#of course im holding back tears and have a massive headache now

[katstwistedmind]

.

aand im back to want to smash my dad's head between the door and the frame. 12am me and mom discussing what present to get my cousin and like, idk what a 14 year old girl wants you know. i was not a normal 14 year old. my first reaction is always *book* and dad passed by and got suddenly really fucking pissed at both of us. we should get her clothes apparently (which will be a lot more expensive since she WILL be changing it later so we should spend at least 50€) but he of course doesn't know women's clothes so we gotta figure it out ourselves. and this has something to do with the fact he accidentally got a book we already had and didn't figure it out until later and couldn't return it and he wants to gift it to my other cousin. and i have no idea what his thought process is here, he says we can't get her a book cause then one will have a return card?? so i said just call your brother and ask him what his daughter likes but for some reason he REALLY doesn't like that idea. and got real fucking mad. its 1am and he is still going. why that motherfucker be fucking normal for once. have a single conversation that isnt a screaming match. im half sure he realised what he is saying is stupid but of course if he admits that he will explode or smthn so has to yell the bullshit louder until it becomes correct.

[peejsocks]

one time you have break up sex with ryan and one time you reconnect

a/n: got a massive headache in the middle of writing this so im blaming it if there are any mistakes. but otherwise god i love writing for ryan so much it always get me giggling and blushing. i hope you enjoy this as much as me 🤓

basically got this “one time [blank] and one time [blank] idea from this amazing eddie munson fic. i might do more like this if lightning strikes twice bc it’s super fun

disclaimers/tags: female reader. nsfw. angsty but filled to the brim with love! pretty filthy. minors dni.

"It's not looking great, is it? Us?"

Sundays always had a haunting aura, and today wasn't going down any easier.

Ryan is leaning against the sink in your bathroom, looking at his beat up converse.

He looks uncharacteristically small from your position at the end of your bed. You're looking up, fighting tears.

"No."

Less a sentence, more a pained noise.

"But I love you. You know that, right?"

Of course, god, of course you do. It's in everything he does, his love for you. As is your love for him. That's why it hurts so much.

Jackass. Viva la Bam. Haggard is officially in motion. So much is happening so fast. No matter how many times your boyfriend tried to be reassuring, you were slowly falling behind.

At first, you tried playing a game of catch up, but it got exhausting quick.

"I'm so incredibly proud of you. I think you know that." Ryan's eyes are gazing at the floor again, his lip sucked in. "It's been amazing, living all this with you and watching everything work out. You and the boys deserve it. I just can't be the supportive girlfriend if I don't have anything of my own."

His head shoots up, cheeks tainted pink in exhasperation, matching his high-pitched voice. Hurting him like this feels like the worst thing you've ever done.

"I'm not asking you to be 'the girlfriend'! You're so much more, I tell everyone-"

"No, Ry, I know." You sigh, and a hiccup follows. Your chest shrinks with the painful movement. "What I mean, is that I need space to find my goals. Figure out what I want to do. I feel like I don't have room to do that next to you."

Now, your sobs become loud. This is unfair to both of you.

"I don't want to hold you back, or anything."

It's a soft whisper. A resignation.

Before you can make sense of it, both of you meet in the middle of your bedroom.

Ryan's chin rests on the top of your head, and your arms try to engulf as much of his back as possible, sniffling and taking in the worn scent of his shirt.

Firm hands push on your waist, forcing you to pull back. His fingers come up to wipe your tears, thumb tracing your lips. Eventually, they lift your head up and your mouths clash.

It's more gentle than you've ever been with one another. Like this is how you want to remember it.

You're the one to take initiative, pulling his shirt up from the back.

He doesn't deny you, guiding your body backwards until you're dropping onto the mattress.

The wooly texture of the duvet warms your bare back as Ryan works your cunt with his tongue, the quiet sounds of the peaceful day outside mixing with the languid wet licks.

As your orgasm hits, you're crying his name. There's no other, more sincere way to put it. Your face is soaked, body flinching with sobs, nose running slightly.

You beg him to be inside of you.

Usually, Ryan would leave handprints on your thighs with how brutal he was with grabbing. Right now, however, rough fingers try their hardest to be delicate when locking your knees around him.

Short curls scrape your forehead, squishy nose denting yours as he thrusts methodically into you, dragging it out as much as possible. You've never heard his breaths so low and controlled, focused.

Climax washes over him right after your second wave, round face hidden in the crook of your neck as he whines. You can feel dampness in your shoulders.

There's a lingering feeling that maybe both of you wanted to stay there longer, but instead you help him pack anyting he has left in your room.

---------------------/----/-----------------

His hair ir longer now, straigther, down to his shoulders.

Style hasn't changed much, shoes definitely heavier. He's older.

"Wow, you look fantastic."

Your smiles were equally wide and instantaneous when you spotted each other across the room. Abandoning your drinks by whatever furniture was closest so you could touch, hug.

"Me? Look at you! How did you get better looking?" Your fingers are twitching, desperate to take off his sunglasses so you can see his eyes again. Who wears those inside anyways?

"If you tell me your secret, I'll tell you mine."

When did you start sounding so old when you flirt?

A familiar voice calls from the back, and you figure of course he would wear sunglasses inside.

Bam tries to tell you a hundred different stories under one minute. Noticing your distress, Ryan pulls you away to get another beer.

The kitchen is almost empty. When you're younger, that's the most populated area of any party. As you grow up, people no longer want to do one too many consecutive shots and then throw up in the sink.

"I don't-"

You watch him stiffen up, uncomfortable in a house he doesn't know anymore. So you step forward to open the fridge, grabbing two bottles.

"Thanks. And sorry about Bam, he likes to talk."

"I don't blame him, you guys have done a lot in the past few years. So much to talk about."

You're facing each other, leaning on opposite sides of the isle.

Taking a bold leap, your arms strech in front of you to remove the aviators, smiling again when you see a spark in green irises.

He's mirroring you.

In his thirties but so fresh-faced, full cheeks and small nose. Tiny teeth. Silly grin.

You back away laughing, blushing, turning your body to the side when you take a swig. The condensation drips down your cleavage, a much needed refreshment.

"Don't patronize me." Humour drenches his words, and you squint playfully at him. "I don't think we've been nearly as busy as you."

Oh. He knows. You almost choke on the bitter liquid, flattered like a school girl realizing her crush knows her name. He knows about your life.

"I've got friends in all places, alright? I'm a very likeable guy."

You meant to scoff, but it comes out as a giggle, incapable of taking your eyes away from him.

After your breakup, it still took so long to figure things out. You made many wrong moves. With each one, you wondered if your decision was misguided, if you would have nailed it sooner had Ryan been allowed to be there to support you. He wasn't given the chance to.

You still think about that.

Regardless, when you did find your 'purpose', as cliche as it sounds, the rest just started falling into place. You felt better about life, about yourself.

It's not all positive, doubts come and go, but you've built a confidence that is priceless. This is what you were talking about with him that day. Self-assurance is what you didn't have, and what you couldn't really seek for with him.

Many nights you wished things were different. That you were one of those people that always knew what they were for, or who are just good at everything so it doesn't matter. But, alas, they weren't. If you weren't the problem, something else would be.

What matters is that both of you lived on. And neither of you has stopped smiling for the past ten minutes.

"Wanna see what my parents did to my room?"

Your folks had finally scared you into coming home to sort out whatever you wanted to keep from your old stuff and what could be given away. They promised to turn your bedroom into a music room, and maybe rent a piano.

Ryan's boots stomp loudly against the carpeted steps as you run upstairs, like you used to after a night out. Excited and flushed.

A deep breath gets caught in your throat when your hand closes around the knob, realizing who you're about to welcome into your old room.

He catches up with a quizzical look thrown your away, so you just shake it off and open the door.

Stepping inside, you're confused.

"Work in progress?"

Ryan jokes behind you, a little out of breath.

"Must be." Everything is in place. But cleaned up, no dust or smells. Kept alive. "Liars."

He echoes your chuckle.

A chill runs through you, and you blame the open window plus the night breeze.

On your way back from closing it, you stop by your neatly made bed, fluffing a stupid guitar shaped pillow. Ryan calls you, turning around to see him messing with a pink plastic box filled with your old jewelry.

He's holding a necklace he bought for your first and only anniversary.

"I remember wanting to take this one back with me. That day. As a memory." Your eyes flutter, focused on his, which in turn are zoned in on the beautiful silver string supporting a black heart pendant. "But it looked too good on you, I didn't want to deny you that. I guess you never worn it again, though."

The faint twist of his lips is sad. You want to tell him you didn't forget it behind. It did look nice on you, but what was the point of wearing it if not for him? It would kill you, to hear anyone compliment it without being able to say it was his gift. At least not without maiming any chance at new love.

"It was a perfect present. Matches everything, 'till this day."

Your exhale is suggestive, chin pointing down at your top, hoping he'll bite the bait.

Instead of relief, you get nervous when he does, pouting and swinging the thin chain your way as a question. Permission.

Rolling your eyes in fake annoyance, your teeth bite down on your own flesh as you expose your neck for him.

Ryan doesn't really touch you. He pulls the heart close to your throat so the clasp can hang mid air as he fastens it, then ghosts over your chest to readjust it.

Turning back to him, you try not to look so serious or anxious. Fidgeting with the cord, you ask, "Still nice, right?"

His lips brushing against yours is not a surprise, you knew what bringing him up here meant. Or hoped, anyway. But it's how perfect it feels that throws you off.

Your kiss fits, tongues sweeping over and under each other like you had never stopped doing it.

He had a beard before, but now it was rougher. You liked pulling it. The groan he made was even better.

Separating, you manage to speak, licking your lips while still holding his face. "I'm gonna lock the door."

Giddiness translating through your heartbeat, you're fast to shut the door and turn the small lock, but Ryan's quicker. He steps to you, picking you up from behind and spinning you the other way, setting you back down in the middle of the room.

With his nose in your hair, he whispers in your ear. "We never needed to before."

You want to joke about your poor parents being too old to catch you two at it, but that same scratchy beard is causing shivers down your spine, chapped lips wetting your skin all the way to your collarbone.

Out of a sudden, you remember what was the last time both of you were right here. Embraced in the furry rug placed precisely in the center of the bedroom.

Instinctly, you grab the wrist snaking around your middle. Scared he'll walk right out of the door.

Ryan stops, so you turn in his arms, looking into his eyes to say 'I'm sorry about the way things happened'.

Dismissive eyes bore into you, fingers hooking around your chin, and he's kissing you again.

Before you can make sense of it, you're laying on top of the rug, Ryan pulling your pants down.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" He asks with one hand keeping your knees together, and your legs closed.

"Are- aren't you?" Insecurity bests you. Of course he'd bring it out of you tonight.

Blistery palms rub your kneecaps. "Just making sure."

You lay back down, arching your back so you can pull off your top, breasts freed from any fabric.

At that, Ryan separates your legs, yanking on your panties and discarding of them before you can even see where.

Just as fast, he's pulling on your hips and meeting your cunt halfway, going straight to sucking on your clit.

His hair is a lot better to tug on now, smoother.

Index and middle finger unceremoniously go in, the silver ring on one of them pinching your skin, and you hiss but don't complain.

He's gotten a lot better at it too. Thinking about how practice makes perfect stirs up a funny fire inside of your stomach, so you refrain from thinking about it.

"You taste so much better than anyone else. I missed it, so bad." Like he read your mind.

Ryan always did that. Shot down any fears you might have before you can even express them.

Your hips are rolling up into his face, and as beautiful as he looks, it's a damn shame you can't see his shoulders. So your nails move from bunching his hair to the dark blue fabric. "Shirt."

With a swift move, his torso is bare and you can finally see the muscles. You weren't too young when you dated, but it's still different. Roughed up by the years. Anyone could guess he's a retired firefighter or athlete, but it's from jumping into cacti and running elbow first into walls.

The thought produces a laugh, which is cut short by Ryan going right back to it, lapping up all the juices that had escaped while he undressed.

"Shit, Ry, I'm close."

He speeds up, fingers arching and tongue zigue-zaguing beyond your folds, your own thumb coming down to help.

Soon, you're screaming his name, eyes shut.

When they unscrew, he's still down there, long locks framing his face. Drinking every last drop. It's dizzying, and you wish you would've left the window open.

You're still whimpering, out of it, when Ryan climbs up to you. One stretched arm on each side of your head, you can feel his breath on your face when he speaks.

"Do you know…" It's hard to tell if he's breathing in or trying to come across as intense as possible. "How beautiful that sounds coming out of your mouth? 'Ry'. Do you know how hard- I could explode on your stomach right now just from that."

The mention of his hardness causes your eyes to drift down his chest, to his bulge. It's enticing, a perfect shape visible against his jeans. Obviously commando.

Still drunk in the bliss, you scoot your body until you're right under his hips, hands coming up to unbuckle his belt like you're touching something you had always wanted but was never allowed. Like you hadn't done it before.

Pulling on his pants just enough to free his cock, the swollen head hits your chin, and it's the perfect cue for you to swipe your tongue across it.

Ryan grunts, strong and raspy but his arms buckle. He cusses at the sound of spit hitting your hand, but goes quiet when you finally start stroking him.

Deciding it's enough, you sit up on your elbows and crank your neck up to take him fully into your mouth.

He cusses again.

With a pop, you leave it to add commentary of your own. "It's different. What, are you showering more now?"

Hearing his chuckle, you look up at him from your position, and it must've worked because his cock twitches in your hand and his eyes screw shut. "Don't give me eyes like that or I'm not gonna last, princess."

The nickname makes you feel twenty again. His princess. Stupid, shiny, hopeful. Just like having him here again.

Grateful, your mouth takes more of him this time, until you gag.

Providing his hard shaft a warm, damp place to nest filled you with filthy euphoria. Seeing his stomach flex in and out as he struggled to maintain this awkward position, thrusting down into your mouth with shaky arms so he doesn't crumble on top of you, it's almost unbelievable.

Pre-cum drips down and straight onto the black heart haging in between your breasts. You make sure to lick the rest before more of a mess is made.

Ryan can't take it anymore though, looking down and seeing your tongue pop out of your mouth again, catching the white fluid contrasting the black shape.

"Sweetheart, stop. I'm not gonna- Come up."

So you do, crawling back face to face with him. The back of his hand wipes your lips, half sorry he did this to you and half proud.

With a kiss to the tip of your nose, Ryan pushes himself up to take his boots and jeans off, finally leveling with you.

Your eyes are glossy watching him.

Just as good looking as he used to be, but a lot more comfortable now. It made him seem taller, stronger. You're hit with the realization that maybe when you where fighting to find your confidence, so was he. But he hid it better, a lot better.

"Wanna take the bed?"

Cheeks burn as you realize how ridiculous you probably looked laying bare on the floor, hands wringing each other on top of your stomach, elatedly watching him.

"C'mon." Always so nice, sympathetic. He offers you a hand before gently pushing you down onto the mattress.

The same duvet is there, and it smells freshly washed. Crazy parents of yours.

"How do you wanna do this?" Green eyes caring. You shrug, and he laughs. "Old fashion?"

Nodding, you think about how lovely it would be to ride him or his thighs, but for now you just want to look at him.

So Ryan adjusts, spicing things up just a tad by hooking your ankle over his shoulder. You go red at the exposure and it sets him off.

"Would you please stop being embarrassed? It's me."

Covering your eyes, rings of your own scratch at your eyelids as you chuckle, feeling even more on the spot now. "That's the thing, though, isn't it? It's you."

When you risk a look, he's got a tight-lipped smile, but it screams of fondness and appreciation.

Lost for words, you simply close your hands around the back of his neck and bring him down to your lips, kissing him softly like you would every tedious afternoon when you had nothing to do but love one another.

With his bottom lip between your teeth, Ryan slides into you slowly, and both of you moan.

"Fuck, princess, you're so wet. Soaked."

Your nails are digging into his back, walls tightening and pulsing.

"Move. Please."

The bed scrapes against the wooden floor the same old way. Ryan starts getting rougher with his thrusts like he inevitably always did. You're loudly gasping for air in between, imitating your careless noisy young self.

Back then, you would've held back your laughter from the wet sounds. Tonight, they're comforting, exciting. Ryan's cock pushing against your slick folds as loud as possible in this small room made you complete.

You had a lot more now, in life. But it wasn't whole, because it was missing him.

Hearing your name cried out by your first - and likely only - love breaks the wall and you're over the edge again. Whimpering. Shaking. Tears staining your face.

When Ryan comes, just a few seconds after you, repeated 'I love you's spill out into your ears.

You're too shocked to say anything, letting him tire himself out before reacting.

It takes him a minute, but when he moves off of you, there's a desperate look in his face. And he's apologizing.

Trying to talk to him doesn't work, large hands sinking the mattress before getting up and searching for his pants.

You're panicking, smacking your lips and hurrying into the bathroom, turning on the shower. Asking him if he would like to, all you get is a head shake.

Under the hot water, your stomach turns, certain you'll come out of the bathroom to an empty room. Downstairs filled with people you're not interested in, that aren't him.

Unlocking the door, Ryan's sitting on the edge of the bed. The window's open again, chill shocking against your warm skin. You lean back on the sink, waiting.

"I never said it to anyone else."

It's funny how familiar the set up is. There's a shininess to his eyes, at the waterline, reminds you of you.

The towel in your hand draws your attention, like his shoes drew his that day.

"Every time I did, I took it back."

An incredulous smile tugs at his lips, meeting your shy one.

"Wow, that must have made you many friends."

At that, you laugh, loud and fully. A sob you had no idea was brewing breaks through your chest.

You play it off by continuing to fiddle with the loose threads of the white cottony towel.

"We need to do this."

It's a question, just as much as a statement.

You want to, but reality has to have a play in this. So, sceptical, you scoff.

"How long are you staying in West Chester?"

"A month."

Oh. Oh. You thought, because of how busy they are, they wouldn't be here for too long.

Ryan notices the crestfallen look on your face.

"How long are you…"

"I leave tomorrow."

Both of you swallow, speechless.

Like you thought, reality has to play its game.

"To be fair, I've been here a week already. You're the one who just got here. And I have all these meetings next week, it's a lot."

Ryan cuts you off. A wall you hadn't seen in a while is put up.

"Up to you."

With that, he finally leaves, unlocking your bedroom door and shutting it with no glace behind him.

[fredshufflepuff]

— anon’s request: ok so since i too am a whore for angst. how about the reader and rafe having a summer thing as a kook (maybe she goes to the pogue school but is a kook) and once she goes back to school, they drift apart and rafe gets jealous of her spending her time with the pogues. then maybe he sees her again at mid summers all dressed up and remembers he still loves her. please break my heart with this, im in need of a cry and then maybe put it back together with some fluff at the end? please

— warnings: fem!reader, brief smut (skip if uncomfortable), asshole!rafe for a good chunk of the imagine, language, angst, fluff.

— word count: 2,166

IT all started when you bumped into rafe at the country club on figure eights.

you didn’t normally hang around that area, but you were hanging out with sarah that day—which meant eventually running into her brother.

she tried to keep you away from him, just because he had no filter and didn’t think twice before voicing his opinion, but sooner or later your interaction with the boy would happen.

“oh god” sarah mumbled causing you to raise your brows, a confused frown on your face as she signaled to look behind you.

you turned around not so subtle to see rafe cameron making his way down the grassy hill, a golf club in one hand and a can of beer in the other.

“hey little sis, when were you going to introduce me to your friend here?” the boy spoke, a small grin on his face at seeing her roll her eyes.

“i wasn’t planning on it, you know—considering how you’re an ass.”

a small giggle fell from your lips as rafe turned his attention back to you, the sides of his mouth curling slightly at your reaction.

“well since she won’t introduce me, i will” he said, his figure leaning over yours which was sat on the grass.

he tossed his most likely expressive golf club to the ground to extend his hand out to you, which you hesitated to take before slowly reaching for it.

“i’m rafe cameron.”

of course you knew who he was, everyone did.

“y/n y/l/n.”

YOU thought the interaction with sarah’s older brother was in the past, not having to see him again since you weren’t planning on going back to figure eight or the club any time soon.

but when you found yourself in his bed getting the absolute daylights fucked out of you, you knew right then and there that this wasn’t a one time thing.

“fuck rafe,” you moaned loudly, your head thrown back against the pillow as your eyes fell shut from the feeling.

he slide his cock in and out of your needy hole as you whimpered from under him, his toned body pressed against yours as you jolted from each thrust.

“m’gonna cum, flood this needy little fuck hole” he spat, his hand coming down to grab your face and force you to open your eyes.

“please, rafe. please fill me up” you begged, your little moans and pleads sending the boy over the edge.

as soon as he gave you permission to cum you didn’t hold back. it felt like your entire body had shut down as your head fell to the side.

rafe sent a rough thrust into your quivering body before emptying himself inside, making sure to keep himself as close as possible in order to not let any leak out.

“fuck,” he groaned in your ear, his body pressed against your small one as your hands came up to rest in his hair, pulling on it gently as his cum filled you up.

later that night you didn’t bother sneaking back out to your place, instead rafe suggested you actually stay—running you a hot bath before ordering take out.

it surprised you really, considering how you didn’t know what you guys were.

you both agreed to only be friends with benefits when this all started, but now you didn’t know if you wanted that or not.

you wanted something more with the blue eyed boy.

“what are we?” you asked while laying in his arms, the feeling of his breath trailing down your neck giving you comfort.

“friends with benefits.”

no hesitation was found in his voice. it was quick and sudden, just like your heart breaking.

“oh.”

you didn’t talk much with rafe after that night—leaving early in the morning to avoid further interaction.

rafe didn’t suspect anything though, knowing how busy you usually get with school and home life, but after that single day turned into almost a week, he knew something wasn’t right.

usually you’d be around the house or at the country club, but it felt like you were almost avoiding him.

when school started up that’s when things really started to hit for rafe. you were not only distancing yourself from him, but now you were hanging out with the pogues.

to him you had wiggled yourself into john b’s friend group, getting closer with everyone but mostly jj, the one pogue he despised more than the others.

it was the night of midsommars and you were preparing yourself to see rafe, your nerves seeming to skyrocket every time his name was mentioned.

“ARE you feeling okay, y/n/n? you’re all jittery” kie pointed out, her eyes locking with yours through the vanity mirror as you slowly brushed through your hair.

“i’m okay, kie— really. just nervous for tonight i guess” you shrugged, your response seeming convincing enough as she nodded.

“hey slow pokes! hurry up or we’re going to be late” jj called, pounding on the door making you and kie jump.

“fucking assholes” you mumbled.

MIDSOMMARS was something you always looked forward to.

the lights, the food, the beautiful dresses and people you got to meet—which was rare considering how almost everyone there were stuck up kooks who’s only personality trait was having money.

all except rafe.

he was different towards you, a lot different it was scary.

“jj, don’t get into any more fights, k?” kie sighed, licking the pad of her thumb before dragging it across his face—getting rid of the dirt that had formed there.

he didn’t say who specifically it was with—the fight—just claiming it was with some stupid kooks who didn’t know when to stop talking.

“yeah yeah” he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair before sending you both a small smile.

he picked up his tray and spun it on his finger before sending her a wink, a blush coming to kie’s face as she quickly looked away.

“soooo, you and jj....” you said, the girl’s eyes rolling as she playfully pushed you away.

“enough about me, what about you?”

“me?” you raised an eyebrow, “what about me?”

“don’t play dumb, y/n/n. i’ve seen you come back late with hickeys.”

you grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the waiters walking by and took a long sip from it, your eyebrows twisting together— “this is good, you should try it.”

kie was about to protest until the music started to kick up again, your favorite song playing making you gasp.

you quickly placed the glass on an empty table before taking her hands and pulling her towards the dance floor.

“let’s dance!”

unknown to you—rafe had been watching you ever since you stepped foot into the venue.

IT was almost one in the morning when everyone had left, you and kie sitting at one of the empty tables while you waited for jj to finish up.

you hadn’t had that much to drink, but you could say you were a little tipsy.

“ready to go?” jj asked while throwing his arms around you both, a sarcastic grunt dropping from your lips at the sudden weight.

“we were about to leave yo-”

“well, well, well...if it isn’t the golden trio” a familiar voice spat, your head snapping to the side as your eyes fell on the devil himself.

rafe cameron and his little minions.

“if it isn’t daddy’s money, dumb, and dumber” kie snapped back—referring to topper and kelce who were standing on either side of him.

“put your dog on a leash maybank before we do it ourselves” rafe threatened, only causing jj to break from your side and lunge at the boy.

“jj, stop” you said, grabbing his arm as kie yanked him back, “he wants a reaction.”

“i didn’t see you there, y/n. so quiet and small, hard to notice you.”

which was obviously a lie. rafe noticed you the second he walked into the stupid party.

“what do you want, rafe? getting bored at the country club?” you asked, your lips dropping into a fake pout.

“actually the country club is entertaining, unlike some needy bitches who can’t satisfy my needs.”

your face dropped as kie gasped beside you—jj completely unaware of what was going on but still pissed at the way rafe was speaking to you.

rafe’s face dropped slightly at the realization of what he just said, nothing but lies falling from his mouth as his eyes filled with guilt.

“fuck you.”

YOU didn’t remember much after that. just the events taking place of jj trying to throw another punch at the boys before getting dragged away by kie.

the poor girl was trying to control her hot headed friend while the other was on the verge of tears.

but you refused to cry.

in front of rafe or not, you would not let yourself cry over him.

all you remember is crashing at john b’s house and waking up with a massive headache.

your legs were draped over kie’s as the two of you slept on john b’s bed, the boys taking the couch in the living room.

light from the outside peeked through the curtains as your eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness.

your phone laid next to you on the comforter as your hands dragged it closer.

what you weren’t expecting was a shitload of texts from rafe.

rafe cameron: i’m really sorry

[sent 1:34am]

rafe cameron: y/n

[sent 1:34am]

rafe cameron: i didn’t mean anything i said

[sent 1:36am]

rafe cameron: i was drunk and wasn’t thinking

[sent 1:40am]

rafe cameron: please hear me out

[sent 1:41am]

rafe cameron: meet me at our place

[sent 1:49am]

rafe cameron: 7:30am

[sent 1:51am]

you groaned loudly while reading his texts, the need to throwup swirling in your stomach as you tossed your phone to the side.

you ran your hands over your face as you thought on what to do, biting your bottom lip in the process as you stared at the wall in front of you.

after what felt like an hour of pondering, you let yourself slip off the bed and grab your hoodie that was thrown on the floor.

you were going to see him.

‘WHAT if she doesn’t show’ rafe thought to himself as he sat in the sand, his eyes locked on the waves crashing in front of him.

he was stupid last night.

the boy made a stupid mistake that he regretted deeply.

he just needs to show you how sorry he is.

“rafe.”

his head snapped in the direction of your voice, your figure standing a few feet from his as he then quickly stood up.

he dusted off his pants before nervously making eye contact, his throat suddenly drying up as he attempted to swallow what felt like a rock.

“y/n, i’m s-so so sorry for what i said yesterday. i-i didn’t mean any of it-”

“so what? i’m supposed to forgive you?” you cut off, raising an eyebrow as his mouth fell slightly, “what if it happens again?”

“i-it won’t! i swear it won’t. i was just drunk and jealous and really fucking stupid” he blabbered on, his hands shaking as he tried to defend himself.

“jealous?” you asked, your eyebrows furrowing together as he nodded his head shamefully.

“of you and that stupid pogue.”

“jj?!”

he seemed to visibly retract from your words, his eyes narrowing as he bit the inside of his cheek.

“yeah, him.”

“so you acted the way you did...because of jj?” you slowly asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he stared at you.

“i didn’t mean it, y/n...” he frowned, his face dropping slightly as you waited for him to continue, “please give me another chance, i’ll show you how sorry i am—how much you mean to me.”

it was quiet for a good minute as your thoughts swarmed your mind for a response.

“rafe...”

“y/n, please.”

another minute went by, the only sound coming from the waves crashing along the shore.

“fine.”

IT had been five months since you forgave rafe, and things were honestly going better than you had expected.

after that morning on the beach he took you out on a proper date—ending in him walking you back to your house and even stealing a kiss.

he even stopped starting fights with jj and the other pogues, wanting you to know that he was better than that.

“WHAT do you want to watch?” rafe asked while flipping through channels, one hand holding the remote while the other rested on the small of your back.

“m’not sure, you can pick.”

he hummed in response before clicking on some random channel, not really planning on watching it anyway.

he tossed the remote to the side before looking down at you, admiring your relaxed state with your arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

“you know i love you right?” he suddenly asked, his voice low and soft as he stared at you from above.

“why so gushy, rafe?” you teased, your own head angling up to see him better.

he was so beautiful.

“i’m not gushy,” he rolled his eyes, “i just wanted to remind you.”

you blushed at his words before nuzzling back into the crook of his neck, your lips kissing the delicate skin making him smile.

“i love you too, rafe.”

🏷rafe cameron taglist : @jordynsharum

a/n: could you tell i didn’t know how to end it

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Pretty Blue Bird pt 7.

Ending

Summary. A villain is forcing quirks on regular people with plans to sell them to villains as weapons. Reader is forced to accept a quirk that resembles Hawks and he finds her and saves her. He helps her with the quirk while trying to ignore his bird instincts

Hawks had been captured by All For One while on his pursuit for the villain forcing quirks onto civilians. All For One was ripping his feathers out one by one , crumbling them in his hands till they were nothing. The villain crouched down by Hawks face tapping his forehead till Hawks eyes fluttered open. He had a massive headache and his back hurt. He could see the crumbled red feathers by his face. The villain tapped his forehead again till Hawks gave him his attention.

“I suppose i should tell you who i am. I'm The Gift Giver. I bless people with quirks. “

“It's not.. a blessing.” Hawks choked out . Slowly he raised his arms to fold them , pressing a button on his watch. “Its a curse.. if anything. You are selling them for weapons.”

The Gift Giver stood up to pluck out a red feather and inspect it . “So red, so fierce I bet they are.. sharp.” He grabbed Hawks arm holding the feather to his wrist but nothing happened.

“They can be. But I need to make it that way, sorry mate. “

All For One dropped Hawks kicking him to the wall . “Wheres the blue one. We need her.”

The Hero choked out some blood as he tried to steady himself on his shaking knees. “Why would i tell you? Im Hawks. Im all you need.” Feathers shot out at both villains and Hawks grabbed one turning it into a long sharp feather sword.

•••

Meanwhile you were in such a sad state that your feathers were falling out and drifting around the house. They could always return to you but instead you let them wander Hawks home.

Tokoyami had gotten you out of the nest and got you to join him in the living room and that's when your feathers started to wander. You only ate a little bit and still enjoyed Tokoyamis reading about birds and his stories of UA but you missed Hawks, you brought his glove everywhere with you. You were worried sick. At some point you sang a sad song that brought Tokoyami to tears. He had to turn away of course , but Dark Shadow hugged you , crying big wet tears into your hair. He held you for as long as you needed. He even gathered up your feathers to bring you them and you thanked him warmly.

Tokoyami was worried about his mentor. Sure he had a laid back personality and never got scared but he was still human. Damn bird . Where are- hit watch buzzed and in a flash Tokoyami looked at it to see a red dot on a map. “Dark Shadow.” He said getting up. Dark Shadow wiggled over to Tokoyami . “Yes? Did you find him?” Tokoyami turned to you to see you curled up hugging the glove . He put a blanket on you talking low. “I'm going to go get Hawks. Do not leave this house. Im trusting you to stay here.” You nodded pulling the blanket over your head, your feathers crept to you too going behind you and under the blanket. ”please bring him home..”

Tokoyami left in a flash , leaving you to hug the glove close, singing quietly.

••

You did as Tokoyami said , you had no reason to leave the house anyway. The world scared you now, quirks confused you, villains terrified you. Trust was all jumbled up and a mess for you now. But despite all of that , your life being forced to change without your consent. There was good. The darkness that surrounded you had a bright light in the center, and you grabbed it, with no plans to let go.

At some point during the night you heard fussing outside the door and weak laughter following what sounded like a lecture. The door opened and a scet caught your nose. His scent.

•••

It did not take long for Tokoyami to find the location on his gps. Hawks had also left a trail of feathers for Tokoyami to find that led right to the building. Dark Shadow stretched getting big and scaled the building with Tokoyami close by climbing just as fast. They both slipped through the window to see Hawks in The Gift Givers grip pressed against the wall with his hand on his throat. Tokoyami went for the Gift Giver, grabbing him and sending him flying into All For One. Both men fell to the ground and Dark Shadow grabbed Hawks while Tokoyami tied up both men. All For One laughed burning the rope and the two vanished. “We will be back..”

Tokoyami sat down groaning and Dark Shadow put Hawks down. He stumbled over to his sidekick after petting Dark Shadow . “What would i do without you Toko?” The man rolled his eyes crossing his arms. “Die, you would die. Sometimes i just don't know about you.” The Number 2 Hero chuckled sitting down with his friend putting his bloody arm around Tokoyami and Dark Shadow wiggled over hugging them both.

••

“You smell, awful.”

“I dont think blood is supposed to smell good Toko. Cmon i can barely walk”

“Whos fault is that? If you would have just followed my advice and actually cared when you are fighting you would not have a cut in your leg.”

“Dark Shadow hes so mean to me.”

“Fumi!! Be nice to Hawks!!!”

Tokoyami rolled his eyes and Hawks laughed leaning into his door. He could already smell your stressed out scent. “Thank you, both. For everything.”

Tokoyami folded his arms with a ‘hmph’ sound and Dark Shadow hugged the winged hero happily.

••

Hawks opened the door getting hit with your scent . He frowned, closing the door behind him and saw you on the couch with your wings around you. He sang softly limping over to you petting your wing. “Pretty blue bird….”

You peaked through your feathers to see him. He smiled picking you up, trying his best not to drop you. Your wings fell to your back and Hawks rubbed his nose on yours as he slowly limped down the hall.

“You are hurt.. let me fix it.” You said crying into his torn shirt. Hawks slumped on the wall still limping till he got to his room. “Blue Bird, i've missed you. It can wait. I should probably patch my leg up though .. but while i do that. ..” he nudged his door shut. “Let me tell you what that song you sang means. And let me show you, too.”

@loxbbg @marydragneell

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

BONUS PREVIEW FOR FULL NEST CHAPTER TWO

It had been a couple months since Hawks returned. He was given a few weeks off after encountering The Gift Giver to tend to his wounds and spend time with you of course. When he did return to his Agency the first thing he did was go to Tokoyami with a silly grin on his face explaining his new situation. Dark Shadow had extended himself to almost the ceiling screeching happy noises while Tokoyami was trying his best to calm the damn shadow down. Hawks watched happily. Hands in his pockets and his wings spread out.

He didint just need a bigger nest. He needed two.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A/n. Biggest thank you to Blue Bird Anon for requesting me this idea. Im so happy you are enjoying it and like the way ive written it., also big thank you to everyone who also has enjoyed it with me😭But its not over!!! Stick around for Full Nest !!! ;))))

[colorfullfalls]

Warm me up

Embry Call x Reader

Between Forks and La Push, supernatural occurances were constant. Vampires, wolves, but the new visitors were witches. A coven of witches moved directly between Forks and La Push, which created a massive headache for the Cullen's and Quileutes.

The witches were unpredictable and everyone seemed weary about them. The imprints were strictly told to steer clear of them. Worry coursed through the wolves veins as the thought of the love of their lives being magically hurt in any way.

Y/N was bored. Embry was patrolling a lot lately for the Black Pack due to the additional supernatural beings. She admired his dedication and hours upon hours protecting the people. But she missed him. And even more so, she was bored.

"Sweetheart, please don't go anywhere without someone who is.. well... A wolf or vampire. It sounds dumb but we aren't sure with what we are dealing with."

Embry's honest genuine worries flowed through her brain every time she thought about saying fuck it and leaving the small house.

She watched movies, cleaned again and again, organized a thousand times, played with the dogs in the yard, danced in the kitchen, painted and even sewed. Still, she yearned to actually go out in public. Walmart roaming at 2 am seemed like an absolute dream, but Embry would go into cardiac arrest if you went there, let alone so late.

He always claimed that late nights made people lonely and that led to them doing bad shit. He was so paranoid that you would fall victim to someone's boredom gone wrong. He loved Y/N more than the world and God, he wanted to shelter her and keep her safe.

The imprints were alright with doing whatever their wolves said. Stay inside- they did. Don't talk to the cullens- they did. But Y/N was not like that. She was stubborn as a mule, and Embry knew better than to try to treat her like that. She was a free woman who refused to bend to whatever others wanted.

Embry grew up respecting women. Growing up with his mom made him realize how strong women are. Tiffany didn't need a man's presence, money, or help to raise her son. He knew felt proud to have his mom. He loved her almost as much as he loved Y/N. Which is an insane amount considering Y/N was his life.

Sitting on the counter with Embry standing between her legs, she knew shit was serious. His wide brown eyes held sorrow and fear as he explained how dangerous the witches could potentially be. And that he knew she hated trying to be told what to do, but she would save him loads of worrying if she would please listen.

Y/N solemnly agreed because she knew that this matter was serious. What she didn't realize was that he would be absent so much. She missed him. Having him home would make the time fly by. His very presence was all that she needed. Craved it.

Y/N had a sudden idea. Having a hammock would be nice. Two beautiful oak trees rooted close by would be a wonderful place to hang one. She could read on it, paint on it, and stare at the sky for hours. She blushed as images of her and embry on it ran through her mind.

Leaving was a bad idea. Her mind said, no. Be smarter than that. Her heart said that she wanted that hammock and needed it. She bit her lip as she glanced at the clock. Embry wouldn't even know. Y/N decided she would lie and say she had the thing all along if he were to ask about it.

That's it, she was going. She went, got it, and felt great. Happy. Fulfilled. Excited to put it up.

She was halfway home when her car slowly halted. Gas pedal was down but the car was not moving.

"What the fuck?!" She stated, hitting the gas pedal a few times. Y/N groaned as she threw her head back. If she wasn't home soon she would be found by a very angry and dissapointed wolf. A metaphorical dog house, ironically.

Tapping left to her head made Y/N jump, screams rippling out of her throat. Hand on her throat in surprise she turned.

Gorgeous piercing green eyes looked expectantly at her. Tattoos spread down her arms, but they were almost unnoticeable due to the black hair cascading over them. Y/N swore that she never saw such beautiful hair before.

The woman had a calm look on her face, but she was intimidating none the less. She opened the car door and all Y/N could do was watch as her heart beat out of her chest.

"Wolf girl.... Could sense you miles away." She said, leaning on the door.

"Im- uh- hah, I'm not a wolf..." Y/N stammered, clinging to her seat belt in fear. Embry was for sure going to scold her for hours now.

"An imprint, whatever. You have association with them. It's simple. See, you came from La Push, their territory. No one goes there really. So you're a wolf girl one way or the other."

Y/N sheepishly nodded, glancing away from the woman and to her phone. Maybe if she got ahold of Embry he could save her before anything happened. Her hand twitched to grab it but suddenly she gasped, crippling pain invading her body.

Y/N cried out in pain as she sank into the seat. An instant headache crept up the back of her head as tears spilled.bShit shit shit. This witch meant business, and wasn't scared to use powers already.

Flame like feeling stopped and Y/N gasped for breath in her driver seat. She hit the steering wheel a few times in frustration.

"God, maybe use your words next time?" Y/N venomously spat, glaring at the green eyes witch.

"Waste of my breath, hun. Girl talk isn't girl talk if you call your wolf man."

"Don't want girl talk." Y/N mumbled, still calming down from being hurt. She didn't want to anger her but sometimes it was hard to bite her tongue.

"Let's cut to the chase. You need to tell the wolves to lay off. Stop pacing around our area. Witch business is none of their concern" The witch knelt down and got closer to Y/N's face.

"Tell them that... You think they listen to me? Sure, I'm an imprint and I can voice my opinion, but the pack does as it chooses. I have no power over them." Y/N softly said.

"Seduction. You own your wolf. I'm familiar with how imprinting works. You control this man's life! So don't give me that 'I can't control anything' speech. You can and will relay the message."

Anger coursed through Y/N's veins. How dare the asshole witch act like Y/N can just suck off Embry and then he does whatever she says? He didn't own her, and she didn't own him. Insinuating that Embry was Y/N's toy made her want to scream. She kept calm and shook her head.

"You're oh so wrong..." Y/N mumbled shaking her head, "You should've talked to them because Embry is not going to be happy when he finds out you did this. Infuriated, actually."

"Wow, so Embry is his name? It's a handsome one, truth be told." The witch stood back up.

"Don't."

The witch's tongue poked out to wet her lips before she spoke in a scary calm tone, "Do as I say...you'll live. Simple. task. Look, I'm not stupid, I would never face a wolf alone and right now I'm the only one home. But you see, 'm getting rather fed up with all the sneaking around our place. I'm actually angrier than I thought...."

"shit" Y/N whispered

The witch looked at Y/N thoughtfully, "Maybe if I hurt you a bit, they would get the hint..."

Y/N shook her head, "You said you know about imprinting, but obviously not enough because going after a wolf is idiotically stupid. They're sacred. Not to be messed with. They would die for us."

At that moment snarking was heard. Y/N felt a tear of happiness roll down her cheek as she felt relief rush through every cell in her body like a river that had been dammed up. Embry was about to save her ass.

The witch jumped around in time to see Embry approach. She flicked her wrist as if to hurt him the way she hurt Y/N, but she was quickly jumped on by Bella. Bella choked her so that she would pass out.

Jacob ran out of the woods to help Bella tie up the woman's arms and legs. Embry shifted back, scrambling to throw on shorts and racing to your side.

His hands grasped her face as he checked her for any injuries. His stony expression broke as he cried out in relief, kissing Y/N's face all over.

"Baby, thank God we found you!" Em exclaimed, hugging her to his chest. Tears flowed down her face. That witch scared the daylight of out Y/N, and Embry saved her life.

°°°°

Hours later Embry sat with his chin on the edge of the bathtub while his lovely imprint sat inside of it. Bubbles filled the area up to her chest. Embry's heightened eyes couldn't see anything besides her shoulders and head. Her hair sat delicately in a bun to avoid getting damp.

Embry smiled smittenly at how pretty she looked in the candle light. Her doe eyes stared back at him equally lovingly. She blushed, looking away and sinking deeper into the water.

Baths always made her feel better, and after the day the imprint had, she needed one. As soon as they got home Embry ran the water and helped her in.

50's music softly played through the bluetooth speaker as the couple shared such an intimate moment.

Embry interlocked one of his hands with his imprint's soapy ones, "Thought I was gonna lose you today..." He murmured, brining the interlocked hands up so that he could kiss hers.

"For a while there, me too..."

Embry whimpered and kissed her hand a few times to center himself. Seeing that witch in front of his soulmate awakened things inside of him that he never knew he had in him.

He wanted to rip the witch's limbs slowly one by one, her screams echoing through the land. He wanted the witch bitch to beg for mercy and apologize relentlessly until her last breathe. But then his eyes moved to his scared girlfriend, and all he thought about was getting to her as soon as he could. Holding her in his strong arms and assuring her that all would be okay.

"Talked to Jake and I'm not patrolling for a while. Can't leave you again." He said with every fiber of his heart.

Y/N nodded, understanding that his inner wolf was still going crazy from the danger she had been in. She felt guilty for being dumb enough to leave the house over a hammock.

"Thank you for not yelling at me. I deserve it, like big time. I went to buy a fucking hammock. All of this, over a fun outside prop..." Y/N ranted, angry with herself.

"I was going to, but three seconds after I realized you were in danger... Scolding you was the last thing on my mind. Telling you to stay home and then never being there was hard on you, I get that. I'm sorry." He confessed.

Embry blamed himself. He knew Y/N hated being at home and with him not being there, she would hate it even more. His Y/N was a social woman and restricting that wasn't right. Not without him keeping her company.

"Apology isn't necessary, but thank you. Im a grown woman who should have more common sense."

A comfortable silence settled over the pair. Embry stroked his thumb across her hand as her eyes fluttered shut. She was tired and he could tell.

"Love bug, why don't we dry you off and go to bed? We could both use sleep, hmm?"

She sleepily nodded.

Ten minutes later Embry spooned Y/N, squeezing her close as he could without hurting her. He felt her body shake a bit. Concern filled his face as he lifted up to look at her through the moon light.

"Y/n?"

She turned and instead of crying, she was laughing. Laughing so hard that her body was shaking. Embry slightly smiled, unaware of how to react.

"I bought a hammock today. I risked my life... For a hammock. But hey," she laughed harder, "now we can use it whenever. Because we have so much time alone. Trapped here."

Embry now grinned. He knew she was delirious and tired, but he thought it was cute, "We can lay in it tomorrow, all day. Just us." He whispered, nuzzling his nose agaisnt her cheek.

Y/N stopped laughing, "Id like nothing more. I'm so in love with you," she whispered suddenly serious. He felt his heart flutter as her lips brushed against his. He lost his breath as she kissed the corner of his mouth.

"Tease" he mumbled, caressing her face to bring her in for a propper kiss. She hummed as she pulled her wolf closer to her, drugged by his closeness. His warm body heat made her toasty as he slipped his tongue in her mouth. She slightly pulled away.

"Warm me up, wolf boy." She said, kissing him once again. Embry almost lost his Y/N, but God was she alive with him at 2 am. Very alive.

[takerfoxx]

IM Swiftly Descending Darkness, Chapter 5

Mokou already felt that something was wrong, and the moment she came into view of the Aoki Yume’s Children’s Home all but confirmed it.

The house was quiet. The lights were on, all of the outside lanterns were lit, but there was no one in sight. The surrounding fields and the garden were all empty.

If there was something that could be counted on at the orphanage, it was that it was never quiet. Even in the evening after the kids had been brought it one could count on seeing someone about, such as Joshua up on a ladder along the side of the house, repairing a loose window, or Haruna relaxing on the porch.

But there was nobody in sight, and while it was late afternoon, it was still before the time when the kids would be brought in.

Mokou felt a rare flash of fear, a very rare sensation for her. She tightened her fists and threw everything into a final burst of speed.

The house rushed up to her. She spun around, directed her feet toward the front path, and hit the ground running. From there, she sped up the path, her bare feet kicking up clouds of dust, and leapt up the stairs toward the-

Front path.

Mokou skidded to a stop and looked around in bewilderment. Now she was facing away from the house, as if she had been running away from it instead of toward.

Also, she was pretty sure she had heard someone yell “Ow!” from inside.

Mokou turned back toward the house. For the most part it looked the same, but there did seem to be something off about it, something she hadn’t noticed coming in.

Tilting her head to one side, Mokou squinted her eyes. Sure enough, all around the front porch were strange refractions of light, rippling out like the surface of a pond disturbed by a pebble.

Huh.

Mokou took a slow, deliberate step forward into the field of disorientation. Her vision quickly spun around, and she found herself facing away from the porch again. At the same time, someone yelped, “Damn it!”

It Mokou a moment to realize what was going on. That had to be Haruna. Haruna’s particular gift was the ability to essentially flip reality, to turn it back around on people. Which sounded like something that would be immensely useful, but unfortunately she was unable to maintain it over a large area for very long, and if anyone or anything actually got flipped by it, it gave her a massive headache.

Rather than subject her friend to a skull-splitting migraine, Mokou cupped her hands around her mouth and called, “Hey! It’s me! Let me in!”

Immediately a clamor of voices sounded within. “It’s Miss Mokou!” she heard Tomohiro say. “Let her in! Quick!”

“How do we know it’s actually her?” Shinji retorted. “Maybe it’s another youkai, one that just sounds like her!”

Melissa said something very quick and frantic-sounding in Spanish.

Rolling her eyes, Mokou called out again. “Look, either you guys let me in, or I’m gonna start walking toward the porch over and over again until Haruna’s head splits like an egg, okay? It’s me!”

“That’s her,” Satoko’s voice said. “Let her in, Haruna.”

The shimmers dropped, and Mokou heard the sound of the front door’s heavy lock being unbolted.

She rushed inside. There, she saw the most of the kids huddled into a tight group while some of the other adults stood protectively over them. Mokou hastily shut the door behind her and relocked it.

“What happened?” she demanded.

Haruna was sitting on the bottom step of the staircase with her aching head clutched with one hand, with Haruhi standing over her, holding onto her other hand. Sniffing, Haruhi glowered at Mokou with wet and puffy eyes. “Where were you?” she said.

“What? I was getting information like I said I would!”

“Well, you should have been here! You could’ve stopped this, stopped them from…from…”

“Enough!” Satoko said. She was standing with Akito crying in her arms, her normally stern features now a mix of anger and fear. “This isn’t the time to tear into one another! I know we’re all scared and upset, but I’m the one who asked Mokou to go look for answers. If you have to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”

Haruhi just shook her head and ran off.

Mokou took a deep breath and hissed it out through her teeth. “What. Happened?”

“It was youkai,” Satoko said. Her eyes were wet with tears, her face shimmering with sweat. “Wild spider youkai apparently. Five of the kids accidentally wound up outside of the charms during flying lessons. The spiders just…just showed up and took them.”

Mokou looked over the group and took a quick headcount. Noba was sitting in a nearby chair, his head in his hands, with his friends Shinji, Tomohiro, and Kazuchika with him. Check. The younger boys, specifically Yoshi, Hiro, Keiichi, Dai, and Yuuki, were in another group, whispering amongst themselves. Check. Melissa, the only girl present, was pacing back and forth, wringing her hands together as she muttered under her breath in her native language. Check, And Akito was in Satoko’s arms. Check.

However, more than five children were gone. Both of the terrible trios were absent, as was Melissa’s fellow oddball Kana.

“Who?” she said.

Satoko sighed. “Hayate, Haruko, Eiko, Kana, and Keine.”

Each name felt like a hammer-blow to her heart, but when she got to Keine Mokou felt something hot and powerful unlock deep within her. Because while she was fond and protective of all the children, Keine was kind of her favorite. Keine had been part of the trio that had rescued her from the snow in the first place. Keine had been the first to reach out to her after she had been brought in, the first to form any kind of relationship with her when all the other children had been too scared to talk to the mysterious and dangerous stranger now in their midst.

“What about the rest?” Mokou said. “Where’s Kohta and Rumia?”

“Upstairs,” Satoko said. “They, uh, understandably wanted to be alone.”

Right, that made sense. After all, it was their friend that had been taken.

Five kids. Five little girls, taken by spider youkai.

Mokou knew the habits of wild spider youkai, she knew them very well. Some spiders were nice. Some were quite friendly people, in fact. But others were not. Others were the sort that did terrible things to other people, that did terrible, horrible, absolutely monstrous things to children. And she felt quite certain that these were of that latter category.

Mokou closed her eyes and mentally counted down from ten. “And you just let them?” she snapped before she had even gotten to four.

Haruna quickly cut in. “We did everything he could, kid,” the rough-looking woman said. “Joshua tried to stop them, we both did. But they were ready for us. Hit us with some kind of web. Then they just flew off.”

Joshua. He was missing too. And so was Shion.

“Where is Joshua?” Mokou said. “And where’s Shion?”

“Shion flew to go get help,” Satoko told her. “Old Pine Village still supports us, and it’s the closest, so she went there.”

Old Pine Village. Right. That also made sense, but Satoko had only answered one of her questions. “And Joshua?”

Satoko bit her lower lip. “He went after them.”

The air around Mokou was starting to grow hazy. She heard several of the children whispering to one another, saw them draw away from her. “After them,” Mokou repeated. “After whom? To where?”

“The youkai. He went after the youkai. He said that he couldn’t let them take…take them to…”

Of course he did. Mokou closed her eyes. “And where did the youkai come from?” she said, her eyes still shut. “Where did they take the kids?”

“We don’t really-”

Mokou’s eyes snapped open. The haze around her vision was now a film of red.

Satoko gasped and backed away. Akito stopped crying, and just stared.

“I know,” Mokou growled. “I know where they came from. I know where they took them. The Youkai Forest. Of course it is.”

“Mokou, your eyes,” Satoko said as she covered Akito’s with her hand. “They’re glowing!”

Mokou knew this. Mokou didn’t care. “They took them to the Youkai Forest, and Joshua went after them! That’s where they are now, that’s where he is now, isn’t it?”

Satoko’s mouth wordlessly opened and closed like a fish’s, then she stuttered. “Y-Y-Yes, th-that does seem to be the most likely-”

“Most likely my ass! Look, I’ve spent the last few days hunting down whatever news I could, and what I found out is that some weird shit is going on in that damn forest, and someone from outside the forest is causing it!”

“Wait, say that again?” Haruna said. “You mean to tell me-”

“I said what I said, now get out of my way!” Mokou roared.

Haruna backed up. She hadn’t backed away from anyone in years, but she did so now, though not quick enough. Mokou shoved her aside and made for the stairs.

Children parted like ants from a flood, and Haruna hastily made herself scarce. Mokou stomped her way up, leaving blackened footprints sizzling on every step.

She was coming close to losing it. She was coming close to losing all control and just letting the raging fires that burned within her at all times just burst free. That didn’t happen often. Even at her most violent, when her life had been an unceasing cycle of pain and death, she had been careful to restrict it to a single person, someone who both deserved it and could take it.

But there had been a small handful of times, oh so very few, in which she had been pushed too far, when all other options had failed, when she had been confronted by an evil so sickening that her own monstrous soul paled in comparison and the only option was to cleanse everything with fire.

Mokou was not at the point yet. But she was getting close.

She threw open the door to her room and went straight for her dresser. She yanked the bottom drawer straight out and hurled it aside. Then she reached into the empty cavity and pulled out a small oak box.

It was this box that she set on the bed and opened up. Inside were two stacks of aging, yellow paper rectangles, all covered with a series of characters. In between them was a pile of old red-and-white ribbons. The characters on the left-hand stack were all the same, indicating them to be charms that protected against fire. Similar characters were written on the ribbons.

Mokou took those charms and stuck them all over her pants. Then she picked up one of the ribbons and muttered a word. In response, the entire pile fluttered up into the air. They surrounded her like a swarm of butterflies, and then dove in, tying themselves into bows through her long locks of hair. Mokou anticipated violence where she was going, and that meant a great deal of fire was probably going to be slung around. If that happened, then she’d rather not come home naked.

The second stack was smaller, and the runes and glyphs inscribed on each card was different. They were spellcards, each one containing an easily unleashed burst of offensive magic. Along with the glowing magical bullets known as danmaku, Spellcards were the preferred weapon of Gensokyians, and having a few on hand could be the difference between life and death.

Mokou picked up her stack of spellcards. She flourished them like a magician playing a trick to impress children, folded them back up again, and stuck them into her pocket. All right. Now she was ready to go.

Then, before she went through the door, she paused. Wait a minute.

Mokou took the cards out of her pocket and inspected them. It was as she had thought. She was supposed to have twelve cards, but there were only nine. Three of them were missing.

“Satoko!” she yelled.

“What?” Satoko was already at the door, sans Akito. “What is it?”

“My spellcards!” Mokou thrust the nine she had at her. “Who took them?”

Satoko blinked in confusion. “What do you mean? You’re holding them.”

“Only some! Three are missing! Did Joshua take them?”

“Uh, no? H-He took one of the usual anti-youkai packs we have in storage. I don’t think he even knew you had those.” Satoko frowned. “Actually, I didn’t know you had those. Did you have a stash of spellcards this whole time?”

Mokou barely heard the question. Her mind was racing, filtering through the list of likely culprits.

She ruled out Satoko, Haruna, and Haruhi immediately. Of the three, only Satoko had ever even been in her room, and if she had taken her spellcards she would have told her without apology. Besides, she probably would have taken the whole deck if it meant protecting the kids.

Shion, maybe? To give her some extra protection on her trip? Incredibly unlikely. Shion also had never been in her room and had no way of knowing of her stash. So it had to be one of the kids. But which one would-

“Wait,” she said. “Wait, wait, wait. You said Rumia and Kohta are up here, right?”

“Well, yes,” Satoko said. “They had locked themselves in the playroom. But-”

Then realization washed over her face, draining it of color. Her hand went to her mouth, and she turned and ran.

“Kohta!” Mokou heard her calling. “Rumia? Answer me!”

Mokou didn’t follow. She didn’t need to. She already had pieced together what had happened.

Those little idiots. Those brave, loyal, infuriating idiots!

The spiders had five of their kids. There was one adult looking for them, and he was just as helpless as they were in his own way. And apparently two more kids had gone in on their own.

That was eight people she needed to find in a large and dense forest, eight people that were in very mortal danger and weren’t even all in the same place.

When Satoko returned to Mokou’s room after having confirmed that Rumia and Kohta were nowhere in the house, she found it empty with the window shattered outward and a trail of smoke still rising in the open air beyond, one that led all the way to the Youkai Forest.

…

Rumia and Kohta’s decision to sneak out and go after the spiders that had taken their friends had been easy enough. After that display in the market, they could not trust anyone to come to their aid, and while Mr. Joshua was a good guy, he wasn’t exactly the first person that they would have selected to mount a successful rescue operation, especially by himself.

Getting out of the house had been easy. Mr. Joshua and Miss Shion were both gone, Miss Haruna had her hands full with shielding the house, Miss Haruhi was a flustered wreck, and all of Miss Satoko’s attention was given to trying to keep things in order. So the second no eyes were on them, they had broken into the emergency defense closet, already left conveniently unlocked by Mister Joshua, and took a pair of anti-youkai knives and some charms. Then Kohta had snuck up into Miss Mokou’s room to raid her own stash of weapons, coming away with three of her spellcards.

Once they had been appropriately armed, the two of them had crept into the basement, stole through the larders to the outside door so as to bypass Miss Haruna’s shield, and off they went.

It had been so easy, but when the two of them were actually away from the fields and taking their first steps into the forest, Rumia found herself kind of wishing that there had been more resistance. After all, the Youkai Forest was not quite as notorious as its larger and darker cousin, the Forest of Magic, but its reputation was plenty dark enough.

As it was in the middle of autumn, most of the trees had shed their needles, with left the pair with plenty of moonlight to see by. It was a small comfort. The naked branches reminded Rumia far too much of gnarled skeletons grasping at the sky with bony fingers. The ground was painfully uneven and covered with a thick layer of rotting needles and bark, which made moving forward slow and tedious. Though morning was still hours away, a wispy mist lay around the trees’ base, further slowing their progress.

And of course, there were the noises.

Every hoot of an owl, every snap of a twig sent shivers down the two children’s spines. Rumia had heard plenty of stories of children who wandered into woods such as this and were never seen again, at least not in one piece. Normally she loved those stories, with their macabre tones and gory endings. But it was one thing to recount such ghastly tales to her trembling friends while using her scary voice and laughing at how much it made them shake. It was something else entirely to be willingly stepping foot into one of those tales herself.

Then there were the other stories, the ones with similar set-ups but different endings, the ones in which the lost children would also never come home, but not because they were killed, but because the forest ended up changing them, turning them into something other than human, dooming them to forever wander the forest’s dark paths, looking to become the monster in someone else’s story.

Though she would never admit it, those were the stories that scared Rumia the most. Her own family had been killed by marauding youkai. Had any of them been lost children themselves? What if the same happened to her? What if she were doomed to become some red-eyed, sharp-toothed thing that devoured the families of other children? The first time she had heard one of those stories, she had been unable to sleep for most of the night. Every creak of the old house had sounded like the soft footsteps of some dark thing, every whisper of wind at the window seeming to call her name, while the moonlight made even the smallest of shadows elongate across the floor, stretching out and reaching for her.

Rumia’s hand was clasped tightly to Kohta’s, and for once neither of them had a joke.

They moved forward as quietly as they could, taking care not to disturb the forest debris beneath their feet. In this they were doing…poorly. It felt like something crunched with every footstep, and by the time they had gone out of side of the forest’s edge Rumia was convinced that every animal and youkai for kilometers had been alerted.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

“Maybe-” she started to say.

Kohta flinched. “Ah! Gods, you scared the crap out of me!”

“Sorry. But maybe we’d better go back.”

Kohta stared at her like she had grown two heads. “And let Keine get eaten?”

“No! But we don’t know where she is. We can’t help her if we get eaten too!”

Kohta sneered at her in disgust. “No. I’m not abandoning her. Go back if you’re too scared.”

“I’m not scared,” Rumia said stubbornly. “I just don’t, you know, I just don’t think-”

“Shhh!” Kohta clamped a hand over her mouth. “Look!”

There was a light up ahead, bobbing through the trees. The two children looked at each other. Rumia gulped. If there was one universal truth in all the stories they had heard, it was that mysterious lights floating through creepy old forests at night were bad news!

The two crouched behind a tree and peeked out. The light hadn’t been their imagination. It was slowly moving through the woods about twenty meters from where they were. What was more, there seemed to a dark, shadowy figure following it. Rumia couldn’t make out their features, but it didn’t seem very tall.

“Is that a ghost?” Rumia whispered.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Kohta whispered back.

Despite the severity of their situation, the stupidity of that comment made Rumia just stop worrying about the light and stare at her friend in shock. “Kohta, that might be the dumbest thing I have ever heard you-”

“Keeeeeiiiiiiinnnnnneeeeee!” the dark figure suddenly called out, its warbling voice echoing through the night.

Rumia and Kohta both ducked out of sight.

“Kaaaaaaannnnnnnnaaaaaaaaa!” the voice called. “Eeeeeiiiiiiiiikoooooo!”

Rumia was shaking all over. It was a ghost, a dark phantom mournfully crying out the names of their probably dead friends, doomed to forever wail the names of the deceased like an eternal eulogy for the-

“Oh,” Kohta said. “It’s him! Mr. Joshua!”

Rumia slowly breathed out. He was right. “Great. I thought we were in a different part of the forest than him.”

“I guess not. Let’s go before he sees us.”

Kohta started to leave, but Rumia tugged sharply on his hand. “Wait,” she said. “Maybe we’d better go to him.”

“No way!”

“But-”

Kohta wrenched his hand from hers. “Look, if you’re too scared, then you go talk to him! He’ll probably just have to take you back, and he’ll just stop them from searching! Keine and the others could die while he’s doing that! We came out here to help find them, not make the rescue take longer!”

Rumia winced. That was a very good point. Sighing, Rumia just nodded and got up to follow.

The pair stealthily moved away from the other search searcher. It felt like it took forever, but eventually the light disappeared, as did the sound of Mr. Joshua’s voice. The only sound was that of their footsteps crushing leaves and sticks.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

When she was absolutely certain that they were alone, Rumia said, “There’s no such thing as ghosts? Really?”

“Well, I’ve never seen one,” Kohta said, somewhat defensively.

“Wow,” Rumia said. “Wow.”

“Look, everyone knows that when you die, your soul gets taken across the River Suzune by the Shinigami! That’s just the rules! You don’t get to stick around haunting your old house and-”

“Shhh!” Now it was Rumia’s turn to slap a hand over her friend’s mouth.

Kohta shut up, though he was obviously bursting with questions.

Rumia pointed a finger. When Kohta saw what she did, he made a low whimpering sound.

There was a clearing up ahead, a circle clear of trees and bathed in moonlight. There wasn’t much in it other than patches of wild grass and some small stones. However, sitting directly in the center was a…something, something that Rumia could only see the basic shape of. It was large, hulking, and had a pair of great elk antlers protruding from the top.

Rumia shied back. It was one of the great monsters of the forest, it had to be! How many stories of had she grown up hearing of the dark spirits that wandered these woods, of their bloodthirsty dispositions and their taste for the flesh of children?

She tugged on Kohta’s hand and tilted her head back the way they came. Maybe if they crept away as slowly and quietly as they could, they could get away without attracting its attention.

“Wait,” Kohta whispered, his eyes somehow narrowing even further as he studied the towering silhouette.

Rumia gawked at him in disbelief. Wait? Why should they wait? They needed to get away from that thing right the hell now!

However, Kohta didn’t seem to share her rational fear of whatever the thing in the clearing was. “I don’t think it’s alive,” he whispered again.

Rumia quite frankly didn’t care. Lots of things weren’t alive. That didn’t make them any less likely to kill the two of them!

However, Kohta was not to be deterred. He began to slowly creep around the clearing, keeping his eye on the thing. And since she couldn’t pull him away without making a racket, Rumia was forced to go with him.

The silhouette didn’t move as they circled around it. Rumia bit her lower lip to keep from whimpering in fear as she watched its horned head, just waiting for it to suddenly turn toward them.

It didn’t.

“I think-” Kohta started to say, right before Rumia slapped a hand over his mouth. She gawked at him for being so stupid as to talk with that thing so close.

Kohta rolled his eyes. He pulled Rumia’s hand off and inclined his head toward the silhouette.

Rumia looked again. Come to think of it, it didn’t look like any kind of creature. Instead, it seemed kind of rough and misshapen. However, it did have a definite shape, one with a high and wide back and-

“It’s a chair,” Kohta sniggered. “That’s all it is. A chair.”

Rumia shot him a dirty look, but he was right. It was a chair, a great big chair made of stone and covered with moss, sticks, and even a few mushrooms.

“A chair. You were scared of a chair!”

Rumia flicked him in the ear. “That still doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous and evil! It’s probably like some kind of cursed throne!”

Kohta shrugged. “Well, okay, but it’s not doing anything.”

Rumia ignored him. She wanted to see what the horns were all about.

She continued to circle around the clearing, bringing the front of the chair into view. It was still hard to make out the details, but her eyes had adjusted pretty well to the darkness, and there was plenty of moonlight to see by. Just a little further, just a little further…

Then Kohta inhaled sharply. Rumia swallowed.

There, seated in the chair, was an amalgamation of bones, seemingly collected from a dozen different creatures. Big bear bones, slender bird bones, and even Human bones, all carefully pieced together in a massive humanoid shape swathed in ragged clothes that swirled in the night breeze.

And seated on the top of its shoulders was a grinning bear’s skull affixed with a pair of elk antlers.

“What the hell?” Rumia said.

“I…” Kohta took a step backward.

Rumia shot him a look. “Still think it’s not scary?”

“I…” Kohta’s face had gone pale. “Maybe we’d better, you know, leave it alone.”

Then the horned bear skull turned to fix its empty eye sockets right at them.

Rumia gasped and Kohta made a sound like he had gotten kicked in the gut. The two spun around and ran from the clearing as fast as their feet would take them.

…

“Eeeeeiiiiikoooooo!” Joshua called.

There was no response. He had been tramping through the forest for the better part of an hour now, and still had found nothing. No response, no tracks, no any sign of the kids or the monster that had taken them.

He was starting to get frantic. The youkai had flown through the air during their retreat. What if they simply had dropped down into the forest right at their lair? If so, then there was probably no trail to be found. He was just going to wander around aimlessly until something ended up picking him off as well.

Pushing those dark thoughts from his mind, Joshua muttered a short, terrified prayer under his breath. Those had been coming with greater regularity the longer his search went on, and they were becoming increasingly desperate.

Then something cracked under his feet.

Joshua paused, and then stepped back. He knelt down.

It was another pile of bones, those of some kind of big cat. From the look of things it had been dead and picked clean of meat for weeks, and now all sorts of things were growing all over its ribs and vertebrae.

Joshua closed his eyes. Actually, he hadn’t found nothing. He had been finding plenty of bones. No Human bones yet, thank God, but that might have already changed.

In his mind’s eye, he saw the ravaged and defiled remains of the children, their flesh and meat ripped from their bones and gobbled down, their bloody skeletons left for the scavengers and the remains of their clothing left to rot, until exposure to the elements erased all trace of their existence, leaving no evidence that their had ever been a Haruko, a Kana, a Hayate, an Eiko, or a Keine.

It was a horrific fate, and it happened all the time. There were probably bones from a few hundred children scattered all over the forest.

Joshua refused to let it happen to his.

He rose up and set off again. “Haaaaaaruuuuuuuuukooooooooo!” he called. “Can you hear-”

Something seized him by the back of his collar. Before he could react, he was swung around and slammed backfirst into a nearby tree trunk, with a forearm thrust across his windpipe.

Gasping like a fish, Joshua looked up to see two blazing red eyes in a coldly beautiful face, one framed by locks of shimmering silver hair with bared teeth.

“Quiet, you idiot!” Mokou hissed. “Do you want to get yourself eaten? Because this is how you get yourself eaten!”

…

“Stop,” Kohta panted. “Stop. It’s not chasing us.”

Rumia might have argued the point, but to tell the truth she was willing to take any excuse to stop running. She was young and active, but hadn’t had to run that fast for that long before. Even footraces back home had only lasted a few seconds.

The two children collapsed in the shelter of a gnarled tree as they tried to catch their breath. Despite being completely out of breath and nursing aching legs, Rumia still made a point of checking to see if Kohta was correct.

Sure enough, there was no sign of a bony amalgamation pursuing them, though honestly it was so dark that simply not being visible didn’t count for much.

“What was that?” Kohta said.

“How the hell should I know?” Rumia said. “Seems like no matter how many stories we hear about this place, someone always has a new one.”

“Well, I guess now there’s one more.”

“I guess.” Then, despite the direness of their situation, Rumia couldn’t resist sneering at him. “So, still don’t believe in ghosts?”

Kohta sighed. “Oh, shut up, Rumia.”

“Seriously, that is easily the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say.”

“I said, shut up, Rumia!”

Rumia did so, though she didn’t stop smirking.

After a while Kohta said, “Hey. Do you hear that?”

Rumia did, actually. In fact she had been about to ask Kohta the same question.

There was a low buzzing sound, like hundreds of insects beating their wings, barely perceptible over the sound of their own breathing, but now that it had been pointed out it was clearly not her imagination.

“Yeah.” Rumia’s face twisted up in confusion. “What the hell is that?”

Kohta shrugged.

Now there was a second sound, a deep, bass pulsing, like a sluggish heartbeat.

Something rustled the leaves nearby, beyond a tall tree. The two children tiptoed toward the tree. As they did, the buzzing grew shriller and shriller, until Rumia could feel it in her teeth. As for the thumping pulse, that only grew deeper and deeper, until Rumia could feel it in her gut.

They pressed their backs to the tree and peeked out around it.

Beyond the tree was a short but steep incline into a leaf-covered depression. And standing in those leaves with its back to them was a…a thing.

It was humanoid, with two legs to stand upon, a torso were a torso ought to be, two arms dangling from its shoulders, and an oval-shaped head on those shoulders, but that was where the similarities ended. Its was just so horribly long and thin, with sticklike legs taller than either one of the children were, an emaciated body twice the length of a normal Human man at less than half the thickness, and arms that hung down to its knees. Its head was completely hairless, with beams of moonlight shining off of its pale dome. It wore a form-fitting outfit of black, and its flesh was as white as bleached bones.

The pulsing grew louder, or maybe that was just Rumia’s heartbeat. There was no question about it now, no “maybe it’s evil and maybe it’s just a pile of rocks and bones.” This was an actual youkai monster, one of the evil wanderers of the Youkai Forest.

The slender creature didn’t seem to have noticed them. It was calmly loping forward, taking long and slow strides, its footsteps barely disturbing the leaves. Rumia looked over to Kohta and tilted her head in the opposite direction. Kohta nodded.

Then the creature paused, and everything fell silent. The buzzing stop, as did the pulse.

Rumia and Kohta went stiff.

The creature raised its head, as if sniffing the air. It reached up with one disturbingly long arm to touch the branches up above.

Then the buzzing returned, and Rumia swore she heard voices in it. The pounding returned as well, staring off slow but building to a thundering percussion, as the slender creature slowly turned around to look over its shoulder directly at them.

It had no face. From its pointed chin to the round dome of its head was nothing but a blank expanse of skin.

Oh, screw this!

With nothing left to gain from hiding, Rumia and Kohta again spun around and fled.

…

“Mokou, wait!” Joshua said, holding up a hand. “Just calm down, okay?”

“Calm down? You want me to calm down?” Mokou shook her head in disgust. “Damn it, Josh! The hell are you even thinking? Walking about in the open like this, hollering away like a crazy person, it’s a miracle that every youkai in a hundred kilometers hasn’t zeroed in on you! Hell, maybe they have! Maybe you’re just lucky I got to you first!”

Joshua had to admit that she had a point. Certainly his way of searching hadn’t exactly been wise. But damn it, what was he supposed to do?

“I was just-”

“I know! You wanted to go save the kids! I heard the whole thing. But by the gods, Josh! How the hell are you supposed to help anyone if you get eaten before you even find them? Or for that matter, even if they do hear you hollering, how are they supposed to answer? They got taken by spiders! Spiders always at the very least gag their prey, and you’ll just let those crawly fucks know you’re coming!”

To this, Joshua had no answer.

“And if your God decides to blow all of your accumulated good will in getting you there unnoticed and undevoured, the hell where you planning to do then? Fight them? Sneak the kids out without any of them noticing? They’re spiders! They probably got them all webbed up, and you don’t even know how to fight to begin with!”

Joshua slowly breathed out. “Yes, I do.”

“What?”

“I do know how to fight. I’ve done it before. A lot, actually.”

Mokou stared at him. “Oh, yeah? You mean back where you came from? In the Outside World?”

“Yes,” Joshua admitted.

“Well, that’s great and all, but that won’t help you here! The rules of fighting are totally different, and you don’t have any of your fancy Outside World weapons to help you!”

“I know how to use danmaku,” Joshua said. He pointed a finger at a nearby bush, and a spray of glowing blue orbs shot out to pulverize its leaves. “I can shoot bullets just fine.”

“Well, goody golly-licious for you,” Mokou said as she sarcastically clapped her hands. “So do they! And they’ve been using it a long longer than you, and definitely more regularly! Have you ever even gotten into a danmaku battle before? Ever had to shoot your bullets at someone outside of fun or practice?”

Joshua bowed his head. “No.”

“Well, I guarantee that they have! Probably pretty regularly at that! You’ll be lucky if you even managed to nick one of them before they riddle you full of holes! And then they’ll eat you!”

“I brought this though,” Joshua said as he slid the anti-youkai knife from its sheathe. He held it up so Mokou could see the runes on its handle. “This will-”

Mokou’s hand suddenly came up, smacking the bottom of the knife. Taken by surprise, Joshua’s hand reflexively popped open and the knife sailed up and away.

Mokou snatched it out of the air. “You see how easily I did that?” she said, pointing the blade at the dumbstruck man. “You are completely out of your depth here. So go home, Joshua. Go home and let me handle this.”

As flustered as he was, and as embarrassed as he was, Joshua still managed to keep his shaking legs planted on the ground beneath him. “No,” he said.

“No?”

“No. I’m not going back.” Joshua said. “Don’t you understand? I was the ones watching those kids. They got taken under my watch! I can’t just stand aside and do nothing!”

Mokou’s face twisted up in annoyance. “Oh, spare me from kind-hearted fools!” she groaned as she slapped a hand across her own face. “Josh, I have exactly zero time for your guilty conscience, so back off and leave this to the professionals! Specifically, me!”

Joshua was a fair bit shorter than Mokou and thus had to incline his head to look her in the face. As such, he was in the perfect position to take notice of something moving in the branches behind her. Something with gleaming orange eyes. “Mokou…” he said.

“Because if any of those kids got hurt because you held me up, then I swear-”

“Mokou, watch out!”

The shadow had leapt from its branch right at Mokou’s back. Joshua reached up to grab Mokou by the arm in hopes of pulling her out of the way.

Several things then happened, either at the same time or in such quick succession that it might as well have been at the same time.

First, the moment that Joshua’s hands closed around Mokou’s arm, it abruptly swung to the side, lifting him right off his feet and hurling him to the ground.

The second was the sound of something whistling through the air right over his head, something fast enough for him to feel the wind of its passing.

The third was a feminine voice grunting in pain and surprise.

Joshua rolled onto her back and sat up. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting to see, but what he found waiting for him surely wasn’t it.

Mokou was standing balanced on one leg, the other held straight out, her foot shoved up against the throat of another woman. The woman was of medium height and slender in build, with grey-ish blue skin, softly glowing orange eyes, and bright orange hair tied into a pair of pigtails. She was wearing a sleeveless black-and-blue striped blouse, a tattered purple skirt, and black-and-orange stripped leggings. On her hand she wore a sort of cap that had a pair of floppy horns made of felt.

Mokou had her pinned up against a tree, and she was clawing at the foot pressing at her larynx.

“Juniper Spice,” Mokou said. “Well, as I live and breathe.”

Joshua gawked at her. “Wait, you know this person?”

“We’ve met,” Mokou said. “We’re not friends.”

The youkai woman identified as Juniper choked and coughed. “I…I didn’t know…it was you,” she said. “I didn’t!”

“Yeah, well, tough.” Her foot still keeping Juniper trapped, Mokou flicked Joshua’s knife up between her fingers.

A second later Joshua realized what she intended. “No! Mokou, wait!”

It was too late. Mokou hurled the knife. It sailed straight and true to embed itself right in Juniper’s forehead, neatly between her eyes.

Juniper’s whole body jerked and she let out a small squeak. Then, as bright red blood ran down her nose, her whole body started to convulse.

As Joshua stared in horror, Mokou lowered her foot. Juniper stayed where she was, shaking and writhing as black steam rose up from where the knife was stuck. Foamy spittle bubbled up from her mouth to drip down her chin.

Then she slumped lifelessly, and her body began to dissolve.

Orangish vapor billowed into the air to disappear, and when it had all dissipated, nothing was left of Juniper Spice, no evidence of what had happened to her save for the knife itself, which was still partially embedded in the trunk of the tree.

“You killed her,” Joshua said in disbelief.

Mokou calmly grabbed the knife’s handle and yanked it out. “Uh, yeah? She was trying to kill us. Hell, she probably had been stalking you for some time. If I hadn’t come along she would’ve gotten you.”

“But…”

“Relax, Josh. She’s a youkai. Getting smoked like that is part of their everyday life. Give it a few minutes, and she’ll come right back with a bad mood and a healthy amount of respect.”

“You…Wait, are you sure?”

Sighing, Mokou tossed the knife into the dirt in front of Joshua. “Yes, Josh. I’m sure. I’ve killed her before. For fuck’s sake, you’ve been in Gensokyo how long? This is basic youkai stuff.”

“Oh.” Despite having lived in Gensokyo for many years, there were still some aspects of it that he had trouble wrapping his head around. He picked up the knife and stood up.

Mokou looked around and sighed. “You’re really set on saving the kids, aren’t you?”

Joshua slid the knife back into its sheath. Then he looked up into Mokou’s eyes. “Yes,” he said. “I am.”

“Fuck,” Mokou muttered. “If I send you back you’ll just get snapped up. Gods only know how you made it this far.” She shook her head and sighed. “Fine, fine. Tag along if you must, but stay out of my way, don’t slow me down, don’t do anything stupid, and as much as I like you, if it comes down to either saving you or saving the kids, I’ll be sure to say something nice at your funeral. Got it?”

Harsh, but completely fair. “I understand.”

“Fine.” Mokou turned and headed off. “Keep up, then. Rumia and Kohta went off on their own to search as well, so we have to find them too.”

Joshua stumbled. “Wait, they did what?”

“You heard me! Now shut up and keep up!”

…

“Okay,” Kohta panted as he leaned up against a tree. “I think…I think we lost him.”

The effort of trying to catch her breath had bent Rumia down over her knees. “You think?” she got out between gasps.

“Well…he hasn’t…caught us…has he?”

“Maybe…maybe he’s…in the trees…and…” Something tickled Rumia’s ear. “Stop touching me!”

“I’m not.”

“Then…what was…”

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The two children froze.

Crunch. Crunch. Rip. Snap.

“Is that it?” Rumia whispered. “Is it coming?”

“I don’t…it doesn’t really sound like footsteps.” Kohta tried to straighten up, but then suddenly jerked back. “Hey!”

“Huh?”

“I’m stuck! Something’s sticking to me!”

Something tickled Rumia’s ear again. She slapped it away.

Her hand was suddenly filled with several silky, sticky strands.

“Uh…” She pulled it away from her head. In her hand was something thinner than paper and glistening white.

She then slowly looked up to where Kohta was still trying to free himself from the trunk of the tree. The tree was covered with the stuff, like a paper sheathe.

“Kohta, stop,” Rumia whispered.

“What?”

“Look…up.”

Catching her tone, Kohta swallowed and obeyed.

The entire forest around them was draped with what looked like a silk net. It covered the tree trunks, it was laid across the tree branches, it was even laid across the forest floor in places. Here and there things that looked like giant moth cocoons hung from the branches. One or two of them were twitching. Most of them were not.

Rumia felt the blood drain from her face. Those were no cocoons.

“Webs,” Kohta said hoarsely. “Spiderwebs.”

Crunch. Munch. Slurp.

The two children exchanged one brief look. Then Rumia hastily ripped the web from her fingers and seized Kohta’s arm with both hands and yanked with all her might, ripping him free from the trunk.

“We need to-” Kohta started to say.

Crunch.

Something had broken under Rumia’s feet. The two of them looked down.

A half-buried Human skull grinned up at them, webs draped over it like a burial shroud. Rumia’s foot had landed right onto its right eye socket, caving it in.

“Ah!” Rumia was about to run again, but then Kohta’s hands clamped down on her bicep.

“No!” he hissed. “Get a grip! You start running and screaming again, and the spiders will hear us!”

Every instinct in Rumia was screaming for her to completely disregard Kohta’s point and run as fast as she could while screaming as loud as possible.

But she had done that twice already. And each time it had just sent her into an even scarier situation. So she bit back on the screams she felt rising and slowly removed her foot from within the skull.

Then they turned in the direction of the sounds. Up ahead was a ring of web-covered trees, and within seemed to be a small clearing.

The sounds were coming from the clearing, and between the web-covered trees she could see movement.

Rumia and Kohta exchanged a glance. Then, gripping tightly to each other’s hands, they crept toward the clearing, careful to avoid the webbing on the ground and anything that might be another pile of remains.

The clearing was playing host to a ghastly scene. The whole place was draped with webs, and weirdly enough there was furniture scattered about. Rumia saw a bookshelf filled with what looked like odd trinkets and weird bones; a hat stand holding a top hat, a bonnet, a straw hat, and a weird thing that looked like a stripy inverted funnel; a grandfather clock; a few easy chairs; a cabinet holding chipped tea cups; and four beds. Strapped to four of the trees along the perimeter was a child, each of their bodies partially wrapped up like decaying mummies. Rumia’s heart skipped a beat. Keine was among them, her face pale and her body limp. Rumia couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not.

Fastened to another tree was Kana, who for once was silent. And next to her was Haruko, and next to Haruko was Hayate.

Unlike the others, Haruko was wide awake and staring. Her mouth was gagged with webs to keep her from screaming, but judging by the look in her eyes she would if she could. She was staring at what was happening in the center of the clearing.

There, the four spider-youkai that had attacked the Children’s Home were gathered. Now that Rumia saw them up close, they seemed even more monstrous than they had when viewed at a distance in the bright sunlight. They seemed to be the kin of that slender thing in the woods, with limbs that were twisted, elongated, and malformed, with twice as many joints than they ought to have. Their necks were longer than they had any right to be, and their grey hair almost looked like spiderwebs themselves. Two of them were wearing torn and filthy dresses, one that once had been white with blue stripes and the other a color that might have been orange once. Another had on a long, red coat over a shredded black shirt and a black skirt. The one male had on the remains of what had once been tailored black slacks, a black vest hanging unbuttoned over a filthy white shirt, and a grey tie hanging loosely around his neck like a noose.

All four of them were paying little attention to their ensnared captives. They were crouching on their haunches around a dinner table, tearing at something with their hands and mouths. Rumia couldn’t make out what it was, but she caught glimpses of something red. One of the spider-youkai raised its head. Blood was running down its gaunt face, and there was something white and stringy hanging from its mouth. It gulped it down and ducked its head back down again.

Then a human arm flopped out of the cluster. It was wearing a black sleeve, and a pale hand hung limply at its end. Blood ran down the fingers to drip to the ground.

Rumia’s hand went to her mouth. By process of elimination there really was only one person that could be.

Eiko.

“Oh my gods,” Kohta whispered, so low that even Rumia barely heard him. “Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods.”

As for Rumia, she didn’t have the stomach even for whispered curses. Sour nausea twisted up her gut, and she was able to keep from retching by constantly reminding herself that the spiders would hear the noise and eat them as well.

The two of them had never liked Eiko. She had been whiny and nosy and pretty mean most of the time, always doing whatever Haruko had told her to do, always butting into their business and helping push around the smaller kids.

But sweet spirits, nobody had ever, even in their darkest, most private fantasies, wished something like that upon her!

If there was one blessing that could be gleaned by the whole terrible scene, it was that the four spider-youkai were so absorbed with feasting on poor Eiko’s remains that they were paying no attention to either their remaining captives or the two invaders that had trespassed on their nest.

It was time.

Rumia knelt down to spit out the wad of saliva her nausea had produced and swallowed back as much of the sick feeling as she could. Then she tugged on Kohta’s sleeve and angled her head toward where the other kids were being held.

Kohta’s eyes went wide and he emphatically shook his head.

Baring her teeth, Rumia pointed to where Keine was hanging. Then she pointed at the gruesome feast.

Kohta’s face twisted up as the impulse to flee joined forces with the sheer terror surging through him and waged war on his desire to save his friends. In the end the latter won out, and he let out a small sigh through his nostrils and nodded.

The two of them crept around the clearing, careful not to step on anything too loud, especially careful not to keep glancing over at what the spiders were doing, but it was difficult.

Fortunately, the other kids weren’t fully cocooned like the other bodies they had seen. They only had a couple silk restraints splattered onto their wrists and calves, pinning them to the tree trunks. Webs were also smeared over their mouths as gags, though the spiders had left their eyes free, probably to make them watch.

The first that they reached was Hayate, unfortunately. Rumia and Kohta produced the knives they had brought along and went to work. The webs were strong enough to keep her from tearing away on her own strength, but they parted like grass beneath the steel blades. The enchantments were working.

Hayate seemed to have passed out, but after they managed to free one leg and one hand she began to stir. She didn’t look at all well though. Even with the tremendous scare of what she had been through, her skin felt cold and clammy. Even in the pale moonlight Rumia could see dark veins on her arms and around her neck.

As they worked to bring her down, Rumia glanced at the other kids. Haruko, the only one still awake, had noticed them. She was staring with wide eyes, her hands twitching beneath the webs. She glanced quickly at what the spiders were doing to her friend and then back at them, silently begging them to hurry.

As Rumia and Kohta lowered Hayate to the ground, she started to come around. Rumia started to cut away the gag, but then Kohta covered her hand and shook his head. For a moment Rumia was confused, but then she understood. Hayate was going to be confused and scared when she woke up, and if she screamed, that was it for all of them.

Sure enough, Hayate opened her eyes moments later. She blinked groggily and squinted up at them. She frowned in bewilderment, as if she had no memory of where she was or why she was there.

But then enough pieces apparently pieced themselves together in her mind and her eyes suddenly bulged out.

“Shhh!” Rumia slapped a hand over Hayate’s gagged mouth to prevent any sound from escaping. “Quiet!” she hissed into the terrified girl’s ear. “We’re here to save you, but you have to be quiet!”

Hayate was trembling violently, but she managed a slight nod.

Hoping that she would keep her word, Rumia and Kohta then turned their attention to the next bound captive, which thankfully was Keine.

Keine also had weird veiny blotches on her skin, but she started stirring more quickly when Rumia and Kohta touched her. They hastily cut the sticky strands away and brought her down to the ground.

“Keine!” Kohta whispered. “Can you hear me?”

Keine sleepily blinked her eyes. She moaned beneath her gag.

“Shhh!” Kohta put his face right in front of hers so that she would be able to read his lips. Don’t say anything. Youkai are near. Stay still and quiet.

Keine blinked. Then she stiffened as the memories caught up with her. She glanced at him and Rumia and nodded as well. However, she did sit up and throw her arms around the two of them, and they did the same. Though she was still tense with fear and revulsion, Rumia finally felt a small bit of hope. They had gotten Keine back. They weren’t out of the woods yet, but they at least had her.

Keine, at least, could be trusted. She angled her head to one side and let her friends cut away her gag. Once it was out of the way she started clawing at her mouth and silently gagged as she tried to get rid of any remaining strands. One particularly large wad made her shiver with disgust.

Rumia caught sight of Hayate staring at them. Once she had Rumia’s eye, the other girl pointed at the wad of silk covering her mouth. Rumia shook her head. Hayate blinked, then she scowled and let out an angry snort.

Two down, two to go. And the next was the one that they wanted to save the least. Still, there were some things that even blood feuds were suspended for.

Haruko had been watching the whole time. As they approached, the only two fingers she had free started to rapidly beat against the tree trunk.

“Stop it!” Rumia hissed. “Do you want them to-”

“Oi!”

One of the spiders suddenly turned toward Haruko, his neck curving around like a snake. Rumi and Kohta ducked out of sight.

“Stop makin’ dat noise!” the spider growled, his voice thick and gummy. “If yer so impatient, den it’ll be yer turn once we’re done wit’ yer itty-bitty friend ‘ere!”

The other spiders laughed, and they all went back to their meal.

Rumia forced herself to release the breath she had been holding. Her heart was still pounding away like a war drum though.

Baring her teeth, she set back to work, cutting away at Haruko’s left hand and leg while Kohta worked on her right side.

Once she was free, Haruko had no problem with being led behind the tree and out of sight. She immediately threw both arms around Kohta’s shoulders and squeezed him tight while she hyperventilated.

Rumia’s right eye twitched, but she did nothing.

Kohta winced but tolerated it, though Rumia suspected that was more due to no wanting to risk attracting attention than respecting Haruko’s feelings.

“Okay, okay,” Kohta muttered with an awkward pat on the bat. “Um, you gotta let go. Seriously. I need to go help Kana. Let go, please.”

Rumia rolled her eyes. Then she saw that Hayate was up on her knees and was slowly crawling toward Haruko, her hands outstretched and tears pouring from her eyes.

That should work. Rumia took her by the elbow and helped her come in closer. Then she jostled Haruko’s shoulder to get her attention. Once Haruko saw that Hayate was near, she immediately abandoned Kohta to seize her remaining friend in another squeezing embrace, and unlike Kohta, Hayate was more than happy to reciprocate.

Kohta shook his head and sighed. Then he caught the look Rumia was shooting him.

What? he mouthed.

Rolling her eyes, Rumia just went over to where Kana was hanging.

The weird girl looked like she was the worst off. The dark veins were more pronounced on her skin, and she was sweating profusely. What was more, she didn’t stir at all when Rumia and Kohta started working to free her.

Rumia swallowed. She prayed to whatever meager gods that would hear her that Kana was still alive and kept cutting.

The girl barely seemed to weigh a thing as they took her to the others and laid her down. Keine, who seemed to have shaken off whatever the spiders had done to her quicker than the still tearfully embracing Haruko and Hayate, knelt down at Kana’s side. She leaned over to place her ear against Kana’s chest while holding a finger under her nose. Rumia held her breath as she waited for the diagnosis.

Keine sat back and nodded. She held up a hand with her index finger and her thumb only a few centimeters apart. Rumia and Kohta understood. Kana was breathing, but only just. They needed to get her back as quickly as possible.

Kohta crouched down and lifted Kana onto his back. He nodded to the others and tilted his head back the way he and Rumia had come. They started to creep away, but then Hayate seized Rumia by the arm. She jabbed a finger at the web still covering her mouth.

Oh, fine. Rumia pulled out her knife and went to work cutting it away. Like the others, Hayate gagged as she spat out all the gunk in her mouth.

“All right,” Rumia whispered. “Now let’s go!”

Hayate looked at her like she had lost her mind. “No!” she whispered back. “What about Eiko? We can’t leave Eiko!”

Rumia felt like she had been kicked in the gut. Oh gods, Hayate had passed out before Eiko had been eaten. She didn’t know!

Seeing the way everyone was looking at her, Hayate just stared back in confusion. “What? Why are you guys-”

“Welp, dis one’s ‘bout done,” one of the spiders said suddenly. “Onta da second course!”

“All right, all right, keep yer pants on. Which one?”

“Betta make it da ‘ickle blonde bit. She dun’t look like she got much left in ‘er, so we’d bedda get ‘er on da table while she’s still fresh.”

Oh shit.

“Go, go, go!” Kohta whispered.

The hurried away, with Haruko practically dragging the still-confused Hayate along.

“Hey, da fook?” a spider called out. “Where’d da ‘ickle morsels go?”

“Are ya fookin’ serious?  Dey was jus’ dere!”

“Well, dey ain’t now!”

“Damn it all. Spread out and search! Dey couldn’t ‘ave gone far!”

The horrible sound of scrabbling filled the air. The children increased their gait.

Then a horribly long arm snaked out of the trees in front of them. It ended in a slender hand with fingers that looked as long as Rumia’s forearms, each topped by a pointed nail caked with dirt and drying blood.

The hand planted itself on the ground, the elbow bending at an unnatural angle. Another such arm came into view, the hand grabbing onto a tree trunk.

A gaunt face followed, one with hollow cheeks, a pointed chin, and dark hair that hung around the face like a funeral shroud. The face’s eyes were sunken and dark, each with four tiny white pupils that glimmered like candles in the dark. Dark blood still was smeared around its pale lips.

The face swung around on its elongated neck to leer at the children. “Well, well, well, what have we ‘ere?” the spider said as she ambled out of the clearing. “A wee ‘ickle rescue attempt? ‘ey, chaps! C’mere!”

The other spiders ambled their way toward her, one loping his way on the ground while the other two crawled across the trees. “You ‘ave got ta’ be fookin’ kiddin’ me,” growled the male spider.

“Nah, see? Dey missed deir friends so much dat dey come ‘ere ta’ try ta’ save ‘em! Ain’t dey precious?”

“Precious ‘ickle dumplin’s,” growled another. “So kind dey are. Now we ‘ave enough for breakfast an’ dinner tummarah!”

Rumia couldn’t move. Fear had frozen her feet in place. She couldn’t even blink. All she could do was stand stiff and still and stare as the four malformed monsters crawled ever closer.

This is it, she found herself thinking. This is how I die. Ripped apart like my family. And I still couldn’t save anyone. What a stupid way to go.

Then some blue and glowing shot through the air to splash against the lead spider’s cheek.

The one that had been hit flinched back. She held a claw to the point of impact. “Da fook was…”

Then everyone, spider and child alike, turned to stare at the culprit.

Haruko was standing with one hand outstretched, index and middle fingers pointing out, while she held onto her wrist with the other hand. Every centimeter of her was shaking with fear, but it was clear that she had been the one responsible.

“You can shoot bullets?” Kohta said in disbelief.

Haruko glanced at him and nodded. Then she inhaled sharply and fired another blue projectile.

This one glanced off the spider’s shoulder. This time, she looked more annoyed than anything. “Really?” she growled. “Fookin’ danmaku. Sorry, chitlins. But youz is playin’ a grown-up’s game.” She lifted a hand, which then began glowing purple. “But if it’s a danmaku battle yah be wantin’, den Auntie Edna is more than ‘appy to play!”

Before Edna could fire off her first round, Kohta let go of one of Kana’s legs to thrust his hand into his pocket. When he drew it back out, it was holding onto a small piece of paper.

“Uh, hit the deck!” he screamed as he tossed the paper forward. Then he threw both himself and Kana to the ground and covered his eyes. Everyone else did the same. Even the spiders flinched back in anticipation of the spellcard attack.

Nothing happened.

Rumia looked up. The spellcard was lying on the ground, obviously not activated. The spiders, who had all retreated back and covered their faces, were now lowering their arms and glancing at one another.

“Huh,” the male said. Then the four of them leered back down at the children. “Well den.”

“You idiot!” Hayate screamed. “You have to say the spellcard’s name!”

“Huh? Oh, right!” Kohta snatched the card back up and thrust it forward again as the spiders resumed their advance. “Phoenix Sign: Magnificent Inferno!”

And then the forest erupted with light.

…

I have a new policy. If I get an idea that would certainly have upset and disturbed kid me, I do it.

Until next time, everyone.

[secondgenerationnerd]

Remember Me

Author’s note: HELLO FRIENDS!!! I can’t believe I’m posting another thing again in the same week! This story was originally inspired by Disney Pixar’s COCO and my bestest friend @tinyseawarrior , who got me addicted to these couples. Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

Word count: 2243

Rating: Like M for swearing

Warnings: Talking about death and loss of a parent

           “Ay! Mar’i! Not so many candles, you’ll burn the whole tower down,” Milagro rolls her eyes at her grandmother’s over reaction.

         “Abuela, it’s not that high,” She assures her.

         “Silencio! ¡Se ayudas!” Mrs. Reyes orders.

         “Si, abuela,” Milagro goes to help her friend.

         “Am I doing something wrong?” Mar’i whispers. Milagro smiles a little to comfort her friend. Mar’i more than anyone understands how important festivals and the traditions within them are.

         “No, princessa. She’s always like this. Especially after my bisabuela died.” Milagro adjusts a few of the candles and turns to her grandmother,” Abuela, mira por favor. Es bueno, ¿sí?”

         “Es Bueno, mija. Mar’i, would you like a tamale?”

         “Sure, Mrs. Rey- “

         “Abuela, chica. You can call me Abuela.”

         “Sure, a-bu-wel-a,” Milagro can’t help the laugh as Mar’i walks to the kitchenette. Not in a mean way, never in a mean way, but of course her grandmother would make the half- alien non-native English speaker try to speak Spanish. The room is full of people, not unlike at her house, but there’s so much happening. Mar’i and her pseudo-brother pseudo-uncle Damian’s family are all there, making a ruckus and- is Jason pick pocketing Bruce? Jon and his parents chat happily with The Flash family. Her big brother Jamie rolls his eyes as Bart does something stupid. Milagro can’t help but shout at him,” Tu esposo es muy guapo, no, hermano?”

         “Callate, pequena mocosa,” Jamie shouts back. Milagro laughs, then feels two strong arms wrap themselves around her waist.

         “You having fun tormenting your brother, beautiful?” Colin asks, smiling against her cheek.

         “Always. Did you put your picture on the ofrenda? My grandma will have your head if you don’t.” Milagro turns to face her boyfriend, wrapping her arms around his neck.

         “Yeah, the nuns gave me the picture that was left with me…” Milagro hates seeing his sad face. She stands on her tiptoes to kiss his face.

         “Oh, mi Corazon. We have each other. And you are more than welcome to share my crazy family.” Colin smiles and leans down to kiss her. He tries at least.

         “INCOMING!!!” The couple falls to the ground as Irey West slams into them. Irey jumps up, running away at neck breaking speed, followed by her twin brother, now covered in lemonade, yelling swears at her in Korean.

         “Weirdos.” Milagro grumbles. Colin laughs as he helps her up. They enjoy the celebration as much as they can. Given the several speedsters there, everyone had brought something to eat. They all trade stories about the people on the ofrenda and what they left. Mar’i, for the first time since most of them have known her, gushes about her mother and how much she loved to grow flowers. Her eyes water a little but it’s happy tears. Jai and Irey both talk about their Aunt Joan and Uncle Jay. How they were like an extra set of grandparents and the peanut butter cookies Aunt Joan made just for them. Milagro and her family laugh about her bisabuela and other family members.

Lian is quiet, resting her head against Jai’s shoulder. She’d lost her parents five months earlier and hasn’t completely recovered. Jai keeps kissing her hair and, a few times, wipes her eyes with his thumb. Jason doesn’t look happy about how close the two are sitting, but he doesn’t say anything. As the evening wears on and the food begins to disappear, the instruments come out. The musicians of her family play her bisabuela’s favorite songs. She and Colin dance together, her long skirt flying around their legs. He laughs as he spins her, both ignoring the protective glares from her male family members. If asked point blank, Colin would be the first to admit that she could kick his ass. But that’s just one reason he loves her.

Irey and Mar’i dance with her, all of them pulling Lian to join them. This is the part of being a hero they never talk about. Losing people. The scars it leaves. The guilt. The pain. But sometimes it helps to just have a distraction and celebrate the memories they made with the people that are gone. Lian manages a small smile as Jai dances with her. If just for a while, they all forget their worries and their pain. If just for a moment, everything is perfect.

Slowly, people head to bed until it’s just the four couples, Dick, and Jon Constantine. The younger heroes loved Constantine more than the older heroes did. He’s brash, sarcastic, and willing to do anything. Basically, he’s an asshole. Which all of them can understand. They chat about old missions and their families. Constantine keeps looking at Mar’i strangely and frowning.

“Is something wrong?” She asks after a while. Her legs are swung over Jon’s and she’s cuddled up to his chest.

“Yeah, yer ghosty there is givin’ me a headache, luv.”

“Ghosty?” Mar’i tilts her head,” What ghost?”

She turns her head as if she’d be able to see the specter. Constantine rolls his eyes,” You tell me, luv. She’s a tall thing with massive red hair and eyes like yers.”

Mar’i and Dick stop breathing. She pulls away from Jon and looks at Constantine,” Wh-What? Th-tha-that is im-impossible.”

“Nothing’s impossible this time o’ year. The veil between worlds is much thinner.” Looks at Dick,” Do ye’ know who the ghosty is?”

“It’s-I think it’s Kor’i, Mar’i’s mother. She-she died when Mar’i was little. That’s why Mar’i came to live with us.”

“Well, yer mum is nagging in my ear about wantin’ to talk to ye.” Jon feels Mar’i tense up. She’s blinking rapidly, trying to process what he’s saying to her.

“Can you do that?” Milagro asks,” Abuela says that the dead move on after some time.”

“I can do that. Her mum is a little easier than humans bein’ an alien. But Mar’i has to be the one to invite her here.” Constantine takes a swig of his whiskey. Mar’i looks at Lian. Since losing her parents, Lian and Mar’i have been closer than ever. Mar’i’s been able to provide insight that no one else their age can. They’d talked about wanting to see their parents one more time and what they would say. But now that the opportunity is here…

“Do it. Do what you need to.” Lian says softly. Mar’i nods and looks at Constantine.

“I-I want to talk to her.”

“Yea, put that together. Go stand over there.” He points to a spot in the middle of the room,” You too, Dick.”

           Dick and Mar’i go to the middle of the room. She takes her father’s hand, shaking like crazy. Dick wraps an arm around her shoulder, holding her close. Constantine pulls a few jars from his bag, mixing the contents, and begins to chants in Latin,” spiritus, voca me audies. Rogamus dabis nobis tuo verum est forma. Quod illi visus non potest videre. Viventes semel contineat. Spiritus ostende te.”

He blows the powder on them. For a moment, it felt like all the air in the room has been sucked away. The lights flicker. Damian holds Irey a little tighter. Milagro bends over, Colin’s head in her lap, to shield their eyes. Lian, Jai, and Jon watch in awe, horror, and morbid curiosity.

When it’s over, the teens all look up. A tall, beautiful woman stands in the room. She has wild red hair that cascades down her back. Her green eyes are warm and soft as she smiles at Mar’i. They all know who she is. They’ve seen her pictures. But the soft white glow around her is unnerving. Mar’i looks stunned and slowly approaches the woman. The look on her face reminds Damian of the first time she met her father. The fear. The uncertainty. The need to be loved.

“M-mom?” Mar’i whispers. Kor’i smiles. She reaches out and touches Mar’i’s cheek, causing a shaky breath to rock her body.

“Look at you…you have gotten so big, bumgorf.” Mar’i tears up and throws her arms around her mother’s waist.

“Mom!” She sobs. Kor’i holds her daughter, stroking her curly hair. She looks at Dick.

“Hello, Dick… It has been too long…” Dick approaches her. He brushes his fingers against her cheek. She smiles a little wider,” I knew you would take care of her…”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant sooner?” He asks.

“Because I was scared,” Mar’i’s shaking in her mother’s arms,” it is alright, my star, it is ok.”

Mar’i looks at her and everything she’s ever wanted to say comes flooding out,” I miss you. I miss you so much every day. I miss your hugs. I miss you singing me to sleep. I miss cuddling you on lazy days. I miss gardening with you. I miss you, Mom.”

Mar’i is sobbing almost uncontrollably now. Kor’i wipes her tears away with her thumb,” I have missed you as well, starlight.”

“Why did you have to go?” Her friends feel slightly uncomfortable. As if they are intruding on a private moment. But none of them can bear to leave her alone, even if her father is with her. Kor’i doesn’t speak for a moment, pushing Mar’i’s hair from her face. Like she’s trying to find her little girl in the face of the young woman before her. She presses a soft kiss to her daughter’s forehead.

“My star…I was sick for much longer than I let on…but I fought for you. As long as I could. But X’hal called her to her side.” She wipes another tear away,” I wish she could have waited a little longer though. I feel as if I have missed so much of your life.” She smiles at Dick,” but I am happy you are with your father. That he has been here to protect you when I could not.”

“I wish you were still here…I wish we could have been a real family.” Kor’i rests her forehead on Mar’i’s. Mar’i closes her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. Dick presses a kiss to the top of his daughter’s, hugging her from behind.

“My beautiful, strong girl…If I could take all the pain in your heart away, I would. I am sorry my fears kept you from having the family you wanted.” Mar’i’s breathing is shaky. Kor’i presses a kiss to her nose,” Do you remember what I would tell you when you were scared? Jakeni proc th’am…”

“F’kun te thaan…” Mar’i looks up at her,” ‘from the flames, I rise again.’”

“Mar’i, you were the most precious thing in my life. From the moment I first felt you move in my womb…” Mar’i smiles a little,” You gave my life so much light and so much beauty. I loved each day watching you grow and watching you learn. And even in death, I have seen you at times.”

“R-really?”

Kor’i nods,” I have seen you when you needed me most. The first few months of your life here. Some dances that you have done where you wished I was there to see. Even a few times where you wanted me to see your friends.”

“Speaking of,” Mar’i wipes her eyes,” Mom, I want you to meet my friends.”

Her friends sit up. Jon looks a little freaked, but nothing really prepares anyone for meeting their significant other’s undead parent. Mar’i turns to her friends, sniffling.

“Mom, these are my friends. Milagro Reyes, Colin Wilkes, Lian Harper, Jai and Irey West.” She smiles at them.

“I remember you two.” She gestures to Jai and Irey,” You both were born about two months before I left for Tamaran.”

“Really?” The twins smile at that.

“Yes. If I remember correctly,” points at Jai, then Irey,” You won’t stop crying and you wouldn’t stop eating.”

Dick snorts,” Not much has changed.”

“Rude,” Jai rolls his eyes. Irey laughs.

“This is Damian Wayne, Grandfather Bruce’s son. He’s kind of my brother,” Then she looks Jon with a smile,” Mom, this is Jon Kent…he’s my…He’s the love of my life.”

“Oh really?” Kor’i smiles at Jon,” And has he gotten your father’s blessing?”

Mar’i laughs at the red blush on Jon’s face,” We haven’t gotten to marriage yet, Mom.”

“But if he asked, I’d give it to him.” That makes all of three of them laugh. Mar’i has a beautiful mixture of her parents laugh. Bright and warm and full of life. They all smile at that. Mar’i looks at her mom.

“You have to go, don’t you?”

“I fear so, my star,” Kor’i kisses her forehead. She smiles at her daughter,” I am so proud of the woman you have become. I love you so much.”

“I love you too. Mom…Can…can you sing to me before you go…please…”

“Of course,” Kor’i hugs her. Dick is hugging her from behind. Mar’i takes a deep breath, trying to enjoy the only hug she will ever get from both her parents. Kor’i sings softly to her in Tamaranean. She starts to fade away, pressing kisses to her hair. Mar’i takes a sharp breath when her mother disappears. Mar’i hugs her father, trying not to cry. Lian stands and walks over to her. Mar’i looks at her.

“Did you say what you need to?” Lian asks. Mar’i nods.

“Good. Don’t leave anything unsaid.” Lian’s voice breaks. Mar’i pulls her into a hug. The others stand and hug their friends.

“Happy day of the dead, mis amigos.” Milagro says.

[dogfatherpads]

a siriusxremus based on the line "baby im too busy being yours to fall for somebody new" based on like jealousy maybe?

Ooo okay you got it anon. Tbh, while i wrote the romance stuff, i listened to Christina Grimmie’s cover of it. Listen if you haven’t heard it’s slow but such a beautiful take on the song. and then of course moved on to Arctic Monkeys. i hope you like it as much as i do :) 

Word Count: 2.1K 

Warnings: umm a bit of cursing, hella angst, all the wolfstar love 

Now I’m crawling back to you, ever thought of calling when you’ve had a few? cause i  always do. baby i’m too busy being yours to fall for somebody new

“Moons, if it bothers you so much why don’t you speak to him about it?”

“Honestly mate, I knew Pads was stubborn but you? I thought you’d have cleared this up by now,” James shook his head and Remus sighed deeply. It’s not like he hadn’t thought about it. Just telling Sirius how he felt about him. How much it made his skin crawl and his blood boil when he saw all those girls, and even a few blokes, fanning all over him and he swears to Merlin if the Ravenclaw nudged his shoulder one more time like that he would completely lose it. He turned away miserably. It was bad enough that Lily knew, at least she could be understanding and would allow him to just wallow in self pity. But James? Remus had tried desperately to keep his feeling at bay, but nothing escaped James. Remus scoffed, everything escaped James, but not when it involved unspoken feelings. He’d figured it out one day at Hogsmeade, when Remus got blush-y and stutter-y when Sirius moved some hair out of his face, and then a little too annoyed when he left with Marlene to Honeydukes. 

Sirius was just as oblivious as James, Remus thought pitifully, looking away from Sirius and the Ravenclaw. Its not like he hadn’t thought about it either. Being with a lad.  There were too many nights with Sirius and a few with James with little moments that seemed be a little more than just clumsy kisses or accidental touches. He always thought it’d be a dark haired, brooding, mysterious man with eyes he could get lost in. Maybe some paint under his fingernails and a brilliant, mischievous smile. 

But Pads? He was stupid for falling for his best friend and he knew it. There was no way Sirius noticed him like that when he had girls like Marlene or this Ravenclaw fanning all over him. Remus was just… Remus. A troubled werewolf with too many problems to handle himself, no way would he burden Sirius when he had a family that came with its own problems for him to solve. 

“Lets just get to dinner yeah?” Remus packed his books into his bag, avoiding Sirius’ gaze when he came back to their table, a massive grin on his face.

“I,” he exclaimed loudly, earning a few shushes from the people around, “have got a date,” he whispered proudly, holding up a piece of parchment with a number on it.

“What a surprise,” Lily rolled her eyes and James snorted.

“Oh jealous are we? You’re still my favorite girl Lils,” He winked and she chuckled shaking her head.

“Stuff it Black. When are you gonna date somebody you actually like and not just a girl looking for a quick shag?” she gave him a stern look. 

“I’m hurt,” Sirius gasped dramatically, feigning a hurt expression, “I happen to think she’s very nice. That’s why I’ve invited her to the party Friday.” Remus sighed inaudibly, pulling his bag over his shoulder.

“I’m willing to bet she  wont even be there the next morning,” James joked and Sirius laughed, shoving his shoulder.

“You underestimate my skills,” they laughed a little louder, getting themselves kicked out of the library. 

“You guys are disgusting. Come on Moony, lets get to dinner since these two clearly don’t care to,” Lily hooked her arm with Remus and turned him in the direction of the great hall. He shot her a grateful look and she smiled sadly. “You should tell him Moony,” she said when they were out of hearing range, “I don’t usually agree with Potter, and I’ll kill you if you tell him i did, but it clearly hurts you to see him with somebody else. Maybe you’ll be surprised,” she winked and Remus shook his head.

“Don’t say things like that. Sirius would never,” Remus sighed and Lily frowned.

“Well then it’d be his loss… and maybe then if he knew and he didn’t feel the same at least he’d be more conscious of your feelings and not brag about girls in front of you.”

“That’s not the worst that could happen Lils. I can handle rejection just fine. Im no stranger to the pain,” he smiled sadly, “I’m worried about losing his friendship. I’m quiet because id rather have him in my life as my best mate than not at all. Please… lets just not mention this anymore. I’m good okay?” He smiled and Lily sighed, squeezing his hand softly before they entered the hall. 

Remus hated himself. And he hated James too. For making him come to this party and then ditching him to dance with Lily. Peter came by the refreshments table, grinning.

“Hey Moons, why so glum?” he poured himself another drink.

“Bit of a headache, not really feeling the party,” Remus sighed, looking away from Sirius and the Ravenclaw and Peter raised his eyebrows. 

“Or, a certain someone isn’t giving you the attention you want.” Remus turned swiftly, making himself a little dizzy in the process, setting the cup of firewhiskey down. No more of that. 

“How did…”

“Remus,” Peter gave him a pointed look, “If anyone is more oblivious than James it’s Sirius. And quite possibly you too. You’re both so oblivious about your feelings for each other. You’re both a mess,” he pressed a finger into Remus’ chest before returning to the Slytherin he had been speaking to. 

What did that even mean? Feelings for each other? Pete had to be mistaken. Sirius had never shown any signs of corresponding feelings. He was always off with somebody or someone else. Remus shook his head of the thought and turned back to the dance floor, taking his cup again when he saw them.

He looked good.

Better than good, he was the best looking one in the room. He hated Lily for introducing him to those muggle skinny jeans and leather jackets. The grey t shirt he wore hugged his torso perfectly, defining the little muscle he had in his arms and across his abdomen. Remus bit his lip, watching the dark, loose strands of hair fall into his face as he danced with the Ravenclaw, his grey eyes sparkling. He turned then catching Remus’ stare, a small smirk making it’s way across his lips as the Ravenclaw ground her hips into his. Remus gulped, watching him spin her so her back was pressed to his front, pressing his fingers into her hips as she moved against him. Sirius smirked at him, winking discreetly, eliciting a gasp from Remus’ lips. 

That was it. He chugged the rest of the firewhiskey in his cup before turning for the portrait hole. He’d had it. He was done. No more would he tolerate Sirius’ games and taunting gazes. He hated James for dragging him to the party and he hated himself for allowing James to persuade him. He made his way to the astronomy tower, watching carefully on the map to avoid any professors and prefects wandering the halls. He sat at the very top to watch the stars, instantly regretting not having turned towards his dorm instead when the bitter night cold frosted his nose. It was fine, he concluded, he didn’t want to see or hear Sirius stumble into their room later that night with her. It was cruel the game he was playing if Peter was right and he did know of Remus’ feelings. That smirk? That wink? What the fuck even was that? Remus shook his head, a little more angry than upset. Good, it was easier to be angry than hurt. He had no right to be angry though… Sirius wasn’t his to envy. 

The grey light of the sun woke Remus, a brittle cough racking his body. The stone floor was not kind to him during the night, the snow making it even colder. He pressed his fingers into his pounding head and sighed, memories of the night before invading his thoughts. He sighed and got up, making his way back to the common room and towards his dorm. He found it empty, what time was it? had they already left for breakfast? The rattling of the bathroom door made him jump and Sirius stepped out.

“Moony? Moony!” he ran towards him and wrapped his arms around Remus, “where the hell have you been Rem? We looked everywhere for you and you took the damn map so it wasn’t easy. Peter mentioned you were drunk. We were worried sick you know?” He scolded  and Remus frowned. 

“I’m sorry I…”

“You look awful Moons, and your hands are like ice,” Sirius exclaimed, taking Remus’ hands in his and sandwiching them. Remus watched as he pressed his lips to them softly, blowing warm air against his skin. Remus felt his face heat up slightly, something more than butterflies in his stomach. He felt tears prickle his eyes when he remembered the Ravenclaw girl. He retrieved his hands slowly. 

“I’m okay, I fell asleep in the umm,” he couldn’t think when Sirius looked at him like that, his eyes so profound. “I wasn’t feeling well, the music was too loud so i slept somewhere else,” he mumbled and Sirius blinked.

“Are you alright Moony?” Sirius reached for him again, drawing his hand back a little hurt when Remus flinched.

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about your Ravenclaw girlfriend,” Remus muttered before leaving the room. 

“Who’s that sitting with Moony?” Sirius asked begrudgingly. James raised his eyebrows and turned.

“I dunno him. I think he’s in potions with us. Nice Hufflepuff lad, Liam perhaps?”

“Hmm,” he mumbled and turned back to his porridge. Lily scoffed and shook her head.

“You two are ridiculous.”

“Stop it,” Sirius frowned, turning back to them, grimacing when he laughed a little too much, touching Remus’ arm. He got up swiftly.

“Pads…” James reached but Lily stopped him. Sirius strode all the way towards them, his expression lethal.

“Remus,” he stared tartly at the Hufflepuff and he seemed to flinch away, “a word?” 

Remus’ eyebrows knit together, then he turned to the Hufflepuff, “I’ll catch you later. I hope you like the book,” He smiled and the Hufflepuff smiled.

“Thanks, catch you later Remus,” he smiled sheepishly at Sirius before hurrying off. Remus turned to Sirius with a frown and followed  after him out into the hall.

“That was rude.”

“Oh, you want to lecture me about being rude? Okay Moony, how about you check yourself before you go around pointing fingers?”

“What the fuck are you on about?” 

“The fact that you haven’t spoken to me in weeks since that damn party Moony. And don’t give me that bullshit about how it’s not true because you haven’t. You find ways to avoid me even in our own dorm. And you’re out here flirting with everyone…”

“Are you jealous Sirius?” Remus asked, his expression becoming amused, “join the fucking club mate.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Sirius shoved him and Remus caught his arms, pressing him into the wall. 

“My problem, is you. And how fucking oblivious you are.” 

Sirius yanked at Remus’ grip but he was strong. The bloody prick. “You’re so cruel. You’re doing it to make me jealous?”

“You have nothing to be jealous about! You’re dating someone new every other week!” Remus spat, releasing Sirius’ arms when he flinched.

“It’s to forget about you. You fucking arse,” he whispered, hurt marring his features. Remus stumbled backwards, taken aback. 

“What?”

“And you call me oblivious,” he scoffed incredulous, “Don’t you get it Moony? You’re so consumed by your own misfortunes and self pity that you dont realize what’s right in front of you. I love you Moony, I always have. I don’t care about all those people fanning all over me. I just want you. I’m too busy being yours to notice anybody else, let alone fall for them. Don’t you get that?” He wiped at his face, sniffling and turning away.

“Sirius I’m… “ Remus paused, reaching for him.

“Im sorry, I… you’re right. There’s no reason to be jealous… we’re not together and…”

“But i want to be. I’ve always wanted to be i just, i didnt know how to tell you Sirius,” Remus reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers softly.

“Are you serious?” he turned to face Remus who smiled softly, brushing a tear away.

“No babe, you’re Sirius,” he chuckled when Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Oh haha. You get to make the joke but i don’t?” he smiled softly, Remus stepped in a little closer.

“I am very serious about being in love with you. I’ve been for so long Pads. I’m sorry i never told you,” he pressed a hand to Sirius’ face, brushing his thumb softly along his jaw. 

“I’m sorry i never told you either Moony,” Sirius leaned in, pressing his forehead to Remus’, “and I’m sorry for dating around and I’m sorry for making you jealous..”

“Shh Pads,” Remus chuckled, tilting Sirius chin gently, “shut up and let me kiss you.” 

Sirius grinned, a thrill running through him when Remus finally pressed his lips to his.