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heyyallitsbeth · 5 months

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Ghost of You

The sun beamed down on the two lovers resting on a giant mushroom top in Alfheim Online. They had been working on clearing a bunch of side quests with their party that day. But to one of the two, it felt off. His movements were sluggish, his body disconnected from the avatar it resided in. To most, it would seem normal, his movements still had the disciplined form of someone who had spent his life training in combat, despite him giving up the sword in the real world long ago. But to his partner, both in combat and in soul, she could tell he was struggling.

“Kirito, are you feeling alright?” The autumn-haired girl stoked the dark hair of the noir boy who laid his head on her stomach.

“Hmm? Yeah everything’s fine Asu, why?” While his demeanor was calm, she could tell there was something eating him up inside.

“Honey, I’m your wife, and your partner too. If there’s anything troubling you, I’ll be right by your side to fight it with you.” The raven haired spriggan closed his eyes and weakly smiled. He knew that Asuna was his true other half, a partner in life and in love, but he was worried about something that might tear them apart.

“Asuna… I need to convert my account over again. I might be gone for a bit, so if you could… While I’m gone, please give Yui and Strea twice the amount of love as normal.” He thought of his daughters, and hated the thought of needing to leave them behind for any time, but he knew there was something he had to face alone.

“Of course honey, but call them every night at least okay?”

“Heh, been doing that since we escaped SAO. I can promise that won’t change one bit.” But some other things might.” He left the thought to himself, he wasn’t ready to commit to any real change, but he needed to see the truth for himself.

“Do you need me to look after Excalibur for you? You lost most of your items the last time you converted over…”

“Haha, nah that’s not an issue. Sinon's already got that covered, after all, it’s her sword, she just knighted me with it.” He laughed seeing the flustered face of his wife, even though their situation was more open and fluid than most, she still got a little jealous of the girl’s hanging off of him, especially the teal sniper who taunted the two of them the most. “And if she converts, it should default to Yui now since she’s taken my inventory any other time I convert.”

“Alright, we should get back to the others to continue the quests now, good chance for you to say bye before you log off for a while anyway.”

“Of course. Dontcha go marryin someone else without my permission first~”

“H-hey!”

“Oh come on, I’ve seen how Liz stares at ya Asu. I’m sure she’ll take great~ care of you while I’m gone~” He giggled, imagining the sight of his wife and Liz locked in an embrace together.

“Even if she does, you’ll still always be my beloved partner, promise~”

“Heh. Didn’t take much convincing- you’re so cute.”

The spriggan rested on the undine, never wanting to leave her. But today, he needed to face his fears. Alone. A mission for the solo player.

…

A year prior, an event stuck itself to Kirito’s brain like a parasyte. He could never fully escape the thought of it. He had logged into Gun Gale Online in order to investigate the DeathGun case. Due to the gacha system that determined avatars in the game, Kirito had awoken to the sight of his hair in his face. Long streaks of grey locks adorned him, framing his soft face. Staring at his reflection in the windows of nearby shops in the dark brutalist environment, he noticed things in himself he was afraid of. His figure was soft and feminine, far from the typical soldier of this world. It was not too dissimilar to his real life appearance, but the pronounced hips and narrow shoulders made him shift in place uncomfortably. He stared at his visage, noting he looked as if he was Sugu’s big sister instead of her big brother. He slowly met his own gaze. His eyes had always been a dark grey, something his adoring sister always teased him for, calling him a zombie with the dead gaze that adorned him. But that day he saw something different in them, where a blank glaze once covered his view, there were now highlights visible for the first time, and a deep purple hue that left him breathless. He grasped at his chest over his heart and was hit with a deep pain, and an even deeper longing. But he had to move forward, he had a mission.

A week ago Kazuto had been out with his sister Suguha, though they were only related tangentially as cousins. That became something Kazuto had become fixated on, as throughout their day out, multiple people had stopped them, asking if they were twin sisters. Kazuto didn’t look his age due to his years in Sword Art Online, his body permanently stunted by his inability to move for so long. But he was really wondering if he truly looked that similar to Suguha because of it. He recalled that as he was young, they were confused for twin girls all the time, but they were younger then… It made sense right? Kazuto stole an old skirt from Suguha’s closet one day as she was out practicing kendo. She hadn’t worn it in years, he figured she wouldn’t notice if it were gone… He slipped it on and stared himself in the mirror that spanned the back of his bedroom door. Despite the clear difference in their “endowment” Kazuto had seen as bright as day the connection. Even if his chest wasn’t voluptuous, even if his hips weren’t as pronounced, he saw the obvious connections between him and his sister. His face was soft and round like hers. And in the center of it all, he saw it again, his dead eyes replaced with the loving purple gaze he’d seen back in Gun Gale. He threw off the skirt in a fit of anger at himself. He stashed it beneath his bed, he didn’t wanna look at it. But… his heart longed for something regardless.

Today, as Kirito logged out of Alfheim Online, he converted his account over to Gun Gale Online once more. He needed to spend more time there… She needed to see herself again.

…

A dark raven was prone atop a clocktower, aiming down at the streets below. Through the scope of their Hecate sniper rifle, they could nearly see the stubble on the men in the party stories below them.

BANG!

A single clean shot had decimated two of the party members.

“I’ve gotten good with this thing… heh.” The shadowy figure smiled to themselves as they lined up another shot. “Maybe now I can give her that duel I promised…”

BANG!

A full party wiped in such a short amount of shots. Too easy. The slender gargoyle on the roof brushed their long locks behind them, the deep grey shimmered with silver highlights despite the soot and ash coating it. Suddenly, they heard someone ascending the wall in front of them. They prepped their shot, but they were caught off guard by a blur of seafoam green, before their eyes met a familiar smiling face in their scope.

“Hey Sinon, come here often?” A playful taunt escaped their lips.

“Yes actually, I do believe you’re in my spot after all Kirito.” She giggled, a sight Kirito had grown to love as Sinon had opened up more and more. “I’m surprised you’re using a real weapon instead of wildly flailing your photon sword about.”

“Oh you just miss seeing me with my sword in my hands dontcha?” Sinon blushed and angrily pouted, another adorable sight. “Well, my lovely partner here in GGO taught me so much, I figured I’d honor her by using the same weapon as I practiced. I need to give ya a good duel sometime after all.~”

As he grew closer to each of his friends, the one-sided teasing evolved into a playful banter between them, learning how to push each and every one of their buttons.

“So that’s why you left ALO huh? Trying to get a headstart on training for our next B.O.B. huh?”

“I think you’ve got years ahead of me Sinonon~ One week away won’t save me. But truthfully that’s not the full reason.” Their eyes shifted away from Sinon, and towards the floor before smirking and shaking the thought away.

“I’d hope so, it’d be such a shame if my Star-Crossed Soldier was training without me~” She playfully pouted at Kirito.

Ever since the last B.O.B. ended, article after article dubbed the two winners as the Star-Crossed Soldiers, after Kirito’s embrace with Sinon in the trials, their close encounters in the cave and Sinon’s literal fiery embrace at the end to claim their tied victory. Liz had given Kirito an earful before the articles came out with how close he’d been to Sinon, but after the nickname appeared online, Kirito became convinced Liz and Asuna would actually kill him. Up until Asuna proposed the poly arrangement at least.

“Jeez, don’t let Asu hear you callin’ me that, otherwise I won’t be the only one getting pierced by her rapier.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not lookin’ to get inbetween ya- in that way at least~” The look she gave Kirito with that comment seemed to literally take health off the poor player.

“Anyways, why’re you here if not to train to win over me?”

“...” Kirito shifted his look away from her, and with that motion he accidentally revealed the accessories adorning his hair. Sinon snickered.

“Ah, I see you’re just here to play dress up huh?” Her eyes wandered and looked over the rest of the boy. He still had his trademark carbon fiber cloak, but now his outfit beneath was…

“Kirito… is that my outfit in black and silver?”

The noirette blushed a vibrant crimson, and smiled.

“I think there’s someone you need to meet Shino.” The girl was surprised by Kirito’s use of her real name ingame. He typically tried to refer them as their avatar’s name. This was deeper, this was personal to her.

Shino grabbed the hands of the shadow before her and looked into it’s eyes.

“I think I know who you mean.” She smiled with pride as they drew closer. “What’s your name? Who is my partner in this world?”

The eyes of purple and blue had met, a synthetic gaze between them escalated into a whirlwind. In a moment, they were back in that cave again, holding eachother close, the heat of their bodies pressed against eachother.

“In this world… And all others… My name is Kiriko.”

With those words, Sinon saw Kiriko revert back to how she saw her initially. Another girl, just like her.

They spent the next week training for the upcoming B.O.B. ingame, and shopping for Kiriko in the real world. The night of the battle, Kiriko had stayed at Shino’s apartment, so they could celebrate their victory.

…

A flurry of gunshots was silenced by the cruel end of a photon sword. Despite her training with a sniper, Kiriko decided to return to the classics for most of the match. Her and Sinon made for a perfect duo as front line and supporting fire. Her favorite moment had been when Sinon and her had been cornered, with Sinon facing her while she had her back to two enemies. Sinon fired at Kiriko, and she split the bullet just like in their trial duel, with the two pieces finding their home in the skulls of their attackers. It was a game now, just for fun, and they wanted to perform.

“I suppose that is the last of them huh?”

“Suppose so.”

The two stood against the other, scratched, bruised, covered in virtual blood of both their own, and of others. And now with all cameras on them.

“You ready to give the girls at home a show Kiriko?”

They smiled devilishly at each other.

“Always.”

In a swift movement, Kiriko removed her heavy black cloak, revealing the matching outfit with Sinon’s own. It was practically bikini armor, except for soldiers instead of for knights, despite Sinon’s insistence it wasn’t. Sinon revealed a photon sword of her own, and as the cloak hit the dusty ground behind Kiriko, both lept towards eachother with fire in their eyes. The clash of purple and green blades sent small debris around them flying, each strike was more powerful than the last. But it was less of a duel, and more of a dance. Every movement, despite the power, was elegant, with perfect footwork and seamless motion. They circled eachother, blade against blade. With every strike forward, the other responded with a dodge and their own strike. Neither had grazed the other, only their sword’s connecting the two. The chorus of slashes against slashes sent both blade’s flying, as Kiriko caught Sinon’s and Sinon caught Kiriko’s, and they continued their masquerade. They drew closer and closer together, despite the blade’s repelling eachother, their bodies had called to eachother. In a flash both lights extinguished, and the two embraced. They smiled at eachother, aware of the camera right beside their faces. They closed their eyes and their lips clashed against eachother. Love blooming on the battlefield. Sinon pressed Kiriko’s blade against her back, and ignited it, impaling the two of them together, as they tied another B.O.B.

…

The pair awoke from their brawl back in the real world. Both had imprints on their faces from where their Amusphere’s had sat on them. They giggled to eachother as they traced the marks, holding eachother’s faces.

“I’m glad you got Asu’s approval before all that, I know that Liz’ll still tear both of us apart though” Sinon snicked, imagining the pink leprechaun’s stunned face watching their dance.

“Hehe, yeahhhhh. Just because me and Asuna are poly doesn’t mean the jealousy’ll ever just up and leave. Liz is probably upset that I managed to steal both Asuna and you for myself.”

“Oh I think she’ll be more jealous of me, after all, I was the first one with the new girl in the group.” She laughed at the thought, knowing all of the girls’ not-so-subtle-crushes.

“Oh yeah, speaking of, I guess tonight they all get to meet Kiriko at the party in ALO huh?”

“As long as you’re not nervous, and I’ll be there supporting you always.”

“With you by my side, I’ll always be ready. Let’s hop over and meet them.”

An evil grin reached Shino’s lips.

“Welllllll you and I both need to transfer our accounts back over, so you should set that up real quick.”

“Right, right of course. Better not keep them waiting-”

Kiriko turned away from Shino to her laptop, starting the slow transfer of their accounts. With her attention away, Shino slipped out of her top and pajama bottoms, and waited for Kiriko’s full undivided attention.

“Alright we should be good in around twenty minu- HUH!”

Kiriko’s face was lit ablaze by the sight of the scantily clad girl infront of her.

“Hehehe, whatcha waitin for? I know we got the cash prize, but it’s time for our real~ reward now.”

She unbuckled the back of her bra and let the garment slip down, exposing her modest, but perky chest with a light bounce.

“We won’t keep them waiting long- but I already told Asuna- I get first dibs tonight- which means I get first ever dibs on Kiriko~”

She pounced on Kiriko, pinning her to the bed.

They showed up in Alfheim, an hour later than everyone expected.

…

Sinon entered the main living space of the home their party had shared. Luckily everyone was enjoying themselves already, but she still stammered out an apology for being so late.

“Jeez, is Kirito not coming?” Liz said in a huff. “I suppose he just doesn’t wanna show after that little stunt you two pulled.”

Sinon blushed heavily, knowing that stunt was far from the worst thing they’d done. Asuna crept behind Sinon and pulled her in, kissing her on the cheek.

“Mwah~ That’s for stealing away my poor innocent Kirito~” She playfully toyed with the cat, happy with the new arrangement they’d found. But the cat’s face lit up, imagining how there was no innocence left in either of their bodies laying beside eachother in the real world. She shook the thought away.

“Hehe, just borrowing her~ she’s yours again tonight”

The party went silent

“HER?!”

As if on queue, a new cait sith appeared from the door. She was adorned with a black cloak and risque armor set. Her signature long grey hair fell down her back, looking just like Kirito in GGO. And she could barely look up at the party as she announced “H-hey everyone. My name’s Kiriko…”

Before anyone had the chance to say anything, Asuna, Yui and Strea all embraced the girl.

“Yayyyyy I get two mommies now!” Yui cheered

“Ah well that explains the armor choices…” Leafa sputtered out.

“We leave Sinon alone with Kiriko for a week and she comes back a girl… Yeah that tracks actually.” Liz was practically beaming.

“I was wondering about Kiriko’s choice of attire in GGO… But now I can’t wait to see her choices in here~” Philia dreamed of all the different event cosmetics and rare treasures Kiriko could now be adorned in.

Silica and Argo were hovering around the new cait sith in their presence.

“So was I the only one who suspected Kii-gal was a girl?”

“Maybe! But now I get an adoptive big sister!”

“Hey! Kiriko’s my actual big sister!”

“We can share!”

The crowd started talking inbetween themselves, talking about all the fun things they can do now that Kiriko’s a girl, and Asuna took this as an opportunity to pull her to the side.

“So this was what you were worried about earlier huh?”

“I was worried that you’d leave when you found out what I’d been going through… I’m glad I can still be yours.”

“Oh honey… I love you, husband, wife, partner, I didn’t fall in love with a boy, I fell in love with you. The hero who saved us from Aincrad, and the caring parent to our kids. This is just a new side of you I get to love, and I’m going to love every second of learning about you Kiriko. Now ummm. After the party can I head over? It’s been a bit since we um.”

“Heh- about that… If you wanna head over, you’ll have to ask Shino if she’s okay with you staying…”

“Sh-Shino? Are you diving from her apartment?”

“Hahaha, well, she did call first dibs…”

Asuna laughed and pulled Kiriko into a kiss. She was glad that Kiriko was still hers, even if she was being shared between a few others. Since for the both of them, regardless of all the others they would come to love, they were still that happy couple from back in Aincrad, soulmates from then, to forever.

#sword art online #sao #sword art online fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #kirisuna #kirino #fanfic polyamory #trans headcanon #trans kirito

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not-a-space-alien · 11 months

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K&J x MMSS 4: Valen & Jim Part 4

Part four of the fourth crossover with @whumpsday!

K&J masterlist

MMSS masterlist

K&J x MMSS crossover masterlist

To be added to the taglist, contact @whumpsday

Warnings for this chapter: Burns, “it” as a dehumanizing pronoun, mentions of/fear of sexual assault, brief talk about eating disorders

In this chapter: The joy of Jim's homecoming is soured by an incident with vampire hunters that suddenly reverses the roles between Jim and Valen.

***

The movie-watching is oddly serene after years of constant fear and torment. Jim cozies up with Valen while they watch, finishing his apple. He's quiet at first, just like with Kane, but slowly starts to open up as it goes on and he remains safe.

Valen reciprocates the cozying up, wrapping the both of them in a blanket on the couch. Valen has never been happier to have his own little haven, with its soft lights and quiet lack of anyone to bother him. He's delighted to hear Jim start talking more and more, acting like a person and not a neurotic prey animal.

When the time to leave gets nearer, Valen asks if Jim wants to stop at the store again for more food, knowing humans need to eat so frequently.

"Nah, I think I'm good," Jim declines with a nervous laugh. He is pretty famished, having only had one meal in three days, but he can wait. Last time was harrowing enough. Next time he eats, it’ll be in his own kitchen at home. "Maybe I could call my sister to meet us, especially since it's during the day and it'll be safe for her? Then I won't have to trek."

"Of course, that's a splendid idea. Tell her to meet us somewhere, and you'll have a nice smooth journey back. I'd love to meet her, as well."

Jim calls, letting Liz know they're leaving and she can meet them near the signs loudly proclaiming the dangers of crossing the border.

“Tell him I said thank you for saving my brother,” Liz says on the other end. There’s no need– Valen’s hearing is good enough to hear it from where he sits.

"I'm just happy I was able to help do a good deed,” Valen responds. “Hopefully the karma will come back around to me." Valen has always struggled with feeling like a monster, so that feeling being alleviated is enough of a reward on its own, to know he wasn’t universally hated among innocent humans.

They won’t be out for so long, but Valen gives Jim a water bottle anyway, just in case, before wrapping himself up thoroughly for going outside.

The streets and sidewalks are once again empty, cleared in the face of the impending sunrise. Valen hands Jim the car keys in the rising light. "Here, you should drive. In fact, if you wanted to keep this wretched contraption, that would be fine with me. I hardly ever use it, and it's more trouble than it's worth."

Jim grins. "Seriously? Oh man. You are the best. Free car, that rules. Liz probably started using mine when she learned to drive, so that's perfect, now we'll both have one." His smile wavers at the thought that he missed Liz learning how to drive. "Well, buckle up, beaks."

He drives out to the border with little issue, the streets deserted. What had caused him so much grief, years of wanting, nearly dying in his desperate attempt to make it home… it’s like nothing, now. Jim almost feels like he’ll wake up any second, the whole thing a too-pleasant dream.

Liz is there–Liz, in the flesh, so much more grown-up than when he last saw her–with three other people. They all wear vampire hunter’s gear: including Liz, to Jim's surprise. The blue-haired hunter by her side looks the calmest of them all, while the two men look a bit on-edge.

Liz runs forward, and Jim gets out of the car to embrace her.

"Oh my god, Jim!" she cries.

Valen watches Jim hug his sister with a smile on his face. None of the humans can see it, of course, because he's wrapped up head to toe, they can barely see his eyes. He squints against the light to see who all is here. There are four humans, which is more than he expected. It makes him a little nervous, especially since they all appear to be vampire hunters. But Jim's sister seems kind, so he doesn't worry overmuch.

He opens the passenger's side door and gets out of the car, leaning on it to watch Jim and Liz crying with each other. He glances nervously at the sign demarcating human territory from vampire territory, knowing full well if he crosses it, he's put a target on his back.

"Hey, why's it getting out of the car?!" one of the hunters snaps, hand itching toward his weapons.

Jim interrupts his tearful reunion, pulling away from Liz. "Don't fucking call him that! And obviously he has to get out of the car, what's he gonna do, get home from the passenger seat?"

He realizes too late: he's being defiant, again. Kane would beat him to a pulp for this. This is why he’s supposed to be silent, so he doesn’t run his stupid mouth. He immediately shrinks back, eyes cast down, trembling. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"Cool it, man." The blue-haired hunter elbows their companion.

Valen gets nervous. "I intend to come no closer, sir. We can talk like civilized individuals, I assure you." He holds his hands up deferentially.

The words go right over the head of the hunter, who can only focus on Valen’s hands moving and gets spooked. He is clearly a novice hunter, his hands shaky and unpracticed as he draws his pistol and shoots at Valen.

The shot just barely misses Valen, but it does graze his head. It rips his mask from his face, taking most of his hood with it as well, exposing him to a faceful of direct sunlight.

He erupts into an earth-shattering screech at the indescribable pain, sharp and animalistic. The windows of the car wobble with the sound, and the one closest to him shatters and spills glass shards everywhere. He would have never gone outside during the day if he'd known he was risking this. He's instantly blinded by the white-hot light, like two searing branding irons stabbed directly through his eye sockets straight into his brain, and he curls his arms above his head and drops down, fumbling for the shadow of the car to save himself.

"Fuck!" Jim dives for Valen, shielding him with his body. He grabs Valen's mask off the ground and clumsily shoves it back on his face, then strips his own shirt and throws that on top for good measure, ensuring that Valen is fully covered.

"What's wrong with you?!" Liz screams. "He saved Jim! You were just supposed to come ‘cause it's the border!"

"I'm sorry! Shit!"

"Get him out of here," the blue-haired hunter says.

"Got it," the other man agrees. Valen can make out a car driving off.

"Valen? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Jim sounds like he's crying. "I'm sorry, I never meant for you to get hurt."

"Jim," Valen weeps, groping forward. He opens his eyes, but the topmost layer of skin on them has been burned, and they're crusty and sightless. "Jim, am–is he–what's going on?"

Jim holds him. "He's gone. He knocked your mask off, he's an idiot. You're safe now. No one here's gonna hurt you. I'm sorry. You're–you're gonna heal, right?"

"I–Yes, I should–I've never felt..." It still fucking hurts, so so bad, even though the sun is gone. He will heal, right? He's never gotten a sunburn before, and he knows they theoretically heal, but damn is the lingering pain overwhelming, far more than any other injury he's sustained. "Jim, please don't leave me here, I can't see, please don't leave me alone out here."

"I'd never. Don't worry, I've got you. I've got you. You wanna come back to my place to heal up? Let's get you back in the car, huh? We'll get some burn cream on you, and you can rest up back home." Jim helps him back into the passenger seat. "Liz, we've got burn cream, right?"

"Yeah, I, I think so. Yeah." Liz is shaken. "You can follow us? That wasn't supposed to happen. I told them Valen was on our side."

"I'll follow you," Jim agrees. He pats Valen on the shoulder. "We're gonna take care of you. Like you took care of me."

"Thank you," Valen sobs. He's utterly shaken by how thoroughly and quickly the sun was able to completely destroy his confidence. He feels like a kid again, lost and scared and helpless. He'd do anything to avoid feeling the sun again. "I wasn't trying to attack, I swear." He's still shaking a little as he settles into the passenger's seat, and he folds himself down, below the window.

Jim will help me. I helped him, he'll help me back. His sister is a hunter, but she's nice, the other hunter is nice, they know I'm not trying to attack. And I can use persuasion on them if I need to. Oh god, he definitely couldn't use persuasion over a group of three humans at once, though, and his superior speed and strength would be useless if he couldn't see to know how to direct them. This must have been how Jim felt, at the mercy of someone he just had to trust would help him, unsure of if he should make a run for it and take his chances. The idea of going deeper into human territory, further into the domain of the vampire hunters, like this was terrifying.

"We know, buddy." Jim says, starting the car up again and following Liz's- well, his car. "Fuck, this is a mess. You're gonna be okay. Kane and that asshole we ran into last night got into it once a few years back, and Kane was all better by the next night. Um, I dunno if you might take a little longer, 'cause you looked pretty bad there. But I'm sure it'll still be fast."

Valen starts to calm down a little at Jim's reassuring words, just like Jim did at Valen's. He cautiously unscrunches himself, sitting upright in the seat. "Yes. Yes, thank you. Um, are–we're going into–into human territory, are you quite sure your neighbors won't–won't take notice and, and call more hunters?" He is far more afraid of vampire hunters than he'd thought he'd be–they'd always been a distant bogeyman for him, and one of them had just ruined his week with a single pull of a trigger.

"No one can tell you're a vampire when you're all covered up like that. And if anyone tries to fuck with you, they'll have to go through me. And Liz, and probably her friend. Plus, it... it seems like Liz is a hunter." Jim is not a fan of this information, but he's glad it at least makes things a little safer for Valen. "So she'd be the one who's called anyway. I won't let anyone get at you. Promise."

Valen sobs when Jim says Liz is a hunter, not finding it as comforting as Jim does. "Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Jim. Are we going to your house?"

"Yep, that's where we're going. Home. Holy shit, I'm going home." It still doesn't feel real. "It's gonna be okay. And, look, you can feed on me when you get hungry, 'cause I know it'll take a bit for your face to heal right. I'm used to it. Happy to do it when it's for you. I'm sorry it sucks right now. But I won't let anything else happen to you, swear to god. I've got your back."

Oh no. Jim expects Valen to feed on him. Valen has never fed from a human before, he doesn't want to, he's terrified of opening that door. Feeding straight from a human is supposed to be one of the highest luxuries a vampire can have. What if he doesn't want to stop feeding that way? What if he gets addicted and can't go back to blood packs? He doesn't trust himself. He can't. He goes spiraling back into the times where he went days without feeding, crushed under the weight of his depression and guilt and self-loathing. He can't go back to that.

Valen swallows. Maybe they can just avoid that for now. Maybe Valen will get better before he needs to feed, and he can just go back home and sidestep the whole thing.

"Thank you, Jim." He feels safe around Jim in a way he hadn't before with other men. Is it because he's a human, and Valen could overpower him? Then why does he still have this warm feeling when he's helpless and dependent on him? "And I'm glad you get to go home. I'm very happy for you. It's still a wonderful day overall.”

"Thank you. You gave me my life back. I'm sorry it turned out shit for you. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess." Seeing Valen so hurt and scared, because he was trying to help him, no less, breaks Jim's heart.

They arrive at Liz's place after a little while, Jim chattering soothingly to Valen the entire time.

"Alright, we're here. I'll lead you inside." He holds Valen's hand, leading him into the house, where Liz and her hunting partner wait.

Liz tosses Jim a container of burn cream while Laken, quickly introducing themself, goes around closing all the blinds. Liz smiles, despite the situation. "We did have some. And hey... welcome home."

"Thanks. Here, come, sit." Jim leads Valen over to sit on the couch. "You can take that stuff off. You're in the clear."

Valen sits on the couch and gropes at his head to remove the coverings Jim had tossed over him. He also removes his outermost cloak and his gloves. Despite the relatively short contact time, Valen's whole face is red and blistering, and the thin, delicate skin on top of his ears has peeled away to reveal bleeding rawness. His eyes have a gray, opaque layer over them.

"I'm glad to meet the two of you and be in your home, despite the rough start," Valen says. "Thank you for having me. I'm glad to see Jim finally reach safety after his ordeal."

"Thank you for bringing him home. Thank you,” Liz says emphatically. "Sorry the new guy’s a fucking dumbass. I'm gonna kick his ass."

"You're very welcome. I couldn't just leave him there, knowing what fate was in store for him. And I suppose your colleague had good reason to be wary, knowing what my kind is capable of. Although, I obviously do wish he'd had more restraint."

"Oh please, he didn't have shit." Liz says. "It's daytime, you were bringing Jim home, he was being an asshole."

"I'm gonna put burn cream on you, okay?" Jim says gently. "It okay if I touch? Kinda gonna have to."

Valen reaches out and finds Jim's hands. "Yes, you are welcome to touch me, Jim, I don't mind it at all. Thank you."

"Alright, just hold still." Jim starts slathering burn cream over Valen's face and dabbing it on his ears. He tries his best to be gentle, but touching the burns is bound to hurt at least a little, even if the cream is soothing.

Valen clenches his teeth and lets out an occasional hiss of pain, but when Jim is rubbing the cream on the less painful parts of his body, he leans into the touch, closing his eyes and savoring the feeling. He hadn't realized how touch-starved he'd become, despite it being only a few months since his separation from Priscus, although Priscus had also been his main source of touch before that. He was very much enjoying the touches that didn't have the subtle warning written under them, the hint that later the touching would lead to more things whether he wanted them or not, a reminder that things were expected of him. It felt nice.

When it seems like Jim is done, he pulls away. "Thank you very much. It's already starting to feel a bit better."

"There you go. You're doing awesome." Jim gives him a little side hug and yawns, still on a nocturnal schedule. "I'm gonna grab something to eat from the kitchen and then probably hit the sack. Are you getting tired, too? If you can get to sleep, you'll probably heal a lot while you're out."

Valen jumps at the opportunity. "Yes, please, that sounds wonderful." He secretly hopes that Jim will sleep in the same bed as him. He feels like it would be the first time he'd sleep in a bed with a man and not have to be on guard to fend off unwanted advances. Jim is so very sweet and considerate, and seems like he would take no for an answer if it came down to it, which makes Valen not want to say no. Maybe there will (in)conveniently only be one space where they can sleep, and Jim will apologetically offer to sleep elsewhere to let Valen have it, and Valen will be able to coyly offer to share it. That will give him what he wants: Being able to sleep in the same bed as Jim without looking too eager and inviting, to have plausible deniability about wanting it later if he changes his mind and wants away from Jim, and to make Jim feel just a little bit like he is imposing and therefore needs to be extra polite and considerate to make up for it.

He takes a minute to step back from the insane mental gymnastics he'd just done. Living with Priscus had really done a number on him. Maybe he should just sleep on the couch.

"Er, I've been using Mom and Dad's room for storage,” Liz says. “Your room's all set, though. I kinda didn't touch it. Kept hoping you'd come home. And I was right, you did, so there!" Liz proclaims defensively, like someone's going to argue with her about it. "Even cleaned it yesterday 'cause I knew you were coming home. But yeah, the other bed is covered in boxes. I can go clear it, but it'll take a bit."

"You can use my bed, Valen." Jim says. "Lemme lead you up there. Your eyes are still all funky." He takes Valen's hand.

Valen blushes. "Thank you."

He lets himself be led upstairs, into the bedroom, he presumes. "How large is your bed? Where will you sleep?"

"It's a full. I guess I'll help Liz clear off the other bed, or take the couch if that turns out to be too much of a hassle? Unless… you wanna double up." Jim can’t deny Valen’s subtle hint, asking about the bed’s size, and being with Valen makes him feel safe. Like if Kane showed up to take him away, he would be protected.

"Only if you want to," Valen says shyly. "I wouldn't mind. I don't snore." He sits down on the edge of the bed and starts fumbling to take his shoes off.

"Cool,” Jim says, with a huge smile Valen can’t see. He helps Valen take his shoes off. "Here, you can borrow some pajamas,” he adds, pressing the first ones he sees in the closet into Valen’s hands. “I'll come back up and join you after I've eaten something."

He quickly changes into some himself, since he's currently shirtless and the clothes Valen loaned him are too small anyway. "I'll be back up soon. Yell if you need anything."

"Thank you. Enjoy your meal." Valen takes the time to undress himself, stripping off his many, many layers, suddenly realizing how sweaty he is under it all. He figures a bathroom might be nearby, trailing his hand along the hallway wall and getting lucky when it’s the first doorway he blindly stumbles across. He takes the time to find the faucet and splash some water on himself, drying his skin on whatever towel is nearby. He doesn't dare to clean up more than that for fear of accidentally getting himself into an embarrassing situation he can't get himself out of without calling for help.

He strips off his binder next, slipping into the pajamas. He doesn't know what pattern is on them, but they feel soft and warm. He sighs contentedly, slipping into the bed and fumbling to pull the blanket up over himself. When he finally settles in, he feels very cozy and safe despite the burns, and closes his eyes, already starting to fall asleep.

Jim comes back up about twenty minutes later, trying not to disturb Valen as he slides into bed next to him. "Thank you," he murmurs, finally feeling safe for the first time in five long years.

Valen sleepily rolls over. "You're welcome. I'm glad I could make a difference for someone in this wretched world. Sleep well. Tomorrow you will wake up for the first time safe in your own home among people who care about you."

The words touch Jim to his core. That's one of the kindest things anyone's ever said to him. "I care about you, too," he says softly, snuggling up to Valen in the small bed.

Valen curls up against Jim. It's very comfortable, and he wants this kind of touch so badly, but something is bothering him, and he won't be at ease until he broaches the subject. Despite his earlier thoughts, he's starting to get concerned about waking up to Jim trying to have sex with him. Unlike when Priscus did it, Valen is strong enough to just throw Jim off, but the thought is the only thing ruining the otherwise perfect atmosphere. If he could just clear that, he'd have the nicest night he's had in decades, he's sure.

"Um," he says, voice cracking with nervousness despite his attempts to control it. "To, to be clear, I-I'm very comfortable right now, b-but I'm, I'm not interested in having sex tonight."

The nervousness in Valen's voice gives Jim pause. He recalls the way Valen cried when his husband called, the way he called him sir so miserably. "Hey. You're safe, okay? I'd never do anything like that. You're alright, Valen."

Valen perks up, immediately more at ease. "Thank you, Jim. I know it will be a wonderful night. Sleep soundly. You've no need to worry anymore, either. You're safe, too."

Jim smiles, feeling warm. "Wonderful day, you mean, but I know you're on mushroom time and you can't see shit. You sleep good, too."

Oh this is wonderful. Jim is a human, and Jim feels safe around him, and that must mean he’s not a bad person. Valen feels safe, at ease, and validated in a way he never has before. Jim feels safe and protected in a way he never has before.

They both fall asleep and have the best rest in years, for either of them.

***

@barebarb

@cc1010foxy

@emcscared-whumps

@gt-daboss

@hurtpluscomfort

@jakersdaboss

@lolrpop

@melancholy-in-the-morning

@pigeonwhumps

@secretwhumplair

@some-thrilling-heroics

@t0rture-me

@thecyrulik

@thejinglingcourtjester

@vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff

@whuarri

@whump-cravings

@whump-my-heart-away

@whumpycries

@wolfeyedwitch

@whump-addict

@why-not-ask-me-a-better-question

#whump #K+J #angst #whumpblr #hurt/comfort

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smallpwbbles · 7 months

Note

Seems like Liz is much more cheerful than either version of Shads, I guess the massacre didn't affect her all that much /j

Nah all the rage is right there, Liz is just passive aggressive with it

#ask

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blackbloodteeth · 3 months

Text

Okay so here's one of those types of murder mysteries where the characters get picked off one by one and you have to figure out who's responsible by the end. This takes place after the end of the manga (but not by too much) where the main gang is having some sort of dinner party inside the Gallows Manor (probably).

The start of the story is in the perspective of the killer (details are up to interpretation but it’s mostly just the main group getting back together here, so it's even more of a mystery why one of them is doing this), and it gives you some time to wonder who the perspective’s from while they're watching Soul specifically because his drink is actually poisoned.

They're being covert about it so they look away sometimes, but eventually he looks a little disturbed and excuses himself to the bathroom, the killer now smug and victorious that he's gonna be out of the way now.

And next the lights go out.

This is the part where things get a little hectic. I’m thinking there’s some screwy liminal space kinda nonsense happening which doesn’t help everyone splitting up, but each scene that follows is in the perspective of who’s getting targeted next.

Mind you however that these aren’t actually deaths; they’re ways of trapping each person in the form of an object. The specifics on the order are up to interpretation but it goes something like:

Death the Kid becomes a painting.

Black☆Star turns into a statue.

Liz ends up trapped in a snowglobe.

Patty finally gets to be with her stuffed animals.

Tsubaki is just a playhouse doll.

And Maka...

Okay scene switch, we now have the perspective of Soul who, as it turns out, has been hiding out in the bathroom this entire time. He never ate or drank anything as he was too anxious to, and he’s been in here managing another anxiety attack because he’s been starting to struggle with those as of late (also yeah, the lights never went off in here, that's related to the weirdness going on).

Eventually he leaves since he’s been in here long enough and he doesn’t want people to notice he’s been having issues lately, which quickly leads to him realizing something’s up when everyone’s gone and everything’s dark. Honestly probably reasonable to assume this is some kind of game he got left out of.

But wandering around with the flashlight from his phone, he finds the Death the Kid painting first, and thinks about how life-like it is while starting to get pretty creeped out by this point. He likely encounters a couple others (such as the statue of Black☆Star) before he soon manages to meet up with Maka.

He’s concerned – she’s also worried about all this – and while the conversation specifics are up in the air, Soul then offers an “Okay, I’ll switch in my scythe form just in case.” and gets slightly confused when Maka’s like nah, maybe we shouldn’t. He argues that it’ll help with her soul perception but she’s still hesitating for some reason, to which the gears are now turning in his head that something is definitely wrong here.

One thing of course leads to another, and the lights turn on as Maka is revealed to be the killer (suspenseful gasp), which turns out to actually be some demon or other that possessed her in advance to deal with her first before enacting this grand plan to take everyone’s power for itself. Soul was simply poisoned (though granted it was just something that causes total paralysis, and it would’ve come back for him later) because it possessing Maka meant Soul would’ve caused the most problems. In comedic irony, however, Soul ended up having unintentionally avoided all of this.

Soul is understandably upset and goes, “Fuck you, give my meister back!” The demon decides they’ll deal with him now by, “Oh yes,” turning him into a puppet before the room goes dark again – This time so dark that his flashlight barely cuts through it, even if it had still been on due to him having never shut it off in the confusion.

And the neat part that happens next while the demon disappears into the darkness is that Soul starts to feel strings trying to pull him up to the ceiling.

He jolts away and tries to locate the demon while fighting with the feeling continuing to happen repeatedly, until looking up he sees “Maka” all distorted from the ceiling, the strings being from their fingertips.

At this point it’s time to panic.

He does eventually get the train of thought with the strings that if he plays his piano while connected with them he could possibly reach Maka’s soul, but it would be such a “only one shot, you can’t miss” type of deal – Fuck it, it’s his meister. He’s going for it.

So he drops his phone, changes his arm into a piano keyboard, and lets the strings pick him up, waiting for the perfect timing to hit his only note while he feels himself slowly being turned to wood again (and trying not to have a panic attack, bless him).

The demon is pretty smug about him surrendering himself and giving up, which makes this plan all the more perfect as he strikes that key right as he’s fully becoming a puppet and letting him connect with Maka.

“Oh, hi.”

He’s got no time to explain though – Just grab my hand.

Their two souls perform their song together and use the demon’s strings to reach out to everyone else’s soul too, and it can’t separate them because in its hubris, Soul was too tangled up to get rid of much like a headphone cord, and so everyone is quickly freed by the power of music or whatever. The demon, however, becomes enraged, deciding to rip Soul away in all of the strings and possess him instead, so Maka gets her body back but has to watch as Soul’s soul is buried as the demon looks up at her with his face – “Sorry girlie, Soul isn’t here anymore!” – and proceeds to attack her with stringy spider scythe-legs that erupt from his back, ‘cause it’s time for the Plan B where it’ll just eat their souls normally instead.

The perspective then moves back to Soul’s soul where he’s struggling with being all tangled up in the strings, just sinking down deeper and deeper away into the darkness, and hanging there as he feels the demon wanting to fully consume him.

Going down so deep though he starts to hear a voice, a familiar one, laughing.

He looks... up? It’s the Little Oni, on the ceiling.

Soul doesn’t want to remember, but the more that little demon talks and the more he's reminded, the more lanterns get lit, until he gives in and now sees the entirety of the Black Room sitting above him – to which he drops out from the strings and right onto the floor, now wearing that old suit of his.

“Fuck.”

As far as he knows though this is just an unpleasant memory he’s been trying so hard to repress (hence part of why he’s been dealing with so much anxiety lately), but Oni says he can help his situation just like old times (“Once you’re so far down, there’s no going any lower, am I right?”), considering all the dark strings still looming in from the abyss above like the red curtains.

So dusting off that old piano – it’s still tuned – he regrettably decides there’s not really a lot else left for him to try, and sitting down he briefly notes the puppet strings leading right into the piano’s shadow.

And after a deep breath, he starts playing.

Back to the outside world, the rest of the gang reunited with Maka, everyone now wielding their respective weapons as they try to figure out how to get Soul back (the demon isn’t giving them any openings though, especially with them not wanting to really hurt Soul in the crossfire). The demon starts hearing music though, much to its confusion, which gives them just the opening they need for Black☆Star to hold back all of the legs with Tsubaki’s shadow ability and Maka to come in for a hug to reach Soul, letting Kid sever the demon out with his reaper claws in the process (something he’s using more often now that he’s grasping how to be a full-fledged Shinigami).

Which he then shoves into a jar that Black☆Star tosses to him because I find the idea of them getting back at it by trapping it in an object and watching an angry dark mass jitter around with smol rage hilarious.

Maka is just hugging Soul on the floor for a moment afterwards before it returns to his perspective, where all the strings are now gone and he shuts the piano immediately.

Looking up at the ceiling though, he has no idea how he’d get back out the same way he came in, to which Oni answers for him to “just use the door.”

Of course doing so would bring back the Black Room as it had been before, but given Soul has no real way to climb up he unfortunately has to, with him leaving a parting “Just keep the door locked.” after Oni says this will always be open to him.

Whoops, looks like he’s got Black Blood again, we’ll get ‘em next time.

Finally making it back outside though he gets to hug Maka too and everything apparently worked out in the end. He probably still has to deal with explaining the bathroom anxiety bit.

And so the story concludes for now – It’s a world where, after the ending of the series, there was one Black Blood cell still clinging to life, lying dormant inside the deepest, darkest corner of Soul’s heart. A cell that had no way to act on its own until being gifted this golden opportunity to see Soul come back, happily even.

But it’s also one where the friends he’s been growing up with are there to support him now more than ever, and, even in such strange turn of events, relearn some of their own abilities and remember the strength of the bonds still burning just as brightly as they were even if time still changes too.

Or something along those lines, anyway.

#rambles #classic rambles #soul eater #soul evans #maka albarn #black star #tsubaki nakatsukasa #death the kid #liz thompson #patty thompson #long post

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heyyallitsbethfanfic · 5 months

Text

The Ghost of You

“Kirito, are you feeling alright?” The autumn-haired girl stoked the dark hair of the noir boy who laid his head on her stomach.

“Hmm? Yeah everything’s fine Asu, why?” While his demeanor was calm, she could tell there was something eating him up inside.

“Of course honey, but call them every night at least okay?”

“Do you need me to look after Excalibur for you? You lost most of your items the last time you converted over…”

“Haha, nah that’s not an issue. Sinons already got that covered, after all, it’s her sword, she just knighted me with it.” He laughed seeing the flustered face of his wife, even though their situation was more open than most, she still got a little jealous of the girl’s hanging off of him, especially the teal sniper who taunted the two of them the most. “And if she converts, it should default to Yui now since she’s taken my inventory any other time I convert.”

“Alright, we should get back to the others to continue the quests now, good chance for you to say bye before you log off for a while anyway.”

“Of course. Dontcha go marryin someone else without my permission first~”

“H-hey!”

“Even if she does, you’ll still always be my beloved partner, promise~”

“Heh. Didn’t take much convincing- you’re so cute.”

The spriggan rested on the undine, never wanting to leave her. But today, he needed to face his fears. Alone. A mission for the solo player.

…

A week ago Kazuto had been out with his sister Suguha though they were only related tangentially as cousins. That became something Kazuto had become fixated on as throughout their day out, multiple people had stopped them, asking if they were twin sisters. Kazuto didn’t look his age due to his years in Sword Art Online, his body permanently stunted by his inability to move for so long. But he was really wondering if he truly looked that similar to Suguha because of it. He recalled that as he was young, they were confused for twin girls all the time, but they were younger then… It made sense right? Kazuto stole an old skirt from Suguha’s closet one day as she was out practicing kendo. She hadn’t worn it in years, he figured she wouldn’t notice if it were gone… He slipped it on and stared himself in the mirror that spanned the back of his bedroom door. Despite the clear difference in their “endowment” Kazuto had seen as bright as day the connection. Even if his chest wasn’t voluptuous, even if his hips weren’t as pronounced, he saw the obvious connections between him and his sister. His face was soft and round like hers. And in the center of it all, he saw it again, his dead eyes replaced with the loving purple gaze he’d seen back in Gun Gale. He threw off the skirt in a fit of anger at himself. He stashed it beneath his bed, he didn’t wanna look at it. But… his heart longed for something regardless.

Today, as Kirito logged out of Alfheim Online, he converted his account over to Gun Gale Online once more. He needed to spend more time there… He needed to see himself again.

…

BANG!

A single clean shot had decimated two of the party members.

“I’ve gotten good with this thing… heh.” The shadowy figure smiled to themselves as they lined up another shot. “Maybe now I can give her that duel I promised…”

BANG!

“Hey Sinon, come here often?” A playful taunt escaped their lips.

“Oh you just miss seeing me with a sword in my hands dontcha?” Sinon blushed and angrily pouted, another adorable sight. “Well, my lovely partner here in GGO taught me so much, I figured I’d honor her by using the same weapon as I practiced. I need to give ya a good duel sometime after all.~”

As he grew closer to each of his friends, the one-sided teasing evolved into a playful banter between them, learning how to push each and every one of their buttons.

“So that’s why you left ALO huh? Trying to get a headstart on training for our next B.O.B. huh?”

“I’d hope so, it’d be such a shame if my Star-Crossed Soldier was training without me~” She playfully pouted at Kirito.

“Jeez, don’t let Asu hear you callin’ me that, otherwise I won’t be the only one getting pierced by her rapier.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not lookin’ to get inbetween ya- in that way at least~” The look she gave Kirito with that comment seemed to literally take health off the poor player.

“Anyways, why’re you here if not to train to win over me?”

“...” Kirito shifted his look away from her, and with that motion he accidentally revealed the accessories adorning his hair. Sinon snickered.

“Ah, I see you’re just here to play dress up huh?” Her eyes wandered and looked over the rest of the boy. He still had his trademark carbon fiber cloak, but now his outfit beneath was…

“Kirito… is that my outfit in black and silver?”

The noirette blushed a vibrant crimson, and smiled.

Shino grabbed the hands of the shadow before her and looked into it’s eyes.

“I think I know who you mean.” She smiled with pride as they drew closer. “What’s your name? Who is my partner in this world?”

“In this world… And all others… My name is Kiriko.”

With those words, Sinon saw Kiriko revert back to how she saw her initially. Another girl, just like her.

…

“I suppose that is the last of them huh?”

“Suppose so.”

The two stood against the other, scratched, bruised, covered in virtual blood of both their own, and of others. And now with all cameras on them.

“You ready to give the girls at home a show Kiriko?”

They smiled devilishly at each other.

“Always.”

…

“I’m glad you got Asu’s approval before all that, I know that Liz’ll still tear both of us apart though” Sinon snicked, imagining the pink leprechaun’s stunned face watching their dance.

“Hehe, yeahhhhh. Just because me and Asuna are poly doesn’t mean the jealousy’ll ever just up and leave. Liz is probably upset that I managed to steal both Asuna and you for myself.”

“Oh I think she’ll be more jealous of me, after all, I was the first one with the new girl in the group.” She laughed at the thought, knowing all of the girls’ not-so-subtle-crushes.

“Oh yeah, speaking of, I guess tonight they all get to meet Kiriko at the party in ALO huh?”

“As long as you’re not nervous, and I’ll be there supporting you always.”

“With you by my side, I’ll always be ready. Let’s hop over and meet them.”

An evil grin reached Shino’s lips.

“Welllllll you and I both need to transfer our accounts back over, so you should set that up real quick.”

“Right, right of course. Better not keep them waiting-”

“Alright we should be good in around twenty minu- HUH!”

Kiriko’s face was lit ablaze by the sight of the scantily clad girl infront of her.

“Hehehe, whatcha waitin for? I know we got the cash prize, but it’s time for our real~ reward now.”

She unbuckled the back of her bra and let the garment slip down, exposing her modest, but perky chest with a light bounce.

“We won’t keep them waiting long- but I already told Asuna- I get first dibs tonight- which means I get first ever dibs on Kiriko~”

She pounced on Kiriko, pinning her to the bed.

They showed up in Alfheim, an hour later than everyone expected.

…

Sinon entered the main living space of the home their party had shared. Luckily everyone was enjoying themselves already, but she still stammered out an apology for being so late.

“Jeez, is Kirito not coming?” Liz said in a huff. “I suppose he just doesn’t wanna show after that little stunt you two pulled.”

Sinon blushed heavily, knowing that stunt was far from the worst thing they’d done. Asuna crept behind Sinon and pulled her in, kissing her on the cheek.

“Hehe, just borrowing her~ she’s yours again tonight”

The party went silent

“HER?!”

Before anyone had the chance to say anything, Asuna, Yui and Strea all embraced the girl.

“Yayyyyy I get two mommies now!” Yui cheered

“Ah well that explains the armor choices…” Leafa sputtered out.

“We leave Sinon alone with Kiriko for a week and she comes back a girl… Yeah that tracks actually.” Liz was practically beaming.

Silica and Argo were hovering around the new cait sith in their presence.

“So was I the only one who knew Kii-gal was a girl?”

“Maybe! But now I get an adoptive big sister!”

“Hey! Kiriko’s my actual big sister!”

“We can share!”

The crowd started talking inbetween themselves, talking about all the fun things they can do now that Kiriko’s a girl, and Asuna took this as an opportunity to pull her to the side.

“So this was what you were worried about earlier huh?”

“I was worried that you’d leave when you found out what I’d been going through… I’m glad I can still be yours.”

“Heh- about that… If you wanna head over, you’ll have to ask Shino if she’s okay with you staying…”

“Sh-Shino? Are you diving from her apartment?”

“Hahaha, well, she did call first dibs…”

#sao #sword art online #sao fanfic #sword art online fic #trans kirito #trans headcanon #fanfic #fanfiction

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whumpsday · 2 years

Text

K&J x MMSS 2: Valen & Liz Part 1

Kane & Jim masterlist / Magnanimous Moonrise & Savage Sunset masterlist

content: starvation, blood, nonconsensual restraint, muzzle/gag, aftermath of torture, misgendering a nonbinary character (non-malicious), mentions of rape/noncon, rescue, recovery, vampire whumpee

Note: This is NOT a continuation of the first KJ x MMSS crossover.

Set after K&J #39: Heat Wave Part 2 and after/diverges from 6M/6S

me and @not-a-space-alien are back with another collab!! part 2 will be posted tomorrow! nasa did pretty much all the editing on this one, so huge thanks to them!!

also: i included the taglists for both stories in the first crossover bc i thought it would be a one-and-done thing, but it’s looking like we’re gonna be putting out a bunch of stuff. as such, i will be including the taglists on this and the second part tomorrow as well, but if you’d like to continue being tagged in crossover pieces, please comment saying so in order to remain on the taglist! it’s opt-in! and as the next crossover will be 18+, please be 18+ to enter the taglist for that.

Liz hasn't been able to stop thinking about the vampire since she heard about him.

Valen Kithrara. If any vampires deserved to get what's coming to them, it's the Kithrara family. But Kane… Kane's a horrible person, too. He took away the only family she had left, methodically destroyed Jim's spirit until he was a paranoid, crying mess who took years to build himself back up. An abusive piece of shit who by all accounts deserves to die. And yet, as much as she hates to admit it, as much as she hates him, she can't help but feel bad for the guy. She even let him stay in her house for a few days during that heat wave fiasco last month, so it's safe to say they're fine now, she guesses.

If she can be fine with her brother's abuser who she still fucking hates, she can stop this random vampire she doesn't even know from being tortured, no matter what he'd done.

She's going to kill Valen Kithrara. Put the guy out of his misery. In and out, that's the plan. No more fucked up torture, especially when the person she heard about it from said he heard that all the useful “experiments” had been done months ago and it was basically just senseless at this point. She was able to get ahold of the schedule of that base, and it's supposed to be empty tonight. In and out.

When she gets there, she curses under her breath. There's a car out front. Someone's still here. No one's supposed to be here, but then again, neither is she.

She knocks on the door.

Nick answers. He's breathing slightly heavily, and looks caught off guard. "Er, can I help you?"

Oh, this guy is definitely hiding something. Perfect. All Liz has to do is get him to let her down there and she can stake the vampire. He won't want to admit he was even here, and if he does, she can just say the vampire attacked her. It'd be her word against his. "Hey, I'm Beth. I'm from a different branch a few hours out. I happened to be in town, and remembered hearing you guys have a live vampire here. I'm toootally interested in the experiments you're running. I gotta get going tonight, but I figured I'd swing by to take a look if that's okay, see what your setup is so maybe we can get some research going back in my county," she bullshits, giving him a friendly smile.

Nick narrows his eyes. "Are you on duty? Where is your hunting partner?"

"Nah, not on duty. Definitely don't do that shit alone." She laughs. God, she hadn't even told Laken she was doing this. She'll tell them after. "Just in town for personal business. Why, you guys understaffed and want me to pick up a shift?”

Nick blinks at her. "No, nothing like that. You may look, as long as you don't touch anything. I will warn you safely keeping a vampire in a setup like this involves a fair amount of homemade equipment. I made it all myself. I would be happy to share the blueprints with you if you have someone with the technical know-how to recreate them." He opens the door and lets her in, walking to the basement and unlocking the door.

"Cool, thanks!" Liz forces herself to sound enthusiastic, despite knowing she's about to see something truly awful, and follows him inside. What awaits her is something out of a horror movie. The room is filled with torture devices, and Valen himself- god, he looks even worse than Kane did, and completely terrified.

It's at that moment she realizes that she won't be able to do it. On the job, she kills strong vampires who fight her back. She can't bring herself to kill someone so utterly helpless and scared. Which means everything is suddenly a lot more complicated.

"So, what's that thing you've got it locked up in?" she asks.

Nick sits on the lid of the coffin, near Valen's feet. Valen begins to sob, titling his head to make eye contact with Liz. He can't speak, but the message is clear enough from the big, watery eyes. Please, please please please. "It's a shell of silver-core bars coated with iron, with internal restraints. We call it the coffin. The director insists that safety is our topmost priority, but this satisfies even him to know that this vampire isn't going anywhere. It would have to break through two layers of silver restraints, then remove the muzzle on its face before being able to use persuasion. And as a precaution, we never open the coffin unless at least two people are present."

"Well, shit, we've got two people here right now. I could spot you if you wanted to try anything out." The gossip she'd heard included that the guy doing the experiments could hardly even find anyone to go with him anymore because everyone was sick of his shit. "I'd love to see your work in action and everything, if you've got the time."

Nick stares at her. "Please show me your credentials. I could be fired if I didn't ensure the second party was qualified to supervise."

"Of course, yeah." Liz fishes out her hunting license. Elizabeth Lieberman, it reads. She's glad she chose an alias that works with her ID, but with the way her plan is evolving, she's becoming less sure whatever secret reason he's here right now would be enough to keep him from reporting her when she does what she's about to do. But she can't leave this guy here, she can't. She'll just have to figure it out. Get people to cover for her. "I don't think I ever got your name, by the way?"

"Nicholas." He examines the ID and apparently finds it to his satisfaction. He then gives it back, and walks over to the furnace, lighting it and setting the stoneware cup of silver in it to melt. This prompts a fresh round of sobbing from Valen, and him writhing inside the cage, but the device is too heavy for it to even shake under his thrashing.

Nick comes back and sits on the coffin again, crossing his legs. "Elizabeth Lieberman? It's nice to meet you. I don't suppose you're related to Jim Lieberman?"

"Nice to meet you too. Yeah, he's my brother. Got an apprenticeship a couple months after he got taken, started hunting the second I turned 18, never looked back." It's easier to say something genuine than lie through her teeth. What the fuck, is this guy gonna pour silver on him? Why? It's not like hunters could carry around molten silver. "How'd you get into it?"

"Interesting. I've always been fascinated by Jim's story. The two of you are very strong." Nick pulls down his shirt collar to reveal the scars from fang marks on the side of his neck. "I relate to Jim's story on a personal level. That is what got me into hunting." He releases the shirt. "I'm not a proper hunter, though. I don't have a hunting partner. I'm simply an affiliate of the guild. I do research and support."

Liz figured. The guy isn't built like a hunter. She's trained for this work half her life, and it shows. She knows she can take him easily. Hearing his story makes her feel wildly guilty about that, though. God, if he's been through what Jim's been through… well, if she does this right, he won't even know what hit him until he wakes up with a bad headache. And she can't just leave this vampire here.

"Congrats on getting out. That takes guts." She means it. She guesses that's the kind of thing that could drive someone to… this. "I think your silver might be done."

Nick smiles widely. "Thank you. Jim's book mentioned how much you two missed each other. I imagine you must feel the same hatred towards vampires as I do. As many of us do. If you'd like to assist, typically I have someone handle the vampire while I handle the equipment." He hands her a key, then he walks over to the furnace and holds the long metal tongs with the glowing silver on the end. "All you need to do is hold it still on the ground. Kneeling on the shoulders usually works well."

Liz stuffs the key in her pocket, grabs the stake off her belt, and slams the blunt end into the side of his head while he's turned around. She grabs him as he falls, making sure the molten silver that clatters to the floor doesn't get on him. "Sorry, Nicholas," she says softly, setting him down in the chair in front of the desk.

She re-sheathes her stake, pulls out the key, and approaches Valen. "Hey, buddy. Let's get you outta this mess." She unlocks the coffin, undoes the restraints, and helps him out of it.

Valen watches her approach the coffin through a haze. He'd been mentally preparing for more torture, and now this muscular, god-like woman had attacked his abuser, and is now approaching him like an angel descending with kind words. This is a dream, right? Was this really happening?

He is completely limp in her hands, in a daze. His cheeks are flushed. As soon as her hands are on him, he decides he's a little bit in love with her.

Liz decides to leave the cuffs on, and obviously the muzzle is staying. This isn't Kane. The collar won't come off on its own, so she checks Nicholas's pocket and finds his keys. After a couple tries, she finds the right one, leaving it inside the coffin before closing the lid. "Bet that's better, huh? C'mon, my truck's just outside. Let's get you up the stairs." It's obvious that Valen can't move that well on his own, and she supports him as they make their way up.

Before they leave the base, she stops. "Valen, right? Okay, a couple ground rules. I'm helping you because torture is fucked up, but I'm still a hunter. I will kill you if you give me a reason to. No attacking, no trying to take that off-" Liz points to his muzzle. "No trying to run off. Not that you really can right now, but that'll change. You don't hurt me and I won't hurt you. Sound good?"

Valen is so overwhelmed by what's happening. He'd just been sitting there, being subjected to another of Nick's night visits, when this hunter strides in and upends everything all at once. It’s different, and that scares him, a lot. He has no idea who this person is, or what they’re going to do to him, but… She said torture is fucked up. So it could be good. Maybe this was over? His brain refuses to register it. It feels like he’s wading through molasses trying to figure out what he should be feeling. His usual internal stream of pleas has been completely silenced by how suddenly everything had pivoted. He's never even seen this hunter before. The muzzle is staying on, so obviously things weren't going to be too good, but…

Cheeks still rosy, eyes wide with fear and hope, he nods silently.

"Good." Liz takes him to the truck, trying to decide on the best place for him. It would be a lot better if she had a trunk, but her only options are the passenger seat, the backseat, or the bed. The first two left her vulnerable to attack- Valen would lose, but she would be driving and that was dangerous as shit. The bed left him wide-open for escape.

She considers going back and getting the coffin, for a moment, but… instead, she sighs and just loads him into the passenger seat and buckles him in. He really doesn't seem like he'll attack. "There we go," she says, before climbing into the driver's seat. "Name's Liz, by the way. I live about three hours away, so get comfortable. And hey: you're out. Take a minute to celebrate it." She gives him a smile and a pat on the shoulder before getting on the road.

You're out. Is that what's happening? It must be, right? Valen lets his head lean into the window, bonking against the glass. He's out. He's away from Nick. He's away from Nick. He starts to cry softly with relief. He's still a prisoner, it's not over, but this seems like it's going to be better. He can hope for that. Maybe it's a lie, he has no reason to trust this person, but she is the first one to say what's happening to him is fucked up and do something to put a stop to it. But where is she taking him…? To her house?

Out of the corner of his eye, he watches her strong-looking hands on the steering wheel and working the gear-shift. He keeps replaying in his mind over and over the sensation of her lifting him up, helping him up the stairs, touching him gently to get him up into the seat and buckle him in. What can I do to make you want to protect me? Anxiety creeps over him.

Liz isn't very talkative on the drive home. She's a little on-edge with a vampire just sitting right next to her while she's driving after having fought so many, and keeps glancing at Valen to make sure he's still chill. She calms down once they finally get to her house. She's glad the timing is good- it's late at night, and no one is out, especially not in a town so close to vampire territory, so no one can see her taking a vampire into her house.

"Alright, we're home." She helps Valen into the house, sitting him on her couch. "I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to take a vampire home tonight, so I'm a little unprepared. Looks like you need… a bath, some clothes, and a meal, for starters." She reaches toward his face. "Not gonna hurt you, just checking out that muzzle," she warns. This isn't Liz's first rodeo, and she's assuming Valen must be at least as jumpy as Jim was when he first came home. The more assurances, the better. She grabs his chin and tilts his head a little, getting a good look of the thing. It doesn't seem locked, which is a major safety hazard she'd have to fix. He wouldn't be able to drink normally with it on, but… "Yeah, I can probably get a straw in there."

Valen's eyes light up with delight when she says this. She's going to feed him? Really? That makes him a little nervous--feed him for what? Dare he believe just because she didn't want to see him starving? And a bath, and clothes… Things you would give a person, and not a piece of meat. It almost feels wrong. It almost feels too much to hope for. Silent tears dribble down his cheeks again, tears of relief. Maybe he could convince her to take the muzzle off. Maybe she wouldn't feel the need to keep him locked up so tight. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe he could be a person and not a piece of meat.

Fuck, he really does remind her of Jim at 24. "Hey, it's gonna be alright." Liz grabs a tissue from the box on the side table and hands it to him.

He remembers tissues, a relic from an era when he could blow his nose. He takes the tissue and dabbles delicately at his eyes.

"Let's… okay. Blood first, probably. Hmm." She'd heard Jim tell her how Kane jumped on him when he got a papercut, so this guy definitely wouldn't be able to control himself. "I'm gonna have to tie you up first, just for this first time- maybe first few times- to make sure everything goes smoothly. Stay there, lemme work this out."

She's able to scour something along the lines of rope from her camping gear, winding it around his legs and torso firmly and tying it off where he can't reach. Even if he tried to lunge at her, he'd just end up on the floor. "I'll take that off after your dinner. Just try to relax. It'll be fine."

Valen whines softly as Liz approaches him with rope, and starts to sob as she ties him up. It's not painful, it's not even unpleasant except psychologically. More restraints, more tying, more barriers between him and being a person who talks and laughs and says please and thank you and I love you. She tells him to try to relax and it'll be fine, but he can't make his brain believe it. It won't be fine. It's never fine. It's always worse. Things had been getting better, and now they were getting worse again.

Liz passes through the doorway into the kitchen. She'll get a blood draw kit tomorrow, but this will have to do for now. She cuts into her arm, bleeding into a cup.

As soon as the blood is outside of Liz's body, Valen does exactly as she'd predicted, lunging and ending up on the floor. His eyes are wild and predatory, nostrils flaring, and his cuffed hands gouge the floor, raking his claws in an attempt to drag himself forward, growling savagely.

Liz glances back, seeing Valen worming around on the floor. It must be awful to be that desperate for food. She fills about half a cup, which takes longer than she thought it would, before bandaging her arm- first with gauze, then with plastic wrap, to hopefully control the smell a little bit. She hopes Valen is able to control himself a little more after he's finished this. She grabs a straw and heads back to the vampire.

"Valen." He barely seems to hear her. Liz grabs him by the bound wrists to make sure she won't get scratched and pulls him up into a sitting position. She straddles his legs to keep him from moving around so much, then sticks the straw through the muzzle and into his mouth as he strains for the cup. "Fuck, finally. Drink up."

As soon as the straw is in his mouth it's like he's a completely different animal. He sucks and the blood rushes into his mouth, warm and wet. His face instantly loosens into a placid expression, eyelids heavy, lost in the sensation. His eyes flicker to Liz, straddling him. Oh hello, where did you come from, big angel? Thank you. Thank you. He feels the blood warming his frigid insides as it goes down his throat. Thank you. Thank you.

The blood is gone far too fast. The straw wheezes emptily against the dredges at the bottom, Valen still sucking, refusing to admit he's finished.

"Yeah, I get that's probably not enough. Here, lemme turn it around so you can get at the bottom of the straw." Liz pulls the straw from Valen's mouth, flips it, and sticks the blood-covered end back in. After it looks like he's done, she pulls it back out, getting off of him. "I know it sucks, but that's all I've got for you right now. I'll get you more tomorrow."

When Liz lets him lick the straw to get a little extra, he almost starts crying again. She's putting so much thought into his comfort it's almost too much to bear. Ideally he'd like to be allowed to lick the bottom of the cup as well, but he knows why Liz won't let him do that. Please take the muzzle off. I promise it'll be fine. He's starting to have the thought with increasing certainty. Before, back with Nick, he knew for a fact that the second anyone took the muzzle off he'd be using persuasion instantly to try and save himself, but…the urgency to do that was starting to fade, here. Maybe he didn't need to. Maybe they could just have a normal conversation. It’s too good to be true, of course, but it’s a nice thought.

Liz rinses the cup, then returns to untie Valen, helping him off the floor. "Alright. Bathtime, pajamas, then bed. We'll figure the rest out tomorrow. You'll be okay." She helps him upstairs, into her parents' old room. There's a queen-size bed, a bunch of boxes (as she uses it for storage), and an attached bathroom. "This is gonna be your bedroom and your bathroom. I'll get all the boxes and shit out of here at some point this week." She continues helping him to the bathroom.

When she takes him upstairs, he starts to feel a little anxious again as Liz takes him into a bedroom. But Liz is a woman. Even if she did that, it probably wouldn't hurt. It probably wouldn't even be unpleasant. Maybe he would even like it. He thinks about it for a little longer than he probably should, before he realizes what she is saying. Oh, he's getting a bedroom, and a bathroom, and pajamas. That's good, right? He wants that. He starts to bounce a little with excitement. He's getting amenities. Maybe this is okay.

Liz starts filling the tub with warm water, then gestures to Valen's boxers. "You want me to help you get those off, you wanna do it yourself, or you wanna leave 'em on?" She holds up a new finger with each option, indicating for him to do the same to pick which he wants.

He's going to get a bath, but oh, he has to pass the trial of making a decision first. At this point he couldn't care less about his boxers. He has no modesty left, no dignity to scrape up to try and save. He holds up one finger, to ask her to do it, then immediately feels anxious about if that was the wrong thing to do.

"Alrighty, here we go." Liz helps Valen get the boxers off, then helps him into the tub. The cuffs and muzzle are still on, since Liz is afraid he'll take the muzzle off if his hands are free. "I know leaving the cuffs on isn't ideal, but I gotta look out for my own safety too. We just met and all. I promise I'll figure out something better tomorrow, you'll get your hands free. I'll help you get cleaned up for today, though."

She washes his hair and body, trying to be mindful of any injuries, making sure to get under the cuffs and muzzle too. At one point, she presses the washcloth into his hands so he can wash anything below the belt himself. She has to prompt him to do his own washing a few times before he has the wherewithal to do anything for himself.

After, she helps him into a set of pretty basic pajamas- she does unlock the cuffs briefly so she can get the shirt on, but they go right back on after. "Sorry, I know. It's temporary."

Valen leans into her touches, and at whatever point it's feasible, he leans into her, face into her shoulder, sighing contentedly, clinging to her with his bound hands if she allows it. It's probably pathetic. But he wants to say thank you, and he can't, and it's really, really disappointing when the cuffs don't stay off, but he feels cared for in a way he hasn't in a long time. Not safe, but safer.

The pajamas are nice--any fabric would be a little scratchy against his injuries, but they're soft and warm, neither of which are anything he's gotten to experience in a while. He sits on the bed, feeling acutely the stark clash between the comforting, gentle pajamas and the hard metal cuffs just a few inches above the sleeves at his wrists.

God, he absolutely breaks Liz's heart. Before sending Valen to bed, she gives him a hug, now reasonably certain he'd want that. He seems desperate for any kind of gentle touch. “It's gonna be alright. It's over. No one's gonna hurt you here." She really feels like she's 20 all over again.

He really, really wants to believe her words. Maybe it's a lie, but for now, in this moment, it's true, and that helps him carry on for a little while.

When Liz leaves him alone to go to bed, he lies down in the luxurious softness of a real bed, but finds to his horror he can't sleep. He's out in the open. That means danger. This is horrible because he starts to realize the solution would be to be shut back in the coffin, which he would hate more than anything, but it's been his only rest and safety for months, training his brain to equate a narrow, enclosed space with sleep and safety.

But he's so tired he wants to cry. Is there anything he could do to possibly recreate this sensation? A weighted blanket maybe? There's nothing. The bathtub? The underside of the bed looks tall enough for him to squeeze under, but he doesn't want to leave the softness and warmth of the blankets.

Whimpering, he pulls the comforter off the bed and wraps himself up in it as best as he can, steps onto the floor, and kneels down, jamming himself under the bed and wriggling forward until most of his body is under it. He almost hopes it doesn't work because this is a less than ideal sleeping position, but he does eventually fall asleep.

Liz calls Laken until they wake up and pick up the phone, confesses everything, and tells them to cover for her. Laken is completely on board, and she goes to sleep too, knowing that Nicholas's "a hunter a 3 hour drive away came to steal my vampire for no apparent reason" story will likely not hold up against her "I was literally home all night and I've got people backing that up," especially when he's the one with head trauma and there's no evidence she was there.

The next day, Liz goes to check on Valen, only to find him missing. "Fuck! Where the hell did he go?!"

Valen is awoken by Liz's startled exclamation. Oh no, she thinks I ran off. He starts wriggling forward, but finds he's a little bit stuck. He grips the carpet fiercely and drags himself forward a little, getting his head and shoulders out from under the bed, letting out muffled exclamations to let her know where he is.

Liz rubs the sleepiness out of her eyes with a sigh of relief. "Oh. You do that too, huh?" At least he's coming out on his own, not needing to be coaxed out like Jim did.

You do that too, huh? Did……did Liz sleep under her bed? Why on earth would she do that?

She pulls him the rest of the way out. "Alright, game plan for today. I've gotta go do some shopping, I've got a friend coming over while I'm out. They're gonna feed you, too. After I get back, we'll get those cuffs off, sound good?"

Someone is coming over while Liz is out. That makes him nervous, but excited because they're going to feed him. He wants to ask if it'll be a man or a woman. Liz had said they. Was it just one friend or multiple friends? Realistically it won't really make much difference the gender of the person, or people, but it will let him know how nervous to feel, being alone in the house with someone new in this state. He decides to assume it'll be a man, this way he'll be pleasantly surprised instead of caught off guard if he's wrong, but immediately regrets it, beginning to shake with nerves.

They're coming over to feed you, not hurt you. Calm the fuck down.

But what if they didn't just feed him? Liz was taking the cuffs off, not the muzzle. He's still stuck having no way to tell anyone if something is wrong.

Still, he nods with enthusiasm at the prospect of the cuffs coming off.

Liz takes Valen down to the living room couch, and Laken arrives shortly after. "Hey!" they greet cheerily. "Jesus Christ, you look like you've been through the wringer. What's up, I'm Laken." They hold out a hand for Valen to potentially shake.

"He can't even answer that." Liz points out.

Oh, it's a man. Great. Awesome. Valen dies inside, ready to lie down and take whatever was going to happen to him as soon as Liz leaves. It was obvious Valen wouldn't be able to do anything about it, either resist in the moment or tell on him afterwards.

Valen's countenance shifts visibly and immediately, shoulders drooping. He starts to hold out a hand to shake Laken's, but thinks better of it halfway through and retracts. Maybe if he wasn't overly friendly, or tried to be standoffish or aggressive, he could at least put it off for a while, maybe until Liz got home if Laken didn't pay attention to the time. But then again, maybe Laken was one of those men who liked it better when you tried to push them away. He couldn't know.

Or maybe he's just a normal fucking person. Not everyone is a sadist like Nick.

But he has the opportunity.

That doesn't mean he's going to take it.

He has no reason not to, though. Well…Laken has an interesting hair color. That's nice, at least.

"That's cool." Laken says easily, retracting their hand. "No pressure, man."

"This is Valen." Liz introduces him, since Valen can't. "He's really scared right now, so try not to be too much." She grabs a thick clothing catalog off the coffee table and hands it to them. "Have him pick out what he likes from here, but don't let him write."

"You got it, boss. Blood stuff in the kitchen?" Laken asks.

"Yeah." She looks back at Valen apologetically. "Sorry. Laken's nice, okay? They're not gonna hurt you either. I'll be back in a few hours."

Apparently they're clothes shopping. Exactly how long does Liz plan to keep him here? She's made no mention of removing the muzzle. Does she plan to just have him live here forever, indefinitely muted? The fact that he is apparently going to receive clothes almost makes him feel good, but he just feels nervous instead. He can't make sense of the implications. Did they intend to just have a pet vampire in the upstairs bedroom? Chills go up his spine. Were they going to do other kinds of experiments on him? Surely not, right? She said she wouldn't torture him…

She'd said she wouldn't. Why would he believe her? Why would he believe any of it?

Still, when Liz leaves, he shuffles forward and reaches a hand out, as though to try and grab her to stop her from leaving.

Laken's nice. They're not gonna hurt you either. There's the they again. Laken must be nonbinary. He'd heard of such a thing in passing, mostly in the context of people around him crucifying it as ridiculous and juvenile. He'd secretly found it intriguing, but it doesn't put him at ease. A nonbinary man can still hurt him.

Liz leaves, and Laken claps their hands together, discarding the catalog back to the table for now. "How about breakfast first?"

And then they're alone. Valen's resolve comes back. I'm not stupid. I know you're probably lying. Don't treat me like I'm stupid. He wants to be fed, very much so, but he doesn't trust Laken, and he doesn't want to let Laken see how desperate and scared he is. He remains silent.

Laken shrugs. "Kay, we'll just go with that, then. You think you'll be able to be chill while I get my blood in a cup, or you need some help? Liz told me on the phone to tie you up 'cause you're still getting your juice back, but if you wanna give it a try without, hey, it's cool. Oh, uh, nod for rope, shake your head for nope."

Absolutely not. Valen feels like he would probably die if Laken tied him up. He's not as desperately hungry as he was yesterday, so maybe he'll be able to not lunge? But it was only one feeding…

No, he can't be tied up, absolutely not. He shakes his head frantically. He would rather suffer whatever consequences come from accidentally lunging than be tied up.

“Okay, cool. Let's get this ball rolling, then." Laken smiles at him, then goes to the kitchen and slices their arm to bleed into the cup.

Valen is able to resist a little bit this time, but after a few seconds the smell is too much. I need it RIGHT NOW I NEED IT GIVE IT.

He tries to stop and pull himself back, though, so he just sort of ends up bumping into Laken from behind.

"Oh, hey. It's gonna take a couple minutes, I think." Laken firmly holds Valen away at arm's length with their free arm. "Good to know I'm delicious, though."

Valen blinks at them. Well… That could have gone a lot worse. He wrenches himself away from Laken, chuffing air from his mouth and nostrils aggressively, still feeling threatened and vulnerable, trying to seem dangerous and prepared. He shuffles backwards and takes a seat on the couch.

Laken finishes preparing the blood, bandages themself, and sets Valen up with the straw, murmuring about how "You really seem like you need to smoke some pot. It's so sad vampires can't do that." They turn the straw around for him to lick the bottom too, citing "Liz told me this was a good last step."

Valen snatches the cup from Laken and clutches it to himself, glaring at Laken as he sips it. When Laken puts their hand near Valen, even for something obviously to help, he lets out a low warning growl like a dog.

When he's all done, they get the catalog back out, and a pen, handing both to Valen. "You can go through this and pick out whatever."

Valen’s heart pounds. Does Laken not realize that Valen can use persuasion through writing? He’s being handed a pen. He hasn’t had an opportunity like this in so long. His brain twists into anxious knots trying to figure out how to handle this.

Laken does not, in fact, realize. They open the book up to the first page for him.

Valen is suddenly conflicted. Should he try to escape now? Would that make things worse? They're being kind to him, but…

What is he thinking? He has to get out of here. It doesn't matter how nice they are, they're still keeping him captive. They can still do whatever they want to him. He's still at their mercy. This is probably all just to lull him into being complacent. His mind races. Oh no, he has to make a decision.

He takes the pen and starts to write a command, but to his horror his disused hands can't scrape together the dexterity to get it right on the first try, and he ends up producing some chicken scratch before fumbling and dropping the pen.

He lets out a whine and cringes, looking at Laken through his eyebrows.

"Hey." Laken snatches the pen up, suddenly serious. "I know it sucks you can't say anything, but you know why we can't let you, even if you seem like a nice enough guy. No writing, bud."

That…. also could have gone a lot worse. Laken is being remarkably patient. But Valen still has a hard time suppressing the instinctual fear welling inside him.

He takes the catalog, still bracing for retaliation. When none comes, he turns his eyes downward and points to a black turtleneck sweater.

Laken notices the increase in fear. "I get it, dude. You're just trying to survive, I'd probably do the same if I was you. Listen, I won't even tell Liz. We're cool." They circle the sweater.

Maybe Laken is okay. Maybe. He wants to believe it.

Valen goes through the catalog and picks out all the most expensive things. He doesn't realize until afterwards what he's done, but living among the nobility allowed him to develop expensive tastes. It was frustrating because if he could get back to his house, he still had a lot of money and jewelry he'd take from the Kithrara estate, which he could offer to buy the clothes he actually wanted--of course, in that case, he wouldn't need to be buying new ones.

These are the ones he wants though, he'd just done an honest assessment of the catalog for the kinds of things he'd typically wear. Lots of black tops with long sleeves, dark, tight pants, a long, heavy jacket with a hood. He'd even found a studded leather belt and knee-high boots. Which, unfortunately, cost almost $200, so he figured that was one of the more outlandish asks. He colors a little with embarrassment at his selection.

"Damn, you and Lizzie really are two peas in a pod. Maybe she'll give you one of her leather jackets. Dunno if she's gonna go for those boots, but since you can't, I'll argue on your behalf." Laken gives him a wink. "She'll totally cave. Oh, and, hey. You're trans too, right? You want binders or something?"

Valen looks up at Laken sharply, hardly able to believe what he’s hearing. He tears up instantly. He'd never in a million years thought he'd be able to get that at all, let alone without having to ask and plead for it. His wet eyes sparkle with newfound appreciation, and he nods. Okay, Laken is all right. He leans into them, grabbing their shirt.

But…. something still doesn't feel right. How are they going to care about details like this, and validating him, yet still deny him the very basic ability to advocate for himself? To communicate with them as an equal? Were they just buying him nice things like one would buy toys for their dog?

He looks up at Laken pleadingly and slowly points to the muzzle, hopeful inquisition on his face.

Laken sighs. "I can't. Look, I'll talk to Liz about it, alright? Like, honestly, I doubt she'll keep you here forever, so that'd definitely come off. She's probably gonna let you go. She's just paranoid, y'know? Her brother was held captive for years by-" They suddenly grin. "Ooh, I just got the best idea. I know someone you can talk to risk-free."

Uh-oh, it sounds like Laken is saying Liz's brother was held captive by a vampire. Talking with a vampire also had no risk because they were unaffected by persuasion. But his hackles raise defensively once again at the mention of a third unknown party, this one being a vampire. He tended to assume the worst of vampires, a trait he shared with humans--the assumptions were usually not that far off. But… This one was friends with humans, so they couldn't be that bad. Right? Unless they weren't actually friends, but another captive? Were they just going to be put together for a play date? But Laken had said Liz probably wouldn't keep him here forever, so…? He looks at Laken anxiously. He knows he can't really do anything about anything, but he trusts Laken, a little bit.

"Oh, this is such a good idea. I'm a genius." Laken enthuses, oblivious to Valen's anxiety.

Liz gets home soon enough. "Hey! Everything go okay while I was gone?"

"Super smooth." Laken agrees. "Didn't even use the rope for the blood stuff."

Liz flicks them on the forehead. "Stop taking risks." She unpacks the contents of her shopping: a blood draw kit, a small padlock, and these:

"This way we've got more than just yes and no," Liz explains. "They're not all relevant, like, the yes and no cards are redundant and we don't need hungry and thirsty, but at least you can tell me if you're hurt or something this way. I know it's for kids, but I figured it'd help."

"I actually thought of-" Laken starts.

"And if I put this on the muzzle, we can take the cuffs off." Liz grabs the padlock.

Valen is excited by her haul at first--a blood draw kit means feeding him will be easier, and these cute little cards bode well for his ability to communicate more complex things--he eyes the I want to go home card longingly.

But then she pulls out the lock, and Valen's stomach drops out from under him. No, no, no, please. She's said it as though it were a positive thing, to remove the cuffs, but it looks like a step backwards, definitely a step backwards. As it was now, anyone could take the muzzle off. With this, only Liz could take the muzzle off, or whoever she gave the key to. A key, almost a symbol of ownership as well as from the practical standpoint--if someone lost the key, or something happened to Liz, he would just be out of luck. It forced him to be completely dependent on her and at her mercy in a new and scary way. And if this was her solution, how long was she planning to keep feeding him? Because if the current rate of feeding kept up, he'd be able to break any padlock that wasn't silver fairly quickly. Were they going to stop feeding him? But Laken had said she probably wasn't going to keep him here forever, and would let him go. That was too good to be true, of course, but maybe- They kept telling him things that would make him feel better if they were true, but then doing things that were moving in the opposite direction. If they were going to let him go, putting a lock on his most hated restraint was definitely the opposite of moving in that direction. As soon as Liz declares this will allow them to take the cuffs off, Valen crumples, tears slipping down his cheeks, holding his hands out as though she'd threatened to hit him.

"Oh, hey hey hey, it's okay." Liz takes a step back at his defensive gesture, wanting to give him space. "I thought it'd be good, I thought you'd want them off. Um." She slides the cards across the table to him. "Any of these relevant?"

He shuffles through the cards with shaking hands, trying to find one that says I'm a person and you're not treating me like a person and I don't know how to convince you I don't deserve this. There wasn't one, of course, so he picks out the card that says I am sad and puts it on the table.

"He wants the muzzle off." Laken frowns sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, Valen." Liz feels awful for him. She imagines if Jim came home after his ordeal and wasn't even allowed to speak. "I wanna help you, but I've gotta look out for myself too. And it's just too big a risk for us to talk. I really wanna talk to you too, but it's a safety issue."

"He could talk to Kane," Laken says.

"What? No."

"Why not?"

"Because he's horrible and I hate him." Liz glowers.

Valen shuffles through the cards again, his newfound tool. He quickly lays out I need help, I am hurt, I am hungry, I am tired and I want to go home all in a row, hoping that maybe physically seeing his smorgasbord of negative emotions laid out would impress upon them the extent of his distress.

Liz exhales slowly. "I'll draw you some more blood. You'll heal. I'm sorry. We don't have to use the lock if you don't want. I'm trying to help you as much as I can without compromising my own safety."

"Can't we just drop him off at the border when he can run again?" Laken asks. "He wants to go home." They point at the card.

"…He's a Kithrara," Liz says flatly.

"C'mon, look at him. Do you really think he's gonna come back to human territory after this?"

"I don't know. I can't risk human lives on that."

"Then let him talk to Kane so he can say something more than I am sad." Laken argues. "I know you hate the guy, but he's the only vampire we know, and you know he'd be willing to help."

Liz hesitates, then sighs. "Fine. For Valen. But I'm going to complain the entire time."

Laken smiles. "You wouldn't be you if you didn't."

"Fucking abusive piece of shit." Liz mutters under her breath as she goes to the phone and dials.

Valen clutches his cards to himself. He does kind of want the cuffs off, although he finds them far less distressing than the muzzle. I guess there's no option to get both off… He has a hard time choosing, so he just leaves it, fine with things staying as they are if that's what they choose. He can use his hands well enough to do most things he'd want to, although it's a little annoying.

Sigh…..but hearing humans yet again talk about how dangerous he is, and how he can't be set free for human safety makes him feel small and hopeless again. He's never going to be free of that suspicion, that assumed guilt. But…it sounds like they're going to talk to someone who might help, so maybe it's OK to hope a little bit. He tilts his head in preparation for trying to hear whoever is on the other end of the line during the phone call.

“Hey Liz, what's up?”

“I've kind of got…” She glances at Valen briefly, “A situation.”

“Are you okay?” Jim’s voice takes on a sense of urgency.

“Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just… okay, I'll come out with it. Your situation isn't that unique. I've got a vampire here and he's scared and hurt and I can't let him talk, obviously. So I was wondering if we could meet up with Kane tonight and have him interpret.” Liz blurts out all at once.

“…Wow.”

“I know, I know. You were right, okay?”

“Yeah, I mean, first of all, always am.” Jim gloats. “Second, whatever you need. I'll go let him know what's going on. Can it be here? I think going to your place again would make Kane nervous after last time, even if it'll be night this time.”

“Sure, yeah. Thanks. I’ll see you later, love you.” As much as Liz hates having to rely on Kane of all people, she’s glad this is going somewhere

“Love you too.”

Liz hangs up the phone. "Well, I guess this is really happening."

Laken claps excitedly. "Yay!"

I guess we're going somewhere tonight… Valen figures. He's a little disheartened that the implication from that conversation is that this second vampire is also a captive, same as him. How were they imagining this was going to go? Why was it safe for them to talk to this second vampire, but not Valen? Laken seems excited for it, and Liz seems to think this will be better than the current situation, so maybe it'll be okay. It's a nice thought, that things will work out.

"I'll go get you a second helping." Liz heads to the kitchen and begins drawing blood.

"It'll be okay." Laken tells Valen. "It's all gonna work out." They tap all the cards except I am sad and I want to go home. "We can fix all these easy." They tap I want to go home. "I'm sure we can work this out. The last card depends on you, I guess."

Liz comes out with a fresh cup of blood and hands it to him. He's calm this time. Laken's sitting and talking with him has calmed him down a little. He tries to keep remembering earlier, when Laken had cared enough about his feelings to get him a binder. And just having them acknowledge This sucks was helping, too. It wasn't That thing deserves it or It doesn't feel pain the same way we do, don't worry about it or It's worth it for the greater good.

And they're giving him a second helping of blood. That's so very generous. When Liz comes over and hands him the cup, he pokes the straw into the muzzle, cheeks rosy, sipping placidly like a toddler with a juicebox. Maybe this is OK.

When he's finished drinking, he inverts the straw himself and licks it, watching Liz and Laken tentatively. He wants to say thank you. Even though he's only been able to focus so far on what was still distressing him, he has so very much to be grateful for. His situation has improved immensely.

He flips through his cards trying to find one that matches his feelings, then blushes fiercely and puts down I love you.

"Aw!" Laken is delighted. "Love you too!"

Liz feels super fucking guilty now. "Yeah. Just trying to… make this as okay as possible for you. I know you've been through a lot." She gives him a side hug and collects the cup.

"I've gotta head out. Good luck tonight. And Lizzie, binders too." Laken says, gesturing to the catalog.

"Gotcha."

"It was nice to meet you, Valen!" Laken says. "And hey, don't worry about tonight. Liz's brother is a sweetheart, and it'll be good to talk."

Valen holds up the card that says Yes. Something about a cartoon of a thumbs up makes it feel closer to saying "Nice" than giving a real thumbs up. Nice to meet you, Laken. Please don't die. Humans die so easily.

Liz's brother worries him a little bit, even if he's supposedly a sweetheart. He was held captive by vampires, and so surely has no great love for them. And he's a man, which never bodes well. He does, in fact, worry about tonight despite Laken's plea not to.

reminder: i included the taglists for both stories in the first crossover bc i thought it would be a one-and-done thing, but it’s looking like we’re gonna be putting out a bunch of stuff. as such, i will be including the taglists on this and the second part tomorrow as well, but if you’d like to continue being tagged in crossover pieces, please comment saying so in order to remain on the taglist! it’s opt-in! and as the next crossover will be 18+, please be 18+ to enter the taglist for that.

taglist:

@annablogsposts

@cc1010foxy

@darlingwhump

@emcscared-whumps

@nicolepascaline

@oddsconvert

@pumpkin-spice-whump

@soursagas

@thecyrulik

@whump-cravings

@whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump

@whumpycries

@annablogsposts

@badluck990

@barebarb

@cc1010foxy

@ceph-the-writing-spook

@cicatrix-energy

@crying-wings

@crystalquartzwhump

@cupcakes-and-pain

@cyberneticfire

@darlingwhump

@deluxewhump

@down-in-the-whumps

@elrysdoesstuff

@emcscared-whumps

@extemporary-whump

@extrabitterbrain

@iamtheshriekingguineapig

@icyheart-and-friends

@inpainandsuffering

@interdimensional-chaos

@kira-the-whump-enthusiast

@lactose-intolerant-egg

@lilac-and-lemon-whumps

@littlespacecastle

@little-whumpee

@lost-in-labradorite-halls

@magziemakeswhatever

@melancholy-in-the-morning

@morning-star-whump

@myhusbandsasemni

@mylifeisonthebookshelf

@neverthelass

@nicolepascaline

@nine-tailed-whump

@no-terms-and-conditions-apply

@not-a-space-alien

@nyooom

@octopus-reactivated

@oddsconvert

@onlybadendings

@owencarvourenthusiast

@pigeonwhumps

@pumpkin-spice-whump

@quietly-by-myself

@quirkykayleetam

@ramadiiiisme

@redwhump

@scp-1296

@secretwhumplair

@the-whumperfly-effect

@the-whumpers-grimm

@thecyrulik

@thegreatwhodini

@themarlo

@thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight

@t0rture-me

@vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff

@whuarri

@whump-blog-reblogs

@whump-cravings

@whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump

@whump-me-all-night-long

@whump-my-heart-away

@whump-queen

@whumperfully

@whumpthisway

@whumpilicious

@whumpshaped

@whumpwillow

@whumpworld

@whumpy-writings

@whumpycries

@whumpyzombie

@whumpzone

@wits-and-wrongs

@wolfeyedwitch

#kj x mmss #whump #my writing #vampire whumpee #rescue #recovery #starvation #muzzle #whump writing

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hello-there-world · 18 days

Note

so. thought about the MCI's families in the Rewrite. so have my fun headcanons!

Naomi's Family:

hardworking upper-middle class family.

her parents work a lot, so they seem rather distant. they do love their daughters, though.

Susie and Samantha are her younger sisters. Samantha was born a couple of years after Naomi died, though.

they kept promising to get Naomi a dog, but kept putting it off due to not having much time. they were, however, planning to get Naomi a dog before school started back up.

her parents didn't talk about her too often after she died, mostly because it was a sore subject for them.

they did get Susie and Samantha a dog, though! a golden retriever :]

if the girls ever went somewhere without their parents post-MCI, they'd usually make sure that Susie and Sam stayed together. a bit annoying for Susie, but she didn't mind too much.

the girls didn't learn about Naomi and what happened to her until sometime in the mid-90s to early 2000's. they barely even knew she existed.

i mean...technically they met her ghost in the Fnaf 2 location...but still. they didn't know who she was, much less that she was their sister.

Gabrielle/"Gabi's" Family:

not...the wealthiest. they're getting by just fine, but they don't have a lot of extra income or anything.

her mother is Mexican and her father is black. they had gotten together sometime in college, and they had twins first. several years later, they had Gabi.

alongside the twins (Mia and Martin, who were around 14-15 when Gabi was murdered), Gabi has a baby brother (Leo) who was around 4 when she died.

most of Gabi's more feminine clothing came from Mia as hand-me-downs.

the Franklin-Martinez family were close to the Aftons because of how close Gabi and Liz were.

they tried to tell William "hey, uh we think two of your sons might (cough definitely) have severe anxiety issues, and maybe getting them medicated for that?? would be good actually?? i mean, we did it for Gabi, and while nothing's perfect, it's made a drastic difference in her life, so maybe it'll help Mike and Cass??" and William went "Nah, I think they're fine, but I appreciate the concern 😊"

so yeah, Rewrite Fun Fact: Gabi had anxiety meds. it's one of the reasons she gets along with Cass so well (both have horrible anxiety).

they were fucking devastated when Gabi disappeared. on her birthday no less.

the family never really recovered from it. when Martin finally had a family of his own, he named his daughter after her.

final fun fact: Mia and Martin were some of Alex's classmates, but they kinda. Fucking Hated him. understandable. they only tolerated him for three reasons: 1) for Liz and Gabi's sakes, 2) he's one of the few people that didn't deadname/misgender Gabi, and 3) They Aren't Getting On The Bad Side Of The Afton Family. They Just Ain't.

Baker (+ Jeremy)'s Family:

pretty well off! not exactly middle class, but not really struggling, either.

both Jeremy and Baker are AuDHD, but...to put it one way, it was much more obvious with Baker.

their parents were very loving, even if their dad had to work a lot.

Jeremy and Baker were really close, despite how far apart they were in age (Jeremy being in middle school and Baker not even starting kindergarten yet).

since Jere's mom had asked him to look after Baker due to the disappearances of Naomi and Gabi the day before, Jeremy blames himself for Baker going missing. he'd been playing in the arcade and told Baker to stay in the area in front of the stage and to not follow any strangers (unfortunately, "O'Hare" didn't count as a "stranger" to Baker). his parents, however, don't blame Jere for what happened.

Jeremy is of course our good old boy Mr. Fitzgerald, so...he has a Lot of plot things that i can't put here because then it'll be LONG, but have a few: Fnaf 2 Main Guard, Bite of '87 Victim, Beloved Husband of one Michael Afton, Father of two lovely boys (Cameron and Gregory), you get the gist.

Jeremy struggled with the guilt of what happened his whole life. i'd say he made peace with it around Pizzeria Sim, though.

Felix's Family:

he and his Dad...they're doing their best!

Felix's mom left when he was young. he's doing fine, though! (...kinda)

he and his dad are both Irish. he uses the accent to make his "pirate accent" sound more accurate.

Fritz drank a lot, but he was never abusive. he loved his son dearly, and he was trying his absolute best. sometimes, though, that...wasn't really enough for Felix (mostly because it meant Fritz was never there as much as Felix would've liked).

their relationship was a bit...strained. but they still loved each other.

Fritz actually witnessed Felix being taken and tried to go after him and William, but there were too many kids in the place, and he couldn't get around them in time.

(he knows it was William. there's no way in hell it wasn't. it doesn't matter if he claims to have an alibi, or if he claims that someone else could've fit in a suit that size using stilts; it's all bullshit. as far as Fritz cares, the bastard can rot.)

so...yeah. Fritz Smith and William fucking hate each other.

Kelsey (+ Andrew)'s Family:

uh...not doing so hot in the money department.

their parents are divorced, but they live with their dad (because their mom wanted to make some more money before she tried taking the kids).

their dad Fucking Sucks. physically abusive to Andy, verbally abusive to both, and he throws his empty beer bottles at either one of them.

Kelsey was technically "the favorite," but...that ain't saying much. it's pretty much code for "Mr. Schmidt tolerates this kid more than the other one."

Andrew stayed over at the Afton Household pretty often due to this. the longest he stayed over there for any prolonged period of time was for like. a month.

due to the concerns over the other missing children, and Mr. Schmidt wanting to at least pretend he was a good father, he pretty much sprung Babysitting Duty onto Andrew last minute. Andy wanted to go help comfort Jeremy after Baker's disappearance, but since Kelsey wanted to go spend time at Fredbear's, their dad forced him to take him to Fredbear's.

in Andrew's eyes, it wasn't fair. this always happened; he'd make plans, clearly state those plans, and then his dad would just! fuck them up last minute!

besides...it's not like anyone had gone missing at Fredbear's. only Freddy's. why would the killer suddenly switch it up?

so, they leave. Kelsey stays behind, drawing at one of the tables. he promises to draw a picture for Andrew when he gets back.

he was only gone for a couple of hours.

they were only gone for a couple of hours.

they find Kelsey's sketchbook and crayons, the promised drawing being on the open page. Andrew searched the diner top to bottom...nothing. Kelsey fucking vanished.

their father blamed them for what happened to Kelsey. he was supposed to watch him, after all.

and Andy internalized it. it was his fault. he blamed himself for it hard.

(Kelsey never did, though)

Andrew also inherited the alcoholism issues. so. Fun (sarcasm).

Mr. Schmidt tried to eventually reconcile with Andy later on, but...well, Andy was hesitant to fully let him back into their life after all of that (which included some homophobia and transphobia. Andrew is a demiboy and aroace, for context). but Andy was willing to give him that second chance.

Andy eventually gets better and starts going to therapy. good for them <3

Andy also lives with Mike and Jeremy and the kids. just thought i'd mention that. :]

anyway, my beloveds <3

Oh, god. The families are suffering. Poor Andrew, too. It's not his fault. Andy couldn't have saved him...

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memoria-99 · 8 months

Text

Comparing two Sol Maiden routes: Leslie's and Sigurd's

Both Leslie's route and Sigurd's route are Sol Maiden arc(S5), but I saw quite a contrast in how MC acted, and how that lead to the difference of metaphor.

Leslie's route: "STOP SELF DEPRECIATING"

Though she is clumsy, MC's not so terrible yet has soooo low self-esteem. MC keeps saying she's just a fake, and can't be a real Sol Maiden. Girl, who ever said like that? Leslie even said, "No, there's a reason why bow chose you" but she keep goes like "I'm pathetic".

On the 11th day, it was all dark and Leslie went to the forest, her mind was entirely broken and she couldn't do anything. If Chica hadn't dragged her along to the forest, I'm sure she would have just stayed there crying. Even in the forest, when her shoot didn't work well, she's like "so I'm useless after all," again. Leslie asked her to shoot together, so that's how they finally solved the problem.

Later, the MC says Leslie is her sun. Kinda expected. Leslie supports her very well, but she is busy self-deprecating almost all the time and relies emotionally too much on Leslie. "I'm gonna do it for him" "It was thanks to him I could do it" etc.

+ And about the bow. When Randolph gave her the bow saying now it's yours, she's like oh thanks! and accepts it.

Sigurd's route: "NICE WORK, GIRL"

MC was a bit clumsy at first but has surprisingly grown up through the route. Mel told MC that she's just a fake Sol Maiden for the festival, but when the dark creatures(?) goes on rampage and everyone is struggling, she goes, "Fake or not, I'm the Sol Maiden!" takes the bow and takes them down all. Cool!

When it was all dark on the 11th day and Sigurd and the two guys went to the forest, though she was worried 100%, she kept the bow and did what she could do. When she eventually went to the forest, she found Sigurd and the others almost dead, she saved them all, and then she shot the sun and literally saved the world. On a note, things were worse than Leslie's at this time. There's no Chica either. (She's gone rampage as well) If it was Leslie's MC, she would've ended up doing nothing after all.

In addition, Sigurd later said that the MC is his sun, and she thought he's like the moon. Unlike the other route, she is the sun. And she deserves this phrase. Ngl, she was a really cool and independent girl who saved Sigurd from darkness.

+ About the bow? When Randolph gave her the bow saying now it's yours, she's like nah, just keep it at the academy, I'll work hard from now on and wait until the next festival to see if I'm qualified as Sol Maiden at that time too.

P.S. I tend to use term MC when doing kind of an analysis like this, which is kinda more formal term. Liz is used as a rather friendly term, at least in my posts.

Screenshots from Leslie route for comparison

Screenshots from Sigurd route for comparison

#wizardess heart #shall we date wizardess heart #shall we date #leslie roseblade #sigurd curtis #liz hart #sol maiden #anaylsis

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olsenmyolsen · 1 year

Text

Olsen III

Part 21 of On The Inside With Elizabeth Olsen

Word Count: ~7.3K

masterlist

TWO YEARS LATER

NAH, JK

Y/N POV

"We can't be together."

What..?

Liz slowly pulls her hands out from mine and turns her head away.

No. This can't be right.

I'm left sitting here like a stunned idiot, mouth agape, no words coming out.

I can feel time passing me by, but I'm not sure how many minutes have gone.

Liz looks more alive now as she turns her head back to me and starts talking with tears streaming down her face. She looks mad? But her eyes are soft. Is she now yelling? She looks like she's yelling. Why can't I hear her? She sounds distant and muffled, but she's right here in front of me. Fuck.

As much as I want to try and focus on whatever she's talking about, I can't. I'm trying my hardest to move my body away from Li- Elizabeth, but I'm stuck.

I need to get out of this car.

I can feel my stomach and throat fighting once again.

"Stop." I manage to sneak out, but Elizabeth is too busy rambling that our driver Mr. Bronson doesn't hear me. So I try again.

"Stop the car."

Elizabeth stops and looks at me, confused.

One more time but louder.

"Stop the car!" Mr. Bronson heard me, but I still can't hear shit, so I don't know what he's talking about as he gestures to the road.

I feel Elizabeth's hands rest on my cheeks, causing me to jump away at the sudden contact. What the fuck is she doing to me? Her soft green eyes are looking at me. They're begging for answers that I don't have. I close my eyes as the world crumbles down on me. I'm going to lose it. I'm going to lose Elizabeth. I'm going to lose...

I keep my eyes squeezed shut.

"STOP THE FUCKING CAR!"

After a few seconds, the car comes to a stop, and I don't care where we are; I'm getting out. I open my eyes and bolt out of my side. As soon as the car door slams behind me, the world comes back to me, and I can hear. I can listen to the loud car horns of the city. I can hear people talk about their bullshit. But none of that matters right now.

Because as soon as I make it to the sidewalk, I'm hunched over, expelling this morning's breakfast.

I take a quick glance around the surrounding buildings. I have no idea where I am as people continue to walk around me in disgust.

"Y/N!" I shut my eyes at the sound of her angelic voice. "Oh my god, are you okay? What's wrong?" I feel her lay a soft touch on my back as she brings herself closer to me. Is she fucking serious right now? What's wrong?! I wipe my gross chin and turn my gaze to her.

She has now moved an arm around my waist to hold me up. Shit, I didn't even feel myself falling.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" I look at her red puffy eyes. They're breaking my heart. Wait, no, she already did that. "Y/N... I-" "You what? You don't want to be with me anymore. I get it. The love was fake. This was a phase. I knew it was too good to be true. The real world came knocking at the front door, and you left out the back. Just like I was afraid of... I should've listened to my stupid thoughts when it came to us. I didn't with Naomi, and look at what happened..."

After saying that, my mouth was stumbling and rambling at a speed it was not fit to stop at. I wasn't even sure what I was saying, but I know I cried. I cried so hard that I think I might have swallowed some throw-up that was working its way up.

The sun has now reached high noon, and a small crowd has gathered around us.

Elizabeth tried multiple times to interject, and I could see in her eyes that she was hurting just as much as I was.

"Y/N, stop!" She finally manages to yell out.

I look at the crowd around us. Some people have their phones out, while some are just in shock. No one should be recording this. But who cares at this point?

"Y/N, I didn't mean it like that!"

"Then how did you mean in it?"

"How about you let me talk, and you'll find out?!"

I shake my head at her. I may not know everything that I said to Elizabeth just now, but I know I didn't use the tone she just used.

I know we will both be feeling regret and guilt at some point. But not right now. I look at her as she seems scared at what's happening between us.

Oh, my Lizard.

I wipe the tears from my face and run my hands through my hair. At this point, the crowd that gathered has seemingly walked away. They must've gotten tired at my life falling apart once again.

Elizabeth is beginning to fidget with her hands with whatever she would say to me long forgotten. I sigh to myself and pull her into a hug.

Her arms tightly grip my body as I feel her tears rapidly land onto my shoulders. She's trying to form anything coherent, but it's not possible. I keep a tight hold of her, letting it out. My mouth leaving kisses on her head.

The words "I'm sorry" falling from our lips.

Elizabeth hasn't stopped crying, but I know we can't stand here forever. So I slowly start leading her back to the car. I open the door for the actress and help her in before giving an apologetic look for my actions to Mr. Bronson. He just nods at me as I get Olsen buckled in. I place a water in her lap before attempting to leave. However, Elizabeth stops me. She grabs my hand and pleads for me not to leave.

"Please, I'm sorry, Y/N. Let me explain." Is being said again and again amongst other phrases of apologies. I move her eyes to look into mine before placing a kiss on Elizabeth's forehead and successfully taking my hand back.

I gently close her door before positioning myself at the front passenger side door. Mr. Bronson rolls down the window to me and says, "She'll be safe." He knew what I was doing and what I would ask of him. I offer a nod before he locks the doors.

As the window rolls up, I steal a look at the backseat to see my love looking at me. The green of her eyes is no longer present; instead, they hold the colors of a dark brown, almost black. She opens her mouth, but the window shuts, and in an instant, Mr. Bronson is pulling the car away from me with the last person I loved.

I feel like I'm on edge. I don't feel the need to cry, but I think my body is waiting. My anxiety and nerves are at an all-time high right now as I stand here watching the endless cars pass, but by the time I look up at the sun, it has moved.

My throat became sore while my eyes became dry. I swallowed the little salvia I had left in my mouth and turned my feet to start walking. I'm not sure where but somewhere, anywhere, or nowhere would do.

I'm lost. In more ways than one, but that's no secret.

I pull out my phone, ignoring my Lock Screen full of non-stop notifications before locating my Maps app. I put it in my apartment to see how far away it is, and fuck... It's far. I guess it makes sense. There's no way someone like Scarlett would live anywhere near me. After walking for a while, I noticed that my phone had dropped from the 17% it was at earlier.

It's now at 11%. There's no way it's going to last me my walk home.

Wait, why am I walking?

Fuck. I stop and throw my hands up into my face. These last however many hours are fucking with my head. Speaking of which, I probably look like shit. I'm still a little hungover from last night, I'm in someone else's clothes, I have yet to shower, and I'm pretty sure my relationship just ended.

If someone is playing with my life right now, can they stop?

I need a drink. I'll find the closest bar or bodega and help myself. I skim my eyes at what's around me before seeing a scaled-up bodega—Hipster area for sure. I groan and make my way over.

I've never been good at making the best snack choices. Usually, I'll grab whatever impulse decision my brain makes, or I spend way too much time trying to decide if one Dorito is really better than another one.

And yes, Spicy Sweet Chili is the best.

However, today I couldn't give a shit. As I make my way through, grabbing whatever can make me forget this day. Some bad junk food choices and a couple of beers. Sorry, stouts, which isn't my go-to, but as I said, I don't give a shit. I also decided one water would do since Elizabeth has mine.

So now here I am, standing behind two people waiting to pay. As the lady at the front fumbles with her change, it rings a bell in my head. Elizabeth has my wallet. I close my eyes and deflate. I also never set up Mobile Pay on my phone. I guess I could do it now. I look up briefly, and the lady is leaving. Great now there is one person between me and potential embarrassment.

I fumble the items in my hands as I pull out my phone from Scarlett's black gym shorts. I once again ignore my Lock Screen and load up the wallet app; it takes me longer than I'd like to admit. I hear the guy behind me scoff, but whatever, I think I got it set up. Just in time, too, because the person in front of me left in quite a hurry.

Once I set my items down, I pull out my 9% battery-filled phone and use the mobile pay feature. Except it doesn't work. I try again, but nothing—just my luck. The dude behind the counter is now asking me to pay another way. I shut my eyes in frustration. Okay, I could grab the water and dash the door. I ran track in high school I could do it. I open my eyes and reach for the water but damn, my reflexes really must be slow today because the dude behind the counter grabs it out of my reach. I once again hear the guy behind me scoff, but he's closer to my back now.

Suddenly another man about ten years older than me comes out from behind the scoffing guys and presses his phone down, instantly paying for my things. I turn to face him while the cashier starts bagging my items. "You look like you could use something good." I force a smile on my face and nod. "Thanks."

I wave to the guy as I'm handed my bag and make my way out the door. I am thankful that he paid for me, but he didn't have to, and the longer I hang around, the more awkward it'll get.

I'm now back onto the concrete, making my way up towards my apartment. I'm not going to walk the whole way; I just want to get some distance before I stop and put something in my stomach.

"Hey, wait up!" I turn my head to see who's shouting, and it's the guy that paid for my things. What does he want?

I stop and allow him to catch up. Why? I couldn't tell you.

"Hey!" The man says as he stops next to me. I look him over, and he is attractive but not my type. The black curls in his hair, in addition to the freckles on his face, are great things this guy has got going. Some negatives include following me. "Hi," I reply, doing my best April Ludgate impression. "I'm Cyrus." I raise an eyebrow. That's a unique name.

"What do you want, Cyrus?" He doesn't seem shocked by my demeanor. "Just wanted to make sure you're okay." "Why wouldn't I be?" He looks me up and down, and alright yeah, I get it my red eyes, tired body, and overnight clothes don't give off the best look. "I'm fine." He nods, not believing me. "Where you headed?" "Home." "Do you need help getting home?"

I know this man is trying to help on the surface level, but I really don't want it right now. I want to go home-

Shit. Elizabeth might be there. No. Would she? She doesn't have a key. Wait, yes, she does. She has all of my stuff. So she would go to my apartment.

What the fuck has this day become!

I internally groan, but my face doesn't hide my frustration as Cyrus looks at me curiously.

"I don't need help getting home." Cyrus once again nods before looking towards a nearby park. "Okay. How about before you head home, you eat and drink what you got, and then I'll leave you alone." I look at him, and it's like he knows I need it.

"I'm just trying to help."

Cyrus and I eventually find an open green bench and take a seat. I place my bag in between us.

I wait for him to open his mouth to say something about me or to comment on my junk food choices, but instead, he sits and watches the people across the way play chess. I shrug him off and start working through my bag of chips and alcoholic beverages.

A couple of minutes go by before Cyrus begins speaking.

"So, what's your name?"

I look over at him, and to my surprise, he's still watching the people playing chess.

"Y/N." I offer.

I watch him nod before looking away.

"That guy on the right just lost." I look to where he's pointing, and sure enough, the guy on the right at the chess table stands up in defeat before storming off.

"You play?" I curiously ask.

"Nah, but I used to come down here all the time with my grandma. Sometimes we'd talk. Sometimes she talked. Sometimes it was silence." Cyrus takes a breath before looking at the other people in the area. "You know, back then, it was rougher. The area wasn't as nice, but this was a safe space for me. She knew I needed it."

"What do you mean?"

Cyrus rolls up his jean jacket. On the underside of his left arm is a long jagged scar. I hear myself gasp at seeing it.

"Yeah, my pops wasn't the nicest man." He covers his scar back up.

"Are you trying to say this place could be my safe space?" I ask, unsure of what to do or what's happening honestly. My day has been upside down.

Cyrus shakes his head no. "I'm saying you can either talk about what you want to or need to. Or we can sit here in silence, and then you can go on about your day. Or you go to what or where your safe space is." He takes a second. "Like I said, I'm just here to help."

It seems like a no-brainer what Cyrus is saying to me, but it's still lovely to hear.

"So, your grandma..?" I look over to him, watching him nod. "I'm sorry." I offer a kind smile as he waves it off. "It's going to happen to all of us."

"How long have you lived here?" Cyrus puts his hand to his beard. Rubbing over the short stubble. "On and off my whole life. But I've been back for the last six years." "Where were you before the last six?"

"South Korea."

"Why?"

Cyrus throws his hands up. "I just fell in love with it. I went there once, and then on my second time back, I stayed." Wow. I find myself becoming amazed by this man who I just met. Could he be feeding me a bunch of horse shit? 100%. But I'm choosing to believe him. The scar on his arm looked real enough.

"Do you have a favorite memory of your time in South Korea?" I watch the slight smile on Cyrus' face grow larger than life. "I do." He chuckles. "The day I met my wife." I can feel myself looking shocked. My eyes advert to his hand, and sure enough, there's a ring.

"What's her name?" I ask with the most enthusiasm I've had since playing with Rose.

"Eun-Kyung." He says with perfect pronunciation.

I mumble the name to myself, but Cyrus laughs while hearing me. He offers his own apology before helping me out. After a lot of trying, I nail it. "How long have you two been married?"

"Eight years in August." My mouth drops. "Wow. Congrats!" Cyrus smiles before looking out to the empty chess table. "Thanks."

Over the course of us sitting here, I haven't looked at my phone once. So when Cyrus pulls his out to take pictures of the park around us, I feel a need to look at mine. However, then I'm quickly reminded why this is a bad idea. It's just the same old notifications, but this time I have more missed calls and texts from my girlfriend.(?)

I groan and place my phone next to me. Cyrus was about to comment when to my right, he sees someone holding a camera in my direction.

In a split second, they're in my face asking me questions about Elizabeth Olsen and if I'm a gold digger. Next, they're asking Cyrus who he is and what's he doing with me.

I can feel the forecast changing in my mind, and I'm doing nothing to stop it. The more pictures that are being taken are making me think about everything that's gone wrong today. I want to get up and run away, but my feet won't move. I'm staring straight down at my feet as the crowd gets closer and closer. I shut my eyes and bring my knees up to my chest and throw my head down in a last-ditch effort to block them all out.

I'm not sure how long I stayed like this, but I heard muffled shouts from more people than one. I heard Cyrus ask me if it was okay to do X, Y, and Z, but I don't remember what exactly he asked of me. I just nodded into my knees. So when he started moving me, I stayed solid. For the first time since Elizabeth left, I cried again, wanting Cyrus and everyone else to leave me alone and go away.

I jump when someone's hand comes into contact with my knee. Throughout this whole thing, I had been bumped, touched, and shuffled along, but this feel was from someone familiar.

"Y/N..."

To my surprise, when I look up, my eyes are meeting Max's.

"Welcome back." She teases with a slight smile. I don't give one back as I curiously move my head around the room. I'm on a brown leather couch with Max crouched in front of me. I don't know where we are, but it looks like a set.

"Max.." I go to speak, but the soreness of my throat immediately stops me. Fuck, that hurts.

As if on cue, a water bottle is being forced fed to me. "There we go," Max says as I take big gulps like a child. "Where are we?" I manage to speak finally. Max takes a look around with me.

It looks like a refurbished art studio of some kind. Paint and graffiti cover the previous white walls. Cans and brushes are thrown about everywhere while photographs of models are hung up. Through the non-boarded-up windows, I can see that it's still daytime.

"Your friends' job, I think?" Max and I look at each other confused. "My friend?" "The guy who called me on your phone? Cyrus?" Max looks at me like I have three heads, but I nod to her words. "Oh."

"I have so many questions, Y/N." Max looks terrified. She reaches out to me and pulls me into a hug I didn't know I needed from her.

"I'm sorry," I say into Max's ear, which makes her rip out of the hug. "What are you apologizing for? You have nothing to apologize for! Don't say that. Just.." Max stops. "Just talk to me. But you don't have to right now! I just want to know that my best friend is okay." Max's bottom lip quivers as she speaks. I shrug and pull her into me.

I'm not okay.

We stay like that before we hear footsteps enter the room.

Max looks towards the entryway of a back room with Cyrus standing there. "Is she okay?" Max looks from him to me. I begrudgingly start to get up from the floor with the help of Max before nodding. "I'm okay." We stand apart, only adding to this awkwardness between us all. "So this your job?" I take a step forward, allowing the tension to break. Cyrus does the same, while Max follows me.

"Yeah, I own this studio. That's why I don't mind helping some people out." He chuckles. I look back at the fake-looking set I was seated at.

"This looks out of place." Cyrus nods at me. "It's a recreation of my old living room." I look at him, but his eyes are on the largest piece in the room. It's a white canvas covered in a mixture of purples and browns. Gold specks sprinkled throughout. It looks like a woman from one angle, but from another, it looks like a house. I get art.. but it's so subjective. That's the point, though.

"That's my grandma."

"The painting?" I ask, taking a couple of wobble steps closer to it. "Yeah. It's my favorite piece." I look at Max, who has her eyes watching Cyrus like a hawk.

"You did this?" Cyrus shakes his head at me. "My pops did." Cyrus laughs at the face I made, confusing Max. "Yeah, the same pops." He walks up to the bottom left-hand corner of the art piece and points to his dad's autograph. Underneath the signature is a small message. "For the woman who raised my son."

"Wow."

"My pops came around two years after she passed, and it wasn't easy, but we talked. Forgiveness isn't something you give away. It took a while, but he earned it." Cyrus isn't going into detail. I think he would if I pressured him, but I also get the feeling he'd only talk if I talked about my problems.

"Time heals all wounds. That's the name of the piece."

This time when I look towards him, he's already looking at me. "Thank you, Cyrus." He smiles. "Don't thank me yet. Whoever did what they did needs to earn your forgiveness. But you need to be willing to listen."

He's right. Man, I hate it when men are right.

"Oh, here." He pulls my phone out of my back pocket and hands it to me. When I tap the screen, it looks like it did earlier, but it's fully charged. "Sorry about using it earlier." He shyly says. "Yeah, how did you know code?"

"The bodega. I watched you frustratingly fumble with your phone." I nod. "I promise I didn't go through anything else. I just wanted someone else to be here for you." I look into his hazel eyes. I believe him. I look at Max, and her gaze on him has softened, so he must be telling the truth.

"My number is there if you need a spot to chill or if you wanna buy some art." I nod at him as I step closer, opening my arms out to him. He stutters before accepting the hug. "I'll be back." We pull apart as Max steps up to Cyrus and shakes his hand. "Thank you again, and sorry for yelling at you. I thought-"

"Water under the bridge. Keep her safe." Now it's Max's turn to nod as Cyrus starts to walk us out.

I can't remember the last time I sat in Max's car. But I'm here now, and I'm not sure where we're going, but I know it's not to my place. Max made that clear. Throughout the drive, I could hear Max's breath pick up before she would open her mouth, but no words came out. She's struggling to speak, and I'll be honest. I don't want to talk right now.

I looked over my phone only once throughout the drive, and it was to see if Elizabeth had reached out.

She's texted me the most. She's sent me the most calls. Hell, she even sent me an email. But they all stopped at 4pm on the dot.

I scoff to myself, thinking of why she stopped. Or why she even bothered trying to contact me if "we can't be together" anymore.

I get so wrapped up that I didn't notice that we had stopped. I look to my left to see Max unbuckling herself. So I follow suit, unaware of where we are. I know we're in a parking garage, so maybe to some apartment building, but where exactly. Max knows.

"Let's get you inside."

It takes a minute and like through so many hallways and stairs but eventually, we make it to an apartment door. I take note that they're bigger than my place, so whoever lives here is in another tax bracket. As opposed to knocking, Max pulls out a key and unlocks the door. Max doesn't live here... Before I can even question my best friend, she opens the door and pulls me in with her before closing it behind us.

"Babe?" I hear a female voice call out from somewhere.

"It's me," Max replies.

Suddenly a rush of footsteps comes from wherever in this apartment as Flirty comes flying around the corner. I've never seen her except for one or two pictures from Max and, of course, that night at the club. Max meets her halfway in the hallway of the apartment. They collide and trade kisses and greetings before Flirty brings her attention to me.

"Y/N!"

I wave as Flirty, whose real name I still don't know, comes closer to me before she wraps me up in a hug. "I'm glad you're safe." She whispers to me before she looks to Max, saying she'll be right back. She mentions needing to wrap up some work.

Max brings me back to the front door so we can remove our shoes.

"She likes you." "What?" I look at Max, confused. "Or she's trying to make a good impression. She never hugs people." I nod as we walk down the hallway, passing a closet door until we reach an open room.

Okay, this place is big. How in the hell does she afford this? Who is Flirty?!

The apartment, sorry, I should say penthouse, is a single story. Dark oak wood flooring and dark oak accented kitchen with a mixture of black and white tiles and black marble cover the kitchen island and countertops. Dark furniture throughout. A wall of plants and bookcases line a smaller room that is being used as an office. A guest bedroom that is pretty beige and Carmel compared to the rest of the apartment. The living room is my favorite. On one wall is a tv stand and a tv that covers a great distance. The other is nothing but windows overlooking the city. On the next wall, it's a blow-up black and white photo of Flirty posing nude. Tasteful and classy. No joke.

But I advert my eyes. Flirty also has a couple of those lovesacs on the floor next to her loveseat near her L-shaped couch.

I guess the primary bedroom is for Max and Flirty's eyes only.

Oh yeah, also, the guest bathroom is better decorated than my place but moving on.

"This place is stunning!"

Max takes a look around. "Yeah, Ivy designed a lot of it herself." "Flirty?" I question Max as if she doesn't know her own girlfriends name. "Yes, Flirty. Sorry, I never even told you her name." I stop Max before she begins rambling. "Max, it's okay. I know what you wanted. I also know how hard it is for you, so I support you and Ivy. By the way, have you made it official with her?" Max nods. "Ahhh!" I bounce around and hug my best friend. "I'm so happy for you! I'm sorry I haven't had the time or anything to meet her. I feel like I've been a horrible friend." Max shakes her head at me. "Trust me, as much as you were enjoying Liz's time. I was enjoying Ivy time." Hearing that my best friend is happy makes me happy.

Max brings me over to the living room. "Need anything?" She asks as I put my butt to the couch. "Water?" Max immediately nods and heads off to the kitchen. By the time she returns, my gaze is lost in the views of the city from here. "Kinda breathtaking, huh?" I look back to Max. "Absolutely." Max sits next to me as she places our cups of water onto some coasters. "Now imagine that view when you're naked and pressed up against that glass."

"Max!"

We both turn around to see Ivy standing there with her arms crossed and jaw clenched.

I'm not going to lie; Ivy scares me a little.

She's taller than Max and I. She has long black hair. She's fit and gives off a Maria Hill/girl boss vibe. It's sexy, and knowing how she lives only adds to the fire. Max hasn't gotten into Ivy's age, but I know she's older than us. I'm pretty sure she's older than Elizabeth.

"I'm sorry about her," Ivy says as she enters the room, still wearing her business casual wear. "But I'm sure you know. Max has told me a lot about you, so I'm happy to meet you finally." Ivy says, sitting herself down next to Max, instantly making me feel alone. I think Max senses this as she carefully maneuvers herself.

"Me too. Up until today, I still called you Flirty." "Flirty?" She tilts her head and looks at Max. "It's what she's called you since the night at the club," Max says like an embarrassed child causing Ivy to bust out laughing.

"Please call me that whenever you like."

I agree much to Max's displeasure.

Ivy excuses herself to change into a comfy change of clothes.

Once she's back, her and I spend more time talking and getting to know one another while Max fills in the small details we try to leave out. All in all, Ivy is a very successful but entertaining person. I can see why her and Max get along so well. Also, they made sure not to leave out how many late-night activities they get up to.

I knew Max was limping that one day!

"So I gotta ask." Ivy and Max fixate their eyes on me. "How?" I say as I gesture to the whole penthouse.

"She's a lawyer," Max says with a chuckle, almost knowing what's coming. Sure enough, Ivy slaps Max on the arm. "Stop selling me short. Y/N I'm not a lawyer. I'm a really good lawyer." She smirks before scrunching her face up to Max.

They are fucking cute together.

After however long we sat there on the couch Ivy decided to switch gears. "So I was thinking we can either order in, or I can put my lackluster cooking skills to work for you, Y/N."

I shoot Ivy a gracious smile. "Ordering in is fine with me." "Great! I will be back with some menus, and then we can talk about our case." Max's eyes quickly glance to me.

"Okay. Wait, what case!?" Ivy stops halfway through the living room. She looks stunned as she looks at Max.

"You didn't tell her?" Now I look to Max. "Tell me what?" Max sighs and groans as she puts her attention on me while Ivy leaves the room.

"So I'm not sure what you know, but whatever happened today affected you and Liz." Obviously. "This ain't easy." Max takes a deep breath worrying me. "Alec was the one who leaked everything to the press. He leaked your name, your handles, parts of your phone number weirdly. He even placed little cameras at work. I only knew that once videos of you at work went out as well." Max stops as I take in all of this information. "Don't worry. Of course, he's been fired, and Ivy has made it her mission to take this case to protect you and Elizabeth. And to put his arrogant ass in jail."

All of this information has hit me like a truck. I knew my old coworker was acting weird, but I didn't think this would be the case. Why did he do this? Was he jealous? I knew he liked the MCU and Elizabeth, but not like this. What was his plan?

"Where's Alec?" I felt nervous to even ask. Max shrugs. "We gave all the information we had to the police, and since it's a high-profile case, I'm sure the FBI will be involved too."

"Why haven't I heard anything?"

"Well, Ivy's been dealing with the legal or should I say illegal stuff, and you've kinda been off your phone all day. I'm sure Lizzie's team knows. But you didn't know anything at all?"

I shake my head.

"What happened?" Max asks as she brings herself closer to me.

That's the million-dollar question.

"I don't even know. It all happened so quick. One minute we were having the morning of our lives, and the next, it was like I was being suffocated." Max pays attention to my words. "I hadn't looked at my phone all morning except for one time, and then when I looked again, I had all of these notifications from you, MK, unknown numbers."

I take a deep breath as Ivy returns with some take-out menus.

"Elizabeth was on the phone." Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Max tilt her head at Liz's full name. "In my gut, I had a feeling what happened. We were outed... a-and she looked terrified.."

I feel my bottom lips quiver as I replay the events in my head.

"She turned to me and said that we couldn't be together anymore" Max leans closer to me and puts my hand in hers.

"And after that?" Ivy calmly asks.

I close my eyes, pretending to remember, but I know exactly what happened. "It all became a blur. Everything else was muffled. I'm sorry.." I look at the couple in front of me. "Don't do that. Don't apologize." Ivy agrees with her girlfriend as both of them bring themselves closer to me.

Not too much later, I'm crying in their arms.

Dinner had come and gone by now. We had some pizza called in from some local place that Ivy loves. She went over the case with me, but she could tell I wasn't retaining much information. Luckily Max was there to help keep track of the things I needed to do.

After dinner, we all loaded back onto the couch to sit down and watch some Disney movies. Apparently, Ivy's big secret is that Pixar movies are her favorite, so we put on Finding Nemo.

Throughout the movie, I figured it was best to get it over with now than later. So I privated all of my social media accounts. I got rid of all my annoying ass notifications. I decided to send a short text to every one of my contacts that chose to reach out, except Elizabeth, of course. The text mentioned that I was safe and would be away for a while. I even saved some previously unknown contacts.

Contacts like Scarlett, Colin, Ivy, Paul Bettany, Chris E, and Elizabeth's Publicist Marla.

Even Robbie reached out.

That's somewhat crazy, right?

Anyways that took the majority of the movie, so by the time I looked up, Nemo and Marlin were being reunited.

I guess it was later than I thought because when the movie ended, Ivy let us know that she'd be going to bed. She and I hugged, and she once again reassured me that everything would be okay. Max watch the interaction with a vast smile dawning on her face. After that, Max quickly left to do her nighttime routine with Ivy before coming back to me to watch Ratatouille.

I've had this one thing to say in the back of my mind for a while, but I think today's events have reconfirmed it. So once Remy finds himself in Paris, I turn to Max.

"Max."

"Hmm, mmh?" she responds without pulling her attention away from the rat on screen.

"I- I quit.." I say just above a whisper. This seems to pull her away from the tv.

"You quit?" Max's voice is dripped in confusion. "You quit what? You quit the coffee shop?" I barely nod my head as she looks for an answer.

I force my eyes to look into Max's, and the sight breaks my heart. She doesn't want to believe the words I just said.

"You know I haven't been there for a while, and me being there now won't do anyone any good," I say with a hitch of confidence.

I know Max, and I know she wants to fight me on this. She wants to come up with all the reasons I'm wrong and why this is stupid. But for the first time in our friendship, I think this might be the one time where I'm right.

So instead of putting up a fight, Max simply nods to me with glossy eyes before she turns back to the movie.

"Do you remember when I brought you down for thanksgiving break freshman year of college?"

"Was that the year your mom swore up and down that I was your girlfriend?" I laugh thinking about it. "Yeah. God, that was embarrassing. She made us sleep in separate rooms." Max laughs a little too hard remembering.

"You didn't improve it with your constant need for hand-holding." I wave my hand at Max. "It was to rile my mom up, and you liked it. Don't tell me you didn't." Max puts her hands up. We quietly laugh before it gets silent.

"Remember what happened after dinner?" Max looks at me quizzically. "With the wishbone?" I nod, making a broad smile appear on her face. I turn to her and continue. "Davey wanted you and him to break it, but you pulled too hard, so as it broke, his fist flew back and hit him right in the face." Max puts her head in her hands due to laughing and mixed guilt. "I thought I was never going to be allowed back." "Technically, you weren't," I mumble with a smile. "Oh yeah.. where was I the next year?"

"You went with James to California." "So that year-" "Yeah..."

That was the year Naomi came down with me. It also happened to be right after Davey got sick again.

I feel Max shuffle on the couch before she scoots closer to me, pulling my body down and allowing me to lay back onto her. She throws her giant blue blanket over us.

"Do you think he'd be proud of me?" I ask, not wanting an answer as I stare at the tv screen in front of me. Sure enough, the tv pauses with Mike and Sully on screen, but Max doesn't move, allowing me to stay comfortable.

"What do you think, Y/N?" I shake my head no. I hear Max sigh. "Why not?" I start playing with my hands to try and distract myself from the truth spilling out, but it happens anyways.

"Because I haven't done anything he wanted me to do. I stopped playing guitar and writing. I haven't gone back to school. I haven't gone back home to see him. I've had two failed relationships. I feel so lost.. I don't think he'd be proud of his daughter." I swallow down the liquid rising in my throat.

Max pulls me closer to her as I let the dark thoughts of my brain out.

"Y/N, you don't really believe that." "But I do-" "Stop! Y/N, just because you didn't finish school doesn't mean he loved you any less. You're allowed to grieve and go about life at your pace and how you want to! Because it's your life! You can do things for Davey, but at the end of the day, you know he would be proud of you because you were his daughter. His Y/N! He's seen what you've gone through, and trust me. He'd be happy and proud."

I stay silent. Max is right. But the thoughts I said I still have.

She holds me close, I think, as a way to stop the tears for the both of us.

After what feels like a good enough time for the melancholy in the room to disappear, Max unpauses the movie.

"Do you think he would've liked Elizabeth?" I annoyingly ask. Max's hand goes to pause the movie again, but I stop her.

"Do you want me to be honest?"

"Always."

"That woman could get anyone to like her." A short air-filled laugh escapes through my nose. "But she would've done everything she could to make sure Davey truly liked her. Inside and out."

"Probably wouldn't like her right now."

Max chuckles underneath me. "No, but he would ensure you talked to her no matter what. He would've taken your phone and called every contact he could."

"Yeah, but first, he asked me how to unlock it."

"Nah, I would've helped him," Max says with a coy smile.

I sit up and turn my body to Max. "Thank you. For everything." Max nods, and we share a short hug. After that, Max and I know it's super later, so she decides it's bedtime. Max gets up and offers to show me to the guest room, but I told her I'd stay up. Max knows my mind is going to be racing no matter how exhausted I currently am.

Max agrees and brings me into one final hug for the night.

"Oh, I've been thinking," Max says as she now stands in front of the paused movie. "You didn't quit. You simply put in your two weeks and worked all your shifts." She winks at me. I appreciate that, and even though I will be dipping into my savings, whatever money I can get, I'll take it.

"Goodnight, Max." I softly say as she leaves me alone in the room.

"Goodnight, Y/N." I hear before the main bedroom door closes.

I unpause the movie, but without Max here, it's hard to focus on the funny animated guys.

I find myself looking out the giant windows over the city. I'm still in awe of this view. I walk over and look at the small number of stars I can see. A tiny part of me is wondering if Liz is doing the same.

I wonder how she feels. Is it regret? Guilt? Pain? Love?

I walk back over to the couch and grab my phone. I still haven't texted Liz, but as I'm about to, my mind starts giving me words and phrases. Maybe lyrics? I exit out of messages and locate my notes app to jot it all down.

I instantly know what the title is: Goodbye.

Part 22

A/N

The next chapter is Liz's POV so get ready.

Stay safe, and drink water! 💛

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