#shes his home...where he can lower his burdens and rest...kill me now ^^

[fuedalreesespieces]

i think a lot about the chapters where kikyo is first resurrected, when kaede asks inuyasha to tell her about the true nature of his and kikyo's relationship, and he recalls seeing her smile:

kaede posits that he's remembering the love he felt for her, but his thoughts are more troubled than fond. the line "for the first time in my life, i felt like i'd done something wrong" especially hits for me - he's not occupied with thoughts of past love, he's occupied with guilt - i.e., the "nagging" feeling.

in contrast:

even his physical reactions differ, from a nervous expression (accompanied with the "gulp" sfx) to a light blush and a feeling of contentment. in later chapters he elaborates on this feeling, telling kagome that he feels light and relieved when he's with her. inuyasha is told that what he feels for kikyo must be "love," but love, for him, is the rare feeling of peace.

[ceo-of-sloppy-women]

No grave can hold my body down; I'll crawl home to her

chapter 3

Chapter 4: Sevika's Place

You’re hurt, to say the least, but you do your best not to show it. Sevika’s boundaries are hers, regardless of whether they sting or not. You can’t possibly expect a stranger to be comfortable sharing her house with you, even if she did vouch for you. Even if you thought she had been flirting with you for the last forty-eight hours. Folding your hands in front of yourself, you hold your chin high, refusing to look hurt. The last thing you want is to make her feel uncomfortable for having boundaries.

Silco, on the other hand, does not seem to have the same qualms: “Do you want your poor friend here to sleep in a tent? Or in a booth at the Last Drop? You know our housing situation, Sevika.”

Before Sevika can continue, you speak up, focusing your gaze on Vander and Silco, purposely not looking at Sevika in case you look more hurt than you wish to show her:  “I can sleep in the Last Drop. I don’t want to put anyone out – or be too much of a burden. I’ve been sleeping in the cold for the last few years just fine. Even just having a roof over my head would be wonderful.”

“Shit, no, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…” Sevika groans like a pained animal, dragging her hand over her face. “You can stay with me. I’ll be fine.”

You turn around and smile up at her, placing a gentle hand on her bicep. “It’s okay, Sevika. You’ve already been incredibly nice to me, far nicer than you needed to be. I don’t want to invade your privacy – I can stay in the Last Drop. It’s probably far better condition than some of the places I have stayed in the past.”

“Fuck no! I ain’t letting you stay in that place – it’s where we quarantine new people so we can keep an eye on them! You’ll get yourself bit, and then it will be my fault because I got you into that mess in the first place. You can stay with me; I’ll be fine.”

“Sevika, it’s okay. You’re –“

She grabs your face, holding your jaw between her thumb and forefinger. Your eyes go wide as you stare up at her hard gaze. At this angle, she towers over you, bent forward slightly, blocking out the dying sun. If you weren’t desperately trying to do damage control, you would practically salivate at how much she resembles the divine figure that rescued you from the horde of infected.   “Can it, princess; decisions final. Stop being so damn altruistic. I’m a big girl – I can make decisions for myself.”

You really want her to stop sending you mixed signals, but honestly, being vocal right now might kill you. Or the next words out of your mouth could be a plea for her to spit into it. Frantically, you nod your head, desperately trying not to blush. Satisfied, she lets you go and looks over your shoulder at the two men. You don’t see the way Vander shakes his head with a bemused smile or the tender way Silco hums as he leans into Vander’s resting on his lower back.

“You better get a house ready soon. She deserves better than my mess,” Sevika grunts before stalking off, seemingly finished with the conversation.

Still stunned, you look from the two men to Sevika, trying to figure out if she expects you to follow her or wait for them to explain more to you. Your mouth opens and closes, wanting to say more to the two men – to thank them for their hospitality or something! But you can’t find the words. Vander snorts, ushering you after her.

“You better hurry up, I don’t think she’s going to wait. We can discuss your role here tomorrow when there’s more daylight. For now, welcome to Zaun.”

Nodding rapidly for a moment, you manage to remember to thank them both before rushing after Sevika. The crowd is thickening, and she’s nearly disappeared in the foreign sea. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry, and you can dodge between strangers until you reach her side. She cocks her head to you, checking who’s walking beside her and giving a (hopefully) satisfied nod. A moment later, she picks up the pace as if she’d been waiting for you to join her.

You fiddle with your hands in silence as the two of you walk through the settlement. Desperate for something to break the thickening ice, you pipe up and ask: “You smoke -? Weed, I mean. I already know you smoke cigarettes from earlier… Do you smoke weed?”

“I smoke in general,” Sevika grunts without so much as a glance in your direction.

“Okay, stop for a moment then… please?” you ask.

 She obliges quickly, letting you rummage through your backpack until you pull out a pack of dubbies. A lot of trading posts had a various assortment after a few years. Many of them cultivated their own strains to attract repeat customers so they could continue to receive necessary supplies without risking their populations.

“Bought these a while back, but they should still be good.”

Popping one into your mouth, you search your pockets for your lighter, trying to remember where you’d left it. You hope you didn’t drop that fucker on the trail over here! A click makes your head whip up to see Sevika holding out a custom metal lighter with a flickering flame. It’s a nice lighter – you wonder how often she smokes… Not wanting to lose yourself in that train of thought as she waits patiently, you lean forwards and light your dubbie, staring up at her with big puppy-dog eyes. She blushes slightly, eyes darkening as she stares down at you. It takes a moment to light, but when you finally get it, suck in a small puff and blow it out into her face. She inhales as the smoke rolls over her, watching you intensely.

“So polite,” you hum with a smile, letting the first pull rumble into your cold and aching body. That horse ride has really left you sore.

Sevika says nothing, swallowing thickly as she takes the dubbie from between your lips and pulls a long drag from it. She blows the smoke out of her nose with a practiced perfection – not even a cough – and hands it back to you. Then she starts walking again, still clammed up. You take another drag and offer the dubbie back to her, she takes it again, and you allow silence to come between the two of you as you walk the streets you now call home. Occasionally, your fingers brush, and she startles slightly, almost flinching away from your touch as she takes the dubbie. Smoke pools in your lungs as her indirect kiss wets your lips. You steal glances at her lips as she curls them around the white paper, sighing heavily on the exhale. Her head turns slightly to you as she passes it back, catching you, and she cocks an eyebrow but says nothing, letting you take the dubbie under the excuse you had only been waiting for it back.

Pleasantly warm and buzzing, you turn down a quiet street in an isolated part of town. Most of the houses here are dilapidated, having fallen into disrepair during the apocalypse. All except for a handful, which have tidy yards and lights on in the windows. Down the street, you see a scrawny young man walking alongside Jayce. You hadn’t spoken much to him during the trip back, but it is nice to see a friendly face. Not wanting to disturb their conversation, you silently watch the two of them duck behind a yellow door of a greying house and watch the light flick on. A smile creases your lips (and the thought of power thrills you).

Next to you, Sevika turns and opens the gate to her house. It’s a two-storied building with a window in the roof, suggesting a loft. You’re not sure if it was once white, but the siding is yellow now, with what appears to be a very colourful amount of graffiti drawn onto the side walls. Some of it looks painted over with white paint – the house was probably white originally, then. The porch looks well-maintained, with a metal bench and some custom pillows that appear to be made from old t-shirts sewn together. The door is painted a bright pink colour with a blue smiley face spray-painted in the centre.

Sevika sighs heavily as she turns the key in the lock: “I keep telling her to stop wasting spray paint.”

“Who?” you ask, following her inside.

“Jinx,” Sevika grunts, dropping all of the bags on a thread-bare couch near the door.

Nodding to show her you heard her, you take a moment to look around the house. There’s a staircase immediately at the door, leading up into a narrow hallway with a few shut doors. You can see a staircase at the far end, curving to the side. Currently, you’re standing in the living room. It has a few lamps that exude a low, soft light, and two couches plus a comfy-looking chair – all of which look to have handmade blankets on them to disguise their age. Some are crochet; some are knit – you smile softly, rubbing your fingers against them. Blankets like these take ages to make, meaning they were either super expensive or someone in the settlement really likes Sevika. The same Sevika who is currently ignoring you in favour of trudging off to the kitchen tucked in the back of the house.

Following after her, watch as she opens a cupboard of glasses above her, crop-top riding up and exposing part of a large back tattoo as she reaches for two glasses. You lean against the doorframe to act nonchalant as she grabs a bottle of mead from the liquor cabinet next to you, rolling her shoulders absent-mindedly. She pours two glasses as you take in her and the kitchen. A door to your right leads outside, with a shovel and coat hook next to it. Through the surprisingly clean window, you can see a small community garden beyond Sevika’s yard with a pump and a well and flourishing tomato crops. Inside, there are dishes in the sink, empty cans on the counter in a plastic bin, and two boxes of empty glass bottles on the floor.

A glass is thrust into your hands as she catches you staring at the bottles.

“Jayce has a forge. We melt the bottles down to make new ones… or wash ‘em and reuse them. Recycling,” she grunts stiffly, brushing past you to get back to the living room.

She flops onto one of the couches and sighs heavily, sinking into the fabric. The crop top rides up again, and she doesn’t even bother to fix it as it exposes the edge of her sports bra. Combined with her low-slung pants, you nearly fry your brain staring at the fluffy happy trail leading below her belt. Sevika is staring out the window, swirling her drink in her glass.

You stand awkwardly in the doorway, unsure if she wants the company or not… but without anywhere else to go. The comment definitely does not explain why she has so many bottles – yet she’s clearly uncomfortable with you acknowledging them. It’s definitely best to drop the topic for now, lest you anger your already grumpy host. However, you’re not sure if she’s so grumpy you should get out of her hair or join her on the couch.

“You can take any room upstairs – just don’t go into the loft,” she waves dismissively, taking a sip of her drink. “Jinx used to crash here as a teenager when she fought with her dads. Still got the pull-out bed-couch thingy up there. Just, you know, don’t choose the bathroom. That’s communal. Oh, and before you ask, yes, the toilet works. You can thank Caitlyn for that one – she brought a bunch of her family’s notes from when they designed Piltover’s sewage system or something. Got a nearby hydroelectric whatsit working to power all that.”

“Thanks, that’s actually… very informative. Like, a lot.” It answered a significant portion of your questions. You think back to the ride here and the black-haired woman Vi kept giggling with at the front of the group. You had no idea she had been so helpful… was everyone here “helpful” in some way? Like a piece of a larger puzzle Silco and Vander were putting together? It would explain why Silco was so quick to include you…

“Heat should start up soon, too. I suggest waiting until then to have a bath; can get pretty nipply without it. Unpleasant to bathe in, and all,” Sevika comments, stretching out the “pretty” as if she was working her mouth around it.

“Maybe I’ll just… sit down then?” you tentatively move to take a seat on the other couch. You make a show of letting your jacket fall down your shoulders, exposing the curve of your figure that had been pressed up against her back for nearly forty-eight hours. Sevika watches you walk in front of her, taking another sip of her drink and making no move to stop you. “Plenty of time to take a bath when the heat’s back on,” you continue, dropping onto the couch and pulling your feet up under you, leaning against the back cushions.

Sevika nods her head, reaching the end of her glass and cursing. She grabs the bottle off the coffee table and refills it again. You take that moment to finally taste what she’d given you – to your surprise, it’s sweeter than expected. A pleased hum escapes you, and her head shoots up, eyebrow cocked, watching as you take another sip. Her gaze is almost predatory, making you squirm in your seat as the weed starts to kick in. Your whole body tingles under her gaze as if she’s lit you on fire. The intensity is terrifying – you’re not sure if she wants to kill you or fuck you or she’s just high. It’s probably the latter, but you’re not sure you’d make an attempt to stop her if she did try to kill you. She could step on you, and you’d probably thank her for it.

In a desperate attempt to ease the tension, you say: “It’s really good. Better than any bottle I’ve bought at a trading post in a long while.”

Sevika smiles into her glass like she’s… proud.

“Wait – did you make this?” you ask, trying not to look shocked in case you are jumping to conclusions.

“Tend to the bees myself. Jinx likes to help out sometimes. More of a hindrance than anything… Vander helped me make the first batch of mead and honey. After that, I got a couple of assistants to smooth out the process. Some of the firelights really like bees –“ Sevika shrugs a little – “It’s not the only alcohol made in town, but I needed something to drink without having to pay an obnoxious bar tab.”

“Oh,” you whisper, staring at the boxes of bottles in the kitchen as she pours a third drink. “Everyone deals with the apocalypse in their own way.”

You’re no damned saviour complex – you’re not about to test her patience by preaching about the dangers of alcoholism. She’s a grown woman; she can make her own decisions. But you do sprawl yourself out on the couch, unbuttoning your plaid shirt to expose the tight t-shirt underneath as the heat starts to warm its decaying frame. It has been far too long since you were inside a building with actual heating. The slow, deliberate nature of the action draws her attention back to you – that same starving stare as before. She sets the bottle down with only half of her drink poured. If you had to, you’d put money on her having a personal limit – at least in polite company.

“Thank you for letting me stay here. It – all of this means a lot. You’re doing so much for me, and here I am, drinking your alcohol, waiting for your house to heat up so I can take a bath in your tub. Especially after how uncomfortable you got when they said I was going to stay with you for a little while… I promise I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I’m able. You’re the first friend I’ve made out here in nowhere, and I don’t want to fuck that up.”

Sevika stares at you for a long moment, taking a sip of her drink and swirling the amber liquid around in her glass. Another heavy sigh escapes her, and you can see just how heavy the bags under her eyes are as she tilts her head toward you. “You can stay as long as you need. Told you: I’m old enough to make my own decisions. If I really didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be here. The Last Drop, it’s – it’s not bad, it’s actually a half-decent bar named after the one Silco and Vander used to run, most of the time. But if I brought you all the way here just to get you killed –“ she looks you dead in the eyes – “It would be a damn waste. Use all the hot water you’d like, try to match me in a drinking game – Hell, cook up all the damn food I’ve got lying around and then use my money to buy more! It ain’t like it’s getting used often enough for you to even make much of a dent.”

“Oh, thank you.” You smile sheepishly, dropping your head so she doesn’t see you blush. “I promise I won’t go that far. Just enough to get by.”

“I’m asking you to,” Sevika states abruptly. You glance up at her, thrown off by the impulsive statement, finding her wide-eyed and nervous. As if she wants to shove the words back into her own mouth but can’t. “Look, use what you’d like when you’d like to. With that book and your journals, you’re doing us a huge favour. Survival is worth actually buying groceries instead of eating the scraps I find in the back of my pantry.”

Gulping down the last of your drink, you levy your gaze on her and ask:  “If you’re so comfortable with me doing all of this, why did you really not want me here?” Laying out all the cards on the table. You’re not stewing in miscommunication all night because you were too much of a coward to buck up and ask.

Sevika drops her head this time, avoiding eye contact as she mumbles: “I just didn’t want you to see how I lived. Thought you’d… think less of me.”

Rising from your seat, you stalk over and settle on the couch next to her. Not close enough to touch – just enough to cut through the distance. She watches your approach with wide eyes, vulnerability pulsating beneath her skin. Her long-forgotten glass is set on the coffee table as she holds her breath. You want to reach out and wrap her in a tight hug, yet the fear of shattering the fragile moment by violating some unspoken boundary keeps you at bay.

Instead, you say: “Sevika, we live in the apocalypse. There are bigger things to worry about than how you spend your most private moments. You are surviving in your own way, as best as you can. I can’t hold that against you – no one can.”

There are tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as she stares back at you. Gingerly, you reach your hand out and stroke your thumb against her hand where it’s laid across the back of the couch. In an instant, she lurches forward, pulling you against her, hand fisted in the back of your shirt. She buries her face in your neck, holding you against her as if you’re about to float away. It’s an unexpected rush of emotion you hadn’t expected from the grumpy, brooding woman who’s only exuded confidence in your presence up until now. It shocks you for a moment, stiffening in her grip until you catch yourself. Knowing this isn’t the time to get startled over affection; you relax into her grip, legs half-straddling her lap as you run your fingers through her hair gently to soothe her. She shakes in your arms, gasping, quivering breaths stolen from the air as she cries silently. You hold her for as long as she needs until she finally begins to calm down and release her grip. Waiting for her to finish crying completely, you linger in her grasp until she’s just sniffling against your shoulder. Fishing out a handkerchief from your pocket, you offer it to her as you settle next to her to give her some space, legs now touching.

“You really need that bath, you reek,” Sevika grunts as she blows her nose.

You stare at her for a beat, taken fully off-guard by her comment, before peeling into laughter at the absurdity of her comment. She starts laughing with you, wheezing as she clutches her side, bringing tears to her eyes again.

“Sorry, that was – that was rude of me,” Sevika apologizes when the two of you calm down. “You should have seen the look on your face though!”

“Don’t apologize, you’re probably right –“ you take a whiff of your armpit and recoil with a gag – “Okay, that’s repulsive. Ew! How did you not gag?! You know what, don’t answer that! I’m going upstairs to find your bath and finally wash the apocalypse off of myself.”

“Definitely a good idea. I’ll get that bed set up for you; I’m sure I have some extra blankets and sheets kicking around somewhere.” Sevika stands from the couch and groans as her body protests.

“Thank you, you’re too kind,” you giggle, and she huffs, lightly pushing your shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get insufferable on me now. Just go have your bath.”

You bob your head as you rummage through your bag for your belongings: soap, clean-enough clothes, and shampoo. “Shit, I don’t have a towel. Can I put you out and borrow one?” you call upstairs.

“Yeah, I’ll put one in the bathroom for you!” Sevika graciously promises as she rummages through the linen cupboard upstairs.

“Thank you,” you hum as you pass her by in the hallway.

“Mhm,” she murmurs, passing you the towel instead as you walk by her. “Hot and cold are backward, by the way. Pull it forward for hot, push it back for cold.”  

“Got it,” you say, stepping into the bathroom and pausing for a moment. You turn around, catching her just as she’s about to duck into another room. “Hey, Sevika?”

“Yeah…?” she answers, cocking her head, eyes still puffy.

“I appreciate your honesty. It’s nice to finally be able to be vulnerable with someone after everything that has happened. I don’t really care if you drink or smoke or eat scraps from your pantry instead of buying groceries. Just don’t be surprised if I take you out to buy some tomorrow, okay? You’ve been incredibly kind to me the last few days; I want to show you how much it has meant to me.”

She doesn’t answer at first, walking over to you and pulling you into another hug. “You don’t gotta go through all that effort. You could make me burnt toast, and I’d still never repay you for it.”

You shake your head, holding her bicep so she can’t walk off as she lets you go: “This isn’t about repaying you. I just think you deserve nice things, like the nice things you’ve done for me.”

“Oh,” she mumbles, mouth working for a moment to find the words. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just say ‘thank you.’ That’s all you need to say,” you say, smiling up at her softly.

“Thank you,” she parrots, reaching her hand up toward your face. Your breath catches in your chest as she stares at your lips. For a brief moment, you think she’s about to lean down and kiss you. Then, abruptly, she pulls away and rubs the back of her neck. “I’m… going to go get that bed made for you! Go bathe; the smell’s getting unbearable.”

“Uh, yeah –“ you huff out a soft chuckle – “See you in a bit.”

She nods her head as you step into the bathroom and shut the door. Your heart hammers in your chest as you lean against the wood, trying to gather yourself. After a moment, you hear her footsteps echo down the hall, and the adrenaline finally starts to subside. All you can do is ghost your finger over your lips and wish she had kissed you.

[a-french-coconut]

Luke Castellan (Part 3)

He dreams of her constantly.

He sees her alive, confused, lost.

He sees her taking the news of his departure and burning a whole part of the forest in anger.

He sees her looking at Annabeth in disbelief, surely wondering where her little sister went.

And he wonders if he knows her like he used to.

He wonders if she has any memory about their conversations when she was a tree.

"CASTELLAN !" A voice bellows, shaking the ruins of the castle.

It's time, Luke, to release my nephew from his burden.

Yes, Master.

He makes his way through the ruins scattered on Mount Otrhys, ancient home of the Titans, currently residing on Mount Tamalpais.

"There you are, demigod !" Atlas groans, the weight of the sky driving him into the ground.

Luke looks at the gigantic sphere, sees the constellations moving through the stars, Orion and Sirius, Andromeda.

"Come on, boy !" The titan snarls, "you said it yourself, you must be the one under the sky."

"Indeed, General." He answers drily, a bit irritated by Atlas, "Eager to escape your burden, I see."

"You would want that too if you were stuck for thousands of years." Atlas sneers.

"I suppose so," he shrugs, "well then, let me take it off from you."

As he places himself underneath the sky, Atlas slowly gives him a part of his burden, waiting for him to settle in the most comfortable position he can find before fully letting go.

As soon as the whole weight of the sky settles on his shoulders, his muscles burn, strain, shake from the strength he has to muster.

Next to him, Atlas stretches, conjuring a spear and making elaborate movements with it.

"Free at last !" He roars, spinning his weapons masterfully, "free from the gods' shackles !"

Sweat drips from his front and black spots obscure his vision.

"Hold strong, demigod." Atlas says, "The manticore is already on his way, he has the girl."

He grunts, signalling the titan he understood, but otherwise, his whole mind is on holding the sky, its weight pressing on his shoulders and crushing him.

------------------------------------

He doesn't know how much time passed.

He's constantly on the verge of fainting, his whole body aches and his neck is killing him.

He is dimly aware someone brings him water, food. It must be Alabaster because he hears the person murmuring and suddenly, he feels a surge of strength. Though he is certain to have heard Chris too.

"Luke !"

That voice isn't familiar.

"Luke !"

No, wait, she is. Of course she is.

"Annie," he stutters, the only action of moving his head a painful one.

She's standing there, grey eyes wide open and there's some blood on her face.

"What- how-" She looks at the sky in disbelief, "how aren't you dead yet ?"

"Soon, very soon," he rasps, "take it from me."

"Take it from you ?" She takes a few steps back, looking around her with suspicion.

Of course, he hadn't expected her to accept directly. He knows she is smart, incredibly so, but Annabeth always had one weakness and he knows it very well.

"Please, Annie, only for a moment !" He begs her, seeping a note of despair in his voice.

She looks at him and he knows he won.

"Okay, okay." She says quietly, approaching him and putting herself under the sky.

"I'll drop it on the count of three, okay ?"

She nods, her whole body tensed up.

"One."

He lowers his arms, Annabeth being smaller than him, and the sky now rests on his shoulders and Annabeth's.

"Two."

He lowers himself even more, letting Annabeth take the full weight.

"Three."

He quickly darts from under the sky, Annabeth gasping next to him as the whole sky falls upon her shoulders.

"Thanks Annie." He says breathless, taking a good moment to stretch like Atlas did, "but really, you don't change."

"You're brilliant, Annie, really brilliant, but feelings," he shakes his head, "they always confused you."

He kneels to see her, gently pushing down the hair covering her face.

"Don't worry, okay ?" He grins, "she'll be here in few days, just hold on."

Her face is scrunched up because of the efforts she's doing, but the heartbroken, hatred, look in her eyes is clear, piercing his heart like the dagger he gifted her so long ago.

"I'm doing this for us !" He screams, because she needs to understand, "Thalia is going to save you, and when she arrives, we will be together again !"

"Isn't that nice ?" He grins, smile dropping when she's still glaring at him the same way.

"I'll talk to you later, got things to do," he mumbles, standing up and leaving Annabeth alone, struggling with the weight of the sky.

---------------------------------

"You left Annabeth under the sky ?" Chris asks, bewildered.

"For a few days only !" He defends himself, "She can do it, Chris. She's strong."

"And I'm going to help her like I helped Luke," Alabaster pipes up from the bed he's laying on, "she'll be fine, Rodriguez."

They are all in Luke's room, Chris, Alabaster and Lila.

Chris fidgets on his seat, clearly not okay with their decision, and it makes him angry.

"Do you think I wanted to do that ?" He snaps at him, "Of course not ! But it's the plan and we gotta stick to it. Something, "He gives his brother a cold look, "I'm beginning to think you can't do."

"Luke..." Lila says warningly.

"No, let him say what he thinks !" Chris stands up, putting himself right in front of Luke. "I already told you last summer that I would do what I need to." He spats, "why are you doubting me like that ?"

"Because you've been uneasy since Thalia's tree got poisoned !" Luke snarls back, "and don't think I haven't seen you with that picture of yours."

"What picture ?" Alabaster asks.

"Luke," Lila says with more force, "enough."

"No, what picture is he talking about ?" Alabaster presses on.

"Why the fuck do you care ?" Chris roars to the son of Hecate, Luke momently forgotten.

"Because it looks like it's making you doubt where your loyalty resides !"

"ENOUGH !" Lila yells, effectively silencing them.

"Enough." she repeats more quietly, "Luke, I can vouch for Chris when I say he's perfectly loyal to our cause and no," she gives a firm look, "I won't be saying why because it's none of your damn business, same goes for you Torrington."

His general scoffs, but doesn't comment further.

"Now," she continues, "Luke, I believe you had something to tell us ?"

"Erm, yeah. Atlas is on his way to capture Artemis as we speak, which means Annabeth will have to stay here."

"And it concerns us because..."

"Because, Alabaster, I want you three to survey her cell. I don't trust anyone else to guard her. You guys know her, how smart she is."

"Fine, we'll do it." Chris says curtly, eyes pointedly on the floor.

"Do I have to-"

"Yes."

"But I'm-"

"my general, I know, but you're still doing it."

"Fine !" Alabaster sighs.

"We got you Luke." Lila smiles at him.

"Thanks guys" he grins at them, except for Chris, "When we are all on Olympus, drinks are on me okay ?"

They all cheer, even his brother, and for moment, he's back at the Hermes Cabin, laughing at some trick Travis and Connor pulled.

Feeling nostalgic ?

Kronos' voice echoes in his mind, directly damping his good mood.

"Guys," he says with a strained voice, "why don't you go train new recruits or something like that ? I need some time alone."

He gestures his head and they all understand, quickly leaving his room.

Perhaps you even wish to go back to that pathetic camp of yours ?

Of course not.

Listen to me well, Luke Castellan. I must gain strength to prepare myself for the next part of our plan, which means I will be gone.

What is the next step ?

Don't worry, Kronos croons, you will know everything in due time.

Your brother, Chris is it ? He lacks conviction.

My Lord, he is loyal to you, Lila vouched for him.

Why, why, why, why ?

Why did he accuse Chris in front of Kronos ?

He can fix this, it's okay, he can fix this.

And do you ?

Yes, yes I do.

Kronos stays silent, his presence heavy in Luke's mind and making his heart pound quickly.

He has to believe him.

Come on, believe me.

I'm the son of the god of Liars, believe me !

When the time comes, he will be asked to prove his worth, and he must comply. As for the girl, she will pay the consequences of her claim, good and bad alike.

Very well, my Lord.

I will not contact you until my essence is complete, Castellan. My brother, Coeus, knows what must be done.

Do not forget our cause, and the wrongdoings of the gods.

It's been years since Luke was alone in his head.

It's quiet.

There is no longer the constant buzzing, the reminder that Kronos heard his every words, every thoughts.

It's his own again. ^^^^^^^^^

Someone knocks on the door.

"Luke ?" Lila's head appears, her voice wary, "everything's okay ?"

"Yeah, all great." He adds a smile for good measure, "where are the others ?"

"Alabaster went to train some new recruits Chris brought in a few days ago and Chris went to the training grounds, probably to blow some steam off." Lila chuckles awkwardly.

"Lila-" He wavers, should he tell her about Kronos ? "How are you so sure Chris is on our side ?"

"It doesn't concern you."

"But it does, Lila, it really does," he presses her on, "tell me."

"I can't, Luke."

"Lila," his voice turns serious, "he is doubting Chris and you are going to take the blame if my brother leaves the army."

"What ?" She fully steps in the room, eyes blown in panic, "No, please. Tell him I take it back !"

"I can't, he just left."

"What do you mean he just left !" She screams, whole body trembling, "You have to fix this !"

"Lila !" He grabs her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him, "why are you so nervous ! You just told me, and Alabaster, Chris was loyal !"

"I lied ! I lied okay !" She yells, her hands tearing out her hair, "He's been asking me questions about Clarisse for the whole week and when you mentioned the photo, I panicked."

"Hey, hey, stop hurting yourself." He grabs her hands and makes her sit on a chair nearby. "Does he know who the spy is ?"

"No," Lila sobs, "but he figured it's someone Clarisse knows well, well enough to share some personal informations like where she lives, her friends, stuff like that."

"Okay, it could be anyone of the year-rounders, we, hum, they are all pretty close. Why didn't tell me all of this ?"

"Because I was afraid you would kick him out or something."

"Lila, he's my brother !" He says exasperated, "I wouldn't do anything to him."

"I'm sorry !" She sobs even harder, "but you have to do something because I'm not sure he won't ever leave."

"He won't," He reassures her, "I'll make sure to keep him close to me, he'll stop going on recruiting missions and he'll stay with Alabaster here."

"I don't want to die, Luke," she whispers, "please, I don't want to die."

"You won't, I'll take of care of this. As long as Chris stays, you have nothing to fear."

"Thanks," she sniffs, "you're a good friend, Luke."

"Don't think everybody would agree." He mumbles, grey eyes burning his mind.

"Well, they're idiots then." She smiles, "I'm going to go talk to Alabaster, make him be nice to Chris."

"You go do that, I'll go talk to Chris and apologise."

He watchers her leave, disappearing around a corner.

They're idiots then.

"Unfortunately, Lila, I don't they are." He whispers to one, his hand automatically going to twirl the ring on his necklace.

It's a cheap ring, stolen from a shady store without doubt.

It's still the most valuable thing Luke owns to this day.

-------------------------------------

As Lila said, his brother is furiously slashing dummies' heads.

"What do you want ?" Chris asks him when he hears his footsteps.

"Nice posture, you're getting better." Luke notes, carefully staying out of the sword's reach.

"What do you want ?"

"To apologise," Luke sighs, "for the mess I got you into."

Chris stops killing dummies.

"What mess ?"

"Kronos heard me talking about you, he thinks you're not as loyal as you say you are."

"What ?" His brother's eyes widen, "but I followed you since the beginning ! I pledge myself to him !"

"And yet," Luke continues, oddly calm, "Lila tells me you asked her about Clarisse."

"I-" he falters, "I just want to know if she's okay."

Chris sheathes his sword and Luke takes it as a sign to get closer.

"Listen to me, Chris, it's been three years since you saw her. She won't be the same anymore."

"I know but maybe I can convince her to join us, if I can talk to her-"

"She'll kill you the moment she sees you." Luke argues, tentatively putting his hand on Chris' shoulder.

"We were friends" Chris says with a raspy voice, "we were best friends."

"She is violent," he softly says, "and I don't think you guys are friends right now. You can't go see her, you can't leave this place."

"I'm in charge of recruiting." Chris frowns.

"I'll get Brie to do it, I need you here."

"Brie can't do shit," Chris scoffs, pushing him away, "she's too hot-headed to recruit anybody. She's going to scare them away."

"Then Martin will, he's a son of Aphrodite."

"Why do you want me here ?" Chris asks with suspicion, "afraid I'll desert or what ?"

Yes, Luke thinks.

"No, of course not." He chuckles, "but the new recruits are a little frightened by all the monsters. They know you well, it'll be good for them to have you around."

"Oh, I see." Chris' defensive stance loosens up, "yeah, I can do that."

"Good," he grins, "you can even help Alabaster to train them."

"I don't think Torrington wants me anywhere near him," Chris scowls, "he made that clear."

"Lila went to talk to him, he'll be nice from now on."

"I don't think he's capable of that." His brother mumbles.

"I'm sure he is, why don't you present me the new recruits ?" He asks him, changing the sore subject of Alabaster Torrington.

"That wasn't subtle, Luke," Chris rolls his eyes, "but come on, it's this way."

"At least it works." He shrugs, bumping Chris.

-----------------------------

If he had known Chris had been taking fucking judo classes from Clarisse, he wouldn't have engaged in a combat.

Chris sends him crashing into the door, breaking it, and he lands right in front of three demigods, all looking at him bewildered.

"Hey guys, I'm Luke." He greets them, a little breathless.

"You're the leader ?" A boy asks.

"That's me !" He grins.

"Get up," Chris says, entering the room, "you're not making a very good first impression."

"Whose fault is that ?" Luke snaps, still accepting Chris' hand.

"Yours, you started it."

"I bumped into you !"

"Exactly."

"You guys are brothers ?" The second boy asks.

"Yeah," Luke answers, "that obvious ?"

"You fight like brothers." The same boy snorts, "I would know, right Gabriel ?"

"Yeah," Gabriel replies, still eyeing Luke warily.

"Ok guys," Chris claps, "Introduce yourself please, Gabriel you go first."

"Gabriel Hernandes, son of Deimos and this is my brother," He tilts his head toward the boy, "Mateo."

"And I'm the son of Phobos," Mateo says, "our mother didn't really see the difference between panic and terror."

"That's, hum, not common." Luke says looking with interest at the two brothers, "what are your powers ?"

"I can provoke fear." Mateo says proudly.

"And I can see your deepest terrors and turn them against you." Gabriel says.

"What do you mean by turning them against you ?" Luke frowns.

Gabriel smiles with a glint of what Luke sure is sadism, in his eyes. "Allow me to demonstrate."

He grabs Luke's arm and Luke only hears Chris ordering at Gabriel to back off before all his surroundings change.

He's back in his childhood house.

He's in the corridor leading to the kitchen, where he knows his mother is cooking those peanuts butter cookies that will end up burnt.

He has to leave, he has to get out of here.

He wills his feet to move, to get him to the entrance.

He's stuck, frozen in place.

There's a loud noise in the kitchen, which means his mother just dropped her newly burnt batch of cookies.

Which means she's in one of her crisis.

Wild, utter, fear runs through his nerves, urging him to leave, to run, to hide.

The closet in his room upstairs.

She never found him there.

Come on, move !

She's screaming now, screaming something about how terrible his fate is, how doomed he is.

"My poor boy, my poor little boy !"

It still breaks him to hear how horrified she sounds.

"Mom..." he calls out hesitantly and May's screams stops at once. "Mom ?"

"I changed my fate ! I'm going to make it !" He adds, "And I'll make sure you do too."

There's sigh to his left.

"You were supposed to run." Gabriel mumbles, "this is boring."

The son of Deimos snaps his fingers and both of them are back on mount Othrys.

"Luke, you're alright ?" Chris kneels next to him as he lays on the floor, gasping for air.

"You guys are cruel." The girl next to them mumbles.

"Relax Jo," Mateo rolls his eyes, "He's the leader of a monster army, it's nothing he can't handle."

"Yeah," Gabriel adds before whispering to his brother, "though his biggest fear is his mother."

"Really ?" Mateo snickers, "and he's our chief ?"

His hand reaches for Backbiter.

Chris presses his shoulder, the message clear.

Don't do it.

You're the bigger person.

"Yeah," Gabriel snorts, unbelievably unaware of Luke on the floor right next to him, "Like I'm going to obey someone who fears his mortal mother."

In one swift motion, Luke gets back on his feet and swings his sword.

Both scream when Gabriel's hands are severed from his body, Backbiter cutting through flesh and bone with ease.

The girl, Jo, staggers back with horror, taking refuge behind Chris who's looking at him bewildered.

"I think I must introduce myself properly." Luke grins, a sharp and cold smile, to the two brothers, "I am Luke Castellan, leader of the Titan Army and the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"I am the lightning thief, stealing the Thunderbolt right under the King's nose," he continues as Gabriel's pained cries echo in the room and Mateo looks at him, white as a ghost. "I'm the one Kronos chose to lead his army to Olympus and I will be the one to bring demigods the peace they deserve."

He grabs Mateo's by the shoulder and yanks him toward him.

"I am your leader which means you owe me respect." He says, swiping the blood of his sword on Mateo's shirt, "and invading my fears, manipulating them for your sick pleasure isn't respect."

He rests Backbiter under the boy's throat, "if either of you two even try to do that trick again, I'll cut off his head instead of his hands." he whispers.

"Yes, sir." Mateo gulps, "understood."

"Good." He claps him on the back, making him stumble, "now go find yourself a medic for your brother, he lost a lot of blood."

Mateo rushes to Gabriel and the two of them leaves the room, the door wide open thanks to Chris.

"Now," he turns to the girl with a wide smile, "who might you be ?"

"I'm Josephine, daughter of Tyche," the girl says, half hidden behind Chris.

"Let me guess, you're lucky ?"

"Yeah, that's it." Jo chuckles, "I'm lucky."

"No weird powers I need to know about ?" He presses on, "no mind-invading abilities."

Jo shakes her head, "Nothing."

"Well, always a good thing to have another demigod join the ranks."

He sheathes Backbiter and look at the pool of blood waiting the black marbled floor.

"Leave me."

"Go Jo, the dormitories are-"

"The both of you." He clarifies, "Now."

They usher out of the room quickly, Chris throwing him one undecipherable look before closing the door behind him.

Those new recruits...

Josephine won't cause any trouble, doesn't have the capacity to do so and he's pretty sure she is now terrified of him. But Mateo and Gabriel, those two might become a problem.

He can't have demigods wreaking havoc and he certainly cannot have demigods undermining his authority.

You cut off his hands, how is he going to fight now ?

Shut up, he asked for it.

Talking to yourself is not a good sign Luke.

Then shut it, he had it coming.

Remember why we started this ? To protect demigods

I know.

And you just damned one to certain death.

He forced my hand, if he hadn't used his stupid powers... I-I wouldn't done it.

It's not my fault, it's his.

It's his, not mine.

Mateo will have to look after his brother but isn't that what full brothers do ? Travis and Connor were always together and he doubts they changed much after he left.

War is messy, violent, chaotic.

Luke is not delusional, demigods are going to die, to suffer in his quest of justice.

He can only hope, selfishly, that those demigods are those like Mateo, Gabriel, Josephine or even Martin and not Annabeth and Thalia.

Annabeth, his little sister offering him a birthday gift.

Annabeth, the daughter of Athena dying under the sky because of him.

For now, he can only wait, wait for Atlas to bring back Artemis in chains and get her to save Annabeth. Then, he'll try to convince her, to make her see that he is on the right side of this war.

With Annabeth comes Thalia and they'll be together again, their little family, the only one they ever needed.

-----------------------------

What a glorious sight.

Artemis under the sky, muscles straining, sweat gleaming on her body, her neck flat against the weight of the sky.

She is as Luke met her, a young girl with startling silver eyes and auburn hair. At first glance, she might seem harmless.

But then, if you look closer, you’ll see the glow around her, an ethereal light surrounding the outline of her body, the sharpness of her eyes, the power radiating off her despite her position.

Artemis isn’t like Ares, can’t be convinced with sweet words, whispered promises of war and bloodshed. No, there’s only one way to contain the huntress and it is to block her, chain her to the ground and sky.

Next to him, Atlas laughs and boasts, the general gloating at the goddess.

“Look at her Castellan, look at the prideful goddess, reduced to carry my burden.” Atlas spits.

Luke isn’t looking at Artemis, no he doesn't care about her.

Annabeth is on the floor next to the goddess, panting on the ground. There’s a grey streak in her hair, he dimly notices. It suits her, matches with her eyes.

“Castellan !” Atlas barks, “What’s on your mind that you don’t answer me- ah, the girl.”

“Yes, we need to dispose of her.”

Atlas smiles at his words. “Ruthless, it’s a good quality to have Castellan.” He looks at Annabeth with contempt. “That girl is below me, I cannot engage in combat with her. I’ll let you do the honors.”

“She’s is exhausted and without strength to fight.” Artemis grunts.

“What a shame.” Atlas smirks. “Kill her Castellan.”

“NO !” Luke says, “We’re not killing her.”

It's the wrong thing to say, he knows it. Atlas frowns, and his hand tightens around the shaft of his spear.

“Careful Castellan,” The titan scowls, “One might think you care about the enemy.”

“Then that person would be deeply wrong,” Luke replies, “but she is still useful. She cares about her.”

“Very well,” He shrugs, “do as you see fit with her.”

Luke nods and goes to pick up Annabeth who has fallen unconscious. He carefully lifts her up, meeting Artemis’ burning eyes in the process.

If you touch her boy, I will skin you alive.

Luke recoils.

Get out of my head, he snarls, furious at the goddess. How dare she suggest… Annabeth is his sister for the gods’ sake!

He hastily gets away from the goddess in chains, Annabeth’s limp body in his arms. He needs to get her to the cells before she wakes up.

As he walks through the ruins, he observes closely Annabeth for it is the first time in three years she has been that close to him.

She looks peaceful when she sleeps, unbothered. It's a look she rarely has, her mind always churning, burning, stirring about plans and strategies.

There are new beads on her necklace, two precisely that Luke does not have.

One with a trident and the other with the golden fleece. Two beads for two exceptional demigods, Percy and Thalia.

It hits him that Annabeth has already seen Thalia, talked with her, hugged her, and told her all the things she missed.

What did she told her about him? Is he only a traitor, a defector that tried to kill Percy? Or is he the swordsman instructor, the big brother laughing fondly at her rantings, the one there to catch the spiders and put them away ?

What is he to Thalia, what does she picture when she thinks of him?

He has changed since she saw him, he isn't the fourteen year old boy she knew anymore.

He reaches the cells and opens the first one he sees. It's not much, a bed, toilets and a faucet. Well, it’s up to her how much time she will be staying here.

He lays her down on the bed, resting her head on the pillow. After making sure the faucet and the toilets are working, he leaves the cell and locks it.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you.” He says to Annabeth, who can’t hear him. “But you’ll see, you will all see that I’m doing the right thing.”

-----------------------------

With Artemis present, his army grows uneasy. The demigods stay away from the main place, choosing instead to travel the corridors.

Except for Alabaster who seems to have no fear and strolls every day in front of the sky, whistling a hearty tune about sunshine and something, Luke didn't catch all the lyrics.

With their general gone, and all of them crossing each other in the aisles, the soldiers talk.

They talk and while Luke doesn't recognize every voice, he knows some of them.

He hears Martin and Brie bicker about Martin’s new position, the daughter of Enyo complaining while the son of Aphrodite gloats.

He catches Mateo, Gabriel, and Josephine talking in ushered voices, their eyes darting everywhere and widening when they see him. He always gives them a lip-closed smile, more of a grimace really, because he can’t shake the feeling that they are up to something. He should make them the oath, even if they did not prove themselves yet, just as a mark of reassurance. While it doesn't actually do anything except give Kronos more strength, the older ones created the rumor that you’ll die if you break it.

Maybe he is just paranoid, the stress of leading an entire army getting to him. Doubt is to be expected in the younger recruits as they take in their new world. He can't expect them to become confident warriors in less than a week. He can’t let them leave either, a problem he hadn’t had to face before and he does not wish to.

He pleasantly hears Chris laughing with other demigods, his new status not bothering him that much. But it's Lila’s words that interest him.

Silena’s report is full of data, very valuable data.

Thalia and Percy fought each other, their rivalry hot and dangerous without Annabeth to calm them. It's good, because for his plan to work, Thalia must not feel any kind of link to Percy.

Their plan, and because of that the titans despise it, is fully based on Luke’s faith that Thalia will join them.

Thanks to the prophecy, Luke knows that five will come to save Artemis, hunters and campers alike. Thalia is part of them, and with her comes the bane of Olympus.

Kronos told him that the Ophioltaurus only appears when Olympus is in great danger. He who slays the beast is granted enough power to topple the gods, and what a better leader than the daughter of Zeus, the daughter overthrowing the father.

Thalia is one week shy of her sixteenth birthday, one week sky from completing the Great Prophecy. He’s sure of it, been sure of it since last summer, when they placed her on the chessboard, adding a new player to the game.

Kronos calls her a pawn, he calls her a queen. His black queen ready to lead them to victory against the white army of Olympus, the mount gleaming white and golden.

She will raze Olympus by his side as Kronos wished, brick by brick.

-----------------------------

“General !” Luke calls Atlas, “The questers are on their way.”

“Who are they ?” The titan asks, “How many ?”

“Five of them, three hunters and two campers. One is fated to die.”

“Is that so ?” Atlas muses, sitting on the side of the mountain and looking down.

“Thalia and a satyr from Camp, and three huntresses named Bianca, Phoene, and Zoe.” Luke adds, not missing the sharp breath Atlas drew. “Bianca is new but the other two might be a problem.”

“How do they die ?” Atlas snarls, “How is she fated to die ?”

“Hum,” Luke says, taken aback by Atlas’ ferocity, “It is said that her parent will kill her.”

The probability that Grover’s parents try to kill him is impossible so it's fair to assume the one to die is a she.

“Sir, do you think the King would kill his daughter ? To prevent her from accomplishing the prophecy ?”

Atlas curls his lips. “No, Thalia is not the one.”

“How are you so sure ?”

Instead of answering, Atlas sways his hand and the clouds move, revealing to Luke what the titan had been looking at.

“You are familiar with this place.” Atlas grins at the way he flinched when he sees Ladon sleeping around the tree. “The scar, it reeks of Ladon’s doing.”

Luke doesn't answer, feeling suddenly really aware of the scarred tissue on his face.

“The Garden of Hesperides only appears at dawn, you aren't supposed to see it now.” Atlas continues despite his lack of participation.

“Then why are you showing me it ?”

Atlas laughs, a rash sound. “It's not for you, it's for me Castellan, to remind me.”

“Remind you of what ?”

“The Hesperides are my daughters,” Atlas tells him, once again ignoring his question, “Their duty is to protect the tree, a gift by Gaia to Hera.”

“I'm quite aware of their duty.” Luke says drily, “I’ve met all your daughters before.”

“All of them, really ?” Atlas says, casting him an amused glance, “You wouldn't be alive if that was the case.”

Lule frowns. “Ladon is the danger, not your four daughters.”

Atlas bristles, maybe because hearing him say that his daughters are not much of a threat, but it’s true. All they did when Luke was there with his friends was to wake Ladon and watch him kill his comrades.

“You are sure she is to die at m- her parent’s hand ?” Atlas says brusquely. “Absolutely sure ?”

“One shall perish by a parent’s hand.” Luke recites. “It doesn’t leave place to interpretation.”

“No it does not.” Atlas grins, “what else does the prophecy say ?”

“That they will lose someone where it doesn’t rain and something with the bane of Olympus. They must be leaving Camp as we speak.”

“We must find the Ophioltaurus before them, I will warn Oceanus to look for him discreetly. Poseidon must not worry about him just yet. Once he found it, we will go capture it and the daughter of Zeus will slay it.”

Luke takes something out of his pocket, “We have this to track them.” He says, showing Altas a piece of silver tissue. “It’s Zoe’s, our spy took it and send it to us.”

“Good, once we have the dragon’s teeth, we will use it.” Atlas orders, satisfaction etched on his face. “I must say, Castellan, your plan is not as mediocre as I thought it would be.”

Luke huffs. “It got you of out of the sky you mean.”

Atlas gives him another amused glance. “You are not the most respectful soldier are you, Castellan?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“I am used to some impertinence, it comes with the warrior attitude I expect of my army but the others, such as Hyperion or Coeus, are not as forgiving.”

“Understood sir,” Luke says, the underlying warning clear as crystal.

Atlas doesn't answer, his head once again looking down the mountain.

Luke takes it as his cue to leave, his feet leading him to the cells holding only one prisoner.

Alabaster is the one guarding her, flicking his fingers and playing with magic.

“Torrington, you’re dismissed.” Luke says to him, “Tell Lila to come in fifteen minutes.”

Alabaster nods and leaves him, not so quite alone.

Gone is the peaceful look on her face, she’s sitting on her bed, looking at him with those grey eyes.

“How are you feeling ?” Luke asks, “Did you sleep well ?”

Annabeth doesn't respond and so he asks again.

“I knew you could survive the sky, you’re strong but even for you, it must have been hard. Do you need more food ?”

“Why ?”

He expected her to whisper, for her voice to be broken by the strength the sky took from her. But her voice is booming, sure, as piercing as those grey eyes of her.

“Why did you betray Camp ?” Annabeth adds, “Why did you start a war that is going to get most of us killed ?”

“Nobody died yet.” Luke refutes.

“Last summer was an exception, not the norm. When our two sides collide, they are going be casualties.” Annabeth stresses on, “Why would you do this ?”

“You don’t have to be part of them.” Luke insists because their conversation is not going the way he hoped it would. “You’ll live-“

“What about Percy ? Travis, Connor, Lee, Beckendorf, Silena, Clarisse, Pollux, Castor, Michael and so much more ? Do you not care about them ?” Annabeth stresses on, relentless. “Tell me Luke, I want to know why.”

“Because the gods wronged us Annie ! Because they made our life miserable !”

“I thought we were happy at Camp,” Annabeth says, “and Thalia-“

“THEY TOOK HER FROM ME !” Luke yells, instantly toning it down when Annabeth flinches. “The gods are why Thalia died Annie. The only reason she’s back is because Kronos gave me the solution. Don’t you think that Chiron, Mr.D, your mother knew about the Fleece ?”

“They-“ Annabeth wavers and Luke clings on the seeds of her doubt.

“They knew and did nothing. Because they feared her, they liked her better as a fucking tree because she was harmless.”

“And I know Thalia, I know her. She hates her father, hates the gods just like me.” Luke says, watching with glee Annabeth falter.

He’s going to make it, she will join him and then Thalia will too.

“Come with me Annie.” Luke says softly. “Come with me and Thalia and we can be together again. It’s all I want, for us to be our little family.”

He can the fight in her, her faith in her mother in the gods slowly crumbling. He just needs to land another blow.

“Remember this ?” Luke shows her the ring around his neck and Annabeth’s hitches. “You gave it to me-“

“September 4th.” Annabeth whispers.

“Yeah, and I’ve celebrating my birthdays on that day ever since.” Luke chuckles. “I’ve never stop wearing it since you gave it to me.”

He looks at her, at those raw, vulnerable grey eyes. Another push and she’ll come with him.

“Come with Annabeth.” Luke murmurs. “We don’t need anyone else.”

Her eyes harden, an imperceptible shift that Luke catches because of course he does, it’s Annabeth. He won, he convinced her.

Now he just needs to wait for Thalia, for her to kill the beast and together they will-

“No.”

It's a whispered word and yet it hangs in the air, its weight as heavy as the sky they both bore.

“What ?”

“No,” Annabeth repeats, stronger this time. “I will not join you, and neither will Thalia.”

She gets up and face him, only the door’s cell between them.

“ You’re on the wrong side of this war, Luke.” Annabeth tells him, her voice wistfully sad. “Maybe one day you’ll see it, I know you still can.”

She hesitates but eventually reach out for the ring around his neck, himself too insure to stop her.

“Yes.” She breathes, a hopeful sound that hurts to hear. “You can even come with us when Thalia-“

Hearing her name gets him out of whatever trance he was and he brusquely backs away.

“You’re good Annabeth.” He laughs, looking at her face, that deceptive face of hers. “Really good. But you are wrong, for once in your life, you are wrong.” He spits the word.

Annabeth sighs and returns to her bed, her body turned so that he can’t see her face.

“Is that it, then ?” He calls to her. “Your final word ?”

Annabeth doesn’t grace him with a vocal response, but her silence is answer enough.

“Fine !” He screams at her, her still figure turning her back on him. “Thalia will join me, you’ll see !”

He leaves the cells, crossing Lila but paying her no mind.

“Luke, our agent has-“

“I don’t care about whatever report she has !” He barks, uncaring that Annabeth might hear them, figure out the identity of their spy. “Go guard the prisoner and make sure you don’t listen to her.”

Why does he care about Silena has to say ? What does it matter now that Annabeth isn’t with him, that she will inevitably be on the battlefield, facing him ?

He has to find a solution, has to find a way. He can’t face her, he can’t possibly fight the little girl he trained, the little sister he gifted that dagger, the one who gave him another birthday.

Thalia, Thalia is the key.

He repeats it like a mantra, his lifeline as he stands on the brink of an ocean of madness. Thalia will convince Annabeth to come with them, Thalia will succeed where he failed.

He reaches for the ring around his neck, searching for the warmth it usually provides him.

It might be the first time he shivers as he touches the cold plastic.

-----------------------------

He doesn’t get to listen to Silena’s report before he leaves with Atlas to capture the Ophioltaurus.

Which means that Percy Jackson barging into his meeting with Atlas and the Manticore takes him by surprise and the son of Poseidon escape, taking with him the silver cloth the warrior skeletons were supposed to smell.

"Castellan." Atlas says, seating in the shadows where Luke can't exactly see him. "Perhaps you could explain why Jackson was here and why you didn't deem necessary to inform me of his presence."

"I- He wasn't supposed to be on the quest." Luke staggers, trying to find an explanation to Percy's actions. He isn't here for Artemis, Luke is positive about that, which means he's trying to save someone else. "He must have joined in order to rescue Annabeth Chase."

The next words leave an ash taste in his mouth. "My spy at Camp Half-Blood inform they are close friends."

Close friends, or is it more ?

To join a quest where two are fated to die, a quest on the other side of the country, is it really just friendship ?

Is that why Annabeth won't join him, because of Percy Jackson ?

She isn't supposed to like him, even less love him. Their godly blood, their parent's rivalry running in their veins should pit them against each other, make Annabeth side with Thalia against Percy.

If she likes Percy, then she hates him. Hates him for trying to kill the son of Poseidon for two times now, hates him for poisoning Thalia's tree even if he did it for them.

Annabeth hates him and will never join him, his family doomed to shatter once again.

"Percy Jackson will not cause any problem." Luke assures the titan. "Thalia and him are not friends and he will not influence his decision."

"He just took away our way to track the questers." Atlas' eyes gleam in the dark. "I qualify that as a problem."

"No, General, it is not." Luke says once again, straightening himself to face the titan. "Percy Jackson will join the group in their quest, and the skeletons warriors will follow him, he is their new prey."

"We should continue chasing the beast." He adds.

"No." Atlas replies, getting out of the shadows. "Let the questers find it and bring it to us, I doubt they even even know the power the Ophiotaurus hold."

Luke must have shown confusion about why would they bring the beast to them because Atlas clarifies.

"Children of the eldest gods can conjure the Ophiotaurus by calling him, merely thinking of him. All they need is a body of water to host the beast."

"And Thalia will conjure it when she arrives." Luke understands.

Atlas nods. "The best to do is to prepare ourselves for the upcoming fight, not that it will be much of a hassle." Atlas snorts. "How much time will they take before arriving ?"

"With monsters attacking them ? Three to four days."

"We need to rally our troops, get them ready to attack Olympus when the daughter of Zeus turns sixteen." The titan grabs him by the shoulder and flash them to Mount Tamalpais.

-----------------------------

"You look awful." Alabaster states when he enters Luke's room. "How much did you sleep in the last four days ?"

"Not nearly enough." He replies, running a hand through his hair. He knows he looks terrible, his eyes sunken and his whole body trembling from the unholy amount of caffeine he drank over the last hours. That is without mentioning his hair that turned from blond t white and grey, making him look older than he is.

He has spent the last four days coordinating demigods, monsters, deities to prepare the attack on Mount Olympus.

He can't believe it but tomorrow, on December 22th, Thalia will turn sixteen and accomplish the prophecy.

Olympus to preserve or raze

Does Thalia knows the fate awaiting her ? Or did Chiron hid the truth from her ? Annabeth would have told her, so she knows.

A single choice shall end his days

Prophecies are obscure, fulled of double meanings but that particular line...

Luke, Annabeth, Chiron, the gods, they all know.

The hero won't make it past sixteen, the prophecy dooming him to die.

But it will be different for Thalia, Kronos will make sure of it.

"Luke ?"

"What ?" He asks to Alabaster. "What's going on ?"

"You didn't hear ?" The son of Hecate lifts one eyebrow.

Luke shakes his head.

"Someone entered the Garden and woke up Ladon." Alabaster tells him.

"The questers, they're here."

Alabaster nods. "Three of them were seen, one hunter and Jackson and Thalia."

"It doesn't add up." Luke frowns. "They should be five of them."

"One hunter got stuck at Camp, a trick from your brothers. Only four left Camp and Jackson joined them later."

"I should have read that report." Luke sighs, "But it still doesn't explain why two are missing."

A hunter and Grover, one of them dead, probably.

"Who knows ?" Alabaster shrugs. "It just means less enemies, I'm okay with that."

"Of course you are." Luke mutters, too quiet for the other to hear. "Go fetch Annabeth, I want her to be there when Thalia joins me."

And maybe, Luke thinks, maybe it will be enough to entice her.

-----------------------------

He dreamt of that moment, that wishful fantasy.

To see her alive, standing in front of him with blue, vibrant, lively eyes.

And here she is, a dream turned reality.

"Thalia." Luke says breathless as he sees her appear on the top of the mountain, Percy Jackson and Zoe Nightshade by her sides.

The huntress hasn't changed a bit since Luke last saw her years ago but Percy looks older, way more older.

He's vaguely aware of Atlas boasting next to him, distantly surprised at hearing that Zoe is his daughter and roughly recall Atlas' eagerness for the prophecy's last line.

He's perfectly focused on Thalia, on the way she proudly stands, the way the air bends around her, fizzling and cracking.

She's alive.

She's flesh and bone, not a trace left of the tree she once was.

"Thalia." He calls louder and this time, she looks straight at him, her mouth whispering his name and watching him with avidity.

He's a far cry from what she remembered whereas she hasn't age too much.

He was fourteen and she twelve when she died.

He's twenty-one now and she remained fifteen, at the cusp of sixteen.

"It's nice to see you again Thalia." Luke tries a smile, one she doesn't return. It's fine, he doesn't expect her to trust him after months at Camp, where they certainly didn't paint him under the best light.

"Can't say the same Luke." She replies, straight-forward and blunt as ever. Her eyes dart behind him and her gaze hardens. "Let her go, Luke, now." She growls and grey clouds gather over them in the sky.

Alabaster as brought Annabeth as demanded, the daughter of Athena bound by a thick rope, preventing her from fighting.

"Come with me Thalia, join me and she will too."

"Join you ?" Thalia repeats, her mouth turned into a sneer. "Luke, do you not realise what you are doing ? This is not a game, it's-"

"Of course it's not a game Thalia !" He hisses. "It's a revolution, a rebellion against our parents that failed us, that failed you !" He snaps his fingers and a basin of water appears. "It's time for us to get our revenge."

"They were right." Thalia shakes her head. "You have gone mad."

"Mad ?" He snarls. "Mad for wanting a better world for demigods ? Mad for being angry at gods that don't care ? What happened to you, Thalia, to your dislike for your father ? You died because of a god !"

"Monsters don't obey gods, Luke." Thalia says, stricken. "They would have chased me either way."

"But a god interfered, and it killed you. He sent the Furies after you, for the only crime of being Zeus' daugther !" He bellows, scratching his throat dry.

"You can fix it." He adds more softly, gesturing to the water. "Call the Ophiotaurus, kill it and claim its powers."

Her eyes flits to the basin and Luke pushes.

"Imagine all the power you'll have, the ability to crush Olympus. All you need is to call the beast, it will answer."

"Come on Thals." He urges, a frenetic trepidation taking over him. "Call the Ophiotaurus and join me. It's me, Thalia, you know me."

It's like the world around does not matter. Not Annabeth begging Thalia not do it, not Percy telling her she was stronger than that, not Zoe tugging at Artemis' chains.

All he sees, all he feels, all he hears is Thalia's conflict, Thalia's doubt, Thalia's choice.

"You're not the Luke I knew." She says, conjuring her spear and Aegis, putting herself in an attacking stance.

White noise.

She won't join him.

Static and buzzing.

She leaves him, again.

A snake whispering in his ear, dripping its hateful poison from its fangs.

She's the enemy, they all are.

Luke draws out Backbiter and camps himself firmly on the ground, beckoning Thalia to attack.

"You're never been able to beat me."

"Well, Thalia." He spits her name, smiling mirthlessly. "I'm not the Luke you knew anymore."

Thalia glowers and she attacks.

On a normal day, Luke would have won.

After four days of not sleeping, body still aching from the sky's burden and his head fried because he cannot wrap his head around Thalia's decision, he is not a match for Thalia and her ferocity.

He ends up against the ground, laying very close to the cliff and a spear at his throat.

He defiantly meets Thalia's eyes. "What now ? Do you kill me ?"

Her grip on the spear tightens. "I should."

"Then do it." He spits. "DO IT !"

"Thalia, no !"

It's Annabeth who protests, trashing against Alabaster holding her.

"Don't kill him !" She yells.

"He's not our Luke anymore Annabeth." Thalia says back, looking at him coldly.

"We can- we can bring to Olympus, present him to the Council."

Luke turns his head to see Annabeth looking absolutely desperate.

"Yes, Thalia, why don't you do that ?" He barks. "Bring me in chains to the gods and appear like the triumphant hero to your father."

"Shut up !" She snarls, pressing the tip of her spear against his skin.

She turns to Annabeth and Luke takes his chance. He reaches for Backbiter and shove Thalia off him. He's on his knees when Thalia, startled, automatically shove him back, pushing him over the mountain's edge.

He falls.

First his upper body, his eyes wide open as they look into Thalia's and see horror.

Then his legs follow and two people scream, a boy and a girl.

He doesn't have time to think about the green light surrounding him before his body hits the ground, hard.

All his bones shatter.

His head cracks open.

Pain washes over his body, burning and blinding pain.

And yet, nothing hurts more than the realisation of knowing he was wrong.

He did it all for nothing, did it all just for Thalia to try to kill him, just for Annabeth to despise him.

He did it all and he got nothing back.

The last thing he hears before losing consciousness is a loud motor sound in the air, followed by a rapid successions of shots fired.

-----------------------------

"Are you sure he's okay ?"

"He fell off a fucking mountain Brie, of course he's not okay !"

"Calm down Chris, Alabaster's quick reflexes saved him, he'll live."

"Yeah, it was a close call. That Thalia really her father's daughter."

"The worst she can say is no, proceeds to attempted murder."

"What are talking about Martin ?"

"Oh, never mind Lila."

"All of you shut up ! He's waking up."

All the voices fall silent and Luke groans, opening his eyes to see a group of demigods around his bed.

"What- what happened ?" He winces as he tries to sit up, Chris immediately pushing him down.

"Don't move, Victoria hasn't been able to heal you entirely and you're basically covered in bruises."

"Fine." He bats aways Chris and asks again. "What happened."

"Long story short : the plan failed epically, we lost the Ophiotaurus, Atlas is back under the sky and Olympus has now officially began to look into a titan uprising." Lila tells him with a flat voice. "And Thalia became a huntress so now, unless another big three kid turns up, Percy Jackson is the hero of the prophecy."

"Thalia, a huntress ?" Luke says with disbelief. "She hates them."

Next to him, Alabaster scowls. "Of all the disastrous things Lila just told you, you care about Thalia becoming a huntress ? What about the fact that the prophecy's hero is Percy fucking Jackson and that he will rather die than betraying his beloved gods ?"

"We don't need Percy to win against Olympus." Luke says firmly. "When Kronos will have regain all his power, nothing will stop him."

"And when that might be ?" Brie enquires.

"Soon, but we need to recruit more, more people to pledge their allegiance. It's almost done, fifty to sixty recruits should do it."

"Easy to say, hard to find." Martin scoffs.

"You'll manage, I'm sure." Luke snarks back before addressing to everyone. "The situation is still under control, do not worry. Kronos has a plan and I will alert the other titans and minor gods to remain vigilant. Our informant at Camp is still undercover and giving us valuable informations about their plans and actions. Go back to your duties, reassure the others, don't let panic divide us. The new Golden Age is coming, and we will be a part of it. "

He shoos them out, wincing at every movement and only sinks in his bed when they are all gone.

Kronos is going to kill him for such a terrible debacle.

Even the Crooked one cannot have anticipated how badly Luke screwed up. He's going to be livid, furious that he fucked up.

"May I come in ?"

A man is standing in the frame of the opened door. He's tall, skin white as snow and has piercing silver eyes, cold and hard.

Without waiting for an answer, the man sits on a chair previously occupied by Chris, adjusting his suit as he does so.

"Who are you ?"

"Now, now, son of Hermes." The man smiles. "I am sure you are clever enough to guess. I have made it quite obvious."

He's a deity, obviously, and one Luke has never seen before.

"No ?" The divine being tilts his head, shaking with disappointment. "I must say I was expecting more of you, Luke Castellan. For my brother to chose you, you must be quite the demigod."

A Titan then.

"You're Coeus." Luke says, the titan lazily clapping at his good guess. "You're supposed to tell me the plan."

"And I will, or at least a part of it." Coeus grins, a glint in his eyes. "Tell me, Luke Castellan, are you familiar with Theseus' myth ?"

Oh my god, this way WAY longer than I thought it would be.

Trying to put in place reasons for why Luke would send his BROTHER into the Labyrinth, and you can say goodbye to Lila, guys, because when the titans learn that Chris is back at Camp...

Next step is the battle of the Labyrinth !

[hanmaenthusiast]

Always and Forever

“I like the sound of that Angel.”

inui x f!reader

warnings - mdni🔞, praise, mutual pining?, sofa sex, oral (female receiving), cunnilingus, unprotected sex, riding, body worship, creampie, basically vanilla smut, slight fluff, profanity, use of pet names such as angel and darling, one mention of blood.

synopsis - you and Inui had been living together for a while, one night he comes home wounded after being attacked at work, you have no choice but to help him out in one way or another.

a/n - this is my first post on tumblr & first time attempting smut! apologies for any mistakes, i’m hoping to write more in the future & get better at it lol, anyway the lack of inui on this app is killing me >:(

wc - 2,950

It was late, much later than usual. Seishu still hadn’t come home considering his shift finishes around 4 on a Saturday, you kept your gaze on the clock which continued to tick past 7pm. You found yourself worrying again, worrying about all the possibilities that could’ve happened to him. I mean it was normal to be this concerned, especially since your long term roommate was an ex gang member.

Once again you started pacing around the room, fingers etching to send another distressing ‘where are you?’ or ‘tell me you’re not dead’ text. Seishu’s stern words replayed in your mind ‘Stop worrying about me Y/N, focus on yourself for once’ as you remembered his constant lectures.

Finally gathering yourself together, a set of keys jamming into the front door caught your attention. Sprinting down the stairs your eyes glued onto Inui’s figure as he stood slightly hunched with a prominent bloody gash on his forehead.

“Seishu what the fuck?” you exclaimed, almost passing out at the sight in front of you. It was like you had premonitions about this scenario only seconds before he made his apperance.

“Agh, not so loud, my head is sore.” he groaned, running a hand through his hair after locking the door behind him. He shuffled his way into the room latching onto your arm for support.

“I can quite well see that, sit down over there i’ll clean you up.” you helped him over to the dining table, placing him down onto one of the wooden seats.

Inui told you what happened, how he was suddenly attacked by a group of presumed male gang members at the motor shop unbeknownst to why it played out. Your gut tightened at the story, afraid of any future encounters with them.

“Jesus, they got you good huh. You have to be more aware from now on, where was Draken hm? You better tell him i’ll-“

“Y/N.” Seishu let out a low sigh, he cut you off before you could finish your sentence.

His gemlike pearls fixed onto yours, exchanging a sombre look. You could tell he didn’t need to hear your berating.

“Sorry.” you muttered continuing to clean up his wound.

Ever since you met Inui, you stuck together like glue both having similar interests and mutual acquaintances made it easier to find a blossoming friendship. Of course, you felt a little more than friends towards Inui continuously expressing your feelings from early on.

“Y’know you’re super cute Seishu-“ you tilted your head, hovering it above his “no wonder there’s tons of people feening over you, me included.” you added, tracing a finger over his scar as he lay his head on your lap.

“Yeah? Same goes for you Y/N.” he replied with his tone full of sarcasm, according to him you were making a joke.

This continued for months, constantly sharing flirty remarks but never pursuing one another. Some people had their suspicions, Draken especially, always assuming you’re both in a secret relationship.

“Oi, Seishu your girlfriend’s outside.” Draken nodded towards the entrance of the shop, wiping his hands clean with a rag.

Inui exhaled followed with a roll of his eyes. “She’s just a friend Ken, i’ve told you this multiple times.”

“Seriously just a friend? That mean i have a chance ‘nupi?” Draken giggled, elbowing his colleague in the arm.

“Don’t you dare even try it.” Seishu warned him.

“There, all cleaned up. There’s some leftovers in the fridge too if you’re hungry.” you declared, but before you could retreat back to the sofa, a soft hand grasped you wrist.

“Thank you, genuinely Y/N. I hope you know i’m grateful for everything you do.”

His glossy eyes stared into yours as his sincere words spilled from his mouth. Seishu’s gaze left you with butterflies, a feeling of comfort you would admit, it was odd to see him so thankful seeing as you should be considered a burden to him for how often you seek his safety.

“I know you are, buuut all that praise will have my ego inflating, on another note it was kinda hot seeing your face all bloody.” you laughed kissing above his wound gently before finding a seat on the sofa.

Moments later Inui joined you, resting his head on your shoulder making use of the rest of the couch as he sprawled out his legs. Once he was settled, you both shared a mutual silence watching the TV.

...11:04pm

Your narrowing eyes scanned over your phone, squinting at it’s bright screen shining into your pupils as you attempted to read the time. ‘Shit, must’ve fell asleep.’ you concluded, shifting your weight onto your elbow as you propped up.

You noticed the familiar blondie sleeping tirelessly beside you, an arm positioned lazily over of your waist. Seishu was sound asleep, or so you thought, his ruffled hair tickling your cheeks as you found yourself laying back down facing towards him.

“So precious.” you whispered, lifting your palm gently onto his face as your thumb rubbed slow circles against his pale skin. This was probably the closest you and Seishu had been, cuddled together, bodies attached to one another seeing as the sofa wasn’t roomy enough.

“That feels nice.” Seishu whispered, his soft spoken voice breaking the silence. He brought his hand to yours, placing it on top as he matched your movements, fingers delicately tracing your skin.

“Oh- uhm, well it looks like we fell asleep, i hope you feel somewhat better after having a nap.” you croaked, suddenly feeling the heat rush to your face from embarrassment. Before you lingered around any longer, you sat upright as your back faced Seishu’s figure “I’ll let you rest a little longer-“

“No, stay.” he grabbed your wrist once again, restricting you from fleeing the scene. “Please…for me?” he pleaded, one arm resting on top of his forehead as the other hand was still wrapped around your wrist.

You hesitated, only for a second until you shortly gave into his innocent eyes face paired with a soppy look. “Anything for you Seishu.” you lay back down, again facing towards him on your side.

“Perfect.” he muttered a breathy whisper, a small smile formed on his face along with his emerald eyes flexing a lustrous stare. A dainty finger of his trailed across your cheek moving a strand of hair from your face.

You couldn’t help but feel embarrassed again, almost tongue-tied especially in this situation. You and Seishu were admittedly always close but never this intimate.

Once again the atmosphere grew silent but before you could mutter a word, Seishu let out a sigh. “You’re…perfect.” Inui murmured, just loud enough for you to hear.

“Seishu…” a soft exhale escaped your lips.

Inui’s hand found it’s way to your chin, gently lifting it upwards so you were eye level to him. “Can i kiss you, Y/N?” his thumb swiped a slow stripe along your lower lip.

You nodded in reply, discreetly trying to hide your inner enthusiasm as you closed your eyes allowing Inui to take the lead. Seishu’s lips planted a longed for soft-lipped peck against yours, gradually finding motion as he continued kissing your lips.

The thumping of your heart increased, focusing only on the rhythm of how soft and velvety Seishu’s lips felt against your own. His a hand gripped your waist, pulling you closer against him without breaking contact.

Your free hand grasped his blonde locks, running your fingers messily through his hair. Your lips begun to plump, meshing together with Seishu’s perfectly as he slipped his needy tongue into your mouth.

“You- don’t know…how long i’ve- wanted this.” his voice muttered between kisses, claiming your lips after every word. You felt yourself grinding ever so slightly against Inui’s thigh, hoping to release the friction caused by his tongue senselessly invading the depths of your mouth.

Faint whimpers escaped your lips as you continued to slowly rock yourself against Inui’s lower half. “Seishu~“ you panted quietly “N-need more.” your hand balled up his shirt, gripping onto it for support.

Inui’s hand which recently held onto your waist found itself sneakily travelling under your cami, fingers fumbling with the clasp of your bra. He made quick work of removing your shirt slowly followed by slipping off your undergarment.

“God, you’re gorgeous Y/N. So fucking gorgeous.” he admitted, lips tracing along the outline of your jaw as his eyes glistened at the sight of your naked breasts exposed in front of him. “Prettiest tits ever.” His soft hands ghosting over your breasts, thumb and pointer finger capturing one of your hardened nubs beginning to knead the flesh of your mounds.

Seishu slowed his pace, a small string of saliva connected your lips as he broke the kiss. “Tell me what you need angel. Although i must say, the rutting against my leg isn’t very discreet darling.” he joked letting out a small chuckle, eyes glancing down to your clothed needy cunt.

“Want you to…“ you struggled to express your needs, unable to finish your sentence as you buried your face into his chest out of embarrassment. “Don’t go all shy on me now angel, use your words for me okay?” Seishu placed a hand over your tight shorts, pads of his fingers rubbing against your clothed pussy as moved them up and down ever so slightly.

“Ngh! Want more of that, please Seishu.” you choked, almost begging on your knees asking him to please your throbbing cunt. Seishu made quick work of removing your lower garments, pulling down your shorts as he was met with your drenched panties.

“Look at that mess darling, you got this wet just for me?” he caressed your face again, helping you lay underneath him as he moved further down to your lower area, delicately peppering kisses along your stomach.

Inui’s hot breath fanned lightly over your clit “May i?” he questioned. “Yes Seishu.” you replied almost immediately, lifting your hips a little higher to allow easier access to your heat.

Inui’s hands spread your things, gripping onto them for support. His tongue licked a stripe between your folds, coating your cunt with his spit. “Mhm, just how i imagined.” Seishu continued to speak careless whispers into your cunt, his tongue twirling it’s way onto your throbbing clit ultimately forcing you to grind your hips on his face.

His tongue toyed with your bud, circling hearts as he pleasured your arousal. Inui slipped a finger into your entrance, slowly pushing it further before adding a second finger in to accommodate it. “Seishu! Fuck!” you cried out, moaning into you palm.

“Let me hear that voice of yours Y/N.” Inui encouraged you, his eyes staring from above your seeping cunt fingers pumping into you at an increasing speed. “Ngh! Seishu- i’m close!” your hand pushing his head further into your pussy.

Inui’s fingers padded against your sweet spot, curling in motion as he pumped them in and out of your cunt. His tongue continued licking your throbbing clit sucking onto it simultaneously. “Fuck, Y/N, gonna make me cum from that look on your face.” he moaned, fingers scissoring into you faster.

“Fuck~ Seishu- i’m-“ you were cut off by your own moans, legs shaking from the sudden orgasm as your wet slick spilled from your entrance. “Good girl.” Inui let out a hoarse whisper as he pulled his fingers out which glistened in the dim light covered from the tip of his finger to his knuckles in your own cum.

Inui stuck his digits into his mouth, sucking off every last drop of you. “You did so well for me angel, i’ve waited so long for this exact moment.” he exclaimed, hovering above your face before kissing you on the lips again.

“Seishu…i need more of you, right now.” you demanded, a hand palming the tent growing in his pants. Seishu picked you up, resulting in you straddling his lap on the sofa as he sat beneath you. You lifted your hips before quickly pulling down his shorts letting his cock immediately spring free.

Your eyes grew wide. You never expected Seishu to have such a pretty cock, nevermind larger than you’d have imagined. “Like what you see? Seem’s like you underestimated me darling.” he caressed your waist “Lift yourself up for a sec.” as he tapped the outer side of your thigh.

“Wait- wait…i’m on birth control.” you mentioned stopping Inui from getting a condom from the drawers. “You sure about this?” he smirked somewhat enjoying the fact he gets to fuck you raw the first time.

You nodded again, his tip begun toying against your wet folds before casually slipping the head into your dripping entrance. “Agh~ Fuck Seishu!” you let out a breathy moan, eventually taking the full length of his cock. “So tight, ngh- oh fuck.” Inui spoke, guttural whimpers releasing from the depths of his throat as he buried himself deep inside your cunt.

His hands gripped your ass, kneading the soft flesh as he pulled you gently down onto him. You both adjusted to the position, flashing Seishu a look of encouragement as he slowly started to bounce you on his cock, his hips slightly lifting along with yours.

“You like that yeah? Look at those pretty tits.” he mewled as he buried his face onto one of your exposed breasts, tongue ravaging your perky nipples. “Faster- please.” your hand finding its way to the back of his neck.

Inui bucked his hips into you, bouncing you faster onto his rock hard cock. The smacks of your ass echoed throughout the room as they collided with Seishu’s thighs, your tits bouncing along with every movement as Inui pounded further into your cunt. He quickened his pace again, this time you begun grinding faster matching with his speed in which your legs almost turned to jelly from the fastened movements.

“G’na cum so quick baby~.” you whined, dragging out his pet name whilst throwing your head back as he plowed into your pussy. The adrenaline mixed with arousal was too much, your eyes beginning to roll back from the way Seishu’s tip prodded against your g-spot like he was a miner digging for gold.

Seishu kept a firm grip on your ass, still pounding into you as he continued sucking on your tits giving each one equal attention. “Need- agh- your cum on my cock darling.” manoeuvring his hand to your pulsating clit as he thumbed your nub generously. “Yes ngh~ want you so bad Seishu, want your cum inside me.” you choked out, drawing out your moans from the stimulation his cock was causing as he abused your sex.

Inui flipped you over, cock still fucking your tight cunt as you lay on your back, legs wrapping around his waist. “I’ll fuckin’ give it to you Angel, fill- agh- you up with my cum real good.” he cooed, voice almost gravelly from his own moaning.

He smacked his hips against your ass, cock slipping from your hole a few times. “Wettest cunt I've had.” Inui quipped. “The only cunt you’ll ever have from now.” you sent another remark back. 

“I like the sound of that Angel.”

His fingers padded against your clit, vigorously rubbing against it paying close attention to the nub. “Shit- g’na cum gorgeous.” Inui let out another guttural moan “Let’s- cum together.” he ordered you, quickly intertwining your fingers with his as he took your hand. 

Seishu somehow gathered his stamina letting out a few final hard thrusts along with you bucking into him, your walls gradually spasming around his cock. “Agh- Fuck~” you simultaneously croaked, Inui came inside your cunt. Your wet slick spilled all over his cock along with your insides overflowing with Seishu’s seed.

A slow and steady pace allowed you to both ride out your highs, Seishu caressed your cheek removing your hair stuck to your face. “My god you’re gorgeous Y/N.” he pulled himself out, the mess inside leisurely spilling from your entrance.

“Hold on Angel, I'll clean you up.” Seishu grabbed a rag from the washroom, helping you gently as he tided the mess. He came back in his nightwear, seemingly grabbed a shirt that was his which he placed over your head, covering your exposed body just before he lay beside you on the sofa. 

Inui held you tight against him, wrapping his arms around your figure. He knew how to make you feel safe and extremely comfortable, only two of the things on your never ending list of praise for him.

After a short lived moment of silence, you exhaled out a tired sigh “Seishu...I think I lo-”

“I love you, Y/N.” 

You jolted. Almost speechless at his sudden confession, dumbfounded even, burying your face away from his vision once again “No fair, I was gonna say it first.” you complained, lightly pushing his chest. “I wanted to be the first to say it-” he reassured your complaints “I was just looking for the right time.”

“Crazy how it was after you fucked me, eh?” shooting a cheeky wink towards his face. “Yeah right it was a spur of the moment, you were about to say it too.” he spoke in defence, giving you a kiss on the forehead as an apology.

“Not sure why I waited so long, I guess I was just afraid of hurting you.” his answer was sincere, stroking your hair tenderly “I really do love you Y/N-”

“Not to mention how my head no longer hurts, all thanks to you.” Inui gloated.

You sighed, probably in relief after realising the love you shared for him wasn't just some one sided waste for all these years. “I love you too Seishu-” you replied.

“...always and forever.”

[everseeking]

Hi! Is it okay to ask for a Levi smutxfluff where he's benched from injuring his leg but it's getting a lot better. His fem! S/o is part of his squad and he gets the report that she was in a life threatening situation but she made it safe and he's waiting for the scouts to return. He waits for them and doesn't know what to feel fjejfjs im sorry this is hella long!!! Also no manga spoilers/references please

 - hello !! thank you so much for requesting ! that’s totally okay and don’t apologize for the length, it helped me out having details :) there aren’t any manga spoilers or references, but there are season 2 spoilers in case anyone hasn’t finished it yet. i hope you enjoy and thank you again for requesting <3

relief

- levi ackerman x reader

- warnings: season two spoilers, nsfw contains smut; hand job, oral (giving), fingering, cream pie, slight overstimulation but not much, AFAB!reader

once again, levi injured his damn leg.

after being temporarily handicapped from his leg injury when he initially fought the female titan, he made a personal vow to never let an injury like that happen to him again. it was a major setback and seriously hindered his abilities. but unfortunately, titans makes no promises.

it was during an expedition, of course, and things were taking a turn for the worst. levi was unaware that his squad would be needed on an expedition the next day, so he kept them up late the night before to polish their skills as much as possible. during the mission, it was clear they could barely keep their eyes open.

levi was extremely stressed out, worrying about his team as well as what he was going to say to erwin later when he yelled at the commander for such a late notice on the mission. for now, the captain had to make up for much of his team's slack. as much as the kids wanted to put up an argument when he flew in and stole their prey, they kept their mouths shut. there was no way they could’ve finished the job on their own and knew their protests weren't worth it, as it felt kind of wrong to argue with someone who was saving their lives.

it was brutal work since he too was bordering onto exhaustion, but levi pushed through and helped his team clean up the last hoard of titans. just when he thought he was in the clear, a titan came up on sasha and tried to grab her. if he had gone any slower to finding her, he wouldn’t have been able to save her. but thankfully, levi was able to use the last bit of his gas all at once to throw himself forward and push her out of the way.

he seriously couldn’t catch a break as this resulted in him getting himself caught in the titan's grip. his blades weren't drawn prior to being grabbed so cutting himself out was impossible. the giant had levi's entire lower half engulfed in its hand. if his second in command hadn’t been there he would have for sure been a goner.

it was y/n’s turn to play hero, as she flew in and swiftly sliced the titan's nape, freeing not only her captain but also her partner from definite doom.

levi wished he could say it was a clean save, but he couldn't deny the bone crunching he heard below him. they arrived back home in one piece with only levi's broken leg to report.

so not only had he injured his leg again, but it was worse than his sprained ankle from the forest. the captain was even more upset when the medics informed him that he had to be benched for six weeks. that meant no physical activity for six weeks. yes, that includes sex.

over the course of his healing, there were many times when he claimed to be okay so he could accompany his team on expeditions, only to be rushed back to bed by his colleagues. many people even urged y/n to nail down the door to her and levi’s shared room in order to keep him trapped in there. y/n laughed off the idea, not even considering it because she knew levi would only feel more tempted to break out. a few nails wouldn’t stop him. the only thing he could say he enjoyed about his time off was having y/n as his "personal nurse," when she wasn’t off with the rest of the team. she still had to stop things from getting too heated every now and then.

“doctor’s orders !” she’d always say as she stopped a heated make out session or after he had tried to pull her into his lap.

when it came to more domestic care, levi hated having her watch after him. he definitely appreciated it, but the last thing he wanted was to be a burden to her. he wasn’t just burdening her with his personal care, but also the burden of the entire team since she would be his replacement for the time being. many times he tried to wave off his partner and tell her he could manage on his own before he finally told her he didn’t want to have to rely on her. he was surprised when she brushed back the hair in front of his forehead to kiss his forehead, whispering that she wanted to take care of him and help him. 

finally, he had reached the sixth week and was ready to hit the sky again. the morning of the latest mission, y/n noticed levi had a bit of a pep in his step as he prepared to venture outside the walls for the first time in a few weeks. she giggled at his poor attempts to get excited since he wasn't the best at expressing his emotions, but she felt a little guilty since she didn't have the heart to tell him that he was once again sitting this one out.

hanji had pulled y/n aside the night before and broken the news to her. she explained that although his road to recovery had been going well, he needed to take one more week to ensure that he was completely healed. it hurt y/n’s heart a little bit to hear this. over the last few weeks she watched her partner practically counting down the days until his return, so she made sure to tell hanji that she wouldn't be the one breaking the news to him.

hanji also knew how restless her friend was and wasn't sure if she would comeback alive after telling him the news, so she waited until the last possible second to tell him. literally, word got around that it was time to make the final preparations before heading off when she pulled him aside and told him.

he was enraged to say the least. he grabbed the front of hanji's shirt and pulled her down to his level as he began to chew her out in front of everyone. the soldiers awkwardly shuffled past the two, definitely not wanting to get involved. it wasn't until y/n came and informed the two of them that it was time to go when he finally let go of her. hanji laughed nervously and decided to give the couple one last minute of alone time as she headed back to her squad.

there was a lot they wanted to say to each other, levi wanting to tell y/n to be careful and y/n wanting to apologize for not telling him sooner, but they both knew this wasn't the time for a conversation. y/n put on a determined face and told him that she would do her best to lead the team in his place, offering him a salute, then headed over to join the others.

levi was super bummed. he waited behind and watched as the horses left to make their way towards the outer walls before he sulked to himself and retreated back to his quarters to finish the less exciting side of his job; paperwork.

it had been a few hours since the cadets had left that morning, so the golden sunlight that was now pouring through levi's windows notified him that they should be back any minute now. he stood up from his small desk and stretched his back that had started to stiffen up from sitting in his chair for the last few hours. many nights had been spent sleeping in the same chair, but he swore it was more comfortable sleeping in it than doing paperwork it in.

he took a look around the room and saw the rays of sun illuminated the dust particles floating through the air. it annoyed him to say the least, as he had yet to find a way to clean the air. for now, he would settle for sweeping the room one last time. just as he was pulling a broom out of the closet, a hard knock came from his door.

"captain levi ?" a young soldier called from the other side. levi was slightly annoyed that he was being interrupted, but he managed to keep the ‘this better be important,’ thoughts to himself.

he placed the broom back in the closet and made his way to the door. upon opening it, he saw the distressed look on the soldier's face.

"what is it ?" levi pryed, not really sure what to expect at this point.

the soldier straightened up and cleared his throat. "the first group from today's expedition has arrived with a report. the rest of the scouts are on their way back now, but i was told to hand you the part of the report that regards the condition of your team." the boy held out the paper in his hand for his superior to take.

levi practically ripped the paper out of the soldier’s hand, causing him to flinch a little, but it was understandable. a million scenarios were playing through levi’s mind about what could have happened. he feared that once again he had lost his entire squad and had to start all over again. it was a pain he never wanted to live through again, especially since his lover was apart of his team this time.

his eyes quickly scanned the clearly hastily scribbled words, searching for words like death, killed, and eaten. the was almost at the end of the page when he realized he hadn’t heard anything terrible yet. eren ended up not needing the use his titan form, mikasa had another impressive kill streak, armin and connie were in a bit of a predicament but got out fine, and jean and sasha were safe too. the only one that had been yet to mentioned was y/n.

in an attempt to distract a group of titans from one of her fellow soldiers whose ODM gear was malfunctioning, y/n l/n used herself as bait. she was successful in saving the soldiers life, but one of the titans caught ahold of one of her gear’s cables and she was thrown to the ground. l/n was found unconscious by armin arlert and she is currently being watched until the group arrives and she can be transported to the infirmary for a full check up.

levi’s heart sank deeper and deeper into his stomach with every word he read. y/n was always putting others first regardless of how dangerous a situation was. she was selfless to a fault. he warned her many times that something like this would happen, but she never listened. her heart would never let her not help someone in need. it was one of the things he loved about her the most.

the awkward shuffling of the messenger soldier’s feet brought levi back to reality. before waving him off, levi asked if there was any more information than what was shared in the report, but he shook his head.

the soldier finally left, leaving levi frozen in the middle of his room. the report was too vague for him to know what to think or do. 

how high was she from the ground when she fell ? did she just get knocked out ? or did she hit her head hard enough to cause internal bleeding ? 

the thought that her current condition could be much different from the report also crossed his mind. y/n was stated to only be unconscious, but she could have gotten worse since. 

there’s no point in pondering the what-ifs, he reminded himself, but it was easier said than done. he moved over to his neatly tucked bed and sat down on the edge of it, resting his elbows on his knees and holding his head in his hands.

he didn’t know what he would do if he lost her. what the team would do if they lost her. before he could fall back into his dark thoughts about his partner’s condition, a large commotion came from outside alerting him that the cadets were back.

with a small stumble as he jumped up from his bed, levi sprinted out of his room to go outside. there were already a lot of people crowding around the carts and horses, so he did his best to slip past them all. the people in the way that had managed to see his face instantly moved aside, not wanting to anger the captain after seeing the intense look on his face.

after making his way to the front of the crowd, levi scanned the area in search of y/n, having no luck until he heard a familiar voice yelling ‘captain.’

his eyes met with eren’s who was waving frantically in order to flag down his captain who was now quickly making his way over to the group.

“she’s alright,” the titan shifter called out over the other voices in the crowd. levi didn’t want to get his hopes up as he wasn’t sure how accurate eren’s words were, but regardless, a wave of relief came over him.

as he pulled up next to the cart they were sitting in, levi also met armin, who nodded in agreement with what eren was saying. the blond opened his mouth to add onto what his friend had said, when he was interrupted.

“where’s levi ?”

hearing his partner’s voice almost brought levi to his knees. the weight of not knowing her condition finally fell off his shoulders. he peered over the side of the cart to see y/n laying on the ground on her back with a white bandage wrapped around her entire head. her face instantly lit up when she saw him.

the girl jumped up and threw herself onto the captain, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug. if this were any other situation he would’ve told her to get off of him, but right now he allowed himself to wrap one arm around her back and placed his free hand on the back of her head, pulling her closer to him.

levi couldnt bring himself to scold her for being too rough while she was injured. instead, he sighed and hugged her tighter.

“thank god you’re okay,” he breathed out against her hair. he felt her smile widen as she nuzzled her head deeper into the crook of his neck.

after the two finally pulled apart from each other, levi immediately took y/n to the infirmary where they confirmed she only had a minor concussion.

the moment they entered their shared room for the night, levi pulled y/n in for another hug. she graciously accepted, wrapping her tired arms around his middle.

he pulled back and brought up a hand to brush her hair away from her face so he could place a soft kiss on her forehead where her bandages previously were.

y/n placed her hands on levi’s cheeks and gently pulled his face down so she could plant a kiss on his lips. levi eagerly kissed back and began taking careful steps backwards to lead her onto the bed.

they now sat on the edge of the bed and kiss turned more passionate, with y/n opening her mouth to swipe her tongue across levi's lower lip asking for entrance into his mouth. he eagerly accepted, greeting her tongue with his own as they made out.

without breaking the kiss, y/n carefully straddled herself onto levi's lap taking extra care to not put too much pressure on his healing leg. however, her plans became a lost cause when he grabbed her hips to meet his. her eyes widened as she felt his bulge between her legs. tension built up in her core as she instinctively rolled her hips forward to grind herself against his clothed crotch.

it was levi's turn for his eyes to widen as a wave of pleasure swept across his body. he broke the kiss to meet his partner's lustful eyes as she recoiled her hips back once again to bring herself more pleasure. he sharply inhaled before kissing her deeply one last time before throwing her off his lap.

y/n flopped down on the bed next to him, laughing, but she took the hint and started undressing herself like he did. once their clothes were in a messy heap on the floor, levi took a moment to pull her head close to him so he could kiss the side of it, worried he had only made her concussion worse when he threw her off of him moments ago.

“are you okay ?” he pressed, lips still against her head.

y/n laughed and placed her hand on top of his that was on the side of her head. “i told you a million times that im okay, my love.”

“and i’ll ask you a million more times just to be sure,” he replied, pulling back.

as he moved away, y/n grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him in for another deep kiss. one of the captain's hands placed itself on the small of her back to pull her closer while the other felt around behind her looking for the bed. once he gripped the sheets, he brought the hand up to the other side of her back and took a step to turn his own back towards the bed, then fell onto it, pulling y/n down with him so she would land on top of him.

he cringed as he remembered her concussion and quickly asked if she was okay, only for her to laugh once again and reassure him she was fine. before levi could ask anymore questions or make anymore quips, she returned her lips to his. their tongues explored each other’s mouths, searching every inch of each other’s caverns.

she pulled her lips away from his to smile at him while she slowed her breathing. the sight alone was enough to make levi fall in love all over again. her messy h/c hair fell perfectly, combined with her eyes filled with pure adoration from looking at him and the goofy smile that was on her lips. no one had ever looked at him the way she had. his eyes tore apart from hers and trailed down to see the rest of her body.

"you're absolutely perfect," he whispered, just loud enough for y/n to hear as he took in every curve on her body. levi thanked the stars that the moon was bright enough tonight to let him see the soft pink hue that spread across her cheeks as he complimented her.

she leaned in close to his ear and whispered "as are you," back to him. each movement of her lips tickled against his earlobe. it sent a shiver down his spine. y/n shifted her body weight so that she was now sitting up and straddling his lap once again. her right hand met his strong chest, then dragging down to his toned abdomen followed by his lower stomach.

y/n scooted back so she could get a full view of  his hardened cock. her index finger traced a straight line from the base of his member to the tip. it took a lot of self control for levi keep himself from shuddering as her nail softly grazed the side of his cock.

levi propped himself up with his elbows. to get a good look at what she was doing. he watched as her hand went back to the base of his shaft and her fingers wrapped around it. she started slowly pumping him, resulting in his breaths becoming deeper. he closed his eyes for a mere second when a new wave of pleasure swept across him that made his eyes roll back in his head.

y/n had lowered her face and began sucking on just the head of his cock while her hand's pace quickened. her cheeks hollowed out from the pressure of sucking his tip and he fisted one of his hands into her hair. he didn't push her head down, rather, he gripped it to stimulate pleasure for her as well as to let her know he was enjoying what she was doing.

she hummed against him and started to incorporate her tongue as she swirled it around his head, which sent yet another wave of pleasure throughout his body. when y/n added her free hand to the mix, using it to fondle his balls, the stimulation almost became too much for levi to stand. he used the fist in her hair to pull her off him and up to his face.

a small dribble of spit leaked out of the corner of her mouth. before y/n had a chance to wipe it, levi was pulling her forward and swiping his tongue against her mouth to lick it off, then planted open mouth kisses down her face and up her jawline until he reached her neck where began to suck her skin and create a few hickeys. she slowly leaned her head back to give him better access to her neck.

she said a silent thank you when she realized the marks were placed just low enough to be hidden by the collar of her white shirt so no one would know a thing the next day. everyone already freaked out enough when they found out y/n and levi were a couple.

without removing his lips from her neck, levi lifted y/n from her hips then moved one of his hands to feel the folds of her pussy. she was soaking wet, so all her had to do was cover his index and middle fingers with his slick before he slowly slid them both inside of her. a low moan came from y/n’s parted lips as levi’s fingers went deeper inside of her. 

he pumped them slowly, reaching deeper each time until he was knuckles deep into her core. when he curled his fingers to hit her g-spot, she had had enough.

“inside of me...i need you inside of me levi,” y/n moaned, digging her nails into his back. levi laughed to himself at how desperate his lover had become from just his fingers. it was clear to him that he needed to avoid any injuries that could put a halt to his sex life at all costs from now on. 

he pulled his wet fingers out of her and gripped his cock, making sure to cover it with her juices that were still on his fingers so it would be easier to push inside of her, then positioned himself with her entrance. y/n moaned once again as his tip rubbed against her folds before sliding into her. she sharply inhaled as his head entered her. levi gave her a moment to signal that she was ready before thrusting deeper inside of her. after a few weeks of abstinence, y/n needed a bit longer to get adjusted.

after about a minute, levi was able to thrust his hips up and push his full length inside of her as she dug her nails deeper into his back. he knew it was payback for him marking up her neck when she broke her hazy gaze to give him a smirk. just for that, he pulled himself almost completely out of her, then thrusted balls deep back into her, hard.

y/n’s hand flew off her partner’s back and onto her mouth to stifle the loud moan that almost escaped. she shot him a fake glare and he returned the smirk she had given him earlier. levi wanted nothing more than to hear her call out his name loudly, but it wasn’t worth the harassment he’d face from his colleagues the next day.

after she had composed herself, y/n removed her hand from her mouth and placed it on her partner’s bicep. he stopped thrusting into her, knowing she wanted to take over. just like he had thought, y/n started to rock her hips so she was grinding on him much like she had done whilst they were still clothed.

the pleasure was much more enjoyable now that he was inside her. each time she rolled her hips forward, his cock hit her cervix. now it was levi’s turn to stifle a moan, as y/n road him into ecstasy. his grip on her hips increased which most definitely left yet another mark on her skin.

the fact that y/n was biting her lower lip also didn’t go unnoticed by the captain. whenever she did this it was a sure fire way of telling him she was close to her release. he wrapped one arm around her back and in a swift motion flippped both of them over so that y/n was on her back and he was hovering over her.

she let out a small squeal at his sudden shift and wanted to scold him for not being careful with his leg, but her words were lost as he snapped his hips against hers. she once again went to cover her mouth to avoid her moans escaping, but levi’s hands interlocking with her own prevented her from doing so. he gave both her hands a quick squeeze before going back to thrusting himself into her. her eyes stayed trained on his, while his watched the way she engulfed his cock. it drove him so crazy she could feel him twitch inside of her. he high was near, but there was no way he was going to let himself finish before his partner.

he focused more on his thrusts, moving his hips better so he would hit her g-spot harder with each thrust. the way he rolled his hips to meet her core finally sent her over the edge. he kissed her deeply as she moaned against his lips while he continued to ride out her climax. even after she had come down from her high, levi kept thrusting into her, chasing his own release.

the overstimulation was enough to send her over the edge again, this time being joined by his own release. he let out a low grunt as he finished inside of her painting her inner walls with his cum.

levi pumped into y/n three more times before he stopped and fell onto her chest, not even bothering to pull out. after six weeks of no sex, their orgasms were both super intense.

“maybe we should wait another six weeks before our next round if it’s gonna be that good again,” y/n teased.

levi’s head shot up so he could see her face. y/n bust out laughing when he finally realized she was kidding. levi rolled his eyes and pushed himself off her so he could slide out of her.

the mix of their juices that escaped her as he unsheathed his cock from her made his member twitch back to life, becoming hard again.

“or i guess we could go again right now,” y/n added after sitting up herself and seeing his hard on.

levi smiled and pushed her back down gently then hovered over top of her once again.

“that’s more like it.”

[homoose]

Teach Me Something I Don’t Know: Part VII

Summary: Spencer’s unresolved trauma catches up with him. Reader gets her heart broken.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader

Category: angst, I’m so sorry guys

Warnings/Includes: brief mention of violence and details of a case; brief mention of prison, past trauma; a lil self-loathing and self-sabotaging

Word count: 3.8k

a/n: I knew that this was where this story was going from the very beginning. The dialogue is one of the first parts I had written. It still hurts. Relevant to the story: I operate with the understanding that the Jeid arc does not exist, which also means that Spencer never went to therapy in season 15. Also, huge thanks to @reidscanehand​ for beta-ing and just generally being my hype person!!!!

Song Recs: Shrike by Hozier; Better As a Memory by Kenny Chesney (don’t come for me if Spencer made playlists this would ABSOLUTELY be on there)

Series Masterlist

———

Spencer made his way to Emily’s office, ignoring the team’s eyes on him— varying degrees of understanding, concern, and uncertainty plain on their faces. As he reached the threshold, he paused for a second before moving into her line of sight. When he moved into the doorway, she looked up and waved him in. He closed the door behind him.

She gestured to the chair in front of her desk. Spencer hesitated for only a split second, but it was long enough for her to notice. He lowered himself into the chair and met her eyes.

She folded her hands on top of the desk. “How are you feeling?”

He drummed his fingers across his kneecaps. “I’m fine.”

It was a lie, and they both knew it. She bit back a sigh and flipped open the folder in front of her. “I’m finished with the official report. I wanted to go over it with you before I submit it to the director.” She looked at him briefly before reading out the report. “On January 9th, our team pursued a lead at the residence of suspect Andrew Hurley. We divided into teams to cover the two entrances to the home, as well as the barn behind the house.”

Spencer fidgeted slightly in his chair and rubbed the tips of his fingers together. Emily continued, “During the raid, Supervisory Special Agent Spencer Reid became separated from the team and was ambushed and disarmed by the suspect in the barn.” She paused but didn’t look at him. “The team was unaware of the altercation for some time, during which Dr. Reid employed various approved restraint methods and was ultimately forced to utilize self-defense measures to preserve his own life. Consequently, Mr. Hurley sustained serious injuries.”

She did look at him then, a steady and unrelenting gaze that had him shrinking inside himself. “However, I have determined that Dr. Reid’s actions were justified in order to maintain his own safety.” She returned her eyes to the report. “Mr. Hurley was detained and treated for his injuries at Sebastian River Medical Center, and he is expected to make a full recovery. Based on the cognitive interviews and physical evidence, a grand jury hearing is scheduled for January 25th.” She brought her hands to rest on top of the report.

“I’ll sign off on it and deliver it to the director by the end of business today.” She let out the sigh she’d been holding back. “Reid.”

He pressed his mouth into a thin line, torn between shame and vindication. “Emily.”

“What happened in that barn was unacceptable. And I need you to recognize that.” Her eyes were back on him, a leader’s gaze boring into a weak link. “You went against a direct order. You put your life in danger unnecessarily, and in the process you endangered this entire team. Furthermore, you could have cost us the ability to close this case, to put Hurley away and bring justice to his victims.”

“It won’t happen again,” he assured her.

“No, it won’t.” Her tone told him that if it did, he’d have bigger problems than a meeting in her office. “My recommendation to the director is that you transition to your next mandatory leave cycle early.”

“I can handle—”

“It’s not a request. You’re on sabbatical starting tomorrow. That’s an order, and one you’d do well to follow.” She closed the file in front of her. “We’ll see you back in the bullpen on March 7th.”

“I don’t need more time off, Emily,” Spencer snapped.

He could see her grind her teeth together at his tone, but he couldn’t seem to care enough to feel contrite. She took a deep breath in through her nose, leveling him with a pointed look. “If Simmons hadn’t broken it up, you’d have killed Hurley on the floor of that barn.”

His mind snapped back to the lifeless eyes of Hurley’s victims— eight year old boys in shallow graves. Boys who died afraid, and in pain, and crying out for their mothers. His thoughts raced to the feel of Hurley’s throat under his arm, the crack of the zygomatic under his fist. Emily was right of course. If Matt hadn’t found them in the barn and dragged him up and off of Hurley’s nearly lifeless body, Spencer would have killed him without compunction.

“Reid.” The stern edge was gone from her voice. Spencer refocused his eyes on her face, now showcasing an underlying concern that made his stomach turn. “I’m not recommending another cycle of mandatory counseling at this time, although I reserve the right to require it moving forward. But… I’m asking you to take care of yourself. You’ve been through a lot in the last two years. More than a lot.”

“I said I’m fine,” he insisted, but there was less fire behind it this time.

“And I’m not saying you aren’t,” she countered. “But I am saying that the person in that barn… that wasn’t you. That was not the Reid that I know.” Emily tilted her head and furrowed her brow. “The Reid I know uses his intellect and empathy to see angles that the rest of us miss. He depends on the strength of his mind and his unwavering compassion to diffuse conflicts without violence. He invites his friends to foreign film showings and puppet theater.”

When he didn’t budge, she let out a long breath. “I want you to take the next fifty days to find that Reid and bring him back to us.”

...

Y/N dropped into her desk chair with a huff. They’d been back from winter break for two weeks, and she already needed another vacation. But tomorrow was Friday, and then they had a long weekend. She could make it through one more day.

She closed her eyes for a long moment, tired in the way that only kindergarten teachers fresh off a long break can be. She heard the click of Anita’s shoes coming before she even entered the room, and Y/N couldn’t stop the twitch of her lips.

“Dude. How is it only Thursday?” Anita flopped down into the plush Calm Corner chair.

“This has been the longest week of my life,” Y/N agreed. “My kids were off the chain.”

“There is so much drama in middle school right now,” Anita groaned. “I can’t keep up with all the tea, and you know how I love to stay up to date on the freshest brews.” She shot Y/N a look. “Speaking of, where’s the good doctor?”

“I think they’ve had a lot going on at work,” Y/N surmised. “I haven’t seen Mrs. Jareau in over a month.”

“Well, I’m getting antsy,” Anita complained. “Thought for sure you’d be going steady by now.”

Y/N rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help but feel a little impatient herself. If she’d known it would be this long before she’d see him again, she might have made a move when he’d volunteered. Then again, probably not. She sighed.

Her phone chimed with an email message, and she automatically swiped the screen open to read it.

Spencer Reid Re:

Are you free today? If you are, I’ll be at Soho.

...

Spencer sat at the table in the corner of the coffee shop. He sipped absentmindedly at his tea, almost gone cold. He hadn’t waited for a reply before leaving Quantico. He drove straight to the city, figuring he’d wait at Soho until he felt some semblance of calm returning to his body.

He didn’t know why he’d emailed Y/N, and he wasn’t sure he really wanted her to show up. Usually he’d talk to Penelope or maybe JJ. But he’d wanted to get as far from the BAU as possible, and he didn’t want to drag Penelope away from the colorful, safe corner of the world she’d created for herself. He didn’t want to fill it with all the tragedy she’d tried so hard to leave behind.

If Y/N did show, he was certain he could keep the conversation vague, focus on her and the classroom, ask her about her holidays. She wasn’t a profiler, didn’t know his tells well enough. She’d be none the wiser, and he’d have her warmth and presence to focus his energy on, if only for a few hours.

Every time the bell chimed, his eyes flew to the door, searching for her. He knew it was ridiculous. He’d only known her for one hundred and eleven days. Pragmatically, he knew she shouldn’t be the one he wanted to talk to. Realistically, he wasn’t planning to burden her with all of the mess of the past week, the past year, his entire life.

But in the six hundred and forty seven minutes he’d spent with her since September, he’d felt more like himself than he ever had. He was never afraid to be himself with her— the silly story voices, the ridiculous costume, the magic trick, the vulnerability about his mom. All of these pieces of himself were things he usually waited years to show people. It had taken her a matter of weeks to draw them out.

He couldn’t help but believe that if he wanted to, he could tell her everything. She’d know exactly what to say. She’d listen for as long as he could keep talking. She’d cover his shaking hands and wrap him up in the warmth of her spirit. She’d give of herself to guide him back to the person he used to be. She’d be more than willing to use her radiance to illuminate the dark so that he might have a little light again.

The bell sounded, and his eyes focused, and there she was. She was wrapped up in a puffed jacket, a bright blue scarf tied around her neck. Her nose was adorably red from the cold, and she rubbed her hands together as the door closed behind her. Her eyes found him immediately. A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth, and she gave him an enthusiastic wave. And he knew that he was right about all of it.

She approached the table, unwinding her scarf. “Hi!”

“Hi.”

Her eyes flickered over his face, and then settled on his mostly empty mug. “I’ll get you a refill, and then we’ll catch up?”

He nodded, and she headed to the counter. There had been a part of him that thought she wouldn’t come, but of course she did. For some reason, unbeknownst to him, she liked talking to him. Even among his closest friends, he was often made to feel self-conscious about his tendency to ramble, but Y/N had literally asked him to. She sought him out, asked him questions, listened intently, and remembered things he’d told her. She was kind and thoughtful and genuine. Of course she came when he called.

She returned with two mugs, carefully setting them down on the tiny table. She unzipped and removed her jacket, hanging it on the back of her chair and revealing a crew neck sweater covered in tiny astronauts and rocket ships. When she sat across from him, her hands wrapped around the mug and her eyes met his.

“Hi.”

He couldn’t stop his lips from twitching, despite the events of the day. “You said that already.”

She laughed, and he felt the weight begin to lift. “Yeah, well, I haven’t seen you in forever, so— I’m just making up for lost time.”

“Sixty one days.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s been sixty one days, eighty eight minutes, and approximately,” he looked at his watch, “fourteen seconds since we saw each other last.”

She laughed again, and his mouth completed its curve. She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I like that you’ve been counting.” She let her chin come to rest in her hand, eyes studying his face. “How are you?”

He wanted to lie, but she was looking at him so earnestly that he mumbled out, “I’m managing.”

She mirrored the way he’d looked at her across this same table nearly three months ago. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” That was a lie, too. But asking her to meet him was enough of a burden.

“Okay. Well, if you change your mind at any point, let me know.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Until then, I can just regale you with all the kindergarten stories you’ve missed while you were out saving lives.”

And regale him she did. For almost an hour, he listened to her tales of love (budding crushes were taking over recess time), loss (the class pet— a stuffed zebra— had accidentally taken a swim in the Atlantic on a vacation to Florida), and lessons learned…

“So, in case there was ever any doubt, we are now painfully aware that we shouldn’t attempt to flush our underwear.” Y/N let out an exasperated laugh.

She’d been talking to him for fifty three minutes, and his heart already felt one thousand times lighter. “I’m really glad I wasn’t there for that one.”

“I really wish that was the only poop story I had.” She shook her head. “There are a lot of things they don’t tell you in grad school. I think there’d be a global teacher shortage if they warned you about the amount of bodily fluid management involved in teaching kindergarten.”

She toyed with the edge of her empty mug. He watched the movement of her fingers.

“Do you—”

“Do you—”

She laughed and gestured for him to speak first.

“Do you want to get out of here?”

…

They ended up in Mitchell Park. The trees were bare and the grass was brown, but he was with her, and so it was beautiful.

They’d been walking in comfortable silence, when she asked, “Did you change your mind? About talking about it.”

Spencer put his hands into his pockets. “It’s, um— it’s kind of a lot.”

She shrugged. “I’ve got time.”

“I don’t mean— I mean, it would take some time to get through it all. But it’s also— it’s a lot.”

“We don’t have to.” He could feel her eyes on him. “Do you talk to— someone about it?”

“I talked with my unit chief today,” he answered.

“Okay. But— I mean, have you ever— talked to someone. Like, a professional.”

Spencer bristled slightly. Although he knew she wasn’t passing judgement, her question exposed the reality that she thought he could use it. “I’ve had some mandated counseling over the years.”

“Obviously it’s your choice whether you talk to someone or not,” she mused. “I just— I know that I’ve benefited a lot from seeing my therapist.”

Spencer was unsure of what to do with that information. Here she was, confessing that she went to therapy— sweet, lovely Y/N. In comparison, he wasn’t sure if even daily meetings with a counselor would be enough to tame the darkness that had grown and festered inside him over the years. That sometimes threatened to swallow him whole.

For a long while, there was only the crunch of the frozen ground beneath their feet. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but there was an uncertainty about them that felt uncharacteristically heavy. He was hyper aware of her presence, and so he felt her pace slowing down before she came to a complete stop. He walked a few more paces before it became clear that she wasn’t planning to catch up.

He turned and saw that she’d taken a seat on one of the park benches. He carefully made his way to the bench, sitting beside her quietly. She didn’t look at him, but instead studied her fingernails intently. She cracked her knuckles once, twice, and then turned her body slightly toward him on the bench.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped,” she hedged carefully. “I didn’t mean to tell you what to do, or like, imply that there’s anything wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with you at all. I just—”

“It’s fine,” Spencer assured her. The way she looked at him then— like he was something fragile, delicate— made his eyes burn. He kept his voice even. “I know what you meant.”

She smiled, eyes crinkling and filled with something that felt familiar and far away all at once. “Good. I can’t have you out here thinking you’re anything less than wonderful.”

He couldn’t stop looking at her, attempting to solve the impossible cypher behind her irises. As he failed to decode it, his inability to read her blinded him to what came next. He missed the dilation of her pupils, the way her tongue darted out to wet her lips, the increase of the beats in her carotid. So when she leaned in and pressed her mouth to his, he was momentarily paralyzed.

Her lips were so soft against his slightly chapped ones, pressing with a perfectly gentle pressure. She brought her hand up to cradle his cheek, the pads of her fingers just barely ghosting the curls falling around his ear. She sighed into his mouth and pressed a little closer. He took one peaceful moment to bask in the realization of a desire he’d had for almost four months.

And then she swiped the very tentative tip of her tongue against the seam of his mouth, and his hands involuntarily wound into her hair, dragging her closer. He opened his mouth against hers to swallow her sweet little gasp. His grip on her hair tightened, and she let out the tiniest mewl, and like a switch had flipped— suddenly his mind was full of the darkness she’d spent the evening chasing away.

Y/N beneath him in the dark. Maeve in a pool of blood. His hands around Cat’s neck. His mother’s slap against his cheek. Max walking away from him. His fingers pressing the plunger on a dirty syringe. The slam of the door behind his father. Y/N calling out his name. A knife at his throat under a canopy of bones. Innumerable sets of lifeless eyes staring up at him. His life being snuffed out on the dirt floor of a shed. The clanging of metal bars and fingers ghosting over old bruises. Y/N looking at him with warm, loving eyes. The violent crack of bone underneath his fists. Y/N’s face, lovely and perfect— and then twisted in pain.

He broke away from her, releasing his hold on her hair and pushing her back into the bench. He took a second to gather himself before he dared to look at her. Her hair was tousled from his rough grip; her eyes were half-lidded and focused on him; her lips were red and kiss-bruised and turned up in a small, sweet smile.

And all at once he knew he had to hurt her, and it had to be now. Because what Cat had said about him was true. He might have escaped his mother’s illness, but he hadn’t been able to outrun the violence— and unlike her, he didn’t have the excuse of being sick. He had hurt people, and he had enjoyed it. He would have killed Hurley, and he would have slept soundly. He was no better than the men his team hunted.

Every time he thought he’d moved past it, that wickedness lurking just under the surface would grab him by the throat, choking everything else out. Emily’s directive rang in his ears. Find that Reid and bring him back to us. He knew who she was talking about. The problem was, he wasn’t sure that person still existed.

He was going to hurt Y/N eventually. Better to do it now, before things got too far.

“You’re Michael’s teacher,” he said, as evenly as possible.

Her smile faltered, and she pressed her lips together. He could still feel the phantom press of them against his own, and he was sure he’d never forget it. She cleared her throat. “You’re right, you’re totally right. I, um— I won’t be in a few months, and maybe then—”

“You don’t even know me,” he interrupted.

Now there was confusion in her eyes. That much he could read. She huffed out a small laugh. “I— I don’t think that’s entirely true.”

He looked directly at her. “Why? Because you read my bio on a university website? Because we got tea a couple times?” His voice sounded harsh, patronizing, and he hated it.

Her confusion shifted into shock, and he ignored the tug on his heart. “Are you serious?” she questioned, genuinely searching for a sign that he was joking.

“Dead serious.” He shrugged, and it felt like his bones were breaking. “You don’t really know anything about me, Y/N. If you did, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

“Where— where is this coming from?” Her voice was small, close to breaking. He lined up the last nail on the lid of the coffin.

“Maybe I gave you the wrong impression. I’ve appreciated talking to you. Volunteering in your classroom was entertaining. But I don’t— I don’t see you that way.” It was a lie, and if he didn’t have such a practiced poker face, she might have seen through it. As it was, his poker face had helped get him banned from every casino in Vegas, so he watched her as he hammered the final nail. “You’re just Michael’s kindergarten teacher.”

“Oh.” The hurt flashed across her features— the furrow of her brow, the tightening of her mouth, the storm clouds in her eyes. “Well, I— I really read this wrong, huh?” She laughed, but there was no humor in it.

“Yeah.” He put his hands into his pockets to keep himself from reaching for her, the desire to comfort her a strange juxtaposition to the pain he was intentionally inflicting on her. “I guess so.”

She opened and closed her mouth twice before taking a deep breath and nearly whispering, “Okay. Well. I’m— I’m gonna go.”

She brushed some imaginary dust from her pants and then stood. She turned to him, and he waited for her to explode— to scream and curse at him. But it didn’t come. She didn’t look at him at all. “Um— yeah. I’m gonna go.”

He didn’t say anything, and he knew she’d take his silence as indifference. But he had to keep his mouth shut, because if he didn’t, he’d beg her to stay. He’d tell her every single random piece of information he had stored in his brain. He’d tell her that he loved her from the moment he watched her help a child pick a solution from a pencil box. He’d tell her that he only ever dreamt of two things these days— her or the lives he didn’t save. He’d tell her every single one of his deepest, darkest secrets. He’d tell her that sometimes he was so afraid of himself that he could barely breathe. And if he told her all of that, she’d walk away anyway.

So instead, he watched her turn and start back up the path, hugging her arms around herself and swiping her cheek against her scarf.

When she disappeared over the slope of the path, he scrubbed his hands over his own damp face and let himself break.

———

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Broken tags: @saspencereid @this-is-gublerween

[hargrove-mayfields]

Everyone likes to pretend Billy was never even there. Life goes on, people change, the past gets forgotten.

A year isn’t enough time for Max though. Right now it feels like the rest of her life wouldn’t be enough time, but Neil and Susan, they were doing just fine.

It’s almost like they like not having him around, that extra burden they couldn’t shake. The plan only Max knew was that Billy was going to stay at home until she was old enough to go with him so she’d be safe.

She knew he was fed up and looking at some local apartments within walking distance of Cherry Lane anyways, but then July happened, and Billy died.

Now it’s July again, and her hair is in twin braids of red with pure white ribbons on the end, and her and her mother are wearing matching blouses. There’s bruises under the bangle on her mothers wrist and one under Max’s own sleeve, and she just wants her brother back.

It’s a holiday they told her, her father (he’s not her fucking father, they never made her call him that when Billy was around) is a veteran, they have to celebrate. Better just dry her eyes and get over it.

Her mother invites all the family they have in the area over to their house for a little get together picnic, and they do their little happy family routine for a while, but Max can only handle so much of it.

Billy should be here by her side, flicking watermelon seeds at her face and putting ice cubes from the cooler down the back of her shirt, being an asshole to distract her from the reality of her family.

And that was that she didn’t really have one, a family. It was always just her and Billy.

Even at these events made for bonding with family, they were off to the side, messing around while the adults talked like they weren’t even there, and she knew she was a little naive then, but it stung more than ever, knowing that even after she’d lost her brother, nobody even stopped to say hi or check up on her, it was just straight into gossiping about the neighbors and those disrespectful bastards across the street who weren’t flying a flag for the holiday and family members who couldn’t be there.

But Max never heard Billy’s name come up even once, and not even in a respect to the dead boy and his grieving sister type of way, but rather, in the way that they just didn’t want to acknowledge his existence. None of these people had come to his graduation in May of last year, or his funeral two months later.

Billy was a taboo that the Hargrove-Mayfields didn’t dare taint their celebrations of freedom and justice with. The irony made Max sick to her stomach.

Or that was at least, until Neil couldn’t help himself.

His words are slurring already, with an excuse to party he’s on what Max would guess to be his fifth or sixth beer that afternoon, and someone just made the mistake of mentioning their own son, Billy and Max’s third cousin or something, and it spurs Neil off on a tangent about his.

“That boy was always good for nothing anyways. It’s almost the same now that he’s dead, ‘Cept maybe now I get some more quiet around the house.”

Nobody knows what to do when he says that, there’s a couple awkward laughs and one shocked gasp, that one was probably from her mother, but Max knows exactly what she wants to do.

What she wants is to watch Neil choking on his blood instead of her brother, his body being lowered into the ground instead of Billy’s, and in the moment she feels like she could be the one to make that a reality, but instead she just stands abruptly, a plate of the food her mother worked so hard to prepare for them she’d been too queasy to eat falling off her knees to the grass, and she says everything she’d bottled up for the past year.

“Don’t talk about Billy that way!

“Now, Maxine-“ Neil starts, but Max is livid, can’t hold back all the things she wished she had said before Billy died, when she got grounded after the funeral, when Neil started beating her, “No! I’m not going to let you do to me what you did to my brother! You don’t get to control me like you did him, it’s your fault that he’s dead!”

It’s her mother’s turn to try to stop her, slender hand covering her mouth painted red, “Maxine..”

“Stop trying to reason with me! I’m sick of pretending to be a family when I had to watch my own brother die! And I’m sick of being treated like I’m crazy for being the only one that cares about Billy!”

More than one person chimes in on that one, offended by the notion they don’t care about family, though it’s Neil that insists, in that faux calm, close to snapping voice of his, “We do care, Maxine. We’re all grieving in our own ways.”

She fires back, “Grieving what? The loss of your punching bag? You hated Billy! You don’t care that he’s dead, all that matters to you is having someone to hurt, and you no trouble adjusting to beating up on your wife and step-daughter instead!”

She catches a backhand to the face for that, and all the background chatter comes to a halt, Neil gritting out through his teeth, “Inside. Now.”

There are tears in her eyes that sting almost as much as the knuckle marks on her cheek, but Max feels like she won, getting her step dad all riled up in front of their family, she feels almost invincible, and she sneers all smug like and bitter, “I can’t go inside yet. I’m celebrating your service to our country, dad. You know, as a family.”

But when Neil's face turns as red as the blood that dripped from his wife’s nose the night before and he stands from his chair and drags her inside by the wrist himself, she realizes that it wasn’t exactly a win.

And when her brain goes numb trying to focus on both the repeated slaps and punches that explode like firecrackers across her skin and the way Neil is yelling and lecturing her until his voice is raw, giving her the same lessons her brother had burned into the back of his mind, she feels like she’s lost everything instead.

When she has to choke back her tears and apologize for embarrassing Neil and for making him hit her as punishment, she realizes, this isn’t a game that can be won or lost at all.

Max isn’t allowed to go back outside to the party. That rule goes unspoken, but words aren't necessary with the way Neil storms off without another word, slamming the back door behind himself. She’s slowly starting to figure out what the things her step father does instead of says mean.

She misses being allowed to be clueless, having someone to protect her or take what punishment she had earned. She wishes she wouldn’t have asked so much of Billy though.

Her own room isn’t safe anymore, what once had been the place she’d be ushered off to when Neil got bad had become more like a trap, the place Neil went to first when he was angry. Everything that had been hers felt wrong, so she goes to Billy’s room and doesn’t come out for the rest of the night. Even now that he’s gone, he still kept her safe.

There’s a welt on her face and fresh bruises forming everywhere, hot tears wetting her sunburnt cheeks and the pillows that smell like Billy, or at least used to before Susan decided his room needed cleaned and washed away every trace of her brother.

All night long there are fireworks going off, a big show put on by the city downtown has her shaking, unable to close her eyes for fear those distant explosions would take her back to the mall, bring back memories she’d never forget, and covering her ear with her hands.

The cracks and booms that shake her windows and her entire life, a headache and a heart break even stronger.

She tries her hardest not to think about Starcourt though, so instead she thinks about how Billy would’ve been proud of her for standing up to Neil. He would’ve called her an idiot, but he would’ve cleaned up her scrapes and held her through the panic attack after, and he probably would’ve liked to see the person Max was becoming too.

That makes Max’s heart hurt, the fact that he won’t get to. She cries harder, and she feels so alone without Billy.

Some part of her knows that she isn’t though. She isn’t the only one that lost somebody last July.

Hawkins’ cemetery was alive with flowers and wreaths and decoration, and more than anything the grieving. All of the victims had families, or in the case of the Holloway’s where their whole family was killed, they had friends and neighbors in the tight knit community who remembered them. El was still grieving Hopper, and Max knew Billy had people like that too.

Billy was popular, his death had a huge impact on the younger population of the town, but not only that, he had his closest friends, Steve and Tommy and Carol and Nicole and Adam from the pool, and of course Heather couldn’t be there, but those people were all keeping her brother alive.

As much as it felt like everyone was trying to forget him, they weren’t, and that brought Max a little bit of hope.

Hope that Billy would be remembered for the things he did right, and who he was behind the boy he had to be to keep them safe.

Hope that with his memory kept in the hearts of so many, the burden of grief wouldn’t fall solely on Max forever and make things a little easier.

Hope that the wound would someday heal, and she could look back on the time she did have with Billy, those seven too short years, with a smile on her face.

For now, she wraps herself in Billy’s jacket and comforter, listening to his music to drown out the distant fireworks, and dreams of the day when things won’t be like this, when she can leave Hawkins and all it’s bad memories and the “family” holding her back to live a life her brother would be proud of, a life that would honor his.

Max decides then with determination, flinching when a bright flash lights up her window, a loud echo through the quaint neighborhood, that she was going to do what Billy hadn’t been able to and break the cycle.

Tomorrow, she’d tell the school counselor she’d been assigned when her depression was at its worst all about Neil Hargrove.

[i-cant-sing]

You said you go feral for Yan! Erasermic (me too), so what about them with a darling with a disability/chronic pain like EDS or arthritis where some days, like after a particularly long day on their feet or a cold or rainy day, they can barely move because of the resulting strain on their joints? (Maybe a little bit of self projection in this one oops)

Pain: Yandere! Erasermic

(wow what a unique title. Everyone give 1 clap for me)

Hey, thank you so much for requesting. I'm so glad you all liked my previous Erasermic post. I still have another Erasermic request and 2 others. So idk what self projection is but I tried to do it after looking it up. If I didn't hit the mark, please do tell me so I know what it is for future posts. Also, I read up a bit on EDS for this one. Hope you enjoy! :)

Check out my MASTERLIST for more!

Yandere! Erasermic:

Once again, one of the best yanderes to be with.

They have read about your condition, consulted various doctors. They probably know more about it than you do, and you were born with it.

Speaking of doctors, they'll get you the best treatment available. The medicine cabinet is full of expensive drugs, legal and illegal ones too if they help you with the pain. Who's going to do a drug bust on the nations top pro heroes?

And while medicines are effective, they do have side effects as well. Which is why Hizashi will also be looking up all sorts herbal medicines. Often giving you his homemade special herbal mixed teas.

Aizawa wouldn't let you out of bed, insisting you rest. He'll often either use his scarf or put a weighted blanket on you, just to ensure you wouldn't get out of bed. He'll either get you things you need or pick you up and take you wherever you have to go.

During winters, they will be super reluctant to let you out of the house. They know what the cold does to your joints. If you absolutely do have to go, they'll go with you in a heated car, and you're wrapped up in layers, almost making you suffocate in them. Even during other seasons, if there is even a light breeze, they will quickly get you their coat or jackets or better yet, you all cuddle up to share the body heat.

Massages and cuddles. Big time. You'll always be between them, Aizawa towards your back, rubbing your lower back to release the knots in your back, and Hizashi in front of you, showering you in kisses.

They're always so gentle with you, both in and out of bed. They know that your skin bruises up easily, so they're always extra careful with their touches.

And while they do know that your disease has you in agony, they can't help but be happy internally. They love how you're dependant on them; even for things you can do yourself, they won't allow you to. And how often you praise them with such beautiful words and thank them with such unforgettable memories.

If you have a job, especially one that makes you leave home, you need to forget about it. They'll be continuously telling you to quit your job; that they are more than happy to provide for you. If you really do love your job, you better not complain about the pain, because once even a whimper escapes your lips, they'll hand in your resignation on your behalf and won't listen to anything you say.

You walked home from the bus stop. A bad decision really, considering you already had a massive headache at work. And now you walked home, and even though the your home wasn't far, your feet were aching badly. You felt like your kneecaps were going to twist out of position any moment. You could've asked Aizawa or Hizashi to drive you home but you didn't want to bother them. After all, they are pro heroes.

Once you finally got home, you were greeted by Hizashi. "Hey dove! You're just in time. I made your favourite today! Why don't you go freshen up! Shou will be home any minute!" You nodded, not even having the energy to speak, and went upstairs to your room. Your head felt like it was going to explode. You sat down on the bed and started massaging your temples to relive some pain. You groaned slightly as your cold hands touched your forehead, your eyes screwed shut. Suddenly, your cold hands were pulled away and were replaced by rough, warm hands. You didn't have to open your eyes to know it was Shouta. He started massaging your head, knowing exactly where to put pressure, finally giving you some relief. "Feeling better?"he asked. You opened your eyes, smiling gratefully at him. "Yeah. Sorry for worrying yo-" He cut you off by pressing a kiss to your forehead. "You didn't. Why didn't you ask me or Hizashi to pick you up?" "I didn't want to bother you guys." You replied. "Nonsense. You know you can ask us for anything." He said, almost sounding like he was admonishing you. He sighed, quickly picking you up and walking towards the bathroom. "Your feet must be killing you too. Let's take a bath first." "But Hizashi already made dinner. We should go eat-"you were interrupted, this time by your other boyfriend. "I can heat it up again. Your muscles must be sore. I'll run a hot bath for us." He said, before plugging in the bathtub and turning on the knob, and pouring in some essential oils and bath salts. "Thank you" you said to both of them. They smiled at you. Once the bath was ready, they helped you out of your clothes before taking off their own. Aizawa helped you into the large to bathtub, your back against his chest as Hizashi sat on the other side of the tub, effectively trapping you between their legs.

Bath time was everyone's favourite time, especially yours. Aizawa would always give a relaxing massage to your shoulders, kissing your forehead with your body pulled flushed against him. Hizashi would rub your feet with such expertise; always managing to get some sinful noises from you. "Tough day at work?" Hizashi asked. You already knew what was coming. "No. I'm fine really. Just a bit tired is all" Shou tutted at you "you know better than to lie to us. Tell us how you're really feeling."he said, his tone turning serious. You sighed, "seriously, I am fine. Just had a small headache. Nothing to worry about." "When it concerns you, everything is worrisome for us. Especially when you hide your pain" Hizashi said, his brows furrowed in genuine concern, making you feel guilty. "You should quit your job." Shou said, kissing your earlobe. "But I don't want to. I really do like my job-" you tried to say but Hizashi cuts you off "yeah. She should just stay at home and rest. Her health is getting worse, you know" "it's really not-" again you were cut off, this time by Aizawa. "I agree. I just don't feel at ease when she's out of the house. I'll talk to her boss tomorrow and explain why she won't be returning home anytime soon." "What? No-" you hated how they talked about you like you weren't even there; this was just the one habit you hated about them. Hizashi nodded this time, running a hand through his hair "yeah. And if you go in person, I'm sure they won't even ask her to put in a 2 weeks notice-" "NO!"Finally, your outburst had got them to pay attention to you. "Hey whats wrong?" Hizashi asked, running a hand over your thigh. "I just- I just don't want to leave my job. I know you guys are only saying this because you love me but I like my job. I like working there. And I know you guys are more than capable of taking care of my expenses as well, but I just hate being dependent on my boyfriends for everything. I am very grateful to both of you, but I don't like being a burden on you guys." You said, your cheeks flushed with embarrassment and your eyes filled with tears. Your headache returned again; you didn't like to argue with them. Sensing your discomfort, Shouta started to rub your temples again, kissing your neck and apologising for distressing you. Hizashi pulled himself towards you and wiped the tears away from your eyes, also apologising. "Oh we are so sorry for making you feel like this. You're not a burden to us. We love doing these things for you princess. We do, believe me." Shou nodded before speaking "of course, its your life. You're going to ultimately make all of your decisions. We're just worried about you. We don't want you to strain yourself, kitten." Now you started to feel bad, "no- no its okay. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have reacted this way. I know you both love me and care about me a lot. I just hope you understand where I'm coming from." You said to them, your eyelashes heavy with tears. "We know. We know you love us just as much we love you. Let's just forget about this topic and go eat some dinner, yeah?" Hizashi said, before getting out of the tub and helping you out. "Yeah. I am feeling a lot better. Thank you both" you said, kissing them. "Thats good to know. However, I feel like you should take a few days off work. Just to be safe" Aizawa said, handing you both a towel each. "Yeah. I could use a break too. And Shou you should take tomorrow off as well. You need to catch up on some sleep." Hizashi said, helping you into your clothes. You didn't want to argue anymore so you agreed "okay. But only if Shou stays home too." Aizawa kissed your cheek and smiled "sure. Just have to run one errand in the morning and I'll be back before you know it." You nodded before all of you went down to eat, not knowing that the "errand" would be ensuring that you get fired from your job.

Hope you all liked this one! Please do tell me if I did it right. Did I get what you were asking for? Also requests are open! :)

[nelapanela94]

Levi x Fem!Y/N

Levi and Y/N choosing a name for the new member of their family.

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Kids had never been a topic of conversation between Levi and Y/N, and much less were they part of the plans. Now they were both in her room, listening in disbelief to the doctor announcing the big news to the soon to be parents.

"We appreciate your discretion, Doc" Y/N said while putting her shirt on.

"My lips are sealed" He swiped his thumb and index fingers across his lips, pretending to zip and lock his mouth. "Everything seems alright so far. I'll set an appointment within two weeks" Y/N nodded and he finished packing the instruments before taking his leave.

Levi was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed. Y/N chewed her lower lip waiting for him to say something. "You said you'd timed it"

"I'm sorry I miscalculated" she walked towards the black-haired man and stopped in front of him. "Are you angry? It's only seven weeks, we still can..."

"Don't even think about it" We warned opening one eye. The steel gray orb landed on her face. "We're having the brat together Y/N" He reassured. "And I'm not angry, I'm just surprised" He let out a sigh. With both eyes opened, he scanned her face looking for a reaction. She looked at him with her mouth agape as tears of joy were forming in her eyes. Then, the sweetest smile drew on her lips. "You don't know how lucky I am to have you by my side, Levi" She whispered before pressing her lips on his.

Levi and Y/N had kept their relationship a secret for over a year, and only Erwin, Hange, Mike and Moblit knew about it. The ravenette had threatened the energetic Hange with killing the precious titans they used for research if they let it slip off their mouth. However, they let the secret escaped when Moblit was around, and that's how he learned. Fortunately, no one else heard, and Moblit was good at keeping secrets.

Y/N and her boyfriend entered the commander's office.

"Levi, Y/N, what brings you here? Today is your day off"

"There's something you need to know" Levi bluntly said.

"Erwin" the young woman took a deep breath. It was now or never "I'm pregnant" She averted the eyes, biting her inner cheek. Erwin's eyebrows rose at the news. "But it wasn't my fault, it was Levi's" She gabbled and hid behind the ravenette, who was standing next to her.

"Congratulations" A corner of his mouth lifted. Y/N poke her head from behind Levi's shoulder. "Thanks!"

"It also means you'll be out of the field for a while" The commander was happy for them; but concerned at the same time. Y/N was a skillful soldier and a great asset on expeditions. Her absence would be noticeable. Levi, on the other hand, was glad and relieved Y/N wasn't taking part on any upcoming mission, meaning one less concern for him.

As months passed by, Y/N's belly began to stick out, making it impossible to hide her pregnancy any longer and rumors about the father's identity spread among the scouts. "I'll tell you when the baby is born" She'd firmly stated. They tried to guess and even make their bets, but they were not even close. No one would believe that the ever stoic, ill-mannered captain was soon to become a dad.

"Don't mind them" Y/N told Levi once.

"I hate when they insinuate you're a..."

"You and I know the truth, it's all that matters. I can't care less about their comments" she placed a kiss on his cheek. "Now, I want some rice with cheese and strawberry jam on top"

"That sounds disgusting"

"it's not, you gotta try it"

And obviously he'd go downtown to get the damn cheese she liked.

When Levi was hectic with work, Hange and Moblit looked after Y/N. The brunette researcher was too excited and impatient to meet their nephew or niece. Since the future mother didn't want to be a burden, she volunteered to take notes and help with the transcription of the investigation reports, even though Moblit insisted she didn't have to.

The night before the 57th expedition, Y/N and Levi were lying on his bed, his calloused hands caressing her belly. "Please, come back home to me safe and sound" she placed a peck on his lips. "To us" and her hand found his. "I want a boy" she said with a smile. "With your hair, your nose and your eyes"

"The brat will have your looks"

"But..."

"Listen Y/N, I promise I'll come back to you" he kissed the back of her hand. "The doctor said you'll deliver anytime soon. I'll be there for you"

The 57th expedition beyond the walls ended up in an utter mess. Countless lives lost, including Levi's squad. Injured soldiers with missing limbs and on the verge of death. Y/N waited for Levi in the SC headquarters. The doctor had advised her not to travel to Karaness since she could go into labor any moment. When Levi opened the door, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. She would not let go, as if her life depended on it. He cupped her face and passionately kissed her. The expedition didn't even last a day, but it felt like a century.

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Levi was impatiently waiting outside the delivery room, nervously walking back and forth and cussing under his breath. "Take a seat Levi" Hange worriedly said. "Your leg is still healing"

"Shut up, shitty eyes"

In truth, he didn't mind the damn leg.

"Captain Levi" he heard the nurse's voice. "You can come in now"

"Congratulations to you and Y/N!" Hange squealed in excitement. "Take your time, I'll be waiting downstairs."

Levi opened the door and found Y/N sitting on the bed, with her back resting on the headboard and the newborn in her arms. He dragged a chair and took a seat next to the bed, placing a hand on Y/N’s. “Are you ok?”

“I am” She assured. “I’m just exhausted”

“Did you give your mom a hard time, brat?” He said rubbing the baby’s head with his thumb, careful enough to not wake him up.

“Isn’t he cute?”

“Yeah, we did a good job” He proudly said. A smirk showed on his face. “We did have fun” Y/N chuckled, shaking her head.

“I haven’t thought in a name yet”

“Me neither” He sweetly placed a kiss on the side of her head.

“I guess we’ll have the time to come up with a good one” She looked down at the new bundle of joy and smiled. “Daddy and I will protect you at all cost little one” She whispered.

Levi couldn’t keep his eyes off of the new member of their family. The new life they had created, half him, half Y/N; he now had another reason to fight for.

After the battle against the colossus and the armored titans to bring back Eren and Historia, the Survey Corps were left on the brink of dissolution. Dimo Reeves and two of his employees were found death in the middle of Trost. Commander Erwin was to blame for the murders and all the remaining members of the Scout Legion were to ceased their activities and turn in to the Military Police. Erwin had previously made an arrangement to hide Y/N and the baby in a brothel room in Trost. The sole idea made Levi uneasy, but he was aware Y/N was not in the condition to escape along with the rest of the scouts while protecting Eren and Historia.

Nonetheless, her hideout was discovered by the M.P.

A tall man broke into the establishment looking for Y/N; and out of fear, the owner gave her away. The man didn't bother to knock and kicked the door open to her room. The place was dark, the smell of recently blown out candles still lingered in the air. Y/N had managed to take the baby in her arms and hide under the kitchenette counter. Tears were running down her cheeks, and cold sweat bathed her entire body. She was quivering in panic, and covered her mouth with one hand to drown her crying. She was praying to all the known gods for the little one not to start crying anytime soon. Surprisingly, he was staring up at her with a cute toothless smile and bright steel gray eyes.

"Well, well, you can't hide from me for too long" the man laughed as he searched around. "Gotcha!" Y/N jolted and cried harder when she saw the gun aiming at her. "Let's end this nice and smooth"

"Who are you?" She asked between sobs. "Why...?"

"Shhh, I'm afraid I'm not here to answer your questions, young lady"

"Please" She pleaded. "Kill me, but don't hurt my baby"

The man's expression turned into a scowl. "Baby? They never mention anything about a baby" He muttered. The infant's cry filled the room, and the coated man grunted.

"Can I... put him to bed?"

"Make it fast"

She stood up slowly, her knees almost giving in. She walked to the bed rocking the baby, feeling the gun on her back. The cry finally came to a halt. Y/N placed a kiss on the baby's forehead and whispered "I love you" before tucking him between two pillows. Then, she turned around with her hands up. The man put the pistol in the case and was about to take his knife out, when a glinting, flower shaped object hanging around her neck caught his attention. His forehead furrowed and walked towards her with a menacing look on his face. "Where did you get this?" he growled, grabbing the pendant in his hand.

"The baby's father gave it to me" She replied, her eyes shut, waiting for the knife to slice her throat.

"May I know his name?"

"Levi, Captain Levi from the Scout Legion"

"I see" His scowl turned into a smirk. "The midget managed to get himself a pretty lady and make her a child. I guess he did learn something after all"

"Uh?" Y/N snapped her eyes open, confused at his sudden reaction.

"What's the baby's name?"

"We haven't had the time to think about it yet. I just call him baby, and Levi opted for brat"

The mysterious man took his knife out and with the free hand, he grabbed a fist full of her hair. With a swift movement, Y/N long strands of hair fell on the floor. It was too fast she didn't even have the time to shriek. "Change your clothes and grab the little runt." He ordered. "I'm getting you out of here" Y/N nodded in understanding and changed into a big shirt, loose pants and her boots. She then wrapped the baby in an improvised baby carrier she made out of a blanket.

"I'm ready" She gulped and everything went black.

Y/N woke up in a small cabin in the middle of the woods. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. The man with the hat was sitting at a chair across the room, while the baby laid peacefully next to her on the bed. The headache make her wince in pain.

"Sorry, but they had to believe you were dead" He bluntly said as he stood up. He put his coat on and fix his hat before leaving.

"Wait. I have plenty of questions sir. Who are you? What is this place? Why did you save us? What about the necklace..."

"You really are a pain in the ass" He complained. "The necklace was a present for my sister. I had it crafted for her when we were young" He turned around. "Ackerman. Levi Ackerman is his full name. Take good care of the little brat" He continued his way to the exit.

"Wait" She got off the bed and followed him. "Who are you to Levi?"

Without turning around, he replied. "An old acquaintance"

Y/N didn't ask anything else. She stared at the man's back as he walked away. When the man was out of sight, Y/N finally relaxed, letting out all the tension contained in her body. While the baby was still asleep, she did a little house tour. There was not much to see, honestly, but the place was cozy enough. There was food for at least three days in the kitchen, as well as barrels of clean water and firewood. She went back to the bedroom, laid next to the sleeping bundle and caressed his black strands of hair. "It seems you're an Ackerman after all" She chuckled. "Your father..." Her eyes saddened. "I wish I could go and find him, but I'm still recovering and taking you with me would be a high risk." She heavily sighed and closed her eyes. "I do hope he's doing well."

A couple of days later, a heavy knock on the door startled Y/N. She swallowed hard and tucked the baby in the bed "Shhh" She put her index finger on her lips, "I need you to be quiet. Do it for mommy" She said in a whispered, then headed to the kitchen. She grabbed a pan and slowly walked towards the door; her hand landed on the knob as cold drops of sweat traveled down her temples. "Oi! Y/N, it's me. I know you're in there, open up" Without a second thought, she twisted the doorknob and found her Levi standing there, with stains of blood on his face and clothes. Y/N glomped the ravenette.

"Levi!" She squealed; her eyes already glistened. "Oi" He fought to keep his balance and embraced her tightly. "Don't leave me alone again" She sniffed.

"I promise I won't" He muttered. "And can you get rid of that damn pan? It's making me nervous"

"Sorry" She threw it away. "I can't believe you're finally here. Please tell me this is not a dream?"

"This is all real" He pulled apart and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you alright? did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Levi. That tall man with the cool hat was sent to kill me, but he changed his mind when I mentioned your name and hid me in this place instead. Are we even near the city? and how did you find me?"

"He told me where to find you" He pressed a kiss on her forehead.

"Come on in, somebody wants to see you" she took him by the hand and led him to the bedroom. Levi sat at the edge of the bed and a small warm smile drew on his face. The giggling baby wrapped his little hand around Levi's index finger. "Y/N" he called her name.

"Huh?"

"Have you thought of a name already?"

"Not really"

"What about Kenny?"

"Kenny? I actually like it" She smiled and rested a hand on Levi's shoulder. "Kenny Ackerman will be, then"

[ikeromantic]

Middle Ground

A Mitsuhide Akechi fanfic - approx. 2200 words. This scene occurs well after the events of the romantic epilogue. Fluff.

First: Mitsuhide and the Maiden

Previous: Bonding

“So . . . separate beds?” Mitsuhide’s wry smile was only a little bitter.

“Yes. I know it’s silly. I’d . . . I’d rather be in there with you.” The chatelaine, soon to be Lady Akechi, looked down, her expression a mixture of shame and defiance.

“It’s fine. I will have you all to myself soon enough. What is a night or two apart?”

She looked up without raising her head, trying to gauge his emotions.

Mitsuhide wasn’t having any of that. He took her chin between his finger and thumb and gently lifted until her gaze met his. “It is fine.” Then he leaned forward to brush a kiss across her cheek. With his lips almost close enough to touch her skin, he added. “Are you so eager to be in my arms again? Do you want to . . . test out the guest room? Or your childhood bed?”

He had the intended effect. She shivered and licked her lips. “You are so bad!”

“You are the one protesting our brief separation.” Mitsuhide pressed another kiss to her cheek and leaned back.

She crossed her arms. “You’re right. It’s just a few nights. But when we get back to the city -” a wicked smile turned her lips up at the corners, promising all sorts of fun.

“So forward, my little mouse. So eager. You make me wish we were home already.”

“That’s the idea.” She turned and threw him a saucy look. “Something to dream about.”

Mitsuhide chuckled. “Good night, little one.” Something to dream about indeed. He watched her hips as she walked down the hall, until she turned into her room and shut the door. She really had no idea what impact she had on him. He wondered if it was his practiced art of hiding his true emotion, or simply that she couldn’t see how beautiful she was. How desirable.

He went into the room and shut the door. It was so strange. The electronic hum of household devices. The cold fluorescent light from the street lamps in his window. Distant traffic sounds blending with barking dogs and strains of music. Mitsuhide felt suddenly very alone and very out of place.

Despite his refusal, the thought of spending one night, much less three, without his little one, felt impossible. A burden too heavy for him to bear. He needed to feel her in his arms, to fall asleep to the sound of her breathing, the beat of her heart. Her warmth grounded him in this strange place.

Mitsuhide gave a dry, soundless laugh. Who was the little mouse now?

Slowly, meditatively, he dressed for bed and lay down. He would embrace this world, different as it was from his own. He had to, because it was the one that gave birth to his beloved. And so, listening to the heartbeat of this small town, the viscous thrum of modern life, he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Miyake and Sasuke arrived the following day at lunch. They met up at a local restaurant. Youko was friends with the owner and able to borrow a few tables in the back for privacy.

Minoru, the chatelaine’s often grumpy father, seemed to be on his best behavior. Not smiling, but distantly polite to the two newcomers. He thawed a little when his daughter threw her arms around each of the men in greeting.

No one said much as they ate. Youko and Minoru sat beside their daughter on one side of the table, glancing up at her strange friends. Sasuke, Mitsuhide and Miyake sat across from them, looking nervous.

It was Sasuke who finally broke the silence. He cleared his throat. “I understand your daughter told you about our time in the Sengoku. Understandably, you want proof. You have questions. We are here to give you what evidence we can.”

Minoru snorted. “What do you get out of this charade?” He gestured to Mitsuhide. “Is he paying you?”

Miyake looked as if he wanted to speak up, but Sasuke beat him to it. “No. I am here because your daughter is my friend.” He reached into his bag. “I know it isn’t much, but I brought my ninja kit as proof. These - these are smoke pellets. And that is a kunai. This is a sleeping poison, and this -” he went through the items, explaining what they were and how he made them. Detailed descriptions of the tools and materials he had available.

When Sasuke finished, Minoru looked thoughtful.

Youko smiled across as Sasuke. “You seem a very resourceful young man. And you are also the one that discovered these wormholes?”

“Yes ma’am.” Sasuke dipped his head, embarrassed by the compliment.

“It could just be you have a - a fascination with this stuff. Read a lot. Saw some movies,” Minoru said. His gruff voice held more than a hint of doubt. Even he didn’t buy his own explanation.

Sasuke nodded. “I could have. But even that would not yield the encyclopedic knowledge I’ve developed. I would go into greater detail, but I imagine you don’t have the underlying historical education to make use of most of the information I could provide. Unless . . . Are you a history buff?” His voice sounded different at the end, as if this question was important. Light glinted off his glasses, hiding his eyes. The air around him was charged, almost crackling with a sudden and unexpected energy.

“No. I can’t say I am,” Minoru replied.

“Hm, too bad.” The strange tension in the ninja disappeared as suddenly as it came.

Mitsuhide nudged Miyake. The warrior muttered something under his breath and then rolled his shoulders. “Alright, old man. I don’t blame you for doubting us. I’d think I was crazy too, or lying. But what Lady Akechi told you is true. She’s been living with my lord for the last few months. And it’s a good thing too. He smiles a lot more now. Eats too, and sleeps almost like a human.”

“Miyake,” Mitsuhide growled. “That’s not the kind of evidence they need to hear.”

“Sorry, but it’s the truth. And if you don’t mind me saying, well, even if you do, your daughter makes for one hell of a princess. She makes the servants happy to do a good job because she notices the little things. And the guards . . . they’d all die for her, and not just because Lord Akechi demands it. She’s kind and good to all of us. I don’t get to spend time at the castle, but I hear how she remembers birthdays and congratulates newlyweds and -”

Youko laughed, a sound Mitsuhide recognized. Much like his own little one, but matured. More elegance with just the same amount of joy. “It sounds like you have a following,” she smiled at her daughter.

The chatelaine blushed. “I really don’t. He’s exaggerating, mom. Really.”

“He is not,” Mitsuhide chided. “Though I don’t think that’s the kind of proof her father -”

Minoru interrupted, his gruff voice quieting the table. “It’s clear you’ve gotten to know her. My little girl.” He gave her a brief smile. “I am still . . . it’s a lot to take in. This wild story. But she stands by it and there is clearly - something true in it.”

His daughter hugged him. “I knew you’d come around, papa.”

He dislodged himself from her unexpected embrace. “I didn’t say I’m buying the whole story. Just,” he waved his hand, “some of it rings true.”

The tension at their table eased, and conversation began to flow more naturally. Youko and Minoru had a lot of questions, and were finally ready to hear the answers.

***

Kyubei followed Ranmaru through the thick forest undergrowth, barely able to make out the dirt path he led them down. This was supposed to lead to a safe house, one that Kennyo agreed to meet him in. He wished the demon-abbot had a taste for teahouses instead of abandoned forest shacks, but it could be worse.

He could be with Hideyoshi, hunting Motonari across the ports. Kyubei wasn’t afraid of pirates, but being on a boat . . . the constant roll of the ocean waves made him sick as a dog. No matter how many trips he made, he never gained any kind of tolerance for the motion. So this, the dirt and the bugs and the thick air under the trees, was a better deal all around.

“This is it.” Ranmaru stopped just before the path opened on a small clearing. There was a half-rotted shack ahead, once a shrine to some local deity, now fallen into disrepair.

Kyubei was surprised to see he wasn't’ the only one here to speak to the monk. Another familiar figure sat on the wooden steps outside the shrine. “Shingen?”

Takeda grinned up at him, pushing a lock of sweaty hair out of his face. “If it isn’t Mitsuhide’s maid!” He laughed. “Kidding, kidding! I just expected to see the kitsune out here himself.”

“He is otherwise engaged.”

“Is he?” Shingen’s smile was dangerous now. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with our missing ninja, would it?”

“If it does, I’ll send him your head,” Yukimura spoke up from somewhere to Kyubei’s left.

Ranmaru put his hands up, laughing as if this were all so silly. “It’s too early for threats. Come on! Let’s make some tea and relax. The abbot will be here shortly.”

Kyubei turned his head a fraction, just enough to see Yukimura lower his spear. “Tea would be good.” He ignored the younger warrior’s scowl as he followed Ranmaru to the shrine.

He didn’t sit, but stood near Takeda, resting his back against a tree.

Shingen, for his part, pretended to be fully relaxed. It wasn’t quite effective though. His brow held a waxy sheen, his eyes looked sunken and fevered. Worse, his breathing was labored. A rasp, harsh as a winter cough.

Kyubei watched him carefully. This was a bad situation. A dying man had fewer qualms than one that had to live with his decisions. He hadn’t realized Takeda was so bad off though, despite the reports he’d received. The Tiger of the Kai was legend. Not a man to be taken down by sickness. And yet.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Yukimura snapped, coming to stand beside his lord.

Shingen chuckled. “So protective, Yuki.” His laugh turned into a thick, unproductive cough. When he finally got control of himself, he directed his attention to Kyubei. “So. Where did your lord and my ninja go off to? And don’t tell me you don’t know. There’s too much tying their disappearance together. I’d rather not have to kill you today for lying to me.”

Another situation he wished he had his lord’s guidance. What information was safe to pass along, and what plans would the ripples of this conversation affect? Kyubei swallowed. “I suspect they have gone to visit the chatelaine’s home. 500 years in the future.”

Shingen nodded as if this was the answer he expected. “Sasuke asked me if I’d like to visit his hometown. He said - he said they could cure me.”

“And then he left without you.” Yukimura punched the shrine wall, causing the whole building to tremble.

Ranmaru poked his head out. “Hey! Careful or you’ll bring the whole thing down on my head!”

“Sorry,” Yukimura growled.

“If it is any consolation, I don’t believe Lord Akechi or Sarutobi left when they did intentionally. The information my lord left indicates the trip was meant to take place later. He was still . . . putting things in place for his extended absence.”

“That’s bull,” Yukimura grumbled, but he relaxed his grip on the spear.

They had no more time to talk it over as Kennyo’s shadow fell across the clearing. He came out of the trees like a spirit, the rings on his staff clinking. “It appears you found me. Again.”

Shingen grinned. “Well, old friend, I did have to hunt through every abandoned shrine in the province to get to this one.”

Kennyo snorted in disbelief.

“Ranmaru brought me,” Kyubei bowed. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

“I have little time or patience for guests. Tell me what you want.” Kennyo crossed his arms.

“Your help with the false emperor.” Kyubei didn’t look up from his bow. “We both know Ashikaga is dead. The scribe we set up in his place, or the men around him, have gone astray.”

“I could care less. Let the exiled shogun harass the devil-king. Nobunaga and his pawns can go to hell.” Kennyo’s eyes were dark and full of anger. It radiated from him like heat from a fire.

Shingen shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I hate him too. But it’s not just him getting hit. These idiot daimyos in his retinue are conscripting farmers. Villagers. Innocent folk that should be left out of a power grab.”

The demon abbot’s eyes fell on his old friend. “And you believe this is a worse fate than what the Oda have in store for them?”

“I do.” Shingen’s gaze didn’t waver.

Kennyo’s shoulders shook and it took Kyubei a moment to realize the abbot was laughing. He shook his head. “You always were a fool, Shingen. But fine. I will tell you what I know. I don’t think you can stop what has been set in motion.”

Next: Double Dating

[harrysweasleys]

in this house, you are safe // s.w

summary: seeing sam for the first time after the events of the tfatws finale

warnings: obviously, tfatws spoilers!! mentions of food, alcohol, language, death

word count: 3k

a/n: i wrote this because i love sam wilson with my whole dang heart and i will forever. also yes i am sorry i’m so late on making my mcu taglist but i will make the form this weekend! :) x

After a few days, you had begun to feel at ease in Louisiana. The small town by the water had become a second home, and the people were some of the kindest you had ever met. Sam really hadn’t been joking when he said they’d welcome you with open arms.

Before he left for Latvia to hunt down Karli and the rest of the Flagsmashers, he had told you to go stay with his sister and nephews. So, unwilling to argue with him while he was already stressed, you agreed, and were now occupying the spare room in Sarah’s home. She had been impossibly sweet since your arrival — helping you settle down, driving you if you needed to go anywhere since you didn’t have your own vehicle with you — and you had repaid her by doing the chores. The cooking, the cleaning, the dishes, the groceries, things of that sort.

As a single mother with two boys and a family business to run, you wanted to bring her as little hassle as possible. The last thing you wanted was to make things harder for her.

Plus, all of these things served as a good distraction while Sam was away. Though you trusted him and knew what he was capable of, the constant nagging worry in your mind never seemed to ease. That’s what it was like to be engaged to a superhero, right? Never knowing when they were going to come back — if they were going to come back.

The last you had seen him, he had been fixing the boat with Bucky who had handed him a ‘gift’ from Wakanda. Sam didn’t show you what was inside it, but from the smirk that was on his face when he left with it, you had a feeling that you might know what was up.

So, you had been rather glad that there were so many things to keep you occupied around town and in the house, as you would most likely be losing your mind otherwise. You barely slept full nights, and every time you heard from Sam, whether it be by text or phone call, you always wondered if it would be the last. And that very thought prevented you from getting a good night’s sleep.

As another afternoon rolled around, your hands covered in dish soap as you scrubbed the plates from this morning’s breakfast, you couldn’t help but wonder when he’d be back. He had left earlier yesterday after realizing Karli might be planning an attack in New York, but you weren’t sure how long that was going to last. You hadn’t heard from him since him and Bucky had walked out the front door.

You were cut short of your panicked thoughts when quiet footsteps from behind alerted you that Sarah had entered the kitchen. You knew it had to be her as the boys had already left that morning for school.

“How are you holding up?”

You turned to face her, furrowing your eyebrows at her question, “I’m alright, why?”

She sat slowly onto a kitchen chair and patted the one next to her, “With Sam being away. I know it’s been tough on you. Now with the boys being out of the house I figured we’d have some time to ourselves to talk. You know, as future sisters-in-law.”

You dropped the towel you were using onto the counter and walked over with a small smile on your face, drying your hands on your pants before taking a seat, “Oh, that. I’ve been alright. I mean, it can’t be worse than him being gone for five years, you know?” A humourless laugh escaped your lips and Sarah gave a small chuckle.

“I get that,” she nodded, “I’m just letting you know that I’m here if ever you need anything.”

“I don’t want to burden you with all of my thoughts,” you grinned, leaning over the table, “You’ve got more than enough on your plate, super mom.”

She beamed at the nickname, shaking her head as she let out a small laugh, “You two are lucky to have each other. And I swear that boy will get an ass-whoppin’ if he ever makes you feel like you’re not a part of this family.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” you grinned, “He’s always made sure that I feel welcome. You really have an amazing brother, you know?” you could feel your cheeks beginning to get sore as you kept talking, “He’s never once made me feel like I didn’t belong. And it’s one of the reasons I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him,” you began to toy with the ring on your left hand, “Because I know that no matter where we end up, it’ll feel like home.”

The kitchen was silent for a moment and you felt a bit of embarrassment at the fact that you just blabbed all of your lovey-dovey nonsense to your fiancé’s sister.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to rant,” you apologized, tilting your head so that you were looking down at the ring. In the shimmering light of the diamond, you could see your entire life with Sam. From the moment you first met him, to the day he got down on one knee, to the distant future where you two would be struggling to help each other off of the couch after watching game shows all day.

She placed her hand on top of yours, “You're part of the family now, and I think the boys really like you too. Yesterday they asked why you weren’t the one who was picking them up from school.”

Warmth spread through you at her words and you felt your throat being to sting as a wave of graduate flooded over you. You were a little overwhelmed, but in a good way. Sam’s family has been nothing but open and accepting since the moment you met them, and you couldn’t help but wonder what you had done to get so lucky.

You let out a small chuckle, “I can pick them up today, if you want. Saves you the drive.”

She raised her hands in the air, not arguing with you one bit, “Oh, you know I won’t be saying no to that. They finish at three and the keys are by the front door. Thanks, Y/N.”

You shot her a thumbs up, “Don’t thank me, super mom.”

As she stood and walked out of the kitchen, you could hear her laughter echoing down the hall, bringing a smile to your face as you made your way back to the sink.

——

The sun had set on the gorgeous town by the docks, and that meant that it was another evening where you found yourself wondering what Sam was up to. You hadn’t heard from him in over a day and your mind was running alight with possible scenarios as to what could have happened to him. This felt like a regular occurrence nowadays. It was as if the only thing that was written in your daily calendar was “8 o’clock: worry. 10 o’clock: worry.”

Luckily for you, though, tonight you had a distraction. As Sarah was tucking the boys into bed, you made your way over to the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine. She had bought one today in hopes of sharing it with you as the two of you watched crappy television after an exhausting day of cleaning up around the house. You two deserved it, as she kindly put it.

You grabbed the bottle, along with two glasses, and made your way to the living room. They were quietly placed onto the coffee table as you flopped down onto the couch, grabbing the remote and flicking it on.

The first channel that was on was the news. Usually you wouldn’t care and would just flip it to another channel, but your attention was caught rather quickly and you nearly dropped the damned remote to the floor.

On your screen, donned in a white suit with red and blue Stars and Stripes, stood Sam. His previously-destroyed wings appeared to be fixed, sticking out of the pack on his back as he lowered to the ground, holding the body of a young girl in his arms. You looked at what he was wearing and immediately you knew that your intuition was right; Bucky had given him a new suit.

“Holy shit,” you muttered, mouth hanging slack, “Sarah!”

She entered the living room nearly immediately as you called her name, shushing you by bringing a finger to her lips. However, she dropped it as soon as her eyes caught sight of the television screen.

“Is that…?”

“Yep,” you nodded, standing up and stepping closer to the screen. Sam was surrounded by cop cars and ambulances, but he wasn’t the one in danger. If anything, it seemed like his instinct was right about the attack in New York.

He lowered the body onto a stretcher and right away, you could tell it was Karli. Her face has been plastered nearly everywhere so it wasn’t difficult to identify her.

Both you and Sarah were silent as the stretcher was pulled away, the cameraman following Sam as he walked up to a couple of Senators — who you figured were probably the ones in danger.

You felt as if you were about to collapse as you watched him in the Captain America suit, both concern and pride bubbling in your chest. Your entire body was numb and tingly and your heart was damn near about to burst out of your chest.

It was hard to tell if Sam felt successful or not — a frown was etched onto his face and his eyes held a level of intensity that you rarely saw in him. You knew the whole John Walker situation had been difficult for him to deal with, but that really only made this moment that much sweeter.

He spoke to them for a couple of moments, asking a few questions about their future plans, before you could tell that he was about to snap. You couldn’t know what he had just been through, but you knew that he didn’t classify Karli as a villain. That she was just someone who got the shit end of the stick in a world that was struggling to reform. He didn’t want to kill her, he wanted to save her.

“You have to stop calling them terrorists,” Sam finally said, shaking his head a bit before facing the man across from him.

“Well, what else would we call them?” he asked, clearly unimpressed at the fact that he was currently being told off on camera. He started defending himself, but Sam quipped back. He had always been so well-spoken and intelligent, and that clearly wasn’t changing now that he was Captain America.

You slowly sat back down as you listened to Sam speak. You had always known him to be inspiring, caring, loyal, and strong. But now the world was going to see that too, and you couldn’t be more proud. Once again, you began to absentmindedly play with the ring upon your finger, twirling it and fighting a massive grin as you watched your future husband stand up for what he knew was right.

Sarah sat next to you, and neither of you could take your eyes off of the screen. You couldn’t even bring yourself to blink, too worried you might miss something.

“A few people have just as much power as an insane God, or a misguided teenager. The question you have to ask yourself is how you’re going to use it,” Sam’s voice was lower than usual, and there was no hint of amusement on any of his features. It wasn’t often that he was like this, but now that he was representing something bigger, something more, you could already sense the change.

You could feel the corners of your lips curve up into a small smile as you watched him walk away and join another familiar face; Bucky, who nearly looked as proud as you felt. The two of them walked away and the cameras panned back to a building, cutting off the conversation that the Senators were now having. You wished you could hear it so you could recount it to Sam, but at the moment, you were too filled with adrenaline and pride to even remotely focus on anything anyone was saying.

Sam was now officially Cap.

Your Sam Wilson was Captain America.

——

Somehow, Sarah had managed to make her way up to bed and sleep. After seeing what you two had just seen, you weren’t sure how she could even bring herself to relax. Because you on the other hand were extremely worked up — pacing around the living room, sending Sam a text every now and then, munching on any snacks you could find, and waiting anxiously to see if he’d be coming home tonight. Your mind was struggling to come to terms with the events of the last few hours and you weren’t sure what you wanted to do right now.

“Come on, pick up,” you mumbled, holding your phone to your ear as the dial continued to ring, signalling that he hadn’t answered your call. You knew he was probably insanely busy after what he just went through, but you were desperate to just take a minute and talk to him.

You let out a groan when his voicemail message popped up for the seventeenth time that night. He’d probably pick up his phone in about an hour and freak out at the amount of texts and missed calls, but who cares? You just found out your fiancé had become Captain America — you had the right to reach out. And you almost felt bad in advance for the amount of questions you were going to ask when you finally got the chance to speak to him.

The cushion of the couch felt soft as you sat back down, pursing your lips and glancing down at your phone screen on the off chance that Sam had sent a text within the last few seconds. Of course, there was nothing there, as expected.

“Sorry I couldn’t answer sooner.”

You jumped off the couch as a quiet voice spoke up behind you. Instinctively, you grabbed one of the unused wine glasses and launched it in the direction of the voice, but a hand came and snatched it out of the air.

“Sam?” you asked, struggling to keep your voice down and hoping to god that you weren’t about to get attacked, “Is that you?”

He stepped out of the kitchen and into the open room, goggles off and a bright smile on his face. He was still wearing the suit, having probably flown over not that long ago, but he looked a lot more at ease than he had on the television a few hours prior.

“Holy crap,” you exhaled, rushing over to wrap your arms around him. The suit felt unfamiliar under your embrace, but he smelled the same, and his skin was still warm under yours. You had a feeling you might be squeezing a little hard, but he didn’t seem to mind. His own arms wrapped around you, his head resting against yours.

“I saw you on TV and…,” you pulled away and placed your hand against his cheek, “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you win? What happened? And is this what Bucky gave you? It looks really good.”

He chuckled at your rambling, “You think the suit looks good, huh?”

You nearly scoffed at the way he wiggled his eyebrows.

“All of those questions and you choose to respond to just the compliment,” you laughed, bringing your lips to his cheek and placing a quick kiss, refusing to let go of him. A small part of you was worried that if you did end up letting go, he’d have to leave again.

“I’m kidding,” he let out a small chuckle and brought one of his hands up to caress the back of your head, gazing into your eyes, “We can talk about all that tomorrow, I can’t do this tonight. But I do have to say this: I honestly couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

You frowned, furrowing your eyebrows, “That’s not true. You’re an incredible man, Sam. You deserve all of this.”

He nodded, “That’s not what I meant. You know that expression; behind every successful man is a successful woman, or something along those lines? Well, that’s you. You’re the one who has always pushed me to be better. You’re the one who has been there when I’ve failed. The one who was there to help me back onto my feet and keep pushing, keep believing in myself. I may be the one in the suit, but I think you’re the real superhero here.”

You felt a warmth creep up through your body at his words and you had to bite your lower lip to hide the smirk that was threatening to take over.

“I guess that’s why I’m wearing this, huh?” you raised your left hand, twiddling your fingers to show off the ring that sat there.

He leaned forwards, pressing a kiss upon the diamond, and grinned, “That’s exactly why you’re wearing that.”

You were certain that your cheeks would hurt tomorrow due to how much you were smiling, but that was just the effect that Sam had on you. He was alive, he was safe, and he was in your arms. And honestly, you couldn’t ask for much more than that.

“Now, I’m exhausted from kicking ass all night,” he let out an exaggerated sigh, “What do you say we head off to bed? I’m pretty damn happy that I got to come home to you, and all I want to do is go get comfortable with my princess by my side.”

Leaning forward on your tiptoes and pressing a light kiss against his lips, you mumbled, “I strongly support that.”

He removed the wing pack from his shoulders as quietly as possible and sat it on the kitchen table, following you upstairs with his hand linked in yours. His fingers held you tightly and you knew that he was more relieved than ever to be home.

Finally, you’d be able to sleep well, knowing Sam was safe and sound by your side.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

hooray for open ask box! how about Martyn, or Etho, or Ren seeing Skizz’s ghost on the altar?

hell yeah i love writing about Skizz, even in death :D

cw blood, dead body

…

Less than a day after Skizz’s abrupt death, Martyn returns to the crastle alone, with a sombre mission. His stomach drops when he sees Skizz’s body hanging upside down over the ramparts, exactly where it fell the moment Skizz died. It’s horrifying to see the blood still dripping down the walls of the crastle, the gaping wound in his chest clearly visible.

An arrow shoots into the ground at his feet just in front of the drawbridge, causing him to stop.

“What business do you have here, Red Army scum?” snarls Bdubs’s voice.

Martyn carefully lays his sword and shield on the ground, before standing back up with his hands raised to show he’s no longer armed. “I come in peace and I come alone.”

A pause follows this.

Martyn looks up and finds Bdubs’s face just visible through a slit window. Another face can be seen through the slit window just to the left but this one is less visible, so Martyn can’t identify who it is. He suspects it might be Impulse.

“What do you want?” Bdubs demands, though his voice is less hostile than before.

“All I want is to retrieve Skizzle’s body so we can bury him.”

Another pause.

This time, a different voice comes from the castle: “His body stays here.”

“Scott-,” Martyn begins.

“No, I’m not budging.” Scott’s voice is full of grief and anger. “He killed my husband and my friend. I want his body displayed exactly where it is. You’re lucky Grian and Bdubs talked me out of slicing his head off and displaying it on a stake.”

Nausea rises in Martyn’s throat at the grisly image. “Please,” he says, almost begging. “He died in battle just like Timmy and Cleo; he deserves a proper burial. We… We need to say goodbye to him.”

“Do it here,” Scott snarls, “cuz I’m not budging.”

Bdubs’s face disappears from the slit window, but his voice is still just about audible to Martyn on the ground. “Scott, I think we should give them Skizz’s body.”

“What?!” Scott’s voice snaps back. “Why would you even consider that?! Don’t you care that he murdered your best friend?!”

“Yes, but I’m not thinking of Skizz,” responds Bdubs. “I’m thinking of Cleo. She’s been avenged already, Scott. Jimmy’s been avenged. Do you really think either of them would want us to deny him being laid to rest, despite everything he did? What’s the purpose of that? Skizz is dead, Scott, and seeing his body on display is only going to remind us of our losses every time we look at it. In order to start healing, you gotta let go of your anger.”

Bdubs’s voice cracks and he says something else that Martyn can’t quite hear.

Martyn waits anxiously, wondering what will happen. He’s half expecting Scott to just shoot him there and then, or at the very least destroy Skizz’s body out of bitterness and anger.

But eventually, the door to the crastle opens and Bdubs appears, holding a crossbow at his side. “You can come in and get it,” he says. “Tango will help you take it back to Dogwarts.”

Martyn lets out a quiet sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

As he crosses the drawbridge, Bdubs gives him an odd look. “You’re really okay with walking into the enemy base on your own with no weapons? What if this was a trap and we just killed you right here?”

“I did consider that possibility,” Martyn admits. “But I decided that my mission is more important.”

Bdubs nods slowly. “Okay. Fair enough.”

Martyn follows Bdubs up to the first floor, where Tango is already starting to pull Skizz’s body inside. Now that he’s closer, Martyn can see that Skizz’s eyes are still open, so he kneels beside his body and gently closes them.

“We can use one of the coffins outside to transport him,” says Tango, his voice low and serious. “And you can keep it to bury him in.”

“Thank you,” says Martyn. “After we bury him, you’re welcome to visit his grave whenever you wish.”

“What about me?” Impulse asks quietly, standing on the upper staircase.

Martyn turns and looks him dead in the eye. “Like I said. Tango, you’re welcome to visit anytime.”

Impulse blanches as Tango nods gratefully.

…

It takes the two of them less than ten minutes to carry the coffin to Dogwarts. As they get close to its walls, Etho and Ren dash out to meet them.

Etho takes the burden from Tango, who steps aside to a safe distance, keeping a wary eye on Ren.

“Thank you for returning Skizzle to us,” Ren says, all hints of his former fake accent and overly dramatic tone gone.

“Of course. I hated seeing him left up there like that.”

“I know you can’t give anything away but can I just ask… how’s… how’s Impulse?” Etho asks hesitantly.

Tango briefly makes eye contact with him but has to look away. “I wouldn’t hold out any hope that he can be saved if I were you. He wasn’t just there when Skizz died; he watched him die and did nothing to help or comfort him. There’s no coming back from that.”

“Oh my god…” Ren breathes out, suppressing a shudder. “How did this happen, Tango? What turned him into such a monster?”

“Trust me, Ren…” Tango turns to face Ren, a sombre expression on his face. “...I wish I knew. Anyway, I’m gonna head back now. Give him a good sendoff.”

“We will,” promises Ren. “Thank you.”

Etho and Martyn carry the coffin into Dogwarts and to the site that they have already picked and prepared for the burial. All three of them lower the coffin into the freshly dug grave and then kneel down beside it: Etho to the left, Martyn to the right, and Ren directly in front.

“Today, we celebrate the life of our good friend and loyal ally Skizzleman,” Ren begins. “Right from the start, even before he fought for us in battle, he proved himself a dedicated friend to Renchanting. He provided me with shelter when I was nothing but a lowly travelling merchant. His leather made the book that created the first enchantment table we ever used. And his cobblestone helped build the walls of Dogwarts that still stand to this day. He took care of us, he fought for us, he killed for us, and in the end, he died for us.” He addresses the coffin directly. “Thank you, Skizzle. For everything.”

He clears his throat. “Does- Does anyone else have anything they want to say?”

Etho nods and gently tosses the allium he’s holding onto the coffin. “Nothing special, just… Thank you, Skizz. For always being there for me.”

“I have some things to say,” says Martyn quietly. “I honestly didn’t think much of Skizz at first. I thought he was a nice guy but not someone I could see myself even being friends with. But he became so much more than that. We shared the same drive, the same passion and commitment to our convictions. When the two of us were out there fighting, it was like we’d known each other for years. But most importantly, he would always put his life before others, even mine, and even after he turned red. He was fun to be around and he always made me laugh.” His voice cracks. “I’ll miss you, Skizz.”

Twirling the tulip he brought from outside, he drops it into the grave, on top of Etho’s allium.

Ren wordlessly starts to scoop dirt over the coffin, and Etho and Martyn join him. Finally, once the coffin is properly covered, Ren plants his flower - a poppy salvaged from Skizz’s destroyed home, over the top of it and sits back.

After a moment, he starts to sing softly: “Fill to me the parting glass, and drink a health whate'er befalls. And gently rise and softly call: good night and joy be to you all. But since it fell unto my lot, that I should rise and you should not, I gently rise and softly call: good night and joy be to you all.” (this song is The Parting Glass, sung by The High Kings)

This breaks the dam. Martyn hurriedly rises to his feet and flees towards the altar, tears falling freely from his eyes. He drops to his hands and knees in the centre of the stone platform, hanging his head and crying openly.

He hasn’t cried like this in a very VERY long time. It’s just so unfair to him that Skizz, one of the kindest people he knows, is gone so soon from the server. There’s so much he wishes he could have said back there. How he blames himself for not stopping Skizz from charging in there, how much he dreams of slaughtering Grian for taking Skizz away from them, how he wishes it was him who died instead. But he couldn’t manage it.

A chill suddenly runs down his spine, causing him to involuntarily look up.

His heart skips a beat.

Standing a few blocks away on the altar is the ghostly image of Skizzleman, back to normal except for a slight magenta tinge to him. He’s smiling kindly down at Martyn, his eyes sparking with a kind of energy that he hasn’t had for a long time.

He holds out his hand to Martyn, who hesitantly reaches for it. Despite not being able to touch it, something helps Martyn to his feet, some kind of invisible energy.

Martyn gazes into Skizz’s face and manages a smile. “Goodbye, Skizz,” he whispers. “Good luck.”

The words “you too” echo in Martyn’s ears, not spoken by anything of this world.

“Martyn,” calls Ren’s voice. “Are you coming?”

Martyn automatically turns to look at Ren. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

When he looks back, he’s alone on the altar.

[sequinsmile-x]

From The Heart

They had been on the brink of something, something they both thought could have been extraordinary, before the skeletons came out of her closet and tore it all apart.

Chapter 1 

Words: 3.4k

Warnings: Mature, some smut

Read on A03 via this link, or under the cut

The apartment was small and nondescript. Tucked away down a Parisian street most people wouldn’t look twice at. It had never felt like home to her. Still unfamiliar to her seven months down the line as she frantically packs a small bag, JJ’s words echoing around her head. She packs just the basics, hoping beyond anything that this is it. That she is going home for good. She doesn’t think much of it as she leaves the apartment for the final time, knowing that even if they fail, if they can’t stop Ian and she has to go back into hiding, she won’t be coming back here. She pushes the keys back through the letterbox and takes a deep breath as she walks away, shedding her anonymity as she goes.

Emily Prentiss was coming back from the dead. _____________

As soon as she lands in the US she feels anxious. The fear she had felt in the lead up to her showdown with Ian scratching back up her spine. The tightness in her chest that had never gone away tightening around her heart, making it feel like it was in a vice. Her lungs cramped, her chest feeling like it was too full of fear for her to take in a deep breath. It felt like everyone was watching her, like they all knew who she was. Like they knew what she had done.

The driver whose job it is to take her to Quantico asks her if she is ok. He meets her with a fake name written on some card, the same name that had been on the passport she had travelled with. Emily nods and says she is fine, lets him take her small suitcase and smiles when he jokes that she is travelling light. She’s distracted, her mind on seeing the team. She wants to see them desperately, see the people she considered her family before her life fell to pieces around her.

She thinks of Aaron and it makes her ache. The memory of how close they came to being something had haunted her for so long. They had gone on exactly two dates before Ian Doyle tore through everything, leaving her life, and the lives of those she loved, in tatters.

Their first date was an accident. The rest of the team had gone to their rooms leaving them alone, and Emily suggested they went for dinner, neither of them tired enough to sleep yet. They found a diner not too far from their hotel and settled there, both ordering an almost absurd amount of food they could never finish, as if they wanted an excuse to stay for longer than necessary. Their conversation flowed easily as they ate, the waitress pouring them more coffee as the night went on, her wry smile at their slightly shy behaviour obvious to them both.

The feelings for him she had always pushed down simmered a little too close to the surface. They talked about Jack and Sergio mixed in with stories from their childhoods, and they seemed to realise at the same time how much they were enjoying themselves. The thing that had always remained unsaid between them shining bright, both of them wanting it to ignite.

Aaron kissed her cheek at her hotel room door. As he pulled away she grabbed his chin, stopped him from going any further as she pressed her lips briefly to his just so she knew what it felt like. Something in her had shifted in that moment, the feel of his lips, softer than she’d imagined, making her feel something that felt absurd given how quick it had been. She dreamt about him that night.

He must have felt it too, because their second date wasn’t an accident. He’d called her, his voice uncharacteristically nervous as he asked her to dinner again. He didn’t take her to a fancy restaurant, well aware of her distaste of small plates and overly expensive food, but to a place he liked to take Jack to. The wait staff knew him, and asked him about his son, and Emily remembered the warmth that had spread through her body at the idea that he would take her somewhere that was usually just for him and Jack.

That night she learnt she could fluster Aaron. The usually stoic unit chief stumbled over his words as she placed her hand a little too high on his thigh, his eyes drawn to her lips most of the evening as she told him things he didn’t know about her.

He had insisted on walking her to her apartment, despite it being in the opposite direction to his own home, and he kissed her. Properly this time, leaving her breathless against her apartment door with the promise of a third date.

Then Sean Macallister called, and nothing was the same, and Emily had been left wishing she had insisted he come up to her apartment that night. That she’d had one night with him, something she could have clung onto in the months that followed.

She had pulled away immediately. Suddenly rebuffing any attempts he made to get her alone, to talk to her about whatever was going on. Emily knew if anyone was able to pull it from her, to make her admit to her demons that were now chasing them all, it would have been him.

Aaron had told her once, just before she had walked away from the team, that it was ok if she had changed her mind. If there was something about him that she didn’t want that he would let it slight, and he wouldn’t let it affect their friendship.

It almost broke her. The promise that it wasn’t him on the tip of her tongue before she swallowed it back. His safety was more important to her than anything else. Even how he felt about her.

Emily had a vague memory of Aaron visiting her in Bethesda. The feel of his hand in hers, his lips pressed against her forehead. Whispered promises against her skin that he would bring her home, that Ian would pay for what he had done to her. That he would take her on that third date. _____________________

The thought of the promised third date had kept her going in Paris. The notion that after everything, all that he had learned about her and what she had done, he had still wanted her. Emily had thought about all of the team often in the long lonely days of her isolation from the world, but none of them more than him. She wondered how he was doing. Knowing that the burden of making the decision to fake her death would weigh heavily on him.

She wondered what he had told Jack, his sweet little boy, who she loved more than she thought she should. Emily had many sleepless nights wondering if Jack thought she was dead too.

When sleep found her she dreamt of Aaron often. Something that she once thought was when turning into an if only as the months dragged on.

When she sees him for the first time she realises her dreams hadn’t done him justice. _____________________

Emily puts all of her own thoughts aside as soon as she enters the conference room. She bears the feelings of the team, takes in their shock and their emotions and holds it in her chest. She feels like she deserves it. Derek’s words as she lay dying on the floor of a warehouse had run on a loop in her head for months. Penelope’s voicemail was a curse as she tried and failed to find sleep.

Aaron’s visit to her in the hospital was vague to her. A memory she wasn’t always sure was real. She stays to talk to him, her bravery now Ian was dead taking her by surprise.

As soon as she’s standing opposite Aaron in his office, the Senate Committee done and behind them, she feels unsure. She wonders if too much time has passed, if too many things have happened. If her harsh words towards him in the wake of Ian’s return, her fear pushing him away rather than letting her pull him closer like she truly wanted, had damaged the tentative start to a relationship that they could have had.

Aaron grabs her hand, his thumb running over her wrist. “Do you want to get out of here?” He clears his throat. “Go to mine and talk?”

Emily smiles at him and nods, grateful that this might be the one thing Ian Doyle hadn’t taken from her. _____________________

Aaron looks at her in a way she isn’t sure she deserves. Like she's made of something precious. He guides her into his apartment with his hand on her lower back. Emily can feel the heat of his skin through her shirt and it makes her close her eyes and take in a deep breath.

“Do you want a drink?” He asks, his voice soft as if he worries she will bolt at any second.

Emily smiles at him as he puts down his briefcase, she watches as he neatly puts his keys on the hook by the door and sets the alarm. A routine that she is glad to be privy to.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” She grasps her hand in front of herself, trying to stop herself from digging at the skin around her thumbnails.

He brings them both over a glass of wine each and encourages her to sit on the couch. She takes in how tidy the apartment is, how it looks like no one has lived in it in weeks.

“Where’s Jack?” She asks, not missing how he stiffens slightly.

“He’s away with Jessica and her parents.” He answers, taking a sip of his wine before setting his glass down. “I had to come back so quickly there wasn’t time for them to change their plans.”

It hurts, a burning in her chest that tells her she had caused this. That she had driven him away from his son, from his home to a country on the other side of the world. She wants to ask there and then what Jack knows, if he thinks she is dead, but she doesn’t think she can bear it yet.

“I’m sorry, Aaron.” She says, her smile trembling as she looks at him. “I messed everything up.”

“You could have come to me, Emily.” Aaron replies, his eyes as hard as she’d seen them since she walked into the conference room. “I would have helped.”

“He would have killed you.” She answers, as sure now as she was then. Time had done nothing to change her mind about her decision making. “He would have killed all of you.”

“Em-”

“Clyde said you threatened him.” She interrupts, changing the subject. She didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say, the self sacrificing tendencies she knew would have cost him his life. “He wasn’t impressed.” She smiles at him, and it doesn’t quite reach her eyes but he returns it.

“Well.” Aaron says, averting his gaze from hers. “I meant it.” He clears his throat and places his glass of wine down on the coffee table. “I would have done anything to keep you safe.”

“I know you would have.” She replies, placing her own wine glass down. She leans forward and hugs him before she can think better of it, her body relaxing as he wraps his arms around her. “I am sorry.”

“I know you are.” Aaron says, turning his head to press a kiss to her cheek. It reminds her of that first date, back when everything was simple and Ian Doyle was a name she’d thought she would never have to say out loud again. A secret she could have taken to her grave.

Emily pulls back and looks at him, cupping his cheek before she can stop herself. Emily kisses him, the desperate need to know if it was like she’d remembered, if it was like she’d dreamt about all those months she was away. It was somehow better.

She feels his hand drift under her shirt, having somehow untucked it from her skirt. His skin scalds hers, his palm spanning almost her entire back. She pulls back from him and runs her thumb over his bottom lip. She avoids eye contact with him, whispering the fear that had put her heart in a vice since the moment his apartment door closed behind them. “I don’t know if I can be what you want me to be.”

It’s the most honest thing she has said to him, her fear that he wants more than she can give briefly overrides her desire. Aaron hooks a finger under her chin and tilts her head to make her look at him.

“I’ll take whatever you can give.”

She stares at him, seeing all of her options laid out in front of her. She could walk away now and she knows he wouldn’t hold it against her, that on some level he understands that this is as bad of an idea as she does.

Emily doesn’t want to walk away . She wants this, she wants him. More than she thinks she has ever wanted anything. She lets herself have it, have him. Needing to prove to herself that Ian didn’t steal everything like she had told herself he had on cold lonely nights in Paris. That, despite it all, she still had Aaron.

She doesn’t say anything else. Her answer is to kiss him fiercely, licking the inside of his mouth before he can question her, before he can be the voice of reason in this. He responds in kind, his hands squeezing tightly against her skin in a way she knows will leave marks in the morning.

Emily pushes his jacket off of his shoulders, and it lands on his couch behind him, discarded for him to find creased in the morning. He pulls her closer, hands wandering over clothes and bare skin. Her skirt rises up and allows her to throw a leg over his lap, both of them moaning as she sits on him.

Aaron suddenly pulls back from her, his hands cupping her cheeks to hold her in place when she desperately tries to kiss him again, not wanting her brain to have the chance to kick in.

“Emily.” He says, desperation in his tone she doesn’t recognise. He rests his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as he tries to be the rational one. “Are you sure?”

She licks her lips, heaves in a breath.

“Yes.” She kisses him gently, the softest one they have exchanged since she kissed him for the first time outside her hotel room close to a year ago. “I’m sure.”

He stares at her, as if he is trying to figure out if this is the right thing for them. She doesn’t give him the chance to apply logic to it. She surges forward and kisses him again, her hands around the back of his neck, holding him to her. He breaks away from her long enough to encourage her to stand. He gets them to his bedroom, his tie goes missing along the way when he stops them to push her against the wall, his mouth against her neck and the top of her collarbone as she undoes the top few buttons of his shirt.

Emily tenses when he goes to lift her shirt, the reality of what he was about to see breaking through. The first person except for her and her doctors to see the scars she was only just used to. Aaron senses her hesitation, rests his forehead against hers.

“Em.” He breathes out, his hand against the bare skin of her back. “It’s ok.” He kisses her, the tenderness behind it enough to make her want to cry. “You’re beautiful.” He kisses her again. “You always have been. You always will be.”

He presses his lips to her neck and she’s lost, the feeling of what he was doing to her body outweighing any feelings of self doubt. He removes his shirt first, gently undoing the buttons she hadn’t and revealing the silver scars across his skin. Emily can’t help herself as she trails her fingers over them, her lips against the one at the top of his chest.

He shivers, and she knows she is the first to have seen him like this. That she is the first person who has seen the scars left behind by the man who tried to take everything from him. She had seen them once before, when he was still unconscious in the hospital, his vitals dipping as the doctors tried to save his life. She hadn’t understood the growing feelings she’d had for him then. Or she had at least ignored them, resolute to stuff them back into the box that they had escaped from.

Aaron pauses, his hands gripping her a little tighter. He opens his mouth to speak, to provide some explanation that she already knows about what she has seen. She raises her hand to his mouth, pressing her fingers to his lips.

“It’s ok.” She says, smiling as she repeats his own words back at him. “All I see is you, not him.”

He smiles at her, kissing her fiercely, only breaking their connection to lift her shirt from her head. Emily sucks in a breath as his finger traces the scar over her breast, the smell of her burning flesh lingering at the edge of her senses as she remembers how Ian had marked her, how the surgeons had only been able to do so much. Aaron kisses her skin, his lips trialing a path down her body until he is dropping to his knees. Pressing affection into the constellation on her abdomen, the skin still pink from where it had healed. There were times when she could still feel the table leg through her, the sharp pain followed by numbness she had felt in that warehouse in Boston.

Now all she felt was Aaron. All she could hear were the words of praise he said against her skin, and something far too close to love settles over her. She pushes it back, not wanting to feel it, and she pulls him upwards, tugging at him until he follows and is towering over her again.

The gentleness ends there. She ends up on the bed, her back pressed against his quilt and her legs spreading for him to settle in. He takes her apart, twice, with his fingers and tongue before he enters her, their fingers linked on the mattress next to her. He presses his forehead to hers as they both come apart together, something that they had both wanted for longer than they would admit culminating in one moment.

It takes them a while for their breathing to even out, for him to shift to lay next to her, pulling her half on top of him as he pulls the quilt over them as their bodies cool.

Emily isn’t sure what to say. She traces her finger over the mark she had sucked onto his chest, and feels him doing the same across her collarbone.

“We should have done that a long time ago.” She says, the tightness in her chest easing when she feels him laugh.

He presses a kiss to the top of her head, and she feels any remaining tension in her melt away as his hand skates up her ribs, pulling her closer to him.

“We should do that again.” He says, tilting her head to kiss her properly. “Although you might have to give me 20 minutes.”

Emily cups his cheek, her thumb running over his jaw line. “I really missed you.”

“I missed you too, Em.”

Aaron drifts to sleep below her, his breathing evening out under her cheek. As the fingers he had been running up and down her spine slow to a stop Emily thinks he might be the only person who truly understood her.

She hopes it’s enough.

[bipercabeth]

I CANT DECIDE BETWEEN "I didn’t mean to get blood on your shirt." OR "Please, just let me carry you." FOR THE PROMPTS YOU PICK :D

(tw injury, blood, and near-death)

One of the first things Camp Half-Blood tried and failed to teach Percy was how to stay calm in a crisis. You are worth nothing to the people you love if you lose your mind trying to save them. 

On one hand, he does succeed. More people will die if Percy leaves the manticore unchallenged at the base of Half-Blood Hill, so he stays. For the kids racing to Thalia’s pine. Nothing else. His heart sits in the grass where Annabeth crumpled after the manticore’s spikes drove up her flesh in a line. Percy is just a body—a machine on autopilot. His humanity has fallen.

Killing the monster is easy after that. Percy thinks of the last time a manticore took Annabeth away, and the anger starts a forest fire inside him, one that could level the Long Island forest. Riptide slices through the manticore’s chest like he’s nothing, which is what he becomes. Dust. Ash. Utterly insignificant. 

The sword falls as Percy rushes to Annabeth’s side. It doesn’t make a sound as it hits the soft earth, just a thump in the grass. It should be ugly, loud, cacophonous. It should echo up the hillside in a metallic cry for help. 

Instead it’s quiet. 

Annabeth’s breathing is low, laborious. The manticore’s poison shouldn’t be enough to kill, but she took multiple hits. Spikes peek out of her left side, poison seeping into her shoulder, side, hip, and calf. It darkens her veins in an eerie spiderweb pattern she would hate. 

All at once, Percy is back on the Williamsburg bridge. There she is at his feet, looking up at him through cloudy eyes and dying. Percy made a promise then: no one touches her. Another bullet point on the long list of promises he couldn’t keep. 

Annabeth’s chest shudders with a raggedy gasp. “Perce?” She asks it like she isn’t sure it’s him. Percy wonders how much pain it takes to plant the seed of doubt that he would be anywhere but at her side right now.

Smoke billows from his lungs instead of a response, thick and choking in the wake of extinguished anger. There is only fear now, and after fear, there is nothing. 

This is the bit Percy can never stomach or sit through no matter how many times Chiron tries to drill it into his head. He sees Annabeth struggling for breath and wonders each time if this is the cruel trick the Fates planned for him all along. Percy never expected to live long, but he always expected Annabeth to live longer. From the moment he learned of the Prophecy, not having to live without her was the one certainty he held close to his chest. 

He fumbles for the emergency ambrosia in his pocket and cups Annabeth’s face, telling her he’s here. They don’t need words for this. She turns into the soft embrace of his palm and sighs, her lungs steady for that single exhale. He slips the ambrosia into her mouth and watches her chew carefully. 

“Tastes like you,” she croaks, gripping his wrist. “Your smile at Montauk.” 

That rallies Percy. Annabeth has kissed enough of his sea-born smiles to recognize the taste. He owes her a lifetime of them. 

“Annabeth. Baby, I’m here. I’m gonna get you safe, alright?” 

Her grip tightens on his wrist. “I love you.” 

Percy has to look away from her then. He can’t watch her say those words like they’re going to be her last. Like she wants them to be her last. 

“I love you too. But tell me that later, yeah? When you’re patched up. Please just let me carry you.” 

One of the newer campers runs over the hill, a son of Apollo who stays year-round. His eyes widen at the scene before him, and Percy wonders if this is going to be his first taste of real grief. 

“Will isn’t here,” the kid squeaks. “He’s gone for the weekend. Our next best healer is...” 

Percy is tired, but not unkind. “Spit it out, kid.” 

“Me.” 

A bit of Percy withers, both for Annabeth and the child shouldering an impossible burden. Percy has no choice but to carry them both. 

Determination solidifies in his bones, fortifying him in the wake of an unbearable weight. He gathers Annabeth in his arms and stands, feeling the burn of loss in his muscles. He is weak in the wake of a life without her. 

His feet carry him, perhaps on autopilot, to the creek running through camp. The son of Apollo senses his urgency and runs to iris message a more capable healer they don’t have time to reach. Annabeth is dying, and the poison waits for no one. Percy can feel her life force drifting away like a tug at the base of his spine. If he loses her, he will spend the rest of his life adrift. 

The cool creek water soaks Percy’s shoes, and he folds. By some miracle, he is steady as he lowers their bodies into the stream, thankful to the shallowness for not allowing him to sink. He holds Annabeth in his lap, lets her head tip back just enough for the stream to color her hair darker. It tugs at her curls like a loving hand. 

This is all Percy has left: a prayer that the water will recognize Annabeth as part of him. She is his life. If the water wants to save him, it will start with her. 

He makes the tough choice and pulls the spikes from her body. She is already dying from the poison. The risk of bleeding out is outweighed by the hope that the water will leech the death from her blood. Hope is all Percy has left. No smoke, no ash. The fire is gone. He is nothing but a body holding his bleeding heart in his hands. 

“I love you,” he chokes out, holding her limp neck in his palm. “I’m here. I’m right here. Stay with me.” 

Percy thinks of his dad watching from above, doomed to outlive everyone he has ever loved. The point of refusing immortality was a life full of love at the cost of length. He thinks of every Montauk kiss, how healing has always tasted like home, and how that somehow because synonymous with Annabeth. If she dies here, healing will taste bitter. He will never be able to eat ambrosia again. He will never want to. 

“You promised.” The current of the creek quickens, painting their clothes a darker color. Annabeth’s blood swirls in the water before disappearing downstream. The ground beneath them begins to shake. “I fought, I burned, and I yielded. For this. For her. Heal her.” 

Poseidon answers. The current reverses, washing over their bodies like a baptism, a rebirth. Annabeth’s veins fade back into her skin and the wounds knit shut. With each passing second, a bit of Percy’s heart returns to his chest. He can feel his fingers again. He can feel. Love and light have not died. 

Annabeth’s chest steadies and she gasps, the life returning to her in one fell swoop. She gasps I love you into Percy’s chest like those are the only words she knows, the only ones she’ll have him hear. He crushes her to him, their shirts sticking from the water, and whispers the same into her shoulder. I love you I love you I love you. 

Their grips don’t loosen. They don’t relax. They just cling to each other, fearful of letting go in the face of another brush with death. This is their life; this is why they hold each other so tightly, even in times of peace. 

“I’m sorry.” Annabeth’s voice is too small, detached. Percy pulls back to look at her and finds her staring at his chest. 

“I didn’t mean to get blood on your shirt.” She frowns. “This is one of my favorite shirts.” 

Percy sees the faraway look in her eyes and puts a finger under her chin, ducking until she locks on him. “Hey, easy. It’ll wash out.” He swallows thickly. “I love you.” It sounds like it’s okay. I love you, and you are still here, so it’s okay. 

Annabeth kisses him, ambrosia still on her lips, and it just tastes like her. 

[winterscaptain]

three’s company.

Aaron Hotchner x Gender Neutral Reader

a/n: and here we are! the final installment of the ajf 100 arc. this takes place right after mosley lane in season five, and from here on i promise we’ll see some happier days :) i can’t thank you all enough for coming on this adventure with me, as hard and fraught as it was. 

an ajf fic arc that happily stands on its own! (the pieces stand alright on their own as well, for the most part!) one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | ten | eleven

words: 1.6k warnings: none!

summary: “let us not burden our remembrances with a heaviness that's gone.” - william shakespeare, the tempest

masterlist | a joyful future masterlist | requests closed!

“You’d never believe it, Hales. The sass on your kid these days is unreal.” A laugh leaves you as you lean forward, resting your elbows on your knees. “He pulled one right out of your book the other day with Aaron when he told him it was time to come in out of the snow...” 

It’s just one of those Saturdays where you needed to talk to her. Not for any particular reason, but just knowing that if this was any other timeline, the two of you would sit out in the breakfast nook in the big house, watching the snow fall and the sun set as the February evening wore on. 

There’s a crunch of snow under day-off boots behind you, but you ignore him and continue talking, just as you would if she were here. 

“We miss you. I think the weirdest thing so far was skipping your Christmas present. Had it all wrapped and everything and then I remembered you wouldn’t be there.” You look up, taking a little breath. “Had a good cry about that one.” 

“It is getting better though, all things considered…” You trail off, not sure what to say. Sharing silence with a headstone is a little less companionable than the alternative. 

It wasn’t a lie, though. The grief didn’t overwhelm you now like it did those first weeks. It sometimes clocked you at the oddest of times, drawing a few tears (or more than a few) or a little smile. 

Sometimes, both. 

You huff a little laugh to yourself. “We had a really good case outcome last week. Found three kids who’d been missing, got them all back to their parents. It was just one of those that reminded us why we do it, you know?”

Aaron sits beside you without a word. 

“And you’d be proud of Aaron, Haley. He’s saddling the rest of us with the paperwork and going home early, most nights. It’s kind of impressive. Though, I know it’ll wear off and he’ll be back on his bullshit soon enough.” 

There’s a snort from beside you, and you finally acknowledge him. 

“Tell me it isn’t true and I’ll take it back,” you say, looking over at him.

He shrugs. “Can’t. But then again, you’d never lie to Haley and you’d never lie to the dead, so we’re two for two, there.”

You smile at him for a moment, gesturing vaguely to the headstone. “We were just catching up.”

“Of course. I thought it would be one of those days.”

“Where’s the kiddo?” You look over your shoulder, halfway expecting Jack to be playing somewhere in the snow. 

“Helping Jess with dinner.” He addresses Haley’s headstone. “Hear that, Hales? Your son is helping with dinner, now.”

You both pause, acknowledging the laughter you know you’d get if she were here. 

Looking over at him, you wryly note, “Yeah, see, Jack might be helping with dinner, but you still aren’t. What’s your excuse?”

“I have been sent to bring you to the apartment for dinner by request of my son and my sister.”

You tut at him with a little smile “Nice to see Jess has been promoted.”

He rolls his eyes. 

+++

The first time the entire team gathers at Dave’s after the New Year is a refreshing return to something that feels halfway normal.

You’ve got Henry in your lap so JJ can actually eat something. He’s messing around with one of the rubik’s-cube-like toys Spencer got him for Christmas. To everyone’s delight, the novelty of them has yet to wear off and they’ve saved the entire Jareau-La Montagne household a couple of meltdowns. 

“How’s he holding up?” JJ asks between bites.

You glance over at Hotch, on the floor with one leg outstretched and the other tucked underneath him. Jack’s holding his attention, explaining some advanced maneuver with his army men. “He’s doing alright. Better every day, I think, but there will always be bad days.” 

She hums. “And Jack?”

You shrug, catching Henry’s toy before it can fall from your lap. “He’s still adjusting, of course, but Jess is doing a great job at keeping up with his routines.” 

“Actually, that’s really all kids need at Jack’s age, other than socialization and physical affection,” Spencer says. “The retention of a consistent routine is key to development after the toddler stages of childhood.” 

You toss a grin over your shoulder. “Thanks, Spence.” 

He shrugs. “It’s just true.” 

JJ huffs a laugh and puts her napkin on the table. You pass Henry back to her, and he’s more than happy to tuck back against her chest. 

Dave, a kitchen towel thrown over his shoulder, takes your plate. You follow him back into the kitchen, turning the water on and starting on the silverware while he tackles the glasses. 

“Everything okay?” He asks. 

Your brow furrows. “Yeah. Why?”

He glances over his shoulder. “Just not used to seeing you so far from Aaron, is all. Fifty feet is quite a far distance for a shadow to cover, don’t you think?” 

With an eye roll: “Give me a break, Rossi.”

He raises his soapy hands as if to surrender, but you know he’s not even close to done. “I’m just sayin.’” He relents after a moment. “There’s only so much the rest of us can do for him.” 

“What do you mean?” You direct your question at the dishes, remaining studiously focused on your task. 

Unlike you, he pauses, turning square to face you. “For a pair of profilers...You know what? It’s not worth it.”

+++

Aaron stamps the snow off his boots and hangs his coat and scarf on the hook by the door, fresh from an afternoon of errands and paperwork at the office. 

Belatedly, he realizes he missed the fort in the living room when he first came through the door. The couch cushions and dining chairs have all been arranged in an elaborate configuration, supporting the duvet stolen from Aaron’s bed and a fair few flat sheets from the hall closet. All the linens are secured with carefully knotted neckties, or pinned together with some spare clothespins you found God-knows-where.  

Creeping forward, he picks up the corner of what he imagines is a door flap by design. 

In the dark of the fort, he finds you and Jack curled together on your sides around the portable DVD player. Jack’s out like a light - his little hand pressed against his cheek where it rests on your arm. You’re awake, waiting for him. 

Aaron finds your eyes. You smile a little and keep your voice at a whisper. “He’s only been sleeping about twenty minutes or so. He wore himself out playing architect, so I figured a quick nap wouldn’t keep him up too late.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Aaron assures you in a whisper with an equally small smile. “I’m just glad he had fun today.” 

“Yeah.” You arc an arm over Jack’s shoulders and brush at the feathered hair on his forehead. Returning your gaze to Aaron, you playfully (and quietly) ask, “Want to join us for another movie, or are you too old for stuff like this?”

He shakes his head, a real, genuine smile on his face. It’s the first one you’ve seen in a while and it warms you beyond measure. 

When he stoops inside, he rests his head on your calf and his hand on his son. You gingerly stretch for another DVD, and Aaron takes over the logistics after you hand it over - replacing the disk, lowering the volume, and starting the next movie. 

In the quiet darkness, you think of Haley. A few tears slip out of the corners of your eyes, landing between your temple and your arm. You don’t dare move for fear of waking Jack, but it’s as if Aaron can read your mind. He lifts his head just so, finding your lashes inexplicably wet in the light from the screen. 

Your eyes flicker down to his and your close-lipped smile is shaky. 

His eyes narrow. What’s wrong? 

Nothing. You shake your head just a little. I just miss her. 

You watch the inside of his lip pinch between his teeth as his mouth presses into a thin line. 

A trembling breath leaves you as you refocus on the screen, your fingers playing with the hem of Jack’s sleeve as he sleeps. 

Aaron watches you for a moment. He thinks perhaps you are the only person alive who understood what was between him and Haley - the love, the tiffs, the history. Somehow, you managed to see right through them, right through him, right through her, to the heart of it. 

He’s sure you love his son like your own. He remembers the desperate way you held his son when you found him in that trunk. It was that day - when he saw the panic flash across your face when you realized you hadn’t seen Jack, hadn’t found him - he realized that you’d kill, risk life and limb, drop everything, for Jack. 

That day tested you as well. If you thought too long about it, you could still taste the metallic tang of anger in the back of your mouth when you thought about Foyet getting his hands on Jack. It was that overwhelming flood of emotion that brought you to the same conclusion. 

Now, the secure weight of Jack in your arms lulls you into a kind of bone-deep peace. 

You let your eyes close, falling into the sheer comfort of the moment. After a few minutes, Aaron follows suit.

+++

tagging: @arganfics @quillvine @stxrryspencer @agenthotchner @hurricanejjareau @ughitsbaby @rousethemouse @criminalsmarts @shrimpyblog @genevievedarcygranger @ssaic-jareau @good-heavens-chris-evans @davidrossi-ismydad @angelsbabey @writefasttalkevenfaster @venusbarnes @hotchsflower @ogmilkis @marvels-agents100 @hotchslatte @risenfox @mrs-dr-reid @captain-christopher-pike @dwellingsofrosie @pan-pride-12 @sunshine-em @word-scribbless @jdougl-love @sageellsworth05 @dreila03 @forgottenword @aaronhotchnerr @ssa-morgan @buckybau @sana-li @tegggeeee @abschaffer2 @ssacandice-ray @ellyhotchner @lotties-journey-abroad @mrs-joel-pimentel-23-25 @laneygthememequeen @violentvulgarvolatile  @mooneylupinblack @ssareidbby @violet-amxthyst @bwbatta @roses-and-grasses @lcvischmitt @capricorngf @missdowntonabbey @averyhotchner @mandylove1000 @cevanswhre @qvid-pro-qvo @jeor @spencers-hoodrat @infinity1321 @zizzlekwum @popped-weasels @evee87 @nuvoleincielo @this-broken-band-girl @reidtomestyles @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @winqhster @spencerelds @the-falling-in-the-danger @nattylite49 @crazyshannonigans @softbibxtch @iconicc

[slutsofren]

Danger Days Chapter 8: Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back

summary: finding shelter in an abandoned home, you try to keep your wits about you and care for the still unconscious Joel until some trouble comes knocking

word count: 3,792

content warnings: mention of gore and impromptu medical care, more canon-typical violence, death, murder, arrival of.... cannibals, y'know the deal hurt/comfort

notes: i didn't mention it last time but yeah, your shit really can kill you if you get your lower intestines punctured lol it's a real thing and gnarly af

read on ao3 / masterlist

You woke up in a start. Heavy breaths taking hold in your lungs. The small, barely considerable amounts of sleep were getting to you as they had been for the last month as more and more night terrors racked your brain. Rubbing at your eyes, you pushed yourself up to begin your usual routine.

It had been a couple weeks since your little group found yet another abandoned home and it took some hell of maneuvering to get Joel into the basement but it worked. The winter snow was coming in full force and it was peritive you all kept Joel as warm as possible, there were too many odds stacked against him.

Walking over to his prone body, you checked on his wounds once more as you did practically every couple of hours. He was looking worse for wear, even changing out the gauze could only do so much. Whatever small amounts of clean water the three of you had went to cleaning it out, hoping to stave off the infection.

Joel was, by all means, not doing well.

To top it off, even with your meager amount of medic training from your days with FEDRA could never prepare you for the long-term haul you were in with Joel, he was dying. The bastard was dying and you couldn’t help but feel it was your fault.

Night after night you were haunted by the image of him falling off that balcony, the sounds of his groans of pain still lingered in your head even when you were awake. It fucking sucked.

He was asleep now, he barely woke up since everything went to shit at the university then at the mall. That in and of itself felt like a lifetime ago. You put a hand against his forehead, feeling how his fever still hadn’t broken. With the chill in the air as winter was fully settling in making your fingers cold as ice, he didn’t even flinch away. You closed your eyes and sighed, still not wanting to give up. Not for Ellie, not for Tommy, not even for the grumpy man himself.

A quick glance out the small basement window told you it was nearing dusk which startled you. Ellie had left when the sun was at its peak, sometime around noon, surely. She had been gone much much longer than she normally would have.

Usually it was you who left to go hunting for food once your supplies dwindled but Ellie wanted to help relieve the burden from your shoulders and you reluctantly agreed. Yo hated to admit you needed a break. She had argued she wanted to get better with her bow and arrow and she certainly did, often bringing back animals of various sizes. It was her way of coping with potentially losing Joel, something she confided in you that was one of her biggest fears.

Thoughts of Ellie swirled your mind and you paced back and forth, chewing at your fingernails. A nasty habit you suppressed most days. A part of you wanted to go find the girl, follow Callus’ tracks in the snow. Another part of you didn’t want to leave Joel by himself.

Fuck, you thought.

Compartmentalizing you figured if she didn’t return within an hour, you’d go looking for her. If you couldn’t locate her within a mile radius, a strict rule you enforced her limited hunting zone to, you’d hunker down with Joel and wait until morning to find her and scold her for being irresponsible.

You stopped your pacing to look at Joel’s face, seeing how his face was still warped in the painful scowl he hadn’t let go of. His features were beginning to slowly become gaunt as the small amounts of food you’d been able to get him to eat the rare times a day he’d wake were coming far and few in between. Even his usual tan skin was slowly softening to a cooler shade of bronze. He looked like death.

Joel, by all means, was a handsome cowboy. Even with his patchy beard that was littered with grey hair in a few spots. Now he just looked like a ghost of himself.

Okay, fine, you admit to yourself. With Joel down, you’ve kind of missed the fool. You missed the banter and arguing with him about stupid shit. He irritated the daylights out of you because he always wanted to jump headfirst into things without a care for his safety clearly but dammit, the lack of his presence was palpable. You hated it.

You sat beside Joel, removing one of his hands from under the blanket to hold. His hands still rough and calloused, mirrors of yours if you weren’t missing a finger. Once upon a time, you remembered hearing that coma patients could sometimes hear what people said to them, that it helped. Maybe talking to him now would help not just him but you as well, to keep your mind occupied. Maybe pass the time a little. Maybe.

“Hey, it’s me, you grumpy bastard,” you started off lightly. “I don’t know if you can tell but you’ve been puttin’ that girl and I through hell and back trying to keep your ass alive.”

A hollow laugh escapes you, feeling a little more choked up than you’d ever dare to admit. Composing yourself you tried to use playful banter. “How do you do it, cowboy? Ellie is a goddamned handful. Shit, I thought I was bad when I was a teenager,” you sniff, feeling your voice waver.

“When I first laid eyes on you two, I think it would have saved me a whole lotta trouble and pain if Maria let me shoot you,” you sigh dramatically. Even though there was a smile on your lips, it didn’t reach your eyes. What did were the tears that were slowly forming. The added stress of Ellie being missing was really wearing you thin.

Amongst other things.

“Y’know,” you sniffled, “you really hurt my feelings back at the university. When you thought I led the two of you into a trap.” You took a sharp inhale. “As much shit as you and I put each other through, that was the one thing that stung. More than anything.”

You squeezed his hand and sighed, closing your eyes. Admitting that was hard, stars know you’d never say that to Joel while he was conscious nor in front of Ellie.

“Don’t die, you asshole,” you begged softly, wiping away the light tears that coated your lashes, reluctantly letting go of Joel’s hand as you tucked the blanket around him tightly.

After you said your piece, your mind became overrun with the little turd you grew fond of. The more you began to worry about Ellie, the more your thoughts swirled rapidly into worst case scenarios.

Before you worked yourself into a much deeper frenzy, a loud metallic bang echoed from upstairs. You ran up the steps and came face to face with Ellie, looking just as frantic. She raised her hand and in it, a tied white rabbit, so white it was nearly silver in the dim lighting. “I got food,” she said breathlessly.

“And,” she shoved you aside and took off to the basement, “I got this. Can it help?”

Ellie reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe and orange bottle, she handed it to you while kneeling next to Joel as he shifted in his sleep. You were still rather shocked to see Ellie who looked faintly bloodied and tired, before you could comment on the new rifle on her shoulder, you took the bottle and were damn near milliseconds from riding into her until you read the faded label of the glass container.

Penicillin.

“Where the fuck did you get this, Ellie?”

Without waiting for her to answer, you dug in your pack and pulled out some disinfectant alcohol and a gauze pad to clean the syringe and a spot on Joel’s arm. Ellie refused to look up from where she kept her gaze focused on Joel’s face, “‘s not important.”

“If I wasn’t so mad at you right now, I’d kiss you.”

Throwing away all the questions you had for her, you administered the antibiotic as quickly as you could, he sighed as the medicine entered his body. Although, it was likely you were giving him too much, truthfully, you didn’t think it would hurt him worse than he already was.

As he relaxed underneath your hands, you looked down at his wound one last time for the evening. The haphazard stitches were taut on his stomach where the swelling was, hopefully by morning, he’d be better.

You didn’t look up from Joel as you laid into Ellie, “I don’t want excuses about where you were, only that you promise me to be more careful in the future, please.”

“Ye- yeah, I promise.”

“Good,” you covered Joel back up, “Now go get some rest. I’ll take care of the rabbit and wake you when it’s done.”

You turned your back to Ellie, it wasn’t that you wanted her to feel bad for her little disappearing act. You just needed some space to gather your thoughts. Between being Joel’s caretaker, Ellie’s temporary guardian, and keeping yourself sane, you were a wreck. You needed a moment.

Before you took a step on the stairs you paused. “Good work on getting the medicine, kiddo. Joel would be proud of you too.”

She didn’t respond as you walked away, the implication that although you were upset with her, you were still proud lingered in the air. Mindlessly, you focused on the rabbit, doing what needs to be done to cook it for dinner, pushing away those lingering worries. Ellie was safe, you reminded yourself, she came back.

It didn’t take you long to finish with your meager dinner, still pretty damn proud of Ellie’s evolving hunting skills. Maybe you’d offer to teach her a couple snares in the morning to leave out overnight. Although they tended not to gain anything bigger than a rabbit or a squirrel, something was better than nothing and you’d figure it would help Ellie focus on something other than Joel’s condition.

You bounded down the stairs, bringing the freshly cooked meat with you. A small shake to her shoulder and she was awake, “Dinner’s ready.”

Ellie didn’t bring her gaze up to look you in the eye, likely still ashamed. The two of you still sat in silence eating, occasionally looking to Joel for any changes or whenever he shifted in his sleep.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice sounding small.

“I know, Ellie. I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I was just worried.”

Once again, the silence encompassed you both like a blanket, warmer now than it was before. You broke it first, “I was thinking about teaching you a couple snares in the morning. How does that sound?”

Ellie wiped the grease from her fingers on her jeans and looked up, “I think I’d like that.”

Just like that, the two of you were on even footing. It didn’t feel right to be mad at each other, not when Joel wasn’t there to diffuse. Either way, it was much like when you were the one in between their own fight that day you’d met them, it wasn’t healthy when you all had to rely on each other for survival. At least with Ellie, she was quick to forgive and forget in the face of the larger picture. A quality you kind of admired in the young woman.

Both of you finished with your portions of the meat, saving the rest for the morning or for Joel if he wakes in the night. Simultaneously you shuffled through the remaining ammo together, doling out some spare bullets to Ellie for her shiny new rifle, still not going to ask how she acquired it. Let her have her space.

She took the bullets graciously, reloading her sidearm and long range weapons and placing them in her backpack before getting ready for sleep. You stayed fiddling with your own weapons for a few moments longer before calling it quits too.

You laid down on the opposite side of Joel, biting your lip and hoping for the best. You tossed and turned, not knowing if you could take facing Joel’s sickly frame but you also couldn’t turn your back on him and Ellie who laid on her backpack on his other side.

Please, you wished, let the medicine take.

These kinds of wishes filled your mind until you slowly drifted to a fitful night’s sleep.

By morning, you happened to find yourself shaken awake with Ellie’s face close to yours, “Wake up, I need you awake!”

You jumped up, onto your knees. “What is it,” you ask startled, afraid Joel was worse than he was when you fell asleep. Looking at Joel, he didn’t look like he deteriorated in the night, but he also didn’t look like he improved any.

“I was tracked,” she says as if that explains anything. Both of you have your hands on each other's arms in a failed attempt at communicating the other’s panic.

“What do you mean ‘tracked’, Ellie?”

“Those people I got the medicine from, David and-and James, they fucking tracked me!”

“Ellie, what the fu-.”

“Look, listen, I’m gonna draw them away. Keep an eye on Joel,” she tells you in a rush, letting go of you and bolting up the stairs, grabbing her backpack on the way out.

“Fuck,” you practically shout while getting up and looking out the window. Outside you see silhouettes of a few men, searching the nearby area. Frustrated, you kick the washing machine.

Shit, shit, shit.

You don’t know what to do, you feel tied down once again because of Joel’s condition and Ellie’s neverending saviour complex. You mumble out a few more expletives at this situation just as you see the girl bound down the street on Callus shouting for the intruder’s attention. As she rides away, you hear bullets being shot at her, getting further and further away from you.

You carelessly threw your denim coat on and opted to grab your knives instead of guns, hoping to kill anybody who came close without alerting the others. Out the basement window, you could see a few of the men still lurking about, choosing not to follow Ellie.

Just before you followed Ellie out of the house, you doubled back to Joel, kneeling forward and giving him a kiss on the forehead. “We’ll come back, I promise you Joel. Just please, don’t die on me now.” Another kiss on his warm skin and you left without stopping, barricading the basement door as if it was left unoccupied.

Everything in you wanted to panic, your muscles were screaming to fold in on yourself and heave what little food remained in your stomach but you couldn’t give in. Not when Ellie was in danger. She may have been a pain in the ass, but she was your pain in the ass.

After your conversation last night, you’d be damned if anybody hurts your girl.

Taking a deep breath, you shook your worries free and cleared your mind. Although you were a field medic by title with FEDRA back in the day, working with them turned you into a killer. It was a toxic mindset for you, even when you had joined the Fireflies, they took advantage of your ability to focus on one thing and one thing only, turning it into their own game - death.

It took years to shake off that blank emotionless part of you, even Tommy was afraid of it when he saw the horrendous things you were capable of, what the Fireflies exploited from you, but Tommy wasn’t here and the people you loved were hanging on by a thread.

It was easy to see the outlines of the few straggling men who searched the nearby homes, whatever Ellie did really pissed them off. Now, these people only pissed you off.

You stayed lurking within the shadows of the homes, even with the sun just getting ready to set, it wasn’t too difficult to stay hidden. Especially to those who weren’t familiar with the layout. It was easy to spot how the few men tended to remain within a handful of yards together, opting not to venture out into the buildings alone. Alert and yet unorganized as you could see how they would often turn their backs on each other, giving you such a delicious opportunity to sneak in and out, weaving through them and taking them down one by one.

Was it absolutely horrible this was your instinct? Maybe. But you had two people you wanted to protect, two absolutely annoying yet selfless humans who gave you hope. You did love Joel and Ellie, even if you hadn’t admitted to it yet. Besides, you had a whole lot of stress burdening your shoulders and you wanna hit something.

You watched as the small group approached one of the homes off to the left, allowing you ample room to get close without having to cross the street in the open. You took off running, not bothering to try and conceal your footprints in the snow as you got to the house besides the targets. You entered through a broken window - a common for every single house on this block. Taking lighter footsteps, you ducked by the windows and reached the second floor landing.

The homes in this area were built within close proximity to the others, making it easy for, say, somebody needing to jump between windows without being seen. Perfect.

You listened hard and close as the men shuffled and tossed things around the first floor, looking for any sign of Ellie and ‘those two people she was with’. You growled lowly, really hating the implication that these people knew about the three of you.

Taking another assessment, you noticed there were two men standing guard out the front of the house, idly walking to-and-fro, their conversation remaining on wishing they were chasing Ellie instead.

A deep breath in and you jumped with an ‘oof’, trying to make as little as noise as possible, aiming for a wide open window with a snow covered bed on the other side. Between the snow and the mattress, the noise was cushioned to only a small thud, thankfully concealed by the thuds of the men downstairs shuffling through rooms. You quickly got up and went to the doorframe and saw there was only a hallway and stairs leading down.

You took deeper breaths again, trying to center yourself for what you were about to do as you heard one person come up the stairs - alone.

Placing your body flush against the wall, you waited in stark concentration, drawing your knife from its sheath. The footsteps came close, nearing the room you were hiding in and just as an armed gunman came in, you rushed him. Putting one hand against their forehead, you pulled the other hand and dragged the knife into their throat, essentially cutting off the person from making a noise and ending their life. You pulled and lowered their body as they began to choke out, laying them on the floor gently against the wall, carelessly hiding the body.

Downstairs you could still hear shuffling of the other invader and you made your way to them, silently assessing.

From what you could tell, the other person was banging around in the basement. So you rounded a nearby corner to where the open basement door was until finally, finally, somebody came through. You took him down just the same as his buddy.

So unorganized, you thought. If they were really looking for you and Joel, they were doing a piss poor job of it.

You swiped a bottle from the kitchen as you strolled past, taking aim out a broken window. Giving it a nice little toss, it shattered against the other house and without fail, you heard the tell-tale signs of one of the other men asking ‘what was that’. You ducked behind the faded curtain until one of the targets came into view, watching how he was pensive and alert, fortunately he was by himself which made the next part just as easy.

As soon as the man walked by the window, you jumped out from your hiding spot and jabbed your hunting knife straight into the soft squishy part of his eye, surprisingly facing little to no resistance.

You pulled it back and repeated the motion again once the man made an audible noise, probably alerting his friend. In only a slight rush now, you jumped out the window and removed your blade, now stalking towards the front when you could hear the other man yell the other’s names.

Wrapping around the corner of a house in a whirlwind, you surprised the last one when you stood face-to-face with him. He looked at you, astounded, mouth agape and dropped his weapon - a handgun. Looking down at his body, he whimpered as he took in the sight of your knife now buried deep in his stomach as you yanked them up into his chest piercing his heart.

Copper scent filled the air as the hunter’s body gave out. His blood spilling down your front. Under normal circumstances you would’ve likely vomited all over yourself but considering the innate need to protect Ellie and Joel, all that shit is blown out the window.

All in all, maybe thirty minutes have passed, you wanted to check on Joel but the distant gunshots were making you worried. At the very least, the longer they went off, the longer you knew your little fighter was alive.

Okay, think, you tried to get yourself to focus. You came up with a rapid-fire plan and before you could second guess yourself, you ran. Refusing to stop. Each step in the plush snow found you closer and closer to your hideout.

Entering the home through the garage, you gave Whiskey a pat as you walked on by and headed straight for the basement. You pushed the undisturbed barricade from the door, grateful it signaled that Joel was safe. Entering the downtrodden room you grabbed your holsters, strapping them maybe a little more tightly than you should’ve and throwing your backpack over your shoulders. You double-checked your weapons, making sure they were fully loaded.

Once again, you kneeled next to Joel as he laid on the dirty mattress, huffing from the rising pain from the stitch in your side. “Joel? I’m gonna go back out and find Ellie. I’m gonna go get our girl,” you said.

You hoped you were telling the truth.