#in which we were answering as calm as possible and then answering the same shit bc she was not getting the answer she wanted obvi

[inchidentally]

Okay so I was thinking about why Oscar didn’t go and congratulate Lando right after his win but I think the answer is quite simple. It’s because he felt a little at odds with himself.

He lost out in that race because of the safety car the same one that secured Lando’s chance. (you can hear him audibly swear over the radio when it came out, which he NEVER does) He was pissed at the timing and then to top it all off gets his race ruined by Carlos of all people (again) and THEN when he’s desperately trying to force his way back thought he field he’s told to stop fighting because Lando is in the lead.

So whilst I’m sure he was happy for Lando, he was, at the same time, mourning his own loss. As he should! He’s a racing driver. he should be pissed at losing especially at no fault of his own.

So he gave Lando the space, let him take in his well deserved victory and once he’d calmed he congratulated Lando earnestly, without his feeling for his own race getting in the way!

And I think it’s says a lot about how understanding and kind Oscar is. He knew if he congratulated Lando as soon as they crossed the line he wouldn’t have meant it enough so he waited until he did mean it.

What do you think?

KES BABE you're gonna make me long post !!!

I've actually got to weigh in (pun intended) with a very real technicality that my cousin pointed out when I was looking for Oscar once we finally got to watch!

all of the drivers who congratulated Lando not only were father figures/big brother figures to him, they also finished in the top 10 and quite literally had finished their weigh in nice and quick - the exception being Daniel who did not have to go and see the stewards. quite literally Oscar had to wait toward the back of the queue to finish his parc ferme shit (did we ever even get eyes on him?) from there he had to go see the stewards. depending on who they spoke to first out of him, Carlos and KMag and how long they kept him in the meeting, from there he'd have had to find out where Lando was (celebrating? interviews? cool down room?) and then run around to wherever he was. and ofc if he was in cool down he wouldn't have been allowed in.

so technically maybe Lando would've still been easy to find in Oscar's gap between finishing in parc ferme and going to the stewards, he might also have been stood waiting for his interview or even doing it or he might have already headed to the cool down room etc etc etc.

but I am NOT going to expect Oscar to try and navigate all of that when he not only had his top 3 position ruined but now he also had to go and find out if he was going to be penalized as well !!

especially when he knows he's got ample time to congratulate Lando anyway and Oscar is not remotely the type to care if cameras are around to broadcast it or not. the other non-podium drivers were going to entirely different garages and who knows when they'd cross paths with Lando again.

so honestly I personally think this all came down to technicalities more than anything else and if Oscar had finished in the top 10 at least then he would've absolutely been right there to congratulate Lando both for the ease of it but also bc it wouldn't have been as awful a result even if did receive a penalty.

and equally if he had the time to think of it, he would've assumed Carlos was already headed up there to congratulate Lando (and possibly could have seen him) and it was not !! the time for Oscar and Carlos to cross paths at that moment !!

BUT AS YOU SAID !! I think if there was time for him to get past the frustration and anger at what had happened to his own race and those mitigating factors weren't as much of an issue as I'm guessing they were, we know damn well that he'd be thinking what you said <3<3 bc even when things are going horrendously for him, Oscar never loses his head. and if he at all thought he'd bring his own negativity to the biggest moment in Lando's career so far then no WAY would he have risked it.

and bottom line is that one hug has ended up paling in comparison with how much Oscar was there for Lando in Oscar accepting 50% of the upgrades, obeying team orders for Lando rather than trying to get back in the points, showing up for Lando's celebrations twice in a major way, then going out to celebrate him all night long and posting about his win on social media for days afterward <3 like sure it would've had wider publicity if there'd been a hug right after - but Lando's beaming smile and thanking Oscar shows that he doesn't rate publicity as being more significant than everything else Oscar did for him that weekend ;__;

and what's actually really killed me is that surely surely there had to be an element of it for Lando where he remembered last year telling the press how it stung and hurt that Oscar had achieved any kind of win before him. that Oscar was never a showboat about it and always specified that it was a sprint win and not a real race win. that Lando was always the one to bring it up and give Oscar his dues but that Oscar never brought it up again afterward himself. and the mounting anxiety for Lando of what if Oscar got that race win before him? and how much that anxiety must have been at it's peak watching Oscar leading in Miami?? literally I think it would've been too much to humanly expect Lando to cope at all well. I think the absolute least amount of grace we would have given him would be to not go and immediately celebrate it with Oscar but honestly? if he'd decided to just do his post race interviews and slip away quietly until the video with Andrea then none of us would have judged him for it AT ALL. it would have been an unavoidably bittersweet day and knowing what the press and haters would have done to him would have paled in comparison to Lando having to live with knowing that Oscar got there first and so much quicker. and genuinely I think it would have taken a certain amount of shine off of it for Oscar as well and he would not have even slightly expected Lando to put himself through any more of it than strictly necessary for appearances.

(seriously I think we all breathed a sigh of relief over this win as much as we were elated about it !! we will never have to exist in a timeline where Oscar got his race win before Lando)

so not only will Lando have not remotely expected Oscar to show up in parc ferme for a hug, he has clearly counted every moment of Oscar celebrating his win as golden and beyond the call of teammate duty. and that not only did he make sure that posterity recorded Oscar's achievements earlier in that race, he made sure that he thanked him by setting the example of what could be done on just half the upgrades.

we all expected each of the hugs Lando got right after that race. each of those men has helped to raise Lando and has watched him since he was small and awkward and painfully shy and suffering heart-wrenching race results. they needed to hold their boy in his moment of purest happiness.

but none of us could have reasonably assumed how Oscar - only just out of his rookie season and Lando's teammate of just one season and a bit - would react to such a devastating race for himself while also on the biggest day of his teammate's career to date.

one hug would honestly have been a perfectly fine bare minimum and plenty of other drivers would have called that good and begged off.

equally tho one measly hug shouldn't make anyone underestimate how extraordinarily above and beyond and then some Oscar has been for Lando for the past week. that not only has he celebrated it and celebrated Lando, he's done so in proportion to people older than him who have known Lando much longer than him and who are not direct rivals to Lando.

like genuinely, the general F1 fans keep saying what a gentlemen and exemplary one-of-a-kind teammate Oscar has been through all of this and they're absolutely right. we not only got to rejoice in Lando's win, we also get to rejoice that he has a teammate who has proven his worth and made the McLaren driver partnership secure for the years they have to come <3<3

[twimshi]

Shattered Realities Prt.1 (Hobie brown/P!Reader)

ALSO THIS IS A ROUGH DRAFT SINCE IVE NEVER WRITTEN LIKE THIS BEFORE.

What happens if someone from our universe where no superheroes exist, falls into the society of superheroes

"She isn't glitching"

She doesn't remember falling until she feels her stomach flip, her eyes flying open with the multitude of colors that blind her vision as she catapulted.

She also dosent remember screaming but she most definitely was.

"Holy shit-" Her arms are flailed and bent in all types of positions trying to possibly slow her descent as she hits the hard pavement.

It doesn't.

She thinks something pops but pays no mind to it because of the crowd forming around her.

Multiple people in a familiar red jumpsuit surround her vision.

She slowly gets up despite the pain in her left shoulder to examine everything around her.

Before she even tries to run away someone shoots something that reminded her of a tazer she saw in a minions movie once, but without the electric shock part, causing her to fall before her hands were stuck together making her fall on her face.

Though the impact alone didn't hurt her elbow sent a jolt of pain across her entire body making her scream in pain.

"Who is she?" One says on a horse.

Oh my god was she on drugs?

"Is she another Spiderman?" Another who looks almost the same as the other's outfit but blue says.

No way she can't be on drugs.

"Why is she here dressed all normal" A talking Lego says.

So many questions were asked before someone pulled her upright by a strong person, he kind of looked like a bear.

She considers the idea of her being on LSD at this very moment.

A really buff one in fact.

Who was also wearing a skin-tight suit?

He summons, well calls some robots to do a scan on her which sends a little shiver down her body.

The machine speaks "Foreign entity, no universe"

This sends the crowd of people into a frenzy, are they people? Probably some weird nerds.

Why are so many lights?

The strong angry teddy looing man manages to calm everyone.

"Who are you?" He says not even introducing himself, what a rude bear she thinks to herself.

So many red people.

Her eyes hurt.

Her shoulder hurts.

She wants to vomit.

Her head lolls to the back, something he recognized making his heart almost drop before going back to interrogation mode "Kid answer- Hey, hey hey don't just fall!"

She vomits and passes out.

-

".............We can't find out where she's from"

"............Maybe your system is bugged"

"............Maybe your brain is bugged"

Then the door closes when she hears someone complain about them being too loud and hears whoever that was talking stomp out.

She groans waking up, throwing off the blanket that was kindly placed on her, and stretches her arm - was it fixed? "Can you guys keep it down, my head hurts"

"You're awake" The one with The hijabi says, coming toward her "How did you get here?"

"I just fell?"

"Fell?" The girl in twin buns said before retracting her words "I'm Byte by the way, but is that all you remember before you fell? Like can you at least tell us your name so we can narrow down your location?"

"Yeah, it's..." Her heart drops.

Her brain is swirling on itself.

"My name is..."

The two share a look that makes her play with her hair nervously, trying to figure out what was happening.

Her body feels empty all of a sudden.

Sun-spider who has entered the room for nothing other than snooping coughs (who has not introduced herself by name) to try to break whatever nervous silence that was forming "As much as I love suspense, please tell us. I gotta get the ice cream machine working again"

She tries again, this time she's clawing her hair to grasp on anything - but every time she seems to get closer to anything, the memory falls into itself.

A nervous smile exits her lips.

It seems like the static in her head becomes louder and louder.

"I don't know..."

Byte raises a brow in concern, checking her head for injuries while questioning her "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I just can't, I don't remember anything" She says, all of the uncomfortable aura leaving her in an instant like a reset button.

Essentially returning her back to her ditsy self.

But Byte isn't convinced

"Are you sure?" She says moving closer to her and turning on another device to scan her heartbeat in case she was lying.

"Yup" The girl replies her bright mood suddenly lifted, which the others found odd, but she spins her head around "Where is the scary guy?"

"Why are you asking?" Byte says

"Just so I can avoid him, he scares me"

Byte chuckles and turns off her device, grabs the other girl, and shakes her head.

"He uh...A little rough on the edges"

The girl nods suddenly like she gets it "Like a cool brooding backstory?"

"Brooding?"

"Ah you know like usually that's what you describe an angry old person with a backstory that made them all like lonely and sad when originally they were a happy and nice person"

Malala nods trying to understand the girl, but also invested in anything about that is about Miguel.

"I haven't read a book in ages so it's like a character thing" Byte tries.

"Yeah! It's like that..."

"What's wrong?"

"Just remembering something, I used to write fanfiction"

Malala claps her hands seemingly finding it amusing as Byte signals the girl to continue "And?"

The anomaly girl looks slightly confused, what else was she supposed to say? "And that's all"

"That's all you remembered?"

"Yup, I used to write stuff like ship stuff that was a little canon divergent I think? I don't remember-"

Malala jumps onto the girl "Dont say that out loud again"

The girl looks at her and Byte whose expression was similarly as frightened as the Hijabi.

"But it-"

"Remember big Bear man?" The girl nods and lets Byte continue "Well he is rather....what's the word"

Malala awkwardly twidles with her headscarf "...Sensitive"

Byte nods "Yup that word, he's already worked up about you being here. I don't think he is getting much sleep so we need to just ban that word"

"Yup, banzo it" Malala adlibs on top of the girl.

Byte feels a lightbulb appear on her head "Why not we just talk about hobbies to try to get you to remember stuff about yourself so we can narrow your universe's location now?"

The anomaly girl gasps "You want to talk about my hobbies? Wow " She stays silent for a moment before saying "Wait universe?"

-

Somehow they've only found three things after three hours.

"So we narrowed down your universe with the little information you gave us about...Whale calling noises and the Lorax musical with the deleted song biggering"

"Hey, the noises whales make are cool and doesn't every universe have a deleted Lorax song?"

"Well, a couple but most of them use 'Biggering' in the musical number"

"But that's like the best song ever. Does my universe just suck?"

"Maybe" Byte shakes her head "We're getting sidetracked, is there anything else you remember?"

"Nope. Anyways, back to the Lorax-"

Miguel cusses something inaudible in Spanish when he overhears the conversation and calls Lylla "Did you do a scan on her yet?"

"Already did" He groans and signals her to continue "She showed no signs of memory loss or even anything developing like dementia"

He looks back at the scene, of the glitch he likes to call rambling to Byte about the amazing soundtrack that is 'Biggering'

"Lylla scan possible universes with minimal to no superheroes"

"Gotcha"

-

Jessica comes back from a mission thinking she can just report to Miguel that her mission went smoothly and go home, she always thinks that "You're telling me you just want to drop the girl to a random universe?"

"Ideally, no. But we need to then yes" He said, catching her up on the situation that happened while she was out.

She watches Miguel pace back and forth "Won't that affect the canon?"

"From the information I gathered from Malala and Byte who are getting along with her just fine. She says that Spiderman is fiction where she's from, from what she remembers at least. There were many but with her knowledge of her musical we managed to narrow down surprisingly three potential universes"

Jess nods at this information and watches the security footage to analyze how she got here in the first place until she notices something abnormal and zooms into the anomaly girl and rewinds the video.

She calls for Miguel and replays the footage, which he replies with "Dont bother I've rewatched that footage and analyzed all the portals"

"Please tell me you at least noticed this"

"Notice what?" Miguel has not had time to take an actual look in the mirror for a couple days due to a new anomaly from earth-1048, a video game anomaly, nothing new, but another headache.

Jess zooms into the anomaly girl for the rest of the footage "She isn't wearing a wrist band"

His eyes widen, she's right.

Since she's arrived here, she has never glitched.

Not even once.

Thats...impossible

"What do we do now" Jess says equally as distraught as him.

Miguel sends a quick text to Byte and gets an immediate reply then looks back at Jess "I don't know either, but Byte is running a few tests on her while she naps with her and I quote 'Enthusiastic consent'. Everyone was so shocked by her being a non-spiderperson and since she never glitched no one noticed"

Miguel takes a very slow exhale to think.

If she wasn't glitching then she can't be an anomaly.

Maybe that was a glitch on its own?

He notices Jessica scanning his face for a response, so he gives her one "Let's just put it to rest for now, since she isn't causing any trouble" He had stayed up monitoring the activity of the universes that involved Spiderman.

She nods her head, seemingly tired out for the day also, before she leaves a question pops up in her mind You said that you narrowed down her universe to three, that's a tight deduction. What musical was it? Hamilton?"

Miguel does not want to say the ridiculous cartoon name but says it anyways "......It was the Lorax"

Jessica almost snorts when she leaves the room leaving him alone.

He might as well get some sleep while he can.

-

After he knocks out for a thirteen-hour nap, Miguel looks at the anomaly girl and is reluctant on how to call her while she's converting with Malala and Byte so he just barges in and calls out "Girl"

The three girls turn to him with a confused expression.

"The one that's not Spiderman"

They all make an oh noise.

"Webby tie your shoe lasses you might trip" Says Byte.

"You remember your name?" Miguel is almost hopeful.

She placed her hand on her hip "Uhm no? I just named myself Webby since all of you have web designs on you"

Miguel is hopeless.

Anomaly girl- no Webby says with sass with her hands on her hips after poorly tying her shoe lasses like it's a fact that everyone should know but Miguel certainly does not seem to care enough.

He tosses her an empanada from the cafeteria which she catches, he notes her reflex "Eat something now because we're going"

"Goinsh?" She asks while chewing.

"Yes going" He cringes at her and gives her a tissue to wipe her face, she blows her nose instead "Just eat some motion sickness pills before we go"

Webby rolls her eyes but nods at the tall man as he still intimidated her, so she quickly finishes her food and gets some pills before meeting up with Jessica Drew, who had a small bump on her belly.

It was either bloating or that she was pregnant, Webby didn't want to ask but she thinks it was the after when Jessica held her stomach in a cradling motion.

Webby made sure she mentally remembered every single detail about this place so she could never forget it in her brain.

Jess looks at the girl whose eyes were becoming a little bugged out and red from how much she was forcing the open to take in the view.

"You know you can just take a picture right?"

She finally blinked her eyes in pain "Ouch, I would if I had a phone. It might have fallen when I was uh...Falling through the portal"

"I'll make sure we do a full sweep of the place to find it"

The girl's eyes widen and profusely thanks her hand as they walk "Thank you so much"

"Likewise, we can walk slower, just so you can get a good look at everything"

And that's exactly what they did, Webby is sure to talk about this to her friends (If she can remember them) about this.

Something catches her eyes in the distance, it was a boy whose entire border was changing as if he was made out of scrapbooks, his ears adorned with piercings.

As he played the guitar, every new strum seemed to change his color palate.

Webby couldn't help but stare

Jess also couldn't stop staring, mostly because she was telling him that his guitar was untuned.

He yelled back something about consistency and groaned when Jess told him to show the newbies around saying "I'm doing this because I like to see newbies, not because you told me to"

For a split moment, they both retain eye contact before Jess pulls her aside to go to Bytes lab because they needed to go.

Byte, Malala, and Sun Spider share a hug before Miguel calls for her and opens a portal, coincidently what she can assume emo punk was in the room bringing what she can assume is a newbie.

"Hobie what are you doing here, we're kinda busy" He says tiredly.

The guy who she assumed was Hobie just shrugs "You told me to show 'em newbies around, just gotta grab one on these and this-" They all were staring at him "Just imagine that 'm not here"

Miguel ignores him and offers Webby a hand to grab which she accepts reluctantly and waves goodbye to her short-term friends who waved back.

Once they reach the other universe Miguel readjusts his armband and looks for Webby to find her on the ground.

"Don't tell me you got sick again, I told you to take the medicine-"

But he dosent finish his sentence because Webby was glitching.

He wanted to help her up and call Lylla until she let out an excruciating scream like she's been stung by something and cradled her stomach. The pain was travelling all over her body as if she were electrocuted in the rain.

Webby doesn't know what's happening or what to feel other than the pain that surrounds her, she dosent even realize she isn't in control of her body and is slamming herself on the floornofnthe hard roof.

Miguel rushed to open a portal as her body was quickly becoming translucent.

The same type of translucent he's all too familiar with and grabs her to the portal.

She can't bare to open her eyes, her irises were stinging.

It was a bodily reaction, he wasted no time to grab her.

"That was quick-Oh God" Jess frantically calls for help

Webby thinks breathing slowly stabilizes because her body isn't burning , but not relaxing.

"Get the medic, now" Webby thinks the scary bear yells something.

Her eyes close, and finally, her body stops hurting when a mask is placed over her head as the coloured lights she thinks she sees now dissappear as her consciousness.

-

"What exactly happened out there"

"I.." He rubs his temples "Don't know"

Jess looks over to Webbie's vitals as Byte observes them carefully and Malala watches her from a distance.

Jess hasn't known Webbie for a long time but the gas mask on her face irks her so she tries one more time "Miguel, what happened out there"

"She stopped glitching only when we came back but was glitching hard when she got to the other universe, but not like normal" He looks at Jess's shocked face knowing Miguel spoke from experience as he continued his sentence.

"It was like her body was collapsing into herself"

HI AUTHOR HERE, this isn't my first fanfic but I haven't really written in this type of format (Also I'm bilingual so my English might be not epic) so it might be wonkey (I write mostly self-loathing type of things) I might or might now make this whole thing int a mini series of 6 chapters. ALSO I JUST GOT A JOB?! So if I do make it into a miniseries plz be patient because the 10 hour shift is no joke

[noodyl-blasstal]

Cool, Calm, and Collegiate - Chapter 3

Day 3 of @blupjeansweek and the prompt is Strings!

Read below or on Ao3. Missed yesterday? Catch up here!

-

Lup shuffles the cup carrier to the same hand as the muffin bag and knocks on Barry’s door.

“Yes?” Barry asks.

“Good morning, Dr Barold.” Lup pokes her head round the door.

“Lup!” No matter how many times he’s seen her in the last two weeks he’s always seemed pleased about it. Which is the right answer, of course, Lup’s incredible, she knows this, but not everyone else does. “I mean, er, Dr Tacco, come on in!”

“I come bearing gifts.” Lup brandishes the carrier and bag and sets them down on the desk.

“Gifts or bribery?” Barry levels her with his best attempt at a serious face, which she’s learning fast is flimsy at best. It’s wonderful discovering all the little him-nesses which don’t come across in emails. Sure, she knows Sildar’s coffee order, but now she also knows how Barry scrunches his mouth when he’s thinking hard.

“Gifts!” Lup says as she flops into the visitor chair and attempts to kick her feet up on the edge of the desk, only for Barry to catch them and deposit them back over the side.

Barry raises an eyebrow.

“Gifts to bribe you.” She smiles as big as she can possibly smile.

“Uh huh.” Barry looks wary. Which is probably reasonable after the shaving cream incident, but she maintains that they both learned stuff and had fun, plus she was the one who did cleanup. Lucretia didn’t even really seem that angry honestly.

“We’re learning about force next.” Lup says mildly.

“Uh huh.” There’s a smile nagging at the corner of his mouth. She knew this topic would get him.

“...and I thought it would be good to do a practical example, you know, to help the visual and active learners, because as a teacher it’s important to focus on a variety of different learning styles and engage the whole class.” She nods solemnly, the weight of young minds on her shoulders alone.

“... and so you would like…?” Barry asks, still struggling with the smile.

“String.”

“String?” Barry’s brow knits, perplexed by the concept of woven threads, and definitely not the trap at hand, this was flawless, seamless. Then he gets it. Shit. She knew he was smart, she should have had an extra plan for this. “How much string, Lup?”

“Uh.”

“You’re going to need to know before you ask Lucretia.”

“Much.”

“Many of string, would you say?” Barry asks. “Shall I put that on the forms?”

“How many balls do you think it takes to support the average teenager?” Lup asks.

There’s a long pause. Long enough that she worries she might finally have found Barry’s limit.

He pulls a sheet of note paper from the stack of scrap on his desk and grabs a pen. “How long is the string and what are the anchor points?”

–

Lucretia can’t argue with the numbers. They’re flawless.

She did argue with the health and safety element, but thankfully Barry agreed to be on hand to cast Fly as needed and she relented. Afterall, Lup’s weekly student reviews were flawless (because she was made to do this), and string was cheap. Lucretia couldn’t argue with the fact her resources cost nothing close to what the twins had already requested from the budget - not that she should officially know that, but the students couldn’t stop talking about the flashy (definitely unnecessary) components in necromancy 101.

–

“Barry.”

“Yeah?” Says Barry, somewhere to her left.

“This is so much string.”

“I believe that was what you wanted, much string.”

“Do you think we overestimated?”

“Maybe a touch.” Barry says, emerging from the boxes. “But you got a ridiculous bargain.”

“Garfield’s fine at haggling, but cha’girl’s better.”

“We do, uh, need room for the students in here. Hard to learn if you’re, er, smashed against a box.”

“Pocket dimension?” Lup asks.

“Genius.” Barry’s casting before she finishes talking. “There.” He dusts his hands off.

She loves how enthusiastic he is. Not that she’d really thought there would be too many limits in a school which aims for fun, but there’s always an element of caution needed when it comes to tenured staff. In Lup’s experience they’re more inclined to quash anything which sits outside their prescriptive idea of what should be happening. That or they’ll steal your research. She’s still mad about it, she’ll die mad about it. He didn’t even put her down as an author on the fucking paper. But it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s not like that here. Lucretia’s letting her do spider class. Barry’s helping her make her stupid ideas happen. They’re not here to steal anything from her. She needs to leave the past in the past.

The students filter their way in and look around the suspiciously empty room. It’s heartening to see how quickly they’ve gotten used to her.

“Heeeeeeeelllllllo and welcome everyone to….” Lup spreads her arms to reveal her spider legs. “...spider class!”

There’s at least two whoops.

“Dr Lup!” A hand shoots up.

“Yes Angus?” Lup says, fighting hard not to smile. It was great to have him in her class - especially because he’d originally been in Lydia and Edwards and asked to be moved.

“I thought we were supposed to be doing force today.” Lup learned quickly that these questions weren’t impertinence, he just wanted to know.

“Ding ding ding! Right answer, Ango! And who knows force better than spiders?”

“You?” Angus asks hopefully.

“Well, it’s a half me, half spider hybrid teaching you today. So class, today we’re going to be metaphorically punching gravity in its metaphorical face, but first we’ve gotta learn the theory so we can do it real good. Grab your notebooks, you’re gonna need ‘em!” She’s heartened by the immediate scramble that begins for notebooks and pens.

–

“I can’t believe how many kids you stuck to the ceiling. I mean, I can, I know the maths of it, but seeing it.” Barry’s genuine delight is wonderful to see.

Lup shrugs nonchalantly, as if she spends every day making child catching webs. “Oh, you know.”

“No, Lup. You… they loved it.”

“I mean…”

“They couldn’t stop laughing. They did maths,# and they had fun! You’re a genius”

Lup preens a little, she’s allowed. “Did you have fun too?”

Barry doesn’t even think about it. “Yeah, I really did.”

He gives her a look so soft, so full of admiration, that she can’t bear it. There’s only a certain amount of praise she can accept before she feels itchy about it, she’s never quite mastered Taako’s full bluster mode.

“Right, I think today is macaroni day, would you care to accompany me to the canteen? Maybe afterwards we can go have another look at the equations and see if we can figure out the too many solutions solution?” There’s no way Barry can resist the allure of mac and cheese and research.

He looks right into her soul. “Fine, but I’m going to tell you how good at teaching you are at least four more times.”

Lup rolls her eyes and flounces in the direction of the canteen (so that Barry can’t see the smile on her face).

–

They solve it.

They drink coffee.

They talk.

They talk.

They talk.

They even sit in companionable silence, which, honest, Lup still finds tricky - there’s always the impulse to fill the gaps with a lot of people. She trusts Barry with silence though, he’ll be careful with it.

“Are you going to the social tonight?” Barry asks her.

“Are you?” Lup replies.

Barry looks at her as if he’s trying to figure out a puzzle. “Uh… yes.” He says without any confidence.

“Really?”

He clears his throat.

“Yeah… yes. Yeah.” He says.

“Wow, real keen there, Barold.” Lup smiles.

“Are you, er, will you be there?”

“Yeah, cha’girl’s going. I guess we’d better get ready soon…”

“10 more minutes?” Barry asks, like Lup hoped he would.

–

“Oh, how artfully rumpled, darling! You really managed to make it look like you’ve been wearing that all day.” Lydia says almost as soon as Lup makes it through the door.

“Have you and your boyfriend been hiding in the labs again?” Edward wrinkles his nose as he says boyfriend.

How dare he? Lup and Barry aren’t dating, obviously, but if they were she’d be proud of it! There’s nothing distasteful about Barry.

“Barry’s great.” Lup says quickly.

“Of course, no one said he wasn’t…” Lydia pauses “…great.” She purses her mouth and makes it abundantly clear that she’s an idiot who doesn’t know a good thing when it’s walking down the hall towards them.

Lup resists the impulse to hiss at them, settles for raising her eyebrows and breaks away to meet Barry at the door.

“I like your shirt.” Lup says in greeting.

Barry definitely seems to get slightly pinker than he was before, maybe he walked over too fast. “Thank you. You look nice too… I mean, you look nice… I mean… drinks? Shall we get a drink?”

“Sweet music to my ears, Barry. Lead on!”

He peers round the room, then zeroes in on a table at the back. “Come on then.”

“Oh, hang on. Sorry.” Barry deviates off course slightly. “Hello!” Barry greets Lucretia and a man Lup doesn’t recognise on the way over. “Lup, have you met Captain Davenport? Davenport, this is Dr Tacco.”

“Hello Dr Tacco, I heard about the shaving foam.” Davenport looks worryingly serious, his moustache is so neat she swears he must have used a ruler, and his shirt and jacket are perfectly tailored.

“Hello Captain Davenport. Reports of the explosion have been greatly exaggerated.” Lup hopes her tone is demure enough to hide the pride.

“How about the photographs?”

“Er…” Lup looks to Barry for help.

He shrugs. “Lucretia put them in the group chat.”

“Yeah… it was pretty bad. They learned a lesson though.”

“Honestly, Lup.” Davenport leans in conspiratorially. “I wish I had been there.”

She warms up to him after that.

The drinks selection is fairly paltry, but Lup figures there’s no rules against mixing them into something more interesting.

Ren, from the chemistry teaching team, joins her. “I think the elderflower fizzy thing would go well with the orange and pineapple juices.”

“Excellent choice, would you like that as it comes or on the rocks?” Lup asks, grabbing a spare cup.

Ren thinks about it very seriously. “I think iced will suit the profile best.”

Lup salutes and begins concocting. “Your wish is my command.”

By the time Barry drifts back towards her, they’ve experimented extensively and settled on two menu additions.

“Can I interest you in Lup’s Strawberry Dream or Ren’s Elderflower Orange Pine(bl)a(st)pple?” Lup asks.

“Ren’s what, sorry?”

“Like, pineapple, but also it’s a blast. Also there’s elderflower and orange.” Says Ren, like it’s there’s no possible way for someone to misunderstand. “It’s going down well.”

“It is.” Lup affirms. “I’ve had two.”

Barry looks wary.

“Here, you can try both.” Lup pushes two cups towards him. “Never say I’m not generous when it comes to free drinks.”

“I won’t.” He says solemnly.

–

She’s chatting with Sloane and Hurley and some more of the summer staff when Cyrus nudges her arm. “So how long have you and Sildar been dating?”

“He prefers Barry.” Says Lup quickly, then adds. “And we’re not.”

“Lydia and Edward said that…”

“I’m sure they’ve said a lot of things.” Lup cuts him off before he can even think of finishing that sentence.

“Woah, okay. Touchy! Nevermind.” He steps away from her and joins another group.

–

“We should go sing.” Carey says suddenly. Mid conversation, in fact, but Lup’s not going to get in the way of conversation. “There’s a karaoke bar like, two streets that way.” She points with worrying deftness.

There’s muttered assent in the scutch of people she’s stood in.

Lup looks round for Barry, sees him, looking like a rabbit in the headlights as the plan forms round him. She tries to smile reassuringly. Maybe he won’t come? She hopes he will though. It’d be nice to hear him sing properly, she’d heard him humming a few times and she liked the rumble of it.

“I’m in.” She says.

–

Hey Ko,

You telling me how stupid these are is only giving me more encouragement to write them. They should be getting there daily now, a barrage of out-of-date-news, just for you! (Obviously I expect you’ll be putting them in a scrapbook or something because you love them really, I’m on to you.)

I stuck some students to the ceiling in class today. Barry helped. Well. He didn’t help stick the children, that was all me, baby (via the medium of teaching them how to do it), but he helped me pass the health and safety check. No one got splattered. Everyone learned the most important physics rule “what goes up must come down unless you use a fucktonne of string to stop that from happening.”

All the academic staff are doing a social later, team bonding stuff, but it’s free. The others are pretty nice too, there’s someone called Ren I think you’d like a lot. She’s really into using science in baking (sound familiar?). Hopefully Edward and Lydia decide they aren’t coming, although, honestly, it’d be interesting to see them interacting outside of here. Maybe they’d be more normal? Signs point to highly fucking unlikely though.

Anyway, love you always,

Lup xxxxxxx

-

Thank you for reading! I hope you had a good time. Find the next installment here.

[ana-lora-rein]

𝘌𝘺𝘬𝘵𝘢𝘯 𝘛𝘴𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘺𝘭𝘶 ܟ 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 1 ܟ Broken Wings

Amateur translation. Postcanon.

Fandom Avatar.

Marines don't die, they go to hell...

His ears were ringing endlessly, and his heart, pounding frantically in his chest, seemed about to burst out. The only thing that cooled off was the tailwind, which kept from passing out. If he had lowered his eyelids for even a second, in a fainting state, he would have fallen from the flying banshee straight into the rocky abyss of the soaring mountains. Miles felt warm trickles of blood rolling down his temples. He had to overcome the stabbing pain in his body to brush it away with his hand.

— Bitch... — Quoritch cursed, spitting up the clots. He gripped his fingers tightly on the collar straps of the winged beast, guiding it toward the base.

The flight wasn't long, but all the way there, Miles had only one thought: Why didn't his son stay with him? Little Spider, struggling with conflicting feelings, did not let him die: pulled from the bottom of the wreckage of the sinking shuttle, growled one last word and fled away. Maybe the kid did it out of the compassion he'd inherited from Sally? Or out of a sense of indebtedness to the one who had brought him into the world? In any case, the colonel was left confused. And in the back of his mind, two very different beginnings were struggling. They, like cats, were gnawing at him from inside, reminding him that sooner or later he would have to choose. One was demanding to turn around, to find that scoundrel Sully and take out the wretched gang for the damage they'd done, and the other was wanting to forget, to tell everyone to go to hell. His jaw clenched in irritation, and Miles clenched his teeth. He promised himself he'd figure it out. But there was no way to undo what had happened. His team, his loyal comrades-all of them dead at the hands of the blue apes. What a shame for him as commander! Poor Lyle. He wanted to go to the makeshift sauna at the bottom of the hill just outside the town. And the Reaper... She'd still be alive and well, even if she was blue in the body. Mansk had intended to ask the beastie out on a date. And though all the boys knew how foolish his idea was, he couldn't ask anyone else out.

«Scumbag Sully and his cum wife!»

A gagging interrupted Miles' thoughts. Rekom crouched on his side, spitting out blood. A stinging, biting pain squeezed under his ribs. He mentally counted the damage his enemy had done: a punctured shoulder, something like a lung wound, a concussion that made him dizzy and his eyes swim. All this he had felt once before. On Earth War, it was like déjà vu, a memory that came back to him. The pain was the same, but the motivation was different.

Hear that, Sally, how does it feel to betray your country?

The Winged Beast. Banshee. It suddenly nervously fluttered its wings, screaming as if distraught. The animal sensed everything the rider was experiencing. The colonel remembered the connection (tsaheylu). This connection seemed too strong, too obscene and too explicit. Gathering his will into a fist, Miles took a deep breath and exhaled, placing his palm against the banshee's head. He stroked the beast, tried to calm it down, because we don't need the bird to get nervous and send it into the abyss. The colonel understood that he had to get to know his new friend better, to learn the subtleties of communication.

Like a thunderclap, the wireless rattled loudly in his ear. He still had the earpiece with the microphone in his ear.

— Quaritch! Can you hear me? General Ardmore calling!

— Shit... — Miles sighed heavily, coughing and coughing up, — Yes, I'm on the line, General! The mission failed, there were too many of them! Back to base!

— Why haven't you been in contact for two hours?! What happened?! What happened to Dr. Ian Garvin?!

— Missing or dead.

— And Captain Mick Scoresby?

Miles crouched in pain and wrapped his arm around himself, trying to answer as calmly as possible. He never liked to report, especially to women, and the worst thing for him was when it was a woman who turned out to be the boss. The colonel could only respect the generaless for the first half of the day he met her before she got under his skin with arrogance and prejudice.

«Fucking bitch...»

He had to unfasten the Velcro vest and throw it off his bloody body: even the clothes squeezing his chest prevented him from speaking.

— Missing or dead, — the Colonel repeated.

— Go immediately back to the scene and find the doctor! Can you hear me?

— I hear you. — Miles's breathing quickened and his eyelids seemed too heavy.

He wanted to finish, but the shroud that fell over his eyes and the ringing in his ears plunged him into darkness. His hands slid down, and recom fell chest-to-chest on the banshee's neck, finally losing his composure and his equilibrium.

***

Laura Asadi always loved weekends. Even though the sun was beating down like never before, illuminating the city streets with its scorching rays and casting glares on the glass panoramas of the buildings, she went to the park for a long-awaited jog. Nothing could have made her happier than the mesmerizing nature of Pandora. Unless it was music on her headphones and a desire to pursue dancing, singing, photography, or maybe even writing a novel. But as much as a young soul's heart tugged at creativity, it was her profession as a therapist that allowed Laura to leave a dying planet and find herself in the most influential organization. The RDA appreciated her abilities and welcomed her into their ranks. They gave her a new life that she longed to share with her family. Happy for their daughter's fate, her parents remained on Earth. Laura could only arrange their move to Pandora by working off her first contract, and she humbly awaited that day.

The week flew by unnoticed. Every day she had to work late with patients caught up in the maelstrom of events. People couldn't find common ground with the local tribes: A prolonged war had broken out. Diversion after diversion claimed more and more victims. Few survived the battle with the Na'vi. Lora understood that they were fighting for their territories, and were not at all happy to have unexpected visitors from space. Any attempt to negotiate between the two parties to the conflict was backfiring. Too different lives, too different species, too different view of the world.

Laura admired the philosophy of the Na'vi. Before going to bed, she read books about this amazing species, their culture and everyday life. She especially liked the works of the once popular scientist Grace Augustine. Fifteen years ago this woman had managed to make contact with the Omatikaya forest clan. They even built a school for children, where Miss Augustine taught earthly lessons and shared her knowledge. But, unfortunately, her efforts were wasted. There was a conflict that remained the subject of numerous theories. Laura heard only one truth: A certain Marine Jake Sully, an Avatar member, sided with the Na'vi during the first war, gathered the clans into an army, and prevailed by expelling the humans from Pandora. This precedent has remained on everyone's lips to this day. After all, from time to time Sully would sabotage military depots and blow up cargo trains. Some considered him a collaborator, a traitor to the motherland, and some quietly admired him and wished him victory. Laura, on the other hand, always found it difficult to choose. She tried to stay out of the fuss and do her job - to heal the wounded, to save lives. After all, working off her contract to get her family back from a dying, poisoned Earth.

Gathering her long dark hair into a ponytail, Laura stepped into the thicket of the park, breathing in the scents of the local flora through the transparent oxygen mask. She liked to come here in the mornings when she got up early: she enjoyed nature, and fed the funny prolemurs with bananas before exercising. Some animals began to recognize her, came down from the trees and unceremoniously stretched out their paws in the hope of getting a treat. This time red apples were waiting for them. No sooner had the girl rustled her backpack than twigs rattled around her. On all sides there were those who wanted to eat them. They wiggled their ears, curiously waiting and looking at the guest with interest.

— Guys, not all at once, you do remember to be able to share, don't you? — Laura laughed as she handed out the apples. One of the cubs, begging for attention, climbed down from his mother and brazenly climbed onto the girl's shoulder, wrapping one pair of long paws around her and tugging at the strap of her top with the other. — Oh, is that you, buddy? I remember you, you're growing up fast...

She quickly got used to and grew to love the animals here. Her acquaintances and colleagues always wondered how these animals let her in so quickly. After all, usually prolemurs tried to stay away from people, and if they approached, it was only for a moment. Inadvertently, Laura thought she loved animals more than people, and she should have gone to the veterinary department. If it weren't for her promise to her dad and her love of the arts, she would have. Born into a family of the medical generation, she hadn't found the courage to break a long-standing tradition. Even though she felt out of place, she was one of the best in the department.

Asadi didn't have time to finish feeding the prolemur pack. Suddenly the roar, so wild and piercing to the core, made the beasts scream and scatter in panic in the bushes. The girl shuddered, clutching her heart in terror. The sweep of bright blue wings that came down on the ground, crushing the bushes, shocked and stunned her. Laura had never seen a mountain banshee this close. From something screaming in panic and shaking her head. The girl opened her eyes in wild amazement. A bloodied, unconscious Na'vi had fallen from the winged animal's back. A tall blue body in military gear fell between two prickly bushes. The banshee flapped its wings and rose into the air, disappearing into the sky.

«Oh my God, it's an avatar!»

Laura dropped to her knees and crawled toward the man. The long thorns of the bushes touched her tanned skin, scratching her to the point of pain. The girl clenched her teeth from the unpleasant thrill, but, holding herself together, approached the victim. Streams of blood trickled from his wide nose, mingling with the profuse sweat on his blue skin. The avatar furrowed his dark eyebrows and lowered his pointed ears in pain and agony, but he did not regain consciousness. He only opened his mouth, breathing heavily in the air he needed.

Laura caught her breath. She stared in shock at the three-meter-tall humanoid she was seeing for the first time in her life. Her hands were shaking with excitement. She hadn't had to deal with avatars yet. The therapist wasn't sure she could give first aid to this creature properly, because she didn't know how much their anatomy matched that of a human. But despite her fear and uncertainty, her therapist habit was to go nowhere. With feverish movements, she began to check for a pulse and determine the damage to her body. The girl also fleetingly noticed the long tail she had accidentally sat on. She hesitantly put her palms to the humanoid's chest, probing for numerous cuts. Blood was flowing from the punctured shoulder. She had to act immediately. The purple insignia of skulls and a snake on the victim's clothing suggested that this was someone very important to the RDA. A recombinant organism. Back from the dead, he risked ending up on the other side of the world again.

The therapist gathered her senses and was vigilant. She grabbed the edges of her cotton T-shirt, tearing the white fabric in two halves. A few moments more, and the punctured shoulder was carefully bandaged. The girl couldn't let it die. Quickly she took the smartphone out of her backpack with her bloodstained fingers and dialed the right number. The beeps were excruciatingly long. Laura was shaking with fear for the creature's life. She gently wiped the blood from under his nose, checked his pupils, and lifted her eyelids. Rekom was on the verge of life and death. Laura swallowed the lump in her throat. Emotions were running wild.

«God, I hope you don't die!» — Laura thought, and a shuddering veil covered her eyes.

— Emergency service. What's wrong? — The operator's long-awaited voice came through the smartphone like a breath of oxygen.

Laura perked up, holding reckom's bandaged shoulder with her free hand. He hissed desperately, like a roadkill cat, remaining unconscious with only one twitch of his tail.

— Therapist Laura-Anastasia Asadi speaks! Suburban Park sixth district, thirteenth precinct on the south gate side, a recombinant has been found in critical condition! Send a car immediately, he has lost a lot of blood, punctured shoulder! Also suspected second-degree concussion!

The wounded man moved his ear. He tried to catch every word, tried to come to his senses, but all he could do was open his blood-glued lips and whisper faintly:

— I must... I must...

— What? — Laura leaned toward his face. She excitedly contemplated every inch of smooth blue skin with smooth "tiger" stripes, and her hand gently slid down the long neck of the amazing creature, where the pulse beat faintly.

— Miss Asadi, five minutes, the brigade is on its way, wait!

***

At the end of the long, bright tunnel, flooded with blinding light, Miles saw the outlines of people. They were calling his name and rank, asking him to return. Somewhere he'd heard those voices before, painfully familiar, but no image had ever emerged in his mind.

«Who are they? And what do they want?»

As if he were weightless, light as a feather, he floated and felt absolute serenity. He did not want to fly to the sound of the voices. He wished he could stay. This strange place of walls of bright white light engulfed him with every second and distanced him from human silhouettes. It seemed so familiar, so quiet and safe. There was no noise, no one was giving orders. And there was no pain.

«It's so good here» — Miles thought, but the bliss was short-lived. An invisible force, like a magnet, pulled him forward along the tunnel. A sense of excitement and fear made his heart beat fast. Now he heard not only people's voices, but also the pounding of his own heart. Something squeezed his lungs. The feeling of his body returned. And the pain returned. The heaviness in his right shoulder was accompanied by a groan. Miles opened his eyes.

— Finally! We thought we'd lost you, Colonel, — said the man in the big round glasses and white coat. The nurses, standing on either side of the patient, shined flashlights directly into his eyes, testing the response of his pupils. Miles exhaled irritably. He wanted to raise his hand and shove the pesky medics away, but the straps of sturdy material prevented him from even moving.

— What the hell? — the recom stared at the restraints that held him in one position, overcoming the stabbing pain in his ribs.

— I'm sorry, sir, this is an involuntary measure. Do you remember what happened to the previous shift of doctors? Your violent reaction sent them to the ICU.

— I'll put you in the ICU if you don't take off those fucking bracelets right now. Now!

— Sir, no, I can't, I'm sorry, that's an order... — the doctor smiled tensely, adjusting his glasses on his thin humped nose.

— I order you! — growled grudgingly Miles, emphasizing the pronoun.

— Please, sir, calm down, you can't be nervous, you've been injected with a double dose of antibiotics...

The doctor's speech of trembling, uncertain words was interrupted by an electronic beep. The massive doors parted to the sides, opening to the visitors. General Ardmore appeared in the ICU in the company of several guards and with a man in a black business suit. When Miles saw people in such suits in front of him, he was knowingly preparing for something unpleasant. These well-dressed rats always demanded too much and gave nothing in return. The first thing he would remove from his memories of his past life was service to such chumps.

— You have no right to give orders if you can't handle even a simple task,— the general said, and walked over to the wounded man, looking at his injuries from head to toe with a look of frustration, — report what happened. And where's Dr. Ian Garvin?

Miles pressed his lips together, holding back the urge to curse, and, clenching his fists, obediently answered:

— The ship sank. The crew, the doctor, and the captain are probably dead. So were my men. Sully attacked from several flanks. There were more of them than we thought, there was little chance of winning.

— But those chances were there? — the man in the suit asked.

Miles glanced at the stranger, thinking only of how nice it would be to take a cool shower now, but instead he had to lie in the medication-soaked room and report back.

— That's right. If it hadn't been for their tame whale with amrita in its head, I'd have executed the scumbag Sally.

A tense feeling arose in his mind. He remembered how the blue savage, Sally's wife, had put a dagger to Spider's throat, intending to avenge her son's death. But was Miles guilty of that? Jake, as a father, had failed. The inevitable war, one way or another, would have touched everyone anyway, and the family leader could have ensured that the children would not be involved. But he himself gave the trump cards to the enemy and was punished by fate.

— Are you going to write in your report that the whale is to blame for your failure, too? Or maybe you screwed up strategically after all? — The generaless folded her arms across her chest in displeasure, glaring at recom with her penetrating eyes from beneath her camouflage cap.

Miles turned his head away, looking out the ajar window, and for a few seconds there was silence in the ICU. There, on the base grounds, right on the roof of the warehouse, sat his dark blue banshee. The celestial predator spread her broad wings that dangled gracefully on either side of the roof and brushed out her feathers. Military onlookers passed by, darting away as if she were a demon, but the bird was strikingly calm.

«What devotion» — still marveled the recom.

The irritation was replaced by an unpleasant longing somewhere in the depths of soul. Son. He came to mind again. The boy had chosen to stay with the one who had raised him since he was a baby, even after the demon stepmother had nearly slit his throat. Miles tried to understand his own feelings and inadvertently imagined two different beings struggling inside him.

«You little bugger, all because of you!» — thought the colonel, remembering the face of the furiously snarling Spider.

— I'll make the report very honestly, don't worry, General,— he said, looking at his boss again with a calm look.

— It's not the report I'm worried about, it's your recklessness and stupidity! You've been dragging around with that wild boy and you've let your guard down.

— You're looking in the wrong direction, General. I took Sully by surprise, killed his son. He'll come. He'll want revenge. Then it'll be over quickly.

— Oh, so the result of the defeat is the future? — The man in the suit came back into the conversation. He kept writing something down in a folder. — You sacrificed an entire fleet to eliminate one saboteur? Then how many souls do you need to take out the others? Particularly the leader.

— I don't like the way he looks at me," Miles blurted out, trying to lie down more comfortably, but the pain in his shoulder made him moan painfully.

— Meet the chief administrator, Mr. Jonathan Bryce, — the general waved to the doctor, pointing to the medicines, and he obediently administered a recurrent dose of painkillers.

Miles shook his head hopelessly and closed his eyelids tiredly. The voices ringing in his head were getting tiresome.

— The last thing I need here is another Selfridge...

— Don't be sarcastic, Colonel. Do you realize why you were sent here again? — asked the man named Bryce, — because I got the impression that you had lost the thread of the narrative in the cases.

— You can't judge a war that isn't over by one lost battle,— Miles immediately retorted, — Sully will come back himself, and this will be our chance to eliminate the bastard.

General Ardmore's face stretched an ironic smile. She spread her arms to her sides and replied:

— You have lost twice, Colonel. Once in that life. The second time in this life.

— Honestly, I don't quite understand what happened in that life, — recom frowned unhappily, shaking his head, — everything seems like some kind of deja vu and only, with some sense of the past. Bryce, tell upstairs that I've been sold a blue marriage.

— And it isn't a marriage at all, Colonel, — the man smiled haughtily, as if hiding something important, and then slammed the file shut.

Miles opened his yellow eyes in bewilderment, and even the general looked questioningly at the RDA representative.

 — What does that mean? What do you mean?

— Tell me, Doctor, how long will the recombinant have to be serviced? — Bryce ignored the colonel's questions.

— With injuries like that it will take at least a week, — replied the medic and scratched the back of his head, unsure of his patient, — sir, it is advisable not to disturb him even now...

Bryce squinted, tapping his fingers on his folder, then looked at the general and said confidently:

— We need him tomorrow.

— Tomorrow?! — The doctor's jaw dropped, — but, sir, it's highly irrational, he... He needs rest and treatment...

— Well, now I know why they tied me up! — Miles laughed out loud, — Doc, you didn't want me to blow somebody's face off, did you?

— You have some special remedy for our colonel, don't you? — Bryce went on asking questions, insisting on his point.

— Yes, but you don't understand...

— Wonderful! - he interrupted the doctor with a satisfied smile on his lips," Then you know how to get him back on his feet.

«What are these bitches hiding?».

***

Time was nearing sunset when Laura took off her disposable work robe and tossed it into a small recycling chamber. At the push of a button, not a trace of the artificially created used fabric was left. The day had been impossibly boring, except for a failed morning jog. Couldn't get that wounded recombinant out of my mind. Big and blue and so adorable that Laura couldn't help but worry about him. Every now and then she wondered if he had survived. She hoped for the best, and didn't have the courage to call the Center. And who on earth would report the well-being of an important RDA recom to an ordinary GP? Laura was sure that even such information remained a secret within the walls of the organization. The recombinant program remained inaccessible to most of the staff: none of the rank-and-file knew about its details, only the creators themselves and the upper ranks of specialists. Laura had heard that every employee touched by the program signed a nondisclosure agreement, and leaking information threatened huge fines and prison. But there were even crazier rumors: a rumor had circulated among a large group that one of the scientists had gone missing after management learned of his entries in a personal diary. He was writing down what he was obliged to keep only in his head, and the RDA thought he might have been passing secret information to the ranks of the enemy. When Laura first heard this story, she only wondered to whom this scientist could have revealed secrets if the RDA had no competitors on Earth for thirty years? They were absolute monopolists. Could the scientist be revealing secrets to the Na'vi clans? But what could they possibly know about it? Or perhaps he was secretly collaborating with Jake Sully himself? Whatever the truth was, Laura didn't believe these tales, and only smiled at such stories.

With an unpleasant heavy weight on her soul due to not knowing the fate of the recom, Laura was about to leave the infirmary, but then she was called at the guardhouse. The operator behind the monitors, named Sam, waved, and the therapist immediately walked over to the counter.

— Let me guess, you mean I'm being left on the night shift again? — Laura leaned her head on her side tiredly.

— Pumpkin, what do you think of me! — laughed the red-haired operator in the black uniform, — Do you really think I only intend to bring you bad news?

— Why? — Asadi stretched out and laughed in response, — it's not bad news at all, I love my job and my patients, it's just that only robots can have no rest.

— I know, I know, you try harder than anyone else, — Sam said as he patted the girl's hair, which fell in a wavy mop of long dark strands to one side as Laura habitually tucked it back and to the side.

— Oh, you sly fox,— she scowled playfully, — just to flatter.

— And you're wrong, not flattery at all, — the guy pulled out of his jacket pocket almost transparent card, handing it directly into the hands of his partner — a name pass of the first level. Passed a few minutes ago. But don't flatter yourself, it's disposable.

Laura opened her eyes in amazement. She twirled the card several times, as if to verify its authenticity. Such passes were issued only to personnel from the RDA Center: scientists, engineers, programmers, elite military and directors. She looked questioningly at Sam, who was smiling, genuinely pleased with her reaction.

— Yeah, yeah, it's right up there. They said the management wants to see you today.

— They did? But... why? — Laura panicked, feeling her cheeks redden as her blood pressure soared — oh God, did I do something wrong? Did I kill the patient? That's right, I killed him!

Sam laughed, throwing his head back and grabbing his stomach.

— Baby, come on, calm down! It's just a request to appear in front of your superiors. Maybe they want to promote you.

— Sam! Promotion? You... — Laura looked at the chart, — Jonathan Bryce? That's the kind of authority given to our chief medical officer so he doesn't have to bother the top for no reason.

— Well, then the head doctor can fire you too, why would Bryce have to write you a pass like that and call you in to see him? — The guard barely calmed down, wiping away the tears that came out of laughter, — God, pumpkin, you're just a miracle, you made my day more fun, I love you...

Laura put her palm to her forehead, herself barely restraining a laugh from her silly reaction. But at times like this, when excitement overwhelmed her, she couldn't help herself. Laura possessed concentration and vigilance only in her work, because she understood that she could not make mistakes as a professional. But in life, this philosophy did not apply.

— I'm sorry, Sam, I... I sometimes lose control... — the therapist took a deep breath and exhaled, looking at the pass again. — It says the time. That's in about twenty minutes. I wonder why I'm being summoned.

— Let's go for a ride, and we'll find out together? — Sam smiled slyly, taking the backpack from the girl and slinging it over his shoulder.

— Are you on a motorcycle? — Laura pressed the pass to her chest.

— That's right, miss!

— That's good, sir! I love the speed!

***

The tailwind blew Laura's curls as she made her way to the main RDA building. Sam was accelerating faster and faster on his motorcycle, and she held him tightly by the waist as she watched the neon lights of the city. On the road, she only wondered why this building was farther away than the others. Almost at the edge of the city towered a tall gate of solid steel, shutting out whatever was going on there from the gawkers. The area looked more like a secret military training ground than a haven for scientists and business directors: endless hangars, armored vehicles, men in uniform, and fighter planes on the roofs. The area was constantly patrolled by guards armed to the teeth. No one could enter the area without a pass, which made Laura uncomfortable. She, a rank-and-file general practitioner, was suddenly given that pass.

«I hope me don't get fired» — the girl thought, resting her chin on Sam's shoulder and looking hopefully ahead at the road. And when the gates of the main building appeared on the horizon, she craned her neck in curiosity and felt her knees tremble.

Sam stopped the motorcycle just inside the security barrier that separated them from the entrance to the compound, ten meters away. The automatic metal detector emitted a distinctive beep, scanning the arrivals with a bright red stripe from bottom to top. Laura pressed her lips together uncertainly, pulling out her precious security badge. Several guards approached with machine guns. One, pointing a machine gun, walked around the arrivals as if looking for something suspicious.

— Good evening, what can we do for you? — one of the men asked, tall, pumped up and tattooed.

— Hello, delivering a guest to Mr. Jonathan Bryce, — Sam smiled friendly, nodding at the passenger in the back.

Laura felt a little uncomfortable holding out her pass to the guard. The man looked at the card, then at her, twisting it in his fingers with disbelief.

— Laura-Anastasia Asadi? — he asked in a clarifying manner to

— Yes, sir...

The second gunman's walkie-talkie crackled and he asked into the microphone:

— This is the central station speaking. Requesting validity of badge twelve thirty — two for time twenty-one zero zero. Do you copy?

— I confirm it's up to date, — a soft, female voice answered, — Let through.

Laura bit her lip with the excitement that overwhelmed her trembling soul. She looked ahead at the massive gate, imagining what everything looked like there, for she had never had to be here before. Curiosity scrambled like cats. And the guard lowered his weapon and only nodded his head forward, letting his guest through. Sam wanted to follow, leaving the bike with the guard, but he was immediately stopped by a hand.

— You can't. No pass, — the tattooed man said.

— And who's going to show her where to go? — Sam with a wave of his hands.

— Go to the gate, miss, — the guard turned to Laura, — they'll meet you there and escort you to your office.

Asadi nodded obediently and, after saying goodbye to Sam who winked at her, moved toward the gate. There she was met by a second group of guards and a screening system. She was asked to have her fingerprints and retina scanned. The access card was told to be kept until she left the building, and after that it would no longer be valid.

Laura was finally led onto the grounds. She opened her mouth in amazement, convinced she was right. A veritable military training ground. Armored vehicles, fighters, robot mechanics, and people in uniform. Several soldiers passed by in three-meter-long exoskeleton suits, raising a column of gravel dust into the air. The therapist coughed, brushing the dust off her face.

«Wow!» — she wondered.

— Miss Asadi? — A woman's voice was heard from behind, and the girl turned around to see a servicewoman in outfit.

— Huh? Yes, it's me... — Laura was confused.

— Come on, I'll accompany you to the boss's office. He's already waiting for you. Is this your first time here?

— Yes, I've never visited this building before. Tell me, why are there so many military men here? — Laura was curious, looking around with the gaze of a keen tourist.

— The war, — answered the girl briefly. — Several new regiments and units have arrived.

— Is it really that bad?

— Miss Asadie, the military is not just here to perform its direct tasks. We employ hundreds of men every day for various jobs. You don't have to worry, everything's under control.

«I want to believe it» — Laura thought, wrapping her arm tentatively around herself.

It was harder to breathe in here. There was so much dust and mechanical odor in the air that her throat became dry. With every step she took, she swallowed a lump across her throat and coughed. It seemed that the mask wasn't enough. But once inside, Asadi forgot all about air: the mask could finally be removed. Bright holograms dazzled her eyes. A group of operators was working on something, even though there were many people in military uniforms in the main hall. The monitors glowed with numerous scans of the terrain: soaring mountains, the sea, and some parts of the forested area. Laura turned her attention to the image of fallen centuries-old trees engulfed in flames. They must have been blown down quite recently by volleys of missiles. The girl casually shuddered.

— Sector Five, attention, deal with a herd of direhorse. The distance is six meters, we need a clear path to the mines, — one of the operators muttered lazily into his earpiece.

— They're really close, — the other smiled and shook his head, — I guess they're used to it.

— If the second shift stops feeding them, there won't be a problem.

— We'd better put it in the report, see if it helps.

Laura, stopping behind the cameramen, stared into the monitor where the image of the horses was transmitted and smiled as she watched several cubs frolicking beside the road. She didn't even notice the servicewoman walk to the elevator and call out to her several times.

— Please keep up, Miss Asadi, it's easy to get lost here, — the uniformed conductor warned as she pressed the button for the top floor.

Laura felt the familiar excitement again, only now, on top of everything else, her heart was jumping out of her chest: she could hear it pounding in her ears. To calm herself down, she had to take a bottle of water out of her backpack and take a few sips, but it was in vain - the water had time to heat up and was not tasty. Laura relied on her self-control, so as not to look like a pathetic, intimidated rabbit to her superiors. A long corridor, wide windows of offices and people in business clothes. Now she felt herself outside the military training ground. The top floor turned out to be exactly what she imagined the entire building to be.

— We're here, Miss Asadi, Mr. Bryce is waiting for you, — the girl guide stopped at the main translucent door, where you could see several people: one in a black suit, another in a military uniform.

Laura straightened her back and cleared her throat, nervously adjusting her loose curls. Her cheeks lit up with a treacherous blush. She couldn't hide her excitement; she always had a hard time with any lie.

— Thank you for seeing her off, — the therapist said.

— You're welcome. Come in, don't be shy, — the military woman opened the door, inviting her guest in.

Laura entered the office. Attention was immediately drawn to her. Jonathan Bryce turned around at the sound of the doors opening and immediately smiled when he saw the girl. Standing next to him, General Ardmore folded her arms across her chest.

— So you are Miss Asadi? — asked the head administrator and invited the guest to sit down.

— Yes, Mr. Bryce, I'm a general practitioner, I work in the city clinic, — Laura modestly squared her shoulders and sat down in a cushioned chair. She suddenly felt dirty and clumsy, as if a homeless person had been brought into a rich house.

— I remember you on the first day of your stay, you arrived as part of the third crew, didn't you? Serviced the frozen staff? — The Generaless stepped back to the window, observing what was going on outside.

— That's right, — Laura quickly mumbled with excitement and only then realized that this was the answer of the soldiers, but the generaless apparently found it amusing: she smiled at her succinct military answer along with Bryce. — I was twenty when I was accepted into the program, and I was twenty-five when the ship arrived on Pandora.

— I'm still new here and had no idea there were precious diamonds on the staff. A young beautiful girl, and a talented therapist too! — Jonathan splashed his hands in admiration and went to the coffee machine with three cups. — Not many people at such a young age are able to achieve intergalactic flight... Tell me, what is your secret?

Laura was confused at the question, ran her eyes around and answered tensely:

— I just got lucky... When I applied, I didn't count on anything at all, but I heard that the RDAs prefer young professionals, those who can work hard and diligently, and those who are far away from retirement...

— You really are a long way from her, — laughed the General, and Laura smiled modestly, dropping her gaze to the floor. — You're good. Mr. Bryce, you don't know yet, but this girl has already proved herself. When there was an accident on board, thanks to Miss Asadi's ingenuity, she managed to keep the frozen in their original state. She manually kept the capsules at the correct temperature for several hours while the damage was repaired. Had it not been for her idea with the tubes and the pump, we would have lost people.

— Thanks, but I was just doing my duty and listening to the head doctor, — Laura couldn't hold back a modest smile, she wasn't often praised by such big men as four-star General Francis Ardmore.

— Look at you, shy, too! — Bryce put a cup of hot coffee on the table in front of the guests. — Miss Asadi, you shouldn't be modest, you should be proud of your success and talent! After all, we invited you to express our sincere gratitude to you personally for not allowing our recombinant to perish.

Laura looked up, full of hope at the chief administrator.

— Had he survived? Is he all right?

— Thanks to your vigilance. A few more minutes and we would have lost him.

— Wow... — Laura whispered faintly to herself, tucking the unruly curls behind her ears and sighing in relief. — And I thought you were going to fire me...

— No, miss, — Bryce shook his head, taking a sip from his mug of coffee drink, — it's specialists like you that the RDA needs. Right now the ten-mile bridgehead has two million inhabitants. Most of them are military personnel, medics, scientists and engineers. But very soon, thanks to people like you and me, the city will blossom.

— You will help us to do it, won't you? - The general winked at the visitor from under her cap.

Laura smiled:

— With what I can, of course...

— Sure you can, — Bryce reached into his desk locker, pulled out another pass card, and placed it in front of the therapist. — To thank you for saving our precious recombinant, I invite you to a business dinner. There won't be many guests, but I'll introduce you to our leading scientists and specialists. We will decide where to place you, closer to the main control center.

Asadi's jaw dropped. She took the ID card with trembling fingers and clapped her eyes in amazement. It was too sudden. The unexpectedness struck at the heart, making her mentally tremble and rejoice, and outwardly just sit in a stupor at such a generous invitation from the chief administrator. She had never been to a social event before, especially to meet the cream of society. And the cream of society on Pandora was considered to be the famous talented scientists, military men, and engineers. It was an honor for Laura to meet them. It seemed as if a captivating dream had plunged her into a reverie.

— Mr. Bryce, thank you, that's... Thank you, Mr. Bryce, I would be honored to accept such an invitation... — ...Laura repeated the boss's name several times with excitement.

— We'll bring the car to your place of residence. And to make it less exciting for you, this pass can be used by two people, take someone with you to make it safer, — said General Ardmore, putting a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.

Laura smiled through tears of undisguised joy.

— Thank you, thank you very much...

***

— Not a bad girl, — the general stated as she and the administrator descended into the catacomb system beneath the RDA main building. A spiral metal staircase stretched down four meters, illuminated by wall-mounted neon lights. The air here was cold and musty, with a touch of medication: an unpleasant but harmless bitterness lodged in my throat.

Bryce followed the general downstairs, grabbing a protective, see-through jumpsuit with black gloves from a rack and pulling it over his business suit.

— Funny, it made me smile. I can't remember the last time someone lifted my spirits...

— Is that why you invited her to dinner, so she could keep... to keep you amused?

— I just wanted to thank for saving the colonel, that's all. I didn't expect to see such a pretty girl in the GP ranks. I'd have to go to that clinic and see if I'd be surprised.

— You can't put your finger in your mouth, Jonathan...

— I can't resist a young exotic! — Bryce laughed as he followed the general down the narrow corridor.

At the end was a massive iron door, more like a bank vault door. Inside, under the bright lights, among the chemicals and medical equipment, a group of scientists in protective, see-through jumpsuits and masks labored, observing the subjects and their reactions. Desperate cries echoed through the lab from the sealed chamber. Jonathan opened his mouth in amazement as he walked around the side of the chamber, standing in front of a thick armored window in the floor.

— Is this exactly what you told me about? — the receptionist asked with admiration.

— Yes, sir. We're still just at the beginning stage, but I think by the end of the week we'll have a result that will satisfy us.

— And we can start the cleanup as early as next week? Are you sure about that?

— Absolutely, — said one of the scientists, who approached the administrator and extended his hand in a friendly black rubber glove.

Jonathan shook the man's hand and, clearing his throat, asked:

— What exactly did you come up with? So far all I can see is a squirming blue primate. And, I don't get it, is that our recom?

— Retired, sir, — the general clarified. — One of the surviving recoms from Quaritch's group. Arrived at the base a couple of hours before the colonel. Failed, but will be able to serve in a different way now.

— On the basis of a neurotoxin, which is used by local humanoids, we managed to develop a unique powder mixture, — began to explain the scientist, not paying attention to the cries of the experimenter. — The spraying range of this crystalline substance may be small — five meters, if you wish — but the result will not disappoint you. Besides, the poisoning affects not only the fauna, but also the flora, which is consumed by the na'vi.

Lieutenant Lyle Wainfleet clenched his fists to the point of pain, trying to break free of the steel shackles. The collars around his ankles, hands, and neck squeezed his flesh tightly, preventing him from moving even a couple of centimeters. His blue naked body shuddered now and then in spasms of unbearable pain. The only thing left was to cry out desperately, hoping that at least someone would hear him from above and help him out of his torment. But the torture continued. The white gas came from the pipe every five minutes with an increased dosage.

— I'll kill you scum! I'll kill you! — Lyle screamed, baring bloody fangs like a hunted predator.

[kachawo]

YilingWei Sect AU

Click here ⬆️ for the original post.

___________

"Holy Shit!" Xiao Qing gasps, jumping up from the divan she'd lain on.

"Language, Shimei!" Deyao scolds her but is left ignored as the disciple scrambles to get her shoes and reaches for the door.

"Fuck my language-- I need to warn Wei-shushu!"

Worried by the behavior, the senior followed behind Xiao Qing as she made a mad dash through the corridors. "-Wait! Warn Wei-zhongzhu about what?!"

Blank pupils meet his for a spare second before they focus on the path forward.

"Cultivators! Gold, green, purple, blue-- many of them!"

The senior disciple makes a shocked gasp as he halts, Xiao Qing couldn't care less to look back at him. The Reverberant Hall was not a close distance from her junior quarters much to her dismay, and she couldn't waste her time!

They're walking through the streets of Yiling. A few of them booked buildings. Some golds are surrounding the forests around the Burial Mounds-

They were getting too close!

A strong pressure of wind shot past the junior disciple as her eyes caught sight of a crow in flight, heading towards the same destination.

The disciples stationed at the magistrate must have noticed them as well. It gets there only a few seconds before she does, only because she has the decency to knock first and announce her arrival before throwing her formalities out the window to kick the doors of the Hall open.

Her uncle sits in the middle of the hall, crow perched on his finger as it reports its findings to him.

"Wei-zhongzhu cultivators at bay, possibly seventy at arms. Further observations cannot be made, going into hiding." The crow squawks in its mocking tone, repeating what it's been told to say.

Wei Wuxian's expression is grave as he watches Xiao Qing enter panting with exhaustion.

"More than seventy, shushu.' she shakes her head, blank pupils shaking in anger.

"A hundred men at arms, Jins are scouting the graveyard forests. They're trying to find the entrance to the Burial Mounds."

He closed his eyes, feeling a headache forming at the edge of his skull. Rubbing the bridge between his eyes he hesitantly asks his niece,

"...which sects?"

Xiao Qing swallows fir air as she chases to calm herself, before she answered slowly. "...Qinghe Nie, Lanling Jin, Laoling Qin, Baling Ouyang, Yunmeng Jiang, Gusu Lan... and many more. Shushu." She visibly hesitated stating the last two.

His eyelids closed itself harder, burying his face deeper into his face as if it would hide him from the world.

He had expected this day to come, but he didn't think it would be so soon. They're not investigating that's for sure, Jins are scoping their domain, they have an army of cultivators in the town he protected. It's clear to anyone what their intentions were.

Of course they would get suspicious, Yiling Laozu and his criminal refuges have hidden away from the eyes of people, no news about them but a simple rumor that they've closed themselves off from the rest of the world.

Wei Wuxian sighs, stuck on a fork road of decisions. "What do you think, Wen Qing?"

The woman in red and white, who stood next to his dais was in deep thought.

"They're definitely not here to negotiate, with an army like that." She scoffs. "Neither are they willing to leave peacefully."

"Oh please, when do they ever." He snides.

The doctor sighs, "Either way. We don't want the innocent citizens outside getting involved in this. We should evacuate them."

Wei Wuxian nods, "Gather the chiefs and seniors." He ordered her, who immediately works.

"A-Qing, I need you to stay here. Your eyes will be needed"

His niece salutes, "Of course, shushu."

><

As soon as orders were given, everyone immediately set to work.

The senior disciples, those with more experience, were to descend the mountain stealthily and help the Yiling citizens evacuate in order to secure their safety.

Burial Mound residents were relocated to the Bamboo Dwellings deeper into the mountain and were not to leave the area until Wen Ning said otherwise.

Wen Qing and her students were in charge of stocking emergency rations, water, clothes, non-perishable items to hide away in case their supplies were cut off.

Junior disciples prepared emergency exits, secured hidden passage ways, and were tasked to guard the residents.

Heavy tension hung in the air as everyone moved with purpose, Xiao Qing could feel everything from the enclosed Red Room.

In a smaller room meant for more important meetings, stood the remaining chiefs and Wei-shushu.

They were discussing... something. Xiao Qing wasn't really focused on it, she was too busy keeping an eye on those Jin cultivators, making sure they didn't get too close to the gate of the mountains.

"They're scattered into five groups, shushu." She hisses.

"Any of them get close yet?" She shakes her head. "But I think it won't be long till they come across it.

The man clicks his tongue in irritance. Hearing this, Xiao Xingchen stands up from his seat, "Xue Yang, with me."

"I'll stall them for a few more hours, you need to be focused on this discussion A-Xian."

Wei-Shushu sighs, "Thank you Tang-ge."

"What are their true intentions?" Luo Qingyang mutters, placing tokens on the map to indicate which cultivators were where.

It's been 20 minutes since Xiao Xingchen and Xue Yang had descended to stall time, during that period, some Yaos have entered the fray to help the Jins search.

Wei Wuxian sighs, "We'll have to let them in."

"And what?" Wen Qing growls, "Let them burn our home down?"

"It won't be long until they find the gate. And even if we don't let them in-- they'll resolve to cutting off our water supply. Hell they might rampage the town!" The man groans, rubbing his temple gently.

Wen Qing opens her mouth to argue back, but before she can do that his niece gasps.

"They've... they've found the gate... Shushu."

Heavens fuck all.

><

Wei Wuxian walks pass the empty houses slowly, unwilling to pace it up towards the entrance of his home.

It woulld be no lie if he said he didn't want to meet any of the sects. Sometimes he wishes he hadn't the patience nor the consideration for these men, he sometimes dreams of kicking their asses so hard they fly back into their homes.

He sighs wilfully, Wei Yuan by his side notices his mood and smiles pitifully.

"We can always do this another day, ba." His son says. Ahhh what a loving child.

"Unfortunately, I don't think the sects would like that." Mo Xuanyu muses, his arms are folded and his posture is rightened, making him seem upright and intimidating.

Xue Yang cackles, "But then again, when have we ever cared for their feelings? They never gave shitwad about us!"

His son sighs, taking in his fellowmen's words in consideration. Although Wei Yuan has never experienced the world of the cultivation soceity; being holed up in a mountain and by extension its only town, it's safe to say he doesn't like them either-- in light of his childhood.

"We're only here to listen to their intentions. Anything else I will not permit." He tells them.

By then, they've walked enough that they can see the silhouettes behind the barrier of the mounds.

"But," Wei Wuxian hums, "If they attack first, I wouldn't be so keen."

It was basically permission, even though he just said the opposite. And it formed smiles on his wards' faces, ones that weren't as sweet and joyful.

Once they've reached the gates Wen Ning bows his head at him. The cultivators have long noticed his presence and have resolved to shout louder at him.

Wei Wuxian inhales deeply, closing his eyes to savir his last moments of peace.

The sect leader smiles, the corner of his lips visibly twitching.

"Welcome to the Burial Mounds, dear cultivators." He greets them.

The silence that comes after is refreshing.

But not as aggravating as the curses and yells that come after.

[lowkeyerror]

Important Decisions

Sasha Banks x Reader

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Real life events aka the walkout

Summary: You're an AEW wrestler dating Sasha Banks. You're on the road when you find out about her walking out of Raw. With no hesitation you're on the way to her.

An: Part of my 15 posts in 1 fay for 1.5k

Masterlist

You had no idea what was going on. There was gossip going around, but you didn't trust gossip. The mumbles around the locker room were getting louder and louder.

" Did you hear your girl walked out on Raw tonight?"

You furrowed your eyebrows," What are you talking about, Max ?"

" It's all over twitter. Her and Naomi left the title belts and walked out, they even called it out on the air."

" Fuck," You grabbed your car keys and began to head out of the building.

The AEW politics were different from those of WWE. That's not to say they were better, just different. So no one had anything to say to you as you walked out mid-show.

You'd personally talk to Tony Khan and sort it out later, but now you were trying to get on a plane as soon as possible.

Mercedes wasn't answering any of your calls or text, which made you even more on edge.

The two-hour flight seemed to be going as slow as humanly possible. You kept checking social media for any possible updates. You were sending messages to Sasha's closest friends to see if they had been in contact with her.

Pam said she hadn't gotten an answer either and was on the way to her house now. She had offered to pick you up from the airport, which you accepted gratefully.

When you got in the car with her, you could tell that her nerves were just as bad as yours.

" This could be really bad," Pam said as she sped off in the direction of Mercedes house.

" I know, I've seen social media. I've seen the reports and the anonymous backstage opinions, but they don't know Mercedes. She wouldn't just do this for no reason."

When the two of you arrived at her place, there were already a few other cars parked outside. You could hear the yelling from outside.

Whatever you were about to walk into was not going to be easy to navigate. You unlocked the door with Pam trailing behind you.

" Mercedes, calm down," an Irish accent rings through your ears.

" Why should I have to calm the fuck down? They're putting full blame on Trin and me. Let's not act like we don't know why? I'm so fucking tired of this shit."

" We know that, but there's nothing we can do about it now," you can hear the tall blonde trying to de-escalate the situation.

Your eyes widen slightly, hearing both; Ashley and Becky in the same room. You didn't revel in the shock for too long before entering the living room.

Mercedes was pacing back and forth. Ashley and Becky were on opposite sides of the room, trying to comfort her. Trin was sitting on the couch in between Jon and Josh.

" Mercedes," eyes were now on you, and your girlfriend stopped her movements.

She pointed at you," Are they hiring over there where you work? Do they want the biggest name in the professional wrestling industry? I'll take the pay cut, I don't care. All I want is-"

You walked over to her and wrapped your arms around her waist. She immediately buried her head into your chest. After a few deep breaths, she regained her composure.

Her hands fiddled with the end of your shirt," How did you get here so fast?"

" I took a plane as soon as I heard. We don't have to talk about it, in fact, I don't think talking about it will do anyone any good."

Mercedes slips out of your grasp and takes a seat across from the Usos and Trinity.

" I'm so sorry I dragged you into this," she picks at her nails.

Trinity shakes her head," This was the right choice. Someone needed to do it, but not everyone is ready for that conversation."

Pam took a seat next to Mercedes and the three girls began to converse. You were going to join, but Ashley and Becky were giving you a look.

You headed for the kitchen, and the two women followed you. Ashley stood next to you and Becky stood across from her. They both gave each other an awkward look before clearing their throats.

Becky started," I'm not going to bullshit you Y/n, this is not looking good for either of them, but especially Mercedes."

" Trinity could possibly bounce back from this, but this could be the end of Sasha banks. The company is really focused on making Mercedes out as the big problem," Ashley explained.

" You think they'll fire her?"

This time, when the women share a look, it's somber.

" It's too early to tell," Becky says.

" But, it's definitely a possibility," Ashley finishes the thought.

You sigh, rubbing your hand over your face," Thank you for setting aside your differences for this, but I think I've got it from here."

They both nod and give you hugs separately before leaving. When you make it back to the living room, everyone has cleared the house. It's just Mercedes sitting there staring off into the abyss.

" Mercedes," she glances at you and her eyes begin to water.

You take a seat next to her and pull her into your side. Her head falls on your shoulder as you rub up and down her arm.

She sobs into your shoulder, and you just hold her tighter. You kiss the top of her head," Talk to me, baby."

" All I wanted to do was showcase the titles. They put the titles to fill some sort with diversity quota, but didn't bother to build the titles. They haven't meant anything since Pam and I held them, and that's not fair. Someone needed to stand up for them, and so I did… but now," she trailed off, tears welling back up.

" You did the right thing, but the right thing isn't always without consequence. You've given so much to this business. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase your legacy. WWE is not the end all be all anymore, you can go anywhere. Mercedes, you are a star, and they can't take that from you."

" I love you," she placed a kiss on your lips.

You smile at her," I love you more."

You sit there, entangled in each other, for a few moments.

" So, you never answered my question."

You arch an eyebrow at the blue haired woman.

" Are they hiring?"

You laugh," If I had to share a locker room with you, I'm not so sure, I'd be able to control myself."

She flipped her hair," Well, obviously that's why I'd have my own private changing room."

The sarcasm in her voice made you chuckle even more," Am I invited or?"

She taps her chin in faux-thought," I don't know, what do I get if I let you in?"

You smirk," You can have whatever you want, you're the boss."

Her eyes darken for a second," I can't really be sure if I can let you in unless I take you for a test drive."

" Upstairs?" You wiggle your eyebrows.

She cracks under your antics but agrees," Upstairs."

You pick her up bridal style, which makes her squeal. You two go upstairs in a fit of laughter, smiles, and kisses.

Mercedes would get through this, but until the storm passed, you'd make sure to be her umbrella.

[corrodedseraphine]

4th of july | hughie campbell x fem!reader | one shot

Pairing: hughie campbell x fem!reader

Summary: As a Frenchie's sister, your place in the group was automatically assigned. From the very beginning, a relationship between you and Hughie was different from the rest. Shy glances and smiles awakened little butterflies in your bellies, which exploded like fireworks in the sky on the evening of July 4th.

The one shot is also avaliable on Ao3

5 693 words

I got inspired while listening to the song "4th of July" by Aidan Gallagher. I also used "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith.

hughie campbell masterlist | general masterlist

"So what are we actually supposed to do here?" you asked, looking around through the car window. Colorful stalls and decorations stretched across the square attracting more and more people. Today was the Fourth of July, and on this occasion Vought decided to hold a huge event to which all residents of New York were invited. Of course, the entire Seven was also present there. Butcher immediately saw this as an opportunity to steal some documents from the tower. He wanted to take advantage of their lack of attention so together with Kimiko, Marvin and Frenchie they decided to break in there this evening. You and Hughie fell into the role of observers. You had to go to the festival and monitor all the time to make sure nothing suspicious was going on and that none of the supes were leaving it. The task seemed all too easy, but you both knew it could only be the calm before the storm.

"Pray that suddenly a friendly family festival doesn't become a bloody massacre." Hughie laughed. "We wouldn't even be able to stop it all."

"What if we were?"

"What?" Without answering, you pulled from your bag a small box containing two vials of green liquid and two syringes. "Shit, y/n. How did you get it?" he asked moving closer to you. You ignored the shiver that went through you.

"You could say that Billy has a very dead sleep." you shrugged your shoulders. "I thought it might be better to be prepared if they suddenly needed our help, or if something went wrong here."

"Forewarned is forearmed, right?" From the moment you first stole Butcher's temporary V, you had to admit that the power you felt then was addictive. It was pleasant not to feel fear, at least for a while. You knew that Hughie felt exactly the same. "But you promised Frenchie that you would never take it again," he said.

"So hopefully we won't have to use the power and then no one will know anything, right? You're not going to blurt out to my brother, are you?" You knew you shouldn't take it, but the desire to feel powerful was much stronger.

"It will be our dirty little secret." he smiled and took one of the vials from you.

The surge of power and energy you felt when the V started coursing through your veins was indescribable. You felt you had something you had always lacked. Control.

"So... are we going to sit here for a few hours or do you feel like wandering around the stalls and pretending we're there completely by accident?"

"Sounds like a plan." You smiled and got out of the car.

People were swarming everywhere, you had the feeling as if the entire population of New York and the surrounding area was right there. Suddenly you felt someone grab your hand. When you looked back you saw Hughie smiling shyly in your direction. "I can't let you get lost in this crowd." he said somewhat nervously. He was glad that your post-V superpower was not incredibly sharpened hearing because if you had heard his heartbeat you would have guessed right away that this was just an excuse to get closer to you. From the very beginning when you appeared with the team he looked for every possible opportunity to be close to you. From the very beginning there was something between you that made you always find your way to each other, even unconsciously. Despite knowing that you liked each other a little more than you should have, neither of you wanted to take the first step. You preferred to dance around each other and let your feelings lead you freely to the rhythm of uncertainty and tension that was building between you.

The day flew by very quickly, nothing suspicious was happening, so you let both of you enjoy yourselves for a while, forgetting why you were really there. You ate cotton candy, took a ride on the ferris wheel, listened to concerts by small local bands, all the while letting your fingers intertwine from time to time, feeling the butterflies in your stomach awaken with every single touch. Leaving aside the real purpose of your visit to this event and the fact that there was a substance running through your veins giving you superpowers you would have been an ordinary couple carelessly enjoying a date. As it began to get dark you got a text message from the rest of them that everything had gone according to plan and they were just going home, so you also reluctantly headed for the exit.

"What a lovely sight!" an elderly man standing at the dart-throwing stand suddenly exclaimed. "Young man, maybe you'd like to win one of these adorable plushies for your beautiful sweetheart?" Before you had time to say that you are not a couple Hughie was already standing in front of the target and aiming at it. You looked with amusement at the surprise of the man, who could not believe that all the darts hit perfectly in the very center. The smile never left Hughie's face.

"You can choose whichever one you want," he said with satisfaction in his voice.

"Hm... that one looks good." said pointing a finger at a small plush dog.

"Are you sure? Don't you want anything bigger?"

"No, I love it." you said while taking the award from the man's hands. "I'll call him Hughie, how about that?" you laughed.

"As long as it's not your favorite Hughie it can be," he said.

"But just look at him, he's so cute! How can he not be my favorite?" you asked teasingly.

"A kick in the teeth, y/n," he said putting his hand on his chest. "I'll forgive you on the condition that you stay here with me for the fireworks show, how about that?"

"I'd love to, but I have an idea for a better place."

"What kind?"

"I'll tell you in the car, come on."

When you got into the old pick up you started giving him directions and after less than 10 minutes you were at a viewpoint from which you could see the whole festival. The view from the top was beautiful. Thousands of little twinkling lights were spilling below you, and the crowds you were in not long ago seemed incredibly far away. You parked near a small bench and fortunately there was no one else there. You left the car windows open so that you could hear the radio and sat down on the bench close enough that your shoulders were touching. There was an awkward, tense silence between you, which neither of you dared to break. Now all the confidence you felt down there was gone. Your heart was beating harder and harder, and your hands were covered with an unpleasant sweat. You felt a strange tingling in them as if your hand was demanding his touch.

"Dear listeners, now a special dedication to all those who have not yet dared to make the first move. May Steven Tyler's beautiful voice awaken your courage on this beautiful magical evening and make you realize that none of you want to miss a thing." Hearing this, Hughie laughed quietly, feeling as if these words were directed straight to him.

 I could stay awake just to hear you breathing

Watch you smile while you are sleeping

While you're far away and dreaming

I could spend my life in this sweet surrender

I could stay lost in this moment forever

Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

"I love this song." you said quietly however you didn't dare to look at him. You stared ahead admiring the landscape, but he was watching you carefully paying special attention to your lips wondering what it would be like to kiss you. Many times this thought had crossed his mind but now it was a thousand times more intense.

Don't want to close my eyes

I don't want to fall asleep

'Cause I'd miss you baby

And I don't want to miss a thing

'Cause even when I dream of you

The sweetest dream will never do

I'd still miss you baby

And I don't want to miss a thing

How many times did you appear in his dreams? He couldn't count anymore. Every time he woke up from one, he desperately tried to fall back asleep hoping that you would appear in them once again.

"Hey, y/n..." he began uncertainly. When you looked at him he suddenly felt as if he had completely lost the ability to speak.

"Yes?" your voice was quiet, but it reached his heart causing his heartbeat to be comparable to A-Train's during a heart attack. He was unable to mumble anything. He sat like that and, looking into your eyes, begged in soul that you would read from his everything that was going on inside him right now.

Lying close to you, feeling your heart beating

And I'm wondering what you're dreaming

Wondering if it's me you're seeing

Then I kiss your eyes

And thank God we're together

And I just want to stay with you in this moment forever

Forever and ever

"I really want to stay with you in this moment forever." he whispered. Seeing a smile forming on your face he dared to touch your cheek gently. You, without thinking, cuddled your face into his large hand and closed your eyes relishing the moment. Hughie slowly moved closer to you and rested his forehead against yours. Your breaths sped up, and as colorful streaks splashed across the sky he brought your lips together causing you to feel as if those fireworks were exploding inside you. You had waited so long for this moment that with each kiss you desperately wanted more, as if you wanted to make up for all the lost time.

I don't want to miss one smile

And I don't want to miss one kiss

And I just want to be with you

Right here with you, just like this

And I just want to hold you close

I feel your heart so close to mine

And just stay here in this moment

For all the rest of time

"I would definitely want to stop time right now and stay here in this moment for the rest of my life." he said as you pulled away from each other to catch your breath.

"I may not be able to stop time, but I can make you feel that way for a while." you replied while looking toward the sky. Your superpower after taking V turned out to be slowing down everything nearby. You discovered this when, during a trip to Russia, you slowed down bullets that were fired straight at you and your brother. Now everything around you froze. The colors in the sky stopped looking as if they were painted.

"They froze like the stars in the sky." he said. "They reflect in your eyes in a beautiful way."

"Yeah, but I can't keep them like that any longer," you replied laughing.

"It's fine." he said. "Can I..."

"Yes." you said interrupting him. You knew perfectly well what he wanted to ask. Hearing this, he brought your lips together again in a sweet kiss.

"Hughie?"

"Yes?"

"Can you promise me that when we return to the gray reality again and we will be consumed by another mission you will not forget what happened today?"

"Why should I forget?"

"Memories like to fade," he said.

"The best ones always last. Besides, I have a feeling that there are many more similarly beautiful memories ahead, y/n."

"Even if time moves on, I will keep lookin' back to tonight," you sighed. "I will always go back to it."

"Me too." He replied quietly kissing the top of your head. You felt a smile creep onto his face again immediately after.

When, unfortunately, your time together came to an end Hughie drove you back to the place where you lived with your brother and Kimiko, and he himself returned to his apartment. When you opened the door you almost tripped over the bag that stood by it. When you looked closer you saw that it was filled with your belongings.

"Serge? Kimiko?" you called out going deeper. At the sound of your voice they both left the room. Kimiko had tears in her eyes and your brother barely looked at you. He was furious. You had already guessed what had happened. Wordlessly, he handed you a phone that showed a video of how fireworks suddenly froze in the sky.

"Why?" he asked.

"Serge... I can explain." you felt panic rising in your body.

"You promised! You promised never to take that shit again in your life!" he shouted. "Why the hell did you do that?!"

"I wanted to feel better! That I had control over something!"

"What fucking control are you talking about?! The only thing you had control over was whether that shit got into your system or not!"

"What if something had happened there? What if one of the seven had done something?! What if you guys suddenly needed help? If something happened in the tower!"

"But nothing happened! Everything went according to plan! Also, that's still not enough reason to take it!"

"I know! But if you took it you would understand what I'm talking about, Serge!" you felt tears running down your cheeks. "All our lives we are afraid of something, we are constantly running away from something because we are never safe! Do you remember what happened when our father was getting drunk? He would beat you into unconsciousness, and all I could do was look at it and beg him to stop! And the moments when we had to sell ourselves to the sleazy rich to have anything to eat at all? When Nina forced us to kill all those people? If only I could have had those powers back then believe me our lives wouldn't be so fucked up now! Maybe it would be at least a little... normal."

"But you didn't have them and the fact that you have them now won't change anything. Nothing will ever change our past y/n, but it will change the future because I don't want to see you anymore." his voice was becoming calmer, and that scared you even more. You felt as if barbed wire was wrapping around your heart and tightening, driving straight into it.

"Serge..." saying his name your voice faltered.

"You have betrayed my trust y/n, once again you have done it. Now Vought knows there's some supe with the power to slow down time wandering around somewhere, and they'll definitely be looking for them. You can't stay here, for the near term it's too dangerous. And I can't even look at you." Although his gaze was glued to the window you could see tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. From the very beginning, the two of you were inseparable. Growing up with an unbalanced alcoholic father from an early age, you had to learn how to take care of each other, so you went through every worst situation in life together. You could always count on each other, and now suddenly you were supposed to disappear from his life?

"I've done so many awful things in my life, and it never bothered you..."

"Taking V is the worst thing you've done."

"Bullshit! You took much worse things yourself, after which you almost died more than once you asshole! You took things that could kill you in seconds!" you didn't know how you felt. You were furious that he didn't even try to understand you. You were hurt that after all you've been through together he just so simply wants to remove you from his life. He saw you murdering people and never hated you because of it. He was always there for you and helped you cope with all the darkness that engulfed your life. He did everything to be the best big brother to you. You both were each other's support and motivation to stay alive. Now that was about to change. Now you would be left all alone like a country dunny.

"And I'd rather die than take V!" he yelled. "In your bag are the keys to the apartment in Larchmont and a bus ticket." he added more calmly. "Leave your old phone here, you need to find something new."

Feeling resigned, you picked up the bag and turned to leave. Before you could grab the door knob you felt someone grab your wrist. It was Kimiko, whose eyes were shining with tears. You hugged her tightly.

"Hughie didn't know anything." you said before leaving. "He didn't know I took V." you lied. You could no longer be saved by anything though, you could save him from all this.

With pain in your heart, you left the apartment and headed for the bus stop. Sitting there, you looked at the little plush dog you held in your hands. You wondered how such a beautiful evening could have turned into the worst of your life. As soon as you gained something beautiful you immediately had to lose it along with everything else you loved. You had never really been alone in your life. Now you had to face it at a frighteningly fast pace.

It's been a week since you left, at first Hughie thought you were avoiding him after everything that happened at the festival, but he knew you weren't the kind of person who just disappears like that. He tried to contact you many times but each time was met with no response. He explained to himself that if you had made up your mind and decided that you didn't feel anything more than friendship for him after all, you would surely have told him. He also wondered if maybe he scared you then? Did it all happen too fast?

"Does anyone know what happened to y/n? She hasn't been here in a long time." He finally couldn't stand it during one of the meetings. Taking the opportunity that Serge was out of the apartment he decided to find out as much as possible.

"Frenchie decided to send her to a little rehab from temporary V." Butcher replied.

"What?"

"On the 4th of July, she stole my V and took it. Frenchie found out, got mad and kicked her out of the house. He made her leave the phone and sent her outside New York." he summarized. Hughie felt like someone had just kicked him in the stomach. He probably preferred to believe that he was simply being avoided, rather than what really happened.

"I never thought something would happen that could divide them." sighed MM "I don't know how you couldn't see that he was under the influence of this crap."

"I..." he was in such shock that he had no idea what to say. Didn't you admit that you both took it?

"No more chitchat, we have a mission to talk about." interrupted Butcher starting to explain the strategy. However, for Hughie, these were just indistinct words clumped together into one long sound. His thoughts were completely absorbed in something else.

When Butcher finished speaking, burdened by a barrage of information and feelings, Hughie sat down heavily on the couch right next to Kimiko, who was drawing something. He could see that she had been withdrawn more than usual for the past few days.

"You okay?" he asked.

She picked up her phone and began to text. I miss her.

"Me too." He replied sending her a sad smile.

She told Frenchie that you didn't know she had taken V.

This hurt him even more. The fact that even as your life was collapsing you decided to protect him, and he couldn't do anything to help you. He felt like a damn coward for not being able to tell them the truth.

She said she took it because she wanted to have control. She was talking about all the terrible things that had happened to them.

Suddenly it dawned on him how much pain you must have experienced in your life, and he didn't know most of those stories yet. He wanted to know everything about you, he wanted to know you inside out and accept it fully, because what you had done in the past didn't affect his feelings for you.

"Do you have any contact with her? Do you know where she is now?" he asked. However, Kimiko only shook her head negatively in response and went back to drawing.

He couldn't stand the pain that was spreading throughout his body. The mental was turning into physical. He was furious. Angry at Frenchie, who made the decision that you must disappear from their lives. He was furious at himself for letting you take V. That he didn't stop you. He cursed in his soul that he needed it to feel confident enough to finally take a step toward you. He blamed himself for this and couldn't forgive himself for not telling you to put those damned vials away then.

It's been two months since you disappeared suddenly and very painfully. It is said that time heals wounds, however, Hughie had the impression that his wounds grew even larger and fate sprinkled salt on them every now and then. Every day he looked for your face in the crowd, but to no effect. Whenever the opportunity arose he would rummage through your brother's things hoping to find any contact or address information about you, but he never managed to find anything that would help. He spent whole nights thinking up ways he could reach you, but nothing ever worked out. It was as if you suddenly vanished. Collapsed into the ground and disappeared forever. Thoughts of you being somewhere all alone now haunted him and bit into his brain causing him even more pain. With your absence, happiness was also gone. Nothing gave him pleasure, nothing made him happy. The only emotions he felt were grief, sadness and anger. They consumed him completely. From time to time, he wondered if maybe you had already met someone new and were actually putting your life back together? Maybe you have found someone with whom you feel happy and safe? The jealousy that gripped him at the time made him feel like screaming. He was the one who wanted to be the person who made you smile. He loved your smile. He loved the sound of your voice and laughter. He loved watching you teach Kimiko new things or patiently learn her language. After losing Robin, you brought brightness back into his life. You were the sunshine that chased away the dark clouds.

Everyone was convinced that his bad mood was because Annie had found herself a new boyfriend. He let them believe it because it was more convenient. He didn't even have the strength to deny it, because his heart was broken in truth, but for a completely different reason.The longer he thought about all this, the more convinced he became that he couldn't just let you disappear. He knew he was risking a lot, but you were worth it. You were worth everything.

"I knew she took it." he said when Marvin opened the door and stepped inside. "We both took V then, and I damn well wish I had stopped her from doing it!"

"What?"

"She would be here with us now if I had stopped her! It's all my fault. Now she's not here and I don't know what to do with myself." He nervously walked around the room combing his hair with his hand.

"You talking about Annie?" Marvin was visibly confused.

"Holy shit MM! I'm talking about y/n! Annie and her new guy don't matter to me even a little bit! From the very beginning the only person I cared about was y/n! And now she's gone." he felt tears gather in his eyes. He couldn't help it. Emotions were pushing outward, and he couldn't hold them back. For two months he had kept them inside, but now the dam broke giving them outlet " That day when she showed me that she had picked up those damn vials from Butcher I should have somehow talked her out of the idea. But instead I agreed. I took the damn thing to feel better. To feel confident. To finally stop feeling like a complete loser in life, like a slacker. To stop being afraid and finally do something to show her that I care about her!" he tossed out word after word. "The moment when I grabbed her hand and she didn't take it? Or the one when I won that fucking teddy bear for her? If it wasn't for V I probably wouldn't have even hit the target. And that moment when the fireworks froze in the sky? It was one of the best in my hopeless life! When I kissed her she didn't move away, didn't run away. Damn, seeing her smile right after that made me feel that everything could finally work out! Fuck!"

"You kiss my sister?" through all this, he didn't even notice when Frenchie also appeared in the room.

"Yes, Frenchie, I kissed your sister and I don't regret anything." His hands were shaking with nerves, and single tears flew down his cheeks. He was ready for your brother to go at him with his fists right away, to be honest he was sure it would happen. He wouldn't even defend himself. Because at that moment he didn't care about anything anymore. He missed you and couldn't cope with your absence from his life. "All this time you thought it was Annie who broke my heart, but that's bullshit. Even if I once felt something for Annie it was never as strong as with y/n. I am in love with her, and it was you who broke my heart, Frenchie. You broke it by making her disappear from our lives." He hid his face in his hands. Silence fell between all three of them.

"You really love her?" finally Frenchie asked, sitting down next to him on the couch.

"Yes," he said without thinking. "I know I messed everything up, but I can't turn back time, no matter how much I wish I could."

"I think she needs to hear all that you've said, too." interjected MM looking at Frenchie, who was thinking intensely about something. Your brother had two choices. He could attack Hughie and probably massacre his face or rethink the situation. No matter how angry he was he knew that this anger would not go away for even if he unloaded it on the boy with his fist. But he could also try to understand and give you a second chance. Your relationship with Hughie? Frenchie knew very well that he would never hurt you. He knew from the beginning that Petit Hughie had the purest heart of you all and would be able to take good care of yours.

"I am disappointed." Serge began slowly. "But y/n is my sister and I love her with all my heart. No matter what she does I will always want the best for her." he sighed.

"I think Frenchie wants to say that he forgives you." Marvin laughed.

"I'll forgive you on the condition that this time you swear on everything that you'll never take that shit again."

"I swear." Finally, for the first time, hope awoke in him. "No More V. Never."

"My sister deserves the best, I hope you know that if you break her heart I will kill you in the most drastic way I can think of?"

"I know, but I have no intention of breaking her heart."

"I know, that's why I didn't break your nose when I found out about the kiss. You may be an idiot sometimes, but your heart is good Petit Hughie. That's why I'm able to trust you to take care of y/n the best way you can."

"Will you tell me where she is?"

"I'll take you there, come on." 

The road passed them in silence. All this time Hughie was trying to arrange in his head what he would say once he saw you. However, he was also ready for the scenario that if he saw you with someone else he would not retreat. If necessary he would fight for you, because he knew he couldn't bear to lose you once again. When you finally arrived at your destination they parked under a small tenement.

"I want to talk to her first, so wait here." Frenchie said while turning off the car.

You were lying on the couch cuddled up with plush Hughie when you heard a knock on the door. Startled, you opened the door, and the sight of your brother completely caught you off guard.

"Can we talk?" he asked, stepping inside.

"I thought you didn't want to know me..." you were happy to see him. The last two months have been a nightmare of loneliness for you. The pain of losing all the people you cared about caused you to isolate yourself from the world and not even try to get to know anyone else. You felt as if you had lost the ability to meet new people and function in society. You cried all days and lay staring at the TV. You lost the desire to do anything. You even ate only when the hunger was already unbearable. The last two months were just existence, because it definitely couldn't be called life. You were daydreaming about what would happen if Hughie found you. You kept coming back to that night with memories of when it all started and ended.

"Y/n Listen..." Serge sighed. "I'm mad, you broke your promises, You betrayed my trust, but that doesn't mean I stopped loving you. You are my sister and even if you stab me in the back I will still love you."

"I'm so sorry frère..." your voice squawked.

"I know that sooner or later I will forgive you, but it will be a really long time before I can trust you again."

"Please let me go home. I'll do everything I can to make it right. I hate being here alone, I can't handle it Serge." You walked up to him and grabbed his hand tightly. Your heart was breaking into pieces, you felt guilty and knew that this feeling would not go away too soon, you knew that you deserved to be punished, but you were aware that you would not last a moment longer here. Your brother also knew this very well.

"Come on, we'll pack up your things, okay?" he said coming closer to you, and you threw yourself around his neck hugging him with all your might.

"I missed you so much," you sobbed into the collar of his jacket.

"Me too sœur, me too." he replied feeling a weight fall from his heart as well.

Anxious Hughie sat in the car nervously shaking his leg. Minutes passed and you were still nowhere to be seen. He began to fear that the situation had gotten out of hand and instead of getting along you would start arguing again, but as soon as he saw you leaving the building all thoughts from his head disappeared. His heart skipped a bit and without even knowing when he was standing in front of the car smiling in your direction. At the sight of him you threw the bag you were holding in your hands on the ground and ran towards him. Your bodies collided with such force that he lost his balance, causing you to land on the asphalt. But at that moment it didn't matter. All that mattered was that you were now in each other's arms. He cupped your face and looked deeply into your eyes, which were glassy. Tears began to flow into his as well. This time they were a sign of joy and emotion. Pure happiness enveloped you completely.

"Are you crying?" you asked with a giggle.

"You are crying too." he replied still smiling. He corrected his position by sitting down on the ground, and you sat across from him and close enough that your foreheads touched.

"I missed you so much." you whispered.

"I kept thinking about you, remembering everything," he said grabbing your hand. "And I know that memories fade, but the best ones will last" he placed a gentle kiss on the top of your hand. "As time moves on, I keep lookin' back,"

"Kiss me like it was the 4th of July".

"When fireworks froze like stars in the sky?" you had the feeling that your heart was about to fail. Seeing Hughie's world's cutest smile as he held your hand it was melting at an incredibly fast speed.

"I thought you had forgotten..."

"I'll always remember the 4th of July and the look in your eyes... I saw every color of the rainbow in them."

"I didn't know there was such a romantic hidden in you."

"I can tell you more, I can tell you that it was actually you who was like a rainbow that appeared in the sky after a nasty storm. Did I go too far? Too cheesy? If you don't like it tell me, I'll stop right away." His self-doubt at that moment was charming. In truth, the words he said really touched and impressed you. Even if they sounded like they were taken straight out of some cheap, cheesy romantic comedy.

"Just kiss me Hughie." you replied. And he closed the gap between you without a second thought. The world around you ceased to exist. You didn't care that you were sitting in the middle of the parking lot. What mattered was that everything seemed to be getting back on track and you had the people you loved and who loved you with you again.

[vash-the-trans-catboy]

An Anniversary Worth Dying For

Summary: Tomorrow is Virgil and Logan’s fifth wedding anniversary. Logan has been hard at work creating Virgil a perfume that will have a calming effect to it. Unfortunately, the perfume and a poison Logan was experimenting with look very similar.

Pairings: Analogical (Virgil x Logan), background roceit (Roman x Janus)

TWs: Poison, major character death, grieving over death, hurt no comfort, warning this is an angsty one

Word count: 1358

Tag list: @prince-rowan-of-the-forest @ishipgenfics (let me know if you want to be added)

AO3

Logan has been locked away in his lab for the past few days. He is always secretive about his projects, especially when it has to do with me. Tomorrow will be our fifth wedding anniversary.

I walk past Logan’s lab for the ninth time today, hoping the door would be open. There is still a sign up that reads ‘Please do not bother me while I am working unless there is an emergency. An emergency only counts as one of the following: A fire has broken out in our house, you are seriously injured beyond needing a band-aid, or one of our close family members or friends has died or is in the hospital. If none of the above apply, please wait until I am finished to speak with me.’ It might not seem lovable at first glance, but Logan’s attention to rules has always been one of the reasons I fell for him. He has always been my stability in a world of chaos.

I let out a sigh when I see his door closed with the sign still up. I understand Logan’s work is important but I wanted to spend the evening watching a movie with him. It’s been a tradition of ours; Every year the night before our anniversary we would choose a historical movie to watch.

I’m letting the movie tradition slide for now, because I know he is currently working on a present for me.

As I’m aimlessly pacing around the halls, the door opens and Logan steps out. He looks disheveled, chemicals stain his lab coat. “Sorry I took so long. Were you waiting?” Logan asks before pulling me in for a quick kiss.

“I’m just a bit impatient,” I laugh as I answer.

“We’ll start movie night in just a few minutes. Let me shower and change out of my work clothes before we start.” Logan says before he disappears into our bedroom.

I know I shouldn’t, but curiosity gets the better of me. I look up and down the hall, making sure the coast is clear before I slip into Logan’s lab. The door gently shuts behind me.

On his work table, there are two identical bottles, both light purple in color, sitting next to each other. Near the top of the table is a label, in the same handwriting as the sign on the door, that reads ‘anniversary present for Virgil: Test number 67- perfume that smells like lavender while having a chemical compound that creates a calming effect to soothe nerves and anxiety.’ I smile to myself. I couldn’t have possibly picked a better person to spend the rest of my life with. Logan is the most thoughtful person I have ever met.

In the hallway, I hear our bedroom door open and then close. Logan’s voice blends into the background. I vaguely hear him calling my name. Before I sneak out of his lab one sniff of this perfume won’t hurt. Tomorrow I’ll pretend as if I have never smelled it before.

The door to the lab opens as I take a sniff of the bottle to the right. I quickly put down the bottle as he walks in.

“Virgil, what are you-” Logan stops short when he sees me holding the bottle. His face looks very worried, “Which bottle did you just smell?”

Oh shit. I didn’t want Logan to know I knew about his surprise. The room starts to shake, most likely from the anxiety of being caught.

“The right one. Why?” Some of my vision goes dark for a second. The room is spinning now.

“No. No. No. No.” Tears start rolling down Logan’s face as he rushes towards me. “This can’t be happening.”

I don’t understand what’s going on. The floor slips out from under my feet. I black out. A second later I woke up in Logan’s arms. His face is blurry as is everything in the room.

“L-Logan? What happened? Why are you crying? How did I end up on the floor? Why won’t the room stop spinning?” Red spots coat my vision. I take a deep breath only to feel a burning sensation in my lungs. I start to cough to try to get rid of the pain but it only makes it worse.

“I’m so sorry. This wasn’t meant to happen. Why did the bottles have to look so similar? I knew it was stupid to keep this failed experiment lying around.” Logan sobbed as he held onto me.

Every breath was excruciating. It felt like there was a hole burning through my lungs.

“I love you, Virgil.” My vision blacked out again as Logan repeated ‘I love you. I love you’ over and over again.

I tried to say it back but my vocal cords felt like someone lit them on fire.

“I lo-” After two syllables my voice cut out. Everything went dark for the last time.

………………….

The day before our fifth wedding anniversary was the worst day of my entire life.

I walked into my lab to find Virgil staggering after he sniffed a bottle of deadly poison. His death was completely my fault. Next to the poison was a bottle of anxiety-calming perfume. I was the idiot who put them side by side.

I ran over to Virgil. Tears already streamed down my face. Right as I reached him, he collapsed in my arms. Words tumbled out of my mouth. Streams of apologies. But no apology will ever make up for this. The love of my life is dead, and I have to live with the memory that I killed him.

I held him for 15 minutes before he died. His breath sounded like someone was strangling him. His face turned bright red and tears ran down his cheeks. His body convulsed as the poison took effect. His lungs breathed in a pattern that should not have been possible for a living being. Even during Virgil’s panic attacks, his breathing had never sounded this haggard.

15 minutes after smelling the poison, Virgil went limp in my arms. I pull his body closer, crying over his corpse. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. We had our entire lives to spend with each other. I’m never going to hear you laugh again. I’m never going to hear you make a snarky comment again. I’m never going to hear your dry humor or your sarcasm again. Please let this be a bad dream. I’m going to wake up and you’ll be there next to me alive and well, right?”

The funeral was small. It was only Roman, Remus, Janus, Patton, and myself. Virgil was never close to his family. We didn’t bother telling them he had died. I don’t remember much of the ceremony. I sobbed through the entire thing. Everyone held me tight and cried with me.

After a week I couldn’t stand the quietness anymore. At 3 am on a Tuesday, I rang Janus and Roman’s doorbell, then hysterically cried on their doorstep until they answered. Worried faces greeted me as they pulled me inside. Everything has been duller since you left. Roman wrapped me in a blanket. I sat sandwiched between the two of them for hours crying until I finally fell asleep. It was the first time in a week I slept more than 5 minutes.

The next morning when I was half asleep I heard Janus whispering on the phone. Two hours later, Patton and Remus arrived with a few boxes. Roman sat with me, running his fingers through my hair as they unloaded my stuff into the guest bedroom.

“We all think it would be best if you weren’t alone for a while,” Roman whispered to me.

My voice was hoarse from all the crying and screaming. The first real sentence I spoke in a week came out broken. “T-this isn’t re-real, r-right?”

Janus took my hand and gave me a look of pity, “I’m sorry, honey, but it’s real.”

I closed my eyes in defeat. There shouldn’t be any universe where I have to survive without my Virgil.

[observeowl]

Seeing Red N.R

Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Summary: R found Natasha in with Steve against her will

Your POV I was going over to find Natasha, she should be in her office at this time of day when I heard groaning and grunting from Steve’s room which I thought was odd. He should be in the office too, who would be in his room? 

I looked into his room and to my surprise, I saw Steve fucking my girlfriend. Rage went over my head and I burst open the door and pulled him off Natasha and punched him in the face. “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” 

I slowly turned my head to Nat. “Did you consent to this?” Holding my breath as I hoped for a certain answer. She shook her head as she pulled the cover closer to her. 

“Y/N… wait.” Steve started trying to explain. 

I was shivering with anger as I stepped closer to him. My blood pressure was rising as I punched him in the face and he dropped to the floor. “You. Fucking. Piece. Of. Shit. How dare you!” I kept punching him repeatedly with each word until his face was disfigured. Even his super serum self would have a hard time repairing his body. 

“Y/N stop! You’re going to kill him.” Natasha pulled me back as I tried to continue hitting him. 

“Let me go! I’m going to kill him.” I struggled against Natasha’s grip on me as I tried to reach him.

“Stop. He’s not worth it. Please...” I stopped resisting and gave him one last kick before pulling Natasha with me out of his room. 

I looked at Nat, not knowing what to say. Normally, I’m the one who needs comforting and now that the position is switched, I have no idea what to do or say. “I’m fine. I'm going to shower first okay?” I nodded my head and watched her enter the bathroom.

I was unable to keep still, biting my fingernails as I paced around. How could Steve do this?  My rage had subsided but I could still feel the anger flowing through me. I had no idea Nat came out from her showers until she wrapped her arms around my waist. 

“Calm down… Calm down…” 

I turned to face her, still shaking from anger. “How are you so strong?” She was the one who needed comforting, not me. 

“Because I have you with me. You saved me. Things would have been different if you just walked away.” She cupped my cheeks and made me look up at her since I was shorter.

“I couldn’t.” I spoke softly.

“That’s why I love you.”

I nodded. “Are you really okay? There’s no way you’ll be fine after that.” 

“I will be. We’ll see how it goes. I know you’ll be here with me.”

She held my hand as we went back down to where everyone was. They were confused as to why Steve's face was bruised since he didn’t go on a mission and was fine in the morning. I felt Nat squeezed my hand and I kissed her cheeks before walking over to Steve. 

“If I ever see you within 5 meters of Nat. Not even Natasha can stop me from putting a bullet in your brain.” I said seething with anger. After our interaction, anyone would have guessed that I was the cause of his injury. 

I kept Nat close to me as we had our dinner and kept glaring at Steve who was sitting at the other side of the table. 

“Are you okay?” I asked again as we were back in bed.

“... Traumatising.” 

“I’m sorry… was that…”

“You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“I should have saved you sooner.” Feeling guilty that I couldn’t do anything about it.

“I’m just glad that you didn’t walk away, that you trusted me.” Nat turned to her side to face me and I did the same. 

“I really love you.” I wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of the possibility that she was going to leave me.

“I love you too.”

[0nlythrowharrybeaux]

Wonderful World - Part 7^

Hello friends! So sorry this is super late, it's our first week back from spring break at the university and we're short staffed so I've been running around like a headless chicken! Also this chapter is extremely eventful and it is a little sad.

A/N: Apparently this blog has been shadowbanned so that could be why my tags haven't been working ☹️ I'm just waiting for Tumblr support to get back to me now.

Series Masterlist

Warnings: homophobia, LGBTQIA2S+ centered issues, mentions of bullying, cyberbullying, suicide, and panic attacks, toxic parents, verbal arguments.

WC: 10.7K

Diana was as quiet as possible as she got up in the morning, Celeste was still out and after the day she had yesterday, she didn’t want to disturb her much needed sleep. The rage Diana felt festering inside of her had not gone down for a second, she was still livid and hurt that someone else would do such a horrifying thing to her child. And not just another person, no, another child had done this and that blew her mind. She literally zoned out as she tried to piece together what she would say without losing her shit, which she knew would be extremely challenging. She knew of one person who could help keep her in check, but she couldn’t go that route. 

“Mom?” She heard and turned around to see Celeste rubbing her eyes behind her.

“Que paso, mamita?” She asked.

“Tell me how it goes?” 

“Of course.” Diana smiled and Celeste came over and she hugged her tight, “How are you feeling?” She asked more seriously.

“Just…sad I guess.” She said and Diana frowned, “Like I don’t know what I ever did wrong and how all these people can just go along with everything that was being said and done? Like they don’t even know me so why would they want me to…you know?” She asked with a frown.

“Yeah, I get what you mean.” Diana assured softly, “And listen, I will fight for you, I will do anything in my power to make sure that the school does the right thing. And I mean, I know Geri and Ozzy are at the same school but if you don’t feel safe or comfortable there we can look into another option for next year, just say the word. OK?” 

“OK, thank you, mom.”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

After Diana got dressed she gave Celeste a big kiss on her forehead and hurried to her school. When she walked into the office Ethan perked up.

“Ms. Beltran, hey.” He smiled.

“Hi, Ethan.” She smiled back, he was always so sweet, he wasn’t deserving of her bad attitude this morning.

“Ummm, Megan and her mom kind of beat you to it.” He said and Diana sighed. She was shocked because she was 10 minutes early.

“Alright.” 

“I am so sorry about what happened, by the way.” He added in with a frown.

“Yeah, me too.” She said with a tight-lipped smile, “I’ll see you later.” She said and he nodded before she went on back. She was was about to open the door when her phone started to ring and she sighed and fished it out of her bag to see Harry calling. Diana sighed before she stepped aside and answered the phone, “Hello?”

“Hey, i-it’s me. Harry.” Harry said and she couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“I know, I do have your number saved, you know?” She said and he chuckled a bit nervously.

“Right. Ummm, I was just calling to check in before the big meeting. See how you’re doing? A-and Celeste too, of course! How was she feeling this morning?”

“Celeste is still upset, understandably so. But she’s resilient, she’ll get through it. Obviously, I want to just make sure that we do this on her time, I don’t want to rush her into getting back here, especially if they don’t do anything about this.”

“Right. Were you able to talk to Rebecca?” He asked.

“Yeah, actually. I’ve got a few empty threats up my sleeve for now because well, I’m not going to sue another kid.” She said and he chuckled, “But it was helpful to know that there are things I can do about this if the school can’t help.”

“Good, that’s good. And what about you?”

“I’m fine. I just…I’m keeping calm.” She said before she exhaled and he chuckled.

“You’re gonna bite their heads off, aren’t you?” 

“I’ve been preparing what to say since last night because I don’t want to be a bitch-”

“Hey, that’s your kid that they’re hurting. You’re not being a bitch, you’re doing what any good parent would do. Obviously, you don’t want to get out of hand, but it’s OK to be angry. I’m angry and she’s not even my daughter.” He said with a chuckle and Diana smiled a bit, “If I were there…I don’t even want to think about how I might react.” He said and Diana smiled.

“That bad, huh? For someone who doesn’t want kids you seem to get it.” She chuckled.

“Kid or not, she’s a person. A person that I know and care about, how can I not be upset?” He said with some frustration laced in his voice. Harry wished he could be there and advocate for Celeste and her wellbeing. Harry didn’t work with a lot of kids in his practice now, but from his residency and even his training back in England, he knew that he had a huge soft spot for them. And well, he thought he would be treating Celeste for her depression, but it turns out there was a lot more going on to cause that and he just wanted to make sure that something was being done to make it better. 

Especially after yesterday, it was rare for him to feel so helpless. He had never been with a client and felt like he had no idea what to do. He knew from personal and professional experience what to do during a panic attack, but he just saw the state she was in and he freaked out. He was far too worried about her that he just didn’t know how to help except to hold her and assure her that she would be fine. It was scary.

“Right.” Diana sighed, “Look, I need to get in there, but thank you for calling.”

“Of course. You’ll do fine and I hope it goes well.”

“Thank you. Bye.”

“Bye.” He said and they hung up. Once Diana put her phone away she headed inside the office and Megan, her mother, and Principal Whittaker all looked over at her.

“Good morning.” She said and the only person who responded was principal Whittaker. Shocker.

“Thank you for joining us Ms. Beltran as we try and work out the issue at hand.” The principal said.

“Issue?” She asked with a frown, “My daughter had a panic attack as she read an anonymous page suggesting ways in which she should kill herself.” She said and immediately Megan looked down into her lap. If that wasn’t proof of guilt what else could it be? 

“Ms. Beltran-”

“And you think my daughter has something to do with this?” The other woman spoke up and Diana glanced to her.

“Well, given everything she has done to her over the last school year…” Diana said.

“Mrs. Freeman, Ms. Beltran, I assure you we’ll get to the bottom of this.” Principal Whittaker said and they both turned to her, “Now Megan, you will need to issue a formal apology to Celeste for what happened before.”

“I will.” She sighed.

“Good and now in terms of this page that was created, it’s still up and-”

“It wasn’t me!” She raised her voice and Diana wanted to roll her eyes.

“I’m not saying it was you, I just want it gone by the end of the day-”

“The end of the day?” Diana interrupted as the rage she felt started to reach its boiling point, “Are you serious? I want it down immediately. They posted a picture of my daughter-”

“Yeah, drenched in period blood. What kind of mother doesn’t prepare her daughter for things like that? Huh?” Mrs. Freeman cut in with a scoff  and Diana turned to her, eyes black with anger.

“And what kind of sick, piece of shit, monster makes a page putting it to vote if a child should kill themselves and then ask others to give her suggestions?” Mrs. Freeman’s eyes widened as she said this and Diana was also a bit concerned that she lost her bearings, but she couldn’t believe her ears. Megan was nearly trembling in her chair.

“Ms. Beltran, please-”

“No!” She interrupted, “You three listen to me.” She said, “After the incident yesterday my lawyer look into this and there is jail time for threats against someone’s safety online, especially a minor. She was able to find the email linked to the account and the IP address as well. I want the person responsible for conjuring this monstrous and vile scheme out of this place.” She said to the principal and Mrs. Freeman scoffed.

“You’re insane!”

“What if someone had done that to your daughter, Mrs. Freeman?” She asked, “What if it was your daughter enduring torments and walking around in fear for her safety every day for the entire school year? What if someone got on the internet and asked the kids at this school if Megan should kill herself?” She asked with tears in her eyes, “And more than that, what if they told her how she should do it and she had to read that over and over again?” She asked and Mrs. Freeman was slightly frowning now, “What if my daughter reaches her breaking point and she listens to what people are saying?” Diana asked through her tears and then she looked to Megan who was so tense she looked like she’d crack a tooth, “Even if it wasn’t you who made it, you contributed to it-”

“She didn’t!” Mrs. Freeman shouted.

“Yes she did.” Diana said to her and then looked to Megan, “Celeste saw you take the video.” She nodded and Megan started to cry, “Whatever weird vendetta you have against her, it’s one-sided and it doesn’t warrant everything that you and your friends are putting her through.”

“Don’t talk to my daughter, you psychotic bitch!”

“What happens if she kills herself, Megan? Are you ready to deal with everything that will come along with that?” She asked Megan despite Mrs. Freeman’s admonition.

“Well your daughter had to have done something for mine to lash out!”

“They didn’t even go to the same middle school! None of their extracurriculars even coincide! She’s just a mean girl for sport or for status! I don’t know what anyone gains from bullying someone else, but if you can’t do anything more about this I will press charges.” She said to Principal Whittaker and then Mrs. Freeman.

“Ms. Beltran, there’s no need for that, we can come to a resolution here-”

“The only resolution I want to see is an expulsion for the person responsible. I want the person to come forward by the end of the day or I will be telling my lawyer to file the charges. And we have mountains of evidence already.” She said and Mrs. Freeman scoffed.

“You’re fucking crazy, lady!” Mrs. Freeman shouted angrily.

“After everything your monster of a child has put my child through you think this is fucking crazy? You haven’t seen the half of it.” Diana seethed.

“What did you just say about my daughter?” Mrs. Freeman asked as she stepped closer.

“You heard me. Loud and clear.” Diana narrowed her eyes angrily.

“Fuck! I did it! I DID IT!” Megan shouted through her tears. Mrs. Freeman’s face morphed from anger and defense into complete shock as she stepped back and put her hand over her mouth in disbelief. Diana shook her head as she rolled her lips together to stop herself from crying. Hearing it and confirming that the girl sitting just a few feet away from her had done something so awful and disgusting her kid made her heart ache. She wanted to yell at her or hurt her back in some way but she was just a kid herself and it was so confusing to feel that way towards her.

“M-megan, was it really you?” Principal Whittaker asked and Megan sniffled and nodded.

“I just…I hate her so much!” She groaned and Diana frowned.

“Why? What did she ever do to you?” Diana asked and Megan just looked into her eyes and sighed.

“Does this have something to do with that other girl?” Mrs. Freeman cut in and Megan’s tearful eyes looked to her mom and she shook her head quickly. 

“No, it doesn’t!” She said in a panic and now they were all confused.

“What girl?” Principal Whittaker asked.

“That girl that was harassing, Megan! Geraldine or something like that!”

“Ummm, there wasn’t ever a report made about that.” Principal Whittaker said and Mrs. Freeman shook her head.

“Why didn’t you report that she tried to kiss you in the locker room, Megan? Did she threaten you?”

“Wait, Geri is Celeste’s best friend and-”

“Well they probably threatened Megan to not report what Geri did!” Mrs. Freeman said to Diana who shook her head.

“Umm, Geri’s…not….” Diana stopped herself before she said too much about something that wasn’t her to share. And then she looked to Megan who looked terrified at what she might sat next. It was then that she pieced together what had probably happened. Megan had been the one to try and kiss Geri, she probably liked Geri. And well, Geri didn’t really know what to call it yet, but from what she and Celeste had shared with her in the past she figured that Geri was probably asexual or maybe demisexual. And well, Megan was probably jealous of Celeste and Geri’s relationship. It wasn’t an excuse for her behavior, but considering how her mother was reacting, they probably wouldn’t react well to Megan liking girls.

“Oh please, these LGBT people are so pushy and radical!” Mrs. Freeman shouted in anger.

“I can assure you Mrs. Freeman that we take any claims of sexual harassment very seriously and if something had been reported we would’ve followed up. And there must be some mistake here because Geri hasn’t received so much as a detention during her time here.”

“See, when you give these kinds of people an inch, they take a mile! And now my daughter’s rights are being violated! No matter how hard we try to include everyone all the normal people suffer!” Mrs. Freeman vented her anger loudly and Diana scoffed.

“You have no idea what you’re even saying, ma’am.” Diana frowned. She was holding back from going off because it wasn’t her place to try and make this woman see reason, especially about something like this and what it meant for Megan, her own daughter.

“Megan, if this is something that you want us to look into we can certainly do that.” Principal Whittaker said to her.

“No, it’s alright-”

“What do you mean?!” Mrs. Freeman shouted at her in exasperation, “If anyone should be punished it should be that girl for her disgusting, immoral, and-”

“I kissed Geri!” Megan suddenly shouted with tears running down her face and then she swallowed thickly. once again Mrs. Freeman looked shocked. Diana and Principal Whittaker were standing there awkwardly for a moments as a very tense silence took over the room.

“If you need to talk with your mom we can give you some space.” Principal Whittaker said after several moments. 

“Why the hell would you do that?” Mrs. Freeman said instead.

“I just…thought she was pretty and just did it! It was stupid. I told her that she better not tell anyone anything or else.” Megan cried and now Diana felt so awful for her.

“You’re damn right it was stupid!” Wait until I tell your father about this.” Mrs. Freeman berated her.

“Well, back to the reason we were here,” principal Whittaker said, “Megan still put that page up, which is completely unacceptable and there needs to be a consequence.”

“So that’s it then, she’s expelled?” Mrs. Freeman sighed.

“Well, based on the gravity and nature of the offenses Megan has committed I’m afraid that expulsion is an option.” Principal Whittaker said to Mrs. Freeman and Megan, “However, this is a process, we can’t just expel her. We submit a recommendation to the school board and then they’ll need to review the evidence before addressing it and voting on it at the school board meeting.” She explained, “Both parties are able to give testimony at the meeting to help give the members a clearer picture of what has happened.” She said and Diana swallowed the lump in her throat. 

“I don’t want to get expelled all of my friends are here and-”

“Well you should’ve thought of that before you went and did something this stupid, Megan.” Her mother snapped at her and then Megan looked to Diana.

“This doesn’t mean you’ll be expelled, Megan, but these are the steps I need to take.”

“Well what if I apologize to Celeste? What can I do?”

“That might certainly help your case, but you still violated the student code of conduct. You physically injured another student intentionally, you then threatened the safety and wellbeing of another student online, and now you’ve confessed to sexually harassing an unsuspecting student. I’m sorry Megan, but I have to move forward with the recommendation.” Principal Whittaker said and Megan was crying harder now and somehow Diana wanted to help Megan now. Sh was so conflicted, she thought she would feel so happy knowing that she was getting what she deserved but this was a lot.

“Fine. Whatever…I take it she’s suspended for the rest of the week.” Mrs. Freeman said and Principal Whittaker nodded. “Alright, well if that’s all we’re going.” She said flatly, “C’mon, Megan.” Mrs. Freeman said and hurried out of the office and Megan followed behind her, cowering a bit. Right before she walked out she glanced back to Diana and she had never felt so awful in her life and just like that they were gone.

“That woman is a bitch.” Principal Whittaker said and Diana sighed as she turned back to her and nodded.

“I feel so bad…I promise I won’t sue, I just got so angry.” She said and Principal Whittaker nodded.

“I understand, I have kids too.” She assured and Diana nodded.

“I’ll talk to Celeste and see if maybe she’d be willing to make peace with Megan or…I don’t know.”

“Even still, it would take a miracle after what she did with that instagram page.” Principal Whittaker said and Diana nodded.

“Well, thank you for this meeting and for doing what you can. I appreciate it. Celeste is still not doing too well, she’ll probably be back next week.” 

“Of course.” 

With that Diana stepped out of the office and sighed once she shut the door behind her. When she rounded the corner to the reception area she saw Megan sitting in a chair with her backpack and Diana looked around to see if her mom was around anywhere.

“Megan?” She approached her when she saw that she wasn’t. Megan looked concerned as Diana came closer, “I’m really sorry for saying those things about you in there, you’re not a monster or anything like that. I was just so angry and I lost my temper and I should’ve done better.” Diana said and Megan shook her head.

“I deserve it.” She sniffled.

“No you don’t, sweetie.” Diana said, “Obviously, I am upset and hurt by what you did, but fighting fire with fire never helps and I’m the grown-up here, I should do better. So I’m sorry.” Diana said softly.

“It’s OK.”

“And look, I know what it’s like to have parents who…you don’t get along with or who don’t really understand you. They do love you in their own way, but sometimes they can be hurtful.” She said and Megan sniffled as she nodded.

“Yeah.”

“And look, whether you know or are confused about how you feel about Geri or maybe even other girls, just know that, that doesn’t make you a bad person, even if some people tell you that it does. The people who love you will only want for you to be the version of yourself that you’re happiest with. And you’re what, 14-15 years old?”

“15.” She said and Diana smiled.

“You’ve got your whole life to figure things out, there’s no time limit to learning more about yourself, OK? And well, if you ever need help there’s the counselor. I understand that you’ve been kind of forced to work with her.”

“Yeah.” She said with a small smile and Diana nodded.

“Well, that’s actually a really good thing. Take advantage of it, yeah?”

“OK. Can you tell Celeste that I’m really sorry? I was jealous because I thought she and Geri liked each other or something.” She sniffled.

“Of course I will.”

“And like I told Principal Whittaker, I will write that letter too to apologize.”

“Thank you. Take care of yourself, sweetie.” Diana offered her a small smile.

“What’re you doing talking to my daughter?” Mrs. Freeman suddenly asked, her tone shrill and angry and Diana sat up from the spot beside Megan’s.

“I was just apologizing to her for saying she’s a monster. That wasn’t right of me, I lost my temper when I shouldn’t have.” She explained to Mrs. Freeman. The stern and disapproving look in her eyes softened some.

“Oh. Well, Megan crossed the line and you’re right, if she had been on the receiving end of something like this I would lose my shit as well.” She said more quietly and Diana nodded.

“Any parent would.” She assured with a smile and then turned to Ethan, “Have a good one, Ethan.”

“You too Ms. Beltran.” He said and she smiled before she hurried out. 

Diana sat in the car for about 10 minutes just processing the entire meeting. She called Grace and explained what happened and explained how she was feeling after finding out about everything else that was going on behind the scenes. She knew that couldn’t really explain everything that happened to Celeste without outing Megan. However, it was the one thing that would answer the question she had: why was happening to her? It wasn’t her place to share that information with Celeste, as much as she wanted to give her the answer to her question. She deserved to know that it had nothing to do with her. She still felt for Megan and every internal struggle she was having, but that also didn’t justify her actions. Diana just felt stuck a bit and her mind was in shambles as she made her way back home.

“I’m home!” She called out.

“In the kitchen!” She heard Celeste say and she set her bag and wandered in to see her at the counter eating some peanut butter and banana toast. “How was it?” She asked before taking another bite and Diana sighed.

“Well… she confessed to the account and I…called her a monster, I felt bad about it after though.” Diana said and Celeste giggled, “Imagine me, fighting verbally with a child…anyway, she did want me to tell you that she’s really sorry. And well, she’s suspended again this week and the principal is recommending her for expulsion so that’s that.” Diana said and Celeste exhaled and nodded.

“Good.”

“Yeah.” Diana said softly and then bit her lip, “Well, do you want to hang out here or do you want to come to campus with me?”

“I think I’ll stay and be lazy.” She said before taking another bite of her toast.

“OK, but please pick up when I call to check in OK? I just…after everything that happened yesterday I just need to know that you’re doing OK.” Diana said and Celeste nodded.

“I will.”

“Pinky promise?” Diana asked extending her finger out to Celeste and she took it and locked her pinky with her mom’s. “And…you know that you can talk to me and tell me things, right?” She asked and Celeste nodded, “And I know that the point of therapy is to have someone outside of me to talk to and to get help from. I know that you have a good thing going with Dr. Styles and that he helps you, but I just…I need to make sure that you’re OK.” Diana explained, “What you’ve been dealing with is something that most people don’t have to and it can be exhausting and scary and I just need you to know that you also need me in your corner. Which I always will be, as your mom. But I guess what I’m trying to say is that if anything else happens I would like to know. I don’t want to find out when you’re in crisis mode, you know?” She asked nervously and Celeste nodded.

“Yeah, I get it mom.” She responded.

“Good. No more secrets, OK?” Diana asked and Celeste nodded.

“No more secrets.” She agreed.

***********

It had been two weeks since Celeste’s panic attack and during her next two sessions Diana had been present, at Celeste’s request. At first it was good, because he could have a better idea of their dynamic. And well, he could also collaborate with Diana to ensure that Celeste was safe at school and transitioning back into it well. The school board meeting regarding Megan’s fate was coming in 2 more weeks and Harry wanted to know if Celeste wanted to share something, as she was allowed and encouraged to give testimony. He wanted to know which way she was leaning and if she accepted what would she want to say? But he wasn’t getting much out of her. It concerned him because her eyes said that she did want to talk about it and process her feelings about this, but her responses were far too vague  or she’d give a lot of ‘I don’t knows’ now and he felt that having Diana around might have been the reason she was hesitant to share. He knew that Diana just wanted to help, but it was putting some pressure on Celeste that really had no place in the therapeutic setting. So after this second unsuccessful session Harry knew that he needed to talk to Diana.

He was a bit nervous because they weren’t really on the best of terms after he had kissed her at that show. Yes, they would collaborate and put their own feelings aside for Celeste’s sake, but things between them were still pretty “meh”. Celeste was gathering her things as Harry processed Diana’s payment and then he glanced up at her.

“Diana, can I have a minute of your time before you guys go?” He asked and she nodded.

“Celeste, just wait in in the waiting room for me, OK?” 

“Yep! Bye Dr. Styles!” She called and Harry smiled and waved as Celeste headed out of his office. Diana was standing around waiting for Harry to finish up and when he did he sighed as he looked up to her.

“What?” She asked with a slight chuckle and he glanced up pensively, trying to piece his words together in the best way. He was holding his hands, really fighting the urge to crack his knuckles.

“Just, give me a minute, I’m just…trying to phrase this right.” He said and she tilted her head to the side with a smile.

“Just say it.” She shrugged and he looked down into her eyes to find her already looking at his.

“OK…while I think that you being in session with Celeste can be advantageous and appropriate, at times, I do believe that you joining in regularly is not conducive to Celeste’s progress.” He said it so professionally and robotically because he just needed her to know that it wasn’t personal. It had nothing to do with what they had gone through personally, it was just what was best for Celeste. He watched her eyebrows furrow as his words processed.

“How could you say that?” She asked with a frown, “After everything she’s been through, she needs me too!” Diana added.

“I know, Diana. Believe me, I do, but it kind of feels like you’re chaperoning our sessions and she’s not opening up about-”

“Well maybe you’re just not as good at your job as you thought.” She said and as soon as she said it she regretted it. Even more when she saw an offended and hurt expression on his face for a moment, before he looked away with a tense jaw to compose himself before looking back into her eyes.

“I’ve been with her through all of this too and it wasn’t like this before you came in.” He explained.

“Well maybe the panic attack changed things, Harry. If I recall, I had been the one who helped her through it more than you did, and I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but maybe she’s lost some confidence in you.” Diana said coldly and he bit on the inside of his cheek for a moment.

“Based on what you’ve just said I think you’re the one who’s lost confidence in me. And also, you’re making this weird and personal and-” 

“She asked me to be here, Harry! And I will be in session with her until she asks me not to be, OK?” Diana interrupted him. She hated being wrong and right now she was, she knew it too. She was making it weird and personal and this had a lot more to do with her fear about what was going on with Celeste than it did her confidence in Harry or anything else. They had promised no more secrets, but this was the place where Celeste felt safe enough to share anything and that bothered her. It almost hurt her in a way that Celeste preferred to open up to Harry before her; she was her mother for fuck’s sake. Harry exhaled and nodded.

“You’re right, she did. I’m sorry.” He said and she frowned. After shed insulted him and his competence he was apologizing to her? It made her feel like shit, “I’m just concerned that she’s not taking about the board meeting and I really need to know what’s on her mind. If she chooses to speak, what she says will quite literally impact this other girl’s future and with the things she has said before I…I’m just worried that she’ll act out of vengeance and then regret it down the line when it’s way too late to correct anything.” He explained and Diana scoffed.

“Wow, Harry…” she said with shake of her head.

“Don’t do that, Diana.” He said quietly, “You know your daughter better than I do. You know how she is when she’s angry.” He called her out and she looked away from him, because once again, he was right. “And if you’re having a hard time processing all of this, because I can imagine that it’s a lot and scary and just hard, maybe you should consider reaching out to your therapist too and-”

“I think we’re done here.” She said before turning around and walking out the door, shutting it loudly behind her. It made Celeste jump a bit in fear as she glanced up at Diana from her seat in the reception area, “C’mon, let’s go.” She said curtly before they walked out of the office. 

Harry was left standing in his office staring at the door she had basically slammed on her way out feeling so disappointed and angry with Diana’s response. She was acting like a child - he was prepared for her to not react the best, but not like this. She had been so cold and hurtful and it did hurt his feelings. He was trying to talk himself out of doubting himself and his abilities because he knew that Celeste and him had formed a really good and strong therapeutic bond. He had been helping her, there was evidence of that, wasn’t there?

*********

Diana had been very in her head all of Tuesday. She had maybe replayed the conversation with Harry in her head a bajillion times and she felt worse and worse about it the more she recalled it.

“Mom!” Celeste suddenly shouted and she shook her head and groaned as she saw that the pot of tomato soup she was preparing for dinner had completely boiled over and got the stove all dirty.

“Shit!” She groaned quietly as she hurried to remove the cap to let the bubbles go down and proceeded to turn off the burner, “Well great.” She groaned quietly. Celeste hurried over and then flipped the grilled cheese sandwiches on the skillet before they started to burn. She then glanced up to Diana with concern.

“Mom, are you OK?” She asked carefully and Diana nodded before she looked over at her.

“Yes, I’m just stressed about a lot of things.” She explained through an irritated sigh.

“It’s OK, me too.” Celeste assured and Diana turned to her.

“You said you were fine yesterday in session.” 

“I-I know, it was just today.” Celeste fibbed and Diana looked in Celeste’s eyes.

“We said no more secrets.” Diana reminded.

“I know, it’s just a test we have for one of my classes. I’m not super confident about it because of the week I missed.” She said and Diana hummed.

“Promise?” She asked pointedly and Celeste nodded.

“Yeah, I promise.”

“If this has anything to do with the school board or Megan you can tell me.”

“I know, mom.” She sighed and Diana nodded, “Y’know…if-if you don’t want to have me in therapy with you and Dr. Styles I don’t have to be there?” She said more quietly.

“I know.” She said and Diana nodded, “OK. I mean I like being in there, but I don’t have to be, OK?”

“OK.” Celeste smiled and Diana smiled too.

They had their dinner and talked a bit about their days during. Diana reminded her that she would be picking her up right at 3pm from school the next day as Grace had something she needed to do and wouldn’t be able to get her. Once Celeste did the dishes she headed up to start getting ready for bed and Diana got to cleaning the mess she made of the kitchen. Her day hadn’t necessarily been exhausting, but mentally she was just drained and foggy and she well, she felt guilty. Really, really guilty.

**********

Harry was just getting in from the office when his cellphone started ringing with a number that he didn’t have saved. He nibbled on his lip before deciding to just answer it.

“‘Lo?” He asked into he receiver.

“Ummm, Dr. Styles?” He heard Celeste over the line and his immediate emotion was concern that something bad had happened.

“Celeste, hi! Are you alright?” He asked right away.

“Yeah, I am. Ummm…I just…feel really bad for lying to my mom about something.” She explained and he hummed.

“OK, and what is that?” He asked as he set his bag down on the kitchen counter.

“Well, after everything that happened with Megan we made a pinky promise that we wouldn’t keep secrets from each other and that’s why I asked her to come in with me when we talk but…it’s just not the same anymore.” She explained and Harry hummed.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” He responded and she sighed. Right now Harry wanted to just materialize before her and shout a big, fat “I told you so!” In her face, but he needed to just listen to Celeste right now.

“I just feel so bad to tell her I don’t want her there because I know she’s worried. And she keeps telling me that I can tell her if I don’t want her there, but I know it’s going to hurt her feelings if I tell her that.” She explained with a sigh.

“And how do you know that?” Harry asked.

“Because, she’s tough, but she’s also really sensitive.” Celeste said.

“That’s fair. What makes you not want her there?” He asked.

“Just…the fact that she’s my mom and maybe I’ll want to talk about things that she might not…like me to say.”

“Is this about Megan?” He asked and Celeste swallowed thickly but hummed in confirmation, “OK, like what?”

“Like I hope that she gets expelled.” She said more quietly.

“You have every right to feel that way.”

“Yeah, see mom would make me feel like I should forgive her.”

“Your mom’s right about that, you should definitely forgive her, in your own time of course, but you should also really process what you feel first.”

“Yeah and I feel like I can’t do that with her there.” She explained.

“Well, you can never go wrong with saying it like that? Just explain how you feel. I know that it can be scary to say how you feel sometimes, but if it’s what’s best for you I think she will listen.” He encouraged.

“Yeah…I just feel bad. Like it’s not that I want to keep things from her, but I just think it’s easier to tell her about stuff after we’ve had the chance to talk. Because if she has questions I usually know what to say. I’ve had time to talk about it with you.” She said and Harry hummed.

“You know, it might also be that your mum feels that in a way, you’re replacing her with me.” Harry added and Celeste scoffed.

“How?”

“Because, if you two have always talked about things openly before me, it might just make her feel that way. Imagine if Geri or Ozzy got a new friend and they suddenly started talking to them before you about their problems or their good news, how might that make you feel? A bit crumby I reckon.”

“Yeah…that’s true.”

“So just remind her that you love her and that you do want to keep telling her things but after you’ve understood more about what you’re feelings. And hey, there are things that you might tell your mum before me, like if you have a crush on someone or maybe something related to your guitar lessons? Just let her know that she’s still someone you can trust and want to share things with and be honest with but that it’s a little harder to know exactly how to share what you’ve been going through lately.”

“Mmm, OK. That makes sense.” She sighed, “Thank you, Dr. Styles. I’m sorry if I interrupted your dinner or something, I just needed your help.” She said and he smiled.

“Anytime, Celeste. I mean that.” He said and she smiled.

“Thank you, bye.”

“Bye.” He hummed and they hung up.

********

Diana hadn’t meant to listen in to that whole conversation, but Celeste had left her door ajar and had her phone on speaker. Diana had initially just walked up to ask if she wanted to take the left-overs as lunch or if she’d want lunch money the next day. Now she felt worse than before because Harry had been absolutely right and now she had hindered Celeste on her journey to getting better. She quietly made her way back down before Celeste would notice and just decided to not say anything about it until she brought it up to her. She wasn’t upset at Celeste, how cold she be? It was more an upset with herself for acting so immature and going after Harry when he was just trying to help Celeste; he did know her well as his patient and it was his job to advocate for her and what was in her best interest. She needed to swallow her pride and apologize.

********

“Mom, can we stop at the cafe before we go to your class?” Celeste asked as soon as she hopped into the car and Diana nodded.

“Of course, mi amor.” She smiled and peeled away from the curb, “How was your day?”

“It was really good. Well, except for Megan trying to talk to me.” She sighed and Diana glanced over quickly.

“Oh really?” She asked.

“Yeah, she was trying to give me that letter that Principal Whittaker forced her to write.” She huffed and Diana hummed.

“Well, maybe she does have something important to tell you as well?” Diana suggested and Celeste rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, sure…” she mumbled. In a few minutes they were parking in the structure around the corner from the cafe and just down the street for the building Diana lectured on, on Wednesdays.

“Alright, we need to be quick. Do you know what you want?” Diana asked as they stepped inside.

“Yeah, the Mexican hot chocolate frappe.” She said and Diana nodded. She placed her order and then Celeste’s before they hurried off to the side as they awaited their orders. Celeste was telling her something about a paper she had to write for English when someone tapped on her shoulder and she turned around to see a familiar face that she couldn’t necessarily place.

“Yes?” She asked at the woman smiling before her.

“Hi! You’re Dr. Styles’ girlfriend, right?” The girl asked and Diana’s eyes went wide in shock as she recalled the girl that was following him a few weeks prior.

“Ummm, no-”

“Yeah! I’m Sam, his student. He was waiting for you to finish lecturing outside of Dewitt Hall? You two left, hand in hand, all cute and smiley?” She reminded her of that time that she saved him from this girl, “I know this has nothing to do with you really, but might you know what time he’s gonna be on campus today?” She asked and Diana shook her head.

“I don’t I’m sorry.”

“Poo, thought I’d ask. I have some questions about something. Well, anyway it was nice to see you again.” She said and then twirled off to her table.

“You’re dating Dr. Styles?” She suddenly heard and turned around, completely forgetting that Celeste was right there this entire time. Her expression was angry and confused.

“Sweetheart, no! That’s not-”

“Is that why he always wants to talk to you alone?” She asked with disdain and Diana shook her head.

“Baby, no! Listen-”

“You said no secrets!” She seethed as a few stray tears cascaded down her cheeks, “You’re such a hypocrite. I hate you.” She spat before she pushed through a few people and ran out of the cafe.

“Fuck!” Diana groaned and hurried off after her, she wasn’t really looking where she was going and she crashed into a student, making the drop their books and phone, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” She said distractedly, trying to look around the guy to see where Celeste had rushed off to since she heard the door chime. She then looked away just for a moment to help pick up the person’s items and when she rushed out she looked from side to side to see if she caught a glimpse of her anywhere and she didn’t,“Shit!” She groaned loudly and dug around for her phone in her purse but then realized that Celeste’s backpack was slung over her shoulder. Maybe she had her phone in her pocket… she decided to just try and call her and when she heard the deep buzz coming from beside her she groaned again. She took a few deep, calming breaths she was angry now, but she had to let her explain, she knew where her office was, maybe she went there. Or perhaps back to the car? The car was on her way to the lecture hall so she made a quick stop there and didn’t find her there. And she was running late to class, but she just needed to find her. She rushed down the campus quad to her office building and she wasn’t there or in the bathroom there. The security guard at the entrance of the building hadn’t seen her come in either. She had to be around here somewhere, maybe she was in the lecture hall bathroom? And on her way to her class no one was in the stalls either and she rushed out in a panic, not sure if she would be able to hold her class. She wasn’t looking and she bumped into someone harshly and looked up to see Gabe looking at her with concern.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” He asked with a frown. They hadn’t talked in a bit, he was giving her space after they had spoken last, but it was relieving to see someone she knew.

“Celeste ran off in an angry fit and I can’t find her anywhere!” Diana rushed out, her eyes were scanning every person that walked by as the worry started to grow even more.

“OK, we should probably have campus security help find her.” Gabe said and Diana blinked a few times and nodded.

“Right.” She said shakily.

“Do you want me to talk to your students?” He asked and she exhaled shakily.

“No, it’s OK. Look, she was really angry at me over something, she knows where my office is. I think when she cools off she’ll go there.” She reasoned and Gabe nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t have anything going on right now, do you want me to go hangout there?” He asked and Diana sniffled.

“No, you don’t have to-”

“I want to help.” He assured as he placed his hands on her shoulders and she bit her lip to suppress her own tears and nodded, “Hey, s’right. We’ll find her, yeah?”

“Yeah.” She whispered.

“Good. I’ll text you if she shows up.”

“Thank you, Gabe. Thank you so much.” Diana said and he nodded before letting her go to her class and he went off to wait in her building. Diana was only able to lecture for half an hour before she dismissed her class and rushed over to her department’s building. She searched the place top to bottom and didn’t find her there. She went to the foodcourt and Gabe went back to the cafe and still they hadn’t found her. She was rushing through the quad with tears streaming down her face as she informed Gabe that she was going to check the parking garage again and call campus security.

“Sounds like a plan. I’m circling back to your building, alright?”

“OK, thank you. Thank you.” She sniffled and hung up as she rushed down the path as a sob broke from her mouth.

“Diana?” She heard and turned around when she heard Harry’s voice from a few feet away, “Why are you crying?” he frowned as he came up to her and she choked on a sob.

“Your stupid fucking student Sam came up to me at the cafe before class, Celeste was with me. She was like “You’re Dr. Styles’ girlfriend aren’t you?” And she heard the whole thing and she got so fucking pissed and ran off and I haven’t been able to find her anywhere!” She vented through her tears.

“Shit.”

“Yeah!”

“Did you try to explain-”

“Of course I did! But she just wasn’t listening. She left her phone in her backpack, which I was carrying for her and I just, I need to find her.” Diana cried and Harry just grabbed her face and wiped her tears with his thumbs and nodded.

“It’s alright, we’ll find her. Where have you looked?” He asked and Diana sighed shakily.

“The lecture hall, my building, and the parking structure - those are the places she knows the most. Gabe is going to do another sweep of my building, see if she goes to my office.”

“OK, good. Have you called campus security?”

“I was just about to.” She sniffled.

“And where are you heading now?”

“To the structure to see if she’s waiting by the car.”

“Alright. And we can put our things down while we’re at it, OK?” She nodded. On the walk over she called security and gave a description and emailed a picture of her and told them what she had been wearing. She also told them that if they found her that they could call her, Gabe, or Harry. Unfortunately, she was not by the car as Diana had hoped.

“Alright, where else have you brought her on campus?” Harry asked and she started listing all the places they had visited before. They told Gabe to go look at the student art gallery  and a theatre near there where they had gone to see a play a few years back. Diana and Harry headed off to the school of music, they’d taken a tour of it once when they were looking for a guitar teacher for her. “No luck.” Harry sighed as he ran into Diana down a hallway of practice rooms and she sighed as she leaned into the wall and raised her head up to look at the ceiling, hoping that something else would come to mind. He came a bit closer and handed her some tissues, “Grabbed you some when I passed by the bathrooms.” He said and she took them and dabbed under her eyes and then her nose.

“Thank you.” She said looking into his eyes and he nodded.

“Of course.”

“And I mean thank you for-for everything you’ve done. I know I’ve said that before, but I just didn’t the extent to which you helped and I…I accidentally overheard Celeste’s call to you last night.” She said and he looked down at the ground and hummed, “I didn’t realize how much you meant to her and just how much you’ve helped. And I was…cruel and mean and I’m so sorry for insulting you and your competence and for making it weird and personal. You were absolutely right, about everything and I haven’t been able to stop obsessing over it because you didn’t deserve that.” She was crying harder now.

“I forgive you.” He said and she inhaled sharply before she started sobbing and he came closer and just wrapped her in a hug as she cried hard. There’s nothing more humbling and relieving than someone forgiving you when you don’t deserve it. “You’re going through a lot. I can’t pretend to know how much Celeste’s struggles impact you as her mom, but I do see it and I worry too, especially after that fucking instagram page.” He said and she nodded, “Like that’s so much shit to get over, you know? And I’ve never felt…helpless before, professionally. Like I did during that panic attack and when I saw what those kids were saying…it was so scary for me too, so I can’t fathom what it’s like for you. And I’m sure that you’re also hurt and angry and questioning why-”

“I ummm… I know why. Why it’s happening.” She said softly and Harry frowned.

“Have you told her?” He asked and Diana sighed.

“I…I want to but I can’t do that.” She said and he hummed.

“The girl, Megan?” He asked and she nodded.

“They always say the real issue is with the bully and well, what she’s struggling with doesn’t justify her behavior but…if she’s expelled I fear that she’ll be put in harms way too. I mean, her mom was…kind of a bitch.” She said and Harry chuckled and she did as well.

“Apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, huh?” He asked with a smile and she sighed.

“I think in this case it…it has and…I get what that’s like, you know? Having parents that…make it seem like they don’t love you. Or make you believe that love is conditional. Especially having a mother who so clearly shows her disdain towards you.” She explained and he nodded as he listened, “It’s not her fault that she doesn’t know how to deal or process things appropriately and you know after I tore that poor girl to shreds I had to apologize to her because I wanted her to know that it can get better. She’s being forced to see the school counselor since the first thing and well I told her to take advantage while she can. And I know that she really is sorry for what she’s done and she’s been trying to apologize but Celeste has just put up this wall! Which I don’t blame her for that, but…if something happens to that girl because of what we did or what Celeste says if she does speak at the meeting-”

“Hey, that’s not your fault. There are consequences to people’s actions. If she gets expelled that’s her consequence for the way she behaved. You can’t hold yourself responsible for what she’s going through, even though you understand her better now and have learned her struggles. And yeah, Celeste can hold a grudge-”

“You don’t even know…” Diana said and Harry chuckled.

“I think I will soon.” He sighed and Diana shook her head as she looked to the ground with a smile, “You’re so remarkably beautiful inside, Diana.” He said to her and she glanced up to him, “Your ability to rationalize while still feeling everything is so fucking amazing. I’ve never met anyone like you. A person who knows themselves so well and swallows their pride and can love and care and empathize even with the people who have wronged you. You’re so incredible and I think that’s why I…I want to know you and understand you, every single part of you. Like…it’s hard to stay upset at you, even after what you said to me because I just… I knew you’d come around and see reason and that you’d own up to that at the next opportunity. You’re consistent and accountable and that’s so relieving.” He said, “And I’m not saying that you don’t have any shortcomings, we all do, but you don’t let those stop you from being better and better and better and I admire that so much.” He finished, “So even if something bad or unfortunate happens to that girl, I need you to know that it had nothing to do with you.” He stated firmly, “And I also would need you to help Celeste feel the same.”

“Yeah…and well, that’s why I’m so scared with what she has to say because how she’s thinking right now…it’s just anger.”

“I know it is. I know.” Harry said, “I can help her, I know I can, so let me.” He said softly as he looked into her eyes and Diana nodded.

“Yeah.” She responded, “I trust you and I do believe in you, Harry.” She said without any hesitation.

“Thank you.”

“And well, if this situation isn’t evidence enough that we can’t-”

“I know.” He smiled sadly and he looked away, “Maybe in another life…” he said and she sniffled and nodded before dabbing more tears away from her eyes. After a few moments of silence Diana’s eyes widened, “Oh my god, I think I know where she is!” She said and she and Harry hurried off. As they ran through the campus Diana explained that last year when her brother visited he took Celeste to see a classical guitarist play at the amphitheater at the far end of the campus. It was an outdoors one and she remembers Celeste saying something about sitting right up front and seeing everything he did. It was dark now and so they used their phone flashlights to light up the stairs as they started coming down the concrete steps.

“Celeste!” Harry shouted as he went down one set of stairs and Diana another, “God, there you are!” Harry said and Diana rushed over as Harry sat beside her and took her in his arms.

“I’m so happy you’re OK. We’ve been looking for you all afternoon.” Diana said in relief and Celeste glared up at her. She somehow didn’t seem to be upset at Harry, which was annoying a bit, but she didn’t care so much, she was just relieved that she was safe. Diana crouched down before her and grabbed her hands, “Sweetheart, nothing is going on between us.” She said to Celeste and she turned to look up at Harry who nodded.

“Right. We were just pretending because that girl who ran into you guys at the cafe was following me to my car after I asked her not to. Your mom just swooped in and pretended to be my girlfriend so that the other girl would get the hint, you know? That girl was making me really nervous.” He admitted and Celeste smiled a bit before she looked to Diana and back to Harry and giggled.

“You’re a grown-up though.” She said and Harry chuckled.

“So?” He asked in much offense, “We get nervous too!”

“Over girls?”

“Over whatever makes us nervous, girls included.” He said and Celeste chuckled, “Are you ready to go now?”

“Yeah.” She said and Diana stood and so did they. Celeste grabbed Diana’s hand as they headed up the stairs again, “I know you might be mad at me, but can we get sushi for dinner?” She asked and Y/N chuckled and Harry smiled as he listened in.

“Yeah.” Diana responded and Celeste smiled.

“Can Dr. Styles come too?” She asked glancing back to him and then up at Diana. Harry glance to her as well with his lip bitten between his teeth.

“If he wants to.” Diana said, “I also want to invite my other friend who was helping look for you too.” She said and Celeste nodded, “Alright, let me get him on the phone.” She said and called Gabe to invite him as well. They all rendezvoused in the parking garage and Harry said he’d go ahead and get a table as Gabe looked a bit confused to see Harry again in this setting.

“Hey so ummm, on top of Harry working here, he’s actually Celeste’s therapist and Henry’s best friend. Henry is Grace’s boyfriend.” She reminded and Gabe nodded as he recalled.

“Right!” He smiled as he recalled.

“I just wanted to address that before you thought that there was something going on or that I ended things with us over him. Which is what Celeste was angry about, she thought that I was dating her therapist.” She explained and Gabe winced.

“Yeah, not a good move.”

“Definitely not.” Diana agreed with a smile, “So yeah, if you see them getting along really well it’s to do with that.” 

“I appreciate you letting me know. I know that maybe you’re not ready for more, but whenever you are, if that’s any time in the near future you let me know, OK?” He said and she smiled bashfully.

“OK. So we’ll see you over there?”

“Yeah.” He smiled and they split up and as soon as Diana settled into the car Celeste spoke up.

“That’s the guy you showed me!”

“Yeah, it is. But we’re not dating anymore. We’re just friends, OK?”

“Was it because of me?” She asked worriedly and Diana tutted.

“No, mi amor. Just…wasn’t ready for that I guess. Me, not him.” She explained as they peeled out onto the street.

“So does he want to be your boyfriend?”

“I think so, but again, I’m not really ready for a relationship right now.”

“How do you know when you’re ready?” Celeste asked and Diana hummed.

“That is…a really good question and I honestly don’t know. I mean, it’s a little different for me, because like I’ve told you before, the person I have a relationship needs to understand that you’re a priority in my life as well.” She explained, “I suppose I would to be able to trust them, even to look after you.” 

“Was he not doing that?”

“Well, we only went on 2 dates, so we didn’t really get to talk about that kind of more serious stuff yet.”

“What kind of boys do you like?” She asked and Diana hummed.

“Handsome, smart, nice…tall?”

“All boys are tall compared to you.” Celeste said and Diana laughed.

“That’s very true…ummm,” she paused as she just thought about Harry and how dependable, caring, and protective he was, “Just I don’t know…” she trailed off. “And you? Any crushes I should be aware of, missy?”

“Not for now.”

“Not for now…?” Diana hummed and Celeste nodded.

“Yeah, we’re having a spring formal at the end of the month and no one has asked me yet.”

“You can ask too, you know?”

“Maybe I’ll ask Ozzy.”

“Yeah, Ozzy’s cute.” Diana said and Celeste scoffed.

“I guess…he had a girlfriend or something but they broke up so I would ask him to help him not feel bummed about that.” She explained.

“Oh OK, well that’s nice of you.”

“Yeah, if he’s up for it. If not I’m sure Geri and I can just go with each other.” She said and Diana nodded.

When they got to the restaurant Harry was sitting at the entrance waiting for them and stood as soon as they stepped inside.

“Hey, they’re just cleaning up a table for us.” He informed and Diana nodded.

“Perfect, thank you!” She smiled. A few moments later Gabe walked in and they were soon seated.

“This is a gratitude dinner by the way so don’t even think about pulling out your wallets afterwards.” Diana said as she continued looking over the menu and Harry and Gabe both chuckled. 

Harry maybe should not have accepted this invitation, but it was made by Celeste, technically. And truly, Gabe wasn’t so bad. Obviously it did make Harry jealous that he was clearly interested in Diana and well, he was making Celeste laugh a lot too, which was fine, but there was a part of him that wanted it to be him. They had ordered a few appetizers while they each decided on what to eat and Celeste was struggling with her chopsticks so Harry lent her a hand to help her use them effectively.

“-and you know what, my friend Henry says that everyone has their own way of using chopsticks, it just has to be comfortable for you. He says you only need to do it properly when you’re around old people.” Harry explained.

“So I should use them properly now.” Celeste said in all seriousness as she tried to correct her grip and Harry looked at Diana and Gabe before they all burst out laughing, “What?” She asked.

“We’re not the kind of old Harry’s talking about, you know?” Gabe added in and she grinned.

Everything went really smoothly over dinner and it got Celeste thinking about what it might be like to actually have a dad too. She loved her mom, but she did sometimes want more. Like Ozzy’s dad would take him fishing every year over spring break and one time she and Geri went and they had a lot of fun that day. Or some of her other friends would be kind of spoiled by their dads, not that her mom didn’t make her feel special, but it just seemed different. That’s why she really liked when her uncle would visit or when Dr. Styles would hug her, he’d done it a few times now and there was just something different about it. And well, maybe it would make her mom happy too, if she had help. She was trying to picture if her mom would go better with Gabe or Dr. Styles - right now it seemed easier to picture Dr. Styles because she knew him better, but Gabe had been really nice and funny too. She was distracted by some knocks on her door.

“Come in!” She called and soon her door creaked open a bit.

“Hey, just wanted to say good night.” Diana said as she peaked in and Celeste smiled.

“Can you come here?” She asked and switched on her bedside lamp as Diana walked further into the room.

“What’s up?” Diana asked and Celeste sighed.

“I know that yesterday I said I wanted you in my therapy sessions with Dr. Styles, but I kinda miss it just being us two.” She said nervously and Diana smiled.

“I get that.” She said quietly.

“You’re not mad?”

“No, of course not. I think after what happened I was just a little bit overprotective, I’m sorry if I pressured you into bringing me along.”

“It’s OK. So starting next week you can just wait in the reception area.”

“Yeah, of course.” Diana smiled and took Celeste’s hand. She was so proud of her and how Harry just empowered her to communicate and be open even when it came to having tough conversations like this one.

“I love you.”

“I love you most.” Diana said with a smiled.

---- Taglist ----

@sunshinemoonsposts @reveriehs @ottawaoutlander @cherrysulewski @angelbabyyy99 @jessitpwk @here4thefanfics @daphnesutton @gurugirl @justlemmeadoreyou @keriberi @permanentllyharry @matildasatellite

[purplekiwis]

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 (𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐)

Summary: An emergency admission to the hospital gives rise to a series of strange events in your life. By fate, when things take a dark turn, a unexplainable force leads you to Harry. The hospital's shy and perceptive botanist who will help you solve the frightening mystery that links the two of you together.

Genre: Witch AU / Soulmates AU (Green wizard Harry x Seer witch Y/N)

Warnings: Sexual Content (Sub-ish, soft Harry 🥺), Mild Cursing, Witchcraft and Demon Stuff (Nothing too crazy or disturbing, I promise)

Words: 10k

READ FIRST: PART 1

**

Y/N kissed Harry.

She kissed him – and he kissed her back, and they kept kissing until their lips had went numb and sore all the same… and then they went inside the house and cuddled each other to sleep. Bodies glued together despite their swimming clothes still feeling quite wet and sticky, and the usual pleasant scents of their skins being tarnished with the chemically one of chlorine. And it felt good. It felt so good… which is why Y/N was surprised when she woke up on aunt Rowena’s guest room all alone. Had she slept past the witching hour? That had never happened before… Well, except for the times she was sick or had one too many boozy drinks before bed.

Which wasn’t the case this time.

So, she’s guessing it can only have something to do with Harry, because that’s the only logical explanation. Maybe not him directly, but the calming capacities of his energy… and the way the smell of flowers, and freshly washed sheets dancing in the wind practically oozes from his pores. Because sure, they’d had a few cocktails last night, but not nearly enough to leave Y/N feeling tipsy… let alone tipsy enough to crash for the whole night without having to get up in the middle to be, well… a witch. Or to go for a wee. Which speaking of, Harry wasn’t in the en suite bathroom having one like Y/N had first assumed him to be…

She had rolled over in bed and clung to his pillow, giving him a few minutes to come back so that she could persuade him into coming to cuddle her for a bit longer… but the room was all too quiet.

She called for him and got no answer.

Her heart leapt at the thought that he might have slipped away in the middle of the night… frightened over what her aunt had told them hours before. Or worse, for regretting what had happened right afterwards… but his luggage was still sitting on the bedroom floor next to hers, so she figured it shouldn’t be that.

Before she got up and went looking for him however, Y/N checked her phone out of habit, only to find 4 missed calls and a bunch of unread texts from her best friend Margery, asking for a call back as soon as possible.

Y/N’s hand flew to her chest as she pressed the call button, already waiting for Margery to tell her that something had happened with Azura. The cat had a bad temper… and could act like a hell born little imp sometimes. Which was why Y/N usually never left her under anyone’s care for longer than a couple of hours… and this time it had been almost 10 consecutive days.

Luckily her worriment didn’t have time to escalate, as Margery answered the call after two rings with her usual cheery, gleeful tone. “Thank fuck you called! We were about to ring up Salem’s assembly and report you as a missing witch…”

Y/N winced slightly. “Where are you? It’s so static-y…”

“Oh sorry.” There was a shuffling noise from Margery’s side, and then her voice got clearer. “We’re at Pam’s house. Axl’s here too…” That got Y/N to smile, of course they were at Pam's house. In the middle of nowhere, where the phone network was horrible, and the internet was even worse. “Axl thought you had lost your mind for good and drove out of the country with some hot lesbian biker you had married in Vegas…”

“What?” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought. “Did you guys really think you'd get rid of me that easily?”

“Of course not, - Shit. Hold on, I think I lost you.” Margery's voice sounded robotic and far away, as if she were calling from inside a spaceship. Y/N figured she was probably bending over backwards to try to get even one line of signal inside Pam’s cottage, so she chose not to complain about it. “Sorry, I’m back – I don’t know for how long though so tell me everything! How’s Vegas? Have you gone out already? I bet there are so many hot normies there…”

“Hot normies.” Y/N snorted… and huffed and then biting her lip she mumbled “I’ve sort of met someone magical, so… can’t really say I’ve been looking.”

“Excuse me- WHAT?”

Margery’s shout pierced Y/N's eardrums, making her pull the phone away from her ear before she mumbled lowly, “I can't tell you the details right now because he might listen but-”

“He? Who is he? Is he there with you?”

“Um, well… yeah, I mean - I'm by myself right now but…” Y/N got up and walked to the bathroom, just to double check that she really was alone – and as soon as she realized that she was, the babble gushing began. “I don’t know what came over me last night. I just… kissed him, and I thought – I really thought he liked it at the time- but now I woke up and he isn’t here. What if he regretted it so much that he couldn't even stomach to look at me when he woke up?!”

“You’re freaking out for no reason… he’s probably in the bathroom taking a dump right as we speak.” Margery suggested, but Y/N denied that possibility immediately. She had checked the bathroom after all… – “Well then… maybe he’s an undercover vampire? You know they always have to skip the breakfast in bed part…”

“No, of course he’s not a bloody vampire!” Y/N hissed, trying to keep it quiet. “He works at the hospital, inside a greenhouse - under the sun.”

“Wait… you’re screwing the hospital guy?! Oh my god guys, she’s screwing the hospital guy!”

Y/N’s body froze in alarm. “Did you just-” There were laughs and rustling coming from the other end of the line. “Margery! When I tell you these things you are not supposed to let everyone know!” The girl grumbled, but the only response she got were more weird stirring noises and a shout letting her know that she was now on speaker. “…and I am not screwing him- It’s not like that…”

“It’s not like that?!” Axl’s voice broke through the speakers of the phone, his tone pitched with amusement. “Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t you just bitching to Margery about having woke up alone? ‘Cause that seems to me like you went to bed… not alone.”

“We just… slept. Like people do. Every night.”

“Oh…” They sounded a little disappointed. “But why was he there with you anyway? We thought you went to visit your aunt because of that weird omen stuff you told us about…”

“No, I did but- there’s some other stuff going on also…”

“What stuff?”

Y/N huffed deeply, “Do you guys remember what went on at the hospital? With that old witch who ran away?”

“Yeah, what about it? You said you didn't know anything…”

“Yeah well… I didn’t, at the time.” That was a lie, but it was a harmless one. “To keep it short, we found out the witch made a deal with a demon before she ran away… and we’ve decided to investigate a little. We’re meeting with a demonologist today, actually-”

“Wait, wait, wait… you’re meaning to tell us you have been messing with demon stuff without us? That’s whack, Y/N! You know how much we love to read about black magic and all that forbidden, creepy stuff…”

“Oh I know, which is exactly I didn’t tell you… No offense but you’d get too excited and end up doing something careless that would get us all killed…”

“When are you coming back? We should meet at Bones and Burgers just so you could run us through everything… and bring your doctor friend too! We’d like to meet him.”

“No, we won't- do that.” Y/N hissed, feeling flustered. “I told you before that he’s shy. I don’t think he would do well in that kind of environment. It’s too crowded.”

“Come onnnn… are you serious? So, that’s how it’s going to be? You get a little boytoy and now you’re going to start putting us aside…?”

“He’s not my-” Y/N wheezed on the defense, but the muffled laughter that followed had her realizing her friends were just trying to get her riled up. She threw her head back and squeezed the bridge of her nose, eager to move past the topic. “Look, unless you guys happen to know any magical ways to discover the old witch's hideout, there's nothing that you can do to help.” The sudden silence on their part alarmed her… because it was telling that they were starting to consider. “It was a joke, okay? You are absolutely forbidden to go poke into the matter!”

“But-” Their voices sounded simultaneously.

“No! I am not doing this with you. I said what I said. I don’t want you guys getting involved, and that’s the end of the story!” A light knock on the bedroom door interrupted Y/N’s speech, giving her the perfect excuse to hang up without further discussion. “I have to go now, someone’s at my door.”

“No, wait-” They still tried, but Y/N cut them off.

“Don’t forget to check Azura’s litter box, she’s very picky about it. I’ll talk to you soon, bye-bye.” She didn’t give them time to reply before pressing the button to end the call. Her shoulders slumped, trying to push back the unnerving thought that had just come to mind. Would she really get to talk to her friends soon?

Another soft knock on the door brought Y/N back to the reality of the bedroom she was in. “Come in.” She called, with expectant eyes stuck on the gaping door, from where Harry’s curl-framed head popped in just the slightest. “Oh, hi. You can come in, silly.” She added, smiling curiously at how reticent he seemed to be from walking inside, even though she’d given him permission.

He finally walked in, closing the door behind him with a delicate thud. “Sorry, I thought I’d heard you talking to someone and didn’t want to interrupt.”

“It’s okay. I was just about to hang up anyway.” Y/N said as Harry sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. “Have you been up for a long time?”

“Just about half an hour, I think.”

“Where did you go?”

“I forgot to charge my phone overnight and it died. It’s why I got up, ´cause I went to check the time on the wall clock. I was planning to come back, but then I bumped into your aunt and uh… I don't know how she knew, but she knew I liked plants, so she offered to show me a few books,” Y/N’s eyes squinted out of strangeness… as far as she knew, her aunt didn't care much for plants, so why should she have- “and then showed me your old photo books as well.”

She groaned, taking her hands to her eyes. “You weren’t supposed to see those photos…”

“Why not?” Harry frowned slightly. “I liked them. Especially the ones from daycare where you were playing outside with a bunch of huge snails… those were cute.”

Y/N laughed a little at the memory. When she was younger, she went through a phase where she was obsessed with snails and slugs - much to her mother's dismay, because she always wanted to take them home to keep as pets. She made moss beds for them, fed them leaves, and even gave them baths. It was a gross little hobby… but she was happy like that.

“See… that’s embarrassing.” Y/N fretted. “No one ever wanted to play with me ‘cause I was always covered in snail goo.”

“It’s not.” Harry averred. “I swear if we were at daycare together, I would’ve loved to play with your snails. I wouldn’t ask obviously ‘cause I was even more awkward as a kid, but I would’ve sat by myself in the corner wishing you'd come ask if I wanted to play too.”

“You aren’t awkward, you’re just quiet… it’s not the same thing.” She told, scooting a little closer to him on the bed before she added, “Awkward would be when I started having a crush on you and asking if you wanted to play house and be my pretend husband – and father of our snail babies, of course.”

Harry smiled bashfully towards the floor, shrugging one shoulder. “I mean… I think I’d said yes ‘cause I would’ve had a crush too - unless you were a mean kid and not anything like you are nowadays.”

“Are you flirting with me?” Y/N asked with a giddy laugh as she fiddled with her fingers - twisting and untwisting them before her eyes jumped up to gawk at Harry, whose cheeks had just mottled a vibrant shade of pink, perhaps pinker than she had ever seen them before. “I’d like it if you were, but if not, then that’s okay too…” She added through a hesitant bite of her lip.

Harry snickered, still looking rather bashful. “I don’t know how to flirt,” His voice wavered, and then came out in a hurried murmur. “But if I did, then I would- with you, all the time.”

As it turns out, the address aunt Rowena gave Harry and Y/N led to a two-story house surrounded by a tall picket fence in a quiet residential enclave of Henderson.

The first thing Y/N took notice of was that the place didn’t look like an evil lair or an abandoned cottage like she thought it would… you know, with the whole skulls dangling from the front porch's ceiling, a spooky pumpkin patch in the back and a scarecrow a little too realistic for anyone to feel comfortable turning their back to it sort of deal. – As far as the second thing goes, it was that this Lord Darkmore persona didn't look nothing like she was expecting a demon expert to.

She had pictured a severe looking man, dressed in black clothes, with maybe some scars or eccentric tattoos on his face and neck that screamed 'Watch out: I’m into some real funky stuff' – Not a toned-looking wizard picking weeds from the lawn of his garden in a piping tracksuit and reeboks.

The brown skin of his face gleamed like bronze under the sun, long braids were tied in a bun atop of his head to keep them away from his face. He was rather attractive and didn’t look a day older than 47 – what put him right up Y/N’s aunt’s alley when it came to her favored choice of romantic flings. Y/N doesn't want to imagine her relative and this man together like that, but her intuition is hinting that they’re both into fuzzy handcuffs and blindfolds for some reason and she’s having a hard time pushing that undesired information back.

“Mr. Bellamy?” Y/N called, what immediately caught the wizard's attention. He straightened his back up and quickly rubbed his hands together to wipe the dirt off what she was assuming would be heavily calloused fingers. Then, at lazy pace, he began to approach the fence's gate, stopping a couple of feet from the visitors. “Hi, um…” The girl greeted a little gracelessly. “My name is Y/N and this is my friend Harry - we’re here because-“

“I don’t do autographs or take pictures.” He interrupted before she could finish. “The two of you can piss right off my property.”

“No, that’s not why-“ Y/N shook her head quickly, following him around from outside the picket fence. “My aunt, Rowena,” She raised her voice an octave, hoping the name would manage to get his attention back. “She recommended your services because – well, it’s a complicated story but we were sort of caught upon an evil-purposed summoning situation and we were hoping tha-”

“Reena has a niece?” The wizard questioned, seemingly disregarding all words spoken in favor of trying to find any physical similarities between Y/N and her aunt. Spoiler alert, he probably wouldn’t be finding many. “I didn’t know she had family around… I could swear she told me she was orphaned.”

Harry frowned at the news, guessing he was about to witness a similar reaction from his friend. “Yeah, I can sort of picture her doing that…” He heard her say instead. Rowena must've had her reasons. There’s no better way out of introducing a partner to the family, than pretending not to have one, right?

“So, um… Mr. Bellamy…” Y/N insisted, taking advantage of the additional moment of attention he had spared them. “I know your schedule is probably very busy, but we are open to pay extra for out of hours consultation if need to. We've been searching everywhere for someone like you, who is highly knowledgeable in demonology and well, since my aunt said you were the best, we thought-”

“You are not going to pay for my services.” Mr. Bellamy said decidedly, and Y/N almost breathed out in relief. They might have saved some money by staying at her aunt’s house, but she knew that an emergency appointment with the uppermost demon expert should cost, at least, about a week's worth of motel stays. “Because I’m not offering services.” The man deadpanned, making Harry and Y/N’s smiles close in an instant. “I've retired from that stuff. I don't have the patience to deal with any more demons or magical circles, so sorry… but you’ll have to go find another door to knock on.” He finished, before turning his back on them and beginning to stumble towards the door of the house.

“What happened to your leg?” Harry inquired out loud, causing Y/N’s eyes to widen. He usually never let out as much as a peep around strangers, so she was quite shocked he had chosen to question Mr. Bellamy on his limp so carefreely.

The man paused midway, not bothering to look back. “Ailments from the past.” He replied drearily. “But that’s none of your business.”

“Actually,” The usual raspy tone of Harry’s voice went slightly sharper from desperation. “I can prep you a remedy that will make it go away if you help us out.” He proposed, knowing this was the last chance the two had before they got shut out for good.

The man guffawed humorlessly, turning around with difficulty. Y/N hadn’t realized just how bad the state of the man’s leg was until Harry commented on it. He limped quite a lot. Judging by his movements, it looked like his leg had been swapped by a tree trunk - Constantly stuck to the ground and refusing to move along with the rest of his frame. “I’ve tried dozens of different meds and analgesics… they never changed a thing. Why would yours be any different?”

“Because you’ve been trying to cure a Maleficium injury with non-magic drugs.” Harry’s sure answer surprised Mr. Bellamy, but oddly, the verdict did not seem all that unforeseen to him. “I’m guessing you know that already…” Harry supposed, “You just haven’t done anything about it because you’ve been marked by whoever evil entity did that to you, and now you’re scared of the repercussions of our people finding out you work with forbidden magic.”

The man’s pink tongue darted out to lick his lips that had gone a little dry from the morning sun, but there was a gleam of interest in his eyes. “Who are you?” He asked Harry. “Some type of witch doctor?”

“I prefer the term botanist, but yes.” Harry said brightly, taking a step closer to the fence and placing his hands in between two spiky boards. “We wouldn't be taking up too much of your time, just enough to ask you a few questions and in return, I'll make you an effective medicine to treat your leg. I will need to go get some ingredients to make it first, but tomorrow it should be ready… all we ask for is a couple of minutes of your morning.”

“And how do I know you're not just saying that to get a free consultation?”

“You have my word, Mr. Bellamy.” Harry said seriously, like he truly believed that should be enough to appease his worries. “Besides, I’m always interested in helping people feel better if I can.”

The man's distrust seemed to melt at the genuineness of Harry's green gaze, and after a moment, with a deep sigh, he gave in. “Lock the gate on your way inside. I’m not looking for any more unexpected visitors.”

Y/N and Harry both couldn't contain a little jolt of accomplishment that rushed through their bodies as they hurried to unlock the gate and follow the man inside his house.

It wasn’t like Y/N was ever not wanting to kiss Harry, but right then the urge to lurch herself into his arms and push their lips together to show him just how much she appreciated what he did was almost uncontrollable. He was so hot – in his own shy, soft, ingenuous ways, and what made it even more endearing was that she had a feeling he had absolutely zero notion of that fact, let alone of how much Y/N had been itching to tell him how remarkably perfect in every sense of the word she thought he was.

She had tried to pay him little compliments at times, but his reactions were always somewhere between embarrassment and apprehension, what admittedly made her heart ache a little - that he doubted himself so much that he refused to accept a compliment with a simple 'thank you'.

Now wasn’t the time to be focusing of that though…

Because they were about to enter the home of a stranger who knew a shit ton about demons and probably a lot of hazardous spells as well.

The home wasn’t as ostentatious and time-honored as aunt Rowena’s mansion, but it was still ritzy enough to make someone feel like they should cross their legs and mind their posture as they sat on one of the green leather sofas of the living room.

“Alright then… tell me what your problem is.” The demonologist challenged as he planted himself on one of the other sofas and reached for the Marlboros perched on the side table. He tried to stifle a hiss of pain as he did so, but the unavoidable wincing of his face let it show that there was likely a sharp pungency running through his leg as he bent.

A short, expected silence followed his question, in which Y/N hem and hawed for a moment whilst staring at Harry, who only granted her a soft nod as silent encouragement. “Um… okay, well-” She spoke first, guessing that Harry would prefer for her to go over the knotty storytelling part. “Basically, what happened was that we found that a dark witch has summoned a demon back at the magic community where we live. We don’t know exactly what kind of deal she made with it – but what we do know is that innocent creatures and people have been hurt.” Y/N took a deep breath and glanced at Harry again. “We need to send this demon back to where it came from, but the catch is that- um… the casting circle has been… wiped out?”

“So?” The expert shrugged, blowing out the cigarette smoke lodged in his mouth.

“So…” Her tongue prolonged the vowel. “…what do we do?”

The man looked confused by the question, until the recognition that he was talking to absolute newbies sank. “You two know jack-shit about demons, don’t you?” He pumped the question, although he had already figured the answer before the two were nodding their heads. “You make a new circle – and then, trick the demon into coming to you with the promise of a better bargain than the one offered by his previous summoner. Demons are not loyal to the ones who work with them. They are selfish and hoggish – a demon won’t hesitate to break a contract if it believes it can chalk up more than they were promised beforehand.”

“Oh.” Y/N’s brows jumped with the realization. “I guess we hadn’t really considered that faking a deal with the devil could be a possibility…”

“If we’re going to be doing that, what kind of deal are we meant to propose?” Harry inquired timidly. “Cause that got me thinking… if the promise should be that much more enticing, won't the demon realize it's a frame-up straight away?” He speculated further.

“Yes, certainly.” Mr. Bellamy confirmed. “Usually, a tribute of magic blood is enough to lure them in. There’s two of you. That means two disparate blood tributes – what should already make it all more enticing…” Harry eyed Y/N for a moment. His see-through expression letting her in on the fact that he thought she was about to balk out on him at the news - that maybe the whole blood tribute part was too much for her to handle.

And granted, maybe having to drain her own blood and offer it to a demon on a silver platter was a bit more than Y/N had been expecting, but still not nearly enough to scare her away. Now that she is thinking about it, there’s nothing really that could have come out of Mr. Bellamy’s mouth that would scare her away from the game plan… Because as long as she’s got Harry by her side, she thinks she can do anything – walk on blazing coals, kayak over a waterfall, swim with great white sharks – you name it, and she’d do in a heartbeat because they’re…

Soulmates?

And well, maybe this is really unideal time to realize that perhaps she has found her soulmate, but doesn’t it also always happen somewhat like that in movies?

Y/N reached between their bodies and locked her fingers together with Harry’s, giving a sure squeeze as a subtle indication that she wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. He squeezed back. “Let's say we succeed in attracting this demon for bargain… what’s next?”

“You'll have to snare him and perform the expulsion ritual… but first things first –which demon is it that you are trying to send back to the Abyss?” Y/N and Harry traded a panicky look between them at the question, the man sighed with disgruntlement. “You don’t know? What kind of magic people are you?”

The girl swallowed before she replied. “Good magic people?”

“Okay, well – good magic people,” Mr. Bellamy repeated derisively. “You have to know which demon has ascended to send him back. Without a name there is nothing that can be done.”

“But- we weren’t there when it was summoned… how are we going to discover its name?”

His gaze swiveled between the two. “Do you know who the spell caster was?”

“Yes-” Harry answered with more certainty than he truly had. “Or well, at least we think we do.”

“Well then – that’s a good place to start. Track them – cage them – put them through the wringer – torture the name out of them if need to. That’s what I would do.” He said nonchalantly, smiling smugly once he noticed the utter horror that had washed over their features. “But of course, the good magic people aren’t keen on using any torture spells…” His mouth curled mockingly, but when Y/N was about to snap at him for being rude over their lack of knowledge when it wasn’t their fault that black magic teaching has been banned in schools since 1977, he wiped the jeer off his face and went serious.

“Alright. Here’s what you’re going to do… You’ll work on finding that demon’s name… and as soon as you do, you call me. – I have a list with the names of the demons I’ve met or heard of in the past that might be helpful. Now, I can’t guarantee the one you are looking for is in that list, but it may be, since there aren’t that many demons willing to come to our world – the ones who do are usually the ones who once lived among us, as they have a human form to come back to and don't have to borrow someone else's body.”

“You want us to call you? Why? I thought you had retired…” Y/N questioned intently, finding it somewhat strange that Mr. Bellamy was making himself available to carry on helping them through the expelling ritual. She hadn’t been counting on that – hell, after the way he greeted them at the door, she had been expecting nothing but for him to spit out some basic tips and tricks and send them on their way with a mind full of unanswered questions and maybe a threat or two that something bad was going to happen if they failed to bring him his remedy the next day.

“I did retire.” The man huffed heavily, rubbing lazily at his scruff. “But quite frankly, with your lack of knowledge and artlessness, it would be a danger to society for me to allow you to go and perform a ritual without assistance from someone who knows what they’re doing. Else ways, you’ll end up getting killed and devoured before you manage to utter out a single spell word.” His lips twitched into a tight smile at their glowers. That hurt. It really did - but despite the heavy bruising done on their egos, neither Harry or Y/N had the mind or the gut to contest Mr. Bellamy on his, most likely accurate, belief. “If you’re going to stick to that favor you promised earlier, I'm willing to help with your problem until that’s sorted… if and only if that remedy proofs to be as effective as you claim it to be.”

The first thing Harry and Y/N did after leaving Mr. Bellamy’s house was go for a walk around downtown Las Vegas.

The goal was to go and visit some witchcraft shops and plant nurseries throughout the afternoon, so that hopefully Harry could get the missing items he needed to make Mr. Bellamy's medicine.

It wasn't so hard to find wizardry shops in Las Vegas. It was a big city for magic practice, after all… Even despite the large number of posers pretending to be real occultists – like the astrologers and psychics offering miracle cures for all kinds of love and money problems. Those could be spotted at practically every city corner, the real deal witchcraft places, on the contrary, were usually the most clandestine and the ones who didn’t have social media pages washed in witchy vibes, aesthetic-like pictures, and made-up pentagram designs.

Before hitting the shops however, Y/N had managed to convince Harry to go visit the Las Vegas Neon Museum… well, convince might not be the right word, since all she had to do really was let out an excited gasp at the sight and stare at him with her lower lip puffed out a little bit.

It was a fun time of roaming around and taking lots of pictures - Harry even insisted that she would let him take pictures of her next to her favorite signs, and she managed to take some of him as well, although most of them were when he was distracted because he kept hiding his face and claiming he didn't like to get his pictures taken, although he still managed to look adorable in each one.

Speaking of adorable, Y/N had also been secretly hoping she would stumble upon some stones to make matching gem necklaces for her and Harry. She had been aiming for Amethyst, a soothing gem that mollifies negative energy and alleviates feelings of anxiety, something that she had realized that Harry had plenty of, paired with Aventurine, because in addition to being a protective and luck-bringing stone, it also happened to be almost the exact shade of Harry’s eyes – green, with a silvery blue sheen. Just thinking about how pretty it would look on him was enough to make her feel giddy throughout the whole day, so it was no surprise that when she happened to find some at the back of a witchcraft emporium, it became a real struggle not to let her excitement show.

They were a bit expensive compared to the ones Margery usually ordered from her regular supplier, but Y/N wasn't worried about the money… She wanted to have the necklaces done before her and Harry had any sort of contact with this demon, hoping that the extra protection from the stones would help them stay connected and grounded throughout the ritual. She wasn't going to tell him about these plans though, wanting to surprise him with a little gift just like he did with the magic tree he had given her at the hospital.

“Hey, do you think your aunt has a pestle and mortar at home? I’m gonna need some to crush these indigo milk caps later.” Harry wondered out loud behind her, shaking the transparent bag of plump mushrooms in his hand. His voice startled her off her bones a little. She hadn’t heard him coming, figuring he should still be distracted gathering things in the aisle where she had discreetly abandoned him at so that she could come pick her stones.

“Uh… yeah! I think she should…” Y/N stammered, covertly hiding her hands behind her back, since they were thronged with not only the gemstones, but also some complementary beads and wire she was planning to braid into a support net. “I mean, I think all magic people do, don’t they? Even I have one at home, despite never using it…”

“Hm, yeah… you’re probably right.” Harry agreed, glancing back at her with a curious smile as he picked and tossed a jar of something into the shopping basket hanging from his arm. “Why are you perching against the shelves like you’re trying to hide something from me?” He asked with a comical scrunch of his brows.

“It’s ‘cause I am.” She admitted bluntly instead of welshing the topic, leaning farther back so that Harry couldn't get a peek even though she doubted he would try. “It’s just a gift I’m getting for a friend.”

“Oh? Okay.” His voice sounded somber, maybe even a little doleful. “Why can’t I see?” From the way his eyes widened, she realized that the question came to him without thinking and that he immediately regretted having let it slip away. “I’m sorry. You don't have to answer that, I know I have nothing to do with it…”

“No, it’s okay.” Y/N assured with a small laugh, finding it amusing how he had so quickly assumed her secrecy did not concern him. He couldn’t be any more wrong, obviously, but she was glad he wasn't the least bit suspicious. “It’s something I have yet to make… I don't want you to see until the final product.” She told, knowing it would make her life easier if she could tell Harry what she was going to be doing instead of having to come up with silly excuses for sneaking away while he was preparing Mr. Bellamy’s potion. If he agreed not to peek, perhaps she could even make the necklaces while keeping him company in the kitchen. “I promise I’ll show you once it’s finished.” She said earnestly. It was meant for him anyway - he just couldn’t know that part yet.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to…” He said quietly, not averting his stare away from the items displayed in front of him. What ultimately was making Y/N a little worried that he might have taken her secrecy as lack of trust or something silly like that, since there was nothing particularly interesting or attention grabbing in those shelves - just a stack of sand timers and keepsake boxes – and yet, his eyes remained settled on them like glue.

“I want to.” Y/N assured as she began to walk the aisle backwards to the front of the shop, where the cashier was. “I'm just going to pay this, but I'll come back in a second to help you get the rest of your stuff.”

“Okay.” Harry nodded. “I’m almost done too, but I’ll wait here until you get back.”

He stuck to his promise, continuing to wander the aisles at the back of the emporium, picking this and that until the small list of ingredients in his hand had been fully scrawled in check marks. Y/N helped him pack and carry the bags outside, even though he insisted that she didn’t have to.

As they walked the sidewalk away from the storefront, the pair was still quarrelling back and forth over who was to carry whose shopping bags… until suddenly Harry gawked up at the sky, noticing a falling object cutting swiftly through the air – seemingly, aiming right at their heads. “Wow- watch out!” He yelped, right as he reached for Y/N's arm and swung her aside. His free hand raised instinctively to his face to shield it from what he was sure would be a painful strike, but much to his surprise the object flew right into his open palm - as if it were a piece of candy purposely sent into his hands for him to grasp. Y/N winced at first, guessing it had been one of those creepy black beetles that Nevada seemed to be infested with as of lately, but surprisingly, when Harry opened his hand, what she saw wasn’t an icky little bug. It was… a glass pebble? Of the grave covering kind.

The two of them scowled up at the sky, just in time to catch a glimpse of the feathered offender - cawing and hovering at the distance. “…That’s funny.” Y/N stated.

“Funny?” Harry scoffed, going all grumpy in the face. “You would have gotten hurt bad if that thing hit you, Y/N.”

“No, I know but… the pebble. It’s from a gravestone, I think.” The boy frowned at her statement, still looking rather upset over the situation. “I haven’t seen one of those since my grandpa passed away. That’s why I thought it was funny… in like, a bizarre way.”

“Hm.” Harry drawled, moving the stone around. “So what does it mean, then?”

“Huh… that there’s probably a graveyard close by…?”

“No, I know but- what does it really mean? Like, why would it drop it here?” Harry emphasized, rolling the glossy, purple-colored pebble around his palm. “Wasn’t aunt Rowena saying to pay attention to behaviors that are out there? Well then, does this qualify as out there? I mean… how often do crows drop graveyard pebbles over your head?”

Y/N’s lips puffed out in thought. “Never, I guess? But crows like shiny things, and they sit around graveyards all the time, so… my guess is that it picked the pebble because it liked it and then ended up deciding it didn’t want to keep carrying it around all day…” The witch shrugged nonchalantly, continuing to walk alongside Harry on the sidewalk with her shopping bag swinging at her side. “Besides what special could there be about a graveyard anyway? Only human bodies are buried there… not demons. Fine, Mr. Bellamy did say that the demons who come around Earth are the ones who have been human before because-“ She paused, taking in her own words. “…they still have their old bodies to come back to.”

Her body reeled abruptly, and so did her grip on the bags that soon dropped to her feet. “Harry, that’s it!” She bounced, grabbing his face and planting a loud smooch on his lips, leaving him staring back at her with stunned eyes and rosy cheeks. “I could smother you in kisses right now, you whiz! Only we have a demon headstone to go find, so that’s probably going to have to wait a little while…”

Harry’s nod came out befuddled as he witnessed Y/N pick the bags off the floor, grab his hand and usher him into a quieter downtown alley, only letting go so she could fish her phone out the pocket of her jeans. “Alright then, let’s see what Google Maps has to say about graveyards in the area.”

The nearest cemetery was an 11 minute drive away.

There was a gravedigger working nearby, and by the single look he had spared, Harry and Y/N were figuring he had taken them as a duo of tombstone tourists. Perhaps it was just due to their non conservative outfit choices or the wicked energy their bodies gave off, but his gaze felt a teensy bit judging - slightly curious too once he witnessed their eyes bouncing between Mr. Bellamy’s demon name list and the tomb rows ahead of them, possibly looking like two very confused people that had arrived at the wrong destination… but after a few seconds of glancing, the careerist seemed rather unphased by their presence.

“Okay, so-” Y/N soughed out loud as she walked aimlessly around the place. “I was thinking we should compare the names to the epitaphs on the gravestones – also, maybe keep an eye open for the ones with decorations of some kind, because that could have been a hint as well.”

“How many options are we looking at exactly?” Harry asked, peeking over her shoulder to stare at the list. His eyes swelled in size at the long record he was presented with. Y/N hadn’t bothered counting but there had to be more than 150 names in there, without a doubt. “Does this mean we are going to have to run through all these names by each grave looking for a match?” Harry asked diffidently, eyes locked straight ahead at scope of never-ending headstones.

“I know, it’s a lot…” Y/N exhaled harshly, on board with his frustration. The graveyard was huge. This could take ages upon ages, and to make things even worse there were only a few more hours of sunlight until nightfall - and nobody wants to be in a cemetery after dark. Not even wizards. “But I think that in a little while we will have most of the names memorized, and it will become easier.”

“Can I make a silly suggestion?” Harry queried, twisting his body so that he was facing Y/N as he walked. “What happens if you look… inside, and ask your instinct where it is?”

The witch chuckled at the suggestion, shaking her head. “You place way too much trust in my abilities, did you know that? I’ve told you before, I’m not a good Seer. I was never even that much of a talented witch, let alone-”

“Stop that!” Harry scolded, what brought both of them to a halt. “Do you even realize that without you and your abilities I would have never, ever made it halfway to where we are now? You are so clever! And you have the craziest… most fascinating powers! And on top of that you are also so, so incredibly brave - you really are. It takes my breath away. You take my breath away.” He mumbled the last part, as if his heart had been itching to say those words for a while, but his head was still reticent in putting them out in the open. “So, for once just… try to put as much trust in yourself as I do, please.”

There were emotional tears forming in Y/N's eyes at what Harry had said. She couldn’t classify the exact reason why, but she knew the unshakable confidence he was placing in her was to blame. “I’m just scared I’ll get it wrong. I don’t want to disappoint you… or myself.” She admitted, hurriedly wiping at her eyes with her wrist. “I don’t want to screw things up by relying on something so… fractious.”

Harry reached for Y/N's wrist, so that she was facing him. “That could never happen. You could never disappoint me.” He assured, smiling just as softly as his fingers felt tracing the skin of her arm. “I promise that even if you weren't a Seer, I'd still suggest following our intuition first… you know, anything to avoid leg working this whole yard…” He joshed, causing a smile to start pulling at her mouth, regardless of the tears that the sunlight had not yet dried, still shimmering up her features. “But seriously though, if it doesn’t work all we have to do is go back to the original plan, but for now… you’re spearheading.”

“Alright fine.” The witch huffed, handing Harry the list so that she could relax her body to the fullest and focus on her insights thoroughly. She could detect traces of otherworldly energy in the surroundings… uncovering their source, however, was proving to be befuddling like a riddle. Furthermore, she tried pinching her eyes in concentration, guessing that maybe her attraction to Harry was what was messing with her focus.

His face was very distracting, especially so when his pretty green blinders were fixed on her like they were then… but even with her eyes shut tight, no matter which way she turned, the orientations ended up only leaving her more frustrated – if she took a tentative step to the left, her intention said right, but then, right as she went right, it said left. “It’s not working!” Y/N puffed her cheeks, grumbling her way around another unintentional pirouette. “I can feel the stupid energy, but it's not dragging me anywhere!”

She had noticed Harry had gone strangely silent, but thought nothing of it while she blindly did a few more experimental shifts and turns in place. Huffing and puffing beneath her breath each time she tried something new (like diagonals and so) and ended up not getting any decisive results again.

“Y/N, I’m not trying to spook you or anything, but…” Harry started hesitantly, the rasp of his voice startled her some, but there was a weirdly positive intonation to it that made her open her eyes in question. “I think you might have led us to the right place without realizing while you were distracted talking to me…” He beamed, verifying the writing on the paper, despite already having done it multiple times while Y/N had been spinning and turning nowhere and everywhere like a blind dog in a meat market. “I'm not misreading this, am I? This name,” He pressed his digit over it on the print. “Is what’s engraved right there, isn't it?”

“Alastair Krauss…” A chilling, unsettling feeling lodged in Y/N's stomach at the profession of that name. She didn’t know if it was legitimate or just from suggestion effect, but there was no denying that everything was starting to feel much more real now… It might sound odd but, until that point in time, it had been easy for her to ignore the scary, threatening parts that would inevitably come from this demon hunt – hell, there were moments during the weekend where she had almost forgotten that her purpose in Vegas wasn’t just to have a fun, short little getaway. Now that she could finally annex a name to the monster though, all fears had briskly awakened from the subdued slumber they had been in for the past days.

The stone inscription below the demon’s name still made her snort though, finding it to be awfully amusing that someone had picked “Have faith we'll meet again” as a saying to honor someone who ended up turning into an evil spirit who still came back to Earth from time to time to ruin people’s lives. That made her wonder if it ever happened that demons ran into people who had once shared the Earth-life experience with them prior to their passing… even if it did happen though, it was unlikely it should be happening to this demon, considering that according to his headstone, he had died in 1927 at the precocious age of 38.

Therefore, all the people he could have met during his human life should already be dead or old enough not to recognize any of his features anymore. Y/N found herself eager to know what Alastair had been like during his previous life and wondering what beastly events could have led him into becoming the creature he now was… One thing was certain, he must not have been the epitome of a treasure man if his soul ascension rights had been ripped away from him - limiting him into dwelling between worlds as a lost soul until the devil had chosen to welcome him as one of their own.

Y/N and Harry were currently in aunt Rowena’s kitchen.

That wasn’t shy in pink nor in size like every other house space of the mansion. The focal piece of the room was a T-shaped island - a long counter that ended with a perpendicular breakfast area with padded high stools. All of the state-of-the-art appliances in it were tucked to the walls or perched over the room-surrounding counters. They weren’t the latest models in the market, but rather expensive brands known for their excellence and guarantee to last practically a lifetime. Where the counter ended, was the back door that led to the garden and the pool, and right in front of the sink, was a half round window that overlooked the busy Las Vegas Strip.

“Do you think we should’ve called Mr. Bellamy right when we found out who the demon was?” Y/N asked Harry from her seat on the breakfast counter, that she had outlined as off limits for him to cross until she was done with her supersecret matters, like Harry had begrudgingly been addressing them from the moment she refused to tell him what it was. She had also made him swear not to peek behind the long floral centerpiece perched on the kitchen island to check what she was doing, and so far, he had kept true to his promise.

“I don't think he was going to do anything about it until we gave him the potion anyway…” Harry replied from where he stood over the stove, currently grating some ginger into the bubbling concoction he was cooking in a cauldron over the electric stove. “I really hope this works, otherwise I think the demon will be the least of our problems… Mr. Bellamy is a bit scary too, don't you think?”

“Well, yeah but as scary as the demon… or Lucinda. We haven't decided what to do with her yet. Evil witches like her shouldn't be running around loose.”

Y/N's statement was followed by a ringing. Harry's phone that was buzzing over the countertop. He grabbed it, and immediately his eyebrows furled. “Can you keep an eye on the cauldron for a bit? I have to take this call.”

“Yeah, of course.” She confirmed, and so Harry walked past the back door into the garden. Leaving her alone with her eyes stuck on the cauldron, wishing with her entire heart that whatever was brewing in it didn't start acting up now because if it did, hell… she wouldn't know what to do besides screaming for help.

But luckily everything remained calm, so Y/N went back to her crafts again. She was almost done anyway…

And so it was, after a couple more minutes the two pendants laid finished over the marble tabletop. Y/N smiled proudly at them. The nets weren't perfect like the ones Margery made, but they were almost there. Inside each net were two small complementing gemstones: Amethyst – dotted in hues of purple and lavender, and Aventurine – shimmering in shades of aquatic green.

She jumped to hide them in one of her pockets, however, when Harry's voice startled her suddenly. “The hospital called.” He’d said solemnly. Y/N couldn't make neither head nor tail of his expression. His features looked stony, almost impassive… like he was still trying to process something that had been said to him.

“Oh.” She sputtered, a little surprised. “Do they- do they want you to come back to work earlier or something?”

“No- I mean… yes, partly but…” He hesitated for what felt like a prolonged moment. His arms unconsciously wrapped around his frame, seeking for the comfort the latest news had stripped him of. “Something happened.”

The girl’s eyes bulged for answers. “What. What happened?”

Harry took a big breath, leaning against the stove counter just so he was facing her. “They uh… they admitted a witch there last night whose body showed signs of dark magic bewitching… like the ones we found on Mrs. Carrington last week.” Harry briefed, with a crestfallen gleam in his eyes. “Apparently, she was known to have quite a hostile relationship with Lucinda too… a certain Althea Morelli…”

Y/N’s fists closed pressingly over the tabletop. “Hostile in what sense, exactly?”

“I don’t know… but if Lucinda bargained for a demon to attack her, I suspect it wasn’t in the harmless type of way.” He sighed sorely. “They said there have been others… all within a close ratio, which I thought was odd until I remembered that back at the hospital, you’d read from a book that entities usually don’t operate within very large distances.”

Harry rushed to his bag to get a pen and the pamphlet on Nevada’s main attractions that had been given to him at the Neon Museum reception, that happened to include a foldable map of the area. “As far as people from the hospital know, there has been 3 attacks so far… Althea Morelli,” He leant over the island counter and circled the area of Boulder City on the map, where their magic community was located. “One in Paradise, and one other here in Las Vegas.” He scribbled those areas in the map as well. “I’m thinking Althea must have been the first… that Lucinda might have summoned the demon for the purpose of… doing away with her, so to say. And the others, well… they could have been her enemies too, or innocent people who are being tailed as human sacrifices.”

Already fearing the answer, Y/N’s eyes lifted from the map to face him. “…Did they succeed? In doing away with Althea.” Harry’s jaw clenched as he nodded solemnly. “Dear god…” The tragic news prompted the witch to get up from the kitchen chair, hoping the action would help calm the sudden queasiness that had taken over her. “This is insane…” She buried her face in her hands, walking around in circles. “How many? How many more innocent lives could that heinous, hideous witch be willing to take?”

The silence settled for a few beats, the only sound heard inside the room being the steady bubbling coming from Harry’s cauldron. “I keep thinking about it, you know?” He spoke. “And just… wondering what would’ve happened if I had stayed a little longer at the greenhouse that night. And every time I do, I feel horrible… like I could’ve- should’ve stopped Lucinda somehow.“

“Harry…” Y/N’s soft voice attempted to disrupt his speaking, as she rushed to meet him on the opposite side of the kitchen island.

“No, Y/N.” He shook his head, adamantly. “I know what you're going to say. None of this is my fault and there was nothing I could have done to stop it. And I know that, rationally speaking, you’re right. I know, but that is still not how it feels. It’s not how I feel.”

And then it happened… it was sudden and without warning. It started with a dry sob, followed by another. Harry’s heart rate quickened, the wind pipe in his throat tightened, causing his breaths to become quicker, shorter, and labored. His chest started to heave. His hands wrapped tightly around the counter’s edge. The simple act of breathing seemed hard for him… painfully hard.

“This is m-my fault. People are d-dead and it’s my fault.” He spat amidst painful sobs and unregulated inhales. Y/N noticed that his words were almost an exact repetition of those he uttered in between cries on the day of the attack on the hospital. Had he been feeling this way back then too?

She felt terrified. She desperately wanted to do something - anything to make him feel better, but she didn’t know what to do. “Harry,” She called for him, trying her hardest to keep her voice soothing and not panic herself. “Talk to me… tell what you need.” The girl asked, but he couldn't seem to hear over whatever turmoil was happening inside his head. Unthinkingly, she reached for his hand, that was still curled in a tight grip around the marble surface. “Squeeze my hand. Let’s try breathing together, okay?”

He held her fingers in his, squeezing them tightly. “I can’t. I can’t breathe.”

“I know. I know… but let’s try slowly, okay? In-“ Y/N forced a deep inhale, filling her lungs with as much air as they could take. “…And out.” She exhaled slow, repeating the process again and again until Harry’s ragged breathing gave way and began to keep up with hers. “That's it, breathe. It's all right. You’re not alone, I’m here. You’re with me. You’re okay.”

Harry’s eyes turned foggy from dampness once their gazes met. Y/N desperately wanted to say something else - wanted to tell him how wrong he was for blaming himself for something that was so beyond horrid and vile. But the more she stared at him, the more words seemed little. There was nothing to be said. She stepped closer and hugged him tight… and kept on hugging him - until the heartbeats coming from his chest slowed to a steady rhythm and the back muscles that at first had felt stark beneath her fingertips began to soften and turn limber on behalf of her hand’s soothing strokes.

“I- um. Thank you.” Harry gasped after a long beat. “I don't know how you do it, but your hugs always manage to calm me down…”

She simply smiled and placed a chaste kiss on his shoulder before mumbling against his shirt, “Speaking of calming, there’s something I want to give you.” She pulled away from the hug, snickering nervously once she saw that inquiringness had washed over Harry's face. “I can’t promise it’ll feel like anything like my hugs but…” With hesitant fingers Y/N reached inside her pocket, pulling out one of the pendants, though the other came attached in a tangle.

She quickly undid the knots and placed her favorite one around his neck. “They… um… match.” She explained, feeling a little embarrassed once Harry picked at the gemstones falling over his chest to inspect them. “I thought it might help us deal with the demon and also um… if we're both wearing them at the same time I'll get to feel your energy and vice versa, so we'll always know if the other is okay,” Her voice quieted when Harry stared at her wordlessly. “I hope this isn’t too forward or weird. I just thought that maybe…”

“Did you make these…” Harry asked practically inaudibly, still looking rather astonished by the jewelry held in his palm. “…For us? for me?”

“I-uh… I did.” Y/N chuckled nervously again. “It’s what I bought at the store earlier… that's why I didn't let you see. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“No one-” He practically choked, chest sizzling with emotion. “No one has ever done anything like this for me… I- I adore these! I adore every single thing about them.” With that, Harry initiated a hug for the first time - his arms wrapped around Y/N and pulled her to collapse into his chest. He smelled good. So, so, so good that it made her legs feel like they were melting. Gosh, how was it that hugging Harry felt even better when he was the one holding her? She would stay in his embrace forever if she could, where they both felt safe, and snug and-

Ahem.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made both their heads vault - to Rowena, who stood by the kitchen door, wearing both an ostentatious, brightly colored dress and a self-satisfied smirk. “Sorry to interrupt, my dears, but… does nothing smell a little… burnt to you?” She asked, nodding towards the stove.

Crap. The potion.

[dzthenerd490]

Why did you suddenly start supporting Ukraine and Sudan?

Short Answer - I'm an idiot who really should have done so sooner. No seriously these are massive issues, why didn't I do them sooner? I'm stupid that's why.

Long Answer - Duh? Because people need to be more aware of not just one problem but every fucking problem going on in our fucked-up world. I thought that Ukraine would have crushed Russia by now but while I was looking the other way Russia refused to die and instead is (extremely slowly) stealing Ukraine territory. Though thankfully Putin is starting to get scared like the little bitch he is and is hoping to handle things peacefully. And by peacefully, I mean trying to get the EU to discredit the Ukraine president... like a little bitch. Yes, I'm going to be using that insult a lot unless I or you guys help me come up with a better one.

Then theirs Sudan with its civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Apparently, things have gotten so bad in Sudan that these two forces are fighting so the winner can take what's left of the resources. They are literally killing each other for the scraps they have left, and NO ONE is willing to help any of them. You wanna know why? Because everyone is hoping all the Sudanese will die and thus their land will be up for grabs. There are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of civilians who want nothing to do with the Civil War but are getting slaughtered every day by one side other the other either on accident or on purpose. But no one wants to help them because of the land... which is exactly the same as the Palestine situation if you really think about it.

But for the record that's only three problems in the world, there are still hundreds of other problems. Like how capitalism is slowly killing us all and ensuring only the rich will live forever (if immortality is ever achieved, we all know they 1% are the ONLY one's getting it). Or how police officers are getting more violent every day and honestly believe that with the badge on they can do whatever the fuck they want to civilians. Or how the government knows about all this bullshit but wants to keep it all under wraps so they can appease their investors. Kinda like how Joe Biden is calling American college students antisemitic for calling out Isralian genocidal fuckfaces.

Seriously fuck the US president and I'm sorry to everyone who I said should still try to vote this year. Fuck that! Keep protesting! Keep boycotting! Keep setting shit on fire! But uh I mean stuff that belongs to corporations, rich bastards, and politicans. Don't go burning or wrecking some person's car on fire that's not right.

Oh! Speaking of the government sweeping things under the rug! You know how Indigenous Americans are forced to like in reservations where they barely get anything but their most basic living needs and sometimes not even that. Well guess what, apparently the US government is STILL trying to kill them all off and calm their land. How? By invoking this stupid law that utilizes "Blood Quantum". Blood Quantum for those that don't know is a test that the US government forces on Indigenous Americans to see the purity of their heritage. if they have less than 25% blood of any of tribes, they are NOT ALLOWED to claim their heritage. Why did they do this? So that even if it takes another century or two, they can thin out the tribes to the point of extinction and prevent anyone who was under the 24% blood of a tribe to be unable to claim their heritage. That way when they do die off or everyone who is above 25% is dead, the US government can take the land without complaint. (this is real, look it up)

The US government has done a lot of fucked up shit, but this is possibly the most frustrating in a very fucked up way. They are literally waiting for the Indigenous Americans to go extinct. It's no fucking different to how they were hunting them down a few hundred years ago with guns or how they promised to respect their land only the next day to ship them out somewhere else! It's been 500 years, and the US government is STILL trying to kill them all! It doesn't matter that they're not using guns anymore, in fact using the "law" is so much worse! It's still genocide! It's fucking GENOCIDE only they somehow made it legal! I'm an American but seriously?! FUCK THE US GOVERNMENT! THIS COUNTRY WAS BORN AND THRIVES ON GENOCIDE! You can tell with how the government hates the idea of saving the Palestinians and are completely ignoring Sudan and Ukraine.

... The sad part is there are still so many more fucked up issues out there and I don't even know half of them. I'm sure the one's I listed were only a small fraction. That's why I'm doing what I can to cover what I can now. I'm not exactly good at it but I'm still going to keep trying.

But hey, if I ever get some information wrong, please let me know.

If I accidently say something bigoted or idiotic, please let me know.

I'm not some prideful idiot that has to be right all the time, if I'm ever wrong about anything I want to know IMMEDIATELY!

But until then, please don't stop talking about these issues or any other issue you know about. Don't support your government or politicians unless they comply to your demands. If you have an opportunity to protest or boycott, then please take it. None of these issues are going to stop unless change is done and those in power won't make that change until we make them. The best way to do that is to keep screaming in their ears.

[nei-ning]

Finally back home from psychologist's visit! It went well and fast, thank God! Tho I was so anxious about the meeting last 3 days, shitting myself to death and not being able to sleep almost at all, I took full Opamox to calm me down.

I took her a pile of papers which she had sent me to fill and bring back. I also had my Autism list with me (3 pages, printed on both sides).

At some point, when I was filling some other papers at the meeting, she went through my answers. We spoke about them and then she gave me one last paper to fill (autism test) while she read my Autism list. (I got high points from the official autism test paper)

She was blown away how GOOD that list was, ahaha! She said I had done super good job on it! :D I said I got really into it, writing down EVERYTHING which is me! My list, translated in English, can be found HERE. (EDIT 1.6.2024. There accidentally was wrong link, but it's fixed now!)

But after all the papers etc. little chitchatting, she said to me I could try "reward yourself method" whenever you get something done (like brushing teeth which is HUGE struggle to me!). I instantly thought that won't work on me since I know getting a sticker after brushing my teeth is not a motivation or a reward. I don't give a shit about the sticker :'D She also said I could spoil myself by buying myself things I want. I said that's not a problem, never hasn't been. I DO SPOIL myself! <3

She also asked about me and my daydreaming. I told her I do it 24/7. I honestly do! I'm in fictional world all the time! And I like it. It makes me happy.

She also thought that my lack of energy / motivation to do anything could be because of my health - which it can't be since I was in blood test + other tests last autumn and all was fine. She also said that because I'm middle-aged soon and have overweight, I should go to walk / exercise since I can die young. I said I've never given it any damn if I die young or not. I live my life as I want and die when my time is up. I'm not interested on "torturing" myself to be healthy and living to be a 100.

Lastly, she said I will meet her and specialist (doctor) on 11th of next month to see where we head next. However, she already hinted that she won't be able to help me more than this but she wants to consult specialist. It can turn out that I'm sent to bigger hospital to see specialist neurology doctor.

She also suggested me, since I'm miserable living here in this area, that it would do me good to move away. I said that is a possibility now that I don't have cats but I also said I want to stay here as long as needed to get this whole mental health thing of mine solved. But at the same time, as much as I would like to move, when I start to get deeper in it, looking for new place etc. I get even more horrible anxiety than staying here where I currently am. So I choose "less bad" by staying in uncomfortable area than heading in completely new place where I would freak out, shitting myself to death with anxiety etc. This is kind of a double edge sword.

Edit: Not to mention, would I get miserable in new place after 2 years of living there, like what happened in my current place? (been living here since 2012 and 2 first years were amazing and nice but years after them? Nope. At all.)

But let's wait and see what happens next time!

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Hi!! It's the anon who asked about the Luke/MC protection thing (thanks for answering my ask 💕). I'm very sure that it was implied that Luke was the one who was protecting them, but I do agree that MC being the one protecting them fits with the theme of the season! And I haven't played S3 yet so I didn't know about the "angels can't bless demons" thing (which is very interesting imo 👀) So either I read that chat with Luke and Simeon entirely wrong (which seems most likely tbh lol) or they retconned it

Hey! It's no prob🐸

So I actually went & tried to find this chat & I checked every chat that had Simeon & Luke (their one together, their one with Solomon & their one with MC) and the only chats I could find about this particular situation were these two:

If you have screenshots or know the name of the chat or which group in particular it was in? (It's very likely I missed it given how much of a hell it is to find shit in om! chats)

While they do retcon things (changing Lucifer from an archangel to a seraph) this seems like too big of a retcon? Since it spans two whole lessons vs them just changing a word around?

Could it be possible that Simeon just said it to Luke to make him feel better?

Cause like I said in my previous post there's literally no possible way for Luke to counteract Thirteen's curses because that means he'd be more powerful that Solomon, Michael and all the brothers - which is obviously not true.

But could it be possible that Simeon, hearing Luke worry about his friends going on a very dangerous journey gave him something to hang on to? Gave him a way to believe he helped and so a way to have more hope that everything will be okay - even though realistically nothing changed - just to soothe the kid's mind.

This is something you do for kids in real life AND it's something we see Simeon do for Luke (in a larger scale) in S4

Edit:

ANON I'M YELLING I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU IN COLD BLOOD I WENT THROUGH EVERY SINGLE CHAT BETWEEN LUKE & SIMEON (THAT'S TWO WHOLE GROUP CHATS AND ONE SET OF DMS BTW!!!) AND THOUGHT I WAS LOSING MY MIND

anyway it was in the chat between Luke & Barbatos

& thanks to @silverinnia

Here's the chat in question:

1. Like I said, this could still very well be Barbatos trying to put Luke's mind at ease, whether or not anything he does will be effective

2. This is very definitely not the same as counteracting Thirteen's curses or giving the brothers a Blessing for protection (which would canonically kill them because they're demons). Barbatos is suggesting Luke uses his powers to "put their minds at ease". To y'know calm their nerves (which they all had at the time given the circumstances) - something that would help them think & act clearly when interacting with Thirteen.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Hello there!

Category is: BTS and Hybe and their relationship in the future.

There are a lot of opinions on Twitter about that. And this being Twitter: I always approach opinions and information there carefully.

My main concern: will Hybe properly protect BTS and support them, even when they're less reliant on them?

Hybe already seems to put a lot of effort into promoting other groups and projects. And that's totally understandable. Being so dependent on one group is not good from their perspective (stock investors probably want to see a wide range portfolio, because they need to see consistency and reliability).

I might be a bit cynical in regards to this, because of my experience at work. But I've seen people (including myself) being dropped like a hot potato when it was convenient, without any regard or care for the achievements, blood, sweat and tears I or others have put in.

And at the end of the day: it's still the KPop industry.

BTS is getting so much shit from all sides and the vultures are always waiting for the right moment. With all BTS has done for Hybe, I don't want the people in suits to turn this into a cold "cost-benefits" analysis.

***

Hi @guacamoli-avocadorado, 💜

I hear your concern, and on some level I understand it.

But, I’ve got to give the guys some credit. They are intelligent capable men who have walked into this industry a 2nd time with their eyes wide open. I suspect the reason you’re sending me this ask is tied to NewJeans’ recent performance (and so is a non-issue), but regardless I'll answer your main question which is to say I don’t know if HYBE will protect and support BTS when HYBE is less reliant on them. I don’t know if that will happen. But I do know nobody has pondered that possibility more than BTS themselves. Personally, I feel we as fans should never forget that we’re just fans and only occasionally know more than those right in the middle of it. BTS are the people most impacted if such a thing were to happen, so they must be prepared for it - this is a view that makes sense to me given what I believe their characters to be.

BTS might very well choose to leave BigHit/HYBE and/or start their own thing, but I doubt the reason would be any sort of neglect from HYBE or favoritism or anything of the sort. BTS are still very much the money-makers in HYBE – you’re seriously underestimating ARMYs’ spending capacity if you doubt that for the next 8 months at least. I also want to point out that while Ador has wisely used HYBE’s investment to distinguish NewJeans from their peers and much of the industry, most of that group's success just boils down to ‘simple, good music’. That the girls don’t try too hard in an industry notorious for overkill and outlandish displays of shock-factor is refreshing, mature, calming/vibey all at the same time. It's addictive to just about anyone.

No k-pop company will say no to more profits and so it makes no sense to me for HYBE to malign their primary money-makers i.e. BTS. Just practically speaking. So I believe your fear is unfounded, though I could be wrong. I also doubt NewJeans, even with how cute and talented they are, can change this.

[maple-the-awesome]

Ackerman's Sister || Chapter 10

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Sister Reader (strictly platonic), Erwin Smith x Reader

Words: 2,259

Overview: For most of your life, you had never even seen the sky before, but now, you'll get to see the outside world, too, and you know what means: getting to encounter a titan for the first time.

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CHAPTER TEN: BEYOND PRISON WALLS

You expected to be more nervous than this. Based on the endless horror stories you've been told, most soldiers experience permanent chills down their spines and difficulty holding onto their horses' reins given how much their nerves shake.

You expected to be the same way even if it would seem out of character for yourself, but on the contrary. You're calm, maintaining a proper grip to the reins as you stare ahead in preparation, then again, it’s possible that the reality of the situation hasn't hit you just yet.

If you had to guess, you'd say Levi's feeling the same. He merely blinks at Furlan's own worry which bounces off your group, a hint of regret laced in his voice as he realizes there's truly no turning back at this point. Maybe that's the true reason as to why you're so calm right now. For you, the point of no return was stepping outside of the Underground for the first time; exiting the Walls should be nothing compared to that.

Advancing through that old gate was like drawing back a curtain to look at the morning sun. Despite it being day both inside and out, the world that greets beyond the bare safety of society seems vastly brighter. Here, there are no roads aside from the beaten down path worn into place by the hundreds of former Scouts whose footsteps you now trace. Aside from that, you can't spot a single sign of human touch. This land is beyond humanity's territory; from here on out, you're at the mercy of titans.

"It's so vast..." you feel the need to comment aloud, your newborn appreciation for this landscape feeling misplaced when considering the scared shitless expressions of some of the other soldiers around you.

"It's amazin'!" Isabell agrees, holding her arms out as if to embrace the sun shining over you all.

"...Yeah..." Levi's agreement comes in a hushed tone, yet with one glance his way, you know it's true. His own eyes glitter in astonishment, mouth parted slightly as he takes in the sight. To think neither of you had even seen the sun for most of your lives. Now you’re a part of the few people able to see beyond the Walls…

"Shit, this wasn't the plan, (Y/n)..." Furlan hisses beside you, the formation luckily spread out enough so that no one else will likely hear," we weren't meant to get pushed outside the Walls like this. We should've gotten those papers before this point."

"While I agree that putting ourselves in this type of danger isn’t desirable, no plan is without its setbacks, Furlan, and if we can't adapt to them, we can't expect to achieve our goals," you answer, narrowing your eyes towards the front of the formation," we also need to be willingly to make bets here. My bet at the moment is that Erwin’s been carrying those documents on him, possibly the whole time. If I’m correct about that, then that means it was unavoidable getting to this point. The chances of taking them directly from himand getting away with it were slimmer inside the Walls…but perhaps this new situation can actually play in our favor.”

You exchange a look with Levi who bows his head in understanding. Out in the fields of such dangerous territory, chaos can erupt at any given second. If Erwin happens to die after being separated in the haze from his squad, then who's to say it wasn’t by a titan’s hand?

"Don't worry about the titans. I can handle them," Levi announces, although that does little to calm Furlan.

"They're titans!"

"So? You don't trust me?"

"It's not that..." Furlan complains bashfully, gaining a teasing chuckle from Isabell.

"Poor Furlan! You're already tremblin' and we haven't seen nothin' yet!"

"I'm not trembling!"

"Well I'm not scared! I'd be able to take care of those titans licky-split-!"

"-Stop with the chit chatting!" All four of you glance over your shoulders, glaring at the dark haired soldier who dared interrupting. He's from your squad and has already proven himself a pain in the ass before.

True to such a title, he quickly gains speed to reach your group, his expression furious," the titans aren't to be taken lightly! Even the most elite veterans of the Survey Corps have been killed by them! What makes you think four Underground rats like yourselves stand any better chance!?"

"Be careful what you say," Isabell challenges, becoming rather serious in a matter of seconds," if we Underground rats end up makin' it back alive, that'll make us better than your 'elite veterans', yeah?"

Her counter only further angers the scout who opens his mouth, ready to curse the redhead, however he receives no time to even start. Levi is quick to direct his horse between the scout and Isabell, making him jerk back and give the four of you space again. For a second, it looks like he might just say something anyways, but his arguments die in his throat after receiving a single glare from your brother.

"Sairam, knock it off! Titans can appear at any moment! You wanna keep fighting like children or maintain the ranks like the soldiers we're expected to be!?" Squad Leader Flagon interrupts, inserting himself into the group," this is the real deal out here! From here on out, nothing will be like training so remain prepared!"

You understand his words are implied to all of you, although you've already assumed them to be the case. It would be embarrassing if the Scouts have been struggling this whole time against still targets like the dummies you tear to shreds back at camp. For their dignity, you're hoping titans prove to be more of a challenge, however with such a thought finally comes that small ounce of fear curling in your stomach.

"Levi," he looks to you at the sound of his name, his eyebrow raised," don't get too cocky out here."

He huffs his offense," now you're doubting me, too?"

"I'm not doubting you, I'm being a concerned sister who doesn't want to see her baby brother turned to mush against the grass," Levi clicks his tongue at this, his cheeks dusted in pink embarrassment," I'm only reminding you to be careful and think things through. We have nothing to prove at this moment other than we can stay alive."

Levi rolls his eyes, yet that's proof enough that he at least heard you. Turning, you look to Isabell and Furlan next," same goes to you two. It's not a race to kill as many titans as possible. All we gotta do is complete our mission and get home alive, got it? Then we'll no longer be those useless Underground rats everyone sees us as."

"Yes, ma'am!" Isabell salutes excitedly, Furlan offering a tired smile that shows he still isn't too convicted about the situation, but he'll put his trust in your command regardless.

"TITAN SPOTTED!"

Everyone's heads turn to the shout, many desperately searching around in fear of where the beast could be. Fortunately, it isn't too close when you spot it yourself, although you still can't help but stare. They truly are creepy, this one in particular standing at 15 meters with a sinister grin upon its ugly face as it struts out of the tree line towards the wagons of supplies, ignoring the first line of scouts who try to stop it; it’s an abnormal.

Some of the more 'advanced' squads immediately engage into battle with the monster, attempting to cut it down before it reaches its destination, but it doesn’t go well.

The titan has no issue grabbing one of the scouts from the air, coming to a complete stop while bringing the man to its mouth. His friend attempts to quickly make the kill and save him, however the titan suddenly begins swinging its massive arms wildly. This results in several scouts nearly being knocked out of the air, one being bitten clean in half after getting too close to the titan’s mouth and the man trapped within its grip being crushed to death. In seconds, the titan leaves behind the carnage and continues towards the wagons.

"We'll be screwed if we get hit by those arms when it's swinging around like that," Levi observes, riding alongside you as you both keep close eyes on the enemy.

"But it wasn't moving its legs at the same time..." you add, giving a hum of thought before coming to a swift decision," right then! I'll distract it from the front while the three of you remain behind! Furlan, Isabell, once it starts swinging at me, it should stop moving! Take the opportunity to slash its ankles and knock it off its feet! When it’s down, Levi will go in for the kill! We must work quickly without pause nor hesitation; don’t give the fucker a chance to respond to you! Understood!?”

"Loud and clear!" Isabell smiles.

"Why not..." Furlan tries to.

Levi is the only one not to answer, his eyes narrowing further when he realizes you're actually waiting for his reply. Finally, he grumbles," don't try to be some hotshot hero and get yourself killed."

You blink before smirking," well, well, look who's being doubtful now? Don’t worry. I’ll be just as careful as I expect the rest of you to be. We’ve got this!”

With the plan confirmed, you hit the reins, speeding to catch up to the titan. You can hear Flagon shout something behind the four of you, although seeing that he's been left in your dust, you can only barely make out his protests.

You're rookies, ill-prepared to take on a titan on your own, at least in his eyes. As you told the others moments ago, none of you have anything to prove here, but it'll still be nice to give everyone the idea that they’re wrong about you guys. Besides, you’re confident in this attack strategy; you’d never put your brother and friends in danger if you weren’t.

Circling to the side of the titan at a safe distance, you stand on top of your horse before shooting your hooks into the giant’s hip. From there, you propel yourself forward, not worrying about getting any hits in and instead focusing on being mindful of those arms. As you had predicted, the titan comes to a complete stop before swinging at you, but being prepared, you easily speed out of the way at the last second, reaching high into the sky which forces it to keep its head cranked upward, unaware of the scouts coming up behind.

Following your instructions, Furlan and Isabell both use the opportunity for their own counters. Having been trailing directly behind the titan, they leap off their horses and race forward to slice into its ankles, causing it to lose balance immediately and fall face first into the ground. Before it can even think of pushing itself upright, Levi passes by you, spinning himself in the air then downwards to deliver a forceful blow to the titans nape.

By the time you land, steam is already melting away the titan’s flesh and bones just as the instructors said occurs upon the monsters’ deaths. You watch this sight, the feeling of victory setting in your own bones alongside the pride you feel when catching up to the others.

Isabell bounces in excitement, giddy over the success while Furlan sighs his relief, managing his first chuckle of the day. Even Levi, despite how indifferent he attempts to appear, has a glow in his eyes that shines brighter when you set a hand upon his shoulder, giving him a smile that you extend to the others too.

"Excellent work everyone!"

"I wanna see them try comparing us to those elites now!" Isabell cheers, pulling on Furlan's arm," how's that for Underground rats, huh!? We didn’t die, not even a scratch!"

"Don't go jinxing us, Isabell! That was only one titan. There's bound to be more!"

"Then we'll cut them all into pieces, too! They'll be no match for us!"

"Stop shouting, you're making my ears hurt," Levi warns, stubbornly looking away when Isabell throws her arm over his shoulder, yet he makes no effort to actually pull away from her grasp.

"Aw, don't act so cranky, Levi! You looked so cool out there! You and big sis both! We all looked super badass! Like professionals!"

You chuckle at Isabell's fiery spirit, happy to see your family so uplifted during what most would consider a stressful situation. You’re not sure what caused you to intentionally look away from them. Perhaps a slight movement in the corner of your eyes? Whatever the reason, you end up looking over your shoulder, locking eyes with Erwin Smith.

He stands mounted on his horse several yards away, watching your group with a grin tugging on his lips. You almost roll your eyes at this, prepared to let him ruin your good mood. Is it a grin of mocking? One forced as he must begrudgingly admit you fared well in your first real fight? Then you dwell on his expression further, realizing neither answer fits...No, the blond doesn't mock nor resent your victory. Instead, he wears a smile dripping with awe.

If thinking clearly, you would’ve hated the way you feel the need to stare at him, cheeks warm yet mind conflicted. It's as if you can read his own thoughts suddenly, understanding that they disprove everything you've previously expected him to think of you ask, however you dare not admit this. What trouble would you be in if you admit there’s warmth invoked inside you by the idea of Erwin Smith's apparent attention and approval?

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