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sidespart · 3 years

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The Fall of King Romulus part 4

Summary: Twin Princes Remus and Romulus are cursed at birth with Honesty and Obedience. When Romulus, who cannot disobey any order, is told to kill his brother the next time he lays eyes on him, he changes his name to Roman and runs away. Roman joins up with a misfit group of adventures and plans to never return to his homeland. But the fae have other plans for him...

Warnings (for whole fic not necessarily individual chapters): Violence, mind whammying/memory altering, curse of obedience related consent issues, references to sex, references to war related injuries/PTSD, references to child abuse/neglect (YMMV on that one but just in case), antagonstic-but-not-exactly villian!Janus, Extremly-moraly-dubious-but-not-exacty-unsympathetic-Remus

Pairings: Mostly Platonic LAMP and all the found family feels. Could be read as pre-slash.

Feedback appreciated.

NOW ON AO3 :D

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

“I will grant them handsome features and beguiling voices,” the maiden whispered, her own voice dripping with honey “that all who great them will be blessed from the meeting.”

“I told you it wouldn’t work!” Remus grinned smugly when Romulus was deposited back in in their room, their nanny shutting the door firmly behind him.

“Urghh.” Romulus whined as he hurled himself face first onto Remus’ bed, making his giggling brother bounce from the impact. “But it should have! It always does in the stories!”

What was the point of having a twin, Romulus wondered if they couldn’t even switch places to get him out of boring geography lessons?

Remus poked him until Romulus rolled over onto his side to pout at his brother.

“It’s because I’m better lookin’ than you.” Remus told him cheerfully.

Romulus thwacked him with a pillow. “We’re identical!”

“Doesn’t matter,” Remus grabbed a second pillow from the floor, “I’m still the cute one!”

“Are not!”

“Are too!”

“Are not!”

“Are to – oof!”

The pillow fight soon descended into a wrestling match, their shrieks and giggles echoing through the bed chamber.

Eventually they ran out of breath and Remus flopped back down on the bed, his legs hanging over the edge. Romulus collapsed on the floor amongst the fallen pillows, batted Remus’ foot away from his face and gazed up at the family portrait hanging above their fire place.

They were identical. The artist had taken care to draw the crown prince a little bigger than his brother, closer to the forefront of the picture, but even so; their hair, eyes, nose - everything was the same.

Romulus glanced up at his brother, who was currently digging snot out his nose with every sign of enjoyment. Romulus gagged. They were not the same -Remus was gross!

Except.

Everyone said what a handsome young man Remus was growing up to be. How brightly his eyes sparkled. How confidently he held himself, even as a child. They never said that stuff about Romulus.

Remus shone, even when he was being gross.

“Your voice is better.” Remus said suddenly, snapping Romulus out of his sulk.

“What?”

“Your voice.” The older twin lent over the bed, staring his brother in the eye “It’s nicer than mine, ‘specially when you sing.” Romulus beamed, showing off his gap toothed smile. Their parents had hired teachers to drill both boys on the lute and harpsicord, but Romulus’ talent for singing was all him.

“You think so?”

“Yeah.” Remus smiled back at him. He’d lost a baby tooth that week too – one of his canines, giving him lopsided fangs. “And you’re way better at crying.”

“What! Well – your feet are stinker!”

“You’re worse at pranks!”

“Well you’re worse at fencing!”

“But l I’m the best at tickling!” declared Remus and leapt from the bed, pinning Romulus with his knee whilst his fingers attacked his brothers armpits. The younger prince’s peals of laughter and cries for mercy were so loud nanny came rushing back to check on them, finding the future rulers of Notaleveale wrapped around each other on the floor, covered in dust and wearing matching smiles.

“I will grant them strength and creativity.” The mother smiled, she had a thousand eyes and all of them twinkled under the halls many candles “so that their rule will never be questioned.”

“Lord Venchi?” Romulus asked.

The royal treasurer, normally one of the more composed members of his father council, was pacing the entrance hall alone, what little hair he had left sticking up in all directions as he tugged at it.

“Oh, Your Highness!” The he gasped when he caught sight of Romulus, “oh thank goodness! He-“

Romulus sighed. “What has my brother done now?”

Romulus had spent the morning on a rare visit into town, missing the days council meeting. It was completely unfair - Romulus attended meetings almost daily, under Julius supervision, as part of his training to one day take over managing whichever aspect of the kingdom bored the future King Remus the most. They were mind numbingly dull sessions and it was only Julius’ steady glare that kept Romulus’ eyes open and his face attentive.

But today, visitors from the far south were attending. Which meant the session might actually be interesting. Which meant Remus got to go, and Romulus was immediately barred from entry. Instead, his father had asked him to represent the family at the ceremonial graduation of the latest batch of city watch recruits. So, instead of hearing tales from beyond the kingdoms borders, he had spent most of the day on a podium waving dispassionately at a crowd of braying onlookers.

It was always daunting, being around so many common folk. They lacked the decorum of the nobles at court. Whilst most seemed content to gape and sigh at him from a distance, there was always one who would shout out ‘my prince, look at me!’, ‘come here!’, ‘kiss my baby!’

Even with his fathers voice ringing in his ears – “no matter what you hear, stay by your guards side until you are back in the palace.” – Romulus had spent the day tense and unhappy, pinpricks of pain dancing in his skull. By the time he was allowed to speak he had quite forgotten his prepared speech and been forced to make up a quick poem on the spot. The crowd had seemed happy enough – the watch captain had tears in his eyes - but he knew neither Julius or his parents would be happy with his improvising once his guards had reported in.

He had hoped to get a few hours alone before the inevitable lecture, and were it anyone else he might have tried to sneak by without getting pulled into whatever chaos Remus had caused.

But Venchi was an old ally, one who had served his father wisely for years and who always took the time to compliment Romulus on his few measured contributions to the councils discussions, or to explain carefully any point he had missed.

He had also seen Remus at council. There shouldn’t have been anything left that the older prince could do to shock him to this extent.

“He-“ the old man looked like he couldn’t quite believe his own words, “He flipped the table.”

Romulus stared at him. The council table was ancient and enormous, made of a stone so old it’s real name has been lost. Moving it was impossible, the palace had practically been built around it.

“The Arkazeii ambassador is being seen by a healer.” Venchi continued, “but I believe his foot Is broken, I-“

The side door behind them slammed open suddenly, crashing into the wall with enough force to make the hanging portraits shake. “I said.” Remus roared, a snarl on his handsome face, “Leave me alone!”

His voice was so forceful Romulus found he had taken three steps towards the main door before he stopped himself, face flushing. The order hadn’t been meant for him. Julius, who had clearly been chasing after the young crown prince, was now openly glaring down at Remus, two spots of colour high on his cheeks.

“Your highness I must insist-“

“Seriously?” Remus cackled, “You’re insisting? Juju, honestly, I am not interested in what you have to say.” He barred his teeth at the King’s advisor, eyes wild, “If my father wants me he can come get me himself but if not you can go and -oh.”

“Hello Remus.” Romulus sighed, giving the shortest bow he could get away with, “I hear your meeting went well.”

Remus eyes narrowed “Hello Romy, have fun getting your butt kissed in town?” he slug his arm around his brother’s neck, adopting a high pitched, sing song tone in apparent impression of the townsfolk “Oh Prince Romulus, you’re sooo clever and handsome and perfect. Won’t you pretty please sign an autograph and let me suck your di-“

“Your highness, please!” Venchi looked disgusted “There is no need for vulgarity.”

“Aww hey Vee! Wow, your hair is really going, you know the balder you get the more you look like my ballsack? Romy – I’m serious, picture him with two heads” he held up his thumbs and index fingers and positioned them in front of the red-faced treasurer like a frame “I can’t be the only one that sees this.”

“You are.” Romulus snapped, shrugging his brothers arm off of his shoulders, “Did you really break the Arkazeii ambassadors foot?”

“The Arkazeii ambassador deserved it.” Remus snarled, good humour vanishing instantly. “They want to dig up Orenlla till it’s hollow. Use the rock to turn their sky black. Have you heard the stories outta that place? All the chickens are dying, ’s a travesty.”

“The chickens are- what? Just. Whatever. Not liking his trade ideas doesn’t mean you can hurt him!”

Remus eyes were always sparkling. Like a man on the brink of madness. “I can do whatever I want little brother.” He grinned at him with too many teeth, “you should try it sometime.”

“Your sons have all the makings of rulersss” the final fae smiled, her one golden eye glinting in the depth of her cloak. “My gift is for you. I give your children honestly and obedience.” She smiled sweetly, “May they bring you joy.”

“Your father is sick” Julius told him.

I know that Romulus thought but didn’t say. Watching the old man carefully.

They were in Julius practice room, at the top of the northmost turret, where Romulus had spent so much of his childhood.

“There is of course, still hope. And we have the finest healers, from every corner of the Kingdom.” Julius was pacing as he spoke, wringing his hands. It was profoundly odd, to see the old man so unsettled. But he had known Romulus’ father from when they were both boys. He loved him, as much as he was capable of loving anyone, and he loved the kingdom that he helped rule.

So Romulus found he wasn’t as surprised as he should have been with what Julius said next.

“Your brother cannot be allowed to take the throne.”

Since Romulus curse had been recognised, his parents had taken great pains to limit the brothers’ interactions, for both of their safety.

Remus could not keep a secret.

Remus was honest. He was honest at their mothers funeral when he’d announced to the mourners that she was ‘a bitch by anyone’s definition’ and honest later than evening when he’d sobbed into Romulus’ shoulder and cried that he would miss her.

He was honest when he announced to Romulus causally, over are rare shared meal, that he dreamed about killing him. “I’d do it with a morning star” he told him, slapping his spoon down onto the head of a roasted tomato and watching the red pulp fly about his plate. “Just like that.”

He was honest when he forced his way into Romulus’ room at night, shook him awake and told him, shaking, that the palace was haunted. That voices whispered to him from every corner - so loud that he couldn’t sleep.

He was honest when Romulus asked him, baffled, why are you telling me this. “I trust you.” Remus admitted, his voice thick, “You’re the only one I can trust.”

Just because he was honest, didn’t mean he was right.

Romulus gazed at Julius, his face carefully blank – a skill he had perfected over many council meetings.- and said “I don’t think you can order me to change our birth order.”

“No.” Julius smiled, and had the decency to look pained. “That’s not what I’m going to ask.”

In this room, Julius had tried every trick to strip Romulus of his curse. And when he failed, he’d dedicated himself to learning every possible way it could be exploited. In order to help protect him, of course.

“Sit there and listen to me until I finish.”

If Romulus didn’t hear an order in full, even if he could guess it, it could be ignored. As a child he’d sometimes escape his teachers simply by running away before they could give him the next task.

“The next time you lay eyes on your brother, kill him. Ensure no one can trace it back to you.”

Vague orders were still orders, and often more effective than those that were too direct. If he couldn’t prevent someone from seeing him, then he would have to kill the witness too in order to obey the instructions in full.

“Let no one know you did it. Tell no one of our conversation”

There was, by now, a long list of things Romulus was forbidden from talking about. It was one of Julius’ favourite orders to give.

“If anyone contradicts this order, ignore them.”

Contradictions were tricky. Normally the most recent order would take precedence, but often enough once the newer order had been completed, the old one would return.

“Do you understand me, Price Romulus?”

Romulus nodded and some of the tension left Julius’ shoulders.

He smiled at Romulus then, and lent over the bush back a strand of hair that had fallen across the young man’s face. He left his hand on Romulus cheek and gazed at him like he really was a kindly old mentor and Romulus his favoured pupil.

“This year, it will be the rise of King Romulus. You will be a just and fair ruler. I’ll make sure of it.”

***

As the second son of a King, Romulus future had never been certain.

His parents discussed it often. He should have become a commander in the army, or a leader of the church or married off to a neighbouring princess and become king in his own right. With all options too likely to lead to discovery however, it had been decided he would stay home, construct a reputation of studious detachment and become his brothers distant advisor.

Help him. Protect him.

Like Julius protected them.

Instead, Romulus ran away and became Roman.

Roman was loud and confident and sprouted poetry and song without hesitation. He basked in the attention from crowds and flirted with every pretty face who crossed his path. He worked and earned for himself and argued back with anyone who disagreed with him and never sat still if he could help it. He kept Romulus and his memories of home buried so deep sometimes he forgot he’d ever had another name.

Even so, there had always been, at the back of his mind, the paranoia of this day. When he would be found. Recognised. Forced back to Romulus life.

He just didn’t think when it happened it would be so embarrassing.

They’d reached a fork in the road. The Marquis paused and whipped his head from side to side, presumably checking for witnesses although it looked more like he was trying to shake water free from his ears. He stepped in front on Roman.

“You.” He enunciated slowly and loudly “Turn left. Okay? Le – e -e f -t”

Roman stared at him.

He had been kidnapped by an idiot.

With great deliberation he rested all his weight on one foot and turned left. And then kept turning, spinning in a circle a few times until the Marquis hissed “no!” and grabbed his arm.

And then dropped it immediately, wiping his hand on his sleeve.

“You. Just – follow me, alright? This way.”

Roman rolled his eye but did as he was told. The man could have just told him in the beginning to follow him to wherever their destination was, and Roman would have done so. There was no need to give him a new instruction every few paces. But if the Marquis – what was his first name? Romulus must have known at some point – didn’t know the ins and outs of his curse then Roman wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.

They continued on, the Marquis stopping every three feet to stare at him, or repeat some instruction, or glare at a crumpled map in his hands. Roman despaired. Romulus had had a crush on this man.

At first, Roman assumed he would lead him towards the Royal Palace and present his find to the Princess or to whatever other Notalevealian nobles were already here for the coronation. But instead he tugged him away from the wider streets, back down hill towards the main sprawl of the city.

“Where are you taking me, villain?” Roman asked after twenty minutes of marching “because I’m pretty sure we’ve passed that street lamp three times already.”

“Somewhere where your little friend won’t be able to help you.” the Marquis muttered, glaring at the lamp in question.

Roman felt his heart freeze. His friend?

He supposed it made sense. There was no conceivable way they could have been followed in the woods. Not without Patton or Virgil noticing. The Marquis must have spotted him in the market and followed from there, which means he would have at least seen Logan, perhaps the others too since he had been at the tavern…

Although why would a noble be at the Stevangie street market?

He tried not to let his anxiety show on his face, puffing his chest out and summoning his most haughty glare.

“Listen to me, lordling, if any harm should come to them I will personally-“

“Them?” The Marquis stumbled, map fluttering to the floor. When he spun to glare at Roman his eyes were enormous. “How many are there?”

Roman blinked, haughty glare ruined by his genuine confusion. “Erm,” he tried “lots?”

The Marquis audibly gulped, but before Roman could even attempt to interpret that the man’s face brightened, his gaze caught on something behind Roman. He smirked, some swagger returning to his step.

“No matter.” He said and grabbed Romans arm, dragging him towards a nondescript building in the centre of the street, unlocking the door and shoving the bard through.

It was a bath house. The back entrance, perhaps, but the damp in the air and smell of scented soap was unmistakable.

Roman tried, in his sleep-deprived, underfed, over-stressed state, to come up with a reasonable explanation for this.

He had nothing.

“Why-“

“Shut up” The Marquis snapped. “Walk that way.” He pushed Roman down a long corridor, past arched doorways through which he caught a glimpse of the bathhouse proper, and into a dusty looking stairwell. He had produced a candle from somewhere, but the dim light did very little to illuminate anything as they gingerly picked their way down.

When they finally reached the bottom floor Roman squinted to see boxes and crates of empty bottles– a storage room? But he had no time to take it all in before he was being dragged through another pair of doors. Two more rooms and another set of stairs later and the Marquis finally stopped.

The room he’d led them to was hot and humid. Sweat dripped down Romans nose after only a few seconds. At first he couldn’t work out what the noise that filled the room was, until his eyes adjusted enough to see the tubes running from the floor to ceiling.

“You’re lucky to see this.” The Marquis had to raise his voice over the rush of running water to be heard “This room is a modern miracle – the lifeblood of the city!”

Steveange’s heated bath houses were famous. So much so even Virgil had heard of them, and he seemed to take pride in knowing nothing about the outside world. Roman had assumed the city must have been built on hot springs or some other natural source, but this was something else.

“The furnace is below us.” The Marquis explained, as he propelled Roman towards the back wall. “The pipes bring water from the river, it’s heated and pumped up and out to every bathhouse in the city.”

He grinned with something like pride as he tapped one of the pipes above Romans head, making it sing, “Arkazeii engineering and Orenllan iron. Lined with Orenllan copper of course…give me your jacket.”

“But. Notaleveale doesn’t trade it’s ores” Roman blinked rapidly, trying to remove the sweat from his eyes, as he shrugged out of his jacket.

Jacket was a generous term – it was a silken red thing, better suited to performances than travelling. But he enjoyed the way it billowed as he walked. The Marquis took it and without so much as a moments respect for the garment, ripped one of the sleeves clean off.

“Hey!”

“You’ve been away a long time.” the Marquis snarled, “you little fae touched traitor.”

Roman gaped at him, even as the man grabbed his right arm and began attempting to tie it to the nearest pipe.

“I used to look up to you” the Marquis continued, “you were everything a Prince should be. But you betrayed your father and put a curse of madness on your brother - all because of your own petty jealousy!”

He squeezed Romans wrist with enough force to leave bruises. And stepped back to admire his handywork. The silky material had no grip and it was painfully obvious the man was not used to getting his hand dirty. The resulting knot looked more like a bow. “You are no prince of mine.”

“Lucius.“ Roman knew he’d known his name. “That’s not true. That’s- that’s not even a clever story! Who came up with that?”

“Shut up.” Some of the panic from the journey had come back to Lucius’ eyes but it faded quickly “And don’t think you can scare me with my name, there is more iron in this room then anywhere else in the city.”

He grinned at Roman nastily. “Your little friends aren’t coming to save you.”

Roman stayed quiet, mind whirling. They thought Remus was cursed?

Well. He was. But not in the way Lucius seemed to believe.

They wouldn’t send a mad man to another kingdoms coronation would they? Had the seller actually been certain Remus was coming?

Tied up, exhausted and with a man who seemed to hate him glaring down, Roman started to giggle in giddy relief.

Lucius stepped back, looking unsettled, before reaching out, roughly grabbing Romans chin and shoving the remnants of his jacket into his mouth. “Stay here,” he told him, slowly and clearly “until I come back with your transport.”

He stood, taking the candle with him to the door. He paused for one moment before leaving, the flickering light illuminating a cruel smirk. “You had better hope I can arrange it before the furnaces come back on.” And he was gone.

Roman glanced above himself into the darkness, where his wrists were strapped tight to the currently cool metal. A rush of fear went through him, finally bringing him down from the giggling hysteria.

Alone In the dark, tried to think.

Roman was a bad friend. He lied to his companions as easy as breathing and took his own fears out on them.

Romulus was a bad prince. He had abandoned his kingdom and his subjects and allowed some sort of conspiracy to spring up in his wake.

But he was a good brother. Remus was alive. And he would stay that way.

After all, this afternoon he thought that Remus was here. That he would have to confront his past, escape the city, evade every member of the Notalevealian court and his own friends and steal a horse.

Now all he had to do was get out of this basement and outwit one idiot who could barely tie knots and hadn’t even thought to pat him down to check for hidden daggers.

Easy-peasy he thought, his eyes fluttering closed as exhaustion finally overtook him.

Part 5

#roman sanders #sanders sides #remus sanders #creativitwins #sanders sides fic #ts: fall of romulus #sidespart writes

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prodtrouver · 3 years

Text

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍'𝐒 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐄𝐍

❝ I'm lucky just to get close to the throne. ❞

Their people never wanted a queen. They've always thought kings are better off for the kingdom. However, the kingdom became full of spies and traitors when the new queen was coronated and was told to assassinate her. There is a catch though: they have to get pass her right-hand men.

Pairing: Kang Taehyun x queen!reader x Park Jisung

Genre/warning: fluff, slight angst, mentions of murder/assassination, bodyguard x queen, knight x queen, mentions of sexism where the kings are much more superior than queens

No. Of words: 2791 words

IMAGINE INSPIRED BY:

= 10 years before =

The little boy ran out of the house, ashes on his face as he immediately fell on the ground. His tears streamed down his face when he realized his family is no longer beside him.

He felt like everything has disappeared from him, everything was taken away by the fire that was set.

He guesses he'll be living on the street now. The people stared at him in pity. Suddenly, he felt someone kneel beside him. He turned to look at the person.

It was a girl: she wore a beautifully embroidered white blouse with a linen skirt. Her slightly wavy hair runs down her shoulders. She looked wealthy, and the villagers looked shocked to see her beside him.

"Don't cry... I know you just lost everything but don't cry." She muttered as she looked over at the still burning house.

"Put it out," she said to the men behind her. She helped the skinny boy stand up. A soft smile on her lips before she hugged him. They were both on the same height and the boy weirdly found her comfortable.

"I will let you stay with me, so tell me your name." She broke the hug and stared at him. She wiped the ash from his cheeks with a piece of cloth.

"Kang... Taehyun..."

= 2 years later =

Taehyun stopped his horse when you got off your horse.

"Princess? Where are you going?" He immediately gets off his horse and followed you. His hand ready to grab your wrist as you head somewhere unknown in the woods.

"Taehyun, I think I saw a body here," you whispered. Taehyun furrowed his brows but stayed quiet.

Suddenly, as you said that, you both halted your steps. A young boy laid unconscious on the leafy ground, blood on his shoulder as if it was still fresh.

"Wha- Taehyun, help me help him!" You said and rushed towards the unconscious boy. Taehyun kneeled beside him while you lifted the boy up a bit.

"Get a cloth or something! Wrap his injury!" You said, and quickly, Taehyun did that. After doing so, you both carried the boy on his horse and immediately head back to the castle. Taehyun clung onto the boy while you rode your horse in front of him.

When the unconscious boy woke up in an unknown room, his pain was no longer there. He looked over at his shoulder: his injury was bandaged. He looked around, confusion stayed on his face.

"What's your name?" He jumped at the sudden question. He turns around and sees you there with a boy beside you. How did he not see you there?

"What's your name, boy?"

"Park Jisung,"

= back to the present =

Taehyun and Jisung stood on your side as you listened to the boring meeting of your father, the king. You yawned and looked over the war board. You took a little Knight,

"If you go there, they will expect you, and you will be assassinated. However, if you go behind the castle at past midnight, that is their weak point." You moved the little knight to behind the carved wood castle of the neighbor kingdom. You pushed more knights behind the figure.

"Immediately, you must surround the castle because they will realize you are attacking. Do not surprise them by shooting whatever from the sky," you said.

Their expressions, except Jisung's and Taehyun's were all shocked. Your father was smirking though, plans running through his head as he watched you whisper something to Taehyun and Jisung.

"Y/n, how does Queen y/n sounds to you?" He asked instantly. Everyone has their eyes wide.

"Sounds nice.... Now, if you excuse me, I need to go," you stood up from your seat. You exited the room,

"You're okay with being Queen?" Jisung asked, and you hopped your head as a yes.

"It will be interesting if you think about it," you spat. You chuckled when you heard Taehyun groan softly.

"Yeah, assassination is definitely interesting," Taehyun said, and you laughed. Jisung just looked over at you both, slightly concerned about the upcoming events.

"Assassination is interesting if you're the target. I have 2 right-hand men to protect me... That is if you can handle it," you smirked, and faced the two boys.

"I trust both of you,"

Coronation wasn't nice at all. All the rushed preparation and activities were being made. Taehyun leaned by your bed while Jisung brushed his hair.

"Coronation is boring," Jisung muttered. Taehyun agreed, but you sighed as a reply.

"I know and I hate the responsibilities of the queen, however, I believe the attempted assassinations of people will be fun." You clapped your hands as you fixed your cape.

"There's something wrong with you then." Taehyun walked towards you and took a hair clip from the vanity. You clipped in your hair, you thanked him.

"Should we stay close to you?" Jisung asked, and he stood beside you. You chuckled and bobbed your head up and down.

Jisung caresses your hair before taking a rose from a vase.

"After this, you will officially be our queen. We vow to be committed with you," Jisung lent you the rose before he kissed your palm.

"We shall put our lives on the line for you, your majesty," Taehyun slightly bowed his head. He held your palm and placed a kiss on it as well.

"Stop acting that way," you smack their shoulders before laughing. You heard the door open and turn your heads.

"Your majesty, it is time," the servant said. Taehyun and Jisung help you stand up and they follow behind you until you make it to the coronation hall.

The door opened: neighbor kings and their wives, as well as princes and princesses. You softly bit your lips as you walked down the carpeted floor. Jisung and Taehyun stood on the side of the podium.

"We are gathered here today for the coronation of our first queen!" You kept your eyes in the front, however, you could tell Taehyun and Jisung has noticed something.

"It's just coronation day, and she already had people targeting on her." Taehyun whispered to Jisung when he pointed at a prince who gripped on the handle of the dagger hidden inside his coat.

"Let's just stay close to her later," Jisung whispered back and Taehyun agreed.

You softly smiled to all the people that greeted you with joy and pleasure. Although, it is weird to bow to a queen, and not a king. You weren't having it though; you despised greeting people who threw looks as daggers at you.

You knew you need to prove that you are capable of ruling the kingdom, however, you also knew there would be traitors and stubborn minds out there.

"Your majesty, we saw a prince with a dagger. Please, be careful," Taehyun lightly held your arm. You placed your hands on both of their shoulders.

"Instead of staying close to me, monitor him. Eliminate him but don't kill him if you must," you whispered. Both boys nodded their heads before separating ways.

"Good day, your royal majesty," you turned around to be greeted by the neighboring kingdom's princes, Choi Yeonjun and Mark Lee.

"Good day, Prince Yeonjun, Prince Mark," you bowed your head, slightly. Both princes sweetly smiled at you as they make up a conversation.

However, behind them, you saw another prince. He had his gaze on you, a glare perhaps. Behind him was Jisung, and on his left was Taehyun. Both were pretending to be busy while they kept their gazes on Prince traitor.

"Your majesty, if you would like, we can send a few of our royal guards to keep you heavily guarded. There are people who do not like nor trust a queen." Yeonjun insisted, but a faint chuckle left your red lips.

"Thank you for the insistence, but I figured I could handle the betrayal of my so-called-people. No need to worry, I will be alright," you said.

"Alright then- but if you need more guards, our kingdom will be glad to lend a few," Mark said before you thanked them once more. Both princes left shortly to talk to other inheritors of the other kingdoms.

You, on the other hand, thinks of a plan to please your kingdom, only to realize that won't be needed.

A week has passed and everything was alright. You have already improvised and finished the undone tasks of the past king, aka your father.

The farms were able to finish just before spring arrived with the extra pairs of arms you sent out. More supplies were given to the shops in the village that could last them a lifetime.

It wasn't to please your people, but rather do the right thing. That's what important in being the ruler of a kingdom.

"Your majesty, a few more guards have been sent out to patrol the village. Do you want to increase the number of guards to patrol the castle grounds during evening as well?" The kingdom's Marshal explained.

"No more increase for the evening patrols. Although, assign a few guards from the day patrols to the remote are of the kingdom's village." You said, the marshal nodded and left afterwards.

Jisung, who sat on the side, suddenly yawned. You looked at him from your throne while Taehyun rolled his eyes at the other's reactions.

"So boring!" Jisung shouted, not giving a damn to the other guards in the humongous throne room.

"I hate to admit it, but today is more boring than yesterday," Taehyun spoke the truth. You chuckled and removed the cloak on your shoulder.

"Should we go train then? It has been a while since we practiced our swordsmanship."

They both smile and hurriedly made their way to the training grounds. You let out a chuckle, however, that didn't last long when you felt stares behind you.

You turned around, only to see a man ran towards you with a dagger on his palm. You stood still and closed your eyes.

Pain didn't hit you, nor hurt you. Instead, all you heard is the man's groans and winces of pain.

"Glad we didn't get that far," Taehyun spoke as he took the dagger from the unknown man. Jisung has hit foot pressed on the man's chest, his arms crossed.

"Nevermind, today isn't so boring," Jisung smirked. "If anything else, it's quite interesting to find out a mere peasant plans to assassinate her majesty."

You opened your eyes to watch Taehyun pull the man up, his hands already tied to the back. Jisung, who took the dagger from Taehyun, threw the dagger down the window.

"What if you hit someone with that?" You said as you stood beside Jisung. You both watched Taehyun effortlessly tie the struggling man.

"Then it looks like blades do fall from the sky. They'll probably think it's the devil trying to kill them." Jisung joked, and you rolled your eyes playfully.

"You have time to joke around while almost being killed!? You really are a careless queen! The kingdom doesn't need you!" The man shouted as Taehyun pushed him against the wall. Taehyun stepped back and stared at the man.

"I'm not careless nor thoughtless- I'm joking around because I know I won't die. Why do you think I just stood there? To show that I'm an easy target?" You smirked and immediately pulled out the sword from Jisung's sheath.

You stabbed the wall. The blade of the sword was centimeters away from the man's ears.

"Go ahead and tell your people I'm a very easy target. My father gave me the throne for a reason, and throwing away people like you from the kingdom is one of those reasons." You removed the sword from the wall.

You gave it back to Jisung and turned around, about to walk away.

"Taehyun, I trust you with handling this man. We will meet you in the training grounds." You spoke as Taehyun nodded. Jisung followed you to the training grounds.

"You must be sick of her ordering you around- do you plan on killing her too?" The man smirked at Taehyun, who smirked back.

"I'm lucky just to get close to the throne, you peasant. I'm never tired of her orders, I enjoy them lots." Taehyun said as he effortlessly dragged the man to the other guards to imprison him.

You walked down the dark halls of the castle. A lamp on your hand as you looked straight ahead.

The castle remained its peaceful silence, even in the evening. Although you're certain it cannot remain that way for you knew, someone has their eyes glued on your figure.

You're never really keen of normal princess stuff. War strategies, weapons, and swordsmanship interests you more. You just learned proper princess etiquette because of your mother.

Jisung and Taehyun aren't currently with you, hence, making you more vulnerable than usual. That really didn't stop you from staying strong. You are the one who trained the two boys.

You stopped and let out a sigh.

"Stop following me, will you?" You turn around, your right hand already on the handle of your sheathed sword. The 2nd unknown man of the day smirked at you.

"You took away my brother, you will never take me!" He lunges himself towards you, daggers on both of his grasps.

Luckily, you ducked and kicked him in the chest and sent him flying backwards. You unsheathed your sword and pointed it at the man.

Just from his figure, it was obvious he does swordsmanship. He even could surpass you, but you stayed confident that you're stronger.

Once again, the man stood up and lunges himself at you. The blade of his daggers met the blade of her swords. The cling and clangs of both blades echoed in the half-empty hall.

"So you're not useless at all," the man was stunned by your swordsmanship. All you could do is smashed your head into his and kicked him backwards once again.

"What's your head god damn made off?" You laughed this time, you lunged yourself at him.

The way you moved and yield your sword from his weak points kept catching him off guard. However, you were also surprised with how quickly the man thinks.

You both circled in the hall, your blades being yielded. Suddenly, he kicked your hand and your sword falls to the ground. Your eyes followed the sword, and he used the chance to kick you once more.

Pain came crashing down on your chest and hand. The man smirked as he held you up, his dagger pointed on your neck.

"Bye bye, your majesty," he said. The icy blade touched your skin, it sent shivers down your spine but it confused him. You looked unfazed, then instantly-

"The show was nice, but I'm not pleased with the fact you hurt our queen." The man was kicked from behind and he dropped you. You were caught by Taehyun, though.

"You were amazing, y/n- you should teach us again," Taehyun dusted off all the 'peasant dust' off you.

"I was wondering why you guys were just watching behind that door," you rolled your eyes.

"The night was boring," Jisung spat.

"Everything for you is boring," Taehyun picked up your sword and returned it to you. The three of you looked at the man who was reaching for his daggers.

"I'll take that!" Jisung picked both of his daggers and inspected it.

"Interesting, interesting- it still looks new, however, it's dull. If we weren't here, you would've suffered a tragic murder, y/n." Jisung said as he gave the daggers to you.

"Death is boring- why not dodge it when you're seriously about to die?" You joked and put your sword back in its sheathe.

"I won't even ask who sent you. Jisung and Taehyun could handle them," your eyes got darker. The man felt his crack.

"I hope you realize you messed with the wrong people. You messed with the queen, not only that..." You kneeled in front of him and pressed the cold dagger's blade on his neck.

"You messed with the Queen's right-hand men." You smiled sweetly, but your eyes don't show sweetness nor kindness.

"Guards, take him to prison!" You clapped your hands, and a door opened, and revealed the guards who were watching everything.

"Make sure he stays with his dumb assassin brother," you said as you turned to look at Jisung and Taehyun.

"Now that's over- let's play in my room! The night isn't over!" You locked your arms with them.

"I'm sleepy though," Jisung yawned.

"Everything is really boring for you," Taehyun rolled his eyes as he let you drag him to your bedroom.

"I'm joking! What game should we play? Charades? What words should we include?" Jisung said as he thought of things to act as.

"Include the title Queen's right-hand men." Taehyun joked, and you laughed.

"How are you both going to act that? You're going to call yourself right hand 1 and right hand 2?" You joked and they both laughed as the three of you reached your bedroom.

"Simple! Just point at the queen, then point at me and Taehyun!" Jisung said,

"That's already saying the answer, Ji!" You and Taehyun shouted before you all threw in a fit of laughter.

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no-whump-on-main · 3 years

Text

Apartment 307-8 (Grabbed by the hair)

Hi guys!! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. School and work have been crazy but luckily I'm out of school next week so I'll have much more time and be posting more frequently! Apologies for the short chapter, I have no idea why but it just kicked my butt lol. I tried doing some cool multimedia stuff, I hope you enjoy! This is @sableflynn's BTHB request, grabbed by the hair.

TWs: Creepy, possessive whumper, mention of branding, also this chapter made me sad bc I love my mom and Elora's mom is sad so warning for that lmao

Elora was still lying there crying hours later. The tears had slowed from her initial keening sobs, but they still fell steadily down her face, accumulating in a small puddle on the tile by her head. She could see a bit of her reflection in the salty water; just her eyes, mostly. She saw green eyes that had once been so full of hope and life that were fading, the slow abandonment of hope almost making them gray out. She wanted to lie there forever, staring into her own eyes, until oblivion took her. If she cleared her head enough, she could pretend she was elsewhere, somewhere warm and loving; the blanket draped over her body did help with the fantasy, though she always knew somewhere in the back of her head that it was just that: a fantasy. She was still here. With him.

Clyde tried to give her time to recover, but his patience wore eventually. He began to get antsy after a few hours of watching her lie there, doing nothing but cry. Admittedly, he did enjoy it at first-seeing her so weak, so docile, because of him-but it eventually grew tiresome. Watching each tear drip down into the puddle became like watching paint dry.

He stood up abruptly. Elora was startled by the motion, flinching before stilling and watching him very carefully. What was he going to do?

“Get up,” he said simply.

Elora froze. She still felt sick, dizzy with pain and the lingering scent of her burning flesh in the bathroom. But why would he care about that? Why should she disobey him, when she knew what would happen?

Yet pride and pain got the better of her again.

“I can’t,” she whimpered. She felt weak. “I hurt. You hurt me.”

The piercing sound of a loud, sudden laugh began to echo through the bathroom. It reminded Elora of the laugh of a hyena. She winced.

“Darling, did you not think that was the point?”

Her expression hardened and her heart thumped in her chest. That was the point. She wanted to say something, but her mouth suddenly got dry.

The man simply grinned. “Get up,” he repeated, but she didn’t. She just laid there, dumbfounded.

He groaned angrily, rolling his eyes. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Be that way.”

He gathered up her hair in his hand, locked his fingers in a tight fist, and pulled up. Elora yelped and scrambled to get to her feet to relieve the pain, but he didn’t give her the chance; he carelessly dragged her off, out of the bathroom, through the hallway, and into the living room. She screamed and thrashed wildly, her hands desperately trying to push him away as her scalp burned like fire. Again and again, her feet scraped the ground to no avail, kicking and kicking but never able to gain enough traction to stand as she was mercilessly dragged. The man finally dropped her on the floor at the foot of a worn leather couch, releasing his death grip on her hair. Her hands immediately flew up to her head, applying gentle pressure to her scalp to try to ease the burning pain as she looked around the new room.

The living room was barren, like the man had half moved into it then given up. There was a dusty box in the corner, the couch, a worn coffee table, a small stand, and an old TV. Other than that, it was empty, in an eerie way. The aged carpet spanned the floor like an ocean.

The pressure didn’t do much and Elora dropped her hands, still wincing as the man plopped himself on the couch behind her, the leather making a loud crackling noise as he sat. She whipped her head around as her shoulders raised up to her ears instinctively. The man made a sour face, his features twisting into an ugly frown.

“Relax,” he commanded, forcefully pushing her shoulders down. At first, she tried to wiggle away, but that idea was abandoned when he tightened his grip, clearly as a warning. He grabbed the TV remote from the arm of the couch and turned it on. It started on some history channel documentary about cars, but Clyde quickly flipped through channels until he found the local news station.

A grin spread across his face as he read the blue banner spanning across the bottom of the screen. They were just in time.

UP NEXT: CAPE COD GIRL GOES MISSING; DESPERATE MOTHER PLEADS FOR HER RETURN

His hands wandered to Elora’s scalp and began to gently card through her hair. She inhaled sharply, and it took everything she had in her not to immediately shove him off. Somehow the gentleness felt worse than the pain; the false sense of care disgusted her. He was a maniac. He hurt her, he branded her, and now he was sitting on the couch petting her hair, pretending like none of it happened. It didn’t escape her attention how he set her on the floor instead of the couch, below him, like a dog.

The banner was bad enough, but she felt sick to her stomach when the station cut to a reporter sitting at a desk with a picture of her on half of the screen. It was the picture her mom took of her at the orchard last fall. It was candid; she remembered it. She was intently focused on a butterfly off on a tree, ignoring her mom as she snapped the photo. It was one of her favorite pictures of herself. And now, it was plastered all over the news.

The reporter on the TV began to speak. “Tonight, a desperate mother pleads for her missing daughter’s safe return. Elora Larkin, nineteen, of Barnstable county, Massachusetts has been missing since Friday night. She was last seen walking home from her job at Agathangelou’s bakery, wearing khakis, a black t-shirt, and black sneakers. The police have opened a tip line and are offering an unspecified reward for any information that leads to Miss Larkin.”

Elora felt a lurching sensation in her stomach, so visceral she wanted to throw up. That was her. On the news. Gone. Missing.

Behind her, the man chuckled.

“Look at that, baby. You’re all over New England.”

“I’m not your baby,” she snapped, turning around. But her head was spinning. All over New England? It wasn’t the Cape Cod news station on the TV. It wasn’t even a state news channel. It was entirely unfamiliar, the reporter’s face one she’d never seen.. So he’d taken her across state lines, making her chances of being found lower yet.

The man shushed her and put a finger up to her lips. “Watch.” She almost bit him, but decided it wasn’t worth the inevitable punishment that would follow. Besides, they might say something useful, something that could help her. She needed to pay attention.

The screen changed, and a missing persons poster popped up. Hers.

It was up for a minute before it faded away as the reporter came back on the screen.

“Such a sad story. Everyone in the studio is hoping and praying for her safe return. Unfortunately, vigilance is so important in this day and age. Up next, we have a recording of a press conference with the girl’s mother.

The girl’s mother. Her mother. Elora felt her heartbeat thumping in her chest.

And there she was. Jodie was standing at a podium in a building that had to be a police station. Demetrios was standing by her side, offering support by merely being present. While Elora hadn’t seen him cry even once in all the years she’d known him, he now looked like he was on the verge of tears.

Her mom started to speak. She looked so sad. Withered, like the life had been sucked out of her, from fear and overthinking and sleepless nights.

“My daughter-My daughter Elora has been missing since Friday night. She’s got-she’s got blonde hair, and green eyes, and she’s real tall. I’m sure pictures have gone around by now. She was walking home from work and-and then she disappeared. We were supposed to have dinner Sunday and she never came. It was supposed to be her weekend off. I- If someone has her, please, I’m begging you, let her go. Bring her home safe. She’s a good kid, she works hard, she rescues cats in her spare time...she doesn’t deserve this. And Elora, if you’re seeing this, I love you. I love you so much, honey. If you chose to leave, please just tell us you’re okay. It’s okay. You can go see the world, just tell us you’re okay. And if something-something bad happened, we’re gonna find you. I promise, baby, I love you and we’re gonna bring you home. Promise.”

At that point, she set the microphone down and began to cry, tears streaming down her face as she hurried off to an exit, the cameras following her for a few moments. Elora’s heart twisted in knots. Seeing her mom’s face brought her so much joy, yet knowing how worried she had to be made her feel sick with guilt.

But she promised. She promised she’d find her.

“That your mom?”

Elora stilled. He already knew the answer.

"She’s kinda pathetic. Could barely keep it together long enough to tell them about you.”

She went cold. “Stop,” she seethed. Her voice was eerily calm, given her anger.

"Or what?” he replied, twisting her hair up in his hand and giving it another tug.

Elora was silent. There was no or what. She knew that.

The reporter came back on the screen.

“Well, folks, that’s all we have on the case for tonight. Remember to be safe and vigilant. This has been Hannah Brown with News12.”

The man released her hair, picked up the remote, and turned off the T.V.

“Notice how they only talked about you, not me?”

Elora turned her head around. She was crying.

“What?”

He scoffed. “I said, notice how they only ran their mouths about you the whole time. Never said a word about me. You know what that means? They don’t know jack shit about me. They don’t know who you’re with or where you are. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but we’re in Connecticut. We crossed state lines twice. They’re never going to find you, you know that?

She tried to hide it, but he could see her expression falling with every word he said, hope beginning to seep out of her. She shook her head vigorously, her bottom lip trembling.

“N-no! No, they will, you’re just crazy! You’re just fucking crazy!”

A scowl formed on his lips. “No, they won’t.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but in a split second, his hand was gripping tightly around her throat, cutting off her air. Her eyes went wide.

“No one is coming to save you.”

Elora swallowed, fear bright in her eyes. She tried to rip herself away, but the man raked his fingers across the fresh brand on her collarbone, sending her to the ground, keeling in pain.

“We could’ve had a nice evening if you behaved. Listened,” he grumbled, standing and once again grabbing her hair tightly before dragging her off towards the bathroom.

Tags: @exploringspaceinpyjamas @all-whumped-out @badthingshappenbingo

#bad things happen bingo #whump #whump fic #whump writing #my writing #whumper #human whumpee #possessive whumper #creepy whumper #Elora #elora larkin #lady whump #whump blog #psychological whump #physical whump #apartment 307

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minniethemoocherda · 4 years

Text

Truth

Summery: Majestia and Knightowl hold a press conference where they make a very special announcement.

SPOILERS for Miraculous New York

Ao3

FF.net

"Marinette! You have to watch this!"

The young super heroine had barely walked through the classroom door, before her best friend was dragging her over to their table. Alya's phone was propped up by some books whilst the rest of their classmates gathered around it.

"What's going on?" Marinette asked.

"Majestia is making an announcement."

She prided herself on not jumping too high as Adrien's voice appeared besides her ear. She looked over her shoulder to see him standing behind her, as usual his kind green eyes completely obvious to how much of a mess she was around him. Although, ever since returning from New York she was more determined than ever to let these feeling go. She might have loved him, but he would never feel the same way back and she would have to accept that. Especially as she was now starting to realise how much she needed a certain cat in her life to feel complete.

Alya seemed to have finally understood this as well, no longer sending secret thumbs up or exaggerated winks. The wannabe reporter was too focused on her phone, her positioning of her friends an accident.

Marinette turned her attention back to the screen, as Majestia stood on a podium outside the statue of liberty, the rest of the superheroes of New York standing alongside her. It was strange to see them like this having met and even fought with them only a week ago.

"Hey dudes, is it just me or does Knightowl's costume look different?" Alya shushed her boyfriend as Majestia started speaking.

"Citizens of Earth. As you know, here in New York we recently celebrated French-American Friendship Week, during which I had the honour of working alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir,”

Marinette tried to suppress an excited shudder. Despite being superheroes themselves, it still felt like a dream to have the greatest hero in the world recognise them.

“Friendship is a precious thing, meant to help others inspire them to become the best version of themselves whilst they help you in return. I learnt a great many things from Ladybug and Chat Noir, including the importance of being true to yourself.”

That was when Knightowl came forward. Nino was right, her costume had changed. It was still unmistakably Knightowl and was as practical and protective as before, only now it reflected her feminine figure. Minette heard her classmates gasp.

“Majestia and our French friends are correct. It is hypocritical of us to inspire truth and justice, when we are not true to ourselves. It is our duty as heroes and to ourselves to not hide what makes us who we are.”

This time, Marinette gasped along with her classmates as Knightowl got down on one knee. Even Majestia had a look of surprise on her face.

“My dear.” Knightowl said, her tone soft as she spoke to her love las though she was the only one on the island. “You are the most incredible person I have ever met. And not because of your powers. But because of how you love my daughter like your own, how you are as kind as you are brave, and how you flew to Paris before I awoke to bring me croissants for breakfast because you know they are my favourite. I love you and I cannot imagine a life where I don’t wake up to your eyes greeting me every morning. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

Majestia nodded, tears running down her face, before embracing her with a kiss. Everything erupted into chaos. The press started demanding questions but Majestia only held Knightowl in her arms and carried them away to enjoy their engagement in private as the rest of the superheroes cheered them on. Marinette spotted Uncanny Valley and Eagle, the latter in their new costume, crying with joy as they were now to officially become sisters. Back in Paris, her classmates were going mad with excitement. Alya was already blabbering about what to write for the ladyblog, Juleka and Rose held each other close whilst Nino started taking bets on when the wedding would be. Marinette didn’t even notice that Marc had burst into the classroom until he knocked Nathaniel over with his hug.

In the chaos, her eyes found Adrien who looked as though he was about to explode with happiness and hope.

“They’re perfect for each other, aren’t they.” He stated.

Marinette stared into his green eyes, for a moment mistaking them for another pair.

“Yes. They are.”

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mooosicaldreamz · 3 years

Note

We obviously need your song by song analysis of evermore please!

i got asked to do this about four times so here it is.....much anticipated. i know. please note that when i say that i hate her or despise her i don’t actually mean that. but i do

EVERMORE

OK LETS GO

WILLOW - ok, groovy first time you hear it, right? has a strong rumbly wiggle. let’s VIBE. the low of the verse, the high of the chorus…oh my goodness! what is she doing. she’s just out there! wow. “wherever you stray i follow” is a banger. “life was a willow and it bent right to your wind” with the overlay oof let’s go.!!!! a shockingly strong first entry of the record…best one since “welcome to new york” maybe!!! let’s just say it!!! for some reason “i come back stronger than a 90s trend” throws me off though…i don’t know. it’s just so moody pop, no one is doing it like her!!! i hate her

CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS - every time i listen to this song i listen to it four times. not a joke. it’s perfect. i don’t think i need to convince anyone! it’s perfect!!!!! what are you doing? taylor swift, the most dramatic bitch, has been writing dramatic bitch songs since she was fourteen and yet, somehow, she contrives to write even more dramatic things as she ages. this song is a JOKE. there are not ENOUGH songs about denying proposals! it’s just simple and sad. oh my god. it’s insane. the fact that she wrote this with her boyfriend (i have a running theory that they are married, we are going to refer to joe as her Perfect and Glorious Husband from now on) …… come on. the ENTIRE BREAKDOWN. “YOUR MIDAS TOUCH ON THE CHEVY DOOR / NOVEMBER FLUSH YOUR FLANNEL CURE / THIS DORM WAS ONCE A MADHOUSE / I MADE A JOKE WELL ITS MADE FOR ME / HOW EVERGREEN OUR GROUP OF FRIENDS / DON’T THINK WE’LL SAY THAT WORD AGAIN / AND SOON THEY’LL HAVE THE NERVE TO DECK THE HALLS THAT WE ONCE WALKED THROUGH” ……. concluding with that absolute stabby killer “what a shame she’s fucked in the head” oh my god……….. and the song resolving in a very adult “you’ll find someone else” god

GOLD RUSH - ok so like this song is like ok it’s got the same groovy high /low that’s happening on willow but it’s so different! it’s so good! the pulse of the beat propelling the whole thing through and then the falling apart “oh what must it be like to grow up that beautiful”……………..ok. the visceral image of “my eagles t-shirt hanging from the door” …………. i admire very much taylor’s oncoming gift of moving through high/low imagery…… i love her so much? it’s so HARD. “my mind turns your life into folklore” beautiful! BEAUTIFUL! also i have some belief in me that this is about karlie kloss but i shall not dive into that hole.

TIS THE DAMN SEASON - oh so i’m supposed to LIVE with this song EXISTING. WHY!!!! HOW……..oh my god………..taylor was like, yes, i’m going to write a song about a famous girl going home and banging her high school flame for a week and jack and aaron were like oh ok. “i parked my car between the methodist and the school that used to be ours.” she is such a joke. “you could call me babe for the weekend” like ok emo!! emo!!! OK. I LOVE THIS SONG

TOLERATE IT - taylor really gave us the most depressing track 5, but it’s absolutely a banger and i love her! she is just vibing! oh my god. what a specific emotion to pinpoint with this song….it’s such a gift. no one is hitting this space

NO BODY NO CRIME - this song has no business being on this record but in the BEST WAY, like how daddy lessons mysteriously appears in the middle of lemonade. oh my goodness. this is just pure country revenge song. taylor was like oh actually i haven’t forgotten my roots and i hate men more than i ever have. and she got haim to sing with her. and it’s so good. the low “i think he did it” oh my goodness. this song is a joke. how is it real? it’s just a perfect radio song. it reminds me very much of “before he cheats” but it’s a lot more sonically calm

HAPPINESS - similar to “tolerate it” and i think “champagne problems” this song is beating on an emotional bush that is really really hard to hit the head of. like, so she collabed with the national and bon iver on this record and previous obvi, and i LOVE them, but their music can often be very………impressionistic? perhaps? is how i might put it. it’s sometimes hard to get a note of specificity from it. imo. but taylor loves a fucking story bro. and she has figured out how to tell made up stories. she can’t be stopped now. like…this space of a breakup and knowing that it’s for the best and being sad in this way? name a pop star who has a song this nuanced. for real! god. i despise her. “across a great divide / there is a glorious sunrise”

DOROTHEA - the other half to the far superior TIS THE DAMN SEASON and a banger all the same. it has the bouncy joy of the most buoyant national songs. in the same vein as the also far superior BETTY, she has her sweet dumb boy slurry and less intelligent voice. i love that she paints these narrators this way, it’s just nothing she would have ever reached for ever before this period. she has a Perfect and Glorious Husband now and she has begun to understand teenage boys, FINALLY.

CONEY ISLAND - i have upon many occasions opined that i love the national VERY MUCH. i once went to a festival with my gf and her sister to see them even though i was expressly not invited and you know what despite the fact that it caused a lot of angst, i got to see the national play TERRIBLE LOVE in the middle of the night and I SCREAMED IT. so like, listen. what is matt berninger doing here, to me, specifically????????? i was somewhat hesitant about how their voices might blend, but it works astonishingly well. and i think that it’s so wonderful, i can’t. the imagery of a dreary coney island…..”sorry for not winning you an arcade ring.” as taylor always proves, the bridge is spectacular. “were you standing in the hallway / with a big cake / happy birthday”……”and when i got into the accident / the sight that flashed before me was your face / but when i walked up to the podium / i think that i forgot to say your name” sorry to yOU calvin. she had ISSUES. and now she has a Perfect and Glorious Husband. also “sorry for not making you my centerfold” ok kaylor

IVY - this song is about emily dickinson and i DARE you to tell me that i’m wrong. I DARE YOU. I DARE YOU. you’d be wrong! embarrassing for you. taylor finally writing a probably legitimate queer song and it’s about fucking emily dickinson is so on brand…..it’s dripping with poetry and groove and she’s so fucking dumb i hate her so much. her narrative of ivy and poetry and the lakes district…….ok taylor. i know. i know you watched all the dickinson things that came out and you identified with her. the gentle sway of the “oh, goddamn” and the “oh, i can’t”……i CAN’T EITHER TAYLOR !!! i CAN”T TAYLOR!!!! “oh goddamn / my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand / taking mine but it’s been promised to another / oh i can’t / stop you putting roots in my dreamland” TAYLOR. and then she says, “oh you didn’t realize this wasn’t gay?” “i want to know the fatal flaw that makes you long to be magnificently cursed” like @ emily yourself taylor “he wants what’s only yours”……TAYLOR. give me the entire catalogue of emily dickinson songs!!!!! i can’t do this. “springs breaks loose / but so does fear” “i’d live and die for moments that we stole / on begged and borrowed time / so tell me to run / or dare to sit and watch what we’ll become / and drink my husband’s wine.” taylor if you see this post, a, i love you, b, i need you to tell me about ivy, and c, PLEASE can i have tickets to your next tour in the year 2025 or whenever because my gf never buys me any to your shows……….i love this song if it isn’t clear. i think i’d love it if it wasn’t gay

COWBOY LIKE ME - ok this will sound weird and if you’ve read this far i’m going to assume that you don’t care about me being weird…but this song reminds me of the fanfiction STAY THE NIGHT by lynnearlington (maybe u’ve heard of it). please reply if you think about this and feel the same. “never wanted love / just a fancy car” “you had some tricks up your sleeve / takes one to know one / you’re a cowboy like me” the opening line re: the tent-like thing reminds me very strongly of the fourth of july at our family’s country club and they set up a tent over the parking lot and this song just makes me think of that vibe????? i don’t know. i have vibes. i love this song a lot, which is impressive because it follows after the gay euphoria of IVY. perhaps this is because it gives me its own gay euphoria. “now you hang from my lips like the garden babylon” ???? is one of the most gay, seductive, brutal lyrics i have ever heard. she wrote that down and was like, oh yeah, vibez, hundo p. she did that to me

LONG STORY SHORT - this song is an honorary sequel to I FORGOT THAT YOU EXISTED from the lover era (honestly i’m still in the lover era). but i actually think this song is better! so we are taking that. “actually i’ve always thought that i looked better from the rearview” ok taylor let’s access that feeling! “no more keeping score / i just keep you warm” is like, stupidly sweet. rip to calvin but now taylor has a Perfect and Glorious Husband.

MARJORIE - made me cry, simple and beautiful. one of the more personal songs on the tracklist! and something that i had never considered that she would write about, but i think the quarantine period has allowed a lot of us to dig into our feelings, so….vibez. we’re vibing!

CLOSURE - this song’s production sounds a lot like bon iver’s recent productions, very tech-y and repetitive and spare. rip to karlie kloss but taylor has a Perfect and Glorious Husband and karlie’s legal last name is kushner so who really won? hmm? i love “i’m fine with my spite / and my tears / and my beers / and my candles” the inclusion of candles is just. vibez. there are four candles lit rn in our apartment!

EVERMORE - i think this song is very intriguing and i’m still puzzling with it! the simplicity of her depressive gray November phase and then the very ebullient and bold bon iver interlude……..really has a manic/depressive, sad/angry vibe???? it feels so on brand for this pandemic quarantine…..and it works shockingly well, except for that i’d rather listen to the bon iver part for 10 minutes more. “all my waves are being tossed / is there a line that i can just go cross” and then taylor’s sort of call and response with his interlude……should just be the whole song. but it’s still good. that’s how annoying she is

#tswizzle #tswizzy #tsweezy #i literally have totally ruined the tags

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blankdblank · 3 years

Text

Brother Dearest Pt 42

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhJVMW3tI6g – Inspiration for the Catholic ceremony I chose for this story. Probably a far more modern version of the ceremony but the older ones were mostly a less personal wedding than I wanted. Just loved the relationship between the Priest and the couple.

The ceremony part is in italics for the most part and the Latin bits are in bold and italics for those who might be bothered by wedding ceremonies or how heavily religious Catholic Weddings can be. Trust me it took hours to shift it down to something more personal and not monotonous to hinge more to boring for this chapter.

Two soft knocks and James just about shot to his feet to answer the warning notice that the guests were seated and the ceremony could begin. Out into the hall he went to a deep exhale with hat lifted to sit atop his head for the stroll to the doors of the cathedral. Just muffled noise of the guests’ chatter had him pause for a break that let Victor claim a tight hug from his brother. With ease James chuckled and returned the hug that once through had helped to give him the nerve to slip through the doors that were again closed behind him for the much watched stroll to the alter. Sparsely the chatter paused and rose up again at the cue that the Bride would arrive soon. Unable to help it James chuckled to the wave of whistles from the uniformed soldiers who alongside their dates had filled the seats behind the high ranked guests up front on the right side of the diagonal Y shaped rows.

Off his head his hat was eased in his glance at the large four lensed cameras on either side along the back wall on a platform high enough so when the guests stood there would still be clear view of you both over their heads. Between them a pair of photographers took the first of the pictures on the first of the two cameras they had around their necks. A few comments from the Brocks kept his mind occupied from the voices he could hear on the other side of the door of the Groomsmen complimenting the Bridal party on their outfits.

Those doors however did open and the organ began to play a soft tune for the entrance march that turned everyone’s heads to find the Priest on his lead role in the march. Behind him with flower petals for the girls and candles inside glass lanterns for the boys to keep from burning the place down as each pair spread petals around all the way up to and around James who chuckled at their skipping circle of him to loop back to their second row in the empty diagonal seating.

Victor and Dawn as Witnesses came next with Norma on his free arm after having forgotten her cue to slip back in before the ceremony began, she sat on the end closest to the non procession Brocks with a smile at the others who sat in the front row. The beaded white gown however stirred pangs of scandalous comments inside the heads of those watching until they saw the continued theme when Dot and David arrived next. Dot’s Cousin and Erik came next, him with the small tray pinned under his arms and rings in his pocket to keep from dropping them. Gina, Ambrose and their husbands came to take their own seats next for the chest clenching moment of silence in the shift of the music sheets for the Bridal March.

Already on the verge of crying James straightened up to the comforting pat on the back from the Priest who was alone at his side with a smile of his own from the sight of the teary smile on your Groom’s face. A million thoughts echoed in his head all at once that fell to silence at your golden glow enveloped self. For all the imagined moments in wonder for what you had chosen to wear today he couldn’t have gotten close to this perfect gown. Each ruffle on the skirt giving the impression of almost being feathers that added to your float down the aisle, just barely the hints of sheer fabric that grew to the sleeves ending underneath Eddie’s elbow and the blue rose and calla lily bouquet in your hold. Just barely he caught a glimpse of the now naked finger your wedding band would sit on and to the blink that freed a tear down his cheek his eyes rose up from the glint of gold tucked in your cleavage above the clear gem coated broach on your corset and then higher. Bared shoulders framed your neck and the lower glimpse of your chin through the netting of your top hat.

Every single step had him on the cusp of shouting those vows to jump ahead of it all. All those years and nights of separation back in the war when your troops had to divide stung at him and drove him to the brink of madness to break his ranks and orders to simply go hunting for you. Day by day burning and screams kept him on the cusp of trembling from increased rage to be away from you for so long. And once you had reunited he swore to never be apart from you again. Those painful uneventful nights his mind went loose filled with possible forevers and now here it was. Just five feet away he watched Eddie claim your bouquet to Edie’s smile filled reach to lift the netting to tuck on the rim of your hat.

Father Thomas in the end of the tune approached with hand extended yours rested upon in the walk to James’ side on the way to the alter where the kneeling stools were waiting. Smoothly in a reach your free hand rose for a stunning stroke of his cheek to wipe away the tear trail he used to his advantage. Around your wrist his hand moved to cradle the hand in a stolen press of his lips to the ball of your palm, against his chest a moment he held your hand there with his right, to use his left to help lift the hem of your gown on the three steps. Once at the kneeling stools he traded his right for his left hand to keep hold of yours in following the hushed reminder of the Priest to kneel.

To the now seated crowd he looked and drew in a breath motioning for Ambrose to open the ceremony speeches up at the podium to read from the marked passage on the large open bible there. Her Latin fluid after weeks of practice with the Father to get the words right that she managed with apparent ease. A brief song from an assigned guest among the Brocks to sing the brief version of ‘Let Us Rejoice’ that in her return to her seat opened for Gina’s turn up at the podium to read the second passage of scripture marked for her. Proudly for her also successful and surprisingly tear and sniffle free. No matter how awkward it might have seemed for the both of you to be kneeling through the lengthy service the thumb tenderly stroking the back of your hand rested on the hand rest on the stool completely ignorant of any discomfort for the contact with his true love.

Behind your back however beside Professor Elliot settled a bit more into his seat having stolen a glance back at the wall to his left now with Heimdall, Prince Loki, and your parents all proud to be here along with the blue dress clad woman who had taken the seat opposite the Professor. The woman named Asteria who had arrived as a plus one to one of the soldiers who seemed to be oblivious to the odd aura she was giving off that had the golden eyed guardian cautiously keeping her in his attentions for the remainder of her presence there.

A request for you and James to stand from the Priest came. In which James rose with eyes on you to ensure a smooth motion against the voluminous skirt of your gown while never releasing your hand. Hallelujah briefly was sung next from the same chosen singer who then sat again for the rise of Father Thomas to read his own chosen scripture in Latin. All the while James kept a gentle stroke of his thumb against your hand as you were translating in your head what was being said that caused your heart to quicken in the secretive ceremony you had seen played out over the years. When done the Father then stepped from the podium for your next hushed reminder to kneel again. Up to your side he came and began to open with a speech in English. The deep breath he took had triggered James’ hand to tighten a bit more around yours to keep from speaking or staring at you in awe of his breath taking Bride to continue with you to stare at the wall behind the alter.

“In the beginning there was darkness and God spoke ‘Let there be light.’ For every bought of darkness in our world as we ebb and flow between the wars of Men, with each loss involved removing another grain of innocence from the brave souls defending our lands and their children and loved ones left behind. The sting of every bullet and explosion of those projectiles tear through more than just the heart of those within the sights. We all bear the burden, the hunger, the toil. Always in the same endless dark tunnel that so many have to scrape and claw their way out of. Coated in scars, some so deep the human eye cannot see, some that never fully heal. Deep in that darkness it is so simple to just give up, declare defeat and say that you are alone in your suffering. But for every blinding darkness there is a wave of blinding light to follow.

I knew of a small child who had been abandoned, left alone in the rain moved from one funeral to the next without a single person who lifted their eyes from the pavement, who continuously sought shelter in the church from those turbulent storms ravaging our world. A child knew our Heavenly Father would bring the sun back to our world, and he does so through example, rarely do we have a sea parting moment these days to free people from toil and devastation. And in the midst of that devastation these two blessed souls found one another.”

He chuckled and looked to you both that lured your eyes to him in his notice of your joined hands deepening his smile, “And so you two, you are, ready, willing and I think very grateful today.” His words deepening your grins back at him and James’ all the more in his stolen glance at you that had another tear fall from the corner of his eye in the joy of this moment with you. “You are a beautiful, beautiful couple. I don’t know how God made the two of you, but somehow that’s how it happened.

You have found each other. And in finding each other you have made the decision first in friendship and in love. To take the next gigantic incremental step. It’s the promise, it’s the great promise. The promise that you two will make in just three minutes and it’s a promise that you intend to keep for the rest of your lives. And I hope you know how truly blessed you are. That you whole heartedly give thanks to God. That he has given you the integrity of your lives, and he has given you these families and all of this good fortune. And that you will take it, receive it, all of his love, and make a difference in this world.

Many people have so far less, I know personally the both of you have faced those harsh blows and many toils in your young lives. We need good people, great people like you to make a difference in this world.

Jaqi, I was standing beside James here the moment those doors opened and he just about jumped out of his skin, and I think that’s wonderful, but I just hope in the future the both of you can focus and live in the power and the grace and the gift of this moment. We’re so distracted by the pains of the past, so anxious of the future that we lose the grace of now.” In his glance to the crowd you stole a glance at James whose heart skipped in seeing the misty eyed timid smile that flinched away to the sight of his wide smile at you that won him a joint share in a hushed chuckle that spread smiles wider through the crowd in this surprisingly tender turn to the ceremony.

“There’s a story I recall of a beggar man on a street corner for thirty years, seated on a box with a cap in his hand. Begging for nickels and dimes. A man approaches him and says, ‘get off that box you’ve been sitting on and look inside’. And the beggar says ‘there’s nothing in the box, I’ve been on this box for thirty years there’s nothing there’. So the man says, ‘get off the box!’ So he did, and he lifted the box and you know what he found inside? It was chock full of gold. He was begging for and living off nickels and dimes and all this time there was a fortune right there for him.” He looked to you again.

“So I ask you again, take all the good, the grace, the positive things and blessings you receive in this life and turn around and do good with it, send it back out into the world and spread the love you have been given. One of the hardest things to do for those who had never felt that love, but the true power, the true grace is in loving, in giving. I know you are strong enough to love when scorned, to give when penniless, to scrimp and crawl your way through truly, truly blinding darkness. Bask in the light, in the love, and then send it out. Because I too have faced some of my darkest doubts in a looming war of my own thoughts in the churning sea of the world, always when the sky seemed to drop out and just let loose all the waters you could never dream of. But always on those days through the empty cathedral back in Brooklyn a little girl would sneak in, and shattered the silence with the most ethereal music as a beacon of that love, and at least to me, emptied my mind of that noise and through her, God stilled those waters. If only for a moment and reminded me why I was put here on this earth.

For many years we feared we lost our beacon, when in actuality among a fellow child of God you were sent to rescue others, to guide others home to peace. You were sent to bring Eddie onto his own path, to find James, and his brother, to build a family that across the world, shot a light, just a tiny one, but a light. That is why this promise, these vows are so sacred, you have both come here today to bind yourselves together in the presence of all of us and of our Heavenly Father. Jaqi, now I’ve known you all your life, I baptized you myself, and for the life of me I thought I could never find another person so quiet as you. Then you brought James home,” the crowd chuckled along with you both in his brief pause, “And I have never met such a couple who through silence, could radiate such a poignant noise. Oh you can talk and shout and sing the both of you but always measured when needed. Ebb and flow, like the tide the both of you found one another and keep finding one another like the sea and the rocky shore. A solid pair, made to endure, and you will, now, if you would both turn with me. And would the wedding party please join us.”

Up you both stood and with his hand in a reluctant slide free from your right hand that in the backwards shift of your left folded gladly around that hand in the rise of your Bridal party. With the exception of Eddie and Edie who remained seated, to split in half circles on either side of you down the stairs to meet the sides of the Priest. It was then your eyes wandered over the crowd and landed on your parents who smiled widely and gave you proud flinched waves who you looked away from to keep from running to them. Hand tightening in James’ in his own stolen glance at the couple Erik had to look away from to keep from an open mouthed gawk for the man and woman he knew to be dead alongside the armor and helmet clad duo in full regalia for the occasion.

Peering up at you the Father said, “James and Jaqiearae you have come together in this church so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love. In the presence of the church’s minister and this community. God has abundantly blessed love. He’s consecrated both of you. He now enriches and strengthens you by the sacred sacrament. So that you can assume the duties of marriage in mutual and lasting fidelity. And so I ask both of you now to state your intentions.

James, Jaqiearae, have you come here freely and without reservation? To give yourselves to each other in the sacrament of marriage? Will you say I Do?”

His brows rose and you both chuckled repeating, “I do.”

“Will you love and honor each other as husband and wife for the rest of your lives? Will you say I Will?”

Both say, “I will”

“Will you accept children lovingly from God, bring them up according to the law of our God and of our community? Will you say I Will?”

Both say, “I will.”

“It is your intention then to enter into marriage. Turn to each other, with your still joined hands, and declare your intentions before God.”

He moves closer to James up onto the bottom step to recite each line that James then repeated in as calm a voice as he could muster.

“I, James Pluto Howlett,

take you Jaqiearae Persephone Pear to be my wife.

I promise to be truthful.

In good times, and in bad.

In sickness and in health.

I will love you and I will honor you.

All the days of my life.”

Again he was on the verge of crying while you blinked away a few tears of your own and gave a giggle in catching the eye of the Priest now smiling at you in a pause for you to draw in a breath. Stating each line for you to repeat as well.

“I, Jaqiearae Persephone Pear,

take you James Pluto Howlett to be my husband.

I promise to be truthful.

In good times, and in bad.

In sickness and in health.

I will love you and I will honor you.

All the days of my life.”

One brief moment of silence was given and the Priest spoke again, “My Sister and my Brother you have just declared your consent.”

In Latin he spoke, “Before God and before the church, may our Lord in his goodness strengthen that consent and fill you now both with his blessings. What God joins together let no Men ever sever. Amen.”

“Amen” echoed from the both of you and those in the crowd who were familiar with Catholic services who tugged along those unfamiliar.

To Erik he turned, and now with the tray flat to hold the matching purple stoned bowtie wedding bands, he extended his hands to offer the rings to fulfill his important role in the ceremony. “Now, the rings.” Father Thomas turned and spoke in the approach of one of the older Brock girls in her mid teens with tray in hand for the holy water and sprinkler inside.

“May our Lord bless these rings. They are a sign of your love and faithfulness.” Over to the other tray once lifted in his fingertips he moved them to the second tray. With silver sprinkler in hand he sprinkles holy water across the rings blessing them. “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen” lifts rings he carries back to you both commenting, “You chose knotted bows, how fitting.” The words made you look to the rings in James’ adoring smile at you and chuckle excited to be able to kiss you soon and seal the bond and silence the thunder of his heart in his chest. “Here you go, and you, yes this one.” He says while you each release a hand to claim the other’s ring to repeat after him again.

“Jaqiearae take this ring.

As a sign of my love and faithfulness.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

From fingertip to the final knuckle the ring was slid with tender strokes of his fingertips down the length of your finger and across your palm to claim your hand again with his same loving smile. Almost bashfully you stole a blushing glance to the Priest that had you both chuckle again before he spoke to get you started.

“James take this ring.

As a sign of my love and faithfulness.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

To his hand your eyes fell and around the tip of his finger you slid the ring that after which your knuckles slid between his to hook your fingertips together as you heard, “Not far off now,” he murmurs to you both making you chuckle in his turn to the crowd, “Let’s congratulate this bride and groom now.” He says stirring claps and cheers from the crowd, “And now for the Prayers of the Faithful.”

The cheers died down again as your left hand released his right to ready your skirt for the next move. Turned back to the prayer stools you lowered to kneel again with hands rotated for his to engulf yours again to grant view of both of your rings in the tuck of his fingertips between your fingers as your Bridal party claimed their seats again. While in front of you both the Priest gestured to Eddie and Edie who approach with large rosary chain for the wedding lasso they come up and drape around the both of your shoulders. In their step back to their seats he continues after asking everyone to stand.

Beginning the Latin Euchratic Prayer for the communion for that next official step in the ceremony. First speaking of the plate and then the cup of the communion continuing on until he calls Eddie and Edie up to retrieve the rosary from their shoulders asks you both to stand once again to lead the crowd through the Our Father Prayer.

Another turn had a shuffle of hands and almost had James break the rules and give you a twirl in his eager wish to get you to the barn for that opening dance as a full excuse to keep you in his arms for the rest of the day until he could steal you away. For this prayer your eyes darted from your still lingering parents to the Royal Family still seated inside the sea of standing guests around them. After which their confusion grew at the trading of handshakes and hugs through the crowds for the Exchange of Peace for the lift of your skirt to walk with James down to the rows of your relatives to hug one at a time post near tackling group hug from the Brock children who walked you down the aisle. A bit more open the Prime Minister and his guest shook hands with the First Family and to you both on your way back up to the alter with kind smiles and nods sent to the Royal Family who while a bit perplexed at this ceremony so different to their usual wedding seemed a bit pleased they hadn’t upset you by not taking part.

Back up again with interlocked hands you walked up to kneel again for the beginning of the communion. While settling there Father Thomas shared that those of other faiths are welcome to approach and receive blessings or otherwise are welcome to remain in their seats while those who wish to receive communion.

From the ceremonial plate and cup communion is given post introductory statement on the purpose of communion to the both of you first. Alone he left you still kneeling with cup across from you and try in hand to the rise of the same singer to begin the song ‘Panis Angelicus’ while an aid stood to guide row by row those willing to take communion or accept blessings up to the Priest to loop around and retake their seats again.

‘Ave Maria’ was begun at the end of communion that signaled James to help you up to your feet again in the offer from the Priest to you of a second smaller bundle of flowers you took to the statue of the Virgin Mary statue at a second spot off to the side for a joint hushed prayer between the pair of you alone. By use of an agreed squeeze of thumbs to warn of the end of your individual prayers an agreed joint rise again ended the up and down with the walk to face the Priest again who was still beside the kneeling stools. His smile spread and gladly he claimed hugs from the both of you with hushed congratulations and while you both had your eyes on him he spoke again.

“My Brothers and Sisters, the Lord be with you. And may almighty God bless each one of us, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” He says motioning his hand in a cross over you both and the crowds while you and James cross yourselves along with the crowds. “Our mass has ended. And I would invite you two to turn around,” he said with a smile for your turn to face the smiling crowd. “It is with a great deal of joy and an honor for me to introduce to you this afternoon, for the first time, Mr James Pluto Howlett and Mrs Jaqiearae Persephone Pear Howlett, Husband and Wife. Congratulate them now.” The crowd stood in cheers after a few stunned expressions at you taking both names cheered and clapped in James’ turn to cup your cheeks in a loving kiss all the sweeter in the muffling of your giddy giggles.

Just barely you had lifted your arms to circle his neck and out of the blissful moment he tore himself from the lip lock to lift you in his arms. Again you giggled in a reach up to wipe the lipstick from around his mouth answered by his chuckling trot down the steps to the doors to carry you to your seats in the barn where the reception was already prepped. Your own lipstick smudges were fixed by your free hand with Father Thomas chuckling and passing you your bouquet over James’ shoulder helping you to loop your arms around his neck.

Right behind James’ back you spotted your parents in a hurried trot behind you who smiled as you said hushedly in a tearful squeak once alone outside, “Daddy, Mom.”

“You are spectacular my Queen of the Cosmos.” He rumbled and caught up to James’ left side as your mother smoothed her hand over your back luring a sniffle from you. He spoke again catching James’ eye, “I am so pleased you are together again. Well done. The mortals cannot see us,” he said looking to you again, “When will you be alone?”

“Tonight, after the reception at the cabin by the lake.”

To James he asked, “Would you mind sparing me a dance for our Queen tonight?”

James smiled answering, “As many as you would be able to grant her.”

Sarah spoke to you saying in a melodic Irish accented hum, “Well done my precious Bunny. I’m so proud of you. What a stunning Bride.” She said moving in to hug you around your back, a move that in her pull back had Eddie’s mouth open in seeing the dead duo with his own eyes, “We will see you tonight and enjoy watching your reception. I love you, treasure this day, your new beginning.” Each word sank in to her excited trot ahead to take your father’s hand to get a sneak peek inside the open barn stirring hints of the accent to certain words or vowel sounds you had picked up from her even against her lessons to get you a more American accent to give you and Steve a better footing.

Warm and sweet James kissed your cheek to the tap of your forehead to his temple and he hummed to you, “I look forward to meeting your parents tonight. Perhaps they can give you some answers to give you some peace.”

“I know it’s our honeymoon.”

Lowly he chuckled passing into the shadow of the barn approaching the door he passed through, “I love you, I am yours forever. If tonight is all we have for you to speak to them let’s savor it Darling.”

Inside you caught their awed stroll around the effortlessly elegant decorated tables in a weaving path towards the bar where Eddie strolled with Victor at his side who caught onto his chasing the odd couple that when they turned he instantly caught the resemblance and who they belonged to. Sweetly you were settled into your chair and sweetly kissed again by your chuckling husband who smiled in your second move to wipe the pesky lipstick off his lips he used his thumb to wipe a hint of a smudge away from your lips joined by another in a second stolen peck. “I love you Darling.”

With a grin your hand rose to settle around his engagement ring that in your tug on it he smiled deeper and let you move the ring in front of his wedding band. A move that he mirrored to move yours over as well. Excitedly people found their seats, including Portia, who took the long way around to steal a hug from you to share her pure glee for how beautiful the ceremony was, matched by a firm handshake from her father and brother for James on their way past. Elliot upon seeing where your parents were moved to join Eddie and Victor in their chat with them, that to the others was taken as a conversation in private between the two in the drift of your eyes to Edie that came to sit on your left with Erik. The both who sat down and looked to their empty plates then you at your lean closer to them to whisper, “Apparently they found a door back here for the big day, but only we can see them.”

Edie asked, “You can see them? Oh I am so relieved.” Her hand patted on top of yours luring your smile wider, “The service was beautiful. Quite unlike any I have seen before. Very loving.”

With a giggle you said, “Yes, usually the sermons are a lot less personal for the ceremonies I’ve seen.”

Erik chuckled saying, “Probably because the Priest stated he knew you as a baby.”

As if on cue Father Thomas entered and for the entrance of the special guests everyone stood for their stroll to the table beside the one for your siblings, aunt and cousin opposite the ones containing the rest of the Brocks. Once King George had taken his seat you all could sit again, though in the settle of your skirt you smiled and lifted Teddy onto your lap after his hurried path over to be with you answering for Gina as to where he had gone. From the side of the room one of the caterers brought over a large towel they helped to spread over your lap under the boy you had lifted to prevent any spills to ruin the dress.

Elliot had slipped back to his seat at your table while the Priest did the same. Eddie took the floor first in the break for speeches while everything switched over for the food to be served. Around the table he walked to give you a quick hug from behind you smiled through and laid your hands on his arms to his gentle peck on your cheek for the photographers to capture along with Teddy’s pat on his head when he pulled back to give his speech at the microphone. A smile eased across his lips and in a shuffle of his feet to hold his weight he looked to you in the crowd knowing what he wanted to say.

“Bunny, I guess I’ll get this started off and do my best to not make you cry. I grew up the baby to my sisters until you chose me to be your big brother. Roughly, ten years ago you changed my life. And you were in desperate need of a big brother while I didn’t realize how terribly I needed a baby sister.” His smile spread to your grin and peck on Teddy’s head in his cuddle closer to your chest.

“My impossible sister, who together, we got through the edge of Hell and back. I never imagined ever finding a man who would be able to cherish, protect and respect you up to the level I expected to hold them to. Nobody would have ever been enough was my thinking. Then five years ago with the kick of a door,” That had your eyes close a moment in a set of giggles to Victor and James’ chuckles.

“The brother of the man who nearly broke your hand strolled into our lives. It would be a couple years before we’d get to know the both of you, Vic and James, who in a trade of luck we ended up in two platoons who saw just how incredible my baby sister is. Countless planes and tanks later and we found our way back to the beginning again. There’s never really an end to the baggage but bravely James you stuck in there, you both gave us a home here in Canada helped us to get our feet on the ground. The both of us got our degrees, we toured the states coast to coast and found a way to get my sister to the school your dad went to, one of the best. And way out of left field James after a single tour of the fire trap her old place used to be you plopped down cash and we got to gutting for one heck of a surprise in showing us a bit more about your own hidden skills. Turned around and taught Bunny how to demolish and remodel homes for another skill we can use for the future no matter where it leads.”

He paused a moment to wet his lips and said, “Six years now, we’ve been interweaving our lives and you’ve always been there for me. Helped me to smooth things over with Dawn over my own nerves and two left feet for a phenomenal woman like her, you were there when my babies were born, you were the one who helped to save my son when he came early out of left field. I can’t tell you how glad I was when I won the pot for how you’d demanded James take you on a date,” you giggled again in James’ lean into your side with fingers easing underneath the underside of your arm looped around Teddy to keep him upright. “Nowhere near how over the moon the whole family and town was when you got engaged. And we are so glad, me and Vic, that you didn’t get mad when the both of us got engaged and hitched before you.”

James smiled and chuckled out as Victor said, “Plus babies.”

Eddie chuckled smiling at you, “Plus babies, two for me. And you never took that against us, welcomed us into your family and our babies that you love like no one else could. And you got one year down, nearly to your degree a good chunk already, comic book, photography, and the world is wide open for you. None of us can wait to see what you will get up to in years to come with James at your side to make sure no one steps in your way. I love you Bunny, and even you too James, and everyone here is quite eager to see what sort of babies Battle Bunny and Wolverine can create. We’re always here for the both of you if you need us because you’ve always been so selfless for us, and no hard promises but we will do our best to not have too many more babies before you do.”

Eddie chuckled in the claps to his stroll back to his seat with a grin to Victor’s pop up to give his own speech. Victor’s speech had you laughing and James dangerously close to hiding under the table from his brother’s lovable ribbing. Five more speeches came from the Brocks and the guys working with you on the comic who teased more than a few in attendance today would be up for abduction in the big wedding issue luring amused chuckles and glances between one another. After them President Truman then King George spoke and the latter asked to open the dancing with you that had James requesting Queen Elizabeth’s hand for a dance. “Incredible ceremony Baroness Howlett.” King George said with a smile you smiled back, “Quite unlike what I had expected.”

“Well Father Thomas made it a great deal more personal. Usually they are much less casual and friendly. Thank you for coming, I hope the footage is up to what you wanted.”

He smirked saying, “There have been whispers of those who wish to watch my own daughter on her wedding day across the big screen.”

“Well I know what you plan will be beyond perfect for her. Can’t imagine how happy you’ll be, I know my dad talked about my wedding when I was little. I know my parents would have been happy though.”

“Oh beyond happy, and as a father myself I would be amply proud if my Lizibet carries herself with half as much grace in such a grand affair as this on her day.”

“Thank you. I’m beyond certain she will make you proud.”

The second dance had you both Trading for the President and First Lady. Eddie took up what would have been the Father, Daughter dance that after which he in a spin traded you off to claim Dawn and let you finally dance with James before the food would be served.

Truman in your second dance claimed your hand pleased to see the King and Queen take one another for the second dance as James claimed the First Lady for a second obligatory dance before he was all yours. “You are truly a picture perfect Bride, Mrs Bunny.”

“Thank you. No doubt I’ll be hearing all about this back at Barnard when summer is over.”

“Oh you will. I was a bit shocked to hear about your title however.”

“You and me both, he didn’t know they would be sharing the news about it. He’s not how I would picture a Baron.”

“True,” he said, “Quite down to earth.”

“Out here he works in a lumber mill, they have land, and a big house he grew up in we’ve fixed up but I suppose the title was always linked to his harsh Grandfather.”

With a smirk he replied, “All the same, we will be grateful to see the titles across the front pages of the Baroness of Brooklyn when you return home again.” You chuckled and stole a glance at James in his own smiling glance at his own wife, widely James smiled picking up their conversation when she looked back again to hold up the small talk until you could trade off for each other.

Taps on shoulders found you outside in the final gasps of time until the food would be ready as the smiling crowds danced away. Right to your side Loki strode while atop baled of hay coated in lengths of carpet your bridal party and the Brock children involved in the march were lined up. “Fairly odd ceremony.” That had your eyes shift to him for his addition of, “Quite lovely by mortal standard I would imagine.”

“Why do I get the hint that was almost painful for you to say?” You teased in a whisper making him smirk in his watch of your stroll over to the signal to be helped to the center where James had been manhandled to.

The children would be freed first after their group pictures had been captured and the Bridal Parties would be sent next just leaving a few intimate pictures with you both at James’ side and in his arms. All ranged from a picture of you twirling your skirts that had his smile wide to one post loving kiss of him smiling in another wipe of his face. All three which would be printed side by side in the promised magazine edition on the highly anticipated wedding that the crown Press Secretary was taking notes of the ceremony to add details to share with the writer of said approved piece. The warning the food was ready however found you excitedly back on the way inside, both kissing Teddy’s cheeks on the way back to your seats on his father’s lap widening his own smile.

Sorry it's been a bit between my last update. Been out of power a couple days. But so far we are back up and running again.

Also I did have it pointed out that I had mistakenly made it seem that the drive from Brooklyn to Alberta was closer to 8-10 hours somehow as it's in real life 40 hours to drive between them. So somewhere my dyslexic mess of a self has mixed up the flight time or simply just jumbled the numbers when i was writing it since the first trip. So please just excuse my mix up and find it all the more amusing at the thought of a 40 hour drive with two adults, two large dogs and a cat cramped in the cab of a truck to drive between one home to the next.

Lots of warm wishes to you all, happy reading and i wish you and your families in whatever form they come a safe winter wherever you are. :D

Pt 43

#James Howlett x Reader OC #Battle Bunny x Wolverine #The Wedding #Baron x Baroness #Catholic Wedding #Back From the Dead #Surprise Guests #Asteria #Wedding Photos #Happy Day #Tearful Groom #Just Wants To Dance #Eddie Brock x OC #Victor Creed x Norma Jeane #Teddy Brock #Erik and Edie #King of England & First Family

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mrs-hatake · 4 years

Text

i guess i’m just a playdate to you

Pairing: Kakashi x Reader

Genre: angst

Warning: mentions of character deaths, open and ambiguous ending.

Word Count: 2825

A/N: aaaanndd i’m back with more angst! this is inspired by a kakashi edit on tiktok by alyez_ and i LEGIT got all teary eyed after watching so i just HAD to make you guys sad as well lmao.

p.s: Y/E/C = Your/Eye/Color

p.s.s: not proof read

They say that time heals scars but the person who came up with that obviously never lost the person he loved and cherished the most for if they had, then they wouldn’t have said such a careless thing.

You were strongly reminded by that quote as you stood amongst hundreds of Konoha villagers in anticipation for Kakashi’s coronation as Konohakagure’s sixth Hokage.

Everyone had been surprised by the news but they were happy to have such a strong and responsible man as a leader, to no longer feel weak and unprotected but safe and even feared by other villages. Everyone was excited for this day.

But not you.

You were saddened by this.

Suddenly, those around you cheered and applauded as loudly as they can as Tsunade, the former Hokage, stepped onto the podium to address the villagers with a formal goodbye.

Your heart squeezed tightly once your eyes spotted Kakashi standing in the distance, face hidden behind his mask but his eye held no emotion in them.

There was a lump in your throat and you tried to swallow it away but your throat was as dry as sand paper, making it painful for you to swallow.

Tsunade’s words fell on deaf ears as tears filled the corner of your eyes and, without even knowing it, you were pushing yourself out of the crowed and somewhere far away from the coronation. The last thing you heard was the crowed screaming and cheering as Kakashi stepped onto the podium next to Tsunade.

You’ve been walking for hours. How much exactly, you weren’t sure. All that you knew was that your feet were moving for a very long time and soon you found yourself along the outskirts of the Naka River and the sun setting into the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant shades of red and oranges, reminding you of that special day you don’t think you’d ever forget.

It was the day of Rin’s funeral and everyone had gathered to bid the young Kunoichi goodbye.

Although you were a regular civilain and didn’t understand the severity of the loss or the sacrifice she had made, you understood the tragedy the village was facing, especially your childhood neighbor Hatake Kakashi.

Kakashi had wandered off towards the end of the funeral and didn’t bother to stick around for the aftermath of the event.

Knowing how much Kakashi had suffered and the people he had lost in his younger days, you bit your lip in worry as you set off to find him.

Eventually, you found him sitting on a cliff overlooking Konoha, the sun was setting in the distance and it cast the village in an orange hue.

The young boy had his knees pulled up and pressed to his chest while his chin rested on his arms atop of them.

You were positive that there were no words that would comfort the boy so you did the next best thing, you sat next to him with your arm around him and listened to Kakashi as he silently cried.

A tear escaped and rolled down your cheek at the memory but you quickly wiped it away and continued in your aimless walk.

There were rustling sounds coming from one of the bushes in the distance that made you stop in your tracks, your heart beating loudly in your ears in anticipation. Holding your breath, you slowly inched forward and was startled when a small white rabbit jumped from within the bushes.

Your shoulders sagged and a shaky exhale escaped your lips. The small white rabbit stared at you in curiosity, it’s small red eyes blinking up at you.

You offered the harmless creature a small smile but it jumped off deeper into the forest. You watched after it and remembered an early morning similar to this encounter.

When Minato and Kushina died, the entirety of Konoha were in mourn. But no one experienced such a great loss like Kakashi. Right when things were finally starting to get normal and Kakashi had the opportunity to experience what having a loving family was like, his parental figures die, one in battle while the other after giving birth.

Your eyes never wandered off of Kakashi as you followed him through the woods. You knew that Kakashi would run off faster than the speed of light if he wanted to but you were glad that he was allowing you to be close to him. Though, that didn’t mean you didn’t worry over the boy.

He had just returned from evacuating the villagers into safety after the sudden attack of the Kyuubi when the former Hokage had informed Kakashi of Minato and Kushina’s deaths.

Kakashi had no reaction. His eyes didn’t well up with tears, he didn’t let out a cry of anguish, not even questioning the Hokage. He just accepted their deaths and walked out of the office.

You had run into him as you were helping your father clean up your mini market when the silver haired teenager walked by. Your eyes lit up and you were about to greet him with a bright smile but when you noticed his hunched form and his hands buried deep into his pockets, you knew there was something wrong.

You quickly ran off to catch up with Kakashi and when you were within reach, you griped his shoulder and turned him around to face you. The sight that greeted you shook you to your core. His eyes were filled to the brim with tears and his cheeks flushed a deep red color. His mask was soaking wet at the never ending tears cascading down his cheeks.

“They’re gone.”

Harshly, you rubbed your eyes to will the memory away.

You’ve known Kakashi since you were a little girl and for as long as you’ve known the silver haired man, he had always been stalked by tragedy. Wherever he went, whomever he had cherished and valued, tragedy would clutch its greedy fingers on them and snatch them away from Kakashi. It happened with his biological parents, his best friends and then with his parental figures.

It was too much for the teenager and it made perfect sense why he ended up joining ANBU.

“You can’t be serious.”

It had been two weeks since Minato and Kushina’s deaths. The village of Konoha continued on with their lives while the third Hokage returned to his rule.

It was early morning and you were manning the cashier at your father’s mini market. It was a slow and boring day with nothing to entertain you other than a trashy Shinobi magazine with a ‘Top 10 list of the Hottest Shinobi in Konoha.” clutched between your fingers.

It was so quiet that you were about to fall asleep when the door opened and the bells signaled the arrival of a new costumer. Your sleepy expression turned into one of joy as Kakashi walked in and stopped in front of you.

“Kakashi!” Your lips turned upwards into a bright smile, “What can I do for you?”

The teenager said nothing, his hands deep in his pockets, as his eyes scanned the shelves of chewing gum and cigarettes behind you.

“I’m joining ANBU.” He said simply. His voice so quiet that you were certain you misheard him.

You were a civilian and you didn’t know much about the Shinobi world but everyone knew of ANBU. Knew the excruciating and intense training Shinobi went through in order to be masterful and be higher in ranks.

Your smile faltered, “I’m sorry?”

Kakashi’s visible brown eye met yours, “Danzo recruited me to join ANBU.”

Before you could say anything else, Kakashi had turned around and exited the market, leaving you in a stunned daze.

Quickly, you snapped out it and followed after Kakashi.

“Oi, Kakashi! Wait!”

But the boy continued on walking.

Angered, you ran up to him and took hold of his shoulder and forced him around to face you, “What are you doing?”

Kakashi avoided eye contact and said nothing. Your angry aura and the hurt in your eyes ineffective to him.

“Are you seriously joining ANBU or are you playing some mean joke because it isn’t funny.”

“I’m serious.” His eye met yours and you were surprised by the harshness in it. Never in your life had Kakashi looked at you that way. It was so sudden and unfamiliar that you dropped your hand from his shoulder and took a step back.

“It’s dangerous.” You whispered and all that Kakashi could do was shrug his shoulders at you.

“I can handle it.” He said in his quiet, monotone voice.

“You could die!” Your voice grew louder, as if it could somehow explain to Kakashi how stupid joining ANBU was.

He said nothing though and slowly blinked at you.

When you had nothing else to say, Kakashi turned around and walked away.

Tears rapidly filled your eyes before they rolled down your cheeks as you watched Kakashi walk away from you and, possibly, never coming back.

You hadn’t seen nor spoken to Kakashi for the next twelve years after that day. Your entire routine was thrown out of loop as you lost sleep worrying over Kakashi and fearing for his life. You became so depressed that you couldn’t continue working in your father’s mini market and almost dropped out of school had it not been for Gai who visited you one night to inform you about Kakashi’s well-being. You remember breaking down in his arms, relief suffocating you at knowing that Kakashi was alive and well.

You didn’t get to see Kakashi until your second year as an elementary school teacher for the civilian children of Konoha. It happened by accident really. You were tidying up the class and preparing for the day’s lesson plan when you had spotted the taller and stronger looking man through the window.

His face was still hidden behind his mask and his right eye was still hidden from sight. He was followed by three children who all had different hair colors; one girl had long pink hair while the two other boys had blonde and black hairs respectively.

His appearance stunned you into silence and you would’ve left the classroom to follow after the man had it not been for your students walking in and announcing their presence.

The second time you saw Kakashi was another coincidence. School had been let out early and you didn’t feel like going home just eat. Instead, you went to Ichiraku’s Ramen shop for lunch.

“I’ll be sure to drop by again!” You called over your shoulders, a melodic chuckle escaping your lips, when you suddenly bumped into someone.

Large hands strongly gripped onto your shoulders to balance your footing and to prevent you from falling, “I’m sorry! I should’ve wa-”

Brown eye met Y/E/C in a startled yet dumfounded expression.

“-tch where I’m going.” You trailed off.

Seeing Kakashi up close was messing up with your head and your heart was beating so loud you feared that it would stop.

“It’s fine.” His voice was deeper but it still had the quietness in it. Vaguely, you remembered Kakashi’s father having a similar tone of voice.

“Hurry up, Kakashi! You’re paying!” The shouts of a blonde boy sitting on the barstool interrupted your thoughts and the two of you jumped back.

“I should go.” Kakashi stated and rubbed the back his neck.

All you could do was nod your head and watch him walk into the ramen shop. Something deep inside of you told you that won’t be the last time you’d run into the most powerful Shinobi and you could feel a small smile crawl its way across your lips in anticipation.

Things between you and Kakashi were great. Your friendship rekindled and your bond grew stronger than ever. However, Kakashi still kept his distance. And, as an adult and having heard of the risks of the Shinobi lifestyle, you understood and accepted Kakashi’s cautions, especially knowing what kind of childhood he suffered.

And when tragedy struck again with one of his students (you eventually learn as Sasuke) took off with a dangerous rouge Shinobi, you were there for Kakashi.

You were even there when Naruto left Konoha to train with his mentor and Sakura interning for Tsunade, and comforted Kakashi during his loneliness.

And right before the beginning of the Fourth Great War where Kakashi had snuck into your apartment and begged for you to stay safe and wait for him, his brown eye wet with unshed tears, you did as your told and sealed the promise with a kiss to the cheek.

So it made no sense for Kakashi to return to apartment one day after the Great War with his expression resembling the very same one when he had told you he was joining ANBU.

You already knew Kakashi was going to say something you weren’t going to like by that expression alone and you were already shaking your head ‘no’ before he could even say anything else.

“Y/N, listen to me-”

“No!” You shut your eyes tight, not wanting for whatever it was Kakashi was going to say to come true.

You heard him deeply sigh through his nose and soon felt his strong arms wrap around you, “I’m sorry.” He whispered softly into your ears, in hopes to calm you down, “But I’ve been chosen and they need m-”

But you didn’t want to hear what Kakashi was saying so you walked away from his embrace, “I need you!” You spat harshly, tear streaks on your cheeks.

“I was there for you. During everything, not out of obligation but out of love and you left me to join ANBU. That broke my heart, Kakashi, did you know that?”

The silver haired man didn’t. He said nothing as he watched you run your hand through your locks of hair, making it appear messier than its usual kept style.

“I was alone and depressed. I was scared that i would never see you again.” Teary Y/E/C met his briefly before looking away, “And when I finally moved on and things became normal, you’re back in my life as if nothing happened.” You chuckled humorously.

“And I was there for you when your kids left, I was there for you when literally died, even if only for a couple of minutes, and I waited for you during the war. And when it was finally over, when I thought that we’d finally live our lives like everyone else and finally be together, you want to throw all of that to be a Hokage!”

You were panting and your eyebrows furrowed in sorrow. The tears stopped falling but your cheeks were still wet. “I would be fine if you said you’re going to be Hokage and I could be there for you a-as a friend - maybe something even more if you’ve ever felt that way towards me - but you tell me that you can no longer see me.”

It wasn’t meant as a question, though Kakashi answered nonetheless, “To keep you saf-”

“I don’t give a shit!”

Silence met your ears and once you were able to calm down, You had asked Kakashi to leave.

That was a week ago and you haven’t seen Kakashi until earlier today.

When your feet halted their movements, blood staining the soles of your feet and your toes in pain, you finally stopped walking at the end of Naka river.

The sun had completely set and the forest was eerily quiet. You weren’t sure how far away from home you were though, you didn’t care. You just wanted to be as far away from the ceremony as possible.

Sitting down on the grass, you wondered how differently your life could’ve been if you had run into Kakashi outside of the ramen shop. Would you have fallen in love with a civilian that you’d eventually marry? You’d probably have at least two of his kids by now running around your tiny little home. Would you have let them join the Academy if they had asked you to? Probably not.

Maybe you and Kakashi were never meant to be. Your love from your childhood well into your adulthood could’ve been one sided after all. Though, there were moments where you believed Kakashi loved you as much as you did. Maybe not during his childhood but you’ve seen it in his adulthood. The way he’d look at you when you thought you weren’t looking, those brief touches and him always visiting you after returning from a dangerous mission. You were positive that he loved you when Kakashi had been to your apartment and told you to stay safe before the Great War all those months ago.

Exhaustion settled into you and your eyes soon grew droopy. Resting against a tree, you entertained your mind of thoughts of Kakashi retiring from the Shinobi life and spending the rest of his days with you as you welcomed the cold embrace of sleep.

#kakashi x reader #kakashi imagine #kakashi hatake x reader #kakashi hatake imagine #kakashi scenario #hatake kakashi scenario

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erasurecloud · 4 years

Text

10 Years

So I was watching erasermic tiktoks and I just thought of this

Trigger warning: self-harm mention/discussion, happy ending

“Oh... my.... God.” Mina Ashido’s voice rang throughout the classroom. Perched on top of her desk, she hadn’t lifted her face from her phone for the previous 10 minutes. The rest of class 1-A had been conducting their usual morning mayhem before their teacher arrived, much to their class rep’s dismay.

“What is it Mina?” Ochako asked, walking to the pink-skinned friend of her’s.

“Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic are on tiktok.”

Everyone simultaneously shut up after she said it, pushing one another to crowd around her phone and see for themselves if it were true. Mina gladly showed them all their teacher’s videos, one after the other. Never before had they seen their teachers behave like this- they probably could’ve seen Present Mic doing it, had they thought of it.

But Mr. Aizawa? There was no way. Yet there it was, right in front of their faces. He and Mic, side by side, dancing the renegade so smoothly. Scrolling down and finding lip-synchs done ridiculously well. But the most shocking part had to be how much their teacher smiled, how much he laughed and how much he seemed to be enjoying himself.

The earlier videos didn’t seem as enjoyable for him, though as they continued, the students noticed, he warmed up and began even filming some himself.

Shock would be an understatement to how the class felt at that point. Too wrapped up in the videos on Mina’s phone, not even Iida noticed their teacher walk in and stand behind the podium.

“Alright that’s enough. Everybody take your seats.” They all filed into their chairs one by one, a silent agreement not needing to be made. As much as they wanted to, they wouldn’t mention what they discovered. What if they got blocked? Or worse, what if he deleted his account entirely? It wasn’t worth the risk.

Their day continued as normal- though without any villain attacks. It was mundane and not one of them could wait for it to be over.

That’s how it went for several days, one after the other. They spent their mornings checking if Mic had posted any new videos. It was the Thursday 2 weeks after Mina made the initial discovery. She sat atop her desk as she did every day and called her classmates. There was a new update. They silently crowded the phone.

It began with Present Mic, smiling and waving at the camera. Yellow-highlighted text was written across the bottom of the screen. ‘Hey guys!’ it said, before quickly changing.

‘Today’s a really big deal’

The camera flipped to show Aizawa standing by a kitchen counter, clearly eating something.

‘This is my best friend Shouta.’ The words flashed across the screen before once again changing.

‘He isn’t going to say anything...’

Once again, the words changed.

‘But, today,’

Again, the words switched.

‘He is 10 years clean of self-harm!!!’

The camera flipped once again to Present Mic, who was smiling proudly, his grin reaching from ear to ear. He looked ready to scream with joy, to jump on a table and start dancing, yelling, really go off with excitement.

Instead, after his smiling face, there was a photo posted. A boy about 16 years old who looked like hell. His eyes were stained red, his cheeks looked flushed as if he’d been crying for hours on end. The poor boy looked exhausted.

‘This was the first day he ever hurt himself’

The photo changed to a slightly older boy- probably his late teens or very early 20′s. Though he didn’t look happy, he held a weak smile. He looked... okay. His eyes weren’t stained with tears and his cheeks weren’t raw. He looked okay.

‘1 year clean’ the caption said.

Then the camera flashed back to a video, current, of Shouta reaching to retrieve a yellow sleeping bag that had made too many appearances in their videos.

“Hey, Shouta!” Mic’s voice could be heard from behind the phone.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s visit Sushi today!”

He looked up to the camera, a smile spread across his entire face. His eyes were lit up and his entire demeanor was happy. He was hardly recognizable compared to the hurting boy from a few seconds prior.

“Let’s do it.”

Then, the video began again.

Not one student in 1-A said a word. They didn’t need to. They didn’t know what to say. They had no idea their teacher had struggled so much in the past. Before long, Aizawa came walking in the classroom with his same tired instruction of them to take their seats.

They were oddly quiet.

That didn’t last long, as soon Denki Kaminari began chatting his head off about lord-knows-what. Aizawa didn’t listen, though he could assume with good odds that it was about girls.

Class was conducted normally after that. There was nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of place. Except, as Shouta Aizawa lectured,

he smiled.

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ask-hetalia-jones-family · 4 years

Photo

STATE FILES

hey heres al being pretty,

Summary:

The USA goes into isolation for many years, then one day a few kids are in the world meeting ready to greet the nations. Now, certain Nations are being allowed within the US's border and are in for more then just a shock. Not only is the US much more advanced but Alfred lets them in on his little secret.

State oc story! I will make the canon america ship (Pruame/ Prussia x America) skip able so there is no need to worry about a ship with Alfred

Links to elsewhere to read it

WattPad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/222120798-usa-reopened

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23822452/chapters/57240190

—————-—————-—————-

Chapter one: Isolation

—————-—————-—————-

“What do you mean by isolation?” England asked America as he stood at the podium.

“My new president, Ms Angela Gracia, is going to be isolating the US for a minimum of 15 years. I will send letters and limited photos but other than that I will not be allowed to go out of my country, but I can still text, call and stuff!” Alfred smiled at the last part.

“Alfred,” Brazil asked, “What about trades?” they asked, many were anxious about that topic.

“We’ll continue to buy things we can’t grow in the US! But many other things we will slowly stop buying, But a few months after we stop buying we will give you money for no product for the sake of ensuring countries can find new trading partners.” Alfred explained.

“Debt aru?” China asked.

“Continued to be paid”

“Game imports?” Japan asked.

“Will continued to be imported”

“Exports?” Korea asked,

“Only certain things will continue”

“Puerto Rico?” Cuba asked, tapping his figures on the table.

“Depending if they want to join as a state,”

“If they don’t?” Cuba pressed annoyed.

“I will personally escort her right to you” Alfred said clearly. Cuba seemed satisfied.

“Any other questions?” Alfred asked.

There were no further questions

———

A month passed and now the USA was in official isolation.

———

The next world meeting was very strange. Cuba and Spain were talking fast paced spanish with a little girl on Cuba’s laptop.

“Ve~ Who’s a she?” Italy asked, leaning to see the screen.

The little girl gasped and turned yelling something to someone off screen, there was a fast reply in a southern accent but it was also in a language they didn’t know.

“Puerto Rico, she's with Alfred but I can still call her.” Cuba explained with a grumble.

“Hello hello hello” She repeated with a few giggles, “I’m Alondra!”

“Ohh! Caoi Alondra!” Northern Italy smiled cheerily.

Matthew surprisingly has his feet on the table, Bear in his lap and was staring intently at his phone in a very serious text conversation with his brother.

England was going on a rant about Canada’s manners and France was trying to get him off of Matthew’s back.

———

Little was done that meeting.

———

“Hey Mattie!” Alfred greeted over the phone.

“Hey Al,” Mathew said a smile shining threw his voice.

“Long time no talk? It’s been what? 3 months? Ya been busy?” Alfred asked joyfully.

“Yeah, it’s been a bit more difficult with your ships out of the water but everything’s fine” Matthew said with the sound of a keyboard in the background.

“Yeah, it’ll be hard for a while but I promise it will be ok in the long run. I won’t let you get hurt in all of this” Alfred explained chipperily.

“I trust you Alfie, I just wish I could visit and see what’s happening over there” Matthew sighed.

“I wish I could tell you, and bring you over here,” Alfred sighed thinking to himself.

“Describe it.” “What?” “Describe the advancements, not how it’s happening just how it is.” Matthew explained.

“Oh. Hmmm.” Alfred looked out the window at the rolling hills, trees and cleaner air.

“You can smell the trees in the middle of time square. The grass is a beautiful green. It really is beautiful Mattie,” Alfred sighed.

Matthew smiled seeing the image in his mind, “I need to go Alfred, thank you,” Matthew said.

“Ok, I’ll talk to you later Mattie” They hung up with smiles.

———

“Hey Molossia!” Sealand greeted.

“Do you realize what fucking time of day it is Peter?” Micheal grumbled, rubbing his eyes looking at the red numbers on his bedside clock.

“Uhhh, a time?”

“6 am” Micheal muttered glaring at the clock.

“Oh! Well do you want to play or not? Dad let me on the computer all day because I’ve been good all week and he said he and Papa have to clean the house,” Peter explained with a shrug.

“Just give me a minute, who else is on?” Micheal yawned.

“Seborga, Ladonia, Wy, River Hutt, oh! And Kugelmugel is joining after their piano lessons.” Peter explained briefly.

“Alright, let me find my mouse,” Micheal sighed. He grabbed his laptop and mouse and flopped back onto his bed and turned on discord and grabbed his headset from his lamp on his bed. He got onto discord. “I’ll get on Discord” Micheal hung up as he connected his headphones. He joyed the call.

“Ciao! Micheal! How’s isolation?” Seborga asked with his joy shining through his voice.

“Good, hope ya’ll don’t burn down the meeting house while i’m fucking gone.” Micheal sighed as he logged onto their server.

“We won’t! You think so lowly of us” Wy huffed annoyed.

----------

“Kenneth?”

“Yes Alferd?” “Is this the right thing to do?”

“Yes.”

“But people are suffering Kenny” “I know Alfred, but think about it. We can do much more good once we get clean power. He can close the gap”

“Really?”

“Ofcourse, you have my word and heart of my first land of Vinland”

“Ok”

“Don’t cry Alfred, I promise this will all get better, ok?” Kennth promised, Alfred just silently nodded an ok.

///Small not so much hinted- Hinted Pruame//

“Come on, why don’t you call Gilbert? I’m sure he’ll be overjoyed.” Kenneth suggested. Alfred smiled, wiping his tears away. “Ok” Alfred murmured as he went to grab his phone.

Alfred sat on his bed calling Gilbert, he kicked his feet as he waited for Gilbert to pick up.

“Hello?” Gilbert asked.

“Hey Gil,” Alfred said a smile already shining threw his voice. But Gilbert knew Alfred better than that.

“You’ve been crying, Liebling” Gilbert said bluntly.

“I don’t think I can get through this isolation thing, Gil,” Alfred hiccuped.

Gilbert slowly walked, Alfred through calming down. It was a slow process but Alfred had calmed down after a while, he was curled under the sheets with Gilbert’s hoodie on, it was too big for him but made Alfred feel safe.

“I’ll stay on the line until you get to sleep alright?” Gilbert asked, he himself was in bed with Gilbird nesting in an old pillow on the nightstand as his old cat purred at his side.

“Ok Gil.” Alfred yawned, he was tired after his crying.

“Ich liebe dich Liebling” Gilbert said with the most loving voice Alfred could hear,

“Love you too Gilbert.” Alfred yawned, his voice drifting.

#aph america #hws states #hws america #statalia #hetalia #aph states #hetalia story #hetalia fanfiction #State files (Story Line)#transtalia #Alfred and RVT are trans

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sestra-inestro · 5 years

Text

My Wonderous

Summary: In honour of the avengers who have saved the world, you built something for the world to remember them. And you remember your time with your mother, Natasha Romanoff.

Notes: This is the last part of the My trilogy. I had to write one for Nat, she deserves it.

1. My Amazing, 2. My Marvellous

Warnings: angst, character deaths, ENDGAME SPOILERS!! If you haven’t read the first two parts then some flashbacks may not make sense. Enjoy!

You stood tall behind the podium. Eyes looking at you from every direction as the days light illuminated your body on stage.

“Thank you for coming today. All of you.” Your voice was strong through the mic.

The press flashed their cameras and held their own mics out to you.

“We asked you all here today, to commemorate the memory of those we lost to bring everyone back.” Your chest tightened as you thought about them. The three most important people in your life, Natasha, Tony and Steve, who had passed in his sleep a week ago.

“My family risked their lives for this world more times than I can count.” You spoke confidently. “And probably more times than this world deserves.”

A hum rang through the crowd but you kept your face stoic. You did not regret your words, this world is shit.

“But looking around, seeing a lot of old faces that we haven’t seen in a long time, their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”

“Ms June! Ple-“ A press junkie interrupted you.

Ugo, who sat next to the podium gave a warning growl, and the man closed his mouth and cowered away.

“Please hold all questions til the end.” You raised your hand and Ugo sat back down.

You took a deep breath before continuing.

“As you know, three of the many people who fought for us risked their lives. Our very own, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers...” You pauses for a moment, thinking about the great soul of Natasha Romanoff.

Natasha turns in her chair towards the fuss as Tony burst through the conference room doors, a shivering baby in his arms.

“What the fuck?” Clint asked aloud after a moment of silence.

Tony looked very disheveled.

“What did you do?” Nat asked him.

He turned to her with offended eyes. “Rescued her off the street, what did you do?”

“You found her on the street?” Steve stood, his brows frowned.

“In an alleyway actually. I didn’t know what to do.” He looked down at the baby.

The baby then started to fuss and opened her eyes. E/C eyes shone back at Nat, quickly filling with tears and lips quivering quickly.

“I don’t know what to do!” Tony’s voice rose.

“Oh, for god sake give her here.” Nat stood as the baby began to wail.

Tony shuffled you into her arms and his hands immediately knotted into his hair as he paced. “I’m not ready for kids.” He mumbled.

Natasha cradled you gently and bounced you around, looking down at your face which was currently screwed up in a cry.

She began to quietly shush you and lull you to silence.

Your face quickly came to rest and you looked up at her fiery red hair.

“Hey, there.” She gave you a soft smile.

Your face stayed still as you studied the woman holding you.

“Where’s your mummy? Or you daddy?” She asked and frowned down at you. “Did they leave you alone?”

Your big eyes just stared at her.

“Yeah. Mine too.”

The team behind her were talking and possibly arguing. She doesn’t know, she can’t hear. She’s too focused on the smallest smile your little baby lips give her. Your smile makes her chest flutter with joy.

“Maybe we can look after each other, huh?” She smiled down at you.

“Mumma!” You make grabby hands at Natasha as she walks through the door.

The team had just gotten back from a month long mission and everyone was tired.

“Hey, baby girl.” Nat bent down to pick you up.

You were going through a stage of calling everyone ‘mumma’. Even the men.

“Hey, kiddo.” Tony ruffled your hair as he walked passed, giving you the giggles.

Nat smiles at the sound and carried you to her room. You babbled mindlessly as she plopped you onto her bed and slowly started to strap off her gear.

“You’re a cutie.” Nat said when she saw you in the mirror snuggling up to one of her pillows, which was bigger than you. When Nat was finally dressed into some comfy sleep wear and threw her uniform to the side, she collapsed next to you on the bed.

Turning and facing you, you gave her a big wide eyed smile which made her chuckle.

This is what she needed after a tough mission. Happy smiles and pure innocence that just promised mischief later on in life. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited to see the trouble you would cause.

“You have a nap today?” Nat raised her eyebrows at you.

You shook your head against the pillow.

“I want to have a nap.” Nat glanced at the little alarm clock on the bedside table behind you and sighed. “I got a debrief in half an hour. Wanna nap a little with me?”

You quickly nodded and shuffled closer to her on the bed. Your little cold hands rested on her chin and you sighed, your little body now realising how tired it was.

In this moment, Nat felt emotional. The hurt that she wouldn’t be able to have kids of her own faded away as you slept next to her on the bed. She felt safe, even though she was supposed to make sure you were. But she was glad.

She closed her eyes and sighed, enjoying the company of the closest thing she’d ever have to a daughter. Just for a few minutes.

Nat sat peacefully on the couch reading a book. A calm afternoon just waiting to be disturbed. Nat quietly listened to the atmosphere around her and heard footsteps coming towards the living room.

Tony waltzed in with a spring in his step and whistling to himself. He walked straight to the kitchen, the open area allowing Nat to still see him. Soon after his entrance she felt a presence beside her.

Looking down over the arm of the couch she could see you crawling across the floor. Eyes set on Tony.

“I see you.” Nat whispered to you, not too loud so Tony could hear.

Your eyes shot up at the red head and a mischievous grin graced your face. You pulled a finger to your lips and held up a can of silly string, one that you and Tony had been chasing every other around with all day.

She winked down at you and pretended to go back to her book.

You raised yourself from the floor and quietly crept up to Tony, who obliviously was whistling away.

Your stepped slowed and you aimed the can right at his head. Turning to look at Nat, you nodded, who nodded back at you.

“Hey, Snark.” Nat’s voice broke his whistling.

“Yes, Stroganoff?” Tony asked before he turned to face Nat and was immediately met with and mouth and face full of silly string.

You relentlessly held onto the can and emptied it onto him.

Cackling to yourself, you sprung passed Nat who was now laughing at Tony as he spat the string onto the floor.

“Hey! We had a truce!” Tony called after you.

You were stressing out big time. After the screaming match at your door, Nat locked you both in your room and she studied you as you still hid behind your bed, covering your chest.

Ugo was perched on the bed and looking curiously down at you.

“What’s going on?” Nat asked you with her hands on her hips.

You stood, still covering yourself and pouted. “I grew again and now none of the clothes we bought last week fit me.”

Nat glanced around at the many articles of clothing that were thrown across the room, clearly after you tried to push them over your chest.

“Looks like we’ll have to start buying much bigger clothes so we can prepare for your growth spurts.” Nat pulled down a big sweater you had stolen from Steve long ago and forgot about from you open wardrobe. Tossing it to you, she grinned. “Pretty sure Tony wouldn’t mind lending us a few for a shopping spree.”

You pulled the sweater over your head, thankful for Steve’s large shoulders so the material sagged over you newly grown chest.

Nat saw how fast your body was growing and now realised you were heading into your late teens. She sighed.

“Also, remind me to teach you some techniques on how to flip a guy. You gonna start needing that soon.”

Tony made you stay in the room as they brought in Steve. You could see through the glass windows of the room that they were also bringing in Sam and Steve’s friend Bucky, who was shut inside a containment box. As they rolled passed the room, you made brief eye contact with Bucky.

This man who looked broken down and wasn’t resisting is supposedly the same man who bombed the VIC?

You didn’t think so.

Ugo sat next to you as you curiously watched everyone interact, you knew the Accords were way bigger than you could understand at the moment but you knew everyone was having a disagreement over it. You felt divided.

Suddenly, the door to the room you were in was pushed open and men stepped in. Ugo stood to his full height and growled at them, daring them to come closer. “Easy, boy.” You calmed him. He wouldn’t move until you told him.

“Ms June.” One of men spoke. “You have to come with us.”

“The hell I do.” You stood defensively. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to insist.” The guard stepped towards you and grabbed your upper arm, dragging you out of the room before you could protest.

“Hey! Let me go!” Your yell alerted Tony and Natasha who were conversing with Steve and Sam, well more everyone in the room.

Ugo was back in the room and barking at the guards that hauled you away and the ones that blocked him from leaving the room.

“Hey!” Tony stepped forward quickly with his arm raised. “What do you think your doing?”

“This girl is not registered into an educational environment. Therefore, she is deemed neglected by the caretakers.” The guard who held you told him.

“Neglected?!”Tony and Nat yelled at the same time.

Steve wasn’t allowed to move anywhere, so he struggled to watch as worry for you etched into his chest.

“In no way is she neglected and she is constantly in and educational environment. Do you know who we are?” Tony said to the man.

The man shrugged. “The avengers are not responsible enough to care for a child. Especially in a room full of murders.” The man glared at Natasha.

Nat stepped forward to interfere but before she reached you, you kicked the man in the shin and tripped him onto his back. Other guards stepped forward and raised their guns at Tony and Nat with Steve being blocked from getting to you.

“Ugo, ha ��ю сторону!” You yelled out.

Ugo growled and barked at the guards before barreling towards them. Guns were now raised at the dog as he charged out of the room, through the guards and stood in a protective stance in front of you.

His white fur stood up on his back and his snout pulled up in a snarl as he growled at the guards that had their guns drawn on him.

“Shoot him, I dare you.” You said in a warning tone. “Go ahead and piss him off.”

Your burning glare held the stare of the guard you flipped onto the ground. Nat and Tony walked forward passed all the guards.

Nat looked down at the guard you flipped, proud that the lessons you were having with her were paying off.

“She’s not going anywhere. The safest place for her is with her family.” She warned him.

“With Barnes here she’s in danger.” The guard groaned as he stood up.

“I’ll go to the compound. But you’re not taking me anywhere.” You said to them.

The guard began to protest but Ugo snarled at himself, efficiently shutting him up.

Nat stepped forward and gently placed a hand on your shoulder. “I don’t think you have a say. I’ll will personally see her out.”

Nat had the final say before you both turned to leave.

“Со мной сейчас.” You spoke in thick Russian.

Ugo growled once more before turning and following you and Nat out.

You looked at Nat with thankful eyes. “Thanks, mumma.”

“Pretty soon you won’t be needing my help.” Nat smiled down at you.

You peered down at the gift box that held the beautiful crimson necklace.

It had been an entire year since you had seen everyone and today you had your annual growth spurt. What you didn’t know would be your last.

The little gift note in your hand dawned the writing of your mother figure that you have missed dearly.

‘Hey baby girl, not a baby anymore.

I didn’t forget this year, hopefully. Seems ironic when I finally get hang of keeping up with the time of your growths that I’m not there to give this to you in person.

I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there to give this to you, and I pray that you understand why. You’re a smart girl.

I love you June, I miss you everyday. But I will see you again soon. Just don’t forget me.

Nat x’

The necklace was a bright red, reminding you of Nat’s hair. You smiled at the gift, knowing you could never hold resentment towards her. She was defending what she believed in. And you looked up to her for that.

You lifted the necklace and clasped it around your neck, you missed her, hell you missed them all.

The world seemed dull after 5 years of everyone gone. Everyone had made a start to move on but had really just divided again. Trying to keep themselves busy and distracting themselves.

You spent most of your time between places with Tony and the compound. You thought about trying to stay in one spot permanently but you couldn’t be away from one of the others for too long. They were your family.

You were also lonely, seeing that Ugo was one of the creatures that vanished when Thanos won.

You stepped into the compound to see Nat in her usual spot, trying to find people to help and trying to find Clint.

You sighed as you took in her tired appearance. Her hair was well showing after growth but she couldn’t find the will to care about the colour of it any time soon.

“Hey, mumma.” You said, smiling at her.

Nat looked up and gave you a warm smile in return. “Hey, baby girl.” She stood and hurried over to hug you. “How’s Tony?”

You stepped back and shrugged. “The usual. Wishes everyone would come around for dinner at some stage so put that in your schedule.” You pointed before walking with her further into the room and finding Steve. “Hey you.”

“Hey June.” He smiled and stood to hug you as well.

You sighed and fell into a seat at tree table they were seated at. “So,” You relaxed into the chair. “What’s been happening?” You ask, knowing that the answer will be the same as it had been for the last 5 years.

You stood at the panel with your arms crossed and a pout on your face, watching everyone suit up.

“Why don’t I get to go?” You grumbled.

“Because, I told you, we don’t have enough Pym Particles to take everyone and we need someone to man the compound while we are gone.” Tony said as he set up.

“You will literally only be gone a few seconds, Bruce said so himself.” You tried to reason.

“So it shouldn’t be a problem. And your only thirteen.” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Younglings stay here. Plus you look crazy.” He gestured to your scratchy hair and glare.

“You make me crazy.” You mumbled.

“He makes everyone crazy.” Nat said from behind you. You turned to see her smile at you. She pulled you into a hug. “You’ll be okay. We’ll be back before you know it.”

You sighed and hugged her tighter.

“Nat, come on. We are going back in time, not off to war.” Clint said from the platform but you ignored him.

Nat pulled back and lightly touched the necklace around your neck, that one you hadn’t taken off since she gifted it to you.

“Still beautiful.” She said trying to brush your hair down before moving passed you to the platform.

You sighed before moving to the station.

“Alright, June. Just flip the switch right in front of you in five seconds and we should all be back with our stones.” Bruce nodded to you.

You nodded back to him, still salty that you didn’t get to go with them.

“See you in a minute.” Nat said with a smile and you waved.

“In three, two, one.” Bruce counted down before the portal took them.

You sigh before counted to 5 in your head.

Slowly, you flipped the switch you were told to and the portal started up again and in a flash, they were all back.

“Did we get them all?” Bruce said with a hopeful smile.

Clint fell to his knees, a pained expression on his face. You frowned before noticing the empty space next to him.

“Where’s Nat?” You asked, panic rising in your chest.

You were met with silence and your panic was confirmed. You had lost Natasha.

You all stood at the wharf at the lake near the compound. The men argued behind you as you stared out into the lake.

You had just lost the only mother figure you had in your life.

Numbness crawled through your body as you thought about her. The warm smiles she always gave you. The cuddles on scary nights, the amount of naps you had together, the things she taught you so you could defend yourself from anyone who tried to take advantage of you. Tears slowly rolled down your cheeks as you grasped the crimson necklace around you neck, you’d never get to feel her hug again.

Your body buzzed with your powers as they continued to argue behind you, agitating you.

“It was supposed to be me.” Clint’s voice cracked. “She sacrificed herself, she bet her life on it.”

Bruce growled next to you before picking up the wharf bench and tossing it into the lake.

You stood still with your arms crossed as you watched the bench fly across the lake before making a splash.

You took a deep breath before turning to the men.

“Then we can’t sit here and let that go to waste.” You said, your voice strong.

“How are we supposed to move on with this?” Bruce growled at you.

Anger rose in your chest as you looked at the green man. He was supposed to be smart. You knew he was angry and sad but he was being stupid.

“If we don’t, then she died for nothing! She believed in this plan, to make it work! If we just sit here and wallow in grief then her belief and her sacrifice was for nothing.” You told Bruce. “If you guys want to sit here and bitch about it, then fine. But I’m going back in there to make sure my mother died for something.” You said sternly before marching passed them all and back to the compound.

They all soon joined you again and began working hard on making the gauntlet. Tony placed a hand on your shoulder and smiled. You smiled back, knowing you were going to give this all you could.

Don’t worry, mumma. I’ll make sure they remember you.

“And Natasha Romanoff.” Your voice trembled slightly through the mic.

There was a shift in the crowd as you named the members of your family.

“All three who have passed away, fought the fight that bought the people of this world back. They sacrificed themselves, left their own lives behind so that the people of this world could thrive again.” You said with a slight smile on your face. Even though you would miss the whales that swam through the Hudson, you were glad to have Ugo back.

“These people will never be forgotten. And to ensure that that never happens, we have built three monument statues in their honour.” You said proudly and nodded towards the workers next to the stage.

They pulled ropes that held up a large curtain behind you and revealed the three, major statues of your three family members behind you. The press and audience in front of you cheered and clapped as they saw the detailed sculptures. You knew Tony would’ve loved it, Steve would’ve appreciated it and Nat would’ve cringed. But they all deserved it.

“I would also like to announce that a plaque has been developed and a new therapeutic clinic has been constructed and named after our one and only Bruce Banner, who brought all who vanished back.” Down the stage stood Bruce will his arm still in his velcro support. The surprise in his eyes said it all and the other Avengers who stood next to him clapped him on the back. The press and audience clapped again.

“This team will go on fighting for the world, no matter how much it doesn’t deserve it.” You still believed that this world was shit.

“Our new team of Avengers will be officially working with the government. This organisation was developed for a reason, and we will stay that way. Thank you all.” You quickly ended your speech and turned from the podium, Ugo followed you closely. The press rose to their feet and yelled questions at you but you ignored them.

The smiling faces of your new family greeted you. Sam and Bucky stood together, Wanda stood with Carol and you knew Peter was watching from the audience. Bruce smiled warmly at you and placed a hand on your shoulder.

“You didn’t have to do that, June.”

“You brought half the universe back. You deserved more than a clinic but you already have the Nobel Prize.” You shrugged your your shoulders.

Bruce smiled down at you and pulled you into a one armed hug. “Thanks, kid.”

You smiled up at him. “No problem.”

You glanced at Sam and Bucky. “They all would’ve loved it.” Sam complemented.

“Actually, Nat would’ve hated it.” You glanced up the her statue. “But she gets it anyways.” You smiled to yourself.

“What happens if people graffiti on it?” Bucky asked.

“Well they all have little cameras up their noses. So if someone does graffiti, we’ll know who it is.” You gave a devilish smile. You looked down at Ugo who whines a little back at you. You leant down and scratched his ear.

“You truly are a Stark.” Bruce said smiling at you.

You nodded proudly and walked passed them, you clutched Wanda’s arm and carried on back to the car.

“Let’s head back to the compound, there’s Clint’s retirement party to organise.”

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karaxreds · 5 years

Text

Proud of you - Harry Winks

She watched the score as a small tear rolled down her cheek, it felt like someone has just stabbed her in the chest.

She felt bad for him, for his team and for the whole fans that travelled all the way down to Madrid to watch this game.

"Hey." Your future mother-in-law whispered, "Don't cry, honey! You need to be strong for your man, we all need to."

You just nodded your head, of course you were devasted but not as much as your finance who's probably heart broken , you couldn't see him yet.

He was subbed off a few minutes after the second half, you know he probably feels bad too about not getting to play the full ninety minutes but he also knows that his mamager knows better.

The score was disappointing, this was Harry's most important game of his career but unfortunately it didn't go their way.

You watch as the liverpool players lined up in two lines so they could clap to their opposites as they walked up to the small podium for them to grab their silver medals.

You started clapping as well as you saw that Eric was the first one to walk up and grab his medal, a disappointed look on his face, but he looked a bit more composed than the others fiving the fact that a few minutes ago he was the one collecting his devasted teammates from the ground.

You watched him walk toward the podium a small sad smile on his face as the man put the silver medal around his neck, he whispered a small thank you before he walked away, staying a little bit longer on the pitch so they all could thank the travelling fans.

You waited for what felt like forever before he finally started walking up the stands, toward his family, you took a deep breath, you had to be strong for him, for you and for everyone around.

His parent and siblings were the first ones to hug him, he seemed pretty composed untiil them and it made you feel a little bit relieved at the sight.

It was finally your turn, you give him a tiny smile, opening your arms for him and he didn't hesitate to throw himself into them.

"I am so proud of you." You whispered, kissing his head.

"I am so sorry." His voice cracked, and you could've sworn that you heard your heart crack as well.

"Baby." You muttered, slightly pulling away from him. "You don't need to, never ever. You were so great, so amazing on the pitch." You give him a small nod, "I am proud of you, proud of this journey of yours. I am pretty sure that everyone else feel the same."

You watched his parents and everyone else slightly nod at your words, they knew that if anyone could make him feel better it would be you.

Harry's brown wattery eyes pierced into yours, he opened his mouth to say something but no words came out.

He threw himself back into your arms and a sudden sob left his lips and it broke your heart, you just wish you could take his pain away even if it meant that it would only hurt you.

- A few hours have passed and you were on the plane on your way back to London, sitting right next to Harry's mom who looked exhausted, just like you.

You couldn't wait to go home, the spurs' players were probably still in Madrid for a couple more hours, just in time for them to gather all their belongings.

"You alright sweetheart?" Your mother-in-law's voice pulled you out of your thoughts.

"Yeah." You nodded too quickly.

"It just wasn't meant to be, Darling." She smiled, putting a hand on yours. "I am pretty sure there's going to be plenty more finals for him to play."

"I hope so." You mumbled, fighting a few tears back. "He only deserves the best, he deserves to win."

"I know, I know." She nodded, "And he will, we just have to be patient and believe in him."

You give her a sincere smile, his mother probably loved you just as much as she loved Harry and it always warmed your heart, knowing how much she cares about you.

"Thank you." You spoke, "I should be the one consoling you and not the other way around."

"Don't worry, darling. We're here for each other." She squeezed your hand slightly, "You just need to take care of yourself, you need to stay positive and avoid all the stressful things."

Her eyes moved down to your stomach as she spoke those words making tou blush lightly, she was the only one who know about it.

"Don't worry, I am fine." You smiled, putting you other hand on your stomach. "We both are."

"Are you telling him later?" She asked curiously.

"Probably yeah." You shrugged, you've already have known for a couple of days but you only told his mother, you thought that if they won the champion's league tonight, it would've been the best moment to tell him about it, just a few moments after he lifts the trophy but unfortunately it didn't go as planned.

"At least it will cheer him up, he'll be over the moon."

"I hope so, I just want him to feel better." You admitted.

"I can assure you, this will. This is the most amazing news a man could possibly ever receive." She giggled, "I am glad you chose my son."

"I am glad he chose me too." You smiled.

-You were curled up on the sofa a few hours after you landed in Londed, Harry arrived just an hour later after you did.

As soon as he opened the door and found you curled up on the sofa he immediately cuddeled down next to you, inhaling your sent.

"Haz." You whispered, cheking up if he was asleep or not.

"Humm." He hummed, his eyes still closed.

"Babe." You sighed, "I know you said you don't want to talk, but you have to you know that right?"

He sighed and finally opened his eyes before he straightened himself on the sofa.

"I just think that I could've done better you know ." He whispered, "All of those fans who travelled all those miles down to Madrid, just to be disappointed with our shitty freaking performance."

"You weren't shit and you know that." You pointed out.

"Then why did we lose then?"

"Hard luck babe, just didn't go your way." You started caressing his head, "They were just a bit luckier. You guys did an amazing job and I am so proud of your Champions League journey, baby this is probably one of your best seasons."

"Not really my best." He shrugged, "This freaking injury just fucked up everything, I was out for weeks and didn't play so many matches."

"Hey hey hey." You said, putting your fingers under his chin and lifting his head up so he could look right into your eyes. "This isn't your fault, You did everything you could. Harry, you weren't supposed to be back on the pitch until weeks later but you worked so hard, so confidently that you came back weeks before." You told him, a hand caressing his cheeks wiping away the few tears that escaped his beautiful brown eyes.

"I am so proud of you, I could never put into word how much proud I am." You smiled, "And I am pretty sure you're going to be back next year, stronger than ever."

"You think so?" He mumbled,his voice cracking at the end. "You think we can do just like liverpool did?"

"Of course! I know so" You nodded, "They just showed the world how determinate they were, you guys just need to work a little bit harder next season for both the league and champions league."

He finally smiled for the first time in the last few hours,a genuine smile making butterflies erupt in your stomach. You two have been together for over five years but it didn't matter he still made you feel like the first time you met him, like the first time you kissed him.

"What would I be without you though?" He smiled.

"Probably already asleep in your bed, or just drinking a bit too much alcohol." You shrugged, a playful smile traced on your lips.

"I love you." He mumbled, leaning down and capturing your lips with bis own. You moved your hand away from his cheek and slid it into the back of his head playing woth his soft hair. "I am so in love with you." He added once the both of you pulled away for air.

"Kinda feel the same." You giggled, "We love you, so much. Both." You whispered.

You watched him pull away a frown on his face, and you heart started beating faster, you felt as if it was going to explode.

"Both?" He asked confused.

You nodded your head, before you took his hand and placed it down on your stomach.

"Both."

His eyes widened at you words, going from his hand on your stomach to your face than to his hand again.

"A-are you p-pregnant?" He asked in a pure state of shock.

"Yes, we're having a small Winksey." Your eyes full of tears once again for the millionth time this night just for another reason.

"I-I, Oh my god!" He screamed, jumping up from the couch and pulling you up with him. "We're having a baby!"

You just nodded your head,tears streaming down your face.

He pulled you into a bone crashing hug, and slightly lifting you up the ground and jumping up in pure bliss.

"Oh my god." He cries, putting you down on the ground. "I am sorry, Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" He asked concerned, putting his hand on your stomach.

"I am fine." You giggled, "We both are,baby."

"How long?" He asked.

"Six weeks." You told him, "found out a couple of days ago."

"God, why haven't you told me before?"

"Wanted to wait until we were back home." You shrugged.

"Mum, is going to be thrilled." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh believe me she is." You chuckled.

"What do you mean? She already knows?"

"Yes, she was with me when I had my blood test." You said, "Took three test and they all said 'positive' but I couldn't wait, so I called her and we ran into the nearest hospital."

"God, this is the best thing." He shook his head in disbelief, "can you believe it? We're becoming parents!"

"I know right, who would've thought?"

"You always said that we'll be having kids but only after we get married." He laughs.

"I know right!" You pouted, "I am glad though, could never not want this baby."

"But you're still marrying me this summer,right?" He smiled.

"Of course I am."

'I love you so fucking much." He mumbled kissing your forehead.

"I love you too, Winks." You whisperes, "We both do."

You were probably the happiest woman alive, what a night it was went from tears of sadness to tears of joy and ro be honest, you wouldn't have it any other way.

Not edited, write this a couple of days ago idk just felt like writing something about him because we all know he must've been devastated that night, along with the rest of his amazing teammates.

Hope you'll like it and sorry for any grammatical, spelling mistakes english isn't my first language in fact it's my third so... ENJOY IT, MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF TOU BABES OUT THERE ❤❤

#football imagines #footballers imagines #harry winks imagines #Tottenham Hotspurs #football one shot #footballers one shot #one shot #imagines #Harry Winks

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stedes-black-bonnet · 5 years

Text

My Baby Does Me: Chapter 22

POV: John Deacon x reader; Jim and reader’s lunch date, Part 1.

Notes: MASTERLIST? Still updating weekly, yes even after the Oscars this Sunday.

Warnings: Part 1 is sad AF; Part 2 will be girl-talk and light and wonderful.

Abstract: bring it back, bring it back...

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

Jim Hutton remembered holding John Deacon’s hand. Jim’s hands were larger, and they easily encapsulated John’s hand without flash, effort, or tricks of the light. He kept seeing that snapshot, while looking at your surprised face: he saw the black, elegant fabric of John’s blazer, tailored to perfection, the black french cuff of his button-down, but, mostly, what Jim saw were the gaudy emerald cuff links Veronica had given John. He saw John’s hand, his wrist, thin and pale, his tense thighs, and the new suit he’d never wear again. John couldn’t take his eyes off those cuff links, and that twisted a barbed spike deep in Jim’s heart; it was a keen, silent suffering, it was hail falling on deaf ears, it was that nightmare where you were being pursued but couldn’t scream, it was heartbreak, and Jim would never forget it. He couldn’t stop staring at them, with his red eyes, tired from lack of sleep. Jim was pretty sure John hadn’t slept more than 10 hours in the past week. He wasn’t sure John would ever sleep again.

Jim was holding John’s hand. Freddie had been on the other side of John, clasping his other hand. Freddie was tapping out comforting melodies on John’s palm, trying to lure him into some reaction, any reaction. Freddie was the first person John had called. Their bond had always been surprisingly tight, secure, and unbreakable. Freddie could lift the tapestry of shyness from John, get him dancing, laughing, and flirting in ways Veronica hadn’t even been capable of; and John could go head-to-head with Freddie in any insult or shade challenge--especially if they were on the same team, and John, a ride or die romantic, had been the first person to publicly defend Jim and Freddie’s romance. Which made this moment all the more difficulty poignant and utterly devastating.

“I don’t know if I can find the words to describe it,” Jim said to you. “The effect it had on me, on the band, on Johnny.” He had tears in his brown eyes. You squeezed his hand, thinking of Deacy, and how it was quickly becoming his signature move in your mind. And how hollow it seemed now, squeezing Jim’s hand; the weight of the room had changed. Yellow was supposed to be a happy color, but now it seemed suffocating.

He called Freddie first. Freddie had picked up the phone, laughing into it. Jim had been telling him some joke, or some funny story; he didn’t remember the details, only that Freddie had been laughing when he picked up the phone’s receiver. A full laugh, with his whole body, all teeth and cheeks, contagious joy in only the way Freddie was capable of spreading. Jim leaned into Freddie, kissed his neck, curious who was on the other line. Then, as if out of nowhere, like the power going out, or a sun shower, Jim felt Freddie’s body stiffen; he collapsed into the chair he had been standing near, and froze, listening.

“I knew something had happened, Y/N.” Jim wiped a few tears from his cheeks. One lingered in his mustache, and you couldn’t look at anything else. “But I didn’t know what, or who Freddie was talking to, but I desperately wanted to know; because whatever had happened had just changed everything.”

Jim could feel the calluses on John’s fingers. His own hands were rough from a lifetime of working, not making art. And yet, regardless of their nonsensical, pointless, yet obvious class divide, here they both were, experiencing one of the only guarantees life had to offer. John’s hands were shaking; Jim and Freddie kept surreptitiously exchanging concerned glances. They were thinking the same thing with each glace; if you ever died, I’d surely die, too. John’s hands were shaking, and his grey eyes couldn’t leave those cuff links.

A pair of hands reached from behind to hug John’s shoulders. They lingered, and Jim could see on his periphery a blond head just delicately resting on John’s. Their hair mingled, Roger waited, breathing slowly, trying to transfer his rhythm over to his dearest friend. Roger’s emotional strength, fortitude, and prowess were precisely and desperately what John required. Though, nothing was working. Nothing was helping. Roger let go, though it was clear he did not want to, but he had been given the hardest task of the day; he had been trusted with it by John; there simply was no one else for the job. Boisterous, rowdy, and a prodigious cad Roger Taylor might be, but he was also expertly delicate, unsuspectingly shrewd, and the most empathetic person any of them had ever met.

“Roger is lousy at, oh, 85% of commitments, but when he is really needed, when everything is the most dire and vital, he delivers like no one else can.” Jim cleared his throat, and took a careful sip of tea, thinking how best to continue.

Freddie was clutching the phone. He hadn’t said anything yet. Jim took Freddie’s hand, troubled more than curious now. They were two hands holding. Freddie sniffed and started silently sobbing, “John,” he said; it was all Jim could make out. Jim began wiping his lover’s tears away with his pocket square, emerald like the cuff links John would be wearing that Veronica had given to him on no special occasion, just because she could, when his hands would be shaking, on the day when he would be wearing the new black suit he’d later bury deep in his backyard, next to the dog of theirs that had died the year before.

“John,” Freddie said, again, trying to sound strong, trying to sound in control, “Don’t move, darling; Jim and I will be there in a flash.” He hung up the phone and leaned into Jim. Tears fell down both of their cheeks; Jim couldn’t help crying when others were, even if he didn’t know why they were upset himself.

“Freddie, what’s happened to John?”

“Veronica was in an accident.” He managed to say. Freddie pulled away from Jim, looking him in the eyes. “If you ever,” his voice stuck in his throat, unable to speak, only hearing John’s confused, wounded howls that had greeted Freddie from the other end of the phone—howls he’d never be able to forget—Freddie gazed at Jim with sharp focus. He swallowed hard, and said, “If you ever left, I wouldn’t make it. It sounds melodramatic, dear, but there you have it.”

“I’m not going anywhere, you silly man.” Jim said finally. He took a steadying breath, and asked, “Freddie, I’m scared; you need to tell me what happened to Veronica?”

“She died.” Freddie told Jim.

“She died?” You asked, still in shock.

“Yes,” said Jim, fresh tears brimming over his eyes. “She died, oh, three years ago, now. Enough time will never pass.”

Roger, wearing an understated black suit, made his way to the podium. He hated everything about this. He hated what he was wearing, he hated why they were all here, but what he hated most was the look in John’s eyes. He wasn’t present, in his eyes, John wasn’t there. He was time traveling, stuck in a hell of his own making, thinking of every past moment, doing everything he could to deny the reality of his present and future. Roger wanted to take John’s suffering away; Roger could take it, he could survive it--fuck, he’d weather it with style. But John--of all of them--he didn’t deserve this. This wasn’t fair. If Roger had a wife, he’d sacrifice her for John. If it meant he could keep Veronica and the light would return to his dull eyes, Roger would cut off his hands for John to make it happen.

It was standing room only, as Roger surveyed the cavernous church. Though, even the aisles were bursting with friends, colleagues, and loved ones. This was the most private event Roger would ever perform at. And it was a performance, because more than anything, Roger wanted to vomit in the nearest flower display and drown himself in a case of the communion wine, but he would be John’s rock; he wouldn’t show his nerves or his sorrow.

“‘Time healing all wounds is the biggest lie they tell you; time doesn’t heal nothing; you heal yourself by doing the works.’” Jim said, a sad smile on his face. “That’s how he opened the eulogy; he knew exactly what to say, but he always does. It was, to this date, the only time I’ve ever seen Roger cry. Publicly, and without shame. It surprised us all, to be honest. He hides that heart of his under twenty thousand leagues of sea.”

“For those of you who don’t know, I introduced John and Veronica.” Roger’s voice halted, then. He looked at John, waiting for his friend to return his gaze. He did, slowly, and grey eyes met blue. “I am,” Roger said, “so sorry. I shouldn’t have.” Roger’s eyes glowed sapphire bright as tears welled and slipped down his face. “I will always blame myself for why we are all here today; it is my fault. If you have to blame someone,” he said, staring at John, “blame me. Don’t blame yourself,” he said to John, and only to John, “Never blame yourself, and don’t blame her. She’d be here if she could; she never missed one of my performances after all.”

“Funeral laughter is the worst,” Jim told you, “desperate and unsure. But if anyone could make a crowd laugh at a funeral, it was Roger Taylor.”

Jim remembered feeling John’s body shake, but not with laughter. At least not with genuine laughter; he had been hysterical. There was simply no other word for it. He and Freddie had arrived at the hospital, and they were led to John, who was in one of those terrible rooms they put you when the news is bad.

“They won’t let me see her.” He kept laughing, like it was a joke only he understood. He kept saying it, over and over, as if he were trying to explain the easy words to a child who wasn’t comprehending their meaning. “They won’t let me see her!” Jim walked over to John, who was pacing, and wouldn’t stop even when Jim put a hand on his shoulder. “They won’t let me see her.”

Freddie looked at the doctor, fear was in his brown eyes, and something like anger; he didn’t know how long John had been like this and they weren’t doing anything to help his friend. How long had he been alone in this little room?

“Why won’t they let you see her, Johnny?” Jim asked, tenderly.

“‘The state of her body.’ The state of her...body.” He was running a shaking hand through his hair. “Crushed or something? Not entirely extracted from between her car...and the other car.” He sounded unsure, like he didn’t believe what he was saying, what he had heard, what he had been told. “Her body? Her body? They said body?” He looked at the doctor, frantically. “She’s not a body! That’s what they say about someone who’s dead.”

Jim looked back at Freddie, then; something in John had completely broken. Jim saw tears of outrage, worry, and a terrible pitying compassion rise in his husband’s eyes. Jim slowly backed away from John.

“I need to make a call,” he said to Freddie. “Do you have this?”

“What, darling?” Freddie was entirely distracted by this scene; John was still pacing, and Freddie was tracking him like cat, readying himself to pounce if need be.

“Freddie!” Jim said loudly, he put his hands on Freddie’s cheeks to force him to pay attention.

“I’m here.”

“You need to watch him; I’m going to get Roger.”

“Yes, darling; the doctors can keep doing fuck-all; I’ve got this.” He waved his hand in his signature flourish.

“As far as I’m concerned Veronica was the only good thing about John,” Roger was saying. He tried a smile, but it didn’t work, even with the funeral laughter escalating. “She had all of his best qualities, and none of his bad ones. Though Veronica said all the time John was perfect--maybe for no one else but her. And good God, she was right; no one else understood him until her. Not like anyone else wanted to.”

Jim felt John’s body rock back and forth. Roger’s speech stalled, as he saw John stand up. Perhaps it was Roger’s intuition, or that he knew John so well, either way, he followed his gut, and started wrapping up his speech abruptly. “Right! Veronica, what’s left to say about someone so capable of rendering men speechless--”

John wrenched his hands away from Freddie and Jim, stumbling wildly at a running pace down the aisle aimlessly towards the exit. The only thought in his head was of escaping. Brian stood, making to intercept him, and was cut short by a chaotic blond blur racing past him, shoving him out of the way of his single-minded goal. Roger had leaped down from the pedestal like a panther, and chased after John at an all out sprint. It wasn’t funny, but it was. Under the morbid circumstances, it was the funniest thing any of them had seen all week. Jim and Brian smiled faintly at each other; it was the most Roger-esque departure they could have imagined: end on a one-liner and run for the exit. Freddie was the first one to laugh about it. It was a quiet giggle at first, clear and melodic, undeniably Freddie’s. Unable to stop themselves, Jim and Brian joined in, unashamed and unafraid their laughter echoed around the church; it was possibly inappropriate, maybe in bad taste, but it was the first genuine laughter they’d had together in the past week, and as they laughed a little portion of the vice-like grip of tension around their hearts began to lift.

Jim had tried calling Roger from a payphone outside the hospital, but he hadn’t answered. Roger had some habitual haunts, record stores, clubs, fucking car dealerships--time was of the essence. Jim collected his thoughts. This wasn’t an easy task. Wherever he closed his eyes, he kept seeing John pacing, desperately trying to understand how Veronica was now reduced to being just a body, and not his wife. Jim started the car, shaking away fresh tears. He needed to focus and find Roger. The tears could and would wait.

Pulling up outside Roger’s home was a no go—his Alfa Romeo wasn’t there. This was useful information, however; Jim knew which car to search for, his goddess in red. By far, she was the easiest of all his cars to find; flashy and bright. Next, Jim tried Roger’s favorite basement record store; also no luck there.

“It was the afternoon, Roger might be just waking up,” Jim told you between bites of a biscuit, “So, I don’t know why or what possessed me to go there, but there was this hole-in-the-wall diner Roger went to while the band was still waiting to make their first big break.”

The look on Roger’s face when he talked about the diner was always one of nostalgia; it was the look of a man recalling what it was like to go out in public and not be recognized. When Jim pulled up to the diner, Roger’s goddess in red was parked across the street. Jim silently thanked St. Anthony, and his blessed Irish mother, and ran into the diner, but Roger wasn’t there. As quickly as he had entered, he left, standing still outside, thinking.

The top was up.

“The top had been up, you see.” Jim explained.

Jim ran over to the car, and banged on the driver’s side window.

Roger turned his back to Jim.

“Oh you can’t outrun me you good for nothing blond rotter.” Jim yelled into the street, banging even harder on the car’s window.

“I’m sleeping one off, Jim.” Roger growled.

“There are homeless people sleeping on the streets, and here you are sleeping one off in your fucking car, and you own four homes; go sleep it off in one of them.”

“Thanks, Jim; Los Angeles does sound nice this time of year.” Roger begrudgingly rolled down the window of his red Alfa Romeo. He looked at Jim’s face, but couldn’t see it, nonetheless he could tell something was wrong. He fished around the passenger seat for his glasses--black circles tinted yellow--and put them on. Jim’s eyes were puffy, red, dark circles, dried tears. “What the bloody hell has happened?!”

Roger ran into the little room, Jim following hard behind. John was standing in the corner, arms wrapped around himself, staring dead into some vacant space only grief could occupy. Freddie met Jim and Roger at the doorway.

“He wouldn’t let me near him, dearies.” Freddie said. “So, I just sang to him--any silly old tune that popped into my head, which sort of calmed him down, I think. He stopped pacing at least.” Jim wrapped his arms around Freddie, and they stood there, hugging.

“Right, I’ve got this.” Roger slowly walked over to John. “John?”

He didn’t respond.

“John?” Roger asked, again.

Still nothing.

“John, do you know what’s happened?”

His grey eyes met Roger’s blue ones.

“Do you?” His voice was molasses, a dark basement, the feeling of being pursued, his voice was the hairs on the back of your neck standing up for no apparent reason, but you’d learn about the reason when you least expected it.

“I do, yes.” Roger’s voice was steady, firm. He could play this game; fuck, he had invented this game. He took another step closer to him.

John’s body tensed, his eyes glared into Roger’s, his fists balled; he was breathing for a fight. Anything to not think, Roger figured. He took another step closer, shrinking the distance drastically.

“Say it.” Roger challenged.

John didn’t respond.

“Say it!” Roger commanded.

Nothing.

“What? you want to hit me?”

A twitch.

“Will that help you? Because if it will, hit me.” Roger took his glasses off, tossed them to Jim. He took his grey blazer off, and tossed that to Freddie.

“Here--hit me.” With the glasses off, his eyes were piercing and moist; Roger was crying, it was a private cry, meant for an audience of one, meant to be witnessed by John only. “Please, go ahead. Whatever you need. I’m here.”

John made his move. He was fast, but Roger was faster. He grabbed John’s arms, and pinned him against the wall, hard.

Roger slapped John on the face.

“Wait--” you said, wiping tears of your own away, “Roger slapped him?”

“Yes,” Jim answered. “It was the support he needed, and only Roger could see it; for such a blind melon, he sees more than the rest of us.”

Roger slapped John, again.

The sound snapped through the small room.

Freddie and Jim, breathing in unison, froze.

Roger slapped John, yet again.

Roger raised a blond eyebrow at John, holding his arms, pressing his body into the wall. Cardio and drumming: he could hold John with force for hours if need be. No matter what, he’d be there for John. If this was what he needed, he’d do it, never question it, and embrace it.

And that’s when John started to cry.

He gave up his ineffectual struggles against Roger’s drumming strength.

John folded himself into Roger’s body.

Roger held him, silently crying, feeling John’s sobs shake their bodies.

“She’s dead.” John said.

“Yes.”

“She’s dead.”

“Yes.”

“She’s not coming back.”

“No, she’s not.”

There was a knock on the door, then.

Brian entered the room with one of the useless doctors.

“This will be indelicate,” Brain said, “So, they’ve asked me to say it.”

Roger swiveled on the spot, lifting John, so he was facing the wall, and Roger was able to face Brian.

He continued, “They’re ready for someone to identify the body.”

“Did you need to tackle me so hard? In the street? In front of the bloody cameras?” John was two shots in, holding a white napkin to his forehead.

Roger, next to him, also two shots in, said, “You really left me no choice. Leaving your own funeral like that.”

“It wasn’t my funeral. Might as well as been, though.” John signaled to the bartender for another round. “And how you chased down the photographers and what? How did you put it?”

“I think it was ‘I’ll set your mother on fire and fuck your brother, if you don’t destroy that film.’”

They laughed together, wiping tears away.

“What are we on now? Right--Veronica’s legs.” They clinked their glasses together, and downed their their shot of tequila. John checked the cut on his forehead. “Really, though: Never seen someone surrender their camera so fast in my life.”

“Could have had Miami pay them off, but that was more fun for me.” Roger smirked, and singled for another round. “Looking good, mate; that shiner really improves your manly charms.”

“I don’t really feel it anymore; my personal thanks to whoever invented tequila.”

“Right,” Roger said passing John shot number four, “Veronica’s thighs.”

“Veronica's thighs.” John repeated, downing his shot. “Miami told me he’d been paying off every newspaper from writing about it.” Tears threatened John’s eyes once more. He had, more or less, become accustomed to crying in public now.

“That was Brian’s idea.” Roger explained.

“Good man, Bri.”

“The best. Second only to me.” Roger waved to the bartender, “Mate, leave the bottle, and bring a second.”

“I suppose the others will find us eventually.” John said, pouring the next round. “Veronica’s dimples when she smiled.”

“None better.” Roger toasted and swallowed his shot.

“I’ll do it,” Roger said, holding John’s shaking body. “Brian, would you take him from me? I’ll be back straight away.”

Brain crossed the room, and took John in his arms.

“Oh, if he starts denying it again, just slap him once across the face; worked wonders for me.”

“You knew the deceased?” The doctor asked. They were standing in a room Roger would never forget. Metallic, small, cold. A body was resting under a white sheet.

“Yes, since university.”

“I must warn you, it is graphic.”

“That’s why I’m here and the husband isn’t.” He said simply. “He shouldn't remember her like this. Let’s get on with it.”

The doctor lifted up the sheet.

Roger flinched. “Yes, that’s her.”

The doctor replaced the sheet.

Roger poured the next shot of tequila. They had lost count, and hadn’t been discovered yet by the rest of the band. They were on the second bottle, though. They were two friends commiserating, saluting, sharing.

“I never thanked you...” John’s voice trailed off.

“Don’t.” Roger grasped John’s hand. “Never do.” He let go of his hand, and grabbed his shot. “Veronica’s ass?”

“None better.” John smiled, sadly.

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

Tag List: @phantom-fangirl-stuff @triggeredpossum @obsessedwithrogertaylor @groupiie-love@partydulce @richiethotzierz @sophierobisonartfoundationblr@psychostarkid@teathymewithben@smittyjaws @just-ladyme @botinstqueen @mydogisthebest@little-welsh-wonder @maxjesty@deakysdiscos @yourealegendroger @marvellouspengwing@molethemollie@deakysgirl@arrowswithwifi @tardisgrump

#john deacon x reader #john deacon #roger taylor #roger taylor x reader #ben hardy #joe mazzello #Freddy Mercury #jim hutton #rami malek #aaron mccusker #brain may #gwilym lee #bohemian rhapsody #miami beach #queen x reader

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hyenasnake · 5 years

Quote

A/N: So this oneshot deals with a lot of stuff like rape and child abuse so if you don't like that stuff don't read it and a HUGE thank you to all the creators of the kids for letting me use them in cameos

It was Alazne who first noticed something wrong with her sister. Ever since the creator’s ball in the land of the blessed, Etapalli seemed off. She would stare off into space as if she was dissociating, she would hardly eat, she took long baths and bathed multiple times a day, she would wake up sobbing in the middle of the night thinking nobody could hear her. But Ala heard, and Ala saw. Soon the other siblings started to notice something was wrong. Esteban would tell Etapalli jokes trying to make her laugh to no avail. She’d always laugh before. Miguel would invite her to sword practice, but she’d refuse. She’d begged to go before. When Jack visited he brought her some sweets from Halloweentown but she pushed them side. She’d always liked sweets before. Sartana was the first who tried to get it out of her, gently at first but becoming more forceful with invasive questions until the young girl started having a fit and their parents had to interfere.

“Please, Mija. Tell me what happened.” Xibalba begged of his daughter. Etapalli stayed silent, her eyes dull and her form stiff. “You used to be so lively and happy. What’s wrong?” Though her heart was aching and she wanted to tell him, she wouldn’t talk. Fear of her banishment filled her and she felt like she was made of stone. “Mijita-” He protested when she stood up and walked out of the study. But he didn’t stop her.

“Please try to eat something.” Cider begged his sister. “You’re growing so thin. You passed out in the middle of breakfast this morning.” Etapalli turned from her brother. She uttered but one word.

“Leave.” So he did.

It was La Muerte who was able to coax it out of her. The mother goddess took her suffering child into her room and sat her down on the bed next to her. “I love you, Pallita. No matter what you do nothing will change that. You can tell me anything. I promise I won’t be angry with you. You have many siblings, but I love all of you the same and I would do the same thing I do now for any of them. Now you have my full attention, my full support, todo mi corazon.” She tucked a lock of black hair behind the ear of her daughter. Etapalli’s acid green eyes filled with tears as her fangs dug into her lip, causing it to bleed. While trying to fight back the wave of emotions, she explained to her mother.

How she’d followed Itzli to the garden with the promise of a garden of birds waiting for her. How her heart had beat like a drum in her chest, looking up at the much older boy as he held her hand. How he’d given her a small pastry and she’d eaten it greedily and innocently, not knowing what would happen to her. How when they’d gotten to the promised location, there was nothing but trees. How she felt her body become weak and she fell to the ground, her wings feeling as if they were tied together by an invisible chain. How she’d tried to cry out for help only to be hit in the face by Itzli. How he’d grabbed her roughly and torn her dress away, the handmade dress she had been so lovingly gifted by her mother for her birthday. How he’d defiled her while she laid there paralyzed in silence, being innocent and not even knowing what he was doing to her but hating every second of it and wishing she was able to die. How he’d spread his seed all over her stomach and legs before standing up. How he pulled her to her feet and told her; “Don’t tell anybody or they will hate you more than they do already. They will strip you of your powers and banish you to the world of humans and send monsters to kill you. When you die you’ll be sent to a place worse than the land of the cursed because nobody wants a whore like you”.

La Muerte’s heart had filled with pain and rage and her eyes with tears as she and her daughter embraced one another, crying and hurting. She held her tight and rubbed her back, trying to keep those negative emotions hidden away for the sake of her broken child. Etapalli’s physical wounds from her encounter had mostly healed soon after they’d been inflicted, but the emotional wounds still remained and were sore with infection. They held one another for over two hours, weeping and hugging. There was much work to be done, but the land of the remembered could wait for eternity.

The news spread around the castle like wildfire. First from La Muerte to Xibalba, who she had to restrain to keep him from flying to the land of the blessed and taking care of Itzli himself. Sartana had overheard and confided in the older children, who were eavesdropped on by the younger children who knew with heavy hearts what this meant. The youngest children, like Suré and Xico, had no clue what the word “rape” meant. But from the way it seemed to affect everybody, they knew it was something terrible. But the attention seemed to focus on their older sister, who was treated as if she was a fragile flower, a delicate piece of glass that could break at any time. It angered many of the children, and extra precautions had to be taken to assure that none of Etapalli’s relatives would go after Itzli before his trial. Adeleine had cried uncontrollably when she found out, knowing she was the only one who could have seen this coming, yet she didn’t. Mila was angrier than a hornet and had to be held back by Miguel. When the news had reached Jack he broke down and had to take a few days off work. The children really tried their hardest to comfort their sister. But Etapalli just wanted to be left alone.

On the day of the trial, she was shaking at the thought of having the face Itzli again. She stood at the podium in front of the pantheon, gods from all corners of the world. The creator the judge of it all staring down at her with a sympathetic gaze. She spoke shakily, her English blending into Spanish which blended into Nahuatl. Itzli and his father stared at her with hatred in their eyes while she tried not to cry. Her words slurred together as the world spun around her and she felt like fainting, The Creator stopped her, saying she’d said enough and she was excused. Xibalba took her outside to cool off, bringing her a glass of water. She drank it and for the first time in weeks, let him hold her.

It only took a quick search in the book of life to confirm what she said was true. Itzli was punished and banished to the deepest depths of the land of the cursed. Itzlacol, his father, swore revenge on Etapalli and her family before disappearing mysteriously, never to be seen by them again.

Now, seven years later, Etapalli laid in bed next to her lover and wondered if those emotional wounds had finally healed. It had taken her a while to find someone who didn’t want to use her as a plaything. But she still couldn’t help but wonder if she was a plaything as she took in the scent of gunpowder, wildflowers and cinnamon from the luscious mane of brown hair that laid next to her. Katalina stirred in her sleep and rolled to face the winged goddess. Her plump lips were parted in a slight pout as she slept and soft snores came from her. Etapalli shifted her arm only to have her hand instinctively grabbed by the young woman next to her. Their fingers intertwined gracefully and the goddess left out a soft sigh of relief, knowing she was loved and not being used as a plaything. She kissed the human soldier on the forehead before snuggling closer to her and lazily draping a black wing over their naked bodies, shielding them from the outside world. The dark black eyes of the soldier opened. Her mouth curved into a smile. “I enjoy waking up more when I get to wake to a lovely view such as this.” She flirted, still half asleep. The goddess blushed.

“You’re a dork.” She accused. Katalina chuckled and gave her lover a soft kiss on the lips, which Etapalli gratefully returned.

“Are you okay? Your heart beats fast.” The soldier gazed into the goddess’s green eyes with those devoted dark eyes one could get lost in like a cave.

“I’m okay now, seeing how heaven has brought an angel to my side.” The goddess cupped her human’s face. The human chuckled.

“Says the actual angel.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her close. “But seriously, was it too much? Did you want me to stop? I would have stopped if you’d asked me.” Etapalli fought back the urge to cry tears of joy.

“Not for an instant.” She kissed her before starting to slip into a deep sleep. Those emotional wounds had finally started to heal.

~Miguel, Mila and Cider belong to @thelovelydeer

~Esteban and Adeleine belongs to @hansuoddie

~Xico belongs to @blackmel1

~Alazne belongs to queenxivory (deactivated)

~Etapalli, Itzli, and Katalina belong to me

~Itzlacol belongs to @ladyanaconda

~All other characters belong to Jorge Gutierrez and REEL FX Studios

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enixamyram · 6 years

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Prompt: Robin enlists her mom and aunts help and finds a cure for Alice and Hook just in time for Alice and Robin's wedding (bonus points for Hook walking Alice down the isle or a daddy daughter-dance).

The Perfect Wedding Present

Summary: Onthe day of their wedding, Robin presents Alice with the best gift she couldever receive. A reunion with her father.

The Enchanted Forest was almost quiet of itsusual natural sounds that morning. Like the world knew what day it was andwanted to make it as perfect as everyone else did.

In a secluded area of the forest, where there was a large opening inamongst the trees, set-up was already heavily underway. Multi-coloured chairswere being arranged in a circle around a podium that held a blue and greennetted archway with four different carpets stretched out in between the seatsin a cross-like shape; one blue, one red, one green and one yellow. Typicaltradition dictated there should mostly be whites and light chalk shaded coloursfor a wedding but a certain bride had instead demanded darker neon colours fromthe rainbow for almost everything. In fact, the only white was on the bridesthemselves and that was insisted upon by some family members, just so the girlswould firmly stand out as much as possible.

While everyone else was setting up the main area – including preparing astretch of grass off to the side where the band would be playing for the wholeevening – there were two smaller areas that had been set up the day before,located in amongst the trees in opposite directions of each other. Inside the areaswere matching tents and inside them two families were helping two beautifulyoung women get ready. It was still early but there was so much for them to dothat they had all woken at the crack of dawn in order to get started.

In one light creamy brown coloured tent, a young woman sat shivering ina warm but shallow bath, her teeth chattering more from excited nerves than themorning air that found all the parts of her bare skin not hidden under thewater. Behind her, Ella Mills was helping to wash the last pieces of sweat andgrease from her hair while her daughter, Lucy, ran back and forth deliveringmessages and items between the origanisers which included more makeup than thebride had ever worn before in her life.

In the opposite tent made of a similar but slightly darker brownmaterial, a young woman stood in front of a full length mirror, staring at herreflection in silence. This young woman had been awake for many more hours thanher fiance and she had already gone through the process of getting washed andhaving something to eat in hopes of settling her knotted stomach. She reallyshould be getting dressed and finishing the final touches of her make up andhair, but instead here she was, still was standing in front of the mirror.

The mirror itself had been an engagement gift from her aunt, part of atwin set, the other of which was sat in her love’s tent with her. It really wasa beautiful mirror, clean with a thick golden frame that surrounded its longedging, and while the woman looking back at her shared in the mirrors beauty,her mind was distracted with other, more ugly thoughts. In fact she lookedquite miserable for an attractive young woman on her wedding day.

For the moment, she was alone, and she preferred it that way. For nowshe could allow herself to be sad instead of forcing a smile like everythingwas okay, because it wasn’t okay. She had failed.

Robin Mills stood in front of the mirror in nothing but a straplesswhite bra and matching underwear, her skin tanned from days in the sun and herhair had finally stopped dripping but was still very damp as it hung behind herback. Slowly, she reached up, running a hand over her face and wondering if shehad the will power to drag her expression into one of joy when she would nextsee Alice again. Robin worried she might just start crying instead.

This wasn’t fair. This was meant to be the most perfect day. How was itsupposed to be perfect when it was like this?

The tent flap was pushed open and Robin’s aunt Regina stepped inside.Like everyone else, she wasn’t dressed just yet, instead wearing a long whiterobe that had been supplied to almost every member participating in the weddingby a tailor who had only been too happy to help cater them. She walked into theopen space and stopped short at the sight of her niece. Even when Robin quicklyput a bright smile on her face as she turned to look at her, her aunt saw rightthrough to the sadness underneath.

“Oh, Robin.” Regina walked over and hugged her, looking over hershoulder at the mirror. “It’s alright. We’ll find a cure one of these days.”

“I know I just… I wanted to find it today. For her.” Robin whispered,tears building and she quickly blinked them back and turned to look at herreflection again.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Regina sighed, wrapping her arms around Robintightly from behind. “But don’t let that ruin today for you. It’s about you andAlice anyway. She and her father will be reunited; they will have their day…Just not now.” She ran her fingers through Robin’s hair. “Come on. Let’s get yourhair done.”

Robin allowed her aunt to lead her to a stool by a dressing table andsat down quietly. She watched as Regina waved her hand over her head andsuddenly Robin’s hair was perfectly dry. She probably could have used magic toget her completely ready as well but – as Henry pointed out to her – part ofthe fun of a wedding was the getting ready beforehand. He reminded them that itwas a bonding moment between family and they shouldn’t skip it just becausemagic would be easier.

“Where’s mum?” Robin asked as Regina began brushing through her alreadyperfect hair for her. Only now did the younger woman realise her mother had yetto make an appearance this morning.

“I’m not sure. She said she wanted to look into something but don’tworry, she’ll be here to walk you down the aisle.” Regina grinned. “There’s noway she’s missing out on that!”

Robin smiled sadly up at her. That was important to her, of course. Butnot nearly as important as reuniting her true love with her father in time fortheir marriage.

O*U*A*T

Later in the day, as the time of the wedding drew closer, Robin stoodback in front of the mirror once again, this time in the wedding dress it hadtaken her months to find. She had driven everyone crazy, especially afterJacinda had told them that Alice had found her perfect dress in a matter ofweeks. Her mother had nearly lost her patients with her in the end, rightbefore Robin finally found it, sitting in a random little shop in the middle ofNew York City.

The perfect dress she had finally found was floor length, covering thestrappy silver and white heels she had carefully put before anything else. Theskirt was a thick white material with transparent glitter covered layer restingover the top, and the torso that had a tight round blue turtle neck-like collarshe had folded down slightly with no sleeves, leaving her arms and shoulderscompletely bare. Around her stomach and waist was a creased rose pattern thatencircled her with a single large diamond shape cut out on her chest, allowingthe tanned skin of the top of her breasts to show teasingly.

Her hair had been done in a five long plaits that had been then wrappedaround one another and pinned on the top back of her head with a series of leafshaped silver clips all connected with a single strip of silver wire. Her whiteveil had been clipped along the top of her bun and was currently thrown back tohang behind her, but she would be able to pull it down over her face once shewas ready to start her walk.

Robin had decided to go for the natural look, applying only a lightshade of brown eye shadow and an equally light touch of pink lip gloss. She wasnever a fan of makeup, even when she had to pretend to be back in her earlyschool days so it was a relief to finally be free of that kind ofresponsibility, even if her mother insisted she needed just a touch of it fortoday. As for jewellery, she wore a diamond necklace given to her by hermother, a pair of matching studs she had brought not long after, and a seriesof multicoloured bracelets that came in gold’s and greens on her left wristthat clashed with the rest of her outfit but which had been a present for Robinby her aunt Regina in honour of her father, who could not be here with hertoday.

Regina took a step back from her, smiling with teary eyes at the sightof her niece. Robin was always a beautiful young woman, but now, she lookedpositively radiant.

“Oh God,” Regina said, waving her hands and fanning her face, turningaway so Robin wouldn’t see her crying. “Where on Earth is your mother?” Shedemanded instead, trying to draw attention away from herself.

“I’m here!”

Zelena suddenly appeared through the flaps, rushing into the small areaand looking very red in the face, not even close to being ready to walk herdaughter to her wedding. Even Regina had at least taken the time to pull on herpurple dress while Robin had been doing up the straps on her shoes and such.Robin might have been annoyed by all of this if it wasn’t for the fact that shewas curious about the way her mother was grinning at her, a smile that stretchedfrom ear to ear with excitement.

“Mum…” Robin said, expecting her own mother to burst into tears at thesight of her in her dress like her aunt had but instead, Zelena barely seemedto notice.

“Where have you been?” Regina demanded, dabbing away the few tears thathad managed to escape.

“Finishing what I started.” Zelena explained with a slight smirk.

“What are you talking about?” Regina frowned.

Zelena ignored her and walked passed to stand in front of her daughter,pulling something out of her pocket and holding it up between them. “I did it.”

“You did… It?” Robin frowned, not understanding what she was talkingabout.

“Yes. It.” Zelena said, pushing the object into Robin’s hands.

It was a small glass vial that had a dark purple liquid sloshing aroundinside. The vial was no bigger than her palm with a brown cork in it to keepthe liquid from escaping and it seemed almost like it was radiating a tenseheat. For a moment Robin didn’t understand what it was, then realisation dawnedon her and she stroked the glass gently, the purple light reflecting on herlight blue painted fingernails.

“Is this…” Robin croaked.

“Yes.” Zelena beamed.

“No… That’s not possible.” Regina whispered, finally catching on andmoving to stand beside the other two women. “We searched for months… How didyou…?”

“To be honest, it was mostly a lucky break.” Zelena explained, grinningproudly. “Rumple and I were talking it over and he mentioned something that gotme thinking and well. It was a rush to put it together, so I didn’t have achance to come and get you-”

“Oh don’t worry about that!” Regina laughed, then hesitated. “But… Willit work?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Zelena said, reaching for the vial.

Robin took a sharp step back, so quick that she almost tripped up overher own dress, clutching the vial tightly between her hands and holding it toher chest. She looked up and there was a mixture of hope and fear in her eyesas she glanced from her mother to her aunt and back again. Her mouth was drybut she forced herself to swallow and shook her head at the puzzled and worriedexpressions on their faces.

“I… I want to do it.” Robin said firmly.

“Robin, I know you want to give it to her yourself, but we don’t evenknow for sure if it will work.” Regina said softly.

“And it’s your wedding day!” Zelena said quickly, finally seeming tonotice Robin’s dress. “You and Alice’s can’t see each other. It’ll be badluck!”

“There is no way I could ever look into Alice’s eyes and get bad luck fromit. She’s the luckiest thing to ever happen to me.” Robin said, looking down atthe vial. “And I need to be the one to give this to her.”

After a moment, Regina nodded and Zelena followed her. “We understand,”She said. Then stepped forward, “But at least cover your dress! Give Alicesomething to look forward to!”

“You mean besides marrying me?” Robin smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, besides that.” Zelena grinned, pretending to wave it off like itwas nothing.

Regina ran over to the side, grabbing a large green cloak and returningto throw it over Robin’s shoulders, fastening it around her tightly so as tohide her dress completely from view. Then, just to be sure, she reached up andunclipped the veil from her hair, setting it carefully aside before steppingback and nodding her head in approval.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can!” Robin said, starting for the tentopening.

“Hold on! You’re not going running through the woods!” Zelena saidquickly. “There’s a reason we laid out the carpet. The dirt will ruin thebottom of your dress.”

“I need to get to her, now!” Robin said impatiently.

“Would you relax! Are you forgetting who you’re related to?” Reginasmirked, then placed a hand on Zelena’s elbow. “I’ll take Robin. You go getdressed.”

“Oh right!” Zelena yelped, finally noticing her lack of a proper outfit.“I’ll be back as soon as I can, Greenbean.” She said, walking over and kissingRobin lightly on the cheek.

Just before she could run off, Robin grabbed her and pulled her into atight hug. “Thank you, mum.”

Zelena smiled, returning the hug just as tightly. “I just want to make todayperfect for you.” She pushed her away and cupped the side of her face. “For both of you.”

“And you have,” Robin whispered, feeling tears building but she blinkedthem back and nodded before letting her mother go. She paused to watch as sherun off to get ready before finally turning to stand beside her aunt. “Let’sgo!” She said excitedly.

O*U*A*T

In the tent on the other side of the field, Alice was just pulling onher dress, sliding the soft material over her hips and slipping her armsthrough the sleeves. Jacinda was standing behind her, helping to fasten thelaces that trailed along the top half of her spine before carefully moving herhair back into place to hide them. When she was done, she held out her hand andLucy passed over the veil, watching her mother clip it into place among hergolden locks before she took a small step back, allowing Alice to turn andadmire herself in the tall mirror by the side but instead, Alice held herselfvery stiff and still, refusing to look.

“All done,” Jacinda said, leaning forward slightly. When Alice stilldidn’t move, she reached a hand to gently touch her back. “Don’t you want tosee how you look?”

“I don’t know.” Alice finally breathed, still not turning to face herreflection.

“You should.” Came a familiar rough voice. “You look beautiful.”

“Hey,” Jacinda said, though she didn’t sound very serious. “No menallowed. A bride’s getting ready in here!”

“She looks ready to me.” Rumple said, walking into the tent.

Without needing to say anything, Jacinda placed her hands on Lucy’sshoulder and led her from the tent, giving the two friends a moment of privacy.After all, she still needed to get her own daughter ready for her important roleas the flower girl!

“Do I really look okay?” Alice breathed. She was shaking terribly andgripped her hands tightly in front of her, hoping to hide it from him.

“You tell me.” Rumple walked over, placing his hands gently on her backand turning her, forcing her to finally face the mirror.

Alice stood in a white dress made of such a soft silk so gentle that shealmost felt naked even while wearing it. The skirt fell down to stop just shortof her ankles without a single crease along the creamy white surface, and thetop was of a similar appearance except for the sleeves which were made fromfeather-like strips of material that barely reached her elbows and a series ofsmall diamond studs that patterned their way around her waist. It had a stretchof material like a cape that fell down from her shoulder blades and traileddown to the floor behind her, white but for two strips of light blue that splitapart from each other to end at either corner of the cape with even morediamond studs tracing over the top of them as small and many as the oneswrapping around her stomach. She had her own white veil attached to aglistening silver tiara positioned on the top of her head, quite plain andsimple but as beautiful as everything else, including the woman wearing it.

She had on a pair of soft comfortable shoes, white like her dress andplain except for a rabbit shape figure sown over the toes. Along with theshoes, she had a pair of short gloves that rest over the top of the hands shehad spent an hour getting manicured and painted just for today, only to hidethem later when she was shopping and found these perfect accessories to go withher dress. But that didn’t really bother her.

She had never worn so much make up in her life, but it was all verylight – soft blue eye shadow, pale pink lip gloss, gentle shades of blush to gowith her naturally tanned skin tone. The only dark part was the mascara whichhad been laid on lightly to make her natural blue eyes stand out. After manyhours of changing styles, they had decided to leave her hair down to hang loosearound her shoulders, curling it only enough that it was left with a ripplingwave effect. She had on a pair of earrings, silver in the shape of a bow loadedwith an arrow (a personal choice she insisted on when she saw them in the shopwindow the other day) and a plain silver chain resting around her throat givento her by Queen Tiana herself.

“See.” Rumplestiltskin said softly. “Beautiful.”

Alice swallowed, her mouth feeling dry. She was still shivering and hadto resist the urge to lean against Rumplestiltskin, who just seemed so muchwarmer than she was.

“Not the reaction I expected.” Rumplestiltskin noted. He paused, thensmiled softly over her shoulder. “About your father…”

“I know,” Alice said quickly. “He came… The other day. We talked.” Alicesmiled at Rumple’s reflection but there was still a deep sadness in her eyes.“He told me he asked you to give me away.”

Rumplestiltskin chuckled. “I don’t think it’ll come to that.”

Alice frowned, finally turning to look up at him. She was about to askwhat he meant when there was a sudden rush of a purple cloud from behind thetwo of them and Regina appeared in the middle of it, shielding Robin’s fromwhere she was stood behind her in a long green cape. As well as Regina blockingher way, she quickly turned around so her back was to Alice, just to be sure,so she didn’t see the startled look on her fiancé’s expression, or the amusedone on Rumple’s.

“Oh, Alice…” Regina breathed, momentarily caught off guard. “You look…Stunning.”

She felt Robin’s shoulders tense against her back and knew the younggirl was doing everything in her power to resist turning around and seeing herlove for herself. Instead she forced herself to hold still, staring at the chestopposite her and waiting for her aunt to give her the all clear.

“Rumple, cover Alice up. Robin has a late present she wants to givebefore the wedding.” Regina smiled, sharing a knowing look with her old friend.

A few minutes later, Alice had a blue sheet from the bed carefullywrapped around her body. They didn’t bother taking the tiara out from her hair,but carefully threw the veil back behind her to somewhat shield the silver accessoryand almost hide it. When they were both carefully covered, the two girlsfinally faced one another and Rumple and Regina silently stepped outside togive them some well deserved and much needed privacy.

“What’s wrong?” Alice asked nervously. The truth was, her earlier miserywasn’t just from wishing her papa could be the one to give her away. It wasalso from the fact that Robin had been distant in the days leading up to theirwedding. So distant that Alice was beginning to worry she was second guessingtheir marriage before it had even gotten started.

“Nothing.” Robin smiled. “Nothing’s wrong.” She was resisting the urgeto hug her and instead looked down at her feet, gathering her words beforelooking up again, still smiling with glassy eyes that looked close to tears.

“Robin… You’re scaring me.” Alice said finally.

“Don’t be scared.” Robin said quickly. “I just wanted to bring you my weddinggift.”

Alice frowned. “What? I… I didn’t think we were getting each othergifts…”

“We’re not.” Robin said. “I mean. I am. But I don’t expect anything inreturn. This isn’t just for you. It’s for both of us. So our family will becomplete.”

“I don’t understand.” Alice said, frowning again.

“Alice… This is a special day. It’s meant to be the perfect day. Ourperfect day. But that can’t happen. Not while you and your father are stillseparated. So I asked my aunt and mum to help me, to search and find a way toundo it. I thought they failed but then mum showed up just now and said she andRumple… Well…” Robin stepped forward and held out the vial. “Here.”

Alice gently took the vial from her, being careful to keep her dresscovered as she did and frowning down at it slightly. It was strange but she hada feeling she understood what it was Robin was trying to say. But she stilldidn’t dare get her hopes up until she was one hundred percent sure. “Isthis…?”

“Yes.” Robin whispered. “A cure. For your fathers poisoned heart. Allyou need to do is pour it on your wrist and get rid of the mark… And then youand your father can be reunited.”

“Are you serious?” Alice croaked, looking up at Robin with wide eyes.

“Yes.” Robin repeated, placing her hands over Alice’s. “You’re cured.”

Tears flooded Alice’s eyes and she threw herself against Robin. Her capelifted up slightly but Robin only saw a brief flash of white before Alice wason her, arms wound around her neck and clinging to her tightly like she wasnever going to let go. Robin wound her own arms around Alice’s waist, liftingher off the feet and swinging her around in a circle, nearly losing her balancebefore she placed her back down again, giggling as she felt Alice begin to kissher neck and cheek and lips and every other part of her face she could reach.

“You… You’re too amazing.” Alice gasped, clutching at her. “You are sowonderful and perfect. I don’t deserve you, Robin.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Robin said, leaning to rest their foreheadsagainst one another. “I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you…”

“No. It’s me.” Alice insisted.

Robin laughed. “How about this? We can both not deserve each other?”

“Okay then,” Alice giggled.

“Well? Are you ready?” Robin asked, nodding down at the vial still inher hand.

“No.” Alice admitted, swallowing before she opened the cork and pouredthe contents onto her wrist.

Most of the liquid absorbed straight into her skin but a few drops slid aroundand dripped down to the ground by her feet. She poured the entire contents outand stared down at the mark closely, both girls holding their breath as theywaited in an almost complete silence filled only with the distant voices stillshouting orders to one another. For a second nothing happened and Robin felt agreat wave of disappointment crashing on top of her, and even Alice’s lip beganto tremble.

Then, just as Robin was about to throw herself against Alice andapologise in the only way she knew how to – by hugging her as close as shecould get, Alice gasped aloud. She dropped the glass vial to the floor andgrabbed her arm, squeezing just above the mark and taking a small step back.Robin immediately moved to grab her, looking down and watching as the patternon her wrist suddenly burn a bright fiery red, almost like it was scorching herbut when Robin looked at Alice’s face, she saw she was more amazed than inpain.

And then the mark on her wrist shrivelled and crumbled, melting into herskin until it had vanished with no sign it had ever even been there before.Even after it had disappeared, the two of them stood in silence, staring downat her arm and breathing slowly like they didn’t dare make a sound in case thiswas a dream that they were about to wake up. Then, when a few minutes of tensequiet had passed, Alice reached up and gently ran her fingers over the skin,feeling the area where the mark had once been that was now as smooth and clear asthe rest of her arm.

“It worked…” Alice croaked, her voice sounding rough.

“It worked.” Robin repeated.

“It… It worked.” Alice gasped, her legs shaking and suddenly she wasleaning back against Robin for support as her knees gave way under her.

“It worked!” Robin laughed, wrapping her arms around Alice and kissingthe side of her shocked face.

“I can’t believe it. Robin… Is this really happening?” Alice mumbled.

“Yes, Alice.” Robin whispered, shutting her eyes for a moment and justenjoying the warm hold she had on her love. “All your dreams are coming true…”

O*U*A*T

“Thank you…” Killian said, swallowing hard the emotion threatening tobubble over from inside of him. But he resisted because he doubt The Dark Onewould appreciate being hugged by his old enemy.

“No need to thank me. It was Robin’s idea. And Zelena’s persistence.”Rumple shrugged. “Now go. She’s waiting for you.”

Nodding his head, Killian offered his old foe one last smile beforeturning and slipping inside the tent while Rumple went to take his place amongthe other guests who were almost all waiting patiently in their assigned seats.Meanwhile Killian came to a stop almost as soon as he had slipped inside,staring at the beautiful sight waiting for him. She looked stunning, so grownup and yet she was still and would forever be, his little girl.

“Alice…” Killian whispered. “I can’t believe it’s really you.”

“Do I look okay?” Alice asked, blushing. Her makeup had been smearedearlier but Robin had taken the time to help her reapply it before she and heraunt had returned to their own tent. It was almost exactly the same and yetsomehow Alice still preferred how she looked now to how she looked before.Maybe Robin just still had some left over magic in her touch.

“You look…” Killian shook his head. “Wordscannot describe it. Just know that you’re probably going to knock Robin off herfeet when she gets sight of you so don’t be surprised if you have to pause theceremony to help her back up again.”

Alice giggled, blushing slightly and looking down at her feet for amoment. When she looked back up again, her lips were shaking like she mightburst into tears and she pressed them together hard.

“Are you ready?” Killian asked finally, reaching and holding out hishand.

“No.” Alice breathed, but took a step forward anyway. Even she wasn’tsure whether she was talking about the wedding or simply walking it by herfather’s side.

When they were close enough, they both hesitated. After so long ofliving in fear of being too close to one another, they were finally able to betogether again and yet they were still reluctant and unsure. What if the potionwas temporary? What if it didn’t even work at all? What if something even worsehappened to them?

Then, before Alice could wonder about anything else and second guesseverything, her hand touched her fathers. They both froze. Their hands touchingand twin shocked expressions on their faces like they were both waiting for thecurse to kick in any moment. When a few slow seconds passed by and nothinghappened, Alice allowed herself to fall into his arms. He wrapped himselfaround her, and they clung to each other tightly, Alice using every bit ofstrength she had in her to hold back the tears for fear of ruining her makeup asecond time, but it was hard and it left her throat feeling bruised and rawwith the effort to swallow back joyful sobs.

They held the hug for a solid few minutes of pure silence that felt fartoo short when Killian placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed heraway. But even then, he held her close, his fingers squeezing against her likehe wasn’t actually going to completely let go and Alice knew she would beperfectly happy if he didn’t. In fact it seemed almost unfair that now theycould finally be together, Alice was moving on with her life. Killian alwaysimagined that once their curse was broken, they would pick right up where they leftoff, except where they had left off, Alice had been ten years old. She was agrown woman now, with a true love and the start of a life all her own.

“Are you ready?” Killian repeated.

Alice took a breath, smiling up at him and nodding. “Yes.” She whispered.Her first yes of the day.

Smiling, Killian turned to the side and held his arm out for her. Alicetook her time wrapping her hand to rest on the inside of his elbow, grinning asshe took another moment to enjoy the feeling of finally being able to walk theaisle with her papa. It was more than just a dream come true. It was an indescribablemoment of perfectness and Alice curled her body against his as they began tomake their way out of the tent.

Despite having no practice before hand, Killian seemed to know exactlywhere he was going and began a steady walk, leading Alice to one of the longcarpets (the green one) that stretched its way through the woods towards thecentre where their ceremony was being held. Along the way Alice clung to hisarm so tightly she was worried she was going to tear the material of his formaljacket. It was normally probably very soft but for some reason, in this moment,it felt rough against her fingers and she had to resist the urge to let go andwipe her sweaty palm on the skirt of her dress.

It wasn’t long before they could hear the soft music playing in thedistance. Alice felt like her heart beat was beginning to pump in rhythm to thesoft drums playing from the distance. Everything felt awkward. Her limbs werestiff like the joints weren’t bending properly despite how much she tried tostretch them in between steps. She was also cold, yet still felt like she wassweating and suddenly everything from her dress to her shoes back up to herhair just wasn’t sitting right. She wanted to adjust it all but there was notime. They were approaching the edge of the forest which led into the openclearing.

In the clearing, the trees were no longer able to hang overhead to shadethem from the sun, so when they stepped passed that point, the burning ball inthe sky burst down and almost blinded Alice. She blinked and squinted, loweringher head until her eyes adjusted. Then she looked up and found the sight thatcame to her was almost as intimidating as anything else she had faced duringher travels – including crazy Queen’s and fierce Jabberwocky’s.

There were rows of people in every direction, all dressed up sitting onbrightly coloured chairs, most of whom turned to watch her as she approached.Alice found herself staring back at a hundred odd faces, most of whom shedidn’t even recognise and she found herself wondering just how there were trulyso many people here today. There was no way that she and Robin actually knewall these people, and she couldn’t figure out where the rest of them had comefrom and why where they here for her wedding.

Alice might have stalled her steps if not for her papa by her side. But thankfullyhe was there to help lead her along in time with the music. His encouragementand slight pull on her arm kept her going down the middle of the crowds, easingher way until the podium came into full view. And then all Alice’s tense nervesmelted away when she caught sight of the woman approaching from the other side.

She was still a distance away but Alice could still see enough to makeher heart flutter. All her nerves were gone and now Killian was no longerpulling her along but rather dragging her back. If he hadn’t been gripping herhand between his arm and torso, she might have broken into a sprint, divedthrough the podium and into Robin’s arms then and there.

It seemed like an eternity before they finally made it to the centre ofthe ceremony. Alice barely noticed the people watching her any more, and at onepoint, even though they walked agonisingly slowly, Killian still slowed herdown even more so that she and Robin reached the podium at the exact samemoment. And as much as Alice was irritated by the painful slowness of it, shewas also grateful, as it gave her the time to take Robin’s appearance in slowlyas they came towards one another. If Alice had seen her all of a sudden, herlegs might have given way and she might have been the one to need help gettingback up. She was just so beautiful…

For her part, Robin was equally stunned by her love’s appearance. Sheregretted wearing her heels now, as balancing on them became a sudden challengeas soon as Alice’s shape appeared in the distance. Even when she was still afair stretch away, Robin could tell she was clinging to her father’s arm and aswell of pride rose in Robin’s chest, knowing that she helped make that happen,even if only by encouraging her mother’s help.

When they reached the middle of the crowd, Robin turned and gave hermother one last hug. Only then did she see that her mother was crying. And notjust tears in her eyes either, but a full on sob that would have made hermakeup run if not for the fact that she had used magic to keep it all in place.Zelena let out another sob as she hugged Robin and when they let go she cradledher face so tightly, some of her rings pinched her daughters skin and it seemedlike she wasn’t going to let her go until Regina appeared by her side and physicallyled her away.

Turning back to her bride, Robin’s face was flushed from embarrassmentand she smiled shyly as she took the final step forward. Surprisingly, whenRobin reached a hand towards her, it was easy for Alice to release her father,pausing to give him a last minute hug before reaching for her love. Maybe itwas because she knew they were able to be together now, or because of hernerves with what she was about to do, or because of her love for Robin or amixture of all of them, but Alice was able to turn away with only a slightquiver of regret and when she faced Robin… Everything else melted away. Thewhole world faded until it was just the two of them and she reached for her,taking Robin’s hands in her own and coming to a stop in front of her.

“You ready?” Robin breathed, she was shaking from excitement andclinging to Alice just as tightly as she was to her.

Alice’s tasted like sandpaper, knowing everyone was watching themclosely for her answer, so she settled for nodding her head in silence andsqueezing Robin’s hands until she thought she might break her fingers. Wordscouldn’t begin to describe how ready she was for this moment.

Killian wandered slowly away from the podium. He hesitated an extramoment, staring up at his daughter and feeling a tightness bind its way aroundhis chest. His little girl… The child who had grown up isolated from the world.His daughter, who played with teddies and dolls, waving around a wooden swordand first learning the rules of chess. And now here she was. About to getmarried to the woman of her dreams. And Killian was here, not just to witnessit, but to be an actual part of it.

Tiana stepped up in front of the two girls; beaming at how lost theywere in each other’s gaze. In fact they didn’t even notice Tiana was thereuntil she cleared her throat gently and reminded them why they were here.

“Thank you to everyone for joining us today,” Tiana said, her voicenaturally echoing along the crowd. “We have gathered to join Alice and Robin inthis, their special day.”

There was a short pause that allowed Alice to glance nervously at Robin,only to find her love was beaming at her as well. It was their special day. Andit was perfect.

O*U*A*T

The best part of having a witch for a mother and aunt was how easily itwas for them to clear up the space for the reception that followed. As soon asRobin and Alice were pronounced wife and wife, Regina and Zelena set abovewaving their hands until the open space was replaced with tables as well aschairs, including a large buffet that lined up the right side of the treesalmost completely. The tables were multicoloured like the chairs and the buffethad everything from marmalade sandwiches to candy apples and pizza with a addyour own toppings addition.

The band was now playing a more upbeat song and the space where thepodium had stood was now replaced with a marble stretch of floor for people todance on. Now that the quiet of the ceremony had passed, everyone was chattingwith one another and there was a slight buzz of conversations stretching fromone end of the clearing to the other.

Over by the buffet table, Alice and Robin had just cut into the weddingcake. On the outside it was your average every day wedding cake. It was talland white with strawberries surrounding the bottom and a line of frostingflower petals trailing up to the top where figures of a pair of young brideswere in a tight embrace. However once Alice and Robin had cut down into thecake and opened it up, along with a secret chocolate sponge, there was a stringof sweets that spilled out onto the white table cloth. Everything from chocolatebuttons to gummy beats had been stuffed inside the hollow area and Alicequickly picked up a piece and poked it passed Robin’s lips for her to a cry ofcheers from the audience around them.

Now the girls gathered a plate of food each, which included a slice oftheir cake and a litter of sweats covering everything before they returned tothe main table where Regina, Killian, Rumplestiltskin, Zelena and Chad were satwaiting for them.

“So how does it feel?” Regina beamed.

“What?” Alice blinked, a sandwich stopping halfway to her mouth as shelooked up at her.

“Being married, of course!” Regina laughed.

“Oh,” Alice blushed, lowering her sandwich shyly back onto her paperplate.

“It’s wonderful,” Robin said, leaning over and kissing Alice’s cheek.“More than my wildest dream could come up with.”

“That feeling will fade soon enough.” Killian grinned.

“Really?” Regina said, looking at him. “Marriage is a trap jokes?”

“What?” Killian laughed.

“You’re an idiot.” Zelena said, rolling her eyes.

Regina turned back to the girls. “Just ignore him.” She said, shakingher head.

Alice giggled, smiling at her papa and reaching over to take his hand.It was so simple and yet she still felt like crying over the fact that she wasable to do it, just like that.

Suddenly the music ended and there was a string of clapping as Tianamoved to stand beside the band. She smiled at everyone and once again spoke ina voice that carried despite needing no assistance from magic or technology. “Andnow, a special request from one of our beautiful brides.” Tiana beamed. “A songfor a father daughter dance.”

Alice did a double take before turning to look at Robin, who smiled backat her. She leaned over, pressing a soft kiss against Alice’s cheek and noddedher head. “Go on, Tower Girl. Go dance with your father.”

“Thank you…” Alice whispered, tears filling her eyes.

“Go.” Robin repeated, kissing her again softly on the lips.

There was a slight scrap from the chair beside her as Killian stood,reaching down and holding a hand out to her. Still fighting the tears, Alicereached up and accepted his hand, letting him help her onto her feet andguiding her to the middle of the dance floor. Everyone else had left it,leaving only her and her father to take centre stage.

As soon as they had come to a stop, a soft music began to play and Tianabegan to sing. Naveen appeared, stepping up beside her and joining in a perfectharmony. It was a beautiful song about being reunited in time to let go as theymove on with their lives. Alice didn’t really listen to the lyrics at first,focusing instead on her feet as Killian wrapped his arm around her waist andtook her hand. Alice reached up, putting her free hand on the back of hisshoulder and trying not to look so nervous as they slowly began to move aroundthe open space, just like when she was a child.

After a moment, the movement was no longer a challenge. Alice leanedover and rest her head against his shoulder, shutting her eyes and letting herfeet move on their own, feeling like she was ten years old again, back in hertower and dancing with her father for a few wonderful minutes of care free time.Those days in the tower had been awful because she was trapped, but duringthose songs when her father would dance with her, Alice almost forgot she was aprisoner. She forgot about all her troubles and everything except her love forher father and how wonderfully fun it was to just swing around the room withhim, knowing his open arms would always bring her back safely.

Now that she moved with natural ease, she allowed herself to listen tothe song Tiana and Naveen were singing for their dance. Alice wasn’t sure ifthey got lucky or if they had personally written the story themselves just forthis dance because it was spot on for them. And it brought tears to Alice’seyes as she clung to her father, not wanting to let him go like the lyrics weresaying she would. It was just a song and yet it felt like a warning that thishappiness wasn’t going to last…

Back at the main table, Chad cleared his throat and stood up. The guywas doing okay considering this was his first visit to the Enchanted Forestsince finding out the truth about magic and his wife. Robin was impressed withhow well he was adjusting, even though, he still looked like he was close topassing out from the shock of all things that happened to flutter by him socasually. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for Regina and Zelena to use their magicto clear the dance floor with a wave of their hands…

“Um, Mar- Robin.” Chad said, catching himself before he said her oldcursed name. “I’m never gonna be able to replace your father, and nor would Iwant to but, would you at least allow me to-”

Robin grinned at him, jumping to her feet and reaching over to take hishand before he had even finished. Her and Chad weren’t exactly ever going to beall that close. He and her mother got together when Robin was already a grownwoman and then she had spent most of their dating and engaged life travellingthe world out of contact. But damn, the poor guy was trying. And he had alreadywon Robin over when he misunderstood a joke being made by Henry about Zelena’sgreen days and had immediately attempted to stand up for her. If that hadn’tmade Robin accept him, then the smile on her mothers face whenever she lookedat him certainly would have.

Zelena watched with a loving smile as Chad escorted her daughter ontothe dance floor and began to join Killian and Alice. The two pairs moved aroundthe floor with ease and everyone watched in an almost silence.

“I am sorry your father couldn’t be here,” Chad said as they danced.

“It’s okay.” Robin nodded. “He’s always with me, watching out for me,wherever he is.” She smiled softly.

“I’m sure he is.” Chad agreed. “I may not know him, but from what I’veread… He would have been so happy for you. And proud. And so am I.”

Robin beamed at him, even though his words were ringing a little hollow(like he said, he didn’t know her father so he couldn’t say what he wouldfeel), the poor guy really was trying and she loved him for that. Even ifeverything he was saying came out awkward and clunky, none of that really mattered.He was a sweet soul deep down and Robin allowed herself to lean against him,smiling at the knowledge that both she and her mother had found someone specialto live the rest of their lives with. And that made her more happy thananything else in the world possibly could.

“Alice?” Killian asked. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” Alice croaked, keeping her face pressed against his shoulder.

“Starfish? Talk to me. What’s wrong? This is meant to be the happiestday of your life?” Killain stressed.

“It is.” Alice whispered. “I am happy but… This song is so sad.”

“Why?” Killian blinked.

“It just… Sounds like we’ve finally found each other and now we have tosay goodbye again and that’s not exactly a happy thought.” Alice mumbled.

“Love, that’s not what they’re singing about.” Killian assured. “We’vefound each other in time for me to trust your safety with someone who cares foryou just as much as I do. I’m letting you go for someone else to love but thatdoesn’t mean I’m ever leaving you.”

“Promise.” Alice croaked, looking up at him.

“I promise, Alice…” He glanced over her head then looked back down ather and smiled again. “But I am going to let you go.”

“What? Why?” Alice said, her voice cracking.

“I’m going to let you go because there’s someone else waiting for you.”

Alice frowned when suddenly Killian turnedher around and she found Robin, waiting with a soft smile on her face.Instantly Alice’s earlier worries vanished and she smiled as she felt herfather guide her hand towards Robin, just like the song was saying; he let goher go but he didn’t leave her. Instead he just stood back and watched from theside as Robin wrapped her arm around her and Alice let herself lean into herwarm embrace shutting her eyes and tucking her head against Robin’s shoulder.

Alice had always seen things that came to pass one way or another. Whenshe was younger, she had vivid dreams of things that she didn’t understand atthe time but somehow knew were of the future, telling a story of what was tohappen to her and the people she loved. She had seen many different directionsfor her life in those times and she saw many more while she was here now,dancing in Robin’s arms.

She saw her and Robin settling down in a home they would build withtheir own two hands (and the hands of the many friends and family whovolunteered to help them).

She saw them going on adventures and sharing the wonders of the world,but always returning to their home each and every day to spend a quiet eveningtogether.

She saw them starting a family of their own, one that her papa was aconstant part of to the point where he might as well have just move in withthem.

She saw them growing old together.

She saw them being happy.

And in that moment, Alice knew, everything was going to be more than okayfor her and her true love.

#Once Upon A Time #Curious Archer #KnightRook #Alice Jones #Killian Jones #Robin Mills #OUAT Fanfiction #Writing Prompt #Anonymous

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