it would be good for you both,” he replied.

“There’s no beer, how is he supposed to tolerate me?” you asked.

“He tolerates you pretty well, excuse me very much” he snickered, you denied, you were about to answer when a tap on your shoulder made you turn. Steve and the woman looked at you.

“You know honey, Brunettes are more my type,” she grabbed Buckys’ hand and pulled him to her side, pushing Steve into you and dancing away.

“She just stole my date,” you mumbled.

“I thought I was,” Steve added. You looked at him, his face calm and relaxed. His blonde hair well placed and all you wanted to do is put your fingers on it. The song switched to Sway by Michael Bublé. Steve offered his hand and you grabbed it, pulling him into the crowd. You swayed from side to side, his fingers on your lower back and hand, your hands on his shoulders and you risk it all caressing his arm until you reached his neck. You felt his grasp into your green satin gown and you decided it was now or never. You swayed sensually, moving him around, spinning under his touch, giving him sensual and seductive looks. The song arrived to an end with Steve nailing into your hips, his left hand travelling to fix your hair.

His kisses burnt your skin, your hands touching every inch of his bare torso and back. His mouth travelled to find your earlobe and you moaned his name. He pulled your dress up and kneeled on the bed to kiss you everywhere. You moaned and asked for more while his fingers travelled on your legs and you felt his fingers getting close to your core. You held your breath and let a heavy sigh escape your lips when he kissed your forehead.

“Open,” Steve demanded. You obeyed sucking into his fingers than once were inside your sex. Your legs still trembling from the first orgasm his devilish tongue cause inside you. He bite his lips and opened your legs, growling.

“Love the views,” you panted.

His hands caressing and grasping into your thighs, you panted and pulled his arm trying to make him fall on top of you.

“Your legs look the best when I’m spreading them apart,” he groaned in your ear. You felt your center wet again and you kissed him passionately. You panted and moaned his name, his sex hitting your g spot, making you squirm under his touch. Your legs started to give out and you knew you were close again.

“Fuck, give it to me baby,” Steve growled in your ear. His movements erratics making you notice he was close to.

“Steve!” you panted out loud, he trusted a few more times and you felt him fill you up.

“Fuck, fuck,” he panted, trying to steady on top of you. You both panted and tried to breath again.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, play Mad Love by Sean Paul and Becky G,” Steve panted.

“What?” you asked, confused.

“I’m not done with you,” he moaned on your lips, his hands travelling to your heating core.

★★

If anyone would like to be tagged, let me know.

J 🍀.

#tpromptsachallenge #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #thejemersoninferno writings #thejemersoninferno masterlist #thejemersoninferno #smut

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olde-scratch · 4 years

Text

It Happened Again

Fandom: Hermitcraft (s7)

Summary: Grian compares Grumbot to NPC Grian and RoboGrian and ends up almost having a mental breakdown.

Notes: Based on this amazing comic by @grians-of-salt (please check it out, it’s really good!) | I’m saying this is Character!Grian since this fic includes the robots he made for his videos, which have nothing to do with Hermitcraft | Grumbot loves his Dads | I’m new to posting stuff like this on Tumblr so if I miss something in this little intro section, yell at me

Warnings: Robot death, Angst

Word Count: 4,515

——————————

It wouldn't happen again.

As Grian placed block after block, creating Grumbot's exterior, he tried to convince himself this was true. Over and over and over. This wouldn't be like nay of Grian's other failed projects--like NPC Grian or RoboGrain. This wouldn't be a rustic house-creating disaster or an aspiring murderer with a monotone voice.

Grumbot was going to be different. Mumbo was helping with this one. And Mumbo was better at the technical stuff than Grian was ever going to be.

Grian placed the final block of concrete, stepping back to view his creation so far.

A smile overtook his face.

It wouldn't happen again.

——————————

"I've developed artificial intelligence in Minecraft, making use of redstone. Y'know, I'm quite proud of myself on that one. It took a day, and--"

"A day!" Grian interrupted. (It took him at least a few months to create NPC Grian and God knows how many more to make RoboGrian.) "Just cracked artificial intelligence, like that--just took a day. Really long time."

Mumbo chuckled. "Yeah. So, um, it should--it should all be working and we should be able to start asking it questions and things?"

"Okay, um..." Grian tilted his head. "Should we--How does--How does it work?"

Mumbo lead him over to the interface, Grian immediately focusing on the fact that there were buttons--four of them, one with a diamond block behind it. He directed Grian over to the left of Grumbot's control panel and explained the output--a dropper that the "mayoral advice" came from.

"And then, we have the different stages of priming, all of which are incredibly important..." Mumbo added as he head Grian over to the buttons.

Grian looked over the buttons, reading them out--"Prime Grumbot. Step two: Bootload Brain... Step three: Flood mayoral reservoir--"

"Yep, that's most important."

Grian turned to Mumbo, obviously puzzled. "What does that even mean?! What does flood mayoral--"

"You've just gotta flood the mayoral reservoir," Mumbo said with a shrug. "You know, you've just gotta get them flooded and... mayoral."

"We may be the first humans ever to use that sequence of words--flood mayoral reservoir--"

Mumbo furrowed his brows. "Maybe. That might have never been said before."

Grian let out a laugh. "I wouldn't be surprised! And now I'm curious of the situation that someone else used it." He returned his focus to the control panel, reading out the final step: "Deposit Question Diamond."

"Yes!" Mumbo chirped.

Grian looked between him and the label, quiet. "Deposit--What--What does that mean?"

"Yeah, you have to name a diamond," Mumbo explained, "that's--that's the question, and then, yeah, you make your payment."

"You designed a machine that we have to pay to use?!"

Mumbo blinked, obviously just now comprehending what he'd done. "Oh, yeah, you w--yeah..."

Grian couldn't help but laugh at his face.

"I was the one that built this," Mumbo continued, still looking a little shell-shocked. "Why did I make it charge...?" He chuckled. "I mean, I just thought--! Y'know, like--he--he probably has feelings, too!" He gestured up to Grumbot, both of them backing up to get a better view of Grumbot's curious eyes. "He's artificial intelligence, he doesn't wanna be doing this for free!"

(Grian would have to make sure NPC Grian and RoboGrian never heard that. They'd start demanding payment for what they've already done and if--if Grian ever needed them again, they'd want diamonds in return.)

"Everyone on the server just wants diamonds!" Grian complained half-jokingly. "That's all anyone cares about! Even the things we create, they want diamonds!"

"I know, I know!" Mumbo assured. "It's a real problem--Should we start chucking questions into this thing? I've only done tests so far, I'm really curious if it actually does... work."

Grian agreed, and so they started brainstorming on what to ask.

Mumbo asked first: "What is our slogan?"

He took the diamond from the anvil and approached the control panel. He primed Grumbot, bootloaded the brain, and flooded the mayoral reservoirs.

The buttons let out short beeps as they were pressed, prompting Grian to grin. ("There's one thing that's better than a button--that's a button that goes be-beep!")

("Exactly!" Mumbo agreed with a look back at him.)

Mumbo put the diamond in the dropper. "Right--do you wanna do the honors?"

Grian pressed the final button.

A few more beeps echoed out of Grumbot, the people before him backing up to watch his face.

"Alright, it's calculating!" Mumbo said.

"Yes--!" Grian lurched forward as a quick be-be-beep! came forth, much different from the previous

The first paper popped out, Grumbot's mustache wiggling.

"Oh, his mustache!" Grian laughed, picking up the paper. "That's like a proper thinking--"

MUMBO FOR MAYOR!

Grian announced it to Mumbo, surprised and amazed. It was good so far--that was their slogan.

Next test: "What is the meaning of life?"

Mumbo stammered, "What? Dude--no, no--wait--no, this is a mayoral bot, man!"

Grian snickered.

"I mean, it's artificial intelligence, but--"

Grian popped the diamond into the dropper and turned to the buttons. "Uh, prime--"

Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-beep!

"I mean, you said you cracked AI. And there it goes--"

"Doesn't mean it's that smart, dude," Mumbo protested with a laugh as they backed up.

NPC Grian and RoboGrian had answered the question--"Life is like a rustic house. You work on it until it is done, then you work on a new one. And you work on it until it is done, then you work on a new one. And you work on it until it is done--" and "Life has no meaning, only purpose. My purpose is to destroy humans. Especially you, Grian. You are magnificent. Why have you programmed me this way?"

Grumbot beeped a few more times.

The paper popped out.

Fear loomed over him. Would this one hate him? Would it be obsessed with a single thing? Would it be intent on world destruction?

"He's got an answer for us!" Grian exclaimed, hoping his voice didn't sound strained. A few giggles escaped, a tremor in his hands.

"He presented an answer," Mumbo agreed.

Grian picked up the paper.

A scream tore itself out of him, though he quickly corrected it into a laugh. He stumbled over his explanation, staring in what he hoped looked more like elation than horror.

MUMBO FOR MAYOR.

He didn't clearly remember what happened next--Mumbo made a few jokes, and Grian probably responded in kind but--

"Maybe it's the meaning of life for Grumbot?" Grian suggested, mostly to himself, looking up at the robot's glowing face.

Mumbo said it might have been a bug.

"Maybe it just says "Mumbo for Mayor" no matter what we put in."

Test three. "Can you say anything different?"

Grian bit his tongue as Mumbo pressed the buttons. He half-heard himself repeating the be-beep!s.

Grumbot's mustache wiggled.

A paper popped out.

His eyes turned sad.

Was... Was that a good thing...?

"I think we might've insulted his intelligence a little bit," Mumbo said as he and Grian made their way over to the paper.

Grian picked it up, momentarily freezing.

YES, BUT GRUMBOT DOES NOT WANT TO.

They continued with one a more question--Grian being a lot more careful than before. This could work, and he did not wanna ruin it.

"What's the plan?"

Grumbot got angry.

GRUMBOT NEEDS BUDGET.

"We just gave you four diamonds, mate, what--" Mumbo cut himself off.

Grian swallowed back a cry of happiness. He turned to Mumbo. "What have you created? You've created a robot--an intelligent robot, not only to ask him questions, but he wants more diamonds."

Mumbo wheezed. "But I suppose--I mean, I--maybe he's--"

"Look at his hands, those hands are like yeah, I want to hold--like--holding diamonds."

Glancing between the hands, Mumbo nodded. "It is true. Maybe--Uh, like--mayoral races do actually require quite a lot of funding? I mean, maybe he's saying that we need to provide funding?"

As they continued to discuss their plans to appease Grumbot, Grian had to shove down the growing bits of unadulterated glee bubbling up inside of him.

It wouldn't happen again.

——————————

"What's that?" Grian asked, squinting at what stood in Grumbot's right hand. "What's that?"

"It's a stack of--" Mumbo tried.

"Is that five--five? I--that's not a stack!"

"It's seven--" Mumbo wheezed.

"You said a stack! You just said "that's a stack of diamonds"--that--"

"That's a stack of diamonds right there, dude!"

After they finished bickering over what was clearly neither a stack of diamonds nor a sufficient budget for anything, they showed off their Mumbo for Mayor t-shirts.

They, um... They couldn't see Mumbo's. Cause of his pants being so high.

("We should also sell a croptop," Mumbo offered as Grian snickered at the thought. "And it just says Mumbo--")

But, after that was over with, Grian brandished his diamond.

"Tell us what to do."

Mumbo repeated it. "Okay, that seems like a--"

"Tell us what to do," Grian read out. "It's not even a question, just tell us what to do."

"It's a command. We are now commanding Grumbot."

Grian popped the diamond into the dropper.

He primed Grumbot, bootloaded the brian, flooded the mayoral reservoirs, and deposited the question diamond.

Grumbot's mustache wiggled.

A paper popped out.

Grian scooped it up and read it out: "Processing..."

A book tumbled out from the dropper, Grian backing away before he picked it up.

"Oh, that was fast!" He snickered.

"Wait, hang on--" Mumbo looked between the dropper and the book. "Wait, he actually--" He burst into giggles as he said, "He's formulated a long-form answer!"

"Well, I guess..." Grian reread the paper. "I mean, the paper just says processing, and that's it. Right, what does he say?"

"He was just kinda working things out," Mumbo agreed as he opened the book.

Grumbot provided them with what could loosely be called the beginnings of the plan in a book--one of them would build a film studio, and the other a "Grumbot Shop", whatever that was.

Grian couldn't help but hesitate when Mumbo told him to give Grumbot a voice--he wasn't very good with voices. NPC Grian just had his voice, and RoboGrian just had an automated text-to-speech reader. "Oh, no, no--now you've put me on the spot..."

Mumbo giggled. "I know! It's scary, isn't it?"

Grian reviewed the text--all caps, with okay punctuation. "INSTRUCTIONS FOR MY CREATORS--"

A laugh ripped through his interpretation of Grumbot's voice. "Why does he sound so dark? Why does he sound so scary? Like the Terminator?"

"It's cause--because he types--" Speaks? No. "--he types in capital letters--that's why!"

"Okay, fine," Mumbo acquiesced. "Keep it goin'."

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MY CREATORS

CREATOR 1: BUILD A GRUMBOT SHOP

CREATOR 2: BUILD A MINECRAFT FILM STUDIO

(As if he could be misinterpreted and one of them makes a real life film studio. Of course.)

"Well, I guess we need to decide who's creator one, and who's creator two..."

In the end, Mumbo ended up making the film studio. He was the one who dealt with that stuff and--while they probably weren't making a documentary--he'd be better at figuring out the equipment they'd need.

Which left Grian with the shop. Not that he was complaining, mind you--he would have been happy building either. (Although he would have liked a little more detail on why they needed those built, he supposed nothing would have to do. Grumbot wasn't saying anything more.)

He and Mumbo said their goodbyes and parted ways.

Grian looked up to Grumbot as Mumbo flew off, no doubt to work on one of his own projects a bit. The edges of his mouth quirked up into a smile.

It might have been too soon, but...

It hadn't happened again. He hadn't failed!

Grian laughed openly, jumping and grinning. He looked up at Grumbot, who simply stared down at him. "I didn't fail!" he told him.

Grumbot remained still.

Regardless, Grian planted his hands on his hips. "I didn't fail..."

——————————

"We've done what Grumbot's said," Grian started as they prepared to speak to Grumbot once more. "I can see you've built up your film studio, of course--" He gestured to the film studio with an innertube keeping it afloat. "--and I've built up the--the Grumbot shop, or the Jrumbot shop, which is incredibly difficult to say. And now..."

Grian cast his gaze up to look at Grumbot. "Tell us what to do again."

"We have done what you said."

Prime Grumbot.

Bootload the Brian.

Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

Deposit Question Diamond.

They backed up as soon as the button was pressed, both focused on Grumbot's face.

"I don't know why I always get really nervous before this," Mumbo worried. "Like, I'm assuming he's not gonna do anything."

Oh God no Mumbo don't you dare--

A paper popped out.

"It's because sometimes he gets angry," Grian dismissed, picking it up. "You never know if he's just gonna smite you."

Mumbo chuckled. "That's very true--Oh--"

A book fell to the floor.

"Oh, another book." Grian skimmed over the paper.

GRUMBOT IS PROUD OF YOU.

The words echoed in his head.

GRUMBOT IS PROUD OF YOU.

It--He--

GRUMBOT IS PROUD OF YOU.

Grian swallowed back a sob of joy.

"Oh, that is sweet," Mumbo said once Grian told him what it said.

"That is very cute," Grian agreed. "Grumbot is proud of you."

Mumbo picked up the book. "Okay, so... but he's--he's given us further instructions, though." He flipped open the book.

GRUMBOT WILL NOW SUPPLY THE PLAN

CREATORS, YOU MUST SELL DIAMONDS (THE BUDGET) FOR SUPPORT ON THE MUMBO FOR MAYOR CAMPAIGN.

Mumbo looked up. "Sell diamonds...?"

"Is that for the--is that for the shop--" Grian backed up to look up at Grumbot. "Sorry, wait--" he tried over Mumbo's chuckles. "--that's what the budget's for; we're giving them away?"

"But selling diamonds, is that..." Mumbo trailed off.

"That sounds really shady, Grumbot. That sounds really shady."

Mumbo laughed. "Is he suggesting that we bribe people for support?"

YOU MUST ALSO USE THE STUDIO TO FILM AN ADVERT FOR MUMBO FOR MAYOR.

"Okay, so we have to make an advert for Mumbo for Mayor. I guess that--" He nodded to the floating film studio.

"That sounds cool," Grian contributed.

"I mean, that does make sense. I mean, the film studio does make a lot of sense."

Grian nodded in agreement.

Mumbo turned back to the book.

"I don't know how I feel about selling the diamonds," Grian admitted, "for support. It's a bit weird. But I--er--this piece of paper that says Grumbot is proud of you--I kinda want another one."

Mumbo turned the page, eyes widening at the words. "Well, things have... he's referred to--he's said "good luck, dads", as well."

"Oh--" Grian let out a loud laugh, hands shaking. "Has he?!"

"Yeah!" Mumbo handed him the book, laughing. "So, we've gone from Creators to Dads."

Grian fumbled with the book, opening it to the second page.

GOOD LUCK DADS.

They eventually came up with the idea to sell mustaches for a diamond block, and to play the advert they had yet to film for two blocks.

They shaved Mumbo's head, filmed the beginnings of the advert (they could edit later), and headed over to Jrumbot to set up the shop.

Mumbo had left soon after, stating he needed to get to work on his Industrial District.

Grian held the book close to his chest as his friend flew off. He opened the book and reread the last three words. "Good luck, dads..." he muttered.

——————————

Grian didn't visit Grumbot alone very often, but when he did, he received... two music discs?

"Do I have a--I don't have a jukebox--" He frowned at the contents of his ender chest. "--I've got lot of random items that--Mumbo heads in my ender chest!" he interrupted himself with a laugh. "Got Mumbo heads, but no jukebox."

As he flew off to get a jukebox, he couldn't help but wonder if those discs would have Grumbot speaking to him. Maybe Grumbot had programmed his own voice which--as terrifying as that concept could be--made Grian feel almost giddy with excitement.

If Grumbot had made his own voice, would it sound more like Grian or Mumbo? Or would it sound like an automated text-to-speech program, like RoboGrian?

He passed Bdubs and landed in the portal, mind racing with the possibilities.

——————————

Grian soared through the air, intent on confronting Grumbot to tell him his plan wasn't working--how they needed to do something different...

He landed on the mustache before Grumbot.

The bobble on Grumbot's head was pink. And Grumbot's face now had a heart on it.

He hopped down, unsure if the pit in his stomach was fear or anger. "They've rebranded my son!" he cried. "Grumbot, are you okay?! Speak to me, Grumbot!"

Grian practically yanked a diamond out of his ender chest, rushing over to the anvil.

"Grumbot are you ok?"

"I was about to give him a hard time for failing his job!" he said to himself, placing the diamond in the dropper.

Prime Grumbot.

Bootload the Brain.

Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

Deposit Question Diamond.

Grian backed up, staring up at Grumbot's heart face. "Grumbot...?"

Grumbot's mustache wiggled. His eyes went sad.

Grian ran over to the paper.

GET GORGEOUS.

"What...?" he whispered. He glared over at the GG headquarters, a good ways away from Grumbot. "That's their slogan! No, Grumbot--Mumbo for Mayor! Mumbo for Mayor!"

Grian slammed the diamond into the dropper.

"Mumbo for mayor!!"

He pressed the buttons and backed up. "C'mon, Mumbo for Mayor. You can do it--You can do it, Grumbot." He backed up. "Come on, Grumbot..."

Grumbot's mustache wiggled. His eyes went sad again.

"He's still sad!" he whispered. Grian grabbed the paper.

GET GORGEOUS.

"I think he's stuck on Get Gorgeous..." Grian mumbled.

One more test proved his theory right.

"No!" Grian half-whispered, half-whimpered. "We need to fix him... We need to fix him right now."

He sped around to the back, readying his pickaxe.

"Okay, Grumbot--we're going in, and we're gonna fix this okay?"

Grian had put on his Mumbo head to go in there, simply because Mumbo had actually managed to create Grumbot in the first place without screwing it up. Unlike Grian.

"Grumbot are you ok?"

Prime Grumbot.

Bootload the Brian.

Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

Deposit Question Diamond.

A paper popped out. Grumbot's eyes went sad.

GET GRIAN.

Grian froze.

No--

No, no, no.

No.

Not again.

Grumbot couldn't have meant that, right? He was sad, so he didn't mean that, right? He was not RoboGrian--he wasn't like Grian's other failed projects. He just--He was just glitched! Grumbot was sad when he said it, so he couldn't have meant it!

Grian shoved another diamond into the dropper and ran for the paper once it landed on the floor. (Did Grumbot's eyes go angry...?)

GET GRIAN.

He needed to get Mumbo. Now.

——————————

Grian couldn't help but agree with Mumbo that, while Grumbot had been hacked, he did look quite cute with the heart on his face.

"I mean, I've tried my best to unhack him," Mumbo offered, "and y'know, I've done the internals and things like that, and... Things seem better."

"I tried to fix him, too, but I just got him stuck on Get Grian..."

"Yeah, I--I saw that..."

"He was stuck on Get Gorgeous--" Grian pointed out, "--so, I got some progress... but don't let me touch this sorta thing ever again."

Mumbo turned his gaze up at Grumbot. "So, I managed to fix the Get Grian problem, um... I--yeah. It's fixed."

"Okay." Grian began to make his way over to the control panel. "You don't sound too confident."

Mumbo protested that he was fixed, but it was also interesting to "see how things would go".

Grian opened a shulker box and pulled out a bunch of banners, stating how they should probably get rid of the heart before they did anything else. (The bauble on his head was another story, but Grian had brought blocks to fix that, too.)

"There we go," Grian sighed as they backed up. "Lookin' all handsome again."

"He is looking a lot better."

"Back to his usual self." Hopefully. "Now, we have to ask him, like, last-minute... pull something out the bag."

Mumbo chuckled. "Yeah, this is like... forgotten to revise for your test. Doing your homework that morning."

"Eating breakfast and doing my homework," Grian agreed after pulling a diamond out of his ender chest. "What do I ask him? Uh--"

"it is vote day, HELP"

Prime Grumbot.

Bootload the Brian.

Flood Mayoral Reservoirs.

Deposit Question Diamond.

Grian sprinted over to Mumbo. "Come on, Grumbot, you better pull something out the bag here, because we're, like... following your instructions has made our polls worse."

"We've not done well," Mumbo agreed.

Grumbot's mustache wiggled. One of his eyes went sad, the other remaining the way it was before.

"That doesn't look good at all," Grian offered.

Then he saw the papers spilling onto the floor.

A chill went up Grian's spine.

He and Mumbo picked them up, Grian shuffling through them.

WHAT IF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE ME?

WHAT IF I FAIL MY LOVED ONES

WHAT IS ANGER?

WHAT IS IT TO FEEL ALIVE?

WHAT IS AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?

"What has..." Grian trailed off.

it happened again it happened again oh god no it happened again

"Oh, gosh..." Mumbo muttered.

WHAT IS THIS FEELING IN MY CHEST?

"Mumbo..." Grian murmured.

it happened again he failed again

WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

AM I MORE THAN JUST A ROBOT?

SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME

WHAT IS LOVE?

DOES ANYTHING REALLY MATTER?

AM I LOVED, OR USED?

"He's having an existential crisis!" Grian cried.

WHAT MAKES ME FEEL?

AM I THE ONLY ONE?

"What if it was all a dream?" Mumbo read. "Do I have control? Am I good?"

IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?

AM I A GOOD PERSON?

"What if our world is not ours?"

I I I I I I REQUIRE BUDGET

"Oh, no..." Grian whimpered.

HOW WAS I MADE?

AM I MORE THAN JUST MY TASK?

"If I make Mumbo mayor, am I mayor?"

WHAT IS IT TO FEEL ALIVE?

"Oh, there's smoke coming out the top of his head!" Mumbo laughed.

"What?" Grian backed up and looked to the top of Grumbot's head. "Oh, he's officially melted..."

he failed he failed again he failed he failed he failed

"Oh, we've melted him."

Grian dashed over to the papers, intending to pick up a few more. "He's melted."

he failed again he failed again he failed again he failed again

"Why must my life make me ache?" Mumbo read. "Jesus..."

I AM GRUMBOT YET I AM DADS

"Oh my--" Grian cut himself off.

GOODBYE DADS

"He's gone dark," Mumbo said.

"He's been sending a lot of the same message... They're still comin' out too fast, but has he..."

"Oh, my goodness--"

"He's just been saying Goodbye dads..."

i failed i failed him i failed i failed i did it wrong i was wrong it happened again i failed

Mumbo wheezed. "Goodbye dads. Oh, dear, this is not... this is not a good situation."

DOES ANYTHING REALLY MATTER?

AM I HUMAN?

I THINK THEREFORE I AM BUT I AM NOT

"I mean, I've got almost two stacks of Goodbye dads," Mumbo said.

"I've got one and a half stacks of..." Grian trailed off. "I think we killed him..."

"Grumbot's gone," Mumbo added. "I mean, he's asking what are all these feelings?"

"Why is my head hurting?" Grian read numbly.

"Oh, bless him!" Mumbo said.

"Are my thoughts just a tool? I am Grumbot yet I am Dads. This is awful!"

"I know so much, yet so little," Mumbo read. "Are my creators happy for me?"

"Yes, we are, Grumbot!" Grian cried.

"Are there others like me?"

WHAT IS THE END GAME

WHAT IS IT TO FEEL PAIN?

"What is love?"

WHAT IS FREE WILL?

"Does anything really matter?"

WHAT IS MINECRAFT.EXE?

Mumbo burst into giggles. "He's--He's had a full breakdown--"

WHY WAS I PUT HERE?

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF EXISTENCE?

ARE THESE THOUGHTS MINE, OR THEIRS?

IF MY DADS MADE ME, AM I MY DADS?

Grian let out a laugh despite himself.

It happened again.

The rest of the day was a blur--he remembered laughing (because if he didn't laugh, he'd cry), and joking (because if he didn't joke, he'd scream), and voting (though he couldn't remember who he voted for). But...

But long after Mumbo left, as Grian forced a smile and continued on...

The feeling in his stomach seemed to weigh him down. The chill that had gone up his back still made him shiver. He could barely talk without his breath catching on something in his throat.

It happened again.

——————————

In the end, they built Grumbot his own little virtual reality. Enclosed him in an area where it was always daytime, and always sunny, and had grass and had a little mini mustache headquarters.

Mumbo dressed up in a mayor suit, and they'd told Grumbot he'd won, though they actually hadn't gotten a single vote.

Grian forced himself to smile as he and Mumbo talked to Grumbot, a dull ache in his chest.

After exiting through the back of the box, they made a window up front so they could check in on him every now and again.

Grian gasped as they checked in through the newly-made window, his eyes landing on Grumbot's expression. "He's so happy!"

"He's the happiest he's ever been," Mumbo added.

"He is the happiest Grumbot!"

Mumbo glanced over at Grian. "I mean, the only emotions he's ever shown is just a deadpan face, angry, or sad. This is the first time he's actually..."

"This is what he was built for," Grian said. "He was built to make you mayor, and in his world, you are the mayor. You're just gonna have to turn up now and again to just, y'know, show face."

"I was gonna say, is this..." Mumbo made a vague gesture towards the fake world inside. "I mean, y'know, it's a really, really happy ending, like--he is... He is happy... Are we good people?"

(AM I A GOOD PERSON?)

"I think so."

"Is this a good thing to do?" Mumbo asked.

"Um..."

Grian cast a glance back at Grumbot, inside his fake little world. With grass and bamboo and clouds. Inside his own little enclosed space, with...

With no choice in where he lived, nor how long he stayed there.

("BACK TO THE ROOM.")

But Grumbot was happy. That should count for something, right...?

("This is an error. ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR E̵̞͝R̵̮̍R̴͙̾O̷̗̓R̸̖͠E̴͇͂R̷̗̓Ŕ̴̯O̵̘̔Ŗ̶̀E̸̶̷̥̯̲̊̈̃Ṟ̶̶̵̡͍̓́͗R̷̵̶̙͇͛̕͜O̵̶̵̩͔̎̋͂Ŗ̴̵̷̭̳͇͋̚E̷̵̸̡͓͛͌R̸̴̵̟͈͊̐̎Ȑ̵̴̵̠̝̥͎́Ŏ̵̸̶̼̫̕R̶̵̵̖͎̘͌͆́Ë̵̵̸̻̙̯̊̚R̸̴̶̪̞̬̓̏͐R̶̸̷͙̃̽̎̆͜O̶̷̷̖̼̫͊̇͐͜R̴̵̴̝̼̓̔̾--")

Grian forced himself not to waver.

"Yeah."

#grumbot #tw angst #robot death #hermitcraft season 7 #hermitcraft s7 #grian #mumbo jumbo #first fic on tumblr!#it was gonna be something else but

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enkelimagnus · 5 years

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A Winx Club Shadowhunters AU - Clizzy, Malec & others

Her name is Clary Fairchild, and she’s an entirely normal 19-year-old human girl.

Except she isn’t. That comes at a complete surprise just as she’s about to die a horrible death at the hands of a yellow ogre. That’s just what she gets for trying to save Isabelle, a fairy Princess from the planet Solaria.

Her life is changed forever as she embarks on a journey that will give her more than she could ever hope for.

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Event - On AO3

Amber Fairchild let her fingers trace over the black smudgy lines of her daughter’s charcoal drawing of a landscape of Gardenia. In particular, it was a drone-view of the area where the Fairchilds’ house was located.

Behind it, on the cork board, was pinned another charcoal drawing, these times of fairies. Amber could only see two but she knew there were 3. They were quite beautiful. Clary was getting better at facial expressions.

On the drawing desk were a couple of more sheets of paper. Two versions of the same castle, a fairytale-worthy structure, complete with thin flags flowing over the towers, from different views. And a portrait of a woman. The woman strangely looked like Clary. Like a family resemblance.

Amber wondered if Clary was drawing what she thought her birthparents looked like. Amber and William Fairchild had never hidden the fact that Clary was adopted from her. It had never seemed to be an issue for Clary, but maybe she was starting to want to know more.

That was knowledge that the Fairchilds didn’t have. William had found Clary in a house fire, eighteen years ago.

Clary had turned nineteen less than a week ago.

It was a bit of a shock, for Amber. Her baby was all grown up now. She was going to start her second year at the prestigious Gardenia Academy of Art in a couple of weeks, and she was growing into a fierce and wonderful young lady.

Amber stepped over the clothing and the books that were scattered over the floor. Clary was maybe an adult now, but she was still a messy teenager.

"Wake up, sleepy head!" Amber called, slightly louder than she usually would. "The sun’s been up for ages!"

The dog that they owned, a fawn-and-white one-year-old whippet named Kiko that was surprisingly human some days, was napping in his basket next to the bed.

Clary shifted in her bed, only her red hair visible in between her pillow and the duvet.

"Five more minutes, Mom," she grumbled and buried her face impossibly further into the pillow. Amber smiled widely and moved a little closer.

"You’re late, Clary!" She said softly, in a sing-song voice, right next to her daughter’s face.

There was a second-long beat, during which Clary put two and two together and suddenly she bolted out of bed. "FUCK!" She cursed loudly as she ran around the room. "How the fuck did I miss my alarm?"

Amber winced at the curses. Yes, they had allowed uncensored swearing to Clary on her 18th birthday, but that didn’t mean it was easy to get used to.

"It’s the first day of the school year, none of my things are ready, what the fuck was I thinki-" Clary stopped, one leg down her jeans and looked up.

"Hang on a sec," she said softly, before turning towards her mother. "YOU. That’s SO not funny," she grumbled.

Amber chuckled. School was not starting again before a couple of weeks. "You fell for it, didn’t you?" She crossed her arms.

Clary finished putting on her black croptop and ripped jeans, before falling bad onto the bed dramatically. "I don’t care. I’m going back to bed."

Amber sighed. "It’s 9am. Late enough."

Clary huffed and slid under her duvet again. Kiko jumped onto the bed and snuggled against her.

Amber looked at her softly. "You should try going to bed earlier, you know. You were up really late last night." William and her had gone to bed relatively late, and they had seen the light under the door of her bedroom.

"I was reading..." Clary sighed.

Amber grabbed the book she was pointing at from the floor. The cover had a fairy on it, just like Clary’s drawings. She sighed. This was a little more mature and scientific, if there was such thing as the scientific study of fairies.

""Fairies: Myth or Reality?"" She read out, and huffed. "Urgh, don’t you ever get tired of these silly things?" She asked softly.

Clary shook her head. "I don’t. I like them."

Amber nodded. "Alright then. Who am I to call them silly if you care about them so much?"

Clary sat up on her bed. With her messy hair and her tired look, she still looked like a child to Amber. Her smile was still as contagious.

"Thanks, Mom," she said softly.

Amber waved it off. "Oh, It’s nothing, darling. Now, come get coffee."

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

Since she’d woken up early, Clary guessed she got to be doing some stuff. She’d decided to take Kiko on a trip to the park. The park allowed for dogs to be unleashed, as long as people were careful.

It was Clary and Kiko’s favorite place to go. Usually, Clary would run around and play for a while, before sitting down by her favorite tree and drawing while Kiko either went to run around or laid by her feet.

Clary rode her bike, with Kiko secured in a basket, to the park, where she settled at her usual spot. She put her back against the tree and grabbed Kiko’s toy.

After a few rounds of throwing and running and playing, she decided to sit down. Kiko still seemed to have a bunch of energy so she let him go play."Go on Kiko, but stick around, alright?" She called.

She sat down on the grass and grabbed her sketchpad. She barely had time to get drawing that Kiko came back, howling, absolutely terrified.

"What’s the matter Kiko?" Clary asked, gently patting the terrified animal. She stood up, looking towards the part of the park Kiko had come running from.

It was a deeper, wilder part, where people went a little more rarely. She swallowed and stepped forward, grabbing the pepper spray from her bag and walking into the bushes.

Kiko followed, whining at her feet, almost trying to tell her not to come. Clary stopped next to a clearing, as strange noises were coming from it.

From behind the tree, Clary saw something that she couldn’t really explain.

It was a woman. More exactly, it was the most beautiful woman Clary had ever seen. Her tan skin radiated with a glow that definitely couldn’t come from only body glitter. Clary swallowed. She wore shorts and a one-shoulder crop top, made of a glittery golden orange material, that hugged her curves perfectly. She had matching heeled boots. Her dark hair was parted into two low pigtails, held with golden orange bands.

Clary’s eyes opened wider. From the woman’s shoulder blades sprouted translucent blue wings. They were delicate and beautiful, glittering gently with every motion of her body.

She was fighting, kicking at strange monsters. She had a cyan-blue scepter with a sun-shaped circle at the top, in her left hand, and Clary focused on that rather than the rest of the seriously wrong things happening in front of her.

"Rising Sun!" The woman shouted, and a blast of blinding golden light erupted from her right hand, sending one of the monsters tumbling down, screaming in pain, before it quickly disappeared in a pile of ash.

"Wow!" Clary heard herself say. She could feel the power that came from the woman. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before. "Goodness, did you see that Kiko?" The dog was hiding, trembling, behind a log.

"Solar Wind!" This time, the wave of light was more diffuse, but it still was successful in burning away a number of the small monsters. It was... it was like the woman was doing spells. That and the wings... Clary felt a headache forming between her temples.

“I am warning you," the woman spoke out. Her voice was calmer than Clary’s would have been in the same situation. "Leave this realm now or you will feel the magical wrath of the Sun and Moon fairy!"

The yellow monster erupted in a loud laugh, that turned into an animalistic snarl, and then it charged. It started running, full speed, towards the relatively small - if unnaturally powerful - woman.

She put up a fight, but was violently shoved backwards. Clary saw her fly over a short distance and land painfully on the grassy ground.

"Oh my god!" Clary exclaimed.

The woman wasn’t getting up. She was laying very close to where Clary was still hidden, and she wasn’t getting up. She was trying, but the painful landing had cut off her breath and she was struggling to regain it.

"Your time is up fairy!" The monster shouted. It turned to the smaller monsters, red, ant-like creatures. "Take the scepter! Give me that scepter!"

The small creatures pounced. Clary almost screamed as they attacked the woman on the ground, holding her down and prying open her fingers to get the scepter out of her hand.

They ended up managing to get it from her when they used their paws to block out her eyes and mouth, keeping her from breathing and seeing. She instinctively let go of the scepter, and the monsters took advantage of that.

The yellow monster smirked as the scepter was given to him. "Not so strong now, are you?" He growled, and moved, aiming towards the fallen woman with the scepter.

Clary moved without thinking. She ran out from the trees and stood in front of the woman, standing tall and looking at the monster with a hiss. "Let her go!"

The monster raised its eyebrows. Yes, it had eyebrows. What the fuck?

"Get her!" It roared.

She saw the monsters coming at her. She felt the flame inside of her. It built from her heart to her fingertips, burning, pulsing, wanting to get out. And it did. She felt the flame leave her skin and radiate around her, and the monsters died as they touched it.

She blinked, her fingers tingling. One of the remaining monsters grabbed Kiko’s tail, making him yelp loudly. "Hands off Kiko!" Clary grabbed a branch and beat it off of him.

Well. She wasn’t that bad at self-defense.

A giant yellow hand wrapped around her wrists, pinning both of them in one crushing grip. She groaned loudly in pain and tried to get away.

She felt it again. With the pain crushing her wrists, came also the flame. It burnt again, from her heart onwards. She closed her eyes and felt it escape her body again.

The monster screamed in agony. Clary pried her eyes open, only to be blinded by a too-bright ray of light. She closed them again, but small light spots still danced behind her eyelids.

"Hey, that was... powerful," the woman said.

Clary opened her eyes again, and her vision was back to normal. She could already feel she would have a headache, and she felt absolutely exhausted, but she could see alright.

The woman, with her dark hair, her wings and her orange glittery clothing, was staring at her with awe. She had dark eyes that held a bright spark, her lips were painted red, and it looked like she’d sacrificed at least a dozen children to some dark deities for her beauty.

She walked closer to Clary and held out her hand, helping her to her feet. "Are you okay?" She asked softly. Her voice was even nicer when she wasn’t yelling.

Even if she was standing in shadows now, she was still glowing. The Sun and Moon Fairy . If that was true, the glowing would make sense.

"Yeah..." Clary managed to reply, mouth hanging open, trying to wrap her head around the situation. A stunning woman with wings, who referred to herself as a fairy, was holding her hand like it was something precious, after Clary had protected her from a monster.

Said monster got up from the ground then. The woman - the fairy - turned around. She planted her feet into the ground. "You want the scepter? Come and get it!" She taunted. A burst of golden light caught the monster square in the chest, sending him flying back.

Clary was about to shout at her to watch out for the remaining of the ant-like monsters but the woman was already moving. She snarled with effort, the entire scepter and her hands lighting up with the same gold light that seemed to envelop all her spells.

She jumped, a powerful, unnatural leap aided with her wings’ flying ability, twirled the scepter over her head at lightning speed and suddenly cut through the air.

All around her, following the path of the scepter, light erupted and monsters turned to ash.

She twirled the scepter one more time in her hands, this time more for a flourish, before winking at Clary. Clary swallowed.

"We will meet again, fairy!" The yellow beast warned, before disappearing in a beam of purple light.

A heaviness that Clary had not realized was in the air lifted with the creatures departure.

"Thank goodness," the woman exclaimed. She seemed genuinely relieved, even if she had demonstrated quite the abilities. "They’re gone at last!"

Clary was about to reply, ask questions, do something, but the woman faltered. She crumbled to the ground, and let go of the scepter.

Clary rushed to her side. "Hey are you alright?" She called out.

There was no reply. A bright light enveloped the woman’s unmoving body, and in the blink of an eye, her wings, her costume, and her pigtails were gone. Gone too was the glow that had seemed to radiate from her.

Her boots had changed to less practical heeled sandals, her crop top had changed shapes, with added cyan blue accessories and strings that wrapped around her waist. The shorts she’d been wearing became a skirt, long and flowing, with the same blue strings holding it to her waist.

The bands holding her hair parted were gone, it flowed free against the ground, and on her head rested something Clary recognized as a tiara, a cyan blue headband-like tiara that also had a sun-shaped circle at the back of her head, in the same shape as the top of the scepter.

Panicked, Clary looked around and realized the scepter was gone.

Fuck. She needed to call her parents.

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

Clary stared at the shredded pant leg of her jeans, toying with the straw in her lemonade glass. She hadn’t realized that the creatures had ruined it before she’d been home, with the woman laying on her bed, asleep.

She could hear her mom and dad’s hushed whispers. They were standing in the kitchen, and the kitchen was only a few feet away. They weren’t exactly stealthy.

"Clary," her father started, turning to her and speaking a bit louder. "I’m not sure I understand. Could you run that by me again?"

She sighed deeply, looking up at him and leaning back in her chair. "It’s not complicated. Kiko and I were in the park. He got spooked so I went to see what was going on. She was there, fighting creatures. They called her a fairy. She called herself a fairy."

William sighed. Clary loved her dad, but she knew he was a skeptic when it came to these things. Neither Amber nor William really believed in the supernatural, magical things that Clary believed in.

Clary was very different from her parents. Physically of course, since she was adopted. They were both brunettes, and there weren’t a redhead in their family. Her face was different, her stature was different.

But in their beliefs too. Clary had always like the idea that there was more to the world that the things she could see. She believed in magic, and in the things that went bump in the night.

"Hmm, I see," William mumbled.

"You believe me then?" Clary asked, even if she honestly had little hope that he did.

"No, I don’t! I think we should call the police and take this girl to a hospital."

It was a sensible offer but Clary opened her mouth to refuse. She didn’t have time to.

At that moment, a voice resounded in the room. "No, no please. Don’t tell anyone."

The woman - the fairy - was standing in the doorway to the bedrooms corridor. She looked a bit pale, but perfectly alright. She was still incredibly beautiful.

Amber immediately stood up straighter and walked to her. "How do you feel dear?" She asked softly. She guided her to sit down on the couch. The four of them all moved to the living room.

The fairy sat gracefully, at the age of the couch, back straight and ankles crossed elegantly.

"I’m all right," she said softly to Amber. She then turned to Clary. "Thank you for helping me out."

Clary shook her head. "Why else could I have done? Leave you passed out in the middle of the park?"

The fairy smiled gracefully. "Still. You were very kind to bring me to your home." She looked regal sitting there, in her fancy clothing and the tiara that she still wore. She was silent and elegant.

"I’m Clary," Clary said softly. "Clary Fairchild. And these are my parents. Amber and William Fairchild."

The woman nodded. "It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Isabelle. My friends call me Izzy." There was more to that, but Clary waved it away. They were strangers, after all.

"Can we drive you somewhere, Izzy?" William asked.

Clary almost glared at him. She could feel in his tone that he wanted Izzy out of their home as fast as possible. Now that she looked alright and awake, there was no reason for her to stay longer, right?

Izzy had a small chuckle. "That would be difficult. I come from a place that’s a bit far from here."

"Fairyland?" William huffed.

Izzy raised a perfectly styled eyebrow in his direction. "There’s no such thing. Maybe the Legendarium World would qualify, but that’s only where the Ancestral Fairies came from, not where they reside. I am from Solaria. Not Fairyland." Her voice was cold.

William opened his mouth and closed it right after. Clary’s head felt like it was spinning. She’d read nothing about the Ancestral Fairies or the Legendarium World. She’d never even heard of those before, in all her research about fairies.

"But you’re a fairy, right?"

Izzy turned to her and nodded, smile coming back to her lips. "I am. The Fairy of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. One day, I will be the Guardian Fairy of my Kingdom, Solaria."

So Guardian Fairies were a thing. Alright, that was something that Clary understood.

"How did you end up on Earth?" Clary asked curiously.

"I was trying to get to Alfea castle in the realm of Magix... It’s one of the magical dimensions, and Alfea is the College for Fairies. It’s the best school out there for fairies."

Clary could almost physically feel the skepticism and annoyance coming from behind her but sighed.

"Those creatures attacked me and I was forced to land here, on your planet," Izzy continued, before she turned to Amber and William. "Your daughter saved my life. I had never seen instinctive magic quite like that."

Clary shook her head. "I... I don’t know what happened. It all went so fast and the flame..."

"It was similar to the fire magic I’ve seen before," Izzy pointed out. "And you don’t actually need to know how. Instinctive magic exists in all of us magical beings, may we be Fairies or not."

William sighed and looked at both Clary and Izzy. "I don’t... I don’t understand what’s going on."

Amber shook her head. "I don’t understand either. But this..."

"It could be some sort of scheme. Acting."

Izzy stood up gracefully. She slid the blue ring she was wearing off of her finger, and it suddenly changed shapes. She was now holding the scepter that the monsters had been trying so hard to get.

Clary exhaled. Now she didn’t have to break it to her than she had lost her precious scepter.

Izzy planted the scepter firmly in front of her and put her two hands on it, one above the other. She closed her eyes for a moment.

Amber gasped as a bright ball of light came out of the sun-shaped circle at the top of the scepter. It danced around the living room, moving between the four of them with elegance, following motions of Izzy’s fingers.

"Can you believe me now?" She asked softly.

Amber looked over at her. "I think I do."

William stayed silent.

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

Clary sat down heavily on her bed. It felt like so much had happened since she’d left it, this every morning.

Now, there was a fairy in her bedroom. She wasn’t as tall as Clary would have imagined a fairy would be. Actually, Clary and her were about the same height. The fairy was maybe a bit smaller even, was she to take off her heels.

Said fairy, Izzy, was currently looking around Clary’s room. She was especially focused on the drawing table and the drawings that Clary had pinned on the corkboard. She reached up and gently touched the one with the fairies.

“Did you draw these?" She asked, tone curious, as she turned around and looked at Clary. Her eyes were shining.

"Yes. I’m an art student.”

“That’s amazing! And so are those drawings!” Izzy exclaimed. There was a hint of black from the charcoal on her fingertips as she pulled her hand back. “I’m a student too. Guardian fairy curriculum, at Alfea College for Fairies.”

Clary raised an eyebrow. “So there are classes on how to be a fairy?”

“Not exactly?” Izzy hummed. “You take classes to learn how to harness all of your power and make sure you’re using your magic correctly. That’s the gist of most fairy programs in the magical dimensions, but Alfea has a special Guardian Fairy program. You learn how to care for your realms, your planets… And you get pushed to reach the ultimate fairy form that Guardian Fairies have to have. The Enchantix.”

Clary chuckled. “You’re speaking Chinese.”

“I’m not. I’m speaking Earth English,” Izzy raised an eyebrow.

“I meant, I don’t really understand what you’re saying. This is so new to me. Real fairies seem very much entirely different from what we learn about fairies on Earth.”

Izzy hummed, walking over to the book about fairies that Clary had been reading the night before. She picked it up and flipped it open, looking through some random pages.

"Is your world like that?" Clary asked softly. “Do they have some things right?”

The woman seemed to hesitate a little. “They have a few things right. But it’s not as pretty as in this book. Not as perfect. There are issues, like in every other world, every other society. And not every fairy is sweet and perfect. Fairies may use white magic, maybe, but not all fairies are good.”

Clary nodded a little, sighing. “I guess… Yeah. It’s just weird. To think that, this morning, I mostly thought it was a fairytale, a story.”

Izzy smiled softly, looking at her. “And now, there’s a real life fairy in front of you?”

Clary sighed. “And I might be one.”

“Your power sure felt like fairy magic to me. I mean, I’m not a professional, far from it. I did just spend a year at a school full of them though. And grew up around a couple. The King and Queen of Solaria made sure I had only fairy tutors.”

Clary huffed, standing up and going to tidy some things. “The King and Queen had something to say in your education? Damn.”

“The King and Queen of Solaria are my parents.”

Clary turned around and stared at the other woman. So that explained the regal manners, the perfectly polished behavior and the way she spoke. It wasn’t just what fairies were like, it was what a fairy princess was like.

“You’re a princess, too?”

Izzy chuckled. She stood up straighter, taking the ring off of her finger again and looking at Clary. She took a complicated bow, using the scepter for balance, her dark hair flowing over her shoulders. She looked up at her and smiled.

“Princess Isabelle of Solaria, Princess of the Sun and the Moon, and Fairy of the Sun and the Moon. One day, surely, Guardian Fairy of the Kingdom of Solaria,” she introduced herself.

Clary couldn’t help but stare at her. It was… so much. There was a fairy princess in her bedroom, and she was absolutely beautiful. And sweet.

“And you, my dear,” Izzy said walking towards her and gently cupping her cheek. “might just be the Fairy of Fire.”

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

The grass under Clary’s feet felt unnaturally soft. She guessed it was all unnatural, since they were in what Izzy called a bottomless postcard. Clary looked up. There was a rectangle in the sky, an opening, through which she could see the ceiling of her bedroom.

They stood in what looked, felt and seemed like a normal clearing in the some cartoonishly perfect woods. The trees looked like they had been drawn from the dreams of a ten-year-old, and the birds were singing. The rays of sun on Clary’s skin were so bright and defined that they seemed solid.

In front of her, Izzy had her eyes closed, her head tilted back slightly as she let the sunbeam fall on her features. Her skin was golden then, smooth and perfect. Everything seemed smooth and perfect.

Clary wondered whether it was the fact that it was a postcard that made it like this, almost unreal. Maybe it was just how it was in this magic world.

Izzy re-opened her eyes and for a moment, they shimmered gold, the sunray catching directly in them and transforming the darkness of her iris into light.

“So this is Alfea Castle,” Izzy exclaimed. Clary stopped staring at her and looked over where Izzy was pointing. They were close to it.

It was niched in the forest and felt like a safe haven from the world. Nothing imperfect could happen here, she was sure of it. While the roof was blue and almost blended in with the sky, the walls of the castle were a soft pink with purple accents. It reminded her a bit of cotton candy. But elegant cotton candy.

The buildings had a roundness to them that reminded Clary of the ones she would draw as a child. The whole area felt like taking a step back into her childhood, revising the perfect world that she had imagined fairies lived in. She hadn’t been so wrong, after all.

There were tall windows and balconies over the upper levels of the building. “Do people live there?”

Izzy nodded. “It’s a boarding school. Up to six people can share an apartment, itself divided in rooms. Royalty, like me, usually get solo rooms. You’d be getting a room with a roommate probably. “

Clary didn’t know if she would mind. As long as the other girl wasn’t weird with her because Clary was gay, she would love to share a room with someone and live out some sort of collegial dream that her proximity with her school in Gardenia didn’t allow her. Even if she loved the fact that she didn’t have to pay to live at her parents’. Thinking of Gardenia…

“What about my school in Gardenia? I would waste so much money dropping out of there and coming here… It’s free right?”

Izzy shrugged. “For someone like you? Absolutely. We royals pay entrance fees and donate money so others, with less money, can have it for free. It’s also considered a good deed, and charity is a very important value, especially in the fairy world.”

Clary opened her mouth and tried to think of something to say, but all of what was playing in her head was the stupidities and cruel words that politicians said on tv. About not wanting to pay so others can have access to the same things as them, especially things like healthcare or education.

Maybe some of those people existed in this world, but they seemed to be enough of a minority that prestigious schools like Alfea didn’t work with their model.

“I’m sure you’d like it here," Izzy grinned.

“I don’t know… I have to talk about it with my parents. It’s a big change.”

The idea of letting go of her spot at the Gardenia Academy of Arts, the idea of leaving Gardenia behind, leaving the future she had envisioned behind and diving head first into this new world and this new life terrified her.

She could feel a pull in her heart, a feeling that, if she did not take the chance, she would throw away the chance to follow her fated path. But was it strong enough to counteract the rational concerns about money and future?

“Listen, you have a night to think about it. Talk with your parents, think a bunch. When I’m leaving tomorrow, I can take you with me. But after that… I have no idea when you’d meet another fairy able to get you here…” Izzy said softly. “Though I would probably come back for you.”

Clary opened wide eyes at that. “Really?” She whispered and some kind of weird hope and warmth filled her chest.

Izzy nodded, looking at her softly. “Really. There is something about you… I feel like our paths have crossed for a reason. I was destined to crash on Earth, be saved by you, and bring magic into your life. I can’t explain it.”

Clary didn’t know if she could believe her. Izzy was wonderful and beautiful and almost unreal. What if Clary was just hallucinating this? What if this was just a dream?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Izzy taking her hand in hers. Clary looked down at their two hands joined, her skin looking absolutely white next to Izzy’s darker tone.

“Let’s get out of there, alright?” Izzy asked.

Clary nodded.

“All you gotta do is jump up!” Izzy explained and looked up at the opening in the sky. She looked over at Clary for a moment. Clary nodded at her again. They counted to three and jumped.

Clary could feel herself pulled upwards, and it was a bit uncomfortable, but very quick. It passed easily. She shook her head as she resurfaced in her bedroom, struggling a little to adapt.

She didn’t have much time to do the adjustments however, because a few seconds after they had come back from the postcard, there was a loud crash, coming from downstairs. It was followed by a great snarl.

Izzy’s eyes opened wide at that and she turned to Clary. They rushed downstairs immediately.

It was chaos. The small red ant-like monsters were back, and Clary could see the massive back of the yellow creature. There was another one with them this time, it was blue and it was snarling the loudest. They were making quick work of destroying the living room

"Those girls must be around here somewhere," the yellow one growled.

Before he could ask Amber and William where they were, Clary and Izzy came up behind them. There was a fire in Izzy’s eyes that Clary hadn’t really seen before. She’d already been tired when they’d met in the midst of battle.

"We’re right behind you!" Izzy called out. The yellow monster growled in confusion and Izzy smirked. “Let’s end this, shall we?"

Before Clary could say anything, Izzy was standing in front of her, feet planted wide. “Solaria!” She shouted, and a beam of bright light surrounded her in a blinding pocket of light. Clary lost sight of her, but only for a second. Almost immediately, rays erupted from the light cocoon, and the cocoon exploded.

Gone were the royal garments and the tiara, and back were the fairy wings. She wore the same outfit Clary had seen on her in the park, orange cropped top with only one shoulder, short shorts of the same sparkling orange material, and knee high boots. Her hair had magically been divided into two pigtails held by orange tube ties, and Clary felt the power radiating from her. Her first impression hadn’t been mistaken. In her fairy form, Izzy was glowing.

Clary gasped as Izzy immediately flew forward, kicking the blue monster in the chest. She had the time to notice nipple rings on this one. What was THAT about? Clary decided not to focus on the possibly kinkiness of the enormous blue monster that was destroying her home.

"What’s the use of you?” The yellow beast snarled at the blue one. “You got beat by a cutesy fairy!"

Izzy landed on her feet and raised an eyebrow. “Of course he did. But... I’m no ordinary fairy,” she chuckled. “I’m the Princess of Solaria!”

She turned to Clary. “Clary, we’re outnumbered. We’re gonna have to split them up."

Without thinking, Clary nodded. “Alright, I have an idea. I’ll take care of the red ones."

She was running entirely on automatism. She shot a quick glance at Amber and William, nodding at them reassuringly, before she started running out of the house. She ran through the corridor and the kitchen, slammed the door open and ran outside. She shut the door back once she was there, keeping the red creatures outside.

Once there, she froze. “Fuck.” She had no idea what to do.

By her side, Kiko was barking and shaking, in a mix of wanting to protect her and being absolutely terrified. She definitely could relate to that feeling. She wanted to protect her home and her parents, but now she was outside, alone, with four little red monsters that could maybe possibly kill her. She wasn’t exactly comfortable.

She got into position to try and summon the magical flame that she’d felt in the park. She took a deep breath. “Come on, Clary,” she whispered. “You can-”

She didn’t have time to finish her sentence. Out of thin air, the yellow monster had appeared and had crashed down on the red monsters, killing them instantly. The yellow creature itself looked pretty damaged.

Well. Izzy sure knew how to command respect.

Right as she was thinking that, there was a loud crashing noise and Izzy came flying through the glass window. She landed on the ground and groaned loudly.

“Izzy!" Clary exclaimed, running to help her get up. She didn’t look in that good of a state. Her previously so smooth and perfect skin was littered with small cuts from the glass, and she could see a couple of pieces sticking out of some slightly deeper wounds. She was bleeding. There were cuts in her wings too, shredding the delicate membranes.

"Don’t worry,” Izzy smiled a little, but you could see it was painful. “I’ve called the Specialists."

The what now? "Who?"

Izzy didn’t reply. Whoever the Specialists were, Clary sure hoped that they were coming soon. The blue monster - that she’d heard referred to as a troll - was now coming out of the main door. Coming through might be more appropriate, as the beast just forced its way through the wood.

It walked, slowly, and all Clary could do was watch. Izzy seemed weaker even than at the park, and she almost couldn’t sit up. There was no hope. They were going to die in there, because there was no way that people from another dimension would show up THAT fast.

Clary closed her eyes and held Izzy’s hand as the creature loomed over them. “I love you, mom and dad.” She whispered, even if she knew they couldn’t hear her. They’d fled through the back of the house.

She smelled the troll’s nauseating breath on her. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. She was only 19. She couldn’t even summon the little bits of power she had. She waited for death.

Death didn’t come. There was a loud crack, the crack of a whip, and the troll snarled.

Clary opened her eyes. A thick black cable was wrapped around the troll’s neck, pulling it backwards. She took in a ragged breath, eyes following the cable to where four men were standing.

The one holding the whip had blond hair that flopped over his face. He wore a… bodysuit? With a cape? And very tight, at that. Clary put the outfit in the “WTF - will revisit later and demand an explanation” folder of her brain that was growing fuller by the second, at this point.

"Guys, I’m ready,” one of the other men said. This one had short dark hair and glasses. So there were magical creatures with vision issues. Okay. Good to know, she guessed.

The one in between whip-guy and glasses-guy had dark hair, a bit of a frown and was very tall. Taller by a few inches than the three other men for sure. "Alright, let’s take him to jail where he belongs." He called out. He seemed to be the leader of the group.

Whip guy huffed. "What’s the rush? Don’t you want to have a little bit of fun first?"

Clary almost yelled at him that Izzy was on the floor bleeding and that if they could remove the death threat from their vicinity, that would be great.

The fourth man, who was the only one not to be wearing the tight bodysuit and cape combo, sighed. He was holding a long black staff, leaning against it and waiting. His clothing was just as… unusual as the others’. He wore a purple turtle neck dress-like garment with elbow-length sleeves, decorated with yellow stripes, split open on both sides below the waist, and held at the waist tightly with a red sash. His pants were of the same purple color.

"I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you. After all, this is only your first mission,” he pointed out.

Just as he was saying that, the troll tugged on the whip, sending the one who was holding it flying towards him. Whip-guy let go of the whip then, and landed right next to Clary and Izzy.

The purple-wearing man sighed. "I rest my case."

Clary watched helplessly still as the troll turned to the remaining three and started attacking. The edge of the staff purple-guy was wielding turned into a blade as he switched hands. Now holding the staff-blade in his left hand, he used his right hand to perform a complicated motion. A dark, smokey ball of energy seemed to erupt from his palm and crashed into the ground.

The ground opened up then, and the troll stumbled, letting up his attacks on the others. Its ankle caught in the crack and it howled. The glasses-wearing man jumped into action, closing manacles onto its fists.

“Well done, but it’s not over yet!” The dark-haired leader spoke out.

The red monsters that had been kept had bay by the Specialists were now turning towards Clary, Izzy, and the man next to them. The blond man huffed and got up. He looked dirty and tired and turned to them and sent them a wink.

"I’ll protect you, ladies."

Clary would have spoken up, but she was terrified, and didn’t understand a thing of what was going on, so she stayed silent. He took a strange object, and activated it. A fuschia saber blade appeared, and with that, he started fighting.

Clary didn’t know where to look, but she was pulled back to the situation when she felt fingers intertwining with hers.

“Clary,” Izzy whispered. “We have to use magic on the yellow monster.”

“But… you’re injured and I can’t…”

Izzy shook her head. “Help me up.”

Clary slid a hand around Izzy’s waist and helped her to her feet. The fairy turned to her, looking at her with a firm, stern look. “Magic is often linked to emotion. We need to help the Specialists, or the monsters will kill us, and also your parents.”

Clary opened wide eyes.

"Strong feelings such as fear have summoned up the wonderful powers that are in you once before,” Izzy said, in a hushed whisper. “They were always there, you just didn’t know it. It’s just a question of concentration. With your energy you can do anything.”

“But I can’t, I’ve tried and I can’t…”

“Believe it,” Izzy whispered. “Believe you can produce just one burst… You must.”

Clary closed her eyes. She wanted to believe that she could. She didn’t know about being a fairy yet, but she hadn’t imagined what had happened at the park. If she could do it once, she could do it again.

She felt it. The flame. The built-up was slower and smaller than it had been at the park, it had been a sudden burst of energy. Here, she had to work for it. So she did. She took the spark and pulled. She called it to her.

And just when the yellow monster punched the whip-guy out of the way, the flame appeared in between her hands. Izzy grinned next to her. “Now throw it!”

Clary didn’t know what she meant by that so she just did the motion. She kept the ball of energy, pulled her hands up and threw it, as if she was throwing one of those basketballs in high school P.E..

Izzy had thrown hers at the same time, and they both caught the monster square in the back. It howled in pain and crashed on the ground.

“I told you, you could do it!” Izzy grinned. “I’m so proud of you!”

Clary looked down at her hands. She could still feel it, like a phantom caress on her finger tips, a light tingle. "Wow. Then I’m really a fairy,” she whispered out loud.

"Of course you are, I’m never wrong,” Izzy chuckled. It was a bit of a strange sight, her smile and her cheerfulness, with light drops of blood rolling down her cheek from the cuts.

The Specialists gathered around the weakened yellow creature as it painfully stood up. It seemed to realize that it was cornered as it swore loudly and looked around itself. They didn’t have time to grab it. It clapped its hands a couple of time and bright purple light engulfed it. Once it had dissipated, the creature was gone.

Clary exhaled. Izzy’s knees buckled and she fell to the ground.

“Izzy!” One of the men called out and came running to her. It was the dark-haired, tall and serious one. He easily slid his arms around her and pulled her up to his chest, carrying her bridal-style.

“Alec, I’m fine,” Izzy mumbled.

“You’re not. You’re bleeding and your wings are shredded. We have a medic pod in the ship, you’ll need it.”

Clary watched the scene, a bit perplexed. The purple-wearing man came up to her and smiled. “Are you alright there?”

Clary crossed her arms. She felt exhausted. “I’m… fine. Just tired. Where is he taking her?”

“To our ship. You can come with us, if you want.” The man was Asian, had dark brown eyes, golden skin and dark hair.

Clary nodded. “Sure.”

He smiled. “Alright. By the way, I’m Magnus. We didn’t have time for introductions earlier.”

Clary smiled back a little. “Clary. Clary Fray. I… Is Izzy going to be okay? She was really banged up.”

Magnus nodded. “Don’t worry about her. Even if the medic pod can’t fix her entirely, we can bring her back to the Red Fountain to take care of her. Besides, Alexander will do everything possible to make sure she’s alright.”

Clary guessed Alexander was the dark-haired man that had ran to her immediately. “Are they…”

Magnus laughed. “Oh Gods no. Alexander is Isabelle’s brother. Crown Prince Alexander of Solaria, to be exact. And, Alexander well…” He had a little smirk. “He’s taken.” Magnus sent a look at the man. It was both soft and somewhat possessive and Clary let out a small “oooh”.

Magnus nodded. “Exactly. Now, let’s get you fixed up too, you look exhausted. And I’ll introduce you to Jace and Simon.”

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

The ship was… not what Clary had expected. After the whimsical aspects of Alfea castle, she guessed she had imagined it less modern. It was shaped like a kite, with the cockpit on the top face of the structure, above the rest.

As she stepped into the ship, Clary noticed the stairs leading up to the cockpit. The area below it had a long metallic table, upon which they laid Izzy. Alec grabbed what seemed like a first-aid kit and took out a syringe filled with a blue liquid.

“Painkillers,” Magnus explained, as Alec injected the liquid into Izzy’s arm. “Since we don’t know how bad it is, we’re dosing her now. Best case scenario, we can fix her up here and she’ll just sleep it off at your place. Worst case scenario, we have to transport her to the Red Fountain, Solaria, or the fairy hospital in Magix, and she’ll need it.”

Clary hated to see Izzy like that. It felt like it was all her fault, even if she knew it wasn’t.

Laser-like green and blue lights came out of the fixtures above the table and engulfed Izzy in what Clary hoped was healing magic. The dark-haired man - Alec - stayed by the side of the table, waiting, and watching.

Unlike the last time, Izzy was still in her fairy form.

The blonde-haired man walked up to them and looked at Clary. “Hey, what is she doing on the ship?” He asked Magnus.

“She saved your ass and wanted to watch over Isabelle,” Magnus replied. He smiled at Clary. “So that’s Jace. He’s Alec’s squire.”

Jace huffed. “More like… adoptive brother? I’m a ward of Solaria, and I grew up with Alec and Izzy,” he told Clary. Clary wondered if he was bragging or not. It wasn’t as if she actually cared.

“That’s nice,” Clary said, keeping her tone as devoid of actual interest as she could. “And I’m guessing Simon is the one with the glasses?”

Magnus nodded. “Yes. He’s our tech guy, and maybe the nicest person you’ll ever meet.”

Izzy had been so incredibly nice that Clary wouldn’t really imagine anyone being nicer than her. She was still laying under the lights but the superficial cuts were healing. Some of the tears in her wings were growing back together as well, but not the biggest ones.

“Magnus, could you suit up?” Alec asked over his shoulder and Magnus left Clary’s side with a light pat on her shoulder. She watched him put on some clothes and grab some tweezers. With those, he started taking out the pieces of glass that were still in some of the wounds.

Clary didn’t know how she could stomach this. She normally hated the sight of blood and anything vaguely surgery-related. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe she didn’t want to leave the side of the one person she somewhat knew and trusted. Whatever it was, she seemed bolted into place.

It felt like hours until Magnus was done taking out glass and stitching wings back together enough for the light beams to act. Alec and him talked quietly about what to do, and Alec eventually turned to Clary.

“We’re going to leave her with you for tonight. I’ll alert our family in Solaria and see what they want us to do, but for now, she seems fine. She’ll probably need someone to check on her wings, but the infirmary of Alfea can do it.”

Clary nodded. “Alright. Does she require anything specific?”

Alec shook his head. “She just needs rest. She’ll probably turn back into her human form too. We managed to keep her in her fairy form as long as we could to take care of her wings, but it won’t hold for much longer.”

Clary didn’t know if she was qualified in any way to take care of a wounded fairy. She’d shot some magic out of her hands a couple of times, but that sure didn’t seem like it would be enough.

The Specialists were starting to look tired too, and their uniform was a bit dirty. Clary noticed some light differences, mostly in the weapons they had holstered to their bodies, but also in the brooch that held their cloak in place, over their heart. They all had a different color. Jace’s was fuschia, just like the blade he’d used earlier. Alec’s was light blue, and Simon’s was yellow. She wondered if there was a significance.

Izzy stirred on the table and opened her eyes. She huffed. “Really? Full medic pod?” She grumbled weakly. Clary guessed it was the painkillers that made her a bit loopy. Izzy tried to sit up but failed. She radiated less glow than she had when she’d been fully powered.

They talked and checked her out for a small amount of time, and then got her back to the Fairchild house. Amber and William were sitting on their couch. They seemed quite uncomfortable, looking at their broken up apartment.

As Alec and Clary moved to settle Izzy in the spare bedroom, Magnus, Simon and Jace offered to help rebuild and tidy.

Alec laid Izzy on her stomach, as she was still in her fairy form. It seemed to flicker a little, not being able to completely stay permanent anymore. She was truly exhausted. Izzy grumbled some stuff about not being useless and being able to take care of herself under her breath as they tucked her in.

She was asleep within seconds, and the wings disappeared with the rest of her fairy form. They took off her shoes, her tiara and jewelry, setting those on the bedside table before letting her sleep it off.

Soon after, the Specialists gone, Clary crashed in bed and fell asleep before she could take her clothes off.

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

Clary yawned as she woke up, hours later. The sun was beaming inside her bedroom, and for a moment, she forgot what had happened. It was when she moved that she remembered, because she was aching. She was aching pretty much all over.

And it hadn’t been from a particularly intense gym session either. It had been from using magic. She sat up straight on her bed immediately at the thought of that and regretted it just as fast.

She still pulled herself out of bed. She slid out of the clothes she’d been wearing the night before and had slept in. She walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Everything was still messy.

Amber and William were sitting in the kitchen, around a fresh pot of coffee, discussing something in hushed voices. Her mom’s dark hair and her dad’s blond hair were almost touching from how close they were and how secretive their conversation was.

Clary cleared her throat. They looked up at her. Amber smiled softly at her daughter.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” she said.

Clary walked to the coffee pot, grabbed a mug and poured herself some. “You never call me sweetheart.”

When she turned around, there was a heaviness in Amber’s eyes and in her smile. William sighed and gently put his hand on his wife’s. Clary swallowed. It all seemed so… strange.

“We were talking about… all of what happened last night.”

Clary nodded. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought her home with me, it only caused trouble.”

Amber shook her head. “No, Clary, we don’t blame you at all. We don’t blame her either. She tried her best to protect us, and from what the… men from last night said, she was pretty injured doing so.”

“We’re just thinking about what it means for you. And for this family,” William explained. He looked tired, much more tired than Clary was used to seeing him. He looked like he had just been on a triple shift at the casern. Maybe they had spent all night talking about that.

“We want the best for you,” Amber explained. “And… from what we saw, there is something within you that has been awakened. Something you can’t control.”

Clary sat down on a stool in front of them. She gathered her hands around the burning hot mug. It didn’t feel that bad. It even felt comforting.

“The school Izzy talked about,” William sighed. “No matter how improbable it sounds, how… wrong my head is telling me it is… Maybe it could be a good place for you to learn how to control… all of that.”

Clary didn’t really know what to say. She wanted to go to Alfea, she could feel that it was a right choice. But diving in the strange world of magic and fairies scared her. It terrified her.

“You wouldn’t have to pay for anything… Only the royals pay. The rest can go for free,” Clary said softly. “I…”

“Be honest with us, darling,” Amber asked. “You’re an adult, and this is your life, your future. Does Alfea sound like a good option for you? Do you feel like you belong there?”

Clary’s heart was screaming that yes, she belonged there. But there was still a little voice in the back of her mind. A voice that told her that she wasn’t good enough. That managing to create a couple of fire balls wasn’t the same as using spells and having a fairy form like Izzy had.

“Yes,” she still said. “I… I want to go. I want to try. If I don’t succeed, well, I’ll come back.”

William nodded and rubbed his face with his hand for a moment. “Okay, okay…”

“So you’re leaving…”

“Today,” Clary said. “This morning, even. The term starts tomorrow, I believe.”

She saw her parents hesitate then. It was a sudden change. Clary was afraid of it too. She’d never left home for more than a week of vacation with a girl she’d considered her friend in her last year of highschool.

Amber stood up. “Then,” she said, her voice a bit shakier than Clary wanted it to be. “We need to get to packing.”

Clary stood up as well. She walked around the table and hugged her dad for a moment. He hugged her back quickly, but gently pushed her away afterwards. “Go pack,” he said softly.

Clary nodded and kissed his cheek. Amber and her walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. As they walked past the bathroom, they heard the water running. Izzy was in a good state then, if she was able to shower without issues. That made Clary feel better.

Kiko ran between their legs, yapping as they took out the suitcase and started packing.

“Can I take him?”

Amber nodded. “Yes, we’ve talked about it. We’ve thought it would be good for you to have him, provided that the school lets you have him.”

“I’ll ask Izzy, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

They packed everything that Clary could think of and closed the suitcase. Amber was a little teary-eyed. Clary didn’t know what to do really, so she just hugged her tightly for a moment.

“I’ll come back anyway. There sure are vacations. And I’ll make sure to get a phone that can call you the second I can,” she promised.

They walked back down the stairs where Isabelle was chatting with William. William looked like he was only understanding part of the things she was saying. Amber cleared her throat.

"Clary’s ready,” she said.

Izzy turned around and grinned. She looked much better this morning than she had when she’d fallen asleep. She wasn’t pale anymore, she looked healthy. She wasn’t wearing her royal clothing anymore, nor was she in her fairy form.

She wore a burnt orange jumpsuit, nice and fluid with a v cleavage and thin straps. She had a broad, large, Egyptian-looking necklace around her neck, ornate with orange, gold and blue stones, that Clary recognized from the first outfit she’d seen her in. It was probably something to do with her royal status. Crown jewels maybe.

Clary smiled back at her.

“You look better,” Clary said softly.

“I just needed some sleep and I’m all new,” Izzy chuckled, waving it off. Clary had no way to know if she was still in pain or not. Whatever she was feeling, Izzy was hiding it well.

William sighed. “What will I tell people when they ask where you are?”

Clary hummed. “A boarding school out of state. An Art Academy… prestigious and secretive. That would probably shut them up.”

Her father nodded and came to hug her again. She let go of the suitcase again and hugged him tightly.

“You be careful, alright?” He asked.

“I promise.”

Clary and her parents bid her goodbyes. Clary tried not to focus on it much. She would be back. It wasn’t forever. She hated goodbyes anyway, and she was kinda tearful and hated the idea of being this emotional in front of her new friend, who seemed to be quite the master of her own emotional responses.

Once she was done hugging her parents and Kiko had settled in her arms, Izzy looked at her and nodded. “Let’s go. We don’t want to miss on the welcoming ceremony.”

She took the ring off of her finger and it extended into the scepter again. Clary was somewhat started to get used to that particular trick. Isabelle took a deep breath and brandished the scepter.

“Solaria! To Magix!” She shouted, and a bright light engulfed Clary, Kiko and her. She had time to somewhat wave goodbye to her parents for one last time before she felt herself pulled downwards. Clary closed her eyes firmly.

It was a stronger pull than the one she’d felt in the postcard and it made her almost nauseous. It was like being distended, stretched in length in a way. Kiko whined a little.

With her eyes closed, she wasn’t able to tell when they were done with the transport. All she felt was the sudden lack of pulling, and the ground she landed on.

She opened her eyes again. Izzy was standing over her, holding out her hand with a smile. “The first time is always a bit difficult,” she chuckled and Clary rolled her eyes, taking her hand.

The grass was deep and soft, and Clary wondered how Izzy managed to stay upright when walking on it with her uncomfortable-looking high heels. Maybe it was magic. Clary was very glad to be wearing combat boots.

They were back around the area where the postcard had taken them, but this time, they were walking out of it. Izzy was leading the way towards the lavender and pink castle, her steps firm.

Clary sighed for a second. She looked behind her, where she’d landed, where she somehow hoped she would see the line between her old life and her new life. But there wasn’t any line or any doorway to Gardenia. The door had closed already. She’d already chosen.

“Come on!” Izzy called. “We don’t want to be late.”

Clary swallowed and turned towards the castle again. Kiko ran up towards Izzy, sniffing everything he could sniff. Izzy turned around and looked at Clary, holding out her hand again for her to take.

Clary took it.

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

In the next chapter, at Alfea, Clary will discover new life and amazing new friends. But, in the Magic Dimension, she will also meet the witches from the school of Cloud Tower, the first problem she will have to deal with. Peace in Magix will be threatened.

#clizzy #malec #winxaufic #shwinxau #fic #shadowhunters #winxclub

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