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mystic-writings · 4 years

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green eyed boy | luke patterson

PAIRING — luke patterson x fem!soulmate!ghost!reader

SUMMARY — you find your soulmate in the afterlife and learn that you were closer to him in life than you thought

WARNINGS — a little bit of angst, brief descriptions of death

WORD COUNT — 1,444

NOTE — i love the concept of seeing colour when you meet your soulmate so much i needed to write it for luke

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Luke and his best friends all died before they found their soulmates. They all died before they were able to experience colour in full, experience love like their parents had. It all shook them pretty hard, but it hit Luke the worst, surprisingly.

Reggie took it hard, of course, and it didn’t take Alex long to meet Willie, but Luke was absolutely distraught. Aside from performing for people and connecting with them through his music, the one connection he wanted in life was his soulmate, to meet them and love them and experience colour with them.

Now he’s been dead for 25 years and his soulmate was probably in their 40s, moved on or gone crazy because he ate a bad hotdog. He hated that it was his own fault that he didn’t have a soulmate, that he missed his chance to find the one person that would understand him and his love for music the most out of anyone on earth. He ruined it for himself and his soulmate, whoever they were.

But that wasn’t quite the case.

After a quite exhausting rehearsal with the band, Luke poofed out without another word, already having a bad day beforehand and not wanting to talk about it. It was often for him to have days like this, death can take a toll on people like that.

He walked through the park he went to often as a child, a place he often went to for comfort on his bad days. There was something about the park that always drew him in. Maybe it was the memories he made with his parents, or the familiarity, but it was always that same park he kept visiting.

And as he walked, head hung low, listening to the cheerful birdsong and children’s laughter, he felt something - someone - hit his chest and stumbled backward. On instinct, Luke reached out and wrapped his arm around the person, his only thought was keeping them from falling.

You were just trying to enjoy the greyscale of the park you’d been wandering through again, kicking pebbles with your shoes and glancing at the happy families every so often when you ran into him. It wasn’t your fault, you thought you could just walk right through him like you did with everyone else.

But you didn’t yell at him. No, not after you looked into his eyes. A switch flipped in your brain and only one word came to mind.

Green.

You were completely breathless. After being dead for 22 years, you finally found your soulmate. You didn’t know what to say, what to do. And it seemed as if your soulmate didn’t, either. All he did was hesitantly release you from his arms, as if you would disappear if he did.

Half-words tumbled from his mouth in a stutter as Luke tried to figure out what to say. He couldn’t believe he finally met you after all these years, all those months he spent beating himself up thinking that he would never be able to be with you. You were finally here, and he couldn’t be making a bigger fool of himself.

You giggled when he stumbled over his words and a lopsided grin began to form as his eyes widened. “That’s a nice laugh.”

Blushing, you said, “Thanks. Who knew I’d meet my soulmate 23 years after I died, huh?”

“You- you died 23 years ago? I died-”

“25 years ago, I know.” A bewildered look crossed his face and you couldn’t help but laugh. “I felt it, when you died.”

“H-how?” He asked.

“I’d only ever heard of the pain of losing a soulmate in books, and from my aunt.” You began to explain, dampening your own mood as well as Luke’s. “It was like everything in my body was zapped of all energy and I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds- everything went completely black, and then I woke back up and I felt… well, empty. It was horrible.”

Luke’s eyes softened heartbreakingly as he realized what he did to you. He caused you to feel that way, and it damn near killed him all over again. You saw the tears welling up in his eyes, and panicked. He was your soulmate, the supposed love of your life, and yet you didn’t know how to comfort him, you didn’t even know his name.

“Hey, hey, look at me…” you trailed.

“Luke.” He breathed out. “My name is Luke.”

You smiled reassuringly. “Hey, Luke. I’m Y/n. Now, believe me when I say that it is nowhere near your fault, okay? It happens to a lot of people, you know. Besides, we’re both here now, aren’t we? Better late than never.”

He chuckled and blinked his tears away. “How did you die? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I don’t mind.” You smiled, walking past him and indicating that he should follow you. “It’s funny, in my opinion. I was cliff diving with a few friends, as one reckless seventeen-year-old with no soulmate does. I guess I jumped wrong and the current took me, I hit my head on the rocks and… lights out.”

Luke grimaced before sharing his story. “You’ll never believe me, but I was supposed to be famous.”

“Really?”

“Really. Me and my friends were in this band called Sunset Curve, and we were going to play the Orpheum the night we died.” You grimaced in empathy. “Yeah, that’s what we get for eating bad hotdogs. I guess eating stuff that comes from the back of an Oldsmobile isn’t the best idea, huh?”

“No, it isn’t.” You laughed. “You said you were playing the Orpheum? This was 1995, right?”

Luke nodded and asked you why. “No, it’s just, I’m almost 100% sure my sister took me to that show- before it was cancelled, anyway. I think she was a fan of yours or something. She wouldn’t shut up about how cute the bassist was the whole car ride there, it almost made me want to throw up.”

“How old were you then? When I died, I mean.”

“It was July, so I would’ve been turning 16 a few months after that so… 15?” You responded.

“Wow, so you’re what, 17 now?”

You thought back to when you died, just half a year before you would be turning 18. “Uh, technically? I’m 40. But physically, yes. I’m 17.”

Luke laughed and pulled you into a little gazebo, leaning on the rails, looking out at the park. You sighed, and after a few beats of silence, you spoke. “It’s all so bright.”

“I know. It almost hurts my eyes to see this much green.”

“I never thought there was this much color. I mean, you hear your parents and friends and family talk about how amazing living in colour is, but they never tell you how vibrant it can be.”

“It’s amazing.” You nodded at Luke’s words. The burst of color all around you was breathtaking, almost as breathtaking as Luke’s eyes.

After soaking it up for a while, excitedly pointing out especially vivid shades to one another as you spotted them, Luke offered to poof you back to meet his friends. “I promise, they’ll love you. Of course, they’re also really… excitable around new people, but once you get past that, they’re amazing to hang out with.”

“Okay.” He smiled and took your hand, looking down when a small shock went through both your palms and up your arms. And then, suddenly, you were in front of a garage in an oddly familiar neighbourhood.

“Luke, what street is this?”

He gave you a confused look before providing you with the answer.

Your face fell slightly as you quickly went up the steps, running down the driveway of whoever’s home you were at and looking down the street at the all too familiar street. When Luke caught up to you, he asked you what was going on.

“What’s your connection to the house?”

“Uh, my band used to practice in the studio back in the 90s, and now we sort of live in the garage, too. Why?”

You chuckled once more and looked up at the sky before looking back down. “I lived one street over from here, Luke. I remember hearing you and your band playing at all hours of the night while I was trying to sleep or study.”

He winced and pulled an apologetic look before it twisted to happiness, love and joy shining in his beautiful emerald eyes. “I guess we really were made for each other, huh? You were always so close and I just never knew it.”

“They’re called soulmates for a reason, aren’t they?”

Forever taglist: @simonsbluee @probably-peeves @sarcasticallywitty15 @mazerunnerrose

Luke Patterson taglist: @starjane312 @juliefromaustralia @the-romanian-is-bae @hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis @lovesanimals

taglist form is in my navigation!

#luke patterson #luke patterson x reader #jatp x reader #soulmate au #luke patterson x you #luke patterson x y/n #luke patterson angst #luke patterson fluff #julie and the phantoms

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carnationcreation · 4 years

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it makes me so happy to see that you write for jatp🤠 could you maybe write something like a reggie x reader where they dated when they were still alive but then broke up and then they meet again as ghosts?

TITLE: Past Mistakes (JATP Reggie x reader)

✌🏻Masterlist Taglist, Requests, and Works in progress!

Prompt/summary: Reader and Reggie broke up in 1995, then meet again as ghosts in 2020.

Word Count: 1,260

Authors note: I’m sorry if this is really sad, also special thanks to @fangirling-allday for helping me come up with a title!

WARNING: Mentions of suicidal/reckless tendencies and borderline eating disorder. Please be careful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been six months.

Six months since I had last seen him.

I never even got a chance to apologize to him. Apologize for the way I acted that night. Now I never will.

His parents had invited me to his funeral a few days after the... accident, and I made sure I was there. A dress didn’t seem appropriate. He would’ve laughed at the ridiculousness of the formal attire everyone donned for the funeral of the boy who was known for his leather jacket and slicked back hair. So I tried to wear something I knew he would want me to.

I didn’t even make it through the service. The amount of guilt and grief made me run outside to my car and drive home. Tears flowed down my face while I tried my best to get home safely.

I became quite reckless after that.

Drinking every weekend. Driving like I was in a fast and furious movie. Eating and purging shitty food. Then it became eating nothing at all.

I knew it would catch up to me eventually, I just didn’t think it would be today.

Six months after the love of my life died I was hospitalized.

It had started with my heart beating faster every time I stood up. Soon it became terrible pains in my chest that I couldn’t get rid of. Then one day I woke up in the hospital.

The strange thing was I saw myself laying on the hospital table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After that day in the hospital I floated up to… somewhere. All it was was a dark room. No furniture, no walls, no anything really. Just darkness.

It took me a while to adjust to it. Death is always something I had pondered but I never thought it could’ve been something like this. Just me and my thoughts. The last conversation I had with him kept replaying in my mind. There were so many things I could’ve said or done differently. Maybe if I had just apologized he wouldn’t have gone out to eat before the show that night, maybe they would all still be alive. I would still be alive.

I was scared about potentially going insane from being alone for so long. The longer I thought about that the more I realized that I didn’t know how long I had been in there. Besides, can the brain really go insane if there isn’t a brain to go insane? I’m a spirit now after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My questions were answered, well… kinda, when I landed back in my room. Or it used to be my room at least. The paint hadn’t changed, the pictures on the wall hadn’t changed, but the furniture had been moved and boxes were stuffed and overflowing out of the closet. When I turned I saw the CD of Reggie’s band playing in my old radio. Is that what brought me here?

The sound of it sparked one memory I didn’t realize I had. Darkness as I laid still with the same pain in my chest I had felt before.

They must’ve played it for me in the hospital.

I couldn’t stop the tears in my eyes.

I don’t know what happened after that, but one minute I was in my house the next minute I was standing on the boulevard near the beach. In front of a restaurant that looked very new.

I was so confused. Obviously I was a ghost, but this didn’t look like it was the year 1995. I ran over to the closest store and peeked into the newspaper holder.

June 17th, 2020.

25 years? Have I really been gone that long? I looked around the boulevard. Where am I? Where did I teleport to?

Too many questions swirled around in my head, I could feel the dull throb of a migraine starting as my heart beat faster in my chest.

I finally spotted a street sign. Fairview Blvd.

Reggie. I poofed to Reggie’s house. Or where it used to be at least.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had found out a few things from walking around, Reggie’s parents weren’t in town anymore. I’m assuming they got divorced and moved after the death of their son. Alex’s parents had moved as well. Luke’s parents had stayed put. His room hadn’t changed at all.

The rest of the day I spent wandering around trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. For some reason I could hear music coming from somewhere, but every time I got close it seemed to shift its location. Basically a game of marco polo that I wasn’t enjoying.

I stayed at his parents house when I wasn’t walking around, they were the only people from my life that I could find.

The music was still playing far away and it was slowly driving me insane. Finally I left the Patterson’s house and walked around the streets of LA some more in search of the sound.

The garage I found was the loudest the music had gotten all day. It sounded so familiar but I couldn’t place them at all. I sat outside just listening to the melodies that were no longer just a low mumble but now a full song. Eventually the music stopped. Silently I rejoiced in the fact I wouldn’t have to hear it for a while. A group stepped out of the garage startling me from my thoughts.

“Guys that was sick, Julie I love that new lyric you wrote in the chorus,” I heard a familiar voice say.

“I’m so happy with how it turned out, Flynn’s going to love it!” the girl said, she turned to face the boys as they were walking away from the garage and spotted me, “Who are you?”

I looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone else here she could be talking to. The three boys standing with her turned and my jaw dropped.

“Reg?” I croaked out. I stood up from my spot and stumbled over before pulling him into a hug.

“(Y/n)? Oh my gosh it’s you. How’d you get here?” he said.

“I died, in a hospital. I don’t know where I went but then a few days ago I woke up at my house. I didn’t know what all had happened, Reggie I was so scared,” I sobbed into his shoulder.

He pulled me tighter into him, “It’s okay, you’re here now.”

Luke patted Alex and Julie on the shoulder, “We should give them some privacy.”

“What?” Julie protested as Luke grabbed her hand to drag her off, “But I wanna know who the dead girl is!”

“I’ll tell you later!” Alex yelled as he followed behind them.

Reggie pulled back and placed one hand on my shoulder, one hand on my cheek.

“Reggie I’m so sorry. That fight was so stupid, I shouldn’t have tried to hold you back like that.”

Reggie sighed, “No baby it wasn’t your fault. It was just a bad night for the both of us. I wanted to come back to you so bad but then we got tied up at the Orpheum and then…”

We both knew what he was going to say after that.

“Julie told me what had happened to you, she found your obituary,” Reggie said, “Why would you do that to yourself (Y/n)?”

Tears welled up in my eyes again, “I don’t know. I was in so much pain Reggie. If I had just gone to you before and if I had been there with you guys that night you wouldn’t have gone to eat-”

“No,” Reggie said, “You can’t think like that. None of this was your fault okay?”

I nodded silently as he pulled me back into a hug.

“I missed you so much,” he said.

I placed a kiss on his cheek, “I missed you too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @thebookwormlife @talksoprettyjjx @coolreallyfuzzystudentuniverse @igotabadfeelingabouteverything @larrystylinson-sus @lovesanimals @aunicornmademedoit @thexhotmess @ssprayberrythings @registerednursejackie @peachyxdream @catieiscute2001 @julieandthephantomsblogduh @fangirling-allday @ashleyleblancx @alltimekp @wcnderwoo @unipanda1006 @disgustedchild @aberette13 @dpaccione @whyworry27 @number-0-iz @musicconversedance @owlgirl1209 @angelxfics @hamdehlesmis @solophantomsmultis @marinettepotterandplagg @idkanymoremansstuff @carleywhittaker @joshy-obx @mochamiilk @caitsymichelle13 @kiss-themoongoodbye @noncannonships @intoanothermind @etherealexsistence @schnapp-my-neck

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms imagine #jatp reggie #jatp imagine #jatp reggie imagine #reggie julie and the phantoms #jatp luke #jatp alex #jatp julie #julie and the phantoms one shot #julie and the phantoms x reader #jatp

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lucientelrunya · 3 years

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Like a lonely house pt 2

Chaotic me deciced to switch back to present tense (already edited part one) and I'm still quite clueless how to tag. But it gave me so much joy to see people enjoy my little idea.

Please feel free to point out any mistakes you spot, I'm always trying to improve my writing and stop myself from agonizing over every sentence and constantly rewrite everything...

I think Zhang Rishan might be a tad bit dramatic in this part, but I hope you enjoy this anyway :)

The blackness and cotton in his head only slowly recede, permeated by the sound of muffled voices Zhang Rishan knows. The voices carry an urgency, an impalpable sense of importance that drags him back to consciousness with a sudden harshness. Still it takes more effort than it should to blink his eyes open and for a moment he is confused why there is a stone ceiling above him and why little white flakes are clinging to his lashes. He rubs at his eyes, his movement sluggish and his arm feels heavy, a dull ache that causes the memories to come rushing back. The strange tomb, the force controlling him, the ritual, the pool - Ba Ye. It’s not a dream - nightmare? - or at least not all of it and he sits up way too quickly for his body to adjust. Thankfully someone grabs his shoulders - again - to keep him upright.

It takes Zhang Rishan another long moment to blink away the black spots and recognize Luo Que beside him, offering him an already open bottle of water, which is considerate and much appreciated. He really needs to drink something, at least to get the taste of copper and something he can’t even begin to describe out of his mouth. The strange pale liquid has dried all over his skin and clothes like some sort of clay, cracking and peeling off in flakes and powdery dust when he moves. He opts to ignore it for now, content with getting it off his lips and out of his eyes.

Luo Que doesn’t say anything and patiently waits for him to gulp down most of the bottle before he sits back again, letting go of Zhang Rishan’s shoulders and looking at him with a barely there question in his eyes. And, yeah, Zhang Rishan would like to know what’s going on here himself, thank you very much. With his vision mostly free of black spots and blurring edges he dares to look around him, having already spotted Zhang Qiling’s black clad legs next to him from the corner of his eye. He is lying on a sleeping bag right next to him, with Huo Daofu examining him quietly and unhurriedly.

And Zhang Rishan’s brain is still mushy enough to take a long moment to truly comprehend what he is looking at when he finds the source of the voices. Liu Sang and Pangzi arguing is not some rare occurrence (as he has learned in the last two days), although it's not really arguing and more of a friendly stage of bickering, but Liu Sang and Wang Pangzi arguing with Ba Ye is not normal, not in the least. So it really hasn’t been a dream or his imagination.

An illusion then, maybe? A hallucination, like the meteorite inside the tomb and Er Ye getting back his dead wife? Maybe he is still in the pool and all of this is just a hallucination? But back then the whole fake world had frozen once Ba Ye had started to doubt and Zhang Rishan is absolutely doubting the possibility of this being real. It feels too much like Er Ye’s illusion of getting Yatou back and Zhang Rishan has lived long enough to know that there is no way to truly bring a dead person back to life.

No one freezes and no one vanishes, not even when he puts his hand on his arm to push a thumb into the wound beneath the bandages and elicits a spark of pain that is absolutely and undeniably real. It quickly vanishes again, his body cataloguing it under ‘inconvenient but not life threatening’ and opting to ignore it like he had been trained. But it leaves Zhang Rishan fairly confident in his assumption that this is not an illusion.

He must have been staring, lost in his contemplation of what is real and what isn’t, because suddenly Ba Ye is turning towards him, a look of relief flashing over his face. “Lieutenant! You are awake! Please, please tell these people who I am!” He sounds worried but also a little irritated and whiny, and so much like the Ba Ye Zhang Rishan remembers. For a moment he allows himself to just watch Ba Ye come over and squat down in front of him. He had obviously tried to wipe his glasses off on his equally stained scarf resulting in smudged pale lines all over his glasses and his face.

And he has to fight the urge to reach out and touch, to convince himself that Ba Ye is real, because he has been dead and gone for almost 80 years. Even if they never found his body, even if he had been hidden somewhere by Qiu De Kao for whatever reason there is just no way for him to be alive right now, alive and the same, he is no Zhang, he has no qilin blood.

Wu Xie kneeling down beside him, half on Zhang Qiling’s sleeping bag, breaks the moment. “You know him” and although it��s not a question Zhang Rishan nods. He glances at Wu Xie, who looks worried but also curious and intrigued, always drawn to mysteries. Pangzi and Liu Sang come over, too, placing themselves behind Ba Ye like they are prepared to grab and restrain him if he tries anything, but they look at Zhang Rishan. With at least 5 pairs of expectant eyes on him, probably six, he has to squish the feeling of vulnerability and helplessness that wants to crawl out and drape itself all over him. Instead he consciously straightens his back, squares his shoulders and shifts to sit cross-legged.

He has no idea what’s going on here, no idea how to tell Ba Ye where or rather when he is now (because right now he can’t fight the acceptance that this is a living, breathing Ba Ye who just hasn’t aged a day) or what happened in the pool or if everything did really happen like he thinks. If that being had been there, in the pool and had granted him a wish he hadn’t ever put into words, had made a fleeting thought into a new reality. Each of them is looking at him like he has all the answers and he hates that he is sitting here on the floor of a dimly lit cave, on a sleeping bag someone else has rolled out for him, with bandages around his arms and feeling so utterly helpless. He can’t suppress the bitter thought that Fo Ye would have known what to do.

Taking a deep breath he decides to start with what he is sure of, which is the answer to Wu Xie’s “You know him”. “I do know this man, his name is Qi Tiezui, also known as Ba Ye”, and the name and the title should mean something to at least Wu Xie and maybe Huo Daofu, even if they obviously don’t recognize him from old photos. Maybe because they never paid attention to those pictures, which are faded and grainy compared to what even the simplest smartphone camera is able to capture nowadays or maybe because Ba Ye looks like he took a mud bath. Maybe both.

On to the second thing he is quite certain of: “As to what happened, I’m not really sure myself. As soon as I entered the tomb some force took over my body and I suppose Zhang Qiling's as well and we came to this cave to enact some kind of blood sacrifice ritual for whatever deity they are worshipping here.” No need to point out he had been meant to be the sacrifice, that bit is quite obvious, although he is not sure why Zhang Qiling is the one still unconscious then. “There was chanting, but I wasn’t able to understand it”, he adds, which makes Liu Sang nod at him. “Yeah, I heard you through the wall, but wasn’t able to identify the words either.”

Zhang Rishan considers asking why they hadn’t followed them into the cave and tried to stop the whole thing, if only to give him a little more time to try and find words for what happened after that, but he doesn’t have to voice his question. “Yeah, almost broke my damn nose trying to follow you two through that convenient little magic wall that suddenly turned into a real wall after you two went through, and we couldn’t find a mechanism or another entry or hear anything. Imagine our immense joy at hearing this idiot here say there’s ‘eerie chanting’!” Pangzi grumbles and there is no need for him to add that the use of some explosives had been on the table. Or had they used explosives?

“Did you blow a hole into the wall?” Zhang Rishan asks, eyeing a pile of broken stone in the vicinity of the wall, but Pangzi shakes his head. “Nah, I wanted to, but then the ground started to shake and - poof - the entrance was back and actually visible.” It takes Zhang Rishan another moment to realize the rubble is what’s left of the statue he had only glimpsed upon entering the cave. Had the earthquake destroyed it? Had it even been an earthquake?

Wu Xie humms beside him, following his line of sight for a moment before he points to the wall behind the rubble. “There are some murals depicting locals worshipping a deity that I have never seen before. But it seems to be for protection against droughts or bad harvests, your garden-variety-harvest-god to ensure plenty of food and the likes. Nothing that can bring dead people back to life.” Ah, right back to the burning question.

Ba Ye sputters quite helplessly at that. “Dead? What do you mean dead? Do I look dead to you? Lieutenant, what is going on here, who are these people?” Considering that Ba Ye’s face is still mostly covered in white it wouldn’t be that unreasonable to mistake him for a ghost. But beneath that he doesn’t look dead or like a walking corpse, he looks just like Zhang Rishan remembers him, just like the last time he had seen him before he had vanished. And he still has no idea how to tell Ba Ye that everyone he knows is dead. Well, everyone except Zhang Rishan.

“I’m Wu Xie, this is Wang Pangzi, Liu Sang, Luo Que and behind me are Huo Daofu and Zhang Qiling.” Wu Xie blindly pats Zhang Qiling’s lower leg when he says his name, his eyes never leaving Ba Ye’s face, gauging his reaction to two familiar family names. And Ba Ye doesn’t disappoint, confusion clearly written all over his face. He is mouthing ‘Wu’ and ‘Huo’ while his eyes scan Wu Xie’s face before he looks at Zhang Rishan with a mixture of confusion, incomprehension and helplessness.

“He is Wu Laogou’s grandson”, Zhang Rishan says softly, because their relation is the most obvious to emphasize how much time has passed and the most obvious in terms of resemblance, Ba Ye must have seen that. And Zhang Rishan holds his gaze until Ba Ye looks down, takes a deep breath, closes his mouth and lets himself plop back down to sit on the ground, his whole body curling inwards. This would be a lot to take in for everybody and Zhang Rishan would like to give Ba Ye a moment to compose himself without everyone else staring at him. There are things he hasn’t told them yet, but he is still not sure how to put any of that into words.

“Did the murals say anything about something being confined here?” Zhang Rishan asks Wu Xie, who just looks puzzled. “Confined? What do you mean?” And he really has to try and put it into words, there is no way around it, is there? He takes another deep breath through his nose. “For the ceremony I was kneeling in that pool and when the tremors started I fell into whatever liquid is in there, and it was like - like there was something in there with me. Like it was a living thing with a consciousness and whatever we did in that ceremony it set that thing free.” He can already feel some doubtful looks but nobody starts to interrupt him and Wu Xie actually nods thoughtfully like he can imagine that, so he continues: “It was communicating with me, not with words, more like with feelings and impressions,” and he just waits for Huo Daofu to interrupt him, to say something about blood loss and hallucinations, but he doesn’t, he just doesn’t - “It made very clear that it had been imprisoned here for whatever purpose and that it was just so very thankful that I set it free.”

Everyone is quiet, mulling over those words. There are still so many questions, like who or what had controlled them to enact this ceremony? Had it been the imprisoned being? Or something else? But why? And who had sealed the tomb? And why?

“So you set some ancient being free and someone from your past turns up. What if he is no human but that being in the shape of someone it saw while it was inside your mind?” Liu Sang questions, looking at Ba Ye thoughtfully who stops his calculations to stare back incredulously. “What? First I’m dead, now I’m some preternatural being? Let me tell you, I’m just a fortune teller!” He acts and sounds just like Ba Ye, but Liu Sang has a point, that being had looked into his mind, had probably had access to all his thoughts and memories. It makes his head hurt even thinking about it.

Pangzi and Liu Sang start bickering about how to test that theory, to find out if someone is human and it only gets more chaotic when Zhang Qiling wakes up and Wu Xie starts worrying over him, asking him how he feels and if he is alright while Huo Daofu tries to rule out a concussion. Zhang Rishan tries to ignore them for the moment, even though he would like to get Zhang Qiling’s version of the ceremony. He feels torn between the possible explanations for this situation, but why would some ancient being that had been trapped in a cave for centuries if not millenia take human form and stay with them? To play tricks on him? Or maybe-

“Lieutenant, if so much time has passed that the grandson of Wu Laogu is at least as old as I am, how come you haven’t aged a day?” Ba Ye’s question jolts him out of these thoughts. “It’s a Zhang-family-thing”, he answers, because Ba Ye already knows so much about their family that it should be enough. Ba Ye nods, visibly brightening at the answer, as if he had hoped for something along those lines. “So, why don’t we just ask Fo Ye for help to prove I’m just a normal human? I mean, if that being was in your head and knows what you know it doesn’t know everything about me.”

Of course he would think of Fo Ye as the answer to everything and of course Zhang Rishan has to say it now. He shakes his head slightly and forces himself to watch Ba Ye’s face and catalogue his reaction. “No. Fo Ye is not with us anymore.” It’s cruel, so cruel to tell him like this and Zhang Rishan hates it even more than he hates saying the words at all. Ba Ye’s whole face crumples but he visibly tries to hide his distress. “How on earth am I supposed to prove I’m just a normal human, then?” he bristles, obviously trying to distract himself with anger. “Tell me! What should I do!” Those last words are directed towards Pangzi and Liu Sang behind him who actually stop their bickering and have the grace to look embarrassed.

“Why would that being even want to stay here? What could be in it for... it?” Pangzi voices Zhang Rishan’s thoughts from before. “Maybe it needs help to leave the cave?” Wu Xie suggests, joining the conversation again after assuring himself that Zhang Qiling is fine aside from a cut on his forehead. “Or maybe it’s just lonely and looking for some company?” Huo Daofu throws in and Zhang Rishan isn’t sure if it’s meant to be a joke or a real suggestion. But if they are just casually throwing around theories he can add one, too.

“Maybe it’s an illusion.” Even if there is no meteorite around and even if he had set that theory aside before. Ba Ye inhales sharply at that suggestion and slaps Zhang Rishan’s knee a little harder than necessary. “Aiya! An Illusion? Does that feel like an illusion? Is there a meteorite around that you haven’t told me about? Shouldn’t you be able to tell the difference?” Ba Ye slaps him again and Zhang Rishan just lets him, flinching only a little. It makes Luo Que beside him tense noticeably, like he contemplates grabbing Ba Ye’s arm and stopping him from hitting his boss, but in the end he doesn’t move and just watches.

“Should I? I mean you were the one who realized it was an illusion back then, and you guided us out of it.” Ba Ye harrumphs at that, knitting his brows. “It’s not an illusion”, Wu Xie says and the certainty in his voice makes it easy to just accept it. After all Wu Xie had come with him and should be a real person, even if they stepped into some fake world at some point, just like Fo Ye, Ba Ye, Er Ye and Chen Pi had been real people who stepped into the meteorite.

“Thank you!” Ba Ye says, giving Wu Xie a small bow. “And if you let me, I can show you that I am perfectly capable of leaving this place all on my own.” Which leaves them with: a lonely godly being looking for company (or a bored godly being looking for some fun?) or the possibility that it is really Ba Ye.

For a moment everyone is quiet again and Zhang Rishan takes the chance to ask Zhang Qiling how he had experienced being possessed or remote controlled or whatever it had been. His answer is disappointingly simple and his experience almost the same as Zhang Rishan’s, except that he had not been in contact with another consciousness but had been knocked out really hard by something as soon as the cave had started to shake. Which confirms Zhang Rishan’s suspicion that there had been something with him in the pool.

He gets up, startling both Ba Ye and Luo Que with the sudden movement, making them stand up with him as if they are preparing to catch him again. It’s endearing and disconcerting at the same time and he opts to ignore the way it makes him feel for the moment, but tucks the feeling away to pick it apart later.

The pool is surprisingly dry and empty, but covered in the same white flaky residue both Zhang Rishan and Ba Ye are covered in, which is reassuring because it means there had been something before. For a moment Zhang Rishan just stares at the empty pool, trying and failing to find a hole or a crack in the stone through which the liquid could have vanished. Surely it did not just evaporate into thin air? His memory is not clear enough to dispel the thought that maybe the liquid had not vanished but changed its shape and made itself into a human being.

“Huh? Why is it empty?” Pangzi asks which makes Zhang Rishan release a breath he hadn’t even been aware of holding. “It wasn’t empty when you could get in?” he reassures himself, looking at the other man. “Hah! Wish it had been, do you have any idea how hard it was to get you out of that stuff?” Pangzi snorts and points at the smudged edge of the pool, where a very visible track of white covers the ground all the way over to their sleeping bags. It also makes Zhang Rishan notice the white smudges all over Pangzis clothes only to find the man grinning at him when he looks up again. The corners of his mouth twitch involuntarily in quiet amusement and he nods his thanks, which makes Pangzi grin even more.

With the pool providing no answers at all Zhang Rishan walks over to the wall to look at the murals, soon joined by Wu Xie who points to the parts of the murals he had mentioned before. It shows a group of people in clothing Zhang Rishan has never seen building this tomb. Maybe some minority? They have no idea how old this tomb is, after all or how long it had been sealed. In the next part of the mural it almost looks like they are summoning the unknown god and not merely worshipping and some part of Zhang Rishan’s mind resonates with that thought. The ceremony looks just like what the two of them had enacted, one person in the pool and the other at the altar with a dagger. But it almost seems like the sacrifice on the mural dissolves into the pool, a thought he really doesn’t want to dwell on.

After that the mural gets quite confusing, depicting the statue that is broken now and people celebrating rich harvests, without any clear connection. He looks back at the picture of the god, tracing the faded lines with his fingers trying to recall everything the being in the pool had tried to tell him through thoughts and feelings and suddenly he understands. Or at least he thinks he does.

“They didn’t worship the god, they captured it and confined it in here because as long as it was here everything around it would be thriving, rich harvests, no sicknesses, people living long and full lives.” As soon as he says it he knows it’s true and he finds Wu Xie nodding next to him. “So, you set that god free and as a gesture of thanks it returned a dead person from your past?” And Zhang Rishan knows dead people don’t come back to life, but this is a god they are talking about and it had made everything else grow, had kept people healthy and strong. Maybe it could do this too?

“I’m still not dead and I was never dead!” Ba Ye protests from beside him and reminds Zhang Rishan that he still doesn’t know what happened when Ba Ye vanished back then, how or when he died. He looks at him and contemplates asking just that but somehow he is afraid of the answer. “Maybe you died and you just forgot.” Pangzi says, pushing at one of the larger rocks left over from the statue with his foot.

“How would someone forget his own death, this is ridiculous! An hour ago I was just in my room, enjoying a nice cup of tea and suddenly I find myself in this cave, almost drowning in that pool!” Ba Ye gestures wildly and angrily with his arm, almost slapping Zhang Rishan in the face in the process, but Pangzi is unimpressed. “How could you not forget your death? Or the fact that you died. Maybe you just dropped dead drinking your tea, things like that happen. Who knows.”

“He didn’t drop dead, he vanished without a trace, leaving everything behind”, Zhang Rishan interjects. If Ba Ye had just dropped dead there would have been a funeral and it would have been just as sad and hard, but there wouldn’t have been a mystery, no reason to wish to know what happened.

“Well, maybe he did drop dead and that god plucked his body from the past, brought him back to life and put him here”, Wu Xie shrugs, “I mean, my terminal lung cancer got healed by magic golden coffin water in thunder city, so it’s not that far-fetched.”

And - oh, oh - realisation hits him like a punch to the sternum, taking his breath away, almost making him double over and sink to his knees. It had been him. Ba Ye never just vanished, had never been kidnapped by the Japanese or Qiu De Kao. He had never died, he had been snatched away by this being - god - whatever - and placed here and now, with Zhang Rishan, because it had wanted to give him something he had lost. But Ba Ye had never been lost, he had been stolen, stolen because Zhang Rishan is selfish and thoughtless and cruel and - He has done this. He has done this to Ba Ye. And to Fo Ye. And -

He can’t breathe. How can he ever say this? How can he ever tell Ba Ye? He can never be forgiven for this, there is no way, absolutely no way. Look out for Ba Ye, that had been his order, the one most important to Fo Ye and thus the most important to Zhang Rishan. And he had failed, miserably - no, he had done the opposite! And for the first time in quite a while he wishes Fo Ye was the one with a long life and not him. Fo Ye would never have done something so stupid.

Unbidden he remembers the illusion he had fallen victim to below the Chen tree, Fo Ye with his gun pointed at him, disappointed, so disappointed and he wishes it had been real, that he had died that day so he would have never been able to come here today. But Ba Ye had been missing before, he had vanished before Zhang Rishan had ever been to this tomb and shared his memories with a god. There would have been no reason to wish to know what happened that day if nothing had happened. And that really makes his head hurt, how is it even possible? How does this work, today and the past linked like this? Like it had always been meant to be this way?

#I wrote this instead of sleeping #dmbj fic #mystic nine #zhang rishan #qi tiezui #fuba #wibbly wobbly timey wimey #ba ye

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hypnomicimagines · 4 years

Text

☂️Rainy Day Blues☂️[Nurude Sasara]☂️

Oh, how tragedy loved to strike Sasara when he least expected it.

He had been walking to your house with an extra pep in his step, the fresh bouquet he’d picked up along the way only lifting his mood. He was stuck in daydreams even before he reached you, thinking about how lovely you’d look that night and how he couldn’t wait to do the little things like hold your hand as you were on the way to your date destination. He thought that nothing could possibly dampen his happiness, that him finally confessing after years of being in relationship purgatory had made him see the brighter side of any situation, but it seemed he still had blinders on in some aspects. His parade was about to be rained on.

Literally.

Sasara didn’t know where the icy rain had come from but it hit him like a sack of bricks, goosebumps rising on his skin as his leisurely walk turned into a marathon run as he made his way to your apartment complex. He hadn’t checked the weather forecast, who did that anymore? Clearly Sasara’s hubris had upset the weather Gods as he caught sight of himself in a window, no longer looking like your handsome suitor but a sad clown that had just walked through a door with a bucket of water precariously balanced on top of it. The bouquet is just as pathetic as he is, and hey, aren’t flowers supposed to like water? Why were they drooping like that? You’d probably laugh in his face when you saw them.

You did.

He had to get you back somehow for laughing at his plight despite the fact your laughter had quickly washed away every negative emotion he’d previously been feeling. He had to get you back somehow and decided to show you his best ‘wet dog’ impersonation, shaking his hair out in your doorway and giving you a little preview of what it was like outside. The rain had only started to come down harder, thunder and lightning being added to the mix, meaning it was unlikely the date would continue as planned. Not to mention his hair which he had spent an entire three minutes and seven seconds on was now a poofed out mess due to how he chose to dry out his hair, not that you seemed to mind. You laughed again at his saggy bouquet, telling him you loved it no matter how pathetic it looked (he hoped that was the last time he ever heard that).

“We can just spend the night in. Why do you look so excited that I said that? Did you think I’d tell you to walk home?”

“I’d never accuse you of something so cold-hearted!”

“Good, I’m glad to see the rain hasn’t washed away your remaining brain cell. Come in and change your clothes, too, as much as I love seeing you be a complete eyesore, I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

“Shouldn’t you stripping me of my clothes wait until after dinner? Not that I mind.”

“You know what… Maybe walking home in the rain is just what you need. Maybe you’ll get struck by lightning and have some sort of epiphany that’ll make you funny.”

“Now you really sound like Rosho,” Sasara sighed out, fighting the smile that wanted to break out on his face so he could keep up the ‘hurt’ façade he was putting on, “To think that the person I love most would say such things to me… I’ll go back outside to hide my tears!”

“Bye.”

You closed the door behind him as he stepped into your apartment, heading straight to your bedroom and thinking about how he had essentially done a speed run of the date. He hadn’t suspected he’d be here until a little bit later but he couldn’t say he was complaining as you joined him, digging through your drawers for some spare clothes that he had left behind the various other times he’d stayed over on a whim. He purposely left his clothes with you just so you’d always have something to remember him by, weaseling his way into your heart first and now your home, hoping that he might even get a whole draw just for his stuff one day. His apartment was certainly the winner with its scenic view but since you had yet to talk about the whole ‘moving in’ thing, he decided he’d get you used to the idea by leaving random things of his behind so you were used to it when it finally did happen.

“Here you go.” You set the clothes down on the counter, taking a second to admire how cute he looked with a wet mop of hair on his head, reaching over to run your fingers through it just for good measure, “I’d say take a shower but I don’t actually want you struck by lightning.”

“But you seem to like my hair so much… It could become a permanent fixture with the help of electricity.”

“I do like it,” You confirmed, smiling as you stroked his hair fondly, Sasara’s heart pounding loudly in his chest, “Almost as much as I like you. Get changed while I try to find some candles. I can’t imagine we’re going to have power too long so…”

You spoke the unfortunate lightning strike into existence that completely knocked out anything electrical in the apartment building and part of Sasara wonders if you had spoken the rain into existence, too. Had this been your plan all along? Had you wanted to just trap him in your room from the get-go, using him for your own needs and then discarding him afterward? Sasara considered suggesting that type of supervillain roleplay on a less romantic night but for now his head was still in the clouds, wanting to do simple things like hold your hand and cuddle against you, sucking the warmth out of you as he had no spare warmth to give at this point.

“Y-You’re cold!” Sasara had reached out to touch you when the lights had first gone out, wanting to assure you were still there and okay first, “Just be careful as you get changed! I’ll be right back!”

You’re only gone about ten minutes but it’s so painfully lonely in the bathroom without you, Sasara already thinking about the letter he’d write to you if you had gone off to war. He would be the lonely maiden waiting by the window, longing to see their love again, dramatically falling to the ground as he received the news that you had passed away. He was already thinking about how he’d meet your ghost in the afterlife to confirm he never fell in love again when you entered the bathroom, face highlighted by a small candle that he’s almost positive he had gifted you.

“Come on, come on! It’s a little better in the living room and the blankets are all out.” You moved the candle to one hand and reached down to grab his, fingers lacing together without words having to even be exchanged. “I don’t want you getting lost.”

“The only place I’ll get lost is in your eyes, beautiful.”

“Have I ever told you that you’re lucky you’re cute? Because you’re sooo lucky you’re cute!” He can tell from your tone that there’s a wide smile on your face, the one that made him feel like the most successful comedian in the world. Getting you to laugh was no easy task and you had never been one to show him even a dollop of mercy when it came to his material but it made it all the more worth it when he got to hear you laugh. Every time you laughed an angel grew its wings, that’s how the saying went, right? It doesn’t matter as his brain is entirely centered around you and only you, especially as the two of you seat yourselves on your ridiculously comfortable couch.

“I don’t know what we’ll eat… It’s gonna be cold and sad.”

“As long as we’re not cold and sad, it’s fine, right?”

“Fair enough.”

His arm wrapped around you as you threw your legs across his lap, the blanket quickly following suit as you curled up into his side. You wondered how many people would be surprised that Mr. Tragic Comedy was not only a total romantic but a stage five clinger, unlikely to give you a moment alone now that you had both finally settled in together. Sasara valued his privacy from time to time but when it came to you, it seemed his social battery could never run out; he wanted to be around you, to be with you, to be touching you and talking to you as much as he possibly could.

“What should we do?” Sasara quickly grew uncomfortable with the silence and you felt bad for your boyfriend, knowing his anxiety tended to spike in the silence. You wished you had something to act as white noise in the background but it seemed all you could do to distract him was talk, or listen to a slew of jokes that would have you standing in the rain rather than being in your own apartment if they were on par with the normal puns he liked to deliver.

“Tell me about your day before you got here. Did you talk to Rosho about your birthday plans?”

Sasara is grateful for the conversation starter as once he’s begun to talk, he’s adept at not shutting up again.

It was going to be a long, rainy night, but at least you got to spend it together.

#Nurude Sasara #Sasara Nurude #Hypnosis Mic #Hypnosis Microphone #Hypmic #Hypnomic #Hypnosis Mic x Reader #Hypnosis Microphone x Reader #Hypmic x Reader #hypnomic x reader #Hypnosis Mic Imagines #Hypnosis Microphone Imagines #Hypmic Imagines #Hypnomic Imagines #Nurude Sasara x Reader #Sasara Nurude x Reader #Scenario

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yan-twst · 4 years

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That one request with a crush on lesbian mc with the dorm leaders really got my heart thumping💓💓💓. Can I request a crush on lesbian mc this time with the first years? 😳😳😳 I really love your writing thank you sm❤❤ Hope you're doing well!!

once again hell yeah lesbians rise up!!!

ace trappola

ace is like. ok well this sucks for HIM a little bit because of course he managed to crush on a girl who just so happens to be a lesbian

but he’s also just... kind of relieved? it’s way less awkward to be turned down because of that than if just... if she was straight and just turned him down.... just thinking of that is horrifying

he might try to talk about his past relationships with her because uh, bonding between people who... like women...? but it kinda backfires because she just reaffirms he was kind of an asshole to his ex girlfriends. he might even be forced to call them and apologize

all in all, ace is just glad to keep one of his closest friends. it’s a thousand times better to have a little one sided crush that simply can’t be returned on his friend and continue being friends, than if he were to date them and then it didn’t work out and the friendship was ruined

being the little shit he is, he won’t hesitate to find the situation hilarious. is it fun to be a lesbian stuck in an all boys magic school? whatever kind of accident or magic that sent her here really did her dirty. doesn’t she know of all the prestigious girl-only schools out there? too bad! she’s stuck with The Boys

this revelation is also very very good for his own sake. ace used to get jealous when he saw her hanging out with other men, especially if she seemded to be too friendly with them- and he’d usually just express that displeasure with teasing or just huffing and crossing his arms.

now? oh, he feels nothing but smugness when he sees another dude being suspiciously kind and cooperative with her- because if they really are trying to subtly flirt with her, welp, then they got a big surprise coming and he finds it hilarious to know they’re gonna get the same surprise he did

deuce spade

deuce is the kind of kid who somehow has like, lesbian aunts he hangs out with, and at the same time does not know what a lesbian is. don’t ask how that works because he doesn’t know either until everything clicks in his brain

deuce’s immediate reaction is to get flustered. it’s a mix of embarrassment because now he feels like he should have noticed sooner...? and also because he’s mortified he might have annoyed or offended his friend

he apologizes for crushing on her, despite her telling her it’s really not a problem? it’s flattering, really? deuce is so busy apologizing and fretting because he, bless his heart, genuinely feels like he did something wrong

you know that trope of the slightly dumb but golden-hearted jock who is besties with the lesbian? this is that. it’s quite literally that

deuce still wants to bring her over to meet his mom even if it’s just as a friend. he’s talked too much to his mom about how amazing she is, so now he has to introduce her to his mom. he- he’ll make sure his mom understands it’s not a dating thing!! don’t worry!!

deuce becomes even more wary of the students that try to get close to his friend now. before, it was infuriating to see the boys all be so keen on getting close to the one single girl in the whole school, but he tried to reason that if she liked to meet new people, he shouldn’t get in her way, but... if it’s flirting, deuce has no problem acting as her personal guard to shove clingy and hard-headed dudes off

jack howl

fun fact there are records of homosexuality amongst grey wolves

in fact this isn’t even something that shocking to jack...? maybe it’s because there’s a handful of gay beastfolk in his pack so he simply doesn’t assume people are straight by default, so when his crush tells him she’s a lesbian he’s like oh fair enough

sure, it’s not like he isn’t a bit sad; he did have a crush and it’s never easy to let go of those emotions. but once again, he did kind of always consider this as a possible outcome, so it’s not like he’s completely thrown off his groove

besides, even though he might act strong and tough, it’s clear jack is a complete softie and values his friendship with her more than anything else. he lets her have some of his cacti when baby cacti grow in their pots. he doesn’t let just anyone touch his plants

if there’s one change, it might be that jack becomes more insistent on taking her out to train with him. in his own words, she’s “gotta be strong to support her future wife” or something- it’s his way of looking out for her

he’s simply so, so glad things turned out fine. being as hard-headed (as tsun, as she calls him) as he is, he had refused to even acknowledge he had a crush for a long time, and once he did, he was stressed it’d ruin this... just really nice friendship he didn’t think he’d find at NRC. but once everything is all talked out, it’s like a stone has been lifted off his chest. he’s fine, she’s fine, they’re still friends: this is all he could ask for, really

epel felmier

you cannot convince me epel’s little farming village didn’t have at least a couple little old gay grandmas that all pretty much adopted him as a grandson and all baked apple pies for him and gave him little embroidered handkerchiefs for his birthday. this is a fact and you cannot change my mind

when his darling first tells him she’d just... never be able to feel the same way, he’s crushed at first. it’s more of the shock of the rejection than anything else: he hears all she says, but he’s not listening

it takes a couple hours for it all to sink in. oooh. ooooh. ooooh it all makes sense now

he’s so embarrassed about how he first of all never bothered ask if she was even into men, and second of all how he reacted to being turned down for the most logical reason on earth, that he’s fretting over how to apologize. he almost considers asking rook for help but quickly realizes that would be the worst decision he could ever make.

he wants to show that it’s ok!! even if he got turned down and even if he did crush on her it’s cool and he still wants to be friends!! he’s a man and he’s only going to get manlier so of course a romantic relationship could never work, but... he still wants to maintain their friendship!!

he most likely comes over with a carved apple and an apology so genuine that his country accent slips out heavily. everything he’s said he still means! even if it’s just as friends, he still wants to take her to his hometown to pick apples, and he still wants her to be on front row when he’s playing magift- because she’s his closest friend!

sebek zigvolt

honestly yeah this works out yeah

sebek’s biggest stressor is that his crush doesn’t let him concentrate on protecting lord malleus. silly little romantic thoughts about his friend make him get distracted for one second and then poof lord malleus has gone to explore some abandoned building and now him and silver have to comb the entire campus to find him

he’d actually planned to bottle it up until it went away, but it wasn’t going away, so lilia pushed him to confess saying he’d “feel better once he got it out”. and what he got from it was a gentle rejection and an explanation that she’s actually just into girls, which was... a relief??

sure, it hurts a little. a lot, actually, because sebek is already terrible at managing his emotions. but once he looks at the situation, he... feels like it’s actually quite a good deal

he gets to keep his closest friend (although he’d be dead before saying something so cheesy about them), his little crush has been popped and deflated so he can go back to guarding malleus, and it almost feels like there’s just... more trust between him and her?

in the end, sebek is just happy to have someone to be friends with, even if he’d never admit it. sure, he might say lord malleus is all he needs in life, but lilia can attest that sebek looks equally as happy- if not happier- when he’s hanging out with his friend than when he guards malleus

#twst #twisted wonderland #ace trappola #deuce spade #jack howl #epel felmier #sebek zigvolt #Anonymous

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pindaleng · 4 years

Link

Merry Pitchmas @anotherbechloeshipper !!

Had so much fun writing this one, hope you enjoy it :)

Title: In From the Snow

Pairing: Bechloe

Chapters: 1/1

Wordcount: 2943

Summary: Beca didn’t anticipate making many friends her freshman year, much less become best friends with one Chloe Beale. When a snow storm ruins both their plans to travel home, they get to spend some quality time together. Beca thinks this might be her best chance to tell the other girl how she feels.

Read on AO3 or below.

Beca stared gloomily at the large flakes falling outside her dorm window.

There was no way her old Camry would be able drive more than ten miles an hour in these conditions. The forecast said “heavy snow”, but she didn’t realize it’d be this bad.

She totally would have left a few days earlier if she didn’t have a final scheduled for the absolute last day of the semester. It’s not like she was super excited about heading back home either, but she knew her dad and step mom would give her shit for it.

She sighed. Might as well text them now to rip off that band-aid.

Shortly after she sent the message, she heard a knock on her opened door.

“Hey, you’re still here!”

In the doorway stood Chloe Beale, undoubtedly the coolest person on their dorm floor. Beca (to her surprise) got along with most of the people on her floor, but something about Chloe specifically drew her in.

Admittedly, she found the other girl annoying at first, as she seemed like the high school girls that were fake nice just to talk about you behind your back. She soon learned, though, that Chloe was the real deal.

But not of course before giving her a hard time for a couple of months. Frustratingly, but thankfully, Chloe was incredibly persistent. Beca hadn’t really expected to make so many friends, intending to keep her head down and make her way through, but everyone grew on her. Especially Chloe.

“Yeah, unfortunately still here.” Beca replied. “Wanted to drive out today but doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen.”

Chloe invited herself in and hopped onto Beca’s bed. She hummed in understanding. “I just got back from the store and driving was for sure a struggle. Definitely would not recommend.”

“Great. You’re staying here too, then?”

“Yep! Which means you get to spend time with little ol’ me.” She propped her head on her hands. “Any plans for the day?”

There wasn’t really a Plan B since she didn’t expect her driving-back-home Plan A to not work out. “Not really, probably just gonna work on some mixes.”

“Can I join?”

“Yes, please make it a little less sad that I’m stuck here on Christmas Eve.”

“Sweet, I’ll be back.” Chloe slid off the bed and make her way out the room. “Don’t have too much fun without me!”

Beca just rolled her eyes and started setting up her laptop.

Chloe came back moments later with her sketchbook and colored pencils, and settled on Beca’s roommate’s bed. Both of them were friends with Stacie, so they knew she wouldn’t mind her bed being used.

They passed time peacefully like this for a couple of hours, each doing their separate thing.

Beca was so engrossed in her music that she doesn’t notice Chloe call out her name until the other girl waved at her to get her attention.

She slipped off her headphones. “What’s up?”

“I was thinking about getting some food soon. You in?”

The hunger hit her stomach now that food was mentioned. “Yeah, I could eat. Where at?” Though the dorms stayed open, dining halls were closed. There were plenty of places nearby though, and many of whom delivered. They went back and forth suggesting restaurants until Chloe looked like she had an epiphany. “We should go to that new ramen place!”

Beca’s immediate reaction was to pout, as they didn’t deliver. Chloe laughed.

“Oh come on, it’s a five minute walk, max. You big baby.” Chloe playfully poked her cheek. “Plus it’s super pretty outside.”

“And it’s super warm inside.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I’m going with or without you.”

The ultimatum was effective. Beca grumbled but put her coat on anyways. The reluctance was really just all show, as she would probably walk naked into a freezing lake for the other girl.

Snow was steadily falling outside, blanketing all the surfaces in a thick layer of white. Campus was quiet, as most of the students had already left for the holidays. It was both eerie and calming. The absence of drunk frat guys yelling, though, was definitely a plus.

“Okay I admit, it is pretty outside.” But you’re prettier. The automatic thought was so cheesy she almost threw up a bit in her mouth. Since when did she think such gross things? She could practically see Stacie smirking annoyingly at her.

Chloe grinned in victory, and Beca’s heart swooped.

Her brain definitely wasn’t lying though: Chloe was undoubtedly beautiful. The snowflakes in Chloe’s hair contrasted perfectly with the red color, making her look like some sort of magazine model. It felt kind of unfair that she could exist like that and not know what she was doing to poor Beca’s soul.

—

When the waitress asked if they needed one or two checks, Chloe replied “just one” before Beca could get a word in.

As the waitress walked away, Beca sent a questioning look to the redhead.

Chloe shrugged, “It’s easier for them to just run a single card.” Beca offered to pay her back, but she insisted it to be a holiday present. If Beca didn’t know better, she would have swore it was a date.

They were on their way back to the dorms when Beca felt something hit the back of her head.

She whipped around. “Hey!”

Chloe was already packing another snowball, clearly out for blood. She quickly launched that one too, which Beca barely managed to sidestep. She bent down to create her own snow projectile.

Chloe began to run away to get out of range, so Beca went to chase her. Unfortunately, Beca slipped on the snow and fell. Chloe was immediately at her side. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

The snow cushioned her fall pretty well, but Beca didn’t want to give that away just yet. She faked a grimace. “I think I broke my leg.”

“Oh shit.” Chloe furrowed her eyebrows in worry. “I’m so sorry I-“

Beca felt too bad that she immediately stopped her. “I’m joking, I’m actually fine.”

It took a moment to register, and then Chloe slapped her on the arm. “You scared me!”

Beca rubbed the spot where she was hit. “Ok now I actually have to go to the hospital.”

Chloe just slapped her arm again, before offering a hand to pull her up. Beca took it but didn’t get up. Chloe looked confused as Beca smirked, and then pulled the other girl down into the snow with her. She fell on her face in the fresh snow with a satisfying poof.

“Oh my god, you asshole.” Chloe laughed after pulling her face up, and shoved at the other girl, who was still laying in the snow.

“Chlo you have a beard.” Beca was practically wheezing at the sight of Chloe having snow stuck all over her face. “Still hot though.”

Chloe modeled it, striking poses and getting up to walk down an imaginary runway, while Beca yelled after her, hyping her up.

They messed around in the snow for a while longer, then took the long way back. Beca considered complaining about the cold and wet seeping in, but Chloe just looked so happy. Plus, it really was nice outside. Walking with Chloe in the peace of campus was a moment Beca wanted to keep tucked in her pocket forever.

—

After getting back, they went to take showers (separately) to warm themselves up, deciding to reconvene later in Chloe’s room. Beca sat on her bed with her hair in a towel, scrolling through her phone. She opened a message from Stacie, who was definitely one of her best friends in college so far. She flew out a couple of days ago and told Beca not to “get too freaky” while she was gone. Beca practically shoved her out the door.

Stacie [6:31 pm]: You make it home?

Beca [7:13 pm]: No, stuck here. Stupid snow.

A reply immediately came in.

Stacie [7:13 pm]: Ugh that sucks, are you by yourself then?

Beca hesitated on what exactly to say, knowing Stacie would immediately make fun of her for the truth.

Beca [7:15 pm]: Not exactly…..Chloe is also still here

Stacie [7:16 pm]: !!!!!!!!!!

Stacie [7:16 pm]: BECA

Stacie [7:16 pm]: THIS IS YOUR CHANCE

Beca [7:17 pm]: Dude she doesn’t like me

Stacie [7:18 pm]: Do NOT bother coming back to campus if you don’t shoot your shot right now

Stacie [7:19 pm]: Joking but also not

Stacie [7:19 pm]: She hangs out w you all the time. She actually listens to your music recs. Plz do something.

Stacie [7:20 pm]: Ok talk later family is calling for dinner, good luck!!!!!

Beca [7:21 pm]: ??? I’m going to ignore that you basically implied not listening to any of the music I’ve suggested

She fell back onto her bed. She wanted to make a move, and she did feel like there could be something between them. However, each time Chloe was nice to someone else, she got psyched out believing that Chloe was always just being platonically nice to her. No flirting involved.

With each passing day, though, it became harder to deny she wanted her. And how badly she did. She caught herself staring a bit too long, and hung endlessly on the small touches Chloe would always do. A brush of the finger here, and a hair tucked behind an ear there. Beca thought some days she might explode.

She texted Chloe to ask if she was ready yet.

Chloe [7:25 pm]: Sorry got distracted!! Hopping in the shower now.

With the extra time, Beca decided to finish the mix she was working on earlier that day. There was something off about it that she couldn’t quite figure out, but coming back to it now, she figured out what it was missing. She listened to it a few times to make sure she was really happy with it before mastering it.

A text came in from Chloe, letting her know she could come over whenever.

Beca quickly added the song to a USB which already contained many music files, then placed the drive into a small pink, cardboard box she got from Stacie. The box originally held a necklace, which made it the perfect size for her gift.

She stashed it in her sweater pocket then made her way to Chloe’s room in the other wing of the floor.

It was still relatively early in the night, so Chloe suggested a movie. Beca wasn’t one for movies usually, but it wasn’t like she had any better ideas.

They cuddled together on the small dorm bed in Chloe’s den of pillows, with the laptop in front of them. The movie was actually pretty good, despite all the bad decisions the main character kept making, and the fact that Beca missed half the plot due to glancing at Chloe instead, and being nervous about how close they were.

“Thoughts?” Chloe turned down the volume as the credits began to roll.

“I think she should have gone with the second guy.”

“Really? I thought he was kind of iffy.”

They proceeded have a lively discussion about the movie, with Beca continuing to argue mostly to mess with Chloe, who seemed quite adamant about the main character’s end choice of romantic partner. It ended with Chloe tickling her until Beca finally admitted her defeat.

“Okay, close your eyes.”

Beca looked at Chloe warily, still catching her breath from the tickling attack. “Um, why?”

“Just do it.”

She sighed but did as she was told.

“No peeking!”

Her index finger drew a cross above her heart, signaling her promise to not look.

“Okay, you can open them now.”

In front of her was a piece of paper carefully rolled into a tube and bound with a red bow. Beca picked it up, gingerly untying the ribbon, unraveling her gift. Her jaw dropped.

“Chloe…”

In her hands was a pencil sketch of her with headphones on, smiling and almost on the verge of laughing. Honestly, she never thought about what she looked like while she was happy. The image of herself in her mind was always some version of broody. Is this how Chloe saw her? Beca wasn’t one to usually cry, but she might have teared up a bit.

“This is…incredible.”

Chloe looked kind of nervous. The same way that Beca was protective of showing others her music, Chloe was hesitant to show much of her art. “You like it?”

“Dude I love it. Seriously.” That reassurance seemed to put Chloe at ease. “Okay, your turn to close your eyes.”

Chloe did it without hesitation, and also held out her hands. Beca shook her head a bit in amusement and placed the small box into her palm.

“Okay, open.”

She opened her eyes and lifted the lid of the box to find a black USB drive, with a piece of tape on the side simply labeled “For Chloe”.

Her smile widened as she realized what her present was. “Do I get to finally listen to your music?”

“Maybe.”

“It means a lot, Beca. Thank you.”

“Um yeah, no problem. Don’t tell me if you end up thinking it’s bad.” She joked.

“Oh please, you’re going to have to block me with how many good things I’ll say.”

“Don’t tempt me, I might delete your contact right now.”

Chloe laughed. “Oh please, like you could last a day without me. Also, I actually have another present for you.” She scotched a bit closer to Beca.

“Oh,” Beca furrowed her eyebrows. “Well, I don’t have anything el-“

She was swiftly cut off as Chloe kissed her, soft and sweet. So polite and unassuming it almost felt platonic.

But god did it give Beca butterflies.

Chloe pulled away so quickly that Beca wasn’t sure it even happened. Like maybe she just daydreamed too hard and manifested a hallucination.

She must have had a deer in the headlights look because Chloe suddenly got super shy. “Was that okay?” She whispered, face still close.

Beca finally came to her senses. “Yeah, totally. More than okay. Amazing really.” She must look like a blushing mess.

The corner of Chloe’s mouth quirked up in amusement and relief. “Yeah?”

“Still could be better, though.” Good work Beca, make a joke to regain some semblance of having her shit together.

“Oh?” She watched Chloe lick her lips, a mesmerizing motion. The shyness was all but gone, replaced by something much more confident, and destined to ruin Beca’s life. And she knew she’d welcome it with open arms.

—

Beca woke up in the morning to the light touch of fingers trailing along her jaw. She smiled, remembering where she was, and more importantly, who was besides her. She probably had the best night of sleep in her life. “Can’t keep your hands off of me, Beale?” She asked, keeping her eyes closed.

“Are you going to try and stop me?” Chloe whispered. Her raspy morning voice was really so damn attractive.

She opened one eye, smiling. “I wouldn’t dare.”

“Good.” Chloe leaned in for a long kiss, the hand on her face pulling Beca closer. Her breath hitched. She didn’t think she could ever get used to this. Kissing Chloe Beale. Touching her.

She pulled away all too soon, just as Beca began to want her even more. Beca was quickly learning how much of a tease Chloe was.

“i’m going to get ready, and then maybe we can go get breakfast somewhere?”

“Or…we can stay in bed all day.”

Chloe giggled, and Beca almost professed her love. “Becs, both of us gotta head home.”

“Do we though?”

Chloe just smiled as she slipped out of bed and grabbed her toothbrush and face towel. Before she was completely out the door, she gave her butt a little shake, as if she could tell Beca was staring at her clad in a large t-shirt and sleep shorts. Beca was sure Chloe was smirking as she did it.

As soon as she was out of sight, Beca grabbed her phone from the desk. A text from her dad and a couple from Stacie. She opened the messages from the latter.

Stacie [11:13 pm]: How’d it go?

Stacie [11:30 pm]: I’m assuming the silence is a good thing and ur just too busy making out with Chloe to reply ;)

Beca typed out a quick message.

Beca [9:30 am]: So…..

Stacie [9:30 am]: THIS BETTER BE GOOD NEWS

Beca [9:31 am]: How do you keep replying so quickly??

Stacie [9:31 am]: How about you stop avoiding

Beca thought of the million different things she could say, but opted for simplicity.

Beca [9:32 am]: :)

Stacie [9:33 am]: Is that good

Stacie [9:33 am]: Beca is that good

Stacie [9:34 am]: ?????

She set her phone down, feeling giddy. It might have been a bit cruel to leave Stacie hanging, but she’d get over it. She’d get the full story eventually, but right now, Beca wanted to keep as much of this thing with Chloe to herself as possible. Definitely not like a shameful secret, though.

Something about telling someone about it, however vaguely, made last night and this morning seem actually real. She had this feeling deep in her chest that this was the start of something incredible, which made her both excited and a bit scared. Ok a lot scared. Terrified even.

It sucked that they’d have be apart right as they were starting something. Winter break couldn’t be over soon enough.

#bechloe #merry pitchmas 2020 #pitchmas 2020 #pitch perfect #beca mitchell #chloe beale #stacie conrad #college AU #snowed in #fic #anotherbechloeshipper

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thearvariblues · 4 years

Text

The Real Loki Always Chokes Me

Sooo... I might have actually written a fic for @zombieporno‘s prompt from... last week, I guess. Except that my brain only managed the first part, since I don't have the patience for the asshole avoiding Tony. Bear with me, writing this took me a week. :D I might write an alternate version of this when he does avoid him, though - when I find my patience again, and maybe stop spending my evenings playing Witcher 3 instead of writing. :D

But until then... enjoy this, I guess?

Contrary to popular belief, Tony Stark didn’t really enjoy being a superhero. Well, yes, he enjoyed some parts of it, but others he kind of hated.

Like being dragged out of his workshop (when he was getting so fucking close to finding the solution for the problem that had been on his mind for two weeks now) by yet another attempt at world domination.

Though, to be fair, their current opponent wasn’t really trying to sit on the ruler-of-the-whole-world’s throne anymore. He was more or less just being an annoying piece of shit, probably just wanting to have some fun while he was stuck here in ‘Midgard’ as he insisted on calling it.

It was Loki, of course.

For the past five months, it had always been Loki. Almost as if he had bribed all the other villains not to attack.

Since his ‘having fun’ mostly consisted of robbing quite a few banks by teleporting in and out of them, he very well might have had. The guy would soon get richer than Tony himself.

“So what’s our drama queen done this time?” Tony asked as they took off in the quinjet. “Please don’t tell me it’s a dildo rain again.”

“I’ve told you a million times, we don’t call it a dildo rain,” Steve growled.

“It was literally raining dildos, Cap, what do you want to call it?” Clint smirked.

“I… I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. It’s not dildo rain today, so could we just stop talking about it?”

“Sounds like someone should have stolen one of those dildos and taken it home,” Natasha chuckled. “Like Tony did.”

“Like Tony what?!” Bruce blinked.

“What?” Tony shrugged. “Purely technically, Loki stole my credit card and used it to pay for all those… toys.”

“It’s worse somehow when you call them toys instead of dildos,” Steve sighed.

“Yeah, well. They were paid for with my money. So they were mine, weren’t they? I could have taken all of them instead of like… five most interesting.”

“My brother would be delighted to hear someone takes pleasure in his mischief,” Thor commented.

“Oh, yes. Lots and lots of pleasure.”

“Guys. Stop,” Bruce said, clearly fighting a chuckle. “I think Cap’s about to start crying…”

It really wasn’t a dildo rain this time. It was more of a… Loki rain. Or a Loki avalanche.

It was a few hundreds of perfect clones of Loki annoying the living daylights out of everyone they could find. They disappeared upon being touched, yes, but they were also extremely good at avoiding being touched in the first place.

As the team found out when Hulk ran straight through three of the clones and into the building behind them. This incident made Tony stop trying to assess the damage and give JARVIS an instruction to just pay for everything the idiots manage to destroy while ‘saving the world’.

Then he proceeded to turn off his comm, fly up to the roof of the nearest high building and just watch the spectacle underneath. Cap would give him hell for that, he was sure, but he kind of didn’t care.

“And what in Hel’s name are you doing here?” asked a growling voice just a few seconds after he had landed.

Tony turned around, let his helmet fold down and cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, look, a clone Loki. Hey. How you doing?”

The Loki in front of him frowned, tilting his head.

“You’re supposed to be fighting the clones.”

“Nah. Too boring,” Tony shrugged. “You make Loki disappear. Turn around, another Loki. And look, another. Loki, Loki, Loki.”

“That’s the point,” the clone hissed.

“Yeah, I got that much. But hey, look, even though you’re all hot as fuck, the battle isn’t particularly amusing, you know?”

Loki blinked, so puzzled that Tony almost felt sorry for the clone.

“Hot as…” the clone whispered under his breath.

“Yeah, I mean… God, I hope you’re not connected to the real Reindeer Games. Fuck. If you are, can we pretend I never said what I said? I tend to let my mouth talk without my brain controlling it.”

“Connected to the real…” the clone gave an ugly chuckle. “I am the real Loki!”

Now it was Tony’s turn to frown and tilt his head.

“Nah,” he said after a long inspection. “You’re not. Haven’t tried to kill me yet. Not even to choke me. The real Loki always chokes me.”

The clone’s face went completely blank at that.

“Uhm… Hey?” Tony said after a few seconds of silence. “Did I actually manage to break a clone? Error 503: Brain Unavailable?”

The clone shook his head, probably to clear it, and took a step towards Tony.

“You idiot,” he growled. “You impossible mortal. I will crush you underneath my heel, you–”

“See? Now you sound like the real stuff!” Tony grinned. “Just a little angrier… That’s it! Perfect. Now to the crushing, while I’m not exactly into hard BDSM, I do like to get a liiittle kinky… Uhm, back to the question, you really aren’t connected to Loki himself, are you?”

“I am Loki!” the clone snarled.

“Yeah, we’ve been through this. The choking, baby. Except you can’t. Because you can’t touch me. Because if you touch me, poof, you’re gone.”

“Are you asking me to prove to you that I am real?”

“Yup. Indulge me.”

“As you wish.”

A split second later, Tony felt a very real and totally non-disappearing hand close around his throat and he came to a realization that he had made a terrible, terrible mistake.

But before he could utter the words ‘Don’t kill me, it was just a joke’, or even a mere ‘Oh, fuck’, Loki’s lips crashed against his in a wild and passionate and hungry kiss.

Tony’s brain stopped working for a second. Or two. Maybe even ten. Because when he came back to his senses, Loki was just pulling away, breathing heavily, his face a perfect mask of horror.

“Wow,” Tony gasped, licking his lips. “I know I said indulge me, but I haven’t expected that. If I say I’m not entirely convinced yet, can I have more?”

Loki’s eyes went even wider at that, and then he disappeared in a flash of green light.

“Okay,” Tony nodded. “I take that as a no. Shame, really.”

A look down to the street revealed that all the clones were gone, too.

Right. Time to go home.

It had been four days since the whole clones-and-kissing incident and if Tony was to be honest, he kind of couldn’t stop thinking about it. Well, he could – but the thought was always somewhere at the back of his mind, always ready to show up and remind him that hey, Loki, as in Thor’s brother Loki, as in the wannabe-world conqueror, kissed you and you liked it.

And he did. Very much.

That was why he didn’t mind when he walked into his penthouse only to find said god sitting on his couch and reading a book.

A fucking book.

“Uhm,” Tony commented. “JARVIS?”

“I tried to alert you, sir,” the AI said. “Two hours ago. But you told me to, I quote, shut the fuck up, J, or you’re gonna spend the rest of your days in a fucking elevator, calling out the number of the floor. End quote.”

“You might have said it was… urgent,” Tony muttered as Loki looked up from his book and smirked.

“I really don’t wish to spend the rest of my days in an elevator, sir.”

“Right,” Tony nodded. “Hey, Lokitty. How you doing? J, I’m gonna need an armor at the ready.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Loki said and the book he was holding promptly disappeared. “I came to apologize, Stark.”

“Uhm… For what? I mean, there’s a long list of things you should be apologizing for, so let’s be specific there. Drink?” he asked, already heading for the kitchen.

“The kiss.”

That actually made Tony stop dead in his tracks. He frowned, turned around and stared at Loki.

“As in I’m sorry I ever kissed you, or…”

Loki sighed, avoiding his gaze. Tony realized the god wasn’t wearing his usual armor – only a pair of simple black jeans and a loose, long-sleeved green T-shirt. He looked… weirdly normal. Almost like a human.

“Oh, dear. No. Never,” Loki said, a corner of his lip twitching. “But I shouldn’t have done it without your permission.”

“Seriously?” Tony laughed, taking a step towards the couch. “You’re apologizing because you didn’t ask for consent first?”

“Well… Yes. It was inappropriate. Improper. Brutish.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Tony said, sitting next to Loki without really thinking about it. “I mean… It’s not perfect, I’ll give you that, but do you see me complaining?”

Loki kept staring anywhere but at Tony.

“I’m not some kind of an animal, unable to control my impulses…”

Tony’s brain kept trying to alert him that this was Loki, who was very much wild and unpredictable and, yeah, sometimes even unable to control his impulses. But Tony didn’t listen. Because this wild and unpredictable deity was just sitting there, biting his lower lip and apologizing for something as simple as a kiss.

“Impulses?” Tony repeated after him. “Sorry, just to be perfectly clear, was the impulse a one-off thing, or something you’d like to, perhaps… happen again?”

Loki’s eyes flicked to Tony’s, then to his lips, then up again, and away.

“I should go,” the god said. “I shouldn’t have come. It was stupid of me–”

“Or…” Tony murmured, his own eyes straying to Loki’s lips. His brain was screaming at him to stop, but Tony wouldn’t listen. He’d always been bad at controlling his impulses. “Or you could try again.”

“Anthony, are you seriously suggesting…”

“Fuck,” Tony whispered, a shiver running down his spine. He could have sworn that he hated his full name, but when he heard it from Loki’s lips like this… “Say that again.”

The god’s green eyes were so close and so full of longing that it took all of Tony’s willpower not to simply crash their lips together.

“May I… May I kiss you, Anthony?” Loki smiled.

“Yes,” Tony hissed. “Please. Yes.”

This kiss wasn’t wild and passionate and hungry. It was calm. Sweet. Loving.

And long.

Very… very long.

“Six months!” Steve growled. “Loki hasn’t been seen for six months. No attacks, no robberies, no showing-off, nothing. Thor isn’t even sure his brother is still on Earth!”

“I said I think he is,” Thor specified. “But it’s possible that he isn’t.”

Except that Tony knew perfectly well that Thor knew too damn well where Loki was at the moment, having visited the god only a few hours ago.

“Come on, don’t make a big deal out of it,” Clint sighed. “Maybe he’s just grown bored of us.”

“You? Maybe. Me? Never,” Tony smirked. “Everybody knows I’m amusing as hell and completely irresistible even to Norse gods!”

“And so very modest, too,” Natasha added. “But I’m with Clint – I think Loki’s just had enough. He might be back in the future, but for now, we should enjoy not having to see his fucking magic tricks every other day.”

“Agreed,” Bruce nodded. “I don’t think there’s a bigger plan. Just Loki being Loki.”

“I’d like to point out that even before his disappearance, Loki was mainly just causing mischief. I mean, we were the ones who did the most damage during his last, uhm… attack?” Tony shrugged.

“What if he just wanted to lull us into a false sense of security?” Steve asked. “While he prepares for something big?”

Tony sighed and shot a quick look at Thor.

“What do you think, Point Break? Does your baby bro have a great sinister plan to murder us all, or does he just have better things to do than being an annoying little shit?”

“The latter, I’d say,” Thor smiled, because he knew he was right. Loki did have better things to do. Tony, for a start.

And reading.

And watching sci-fi movies and TV shows.

And yelling “That’s not how space works!” at the TV.

Also cooking. Which was something he was surprisingly good at.

And studying all the ancient tomes and spellbooks Thor managed to sneak out of Asgard. There were a lot of those. So many that Tony had to transform a spare room into a study.

And if he was bored, he could always do Tony again. Of course.

Or, well, cause some minor mischief all around the Tower – like hiding Clint’s arrows in weird and random places, replacing Bruce’s herbal tea with mate (and then sulking when Tony spend the whole night in the lab with hyperactive Bruce, working on a project), making the elevator stop working so everyone had to take the stairs…

Or the thing he was doing just now, which was kneeling right in front of Tony, naked from waist up and undoubtedly invisible to everyone but him, stroking the inventor’s thighs not with his hands, but with his magic, slowly getting closer and closer to his crotch...

Tony drummed his fingers on the table and got to his feet.

“Alright, so are we agreed that Loki isn’t dangerous at the moment and his sudden disappearance doesn’t mean he’s got some nefarious secret plan?”

“Agreed,” Natasha said before Cap could even open his mouth.

“Good. If you’ll excuse me now, I gotta go. I also have better things to do.”

Loki, for a start.

The second the elevator door slid closed behind them, Tony felt a pair of hot lips on his neck.

“Let me guess. You got bored?” he chuckled before sighing softly.

“Very much so,” Loki purred. “And don’t even try to pretend that you were having fun, my love.”

“It wasn’t about having fun, sweetie. It was about you being… Oh, god, right there, Loki… It was about you being a threat to all of humanity and…”

“Oh, please. I’ve only been a threat to your fridge and alcohol stash lately.”

“And my poor T-shirts. I’m still waiting for you to find the pocket dimension where you hid the Black Sabbath one, you know.”

“That was one accident, Anthony! And it wasn’t exactly my fault. To think that they call me Silvertongue…”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Tony murmured, burying his fingers in Loki’s soft, curly hair. “I still want it back.”

“I’ll look for it, I promise.” Loki’s long fingers found their way underneath Tony’s T-shirt. “When I’m done with you. But I promise to deal with all your clothes the non-magical, old-fashioned way in the meantime.”

“You’d better,” Tony said.

The elevator stopped in the penthouse. Loki took Tony’s hand and dragged him out, grinning.

“You know what, Anthony? I’m really glad I kissed you on that roof.”

Tony smiled back, his heart suddenly so full of affection that it was almost hard to breathe.

“Yeah, Lokes. So am I.”

#frostiron #ironfrost #tony stark #loki #tony x loki #fluff and humor #domestic avengers #marvel fic #avengers fic #my fics

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deathstakes · 4 years

Text

How to be Buffy Summers — A Slayer How-To Guide: Tips, tricks and wood chips.

PREFACE: So you want to be the Slayer, huh? Well, newsflash. Everyone wants to be the hero. In the movies, it is flashy and cool. Well, here is a newsflash. Slaying isn’t exactly glam-o-rama. The movies really pump up the whole what it is like to be a hero, and let me tell you, it isn’t as cute.

Disclaimer: You might have heard a lot from the fang-population. They like to spread their gossip faster than a bunch of ladies sipping their afternoon tea. I’m here to clear the rumours and give you the insiders scoop.

I am more than just the Slayer. I am also Buffy. They go hand in hand like…. Hands going in hand. I like my weapons as much as I love a good sale. There’s nothing wrong with liking pink, dressing cute and also being able to kick some major ass, and trust me, if you ever doubt it, I can show you what a Slayer really is.

TIPS, TRICKS AND WOODCHIPS

1. There is nothing fashionable about eye bags. Concealer is your best friend.

Patrol usually ends around 3 a.m, if the vampires aren’t biting much. If I am lucky, I get about four hours of sleep a night, and if I am even luckier those four hours are free of nightmares or weird, cryptic-y apocalyptic messages. Most of the time, I am not, and my dreams aren’t steamy with Swayze but the uglies, but we never go past second base because they always seem to die when they try to handle my stake.

Those sleepless nights are going to make you want to wear a caffeine drip. Speaking of, coffee will be your other best friend. Thank me later.

Oh, and you’re also going to need a concealer for the bruises. Trust me on this, you’re going to find bruises in places you didn’t even know you could have bruises. Those rough tumbles aren’t without consequence. Sure, they’ll go away in a bit, but in the meantime, do what Elsa said. Conceal, don’t feel. Cover it with translucent powder to really set it in and don’t forget to colour correct! This works for both bruises and for those vampire bites. Totally hickey-proof.

2. Sisterly duties.

Make sure Dawn is up for the school day. I used to get up much easier, in my opinion. Also, remember to pack a stake in her lunch and some holy water, just in case. You never know when she is going to need them considering she has a habit of getting kidnapped every other Tuesday. Replenish the supply every so often and get your witchy best friend to put in protection trinkets that you can slip into her backpack.

IMPORTANT: When it comes to her safety, nothing is off limits, at all. Monsters will play dirty if they have to, and the ones closest to you are the most susceptible. It’s a hard knock life.

3. Because this gig isn’t really big on the paying front, you also need a day job. Glamorous.

Remember that thing about how being a superhero isn’t like how it is in the movies. I was being dead serious about that. There isn’t a batmobile or really cool headquarters, unless you want to count the Magic Shop, and oh, that thing about getting paid? Hah. Yeah, you’re not really going to be rolling in the dough unless it is cookie dough. It is a whole, long-winded thing, so just make sure you have some resistance to temptation when you see a really, really good shoe sale. I am talkin’ goes with everything, cute but also practical heel. Don’t do it.

You might have to play pool shark, might need to flip some burgers and learn how to give your Buffy best smile while being dead inside, or you might need to bust an undercover demon black market. Get creative. Just don’t rob a bank. Morals still apply, you know.

TIP: Having a boyfriend who is good at forging credit cards is really helpful. Though, sometimes, he gets too crafty with the aliases.

4. Unchipped manicures? Puh-lease.

I’m going to give it to you straight, so it doesn’t get hard later on. You know that feeling of freshly painted nails? Don’t get used to it. There has yet to be a patrol that I go on that doesn’t end up with me chipping my polish.You’d think someone would get into the market for this stuff and break the bank, but nope. Well, considering I would probably be their only customer... Don’t even think about acrylics, who has the time and also, not great for grip. Gel? You’d think it would hold, but let me tell you, not even the best formula can stand against the roughest of tumbles.

Having pretty, polished nails was nice while it lasted. That isn’t to say I don’t do my nails, now, because I do. I’m not letting fangs take that away from me. They already took away my sleep.

5. Healing.

So, right about now, you might be starting to realize that being a superhero isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. So, let me throw in a decent thing. This isn’t to get recruits or anything. This job position is filled until further notice (or until I get the axe.) One of the good things about the gig is that you heal faster. That isn’t to say you don’t get hurt, because oh boy, do you get hurt. The pain aspect is still there, but you’ll heal a broken bone in days compared to weeks only to break it again. I’ve made with the stabby, and gotten out of the hospital the same night because I was healing quickly. Other than the limping, the bruises that go away in a day or two and the scars are barely there scars, you’re golden.

But that doesn’t mean that I am invincible.

If Slayers were invincible, I wouldn’t be here.

I still have my scars (the ones that can be seen) on my neck. From the Master, from Angel and those couple rounds with Dracula that I went, but that’s for another time. The naked eye can’t really see them, but get me under some great selfie taking lighting and it's there, just a sheen paler than my skin tone.

TIP: If you are trying to hide fresh ones, try scarves. Fashionable, but practical. Ascots if you’re into looking like Fred Jones, hubba hubba.

6. The weapon of the tongue. No, not that weapon.

Anyone can learn high kicks and how to throw a punch. Well, most anyone, anyways. But if you really want to know the inner workings of how to be Buffy, try me on for size. I only come in a small, though. When I do my rounds, I like to provide a double feature slayer combo, you know? Throw in a pun or two between my punches, give them a real show. You know why? It gets them going. It drives them crazy, and they get angry. That anger helps fuel the whole show. Also, I am great at talking circles, so sometimes, you just keep going and going and watch their undead brains try to scramble it together, and while they are doing that?

PRESTO-POOF-O.

It really is a Buffy skill, even if Giles doesn’t think so.

Well, except when it gets me in trouble because part of being me is realizing that my mouth speaks faster than my brain tends to comprehend and then it just becomes a whole intangible tangent that really shouldn’t even be called a tangent, because really, who---

7. Sacrificing fashion for slayage.

This one hurts me to write. This one hurts me because it is still something I struggle with, but what can I say? I’m a lifelong learner, dedicated to becoming the best. Nerd alert. There was a time when I used to dress cute. You know, the minis and the halters? The to-die-for booties? Well, guess what? Long gone are those days. Now, I aim for pr… for… prac… for practical. Sorry, it is still a touchy thing.

That doesn’t mean you still can’t dress cute, because you totally can. Have I given up my style? Nope, not a chance, and hey, sometimes my halters still see the life of patrol because I believe when we look and feel our best, we slay the best (Can I get an amen?) I wear booties all the time, but it’s because I know how to run in heels.

Body con dresses and tight skirts? Save them for a day you aren’t slaying, because otherwise, you’ll be sitting in a bank and suddenly be faced with a bank-robbing demon and you’ll have to slit your favorite pencil skirt with shears so you have enough leg room to fly-kick that ugly.

That was a nice skirt, it was.

8. Accessorizing is important.

It is no secret that accessorizing can make an outfit go from nay to yay. Come on, that is a given. But, being the Slayer, there are some accessories I have to make sure that I am wearing at all times. Keeping a cross on you all the time would be too bulky, and it isn’t for the religious aspect of things, so what do I do? Cross necklaces, chokers, rings or little dangly earrings can be the perfect way of making a vampire weak in the knees. Also, punching with rings really hits differently. For them, not me.

Keep some scarves on you, too, because well, it isn’t any of my business what happens to your necks, fangy or not.

TIP: Scrunchies? Make great face flingers if you need a real quick distraction to get out of a fangy situation. Just some tricks of the trade, you are welcome.

9. That appetite.

Let’s get personal, here. You think that you’re going to do all that cardio and vamp-ass slayage and not feel like you could eat a horse? Oh, it’s bad. Sometimes, the first thing I do when I am done patrol is hit whatever place is open or go straight for the fridge. It’s never cravings for a salad, either, nope. It’s 3 a.m, and all you want is a stack of double chocolate chip pancakes, some sunny side up eggs, hash and extra greased up bacon, maybe even some triple scoop chocolate shakes.

Dawn says she always feels like she is interrupting the fridge and I when she walks in on us, because my head is just always sticking inside it, but what do kids know, huh?

Also… there is another kind of appetite. This is why this book isn’t in the kids section. We’re all grown ups here. Sometimes, all you need is to get rid of that tickle that seems to always find a place. It’s explosive until you give in and have to do something about it. It’s kind of why I prefer solo-slaying, it gets real intimate.

A low-fat yogurt does the trick, too.

10. Weapons, ooh.

So, we talked about the power of words, but here comes the good stuff. Let me tell you, nothing feels good as the first poof after a freshly shaven stake. I never thought I would ever admit to that, but here we are. It is important to always keep your weapons ready to fight like it was the end of the world, because most times? It is.

Try to keep a knife in your boots. Pockets are important because you can slip in stakes discreetly enough, but don’t make them too bulky. Keep important spells on your phone because you’re not carrying around books everywhere you go. Never forget your phone, your gloss, crosses and holy water. You know, the essentials.

My favourite weapon? My precious baby. My scythe. It looks sweet and is just as killer. I like it for its double functionality because it does both the beheading mucho smoothly and the point of the stake? Talk about hot.

…. Yes, we all get attached to our weapons.

As for guns, they are still pointless.

Keep your weapons hidden. Somewhere they won’t be found. I went through storing them in places I knew my mom wouldn’t bother looking (crosses and holy water vials between the bookshelves, stakes in the closet…) Maybe build a trunk for it, for all your storage needs. This is where I plug Xander Harris. He built me a beautiful trunk on my 21st birthday. Give him a call.

11. Do NOT sleep with vampires.

So, here’s the thing. I don’t want to be a hypocrite but, sometimes, I just have to say it. Do not sleep with the enemy. Here’s the thing. I get it. I know. There’s this whole mysterious aspect to it, and sometimes at the end of it all, you just want to knock your boots with someone, BUT DO NOT SLEEP WITH THE UNDEAD. It never works out good for anyone. There are too many complications, like the loss of souls and dignity. The only shaft they should be getting worked is the stake.

There are plenty of living, breathing, normal human fish in the sea.

Seriously, screw vampires. By that, I mean don’t.

This message was brought to you in part by the Learn from Buffy’s Mistakes Association, because clearly she never did.

12. Don’t let it turn you into stone.

I’m going to get real with you. Being the Slayer… it is so easy to cut yourself off. From the world and everyone around you, because you think that it is easier that way. That it’ll hurt less if you keep this unbudging wall between you and the people you care about. Somewhere along the way, the hard heartens from all the losses that turn you into a ghost of who you were. Somewhere along the way, you stop wearing your heart on your sleeve because you’re not that innocent or naive girl anymore.

Being the slayer… it makes me different. It makes me different in a way that I don’t think anyone will ever truly understand, even when they say they do. I’m not saying that because I think highly of myself or I am trying to keep people at bay. It is just the way it is. This is a fight that belongs to the Chosen One, even when she didn’t ask to be Chosen.

It is about trying to find that balance. For a long time, I cut myself off, and sometimes I still find myself having a hard time letting other people in because I tend to swallow in myself when things get hard. I don’t like putting that on other people… they deal with enough just by slayer association. Now, I try.

I try to embrace the way my emotions give me power, the way they make me feel, even when I feel the most vulnerable - even more than I am mid-battle.

13. Don’t fight it, just accept it. - stop being so hard on yourself, you’re one girl.

One girl in all the world...

I used to hate it. I used to despise Destiny and wanted to give it the finger. For a long time, I hated this life. Hell, there are still times when I wish I wasn’t ‘the One.’ Being the one sucks, sometimes. The losses, the sacrifices, the constant worrying about everyone around you?

It hits harder when I think about the ones I couldn’t save. Yeah, I saved a bunch of people, but what about the ones I couldn’t? That is on me and only me. This is the heavy, so-not-star spangled stuff that sleeps with me every night. The guilt. The could-haves, the should-haves…

I have grown from not accepting this role to embracing what I bring as the Slayer. I know I am damn good at it, total humble-brag. Hey, longest lived for a reason, okay. My stats are impressive.

Sure, there are days where my bones are downright tired. There’s an ache I can’t really explain, and hurt that never goes away and sits in my chest. I have to remind myself that if it is not me, then it is some other girl and I want to save that girl and have her live a normal life for just a little bit longer, you know? She might have something important to get to. She might be Dawn’s age. I could never do that to her.

Every day, I am doing the best I can. There’s only me, and sometimes, only me needs to cut herself a break. Just like most everyone needs to cut themselves a break, sometimes. Have a break, have a Kit-Kat.

*** BONUS TIP: Practice safe necks. Just, please, people. We live in Sunnydale, this should be obvious. Don’t give into Sunnydale Syndrome, have a little awareness.*

CONCLUSION: There you have it, folks. A little intel about the oh so (not) glamorous life of a Slayer. Not coming to a theatre nowhere near you because books on my life are enough, thank you very much. If you have any questions, please contact your local library or that idiot named Carver Edlund. Spam him, spam him good, maybe even send him some hate-mail while you are at it.

END NOTE: If Giles finds this, I repeat, I did not write this. This was written by someone else who knows way too much about me. Probably Dawn because she reads my diary all the time.

A Buffy Summers Publication ™

#✞ :: | ✦ ❛ Drabbles of the Chosen One

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cosmic-coyote7 · 4 years

Text

• My first posted jatp fic!! The idea came to me because I thought opening s2 with a flashback from one of the boys' pov would be interesting, so I picked Alex! This is his pov during the emotional third act in episode 9.

I hope y'all enjoy. ♡ •

~☆~♤~☆~♤~

This Family is Back

Not having control over your own body while being thrust before a crowd was the most terrifying experience Alex had ever endured. That was saying something because he vaguely remembered dying, but at least that had been quick.

This extended music number was agony. Even though the crowd before them was happily watching, dancing along, and enjoying the nightlife of the Hollywood Ghost Club, he was feeling quite the opposite.

His hands were moving and controlling his drum sticks as he struck the drums and tapped the symbols, but it was not because he wanted to. He was planted to his stool, unable to do more than watch in horror as the band around him danced and played their instruments with smiles glued to their glossed lips.

What was worse was seeing the faces of his bandmates.

Reggie looked terrified as his body jerkily danced across the stage, his fingers moving automatically on his bass guitar, but he was nothing more than a puppet on strings. He had zero control of his own body.

Luke was clearly fighting the hold of the puppeteer. His feet dragged even as his hands shredded cords on his electric guitar. His face was the picture of furious with his turned down brows and slightly bared teeth. He was fighting hard to break free, but was unable to.

They were all strong spirits in their own way, but the one who commanded them was stronger.

Alex strained against the invisible bonds that kept him planted behind the drum set and playing so mechanically, but it was hopeless. Caleb had his hooks dug into them, and the jolts had weakened them to the point they couldn't fight back.

Reggie had frustrated tears in his eyes as he too struggled to throw off Caleb's spell, while Luke looked ready to punch the magician square in the face.

Alex felt like that if he wasn't a ghost, he would be sweating from the effort of trying to regain control.

When the song ended, the playing stopped but they were all trapped on stage. The crowd applauded, blissfully unaware of the torment the band was enduring for the sake of entertaining them and keeping Caleb wealthy. The whole situation was enough to send Alex's brain into a panicked spiral.

Reggie had stopped playing and was looking around at his two friends, his legs locked in place but his arms trembling. Luke was in a similar state, but while Reggie still looked shocked and scared, Luke just looked angry.

Their second chance at performing at the Orpheum and their path to potentially crossing over had been blocked by a conniving and wealthy ghost. The man in question stood front and center stage as he bowed and took in the storm of applause for him and his new band.

People were cheering their names, including some lifers they had all spoken to the first night at the Hollywood Ghost Club. They waved cheerfully at them as they clapped.

Applause shouldn't feel this terrifying.

Alex's eyes swept the crowd, searching for not a lifer but a ghost who he wanted to make sure was okay. Willie had sacrificed so much just to get Julie and the Phantoms on stage at the Orpheum, and now he was nowhere to be seen.

Had Caleb done something to him? Maybe the evil magician had discovered that Willie had gone behind his back and was now punishing him. Caleb was the type to throw pain at others if he didn't get his way.

More panic made Alex tremble. He and his friends were in the grip of a crazy performer, and a guy he had started to harbor feelings for was missing.

It seemed so hopeless.

Then, just as a new song was starting up, Alex felt a weird tugging sensation in his chest, like an invisible hand were pulling on his shirt. His skin warmed, and he felt as if a crack had formed in the controlling spell.

"They were my friends... my band... my family."

The words were true. Alex knew that. Even if he had difficulty figuring out whose voice it was at first, the words themselves made sense to him.

They drew him in, stronger than Caleb's hold and like a light at the end of this tunnel of torment.

Alex held onto those words because he now knew who had uttered them.

Julie. Julie was talking about him, Luke, and Reggie. They were more than dead bandmates to her. They were her family.

Alex gripped onto that thought like a lifeline. The warmth from her words made it easier to push back against Caleb's hold. The more he thought about Julie, the easier it was for him to force himself to stop playing.

He thought of their rehearsals; of goofing around with Julie and the other two when they took breaks; of writing songs together and figuring out what melodies worked; and of just being around their lead singer. She was like sunshine: radiating her warmth and brightness wherever she went. She was brave, smart, compassionate, and she loved them. She loved them like family.

No sooner had Alex let this thought take a hold of him did he hear Julie's voice again, this time singing. She was belting out lyrics for a song they had all written together.

Whatever happens

Even if I'm the last standing

Ima stand tall

Whatever happens

Even when everything's down

Ima stand tall

Alex followed her voice in his head and focused on poofing. He needed to get to Julie. That's all he could focus on was finding her. They had a show to do - the most important show of their lives.

Ima stand tall!

Suddenly, Alex was rushing away from Caleb, the controlled band, and the cheering audience was replaced by a smaller one.

He could move his hands freely again! He began banging on his drums and smiling brightly as he caught sight of Julie. Her eyes were bright with tears as she smiled at him, just a few feet away at her keyboard.

Alex beamed at her, no longer feeling the strangling hold that Caleb had on him. He was free!

The icy bonds melted away as he played alongside Julie who was singing more confidently now.

Then Reggie appeared, playing his bass with more fluid and natural movements as he grinned at a very relieved Julie. They had made it!

Well, most of them...

Luke was struggling. He was striking out and was using all of his energy to stay here with them and leave that trap of a ghost club behind.

He flickered in and out like a bad signal, his angry expression replaced by true panic. Alex couldn't do more than watch and hope against hope that Luke pulled through.

All the while, Julie sang, coaxing Luke to her and the rest of the band with her powerful voice. And it was if she herself gave him strength because just a moment later, Luke appeared fully and began to sing along with Julie, his toothy grin in place.

Julie hurried over to him, a look of intense relief on her face as they played together once again.

As they performed, Alex could no longer feel the effects of Caleb's jolts. He felt stronger and now had control over his own movements.

Reggie jumped around with his usual energy, while Luke only had eyes for Julie as they sang a song they all wrote together as a band.

Everything was just as it always was until Reggie and Julie strutted down the stage side by side. Reggie smiled at the crowd with his characteristic energy and dorkiness while Julie's voice intermingled with Luke's in the vocals.

Then Julie leaned back with her mic, and Reggie did the same with his guitar. Instead of Julie leaning through Reggie and showing they were masquerading as holograms, Julie's shoulders appeared to touch Reggie's.

Alex stared at this, but they pulled away before he could be sure he saw what he thought he did. Maybe he was a little delirious from the jolts.

Then Luke stepped back from his mic, and it was time for Alex's solo. He had been a little nervous about doing a solo again - not having done once since "Now or Never" back in 1995, but he knew he could do it. His bandmates, his family, were here backing him up and giving him all the support he could handle. Their presence gave him the courage to belt out his solo:

Whatever happens

Even if I'm the last standing

Ima stand tall

He grinned as Luke and Julie looked back at him with bright smiles, all traces of their exhaustion and tears gone.

Reggie took up his solo, then Alex joined him, and they jumped into the chorus along with Julie and Luke.

They were all using different instruments and moving in their own ways, but performing the song made them feel like a single entity moving in tandem.

Then the song was ending, and all four of them were walking to the end of the stage to take their bows.

Alex gripped Luke's hand, a feeling of relief flooding through him mixed with sadness. Yes, they had fulfilled their dream of performing at the Orpheum, but this meant they would cross over and leave Julie behind.

She would go far, Alex knew that. Her star shone too brightly for her not to. He and the other boys didn't know what their next step in their journey would be, but if they left Julie with a new sense of courage and reassurance in her abilities, then it was all worth coming back for.

Alex swallowed and braced himself. Any moment now, he, Luke and Reggie would poof away and crossover. Where they would end up, he didn't know. He hoped somewhere happy and together. They'd been through too much now to be separated.

Their instruments had stopped, so they poofed out, ready to embrace the feeling of maybe floating up into the air and finally crossing over to a peaceful plane where they could play music together. Being with his best friends and enjoying their time together sounded like paradise. He couldn't wait to watch TV with Reggie; write more songs with Luke; jam out for other spirits if they met more like them…

But his dream was shattered as he felt another jolt tear through his chest.

Alex cried out and collapsed onto a cold hard surface that ended up being the alley behind the Orpheum where they had taken their last walk 25 years ago.

Luke grunted as he landed beside him. A second later, he gasped when Reggie appeared and cracked heads with him.

That had to hurt.

"What the-!" Luke sat up slowly and looked around, panting and shaking. "Why are we here!?"

"Why didn't we cross over?" Reggie asked weakly as he sat up, too, and rubbed his chest where the jolts were zapping them. The drained look to their skin had returned, making them all look like they had the flu.

"I don't know," Alex answered, fighting to get to his feet. "Shouldn't we have after playing the Orpheum?"

"Unless that wasn't it," Luke growled bitterly. His voice was hoarse like he was struggling not to break down. Alex didn't blame him. He himself was only ever really calm when others around him panicked.

"Then what were we supposed to do!?" Reggie demanded, his voice cracking. "After all that we went through and worked to get here-"

Another jolt went through them, effectively cutting off Reggie's sentence.

Alex gripped his stomach and panted. "We guessed wrong."

"Can we not stay here?" Luke said as he helped Reggie stand. They leaned on one another for support as if they wouldn't be able to stay upright without the other. "I don't wanna zap out in this cold alley."

"I wanna go back to Julie's," Reggie said before Alex could come up with a different idea. "I'd feel better if the garage was the last place I was in…"

Alex frowned. "Julie might go there when she gets home."

"Nah. She looked pretty drained. She'll go right to bed," Luke said confidently.

He didn't think so, but Alex didn't have the energy to argue the point. He was so exhausted and ready to go to sleep.

Reggie nodded and held out his hand to Alex. He took it, and they poofed together to the Molinas' garage.

It was pitch black, but the boys didn't get a chance to flick on a light because another jolt sent them all to their knees then flat on their backs.

"That was the worst one yet," Reggie panted from somewhere to Alex's left.

Luke groaned and shifted closer. Alex felt his shoulder brush his head, and he knew he was looking for physical contact. "We had a good run, didn't we, boys?"

Leave it to Luke to be so optimistic. Reggie normally was more on that wavelength, but pain was making him less enthusiastic.

"Yeah…" Reggie murmured. "We rocked the socks off the Orpheum."

"You could've worded that differently, but yeah… we brought the house down. I hope that performance helps Julie's career." Alex sighed and rested his head against something he thought was Reggie's leg.

Luke sighed then swallowed audibly. "She's gonna be a legend in a way we never got to be… I'm so proud of her."

"Me, too," Alex murmured at about the time Reggie said the same thing.

Another jolt made Alex arch his back and yelp. Reggie was right. The jolts were getting more painful.

There was a moment of silence as the three of them struggled to catch their breath (metaphorically speaking).

Then Reggie whispered, "I'm gonna miss them… Julie, Flynn, Carlos, and Ray… I know most of them never saw us, but…" His breathing got heavier like he was choking back tears. "They're family, too."

"Yeah, they are, Reg." Luke sounded close to crying, too, but Alex saw in a small patch of moonlight Luke reached out to put his hand over Reggie's wrist and grip it. "I'll miss them, too."

Alex scooted over just enough to touch the other two on the hand as well. Their grip on each other was weak, but it was more assuring to touch like this. He didn't feel so alone.

"D-Do you think once we disappear, Julie will forget us?" Reggie choked.

Where in the world did he get an idea like that? Alex wanted to snap both from the ridiculous thought and from just being in pain, but he forced a calmer tone when he murmured, "Of course not. Julie loves us. We're her family. She said so herself."

"I thought I heard her," Luke said, sounding pleased. "At the Ghost Club on stage. I heard her calling us her family. It's what gave me the strength to fight off Caleb."

Reggie coughed then blurted, "I heard her, too! I thought I was losing my mind." He shivered. "I think her voice saved us from playing at that club for all eternity."

Alex couldn't believe it. Their bond with Julie went deeper than he could've imagined. All three of them had heard her and found the strength to break free and appear at her side. Where they belonged until now.

"Super Julie," Luke murmured randomly. He chuckled weakly, and this was enough to get the other two snickering a little.

Until another jolt promptly shut them up.

"I wish we could've told her goodbye," Luke said once he could talk again.

"Same," Reggie agreed. "But… at least she can think we've crossed over and not worry."

"Yeah, about that," Alex said as he turned his head. He saw lights move over the garage windows like search beams. "They're home now. If she comes in here, keep your mouths shut."

Luke held onto their hands as yet another jolt shot through them. "I don't want her to see us like this."

They fell silent as they faintly heard Julie and her family singing "Stand Tall" as they made their way up to the house. For a moment, Alex was convinced they would pass by the garage and go inside. They could just vanish and not have to worry about hurting Julie further.

But then he heard footsteps approaching, and he knew he could put money on who it was.

Luke swore softly and twitched behind him.

"Be quiet!" Alex warned quietly as they heard the lock click and the doors pull open.

Alex could just make out Julie walking into the garage. Her small form was framed by the moonlight coming in through the windows, making her look a little otherworldly.

He felt Luke tense under his fingers, able to determine it was him because of his bulkier rings.

Alex shut his eyes and hoped she wouldn't turn on the lights. Julie would be so heartbroken and traumatized if she had to watch them expire like this on her garage floor.

Then she spoke, and he felt the chill inside of him warm the smallest amount.

"I know I already said this but, uh… thank you, guys."

He fought the tears threatening his eyes. Julie had brought them back to life as much as they had for her. They had helped each other grow, get over fears, grieve their loses, and chased after their dreams. Even though three-fourths of their band was not alive, they had made it work. They were a family…

Then Reggie opened his big mouth.

"You're welcome," he blurted in that tactful and thought-out way of his.

Alex sighed loudly in exasperation as Luke hissed, "Dude!"

Julie moved back and flicked the lights on.

The boys grimaced from the light, but the burn in their eyes was nothing compared to the jolts they had been experiencing all day.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought-"

The boys gasped as a shock wave scorched their chests.

Reggie started to cough, and Luke's chest heaved as if he had just run dozens of miles. Alex felt light-headed and sick. If he had had a stomach, he would be puking all over the place.

Julie was voicing her belief that they had crossed over, and Alex replied with what he had suspected when they poofed into the alley first.

"I guess playing the Orpheum wasn't our unfinished business," he said as he struggled to sit upright.

This was all a mess, and now Julie knew they weren't safe and crossed over like they had all hoped would happen once they took their final bows. Alex had wanted to save her the pain of seeing them die a second time, but now here she was with tears sparkling in her eyes and looking on the verge of breaking down.

"Point: Caleb," Reggie said bitterly. The magician had warned them that playing at the venue they just missed out on when they were alive wouldn't necessarily be their unfinished business.

None of them wanted to believe them because a) they were desperate and b) they hadn't been able to come up with any other options.

Luke sat up, and Alex saw clearly that his eyes were red from crying. "We wanted you to think we crossed over, so we pretended to," he said in a thick voice with his focus on Julie. And again, save her from having to see them like this: weak and on the verge of disappearing for good.

"We just… we had nowhere else to go," Luke added, shaking his head slightly.

This is our home, too.

The words weren't said, but Alex saw it in everyone else's expressions. If they were going to go down, they wanted it to be somewhere they felt safe. He was annoyed Reggie had given them away, but having their lives end here in the place where they made music together was a comforting thought as opposed to going out in that dank alley… or really anywhere else.

When Reggie said something about believing Julie wouldn't come down here and go straight up to her room, Alex sighed again with his irritation flaring.

"Well, I knew she would come out here but nobody ever listen to me-"

Their chests sparked bright blue as the third jolt in less than five minutes hit them.

Soft groans escaped them as they struggled to stay on their feet.

"You have to save yourselves right now!" Julie said through her tears. She began begging them to leave and join Caleb so that they didn't have to just be erased from existence, but Reggie shook his head.

"We aren't going back there," he choked.

Being Caleb's puppet for all eternity sounded like hell on earth.

"No music is worth making, Julie, if we aren't making it with you." Luke's voice shook with suppressed sobs.

Alex's heart ached more than those jolts could ever hurt because they were all in pain and scared. Julie didn't want them to go anymore than they wanted to leave, especially not like this.

Julie stood on her toes and threw her arms around Luke. Alex froze because now he was sure that Julie had touched Reggie on stage when they were out on the platform. Still… there was something very sweet about their embrace.

"I love you guys," Julie whispered.

Then Luke started to glow. It was if Julie's touch had lit up a beacon inside of him. As they watched, the pale tinge to Luke's skin vanished, and his swollen eyes softened as he smiled down at Julie.

They murmured to each other, and for a moment, Alex felt like he and Reggie had turned into third wheels.

Then Luke turned to them, holding Julie's hands, and said, "I feel stronger."

Julie called Alex and Reggie over, and the pair of them stumbled over to Julie's side. They walked into a group hug, Julie's arm around his waist and Luke's just about hers.

As they touched, Alex felt as if he had taken a sip of hot tea that trickled through his body and warmed his insides. The chills and aches from the jolts draining his energy vanished, and he felt even stronger than he had before.

They slowly pulled back from the hug but kept their arms around one another.

"I don't feel as weak anymore," Reggie murmured as a few tears trailed down his flushed cheeks.

Alex agreed fervently before his anxiety kicked in and he added, "Not that I was ever weak."

Then the purple stamps that Caleb had given them just days ago appeared on their skin before peeling off like an old sticker and vanishing into thin air.

Alex felt a sigh of relief escape him as if his chest as if a heavy weight had been lifted from it.

"I think the band's back," Luke said with a shaky grin.

Alex asked if they could try hugging again, and the others chuckled before moving in for another group embrace.

There was a warmth coming off of Julie that they were all taking in and finding strength from. She was their light in life, the spark that had brought them back to do what they loved most in life (and now in death) - play music.

Laughing, they jumped in a circle as Julie cried happily, "We played the Orpheum!"

As they all leaned into each other, exchanging smiles and basking in the fact all four of them could touch now, Alex agreed with Luke's words: the band was back.

Their little family was back.

#jatp fic #julie and the phantoms #alex pov #jatp found family #stand tall

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final-girl96 · 4 years

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Let's Save The World

Chapter Ten

Luther had gotten up and got five a sandwich and some coffee. "So... you were hit men?" He asked.

"Yes," Five and I both said.

"Uh... I mean, you had a code, right? You didn't kill just anybody," Luther said as he sat back down on the chair he had been seated in.

"No code," Five said. "We took out anyone who messed woth the time line."

"No matter who they were. If they messed with the timeline we took them out. It's that simple," I said.

"What about innocent people," he asked.

"It's the only way we could get back here," Five said looking up at him.

"But that's murder," Luther said.

"Grow up, Luther. We're not kids anymore," I told him.

"There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys. There s just people, goin' about their lives," Five said. "But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family."

Five sighed as Luther looked at us. "Time changed everuthing," he said and looked at me but I kept looking at Luther.

I sat there and thought about the days we were stuck in the wasteland we once called home.

*flashback*

We had jumped to far. Now as we look around we can see nothing but ruble and fire. "Five, where are we?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said.

Five tried getting us back bit his powers weren't working. We looked around to see our siblings all dead.

Well all except for one. Vanya. Where could she be? Is she alive?

After a few weeks of being there me and Five got separated when we were out scavenging. I had gotten lost and couldn't get my baring right. Nothing looked the same.

I was on my own for five years. I had found a small building that bad half of it still standing. So I made it my home. While out searching I ended up at the library.

It had been standing somewhat but what caught my eye was a familar looking boy. He was taller now and older but he still had that brown hair that was perfectly kept. How he did that in a place like this was anyone's guess.

"Five?" I said.

He was standing on a pile of books writing on the concert beams. He turned around and looked at me before going back to his work.

"Yes, Eight? What's is..." He started to say before he realized I was really there.

"Eight!" He said and jumped down running over to me and pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

I giggled and hugged him back. "What happened to you?" He asked pulling away.

"Oh, you know. Got lost. I couldn't get my bearings everything looks different. But I'm fine," I said.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Trying to figure a way to get us home," Five said and went back to his writing.

A few years later Five asked me to marry him. He had surprisingly found rings in a store that was half burnt down.

We were in our 50s when the handler came along and we joined the commission.

*end of flash back*

We had made our way back to the Academy. We walked up the stairs. We walked towards Klaus' room after hearing him groaning. We looked in to see him itching himself. "Oh, boy," he said.

Five and I looked at each other. There was no doubt Klaus had time traveled.

Five walked into the door way and kocked. I peered over his shoulder. Klaus was standing there putting a shirt on.

"You okay?" Five asked as he walked into the room as I followed him.

Klaus looled at us. "Hey," he whispered.

He looked like had just been through some heavy shit. "Yeah, I just... long night," he told us.

"More than one, from the looks of it," Five said.

"Yeah," Klaus said putting his shirt over his head.

"Don't remember the dog tags," Five told him.

I didn't even notice them I was focused on the new tattoo.

"Yeah, they belonged to a friend," Klaus said.

"How about the new tattoo?" I asked.

Klaus looled at his arm "yeah know, I don't totally remember even getting it," he said. "Like I said, it was a long night."

"You did it, didn't you?" I asked.

"What are you talkin' abput?" He asked.

"You know, we can recognize the symptoms, klaus," Five told him.

"Symptoms of what?" Klaus asked.

"Jet lag," I said.

"Full body itch," Five continued. "The headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain."

"YOU gonna tell us about it?" I asked and sat beside him on his bed.

"Your pals, when they broke onto the house and they couldn't find you, they took me hostage instead," Klaus said looking between me and Five.

"And in return, you stole their briefcase," Five said.

"Yeah," he answered. "I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever."

Five paces the room. "And then I opened it," Klaus said.

"And the next thing you know, you were... where?" I asked. Or should I say When?"

"What d ofference does it make?" He asked.

"What diff... uh... okay, how long were you gone?" Five said clearly frustrated.

"Almost a year," Klaus said.

"A year?" I asked and looked at Five.

"Do you know what this means?" Five said.

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now," Klaus said.

"No, this isn't any sort of joke, klaus," Five told him. "Hazel and Cha Cha will do whatever they can to get that briefcase."

"Where's is it now?" I asked.

"Gone. I destroyed it," he said. "Poof."

"What?" I said.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Five said.

"Calm down Five," I told him.

"What do you care?" Klaus said.

"What do I care? I needed it, you moron, so I could get back. I could start over," Five said.

I glared at him. Of course he wanted to start over so then he could take back asking me to marry him.

"Just... just," Klaus said getting up walking towards the door.

"Where are you goung?" Five asked.

"Interogation's over, just...leave," Klaus said walking out if the room.

Five grabbed a pen and paper off the night stand and sat down on the bed beside me and started scribbling something on the paper.

Taglist: @marylimlp

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teensith · 5 years

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big brain kagrenac theory

I’ve always been dissatisfied by the generally accepted story that the dwemer just “poofed” because Kagrenac did something with the tools and messed up, and that’s that, and Yagrum Bagarn is the only one left. There are a lot of in-game/in-lore inconsistencies about it, and I can see why it’s easier to think they all just blinked out of existence, but I don’t think it quite adds up.

The gist of it: Kagrenac was leading a cult, and led a mass suicide in the name of “transcending” the mortal coil, and the dwemer who didn’t poof went into hiding, interbred with other elves, and/or some other possibilities besides Yagrum “was in Oblivion at the time, then got corprus” Bagarn.

First, I want to define what a cult is.

These definitions as follows are taken from Wikipedia, and most of my direct quotes/sourcing will be from Wikipedia or UESP unless otherwise stated.

In modern English, a cult is a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal.

And further, I’d argue this is a destructive, possibly doomsday cult:

"Destructive cult" generally refers to groups whose members have, through deliberate action, physically injured or killed other members of their own group or other people. The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance specifically limits the use of the term to religious groups that "have caused or are liable to cause loss of life among their membership or the general public".

"Doomsday cult" is an expression which is used to describe groups that believe in Apocalypticism and Millenarianism, and it can also be used to refer both to groups that predict disaster, and groups that attempt to bring it about.

So let’s get started.

To contextualize Kagrenac into wider Dwemer culture, and our understanding of the lore, let’s look at his position in Dwemer hierarchy (at least in Morrowind). He’s referred to as Magecrafter, the High Engineer, High Craftlord (which might be his actual title), and, oddly, High Priest. The Dwemer are not considered to be a religious or spiritually inclined culture, with UESP even describing them as “agnostic” and idolizing science after a fashion. This is really important for the next few parts of this, so bear with me.

Kagrenac is our primary source in TES for a lot of points we take as a given, such as the Heart of Lorkhan:

"Beneath Red Mountain, Dwemer miners discovered a great magical stone. By diverse methods, Lord Kagrenac, High Priest and Magecrafter of the ancient Dwemer, determined that this magical stone was the heart of the god Lorkhan

This is from an in-game book called Kagrenac’s Tools written by Gilvas Barelo, who authored some other writings that were compiled later by the dissident priests - in brief, heretical members of the church of the Tribunal who believed the Nerevarine prophecy was worth study.

I’m not saying it’s not the god Lorkhan’s actual heart right now, but we really only have Kagrenac’s word to go on. At worst, it’s an immensely powerful magical object with enough energy stored up that it can give people godlike abilities and a degree of immortality.

At the very least, it appears that Kagrenac genuinely believed this to be Lorkhan’s heart, and set about creating a plan to place it into the heart of a new god, the Numidium, “for the exclusive benefit of the Dwemer.” More on the “is it the real deal” will come at a later point in my post. And a little more on the Numidium as well.

One thing the book “Kagrenac’s Tools” notes is that being in proximity to the Heart causes some sort of Madness, allegedly, and that’s because siphoning power off a god is bad. Thus the tools are “cursed.”

Another account of the discovery, from The Plan To Defeat Dagoth Ur by Vivec:

The Dwemer discovered the heart while building underground colonies. High Craftlord Kagrenac created enchanted tools intended to tap the power of the heart. The War of the First Council was fought to prevent this sacrilege. Kagrenac's use of these tools and the disappearance of the Dwemer race marked the end of the war.

And last, I think the Heart is mentioned here, in “Nerevar at Red Mountain”

Resdayn, present day Morrowind, was contested ground between two very different types of mer: the Chimer, who worshipped Daedra, and the Dwemer, who worshipped a profane and secret power.

So it’s considered profane or “cursed” by those outside the Dwemer and then later the members of the Tribunal.

It appears that Kagrenac wanted to reconquer Resdayn and make the Dwemer immortal, per Yagrum Bagarn’s in-game dialogue, using this Heart to power Numidium. Yagrum Bagarn was not in agreement with Kagrenac’s ideals and considered his theories “dangerous”, which explains why he was on another plane when The Poof happened.

So now that we’ve established some backstory, let’s move on to why I think Kagrenac specifically had some sort of cult going, based on what little information we have.

He informed me, however, that in Kherakah the precepts of Kagrenac were taught.

This is from the book “Nchunak’s Fire and Faith.” It’s a firsthand account of Nchunak’s journey and his attempt to understand Kagrenac’s teachings.

Kherakah appears to be some sort of special compound built by Kagrenac and his followers. Kagrenac has a very high status in Dwemer society and culture, at least where the Dwemer in Resdayn are concerned. It’s unclear how many people are under Kagrenac’s thrall by the time of the Big Poof. This is what they do in Kherakah, per the same book.

the Dwemer of Kherakah, the most learned people in the world, [study] Kagrenac's words and [give] consideration to their place in the life to come

“The life to come” appears to be a reference to what happens after Numidium is activated - the retaking of Resdayn from the Chimer, perhaps. The book makes no mention of conquering, however.

neither planar division nor the numeration of amnesia nor any other thing of utility was more valued than the understanding of the self and its relationship to the Heart..

So what radicalized Kagrenac to the point of developing his own religious framework around the Heart? Was it only discovering the Heart? This so-called “madness” that being in the Heart’s presence is alleged to produce? Was his goal to reconquer Resdayn for the dwemer with the Numidium, per Yagrum Bagarn, or was it to use the tools on the Heart to bring on some sort of “life to come?”

I think it’s a combination of several factors.

Kagrenac’s true aim I believe is using the Heart’s power to “transcend mortality” for the dwemer race. The first reason I think he’s uninterested in actually reconquering Resdayn is that Dumac had no idea that he was planning something with the Heart. From “Nerevar at Red Mountain:”

Kagrenac and the high priests of the Dwemer had kept their New God secret from their King[...]Dumac said the Dwemer were innocent of any wrongdoing

Dumac also does not seem to be interested in conquering Resdayn, given his shock at being accused of lying about the Heart. So I think Azura wants the Dwemer gone from Morrowind, for whatever reason.

Remember when I mentioned earlier that I’m not entirely sure we’re dealing with the real heart of Lorkhan? Here’s why:

Azura, who confirmed that [...] the New God of the Dwemer should be destroyed for the safety of not only Resdayn, but for the whole world

If it was truly a piece of Lorkhan, and not some sort of idol...I think Azura would say so, as much as she’s petty and spiteful. It also wouldn’t be referred to as “New God” or “a profane power.” There is also this - Lorkhan’s heart is essential to holding Nirn together on some level, and this is a common thread across all creation of nirn myths. Why would she want to destroy the world and, if nothing else, destroy all her followers? I guess there could be something really convoluted in there about Lorkhan and being tricked, but it doesn’t scan for me.

Also, here’s a line from the Monomyth that suggests it can’t be destroyed

But when Trinimac and Auriel tried to destroy the Heart of Lorkhan it laughed at them. It said, "This Heart is the heart of the world, for one was made to satisfy the other."

There is, again, this idea that being around the Heart causes some sort of Madness, back to Nerevar at red Mountain.

So, looking at images of the Heart as depicted in Morrowind, it seems to have been affixed with Dwemer technology. Perhaps to prepare it for insertion into Numidium? It’s unclear if Kagrenac actually planned to follow through with building the Numidium, or if it was a ruse, given that firsthand accounts don’t mention it at all. Or perhaps Kagrenac’s plans changed and didn’t give a memo? Who knows.

Dagoth Ur was actually against using the tools and advocated destroying them and the Heart, at first. Taken from his entry on UESP.

At first, Dagoth himself urged for their immediate destruction, either of the Tools or the Heart itself, which led Nerevar to believe he could be trusted to guard them while Nerevar consulted his councilors

This is in line with what Azura said. Why would he suddenly change his mind?

Dagoth refused to give them up, maintaining that he had been entrusted with guarding them. Unbeknownst to them at the time, Dagoth had experimented with the Tools on the Heart during Nerevar's absence and somehow managed to steal some of its divine essence and power.

Proximity to the Heart, is why. I don’t think the dissidents in the Tribunal church were entirely incorrect in their assessment regarding the madness, just that the madness stems from the stone itself and not the tools Kagrenac fashioned.

Also of note:

Dagoth Ur, who used a ritual of his own devising to bind himself to the Heart of Lorkhan, had apparently adopted the views and motivations of Kagrenac.

Recap:

I’m inclined to believe that this isn’t Lorkhan’s actual heart. It’s definitely an object of great power that has some sort of aura of influence, and everybody outside of Kagrenac’s followers and the Tribunal consider it an evil object. But the indestructible heart of a dead god that’s holding the fabric of the world together, probably not.

I’m also inclined to believe that Kagrenac’s real plans for the heart were not to be the core of Numidium so Resdayn could be conquered again for the Dwemer, but to use his tools on them such to “transcend mortality.” Or something.

So, the cult-y part.

I mentioned in my general exposition earlier that Kagrenac had constructed a compound for himself and his followers, where he is a High Priest, and where the most important thing was reflecting on “the self and its relationship to the Heart,” followed by meditating on one’s place in “the next world.” He also appears to be envisioning himself as the harbinger of this next world, leading people to a “salvation,” while also outwardly promising to give the Dwemer Resdayn on a silver platter vis-a-vis Numidium. Potent rhetoric for a people frustrated with having to cooperate with the enemy.

As mentioned in my definition of doomsday cults, they tend to center around the “end of the world” in some form, either in the predicting or the bringing of. There is also a tendency for believers to see it as a period of transition into a new world or state of being, where only the “wicked” would suffer. Sounds not unlike Kagrenac’s designs.

So he wants to “transcend” the Dwemer using his tools on the Heart to do so. It seems that part of this transcendance requires one to leave mortality behind - maybe the physical body, as real-world religions tend to claim? It’s unclear what portion of the Dwemer populus follows him, but Yagrum Bagarn is a huge detractor of Kagrenac and his beliefs, so it follows there are other detractors and plenty of groups that don’t follow Kagrenac, confirmed by in-game dialogue with both Yagrum Bagarn and Baladas Demnevanni. Demnevanni also is of the opinion that the Dwemer were using magic and practicing tonal architecture in ways that go against the laws of nature, so of course they would eventually Poof, but that’s a tangent I don’t care to go into for this post.

Accounts vary on how the Poof happened, but the two major thoughts are Kagrenac performed some sort of “calling” that maybe brought a mass together, or that he struck the heart with his tools and everyone disappeared simultaneously at the climax of the battle at Red Mountain. A third idea is that the Tribunal dusted Kagrenac and the Dwemer.

This idea of a “calling” is much more interesting and honestly sounds a lot more like it could have actually happened, in my opinion. From Chimarvidium’s publisher’s note:

[...]the mention of "the Calling." In this legend and in others, there is a suggestion that the Dwemer race as a whole had some sort of silent and magickal communication.

So let’s work off this basic assumption: Kagrenac used the calling (some sort of silent communication power, perhaps racial) to gather his followers together in one place - perhaps the site of the Heart? After everyone had gathered, he told them they were going on a “sublime journey,” and then something related to the Heart and the tools happened, and then Poof.

With this, I’d also like to propose that this is a sort of “destructive” cult, after a fashion. Maybe Kagrenac genuinely believed he was saving people, maybe not. I’ve also seen mention on some other posts on TESlore that he bound the souls of the Dwemer to the Heart with his tools, though I don’t think I found an in-lore source for that. But in practice, it’s effectively a mass suicide brought on by some sort of fanatical belief in the power of this Heart. And if my theory that the Heart is an eldritch object is true, the Heart led Kagrenac (and later Dagoth) down a path of complete devotion to it, eventually leading to Kagrenac and the Dwemer’s demise.

After the Poof, I could see where if a sizable enough group of Dwemer vanished before the Tribunal’s eyes (maybe, this is a reach, but someone witnessed it), it would be assumed that ALL Dwemer vanished in the same fashion. But we don’t know that. After all, Yagrum Bagarn (though he was off exploring other planes at the time) is still around, even if he believes that he’s the last of his kind. And we have ghosts in the ruins of Morrowind.

Dwemer appear to be a bit greenish/grayish but don’t look so alien that they wouldn’t be able to shave their beards and hide among the High Elves. Plus, if this disappearance really did happen around the climax of the Battle, Nerevar’s death, and Azura’s curse, maybe they blended in relatively well with the newly minted Dunmer. And since the Dwemer are viciously hated by the Chimer/Dunmer, it makes sense that they would try to blend in or go into hiding, and eventually interbreed with other mer. Kind of reminds me of Roanoke colony “disappearing” and then reported sightings of “Indians with blue eyes.”

My last thought is kind of a Big Reach but what if some of the remaining Dwemer formed the Psijic order, or joined it early? This is based partly off the publisher’s note in Chimarvidium, but it does mention there’s no known spell for this “calling” or “silent communication.” And the Psijics are known to have time and space-warping magic, and talk up a lot about maintaining the balance of the world...or something.

Anyway, let me know what you think! I wrote this all in one sitting so it might not be my best essay.

#tes #The Elder Scrolls #morrowind #dwemer #theory

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secret-kkh-fics · 4 years

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History Repeats | Chapter 1

Due to this not being posted anywhere else yet, please like and DON’T REBLOG my fics.

Chapter Summary:

Rose is horribly ill and exhausted after a bad day. She is surprised when she gets an unexpected visitor who tells her some interesting information and offers her a way to both cure her illness and get back to the Doctor.

Author Note:

Hello! Yet another one I have decided to rewrite. Never actually finished the original of this. I got to somewhere around World War III before I took a hiatus from it and came back a few years later and realised I wanted to update everything to do with it. I ended up both writing the new chapters at the same time as updating the old.

Visitor Through the Void

Dying to Go Home

Rose slowly dragged herself into her house, carelessly dumpling her things near the doorway, and flopping down onto the couch, not even bothering to take off her shoes or jacket. It had been a long, exhausting, and disappointing day. And she was in a lot of pain.

They were certain that the dimension cannon was ready to go this time. The mechanics had been checked a thousand times, and by all rights, it should work. But something was stopping it from working. It was like how after the breach had closed and the jump refused to work. This meant that she would only be able to get back home when the walls between the worlds were weak… and that wasn’t a good thing.

She wanted to go home more than anything, but if the walls weakened, it could only mean that something really bad was happening. And she had learnt the hard and heart-breaking way that not even the Doctor could stop everything.

It had been just over a year since the painful day she had been trapped in this universe. A whole year of being broken in more ways than one. She’d tried… she really had. She did it for her family’s sake, and for Mikey’s sake, and mostly for her sake. She did it for the Doctor. Because she knew that he would want her to do what she was doing. She knew that she was better than that. She wasn’t just a broke shop girl anymore. They were all worried about her, so she had tried to act like she wasn’t slowly dying.

She had gone to work at Torchwood with Mickey and Pete. It was the closest thing she could get to her old life in this world, and it was also her only chance to get back. She had made a few friends and made an effort to hang out with them and be happy. She played with her new baby brother and spent time with her mother. She had even gone back to school and worked on her A Levels. She lived the fantastic life he had asked of her.

…Or, at least, she tried to live the fantastic life he had asked her to. But it didn’t feel fantastic. Or brilliant. Or anything other than horrible. Alright at best.

She felt as if her mind and heart were slowly being ripped apart. She felt empty like she was missing something inside of her. Some crucial part that she needed to live. Yes, she felt empty and broken from the loss of her Doctor… but it was something else too.

Sometimes she felt as if she were drowning, that her oxygen was being taken away, suffocating her. It was the same feeling, like her lifeline was slowly being dragged away from her. Killing her painfully and slowly. And it was only getting worse.

She was sick. Badly sick. She’d tried to hide it from her family, but they had noticed. They had noticed the fevers and deliriums. They had seen her have the occasional hallucination or seizure. They had seen how most days she was overcome by severe migraines that were at times so crippling she wanted nothing more than to curl in a ball and scream.

But still, she went on as best she could.

She had been to the hospital for scans and tests, but they had all shown nothing wrong with her. Medically anyway. They had noted that her brain scans and DNA seemed a little odd… inhuman. But they weren’t harmful. In the end, she had chalked it up to side-effects from travelling through space and time for years.

Grief could cause sickness. People had died of grief. They had given up, and it had overcome them… Her family thought that grief was the cause. But she knew it wasn’t. She was heartbroken, but she was too determined to let it beat her. People only died of grief when they gave up, and she had far from given up. She refused to. She was not going to give up until she found a way back home. She wouldn’t give up till she was with him again.

But right now, she was so sick and so tired, the migraine that had been building all day so instead, she fell unconscious within moments of landing on the couch.

Rose was woken by singing. At first, the song played at the edge of her mind, slowly dragging her back to consciousness. It was a familiar song, an eerie, haunting tune. She’d heard it a thousand times before. She knew it like the back of her hand, and she knew she had found herself absentmindedly humming it many times. But she couldn’t place where she knew it from.

The next thing she noticed was that she was feeling much better. She was able to breathe easier. Most surprisingly, her migraine was completely gone. She couldn’t recall the last time she hadn’t had even a slight headache, but she wasn’t in pain. She wasn’t in pain at all, which was something else she couldn’t recall the last time that happened. For the first time in a very long time, she felt whole again.

Sitting up, the third thing she noticed was a golden light coming from somewhere in the room. She looked over at the source of the light in surprise. It was dark now, probably sometime past one in the morning, and there was very little light shining into her house. So, the glowing cloud of golden dust like energy swirling around in the middle of the room was massively out of place.

She jumped to her feet in alarm, looking for something to defend herself if whatever it was was dangerous. She watched warily as the golden mass swirled through the air gently a moment, before it all started to be dragged towards the centre, pulling it all in so it clumped together, then, with a final flash, it formed into the shape of a woman.

The woman was glowing slightly, and she gasped as she came into being, then immediately fell to the floor. Rose quickly hit the lights, then rushed over to help her to her feet. But she stopped dead when she saw the woman’s face… it was her.

The other her looked younger than she did now, she could only be nineteen or twenty. Sure, to be honest, she hadn’t actually changed that much at all since then, but there was something about this Rose that seemed so young.

Most alarming, though, was that this other Rose had glowing gold eyes. And on top of that, she was wearing an outfit that had been destroyed long ago.

“Oh… that’s a new feeling,” the other her said, attempting to steady herself on her feet. Then she pulled a surprised face, almost as if she was startled by the sound of her own voice. She was still very shaky on her feet and almost fell over again, so Rose put out a hand to steady her. She had to catch her right away when the other her let out a sharp gasp and doubled over. “Oh, and it hurts! That really, really hurts!” she gasped. “How do you humans tolerate this? Just wait until I get my hands on that stupid Master… Wait… hands. I have hands.”

“O-okay…” Rose said in confusion. “Sorry, what’s going on?”

This made the other Rose look up at her, and her golden glowing eyes widened in delight as if she’d only just noticed her. “Rose!” she cried happily, throwing her arms around her. “Thank Rassilon, you’re still alive! I was so worried about you! Oh, you don’t look so good. I was cutting it close, but this was the first moment that the wall between the walls weakened. Goodness, this talking thing is fun! No wonder my Thief does it so much!”

Experimentally, the other Rose began to flex her jaw and pull funny faces.

“Right… So, who are you and why do you look like me?”

“Look like you?” Again, she brought her arms up in front of her and looked at her hands, turning them over as if she would see the resemblance, then she turned around until she managed to catch sight of herself in a reflective surface. Then she let out a small squeal of delight, bringing her hands up to feel her face, poking at the huge grin she found there. “I look like my human!” She, yet again, seemed ecstatic about this. Rose was baffled by the way the duplicate of her had practically claimed her, but it gave her the sense that she perhaps knew her.

“Yeah, you do. So, um… Who are you?”

“Oh, yes. I’m-” She paused as if she couldn’t quite remember. “Oh, what do you call me? You call me a name that’s not my name. I’m blue. We travel… I go-” Rose jumped a mile in the air when the familiar sounds of the TARDIS dematerialising came from the other Rose’s mouth.

“The TARDIS?!” she said in shocked disbelief.

“Yes! Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. That’s it! That’s me. I’m the TARDIS.”

Weakly, Rose backed up until her legs touched the couch and she sunk down onto it, her mouth hanging open slightly. “Oh my god… But-but how? How’s this possible? And how come you look like me?”

“Ooh! It’s quite simple, really,” the TARDIS told her. “There’s a crack in the universe that I was able to squeeze my consciousness through. But I couldn’t just -poof! – get a body. I needed energy and DNA and matter and a whole bunch of other things that would take longer than we have to list! Since you’re the only one who’s ever actually touched me and not just my console, yours was the only DNA I could use. It’s not permanent, though. It won’t last long. And I’m afraid I am terribly weak. I’m using what little energy I have left to do this-” Suddenly, she whimpered in pain and sunk to the ground. As she did, Rose quickly reached out and pulled her down onto the couch with her.

“Are you okay?” she said in alarm and concern. She held onto the Rose shaped TARDIS, running a hand over her head to check her temperature. She seemed normal, but there was clearly something wrong.

“I’ll be okay eventually,” she said, trying for a smile. It was a weak one that Rose knew all too well. She had given that smile so, so many times over the last year. It was how she smiled when she was trying to hide her pain from her family.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, just an insane Time Lord – and for once I do not mean the Doctor – has stolen me and turned me into a paradox machine.”

“Oh no. That’s not good.”

“No, it isn’t. But all will be well in the end… I hope. There are a lot of outcomes, but this is the Doctor. Besides, it’s worth it. The paradox has weakened the walls between the universes. It’s the only way I could get here, and I’m so glad that I did.” The TARDIS smiled at her, and this time it was a genuine one. “The Doctor and I can’t live without our human. We hate it. We’re so sad… And you feel the same. But you, Rose Tyler, literally can’t live without us… Or, well, me.

“Literally?” She raised her eyebrows in question. “What do you mean literally?” The words put her on edge, especially since she sensed just how true they were. But, despite the foreboding, she couldn’t bring herself to be anything but overjoyed and excited. The walls of the universe were weak. That meant that the Dimension Canon might be able to work finally. But to one-up that, the TARDIS herself was sitting there in her living room!

“You’ve already noticed it, haven’t you?” the TARDIS asked her. “Ever since I’ve been here, you haven’t felt quite as sick. And you’ve been sick for a long time now, haven’t you?”

“Yeah.” Rose nodded. “Started not long after Dårlig Ulv Stranden. It was mostly just… headaches. All the time. And then migraines. Sickness, seizures, dizzy spells and weakness. Mum was scared it was a tumour or something, but the tests all show nothing’s wrong.”

“No, I don’t imagine cellular destructuralisation would show on the technology here.”

“Cellular destructuralisation?”

“Yes, a side effect from being cut off from me, I’m afraid.”

“But… doesn’t that mean that I was… falling apart or something? Wouldn’t that mean I was dying?”

“Yes, yes it does. You’ve been studying!” The TARDIS smiled at her proudly.

“Before the sickness made me have to stop, yeah. H-how come I’m dying?” Really, she ought to be horrified by the idea, but she found she wasn’t exactly surprised.

“Well, you should have been dead already. You weren’t meant to live past the Game Station. You shouldn’t have been able to survive, holding the Time Vortex within you. Only I can do that. And you didn’t… survive, that is. You died, for a moment there anyway. But the Doctor and I, we both loved you so much. We couldn’t let you die. He gave up one of his regenerations to at least take the Time Vortex out of you. He hoped that he could save you, but he knew in his hearts that you would die. You held onto it for much longer than he did, and it killed him after only a few seconds of holding it. There was no way he could have saved you. And he didn’t want to go on like that without you.

He didn’t understand how you survived, it completely baffled him. Though, it did make him overjoyed. He thought that there must have been something very special about you. And he was right. Because no other human would have given up their life to save him like that. No one had ever won the heart of the TARDIS – my heart. And you did, Rose. I love you as much as he does… of course, not quite in the same way, but just as much. I couldn’t stand to see you die… to see the devastation it would cause him.

So, I bonded myself to you… I’ve never bonded to anyone before. Not the way we are. The Doctor and I are bonded. He’s my thief, my pilot, my Time Lord. When he dies, I die with him, but if I die, he will live on. Our bond… it’s both ways. We die when the other does. We can keep the other alive, or we can take them down as well. And with you in this universe, separated from us so completely. We may as well have been dead to one another. Our separation through the Void, it was slowly killing the both of us. I’m a little surprised you’ve lasted the year, but I’m glad. My Human is a fighter.”

“Okay, so… hold on, let me get this straight,” Rose said, holding up a hand to stay her. She could hardly comprehend what she was hearing. She felt as if her world had been flipped upside down by this revelation and her head was spinning. But at the same time, it just made so much sense. She’d always felt closer to the TARDIS after the Game Station, as if she could almost understand her. “So, I’ bonded to you… to the TARDIS, because I died from absorbing the Time Vortex. And because of the bond and being apart, we’re both dying. So, the only thing keeping me alive is being near you?”

“Yes, exactly!”

“S-so, are you taking me home then? Is that why you’re here? To take me back with you?” She couldn’t stop the hope creeping into her voice, but the TARDIS’s sad expression made it leave her in an instant.

“No.”

“No? But-”

“I can’t,” she whispered. “I want to, but I can’t. I don’t have enough energy. And I wouldn’t be able to bring your physical form across the Void without killing you. Besides, you don’t want to go back to where I am. If the Master ever got his hands on you…” She shivered, her face going pale, and Rose had the feeling that she wasn’t just imagining the possibilities, but actually seeing them happen. “Not to mention that most of the outcomes where we all make it out okay, time reverses a year back to the moment I jumped through to here. You would suffer a year of torture and sickness only to be thrown back here to die once more. No, no, no. Not happening.”

“Yeah, no. I’d rather not.” At this point, she was kind of just sitting there stunned on the couch. She was trying to deal with the shock of what was happening, along with information overload, so at this point, she had decided to just roll with the punches. “But, isn’t there some other way? I-I can’t just stay here! Not if I’m just going to die! I’m working on something, a Dimension Cannon. It’s supposed to teleport you between dimensions, but it’s not an exact science of where and when you land. Also, I don’t think it works unless the walls of the universe are breaking down, and I probably don’t have time for that, do I?”

“No, I don’t imagine you would. But there is something we can do. We can stop it!”

“…Stop what?” Rose asked when the TARDIS didn’t elaborate.

“Canary Wharf. The separation. We can stop it from ever happening. You never leave our home universe. This timeline would cease to exist, and the three of us can continue travelling the stars. The Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS… as it should be.”

Rose’s eyebrows rose high. “What? How?! How would we do that?!” she said eagerly. She trusted the TARDIS beyond anything, the same as she trusted the Doctor. And it was a good thing that it was the TARDIS who was pitching her this idea because, at this point, she was willing to do anything to return to her home universe if it meant being with the Doctor in the TARDIS again. At times, she had even been willing to cause a paradox… Oh no. “It won’t cause a paradox, will it?”

The TARDIS smiled at her. “No, no it won’t. Paradoxes are caused when time is disrupted, but we won’t be disrupting it… we’re rewriting it. It will be a completely natural occurrence. See, the only part of you I can take back is your mind. And not only that, but the only way to ensure we don’t disrupt anything important is to take you all the way back… Back to the time you first stepped foot on the TARDIS.”

Rose started. “Wait, so I’m pretty much going to have to relive my life from after I first meet the Doctor? The whole two years?! …Or was it three?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But… but I can’t do that!” She shot to her feet and began pacing restlessly. “I can’t just… do it all again knowing what happens. I can’t do nothing when I have the chance help people I couldn’t before. I can’t let innocent people die! And what about me? Young me? Do I just… take over my own body. What happens to the old me?”

“Rose, calm down. It will all be fine,” the TARDIS tried to soothe her. “Trust me. You’re not going to take over your own body, more… merge with it. You’ll still be that same wonderful nineteen-year-old girl… but at the same time, you will also still be this brilliant woman you are now… Oh, I’m not explaining it right. This would be much easier if I wasn’t using words. How do humans explain things so easily all the time?” Rose just shrugged. In her experience, explaining things wasn’t always easy, even for people who did talk all their lives. “Hmm, well, you will see what I mean soon anyway. As for saving people you couldn’t before… that can certainly happen. Most of the time anyway.”

Rose stopped her pacing, and her eyes brightened. “Wait, really?! What about causing paradoxes?”

“Well, that’s like I said. We’re rewriting, not disrupting. You can change what you like, so long as it doesn’t change the timelines too much. There are still certain things that brought us to where we were, and we still need to keep all that the same. And there are certain events, the deaths of certain people that shape the history of the universe. But so long as it doesn’t affect those, you can save whoever you can. I would never ask you not to help people when you can.” Another smile touched her lips. She was so glad that her Rose hadn’t changed and was just as passionate. That her time here in the parallel word hadn’t hardened her or worse.

“But, how would I know if I was changing something important or not?” Rose asked, looking a little panicked. “What if I change something, and – and… we end up not going somewhere we’re supposed to go! Or the Doctor decides he wants to take someone else instead of me! What if I screw it all up?!”

“Rose, relax,” the TARDIS found herself laughing. Oh, she liked that. But seeing her Human so panicked over it was quite adorable. She had every faith that Rose would do this perfectly. “I’ll be with you in your head. I can help. Of course, you’ll have to figure most things out on your own, make your own choices. But I can send you mental nudges and hints. Besides, I’m not your only tool. We have a bond, you took on the entire Time Vortex… Haven’t you noticed it yet? That feeling that you know what will happen if you decide to do something.”

“Y-yeah,” she said, thinking back. “Almost like I’m… guessing what can happen before it does. Mum kept telling me I should get a lottery ticket. Course, Dad always told her that was silly since we’re kinda really incredibly rich here…”

“Yes, exactly. Our bond had started to change your mind before you left. Had you kept travelling, it would have changed even more.”

“Seriously?” The idea pulled her up short. So, what? She would have become… psychic?

“Oh yes!” The gleeful tone that the TARDIS used with her own voice was so reminiscent of the Doctor that it made Rose grin. “There’s a couple of other things too. The Doctor can’t know. I know you won’t like the idea, and I don’t overly like it either, but the Doctor can’t know about what you’re doing. The longer you can keep it from him, the better. I fear that if he finds out, he might end up changing things too drastically.”

“But… what if he figures it out? He’s not just going to not notice. It’s the Doctor.”

“Hmm, that is true. I suppose it might be alright, depending on what he finds out and when. Of course, I will try and hinder his attempts. Oh! One other thing!” Here, the TARDIS grinned one of Rose’s cheeky tongue in cheek smiles. “When he asks you to travel with him… turn him down again.”

Rose baulked. “Wait, what? Why?!”

“So that he asks twice, of course. He did it last time. He’s never asked anyone to travel with him twice like that before. Usually, he offers once with the occasional ‘you sure’, and that’s it. But he went back five minutes later and asked a second time. He wanted you to travel with him so badly, it’s no wonder he fell for you so quickly. He thinks about that a lot.”

“Oh.” Rose couldn’t help the butterflies that fluttered madly about every time the TARDIS told her that the Doctor loved her, or mentioned how much he cared. It soothed like a balm, especially when she thought back to his cut off words on the beach. There were still times, even now, even being so sure what he was going to say, that she doubted he could ever love her back. She was only human, after all… But, no. She was more than that. Not just because of the TARDIS, she had always been more than just that.

Only, now she would be able to live well beyond human years since she was bonded to the TARDIS in a way that not even he was. Her eyes suddenly lit up. She knew that that was one of the only barriers that ever stopped them from becoming more. He’d practically admitted as much the time she’d met Sara Jane. She would live as long as the TARDIS!

“Hold on!” she gasped. “So, you die when the Doctor does?”

“Give or take a few years,” she replied with a nod.

“And I live as long as you do…”

“Yes.” Now the TARDIS was grinning, knowing that she had caught on.

“I can live as long as he will…”

“As long as everything goes alright and nothing happens to either of us, yes. You will.”

“…Oh my god, I’m going to live for hundreds of years!” she cried. She’d vaguely known this when the TARDIS told her, but the implications were now only just hitting her.

“You won’t age,’ the TARDIS assured her. “Not past a few more years anyway.” Then she finally seemed to notice the overwhelmed expression on Rose’s face. “I’m sorry. I had to bond us. It was the only way. We couldn’t lose you.”

“Do I look like I’m complaining?!” she cried, a disbelieving laugh bubbling up from her. “I just… Oh god. I think I just need time to adjust to it, yeah. It sounds… insane.”

“No more so than anything else you’ve seen since you met the Doctor.” She sounded confused by Rose’s bafflement.

“Yeah, but… nothing I considered impossible ever really happened to me, you know? Not like that, anyway. Or, at least, I didn’t think I had.”

“Oh, Rose Tyler, you have no idea-” The end of her sentence was cut off as she let out another sharp cry, doubling over with her arms curled around her middle in pain. Rose rushed to her immediately. It had been so long since that had last happened that she’d completely forgotten the TARDIS was in pain. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” the TARDIS gasped, sitting back up straight.

“You sure?” she asked, holding her steady. “What’s happening?”

“I believe… we are running out of time. I can’t hold this form much longer before it breaks back down into energy. We need to go now.”

“N-now? But what about my family?” Rose asked. “Won’t they wonder what happened? I can’t just not say goodbye.”

“It won’t matter,” the TARDIS said, trying for a small, reassuring smile, though it looked far more like a pained grimace. “We will be – hopefully be – completely cutting this reality, this timeline from existence. With any luck, you will never fall and never had the need to say goodbye to them at this point in time. And you will see Jackie and Mickey very soon. But we must go now. If I don’t get you back, we both die.”

Rose nodded firmly. Hearing those words, she imagined how devastated the Doctor would be without her or his beloved ship, and her already pretty firm resolve hardened. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let’s do it. I want my Doctor back.”

The TARDIS smiled tiredly. She could practically taste her Human’s excitement, and that gave her the energy to pull them both to their feet.

“Good. Now, just remember, when you get back, we won’t be linked physically like we are now. Not until you absorb the Time Vortex again. But we will still be linked mentally. We can do this.”

Rose nodded, and the TARDIS placed her hands on her temples. She closed her eyes like she was concentrating, and Rose felt a harsh jolt in her mind as if she had just been shoved off a cliff…

And then she was gone.

Author Note:

As seems to be the rule with my rewritten scenes, this chapter almost doubled in length. From 2,404 to 4,691 words (4 → 8 pages). I was really proud of this update. Not just in my writing skills, but also in how I explained things a little clearer and made it flow nicer.

The original can still be read on fanfiction.net if you are interested to see how it’s changed.

Chapter Index | First Chapter | Next Chapter >>

#history repeats #doctor who

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travelingstar · 5 years

Text

Opportunity Chapter 2

Again before I begin, I just want to state that this fic came from me and @starkravingspiders going back and forth on this idea. They will also be writing their own version of this story, so look out for that!

And I wanted to give my thanks to those who liked and reblogged the first chapter. I am so happy to see others enjoying what I’ve given so far.

Peter felt himself turn pale.

He faintly heard his bag drop as he looked at Tony. Everything sounded faint, like a bomb went off next to him and he lost his hearing for a moment.

He knew that this wasn’t Mysterio fucking with him. This wasn’t his sleepy haze messing with him. This was Tony.

Not his Tony.

But Tony regardless.

This Tony looked the same but also different.

He looked healthy, like he had actually ate a decent meal lately. He had a slight tan, and had that glow that Peter rarely saw that now was just radiating off naturally.

The Tony he knew had looked like he had skipped meals, would be pale, rarely smile as much and looked pained.

This Tony was smirking at him and giving off warmth.

Something Peter hadn’t felt in so long.

He must’ve been staring at Tony for a longer time than necessary, cause Tony started to walk up to Peter and gently put his hand on his shoulder. Peter momentarily flinched, but felt himself leaning into that touch. God, it had been so long since he had any affection given to him.

Tony looked at him gently, with those soft dark chocolate brown eyes that Peter could just get lost in. Even those were more radiant than the ones he fell for over five years ago on the Tony he knew.

“C’mon Petey, don’t leave me hanging. Tell me everything about this universe. Am I a mob boss and your a hipster trying to live in the worst part of town to get my attention?”, Tony asked grinning, clearly teasing, but Peter could see that Tony was worried about the college student.

Peter felt himself curl up a bit when imagining explaining to this Tony that not only is he dead but- wait.

How does Tony not know that he’s dead? How did he get into his apartment? Did he land here? How can he help to get him back?

So many questions were running through his head that he didn’t feel Tony slightly shaking him to get his attention.

“Hey Peter, what’s really wrong? You haven’t said anything and you look extremely pale. C’mon, let's sit down okay?”, the older man gently told rather than ask Peter and moved them to the couch where Tony was seated close to him. In any other situation, Peter might’ve blushed over the closeness of Tony.

But here, Peter was really trying to keep calm and sort his brain to make sure he can tell Tony everything without having his own feelings get in the way.

Tony leaned back and let out a buff of air before talking again, “How about this, I ask about a given person and you tell me how you see them in this universe and what they are doing so I don’t accidentally insult them and know which ones to insult.”

He winks at Peter, trying to lighten the mood.

Peter took a deep breath before nodding. He knew he at least owed this Tony this much. Maybe he can ask questions later if he’s lucky. “Okay.”

Peter looked over as Tony dramatically sighed before falling to his side and letting out, “Oh thank god you can talk! I was worried that my boy couldn’t talk, cause your greatest strength had always been your sharp tongued wit. Or at least, in my universe you were.” At the last word, Peter saw Tony deflate a bit.

Wha- No. Peter had to focus. Questions later.

Tony sits back up and looks at Peter before asking, “Okay let's start with Bruce. Where is he?”

Peter was internally sighing with relief that Tony was asking him about someone who Peter barely interacted with. Less pain.

“Well, after Thanos snapped 50% of the universe away, Bruce and the Hulk blamed themselves before fusing together. Last I heard, he was doing research on something I don’t quite remember. However I did hear his hand healed alright after he wielded the second Infinity Gauntlet and yeah.”

Peter’s eyes had wandered off whilst talking and when he looked back at Tony, the older man was staring at him like he had just killed a goat, whilst smoking a huge ass pipe and declaring himself the ruler of Canada. In other words, like he was batshit.

“Wait, what?! Thanos did what? Bruce did what with Hulk? He wielded what? Jesus Christ what else happened in this Universe?”

Peter had rarely seen Tony look this shocked and baffled, he kind of laughed as he watched the man trying to wrap his head around all of this.

“Okay, okay, maybe if I hear about the others I might understand a bit better. Clint?”

Peter had to think for a moment. He never once really talked to Clint and didn’t hear much about him except for the more basic stuff.

“Well I don’t know much about him to be honest, since you from this universe never really talked about Clint all too much. So what I know is that he left the Avengers to look after his family before joining again to fight against the accords, siding with Captain Self Righteous and he got put under house arrest for doing so and I think after his family poofed, he started to go on a killing stream before returning to the Avengers to help go back in time to get the Infinity Stones and him and Natasha were teamed up where Nat sacrificed herself for one of the stones. He’s now back on I think his farm with his family? Sorry if it isn’t much.”

As Peter had told Tony this, his facial expression had morphed to looking like he was about to laugh his ass of, to confused, to horrified, back to being confused like he had been with Bruce.

Tony looked off to the side for a moment before looking at Peter with those mixture of expressions on his face.

“Okay, I think it would be good for me to share my own universes version of the Avengers so that were on the same playing field, so that you aren’t left in the dark. So with Bruce firstly, while he has controlled the Hulk and befriended him, he has never fused with the Hulk. Also Clint having a family is honestly too hilarious. The Clint I know has a family that consists of the Avengers, his dog and the Air Vents at Avengers tower. Sure he likes kids, but him having kids? Never in a million years.”, Tony giggled at the end and throughout that as well.

Tony continued with, “Also Captain Self Righteous? I mean sure Ol Stevie can be a bit stiff, but he couldn’t be that bad right? Right?”

Peter thought that a Captain America who was actually good must be impossible, which he assumed Tony could read off of him, because the man looked worried.

Worried what this universes Captain America did to cause the positive Peter Parker to view him so badly?

Peter sighed and let out a empty laugh.

“Oh god where do you want me to begin? Maybe where he decided to just leave you and not read the Accords that were made to restrict Superheroes and to run after his brainwashed friend who needed to be arrested and taken care or? Or that time that he got me crushed under a container at an airport in Germany after he refused to try and talk to you when you offered? Or when he held back the information that Bucky had killed your parents and he left you in Syberia alone without a working and you had to be hospitalized for weeks, leaving us all worried. Fearing that you might die. And then you did! Not than but later. You saved the universe, leaving behind friends and family and your child. And Steve just bailed and left his responsibilities to live his life with a old love he should’ve let go and leaving behind his friend who was also out of time.”

Peter couldn’t stop the words to pour out of him. All of these feelings were trying to claw their way out of his throat. But he didn’t want to burden this Tony. But he couldn’t stop.

He also couldn’t stop the tears from falling down and his breath starting to shake.

He than felt Tony grabbing his arm and pulling him closer towards him, not having realized that he had scooted away from the man.

Peter tried to pull away, the voice again telling him that Tony didn’t need this. He didn’t need someone to just break down and cry. He didn’t need to have to care for Peter. He was just some dumb kid, he didn’t matter.

Before Peter could reach up and scrub away his tears, he felt Tony gently brushing away his falling tears. He felt a gentle kiss on his head before Tony looked him directly in the eye.

His eyes weren’t harsh, instead his eyes were filled with worry over the college student in front of him.

Tony continues to rub and gently holding his face before starting to talk again, his voice being heavy and yet gentle on Peter’s mind.

“If I’m dead in this universe, why isn’t anyone taking care of you? What about Thor? He would’ve let you stay on Asgard to properly heal. Or Rhodey? He’d never let you out of his sigh and would’ve made sure that you were cared for. Happy? He would have pretty much adopted you and cared for you and would’ve done anything for you. Pepper? She would have at least taken you into Stark Tower or whatever it’s called here. She would’ve given you much more than this old apartment with barely anything. Why didn’t you get anything? Did this universes me give you nothing in the will? Why do I have a kid here? Where is Aunt May and your friends? Where is anyone?”

God did Tony looked pained. Peter wanted to look away, feeling ashamed for making Tony feel this way because of him. Wasn’t it clear why no one was there for Peter?

Peter’s hands gently reached up to touch Tony’s hands that here cupping his face, he could feel himself shaking slightly, but tried to pull himself together. He also tried to keep his voice steady, but it didn’t come out as strong as he had hoped.

“W-why would they care for me? They didn’t know me. They lost you a-and I didn’t want to bother them. I-I wasn’t there when the will was read, but I took that old prototype arc reactor and a old shirt of yours. I know it’s bad, but I badly needed something to remind me of you. After I was gone for 5 years, I found out that you and Pepper had a kid. My friends are now older than me and Aunt May is busy. They are all busy. Why would they care? I'm just some kid who isn’t important. I only annoy others and am not important. I can’t even do my jobs and classwork properly to than be allowed by SHIELD to be Spiderman and help others. I’m just in the way of others and am usele-.”, before the now shaking boy could finish, he was pulled into a tight hug by the older man.

He felt Tony rubbing his back and gently heard him whispering to him to let himself cry and that he’s here and that everything will be okay.

That did Peter in.

He starts to sob into Tony’s shoulder, smelling Tony’s usual smell of machine oil, old cologne and something else. He also smelled like freshly made cookies and warmth.

Peter was both melting and sobbing more and as he was reaching his arms around to hug Tony, he noticed that he had held the old arc reactor in his hand. He must’ve grabbed it whilst rambling.

Peter almost didn’t hear Tony speak up again.

“Peter I don’t know what else to say other than I am sorry. I can’t believe that you weren’t cared for by any of the people who I trust my life with and would do anything for in a heartbeat. I am disgusted that you were thrown to the side like a forgotten toy by the others. They should’ve taken care of you. Myself in this universe should’ve cared for you. I don’t know why SHIELD would have control over your suit and being a superhero, but regardless that is wrong. You saying that your dumb and useless is breaking my heart. You are not dumb. You are not useless. Lord you are so damn important. You help keep everyone determined. God damn, I not only failed you in my universe, but here as well.”

That last comment really struck with Peter and so did the rest of what Tony had said. The way Tony spoke made him think that maybe the way the Avengers in his universe had been acting had been wrong? Tony’s voice had shaken at the last part, which made Peter worried as to what had happened to him. But how had Tony failed him in Tony’s universe?

Peter pulled away a bit and looked at Tony in his eyes, which were filled with sorrow and pain that he was trying to hide.

“Tony. What happened in your universe to me?”, he asked whilst looking into his eyes.

Tony looked away for a moment, turning pale whilst taking a couple of deep breaths before he answers.

“When Thanos came, we were prepared. But the fight was hard. We were close to losing, than you were able to get the gauntlet. You wielded it and Thanos along with his army had turned to dust. You soon also turned to dust. You died whilst I held you in my arms.”

#starker #marvel #fanfic #my writing #angst #self loathing #the avengers are jerks here #opportunity

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alindakb · 5 years

Text

Letters to my Parents - Wednesday 6 November 1991 - by Alinda

Wednesday 6 November 1991

Dear mom and dad,

Sorry, it’s been a while since I wrote to you. Malfoy keeps staring at me while I’m in our dormitory, making it hard to take out my notebook and write to you. I don’t want them to know about this. I’m afraid they will read it or steal it and burn it, or something. But I have to tell you about the troll that was in the school around Halloween, so I’m hoping they will stay away for a little longer.

The staring started after our fourth flying lesson. I was just spinning around on my broom, it was good fun. I teased Hermione a little, who still struggles to stay upright in the air. I don’t think she likes flying that much. She’s much better in charms and transfiguration. Oh and she’s brilliant when it comes to history of magic, she seems to know all the names and dates and she really is a big help with my essays. It’s a shame the others have started teasing her as well. It’s not as bad as with me, but they keep asking her if she likes being the poof’s girlfriend. And with the poof they mean me. And the Gryffindor’s aren’t much better. Ron just glares at her every time she knows the right answers in class or when she’s the first one to master a spell or charm. She’s the best in every class, except for potions, where Malfoy beats her every time.

But, like I was saying, I was just flying around, spinning upside down and enjoying myself when Malfoy started staring at me. And he didn’t stop. He just kept staring at me all day. And when he was lying in bed he didn’t close his curtains all the way, so he could still stare at me. I closed mine as soon as I was ready for bed. Ever since then, he stares at me a lot, but only when the others aren’t around or aren’t looking at us. I don’t know what to think of it. It isn’t like anything else changed. He still makes fun of my inabilities whenever he gets a change and still insists on sitting next to me in most of our classes so he can bump his arm against mine when we’re taking notes.

And I still have to work with him during potions. Well, he still does all the work and I just make notes. And somehow that’s better than the other classes because during potions he’s not making my life miserable. I wish Nott and Crabbe would also get the memo that says I should be left alone during potions. But they still manage to point out I’m a horrible wizard, not capable of doing my own potion because I would make poison instead of potions.

On the morning of Halloween, we had Charms and Hermione was partnered with Ron for that lesson. I was stuck with Malfoy as for usual. And we both suck at charms; we’ve both been unable to make our feather fly. It only flies off the table when Draco pushes it away. Hermione is the only one that has been able to make it fly until now. And I’m not sure what happened during class on Halloween, but I know that Hermione was trying to tell Ron how to pronounce the incantation and showing him how it’s done, and Professor Flitwick was clapping and praising her for her good work. Malfoy snorted next to me, calling Hermione a know-it-all mudblood. He turned around and told Nott they should do something about her attitude. I don’t want to know what they are planning to do to her, but I’m going to make sure I’ll find out so I can warn her or help her stop them. It’s fine if they want to go after me, but they should leave Hermione alone. I hate it that they are picking on her as well now just because she’s my friend.

After class I walked out with Hermione, she was very quiet. Ron walked in front of us and was complaining to Neville about her. He said it was no wonder no one can stand her, that she was a nightmare. Hermione took off after that. She was crying and I ran after her.

Hermione had gone to the girls’ bathroom and was crying in one of the stalls. I didn’t follow her in at first, because it was the girls’ bathroom and I’m not supposed to go in there. It just made me feel like a bad friend, waiting for her in the corridor. Another Gryffindor girl went in and I asked her to check on Hermione. She reluctantly agreed and when she came back out she told me that Hermione was crying. She said nobody else was in there and that I should go in to help my friend since Hermione had no-one else but me. I thanked Patil and sneaked into the bathroom. Hermione had locked herself inside one of the stalls and I just sat down in front of it, telling her I’m sorry that they are mean to her. I felt really bad because I felt like it was my fault she hasn’t any other friends but me and on the other side, I was glad that she is my friend because I’ve no one else. I started to cry to and then Hermione unlocked the stall and came out. We sat there together on the floor, crying and telling each other we will stick together no matter what. I’m really fortunate to have a friend like her.

We stopped crying after a while and just sat there talking; we both didn’t feel like going to the Halloween banquet. It was already too late to go to any of our other classes of that day. Sorry about that, but Hermione needed me more than that I needed to sit to more boring classes. And I’m not sorry I missed DADA, really professor Quirrell is horrible. We don’t learn anything in that class at all. If we ever face a monster we will be lost.

And we kind of were when it happened. It was just when Hermione asked me if there was any truth in the other boys saying that I’m bent. And I was kind of glad I didn’t have to answer that because I’m not really sure. I’ve never liked any girl, but I’ve also never felt anything for a boy, so I just don’t know what I like. Maybe I don’t like any of them. And that’s fine too, right?

So Hermione asked me that and then the most foul smelling monster walked into the bathroom. It was twelve feet tall and very lumpy. Its head was bald and looked like a coconut on top of its granite grey body. The smell was really horrible, it was a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean. And it was holding a huge wooden club, which he dragged along the floor, because of its long arms. It spotted us on the floor and started making its way towards us. We jumped up and tried to move around it to get to the door, but it got slammed shot before we could get past the troll. And then it swung its club at us. We both jump out of its way and Hermione screamed. It was a high, petrified scream that took me and the troll by surprise. She scrambled to the wall opposite the door and she looked like she was about to faint. The troll moved towards her and smashed up the sinks on his way. I threw a part of a broken sink at the troll trying to stop it. And then the door opened again, Ron and Neville walked into the room and I felt relieved we didn’t have to fight the troll alone. I threw some more things at the troll and Ron joined me from the other side. It confused the troll, he looked around and then he came for me. Ron yelled ‘Oy, pea-brain’ at it and threw a metal pipe at it. But the troll didn’t seem to notice and just kept advancing on me. I yelled at Ron and Neville to go get Hermione. Ron ran around the troll and grabbed Hermione’s hand and pulled her on her feet. But Hermione wouldn’t move, she just stood there, back against the wall and her mouth was open with terror. Neville was still throwing things at the troll, making it turn again and go for him. Neville yelled in fear and then Ron kept yelling at Hermione to move. I had to do something to stop it, so I did something that’s very brave but also very stupid. I jumped on the troll’s neck from behind, accidentally sliding my wand into its nose. It made the troll howl in pain. It started twisting around and moving its club up in the air looking for something to hit. And what Ron did next was amazing. He shouted Wingardium Leviosa and the troll's club flew into the air, turned over and dropped on the trolls head. The troll went down, falling on his face and I jumped to my feet, just in time to see Hermione throw her arms around Ron and kissing him on his lips. Ron his face turned almost as red as his hair. I laughed and Neville asked with a shaking voice if the troll was death. He wasn’t surprised at all that Hermione just kissed Ron. I pulled my wand out of the troll’s nose and wiped it on the troll’s trousers. It was then that Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell came running into the bathroom. Quirrell almost fainted and Snape inspected the troll. McGonagall looked very angry and she shouted at all of us, that we could have been killed and she wondered why we weren’t in our dormitories.

I was surprised to hear Hermione take the blame for it all, saying that she went out to look for the troll and that we had all come to save her. I had never heard her tell a lie in all the time I had known her. And then professor McGonagall took five points from Gryffindor, but she awarded the rest of us each five points for defeating the troll. I was proud that I had finally won my house some points. And then she told us to go to our dormitories, where the rest of the students were finishing their feast. It was hard walking to the dungeons by myself, knowing my friends were going up together to the Gryffindor common room to celebrate.

Things got better after that. Ron and Neville started joining us in the library after classes, or we would spend time in the great hall with them. Ron and Hermione started holding hands a lot and smiling at each other. And on one afternoon I told Ron and Neville about the three-headed dog and the trapdoor it’s guarding. Ron was fascinated and felt bad that he hadn’t been there. First of all he would have kicked Nott’s ass for threatening a girl, he said, and secondly, he is just as curious as me about the possibility what is underneath it. I told them I think it’s the package that Hagrid has collected from Gringotts, and we spend some time speculating what it might be. But we have no idea, only that it must be really valuable or really dangerous, needing protection like that. Hermione and Neville both think we should forget about it, Neville because he’s scared of the dog and Hermione because she’s afraid it will get us killed or worse, expelled. I don’t think she knows that getting killed also means she won’t be able to go to school anymore, but I haven’t told her that, it will only upset her. And then Ron told me, that he and Neville saw professor Snape go up the stairs to the third floor when all the other teachers were on their way to the dungeons to fight the troll. And that made me think of why Snape would go to the trapdoor? Was he after the package? And if he was, why?

I’m eating most of my meals now at the Gryffindor table, so I can finally enjoy the food. Dean and Seamus have even given me a Gryffindor tie, saying I’m one of them now. The only problem is that I still have to go down to the dungeons to sleep. I always sneak in now, hoping no one will see me, but somehow Malfoy always seems to sense when I come in. He looks very angry when I do, I don’t know why. And Nott has managed to beat me twice since I started hanging out with the Gryffindor’s again. First last Saturday, when I came back after dinner. He hit me in the stomach while Crabbe held me in place. And today, in between classes in an empty hallway, he pushed me over and kicked my head with his feet. I had to go to the hospital wing to make sure I was okay. But I am, and I can deal with it. I won’t let them scare me away from my friends any longer, even if the bullying gets worse. I can handle it. I survived ten years with Dudley, I can survive this.

I have to go now and get ready for astronomy at midnight. I promise to write sooner again.

Love Harry James Potter.

(find the entire story at https://archiveofourown.org/works/15351042/chapters/35620452)

#Harry Potter #harry in slytherin #bullied harry #fanfic #letters #Draco Malfoy #drarry #hermione granger #hermione x ron #AlindasStories

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swiss-cheeze · 5 years

Text

Secretes from the Summer of 69’ || Brian May x reader

((Why are there not good gifs of Brian wtf?))

Warnings: uh, swearing, angst, shitty writing, like, one sexual innuendo. I wrote this in like; an hour or two so it’s really shitty.

A/N: it’s a song fic.

Listen to the song for better use I guess idk.

Lyrics are in bold

———

Growing up was never something for you, you always wanted to be a kid, or at least a teenager. You could get away with everything if you thought of the perfect cover story and had a good complexion, keeping fit always helped as well.

So when you sat down for that final exam you knew everything was going to change. Yeah you got a B- which is good and all, but you finished school; now what?

---

I got my first real six-string.

Bought it at the five-and-dime.

Played it 'til my fingers bled.

Was the summer of sixty-nine.

“Go again Brian” you said rewinding the tape.

“What? But that was perfect!” Brian said dramatically throwing his hands up, John groaned behind you as he came up and pressed the coms button.

“You missed a part dummy!” John said, “If you can’t do it then we’ll get Roger in there and see what happens!”

“What! What part!?” Brian retaliated.

“Just…” you sighed and placed your head in your hands as John kept the coms on, “just play from the start, go all the way through and we can pick and place later” you said exhausted.

“Whatever you say” Brian mumbled. The man put down his drink of water, made a motion to replay the tape and soon the drums and base floated through the room accompanied by Brian’s guitar; he was doing better on this one than any other.

Me and some guys from school.

Had a band and we tried real hard.

Jimmy quit, Jody got married.

I should've known we'd never get far.

“He hasn’t played this bad since Mike left” you said softly making John chuckle beside you.

“Aren’t you glad I came then” John stated as he sat down in a nearby wheelie chair with a large grin.

“Sarcasm isn’t a pretty look on you Deaky” you explained with a grin, you played with a few of the knobs on the control board before leaving it alone and turning around to look at John, “you were so shy and enclosed back then when you first came into the band”

“Shut up” John jokingly said with a smile.

“And the hair!” a voice exclaimed, it was Roger walking through the door with a cardboard tray, two cups of coffee and a tea no doubt, “the hair he had back then WOOF”

“You had that hair back then too don’t forget” John said with a chuckle as he grabbed the coffee Roger had handed him as you grabbed the one he handed to you.

“So, Brian’s still at it then yeah?” Roger said as he leant over the control panel and squinted through the glass, and Roger had the audacity to say his eyesight was fine, “sounds shit”, you whacked Roger in the arm as the man chuckled, followed by John and then you.

“He always sounds shit darling don’t flatter yourself” Freddie said walking through the door, “sorry I’m late, my poor darlings had a stomach bug and I had to take three of them to the vet. THREE!” Freddie exclaimed as he ripped off his sunglasses and landed on the couch with a ‘poof’, “I think it was the tuna I gave them as a treat, needless to say, my loves won’t be getting any tuna no more”

“Don’t you always feed them Tuna though?” Roger asked with a cocked eyebrow raised over his sunglasses.

“Yes but-“ Freddie began.

“Oh please don’t go on about what you feed them Freddie. Please” you said placing your head in your hands, “I’ve heard enough screeching thanks to Brian already, I don’t need you to add onto that” you said with a chuckle.

“Fine! I just won’t feed you then” Freddie said jokingly.

“You don’t feed me enough anyway” you mumbled before blowing a raspberry softly, a soft ‘ahem’ came from the sound booth door.

“I just tried to play my heart out and here you all are talking” Brian said as he sipped his tea, Roger grinned behind his coffee cup as Freddie and John snickered.

“Heart? What heart? All you’ve got is skin and bone my friend” you said with a smile.

“Oh hush hush, don’t hurt the poor boy” Freddie said with a wave of his hand and a grin on his lips. Brian rolled his eyes before slinking over to the couching and plopping down softly.

Oh, when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Yeah, I'd always wanna be there

Those were the best days of my life

“Stop eye fucking” John groaned.

“Who?” Freddie asked as he looked between everyone.

“(Y/n) and Brian” John said with a sigh, “they keep looking at each other with these eye movements and I can tell they’re undressing each other as we speak and it is not nice to be able to see” the man said as he rubbed his forehead, seemingly scarred from what he had to witness.

“Well if you hadn’t have said anything we wouldn’t be envisioning it right now” Roger mumbled, “plus you’re the one who saw and thought of it, you have such a dirty mind Deaky” the man said with a grin.

“Well he does have the most kids” you said with a chuckle as you sipped your coffee. Brian shook his head as he laughed softly.

“You’re all a bunch of idiots you know that?” Brian asked as he looked to everyone in the room with a nice twinkle in his eye, “between you three” the man said with a finger drifting between Roger, you and John, “you each have one collective brain cell and none of you are using it right now”, you gasped dramatically and placed a hand on your chest and Roger pulled his glasses down his nose a little and John snorted softly.

“How RUDE!” you yelled, you stood up, “I don’t deserve such SLACK! Especially from a PESANT, like YOURSELF” you said, “come minions, we have work to do” you said to John and Roger; the two simply laughed softly (as did Fred and Brian) as you walked to the door, “no but seriously I gotta get to work otherwise I’ll be late” you said with an awkward grin.

“Oh shit yeah” Brian said, “I’ll see you out love, come on” the man said as he stood up and motioned for you to keep walking. The two of you had been together for close to nine years and only recently gotten hitched. Brian smiled down at you as you grabbed your bags and stood at the door, Brian looming over you.

“Work on your fingering” you said with a snicker making Brian roll his eyes.

“Yeah yeah” the man mumbled softly as he smiled, you smiled too as Brian bent down and kissed you softly as he held your elbow softly with one hand and his other on your cheek, “have fun at work okay?” Brian said as the two of you parted, you nodded.

“I will.” You smiled as you pecked the man on the lips once more before you started heading for the door, “I should be home for dinner, if I’m not then don’t wait up okay?” you asked, turning on your heel and walking backwards. Brian nodded.

“I’ll keep it in mind, don’t worry” Brian said softly, “love you!” the man said as he blew a kiss your way.

“Love you too babe!” you blew a kiss back as you turned just in time to get the door and walk out the place.

Ain't no use in complainin'.

When you've got a job to do.

Spent my evenings down at the drive-in.

And that's when I met you, yeah.

---

Brian didn’t actually know what your work even was, you had never told him, you just said it was something ‘top secret’ and something only you and your workmates needed to know. After being told this numerous times Brian ended up giving up and just treated it as if he knew.

Standin' on your mama's porch.

You told me that you'd wait forever.

Oh, and when you held my hand.

I knew that it was now or never.

Those were the best days of my life.

The thing was, legally you weren’t allowed to tell Brian, and otherwise you would have to-

Let’s not get into that just yet.

---

Oh, yeah

Back in the summer of sixty-nine, oh

---

Back when you and Brian had first started going out you were known as the ‘never would last’ couple. Brian was always the teacher’s pet, goody two shoes, be good boy, and you? You where the reckless, ambitious, ‘throw caution to the wind’, ‘do now, regret later’ person. You got into fights that Brian had to break you out of, he had to make sure you studied when a test came up, he was the one that helped you with your killer hangovers from those regretful ‘celebration’ nights when you got past an exam. You didn’t even properly start saying you and Brian where together until a year in, and even then it felt foreign on both your tongues, but you got over it, got past your reckless phase, studied and became a goodie that people could rely on.

Well, that’s what you let them believe anyway.

Man, we were killin' time, we were young and restless.

We needed to unwind.

I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, no.

Yeah.

---

Times change, people change and appearances need to be kept up. Brian was touring with Queen more than ever, yes you missed him, but this also meant you could get more work done without him around, this meant that you HAD to get reckless, wild, and out of your mind fucking crazy; within your job limits of course.

You watched Brian every time he came on live on the telly, he always dedicated a song to you, it was different each time but it was still cute and you loved it.

And now the times are changin'.

Look at everything that's come and gone.

Sometimes when I play that old six-string.

I think about you, wonder what went wrong.

That was, until the day shit hit the fan.

---

“Brian?” you asked shakily into the receiver.

“Yes love? You sound scared are you okay?” the man asked slightly concerned as he sat on the edge of the hotel couch the band was staying in.

“I-I. Fuck. Brian I made a mistake. Brian I’m so sorry” you said shakily as tears slowly started to cascade down your face, “nothing went right, we all fucked up and they found us. Everyone got out except me and-“

“Wait wait, we? Everyone? Escaped?” Brian chuckled awkwardly, “love, I…I don’t understand what you’re saying”

“I work for the Secret Service Brian” you said in one breath, “I’m in the worst branch, me and my team are the ones who get missions for-…for killing people, some jobs we have to assassinate someone, or-or we have to get certain information from something for someone else” you took a breath, “Brian I’m in jail, I was caught, I AM caught, my post wasn’t secured and the police got in and immediately took me in” you said quickly and shakily. Brian didn’t say anything, his soft breath was the only thing that came from the other side of the receiver. “Brian?” you asked, “Bri please respond” you whimpered softly.

“Ma’am” the guard said, “your time is up”.

“Fuck, um, o-okay.” You said quickly, “Bri I gotta go, please, come get me, I’m being held somewhere in-, fuck I think Germany? I don’t know. Bri please” by this point you were crying as the guard grabbed your arm roughly, “Bri please find me! I have a life sentence! Please!” you pleaded through your tears, you couldn’t end like this, “I LOVE YOU!”

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me that it'd last forever

Oh, and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

---

Thirteen years had passed and Brian hadn’t come for you. He had sent a letter, only one letter, stating that he wanted a divorce and even though with the amount of love he had for you, he couldn’t be with someone like you. You cried over that letter, your pillow and the jail cell you were held in had seen more tears then you cared to say.

Brian didn’t come for you, Roger didn’t call, and Freddie didn’t visit.

But John did.

He did all of those things, he couldn’t get you out of jail. But he sat with you outside your cell almost every chance he got. Brought you good food, new tapes to listen to, new books to read, and clothes. Almost anything you asked for.

So when you asked for another letter from Brian, John was definitely taken aback.

“A letter? From Brian?” John asked.

“Please John, I miss him so much” you said softly with tears in your eyes, you reached a hand out to touch John but the stern look you got given from the guard made you bring your hand back in quickly, “even just a ‘go away’!” you said with a watery smile, “I just need something from him. Please. I beg you”, John sighed softly as the bell rung for visiting hours to be over. He stood up as the guard came forward to start escorting him out.

“I’ll…ill see what I can do okay?” John asked, you nodded quickly with a smile, “alright. Next time I come I’ll try and bring a note from him”

“Thank you John! Thank you!” you sniffled as the guard started walking John out of the compound.

---

Oh, yeah

Back in the summer of sixty-nine, oh

It was the summer of sixty-nine, oh, yeah

Me and my baby in sixty-nine, oh

It was the summer, the summer, the summer of sixty-nine, yeah

“This is all he would give me” John said, it had been three months since John had last come to you, and this time he had something to give you. The man looked around to check the guards weren’t watching and slipped it into your cell quickly. You smiled to John widely as you started to open the note quickly, quietly, and trying not to break it.

‘(Y/n)

John told me you wanted a note. So here it is.

Yes I miss you.

Yes I still love you.

Yes I want to get back with you.

I didn’t have enough money back then to get you out but now I think I do. I think I can get you out. Deaky can tell you the finer details as I cannot through a piece of paper and pencil.

Please don’t think any low of me.

The only thing I ask from you is to tell me everything you had been keeping from me for all of those years we were together, what you did, how you did it and answer any of the questions I have to ask you.

I don’t want to start off where we left because that isn’t right.

I want to get to know you again, over dinner, a date if you will. But you must tell me everything I ask for, without hesitation and without keeping anything from me.

No more secretes.

We will have to take this next step together slowly and oh so carefully.

So, in the words of Bryan Adams.

‘Back in the summer of 69’

Bri x’

To say you had never been happier was an understatement as happy tears rolled down your cheeks and you held the note close.

#bohemian rhapsody #brian may #queen #roger taylor #freddie mercury #john deacon #brian may x reader #x reader #fanfiction

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