#pip is 8 weeks

[badbatchsprincess]

Heated ~ pt.5

Pt.1 ~ Pt.2 ~ Pt.3 ~ Pt.4 ~ Pt.5 ~ Pt.6 ~ Pt.7 ~ Pt.8 ~ Pt.9

Masterlist

Summary: This is an ABO Bad batch!Poly x Omega Reader smut with a plot. This takes place as an AU before order 66. Y/N previously served under the 501st before being transferred to Special Forces 99. This is her adventure with these rowdy Alphas in a quickly changing universe.

THIS IS AN ABO AU ABOUT THE BAD BATCH (NO CANON OMEGA!) Due to the unfortunate situation of her name being Omega… Omega the child from the canon series is not going to be apart of this fanfic/porn with a plot. I feel obligated to put this warning in because it makes my skin crawl thinking anyone could make that mistake. 

Warnings: Skinny dipping, Wolffe's massive D, some minor agression/violence, possessive behaviors, general Crosshair assholery, Hunter's an idiot

Bruh we finally gonna get through this slow burn I promise. Bear with me. Anyways...get intoit I guess

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

"Again… or Lula gets it." Crosshair aimed his pistol at the stuffed bunny sitting on top of one of the crates.

Both you and Wrecker screamed, demanding Lula’s immediate liberation, but he just fired a warning shot, barely missing her ear.

"Alright!" You screamed under duress. You turned back to Hunter, who was waiting for you to strike. "Kriffing dictator," you mumbled, making Hunter snort.

"Lock in, Pip," Hunter rasped. "One pin and you can go eat lunch."

You huffed, knowing this was going to be a challenge. The past week had been tough on all of you. You had been enlisted in joining the other medics in caring for the injured regs, which, after the first few days, you realized the campaign in liberating Kashyyyk from separatist and Trandoshan occupation was going to take much longer than anyone had anticipated. The problem seemed to be worse than the Jedi Council had thought.

The boys had become relentless in your training. The second you’d be off shift, they’d be lording your food overhead in exchange for a few hours of combat training. You complied, desperate for something to fill your belly. You noticed you were starting to get stronger, your body was getting a little more hardened, and you were starting to actually like it, though you’d never tell them that, or else they’d just keep you at it until you collapsed.

Your little training sessions even started to get the attention of the 104th boys. They’d gather in small groups, trying to watch you like a sporting event. You were confused at first, but Tech informed you they were staring because they’ve never seen an omega fight before. It was unnatural, to Crosshair's point.

But even the grumpy sniper came around; he realized being with them, a special forces group, put you in a uniquely vulnerable position compared to an average medic. (It definitely wasn’t because Hunter beat him over the head with the idea until he agreed.) That's when he started threatening Lula’s life to coerce you into playing their games.

"Get him, omega!" A couple of Wolf Pack boys barked from the trees. You were pretty sure they were the same clones you had treated that morning.

You glared at them and then dropped your fists, looking to Hunter with soft eyes, begging him to stop. He relaxed, recognizing you were uncomfortable, deciding to end your training early. The 104th boys groaned disappointed, making Hunter shrug. Even Crosshair sighed annoyingly, lowering his blaster.

When you were in close enough proximity to your unsuspecting Sergeant, you quickly snaked your boot out, just like he showed you, and flipped him to the ground. You saw a brief moment of surprise when he hit the moss-covered floor before his eyes focused in. Just when you were about to jump on top of him to make the pin, he rolled both of you and shoved you off.

You briefly heard the Wolf Pack cheering when you recovered and swung your leg out, taking him down to the ground again. This time you were ready and rolled into his side, grabbing his arm, wrenching it back. He curled in, wrapping his legs around your torso, trying to pry you off. Just when he nearly had you in a pin, you jabbed your two fingers into a nerve point in his thigh, making him yelp and release you. That gave you just enough time to slam your body on top of him and hold him for the pin.

"Damn," Wolffe crossed his arms, walking up to the two of you from the clearing, impressed with what he was seeing.

"Good job," Hunter stood up, helping you with him. "You’re getting better, Pip."

"Can I go eat now?" You asked pleadingly, hearing your stomach growl.

He just nodded and let you go. You smiled and ran off with Wrecker, starving for Echo’s cooking.

Wolffe stood there watching you disappear back into the Marauder with his good eye. "Why are you training her?"

Hunter crossed his arms. "She’s been in some tough situations. She doesn’t have the same protections she would have with the 501st when working with us."

Wolffe nodded. "I heard about the incident on Crait. General Plo is concerned with the implications."

Hunter nodded solemnly. It was still a bit of a sore topic if he was being honest. He prided himself on being a good Sergeant who cared deeply for his unit and tried his best to keep them safe even in the most dangerous scenarios.

"Have you heard anything else?" Wolffe asked.

Hunter just shook his head. "Nothing beyond what we experienced. Though I’m sure the council has it under control."

Wolffe just nodded and turned to look at the war camp in the distance. Campfires billowed in the distance while his men gathered, making their meals.

"So…" He noticed Hunter side-eye him. "She yours or what?"

Hunter narrowed his glare. "Commander?" He felt his heart rate increase and a possessive tightness in his chest.

"Did you mate her on Crait?" Wolffe pressed.

Hunter faced him square on.

"Y/N is her own person," Hunter corrected, trying to keep his calm despite his growing hatred for the scarred alpha in front of him. "Besides almost killing her, no, no one has laid a hand on her."

Wolffe just rolled his eyes. "You don’t have to pretend with me, Sergeant. No alpha can resist that."

Hunter bit his tongue, wanting nothing more than to punch that smug look off of Wolffe’s face. Hunter was all too aware of how you made the regs turn their heads when you graced them with your presence. He knew his men were guilty of it as well. Y/N was a perfect omega. Every alpha's scents seemed to spike in your presence; he was shocked you couldn’t smell it. They were all praying you’d give them a little attention or a gentle touch. It was driving him crazy.

"Relax," Wolffe looked at Hunter's flexing fists. "I won’t do anything to your little medic… unless she asks." His smile was devilish. Hunter watched the Commander return back to his men, who were getting rowdy in the field up ahead.

Hunter took a deep breath, trying to force his racing heartbeat to calm. Crosshair came prowling up behind him silently like a loth-cat. "What was that all about?"

Hunter grunted and looked at his brother. "He asked if she was my mate."

Crosshair put a new toothpick up to his lips. "He’s been after her since Coruscant." Crosshair’s tone was nonchalant. "He’ll lose interest eventually."

Hunter shook his head annoyed; he doubted that. He returned back to the Marauder with Crosshair for their lunch before Wrecker elected to eat their portions too.

Hunter was going to be keeping an eye on Wolffe from here on out… that was final.

It was about the fifth week into the battle of Kashyyyk when you noticed the change. The boys seemed to have altered their behavior around you drastically.

At first, it seemed harmless, just alphas being alphas. They’d walk at least five paces behind you everywhere, even when you’d be called into a shift in the triage tent. They’d wait outside, talking, until it was time for you to clock out and return back with them for more training.

Then it turned into something… different.

It first started with Crosshair when he had decided he wanted to teach you how to start shooting more long-range. He had arranged you how he liked on the ground around firepuncher. When he wasn’t happy with your grip, he knelt down next to you, keeping his hands on yours a little longer than usual. Then came your positioning. He suddenly decided he didn’t like that either, so he kneeled down, using his own knees to part your legs and push your left into a more bent position. You felt your face heat up as your ass pressed against his firm thighs. He acted like nothing was amiss, but you were struggling more than usual trying to hit the target in front of you.

Then there was Tech. He had asked for a bit of assistance when fiddling with some panels under the ship’s console. You laid down next to him, helping hold some wires while he soldered carefully, and instead of asking you to pass him the needle-nose pliers, he just reached over you, pressing you into the ground with his weight. You struggled to breathe calmly as his face nearly pressed into your neck while he reached for the tools. He had done this a few more times, making you absolutely squirm next to him.

Wrecker had been a little more needy the past few weeks, asking you to look at small cuts and bruises. You think it was just because you had always babied him a little more than the others, but now he was becoming insistent that you look at every single injury and giving you a pout if you denied him. You were suspecting he was causing these little injuries just to get your attention.

Lastly was Hunter. While he was a bit more discreet, he definitely didn’t miss an opportunity to brush up against you or place a hand on your back as he passed by. One particular night you had been bent over the bathroom sink rinsing toothpaste from your mouth when he suddenly needed to shimmy by you to grab his razor from the shower caddy. You had shot up, and he apologized with a tap to your hip before leaving with his things. You just stood there in shock, trying to figure out if you were just imagining things.

This morning, Tech accompanied you when you had to clock in for rotations at the medic’s tent. You gave him a little wave before disappearing through the canvas curtains. You walked up to the 104th medic in charge and handed him your charge card. He punched you into the system and let you go on your way.

"Hey Y/N!" Your new friend, Tanan, called out to you. He was an omega in the GAR civilian medic program too and he has been stationed with the 104th since the beginning of their campaign.

"Hi Tanan." You smiled, setting down your canteen and snack sack.

"Got a lot coming in today," he said, looking around at all of the regs lying in cots. He flipped back his blonde hair, trying to tie it behind his head to keep it out of his brown eyes.

"What happened?" You noticed all of their field bandages.

"Shrapnel," he replied, sanitizing his laser suture.

"Bomb?" You looked around at the charring on their armor, letting you know it was some kind of incendiary.

"Most likely," he said, handing you a pair of gloves. You grabbed a pair of sterile tweezers and walked up to the first trooper who was sitting on the edge of his cot.

"Hello, trooper," you smiled and softly approached him.

He looked at you with wide eyes. "Are you the medic?" he asked.

You nodded and knelt down next to him, setting your things next to him on the cot.

"Mhmm. I’m Y/N."

"I’m CT- 3678, but my vod call me Tack."

"Nice to meet you, Tack." You reached out, tilting his face to the side. There was a tattoo running along the side of his neck all the way under the collar of his blacks.

"What happened?" You asked, picking up the tweezers and starting to pluck little shards of metal out of his cheek.

"Clankers set off a big one," he said, looking up at you, "never seen something like that before."

"It was guerrilla Trandoshan made," a clone behind Tack chimed in.

You just scrunched your nose disapprovingly and concentrated on your work. The alpha in front of you relaxed the more you plucked from him. You were certain it was uncomfortable. A lot of shrapnel patients have been coming in the past few days, but today seemed to be the worst. The metal was strange, shimmering green, nothing like you’d ever seen before.

"I don’t recognize your clothes," Tack said, looking at your green pants, "Are you GAR?"

"Oh yeah," you smiled, "My uniform got messed up a few weeks ago after the first wave so I had to resort to the civvies." The white GAR uniform didn’t stand a chance out here on the front lines. Instead, you opted for your darks and your identifying badge.

"Ahh," he said, nodding.

"I’m not usually out of base for this long so I wasn’t really prepared."

"You’re not with the 104th?" He asked. He must be a shiny.

"No." You tilted his head back and forth, looking for any missed pieces, "I’m with the 99’s."

"The 99’s?" The other clone asked from over Tack’s shoulder, "The commandos?"

You nodded. "Alright, I think I got it all. Let me get some bacta, and you’ll be cleared." You grabbed an applicator and began dotting it over the cuts.

"Wait, are you the omega Commander’s always talking about?"

"What?" You looked at the other clone, giving Tack a tap on the shoulder, letting him stand.

"Yeah, he’s always going on about the omega running with the 99’s!" He smiled, "Told us about the attack on Crait."

You paled. In the background, a clone trooper screamed in pain, making you focus back on your work.

"What’s your name?" You asked, moving on to him, grabbing your scanner.

"Grim."

"I’m Y/N, and yeah, I guess I’m that omega." You shook your head and started scanning the clone. You noticed the way he clutched his arm, and your scans confirmed it was dislocated.

"Sweet." He looked at you with playful eyes. You raised a brow at him, "You got something to say, trooper?"

He smiled, "Commander said you were pretty…"

You took his arm and looked him in the eyes before aggressively resetting the limb. He let out a pained gasp, not expecting you to do that so suddenly and mercilessly.

"He was right." He gritted out, clutching the arm.

"What’s your position?" You asked, walking over to the supply bin to get a fresh sling. You ripped open the plastic baggie and walked back over to him.

"Sniper," he groused, starting to feel the dull pain in his shoulder.

You laughed, "Oh, you’d like one of my alphas then…"

He quirked a brow, "One of?”

You felt your cheeks redden. "Sorry, they're pack. I meant, we have an enhanced sniper. His name is Crosshair. He hates everyone though... except firepuncher."

Grim chuckled. "Oh yes, my little lady is my favorite girl as well." He gestured to the rifle leaned up against his cot. You just smiled and sent him on his way.

What is it with snipers and their guns?

The day continued like this. Tech only came to bother you when Echo had lunch ready, but by the time the sun was setting, you were exhausted and covered in blood and various gross fluids. With a sigh, you cracked your back and stretched your arms, eager to eat some chow and get to bed, but first, you wanted to wash up.

The Marauder’s water supply had been recycled too many times to be considered usable, so your squad had resorted to hiking down to the river to wash up and do laundry. You had begged Tech to fly the Marauder closer to the lake to drain the reserves and refill with fresh water, but he didn’t want to waste any fuel before they could return to Coruscant. You pouted but knew he was right in the end.

"Ready?" Crosshair asked, meeting you outside the medic center.

You just nodded and followed after him as he walked you through the camp. You passed groups of men you’d "kind of" come to know over the past few weeks, along with Wookiee leaders and warriors. Once you passed through the camp, the hike back to the Marauder was mostly in the dark. All you could see was the campfire in the distance, with Echo tending to whatever meat Wrecker and Hunter had tracked down that day.

"I’m going to wash up first." You gestured to your ruined outfit. He just nodded and detoured to the fire while you rifled through your things, looking for the soap packets and a fresh pair of clothes.

"I’ll be back!" You called out to the boys before starting your trek through the darkening woods. Passing all the familiar trail markers, you could hear the river rushing up ahead. You grabbed your little solar lantern and flicked it on, setting it down on your favorite rock. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, you began stripping down to nothing, throwing your dirty clothes in the wash basket you had woven with Tech’s instruction on the second week on Kashyyyk.

You took a deep breath before toeing into the freezing cold water. You let out a little squeal as you sank in, fully submerging yourself in the lazy water. This was the moment where you always began to miss the heated showers on the Marauder. The water was chilling, it made your muscles start to lock up if you took too long.

Moving quickly, you reached up to the rock, grabbing a packet of hair wash and tearing open the brown paper, pouring the contents into your hand. You rubbed your hands together, causing the powder to rehydrate, and then you lathered it everywhere. Scrubbing your scalp aggressively, you were determined to get every little bit of sweat and blood out of your locks. Once satisfied, you sunk under the water, letting the current rinse out the suds.

When you resurfaced, you heard the telltale sound of someone approaching through the woods. You lowered yourself below the currents and silently huddled closer to the rock, feeling your heart start to race.

"Nah, Corporal said tomorrow we have a new mission objective—" One of the men said. You peeked around from your hiding spot to see a trooper chucking his shirt over his head and throwing it onto a rock, reaching down for his waistband.

You bit your lip and moved back around the rock, determined to finish up and get out without being seen. You reached up and turned off your lantern and grabbed your body detergent. You quickly got to work, taking your scrub brush to your nails, trying to get as much crusted blood out of them while the men bathed, unaware of your presence.

You heard them continue to talk about Corporal Comet as they stripped down and jumped into the water, yelling and making all types of noise.

It was time to scrub your dirtied clothes after giving them some time to soak. You reached around the rock, grabbing the loose weave basket and bringing it in front of you. In the process, you knocked over a round rock, hearing it plonk into the river.

"Hey! What was that?" One of the men said, and your heart jumped.

"Kriff," you whispered, throwing your unwashed clothes up onto the shore and crawled out, grabbing your towel. You quickly wrapped it around you and squatted down to finish your washing. You heard them coming and knew you had no other option but to just stay there and pretend like you didn’t hear them.

"Warthog, is that you?" You heard one of them yell.

"Tryna cop a peek?" They laughed from over the stones.

"You're a freak," one of them chastised.

You just tucked the towel a little tighter around yourself as one of them climbed around one rock, stopping in their tracks.

"Oh shit!" He immediately realized his mistake. "S-sorry…"

"What are you looking at, trooper?..."

Then you were met with one grey, scarred eye that made your throat instantly tighten up.

Up above, Wolffe and one of his troopers stared down at you in all their naked glory. You coughed and quickly shot your eyes upward, trying to avoid looking at their bodies. Clone standards apparently didn’t apply to the Commander. He was well-endowed, and you instantly felt your face redden at the realization.

Only the trooper had the humility to be self-conscious, covering himself and shrinking back down the rock and into the water. Meanwhile, the commander in front of you didn’t seem phased in the slightest; he carried himself with so much confidence standing there.

He let out a low whistle. "Sorry, mesh’la," he smirked. "Didn’t know you were over here."

"I’m just finishing up," you fidgeted, tightening your towel and praying for him to go back to his washing.

"No need to rush on our account," he flashed you a charming smile, showing off his white teeth as he folded his arms across his broad, muscular chest, puffing out slightly. He had a couple of scars littering his pecs along with a wolf tattoo on his ribs. He was clearly enjoying your mortification.

"I, uh... I…" You went to step back, but a loose rock wobbled under your bare foot, causing you to lose your balance. Wolffe reached forward to catch you, but when he grabbed your arm, you both went tumbling into the water. You screamed as you were totally submerged in the freezing water; all you heard was his disgruntled grunt before being swept under.

The undercurrents suddenly made it difficult to surface as you felt yourself being dragged downstream, ripping your towel from your body as you passed over bedrocks. You paddled weakly, but you weren’t a skilled swimmer, and the water was much stronger this far out.

You suddenly felt a warm arm wrap around your midsection, and the force of the water as Wolffe dragged you up to the surface, clutching you close to his front. You pawed wildly at the water, sputtering and coughing like a drowned tooka as he swam with the two of you.

"I got you," he said, finding his footing and lifting the two of you into the shallows again. "Relax!"

You went limp under his arm, letting him rescue the two of you. His broad hand wrapped securely around your rib cage, holding you firm against his large body as he trudged closer to shore. When he finally could keep the two of your heads above water, you tried wriggling free again, suddenly hyper-aware of your nakedness.

"Omega. Stop," he growled, trying to keep his grip. He leaned forward, grabbing onto a smooth rock and hauling you out of the path of the currents. You panted, trying to calm your racing heart. You weren’t sure if it was from the fear of drowning or the fact that Wolffe’s deliciously strong and warm naked body was pleasantly pressed against your back right now. You wanted to rub yourself further into him; your entire body was freezing except for the warmth radiating off of him, it was sinful.

"Wolffe," you cleared your throat, coughing up the last of the water.

He slowly let go of you, keeping you on the shallower side of the riverbank. You wrapped your arms around your chest, covering yourself before turning to face him. "Thanks," you sighed, shoving your soaked hair back out of your eyes and letting yourself catch your panicked breath.

"Any time, mesh’la," he said, fighting to catch his breath, letting his chest heave. "Your boys always keeping you out of trouble, huh?"

You laughed quietly, starting to shiver. "Pretty much."

"Come here," he said, offering you his hand. You hesitantly took it and let him pull you into him so he could warm you. Keeping one hand sturdy on the rock, he used the other to hold you close and warm your chilled skin. You shuddered, pressing further into his plush chest. His scent was delicious, spiced and salty. You couldn’t help but take a deep breath in, letting it dance along your scent receptors; your omega was thrilled.

"Can you swim?" he asked softly.

You shook your head. "I was born and raised on Coruscant. I’ve never swum before or even really seen so much water before." You remembered what Rex had told you about Tapoca City and how the entire civilization was surrounded by water. The clones probably had plenty of swimming experience.

"Cyra’ika, you gotta be more careful," he shook his head, rubbing your back soothingly.

"I know," you agreed. "I didn’t really anticipate this happening." You felt his rough hands rub slow circles into your back, and you sighed, finally starting to warm up again.

“I lost my towel,” you groaned, realizing you had absolutely nothing to dry yourself off with or keep you covered in any way.

“I’ll get you mine,” he said, standing up straight and looking over your shoulder. “Stay here.”

You nodded and sat down on the smooth rock, keeping your chest covered as he crawled out of the river and began walking back to where his men were.

“What the fuck?” you whispered to yourself, shaking your head. Echo’s going to eat this up, you already knew.

Wolffe returned quickly, sporting a pair of black briefs when he handed you his towel. You took it from him, keeping your back turned as you wrapped yourself in it. It smelled like him, warmed spice, and you fought back a little purr bubbling up in your chest.

“Here,” he handed you his hand again. “Let’s get you back.”

To your pack. You hesitated, making him furrow his brow. You took his hand, but you knew this was going to cause a ruckus. He helped pull you up the slippery rock as you used the other hand to hold his towel closed, trying to keep a shred of your dignity together.

You could already hear the lecture Hunter was going to give you. Spending time alone with the Commander, nonetheless naked. Ugh. You should have told Wolffe to let you drown. But the view as the Commander’s tight ass was certainly was making it worth it. His back was rippled with muscles along with his sturdy thighs. You wanted to lean forward and sink your teeth into him. You had to take a deep breath before things got out of control and he noticed arousal scenting from you.

When Wolffe finally got you back to where you had left your things, you quickly realized, in your fall, the splash had soaked your clothes too.

“Kriff,” you bent down, holding up your little sleep t-shirt. The grey fabric was soaked through along with your fresh panties and sleep pants.

Wolffe just snickered and turned his back, letting you change in peace. Well, at least he’s honorable, you thought to yourself when you brought the soggy shirt over your head. You slid your panties up, cringing at the coldness, and then finally the sleep pants.

“This is awful,” you mumbled, picking up your other things. Wolffe laughed and left to get changed too, yelling something to his unit about returning to camp. They hollered at him when he returned to find you standing there with your wet laundry and dirty clothes in hand.

He took the lantern and let you lead the way through the now-dark forest. When you started to smell whatever food Echo had doctored up, your stomach growled, desperate for a hot meal.

“You should go,” you turned to take the solar lantern in your hands.

“Why?” he smirked. “Afraid your pack won’t approve?”

“I know they won’t,” you jested. “They’re protective.”

He gave an amused huff. “Well, thanks for the thrill, omega,” he smiled, turning on his heel back towards the river, giving you a good view of that ass.

“My name is Y/N!” you called after him.

“I know,” he winked at you.

You bit your lip, watching him fully disappear into the darkness before you trudged the last trail back to the Marauder. Your head was spinning. You thanked the maker you had your suppressor implant; without it, you knew you’d be acting like a pathetic horny teenager. Being rescued by a hot, rugged alpha had to be top-tier omega fantasy material. You giggled, laughing at the absurdity of the situation. You bit your lip thinking about how solid he felt against your back and wondered how solid other parts of him were too…

When you rounded the corner of the Marauder, you found your pack carrying on with their little evening tasks.

“Y/N, you’re back,” Tech acknowledged you before squinting his eyes, scrutinizing your attire. “Why are you wet?”

You looked down, realizing how pathetic you looked. “I, uh… I fell into the currents and almost drowned,” Wrecker spun around, looking at you in shock.

“Are you okay?” he asked, standing up and putting his dinner bowl down. Hunter looked at you from his bowl too. You thought it was strange he didn’t immediately ask as well. He looked almost… angry?

“Yeah, I’m just cold,” you set your things down and wrung out your hair, shivering.

Crosshair suddenly appeared from the darkness of the direction of the 104th war camp. You didn’t even notice him walk up on you.

One second you were standing next to the fire, and the next you were being thrown up against the side of the Marauder with Crosshair's arm being shoved across your chest with a rough thud. You yelped when your back connected with the hard durasteel.

“Crosshair!” Wrecker yelled in shock. “What the fuck?”

You looked at him wildly, wondering what the hell had gotten into him. He gave you a nasty look. “I can smell him from their camp,” he snarled, pushing you a little harder with a deep, menacing growl.

You let out a pained whine as he pushed you harder against the ship. You desperately looked to Hunter to intervene, but he just sat there, fisting his spork.

Crosshair bared his teeth at you. “You fuck him, huh Y/N? That kriffing reg!”

Feeling yourself panic, your instincts took over, and you bared your neck to him in submission, praying it would appease him. “Alpha, please… it hurts.” Your voice was pathetic, but you’d never had any of your packmates ever corner you like this. It was terrifying.

He snapped down to you slightly, letting up on you just a little. The use of his designation seemed to soften him slightly.

Then in a flash, a blur of dark grey came from the left, and Crosshair was suddenly thrown from your chest. You collapsed down to your knees, clutching your damp chest, heaving. When you looked over to the right, you saw Wolffe and Crosshair throwing punches at one another in a flurry on the ground.

You let out a horrified scream that echoed throughout the forest, causing Hunter to wince.

“Get your fucking hands off of her,” Wolffe landed a particularly hard punch to Crosshair’s jaw. “She’s your pack!”

Crosshair returned his fist in kind to his solar plexus, making the Commander lunge forward and throw the sniper into the side of the ship just next to you. You cried out and ran towards Wrecker for safety while the two Alphas got into it. The big clone wrapped his arms around you protectively, keeping you out of the way of harm and swinging fists.

“Keep your fucking hands off her, reg!” Crosshair growled.

“What the hell is going on up here?” A few regs from the camp started making their way over, hearing the commotion. Hunter put his bowl down and walked over to the two fighting and grabbed Wolffe by the shirt, wrenching him up off of his brother.

You took a breath, thinking Hunter was going to break up the fight. Instead, you watched your Sergeant wind his fist back and throw a sharp punch to Wolffe’s cheek. It connected with a snap, and you were certain you saw blood.

Then it was madness. Wolffe’s men jumped into the fight, forcing Echo and Tech to run in as backup, their brothers. It was nothing but a whirlwind of fists and boots and raging alphas. The other regs and some Wookiees stood on the sides, yelling at the brawl.

“Stop, please!” You screamed and begged, feeling the tears slide down your cheeks. “Alpha, please!”

No one was listening. The fight only seemed to get more violent. You cried and turned back to Wrecker, refusing to watch the brutality. He just maneuvered you two out of the way and kept his hand on the back of your wet head, trying to console you, even though it was killing him he couldn’t leave to help his brothers.

“Alright, enough!” A booming voice shook the camp. Master Plo stood before the group, using a deep commanding voice and the force.

The fighting seized immediately. The regs froze in place, fists raised and bloody. Wolffe threw Crosshair off of him, and he walked over to you, raising your chin to make sure your alpha hadn’t hurt you ignoring Wrecker’s warning glare.

The general crossed his arms, looking at the absolute disaster his commander was directly involved in. Then he looked to you and extended an arm in your direction. “Are you alright, little Y/N? Are you hurt?” He used the same tone he had used with Ahsoka when they were together. Plo’s fatherly concern made you cry more.

You shook your head. “I’m alright, General,” the tears still poured down your face. Wrecker gave your back a little rub.

Plo nodded and looked back to the panting alphas.

“Back to your bunks,” he ordered, forcing all of the regs to leave, wiping the blood from their lips.

That left you with the general, Wrecker, and Wolffe.

Wolffe just looked at you, despite the blood dripping from his brow and chin. His eyes were searching for something.

“This ends now,” General Plo pointed down towards the ground with emphasis. “We have a war to focus on.”

“Yes, General,” they all replied, including your unit.

When Plo Koon turned on his heel and stalked back to camp, you felt Wolffe’s hand press up against your arm. “There’s always room for you with us,” he looked over his shoulder. “If you want.” He was giving you an out.

The alpha was making an official offer to adopt you into his pack. Your heart started beating fast the longer you gazed up into his eyes. It was a big offer. Clearly, Wolffe didn’t trust the others to play nice.

Crosshair had to put a hand on Hunter’s shoulder before the Sergeant started another fight. Seeing his hands on you was making him feral.

You just nodded and thanked him for saving you one last time before watching him follow his General through the dark grass. When you turned back to the others, your face turned into a snarl. You couldn’t even speak to them. You shoved Wrecker’s hands off of you and you marched up the stairs of the ship before locking yourself in your bunk.

~~~

You kept your back turned on Tech when he finally returned to the bunks. He was smart not to say anything, tasting your anger in the air. When you finally heard all of them settle in for the night and their grumbling hushed down, you got up to confirm your theory and stepped out into the galley. All of their doors were closed, and you walked down to Wrecker’s bunk, hitting the access panel to let the door slide open.

He lifted his head, staring at your form in the doorway.

“Pip?” he asked, squinting his eyes to see you in the dark. “What are you doing?”

“Can I stay with you?” you asked, crossing your arms.

“Uh, yeah. Sure!” He tried his best to shimmy over to give you what little room he could on his comically small bunk.

You lifted the blanket and slid in next to him, letting out an angry huff. He didn’t ask because he already knew what was wrong. He just let you maneuver however you wanted before you settled into his side. He clutched Lula to his chest and let out a big yawn before quickly falling into a deep sleep. You only wished you could fall asleep as easily as Wrecker; the giant snoozed peacefully while you lay awake.

You breathed in his comforting scent and stared at his door, knowing Hunter was just across the hall, probably nursing his wounds. Good, you thought. He should be hurting for letting Crosshair do what he did.

You were seething.

He let Crosshair manhandle you like a fucking animal without even intervening. He just sat there, looking pissed behind his stupid bowl of rations. He probably had heard you and Wolffe and that's why he didn’t step in… stupid territorial fuck head alphas. 

Even Tech, sweet Tech, of all the brothers you thought would come to your aid… nope. He just sat there watching it unfold.

You’re giving Echo a hall pass because he was busy making the food and definitely didn’t have enough time to react before Wolffe stepped in. Plus, you knew you’d need someone to talk to.

You shivered, thinking about that murderous look in the commander’s eyes. He must have heard from the woods and came running to your aid. Twice in one night, the alpha came to your rescue.

Then he offered you a place in his pack… You rubbed your exhausted eyes, rolling over onto your back. Wrecker grumbled something in his sleep before reaching an arm over and wrapping it around your middle, snuggling you closer like you were Lula. You decided this was a problem for tomorrow, but right now you wanted to go to sleep. The day had finally caught up to you, and you felt yourself slipping.

You relaxed into Wrecker’s warmth and let sleep take you.

~~~

“It’s been a week,” Hunter grizzled, watching you leave for your morning shift. Echo was the only one you’d allow to accompany you on your little journeys into the growing war camp. Other than that, you haven’t even looked at your unit, letting them stew in your silence.

Tech shifted uncomfortably, “I believe she’s waiting for us to apologize.”

Crosshair grunted, “For what?”

“Well, you did force her to submit under your threatening behavior,” Tech looked to his little brother, “Most omegas don’t take too kindly to that.”

“What do you know about omegas?” Crosshair narrowed his eyes.

Tech just bristled and continued staring at the breakfast grains.

“She can’t keep this up much longer,” Hunter sighed.

“I hate it!” Wrecker sobbed, “You better say you're sorry!” Wrecker missed you. You hadn’t been talking to anyone, and that included him. He just watched you in silence when you came back to the ship to sleep and change your clothes. He tried so many times to bribe you into giving him attention, but you just smiled and nodded instead.

“She’s most likely going to take up Wolffe’s offer if either of you don’t say something,” Tech looked at Hunter, who just soured over his breakfast, “I’m seldomly wrong.”

“He can have her if she prefers those regs,” Crosshair snapped.

Wrecker just groaned and threw his head back dramatically.

“Fine,” Hunter stood up, “I’ll go and apologize. Hopefully, she’s willing to listen.”

“A little groveling may be beneficial,” Tech pushed his goggles up his nose, “and she usually enjoys being fed snacks. That may be a good bribe.”

Hunter brushed off his pants and began his walk into camp, “Thanks for the recommendation.” Hunter felt like ripping out his own nails might be more pleasurable than facing the brewing wrath of his tiny little medic.

Hunter was approaching the ridge when he heard a strange buzzing. Looking around, he didn’t see anything but instead grabbed his com, “Hey, does anyone else hear that?”

“Negative, Sarge,” Wrecker responded.

Hunter then looked to his left and noticed a formation of strange-looking LAAT/c ships approaching. They slowed on approach to the camp, and Hunter noticed that they were empty inside. Where were the infantry? He reached for his scopes to get a better look.

Then something unexpected happened. The gunships halted their advance, and Hunter noticed multiple battle droids appear inside the main cabins.

“Oh shit,” he started running towards the camp, “Battle droids on approach!” He yelled into the com, hoping anyone would hear him, “Commander Wolffe come in!”

Then the camp suddenly turned into madness. The battle droids pushed out red-looking torpedoes from the side openings, watching them plummet directly into the war camp below. With a massive explosion, plumes of crimson powder billowed over the entire camp like a fog. Hunter froze in place, staring in horror as the smoke began to spread rapidly among the 104th.

“Oh no,” Tech caught up to Hunter, coming to the same halt, “Is that-”

Hunter’s attention immediately went to the triage center, “Y/N…”

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

Dunndundun...

Next chapter gonna be a doozie... sryntsry the slow burn's turning into a wild fire next update.

Taglist: @substantial-exposure @rains-on-kamino @minimissmoo

[foreverisntenough]

- YOU’RE MINE -

Summary: While you daydreamed about his face an ocean apart, he had no idea what yours was about to do to him. With a twist of fate and the heat of summer, a new relationship would completely ransack his heart - Everyday heavy with the thought of one another, neither of you were going to let the unexpected love of your life go. You were going to be his, you were his, and you were going to stay his.

Warnings: This series will contain fluff, suggestion, smut love bombing, little sad, and kind of angst- not sure what else really… if i miss anything please lmk!

Note:. I hope you like it! There will definitely be more parts (don’t know how many just yet though.)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

Chapter 9 - ‘You’re Mine’

Trent was dripping sweat. It was so hot out and it was another grueling training session of preseason. The team was away in some European country tucked in obscure mountains and as focused on the season and his fitness Trent was he couldn’t stop dreaming of being out of this rural landscape back on the city streets of Manhattan with you.

He was exhausted, trudging inside chatting nonsense with his teammates. He couldn’t wait to shower and get back to his room to call you. He went into the locker room pulling his top off over his head, throwing it on the bench, turning to face his locker to grab his wash bag when he was met with a slew of teasing whistles. He turned around to see what all the fuss was about and to his surprise it was about him. His teammates began to press.

“Who you been fucking Trentski?” Dom asked.

“Didn’t know you got into it like that brother,” Ibou said surprised.

“Shit, she got you good…” Curtis chimed in.

“What are you on about?” Trent quipped. The scratches he felt sting in the shower weeks ago from your last night in bed together were still there not all the way faded just yet. The boys questions continued to come piling in..

“Bro, who have you been sleeping with?” Andy pipped in.

“I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.” Cody said more innocently.

“It’s from a while ago…” Trent tried to ignore and suppress the inquiries.

“Well.. yeah Trenski it’s obvious they aren’t fresh but…. brother who’s marking you up like that.” Andy continued to pry.

The boys moved on but those closer to Trent were interested and wanted to learn more about who left these scratches they hadn’t managed to clock till now. Trent was always private particularly about his relationships but he was being more removed from the group than his usual self. He was doing things like going to bed earlier, not staying up to watch a movie or opting out of card games he’d typically die to win all unbeknownst to his teammates so he could talk to you.

You’re nightly check in and conversation with Trent had rapidly spiraled into something much more sexy. You two both incredibly horny missing each other and certainly missing each other's touch.

“Babbbyyy” you moaned, your hand rubbing circles around your pulsating sensitive clit.

“Fuck baby, I wish I was with you right now, I want to taste you so bad.” Trent growled imagining how good it would be to eat you out right now and not be alone in his hotel room.

You were overstimulating yourself but you just couldn’t stop. All you could think of was Trent’s tongue licking your pussy, flicking over your clit, his fingers drilling in and out of you. You were getting so wet just at the memories of him. Your hands were doing a decent job emulating it but it was hardly as perfect as it was when Trent was taking care of you.

You gasped out his name when you reached a certain spot with your fingers. Trent kept talking you through it, telling you how good you were doing, how good he felt just watching you get off to him.

“So good f’me beautiful. So fucking sexy. Going to be a good girl and cum again f’me? Cum all over your fingers like you would on me.” His words had you quivering. You were so overwhelmed with pleasure hearing his voice just pushed you over the edge. You came, squirting in the process, moaning senselessly.

“Fuck f-fuck holy shit T I miss you so much.” You managed to get some words out between heaving breaths. Your sheets covered in your juices. Trent’s release wasn’t far behind.

“Jesus fucking Christ baby, I need you so bad. I can’t handle this any more, I need you back with me, need to taste you, need to feel you.” Trent was babbling but also just unequivocally obsessed with you and after he came, it only furthered his feelings for you. “My perfect, perfect girl”

“T, I can’t wait to see you soon. I miss your kisses. I miss you so much…I hope that’s okay” You said finally catching your breath still a little nervous how Trent genuinely felt and your impending visit.

“Y/N, I can’t explain to you how much you mean to me. Trust me. I’m so… I don’t know, I can’t think of some cliche phrase to describe it but you’re it for me, baby.”

“Head over heels comes to mind for me” you giggled. Trent’s lips pulled into a sweet smile, your laugh was his kryptonite, he could listen to it on loop.

“I gotta go clean up, I have a team dinner soon, beautiful. I’m sorry I can’t stay and talk longer.”

“It’s okay T, really.” You said with a big smile watching him sit up unintentionally showing more of his tanned toned body. “I wish I could shower with you right now.” You mused suggestively.

“I would kill for that, I’m not being dramatic either.” Trent said incredibly seriously..

“Mmm gimme my T back please.” You said just about drooling over his body more on display now.

“All mine, right?” Trent questioned you.

“Promise.” You cooed before kissing at him through the phone.

He couldn’t hear it but one of Trent’s closest teammates, Dom, was knocking lightly on his hotel room door. Trent was in the shower and honestly he was still thinking of all the showers you two had shared until he finally heard his friend enter into the room.

“Yo bro! You here?” Dom's voice echoed loud through the room enough for Trent to hear from the bathroom.

“Shower” Trent confirmed his obvious location, muffled a little by the falling water and a J Hus song playing from a bluetooth speaker.

Despite Dom’s arrival Trent took his time in the shower but his friend was getting bored.

“Can I change the song?” Dom asked, yelling out to Trent.

“Yeah, mate, go ‘head. Left the phone charging on the bed” He directed Dom.

Dom waked over sprawling out on the hotel bed picking up his unlocked phone swiping open with the intention to go straight to Spotify. Dom shot up straight away though when the screen was opened already on a photo within the messages app from your latest conversation with Trent. He gawked at what was on the screen. The last message sent was a picture you had taken on a timer. You were naked in bed resting on your knees, ass seated back on your heels. Legs spread open. Your one arm wrapped right under your boobs pushing them up but still leaving them completely exposed, the hand of your other arm was in your mouth. Your pointer finger and thumb were pulling on your bottom lip to place your knuckle between your teeth. Your hair was down but a little messy, your eyes filled with feigned innocence. You were completely on display. Dom couldn’t help but look. It was a sexy photo but it was also meant for Trent and he knew that so he swiped away from the picture only to reveal the back and forth messages the picture had been included in…

“That call had me 🥵. Counting down the days baby” Trent had texted.

“I miss you so much. I can’t wait to see you soon”

“Missing you baby, was dreaming about seeing you like that all morning too.” He sent alluding to your earlier FaceTime.

“And what was I wearing, T?”

“Absolutely nothing, beautiful, just how I like.”

“Were you dreaming of this?” You sent the nude attached.

The message was what led to the photo being the last thing opened on the phone. Dom was absolutely shocked at what he was looking at. The pet names, the comfort level, the lust… who the fuck was his friend talking to and why had he not mentioned anything. When he heard the water turn off from the shower he quickly exited and navigated directly to Spotify to change the song to literally anything to avoid any suspicion that he had just found out Trent was clearly seeing someone.

“Sorry bro” Trent came out in a towel. Dom couldn’t barely think straight, not sure how to talk without bringing up what he had just uncovered.

“Yeah, no worries. Took you long enough though. Uhh you… you excited to get back to Liverpool in a few days?” Dom asked alluding to what might be waiting for Trent back home but he knew nothing about your situation and your distance. His question was oddly formal and random for the pair to discuss so Trent replied but with a confused look.

“…Erm yeah, suppose. Get the season going, feeling good about it. What’s going on?” He pressed.

“Nothing!” Dom almost jumped at the question like it was an accusation.

“Alright… let me change quick and we can head down to dinner.” Trent ignored the awkward exchange. Although Dom couldn’t get the image of you nude out of his mind and was piecing together just how Trent had probably gotten the scratches everyone was talking about in the locker room.

Trent was still texting you walking to dinner with Dom now seeing the photo you had sent, his reply consisted of just a plethora of drool emojis. Despite his attempt to be discreet, his face was anything but so Dom poked fun fully aware of what Trent was looking at.

“What you looking at bro? You’re practically drooling..” Dom probed pretending he didn’t know.

“Nah, nothing… just a text.” Trent tried to reign in his feelings about your heated message.

“Yeah, alright. Cool, cool” Dom said, letting it go for now.

The next day the boys were gathered in a common area just talking shit. When Andy probed the group if anyone had anything interesting going on; finally getting bored of each other's summer holiday stories but Trent clearly had yet to share the most exciting part of his so Dom took it upon himself to help share for him.

“Trenski you haven’t shared much about what you got up to.” Dom interjected.

“Yeah, brother, how was the trip to the US, you didn’t even tell us any of the dumb shit you got up to with the lads…” Andy pressed unaware.

“Yeah.. uh.. was good all around, met some great people, went to some nice places. Don’t know.” Trent said nonchalantly.

“Erm… that was the most boring basic answer I’ve ever heard. Give us something!” Curtis joined the conversation.

“Great people huh? Any you still keeping in touch with?” Ibou mused, eyebrows raised, poking fun that maybe girls were involved in the summer holiday but again unaware of your existence.

“If you count receiving nudes from some girl as keeping in touch, then I say Trentski is doing just fine in that department.” Dom spoke again. Trent’s jaw almost hit the floor.

“Excuse… me…” Andy’s jaw was also on the floor next to Trent’s.

“Expand! Expand! Tell us more Domi!” Curtis cheered now more invested.

“How do..” Trent began to speak quietly to question before Dom cut him off.

“Sorry bro, don’t leave your phone unlocked with a picture of your girl naked open… ‘baby’” Dom mocked Trent’s pet name he had read in your messages.

“Baby!? We’re calling this girl ‘baby!’ This is insane, who is this?!” Andy’s voice was laced with excitement but also shocked Trent kept this from them.

“Everyone low it.” Trent said gesturing with his hands trying to calm the rowdiness of the group.

“Wait so is she your ‘baby’?” Curtis inquired genuinely but still clinging to the conversation around Trent using a pet name.

“She’s… she’s my. I don’t know we haven’t labeled anything, we’re just going with it. Obviously we’re not able to be physically together right now. She’s just..” Trent babbled and then sighed in frustration over not totally knowing what to call you because he knew exactly what he wanted you to be but you weren’t yet.

“Oohoohoo” Ibou cooed.

“You guys just ‘miss each other so much’ and are ‘dreaming’ of her, getting naked photos, ‘counting days to see her’ I’m pretty sure it’s something.” Dom continued to lightheartedly mock the messages he read.

“First off, don’t ever go near my phone again and secondly, yeah it’s something… I just don’t know what yet, it’s tricky.” Trent was annoyed at Dom's unintentional invasion of privacy but also a little shy that he couldn’t just answer these questions simply.

“Wait, wait, let’s liven up the afternoon. Give the girl a call Trentski, odds are..” Andy probed looking for some excitement knowing Trent wouldn’t turn down a competition.

“It’s gotta be a FaceTime!” Curtis yelled. The game ensued and slightly fazed by his overwhelm Trent lost disgruntledly.

The FaceTime tone rang and Trent’s heart was racing. He sat back in his chair leaning his head back on the wall.

“When she answers, no one fucking say a word.” He glared at the boys moving their chairs around him ready with listening ears. Your sleepy face appeared on the phone and Trent immediately felt a little more at ease seeing you tucked in your bed looking absolutely adorable.

“Hiii baby” you cooed

“Yeah, you alright” Trent asked sweetly, trying to stay calm but Andy had grabbed his leg at the shock of hearing your warm voice answer so lovingly.

“Just laying in bed, thinking about you, T.” You said sexily unaware Trent had an audience. Dom and Curtis clung to each other giddy like little boys. Curtis slipping down off his chair onto the floor in dramatics and continued shock.

“Awh, don’t tell me thattt..” Trent shut his eyes, getting lost for a moment at the thought of being in bed with you forgetting about his audience, your giggle quickly snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Missing you lots. Counting down days.” You said soft and slow, clearly tired.

“Yeah me as well, beautiful” Ibou slapped his hand over his mouth hearing Trent use another pet name which resulted in Trent swatting at him discreetly out of your view.

“You okay? Seem like.. off?” You pried noticing that Trent seemed tense.

“Yeah, yeah, just tired, training…the usual. I gotta run through, baby.” Trent tried to just rush through this given his audience even though he did genuinely want to talk to you just not like this.

“Not fair, just going let me see you, only for you to leave me naked in bed with…” Trent cut you off before you could say anything further. Andy mouthed an ‘oh my god’ throwing his hands around in disbelief.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Just needed to see that face” Trent said giggling at you just completely enamored by your ability to be so cute and yet incredibly sexy.

“Fine, well I’ll be here if you need me…” you said with a suggestive wink.

“Can’t wait to see you so soon, baby.”

“Bye, baby” you said, kissing towards Trent on the screen emphasizing the ‘mwah’ sound like you normally did.

“Bye, I.. I lo- I’ll talk to you later” Trent stuttered but gathered himself to wink back at you before the call ended. The group of boys erupted with noise, questions, jokes..

“Shut up! Shut up!” Andy yelled over the group. “You were almost about to say you loved her! Trentskiiiiiiiii”

“I’m down bad. I’m aware. I'm an absolute melt. Also… I hated that. That wasn’t fair to her.” Trent was quiet but the group only got louder again.

“Are we not going to talk about the fact that she has an AMERICAN accent!” Curtis yelled. Trent could only laugh.

“Yeah, well she does, she is in fact… American.” He confirmed.

“I wanna see her, Domi got to, so we should get to as well.” Ibou pressed.

“You’re definitely not seeing what Dom saw.” Trent said glaring at Dom. “But yeah fine, hold up I’ll pull her Instagram.” Trent proceeded to pull up your profile on his phone. He couldn’t risk showing the boys photos he’d taken in his camera roll, it was filled with far too much explicit content of you so he opted for your instagram.

You had a low key profile on the app, a small following, but your photos were anything but that. You had a thing for photography, clearly fashion so your feed was curated and stunning. If you had really wanted to you could probably push for the influencer thing but you never wanted that. Photos of you in little bikinis showing off an insane body, a face card that never declined, holiday photos that even these famous athletes would envy the locations of, perfect manicured hands adorn with jewelry holding martinis; it was all astonishing. Trent knew you really well now and thought it was amusing how blissfully unaware you were at how lavish you and your life truly were but more so how little it shaped you. You were incredibly normal, sweet, selfless, and down to earth. He liked that most about you, your appearance was a bonus.

“Holy fuck..” Curtis’ jaw slackened “Dom, I feel like you kind of down played this one…”

“What was I supposed to say, ‘oh yeah, Trent’s girl is sexy?” Dom quipped, only causing Trent to feign offense.

“You’re absolutely lying...” Andy responded getting a look at your profile. “Brother... what the fuck. This is your dream girl.”

“I’m aware. I am fully aware, so I’m trying not to mess it up.” Trent said now with a smile looking at a photo you had recently posted that was actually one he took but no one would possibly know that but the two of you.

“So she’s coming to see you?” Dom asked for clarity.

“Yeah, when we’re back, first match flying her over. I don’t think I’ve actually ever been nervous for a game before until I invited her to this one.” Trent honestly admitted, completely smitten.

“Awww trentyyy’s in love” Curtis said, squeezing Trent’s arm. The boys continued to tease and as annoying as they were… they were right. Trent was definitely in love.

•

Thank you for continuing reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts/ questions! 🤍

Next part is up - Chapter 10

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

General Rated Fics Masterlist (17)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 /

Created: March 12th, 2024

Last Checked: —-

Double Wedding-hutchabelle (ao3)  Summary: Peeta thinks his wedding day is the most important of his life until a memory resurfaces at an opportune moment. Ensuring the Enduring Happiness of Katniss Everdeen-Gamemakers (ao3)  Summary: Facing twelve weeks of summer without her best friend, Posy knows she needs a project. At first, hunting with Katniss seems like enough, but when she realizes just how lonely her new friend really is, Posy is determined to find a more permanent companion for Katniss. She’s even got the man picked out – Peeta Mellark. Now, all that remains is convincing them they need each other. Everything's Better With Sparkles-FanficAllergy, RoseFyre (ao3)  Summary: Finnick Odair meets his Quarter Quell outfit for the first time. Fair Play-ghtlovesthg (ao3)  Summary: Peeta is taking aim, and he has his sights set on Katniss. Too bad he's the worst shot she's ever seen. Fluffy AU submission to PiP Round 3. Prompt: The Fair First Impressions-FanficAllergy (ao3)  Summary: The first time he sees her up there on the big screen he knows she's the one. Gone the Sun-FanficAllergy (ao3)  Summary: Even in the darkest of nights, the dawn will come. Modern AU Good Again-forthegenuine (ao3)  Summary: "I kept telling myself if I could only hold out until May, May 8th..." Good Things Will Strive to Dwell-forthegenuine (ao3)  Summary: So it was, that whenever Peeta declared a change in the weather, Katniss would make it a point to rise earlier than her husband the baker, especially since the children were born... The first time a question is raised about The Past. Go With Me-Hutchabelle (ao3)  Summary: Friends at Panem State University, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen attend a party together and discover how much they like each other. Grandpa Mellark-hutchabelle (ao3)  Summary: I was tagged in the Everlark Drabble Challenge with the prompt “Everlark — the best things in life”.

[snitchcrimsonwrites]

Maybe pt. 13

Pairing: Norm MacLean X Female Reader or OC if you squint

Former friends to a relationship?

Life is pretty easy in Vault 33 until you're trying to rekindle a former friendship and Raiders attack. Now, our main characters are trying to navigate newfound feelings, all while undercovering the mysteries of Vault 33. Stay tuned. Follows the main storyline of season 1; some events may be reordered for plot.

Norm wrestles with keeping secrets about Vault 31 from you and Suprise! You've got new vault assignments!

Part 1 Here Part 6 Here Part 11 Here

Part 2 Here Part 7 Here Part 12 Here

Part 3 Here Part 8 Here

Part 4 Here Part 9 Here

Part 5 Here Part 10 Here

Norm was having trouble sleeping. He lay awake; the guilt from keeping secrets from you felt like it was eating him alive from the inside. He rolled over to watch you sleeping peacefully beside him, your face serene in the dim light of his bedroom. 

He realized he was doing it again, trying to protect you with what he thought was best instead of being upfront and honest. Suddenly, the memory hit him like a wave, pulling him back to when you were both sixteen. You had always been intelligent and ambitious, with desires that extended far beyond the confines of Vault 33, if only you’d been born at a different time, maybe you could have embraced it. When your teacher suggested you fully commit to your studies because performing well on the G.O.A.T. exam could "change your future," you buckled down and studied hard. But at the time, Norm couldn't shake the feeling that he was holding you back. He remembered overhearing some of the older kids talking about how your friendship with him was a distraction, how you could do so much better if you weren't always looking out for him. He never thought of it that way, but reflecting back, maybe they were right? Over the next few weeks, he continued to pull away, creating a rift that grew wider with each passing day. And here he was doing it again, with the same self-destructive tendencies. He couldn’t hold it in any longer. He had to come clean about the information he uncovered about the Vault 31 transfers and his concerns that you both might be in very real danger.

He gently touched your shoulder, trying to rouse you from your sleep. “Hey, (Y/N),” he whispered softly, “Can we talk?”

You groaned, squinting at him through half-closed eyes. "Norm, what time is it?" you asked, your voice groggy. 

"It's late, I know, but it's important. Can we talk?” he repeated, his voice tinged with seriousness.

You hesitated, still trying to shake off sleep. “Yeah, sure, just give me a second to wake up.”

You sat up slowly, rubbing your eyes and looking at him with concern. “Okay, what’s up?”

Norm took a deep breath, his heart pounding. “I’ve been keeping something from you, and I need to let you know what’s going on.” You felt your heart skip a beat. What was he keeping from you? Your mind raced with every horrible possibility. He’s breaking up with me. 

“It’s about Vault 31 and the Overseers. Every Overseer we’ve had was transferred from Vault 31, and the same pattern was happening in Vault 32.” A wave of relief settles in your chest. This news wasn’t great, but he wasn’t breaking up with you. 

You frowned, still trying to wake up fully. "Wait, what? Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

"I didn’t want to worry you," Norm admitted, guilt creeping into his voice. "But after what happened today, I couldn’t keep it from you anymore.”

Your annoyance faded as your mind began racing, trying to piece together the fragments of information you’d been gathering. You could be mad at Norm later. Right now, your mind was intent on solving this mystery. Norm continued, explaining what he uncovered about the Vault 31 transfers and his conversation with Betty in the Vault 32 Overseer’s office. 

You shook your head, trying to connect the dots. "So, we have overseers from Vault 31, your mom’s Pip-Boy opening Vault 32, something deeper with the raiders, and now Betty pushing for people to move into Vault 32. There’s something we’re missing."

"Exactly," Norm agreed, relief washing over him that you were taking this seriously. "I just don’t know what it is yet.” 

You thought through several possibilities, each more unsettling than the last. "We need more information. Why is Vault 31 so involved in this? Maybe there are records or logs we haven’t seen yet."

Norm nodded. "I’ll keep digging, but I think we need to be more careful. Them assigning you an extra shift and the timing of the Vault 32 cleanup that all feels deliberate.” 

As you both lay back down, sleep seemed impossible. After a moment of silence, you couldn't resist making a joke to lighten the mood. "You know, Norm, I’m really mad at you for keeping me in the dark about this," you said, half-teasing, half-serious.

Norm looked at you with a mix of guilt and relief. "I know, and I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise." 

"Oh, you better," you said, smiling despite the tension. "Because I’m not letting you off the hook that easily. Waking me up in the middle of the night with a ‘Hey, can we talk?’ I thought you were about to break up with me, not dish Vault secrets.”

Norm laughed, shaking his head. "You thought I was breaking up with you?"

"Yes, when people ask ’to talk,’ it's usually about something in their relationship. I guess I got lucky with Vault conspiracies instead."

Norm grinned. "Well, I guess I’ll have to devise more creative ways to keep you on your toes." 

You raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Oh, really? Like what?"

"Maybe I'll start hiding your favorite books. A little literature hide n' seek. That should keep you busy."

You gasped, feigning shock. “How dare you,” you retort, playfully swatting at his hands. “And for the record, if you ever decide to break up with me, please do it during the day," you said, rolling back over. 

He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a playful whisper. "Noted. But just so you know, I don’t plan on it."

Your heart skipped a beat at his words, did he mean that? "Good. Because I’d hate to have to find someone else to solve Vault conspiracies with, the interviews alone would be way too time-consuming."

Norm chuckled, pulling you closer. "Looks like you're stuck with me then."

You smiled, feeling a mix of relief and affection. "I wouldn’t have it any other way," pulling him into a soft good-night kiss. 

____________________

The next couple of days passed slowly, each dragging on with a mix of routine and tension. You were back in the Pip-boy lab, slammed with maintenance and software updates since some Vault dwellers would be leaving soon to repopulate 32; everyone needed to make sure their devices were fully functional. While you were occupied with that, Norm spent his days delivering rations to the ungrateful raiders. The routine work provided little distraction from the questions looming over you.

Aside from work, every spare moment was spent trying to uncover more about Vault 31, but nothing new had come to light so far. You could see Norm’s frustration grow with each passing day. Seeing the raiders day in and day out and not being able to do anything about it bothered him deeply. Betty knew what she was doing when she reassigned him there. His dad's home office, which he hoped would offer clues about his father's life in Vault 31, remained frustratingly devoid of new information.

One afternoon, between his shifts, Norm stopped in for a visit. He appeared as normal in your office doorway. You looked up from your spot on the workbench as he entered, a weariness showing on his face. 

"Hey," you greeted, setting aside your tools. "Any luck today?"

Norm shook his head, a sigh escaping his lips. "Nope. The raiders are as insufferable as ever, and my dad’s office was a dead end. I was hoping there might be something—anything—that would give us a clue, but it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack."

You nodded, understanding his frustration all too well. "I know the feeling. I've been reviewing the Pip-boy records, but nothing else stands out. It's like they’ve covered their tracks too well."

Norm ran a hand through his hair, leaning against the workbench beside you. "It’s maddening.” 

You didn’t get a chance to respond as the P.A. system chimes, and suddenly the room is filled with the sound of Reg McPhee’s voice. “In preparation for repopulating our neighboring Vault 32, Overseer Betty will be sending out vault assignments later today. Remember, wherever you end up, that’s where you belong.” 

“That’s comforting,” you replied, addressing Reg’s bluntness. You tried to mask your nerves with a casual remark, but Norm could see right through it. 

 Norm approaches your chair from behind, placing his hands on your shoulders with a squeeze, trying to get you to relax. “Neverous?” 

“That’s an understatement.”

He was, too, but he didn’t want to show it, playing it off for you. "Hey, statistically speaking, there's a good chance we'll end up together in either Vault 32 or 33. And no matter what, we'll figure it out," he assured you, his words infused with quiet confidence. Being the optimistic one in a relationship was exhausting. 

____________________________

Norm had to return for his evening ration delivery. He kissed you goodbye, offering to try and meet up before the relocation announcement so the two of you could be together for the good or bad news. As he passed through the checkpoint with his cart of food trays, he noticed another group wheeling lifeless raider bodies out of the reading room prison.

Ignoring his duties, he abandoned his cart in the hallway and hurried into the room, where the members of the vault council were already gathered, taking in the scene.

"What happened here?" Norm asked, his voice tinged with concern.

Betty, looking visibly shaken, turned to face him. "We're not entirely sure, but the vault medic believes it was rat poison," she replied, her tone heavy with frustration. "We need to find out who's responsible for this."

Betty's gaze hardened as she turned her attention to him. "And what did I tell you, Norman?" she admonished, her voice stern. "Words have meaning.” He couldn’t believe what she was suggesting. 

As she begins to walk out, Woody calls out to her, clearly anxious about how the situation will be handled. “People are gonna be upset when they hear about this.” She turns to respond. “People like to have something to fuss about.” She was right. It’s in people’s nature to find a bone to pick, especially in a place like this where there’s so little excitement. Whether it’s the new Vault assignments or something as trivial as the food rations or the death of a dozen or so Vault prisoners, there will always be people talking. 

Moments after Betty left the room, Norm's pip-boy pinged, drawing his attention. He looked down and saw the message, "Congratulations! You're staying in 33." His heart raced with a mix of relief and dread. He was surprised to see the assignments issued so soon; he guessed the Overseer decided this was the new thing to fuss over, as opposed to the dead raiders. Excusing himself hastily, he dashed out of the room, navigating the crowded corridors of Vault 33 with a singular focus. He dodged eager dwellers clamoring to see their assignments, his mind solely on reaching you.

Arriving at your doorway, he found you already there, the expression on your face telling him everything he needed to know. Without a word, he stepped inside, his breaths coming in short, heavy gasps as he struggled to process the news.

"Where... where are you assigned?" he managed to ask, his voice barely above a whisper, though he already knew the answer.

You met his gaze, sadness evident in your eyes as you confirmed his fears. You held up your Pip-Boy, showing the dreaded message: “Assigned to Vault 32.”

Norm’s heart sank, but he quickly steeled himself. “I got assigned to stay in Vault 33,” he said softly. He saw the flicker of pain in your eyes and took a deep breath. “But I have one last idea. Let's go to the Vault Council and request a hearing to reconsider the relocation assignments.”

You looked at him skeptically. “Why would they change their minds? 'Wherever you end up, that’s where you belong,' remember?"

Norm stepped closer, his voice earnest. “Do you want to be with me? Is that your decision?”

“Yes,” you replied, the word escaping almost like a breath. “I’d do anything to be with you.”

“Then we have to try,” he said firmly, grabbing your hand. “Let’s go.”

Norm and you made your way through the bustling corridors of Vault 33, the weight of the uncertain future pressing down on you both. As you approached the overseer’s office, you spotted Betty in the hallway outside, discussing something with another vault resident.

“Excuse me, Overseer,” Norm called, trying to get her attention.

Betty turned, her expression shifting from a polite smile to a more curious gaze as she recognized the urgency in Norm's voice. “Norman, (Y/N),  what can I do for you two?”

Norm took a deep breath, stepping forward. “I wanted to request a hearing to reconsider our vault assignments.”

Betty sighed, a touch of weariness in her eyes. “Norman, the assignments are final. We need to follow the protocol for the good of everyone.”

Norm pleaded, his voice earnest. “Please, Overseer. This is the woman I want to marry and start a life with. It would be unfair not to at least let us present our case.”

Your eyes widened in surprise, the weight of Norm's words hitting you like a shockwave. Marry? Start a life together? You glanced at him, trying to process his unexpected declaration.

Betty’s eyes widened slightly as well, a mix of surprise and interest flickering across her face. “Is that so?” She turned her gaze to you, her expression probing. “And do you feel the same way?”

You nodded, your voice steady despite the nerves and the sudden twist in your emotions. “I do. We haven’t said anything before because of everything that’s been happening, but we want to be together.”

Betty considered your words, her gaze thoughtful. After a moment, she nodded. “Alright. I’ll grant your hearing request right away. Follow me.”

She led the way into her office, and you and Norm followed, exchanging hopeful glances. Inside, Betty gestured for you to take a seat as she settled behind her desk. She pressed a button on her terminal, summoning the other council members. Within moments, Woody and Reg entered the room, both looking surprised.

Once everyone was gathered, Betty explained the situation. “Norman and (Y/N) wish to present a case regarding their vault assignments.”

Woody raised an eyebrow, glancing between Norm and you. “A case? This is unusual.”

Reg crossed his arms, a puzzled expression on his face. “Indeed. I thought the assignments would be final. What’s this about, Norm?”

Norm took a deep breath. “We’ve been assigned to different vaults—(Y/N) to Vault 32 and me to Vault 33. We’re here to request reconsideration of these assignments.”

Woody exchanged a look with Reg, both of them clearly taken aback by the request. “This is highly irregular,” Woody muttered.

Reg leaned forward, his expression softening slightly. “Norm, (Y/N), we understand this is difficult. But vault assignments are made with the community’s best interests in mind. What makes you think an exception should be made for you two and not for everyone else?”

You took a deep breath, ready to play the game. Bloster the Vaults, that’s what they want to hear. “We believe that our relationship strengthens the community. We support each other, and we’re both dedicated to contributing to the well-being of the vault. Separating us would not only affect us personally but could also impact our ability to perform our duties effectively. 

With your words, Betty addressed the council. “Given the exceptional circumstances we’ve faced recently, I believe it’s worth considering their request.” 

Woody and Reg exchanged another look, then hesitantly nodded in agreement. They didn’t seem entirely convinced but followed the Overseer’s lead. “Alright,” Reg said. “We’ll hear your case. But understand this is a significant request. We need to ensure that any decision made is in the best interest of our entire community.”

The council agreed, and Betty turned to her terminal and began typing: "Before we make a final decision, we need to consider all aspects, including compatibility, to help sustain the future of the Vaults. As you know, our Vault system collects data to run compatibility reports, which suggest which vault dwellers would make good pairings based on genetic interplay and other factors."

You exchanged a curious glance with Norm as Betty pulled up the document on the screen. The council members leaned in, studying the data carefully.

Betty scrolled through the list, pausing when she found your names. "According to this report, Norman and (Y/N)  have a high compatibility score. Their genetic profiles suggest that any potential offspring would be healthy and well-adapted to our environment."

Woody sighed, examining the data displayed on the screen. “High compatibility, potential overseer offspring, and high intelligence scores. I have to admit this is quite significant.”

“Given our long-term goal of reclaiming the surface, maintaining a healthy and genetically diverse population is crucial,” Reg muttered reluctantly.   

Betty leaned back in her chair, her gaze shifting between the council members and the two of you. “We must consider the future of our community. The well-being of our vault dwellers, particularly those who are highly compatible and capable, is paramount.”

After a moment of deliberation, Betty made the final call. “In light of the evidence and the importance of maintaining a healthy, thriving population, the council has decided to allow you both to stay in Vault 33. However, the events of this hearing will remain confidential, understand?”

As you left the office, you couldn’t help but tease Norm. “So, marrying me, huh? When were you planning to tell me about that part?”

Norm grinned sheepishly. “ Sorry for springing that on you. Definitely, a last resort, but I guess I figured now was as good a time as any. Besides, I like to keep you on your toes. Remember?”

You laughed, feeling a mix of affection and relief. “Well, you certainly succeeded. Just don’t make a habit of it, okay?”

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Wasted 8

Warnings: drug dealing/use, violence, noncon, and the usual. Proceed with caution.

Feedback is always welcome. Love you and thanks for the wonderful responses so far.♥♥♥♥

The other girl in this one is from Black Light

Part of The Club AU

The world is duller without Snickerdoodle around. In the week you've known her, she's affected your outlook. You're still a cynic but you don't mind having her around. In fact, you enjoy it. Besides, she needs someone to keep her out of trouble.

So it is that you're restless. She's busy at the thrift shop with her mother. She offered to bring you along but it feels like an intrusion. She has other friends, even if they sound shitty.

After a while of indecision, you head down to the coffee shop. As you come up on the aged awning, you pause. The burnt coffee and stale croissants aren't as appealing as usual. Your feet carry you past it.

You hop on a bus and step off a street away from your destination. You don't know what you're hoping for, a bit of comfort in sugar form. You enter the cookie shop and suck in the scent of chocolate and cinnamon.

Maybe later you can meet up with your new friend. You join the queue and look up at the menu. You could grab an extra lemon square. Ugh, since when are you sentimental?

You stand behind a man. Short and spindly, his blonde head bobbing up as he tries to see the display of cookies around the customer in front of him. You glance around at the free seats, there's not many left.

The line shifts forward and you go with it. The man steps up and places his order. His deep voice surprises you but you don't hear his words as you peruse the specialty lattes.

It comes your turn as the skinny blond stranger moves to join the other customers by the order window. You get the rosehips tea latte and a few lemon squares. You pay and wait for your change.

"Steve," a barista calls out.

You peek over as the blond man grabs his cup, only for the man near the other side of the window to snicker.

"Ha, think that extra cream will hulk ya up," the other man snarls and laughs with his buddy.

You frown. The guy's minding his business, you don't see why those jock douchebags need to chirp him. Or maybe you're just annoyed because you know the type.

"Jack Skellington here and his double foam mocha–"

"Whatever," the blond mutters.

"Hey, why don't you shut it," you sidle over and cross your arms.

"What do you care?" One of the bulky men rolls his eyes.

"I don't which is why I don't wanna hear it."

"Mind your business," the other retorts.

"You," you snap back.

"You shouldn't talk to women that way," the blond inserts himself in the middle, gripping his cup, "so why don't you quiet down?"

"She put her nose where it doesn't belong. Guess you'd know all about that, bird beak."

"Loser," the second man taps the bottom of the blonds cup, splashing the cream and coffee up his front.

You step forward as the barista barks out, "hey, take your drinks." He slams down two cups, "and don't come back."

"The pip squeak–"

"I can hear, bro," the barista interjects, "so go."

The dude bros sulkily take their cups and shoulder past the smaller man. The barista puts a roll of brown paper towel on the counter and you grab it before the blond can. You guess Snickerdoodle rubbed off on you, just a little. You tear away a good length and hand it over.

He puts down his mostly empty cup and accepts it with a scratchy thank. He tries to mop clean his button-up, the brown plaid baggy across his thin torso. The barista takes his cup and dumps it, promising a fresh one as another employee sets your latte in the window.

"You didn't have to say anything," the man says as he wipes his neck, "you know, I can stand up for myself."

"Yeah, I'm sure you can. I just…" your lemon squares are put up on the counter, "guess you're right. Sorry."

He winces and lets his shoulders fall, "look, sorry. Thanks. It was… nice. Brave. I just… it's embarrassing."

"Pfft, those idiots should be embarrassed," your sniff, "got nothing better to do, do they?"

The barista comes back, once more calling out, "Steve." The blond, responding to his name, thanks him and accepts the fresh coffee. He looks at you and gives a sheepish half-smirk, "guess I could skip the whip cream."

"No fun in that," you say, "anyway–"

"Hey, do you mind actually, I wanna snag a few seats for me and my buddy. He's running late so maybe… you could be a seat warmer?"

"Oh, you mean placeholder? Damn, thought I was past that shit."

"No, no, I didn't mean–"

"I'm kidding. Sure, I'll sit with you. Just until your guy gets here, then I gotta catch a bus."

"Uh, alright," he says, as if amazed, "that's… a yes?"

"Sure," you laugh, "I walked halfway here so whatever."

You wait, and gesture him ahead of you. He hesitates but leads you across the shop, weaving between patrons to the corner. He claims the two seats by the bookcase and you sink down into the cushy seat.

"So, uh, you from around here?" He asks, nervously balancing his cup. It's almost endearing.

"Not really. Just ended up here…" you look down at the box in your lap, "you like lemon squares?"

"Uh, yeah, they're not bad."

You flip the lid up and offer him the pick of the lot. Another thanks as he takes one and smiles. You notice how he struggles to even look at you for more than a second.

"You, uh, I like your necklace…" he ekes out.

You have to keep from laughing. Alright, that's cute. You close the box but before you respond, a grizzly voice cuts through you. Steve's name precedes the man but you don't need to look up to know him.

"Ha, what are the odds?" The man from the club sneers.

"Bucky," Steve greets and smooths his hair with his palm. "You know… her? Oh," he reddens, "she's–"

"As if," you stand and fling your cup at the man, Bucky’s, chest. You feel as if you could explode. You want to peel his skin from his bones. "Don't fucking come near me," you keep your arm out, "fucking– creep!"

You're shaking as you cradle the box of lemon squares and stomp away, battling between fight and flight. Leave and no one gets hurt. Leave and you can catch your breath.

[prettyinlimegreenboots]

Taking Comfort (In Your Arms) - Chapter 2

Two Weeks Later - May 28, 1943

The last two weeks Bucky Egan had been on base were ones that were unlike the previous 8 weeks Addie had been in East Anglia. The base seemed to be flipped upside down just by his presence alone. 

She usually found him nightly in a local pub, singing alongside the locals as he made ridiculous bets and talked crap. She watched in fascination as he charmed the locals, with stories and tales of his past life in America. There were at least three girls chasing him, by her count, all enamored by the American. 

And Addie tried to keep him out of her mind but it was becoming more and more difficult, especially between him randomly showing up to her office and Josie’s constant chatter about him. 

“I’m telling you, Ads, you should just ask him out.” Josie called out, interrupting Addie’s mid-morning mind wandering session. 

Scoffing, she paused on the report she was reading and looked up at Josie. “It’s not right for a girl to ask a guy out. Besides, he has charmed half of East Anglia and I’m sure his social calendar has all filled up.”

“Who is this mysterious man you’re talking about? And I very much doubt his social calendar is all filled. I’m sure he has a spot for you waiting for you, love.” Speaking of the devil, he shall arrive, causing both Josie and Addie both to yelp in surprise. 

Looking behind her, Addie’s eyes narrowed at the very man Josie was referencing. “Jesus, wear a bell or something. At least let people know you’re lurking around.”

“Not my fault you didn’t hear the door slam. I mean I wasn’t exactly quiet.” Bucky grinned looking at the two women. “Now who’s the mystery man Addie should ask out? By the way, I think it’s great if a girl asks a guy out - takes the pressure off the fella.” 

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. “You’re going to have to work harder than that to find out Bucky. Now how can I help you?” 

Taking a seat in the chair in front of her deck, he crossed his right leg over his left and plopped his hat down giving her a look, sighing. “I need your help. I’m getting nowhere with the Brits loaning us masks and parachutes so I was hoping you could help?” 

Josie snickered as Addie sighed. They both had a love-hate relationship with the nearby British base. “I will warn you, depending on the day they might hate me too.”

“They couldn’t hate a beautiful girl if they tried, Captain.” Addie snorted this time as Josie laughed out loud. “What am I missing?” 

Josie pipped up before Addie could. “They can when our girl flat out turns one of them down spectacularly in the local pub, Major.” 

“That’s a story I look forward to hearing, Captain.” Bucky chuckled, scratching his jaw. “Can you help a poor guy out who’s boys land in two weeks?” 

She sighing, giving him a calculated look. “I need numbers, Major. How many masks and parachutes do you need before your men arrive?” 

Watching Bucky run numbers in his mind, was a sight to behold. His teeth had hold of his bottom lip as she could see the gears moving behind his eyelids. His concentrated look wasn’t one Addie saw very often on his face, but she added it to her growing list of favorite Bucky looks. “We’ve gotten 200 of the 1000 that were sent. If we could get an additional 300 before my guys arrive, we’ll be in good shape while we wait for our stuff to arrive, hopefully a few days after the boys arrive.” 

Looking at the pouty face of Major Bucky Egan, Addie couldn’t help but melt at his face. He hadn’t figured it out yet, but she was a sucker for a pouty face on a man. It tested her resolve and before she knew it she was picking up the phone to make a call. 

She watched Bucky lean back into his chair as she attempted to work her magic. Doodling on a spare piece of paper that was always present on her desk, she waited for the line to connect, hoping it wasn’t the Lieutenant she turned down answering the phone. An older voice came on the line as she grinned. “Colonel Masters, this is Captain Adelaide Baker calling from Thorpe Abbotts. I was hoping you could assist me with a request from Colonel Baker.”

She listened to the man wax on about her father and the great things he had heard. Rolling her eyes, she sat back in her chair, getting comfortable. “Colonel, we need 300 masks and parachutes for the Americans that are set to land in two weeks. Their equipment hasn’t arrived yet.” 

Grumbling, the man on the other side of the phone said a few words before agreeing to have the equipment sent over by the end of the week. She wished him a good day and hung up the phone with a grin on her face. “Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, Major. Everything will be here by the end of the week.”

“Just like that - drop your father’s name and all is right in the world.” Bucky whistled, sitting up in his chair, giving her a surprised look. “Impressive, Addie.” 

Making a note on her desk calendar, Addie grinned. “All in a day's work. Anything else you need help with, Major?” 

“Meet me at the officer’s club later?” He raised an eyebrow in challenge. 

Shaking her head, she met his sad eyes. “I have a date with one of the big birds tonight. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it to the club tonight.” Gathering papers, she pushed back from her desk and stood. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting I can’t be late for. I’ll see you later, Bucky.”

Watching her walk off, Bucky narrowed his eyes on Josie who sat at her desk with a smirk. “Is there something I’m missing, Josie?”

“Every other Friday night or so, Addie goes to one of the birds and reminisces on her time in the sky. Tonight is one of those nights.” Josie smiled sympathetically. 

Bucky turned her words over in his mind. “Would she be terribly pissed if I interrupted that time?” 

“She’ll probably scream at you for a few minutes but I think you’ll be a welcomed guest after that.” Josie smiled, at the man clearly smitten with her best friend. 

John plopped his hat back on his head, tilting it in her direction. “Does she have a particular favorite bird by chance?” 

“Our Baby is a favorite if it’s here and as luck would have it, it will be landing later this afternoon. I’d start there.” Josie winked as John laughed. 

He started towards the door, pausing looking at Josie. “Is there anything else I should know before tonight Josie?” 

“Don’t break my best friend’s heart, Major. That girl has been through the wringer these last few months and she doesn’t deserve any other heartbreak.” Josie gave him a look, a mix that she meant business and not to piss her off. 

Giving a two finger salute, John gave her a silent promise not to do so before leaving the tower and heading towards his jeep. He had a few things to think about before he had a date with a big bird and a pretty girl. 

2000 hours

Tipping the flask to her mouth, she muttered a cuss when nothing flowed out. She was laid out in the nose of “Our Baby”, the last fort she delivered before she was demoted. Scoffing, she shook her head, not wanting to go down that dangerous path tonight. There was a lot of anger built up on how that went down. Throwing her head back, she screamed at the unfairness of the entire situation and that her past came roaring back. 

Choking back a sob, she hit the side of the fort in frustration. She didn’t want to spend her evening sobbing in the fort - she had already had enough of those nights. All she wanted to be was up in the air but because of jackasses and rules, she was sidelined. She was lucky they didn’t send her home, though her father was the likely cause of that not happening. 

A noise caught her attention as she attempted to sit up. Her eyes widened hearing the hatch of the fort open and a voice call up, “permission to climb aboard?” 

Muttering a cuss under her breath, she shook her head, wishing her brain wasn't so fuzzy. “This isn’t a boat, Major but permission granted.” 

She winced as it sounded like a bull in a China shop as he made his way through the fort. Mentally tracking his path from the hatch, she smiled as she heard his footsteps directly above her while his voice carried. “Where the hell are you, Addie?” 

“In the nose Bucky.” Her voice sounded rough as she shook her head away attempting to clear the cobwebs. 

Before she knew it, she saw his boots before his entire torso came into view. He chuckled seeing her sitting there. “So this is what you do when you’re not in the pub?” 

“Sometimes. Other times I’m laying in a field looking at the stars. Depends on my mood and how pissed off I am at the world.” She shrugged. “The pubs weren’t keeping your attention tonight, Major?” 

Shaking his head, he sat down across from her attempting to stretch out his long legs. “Nah, heard there was a rager happening at one of the forts and decided to come check it out.” 

“Sorry to disappoint but it was a rager for one, until you decided to crash.” She let a half smile push across her lips. 

“Do you want me to leave?” He offered, picking up on the sadness in her voice. 

She quickly shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted. “Just know that it’s not exactly a happy mood tonight.”

“Wanna talk about it?” He asked, looking at her with sad eyes. “My buddy Buck tells me that I’m an excellent listener.” 

Holding up a hand, she snickered. “Wait, your buddy is Buck and you’re Bucky? Did you really nickname your best friend after you?”

“I was Bucky first and when I met him at basic, he looked just like a buddy of mine back in Wisconsin named Buck so Gale became Buck and that’s quickly became what the guys call him.” Bucky defended, holding out a hand in innocence. “We gotta come up with a nickname for you, Addie.” 

“Addie is my nickname.” She replied, eyeing him closely. “You’re not what all the rumors said you were like.”

Bucky laughed. “Glad getting to know me has changed your mind.”

“I’ve had my mind changed a lot these last few weeks.” She mused, tilting her head back to look up. 

He shifted, looking at her, concern evident in his eyes, reaching into his sheepskin jacket and pulled something out - his trusty flask. “Offer still stands - do you want to talk about it? You’re obviously upset and sad about something and like I said, I’m a good listener.” 

“I don’t even know where to begin.” She sighed. 

Bucky took a sip out of his flask before offering it to her. She accepted, titling it into her mouth, the sting of the whiskey rough as it burned down her throat. “When did you fall in love with flying?” 

“I’ve always loved it. My dad took me up when I was a baby; he said it was the only time I was quiet. I flew my first plane when I was 13, a Tiger Moth and I instantly fell in love with the freedom of it.  My first job was doing the crop dusting in the local fields - I had five farms that I would spend the days swooping in and out of the clouds and I was so happy.” She grinned. “A family friend passed my name to Jacqueline Cochran and I was in the running to come over here.  I went to Canada, the first time I had left the country, and managed to survive the grueling quest she put us through before being officially accepted to come over here in March 1942 and I’ve been here ever since.”

Bucky chuckled. “I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you speak in one breath.” 

“Shut up; that just means you’re not asking the right questions.” She shrugged. 

He took another swig of the flask, steadying himself for the question he was about to ask. “When did it all turn to shit?” 

Sighing loudly, she wiggled her fingers for the flask. He promptly handed it over to her as she took a swig. “February. This may not make sense but bear with me. When I left in December 1941, I was 23 years old and engaged to be married.  My fiance didn’t have the same ideas I did - I wanted to fly and do my part in the war effort and he wanted me home and tied to the house as his perfect wife. Well, that was the last thing I wanted to do so when Jackie called, I was on the first train to Canada. I couldn’t get away from Michigan fast enough.” 

She ran her hand over her face, avoiding Bucky’s eyes as she sighed. “Well, little did I know, he had done a “welfare” check on the house I was staying in and found out that my roommates hadn’t seen me in a few weeks. He was pissed they didn’t report me missing, and they refused to tell him where I was.  He was on good terms with the local police and requested a welfare warrant be sent out for me in the States. The authorities were looking in the US so it took them a bit to track me down. My promotion from Lieutenant to Captain made the papers back home and the big guns came calling in February. This fort was the last one I had ferried to Rattlesden. My father and CO along with the Air Force big guns were all waiting to read me the riot act. They couldn’t have a pilot and woman who wasn’t as upstanding as they were led to believe and who had skirted her duties back home, blah blah blah; bunch of bullshit to be honest. I ended up being grounded for five weeks while they tried to figure out what to do with me. I was given the option of going home or coming here to set up the base for other Americans. And the rest is history.” 

“Is this the Wisconsin man you referenced during our first meeting?” Bucky asked, clenching his jaw. 

Nodding, she smirked. “The very one and the same. Don’t worry, I got my revenge. Now everyone in Michigan and Wisconsin knows how awful of a lover he truly was and is.” 

“Remind me never to piss you off.” Bucky chuckled, shaking his head. “But you’re so strong - surviving that and finding a new purpose.” 

“Well I wasn’t the hell going back to the US, back to him after he ruined my career.” She scoffed, giggling to herself. “I wrote him a strongly worded letter that our engagement was over and I never wanted to see or talk to him again. There might have been a bonfire a few weeks ago where I burned all of his things I had - letters, poems, his favorite sweater.” 

A comfortable silence fell within the fort, the two of them content. “I can see you have more questions, Major. Might as well ask them since we’re on such a roll.” 

“Can you still fly or did they tear up your pilots license?” He asked, rolling his head to hold her eyes. 

Nodding, she smirked, her face turned excited at the question. “There’s a Tiger Moth not too far from here that I take up on the weekends to just keep up my flying - I couldn’t quit completely cold turkey. But I miss flying these big birds, they were my favorite to fly. It never got old when I stepped out of the fort to see the shocked faces of the men when they realized I was a female and could handle the big girls.” 

“I would agree, there’s something about these big gals.” He smiled wistfully, knocking his knuckles against the side. “I heard you scream earlier. I can’t imagine the frustration and anger you feel.” 

Shaking her head, she chuckled woefully. “You have no idea. At least you can still go up on observation missions. It’ll be a cold day in hell by the time I get to fly officially again.” 

“Are the B-17s your favorite plane to fly, Sassy?” He tried out, smirking when she shrieked.

“Sassy, tell me that’s not my new nickname, Bucky!” She gave him a look that just made him laugh instead. “It’s a toss up between the B-17s and the Spitfires. Spitfires are fun because they are so responsive to turns and they’re fast.” 

Bucky grinned, seeing her eyes light up at the mention of planes. “Sassy’s not an appropriate nickname but I will be testing a few out before I settle on an official one. Never flown a Spitfire before so I’ll have to take your word for it.” 

“Maybe one day I’ll take you up in one. P-51s are also fun.” She grinned, watching his eyes widened as she dropped that little tidbit.

He bit his lip in thought. “You mentioned a brother and sister fighting. I know Elizabeth is in France but what about your brother? And your mom?”

“My brother, Charlie, is currently in North Africa, doing God knows what. He writes when he can, which is about every ten weeks or so. And mom passed away just before I left to go to Canada, another reason to flee as fast as I could.” She bit her lip holding in her tears. “My entire family is in the godforsaken war and I’m just trying to hold on by a thread.”

Before she knew what happened, Bucky was pulling her in for an awkward hug. She was so surprised by the movement that a few tears had escaped and before she could wipe them away, a rough calloused finger caught them. She looked up, entranced in a spicy mix of sweat and aftershave, into the deep blue eyes of Bucky Egan. Trying to steady her heartbeat, all thoughts that she had wanted to say were gone. “I’m sorry, Addie. Josie mentioned that you had had a rough couple of months but I’d say you had a rough couple of years.” 

“It’s life - it keeps moving on its own so just buckle up and hold on.” A weak smile graced her lips. 

Bucky scoffed, removing his arms from around her and scooting back a little to his side of the plane. “I think you have the best outlook for life, Spitfire.” 

“Spitfire - that’s a lazy nickname, Bucky. Do better.” She cocked an eyebrow at him, immediately missing the warmth of his arms around her. She wanted another hug from Bucky. “And I got that outlook from my mom - she would always say that line about buckle up and hold on whenever I was complaining about whatever. She was right - you can’t change half of what’s going on so just buckle up and enjoy the ride.” 

Bucky laughed, knowing full well having her in his life would keep him on his toes. “Will do, Addie. I’ve been having all the fun with the questions. Got any for me?”

“What about your family back in Wisconsin?” She asked, a chill from the night ran up her back. 

“You cold Bluebird?” He questioned, titling the flask in his mouth for another gulp. 

She paused, raising an eyebrow in his direction.  “Bluebird, that’s an interesting nickname. And yes, these forts aren’t exactly insulated, you would know taking them above 10,000 feet.” 

“So not opposed to Bluebird, noted.” He reached behind him and grabbed a blanket, throwing it in her direction. “And family - mother, father and two sisters awaiting me back in the states.”

“When’s your birthday?” She wrapped the blanket around her, wishing it was a tad thicker. “And how old are you?” 

Chuckling, Bucky shook his head. “That’s your grand question, Bluebird? September 8 and 27. You?” 

“July 6 and almost 26.” She paused. “Why bluebird?” 

He hummed, raising his eyes to meet hers. “Because you remind me of a bird who always needs to be flying to feel free. And bluebirds sing the sweetest songs. Do you sing, Bluebird?”

“Absolutely not, cannot carry a tune to save my life.” A not so lady-like snort sounded from her as she laughed, shaking her head. “You Major?”

Bucky laughed loudly, his laugh echoing off the metal that surrounded them. “I’m no good either but I’m loud. And if you commit with enough enthusiasm then it doesn’t really matter.” 

“Well I’m sure it’s a sight to behold, Major. Can’t wait to see that.” She giggled. “What’s your favorite song?” 

“Blue Skies - it’s a classic and it’s usually played at least three times in the officer’s club on any given night.” Bucky’s excitement was palpable while his eyes lit up at the prospect of singing in front of her. “Though, I may get a bit nervous singing in front of you.” 

A flush crept across her cheeks as she ducked her head in embarrassment. His voice dropped as he took her in. “Awww Bluebird don’t blush.  Kinda wanna kiss you if I’m being completely honest.”

She looked up at him as he scratched the back of his neck as his checks reddened. “What’s stopping you?” 

“This is a get to know you session, Blue.” He rushed to get the words out as she laughed. 

“Wouldn’t that be another way to get to know you?” She challenged, making him laugh. 

Scooting closer, he smiled at her. “Trying to show you I’m a gentleman, Addie.” 

Scooting closer to him, she reached up and rubbed her thumb along the soft skin of his cheek. She looked into his blue eyes before tilting her head to capture his lips in a soft kiss. He deepened the kiss, pulling her close, silencing a gasp that just managed to escape. Pulling away slightly, his hand cupped her jaw, his thumb running soothingly up and down before kissing her again. 

Time passed as they continued kissing in the belly of Our Baby. Pulling back, she laid a hand on Bucky’s chest pushing him back. “Slow down, Major. My brain is all fuzzy and I should probably head to bed.” 

Bucky laughed and couldn’t deny her. Pushing himself off the belly, he offered her a hand, making sure she was steady before making his way up. “I had a good time talking with you, Blue.” 

“Same, Bucky, same.” She murmured as a yawn escaped her mouth. “I usually am out here every other Friday, sometimes more often.”

Keeping a steady hand on her back as she stumbled through the plane to the open hatch, Bucky watched her with concentration. “Noted Bluebird. Let me go down first to catch you.” 

“You think I can’t make my way through the hatch. Bucky? You know how many times I’ve done this?” She put her hands on her hips and gave him a look that did too many unmentionable things to him. 

“A few?” He guessed as she cursed then shook her head. “But how many times have you done it with a flask and half gone down the hatch?” 

She paused, giving him a look. “Alright, I’ll let you go first in case you need to catch me.”

Watching him slip through the hatch, she heard his boots hit the pavement before she heard his voice. “Let’s go Bluebird.”

Grumbling to she lowered herself down before slipping through the hatch, his hand steadying her as her feet hit the ground. “Want me to walk you back to the barracks?” 

Holding out his elbow, she slipped her arm through his as he guided her across the tarmac. And if she let him steal a kiss or two or three as they stumbled back to the barracks, that was between her, him, the bright stars and moon that lit their path home. 

Feedback as always is much appreciated. I’m working on the next few parts, so if there anything you’d like to see, just let me know. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 3

[purplerakath]

Dissecting an Adaptation - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Adaptation is one of those weird topics. It's 'bad' because it changes things. But if it doesn't change things, its still bad. A no win scenario as you turn one thing into itself from a new angle. And a lot of the time people don't look at why it made changes, or what those changes do. Or how those changes play into the nature of the story.

TV, Film, Books, Comics, and Video Games have different tools, different rules, and different ways to do the same thing: tell a story.

This will have spoilers for both the first book, and the for season one of the series. I won't spend a lot of time on changes that impact books 2 and 3 (there are some) and won't go far enough to really qualify as spoilers for those two works.

Adaptations of Structure

The biggest change is the tools a work has to use, and the costs those tools have to use, which covers a lot of the bigger changes in the first season.

(I read the US version of the books, but won't be discussing anything to do with how those read differently from the international version.)

The books switch between three forms of writing over the course of it, narrative prose as normal for a novel, log entries written in character for Pip, and interview transcripts/text exchanges. These change the flow of how the book reads as they are written in different styles. They're very good for a written book, but won't do nearly as much good in a TV show.

Even just stopping for Pip to listen to a full interview wouldn't actually do much visually in an audio-visual medium like TV.

Which covers why almost everything from those is missing. The interviews Pippa does are all done in narrative without a break to a new format to make it clear what's going on. And this is, overall, fine. As much as Pippa's catfishing email exchanges are really good for showing how clever and duplicitous Pip can be, they don't play well in video.

Adaptations of Tempo

Books can cover a longer space of time than a TV show does, TV shows want some continuity of motion. Nothing as exact as 24's 1:1 time flow, but you want an episode to be days not weeks. A season to be months not years (back when seasons were 20+ episodes and not 6-8 episodes).

Which is bad if you're, say, unraveling a mystery. And you want the story to circle back to previous lies, previous interesting characters who graduate to suspects. Lies that become motives. But six episodes means we can't spend too much time chasing our tails.

This also means that a lot of characters who are there to fill space... can just be rolled into another character. Chloe Burch's role in the story being rolled into Nat's character is a good example of this. Ant Lowe being exiled from Pip's friend group is another good one.

There are problems, Stanley Forbes is entirely absent from this version. Similarly we don't see Mr. Singh or Mrs. Bell. And Jason isn't remarried. These all matter to a degree, but they also don't matter right now. And the room for these characters to show up in later seasons (if renewed) is there, so they will be around when we need them.

It's just a little bit of a problem.

Adaptations of Tone

Books have a tougher time with subtext, probably due to them just being text. You have what's there, and nothing else. The audiobook has a fullcast so there might be some read directions on dialog, but you can't rely on that to tell you anything if you're reading the paperback or an epub. So a lot less of it can be about what isn't there.

But when you have actors you can do so much with things that aren't being said out loud. The difference between Book 1 Pipravi as a relationship and Season 1 Pipravi is huge. The book didn't focus on Pip's feelings about Ravi outside of how he was impacted by the case, series Pip is awkwardly trying to work out her emotions over this boy pretty much out of ep 2 and it doesn't stop until she tells him to shut up in Ep 6.

Emma also brings a different sort of intensity to Pip than Book Pip seems to contain. Pip in the book is headstrong, certain of herself (until facts break her), but her need to solve this case is a little less clear in the book (where she's doing this because she thinks its right) vs the show where it's something inside her she has to struggle with.

The other tonal shifts are one of who gets treated kinder by which version of the story. Andie of course is a lot more complex in the books, while the series paints her as a well meaning terrible person. Changing her relationship with Nat is a pretty big one (and really the only shift in the series a fully dislike).

Meanwhile the book spends a lot of time treating Elliot Ward like a good man in a bad situation, that what he did was all moments of weakness and he didn't mean to. The series more firmly paints him as a man with a darkness he hasn't come to grips with, his breakdown in the books makes him less monster than the show. In turn Naomi is given more moments of helping Pip in the series, to lessen her hand in Sal's fate, making her less villainous in Pip's eyes.

These changes on who is framed in kinder light is fairly small on paper, but huge in practice. Changes born (in part) from the tempo of the series being faster. Naomi dodges Pip's questions more in the book, turning her into a more valid suspect. While in the series she's so desperate to tell anyone what happened she let's it slip in the first episode.

Overall...

Each version does different things well, most of the changes I find indifferent. Because as much as the changes are changes, adding the parameter of acting to it means that they can make characters like Max and Daniel skin crawlingly creepy. And while later books Max is very, very creepy, that's because of what Pip knows not how he was written.

While Henry Ashton knew exactly what he was playing and exactly how to sell it with just his presence on set. And that's got it's own value too.

[caitlynskitten]

So, you’re option on the show in general? Like do you like it so far? Acting wise? I feel like you and a lot of the agggtm fandom on here are respectful and kind. Unfortunately I can’t say the same on other platforms such as Tik tok.

This isn’t gonna be an organized review I’m just going to tell it as it’s fresh in my mind. I’m definitely rewatching it again though with friends this week so I’m excited for that!

Personally I very much enjoyed the show! Emma I think kills it as Pip, her performance is so good and emotional some of the heart wrenching moments got me so badly. As someone who’s read the book and knew what was coming, it still hit me hard.

And I loved everybody as well! I really loved Zain Iqbal as Ravi and Asha Banks as Cara and I absolutely loved their interactions with Pip. Pipravi was definitely pipravi-ing and I think Zain and Emma are adorable together they have great chemistry!

Six episodes definitely felt like the right length. It didn’t feel too long or too short. Though I do think the pacing was a little too fast for me. Not that I needed more but I think some scenes are too short like they thought they needed to pace this faster so the audience doesn’t lose interest or something.

Any flaws or criticisms I have is pretty small. Not that this is a groundbreaking show by any means but I think it’s a great show for both readers and casual viewers. If you want a mystery show to binge I highly recommend watching AGGGTM! Please. Hopefully enough people watch it so we get more seasons based off the other books.

Emma proved to be a great leading actress and I hope she gets more leads in the future!

8/10 highly recommended!

[l0vergirlatheart]

" VACATION " a south park x reader

RINKY-DINK TOWN || info. - past : next

|| GOOD MORNING, BELOVED! ||

        You did not want to come to some rackety, old, boring, snowing, cold, shabby, stupid-ass fucking town for your summer break. Be honest, who would?

        Maybe you'll change your mind later on, but right now, this has got to be the stupidest shit you've ever gone through, and that's something, especially when it comes to you.

|| YOUR CHARACTER CARD ||

Name: [Y/N] NIAKI

Age: 16

Pronouns: They/Them

Sexuality: Pansexual, general attraction to anyone regardless of gender. || asexual, no sexual attraction to anyone at all.

Height: 5'11

Personality: Blunt, tired, easily irritated, quiet, occasionally playful, rarely flirtatious.

Current Thoughts: 'Even if I only have to be in this boring and cold place that can barely be called a town for only two months, there's nothing anyone here or anywhere who can convince me to stay the moment I get the chance to leave.'

|| LOVE INTERESTS ||

MAIN CAST

ROMEOS:

Kyle Brovloski

Craig Tucker & Tweek Tweak

Clyde Donovan

Tolkien Black

Kenny McCormick

Stan Marsh

Leopold "Butters" Stotch

Jimmy Valmer

Scott Malkinson

Pip Pirrup

Damien Thorn

Dovahkkiin "Douchebag, The New Kid"

JULIETS:

Wendy Testaburger

Heidi Turner

Bebe Stevens

Red McArthur

Nichole Daniels

Annie Knitts

|| WARNINGS AND TWS ||

Welcome to South Park, my beloved! This story is going to contain mentions of:

LOTS OF SWEARING

GORE AND BLOOD

SUICIDE

SELF HARM

MENTIONS OF POVERITY

ALCOHOL

MAJOR CRIMES

MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ACTIVITES

AGED UP CHARACTERS (YOU ARE ALL STILL MINORS)

BULLYING (ONLINE AND IRL)

HARRASSMENT (ONLINE AND IRL)

VIOLENCE

DARK JOKES N SHIT

CARTMAN PULLING CARTMAN-TYPE SHIT

AND OTHER SHIT YOU'D EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK.

CONTINUE WITH CAUTION.

|| SECRETS FROM THE AUTHOR ||

Hey there, []! This book has no outline so far and I'm honestly throwing bullshit that I make up at three in the morning at this right now. There's going to be really slow updates. Enough about that though, time for some secrets!!

1. Yep, instead of the overused 'I just moved here, yadda yadda' scenario, you have actually only came here for summer vacation!

2. You were forced to get out of your house by your parents and they set up this whole trip thing without telling you until a week before departing. 

3. Your parents didn't have half the mind to tell you that you'd also be living there alone for two fucking months, some parents am I right?

4. Luckily, they did already have your stuff packed and had the house rented out and everything else. You're a freeloader! Yay!

5. Oh yeah also, you're rich. Just because. Use that black card, spend all your money, ain't nobody there to stop you!!

6. Nobody in South Park knows of your soon-to-be arrival.

7. There is no school because, you know, summer vacation. This means a lot more free time to get roped into some crazy and immoral shit laze around.

8. Cartman's going to be a little shit about your pronouns, but he's going to be forced to use them because he has zero fucking clue what your gender is.

9. Speaking of fatass, he's not a love interest mainly because I can't write an asshole character suddenly falling love. I just can't. Makes me want to just evaporate.

10. You will get to at least befriend him though. Yay..?

|| SWEET DREAMS, DARLING. ||

[nerdgirlnarrates]

Welcome to the Antibiotic Tournament!

It's about time we had a showdown between our favorite antibiotic regimens. First round start tomorrow (3/8): I'll post two polls a day, and they'll be open for a week. You can find the list of antibiotics below, but it's not too late to submit more--just reply to this post! You can also write propaganda for why your antibiotic should win, and I'll include it in the poll.

Vote however you want: best coverage, coolest mechanism of action, easiest dosing, best side effect profile, etc. You can find all the polls under the tag antibiotic tournament.

Let the games begin!

Current list of competitors:

Amikacin

Rifampin/isoniazid/pyrazinamide/ethambutol

Bedaquiline

Meropenem

Cephalexin

Ceftriaxone

Vanc/zosyn (pip-tazo)

Amp/gent

Vanc/ceftriaxone

TMP-SMX

Ceftriaxone/flagyl (metronidazole)

Fosfomycin

Ciprofloxacin

Levofloxacin

Tigecycline

Clindamycin

Azithromycin

Fidaxomycin

Erythromycin

Nitrofurantoin

Metronidazole

Linezolid

Augmentin

Penicillin

Flucloxacillin

Zosyn (Pip/tazo)

Doxycycline

Clofazimine

[silverxenomorph]

I quit my Job last friday.

I used to be an employment consultant in the Disability Employment Services area for a Not-for-Profit organization. Mentally I wasn't doing well and struggling. I wasn't doing any of the things I loved - Art, Op-Shopping, Crafting. I think late last year I burnt out and never really recovered. Nor have I physically recovered from having COVID in 2022.

Late last year, early this year our region was hit with a cyclone and a massive flood and economically, our region has not recovered. So I wasn't making my KPIs - I was however meeting my Administrative, Marketing and Outcomes KPIs but not my placement KPI (getting people into work which was the 'important' one) - in spite of changing everything I was doing to try and meet it and keep on top of the training they were putting me through to meet it.

So I ended up in a Performance Improvement period for the last 12 weeks. I met the first one, only made 50% on the second and in spite of everything, failed the third.I was second guessing myself constantly and I knew I was THE most experienced person on the team and knew my shit back to front and upside down - that's how bad it was.

And then there were a series of changes within the company that put me on edge. The company expanded into 2 other states and planned to go global in a very short period. The CEO and Founder retired due to poor health and suddenly everything became about making money. The company fired 4-5 Area Managers 8 weeks into the PIP, some who had been with the company 8+ years, without notice.This of course did nothing for my mental health, except to make it worse. So when HR set an impossible goal for me to meet in a 2 week time limit, I crumbled.

It was the hardest decision I had to make, but for my mental health I knew I had to give it up. I put in my two weeks last Friday and basically the State Manager said to finish up that day. I wanted to say goodbye to my clients, but it was protocol, They paid for 2 weeks of full time hours, my leave and gave me a good reference which all that really matters.

I loved my Team, and the majority of my customers and will miss them a ton. It's nothing like the job before this one - that company was rotten and gross and did not care about it's employees. But Employment Services has a reputation for being a stressful, mental health ruining.

So back on the job hunt I go - well I might take a few weeks before I really knuckle back down into it. Sure as heck not going back to employment services, as rewarding as it had been, I need a job that's just pure Administration, boring, go in get work done, get paid and go home. I want to try and stay in the not for profit sector, maybe even with disabilities, just something where I don't have to deal with KPIs again.

[faithintheunknownsblog]

Chapter Summary: Things are still weird between you and Alucard but not to worry because you have plans with Seras to distract you. But sadly those plans go wrong.

TW: Attempted Murder

Masterlist

To Kill A Monster

Chapter Eight: Tension

It’s been a week since the night club and there is still an awkwardness in the air between you and Alucard. All either of you can think about is how he said he’s your boyfriend. But the awkwardness has seemed to make your training with one another more intense. Both of you don’t know how to deal with the feeling so it turns into anger and resentment even stronger between the two of you. But there is also another feeling both of you have that neither of you can figure out what it is.

Your current training with him has to be the most intense one yet. You roll across the ground to dodge one of his bullets then stand back up, getting a headshot in. But somehow the whole fight becomes a blur until you find yourself on top of him, straddling his chest and ready to stab a knife through his head when you feel his large hand tightly grip your thighs. They linger there for a moment longer than they usually would and you both could sense the tension in those few seconds before he tosses you off of him. Flinging you a few feet away before standing back up and grabbing his gun.

Alucard swiftly moves over to you and puts his foot on your chest to hold you against the ground as he holds his gun right above your head as if he’d shoot you point blank right then and there. But instead he only smirks and praises you for your power, “you’re getting stronger little hunter, I’m impressed.”

“Get your foot off of me,” you squirm beneath him as you try to get free. Something inside you doesn’t feel right after him holding you like that and you wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

Alucard removed his foot and let you off the ground. You immediately walk away, trying to get your mind straight once again. What was he thinking in that moment he was holding your hips? You wonder. What were you thinking in that moment? It felt… nice. You shake your head to get that thought out of your mind. You refuse to let lustful thoughts of him plague your mind. You remind yourself that he’s the enemy.

“Hey,” Seras snaps you out of what scenes your mind was about to play between you and Alucard.

You look over at Seras and smile, “hey, we still on for tonight?”

“Of course!” Seras smiles and walks with you back to your room. You two are going to get manicures and pedicures done around 8 pm since the sun will be down by then. You’ve chipped your fingernails to high hell, so it’ll be nice to have them fixed. You'd like to go to a professional

“Let me get a shower and take a quick nap and then we can get going!” You say with a smile grab a change of clothes out of your dresser.

==========

Just as promised you get a shower and a quick nap then head out with Seras to have your girl’s night. You’ve never had your nails done besides normal nail polish so getting gel on them is a whole new thing to you. Seras also suggests a haircut but the only person you trust to cut your hair the way you like it is yourself since you’ve trained yourself and can cut your hair like a professional.

“What color are you getting?” You ask Seras as you browse all the different colors. You’d be lying if you said it wasn’t a bit overwhelming since this is your first time.

“I’m thinking a dark green,” Seras says and picks out the exact color she wants without hesitation.

You chuckle, “Pip’s favorite color.”

Seras’ cheeks flush red because you’re right, it is his favorite color and that’s exactly why she’s choosing it.

You couldn’t help but laugh again and spot this really pretty shimmery red, “fancy.”

“You should pick that one,” Seras says and you shrug, picking it because it was really pretty.

It didn’t take long for you and Seras to be called back to get your pedicures done. You feel weird taking your shoes off and letting a stranger touch your feet and when you visibly grow anxious. Seras with a soft smile reassuringly rubs your shoulder to calm you down, which works. You know you’re not alone in case something goes down, which it most likely won’t but you’re still on high alert regardless. You’re always on high alert, you can’t remember the last time you fully relaxed.

After dealing with the pedicure you decide you’re never getting one of those again because you got uncomfortable with the poking and prodding they did to your toes.

When you get the manicure you have to be careful not to let your reflexes take over when they start using the tools on your hands. Seeing the tool that cuts your cuticle made you want to snatch your hand away but you did good.

“Okay, that wasn’t so bad,” you admit to Seras after you two leave the nail salon. “But I’m never having them touch my feet again.”

“That’s understandable,” Seras chuckles and begins walking to the mall. You follow for a few blocks but then you stop.

“Wait,” you say as you get an eerie feeling. When Seras looks over at you with a confused look you duck into an alley, pulling her into it with you. You whisper, “I think we’re being followed.”

“Are you sure?” Seras whispers back, though she trusts your instincts.

After a few moments a man appears in front of the alley with a crooked grin, sharp fangs on display. His tone is light and airy as he says in a playful tone, “hello ladies, how has your night been?”

You look at Seras with a smirk and she steps back, giving you the go to do your thing. You get into a fighting stance.

“Oh sweetheart, you will never be strong enough to beat me,” the man says and takes a few steps forward.

You match his playful tone, “wanna bet?”

The man gives a look of annoyance then charges at you, expecting an easy kill. But he doesn’t even know what hits him when you step to the side and pivot to stand behind him. You grab him by the back of the neck and fling him against the alley’s brick wall.

He’s surprised but shakes it off, “how the Hell.”

You smirk so he can see your fangs now, “try again?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll leave you two be,” he says. He’s surrendering so easily because now he doesn’t see you and Seras as prey. He also realizes that you’re stronger than him so he won’t fight you any further.

“Oh no,” you grab him up again. You know there is only way Seras will let this go down even though you prefer to keep Alucard out of this. But you know he’s the only solution. So Seras calls him as you keep the man pinned to the ground.

It doesn’t take long for Alucard to show up and you hand the man over to Alucard so he can do his disgusting thing. Once Alucard is done drinking the man’s blood he looks at the two of you with a bit of disappointment, “nothing we don’t already know. He got turned by another group of vampires in the club.”

“Could you see who turned him?” You ask, wondering if it was Granger.

“A man with ash gray hair and a strong jawline-” Alucard says and begins to walk away, “-I’ll know him when I see him.”

“Well you’re no help-” you say in a huff and walk to the sidewalk, “-c’mon I’ve had enough excitement for one night. Time to go home.”

Sera’s nods and follows you, Alucard decides to walk with you two in case there is another attack but also he had nothing better to do at the mansion.

“So what were you two doing out?” Alucard asks, he always gets curious of what you and Seras do when you two go out.

“We got our nails done!” Seras says happily and shows Alucard her nails. He couldn’t help but chuckle upon seeing Seras’ excitement and looks at her nails. Seras looks over at you and says, “oh, c’mon, show him your nails!”

You glare at Seras but then hold out your hand, the color immediately catches Alucard’s eyes. He holds out his hand, “may I?”

You’re hesitant at first but you let him take your hand to admire the beautiful color you chose. Something inside you feels different as his soft gloves caress your skin, a tension between you two building once again. It isn’t a bad tension though, you can’t figure out what type of tension it is.

Alucard feels it too, that’s why he gently lets go of your hand. He then gives you and Seras both a nod as you three continue walking back to the mansion in silence. It is a peaceful silence as all three of you look at the scenery that surrounds you.

Once back at the mansion Alucard bids you and Seras a good night since you and him got your training in before you and Seras head to your room to continue your girls night.

When you and Seras are back in your room she gives you a cheeky grin. You look at her in confusion, “what?”

“You and Alucard seem to be getting along ever since the mission,” Seras says playfully. It is hard to notice when there is a difference between you and him but Seras can always tell when something is up.

“No,” you say plainly, knowing exactly what she’s implying.

“I think you two would make good friends if you just stopped trying to kill him!” Seras says in nearly a plea because she’s tired of the fighting and angry tension in the mansion.

You promptly shake your head, “I’d never be friends with a monster like him.”

Seras just keeps quiet because she knows there is no changing your mind, though it is a really nice idea. If everyone could just get along life would be so much easier. She wouldn’t have to worry about you two being alone together for more than five minutes.

You sigh and decide to move on, “want to see the new clothes I got?”

“Do I!” Seras says happily and sits on your bed. You two have a fashion show in your bedroom as you show off all the new clothes you bought the last time you went shopping. You’ve started going out and doing things on your own more often which in a sense was freeing. Seras loves every outfit you show her, she loves your style because it suits you and she’s happy that you’re finally feeling comfortable enough to do things by yourself as well. Though she also loves spending time with you too.

The rest of the night was fun for you two.

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

Teen and Up Rated Fics Masterlist (11)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 /

Created: November 20th, 2023

Last Checked:—-

A Touch of the Fingertips-melchimaus (ao3) Summary: A little romance on a cold evening.

Dumpster Dive-thesweetnessofspring (ao3) Summary: Peeta throws out a semester's worth of art only to find his friend Delly's new roommate saved one of them from the dumpster.

Here-sweetlovegone (ao3) Summary: "I wake to a crash. Where Peeta's warm body should be beside me, breathing steadily in the light of dawn, there is a cold empty space." Katniss comforts Peeta on one of his bad days. Post MJ, pre-epilogue.

I'm so tired, Katniss-oakfarmer (ao3) Summary: Growing back together through a series of naps

just close your eyes, the sun is going down-rosaeles (ao3) Summary: Peeta Mellark touches the skin in a way that is near reverent, as if she’s something to be worshipped. As if he’s a cartographer, mapping her out for the first time - the valley between her breasts, the faded meandering scars on her hands, the soft plane of her stomach. Katniss wonders if he can feel the coils forming inside her too. or, a place for me to put all my silly little thg drabbles based on requests and prompts!

Night Shift-Naty_Mu (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen has been working in the psychiatric hospital for only three weeks when the suspect of the most gruesome murders in the history of the city of Panem is brought in for a psychiatric evaluation. When she discovers that it is Peeta Mellark, the kind-hearted boy with whom she went to school for fourteen years, her interest in the case spikes. Written for PIP, Day One: Red. Inspired in Eminem's song "3 am."

Second Chances-annieoakley1 (ao3) Summary: Dr. Peeta Mellark dreamed of one day running into his high school girlfriend and maybe paving the road to reconciliation with the one who got away. But he never imagined it happening like this. Everlark, modern day AU. Oneshot.

Study Date-everlarktoast (ao3) Summary: Katniss and Peeta are keeping their relationship hidden from their conservative parents, but what happens when Mr. Everdeen finds them kissing during an innocent study date? A fluffy, cute, funny and a lil bit sexy ever lark drabble

Surprise!-melchimaus (ao3) Summary: Nothing ever goes as planned. Written for the 2018 Everlark fic exchange, based on peetaspikelets prompt: "I wish that ball had hit you in the face!"

Tangled-melchimaus (ao3) Summary: Katniss helps a stranger off the roof, and ends up questioning her entire life.

[whentherewerebicycles]

please behold: Pip being very tiny in the nest of pillows he makes for himself every time I leave :)

today I am going into campus for the first and only time all week. am I thrilled about this no lol thursdays always feel so interminable because I have to be on campus AND I have choir practice till so late. but here we go:

7-8:15 take dogs out, coffee, lounge

8:15-9:15 shower/get ready, make breakfast, work emails

9:20ish leave for work (bring tennis shoes)

10-11 DW mtg

11-12 feedback on CJ workshop slides

11:30-1:30 lunch mtg with KA

1:30-2 foundations meeting

2-3 team mtg

3-4 wrap-up tasks

4-5 commute home

short walk with dogs

6:30-9:30 choir sighhhh I want to go see the babyyyyy now that my whole family’s in town but I don’t think I should skip again

[sohypothetically]

Post 5: Girls Night Out

The stats:

2 years from first published to complete

300,000 words

8 couples (10 if you include Hayffie)

2 main OCs (original characters)

29 pages of outline

So many euphemisms

So much food

So much research

So much research

The fic changed my perception of Gale completely

First person

So, so much smut

Mr. Mellark lives!

If there's one criticism... it might be verbs. Or maybe that the first part feels a little too "crack fic" and ambles too much.

This fic changed my life. It changed how I felt about the fandom, my place in it, and my writing.

Blurb:

Contemporary A/U. Johanna Mason copes with a breakup the only way she knows how: going on a man-hunt. She brings her roommate Katniss Everdeen with her and the rest is frat party history. Rated M for explicit language, sexual innuendo, and general snarkiness. Written for Prompts in Panem Places Challenge, Prompt: Frat House. (Ships: Jo/other, Everlark, Gadge, Odesta)Rated: Fiction M - English - Humor/Romance 

Fanfic.net

A03

GNO Tumblr

For more about the genesis of this fic, read the Tolkien Food Blog description below the cut.

I'm going to apologize because I'm pretty sure my Anon response earlier sounded like sour grapes. Boohoo that I wasn't in the inner circle and that I wasn't regarded as one of the top 50 Everlark authors. So what?

I mention it because I think it's important to understand my headspace when I talk about this next fi. Where it came from and where it led me.

So it was March of 2013. I'm on the periphery of a fandom that was so freaking talented. HGRomance, Atetheredmind, Court81981, Dustwriter, Amelia_Day, DandelionSunset, Fnurfnur, Misshoneywell, Peetasbunmyoven, Annieoakley1, hutchhitched, jhutchmyanchor, Everlark_Pearl, JLaLa, Monroeslittle, Sponsormusings, Xerxia, pookieh, louezem, bleedtoloveher, katnissdoesnotfollowback, streetlightlove, famousfremus... the list of phenomenal Everlarkers went on for days.

We would regularly have something called "Prompts in Panem". (You can check this out at promptsinpanem.tumblr.com.) These were, well, what they sound like. Pre-A03 fic exchanges based on prompts. It ran for a week, with each day having a new prompt. Everlark only. They prompts would release maybe a week in advance? I don't remember how long, but I know that it was a Bacchanalian festival where we would gorge ourselves on all things Everlark. Creative. Full of pressure. The goal was to put out something that people would read and comment on. It was all about buzz. (To be clear, I miss these.)

At the same time, I was reading other bits and pieces outside of Everlark. Whiskeysnarker, who wrote the best Johanna Mason. Hawtsee, one of the best Gadgers. I beta'd for an Odesta author.

PIP started and I knew that there was nothing I had in my quiver that wasn't going to be done 100 times better by every other author in the fandom. I didn't have an angle, and I wanted one. I wanted something that would make for interesting reading. I had no ideas.

So I did what every writer does when experiencing a doubt-spiral. I poured myself a glass of wine. And one glass became two. I cried. Then I got mad, sort of like Katniss when she shoots the apple in the pig's mouth in THG. And I heard a voice in my head berating me stridently for my pity party. That voice became the voice of Johanna Mason for GNO. And let me tell you, she doesn't suffer fools. And she has opinions.

Everlark through the eyes of another? And that person is Johanna? And it starts at a frat party? Hell, yeah.

It was only ever supposed to be a one shot. And then honeylime08 made a comment about wanting more.

The rest is history.

[sergeantsporks]

Gilded Family

Rating: Teen and Up, Gen

Ch 38/39: Pack

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6 , Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 17,  Ch 18, Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23, Ch 24, Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 29, Ch 30, Ch 31, Ch 32, Ch 33, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 36, Ch 37

An alternate universe in which Evelyn managed to save Caleb after his confrontation with Phillip. The two of them escaped to present day through time pools, and have been using time pools to secretly rescue grimwalkers just after Belos attempts to kill them. The story follows Darius' mentor as he adjusts to his new life, as well as changes to the course of canon.

Ao3

Silver screamed. Phoenix almost joined them. His arms rippled, retreating to flesh and back again.

Caleb gasped, looking down at the blade, and back up at Belos. “Hah… guess you had it backwards. You’ll go through me… before you get to any of my ‘soldiers…’” He winced. “Always… ends… the same way, eh… Pip?”

Belos drew back with a messy squelch, pacing like an animal. Blood dripped from his fingertips to the ground, crimson droplets like little drops of setting sun splattering against the dirt of their home. “That was your fault,” he accused, no pleaded, “You wouldn’t—you made me—”

Evelyn knelt next to Caleb, her hands already glowing blue. But the magic flickered—of course it did, of course she wasn’t ready for this kind of healing. She hadn’t been operating at full capacity for weeks now while trying to keep the shield up, and she’d barely been breathing only minutes ago. But her magic did its best, and Caleb’s chest still rose and fell, if erratically. Phoenix let out a sigh of relief. He’d be alright. For now.

“It was his fault,” Belos snarled again, stalking towards Caleb’s limp body, “It was—”

Spikes of ice jabbed up out of the ground, forming a barrier around Caleb and Evelyn and shooting outwards towards Belos. Meleager crouched on the ground, one hand touching a glowing ice glyph.

“Stay away from him,” he commanded, his voice steely and deadly calm. His breath steamed in the cold air next to his barrier.

Belos stepped back, eying the barrier, but before he could spot a weakness, a spear slammed into the ground at his feet. Hamlet stepped back, and Horus took his place, hefting a spear of his own and preparing to throw. Venari traced a glyph in the dirt with their good arm, making another spear to replace Hamlet’s.

Belos dodged the second spear, and, before Hamlet could throw his new one, pounced on Petro’s semi-conscious body. He rose shakily to his feet, and Phoenix’s stomach twisted. Even Belos didn’t seem quite able to fix the damage he’d done earlier—or maybe he didn’t want to. He shuffled forward, his eyes flickering into blue even while he winced in pain.

“Go ahead,” he taunted, spreading out his arms, “Strike! You won’t hurt him, not now that he’s betrayed me and joined y—”

A glittering knife made of stone whirred through the air, slicing across Belos’ cheekbone. The knife sprouted vines that latched onto the wound, wrapping around the left side of Belos’ face, covering one eye and continuing their steady creep over his forehead.

Sam pushed up his glasses with his free hand, dropping the hand he’d used to throw the knife. “Somehow, I doubt the person who was suicidally dedicated to killing Phoenix will mind too much if he gets a little banged up while we try to get rid of you.” His voice held a matter-of-fact quality to it, but vibrated with barely-contained rage underneath. “And besides, you picked the wrong grimwalker to pull the ‘you wouldn’t hurt him, would you?’ card with.” A small, cold smile appeared on his face that didn’t quite match the tears blooming behind his glasses. “You might want to check your blindspot, Uncle Pip.”

Belos’ head swiveled to the left, but, Phoenix realized, it had just been another distraction. Lucy swept down from the sky (when had she taken off? Phoenix hadn’t thought such a huge creature would be capable of such stealth, but the last few minutes had been chaotic enough he supposed), Joseph steering and Cherry standing on the griffin’s back. He leapt off his perch, easily overpowering the disoriented Belos and pinning Petro’s arms to his sides.

“Leave his body before this gets more painful for both of you,” Cherry told him, “Those broken ribs are going to hurt an awful lot in about three seconds.” He squeezed slightly to emphasize his point, and Belos yipped in pain, his eyes flickering from blue to magenta, and back to blue.

Sam tilted his head at Meleager’s group, who watched patiently with their spears in hand, waiting for Cherry to no longer be in firing range. “I guess we weren’t the only little group who made a contingency plan.”

“No,” Phoenix agreed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Novus quickly twisting together the barest skeletons of windup toys while Matt, Cyrus, and Ash armed them with glyphs, “I guess not.” He blinked, tallying up Grimwalkers in his head. “Wait—where’d Lake and Locke go?”

Petro’s face shifted, and Belos sort of… ripped away from him, like a second head extending from his neck, snapping at Cherry’s throat. Cherry dropped him with a yelp, stepping back, but Belos was didn’t get to enjoy his new freedom. Petro’s eyes burned, and his hands twitched weakly. “Get… out…” he hissed, “Get…”

Phoenix heard two sharp, twin intakes. Lake and Locke appeared behind Belos, invisibility glyphs burning away. Before Belos had time to wrestle back control of Petro’s body, Lake grabbed Belos’ hair and yanked, while Locke pushed Petro’s body in the opposite direction with one foot. Belos yelped, and with a disgusting slurping noise, pulled loose from Petro. The moment his arms reformed, Lake and Locke jumped backwards to avoid his swipes. Petro dragged himself just far enough away from Belos that the emperor couldn’t grab him again, then collapsed against the dirt again.

“And there’s part two,” Sam remarked calmly.

Phoenix bounced Ghost up and down in his arms, turning their face away from the fight. “I’m surprised your plan was to get Belos out and not just take Petro down with him.”

Sam shrugged. “Usually I’m all about efficiency, but honestly, I sort of want to beat each of them separately. More cathartic that way.”

Belos rose to his feet, but almost immediately had to twist and dodge more spears from Hamlet, Horus, and Meleager. Novus released the little army of toys, and they waddled across the field, exploding in flashes of bright light or puffs of smoke. Belos roared—he’d turned to his completely monstrous form, abandoning any pretenses at remaining human.

The disorientation from everyone’s combined effort was all the rest of the Grimwalkers needed. They charged forward, summoning glyph weapons of their own and surrounding Belos in a deadly, pointy ring. He whirled around in a circle, unsure of who to choose while they struck, darting in close and taking a swing, then skipping back out of reach before he could overcome the disorienting blow and strike back. Dagger and Venari stayed outside of the mob, drawing new glyphs, and the grimwalkers around Belos moved in an intricate dance of striking, retreating, retrieving a glyph from Dagger or Venari, and rejoining the circle.

Phoenix thought he and Ghost might be the only ones besides the rescued hostages left out, but Hunter quietly stood next to him, watching in awe. “They’re incredible,” he murmured.

A small, proud smile worked its way onto Phoenix’s face. “Yeah,” he replied, “They are.”

Hunter gripped his staff tightly. “I should help.”

“Are you ready?”

“I want to be.” But he shuddered, glancing Petro’s direction.

Phoenix understood. Hunter had just been possessed—and he’d nearly lost Flapjack, to boot. Of course he was nervous. “Don’t worry about it,” Phoenix told him gently, “This is what being part of the family is for—you don’t have to confront him unless you’re ready. And they’ll protect you if you’re not—even if you’re never ready. I get it. I wish I could help, but… I think I’d just get in the way right now. Can’t move fast enough.” He nodded to his injured leg. “And I never learned glyphs well enough to draw them. Besides,” he added, forcing cheer into his voice and patting Ghost’s back, “Someone has to take care of Ghost.”

A smile flickered across Hunter’s face. “They do not want to let go of you,” he agreed. He turned his attention back towards the fight, taking tiny, shuffling steps forward and then back.  

Sam finished drawing a massive glyph in the dirt, and darted forward, stomping to activate it. “Haha!”

Nothing happened.

“Uh…” Sam hit the glyph again, but again, nothing happened. Belos whirled around, striking out at Sam before he could move out of the way.

“Look out!”

Hunter disappeared from Phoenix’s side in a flash of gold, reappearing next to Sam and teleporting him away just as Belos’ scythe sliced into the air where he’d just been. Hunter resurfaced next to Phoenix again, both he and Sam’s chests heaving for air. Sam patted himself as if to make sure he was still there.

Hunter hissed. “That was close.”

All around the circle, glyphs flickered and went out. Meleager attacked with a spear made of ice, but it shattered against Belos’ skin. Belos turned towards him with a dangerous glow in his eyes.

Again, Hunter disappeared, and again, he snatched Belos’ target just in the nick of time, dropping him safely with Phoenix and Sam.

Belos’ lips curled into a sneer, and he went on the offensive, lashing out at the grimwalkers who were now too close, with no way to defend themselves. Hunter disappeared and reappeared all around the circle with a distinctive whoosh, always barely half a step ahead of Belos’ attacks, always just in time.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” Phoenix thought he heard him repeat to himself as he dropped their siblings to safety, “I can do this.”

The remaining grimwalkers broke ranks, retreating from Belos’ onslaught, half-panicked and some of them fruitlessly still trying to use glyphs. Hunter continued to pull them from danger, while others retreated on their own, backing out of Belos’ reach.

Belos lunged at Cherry, the last grimwalker within his easy hitting range, but something seemed… off… about the attack. His eyes shifted behind Cherry, and Phoenix realized what he was up to just before Hunter teleported to grab Cherry.

Belos lashed out, almost quicker than Phoenix could follow, but instead of hitting Cherry, he aimed past him. His hand slammed into Hunter just as he solidified, knocking his staff out of his hands and sending him skidding backwards. Cherry stepped in, taking swing to divert Belos’ attention, but Belos batted him aside with barely a second glance.

“You should have stayed dead in the human realm,” Belos hissed, raising his scythe.

Hunter’s staff rolled to Phoenix’s feet, and the bird on top sprang to life. The staff flew into Phoenix’s hand with a shrill cry that Phoenix understood perfectly—save him. Without thinking, Phoenix moved, stepping forward. The palisman did the rest—that step blurred gold, and when his foot landed on the ground, he stood over Hunter, holding one arm up to block Belos’ blade and angling his body to keep Ghost away from harm.

He flinched as Belos’ scythe sank into his arm, almost certain it would push past the layers of mud and cleave straight through bone.

But instead the curse wrapped itself around the scythe when it made contact, gumming up the blade and stopping it completely.

Hunter stared up at him, wide-eyed. “Flap-jack?” he whispered. Phoenix dropped the staff, and it fluttered to its witch. Hunter scrambled to his feet, clutching the shaft tightly. “Phoenix—”

Belos pushed harder, and the blade came dangerously close to Phoenix’s face, his own curse dripping and splattering onto his skin in steaming droplets.

“Take Ghost,” Phoenix grunted, “Now.”

Hunter wrapped one arm around Ghost’s waist and disappeared, back safely with the others in the blink of an eye. With his other arm free, Phoenix lashed out, scraping claws against Belos’ arm. Belos stepped back with a hiss, reevaluating and holding his dripping arm. A savage smile to rival Petro’s flickered across Phoenix’s face.

“Not so easy to kill us when we have the tools to fight back, is it?”

Belos’ face twisted into an ugly snarl, and he lunged again. Phoenix caught his hands with a grunt, digging his feet into the ground and pushing back.

“You won’t get past me.”

Belos’ face was already half-melted, showing his teeth like a skull, but he still somehow managed to smile. “That’s fine with me.”

Tendrils of Belos’ mud separated from the rest of his arms and jabbed into Phoenix’s own cursed flesh, like twisted harpoons lashing the two of them together. Belos clutched Phoenix’s hands so that he couldn’t pull away, his rotting breath heavy on Phoenix’s face.

“Together, then,” he hissed.

Phoenix’s arms rippled in terror, pushing back against the connection, trying to force Belos’ influence out.

No. No, no, no—

The glow of Belos’ eyes spread across Phoenix’s sight, tinging everything blue. Behind him, someone screamed his name, and he slowly, slowly tore his eyes away from Belos’, twisting to look.

Jason had leapt off of the gallows and ran towards him, but Cherry caught him, his one eye widening in horror. He wrapped his arms around the struggling grimwalker to keep him back, shouting something, but Phoenix couldn’t hear him.

Fight it, Cherry’s lips mouthed, Fight him.

What does he think I’m doing?

Phoenix turned his head back to Belos, but the emperor was gone.

Oh.

Phoenix’s arms pulsed, twice as big as they were supposed to be, and spreading towards his shoulders. Phoenix lifted his hands, slow as if he was moving through honey, clawing fruitlessly at the growth.

You never stood a chance.

Phoenix’s head throbbed in time with someone else’s heart. Something clawed at the inside of his chest, tore at the inside of his skull, ripped at his soul with razor sharp claws.

Stupid

Weak

You failed me—you were always going to fail them, too.

Phoenix curled up in himself, a voice that sounded suspiciously like his screaming somewhere outside of himself, then abruptly cutting off as his lungs succumbed to the overwhelming pressure.

Stupid

Weak

“No,” Phoenix whispered, but his body didn’t respond, didn’t pass the word along.

Something slammed against his consciousness, tearing at it with massive claws.

“Did you think you would fight me with my own power?”

A knee—no, an elbow—no, a foot—slammed into Phoenix’s chest, and a massive paw curled around his throat.

“I gave you that power,” Belos’ voice whispered, surrounding him like a cocoon, dissolving his insides, “I made you, and made you everything you are. You. Belong. To me.”

Phoenix’s soul constricted, and somewhere, he could feel that terror from his curse, the deep fear of a hunted animal. It didn’t want to go back to Belos—maybe remnants of Belos were in his curse, but remnants of the palisman were, too. And they were terrified.

“Please,” he whispered.

“Please? Oh, we’re far past the point where you have any say.” Belos’ laugh echoed all around him and that horrible force dropped him.

“Please,” Phoenix whispered again, reaching out towards that sad, scared thing inside him, “He’ll kill us both again. I know it’s hard to stand up. I know you’re scared, and it’s okay to be scared. But we have to do this together. We can’t do it alone.”

Belos tore at Phoenix’s soul again, scraping him out of his own body. “You were never going to be clever enough or strong enough to defeat me. Goodbye, Hunter.”

Something wrapped around Phoenix, anchoring him to himself like a lifeline. A cold, slimy, acidic lifeline, but a lifeline nonetheless. He took a deep breath. Then another. And another. And he felt that breath echoing in his body. One slow piece of control at a time. One recovery by one recovery. His heart started to beat with his pulse, not Belos’.

“I don’t need to be clever enough to get rid of you.” The words ebbed out of him—he didn’t say them, they just sort of echoed, pushing Belos away in pulses of warmth while the curse kept him anchored in his body. “I don’t need to be strong enough. I just need a little help.”

His arms rippled again, and this time, this time, Belos went flying backwards, Phoenix’s curse rejecting its origin and pushing him out. Belos skidded against the ground, and Phoenix slowly marched towards him. His curse covered his arms, but twisted around him in the air, too, forming wings of mud.

“Maybe it was your power,” Phoenix said, and this time, his voice was his own. This time, his body was his, only his, curse and all. “Maybe you made me what I am.” The wings spiraled back into his arms, and he grabbed Belos by his collarbone. He seemed… smaller than Phoenix remembered him ever being before, barely Phoenix’s height. “But it is my choice what I do with it.”

Belos tried again to possess him, creeping spikes of mud jabbing at Phoenix’s arms, but his curse didn’t give, didn’t let him in again.

“I choose who I am,” Phoenix told him. He slammed Belos against the ground, drawing his hands back for another blow. Belos scrambled to his feet, but he couldn’t move away fast enough. “Not you.”

He brought his clawed hand careening right towards Belos’ face.

Belos caught it, struggling to push Phoenix’s hand back before it could plunge into his eyes. “Ah—wait—wait—”

I’m winning, Phoenix realized as Belos took a step back, and his arms shook under the force of Phoenix’s onslaught, He’s not strong enough to beat me—to beat us.

Belos’ foot slid backwards again.

Almost—

Belos’ eyes darted down, and his foot swung forward.

He hadn’t been losing a step.

He’d been drawing back for a kick.

Belos’ blow crashed into Phoenix’s injured ankle so hard the cast cracked and shivers of pain rippled up his spine. Phoenix’s leg buckled, and the moment of hesitation was all Belos needed. He twisted away from Phoenix, grabbing Phoenix’s face in one hand and slamming him back against the ground. He pulled Phoenix up again, this time pushing him forward against the earth. He couldn’t see—couldn’t feel—there was nothing but emptiness.

“Stop!”

Stars danced in front of Phoenix’s eyes, and he slowly rolled out of the crater Belos had made with his body. He’d gone past the point of hurting—all he could feel was a startling numbness and some bright flashes of… something… from the curse in his arms. Not quite fear. But a weakness and a hunger.

Belos had left him the moment he’d blacked out—he’d turned his attention back to the gallows, back to Evelyn’s flickering magic, back to Caleb.

But Jason stood in his way, arms out.

“Leave him alone.” Tears ran down Jason’s face, but Phoenix couldn’t tell who they were for. “I know you were hurt, but haven’t you punished him enough for it?”

No, Phoenix thought dizzily, trying and failing to push himself up, to crawl, to do anything but sit here uselessly, He can’t be reasoned with—Jason, you have to move.

But to his surprise, Belos stopped. To his surprise, Belos hesitated, struggling against himself like an animal chewing its own leg to get out of a trap.

“I’m not punishing him,” he said finally, “I’m saving him.”

Jason gave Belos a look so quietly sad, Phoenix’s own eyes grew wet. “Do you even know the difference anymore?”

Belos snarled, lunging at Jason, but froze halfway, looking down at his feet. Phoenix blinked once or twice, wondering if he was hallucinating. But no, the creeping grey didn’t disappear, instead spreading up.

Belos was turning to stone.

Belos twisted around to find the source of the magic, and Phoenix followed his gaze. Mole stood behind Belos, a giant glyph drawn in the dirt around him—the petrification glyph, Phoenix realized. In the middle, stuck in the dirt like a flagpole, was Petro’s dropped staff. The red gem at the top glowed and crackled with red lightning, powering the glyph with the last of its magic. Belos twisted and swiped, but Mole stood just out of reach, unfazed.

“I suppose it always was going to be you,” Belos snarled, “You never held any loyalty to me, did you? I should have bashed your head in with a shovel before you ever crawled out of the mud.” The petrification had crept up to his chest now, and his lips peeled back in a sneer. “What, nothing to say? Even now?”

Mole didn’t respond, just watched coldly as the stone devoured more and more of Belos’ skin. Belos turned frantically back to Jason, reaching almost gently towards his face. His own face changed, back to the face of a battered old man.

“You’re not going to let him do this to me, are you?” he asked, his voice honey-sweet, but tinged with desperation, “No, Hunter, you’re not going to let him kill me. We’re going to the human realm, remember? Just you and I, no one else. Phillip and Caleb again. That’s what you wanted, remember? You said that’s what you wanted, just you and I, no witches, none of these other grimwalkers, nothing. Just you and I. You won’t let him kill me. You promised.”

Jason said nothing for a long moment, just looked at Belos as if he was searching for something, then sighed. “You were so good at tricking people. So good at telling them what they wanted to hear,” he told Belos in a low, sad voice, “You told so many lies—can’t you recognize one when you hear it?”

He stepped back. Belos reached out towards him, but his fingers turned to stone just before he could touch Jason again.

His face froze tilted towards Caleb.

Mole took a deep breath, pulled the shaking, smoking staff out of the glyph, and pointed it at Belos’ petrified body. A pulse of red energy shot out, and the statue collapsed into rubble. The red gem at the top shattered. The last remnants of him… gone.

Xxx

Jason watched Belos’ face fall to pieces in front of him and fell to his knees with them. He’d thought he’d feel something when Belos died. Happiness. Pride. Maybe even a little bit of sadness. But he just felt… empty. Scraped out and hollow.

Is this how Dad always felt?

Mole dropped the staff and leapt over the rubble to him, taking Jason’s face in his hands and anxiously looking him over for injuries.

“I’m okay,” Jason told him wearily, “Hey—really, I’m alright. Um.” He slowly twisted around. “We should check on—”

Mole nodded, helping him to his feet and watching him like a hawk until they reached Phoenix. He’d managed to roll over and get himself up on his knees, but he stared vacantly into space, a look Jason felt in his soul.

“Hey—” Jason reached towards his face. “Concussion buddies?”

Phoenix smiled weakly, gripping his hand. “Probably. Hey—I’m glad you’re safe. If a little banged up.” His eyes slid back to Belos. “He’s… it’s for real this time, right?”

Mole nodded fiercely. A grim smile worked its way onto Jason’s face. “Well, glyphs don’t seem to be working very well at the moment, so even if Sam wanted to turn him back, I don’t think he could.”

“And… Caleb?”

Any words Jason could have said died in his throat. He turned and wandered as if in a dream towards the foot of the gallows, pushing through the crowd of grimwalkers gathered around their parents. Evelyn still held that flickering magic circle over Caleb’s chest, but the wound… didn’t seal up. The blood flow had barely stemmed up. Sweat dripped down Evelyn’s face, and the magic flickered more dangerously, nearly going out completely.

“It’s not enough,” she whispered, looking up at Jason desperately, “I’m out of magic, I can’t…” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Auric?” she said faintly.

“I can start packing the wound, we can try to get him back to Hexside, the griffin is at the ready—”

“Auric, listen.” Evelyn opened her eyes again. “There’s one more spell I can try, and hopefully it will negate enough of the damage that he’ll survive. But I’m… going to be out of commission. I need you to take care of the rest—of him and me, okay?”

“Okay,” Auric said quietly, “Okay, okay, I can do that. But what—”

Evelyn released the spell with a sigh. “Here we go.” She pressed her forehead to Caleb’s, taking a deep breath. “With this spell declared,” she murmured, “let the pain be shared.”

She fell next to Caleb, the wound on his chest shimmering and shrinking. Evelyn’s own chest tore open, and blood flowed from the wounds.

Auric yanked out bandages and potions, swearing a blue streak while he packed the wounds. He looked up at Jason, horror dawning in his eyes. “It’s still too big,” he whispered, “She was wrong, I can’t fix this—I don’t have magic, I don’t have…”

“We need to make it smaller,” Jason murmured.

“What?”

“We need to make it smaller,” Jason declared. He gripped Evelyn’s bloody hand.

Auric’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, Jason, don’t—”

“With this spell declared,” Jason announced, “Let the pain be shared.”

For a moment, nothing. Then, a tearing, aching rawness spread across his chest, opposite the scar on his back. Jason doubled over, gasping. The ground beneath him blurred, and the strength he’d had left drained. He reached for Evelyn and Caleb’s hands again, his own shaking uncontrollably.

“With this spell declared,” he heard Cherry’s voice murmuring, and Caleb’s wound shrank even more.

“Spread out the damage,” Auric breathed, “If all of us—it can be manageable. All of us take a little so that they don’t take too much.”

Mole gripped Jason’s shoulder, his lips moving soundlessly. The pain lessened—still a tearing rawness that made each breath an almost insurmountable effort, but lessened. All around him, the murmur rose up—the spell repeated over and over again, Belos’ damage spread out between them evenly. Jason held his parents’ hands tightly.

Let us save you this time.

Xxx

Phoenix limped towards the gallows. All around Caleb and Evelyn, the rest of the family murmured the words of a spell. They shared the burden of the wound, and it shrank smaller and smaller each time. Sam held up a hand as he approached.

“Uh—no offense, Phoenix, but I think if you try, it’ll just…” His face softened. “Look—you’ve taken enough more than enough hits for us today. Let us do this part.”

A frustrated, helpless feeling rose up in the back of Phoenix’s throat. “But I want to hel—”

“You have. Easy, soldier. Time to take a break.”

Phoenix retreated. He hadn’t helped, not enough. He’d come so close to beating him, but… not enough. Belos had still won out. And he’d been left in the dust again.

Speaking of left in the dust… Phoenix slowly lowered himself in a painful, aching crouch next to Petro. He wheezed, opening one eye to glare at Phoenix.

“I still don’t like you,” he grumbled, “This doesn’t change that.”

“I figured.” Phoenix sighed. “How long?”

“What?”

“How long were you planning to kill him? Was it the whole time, or…?”

“No.” Petro stared up at the sky. “Ah… after I left you at the keep, I retreated to watch him win and destroy everything. Sort of seemed like there was nothing else to do. And then… he didn’t.”

“Mhm.”

“I went looking. I had to make sure for myself, you know. See if he was actually dead this time. And I found him, a mashed-up puddle of footprints in mud.” Petro shuddered. “It was like he was waiting for me. He knew I’d come back, and he just had to hold on until I did. And… he possessed me again. But it was different. I couldn’t tell you how, but it just felt… I don’t know, desperate. You know how someone who’s drowning will drag you down with them? Like that. And I knew, when he possessed me again, that he was going to use me up. He was going to take everything I had left, and then just leave me in a ditch somewhere.” He chuckled, then winced. “I was always willing to die for him, little bird. But I thought that sacrifice would have some meaning. That he’d care if I did. That possession… he didn’t care. I was just a means to an end, and he’d forget about me once I was gone.”

Petro took a deep, shaky breath. “And I realized… I was never going to be good enough for him. He was going to replace me, again, this time with the real article. The real Caleb. And how could I possibly compete with that?” His voice cracked. “Even if I killed Caleb, he wouldn’t love me more. He wouldn’t ever choose me over the brother who left him, even though I was right there, even though I always came back to him. Even though I would have died for him.”

Petro shook his head, his eyes suspiciously wet. “I just don’t understand how he thought I never cared this whole time. I wasn’t going to betray him, not at first. I don’t understand how he could think… I was loyal. I was loyal. How could he think I only returned to stab him in the back?” His eyes latched desperately onto Phoenix’s. “I had to. He didn’t give me another choice—I was loyal. I had to.”

“I understand,” Phoenix said softly, “Trust me, Petro, I understand. But—look. Hey. You can give your loyalty to someone who deserves it more. Someone who will be loyal back. I think… I think your caretaker would like that for you.”

“It’s not gonna be you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Come on.” Phoenix slung one of Petro’s arms over his shoulder and hauled him up to his feet.

“Let me go,” Petro grumbled, “Leave me to die here.”

“You’re not dying. And I’m not leaving you behind.”

Petro chuckled, breaking into a cough halfway through. “You’re not in much better shape than I am, little bird. You can barely stand.”

“I can stand enough.”

Phoenix dragged Petro towards the rest of the family. Lucy knelt on the ground, allowing Joseph to drape Evelyn and Caleb across her back. Caleb still hadn’t opened his eyes, and Evelyn wasn’t much better, watching them with hazy, weak eyes. But they were alive—and the gaping wound had been reduced to a nasty gash, easily packed and bandaged by Auric’s steady hand.

“Oh, no,” Sam said immediately as Phoenix approached, “He is not coming with us.”

“Good,” Petro mumbled, “I don’t want to. You’ll keep me locked in your lab again.”

Phoenix elbowed him. “No, we won’t. Sam, come on—”

“After everything he’s done?”

“He turned on Belos,” Phoenix pleaded, “He saved Evelyn.”

“For his own gain, not because he cares about us.”

“Okay, but he still helped! That has to mean something, doesn’t it?He can change,” Phoenix argued, “He’s already started—we didn’t think he’d ever turn on Belos, did we? But he did. It’s like Caleb said, he’s growing. Slowly, but growing.” He turned desperately to Cherry. “You wanted him to change—and he is. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

Cherry avoided his eyes. “Maybe he’s changing. But… I’m not sure I want to be around him while he does. He hurt us, Phoenix. He led the Collector right to us. On purpose. He had our home destroyed.”

“He stabbed Lake!” Sam yelled.

“He did do that,” Lake agreed, rubbing their shoulder.

“And he hurt Silver,” Chryses piped up, uncharacteristically angry.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Silver murmured, patting his arm, “It was part of the plan, sort of—we had to get Dad to pull the gallows lever.”

But they went ignored.

“He collapsed. A cave. On me,” Dagger seethed, “Leave him, Phoenix.”

“Okay—look—we can at least take him to a hospital—”

“Don’t want to,” Petro grumbled, “Want to be left here to die.”

Phoenix would have shaken him if he wasn’t so injured. “We’re not leaving you to die. You didn’t want Belos to use you up and leave you for dead—I know you don’t want to die now.”

“Hey, if it’s what he wants…” Sam muttered.

“Come on,” Phoenix tried one more time, “We all had a safe place to figure out how we felt and who we wanted to be. All of us were betrayed by Belos in little ways from the second we dug out of the mud, and we let it go for a long time. And all of us carried out Belos’ horrors up until the end—so did Petro, but we were on the receiving end this time. His finish line just happened after he met us, not before. Look. I get it—he tried to kill me when I was thirteen, just for existing. He killed the closest thing I had to a friend, he attacked and nearly killed me. And he’s tried again several times since. If anyone has the right to be angry with him, if anyone has the right to leave him behind, it’s me.”

Phoenix took a deep breath. “But it doesn’t matter if I’ve forgiven him or not. What matters is that he needs help. What matters is that when it really counted, he stood up to Belos. And what matters is that I’m not going to be the kind of person who leaves him behind just because I don’t like him. He’s coming with us, even if I have to drag him all the way back myself.”

“You won’t have to.”

Jason slipped around to Petro’s other side, supporting him and taking some of the weight off Phoenix’s shoulders. “He saved Mom. That’s good enough for me. Even if he is incorrigible.”

Jason stared pointedly at the others, and Cherry caved. “Alright. We can at least take him to a healer, I suppose. But Phoenix… watch your back around him, okay?”

“I will.”

They turned and looked at Sam expectantly, and finally, he threw up his hands with a disgusted sigh. “Fine! Yes! Fine! We’re a bunch of bleeding hearts! Titan. Fine. We’ll take him with us. Geeze. Joseph, I hope you have more griffins, because we are walking out of this with twice as many injured people than we walked in with.”

Joseph shrugged and whistled. One of his other griffins stalked out of the trees, lifting Dagger and Venari onto her back. Jason and Mole pushed Petro up on Lucy behind Caleb and Evelyn. The griffin eyed him for a moment, the same way she’d eyed Jason before sitting on him, but left him alone.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing.”

Phoenix jumped. He hadn’t noticed Hunter creep up at his elbow, still holding Ghost. The toddler made grabby hands at Phoenix, but Hunter didn’t move to hand the baby over, eying Phoenix’s injured foot.

“Oh. Thanks.”

Hunter shrugged. “I wouldn’t be here if people hadn’t given me a lot of second chances, even after I hurt them.” He scratched Flapjack’s chin. Blue scars ran up the bird’s chest from the repairs, but he was alive and looked like he’d never let go of Hunter again. “Maybe he’ll turn out alright if he meets the right people.”

“Maybe.”

The second griffin lifted Phoenix, depositing him neatly on her back. Cherry looked up at him. “Where to? Back to Hexside?”

Phoenix shook his head. “I’ve… actually got somewhere else in mind. Hunter? Could you lead the way?”

Hunter’s face split into a grin. “I’d love to.”

Xxx

Phoenix took a deep breath. This was it. No more barriers, no more incidents to keep him from explaining. Just he and Darius.

And the assortment of twenty plus griffins, grimwalkers, witches, and humans behind him.

He knocked on the perfectly polished purple door.

It swung open almost immediately, and Darius’s jaw dropped, staring at the mob behind Phoenix.

“Um. Hi. Do you… maybe know where we could find a healer right around now?”

Darius nodded faintly, still staring at the crowd.

“And… is your offer of a place to stay still open? Sorry, I know there’s a lot of us.”

“Ah. Yes.” Darius bobbed his head up and down a few times. “I think… I think I may need to find some more blankets.”