#multipart: a boon for you a boon for me

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story” - 7/9) - NEW CHAPTER

A bit more with the magic in this chapter, as something attempts to undo the work Molly and Mycroft did to revive his brother.

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 7 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

The crash from the room Sherlock was in snapped her out of her not so deep sleep. It didn’t sound like a man falling out of bed; there was the distinct sound of glass breaking in the crash to let her know something was wrong. She went to the stand she had in this room, just like she had in every room in her home, and grabbed the tire iron in it. Not that it was an actual tire iron; a bit of glamour to hide the fact it was a cold iron sword. It had been quite interesting learning how to use it from an associate of Mycroft’s who was not Fae, but she’d never imagined she’d have to use it for it’s intended purpose in her lifetime.

Apparently, court intrigue was going to pervade her home, it seemed.

Mycroft was moving just as swiftly but she made it into the room first, seeing an ominous figure made of inky black shadows hovering over Sherlock. Sherlock wasn’t moving, but it was obvious he was still breathing, still healing. She made a slash at the figure, running the tip and edge of the sword through its midsection, and it elicited an unholy scream. A second later Mycroft was by her side, umbrella in hand and facing the creature as the brightest light she had ever seen filled his palm and traveled down the umbrella. She had to turn away as the light was nearly blinding, but soon it faded and the creature was gone.

“What was that?” she asked, breathing hard but not loosening her grip on the sword.

“That was a Shadow Mage. Capable of doing much magic we’re only partially aware of, but they can only travel in shadows and a bright enough light will tear them asunder.” He moved to his brother, placing the back of his hand on his brother’s forehead. “Still getting warm.”

“But why the broken window?” she asked, and her question was answered as she walked closer to the window in question. Tied around a rock was some paper, and she picked it up, unable to read the words. She wordlessly handed it to Mycroft and he got a grim look on his face.

“Sherlock was a test,” he said. “There will be more attempts, but it appears that since you can reverse what was done to Sherlock you should be able to reverse it in my father. But there will be more attempts to take the throne. By force, if necessary.”

She nodded and went to tend to Sherlock. He was still a bit cold but he was moving now, tossing in his slumber. She had no idea when he would awaken, but she wasn’t in the mood for him to have to be annoyed with someone fixing up the window. “Could you…?” she asked, gesturing in front of Mycroft towards the window.

He nodded, and the window glowed for a moment before it fixed itself. Mycroft looked at her, and then down at the sword. “You were quite adept at that in training. It’s good to see it works in the case of an emergency.”

“I had a good teacher,” she said. “There’s one in every room, and I keep cold iron in the car as well, though not anywhere where it will hurt you or Sherlock, I promise. It’s under the driver’s seat.”

Mycroft relaxed. “Good. I’m going to work on the wards on your home, to make sure nothing else can come in like that. And then...I suppose I need to eat. The rest helped, but I need sustenance as well.”

“Alright,” she said with a nod. She made her way back to her room, unsure how long all of this would take, and she put the sword back in its place and then laid down on the bed again, her eyes closing of their own free will. This was an unexpected complication, but at least the knowledge she could heal the king was something. But if this was going to be a protracted war, she wanted to make sure she knew as much as she could about every aspect of it, especially in her role as one of the Prince’s keepers.

But first? More sleep to help refill her energy reserves. She had the feeling as long as Mycroft was awake, he’d do his best to keep all of them safe...or die trying, which she hoped it wouldn’t come to.

[mousedetective]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (1/?)

So this is chapter one of what was supposed to be a 1K or so fic for @strangelock221b but HA HA HA NO! It’s going to be multiple chapters. I’m not able to upload it to AO3 yet, but when I do I’ll reblog it with the link.

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever...

Read @ AO3 | Commission Me? | Support My Writing!

He was not quite what she expected a fairy to be. Well, perhaps she did, as he looked similar to the beauractric ones in The Fairly Oddparents, she realized, taking in the suit and die and very well shined shoes. But they weren’t fairies, were they? It really had been a long time since she’d caught that series.

“Miss?”

He spoke, and she had to admit, he didn’t sound monotone like the animated creatures did. Bored, yes, but not nasally or just...flat. There was warmth in his voice and it was nice and deep. Almost soothing? That was a delightful surprise.

But he’d asked her a question before she went off into the train of thought on the child’s cartoon and really, it was polite to answer questions promptly.

“What would you recommend I take as a boon?” she asked, curious.

He blinked, as though no one had ever asked his opinion before. And perhaps it was the novelty of the question that caused his reply. “A million wishes.”

“Can you do that?” she asked.

“No. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try. I could go up the chain of command and ask, at least. You have done a great service rescuing our prince.”

She turned and looked at the curly black haired fairy currently pouting off to the side. She had no idea how she had known he was one of the Fair Folk, but she had spirited him out of the A&E while he was in his state and smuggled him to her flat near the hospital. At least he had come out of his delirious state long enough to tell her how to contact someone to collect him. Otherwise she may have had an unwanted flatmate. The curly haired man had such an attitude.

Eventually she turned back to the older fairy, if older was a term that could be used. “Perhaps I could grant boons?”

If her first question had surprised him, this one cause his eyebrows to disappear right into his hairline. “You want to grant boons?”

“Well, not all of them, obviously, or I’d intrude too much into your territory, but...maybe little ones? Like giving blessings to newborns?”

He tilted his head and shut his eyes, as though he was listening to a faraway conversation. When he straightened his head and opened his eyes again, he was frowning. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“Oh,” she said.

“You have to grant all the boons, no matter how large they are.”

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. She could have this wish? She could do some good in the world after all? Oh, that was a lovely thought. She smiled at him. “Then I’ll take this boon,” she said.

“Very well,” he said with a nod. He lifted up his umbrella and then tapped the end on top of her head very lightly. She felt a curious warm tingling spread through her from the top of her head to the tips of her fingers and the soles of her feet. Eventually the warmth faded but the tingling stayed. “I have been told to help train you in your newfound gift.”

“Oh! Oh, very well,” she said. “So I’ll see you again?”

“Yes, you will,” he said. “Miss…?”

“Hooper,” she said. “But you can call me Molly.”

“Very well,” he said, pursing his lips together. “I suppose you can call me Mycroft.”

“Then I hope to see you again soon, Mycroft,” she said with a smile. He nodded in return and then went to the faerie prince and cuffed the back of his head before hauling him up to his feet and then wings coming out from behind his back. The wings were not drab in the slightest, with a beautiful pattern on them, though they were in a shade of gray so close to white she was surprised she could see the patterns. Then, as she watched, he and the faerie prince shrunk in size to mere specks of light and then were out the open window into the night. She raced to the window, searching for any sign of them, but all she saw were stars in the sky.

Ah well. At least Mycroft would be back. She was very pleased with the idea of seeing him again...

[serenasolaris]

Should probably start writing this now, shouldn’t I? I’ve delayed it for a while, and this’ll definitely be a multiparter because I just have so many things to say about this game, but I hope getting started now will mean I’ll have more of a drive to continue later.

Oh, and by the way, if you like The Binding Of Isaac on like, a comfort level or something, or if you’re just not willing to keep an open mind, please stop reading here. It’ll be a bother for the both of us to argue, and while this post will probably be mostly about what I like(d) about the game, it’s still the first part to a series where I’m absolutely going to defile its feces-covered, chest shaped grave. 

So, without further ado... This one’s for Mothlass. As most of the pseudointellectual shit I say is.

The Binding Of Isaac and How Everything About It Pisses Me Off Part One: Unknown Depths Below.

The Binding Of Isaac (and its remake, The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth, which is what I’ll mostly be talking about) is a 2011 dual-stick shooter rogue-like videogame created by Edmund McMillen. The game is protagonised by a small, around five years old child, Isaac, who upon watching God (yes, God as in Real-Ass Motherfucking Yahweh, if the title didn’t tip you off to that already) command his mother to attack and sacrifice him, seeks refuge by entering a trapdoor to the basement hidden under his rug, yada yada yada. The game first follows the progression of Isaac up to the Depths, where he fights his mother, and after he does there’s a short prologue where it’s shown that, actually, he never went to the basement, but rather was cornered by his mother, but then saved by God himself, who sends a guardian angel (AKA topples a copy of the Bible Isaac has in his shelf) and kills his mom, saving him. This is the first ending, of many, and it doesn’t even get the luxury of being called an ending. It’s the “prologue”. Why is that? Well... Isaac was never really attacked by his mother and cornered in his room. Not with a knife, at least. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The point is: the base gameplay loop of The Binding Of Isaac is extremely fun at first. Delve into the Basement, find wacky items to equip, defeat the boss, upgrade your stats (and maybe sell bits of your soul to Satan himself while you’re at it, or harvest the boons of faith if you stay a good Protestant boy), delve deeper, and try to kill the final boss. Or, well, a final boss, since the game has many. For now, it’s just Mom, and after she’s dead, you can play another run and go into her womb to slay Mom’s Heart, which later transforms into It Lives, also known as Isaac’s fetus. I’ll also get to the symbolism later. This post is just about the gameplay.

Initially it’s somewhat hard, but for one or two deaths that you may consider kind of undeserved most of them are mostly about lack of skill, and as you pick up on how to manage resources better and dodge enemy patterns more consistently later on the task of consistently getting to Mom, regardless of your items, seems doable. And it is! Especially if you’re playing the base game, without too many changes to the Basement itself, and still haven’t defeated every Basement boss once, which unlocks the Cellar, which is where your new player novelty and fun goes to die.

See, The Binding Of Isaac has this system in place for slowly raising its own difficulty. As you progress, not only in terms of gameplay but also in terms of how much money you’ve spent into DLCs, shittier stuff just starts happening to you? In various ways. As you discover alternate floors like the Cellar and Burning Basement, which are alternates to the Basement itself, and as you start slowly unlocking items, some of which are sort of just... bad and slowly clogging up your item pool every run, the game starts getting harder. But not harder as in progressively more challenging, harder as in... harder to want to play. Fights like The Haunt and Little Horn are sluggish as hell early on (and these are fights I enjoy, compared to everything else I’m going to bring up), items like the Little Planet, Kamikaze, Soy Milk or the Breath of Life are either actively harmful, worth taking only for the risk-reward of getting a really good synergy later (a tradeoff that you’re statistically going to lose since synergies with these items are usually hyperspecific) or just a dud item room that does nothing for you early on in the run, and as you get more and more DLCs (or sometimes even as you just play the normal game for longer) you start having more and more of these clogging up your item pool, preventing you from obtaining the damage or fire rate ups that you need to compete against some of the things that threaten you. Edmund McMillen’s pride of being an epic troller also doesn’t help this at all, since there’s a hell of a lot of items that I am almost 100% certain were added just because he thought it’d be funny to make his own game less engaging to play.

But hey, the bosses are still here. Bosses like Monstro, Mama Gurdy, Mom (if you’re not playing one of the DLCs where you’re statistically less likely to be able to take her on in a timely manner), Chub, hell, even the Adversary can be gimmicky to learn how to fight at first but really fun once you figure them out, and other ones like Larry Jr. are satisfying to absolutely blow into bits, even if their battles are not too difficult. Learning to fight the sin midbosses is really useful, since they can drop consumables or items early on that can be highly situational or not extremely good, but still save runs early on by aiding you against the easier bosses or rooms, and then... Then you fight The Bloat for the first time. Or Carrion Queen. Or Monstro II. Or Mask of Infamy, or Gurglings or Scolex or room one Super Envy or whatever. Granted, some of these are not as bad as the others, but every boss in this list has one thing in common: they’re awful to fight. Why is that? Well, in most cases here (disregarding Super Envy, which is just a really annoying midboss if you fight it early on), these bosses are either tanky, fast, or both. Now, tanky and/or fast are already bad things for a boss to be, but not bad in the “Ohoho, oh no! The big bad is coming! I better drink my Gamer Juice and get on my Gamer Chair to be able to defeat it!” way. It’s more like, bad in the “If you don’t steamroller this boss you’re probably going to be here for a while” way. And that’s an awful thing for bosses in Isaac, for a number of reasons, that number being two. Number one! You know that thing I said about getting EVIL gifts from Satan after beating bosses, or nice gifts from God’s angelic messengers if you’re nice? This is a mechanic that operates with various variables, but the one that matters here is that you need to prevent the boss from dealing red health damage to you. What is red health? Abridged version: red health is your Minecraft hearts, non-red health is the saturation hearts you get from a golden apple. Golden apples are common in TBOI, but healing red health is still easier and less risky, so picking up golden apples (or, what they actually are, grey and demon hearts) gives you a high-risk, high-reward possibility of getting into one of these cool rooms with better (on average, some of these are total shit) items when you defeat a boss. Except these items that in the base game are “cool boons” slowly turn into “requirement to turn a bad run into a salvageable one”, and later one “requirement to Have Fun”. So slow boss fights maximise the amount of time you have to get hit by something stupid through no fault of your own besides not always being on 100% attention mode for this stupid rogue-like game about piss and poo jokes, which in turn maximises the possibility for you not to get a devil or angel room this floor, which overall reduces your chance of success and is generally not a fun time. One time I lost a run because I was testing a mechanic that allowed you to regenerate red health with ease, so I ran mostly with red health and then Mom just tanked absolutely everything I threw at her. Missing these is not good. Anyways, the other reason is the bane of my existence, something that was implemented in Rebirth and then “expanded upon” in Afterbirth, the first DLC. That is, time-dependant events. You see, The Binding Of Isaac is in great part a game about resource management, about being able to obtain and properly use certain objects like coins and bombs to your advantage to unlock stuff like secret rooms or shops, which give you an edge and may sometimes even contain more items that help you. So, of course Rebirth added time-dependant events. Specifically, Boss Rush, which is exactly what it sounds except you have to do it with every character including the ones that are literally slow by design (as in, have a low speed stat) in order to get every completion mark, AKA unlock every item in the game. Afterbirth also added Hush, which I’ll get to soon, but in summary it’s a final-except-not-really boss. The point is that if you spend one minute fighting the Bloat that’s 1/20th of the time you have to get to Boss Rush, and 1/30th of the time you have to get to Hush. And this doesn’t seem that bad, but since the game has actively instilled into you the need to go faster to get to these events you probably also missed a lot of stuff on the way here unless you’re really lucky, which you probably aren’t because you just took an entire minute to beat Bloat, and all of this harms the chances you have not only of getting to these events but also of succeeding at them. Wanna know how to no-hit Monstro II? Simple! Bait its jumps and brimstone laser in order to get it to use the slowest attacks it has and kill the minions it summons for itself. Wanna learn how to do it faster! Also simple! Pray to the same God that sent you in this God-forsaken quest for more damage items, and maybe also add some minutes to your run by going out of your way to equalise it by making clever use of resources if luck doesn’t quite cut it. Were you unlucky with items or resources? Too bad! Better beat some other final boss that you haven’t yet as this character, or if you’ve only got the Boss Rush and Hush completion marks left, then tough fucking luck for you! We’ve ran out of solutions. See you back at the Basement, and let’s hope this isn’t another run you have to reset. At least you only put like 20 minutes into this one.

...Wow, I really had that much to say about bosses and I haven’t even gotten to the final ones (or, God forbid the DLC final ones). Moving on...

(Sidenote: I accidentally hit the wrong button and just lost half of what I’d typed in the last hour. Sigh. I actually think I’ll finish this here for now. Next time I’ll discuss characters, items, final bosses, my opinions on stats, and how the DLCs fuck it all up. Also stay tuned for my discussion of Isaac’s story and Biblical illiteracy. Until we get there, see ya.)

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story - 4/9)

And finally, I remembered to post another chapter here. I’m pretty sure this is also the last of the old chapters!

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 4 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

She woke up the next morning, her stomach a coil of knots. If there was nothing she could do for Sherlock, what would happen? And if she could cure Sherlock but not the king, then what? She had tossed and turned all night worrying about those two scenarios, not getting much sleep in the process.

She put a dressing gown on over her pyjamas and went out to get some coffee. Just because he guests couldn’t drink it didn’t mean she couldn’t have some herself; she had a whole assortment of things for them that were hidden where only she could see them, to make sure no human ever got intoxicated by fae foods. She herself never touched them except to serve them to Sherlock or, on occasions, Mycroft.

Now, that was a thought that made her smile, his reaction to her kiss on the cheek. It had been an impulsive gesture, but one she had dearly meant. She liked Mycroft, something she was sure he was not familiar with from the stories both he and Sherlock had told her. Sherlock pretendedhe didn’t care about Mycroft but in truth, he did. It was obvious to anyone who knew both of them well, and she liked to think she was among that number.

But actual love? She wasn’t sure Mycroft had had that from many of the fae in his realm.

But you love him.

The thought hit her so quickly she gasped. No...no, she couldn’t possibly love Mycroft. He wasn’t human, he wasn’t interested, she had no idea if they were really friends…

You still love him.

She closed the cabinet door she had opened to get her coffee out as it hit her two-fold. Why was she arguing with herself whether she loved Mycroft in a more than merely platonic way? It didn’t matter. He had a long, long life ahead of him, and she would be a mere blip in his existence. It wasn’t worth it to leave him heartbroken once she died. And, once again, it wouldn’t even matter if he didn’t love her.

The voice in her head decided to stay quiet at that rebuttal.

She opened the cabinet again and proceeded to make her coffee, chewing her lower lip as she thought about a multitude of things, most of which left her more confused or more worried in the end. Once her coffee was done she made herself a cup and then realized she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Mycroft yet. That was unusual; when he wasn’t inebriated, Sherlock was up as early as the sun rose, making a racket in her kitchen as he looked through all her cabinets for human food he could eat.

She took her cup of coffee and moved to Sherlock’s room. As she had expected, Mycroft was there, sitting in the chair in the room, looking absolutely exhausted. “Did you eat any of the food I gave you yesterday?” she asked softly.

“I have no appetite,” he said. “I wonder...if she takes over, will I be executed? Will I be banished?”

“If you’re banished here, you could stay with me,” she said.

He looked up, a small smile playing on his lips. “I appreciate the invitation, Molly, more than you know.”

She nodded and set a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Let me have this coffee and try to eat something, and then we’ll see what we can do for Sherlock, alright?”

He set his hand over hers on his shoulder and patted it. “Thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do. You’re both important to me.” She squeezed his shoulder again and then pulled her hand away and headed back to the kitchen. Right. Time to fortify herself as much as she was able to see just what her gift of magical ability could do.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story - 2/9)

And this fic is finished! Yay! I got it to the minimum word count for WIP Big Bang so I get to post it for that (no art, sadly) but still, that’s another one down! I’m so proud of myself! Hope you all enjoy it...

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 2 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

Five Years Later

“Dr. Hooper!”

Molly whirled around and looked at the nurse heading her way. “Yes?”

“Your...friend...is at the A&E asking for you again.”

Molly grinned and shook her head. The way he’d said “friend” made her think that there were quite a few people at the hospital who thought Mycroft was her boyfriend and not her mentor. She’d say he was her friend; he would say nothing of the sort, even though she knew he was fond of her. He had been fond of her for the last five years and not once admitted it, but she knew. “I’ll be there in a moment,” she replied, lifting the stethoscope off from around her neck and stuffing it into her pocket, fingering her wand as she did.

They had decided long ago that yes, she would need a wand and no, it could not be a regular wand. Obviously, there was the fact she was not fae, and no one in Mycroft’s realm had been sure if they could even make a wand that would work for a human, albeit Molly was a human who could grant boons. Once they had found something that worked for her, there was the matter of finding an inconspicuous way to keep it on her person. In the end, she had a silver tongue depressor with camouflaging magic on it so that it could only be seen as silver when it was about to be used. Otherwise, it looked like one of the cheap wooden ones.

She made her way to the A&E and saw Mycroft in his normal suit…

...and an unconscious Sherlock next to him on the seat.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered under her breath as she made her way to Mycroft. “What happened to him?”

“We have no idea,” Mycroft said, a tinge of worry in his voice. “I found him here on the streets after a nearly fruitless search of our realm and the area outside of London. Whatever has its hooks into him, they are in deep.”

Molly nodded and then checked the watch on her wrist. It was one of the few pieces of fae jewelry she’d chosen to accept in thanks of rescuing the Prince; it was platinum and had semi-precious stones on the watch face and in most instances ran like a normal watch, but a tap of her wand to it and she could learn anything she needed about whatever she was to involve herself, the knob on her watch acting as a scrollbar of sorts. It was one-of-a-kind even among the fae and it had been charmed to never be taken off her wrist and to survive anything thrown at it.

She knew the lobby of an A&E was no place to use it to see just what the wayward Prince had gotten into this time, so she went to one side of Sherlock and Mycroft stooped down, and between them they hoisted him to his feet and carried him out to the car lot where the employees parked. Molly shoved him into the backseat and then looked at Mycroft. “I have to go sign out and leave a few instructions, but we can take him to my flat and figure out what to do next.”

“Thank you,” Mycroft said gratefully. He went to the passenger side and let himself in, using his wand to unlock her door, and she shoved her hands into the pockets of her scrubs and went back inside the hospital.

Somehow, along with fulfilling boons every so often when the regular fairy godparents got overwhelmed or granting dying requests on her own for those who left her A&E through the morgue, she became Sherlock’s keeper. She had no idea how that task had fallen to her but she was well compensated by the fae of Sherlock and Mycroft’s realm when she got him out of scrapes. It helped she was good friends with a few of the policemen and policewomen who occasionally had reason to come to her hospital. But sooner or later his good luck was going to wear off, and she and Mycroft both knew it.

Maybe this was the start. It had been five years since she’d found him in the drugged stupor and he’d managed to stay as sober as a fae could in that time. Maybe this was a relapse? Hopefully not, but she had no idea how to enact a twelve step program for the fae.

She got back inside and finished up her rounds as quickly as she could, pausing to work some magic to make a daughter get the urge to call her mum before the mum went into a risky surgery. There was always the chance the woman would live, but if she didn’t, at least there would be a chance for the two to have a proper goodbye, hopefully. Not all of her boons worked out the way she expected them to, but she was still learning.

She didn’t bother to change out of her scrubs, black ones with Sylvester chasing Tweety across them, and all she did was grab her handbag, fish out her keys and let her hair out of its ponytail briefly to redo it into a tight bun. She had the feeling there wouldn’t be the chance to do much more than grab a quick shower before crashing into bed and she wasn’t in the mood to have her hair keep brushing the back of her neck.

When she got to the car she found Mycroft looking at it in wonder, and then it hit her. He hadn’t been able to get near her old car because it was cold iron, but this one was made of some metal alloy that she had made sure had no trace of iron in it whatsoever. She was sure it had sounded weird but she couldn’t keep calling cabs to haul Sherlock all over the place. “Would you like to take it for a spin?” she asked Mycroft with a smile.

“Er...no, thank you,” he said. “I want to make sure Sherlock is settled and then we can talk.”

Her smile lowered in intensity and shape until it was a frown. “Mycroft, how long is he going to be staying with me this time?”

“Indefinitely,” he said. “And he’s not the only one.”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on,” she said, turning to face him.

“Our father is ill. There’s a belief he’s been poisoned by something in your realm. Some suspect Sherlock himself may have poisoned him since he spends so much time in the human realm. He was banished from court on suspicion of attempted murder. And our mother bade me to keep watch on him and to find the cause of what happened to our father. So...”

Molly sighed and then turned and started the car. “Good thing I have things your brother likes to eat from your realm,” she said. “I just need more if you’re staying too.”

“That can be arranged,” Mycroft said with a nod. “Thank you, Molly.”

“You’re welcome,” she said as she turned to back out of her spot. She didn’t want to get caught up in court intrigue, not by a long shot, but she knew that she would be offering Mycroft any help she could...no matter what it cost her.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story” - 9/9) - NEW CHAPTER

And here is the final chapter of the first story! It ends on a happyish note, but there is more to come than may not be as sweet as the plot unfolds. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 9 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

She was afraid Mycroft would regard the kiss as a mistake, but as they went about things that evening he stayed close, finding excuses to touch her, and she was happy for that. If they floated up in the air again with another kiss she might reconsider that action again for the time being, but being close...she liked that. When she began to get tired again, even though she knew her days and nights would be all mixed up, he carried her to bed and this time pulled her close as she slept.

It was with great surprise that the next morning she woke up to an empty bed and voices in her kitchen, but at least she recognized them as Mycroft and Sherlock. He must have been hungry, she realized as she went to join them, but before she got there she heard their conversation.

“It won’t end well, but Molly is good for you,” he heard Sherlock say. “And that’s not to say Mother and Father won’t help. They’re in her debt; it’s different than other human and Fae relationships.”

“I know, but still,” Mycroft said. “First, she needs to save Father’s life, and then I can get to work on the problem of Eurus and that bastard. Once that’s taken care of, then we’ll see what can be done.”

“Good. Don’t lose hold of her; Molly is a good woman and I think you need that.” He paused. “You can come in now, you know. I made coffee.”

“Decaffeinated for you, I hope,” she said as she came around the corner and smiled at both of them. To make her point that things had changed, she went up to Mycroft and kissed his cheek softly before she went for the coffee.

“I had the instant stuff,” he said. “that’s got caffeine, I swear.” He picked up his cup and took another Fae delicacy off his plate. “My brother filled me in. I’m helping.”

“You need to go--” she started, but then she remembered. “You were banished.”

“And right now it’s best if I stay here in London,” Sherlock said. “I think I’ve been the Errant Prince long enough. My sister and the bastard are plotting and they’re not going to stop. But while I’m banished, I might as well make the best of it and help Mycroft expose the true culprits. Hopefully, my father will have a long and lengthy time on the throne, but if they’re willing to erase me from existence in their pursuit of the throne...then I need to change.”

“They think he’s a viable threat, instead of someone who might simply abdicate and leave the realm to whatever or whoever may take over,” Mycroft said.

“So if they think I’m a viable threat, I should be one. If you can find out what it was that poisoned both my father and I, that will be a start. But I’ll be remaining in the realm of the humans to help Mycroft in his quest and perhaps exact some revenge of my own.”

Molly realized that had all been a bit to take in before having her first sip of coffee. She held up a finger and prepared her coffee, and then took a long, careful sip. It wasn’t particularly hot, which meant it had been some time since Sherlock had made it, but the caffeine would help, she knew that. “So you’ll both be here for a while, which I’d already realized, but...”

“You’ll be safe,” Mycroft said, getting out of his seat to go over and grasp her free hand. “We’ll both make sure of it. We’re in your debt.”

“And being in someone's debt it an important thing among the fae,” Sherlock piped up. “You save my father, you and Mycroft, then the two of you could have pretty much anything you’d want. And being together would be a lot less complicated than many other things you could ask for and get.” He had some more of his coffee. “So I’ll be leaving you now and going to talk to some of the beings I know to get some information on our dear sister. I’ll be back in a bit.” He grabbed another Fae delicacy off his plate, and then a second to stuff in his mouth. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he added as he headed towards the door.

“That could mean so many things,” Mycroft said in a slight monotone as Molly giggled. The fear and sadness from the night before seemed to be gone, and there was a new sense of purpose in Mycroft’s posture. His brother was alive, they were fairly sure they would be able to save his father and now...well, now there was something between them. But as he squeezed her hand and gave her a soft smile, she smiled back, realizing as complicated as her life had become, she wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Well then,” she said as she let go to make herself something to eat. “What do we do next?”

“We have to make a trip to the kingdom soon, but not before I have eyes placed on my sister and that bastard boyfriend of hers,” Mycroft said. “I don’t want it well known we’re going to try and save father, but I doubt that may be an option. It could, potentially, put you in danger.”

“If you’re here, I feel safe enough,” she said, reaching over to caress his face gently. “But alright. One trip to your kingdom coming up. Do I need to wear the finery?”

He shook his head. “Regular clothes should be fine. Just bring your wand. And stay close.”

“I will,” she said with a nod. First things first, save the king, stave off the threat a little longer. After that? Well, that depended, but whatever it was they needed to face, she knew the three of them would face it together, and that was where their strength would lay.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story” - 8/9) - NEW CHAPTER

And here is what you’ve been waiting for: the first kiss!

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 8 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

It was nighttime when she woke up again. She was rather disappointed Mycroft hadn’t come back to lay down again; even though nothing had happened, knowing there was someone else in bed with her had been nice, and not even in a sexual or sensual way; for the first time in a long time, she simply hadn’t felt alone. Sherlock did a good enough job of scaring away the few men she’d had over, as though he always knew just when to make his presence in her life known, and maybe he did. She had no idea the true depths of his powers or what he was capable of, mostly because when he was in London he wanted to be as human as possible.

And that was a difference between the brothers; Mycroft never stopped being Fae. It wasn’t an unpleasant thing, but he never gave any inkling he liked anything about the human world, except for perhaps her. But that was dangerous ground to tread upon, even if they were a team.

She made her way out to the kitchen to eat something to see Mycroft standing in her sitting room, looking out the window. She had a nice sight of the street from those windows, though normally she kept the curtains drawn as her home held things and being her neighbours didn’t need to be exposed to. “Did you eat?” she asked, moving next to him.

“I did,” he nodded. “I called in a favour from a fae here to get you the books you may need to learn more about...various things. Court lineage, magical poisonings, beasties and other things that lurk in the dark realms. I’ve been lapse on that part of your education.”

She nodded. “Thank you. I’ll start looking into them once I’ve eaten something.” She took a few steps to the side but he didn’t follow, still looking outside. “Mycroft?”

“Sometimes I wish...I suppose that Sherlock had not survived, that night you found him. That my sister was out of the picture and I had no tethers to my family,” he said softly. “This is not the burdens I had wanted for myself. But then I realize...if he had not, and you had not made your boon...”

“Mycroft,” she said, her voice quiet. He was still as a statue but there was a sense of pain in his voice, as though his confession had cost him something dear to him. And perhaps it had; to say he wasn’t sure whether he had wanted his brother to live or die must have been something he barely wanted to admit to himself. She went to him and embraced him, holding him tightly and resting her head against his chest. “I’ll help. I’ll make sure you’re both okay. I can...that can be another boon for you.”

He wrapped his arms around her tentatively but held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head. “That’s not what I mean. If you were to ever grant me another boon, Molly, that is not what I would wish for.”

“What would you wish for?” she asked.

“To be human,” he said, his voice so quiet she was afraid she wasn’t hearing him correctly. “To be...with you.”

She pulled away a bit to look up at him. This confession, too, was probably one that had cost him as well. Cost him no less than his heart. But she knew how he felt because she, too, had often wished over the last few years that she could be fae and be with him. She leaned in and got up on the balls of her feet and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. She was sure he was surprised, because she was too, that she could be so bold, but soon he was crushing her against him and the kiss deepened and she felt herself feel light at heart for the first time in ages.

The kiss ended after a moment and she went to go flat on the ground again, only to find they were hovering without his wings being out. Her eyes widened and she held onto him as tightly as she could. “Can you set us down?” she asked.

“I’m not doing this,” he said.

“I don’t have wings! I’m not fae!” she said, and suddenly they dropped to the ground like a stone, and Mycroft fell over, holding her to take the brunt of the impact himself. She lifted her head up and he let go of her with one arm to brush the hair out of her face. “What the bloody hell just happened?”

“I have no idea,” Mycroft said. “And unfortunately, I have no way of finding out until this problem is taken care of.”

“I just kissed you!” she said, shaking her head. She wanted to do that particular action over and over again, and maybe more, but if she was going to end up a meter or so above the ground...her fear of heights would be the end of her.

Instead, Mycroft just changed his hold and cradled her head to his chest, and soon she moved a hand to cover his heart, on the opposite side of where a humans was. It was beating strong and steady, and she shut her eyes. Whatever the hell had happened, they would figure it out. Together. If she was lucky, together was what they would be for a long, long time. But first, there was so much that they had to deal with first.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story” - 6/9) - NEW CHAPTER

So I just posted the summary for wipbigbang to the DW community, and I realized whoops! I hadn’t finished posting it here. ::sheepish look:: So here’s another chapter for all of you!

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 6 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

She felt worn out by the time she was done. Most boons didn’t tax her much, but sometimes the larger ones did. She’d need to rest for a bit in a quiet, dark room and just let her senses get back to something akin to normal, though her senses hadn’t been quite normal in the last five years. Fae came and gave their boons and took their vengeance as they saw fit, but she had no sense of these things on her own. The warming of her wand helped matters, but she seemed to have gotten an awareness since she received the gift from Mycroft.

Mycroft...he looked worn out too, and she doubted he had slept the night before. Without a word, she tugged him along to her room and gently pushed him on the bed. “This isn’t the bed you made for me,” he said, looking up at her in confusion.

“No, but I left you alone to sleep last night and it’s obvious you didn’t. If you’re going to get any sleep it looks like I’m going to have to watch you fall asleep myself, and I’m too tired to stand up at the moment. So I’m having a lie-down and you’re joining me.”

She was thankful she hadn’t changed out of her pyjamas into regular clothes, and she watched as Mycroft took off his shoes and then laid down on the bed, on top of the covers. She wasn’t cold right now so the lack of covers could wait, but they both needed rest or they’d be no use to Sherlock when he was finally wide awake, or any use to the rest of the good side of his family, either.

“We need to make plans,” he said as she laid down next to him, facing him instead of lying on her preferred side. “I have to find my sister, I have to find out what was done to Sherlock--”

“And if you don’t rest you’ll run out of energy before you can do even the first thing on your list,” she pointed out. “I’ve spent enough time with your brother to know if the amount of magic we expelled to fix him is wearing me out, it’s wearing you out, and I had some sleep last night. So suck it up and sleep.”

A small smile affixed itself on his face. “You do have the tendency to forget who is in charge, you know,” he said.

“You may have seniority, but this is my home so it’s my rules,” she said with her own smile. She even poked him in the chest to enunciate herself. “But really, Mycroft. You can’t carry the burdens of being your brother’s keeper and all this with the poisoning alone. Rest, and let me help.”

“You have always been too kindhearted,” he said, taking her hand in his, a gesture that seemed to surprise him more than her. Or her heart was alight at the small, sincere gesture and the mostly kind words. When he hesitantly raised her hand to his lips, she thought her heart might burst with joy. “I’ll sleep, but then I have to go find my sister and the cause of my brother’s ailment.”

“No,” she said. “If you can, get me books on the kinds of poisonings done by the Unseelie, if there are any. I’ll research the poisoning and you find your sister and do...what you need to do, whatever it is. We’re a team if you haven’t forgotten, for as long as I help take care of Sherlock. We should act like one. Split the duties.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “What of your post?”

“I left a note saying I had a family emergency to take care of. I think my colleagues realize you and Sherlock are something to me, but they assume...” She trailed off, a small blush coming to her cheeks as she realized she’d never told Mycroft the assumptions of those who worked with her.

“That Sherlock is your lover and I’m his errant keeper?”

“No, more like you’re my boyfriend, and he’s our mutual problem,” she said, ducking her head down. “He flirts like crazy when he goes to the hospital, so I think they all assume you’re the one who...has my heart.”

“And do I?” he asked, lifting her chin up. Before she could answer, or even decide if she wanted to, she yawned and he moved his hand away. “Sleep now, Molly. I promise I will sleep as well.”

She nodded and shut her eyes, wanting to get out of this awkward and potentially heartbreaking conversation, instead rolling away from him and curling into a ball of sorts, shutting her eyes. He was too observant, she realized, and if he had to stay with her for too long he would realize that yes, indeed, he had her heart.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story” - 5/9) - NEW CHAPTER

And here’s the start of the new chapters, where, with Mycroft’s help, Molly gets an inkling of just how powerful she has the potential to be, magic wise.

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 5 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

She made sure she had more than just coffee before she began to get to work. If she could cure him, it shouldn’t matter if they had any idea what had poisoned him, but she was a doctor first and foremost, and having a record of symptoms was the proper way to deal with things. If nothing else, if it did work and she was to cure the king as well, it helped to know if they were poisoned by the same thing, or in the same way.

Sherlock had no modesty around her, which had occasionally caused problems when she’d attempted to date in the past, so with Mycroft’s help she stripped him down to examine him, knowing full well he wouldn’t care if she saw him starkers, mostly because she already had on a few memorable occasions. She took out a magnifier from her stores and looked all over his body, looking for anything resembling a pinprick, and she found something interesting between his mark where his wings were. Most humans, should they see him naked, would think it was an elaborate tattoo covering his back, but she knew better. And in the part where they would extend from his body was an irritated red mark. She took a photo and then rolled him back onto his back, continuing her examination. No fever, but rather he was chilled to the touch. Not tremors but his breathing was shallow. She had the feeling whatever was given to him had been meant not to kill, but to simply get him out of the way. If what Mycroft said was true about the sister…

...well, with King and Prince out of the way, she could easily take over and install herself on the throne without much of an argument, Unseelie love or not.

This didn’t bode well, and that meant she needed to see what she could do. As Mycroft was always reminding her, her power was from the fae but not actually fae powers, so no one had any real clue what she could do. Most halflings born of fae and human dalliances had no power, so she was rarer than that, even, and halflings were rather rare already.

Once she finished her exam and made note of her findings, she had Mycroft help her into one of the pairs of silk pyjamas Sherlock kept on hand when she demanded he sleep in something and then went for her wand. As a thought, she reached over for Mycroft’s hand. Sometimes she had found having physical contact with the person asking for the boon helped. “So you’re sure you want your boon to be for me to try and save the lives of your brother and father through magical means?” she asked, wording it carefully. She’d learned that aspect of fae magic fairly quickly; the modifier of try was only needed so that if it failed, it would be known that is was no fault of hers or her magic, it just simply couldn’t be done.

Mycroft nodded, his face looking as though a hundred years had been added to the weight of years he already carried. “Yes,” he said, his tone soft and weary.

“Alright,” she said, moving her wand over Sherlock’s body. It glowed blue and felt warm in her hand, so she knew if anything was going to happen at least on her end her magic was helping. But there was a silver tint to the glow that had never been there before, and she thought perhaps that some of Mycroft’s own formidable power was seeping in as long as they kept physical contact, and so she tightened her grip on his hand. Soon the warmth faded, as did the dual coloured glow, and she could see Sherlock take a deep breath. “I don’t know if it worked, but he’s breathing more deeply.”

She let go of Mycroft’s hand and then went to feel his pulse, and noticed his skin was slowly starting to warm as well, and the pallor on his cheeks was being replaced by his normal pale glistening. Mycroft moved to press a hand to his brother’s forehead.

“What’s the fuss?” Sherlock mumbled before lifting his hand up from under Molly’s grasp and batting at his brother’s hand. Molly could just see the weariness ease from Mycroft in that simple movement of his brother’s.

“Let’s let him sleep,” Molly said, reaching for Mycroft’s hand again. With a gentle tug, she pulled him away from the bed, her heart feeling a little more at ease. Together, it seemed, they could reverse the effects. That was good news for Sherlock, and potentially for the king, but it remained to be seen whether this would be the only time she needed to do this...or if she’d even have a chance to try with the king, as Mycroft had a mission here that needed to be completed first if their sister was indeed to blame. But, at the very least, Sherlock was alive, and that was something.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story - 3/9)

In this chapter, you see a bit more of the friendship between Molly and Mycroft, and the act of tenderness Molly gifts to him, without a boon.

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever…

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 3 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

They got Sherlock settled into the bed he usually used when he needed a night to himself while he was galavanting in the human world, and she quickly made up the other guest bedroom for Mycroft before settling down at her table with two cups of tea, both herbal with minimum caffeine content. She had found it did strange things to the fae when Sherlock would have a cup of coffee or soda. Not bad things, per se, but the effects were not entirely good, either.

“So my watch didn’t tell me anything that he might be on,” she said, dunking a biscuit into her tea and then taking a bite. It had been the first thing she’d had in hours and she didn’t realize how hungry she was until now. “Do you know what it was your father was poisoned with?”

Mycroft shook his head. Chocolate had the same effect as caffeine, so there was a plate of food from his own realms for him. Not a large plate, but one with enough assortment of Sherlock’s favourites that there should be something he liked. “It’s a mystery, not only what the poison is but who poisoned him.”

“Who would get the throne next?” she asked.

“Sherlock. I am...well, the bastard prince. The end result of a dalliance my mother had before she married the king. Most of our realm know this, but since I am not from the king and queen’s line, I cannot inherit the throne. I may stay on as an advisor, nothing more.”

“And if Sherlock can’t have it?”

Mycroft thought for a moment. “My sister, I suppose, would be the next one logically. But it’s been rumoured she has a lover among the Unseelie and that dampens her chances. Or at least the chances she’ll take the throne with the full trust of the realm.”

“And you said there are multiple realms, aside from the dark fae.” Molly thought for a moment. “Could it be someone from one of the other realms?”

“Father is on good terms with most of them, and their next of kin as well. Most wouldn’t dream of crossing the family this way.”

“So...it seems like it could very well be your sister.” Molly frowned. “Sherlock said once she ran away.”

“Yes. She’s here among humankind, as far as we know. What little information we’ve scraped together says she has a lover among the dark fae named Moriarty. My mother, and a few of the council of advisors, but store in thinking she’s behind this in some way and they asked me to look into the matter, find her and then take care of things.”

“How so?” she asked, dunking the rest of her biscuit in.

“Kill her lover if need be and take her into custody.”

“Well, whatever happened to your father may have happened to Sherlock. He’s alive but if he comes out of this...”

“I’ll do what I can.” He nodded to the pocket of her scrubs where her wand was. “Perhaps you could grant me a boon?”

“On your brother?” she asked. “I thought my boons could only work on humans.”

“You two are...connected, in a way Sherlock is not connected with the rest of us. In the morning, after you’ve had some rest, we could try to see what your magic can do that ours cannot.”

“And see, perhaps, if it might work on your father?” she asked.

“Great minds,” he said with a nod.

“Very well. But get some sleep yourself before you help me try anything.” She left her tea on the table, yawning and stretching for a moment before leaning over to kiss Mycroft’s cheek. “Goodnight, Mycroft. Sleep well.”

“Goodnight, Molly,” he said, and in the fraction of time it took her to turn her back on him she swore she saw him look surprised as he brought his fingers up to his cheek. Had he really gone so long without kindness and affection, she thought to herself. He clearly deserved more of it as long as he had to stay with her, and she’d be sure to provide him with plenty. Mark her words.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (A “The Plans Of Fae And Molly” Story - 1/?)

I just started updating this one again! Yay! As I’m planning to finish it for WIPBB, I’m reposting the earlier chapters to refresh everyone’s memories, so here’s chapter one of yet another fae AU, this time a Mollcroft one! I decided to make it into a series to shorten how much I need to tell in this story, but also because I have ideas for stuff after they fix the main problem in this series.

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever...

READ CHAPTER 1 | SERIES PAGE | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI? | MY PATREON

He was not quite what she expected a fairy to be. Well, perhaps she did, as he looked similar to the bureaucratic ones in The Fairly Oddparents, she realized, taking in the suit and die and very well-shined shoes. But they weren’t fairies, were they? It really had been a long time since she’d caught that series.

“Miss?”

He spoke, and she had to admit, he didn’t sound monotone like the animated creatures did. Bored, yes, but not nasally or just...flat. There was warmth in his voice and it was nice and deep. Almost soothing? That was a delightful surprise.

But he’d asked her a question before she went off into the train of thought on the child’s cartoon and really, it was polite to answer questions promptly.

“What would you recommend I take as a boon?” she asked, curious.

He blinked, as though no one had ever asked his opinion before. And perhaps it was the novelty of the question that caused his reply. “A million wishes.”

“Can you do that?” she asked.

“No. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try. I could go up the chain of command and ask, at least. You have done a great service rescuing our prince.”

She turned and looked at the curly black haired fairy currently pouting off to the side. She had no idea how she had known he was one of the Fair Folk, but she had spirited him out of the A&E while he was in his state and smuggled him to her flat near the hospital. At least he had come out of his delirious state long enough to tell her how to contact someone to collect him. Otherwise, she may have had an unwanted flatmate. The curly haired man had such an attitude.

Eventually, she turned back to the older fairy, if older was a term that could be used. “Perhaps I could grant boons?”

If her first question had surprised him, this one caused his eyebrows to disappear right into his hairline. “You want to grant boons?”

“Well, not all of them, obviously, or I’d intrude too much into your territory, but...maybe little ones? Like giving blessings to newborns?”

He tilted his head and shut his eyes, as though he was listening to a faraway conversation. When he straightened his head and opened his eyes again, he was frowning. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“Oh,” she said.

“You have to grant all the boons, no matter how large they are.”

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. She could have this wish? She could do some good in the world after all? Oh, that was a lovely thought. She smiled at him. “Then I’ll take this boon,” she said.

“Very well,” he said with a nod. He lifted up his umbrella and then tapped the end on top of her head very lightly. She felt a curious warm tingling spread through her from the top of her head to the tips of her fingers and the soles of her feet. Eventually, the warmth faded but the tingling stayed. “I have been told to help train you in your newfound gift.”

“Oh! Oh, very well,” she said. “So I’ll see you again?”

“Yes, you will,” he said. “Miss…?”

“Hooper,” she said. “But you can call me Molly.”

“Very well,” he said, pursing his lips together. “I suppose you can call me Mycroft.”

“Then I hope to see you again soon, Mycroft,” she said with a smile. He nodded in return and then went to the faerie prince and cuffed the back of his head before hauling him up to his feet and then wings coming out from behind his back. The wings were not drab in the slightest, with a beautiful pattern on them, though they were in a shade of gray so close to white she was surprised she could see the patterns. Then, as she watched, he and the faerie prince shrunk in size to mere specks of light and then went out the open window into the night. She raced to the window, searching for any sign of them, but all she saw were stars in the sky.

Ah well. At least Mycroft would be back. She was very pleased with the idea of seeing him again...

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (3/?)

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever...

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 3 | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME?

Update requested by @strangelock221b

EXCERPT:

“Do you know what it was your father was poisoned with?”

Mycroft shook his head. Chocolate had the same effect as caffeine, so there was a plate of food from his own realms for him. Not a large plate, but one with enough assortment of Sherlock’s favourites that there should be something he liked. “It’s a mystery, not only what the poison is but who poisoned him.”

“Who would get the throne next?” she asked.

“Sherlock. I am...well, the bastard prince. The end result of a dalliance my mother had before she married the king. Most of our realm know this, but since I am not from the king and queen’s line, I cannot inherit the throne. I may stay on as an advisor, nothing more.”

“And if Sherlock can’t have it?”

Mycroft thought for a moment. “My sister, I suppose, would be the next one logically. But it’s been rumoured she has a lover among the Unseelie and that dampens her chances. Or at least the chances she’ll take the throne with the full trust of the realm.”

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (1 - 2/?)

So I just realized I had never put the first chapter on this journal, so this is the two chapters I’ve finished so far in one post, and then new ones will go up as I write them. Hopefully this will please all the Mollcroft fans out there (especially @strangelock221b).

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever...

Read Chapter 1 | Read Chapter 2 | Help Me Survive? | Commission Me?

He was not quite what she expected a fairy to be. Well, perhaps she did, as he looked similar to the bureaucratic ones in The Fairly Oddparents, she realized, taking in the suit and die and very well-shined shoes. But they weren’t fairies, were they? It really had been a long time since she’d caught that series.

“Miss?”

He spoke, and she had to admit, he didn’t sound monotone like the animated creatures did. Bored, yes, but not nasally or just...flat. There was warmth in his voice and it was nice and deep. Almost soothing? That was a delightful surprise.

But he’d asked her a question before she went off into the train of thought on the child’s cartoon and really, it was polite to answer questions promptly.

“What would you recommend I take as a boon?” she asked, curious.

He blinked, as though no one had ever asked his opinion before. And perhaps it was the novelty of the question that caused his reply. “A million wishes.”

“Can you do that?” she asked.

“No. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try. I could go up the chain of command and ask, at least. You have done a great service rescuing our prince.”

She turned and looked at the curly black haired fairy currently pouting off to the side. She had no idea how she had known he was one of the Fair Folk, but she had spirited him out of the A&E while he was in his state and smuggled him to her flat near the hospital. At least he had come out of his delirious state long enough to tell her how to contact someone to collect him. Otherwise, she may have had an unwanted flatmate. The curly haired man had such an attitude.

Eventually, she turned back to the older fairy, if older was a term that could be used. “Perhaps I could grant boons?”

If her first question had surprised him, this one caused his eyebrows to disappear right into his hairline. “You want to grant boons?”

“Well, not all of them, obviously, or I’d intrude too much into your territory, but...maybe little ones? Like giving blessings to newborns?”

He tilted his head and shut his eyes, as though he was listening to a faraway conversation. When he straightened his head and opened his eyes again, he was frowning. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“Oh,” she said.

“You have to grant all the boons, no matter how large they are.”

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. She could have this wish? She could do some good in the world after all? Oh, that was a lovely thought. She smiled at him. “Then I’ll take this boon,” she said.

“Very well,” he said with a nod. He lifted up his umbrella and then tapped the end on top of her head very lightly. She felt a curious warm tingling spread through her from the top of her head to the tips of her fingers and the soles of her feet. Eventually, the warmth faded but the tingling stayed. “I have been told to help train you in your newfound gift.”

“Oh! Oh, very well,” she said. “So I’ll see you again?”

“Yes, you will,” he said. “Miss…?”

“Hooper,” she said. “But you can call me Molly.”

“Very well,” he said, pursing his lips together. “I suppose you can call me Mycroft.”

“Then I hope to see you again soon, Mycroft,” she said with a smile. He nodded in return and then went to the faerie prince and cuffed the back of his head before hauling him up to his feet and then wings coming out from behind his back. The wings were not drab in the slightest, with a beautiful pattern on them, though they were in a shade of gray so close to white she was surprised she could see the patterns. Then, as she watched, he and the faerie prince shrunk in size to mere specks of light and then went out the open window into the night. She raced to the window, searching for any sign of them, but all she saw were stars in the sky.

Ah well. At least Mycroft would be back. She was very pleased with the idea of seeing him again...

Five Years Later

“Dr. Hooper!”

Molly whirled around and looked at the nurse heading her way. “Yes?”

“Your...friend...is at the A&E asking for you again.”

Molly grinned and shook her head. The way he’d said “friend” made her think that there were quite a few people at the hospital who thought Mycroft was her boyfriend and not her mentor. She’d say he was her friend; he would say nothing of the sort, even though she knew he was fond of her. He had been fond of her for the last five years and not once admitted it, but she knew. “I’ll be there in a moment,” she replied, lifting the stethoscope off from around her neck and stuffing it into her pocket, fingering her wand as she did.

They had decided long ago that yes, she would need a wand and no, it could not be a regular wand. Obviously, there was the fact she was not fae, and no one in Mycroft’s realm had been sure if they could even make a wand that would work for a human, albeit Molly was a human who could grant boons. Once they had found something that worked for her, there was the matter of finding an inconspicuous way to keep it on her person. In the end, she had a silver tongue depressor with camouflaging magic on it so that it could only be seen as silver when it was about to be used. Otherwise, it looked like one of the cheap wooden ones.

She made her way to the A&E and saw Mycroft in his normal suit…

...and an unconscious Sherlock next to him on the seat.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered under her breath as she made her way to Mycroft. “What happened to him?”

“We have no idea,” Mycroft said, a tinge of worry in his voice. “I found him here on the streets after a nearly fruitless search of our realm and the area outside of London. Whatever has its hooks into him, they are in deep.”

Molly nodded and then checked the watch on her wrist. It was one of the few pieces of fae jewelry she’d chosen to accept in thanks of rescuing the Prince; it was platinum and had semi-precious stones on the watch face and in most instances ran like a normal watch, but a tap of her wand to it and she could learn anything she needed about whatever she was to involve herself, the knob on her watch acting as a scrollbar of sorts. It was one-of-a-kind even among the fae and it had been charmed to never be taken off her wrist and to survive anything thrown at it.

She knew the lobby of an A&E was no place to use it to see just what the wayward Prince had gotten into this time, so she went to one side of Sherlock and Mycroft stooped down, and between them they hoisted him to his feet and carried him out to the car lot where the employees parked. Molly shoved him into the backseat and then looked at Mycroft. “I have to go sign out and leave a few instructions, but we can take him to my flat and figure out what to do next.”

“Thank you,” Mycroft said gratefully. He went to the passenger side and let himself in, using his wand to unlock her door, and she shoved her hands into the pockets of her scrubs and went back inside the hospital.

Somehow, along with fulfilling boons every so often when the regular fairy godparents got overwhelmed or granting dying requests on her own for those who left her A&E through the morgue, she became Sherlock’s keeper. She had no idea how that task had fallen to her but she was well compensated by the fae of Sherlock and Mycroft’s realm when she got him out of scrapes. It helped she was good friends with a few of the policemen and policewomen who occasionally had reason to come to her hospital. But sooner or later his good luck was going to wear off, and she and Mycroft both knew it.

Maybe this was the start. It had been five years since she’d found him in the drugged stupor and he’d managed to stay as sober as a fae could in that time. Maybe this was a relapse? Hopefully not, but she had no idea how to enact a twelve step program for the fae.

She got back inside and finished up her rounds as quickly as she could, pausing to work some magic to make a daughter get the urge to call her mum before the mum went into a risky surgery. There was always the chance the woman would live, but if she didn’t, at least there would be a chance for the two to have a proper goodbye, hopefully. Not all of her boons worked out the way she expected them to, but she was still learning.

She didn’t bother to change out of her scrubs, black ones with Sylvester chasing Tweety across them, and all she did was grab her handbag, fish out her keys and let her hair out of its ponytail briefly to redo it into a tight bun. She had the feeling there wouldn’t be the chance to do much more than grab a quick shower before crashing into bed and she wasn’t in the mood to have her hair keep brushing the back of her neck.

When she got to the car she found Mycroft looking at it in wonder, and then it hit her. He hadn’t been able to get near her old car because it was cold iron, but this one was made of some metal alloy that she had made sure had no trace of iron in it whatsoever. She was sure it had sounded weird but she couldn’t keep calling cabs to haul Sherlock all over the place. “Would you like to take it for a spin?” she asked Mycroft with a smile.

“Er...no, thank you,” he said. “I want to make sure Sherlock is settled and then we can talk.”

Her smile lowered in intensity and shape until it was a frown. “Mycroft, how long is he going to be staying with me this time?”

“Indefinitely,” he said. “And he’s not the only one.”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on,” she said, turning to face him.

“Our father is ill. There’s a belief he’s been poisoned by something in your realm. Some suspect Sherlock himself may have poisoned him since he spends so much time in the human realm. He was banished from court on suspicion of attempted murder. And our mother bade me to keep watch on him and to find the cause of what happened to our father. So...”

Molly sighed and then turned and started the car. “Good thing I have things your brother likes to eat from your realm,” she said. “I just need more if you’re staying too.”

“That can be arranged,” Mycroft said with a nod. “Thank you, Molly.”

“You’re welcome,” she said as she turned to back out of her spot. She didn’t want to get caught up in court intrigue, not by a long shot, but she knew that she would be offering Mycroft any help she could...no matter what it cost her.

[pennywaltzy]

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me (4/?)

I’m just kind of picking random WIPs to update at the moment as I go through my list. This one isn’t going to be finished even if I were to put it into my WIPBB queue so it will get updates on a (hopefully) more regular basis until it’s finished. I’m sure @strangelock221b and others will appreciate that!

A Boon For You, A Boon For Me - When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever...

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 4 | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI?

She woke up the next morning, her stomach a coil of knots. If there was nothing she could do for Sherlock, what would happen? And if she could cure Sherlock but not the king, then what? She had tossed and turned all night worrying about those two scenarios, not getting much sleep in the process.

She put a dressing gown on over her pyjamas and went out to get some coffee. Just because he guests couldn’t drink it didn’t mean she couldn’t have some herself; she had a whole assortment of things for them that were hidden where only she could see them, to make sure no human ever got intoxicated by fae foods. She herself never touched them except to serve them to Sherlock or, on occasions, Mycroft.

Now, that was a thought that made her smile, his reaction to her kiss on the cheek. It had been an impulsive gesture, but one she had dearly meant. She liked Mycroft, something she was sure he was not familiar with from the stories both he and Sherlock had told her. Sherlock pretendedhe didn’t care about Mycroft but in truth, he did. It was obvious to anyone who knew both of them well, and she liked to think she was among that number.

But actual love? She wasn’t sure Mycroft had had that from many of the fae in his realm.

But you love him.

The thought hit her so quickly she gasped. No...no, she couldn’t possibly love Mycroft. He wasn’t human, he wasn’t interested, she had no idea if they were really friends…

You still love him.

She closed the cabinet door she had opened to get her coffee out as it hit her two-fold. Why was she arguing with herself whether she loved Mycroft in a more than merely platonic way? It didn’t matter. He had a long, long life ahead of him, and she would be a mere blip in his existence. It wasn’t worth it to leave him heartbroken once she died. And, once again, it wouldn’t even matter if he didn’t love her.

The voice in her head decided to stay quiet at that rebuttal.

She opened the cabinet again and proceeded to make her coffee, chewing her lower lip as she thought about a multitude of things, most of which left her more confused or more worried in the end. Once her coffee was done she made herself a cup and then realized she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Mycroft yet. That was unusual; when he wasn’t inebriated, Sherlock was up as early as the sun rose, making a racket in her kitchen as he looked through all her cabinets for human food he could eat.

She took her cup of coffee and moved to Sherlock’s room. As she had expected, Mycroft was there, sitting in the chair in the room, looking absolutely exhausted. “Did you eat any of the food I gave you yesterday?” she asked softly.

“I have no appetite,” he said. “I wonder...if she takes over, will I be executed? Will I be banished?”

“If you’re banished here, you could stay with me,” she said.

He looked up, a small smile playing on his lips. “I appreciate the invitation, Molly, more than you know.”

She nodded and set a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Let me have this coffee and try to eat something, and then we’ll see what we can do for Sherlock, alright?���

He set his hand over hers on his shoulder and patted it. “Thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do. You’re both important to me.” She squeezed his shoulder again and then pulled her hand away and headed back to the kitchen. Right. Time to fortify herself as much as she was able to see just what her gift of magical ability could do.

[pennywaltzy]

WIPBB Snippet #5

So I've decided I'll post a snippet of every chapter I finish of a WIP Big Bang fic with a link to the fic so if it whets your appetite you can subscribe to updates. A lot of the fics are going to be written out of order, I think, so that's why I'm sticking to snippets. But please enjoy today's snippet from "A Boon For You, A Boon For Me"!

Buy Me A Coffee? | Commission Me?

They had decided long ago that yes, she would need a wand and no, it could not be a regular wand. Obviously there was the fact she was not fae, and no one in Mycroft’s realm had been sure if they could even make a wand that would work for a human, albeit Molly was a human who could grant boons. Once they had found something that worked for her, there was the matter of finding an inconspicuous way to keep it on her person. In the end, she had a silver tongue depresser with camoflauging magic on it so that it could only be seen as silver when it was about to be used. Otherwise it looked like one of the cheap wooden ones.

She made her way to the A&E and saw Mycroft in his normal suit…

...and an unconcious Sherlock next to him on the seat.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered under her breath as she made her way to Mycroft. “What happened to him?”

“We have no idea,” Mycroft said, a tinge of worry in his voice. “I found him here on the streets after a nearly fruitless search of our realm and the area outside of London. Whatever has its hooks into him, they are in deep.”

Molly nodded and then checked the watch on her wrist. It was one of the few pieces of fae jewelry she’d chosen to accept in thanks of rescuing the Prince; it was platinum and had semi precious stones on the watchface and in most instances ran like a normal watch, but a tap of her wand to it and she could learn anything she needed about whatever she was to involve herself, the knob on her watch acting as a scrollbar of sorts. It was one-of-a-kind even among the fae and it had been charmed to never be taken off her wrist and to survive anything thrown at it.

She knew the lobby of an A&E was no place to use it to see just what the wayward Prince had gotten into this time, so she went to one side of Sherlock and Mycroft stooped down, and between them they hoisted him to his feet and carried him out to the car lot where the employees parked. Molly shoved him into the backseat and then looked at Mycroft. “I have to go sign out and leave a few instructions, but we can take him to my flat and figure out what to do next.”

“Thank you,” Mycroft said gratefully. He went to the passenger side and let himself in, using his wand to unlock her door, and she shoved her hands into the pockets of her scrubs and went back inside the hospital.

Somehow, along with fulfilling boons every so often when the regular fairy godparents got overwhelemed or granting dying requests on her own for those who left her A&E through the morgue, she became Sherlock’s keeper. She had no idea how that task had fallen to her but she was well compensated by the fae of Sherlock and Mycroft’s realm when she got him out of scrapes. It helped she was good friends with a few of the policemen and policewomen who occasionally had reason to come to her hospital. But sooner or later his good luck was going to wear off, and she and Mycroft both knew it.