#maybe she faked her death for the good of the kingdom who knows (I do) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

saetgvia · 4 months

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spark | wriothesley

in which you and wriothesley find an unlikely spark.

CHAPTER ONE: A NOT SO MEET-CUTE

prince!wrio x fem!noble!reader, invented country au

✧ genre: fluff, angst...? maybe...? if you squint...?, arranged marriage trope

✧ tw: none, if you see any lmk <3

✧ word count: 1.32K

✧ playlist: spark - taeyeon, radio - lana del rey, deja vu - txt, darl+ing - seventeen, invu - taeyeon, agora hills - doja cat, killin' me good - jihyo, i like you (a happier song) - doja cat & post malone, fever - enhypen, eleven - ive, hype boy - newjeans, hard to love - rose, sour grapes - le sserafim, oh my god - adele, my head & my heart - ava max, nonsense - sabrina carpenter, the feels - twice

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i. a not so meet-cute

'what.' you stare in disbelief at your parents. 'there's no way. NO. WAY.' arranged marriages only happen in books. of course you'd heard of them in your country of azura, some distant cousin being married to some lord or other for alliances or whatever, but you'd always been free to do what you wanted, marry who you chose. your parents never put any restrictions on you, but this out of the blue is so- 'unexpected! what? i thought-' 'circumstances change.' your father replies shortly. 'i- you- you can't do this!' you cry, becoming more and more panicked. you wanted to fall in love, marry someone you chose! and now, you were going to be pawned off to someone you didn't even know. wait...

'can you at least tell me who i'm being given away to?' 'you're not being given away-' 'oh mom, it's fine. i know how this works. so, who is it?'

wriothesley. the prince of emeia. a name that struck fear into your very soul. not because he was a terrible ruler or a womaniser. he was, in fact, the complete opposite. you'd heard tales from all over the kingdom in the form of gossiping ladies giggling behind fans, sipping their tea and gushing to your mother. she, in turn, laughed daintily, and turned to you with a pointed look. how could she even know? his parents kept him hidden away from the world, their precious son too perfect for mere commoners. no, you were afraid because you didn't know him. because he seemed too good to be true. and most of all, because he was about to become your life. you should have seen this coming.

'i won't go.'

your father's eyes narrow, and you can see his neatly trimmed beard bristling in anger. you've never seen him like this before, and over something as silly as an arranged marriage? your mother puts a placating arm on his bicep, and he shoots her a look, both of them communicating through their gaze. finally, he exhales, evidently trying to calm himself, and speaks.

'we... we're in debt. remember that deal with ceria? the cherry liqueur? they've been selling it for exorbitant prices without giving us any of the profits, and we've been depending on that to get us out of last winter's snowstorms. emeia noticed us struggling and have so kindly offered to refill our coffers in exchange for your hand.' there's a hint of annoyance in his tone, and you begin to understand just how much this is weighing on him. but still, how can you throw your life away like that?

'i'll think about it.'

⭑⭑⭑

'but i don't WANT to!' you shriek into your pillow, kicking your feet in true spoiled girl fashion. your maid, or rather, your friend, giselle, winces, and tries to comfort you.

'hey, maybe it won't be so bad! everyone says he's a sweetheart!'

'but everyone ISN'T BEING MARRIED OFF TO HIM!'

'think about your parents, hon! you can always divorce him later, run away, fake your own death-'

she breaks off at your deadpan gaze, and starts to giggle, until you start to giggle, and you're both in your bed cackling uncontrollably. you wipe tears of mirth from your eyes, and look at giselle over the rumpled sheets, her eyes twinkling, and you wish there were more people like her in the world. sitting up, you clasp her hands between yours, and trace the lines on her weathered palm. you exhale, and make up your mind. you have to marry wriothesley.

'giselle... i'll marry wriothesley. but only if you come with me.'

⭑⭑⭑

'woah woah woAH-' you cry as you stumble. your beautiful, floor-length cherry-red dress, so stunning to look at when you were standing in one place, was nothing but a nuisance when you were walking. for comfort, you'd opted for soft velvet flats instead of the heels sent for you; you could see the flaws in this decision now. but instead of breaking your nose, you're met with shoes. shiny leather shoes, buckled with silver, and a pair of strong - warm - arms gripping your own. slowly raising your head, your eyes land on a beautiful face. chiseled jawline, chiseled nose, chiseled forehead, somehow his neck is also chiseled. but his lips, so plump and pink and soft, and his eyes, like chips of blue ice, hold a twinkle of mirth.

'woah there, careful. wouldn't want you to get hurt.'

his voice is honey, smooth and sweet, and it washes over your ears. you can't stop staring, enthralled by his gaze.

'cat got your tongue?'

you snap out of your daze, realising you're still half on the mysterious stranger, and stumble backwards. you brush your hands over your dress, the gold embroidery rough under your fingers.

'sorry. i uh- i have to go.'

you picked up your skirts and hurried back towards the throne room. you didn't think you could get so lost trying to go to the bathroom! stopping before a mirror adorning the wall, you take a quick look at your appearance. the crimson dress fit your figure wonderfully, golden embroidery curling up the sides and front of your dress, forming a pattern of flames that ended just below your neckline. your hair, so lustrous and thick, had managed to escape its tight bindings, so you gasp heavily as you catch your breath and tie your hair up at the same time, the ribbon cherry-red to match your dress. adjusting yourself one final time, you nod to the guards outside to open the door for you, and walk into the throne room.

you're once again taken by surprise at the grandness of it all. absolutely everything inside is scarlet, a stark contrast to the cool blue drapes of azura. you'd always found it funny how blue was your dukedom's colour and yet your primary export was cherries, something so very opposite. the floor, carpeted in lush red and cream formed a pathway up to the raised thrones, all three of them cushioned by velvet and adorned with gold scrollwork and filigree. behind the thrones and all around, rich tapestries decorate the walls, vermilion depictions of the kingdom's greatest victories. you weren't sure if they were there to celebrate or intimidate. maybe both. a big, booming laugh reaches your ears, and your gaze is drawn to the antechamber towards the back of the room. ah, so that's where they've gone to. you scurry towards the chamber, nodding with as much regal-ness as you could muster towards the servants who caught your eye and sank into a deep curtsy or bow. straightening your dress, again, out of habit, you step into the room.

your parents are laughing, your father releasing his great guffaw and your mother tittering behind her gloved hand. the king of emeia, a warm, welcoming person with greying ebony hair and soft blue eyes was telling some kind of story, while his wife, the queen, sat, watching the scene with adoration and satisfaction. the queen noticed you first, her brown eyes crinkling into a sweet smile as she noticed you.

'oh there you are! we were wondering where you'd gone.'

'sorry... i got a little lost.' you take your seat on another velvet sofa, picking up your cup of tea. the servants appeared to have brought more plates of food in, the table once again covered in delicate china piled high with macarons and pastries and little sandwiches cut into perfect triangles. you pick up one of the treats, a golden swirl of pastry with colourful fruit peeking out, and bite into it. it's heavenly, deliciously flaky and sweet on your tongue. you pick it up and munch happily on it again.

'ah, here he is. wrio! here is the girl we wish for you to marry.'

you choke. because when you look up, you see the same chiseled features, the same lips, the same eyes and the same smile.

'THAT'S wriothesley?'

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from saetgvia: i have never started writing a fic so fast oh my god??? very excited for this fic and i hope you are too <3 stay tuned will have part 2 coming out soon!

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please like and reblog my work! tumblr relies on reblogs to function, so help my work be seen by more people <3 my spark taglist and overall is now open, drop an ask if you want to be added! just specify which one.

#fanfiction #fanfic #fandom #genshin impact #wriothesley #wriothesley x reader #wriothesley fluff #wriothesley x you #wriothesley x fem!reader #spark #genshin impact wriothesley #fluff #arranged marriage

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zyrafowe-sny · 1 year

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is the cop or am I the one that's really dangerous

Ambrosius says, "Because I love you," and Ballister's (aching, concussed) brain tries to comprehend love without trust, love with reservation, love that takes the twisted words of others over the bone-deep knowledge that comes from a shared life.

"Just promise to think about it, Bal. She's dangerous." Ambrosius retrieves the fallen sword and scroll and shoves them in his hands.

This time Ballister keeps them — putting his sword on his belt on auto-pilot — but that doesn't stop him from running off.

(And his newfound friendship with Nimona doesn't stop him from at least considering the words of his oldest friend and the man he can't help but love despite it all.)

He knows she couldn't possibly have orchestrated the assassination. She would have needed a second shapeshifter to pretend to be the Director to fake that confession — or split herself in two somehow — and either option seems both unlikely and altogether a far too complicated plan for little miss "something something we win".

Unless that was all a ruse to throw him off and she's actually a tactical genius.

He thinks of her delight in chaos and destruction. He thinks of how many knights she's injured (killed? modern armor is strong but not invulnerable). He thinks of all the innocent bystanders she put in harm's way. And that girl in the monster in the scroll looks uncannily like the girl he grabbed from atop a stolen motorhorse.

Could Nimona really be Gloreth's monster? Could she have destroyed their city when it was in its infancy? Did she want to burn it to the ground again? Is she capable of sowing (false) distrust to make the Kingdom harder to defend when she makes her big move? Did she identify him as the weak link in the Institute that would bring it all down?

(Maybe he's questioning everything now, but her loneliness seems real. He can believe she wants an ally, someone to talk to, someone to fight with, even if she always just planned on using him.)

Ballister's still lost when he finds himself back at the tower.

Nimona's sleeping so peacefully — especially compared to her earlier nightmares — but he hardens his heart as she wakes.

He wants answers.

She doesn't really give them.

All his darkest doubts spill out.

Ballister never does manage to say the m-word, but his actions speak louder than his tongue ever could. He sees her glowing eyes and hears the sound of his sword leaving its sheath. His own eyes dart between Nimona and his hands, and he can't believe what he was about to do to the frightened girl in front of him.

As Nimona would say, he was brainwashed good.

And apparently he's also an enormous hypocrite. (Maybe he judged Ambrosius a little too harshly for not believing he was innocent. Or maybe they both have much to learn about love and trust and who the monsters really are.)

"I-"

He fully intends to apologize for being small-minded (again), for clinging to a thousand year old story instead of trusting the (possibly thousand year old) teenager actually in front of him, but then there are voices outside before he can even start to find the right words.

He doesn't know how Todd found his hideout — was he followed from the city? — but that doesn't matter. To his relief, Nimona disappears in a shimmer of light and escapes before the knight notices. (Maybe someday they'll meet again and he'll be able to make up for his betrayal, but following her now will just put her in more danger.)

The beating feels like a fitting punishment. He just hopes he can stay conscious long enough that she'll be long gone before they think to continue the search. With any luck, she'll find some peace far away from this cursed kingdom.

But then the world shakes and he sees the birds fly away as shadows loom. And he knows the hurt is too strong and too deep and too old for her to just make a clean break, a fresh start.

It doesn't take long for him to recognize a death march.

He knew she had suicidal thoughts. He knew it and still he questioned her motivations and their friendship and her personhood. He knew it and pressed just the right buttons that would hurt her the most.

Maybe Gloreth's statue will drive the physical blow, but he's the one sticking a sword through Nimona's heart because she's different.

Unless he can get there in time.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please consider liking, reblogging, or hopping over to AO3 to leave a kudo or comment.

#nimona fanfic #nimona #nimona 2023 #nimona movie #ballister boldheart #suicide #suicidal ideation #my fanfic #cross posted on ao3

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mdhwrites · 1 year

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So do you ever think that the whole Cat God thing in the Amphibia felt kinda out of left field? Like aside from Anne rambling when high on painkillers (which is not good foreshadowing), the Cat God feels like it came out of nowhere with barely any build up and only really exists purely so they wouldn't have to end the show with Anne 100% dead.

So... I really like it. It's maybe one of the few really good fake out deaths out there because it would have genuinely sucked if Anne were dead at the end of the series but having her briefly die for once has an actual POINT to it in the story, as well as one other part I like about it that I'll get to. Most things that do this sort of death can't say they have a real point to it. For them, it's just a heroic sacrifice to show things are serious and then it's various levels of questionable of how they turn it around when they get back. *glares daggers at Kingdom Hearts 3*

Amphibia is all about change though. How change can be painful, how it can be great, the good, the bad, and what we must sacrifice for it. A story about change that never addresses death is arguably incomplete in its themes. Death is one of the most painful changes in our life after all and rarely do we get to have a choice in the matter. Rarely does it get to mean something. Anne at least got to have it be her choice and to have it be in order to save the world she loved and change it for the better, while the Core wanted to change it for the absolute worst.

So her dying makes sense. It's kind of just the natural final note for the theme to go out on. So how do I justify the god coming out of nowhere?

Well, a lot of it has to do with Amphibia's writing. For once, not just that it is a looser sort of show with a better comedy focus than something like TOH. No, this time it has to do with the writing around the stones and around the god. The stones are always portrayed to us as gifts. Even Aldrich says it is their greatest treasure and that no one knows where they came from. They have prophecies about it. It's very BIG fantasy. Not High Fantasy but BIG, the sort that includes gods and what not. Honestly, one could argue it's taking cues from Greek storytelling in that way with chosen heroes, divine gifts, etc. like that.

So when the god appears and says the stones were all a game/test... Yeah, I buy it. They are unfathomably powerful, they aren't fully known by anyone, no matter how much anyone claims to understand them and all you have to do for their full power is to ask. Send a prayer to the one who made them.

But it gets better. I LOVE that it was an offhand thing for the god that then got annoying. That they decided to change things for no reason by giving mortals unlimited power and had to scold itself for TEN THOUSAND YEARS for what a mistake that was. It treated life as a game, fucked around and found out.

Which actually brings us to the final thing: The fact that Anne's kindness is rewarded. While community and change are major themes of the show, the driving force behind pretty much the entirety of the show is compassion and understanding as what brings about positive community and change. In her sacrifice, she showed the ultimate compassion she could for her world, her friends showed understanding by knowing they shouldn't stop Anne if this was her choice and for that, she is given the chance for godhood.

But Anne doesn't back off from her choice. She accepted death and she doesn't see herself as a queen. She isn't about to become like Sasha or the Core and take power just because it's in front of her. Not when she's made plenty of mistakes during the show. In that humility, she is given a chance to finish growing but they don't take back the impact on the theme. She still accepted the ultimate change. She even accepted it over power over everyone because she didn't just assume it'd be a purely positive change for everyone.

And all of that is part of why to me, the catgod works. Admittedly, from a pacing standpoint, it's about the only way to pull Amphibia's tone back to where they can start cracking jokes and what not and have an ending that feels like Amphibia rather than some dower, bittersweet farewell which is in and of itself smart for the show.

There's a LOT in Amphibia like this. Where if not for smart, cohesive choices made on all levels, and a genuine understanding of what it is on all levels, the choices wouldn't work or they'd be stupid or rushed, etc. like that.

But Amphibia is smart enough to make it all work, almost like a capricious god playing with a world, though not without a couple cracks at the fault lines. But that's just texture since a perfect product is a boring product.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#amphibia

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reccyls · 2 years

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a (semi) cracky theory about just who exactly keith howell is

Disclaimer: It has been a good long while since I've played the routes/events that form the main evidence for this theory so I'm sure there are a lot of things I'm forgetting, maybe even things that blow a giant hole right through this entire theory. But it was fun coming up with it.

So I was making a list of the ages of all the characters and basically, the only character whose age we don't know is Keith's. We haven't directly been told Gilbert or Silvio's ages, but they're able to be worked out through relations with other characters. Keith though, is a mystery, as far as I can tell.

And speaking of relations with other characters, the game seems to position Leon very heavily as Keith's Rhodolite counterpart. Like how Chevalier is to Gilbert, or Rio (and at one point, Nokto) is to Silvio. It's not explicitly made a thing in the actual in-game plot. But Keith and Leon are paired together somewhat often.

For example:

In a VS story event pitting the new princes up against the Rhodolite princes, Leon is paired with Keith. (the other counterparts were Chevalier and Gilbert, as expected, and Nokto and Silvio)

In the 2022 April Fool's event in JP, which is a bodyswap themed event, the characters that were swapped are all counterparts and/or often paired together in some way: Nokto and Licht, Rio and Silvio, and Clavis and Chevalier. And also Keith and Leon.

And then, as I was recently replaying Sariel's route, Keith and Leon get a somewhat strange moment together. There's a lot of stuff happening politically in Sariel's route, including a whole mess with Obsidian and Benitoite going on. But the game still made some time to have an aside about an odd interaction between Leon and Keith.

So, I'm just wondering, what's up with these two specifically?

And so this theory was born: that we do actually know Keith's age: he's 28 years old. How do we know this exactly? Because Keith Howell had another name, once upon a time. And that name was Leon.

Yep, my theory is that Keith was the original, "real" 4th Prince of Rhodolite, Leon Dompteur.

But the real Prince Leon supposedly died, didn't he? Well, consider what we do know now about Jade:

It is a country abundant with herbs, many with medicinal effects. It wouldn't be such a stretch to say that Jade's medicinal capabilities are very advanced due to this. Keith himself is knowledgeable about poisons and medicines both.

We know that Keith is the only prince of Jade and has thus already been named the next in line for the crown of Jade. Thus, before Keith, Jade had no heir--a very troubling situation for a kingdom to be in.

So my theory goes thus: Jade, through spying/espionage/other means, found out about the original Prince Leon and how he was dying. They found out that a slave boy had been found to replace the prince already. That left a spare. Jade approached the real Leon Dompteur's mother, and offered her a cure for her son's illness through Jade's medicinal prowess. The catch was, the original prince Leon would have to come to Jade and become their prince instead.

It was a deal she took. Maybe she fed the original Leon some kind of medicine/potion that would fake death, and then spirited him away to Jade. There he was treated for his illness with some kind of medicine, and his life was saved.

Our Leon was chosen for his resemblance to the original Leon: black hair, golden eyes. Perhaps the severity of the illness and/or treatment caused the original prince's hair to turn prematurely gray. But that wouldn't change the color of his eyes. Both Keith and our Leon have golden eyes, remember.

In order for the original prince to become the heir to Jade's throne, he couldn't be Prince Leon anymore. There was already a Prince Leon in Rhodolite. So he had to become someone else, to become Keith Howell instead. And it wasn't just a new name and appearance, he also needed to take on a new personality, become someone else entirely.

Just like how our Leon had to.

And don't you think that IkePri really likes its irony, and using later routes to recontextualize what we've discovered in earlier routes? Like how Clavis's route provides additional context and another point of view about Chevalier's choices during Bloodstained Rose Day. Like how Silvio's route flips our perception of the King of Benitoite on its head after Rio's route. And, of course, how Luke's route uncovers the full truth of Jin's biggest regret. Don't you think that a twist like this about one of the earliest things we uncovered in the game plays right into how IkePri doles out revelations?

There is one more piece of evidence here: on the character selection screen, each character has a quote that describes a bit of their personality and what you might get into for them. Keith's quote, with a rough translation, is below:

"I am an empty person. Not someone fit to be a prince. ...That's why it's painful to look at the Rhodolite princes."

And I'd like to bring up a quote during Leon's route, as he's explaining about how the original Leon was teaching him:

From the way Leon described it, it was as if [the original Prince Leon] were pouring everything of himself into Leon, as if trying to fill him up, like a vessel.

Keith (as I'll refer to him now to avoid confusion) poured everything of himself into Leon: name, appearance, memories, knowledge, personality. Keith, now, is empty. And how must it feel to watch the Rhodolite princes, knowing that the were supposed to have been his brothers? His family?

As for Dark!Keith... Well, now we're getting into really speculative territory. But I think that Dark!Keith is Keith's own resentment at his situation, piling up. He resents that he's had to give up everything about himself, his whole identity. Just as how our Leon took his dissatisfaction, his loneliness, and compressed it all down deep inside himself, Keith did the same thing. But that just resulted in Dark!Keith. Dark!Keith is all that's left of the original Leon, now. Here's a quote from the original Leon, doesn't it somewhat sound like something that Dark!Keith would?

"If this kingdom seems so worthless to you that you want to destroy it, then it deserves to be destroyed. Don't you think?"

So, yeah. That would explain why Keith and Leon are put together so much by the game. Just watch all this be tossed out the window the next time we get a Keith event and/or his route, haha. But I do quite like this pet theory.

#ikemen prince #i slowly started convincing myself it was less cracky than it originally was #am i going to have egg on my face the moment this is disproven #keith (ikepri)

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heavenlymorals · 2 years

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Green Eyes

Summary: Done with her duties for the day, Aslaug hears a sound coming from Ivar's room goes to investigate.

I need to keep better track of my WIPs. I forgot all about this. Anyways, I hope you enjoy ❤

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When Ragnar disappeared from Kattegat after his failed raid in Frankia, Aslaug took the role of both King and Queen. Of course, it wasn’t the first time she has taken up such responsibility, as she always was prone to take that role when her elusive husband sent out with the men in spring to continue raiding, but for the first time, the people truly considered her the sole ruler of Kattegat. She gained the respect and the prestige of a King over the years when Ragnar left her and her children.

She gained the respect of the people by taking the reins of the kingdom that Ragnar left to the carrion crows. She gained the prestige given by the respect of the people by guiding Kattegat to astonishing and astounding heights. Alone, she turned Kattegat, not to a station where young men and women go out to eventually meet their death in the raids, but to a wonderful trading hub, always busy and bustling with foreign excitement.

Kattegat’s market district grew tenfold. The wealth grew tenfold. Fewer people were starving, and more children were being born. Wives were ecstatic that their husbands were staying home rather than embarking on the raids. Husbands were satisfied knowing that with all the new opportunities in Kattegat, they needed not to worry their wives and children about the possibility of forfeiting their lives for gold.

Of course, some men and women, with fire in their souls and bloody ambition in their hearts, would still join the raids. Aslaug herself always found that part of business barbaric, but occasionally, she would sponsor a raid or two. More often though, she would just send them to the care of Bjorn, who commanded his own fleet of ships and who shared their same inferno, or she would send them to Lagertha over in Hedeby.

Lagertha also commanded a decent number of ships in Hedeby, but she lacked the numbers to properly procure a reasonable raiding party across all her ships, so she welcomed the warriors of Kattegat with open arms. She would smile wide and thank Aslaug for her support. Aslaug would smile back, though she knew that with each passing day, their friendly alliance would grow shakier and shakier. In her gut, Aslaug had a feeling it was because of Ragnar, but at the same time, it has been more than twenty years since she first met the man and gave birth to her oldest son, Ubbe.

He was no longer here for Lagertha to be angry at, but Aslaug was still here. The seeress could sense Lagertha’s fake smiles all the time, but she always knew Lagertha to have an honor that only a few people could have. Aslaug was sure that she respected their alliance as much as Aslaug did.

Or maybe not. Aslaug was not sure anymore.

In essence, life was good. Well, for her people, life was good. For herself? She was tired, delirious, and hopeless that she will ever get a decent night of sleep ever again, and it wasn’t because of her children. Her nightmares or visions, sometimes it was hard to tell, tore her apart on the inside. She saw coiling snakes. She saw ravens gorging on carrion. She saw the brutality of war. She saw blood covering her children. She saw horrible, terrible things. It was worse, knowing that as much as she would want to, she could not scream or cry, or else the people will share the same terrors. They all knew she could see things, and with how stressful everything has been for her, she wasn’t able to differentiate between the visions and the nightmares.

She wanted nothing more than to just drown her sorrows with a sweet glass of wine (a couple of glasses of wine, actually), but she refrained from doing that because she couldn’t risk making a fool out of herself again like how she did when Sigurd showed her Harbard sleeping with those two other women. She was the singular ruler of Kattegat. She could not have it.

Aslaug sighed. She would’ve given up long ago on Kattegat if it weren’t for the fact that she was seeing the fruits of her labor. The people will never tell stories of her turning Kattegat in the right direction with nothing but her mind and her dreams. They will never tell stories of her in the same way that they would Ragnar and Lagertha and her valiant parents. She was not a woman who lived by iron and blood. She was not a warrior in any sense of the word. No one would conduct songs. No one would care. If she were a man, then maybe. She would have stood out against all the other men that made their fortune forged from blood and tears, but she wasn’t a man nor did she want to be like a man. She cared not for swords and strength, like Lagertha or any of the other wonderful shieldmaidens who danced on the battlefield, making death their lackey.

The gods sowed a cruel reality for women like her. Women like her had a heavy burden to bear. She won’t fight though, she won’t go against fate. If it was her burden, she would bear it with a smile, no matter how tense that smile may be.

She sighed. It was late. The councils were over. Her duties were over, at least for today. Her muscles ached and her head hurt. Despite doubting that she will truly rest her mind, she knew that it would be good for her tired body to lie down. To hopefully relive some of the aches that tortured her stature.

She released her servants to rest and as she walked to her quarters, she heard a small little sound echoing from Ivar’s room. It was soft and piquant and then was followed by a softer whisper. Aslaug stopped in her tracks and then pressed her ear to the door. She heard more whispering and then a peal of delicate laughter.

She sighed. Ivar’s eyes were deathly blue today. She sent him to bed early for a reason. He needed to rest. She knew deep down that he was old enough to understand his own weaknesses more than she ever could, but she was still paranoid that her boy may do something that he would regret later. He should be sleeping, not whispering into the late hours of the night. She felt annoyance creep up her spine. Another burden.

No, no. What a horrible thing to think about the son she tried so hard and succeeded in keeping alive. She felt disgust seep into her stomach as she thought about her youngest being another burden that she had to take care of. What a horrible, terrible, atrocious thing to think. She hated herself for feeling that, even if it were for a split second.

Ivar was a brilliant boy, truly. He had a tongue like quicksilver and a mind like a whip. His intelligence was frightening at times, his rapid-fire wit amusing. Aslaug had little doubt in her mind that one day Ivar would grow tired of Kattegat and his mother and would wound up someplace else. Aslaug also had little doubt that despite her boy’s legs, he would rise to greatness. Or so she hopes. She still felt nauseous at times knowing that Ivar leaving her was a reality that inches closer day by day, year by year, but she also knew that when he leaves, only greatness will lay in his path.

He was no burden. No, he will become great.

(Gods, please let that be true. Don’t let her or her youngest suffer any more than they already does.)

Another small sound emerged from beyond the door and Aslaug administered three hard knocks on the door. It was far too late, and he should be resting, making sure that the blue in his whites would dilute once more.

The noise from inside the room was silenced. Cheeky boy, her son was. She creaked open the door and she saw a bundle hide beneath the thick furs, with thicker furs specifically covering his legs. Unless she was going absolutely mad, she knew she heard him a few seconds beforehand. She walked up to the bed to check if her son was asleep. When she approached, the furs squirmed in unnatural ways and when she stepped closer, a small black head emerged from the furs, pushing the blankets away from Ivar’s eyes, showing Aslaug a sheepish expression on her son’s face, illuminated by the moonlight.

The small black head revealed two pointy triangular ears and large green eyes. The cat meowed gently and stared at Aslaug with those gem-like eyes before rolling onto its back, curling its tail upwards, and closing its eyes like it had no care in the world. Ivar pulled himself upwards and scratched the cat’s head, the animal purring softly as he did so. It was a precious site, she could not deny that at all.

“Hello, Ivar. Who is your little friend?”

Ivar continued petting the cat, alternating from head scratches to rubbing its tummy. “He comes every now and again. He doesn't have a name yet, though."

Aslaug nodded, pleased knowing that her son was not lying to her. She could tell. She wasn’t his mother for nothing. When he did lie to her, he would play around with the fabric of his sleeve or his gaze would lower downwards. Funny enough, these dishonest little nuances only occurred when he was lying to her. She has observed him lying to others before, and if she did not already know the truth beforehand, she would think that Ivar was being truthful.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and brought her hand to feel Ivar’s forehead. It was a habit she simply could not help, so she tried her best to it cover up as a pathway to then ruffle his hair. He let it happen and the cat continued to lazily flick its tail.

“Have you been feeding him?” Aslaug asked quietly.

Ivar nodded, “it’s probably the only reason he keeps coming back.”

Aslaug snorted slightly. She stared at the feline and did feel a cunning aura surrounding it. It probably would come only to get fed, but with how comfortable it was on the bed, she doubted that that cat and her son’s relationship came only from the basis of food.

“Hmm, I doubt it. The goddess Freya adores felines, and I have no doubt that should one be comfortable with you, you are gaining the goddess’s favor,” Aslaug said, her tone matter-of-factly. Ivar snorted a bit and continued petting the cat.

"What good is her favor if I can't get Eir's?" His voice was just caked in a thick layer of ambivalence. Uncertain yet entirely sure. Aslaug felt her lips pursed at his words and her heart shattering into a million little pieces. How many times has her body picked up the shards of her heart to piece them back together? What did her heart look like? She was certain that after so many heartbreaks, it was misshapen and perhaps even missing a few pieces. Oh, her poor darling boy. Her sweet, sweet boy.

She sighed and ran the back of her hand gently on Ivar's cheek. She shifted a bit on the bed to have her back at the headrest and then snaked her arm around Ivar's shoulder to pull him closer. Ivar did not fight against her actions and instead sunk close into her side while his hand continued to absentmindedly stroke the cat's fluffy fur.

Around other people, Ivar was a rather aloof figure, all crystallized in cold gelid ice, and the older he got, the clear this became. The only time he truly let down his guard was around either herself or Ubbe or Hvitserk. She doesn't know how often he unraveled his souls to her two eldest children but when it came to her, any moments of vulnerability were few and far between. Being a queen was a harsh business, a tiring burden, and one of the biggest regrets of her role in society was seeing her children's youth and innocence fall between her fingers like grains of fine sand.

"You've had Eir's favor many times, Ivar. Stronger men have suffered your wounds and died the next day. Stronger men have become sick and died the next day. Every day we live without plague is Eir granting us her gifts of healing. And besides, she must be worked to the bone every day, healing those boorish and fetid men in Valhalla, hm?"

She tried to keep her tone and her words light and teeming with wisdom. Instead, they felt empty and depleted. They were meant to comfort him, but to her ears, they failed to bring that element.

Ivar laughed softly at that, though his smile didn't reach his eyes. The cat stretched its legs while it was still in its supine position and then rolled over to its stomach, its bushy tail swaying back and forth on the bed. Ivar's hand retreated from the animal's body as it was moving. When it seemed to become comfortable in its new position, he brought his hand down again to scratch the base of the cat's pointed ears. It began to let out a low rumbling sound that procured its own soft vibrations. The purr made Ivar's gilded smile turn up into a somewhat more genuine one.

"Mother, you know that's not what I mean."

Aslaug's nimble fingers raked gently against Ivar's thick hair, in a similar fashion that Ivar stroked the cat. She closed her eyes.

She knew exactly what Ivar meant. She closed her eyes for a moment. She couldn't bring herself to give her boy a true answer. She heard the voices of the gods, loud and clear in her mind, masculine and feminine and something altogether different all at the same time. Ethereal. Divine. The voices of the gods clouded her mind and told her what would happen.

She will be with the child again, she will bring another son of Ragnar onto this earth. The catch was, however, that she and Ragnar must wait after three days to fall slaves to their lust, or else, the child will be a monster. It wasn't her words. It was the gods.

She should've fought harder against Ragnar's touch. She should've screamed and kicked and attacked her elusive husband.

But she was weak.

And the worst part was that the gods meant Ivar's affliction to be a punishment for Ragnar and his pride and ignorance. Ivar's affliction was simply a byproduct of Ragnar's ignorance and with that, Aslaug's weakness.

It wasn't fair for her boy. It wasn't fair for her boy to suffer not only in his body but everywhere else in life. She sees how Ivar sometimes would eye his brothers when green envy. She sees how her boy tries to not break down every day from the difficulties that he was cursed with from birth. She sees how much pressure he puts on himself every single day to be on the same level if not better than his older brothers.

Her three other boys, whom she knows that she has also hurt. She knows that they wish for her to be less a queen and more a mother, but how could she do that? Damn it all, how? The burden of the crown was a heavy one, especially now that Kattegat was a place worth living in once more. She seldom had time for any of them. However, she knew that her three older boys were lucky in the regard that they were rather popular amongst the people, all tall and bright and golden. She hoped that those people could seal up at least some of the non-negotiable neglect that she brought upon them. Ivar was not as lucky in that regard, thus she tried harder to be with him. He needed her more than they needed her. It was cruel to say, but it was the truth.

And it broke her heart.

"Did the herbs that the healers give you work or not?" Aslaug inquired, her gaze shifting slightly towards the cat, who butted its head against Ivar's thigh for more affection. Her boy absentmindedly resumed his stroking, though there wasn't that much thought put into it. The cat didn't seem to mind though. In fact, it seemed far too pleased with itself as it closed its forest eyes.

His eyes were terrifyingly blue today. The shade of blue would've been beautiful if it weren't for the carnage that it foretold. It reminded Aslaug of the unbroken blue of the ocean near the shore and the vast field of blue in the sky. Again, it would've been a beautiful color if it weren't for the fact that it prophesied agony. His brittle bones were far too fragile already and with how the sclera of his eyes were, Aslaug felt anxiety that one slightly wrong move would usher in a painful break. His legs were already a battlefield of scars, but unlike the warriors who flaunted their scars and the stories around them constantly, Ivar was deathly ashamed of his own.

"I mean, it worked as well as it always did."

So not much.

"Do you need more herbs?"

"No! I…no, I'm fine." His voice adulated up and then down as he said that, embarrassed that he lost control of his tone, especially in front of his mother. The cat tensed its muscles at the sound, its eyes the size of small rounded river rock. Its tail fluffed up and Ivar ran his hand through its dark fur, hoping to calm it down. It seemed to work, for the cat loosened up and closed its eyes.

"Are you sure, Ivar?" Aslaug asked gently. He was far too stubborn for his own good. Far, far too stubborn. In that regard, he reminds her of Ragnar. Sometimes, when she isn’t so tired of the responsibility that Ragnar forced onto her with his abandonment (in her gut, she knows he is not dead. Whether that is a good thing or not, the gods have held it away from her for now.), she would think about him. It was strange that, even though he had no real part in her children's lives anymore, he would still hold onto them with an iron grip, wrapping his hands around their throats, strangling them with such a frivolous zeal. And he wasn’t even here.

To her as well.

Oh, how she hated him at times…

She wonders how she will react if he were to come back. The man who ruined her children's lives and who ruined her life.

“Yes. Yes, I’m sure, mama…”

It was more ‘mother’ these days, never ‘mama’. More formal. Another sign that her boys were growing up, with all innocence being lost. It pleased her, though, this almost childish rendition of her place in motherhood.

She nodded and placed a firm kiss on the top of Ivar’s head, her nose burying itself in his thick, dark hair. “Alright then, my dear. I love you. Don’t let your friend keep you up too late, hm?” She said, nodding to the cat. Still as smug as ever.

Ivar nodded. “I won’t, I promise.”

She patted him on the head, carding her fingers through his hair once more, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

As boys ought to do, he more or less ignored her wishes of not staying up too late, as he continued building a companionship with the creature that more or less chose him.

#vikings #ivar the boneless #ivar ragnarsson #ivar lothbrok #aslaug #aslaug sigurdsdottir #ragnar lothbrok #vikings fanfic

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the-moth-from-elsewhere · 7 months

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For the ask game, what can you tell us about the Damsel with the gun?

(Lady) Damsel

And why she’s so freaking attached to those guns.

I don’t have much to say on her outfit…I went on pure vibes.

Damsel was made as one half of a set, as many of my characters are. Ace is other half of her “set”. They’re supposed to emulate 50’s action heroes, which is where they get their names from!

Ace - flying ace lol

Damsel - evokes the typical image of the damsel in distress, a common trope at the time

The whole “don’t you touch my guns!” thing is actually attached to her backstory (tw for death, military stuff, and hunting)

Damsel’s pre-circus name was Velvet. She was the second-youngest of five, and the only girl. Her family was one of those military families, but in an actually healthy sense. It taught her responsibility and discipline, and how to aim lol. They hunted a lot, so she learned how to use a gun. The pistols were gifts from the two eldest brothers, who decided to take on a military career but died or disappeared. The weapons are pretty much all she has left of them, so she’s very very protective over them. Besides that, she’s very easy-going, but with a strong sense of Justice and a classic 50’s hero’s “do-gooder” spirit. Unfortunately it means she’s very hard on herself and those she thinks are “wrong”, a system that meant she developed a bad habit of digging holes for herself and refusing to admit wrongdoing (even if she knows she’s wrong!) because then she feels like she’s worth nothing as a person.

Nowadays, after the “Lady Justice” incident, she’s much more forgiving and calm, and is trying to get her life back together. Including taking up baking! And being nice to helpful anon lol. She misses Ace, but doesn’t feel like she can face him. Old habits die hard.

RANDOM STUFF TIME!

She’s kinda boy-crazy but tries to be polite about it. She tends to get fleeting crushes on guys that last maybe a week. She had a bit of one on Pharaoh and thought Mix, Dialtone, and Kumo were pretty cute. She doesn’t do it too much these days, though, or just hides it better. Her only lasting romantic interest has been in Ace.

She treats Helpful like one of her brothers.

She and Chance are acquainted. (foreshadowing! Hehe.)

She’s probably from Texas or Oklahoma

The accent/pet name thing isn’t faked. Her entire family talks like that.

Her favorite sweet is good old fashioned apple pie, but her favorite fruit is cherries.

has a talent for acting, which she instead uses to keep up her bravado.

she doesn’t like things being out of her control or complex. Baking is relatively simple (or at least clear-cut), for example.

Her curse in the kingdom was being unable to go out and adventure and vigilante-help people

she has in fact defeated dragons in that aircraft, and her wins are counted on a decal on the side of the plane

Ace taught her how to fly and operate a fighter plane.

#Elsie’s character rants

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whoredmode · 1 year

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Johnny & Aisha! :3

send me a ship and i’ll write five short scenarios/imagines

yayy sorry this took a while to get to i was busy but i’m excited to answer this now

- talked about it a few times before but the story from aisha’s POV about those five years in between the first two games and how she deals with her loneliness. but aside from that, just something about them during that time in general. how do they navigate all these different issues together? how do they deal with the fact that aisha’s meant to be dead? how do they deal with the dissolution of the saints? even just simpler things like moving out to the suburbs together. like there’s so many questions i have about the specificities of their dynamic and how they work with things post-sr1.

- kinda going off of that though i want like. a story about their first week in the suburbs. moving in, meeting the neighbors, johnny having to reel in his Everything. like i feel like johnny gat in the suburbs is something that really does not get looked at as much as it should. he’s trying So Hard for aisha but he is not built for this. finally an opponent too strong for johnny gat.

- their first meeting and eventual first date. i wanna know how he wooed her. i think she probably rolled her eyes at a lot of his advances at first, because his flirting was mostly just him being overconfident, but maybe she catches him doing something that shows his softer side. giving some of his extra money to a few older people he knows in the community who need it. he brushes it off just saying he had extra and that times are tough; the older folks are people his parents knew and were like extended family when he was growing up. he tries to play it cool, but aisha can see past that. she knows there’s good in him. and she’d like to know him better………..then he takes her to FB’s and she’s like. well.

- literally any sort of aisha lives scenario. each day i’m one day closer to making this reality. but anyway their celebrity wedding in srtt. the saints are so big now and kingdom come records has long been gone, so they can just come out and admit they faked aisha’s death. but that means now johnny and aisha can actually get married officially. and i actually drew this before but i think if it happened in the middle of the game, the wedding gets crashed by one of the gangs (perhaps by the luchadores, if we want this to parallel them crashing johnny’s funeral in the actual game). johnny and aisha have to exchange their vows while escaping. because of course.

- i mean. obvious them as parents. they would be sooo fucking funny. and honestly i think they’d be good at it. maybe johnny has some questionable life lessons to teach but his heart is in the right place.

#asks #thank you they’re everything to me

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kyogre-blue · 11 months

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SS continues. It's kind of bad!

Done with the bridge, Gronder is skipped, and done with Merceus also, so all that's left is two maps of Edelgard, Shambhala and I guess evil Rhea or whatever.

I have to say that I did not initially appreciate just HOW MUCH of the post-skip is copy-pasted. I also checked the chapter list for AM, and it's pretty much entirely the same. We take the same freaking bridge in Alliance territory for some god-forsaken reason, apparently? Even though an Arianrhod map exists? That's going to be interesting in like six months when I get to it.

But while Claude making us do VW by proxy was kind of funny in a stupid way, Gronder is a disaster. I am in genuine awe of how poorly handled that was.

So Gronder takes place off screen. We don't go there AND, get this, the entire month when it would take place is just erased from the calendar. There's no April! They did not even pretend to be putting in some effort here. They just excised the entire month along with the map.

And just thinking about Gronder gives me a headache. What was Claude even doing there? Leicester is specifically a hot mess, and I can't see us killing Lorenz at the bridge improving the situation much. And yet Claude goes off to Gronder and uuuh "disappears." At this point, I'm going to assume that he sent Judith's troops and dumped all that on us because he had already decided to peace out and he went to Gronder purely for the purposes of faking his death. That makes about as much sense as anything else.

Dimitri ghost is also funny. My dude, I still don't know anything about you... please go haunt someone who cares.

Anyway, liveblogging notes:

Catherine says that Alliance nobles are weird but in a good way. You won't find "such big-hearted nobles" elsewhere. This is in reference to Judith (and Claude by extension) helping us.

Shamir considers Judith's spy network to be impressive, given that she had people able to spot Rhea being taken away by the Imperial Army in the chaos of the invasion five years ago.

It's mentioned that aside from Count Gloucester being supposedly devout (doubt), the commoners also support the Knights of Seiros. (Update: this is very funny given that he sends his son to die on our swords for uuuh no particular reason.)

Lord Gwendal's daughter fell in love with Sylvain once lol (Update: Ingrid's version of this is that, at fifteen, Sylvain sought "relentlessly" to involve himself with her.)

The two territories on either side of the Great Bridge of Myrddin are Acheron to the north (the one in Lorenz's paralogue) and Bergliez to the south. That's Caspar's dad, and he's been getting on swimmingly in Edelgard's new regime.

The dark merchant looks like one of the Agarthan mages lol, but the quest to get them to appear gives you a Morfis battalion, so I suppose that's where they're actually from?

Seteth says alcohol has little effect on him.

It's specified that Rhea had disabled the Phantoms and Altered Golems in the Holy Tomb in order to allow the ceremony (of throne-sitting) to take place. It seems that she also didn't create those defenses but rather they came pre-built with the Tomb...? Or maybe Seteth means Seiros (not "Rhea") created them back in the day, who can even tell.

Alois is pretty nice to use. Shamir is consistently useful. Seteth is fine. Hanneman is annoying as hell and had gotten killed way too many times. And Manuela not having physic is a bad joke.

The great bridge is a bit of hilarious mess. We get ambushed by warp reinforcements from Acheron, then Lorenz and his goons show up too. Bye, Lorenz. It's your own fault for dying.

Seteth comments on how some imperial troops were willing to lay down their lives to hold the bridge (Edelgard's crazy fangirl Ladislava), but eh.

Suddenly, Gilbert. He's still alive? He says he's serving Dimitri, who was hiding in Fraldarius territory. We didn't find this out until Gronder in VW. This time, the Kingdom rebels reach out in order to ally with the Church. I wanted to ally, but Seteth wouldn't let me. :(((( Seteth, let me live!!! Enough already! Anyway, instead, we just let them use our new bridge. Which all has some funny implications, since apparently Claude is too shady to ally with but also how did Dimitri's super mysterious force get to Gronder in VW?

Anyway, I guess that's why we don't go to Gronder. But I'm uuuuh confused about why Claude was even there, per the off-screen recap? He didn't ask to use our bridge, so how did he even get to Gronder? And WHY? The Alliance was still massively divided last we checked with them. Sure, we killed Lorenz, but I can't see that making things any less chaotic. Judith gave her forces to us, and even between the church and the alliance, it was always emphasized in VW how outnumbered we were. Why would Claude even go to Gronder? How did he get there......... And now he's uh missing (sus man).

Seriously, did he send us those troops because he decided he wanted to dump the war on us and secretly peace out? Or??

Anyway, Dimitri fucked up Edelgard but also got killed. Bye, we hardly knew ya. We still have a vision of his... ghost?? OK, sure.

Take your pick which is funnier, this or Hilda just kinda seeing him die off screen somewhere, after we beat his ass.

Location card for the ghost scene is "outer city" iirc.

April is just GONE. It doesn't exist! Like, we just don't even get a calendar for it?? What the actual fuck?!

Felix switches between thinking Dimitri was dead all along and thinking he was "alive all this time." Whatever.

Alois says we disguised ourselves as enemy soldiers to sneak in..... Where?? When did this happen? We didn't sneak onto the bridge, and if this is about the strategy for Merceus, we haven't discussed it yet.

Yeah, this is apparently a plan that we just haven't been shown yet, because Shamir says we gave the order to dress all our troops in Imperial armor. News to me!

Update: We can even ask "Disguises?" when we're already on the Merceus approach. Is Seteth claiming his strategy was an order from Byleth while handling everything behind the scenes? And then gaslights by saying it was your idea (that you forgot about)?

For a knight, we pick up Lavandula grass, an herb with tiny purple flowers. Its calming scent relieves stress. You make tea out of it.

Ashe mentions that Dedue is missing, and his death is not actually confirmed. But from what I've been told, his appearance in Enbarr was also cut from SS.

I just realized there's a huge globe in the library. I wonder if anyone's been able to get a good look at what's drawn on it. Seteth sure plays up how he totally does not recognize those ballistic missiles.

Come to think of it, how did Jeritza know that the missiles were coming?

Seteth spells out a plan we sure did not have before. I can't believe they have him both railroading you earlier and also playing up how you're totally such a cool and smart strategist...

#playing fire emblem

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irenegardendeoriginalchar · 2 years

Text

𝘞𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝙃𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜

⠀ ❝ The 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣 blah blah blah blah.. Oh my? Want to know my stooooories?! hmmmm- as I say! THE SLEEPING DRAGON of this world!? Don't you believe me? ahhh, this is a sad sad story. I'm lying. I'm a storyteller so, want to know about the real one? The last dragon who can control the live and death. Sound interesting? hmm-- This is a might be the legend or the liar's story so, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦? to know about it?

𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, at the far far away from kingdom. There is the bright golden round spirit appeared in the world! Oh, I should say 'she' or 'he' appear in the world. I have no idea about it to. Just plain one, no sex, no emotion. Like a doll but I would like to called this spirit as a 'girl'.

She looked like a girl morn than a boy. She like a nine-teen age human-female. The spirit had no any name and no one know she is exiting. She appeared in the graveyard, stolen someone's name from the gravestone and called herself '𝑯𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈'

--w--what is 𝑯𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 mean? nah- this is not a point. The point is the miracle happened! , the old man who know as mortician of this graveyard found her. Like a fairytale story right. The good old man and woman found the abandoned child. Yes, that's right. Do not expect the extraordinary tale from me. I just keep telling you the truth, Oh my-- forgot it! This is a fairy tale. Not a real life so, should we go to the next part? Yes, You don't have to say. It's my question to my mind.

Oh, Hualing had been adopted by the good granpa and granma. They are old but still have a good heal like they are not a human. Maybe. Who's know? Hualing helps they to manage about the funeral business. She is famous in the city as the child of mortician. She didn't care. She always say, so what? Should I care about the people who don't even to notice any WEIRD thing?. No, never -don't give a sh----- shu. I don't want to be a rude storyteller so, no rude word in this story!

The girl sell the coffin, sometimes managing about the funeral and sometimes, fortuning. This is the 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 abilities that she has but no one trust.

So, you start to think that why no one trust her? because she would like to keep her profile as a low profile to hide her real identity, the sleeping dragon. The legend dragon who destroy the city and jailed under the city. The big ancient one had been /fake/ defeated by someone. She always say why am I should be the legend? no, I just want a peaceful place and do my job. Sending the deathman to another world. Just that. so, that's why Hualing is just a girl who get jixed.

hmmmm, do you think this is true story? Who's know?

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘳'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘔𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨. Nothing is true. ❞ The wind blew the 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓's hair. The black one, she dress ordinary dress, not expensive. The look-like woman stood up with her candle from the big 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 leaves tree in the back of the shine. She blew the fire on the candle and disappeared in the dark. Only the golden dust left.

[E.]

#Hualingxirene

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lycanfang · 2 years

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Reunion

Note: Hello tumblr, I have crawled out of the shadows to actually contribute something to the hellsite for once. I had written some things for some of my D&D characters, and while browsing some of the whump tags, realized "hey, maybe this would provide the whumperflies for someone", so here I am. Note that I am a computer science major, and not an author, so I make no claims about being particularly good, lol, but I am a dedicated player and DM, and have enjoyed writing these things. Knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons not required! Content Warnings (let me know if I missed something):

family drama, dehumanization, "it" as a pronoun, physical restraints (chains and spells), gaslighting (maybe?..), mentions of murder, mention of blood (not graphic), brief mention of execution, explicit language

Context: PC for D&D campaign set in Ravenloft (Barovia to start with)

Daemyr Iathrana (child name "Kiath") is the rightful heir to the throne of Silanar, a high elven kingdom in the southwest of the High Forest in the Forgotten Realms. However, whether by some distant blood connection or just by fate, Daemyr was born with the curse of lycanthropy. It didn't show until he was 14, when he first transformed. Thankfully, he only killed some livestock, but it did not escape the notice of the owners of the livestock, who found him covered in blood and laying in a pile of hay in the morning. His parents were alarmed and appalled and paid them off to keep quiet about Daemyr. It of course wouldn't look good for the royal family to have a werewolf in its midst.

Daemyr was to be killed, but he managed to escape and ran off, leaving his family to fake his death and to place his younger sister Allyranyn (child name "Ally") next in line for the throne. Daemyr was tracked down and trained by an order of blood hunters. He eventually left and has been traveling and making a living as a monster hunter for hire, hiding his true identity.

So sorry for the long post! Story below the cut.

Under the cover of night, Daemyr snuck through the courtyards of his childhood home (well-practiced at dodging the eyes of watchful guards, keen-eyed elves or otherwise), until he came to the base of one of the sleek towers of the castle, where he began to climb. The windows were dimly lit with candlelight, and soft singing drifted through an open one. Daemyr reached the window and peered inside. There she was, his sister Ally, sitting at her desk, singing as she scrawled away at something. Daemyr smiled; it had been so long since he had left Silanar and his sister.

He took a breath, and then knocked gently on the windowsill. "Hey Ally."

"Aaahh!" she yelped, leaping up from her chair and whirling around to face the window, a ball of arcane energy already forming in her hand. She took a good look at the intruder, squinting through the dimness, and her mouth slowly fell agape. The energy started to fizzle away a bit, and a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. "…Kiath?..."

Once it seemed she had calmed a bit, Daemyr pulled himself up and through the window. "It's been a while, huh," he chuckled. Looking his sister in the eyes for the first time in around 150 years, he was stunned by the uncanny resemblance to their mother that Ally had grown into. She was beautiful, so grown and regal and strong. "Wow, you've grown so much, you look great!"

After a moment of continued staring in disbelief, she shook her head a bit, as to clear the thoughts inside it, and hardened her gaze. "What are you doing here, Kiath?" questioned Ally, returning to staring at Daemyr.

Daemyr, a little confused at her not matching his energy around their reunion, shifted awkwardly, and broke the engagement, turning to look around the room and back out the window as he spoke. "Well, I missed you. It's been a long time, I wanted to see how you were doing, hang out again for a bit like we used to… Is everything okay, Ally?" Daemyr approached his sister, now concerned.

"It's Allyranyn now. Queen Allyranyn." she said matter-of-factly, taking a step backwards.

Daemyr stopped, brow furrowed. "Oh, right. That's a beautiful name. Mine's Daemyr. You didn't answer me though, what's wro-"

"You shouldn't be here. You should never have come back." Allyranyn was now backing towards the door, never once taking her eyes off of her brother.

"I mean, I knew it was a risk, but no one has to know I was ever here. I thought you'd be happy to see me,"

"Hah- Happy to see you?!" the elven queen laughed in disbelief. She was beginning to shake, and Daemyr thought he would've been able to smell the adrenaline even without his lupine senses. She was losing her composure, as if the sight of her brother had broken through the emotional dam she had been building all those years.

"Allyranyn, tell me what's wrong!" Daemyr strode towards her, aiming to put an arm around her protectively.

"You stay right fucking there!" she roared shakily, her eyes flaring blue, and suddenly, Daemyr could no longer move.

The werewolf let out a growl/yelp of surprise. "What-?!"

"Oh, drop the act, would you! You're supposed to be dead, for the safety of the people of this kingdom! You managed to cheat death, and then you dare to come back?!" Allyranyn was seething.

Daemyr would have stumbled backwards had he not been held in place. Taken aback by her attitude, he stuttered, "Wha- You bought into Mom and Dad's bullshit? I thought you were on my side?..."

"Silence, dog! I'm not finished!"

Daemyr was silent, more out of shock than anything. But his body was already beginning to react for him. He could feel himself beginning to shift.

"Don't you dare talk about Mom and Dad when you're the monster who slaughtered them! I know you were upset about the way things played out years ago, understandably so, but how cold-hearted do you have to be to not only murder your parents but also then saunter back into their home like nothing happened?!"

Daemyr's eyes went wide. "What?! You think I killed our parents?! How could you think I would do that? Besides, I haven't even been anywhere near Silanar since I left! Come on, Ally, really?"

"And why should I believe anything a conniving creature like a werewolf says?!" she shouted in response, before shaking her head slowly. "For a while, I had held onto hope for you, but do you really have no remorse, no control? … I suppose I was an idiot for thinking an animal could learn to be a man…."

Daemyr was caught between rage and heartbreak as her words sunk in.

"Ally…" He was distinctly wolfish now, his words coming out as husky growls.

Boots thudding against stone steps could be heard now, and shouting. "Queen Allyranyn! - Get out of there! - Hold on! We're almost there!"

Daemyr's ears perked up, and his breathing accelerated. "Ally, please, believe me. I didn't kill them! I'm the same "Ki" you chased through the woods, who used to braid your hair, and stole your stuffed toys for a joke! Nothing's changed, you loved and trusted me then!" He struggled against the spell, but Allyranyn was a strong mage; she had always had a knack for magic, the way Daemyr had for swordplay.

"I was young; I had no notion of the concept of distrust. Then, it was only a matter of time before you showed your true colors. I guess learning that the hard way is just a part of growing up," she spat with a dismissive chuckle. Her rage appeared to have diluted into a churning mixture of anger, fear, and sadness.

The door flew open with a crash, and a dozen guards poured into the queen's room, and while some took protective stances in front of Allyranyn, most charged straight for the paralyzed Daemyr.

"We came as soon as we got your message, though it took longer than anticipated to find the chains. My apologies, majesty. I am glad to see it has not yet hurt you," said one of the soldiers standing with Allyranyn.

With those words, the elven woman faltered. Just for a moment, but it was long enough to lose concentration on the spell holding Daemyr in place.

The soldiers were swarming him, some with weapons at the ready, and others began to clamp silver manacles onto his wrists and ankles. As the metal made contact with his skin, Daemyr screamed and howled with the white-hot searing pain. He snapped. The guards, many of which had been around when he was the young prince of the castle, were no longer old friends or even unfortunate enemies; they were just meat.

The werewolf lashed out in rage, pulling against the chains, trying to draw as much blood as possible, and with each drop of crimson life that hit the floor, the pain seemed to get further away.

Allyranyn, having regathered her composure, sighed, and lifted her shaking hands, beginning to mutter an incantation.

"On your knees," she commanded.

His little sister's voice pierced the fog of bloodlust and raw emotion, and Daemyr felt compelled to obey. He stopped slashing and snarling, and slowly knelt down, chest heaving and nostrils flaring with each breath.

"Stay still."

This was harder to obey, as the burning of the silver began to creep back into his awareness, but for the most part, still he was.

The guards were then able to continue their work, albeit much more cautiously. They finished with the chains, ending with one around his neck, and then forced a silvered muzzle onto him, both evoking further cries of pain from the wolf.

"Ally… please…" Daemyr pleaded through gritted teeth, finding his sister's eyes. "Don't do this…"

After a beat, Allyranyn, staring right back at him, responded flatly.

"There's no place for beasts in the Iathrana royal family."

As that all-too-familiar sentence sent Daemyr reeling back to his last days at home at 14 years old, the soldiers pulled on his chains and hauled him to his feet.

She turns to address her guards, looking right at them but staring through. "Take him- it- to the dungeon. We'll have the execution publicly first thing in the morning. Our people deserve to see the end of the creature that killed our beloved king and queen."

With a collection of murmured variations on "Yes, Your Majesty", the soldiers pushed Daemyr towards and through the door and dragged him down, down, down, to the dungeon once again.

Allyranyn stood stoically by the door as they left, eyes now empty of the fire they had had just minutes ago. She shut the door behind them, shuffled towards her bed with her gaze still set on a very distant nothing, and dropped down with a thump, sitting up against the side. Long after she was sure the footsteps had faded, she let out her breath. And she began to weep.

And there it is! Thanks for reading! There is a second part to this that I'll post right after this. If people actually enjoy these, let me know, and maybe I'll write some stuff with younger Daemyr in addition to the ideas that are important for me to write to build the background for the way current Daemyr will act and think.

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sakuraswordly · 1 year

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“You are born from nothing, you give yourself a purpose, and then that purpose is taken away from you. Then you become nothing again… so what was even the point of it when your death is inevitable and always a likelihood?”

how exhausting it must be, trying to save the world when everybody hates you…

Mother of Mifune: It's no good. You're going to die. No matter what you do, do as you will...You have no future. Soon you'll disappear. Nothing will remain and nothing will be saved.

Gilgamesh had no choice in becoming the wedge of heaven, and was born completely alone and isolated. He gained love and companionship in his life, but lost that love. His country did not fall to ruin, and he remained proud. But he returned to being alone, and continued to be alone for all of time, even in his afterlife.

He’s just some guy. He has time travelled on several different occasions. He is homeless. He killed a time god. He died and was brought back to life.

Punch kill the fake world(Tsofph Season 10(Chapter2 Fake World) Ending) and return the real world but she lost everything even her relationship with all her friends in the fake world. The fake world reminds as "Dream".

“This is your fault”....."This is my burden and my responsibilities"

"These stars were never mine to chase...

I'll chase them anyway,

take me to a land far away

These path was never mine to take

Was my fate set in stone?

Or just one thread in the great wide unknown?"

Music - Great wide unknown by Pealeaf

Impostor factory belongs to Kan Gao/Freebirds Game

Gilgamesh: Enkidu...thank you for giving life to me...but in the end...I lost everything like in the Fake world...I lost again and I will lose everything again even my kingdom. But I don't want to lose who I am....if I lose, then who will remember you, my friend

This is the tragic story of King Gilgamesh or Epic of Gilgamesh in Tsubasa of Phantasia version.

#hint #tsubasa of phantasia

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disco-tea · 2 years

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5 headcanons about Spike + Dawn in a medieval AU

OK WAIT THIS IS BRILLIANT. Also this might have turned out much longer and with a little more world building than i meant sksksksks whoops

Our story takes place in the kingdom of Sunnydale that is equal parts magic and violence. It’s a land of goblins and dragons and trolls and fae, and occasionally, beings that are both supernatural and human, known as half-breeds. Legend has it that the kingdom was built upon the gates of hell itself.

The monarch that resides over the kingdom is named Elizabeth, though those in her inner circle often call her “Buffy.” Buffy comes from a long line of monarchs and it’s said that the royal bloodline has been entrusted with guarding the world from the evils that lurk beneath the kingdom of Sunnydale. Monarchs of Sunnydale are expected to be more than just rulers, more than just the law, they’re expected to be warriors, to fight the monsters and demons and armies of hell besides. The next in line is Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn. So we have Queen Elizabeth and Princess Dawn. Buffy has an inner circle of extraordinary people who help her rule and protect her kingdom. An adviser named Rupert, a mage named Willow, a friar named Xander, a changeling switched by the fae at birth named Anya …and her most trusted Knight, Sir William.

William has fought beside his Queen for many years and been through some of the worst battles the kingdom has seen. As a result, it has earned him the special title of the Queen’s Champion. Many of the other knights also call him Spike. Some say it’s because in his early days of knighthood he was a renowned jouster, some say it’s because he once slew a dragon with just a metal spike. Neither are true. As the Queen’s Champion, one of his many duties is to look after the young Princess. He accompanies her on journeys and public outing and all manner of things and if you were to ever spend any prolonged amount of time with them…you might realize how much they look and act alike. You might realize that he is the Princess’ best friend and at times their relationship is almost…familial.

And you see, Sunnydale is a kingdom of mysteries and secrets, and our protagonists are no exception. Each hold secrets, great and small. The Queen has many secrets, one of which is that the royal bloodline is comprised of half-breeds, endowed with strength to help fight and keep the darkness at bay. Her chiefest knight is also a half-breed. And her sister…well, her sister is not her sister at all, but her daughter. Nobody knows the real story, everyone thinks that Princess Dawn was merely sent away in secret while the former king and queen were alive. Sent away at birth to a far away land for protection and education and returned when she was a small child. But that’s not what really happened. The real story goes like this.

Years ago, not long after the King died and Queen briefly ruled alone (then Queen Joyce), Buffy was still a Princess. She never wanted to be the Queen. Didn’t want the burden and the pain. Didn’t want to have to choose a suitor from amongst the royalty. And there were suitors—one from the clan of Finn, a distant king named Angelus, and many others—but in the end, she fell in love with a young and brash knight with a soft heart. A knight named William.

They hated each other at first, always arguing and bringing complaints before the Queen, who bore it with patience and a knowing smile. Buffy hated him all the more when he was assigned to aid her in her quests and journeys and he made a show of hating her for much the same reason. It was a lie. In time they realized they were more alike then they ever could’ve guessed. Hate gave way to friendship and camaraderie and then eventually…love.

But it could never be, because Elizabeth was royalty and she must marry royalty and he was just a knight, and— the secrets of the crown notwithstanding—a half-breed knight to boot. Still, that didn’t stop them from being in love, no matter how much they fought it. Despite the dangers and potential scandal, The Queen herself did very little to discourage it once she found out, having spent her life married to a man she didn’t love all because she had caved to her own parents demands.

Eventually, William and Elizabeth were married in secret and not long later…they had a daughter. A daughter named Dawn. Shortly before the Queen died, she helped them fabricate a story and told the entire kingdom that Dawn was a lost princess of the now deceased king and queen, finally brought home at last. Very few people actually know the truth, not even Dawn herself.

They continued that way for many years. That is until one fateful day…Elizabeth died in battle. William blamed himself, wished that he could follow his queen and wife to her grave. But he couldn’t, because there was a new queen now, one so young and broken-hearted. One who had no family left, save him, but she didn’t even know that.

Queen Dawn was coronated at only 14 years old. She was so young and scared, and barely had time to change out of her funeral clothes before the kingdom was thrusting a crown upon her head, expecting wisdom and strength and perfection from her, just as they had her sister before her. But through it all, a Knight was by her side. To keep her safe, give her strength, protect her from the many assassination attempts that followed. And often, to make her laugh when no one was looking. Because unlike the council or advisors or subjects, he hadn’t forgotten that she was still just a child…his child.

Five headcanons game

#forcing my self to end this hete because I think it’s starting to sound silly sksksks #*here #Buffy comes back at some point #maybe she faked her death for the good of the kingdom who knows (I do)#btvs imagine #no major proofreading we die like spuffy #spuffy #spike and dawn #btvs asks #long post

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reallyneedsalife · 2 years

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Headcanons Part 2

James Bond knows and has a fatherly relationship with Alex Rider. They met on a join mission between MI6's Double-Oh branch and the join MI6-MI5's Special Operations Branch that is the only branch capable of operating both inside and outside of the United Kingdom. James was assigned to play the role of Alex's father on an op and, well, he never really stopped playing the role. James and Q have plans to adopt the kid once they get enough time alone to sort out the paperwork and talk to Alex about it. Jack and Eve also get along in a way that none of them really understand.

I also like to think Ian Rider was OO2 and the go between for MI6 and Special Operations - hence why he was one of the few Double-Ohs cleared for operating legally on UK soil.

All the Double-Ohs see each other as more or less siblings - which when added with the idea that Silva was OO7 before James was all the more painful. The parallels work, their messed up childhoods because there is no way Silva didn't have childhood trauma, being Ms favourites and the personal meetings between the two - Silva meeting the his new 'baby brother' who took his place as 'Mummy's' favourite.

The Double-Ohs also play very competitive games whenever most of them are on shore leave. Things such as poker, manhunt and hide and seek. R has shot OO5 at least twice because she scared them and of course they carry?

Tanner could have been a Double-Oh. The only reason he didn't qualify is that sadly he suffers from asthma. Instead he took up the role of Chief of Staff, and Ms personal body guard. Most didn't know that about him, until that one time someone made a run past security and Bill took them out in less than 2 seconds. Even some of the official Double-Ohs are afraid of him - especially after he becomes Chief of Staff.

People seem to forget Q isn't just deadly with a laptop - as well being proficient in hand to hand combat, the Quartermaster is deadly with a sniper rifle and has startlingly good aim with a pistol. Good enough to rival James'. After all, MI6 wouldn't let him build the Agent's weapons if he didn't at least know how to use them.

James cannot watch spy flicks without tearing them to shreds - Eve and Tanner enjoy them because the pair love tearing them to shreds. Q enjoys the obviously impossible plots but by god will he point out the plot holes and rant about how things could have been done better. R loves them because they're easy to watch and so unrealistic they help to unwind.

MI6 as a collective will bet on literally anything. Will it rain tomorrow? £5 on at midday. Will OO7 bring his gear back? Is our darling Quartermaster related to the detective that faked his own death a few years back? Are Tanner and M dating? Does Eve know Dame Maggie Smith? (spoiler alter: yes she does.)

Eve and Tanner have very quietly-aggressive games of chess. The set lives in Ms office, he plays too sometimes but mostly its the Secretary and the Chief of Staff. Current score is 127:112

Expanding on my Q curses like a sailor headcanon - he frequently does do in other languages but never ever around kids. One time he swore in Spanish in front of Minion 27s kids and didn't forgive himself for 3 months.

Q rarely sleeps, but when he does it's usually on someone. He has a habit of sleeping on James' shoulder even before they were together - once they were that shoulder nap became a lap nap. James loves to play with Q's hair when that happens, Q can't really object. Even if it does make, as Eve put it once, him look like a "disgruntled kitten".

Everyone assumes Eve is the Gossip Machine of M-Branch and the higher ups and boy are they wrong. Sure, she'll share a lot of it, but most of her gossip isn't Moneypenny sourced. She gets most of it from Bill. As Chief of Staff with exceptional field and espionage training, its hard to find something that Bill doesn't know in the building. He has a list of questionable people who might maybe be up to something.

#QB-X8 #007 fest 2022 #team q branch #headcanons #00q

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pips-squeak · 2 years

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And All The King's Men

Maybe if the peasant girl’s brother had lived this would be a different story. Maybe if the king had pleased his people he would still be alive. But I can’t change the past actions of others, and neither can you, so I ask that you join me, and allow me to tell you a tale.

…

On a cold morning, a freezing one in fact, one with icicles hanging from the village house roofs, a young, peasant girl sat on the floor of her cottage and held her dying brother’s hand.

The peasant girl's name was Anya. Named after her mother’s mother.

Anya wasn’t looking forward to later that day, and she wasn’t in too good of a mood to begin with. I suppose that’s what shivering next to a dead fire does to a person. She would’ve been much happier asleep than awake, dreaming of fresh bread and the toy store with colorful banners hanging on the outside.

However, she would have to get ready soon. There was a ball to attend, and her family, consisting of her and her mother, as her brother couldn’t very well walk in his condition, needed to be there.

So, in a few hours, there was flying ribbon and curling of the hair, then pinning it back with clips made of fake jewels, and off to the palace they went.

I would like to be able to tell you that it all went off without a hitch, but as of recent I’ve made a vow as to not lie, so I shall tell you the events that took place that night in full.

First: there was a wizard. He had come to bestow a gift upon the kingdom for lending him their army. Thousands were killed in crossfire, so he believed it was the least he could do.

Something important that you should know going forward in this story is that the king was ill. He had no successor as he had no wife, none standing around him long enough to say their vows.

Another tidbit you should know: The wizard did not favor the king. And neither did Anya, but that is beside the point.

So, second: there was the stone. The wizard’s gift to the people of the kingdom that healed any wound or sickness. Many of the villagers were suffering from frostbite this year, as most of the men who had mined the coal had died in the war.

The game from the wizard was this: the stone was hidden somewhere inside the castle, and whoever found it could keep it, and only they could take advantage of the power, or suffer a greater consequence.

But the king did not like to listen.

For fear of you misunderstanding, dear friend, I will spell it out so that you do not forget.

The king was not a kind man. He was a feared one.

And the wizard knew this, and the king’s people knew this, and our little peasant girl knew this.

And when the wizard left, the king lived up to his name and demanded that whoever find the stone must bring it to him, under penalty of death if taken for oneself.

But Anya didn’t like this new rule. ‘It wasn’t fair’, she thought. ‘Why must we do the healing of you when you can’t afford us new roofs on our houses while you live in this castle with your servants in your cellar?’

She was bitter, to say the least.

So when the king dismissed his loyal subjects to go and find the stone for him, Anya searched, but she wasn’t looking for the king. No, she had others to care for.

Low and behold, just a few minutes after she set off into the winding corridors of the castle, she found the gem, sparkly, much more real than the ones in her hair. It was transparent, and reflected the light of the grand chandeliers.

As footsteps came running behind her, she tucked the small stone into a sewed in pocket in her skirts. She turned away and pretended to look busy while the person ran past.

A temporary but triumphant smile to herself, and then running past the other people searching, through the gates of the castle and back to her cottage.

Inside rested her little brother, frail, with pale, gauntlike cheeks that should have been a rosy pink from the cold.

She knew the rules. But she was also willing to make a gamble.

She brought out the gem, and her brother reached for it, small fingers holding it in a fist. Anya guided his hand to his forehead, feeling his freezing body.

Third: Gambles never pay off.

The effects of the magic were short-lived. All at once, the boy's body warmed, heat rushing to his face and hands and bones. And then it was gone, snuffed out like a candle that had just been lit.

His hand dropped, Anya’s hold being the only thing keeping it from hitting the sheets. The heat left, evaporated in an instant. And he was dead.

The stone fell onto the bed, now a dark, swirling ebony.

Shock rushed over the girl. And then cold calculation. And vengeance. That’s what I truly love about humans, you know. They are soft and caring when they want, some even by nature. But none of them can make it last forever.

Anya grasped the black stone in her fist, and with one last look over her shoulder, she ran back to the castle. She had a gift to deliver.

(taglist under the cut)

@indecisiveaesthetic @idkjustgowithitok @cupsmp @moonlitartist

#pips writing #writing #flash fiction #short story #death ment #long post

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just-dreaming-marvel · 3 years

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Love Is Not Forced ~ War

MASTERLIST

The following is a one shot for my series, Love Is Not Forced.

King!Steve Rogers x Queen!Stark!Reader

Word Count: 6,325ish

Summary: a war threatens the kingdoms

Warnings: talks about sex, war, character death

“And den uncle Bucky showed me the horses!” Tallen exclaimed as the small royal family sat down for dinner.

King Steven had been extremely busy with the kingdom all day and had unfortunately be unable to spend time with his wife and kids. So he was greatly enjoying his son’s story about how Bucky had taken him around the castle grounds.

“Oh really?” Steven chuckled.

“Yeah!” Tallen continued. “And he even said that I could wide one one day!”

“That is true. Maybe in a few days, I can take you riding?”

Tallen gasped. “Did you hear that momma?! Daddy said he’d take me widing!”

“I did,” Y/N responded, sending a look to her husband. “As long as your father doesn’t go too fast and is very safe.”

“I would never be nothing but safe with my son. And that will give Madeline some time to spend her her mother.” Steven turned and smiled at his daughter. “Would you like that?”

“Ya!” Madeline said, clamping.

Suddenly, Bucky and Sam burst into the dining room. Everyone’s heads snapped to face them.

“Apologies, Your Majesties,” Sam said. “But, My King, there is a pressing matter.”

“Can it not wait?” Steven wondered. “I’m in the mid—“

“I’m afraid it cannot,” Bucky pressed.

Y/N and Steven shared a look. This was concerning to both of them, but Y/N knew that she must stay with the children while Steven is informed of the issue. Steven stood up. He ruffled Tallen’s hair and kissed Madeline’s head before going to his wife.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. He kissed her forehead. “A King never sleeps.”

Y/N watched as the men left. She couldn’t let her mind stay on the matter for too long because she needed to distract the kids.

“Alright, children,” she turned back to them with a fake smile, “who wants dessert?”

~~~

Y/N had put the children to bed and was getting ready for be herself when her husband sulked into the room. She turned in the chair she was sitting in to face him. He was upset. There had been very few times since she’d known Steven that she’d seen him like this.

“Steven,” she called as he came to her, “what’s wrong?”

“There’s been an attack,” he sighed.

“What?” She stood up, her childhood suddenly replaying in her mind. An attack was never good. “Where?”

“Everywhere. One village from each kingdom has been attacked.”

“Is everyone okay? Which villages was it?”

“Y/N… it was Scott and Hope’s village.”

“No,” Y/N gasped. “Are they alright? Please tell me—“

“Them and Cassie were some of the few survivors. Each of the villages that were attacked were left with few survivors.”

“Just like my own village… How is this even possible?”

“There’s this new group. They call themselves the Children of Thanos.”

“How long have you known about them?” He looked away from her. “How long Steven?”

“About a year.”

“A year? Have they been attacking the kingdoms for that long?”

“Yes… but never like this.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want it to bring up unwanted memories. They were attacking villages like how yours was attacked.”

“I still deserved to know, as Queen.”

“I know. I should have told you.”

“What are you going to do?”

“The kingdoms are meeting together in Alexandria. We are preparing for war.”

“Oh gosh,” Y/N gasped, turning away. “That means… you all… you all have to go to war. Bucky, Sam, Thor, T’Challa… my brother Peter and my father… you… you have to go to war…”

Steven quickly turned Y/N around and held her head in his large hands. “I promise that I will come back to you and the children.”

Y/N was trying, and failing, not to get emotional. “You can’t promise that.”

“But I can. Y/N, my darling, have I ever not fought for you?”

“No… but this is different Steven. This is war… People die in war. Many people. And if you die… If you die—“

“If I die, you will rule Brooklyn until Tallen is of age. You will be the strong woman I know you are, for the kingdom. For our children.”

“I can’t.” Y/N shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks. “I can’t do it. Not without you.”

“Oh, my darling… you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

“Please don’t do this… please don’t leave…”

“Y/N… you know I have no choice.”

She leaned up and kissed him, hard and desperate. “Then stay with me tonight. Don’t leave… not until morning.”

“I won’t. I promise.” He began kissing the tears off her cheeks. “I love you and I’m going to spend all night showing you just how much.”

~~~

The Queen woke up to an empty bed, which made her want to start sobbing. When she turned to face her husband’s side, she noticed a note. She carefully picked it up and unfolded it.

My darling Queen,

I am so terribly sorry that I have failed this kingdom so much that war has come. All I have ever wanted was to protect it and its people. And once you and the children were involved, our family. I am also so sorry that I was such a coward as to not do this in person. If I would have seen you this morning, I probably wouldn’t have gone. And I need to. I need to fight to make all the kingdoms safe, to make our kingdom safe. I promise to come back to you and the children. No matter what.

I have already told Wanda and Natasha to let you rest and for them to focus on the children as much as you need. I know you and I know me. We do not do well without each other. I know though that you will pick yourself back up and be the woman, the Queen, I know you are.

You are my life, my darling. You are the reason I am fighting this war. I love you.

Forever yours, Steven

Tears streamed down Y/N’s face as she read. This was one of her worst nightmares. All her friends, her family—her husband, were being forced to go to war. A war in which many of them may never return. She covered her mouth as a sob racked through her body. There was a possibly she may never talk to her brother or father again. That Steven my never hold her. That made her heart ache. Y/N didn’t know if she could live with any of them gone. Especially her husband.

~~~

The Queen gave herself the day to stay in bed and be upset about it. But no more. Steven had given her the okay to do that as long as she’d like, though she knew she couldn’t. She had children and a kingdom that needed her.

The next morning, she made sure that her children were able to sleep in so that she could focus on the kingdom for a bit. Y/N ate lunch on the beach with her children. Wanda and Natasha had explained the situation the best that they could to them, but they were too young to fully understand why their father had left.

After lunch, Y/N went back to running the kingdom. She was very thankful that Brooklyn had always been so supportive and loving towards her. It made it easier to rule without Steven by her side, though she knew that he was still King and that he was still alive.

At night, she dined with her children in the dining hall. Her husband’s empty chair taunting her as she tried to keep her children’s mind off their father’s absence. Y/N insisted on tucking them in that night as well. Making sure they both were snug in their beds with a kiss left on their foreheads.

Everyday, Y/N kept this same routine. For her and her children’s sakes. All the staff tried their bests to kept an eye on their Queen, so that their King could be comforted. But there was no comforting either of them while they were separated. Wanda and Natasha could hear Y/N’s cries at night and see her tired eyes in the morning. She wasn’t sleeping, at least very well. That was obvious. It hurt all the castle staff to see their Queen in such a state. They could only imagine how their King was holding up.

~~~

“Six weeks of war is too long,” Thor sighed. “We must put an end to this.”

“What do you think we’ve been trying to do?” King Anthony retorted.

“Their armies grow in number everyday,” T’Challa said. “And we are still unable to figure out how.”

“Our spies are still in the midst of working,” Captain Barnes stated. “We must give them time.”

“We’re running out of time,” Prince Peter said.

“I think that we should let this be for the night,” King Anthony said. “We can look at it again in the morning.” He glanced around. “Where is King Steven?”

“He is in his tent,” Captain Barnes answered.

“Let me guess, missing my daughter?”

“You know as well as I that they do not do well apart.” The men headed out of the large meeting tent together.

“Has he sent a letter to her and the children yet?”

“No. He’s started hundreds of letters, but he’s never found them good enough.”

“Y/N cannot be taking that well.”

“No need to worry, Sam and I have been sending letters with updates.”

“I’m sure that’s not enough for her. Y/N doesn’t like being kept in the dark, especially by those closest to her. Do you know if she’s written back to Steven?”

“A few letters. They’re very short. We believe that some of them have been intercepted so we don’t know what to believe.”

“Well,” the men came to a stop in front of the King of Brooklyn’s tent, “I guess I better go in and see if I can be of any help.”

“Good luck, Your Majesty. You’re going to need it.”

King Anthony nodded before heading into the tent. He found his son-in-law sitting at his desk. Steven’s hair was disheveled and there were crumbled up papers all around the tent. He was grunting at he quickly wrote. Steven let out a frustrated growled before crumbling up the paper he was working on and throwing it towards King Anthony without looking.

“Woah!” King Anthony exclaimed as he dodged the paper. “Watch were you’re throwing those things.”

“I’m so sorry, Tony,” Steven sighed. “I just… I haven’t been able to—“

“All she wants to know is if you’re alive. Nothing else. You’re over thinking it.”

“I just… I’m so worried. What if one of these letters are my last words to her? And they’re terrible and they don’t fully express my undying love for her?”

“Wow. I’m trying to be okay with this but it’s just cringe worthy. You really love my daughter, for that I will always be grateful for. But what if you die and the last thing she has from you is that letter you left on the bed in your place? Do you want that?”

“No… of course I don’t. I just… I love her so much. And I love my children so much. I don’t want the last time they see may words be their last memory of me.”

King Anthony came up and put a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “Then we won’t let it. We’re going to win this war and both go home.”

~~~

The war continued on for six more weeks. Steven finally got the courage to send a letter to his Queen. It was very brief and very loving. Y/N cried upon receiving it. She had continued to rule her kingdom and mother her children with so much bravery and strength. No one could truly see the inner turmoil that was occurring due to the King being away. But Natasha and Wanda knew the truth. They chose to respect the Queen by not bringing it up, but they made sure that she knew they were there for her.

The kingdom of Brooklyn had heard that the war had been one, finally. Only by a knight, who had been commanded by all the kingdoms to not inform the Queen of any other information. This made her furious. It was clear that they were hiding something, which only could mean that someone had died. Y/N was failing to hide her extreme worry. She was pacing in the King’s study, while Lady Natasha tried to convince her not to do something drastic.

“My Queen,” a guard entered with a bow, “a group of our men have been seen heading towards the castle.”

Y/N paused her pacing. “Are you sure they’re ours?”

“Positive, Your Majesty.”

“I need the doctors ready then, to check over everyone with injuries. No big crowds, I don’t want to pressure the soldiers. We’ll throw a celebration once everyone has been looked over and seen their families.”

“Of course.”

“And I want my children taken care of. They don’t need to see what war looks like.”

“Anything for you, My Queen.”

“Do you… do you know if the King is with them?”

“Unfortunately, I do not. I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I will go and inform everyone of your requirements.”

“Thank you.”

The guard bowed before taking his leave. Y/N began pacing again. That’s when Wanda entered the room.

“Would you like me to help you change, Your Majesty?” She asked.

“No,” Y/N shook her head as she couldn’t along her path. “How close are they?”

“I would head out to meet them soon.”

“What if… what if he’s dead and no one’s telling me yet?”

“I’m sure the King is fine.”

“And if he isn’t?”

“Then you will take it one day at a time. Like you have learned to do.”

“Okay,” Y/N breathed out. “Let’s go. I do not want my soldiers to come home without their Queen there to welcome them.”

Wanda escorted her Queen down to the main entrance of the castle. The doctors that were ordered were already there, with very few servants and guards joining them. Lady Natasha joined them shortly after. Y/N was hardly breathing by the time the first soldiers came through the gate. They looked tired and beat up, but they would survive. More and more soldiers came through, getting off the horses to be taken care of.

“Where is he?” Y/N whispered, trying to stay strong. “He should have been in front… a King always leads his people home.”

“Y/N,” Wanda said softly, feeling bad for her Queen.

“Something’s wrong.”

After a few more rows of soldiers, Captain Barnes and Lord Wilson appeared on their horses. Natasha gasped, relieved to see her husband alive. Bucky couldn’t jump down from his horse fast enough. He almost fell flat on his face s he hurried to his wife. They embraced, tears strolling down their checks, before they kissed. So longingly, so lovingly. Y/N’s eyes filled with tears.

“My Queen,” Sam greeted as he came before her and bowed.

“Sam,” Y/N rasped, barely being able to speak. “I’m glad to see you in one piece.” She paused, swallowing harshly. “Is… Just tell me… Where is Steven?”

It broke Sam’s heart to hear the Queen so weak. Though she wasn’t asking as a Queen, she was asking as a wife. A wife and a mother.

“The last battle was the toughest one of them all,” Sam began to explain. He glanced at Bucky, who walked over with Natasha glued to his side. “We gave everything we had.”

“Please don’t tell me that he…” Y/N couldn’t stop the tears. She didn’t care to anymore.

“He got injured badly. We found him after the war was won.”

“Sam,” she growled. “Stop stalling. Where is my husband?”

“He’s in Wakanda,” Bucky told her. “It was closer than bringing him here.”

“So, he’s—“

“Steven is still alive, barely. We came back to take over the kingdom while you went to him.”

Y/N rushed away, heading for Bucky’s horse. “Take care of my children.”

“Y/N, wait. You need to—“

“I need to see my husband. T’Challa will take care of everything for me.” Even in her large dress, she swung easily onto the horse. “I’ll send for my children when the time comes.”

“You cannot go alone.”

“I’d like to see you try and stop me.” She clicked and hit her heels against the horse. She and the horse were gone in a blink of an eye.

“You two!” Bucky yelled at two guards on horses. “Follow after the Queen. Don’t stop her but make sure she’s save.”

The guards nodded and were off. Bucky sighed before looking at Sam. Wanda and Natasha could both tell there was something else that had happened.

“Buck,” Natasha said softly. “What happened? What aren’t you saying?”

“We lost a King, Nat,” he whispered. Both him and Sam looking down at their feet.

“What?” Both women gasped.

“Steven is only alive because of that King’s sacrifice.”

“Who was is?” Wanda asked.

“She’s going to be devastated…” Sam added. “Especially if Steven doesn’t make it.”

“No.” Wanda shook her head. “Please don’t tell me it was—“

“King Anthony,” Bucky interrupted. “He sacrificed his life so that Steven could come home to Y/N and the children.”

~~~

The ride was tiresome but Y/N didn’t stop until she reached Wakanda’s palace. T’Challa was already out front when she arrived, his boarder guards having warned him. Y/N jumped of the horse before it had even come to a full stop. Her friend was saddened at the state of her appearance, dirty and desperate.

“Where is he?” Y/N asked, running up to T’Challa. “Where’s Steven?”

“Y/N, please, come inside and get cleaned up,” T’Challa kindly requested. He was worried for his friend. The kingdoms had made an agreement not to tell Y/N what had happened to her father until after Steven had gotten better. If he’d get better. “Get something to eat and rest. I’m sure your ride wasn’t easy.” He reached out to try and guide Y/N inside but she jerked away.

“No. I want to see my husband.”

“I will gladly take you to him, once you have rested.”

“Do you think I’ve gotten any rest since he left for the war?! I cannot rest without him and I will not do anything until I see him.” She gasped for breath, like she could break down into sobs any second. “T’Challa, please… at least… tell me he’s still alive.”

“Steven is still alive. He’s hanging in there.”

“I need to see him.” Her voice was that of a broken woman. Pleading for the thing to keep her life going. “Please, T’Challa.”

“I can take you to the room, but you cannot go inside. Only those taking care of him can go. But if I do this, then you will go get rested and cleaned up after seeing him. I will not let you lose yourself in the midst of all this. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I just need to see him.”

T’Challa stared at her for a silent, brief moment. “Okay.” He linked his arm through hers. “Let’s go.”

With each step, Y/N began to tremble more. T’Challa took notice and gradually took more and more of Y/N’s weight against him. By the time they reached the window, he was practically holding Y/N up. As they came closer to the window, Y/N inhaled sharply. There Steven lay, nurses and doctors working around him. He was practically naked besides the bandages covering some of the worse injuries. His face was marked up with cuts and his beard had been shaven off. In all her years of knowing her husband, Y/N had never seen Steven without some facial hair. It was strange, and a little heartbreaking to her.

“Steven,” Y/N cried quietly. She pressed a hand on the glass, craving to touch him. “Oh, Steven…”

“I have my best people working on him,” T’Challa informed her, tone soft and caring. “They will do everything they can.”

“I can’t—“ She stopped as a sob threatened to bubble up her throat. “I can’t lose him, T’Challa. I can’t…”

T’Challa pulled her into his chest, cradling her head as he held her close. “You won’t… you won’t…”

The King of Wakanda’s heart was breaking for his friend. She was telling him that she couldn’t handle losing him, while she had no idea that she had lost the other most important man in her life. He wanted to tell her, she deserved to know. But what if he told her and then Steven didn’t recover? What would become of the Queen? What would become of Brooklyn?

“Now, you’ve seen him. It’s time you rest,” T’Challa said, beginning to led Y/N away. “I will show you to your room.”

All the Queen could do was nod. She was tired and worried that she’d just break down right there if she opened her mouth. So she let T’Challa help her to a room and she let his people help her get cleaned up and tucked it. But Y/N didn’t sleep. She couldn’t. Not with her husband’s life hanging in the balance.

~~~

It had been two days since Y/N had arrived in Wakanda. In that time she had only since her husband through the window twice, not including that first initial time. She spent the rest of the time either in her room or wandering the palace. Y/N was currently wandering the ballroom, the Queen Mother and the King of Wakanda watching her from a balcony above.

“You cannot wait to tell her any longer,” the Queen Mother whispered. “She needs to know about her Father. Queen Virginia needs her daughter with her as she plans the funeral.”

“The kingdoms agreed not to tell her until after Steven was well,” T’Challa responded. “And I will stick to the plan as long as I can.”

“And if Steven doesn’t survive? Will you be the one to tell her that the two most important men in her life are gone?”

“I will do what has to be done as a friend and king.”

“Have you heard anything about her children?”

“Captain Barnes and Lord Wilson each send a letter every day. To both me and the Queen. They are waiting for the letter that will allow them to bring the children here. They are confused and missing their parents.”

“Have you suggested that they bring the children to Alexandria? It may help Virginia and Peter with their grief.”

“I have not. I will in the next response to them.”

“My King!” A guard rushed up to T’Challa and the Queen Mother. It was loud enough for Y/N to take notice. “Steven is awake and he is asking for his wife.”

Before T’Challa could say anything to Y/N, she was running out of the ballroom towards Steven’s room. Tears were trailing down her checks before she even arrived. She stalled in the doorway, taking note of how her husband was sitting up. His eyes were closed and bandages were still littering his body. A blanket was rested on him, up to his chest. He looked so peaceful. Y/N choked on a sob, hand coming to cover her mouth. Steven’s eyes fluttered open after hearing the choked sob.

“My darling,” he rasped, a small smile forming. Y/N stood, sobbing in the doorway, unable to move. “Come here.” He motioned with his hand outstretched. She couldn’t get herself to move. “Darling, I would come over if I could… Please, I need to touch you.”

Steven could clearly see how shaky Y/N was as she tried not to stumble over. It was breaking his heart how tired and worn out she looked, especially because it was all his fault. Though she was still the most beautiful person in the world. Steven winced as Y/N collapsed onto his chest, crying into his neck. He was quick to wrap his arms around her. Three months was far too long to be apart from his wife. He vowed to himself right then that he would never let it happen again.

“Sssshhhh, my darling,” he cooed. “I’m here now. It’s all going to be okay.”

Then Steven suddenly remembered that it wouldn’t. Y/N’s father had still died to save him. Princess Shuri was in his room when he woke. He had asked for his wife and how she was doing immediately. Shuri was honest and told him what the kingdoms had decided on waiting to tell Y/N about King Anthony until Steven was better.

“I thought—“ Y/N cut herself off through her tears. “I thought the worst had happened.”

“I know… I’m so sorry about that,” he comforted.

Y/N pushed herself away slightly, so that she could look at him. “I was so worried.”

Steven’s large hand came up and cupped her face, his thumb rubbing across the large, purple bags under her eyes. “I can tell. And you’re still the most beautiful woman in the world.” He guided her in for a tender kiss. “I’m so sorry that I worried you.” He gave her another kiss. “Where are the kids?”

“Back home. I’m sure T’Challa is sending word for them to be brought.” She reached up and brushed some fallen hair out of his face. “I just missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.” Y/N met his eyes and he was staring intently at her. There was something in his eyes, an immense sadness. Something he wasn’t telling her. “What is it?” He looked away, clearly gathering himself. “Steven.” Y/N guided his head to face her. “Tell me.”

Steven sighed as he held Y/N closer to him. “I need to tell you something.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“I was fighting off the group leader, Thanos. I had already gotten injured trying to get to him. But he injured me more… I…” Steven paused to swallow. “He knocked my sword from me and was about to stab my heart when someone jumped in front of me…”

Y/N sat up straighter. “Who jumped in front of you?”

“Y/N, my darling… I’m so sorry… He did it before I could stop him. He—“

“Who jumped in front of you?” She asked again, almost growling as tears quickly filled her eyes.

“Your Father.”

“No!” Y/N gasped, shaking her head. “No!"

“I’m so sorry.”

“You’re lying! He can’t be dead! This is some cruel joke!”

“I wish it were, my darling… as he laid dying he told me how much he loved you and how proud he is of you.”

“Stop it…”

“And he told me that all he ever wanted was for me to go home to you and the children. He made that possible.” Steven cupped Y/N’s face. “Your Father saved me so that I could come home to you.”

“N-n-n-ooo… Father…”

Steven pulled his wife into his chest, trying to consul her. There wasn’t enough words to explain how awful he felt. He was the reason that his wife’s father wouldn’t be coming home. And he was the one who had to tell her. Now, when his children arrived, Steven would have to explain why they wouldn’t be able to see their grandfather again.

~~~

Y/N fell asleep on top of her husband, exhausted from crying so much. Reluctantly, Steven allowed the nurses to move his wife onto a bed beside him so that they could check his injuries. He held onto Y/N’s hand through it all, not wanting to separate from her after so long apart.

When Y/N woke, it was clear that she wasn’t okay. She was staring blankly and not answering when spoken to. Steven tried and tried, only to get a blank stare. Like she was seeing right through him. Bucky and Nat brought Tallen and Madeline the next day. Steven and the kids had a joyous reunion until Tallen asked about where Y/N was and Steven had to try and explain what happened, in the gentlest of terms. Tallen was confused and Madeline didn’t understand at all, just crying out for her mother.

Y/N had been moved to a different room for the sake of her children. T’Challa was with her, trying to get her to respond. But to no avail. Queen Virginia had sent word about when the funeral was and it was decided that it was time to head to Alexandria. T’Challa, the Queen Mother (Ramonda), and Shuri road in a carriage with the children while Steven road with Y/N in a separate one. He held her close the whole time as he tried to think of ways to help his wife.

Queen Virginia and Prince Peter were awaiting the carriages when they arrived. Surprisingly, Y/N was the first one out. She gave her family quick hugs before disappearing. Steven rushed after her.

“Y/N!” He called chasing after her. She picked up her pace. “My darling, please!”

Y/N made a sharp turn into a hallway and headed to a guarded doorway. Giving them a look, the guards understood what to do. The blocked the doorway after Y/N rushed up the stairs.

“Y/N!” Steven tried again. “Let me through,” he demanded the guards.

“I’m sorry,” one of the guards said. “We are under strict orders not to let anyone but the Princ—the Queen of Brooklyn up into her tower.”

“I am her husband and the King of Brooklyn, I have the right to go up there.”

“Steven,” Pepper called. “They won’t let up. Tony trained them well.” She sighed as Steven turned around to face her. “T’Challa warned me about how she was doing. I figured she would rush to her tower. Tony was the only member of the family always allowed up there. Now that he’s gone… I’m sorry Steven.”

“I just want to help her… we’ve been apart for too long and it’s… it’s my fault that Tony is dead.”

“Do not say that.” Pepper stepped closer to him. “Tony knew what he was doing. He knew that you coming home was more important than him coming home… Tony knew something was going to happen before he even left. I knew he was saying goodbye forever as he got ready to leave. So it wasn’t your fault, Steven. Don’t tarnish his act of bravery with your guilt.”

“I’m sorry Pepper.”

She gave her son-in-law a forced smile. “It’s okay… I’m going to go take care of my grandchildren, so that you can try to get to Y/N.”

“Thank you.”

~~~

Y/N stood frozen at the top of the stairs, looking around her tower full of memories. She was trying to gain strength to move in further. But it was so hard. After a few excruciating minutes, she finally took a shaking step into the tower. It wasn’t as dusty as Y/N thought it would be. Clearly, someone had been charged with cleaning it. She slowly walked around the room, running her fingers along the furniture. As she rounded to the desk, she noticed a letter. It was addressed to ‘My Princess’. Trembling, Y/N picked up the letter and sat on her bed. Tears formed as she opened it.

My Princess,

I know that you are now a Queen, which makes me extremely proud, but you will always be My Princess. I am writing this from the battlefield of war. And if everything goes how I think it will, then Captain Rhodes will deliver this to your tower where I know you will be after returning to Alexandria.

I am so sorry. For everything. For allowing Hydra to burn your village, for keeping secrets from you and plotting your future without you. And I am so sorry for how I died. It was probably stupid and heroic, and it was probably for you. Which is perfectly fine because I am so proud of you and you deserve all the happiness in the world.

I know I shouldn’t be smug about you and Steven having got together. Especially since how you got together was clearly on your terms and no one else’s. But I was right. You and him are a wonderful match. And your children are absolutely beautiful. I only wish that I could see them grow up. I know that will be one of my only regrets, leaving them. Leaving all my family behind. But if it meant Steven coming home to you, then my sacrifice will always be worth it.

I love you and am so proud of you, My Princess. You are a wonderful daughter, wife, mother, and Queen. Saving you and Peter and making you two my own will forever be the greatest thing I have ever done. (Besides marrying your Mother of course.)

Thank you for making me a Father.

Love, your Father, Tony

Y/N was crying all through the letter. How could her Father have known that he was going to die and not tell her? She would have rushed to say goodbye, to give him one last hug. And her children would grow up with no memories of their grandfather. How was she suppose to handle it all?

~~~

Steven waited at the door leading to her tower. The guards being ever faithful at their post. Queen Virginia had servants bring a small table and chair for the King. But he couldn’t sit, he kept pacing at the door, occasionally pausing to see if he could hear any moment from the tower. Dinner was brought for the couple as the guards got changed.

“Y/N, sweetheart,” Steven called from the bottom of the stairs. “Dinner’s here. Can I please come bring it up to you?” No answer. He sighed. “It will be down here when you’re ready.”

As he turned to place the tray of food on the small table, Steven heard movement from the top of the tower. He paused, just in case he was hearing things.

“Steven,” her soft voice sounded. He perked up and went back to the doorway. “You can come up.”

He didn’t waste a second. Taking the tray of food with him, Steven hurried up the stairs. Even after all these years, he had still never been invited up to Y/N’s tower. It was always her space and he understood the need to have something for yourself. When he arrived at the top of the stairs, he found Y/N sitting at her desk.

“Hello,” she greeted solemnly.

“Hello, my darling,” he replied. He walked over to the bed and sat, placing the tray beside him. “What can I do for you?”

Y/N smiled slightly with a soft scoff. “You just barely heal up from war and you’re asking what you can do for me.” She reached out and took one of his hands. “You’re too good to me.”

“It’s the least I can do… you’re too good to me.”

“I’m sorry for shutting you out. I just—“

“My darling, there is no need to explain. I completely understand. I was the same way when I lost my parents.”

“That’s the thing. I did lose my parents. I felt the grief and loss of them. He was just… he was just my real Father and it hurt so much to find out he was gone.”

“I didn’t even think of that. I can’t even imagine losing two sets of parents.”

“Father left me this.” Y/N’s free hand was laying on top of a letter on the desk. “He knew he wasn’t going to survive the war… I think… I think what hurts the most was that he got to do a goodbye, prepare himself… but I didn’t get to.”

“Tomorrow, at the funeral, that’s your chance to say goodbye. I know it’s not the same, but it’s something.” He pulled his wife into his lap. “You’re going to get through this. You’ve gone through so much and you only come out stronger, which never seises to amaze me. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

Steven gave her a soft kiss. Y/N hungrily responded, wanting to me close to him, wanting to feel him. He chuckled as he pushed her away slightly and her lips chased after his.

“You need to eat,” he said. “We’ll eat together and then we can have our reunion.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to eat,” she responded softly. “I just missed you so much and it’s been so long.”

“Patience, my darling. We will eat and then have our fun.”

~~~

The funeral went beautifully, with Queen Virginia, Queen Y/N, King Steven, and Prince Peter each speaking. All the kingdoms were in attendance, mourning the loss of the great leader. Steven and Y/N and their family went home the next day. Queen Virginia had asked them to take a wreath with them, and Y/N knew exactly what to do with it.

Exiting the carriages upon arriving back in Brooklyn, Y/N and Steven took their children and the wreath and headed for the beach. With a tired child in each arm, they trudged through the sand all the way to the pier. At the end of the pier, Y/N leaned down with Madeline and pushed the wreath out into the water. Steven wrapped his free arm around his wife’s waist, pulling her and Madeline into him. They watched as the sea took the wreath out, thinking about the life they lost and the future ahead.

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