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puuuders · 3 days

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In Pursuit of Something Better ~ Part 7

Ghost fanfiction

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Delta asks Omega for a favor.

Read on AO3

CW: idk if this might bother people so I will warn it anyway. There is some non consensual themes to this nearing the end, however it isn't sexual.

2.5k words

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Terzo prodded the thin, silver needle through the strip of silk, dragging a golden thread through the material, overlapping some previously embroidered threat into his latest tailorship project. His painted nails seemed dangerously close to the tip, making Omega clench his teeth before letting his breath go as he was unharmed upon the needles resurfacing.

“Are you paying attention?” Terzo asked, not looking up from his work. “You are too quiet.”

Omega was, in fact, entirely attentive. He was watching so closely that his breath through his nose swept across Terzo's fingers and created goosebumps, though Terzo was also too focused to notice. Omega’s attention was always devoted to this subject, finding himself surprisingly interested in tailorship since he had been given the tools and time to even consider picking up a hobby.

“I'm paying attention.” Omega mumbled. Terzo's eyes flicked up to look at the ghoul and he smiled. Terzo had noticed during their tailoring sessions that Omega had a habit of playing with his grucifix necklace when he was incredibly focused on something, twirling in his fingers and rubbing the smooth metal, the occasional glare of reflected light or tap of his claws poking a hole in Terzo’s hyperfixation. He would never point it out though. He did not want Omega to stop.

Omega finally met his gaze after Terzo did not continue his work for a few seconds. Seeing his look, Omega sat upright with a deep inhale, suddenly interested in the material of the wall next to them. Terzo's smile widened.

“Restless, hm? Suppose we've been doing this for some time.” Terzo clipped the thread, placed his needle back in their now shared sewing kit.

“Good progress though.” Omega gently pinched the article of clothing they were making, holding it up to admire it. It was a dark purple scarf that Terzo was teaching Omega how to embroider on, sewing a thick omega symbol on it as a gift from papa to ghoul for the upcoming cold weather. It was less than halfway finished, but Omega liked to look over it a few times throughout their sessions. He had sewed the ends of the scarf himself after Terzo spent much of each of their free times doing it.

“Well. It is getting late.” Terzo sighed. He sat up and stretched, squeezing his eyes shut as he arched his back.

“It is only 4.” Omega tilted his head, allowing his eyes to mindlessly examine Terzo's body.

“We have to fly to Oregon at 7, no?” Terzo turned to face his wide black dresser.

“Oh, right.” Omega stood up. He watched Terzo shamelessly open his undergarments drawer, unable to look away as he spotted particularly feminine products. He pulled some out, tossing them onto his bed behind him, and then began shuffling through his pants drawer.

“I need to pack too.” Omega excuses himself, though he was already packed and ready to go.

“You have 3 hours! Stay, stay.” Terzo tutted, despite having just used time as an excuse to stop sewing. He selected a few pants, silk pajamas, among other necessary clothing, as they would not be returning to the ministry for some time. They were not supposed to be here today, either, but Terzo insisted on giving himself and his ghouls a small break from the constant performing It angered Sister Imperator and Papa Nihil, but perhaps that was Terzo’s goal as well.

Terzo sat down on his bed and began folding it, humming a familiar tune as he did so.

“You are a talented writer.” Terzo said suddenly, patting the bed next to him. Omega sat, fidgeting with his claws. “Your friends have brought me their lyrics before. They are, eh, mediocre at best.”

“But mine showed you the light, hm?” Omega finished with a grin. “You tell me all the time, Papa. Thank you.”

“I do not say things that aren't true, you know.” Terzo pushed his pile of clothing behind them, bringing an awkward, yet natural, silence in the room apart from the tuned down sound of Queen music playing on Terzo's record player. Terzo tapped his fingers on his knees a few times, poking his inner cheek with his tongue before leaning back, moving his hand so that his fingers rested on top of Omega's.

“Do you like to sew, caro?” He asked, feeling Omega's claws. Omega stared at their hands, temporarily losing his voice.

“Um-” Omega's voice cracked and he cleared his throat, and Terzo laughed. Omega blushed furiously.

“Do not worry. It happens to me.” Terzo turned his attention to their hands as well, now bringing his other hand to gently hold Omega's fingers up, examining them like they were a piece of fine china.

“Your fingers are just so thick,” Terzo said, rubbing Omega's knuckles, “I do not understand how you can be as precise as you are.”

“It's… Well, it- I just hold the needle differently than- than you do.” Omega stuttered. Terzo's hands were so gentle and so soft, unnaturally so for his age. It was apparent that Terzo greatly valued his appearance and self care, from his wardrobe choice to the delicacy of his aging skin.

Terzo closed his eyes and brought Omega's hand up to his lips, one painted black and the other left nude along with the rest of his face apart from dark eyeshadow, humming lowly as he kissed his fingers. Omega gripped the bed sheets with his free hand on the other side of his lap, holding his breath to avoid letting out the flustered growl bubbling in his chest.

Terzo's thighs shifted, bringing a knee up to block off Omega's view of his waist. He began kissing each individual finger languidly, rubbing his ring for a moment before moving up to the tendons. He fluttered his eyes open to look at Omega, and Omega was hit with a wave of an emotion he hadn't sensed from Terzo since the beginning of their tour.

“Terzo…” he murmured, voice strained. Now understanding Terzo’s motives, yet feeling powerless to stop him. Terzo's eyes moved back down, his fingers pushing up the sleeve of Omega's thick coat, but the muscles of Omega’s thick arms prevented him from doing so. Terzo chuckled dryly and placed Omega's hand back down with a pat, blush spreading across his own face at his failure to kiss up the ghoul’s arm.

“Ah… I'm sorry, Omega.” Terzo whimpered, pressing his thighs together. Omega chose not to acknowledge the sudden emanation of concupiscence filling the room and plaguing his mind as savory as cyanide, offering only a soft smile before the silence was interrupted by an urgent knock at the door. They both looked back, mildly startled.

Terzo stood, dragging a finger that was lingering on Omega’s hand up his arm, flattening to his palm across his back before flicking off, making Omega shiver at the tender gesture. Terzo opened the door, gasping at the concerningly disheveled state of Delta who stood on the other side, his face dripping into a bucket he shakingly held at his chest.

”Oh, piccola cascata… What is wrong?” Terzo reached out to rub Delta’s arm in attempt to comfort him.

Delta looked inside the room as it was easy to see over the short man in front of him, eyes glued to Omega, who stared back at him.

“I need to talk to Omega,” Delta stammered, “are you busy?”

”No, come in!” Terzo opened the door fully, standing to the side, gesturing for Delta to enter.

“I’d rather talk to him privately.”

Omega rolled his eyes.

”What?” Omega asked, standing up, moving next to Terzo. The size difference between the two was comical, making Delta smile just a small bit. Terzo looked between the two ghouls, feeling incredibly small.

”It will only take a minute,” Delta spoke to Omega in a way he never had before, almost desperate, his aggression replaced with fraught. Omega felt inclined to be softer, dropping his typical wall of cynicism and harshness that he had held moments before.

“Okay.”

”Make sure you two are ready to go by 7, si?” Terzo patted Omega’s back as he moved out of the door. Delta nodded and Terzo shut the door behind the bigger ghoul, tending to his own business as the ghouls meandered down the hallway.

“What is it?” Omega asked again after a few minutes of silence and observing the contorting expressions of Delta’s face. Delta sniffed, the water that was temporarily slowing and thinning dripping faster.

“I need a giant favor from you, please,” Delta blurted, squeezing the bucket tighter in his arms, “I won’t ever ask you for anything again, I just need you to help me, just this once, I-“

”What is it?” Omega interrupted. He was growing more annoyed, irritated that Delta had barged in on his and Terzo’s time off to ask him for a favor. But what did he expect? He was the only quintessence ghoul, it was a constant occurrence for his break time to be cut short by his needy pack. He knew that Delta would ask him for more favors eventually. Each time he did, he always claimed it would be the last, and then the next day he would be asking for something else.

”I just want to know what Alpha saw.” Delta confessed. His request was met with a loud sigh.

“I’m not-“

“Please!” Delta broke into sobs again, water breaking out of his skin like a crack in a dam. “I know what you will say, and I don’t care! Anything is better than not knowing. Just once!”

”You’re only going to get hurt.” Omega spoke solemnly, a foreign sound of sympathy for Delta lacing his tone.

“It will be easier to get over if I see it for myself.”

“You only say that because you are desperate.”

”Please, Omega. I will do your chores for the rest of our lives!”

Omega rolled his eyes, biting the inside of his cheek in thought. Truthfully, Delta had a right to know. It was his partner of many years, and Earth’s time had ended so suddenly, along with the revelation of something so hurtful, that the whole incident had obviously traumatized the water ghoul to a crippling level. That honest thought brought guilt to Omega, his eyes dropping to the floor in shame. He really was so harsh on Delta.

Yet, on the other hand, helping Delta would require a potential violation of his best friend’s privacy. If Alpha were to say no, Omega would have to respect that decision, and Delta would be even more hurt.

He looked over at Delta who was already staring with wide, pleading eyes, and sighed once more.

”If Alpha says no, then that is all I can do.” Omega said sternly.

“Why would he say no?” Delta whined.

”I don’t know. But if he does, I will not force him.”

“Okay. Will you ask him at least? If he says no?”

”Yes.”

“Thank you!” Delta dropped the bucket, spilling at least a gallon of the water he had been trying to keep from slicking the ministry floor, erasing his efforts as he flew his arms around Omega. Omega scoffed, but placed his arms around him, deciding that now was not the time for yet another lecture.

To Alpha’s surprise, Omega had sat with him on the bus this night. He stopped sitting with him a few days after the tour began, opting to sit with their Papa, who almost always appeared significantly weaker and sore after each show than the ghouls did. He would watch Omega bring Terzo bottles of water, whisper in his ear, before Terzo would slowly regain his strength enough to engage with the other ghouls. It was funny at first, because all of the ghouls knew what had gone down in their Papa’s pants during the concerts. It grew uninteresting and less amusing throughout the weeks of the tour, except for Omega, who felt obliged to care for Terzo after wrecking his body without a single physical touch.

”Don’t like Terzo anymore, huh?” Alpha said with a smirk, taking a drink of his water bottle.

”I will sit with him afterwards. I kind of wanted to talk to you.” Omega said, trying to catch Alpha’s eyes. Having been his friend for so long, Alpha could tell when Omega was trying to reach out, even if it was silent. He fought it for a moment playfully, before sitting still and leaning his head back against the cushioned brown seats of the bus, looking into Omega’s eyes. Allowing him in.

Omega entered in a smooth movement. Entering Alpha’s mind was always the easiest, as he knew his mind, every nook and cranny, avoiding places he was not allowed to be, pressing places he knew would spread dopamine and serotonin throughout the ghoul. And he prodded those areas to loosen him, earning a soft smile from Alpha as Omega’s grip tightened.

“What is this?” Alpha whispered, scooting closer. “It has been so long. I miss you, beast.”

Omega hummed, allowing Alpha to get close, to touch his knee and rub up his thigh. Omega was nervous; he was hovering over the part of Alpha’s mind in which his memories were stored, a place Alpha had mentioned time and time again for Omega to leave alone. He stopped telling him over time, trusting Omega with his life. The fear of destroying that trust for the likeness of Delta is what scared Omega.

Alpha giggled. “I can feel you getting nervous.” He whispered. The other ghouls were sitting up in the front where the alcohol was stored in some mini fridges, hollering and laughing with Papa Terzo, who was slightly buzzed.

”They won’t see. I promise.” Alpha leaned in closer, his face approaching Omega’s neck. He closed his eyes, Omega’s grip being tight enough on Alpha’s mind that he could do so, and he began planting kisses on his skin.

And then his eyes snapped open as he felt something break. A flood of memories permeated his brain, feeling Omega urgently sifting through them, the banging sounds of the day Earth was banished being thrusted to the front.

“Hey!” Alpha tore himself back, grabbing Omega’s shoulders. His head began to ache, watching Omega’s anxious expression, his eyes darting around as he searched.

“Stop!” Alpha hissed through his teeth, shaking Omega and squeezing his eyes shut, trying to force him out. “Stop!”

Omega couldn’t. Guilt seeped from his mind to Alpha’s, making Alpha squirm even more, begging his friend to get out. Omega had told himself that he would respect it, that he would pull out the moment Alpha said so, yet he found himself delving deeper with each cry. Omega gasped as he felt himself sink further inside, falling into the memory he had been searching for, passing out on top of Alpha as he entered a self-inflicted state of unconsciousness.

#ghost #the band ghost #ghost bc #terzo #papa emeritus iii #terzomega #omega ghoul #omega3 #ghost fanfiction #nameless ghouls #delta ghoul #alpha ghoul #pebble ghoul #aero ghoul

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fandomnerd9602 · 1 year

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Wolf Spider pt. 3

Sam Carpenter x Spider-Man!Reader

Telling your amazing girlfriend that another masked serial killer was on the loose in New York was not exactly a walk in the park.

“We’re leaving!!” She grabs her luggage bags as Mindy and Chad try to calm her down.

“Baby I don’t know if leaving New York will help” you try to convince Sam.

“As opposed to staying still?” She nearly thunders back. “Sorry honey. I just can’t let anything happen to Tara”

“What about me?” Chad asks, “I nearly became a knife rack last time!”

“But did you die?“ Mindy responds as Anika joins her side.

Tara huffs, “look I’m gonna go get some supplies and then we’re out of here.”

Sam and Tara head out of the apartment as you head for yours. You quickly find your old spider society wrist watch and make a call to your mentor, Miguel.

“sorry kid,“ Miguel sighs, “ this is a part of your canon event and we cannot interfere.”

“then send me my emergency box” you practically order him.

A small cylinder arrives through a portal two seconds later. Inside you can see the swirling black mass as it beats against the container you promised yourself you never go back to this but desperate times call for desperate measures. The symbiote was your best bet.

You begrudgingly open the container and the black as night alien goo latches onto you. It lurches its way up encasing you completely in a solid black suit with a white spider logo but at its center was a skull.

Why? It hisses.

“The family I love is in danger”

Don’t hold me back.

“I won’t.”

How you wished you had gone with Sam and Tara. Ghostface chased them to the bodega and was shooting up the place with a shotgun.

You swung thru the window and fire a tendril shard at the slasher. It cuts through the only black robe but it wasn’t a direct hit. Ghostface fled as Sam and Tara took to their feet. You look down to see that the fiend left behind their mask.

“Are you okay?” You try to ask the girls as the fury of the symbiote rages inside of you.

Chase the killer down!

You make your way trying to help any potential survivors. There was only Sam and Tara left alive.

Detective Bailey and a few officers arrived shortly. “Wolf” the gruff detective shakes your hand, “nice threads”

“Special suit. Violatile” you explain, what you didn't notice was how your suit was reacting around Bailey. It was as if the symbiote was finding itself drawn to the gruff older man.

Bailey and the police officers took Sam and Tara down to the station. While you weren't allowed into the station, you were able to call in an old friend to act as their lawyer, pro bono. What can you say? Your pal Matt Murdock owed you a favor.

Mindy assembled the Core Four plus Ethan, Anika and Quinn at the campus.

"Okay we're now in the sequel, guys, which means new rules" Mindy explains.

"Please don't try to put it in movie terms right now" you groan.

"Sorry but since you weren't with us first time," Mindy smirks, "you're on the list of suspects."

"Don't do that to Y/N, babe," Anika says before hugging you, "I know you're one of the good ones"

Sam rolls her eyes, "Y/N's mine, Anika, remember?"

You give Sam a kiss on the forehead to ease her false sense of jealousy. "All yours Carpenter" you whisper in her ear.

"How do we know that its even anyone in this circle?" Ethan asks, "with the rise of the internet, anyone can have a grudge without much reason. Also I don't wanna die a virgin"

"Can't help you there, Chambers" you joke, earning a chuckle from Chad.

"What if its someone from the last time?" Quinn asks "like someone who went nuts"

"Possible" you explain, "but it'd be a terrible reveal and tank the franchise"

"So Chad's not off the table?" Tara jokes.

"Only for you, Carpenter" Chad tries to flirt only for you to throw some popcorn at him for his terrible flirting attempt.

You had a little dinner over at the Carpenter sisters' apartment. Sam was practically shaking as she held onto your hand. You tried to venture out, she grabs you.

Why are you still here? The symbiote hissed in your ear. Find them, kill them.

You walk out of the apartment and quickly the symbiote forms over you. Sam sneaks out and puts a hand on your shoulder.

"Please don't leave" Sam begs.

"That killer is out there" you reasoned. "I gotta nab them before they find you"

You swung out on your own personal hunt. You should've stayed. During a swing, your police scanner picked up reports of screaming being heard in your apartment complex. You swung back to the location only to find everyone minus Quinn, trying to cross between buildings on a ladder. You could see Anika had been stabbed and was severely bleeding out.

Ghostface rocked the ladder and Anika fell. You dived after her and caught her at the last second. Mindy screamed after you as you swung off into the night.

You set Anika down on the nearby rooftop, her breathing slowing down. You put your hand over her bleeding stomach, trying to stop it by any means. "You'll be okay" you try to reassure her.

"Take off your mask" Anika weakly says, "I wanna see your face...Y/N"

"Y/N" you try to speak through your forming tears, "w-who's Y/N?"

"I know it's you"

You hesitate but you remove your mask and offer her a weak smile. Anika weakly smiles back, "I knew it. I knew you were one of the good ones"

Her body goes limp and her eyes shut. "Anika? Anika?!"

You swing her down to the hospital. The EMTs shuttle her body off to away from you as you try to keep up with her.

"It's alright, Wolf" one of the EMTs tries to reassure you, "you did your part."

You could only look on in horror as Anika is hauled off, unsure if you were too late to save her. "Get her to the OR stat" one doctor yelled out as the doors shut on you.

You understood that no one was safe. This Ghostface wasn't playing by the rules. This franchise has changed.

To Be Continued...

Tags: @deafeningsharkslimeempath @ma1egamer @sonicqaulan @jacelion @jadenyukiyusakufujikiyutoduelist

#scream franchise #scream ghostface #scream movie #scream #scream vi #mindy meeks martin #melissa barrera #chad meeks martin #anika #sam carpenter #sam carpenter x reader #sam carpenter imagine #spider man #across the spiderverse #spider man reader #spider society #wolf spider #marvel

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marvelita85 · 1 year

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The gift was overwelming.. it was true your uncle was your first choise... your only one but the animocity between your mothers made it almost imposible for you to talk with your mother in favour of her own brother

You grab the box and walked around the corridora of the home which seen you grow up together and be best friends of a time and then everything was different but her heart never changed

- hi.... - you found him in the library and rise his face from the book looking at you

- hi... y/n...I didnt expected to see you today...

- I come to thank you for your gift...- you put the box beside the book he left on the table...- Although very generous of you uncle I can't accept it

-why not?...- he rise from his chair trying to get closer to you...

- you shouldnt ask that question after your espectacle at dinner yesterday night...- he tried to talk but you raised your hand signaling you havent finished - you called my brothers bastards yesterday and that is something I cant allowed for whoever become my husband, your part of the family is a priority for you Aemond... well mine is for me and I chose Jace and Luke and Joffrey over you or anyone else...

- it wasnt intended that way...I just said they were strong boys what is wrong with that

- everything when your own mother and grandfather has been spreading vile rumors about Ser Harwin Strong and my mother... you even insulted my mother your own sister how can I chose you as my intended when you hold no love for the people I love...

- you think I have no motive to feel nothing but hate for the person responsable for this - he took his eyepatch showing you a beautiful sapphire in place of his left eye...

- I'm so sorry for your eye Aemond I really am... my brother should have been punished that night but he was just a kid

- I was too...

- yes... we all were...- you turn around and left the library leaving an enraged Aemond... he felt rejected again for the last person who expected and that was you

He got out of the library walking in a different direction he saw you turn the corner... his primary goal was to find his mother who was with Rhaenyra, aparently their relationship was mending

- oh Aemond... - Alicent saw her son looking at Rhaenyra...

- I better go to find the children..

- I need to talk with both of you..- he finally said and Rhaenyra looked at her half brother and then to Alicent

You found your brothers who were playing with Helaena's children and you smile sitting beside your aunt - children...- you said refering to Jace and Luke who were playing as kids would do...

- my brother sometimes plays like that with the twins...ans soon he will with your own...- you turn looking at her... your aunt sometime talkes in riddles it was something you never understood but it was somethinf that didnt bother you either

- princess I'm sorry your mother and the queen are requesting your presence in the parlor...

The first one you saw was your mother talking with the queen as you entered the parlor you saw Aemond beside his mother who rised at the look of you

- what is going on?

- y/n darling... come sit down with us... you turn to your mother and sit beside her...

- y/n I learn that Aemond gave you a gift and you refuse it

- you are for real involved the queen and my mother in this...

- y/n!! - Rhaenyra exclaimed

- is true... is because I say no to you favoring my brothers you have to run to your mother ans mine to see if you can win either way

- is not that at all and you know it... you have always been the one I've chosen to be my wife... when your mother anounced you were going to started looking for suitors I wanted to put myself there is not about winning

- then what is it?

- I love you...- the gasp around the table as Alicent and Rhaenyra were still there listening - I've always loved you... and I dont want you to leave ever again not to Dragonstone or anyother place with anyone else... I want to be your husband and you my wife because I can't bare the thought of you leaving again - your eyes soften conciderably as Alicent hold her breath... Rhaenyra still had her doubts to give her only daughter to the greens but she couldn't deny her brother being sincere woth his feelings... - you don't need to say it back.. just don't leave me again

- Aem....- you couldn't even talk... and he got the gift out of one poket opening it up

- with our mothers as witnesses please accept this gift... - accept me you almost heard he really said

- your marriage signified the union of our family... and I believe is due time for that... I refused that posibility once... now things could be so different..

- is alright... our children can be very happy but is still y/n choise...- you looked at your mother, the queen and then to Aemond and you smile holding your hand to him, Aemond had a playfull smirk in his lips taking the ring and place it in your finger

- congratulations to both of you! - you grab into his hand and Aemond smile the first real one you've seen and you realise there was no other choise for you than him

#aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen fanfiction #aemond targaryen #aemond one eye #aemond targaryen x you #prince aemond targaryen #aemond x reader #aemond targaryen x velarion reader #aemond x oc #house of the dragon aemond #prince aemond x reader #prince aemond x princess oc #prince aemond x you #targaryen princess #aemond targaryen imagine #targaryen prince #prince aemond

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thebiggerbear · 9 months

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"Sleep. I'll keep you safe." - Anael Prompt Response

Summary: Anael is not happy that you've agreed to help the Winchesters with their far-fetched plan to destroy Chuck via Jack. She reluctantly accompanies you to the Bunker and this sets events in motion that prompt a conversation between you and Dean on just why the angel is so important to you.

Pairing: Anael x Female!Reader; Anael x Huntress!Female!Reader; past-ish Dean Winchester x Female!Reader; Dean Winchester x Huntress!Female!Reader

A/N: Prompt from @thelonelyempath. I really wanted to play with this sort of triangle dynamic that popped up while I was writing. This is still an Anael x Reader one shot/prompt response but Dean's my boy and I really loved the backstory that developed between him and the reader which then led to Anael. Hope it all came together okay.

Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.

There will be a note at the end.

Warnings: guns; implied threats of violence/killing; mentions of sex; torture; death; angst

Word Count: 10k+

Taglist: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187; @rieleatiel

Anael Taglist: @nancymcl; @brightlilith

"Sleep. I'll keep you safe."

Soldier Boy version ✨ Beau version ✨ Dean version ✨ Jenny version ✨ Tom version ✨ Jason version ✨ SDV Alex version

You glanced to your right and rolled your eyes when you saw the angel who was currently sitting in your passenger seat, still fuming. You turned back to the road and gently tapped the steering wheel, wondering what you could say to get her to let this go. In the end, you decided to just be direct.

“Are you still upset about this?”

“Are you still going through with this ridiculous plan?” She snapped.

You bit your lip to keep from sighing in aggravation like you wanted to. You knew if she heard you do that, she’d never let up. “It’s not a bad plan…”

“Oh, yeah. Not a bad plan. Just have God’s sister trap him in the Winchesters’ basement. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to wait for the weapon that will kill him to arrive.”

You nearly winced at her biting sarcasm. She had a point; this wasn’t the best plan and it was definitely a long shot but it was all any of you had. Sam and Dean had asked for your help and you were determined to give it to them, no matter what might happen. They always had your back when you needed it. You were going to return the favor — pissed off angel alongside you or not. Not to mention if this didn’t succeed then the world was literally going to be over. You all had to try.

“Look, it’s not exactly the most…sound plan but it’s the best we’ve got. We have to do something, Ana. If we don’t, then it’s lights out. That’s it.”

“We,” she scoffed, turning to glare out the window with her arms crossed.

You tightened your grip on the steering wheel at the same time your jaw clenched. “Don’t do that.”

She turned back to you. “Are you really going to pretend that he doesn’t have something to do with this suicidal decision you’ve made?”

You kept your eyes focused on the road. “He does.” After her huff, you added unapologetically, “He will always matter to me. Even if the world wasn’t on the line, I would still be there if he asked me. He would do the same for me. That’s how it’s always going to be between us.”

A moment of tense silence passed before she spit at you, “Then you’re dumber than I gave you credit for.” She looked out the window again and you turned up the music, pressing your foot further down on the gas. The sooner you got to your destination the better.

You opened up the bunker door, allowing Ana to walk inside first. She hadn’t said another word to you for the rest of the car ride (something unusual for her), and barely even looked at you. You knew she was furious, at everything from this plan to what you’d said earlier, but it couldn’t be helped.

When you followed her, shutting the door behind you, and both of you came to a stop at the railing, glancing down, you didn’t know what you had expected to see. It certainly hadn’t been Jack Kline standing in the map room, staring up at you, with a hand raised. “Hello.”

You and Ana briefly glanced at each other and you gave the boy a nod. “Uh, hey Jack. Sam and Dean here?”

He shook his head. “They had a last minute case come up. Something about an old friend asking for help, I think.”

“Ironic,” Ana quipped.

Jack furrowed his brows at her, not understanding her meaning, while you shot her a look. Of course, she just smirked at you in response and you could feel your body tensing in the same aggravation you’d felt in the car. “Is Cas here?” You asked instead.

Jack went to speak when you heard, “I’m here,” before a familiar dark-haired man walked into the room. It had been a while since you’d seen him but he still looked the same. He was still wearing the trenchcoat and the suit, no matter how many times Dean tried to get him to change up his wardrobe.

“Hey, Cas.”

He gave you a nod of greeting before turning a small relieved smile on Ana. “Anael, you’ve decided to help us in this fight after all.”

“Don’t get too excited, Castiel. I’m only here because it turns out she’s just as smart as the Winchesters.” She gestured towards you.

You gritted your teeth. “Ana…”

She gave you that smile she always gave you when she knew she was getting on your last nerve.

Cas glanced back and forth between you, a sudden realization of something beginning to dawn on his features. Jack still looked somewhat confused but also curious.

You cleared your throat. “So, any idea when the boys will be back?”

“Soon. I believe they just wrapped up their case and they’re headed back. They should be here by nightfall,” Cas supplied.

You gave him a wan smile as he appeared to study you intently. “Well, I’m starved. Got any food in that big kitchen of yours?”

“We have a lot of food,” Jack offered, trying to be helpful. “Sam went shopping the other day.”

“Great,” you responded with a little too much enthusiasm. “Let’s see what we’ve got.” You ignored Ana watching you in disapproval and Cas’ penetrative gaze as you descended the steps and followed Jack to said kitchen. Let Ana deal with whatever thoughts Cas might put voice to — you’d had enough angel judgment for one day.

You and Jack were just putting the finishing touches on shepherd’s pie (the only thing you knew how to make outside of eggs and grilled cheese if you were being honest) when Sam and Dean returned home.

You had spent most of the day avoiding Cas and thankfully, when Ana joined you in the kitchen, she chose to relegate any commentary she made to your cooking skills (or lack thereof) alone. There was tension thick in the air but whether it had to do with what was going on in the background, Ana’s animosity towards you, or a mixture of both, you had no idea. Cas had eventually strode into the room, curious and happy to watch you teach Jack how to make the one dish your Grams had taught you to make. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him smile when Jack asked you why it was called shepherd’s pie if the recipe didn’t come from any shepherds. Despite his questions, Jack seemed to be enjoying himself, learning something new and taking his mind off of what was coming. You felt badly for the kid; he was going to sacrifice himself to save the world. You couldn’t even imagine the weight of that burden on his young shoulders, Nephilim or not. So you were happy to provide a little distraction for him as well as yourself.

“Cas? Jack?” You heard Sam call.

“We’re back,” Dean added.

Cas was immediately on his feet, looking towards Ana and then you, before hurrying out of the room. You had to wonder what that was all about. It wasn’t as if the brothers weren’t expecting you. Plus, you were pretty sure Cas must have texted or called them to give them a heads up that you were here.

Ana turned back to you, her jaw tight and giving you a look. You rolled your eyes and helped Jack get out a stack of plates to set the table with. When you were done, you noticed Ana had stood up and moved away from the two of you, creating distance. Your own jaw clenched when you saw it. Why did she have to be so difficult sometimes?

“No plate for you?” You threw at her, knowing very well she wasn’t going to eat since she didn’t need to.

“Not just yet.”

Your brow creased in confusion. What was that response?

You didn’t have much time to think about it, though, because Dean and Sam rushed into the room, with Cas right behind them.

“What the hell are you doing here, Jo?” Dean boomed, heading right for Ana and carrying an angel blade.

“Dean,” Cas called, trying to get in front of him.

You watched as Ana raised her hand and sent both Winchesters flying backward, knocking them on their asses, and more importantly, the blade out of Dean’s hand.

“Anael,” Cas warned.

“I’m just supposed to allow them to kill me, Castiel? I don’t think so.”

You were torn. You wanted to rush over to the boys, make sure they were alright, but another part of you was telling you that you needed to get closer to Ana. What if she was right and Dean had really meant to kill her just then?

Both Winchesters were already up, Dean glaring at Ana. “You almost got us killed! Sending us to Hell on that wild goose chase! Hell, you almost got Cas killed!”

“He had to go to The Empty to ask Ruby where the Occultem was!” Sam added, thrusting a finger at her. “He almost didn’t make it back!”

“You’re Jo?” Jack asked, his expression hardening. “I thought your name was Anael.”

Ana didn’t spare him a glance. “That’s my angel name. Sister Jo is my brand, you could say.”

“Occultem?” You whispered, not ever having heard of it before though you tried racking your brains.

Ana flashed you a look, silently telling you she would fill you in later, before resting her eyes on the two men again. “That was a priceless item. You didn’t really expect me to give it up so easily for your little war with God, did you?” Her brown eyes narrowed. “No matter how much better looking than him you might be.”

Your eyes nearly bugged out of your head and turned onto Dean who still hadn’t noticed your presence yet. He was glaring straight at Ana and you noticed the blade was back in his hand. When had you missed him picking it back up?

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said in an all-too familiar menacing tone, before he began moving forward again, Sam right behind him with his own angel blade. Cas tried to put up a placating hand but he was ignored. Jack watched as it all happened, glowering in Ana’s direction now, not making a move to stop his dads. Your brain shut off and before you knew it, you were in front of Ana, gun raised.

Dean stopped short, his eyes slightly widening as he finally saw you. Sam’s did, too. You were sure they highly doubted you would be on opposite sides over an angel, with a gun pointed at them no less.

“Put the blades down,” you ordered.

You watched as Dean’s green eyes briefly softened upon hearing you speak but then hardened again when he realized you meant business. Something was now layering his expression that looked an awful lot like betrayal. “You’re protecting her?” He asked in disbelief. “What the hell, Y/N?”

You could feel Ana right behind you, her energy filling the air. She was charged up and you felt a familiar static electricity feeling at your back. You wouldn’t be surprised if her eyes were doing their usual glowing trick right about now.

“This is what I was trying to tell you before you two charged in here.” Cas stood next to Dean, looking at him and Sam.

“Tell us what?” Dean demanded.

“She’s with me.” All three glanced over at you, Cas giving a subtle nod as he dropped his gaze. Sam wasn’t sure what to make of it but you noticed him starting to lower the blade in his hand. Dean kept glaring between you and Ana over your shoulder. Only when Cas urged him with a quiet “Dean”, nodding towards the blade in his hand, did he finally put it down. “You’ve gotta be freaking’ kidding me,” he growled before storming out of the room. Cas briefly glanced over at you before following him. Jack, who now scowled in your direction as well as Ana’s, slowly left the room. You lowered your gun, disappointment starting to swell in your chest. So much for a nice, quiet family dinner then.

Only Sam was left and he looked torn between wanting to follow his family and coming over to give you a hug like he normally would. You made it easy for him. “It’s okay, Sam. I understand. Go.”

He pressed his lips together, giving you a sad look, before he nodded and left the room as well.

You let out a heavy breath and hung your head. The Winchesters were the only family you had left and now…it looked like they were gone, too.

You felt a hand gently lay on your shoulder, the electric charge from before gone, and you slowly lifted your head. “We should go,” you whispered after a minute. Ana let you go and you turned to throw on your jacket, sling your bag over your shoulder, and then you led her out of the room. You kept your gun handy in case it wasn’t just a straight pass to the stairs. Thankfully, it was and a piece of your heart broke that Dean hadn’t even given you a chance to explain before he’d written you off for good.

You kept your eyes on the road as headlights repeatedly washed over you from passing cars in the opposite lane. It was deathly quiet, you having chosen not to turn on the radio. Your thoughts kept going back to the betrayal you’d seen in Dean’s face when he realized you weren’t going to let him get to the angel standing behind you. While Ana wasn’t Cas, didn’t he understand how things like this worked by now? Even when you’d been together for a period of time, you’d bore witness to his profound bond with Cas playing out repeatedly. You’d seen Cas’ effect on Dean and vice versa, today even.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

You heard Ana’s quiet words that seemed to be laced with a shocking mix of surprise and what sounded like awe. You didn’t know why; it wasn’t anything you hadn’t done before when you two fought side by side. “Do what?” You decided you’d rather play dumb than talk about the elephant sitting between you.

Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the red-headed angel giving you a look. “Don’t. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You shouldn’t have put yourself at risk for me.” She knew what it cost you and how badly it was tearing you up inside. And to think she had been worried about Chuck, the plan, Jack, and even Dean, though for a whole other reason on that last one.

You shrugged. “That’s what we do. It’s what you’ve done for me. Why wouldn’t I?”

You turned in time to see the surprise you’d heard earlier now taking up residence in her expression. It was a fleeting glimpse you caught right before she schooled her features and focused on the highway instead.

You did the same and you finally spoke the question that had been burning your tongue for the last hour into existence. “So, are you going to tell me about the Occultem and why they’re pissed at you enough to want to kill you? I sort of got an idea from earlier but I want to hear it from you.”

You heard a familiar scoff and if you weren’t so torn up inside, you might have smiled. It was nice to hear her annoyance not aimed at you for once this entire day. “They ambushed me at my place of business, threatened me, and then expected me to hand them the Occultem on a silver platter. Just like that. That’s what happened.”

“I think there’s a little more to it than that, Ana.” You glanced over at her. “Start from the beginning.” When she narrowed her eyes in your direction, you spoke before she could. “You owe me that at the very least,” you muttered.

You turned back to the road and you weren’t sure if she saw the pain you were feeling (most likely since she always seemed to be able to see right through you; it was annoying most of the time), but she agreed. “Fine.”

You swallowed down the lump that had formed in your throat at the thought track repeating in your head of “You’re protecting her? What the hell, Y/N?” and the images of Dean’s back as he walked away from you. You were happy to focus on something else and Ana’s voice actually began to soothe you as it filled the car.

You didn’t know how but somehow you knew everything was going to work out, Chuck ending the world or not.

You heard a familiar rumbling outside your motel room door and you quickly glanced in Ana’s direction. She looked up at you from her chair, money in her hands that she had been counting from her last service, and you gave her a nod. You threw your jacket on, keeping the gun in your pocket and easy to reach just in case. “Be careful,” you murmured.

“You first.”

You pressed your lips together and turned back to the door. You took a deep breath before you opened it and stepped out, seeing Dean shutting the car door and meeting your eyes. He didn’t appear to be armed and he was alone as he’d claimed he would be when he called you earlier, asking where you were so you two could talk. You weren’t one hundred percent sure it wasn’t a trap, which you absolutely hated thinking, but after Ana told you what she’d done to them and their reaction to her earlier…well, you could see why they weren’t exactly thrilled with her. And if they didn’t try to hurt her, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t do a blood sigil and banish her to someplace far away from you. You were on high alert for any possibility.

“Hey,” he gruffed out.

“Hey.” You shut the door behind you and stuffed your hands in your pockets.

You didn’t see any traces of the betrayal or hurt or anger that you’d seen earlier so that was a good sign. His green eyes were no longer hard when they focused on you. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

“I can’t. Have to stay close.” You gestured back to the room. It was something Ana had asked you to do when you went over possible contingencies after Dean’s call but she hadn’t needed to; you already planned to stay within running distance if you needed to get back right away.

Dean’s jaw clenched when he looked towards the room. “So, she’s got you on a short leash, huh?”

You huffed a snort, shaking your head. “Goodbye, Dean.” You began to turn back to the room, thinking this had been a colossal waste of time which just broke your heart further.

“Y/N, wait! I— I’m sorry.”

You spun back around to face him, glaring.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” you bit out.

Dean licked his lips and momentarily moved his gaze around until he settled on something to his left. “What about over there? Is that close enough?”

You glanced where he was inclining his head towards. Across the parking lot sat what looked to be a makeshift pergola gazebo or something they’d tried to make into one anyway. A wooden picnic table sat under it and there were some lights haphazardly hung on the edges up top, snaking around the thin posts. You gave him a nod of agreement, it was private enough but still kept you close.

You waited for him to start walking and as you followed, you glanced around, making sure no one was trying to sneak their way up to your door or that there were any warning signs of an impending ambush. “Looks clear,” you mentally prayed to Ana. “But keep your guard up.” For a moment, you wished you also had the angelic super hearing she had or the ability to tune into Angel Radio to be able to hear her back.

Dean took a seat on the table and you did the same, keeping some distance between you. He noticed it and his jaw clenched again. “Really? You’re that pissed at me?”

You pressed your lips into a thin line as you thought it over, and then you moved slightly closer.

He let out a snort. “Didn’t realize that much had changed between us.”

You stared out over the highway. “It did.”

Dean studied you for a moment and then followed suit. “Yeah, well, probably for the best.”

You could feel a familiar stinging in the corner of your eyes. Dean always had the ability of using words to hit you where it hurt the most. “Probably.”

There was a moment of tense silence between you before he spoke again. “Cas mentioned things might be different now…for you.”

You shrugged but didn’t respond. At this point, you just wanted him to spit out what he came to say and leave. Which was indeed different from how you usually felt about getting alone time with him, but he was being a dick.

Almost as if he heard your thoughts, he turned to look at you. “I’m not trying to be a dick, Y/N. I’m really not. But all this time and you never told me once that you had an angel riding shotgun with you? The same angel who tricked us and took Lucifer’s side, and then tricked us again and almost got us all killed?”

You looked over at him with a scoff. “When was I supposed to tell you, Dean? In between Chuck trying to end the world and you helping with Jack’s powering up regimen so he can take him down? Or during Michael’s mindwalk inside your head? When was I supposed to tell you? We never talk anymore.”

“That’s not true,” he argued.

You got to your feet, glaring at him. “Yes, it is! The only time I hear from you is when you need something.” You ignored Dean’s angry expression and continued. “When you need help for a case, information, whatever it is. That is the only time I hear from you!”

“Yeah, well, it’s a two-way street. When was the last time you called just to check in? Tell us how you’re doing? When?”

You let out a laugh of disbelief. “You told me we were done, Dean! Right after Michael possessed you the first time. You remember that?”

Now he was on his feet, too, scowling at you. “Me saying we were done didn’t mean we were out of each other’s lives forever! If I didn’t call you about hunts or Sam didn’t call you to ask you to keep an eye out for something wherever you were, we wouldn’t even know you were still alive!”

That last word made you wince. You tried to hide it but Dean saw it. He let out a breath and the next time he spoke, he was no longer yelling. “You can blame me all you want, Y/N, but you didn’t tell Sam, either.��

“There was nothing to tell,” you mumbled, sitting back down on the table, refusing to look at him.

He gave you a look before sitting back down next to you, closer than before. “Look, I didn’t come here to fight. I want to clear the air. You’ve never pulled a gun on me before.”

You arched your brows over at him. You had done it quite a few times over the years, when he was a demon being the most recent.

“Not on me,” he clarified.

You turned back to the road but didn’t say a word.

He laid a gentle hand on your knee. “I want us to be good, Y/N. You’re family…and you’re still important to me.”

You briefly closed your eyes in pain. It had always been a tough balancing act, straddling the line of family and you and Dean being something more to one another. Even before you got together and made it official. Even back when you were teenagers. But ever since he put an end to your relationship, it had become almost impossible for you to continue doing. But he was right…you both were still family, and you didn’t want him shut out of your life. You had been broken-hearted at the thought of it not a mere hour ago before he’d called.

You covered his hand with yours. “I know. You’re still important to me, too, and you’re right, we’re family.”

Dean's eyes were transfixed on your hands until he glanced up at you, his eyes softer than before.

You squeezed his hand. “We’re good.” You gave him a nod and let him go, waiting a moment before you added, “As long as you leave Ana alone.”

He shot you a look but you never glanced away. He needed to know you meant it.

Dean sighed, studying you. “For now,” he agreed.

“Dean, that’s—”

“That’s all you’re getting out of me.” He rubbed his thumb over your knee. “Unless you tell me what happened.”

You dropped your gaze to your lap. “Why do you want to know about that? I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Because,” Your eyes lifted to his, hearing the breaks in his voice. “I need to know why Cas sees the claim she has on your soul.”

Crap. You should have known from how Cas was studying you since you’d set foot in the Bunker. “It’s not what you think,” you started.

“Then what is it? Because it looks to me like she tricked you into selling your soul to her.”

You moved your knee from under his hand and pulled away. “That’s not what happened. She didn’t trick me.”

“Then what did happen?” He cupped your cheeks and forced you to look at him. “Y/N, talk to me,” he implored. “I need to know what’s going on.”

You thought it over for a moment, realizing you really didn’t have a way around this, now that Dean knew. And truthfully, you didn’t really want one, though you still felt the heavy weight of shame wrapped around you, something you knew would be even heavier by the time you finished explaining.

You grabbed his hand and turned to kiss his wrist before getting to your feet. Dean let you go and you took a few steps away, your arms crossed and your back to him, taking a deep breath. “Do you remember the witch who killed my family?”

“Yeah, back in Phoenix. Dad tried to track her down after but couldn’t. Why?”

You pressed your lips together. “I found her.” You didn’t need to turn around to know Dean was frozen in shock. “I came across her during another case.”

Dean was in front of you before you could blink. “Please tell me you didn’t take her on alone.”

You stared at him, saying nothing.

“Dammit, Y/N! You should have called us! What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking the bitch had killed my family and I wanted her dead.”

He shook his head, angry at you as you knew he would be. “But you don’t go it alone! We’ve talked about this. Never alone!”

“Yeah, I know and you’re right, alright? But I’m standing here in front of you now so do you want me to finish the story or not?” You snapped.

His jaw clenched and he glared at you but remained quiet.

You let out an aggravated breath. “I didn’t have time to call anyone else. I didn’t want her to escape and be in the wind again so the hunter I was with at the time, Carrie, she and I went after her.” Dean briefly closed his eyes but kept his gaze on you. “She had a pack of werewolves she was working with and she set them on me. I killed a few but there were too many. They ripped me apart. Carrie, too.” You felt a lump begin to form in your throat at the thought of the hunter you’d gotten killed but you swallowed it back down. “They were about to finish me off when two other hunters showed up. Carrie thought we might be going into a trap so she called them while I was gearing up. There were still too many werewolves but they managed to get us out of there. They drove us straight to this church in the next town where a faith healer had set up shop. The rumor going around the hunter community at that time was that this healer might actually be an angel, one of the fallen.” Your eyes began to well up. “Carrie didn’t make it.”

Dean briefly dropped his gaze down to the ground.

“I almost didn’t and honestly, I wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for Ana. She healed me.” You nearly winced thinking about the next part you would have to tell him. “Once I was up and moving around again, I didn’t want the witch to disappear and she already had a hell of a head start so I asked Rick, one of the hunters that helped us, if he knew of a crossroads in town.”

You saw Dean’s lips part in shock and then his eyes hardened. “Are you kidding me? After everything Sam and I told you, after everything you saw happen with my deal, you still—”

“You didn’t hear the screams my sister made when she was dying, Dean!” He pressed his lips into a thin line but didn’t say anything to that. How could he? Sure, he’d seen people die in some of the worst ways imaginable since becoming a hunter, but he also saw the nightmares you had for years afterwards. They all had.

Dean had held you as you shook in terror, crying into his neck as he tried to assure you that you were safe. There were many nights your cries had woken Sam up as well and he’d slip into Dean’s bed, laying his head on your back and hugging you from behind while you sobbed and his brother whispered reassurances to you. If John was around when the nightmares happened, he’d keep quiet while his sons comforted you but the next morning, he’d let you pick the music you wanted to hear and would offer you to ride shotgun if you wanted. You would choose Dean’s favorite Led Zeppelin tape every time and sit in the back, opting to let Sam take the front. Dean would hold your hand and rub tender circles into your skin while you stared out the back window of the Impala until you would get sleepy and rest your head on his shoulder. Dean, Sam, John — none of them could keep the nightmares away, but they made you feel safe again after you’d lost your family. They became your family and John trained you to become a hunter just like his boys.

Tears threatened to spill down your cheeks. “She was only six years old!” You had to watch as the witch had liquefied her insides, causing as much pain and torment as possible. You’d not only heard her painful screams but the terrified yells of your mother as she also witnessed your sister’s death before the witch moved onto your older brother. John got there in time to save you, the last one left; you’d had to watch and hear them all die — your parents, your siblings — helpless to do anything since you were magically bound. “I would have done anything to get that bitch and make sure she never hurt anyone else ever again.”

Dean’s fist clenched at his side but he nodded. He understood; you knew he did.

“As it turns out, I didn’t get that far. Ana overheard our conversation. Rick was trying to talk me out of it but I was insistent. She pulled me to the side and told me that if I was going to throw my life away to go after the hag, then she had a one-time offer for me. She offered me the same deal a crossroads demon would have: my soul for the witch. But instead of ten years, there would be no ticking clock over my head, no monsters from Hell would come to drag me down to the pit, and once I died, whenever that would be, my soul would belong to her and her alone. No Heaven, no Hell, just hers, to do with as she wished.”

“Y/N,” Dean let out in a broken whisper. You could see this was killing him but you had to finish explaining, make him understand. As ashamed as you were, you still wanted him to know the truth.

“I took it, Dean.”

A tear dropped down his cheek and you fought every impulse you had to reach over and wipe it away.

“And she kept her part of the bargain. She packed up and traveled with us to where the witch was hiding out. We caught them off guard. Rick and Layla finished off the rest of the werewolf pack and Ana stayed with me. The witch used some sort of spell to banish Ana and then it was just me and her.” You knew this next part was going to hurt him but you had to say it. “She killed me, Dean.”

He stared at you in horror.

“The same way she killed my family. I felt everything they did.” You were looking through Dean now, awash in memories. “You see, she recognized me and she decided to finish me off the same way she did them. I heard her laughing in the background while she... The pain alone…” You came back to yourself with a jolt, realizing you were no longer in that place, writhing in agony on the floor as your insides burned and turned to liquid, blood pouring from your eyes, nose, and mouth as you screamed and screamed. “The next thing I remember, Ana was crouching over me. She had healed my body and put my soul back inside.” You whispered the last part in awe. That part of the story still inspired wonder for you, even now.

“She had overpowered the witch somehow when she was able to get back to us. Ana left her for me to deal with and deal with her, I did.” You clenched and unclenched your jaw at the memory of the bitch’s screams of agony before you finished her off. You made sure she felt everything your family did, everything you had, and Ana had been more than willing to help you.

“You died?” Dean choked out.

You glanced up at him and noticed the devastation in his expression, his eyes still wet. “For only a few minutes,” you tried to reassure him. He didn’t need to know that it had been a little longer than that. You could see how torn up he was already now that he knew what happened to you. “The witch’s spell wasn’t as effective as an angel banishing sigil so Ana was able to come back pretty quickly.”

You watched as he reached for you, cupping your cheeks and pulling you into him. His lips were on yours before you could react and you let him kiss you, feeling his desperation, knowing he was reassuring himself that you were okay, here in his arms, alive. When he finally broke away from you, he gently grasped your arms and laid his forehead against yours, staring into your eyes. “I should’ve never let you go,” he whispered. “I was only trying to keep you safe, I’m sorry.”

Your brows furrowed slightly. “Dean, what are you talking about?”

He sighed and pressed a tender kiss to your nose before lifting his head. “When Michael let me go the first time, I was scared he was going to come after everybody I cared about so I…” You saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “I ended it between us.”

Your jaw dropped. “Why would you do that? I could have helped you track him down!”

“Because I wanted you safe!” He yelled in exasperation. “I didn’t know what Michael was gonna do, okay? I didn’t want you getting caught in the crossfire!”

“You don’t get to make that decision for me!” You argued.

“Yeah, I do, because I love you, goddammit!” He looked just as surprised as you felt by his accidental admission.

His words hit you like a semi on a slippery freeway. A part of you wanted to respond and the other part…the other part wanted to skip right past it as if it had never been said. Especially when you thought back to the heartbreak you’d felt when he coldly told you that you were done and he needed some space, implying you needed to leave the Bunker asap. No explanation, no goodbye, just…done.

The lump was back in your throat again, forcing you to swallow it back down. “Yeah, well, that still doesn’t give you the right to do what you did.” You crossed your arms and looked away from him, back towards the motel, so he wouldn’t see the tears building in your eyes at his declaration that you would have given anything to hear more than a year ago. You saw the Impala still parked where Dean had left it and you remembered it was facing your room and who was in that room. Too little, too late now.

You felt Dean’s fingers gently grip your chin and turn your head back towards him. His green eyes were glistening, full of a deep sadness you’d only seen before when he talked about his mom and their family back in the day or when he’d finally managed to tell you about his time with Lisa and Ben. “And it didn’t keep you all that safe, did it?” The corners of his lips tipped up in a remorseful smile.

You watched him for a moment and then lifted up on your toes, gripping his face to kiss him. You put everything you felt for him into it, not wanting him to ever doubt just how much of a hold he still had on your heart. When you pulled back, you looked into his eyes and spoke truly. “I love you, Dean. I’m always going to love you. You’re the love of my life.” His eyes softened at your words. “But things are different now. I’m different. And things will never be as they were before.” You ran your thumb tenderly over his lips before stepping back, putting more distance between you.

You saw as he tried to recover from what you’d said, nodding and turning from you to run a hand down his face, effectively wiping away the wetness from his stubbled cheeks. You heard a quiet sniffle and gave him a moment.

“And, uh,” You glanced up at him. “What about your soul? Cas said you still have her mark. Are you still stuck in some deal?”

You smiled, shaking your head. “Not technically. It’s there as more of a failsafe.”

��Failsafe?”

“In case something happens to me, then my soul goes to her. Just like it did the last time.”

“And what if something happens to her?”

You frowned, not liking that possibility being voiced, especially given the current circumstances. Plus, you wouldn’t put it past Dean to be thinking over options to free you. “Then the mark disappears. But then it’s anybody’s game.”

“But you’d be free,” he insisted.

Your jaw clenched and you lifted your chin defiantly. You knew it; you knew Dean and the way he thought way too well. You’d been trained together and hunted together for years, after all. “I don’t want to be free. Not the way you’re implying.”

His brows drew together in confusion. “Why wouldn’t you want to be free?”

“You have Cas. You should understand.”

“Cas doesn’t own my soul, Y/N. That’s completely different.”

“Is it?”

“Uh, yeah, I’d say it is.”

He obviously didn’t get your meaning, or he was trying hard not to. You decided to let it go. “We may not have the profound bond that you and Cas do, but what we have works for us. Let’s just leave it at that.”

He scrubbed at his jaw, staring at you, before closing the distance between you again. This time you expected it when he kissed you and you held onto his jacket, kissing him back. You hadn’t lied before; he was the love of your life, deep within your heart, and he always would be. “If you ever want out of this, you call me,” he whispered.

You nodded, closing your eyes when he leaned in to kiss you again. You knew you wouldn’t be making that call but you knew he would refuse to let you go unless you gave him that reassurance. He rubbed his nose along yours and you nearly smiled at the memory it produced from when you two used to make out as teenagers.

“What about the plan for Chuck? And Amara? Do you still want my help with that?”

“No, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I want you as far from here as you can get. Just in case things go South.”

You stared up at him sadly. “Dean, I know you and Ana have history but she’s only there to protect me. We could help.”

“That’s not it. If this plan doesn’t work, with Jack, then we’re all screwed.”

You tugged at his jacket with your hands. “Which is why you can use all the help you can get.”

“Y/N, you can’t help on this one.” You were about to protest when he spoke again. “Not this time.”

“Then why did you call me?”

He gave you a sad smile and you felt his arms tighten around you. ‘Why do you think?”

Memories flashed through the forefront of your mind:

…“Blaze of Glory” by Bon Jovi playing in the background of the Impala and Dean singing it into your ear as you fell asleep on his shoulder in the backseat,

…Conversations with him and Sam about how you all would like to go out fighting if you had a choice on how you’d die as a hunter,

…Dean holding your bare body to his in the bed of a motel room that he’d been able to secure after a few successful games of Pool while John was on a hunt, with Sam in the next room and you two having just lost your virginities to each other, murmuring how he wanted to keep you with him always, believing that you’d fallen asleep,

…Him cuddling up to you in the Dean Cave during a western you’d seen a thousand times (because it was one of his favorites) and him telling you that he and Sam would be Butch and Sundance but you would be Etta Place which would cause you to frown and him to then grumble that you could be his Sundance which would earn him a kiss on the cheek while Sam rolled his eyes.

You knew right then that he didn’t fully believe Billie’s plan would work, though he hoped it would. Which meant you might never see him again. Because there was no way Chuck wouldn’t be pissed at the attempt and come right after him and Sam.

Your vision began to blur with the building tears and you gave him your own sad smile. “And now you’re sending me away? Again? That’s not how it’s supposed to go. Remember?”

He wiped your cheeks with both thumbs. “You said it yourself, sweetheart, things are different now. Besides, Sam and I talked it over before I came out here. He agrees. We both want you somewhere safe.”

“So you’re making me Etta Place again?” You choked out.

“Baby,” A tear made its way down his cheek. “You were never supposed to be anyone else.”

You sobbed out a laugh and hugged him tightly, not wanting to let him go. “You could come with us. You and Sam and Cas and Jack. You could leave this all behind and come with us. Just as long as you don’t pick Bolivia.”

He chuckled into your ear. “I wish I could, sweetheart. Chuck would find us wherever we tried to go. Billie’s plan is the best we’ve got. We’re going to see it through. And the only way I can do that,” He pulled back from you and held onto your arms, rubbing soothing circles into them with his thumbs. “Is if I know you’re far away from here. She’s another dick angel in my book and I don’t trust her, but if she’ll keep you safe, then that’s all I care about right now.”

You nodded and sniffled. “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”

He framed your face with his hands and shook his head.

More tears spilled down your cheeks. “I love you,” you whispered.

“I love you, too, sweetheart. Always have,” He pulled you into an embrace and kissed the side of your head. “Always will.”

You didn’t know how long you stayed like that for but he held you until the tears finally stopped flowing. You were ashamed at how easily you had been willing to dismiss him from your life after he had broken your heart, after he’d threatened Ana, and now you might never see him again. Your heart literally felt torn in two. A part of you wanted to go with him, no matter how he or Ana might protest, no matter if you ended up dying, but the other part wanted to give him what he asked for. So he could have peace of mind and be able to focus on the plan if for nothing else.

You had loved Dean Winchester since you were ten years old. You knew in that moment, just as you did back then and all of the time between, that you would love him for the rest of your life, however long that might be. He would always have a piece of your heart, even if your soul belonged to somebody else.

You watched as Dean backed Baby out of her spot in front of your room and you gave him a wave. He’d wiped away your tears, kissed you goodbye one last time, and told you to haul ass out of Kansas by morning. He’d promised to call you the following evening with an update.

Once he was speeding down the road out of sight, you opened the door, letting out a breath of relief to see Ana still sitting where you’d left her. You knew Dean didn’t mean her any harm at the moment, but you weren’t sure just how much of your goodbye with Dean she’d actually heard. Probably everything, if her stare was anything to go by.

“I take it you heard everything?”

“I did.” She got to her feet, making her way over to you. “So you still love him, just as I said earlier which you completely denied.”

You gave her a look. “Ana, if you heard everything then you know—”

“I do.” Her eyes studied your face, most likely seeing the puffiness underneath your bloodshot eyes from crying so much. She reached out a hand and cupped your cheek, tenderly stroking it with her thumb. “I’ll give Castiel one thing, human love is beyond puzzling. I certainly didn’t need a magic 8 ball to know how that little convo was going to go. Despite how much Dean Winchester has hurt you, I was pretty sure for a moment there you were going to get another room and I was going to have to listen to the sounds of two primates mating in the wild.”

You yanked your face away and glared at her. “Stop it, Ana.” You made your way to the bed, roughly unzipping your bag and tossing everything of yours inside. “Dean said we should get out of Kansas as soon as possible. He doesn’t know when the next part of Billie’s plan is kicking off or when Amara is going to show up with Chuck, so it might not be safe to spend the night. We should keep moving.” You felt her hand on your shoulder and you let out an irritated sigh before turning to scowl at her. “What?”

She stared at you for a moment before leaning down to brush her lips over yours. You froze, unsure of what to do. Ana had never done something like this before and even stranger, you could feel yourself responding to it. Just like you had with Dean, though it was different, softer, and lit up a separate part of you inside. You felt yourself attempting to deepen the kiss but she pulled away, leaving you feeling dazed, yearning, guilty, and frustrated — a confusing swirl of emotions.

She smirked down at you, pleased with your reaction and trailed a gentle finger over your lips. “We should be fine here for the night. We can leave in the morning when you’ve gotten some sleep so you can drive. I’ll keep watch.” She turned and walked away, still smirking, and left you watching after her in complete shock.

You shook it off the best you could and went about getting the things you would need for the night out of your bag. Ana was kissing you now? That was new. Could today get any more complicated?

You were submerged in darkness, nothing but pure black everywhere you looked. The last thing you knew you were screaming out in agony, feeling infinite pain, mentally begging for death. Then, nothing. You were just floating along in…nothing.

“Come to me.”

You heard the sweetest voice you had ever heard, calling out to you, and you wanted to go to it but you weren’t sure how. When you attempted to move, you couldn’t. You were frozen in a sea of nothing.

“Y/N,” the voice called. “Come to me now.” As soothing as that voice had been, you could hear the clear command at the end. You wanted to go but how?

Suddenly, a shaft of bright blue-white light appeared right in front of you. “Let’s go,” the voice called, sounding much closer and it vibrated off of the blackness surrounding you. The light reached out to you and you somehow reached back. You liked the light, trusted it, and it felt warm when it touched you. Warmth that reminded you of your grandmother’s homemade apple pie fresh out of the oven, Dean and Sam snuggled up against you in the motel rooms you’d stayed in often as children, your mother’s smile as you and your siblings played on the swingset in the backyard, the blanket your father wrapped around you when you were home sick from school, the feeling of Dean’s hand in yours — pure warmth. You felt completely safe and whole, as if nothing bad or painful could get at you here, not while the light was touching you.

“There.” The light pulled you further into it and it was so blindingly beautiful that you felt the urge to cry at the same time that you wanted to smile. “Come to me.” At this final command, you pushed into the light at the same time it pulled you forward and everything went white.

The next second, you were back in your body, staring up at a familiar red-headed woman though her eyes were glowing the same color light you had been moving towards a mere moment ago. Two little dots of the blue-white light focused on you as the angel’s hands rested on your chest, a golden glow emanating from them.

You blinked and coughed and the lights faded from her eyes as did the glow from her hands. Now very worried looking brown eyes were gazing down at you. “Took you long enough,” she muttered. “How do you feel?”

You coughed again and tried to sit up with her helping you. You suddenly took notice of a familiar face, a face that haunted your dreams every single night, sneering at you, her hands bound by an invisible force, hanging from something unseen. Her lips also appeared to be sealed by that same force. “What…happened?” You rasped out.

“There’s no easy way to say this. You died.”

You turned wide eyes on her. “What? H-How?”

Ana glared over at the witch. “Her.”

You met the witch with your own glare and it all came back to you in a flash: the pain, the torture, the screaming, your family. At that last thought, you slowly got to your feet, Ana helping to steady you. “What’s holding her?”

She smirked over at the old hag. “Me.”

Something occurred to you just then. “Why did you bring me back? You had my soul. You could’ve just walked away with it. No one would’ve been the wiser. So why bring me back?” You were very well aware of how this angel operated. You had been brought to the forefront of her business after all, bleeding and torn up on death’s door. Granted, she hadn’t charged you for saving your life but you weren’t ignorant to the donations she usually collected for her services.

Her jaw tightened and you could tell she was thinking it over before she turned to answer you. “I’m nothing if not an excellent businesswoman. A deal’s a deal. The witch was alive and you weren’t. That wasn’t the terms of our agreement so I brought you back. I can’t have word getting around that I don’t hold up my end of the deal. It’s not good for business.”

You weren’t quite sure you believed her. Not only because she was an angel (and an angel that charged people money to heal them) but because somehow you just knew that hadn’t been the reason she’d done it. But that was a problem for later. Now, your focus was on the witch. “So, are you going to let her go so I can finally finish her off?”

“Hmm, I don’t really think that’s a good idea, do you? Last time you went toe to toe with her, you died.”

“You weren’t here then as my backup generator. Now, you are.”

“Oh, really, Rocky? That’s what you think I am? A defibrillator? Maybe I should let her go and let you die again. And this time, I won’t bring you back. You would make a nice addition to my collection of beautiful things stored in my Louis Vuitton. You know, they say diamonds are forever but it’s really all about souls this year.”

You both heard the witch trying to yell something but unable due to her invisible gag. “Okay, seriously, we can argue later. Let her go, Ana, I’ve got this.” You picked up the blade that had been thrust out of your hand before the pain and screaming started, and tensed in preparation.

The angel turned to you with brows drawn together. “Ana?”

“Jo then. Now, come on, let’s do this.” You were more than ready to take this bitch down.

“No. I like the sound of Ana. It’s better.”

You glanced at her in disbelief. “Seriously?”

“Oh. Right.” She went to wave her hand in the witch’s direction when she stopped. “Actually, may I make a suggestion for this little revenge fantasy of yours?”

You shot her a look.

“I think you’ll like it.” She gave you a wicked smirk and then leaned in to whisper in your ear. A smirk started to appear on your own face the more she talked. She had been right. You liked her suggestion. It was going to take you hours to finish the witch and since you had just been brought back to life, fully healed, you had more than enough energy to pull it off.

Bright flashes happened and you could hear the witch’s muffled screams as you carved into her and Ana then healed her. More bright flashes and you could see Ana’s devious smirk as she began to neutralize her angel-style but stopped right before it took. Another bright flash and you glared into the witch’s eyes as you stabbed her, gritting out, “That was for my sister.” As you’d anticipated after agreeing to Ana’s suggestion, it took both of you hours to torture and kill the witch. Ana had liquified her insides multiple times throughout before bringing her back from the brink. Rick and Layla had left long ago, satisfied that they had gotten payback for Carrie with the werewolves they took out and not wanting to be a part of what you and Ana were doing to the witch. Another bright flash and the witch’s lips unsealed with a scream that sounded an awful lot like your sister’s that then turned into booming thunder.

You woke with a gasp and grabbed your gun that always had a few rounds of witch-killing bullets loaded, sitting straight up and glancing around the dark room, aiming for anything that might move. Your eyes came to a stop on Ana, sitting in the same chair as before, her eyes glowing that familiar bluish-white light. You lowered your gun in relief. To anyone else, this very picture might scare them but to you it was soothing and made you feel safe; it reminded you of when she’d brought you back and how it felt before you were back in your body completely.

The glowing light suddenly disappeared and the dark reigned once more. “It’s okay,” she reassured. “It’s just a thunderstorm.” Almost as if to solidify her explanation, a loud clap of thunder sounded overhead. “No one’s here but me.”

You nodded and when the room lit up with a lightning flash, you could see she was right. You placed your gun back underneath your pillow and hugged your knees to your chest. “I had that dream again.”

Ana stopped counting her money and glanced up at you. You always marveled at her ability to see in complete darkness, to the point that she could do things like that without any light whatsoever. “The witch one?”

“Yeah,” you whispered.

“From when you were younger or from when she killed you?”

“When I died. I think telling Dean maybe got me thinking about it again so that’s why…” You gestured towards your head. “I was remembering the pain and the screaming…”

You heard the chair lightly scrape across the floor and in the next flash of lightning, you saw her coming over to you. She gently sat on the bed next to you and wrapped an arm around you, pulling you close until your head was on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t get there fast enough.”

You shook your head. “Don’t apologize. You saved me and then helped me finish her.”

“True.” She ran a tender hand over your hair. “But I wish you didn’t have those memories.” After a moment, she added, “I could take them away if you wanted.” She’d made you this offer before but you had refused it then and you were going to refuse it now.

“No, thanks though. I need those memories to keep me sharp, help keep me alive.”

“I thought that’s what you had me for,” she teased.

You smiled. “My defibrillator?”

Ana scoffed. “I still can’t believe you called me that.”

“You called yourself that. I said you were my backup generator.”

“Same thing.”

You lifted your head and shot her a look. “Hardly.”

She smiled and you couldn’t help but study her. Remembering the kiss earlier, you knew she cared for you more than the average human (any other human really) but you never thought in a million years that she could possibly have feelings…like that. She was an angel and you were only human after all. Didn’t Cas say once that his true form was the size of a Chrysler building and that humans were mere ants to angels? How did the Chrysler building feel anything for an ant?

You remembered seeing Ana’s face for the first time through a haze of pain. She had stared down at you as she started to heal you, her lips parted in shock before they pressed together in determination. You thought back to her insistence that you take her up on her offer of a soul deal to get what you wanted, assuring you that demon deals were a nasty, messy business that you definitely had to read the fine print on before you signed. And the one thing you hadn’t told Dean is that when Ana brought you back after the witch killed you, her mark was no longer on your soul. When you died, your soul had gone to her as per the deal you’d made, but once you were back inside your body, breathing again, your soul was your own. So her whole line of wanting to make sure you both got what you wanted out of the deal had been complete bullshit. Something you didn’t find out until later on, when she reamed you out for almost dying again on another hunt: a dark entity in an abandoned asylum outside of Chicago. By that time, you trusted Ana enough to make another deal with her. If something happened to you, you trusted that she would keep your soul safe until she revived you or otherwise. What that otherwise was you couldn’t be sure, but you trusted her implicitly to look out for you. Something she had been doing ever since you crossed each other’s paths.

Things suddenly became so clear to you, almost as if you had been trying to see out of a foggy window but no matter how much you rubbed at it or turned the defroster on, it never cleared…until now.

Her smile faded slightly when you leaned in and gently brushed your lips against hers, pulling back to see what she would do. Another lightning flash lit up the room and you could see her glancing back and forth between you and your mouth, leaning in slowly. You met her halfway and a light fluttery feeling bloomed in your chest when you connected and this time it was more than just a brush of lips. You turned your body slightly towards her and cupped her cheek, taking control of the kiss. It surprised you a little but it felt like you were kissing someone who was inexperienced. You couldn’t tell if it had to do with you being a woman or a human, and she was holding back either way, or if she had never truly done this before. Regardless, you looked forward to finding out.

She began to mimic your movements and the kiss grew more passionate. You realized that you wanted more of the kiss, more of her. You reached up and began to slowly unbutton her Mulberry silk blouse (as she’d told you so many times before when warning you not to get it dirty if you opened something near her) but her hand covered yours, stopping you.

You broke away from her, your brows drawn together. “What?”

She trailed fingertips from your cheek down to your lips, intently studying you.

“Ana?”

Her eyes met yours. “You need sleep so you can drive in the morning. I said we would be okay staying here tonight, but once morning hits, we need to leave.” You went to protest when she shook her head. “Once we’re far enough away, we’ll have plenty of time for this. But for now, sleep.”

You wanted to argue that Chuck could soon end all life as you knew it so there was no time like the present but this was also new to you. You’d never been with a woman before, never mind an angel. What were the rules? How did it go? Being with Dean, you’d seen some porn in your time so you vaguely had an idea how it went with women, but nothing concrete. You’d only ever been with Dean and a few other guys after all. But an angel inside a female human vessel…and a female human…put point blank, how the hell did that work?

So, you didn’t push and instead, nodded your agreement. Ana got off the bed and you laid back down, settling the sheets over you once more. She took a seat next to you, sitting against the headboard, and began to gently brush your hair back with her hand. You had always wondered why she always seemed to be touching you or caressing you when you two were alone (and she wasn’t miffed at you); now you knew why. It wasn’t long before your eyes started to close and you began to drift off, hoping you wouldn’t go straight back into a nightmare. Thankfully, the thunder seemed to be moving away from your location.

Almost as if she heard your thoughts, Ana murmured, “Sleep. I’ll keep you safe.”

You nearly smiled at her words. You never told her this because not only would she have gotten offended but she would’ve denied it to the ground, but most times, you almost felt like you had a guardian angel watching over you. A guardian angel that dressed better than most humans and would kill for a top of the line Hermes handbag (and you meant that literally). Who gave you dirty looks and a hard time most days, but a guardian nonetheless. Now, you weren’t quite sure what she would be to you. You were now glad she had stopped you before. You both had some things to figure out and a discussion should be had whenever you got to where you were going next, but regardless, one thing was for sure: you knew she would keep you safe.

A/N: I know Cas had to stick his hand inside a human's chest to be able to read the marks of an angel on the bones of that human, but I decided to adjust it for fic purposes. I initially was going to do something similar to the handprint but I liked this idea better.

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farity · 2 years

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The Choice

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Baratheon OFC

Summary: Playing out that scene of Aemond going to Storm’s End, if Lucerys didn’t show up.

He heard soft laughter, from the girl furthest to his left, and Aemond Targaryen wondered who would be so bold as to mock his plan.

“I’m not doing this. Father.”

He turned to find one of the four Baratheon daughters, he didn’t know which one, hands on hips, staring at Lord Borros, head of House Baratheon.

“Carys.” The single word held exasperation that let Aemond know that it wasn’t the first time Borros Baratheon had dealt with her impertinence. “Prince Aemond has requested to, what was it?” he turned to his maester.

“Uh, to sample the nectar of their lips so he may choose which one he wishes to wed.”

“Right.”

Aemond walked towards Carys, who was still looking at her father. “And why is my request a problem for you?”

She had the dark hair of a Baratheon, a heart-shaped face, a pert little nose, and wide eyes full of disdain. Her lips, however-

“You are here asking for my father’s favor.” she said, smirking at him. “The way I see it, it is the person granting the favor who holds the upper hand. Father, I am not to be sampled like merchandise at a village fair, may I retire to my chambers?”

One of her sisters couldn’t hide her laughter, and Aemond started to feel like he was losing control of the situation. It bit at him that this girl could dismiss him so very easily, and impulse, which he managed to control every day of his life, got the best of him.

“I have made my choice, Lord Borros,” he declared, standing in front of Carys. “I will marry this one.”

She turned from her father to face him, a frown marring her features. “I beg your pardon?”

“This one,” Aemond repeated.

“I have a name,” she snapped back, not bothering to hide her dislike of him.

Aemond leaned in until his nose almost touched hers. To her credit, she did not flinch. “Your name doesn’t matter to me.” He nodded at the maester, who ran off to follow his instructions.

“Father,” Carys stepped around Aemond, “I do not wish this.”

Lord Borros sighed. Carys was his youngest, and his favorite. “I agreed to allow Prince Aemond his choice of bride. I made a vow.”

“Grandfather vowed to support the Princess Rhaenyra, and yet here we are,” she countered.

Aemond knew what he had to do. Choose one of the others, all of him seemed far more amiable than Carys. He could go home with a malleable wife, get some children on her, then send her off to live somewhere else when he got bored.

And then he pictured Carys, belly swollen with his child. Carys, who was breathing heavily as she pled her case, breasts heaving, but this time underneath him, in his bed, as he drove into her. Her eyes, flashing fire, but not in anger, but looking down at him as she rode him, his hands digging into her hips so hard he’d leave bruises on her skin. Those perfectly plush lips around his cock.

“We are agreed, then, Lord Borros,” he said as he saw the maester, who was coming back with another man.

Carys ran to her father, kneeling at his feet. “Father, please.”

“My child,” Borros said quietly. “I am sorry.”

The maester and the septon stood ready to begin the ceremony, and Aemond could see the panic in Carys’ eyes as she walked toward him. “May I have a moment, your highness?” She grabbed the edge of his sleeve and pulled him a few feet away, still within sight of everyone, but where her words could be heard by him alone.

“Why?”

Aemond raised his eyebrows, feigning ignorance.

“Why are you doing this? Because I didn’t want your mouth on mine after you’ve kissed my sisters?”

“I need not explain my reasons to you. You should simply feel gratitude for being chosen as the bride of the King’s brother.”

Carys pursed her lips together, shaking her head. “Any of them, any of them, will make a far better wife than I. I am spoiled, outspoken, and have gotten my way since I was a babe. You do not want me for your wife.”

Aemond smirked down at her. “And yet,” he said slowly, “here we are.”

She heard her earlier words being thrown back at her and felt the urge to rip out his other eye. The way he was towering over her might intimidate a meeker woman, Carys thought, the weapons at his sides might make him fearsome. When he’d leaned in earlier, she’d felt the brush of his silver hair, the smell of leather and spices.

“Shall we?” he offered his hand, literally this time, and when she placed hers on it, not seeing another way out, she felt how warm he was, saw how his long, elegant fingers wrapped themselves around her much smaller hand. “Your hand is cold,” he noted, and pressed his other hand on top of hers as they walked back.

* * * * *

“Have you ever ridden a dragon?”

“Oh yes, all the time.”

Aemond closed his eye for a moment. Why he’d hoped she might stop being so combative after their wedding, he didn’t know. At the end, he’d leaned in to brush his lips across hers and she’d turned her face so his kiss landed on her jaw. He could have grabbed her face and turned her back, she was his after all and he could do as he wished with her, but he’d seen how her shoulders had sunk and the fire had gone out of her eyes. She wasn’t used to losing.

When he’d told her they were going back on Vhagar, he’d seen the brief moment of fear in her eyes, but all she’d said was, “then I will change,” and disappeared down a hallway. She had come back wearing breeches, boots, and enough layers to survive in The Land of Always Winter. She was small but shapely, and he felt his cock stir as he watched her approach the dragon.

He started to speak to Vhagar in High Valyrian, and she glanced from him to the dragon. “She is going to smell you. Do not be frightened, and be still,” he held her hand as Vhagar turned her head toward Carys.

She went stone-still as the dragon moved her head past her and around her, her fingers tightening on his but otherwise not moving.

“Put your open hand on her, here,” he indicated on the dragon’s jaw, and Carys gripped him even tighter, but slowly raised her other hand, pressing it gently to Vhagar’s jaw. The dragon let out a long breath and Carys smiled. “She is magnificent,” she whispered in awe.

“She is.”

She looked back at him and her smile vanished. “Now I climb?”

He nodded, walking her around to where the rope ladder was. She began climbing with him following, the tempting curves of her hips and ass staring him in the face as she took each step up.

“It will be safer if you sit in front of me.”

“Won’t I block your view?”

He laughed, much to her annoyance, “I doubt it, unless you grow another foot in the next minute.” He guided her to sit and wrapped the saddle belt around her waist, fingers flexing at the feel of her. “If you’re going to be sick, please lean over the side.”

“I can always turn around if I am going to be sick,” she said sweetly as he sat behind her. “Wait,” she said, watching him take the reins. “Are you not securing yourself?”

“Worried about me?” he smiled, “how very wifely of you.”

Carys shook her head, huffing at his words, “All I meant is how do I steer her if you fall off? Accidentally, of course. After all, nothing in life is certain.”

Was she seriously implying she might push him off his own dragon? Aemond couldn’t help but smile again. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she tensed immediately. “Your concern is much appreciated, wife,” he whispered in her ear. “I promise you, we will be in King’s Landing shortly to enjoy the first night of our marriage.”

She elbowed him in the ribs, but he didn’t move. “Gods take me.”

No, Aemond thought, I will.

* * * * *

Carys was terrified as the giant dragon began taking steps, preparing to take to the skies. Aemond’s arm was like a vise around her, and she felt oddly reassured by him. He’d chosen to secure her to the saddle but not himself, and frankly, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he simply pushed her off during the flight and save himself the trouble of dealing with her.

Vhagar took three large steps and then leapt, her large wings spreading to catch air, and Carys felt her breath catch for a moment. Her gloved hands were gripping the edge of the saddle as Aemond easily directed the dragon with just one hand on the pommel. She remembered how warm his hands had been earlier, how he’d warmed her small, cold hand between his. She was sitting between his thighs, her bottom nestled against him and all she could feel from him was heat. Vhagar soared and she bit her lip to keep from whimpering in fear.

“You are perfectly safe,” Aemond said in her ear. “I have you.”

Vhagar drifted down to turn and Carys felt herself shifting on the saddle. She was secure, she knew, but pushed back, wriggling her hips. She felt something against her bottom, something pulsing, slowly getting harder, and went completely still, realizing what was happening.

“Stop. Moving.” Aemond growled at her.

“I was sliding off,” she snapped back, and for good measure, wriggled her bottom again.

He jerked her back against him, “Lady wife, unless you want to consummate our marriage atop Vhagar, stop moving your ass so much!”

Carys chose to ignore him, and pointed down and to the right. “What is that?”

“Blackwater Bay.”

“Huh,” she said. “Looks tame. We’re used to rougher currents down in Storm’s End.”

“I’m sure you have personally sailed many ships, Carys.”

She couldn’t help but smile at hearing him, finally, say her name. Of course, she had been just as stubborn and had yet to say his, so she supposed that was a point in her favor. This whole business of her father swearing fealty to King Aegon had not gone her way at all. She’d hoped that Aemond would choose Maris, who was her least favorite sister, and then she’d never have to deal with the nasty shrew again, but no, she had to mock him and make him notice her.

The septon had raced through the wedding ceremony, and before she knew it, Aemond was leaning in to kiss her. She’d turned away, his warm lips landing on her jaw, earning her a sigh from her father. Well, she wouldn’t be around to irritate him any more, she thought, and suddenly felt the loss of everything she had known until then. As much as she annoyed her father, she would miss their talks, breaking their fast together, his stories about her mother. She might never see him again, she realized, and she felt a pang of despair so strong she could tell tears were welling up in her eyes.

She wouldn’t cry, certainly not in front of him. Not when she was the only one responsible for her current situation. As usual, she had only herself to blame for the predicament she was in, just like when she was six and had climbed the main storage building despite repeatedly being told not to. She couldn’t figure out how to get back down and had spent the night alone, crying, and so cold she almost froze to death.

And now she was newly wedded to a man she’d heard was dangerous, about to start a new life in a foreign place, full of people she didn’t know, and she was expected to start bearing children as soon as possible. Well done, you idiot.

* * * * *

Carys had gone silent in the last few minutes, and although he welcomed the peace and quiet, Aemond wondered what had changed. They were almost back at King’s Landing, and he’d been wondering how he’d break the news to his mother and grandfather that he had not only secured support from Lord Borros, but by the way, he’d also gotten married, not just betrothed.

He saw Carys lift a hand to wipe her eyes and immediately grabbed her shoulder. She jumped, startled, and he leaned in to speak. “Are you alright?”

She nodded, but he wasn’t convinced.

“Are you crying?”

She shook her head forcefully.

“We are about to land.”

She nodded again.

He heard her sharp intake of breath when Vhagar started descending and he tightened his arm around her.

* * * * *

She supposed King’s Landing was rather grand, although it was a lot more austere than she’d expected. She remembered tales from her grandfather about the “improper art on the walls” but she couldn’t see any. Everything was quiet, dark, unadorned, except for huge seven pointed stars everywhere.

“Aemond.”

She turned at the sound of a man’s voice, and saw an older gentleman, bearded, about the same build as Aemond. There was a Hand of the King pin on his jacket and she realized this was Ser Otto Hightower.

“Grandfather.” Aemond glanced at her and then back at Ser Otto. She noticed how he straightened his back, as if bracing himself. “This is my wife, the Lady Carys Baratheon.”

Ser Otto went very still and Carys wanted to laugh. For once, it was someone else paying for being impulsive. “Wife?”

“Aemond!”

This time it was a woman’s voice, and when Carys turned, she saw a beautiful woman dressed in green rushing to greet Aemond. He kissed her cheek and again, seemed to steel himself as he glanced at Carys. “Mother, this is my wife, the Lady Carys Baratheon.”

The woman turned slowly, letting go of Aemond as she appraised Carys from head to toe.

“Your Grace,” Carys said, sinking into a graceful curtsy, “I am glad to make your acquaintance.”

“Wife?” queen Alicent said, looking from Aemond to his new wife, and back again.

Oh, this is going great, thought Carys.

“Yes, mother. I secured support from Lord Borros and chose to marry his daughter at Storm’s End. She will need to be made comfortable in my chambers.”

No one said anything for a few moments, and then Aemond extended his hand. Carys placed her hand in his and let him take her to his rooms.

* * * * *

"You were supposed to betroth yourself to one of them, not marry anyone!”

“Yet it is done, grandfather, and I will have my wife treated with kindness and respect.”

Ser Otto Hightower looked at his grandson, shaking his head. “Has the marriage been consummated? I think not, unless the deed was done before you flew back.”

Aemond knew what his grandfather was thinking, and he immediately stood to stop this from going any further. “It will be. I will not have the marriage annulled, if that is what you are hinting at.”

“Why?” Otto insisted. “She is hardly a beauty, I cannot understand how she has tricked you into marrying her.”

“I have tricked no one, Ser Otto.”

All three of them turned to look at Carys standing at the doorway.

Aemond noticed her skin was still pink from the bath she’d requested after riding Vhagar, and her dark hair was damp, but braided down her back.

“Child,” his mother began, “you can be back home tomorrow if you wish.”

“And then I would be damaged goods, married and returned to my father? No,” Carys shook her head. She looked at Aemond.

“We need a minute,” he said, nodding at her.

“Take ten,” Ser Otto said as he walked out with his daughter.

The moment the door closed behind them, Carys turned to Aemond. “I never wanted this, you know that, even after you chose me, I tried to change your mind.”

“I know.”

“I will not be sent back like rotten meat when I was against this from the beginning.”

“You will not be sent back.”

“If you’re sorry now, that is not my fault and I-”

He reached out and she found herself in his arms, his mouth on hers, and her head began to swim with surprise and need. Her arms rose to his shoulders, fingertips playing with his silver hair.

The heat of him burned through her clothes and his, the layers of fabric and, in his case, leather and metal. Aemond pulled back, breathing hard, and grabbed her wrist. “Come with me.” He opened the hidden door beside the bookshelf and took the shortcut to his bedchamber. He would not take her in his grandsire’s office, with him and his mother probably listening outside.

“You know what we need to do,” he said between kisses, locking the door after them.

“Yes,” she breathed out, pulling him back to her.

She let him pick her up and set her down on the edge of his bed, let him raise her skirts until her thighs were bared to him. She helped him undo his breeches, nodded when he asked her if she agreed.

Aemond didn’t realize how much he’d been fearing she’d say no until she nodded, and once fear was gone, pure raw lust took over. He reached down, guiding himself inside her, then grabbed under her knee and hooked her leg around his hip.

“This will hurt for a moment,” he said as she wrapped her other leg around him. Before she could say anything, he drove his hips hard against her, seating himself fully inside her.

Carys bit down on her lip, making only a small sound of distress as she tried to adjust to having him filling her, stretching her. Aemond cupped her cheek, raised her face to his, kissed her until he felt some of the tension ease. She was tight, hot, and he was desperate to lose himself in her.

“I’m okay,” she said shakily, and rolled her hips.

It was all he needed, that small bit of encouragement, and he started snapping his hips against her. If the blood of the dragon ran hot then she was more than his equal, because she was moving with him, meeting every thrust, one hand holding onto his back and the other fisted in his hair. She was whimpering against his mouth, and he felt her tighten around him, her inner muscles milking him as the orgasm tore through her, and he let go, the world around him fading as he surrendered to his own release.

* * * * *

That had been truly extraordinary.

Carys had never experienced anything like it, had heard plenty of talk hiding behind stairwells and doors, but nothing could have prepared her for feeling like an earthquake was happening inside her.

“Is it always like that?” she asked a few minutes later, when her breathing was somewhat back to normal. Aemond was laying beside her, and he seemed just as overtaken by their joining as she was, although she was pretty sure it wasn’t his first time.

“No,” he said, turning to face her. “Are you still in pain?”

“Oh no,” she replied, “it went away pretty quickly. How is it not always like that?”

He reached over, placed a hand over her mouth. “Give me a minute, harpy!”

She pushed his hand away, laughing. “Take your minute, I have some rearranging to do here.” She left him to clean herself up, undid her braid since so much of her hair had come loose, fixed her stockings. When she returned to his bed, he was fully dressed again, standing with his back to her.

“Aemond.”

He turned, and she saw that he wasn’t wearing his eyepatch. Instead, there was a brilliant sapphire where his eye had once been. He’d also removed the tie that held his hair away from his face, and it fell straight down, framing the sharp angles of his face. There was challenge in his eye, and all Carys could do was close the distance between them and stare up at him.

“Carys.”

“When did you have the sapphire put in?”

“It was much later.”

She thought for a moment. “So you had to have the skin cut open again.” When he said nothing, she shook her head, smiling. “Did you feel it?”

“Yes.”

“You’re terrifying.”

“That is why I wear the eyepatch.”

She saw the way his shoulders tensed and his back went even more straight. “I do not mean the fact that you are missing an eye is terrifying. I met you today and I have never been afraid of you. Annoyed with you, exasperated, utterly irritated, yes-”

“Oh good, and here I was thinking you’d only be terrified.”

“Please sit, my neck is starting to hurt from looking up at you.”

He sat and grabbed her hips, pulling her closer until she stood between his thighs. “Is this acceptable, wife?”

“You know, if your grandfather truly does not want me here, he can still-”

Aemond’s hands tightened on her hips. “Carys. You are my wife. I am very loyal to my family, that is true, but this was my choice. You are my choice. You may already be carrying my child.”

Carys opened her mouth to speak, but there was loud knocking on the door, and then Ser Otto was calling for Aemond.

* * * * *

“She will not be sent back,” Aemond said, sitting next to Carys in his mother’s rooms. "The marriage has been consummated, she is my choice, I do not see why we are still discussing this.”

Queen Alicent looked up at her father, who was still pacing by the window, but Aemond continued.

“If I’d broken the betrothal later on, Lord Borros might have switched his allegiance to Rhaenyra, so in any case, it would be in our best interest to honor it. And there is still Daeron you can use for any other alliance.”

Alicent closed her eyes, “he is right, father. We were not going to betroth Aemond to a Baratheon just to break with them later.”

“Fine,” Ser Otto snapped. “Welcome, Lady Carys, I wish you much joy of your marriage.” He nodded at his grandson and walked out.

“He seems sweet,” Carys said quietly, earning herself an elbow on the ribs from Aemond.

Alicent stood, “dinner should be ready shortly, I will see you both there.” She walked out, heading the opposite direction from her father.

“Come on, I will have you meet Helaena and her children.”

* * * * *

#aemond targaryen #aemond x oc #aemond targaryen fanfic #aemond fanfiction #aemond targaryen x oc

189 notes · View notes

biblepercent · 3 months

Note

Dear, Adonis

I'm sorry that that man is your father, let me be honest

It takes a man to be a man, your dad is not responsive

I look at him and wish your grandpa would've wore a condom

I'm sorry that you gotta grow up and then stand behind him

Life is hard, I know, the challenge is always gon' beat us home

Sometimes our parents make mistakes that affect us until we grown

And you're a good kid that need good leadership

Let me be your mentor since your daddy don't teach you shit

Never let a man piss on your leg, son

Either you die right there or pop that man in the head, son

Never fall in the escort business, that's bad religion

Please remember, you could be a bitch even if you got bitches

Never code-switch, whether right or wrong, you a black man

Even if it don't benefit your goals, do some push-ups, get some discipline

Don't cut them corners like your daddy did, fuck what Ozempic did

Don't pay to play with them Brazilians, get a gym membership

Understand, no throwin' rocks and hidin' hands, that's law

Don't be ashamed 'bout who you with, that's how he treat your moms

Don't have a kid to hide a kid to hide again, be sure

Five percent will comprehend, but 95 is lost

Be proud of who you are, your strength come from within

Lotta superstars that's real, but your daddy ain't one of them

And you nothing like him, you'll carry yourself as king

Can't understand me right now? Just play this when you 18

Dear, Sandra

Your son got some habits, I hope you don't undermine them

Especially with all the girls that's hurt inside this climate

You a woman, so you know how it feels to be in alignment

With emotion, hopin' a man can see you and not be blinded

Dear Dennis, you gave birth to a master manipulator

Even using you to prove who he is, is a huge favor

I think you should ask for more paper, and more paper

And more, uh, more paper

I'm blaming you for all his gambling addictions

Psychopath intuition, the man that like to play victim

You raised a horrible fucking person, the nerve of you, Dennis

Sandra, sit down, what I'm about to say is heavy, now listen

Mm-mm, your son's a sick man with sick thoughts, I think niggas like him should die

Him and Weinstein should get fucked up in a cell for the rest they life

He hates Black women, hypersexualizes 'em with kinks of a nympho fetish

Grew facial hair because he understood bein' a beard just fit him better

He got sex offenders on hoe-VO that he keep on a monthly allowance

A child should never be compromised and he keepin' his child around them

And we gotta raise our daughters knowin' there's predators like him lurkin'

Fuck a rap battle, he should die so all of these women can live with a purpose

I been in this industry 12 years, I'ma tell y'all one lil' secret

It's some weird shit goin' on and some of these artists be here to police it

They be streamlinin' victims all inside of they home and callin' 'em tender

Then leak videos of themselves to further push their agendas

To any woman that be playin' his music, know that you're playin' your sister

Or better, you're sellin' your niece to the weirdos, not the good ones

Katt Williams said, "Get you the truth, " so I'ma get mines

The Embassy 'bout to get raided, too, it's only a matter of time

Ayy, LeBron, keep the family away, hey, Curry, keep the family away

To anybody that embody the love for they kids, keep the family away

They lookin' at you too if you standin' by him, keep the family away

I'm lookin' to shoot through any pervert that lives, keep the family safe

Dear, baby girl

I'm sorry that your father not active inside your world

He don't commit to much but his music, yeah, that's for sure

He a narcissist, misogynist, livin' inside his songs

Try destroy families rather than takin' care of his own

Should be teachin' you timetables or watchin' Frozen with you

Or at your eleventh birthday singin' poems with you

Instead, he be in Turks payin' for sex and poppin' Percs, examples that you don't deserve

I wanna tell you that you're loved, you're brave, you're kind

You got a gift to change the world, and could change your father's mind

'Cause our children is the future, but he lives inside confusion

Money's always been illusion, but that's the life he's used to

His father prolly didn't claim him neither

History do repeats itself, sometimes it don't need a reason

But I would like to say it's not your fault that he's hidin' another child

Give him grace, this the reason I made Mr. Morale

So our babies like you can cope later

Give you some confidence to go through somethin', it's hope later

I never wanna hear you chase a man 'cause his failed behavior

Sittin' in the club with sugar daddies for validation

You need to know that love is eternity and trumps all pain

I'll tell you who your father is, just play this song when it rains

Yes, he's a hitmaker, songwriter, superstar, right

And a fuckin' deadbeat that should never say "more life"

Meet the Grahams

Dear, Aubrey

I know you probably thinkin' I wanted to crash your party

But truthfully, I don't have a hatin' bone in my body

This supposed to be a good exhibition within the game

But you fucked up the moment you called out my family's name

Why you had to stoop so low to discredit some decent people?

Guess integrity is lost when the metaphors doesn't reach you

And I like to understand 'cause your house was never a home

37, but you showin' up as a seven-year-old

You got gamblin' problems, drinkin' problems, pill-poppin' and spendin' problems

Bad with money, whorehouse

Solicitin' women problems, therapy's a lovely start

But I suggest some ayahuasca, strip the ego from the bottom

I try to empathize with you 'cause I know that you ain't been through nothin'

Crave entitlement, but wanna be liked so bad that it's puzzlin'

No dominance, let's recap moments when you didn't fit in

No secret handshakes with your friend

No cultural cachet to binge, just disrespectin' your mother

Identity's on the fence, don't know which family will love ya

The skin that you livin' in is compromised in personas

Can't channel your masculine even when standin' next to a woman

You a body shamer, you gon' hide them baby mamas, ain't ya?

You embarrassed of 'em, that's not right, that ain't how mama raised us

Take that mask off, I wanna see what's under them achievements

Why believe you? You never gave us nothin' to believe in

'Cause you lied about religious views, you lied about your surgery

You lied about your accent and your past tense, all is perjury

You lied about your ghostwriters, you lied about your crew members

They all pussy, you lied on 'em, I know they all got you in 'em

You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh

You lied about them other kids that's out there hopin' that you come

You lied about the only artist that can offer you some help

Fuck a rap battle, this a long life battle with yourself

75% of these words are in the bible, and I do not hate myself enough to mark which.

#asks!#Anonymous #over 75%#submissions!#bible%

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titleleaf · 6 months

Text

more on BG Sister Matilda and the Dune Encyclopedia

The Dune Encyclopedia is put together like a collection of different in-universe articles and commentaries, and the result is really interesting if sometimes very frustrating. This kind of meta storytelling approach allowed the contributors to address some of the inadvertent inconsistencies and unexplored elements of the novels' worldbuilding but also to get a little silly with it. The entry on the mandatory SFF fuck-planet Gamont is so freaking weird that I have to share it with my fellow Duneposters -- we're given a passage from the diary of a humble Bene Gesserit laundress as she records the curious customs and peculiar folk songs she encounters there and we get the flavor of the place through her stubbornly innocent POV. This interlude was written by J.R.M. aka Julia Reed; the text that follows is Reed's, while all transcription errors are mine.

[content note: the cultural insensitivity in this is a little different than usual for Dune -- some of the themed areas on Gamont relate to Orientalist and racist fantasies around sexual enslavement drawn from our own Earth history, handled with all the flippancy of a horny Disney theme park. Also the canonicity of this is... dubious.]

****

Sabhaasdii, nAudrim 28:

Cold and windy again today, but the laundry-room is always warm. Lots of sisters complain about Wallach's weather, but not me. My job is a blessing.

Shannisdii, nAudrim 29:

Entertainment tonight. A very special dinner in honor of His Grace, Duke Philippos from Gallatin and his wife — a great lady, you could tell. After supper in the Great Hall, his musicians played and our choir sang. And that was very nice, but then I almost died! His Grace introduced his mentat — a fine-looking man, but tunic not well pressed — and asked him to very kindly favor us with a demonstration. Well, the mentat looked right at me and asked me what I did, so I told him I was the head laundress. Then he wrote something down on a piece of paper, and asked me to ask him any question that I wanted. Well, I don't know why, but the first thing popped into my head, and I said, "How many stars are in the Lyre Nebula?" Then he passed the note to Reverend Mother and asked her to read it out, and she did — it said "The number of stars in the Lyre Nebula is" — and then some big number. Well, that didn't go over too well. I mean, there was some polite applause, but mentats, after all!

Jehansdii, nAudrim 30:

I think I figured it out, what the mentat did. When I went to work this morning, I picked up the soap box and right on the back there's this big ad for a contest "Name the Stars". And it said, how many stars in the Lyre Nebula, and if you fill it out, you win a prize if you're right. And then I remembered that the mentat asked me what I did first, before anything, I still have his paper for a souvenir. I ought to send it in. Serve him right.

Phyllisdii, neSheustim 15:

I won!!! I can't believe it!!! The mentat was right and I won a Two-Week, All- Expense Paid Trip to Gamont, Planet of Pleasure, wherever that is.

Mothersdii. neSheustim 16:

Well I went to 'see Mother Caius today and it was very strange — very strange indeed. Said no. Said Sister Matilda, the trip would be too strenuous for a woman of your years. My years! I said I'm only fifty-seven add I've been doing laundry for forty years, and the the last eight and you can't be all that weak if you can do that. Then I told her just how much wash there was to be toted around. I promised to take Sister Bertha with me, so Mother said we could keep an eye on one another. Then she said something about innocence being the best protection and sent me off.

Glensdii, neSheustim 25:

I've been so busy I've really neglected my diary. A lot to catch up on. First, I'm writing this from Gamont, which is a very odd place. When we got off the ship, there was a wire fence between us and a line marked "Departures," and over on the other side were some Sardaukars of Salvation playing music and handing out pamphlets and passing the tambour. I was going to give them a donation and get some religious reading for the quiet times, but apparently the law allows them only to talk to a person going home, not one coming in. Then we went outside, and people were singing and natives were putting strings of beads around everyone's neck. These beads are to pay for things on Gamont, you just pop one off and use it like money. A very pretty little boy came running over to me and Bertha and said are you from Wallach, Sisters Matilda and Bertha? We said yes and he winked and handed us two brown envelopes. We looked inside and, goodness, the necklaces must have had two hundred beads on them. Later a man said, "Hey, you're Bene Gesserit." And we said that's right, how did you know? He said the B.G.'s always get their beads in plain envelopes. I don't think I'll ever spend all my beads — I mean, how much can one person eat and drink? Maybe souvenirs for the sisters in the laundry.

Twosday, neSheustim 26:

I'm exhausted. I woke up when it was still dark because I could hear someone breathing in bed with me, and I thought "Poor Bertha, she must be homesick," and I said "Now, now, Bertha," and I turned the light on. But no, it wasn't Bertha but a very handsome young man with a mustache. And I said "Young man, get out of my bed immediately!" and I thought, some hotel to make a mistake like that! Well, I guess I woke up Bertha, too, and she screamed because there was a man in her bed, and my young man said, "But I am your guide to the pleasures of Gamont," and I said it was too dark to see anything on Gamont. Then I called the manager and things got straightened out. He said Ahmed and Pol (the boys) would be available in the morning to take us sightseeing. I think this vacation is going to be more of a strain than the spring cleaning wash.

I certainly learned things about Gamont when it got light. I thought it was for vacations, like the seaside on Kestrel where my parents used to take me, and people would build sandcastles and swim and eat ices in the evening.

Gamont is not like that.

The whole place is divided into what they call little worlds. You go inside one and you can pretend you are someone in the past or future and they do all sorts of unusual things. We got in a carriage drawn by a thorse and Ahmed and Pol started to show us the sights.

First we went to Eden. There was a woman dressed up like a snake at the entrance who wanted us to check our clothing and pick a costume from the rack. On the rack marked "Adams'' were all these leaves of all different sizes (but fake ones — cotton), but they were all marked "Extra-Large." There were different brands, too, Fig, Conan, Stud, though what kind of a tree a stud is, I can't say. Well, I certainly wasn't going to get undressed, so we didn't go in Eden.

I asked Ahmed if there wasn't a seashore we could go to, and he said sure, and we drove off again. We came to a world called Nantucket, and decided to have lunch before going to the beech. There was a restaurant called The Flipping Frog. Food all right. There was entertainment, too — a man and a woman sang a very funny (but sometimes puzzling) song. Here's what I remember about the beginning:

First the girl sang,

"Who's that knocking on my door?" "Who's that knocking on my door?" "Who's that knocking on my door?" Said the fair young maiden.

The boy answered,

"D' ye ken me still, I'm Barnacle Bill, O' the 'Rakis Royal Navy. And here I stand, come from 'neath the sand, With the 'Rakis Royal Navy."

So the girl told him to wipe his feet upon the mat, but there must have been a hundred verses, and our food came, and I don't remember the rest. Afterwards we went to the beach. Bertha and I had a good time wading and enjoying the sun. Ahmed and Pol played cards.

Oh, I almost forgot: Gamont has seven days in its week. They're called Funday, Manday, Twosday, Womanday, Threesday, Tryitday, and Satyrday. When the couple was singing, Bertha almost choked, she was laughing so hard and her face got so red. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "When in Gamont, do as the Gamontians do." So I'm dating my diary differently while we're here. It'll be a nice memento.

Womanday, neSheustim 27:

I had a scare today. Went to Harem World and lost Bertha. We put costumes on — pretty things, but sheer, my goodness, you can see right through them. Little sheer pink top. Full, gathered pantaloon thing. Pretty gold belt. Hand wash, I guess, in cold water. But anyway, I think Bertha's getting upset by the excitement or something. I kept my underwear on when I put the costume on, but Bertha didn't. And I started to scold her, but she just gave me that "When on Gamont" business again.

Well, we went into the palace, and it was beautiful, I must say that for it, but a little gaudy — soft music and water splashing in fountains and men and women lolling around in little dark alcoves. Two huge men in turbans took us to reclining harem-chairs, and I guess I went to sleep. When I woke up Bertha was gone. I yelled for Ahmed and Pol and they came running from somewhere pulling their clothes on. I guess they were napping too. So we looked for Bertha through long dark hallways with men in turbans in front of the doors. They wouldn't let me in, so I just called out at each door we came to. Then we came to a door that said "Sultan's Chamber," and it was open, and inside there was Bertha, stark naked, sitting on a big red velvet pouffy cushion thing. I told the boys to shut their eyes and went in. Bertha just kept grinning, and saying, "The Sultan chose me, the Sultan chose me." I got her dressed and the boys helped me take her back to the hotel. I told Pol to stay in the room with her all day tomorrow and make sure she stayed quiet and rested.

Threesday, Jehannesdii, neSheustim 28:

After yesterday's scare and today's shock, I know I'll live forever, because if they didn't kill me, nothing will. There is a Bene Gesserit House on Gamont! Why didn't Mother Caius tell me? I think I know.

Ahmed was driving me in the carriage through the streets, and I was looking at the places — Ol' Plantation, Gay Paree — when I saw a little shop called "Ve Haf Vays" and I told Ahmed to stop. I'd been wanting to get some souvenirs for the sisters at home, and this was a leather-goods store with beautiful belts and boots in the window. Not much of a selection though — everything was black, besides there were too many buckles and straps and things. They even had whips, though why anyone would want to whip a sweet gentle creature like a thorse I don't know. Anyway, there I was in front of the store when I saw the B.G. emblem on the house on the comer. I couldn't believe my eyes. But I was so happy. I went right up to the door and knocked.

A little old sister opened the door, but she seemed surprised to see me — she said "They usually send younger ones." Then she shook her head and said "No accounting for taste" and led me into the parlor. And all over the walls of the parlor were these pictures of women. Well, I won't try to describe them, but let me tell you I recognized some. There was that nice young (and smart) Helen Mohiam, and it's beyond me why she would let them take a picture of her sun-bathing.

The head of the house (I will not call her Mother) came in, her face all painted and her eyelashes all long and black with some stuff on them. She says, "You're not one of my girls. Who are you?"

"No," I said, "I'm Sister Matilda, the head laundress from Wallach come to see your house. Who are you?”

And she said, "I'm the Procuratrix. Are you a lay sister?"

"Certainly not. I am a regularly professed sister and have been for forty years. And what, I'd like to know, is a lay sister?"

She said, "Oh, think of it as a little joke." And then she began the most garbled and incredible story I've ever heard. It seems there are three kinds of sisters — the regular ones that live in the chapter houses, and some that go into the world and marry and have families — well, I knew that — but then there are others, the lay sisters (some joke!), whose job is to infiltrate the Great Houses and let the sisterhood know what's going on.

"Aren't the women sent to the courts regular sisters?" I asked.

"Well, they are," she said, "in a manner of speaking. You know."

"No, I don't," I said.

"Well, put it this way," she said, "they serve as concubines and sometimes even wives. They come here to Gamont to learn the best ways of pleasing themselves and their royal lovers."

Maxine (that was her name) wanted to give me some brandy, but I'd never drink anything in that place. I went back to the carriage and straight to the hotel. Bertha was gone again, but I thought, she's on her own this time. I packed my things. And Bertha came back with Pol, and I said "I'm leaving." But she said, "We have so many beads left." "Do as you please," I said, "but tomorrow I'm going."

Tryitday Phyllisdii Matilda's Day, neSheustim 29:

When I checked out this morning, I just sat in the lobby. I didn't know where to go — I don't care about Eden or The Ol' Plantation or Harem World, but I don't want to go back to Wallach either. I'm not young, I know, but I'm not stupid, and I'm not sneaky, either. There are things I can do, and do well, and that ought to be enough for anybody. I won't use other people because I wouldn't want them to use me, and I won’t be a part of anything that does. I know what my duty is — I need to tell the Emperor just what's going on here — then it's his problem and I wash my hands of the matter. Pol and Ahmed are here — they flipped a coin (they said it's a local custom) and Ahmed is my guide today. So this diary goes in an envelope for the Imperial Mail. I'll have Ahmed take it there, then I'm going to take my bags and go ask for a job at one of the other places I saw. With my experience I know there’ll be something for me to do at "Suds and Bubbles."

#duneposting #ska reads a thing #long post

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astrababyy · 1 year

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I have been sort of sitting on this subject because it would be so easy for it to get taken out of context. I hope I can explain myself so that doesn’t happen and I’d like to hear your thoughts. Basically I feel like part of what made Feyre’s character special is what makes her beautiful and I think it gets lost between all the sister anti bs arguments. I do think everyone is allowed to imagine all the characters however they want but I feel like if you go by canon what makes Feyre different that her sisters beauty is her personality. I find it a bit bothersome when I see takes like -certain archeron sister is the prettiest- because canon, physically, Elain is beautiful and Nesta is stunning but what sets Feyre apart is that those that fell into an attraction for her was only after having gotten to know her. I notice Nesta and Elain have this attraction from males almost at first sight and so I think the part that Feyre doesn’t get this sort of story line was what made her unique and I really liked that. In my opinion I think all 3 sisters are attractive in their respective ways- Elain an innocent pure sort of beauty, Nesta has sexy and angry, while Feyre has a mature and quiet beauty. The last part is my opinion, everyone can imagine them how ever but I do think canon sort of gave me the impression about what stands out about Feyre and I feel like it gets lost in the whole mess that is pitting the sisters against each other that is this fandom

hello, anon! sorry for taking so long to respond to this.

this was a very sweet ask! i can see what you mean about feyre being unique in her own ways. personally, i have a preference for the person feyre was in the first book, but i can totally understand you, and many others, enjoying the character she became post-acotar. i love who nesta is as a character because i feel i relate to her more than the others, but feyre's willingness and bravery to stand up for what she believed in, in book 1 was something i admired about her character. and elain's gentle demeanor and clear progression as a character by the time we reach book 2 is something i hope is expanded on more.

i would love if you'd elaborate a bit more on your point of view, as well as if this ask if targeted at a specific post of mine (?) because i'm not exactly an account that's very pro feyre (though i don't hold anything against people who do like her). do you think that i'm a part of the group that fans the flames of the competition between the sisters? in fairness, i can see how my posts could be interpreted that way.

anyway, on some level, i do agree that this fandom has a tendency to vilify and pit the sisters against each other for the sake of their faves. i have seen some absolutely horrid takes on all sides of the aisle, justifying things their fav sister has done and putting down the other sisters in favor of blatantly flat characterizations of them in order to make their anger seem more justified.

but i also think this is a symptom of canon itself being willing to pit them against each other, rather than portraying their flaws and complex relationships in a manner that gives a clear impression that none of them are all good or all bad, but rather flawed and interesting individuals. instead of creating a poignant story on the power of sisterhood, sjm decided it would be better to pit them against each other. this isn't necessarily a bad thing. of all the people in the world, i am the last one that is opposed to drama in books lol, but the way it was done has made things... complicated.

all in all, i think the process of pitting the sisters against each other is a very mixed bag because, on one hand, the archeron sisters' being in constant competition with each other in the fandom is partially due to fans of the specific sisters, but it's also due to the inability of canon to portray a complicated dynamic between them. also, their characterizations can be all over the place. i don't think the feyre we saw in book 1 would've allowed what happened to nesta in book 3, nor would she have condoned the treatment of her sisters even as early as book 2. this could be credited to her evolution as a character, perhaps growing in confidence and vilifying her sisters because of it, but i don't see the sister who felt guilty about leaving them behind when she was forcefully taken from her home as the same sister that let the blatant disrespect of them stretch on from book 2 through book 5. this isn't just with feyre though, as i think the characterization of nesta and elain is also quite finicky and so up to interpretation by the fans.

#anti sjm #sjm critical #anti feyre #this isn't really a critique of feyre #more so of how her character was written #but im going to tag it just in case #astrababyy #astrababyy asks #i'm very curious about this ask because i don't think i've written many posts on feyre that are super supportive of her #i've gotten angry in the past about how her character was ruined #but never really defended her specifically #so if the person who sent this ask ever sees this post #i'd love if they could send another one in clarifying why they sent me specifically this ask #as well as expand on their position a bit more because i find it to be a criminally underrated one in this fandom!

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ahsokathegray · 1 year

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I Bleed the Same || Twenty-Five

Pairing: Rexsoka

Summary: Ahsoka and Rex try and make sense of who and what they are after Order 66 occurs. Figuring out what to do with themselves, they remain together for a period of time before parting in their own directions.

Warnings: slow burn, mentions of Order 66, ptsd, injury, death, and future nsfw situations

Word Count: 4,598

A/N: blood mention, ptsd in action, and spoilers for tbb s1 from here on out

read on ao3! / series masterlist

Trace managed to privately fuel the pair of ships, courtesy of a neighbor that had owed the sisters a favor. It was an easy solution this time around, but Rex did worry how they were going to afford fuel in the future. The test drive of the Silver Angel went off without a hitch, signaling that they were finally able to begin their two missions.

“Well, she’s not as pretty as she used to be, but she flies better than ever,” Trace said, a large smile plastered across her face.

Rafa crossed her arms and turned to Ahsoka, “Thanks for fixing it. Trace and I couldn’t have done it alone.”

Ahsoka suppressed the laugh that bubbled up in her chest, knowing that Rafa didn’t have the patience or the skill needed to help Trace. “Don’t mention it,” Ahsoka responded, “And if you take on any damages, I’ll fix those when you get back.”

“Well that goes without saying. It’s how you’re paying rent,” Rafa retorted.

Rex was quick to chime in, “There shouldn’t be any need for repairs. Your mission is meant to be swift, you are to be invisible.”

Rafa rolled her eyes and loosely saluted him, “Yes sir, Captain clone.”

Ahsoka bit her tongue, wanting to correct her on Rex’s behalf. She could see where the grip on his helmet tightened and how he rolled his shoulders — a habit he displayed whenever he was getting ready to lay waste to some clankers. But Rex didn’t think Rafa was worth the trouble, especially because she was still allowing them to stay there free of charge. The eldest sister turned on her heel, Trace and R7 in tow. The little droid beeped happily at Ahsoka as he ascended the ramp and she smiled, giving him a small wave.

“Remember, my comm frequency is in the droid,” Rex called to the sisters, “Don't contact me unless it’s an emergency.” When the pair acknowledged the information, he opened the hatches, donned his cloak, and hopped into the Y-wing. Ahsoka took that as her cue to join him, lifting herself into the Republic craft as her eyes found the back of Rex’s blonde head. They’d not conversed much all morning. Between packing for the mission and scarfing down breakfast, she’d not had the chance yet to really speak with him.

She tried to ignore how much it stung that this was the second rotation in which she’d woken up alone. Being apart from him brought her an uneasiness that she understood all too well, but couldn’t seem to fight off.

The garage was filled with the sound of engines roaring to life as Rex closed her hatch, sealing her inside the ship. Her attention was pulled to where the Silver Angel had been sitting, its legs beginning to retract. Trace gave her a short wave and started the process of backing her ship out of the small hangar. When the way was clear, Rex did the same, causing the Martez’s garage to shrink and leaving them with a clear view of the other units that speckled the lower ring.

Ahsoka swallowed, suddenly hyper aware of how exposed they were — of how very Republic their ship was.

“How do you think they’ll do?” Rex asked, watching as the Angel turned and made the jump to lightspeed.

“They’ll do fine. Give them a bit of credit. After all, they are friends of mine,” she laughed, half-joking and remembering the few and eventful adventures they had together, none of which went too smoothly.

Rex turned back to her and flashed his teeth, “Well, in that case.” Ahsoka smirked, knowing well that the result of the mission would determine his trust above anything else.

Once they were clear of The Wheel, Rex entered in the coordinates to Daro and they made the jump. The familiar whir of lightspeed encased them and Ahsoka was transported. The lanes of hyperspace were a comfort to her — the calm before the storm. She was always fond of the peace it brought her before a mission and often used it to help herself meditate as a Padawan. The memory was calming, but Ahsoka couldn’t help feeling some discomfort being back inside the ship.

It felt like it had been ages since everything happened, yet the days bled together so much that it also felt like it had been yesterday. It was as if she could turn around and still see the colors of the men’s helmets disappearing from view — the Tribunal going up in smoke.

Rex seemed to still be thinking about the Martez sisters. He engaged autopilot, released the controls, and situated himself so that he could see more of her, “Tell me about Oba Diah.”

Ahsoka shouldn’t have been surprised that he asked about it. The way his Force signature changed when she mentioned it the other night, well, she could’ve guessed the topic would be brought up again. He’d radiated much more protectiveness over her than she was used to, and it was growing with each passing rotation. Ahsoka kept wondering what it all meant. Surely her former Captain didn’t return the level of attraction for her that she’d developed for him. This was nothing like what she’d seen between Anakin and Padmé, nor did it feel like the juvenile wonder that briefly stirred in her for Lux Bonteri. She could’ve scoffed.

Her shoulders fell, “Don’t tell me you’ve spent the last few days worrying over that.”

“Alright, then I won’t. So tell me,” he said, his signature smile making an appearance.

Ahsoka shifted forwards, “When they still lived on Coruscant, Trace and Rafa were on their own. Credits were difficult to come by. Rafa would take up jobs, sometimes a few at a time, from some of the seediest individuals I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

Rex chuckled at her choice of words. “Well seedy’s what you’re gonna get in the Coruscant Underworld,” he remarked, silently hating how long she’d spent in such circumstances.

Ahsoka nodded, “She couldn’t ever figure out how to juggle the jobs. Rafa owed a lot of people, but she had good intentions. While I was with them, she took a job with the Pyke Syndicate — didn’t tell Trace or I until we arrived to pick up the unrefined spice. Trace then… sort of dumped the containers into space.”

Rex’s jaw visibly tightened and his brows almost covered his eyes, “Kriff, Ahsoka. Taking a job with the Pykes? You could've been killed!”

“I know. So we showed up without the shipment and tried to deliver them empty cargo,” she continued, “Probably not the best call looking back.”

“None of it sounds like a good call,” he muttered.

Ahsoka flashed him an amused grin, “No. It wasn’t. We were imprisoned… twice! I convinced them to let Rafa and Trace go off-world to get a replacement shipment of spice. By some miracle, they actually allowed it and the sisters came back successful, but then the Pykes told them I was a Jed and—”

“Wait. You didn’t tell them?”

“Not a first, no. The Jedi… were responsible for the death of their parents. Actually, I’m sure you remember what happened when Ziro the Hutt escaped prison. But in the end, we escaped and I… Well, Bo-Katan spotted me while on Oba Diah herself and followed us back to Coruscant. It’s there that I left with her and wound up contacting Anakin,” she finished, her Master’s name turning to ash in her mouth.

“So some good came out of making a poor deal with the Pykes,” he gathered, looking up at her from the pilot’s seat, the blue hues of hyperspace reflecting in the whites of his eyes.

That comment, and perhaps how charming he looked in such lighting, made her heart flutter. Going to Oba Diah and dealing in spice brought her back to Rex in some backwards way. She laughed, “Now those are some words I never thought I’d hear you say.”

Rex shrugged, “Well, these are different times. There’s no telling…”

A hefty silence slipped between them, causing the soft noises of the ship to ring loudly in Ahsoka’s montrals. This kind of thing was becoming more and more frequent between them. Her heart leapt against her chest but she chose to ignore it. “Rex, we can take turns sleeping in the bed if you’d like,” she blurted, mindlessly fiddling with her seat as she waited for his response.

“Ahsoka—”

“I’m sorry for not waking you up the other night when I should have. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it after seeing that you’d actually be getting some hours in. Knowing that you’re not sleeping and that I can’t do anything to help you in your situation, is almost unbearable.”

He sighed, “You’re talking about the nightmares.” There was a vulnerability in his voice and Ahsoka bit her lip, regretting the topic completely. It hurt her more than he could ever know that he chose to go through them alone. “I can’t ask you to do that Ahsoka,” he finally replied.

“I know. Which is why I’m offering,” she reasoned.

One of his brows lifted and he thought for a moment. Here, in the tight confines of the ship, just having entered hyperspace, was not the place to talk about such a thing. “We can discuss our arrangement once we get back,” he delayed, wanting so badly to take her up on the offer. If he slept in the bed, it would undoubtedly smell like her. Nothing but Ahsoka would seep into his pores. The inviting cushion of the mattress would tempt him that much more in joining her on a night that wasn’t his to sleep there. He knew that in doing so, she would consume him entirely and he had to maintain his distance.

“You’ve always had them haven’t you?” she almost whispered.

Rex looked down, “They were easier to stomach before.” He never thought he’d dream of a time where he wished for the nightmares he was used to, the one every clone had following their first battle and plaguing them for the remainder of the war. The credits he’d pay to have those replace his current ones — replace the countless scenarios his mind crafted in which he kills the woman behind him. He swallowed, “Let's go over the mission again.”

Ahsoka understood what he was asking and began to repeat the details back to him, “It’s a recon mission on Daro. Just under one rotation to and from The Wheel. It has no settlements or installations of note and is considered to be primarily… empty. It’s just forests, grasses, and mountains. We’ll have plenty of cover to both land and scout the area. We poke around and we leave.”

“You got it,” he smiled, the twinkle in his eye lessening.

She returned his kind smile and drew her knees up in the seat, watching as their hyperspace lane propelled them forward. Ahsoka reflected on the mission, trying to prepare for what they might see. If the intel was correct, this would be the first time in which the universe they knew would look just a little bit different — the first time they’d see it with their own eyes. As she allowed the flowing blue streaks outside to bring her into sleep, the last thing on her mind was just how close Daro was to Mandalore.

~~~

“Sleep well?” Rex asked, peering back at her. Ahsoka blinked and managed a mixture of a nod and a sound that could’ve only meant yes. Rex cracked his half smile — a genuine one this time — and watched in poorly disguised awe as she stretched.

The navicomputer was what woke her. It was giving the alert that they would be exiting hyperspace momentarily. Seconds later, the streaks of blue slowed around them and the light side of Daro came into view. Ahsoka swallowed, still not comfortable being so close to a planet’s atmosphere. The systems hadn’t detected any ships yet, but Ahsoka held her breath while the area was being scanned, releasing it only once the beep sounded again to give the all-clear.

“I’ll bring us in low to avoid any possible planetary tracking scanners,” Rex announced, pushing forward and letting the planet of Daro absorb them. She closed her eyes upon the initial entry.

It was beautiful. Ahsoka could hardly believe that Daro was so empty. She sat up as Rex made the approach, checking for any signs of Imperial presence or otherwise. The tips of her montrals grazed the transparisteel around her with her piqued interest. Daro was lush, full of nothing but vibrant color. If it truly didn’t have any settlements, she could picture herself and Rex living…

The thought was promptly buried. Staying anywhere for too long wasn’t something that was in Rex’s plan for himself, especially if this mission went the way he wanted it to. Change was coming their way and soon.

The navicomputer remained enemy free and Rex brought them down into a well-disguised clearing. Dirt and tree needles swirled around the ship and the old Y-wing creaked as it settled on the ground. Rex had landed them in a wooded area, free from potential eyes both above and below. Both of their canopies opened simultaneously and they slipped from their compartments. Rex had already entered stealth mode, bent at the knees and waist as he used his scopes to survey their immediate surroundings.

“There was nothing on entry,” Ahsoka spoke first, “You still think there’s an Imperial presence here?”

Rex sighed, flipping his macrobinoculars back up, “Well, my scans are being jammed, so if that’s any indicator, then I’d say yes.”

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed, “I have a feeling that it’s coming from up there.” Rex turned to where she was pointing behind them. A large mountain sat about one klick away from where he’d landed the ship. By flying them in so low, the top of the formation wouldn’t have been visible. His HUD confirmed her suspicions. Ahsoka stepped forward and gave him a look that was all too familiar, a smile tugging at the corners of her plush lips, “Just like old times. Wouldn’t you say?”

He laughed in an exhale, “Yeah, something like that.” Rex lowered his scopes once more and looked at Ahsoka to confirm she was ready. She gave him a tight nod, except he didn’t return it like he normally would. “We gotta get you some weapons,” he drawled, unholstering his pistols.

For a split second, Ahsoka could hear the sound of her lightsaber hitting the ground, falling from her hand for the final time as it came to a thud at her feet. Anakin’s words echoed in her montrals, his voice plain as day. This weapon is your life. She felt a bit naked without her sabers, but she had no desire to hold those hilts or wield those blades again.

It would be an odd thing to begin learning a new weapon.

“The only other thing I know as good as a lightsaber are droid poppers and well, neither of those would do me any good these days.”

Rex was visibly uncomfortable with her vocality about the weapon of a Jedi, but said nothing of it. Instead, he cocked his head and made a decision. It wasn’t one he even had to think about. He tilted one of his blasters in hand before turning it around and holding the deecee out to Ahsoka.

She arched a brow marking, “What’s this?”

“Practice,” he stated simply, “Let’s just say your skills back at the Lawquane’s put some knots in my stomach.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes playfully and nudged him with her shoulder, “Another time. This isn’t that kind of mission.”

“We don’t know what kind of mission this will be, Ahsoka,” Rex reasoned, his tone shifting. He sounded like the Captain she’d always known just then.

Still, she kindly refused the offer, “Then we can worry about that when the time comes.”

Rex retracted the pistol and held them both up in his preferred stance. “I’d still feel better if you took it,” he muttered, finally giving her the nod and moving forward.

It must’ve been late morning on Daro, as the sky still had an orange tint and dew lingered in beads on the grass. The ground was soft beneath their feet, a factor that could be both to their advantage and against it. If anything or anyone wanted to sneak up on them, nothing would crunch to warn them.

Despite that observation, Ahsoka did pick up on a small noise nearby. Whatever it was, had followed them from the ship. It moved from branch to branch above them, disappeared for a while, then repeated the process all over again. Ahsoka assumed it was an avian of some kind and eventually stopped looking over her shoulder.

The trip to the mountain was the easy part. The forest floor beneath them started to run on an incline and the trees grew more sparse. Ahsoka was hot on Rex’s heels as he rushed to the base of the mountain. Once they began tackling the feat of actually scaling it, their breaths grew heavier.

“It seems we’re a bit out of practice,” Rex commented, jumping onto a nearby boulder.

Ahsoka gave a breathy laugh behind him, “Well, I’m sure whatever’s up there will be changing that pretty soon.”

As they scaled the massive formation, the sky grew brighter and the day rose with them. The top was nearly in sight now, only a hill or two left to put behind them.

Chipped pieces of rock began to rattle at her feet and Ahsoka stilled. She immediately looked above her and held her hand up to shield the sun from her eyes. Her heart sank and a pit developed in her stomach. In one swift motion, she took hold of Rex’s shoulder and pushed him into a nearby tree, utilizing the cover. He looked down at where her forearm was pressed against his chest, seeing how wide her eyes were. His own expression fell underneath his helmet as he took notice of the erratic pulsing just under her jaw.

Ahsoka didn’t dare look up again, but Rex did. The most familiar sight in the universe, besides his men, was above them, hovering over Daro’s atmosphere. A Venator-class Star Destroyer was just visible directly overhead, the blue and cloudless sky failing at concealing it. This was the first time either of them had seen the warship since Order 66, when they watched helplessly as the Tribunal plunged into a moon with all their men still on board.

Two of the new Lambda-class shuttles he’d seen on the Holonet flew from the hangar, drawing nearer to where he and Ahsoka stood. He instinctively pulled her closer as the transports shook the trees around them. They then breached the mountain and disappeared from view.

Rex released his hold on Ahsoka and she slowly backed away to look up at him, her breathing mostly back to normal. His heart broke for her, seeing how badly affected she still was by the horrific trauma. He didn’t know which was worse, watching her struggle with it now or knowing it would linger with her for the rest of her life. Rex placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. There was no one in the universe either of them trusted more than each other.

“Are you okay?” he asked, unwilling to continue unless she answered with a yes.

Ahsoka inhaled deeply, “I’m good. Let’s go.”

Rex then outstretched his hand, helping her up the next set of rocks — allowing himself to let go of the ridiculous notions he’d been desperately clinging to. It seems that the way the galaxy was now… abstaining from touch was nearly impossible. It was just the two of them and with all the changes being implemented, what they had was going to change regardless. Ahsoka then took his hand and he helped her up, both of them rushing to the peak with new determination.

They topped the final ridge and could finally see where soil turned into durasteel. The encrypted intel had been correct. Built into the interior of the mountain, hollowed out and going further down than the surface, was an Imperial military base. The two shuttles they’d just seen overhead had come to a stop on an upper landing platform, their wings still in the process of folding upwards. The fugitives watched in pained silence as the acts of the Empire played out before them — something tangible and real and not just hearsay on the Holonet. It had truly happened. Their old life was still up in dust, not even having the opportunity to settle first.

Rex’s eyes narrowed as the ramps revealed themselves from the pair of ships. He wasn’t at an angle to where he could see the doors, but he already felt sick. Blast doors near the landing platform opened. Whoever was going to be receiving the ship’s occupants was walking through. All Rex could see was the white armor he knew nearly better than his own face. There was no paint, no wear and tear, and no indication of who was under the armor, but Rex already knew. A squad of Commandos exited the fortress and walked towards the two shuttles. His brothers. And they didn’t walk like shinies.

From his peripheral vision, he caught the swing of Ahsoka’s lekku as she turned her head towards him, shocked with what she saw and knowing that this had just become much more personal for him. This is what he’d decided he was after; getting his brother’s their freedom. Rex ground his teeth at watching them serve the Empire.

Just when he thought he’d stomached the reveal, more troops began exiting the shuttles. Rex’s heart jumped into his throat. There were more Commandos coming into the base, but these ones still had their armor painted, still had the signs of war all over them. As the last of the troops were coming out, Rex sighed in defeat. It was exactly who he’d both hoped not to see and who he did.

Gregor was one of the clones they’d transferred. He’d recognize the paint and the designs on his armor anywhere. Rex bit his cheek. So many memorized, unique versions of the same armor flooded his mind. If they weren’t already painted red with blood, they would all soon be white again, devoid of any reminder that they once served the Republic, ripped of the individuality they thrived on.

“We have to get in there,” he said quietly, his eyes still glued on what was playing out in front of them.

Ahsoka tilted her head, “Rex that’s not what this mission is… I know those are your brothers, but we aren’t prepared for this.”

“I know him. Even if I didn’t, every one of those men deserves more than this. We have to find a way inside. There’s a panel by those doors, I think if—”

She placed a gentle hand on top of his and pulled them a few steps back from where they’d been near the edge, “I know, Rex. I want to do it just as badly as you do, believe me, but we don’t have the means to do this successfully right now. If we did, I’d be on board one hundred percent, but we don’t. When we do, we come back and extract them then. The Empire has no idea that this location is now compromised.”

Rex’s heart ached. He knew that Ahsoka was right, but he didn’t want her to be. To know where his brothers were, to see them again, to see Gregor… changed everything. Yes, he’d decided that this was what his duty would be, but it became much more urgent with the new information. In an instant, it had rooted itself deep within him and made itself his new purpose. Ahsoka had given him something he’d spend the rest of his life trying to pay her back for. He could be six feet under, buried along with too many of his brothers right now. But no, he had to do something meaningful with what Ahsoka had given back to him.

He would do this for his brothers, for himself, and for her.

“Let’s regroup and come back, okay? We can get the Martez sisters to help, but you and I can’t do this alone. We have no reinforcements sitting by,” Ahsoka continued to reason with him.

Rex’s head dropped and he took a few steps back in the direction they’d come in. He took off his helmet, needing to feel the air on his face to help him breathe, “Do you think the Senator could help?”

Ahsoka crossed her arms and put a hand over her chin, “Bail? I have no idea, Rex. Maybe.”

“Do you have the comm he gave you?”

“Not with me, no,” she replied, her heart quickening. She was hesitant about using it so soon, or even at all. Ahsoka was trying to warm up to the idea of jumping back in this quickly. It had been just over a week since everything went down. There was no issue with Rex contacting Bail. The Senator was friends with Padmé. If he wanted to bring harm to her, he could’ve done that on Naboo. And if Rex used the comm, Bail would know that the two of them were together in all of this, that the clones were innocent!

Rex has already shown her that whoever she trusts, that he will as well.

“I can give you his frequency when we get back. Even if he can’t help us with this, he might be able to help your brothers in the Senate,” she rushed, trying to process all of this at a sane pace.

It was one of the hardest things in the galaxy for Rex to turn his back and walk away. He’d been through many tough challenges, but this was up there, right behind escaping execution with Ahsoka Tano. Reminding himself that while they might be walking away without Gregor, they weren’t walking away empty handed was helping. Still, the whole thing felt odd. The mass of new information was overwhelming and positive in some light, but it also brought along more questions they didn’t have the answers to.

All they knew was that this operation on Daro was not one to be taken lightly. Why were so many Commandos being sent here? Had this been a Republic base at some point or was this made specifically in mind for the Empire? If that’s the case, it’s physical proof of what General Kenobi had told Ahsoka on Mandalore — that this whole ruse had been in place since the beginning.

Rex’s mind was running circles around itself the entire way down the mountain and Ahsoka took notice. She was by his side the whole way, matching his every step. They made it back to the ship faster than they’d left it, finding relief that the Y-wing was still there.

The animal that had been following them earlier had returned, its green feathers floating past as it flew between the trees and vanished. Ahsoka’s attention was pulled back to Rex, whose holoprojector was now beeping. He removed his helmet and gave Ahsoka a wary look, allowing the connection to form in his hand.

It was Rafa.

“We acquired the tactical droid data from Corellia. And we had help. It was a squad of rogue clones, and I know where to find them. Thought you might want to know.”

#rexsoka #rexsoka fic #my fic #I bleed the same #ahsokathegray

8 notes · View notes

sunnyie-eve · 2 years

Text

7 | Returned the Favor

Series: Valentine Addams | Wednesday

Paring: (Xavier Thorpe x OFC Addams! Tyler Galpin x OFC Addams!)

Word Count: 1495

Warnings: playful, near death experience, new power

6. Wednesday | 8. Making Enemies

The next day while in fencing Bianca and I weren't allowed to go against each other because last time we refused to stop till the other gave up. "I really hate going against you." Xavier takes off his mask frustrated.

"Because you can't get a single point?" I do the same as him giggling.

"That's exactly why, V." He crosses his arms.

"Maybe you should just get better then you could get a point." I shrug my shoulders.

"Don't get cocky now. Last time you did that you wore pink." He smirks making me glare at him as Wednesday walks in in her black suit like me. "Let me guess, she's good too?" He looks over at me so I nod my head as she walks past us to Bianca and Rowan.

"Coach, Coach, she tripped me." Rowan tells him.

"It was a clean strike, Rowan." He tells him.

"Maybe if you whined less and practiced more, you wouldn't suck. Seriously, Coach, when am I going to get real competition besides from Valentine?" Bianca turns to him. "Anyone else, who's allowed, want to challenge me?" She asks.

"I do." Wednesday speaks up so she turns to face her.

"Oh, you must be the other psychopath family member they let in." She smiles.

"You must be the self appointed Queen Bee. Interesting thing about bees. Pull out their stingers, they drop dead." Wednesday puts her in her place.

"Rowan doesn't need you to come to his defense. He's not helpless, he's lazy." Bianca tells her.

"Are we doing this or not?" Wednesday asks so they get in their places.

"This is gonna be good." I stand closer to Xavier as we watch.

Wednesday gets the first point then Bianca gets the next. For the final point Wednesday suggests military challenge, first to draw blood and they both agree to it. In the end Bianca wins. "She's crazier than you." Xavier leans down some to me.

"Yeah, I've always believed she's the darker twin even though I have more in my record than she does." I look up at him and I notice him glance at my lips for a quick second so I go and over to Wednesday, "Let's go see the nurse to bandage that up. Rowan, I suggest you go as well." I lead Wednesday out to go change.

"She's very cocky." Wednesday says as we head to the infirmary.

"So are we. Bianca and I are always going against each other." I link my arm with hers.

"I have a question? Have you started you visions yet?" She asks.

"Yes, majority of mine though are positive but I have moments for dark ones. It's very rare though." I explain to her so she just nods her head.

While she goes into the infirmary I wait outside the room and something catches my eye so I make my way over to get a water. "Thing." I whisper and he peaks around telling me to shush. "She'll get the feeling you're watching her soon." I shake my head at him walking away waiting for her.

She comes out annoyed then turns to see the water jug gurgling. "Let's go." She turns back around and I follow behind slowly having trouble with my umbrella.

"Wednesday, you're gonna have to get used to Bianca. Trust me, I'm literally on her bad side." I try to catch up to her. I see her look up and see a statue falling down to kill her, "Wednesday!" I shout and Xavier tackles her out of the way.

I ditch my broken umbrella running into the rain over to her to see she passed out. "Did you have to tackle her? I'm mean thanks but." I get down checking her.

"You at least thanked me for saving your sister's life. Let's get her to the infirmary." He helps me get her up and he carries her for me.

I help the nurses lay her down and take her jacket and blazer off then cross her arms like she likes it when she sleep. "She's going to hate you saved her from a imaginative death." I get a chair to sit next to her head and Xavier does the same putting it next to me.

"I'm just returning the favor." He takes off his jackets and I do the same.

"She still won't appreciate it." I chuckle looking over at him, "I promise my mother to keep an eye on her form running away but I told Wednesday I won't stop her... but now she almost dies. Luckily you were there to save her." I sigh.

"Yeah, lucky." He sighs as well.

"You okay? It seems like something is on your mind." I eye him.

"Nothing important." He shakes his head.

"You sure? You can still tell me even though it's not important." I say making him look at me for a few seconds. "You gotta stop doing that, X." I catch him glance at my lips again.

"What?" He asks confused.

"Where you look with your eyes on my face." I give him a look and his cheeks turn slightly pink.

"I don't mean it like..." He shuts up before speaking again, "You tell Tyler what you told me yet?" He looks away from me.

"Not yet. I haven't been into town yet but I'm going with Principal Weems to take Wednesday to her therapy session. I prefer to tell him to his face and not though a text." I watch my sister sleep.

"You have his phone number?!" He gets a little loud so I look at him,

"Xavier." I growl his name.

"Sorry." He rolls his eyes.

"No you're not." I eye him.

"Of course I'm not," I hear his thoughts shocking me. "What?" He looks at me confused.

"How did I do that?" I say surprised with myself.

"Do what?" He asks but Wednesday sits up.

"Sadly you didn't die." I give her a smile.

"The nurse said you don't have a concussion, but probably have a nasty bump." Xavier tells her.

"The last thing I remember I was walking outside feeling a mixture of rage, pity and self disgust while ignoring my sister. I never felt that way before." She tells us.

"Yeah, losing to Bianca has that effect on people, I think." He tells her.

"Then I looked up and saw that gargoyle coming down and I thought, at least I'll have an imaginative death. Then you tackled me out is the way. Why?" She asks him.

"Most people just say thank you." Xavier tells her.

"I didn't want to be rescued. I'm sure my sister told you that." She tells him.

"Oh, she did. So I shoulda just let that thing smash you to mush in front of your sister?" He asks her.

"I would have rather saved myself, and if I didn't she would have a great traumatic experience." She says and I agree with it being a traumatic experience, not great though.

"Good to see you haven't changed." He scoffs, "If it makes you feel any better, let's just say I returned the favor. Xavier Thorpe? You probably don't remember me like Valentine did." He tells her.

"He was about two feet shorter and 40 pounds heavier." I add making him look at me then smile.

"She really remembered me." I hear him think again.

"What happened last time we met?" Wednesday asks still lost not remembering him.

"It was my godmother's funeral. Apparently she was friends with your grandmother, and they spent their twenties together in Europe, swindling the rich and notorious. I don't know, but we were ten, and the three of us were bored, decided to play hide and seek. I had the inspired idea to hide in her casket, even though Valentine told me it was a terrible idea. I got stuck as it was headed to the crematorium."

"I'd heard muffled screams. I just figured your godmother had somehow cheated death and was trying to claw her way out." Wednesday remembers starting to smile.

"Either way, you hit the big red stop button and saved me from being flame-boiled. So... now we're even." He smiles.

"Wait, so if I'm ever about to die... you're not going to save me since I've never saved you?" I joke with Xavier.

"Yes." He plays along.

"Some friend you are." I playfully hit him so he grabs my arm to stop me.

"You've never given me a reason why I should save you. Plus you still let me get in that casket." He says giving me a look so I go to hit him with my other hand but he grabs that arm to.

"Don't you dare blame me for your stupidity." I laugh.

"Well you knew better and didn't try to stop me." He laughs now.

"I told you it was a bad idea! That should've been good enough." I fight with him.

"You make me sick." Wednesday gets up getting her stuff leaving.

#wednsday addams #wednesday #xavier thrope fanfic #xavier thrope #tyler galpin #tyler galpin fanfic #xavier thrope imagine #tyler galpin imagine #enid sinclair #bianca barclay #ajax petropolus #yoko tanaka #eugene ottinger #divina wednesday #kent wednesday

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goddess-in-heaven-and-hell · 2 years

Text

Something Wicked This Way Comes Pt. V - Gwynriel One-Shot

The (probably) last part of this witchy series. No warnings other than fluff for daaays and a little tiny bit of spice at the end. Enjoy :)

Azriel POV

The clearing of the forest was illuminated by the soft glow of thousands of candles and merry bonfires. Owls hooted in the distance, frogs croaked as they splashed from stone to stone, fireflies glided through the night sky. There wasn’t one corner in the whole woodland that didn’t come to life to witness the full moon ritual of the coven.

Everyone was clad in white and moved on the mossy floor barefooted. The various gowns, suits and armors glowed even brighter from the fire and the moon, who shone upon the party in all its glory. As if it knew that the foreign visitors of the coven were present, and it wanted to show off for a bit.

Gwyn wore a pure white dress too. The long skirt of it flowed around her legs with the softness and elegance of water, the wide sleeves covered her whole arm as she stepped through the thicket and onto a path that led to the ritual grounds. For the warm night it ended up being, she was pretty covered up. The back of the dress, however, was sown with a lovely cut-out, showing off her fair skin underneath.

Azriel was itching to trail the tips of his fingers over her back, until he’d be met with the soft fabric again. Gwyn looked positively radiant this night, and he had made a point in telling her exactly that from the moment she stepped out of her room, a little shy about her new look, but excitement oozing out of her every pore.

Even now, after a good ten minutes of wandering through the woods with the coven, she barely contained herself, every muscle working and her head nearly getting whiplash from the speed she yanks it from left to right, soaking up the surroundings. A smile was permanently etched onto Azriel’s face, just feeding off her emotions and happiness.

Well, that smile had been there from the moment she asked him to be her boyfriend, if he was being honest with himself.

He still couldn’t quite understand. How he deserved her, how she’s his mate, how she’d confessed that she felt as deeply and strongly for him as he felt for her. That grabbing her hand and holding it tightly to keep her from slipping was to be his new normal now.

He couldn’t wait to tell his family about this.

Cassian would be over the moon, probably breaking Azriel’s back in the hug he’s not going to be able to dodge. Nesta would need some time convincing that he is able to make Gwyn happy. The sister-like bond the two shared hopefully would end up working in his favor. And –

“AZRIEL!”, Gwyn had stopped her wandering to glare at him, her hands on her hips, “have you heard what I said?”

He had not. And his Shadows had zero to no intention of helping him, whispering Why don’t you listen to our mate? If they were inclined to swearing, they probably would have added a dumbass.

“Sorry, love. I decided I’m not going to listen to you in the future if you don’t address me as ‘boyfriend’. ‘Az’ would work too, but that would make me very unhappy.”, which was a complete lie. But for now, he wanted and needed the reassurance. “Actually, I’d like a proper nickname, while you’re at it.”

Gwyn snorted, grabbing his hand again and mumbling what sounded like ‘Illyrian baby’ under her breath. But she was his girlfriend, she was allowed to do that.

“I was asking you, oh dearest boyfriend of mine, if you are fine with going to the tarot reading first before checking out their food?”

“Sure.” She could drag him through the thicket head first and he’d enjoy it if it meant she was happy.

The little group they were walking with came to a halt, joining in the already building crowd. Felicity, the tiny witch that invited Gwyn to their festivities only a day ago, came to welcome them with a broad smile on her face. “I am so happy you could make it! I wish you both a blessed full moon.”

Azriel and Gwyn repeated the blessing to her. The people here seemed genuinely happy they joined them. Even though they ranked him below Gwyn the second they set their eyes on him, they made an effort to integrate the fae, making him feel completely at ease. Not that he minded ranking behind Gwyn. There was something about her in this position of power, her being able to command anything from him at her will, that made his skin feel… tight.

“Well, we have a number of activities that you can explore before and after the main ritual. Of course there is food and drink aplenty. You can basically enjoy yourself the way you want as long as you don’t disrupt the nature around you. The ritual takes place in about an hour around the main fire.”, she pointed her bejeweled finger in the general direction. “If you are unsure about something, come and find me.”

Like that was an easy thing to do. The woman was incredibly small, probably smaller still than Amren, and clad in the same white fabric as literally everyone else.

Gwyn thanked her and together, they watched her disappear in the crowd again. Men and women alike wore smiles or solemn looks on their faces, chattering away or keeping to the edges of the party in quiet meditation. If they had a ritual like that every month, no wonder their spirits were high and their community tightly knit.

Gwyn turned towards him, her auburn hair glowing a beautiful shade of red in the varying lights. “Tarot reading, pretty please?”

Gwyn POV

Gwyn knew that Azriel was a good-looking male.

She had noticed some priestesses at training sigh whenever he walked by, knew from Nesta that he used to have no shortage of lovers, and of course the effects he had on her were far from tame as well.

But Azriel in white was a picture neither her heart nor other regions of her body had an easy time dealing with.

His white linen shirt and trousers were loosely fitted, but contrasted perfectly with his darker skin and the black ink of his tattoos. It also didn’t help that the first two buttons of his shirt were undone, or that he had rolled the sleeves of it up to his elbows to showcase said tattoos. Gwyn practically itched to trail her fingers over the swirls, to learn their pattern by heart. Only the exuberance around her kept her eyes and hands occupied.

He still wore some of his siphons, he had told her, but they were strapped around his torso, hidden from sight.

It was hard to concentrate on the task at hand with the walking distraction that was Azriel. But she needed to focus, to hone all her senses… on the cards spread out on the table before her.

“Let your hand travel over the cards. Notice where you are naturally drawn to. Or let your gaze wander and pick the card you just can’t look away from.”, the elderly woman behind the desk advised.

Gwyn had a hard time looking away from all of the cards, because they were painted in a beautiful purple with golden accents.

After briefly discussing her options with Az, she had decided to go for a past – present – future reading, drawing exactly one card for each of the categories. She was told she needed a guiding question in her mind in order to pick the perfect cards. It took only a second for her to decided what she wanted to ask the Gods and Goddess tonight.

Gwyn took her time searching for the perfect card, the sleeves of her dress scraping the surface of the desk. After she’d chosen all of them, the woman swiped up the rest of the deck in one swift motion and slowly, with practiced hands, turned the first of Gwyn’s cards around.

It symbolized her past. The woman depicted on the drawing was looking calmly ahead, while she held open the jaws of a lion before her. Bold, golden letters atop the card read ‘Strength’.

“What a beautiful card to start with.”, the woman muttered, sliding the card closer to Gwyn for her to inspect, “This card is part of the Major Arcana, cards connected to powerful emotions and mental states. Strength symbolizes equal parts of bravery and compassion. Look at how the woman commands the lion so calmly. She’s in control, disciplined at all times, without being hardened by the world to not show her compassion.”

Gwyn actually had to swallow hard as she listed to the explanation. She trained herself to be in control, always on top of her work. Well, even using her work to get a sense of mental clarity and calmness.

“This strength is of course translated into every part of life, but especially effective in friendship. Long and extremely strong friendly relations are built with it. Stick to them, dearest.”

Nesta and Emerie. Azriel. Probably even Cassian. They all had become a second family to her in a matter of months. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Azriel smiling while studying the card himself.

“I will.”, Gwyn answered, already itching to see the next card, “Present?”

The woman turned the card in the middle. It showed two people holding hands in a beautifully illustrated garden, lush with fruit and plants. At this point, Azriel let out a low chuckle.

“The Lovers.”, the elderly witch threw a weighted glance in their general direction, her own lips tilting upwards. “The card that represents union and partnership, not always necessarily related to a romantic union. It means you have come across a complementary energy and are ready to commit. The Lovers are closely connected to the element of air, as it is the element of healthy communication, which is always helpful in any relationship.”

Gwyn knew that witchcraft was real. Even some fae have inherited their own portion of it and used it in everyday life. But having drawn these cards that seemed to have come right out of her soul, she might have felt the urge to convert.

Azriel’s Shadows, still with more substance, caressed her open back when the witch mentioned the element of air. And it made perfect sense – his Shadows were called air sprites by the coven, and literally helped him to obtain information. Aiding in communication indeed.

“The Lovers don’t always have to fit together picture perfect. Sometimes, opposites attract. It is more understanding and empowering the other person that matters most. Do the cards fit to the question you thought about at all?”

“They fit perfectly.”, Gwyn said quietly.

“Well, let’s see if that holds true for your future as well.”

Turning the card, Gwyn was immediately met with the image of 10 identical cups, stacked upon one another to tower into the sky.

The elderly witch let out a full on laugh now. “Deary, everyone in this clearing would wish for a reading like this.”

“You have drawn the Ten of Cups for your future. Their even number symbolizes inner happiness and fulfillment, truly a blessing from heaven. In love it can mean long term stability, in your career it could refer to a sense of belonging, a comradery of sorts.”

“Maybe I’ll return and befriend Merrill.”, Gwyn whispered to Az, who lifted his brows at the suggestion.

“Abundance in any area of life will come your way, dearest.”, the woman closed with a warm smile. And Gwyn had the feeling that her future had already begun, judging by how abundant she was feeling in this moment.

As Gwyn and Az left the table to make way for other costumers, Gwyn couldn’t help but feel elated, almost drunk with power and happiness. She positioned herself in front of Az, stood on her tiptoes and pressed a loving kiss to his lips.

Az shot her a playful look. “Happy, love?”

“The happiest.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but I am a bit curious about your question.”, he let her know while pulling her into his arms.

“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know, Spymaster? Now I realize you got the job because you are the nosiest out of your whole friendship group, not because of your Shadows.”, she giggled.

Azriel snorted. “I am not. I told you; you can keep your question a secret.”

“Mh”, Gwyn lifted her head to whisper to him, “It’s a very personal thing to share. But I’ll confide in you, mate.”

She could have sworn a wave of goosebumps travelled over his skin, either from her using the word ‘mate’ or from her close proximity. He still looked very eager to hear her question.

“I asked the Gods and Goddesses “, she paused for dramatic effect, “if there truly is a correlation between wingspans and other body parts.”

Azriel’s head tipped back in barely contained laughter. Gwyn joined in, quite relieved that she could make that sort of joke with him and not feel weird or panicked about it. Honestly, she could have asked about the wingspans for all he knew. Her future promised ‘fulfillment’ after all. Even though she wasn’t sure about sleeping with him in the near future, she was more than ready to try other intimate things with him.

After his breathing returned to normal, he started shaking his head in mock terror, “What have I gotten myself into?”

“Easy there, I am your queen, you can’t criticize me.”, she threw over her shoulder, already on her way to the refreshments. The ritual was about to start, but she wanted to try their drinks beforehand. As long as the ‘wahr’ tea wasn’t on the menu.

They both grabbed a vibrant blue drink that looked strangely appetizing. Maybe she was just drawn to it because it had the exact same color as Azriel’s siphons. Gwyn let the bubbles of the liquid travel down her throat. Az discreetly let his unfinished glass vanish into the shadows, claiming it to be way too sweet for his liking.

“Gather around!”, a deep, male voice droned through the clearing, effectively putting a stop to any chattering. Every pair of eyes turned towards the biggest and brightest fire in the clearing. Poised before it, the sharp lines of her body illuminated by the dancing flames, stood Elvyra. She had gone full out for the ritual, dressed in so many drapes of different colored clothing that Gwyn couldn’t tell what exactly she was wearing. Her aura seemed to vibrate though, pulsing through the dark woodlands and sparking excitement in the other participants.

Warriors of the coven went through the crowds of people, stopping and apparently handing out something. Just when she was about to ask Azriel what he thought was going on, Felicity appeared by their side as if she has been summoned, her cheeks flushed and eyes glowing.

“I’m so glad I found you! I just quickly wanted to tell you that the guys coming around distribute the blessed oil. It’s a mixture of different herbs, magically charged of course, and you need to draw this pattern,” she drew said pattern into the air before them, the lines glowing a faint purple like she had used paint on a canvas, “on the other persons forehead with the oil. It essentially opens up your chakras to be able to receive the benefits of this ritual better. All clear?”

Gwyn nodded her thanks, the drawing of the pentagram still suspended in midair. Azriel to her right had already started to greet one of the male warriors who held a golden bowl filled with oil. “Do you want to go first?”, he asked, clearly enjoying all of this magical stuff. She was immensely happy he felt welcome here, even after he was stripped off of his position as mission leader.

“Pull your hair back.” Gwyn dipped her middle finger into the oil. It was warm to touch and definitely smelled nice. Azriel bent down a little, brushing his hair out of the way and waited for Gwyn to bless him. She studied the pattern one more time before touching her finger to his skin.

It was like an electric spark travelled from her fingers onto him, and only years and years of training in impulse control prevented Az from jumping to the side. Gwyn cringed, quickly finishing her blessing. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t do that on purpose.”

Az smirked down at her, his pupils dilated. “It didn’t hurt, just caught me by surprise. But I think it’s a normal reaction to have. Let me do you.”

He realized what he said just a second later, but Gwyn was already blushing and laughing hard. She was always so amused whenever Nesta and Cassian were in the mood to say allusive things, and how creative they got with it. Apparently, with the right partner you don’t even have to try that hard, it just happened.

Azriel murmured a ‘sorry’, but she could tell he didn’t really mean it. Without further discussion, he dipped his finger into the oil himself. His other hand came to rest at the side of her face, holding her in place and tilting it upwards just a little. He did everything with quiet concentration, his whole focus completely honed in on her, and it made her fidgety.

But that was nothing compared to the jolt that came crashing through her body when his anointed finger found her skin and drew the pattern of the pentagram. She let out a surprised ‘oh’ at the sensation. It was stronger still than when she had blessed Azriel, like every nerve in her body tingled, charged with energy to the maximum. The feeling of his fingers and hands on her was amplified as well and her breath quickened automatically at the warmth that seeped from his skin to hers.

When Azriel stepped away and the warrior continued his way through the crowds, Gwyn realized that her sense of feeling wasn’t the only thing that had gotten elevated. Looking around the clearing, she noticed that the colors turned more vibrant too, that slow, quiet music seemed to fill the air that wasn’t there a second before – even the ground beneath her naked feet pulsed with energy and life. Opening her chakras indeed. It was similar to how she felt during services with the other priestesses, just ten times more primal, natural.

A grin slowly spread across her face.

“Az? Can I try something?”

After he just nodded his okay, completely oblivious to her evil plans, Gwyn pushed herself on her tiptoes again and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his cheek.

Azriel POV

His whole body was on fire and Azriel cursed himself for choosing to wear the linen pants and not his sturdier leathers. How on earth did a kiss on the cheek have this effect on him? He barely suppressed the groan that wanted to escape him. His whole face tingled, like Gwyn had run a feather over it.

Gwyn lingered beside him, her face nuzzled in his neck. He could feel her suppressed laughter, the air that caressed his skin and her whole body shaking. She knew exactly what she was doing, the little menace.

“Careful Berdara.”, his voice came out a little too raspy to sound normal, but it hopefully added to the warning. He came dangerously close to just grab her, find a nice spot in the forest and have his way with her. He couldn’t even fathom how a little more than just kissing would feel in this state.

Which was not what she signed up for. Not at all.

Reminding himself of Gwyn’s past functioned as the cold shower he desperately needed. Just today did she confide in him that the physical aspect of the mating bond scared her. A little warning about what ‘opening chakras’ meant from Felicity’s side would have been welcome, though.

“Welcome all to this blessed full moon.”, Elvyra’s voice stopped his mental monologue and Gwyn too let go of him to find her.

Elvyra’s arms were widespread as she turned in a circle slowly to include every single person that showed up tonight. Her voice boomed through the quiet of the night, magically amplified through her magic and the blessed oil.

“Tonight, we are gathered to celebrate the month that has passed, the circle of life coming to its crescendo. We thank the Gods and Goddesses for the abundance this time has brought us, and for the personal growth it gifted each of us with.”

“But the full moon is also a time to reflect, to reach deep within you and contemplate the path you have taken. Does it still suit you? Are you in search of a new opportunity, a new mental state? If so, now is the time to ask for spiritual guidance, to celebrate and manifest changes and set your intention for the waning of the moon. Sit, friends, and let the conjuring of the circle fill you with power.”

All around them, the witches and males that were standing went to sit on the forest floor, anticipation written clearly in every feature. Azriel grabbed Gwyn’s arm and led her to a tree nearby. He sat with his back to the trunk, and pulled Gwyn down in-between his spread legs. Without him having to coax her, she leaned back and relaxed into his arms.

“Comfortable?”

“Very.”

He could hear the smile in her answer and it made his heart sing.

In front of them, four witches appeared, Felicity being one of them, to step into a circle formation around the fire. Each woman represented an element and was equipped with a fitting candle.

The ritual was like nothing he ever experienced in five centuries of life. One by one, the elements were called upon and invited to the circle to support their wishes for this full moon. Air was first, and his Shadows only barely remained by his side. He felt how they wanted to be with the witch holding the air candle, but he was unsure of how well the witches would take that interruption. Fire was next, then water, lastly earth. With each element, a new surge of emotions and sensations flooded his body, and Gwyn’s too judging from her fidgeting.

When the circle was cast, Elvyra went to talk about the things the coven was thankful for, including the fae of the Night Court. Many glasses were raised in respect and gratitude for the union, and Gwyn practically beamed from the positive reaction of the crowd.

His mate seemed to have the time of her life. Her eyes roamed the clearing and the circle, paying rapt attention to everything that was said. She was a scholar on a mission, after all. But her hands developed a life of their own, not having forgotten the reaction she drew out of him earlier. Sat between his legs, Gwyn had an easy time casually and accidentally touching him by trailing her hands over his legs, or playing with his fingers. Which in turn made Azriel inattentive and focused solely on her wicked touches.

He had warned her. Two could play this game.

During a particularly fascinating passage Gwyn apparently forgot about her mission to tease Azriel into an early grave. Which in turn presented him with the perfect opportunity.

Leaning forward, he let his fingers roam both of her arms, feeling the soft fabric underneath. Gwyn jumped slightly at the touch, but quickly schooled herself into indifference. Azriel grinned behind her. He was only warming up.

Using one of his hands, he brushed her hair away from her neck and over her shoulder, exposing the inviting panes of perfect skin to his gaze. Her neck and the cut out of her back betrayed her indifference with the amount of goosebumps on display there. Azriel waited for a while, building the anticipation and keeping her in suspense. Judging from the way her breathing first stopped and then quickened, he had her exactly where he wanted.

Gwyn POV

She wanted to melt the second Azriel touched his lips to her neck. The simple kiss struck a nerve because she felt the sensation buzzing down her whole back, right into her hips. He only gave her a moment to collect herself before another kiss was planted right underneath the first, this one lingering a little longer. The third had him darting out his tongue to lick at her pulse point, which hammered so fast it undoubtedly elevated his level of arrogance sky high.

Gwyn couldn’t do anything about her audible, quick breathing, or the low moan she produced after Azriel gently nibbled at the muscle cord of her neck, then soothed it over with a kiss. As inconspicuous as possible, she tried to bring her legs together in front of her to release just a little bit of the tension that had been building there. But Azriel, of course, noticed right away.

One of his warm hands caught her right knee, resting it there heavily to keep her whole leg from moving. “Gwyn? Is everything okay? Aren’t you paying attention?”

Gwyn released a pained chuckle. She should have never started this, not when she had less experience than him and when he can read every little movement of her body to use it as his advantage.

“I am.”

His hand inched a bit higher from the starting point of her knee.

“Oh, do you mind repeating it to me? I seem to have been lost in thought myself.”

Damn him. Gwyn frantically listened in now, trying to conclude what had been said before. But it literally could have been anything and despite what he’d said, he knew exactly what part of the ritual they were on. He just wanted her to admit how ecstatic he made her feel.

But then, she heard something else. Like another frequency opened to her, simultaneously lower and higher than Elvyra’s own voice. She manifested for the full moon to guide her and the coven in taking action to align with their highest good. She prayed to the Goddesses of the moon: Selene and Artemis. She called upon the triple Goddess Hecate.

Gwyn was shocked for a second before repeating for Azriel the words of his own Shadows. He fell silent, seemingly astonished that she had been paying attention. Or contemplating his own romancing skill.

Gwyn grinned down his little companions who had been staying low on the ground during the whole ritual. One Shadow brushed her cheek when it noticed her attention. She had no idea about why she was able to hear them, if it was a side effect of the bond she shared with their master, if the ritual opened her up to their frequency, of they simply wanted her to hear. Either way, she mentally thanked them.

Both Azriel and Gwyn fell into companionable silence again until the ritual concluded with the crowd chanting “So mote it be”. The air felt charged, the flames burning brighter and higher. True magic surrounded them and their hosts. However, as Gwyn stood to maybe find some more food in the clearing, she noticed that there were a lot less people here than before the ritual began. She looked around confused, until Azriel noticed and told her, “People have been sneaking off into the woods for the past half hour if that’s what you’re asking yourself.”

“Sneaking off to do what? Some more magic?”

Azriel raised his eyebrows. “Can you imagine another reason? One having to do with that interesting oil?”

“Oh”, Gwyn laughed before she reigned herself back in, “but why would they sneak off? I mean, the heightened sensations with it feel good, but nobodies’ touches would convince me to miss a ritual like this.”

She quickly turned her face away from him so he wouldn’t see her grin. With Azriel, you really needed to take advantage of every upper hand you got.

“Really, my queen?” Moving quicker than lightning, he had grabbed her by the arm, spun her around to face him and caught her lips with his own. The kiss was passionate and fiery, and she too poured every ounce of want into it that had been building up in her body for the past hour. Azriel’s hands clasped her waist firmly, pressing her into him. She hummed lowly in satisfaction, tracing his biceps and shoulders with her own hands.

When they broke apart, both struggling for air, Azriel did still have the never to look cocky. “Still convinced that nobodies’ touches could persuade you do ditch the ritual?”

Gwyn made an exaggerated thinking-face, pouting her lips in contemplation. “Yes, actually. It’s not your fault the ritual is so fascinating.”

Azriel let out a sound that seemed to have come from somewhere deep in his chest. He tilted her head up, brushing his nose against hers and kissed the corner of her mouth softly, with just a brush of his lips. Then he moved on to the other side, caressing her lips with his on the way and making Gwyn feel ready to jump out of her skin with desire.

“It’s okay, love. Just tell me what you want.”, he said quietly. But she could practically hear the condescending grin he wore, and it wouldn’t do. She wouldn’t let him win this. Not when she had an ace up her sleeve.

“Azriel? Are you not my sworn warrior?”

“I am. As I’ve said, just tell me what it is you want, and you’ll get it.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear. I command you, then, to refrain from touching me until I say otherwise.”

Azriel gaped at her, his hands falling off from their home around her waist.

“What? You brough this onto yourself. Also, you can still kiss me if I am the one to initiate.”

Azriel grumbled something about it being unfair that made Gwyn laugh again.

When she gave the command, she didn’t reach out to her mental connection to Az. Technically, he can still touch her freely, he just doesn’t know what it feels like to be under a real spell. But as long as he didn’t know that, she could have some fun with this.

“Let’s go back to the inn, shall we?”

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