#lighty on command

[cleanerdoesntgaming]

"Everything's fine now, Dandy." "So you don't need to worry." "'Bout a thing-" "-Sleep will bring."

[bunnycara]

I see all these girls on here asking for rape threats to get off to, but hear me out. 

Why not let me treat you like a princess?  Take you on cute dates.  Like to the park, ice cream shops and build a bear.  Cuddle you and reassure you constantly.  Get you little gifts and smile at you every time you look at me.  

I'll meet all your friends and your family.  Get welcomed in with open arms because of how great I am for you.  

Over this time building up your full trust in me.  But then things slowly turn.  We start to have more arguments and I'm not as nice as I once was.  You don't feel like I care for you as much.  You want to know why and how to fix it though.  You want things to go back to the way they were. 

You start to think about all the things I said I wanted to do but you said no.  You start to open up to the idea of doing things you said you never would.  Just to get back to the feelings we once had. 

I never had to rape your body to get what I wanted.  I only had to rape your mind and the body comes with it willingly.  You never wanted to do anal?  You'll beg me to fuck your ass and hope it makes me happy.   Weren't into watersports?  You'll be on your knees in the bathroom with your mouth open ready to be my urinal.  Never wanted a 3some or to let me fuck anyone else? You'd offer up your cuter friend to me and only ask if you can watch. 

Every time you try something new you never said you would I'd look at you and smile like the old times.  I'd pat you on the head and call you my good girl.  You'd feel pure bliss. You'd crave that feeling and only want to do so much more for me.   Anything I ask of you. 

Ok ok ok waiiiit

I actually find this so hot and interesting and manipulative in the best way for a number of reasons

One being im not generally a brat, i can BE a brat sometimes but my goal almost always is to be the very bestest goodest girl and finish every task or command /perfectly/ and leave my Daddy wanting for nothing. Of course I want to be the perfect sexdoll, housewife, the most well trained hypno pet, you get the idea. I also worry that Im boring because of it- like after awhile won't the idea of a good girl get old and stale because whats the point of punishing her? and training her more deeply? (thats what I assume Doms want to do atleast… i dunno) 

Which leads us to the super duper hot gas lighty part- where even though I AM doing everything exactly as commanded, as I’ve always done, I just cant seem to please Him, so of course Im going to try harder, push myself further, let my boundaries slide just once… twice… any time Im asked. As long as Youre happy right? As long as Im still Your good girl? As long as You promise to keep me and want me and use me?

Gas lit into more and more depraved things just for that tiny dopamine hit when You finally get off and finally feed me those words “Good Girl.”, even if Im left a crying wreck in the process. It’ll be worth it. Even if I completely lose my self (and self respect along with it) I’ll thank You for it, for bringing me lower and lower, for reshaping my entire existence around Your pleasure…

Idk kinda hot, kinda scary, which makes it even more hot ?? hehe

[berry-velvet]

Muse

I'm writing cause I felt like it, I kept imagining things in the train, making weird faces, I couldn't control.

imagine now.

My husband, a mythical human. proportions as a Greek god with flaws. a towel wrapping his waist. water trickling from this head, chest and arms. a combination of sweat and water. he had almost visible abs, pecs as big as my thighs. face sculpted, one that should belong, nah one that belongs in my museum. a art piece, that my eyes feist on.

short steps towards the bed. I was in a starry state. nothing wrapping round my head, the man infront of me being the sole cause. he could use me as he pleases and I won't mutter anything. rough he said.

his index finger slowly tilled my chin to look into these intoxicating eyes. eyes that read, pure lust. a devil in making.

both our lips parted, to inhale the cold air that surrounded us, December winters.

these fingers then proceeded to squeeze my cheeks, hardly parting my lips. he let his spit travel slowly to my tongue. cold and sweet. strawberry?

I held his hand and softly traced the veins within my reach, staring deeply in my eyes. we knew each others weaknesses.

he was so fast, lord. shifting the grip from my cheeks to my throat. choking lighty, unable to breathe. I was so about to roll my eyes, but he knew my every move and the next.

"Eyes on me, madamé"

His voice was dominating, a voice that would make me forget I had knees. a voice that had the power to make my muscles move, involuntarily.

his other hand slowly moved towards my heat. my face displayed worry, not knowing what could happen. every second a new move, my brain couldn't comprehend. cause he didn't give me the time to.

rubbing it slightly, teasing to test my patience. I bucked hips towards his cold fingers. whining, he gave in.

a kiss that could be the death of me, tongues dancing in heat. so sensitive, my brain was forming irregular shapes in darkness.

when it hit me, breathe, bitch.

he pulled back

"Baby, you gotta let that air in."

releasing the grip from my throat, he looked at me, a concerned gaze. unknown smile.

that was a false alarm, aggressively proceeding to rub it faster. I can't give in, not so early. his body touching mine, I dug my nails in his hair and slid them to his chest.

I felt him on my stomach. hot, hard and prepared.

removing my pants, collecting my cum and rubbing on his cock. this moment was the star of the show. Heck, how could I forget his face.

teeth that chewed down his bottom lip. back and forth his eyes moved from my face to his cock. being so proud of his act. a prize to him please!

me on the other hand, clueless. cause I didn't see him like this, never. excuse me, this man. mine and always mine. inexperienced pleasure heading my way, who am I to shoo it away?

I was back in my chains, his hands on mine. rough touch, so needed. trivial yet impactful. tracing from my stomach to the top, tips so hard, touch so soft, a mere rub wouldn't suffice that. so lost in the moment, my voice stuttered to even ask more.

I never had to put in so much effort to speak, but now it was -

in it goes. fuck

veins that weren't even traced by my palms, were now being engraved on the insides.

my mind went numb, a fuzzy feeling bubbling up.

a spot, that was a direct trip to cloud 9. he said.

"Wanna fly?", in a raspy voice.

it was so clear that even he, couldn't breathe or salivate.

I knew, this.

I want to fly, fly so high that I'll be scared to drop down. here goes nothing

a thrust, that shook the entirety of my body. eyes squeezing close, slowly opening to gaze at him from his face to him flexing his abs subtly.

grasp something, a command. oh my brain, it works? it's still in place.

nails grabbing anything near. his pecs that flushed with grasp. pinkish- reddish

1

2

3

here it goes

thrust

I almost forgot to breathe-

fly, baby! this is the last chance.

"Eyes on me", obeyed so fast at the speed of lightning.

every thrust was equivalent to cumming on him, a tap left loose.

that made me forget, I have to come?

didn't I do it, just now?

never-ending series, just to submit myself to him.

he is my Muse and I am his-

[camilbarnessss]

¤ The Dance of The Dragons ¤

{ Aemond Targaryen }

《 Part 2 》

The One-Eyed Prince and The Rogue Princess married. Secretly, but they did, even after all the schemes and plots of their families so they couldn't. The lovers made their own discreet plot as well, and it is working just fine. Daera understands their position, the causes of their harsh decisions. However, anyone who was wronged like Aemond so many times was, is going to feel some sort of hatred, wether it's subconsciously or consciously, towards the people who did it. That is a hard true. But, what Aemond ends up doing above the skies of Storm's End, out of rage, and eternal resentment...ultimately starts the domino effect that would lead to The Dance of the Dragons, which will mean the lost of his sanity...and his love.

《 The Invitation's Second Season 》

Masterlist

Warnings: constant swearing, family drama of course, TARGARYEN INCEST [cousinXcousin]

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Enjoy your reading!!! Likes, comments and reblogs will be highly appreciated ♡♡♡

■ ■ ■

-Alright-, Rhaenyra sighs-. You good there, Joff?-. She asks, raising her brows.

-Yes, yes!-. The boy nods, highly excited.

Rhaenyra's youngest Velaryon son is now on the back of his young dragon, Tyraxes. The red little beast emitts a really shaky roar towards the sky, shaking his neck while feeling his rider on top of him, giggling and tightly held to his saddle.

Joffrey already turned seven and, as he mother promised multiple times, at this age he would finally start riding his dragon. And indeed! Our little Joff has been learing to ride Tyraxes already since some weeks ago.

-Never stop grabbing yourself to your saddle, never!-. Nyra insists, raising her brows and pointing at him.

-I know, mom, I never do!-. The boy squeals.

Mother and son are in one of the many mountains of Dragonstone. In one of the lowest, to be clear. Rhaenyra helped him to climb to his dragon, and some steps behind her Syrax watches the moment with attention as well, for Nyra is not the only one checking her son. Tyraxes is her own egg.

-Are you ready, then?-. Rhaenyra whispers her question, sweetly caressing her child's legs. Joffrey nods, endlessly smiling. Though being nervous, she laughed, showing her teeth beautifully-. Well...-. Within a sigh, she takes some steps back, getting away from him. Syrax purrs lightly, tilting her head-. Go to it, Joff-. She raises her brows.

Joffrey chuckles, grabbing his saddle even tighter. Rhaenyra plays with her fingers, breathing a smile.

-Tyraxes, sovēs! [ Tyraxes, fly! ]-. The child loudly commanded in the middle of his laughs.

Tyraxes growled, blinking multiples times and shaking his neck along a loud roar. Then, he began to run, starting to flap his wings. The boy on top of him laughed, feeling how his hair began to be strongly blew by the wind. Tyraxes let out another roar and, finally, he pushed his body with his paws and raised himself with a wide flap of his wings. The red dragon roared cheerfully, heading to the skies while his rider cheered excited, yelling his happiness.

Rhaenyra stares up with a worried gaze, quiet, as Syrax took some steps towards her, also looking at the sky in the middle of low growls. However, after a few seconds of seeing her boy flying so steady, and cheerful, the princess began to side a proud and relieved smile, gaining a confident shine on her eyes.

The Heir turned around without erasing her prideful smirk. Syrax roared towards the sky, lowering her body so her rider would climb to her saddle. Doubtlessly, they will join their children in the sky.

It is a new month already. Time in Dragonstone flies as the wind, quickly and lighty. The Heir's family, as united as always, employs their days with wisdom and easiness, minding their duties, interests and whatever that comes up.

So, let us see what they are up to.

-Shh shh shh, that's it, easy-. Rhaena speaks with softness and a tiny smile.

On her arms, the little Aegon is being calmly rocked. He just had his breakfast, and his sister is helping him to burp, giving him soft pats on his delicate back.

The youngest girl of the family is being accompanied by two midwives, Joveth and Relia, who are attending Viserys the same way, enjoying of a good wine the young princess ordered for them.

-Op, another one!-. Joveth cheered when the babe in her arms burped. Rhaena giggled, rocking Aegon.

-Don't be shy, brother-. She speaks tenderly to him, raising her brows.

-If you wish, you can leave prince Aegon with me, princess, so you can join your father in The Dragonmont-. Relia said to her, kindly.

Rhaena opened her lips, slowly fading her smile, and quickly shaking her head.

-No no, no need-. The princess denies-. I wish to...to just wait for them-, she smiles tinyly.

Relia and Joveth stayed silent, smiling back at her and nodding, attending to Viserys again. Patting Aegon's back, Rhaena gulped, and then blinked, turning her head to look to the window of the chambers. She stared at the leafy far mountains of the island.

She gazed into the depths of Dragonstone, where the corridors between the high mountains are narrow, dark, hot, and filled with wet mud and gods know what else.

In those very corridors, Daemon, Daera, Jacaerys and Lucerys walk together.

The Rogue Prince heads the path, holding an iron pick in his hands and looking around at all times with a smile. Her daughter walks right behind him, having her white mane up in a firm bun, with some strands loose. She wears leather, as well as him, with a short black blouse and a long black skir, leaving her abdomen at sight. Her husband is at her left, carrying his sword with him, dressed in red Targaryen tones. His brother, walking at his right, wears light Velaryon blues, as well as the cape that his goodsister gifted him a moon ago.

-May any of you remember me what...what are we doing here, again?-. Lucerys asked within a low whisper, looking around with his big blue eyes.

Even though it is just morning, sun barely reaches the path they are walking in. He is sweating so much. I mean, they are all sweating, but he is utterly soaking.

-Shut up-, Jace hissed.

-Do not shut him up-. Daera snorted, elbowing him. Jacaerys rolled his eyes, paying more attention to the surrounding-. We came looking for a clutch of eggs, Luke, remember?-. She raised her brows towards him. He sighed, tsking.

-Right-, the boy whispered.

-This is our island, young princes-. Daemon spoke without looking at any of them, glancing around with his sweaty lips smiling-. And some day, it will be only be yours. It is not only its castle and its skies you should be familiar with-, he pointed.

-We are familiar with everything of it-. Jace instantly said, deffending themselves. Daera huffs with a smile, checking silently at Luke, who breathes with unquietness, looking around the dark mountains-. We know the island very well-, he said.

-Yes, that's why I don't come near here-. Lucerys mumbled within a nervous tone. While Daemon snorted a laugh, the young boy looked at his sister when she laughed lowly.

-Are you scared of dragons, brother?-. She asks funnily, elbowing him.

-No!-, he instantly denies.

-Rhaena is-. The Rogue Prince muttered with taunt, briefly rolling his eye. The siblings quickly looked at him.

-Father-. Daera called, serious.

-She is not scared of dragons, she always pets ours!-. Lucerys quickly defended her.

-Vermax loves her-, Jace did as well.

-She just stayed in the castle to help the midwives with the babes. Otherwise, she would have gladly came with us to Dragonmont-. Daera hisses confident, raising her brows.

-Heh-, Daemon simply nods, leaving the matter closed. His daughter rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a light annoyment.

Silently, they kept on walking between the high stone monts. Their skins sweat with every second passing, and their shoes get dirtier with the damp mud that is all over the place.

In a moment, Jace gasped when he suddenly took a misstep by accident. He nearly slipped right into the ground, but his sister wife gasps as well and quickly grabbed his arms, holding him steady.

-Fuck, Jace!-. She tsks, and he breathed fastly, shaking his head.

-Gods, thank you-. He whispered. Daemon and Luke just glanced, keeping their walking. Jacaerys gulps, realizing how close she got when holding him. He gazed down at her body, watching her uncovered belly, and her generous neckline-. Thanks-, he whispers again.

-Jace!-. She called firmly, having noticed those quick glances at her figure. It made her shiver, badly. The boy instantly jumps, opening his eyes big.

-Let- let's keep going-. He stuttered and kept walking, acting as if his cheeks weren't burning red. Daera sighed through her nose, biting her cheeks from the inside, and shaking her head lightly.

Jacaerys is a highly polite boy, already of age. His cousin-sister, a year older than him, is gorgeous. No word in The Seven Kingdoms has ever said otherwise. He has always know it, and recognize it. But, again, now she is his wife. After their wedding, he started to receive cheering glances, prideful ones, happy for him. He became husband of one of the most beautiful maidens of the realm. And, inevitably...he has taken pride in it.

Rhaenyra did not raise a rapist like Aegon II, or a cold bitch like Aemond. But, nevertheless, she did raise a proud kind young man, a man who is not blind at all. Little by little, Jace started to glance at Daera more constantly than before, and more longly. Admiring her, perhaps, or maybe wondering if he could ever take everything she has to offer. Because he knows she has so much to offer. They kiss, in public, from time to time, to keep appearances, especially when some lord comes to visit Dragonstone. However, when they are alone, with their familiy, they even forget they are married, and everything feels like before. But in some moments, out of nothing, Jace does ponders...how would it feel?

Daera loathes this. She has endured perfectly her marriage with Jace, but that part just makes her flinch. He is her brother, for the fuck's sake! She grew up with him, protecting him from all bad and all whisper about his legitimacy. And now to have him looking at her like that- shit. It is not even about blood. The fact that they share blood is not the problem, for she is happily married to Aemond, and- Gods, Aemond...The only thought of him becoming aware of Jace's glances at her, Jace's thoughts of her, she flinches, she shivers.

Aemond doesn't know anything about this. He truly believes that the first and last time she was kissed by Jace, was in their wedding, at which he didn't even attend to. Jacaerys and Daera's wedding was, as we know, rushed. Few were the people at presence. The King and his family weren't even invited to it. Aemond burned in rage that day, he told her the first time they saw each other after she married Jace. If he only knew that his foe constanly kisses his wife, constantly stares at her body with the confidence that it belongs to him. Fuck, Aemond would go mad. Daera is more than sure.

-Syrax hasn't laid any eggs since years ago-, Lucerys comments with a doubty tone, curving his brown brows.

Daemon looks around as they walk, carefully searching with his gaze for any sign of a dragon clutch.

-And Moondancer is still too young for it, isn't she?-. Jacaerys asked curiously, walking carefully at Daera's side, who scrunched her lips-. They are our only she-dragons, so...-, he tilt his head.

-We can't be too sure wether if they have laid eggs or not-. The princess said, shrugging briefly-...Perhaps The Cannibal is faster than us-, she mumbled, sourly.

Daemon hummed, and the boys, along her, shivered. The Cannibal, one of the riderless dragons who nest in the island, is known for his especial diet of dragon eggs, or dragons younger and smaller than him. Its fucking disgusting.

-Fucking brutal-, Daera mumbled under her breath.

Suddenly, her father stopped walking, raising his arms at the sides of his body, and making them stop as well.

-What is it?-, Jace asked, tense.

-Father?-, Daera whispered, slowly holding the handle of the dagger on her belt.

-Is everything alright?-. Luke asks, nervous-. Holy gods, what is i-

-Shush it!-. Daemon silenced them all, turning his head to look at them with a funny reproach. They instantly close their mouths, curious-...Listen-, he whispered.

With his chest coming up and down, Lucerys turned to look at Daera and Jace, who looked back at him with their lios lightly opened, silent, waiting for something. Daemon sighed within a smile, staring down at the muddy ground.

And, after a few moments, they started to feel a hot wind coming from down every five seconds. They started to hear a calmed growled, or more like snores. The floor felow their feet is lightly pulsing, beating. Like a heart.

Lucerys sighed, surprised. Jace gulped and pressed his lips, bemused. Daemon giggled lowly, turning to look at his daughter. He found Daera slowly closing her eyes and forming a slow smile on her lips, as surprised as the others.

-Vermithor...-. The Rogue Princess whispered.

They were right above The Bronze Fury's nest, underground. His hot breathing pierces the floor, reaching their shoes and making their body warmer, making them sweat even more.

-Incredible-, Jace mumbled, and Luke let out a single laughed, blinking hugely.

-He is sleeping-. Daemon deduced within a low murmur.

-The last time he was seen, he was declared the world's second largest dragon-. Daera comments with a bemused smile-...after Vhagar-, she raised her brows.

-A long time ago-. Her father nods, and then he humms, looking for something with his gaze. He narrows his eyes, and then he smiles, when he finds the mouth of a cave near them. It was small, but big enough for a person to fit-. Which one of you dares to go down there?-. Daemon then asked, burlesque, pointing at it.

His children looked at there, keeping quiet. Lucerys instantly shook his head, taking a step back. His brother, Jace, glanced away and crossed his arms, silently denying. Daera blinked, staring at the cave's mouth with her eyes curiously narrowed.

Kalistrox, since more than a year ago already, has been growing unstoppable. The maesters have told her so, her father as well, and the very dragonkeepers from both King's Landing and Dragonstone. The reason is not unknown. His endless flights from here and there, his huntings with Vhagar, his nesting on the beaches and the island. Her dragon, out of all of her family's, is the one who travels the most. He's not at all his sibling's sizes anymore, Sunfyre and Dreamfyre. The Golden Ray is bigger, more free.

So, his rider wondered about The Bronze Fury. Vermithor has been underground for years and years now, since his rider, King Jaehaerys I, died. He rarely comes out. Old, hidden. The last time he was seen he was more than huge, yes, but, that was a long time ago. Daera sincerely asked herself wether if he is still the second largest dragon in the world.

-I'll go-, she shrugged.

And she wants to find it out.

Daemon turned to look at her, slowly fading his smile away, and blinking a few times. The boys, on the other hand, gasped.

-What?-, Lucerys shook his head.

-You won't!-. Jace instantly denied-. Daera, is dangerous-. He pointed, furrowing his brows.

-It will be just a glance, I think I'll be fine-. The princess huffed, turning around to head to that cave.

-No!-, Lucerys insisted.

Daemon's mind made him think about his first wife in that moment, Daera's mother. He recalled the sight of seeing Laena burning by Vhagar's fire. The memory made him flinch, and the the fact of Daera going down there to face The Bronze Fury, alone, made him growl.

From not so far, the high pitched whistle of Caraxes is heard sharply in their ears, making the children to look up with sudden surprise. In that very moment, Daemon grabbed his daughter's arm, stopping her.

-You have your dragon already-. He hisses, pulling her closer to him again. She tsks, furrowing her brows towards him-. You've lost nothing down there-. Daemon mumbled, giving her a light push so she'd be far from that cave.

Jace and Luke sighed relieved.

-Gods, alright, then why do you ask?-. The girl huffed, leaving her curiosity for another moment-. I just wanted to see him, I wasn't going to sing him fucking Haros Bartossi either-. Daera jokes, chuckling lightly.

Her brothers laughed as well, placing themselves at her sides, out of habit. Daemon, meanwhile, looks around for some silent seconds, and then he presses his lips.

-Time to go back, there's nothing here-. He said, and they sighed, agreeing-. Alright, go on-. The prince points front, starting to walk, and the children do the same, going through the same path they came from-. There are duties to fulfill-, he says, playing with the pick on his hands.

Like this, The Rogue Prince and the princes of Dragonstone started to walk back their way. He hears them talking about any nonsense, making their usual jokes, and getting out of him some chuckles from time to time. These children are hilarious, he has to give it to them.

-Alright-, Luke narrows his eyes when they finally came out from the mountains, now receiving the fresh air of the beach. They all sighed, smiling-. I will join mother and Joff to their flight now-. He says with excitement. Daera smirks looking at him.

-Uh-uh-. Daemon shakes his head. They gaze at him, confused-. Its your time for swords now-. He pointed at them, raising his brows.

-But-! I have my High Valyrian lessons with Maester Gerardys-. Jace instantly complained, furrowing his brows.

-Swords-. Daemon stressed, not caring about their plans.

-Hells, no please-. Lucerys sighed, annoyed. Sometimes he truly hates to train with Jacaerys. He is just to rough with him.

-Swords-. Daemon said again. His daughter snickered, amused by his neutral expression as they walk and talk-. Leave your lessons for tomorrow, you have to get better in your combat-. He said at Jace, side eyeing him.

-Impossible-. The young prince complains-. As future King, I must le-

-Your Queen will translate for you, if anything-. Daemon interrupted him with no softness, and in that very moment he turned a corner and walked away from them, heading to his own matters.

He left Jace mouth-opened, Lucerys snickering, and Daera laughing amusedly. But, when she notices his ashamed face and red cheeks, she stops chuckling, closing a tender smile.

-Oh, father is just messing with you, you know how he makes sport of that-. She consoles him, raising a hand to caress the back of his neck. The brown-haired boy tsks his tongue, glancing at the beach.

-You will learn, brother, we are sure of it-. Luke smiles as well, patting his back. Daera noded, giggling, and Jace finally agreed with them, nodding-...I am so hungry-. He suddenly tells.

-Oh my fucking gods, so am I-. The girl instantly growls, opening her eyes big.

-I could eat...-. Jace shrugges, looking at both of them, who began to smile.

-Alright alright, a quick appetizer and then we train!-. Daera dictates within a clap. They agreed instantly, clapping as well-. Let's go for Rhaena!-. She raises her brows, shoting out running from a moment to another.

The brothers laugh, instantly following her.

-Alright, but I do really wish to study!-. Jacaerys kept his complaining, curving his brows.

-FIRST WE EAT!-. Lucerys yelled, running in the sand.

-Take the opportunity to train with me, now that I'm here!-. Daera yells at them with a smile, breathing fast-. I'm leaving to King's Landing the day after tomorrow!-, she remembered, internally cheering when thinking about seeing her dear ones in the capital again.

-Ouh that's right, that's right!-, Jace tsks, rolling his eye. Lucerys did so too.

-So now we eat, and then we train!-. Daera plans with a smile, one that quickly faded away-. FUCK! And then I have my singing lessons!-. She growls, annoyed.

-Oh I love your singing!-. Luke smiles brighfully.

-Why does a Queen has to know how to sing?!-. The princess scoffs rolling her eyes.

■ ■ ■

The night of this day brings a white moon with it. Said moon is shining above of The Red Keep, in King's Landing, softly lighting the red stone of the castle, where the royal family and its servans are, most of them, redaying for bed already.

In the tower of The Hand of The King, near his chambers are the chambers of his own daughter, The Queen. And, in said room, she is not by herself, even though the hour is late.

Helaena is seated in on side of the bed. On the other side of it, Alicent is seated as well, holding a book on her arms. And, in the middle of mother and daughter, are the princess's children. Jaehaera and Jaehaerys, both quietly lying in there, listening to their grandmother's soft voice.

-When Lord Stephan came to understand that all of his lands were, in fact, an enchanted wood, he thought of his love-. Alicent raises her brows, reading the book with a calmed gaze-. Perhaps the magic of the wood could heal her disease, and bring her back home with him-, she smiles, winking an eye at the babes.

The twins, even though they probably do not even know what the tale goes about, couldn't be more attentive to it. It has became a custom for them to have Queen Alicent to read them a children's tale every night. Princess Helaena brings the children to her mother's chambers, and here she reada to them until they fall asleep, and then they go back to their own.

The little prince Jaehaerys wouldn't know to put it into words, for he isn't able to talk yet, but he is sure that his grandmother has a loving soft and tender voice.

-Perhaps they could live happily, again, in their enchanted wood-. Alicent reads with a tiny smirk, constantly glancing to the children-. So, filled to the top with confidence, Lord Stephan went out, looking for her-. She sighs, passing the page.

Helaena doesn't grows tired of staring at her children. It moves her deeply to see how entertain they get when their grandma reads for them. They truly enjoy it, she can see. At some moments she even finds herself also staring at the reader, having a little smile on her thin lips while she plays with her delicate fingers, listening to the tale as well.

After changing the page, Alicent became aware that her daughter was staring at her. Because of this, she aparted her eyes from the book, looking back at Helaena with a tiny smile still on her lips, curious. At this, Helaena inhaled through her mouth, lifting her shoulders.

-They think your voice is soft-. The princess informed with her characteristic tone of innocence and sweetness.

-Oh, do they?-. Alicent closes her smile, glancing at the twins, who babble calmly. She giggles a little, looking at her again. She wants to talk with her, for she does it so little-. Do you remember, daughter, when you were the babe, listening to my tales?-. She asks with a sided smirk.

Playing with her fingers, Helaena looks away for a second, pressing an amused smile on her lips and opening her eyes big, nearly laughing.

-I do not-, she answered, shrugging. Alicent chuckles, not surprised-. Did I use to be as...attentive as they are?-. The princess questions, curious, pointing at her children.

-Oh no, not a bit-. The Queen shakes her head, smiling towards the babes. Helaena tilted her head, pressing an ashamed smile-. Out of you four, Daeron is the only one who...who always used to listen-, she chuckles again, lowering her sight.

Helaena, totally slouched, blinks two times, staring with interest at her. Alicent looks back at her, instantly taking advantage of her interest, and keeping on talking.

-Aegon used to get bored and fall asleep before the first ten pages-. The redhead raises her brows, and her daughter scrunches her nose, lightly smiling, but not liking the mention of her husband-. Aemond only ever used to listen if I read history to him-. Alicent scoffs, and Helaena giggles softly-. And you...you never listened, and used to be further more interested in whatever insect you would find in the floors nearby-. The Queen rolls her eyes, playing with her nails.

This time, Helaena laughed heartily. Alicent instantly raised her eyes, with the warmest of surprises, seeing her daughter chuckling with amusement and easiness, showing her beautiful teeth. Alicent, immediately, laughed too, wrinkling her eyes and nodding along her giggles.

The babes also laughed, copying them, and making them to chuckle even more. Moments after, Helaena closed her mouth with an easy smile, staring at her children and then back at her mother, who glanced back at her too, having her cheeks red.

-Did grandfather use to read tales for you as well?-. The princess asks with honest curiosity, blinking as she talks.

Alicent leaves her lips opened for a few seconds, thoughtful. Then, she sighs through her nose.

-No, he never did-. She whispered lowly, raising her brows-. But my mother did...she always did-. The Queen adds, siding a brief smile.

Helaena smiles with her lips closed, blinking while tilting her head to a side, staring at her mother as if she is some kind of marvel. Then she calms her gaze, blinking again.

-My father never read to me either-. The princess says, as innocent as a just bloomed flower, not fading her smile away.

In that moment, Alicent felt her heart sinking. Her eyes flickered like cristal, and her lips opened with a relaxed expression of sadness, deeply staring at her daughter, her only daughter with Viserys. Her only daughter ever, so lovely.

The Queen gulps, begginning to raise a hand towards her, slowly approaching. Helaena stayed calm, curiously glancing at her hand. Then, she looks at her mother's eyes, finding compassion and nerves in them.

As she rarely does, his mother is asking for permission to touch her.

Helaena blinks, creating a soft smile, and then she leans front, nearing to her mother's hand, which reached her white hair in a tender touch. And she didn't flinch back.

Without exaggeration, Alicent almost gasped. She felt so happy when touching her girl's mane. Without thinking it twice, the redhead gets closer to her, in the mattress, now caressing her long hair with tenderness, and love. Helaena smiles, so quiet, also starting to caress her children's hair, which is growing so long too.

Alicent draws a big smile on her face, beyond happy, staring at Helaena's cute freckles in her blushed cheeks. So sweet, her daughter.

There are moments, from time to time, when Helaema wants nothing but her mother's touch. It happens so, so little. Alicent is a complicated woman. There is an abundant rage inside her, and there is also love, but it is constantly overshadowed by her despair, a dark resentment she has in her heart. However, when that love is capable of coming out to shine, is wonderful. Helaena has never feel a purer love.

And so, she smiles, closing her eyes, and letting her mom to treat her as so.

The doors open, and the princess's dear brother walks in the chambers. Aemond entered the room with silent steps, taking off his sword from the belt. He raised his brows at the moment of seeing Alicent caressing Helaena's hair, both of them smiling with calm, having the twins lying in front of them.

They turned to look at him, smiling instantly. He, bemused, started to smile as well, leaving his sword in the dresser, and beginning to take off his long black coat.

-Son-, Alicent sighs with a smile, raising her free arm towards him, signaling him to approach.

Is Aemond's custom as well to constantly visit her mother's chambers. It is no secret that he deeply loves her, and is always checking on her, asking her about wether the political talks she had with the council, or simple things as if she needs somethinh or if she is hungry. He is as attentive as with his sister and her children, as we know.

So, now, coming at these hours to here, he couldn't feel happier when finding all of them, together, having a loving quiet time.

-Did you all have supper already?-. The one-eyed asks with his husky tender voice, approaching to the bed with calm steps-. Everything alright?-, he draws his only eye in the two women and the kids.

-Indeed-, his mother answered with a light nod, softly passing her fingers through Helaena's waving hair.

Aemond gave her a smirk, satisfied with her answer. Then, he emits a funny growl, narrowing his eye and carefully holding Jaehaerys in her hands, lifting him from the bed.

-Ahh-, he growls, carrying the boy, who babbles with silliness, staring at his black eye patch-. Little prince-, he rocks him. Alicent smiles tenderly, staring at her two boys.

-Did you have a good ride, with Vhagar, brother?-. Helaena asks with a soft voice, briefly raising her brows.

-Of course I did-. He nods to a side, prideful.

-Aemond-, his mother calls him withim some laughs. He instantly looks at her, calm-. Your sister and I were talking. Do you remember when I used to read tales to you four?-. She asks with the purest of smiles, hoping that he does remembers.

Aemond blinks, starting to smile while looking at her, the hope on her pretty eyes, almost childish. Then, he laughed from deep his throat.

-I remember it all too well, mom-. He answered with tenderness and diverssion, giving a sided nod-. My blood is not the only reason of why I am so fond of dragons-, he commented, recalling all the histories of House Targaryen she would read him.

The girls laughed, and soon he joined them, lifting his cheeks and rocking Jaehaerys while he chuckled. Queen Alicent smiled so hugely, feeling her cheeks hurting, for it is so weird to see her children's teeth. They rarely laugh this sincere, and she loves it. Heartily, she wished all her children would be here right now at this very moment. She wished that Aegon wasn't lost in some spot of Flea Bottom, and that her sweetest boy Daeron wasn't so far away in Oldtown.

The Queen wishes to have all of her white-haired kids with her.

-So, has the tale ended already?-. Aemond asks with a smile, pointing at the book with his eye-. I would like to fini-

-Aemond-, Jaehaera babbled in the bed.

-Aemond-, Jaehaerys followed her, moving his arms.

Aemond froze, opening his eye big. Alicent gasped, raising her brows to the top of her forehead. And Helaena smiled, instantly beginning to clap.

-Did they say my name?-. The one-eyed whispered, shocked-. Helaena, did they say my name?-. He turns to look at her.

-Yes!-, she nods, laughing, and Alicent does the same, curving her frown.

Aemond sighs, bemused, and then he cheers with an open smile. He grabbed his niece too, now carrying both of the babes on his arms, happily rocking them.

-Gods!-, he whispered, closing his eye and nearing them to his chest, hearing their high pitched giggles. He cheers within laughs, excited.

Helaena chuckles, as excited as him, reaching out her hands to grasp those of her kids on their uncle's shoulders. The twins smiled, looking at her with sparkling eyes.

With her chest coming up and down due to her chuckles, Alicent smiled while looking at them, appreciating the moment, the image. Moments like this are the ones that convinces her of the fact that marrying Viserys Targaryen was totally and completely worth it.

■ ■ ■

A new day has arrived, once again. However, we are not in King's Landing any longer, neither in Dragonstone. Right now, we are flying in the morning skies of Driftmark.

Meleys and Moondancer also flap their wings in them, flying above of the blue sea belonging to the legendary Velaryons. Both she-dragons roar as they happily go through the clouds and the wind, one of a passionate red, and the other one of a soft light green.

While hearing her dragon roaring with joy in the skies, Baela combs her hair with serenity, in her chambers, having a light smile on her brown lips.

As always, she is in the room her mother used to sleep in when she still resided in Driftmark. Her sisters are obviously not here, so she has been sleeping in both bed during all these nights her visit has lasted.

It feels good, to have both options to sleep in but, however, she already misses her home. Within a few days she will already be returning to Dragonstone. The princess wants to see her family, she cannot spend much time far from them without missing them strongly.

She wishes to see her father again, whom she enjoys her flights with so much. She wants to see Rhaenyra as well, and caress her growing belly, from where another more sibling will be arriving too. Rhaena and Daera are always in her mind, as well as Joffrey, Luke, Aegon, Viserys and, and Jace, of course. All of her siblings. Oh, Jace. To even think that once she had her hopes on him.

The princess sighed, shaking her head and getting her mind off him.

Even though she is excited for returning home, she also plans to make the most of every day she has left with her grandmother.

Baela smiles to the mirror, thinking about arranging a meal with Rhaenys in the beach along their dragons, and then go ride them for a while. Yep, absolutely doing that!

When she listens to the door being open, Baela turns around her head. She finds the very Rhaenys entering her chambers. She instantly cheered when seeing her.

-Oh, grandma, I have the most lovely plans for us to this morrow!-. Baela says, excited, nearing to her. Rhaenys, tensed, forced a smile, holding her hands dearly-. Let us go have breakfast in the lonely parts of the beach, so then we can go fl-

-Baela-, her grandmother cut her words with a low tone. Baela, confused, furrowed her brows, just realizing the worriness on her clear eyes-. We have an audience, dear-. She whispered.

-And...can't it wait? You even haven't had your breakfast yet-. The princess mumbles with confusion, shrugging. Rhaenys gulps, lifting her chin.

-It is news, about Lord Corlys-. Rhaenys informed.

Baela instantly shivered, slowly opening her lips, and looking at her grandma with growing worriness.

■ ■ ■

-It's been near six years since I last saw my lord husband, Maester-. Rhaenys's voice fills the hall of the Driftwood Throne with firmness-. I must know...-but in here, it broke a little-...will he live?-. She asks, fearing the answer.

The princess is seated at the throne of Driftmark, wearing an attentive gaze. And, at her right, Baela stands steady and serious, having her hands nervously crossed over her blue dress's belly.

-He led his sailors into an ambush. A ship made to look as if it were abandoned-. The master in front of them speaks with his foreign accent, calm, and severe-. In the fighting, his neck was slashed by a corsair's dagger. He fell overboard into the sea-. He narrates, making both princesses to strongly shivered, keeping straight faces-. The wound was severe, much blood was lost. But the greater concern is the fever that followed-. The maester admits, and Baela gulps, feeling a pain on her chest-. The ship's maester said...he burns from within...-, even he spoke with certain shame.

Princess Rhaenys instantly looked away, letting her gaze fall in the floor. Her mind had a thousand thoughts in that moment, and all that she could do was keep silent. She felt her mouth drying up quickly.

As the seabirds sing on the outsides, Baela gulps nervously, slowly turning her face to look at her grandmother. She cannot believe they are having to listen to all of this after years without knowing anything about Corlys. Not one thing.

Rhaenys glances back at her, and after a few seconds, Baela stares front again, facing the maester with a neutral expression, keeping her worriness for herself. The Lady of Driftmark does so as well, commanding herself to talk again.

-The ravens came in from...?-. She asks.

-Evenfall, princess-. Maester Kelvyn answered with serenity, and she instantly nods, looking away again.

-So they arrive in three days-, the princess calculated.

Baela directed her gaze towards another spot of the throne room, looking at her uncle. And we are not talking about Viserys. Lord Corlys's brother, Vaemond, is at the hall as well. He furrowed his brows, and stopped his brief walk when hearing the time his brother will take to arrive. Baela narrowed her eyes, not understanding his reaction.

-Let all be made ready to receive him, Maester Kelvyn-. Rhaenys commanded, glancing at Baela, who side eyed her with a light nod, agreeing with her command.

The maester did so as well, not waiting for another order, and turning around, walking away from the throne hall, being followed by Vaemond's thoughtful eyes.

After Kelvyn left, Baela sighed through her nose, instantly turning around and walking in front of Rhaeny's sigh, noticing that she seems deep lost in her thoughts.

-The Sea Snake is strong-, Baela comforts her softly, curving her brows. Rhaenys, emotionless, did not even blink.

-Hm-, it was all she said, looking down.

-No doubt-. Vaemond suddenly spoke, making the young princess to turn her gaze towards him, hardening it-. And yet, I have seen blood fever overcome men half his age-. He pointed, calmly walking until ended up in front of them.

-I will not suffer the talk of crows in my house, Vaemond-. Rhaenys dictated without even looking at him.

-I love my brother-. He instantly deffended himself, furrowing his brows. Baela scrunched her lips, looking at him in silent-. But we must be honest with ourselves... We may greet his ship to find him gone-. He declared. Rhaenys finally looked up at him, eyes hugely opened, while Baela narrowed hers-. And who will take the Driftwood Throne?-, he asked with preoccupattion.

-My grandmother seems quite comfortable here-. Baela instantly pointed, moving her mane with confidence.

-She has been, during six years-. She raised her brows.

-She presides only in the absence of her husband-. Vaemond stressed to his granddaughter-niece, clenching his jaw. She chewed her teeth, keeping silent-. On his death...the seat passes-, he dictates.

-To Lucerys Velaryon, as is my lord husband's desire-. Rhaenys quickly nods, gaining firmness in her voice again. Baela smirked tinyly when hearing her brother being named.

-I am the Sea Snake's own blood-. The Velaryon man declared with obviousness. The smirk on Baela's face instantly faded, looking at him in disbelief-. The closest kin he has left-, he added.

-Be careful, good-brother-. Rhaenys spoke with a serene tone, closing a smile on her thin lips-. One could take your words for treason-, she tilted her head, looking at him.

Vaemond kept silent, serious, and then he started to walk towards the throne. Baela quickly hardened her expressions even more, also taking steps closer to the throne near her grandmother, staring at her uncle with harhsness.

-I speak the truth, Rhaenys...and you know it-. He heartily said, pointing at the floor. Grandmother and granddaughter stare at him, with this one thinking about how Daera would be cursing him already if she was here.

-The matter has been decided-. The lady spoke, glancing at the floor with some heaviness, gulping.

-By a man whose ambition has brought down on us calamity...-Vaemond speaks with poison, making both princesses to breath in deeply-...after calamity!-, he raised his voice harshly at the last moment, raged.

Baela breathes shakily, and Rhaenys lifted her chin with seriousness, staring into his soul. He instantly brought his voice down again.

-My brother cares only for the history books-, he pointed, keeping silent for a quick second-. But what of the Velaryon line? Is it to be snuffed out?-, his voice asks with true despair and worriness-. Suplanted by the pups of House Strong?-, a whisper came out as raged as lowly.

Baela opened her lips, shocked by the insult. At that moment, she just could imagine her father killing him right in that second. He wouldn't have said what he is about to say now.

-Driftmark is mine, by all rights!-. The second son of his house pointed firmly, raising his brows. Rhaenys looks silently at him, listening-. And while I should like your support, I do not...need it-. He assured, full of confidence-. The winds have shifted. The crown has good reason...to take my side-, he nods.

Baela instantly huffed, shaking her head from side to side, disagreeing.

-My cousin, The King, would have your tongue for this-. Rhaenys spoke with the same confidence of him, forming a brief tired smile.

-But it's not a King who sits the Iron Throne these days, good-sister-. Vaemond quickly denies, approaching even more to her with a face full of obviousness-...It's a Queen-. He whispered.

Baela felt all of her body shivering, falling into the fact. Alicent. Rhaenys, thinking of that too, kept silence and stared away from him, losing her gaze in some blank point. She has, again, a million thoughts.

Silent as well, Vaemond glanced at the both of them, serious. Without any more word, he firmly turned around, walking with steadiness and decision. Decision.

-He is going to do it-, Baela whispered, shocked-. Grandma-, she turned to her, nervous.

Rhaenys, wordless, shakes her head from side to side multiple times, raising her brows. It is more than obvious. Vaemond will claim the throne as his. She doesn't wants to believe it, for that only means that...her husband would be dead. What is she going to do about it?, she sincerely asks herself.

Before her grandma's silence, Baela sighs with ansiousness and quickly began to walk away from the throne. Rhaenys called her name, but she didn't stop, nearly beginning to run through High Tide's hallways.

She breathes fast, nervous, thinking about Luke. Luke, Jace, Joffrey! She can't allow this to happen, she can't allow this shadow to harshly fall over them and smash them with no mercy.

-Maester Kelvyn!-. The princess loudly calls when entering to the Maester's office with no notice. He flinched, surprised, turning to look at her-. Get me ink and paper, Sir, please-. She speaks fastly-. And get a raven ready-, she raised her brows.

■ ■ ■

-Now listen to me, my dragons...-

Aegon III and Viserys II are both in a shared cradle, standing in it and holding their little hands in the railing. Their sweet faces are mesmerized, looking at only one person.

A warm fire from with you, will light my soul

With snow and with sun, the wild lady will rise

My tired big old wings, moved by your hatchling hearts

My fire, it burns warmer

My fire, it burns colder!

-Valyrian blood running, faded all in boulders!-. Daera sings with all the sweatness of the world, folding a sheet as she stares at the babes with an open smile-. But my babes...they will prevail...-. She curved her brows, tilting her head and letting a laugh out.

Her little baby brothers stare at her with silly gazes, listening at all moments at her enchanting singing, not even minding the words being sang.

My breathing is tired. Was not worth it, they said! Though they...they begged me to stay!

My dragons!

My dragons...

Luke and Rhaena are seated in the bed of Daemon and Rhaenyra's chambers, where they are gathered in this very moment, taking care of the babes and organyzing the room a little.

Rhaena and Lucerys smile, softly cuddled together, following Daera with their shiny gazes, listening to her song as she places the folded sheet at their feet, turning around to face the craddle.

-I must meet with my delusion, my sweet things!-. The princess sings heartily, slouching as she approached to the babes, who jumped with excited smiles as seeing her nearing-. Away I shall fly, as you learn to flap-, Daera laughs tenderly, placing her hand on Aegon's cheek-. With you shall stay my wisest words-, she, then, caressed Viserys's too.

Luke smiles with easiness, tilting his head to a side while he watches Daera.

You lighted my soul, moved my big old wings

My fire, it burns warmer

My fire, it burns warmer!

The princess's singing drowned out the sound of footsteps approaching the room. Soon, Rhaenyra arrives to it with a curious face, and a tender smile, instantly looking for the owner of a god's voice.

She found Luke and Rhaena calmly staring at Daera, who met her forehead with the babes's while she recited her song.

-I will meet my delusion, burn in the same hells! I'll feed...my greatest regret...-. Daera smiles, closing her eyes as feeling Aegon's little hands caressing her cheeks-. My breathing is tired! Not worth it, I know! But I...I was never meant to stay!-, she shook her head, combing Visery's hair with her fingers.

Rhaenyra, in a red dress, leaned her hips and head on the doorstep. She sighed through her nose, flashing the most touching smiles as she watched the children, and listened to the eldest.

My dragons!

My dragons...

Daera finished her song, closing a happy smile, and leaving two kisses on the babes's forehead. She raises her brows when hearing excited clappings coming from the bed.

-Alright-, the princess scoff, turning to look at Lucerys and Rhaena, who clap as they smile.

-Masterpiece!-, the blue-eyed boy yells.

-Sublime!-, the white-haired girl smiles as well, kneeling on the bed.

-Cheers, cheers!-. Daera claps towards them with amusement, wrinkling her eyes.

-Very ear-appealing, Daera-. A fourth voice came from the chamber's door, making them all to took at there.

Lucerys and the girls smiles when they see Rhaenyra entering with her graceful steps, caressing her pregnant belly as she watches at the older princess with a pride smile. This one huffs a laugh, turning to her.

-You all flatter me deeply, but I must confess I was trying to get them to sleep-. Daera sighs tiredly, and they all laughed-. It appears my audience grew quite entertained-, she mumbles funnily, glancing at the waked babes.

-Ahaha!-, Rhaenyra chuckles, raising her brows-. Well, I am actually glad, because they are meant to bath now-. She said, placing a hand on Daera's shoulder, who smiled silently, boping her head-. As a matter of fact...-she turns to Luke and Rhaena-, could you go tell the maidens to arrange a bath for Joffrey?-, she gently asks.

-Yes, sure-. Rhaena instantly nods, standing up frlm the bed, being followed by Luke.

-Right away, mother-. This one says, smiling to her as they head to the door.

Rhaenyra smiled too, thanking them in silence. Then, when they outed from the room, she turned to look at Daera, who is patiently standing at her side, receiving the balcony's near breeze.

-May I tell you that your singing sounds quite different nowdays, than back to "she pushed and pushed and a dragon flew from her" days?-. Nyra says with a funny voice, opening her eyes big, and starting to walk calmly.

-Gods, now that is a compliment!-. The princess pointed with relief, rolling her eyes blank. The Heir laughed funnily, outing to the balcony with slow steps. Chuckling, Daera follows her-. The lessons have worked, I guess-, she sighs.

-They definitely have, loveliest-, Rhaenyra side eyed her with a pride pressed smile, nodding. Daera smiled as well, appreciating it. Then, they both stared at the sea, now standing outside, feeling the morning's fresh wind, seeing some of their dragons flying up there-. So...you are back to King's Landing again tomorrw-, she remembers.

-Indeed-. Daera answered, and Rhaenyra nodes, silent-. The princes Jaehaerys and Jaehaera are also fond of my singing, as a matter of fact-. She comments, chuckling a little.

The Heir giggled in a low voice. She felt like a child when feeling a brief hint of jealousy as she pictured Daera singing to ther babes that weren't Aegon and Viserys. Huh, what would she feel if she knew Aemond also loves to hear her as well.

Rhaenyra sighed, staying silent, losing her eyes in the sea. Daera looked at her, sideways, thoughful. She wondered of why the curiosity of her step-mother. A few moments later, she found a possible answer. Daera felt her cheeks burning with shame.

-Nyra, I...I think I owe you an apology-. The princess suddenly whispered, lowly. The older one furrowed her brows, interested.

-You have done me no wrong, Daera-. Rhaenyra shakes her head.

-I am sorry because, in my last visits to King's Landing, I haven't been able to see the King-. The princess declared, lowering her sight. At that, Nyra opened her lips, giving a slow and tired blink-...your father-, she muttered.

Rhaenyra glanced at the sea again, feeling how her eyes burned with some light tears. She sniffed her nose, briefly, beginning to shake her head.

-You are not a raven, child, neither no envoy-. She tries to comfort her, when it is her the one who needs to be comforted.

-No but I am the one who goes-, Daera didn't excuse herself, raising her brows-. I have tried to walk into his room, but- but he is The King-. She laughs sourly-. A thousand excuses are valid to not let me see him-, she hisses.

-What excuses?-, Rhaenyra sighed her question, sincerely confused-. His niece, why wouldn't she be given pass to his chambers?-, she asks, shaking her head.

-The Queen has guards in his doors at all hours...green guards who do not let anyone in but her and the Maesters-. Daera answered with an annoyed voice, staring at the sea-. She says my uncle is in a very deep pain that only gets worse when he talks-, she hisses, not believing The Queen-. She says I am doing him a favour by not seeing him-. Daera whispers, while Rhaenyra wrinkles her lips, sour-...That fucking bitch-, the princess grumbled, cursing Aemond's mom.

-Alicent knows no shame-. Rhaenyra implies, with her voice sort of shaky by how outraged she is-. No limits-, she shakes her head.

Nyra remembers the last time she saw The Green Queen, where they did their one-time plot and informed The King about Daera and Jacaerys's betrothal. It may have worked, but she has not forgotten all the sugar coated insults towards her older son, towards all her sons, towards Daera herself.

-Princess Daera, as good hearted as she might be, has no place in my Aemond's life. It fits her to share a marriage with your son, Jacaerys. It will fits him, better said-. Alicent said with the kindest of smiles on her dead eyes.

-Why don't you go to the capital yourself, Rhaenyra?-. Daera asked out of a moment, sighing with confussion. Nyra scrunched her lips, looking at her with a shamed denial-. I may be the King's niece, not his daughter, but you are!-. She raised her brows, softly grabbing one of her arms-. Alicent won't have it denied to you, she cannot-. The princess insists.

-Daera...-, she sighs.

-The capital may not be as you remember it was in your childhood-. Daera mumbles, caressing her arm briefly-. If you'd go, you could put so many things in order. I've been already doing my part, as much as I can, but...-she stays silent for a few seconds, gulping strongly, with a sour flavour in her mouth-...it's too heavy, Nyra-. She whispered. The Heir looks at her with a soft pity, gulping as well, and noding.

-The Red Keep stopped being and feeling like my home a long time ago, Daera-. Rhaenyra whispered, thinking about the death of her mother, the new marriage of her father, and the birth of their children-. And now, every time I step in it, acussations follow my every step...and my children's-. She whispered, raising her brows. Daera sighed, inevitably understanding her point when thinking about all the murmurs her brothers always have to endure-. I loathe that castle-, she confesses.

-No-. Daera instantly shakes her head-. The castle still has hope, and it actually misses you, dearly-. The princess says, noding under the teary gaze of her step-mother-. Who you loathe, is the pack of vipers that live within its walls-. She raises her brows-. Alicent and Otto Hightower-, she named them with bitterness.

Rhaenyra bits her tongue, gulping, and silently agreeing. The Heir stared at the sea again, thoughtful. Daera, on the other hand, looked higher, watching at Kalistrox and Caraxes flying together in the skies.

■ ■ ■

Far away from the castle of Dragonstone, where the mountains become wider and higher, the light of the morning sun barely reaches the corridors between these uncountable monts.

Walls of stone and floor of mud and rocks watches The Rogue Prince walking with his black leather boots, as dirty as the floor ltself. His face is all stained too with dust, the very same mud, and his own sweat.

However, the prince cares little about his appearance at the moment, for he found a marvel in between all the boiling air. He found just what he has been looking for so deeply.

A steamy nest.

Daemon kneeled on the floor, feeling his knees burning, but he didn't care. From a bag, he took out his iron pick, holding it steady. Breathing heavily, he caressed the nest, feeling its heat, and the three buldges it has.

Then, the prince lifts up the pick, and clash it against the nest. He started to carefully chip it, really minding the spot he punches. Soon, it began to break. With every hit of the pick, more steam came out. The prince, thanks the gods, is wearing some thick gloves. He'd get burn if he wouldn't.

After he poked it enough, he teared it apart with his own hands, carefully pulling the surface away, as if it is skin. Hissing, Daemon does it fastly, every time more excited.

And soon after, he had a dragon egg in his hands.

Mouth-opened, Daemon lifted it at the height of his face, staring at it with his eyes wide opened, all shiny. He twirled it and looked at it from all perspectives, finding the most perfect and healthy shape.

Breathless, he blinks.

After a while later, The Rogue Prince is outside again, carrying a heavy bag with him. Blessed by the sea's winds and drops, he advances with the proudest of steps and the biggest of smiles, still getting his breath back.

Two dragonkeepers quietly await for him near the mountains. Interested, they stare at the approaching prince, who sighed with am open smile, looking back at them.

-Syrax maghatan nykeā arlie madās [ Syrax brough a new clutch ]-, he informed with a shiny gaze, reaching for the bag he carries.

Both dragonkeepers keep their faces calm, nodding at him.

-Hāre drōma! [ Three eggs ]-. Daemon counts, opening his eyes big. His excitement is as pure as his dragon blood, for he has been wishing for that same amount of eggs. He is thinking in no one but Rhaena, Aegon and Viserys-. Hāre drōma! [ Three eggs! ]-. He repeats breathless, taking the bag off him.

The older dragonkeeper gives him a little smile, taking the bag in his hand.

-Ūndegon harilēs pōnta issi isse ūnd, huh? [ See that they are placed in the warming chamber, huh? ]-. Daemon commanded with her brows up, nodding.

-Rȳ istin, issa mushīs [ At once, my prince ]-. And while the older man talks, and searches for something in his dirty robe, the younger dragon keeper glanced at him with a silent worriness-. Se giēñrȳī maghatan bisa [ The maester brought this ]-. He says. Still with the sign of a smile on his face, Daemon looks at the wrapped paper he handed him-. Ziry sepār hen Driftmark oj... riñnykeā Baela [ It just arrived from the Lady Baela on Driftmark ]-, he raised his brows when mentioning the prince's middle daughter.

Daemon fades his smile completely, staring at the old man with surprise, and curiosity. Doubtlessly, he took the paper instantly, and dismissed the dragonkeepers with a quick nod.

The Rogue Prince quickly looks down at the papel, unfolding it with delicacy. Meanwhile, he furrowed his brows, confused. Why did Baela write? He's expecting his daughger to arrive from her visit within two days already. She is almost arriving. If she has written, it mustn't be something good, and that put even more hurry in his moves.

...And he was right.

■ ■ ■

Daera pushed the doors of one of the entrance to The Chamber of The Painted Table, entering to it with a smile on her face, and Rhaenyra by her side.

-You know I am able to open a door while being with child, right?-. She asks within a scoff, grabbing one of her arms.

-Well, you will not-. Daera shrugged, beginning to walk down the stairs with her. She laughed rolling her eyes-. Steady-, she mumbles, carefully.

-Yes-, Nyra nods.

-From the start, Jace-. They heard a very soft whisper from far.

-The- the- the- uh...-. Jacaerys sighed from the distance, stressed-. The Conqueror and his sisters sailed, with a great army-. He said.

-Oh, great-. Daera giggles, turning her head to glance at Rhaenyra, who kept walking down the stairs with her with a listening expression, hearing the High Valyrian in the room-. Want to bet that he didn't break his fast?-, she whispers.

-He better have broken his fast-, Rhaenyra mumbled raising her brows.

They walked out of the stairs, already reaching the chamber itself. Rhaenyra and Daera walk side to side, and this last one smiled when seeing Rhaena and Luke lying with Joffrey in front of the fireplace, reading a book.

-Se Blakuata Rasho dranot vilinio viartis-, Maester Gerardys speaks with clarity and firmness.

Jace opened his lips, briefly staring at his mother and wife, arriving.

-Did Lord Joffrey took his bath already?-. Daera asks, heading towards the fireplace. The child laughed funnily, biting his tongue.

-He did-, Rhaena answered, amused.

-And landed at the Blackwater Rush-. Jace translated the maester's formers words, exhaling. Rhaenyra sided a confident smile as she walked to the table, greeting the maester with a nod.

-Dranot-, The Heir stresses with a perfect High Valyrian, lifting her chin as she walks.

-Good-, Daera shakes Joff's and Luke's hair, making them to snort with annoyment.

-Dranot, dranot-. Jace mumbles endlessly. His wife, noticing his stress, curves her brows with a little smile, and begins heading towards there-. Dranot-, he whispers.

-Yeah, dranot-. Lucerys huffs in a low voice. He doesn't care much about High Valyrian.

-Uhh, at the end?-. Curious, Jace asks his mother, pointing at her with an open arm.

-The mouth-. Rhaenyra, Rhaena and Daera answered at the same time with simplicity. Rhaenyra while caressing her belly, Rhaena while paging the book, and Daera while reaching his side at the table.

-Mouth!-. Jace tsked and flinched-. Oh come on Jace, you knew that-. He whispered to himself, ashamed.

-No, you didn't, and that is why you're learning, boy-. Daera pointed with a funny and reproachful tone. He sighs, touching his forehead with nervous.

-I agree, princess-. Gerardys nods, gaining a smile from her.

Keeping her calm walk, Rhaenyra draws a tender little smile when she sees Joffrey, Rhaena and Luke in front of the fireplace. They all three looked up at her.

-Bathed already, may I hope?-. The Heir whispered towards her youngest, who rolled his eyes.

-Yes, mother-. Luke answered for him, amused, and Rhaena noded the same way. Nyra snickered, satisfied, keeping her walk.

-Say it again-, Jacaerys stared at his wife, who tilted her head to a side-...please-, he whispered.

-Dranot-, Daera says softly. Rhaenyra stares at them, caressing her belly with sweetness.

-Dranot-, he mumbles-. Dranot, dranot-. He repeats endlessly.

-Do not rush yourself, Jace, dranot-. The Rogue Princess crosses her arms over her chest.

-Dranot virilio viartis-. Gerardys says, nodding.

-Dranot-. Jacerys harshly repeats, placing both his hands on the table. Daera looks silently at him, sharing a funny smile with Rhaenyra-. Dranot! Come on, Jace-. He tsked.

-Perhaps it's enough for this morning-. Nyra proposes with a simple tone, shrugging.

-Please-. Joffrey whispered with his face buried in the book.

-No, no!-. The older brother instantly denies.

-Jace-, Daera sighed at his side.

-I want to keep going-. He insisted, turning to look at her with a pleading but confidence gaze. Before his insistment, Rhaenyra just noded and stopped walking, leaving him be. Daera, meanwhile, sighed tiredly, looking at him.

-Well-, she whispers-. Maester, do the honors-. The princess sighs, pointing at Gerardys, who instantly noded.

-Guesi misenskson Aegon undas-. The maester said with clarity and slowness. Daera scrunches her nose within a chuckle, turning to look at him.

-Aegon ordered that the trees should be...-, Jace instantly starts to translate, calculating his words.

-Yes, yes-. Daera starts to cheer, pinching his waist. He instantly smiled, all confident.

-...Killed!-, Jacaerys finish the sentence, opening his arms with excitement. His wife sighed.

-Felled-. Rhaenyra instantly corrected, and he went mouth-opened, fading away his smile.

-How would the trees be killed?-. Daera shook her head with a light taunt.

-It is a related word-. Nyra confesses.

-Yeah, Jace, is not your fault-. Rhaena tries to comfort him from her place, but he sighs ashamed, looking down.

Both Maester Gerardys and princess Daera looked at the prince with soft understanding smiles.

-I don't expect you to learn High Valyrian in a day, Jace-. His mother spoke with compassion and honesty, crossing her hands over her belly.

-Op, say your piece-. Daera instantly elbows him, and Luke laughed loudly.

-A King...!-. Jace began to deffend himself with passion, and the princess at his side instantly pressed her mouth harshly, holding her laughs-...should honor the tradition of his forebears!-. He dictates palming his hands with each other, determinated.

-And do you think that tomorrow is our coronation?-, asked Daera within a sigh.

-Huh?-, he furrowed his brows.

-It is as your future Queen says, Jace-. Rhaenyra nods, raising her brows-. Unless you are planning to dispose your own mother...my boy, you have plenty of time to study-. Sighing, she spoke with tenderness and compassion, curving her brows.

This time, Jacaerys stayed silent, pressing his lips together and lowering his sight to the floor, ashamed.

-Your "dranot" was perfect, by the way-. Daera whispered. He turned his head to look at her, tired. She tilts her head to a side, narrowing her eyes-. You haven't had breakfast, have you?-. She ask with a mumble.

-No-, he whispered shaking his head. Daera laughed tiredly, rolling her eyes, and he laughed as well, letting the tension out.

Silently, Rhaenyra stares at them with a sweet smile, thinking about how good their smiles and chuckles go together.

The main doors of the chambers open, making everyone to glance at them. Daemon was the one who enters the room, all silent and serious, only staring at his wife, who open her lips with curiosity.

-Leave us-. Nyra ordered to the children while softly caressing her belly. The ones in the fireplace instantly began to stand up from the floor.

-Jace-. Daera called, noticing that her father seems to only want Rhaenyra in the room-. Come-, she offered a hand to him.

After sighing, he took it and began to walk with her. Lucerys, Rhaena and Joffrey waited for them, while Rhaenyra began to walk towards Daemon and the maester found his way out.

-What do we doing now?-. Luke asks interested, opening and holding the door for them.

-Let us go see the babies!-. Joffrey proposed with excitement as he and his siblings walk out of the room.

-Let's go, sure!-. Jace instantly agreed, smiling.

-Hold up, dragon. First, we may ought to find you some breakfast-. His wife spoke with obviousness, slowly aparting her hand away of his.

-Holy gods, Jace, you haven't had breakfast yet?-. Rhaena questioned with a sigh, shaking her head.

-I forgot! Alright?-. The brown-hair prince snorts, quickly glancing at Daera's hand.

-I can go and look for the breakfast while you go with the babies-. Luke offered with a kind tone, shrugging. His older brother instantly cheered.

-Yep, that sounds like a great pl-

-Go find your own fucking breakfast-. Daera instantly snorted, and Joffrey bursted out laughing-. Luke, you stay-. She commanded.

-Well, an order is an order-. Lucerys nods proudly, and Rhaena giggled at his side, sharing smiles with him.

-You guys are the best-, Jacaerys mumbled, burlesque.

-Kessa īlon issi [ Yes, we are ]-. Rhaena nods with a confident smile, glancing at her sister, who instantly smiled.

-Excuse me?-. Jace opened his eyes big.

-Īlva por lēkia [ Our poor brother ]-. Daera sighed dramatically, closing her eyes. Not understanding their words, but understanding their joke, the younger Velaryon boys chuckles.

-What?! No High Valyrian jokes in my presence, please!-. The older brother yells, highly offended.

-Nyke ūmbas [ I'm sorry ]-. Daera shrugged.

After the children and the maester left The Chamber of The Painted Table, Rhaenyra sided an easy smile, heading towards her husband, with whom she is the only one now in the room.

The princess thought about kissing him, widening her smile, but when she reached him, the first thing he did was handing her a wrapped paper. Confused, Rhaenyra takes it, smiling a little.

-And, what shall this be?-. She asks, looking at him.

Daemon seems nervous, and tired. His eyes are loose but his lips are a little bit scrunched, letting her know that the answer its not too pleasant.

-Baela wrote-, he informs. His wife instantly furrows her brows, confused.

-Baela?-. She mumbles-. Why would she? She is already arriving in two days. I had Relia to...to dust her chambers already-. Nyra says shaking her head.

The prince nodes slightly, pointing at the paper with his eyes. Not waiting anymore, she unwrapped it and looked down at it, reading it with an attentive and interested expression.

Seconds later, she feels her blood froze. She opened her lips and let her shoulder fall with disbelief, feeling her fingers shaking. Daemon bits his cheeks, having reacted the same way before.

-He means to call into question Luke's legitimacy-. Rhaenyra pointed, bemused, with sadness reaching her eyes-. And by extension Jace, and by extension...my own claim to the throne-, she whispered, indignated.

-Vaemond cares only about Driftmark, and the Velaryon line-. Daemon shook his head briefly, staring at her-. He pays little attention wether if Jace's children will be Daera's or not-, he added, glancing at the paper his child sent-. He doesn't care about our politics-, he denies.

-It seems he cares enough-, Rhaenyra complained, reading the letter time after time.

-Has he made common cause with Otto Hightower yet?-. The prince mumbles his question, looking up at his wife again, thoughtful.

-Hmm, this is what I fear-. She muttered with a low tone, lost in her mind. Then she glances away from the message, getting aware of something-. Rhaenys has flown to court, she absolutely took Baela with her-, she pointed, turning to look at him with a fearful gaze-. Surely, she cannot be planning to back him-. Nyra fears.

-No-. Daemon instantly agrees, shaking his head-. Whatever disagreements we may have had, she's not cruel...-he rolled his eyes-...or stupid enough to do that-. He assures.

-Disagreements?-. Rhaenyra repeated, leaning her head front with disbelief-. She believes we had her son killed...so that we might marry-. She recalled with a low whisper, raising her brows.

-Yes, and yet, she has been present all these years-. Daemon pointed, whispering as low as her-. She has taken the girls to uncountable trips and has taken them all in her castle, like Baela right now-. He remembers.

-Yes, it is Laena's memory she honors. She has no love for us-. Rhaenyra instantly corrected with an obvious tone, thinking about how Rhaenys does not pays that same attention to her sons.

Daemon closes his eyes as he draws a smile on his face, much more calm than her.

-Why do you think Baela wrote?-, he raises his brows-. Rhaenys won't back him, Nyra, our daughters love their brothers and they have always sweetened their grandmother's ears-. He says with confidence, not doubting his words. Rhaenyra sighs, still insecure-. Or has the vipers' venom spread so far?-. The prince questions, burlesque.

-Those vipers rule in my father's name-. The Heir to the Iron Throne said, sourly, locking her eyes with him. He pressed his lips, thinking about his brothers-. They are the ones who do not let Daera pass my father's doors-, she hardened her expression-. And my father...-. Silent, her expression became sadder and more tired, losing her gaze in some empty spot.

As Rhaenyra sighed, ashamed and worried, Daemon blinked softly, looking at her.

-Daera flies to the capital tomorrow-, he pointed within a murmur.

-In no possible way we would send her to advocate for Luke, alone against them-. Rhaenyra instantly denies, and the girl's father quickly agrees, pressing his lips. She sighs, knowing what is to be done-...What choice do I have?-, she muttered, looking at the floor.

Daemon closes his eyes with slowness, lowering his chin with a tired sigh. His gaze fell on his wife's belly, calming him. He drew a tiny smile, placing a hand on his future child, and caressing it with sweetness. Rhaenyra looks down as well, watching at her pregnancy with a tired smirk.

-To King's Landing then-. The prince decided with a soft whisper, looking at her with a sided smile. Rhaenyra raises her brows towards him, slowly forming a smirk.

■ ■ ■

Now, all the children are gathered in Daemon and Rhaenyra's chambers, spending a great time along their sweet baby siblings.

Daera has Viserys in her arms, rocking him sweetly with a smile on her face. Lucerys is seated in the same couch, on her side, also playing with the babe, all smiley.

Jace, Rhaena and Joffrey are some steps in front of them, in the floor, having Aegon crawling around them with silly babbles. Meanwhile, Jacaerys is finally having his breakfast.

-Oh yes, this is delicious-. He grunts with a smile, quickly eating his eggs. Rhaena looked at them with a disgusted expression, wrinkling her nose.

-I swear it to all the gods, Baela better bring some of grandma's cookies-. Lucerys said with his brows up, looking at his siblings.

-You said it-, Rhaena instantly agrees. Joffrey is more attentive to Aegon, cheering him and funnily crawling along him.

-Do you imagine if she eats them all on her way here?-. Jace asks mouth-opened, blinking hugely.

-Ew Jace, close your mouth!-. Luke tsks.

-No no, she wouldn't dare-. Daera shakes her head with her eyes big opened, rocking Viserys-. If she doesn't bring any cookies, I will have Kalistrox to burn the shoes I brought her from the capital in my last trip, and I am not jesting-. She warned.

They laughed amused, supporting her idea. Daera giggles, placing a kiss on Visery's cheek. She locks her eyes with Luke's blues, which are softly shining.

-Do you remember when I used to rock you like this?-. She asks with exaggerated tenderness, cuddling Viserys.

-You didn't met me as a babe, Daera-. The boy points funnily, crossing his arms.

-But you were light, I didn't say anything about your age-. The princess shrugges, winking him an eye. Luke laughs, closing his eyes-. You would made me carry you, gods me damn, around all the beaches Dragonstone, fuck-. She hisses, shaking her head.

-Now, I do remember that-. The boy nods amused, making her to tsk her tongue-. You could have said no, just so you know-. He giggles, having his sweet cheeks blushed, as always.

-Well, actually that is my curse, brother. Do you not know?-. Daera sighs with fake tiredness, placing a hand on his hair, and caressing it softly.

-I fear I don't-, Lucerys says with a gentle whisper, feeling the warmth in her hand and seeing it in her eyes. She huffs, side eyeing Viserys, and the other ones as well for a few seconds.

-I can't say no to my siblings-. The princess answered within a sigh, raising her brows. Blushing, Luke chuckles, realizing that is actually a total truth.

-Mayhaps that's why you're the best-, he sweetly flattered. Daera instantly laughs, scrunching her nose and giving a tender pat on his hair.

After a few moments, they all turn their heads when they hear the doors open. Curiously, they watched Daemon and Rhaenyra arriving.

-I already ate!-. Jace informs, proudly.

Hugging Viserys to her chest, Daera turned her head towards them with a smile, Luke also smirking behind her. But, as some seconds passed, they instantly grew confused, for their parents are remarkably serious. The older princess begins to fade her grin, letting her lips open, and passing her eyes between the two of them.

-Hi there...-, Rhaena greets, doubty.

-Joff, my boy, why don't you go meet Joveth, in the gardens?-. Rhaenyra tinyly smiled towards her youngest brown-haired, who smiled with no worries, standing up.

-Why?-, he asks interested, walking towards them.

-She has a gift for you-, Daemon raises his brows, looking down at him-. Go, find her-. He tilted his heads to the hallways.

Excited, Joffrey instantly walks out of the room, running to said gardens. Meanwhile, the others glanced between each other, already serious, for it was weird they sent away the little boy.

-Alright, that's suspicious-. Daera pointed.

-That's weird-. Luke scrunched his nose.

-Has something happened?-. Jacaerys asks, serious and worried after placing Aegon in his cradle. He sees his mother sighing, almost ashamed-. Tell us-, he quickly demands, walking towards his wife.

-At once!-. This one insists too, slowly handing Viserys to Jace, who grabbed him with carefulness, having his brows curved.

-Baela sent a raven-. Daemon is who answers, having his hands crossed over his abdomen. All the siblings instantly became surprised-, from Driftmark-. He tilts his head.

-Two...days before returning?-. Jace has the same confusion, narrowing his eyes.

-What did she say?-. Rhaena asks, blinking curiously.

-Did she say if she's bringing biscuits?-. Lucerys asked hopeful.

-Biscuits?-, Rhaenyra whispers.

-What did she say?-. Daera asked firmly and loudly, not having a good feeling at all.

Silence covered the room. Daemon took some light steps towards her, handing her said letter from Baela. The older sister instantly took it, unwrapping it, and locking her eyes in it.

-Out loud-. Jacaerys asked, standing in front of her with his hands nervously gripped.

-Ah-. She nods, asking for silent with a head movement. They all shushed-. Father, I write with news of...uncle Vaemond. Well, that is dissappointing-. Daera mumbles, glancing at them. Rhaenyra gulps, sighing. With the mention of his uncle, Lucerys shivered, closing his lips.

-Read-, Daemon nods. His older daughter sighs, looking at the paper again.

-Father, I write with news of uncle Vaemond, uhuh, who this morrow sails to Kin...-. Daera frozed, fading any expression from before. Her siblings furrowed their brows, feeling their hearts stopping their beatings-, who this morrow sails to King's Landing-. She read, shocked.

-What?-, Jacaerys instantly flinched. Rhaenyra curved her brows, turning to look at Luke, whose lips opened in disbelief, and fear. Her poor boy.

-He plans to advocate to His Grace The King on matters of succesion rights and- and the scarcity of blood-. Daera goes blinkless while reading, opening her eyes big. Her head started to pulse. She heard Rhaena's gasp-. He wishes for- OH THIS MOTHERFUCKER!-, she roared loudly.

-Read, woman!-, Jacaerys screamed shakily.

-He- He wishes for The Driftwood Throne to be passed on to him-, Daera sighs, breathless, shaking her head. At her side, Lucerys breathes with no air, feeling the fear taking hold of him-. That is his by rights, and that he is the only unottainted choice-. She read the last words with a graceless laugh, bemused.

-Ah-, Daemon growls, looking away.

-Un-unottainted?-. Rhaena stutters, standing up from the floor.

-Not contaminated!-. Jacaerys clarifies, with the color red getting a hold of all of his face.

-What the fuck is this?-. Daera whispers, shocked, letting the paper fall in the floor.

-This is the hightest of treasons-. Rhaenyra declares, sourly speaking, with light tears in her eyes. She takes a step front, facing all the children-. Vaemond plans to question his birthright, in front of all King's Landing-. Her voice speaks loudly, so offended.

Daera blinks, bemused, slowly turning her head to Luke. She finds him speechless, blushed, with his sad blue eyes nailed on the floor, ashamed. She felt her heart aching so harshly when seeing him like that.

Rhaenyra's lips trembled for a brief second, glancing at him too, growing so worried before his shameful expression, as if any of this is his fault, as if he's not worthy of this.

-Vaemond will be pleading to deaf ears, any ways-. Rhaena points, trying to keep positive. Her father glances at her, serious, curving his brows a little because of her innocence-. Uncle Viserys will not change the succession-, she smiles, opening her arms.

-Rhaena, it is not uncle Viserys who takes the decisions in The Red Keep any longer-. Daera speaks with stress, clenching her hands in the couch-. But the cunts of Alicent and Otto-, she raised her brows, serious.

The younger girl turned pale, caressing her hair's points with pulsing nervous. Jacaerys sighed time after time, bemused, outraged. Daemon and Rhaenyra eyed each other, talking with their gazes.

Daera gulped, reaching Luke's hand, and holding it tightly. It is so cold and trembling, full of ansiousness. The princess stares at her brother with worriness, but he just looks at the floor, disconnected.

-What is it to be done about this?-. Jace asked from a moment to another, raged, looking at the adults.

-Yes, what are we going to do about this?-. Daera asked with the same rage, turning to look at them while still holding Luke's hand.

-Baela said that...that he sails today-. Rhaena remembered with an anxious gaze.

-Indeed-. Her father sharply nods.

-And so will be-. Rhaenyra decides, strongly, lifting her chin up.

They all went speechless, looking at them with their eyes big open, including the very Luke, who nearly gasped. Daera goes breathless, blinking endlessly, immediately thinking about one thing, about one person.

-Back to the city?-, Jace whispers, inevitably nervous and surprised.

-It is our only choice, and we must not think it twice-. His mother nods, confident. Copying her, Jacaerys closes his lips and nods, agreeing-. It depends on us-, she whispered, raising her brows towards Luke, who gulped strongly.

-Pack up at once, immediately, and do not lose more time-. Daemon orders to all of them, raising a finger-. Rhaena, you'll go with me-. He pointed at her.

-Alright-, she instantly agrees, not even thinking about denying a flight in Caraxes.

-We- we'll fly?-. Luke asks, looking at them.

-Vaemond is probably at sea by now already. We'll have our baggage send in ships, but we will leave in your dragons-. Rhaenyra nodes, anxiously caressing her belly, and glancing at the babes.

-No time for sailing-. Daemon agrees.

-And Baela?-. Jace suddenly asks, raising his brows-. What about her?-, he questions.

-She has flown to court with Rhaenys, we will all meet her there-. His mother answered quickly. Jacaerys sighs, nodding, and then he shakes his head.

-Alright, alright, I'll get Joffrey to help him with his baggage-. He announced, not waiting a second to out from the room with fast steps.

-I'll get my things ready too-. Rhaena babbled, hurrying her steps, and following him.

Daemon snorted, turning around and walking outside as well, heading to gather the family's dragons. He didn't feel the need of announce it, as the children always do.

Anxious, Rhaenyra sighed, quickly walking towards the cradles of her babies, heading to get them ready for the trip.

While everyone else shot off to prepare their things, Daera and Luke are still seated on the same couch, holding their hands, and muted.

The boy breathes with worriness. Of all the things he expected to do today, flying off to King's Landing wasn't one of them at all. Now he is to be challenged in court by his own uncle, his blood, in front of his family and all the lords. The King won't be there tu support him, but The Queen, the very one that once ran towards him with a dagger in her hands, wanting to drag an eye out of his face. That queen.

Daera, blinkless, is still taking the information in. She is thinking about Driftmark's future, about Luke, about Vaemond, about...of fucking gods, about Aemond. Aemond. He and her siblings, together in the same place once again. The idea frightens her, and her fright ashames her. What the fuck? Really, WHAT THE FUCK?!

-Okey okey, FUCK, time to move now!-. The princess suddenly yells, raged, standing up from the couch, and pulling Luke with her hand. He groaned, dizzy-. Come, come, let's go pack!-. She starts to walk, dragging him with her.

-Go, go!-. Rhaenyra nods vividly, watching them getting out of the room within a second.

Brother and sister walk quickly through one of the hallways of the castle, almost running. Her throat is afflicted, tensed, and his eyes are filled with fear.

-Daera...-Lucerys named her, so weakly, scared.

-No no, Luke, you do not worry, everything will be just fine!-. She instantly says, giving him an open smile as they fastly walk. He gulps, breathing ansious-. Everything will be fine-, she whispered, wanting to convince herself too.

■ ■ ■

In King's Landing, at The Red Keep, Daera has a chamber of her own where she acommodates herself, during the days of her visits, when she doesn't sleep either with Helaena and the children or Aemond. To be honest, she rarely uses it, but it is there, always ready to be used by the godsmother of Princess Helaena's children.

Aemond customs to go to it and check it a day before his wife's arrival, for he wishes for her room to be as impecable as possible, even though she barely uses it. So, as she is arriving tomorrow, he is already making sure everything is in order.

The prince walks calmly around the room, checking the sheets and the budoirs with his only eye, which is shining. On his thin lips, a happy smile is indelible. Just as much as he burns in rage the day she has to leave, he burns in joy when she is to arrive again. The only thought of his love returning to his arms, to his bed, warms his heart, and his bed.

He can't wait to hold her, to kiss her, to fuck her, and to talk with her. Oh gods, he can't wait to tell her that the kids are already saying his name! She will be so jelaous, he bets, and she will endlessly teach them to say hers too. The thought made Aemond chuckle, crossing his firm arms behind his back, glancing at different spots of the chambers.

The bed, they have fucked there. The dresser, they have fucked there. The floor, they have fucked there. The door, the walls, the washroom, the washroom's floor. Yes, yes, and yes. The only place in which he has never fucked her is the balcony, for they cannot take the risk of being seen. But, oh, how he wishes he could fuck her as wildly as he fucked her once, in that balcony back in Pentos. Gods... But that is a story for another day.

A while later, Aemond was sure that the room is totally fitting for his wife's deservings. So, after looking at it for another few seconds, he pushed one of the walls, and came out of the room through the same path he came in before. The secret passageways, of course. No one can see him paying any sort of attention to the cousin he so much hates, right?

The One-Eyed Prince plans to have breakfast now. Afterwards, he will take a shower, probably will jerk off in Daera's name, and then he will put on some clothes to go training with Ser Criston, as he customs. Thinking of so, he tries to remember when was the last time that Aegon trained with them. The one-eyed snorted, rolling his eye, knowing that he wouldn't remember even if he puts an effort in it. Perhaps it was during Aegon's wedding time with Helaena. Almost two years ago, would you look at that.

Aemond suddenly stops walking, in the middle of one of the passageways, when he hears a surprised gasp from close, from behind the walls that surround him. Slightly, he furrowed his brows, for he knows that voice that gasped.

-This very morrow?-. The same voice asks, bemused. And, indeed, it is his mother the one who is talking. He is right behind her room.

Carefully, Aemond walks closer to it, approaching to a wall made with very tiny holes the chamber posses as decoration. They are almost imperceptible, but he can hear enough. Blinking a few times, and having his brows furrowed, he listens closely.

-Given the time the raven arrived, we can tell that he already sailed...and is on his way to the city-. Otto is in the room as well, it appears, alone with his daughter, speaking hoarsely and serious.

Aemond grows confused, narrowing his eye. Who are they talking about? Who sailed and is on his way here? Daeron? No no no, Daeron would fly.

-The Sea Snake might be just some breathings away from the gates of The Seven Heavens...-. The Hand of The King muttered, thoughtful, tilting his head.

Looking outside of her window, Alicent huffs, shaking her head briefly, with an expression of pure bemusement.

-Lord Vaemond is coming to claim his brother's seat as his-, The Queen whispered, shrugging.

From his place, Aemond went speechless, opening his eye bigly. The prince immediately thought of Lucerys. If- if Vaemond Velaryon is coming to claim the seat, he will be obviously denying his "birthright", as the whore of Dragonstone, his sister, would say. If Vaemond Velaryon comes...he will finally bring justice to his House, his bloodline. He will give the bastard half of what he deserves.

A closed smile began to grow in Aemond's face, and his chest started to breath fastly.

-What will be the place of the Lady of Driftmark, in all this, I wonder?-. The Queen questions, turning around to glance at her father-. Lucerys is her grandson, or at least he is painted as so-. She snorted, blinking fastly. The one-eyes smiles bigger as he listen to his mother blatantly talking about the Strong pup.

-Princess Rhaenys's intentions may be unclear now, but if she is on her way here as well, she might be considering to support Vaemond's claim-. Otto speaks with a sided smile and his eyes narrowed, confident.

Alicent sighs heavily, closing her eyes for a few seconds, thinking. Meanwhile, her second son is almost dancing in the secret passageways behind her room, for he is blessed with the news of justice almost knocking at the gates of the castle.

-Daera is arriving tomorrow, isn't she?-. Alicent asked within a sigh, and her father noded. When hearing his wife being named, Aemond blinked with curiosity, listening closely-. Right. But, if they already know that Vaemond is coming...-she mumbles, playing with her fingers.

-Her family whole will be coming as well-. Otto simply affirmed, noding. In that moment, Aemond froze completely.

-Yes, Rhaenyra will not leave her son undeffended-. The Queen sighed tiredly, almost rolling her eyes. Her father agreed, snorting in a low voice-. They shall be arriving too, this very morrow as well-. She raises her brows, noding quickly-. It is just matter of time that a raven comes from Dragonstone out of politeness-. Her eyes move with annoyment and nervous around the room.

Aemond is speechless, breathless, shocked. His eye opened hugely, and it is lost in some spot of the passageway, as still as the rest of his body. His heart sinked violently, and his blood started to boil within a second. His plans took a severe turn. He will see Daera...and her bastards who have wronged him so much.

-...Then we shall welcome them, as it befits their station-. Otto smiled, leaning front.

■ ■ ■

Taglist: @loxido @jaime-in-flannel @grungegrrrl @aemondswifey @poppyflower-22 @melaneigh2 @stargaryenx

[mumbos-waffle]

Fictober!

Prompt 3: once opon a time.

Cursed hermits!

One stormy halloween long ago, there was a vampire, a werewolf, a fallen angel, a zombie, and a witch.

The four monsters held hands surrounding a book. A witch stands to the side holding a bottle of lighty glowing liquid. “Tonight each of you drink this potion, it will curse the world.” she looked around the room, “are you prepared to do this?” The four nodded solemnly, they had good hearts, none wanted to harm, but they were tired of hiding.

The spell took years to put together. The bottle contained manys blood, tears, a few organs, and even some souls. Most of these were harvested from people with power. There were normal witchy stuff as well, crystals, herbs, flowers, other plants and natural things. 

She raised the bottle, “may the spirits lead us tonight, and may the gods lead the rest of this wretched world. Please!” she called out “bless this bottle” she said words the rest could not understand, but it was clear it was latin. The bottle glowed brighter than before. She handed the bottle to Ren, the werewolf, “to appease you, we shall drink from a bottle that holds liquid more vile than the world”

Ren uncorked the concoction, they had rehearsed this and had trained so they could stand the drink. The room watched as the wolf's skin paled at the smell. The witch stepped back and picked up the book, “Pearl?” Ren looked away from the bottle and at the witch. “if i puke will it ruin this whole thing?” Pearl did not answer, they all knew the truth. She picked up the book she held before. 

“Okay, when the room gleams with moonlight, the cursed shall drink the unholy potion” she looked at the grandfather clock that stood in the corner of the dusty room. “Two minutes,” she sighed. Pearl walked back over to Ren, “spirits, may Ren, cursed to forever live as a monster, a half wolf half human,” she swallowed “may he be worth no more or no less than the rest of the world”

She repeated the same accordingly with the other 4 “may grian, cursed forever with wings on his back, a fallen angel. may cleo, forever cursed with rotting skin, a zombie. May Mumbo Jumbo, forever cursed with a craving for blood, a vampire. And I, Pearlescent, blessed with magic” she covered her eyes as the moonlight flooded into the room. “May we be no less or no more than the rest of the world” she started speaking tongues lost to humans, calling to people and things that had been resting for eternity. 

Ren took a small sip of the contents in the bottle, everyone could tell he was trying to keep it down as he swallowed. He quickly said the prayer and handed it to the next. They did this until all but Pearl had drank from the bottle. The monsters looked sick, Pearl stopped her chanting and took a giant drink of the magic. 

She grabbed a knife, and walked towards the corner of the room, she opened up a small closet. She pulled out a man, duct tape covering his eyes and mouth along with multiple blindfolds and masks. He was one of- if not the most- important person, Xisuma void, ruler of the biggest kingdoms. The group had nothing against him, he was a pretty good ruler, he was just easy to catch and important.

She ripped the layers off his eyes, he tried to scream in pain. Ouch. She had talked to the man before they started the ritchual, he knew exactly what to do and the consequences if not competent. She ripped the tape off his mouth. He hissed. “Do you, Xisuma Void, unrelated to magic, a ruler of extreme power, agree to this?” Xisuma sputtered an agreement. 

She cut Xisuma out of his prison and led him into the middle of the ritual. “Lay down” she commanded, he did. She whispered a few more spells, the mixture went from glowwing white to a dark purple, it gently floated out of her grip. She grabbed the bottle and poured it over Xisuma. The group, and the ruler, had to keep themselves from losing the contents of their stomachs as they watched chucks of organ fall out of the bottle. They all had blood on their hands.

She held the knife tightly in her grip. She kneeled down. “Gods, take his willingness to help us and save his people, take the kindness he has used to rule his kingdoms, take his power, take the fear he causes in people” she drew unknown letters into his skin. Xisuma screamed in pain. The mixture seeped into his skin.

She said a chant in forgin tongue, the monsters followed along, chanting the same chant. The room filled with voices and blood not of their own. They all blacked out.

Pearl was the first to wake, nothing looked off. Pearl was giddy just thinking of the chaos that was happening. She tried to wake the others with little success. She looked at xisuma, the once man, now with firefly wings sticking out his back and antennae out his head. Interesting.

She sat in the old dusty room until each of her friends had woken, leaving only the king. They decided he could take care of himself. They set off towards the city, they were currently in the middle of a forest, an enchanted tower made centuries ago that no normal human can access without help. Normally it would take two or so hours to get close enough to the city so that you start seeing people, but within just an hour they met the chaos that they had created. There were people running everywhere, some hiding in trees and bushes, some hurt. As they got closer and closer to the city the weirder and weirder it got. Hybrids that were barely even human, human object hybrids, robots, they were expecting some cat ears or something to that degree… not.. This. 

The world changed fast. Laws were set and broken, people killed and imprisoned, and they were on the run. It was foolish of them to think xisuma might forget what they looked like or that he wouldn't talk about it. It wasn't that hard to stay hidden though, the law enforcement was nonexistent. The only worry was well, everyone, anyone who knew their face tried to beat them up. It wasn't particularly hard to win, enemies were inexperienced in fighting and using their curse to their advantage. They were known globally as “the witch, the vampire, the dog, medusa, and the dark angel” none knowing their real names.

“Years and years later the world is back to normal” he touched his finger to the child's rabbit nose playfully “everyone learned how to adjust and now the world is a better place!”

 the girl looked confused “but they caused so much hurt to the whole world! Just for the 5 of them?”

He closed the book “yes, that's what i wonder sometimes, you know, if they were in the right.” he put the book back on a shelf “but they saved many lives even if they didnt know it at first. And they were in tired of hiding, some of them had been living for hundreds of years” 

the girl made an O shape with her mouth “that's a long time!” he sighed and nodded “yes it is. Now its way past your bedtime and uncle grian wouldn't be happy to know you're awake still”

[smileybokuto]

Cherry Soda | Chapter One | bakery date?

Chapter: bakery date?

wc: 1.1k

warnings: none in this chapter

a/n: Ushijima is so 🥺 and I love him. There is not enough Wakatoshi Ushijima love. 

| Masterlist | Next |

       As usual Wakatoshi Ushijima had no care about his fast pace as if Y/n could keep up with him as he strides down the street. Y/n loudly sighed as they jogged a little closer to Ushijima and huffed while stretching out their hand. 

       “Toshi, hand.” Y/n command, without looking in their direction he grabs it with ease. Still looking for the street the new bakery was said to be on. This is the third time this week he has dragged Y/n out of the house to look at something volleyball related this week.  

       “Y/n, I think we are lost.” He says coming to a stop on the empty sidewalk and tugging Y/n closer to him. 

       “What gave you that idea?” Y/n rolls their eyes, frowning at him. “Do you know the address we can just use the gps.” They sigh and pull out their phone. 

       “I have to ask Tendo,” he says, pulling out his phone, calling Tendou. 

       “Ushiwaka~ heyo!” Y/n heard Tendo sing through the phone.

       “Tendo. I seem to be lost.”

       “He doesn’t seem, we are lost.” Y/n huffs as a car zooms by, as if on instinct Ushijima pulled Y/n to the other side of him so they weren’t on the streetside. 

       “Oh~” Y/n could hear Tendo on the other side of the line, chuckling. “So you decided to take Y/n to the bakery… how interesting~” 

      “Why would I not take Y/n? They are my friend.” A confused tone takes over his voice. “I think Y/n will enjoy this bakery.” 

     “That’s not wha-” Tendo sighs, “nevermind. The bakery is next to the school. Three blocks down. Oh Semi Semi is their as well~”

    “Thank you Tendo.” 

    “Bye Tendo!” Y/n says before Ushijima hangs up. 

    “The bakery is by the school.” He nods in the direction they just came from and Y/n lighty chuckles. 

    “Okay.” 

     As Y/n and Ushijima walk, a comfortable silence envelopes them. A silence that only comes from years of being together. 

     Growing up with Wakatoshi Ushijima was weird to say the least. Everyday Y/n would go over to the Ushijima household and alway find him practicing in the backyard. He would rarely speak to Y/n besides the occasional ‘would you set for me?’. However Ushijima would always listen to Y/n and follow along with them. Going inside to have snacks whenever they were hungry. Y/n and Ushijima had a few rituals: late night movie nights, pillow forts, sleepovers, and Friday night midnight chats. There was not a single Friday they missed talking to one another about all the problems they had and trying to work through them together. Whenever Ushijima needed comfort Y/n was always there one door away. Physical contact came easy to them from the time Ushijima’s parents took them to a festival and they lost Y/n in a crowd. When they entered grade school Y/n knew simple commands work best for him. So whenever they were feeling down they would always ask for what they wanted.  

     Meanwhile, Ushijima noticed Y/n’s face crinkle and their fingers tightened around his hand and he started to grow concerned. 

    “/n… Y/n…” Ushijima stops and looks over to Y/n who is deep in thought about something. 

   “Hmmm..” Y/n hums shaking their head to get out of there head.

   “You haven’t spoken this entire time. Is there something on your mind?” He asks and gently squeezed Y/n’s hand and rubs circles on the back of their hand. 

    “Oh it’s nothing... I’m just slightly annoyed thinking about all the homework I have.” Y/n groans.

     “We can do homework together. Just sleep over.” Ushijima nods and starts to walk again. 

     “But I want to watch the new episode of the chilling adventures of sabrina.” Y/n whines as a small smile grazes Ushijima’s face.

    “We can watch it tomorrow after practice.” 

    “Fine but I want Swedish fish and cher-”

    “Cherry soda, yes I know.” Ushijima says while stopping behind a line of people.

    “Ushijima-san?Y/n?” A familiar voice says from behind them. A certain silver haired setter stood behind them with volleyball iced cupcakes staring at Y/n and Ushijima. As they turned around to look at him he chuckled. “ Sorry to interrupt your date but I thought it was you two-”

    “It’s not a date…” Ushijima and Y/n both say in unison then look at each other and start to chuckle.

    “Sure looks like a date....” Semi muttered under his breath. “You two are so close I just thought you were dating since you're holding hands and all.” 

    “You guys make this joke every time…” Y/n sighs pinching the bridge of their nose. “I swear you guys never give up huh?” And smused look crosses Y/ns face as their hand falls to their side. 

     “Is it not normal for childhood friends to hold hands?” Ushijima asks, looking puzzled. 

     “No Ushijima-san. That is not normal.” 

     “Really. I did not know that. It is normal for us though.” He says looking down at their hands and back at Semi. 

      “Okay.” Semi waves off. “I’ll be off now. I’ll see you two at practice tomorrow.” He looks over to Y/n. “Please do not distract the captain while you are visiting,” an exasperated sigh leaves his lips as he shakes his head at Y/n.

      “You act like I’m the one who distracts him not Tendo,” Y/n scoffs. 

      “Tendo doesn’t give Ushijima headpats everytime he spikes a ball.” Semi smirks. 

      “I like the head pats.” Ushijima deadpans. “Tendo has tried to give me a head pat before, I did not like it.” Semi’s phone started to ring.

      “Ahh sorry but I must go! See you later!” He hurries off.

      “I guess he’s late for band practice.” Y/n shrugs. 

      “Semi is in a band.” 

      “Huh? Yeah. He told us at lunch to remember…” Y/n stares at Ushijima in disbelief. 

      “Oh that’s what he was saying. I could hear him since Tendo was telling me about his goldfish's funeral. It was quite a sad story.”

      “Oh so that's why you looked like something happened to Storm.” 

      “If anything happened to our dog I don’t know what I’d do..” Ushijima says his grip is growing tighter against Y/n’s. 

      “It’s okay nothings going to happen to our dog.” Y/n chuckles and shakes their head as they move closer to the entrance of the bakery.

[benhardypout-archive]

I’LL PROTECT YOU WITH MY LIFE

Day 01: role reversal

Rating: T

A/N: My entry for another @lightisdays2k lightis week (2020) yaay! hope you guys like this short fic (2.3k+ words) i’ve written. i’m sorry if i got some of the original plot wrong BUT this is my own au, so deal with it. lol

"Princess Claire Farron, as one of your Father's will before he…" 

Silence soon cut through the halls by the sudden pause.

"...died," the future queen of Bodhum finished the sentence for him as her advisor. 

She's seated in a black throne wearing the royal crown and a long black dress carefully embroidered with pearls, making her look more regal yet daunting. Her pale aqua eyes looked sharp, ready to slit the advisor's throat standing before her. 

Why were they afraid to say the word? Whatever they say would not change that her father's gone.

She had read her father's last will before he got killed, and one of them was having assigned a royal guard - like a bodyguard - for her, which she knew, and her father knew, she didn't need.

The advisor fidgeted in his place and cleared his throat. What a sore to look at! 

She huffed but stayed silent as she was taught to listen. She waited, tapping her black heel against the black marbled floor.

"A-as I was saying, your highness…"

"Cut to the chase," she cut him off, clicking her tongue. 

"H-His late majesty wanted you to have someone to look after your back."

Just as she thought.

She scoffed which echoed coldly across the wide hall making everyone silent and their breathings shallow. 

"I told you I don't need a bodyguard. I'm afraid I’ll end up saving their asses instead." 

"I-I know, Your Highness. But they've come a long way, so if you would kindly let me bring him before your presence and meet him." The advisor bowed gallantly.

The princess tapped her fingers against her seat as she thought for a moment. Then she said, "All right."

With that, the advisor bowed again before he walked away.

She sighed, pissed.

A minute had passed, but for Lightning - the name she began to call herself since her mother died from the same war her father had been killed - it was forever. 

The huge double doors pushed open and a sound of footsteps clad against the floor, echoing through the stillness. Slowly, the advisor appeared from the shadows along another stranger, who was also wearing black. Their face hidden in the dark as the only light serving the throne was the one coming from the huge windows, but it still wasn't enough to brighten the place for its high ceilings.

"Here he is, Your Highness. Let me present to you Sergeant Noctis Lucis Caelum." Her advisor stepped aside to make way for the Caelum guy who stepped forward, revealing his face through the light. His hair black and spiky but it reflected blue as light touched it.

He bowed with grace and authority before her. "Your Highness."

"Leave us be, Sazh," Lightning said, referring to her advisor, who, then, silently took his leave.

"What made you come here, Sergeant?" She asked, her voice flat. She straightened in her seat.

Noctis slowly raised his body, lifting his gaze to her. His dark blue eyes shone yet his face, unreadable. But the princess admitted that she didn't expect for her would-be bodyguard to look so well and young. She, maybe, was expecting something rougher and older.

She smirked to herself. He looked like a total weakling. Her father never really knew her and what she wanted or needed.

"I was trained to look after Your Highness. The King had chosen me."

Now she wanted to laugh. Her father never mentioned anything about him or someone he would train to look after her. 

"You do know, rather, must know, that I don't need anyone to look after me," she leaned on her seat, crossing her legs.

"I understand. But it is my duty--"

"Thanks for your service, Sergeant. And for your loyalty, but I am sorry to send you back this instance…" she trailed off as an idea hit her. The corner of her lips pulled up into a slight curve. "Or maybe you can go look after my sister for me, since I don't trust the man assigned to guard her. Then report it to me the next morning. Your choice."

The sergeant paused and looked at her carefully. After a moment, he sighed, "All right."

"All right, what? You're going to leave?"

"I'll look after you and your sister," he said slowly, stressing each word.

"What? I didn't mention-"

"I told you, Your Highness, that I was ordered by the late king to look after you. And as you commanded, I'm going to look after your sister as well."

Lightning huffed, glancing down as she thought for a moment. She had to do this for Serah. She couldn't brush the idea of her sister developing feelings towards her bodyguard whose name was Snow Villiers, as what the rumors said. Though, her sister disputed that it wasn't true, however she didn't trust her this time. I'm sorry, Serah.

She lifted her gaze back to the sergeant and said, "All right." 

* * *

The smell of roses wafted in the air. Closing her eyes, Lightning basked in its scent and let it embrace her. The rose garden was the only thing her late mother left as her remembrance. So, she made sure to look after and took care of it herself. It had become her favourite place to go to in the palace. It felt like her mother was there, and never really left.

Reaching for a rose, she heard a faint rustle among the bushes. She stopped. Her senses told her she wasn't alone.

"Who's there?" She called, turning her body slowly. "Show yourself. I know you're there," she said  when, whoever was behind the bushes, didn't come out. 

Then a pair of black boots appeared, the Sergeant revealing himself. 

She crossed her arms, shifting her weight on her other leg. “What are you doing here?”

The sergeant shrugged.  "Watching you?"

Lightning squinted at him and drawled, "Watching, huh… Well, it looks like you're stalking, by hiding in the bushes." 

"Since you said that you didn't like me to watch over you. But I shan't fail the late King of what he ordered me to do as a promise, so I decided to do it in secret."

She scoffed, shaking her head once. "You have a weird sense of humor, aren't you? Besides, we all know he's dead so whether you keep your promise or not wouldn't matter."

"No. A promise is a promise."

"Are you going against me, Sergeant?"

The sergeant straightened his back and bowed slightly. "Forgive me, Your Highness. I do not intend to."

"I am, as you call it, Your Highness. So whose orders are you going to follow?"

"Whoever rules the Kingdom."

"And that's me."

"And your father…"

Lightning gave him a sharp look. This man's testing my patience.

"May I ask a personal question, princess?"

She regarded him a moment before she nodded her head.

"Why is it like you're going up against what the late king wishes for you? It's for your own good."

Her hand balled into fists. Her jaw rigid. "He never knew what's good for me. All he cared about was the Kingdom. And now he thought he knew what I needed? Where was he when I needed him the most?" She then sighed sharply, closing her eyes. Her heart hammering wildly inside her chest. And she thought she revealed too much.

Shooting a glare at Sergeant Caelum, she waited for him to say more or for him to scold her that she got her father all wrong. She wanted to know if her father really cared about her, but all she got from him was a nod of understanding. How disappointing.

They turned silent and still. None made a move. Yet the silence was disturbing, when a gentle rush of wind blew past them, making the rose rustle, as if her mother was urging her to say something. But she’s lost for a moment. What shall I do, mother?

The sergeant cleared his throat, stealing her attention. "Then... will you just let me do what your father wishes this time and watch over you?" 

She sized him up for a moment. Her mother raised a queen that could defend the kingdom, not to be looked after. "On one condition. Defeat me in a spar."

* * *

Lightning took him to the training grounds. In her hand was the Blazefire Saber, her personal weapon which the gods had given her on her 18th birthday.

"Where's your weapon?" She asked when she saw Sergeant Caelum holding nothing.

Without uttering a word, Noctis held his hand, palm open in front of him and then a sword materialized into thin air.

How--

Her grip tightened on her gun-blade, her brows furrowed. She looked at him grimly.

The sergeant swung his sword and placed his body in a stance. 

With a faint huff, and stillness surrounding them, Lightning charged first, swinging her weapon to him which he countered with his sword. 

His sword, Lightning thought, was not unexceptional. Surely, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to gain it. Her eyes flicked to his dark blue ones, feeling an unexpected force. She broke out from the contact and was thrown backwards, the sole of her boots glided against the smooth wooden floor. Good thing she had her balance in check, or she might be thrown off.

"Who are you?" she uttered, almost like a whisper, looking at the man with disbelief. Where did her father meet him?

The sergeant stood straight, his sword disappeared as he placed a hand on his chest and bowed. "I do not wish to fight you, Your Highness. As I told you, I'm here to watch over you."

"Yaah!!!!" Not giving him the chance to utter another word, she launched at him. And in a blink of an eye he vanished into thin air and appeared right behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulled her close to his body before she could make the fall; her sword fell from her grip. She grunted, and gritted her teeth, trying to hide the pang of embarrassment and humiliation. She's the queen, she must be better. Do better.

"Let go of me," she grunted between her teeth, and the sergeant did so, gently.

"I told you, I do not wish to fight you," he said.

She turned at him, frowning. Her pride refused to speak to him, but the way he held himself only humiliated her more, and was telling her to act how a royalty should.

She held her chin high despite being shorter just a few inches than him. "All right. I can see you’re fit to watch my sister. But not me. I can handle myself."

"I've sworn my life to you."

Lightning paused. Sworn his life. Normally, all of her soldiers had sworn their lives to her, but he, this sergeant, the way he said those words carried such weight as if he’d been preparing all his life for this. To serve their kingdom. Or worse, to serve her, solely.

Not wanting to give up to him yet, she sighed. "Yes, I know. And that means watching over my sister. She needed you more than I do."

The sergeant, intently, stared at her. She shifted on her weight and about to glance away when he spoke, "I know. But how am I going to look after you?"

She chuckled, which sounded like a scoff. She couldn't believe this guy. "You don't need to look after me. I thought we had an agreement that you'll look after my sister."

"Yes, but you are my priority. Don't make me stop now."

"You're stubborn, are you?"

"Maybe."

Then the words, she had been wanting to ask, just slipped off her tongue. "How could you have the ability to materialize a sword and teleport? What are you?"

A faintest smile touched the sergeant's lips. "You are curious it seems, Your Highness."

She didn't like the way he’s looking at her. And that smirk.

"No. I'm not," she tilted the corner of her lips then she spun around, turning her back on him and started to walk away. However, she felt his presence behind. Urgh! She wasn't going to live like this with someone following behind her.

"Stop doing that, you're creeping me out!" she said, sharp.

She heard him smirk. "My apologies. If you want we could talk."

"All right. Tell me how you got the power then I'll let you look after me. Don't leave one bit of information." 

"Certainly, Your Highness. I got it from a near death-experience when I was young. We have been attacked from the war ten years ago…."

Lightning could still remember it, she was eleven and that’s when her mother died. 

Bodhum had been at war against Niflheim, wanting to get their hands on the crystal, which they won. But the enemy kingdom attempted again,  two years ago, which her father had sacrificed his life for. And in her reign, she vowed she would not let what her parents sacrificed to go to waste. She would protect the Kingdom and the crystal as her life. But this sergeant, listening to his story… Etro had blessed him and gave him a prophecy of protecting it - the crystal - thus, her father had chosen him. 

But why him? And not… me? 

Was it also the reason her father tasked him to look after her?

"It was a curse. I know that someday, I'm going to pay its price and sacrifice my life for it… But I'm ready," he said, finishing his story.

She stopped walking, and looked at him. If that was so, and he was called to protect the crystal… she had made her decision.

"No, you're not cursed," she said, "because I need you. And you're not going to die… because who will protect me, then?"

Her face turned soft and then... she smiled. 

And thought, ‘I have to protect him with my life.’

[sinerelynarnia]

Fighters To Lover (4)

~Aaron Pevensie, the sibling who stayed in Narnia, the one who’d rather fight in a war and die with honor then sit in school and learn about a war without fighting in one, infected with a curse, causing her to live forever, becoming the burden to herself and never loving again

Word Count-1470

Send Requests Here

“Your declaring a war?” Glenstorm asked looking around the room, Caspian and I stood beside each other, nervous well Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy looked around.

“I think if what i’ve heard it’ll be a good idea, you’ve lived in fear for how many years?” Peter said standing up. “I could prepare a army for you, i’ve done it once before.

I rolled my eyes at sat down, already annoyed at Peter. “McAlester can show you, he’s my most loyal knight, he tells everything about my army,” I said to Peter.

“Okay then, we go to war with the Telmarine, we take the fear away from you Narnia's and everything goes back to normal,” Caspian said sitting down beside me.

“Who are you to tell us what to do, you are one of them!” Glenstorm shouted, I stood up in angry.

“I say what he can tell us!” I shouted back looking at Glenstorm. “Prince Caspian is with us now, and if declaring war on his kingdom doesn’t prove to us all that he isn’t a loyal person then we have a issue!” I declared looking around, Glenstorm stood down. “That’s what I thought,” I huffed sitting back down.

“King Peter, i’ll bring you to our army,” McAlester said standing up, not able to look at me, everyone left the room, including me storming off to my room, annoyed and stressing out.

“These people don’t listen to you when their around do they?” Caspian asked running after me. “I get it, no had listened to me after my father died, I had no one but my professor, he had taught me everything I know.

“Caspian what do you want?” I sharply asked turning around in the safety of my room. “I just would like to just think for a second, i’m responsible for what happens when i’m left to do this all alone again, i’m responsible for all the deaths that will occur,” I cried out tossing my hands on my head.

“Hey hey calm down,” Caspian said walking towards me. “You won’t bare all the responsibility, it was my reason, I started this and I will end it, the deaths will be on me, okay, does that make you feel better?”

“No,” I huffed walking away from Caspian towards my closet and walking in. “You know what would make me feel better,” I heard Caspian hum behind me. “My siblings to know how I feel about them,” I chuckled.

“Dirty dresses, thats cute,” Caspian said walking into my closet, looking at the pile of dresses that laid on my ground, unable to get washed by anyone but me. “All full of blood, aren’t you adventures,” I smiled.

“it wasn’t my fault, Scavengers just don’t listen,” I chuckled picking another gold dress from out of my closet, matching corset. “You should go get ready, we head out in just hours,” I suggested turning around.

“I know,” Caspian said frowning. “At Least I know you’ll be okay,”

“Caspian I live for the war, it’s a passion really,” I said walking towards him. “I’m gonna enjoy this, the rush, well it lasts,” I walked passed him, not getting far enough without being pulled back.

“Thank you for getting the people on my side, even know we’ve known each other for a couple days, you’ve grown on me,” Caspian said making me smile, I shook my head.

“I can’t do this Caspian,” I huffed taking my wrist out of his grip and walking away almost falling.

“Princess Aaron, what's wrong?” Liana called out chasing after me. “Stop running, please,”

“I’m fine, it’s fine,” I cried out turning around. “I’m going to get changes, it’s okay Liana, you have to get the castle ready, please,” I turned back around, running towards the nearest changing room and falling to the ground. 

“Your bardon yourself of love you know,” Aslan said standing infront of me, I didn’t move and stayed laying on the ground. “I see all,”

“Alsan please,” I whispered tossing my head down. “I’m just setting myself up for heartbreak,” I cried out pushing myself off the ground and walking towards the mirror. “I’m better off alone,”  Aslan was gone and my body filled with annoyance once again.

I stripping my robe off, pulling my shirt and leggings off, standing naked again infront of a mirror. I pulled my eyes away, Slipping my corset and dress on, tying up and brushing my hands through my hair.

“Knock knock,” Susan lighty said walking into the room. “Hey sissy,” She smiled, I walked over and wrapped my arms around her.

“A hundred years, you don’t look age over three-hundred,” I smiled letting her go. “Hows London?” I asked, not remembering much about it.

“Lovely, active war and boarding school, top A,” Susan said making me laugh. “Hows Narnia, hows ruling people?”

“Not has fun as you would think,” I chuckled. “People hate me, people love me, it’s never a equal medium,” I had thought of telling Susan about the curses part but pushed it back, knowing the less people that knew, the better,”

“We’re here now, we can help each other, but that’s not why I came in here,” I sighed listening to Susan. “I want you to come back home with us, it’s not the same without someone my age, talking about boys and school,”

“Princess Aaron, you’re wanted at the army stasion,” Liana said standing at the doorway.

“We can talk about this later Susan, but you know my answer,” I whispered walking passed her and following Liana down the stairs. “I think I liked peace and when it was only you and I that talked,”

“You can’t take my steed, it’s mine, there are tons more horses and you can’t have mine!” Caspians voice echoed the castle, I sighed once more and walked around the corner, Peter and Caspian were facing each other.

“I’m king, kings shoulder have the cooler horse!” Peter shouted back, I shook my head.

“It’s a steed Petter, and you have your own horse, Caspian as a right too,” I said walked passed the pair and towards McAlester. “You’ve requests me?” I asked.

“Yes Princess Aaron, we’ve got everything ready, it’s just your command to tell us when to leave,” He paused shifting himself. “The telmarines know about what we’re doing, someone told them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did,” I followed McAlesters eyes, looking at Caspian.

“Leave him alone,” I huffed shaking my head. “I trust him with my life, we leave at sunset!” I called out to the room, everyone looked at me, I walked away back up the stairs.

“Wait please Aaron!” Caspian called out, I stopped walking, feeling the walls were slowly closing in on me. “I’m sorry, if I made you feel uncomfortable,”

“Caspian I haven’t felt anything in almost three-hundred years, i’m setting myself up for heartbreak and I can’t do that,” I took a breath, closing my eyes then opening them back up.

“Heartbreak,” Caspian laughed making me cheeks go red, he stopped laughing once he noticed. “You live in your head, you think about the future so much, live out of your head for a day, live in reality,”

“Caspian,” I smiled shaking my head. “Go get ready, i’ll see you later,” I turned away from him walking up the stairs back towards my room to grab what I needed.

“You’ll be keeping me here,” Lucy said sitting on my bed. “I’ll get to be in charge of the castle for the night,” I smiled walking over and bringing Lucy into a hug.

“I’ve missed you,” I whispered holding her tightly. “Don’t be to harsh on my people alright,” I joked letting her go. “I’ve gotten some ice cream in my kitchen, i’m sure if you kind my friend Liana or Nubbles they’ll show you,”

“Thank you Aaron,” Lucy said wrapping her arms around me again. “I’ve missed you around, mom wonders where you’ve went, Peter and Susan just keep her occupied, not letting her worry,”

Our mother always looked different at me, comparing me to a wild animal at sometimes, telling me that I had to act like Susan and Lucy to become a wife one day, part of the reason I had never returned home from Narnia.

“We’re ready to leave, the sun as set,” Caspian said behind me, I stood up and kisses Lucy on her head. “Princesses,” I smiled hearing him say that.

“Yes, i’ve just got to grab something,” I shed walking over to my dresses and pulling out my top drawer, revealing a secret pocket at the bottom. I picked up a little bottle, sticking it to my side, beside my sword. “Lucy you stay safe now, we’ll be back,” I said following Caspian out.

“Are you ready for this?” Caspian asked as we both walked down the stairs. “Princess,” I paused and turned to Caspian.

“I can’t die, I should be asking if you’re ready for this,” I said placing my hands on his shoulders. “I hope your right about this, we’re responsible for what happens,”

[yourcutelittlegayfriend]

Yeah for a long time I keep feeling like I did something wrong but I don't remember why but then I open my Tumblr and found your request I said 'Fuuuuucccckkkk' my lazy ass forgot about this!!, fckin hell just kill me.

I'm really really sorry @babystarjellyfish .

Pairing:

Draven X Fighter Reader

Word count:

872 (short? Ikr...)

×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×

Your POV

'Today is the day........this is it, I can finally join the Noxian army'. I said to myself while walking towards the Camp.

I look beside me and see General Darius walking alongside, I turned my head making sure I won't get caught looking.

'.......and it's all thanks to him'.

"This is where you will start your training young one". I stop walking and listen to the man.

"Thank you very much, sir". I turned towards him as he only smiled and patted his large hand on my left shoulder.

"No worries, I have seen you and saw what you're capable of, you'll fit right in Cadet". He lowered his hand and nodded at me before bidding farewell.

I continued to watch as he walked away behind disappearing among the crowded of armored man and women

"So you must be the new meat". I hear a husky voice say behind me.

Turning around I was startled when I was meet with a face, jumping back I finally saw who the face belong to.

"Sir Draven!". I shouted and tense up.

"please just call me Draven, Sir makes me sound so oooooold". He smirks at me while putting his hands on his hips.

"Oh sorry about that". I loosen up a bit and looked at him.

"ya better go in there and sign up girlie/boy, ya don't wanna missed that". He then points using his blades behind me, I turned and look pass my shoulder and see young cadets waiting in a long line.

"ah! oh no!". I quickly dash forward but not before bowing slightly at The older man and saying my 'thank you' and 'good-bye' before taking off.

I didn't see it but Draven smirks more after watching me run away.

"hm, interesting". he chuckles smiling to himself.

but that was 5 years ago and things change, well more to me anyways.

the first day on the army was exciting and so rewarding to finally fight for the people but after war after war I finally see the dark side of this place.

we weren't fighting for peace no we're fighting for more war, I promise myself to fight to protect not to kill just so we can take over everything else!.

it was madness!, I decided to quit and maybe live a quiet life away from this, Darius found out, he didn't take it lighty he was understanding but disappointed nonetheless.

and since I came from the army the only thing I can find money is to either get a low paying job or be a pit fighter.

and that being said I choose the latter, I wasn't gonna stoop down and be step on, besides my hands was itching for a fight!.

but sometimes I can do stupid stuff I really regret, I was loosing alot of money cuz this is Noxus, shit happens.

I sign up for a fight against the one and only Draven, one of my old commanders in the army, sure he does executions here and there from time to time but he also fight for fun and money too.

welp time to die I guess.

Wrapping some bandage on my hands I ready myself for my fight suddenly the platform under me move and raised up all while I hear a loud voice giving the cheering crowd my introductions.

Draven's POV

"former Soldier huh?, wonder why they left?". I rub my chin while sitting on my throne, I looked down and see a person their back turned to me.

'they look a little familiar have I seen them before?'. I continued to watch them while they keep on looking at the crowd, finally a few seconds pass they finally turned around and seeing their face a spark of realization formed in my head.

"girly/boy?". I stood up and that caught their attention, they looked up to me, smiling a bit.

Chuckling to myself, I throw my blades at them while they only caught it and started spinning it with their dominant hand before I jump down my balcony and make my way to them.

"sorry you have to see me like this chief~". they laugh before tossing my weapon back.

"I was shock not gonna lie, ya really hurts mah feelings! ya didn't even say goodbye!". I pouted and put my left hand in my chest where my heart resides.

"really sorry 'bout that". they scratch their cheek, sheepishly sneaking a glance at me.

"Fight me then".

"huh?".

"Fight me!, been a looonnngggg time since I saw ya in the field! I get to see how ya holding up for this past years". I grinned and hold out my arms wide open while I watch their smirk turn to a smirk.

"Sure don't wanna disappoint you anymore now do I? and I signed up for this anyway". They said while moving to hold their weapon of choice and move to a fighting stance.

"Ya better not girly/boy~ cuz I really don't wanna see my little puppy being weak~". I taunted knowing how much they hate the puppy title.

they rolled their eyes before smiling and charging at me, I smirk back before following after and making our weapons clash against each other.

×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×

ya know after writing this I still feel shit...........oh yeah the sett one.

fuccccccckkkkkkkkk.

[cleanerdoesntgaming]

cool (not) bug facts

lighty, ollie & faith are a poly ship in the real band version i’m making soon

[bladekindeyewear]

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-02-24

IT’S ONLY BEEN TEN FUCKING DAYS HOW OFTEN ARE WE GONNA GET THIS STUFF

IT’S NOT EVEN A BONUS IT’S SOME MAINLINE THING

Alright, clicking the log to find my place as usual (while squinting so I don’t see too much), I see... one new page... THAT’s ominous.  Unless they’re doing the thing Andrew used to do and only showing the surface link so as not to spoil the update length/contents in the log, which would be nice given the new site format.  (Also I’ll be covering the commentary for the previous chapter here that went up on Patreon.)

...um.  what?

Well, it doesn’t say [S]...

> Chapter 5. YOUR 3Y3S H4V3 B33N CLOS3D

CONTENT NOTE: This chapter contains Discussions of Suicide.

Thanks.

...I kinda understand the need for inclusion of this, though.  Not the trigger warning, that’s genuinely appreciated, I mean the working-through of many of these characters’ probably suicidal-verging thoughts given the bullshit the Epilogues have put them through, and the leadup events thereof.  Or, from the looks of this page trying to lay out how to create these new alien races, clearly based in part on pages of her Zoologically Dubious grimoire...

...the creations THEMSELVES wanting to commit suicide, if I had to guess.

(Hooves?  Dirk.  Don’t let this become a Musclebeasts VS Horrorterrors session.  Whoever wins, we clearly lose.)

*scrooooll*

Ohh, I get it.  It’s a single really long-form story-image to montage the process to us, instead of a series of panels.  THAT’S why it’s a one-page upd8.

What are you clowns doing?  (And that architecture and teal road below it is looking kind of Land of Thought and Flow-y too.)

Hah, poor Rose, just float-noping on out of there cause Dirk’s pushing his whole Cave-shadows-on-the-wall allusion.  Are you getting bored of this monstrous process, Rose?  Yes?  No??

Taking a floatwalk across the gorgeous alien landscape?  (Wait, your robot floats without rocket boosters? Neat. Is that technology or God-Tier flight? Did it need to be a fancy robot to integrate the latter or was that just yours for free?)

What will she run into to make sense of the title of this chapter-panel?

...Wait.

Did Terezi run back to the ship to snoop on that thing Dirk had been hiding while he and Rose were distracted?

I hope that’s what she did.

Eeeewww.  It looked MUCH cooler when your human eye did a magic sun thing.

Yes, yes, you have a technosight HUD, that’s no excuse, your magic was still cooler.

The whimsical wandering angle of this shot makes it unclear whether Rose is flying ahead while looking into the sky, or has suddenly flopped forward onto her face on a pale patch of ground.

Ooh, and now we have text! ...Which makes it unlikely that Terezi successfully snooped anything important unless Dirk would narratively let her.  Shit.

Wait, the command for this page might make sense if she was using the command terminal in the ship to mess with Dirk or someone else, possibly to give her the opportunity to pull something.  Right?

The soft whitenoise ringing of the extensive ventilation network sounds, if she closes her nose just right, like the rustle of wind through the leaves of a treehive universes away.

...closes her nose.  ¬___¬

but Terezi isn’t distracted from the main object of her focus — the unconscious body of Rose Lalonde, bathed in dim light, chest rising and falling in an artificially-induced slumber.

Good.  Her body had better fucking stay alive for a while.  They killed Davebot’s outright, since he was an “extra”, essentially -- Rose’s needs to stay alive if we’re to have fucking hope that Kanaya can snatch her up in a comfortable non-robotic embrace and get her out of this self-centered, brainwashed nightmare.

Wires and tubes run up from her plinth to the ceiling of the chamber, keeping her alive, yes, but too much just for that purpose. Something about the tangle of intravenous tubing and fiber optic cable makes Terezi think of the old stories about the Ψiioniic.

Mhmm.  She has to stay connected to and pilot her body.

ROSE: There you are. I haven’t seen much of you. TEREZI: IV3 B33N R1GHT H3R3 FOR HOURS TEREZI: BUT YOUR 3Y3S H4VE B33N CLOS3D TH3 WHOL3 T1M3 >:[

--Oh.  I’d misremembered the chapter name as “your eyes are NOW closed”.  So it probably wasn’t some sort of trick.  (Unless she’s lying here, and tricked Rose into THINKING her body wasn’t kind of half-awake for a moment, potentially rebelliously? .....nah.)

Better question, though...

Why does Terezi care so much?

I can imagine the old Terezi getting attached enough to Rose (and Kanaya) to look at this and feel bad enough to stare, but...?  She used her emotional distance from most of her remaining friends to vamoose with these people a long while ago.  (Which was a pity.)  How did those feelings and that empathy get resurrected way out here?

Rosebot turns her head to look back at the frail, failing vessel that once housed her consciousness. She doesn't even dispatch a fake laugh to her behavioral display matrix in pity of this half-joke.

Fuck you.  Dirk is writing half of this.

ROSE: Your attachment to my comatose body is unexpectedly charming, as well as slightly sinister. ROSE: She isn’t going to do anything. ROSE: She isn’t coming back from where she’s gone. TEREZI: YOU N3V3R KNOW

Does Terezi really care about Rose that much now?

Also, fuck you, Dirk-manipulating-Rose’s-worldview.

I mean, I know she’s probably really deep into all her new power and foresight, even as herself, but she wouldn’t be nearly as dismissive and comfortable if Dirk hadn’t been shaping her with mind control for years.

ROSE: Yes, I suppose that’s true. ROSE: Anything can happen, you can’t see the future, etc. etc. ROSE: Except I can. I can see the trajectory the story needs to take, and thus I know the trajectory it will take. ROSE: And resurrecting my meat puppet would not only be difficult to the point of being worthless, it would also be extremely lame. ROSE: Not that it would be out of character for this story. We live and breathe on the stupefyingly mind-numbing, and the mind-numbingly stupid.

They’re REALLY pushing her as a full fucking villain here.  Benefits of transcending human flesh aside, she’s being WAY too dismissive of what she’s leaving behind, here.  What came with this body besides the body itself.  The attachments and Blood it means relinquishing and severing.

TEREZI: 1F WH4T YOU'R3 S4Y1NG 1S TRU3 TEREZI: 1F 4 STORY H4S TO B3 COMP3LL1NG TO B3 C4NON TEREZI: DO YOU R34LLY TH1NK D1RK 1S TH3 TYP3 TO T3LL 4 COMP3LL1NG STORY

A compelling story, yes!

But a heartless one.

TEREZI: H1S T4ST3 1N 4N1M3 4LON3 1S CONC3RN1NG TEREZI: 1 D1D 3NJOY TH3 ON3 4BOUT TH3 HORS3S THOUGH ROSE: I don't think that counts as "anime."

MLP is pretty colorful.

TEREZI: PL4Y1NG W1TH 4 WHOL3 WORLD L1K3 1T'S SOM3 K1ND OF SQU34KY LUSUS TOY DO3S SOUND L1K3 1T H4S 1TS MOM3NTS TEREZI: 1 M34N TEREZI: MY FR13NDS W4NT3D TO RUL3 YOUR L1TTL3 WORLD 4S P3TTY TYR4NTS 4FT3R W3 WON TH3 G4M3 OURS3LV3S TEREZI: BUT DO YOU TH1NK TH4T WOULD'V3 B33N FOR TH3 B3ST FOR YOU 4ND 4LL TH3 OTH3R M4MM4L14N W31RDOS ON YOUR PL4N3T >:/ ROSE: It didn't happen because it didn't happen. TEREZI: 1F 1 H4V3 TO H34R ON3 MOR3 T4UTOLOGY FROM 31TH3R OF YOU 1 4M GO1NG TO MOV3 TO TH3 WOODS 4ND PL4GU3 YOUR N3W SOC13TY 4S 4 H3RM1T BOG MONST3R FOR3V3R

Rose has stared into the sun so hard that she is LITERALLY BLIND.  “It didn’t happen because it didn’t happen” is the worst, most basic and wrong level one Seer of Light thing she could possibly believe.  She has completely fucking FORGOTTEN that she played through an entire game session that was clearly trying to TELL her something.  TEACH her something.  And is dismissing everything at play back then, everything that MADE reality and the final timeline what it WAS, as something at worst meaningless or just plotpoints in a subpar story, and at best a failed moral tale that she thinks she would write better in her sleep.  She’s like... worse than inverted Rose right now.  Where’s all this new Lighty wisdom she’s supposed to have?  Jasprose is showing more foresight and prudence in the bonus chapters than she is as a PURE ultimate self, thanks to her own twisted ambitions and Dirk’s horse-blinders.

TEREZI: JUST B3C4US3 YOU'V3 3L3CT3D TO 4B4NDON TH3 CONC3PTS OF "GOOD" 4ND "B4D" 3NT1R3LY DO3SN'T M34N 1 DON'T ST1LL H4V3 MOR4L R3S3RV4T1ONS

...Yeah.  I’d like to think that Rose would never do that on her own without Dirk’s twisting, but...

TEREZI: 1'M T4LK1NG 4BOUT TH3 B4S1C 4B1L1TY OF 1NT3LL1G3NT B31NGS 1N 4LL R34L 4ND HYPOTH3T1C4L PL4N3S OF 3X1ST3NC3 TO G1V3 4 SH1T TEREZI: 1 DON'T G1V3 4 SH1T TEREZI: 4ND HON3STLY 1 H4V3 4 H4RD T1M3 UND3RST4ND1NG WHY YOU DO

I didn’t expect the “Why would anyone read this crap?” line so early in the story.  Still, this sequel WAS designed to both ask and answer this question... I shouldn’t be so surprised.

TEREZI: YOU D1DN'T DO MUCH "WORLDBU1LD1NG" WH3N YOU FUCK3D OFF FOR 3ONS 4ND L3T CH3SS P3OPL3 BU1LD YOUR PL4N3T ROSE: That approach failed. ROSE: Without an organized antagonistic force, the planet became fundamentally unsuited to relevance.

YOU FUCKING MORONS

THE GOAL OF MAKING A NEW UNIVERSE OUTSIDE OF CANON WAS TO ESCAPE RELEVANCE FOR PEACE!

Everything New Rose says makes me want to throttle her.  :(

ROSE: We only know of one way to perpetuate canon for sure. To play and defeat the game, and continue the life cycle of the genesis frog we cling to parasitically.

WHY is “perpetuating canon” EVEN A GOAL

WHY if it isn’t even WORTH anything???

ROSE YOU SOUND LIKE A CASH-IN-HUNGRY MOVIE PRODUCER

ROSE: Now it is protected, in the steady hands of a duly-elected ruler, sure to have a boring and uneventful perpetual term in office.

Oh my GOD, Rose.  You thought leaving Racist Jane in charge was going to just be peachy?

ROSE: As the sheer number of doomed universes our actions in the game spun off should show, we barely understood the design at the time. ROSE: Truly, we stumbled through the tape of the finish line ass-first, cheating all the way.

I suppose I can agree on a small sliver of this, a tangent -- one of the same reasons I was so surprised when Homestuck’s finale closed so few threads:

You all clearly didn’t have time to learn enough lessons.

ROSE: But there was no table of judges waiting to adjudicate our performance by holding up little placards with numbers on them. ROSE: We are the observers, and we are the judges. ROSE: We won, and to the victor go the spoils. ROSE: If you want a hand in making the rules of this new world, then don't storm off.

Terezi knows better than this.  The trolls “WON” with this attitude, and were hoisted on the resulting petard.  Ah, there we go, and she’s saying just that:

TEREZI: YOU'R3 TRY1NG TO L34D M3 TO 4CC3PT YOUR MOR4L FR4M3WORK TEREZI: WH4T 1F NO ON3 SHOULD CONTROL 4 UN1V3RS3 TEREZI: 4LL W3 FOUGHT 4G41NST W4S MONST3RS WHO CONV3RT3D POW3R 1NTO CONTROL TEREZI: 4ND NOT 3V3RYTH1NG W3 LOST F1GHT1NG TH3M W4S 4 M1ST4K3 TEREZI: TH3R3 W4S 4 LOT S4CR1F1C3D FOR TH3 1D34 OF "GOOD" TEREZI: WH4T'S TH3 PO1NT 1N CONT1NU1NG TH1S STORY 1F TH4T W4S M34N1NGL3SS TEREZI: 1F LORD 3NGL1SH W4S JUST HOLD1NG UP TH3 WORLD TEREZI: 1F 1T T4K3S 4CT1NG L1K3 H1M TO K33P 1T 4L1V3 TEREZI: WOULDN'T 1T B3 B3TT3R TO JUST L3T 1T D13

...but that crazy, ruled-over multiverse they ended up escaping is exactly what we think they’re going to end up CREATING in this story, right?  A contained loop of countless universes that follow the same rules they fought so hard to shrug off, many enslaved and miserable under Lord English’s rampaging thumbs?  In trying to do it “better” her own way, Rose is going to possibly end up creating the exact system she once tried to reject.

Congratulations!  You’ll have created a prison.  For your Ultimate Villain, AND yourselves.  I just hope you come to your senses and dodge getting trapped inside there again.

Rosebot looks over at the plinth where her body sits, kept alive, sure, but atrophied and weak, dependent on this machine to continue projecting consciousness to the abiotic enclosure keeping the realization of the Ultimate Self from tearing her apart.

Wouldn't it be better to just let it die? Terezi isn't asking new questions. Rose had first threatened suicide when she was eight.

Ah, damn.  That’s the route we’re going with this conversation, huh.

I was wondering whether keeping Rose’s body alive was “necessary” for the functioning of this particular level of robo-self tech, or whether it’s the last vestige of her vacillation, refusing to cut it off completely yet only because some NON-FUCKING-BRAINWASHED piece of her is wondering if she’ll eventually decide that all this isn’t “right” after all, that she can accept being “less” if it makes her happy.

Explaining things to someone not aided by the exponential increase in processing power Rosebot has is tedious. Terezi's hesitation won't be swayed by explaining more of the universe. There's another source at work.

Source?  What?

ROSE: You said it yourself, that you don't give a shit. ROSE: This melancholy, this meaninglessness you're feeling? ROSE: I think there's another explanation for it. One having little to do with the structural soundness of our plan.

Oh, THAT kind of source. Fuck you, psychoanalyzing anybody else when you’re like THIS right now.

ROSE: You are fucking depressed. TEREZI: OH TH4NK YOU DOCTOR SC13NC3 TEREZI: L3T M3 T4K3 OUT MY HUM4N CH3CKBOOK TO P4Y YOU FOR TH3S3 1NV4LU4BL3 HUM4N 1NS1GHTS

How would you have the slightest impression that Terezi ISN’T completely aware of this, Rose?  Why do you think she CAME with you???

ROSE: The constant insistence that everything is as it ought to be isn’t just counterproductive, it’s pathetic.

Oh, you think she’s projecting.  Fuck you.

ROSE: From one seer to another, we both know how bad you’ve gotten in the past. ROSE: Or, if not in the past, in some past. ROSE: I have no desire to meet that Terezi, no matter how doubtlessly sticky and charming she might be.

Eugh.  It’s interesting that you know so thoroughly about non-blind faygo-chugging Terezi from that timeline (who Terezi fully knows about too), but using it against her is pretty low.

TEREZI: W3 4R3N'T FR13NDS TEREZI: GO 4H34D 4ND DO YOUR 4RTS 4ND CR4FTS PROJ3CT W1TH P3OPL3'S L1V3S

But she DOES keep staring at Rose’s life-support body...  so she DOES care somehow.

ROSE: Your life is going to be short, compared to mine and Dirk’s, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring. TEREZI: TH3 TWO OF YOU R34LLY 4R3 M4D3 FOR 34CH OTH3R

:C

Just, a tragedy what an asshole she’s been transformed into.

TEREZI: 1S TH4T WHY YOU L3FT K4N4Y4 B3H1ND TEREZI: B3C4US3 YOU KNOW SO FUCK1NG MUCH 4BOUT "F4M1LY" ROSE: I would be careful if I were you. ROSE: The weight of what I know and you do not is enough to overwhelm a mortal frame. TEREZI: UGH SHUT UP TEREZI: STOP PULL1NG TH1S MYST1C4L BULLSH1T 3V3RY T1M3 TEREZI: DON’T YOU M1SS H3R? ROSE: Don’t you? TEREZI: YOUR CONST4NT D3FL3CT1ON 1S 4S PO1NTL3SS 4S 1T 1S 1N3FF3CT1V3

Yeah, Terezi looking at Rose’s body and seeing constantly that crime committed against Kanaya is enough excuse to stare at Rose’s floating body, if she cares about Kanaya.

Too bad Rose is incapable of even THINKING about Kanaya properly as long as Dirk’s influence persists, and Terezi practically or literally knows it.

ROSE: We are obliged to act. To save the concept of meaning itself by continuing to spin the narrative loom into new tapestries.

Said the movie producer plonking down for the creation of Fast 7.

TEREZI: D1D YOU W4NT 4LL TH1S? TEREZI: OR D1D TH3 PR1NC3 >:?

Abruptly, Terezi is lifted from the ground with a glidingly-smooth effortless motion. Metal is so much stronger than flesh. She flashes a sharp-toothed grin as her feet dangle uselessly in front of the lithe metallic form of her counterpart Seer. Inspiring a reaction like this from Rose's robotic placidity has been like squeezing blood from a stone on this years-long journey.

Delicious, candy-red blood.

Oh hell fucking yes.  Is THIS what you were after, you beautiful troll?  Terezi just proved that SOME deep level of Rose has recognized that she’s being manipulated, and refuses to accept it for the sake of her own ego.  She couldn’t possibly get so ANGRY otherwise.  :D

ROSE: I know what I have lost. I have taken a full account of it. I cannot and will not forget it. ROSE: But to cling to it as it faded to nothing would be a meaningless capitulation to entropy.

Why do you value “perpetuation” so much?  She asked you before, and you barely gave a straight answer.

ROSE: Someone must sit atop Olympus and propagate the fabric of reality upon which these memories sit. ROSE: That is the task we have taken on. The game does not feel. The game does not mourn. The game must be played, and we must guide those who will play it better than we ourselves were guided.

DID it need YOU though?  You already had a universe under your belt.  YOU didn’t have to be the one to cause all this.  But I suppose it’s too late now -- you will be, and you might end up regretting it.

ROSE: Just as I have remembered the good, I can recall the terror that consumed me and overwhelmed my body. ROSE: The visions of dissolution. The narrative unspooling. A thousand voices shouting contradiction. ROSE: What value is a marriage, temporary domestic bliss, if all is lost? ROSE: You understand this bargain.

Yeah-- it’s pretty clear here now.

The heroes’ goal in the initial comic, and the reward they earned -- while unclear on paper and DEFINITELY not spelled out -- was to “stop being Homestuck”.  Was to escape the bounds of the comic, to almost KILL the comic.

But that was a little vaguely put, before.  HS^2 has done us the favor of making it an EXPLICIT GOAL of the heroes.

ROSE: Is your resentment towards my choice about Kanaya, or about V–

BONK. Rosebot's even metallic voice is interrupted by the bang of skull against metal, and Terezi's headbutt collapses the both of them into a crumpling heap of metal and flesh.

That was a step too far. Tensions that once simmered under the surface have found the catalyst for a boil.

Terezi’s barely holding on if she’s going to get so dramatic so fast.

Or Dirk’s writing this so dramatic, anyway.

Rosebot finally has Terezi pinned to the ground by the throat. A cool metallic knee is pressed hard between her legs, holding her down. A natural pause in the staccato squabble is found, and two pairs of red eyes are locked on each other.

Oh God, don’t <3< please.

TEREZI: 1 T4K3 1T B4CK TEREZI: TURNS OUT 1 ST1LL 3NJOY T4LK1NG TO YOU >:]

Ah, shit.  Weakness for Light players, huh.

Rosebot leans in close. Terezi can smell the licorice-black lipstick, the same kind as always, applied now to synthetic polymer lips inches away from her own. Rosebot's metal fingers close just a little tighter around her neck–Woah, woah, woah.

I fiddle with some advanced speciation machinery for a few hours and then come back to this?

...yeah, you can’t get into Terezi’s sex life without a bit of choking and breathplay I guess.

You people are here for logic. Systems. Weird plot shit. Lore. Not this.

Hm.

I have mixed feelings about this possibly-sarcastic point of view of his.  And that’s coming from someone who was fuck deep in those systems and frustrated as hell that Andrew worked them out but never explained them or made their (at least I believe) hidden importance clear.

Quit out of your browser, slam the laptop closed and punt it into the ocean. That shark is probably hungry after all the jumping.

You won’t, though. If you were going to quit you would have quit before this. We’re in this for the long haul, you and I. We’ll all go down together. Welcome to ‘Nam.

...yeah.  :C

I'll just get a head start on my species, then. It's only the fate of a new planet on which the weight of saving the universe lies.

Did Dirk never get the memo that Calliope and fucking Caliborn were born on Earth C millions of years hence???

Your universe’s “relevance” is safe, my dude.  You’re just making excuses to rule the narrative.

And... that’s it!  For this update, anyway.

Let’s cut over to the commentary for the last one, which I expect will be touching on and lampshading just how much of an amoral dick move Rose and Dirk are making with the entire live-draft species creation process.

Sketches and Commentary: Chapter 4, The Contest

Oh, two members of the writing team are discussing this one.

Plenty of appreciation of the art of the alien planet, apparently art-ed by Gina.

--Yes, I agree, Terezi probably wouldn’t be the best at parallel parking.

Oh right, I should skip most of the fluff y’all would see if you paid and get just any plot important discussion, let’s skip past some ogling of Rose’s pretty well-designed robo-form and its first onscreen appearance...

(Xam’s designs are GREAT all around.)

A1: The imagery is, admittedly, a little heavy-handed. Terezi leaving the cave for the light, the other two remaining in the darkness to talk endless circles around each other. 

Heh.

...There are some seriously good jokes here.

--OH! I finally get to figure out why Dirk’s hand was glowing all weird when he slammed the “map”: ......nope, they just talk about how big his yaoi hand is.

A1: I guess this means we’ve sort of canonized Dirk’s Texas accent? a2: yeah, but i think this was a foregone conclusion. the dude lived in post-apocalyptic texas, and he's ABSOLUTELY the sort of person to adopt a long-dead accent for no reason other than historical accuracy.

That’s fair.  (Yes, I included that for plot relevance. Totally. ...I really need to be a lighter touch with how much I include of these things that isn’t helpful to actually understand what the fuck is going on with the actual plot/characterization, here, this was real borderline.)

i think we could stand to talk more about the writing at this point.

JESUS CHRIST THANK YOU

we sort of go in drunken circles of Dirk and Rose trying to out-bullshit each other and convince themselves they’re doing the right thing.

--which was obvious to everyone, but.  Still appreciated to see it spelled out.  Seeing our points of view validated like this helps us stay sane through the bullshit, a golden promise of eventual reprieve and vindication.

a2: we tried something a little different for the writing process of this update, which is that for large sections of the dialog we just rp'd the characters a2: andrew copied large sections of early homestuck from personal chatlogs with friends, and i always thought that lent it a special kind of humor and rapport that can be hard to capture by yourself. i think this approach worked pretty well for us.

It REALLY is an effective way to write dialogue for these sorts characters in particular!  Heck, I’m kind of helping someone else do exactly that.  It’s pretty fun!  There are chapters and chapters out by my understanding, having diverged from such a focus on the central character I’m playing but using our logs as a guide... none of which I’m allowed to read, not even the FIRST chapter, so as not to spoil me with the surrounding narration and added revelations.

...What?

You expected me to tell you what it is? Where to find it?

No.  :)

(Maybe later.)

A1: Moving right along. We see more of Dirk’s casual manipulation of Rose’s mental state, that he rationalizes away. It’s not actually that bad if she was going to agree anyway, right? 

Mhmm.  Hard to watch.

a2: [...] but it's a large part of what this chapter is about. a2: what is the right thing to do when you're functionally omniscient? a2: or omni...whatever these kids are. A1: Yeah, the question of whether morality actually has anything to do with running a system like this. Can god be moral? a2: and of course, that's kind of the same question that i ask myself a lot when writing. authorship is a peculiar thing.

That last part is pretty key about the story this entire thing is trying to tell.  A story about the morality of how one goes about creating a story.  A just story.  And if what’s created even has value.

a2: i was responsible for the animation on the sprite panels, which was fun. it's obviously imitating andrew an awful lot, but i think that lends it an aura of homestucky authenticity. andrew is low-key really good at animation. 

Yeah, he really, really is.  His keyframing and the devices he used to communicate what was physically happening were really tight.  I always appreciated that.

a2: aaaaand one last gina panel to finish with. rose may have had her doubts about this contest at first, but as soon as dirk made a little creature with tentacles she's like, fuck it, this is all i've ever wanted actually.

:(

A bit sparse on the detail I was looking for once shit started to get horrific, the implications and such... but I can understand that.

Maybe when we get to the second and third place draft aliens, we’ll actually see a hint of a moral crisis in them.  At least a tiny one.

Arrite, that’s it.  See y’all next time.  I’ll wait to blog the commentary on the past bonus chapter whenever the next bonus chapter is up for blogging.

[kindestegg]

(hungy voice) lighty i just had a terrible nightmare i dreamed i was this boring asshole guy with a generic name n he wanted 2 do bad things 2 you like he didnt like you at all i think?? thats terrible lighty what the fuck

[tenebraetrash17]

Yeet, I know I misspelled XIII, I’m sorry

OK! So some context! Up here in the Lightis discord, we talk au’s and stuff like that, right? Right! Not necessarily Lightis ones, we have a multitude. 

One that @shadowdarkleonidascrusade came up with was a sitcom au, so I went and made an intro after @candy--pop mentioned “Final Fantasy with the F.R.I.E.N.D.S opening.”

But, so I’ve had other ideas that I haven’t put up there either, like so

The soldier characters? Like, Lightning, Cloud, Sephithot, Zack, Loqi and Ravus? They have their own episodes that are like The Office and Cid Raines is like their boss or something. Squall could be an intern there or something because young??

I mean, the dynamic would be funny enough?

Ravus: If another musical breaks out again, I’m going to hang myself.

*Camera cut to Loqi drumming on his desk*

Loqi: Everybody....hmmmmm...everyboooody.....everybody....rock your body right....

Zack, from across the room: BACKSTREETS BACK, ALRIGHT!!!

*camera cut to Cloud*

Cloud: This happens at least twice a week. I’ve learned to bring ear plugs. *sticks them in his ears and closes his eyes*

Lightning: If I have to put up with any more of this, I’ll hang myself. Well, actually, no, but, I want to- *as she’s talking you can just see Ravus in the background walking away with some rope and Cloud running to drag him back*

Ravus, now tied to his chair: This is giving me gray hairs..... *Zack is in the background and he looks up like “Um....”*

Also, there could be a segment where it’s like

Cloud: When I’m stressed, I like to drink coffee and turn on music. It helps get me through life. *get’s hit in the head with an airplane, courtesy of Zack*

Lightning: *laughs and holds up a beer bottle*

Ravus: .....I don’t have any stress reliever. Prompto says to try this one thing, but.....I-I don’t do that.

Ravus, only this time sitting somewhere else and looking as if he’s been talked into taking “Gyashi Greens”: ....I suppose this is why they call me the High Commander.

Idk, but the soldiers in an office setting just really amuse me?

Zack: Yeah, I dunno....I guess I’m getting some vibes from Sephy that he might be gay? 

*Camera cut to Sephiroth strolling up to the copy machine*

Sephiroth: Move, I’m gay!

*Now back to Zack*

Zack: .......Nah! He couldn’t be!

Also, there could be quality short jokes on Loqi as he stands on his desk and angrily yells “I AM NOT SHORT!!” as almost everyone towers over him.

And behold Cid’s constant mood:

I can kinda see the chocobros with more of a “That 70′s Show” kind of style, along with the whole table sitting and the camera moving around in a circle like how it does.

Like, they would be episodes that are kind of random and mainly focused on one set of characters for these types and not the commonly used formula as it would be a lot more ‘crossover-ish’ more often than not, but this is just me dumping a bunch of ideas everywhere.

So it’s like, the main series is just all the characters getting into shenanigans while episodes like these are just juicy little bits to add variety.

Like, maybe Serah, Luna and Iris all get together and it’s like “Siblings, am I right?” and have quality good pure girl bonding time. Aranea joins from time to time when they go out for drinks.

I know I spoke a lot about the whole Office part more, but I really like that formula and had a lot of ideas I didn’t want to spill everywhere. SO! Y’KNOW.

WHY DID I WORD THIS LIKE IT WAS GOING TO BE A LEGIT THING? I HAVE NO IDEA FGHJK.

Yeet, hopefully those discord texts are readable!

NOT GONNA LIE, I REALLY JUST WANTED TO MAKE A HIGH COMMANDER JOKE

[writingmi]

We're Now Married | Tom Holland x Reader (Part 1)

“You could still back out, you know,” Kenna, the eldest of your band, muttered. You nodded in acknowledgement at this. You knew this wasn’t one of your best decisions. The fact that you’re doing this alone and not with your band was a dangerous territory in itself. But you couldn’t pass up the chance to be in a world-wide show with an actor who is also known world-wide. “It’s not too late, (y/n).”

“You could still back out, you know,” Kenna, the eldest of your band, muttered. You nodded in acknowledgement at this. You knew this wasn’t one of your best decisions. The fact that you’re doing this alone and not with your band was a dangerous territory in itself. But you couldn’t pass up the chance to be in a world-wide show with an actor who is also known world-wide. “It’s not too late, (y/n).”

“I know, Kenna,” you grumbled. She was only looking out for you, you know that. That fact made it even harder for you to back out. You’re the youngest of the band, sure, but that doesn’t mean that you’re a kid. you’re already 20, for God’s sake!

“Don’t worry, Kenna,” your guitarist, Arabella, called out. Her brown hair was swaying back and forth as she walked towards the two of you. You couldn’t help but giggle a little when she almost bumped into one of the crew. She slid into her seat beside you and patted your head, grinning . “(Y/n)'s a wise girl and she can make decisions on her own.”

“I know that,” Kenna grumbled, pinching her nose. “I can’t help but worry.”

“All you do is worry,” Elyse slid into her seat, wrapping an arm around Kenna’s shoulder. You smiled at the two, loving how close the four of you had gotten in the past year. “Try and relax a little.”

“5 minutes till we start!” The producer called out, her voice ringing around the small cafe. It was small and cozy, and there were small plants hanging from the ceiling, giving the small cafe a green tint. This would have been a cafe you visited more often if you pursued college instead of stardom.

Rubbing your hands, you smiled at your members. They grinned back at you before bursting into a laugh.

“I can’t believe the youngest of Unisex is finally getting married!” Elise squealed, reaching over to pinch you cheek. This girl is hyper, you can’t help but chuckle at it.

All of you stopped laughing when a small rectangular box was given to you. It was pink with small hearts decorating it.

“What is it?” Kenna asked. “Is it a gift? Is there a ring inside?”

“It’s too early for that, Kenna,” you laughed. This was nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. All you could hope was that your partner would be a nice man that you could get along well.

The producer was calling out some commands to the crew before he announced, “Settle! Action!”

“Okay, let’s open it,” Kenna said, clapping her hands. “In 3, 2, 1!”

“What’s in it?” You immediately asked, leaning on the table. Your stomach dropped when you saw that it was a phone and a small card. You didn’t know what you were expexting but it definitely wasn’t this.

Ara picked up the small card while you plucked the phone from the box, inspecting it a little. “To Mrs. (Y/n), your virtual marriage will be starting tomorrow!”

Elise and Kenna shrieked. You laugh at their antics. Sure, this was all acting and you can feel the cameras staring at you. But it was endearing when they can still act normal despite many eyes watching.

“I'm kind of guilty that I’m the one getting married first before you guys,” you admitted.

“You can give this to me, then,” Kenna said, grabbing the small box. The laughter didn’t die down and you could hear the small crew laughing along.

“I have a question,” raising her hand, Elise’s voice stopped the laughter. “What should we call him?”

Call him? They haven’t even met him and now they’re wondering what to call him?

“Brother-in-law!” Ara crowed.

“Brother-in-law?!” You repeated. That’s specific and awkward. “Why are you asking this anyway?”

“So that we know what to call him if we meet,” she answered, flipping her hair. “When we meet, I mean.”

“Anyway, let’s open the phone!” You set the phone at the center of the table so that everyone could see. When you opened the phone, there was only the messaging app in the middle of the screen.

“What do you wanna do? Do you want to text first?” Elise suggested, wriggling her eyebrows. You threw a napkin at her face, shaking your head lighty.

“She shouldn’t,” Kenna muttered to herself. You nodded. “Girls aren’t usually the ones who makes the first move.”

“But why isn’t he sending anything?” you moaned, arms stretching out on the table and laying down your head. The nervousness was getting to you and you want to get this over with. What’s more, you have to put up an act in which you’re excited to talk and meet with a total stranger.

“There isn’t anything to fret about,” Ara soothed, patting your head. She was the motherly kind of your group and she’s especially close to you. This is probably due to the fact that the both of you auditioned together for the studion. “They probably didn’t tell him anything so that’s why he hasn’t sent anything.”

You swiped around with the phone. You could feel the others’ stares around you and could hear someone chuckle in amusement. While they were talking and wondering about your partner, you debated on whether to pick up that phone and make the first move.

When you were little, your father told you that girls don’t take initiative when it comes to things like this. But right now, you wanted to say a small ‘Hello’ or send a wave but that would be too bold. Especially when this would be broad-casted worldwide and you wanted to look good for your father.

You jumped when a loud ‘Ping’ resounded and echoed around the room. “It’s here, it’s here, it’s here,” you muttered, standing up and rubbing your arms. All of you stared at Elise, waiting for her to read the text.

“What are you guys looking at?” she asked.

“Read it!”

“There is no text,” she laughed. You squint your eyes at her, sure that you just heard something. “I just wanted to make sure that the phone isn’t defective so I clicked around.”

All of you groaned. This was getting nowhere and the nerves are skyrocketing every second. What if your partner backed out? God, this was a waste of time that should've been spent practicing for your next album.

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll put it down now,” Ara apologized but not before laughing loudly every 5 seconds.

“But this person seems like he’s very careful,” Elise observed. Ths made everyone quiet down. You couldn’t help but glare playfully at her.

“Hey, don’t criticize my husband,” you said, slamming your fist down at the table. They stared at you wide-eyed and you fought the urge to break out a smile. This is all acting for the sake of the show.

“You guys haven’t even started yet,” Kenna argued. “You guys are starting tomorrow, you know. And we’re all sad right now because you’re getting married first.”

The playful atmosphere was back and all of you are now back to laughing and messing with each other. This js what you love about your group. No one takes anything personally because all of you are way past personally knowing each other. Everyone of you have memorized each other emotionally and mentally like the backs of your hands.

“Guys should be the one who makes the first move, you know,” you said. All this waiting was making you tired. And thirsty.

For about three minutes, the four ofyou were just goofing around. You can’t help but glance at the phone every now and again. You weren’t really an impatient type of kid but a guy shouldn’t make a woman wait, especially when he knows that a woman is waiting.

Another loud ‘Ping’ rang out and this time, you all held your breath as Kenna opened the phone. You could hear your heart beating loudly through your ears, or maybe that’s just the blood rushing. It was a little bit despicable, really, how you were waiting for a single text from a stranger.

“He just said ‘hello’,” Kenna announced. Wow. All of you were worrying and all you get was just one text. This reality show business is now getting funnier and funnier to you.

“What if you be straightforward?” Elise said, grabbing the phone. Now, they’re the one who’s texting him when you’re the wife. “‘Who are you?’”

“That’s a little bold, don’t you think?” you babbled. What if you were coming off too strong? God, this really isn’t helping with anything.

“Oh, he sent a pic!”

“This could be anyone!” you moaned. He was clever, you have to admit. Making the pic black and white and cropping out half of his face. Half of his face… you shook that thought out of your head. It couldn’t be. “What should I send?”

“I’ve got an idea,” Ara said. She was giving out instructions and poses for you, which you immediately followed. Now, this was familiar. Posing for pics wasn’t a problem for you and it was just a matter of time before you found the right angle and lighting. They had you transfer to another table and grab a random book out of the shelf that was at the corner. Their efforts in making you faceless was kind of witty and resourceful, you have to give them that.

“And… send!” Kenna announced. “Ugh, I’m so excited for tomorrow!”

“Oh, wait there’s another card,” you said, taking the card that was handed out to you from the cameraman. “Tomorrow is the day the both of you would meet. Prepare a small gift for your husband and enjoy a day together.

“I’m already a gift, aren’t I?” The members snickered at your suggestion. “Well, what do you suggest?”

“Let’s clean up now,” Kenna said. You groaned at her dismissal. A gift… it’s hard to think of one when you don’t know if the person would even like it.

“Is there any other girl like me?” You asked them.

“Well, no."

“That’s why!” You grinned. “I’m the best gift for him!”

Prologue

Part 1

Part 2

Tags are open!

[airyravenmaid]

No One Can Rewrite The Stars

How can we rewrite the stars?

Say that the world can be ours

Tonight

@lightisdays2k​

Lightis Week 2018, Day 04: Free Day (Altissia)

This is actually one of a few snippets I’ve written for my Final Fantasy Versus XV crossover AU (aptly named in homage to XV’s original title when it was still part of the same series as XIII, though that’s where the similarities to Versus XIII end). It didn’t really feel “sad” enough for me to post it for tomorrow’s event, so I used the freebie day instead! Based of course on the song “Rewrite The Stars” from “The Greatest Showman”, and is a fic version of the actual song parody I wrote for it. Hope you all like! 💘

Just keep running. That’s what she commanded her relentless feet to do without disobedience. The blue soles of her gradient-flowing mud brown boots heated along the friction, but that hardly came anywhere close to wearing Lightning out. What seemed to really be responsible for dragging the ex-Guardian Corps sergeant down was the very motivation that caused her to sprint through the night-lit, but glowing Altissia and as far away from where the gondolas were as possible.

Lightning made it to some random empty building, seating herself and gripping both sides of her head with her elbows propped on her thighs. What she’d just gone through may not have outwardly been a disaster, but how she felt about it was an entirely different story. And the main issue’s name?

It was none other than “Noctis Lucis Caelum”.

“I agree to one day of sightseeing, and he goes and tells me that,” Lightning growled, frustration using itself as a spiked shield against more difficult feelings. “An easy little boat ride must be too hard to ask for.”

Why did things between them have to change, anyways? She never asked for things to get complicated beyond a lengthy escort roadtrip mission to where they were now. Okay, maybe it was inevitable that she’d wind up growing fond of the Lucians; distancing herself from people while stuck with them for long enough with the notion she wouldn’t come to care for them she’d learned centuries back in Cocoon was unrealistic.

Lightning wasn’t nearly as against it now like previously in her life. Befriending the four didn’t seem to bother her too much, but the result of getting to know more of Noctis of all of them was where things took quite the worst turn. True, Lucis’ prince could still stand to be more mature quite often in her eyes (“You still pick out the veggies in your food? Just how old are you?” “20.” “Huh. Could’ve fooled me.”), but for her to fall for someone she never thought would be so humble and surprisingly empathetic of a lonely upbringing turned parentless adulthood she could say was one of the rare things she never expected to occur in her life.

And now, there Lightning found herself stuck. Stuck dealing with her strange first love for someone she initially wanted nothing to do with, and vice-versa. To rub more salt in her unwanted new wound, the prince had just made it even harder to deal with than before. Wherever she’d left Noct, Lightning hoped she wouldn’t be found by him or anyone. Not like this, now or ever.

“Claire! There you are.”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Wonderful. Well, she for one wasn’t in the mood to deal with “His Royal Highness”, so she turned her back bullishly and ignored him. But, that wasn’t enough to deter Noctis one bit. Lightning could tell he wasn’t going to leave until he got at least a word in, something she kept quiet to prevent to her best ability because Etro knows she was not in the mood to so much as look at him tonight.

“What’s wrong?” Noctis still bothered asking, following her averting eyes. “I can’t know unless you talk to me, you know.”

“Better leave it at that, then,” Lightning sneered, still refusing him much attention.

“You know I can’t and aren’t gonna.” Noctis in defiance took a seat next to Lightning, the woman having given up on turning around like a fussy child mad at their parent for sending them to time out. “Ready to talk?”

“There’s nothing up for discussing ‘cause nothing’s wrong.”

“Has anyone told you you’re one of the worst liars I’ve ever met? If there was nothing bothering you, you wouldn’t have stormed off from the gondola in a sudden huff.”

“Well, the boat did come to our stop. Can’t stay there forever.”

“Claire…”

“Alright, fine! You were honest with me, so I’ll do it back by asking you something!” Lightning jumped onto her feet, looking at Noctis with balled fists as he got up and maintained eye contact with her angry pair. “Why did you say that to me back there? Why?”

“What? You mean ‘I like you’?” Just repeating it sent Lightning’s heart flinching, her cheeks fighting not to match her hair color. “I said what I did because I meant it. And judging by you almost kissing me back there, saying you don’t feel the same would be a complete lie.”

“So what?! Like I give a damn on how I feel! That’s not important here, Noctis!” Lightning strode a few steps from Noctis, arms folded and chin tucked to her racing chest in conflicted frustration. “Maybe try not asking what’s wrong when you’re trying to pull someone into a possible scandal.”

“A scandal? Why would I be trying to start a scandal?”

“Think a little harder than you are right now. The boy encouraged so badly to marry someone more important as a symbol of the peace going and fooling around with another woman is bound to get a handful of people talking. Especially if said ‘other woman’ was only asked to help take him here and nothing else.”

Hmm, okay, now that Lightning was explaining herself a little more, it started to make sense where she was coming from. Even though Noctis’ engagement to Luna was technically called off due to unfortunate circumstances involving the genuineness of Niflheim’s so-called “peace treaty”, to marry her wasn’t something he’d ever be against the thought of. However, he was equally sure of the fact that he’d also come to love Lightning (or, Claire, as her beautiful secret real name turned out to be) just as much, a girl he never thought would be a kindred spirit to him in any actual number of years.

Though he’d have previously much rather cut his line after catching the whopper of a lifetime than let her know that, tonight changed everything. Noctis did the one thing he never thought he’d be able to and spoke up about his feelings, and he’d be damned if he was going to let that all be for naught. Especially so considering his affection was proven to be not-so one-sided as the others hinted at quite a few times prior. No, it was either try and get through to the otherwise impervious ex-soldier, or risk a worse result coming true from not bothering.

“I get why you think that,” Noctis reasoned. “But, I’m technically not engaged anymore, so it’s not like I’m dragging you into some kinda affair.”

“Even if that’s true, you know better than to make things harder between us anyways,” Lightning argued. “And this little thing you’re trying to do? It’s only getting you off-course, so do me a favor and cut it out.”

“But…” Noctis walked in front of Lightning and stayed there when she tried leaving again, wanting nothing more than for her to hear him out all the way. “If I like you, and you like me, then there shouldn’t be an issue.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Noct, and you know it. Nothing can happen between us without some kind of trouble getting in the way.”

“Hey, nothing in the world’s without its roadblocks. Especially since I figured you of all people didn’t give a damn about what someone else says for you to do or be.”

“This is different! Don’t compare me being smart enough not to let the world try and kill me with some… stupid little crush! This is less that and more ‘don’t do anything stupid to make yourself look like a fool because you couldn’t learn a little self-control’.”

Lightning let out a frustrated growl, storming out of the building and out to Altissia’s more impressive outer scenery telling Noctis not to follow her or he’d “seriously regret it”. Being the only other person who could successfully out-stubborn her, however, the prince pursued who and what his heart wanted. The 21-year old with pink hair looked just about fed up with him, trudging down the stairs of the area both of them were just in.

“Give up,” Lightning hissed.

“Not until you stop lying to yourself,” Noctis spat back. “Or if you won’t do that, then tell me what about this is making things so hard. At least give me that.”

Lightning stopped where her feet remained, her anger cooling somewhere close to her default level-headed stoicism, but now turned to Noctis with a noticeably sad glint in her eyes. “...Whatever you’re probably thinking is true, but for once, just wake up and think about it. The minute you think you have everything worked out, something always goes wrong to correct that. Someone like you and someone like me? It’s a recipe for disaster just waiting to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that we both need to stick to what’s important and only that. You taking the throne back and marrying Lady Lunafreya as planned, and me sticking to my own duties until I can finally go back to the ones waiting for me back home.” She strode over, leaning against one of the glass tables on her white-gloved palm and staring her sullen reflection in the eyes. As much as it pained her to actually love someone she wasn’t meant to, there was for once nothing she could do to fight it without paying a price that she wasn’t willing to. “That’s our best plan, and it’s not gonna be any different.”

“Plans can always change.” Noctis again followed her, putting his hand on her resting one and getting her to look at him as if demanding a good answer without her usual hint of volatility. “Like I said before; ‘one night could be just what we need’.”

“How could you say that? Aren’t you worried of what’s gonna go wrong?”

“Things have been going wrong for me before I even hit puberty. I think whatever fate’s got to throw at me, it can and I wouldn’t even be shocked.”

Lightning scoffed and rolled her eyes, a part of her swallowing the slight inner temptation to laugh at how broad Noctis could be. She found herself crossing over and making her way up the stairs to the bridge overlooking one of Altissia’s many vast canals, the platform decorated with many lights not unlike that of buzzing fireflies flashing under the night sky like stars. Unsurprised that Noctis was close behind her, Lightning didn’t react until she’d realized neither had released the other’s hand.

“Now for my question to you, Claire,” Noctis started, his other hand cupping her warmed cheek. “Do you want this?”

Lightning hesitated to answer for a few seconds, but then grabbed onto Noctis’ wrist very gently and looked him right in the eyes to answer truthfully. “...More than I could ever say.”

“Then for just this one night at least, let’s have our own say in where we can go.”

Against her staunch judgement for once, Lightning took Noctis’ face in her own hands when his arms wrapped themselves around her waist after they both got to the other side of the bridge together. He did release her a bit following that, but now took ahold of her hand in his non-gloved one to twirl her to a two arms-long distance and returning forward to be close to her again. For their shared moment, all seemed in tune with the universe. Noctis and Lightning let themselves connect by their foreheads, now able to lovingly stare into the other’s differently shaded blue eyes while the small distance between them seemed to slowly close…

Both eyes were closed when it happened, but forgoing the forbidding world around them, the two lovers sealed their lips together tenderly. Noctis’ hands rested on her hips, and Lightning’s hands grasping his shoulders not wanting to let go. A few long moments into the kiss, though, her eyes fluttered open and widened with a cold splash of reality to the face. She quickly pulled right away from Noctis, hands gripping her arms and turning her back on him to walk a distance more.

“It’s true, I want you,” Lightning confessed, now more somber as opposed to irritated. “...But, in more ways than one, I just can’t have you. Don’t go against your duties, Noctis, because I’m not going against mine anytime soon.”

Noctis opened his mouth to try and say something to her, but Lightning had already run off with a crumbling heart to find the other three and forget the undeserved moment of guilty peace between her and him. His own heart, on the other hand, fell almost as heavily as he had for her. Ultimately giving up once she was too far from his lowering reach, Noctis sighed. This time, he didn’t follow Lightning. He may have also wanted to find their friends, but to go after someone who just wasn’t going to slow down for him would just be an endless chase.

He looked up at the night sky. The stars were beautiful that night for sure. But Noctis knew they weren’t going to rearrange themselves for him or anyone who also desired so anytime soon either.

[mindspanner]

Y’za Fash//Dalaran, Broken Isles

<Wind noise in the background, along with occasional but insistent hippogryph sounds. M is speaking very quietly and in Gnomish.>

It is the tenth of December. I have some external suit damage. Currently located on an empty floating island outside Dalaran.

It is odd being here after many months away. It is emptier than I recall.

This is irrelevant. Moving on.

Today was the mission to eliminate the tidesage cult led by Gladstone. It was successful, but it was-. Momentous.

When we arrived, they were already underway. The directive from my Advisor was to stop the ritual summoning, so I pushed closer to begin the warhead targeting. It was...

How to phrase.

<A several second pause. Irritated hippogryph noises.>

Stop that, Birdhorse.

I cannot say that I knew but I... hoped. I wished. It can trouble me on occasion, that my role often requires me to work against Their efforts and this was to be a larger blow than most. Interrupting a ritual by killing all participants nearly instantly is... severe. It seemed illogical to wish the ritual would conclude regardless. When Jo reacted so strongly and advanced to try and pull souls, however, I knew. It worked.

I was the one to make it work. I did it. It was my specific act. I killed them and I triggered the next stage.

<Despite her words of apparent triumph, she remains as monotone as ever.>

The pictures I took for Lasarra are not of the best quality but I am sure she will find them of interest. I have seen n'raqi in person on a few occasions but a c'thrax...

They are imposing. Armored, massive, and powerful beyond what we can match. It was... I do not have words adequate for it. It was deeply unfortunate that the detonation had injured it as it was summoned. Someday perhaps I will see one in its full state but this will certainly do. Unfortunately I do not have better words, but it could be considered awe inspiring. An experience I will memorize and hold for a very long time. One I will look back on and be pleased I was present for.

...unfortunately, I knew it would have to be killed. Commander Mindspanner could not allow such a being to walk free in the presence of other Servitors. Fortunately, I was able to split the others away in search of Gladstone. Its last moments were not spent alone. We shared the disappointment. I apologized.

Frankly, that could have been all I obtained from the mission and I would have considered it a success. Due to the makeup of the group this evening, however, it was not. Lighties are trusting and take what is given at face value. As ever, it is useful and their only collective positive trait. I would never have been able to rescue all I had from the cultist ship if others of sharper minds had been present. Allowing a Commander to investigate an enemy vessel on her own, unguarded. No one else would have agreed to it. Nothing of note on board, accepted.

So much had to be left. Likely years of research and decades or more of history are lost to fire, now. It is unfortunate but unavoidable. There was only so much room in the saddle and my person. Lasarra and I will have much to read over the next month or longer. I believe I will add it to her Winter Veil gifts. The history of seafaring worshipers is unknown to me. Perhaps they will have knowledge we lack. Even if it simply repeats and affirms what we already know, I believe such knowledge will be of use. The only difficulty I foresee is ensuring Jo remains unaware, or at the least partially in the dark. I do not wish for her to be pulled in if it can be helped.

<Another pause. Talons scraping loudly on rock. A sigh from M.>

We will be departing shortly, do not give me this attitude.

Lastly, I believe I will be contacting Shady. This golem I took from Tol Balor has an interesting ability that could be utilized. It appears to pull blood or similar from corpses and when I pulled it away, it attempted to channel it into this body. I am obviously unable to receive it and it instead has caused a large mess. It did inadvertently wash off some sand but little else. The substance appears blood adjacent, likely made from what it pulled out of the deceased it leeched from. As a result, its central chamber is close to empty now instead of being nearly full. Quite interesting.

I wonder if they know more. Likely. Mm.

I believe that is all of note.

<A click.>

<Silence.>

((mentions: @josilverwright @marbelmasnowshoe @ashcraftia for Tally))