#so i shot her out that she was poisoned and she needed healing quickly

[crowind1]

This literally happened GUCHFJHIJIHJJ

@chachacharlieco and me playing FFXIV X,D

[soapsilly]

Betrayal - Roronoa Zoro Imagine

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x reader

Spoilers for One Piece (?)

Summary: It's been two years since the straw hats got seperated by Bartholomew Kuma. Two years since (Y/N) and Zoro have last seen each other but when the day finally came to reunite things didn't quite play out like they had envisioned.

Requests are closed

Part 2 Part 3

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It wasn't love at first sight. Not at all. It wasn't like they disliked each other either - far from it actually. When the Straw Hats picked her up, it didn't take long for (Y/N) to make friends with almost the whole crew. When they arrived on her little autumn island it didn't take much convincing for them to make her part of the crew. She liked her little home outside of the village but she was never part of it. The Straw Hats found (Y/N) when they made a stop at the island for supplies. Whilst Nami and Sanji stormed to the market in the search for pretty things and food supplies respectively, Zoro and Luffy wandered into the next bar for drinks and meat - also respectively. That left Chopper and Usopp on the look out for medicinal herbs and whatever else was needed for Usopp's ammunition. When they asked the townspeople they told them about the witch that lived outside the village. The villagers usually avoided her unless they needed something - which made (Y/N) a rather lonely person. When Chopper and Usopp told their captain about what they've heard, Luffy was immediately excited. So the whole crew made their way up the hill to the hut where the alleged witch was located.

Once they arrived, Chopper immediately went for the flowers and herbs that grew in the garden infront of the little house.

"I wouldn't touch those. Most of them are poisonous", the girl that came out of the house didn't look like a witch at all. No warts, no hooked nose, not even a witchy hat or black boots. In fact, she was young and -

"Beautiful!", the tall, blond guy was at her side at an instant. He took her hand in his and starred deeply into her eyes, "my name is Sanji and you are?"

"(Y/N)", she giggled.

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It was easy for (Y/N) to make friends with the crew - well most of them. Luffy was a friendly guy by nature so no problem there, Sanji was swooned as soon as she stepped out of her house, Nami was just happy to have another girl on the ship and Chopper was happy about the few healing balms and herbs she could provide him with - even though he had hoped for more when he saw the densely vegetated garden in front of the witch's house. Much to his dismay most of them were poisonous plants, not because she planned something foul but rather just because she liked them the most. Usopp wasn't as easy to win over as he seemed to be rather sceptical of strangers, but as she handed him some ammunition for his sling shot she finally gained his sympathy. The first batch was a little too strong for Usopps liking - lethal to be specific - but after careful calibration, whoever was hit fell into a temporary paralysis, much to Zoro's dismay who quickly became Usopp's favourite victim for target practice.

The swordsman however was a different story. He wasn't outright mean to her but no matter how much she tried, how many smiles she sent his way or how many attempts at small talk she started, he just didn't seem to care. She didn't take offence to that though. She still enjoyed his company whilst the crew sat down for dinner or during their excursions to different islands. It was during those times that she noticed his abysmal sense of direction, his affinity for hard liquor and his dislike for a certain curly-eyebrowed cook. She always enjoyed the seemingly pointless fights that the two would get themselves into. It's not that she disliked either of them - quite the contrary in fact - she grew rather fond of both of the men even if one of them didn't want much to do with her and the other wanted a little too much. It was rather that entertainment on deck was scarce and they never really hurt each other in a serious way anyways - so no harm, no foul .

One night after dinner when most of the crew went on to do their separate things, (Y/N) decided to try it again with Zoro.

"Is it your turn to keep watch tonight?", she asked as she approached him on deck.

He looked at her for a few seconds but decided to answer her anyways. "No, I think it's Usopp and that shitty cook tonight"

That's just what the girl wanted to hear. "Great!"

He sent her a suspicious squint but let her continue.

"You like alcohol" - she stated and as if to confirm her statement he lifted his cup, which was already filled with some kind of liquor - "I got us some", she continued.

"I got my own", he grunted.

"This one's better. Believe me, I made it", she grinned.

"You made this?"

"Yep"

"Yourself?"

"Yep"

"With your poison plants? Are you trying to kill me?"

"Yep.... Well, no", she sighed, "it's really good. In a low dosage it has a euphoric effect. I usually drink it as a tea but I made it as a drink.. for us to share?"

The green haired man contemplated for a moment but then shrugged and held out his cup for her to fill.

After the first sip, he let the taste linger for a second and then decided to chug the whole thing before (Y/N) could protest.

"I like it. Give me another cup"

"What? No! This is stronger than normal sake. It's not supposed to be downed. You can't have another one so soon after the first"

"I don't feel a thing. I can handle it. Give me another"

She thought for a moment. What was the worst thing that could happen?

"Only if you drink this one slowly..."

He sent her a short nod, indicating his approval.

So for a while they sat there in silence sipping their drinks with the occasional question here and there.

"So, you're a witch, huh?"

"Me? Nah.. The townspeople liked to say that because I like to do tarot card readings and sold them potions and healing balms. There's nothing magical about it but rumours spread fast in such a little village"

"Why didn't you correct them?"

"I don't care. I made money off of it", she shrugged.

They both fell into silence again but it felt comfortable. She could feel the slight buzz already forming and by the glow on Zoro's cheeks, she could see that the drink started to have it's effect on him too.

"I wouldn't mind another drink, you know", he grinned at her mindlessly.

It was late already but (Y/N) didn't feel like cutting the time with Zoro short. Who would've thought that the way into a man's heart was freshly distilled alcohol?

Just as she was about to fill their cups yet another time, Sanji made his way patrolling around the ship. Only the sight of the cook was enough to make Zoro clench his jaw.

"What's your problem with Sanji?", she found the interaction hilarious.

"You wouldn't understand anyways. That talentless ero-cook..."

"Hey.. he might be a pervert, but his food is amazing!", she scolded the moss-head.

"You don't seem to mind the way he dances around you and Nami", he huffs.

"No, I think it's kinda nice actually but I wouldn't put too much thought into it", she shrugged, "he can't control himself around women. I wouldn't fall for a guy like that"

"Hah!", the swordsman seemed to like hearing that. One man's misfortune is another man's treasure. Especially if the first man happened to be a curly-browed cook.

The night went on and on and the more the two of them drank the more they opened up about their past, their dreams and aspirations. But since (Y/N)'s alcohol was indeed stronger than what Zoro was used to after a few more cups the deep conversations turned into silly jokes and stupid impressions, which was not unusual for (Y/N) at all but when Usopp told the others about what he saw in the morning neither wanted to believe Zoro had partaken aswell.

"I knew she was a real witch... She cast a spell on him", Chopper whispered.

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Since that night Zoro and (Y/N) would consider each other as friends. Neither would talk about it but during meal times they would sit by each other, during island walks they stayed with each other and during night patrol they kept each other company. And every now and again at night they would sit down on the deck with a bottle of (Y/N)'s liquor and repeat the first time they really talked to each other. And it was during those times that during a moonlit night they shared their first kiss. The next morning neither could say who it was, that initiated it but it didn't really matter anyways. For the most part nothing really changed between them and they never gave it a name but they never kept it a secret either.

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Zoro wasn't the same after Thriller Bark. He spent all his free time excercising and training without giving his body the time to properly heal.

"Zoro... please", she stood in the doorway of the crow's nest, "you need to heal"

He ignored her and just kept going.

"You heard what Chopper said. I'm worried about you"

Still no response.

"Damnit! Zoro, is your deathwish that big?", her voice was equal parts angry and sad, "how will you become the best swordsman in the world when you're dead?"

With a loud 'BANG' Zoro dropped his weight and turned to the girl in front of him, "I made a promise! Don't you understand I need to become stronger?"

(Y/N), of course knew about Zoro's past. She knew about Kuina and his promise to her but why did he have to be so stubborn?

"Is that promise more important than all of us? Your nakama?", she was on the verge of tears now.

"It's not just that", he yelled back. Why was she so stupid? "If I don't become stronger, I can't protect any of you"

"You can't protect us either if you're dead! And then you'll never be the world's best swordsman and I'll be alone again!", she screamed.

The Straw Hats could hear the fighting all the way down on deck. They were used to their fights being loud but this was different. Sanji was already half-way up the ladder to break up the fight, outraged that Zoro would dare to make (Y/N)-chan cry but Robin held him back telling him that there were some things that a couple needs to sort out themselves.

That night (Y/N) took the time to put a heap of pillows and blankets into the crow's nest to make it easier for him to relax a little. At first he refused to follow her at all but once she grabbed his hand and really stared into his eyes he realized how serious she was. Once she got him to settle in, she turned to leave but his voice stopped her.

"Stay", his voice was quiet, "please, stay"

She nodded and turned back to him. Usually she was the one to initiate closeness between the two, so moments like those were rare. Once she nestled into the mountains of pillows she heard his voice again.

"I'm sorry"

She was stunned. All the years and all the fights, she never heard him apologize to her before. She tried to say something but he continued.

"I know I'm stubborn, but the thought of not being strong enough to protect any of you kills me. I won't always have time to heal and when the time comes and we'll get attacked I will have to fight. And if anyone, especially you, gets hurt because I wasn't strong enough, I wouldn't be able to live with that"

The witch didn't know how to react to his confession. Instead she opted to brush her fingers to Zoro's green hair and soon after she could hear the deep snores of her lover.

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The Straw Hats were hopelessly at the mercy of marine admiral Kizaru. There was nothing they could do. All of them were battered and bruised already from the fight with the Kuma Androids and now (Y/N) had to witness Zoro collapse from one of the Admiral's attacks. In the distance she could hear Luffy scream his name. She knew it was too soon for a fight. Almost automatically she sprinted to the sprawled out form of her boyfriend. Once she reached him, there wasn't much time to spare. She grabbed his form and dragged his body away from the impending kick, that would kill him. Brook and Usopp tried to attack Kizaru while (Y/N) created some distance but in the blink of an eye the admiral stood above Zoro once again. One leg on his back, the other hovering above his head.

"I won't let you get away. It's no use", he said almost too calmly.

The thoughts inside of (Y/N)'s head were racing and before she knew what she was doing she threw herself over Zoro's exposed form.

"You fool. That won't save him. You'll die together", Kizaru laughed almost carelessly.

Her heart was racing and she felt the blood rushing in her ears, but she didn't dare to open her eyes.

"Get away!", she couldn't quite tell whose voice it was that reached her ears first but after the first exclamation another followed and another and another... but she only shook her head repeatedly tears streaming down her face.

"Go", Zoro's deep voice sounded raspy and like even that small little word hurt him immensely but (Y/N) only shook her head yet again not caring that the man beneath her could probably not even see it. But the deadly stomp never came. Instead, Rayleigh, Gol D. Roger's first mate, decided to come in and fight with admiral Kizaru himself.

"Grab Zoro and get out of there!", she heard Luffy yell. Usopp grabbed Zoro underneath his arm and dragged him out of the danger zone.

"You - You should have left", the swordsman tried to scold his girlfriend but his voice was weak.

"Can we fight about this once we're safely back on the Sunny, please?"

He tried to laugh, their bickering was one of his favourite things about their relationship but they never even got the chance to return to their home. Shortly after Kizaru, the real Kuma showed up and one after the other the Straw Hat Pirates disappeared.

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It's been two years since Kuma seperated the crew, two years since Luffy lost Ace, two years since Zoro has last seen (Y/N). But the time has finally come to reunite. Zoro was actually the first to arrive ten days ago. Shortly after the other Straw Hats arrived one after another. It was only the witch that was still missing. Zoro couldn't wait to tell her that not only did he arrive before her AND that shitty cook, he also arrived first overall. He decided to conveniently remain silent about the help of a certain Ghost Ghost Brat.

"Has anybody had any contact with (Y/N) in the last two years?", Nami asked the group but she only earned headshakes as a response. Zoro felt a touch of melancholy. He would never admit it infront of the crew but eventhough he had used every single day of those two years for training with Mihawk, he did miss her. And then just like that, there she was walking up the gangway.

Zoro felt like his heart skip a beat once he saw her fully. She didn't change much, she was still beautiful. So much infact, that the ero-cook almost bled out once she went to greet him. The only thing that changed were the many tattoos that littered her body - mostly her arms. Flowers, beetles, stars and moons.

She came up to him last but something was weird. He expected her to leap into his arms like she had done so often in the past. He never initiated PDA infront of others - or rather at all - but he never complain when she did it, but this time she just stood there.

"Zoro, your eye..."

For a second he felt insecure. He never paid the fresh scar that decorated his left eye any mind and he didn't think that (Y/N) would either.

"Are you okay?", she seemed worried.

He grunted as to confirm that he was fine.

"You look good", she sent him a reassuring smile.

For a while the two of them just stood there but then Luffy's loud voice pulled them out of the moment.

"So now that we're complete let's set sail!"

(Y/N) flinched and then looked panicked.

"Wait, no, no no. There's something I need to tell you guys"

The crew waited in silence for their friend to continue.

"I won't come be coming you"

It was quiet for a few secong before Luffy's booming laugh filled the space, clearly thinking she was joking but Zoro knew something was wrong. In all those years as a fighter he learned to observe high stress situations and this was one. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but something was very wrong.

"Luffy... I'm not - I'm not joking", her voice was quiet.

Luffy abruptly stopped laughing. She didn't dare look up into the faces of her former crew mates in fears of what she might see but her decision has been made. It's not like she had much of a choice anyways.

"What's going on? Who's making you say this? Is someone threatening you?", Sanji asked. Even he mellowed out considering the tense situation. As much as he disliked the cook, Zoro approved of the questions, he knew she wouldn't leave them on her own accord.

"Nobody is threatening me and nobody is making me say this. I just can't - I don't... I will not be coming with you"

"But why?", Nami tried to reason with her.

"You guys don't understand. I have a home, a little house with a garden..."

"You can have a garden here on the Sunny...", Franky interjected.

"Whatever you'll need from your home, we'll get it on the way. Don't you worry about it", Luffy laughed, still not understanding how serious the situation was. Everybody was talking, asking questions, yelling suggestions but (Y/N) just kept shaking her head vehemently.

"Don't be an idiot. Just tell us what's going on", that was the first time Zoro spoke up. He had enough of the excuses. His voice cut through the noise like a sword and now all eyes laid on him.

"I had a child!", she yelled.

For a few heartbeats nothing and nobody on deck made a sound.

"A little boy to be specific", she continued, "I have a family now"

Zoro could've sworn there was a ringing sound that filled the air but the truth was, it was probably just the blood rushing through his ears.

"What?", Nami's voice sounded cold, mechanic even.

"I-"

"Don't!", (Y/N) had never seen Nami so enraged, "You found someone else? How could you do that? To us? To Zoro?"

"It's been two years...", the witch pleaded.

"So? So? None of us had any issues keeping it in our pants but you had to go and play house with the next best guy ?"

Nami's words hurt but (Y/N) knew that she deserved them. It was never her intention to hurt anybody - especially Zoro - but two years were a long time and a lot has changed.

(Y/N) looked around but the other Straw Hats avoided looking at her. Once her gaze landed on the spot where Zoro was leaning against the railing, she noticed that he was missing. She didn't know at what point he had left but she didn't blame him.

(Y/N) tried to say something but as soon as she opened her mouth Nami interrupted her.

"You should leave"

The other woman nodded and turned to say her goodbyes to the rest of the crew.

"So... Fish-Man Island, huh?", she sent Robin a little smile. The older woman was always so understanding even when the other person didn't really deserve it.

"Yes.. but first we'll have to make a stop at the next island over. Sabaody is full of marines, we didn't get all the supplies we needed, soooo if you change your mind ...", she suggested.

"I don't think Nami would let me live if I'll ever show my face around here again", she answered, "not that I could blame her"

"Give it some time", Robin hugged the younger woman as a farewell.

For a moment (Y/N) just stood there staring at the ladder to the crow's nest. But before she could even make an attempt to say her good-byes to Zoro Nami interjected.

"Don't you even dare. Don't think about it. Just leave."

(Y/N) was happy that Zoro had his friends that cared so much about him. Nami really cared about every single one of them - even if they sometimes drove her crazy. And if somebody hurt them, may it be their own nakama or anybody else, her mama-bear instinct kicked in. The boys always acted like the strongest, toughest warriors of the sea but deep down she knew they were idiots at heart. Her idiots.

"Nami-", the witch decided to try it a last time but the navigator only turned away from her former friend, signaling her that she doesn't have anything to say to her anymore.

As (Y/N) was walking down the gangway Usopp climbed up the crow's nest.

"Zoro... (Y/N) is leaving..."

But Zoro did not make a move. In fact, he didn't even react to Usopp at all. He just kept on exercising the way he usually does whenever anything is on his mind. In times like these, it was (Y/N), who would calm him down and get him to eat and even relax a little but now it was her that caused his isolation. He never felt the need to open up to anybody. Love was more of the ero-cook's thing even if he never actually had any success with the women he made his feeble attempts at. Zoro remembered how him and (Y/N) used to make fun of how much he was doing with so little payoff. He put some more weights on to get his mind away from the hurtful memory.

He would've never thought that she'd do something like that. Zoro wasn't the jealous type - never has been. Even when they were together the cook wouldn't stop flirting with (Y/N) but the swordsman was never worried. And whenever a slimey fool in the bars during their island journeys got a little too close for comfort, his girlfriend would easily send them away.

"I'd keep my hands to myself if I were you", she'd say, "Do you see that mosshead over there? He'll be the strongest swordsman in the world. You reeaally shouldn't bother his girlfriend"

His girlfriend...

Zoro shook his head. He was a fool. Of course, she'd find someone else. She basically always told him that she wasn't a person that could deal with being alone easily. That was probably the only reason she was ever with him to begin with. He put yet another set of weights on the barbell. She already said she wouldn't fall for Sanji. So was he just the next best option? But a whole family? A child? If it was just a new boyfriend, she could've surely left him after the two years. She could've come back to him. Zoro was so hopelessly in love with her, he wouldn't even care. But now she had a family. A family that she would never leave alone. She knew how much Robin suffered from losing her mother early. She wouldn't do that. Zoro let the weights drop to the floor with a loud 'BANG'. With all that thinking the swordsman however never once stopped to consider that his former partner made her choice not only out of obligation but rather because the truly was happier now...

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Epilogue

(Y/N) never felt as lost as the moment when she stepped off the Thousand Sunny. Within just a matter of moments she lost her family, her friends, her nakama. And even worse, she hurt someone, that she very deeply cared about. For a while she just stood there, thoughts rushing through her head. But whatever scenario she made up, there wasn't any other way. So after a few deep breaths she made her way back to her new home - back to the moss-headed boy, that reminded her so much of his father already.

[laneynoir]

Oooo can you do “Come here, we need to talk.” For Aragorn? I feel like this would be interesting-

So, turns out I did NOT post this two days ago like I thought I did... Oops. You can blame @sotwk and @a-burr-a-hobbit for accidentaly drawing my attention to that :P

Jordan, thank you so much for the request!

Word count: 2122

The nobles have a grudge agaisnt you, an irrational one, born from inset jealously and a belief that you do not belong. And you constantly find yourself antagonized by jabs, mostly verbal but some... Not so.

Hence your current state.

Really, you'd think that if one were to attempt an assasination, one could at the very least hire a competent assassin.

The orcs had come closer than these people.

Still, you had been shot with the dart, and the slash from the knife has yet to stop bleeding, so you push yourself up from the floor and limp tword the medical wing.

You had just turned the corner when you come face to face with a guard, who quickly dons an expression of suprise at your bloodied figure. Forgoing any words he may have spoken, you wave your hand.

"I am perfectly alright soldier. However there is a group of assassins tied together with some draperys in that hallway, they should still be unconcouss." You pause a moment. "Although one is almost definently dead and another is bleeding quite profusely. And you may want to get someone to mop up the blood before it dries into the floor."

You pat his shoulder before limping on -because although you know you haven't broken it, you've done something to your ankle- and make a sound of thanks to his promise to take care of it.

When you finally make it to the familiar pristine hall of healing, you can tell by the look on the maids face that you look a fright.

You are soon rushed to a seat on one of the beds as your favourite healer is brought to your side.

"Gracious me, they did a number on you this time didn't they?" Vera eyes the slash wound critically before grabbing a length of bandage and a few suspisous smelling jars.

You smile at her worry and shrug, immediately regretting such. "Tis not really so bad as it looks, I am only suprised that they would dare carry out an attack within the palace wall-OI"

Vera makes a small 'hmf' sound at your exclamation of pain. "I thought it was 'not so bad'? Are you going to tell the King?"

You sigh heavily. "I imagine Aragorn will learn of it it one way or another, though not, I think, from me."

At that Vera ceases her movements. "And just why not? That man -king- would tear down the castle of Rohan for you!"

The deadpan stare you give her is droll enough to chase off an orc but she doesn't flinch. "Because my dear Vera, I know very well how protective of his friends our King can be. And I would not dare put it past him to throw all of the nobles in a cell."

Vera gives you a look, that plainly lets you know that she knows there's more too it.

"And" you begin quietly "I think I am afraid that he wouldn't do anything. I hardly see him anymore and I fear I've lost his friendship."

The expression on her face melts instantly. "Oh y/n..." She pulls you into a hug, but jerks back when you release a yelp. "What-" her eyes widen "What's this then?"

She's quickly tearing away the sleeve of your tunic and gasps at whatever she finds on your shoulder. "What? What's what?"

Instantly she becomes a flurry of movement. "You- didn't tell me you'd been shot with a poisoned dart!"

She begins dabbing around the area, causing you to let a hiss out from betwixt your teeth. "In defence of myself, I was unaware of the poison."

~

Unbeknownst to both you and Vera, the problem of telling Aragorn, called Estel, would not come to pass. For already is he informed and strides with long pace beside Boromir.

Boromir who, though he shows no sign of it, is quite worried. In many battles he has fought with his now king, but never has he seen this expression on his face.

The king of Gondor looks murderous.

Aragorn has always carried a ruged yet regal aura, somewhat intimidating, one that makes all around him willing to follow, to obey, and to trust.

The air of such is still present, but also is an undercurrent of threat. And though he will never speak of it, Boromir is afraid.

It is an irrational fear, as he is certainly not the one whom ordered the attack on you, and yet he cannot chase the discomfort away.

The guards infront of the cell jolt at the appearance of their King and Captain, bowing stiffly they open the doors at Aragorn's commanding motion.

Inside is a pitifully ragtag group of four men and one woman. One of the men has his shirt compleatly removed and a thick bandage wrapped around his chest, the rest sport less cotton but look no less miserable.

At the sight of Aragorn they all jerk to sitting positions, each with differant levels of pain. "Oh King, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

The look Aragorn gives the red haired man is eerily similar to the one he'd given the mouth of Sauron, and that hadn't exactly gone well for him.

Cutting past any pleasantries, Aragorn stares at the man. "You are the leader?" At his tentive nod Aragorn inclines his head. "Come here, we need to talk. What is your name, and why have you come into my city with ill intent?"

The man's demeanour remains flippant as he introduces himself as 'Traydor' however this is not Boromir's first, nor is Aragorn an unobservant man, and they both note the sweat on Traydor's forehead and the slight tremor of his hand.

"To my first query you have given answer," Aragorn speaks, in a tone so cold that the man with the bandaged chest shivers. "And yet my second goes unanswered."

"I should think our intent was obvious, King Aragorn."

Boromir takes a step back as the sword of Elendil flashes through the air and lands against the throat of Traydor, who's eyes widen. "It is not in my nature to make empty threats, so I give to you one more chance; explain in full why you have entered my halls and put in danger one who holds my favour."

In the momentary silence, Boromir has the fleeting thought that Aragorn would probably not be holding a sword to the neck of a prisoner had it been him who'd been threatened, but then, he reasons, Boromir would rather remain a Spector of the long looks Aragorn sent to you, and not the recipient.

The silence dissolves with the broken tone of the man on the cott. "Traydor please. Dont let your pride take you from me?"

Traydor swallows agaist the unwavering blade agaist his person. "Fine! I will speak, but only because my husband pleads." He sends an anoyed, yet endearing, glance at mentioned man as Aragorn removes the blade from his neck.

"Then do so quickly, none of us wish for this meeting to be longer than it has to be." Aragon nods in agreement with Boromir's words and the redhead begins,

"As I pointed out, it us quite obvious that we were sent to end the life of lieutenant Y/n, in no specific way, and were offered a large sum to do so. 'Twas not until yestermorn that we learned of the past failed attempts on the Lory's life, and in haste we enlisted another's help, the man whom was slain.

"It was a risky endeavor the whole way through, for we were told that in halls of the palace our quary would be off guard, not so as we found, and were all desposed of and bound. I must say though, our hired hand managed a shot with his poison dart...?"

At this point he lookes to the least injured man who grimaced. "Plant called Eldarsbane."

Aragorn showes no outward sign of worry, but his breath catches and Boromir beguns to worry. "The name of that who hired you, give me this and you will keep your lives."

Traydor shrugs. "Fair, his name was Derind. Didn't like the fellow but I've lives I'm repsonsable for." At this his eye twitched and dismay coats his face. "Had I supose I should say."

Aragorn cannot find it within himself to pity the man, but turns to Boromir. "I must attend to Y/n, I trust you will deal with Lord Derind?" He barely acknowledges Boromir's nod before turning and disappearing diwn the hall.

"That was exciting"

Boromir son of Denthor, steward of Gondor, cannot disagree with the small man chrouched on the floor.

~

Aragorn has never regretted his Royal lineage more than in moments like this, when it is decidedly suspicious to run through the halls of the palace. He waves away concerned guard on this way to the halls of healing, praying to the Valar that you were there.

Someone must have heard his plees as he turn the last corner he hears the words: "In defence of myself, I was unaware of the poison."

You jolt up at his appearance, "Aragorn!" And if you watch a bit to closely at the fluid movement with which he sheds his cloak, that is no one's business but your own.

And perhaps Vera's, as she smirks knowingly. "What have you treated her with, Lady Vera?"

And so she rattles off a list of terms that only make slight sense to you, but he understands compleatly. When Aragorn mentions something of a 'Eldarsbane' Vera freezes, but quickly launches into movment at the request for some plant called prickelbear.

After she's hurried off in the direction of the gardens, you become far to aware of Aragorn's close proximity and in an attempt to distract yourself you joke; "How long until I die my King?"

He stills from his ministrations at your shoulder and your eyes widen. Turning, you look at him mouth agape. "I'm actually dieing? Mahal's hairy Balls of course I am. Will it be slow and painful-"

"Y/n, I will not allow you to die." The steel in his voice sends a jolt of alarm through you.

"And here I thought the plant was in charge of that." The jest is painfully halfhearted, and you shift your eyes always from Aragorn's. His reaction is to reach with a gentle hand and turn your face back to his.

"I say again," he says, voice as soft as the elves who raised him. "I will not allow you to die."

You fight the urge to rest against his hand -a battle not entirely successful- and find yourself in an odd state between releaved and dissapointed when he moves to trace the line of your jaw.

"How many times has this happned, y/n?" At your confusion he raises an eyebrow. "How many times has it escaped my notice and attention that the one I care for has been targeted for slaughter?"

Your mind is in a jumble, but you manage to tell him of the five previous attempts, by the end his elegantly grave features have hardened, before softening as he sets his forehead against your own. 

You can feel the blood rush to your face, but still feel odly at peace, especially for someone who is dieing.

But then, near death has always pit things in perspective; as such the fact that occasionally indulging is no crime, an hour can produce more than a day, and you've fallen madly in love with the king of Gondor.

Oh dear.

Vera returns with an odd shaped green and purple plant with spiked leaves, fifteen minutes later, you've a thick bandage with an ill-smelling paste beneath it. Aragorn proclaims that you will live and the joy and relief in his eyes shows so plaibly that you notice, and take the chanve at pulling him in for a hug.

While pressed against you he whispers in your ear. "Y/n, I do belive I've fallen in love"

"With whom my King?" You ask barely daring to fraw a breath.

"The most talented and loyal person to walk the halls of Gondor." He replies pulling away to look at you.

You smirk, "Falling for one's self is hardly becoming of a King."

Aragorn presses near to your lips, just a tilt of your head and you could claim the King. "Will you allow me to court you, to worship and follow you, to speak your counsel above all else, and shower you with the love you so deserve?"

A soft 'yes' escapes you, before you know no more, other than the lips pressed against the other, and the healing hands of your king tangle in your hair.

(I am fully aware of how bad this is, plz don't hit me)

[elvesandlanterns]

Ghost Helpline chapter 40

Secrets before dinner 3

Jack peered closely at the green vials, “No way, you actually pulled off recreating a medical grade ecto degecto?!!”

“What like it’s hard?” This bitch.

Before the two could start another fight Ziyad placed their hand down on the little vamps shoulder. Ziyad took over the conversation quickly, “This is great Wilbur, I assume were being given the test batch?”

“Well I cant just go around poisoning my patients now can I？” the manic man laughed, “Though I suppose I can but that would be bad for business.”

Ziyad held back sighs, he admittedly hated working with Wilbur but this was for the greater good. Magical creatures (half breeds his mind unwontedly whispered to him) in the mortal world needed healthcare, and they surly weren’t getting it. Trust came hard to them. Understandably. And while king Phantom was doing his best he couldn’t be everywhere at once. And even if he could be there would always be a sour taste at accepting aide from royalty.

No instead people were more willing, happier even to seek out black market healing guilds like Wilburs. At least then you knew exactly what the catch is.

“Im sure your clientele appreciate it.” Ziyads smile stretched thin. He really hated working with Wilbur, “Speaking of your clientele, when can I schedule my sister to see you?”

Ecto degecto was still in its infancy of being considered a universal blood type for magic kind, but for the death touched it was a necessity. A necessity they weren’t even sure she needed or not. It would be best to check, and Wilburs guild was good at gathering info on his sisters illness. It probably helped that their family paid him so well. Ziyad thought as he bit the inside of his cheek raw.

—- —- ——

Tims heart raced, his sister? His sister?!!! Tim could sill remember the first time he saw the Masters family. The were all gathered about laughing and smiling. They looked so happy.

She looked happy, wheelchair bound and attempting to run her siblings down.

He’d been jealous. Jealous and sad. And suddenly any thoughts of Vlad Masters being some up and coming big bad had disappeared from his mind and he sold his old empty house on the spot. As if the money could somehow be as warm as that laughter.

No no after that first meeting he never suspected Vlad Masters.

He should have suspected his son. Tim grimaced at his own sense of vindication. Guess there not such a happy family after all.

— —- ——

Jason was actually properly shocked at what he heard. …Was …..was this guy EXPERIMENTING on his sister!!! Green threaded to swallow him whole, how dare he! How dare he hurt someone like that! Hurt his family! Hurt a kid.

Holy shit the kid!

Was the kid his sister?? They needed to intervene now!

This sick fuck is going down.

—- —- —-

Jack wasn’t named after anyone in particular. Violet had renamed him far before she had met the Masters family. Far before they knew. /that/ story. Before any of the kids knew about any of the stories that came before them and by then the name Jack had stuck. But being called Red, even as a code name, felt special in its own way.

Violet and Red like a ridiculous beautiful color combination a pair idiots would make up. And they did. Violet, Konstelacio and Red, Jack. The first time around he had been named Jack because it was common, grounding, easy to play off as foreigner trying to fit in. It was practical. But Red? Red was like roses and hearts and blood and Violet. Like being renamed to compliment her entirely. It made him feel secure.

Now if only it also wasn’t also so common.

“It’s Red —-Red——!”

What ?

All Jack heard was his own name as he tripped over the side of a table clutching his stomach as a bullet wizzed by. Crying out as the bond between him and Violet chooses right then and there to flare up terribly.

“Red!”

“Kid! Oh my gods they shot Red!”

—- —- —-

Ziyad feels something off. Gotham was full of shades and shadows and spirts. He had grown use to the felling of being watched but this felt different. Different he scoured the warehouse turning his eyes up the window just as glass shatters to the ground, damn it, “Its Red Hood and Red Robin!! Get down!” He cant reach Jack before he falls yelping in pain clutching his side, he can hear Wilburs yell clearly too clearly, “Kid! Oh my gods! They shot Red!”

He’ll think about how horrible he is later. Later in bed he’ll think about what Reds blood hands and never seeing that kid in the kitchen at fucking midnight ever again. How he’d never get to hear him and — argue over mechanics and science ever again. Later he’ll think about how lucky they all are to not be mortal. Later, later Ziyad will tear himself apart over his piss poor decision making.

But in the moment all he can think about as he sees the kid get shot is, ‘shit, Violets never going to forgive me.’

He doesn’t think at all as Red Hood rounds closer to them, doesn’t pull back his punch because whoever this guy is he is most defiantly not mortal. Not anymore. And while Ziyad might not be a halfa, he is also defiantly not mortal. He doesn’t think and punched Red Hoods helmet hard enough to crack it.

—- —- —-

Jason is momentarily thrown at the shout of “Oh my gods! They shot Red!” Whipping his head around to look at Tim. Tim whose throat he cut, Tim who he hurt and ignored and mistreated. He looks for only a second and a second is all the man needs to get one over on him.

Gripping his head Jason dodges a kick rights himself back up. The kid is on the floor behind them, shes on the floor. Just like Tim. Jason hadn’t been aiming at her. He didn’t mean to.

Swing. The bastard doesn’t let up for a minute and it takes too long for him to realize the space growing between them and the kid until its to late. Beanie guy throwing various liquids at Red Robin as he yanks the pink teen up harshly and makes a dash for it. Whatever he threw at Tim is turning to smoke, odviscating his view of the man he’s fighting.

All he can see is green eyes. All Jason can hear is Tim choking on smoke. On his own blood. On the blood Jason put there.

Oh it is on!

—- —- ——

The vigilantes take stalk of their surroundings. The men had run off with the case of lazerous water but several crates remained, Marked with letters SBS. Tim walked over to the closest one, he had work to do.

He does his best to block out the sound of Jason behind him, he cant do this right now. He cant. Focus on the case. Focus on the case. This was way bigger than the initial drug ring he assumed it would be and he needed as much info as he could get.

“I need an explanation Tim! And I need one now.” He heard his brother growled out, lovely.

Ignoring his questions he pried the top of the box open. What the hell. What the actual hell? This wasn’t drugs or lazerous water this was so much worse.

“Jason shut up.”

“Fuck no you -“

“Jason shut up and look.”

The crate was insulated, cold. And filled with blood bags.

[erdarielthewhumper]

For @whumpers-monthly's current prompt, which is "Bitten" (I hope this still fulfills the requirements of the prompt, I... may have gotten slightly carried away (pun possibly intended, and if you want to know what I mean by "pun", read the fic :P) with the story at some point, you know how narratives have minds of their own sometimes...)

Whumpee: Meldie (fantasy elf oc)

Tropes: Bitten by a monster, poison, broken bones, female whumpee

A/N: I may write a second part to this, focused on like, healing and stuff, if people are interested and/or if I happen to feel like it, but we'll see

***

She was never taking another fucking adventure job ever again. Never. Sure, they paid well, but not well enough for dealing with castle ruins where a flock of wyverns had made a nest.

Wyverns were dragons’ smaller, annoying cousins. Not that Meldie had ever seen a dragon, and she hoped she’d never have to, because wyverns were bad enough.

Sure, one of them wouldn’t be much of a challenge, but wyverns weren’t solitary, oh no. They lived in flocks of ten or so, carving caves into rock faces in the mountains or on high cliffs above the sea. Or, occasionally, made their nests in ruined castles and fortresses. And then someone decided that oh, actually, they’d like to have those ruins for whatever reason, and a hapless group of idiots in need of money would be sent to deal with the beasts so that some nobleman could do whatever they were going to do with the property.

It had started well enough; Meldie had shot at a couple of the wyverns with her crossbow, and managed to off one of them and wound another. One of her comrades, who was, she had to admit, the better archer between them, had got three. But by then the rest of the flock had been alerted and four healthy wyverns and the wounded one were all descending on the intruders together.

And that was when they’d learned that wyvern skin was too thick for a silly little fireball spell — that would easily kill thirty men in one go — to do them significant harm. They’d managed to kill the wyvern before it had quite mauled their wizard to death, but now the wizard was out of the game, and their healer had her hands full trying to ensure he stayed not dead. Which left three of them against the five wyverns, and none of them with any magic. The archer at least was good at what they did, but the big guy couldn’t aim for shit, so the only way he ever hit them with his javelin was by pure luck. Meldie was a decent shot with her crossbow, but she couldn’t draw it fast enough for it to be practical anymore.

The wyverns were now directly above them. Their tactic, if it could be called such, was to fly up high and then dive quickly down, lash at the party with claws or tail, or sometimes teeth, and then pull back up out of the reach again.

Fuck it. It was impossible to draw a crossbow and dodge the buggers at the same time, so Meldie hooked the crossbow on her belt again, raised up her shield, and stood still waiting for the next one that’d dive for her. When it did, she leapt away from the claws at the last minute, and slashed at the creature’s wing. Once the thing was grounded, she made short work of killing it.

And then there was a lightning-fast shadow dropping downwards in the corner of her eye, and a piercing pain in her right arm, and she was lifted upwards before she could do anything. A wyvern had clamped its jaws tightly around her arm, and was flying back up again.

Meldie tried to swing at its head with the edge of her shield, but it was damn hard to hit or reach anything when she was dangling from her right arm with nothing under her feet, nothing she could lean onto, and nothing she could grab a hold of. Her right shoulder felt like it was on fire. The arm itself was somewhere beyond pain; whether thanks to adrenaline or nerve damage, she no longer even felt it.

She swung her entire body, and somehow managed to get her legs clamped around the wyvern’s neck. She nearly blacked out as pain flared from her shoulder, but by the time her vision cleared, her grasp still held. She smashed at the wyvern’s head with her shield again, and this time she hit. The wyvern screeched in pain, and her mangled right arm fell from its jaws.

Which only meant that Meldie’s full armored weight and the weight of her pack of supplies was supported by nothing but her own strength, and she was hanging upside down seventy feet in the air, now above a forest beyond the ruins.

Somehow she managed to pull herself up enough to reach at the wyvern’s neck with her left hand. She cut her hand on the scales, but held onto them anyway, pulled herself upwards, let go and quickly reached further up, grabbed a hold despite the sharp edges of the scales, and did it over and over again.

When she finally found herself on top of the wyvern’s neck, she wanted nothing more than to collapse from exhaustion, but she couldn’t. The wyvern was writhing and bucking, now more interested in shaking her off than dragging her to wherever it had intended to take its would-be-prey. Meldie really, really didn’t want to fall off, so she held on as best she could.

But she couldn’t stay in the air forever, and she really didn’t want to know where she’d end up if she held on until the wyvern was forced to land. If her strength would even last that long.

She needed to get down, and jumping wasn’t an option, so she’d have to force the thing to land now. She reached backward, and once more brought her shield down, this time onto the wyvern’s wing. She hit it again and again, her strikes fueled by desperation, until finally something gave way under the shield’s edge.

The wyvern dropped a good few feet, and Meldie almost fell off then and there. The creature tried desperately to compensate, to stay up in the air, but it was going down. It was slowing its descent somewhat, and Meldie was counting on that to be enough to keep her alive, but they were still falling fast.

They crashed through the dense canopy of spruce trees at a speed that made the wood crack and splinter and fly everywhere. Then, finally, the wyvern met the ground with a thud. As the impact went through Meldie’s body, she knew she’d be bruised for a week, but she was alive.

So was the wyvern, but it wouldn’t survive those injuries for long. Meldie had lost grip of her sword when the creature had grabbed her, but she still had her dagger. She took it in her left hand, stumbled up to the still-stunned wyvern’s head, and put it out of its misery with a dagger through the eye.

Then she started prying off the scales. The big ones especially would fetch a pretty price when one knew where to sell them, and even the small ones were worth enough to buy a hot meal and a room for the night. The claws, too, but she didn’t feel it was worth the trouble trying to turn the creature over to get at them.

After gathering enough of the scales to ensure herself a few days of comfortable living in the next town she’d stay at, Meldie left the wyvern carcass and staggered off northwards. There was a village some way roughly north of here, she knew, and it was her best bet right now. She didn’t even know whether her companions had survived the rest of the wyverns, and if they had, she doubted they’d bother looking for her. They surely thought she was dead, and it wasn’t worth the time and effort to look for the body for any kind of burial, when they’d barely known each other a week, anyway.

The village wasn’t in sight yet when the sun began to set. By then Meldie was exhausted, and dizzy, and knew she could go on no longer. It was only when she fell on her knees in a little, sheltered ditch under a huge, ancient spruce tree that she realized that half the dizziness was probably due to blood loss, rather than exhaustion.

Her right arm was a mess; the bones had been crushed by the bite, and it was bleeding badly. Elves were a little more durable than humans, but Meldie knew she’d been seriously pushing her luck. She dug up a spare shirt from her backpack and didn’t even bother tearing it to strips, just wrapped it around her arm as tightly as she could manage. She tore off a strip of another to tie around her left hand, over the cuts the wyvern scales had left in her palm.

Exhaustion and blood loss were pulling her into darkness. She fought them just long enough to take a swig from her waterskin and choke down a bit of hardtack before sliding into sleep.

— — —

When she woke up, the pain was even worse than when she’d fallen asleep. She found she could not move her right shoulder or arm at all, and the pain radiated to the rest of her body so that any movement in general left her gasping and with tears in her eyes. Her vision was blurry, all detail lost, but when she glanced down at her arm, the blood soaking the makeshift bandages was now bright purple.

Shit. Was wyvern-bite poisonous? She hadn’t known that.

She needed to get out of here, she needed to get somewhere with other people. With a healer. She couldn’t die like this, not alone in the forest on as stupid a quest as this had been. The village. It couldn’t be far now, could it?

It was only because of her memories from last night that she knew which way was north. She couldn’t see much right now, and as soon as she stood up, she felt dizzy again. Her legs felt like they could give out at any moment.

In a fog of pain and dizziness, seeing nothing but vague, blurry shapes and colors, Meldie stumbled and staggered and sometimes just crawled onwards through the woods. She didn’t know how long it had been, but eventually she came to a smoother bit of land, a worn path through the forest. She staggered on along the path, her breathing now coming in painful, ragged gasps.

When she felt a hand on her left arm, her first reaction was to fight, but she was slow, and too weak to even pull herself away. Her vision was now entirely gone, and most sounds drowned in white noise, her entire world had been reduced to nothing but pain and fear.

The hand gripped her arm more firmly, and another wrapped around her waist. She was vaguely aware of human voices, but they were distant and garbled and she couldn’t make sense of them.

She was aware of her legs failing, of a falling sensation, slowed by the hands around her. Then someone was laying her down, she felt fabric underneath her, and was lifted up again on the fabric…

After some indeterminable amount of time, it might have been seconds or minutes or hours later, there was more indistinct talking, and hands grabbed her again and lifted her onto some hard surface. She felt someone tugging at the straps of her breastplate, opening the laces of her gambeson, taking away her clothes and armor. What were they doing to her? She tried to writhe and struggle and fight against it, but nothing seemed to have any effect.

Someone held up her head and put something cold on her lips. Bitter-tasting liquid trickled into her mouth. She tried to spit it out and felt it dribble from the corners of her mouth and down her chin, but the cup at her lips wasn’t taken away and finally it was either swallow the liquid or choke on it, so she swallowed and felt it chill her throat on the way down.

Everything had been getting darker and more distant for a while now, and finally darkness took her again.

She woke up to the sound of approaching footsteps. When she opened her eyes, her vision was still blurry, but she thought she could make out the log walls of a small room, and a low ceiling above her. She was lying on a straw-filled mattress in a narrow bed, covered with an itchy wool blanket. Her arm — now covered in actual bandages rather than the first bit of cloth she’d found in her pack — and her shoulder still hurt terribly, and the pain radiated from there to her side and her chest. She laid as still as she could, knowing that to move would be to cause herself more pain.

A figure appeared in the doorway. Meldie couldn’t make out much of his features, not even when he came further into the room, only the faded gray-blue color of his tunic and the white, shoulder-length mane of hair. He came to stand by her bed, put something down on the small bedside table, and bent down towards her.

Meldie flinched back as far as she could. Her vision flared white with pain. She hissed and snarled, as much in fear as in pain. The man drew back, shook his head, and said something.

It took a moment for Meldie’s mind to figure out the right language and local dialect, and by then she could no longer recall what the man had actually said. She managed to find the word for “what?” and asked it, hoping that this time she could understand the reply.

“Calm down”, the man said gently. “You have been hurt badly, and lost much blood, and the poison still has hold of your body. Spare your strength, do not waste it like that.”

Meldie nodded weakly, and the man bent down again. Even this close she could not make out the details of his face, but he helped her sit up, supported by the wall behind her. He took the cup he’d put down on the bedside table, and lifted up her left hand and pressed the cup into it.

“It’s an antidote to the wyvern-poison”, he said at her questioning look. “Drink it. I have already given you some, but you need more, and may need for some days still. It is a stubborn poison, hard to purge from the body.”

Cautiously, but knowing she could do nothing else, Meldie obeyed. She did not like how her hand shook as she brought the cup to her lips and how heavy it felt in her hands. She did not like being weak and at the mercy of strangers, and was more than a little afraid at finding herself in such circumstances. Still, she choked down the cold, bitter drink, and let the man take the cup from her hand and ease her down to lie on the bed again.

***

@evilwriter37 and @wolfeyedwitch you asked to be tagged so here you go! :D

[stellar-waves]

poison ivy

{ Third Watch }

Faith goes to see Bosco after he gets poison ivy. Spoilers: 2.8 "Know Thyself"

. . .

She felt weird knocking on the door, almost like she shouldn’t be there because she knew she wasn’t welcome. Still, she held her breath with a hint of hope.

He pulled open the door and glared at her through his swollen, puffy eyelids. Faith forgot just how bad the poison ivy had gotten. 

“What do you want?” Bosco sneered. He was obviously still pissed off at his partner for lying about her abortion. 

“I’m sorry, Bos.” She couldn’t think how she could be any more sincere. Forget that her husband had kicked her out, she was more afraid of losing Bosco than Fred. 

Bosco groaned, but stepped aside and motioned for her to come inside anyway. Faith picked up her duffle bag and made her way into the apartment. She refused to take off her coat; she didn’t count on staying any longer than she needed. 

“You can sit down. Just don’t mind me, I need to put some cream on my face.”

“It’s looking a lot better,” she called out to him as he disappeared into the bathroom.

“Oh yeah, God bless that steroid shot,” he replied, obviously still in a sarcastic mood.

Faith bit her lip and slid her hands into the pockets of her jeans. She lost the will to come up with a decent comeback.

Bosco returned to the living room, still rubbing his healing face with the Cortizone-10 cream the hospital gave him. Faith dropped her gaze and tried shoving her hands even further into her pockets. Bosco noticed and broke the awkward silence. “What’s up?”

She shook her head and continued staring at the floor.

“What, riding with Sully was that bad? You missed me that much?” Bosco questioned with a smirk.

Faith let out a small, much-needed laugh. “Ha, yeah, something like that.” She finally looked up at him, and he smiled softly.

He dropped his tone. “Seriously, though. What’s up, Faith?” 

She felt a tear threaten to fall and quickly rubbed her eye with the back of her hand. 

Bosco dropped his tone again, “Faith. It’s me. Come on.”

She sucked in a breath. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Or especially Fred for that matter. I just…I don’t know, Bos.” She could feel herself breaking down again like she did earlier with Sully. "I thought I could fix everything myself.”

Bosco looked down at his feet. “No, I get it now. I mean, I get why you did what you did.” Faith exhaled with so much relief she thought she’d pass out cold right in front of her partner. 

He looked up at her, then shoved his own hands into his pockets. “You don’t have to control everything, Faith.” 

“What if it all goes to hell?”

“Then let it go to hell. The way I see it, that’s what makes you stronger.”

Faith nodded her head in agreement, impressed by Bosco’s wisdom beneath his red, itchy face. “Sounds like you’re talking about the poison ivy now.”

“Ha!” He wagged his finger at her. “Mark my words, whoever sent those flowers will definitely go straight to hell.” 

Faith smiled and finally relaxed her shoulders for the first time in the past few days. 

Bosco didn’t know what to do with himself. “So, what now? Do you need to crash on my couch or something?” 

“Nah, thanks though.”

“I wasn’t exactly offering…” he paused and then smiled as Faith laughed again. 

“I was thinking I might, uh, go to the Al-Anon meeting at the community center.” 

“No kidding. Let me know how that goes.”

Faith felt her breath catch in her chest, but this time because she wanted to hang on to this moment for longer than she could. “Absolutely.” 

She went to pick up her duffle bag, but Bosco grabbed it quickly. “I got it.” 

They both walked towards the door, and as she went to take her bag from Bosco, Faith looked down and clasped her hand over his. “I need you, Bos.”

He swallowed hard. “Go home, Faith. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?”

Faith nodded her head and Bosco let go of her bag, giving his partner the strength to trust those closest to her again. 

. . .

[lollo-sw-br]

Guardians SW One-Shots:

Lucky Hae-Won (Bucky's Guardian): The Lost Hive

Garden - Hae-Won Palace

Lucky Hae-Won is Bucky's Guardian, expert on insects, studying and communicating with him fluently. Lucky was in the garden of Hae-Won Palace, studying a caterpillar that had formed a cocoon.

- Look at that Bucky! - said Lucky pointing to the cocoon - it's starting to open!

- Really Lucky! - said Bucky - we better keep an eye out so we don't miss this show

Lucky and Bucky were so focused on the cocoon that they didn't realize that a bee of unknown species was heading towards Bucky, when the cocoon opened fully, revealing a beautiful butterfly, the bee stung him and it didn't take long for the Super Wing to start to feel a huge weakness, making Lucky go to the aid of his Super Wing

- Oh no! Bucky! - said Lucky turning on his electronic point calling the Healing Team

WingsView's Hospital

Straight from the hospital, Luz answered the emergency phone

- WingsView Hospital - said Luz answering the phone - Luz Eun-Kwan speaking,

- Light! Help me! - Lucky said - Bucky isn't feeling well, I need you to come to the Hae-Won Palace garden quickly!

-Don't worry Lucky - said Luz - we're coming!

Luz ran to Luphie's office, who was with Lizzy organizing medical records.

- Luphie! Lizzy! - said Luz - we have an emergency at Hae-Won Palace

-What happened Light? - Asked Luphie

- What's the Emergency? - completed Lizzy

-Lucky called me saying his Super Wing Bucky isn't feeling well - said Luz - we need to know what happened

- Let's go there immediately - said Lizzy - if necessary we will call Rescue Riders to help

- Excellent idea Lizzy - said Luphie - let's go fast!

Garden - Hae-Won Palace

Lucky was very worried about Bucky, she was afraid that something very serious would happen to her Super Wing that she protects so much.

- Bucky, hold on - said Lucky - you will get better soon I promise

Bucky was very weak and having difficulty speaking, but he still made an effort to reassure Lucky.

- Don't worry Lucky - Bucky said with difficulty - I'll be fine

At that moment, Luz, Lizzy and Luphie arrived at the garden and soon parted with an extremely weak and tired Bucky, Luphie soon took out his stethoscope and began to examine it until he came to a conclusion, Bucky had been poisoned.

- How is he Luphie? - asked Lucky - will he be okay?

- Bad news Lucky - said Luphie - Bucky is poisoned

- Poisoned? but we don't leave here - said Lucky - how did that happen?

- I don't know how to explain Lucky - said Luphie

The bee that stung Bucky appeared and Luz soon saw her, pointing her to Luphie and Lizzy

- Look girls! - said Luz - a Queen Bee!

The Queen Bee unlike other bees, it can poison vehicles, as its poison is more powerful than that of its subjects.

-There's the explanation! - said Luphie - Bucky was poisoned by a Queen Bee and we have to run to get the antidote, otherwise Bucky won't survive

- But Luphie, the poison's antidote is the honey they produce, however it is rare to see a hive of them - Lucky said

- Wait a second! I know where there is a hive of these bees - said Lizzy - Dizzy showed me one in the woods, and I remember where it is

- So, let's go! - said Lucky - my Super Wing needs the antidote as soon as possible

- But first we need to get Bucky out of here - said Luphie - it's not safe for him to stay here, so Luz call the Rescue Riders

- You can leave it to me Luphie - said Luz going to call the Rescue Riders

It wasn't long before Dizzy, Zoey Sparky arrived to remove Bucky and take him to the hospital.

- Lizzy! - said Dizzy arriving with Zoey and Sparky - let's get Bucky out of here

- I'll take care of it - Sparky said - Bucky can't stay here otherwise he can be stung by other Queen bees

Sparky took Bucky out of the Garden, taking him to the Hospital, the girls headed towards where the hive was.

Magic Forest

Lucky, Lizzy, Luphie and Luz arrived at the place that Lizzy said was the hive. Lucky used his antennas to look for where the hive was and when the antenna gave a warning signal, it meant that the hive was close.

- Look! - said Lucky - the hive!

-We achieved! - said Luz - Bucky is saved!

- Let's take some of mine from the Queen Bee to make the antidote - Lizzy said

-We have to be careful not to be attacked - said Luphie - even if we are not poisoned, we must be careful

- insect care is with myself! - Lucky said - I'm going to shrink and extract some honey, and I have the perfect jar for that.

Lucky took a vial from his pocket, actually the vial was shrunken to make it easier for Lucky to carry it anywhere. Lucky flinched and managed to get into the hive, the queen bee wasn't there, making it easier for Lucky to extract the honey.

- Girls - said Lucky softly so as not to disturb any other bees - I did it!

- So come soon! - said Lizzy - don't let the other bees see you there

- Okay - Lucky said - I'm on my way

Lucky left the hive with a pot full of honey, Unfortunately the bees didn't like an intruder inside their hive and ran after the girls, but Lucky used his communication to convince the bees to let them go with honey,so the guardians left, no more conflict with the bees.

WingsView's Hospital

Arriving at the Hospital, Bucky was in one of the beds resting, Luphie took the vial and took it to the laboratory to prepare the antidote

Luphie managed to make the medicine in record time and putting a venous access in Bucky, introducing the antidote, everything went well, now it was just waiting for Bucky to recover

Hours later Bucky is much better, the antidote took effect, so the Super Wing called Lucky

- Lucky! - said Bucky - you did it! Thank you my Guardian

- I couldn't have done it without the help of the Healing Team - said Lucky - they helped me a lot

At that moment Luphie arrived with great news

- Bucky, you are already better and soon you will be discharged - said Luphie - you are still under observation so that nothing else happens

- thank you all for saving me - said Bucky - Thank you very much

-You know I'll always be there for you - Lucky said

The end

[a-drabble-a-dray]

Veilsmoke, Case 1: The Rogue Poisoner. Part 6

Lake’s eyes shot open, rising up from the cold concrete floor.

They were quickly met with a headache.

“Ugh…” They massaged their temple with a groan. “How long…?”

“A few minutes.”

Lake yelped, almost falling back down. As their eyes slowly acclimated to the dark, they finally recognized the figure sitting across from them. 

“A-Anchra?” They blinked. “Are… Are you okay?”

“Oh, hm.” She shrugged with one arm; the other, Lake began to notice, sat at an unnatural angle, twisted and broken. “Not really.”

They inhaled sharply, stumbling forward to check on her.

“Don’t move.” She huffed, voice weak and ragged. “I’m busy.”

Lake stopped on their tracks, only taking a moment to note the potion bandolier sitting next to where they awoke– With the vials thankfully intact. 

The silence hung across the air for a moment as both people sat still, Lake’s own breathing almost completely muffling the faint, unfamiliar clicking in the distance.

“Um…” Lake eventually risked, looking over at the perfectly still alchemist. “...Busy with what?”

“Not–” Her voice faded into a sickly cough, each harsh motion causing her to twitch and reach for her broken shoulder. “...Not coughing. Hurts too much. Head pounding. Can’t reach over.”

Reach over…? Lake followed her gaze to the bandolier, quickly picking it up and rushing over. “Y-You needed this?”

“...The green one.” She instructed, shakily reaching her good hand up.

Lake slipped one of the unknown green vials out of its strap, carefully placing it in Anchra’s hand, before helping pop off the metal clip keeping it sealed.

Anchra hesitated, narrowing her eyes, before shutting them completely and downing the contents of the vial.

A second later, her eyes shot open, and she doubled over, clutching her throat. Lake froze, fretting on what to do, before she threw her head back, swallowed dry, and took a deep breath. 

The moment Lake's lips parted to ask if she was okay, she broke into a proper, loud, unrestrained coughing fit.

“Hell–” She rasped. “They said this was weak.”

“A-Are…”

“I’ll be fine.” She groaned, loudly clearing her throat. “It… Hurts less now. And it’ll heal.”

“That’s…” Lake blinked, glancing at the long belt in their hands. “...H-Hold on for a second!”

They ran off into the pile of debris and fallen catwalks nearby, leaving the alchemist catching her breath.

A few moments and a suitable piece of metal later, she had a splint wrapped around her arm, and a makeshift sling. The bandolier comprising the latter had its contents instead carried in Lake’s most cautious grip.

“...Lake, was it?” She huffed, struggling to her feet. “Please at least tell me you’re aware of your idiocy.”

“O-Oh, um…” Lake shrank from the insult. “W-Why?”

“First offense. Trying to confront an Alchemist unarmed.” She numbered in her fingers, starting from her pinky.

“B-But…”

“Second offense. Trying to save me. Followed by jumping to your death.” She glared at them.

“N-Neither of us–”

“Third. Just handing over my equipment. On request.” Anchra punctuated by poking the center of their chest with her middle finger.

“I-I…”

“You what?” She demanded, causing them to cease stammering for a second.

“W-Well…” Lake scratched the back of their head. “I-It’s my first time doing, uh…” They paused. “...Supernatural stuff?”

Anchra’s eyes widened a little, as she seemed caught off-guard.

“So–”

“Fourth offense!” She yelled out.

“I-I…” Lake finally deflated, acknowledging her argument. “...Yeah.”

They stood there for a moment, unsure how to follow up.

“...My head.” She looked up, suddenly. “It’s not exploding anymore. Finally.”

“...E-Exploding?” Lake blinked, concern plain on their face.

“Not literally–” She huffed. “There was… Something wrong. With the Pulse.”

“Like… Your heartbeat…?” Lake’s head tilted to the side.

“How do you not…?” Anchra blinked. “You know an Alchemist.”

“Since, um, y-yesterday, actually.”

“I… Right. Fine. Heartbeat.” She groaned. “The Pulse is… Alchemy’s lifeblood. It… Well, it stopped pulsing just now. And it just came back.”

“O-Oh, I… See?” They nodded along, trying– And failing– to not look confused. “And… That gave you a h-headache?”

“Yes. Alchemists have a–”

“A sixth sense?” Lake perked up at the thought.

“...Yes, actually.” She nodded.

“Volk, um, said he could follow that to find you.” Lake explained, omitting the part where it was seemingly conditional on her idiocy. “I-If you were hiding out where he thought you were.”

“Oh. Oh.” She slapped her forehead. “Of course. Another Alchemist left the Ark, set up shop in the same town, and just so happened to track me down. How could I not have expected that.”

“I…” Lake paused. “W-What does the Pulse sound like, actually? Like a faint, ticky noise?”

“No, that’s–”

She froze for a second, a hand suddenly reaching out to grab Lake’s shoulder.

“You’re hearing it, too.” Her eyes grew wide, though her expression remained grim.

“I-I… Yeah?” They squirmed against her grip, expecting for a second that she had tried to steal back the remaining vials.

“God.” She let out a sigh of relief. “I thought the fall broke something. Arm aside.”

“...W-What’s that noise, then?” Lake turned their head from side to side, trying to detect a source direction. “I-I mean, in case you know.”

“In case I–” She huffed, indignant at Lake’s tempered expectations, though not wholly outraged. “It… Might be the source of the functioning machines.”

“Oh!” They nodded. “Since you, um, mentioned the place is still kinda running, r-right…?”

“It should be, yes.” She emulated Lake’s motion, following the distant ticking.

“W-Wait–” They froze. “...Will that try to kill us, too?”

“About that…” Anchra slowly, carefully, raised her broken arm, exposing the splint tied to it with her own torn-up sleeve. Her good hand pointed towards it, tapping a relatively rustless spot in the metal. “...Lick this.”

“Wh– No!” Lake recoiled.

“I can’t reach this spot. Lick it.” She demanded, staring at them. “Don’t be a child.”

“W-Why?” Lake countered, hesitating. “W-What’s that supposed to accomplish?”

“It should shock you.” She explained, matter-of-factly.

“Uh…” Lake’s face had begun souring– Mostly from the thought of a static shock to the tongue.

Anchra offered no follow-up, beyond raising an eyebrow, and an increasingly unimpressed stare.

“I-I…” Lake hesitated, looking down at their hand, trying to wipe the rust and grime off.

“...My arm is tired.” She commented, impatiently.

Lake looked once more at their hand, before licking their index finger and approaching it to the splint.

They clearly saw the small electrical arc connecting the steel to their skin a split second before the shock actually registered. It did so in spades, however; Lake stumbled back, mouth opening to cry out in protest, yet only managing to squeeze out a high-pitched whine.

“...Hm.” Anchra blinked. “I didn’t know that also worked.”

Lake gripped their still-shaking hand, faintly thankful that they hadn’t actually used their tongue. Looking up at the alchemist in order to demand some answers, they found she was already walking away. “H-Hey!”

“What?” She paused, looking back for a second.

“You–”

“Oh.” She cut them off. “The sound is coming from there.”

She turned back, and continued walking, forcing Lake to follow once more.

After so long, the place didn’t seem quite as dark. There was still some light coming from above, though it was hard to see more than a few feet ahead. They seemed to be in a corridor of sorts, fitting considering the walkway above– Though the concrete ground substituted the threat of corroded metal for a thick layer of dust.

“...My hand is still hurting.” Lake found it within themself to grumble, hoping to at least elicit some guilt or sympathy from Anchra.

“So is my arm.” She concurred, instead leaving Lake themself feeling guilty for the disproportional misfortune.

“...Oh.” They nodded. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” She asked, the slightly raised tone being enough to make Lake anxious.

“H-Huh…?” They blinked, mentally reviewing the conversation to see if they said something wrong.

“Your sympathy.” She paused, before huffing and picking up her pace. “I don’t like it.”

“O-Oh, um…” Lake hurried up in response, fidgeting and hesitating at the only response they could come up with. “S-Sorry?”

Anchra stopped. Lake paused, taking a step back– Before noticing the wall ahead, and the door before her. “Why?”

“W-Why what?” They hesitated, unable to match the firmness in her tone.

Anchra’s hand reached down, tightly squeezing the door’s handle– Before deflating, the tension in her body less gone and more buried. Her voice wavered, finally. “...Why do you talk like you owe me something?”

“I-I do…?” Lake was caught off-guard, re-reviewing their own words.

“All ‘sorries’ and meekness.” She explained, hesitating and glancing at her broken arm before adding. “You’d win in a fight. You’re carrying my things. But you still act so…”

“...I–” Lake interrupted, the pained grimace on her face causing their chest to tighten uncomfortably. “I… S-Said I’d rather not fight.”

“...You’d rather get pushed around?” Anchra leaned on the door, mirroring their defensiveness.

“I…” Lake paused, taking a deep breath. “...I think you don’t wanna fight, e-either. S-So, I just… Want to get out of here. A-And I think you do too, so I trust you.”

Lake watched Anchra’s expression soften, even as they stumbled through their words. The last two, however, were enough to make her flip from discomfort to anger. 

“Trust?” She echoed, bitterly, hand slipping off the doorknob to instead slam against the wall. “I killed less annoying people.”

Lake’s thoughts went to the implicit threat, but… It didn’t seem to land. Instead, their heart simply felt a twinge of pain; a thorn whose poison seeped through their voice as they replied. “...But you didn’t kill me.”

[casspurrjoybell-20]

Sky Twizzlers - Chapter 31b

*Warning Adult Content*

Well Shit - Part 2 - Aaron 

‘How the hell do we win this fight if they know our every move and we barely know what they are?’

The thought stayed with me as we made our way inside the pack house. It was packed with people looking for loved ones and crying over losses. The way to the pack doctor was even more crowded. I fought my way through the crowds when I saw Alpha Kristen's tall frame against the crowd. Once I was near her, I noticed that she was crying. She noticed me and nodded her head at one of the private rooms. Was that where Erin and Rin were?

"James told me to let you in if you came," she said. 

"Do you need medical attention?"

"No, I'm fine," I said stubbornly. 

"Are Rin and Erin in there?"

"James' son is in there, yes and his mate. Joshua, his mate and some others are in there as well."

I hesitated for a moment before asking... 

"Your son?"

"He got caught in an explosion. He's dead," she said, her jaw clenched tight to hide the pain.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

She remained silent. I walked past her and slowly opened the door. I put Aubrey down in the doorway and let him walk inside first, followed by Evander then men. James and everyone else of importance to me were crowded in the room along with Dr. Milton. In the center of it all was Rin in a hospital bed. They looked pale, their face scrunched up in pain. Dr. Milton was hunched over their body digging into the bullet wound on Rin's chest.

"Don't hurt them," Erin begged.

He was being held by his father because it was clear he was about to lose it. I walked over and stood in front of him. 

"Hey," I snapped to get his attention. 

"Being agitated will make everyone else agitated. The bullet needs to be taken out in order for any healing to take place. Dragons heal quickly just like us. Dr. Milton is not hurting your mate."

"But they're in pain because of me. The bullet was meant for me..."

"Rin took the bullet because they must've seen it coming. Future sight and all that. The only person to blame here is the person who decided to shoot at you. This is the Eye's fault, not anyone else's here."

Erin blinked at me. I could tell he didn't really believe me but I didn't care. What I said was the truth. It was his choice to calm down and believe it or not. The sound of Rin crying out brought my attention back to the hospital bed. Next to Dr. Milton was a medical tray with his tools and a discarded bullet but the man was still hunched over Rin's body. 

"Their body is trying to reject the toxin infused in the bullet," he noted.

So this bullet was like the one that shot Evander and the arrow that shot me. But, didn't that mean the wound would have to be purified with that flame thing? Could a dragon purify themselves? Was that a thing? I decided to voice this thought. 

"How do we purify them?"

Everyone went silent. Evander never needed it because the toxin wasn't lethal to an immortal being but I was helped by Minori. We didn't have any other dragons around to help Rin. What even happened to dragons when they came in contact with the poison?

"I can do it."

Everyone turned to look at Rin. They were pale but conscious at the very least.

"What do you mean?" Erin asked.

"I can purify myself," Rin stated.

"But how?" I asked this time. 

"I thought another dragon needed to use their flame. "

Rin shook their head. 

"That's to channel the flame and bring the poison with it. I can do that by myself. Not many dragons know how, so others help them."

They brought a hand up to their chest and pressed into the wound. With a wince, they shut their eyes and slowly pulled their hand away. With it, a dark blue flow of what looked like ribbon pulled away as their hand lifted. Attached to it was a dark, inky substance. I was instantly reminded of the strings I could see attached to people. Was it a similar kind of magic? 

Rin's body heaved once the last bit of the toxic left their body. What was left was a floating mass of blue ribbon with the poison. They then clenched their fist and the entire thing erupted into flames. I didn't remember that happening when Minor flushed my system but maybe I was just delirious. It would make sense to burn the toxin.

[schneesisterss]

Do you have any head cannons for the other Dimitrescu sisters? I loved your takes on Cassandra!

thank you! <3 and Of Course I have headcannons for the other two. (though not as extensive as the ones I have for Cassandra bc you know... brain rot) BUT HERE:

Daniela:

ADD/ADHD representation

stims include, but not limited to: jumping, hard blinking, leg bouncing, word/phrase/noise repetition, and fidgeting with her clothing

and i’m also CONVINCED she gets the zoomies at random times of the day

Alcina, hearing loud and fast footsteps up and down her hallway at 3am: *sigh* “Daniela! Take it outside!”

followed by a loud THUMP and painful groan (she definitely ran into a wall)

hates loud noises but simultaneously has no volume control

especially when she gets excited

Cassandra has to constantly remind her to lower her voice

“AND THEN I TOOK MY KNIFE AND STABBED THE LYCAN IN THE NECK AND IT WAS SO COOL—”

“Dani, i’m standing right here, why are you yelling?”

she loves play-fighting with her sisters

Cassandra is more willing to entertain her than Bela but the both of them like to see their sister happy. so whenever they recognize Daniela getting antsy they’ll wrestle with her a bit

(Cassandra gets way to into it sometimes and makes Bela be the referee lol. Cass always ends up pinning her younger sister with a proud, competitive smile on her face. Bela let’s Dani win, but we don’t tell her that)

has the keenest senses of the three which makes her the best at stalking/killing pray

and since she can hear the best out of all of them, she unintentionally eves drops on conversations

so Daniela, bless her, has all the tea

tactile learner

will just. touch things

“Life hard, Mothers gown soft”

can get trapped in her own head and doesn’t know how to express to her family what’s bothering her

this can make her very reserved at times and she’ll distance herself for days on end

her mother is really the only person who knows how to get her out of that state. Alcina walks up the long flight of stairs to the highest point of her castle. her youngest daughter likes to come here sometimes when she needs the quiet. “Daniela? Are you up here?”

“Hello, Mother.” Alcina looks up to see her daughter lounging on a banister high up on the ceiling.

“What are you doing up there, my love?” Daniela rubs the fabric of her dress between her fingers. “Cassandra and Bela were arguing again. I don’t like when Cassandra yells.”

Alcina shakes her head. Those two were always going at it. She’ll speak to Bela about it later. “I haven’t seen you in a few days.” Daniela then grabs a fist full of her dress and tugs at it, blinking hard. “Come down for a moment. Talk to me, baby.”

and Daniela simply rolls herself off the banister and into free fall. Alcina, already prepared, catches her with ease and holds her bridal style against her chest. Daniela runs her hands over the sleeve of her mother’s dress.

Alcina gave her youngest child time to gather her thoughts, knowing it sometimes takes longer for her to be able to understand them herself. Daniela finally spoke up: “It’s been very loud recently. Around the castle. Small things, like footsteps or glasses clicking, they sound so loud in my head.” She covers her ears with her hands. “Even now I can still hear Cassandras voice through the castle, it’s pushing in my ears. My head hurts, Mother.”

Alcina gave her daughter a quick squeeze before setting her down. “Follow me baby, I want to show you something.” Daniela followed her Mother through the twists and turns of the castle until they ended up at a door that was just like all the others. It blended in and maybe that’s why Daniela has never noticed it before. “In here.” her mother guided.

Inside was a small library and lounge room. A fire place tucked in the corner and, of course, a wall a wine next to it. Daniela looked at her Mother questioningly.

“Listen.” her mother said, and Daniela did. She heard... nothing. Nothing outside of the quiet cracking of the fire place. “This room is sound proofed. Come here whenever you feel overwhelmed.” She leaned down to stroke her daughters head. “Just don’t tell your sisters I showed you my secret getaway room.” and with a wink, the tall woman exited the room and shut the door behind her.

The next day Daniela was at breakfast like nothing had changed. She didn’t even mind when Cassandra yelled at a maiden for breaking a plate, it only made her laugh.

(if you get overstimulated you KNOW what i’m talking about)

personal space? never heard of her.

loves to cling to Belas arm and Bela let’s her bc she thinks it’s just. so cute.

will also sometimes just crawl into her mothers lap and fall asleep. then Alcinas like: “well.. i guess i’m not moving for three hours”

Daniela: “if I run an jump at Cassandra, she’ll most certainly catch me.” *takes off in a full blown sprint*

Cassandra: “NO IM HOLDING HOT TEA—” *drops tea to catch Daniela* *proceeds to cuss her younger sister out, all while Dani is wrapped around her like a koala*

(this happens a lot. Dani will just... climb on Cassandra. piggy back rides, getting on her shoulders, wrapping her hands around her neck from behind and letting her feet drag on the floor, etc. Cassandra complains adamantly but never once moves to get her off)

Cassandra: “hey Dani, I dare you too—”

Bela: “Mother said Daniela isn’t allowed to accept dares anymore.”

Daniela: “apparently I have ‘no regard for my personal safety.’”

it takes a lot for Daniela to get genuinely angry, but when she does, it’s.... bad.

Very Very Scary when mad

turns into a completely different person that you Do NOT want to fuck with

dangerous and violent

much more dark and sadistic as compared to her normal personality

came home one night covered in blood and laughing hysterically. it scared the shit out of her sisters bc if they would try and get close, she’d slash at them with her weapon.

(this was one of the only times Bela had seen Cassandra genuinely worried and afraid for their sister)

when Alcina came to see what was wrong, Daniela, still laughing madly, swung at her too. Cassandra quickly shot out her arm and grabbed Belas elbow to stop her from getting involved. Bela whipped around with a growl but Cassandras glare and squeezing nails told her to back down. Mother can handle it.

Insane Laugh™️

thinks it’s funny to intimidate the maidens by showing her fangs and snapping her jaw

she often likes to find Bela when she’s reading a book to convince her to read to her (Bela almost always complies)

that’s it for Daniela. just a hyperactive baby with a murder streak <3 ONTO THE FINAL SISTER

Bela:

Mama’s (and I cannot stress this enough) Girl

needs constant reassurance that’s she’s doing a good job and yes this reassurance can ONLY come from her mother

INSOMNIAC

this girl never sleeps, pls baby you need some rest

she spends the time she should be sleeping reading books or running errands for her mother (whether Alcina asked her to or not)

she has read almost every single book in their giant library

Cassandra doesn’t understand this at all

“Why are you always cooped up in here?” Bela glanced up over the pages of her book at her younger sister. “This is the library Cassandra. Take a wild guess.” her voice was completely level and had no inflection. Cassandra gritted her teeth, “You think your so much better than me.” Bela sighed and closed her book. She didn’t want to do this again. “No. I don’t.” she said seriously. Cassandra eyed her for a moment then looked away, Bela saw the guilt on her face before she turned on her heal. “You’re so boring.”

because she reads so much, she is incredibly smart and just knows facts about random things

Daniela, daydreaming: “I wonder why grass is green.”

Bela, immediately: “the pigment that most grasses produce, Chlorophyll, absorbs almost all blue and red light and reflects green light which is why we see green. so I mean, technically grass is every single color EXCEPT for green.

Dani, confused as fuck: ....

Cass: “Bitch, how do you even know that?”

Bela’s sisters just end up using her as Google

“Hey Bela, how far away is the moon?” “238,900 miles.”

“Hey Bela, how many different climates are there?” “Twelve”

“Hey Bela, what’s the worlds deadliest poison?” “Botulinum... why?” “No reason.” “Dani. WHY?”

“Hey Bela, how much can I sell a human skull on the black market for?” Bela, concerned: “Cassandra why would—” “HOW MUCH?” “Well... are all the teeth still in tact?” “...No.” “Than only about $500.” “FUCK.”

“Hey Bela, I have this weird rash on my back and—” “Daniela. Do not finish that sentence. Go ask Mother.”

she is so quiet

and not just because she doesn’t talk very loud or even much at all. she’s just So. Silent. when she moves

just pops up in random places without anyone hearing her approach

even Daniela can’t hear her coming, which is saying something

Cassandra, minding her own business, drinking blood tea: .....

Bela, suddenly right next to her: “Hey I was wondering if— stop screaming, it’s me— have you seen Mothers lipstick? It’s missing.”

refuses any type of help with anything or else she feels like she failed that task

Never asks for help, Never asks for favors, and Never Ever will burden her Mother with any of her problems. Ever.

(Alcina thinks this is ridiculous. her eldest daughter pushes herself too hard.)

Anxiety™️

sometimes when her anxiety becomes too much she shuts down and becomes very indifferent to things around her. this has caused many fights between herself and Cassandra because Cass will get really fired up when all Bela does is respond with a monotone voice and blank stare.

overthinks literally everything and is a perfectionist

this makes her prone to panic attacks :(

when this happens she shuts herself in her room, not wanting to bother her Mother or sisters

Bela closes her bedroom door behind her and stumbles to her knees. she can’t seem to get air into her lungs no matter how hard she tried. she had failed. Mother asked her to bring her the head of that stupid man-thing, but somehow he knew their weakness.

how could he know? are Cassandra and Daniela ok? where are they? where is Mother?

Belas breathing was shallow and short, her chest burns as she presses her forehead into the ground. She claws the skin of her chest raw, leaving angry, red marks behind, desperately trying to open her lungs.

she stays as quiet as she can, only gasping few and far between. she will not be a burden. she should deal with the consequences of her failure. alone.

a sudden knock on her door makes her scramble backwards on her bottom till her back hits the opposite wall. then Belas worst nightmare, her Mothers voice.

“Bela?! Bela, is that you?” Alcinas words were rushes and worried. the door handle jiggled. “Bela, baby the door is locked, please let me in.” Bela covered her mouth and cried silently while her Mother begged to be let in.

the sound of snapping wood had Belas eyes flying open, her Mother had broken down the door. Bela shrunk into herself. She’s going to be so mad. I’m a failure. the ringing in her ears became so intense she couldn’t hear anything else.

large, soft hands cup her cheeks and a muffled voice through the air: “Bela, my love, you’re alright thank god. Are you hurt anywhere? Let me see.”

Bela pushed weakly at her Mothers arms and said between sobs, “I-I’m sorry, M-Mother.”

Alcina looked at her eldest daughter with confusion, she had no physical wounds, but the look on her face was heartbreaking. “What are you sorry for, my love?” this only made Belas breathing spend up even more, her face red from the lack of oxygen. Alcina quickly pulled her in close.

“Now Bela, listen to the sound of my voice,” she said it gently but just hard enough to grab her daughters attention. “I need you to copy my breath. Do it now, love, listen to me. Do what i’m telling you to.” Alcina took exaggerated breaths and noticed that instantly after her command, Bela had tried to follow, but the smaller girls breath was still choppy and small. Alcina rubbed a thumb across Belas cheek. “You’re doing so well baby. Keep going just like that. Good girl.” a smaller hand was placed on her arm and grabbed at her sleeve. “Good baby, use me to ground yourself. Keep breathing now, you’re doing so good.” Alcina kept whispering soft encouragements and praises until her daughters breathing was back to normal and she was laying limp on her chest.

Alcina moved the hair away from Belas face. “What a good girl, you did so well.” Bela squeezed her eyes shut and pushed into her Mother until her face was hidden. “I’m sorry Mother.” came a muffled apology, though her voice was much more steadier than before. “I failed you, I couldn’t stop the man-thing. He shot at the windows! He knows our weakness, Mother. What are we going to do? Where’s Daniela and Cassandra, are they ok? I should have stopped him for you I’m so sorry I—”

“Quiet.” Bela immediately seals her lips and looks away, already extracting herself from her Mother’s arms. She probably hates her. Alcina simple tugs her back and forces Bela to look in her eyes with a quick tap to the forehead. “Bela, I need you to listen to me very carefully.” Her daughters eyes go wide and she nods. “You have nothing to apologize for. This is not you’re fault and I will not allow you to think that way. Plus, the man-thing won’t bother us any longer, I took care of it.”

“But—” Alcina raises an eyebrow and Bela gives in, nodding hesitantly. “Good girl.” Bela exhales through her nose at the phrase and squeezes her Mother’s sleeve again. They sit like that for a few more moments, calming down.

Bela suddenly shoots up. “Daniela, Cassandra, are they—” “They’re fine my dear, Daniela got a little banged up, but Cassandra was already patching her up before I could even get close. We didn’t know where you were, that’s why I was so worried.” Bela relaxed and again nuzzled her nose into her Mother’s chest, took one more deep breath, then stood. “I’m going to go check on them.”

She steps through the now empty door frame and pauses. She spoke without turning around: “I won’t fail you again, Mother.” and shifts into a cloud of flies and disappears.

(am I projecting again? idk help)

can play the piano

no like you don’t understand, she is so good at piano

this girl has mastered songs by composers like Liszt, Beethoven, and Ravel

she’ll play for hours on end, if she starts a new piece she Will Not get up until she can play it through perfectly

she pretends not to notice Cassandra secretly listening to her play, hidden behind a nearby bookshelf

while her younger sisters always jump head first into a fight, Bela takes a more calculating approach. learning her enemies movements from afar before advancing and ending it in like 3 quick moves.

“Well Bela, if Mother asked you to jump off a bridge, would you?”

Bela, already climbing over the railing: “Hm?”

and there you go for Bela! my sweet child.. please learn self-care.

*ahem* I went overboard again didn’t I? WELP. I regret nothing. Give me more headcannons.

[snickitty-snake]

ARGHHHH I ACCIDENTALLY POSTED INSTEAD OF DRAFTING MY WORK AND LOST MY PRECIOUS REQUESTER. (The amount of times I lost chunks of the original work and had to rewrite is astounding)

From what I remember they were asking for a scenario where chamber’s s/o gets separated and injured from the team, passes out and is discovered by mirror chamber.

Do it for her (Chamber X Reader)

“Lotta enemies A!”

Bullets were heard as static from the other side of the comms device. (Y/N) sighs as she once again packs up her equipment to rotate (as a former KJ and cypher main pain <\3).

“Go on without me Chamber, it’s gonna take a sec.”

He shakes his head in protest but the crackle of the comms called for urgency.

“The fight needs you I’ll just watch for flank.” Sighing he teleports to the other site.

“Be careful mon cher, I need you too.”

(Y/N) quickly recalls her equipment and runs through mid of breeze. Sand crunches beneath her shoes, alerting the enemy of a flank.

“Shhhh…”

“Hrgh!”

Adrenaline rushes through (Y/N)’s body as she felt something being driven into her body, not knowing what hit her she stumbles back from the mirror Viper.

“Oh little mouse… rookie mistake, I could hear you from a mile away.”

She takes a cloth to wipe the blood from her knife, sheathing it before turning around. The once dull pain that (Y/N) initially felt, quickly turned into searing hot lava being poured into her stomach.

“What? Not gonna finish me off??” She fought back a scream as the pain only intensified.

“If the poison doesn’t kill you, you’ll bleed out to death soon.”

Weakly, Y/N draws out her gun as a final effort to stop at least one enemy. But her desperate attempt to take her down was predictable, as Viper quickly spun on her heel and shot a round into her shoulder before a comm sends her running to A site.

The gun nestles itself into the sand and her hand falls limp. Warm blood seeps through her clothes and slowly the world goes black as (Y/N) fights off her heavy eyelids from closing.

Just before they can completely close she recognizes the familiar silhouette of Chamber. She shakily reaches out a hand, unable to speak, only unintelligible whimpers calling out for help.

“This color of red never suited you, even my double would agree.”

Chamber catches her hand just as it falls, feeling her whole body slump, he tries to keep a rational head. In one fell swoop he lifts her body and carries her near her allies’ spawn.

“Now what cruel experiment is Viper testing now?”

He dryly scoffs to himself as he lifts (Y/N)’s shirt, revealing the bubbling wound eating away at her originally smooth skin. Using a bottle of water he cleans it before taking a small roll of bandages to quickly wrap her abdomen and shoulder.

“Chamber!! I need assistance!” Viper frantically comms for the missing agent.

“On my way.” He sighs. “Looks like this is where we part mon cher.”

Pressing a chaste kiss on her cheek, he leaves, hoping his efforts were enough to keep (Y/N) stable enough in time for Sage or Skye to heal her.

1 V 3

Chamber looks down at himself through the scope, the mirror’s face is serene, already accepting the loss.

“Honte à toi. You couldn’t protect her in the end, so who’s the real victor of this battle?”

His words sends a chill that made the hairs on his neck stand up. His blood starts to pump harder, thinking of the worse, Chamber quickly takes the final shot, steadying his erratic breaths before taking off to find his partner.

“(Y/N)!” The sound was distant.

“(Y/N)! (Y/N)!”

Slowly the distant calls became closer and as she regained consciousness she was able to make out the source of the voice was Chamber right beside her.

“Merci Sage, I am in your debt.”

(Y/N) opens her eyes before quickly squinting from the blinding infirmary lights, moving her hands beneath herself to sit up before being pushed back down by Sage.

“Do you feel pain anywhere?”

Lightly She pushes down on where the wound used to be. (Y/N) shakes her head and Sage gives a reassured smile to the two before taking her leave.

The minute the door closes Chamber collapses on top of (Y/N)’s chest, his head pressed over her heart eliciting a laugh.

“Hehehe, what’s all of this?”

Her laugh and heart beat both resonating through her chest puts Chamber at ease. Finally he buries his head into the crook of her neck, lightly peppering it with kisses.

“…I was just worried. I’m sorry.”

“What’s there to be sorry about?” She moves to look at his face, his expression unreadable.

“I promise I’ll protect you, it won’t happen again (Y/N).” She hums, running her fingers through his hair.

“I’m gonna be partnered with you in every mission from now on am I?”

“What a silly question. Of course.”

[aressss1]

I’m Yours

(Technoblade x Reader)

Request:  Alright I have a request, so like monarch techno is pretty cool but what if he had a royal guard and asked them to taste test the food and it practically turned into a date because he just keeps feeding them.

A/N: I had a hard time writing this one, but I hope you like it all the same!

~~~~~~

You did your duty, protecting your lord, the King of the Nether… The one and only Blood God. He didn’t need you by a long shot, he could protect himself, but he chose you as his head knight, his bodyguard. You had come to accept that you would probably just serve as a meat shield to him when the time came and nothing more. This was one of his sleepless nights, and you had to stay by his side. Being head knight meant more responsibilities… And very little sleep.

 You stood by the door of the dining hall, as your king waited for his food. Parts of the blackstone floor were shining red from the light the windows let in. That light shone over the king, as he seemed to be in thought. He held his chin in his hand as he stared off into space. Nights like these weren’t too bad, the King was always quiet… Always in his own head… He intrigued you.

Well… He did more than intrigue you… You spent many overworld moons pining after the hybrid King. He treated you like a dear friend, speaking to you as an ally not as a servant. But that could always be your mind playing tricks on you. So… You settled for servant, ready to lay your life down for him always.

 You tensed, your hand on the hilt of your sword as the doors opened revealing a maid with a silver platter in her hands. Her heels clacked on the blackstone, as she made her way over to the king. Setting the platter in front of him. She curtsied, a blush forming on her face. She was one of the new maids of the castle. His bored eyes settled on her as he waved her off, dismissing her.

 You kept your eyes forward as she left. The sound of her heels receding into the depths of the castle. The king looked at the dome that covered the food on the platter and he removed it, revealing his steaming hot supper. Your body straightened as he called your name.

 “Will you please test this for me?” His golden eyes sought you out and you swallowed down the lump in your throat. “You never know when someone… wants to poison the king.” So… you were now… a taste tester?

 “My lord?” You were confused. “Isn’t that the chef’s job?” You questioned. Oh, to be reduced to nothing more than a… poison detector…

 “I don’t see him out here.” The king kept his eyes on you, as he waved you over.

 “At your command… Sire.” Your words were almost bitter. You wanted to lay your life down for him but dying to poison was not an honorable way to die for your king… Making your way to the table he motions for you to sit down, and you do. He sat at the head of the long dining room table and you sat at his right side. You lean forward, grabbing his utensils, you start carving off a piece of the steak that lay on the platter. You take your bite of his steak, feeling his eyes watching you. You swallow, enjoying the taste. Nothing seemed amiss, so you put his utensils down next to the plate.

 “What about the rest of the meal?” His words were soft, as he motioned toward the bread, the potatoes, and the carrots on his plate. “Can’t afford to have the King die now, can we?” You deadpanned, was he… taunting you? You weren’t sure you appreciated that… You looked down at the seemingly harmless food in front of the both of you.

 “No, my lord…” You grumbled taking his fork in hand once again. Stabbing the fork into the carrot, the king’s eyes stayed on you as you raised the carrot to your mouth, you were starting to feel self-conscious… But this was for the safety of the king, it was your duty to protect him. When you had tasted everything that was left on his plate you pushed the plate back to him, standing up from your chair.

 “Did I dismiss you?” Your king's voice rang out in the dining hall and you felt a shiver run down your spine. You had heard that tone of voice from him before and while you were glad it was never directed at you, well… before now… Why in the hell were you so aroused when it was??? You shook your head sitting back down in your chair slowly. He rang a bell signaling the maid from before, asking her to bring another platter of food. He watches her leave before his eyes slide over to you.

 “Now…” His eyes settled on you, almost in a demanding way. “Since it seems that you do not like the food that I have to offer you… I’ll let you off easy. Your punishment shall be you finishing that plate of food since you don’t seem to like it.” You looked up at him quizzically, questioning him. His cheeks burned a deep red, and you let out a laugh, falling back in your chair.

 “Forgive me my lord but… Did you plan this?” The way the King looked away told you, yes… This was exactly what he was trying for. He was silent for a few seconds, his eyes eventually meeting yours.

 “…It’s been on my mind for a while… I just… couldn’t find the time to ask you. I couldn’t get you alone to ask you…” The king looked away, embarrassed. “Being king is busy enough, but you’re always workin’ on ways to protect the castle, I chose you for that reason… You are an amazin’ fighter, fightin’ by your side has and always will be a pleasure.” Your heart pounded, and butterflies made their rounds in your stomach.

 “You couldn’t have just requested an audience with me?” Techno shook his head, as he leaned up onto the table, his eyes leveling with yours.

 “Too many pryin’ eyes.” He looked down at his hands. “The… voices quiet down when I’m with you…” His cheeks burned as he took to studying his hands too closely, long nails tapping at the mahogany table. “I feel at peace with you.” The voices… He told you about his voices, made you swore not to tell anyone, for only you and Phil knew about them. It could be used as a weakness against the Nether King. You felt honored that he would even tell you.

 “My lord?” You bent forward trying to catch his eyes.

 “It is a knight’s duty to die for their king…” He didn’t meet your gaze, “I don’t want that for you.” Heartrate rising, you grip the arms of the chair you sat in. “The king isn’t supposed to want to die for the knight should the time ever rise...” It seemed like Techno had a lot of inner turmoil he was working through. “I don’t want to lose you.”

 With that, Techno stood abruptly, the chair letting out a groan against the blackstone flooring as he stands, he quickly kneels in front of you, just like you knelt in front of him when you were knighted. His pink hair and red cape pooling around him as he bows his head to you. You… were stunned. How were you supposed to react to this? Gods forbid anyone see this right now.

 “I may be a king, but that doesn’t mean anythin’, not when it comes to provin’ my worth to you.” Techno let out a shaky breath. “I pledge myself to you, mind, body and soul… If you’ll have me?” His eyes flit to your sword that hung on your hip. “Strike me down if I am unworthy.” You swore you could melt at this scene.

 “Techno…” The word felt strange on your tongue, you had never called him by his name before, well, not to his face anyway. Your hands slowly make their way to his face, the pads of your fingers swiping over his scarred face, as you lift his chin to look in his eyes. Without a word, you lean forward in your chair, the creak of the wood echoing out through the room as you did so. You pressed your lips to his, letting out a soft groan. This felt amazing, like the two of you were made for each other.

 You went forward off of the chair, your knees hitting the floor as you pressed yourself deeper into him and his kiss, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around you, the size of his body enveloping you. Tangling your fingers into his hair you felt tears springing forth. This man, who had pulled you out of battles to heal you with the finest potions, who treated you as an equal rather than a peasant, really thought he was unworthy of you. Your head spun at the thought.

 You pulled back for air, leaning your forehead against his. Eyes locked as the two of you regained your breath, your fingers still entangled in his locks. You loved the way his hands felt as they glided over your form. You were sure it would feel better once your armor was off, but for now this would have to do.

 “Be mine?” Techno looked for confirmation, and when you nodded his grip tightened on you. “Even with a whole kingdom to take care of?”

 “I’m yours,” You whispered it in his ear as you rested your head on his chest, taking in his scent. He was everything you wanted and more. The door of the dining hall opened once more and that was when the two of you split from each other standing from your position on the floor. The maid from before, taking note of both your hands intertwined in the others. The both of you were nothing but shy smiles as you moved your seat closer to his and you both ate the meal in front of you. Random conversation playing in the wind.

 There were preparations to be made. Changes to be had, but that was fine, just as long as you stood by your king… Technoblade.

[doctorofmagic]

My thoughts on What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?

The very title of the episode sends a shiver down my spine. And this is where we’re going to start.

~ long post under the cut ~

A year ago, I wrote this post as an attemp to dive into one of the most important traits in Doctor Strange’s personality: love. Stephen is a being made of love, made to love, no matter which interpretation you have when you watch Infinity War. If you don’t read comic books, you’ll understand the moment you meet Donna. You’ll begin to understand how her death reshaped his entire subjectivity out of fear of failing, being powerless and unable to control everything around him (especially death), thus the arrogant and yet a disaster of a man we all know.

Where do I even start? Stephen loved her sister deeply and felt responsible for her death. And then, slowly, he also lost his parents and his brother. He fell in love with Clea but he also pushed her away. He loved Zelma platonically and lied to her, which was enough for them to break their bond. He felt attracted to Kanna but screwed things up, even though they remain friends. He was forced to kill the Ancient One, the only father figure he had ever since his father died. And lastly, the only person who would never leave his side... also left. Yes, even Wong. Stephen has SO much love to give but he’s also afraid because he’s cursed. He truly believes his love in poison. And would you look at that? What If really delivered a story where this is actually true.

What If Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?

The level of understanding when it comes to the character is... inconceivable. What could possibly reshape Stephen into following a dark path but love? The very premise of the whole episode. This is so much more than a love letter. This is literally too much, in all senses.

Fine, let’s begin.

What if the best of intentions has very strange consequences?

No. You used the word “strange” for the pun but this is not the word. Nah-ah. I’d go with ATROCIOUS, for starters. Things are gonna escalate so quickly, my friends.

Seriously, tho? Christine is SO SO SO SO beautiful, they’re so cute together. I have this feeling that MCU!Stephen was quite toxic because of his arrogance and this is why they didn’t work out. But WhatIf!Stephen???????? He’s always praising her, teasing her in a healthy way, respecting her and listening to her. HE TRULY LOVES HER, I’M GONNA CRY ALL OVER AGAIN, PLEASE, NOT THE CRÈME BRÛLÉE, PLEASE

I’m going to leave this shot here because we need to go back to it later. Hold that thought.

And bonus points to “Yeah, well, I would call that quite remarkable.” / “Well, I would say the same about you.”

GODS. THE PAIN. STOP THE PAIN.

So in this reality, Stephen didn’t caused the car accident because he was checking his phone while driving. Also it was not the reckless attempt to pass the truck. Well, maybe it was the consequence of this act? The fact is, the car behind them loses control, which makes them crash. Does it matter? We’ll learn later that no, it doesn’t.

And yep... Christine dies. Have you noticed the shattered heart? Ah, the pain only gets better and better.

Again, Stephen blames himself. More than anything, this is so important because Stephen is all about guilt. We still need to meet Donna so we can add yet another layer of guilt. But the feeling exists. This is what corrupts Stephen’s heart and soul in all his iterations. This is what makes him the character I love so much. I love this SO. MUCH. In addition, his stubbornness to accept his condition. Man won’t take a no. This, this is Doctor Strange in character. Stop complaining about NWH Stephen, it’s pathetic.

Okay, “grief-stricken”, Stephen found the Mystic Arts and became a sorcerer. That’s when he learned about the Time Stone, the Eye of Agamotto and Dormammu. Nothing changes, he saves the universe. But time does not heal his deepest wound.

I love Wong so much. Every time Wong does something, the world is healed. Really. We’re going back to him as well but for now I’ll just leave this shot.

BUT STEPHEN, DOING SOMETHING RECKLESS? HE’D NEVAH

Aaaaaaaannnnnnd then he did.

He goes back in time. It’s been two years since he lost Christine. I think he reacted pretty nicely, despite the circumstances. Now let’s go back to that shot I said I was saving for later.

Stephen is so light-hearted here. Also, during the first time he lost Christine, he had no idea what “The Price is Right” was. He knows now, which means he probably tried to learn more about the show because of her, because of grief. HAHAHA MORE PAIN

AND THEN HE

AND THEN SHE DIES AGAIN

AND THEN HE KEEPS GOING BACK IN TIME

AND SHE KEEPS DYING

AND THE MUSIC

AND HIS VOICE

AND HE TRIES TO CHANGE FATE BUT IT CAN’T BE AVERTED

HE EVEN TRIES TO STAY AWAY FROM HER LIFE BUT SHE DIES ALL THE SAME, WHY

AND EVERY TIME THEY CRASH, HE FEELS THE PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL PAIN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHY

I’M-- *ugly sobbing noises*

Apparently, not.

And this scene when he simply... closes his eyes before she dies again...?

This is where this episode had me in endless tears. It got me the four times I watched it. I’m dead serious.

Okay, so, next the Ancient One appears to Stephen, explaining that Christine’s death is an Absolute Point in time. It cannot be changed. Stephen needs the accident to become the Sorcerer Supreme and defeat Dormammu.

And this is where Stephen starts his journey into darkness. “Nothing is impossible, you taught me that. I only require more power.” Disobeying the Ancient One, Stephen then travels in time, seeking the Library of Cagliostro. Now, if you’re not aware of that, Cagliostro was a sorcerer who studied time in comics, and later became Sise-Neg (there’s a recent post on this because of the new Defenders run). It’s funny to think that Sise-Neg also destroyed the world when he became a god, however he grew past his pettiness and remade reality. Stephen did not possess such power, as we’re about to see.

PS: “Stop torturing yourself, Stephen.” Naur but he should use this line like a mantra. Especially comics!Stephen.

Not gonna lie, tho. This place reminds me of the Temple of the Vishanti from T&T (of course I was going to insert T&T somewhere, it’s me).

And of course they’d go for a pun with his name haha. I don’t know how to feel about this, tho. I feel like the episode is too heavy and dark for comedy. But it is what it is.

Okay but why some books are in cages??????????? And wow, it seems Cagliostro also gathered knowledge about several fields of magic.

And then Stephen learns that, in order to break an Absolute Point, he needs to absorb more power. This is when I went “oh-oh, here we go”.

And for real, is this Shuma-Gorath? Why are they keeping his name a secret? Is this the same creature from the first episode with Captain Carter, right? RIGHT? It has to be Shuma-Gorath.

Of course he tries to be polite and ends up all hurt haha. O’Bengh warns him about love but he will not listen. “Love can break more than your heart. It can shatter your mind.”/ “Is she worth the pain?”. Please, this is Stephen. He eats pain for breakfast.

Also, also, let’s take a break. We’re finally going to get monsterf0cker tentacle-lover Stephen Strange. It will cost us everything but here we goooooooooooo (yes, I went frame by frame for your more obscure fanservice needs)

Gods, I love this sequence so much it hurts. Okay, here we go.

Shmebulock???????????

AND HE STOLE THE CAPE??????????? AND DREW THE LINE ON BUGS??????

The grasp this man is holding on me right now...

Some of you will understand. I’m with you.

And here are the grostesque ones. These are hard to take SS but I had to.

Animation, sound effects, OST? CHEF’S KISS TO ALL

And lastly... the tentacles. Yeah, if you’re new... this is a thing.

Fanservice. Fanservice everywhere. (low-key the reason I also waited to write this review, I wanted to enjoy this part so badly but I was too sad for that lmao)

Okay so. O’Bengh is suddenly OLD and DYING, until we realize that Stephen spent CENTURIES absorbing mystic beings. CENTURIES. WTF STEPHEN. He had nothing in mind but the goal to save Christine. And people wonder why he went insane???? I’m sorry, O’Bengh, but I can’t take you serious when you still call Stephen Sorcerer Armani. Oh, and also because you watched him absorb beings for centuries in silence lmao. But I guess I have to because you said that Stephen is split in two since the Ancient One cast a spell on him, splitting the timelines and making them exist in the same reality before he could travel back in time. I know, it’s complex. Anything for the plot.

And now good!Stephen has an evil!twin who wants to absorb him back in order to become whole and break the Absolute Point. Cool.

I said I wanted to talk more about Wong because I think people are not talking about him enough. Wong is so important in this episode. He’s the one who’s trying to heal Stephen after Christine. He’s Stephen’s anchor.

Also, THEY FINALLY USED A SPELL WITH THE NAME OF THE VISHANTI. HOORAAAAY

So, for the sake of our understanding, I’m addressing the characters as evil and good!Stephen. Let’s go. Evil!Stephen summons good!Stephen and gods, he still holds such a strong grasp on me... unbelievable. THE DEEPER VOICE BENEDICT USES???? PLEASE, DIDN’T WE HAVE ENOUGH?

Imagine his strength to hold so many beings inside him, fighting to control him. BRO, THIS IS TOO TOO MUCH

Fine, I’ll not post SS about the fight because I’d be here all night long but I WILL say this: NOT CLOAKIE!!!!! NAAAAAAAAAAUR

Also if you ask me if I recognize any of the spells? Maaaaybe the Flames of Faltine, the not-so-crimson Bands of Cyttorak and a little trick Magik does with her portals. That’s how far I go.

I’ll not comment on the “seducing yourself to stay in the trap”. I will not. I’ll just say that the first person Stephen thought of when “Christine” was talking about the crème brûlée was Wong. That’s it.

And finally evil!Stephen absorbs good!Stephen and releases... UNLIMITED POWER (I love when the stone goes red as if it was bleeding aaaaaaa)

I can fix him...

This scene here? Poetic cinema. (I love his wings so much)

And when Stephen says her name and the other monsters’ voices echo “Christine”, AAAAAACKKKK

AND OF COURSE CHRISTINE WOULD FREAK OUT, BRO. LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE BECOME BECAUSE OF YOUR TWISTED LOVE. I’M NOT DOING FINE.

Oh, but it’s too late anyways because Stephen broke reality haha. This scene is interesting because Stephen is the only one who sensed and/or talked to the Watcher until now. I read an interview that the Watcher kinda showed up but it’s also about Stephen’s keen senses. Bit of both, let’s say. Still, man, 616-Watcher is not that cold. 616-Watcher would watch this and say “how about I intervene anyway?”. WhatIf!Watcher is brutal.

The way Christine looks at Stephen one last time also KILLS ME, DESTROYS ME, BREAK ME INTO A MILLION PIECES.

And this is where my soul left my body.

This is how they end the episode. This is how you leave me speechless and with teary eyes. This is how you give me a whole existential crisis.

This... this was brutal to watch. Really.

What can I say after this? I’m used to reading painful things when it comes to Stephen. Aaron’s and Cates’ runs are heartbreaking on so many levels. Hickman’s New Avengers is not easier. Coincidentally, What If? Magik Became Sorcerer Supreme and The End. And now Death of Doctor Strange. And yet, after everything I’ve been through, I’d never expect to watch something so brilliant, so tragic, so heartbreaking and unexpected in the MCU. Never. This is top tier content and this is my favorite character with SO MANY LAYERS and SO MUCH UNDERSTANDING. I can’t put into words how meaningful this whole episode is to me, or how deep it touched my heart and soul.

I’ve been struggling to find the proper words since then, I still can’t. All I can add is, I cried for the 4th time now. This is too, too much, even for Stephen stans. Even for the ones who are used to pain, regardless of which media you’re into: comic books, live actions or animated movies. This is literally more than I can take and yet I’m so, so grateful. The voice acting, gods, how did Benedict manage to create a better Stephen than the one he’s literally playing in real life???????????? HOW

This episode really took the max potential Stephen had to offer as a character, added tons and tons of layers based on his grief, depression, arrogance and need to control everything and created a tragic masterpiece. In 7 years of being a Doctor Strange fan, I've never read or watch something that could go this deep into the character. The closest I can think of is Mr. Misery and the metaphor of Stephen's depression. This is a whole new level of respect and understanding. This is more than a love letter. This is peak maestry. It’s perfect, it’s heartbreaking, it’s... gods, I can’t.

Sorry for dragging you until this far. Before I wrap up this review, I just wanted to remind you all that Stephen will appear again, he will smile again, he will be surrounded by people again. So this is not the end. It was painful but be brave. We still have a few more steps to take.

[toointofiction]

How The Queen of Elfhame Learned to Deal with Insufferable Idiots

Hey, cuties!! I have been thinking of writing this little one-shot for a while now and I finally did. Check it out on the link below or keep reading and let me know what you think.

Pairing: Jurdan; Cardan x Jude

Genre: Romance

Rating: Explicit/Mature

Summary: Jude is pissed off and with no other way to let off steam, Cardan comes up with a creative and very effective idea.

Jude is pissed. She’s about two seconds away from running someone through with her sword. Or maybe severing their head from their shoulders. Or arranging a public mass execution. Anything sounds good at the moment. How is it that the entirety of her Living Council consists of idiots recklessly testing her patience? She can practically feel her sword-hand itching and twitching in anticipation. Is it too much to ask for a little competence? Sometimes it’s as if their sole purpose is to enrage her to the point where the only coherent thoughts she has, are homicidal ones.

Fuming, Jude stalks back to her bedchambers, Cardan effortlessly matching her pace. He has an amused look on his handsome face, stealing glances at her every now and then. As if none of what just happened had any sort of effect on him. He should not be having this much fun at her expense. Especially, right now. He is putting his life in danger. Her King seems to think that just because she loves him, he is somehow safe from her wrath. Which may or may not be true, Jude thinks.

She cannot count the times Cardan angered her. More often than those idiots. She seems to recall the time he thought to confront a vicious troll all on his own, with no proper training, protection, or backup. In the middle of the night. She also remembers finding him on the ground, bleeding, and dizzy from iron poisoning. She had been absolutely furious then. She told herself that as soon as he healed, he would get an earful. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to yell at him. She scolded him, of course. What he did was completely idiotic, but her anger faded quickly. All she felt was relief that he was okay. That the injuries he sustained weren’t serious or life-threatening. Still, it needed about a whole week for the iron to leave his system. The same cannot be said for her Living Council, however. She still wants to kill them, and she doubts her anger will fade any time soon.

Normally, when Jude is this angry, she takes it out on training with the Court of Shadows. To her misfortune, however, she sent them all on a mission two days ago. Just my luck. Jude signs audibly and raises her hand to her temple which feels just about ready to crack open from unrelenting pressure. She must start making some serious personnel changes, otherwise, they’ll soon have to rename it the Dead Council. She also needs to find a way to let go of her anger somehow, before she does something drastic and irreversible. Her King isn’t too keen on the way she likes to solve problems. Even if that way is more than called for sometimes. It’s at that moment that she feels Cardan’s slender arm wrap around her waist, and his lips graze the top of her head.

“Come on, I can help you relax.”

“Nothing can help me relax, now.”

“Don’t start making assumptions just yet,” he responds. His eyes shine in amusement, a small, mischievous smile grazes his lips.

With one arm still around her waist, he uses the other to open the door to their bedchamber and guide her through. As she walks ahead of him and slumps on the bed, she hears him whisper to the guards outside not to allow anyone to disturb them. What is he up to? Jude didn’t have to wonder for long. Cardan appears in front of her, that mischievous smile still on his lips, places his hands on her shoulders, and pushes her back on the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“I told you, I’ll help you relax.”

With that, he leans down and gives her a deep, long kiss. Just way he knows she likes it. She feels his hands on her knees, dragging the material of her dress up. Higher and higher until he has to stop and pull the whole thing off her. As soon as the dress is off, he is back to kissing her lips, her neck, right between her breasts. She can feel his hand moving from her ribs to her breast, squeezing lightly, playing with her nipple. The other, he guides right between her legs, squeezing her once before he gently, torturously stroking her, making her legs twitch. Jude lets out an involuntary moan. She can feel him grinning against her skin. Smug bastard. Before she can even muster a word, he pushed a finger inside of her, making her thoughts scatter away from her, another moan, a very loud one, escapes her lips.

“Okay, fine,” she breaths out. “This is relaxing.”

“I told you.”

His mouth moves to one breast as he pushes another finger inside her. She arches her back, squeezing his hand between her thighs. She tangles her hands in his hair, pulling him closer, feeling his groan deep into her core. She’s not going to last long. He seems to realise this. His hand moves frantically between her thighs, his thumb pressing on her clit. He abandons her breast and gives her another deep kiss as she falls over the edge. Her climax hits her hard. Cardan keeps on kissing her, swallowing her scream. He enjoys making her lose all control. She knows this and it should probably annoy her a little bit. But how could it, when losing control feels so damn good.

She tries to catch her breath after the last of her orgasm fades away. Cardan doesn’t let her, though. He never does. He guides his lips between her breasts again, over her belly, until she feels him between her thighs, still sensitive from the last orgasm. He gives her a gentle kiss that sends shocks through her body, before he starts to feast on her, aggressive and wild. Jude feels another climax coming. Her muscles tense, her eyes locked on her husband, her King as he drives her over the edge again. She wraps her legs around Cardan’s head like an unbreakable collar, pushes both hands into his hair, gripping him in place. If he stops right now, she’s going to be angry again. A few short moments pass, and she falls over the edge again. She moans loudly, knows that the guards outside can definitely hear her, but she doesn’t care. Not when Cardan’s mouth is still on her, helping her ride out her orgasm.

A few moments pass by, as Jude tries to catch her breath. Cardan lets her this time. He rises up the length of her body, that smug expression still on his face. He kisses her once more and she tastes herself in his mouth. He lays next to her, wraps an arm around her limp body, and pulls her to him.

“I guess I don’t have to train my anger away, anymore.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cardan says, dropping a kiss at the top of her head.

A thought pops up inside Jude’s head, and she can feel her mouth stretching into a wicked smile. She turns to face Cardan, “I should probably reciprocate now, right?”

Cardan grins like a Cheshire cat and with a slap on her ass he responds, “I guess you should.”

[kashimos-hajime]

reflection (4/8) | r.b.

summary: He thinks that’s what he clings to the most. The Candidates, and the chance to see you again, just to give what he wrote to you. Or, the truth comes out.

WARNINGS: angst!!! swearing, yearning pairing: reiner braun x fem!reader word count: 4.9k

a/n: part 4!!! time to get sad!!! a shorter chapter but the next chapters are MUCH longer until the end so enjoy!!

masterlist

crossposted on ao3

Reiner walks all the way back home to grab it. 

His mom was blissfully unmotivated to interrogate him, and he slips the metal tin into his breast pocket, one he bought as soon as he returned to Marley as he leaves the house. It’s similar to the one he used to store Ymir’s letter to Historia. The only difference now is what it contains.

He doesn’t know why he’s thinking about it. No one knows he even has this little container of secrets—it’s been hidden underneath his mattress, wedged between it and the frame for four years, only removed on birthdays, holidays, days where he can’t even recall why he should get out of bed which seem to be more and more often as of late. If anyone found out, he’d probably be interrogated, possibly killed.

It’s treasonous, but he can’t bring himself to fling it.

The silence is nice. There aren’t a lot of people in the streets, considering the show. Not even his thoughts are raging against him, and the sun is warm even as it slips below the horizon to make room for the moon. Glancing up at the clouds, purple and yellow and red, he shoves his hands into his pockets and closes his eyes.

The wind curls against his face, all gentle-like, a caress almost, and his heart begins to ache.

“Isn’t that Vice Chief Braun?”

His eyes open, and he catches two kids standing by a mailbox, gaping at him and he smiles softly waving at them.

“Hi, Mister Braun!”

“Get to the show, kids,” he calls back, and they glance at each other, eyes alight with pure joy. It’s enough to make his smile last until they’re gone, and he turns his gaze back to the path he’s walking. With every step, though, the tin in his breast pocket seems to weigh heavier. The faint clinks and scraping noises of metal against metal accompanying his heartbeat, he sighs.

Not for the first time, he hears his mother’s voice in his head, chastising him for not continuing their honorary bloodline, and not for the first time he imagines a home by the sea, with kids of blonde hair and a certain twinkle in their eyes running along the sands.

Reaching up to his breast pocket, he pulls the tin out and cracks it open, looking down as his feet take him to the stage. The sunlight dies, and as the last rays fall on the gleaming metal band inside the metal container, he pinches it in his finger and lifts it up to the orange. The silver winks at him, all mocking, and he shakes his head, looking down at the letters inside.

A thousand apologies, confessions, regrets, inked down in crazed ramblings as his body tried to heal from the battle in Shiganshina on a ship sailing back to Marley. Some written after that. Sometimes, he can barely even look at what he’s jotted down or else he’ll tear it to shreds.

Most of the time, though, he wants to give it to you. He thinks that’s what he clings to the most. The Candidates, and the chance to see you again, just to give what he wrote to you.

Shaking his head, he puts the ring back into the tin and closes it with a tight click before sliding it back into his breast pocket. In the distance, he can hear someone whistling a familiar tune, and he frowns, trying to place it.

He still has some time. He could try to find who’s whistling, or he could just get to the show early. 

It’s not like he’s exactly needed anywhere before hand.

Pricking his ears, he veers off the road and into an alleyway. 

.

Reiner and Bertholdt might be traitors. Maybe it’s both of them, a voice in your head murmurs as you ascend up the wall. 

Armin, why did you trust me to tell me about Annie?

Your shoulder and leg are screaming at you to stop moving, and the pull of the wires at your hips makes you feel like a million pounds as you manage to get to the top of the wall. Mikasa greets you there and you flash her a quick smile, one she returns faintly before procuring something out of her pocket.

Do you think I’m a traitor, too?

“My sling?”

“Put it back in before you lose all feeling in that arm.” You let out a relieved sigh as she helps you unbuckle your gear, and your hips feel like they’re melting at the relief. Sasha comes over as you clutch onto your shoulder. It feels inflamed and swollen under your gentle touch, and you wince as you bend your elbow, sharp pangs slicing through your joint.

“Here, let me help.” Sasha grabs your unequipped ODM gear as Mikasa pulls the sling over your neck and guides your arm through. Your limb feels like a pile of rocks, and you let it hang numbly in the bandage.

Maybe, I’m the weakest link.

“Thanks, guys. Really.” Mikasa only nods, patting you on your uninjured shoulder and you turn to see Eren pulling Reiner up the wall. The mere sight of him sends a shiver down your spine and you look away, clenching your jaw.

Him, a traitor?

Bertholdt gets to the top, climbing out all long-legged and lean, before helping Reiner ease down away from the ledge.

And Bertl? You, too?

Still, Hange’s orders echo in your mind and you remind yourself that nothing’s changed until it’s confirmed. Walking over to him, half-limping, you catch golden eyes and a half-smile. Cross legged, Reiner straightens up when he sees you and you feel a smile pulling at your own face.

What am I saying? How could I ever suspect them? They’d never betray us. We’re… we’re family. Maybe it’s all one big coincidence. Maybe Annie worked alone. That’s how it is, isn’t it? Annie works alone and I’m left hanging.

You wonder if this is why she never answered the letters you wrote to Stohess, asking how the MPs were. Reiner always said it was probably because she was busy. No. No. The more you think on it, the more the convoluted web in your head begins to straighten out and you shake your head.

“Hey.” You reach the boys as Bertholdt walks to the other side of the wall, leaning over with his hands on his knees as if calculating the distance, and his face is so innocently concentrated that you can’t help but stare, imagine him as that giant red Titan with soulless eyes. Electricty dances down your back. Deciding to leave him to his own devices, you slowly sink to a crouch beside Reiner as he reaches out to touch your shin.

“How’s the leg?”

“Been better.” Goosebumps rise along your arms and you swallow tightly. “We’ve got matching slings, now.”

Reiner smiles, and a soft, poisonous voice in your head crows, You never suspected Annie, and look what that got you. Civilians killed like sport.

Your blood chills. Everything feels so sluggish after the long night they’ve had, and they both look it. Your movements are dragged, like you’re swimming through honey as you reach out to touch his arm. He looks like hell’s beaten him up, and Bertholdt straightens up, sends him an uneasy look over his shoulder. Reiner’s flesh is warm through the bandages and a sick curiosity pricks at you.

If you’re really a traitor, you wonder to yourself, what would you do if I… 

You let your fingers push deeper against a mark you feel through the sling only for him to flinch back.

“Son of a bitch!”

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry,” you whisper, hushed, and he sends you a scandalized look as Eren looks over his shoulder. “It seems bad.”

“You all right, Reiner?”

“Not by a long shot.” He covers his face with his hand, pain twisting his voice. “A Titan nearly gnawed off my arm. That was… pathetic. I thought I was done for.” Scooting closer, you rest your hand on his shoulder as his eyes slide shut. The words he says next sound like that of a soldier, and your eyebrows screw up as he talks mostly to himself. 

Sharing an uneasy glance with Eren and Armin, you try not to say anything until—

Second time? Second time you nearly died? It bounces off your skull until your mouth opens and the words tumble out before you can stop yourself.

“Annie almost… killed you?” you breathe. Reiner nods numbly, fist to his brow and you look down at the stone. “Reiner…”

Then, you can’t be a traitor, you try to reason quickly. Why would she kill her ally? 

But what about what Armin said? About how Reiner asked about Eren’s location? Carving it into her hand. He was always making excuses for Annie at every turn. For her skipping out on training, her being exhausted and sleeping in. No, this isn’t right. No, no, no—

And that realization only makes you nauseous as you sit back and stare at Reiner’s fractured expression. Reaching a shaking hand up to his face, your entire body freezes as his frenzied gaze stares right through you.

Reiner…

Stomach turning, you glance up at the tall boy who only looks more and more concerned with every passing second. He catches you looking and his eyes only widen even more almost guiltily. Jerking your gaze away, you press your lips into a thin line and look at the blond sitting before you. 

Bertholdt…

Someone calls them over your shoulder and you see it’s Connie. Getting up much too quickly with a groan, you send one last look at Armin and Eren out of the corner of your eye before walking over to the others unsteadily. Your entire body feels tilted, your legs struggling to push forward as if trying wade through thick sheets of ice, and even though Sasha bounds up to help you forward, you don’t think you have ever felt heavier.

What have you done?

With the quick update from Hannes and the unsettling revelation that there is no hole in the wall, you cannot stop your eyes from flitting to Bertholdt again.

He speaks to Reiner as they begin to walk away, and you fall into step beside Mikasa, your limp only more pronounced now that they realize this was all for nothing. The adrenaline is drained from your body, and your boots drag along stone as your shoulders fall forward.

Silent, Mikasa slows down her pace so you can keep up and you stifle your wince with every step as you look out the wall. 

The sky is as grey as ash. It looks like rain, soon. Not good if they have to fight in this weather, for their bodies or for their ODM gear. Visibility might be a near zero. 

Reaching up to cup your shoulder on instinct, you sigh.

“Is your leg okay?” Mikasa finally asks, stopping.

You nod. “It will be.” Glancing back at her, you frown when you realize you’ve walked on without her and turn to look over your shoulder, only to find her glancing back at Reiner, Eren, and Bertholdt. Eyes narrowing at the confused anger warping Eren’s face, a thousand weights slam down into your gut. Mikasa’s stare hardens and you walk back towards her, ears pricking. You can’t make out the words from where you stand with her, but you can read the tone, and by whatever Reiner’s saying, it’s making Bertholdt nervous.

Your spine goes ramrod straight, and suddenly, you wish you hadn’t taken your ODM gear off so early. Glancing back, you wonder if you can ask Sasha to strap you back in before you realize what you’re thinking and your limbs turn to lead.

No, you realize. It’s too late.

When you look back at the three again, a cold stone lodges right next to your heart, chilling you from the inside out.

“Hey, we’re leaving!” Armin calls, but you don’t budge. Neither does Mikasa. Eyes widening, you can only watch as Eren crosses his arms over his chest and tilts his head back. Mikasa’s hand moves to her hand grip, unholstering it and sinking it into a blade. The sound of metal scraping makes you blink as the wind begins to pick up. Something clicks. Your heart skips a beat.

Howling in your ears, your muscles lock Eren begins to walk back towards them, but your eyes stay on your best friends as the air seems to shift. It smells like static and iron and something bitter, too. The clouds drift speedily above them, and your boot shifts along stone just as one of the flags snaps in half, the wood splintering under the force of the beginnings of a storm.

Everything freezes.

The only sound is clattering wood against cobble and your rapid heart.

Then, against all odds, sunlight.

It’s blindingly white, streaming through the clouds that drift off in the current, and you swallow. You can hear something rattling and you know it’s Mikasa’s hand on her blades, fingers trembling against the triggers of her gear as gold spears through the dim grey, slamming into the wall and illuminating the stone. Your arm in its sling ways heavier by the second and you shift your forearm against the fabric, your hanging hand rolling into a tight fist.

Your eyes find Reiner’s back, staring as hard as you can, but he only hangs his head and you step forward against your will as his voice grows louder, more deranged. 

The coldness in your chest spreads.

It sinks deep into your muscles, bites into your bones with fangs of steel until you think you hear them break as he lifts the sling off his neck and turns around. 

“But the only choice for me now is to face the consequences of my actions.” Lifting his hand, you can see the blood begin to steam and your mouth drops open when it evaporates off his skin. “And as a Warrior, fulfill my duty to the bitter end.” The flesh begins to close, orange embers flecking off his forearm. Your knees lock.

“Reiner!” Bertholdt’s voice scratches with desperation—the sound of a horrified beast pulled out of its cave too early, too soon and all too against his will. A darkness overtakes his face, and it punctures you as Reiner flicks dried blood off his arm. “Are we doing this? Now? Right here?”

“We settle this… right here! Right now!” 

You force yourself to move, but still, you barely budge as Reiner stalks up to a paralyzed Eren, and you feel it more than see it as Mikasa takes off to a sprint, the sound of metal scraping against metal filling the air. She runs around him, slashing through his arms, blood spraying the stone in sickly splats. Lodging the blade through his forearm, there’s a ragged shout as she whirls around. 

Blood seems to fly everywhere as metal swings to cut Bertholdt down next.

You stand, entranced at the mere sight of it; red droplets splash through the air like the crystalline water in that fountain in Trost, years, no, months, weeks ago. The memory strikes through you like a bolt of lightning, and for a moment, you are not on Wall Rose but in a café sitting in the sun, watching children flicking coins into the water, waiting for someone you weren’t sure would come.

“What do you say to a game of twenty questions?”

“Sounds perfect, creampie. I promise, I’ll be perfectly honest.”

Bertholdt’s ragged wet screams jolt you back into your body, and for a moment that is all you see. Mikasa running towards him as he falls onto his back, clutching at his neck, the image growing clearer and clearer, bigger and bigger, as she pins him down with a boot to a shoulder and a sword in two hands, poised to plunge through his throat. Blood spreads over the floor as his gargled screams, wretched and raw, scratch the heavens.

It is then you move.

Your feet slap against the stone as you lift the sling off your neck and toss it aside. Heart pumping, ears roaring, you don’t recognize what you’re doing until your hands are on Mikasa’s shoulders and you’re wrenching her off with a force you cannot recognize you muster. A burning ignites in your chest, spreading through your entire body, engulfing your heart until it sputters out flames.

For a moment, there is nothing; no colour, no blood, no sound. Only pure instinct and your best friend about to die. 

“Bertholdt!”

Mikasa lets out a infuriated scream, blades flashing in the grey sunlight as she’s thrown back and you whirl around. Frozen over Bertholdt’s body, your eyes meet widened, bloodshot eyes and you whisper his name, fragile and full of broken glass just as the sound of footsteps patter behind you. Turning, you watch as Mikasa’s arms shoot forward, her knuckles white around the hilt of her sword.

Your thighs seize and Bertholdt’s hand lifts weakly, just barely brushing your shin. His lips are moving but you can barely make out a word. Is he speaking? You can’t hear over the blood flowing out of his mouth. “St-stop—“ 

Your heart beats in your head, once… twice… waiting for your legs to bolt into action, for Mikasa to see you.

But she isn’t stopping—not even if you stand in her way, she’ll cut around you if she can but in her eyes, you see it. The one question even you don’t know the answer of anymore.

TRAITOR? TRAITOR? TRAITOR? TRAITOR?

You’re shoved out of the way and blood flashes across your face, landing in warm, steaming droplets. 

Falling aside against hard stone, your ribs explode in pain as Mikasa’s eyes widen. Her sword sinks deeper through Reiner’s eviscerated arm and she jumps back, releasing the blade with sharp, vicious breaths.

You struggle to your feet. Crackling yellow light burns into your irises yet you can only look into Reiner’s eyes as he stares through you, face resolute. 

You think the sight will haunt you for the rest of your days as he only looks at you, as unfeeling as he ever has. Maybe more honest than he’s ever been.

“Reiner!“ You lunge forward but arms hook underneath your own, hauling you back and you kick out your feet as his name is torn from your chest. “Reiner, no!”

“Stay back,” he whispers harshly, turning away, and you struggle to your feet, boots sliding along the stone.

“No…” The word comes out so quietly you think he hears your heart shatter. “No… you—you can’t be—They can’t be right about you. They can’t. I know you! This isn’t you!“

And somewhere, lingering in the back of your mind, is his voice, promising you: “I’ll break you first.”

He doesn’t answer as the clouds begin to gather above them, and you hear Armin scream as your gaze tears to Bertholdt who only stares at you in guilt, regret, fear. Tears trace down his skin, and your hand reaches out for him as Mikasa wrenches you back one final time.

“No! Let me go!”

The other Scouts run towards them but there is nothing anyone can do as lightning spirals down onto the wall and cracks the stone, striking Reiner and Bertholdt. Wind howls in your ears until your skin is burning from the cold, and debris flies past your face. Steam erupts, burning away the numbness as chips of stone fly at your face. Throwing up your arms, you feel shards dig at your skin as hot steam swarms you. Scalded, you let out a piercing shout as you fly back, Mikasa’s arms only tightening around you as they’re flung off the wall.

Activating her ODM gear, she manages to catch them both and you let out a choked groan when you stop abruptly, your shoulder screaming, your body on fire.

Grabbing the arm firmly around your waist, you plant your feet into the wall and look up as ribs sprout from thin air and dig into stone, cracking it easily. Your eyes begin to sting, from tears or from pain, you don’t know. A huge shape appears out of the steam that sears your face. 

Head swimming, you watch numbly as the blistering gales force them into stillness and the giant figure with glowing yellow eyes reaches for Eren.

.

Brushing the itch off your cheek, you adjust your grip on the sack of apples when you see Sasha standing there, packing her bag and you stop when she calls your name, watching for a moment.

“Hey.” 

“Hi,” you reply unsurely. You glance at the stables where you’re supposed to go to make sure your new steed is rested and well fed for their expedition. The past three months have passed in a strange sort of blur for you—whether it’s going to sleep late or waking up when the sun barely rises, sometimes both—you can’t recall ever being so alone. You don’t even remember the last time you spoke to any of your comrades outside of missions. Ever since the coup on the government, you’ve stayed out of the way. You helped mine the crystals from the Reiss Chapel cave, trained with the new Scout recruits, but you didn’t want to go out of your way to talk to them. 

After all, what is there to say? You saved Bertholdt’s life back on the Wall. Even if now it means his powers can be transferred, you hadn’t know that back then. You just didn’t want him to die.

 The blood of the Scouts lost getting back Eren is on your hands.

“Good luck on the mission,” Sasha says at length. You nod. “You could sit with us at the feast tonight.” Lips pulling back, you give her a fake smile. “We miss you.”

“Uh, no thanks, I’m not going,” you tell her. Sasha’s face falls and you look away, eyes fixing on the ground. “I don’t want to put a damper on your guys’ fun. Besides, I have some last minute preparation to do.“

“That’s a lie,” Sasha blurts, and your eyes snap to hers, but her eyebrows are arranged fiercely on her face, a warm determination burning in her eyes. “You’re acting just like you did when you first came to the cadet corps—we’re not strangers, you know? We don’t hate you.”

Your fingers tighten on the sack of apples you have in your hands. “Thanks, Sasha. That’s really nice of you, but I really have stuff to do.”

What you don’t say is that you find that hard to believe. With every waking second, you’re reminded of everything that’s happened. Preparing for the return of Shiganshina had only prompted another round of interrogative looks, whispers behind your back. You suppose you deserve it. Three years, and you’d been the closest to all three of them. What’s to stop you from being a fourth traitor?

There’s coincidence and then there’s correlation, and you’re more than aware of which side you fall on.

“It’s hard to kill your friends. We’re still with you. We understand—“

“I have to kill my family, Sasha. That’s who they are to me,” you murmur stonily, and Sasha’s eyes widen as you meet her gaze wretchedly. “I don’t want to go to the feast, but thanks for inviting me.” Again, quieter, softer, you tell her, “It was really nice of you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You turn to walk into the stables, and you find your horse near the back-middle in the right row of stalls. Horses lift their heads at your approach, and you sigh. This has always been a quiet place for you—horses don’t judge nearly as much as humans do. One of the steeds near the front nudges at your shoulder, and you smile to yourself, retrieving an apple for the stallion before moving on to your own horse.

A pretty dappled grey mare, she nickers at your approach and you reach up to scratch her ear before running your hand down her nose, stroking at the dark grey specks between wide black eyes. Leaning forward, you kiss her snout and she huffs against your cheek.

“Alright, alright.” Reaching into your bag, you retrieve another apple and she lips at the fruit before taking a bite and you smile when she drops it to the ground by your feet, a huge chunk taken out the side. Bending over to pick it up, pangs collide with your chest when you see the juices dripping over the bright red peel.

The sound of hooves against the dirt catch your attention, and you look up, picking up the apple and straightening up again. As soon as you spot black, you already know whose horse it is.

“Captain Levi.” You dip your head to your superior as he passes you, leading his black steed back into the stall next to yours, and he only gives you a brief surveying look. You feed the apple back to your mare.

“I heard you were visting Leonhart earlier today,” he says, pulling the door open and his horse walks in dutifully, turning around so Levi can take the harnesses off.  

Dipping your head, you hold the back tight in one fist and reach to cup your horse’s cheek, stroking the underside of her jaw to her delight. “Yes, sir.”

“She crack?”

“No, sir.”

He hums, as if he expected as much. Your shoulders drop. You know you shouldn’t relax, around Captain Levi especially, but the first month after the revelation of Reiner and Bertholdt had left the captain as your principal babysitter just to make sure nothing was out of sorts with you. 

It meant you had to sleep in separate quarters as the rest of the Scouts, was on Levi’s beck and call with tea, medicine, food, whatever he needed while in the office or otherwise. You had to force him to sleep a couple of times, and although you weren’t in the mood to be persistent, it still nagged at you until the month was up and Levi told you to stop following him.

“I could read out the report I wrote to Erwin for you, if you’d like,” he had said dryly. “Quiet, keeps to herself. Complies nearly to a fault—a model officer of the Survey Corps. Which is what you are. You’re not a caretaker or an administrative assistant. Now stop taling me like a lost duckling and get to work.”

You shake your head and sigh, extending the bag to Levi. “Does he want an apple, sir?” He eyes the bag apprehensively before taking it, pulling the bag open and extracting another gorgeous red apple. Lifting it to his horse, he hands the bag back to you as your horse nestles her head against your chin and you smile to yourself at the warmth emanating from her. 

She must be able to sense whatever’s off about you. Holding her head close, you kiss her quickly before stepping back but she lets out an impatient whinny, neck stretching to bump her nose against your cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you whisper. “Get some sleep, girl.” Scratching underneath her chin, you turn to look at Captain Levi who eyes you for a moment, then gestures for you to follow to the back where the tack room is.

“I know what the stakes are for you, but you’re not the only one who is putting everything on the line here,” he says and you nod as he hangs up the leather harness before washing his hands. “Whatever happens, happens. We don’t have time to dissect your guilt over tea anymore.”

“With all respect, Captain, I just don’t think it’s wise for me to come.”

“Commander Erwin thinks differently.” You nod again and Levi meets your stare, flinging off the wet on his hands before grabbing a clean towel and wiping himself off. “We need all the soldiers we can get to reclaim Shiganshina for humanity. That includes you—no matter what your ties are to the enemy. You aren’t having doubts, are you?”

“No, sir.” You swallow, throat bruised. “I’m just scared the moment I look into their eyes, I’ll hesitate. And it’s not because they’re humans,” you add quickly. “Had my fair share of human bloodshed during the coup, but I should be angry, right? I should be so fucking mad, and I think I am, but mostly, I just want them back. There has to be something wrong with me.”

“I’m not here to psychoanalyze you,” he tells you. “But nothing’s wrong with you. You’re probably more sane than most idiots who join the Survey Corps.” Eyes widening, you meet Levi’s impassive stare, but he only continues, “Get something to eat tonight, then get some sleep. This is your nerves talking.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, he nods to you once more before hanging the towel up and walking past, out the stables. Looking down, your eyes find the sack of apples still in your hand and you lift it up, peering inside. Taking one out, you set the bag inside and head over to the sink nearby, washing the fruit off before looking up at the mirror hanging on the wall.

Closing your eyes, you take a bite and the sweet juices explode in your mouth. Smiling faintly to yourself, you can almost imagine a pair of lips teasing at the corner of your mouth and your heart aches when you realize you can barely remember what it’s like to kiss him.

[lepusrufus]

To bargain for immortality pt.3

As it turns out, poison did not kill her. Not by a long shot. Not if the numerous tests with different kinds of poisons were to be believed.

Nicole was currently bent over the sink placed in the corner of Miranda's lab, her assistant hovering behind her with a timer in hand. What was it this time? Hemlock? Belladonna?

She stopped caring when a new wave of blood carrying the replaced tissue from internal damage came rising in her esophagus. With a disgusting gag, it came splashing onto the white porcelain, now stained and coated in crimson multiple times over. She coughed, trying not to let any of the burning mixture remain stagnant in her throat, and focused on the feeling of her body healing itself. It felt, for lack of a better word, like static coursing through her nerves and organs. After that too was gone, and the only thing that remained was the nauseating coppery taste in her mouth, she raised a shaky hand, too tired to speak up.

"Seven minutes, thirty four seconds," Emma announced.

Mother Miranda noted it down, fingers typing quickly over the keyboard.

It was a miracle that Nicole was still able to stand, although leaning a good part of her body weight on the sink thankfully secured to the wall did help. She took a few deep breaths, doing her best to not sound too croaky when she spoke.

"Can I see the results once we're done?"

She could keep track of everything herself of course, but it got difficult when her body was fighting toxins meant to shut it down. And she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't dying of curiosity.

"It's none of your concern," Miranda replied coldly.

That got a scowl to appear on thin blood stained lips, partially hidden by her hunched position. "I stood here quietly while you shoved pill after pill made from every poisonous plant you could get your hands on down my throat. At least grant me the grace of knowing my own body's limitations."

Her reply was little more than a tongue click. She couldn't help a scoff when Miranda simply ignored her request and told her assistant to continue with the next test on their list. Emma picked up one of the numerous pill bottles lined on her employer's desk and came over to Nicole, who unceremoniously grabbed one pill and swallowed it before looking at the label. Cyanide.

Oh for fuck's sake.

Her body's reaction was immediate, heart starting to beat painfully quick while her head started to spin. It was nauseating, the ache seeming to flood her chest and going up her spine in a searing migraine. Not to mention the deep breaths that didn't seem deep enough, as air itself seemed choking, the oxygen not quite reaching where it should. Mild panic started to settle in when black splotches began to cloud her vision and the tingling sensation seemed to battle with the pain for dominance. Before she knew it, her shaky legs gave out under her and the white ceiling of the lab blurred out of focus.

---

She woke up with a start, the bluish lights a painful glare to her eyes. The sound of ticking stopped and Nicole realized it was Emma's timer. She looked down at herself, haphazardly placed on a bed and then at Miranda, typing down a result the ringing in her ears hadn't allowed her to hear. With a few shakes of her head to try and chase the fog in her brain, Nicole finally croaked out: "What the hell happened?"

"The cyanide was damaging cells and keeping them from taking in any oxygen at a slightly faster rate than those cells were getting replaced. Which caused you to lose consciousness."

Miranda's tone was just as cold and clinical as ever, but a slight smirk tugged at her lips when she continued, the excited scientists buried under the mask of a goddess showing a crumb of itself.

"Although I'm quite certain we solved the mystery behind the accelerated heart rate. All previous tests show that it takes no longer than a few minutes to recover, while this took over twenty five."

Nicole was still fighting some mild dizziness, but she put all the focus on Miranda's words.

"We'll have to rerun the tests under anesthesia, but for now it's safe to assume the healing slows down while unconscious."

She acknowledged the theory with an oh. She wasn't really capable of much conversation at the moment, but she let the thought be metaphorically chewed in her brain. That made sense. If healing was slower after passing out, then her body had a damn good reason to keep her awake, hence the unnaturally high heart rate.

A slow shuddring sigh was let out when Miranda asked her assistant to prepare the anesthetic, laying back down. At least she wouldn't be awake for this one.

It took around double the normal dose to finally get her unconscious. She kept her eyes glued to the needle embedded in her arm until her vision was starting to fail her, the surrounding room becoming nothing more than dark blurs and vague beeping sounds.

People do not dream under anesthesia.

Nicole knew that of course. But as the lab blurred into odd shapes and more or less familiar places, there wasn't really a better word to describe it. Perhaps a result, she would later muse, of her overactive brain, fighting for consciousness at any given moment as it now had an instinctual need to stay awake.

That need manifested itself in the vague image of one of the castle's hallways. It was in an old wing, not frequently used by many other than the cleaning staff. She was walking along the wall, using it to compensate for her wobbly legs, and looked around for something. What exactly, was beyond her comprehension at the moment, but that didn't stop her from stumbling inside each room on her path, looking around the bright and beautifully decorated space, only to exit and continue down the hallway.

Something. Something ugh.

Nicole tried not to lean on the wall too much when she got to the golden frame of a painting, not wanting to risk damaging it. Slowly walking around, she threw a glance at the canvas when she was fully in front of it. She frowned.

It was the familiar portrait of all three sisters, dressed in period appropriate clothing and hair up into small curls. Their eyes, painted in such a way that they seemed to follow any onlookers around, greeted her with soft expressions. Some details seemed different though. They were small, and it took a bit of effort to notice how the brushstrokes seemed to have shifted ever so slightly in places. A familiar rose tattoo was present, albeit quite faint, on each of their foreheads, and their features seemed a little less soft and more akin to how Alcina would paint them. Nicole stopped to look at Cassandra's hand for a little longer, as if something was supposed to have changed there too. But before she had time to dwell on that, the realization that the painting should not be there dawned on her. Why would Alcina move it? And to a near abandoned wing of the castle no less. If she remembered correctly, that portrait had been at the main entrance for decades.

Nevermind that, she could just ask Alcina herself if they crossed paths. She kept walking down the hallway, trying to ignore the nagging feeling at the back of her mind that something was off. Off, like the slightly misplaced furniture, or the lack of certain decorations, or antique objects that she knew for a fact were on display on a completely different wing. No, Nicole kept looking through every room she came across, in search of something her foggy mind couldn't quite grasp the memory of.

She finally reached one of the more populated areas, and although still not fully able to grasp her surroundings and walk around without any support, a shiver still ran down her spine. The off-putting feeling turned to dread with the realization that she was completely alone. No maid or other staff member has crossed paths with her in what felt like an eternity. No sound could be heard aside from her own breathing and a faint beeping coming from outside. At that moment, Nicole longed for the sound of giggling or the shuffling of a broom, hell even the sound of lycans howling outside. Anything.

By that point, shuffling against the wall felt more of a psychological need than a physical one. There was a fear that accompanied anyone when you found yourself in a place that seemed so unlike its normal self, and Nicole tried to make herself smaller than she already was in the eventuality that something would pounce out from the silence and tear her to shreds.

She found herself traversing another corridor littered with numerous doors to guest bedrooms or simply storage rooms. Each was opened one by one, whatever laid behind it inspected, and then shut again. Rinse and repeat. Repeat until Nicole found herself in front of an oddly familiar door. It had nothing special, the crest and color exactly the same as the ones she had left behind, but its position seemed to tug at her memories.

The door was pushed open, a slight creak accompanying the movement, and Nicole found herself in a well lit office. It was obviously a rarely used one, the shelves only holding a small number of oddly organized files and boxes, while the chair was tucked under a large desk. The plush carpet underfoot caught her attention, beautiful black, white and golden motifs waved around each other in an intricate pattern. She walked across it, up to the desk and crouched down to run her fingers on the old worn wood of small drawers. The iron handles used to open them seemed to be gone from all but the topmost one, which she opened slowly.

Oh.

The drawer was empty save for two familiar objects, a pair of matching rings with minuscule branches in flower engraved on them. She picked them both up but almost dropped them back when a set of hurried footsteps sliced through the dead silence just outside the room.

There was no time to scramble for a hiding spot, especially not with how her head started to spin the moment she stood up again. All she could do was put the hand that wasn't holding the rings on the desk to support herself and watch as the door swung open.

A sigh of relief flew past cracked lips at the sight of confused golden eyes framed by dark locks of hair. Cassandra was standing at the entrance, head cocked slightly to the side.

"Did you lose it again?"

There was a hint of annoyance in her tone, but it was mostly drowned out by an amused chuckle as she walked up to her.

"No, I-..." Did I? "I'm sorry."

Cassandra simply took one of the bands and wordlessly slid it on Nicole's ring finger, gesture that was imitated in turn.

"Why are they here?" Nicole's question was barely a whisper, either due to the dizziness she felt or the cemetery-like silence that almost demanded not to be disturbed. "I know I instructed the staff to bring mine to my room if they find it."

"Oh it wasn't any of the staff members," Cassandra replied matter of factly, even waving a hand to dismiss the apparently absurd idea.

"Then who?"

"I don't know."

Nicole frowned. She pinched the bridge of her nose trying to chase away the eerie feeling that seemed to have made its roots deep inside her mind. Cassandra's voice seemed off, and that beeping from earlier seemed to close in ever so slightly.

"Why here?" She repeated.

Her wife only shrugged and looked around the room, taking her time with the reply.

"Isn't this where we first saw each other?"

Right. That's why the office was so familiar. The memory of Lady Dimitrescu, so beyond intimidating at the time, sitting in the chair and interviewing her for a maid's position came flooding her foggy brain. Then the giggles and the rather dramatic entry and the small bickering.

"Are you waking up?"

If Cassandra wasn't so close to her, she would've thought a third person had spoken. Her wife's voice seemed off before, but now it didn't even sound like her own. Familiar, yes, but the regal icy tone belonged to someone else.

Nicole tried to instinctively put some space between them, only for Cassandra's expression to twist with concern, furrowed brows over soft golden, always so uncharacteristically soft when pointed at her. Cassandra opened her mouth to speak again, but the beeping came in louder, almost as if making its way from her throat with the sole purpose of attempting to bust her eardrums.

The room seemed to rapidly bleed out of focus, details replaced by black dots and blurry lines. Cassandra's shape slowly morphed, her beautiful black dress leaving way to a plain lab coat and golden eyes turning into icy green, ever calculating and scrutinizing. Incessant beeps from the cardiac monitor brought her back to consciousness more rudely than she would've liked.

Nicole shook her head slightly, trying to chase away the last effects of anesthesia. Her body seemed eager to oblige, quickly trying to wake up and be back on her feet. Not that she had any intention of actually getting up, but soon enough, she was looking around the space and all the pristine equipment held within. Emma was busy arranging vials and pill bottles inside a cabinet while Miranda was by the bed typing away, nails annoyingly loud on the keyboard. She shook her head once again, and looked to the opposite wall, where a clock was ticking. It was almost 11 p.m. and Nicole let out a soft groan thinking about how she'd been under anesthesia for about three hours and how her family was probably waiting for her to get back.

She laid her head on the uncomfortable pillow while waiting for the goddess wannabe to be done with her observations on her current lab rat, which meant Nicole, and finally dismiss her.

It took a moment to realize that Miranda had turned towards her and pushed her laptop close to the side of the desk, screen facing Nicole. After receiving a confused look, the woman rolled her eyes as if she were a teacher explaining basic maths for the hundredth time.

"You wanted to see the results."

Nicole's confused expression did not change, though now it was more directed towards the suspicious willingness to give what she asked for. Nonetheless she scooted to the side of the bed, letting her legs dangle over the edge, and she narrowed her eyes at the file on the screen.

---

Date: 23rd April 2012

Subject: Nicole [REDACTED] Dimitrescu

Mutation experiments - 2 (Regeneration - 2)

Resistance and healing time to various poisonous plants (in the form of highly concentrated pills or injectable) and other toxins. First number refers to the healing time while conscious and the second while unconscious.

Belladonna (Atropa belladonna) - 2'13" // 6'30"

Rosary pea (Abrus precatorius) - 2'20" // 7'02"

Crowbane (Cicuta virosa) - 2'40" // 7'12"

Wolfsbane (Aconitum lycoctonum) - 3'30" // 8'11"

Hemlock (Conium maculatum) - 3'18" // 8'28"

Oleander (Nerium oleander) - 3'55" // 10'17"

Ricin (Ricinus communis) - 5'58" // 16'19"

Arsenic, 100mg - 7'34" // 21'38"

Cyanide, 50mg - / // 26'53"