#marcus tries swimming over to get it but he reaches the part of the water where his feet cant touch bottom anymore and he freaks out

[jrueships]

HERE lmao

WE DID IT BOYS (PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR DICTIONARY DEFINITION TERM OF ENDEARMENT INTENTION)

WE W O N ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️🤩

[mediocre-writerr]

all for us [the wilds girls]

the wilds girls x platonic fem reader

requested: I love your imagines a lot, you’re an amazing writer! I had a promt where maybe the reader is the youngest of all the girls and basically the younger sister they all never had and they all care and love for her very much (maybe short flashbacks with moments of her and the girls) and once their quarantine is over they realize she’s missing and it turns out she got internal injury or something else quite angsty and the girls do everything they can for her

*not my gif*

“So tell me about Y/N Y/L/N.” Agent Young says.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” Leah asks and Agent Young nods, “Where do I even begin?” 

You were the youngest of the group. Not too much younger than them, but still younger. And just like regular siblings being the youngest had its perks and downfalls.

For one, you could never go anywhere alone. Even to pee, the girls would not let you out of their sight. 

But, you got away with almost everything. The girls couldn’t stay mad at you for too long, not even Toni could stay mad at you. And she could literally stay mad at anyone until the day she died. 

“I’m taking you and her were close?” Agent Fader asks.

“Yeah, she was close to pretty much everyone. She’s like a little bean we all wanted to protect. You just wanted to squish her cheeks ever time you see her.” 

“Leah? What are you doing up here?” you ask her, plopping down onto the sand further away from everyone. 

She shakes her head staring out at the sun that was just beginning to set, “Just reading the notes he left me...again. I know I’m pathetic.” 

“I wasn’t gonna say that.” you reply and she looks at you wide-eyed.

“You weren’t?” 

You shake your head, smiling at her a little bit, “You were in love. I’ve never been in love before, but when you’re in love you’re in love. And he dumped you which wasn’t cool. I don’t support your relationship with him, but it’s only natural to be heartbroken over it.” 

“You’re wise for your age.” she says, ruffling your hair.

“If I ever meet Jeffery, I’m gonna kick his ass.” you warn her, looking at her dead in the eye.

“You probably can, if I’m being honest.” Leah states and she lets out a small laugh. 

Yes, mission accomplished.

You nod with your fists up, pretending to block, “Hit him with that one, two, punch. Pow. Pow pow pow!” you mimic, punching the air in front of you.

Your fake fighting causes her to laugh a little louder and harder. So you decided to take it up a notch, get her distracted a little more.

You get up from where you were standing. And lift one leg up, like Daniel did in Karate Kid, “Finish him!” you yell, making your voice a little deeper. 

Kicking your feet up in the air, however you don’t stick the landing. You fall onto your back letting out a small groan and the sudden hit. Leah starts laughing uncontrollably, releasing a little snort.

That small snort causes you to start laughing along with her. Jeffery long forgotten. 

“We heard from Leah that Y/N was close with everyone. Is this true?” Fader asks. 

“Oh yeah 100%.” Rachel says with a nod, “It was like having yet another younger sister to take care of. Or well...them taking care of me.” 

“You think you can beat me in a swim race.” Rachel asks, staring at you like you’ve just grown two horns.

You hum in response, “Yep!” 

“Fine you’re on! From this point to those rocks.” she says, pointing at the rock figures in the middle of the ocean.

“Who you got?” Dot asks, Toni.

Toni looks at her with a small smirk on her face, “I’m gonna bet on the underdog this round. I got my Diet Coke on Squirt here!” Toni gestures to you, using your annoying nickname that the girls named you after. 

They gave you the nickname after the turtle from Finding Nemo. You pretended to hate it, but you secretly loved your embarrassing nickname.

“You’re on!” Dot says, shaking her hand.

“On your mark, get set...GO!” Martha yells sitting along next to Marcus.

The two of you take off swimming. You start off a little slow at first trying to maintain your energy, but Rachel was the opposite. She was using everything in her power to get their as fast as she could.

When she finally started slowing down, that’s when you pushed on the gas. Moving your arms and legs in a perfect motion. Slowly, but surely you started passing her just as you made it to the rocks.

“Hell yeah!” Toni yells.

Dot groans before throwing Toni a Diet Coke. 

“How the hell did you do that?” Rachel asks you, out of breath as the two of you sat on the rocks.

“Honestly, no idea.” you say with a laugh and she rolls her eyes.

“Race you back!” she yells, jumping into the ocean.

“Cheater!” you yell before diving in after her. 

Dot was slurping down her milkshake. While the two agents waited for her to stop drinking. 

“Can I have another one of these?” Dot asks and Fader nods with a laugh. 

“Who do you think you wanted to protect most on the island?” Young asks after Dot finishes her ten course meal.

“Y/N, hands down. I think that would be every girls answer.” Dot explains, plopping another fry into her mouth.

All of you girls were relaxing on the beach. After two days of scavenging the jungle for any sorts of food and firewood. This was the first day all of you could just relax.

“I just came up with the best idea!” you exclaim. 

It was just you and Dot. The rest of the girls were scattered all over the beach, doing their own thing.

“What is it?” she asks as your eyes had that mischievous glint to them, “Oh no. I know that look!” 

“We’re already stranded on a deserted island, what if we pretended we were on an episode of Naked and Afraid?!” you say, excitedly.

She releases on of her famous hearty laughs, “You want all of us to strip down naked? You really think the girls would be up for it?” 

You nod your head, multiple times, “I bet at least 6/9 of the girls here have at least imagined one of us naked.” 

Dot raises her eyebrows at you, “Are you one of those 6?” 

“No comment...” you state.

After much convincing, you got the girls to have a pretend episode of Naked and Afraid. Everyone was stripping down of their clothes, looking at each other, trying to stifle a laugh. 

The air was awkward, yet comfortable at the same time. The only awkward part was standing there unsure of what to do next. 

“Y/N, you have a cute butt!” Fatin exclaims, giving you a high five.

Toni sidles up next to her to get a look, “Awe it looks like a little peach.” 

You throw your face in your hands, shaking your head as a chorus full of aw’s fill the air. 

Toni sat there with her arms crossed over her chest, not wanting to talk about anything to these phonies. 

“So we’ve been asking the girls their opinions on everyone else, we’re gonna go one by one on the list and you’ll say one word to describe them.” Fader says and Toni just nods.

“Leah Rilke?” 

“Over-thinker.” Toni replies.

“Rachel Reid?” 

“Driven.” 

“Dot Campbell?” 

“Resourceful.” 

“Shelby Goodkind?” 

There was a moment of silence, trying to find the right words to say, “Complex.” 

“Martha Blackburn?” 

“Sister.” 

“Y/N Y/L/N?” 

Toni laughs to herself softly, “Squirt.” 

You and Toni were out in the shallow waters of the ocean. Dot sent you and Toni on an experiment to see if watch she saw on TV actually works. Where you stand out in the water and catch a fish with your bare hands.

The two of you didn’t quite know the logistics on how it works, but you volunteered anyway. You were standing out, not too far away from the shore just reaching down trying to grab a fish to eat.

Each time you tried you came out short, “You look like an idiot right now.” Toni says, laughing at you flailing your arms in and out of the water.

“Shut up!” you say, splashing her with water. 

“You guys aren’t doing it right?!” Nora yells from the shore, “You need to stay still and patient so the fish will come to you.” 

“We literally picked the worst people for this job.” Shelby says and you and Toni flip her off from where you were standing, “You guys literally can not stay still for the life of you. And don’t even get me started on patience.”

“That’s rude!” you yell at her, “God can hear you! You’re supposed to be nice!” 

“I’m also supposed to be honest!” Shelby shoot back and you mock her actions, before she gives you the bird herself.

“Hey that’s not allowed!” Toni yells at her girlfriend. 

You start laughing with Toni, pushing her slightly. She pushes you back playfully, before it turns in to a full on battle to see who can get the other to fall first. But Toni being Toni decided to just tackle you. 

“Ahhhhhh!” you say letting out a little screen, “Something’s touching me!” 

“Pick it up! It could be a fish!” Toni exclaims.

You pick up the creature and yell a little louder when it bites you, tossing it in the process, “It bit me!!” 

“Y/N, it’s a baby turtle!” Toni exclaims, “You were scared of a baby turtle!” 

“Shut the fuck up.” you joke with her, but give her a serious look. 

Toni picks up the turtle examining the cute little guy. She looks at the turtles face and then back at you doing a double take. 

“It kinda looks like you.” she says, before letting it go back into the ocean.

“Fuck you.” you tease, tackling back into the ocean.

“We really picked the worst people.” Shelby says to Nora.

Both of them shaking their heads in disappointment.

“Thoughts on Y/N Y/L/N?”

“Oh intern for being the baddest bitch out there.” Fatin says with a smile on her face.

“Intern for who?” Fader asks.

“Me of course.” 

Nora and Rachel were currently fighting to the death. Neither you, Leah, or Martha knew what to do.

“Y/N come over here!” Fatin says, gesturing for you to go where she was standing, “Take this bottle of lube!” 

You catch the bottle of the lube she tossed you. And you raised your eyebrow up at her. 

“Just follow my lead.” she brings her toothbrush up to her mouth, “Nora has Rachel pinned on the ground.” she mocks an announcer you would hear on ESPN.

“But Rachel is not giving up too easily folks!” you go along with your guys’ bit, “I don’t know about you Fatin, but I have never seen a girl fight this interesting in my life!” 

“Agreed, usually it’s just a bunch of-HOLY SHIT that was a knee to the tit ladies and gentlemen!” she yells out. 

“Is Rachel out for the count?!” you add on watching the fight unfold in front of you. 

It’s probably not the best time to make jokes, but you all need to let loose once in awhile.

“Wait...she’s getting up!” Fatin yells.

“Oh my gosh she’s not...OUCH! That was knee to the twat!” you yell wincing at the pain that was just brought upon Nora.

“Y/N, how do you feel about this fight?” Fatin asks.

You shake your head, “I don’t know you have two amazing fighters going head to head for the very first time. We have Rachel, olympic diver, very strong and very determined. But then we have the underdog of the hour Nora who is small and scrawny, but she’s packing quite a punch. It could be anyone’s game.” 

“You’re absolutely right Y/N! But Rachel now as Nora pinned to the ground and she can’t seem to get up! This fight might be over everyone!!” 

“Hey there.” Shelby says, sitting down at the metal table. 

“Hello Shelby, can we get you anything?” the two men ask and she just sit back in her seat, shaking her head.

Fader nods, “Well let’s get started, shall we?” 

The three of them have a long conversation before Shelby ultimately decides to stop the interview all together. 

“Wait just one question!” Fader exclaims as Shelby stands up, “How do you feel about Y/N?” 

At the sound of your name Shelby freezes in her spot, “My favorite person on the island.” fear and worry start to fill her body at why the sudden question about you, “Is she okay??” 

You were trekking in the jungle looking for some source of food. All of you ate all the food when the rescue plane was coming, but it’s not coming anytime soon so here you were.

Shelby, Toni, and Martha said they were gonna go out looking, but none of them were to be found. So you decided to go on a little expedition to find them. You heard rustling coming from the tree up ahead, so you decided to follow the noise.

Only to see Toni and Shelby basically naked under a lychee tree, “Oh my god!!!” you yell, covering your eyes with your hand.

“AHHH!” the two girls scream, but you couldn’t see what they were doing.

You turned around facing towards the direction you came from, “Sorry sorry. I was just looking for you guys and food. I uh I didn’t mean to.” you say, shaking your head.

“Jesus Y/N you scared us!” Shelby yells and you can hear rustling. 

Hopefully, they were putting their clothes back on. 

“Damn it I was getting laid!” Toni says jokingly and you could hear a smack hit her arm.

“Leave our daughter alone!” Shelby jokes and you laugh softly.

“Can I turn back around now?” you ask meekly.

“Yes.” the two girls say and you release a sigh and turn around to face the two girls.

You look at their flush faces, “You guys couldn’t have gone a little farther away?” you ask, “Thanks to you I’m more traumatized than I already was.” you joke. 

“Oh c’mon you know you liked it.” Toni nudges your shoulder as the two of you walk back to the camp.

Your face flushes as you put your head in your hands, “Stop corrupting her!” Shelby yells at her. 

“Let me see her!” Shelby yells at the two men.

“We can’t let you do that. You girls aren't allowed to see each other yet. Not for awhile.” Agent Young says.

“Can you at least tell me if she’s okay?” she asks, looking at the two men with her eyebrows raised.

“She’s fine.” 

That didn’t relieve the feeling in Shelby’s chest that something could possibly be wrong. But she couldn’t do anything, even if we tried.

The girls didn’t know how long they were quarantined. It felt like months and it probably was a couple months. They finally let all of the girls hang out together in the small courtyard.

All of them hugging one another, super glad to see each other. Knowing that everyone’s okay. Well...everyone who made it.

“Y/N? Where’s Y/N?” Leah asks, looking at all the other girls.

“She was okay when we left. She should be here.” Dot adds on. 

Shelby face was flushed with worry, “They wouldn’t let me see her when I asked about her. I asked if she was okay, but they said she was fine.” 

Fader was standing there with a guilty look on his face. Toni’s blood was boiling at the look on his face. She runs up to him, pushing him against the wall, holding onto him by the collar. 

“Where the fuck is she?!” she yells.

Which causes Agent Young to burst into the room, “What’s going on here?” 

“Where is Y/N?!” Toni yells again, but at the other man.

Agent Young locks eyes with Fade and he subtly nods, “She’s in the infirmary. Her heart was in bad condition, so she needed open heart surgery. The surgeons are working on her right now.” 

“You told me she was fine when I was being interrogated.” Shelby says in between gritted teeth, “Did you lie?” 

The two men don’t answer. They just stare anywhere, but at the other girls. The silence spoke louder than any words did. Fatin scoffs at the men’s actions.

“That’s why you wanted to know huh?” Leah asks, her imagination running wild, “You wanted to know about her because you were wondering if she was worth saving. Isn’t that right?” 

Neither of the men decided to speak again.

“Let us see her.” Rachel says, staring at them intensely.

“We can’t do that. She’s in surgery right now.” Young says.

Toni pushes Fader up against the wall yet again, “You’re gonna let us see her when she’s out. No excuses. No bullshit. You’re gonna let us see our friend.” Toni threatens.

The girls sat in the waiting room of the infirmary. Leah paced back and forth chewing on her fingernail. Toni was trying to console a worried Shelby. While Dot, Rachel, and Fatin sat in the seats waiting impatiently.

Agent Young filled the girls in on your condition. You had a heart disease before you came onto the island. And your parents gave you a little trip to help because of the depressive state you were in. Little did they know you would be trapped on an island with none of the medication that was needed to help you survive.

All of the rigorous activity brought your heart to a weaker state than ever before. When the girls got saved, you were already experiencing symptoms of heart failure. And you were put under immediate watch when you reached the facility. You were getting better, but then your heart gave out and you needed to get an artery reconstructed.

“We already lost too much.” Fatin whispers in the tense silence of the waiting room. 

“Nora, Martha...” Rachel draws out.

“We can’t lose Y/N.” Toni adds. 

“The girl who loved the most has a heart condition. How ironic is that?” Dot asks.

“I’m scared guys.” Leah whispers.

“She’s strong, she’ll pull through.” Shelby says, trying to boost their hope, but she’s losing faith herself.

After God knows how long the doctor finally came out. All of the girls looking up at her. Tears brimming all of their eyes, scared for the answer they were about to get.

“She’s okay. We managed to repair it without too much trouble. You guys can see her now.” the doctor says and everyone lets out this huge breath.

A smile breaks out on Fatin’s face as tears spill from her face. The six girls walk into your hospital room where you were laying peacefully. Your eyes somewhat open, you had a soft smile on your face as you stared at the girls.

“Hey guys!” you exclaim, as excited as you can.

Dot lets out a small sniffle, “You scared us, asshole!” 

“Why didn’t you tell us about your condition?” Fatin asks, tears still streaming down her face.

You shrug, “We already were going through too much. I didn’t want to worry everyone more or get treated any differently. Rachel, if I told you about my heart would you have raced me?” 

She shakes her head, “No.” 

“Exactly.” 

Rachel, Dot, and Fatin take a seat on the foot of the rock-hard hospital bed. You scooted over so Leah could cuddle in next to you. While Shelby and Toni pulled up a chair right by your side.

Leah rests her head on your shoulder, “We thought we were gonna lose you Squirt.” Toni says, ruffling your hair. 

Shelby was still crying, looking at you full of worry. You look at the blonde beauty who was now bald, but she still looked beautiful.

“Come here.” you whisper to her. You scoot over closer to her Leah, making room for her.

She sits next to you, crying into your chest, “Hey. I’m okay Shelby.” you look at all of the other girls who still had worry on their face, “I’m okay guys. We’re all okay.”

But the girls don’t look convinced.

“Listen to my heart Shelby, it’s still beating. Just focus on that okay?” you tell her and she nods. Even Leah could hear your heart beating from here. 

“You’re really okay?” Shelby asks and you nod.

“I’m okay. I promise.” you say, giving each of the girls a look, They all nod with small smiles, “Now how the hell do we get out of here?” you whisper.

And each of you give each other a small smirk, “Time for the Great Escape.” 

[donaidk]

Marcus Armstrong - Almost Home I.

In advance: This is getting a Part 2 for sure. I don’t want to leave it here, but at the same time I felt like it would be really long if I left it in one piece. Turns out I have a whole lot of inspiration for Marcus fics right now. 😂 I also wanna let everyone, who’s waiting for their request, know that uni is starting next week for me. It means less free time, but I will make sure to finish every one of them in the next week or so, and then focus on all the series I started. There’s gonna be slower updates to them, but I’ll make sore to have one or two per week at least. Hopefully they won’t try to kill us in the starting weeks and I will finish up the Lando one so I could start posting that every week and just add some parts from the others to the queue 😊

Thank you Anon for requesting this one though, and sorry for the wait. Hope you will enjoy it and as it’s almost the next day here, have a really happy start to your Friday everyone 🧡

Kind of Taglist: @mickschumcher​, @art-gp​

Title Song | Masterlist | Taglist/Queue | Request

With the Australian GP knocking on the door Melbourne filled up with tourists and fans even more than usual. The first time I got to witness it in 2017 was actually scary in a way for someone who didn’t know the city well yet. Getting from one part of the city to another was a hard task already, and all the shouting and crazy fans weren’t of much help when I tried to get some usable info out of them so I could finally get to my destination and get off the streets. It almost held me back from choosing Melbourne’s university, but I had to remind myself that it was just once a year and I shouldn't give up my plans because of it. Melbourne was beautiful and their schools were highly rated, giving me everything for a stable future. Luckily I was never disappointed by my choices as it was easy to get used to the life here and I even found some new friends who helped me every time I felt homesick. It wasn’t the worst usually, as I was truly content with how my life was going, but sometimes it just hit me out of nowhere and in those moments they were always there for me.

It was now the third year when we lived through the race weekend, meaning we finally had a working schedule with which we still followed our usual plans but stayed out of the bigger crowds. Although we were in the middle of the semester we always found time to enjoy the still warm weather and spend most of our free time outside. Usually our choice was the beach for the afternoons as even though it was packed until noon, the tourists never stayed for long. We usually arrived in the late afternoon and stayed well after the sun went down, and the temperature went down a little finally. The water usually stayed comfortable until later in the evening making it bearable for almost a whole 24 hours if you weren’t squeamish. Even if you were after spending a few weeks at the beach, everyone got used to it.

As soon as everyone finished with their lectures we got our things together and took the 5 minutes walk down to the beach. We had a favourite spot which was luckily never taken when we got down there. For a few minutes we just sat down, talking about our weeks. I shared a dorm room with two other girls, but we had a few friends who had their own apartments or lived with their family a bit farther away from our university. We usually had one or two days every week to catch up with them as in between lectures we were either too tired or didn’t have the time to do so. But most of the afternoons were ours fully and we used it the best we could to relax but still use that time to make memories for the few years we’re spending together. We could say it’s gonna stay the same after we graduate but everyone knew we would move to different countries as soon as we weren’t connected to Australia. Even I planned to go home, although I enjoyed living here and getting to be independent without my family behind my back.

“ Are you coming? ” One of the girls asked me, as they were already walking down to the water, while I was still standing around our towels with my phone in my hand. I was in the middle debating which sunset photo I should post from my gallery, but her voice made me look up.

“ Just a second. I’ll catch up. ” I smiled at her before looking back down at my screen. In the end my finger finally tapped the posting button and I pushed it aside while I got the sundress off that was on over my bikini.

Right before I would have ran after the girls, the device was back in my hands so I could check that the picture uploaded without a problem. A smile got on my face when I saw a reaction from one of my family members but as soon as it showed the whole list of the people who looked at my story, it faded away. For the past few months whenever I posted something he was always there in the first few seconds or at least minutes. I couldn’t understand what changed that he showed up in my life again, but I didn't really want to give him space in my thoughts either. It has been almost 4 years since we last talked and could call each other best friends, but I wasn’t about to take the first step and message him after he forgot about me until now. I just dropped my phone back into my bag, closing it and then caught up with my friends so they could make me forget about him again.

We spent quite some time in the water, swimming a few laps back and forth before just standing around and enjoying the last rays of sunshine while we chatted away. My thoughts were already in a different direction thanks to all the different topics that came up between us. Sometimes it was harder to make me forget time and time again, but turns out today I only needed some distraction and everything was set for an enjoyable night. With the sun completely off the sky the temperature dropped quickly and it was getting a bit chilly  for my liking in just a few minutes. When it was truly uncomfortable I gave up and walked back to the shore, sitting down on my own blanket and draping my towel around my shoulders. It immediately brought enough warmth over my body that I stopped shivering and could wait for them until they would get cold too. Until then I just went onto my phone to go through some posts of my friends. Sometimes I looked up to check on them just so they wouldn’t leave me out of something. One of those times I saw a person coming my way and although I didn’t mind too much attention to it, when he continued and there was no one else in my close proximity I felt like he might be coming to me. In the end I was right as he turned right towards me and then stopped just a few steps away from our blankets.

“ Never thought you would exchange our lovely and perfect red stars for ugly white ones. ” He spoke up and I could recognise the voice even though his face was almost unseeable thanks to him standing with his back towards the moon. My jaw dropped immediately and I felt like I grew roots into the ground as I couldn’t move my body. “ If you want me to fuck off, just tell me. It’s okay. I just thought we could maybe talk, and from the pictures I saw that you’re here. Hoped you didn’t go home yet so I could catch you and... ” He started rambling but I was quick to finally push myself up and hug him immediately. I always imagined our reunion with me being angry at him, but somehow I couldn’t get myself to feel that way now that he was standing right in front of me.

“ You idiot. ” I told him not leaving any space for questions and I could feel as he finally relaxed and hugged me back. “ The biggest in the whole world. ” I added with a sigh, closing my eyes as my brain started functioning again and I had an urge to kick his shin at least.

“ I can live with that. ” Marcus let out a laugh and I could feel as my heart jumped a little at the sound. It was something that always reminded me of our home and spending every possible second together. “ I’m sorry for disappearing. ” He let out a sigh, letting go of me only when we realised my wet bathing suit soaked his shirt, although even he didn’t care about it for too long.

“ What are you doing here? I thought F2 wasn't coming here. ” I asked him confused, knowing that we wouldn’t be in this situation if he traveled here for one of the races in the past two years. “ Not like I’m complaining, but I can hardly believe my own eyes and senses. ” I shook my head a little before looking up at him again. He changed, quite a bit since we last met and even though I saw pictures of him it was different in a face-to-face situation.

“ Ferrari invited a few of us so we could gather some experience. The speed I accepted the offer with might have raised some eyebrows. ” Marcus hid his face in his palm, making me chuckle as I could see the situation unfold in front of my eyes like I was there. “ Thought I would DM you and ask if you wanted to meet up maybe. But I realized it would be better offline. ” I had to roll my eyes at his first idea although I knew he wasn’t lying and it for sure went through his brain as a real possibility.

“ You’re lucky you didn’t. I would have blocked you forever I think. My plan was connecting my fist with your face if we ever meet again, right until you showed up here. ” I shook my head with a smile, as I wasn’t proud of what I wanted to do to him. “ I was really angry when you just stopped talking to me. I tried so hard to reach you, but it felt like you didn’t even exist anymore even though they were talking about you almost every week. ” I sighed, sitting back down and leaving enough space for him too.

“ Would have been deserved actually. ” His fingers scratched at the nape of his neck and I could see the tint of purple traveling up his neck. I watched him as he sat down, pulling his legs up and resting his arms onto them. “ I really am sorry. For a part everything got busy with all the training, races and studying, but at the same time I know damn well a message here and there should have been possible. I messed up, everything. ” His eyes shined even in the minimal light of the moon, and I could get myself to look away. Even feeling the burning stares on my back from my friends didn’t get me to turn around.

“ I won’t say that it’s okay, but I accept your apology. How could I not. ” I let out a breath that I realized was still stuck in me since the initial surprise took over my body. “ It feels like we didn’t even skip over like 3 years of each other’s life. Only difference is that you’re finally taller than me, but the baby face’s still there. ” My hand went up to his cheek to pat it gently like my grandma did for him all the time when he came over for lunch. He always hated it but knew that it was a gesture of love from her and a way to show Marcus that she considered him part of our family.

“ Yeah, I guess it’s going to stay forever. ” Marcus huffed, moving his head back a little to avoid my attack, although he failed miserably. “ I almost forgot, congrats for uni. I remember how hard you were studying to get in. Everyone home was ecstatic when I told them about it. ” His hand slapped his forehead, making me laugh with his expression at the slight stinging he caused himself.

“ Thank you, but it’s nothing compared to your second place last year. ” I shrugged a little but as soon as his lips pulled into a slight smirk my eyes rolled on their own. “ Surprise, surprise, I followed your career. Just as much as you followed my life for the past few months. ” I poked him in the ribs with my finger, making him wince for a second before we both started laughing at the little sound he made.

“ Fair. I still hate how Instagram shows who opened your stories. ” He shook his head a little and both of our heads turned towards the water when we realized the background chatting was getting closer and closer to where we were sitting. They were just a few meters away when my eyes landed on their figures and I sensed when Marcus stood up from next to me, making me push myself up too.

I didn’t feel too anxious about him meeting my other friends, although I knew what this meant for my evening at the dorm with them. They would have an immense amount of questions both about him and us, even though I already mentioned him when we were bringing up our past. A few of them even knew about my past feelings about him and how him reappearing on my socials played with my emotions, but they only saw a few photos of him. This was another level and I knew he would be the topic for at least the next week between us, for one reason or another. Depends on how we get on from this point and if we manage to keep in contact when they have to fly away again.

“ Oh, I knew it wasn’t just my imagination. I told you someone was coming here. ” My roommate spoke up as soon as they got close enough to make us out from the darkness. “ You’re Marcus, right? ” She stepped right in front of him, reaching her hand out while introducing herself. I always admired her boldness even in front of strangers.

“ Yes, although I didn’t know so many people knew me from here. ” Marcus let out an uneasy chuckle, looking at me a bit concerned. I just shook my head dismissively, almost telling him that it was just a ‘Girl group’ thing. Relief washed over me though that I didn’t share a lot about him, behind his back.

I watched from the sideline as everyone introduced themselves to him and for a second it felt domestic as all of them shot me a concerned glance towards me. It felt like they would pounce at him if they saw that I was uncomfortable in his presence. While it made me feel loved in a way, I also didn’t want them to really chip on the situation. It was something that better dealt with in private as I felt like we had to talk lots of things through to get back to the friendship we left behind years ago. This wasn’t the setting for a conversation like that.

“ We should probably get home before it gets really late. School won’t wait in the morning. ” I spoke up before any of them could start questioning him. We would never be able to get going then. “ Maybe we can catch up sometime before the race? I’m sure you will have enough to do during the weekend. ” I turned back towards Marcus who looked just as relieved as I did seconds ago.

“ Yeah, that would be better. Maybe lunch, or a coffee in the afternoon? Whenever you’re free of course. ” He nodded a little, still glancing at the girls who were either packing up or staring him down behind me.

“ I’m up for either of those. Surprise me. ” I grinned at him, feeling the pull on my arm when everyone was ready. “ Is your number the same? ” I asked him, already taking a step back, but waiting for his answers.

“ Yes. Never changed. ” Marcus nodded again, a little smile playing on his lips at the idea that we’re going to meet up again probably. At least I hoped so. Why else would he stalk me down and come up to me for a chat?

“ I’m gonna text you in the morning when’s my last lecture. We can meet up after that. ” I told them, before turning around with one last wave and catching up to my group. I could only hope that they would at least let me sleep before the questions start pouring out of them all at once.

[everyhowlmarksthedead]

❛ NO WITHOUT YOU ❜

First part: Don't cross the line.

with Hank ‘Tranq’ Loza.

Warnings: none.

Word count: about 1.8k

Aurora says: this writing hasn't been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry about that!

Gif credits: @sonsofeorl

Masterlist.

You were happy playing that tug-of-war through the years, feeling loved, appreciated and wanted. Feeling as if you were at home whenever he managed to hug you secretly, separated from the rest, imagining that you were completely alone in the world; with no worries, no fears, no unhappiness. Just you two enjoying the closeness, your skins, your scents getting mixed, your breathings dancing with the other. Just you two, alone. But he had to make it real. To push you out from your bubble, from your comfort zone. And now you're fucked, more than ever. Maybe you're acting like a coward, after days without stepping on the clubhouse, hiding yourself from him. Avoiding and declining his calls, not texting him back. Not opening the door when he comes to your house, even if he sits to wait for you for hours. You could never have thought that loving someone could be this painful. It feels like you're drowning, like when a wave swallows you and makes you roll towards the bottom. And no matter how many efforts you use to swim to the surface, because the wave pushes you down again, when you think that you are reaching it.

Pouring some tequila inside the small shot, you drink it by one gulp, feeling the burning sensation hurting your throat. Cleaning your mouth with the back of your left hand, you have a smoke from the cigar, with your eyes fixed on the horizon. The night has fallen down, covering the desert with his darkness but slightly illuminating it by the moon shine and all the stars spread across the sky. That would be the perfect night to die for love, if it weren't for the door that gets opened and closed in almost three seconds. With your legs curled against your chest and your chin resting over them, you have another drag waiting for your tío to step out to the small garden. He has seen you acting weirdly lately, but he didn't ask. And he didn't ask anything either, when you told him that you were going to stay at his house for some days. But finding you like that changes everything. Taking off the jacket of his suit and rolling up the sleeves by his arms, the mexican sits by your side, serving himself a shot. You rest your cheek over your knees, you watch him drink it in silence.

“It's okay if you don't want to talk with your father, mija, but talk to me, sí?” Marcus pulls away a tuft of hair, behind your ear.

“I'm in love, tío”. You mumble with your lips trembling about to cry again.

“Oh, mi niña”. He says hugging you with a fleeting smile appearing on his lips, in the meantime that his arms surround your body. “And why are you sad, ah? Being in love it's something amazing”.

“Being in love is a fucking shit”. You spit full of rage, with some tears touring your cheeks.

“Why do you say that? Is it not reciprocated? That man has to be fucking crazy to not fall in love with you, mija”.

“He does, tío. He does with all his heart”. You shake your head, pulling yourself away from his arms to look at him. “But… my father would never accept it”.

“Why?”

“Because… he is a Mayan. A brother. Part of the family”.

“Tell me it's not Ang—”.

“Shit, no”. You chuckle cleaning your cry from your face.

“Don't misunderstand me, he's a good man, but… I can't imagine you together”. He replies then with a soft laugh between his teeth. “So, are you going to tell me who is the lucky one?”

You doubt. You know he's not going to judge you, but you're not sure how he is going to react. Having a long, long smoke, until it drags your throat, you let it go through your nose.

“Tranq”. You just answer in a whisper.

Marcus leans back his head some inches, assimilating what you have said. The name you have given him. He's trying to remember some moments of you two together. Ephemeral caresses, some dearly and furtive smiles, pet-names in random occasions. He is starting to spin the situations, in a silence that makes you feel uncomfortable.

“Tío, say something…”

“You just…” He tries to speak, rubbing his chin with one of his hands. “How I didn't notice it before? Since when it's happening?”

“Since we met, six years ago”.

“Damn, mija! Six years? You two have been carrying this shit for six years? Hiding it from your father?” Marcus is really surprised, but you are not because of his reaction. “But, what is the matter? Why aren't you two together?”

“Do you think that my fa—?”

“Your father only wants happiness for you, mija. If he loves you, he will understand it. We don't choose who we fall in love with, or of who not”. He tries to make you understand, gently caressing the back of your head and your hair. “You should go to the clubhouse. Talk with them. Take charge of your life, mija. And stop hiding what you feel for what people could think. Even if it's your father who you are worried for”.

“I… drank six shots, tío”.

“I can take you”. Shrugging his shoulders, he stands up over his feet offering you a hand. “Take a shower, change that… horrible pajama and get ready. I'll be waiting for you here”.

Pursing your lips, you nod getting up from the grass, shaking your clothes before coming inside the house right to your room. You try to be quick, and the cold water covering your body is very helpful. Wearing black jeans, a crop top and a pair of sneakers, grabbing your phone and the keys of the house. Drying your hair again with a towel, you go out of the dorm looking for Marcus. You're literally shaking when you put the seat belt around you, facing the fact that you are really to end with your pain. That you are going to tell your father that you are in love and that he has to accept it, as your tío said. And when the black SUV reaches the front yard, you feel that you're about to die, seeing the older men sitting there and sharing some beers. Taza, Riz, Tranq and your father are staring at the car, watching you step out of it accompanied by Marcus.

Bishop is about to get up to greet you, but your raised hand towards him stops his moves, sitting down again confused and intrigued. Rubbing your face with both hands until your skin burns a little, you try to organize the words inside your head. But as much as you think about it, it only gets worse. Licking your lips, you first focus on your father.

“Dad… I love you and I respect you more than anyone, but I have to do something that you may not like it”.

Turning some inches towards Tranq, you bow your head for a second trying to breathe before looking for his eyes.

“These days have been a fucking shit without you. I'm sorry for not calling or texting you back. For not opening my door when you came. For avoiding you at all cost. For acting like a… fucking coward. But the truth is that I can't live without you. I don't wanna live without you. Not anymore. I love you. I've been doing it since six years ago”. In your speechless you can see how your father hits Tranq's chest, tangling his fingers in the green rosary, spitting some beer on the floor. If there's a level over being ‘fucking surprised’, your father is there. Totally maddened in silence, turning his face from you to his brother, once and again.

“It was you, cabrón?” He asks with both eyes opened too much.

“Bishop, list—”. Hank is about to defend himself, when your father throws himself to the floor, kneeling and his hands tangled in a huge fist.

“¡Por el amor de Dios, gracias!” (For God's sake, thank you).

Maybe it's the effect of the six shots you drank, but you're as lost as the crew is.

“Shit… All these years thinking you were with Angel… Oh, fuck!” He yells to the air, getting up and hardly breathing with a hand on his chest. “Oh, shit, mi vida. For a second I thought you came to tell me that you're pregnant or something like that. Fuck! I was on the edge of a heart attack”.

“See? I told you”. Your tío whispers into your ear.

“Oh, man…” Your father is laughing, starting to scare you because of his excitement, until he turns around to face Tranq showing him a serious gesture. “Because you haven't gotten her pregnant, right?”

“Bishop, I haven't touch her in sex years”. He just replies, getting up from his chair and leaving away the beer.

“But, do you love her or what?”

“Yes. Of course, I do”.

“Why yo—”.

“Dad, it's okay. We just… I think we need to talk”. You mumble, keeping your hands inside the pockets of your jacket, making a gesture with your neck towards Hank to follow you.

Biting your lower lip by a side, you start to walk right to the clubhouse. The most difficult part is done, and you can't stop thinking how stupid you have been. Setting him apart just for a paranoia. Just because your father might have retaliated against him. Coming inside, you wait for Tranq to close the door.

“I'm so so—”.

You can't finish the sentence when he takes two big steps closer, holding your face into his arms to crash your lips with his. You're about to falter, feeling the tears of relief filling your closed eyes. His tongue tastes much better when it finds yours, walking backwards through the hallway to the dorms. You need it. So he does. You can't wait for much more, blinded looking for the doorknob to turn it and open the room. His hands on your ass urged you to jump onto him, surrounding his waist with both legs.

“Fuck, mi vida…” He whispers lying down on his bed. “I don't give a shit about the distance, if you have to leave again”.

His voice breaks between short kisses, going down to your neck and his hands pawing your body over the clothes.

“I'm not leaving”. You gasp softly, taking off the leather kutte to throw it somewhere on the floor.

“What?” All his moves stop dead, pulling himself away for a second to look at you.

“I came because… I have a job offer in the hospital of Santo Padre. A permanent one”.

“You're not… leaving to New York again?” Simply shaking your head, you smile gentle, intertwining a hand in his necklace to push him closer.

“I wanna stay with you”.

“Of course you're staying with me, mi amor”.

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[cosmic-spoons]

Lake Brightfall

Okay so this is an odd little fanfic I did as a request on Ao3 but I like it enough to give it a 50 Shades treatment and turn it into it’s own thing. Or...tried to, anyway. Mainly posting this for @aelia-likes-monsters because she deserves more kelpies in her life. (Don’t we all?) Maybe I’ll do more of these, idk.

Characters: M/M, Human x Kelpie

Tags: Light gore, maybe? There’s a severed hand involved but it’s not graphic. Also: puns. Bad ones.

Word count: 4,857

This was it. This was the place where it happened, Marcus was sure of it. Lake Brightfall was exactly how he remembered, from the jagged outline of the rocky shore to the way the gentle wind fanned his face and tousled his hair. He'd run along this exact pier in his nightmares so many times that he felt like he could count the planks from memory. The murky water below was crowded in blooming lily pads, unnervingly similar to the last time Marcus stood here, back when he was still a naive child. That was the last day he had both of his hands.

Marcus didn't remember much about that day. The traumatic experience had since been mostly repressed by his adolescent mind, and not even rigorous therapy could piece together exactly what lead to the loss of his left hand. All he knew was that one moment he was completely fine, just a normal kid who was excited to go to the lake near his home to show off his rock-skipping skills to his baby brother, and the next, he was waking up in the hospital as an amputee.

Nobody else saw what happened. Marcus' father looked away for only a few minutes, heard a blood curdling scream, and then found his eldest son struggling to swim back to shore in red-stained water. Three-year-old Noah was the only witness to the attack, but he was too young to understand what was going on, let alone describe what he'd seen. All they could get out of the confused toddler was the word 'horse.'

Clearly a horse wasn't responsible for that kind of carnage, though. The cut had been incredibly clean, as if by a razor sharp knife, prompting a huge investigation in their small town which shook it to its core. The very idea that there was a sicko capable of mutilating a child in broad daylight had the entire community fearful even to this day, as the culprit had never been caught.

It took a whole decade and a half for Marcus to finally summon the courage to visit this place again. He didn't remember the incident, but there was something about the sight of this lake that made his stomach churn and trigger a panic attack, so he spent the better part of his life avoiding it like the plague. Marcus knew he couldn't run forever, though. The older he got, the more nightmares about that pier he had, and the more he burned to know who – or what – that blurry figure reaching out for him from the bloody water really was.

Or maybe it was nothing. His brain could be trying to fill in the gaps with whatever scenario made the most sense in a senseless situation. He wouldn't be surprised if what little he did remember weren't memories at all, just figments of his imagination gone wild over the years, though he could swear those dreams felt so real...the water was so cold...

Unable to stand not knowing if he could trust his own head or not, Marcus finally decided that enough was enough. He was going to get to the bottom of this once and for all! Maybe if he could recover some real memories, his nightmares would stop. Maybe he could even provide valuable clues that would help catch the fiend who was responsible! Or, at the very least, he could conquer his fear of Lake Brightfall and visit his childhood home again without having to take a double dose of anxiety meds first.

It took several attempts, but eventually, Marcus managed to step onto the very pier that was the symbol of his mental torment and follow it all the way to its end. He came alone, which was probably not a wise idea, but this was an incredibly personal journey for him and he needed to be able to take his time. Nothing could distract him from what he was here to do! It was time to end this chapter of his life and finally-

“Greetings!”

Marcus jolted upright from his meditation by a cheerful voice coming from directly in front of him. What the...how did that voice come from in front of him if he was at the edge of the pier?

“Hay, down here!”

The young man brushed some ginger hair out of his face and looked down at the water to see, to his surprise, a face looking back at him. It was a guy floating on the surface around his age, maybe a year or two older, with eyes as deeply blue as the dark water he'd emerged from and bits of reeds stuck in his long dark ponytail. The hair stuck to his bare shoulders like running ink against tanned skin, and the stranger's friendly smile was toothy and oddly sharp. Marcus was too startled by this person's sudden appearance to do more than stutter out a very confused reply. “U-uh...hello?”

The stranger tilted his head curiously. “You look familiar. Have we met?”

Marcus was pretty sure he would have remembered meeting someone like this before. His narrow face looked almost like it'd been chiseled from stone, like a statue one would find in a museum. There weren't a lot of people as striking as him in this small town. “I don't think so, sorry.”

“Hmmm...no, I definitely know you from somewhere,” the stranger pressed, pursing his lips and rubbing his chin as he looked Marcus up and down.

“Did you go to Brightfall High?”

“Neigh,” the stranger shook his head with a light laugh, like the idea was ridiculous to him. “Have you been to this lake before?”

“Not since I was very young.”

“Huh,” the other shrugged, causing ripples to dart away from his toned shoulders. “Oh well.” What Marcus wanted to know was why the heck this person was swimming at this time of year! It was too early in the spring for a dip in the lake to be any kind of refreshing, yet he didn't seem bothered by the frigid temperature. It gave Marcus goosebumps just looking at him. “What are you doing?”

Nosy, wasn't he? “I was trying to meditate. What are you doing?”

“Greeting you,” the stranger answered, that sharp smile easily slipping back on his face as he folded his arms on the pier right in front of Marcus's crossed legs. Marcus nervously scooted back a few inches with his good hand, keeping his prosthetic one concealed in his jacket's pocket. He wasn't ashamed of his disability, of course, but he was well aware of how easily it drew the eye and would rather not have to answer any questions about it right now. “Greetings!”

“...Yes, um, hello.” From the way the stranger was making himself comfortable, it looked like he planned to stay and chat awhile. Marcus usually tried to stay a lot more approachable in normal circumstances, but this was a time and place where he'd much rather be alone. “Did you need anything?”

“No. Why?”

“I'm sorry, but I'm a little busy right now.”

“With what?”

“Meditating,” Marcus said pointedly, hoping he would get the hint. Unfortunately, the stranger's interest didn't seem to wane at all, looking at him like he expected more explanation. “...Which requires peace and few disturbances.”

“Ah.” Finally, he got the hint. “Okay, I'll leave you to it. It was good to meet you!”

He enthusiastically raised his hand towards Marcus, who eyed it warily. It was the right hand, prompting Marcus to offer his left. Except he didn't have one. It would be rude to refuse the handshake, though, and he wasn't sure how to talk his way out of it, so Marcus had no choice but to take the prosthetic out of his pocket, praying that the other wouldn't ask.

Marcus had no such luck, though. The stranger's eyes widened at the sight of the plastic appendage and was quick to grab at it. He completely missed the hand, though, and latched onto Marcus's wrist with his clammy fingers, lifting the sleeve of his jacket to gape at where skin met plastic. The nerve! “Wha – hey, stop that! It's rude to just grab someone's – wait, what are you – stop!”

The velcro strap around Marcus's wrist was yanked off and his prosthetic hand slipped from his arm and bounced off the pier, landing in the water with a plop. Marcus was horrified to watch it disappear below the surface, and then quickly shifted to outrage. He was about to yell at the stranger for his rudeness and pry him off, but the man with a vice-like grip on his arm and an utterly ecstatic look on his face suddenly lifted higher out of the water, leaning in uncomfortably close to Marcus' face.

“It's you! Marcus! I knew I recognized you!” he laughed. “And your brother, Noah, I remember him, too! You both used to play here when you were little!” Marcus was dumbfounded. Apparently he did know this guy from somehow, but he was less concerned about that and more about the invasion of his personal space. “It's me, Horace! Don't you remember me?”

Marcus wanted to be properly angry at the loss of his property, but those thoughts left him right as the air was suddenly robbed from his lungs at the sound of that name. It triggered something deep in his mind, like a faraway ringing bell in the dead of night.

Horace.

Horace...

Horse.

A feeling of intense dread overcame Marcus just then. The hairs on his arms raised with goosebumps as flashes of memory exploded in his head, glimpses of sensations and sounds straight out of his nightmares. Something round and smooth, a splash, a scream, a voice, the color blue, bright red, cold, pain, pain, paIN, PAIN-

“Marcus?” The man, Horace, tugged on his arm when Marcus's breath started coming quick and shallow. His smile gave way to too-innocent concern. “Are you alright?”

No. No, Marcus was not alright.

“Stay back!” he demanded and yanked himself away from the man, struggling to get to his feet on shaky legs. The blinding fear gripping his chest was indescribable, so much more consuming than it ever had been before, and he desperately staved off hyperventilating until he could flee as far from this place as possible. “G-get away from me!”

“Wait! Why are you running? What's wrong?” Horace called after him, swimming along the side of the pier to give chase. The way he swiftly glided through the water, parting the lily pads in his wake, was noticeably unnatural.

Marcus didn't say anything else to the stranger named Horace. He sprinted across the pier to the beach, half convinced that this was all just another one of his reoccurring nightmares, ran all the way up the hill to the parking lot, and scrambled into his car the moment he reached it. Horace didn't leave the water to follow, thank goodness, so Marcus locked himself in to collapse in his seat and cradle his throbbing phantom limb as he gasped for air.

He didn't know what just happened, but he knew two things for sure: Horace had something to do with why his hand was gone, and he was never coming back to Lake Brightfall ever again.

Marcus went back to Lake Brightfall a few days later.

It turns out there was only one thing that scared him more than crippling childhood trauma: the price of a new prosthetic. They weren't cheap! Marcus was already paying off enough loans from college and he'd like to be debt-free sometime this century. That being said, it's not like returning to the lake was an easy feat. Noah had to drive him there or Marcus would keep 'accidentally' missing the turn-off, which spoke leagues to how much Marcus didn't want to do this, seeing how he usually refused to let his little brother drive him anywhere while he still only had a permit.

Marcus spent the entire time trying to convince himself that everything would be fine. He wasn't alone this time and that man probably wouldn't be there so early in the morning. The bright colors of dawn were a minor distraction from the nerves that were making his foot tap like a jackhammer and pale fingers pry at the hem of his jacket.

He didn't tell Noah about Horace yet. For some reason he could hardly even think about the man without triggering another awful episode, so he opted to deal with that in therapy later and first focus on getting his hand back. His nightmares had been getting worse ever since that surreal encounter and he was starting to think that maybe he shouldn't have tried uncovering his missing memories at all. Perhaps his brain had a good reason to repress them.

“Alright, we're here,” Noah said as he parked the car on the hill overlooking the lake, his voice softer than usual. For once he was actually being considerate towards his brother on this touchy subject and refrained from ragging on him for his irrational fear. Marcus really must have been a mess. The lake stretched out wide in front of the elder brother's eyes, like a giant looking down on an ant, and he took a deep steadying breath and readied himself to leave the car.

The air was chilly and strangely still as they walked along the path towards the pier. It was so unassuming this way, surrounded by lily pads and reflecting the colorful sky on its calm surface. If Marcus weren't so terrified of this place, then he would have thought it was a scene worthy of a calendar. He stopped in his tracks as the two approached the wooden posts that anchored the old pier to the shore, but Noah kept going, turning around to throw him a raised eyebrow.

“Hurry up. You didn't drag me out of bed at 6:30am on a Saturday just to stand there, did you?”

Marcus shook his head and swallowed the lump in his throat. Carefully, he stepped onto the pier and watched the water around him for any sign of movement. He couldn't properly explain it, but there was an invisible itch in the back of his head, like the sixth sense of being watched...

“Okay, so where did you drop it?” Noah asked, eyes narrowed at the water, searching for any sign of the plastic hand through the gloom He wasn't looking anywhere near the right place, though.

“Over there,” Marcus answered, pointing to the very end of the dock where the water was significantly deeper, and Noah followed his finger with a groan.

“Are you serious? You dropped it all the way out there?! Shit, I thought it was just going to be in the shallows or something!”

Marcus's throat was too tight to chastise his brother for his for his foul language. “This is why we brought the fishing line...”

“Yeah, but it's gonna be ten times harder to hook it when we can't even see it that far down! Ugh, hold on, I'm gonna see if I can find a big ass stick or something. Maybe if we poke around first we'll find it.”

Noah walked back to shore and Marcus begrudgingly stayed put. He stood in the middle of the path and tried to do some of his meditation exercises while he waited, calming himself as best he could as he stood alone in the one place in the world he would rather not be. The silence was unnerving. It was so quiet that he could hear his own heart beating, which is why when he heard the soft sloshing of water behind him, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Marcus!”

Marcus's thumping heart jumped to his throat as he whirled around to find, to his shock, the same sharp-toothed smile from before climbing out of the water and onto the pier. Why the heck was he still here?! Marcus unwillingly got a much better look at him now, and he discovered that Horace was well over six feet tall as he stood up at his full height, built with a strong swimmer's physique, and bits of uprooted lily pad clung to his shamelessly bare body. What had Marcus letting out a terrified scream, though, was how the man's legs were bent in all the wrong places, ending in a set of hooves.

Hooves.

Oh god, this couldn't be happening! There was no way this was real! It was just a nightmare, Marcus told himself, and he willed himself to wake up with every fiber of his being. He didn't, though, and he jumped when Horace stepped forward, clacking loudly on the wooden deck.

“Don't be scared, it's only me! I'm so glad you came back! I have something for you.”

Horace was holding something out to him in his hands, but Marcus was too busy running in the opposite direction to see what it was. It didn't take him long to reach the end of the pier, though, leaving him trapped between the deceptively calm water and the approaching creature. “No – no, don't come any closer!” Marcus pleaded with short breath. Every ascending clip-clop sent an arrow of panic through his chest, but Horace completely ignored his distress with a perturbing smile.

“But I need to give this back to you! I've been keeping it safe for so long.” Horace motioned to the thing he was holding. “Don't you want it back?”

He was close enough now that Marcus could better see what he was carrying, but Marcus was too freaked out to know what he was looking at. Was that his prosthetic? No...Marcus's prosthetic was much larger than that. This one was small, more like...

...Like a child's hand.

“I always expected you to come back for it, but you never did. Do you know how hard it was for me to get it back? Not to mention how tough it was to keep it in such good condition!” He turned it around, proudly showing the pristine dismembered limb off, not a trace of rot or blood, and Marcus' stomach churned. That was...that was really his hand?! “Lucky for you, my magic is exceptionally strong!” That was Marcus' real long lost hand. “Here, let me put it back on for you! ...Marcus?”

The world was spinning as Marcus's mind reeled at the gruesome sight. A flood of sensations filled his head, making his lungs burn with the need for air he couldn't seem to find. Or maybe that burning was coming from the swirling memories he was reliving, the desperate gasping, the pressure of cold water, the sounds of splashing and screaming, his own screaming, blinding terror, sharp teeth, pain, fading light...

Marcus didn't know he was falling until the chill of water consumed him. Even then, he could barely feel it as his overwhelmed consciousnesses slipped away, and the last thing he was aware of before he fainted was a familiar shadowy figure silhouetted against the surface reaching for him...

For once, Marcus didn't dream. He was drawn from a void of empty darkness by the sound of voices talking far away...wait, no, they were actually nearby, and they were both familiar. One was far more familiar than the other, and it didn't take long to recognize the sarcastic tone as Noah. It took longer to figure out what they were saying.

“...othing? Not even me?”

“Nope.”

“Ah...that explains a lot, actually. I'm not surprised that you don't remember, since you were so young at the time, but I thought for sure Marcus would! No wonder he ran away.”

“That, and you're a naked freak with horse legs.”

“I told you, I'm a kelpie.”

Marcus felt damp and heavy, like his body was made of lead, and it took considerable effort just to open his eyes. When he did, he saw the roof of his own car above him, and he discovered he was in the passenger seat reclining back as far as it would go. The fan of his car's heater droned in the background as he looked around and found his brother sitting beside him in the driver's seat, turned around towards the one he was talking to, who must have been sitting in the backseat. Marcus coughed, his throat feeling like sandpaper, and the sound made the other two stop talking. Noah bent over and tapped on his cheek.

“Fucking finally! Hey, you soggy idiot, are you okay?”

“Uh...I don't...know,” Marcus answered blearily. “What's going on?”

“You fainted,” came the quick reply from the other familiar voice behind him, and when Marcus turned his head, he found that Horace was the one in the backseat behind the driver's side, voice dripping with worry and blue eyes full of guilt. “It's all my fault, I'm so sorry, Marcus! I didn't mean to scare you, I just didn't know that you don't remember the day we met.”

“Huh...?”

“Slow down, Seabiscuit. He's still coming to.”

It took a minute for Marcus to remember what happened right before he fainted. When he did, a sudden rush of adrenaline had him shooting upright in fresh panic. “N-Noah, what on earth is he doing here?!”

“Woah, easy!” Noah grabbed his shoulders when Marcus swayed, a bought of dizziness hitting him from having gotten up way too fast. “Calm down, everything is fine! Horace is the one who dragged your ass out of the lake!”

“He's the one who cut off my hand!!” Marcus cried, pointing an accusing finger at the person – the thing sitting in his backseat with his jacket laying tastefully over its hairy lap. It took a second to realize why everyone had gone still and was staring at him so weirdly. The finger he was using, it was...

It was on his left.

Marcus sucked in a shuddering breath as he drew it back and gingerly inspected his left hand. This wasn't...it was...this had to be a mistake. He was dreaming again, there was no way this was real! But no, the more he flexed his fingers, felt the warmth of his skin, and traced the lines of his palm, the more he couldn't deny how incredibly real it felt.

“Marcus,” Noah said his name carefully, patting his bewildered brother's arm. “Listen to me, Marcus, breathe. In and out. It's okay, you're okay, and yes, this is real. That's actually your hand, apparently.”

Marcus had no words. He didn't know what to say, or even what to think! There were no scars, no marks, it's as if he'd never lost it in the first place. But that's impossible, people don't just grow back their limbs! Especially after more then a decade! Oh god, Marcus was going to faint again.

“Would you allow me to explain?” Horace asked quietly. He was fidgeting where he sat, hooves tapping against each other on the floor and lips drawn into a thin nervous line. “I swear to you, it was all a terrible accident!”

Marcus didn't think he had a choice. After all these years, after everything that happened, all of those nightmares, the episodes, and now this, he was going to go clinically insane if he didn't get some answers right flipping now. He wordlessly nodded, and Horace started from the beginning.

“We met on the day you lost your hand. I saw you on the dock with your brother, and you were trying to show him how to skip stones. I thought it was magic! I really wanted to learn how to do it, too, so I approached you, and you agreed to teach me.”

...

Something round and smooth

...

“You didn't seem to care about what I am. I mean, you were obviously curious and you asked a lot of questions, but you didn't run away or call me a monster.” A smile returned to Horace' face, barely a twitch in the corner of his lips, but it was clear by the warm look on his face that that this memory meant more to him than he was letting on. “You let me play with you and your brother. We were competing to see who could skip stones the furthest, and I picked up the skill pretty fast. You were trying to beat my record when...”

…

A splash

…

“Your rock accidentally hit another kelpie in the lake. Ah, um, that's what I am, by the way,” Horace informed, gesturing to his legs. “The other kelpie was older than me, and he was much bigger, and stronger, too. And angry. He grabbed you by the hand and tried to drown you.”

…

A scream

Blinding terror

Fading light

…

“I tried to get him to let you go, but it was no use! Once a kelpie has you, it's impossible to get away.”

…

A voice

The color blue

'Don't worry, Marcus, I'll save you!'

…

“There's only one thing I could do: I had to take off your hand before you reached the bottom of the lake, or you would be lost forever.”

…

Bright red

Cold

Pain.

…

“...So you...you did it to save me,” Marcus whispered as the pieces finally began to fit together. He still didn't remember all of it, and there was no way to know for sure if what Horace was saying was the truth, but for the first time, everything was beginning to make some sense. A strange sense of calm was settling over him now, like a peace he hadn't known in a very long time.

Horace nodded, beaming at Marcus proudly. “Exactly! I was so scared when the humans took you away. I never knew for sure if you lived, but I never gave up hope, and here you are! I'm so glad you came back, I've been waiting all this time to return your hand back to you!”

The kelpie reached out and touched Marcus' left hand, cupping it in his own, and gave it a small squeeze. Marcus just stared, still trying to digest all of this. It was unbelievable. The hand Horace was holding out to him at the lake had been child sized, but it seemed to have grown to match the right one after Horace...uh...re-attached it? He had no idea how that worked, but this was a mythical creature he was talking to, so anything seemed possible at this point. Magic? He decided not to let himself go down that existential rabbit hole for now and just focus on how entirely grateful he was for this gift, and he looked up at Horace with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you,” was all he could manage to get past the lump in his throat. “Thank you so much, Horace, a-and I'm so sorry I was so scared, I didn't realize...!”

“Don't be,” Horace shook his head with a light laugh. “Admittedly, I was being a bit of an ass.”

His long black tail that matched his hair flicked cheekily at the pun, and it brought a smile to Marcus's lips. There was no way to describe the amount of relief he was feeling, the years and years of uncertainty releasing from him in an instant. All thanks to Horace, who had saved his life twice now. Marcus didn't have the foggiest clue of how he could repay him.

“Uh, so, not to ruin the moment, but...” Noah cleared his throat, which reminded them that Horace was still holding his hand, and he awkwardly let go. “What the piss fucking christ are we going to tell Dad?”

Oh. Right. “Language, Noah. And I'm not sure. This isn't very easily explained, is it?”

“That's the understatement of the century. 'Hey Dad, Marcus got his hand back! A magical horse man who lives in the lake gave it back to him!' He'd probably think Horace is a demon or some shit and try to exorcise him.”

That was sadly an accurate prediction of what their incredibly religious father's reaction would be. He was a priest, after all, and something told Marcus he wouldn't take well to Horace's magical existence. “Perhaps we should tell him it was an angel?” Marcus suggested half-jokingly. Horace's shoulders tensed, his eyes suddenly going wide and cheeks flushing, clearly flustered by the sudden compliment. “I would say it's not entirely inaccurate.”

“O-oh, um...oh my.” The kelpie in the backseat rubbed the back of his neck and looked away bashfully. Marcus smirked. To think he'd been afraid of this guy only minutes ago, and now he was starting to think he was kind of cute like this.

“Oh god,” his little brother rolled his eyes and turned away. “I know he's your knight in literally no armor, but try to keep it in your pants, Marcus.”

“Noah!”

ummmm like comment and subscribe?? idfk thanks for reading though

[restrainedubiquity]

Cry Me A River That Leads To Peace (Or, How Marcus Learns to Float)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17414744/chapters/41413082

Float  - to rest or move on or near the surface of a liquid without sinking; to drift

Float - to be executed for a crime; to be forced into an airlock and cast out into the nothingness of space

Marcus doesn’t require much sleep.  Whether that’s just the natural rhythm or his body or something that he’s developed over years of being robbed of peaceful rest, he’s not sure.  Does it matter? He functions and that's enough. Except lately, since they've been on the ground, since they've been hunted, tortured, since Mount Weather, even the meager sleep his body requires is eluding him.  

It’s her fault

Not in any sense that he blames her for, no, not that, never that.  It’s just that she haunts him. Her screams have always haunted him.  Most of them brought on by his own action. He welcomed them then, leaned into the echoes of her pain and forced himself to wade through them night after night.  It was horrible; It wasn't even close the the punishment he deserved.

When he’d arrested Jake she’d screamed in hatred, spitting vile curses at him, threatened him, beat her fists into his chest until the other guards had pulled her away.  He bore the bruises for weeks, the scars are still there though only he sees them.

Float

When he’d arrested Clarke she’d screamed in desperation.  Primal anguish that had her on her knees before him, begging, sobbing for her daughter to be spared.  He’d left her on the floor, forehead curled into her knees, her cries echoing through the corridors.

Float.

She hadn’t screamed when he’d arrested her.  The look she gave him, the cold indifference laced with weariness; with relief?   Breaking the law to keep you from becoming Chancellor was the easiest choice I’ve ever made.   Those words, the contempt in her eyes haunted him more than her cries ever had.  There was no penance to be found in forcing himself to re-live her pain until it burned through him as it had her.  She didn’t know that he already hated himself more than she ever could.

Float.

He’d been seconds away from killing Abby; his conscious; his tether to his humanity even if he kept it locked away.   Despite following the law to the letter, doing his duty no matter what the cost, Marcus new that the small part of him that deserved to survive , as she had said, would have been cast out into the void of space with her.  

Jaha had pardoned her. His desperate prayers to whatever deity still thought him worthy of favor had not gone unanswered.

Still, Abby hadn’t cried, hadn’t spared him a glance as she charged out of the airlock.  He was grateful for her urgency. He barely made it to his quarters before his own screams forced their way out.  Never had he allowed himself the release of his own tears, but the moment the door sealed the iron shell of his soul shattered in sweet relief.

He still doesn’t know why he thought he could check on her later that evening, why his presence would be anything that she would welcome.  That was the point. He knew she wouldn’t, knew that she would lash out, berate him, throw his lack of humanity in his face. She would tear him down and it would be easier.  He knew how to live with the hatred of the people, reassured himself that as long as there was something to fight for, humanity would survive. He resigned to bear as much of their pain and burden as he could.

When he got to medical, however, the strong, obstinate, and righteous Dr Griffin that should have put him in his place was sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of Eric Jackson.  The young doctor spared him one glance before turning his body so that there was no chance Abby would see him there. It was a subtle gesture, but it was enough to have Marcus backing away.  Those cries she wept for herself weren't meant for his ears.

Float .

She cried out in pain when he had her lashed.  Stared him down after each jolt of electricity ripped through her body.  Even when her legs wouldn’t hold her, when she hung limply from her bound wrists, she forced her head up to meet his eyes.  Only then would he order the next lash, and the next, and the next until she was close to losing consciousness and there wasn’t a member of Camp Jaha that wasn’t in tears.

He thinks she understood that though, he knows she did.  She’s told him as much in what she has and hasn’t said.  I did hear you, you know , he had told her.   I always hear you , he wanted to say, but suspects she knew that too.

Float .

Mount Weather had been different. He had stood by helplessly as those monsters had drilled into her bones.  She’d made sounds no human should ever make. Once he’d finally been able to release her, she’d fought for every breath. Couldn’t so much as sit up without  his arm braced behind her, cried out again when they had moved her to the stretcher. Mercifully one of the kids--he still doesn’t know who--pumped her full of morphine from Mount Weather’s generously stocked medical center and she’d slept most of the 8 hour trek home.  When she had woken he stayed by her side, let her grip his hand like a vice as her breath hitched at every bump along the journey.

There was nothing he could do to rid those sounds from his mind, nothing to be healed or gained by facing that pain and trying to take it as his own.  It was senseless.

Float.

So he doesn’t sleep, tries to avoid the silent moments that invite the memories in.  His wrists are still bruised from where he’d pulled against the cuffs holding him to the wall and he rubs at them absently as he walks the perimeter of the camp.  There’s a peaceful quality to their ramshackle camp when it’s bathed in moonlight. The destruction isn’t quite so apparent, the loss not quite as oppressive. Normally, he would turn back in after his second pass, take the long meandering route back to his quarters and ready himself for the next day to start, but tonight he keeps walking.  Tonight he needs open space and star-filled sky so his demons can spread out instead of closing in around him.

He heads to the lake to the east of camp.  It’s not far, but it’s somewhere he rarely visits despite assurances from several of his people that he should take time to appreciate the beauty this planet has to offer amongst all the pain it’s put him through.  

He’s almost at the water’s edge before he sees the towel and pile of clothes neatly folded on the shore: patched up gray pants, a black t-shirt and an unmistakable blue jacket.  Abby. There’s a gentle sound rippling in the water. He’s on alert in an instant, eyes frantically scanning the water until they catch movement not too far from shore. She’s lying on her back, hair fanned out around her halo-like in the moonlight.  He wants to run to her, drops his light to do just that when he hears the ripples again. She’s running her arms through the water, letting the motion propel her back and forth.

She’s floating.

He watches her for what feels like hours, completely mesmerized by her graceful movements in the water untils he rolls into it, disappearing under the dark surface only to emerge a few feet from the shore.  He moves quickly, switching off his light and slipping into the shadows just as she heads for her discarded clothes. He can’t help the smile that pulls at his lips as he catches sight of the knife strapped to her thigh.  (So much for admonishing her for coming out here unprotected.) He should go, definitely should not be lurking in the shadows as she dresses, but he’d hate to be the one that ruined the peace she seems to have found here. She’s relaxed in a way he’s not sure he’s ever seen.  Things had been relatively quiet since their return from the mountain, but the experience had changed them all. People looked at her differently, but not in the way that that had her snapping and refusing help even from Jackson. They didn’t see the weakness she thought she wore like a brand; like him, they saw the strength of a leader that had been through hell and came out the other end.

He watches her until she’s safely back inside camp, weaves silently through the trees close enough that he can reach her quickly if need be.  She walks stiffly, the limp that she pushes through during the day comes heavier in the privacy of the night. He waits outside until the sun is almost up, until he’s sure she’s had time to make it back to her room, or more likely, to medical to start her day.

The next night he heads to the lake first.  Then the next night and the next and the next.  She’s there each time and each time he watches her from the trees as she strips down, wades into the water, and lets herself relax into its hold.  He doesn’t stare. Staring at a woman who doesn’t know she’s being watched is somthing Marcus Kane would never do. He always looks away when undresses and again when she comes out of the water.  Out of respect; out of the need to not see the scars on her body brought out by the moonlight.

He hears the splash that means she’s dove under the water and he waits until she comes up to avert his eyes.  Except she’s not coming up. He takes a deep breath, forcing down the rising panic, but it’s no use. He’s counting the seconds and several more have passed than it normally takes her to swim the distance to the shore.  His body reacts and before he can process what’s happening he’s running towards the shore, shedding his jacket, tossing his light and gun aside. His boot splashes hard in the water before he hears her laugh. “You should take your boots off.  They’ll take forever to dry out,” she sitting on a rock a few feet to his left, knees tucked under her chin. Like he had, she’s hidden herself in the shadows.

“That’s not funny, Abby.  I thought you had drowned!” he steps out of the water and makes his way toward her.  

“You’ve been spying on me,” she says defiantly, but she’s still smiling at him, he can see the glint in her eyes as he gets closer.

“I…” he starts, but she’s right, in a way.  He was watching her from shadows; spying. “I didn’t mean..I just wanted to make sure…”

“I know.  Relax, Marcus.  If I thought you were actually lurking you’d have heard about it before now.”

“Why am I hearing about it now?” he asks, leaning at the very edge of the rock and very purposefully looking out at the water.

“Because you should join me,” she says matter-of-factly.  “You should have joined me that first night.” She shoves his shoulder with her bare foot until he looks back at her.  “I don’t completely let my guard down, Marcus. I notice a flashlight in the middle of the night. Give me a little credit.”

“I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have intruded on your privacy.  I didn’t follow you,” he needs her to know that, “I just happened to wander here one night and you--”  He trails off, eyes returning to the water.

“I what?” she urges, scooting forward until she’s sitting at his side, close but not touching.

“You looked so peaceful,” he finally looks in her eyes.  “It helped, seeing you like that. It...It helps.” He’s not ready to tell her that her screams haunt his dreams, that the torture of watching her be tortured was worse than any physical pain he’s ever endured, that he knows he wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t made it through.

She sighs deeply, seeming to hear everything he couldn’t say.  “I never thought floating could feel so wonderful,” she muses, watching him as he watches the moonlight reflect on the water. “We should call it something else, really.  We destroyed that word on the Ark. It became a curse, a violent, evil thing that you couldn’t come back from. But it’s not. Not here.” He can only nod.   We don’t have to do this here, echoes in his mind.  We can be better here.  “Take your boots off, Marcus,” she uses his shoulder to push herself to her feet, then jumps off the rock and back into the water, splashing him mercilessly in the process.

“Marcus!” She splashes him again when she pops out of the water to find that he hasn’t moved.  She’s probably the only person on the planet that could get away with that and the wicked grin on her face tells him she knows it.  “It’s not deep. I won’t let you drown,” she assures him, standing to show him that the water is barely up to her shoulders and holding her hand out to him.  

There never was any point in denying her once she had her mind set on something.  Marcus bends and unlaces his boots, places them on the rock with his socks, then his shirt.  He leaves his pants on as he slowly makes his way to her. The water is cool, but not unpleasantly so.  He can already feel his body relaxing when he comes to stand next to her. “Lay back,” she instructs, but he’s at a loss and she can see it in the uncertainty that flashes in his eyes.  “If you’re relaxed, the water will hold you up,” she explains without ridicule. There were no swim lessons on the Ark. Water was a new experience for them all.

He trusts her.  He may not trust the water, or his ability not to sink within in, but he trusts her.  So he leans back. He moves too quickly, doesn’t get his legs out before his head goes under and instantly panics as his body sinks to the lake bed.  Abby pulls at his shoulders, guiding up to the surface where he coughs out water and sucks in air. “You make that look a lot easier than it is,” he laughs through his embarrassment.

“Watch,” she tells him simply, taking his hand so she won’t stray from his side and lying back in the water.  She shrugs her shoulders when he looks down at her in wonder. “Your turn,” she stands beside him and places her hand between his shoulder blades.  “I’ve got you.”

“Abby, you can hardly,” he starts but raises is hands in surrender when she gives him her don’t-you-dare-tell-me-what-I-can’t-do look.  He leans back into her hand, slowly raising one leg, then the other once the back of his head is in the water. Her hand is still on his back, her other on the back of his thigh holding him in place while he adjust to the sensation of weightlessness.  

“I’m going to let go.  Just relax,” she tells him, her voice dulled by the water around his ears, but her face tells him everything he needs to hear.  She releases him and Marcus floats in the water staring up at the stars. It’s the most at peace he’s ever felt. He relaxes even further, lets every muscle go, feels the water lapping at him, the warm breeze against his skin, her hand that finds his just below the water’s surface.  He sees her out of the corner of his eye, stretched out next to him. Her fingers lace with his, keeping him close as they watch the stars give way to the rising sun.

[writings-of-a-crazy-lady]

Invisible Ties

Word Count: 3,171

Chapter 13

Several days have passed, and during those days I have not seen or heard from my mates.  It was causing all sorts of anxiety and panic issues, being alone aside from the random guard posted to stay with me.  I had even refused to leave my rooms, considering I shared each of the Kings’ rooms.  I would often switch them to have a different setting, but even then, I was bored and lonely.  It was beginning to eat away at me honestly.

“My lady, forgive me, but your sighing is driving me mad,” Felix, who was normally posted to guard me, tried to keep a straight face but I could see the twitch of his lip.  He was getting irritated and I was falling into madness.

“Well it’s not my fault that I’m bored as hell.  Surely you guys have something more here than business and art rooms,” I snapped, uncaring that I was toying with danger.  Felix, however, was one that I could toy with because he knew that if he overstepped his boundary, he wouldn’t live for long.

“Well, we do have a game room that Demetri and I often occupy.  And there is a pool-“

“Pool?” I sat up from the bed I had been currently occupying, now fully intrigued by what Felix had stated.  He was beginning to be amused as well.

“Well duh, of course,” Felix tried to joke.  I scowled at his words.  Sure, let’s poke fun at the weak little human.  The one that could easily get you in trouble if you weren’t careful by disappearing on your ass.  What a good idea.

“Whatever, feline,” I purposely screwed up his name, hearing the low irritated growl.  Felix and I often did that, him poking fun at my humanity and me poking fun at his abilities.  Or height.  Or really anything but often times I found that Felix was no ordinary vampire.  Who honestly was almost 7 feet tall anymore?

“Where is the pool?” I finally decided to ask after a short pause, noticing how Felix seemed a bit irked by my question.  But I had been ridiculously bored and really needed something to do.  And besides, swimming sounded absolutely relaxing and a good way to get rid of the energy that was building up.  I did hate cabin fever.

“Fancy a dip?”

“Yes, and I noticed the swim suit so step out, let me change, and we can be off, you big oaf,” I forced a smile, noticing Felix’s lip twitch.  It was in good fun though because he chuckled, stepping out of the room to allow me some privacy to change.  But of course, my anxiety was beginning to step up again the moment I pulled out the two piece, staring at the fabric with worry.  

It was a simple bikini, nothing much to it.  The color left much to be desired, it being a solid red, blood red, and the top was the typical triangle to cover the important bits.  The bottom was the same, which lead me to look for some shorts, considering I don’t like showing this much skin.  After all, I wasn’t necessarily skinny.  More average.

Of course, the fun part was trying to put on the offending thing.  I had learned of short cuts but often times, getting it to not dig into the back of your neck was the trick.  A very annoying trick.  But after several minutes of struggling with the top, I was able to get fully dressed… well, as much dressed as you can get in a swim suit and shorts.  Lucky for me, I had also brought my worn out flip flops, so no traversing the castle barefoot.  Go me!

“Still having issues, my lady?” a humored Felix called out to me from the other side of the door, making me realize that he was probably not use to having to wait for someone at human speed.  I just laughed, putting my hair up in a loose bun before opening the door.

“No, I’m fine.  Should I bring my own towel?”

“No, my lady.  There are towels readily available there.  As well as a changing room,” the amused expression grew some, but I ignored it.

“Well, let me on your back.”

“My back?”

“Yes.  Faster to travel, right?” I quirked a brow.  Felix groaned in that moment, probably never even thought of that.

“Good point.  Come on,” Felix reached for me, swinging me up onto his back before taking off down the halls.  I should be used to all the speed, since I was around the Cullens so much, but I found that the Volturi were often times faster than the Cullens. Much faster.  I just hope I didn’t get sick from the speed.  But as I expected, we were near a set of doors, one of them slightly propped open.  I felt excitement boil inside me, a part of me super happy to be in the water and doing something rather than laying about the castle.  It was extremely boring.

“Caius, I swear if you ruin my suit, I will end you,” a familiar voice made me pause at the door, Felix doing the same as we both thought the same and peeked through the crack in the door.  Felix seemed almost relieved as well.  Probably grateful to be away from me here shortly as the voices coming from the pool room began to match the suspects we had in mind.

“Oh, shut it Aro.  You have plenty more to replace it,” Caius was sitting on the edge, his legs dangling into the water.  All three kings were at the pool, Marcus actually in the water, leaning against the edge and Aro standing nearby, looking miffed.  It was rather odd to see at least 2 of them enjoying themselves, relaxed.

“That may be true, but I wasn’t planning on this today.  Not after our little trial.”

“Little?  What that moron did was not ‘little?’” Caius hissed. Whatever happened today probably irked them, and it would seem that they just finished it.  Which rather irritated me as well.  So, the three thought they could go swimming without inviting me?  I get they have much to learn but really?  They couldn’t be bothered to think of me after being gone for days?  Oh, they were in for it.

“Felix,” I whispered my guard’s name, motioning for him to go ahead and leave.  He seemed slightly confused by my request but I didn’t pay him any attention as I tried to focus, closing my eyes.  I needed to do something to get back at them but I needed my gift to cooperate with me today.  I had been practicing, trying to get a bit more control over it.  Jane had made a comment which prompted some training. So, I tried to think of that weird feeling I often get when my gift activates.  Imagined just disappearing…

A hand touched my shoulder, making me jump and lose my focus.  I was ready to snap at Felix, knowing he probably did it on purpose, but I was stopped when I received a thumbs up.  I was confused for a second, until it hit me.  I was invisible.  It worked and now, for the most fun I’m probably going to have all day.

I snuck into the pool room, slipping through a slight opening in the door thanks to my guard. He gave another thumbs up, probably to say good luck before disappearing from the doorway.  It also made me realize that my kings were really out of it, each one not even commenting on my heartbeat that they could have heard from the door or my scent.  They had to know I was near, but so far, no one said a word.  Just continued to bicker amongst themselves about the trial they had just left.  Poor things.

“Well, it would have ended faster if you didn’t need all those unnecessary witnesses.”

“It was necessary, brother. I’m not surprised that you wouldn’t understand.”

“Understand what?  The need for pointless information.  We had our evidence.  Nothing else was needed.”

And it continued on and on as I came up with my plan.  I was going to push someone into the water.  I even managed to slip off my shoes without anyone noticing, which made it even better.  I just had to wait for the right time, which didn’t take long.  Aro was my intended target and he wasn’t even aware that he moved into my little trap when he shifted closer to the water’s edge.  That was when I made a break for it, running as fast as I could in hopes that my momentum would send him into the water. And sure enough, as my body collided with his back, I felt him move forward with me into the water.

The expressions on Marcus and Caius was what really got me though as I disappeared under the surface, though neither of them could see me.  There was complete shock and confusion, probably them trying to figure out how Aro lost his balance.  Which, I had to admit, would have even confused me if I didn’t already know.

Somehow, I avoided detection, kicking my feet away from Aro’s stunned form under the water.  I tried to keep quiet as I went straight for the edge, struggling to keep in my laughter as Aro finally resurfaced, his priceless shoes touching the bottom of the pool.  His hair was like a sheet of paper, completely covering his face as he held his arms up, as if to avoid getting any more of his suit wet.  Kind of pointless now though.

“That’s a good look for you, Aro,” Caius finally spoke, teasing Aro immediately about his new predicament.  Marcus suddenly laughed, loud and obnoxious but just right.  Aro immediately parted his hair, a dark glare searching the room as if to spot the perpetrator but his face failed to cause any fear.  He just looked like a wet cat stuck in a pond. And that was what caused me to break my silence, laughing so hard that I had to hug my sides from the pain. Followed by the weird feeling of me reappearing in front of everyone, exposing who the perpetrator was.  

“I’m so not sorry for that,” I gasped out.  There were 3 different reactions in the room.  Marcus immediately perked up at my appearance, joining in on the laughter as I tried to calm down.  Caius slowly cracked, grinning but not laughing as he took in my appearance. And Aro quickly began to move toward me, forcing me to stand up from my position and flee to another side of the pool, while trying to breathe.

“Alessandra, you are in quite a bit of trouble,” Aro tried to threaten me but it still failed with how he looked.

“Don’t care.  Totally worth it,” I calmed to giggles, running my fingers through my hair to get some of the lose strands out of my face.

“I would say,” Caius was staring at me, the grin still plastered on his face.  I felt my cheeks darken immediately, knowing why he was grinning and felt the smile drop from my face in seconds.  I never planned on meeting any of them here or I would have worn a tank top or shirt or something.  This was probably a little more skin shown to any of them than necessary.  Especially since I was a bit more plump around the edges… and my stomach…

“Behave, brother.  You don’t want to be scaring her off,” Marcus came to my defense, but in a way, I sensed that he was trying to calm my nerves. I must have given away my sudden self-consciousness because the look Marcus gave me was that of concern.  What was I projecting to them?

“Well, since you succeeded in getting me soaked, perhaps you’ll join us then?” Aro jumped into the conversation, pulling his hair back.  It was still comical and yet the way his eyes seemed to know what I was thinking.  I… wasn’t sure.  Was it that obvious?  Did he know about… that?

“Well, I… um,” I paused, biting my lower lip.  I could feel my anxiety increase at the attention, eyes focused fully on me and I quickly wanted to hide myself.  I even suddenly remembered the things my mother would call me, the names, the poking and prodding at my body.  The way she made me feel.  I was nothing but bones then but now… what would she say to me about all this weight? The skin, the stretch marks?

I wanted to collapse, my mind suddenly becoming chaos.  It was something that Carlisle had told me when I first started living with them that I would have these moments, especially after the first one when Alice had commented on my clothes.  The feelings I immediately felt were enough to cripple me and certain instances, like this moment, could trigger it again.  It was basically depression but caused by being emotionally abused and neglected as a child.  I had thought I had gotten better over the years but now, as I felt myself sink slowly to the floor, I realized that my episodes were spaced out more.  

But what I wasn’t expecting however, was the sudden panic from them.

Within seconds I was surrounded, Marcus quick to shelter me in his arms.  I felt fabric being placed around my shoulders, words being whispered to me as another set of hands grabbed my own.  I knew questions were being asked, but I couldn’t hear them.  I felt trapped in my mind as I continued to berate myself.  Her words were taking precedence… but they shouldn’t.  It wasn’t true… was it?  Why couldn’t I stop this?  Why was I frozen like this?

“It’s okay, little one. It’s okay.  I was only joking,” Caius’ voice was the first to breach the darkness, someone ringing clearer than the others.  Then slowly, the other voices came as well, Marcus muttering words of comfort into my ear as Caius continued to reassure me that everything was okay.  Aro was the only one not speaking.  Instead, his head was bowed over our conjoined hands and I could feel his lips upon my fingers.  It was comforting and yet, disconcerting as well because that meant, unless my gift was blocking him, he heard all the chaos.  Everything…

“There is no need for you to panic, darling.  I won’t tell them your secrets,” Aro lifted his head, a reassuring smile being sent toward me.  I could feel the sudden confusion coming from the other two, Marcus and Caius sharing a look.

“What do you mean secrets? What do you know?!” Caius practically barked his questions.  I knew he didn’t mean to sound harsh but his demand to know what was going through my mind was actually insulting.  I mean, I get who they are to me but I wasn’t ready to admit what had happened to me growing up.  All that pain… it was mine to bare.  Only mine… I highly doubt any of them truly understood what it was like.

“You would be surprised, Alessandra,” Aro broke my thoughts, forcing me to make eye contact.  But nothing else was said as Aro was the one to lift me to my feet.  It was then that I realized that Aro’s shirt was missing, which made me look at my shoulders.  I knew they had covered me up but I didn’t realize that Aro sacrificed his own clothes. Honestly though, I felt much comfortable so I wasn’t going to complain.  In fact, Aro probably lost his shirt….

“Are you alright, mia amore?” I felt arms surround my waist, lips touching my temple as I recognized Marcus.  The question wasn’t answered immediately as I tried to decide if I was fine or not.  The truth was I wasn’t fine, I was still hating myself but I was feeling a bit better. Especially since I was covered up now.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” I’m sure I didn’t sound reassuring but no one pressed the issue.  

“Very well,” Marcus was disappointed, but said nothing more.  Caius seemed a bit at a loss, which made me feel a little awkward.  I didn’t want to bother them or upset them, showing this part of me was panic inducing.  Did they think little of me for this?

Arms surrounded my waist, a scream leaving my mouth involuntarily as I felt myself fall toward the deeper water.  The loudest splash easily could have been heard down the halls but I didn’t care as I popped up above the surface, gasping for the air I needed.  

“Aro!” I snapped, only to find Aro gone.  By the time it finally dawned on me that he was under me, it was already too late as I felt a chilled hand circle my ankle.  But I had a few seconds to call out to Caius before I was yanked under, watching as the blonde dived in after me.  Of course, I wasn’t under long, a second set of arms quick to remove me from my captor and lifting me up above the water.  

“She isn’t a mermaid, Aro,” Caius snapped, but I could hear the humor in his words, knowing he was just teasing the other.

“No, not a mermaid,” Aro was quick to agree before adding, “But a siren seems highly logical, don’t you think?”

“I second that motion,” Marcus joined.  It made me immediately turn to Caius for help, only to be greeted with a blank stare.

“Not you too,” I pouted, splashing him in revenge.  Caius released me then, giving me a chance to swim toward the edge in order to scramble free of the water.  Downside of swimming with vampires?  They don’t need to breathe.

“Fine.  If I am a siren,” I started once I reached the pool’s edge, kicking my legs to get out of the water.  I’m sure I looked awkward and ridiculous, but I didn’t have their speed quite yet.  “Then, I promise to never sing.  I won’t be responsible for leading each of you to your doom.”

“You sing?” Marcus seemed to perk up at the notion, Caius and Aro doing the same.  Aro was a little more intrigued, since most of memories were transferred secondly.  Marcus was far more curious however, something telling me he had a great interest in music.

“Sometimes.  But I won’t now,” I teased, seeing the smiles slowly turn to frowns.  “I’m a siren, remember?”

The disappointment on their faces was a good distraction from what had happened, watching as the three began to blame the other.  I could see, however, that they knew what they were doing.  They were distracting me, hoping to make me feel better so that I didn’t feel overwhelmed by what they had witnessed.  And it was nice really.  They were more than I could ever deserve and maybe… just maybe… things were going to start looking up.

[mjtheterrible]

I was freaking out because MJ didn’t come home yesterday like he was supposed to, and I knew something was wrong.

He was on a flight with his cyber crew, Team Digital Death, back home from visiting with President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris.

Well, the plane they were on crashed. MJ’s close friend and member of Team Digital Death Marcus was on the plane with MJ when it crashed.

Marcus said MJ slept through the whole thing. He said everybody was screaming and panicking while MJ was sound asleep and dreaming. “MJ was singing a Pearl Jam song in his dream with a smile on his face, while the plane was in free fall.”

Marcus also said MJ didn’t wake up until the paramedics got there. “MJ woke up saying to this big Lumberjack guy named Chuck- Malia, you feel like messing around?”

When he finally was awake, they said MJ asked where the airport was. He had no idea they crashed in a field and almost died.

Team Digital Death member Kevin who was also on the plane, said when they got out and saw where the plane crash landed, MJ said- “I feel bad for the pilot, because it looks like he tried to Captain Sully the thing, and land it in the water, but he was like 50 feet short. Look how close he was to getting us in the water.”

I swear my husband could be sitting in an open field, not a cloud in the sky, and suddenly out of nowhere the storm of the century would hit the field he was in.

Team Digital Death Member J Munda said MJ was completely calm after the crash while everyone else was scared shitless.

Team Digital Death member Gary said, MJ kept trying to find his phone to call me but couldn’t find it.

I’m glad MJ couldn’t find his phone to call me because I left a couple “Where the f@$k are you messages”, and now I feel like a giant bitch. He almost died and I was thinking he was off doing whatever. I thought the worst, in the wrong way. I absolutely trust MJ, but I was being an emotional pregnant crazy woman when I was leaving MJ the “Where the f@$k are you” messages.

I am glad no one on the plane got hurt. After they all got out of the plane, they said they couldn’t stop laughing because it was like nothing had happened at all to MJ, because he slept through the entire traumatic plane crash experience.

I hate to admit it, but after I found out they were okay, I laughed about it too. You would have to know MJ, to know that only something like this could happen to him.

MJ is just prone to the most unimaginable to anyone else type of things happening to and around him.

In the last 5 years, MJ has had subdural hematoma brain surgery, where he had to learn how to walk and talk again, went through a crazy up and down divorce, had 2 apartment fires, we got jumped at a private pool we were swimming at, a pipe burst in our house, and we had to have most of the interior of part of our house re-done, MJ fell down the stairs saving our son Cash from falling down the stairs, he was just in a plane crash, and more.

There is never a boring day being with MJ, and literally anything can happen, both good and bad.

MJ, I love you. I can’t believe you slept through a freakin plane crash! Marcus was like- “When the pilot announced the plane was going down, everybody buckle up and brace for impact, my black ass was scared as hell! Kevin was yelling “Oh God please don’t let us die!” Gary was flipping the f@$k out. Everybody was thinking they were going to die, and I looked over at our fearless leader MJ, and he’s completely relaxed and asleep humming a f@$king Pearl Jam song! I couldn’t reach him to wake him up. I tried to yell at him to wake him up, but he had his headset on, listening to music. The song your crazy ass husband was humming was “I’m Still Alive”. I was thinking, you are about to not be. Wake the f@$k up!”

Kristi, who is also a Team Digital Death member, and was also on the plane that crashed, was sitting across from Marcus, and next to MJ on his left, but across the aisle, said she told Marcus to let MJ sleep. “There is no reason to wake him up for the last minute of his life to be filled with horror. He has been through a lot of shit. Let’s let him enjoy his last minute of dream sleep.”

I am constantly amazed by how hard MJ tries to do good. He tries so hard to do everything right, and be a good guy, a good father, a good husband, a good friend, use his skills to help people, and all of that, and still utter freakin chaos breaks out around him all the time!

If I heard that MJ was on a plane that crashed into a train, that went off the rails and landed on a boat, that sank down into the water, that ran into a submarine, that was filled with aliens, I would almost believe it at this point.

I have determined that special people like MJ, who live the most interesting lives, are in this world to shape it, change it, hold it together, and to give the rest of us something to talk about/entertain us.

Baby, I am never letting you leave home again! Obviously I’m just kidding, but I love you, and I can’t live without you, so don’t die!

Distinguished Intelligence Cross Awarded To Michael “MJ The Terrible” Johnson For Acts of Extraordinary Heroism – https://www.mjtheterrible.com/distinguished-intelligence-cross-awarded-to-michael-mj-the-terrible-johnson-for-acts-of-extraordinary-heroism/

[littleshebear]

Destiny fanfiction: Memories...Someone We’ll Never Meet pt. 4.

Ao3 Link

Part one | Part two | Part 3 | 

Destiny | The Reef | The Awoken | Zavala | Tags are spoilers | Gratuitous poetry | Telepathy shenanigans | Impending Heartbreak | Canon typical violence | Tyra Karn | Master Rahool | Master Ives | Various OC’s

Long Hiatus on this one but we’re back! The Awoken have arrived on Earth and things are not going to plan.

Sofia is twelve years old. There is blue sky above her, earth beneath and she is soaking wet. She kneels on all fours, her fingers sinking into wet sand, while her mouth is open in a silent gasp. She cannot breathe. Underneath the panic, a small voice at the back of her mind wonders if this is what getting spaced feels like. She feels a sudden jolt, there is something thumping into her back. She starts coughing, a harsh, hacking sound that is interrupted by another whack between her shoulder blades.

“Breathe, Sofie, come on!” It’s Mama, she keeps slapping her on her back, hard, until Sofia convulses, bringing up a stream of water and bile. She wheezes, then coughs even more violently than before. Her throat is burning and her eyes are streaming with tears but at least her stubborn lungs are finally filling.

Mama wraps her arms around her, pulling her back into a kneeling position. She drops frantic kisses on the top of Sofia’s head in between assurances that she’s okay, they’re okay, everything is going to be okay.

Mama releases her from the embrace and comes round to face her. She cups Sofie’s tear-streaked cheeks in in her hands and locks her gaze with hers..

“Stay here.” There’s a quaver in Mama’s voice but she sounds determined. “I’m going back for your father, don’t move.”

Sofia nods, tries to speak but only manages another coughing fit. She flops back on her heels, watching her mother wade back into the water and towards their stricken ship. One of the engines belches smoke into the air, forming a black column that reaches far up into the sky. They came down in a shallow sea, the belly of the ship resting on a sandbank while the nosecone is tipped forward into the water. There are low, sickening sounds of twisting, groaning metal coming from the ship. It is sinking even further? Sofia thought she had heard someone yelling something about a hull breach when the Fallen had attacked them. Maybe it is taking on more water.

Sofia sends out a desperate mental plea to Papa, begging him to tell her he got out of the cockpit, that Mama won’t have to risk going back into the submerged ship, that she was not lying when she everything would be okay. Sofia immediately winces after opening her mind, she can’t hear Papa, or Mama. If they were answering her attempt to Link, they are utterly drowned out by the cacophony of terror emanating from the survivors. She hastily closes her thoughts off, pulling her knees up to her chest and clamping her hands over her ears. The noise in her head dulls somewhat but it does little to drown out the shouts and screams from the survivors scrambling towards dry land. Some thrash ineffectually, trying to learn to swim after a lifetime of rationed water, while others cling to floating debris. Sofia glances around to see a group pulling a woman out of the water and up the beach. It looks like Mistress Karn. She is not moving.

Her attention is suddenly diverted by the sound of her mother yelling. Sofia follows the sound of her voice to see her fighting with a man who is trying to drag her back to dry land.

“Let me go!” Mama shouts, clawing at his arms, which are clamped firmly around her waist.

“They’re gone, you can’t go back in, it’s too dangerous!” The man tugs at Mama, almost lifting her off her feet.

“You don’t know that.” Mama replies through gritted teeth, straining against him.

“If the impact didn’t do for them they’ll have drowned by now, don’t go back in there!”

Sofia’s stomach lurches and her blood runs cold. If she was shivering before, she is shaking uncontrollably now. She tries Linking with Papa again, doing her best to ignore the fear and misery being broadcast by the others around her. She wordlessly screams to him over and over, receiving only silence in return.

“Please let me go.” Mama is not struggling anymore, she just leans away from her well-meaning captor and towards the ship.

“Do you want your daughter to lose her mother too?” When he says this, the last of the fight seems to leave Mama. Her shoulders drop and she removes the man’s hands from her waist. She wipes a hand down her face before giving him a forceful shove to the chest. The fight was not completely gone from her after all. The man topples over backwards, landing with an undignified splash. Mama trudges back towards Sofia without giving him a second glance.

“Mama?” Sofia whimpers, looking up at her mother with wide, pleading eyes. Mama’s only reply is to kneel beside Sofia and gather her into her arms. She hugs her tightly and rocks her back and forth. Sofia clings back, her still painful breathing now coming in harsh sobs. She gives in to her tears, it will not matter if she cries down here. There is no shortage of water. There is so much of it, it terrifies her.

~*~

Once the panic died down, some of the (now ex) Corsairs set to work establishing a defensive perimeter. They pace back and forth, eyes on the horizon, checking and re-checking their weapons to make sure the water has not rendered them completely useless. Other survivors dug foxholes and formed make-shift barricades from debris should the Fallen who attacked them come back for their prize. They would not be hard to find, the smoke billowing from the damaged engine is a signal fire to anyone around. Others still comb the shoreline picking up anything useful that may have washed ashore, while the braver ones wade further into the water to retrieve salvage.

Sofia trails behind her mother who is scouring the tideline for anything she can repair or put to use. The tide is coming in, covering the ship even more. Sofia drags her feet, leaving scuff marks in the sand. The only time she moves quickly is to avoid the water when it threatens to lap at her feet. She wants nothing more than to retreat to high ground but she is not willing to let Mama out of her sight. Her head is throbbing and there is a dull ache in her chest. Is it meant to hurt like this? She finds herself thinking about Marcus. Did he find it physically painful when his father died?

“Mama?” Sofia asks in a dull voice. “Why do I feel so heavy?”

“It’s because you are heavier, sweetheart.” Mama places her arm around Sofia’s shoulders. “It’s the gravity, it’s different down here. You’ll get used to it.”

“Oh. Yeah.” She knew that. Papa had told her that things would feel different on Earth. She had just forgotten.

“Why don’t you get some rest?”

Sofia shakes her head. “I want to help.”

“Why don’t you go sit with the other kids?” Mama suggests gently. They got a fire going, it’s warmer.”

Sofia shakes her head and disguises a shiver. “I’m fine.” She spots something in the distance, bobbing back and forth as the water laps against it. It is her toy rabbit. He is waterlogged and filthy but it is definitely him. She crosses over to him, gingerly fishes him out of the water before wringing him out. Tears prick at her eyes again, she feels like the pathetic state of her childhood toy is reflective of their current plight. She blinks furiously, trying to fight back the tears, while her brow knots together, making her headache even worse. She should not be getting this emotional over a stuffed toy. She is far too old for him really but she had so wanted him with her when they boarded their transport at the start of this ill-fated diaspora. When the Fallen had fired upon them, she had clung to him for dear life. She could not be sure exactly when she had lost him. Probably when the emergency doors were forced open and the water had rushed in, cold and relentless. But he had come back to her somehow, and she was glad of it.

Sofia feels Mama’s hand on the back of her head, gently stroking her hair.

“Oh, you found Peter.”

Sofia nods sadly and sniffles before trying to brush the worst of the sand and grime from his fur.

“It’s okay we’ll get him cleaned up. Why don’t you take him back to the fire, get him dried-”

Mama is cut off by a sharp crashing sound coming from the sky, followed by a low rumble. For a moment, Sofia wonders if it is thunder. No, that is not how thunder works. There would be clouds if it were thunder but the sky is a brilliant blue. The only other thing it could be is a ship entering the atmosphere.

Mama grabs Sofia’s hand and begins running, dragging her along with her up the beach.

“Is it the Fallen?” Sofia cries, “Did they come back?”

“It’ll be okay,” Mama assures her, herding her towards where the other children are gathered behind a makeshift barricade made from debris. “We’ve got weapons, we can fight them off.” Sofia is not exactly convinced by her mother’s insistence that everything will be fine. Sofia can smell the panic in the air, while sharp outbursts of fear and despair pierce the beleaguered shields she has placed around her mind.

Inhuman shrieks begin to sound in the distance, followed by shouts and gunfire. One of the younger children starts crying with a high-pitched keening sound. Sofia wraps her arms around the child and begins intoning exactly the same lies that her mother had just told her. Sofia glances up at Mama. One of the corsairs-turned-guards has given her a side-arm, which she wields with obvious uncertainty. Mama shoots Sofia a trembling smile. Sofia does not need to Link with mama to know she is afraid but there is unmistakable pride in her expression too.

The ex-corsair ducks out from their cover and starts firing. Sofia starts and gasps. She was not prepared for how loud the guns would be. The other kids are weeping now too and frankly, Sofia wants to join them. She can brave though. She can still be brave.

Her courageous resolve lasts another thirty seconds or so, until their protector’s head snaps backward, before he topples over, landing on his back with a sickening thud. The atmosphere in their little shelter gives way to outright panic. While the other children scream and surge to the back of the foxhole, Sofia feels an odd calm come over her. Her world slows and she focusses on the small details around her. The thin plume of smoke rising from the centre of their dead guard’s forehead. The residual twitch in his fingertips. The uncontrollable tremble in Mama’s hand even as she swears she’ll keep them safe. The pain in her arms from the other child digging his fingernails into her skin.

There is a tiny gap in the barricade at Sofia’s eye level. She stares through it at the advancing Fallen. She has never seen one before, not in the flesh but it is not fear she feels now, or even anger. She is confused. Why are they doing this? Why did they attack their ship? Why did they murder that man? Why can they not just let them be?

The Vandals in the distance look ready to close on their position when they are suddenly peppered with gunfire coming from the right. One of them is hit in the head, which explodes with an almost comical popping sound. The Fallen turn their attention to this new threat but immediately begin to retreat. There is an armored figure charging towards them. Sofia’s curiosity and confusion increase. Why are the Fallen fleeing? This is just one person, what could they possibly do? The runner suddenly begins to glow white and pale blue, tendrils of electricity converging in their fists. They leap into the air, closing the gap between them and the retreating Fallen by tracing a graceful arc through the air. They then plummet to the earth, slamming their electrified fists into the ground. The Fallen glow brilliantly for a fraction of a second before being vapourised.

Sofia realises she has been holding her breath. She exhales slowly, unable to comprehend what she is seeing. She watches this strange, armoured soldier casting around for another opponent. They show no inclination to run for cover. They clearly do not fear another attack, quite the opposite. They stand defiantly out in this open ground, brazenly inviting the Fallen to try their luck a second time.

They begin walking towards their shelter. Whoever this person is, they are utterly unlike the soldiers of the Reef with their elegant uniforms and compact side-arms. This person’s armour is hefty plate metal, while they carry a massive machine gun on their back. Their face is obscured by a helm that looks like the sort of thing a Knight from the Old Earth stories would wear. Once they are a little closer they remove that helm, revealing jaw-length auburn hair and grey eyes decorated with black kohl. She is definitely human but no human should be able to do the things Sofia just saw.

The cowering Awoken and the warrior regard each other in curious silence for a few moments, both parties unsure of what to do next. The armored woman eventually takes the lead. She waves; a hand that only moments before had dealt out lightning and death, now raised in greeting.

[electricbluebutterflies]

forget.

“She asks for peace and instead she gets HIM.”

Or, I wanted to write angsty mid-s2-ish Kabby smut so here we are. Bit canon-divergent in no specific direction and obviously NSFW.

She goes to the water when she gets the chance. There are hundreds of things she ought to be doing at this given moment, but that’s never stopped Abby from following her heart and right now that heart is saying she needs to breathe. Just for an hour, maybe two if she gets distracted in a nice sort of way, certainly not enough time for the entire encampment to catch fire in her absence. And hell, if she’s wrong, enough people have a vague idea where she is and...

Oh, she doesn’t care about them right now. She doesn’t care. She’s overwhelmed, she hates being in charge, and she wants to forget for a little while. Even the more sacrificial part of her soul can justify that.

She stops a couple yards from the edge of the lake and begins to slowly shed her clothing, taking inventory of her bits and pieces as she does so. There’s a tear on the left sleeve of her jacket that she ought to mend - perhaps she’ll do that next time she hits breaking point, curl up with needle and thread and be a damned person instead of this escape - and a few bruises on her legs that she doesn’t remember getting. Her skin feels loose in places, and she knows that even with resources as they are she’s not eating as much as she ought to because half the time she genuinely forgets. Sleep gets the same respect from her lately, and she’s almost amazed that she’s even on her feet right now. No, perhaps that’s too strong a word for her current state... she is, after all, having a minor breakdown in private to keep from a major one in public, but...

Abby has never feared her emotions before, but lately she just wants to numb them. Stop feeling, stop caring. Stop feeling the pressure to be a perfect mother, an honorable leader, a person capable of herding several hundred people around without any major disaster. Stop wondering when the stars will stop taking from her. Just stop. Not permanently or anything, but for a little while, long enough to heal.

Her fingers involuntarily ghost over the scars on her lower back. Hadn’t that been enough sign of her not-enough-ness? Her blood bought healing, but at such cost. Just thinking of that day sends an echo of pain pulsing though her body, a sensation she fears she will never forget. Unlike those she loves, Abby does not have a martyr’s desires. She wants, so desperately, to live. She wants...

She unties her hair, lets the piece of cord fall atop her clothing, and walks forward into the lake. In water, peace. In water, untouchable.

She half expects these little adventures will get her bitten and killed by some sort of water serpent, like what almost happened to that poor Blake girl - poor kid, maybe the only of their kind with even worse luck than herself - but Abby doesn’t feel so much as a harmless fish as she pushes off the bottom of the water and floats on her back. Teaching herself to swim has been a little bit trial and error, but there’s a primal human instinct for it and floating is the most natural thing in the world to her. Worst case scenario, this part of the water is only waist deep, so she’ll be able to save herself if she gets distracted or-

In the distance, footsteps. Peace broken as she remembers that she is alone, female, and unarmed. (Not to mention undressed, but that feels like a lesser concern.) She drops down fluidly, sinks neck-deep in the water, waits. Probably nothing. Probably just a mutant raccoon or some other strange wildlife. She’ll be fine. She’ll be-

No. Human, coming towards her, and familiar as a figure starts to emerge through the trees. No, even worse. About the last person she wants to deal with right now, because so help her they’ve known each other since childhood and no matter how hard she tries she can’t remember a single interaction that hasn’t given her a headache. Dammit. She asks for peace and instead she gets him.

“Where did you go?” Marcus growls. He’s within arm’s distance of her clothing pile, scanning the area for any sign of life. Not worried, exactly, but getting close and Abby feels almost proud of herself for inspiring that and yet-

“Out here,” she calls, not making herself any more visible.

He shakes his head, the perpetual look of frustration blossoming all over him. “At least tell someone next time.”

“I did. Just no one you bothered to ask.”

He grants the point and, without any verbal explanation, sits down on the ground next to her pile. A few slight shifts of position for maximum comfort and oh, there is something strangely natural about the sight of him there, middle-aged lion protecting a woman he doesn’t even like half the time. If Abby were braver, or perhaps a little more lucid, she’d say something about that. As it is...

“Join me?”

Apparently, two words is all it takes to make Marcus’s face turn a beautiful shade of pink beneath his scruff. “What?”

“Water’s much more comfortable than open air,” Abby shrugs, shifting herself so her shoulders break through the surface. “I promise I won’t splash you.”

“That’s not what worries me,” he mutters. “But if you insist...”

She stares as he strips down. She can’t help it. She’s seen more than her share of naked bodies over the years, each with their own form of beauty, but she’s especially captivated by this one. The shape of him is pleasing, she thinks, perhaps not yet enough scars on his skin but there’s still life to be lived and that will come in time.  And okay, fine, she wonders what a soldier’s calluses would feel like brushed against her skin. She wonders, not for the first time, what it would take to break him apart and taste the wreckage. Perhaps, she thinks, it would be enough.

First, though, first she gets the pleasure of watching one of the strongest people she knows have an overwhelming experience. She’d expected otherwise, figured poor Marcus would’ve had to charge into the water chasing something by now, but apparently not and she giggles as he reacts to cold water on skin. Comparatively comfortable, perhaps, but still a hell of a sensory experience for the uninitiated and-

”You’re enjoying this too much,” he growls. He’s almost hip-deep by now, could reach out and touch her if he wanted to but doesn’t because of... heavens, could be any number or combination of reasons, damned if she knows but-

“Not too much at all,” she counters, rising to her full height. Abby’s aware she’s tiny by comparison, but she doesn’t care as she twirls around so her back is facing him and pushes her hair out of the way so her scars are fully visible. “That was still worse.”

He closes the distance and brushes his fingertips across her marks, gentle as can be under the circumstances. “I was wrong. Is that what you want to hear?”

“Depends. Do you mean it?”

“More than anything.”

“Prove it.”

She’s not sure what to expect, but she’s pleasantly surprised as he pulls her back against him and cautiously wraps his arm around her waist. “Tell me when to stop,” he murmurs as his other hand begins to climb her inner thigh.

“This doesn’t mean anything at all.” As if saying it will make it true.

“First thing you haven’t complicated.”

Abby shifts her body just so, satisfied with the response against her lower back. “Make me forget.”

He traces patterns efficiently yet with an adaptive gentleness that pleasantly surprises her. No teasing or unnecessary foreplay, just a finger on her clit applying pressure just so. And no unnecessary words either, and she’s thankful for that. Means better odds this will help her go numb. Means-

She’s thankful for his arm around her as the world goes suddenly very bright, and when she comes back down all is exactly as she left it and she’s thankful for that to. For that, she repays the kindness by twirling around and pulling him down for a kiss and-

“Still means nothing,” she breathes against his lips.

She rests her head against his chest and feels... perhaps more than she wants to, but not so much the overwhelming weight of the world. A flicker of light taking human form opposite her, stroking her back and allowing her to claim whatever pieces of him she needs.

“I like when we forget we hate each other,” Marcus breathes, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of Abby’s head.

“I’ve never hated you,” she counters. “You annoy me more than anyone else I’ve ever met, but it’s nothing personal.”

”Damn. And here I thought you’d intentionally spent the last twenty years making my life a living hell.”

“You did most of that to yourself. All I really needed to do was point it out.”

“Not anymore. As long as I can remember your screams... I will do better.”

“I know.”

Abby closes her eyes and, for a heartbeat, she forgets and it is enough.

[iswearonmarcuskane]

Kickin’ & Screamin’ // Chapter 4

Title: Kickin’ & Screamin’ Fandom: The 100 Pairing: Kabby Tag/Warnings: Modern AU Setting, Kicking and Screaming AU, Kid!Delinquents Chapter(s): 4/22 Read earlier chapters on: AO3

Chapter Summary: the chapter in which kabby makes "shit show" a synonym for "practice"

Chapter 4: If there is no struggle, there is no progress

Marcus wasn’t lying. It’s gonna be a long season.

When they had announced the merge to the team, immediately Cece and Roan complained. Jaha had said something along the lines of, “we’re more screwed than we were before, and we were in the last!” When they had dispersed for practice, Jackson pulled her to the side to ask her, “You okay?”

The only two who didn’t seem to have a problem with it was David Miller and Sinclair. Abby thinks she actually heard them discussing which snacks to bring after their first game. Abby had half a mind to tell them to bring her scotch. She was going to need a bottle on the sideline the way things were going.

The kids didn’t seem to care much. Only Bellamy, Clarke, and Wells seemed to take any interest in the news. Probably because they were the only ones who actually cared that much.

And Abby knew her and Marcus were going to clash at some point with their coaching style. She didn’t think it would happen with the first drill she tried to run, but boy was she wrong. She should’ve known, it was Marcus she was dealing with after all.

For the Lifesavers, every practice started with sharks and minnows, a simple drill to get the kids’ legs moving and get them interested in practice. When she brought up the idea to Marcus he instantly shut it down.

“A game?”

“For warm up, Marcus,” she snapped back, not missing the distasteful edge in his voice. He made it seem like it was a kid’s game, which it was because they were kids. She crossed her arms, being defiant. “We can do more serious things after warm up.”

“Everything should be serious,” he immediately replied. He shook his head, “That way you can improve and win games.”

Abby didn’t even bother pointing out that if that had been his plan every year, it sucked. His only win was against her and it wasn’t that hard to win against her. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone or stand for it if anyone told her that.

“Fine,” she said, throwing her hands up in defeat. “What would you like to do for warm up, Marcus?”

“That sounds sarcastic,” he commented, watching her carefully.

She wanted to say, “No shit,” but all the kids were starting to come over to them. Instead, she smiled at him and said, “I have no idea what you mean.”

He watched her for a few more seconds before he grabbed one of his bags. He started to pull out blue like clothing and told her, “We always do possession for warm up. A good way to get their mind focused right away.”

Abby quickly grabbed one of the blue things and held it up, tilting her head to get a better look at it. “What the hell is this?”

Marcus finished getting them out of his bag and he looked up. He seemed confused by her question, stating like it was obvious, “It’s a penny.”

“This is a penny?” It certainly didn’t look like one. “Where did you get it? The dollar store?”

He looked offended and ripped it out of her hands. She looked to him, the dumbfounded look still on her face. “Hilarious,” was all he replied with.

“I’m serious!” She said, a little laugh mixed in. He gave her a pointed look and she held her hands up in defense. “Those seriously can’t be the only ones you have.”

He didn’t respond but opened the same bag he had just pulled the blue “pennies” from. He pulled out red, green, and yellow ones too. Abby wanted to laugh, really wanted to laugh. “Well,” she piped up, “at least you’re consistent.”

He rolled his eyes and began handing the blue pennies to five of the kids. He announced what they were doing to the kids, “We’re going to start off with a game of possession. The team who doesn’t have the ball after five minutes will have a punishment to do.”

Clarke looked to her mom, asking, “No sharks and minnows?”

Abby shook her head and said, “We’re going to switch it up today, okay? We’ll play it later, though, promise.”

Clarke smiled and nodded and walked off to the grid where they would be playing. Abby took in a mental note how Clarke was basically swimming in her “penny”. She also took a mental note to never let Marcus handle equipment again.

Marcus passed the ball into the grid and started his stop watch. Abby watched him as he watched the drill. He had his arms crossed his chest, eyes scanning the tiny grid.

Abby crossed her arms as well, asking him, “So, what will the punishment be if they lose? Five ‘I’m a star!’ jumps?”

He looked to her, his face portraying the phrase, “Are you serious?”

She nudged her head towards him, asking, “Well?”

He shook his head and told her, “They’ll be running.”

She looked to him in a bit of shock. “Running?” He nodded. “It’s a warm up drill, Marcus.”

“And they’ll learn to never to lose in any part of the game,” he responded, his eyes on the grid once again. “Move after you pass, Clarke. You’ll open up space for Octavia.”

Abby gave him a hard look for lecturing Clarke but when she watched the scene unfold, the anger in her boiled down a tiny fraction. Octavia did have more space to move into to find Jasper, who was open for a pass. Okay, maybe Marcus could coach a little. Still, he didn’t have to suck the fun out of everything to be a good coach.

“What part of this is supposed to be fun?” She asked.

He looked over to her now. He examined her for a bit and said sarcastically, “Wearing the pennies.”

She chuckled a bit. She examined him as well, noting that again his hair was gelled back perfectly. It was another humid day and she was surprised the gel didn’t melt off his hair. She wasn’t sure which bugged her more: his hair or the pennies.

She looked at the poor excuse of a penny Clarke was wearing and then back to his hair. She shrugged, telling him, “Well, maybe if you didn’t spend all your money on hair gel, maybe the kids could have real pennies.”

That smirk formed on his lips again, his hand moving up to scratch at his jaw. He looked over to her, mocking her, “Won’t that get rid of the fun?”

She had to give him that one, she walked into it. Didn’t mean she didn’t have a line to shoot back. She shrugged, telling him, “I don’t know. Maybe if you let your hair breathe, you won’t be so uptight.”

He looked over to her, the smirk growing the tiniest bit. She also noticed his face was perfectly shaven too, no sign of stubble, five o’clock shadow, or cuts from his razor blade. She reached up and patted his left cheek. “Loosen up the tight schedule on your shaving too. The world won’t end if you forget to shave one morning. Might take away some stress.”

Plus, she liked stubble on a man.

+

“Coach, it doesn’t look you’re in total control of this situation.”

“I know, Jaha,” Abby responded, voice dripping with sarcasm. It wasn’t like Abby couldn’t tell that for herself.

Marcus had completely taken over practice, not letting her have a word. Right now, she was sitting on the bench, sneaking a shot from Cece’s flask. If she didn’t have to drive and try to coach these kids, she would down the thing in a few seconds.

Abby tried getting the kids to play shark and minnows after a way too serious shooting drill. Poor Wells was being pelted with shots. The boy got hit in the face more than once and when Abby tried to check him out, Marcus told her to wait till the round was over. He had told her, “It builds strength.”

Abby told him it builds concussions. He ignored her.

So in response, when the kids were taken their first water break of the practice, Abby started setting up the grid for sharks and minnows. Marcus was picking up his cones when he noticed and immediately came over. He demanded to know what drill she was setting up.

So, she told him. You could say his unhappy with her response. His exact response was, “You are not dumbing down the tone I’ve set for this practice.”

You can say Abby was also unhappy with his response. So she ignored him back and kept setting the cones up. He picked up every one she laid down. When she noticed she chucked the cones at him, making a mess.

They glared at each other before Abby finally stormed off to where she was now. This situation wasn’t any better, Jaha again- like usual- was telling her what a horrible job she was doing. He always seemed to be paying attention when things were going wrong. He never noticed the good things.

Currently, Marcus had the kids doing a 1v1 drill. There were three boxes lined up. In each box, Raven, Murphy, and Miller stood in their own in that order. The other seven kids had to try and beat all three. First, they had to stay in the boundaries and get past Raven. If they succeed, they tried to get past Murphy. If they succeed, then they tried to get past Miller. If they got through all three boxes without getting knocked out, then they’d get a point.

It was Clarke’s turn and she watched as Raven immediately stuck her foot out, diving in. Clarke easily dribbled by her and into Murphy’s square. Murphy ran up, making his presence immediately known. He had too much momentum going forward however and Clarke easily spun around him. She entered the last square where Miller just stood there, watching her.

Clarke carefully approached him but Miller didn’t budge. He looked upset and angry. He wasn’t even watching her anymore, he was busy glaring at where Murhpy and Raven were paying attention to the next player, Octavia.

Clarke easily dribbled by him, Miller not trying to stop her at all. Marcus immediately stopped the drill, walking up to Miller. He asked him, “Why didn’t you tackle, Clarke? You let her dribble right by!”

He looked to Marcus unphased by the anger in his tone. He looked to where Murphy and Raven were watching him. He said, “Maybe they shouldn’t have let her pass them either.”

Both Murphy and Raven immediately looked offended and Marcus looked to them and then back to Miller. He told him, “The difference between Clarke passing them and Clarke passing you was that they put effort into it. You didn’t move.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, staring up back to Marcus. “The difference was they sucked.”

“Talk for yourself, Miller,” Raven spat at him.

Miller looked around Marcus, rising an eyebrow at her. “Me?” He asked, “I’m pretty sure I didn’t dive in. I remember that clearly every time we versed you. Made it easy for Bellamy to beat you.”

Raven crossed her arms this time, tilting her head. “And like it wasn’t easy for Clarke to beat you every time? You never move.”

He shrugged, telling her, “At least I don’t fail every time I try.”

“Alright, that’s it,” Raven mumbled and started to walk over, face showing her anger. Murphy had to hold her back while Marcus looked back to Miller.

He pointed at the end of the field and told him, “You have three full field suicides.”

Miller looked aghast and repeated him, “Three?”

Marcus nodded and turned around, leaving no room for argument. He told Miller while walking back to the beginning of the grid, “If you haven’t started by the time I tell Octavia to start, you have three more.”

Abby doesn’t think she’s ever seen Miller move so fast. Raven wasn’t exaggerating when she said Miller never moves. She’s pretty she he holds a grudge for whoever lost the ball and never helps his teammates out when they come at him. She isn’t sure what causes it but he does a damn good job at it.

Marcus had reached the beginning of the grid, where the kids were lined up. He looked at the grid and said, “Let’s switch you guys out. Let’s see…Harper, Wells, and Clarke- you guys go in the grid.”

That got Abby’s attention again. Clarke going into a defensive position? That was absurd, Clarke only played forward. Jaha commented the same, “Clarke is going to play defense? Let’s hope she’s better at that than she is at forward.”

It took everything Abby had to not punch Jaha right then and there. Wouldn’t have been the first time she’s done it. With the look Jackson was giving her, he was already mentally preparing the med kit he would have to pull out if she did hit him.

She ignored Jaha even though she really wanted to reply to him. He seemed to be oblivious to the fact that everyone heard him. Or, he didn’t give a shit.

Looking back to the drill, Harper was in the first box, then Clarke, and Wells in the last. Abby had a bad feeling in her gut about this as Marcus told Octavia to go. She slowly dribbled into the box, looking very uncertain what to do. Harper easily won the ball and knocked it out of the grid.

Next up was Bellamy who easily flew past Harper. It was like a battle of the two best players on each team when Bellamy entered Clarke’s box. Clarke took her defensive position as Bellamy charged forward.

The two immediately clashed, Clarke swinging her leg into for a tackle. The ball got stuck in between them as they fought for one to be victorious. Bellamy soon pulled the ball back and tried to use his body to brush by, but Clarke held firm, keeping him in front of her.

The two spurred for a good minute before Bellamy finally forced himself over the line, entering Wells’ box, who he easily nutmegged and ran past to catch up to the ball.

Abby looked back to her daughter to see her annoyed and upset. See, Abby knew Clarke wouldn’t like it. She knew her daughter enjoyed being up top and in charge.

Abby looked over to where Marcus stood, smirking in her direction. His eyes flickered to Bellamy and then back to her. Oh, so that’s how he wanted to play it.

Just because Bellamy got by Clarke once did not mean his team was superior. Sure, the standings clearly stated that, but it was Clarke’s first time ever trying defense out. Bellamy wouldn’t get past her next time.

Next up was Monty, who was the shyest player of Arkadia. He slowly dribbled into the box, looking up to Harper. She immediately smiled at him, telling him, “You can do it, Monty!”

Monty didn’t seem to think Monty could. He looked back to his brother, Jasper, for confirmation. Jasper grinned big, nodding his head. Monty looked back to Harper and went forward.

It was very evident that Harper let Monty pass. Everyone could see it. Marcus immediately stopped the drill and walked up to the duo. Harper looked guilty before Marcus even spoke. He asked, “Why did you let him pass?”

She looked down to her cleats and said, “Because I wanted him to believe he could do it…”

He crouched down to meet her eye level, waiting till she looked at him to reply. “We’ve been over this before Harper,” he pointed at Monty, “he won’t get better unless you push him to do his best. Giving him the easiest way out won’t help him in the end.”

All she did was nod in response. He stood up, saying, “Perfect. Monty, start over. And Harper,” she looked to Marcus, who pointed to the poor boy who was currently dying while running his suicides, “if you don’t give 100%, then you’ll be joining him for your own set of three.”

It was easy to conclude that Monty didn’t advance to Clarke’s box. Jasper gave him a supportive pat on the back as he walked by to go to the back of the line. Jasper looked to where Harper stood and told her, “See you on the other side.”

He went before Marcus told him to go and before Harper could get ready. In a panic, she stuck her foot out and caught the ball at the right time. It stopped from her foot and Jasper tripped over it, falling to the ground.

“HEY! KEEP IT CLEAN!”

The scream caught everyone off guard. Heads whipped around to find Cece suddenly standing, her lawn chair thrown a few feet behind her. Saying she was pissed was an understatement.

“Keep what clean?” Oh no. “That was a clean tackle.” Dear God, no.

Cece’s head and everyone else’s turned to see Roan, chilling on the picnic table. He seemed unbothered by the tackle but agitated by her.

She put her hands on her hips. “Clean? She tripped him!”

“She got the ball.”

“No, she didn’t.”

It was the first practice. They had many more weeks to go.

“Yes, she did.”

“No, she didn’t.”

Many practices, games, and team activities where she’d have to be with these people in the same place.

“What the hell were you watching, Cece? It’s soccer, your kid is going to fall once in a while.” Roan was now leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as he watched her.

“Which is fine,” she said as she was stepping closer to him. Sinclair was trying his best to keep her back, David Miller doing the same to Roan. “But,” she continued, “only when it’s a clean tackle.”

Abby wasn’t sure how she was going to survive.

“Maybe you should stop worrying about my daughter’s ‘dirty tackles’ and maybe focus on your kid,” Roan shot back.

“Maybe you shouldn’t teach your daughter those ‘dirty’ moves,” Cece fired back.

Abby tipped the flask back up to her lips but nothing came out. She looked down into the dark opening. It represented their future: bleak.

She saw Jackson coming over to her with a water bottle. She needed something a lot stronger but she would take what she could get. He asked the question she’s heard every day since she became the coach of the Lifesavers, “You okay?”

Abby looked to where Cece and Roan were now in a full blown out argument again. David Miller and Sinclair were unfortunately stuck in the middle, just like always. Jaha was mumbling under his breath on how they were screwed. Jackson was over worrying (rightfully so) again.

And then there was Marcus. He had lost control of the kids. Harper had run over to Monty, trying to apologize for earlier, accompanied by Jasper. Octavia and Raven were pulling Miller’s penny over his head so he couldn’t see. Murphy sat by his brother, Wells, covering his cleats with grass he was pulling from the ground. Finally, Wells, Bellamy, and Clarke were watching the chaos all go down.

Marcus was frantically chasing the duo who was messing with Miller. He was yelling at Murphy to stop ruining the field and asking for the trio’s help. He was also trying to see of Jasper was okay but none of them would listen to him for he had done to Monty and Harper. He finally stopped chasing them and stood in the middle of the chaos.

They made eye contact in the midst of it. He looked lost and defeated. She shrugged, tipped the water bottle to him and winked. It was hilarious if you had a twisted sense of humor.

Two terrible teams, always have been destined to fail, now combined and destined to fail together. Ironic really, considering in the movies and novels where this happens, the two teams somehow manage to overcome their differences and become successful.

The Lifesavers and the Assassins though? That was a disaster waiting to happen.

Was Abby okay? Sure she was.

Abby had never experienced winning, she had always been at the bottom. She had always lost and yeah, it sucked, but now she has nothing to lose. She can’t lose to Marcus anymore, the only thing she ever cared about when she learned her team was hopeless.

Would beating Mount Weather be amazing? Hell yeah. Would getting Cage to finally shut up and stop his bragging be worth it? Definitely.

But let’s be realistic. This is real life, not some novel or movie. That isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

But you know what can happen? Marcus can experience everything she has. He can experience what it’s like to lose every game and never win a game. He can experience the brunt of embarrassment she faces each year at the league parties. He can lose.

And Abby would be damned if she wasn’t okay with that.