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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

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Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

#Tim Drake #robin #red robin #bernard dowd #timber #fanfiction

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dassandre-00qpidsarrow · 2 years

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And Then There Were Three ...

Neither James nor Q ever thought they’d have a family. Hell, Q never even thought he’d marry, and James questioned that for himself on more than one occasion. At least until he pulled his head out of his arse long enough to realise he’d been arse over tit in love with his Quartermaster for years.

Given these two romantic geniuses, it wasn’t overly shocking that the first time they brought up the topic of having children was on their honeymoon/sex holiday.

James nuzzled Q’s temple and spoke into his hair. “We haven’t specifically talked about it, you know?”

“What?” Q asked, lazily. He was staring out at the water, processing the news of the morning.

James hesitated, knowing that what he was about to say would be another crossroads for them both, one way or another. “Children,” he said through another kiss to the top of Q’s head.

Q stiffened in surprise but James’ hands ran soothingly up and down his arms in response, gentling him. “I can’t honestly say I ever gave it much thought,” Q admitted. “For the longest time I never thought I’d find someone who’d be willing to love me inspite of --”

“Because of --” James interrupted, wrapping his legs around his husband, pulling him in closer.

“ -- my quirks,” Q finished with a roll of his eyes. Q took one of James’ hands in both of his, tracing the scars and pressing a kiss to the centre of his palm before continuing, “so children never really entered into my plans.”

“And now?”

It was clear to Q in each gesture, the tone of his voice -- steady and serious with a hint of hope -- even the way in which James pressed his chest to Q’s back what James hoped Q’s answer would be. Q had no intent or desire to deny him.

“Well, neither one of us is exactly hurting for money.”

And they weren’t. While their MI6 salaries were generous given their individual assignments, even with James’ new role training and evaluating recruits, James and Q were still government employees, but each had lived frugally -- James’ fondness for fine dining, fast cars, and bespoke suits notwithstanding -- and had invested wisely. They could live far more extravagantly for the next twenty years just off the interest of their profits and barely touch their now joint principal savings, though they both knew that they never would do so.

“Q?” James growled. He could tell when Q was drawing things out for dramatic effect.

“But I think that this money from the wedding wager would be best put to use for adoption or surrogate fees.”

A rumble of pure joy born from its birthplace in his overfull heart erupted from James’s mouth. He flipped Q in his arms and kissed his husband until they were both breathless, needy, and so very hard. James rose from the chaise, quickly divested them both of their trousers, neither wore pants, and picked Q up in his arms and started carrying him to the shore.

“James! James, put me down! What in the hell are you doing?”

“Getting started on that family we’re going to have,” the deadly assassin said with a grin before capturing his husband’s lips again in a quick, bruising kiss.

“Not quite how that works in this case, you know.” Q laughed against his love’s mouth but had ceased his struggling in spite of the humiliation of being carried across the beach like a damsel in distress.

They thought one. One would be plenty. And for a while Mir was quite enough, ta ever so. She kept her Da and her Papa on their toes from her first minute, but when the steep learning curve of the first few years eased some, James and Q decided one more might be quite nice.

They got two.

James had to sit down when April, one of Q’s beloved minions and mother to Mir, told him and Remy she was expecting twins this time around. Remy’s laugh was perhaps a tad hysterical.

Nearly losing the boys and their mum before the twins were even born meant the arrival of Andrew (named for James’ father) and William (named for Remy’s brother, Sherlock) was cause for even more celebration than normally accompanies the birth of twins.

Two men who are amongst the deadliest in the world, fathers to three beloved demon spawn babes.

It’s the most challenging mission of their lives.

#007 Fest 2022 #Team Q-Branch #QB-V4 #Dassandre #Water Verse #Head Canon

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bees--in-my--bones · 3 years

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Mission: New Asgard

Character: Loki x reader (completely gender neutral. There are zero indications of the readers gender, no pronouns at all. Note that this is written from the perspective of a woman, though, so if something is too biased, please let me know!)

Summary: You are assigned to help integrate the Asgardians to Midgardian society, but your mission ends a whole lot different than you expect.

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 5,493

A/N: My second fic! The title is supposed to be a play on the Mission: Impossible movies, but I've never actually seen one, so sorry if it's wrong lol. Now that I officially have more than one fic, I'm gonna make a masterlist, so that will be coming soon. I hope you like the story!

You rapped your knuckles on the office door that had been left slightly ajar. “Director Mackenzie? You asked to see me?”

“Come on in, Y/N. Elena was just leaving.”

You opened the door and nodded at Agent Rodriguez as she made her way out. She gave you a curt nod in return.

Alphonso Mackenzie, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., leaned back into the chair behind his desk and gestured for you to have a seat. “And for the last time, Y/N, you are one of my most trusted operatives. Call me Mack, please.”

You sat down. “Sorry, Mack.”

He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a file folder stuffed to the brim with documents, which he dropped onto the desk between you, the loud thwap resounding in the small office.

“I have a mission for you, Agent. A few days ago, the planet Asgard was completely destroyed.”

“Asgard?” you interjected. “Like where Thor is from?”

He nodded. “You’ll find all of that and more in these files. Thor and his brother Loki have set up a colony in a small town in Norway. We need you to supervise the integration of the Asgardian people onto Earth. This is the first known mass migration of aliens that our planet has ever seen, and we need to be keeping a close eye on this, or it could go sideways real fast.”

You pulled the files closer and began to flip through a few pages. “I thought Loki was a bad guy. What was it? 80 people in 2 days? Plus the invasion of New York. Why are we letting him back here?”

Mack sighed and rubbed his temple. “I can’t personally vouch for the man, but Thor claims he was being mind controlled. According to Thor, Loki eventually broke free of the control and killed the guy who was behind the whole thing. Some alien named Thanos? Tony Stark himself seems okay with this New Asgard business, and you know how paranoid he gets. So for now, we observe, not attack.”

“Gotcha,” you said. “When do I leave?”

“As soon as you can get your stuff together and get out of here. Say the word and we'll start prepping a Quinjet.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” you said, standing up and grabbing the files. “I’ll let you know as soon as I get an idea of my timeline.”

“Thank you Agent L/N, and good luck.”

------

You gripped the steering wheel tightly, barely making a rather sharp turn. When you finished this assignment, you were going to have to have a talk with whoever designed these roads. Despite the unsafe driving conditions, though, you sighed in contentment. You were back in the field, this is where you belonged.

You pulled a van loaded to the brim with various tech items mixed in with your personal possessions down a bumpy road, coming to a stop before a small, rustic-looking, seaside town, where two men and a woman stood for you. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. You turned the key and shut off the van, trying to get a read on each of the people standing before you.

The buff blond man was clearly Thor. You recognized him from the news and the files you had read. Next to him was a tall woman with dark hair who had wan air of confidence about her. You had never seen her, nor did S.H.I.E.L.D. have any data on her. The third man was lanky, but clearly still fit, with dark hair that fell just past his shoulders. He was clad in green and had a demeanor that made you shiver. This was Loki, scourge of New York and would-be king of Midgard. But Thor and Tony Stark had vouched for him, and that would have to be enough for Y/N L/N, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

You exited the van and heard Thor call to you. “Welcome, newcomer! Our scouts observed your vehicle approaching our home!”

You walked briskly towards the group. Game time. Put on the 'no time for your shit' face and get to business. Coming to a stop in front of them, you began to speak. “My name is Y/N L/N and I am here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division of the American government. We have been granted permission from the government of Norway to oversee this colony's development. This is an unprecedented situation on Earth, and as such, we have written new protocols. I am the agent assigned to this case, and I will be supervising the construction of New Asgard and its integration into Midgardian society.”

Thor furrowed his brow. “I was under the impression that S.H.I.E.L.D. was controlled by Hydra.”

You nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. The previous incarnation of S.H.I.E.L.D. was corrupt, but we are a hardy breed, so to speak. A much smaller branch has survived, and deals with various situations across the world, aliens being one of them.”

Thor nodded. “Then we welcome your presence here with open arms.”

Loki scoffed. “You are too trusting, brother. This so-called agent could be anyone. What cause do we have to believe this story?”

You turned to him. “Loki, God of Mischief, Chaos, and Lies, correct? You of all people should know, am I lying?”

He stared at you, long and hard, before shaking his head. “No, I suppose you aren’t,” he admitted.

“There’s that then,” you said. “Now, I will need to ask the three of you some questions regarding yourselves, if you don’t mind.”

-----

The strange woman was first. You had been given a small shack to conduct your interviews out of, the woman stared at you from across the table, looking for all the world like she had somewhere better to be.

“Name?”

“Brunnhilde.”

“No family name?”

“I am a Valkyrie. I have no blood other than my sisters.”

“Right,” you said, “You lived on Asgard then?”

Her face took on a sour look. “A long time ago. I’ve spent the last few centuries on a different planet, Sakaar.”

You scribbled the information into your notepad. “What do you do then? If you were gone so long, why are you back with the Asgardians?”

Her chest puffed with pride. “I am to be the new King of Asgard. On the Summer Solstice we will hold a coronation. It will give the people enough time to accept the transfer of power from Odin’s bloodline to me, and for me to learn how to lead.”

You nodded and took note of it. “Congratulations,Your Majesty-to-be. I believe that’s all I need for now, but I expect we will see a lot of each other over the months.”

-----

Thor. The large man sat across from you, seemingly happy to be there.

“Thor Odinson, correct?” you asked him.

“Yes.”

“And I hear you're passing on the title of King to Brunnhilde?”

A dark look came over his face. “I have learned recently that my family has done many wrongs by Asgard. As long as I breathe, I will fight for Asgard and her people, but I do not believe it is my place to rule. Brunnhilde loves the people and has a talent for leadership. She will be a much better King than I.”

“A very noble decision, Thor. Thank you very much, and please send your brother in on your way out.”

-----

“Name?”

“I believe you know who I am.”

You sighed. “It's a formality, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“Friggason.”

“What?”

“I prefer Loki Friggason.”

You nodded, and made the necessary changes to his file. “Noted. Anything else I should know about?”

“Just a warning,” he said, leaning forward, his voice dangerously low. “I am the God of Lies. The truth is a luxury I will afford no one, especially your little government. The God of Chaos is an enemy you do not want to have.”

You raised an eyebrow, and wrote a single word in your file, exaggerating each syllable as you wrote it out. “Dra. Ma. Tic.”

Truth be told, you were a little scared, given this guy’s reputation, but you would be damned before you let your exterior crack.

Loki scowled. He seemed to do that a lot. “You mortals think you are so funny, do you not?”

You shrugged. “I’m delightful.” You slipped your papers into your file folder and stood up. “See you around, Friggason.”

You left, leaving Loki slightly aghast that you had managed to get the last word in.

-----

You walked calmly out of the hut, then quickened your pace as you made your way back to your van. Loki, as much as it pained you to say, had been intimidating, and your heart was beating a mile a minute.

You opened the door and climbed inside, shoving your paperwork into a filing cabinet, which you promptly locked. You turned to your computers, fiddling with the buttons, atttempting to establish your connection back to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters.

"It's quite rude to walk out on a prince, you know."

You jumped and whipped around to see Loki standing outside your van.

"What the hell!"

"I said-"

"I know what you said, Your Highness," you interrupted. "But you scared the shit out of me. “

"Many apologies," he said as he hoisted himself up to sit on the edge of the van, his insincerity clear. "And I grant you permission to refer to me as Loki."

"How generous," you muttered, before going back to your instruction manual. Technology had never been your forte. You chose being a field agent over a scientist for a reason.

The both of you sat in silence for a while, you working slowly through the instructions that Fitz, a S.H.I.E.L.D agent much more qualified in machinery than you, had given you.

You glanced up at Loki, half expecting to see him sleeping against the van's frame, only to find his gaze resting on you.

"Can I help you?" you asked.

He just laughed a bit, like staring at you had been the most normal thing in the world. "I am watching you, Midgardian, lest you sabotage the society my brother is trying to build."

"I never took you for the loyal type," you said, putting away your things. "I'm gonna have to ask you to get outta here though."

“Why?”

You gestured to the twilight outside. “It’s late. I’ve had a long day. I’m going to bed.”

Loki strained his head slightly, attempting to peek into the van. “Where do you plan on sleeping?”

Not breaking eye contact, you grabbed a cord on the wall and yanked, and the rusty old pull-down bed flopped out with a loud groan. The rickety old thing was probably going to give you back problems by the time you were done here, but such was life. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s money was usually spent on more pressing things than upgrading amenities for field agents.

Loki’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “You are not sleeping in that. We’ve built a larger house for Thor, Brunnhilde, and I. You’ll stay in one of the guest rooms there.”

You shrugged. “It’s not too bad out here.”

“Mortals,” he said under his breath, almost indecipherably, before speaking again, at a normal volume this time. “I insist. Whether I like it or not, you are a guest of Asgard, and you will be treated as such. Besides, that bed looks seconds away from collapsing.”

You nodded, trying not to betray your confusion at the combination of his kindness and rudeness. “Thank you, just give me a second to lock up.” You grabbed the pieces you had been fiddling with, then paused, your hand hovering over the satellite dish. “Actually, if you’re just gonna sit there, you may as well make yourself useful. You can teleport right?”

Suspicion crossed his face. “Yes?”

You held out the device. “Hop up to the top of the van, there should be a little cord. It’ll fit into this port here,” you said gesturing. “Plug it in for me, please?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You ask a god to do your bidding?”

You scoffed. “You’re not a god, you're an alien. And I just asked for a favor. You’re free to say no, but I’m exhausted, and as much as I would like to put off climbing on the roof off until tomorrow, I need to send a check in to headquarters ASAP.”

He begrudgingly reached out and took the dish and you watched as his form rippled green and faded away. You heard shuffling on the roof for a moment, then silence, before the Asgardian reappeared in front of you.

“If that’s all, Midgardian?” he said.

“Thank you, Highness,” you said, ignoring his tone. “And thank you for offering the room.” The monitor beeped a confirmation that your signal had connected and you punched in a code to let S.H.I.E.L.D. know you had made it to New Asgard. You grabbed the bag you had packed and hopped out of the van, waiting for Loki to follow suit before closing the doors and locking the vehicle.

You offered him your arm. “Shall we?”

He brushed past you, rolling his eyes at your mock-politeness.

“Alright then,” you muttered, “This is gonna be fun, isn’t it?” Taking one last look at the van behind you, you moved to catch up with the Asgardian walking briskly away from you.

-----

Loki had not been talkative on the way to the house, and after being curtly shown to your room, he quickly left. You had settled into a decently sized room complete with a desk and a small bathroom attached. Undoubtedly, the house was a far cry from an Asgardian palace, but it was much larger than needed for three, even four, people. Surprisingly, you got a sound night’s sleep.

You woke to rambunctious laughter, and, wiping bleariness from your eyes, got out of bed. You stood in front of a small mirror on the wall and attempted to make yourself look slightly less like you had just woken up. Moving to your bag, you put on clothes that were much more professional than the old sweatshirt you were currently wearing.

Finally satisfied, you stepped out of your room and followed the sounds of conversation into the kitchen, where you found Brunnhilde and Thor joking at the counter while Loki sat at a dining room table, reading a book.

Seeing you, Thor broke into a smile. “Y/N! Loki had told us you would be staying here!”

You returned the smile. “Thank you for letting me stay here, Thor. I really appreciate this.”

The large man set a plate heaping with food on the table and gestured for you to sit. You did, glancing at Loki as you took the seat across from him, but he made no move to acknowledge that you were there. Brunnhidle began to speak. “We will be building fishing boats today down at the docks today. Will you be joining us, Y/N? We could use an extra set of hands.”

You nodded. “I don’t mind helping out. I have a few things to take care of first, though, so I’ll meet you all down there.”

Thor clapped. “Excellent! We’ll make an Asgardian out of you yet!”

You laughed softly and finished your meal as Thor and Brunnhilde began to tell you the plans for the day.

------

After breakfast, you ran up to your room to grab your laptop and then met the rest of the group on the stairs of the house. “I’ll see you guys in a little while,” you said, waving while walking in the opposite direction.

Thor and Brunnhidle branched off from you, but Loki, still silent, walked beside you towards your van.

You looked at him quizzically, but he seemed to have no intention of indicating why he was with you, and not with Thor and Brunnhilde.

Finally, as you approached your van, you caved and asked. “Why are you with me instead of your brother?”

“I’ve consulted with Thor. I will be supervising you for the remainder of your stay here.”

You stared at him in disbelief. “I’m supposed to be supervising you guys!”

“You are a stranger,” he replied, “and there’s something about you that I don’t trust. I have harmed Asgard many times over, and I don’t intend to let you get away with hurting these people any more.” There was an edge to his voice, that you had to admit, scared you.

After a long moment, you sighed. “Fine. I could use an assistant, I guess.” Which was apparently the right thing to say, because it made him clearly flustered.

“I am no one’s assistant, I am a prince of Asgard,” he argued as you turned away from him, partially to unlock your van and partially to hide your laughter.

You hopped up into the vehicle and grabbed a folder and tossed it to Loki, who was still sputtering about his status behind you. “Scan those in, would you?” you said gesturing at a machine in the back corner of the van.

He huffed but snatched the folder from your hand and went to fiddle with the machine.

You glanced over. “Do you know how to use that?”

“Yes,” he snapped. “This is primitive technology compared to what I have seen in my travels.”

You shrugged. “Okay.” You turned to your computer and queued up a call to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. “I’m gonna need you to be quiet for a second,” you said, right before Mack’s face popped onto the screen.

“Y/N! How’s Norway treating you?” he said with a smile.

“Colder than I thought, but not too bad. They’ve given me an actual bed to sleep in. You really need to update the beds in these vans,” you joked.

“I’ll let the budget committee know,” he replied. “I trust Thor and Loki are being cooperative, then?”

“More or less,” you said before stepping to the side, putting Loki in full view of your webcam.

Mack’s eyes widened. The change was subtle, but you could tell he was surprised. “That’s Loki.”

“Yup.”

“In your van.”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“His Highness has deemed me untrustworthy, and decided I need a chaperone.”

“Right,” said Mack, suspicion in his voice. “Well you know the drill. Weekly check-ins, and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any problems,” he said, looking at Loki.

“Gotcha, Mack. Talk to you next week,” you said, turning off the call. You turned to Loki, who had yet to even turn the scanner on. “You don’t know how to work that, do you?”

He glared at you and did not reply.

“Come here, Your Highness, I’ll show you. It really isn’t that hard.”

“You know the honorific loses its value when you say it so sarcastically,” he said, while watching your motions intensely, memorizing the steps to work the machine.

“Sorry, Highness.”

-----

The two of you walked down to the beach shortly after, meeting Brunnhilde and Thor at the docks. You were allotted supplies and miraculously, you and Loki ended up caulking the same boat.

Great.

The silence was deafening at first, until you decided to break it.

“You know I never would have assumed that someone of such status would be out here doing the dirty work,” you said, sarcasm dripping from your voice.

He grimaced. “I owe Asgard a debt. I intend to repay it, however I can offer service.”

“A very noble stance from Loki, God of Mischief.”

He grinned and looked up, meeting your eyes. “I find that one can be noble while still being quite mischievous.”

You felt your face heat up, and ducked your head, looking down at your work. He had smiled at you, for the first time, and what he had said had sounded almost like flirting. Why had that made your stomach turn in such a strange way?

“Oh my,” he laughed. “Seems that the Midgardian is finally speechless.”

“Just trying to hold my tongue around my betters, Highness,” you said, rolling your eyes. “Now let’s get to work before Brunnhilde has our heads.”

-----

Finally, late that afternoon, the work was done, and the New Asgard armada of fishing boats was ready for a celebratory launch. You and Loki stood in the crowd, watching Brunnhilde give a speech in front of the flagship, which really wasn’t much larger than the rest of the fleet. Loki leaned over and whispered to you, “You know, back in the day, the Norse would give a human sacrifice to the sea god to ensure safe passage.”

You wrinkled your nose, put off by the suggestion. “I think I prefer the more English tradition,” you replied, watching as Brunnhilde smashed a bottle of champagne against the hull of the ship.

Loki sighed. “Such a waste of perfectly good champagne.”

“I’m sure there's plenty more alcohol around here somewhere,” you said as you walked over to your boat, preparing for her maiden voyage. You hopped in and offered Loki your hand to help him in. He hesitated, but he took it.

“What should we name her?” you asked.

“What?”

“You know,” you shrugged, “We have to give our ship a name.”

Loki seemed to ponder it a moment before deciding. “How about The Midgardian?”

You put your hand on your chest in mock flattery. “Aww, you named her after me, didn’t you?”

He laughed. “It’s a fitting name. She’s lackluster and hardly even worthy of being called a boat.” His words were biting, and maybe you were imagining things, but you could have sworn you heard the playfulness in his voice.

You laughed and tossed him an oar. “For you, Highness.”

“Many thanks, Midgardian.”

The two of you followed the rest of New Asgard, rowing out to sea. Suddenly, you noticed a small sprig of water in the bottom of the boat. “Loki,” you said, the fear dawning on you, “I think the boat is leaking.”

He turned to see the small leak coming through the floorboards. “Okay,” he said, suddenly serious, “Don’t panic. Let’s turn around.”

You switched the side you were paddling on, beginning to move the boat in a circle. Before you could completely orient yourselves, the floorboards cracked, and a large chunk of wood detached from the boat. You yelped as the water came flooding in.

Loki swore. “Can you swim?” he asked you, speaking quickly.

You nodded. All S.H.I.E.L.D. agents knew how to swim.

“Then jump!” he said, and you did, without a second thought. Your boat was sinking fast, and there was no way you were going to make it back to shore dry.

You hit the water, and a second later, heard Loki behind you.

“Swim towards Thor’s boat, he can get us-”

You missed the rest of his sentence as you were pulled away from him.

You fought the current that had taken hold of you, but your panic was making things worse. In the confusion, you lost control, and dipped under water. The ocean filled your mouth. Breaking the surface again, you choked out most of the water, trying to stay calm and find a way out, but every second you were being pulled further out to sea. Falling under once again, you were prepared to accept your fate when a strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around you and pulled you into calmer waters.

You gasped for air as Loki held you against himself, allowing you time to recover.

“Wha- How did-” you began, once you could speak.

“Don’t talk, just breathe,” he said. “I am a god, I can overpower currents much easier than your mortal bodies can.”

“Thank you, Loki,” you said.

“You are welcome, Y/N.”

A larger boat pulled up next to you, Thor leaning over the side. “Brother, Agent Y/N! Take my hand!”

Loki helped you onto the deck of the boat before climbing over the side himself.

You flopped onto the deck, panting. “Rest in peace, SS Midgardian.”

-----

Later that night, you and Loki sat together watching the fire crackle. Thor had brought you a hot drink, and after plenty of fussing ensuring that you were okay, had left to do something leader-ish with Brunnhilde.

Suddenly, a loud scuffling at the door broke the silence and a series of thudding footsteps made their way toward you. Upon seeing your company, Loki sighed, exasperated. You turned and saw a large figure that appeared to be made out of rock alongside a smaller, insect-looking creature.

The large one began to speak, his gentle tone in contrast with his threatening form. “Hello. Um, I’m Korg and this is my friend Meik. We came to apologize for the whole boat thing. Thor put us in charge of wood collection, so it’s our bad, really. Sorry.”

“Oh, um, that’s alright,” you said, still processing the fact that there were two very large, very strange-looking, aliens in the living room. “You couldn’t have known the wood was rotting, and no one’s dead, so we’re good.”

“Alright, cool,” said Korg. “No harm, no foul, yeah?”

You nodded. “Yeah.”

“Right then,” he said, scooping up Miek. “We’ve gotta get going. Thor put us on clean up duty for the next week.”

“Thank you, Korg!” you called, but he was already out the door.

Loki let out another sigh. “Idiots.”

You turned back to him. “I had no idea there were other aliens here! How many species came with you?”

“Just Korg and Meik. And unfortunately, they are around a lot.”

You settled into your armchair. “I’m gonna have to document this.” But even as you said it, you could feel yourself drifting off.

-----

The next day you woke in your own bed, slightly embarrassed at the implication that Loki had carried you there, but he never brought it up, so neither did you.

The next few weeks were filled with collecting information and helping with the construction of New Asgard to fill the rest of your time. Always, of course, accompanied by Loki. In a strange way, you were becoming friends. The two of you never exchanged a single kind word, but your actions said otherwise. Before long, it seemed less like Loki was breathing down your neck and more like he was genuinely relaxing around you.

“Hey, Mack,” you said, beginning your weekly call-in, Loki now sitting beside you instead of hiding in the background.

“Hey there, Y/N. How’s it going, Loki?”

“Quite well, thank you, Director Mackenzie.”

You stared at him in shock. You had never heard Loki use honorifics for a Midgardian.

The rest of the call was uneventful, and as soon as you hung up, you whirled toward Loki.

“You were polite!” you said, your tone accusatory.

Loki sniffed. “I do have manners, you know.”

“You called him Director Mackenzie.”

“And?”

“And I can count the number of times you’ve used my real name on one hand. It’s always ‘Midgardian’ this ‘Midgardian’ that. You know Mack’s a Midgardian too, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “And you call me ‘Highness’ in that terrible mocking tone of yours. The disrespect is mutual.”

You sighed. “Fine, we’ll call a truce. I’ll call you Loki, you call me Y/N, deal?” You stuck out your hand, waiting for his response.

He seemed to be considering his options, before he settled on his choice. “Deal.” He grasped your hand firmly within his and shook it.

“Glad we’re on the same page, Loki,” you said, leaning back into your chair.

“What now, Y/N?” he asked.

You shrugged. “I dunno. Brunnhilde and Thor don’t have anything going on, and I’m done with what I need to do.” You started clicking around on your computer. “Wanna watch a movie?”

“I’ve heard of movies, but never seen one.”

“You’ve never seen a movie?” you asked. “I guess that makes sense. It’s basically just a recorded play. You’ll love it.” You pulled up a movie. One of the lesser known perks of working for S.H.I.E.L.D.: free Netflix. “This is one of my favorites,” you said as the opening credits rolled.

“I suppose you aren’t giving me a choice then?” he asked.

“Nope,” you replied. “Now be quiet and watch.”

-----

Later that night, you were in the kitchen with Thor, cleaning up after dinner. The two of you worked in comfortable silence until suddenly-

“Are you and my brother involved romantically?”

The plate you were washing fell into the soapy water with a splash.

“What?”

“I have never seen him willingly be around a person as he is you,” Thor explained. “And he has changed. He is happier than he was before Midgard.”

You shook your head. “He doesn’t- I thought he was just ‘supervising’ in case I tried to kill you all.”

“Hardly. The man just has no clue how to adjust to a more… domestic lifestyle. He wants to be around you, he just does not know how to express that.”

“Huh,” was all you managed to say, not looking up from the dishes.

Thor let out a small chuckle. “One day you two will figure it out,” he said so quietly you weren’t even sure he said it.

-----

More time passed, you and Loki still spending your days together. Before you knew it, the Summer Solstice was here, and you spent the morning preparing.

Rushing around your van, alone for once, you scrambled to get your work done quickly before Brunnhidle’s coronation began.

Finishing up you glanced at your monitor when you saw a message pop up.

Alphonso Mackenzie: I forgot to mention it in our call this week, but you’re coming up on the six month mark, and there seems to be no complications with Asgard’s transition, so we’ll be pulling you back to HQ. We’ll sort out the details in next week’s meeting.

You felt a sinking feeling in your chest, which was quickly replaced by determination as you began to type your response.

-----

You hurried to Loki’s side, panting slightly, making it to the coronation just in time for Brunnhidle to make her entrance.

“You’re late,” he whispered.

“Shh,” you said. “They’re starting.”

-----

After every great coronation comes an even greater feast, and the Asgardians spent the rest of the day revealing and celebrating their new leader.

Surprisingly, you had seen very little of Loki. That wouldn’t last long though, because as the sun dipped below the horizon, your closest friend in New Asgard appeared from the crowd and said nothing as he led you to a private space away from the partygoers.

“I’ve hardly seen you all night,” he said, as soon as the two of you had a moment of relative silence.

“I know,” you laughed softly. “It’s been strange to not be around you.”

Your smile fell and you looked up at him. “Look, Loki, I have some news, and I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about it.”

His expression turned serious and he led you to a small bench, where the both of you sat. He stayed silent, waiting for you to speak.

“I got a message from Mack today. They want me back in America.”

Loki’s entire demeanor changed. “What? You can’t go back. There’s still so much I- so much supervising to be done here.”

“That’s where the part I’m unsure of comes in,” you said. “I talked to Mack, and the specifics still need to be discussed, but if we can get agreement from all parties, he wants to create a new position at S.H.I.E.L.D. I’d be the first permanent Asgardian-Midgardian liaison that S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever had.”

His face broke into a grin and he clasped your hands into his. “That’s wonderful! Why would I have any problems with that?”

“You haven’t always been my biggest fan,” you said, nudging his arm gently.

He was silent for a moment, looking for the words. “Maybe not at first,” he began slowly, looking you directly in your eyes, “but now, I’d argue that you are closer to me than anyone else.”

You suddenly became all too aware of his hands resting on yours, and the closeness of his face to yours. “Loki…”

“I hate to admit it, but after a long talk with Thor, I’ve realized that I’ve grown quite fond of you, Y/N.”

“I guess I’ve grown fond of you too, Your Highness,” you said, smiling softly.

“Oh, Midgardian,” he said, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice as his face drew nearer.

You didn’t remember which of you closed the gap, only that it was the most magical kiss you had ever had.

A/N: Thanks for reading! :)

#loki x reader #loki x you #loki x female reader #loki x male reader #loki x gender neutral reader #loki imagine #loki friggason x reader #loki laufeyson imagine #loki friggason x you #loki friggason imagine #loki laufeyson x reader #loki laufeyson x you #x reader

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wyn-n-tonic · 3 years

Text

Golden, Like Daylight -- Part VIII

Word Count: 1,304 Warnings: PTSD. I don't think anything else needs a warning? Message me if I'm wrong though, I'll fix it. Author's Note: Thanks for your patience in getting this chapter out! Last week was difficult and then I had friends come over for the weekend (FRIENDS! AMAZING!). I'm not super proud of this but I'm also proud of this. We're getting to the end of this series and I'm just really... in fucking awe at all the nice things that have been said to me about this. Like, I'm genuinely over the moon and losing my mind every time somebody says something nice to me. Thank you so much for reading!

MASTERLIST | PART: I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX

He slaps the passport against Pope’s forehead, starting a long held tradition between the two and he knows this will be the last time as he slowly says, “Nos vemos.”

See you.

The flatness he gives the words lets Santiago Garcia know, as he takes his friend and brother in, if he sees this man again, it will be through exchanged nods at functions for the others.

Santiago steps forward and Frankie embraces him but it’s wrong. It’s all wrong for who they are to each other. Who they were. It’s wooden, the weight of this mission—this mess—adding a new kind of density to the pain he carries. Frankie’s out for the count. For good.

“Cuídate,” he whispers into his friend’s ear.

Take care of yourself.

And he walks away, heading home where he belongs. A place he shouldn’t have left in the first place. Out of all the regrets Santiago has, dragging that man to Colombia might just be one of his biggest.

Leah was right, Santiago is never the one picking up the pieces. —————

He has to knock.

She disabled the doorbell the day they moved in, placing a small sign where delivers and visitors could easily read:

A combat veteran lives here, please knock gently.

She didn’t want any loud, sudden noises to trigger panic attacks. Wanted him to be comfortable in his home.

He didn’t tell her it would be today, wasn’t sure when he’d be able to get a flight out so he didn’t want to get her hopes up. But it had all worked out and he hadn’t had time to call and he doesn’t have his keys.

He didn’t take any identifying information with him. No phone. No keys. No wallet. Just the black tags that now sit heavy against his chest. He slipped them on mid-flight and walked back into the country with them to a quiet, welcome home, soldier from the customs agent. He didn’t even notice as he stamped the little blue book that the name stamped into the metal was completely different.

Frankie scratches his smooth face and stares down at the near bare feet standing firm on the wood of his front porch.

He made it.

He packed light back into the States, dumping his clothes and boots in the trash. All he has now is eight thousand in cash, a couple gifts for the girls and the fake passport he’ll be running through the shredder tonight. He picked up the flip flops at a vendor where he bought some of the shit to stuff with the cash.

Another steadying breath drags through his lungs and he looks around his silent neighborhood, the one Leah insisted on because of its proximity to the base. Illegal to set off fireworks this close to government property.

She shot down every house he found in any other part of the city and he didn’t even know why until the Fourth of July when his back bristled in anxiety waiting for the attacks to take his mind for the night.

Tears well up in his eyes as he finally brings his hand down on the sturdy wood.

She loves me so much more than I deserve. —————

“You stole my goddamn shirt, Francisco Morales,” she mumbles sleepily into his chest.

They haven’t left the couch all night, both his girls with their faces firmly planted into his chest. Their fitful sleep eased by the peace of his beating heart against their ears.

“I brought it back,” he laughs, smoothing her hair back, “but I won’t take it again, baby, I promise.”

And he means it. The only reason he took it to begin with is because she wears it as often as he does, her smell wrapped up in his and he brought it for comfort. But the rain and the saltwater of the sea wiped that scent away and he’s not doing this shit again.

“Because you’re not going anywhere again, right?” There’s a slight panic to the words, no matter how slowly they roll out.

He pulls her closer, “never, mi alma.”

“Good,” she looks up and he breaks all over again at her bloodshot, tired eyes, glassy and searching. Her pain meeting his but unspoken in favor of quiet reunion, his heart breaks because it wasn’t just him almost losing everything on a risky at best plan and he never even stopped to consider it was her everything too.

He saw it when she opened the door and instead of crumbling inwards with their daughter resting against her chest, she opened her arms and let him crumble instead. It was there when she excused herself to the bathroom and when she came back, falling apart in stolen moments of peace and quiet.

“I won’t do this again,” he says, the pad of this thumb sliding across the curve of her cheekbone; skin already raw with tear stains where they’ve run like rivers around her. She breaks into him then, arms tight around his still sore body as she buries her head into his broad chest. He instinctively moves to running his hand through her hair—his large hands turning her to jelly with each brush against her scalp—before he speaks again, adding reassurance to his words.

“And if I didn’t think you’d love it so much, I’d never even want to go back to St. John's.” He stresses that last bit, because it was the least stressful part of it all and still stabbed at him. Pulled at him. Reminded him that he was away. That he did this to his family.

“If you don’t want to be there,” she hiccups, “then I’ll never love it.”

And she means it. —————

Frankie cuts the last box open to begin sorting through the goods shipped home. The system follows that Frankie unloads the boxes, Benny separates the goods and Will counts the money. It’s worked flawlessly over the weekend as everything is accounted for, including the stacks that bought their way back into the country.

“How do we go about this shit anyway?” It's the question that’s been on Frankie’s mind from the jump, hoping he doesn’t find himself in another goddamn mess to maneuver away from.

“We can’t deposi—“

“No shit, William, so what do we do?”

He doesn’t need more crimes on top of all the ones he’s already committed. Money laundering on top of murder. Doesn’t even know where to start and a hundred thousand is hardly something to open a carwash about. He feels a stress settling in as he realizes he didn’t fully think this through.

“Just be smart about it,” comes the younger Miller’s voice, “keep it in the house, use it for groceries and other errands. Anything small that can be paid for cash, pay for it in cash. It adds up so your bank isn’t hit with constant fees, you can use that for the big shit. If you get in a pinch, deposit a couple hundred but never more than that. If you do need more, give cash to a friend and have them transfer it to your account.”

Benny looks up and finds the stunned faces of his brothers, “what? I dated a chick who was really into that Dave Ramsey guy.”

Frankie just continues to look at him in confusion, not expecting any of this information to come from Benny of all people and it seems Will wasn’t either because he follows it up with,

“Who the fuck is Dave Ramsey?”

“You know,” Benny continues to separate the goods into piles to be donated, “he’s that guy who talks about the money, I think that's the best way to go about it. We can’t exactly Breaking Bad this.”

“You're not smart enough to Breaking Bad this,” Frankie tells him.

“Nope,” he smiles, “I'm smarter.”

#frankie morales #francisco 'catfish' morales #francisco morales #francisco catfish morales #triple frontier #triple frontier fanfiction #frankie morales fanfiction #will miller #benny miller #santiago garcia #santiago 'pope' garcia #william 'ironhead' miller #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #ofc #oc #original character #original female character

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shannonthewriter · 3 years

Text

Love Out of Time Part Three

Bucky Barnes× Stark!Reader

Part One Part Two

Summary: After the Blip, nothing was the same, you had missed out on so much, but some good things do tend to come from the bad, and that's what was happening to you. The bad boy turned good, was not just the only thing that turned, as so did your feelings for him.

Word Count: 1,751

Warnings: TFAWS spoilers, you have been warned.

Time went on, and people tried their best to get readjusted to a normal life, but things were still chaotic. You were able to find a stable job, since your family owned their own business, and now Tony was gone, so they needed you and Pepper. You still had your apartment, because Tony had still paid for it even when you were gone, but you stayed with Pepper and Morgan most of the time, and sometimes you found yourself with Bucky.

The time the two of you spend together would vary depending on what the two of you would do, sometimes you two would just sit and read, enjoying each other's company. Other times you would be teaching him things about the new times, and both of you learning about the five years that both of you missed out on. Bucky had picked up on learning how to use a smartphone better than Steve, that was sure, but he still chose to stick with a flip phone.

"You know, learning about all this technology, and how things have greatly changed since the forties, there is still one thing I have yet to see." Bucky watched over your shoulder as you worked on some paperwork for work, doing your best to catch up on things since the stocks were all over the place since your brother's passing.

"How is there something you haven't seen compared to the forties." You let out a small chuckle before turning your head to look at him. "We have touch screens for everything, basically, drones, and virtual reality." You let out another chuckle as you couldn't help but smile.

"Your dad promised flying cars." He looked at you with a serious look, but you could only laugh, unable to hold it back.

"Time travel wasn't enough for you, you want flying cars?" You let out a small breath and lightly shook your head. "I'm not like my father, or my brother, with your amazing ability for technology, I can't promise you anything, I was a dancer, a singer, even if I'm Stark smart."

People, the news, the world, they all asked where you place in the company was going to land. They would ask if you knew who the next Iron Man was going to be? They asked your opinion of Spider-Man, asking if he was going to be the next Iron Man. You knew Tony had taken Spider-Man, Peter, under his wing to teach him, Tony had saw Peter as a son, and only wanted what was best for him, it had been a conversation that the two of you had talked about before.

You had been focused on your paperwork, you didn't notice Buck staring at the wall. His apartment was fairly empty, since he was the only one living there, he didn't need much. You always seemed to be the only guest he had, and it was never a mess, so it was never a big deal for you. Closing your laptop lid, you leaned your cheek on your hand as you looked at him.

"Where are you?" You asked softly, as you knew of his nightmares he would have, of the times when he was the Winter Soldier. He had been going to therapy, it had been a requirement of the government, but he was given a pardon from the past actions.

"Russia, Hotel Inessa." You gave off a sad look before sitting up in your seat, letting out a small sad breath.

"You've been there a lot lately, has something changed?" It was an honest question, and you never pushed him like you knew he was at therapy, so if he didn't answer, you didn't push.

Some stories you knew about, he was able to open up about it to you, but there weren't very many, as he didn't want to scare you away with his past. He had a list, and you knew this, it had been the notebook you had seen with Steve a few times, writing things down that he needed to check out. Bucky had that notebook now, but he didn't write the same things in it, it was a list of names, some you were able to get glances at it, but never read through it, and never asked to read it.

"Yori Nakajima, his son RJ." His voice was low, soft, ashamed, the look of pain was written on his face. The past months you were able to learn his patterns, his body language, his emotions, it had been something that you learned how to do when you were younger, and it was something that you always did.

"Yori, that's the old man you told me about, you go to lunch with him every week." You tried to give him a smile, but you knew he would know it was forced. Bucky had learned to do the same thing for you, but his was because of his training.

"I've had so many opportunities to tell him, tell him the truth, but I'm never able to go through with it." You stood to your feet to walk over to him, his back had been facing you, staring out the window. Softly placing your hand on his right shoulder, letting him know you were standing by him, even if he sensed you.

"Maybe some people are better left off not knowing." His head turned to meet your eyes, his metal hand going to softly place on top of your hand.

"Would you have been better off not knowing?" Bucky wanted your true opinion, as you knew the truth, he had been the only that killed your parents after all, and he was still amazed that you forgave him, and had actually been wanting to spend time with him.

You lightly licked your lips as you thought about, as you knew you were the make or break answer if he would tell Yori. "Honestly, I don't know if I would have been better off knowing or not knowing. My father was a highly intelligent man, he was in the top for S.H.E.L.D, it could make sense that he was a target, and my mother just a casualty." You knew your answer didn't help him feel better, but you were giving him the truth.

"What about your opinion on me? How was that effect that day?" You softly smiled at him, placing your hand over his metal one, as it was still placed over you own, it was almost like the two of you have forgotten that you were standing that way.

"I never hated you Bucky, I can promise you that, and I will never hate you for your past, because that's not the man I know standing before me." You softly smiled at him and he had a sad look on his face, but still smiled at you.

"Why do you put so much trust in me, when others don't want to give me a second chance?" You sadly smiled at him as you moved your hands away and let them wrap around you.

"Growing up, I had given Tony, chance after chance, but one time, I didn't give it to him, honestly now I can't remember what he had done or why I didn't forgive him, and then he was kidnapped. I never thought I was going to see him again, and I believed he was going to die thinking I was mad at him." You let out a small breath, as you thought about your brother, the two of you bring so different, the large age gap between the two of you. "I never want someone to believe that I'm mad at them, because I know that tomorrow is never promised." Your breath had gotten a little shaky, causing you to let out a small breath, you left the urge to cry, but was able to fight it back, but the look was on your face.

"Y/n." He said your name softly, his voice trailing off, as he turned his body to face yours. You shook your head and went to walk back to get your things ready.

"I-I need to get going, I promised Morgan I would take her shopping tomorrow." You shuddered out, but before you could get farther away, Bucky grabbed your waist with his left arm and his right hand rested jaw so you had to look at him.

"Look at me Y/n." His voice was low, calming, hot. You could feel as your heartbeat got faster and your stomach began to tighten. Your eyes locked onto his, and you were at a loss for words, something that wasn't like you, you were a Stark after all. You swallowed the lump in your throat and let out a small breath.

"It's late Bucky, I need to get going." You looked at him, trying to get your nerves under control. You had been alone with Bucky many times, but never have you two been in such a close embrace.

"Exactly, stay here tonight." You stared at him in disbelief. There were mixed feelings, you wanted to stay but you also felt like you needed to go. "I don't sleep in the bed, you can stay there." He stared at you for a moment, a broken look on his face. "I don't want to be alone for another nightmare." You sadly smiled, but nodded her head.

"I'll stay." He softly smiled at you before remembering himself, of how close he was holding you. His eyes landed on your lips, and you tried to read him, think of what he was thinking.

The two of you leaned closer together until your lips touched, his warm, soft, you took note of the musky smell, the plum taste. Your eyes were closed, and you only wondered if his eyes were closer as well, only your anxiety trying to get the best of you, but even then it wasn't going to ruin the moment for you. Your hands had moved from your side and wrapped around his neck.

"Was there your first kiss since the forties?" You asked softly when the two of you pulled away for air. He let out a small chuckle and rolled his eyes at you.

"Wow, was it that bad?" He looked at you, you could only smirk with a small blush.

"I'm here for more practice if needed." You smirked before easily walking out of his arms in his moment of distraction.

"I'd watch yourself doll."

#imagine #bucky x y/n #bucky x female reader #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #marvel imagine #marvel #bucky fluff #bucky barns x reader

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years

Text

Out Of Time ~ 14

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 1,250ish

Summary: Y/N struggles with the concept of being out of her time. Fury gives her a mission.

~~~

Agent Coulson kept telling Y/N that being in a different time would get easier as time went on, but Y/N felt like it was just getting harder. For the past month, Y/N has been living at SHIELD’s DC Headquarters, the Triskelion. Agent Coulson said it’s to ease her into society, but she knows that they’re just waiting to see if she will do something. For the most part, she stays silent, going through the motions to do the testing and training SHIELD wants. Coulson is the closest thing she has to a friend. He’s there everyday, trying to get her to open up more. She appreciates it, but ends up hiding her tears every time he mentions his love for Captain America and his vintage trading cards. She usually excuses herself to the restroom quickly after her brother is mentioned.

Y/N began struggling with the concept of time. For her, she lost Bucky and fought side by side with Steve a few weeks ago. For everyone else, it was decades ago. Director Fury is careful when it comes to sharing information about the people she knew. At first, he explains SHIELD, what it is and who founded it. The next day, Fury lets Y/N know that Peggy is alive. She immediately insists on seeing her, convincing him that it would help her. Peggy was brought in three days later. Peggy was much older than Y/N now. 87 years old, but still going strong. The two women held onto each other and cried. Peggy tells her of Steve’s last moments, and how he had promised her a dance.

“Howard searched for both of you, endlessly,” Peggy stated as she gripped onto Y/N’s hands. “He found the cube but never could find a trace of you or Steve.”

“How is Howard?” Y/N asked. Peggy paused, looking down at their clasped hands. “Peggy? What’s wrong?”

“Howard… He… He and his wife, Maria, died in a car accident in 1991.”

“What?”

“Official report says it was an accident. But…”

“But Howard helped found SHIELD. So it couldn’t have been an accident… I just… Howard… He…”

“He never stopped looking for you two. Said it owed it to you.”

“He didn’t owe me a thing… Did he have any children?”

“Yes, one. His name is Anthony. He goes by Tony though and is way too much like his father for his own good.”

In the weeks that followed, Y/N began to have nightmares about falling out of the plane and the blue cube. Coulson, who was staying in the room next door on Fury’s orders, frequently comforted Y/N at night after waking up to her screaming. It wasn’t uncommon for Coulson to her Y/N call out for Steve or Bucky. It hurt him to hear her to desperate for them.

After Y/N had been awake for about a month and a half, Fury brought in two of his best Agents, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff, to train her. Y/N threw herself into it, welcoming a distraction. Just like back in the forties, she was passing all the tests with flying colors. When she wasn’t training, she was studying up on what she had missed and learning all the new technology. Everyone was surprised at how fast she was adapting to the twenty first century. Y/N really struggled with it, she just wouldn’t let it show. She knew that she needed to push herself in order to be able to actually live a life in this new age.

Though the government wanted to make a huge deal about Y/N’s discovery, Fury and the rest of SHIELD had convinced them to not tell the press. Fury saw Y/N as an asset for information in the field. He also knew that Y/N didn’t want all the attention that would come with the world knowing that she had survived.

As she trained and was tasked to go on missions as a field agent, she became close with the agents that were tasked to watch her. It was nice. She had woken up in a new time without anyone, but they had become her little family.

It had been almost two years after she had woken up, when Director Fury threw a file on Y/N’s desk.

“What’s this?” She questioned, carefully picking up the large file.

“Your first solo assignment,” Fury responded.

“Sir, I don’t know if—“

“You’re ready, Agent Rogers. You’ve passed every test, even better than Romanoff. You’ve successfully completed every team mission you’ve been on, exceeding every expectation in the book. Frankly, you’re over qualified for this mission.”

“What exactly is the mission?” Y/N asked as she began flipping through the file.

“Personal security to the CEO of Stark Industries, Tony Stark.”

Y/N’s head snapped up to look at Fury. “Howard’s son? I thought he was missing.”

“The US Military found him about four hours ago. He’s on his way home and you’ve already been hired. His personal assistant, as well as the board of his company, seemed very desperate to get him a personal security guard.”

“Am I suppose to go under cover?”

“Yes.”

“How do we know Howard never talked about me? Or had a picture of me with him?”

“No need to worry. He didn’t.”

“Oh.” It kind of stung a little, the fact that Howard never mentioned her. “What name am I using?”

“Y/N Barnes.”

She sucked in a breath, clenching her eyes shut. “Really?”

“We thought it would be the only name you’d be comfortable with. Too late to change it now. Your alias background files are already public knowledge, you should review them the way there.”

“When do I leave?”

“You have an hour to pack up, then you and Agent Coulson will be flying out to Los Angeles. Coulson is going to be your point guy on this. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Why this case, sir? Out of any case, why Tony Stark?”

Fury sighed. “I knew Howard, personally.”

“You did? Why haven’t you—“

“I never said anything because you haven’t needed to know. And you don’t need to know everything I know just yet.”

“You can’t—“

“I can do whatever I want, Agent. You work for me. Now, quit wasting time. Romanoff will help you pack.”

Y/N gave a simple nod as Fury turned around and left her office. She glanced back down at the file, brushing her fingers over Tony’s pictures. He was so Howard’s son. She sniffled, not really wanting to cry, but it was moments like this that made her miss the forties. Natasha Romanoff was already in Y/N’s room, packing, when she arrived.

“Are you excited?” Romanoff smiled. “First solo assignment.”

“Yeah… I just…” Y/N sighed. “I just wish that it wasn’t Howard’s son. It’s going to be weird.”

“From what I understand, he’s even more of a playboy than his father.”

“That’s not helping, Nat. And if he’s such a playboy, why am I going?”

“Fury is convinced you’re up for the job. I thought you’d be more excited than this.”

“I’m just nervous, I guess. I don’t feel ready.”

“You don’t feel ready? Hell, if you don’t feel ready, I shouldn’t be going out in the field.” Nat took Y/N by the shoulders, turning her to face her. “You’re more than ready. You got this.”

“I got this.”

next chapter >

NOTES: my tags still aren’t working... so if anyone has any ideas. please send them in. Thanks for all the comments, likes and reblogs. Means the world! truly.

#tony stark x reader #bucky barnes x reader #avengers x reader #the avengers x reader #marvel imagine #tony stark imagine #bucky barnes imagine #avengers imagine #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #marvel fanfiction #Phil Coulson x Reader #avengers fanfiction #iron man x reader #winter soldier x reader #captain america x reader

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nocturna-starr · 3 years

Text

The Picture

Prompter: @gottacatchghosts

Prompt: Danny/Jazz swap AU: Jazz is the half ghost and Danny is the older sibling. Go wild on your take of how this would all play out

Words: 1811

Notes: Related to THIS fic

“Hey Jazz, can you stand still for a minute? The lighting by you is perfect!”

“Daniel!”

A flash went off. Jazz blinked away the spots. Where had he come from? She would have sworn that it had only been her in the kitchen a few seconds ago. How had he come in so fast, or alternatively, how long had Daniel been watching her? Sometimes Jazz wondered who really was the ghost in their family, him or her?

“That was perfect!” Daniel cheered, “Now I’ll need a couple more photos and then you can go.”

“I thought you wanted to be a painter, Daniel?” Jazz frowned, “Since when did you care about photography?”

“Since I was the first one in all of Amity Park to catch a photo of the ghost girl in action! I discovered that I really do have a natural talent for it.” Daniel gloated as he changed the filters on his camera. Jazz smiled. It had been a long time since she had seen this side of her brother.

“Okaaayyy” She tried to sound like she was doing him a favour. If he knew that she was actually happy for him, then Daniel would never let it go.

“I knew you would agree!” Daniel grinned, “Now I have a bunch a filters that I need to try out! How busy is your day today?”

“Well I was planning to meet spike at the mall…”

“Perfect! I swear these photos are going to make you a star!” Daniel smirked, “Or at least get your name in the history books when these pictures come through.”

xXx

“I’m so sorry I’m late Spike! Daniel is on another stupid project kick.” Jazz huffed as she sat down in the mall’s cafeteria. Her friend looked up from the phone game he was playing. She wondered how long he had been waiting for her. Spike rarely ever tried out mobile games unless he was absolutely bored.

“And he says that he is nothing like his parents. Dude really is clueless to his own tendencies, isn’t he?” Spike laughed, “Maybe it’s a Fenton trait?”

“What do you mean by that?” Jazz asked.

“You still haven’t noticed my- You know what? I’ll let you figure it out.” Spike took a huge gulp from his soda.

“Come on Spike! That’s not fair!” Jazz whined. How could she even begin to guess something if she didn’t have a hint? She wasn’t a genius like her parents or her brother. She couldn’t help it she accidentally overlooked something that she didn’t even know was supposed to be there!

“Nothing is fair in love and war.”

“What do you mean by that?” Jazz wondered. Spike only smirked. He was about to explain (or maybe torment Jazz some more) when he was interrupted by one of Daniel’s friends.

“Hey Jazz! Have you seen Danny?” asked her brother’s not-so-secret admirer, Sam Manson. Jazz sighed. Judging by the new camera hanging from her neck, Sam seemed to be encouraging Daniel’s new endeavor. That meant he would be taking pictures for the next month or so. It was something that Jazz was not looking forward to.

“He’s in the house taking photos of plants. Or he decided he wanted to go on another jungle adventure and went into the ghost zone.” Jazz rolled her eyes. She muttered under her breath, “Then I’ll have to save him again this week…”

“Do you think he’s dumb enough to do that again?” Spike laughed, “Last time he got chased half-way across the zone by Klemper!”

“But he got some awesome pictures!” Sam grinned. She practically skipped away. Jazz giggled at her enthusiasm. She could see what Daniel liked about Sam. Maybe by this summer they would finally get together. Then they wouldn’t have another Ember situation.

“Your brother is going to get eaten by a ghost one day and all his friends are going to care about is that he got a good picture.” Spike snickered, “Man, I feel bad for him.”

Jazz joined into his laughter, “Yeah, but don’t feel too bad for him. You should have seen him when Tucker got attacked by Technus. He managed to get the two of them to stand still long enough for him to take a sketch.”

“And he didn’t snap a photo why?”

“As much as he hates to admit it, Daniel is just like our parents! He wanted to prove a point or something.”

Spike nodded in agreement, “Wanna get some ice cream?”

“You bet I do!”

xXx

The two best friends sauntered in the park, enjoying the beautiful weather and the lack of ghost attacks. It was peaceful times like these that Jazz liked the most. Times where she could just be a regular fifteen-year-old kid.

Of course, peace doesn’t last long in Amity Park.

“Wanna take a selfie?” Spike asked, “It’s been a while since our last!”

Jazz smiled, trying not to feel too guilty. Since becoming Jazz Phantom, she had veered away from cameras. In all of her research, she had discovered that photos tended to… change while in the presence of other ghosts. Yet the photos Daniel had taken of her, always seemed to end well. Maybe she was just being too paranoid?

“Say cheese!” Spike said, sounding way too bright to be considered a goth.

“Cheese!”

Spike took the picture, then went to see the results, “Uh… Jazz?”

He handed over the picture to her trembling. Nervous, Jazz took a look and paled.

Spike looked happier than he has in a long time. She on the other hand… If you showed the picture to anyone else, they would probably think that Spike had gotten a picture with Jazz Phantom herself! Jazz’s eyes were the bright red of her ghost form. Her hair was blue as the ocean. Her clothes looked faded, though if Jazz squinted, she could make out her logo.

All in all, this was a disaster.

“We have to get those photos from Daniel!” Jazz squeaked. She dived into a bush, transforming into her other half. Without a second thought she took to the skies, heading towards her home.

“Guess my plans have been cancelled,” Spike muttered, “Better tell mom not to cancel that trip to my therapist.”

xXx

“Daniel?” Jazz called while entering the house, “Are you here?”

Fentonworks was too quiet… Like her entire family was ready to attack her. She shivered, were they watching her? Jazz was afraid to even consider this. Maybe… maybe… Maybe her parents were out, and Daniel was with his friends?

“I’m up here,” Daniel called from up the stairs.

That didn’t feel like a trap at all.

With the very little courage she had left, Jazz carefully made her way up the stairs. Her yes darted around, waiting to catch the slightest movement. She prayed that her life was not about to fall apart. How could she have been so trusting? Daniel was her brother, but he had also been raised by ghost hunters. What if he warned her that she would have to leave? What if the government was here to take her away? These seconds could be the last of the life she had once known.

“Hey Jazz! The filters worked like a charm!” Daniel called from the top of the stairs. The ghostly heroine nearly fell down the stairs in surprise.

“Danny?!”

“Oh sorry. Totally didn’t mean to scare you little sis! Sam, Tucker and I have finally come up with a filter that can properly take pictures of anyone. No more red eyes, or blurry pictures! And it’s not going to malfunction around you like all of our other inventions!” Daniel was talking at a mile a minute.

Jazz sighed in relief. He hadn’t mentioned how her picture had looked. Did it mean that her brother had discovered a way to properly photograph half ghosts? She would need to steal a dozen of these camera filters which, knowing her brother, he would have around.

Jazz practically skipped down the stairs, “I was just seeing where everyone was! I’m going to go find Spike again! Tell mom and dad that I’ll be home for dinner!”

“Okay? But don’t you want to hear more?” Daniel asked.

She answered his question by racing out of the door. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate her brother’s efforts. But Daniel could be just like Jack Fenton when explaining how something worked. She supposed she could be the same way when talking about psychology.

xXx

Daniel shook his head and sighed as his sister slammed the door. While he could understand her concerns, it still hurt to be rejected that way. It wasn’t like he could tell her that he knew her secret. She would freak out and try to trick him into thinking he just saw things. Now wasn’t the time for him to get down. He had just invented something revolutionary!

“How did you know that adding ectoranium to the filter would work?” Tucker asked, turning on the hall light, “And why did you have to tell her in the dark?”

“Cause it’s more fun to tell her that way. Who’d think that the ghost girl was afraid of the dark?” Sam answered for him, as she exited his room.

“Honestly, I forgot to turn on the lights.”

His two best friends howled but Daniel frowned. How could he have been so stupid? He’d after to reassure Jazz that everything was okay in a subtle way. Afterall, Jazz had a nasty habit of jumping to conclusions.

“I’m curious too,” Sam began, after she had calmed down a little, “how did you come up with the idea?”

“Ectoranium is the opposite or ectoplasm. I figured that the ectoranium would cancel out the effects that Jazz’s powers had on the camera. Now she can have her picture taken at school or join in family photos without a need for an excuse.” Daniel replied.

“That was very sweet of you Danny.” Sam gushed.

Daniel didn’t reply. Instead he headed back into his room. He put his hand under the mattress and pulled out the photo album he had been working on for the past couple of months. Carefully he placed one of the photos he had taken that day into the album. He flipped the picture over and wrote a note just like he had done to the other pictures.

This is the first photo taken with the new lens. Use the lens to reveal the true door. If the event has not happened, ignore this.

“Dude, the cryptic messages are a little freaky.” Tucker said.

“Call them safeguards, for just in case.” Daniel closed the book and hid it under his mattress again. Once he was done hiding his gift, he turned to his friends and smirked.

“Anyone want to see if we can get a picture of that Box Ghost again?”

“We’re in!”

#phic phight 2021 #jazz phantom #danny fenton #swap au

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kittyreading · 4 years

Text

Manga Master List: Recommendations and My Personal Wish List

!!//PLEASE READ//!!

Below is every manga from my amazon wishlist I would recommend(as of February 11 2021) with a picture and a 3-5 sentence explanation of what the manga is about. Underneath will also be the number of volumes I have read, the number I own, and it’s status of ongoing or complete and how many volumes it has. This way you can decide for yourself if you think I have read enough of it to give an accurate recommendation.

This list only includes manga you can purchase (including digital purchases) from the wishlist. I decided that I would in fact include my personal amazon manga wishlist here and at the bottom for people to buy THEMSELVES a copy of any of these manga they would like. Keep in mind many of these won’t have volume 1 in the list but you should be able to get to the series page from the list. If a manga shows up on the amazon list that I did not include in this one that is because I have not read enough of them(or any of them) to recommend. Ok? Cool, enjoy the list!!

1. The Girl from the Other side is about a little girl living with a gentleman monster. It is a supernatural mystery with beautiful art.

Own: 0

Series: Ongoing at 9 volumes

2. Pumpkin Scissors is a military fantasy about a War Veteran named Randal Oland who joins the pumpkin scissors core to help with war relief and uncover the deep corruption of the government. It is similar in themes to FMA in the sense it appears to be based on a World War, and corruption of government but it more focused on the power of the noble houses in government. There is also a fun science element but it is not as in focus as in FMA. The two but are very very different overall tho. Only 5 volumes were distributed in physical English copies as the publishing company went bankrupt, all others are only available digitally. (I couldn’t get the manga vol. 1 cover to work so the picture above is a poster for the anime)

Own: 0

Read: around 10

Series: Ongoing at 23 volumes

3. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun is a slice of life about a bunch of highschoolers. Nozaki is the mangaka of a popular Shoujo manga who uses his personal experiences with friends to create his monthly comic series. It is a fun gender stereotype reversal manga with a large cast of both male and female characters (one could be HC as genderfluid but she’s still canonically female at this time) The manga is one of the easiest to read as the panels are mostly in straight down rectangles so the pages are extremely easy to follow and is very funny.

Own: 1

Status: Ongoing at 12 volumes

4. Yu-Gi-Oh! is well known to be about the card game yu-gi-oh, using magic and myths to further the story, HOWEVER, Yu-gi-oh! is the “Season 0″ of the series it is much darker than to be expected and there is no card game. The Yu-gi-oh most are familiar with is Yu-gi-oh Duelist (just found this out myself) and is the Yu-gi-oh you probably already know. There is no overarching plot to this mini series it is just Yugi fucking shit up playing games and destroying some bullies. I have yet to read any of Duelist as of the creation of this post therefore I cannot recommend it :/

Own: 5 (1-3 & 6-7)

Status: Completed at 7 volumes

5. The Way of the House Husband is about a former yakuza who gets married and flips his script. He becomes a house husband for his working wife and carries on doing chores and errands while still looking and acting scary unintentionally and getting himself in trouble. It is a slice of life comedy with some adult jokes but is over all extremely funny and pleasant to read.

Own: 0

Status: Ongoing at 7 volumes

6. Hikaru no Go is about a highschool boy who finds a haunted Go board. He meets the ghost who once was a prolific Go player. Together they work to become a world class Go champion meeting new people along the way. This series was cut short due to legal issues with a real Go player and therefore will remain unfinished but the story that is there is golden. It is still one of the most popular manga in Japan.

Own: 0

Status: Complete at 23 Volumes

7. Zatch Bell! This manga is about a teenager named Kiyo who gets sent a young boy with amnesia named Zatch Bell who turns out to be an alien called a momodo. Now the two must battle other momodo in order to understand what happened to Zatch and to make Zatch the new king. Along the way they make many friends and save both the momodo and human worlds. This one is difficult because it is a classic that did not do well in America so the volumes are expensive and the series is unfinished in English. You can only buy 27 of the volumes in English and a few of them are almost impossible to find, however it is well worth the money if you can afford it and it is available online.

Own: 6 (1-5 & 13)

Status: Complete at 33 Volumes only 27 printed in English (you can finish series online)

8. Fullmetal Alchemist is a cult classic most have read it, watched the series, or heard of it at the very least. This is one of the most popular Manga of all time and for good reason. The manga is about 2 brothers Alphonse and Edward on a journey to return their bodies to normal after committing the taboo of human transmutation. The manga has themes of racism, government corruption and manipulation of the military. The versions on my wishlist are the special Fullmetal Editions so they will have a different price point and volume number than the regular volumes or the omnibuses’

Own: 12

Status: Complete at 27 Volumes

9. Princess Jellyfish is about a young woman who is sort of an outcast otaku living with 5 other otaku women. She has a deep love for jellyfish as they remind her of her late mother. She meets a beautiful woman who turns out to be a male college student and slowly comes out of her shell making new friends and growing with old ones as well. This manga is very sweet and I really don’t know what else to say haha.

Own: 0

Status: Complete at 17 volumes

10. !!!HUGE TW FOR EATING DISORDERS!!! In Clothes Called Fat is a, oneshot, non romanticizing story of an office woman trying to lose weight and developing several eating disorders in the process. She goes through hardships in relationships and bullying as well. It has a bittersweet ending and should be read with caution but it is beautifully done. Please do not read this if you are under the age 16 at the very youngest there are NSFW moments as well as just generally not being a topic for younger audiences.

Own: No

Read: Yes

Status: Completed one shot

11. My LOVE Story!! Is an adorable Slice of Life shojo about a highschooler named Takeo Gouda, his girlfriend Yamato, and his best friend and hear throb Suna. This series is rather refreshing as the relationship starts pretty much immediately, the best friend is very supportive, and it is focused on Takeo’s personality over looks as he is often compared in manga to a gorilla or bear. It is a generally heart warming story with some emotional side plots. The ending is sort of sudden but it’s really enjoyable.

Own: 6 (1-3,8,10-12)

Status: Completed at 13 Volumes

12. Soul Eater is pretty popular but if you don’t know what it is about it is about a Weapon named Soul and his Meister Maka. They attend a school that teaches them how to defeat people before they turn into Demons, saving the world in the process. Once a weapon eats 100 evil souls and a witches soul they can become the new death Scythe! That is the plot presented, and it of course goes off into a much more complicated storyline. It is super fun and engaging with a fascinating plot near the end.

Own: 5

Status: Completed at 25 Volumes

13. D. Gray-Man is a little complicated. Similarly to Soul Eater D. Gray-Man is a story based around defeating people turned demon and the saving of the world through an organization, however the plot gets very complicated very quickly. The art is some of the most interesting and beautifully fun art I’ve come across and the characters are (so far as I’ve read) all amazing. The story has a lot of christian influence and is one you have to really keep up with to understand but I recommend it regardless!

Own: 10

Status: Ongoing at 27 Volumes

14. One-Punch Man is also very popular and is about a man who becomes so strong he only needs to punch you once to completely annihilate you, and it greatly annoys him. This manga greatly touches on the themes of self worth as Saitama becomes a hero that no one seems to want. The fights are fun and engaging, tho at times can be difficult to read. The art is gorgeous, with some of the most heavily detailed work I have ever seen.

Own: 3

Status: Ongoing at 21 Volumes

15. The Boy and The Beast is the manga adaptation of the movie by the same name. This is a bittersweet story about a boy who finds a family in the land of the beasts and the repercussions of this intermixing. It is sweet and sad and there’s not much else to say, but that it is a beautifully crafted story.

Own: 1

Read: 1 (but I’ve seen the movie and read the light novel)

Status: Complete at 4 Volumes

16. MAR is not a manga I should be recommending as I genuinely don’t think I have read enough of the story to do so but I love it so much I’m going to anyway. MAR is a classic Isekai Shonen, a kid goes through a door into another world and has to fight a war to save it, there is a super fun magic system and some wonderful story building with genuinely enjoyable characters and battles. I am recommending this more based off the anime than the manga itself because it was one of my absolute favorites when I was younger, so take from that what you will! This manga has the same issue Zatch Bell does however, the series did not do amazingly so the volumes can be expensive!

Own: 3

Status: Complete at 15 Volumes

Thank you for your time haha! I hope you liked the list, here is my wishlist again and if you have any questions please let me know!! I will try to keep this master list updated as it and the wishlist will only continue to grow, but I make no promises for doing it often. Making this took me a very long time so I hope you like it!

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skelemira · 3 years

Note

Ooooh whats Rowan's lore? *grabs popcorn*

ALRIGHT BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUPS

Gonna leave it after the cut (if I remember how to do the cut right on mobile lol) so I don't clog up feeds

So Rowan started out as a human. Her family was okay financially, probably lower middle class. Not rich enough to be truly comfortable, but not in a whole lot of danger debt-wise. She had a mother, a father, an older sister named Magnolia (Nolia for short) and a little brother named Cedar (lol do you see a naming pattern here I'm so creative). Her parents were... Okay. They weren't abusive or anything, but they weren't exactly doting. They didn't really have the time to be doting, since they both worked all the time. The siblings all got along really well, though, the type of siblings that stuck together initially because they lacked that true family relationship but slowly morphed into ride or die siblings.

So one day, little 14-year-old Rowan (Nolia was 16, soon to be 17, and Cedar was 10) gets home from school, pretty average, normal day.

She's sitting at the table doing her hw when someone knocks at the door and her parents (it was kind of weird, they were never home at this hour) rush to open it. There stands a man in a lab coat, holding an envelope. Rowan hated him instantly. Something about him seemed wrong.

He talked to her parents for a bit, and her parents asked her to go get Nolia and Cedar with some urgency in their voices. And.... If she was right in placing that tone.... Guilty excitement...?

She got her siblings and they came downstairs.

Turns out her parents had been closer to debt than she realized. So to get some more money and.... Relieve some financial burdens, they sold their kids to a group of scientists needing victi----research participants.

Of course there was a struggle, Nolia stepping up to try and defend her siblings, screaming at her parents, Rowan holding Cedar close while silent tears poured down both their faces.

But the scientist was prepared, and before anyone could react, three men appeared with rags, holding them over the kids' mouths.

She woke up in an empty white room.

Well... If you could call it white. It was more of a dinghy, hardly cleaned beige. These men were not with the government, she could immediately tell that.

Gonna sum up this part bc it involves torture but basically the scientists were experimenting to see if they could turn a human into a monster. They found only Rowan's soul was compatible. They used her siblings to keep her under control..... Only they had dumped Nolia and Cedar on the streets weeks ago. They simply reused footage to "prove" to Rowan they were still there.

They almost succeeded in their experiment. They forced so much magic into her soul that it started to flip.... But it was too much and Rowan flatlined. They dumped her body in the woods, only disappointed that they came so close.

A couple months passed. Her body decayed until only her skeleton remained. The decaying process was helped along by all the magic, which seemed to have concentrated in her bones, morphing them slowly until they were all connected.

She woke up.

She spent several years on the streets. She begged, she stole, and... She drank. Or at least she tried to. (She was allowed into bars because people thought she was a monster, and she wasn't wearing stripes, so that must mean she was an adult.) She quickly discovered that her alcohol tolerance was *legendary*. She drank bars dry having drinking contests with people (that's how she paid for all her drinks) but felt no different than before. Eventually someone dared her to try Everclear, and though she grimaced at the taste, she drank the entire bottle.

The bar was silent.

The taste eventually grew on her, a kind of self-inflicted punishment that soon became a routine, almost a comfort.

Now a good chunk of the next part has to do with my friend's sonas which I'm not going to talk about because they're not my characters, but suffice it to say they were amazing friends to her and helped her recover and get on her feet.

One such friend discovered her sleeping by Grillby's dumpster, and Grillby let her stay the night on his couch, setting up a job at Muffet's for her the next day. She and Muffet became really close friends and finally she started to have a more stable life. (She finds and dates Underlust Sans but that's another story lol which I would be happy to share in another ask~ but y'all these two are so cute plz)

So someone suggests she go see a therapist. Goodness knows she's got some trauma. So she agrees. The name of her therapist seems..... Eerily familiar but she decides to ignore her gut and go anyway. She walks into the therapist's office and---

And sees her mother sitting there, looking professional and well-rested and happy.

She runs.

Yeah so suffice it to say she isn't gonna trust therapy again for a bit lol, and it takes her even LONGER (and some good therapy sessions) to accept the fact that her mother was clearly better off without her and her siblings.

Yeah ya girl has a lot of issues, especially abandonment <3 she is very much a people pleaser and WILL put your needs high above her own. Anything to make you want to stay. Anything to make her feel needed or wanted.

So she's hanging out at Grillby's one day (he and his bartender like to try out different mixes on her, try to see if they can get her to make a face at a cocktail) when a huge party comes in. Rowan automatically shrinks a bit from discomfort because of the big crowd, and she continues her game with Grillby and the bartender (the bartender is my friend's sona that's why I'm not naming them lol). Then she hears something that makes her freeze mid-sip.

"Let's hear it for Magnolia!!!! The first of us to get tied down!" Followed by raucous laugh....ter...

She recognizes that laugh.

She flees the bar, with no explanation to anyone. She catches a glimpse of Nolia, with Cedar by her side, and both of their eyes squint slightly in confusion as she passes by them.

She makes it outside, looking around for where to go, unable to think in her panicked confusion when---

"R......Rowan?"

She goes ramrod straight and slowly turns, hands balled into fists to hide the violent shaking. Nolia bursts into tears, Cedar immediately clinging to her stiff form, his shoulders shaking as bad as her hands.

They.... Recognized her. They.........

Were *happy* to see her.

Slowly she hugged them back and they got to catching up. (So yeah if it wasn't clear Nolia was getting married, they both had survived on the streets together until Nolia was old enough to get a job).

Also something I forgot to mention lol is Rowan had found 2 kittens behind Muffet's, an older girl kitten fiercely protecting a little boy kitten. They immediately latched onto her after she made it clear she wasn't a threat, and she decided to name them after her siblings.

Also things worth noting, she smells like apples, she has magical red translucent hair, her soul wavers from more upside down like a monster's to more upright like a human's, she loves to bake, she is like the DEFINITION of cottagecore, she has magical tattoos on her face that change around to look like the Day of the Dead skulls (the colors get brighter or darker with her moods), and she drinks 2 bottle of everclear every time she goes to Grillby's. The paramedics in the area quickly become used to people calling the ambulance when she drinks (seriously look up everclear it's basically pure alcohol). She eventually stops drinking (not that it was *really* harming her since she had that alcohol tolerance and a body made primarily of magic at this point (plus alcohol isn't really gonna hurt her, she doesn't have kidneys lol) but she wanted to stop anyway. She loves to paint and teaches one of her friends to paint, tending to her friend's garden while her friend paints. She also loves to cook and bake, she eventually helps out with baking at Muffet's, though she refuses to bake the spiders into the pastries. Her scones are things of legend, they sell out as soon as she brings the tray out of the kitchen.

Yeah that was a lot lol and there's little things here and there that I missed so feel free to send in questions about her if you want to know anything! Or if you want to know how Rowan and UL Sans got together (spoiler: they eventually get married and it's so cute)

#ask #anon #oc time babyyyy #Rowan #Rowan beloved #also thank you guys so much for asking about her #I adore her so much and don't get the chance often to share her lore

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ilguna · 3 years

Text

Anteric - Chapter Two (f.o)

summary: secrets have more worth than you gave them credit for.

warnings; swearing, PALM CUTTING, DEATH.

wc; 10.4k

NOTES; I give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

The bus you take to the Choosing Ceremony is full of people from Abnegation. Grey shirts and cardigans. Grey slacks and skirts. You spend the entire time staring at the top of your shoes, trying to lose yourself like everyone else in here can. Sometimes, you manage to do it. Today it’s harder. You still have a decision to make, since it wasn’t made for you yesterday.

When the bus stops, everyone slowly files out. Starting with the front, to the middle, to the back. Reed carries Alyssum in his arms, you walk next to him, following his steps to where he wants to go. The Hub is the tallest building in the city, stretching far beyond the clouds. You shield your eyes from the sun and stare up at it while you wait for Reed to start to go inside.

Outside of the building stands a group of Candor, talking amongst themselves. Cigarettes are between their fingers, they breathe smoke after a long breath in. You remember the smell of tobacco on the bus man’s breath when he got in your face. You also remember that was your first act of defiance yesterday, as the second was directly challenging Reed.

You wish you could say that you regret asking him that question, but you don’t.

Reed starts up the front steps, you walk behind him. With the amount of people in the Hub today for the Choosing Ceremony, the elevators are hard to get onto. They’re all crowded and take too long, since the ceremony will be taking place twenty stories up. Reed readjusts Alyssum in his arms before he starts towards the stairwell. You don’t complain.

It starts off with only the three of you, but it doubles multiple times the further you go up. Reed has just unintentionally started a trend amongst you all. If you hadn’t gone up the stairwell, you’re sure that you would have all waited in a pack at the elevators, waiting for all the other factions to get on before you.

A man with cropped blonde hair notices that Reed is carrying Alyssum, so he hurries up before you guys so that he can hold open the door for everyone that passes through. You and Reed thank him on your way through. Inside of the ceremony room, the factions are arranged in concentric circles. On the very outside edge is where you’ll be standing with the rest of the sixteen year-olds from every faction. Since you’re not a member of any faction just yet, you can’t sit with them. Not even the Abnegation, who you grew up with.

What you choose today will make you an initiate, and if you complete initiation, you’ll become a member. Some factions are harder than others to get into. While you’re sure that Dauntless or Erudite is difficult, Amity and Abnegation don’t often have initiates that fail. It’s easy to give yourself away for others. Supposedly.

You, and every other teenager in here, arrange yourselves in alphabetical order according to your last names. You stand between a Candor boy dressed in a black and white suit, and a Dauntless girl dressed in pure black, with a piercing in her nose. Finnick is further down, since his name starts with an O. You will get to decide before he does.

In the next circle are rows of chairs for your families. You watch as Reed carries Alyssum to a single chair, and sets her in his lap. She doesn’t fuss much, only plays with the sleeve on her loose shirt. It’s a little too big for her, but all clothes in Abnegation are meant to be loose-fitting to not draw attention to yourself.

Since the responsibility of conducting the ceremony rotates every year, it falls on Candor this year. Their leader is a tall man, with dark hair and haunting grey eyes. His name is Haymitch Abernathy, and he stands at the podium that fits snugly between Erudite and Dauntless. He doesn’t smile.

The room falls into silence as soon as all the chairs have been filled. You clench your fists at your sides, staring right ahead at Reed and Alyssum as Haymitch gives the opening speech.

His voice is monotone, with very little hints of actual emotion, “Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony, the day we honor the democratic philosophy given to us by our ancestors. Let us say thank you for allowing them to give us the idea that every man has a right to choose his own way in the world.”

A few people mutter out a thanks. Your lips are sealed tight, normally the decision is already made for you because of the aptitude test. But unlike everyone else in this room, you truly are given a right to choose where you want to go. Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite all have their arms out for you. Each one of them holds a different opportunity, a different lifestyle. But only one of them is familiar.

“Our children are now sixteen. They are on the edge of adulthood, which means that it’s now time for them to decide what kind of people they will decide to be. A long time ago, our ancestors realized that politics, religion, race and nationalism are not to blame for the awful world. Rather, they determined that it was the fault of a human’s nature to go towards evil.

“Since evil presents itself in many different ways, factions were formed to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world’s disarray.” Haymitch pauses for a moment, “Those who blamed aggression formed Amity.”

Amity, the faction that was ruled out first because you chose the knife over the cheese. The knife you didn’t even end up using because you left it behind to save the girl from the dog. How can you be Abnegation and not Amity too? Selflessness and peace go hand in hand, right? Right?

The Amity share smiles. They are dressed in red or yellow, of all different shades. Amity is seen as loving, care-free and kind. Three years ago, you lost your brother to this faction, because Abnegation wasn’t good enough. Somewhere, Mox is dressed in red and yellow, singing songs and picking apples out of trees. He is not thinking about you.

“Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite.”

Erudite sit together, at least one article of clothing that they wear is blue. You were told a while ago, by someone who you can’t remember the name of, that it’s because blue is supposed to calm the mind. You can’t think rationally if you’re in a constant state of panic and worry. Also, most of them wear glasses, as they’re supposed to make you feel smarter.

If you choose a faction other than Abnegation this afternoon, it will not be Erudite. You switching in the first place will already be a harsh slap to the face. You will not make it worse by choosing the one faction that has their gun pointed at Abnegation. Erudite was never an option.

“Those who blamed duplicity created Candor.” Haymitch gives a ghost of a smile.

The Candor are the ones who don’t lie. They’re also able to pick out liars easily, which makes it frustrating in class when they blurt it out. They don’t believe in holding secrets, as it’s too close to a lie. They wear black and white suits and dresses. They’re also the people you saw before you came into the Hub, smoking in front of the building.

“Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation.”

Your home. You have grown up in this faction for sixteen years, and you have been selfishly debating whether or not you’ll stay. You’re supposed to be able to forget yourself in this lifestyle, but all it’s done is magnify the things you hate about it. Under different circumstances, you think that you would want to stay more. But after everything that’s happened…

“And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless.”

Dauntless is dressed in black, tight-fitting clothes. They have piercings, bright-colored hair, and tattoos. They are loud, and reckless and a lot of people inside of Abnegation don’t like them. To switch to their faction would flip your entire life upside-down. Your current life is not like theirs. You would have to go from forgetting about yourself, to thinking about who you are all the time.

But don’t you do that already?

“Working together, these five factions have lived in peace for decades. Each faction is important, as they contribute to a different sector of society. The Abnegation gives us selfless leaders in our government. Candor has provided us with trustworthy leaders in law. Erudite has supplied us with intelligent teachers and outstanding technology. Amity has given us understanding counselors and caretakers. Dauntless provides us with protection from threats both inside and outside of the walls.

“But the possibilities of each faction do not end there. We give one another more support than we can put into words. In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life.” Haymitch pauses for a moment again, “A life without factions, is a life we would not survive in.”

The last sentence is a direct attack to the factionless, who are supposed to be savages because they live their life without a purpose. They don’t contribute to society in large ways, like the factions. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t at least help. You appreciate them, for they are the janitors, they are the garbage truck drivers, and they are the construction workers. Without them, the city would not be clean and well-functioning.

“This day marks a happy occasion, in which we receive our new initiates, who will work with us toward a better society, and a better world.” Haymitch finishes, signifying the loud applause sounding from the families.

Haymitch reads the names one at a time. A sixteen year-old will step out of the line and walk toward the middle of the circles, where five metal bowls lay. Each one has an element that represents the faction. In Abnegation, there are grey stones. Amity has soil. Candor has broken glass. Dauntless has lit coals. And Erudite has water.

The first to choose is a boy from Candor, who stays with Candor. He makes his way up, and stands behind the faction section. Haymitch reads a new name, the next person comes out of the line, he offers a new knife, they cut their hand, and choose their home faction.

You recognize a few from school. Mac Andas, a boy from Amity, is wearing dark red clothing. He smoothly walks to the middle of the room, cuts his hand and doesn’t hesitate to hold it over the soil. He will be staying in Amity. Amity shares smiles, and a few touch his arm on his way up to stand behind them.

The first to switch factions is an Erudite girl, she holds her hand over Candor. Her new faction shifts in anticipation, excited for their first transfer. You aren’t surprised that she’s switching to Candor. In a way, you’d like to think that brutality of telling truth and the striving for knowledge against all odds go hand in hand. Even if it means to disturb the peace.

Erudite doesn’t look happy, but they don’t voice their opinions, only cast glares toward the Candor section. Their eyes are not yet directed toward the girl, but they will be eventually. Switching factions alone is enough to consider her a traitor.

With the Erudite girl being the first to switch factions, others slowly find the same courage to do what they want, too. Other factions welcome in new initiates, new faces and fresh blood. A girl from Amity named Verda switches to Abnegation. You feel a little warm inside, seeing the way she lights up. She’s happy with her decision, will you be able to feel the same?

A few more names, and suddenly you’re coming up fast. A tight feeling begins in your throat, you clench and unclench your hands. It’s the Candor boy and then you. His name is called, he goes down the steps to the middle. He cuts his hand, and then holds his hand over Erudite. An even trade to balance out the fact that the Erudite girl had went to Candor. Smart nods come from his new faction.

“(Y/n) Gallows.” Haymitch says, his eyes land on you next.

You take a deep breath to steady yourself, and then you head down the steps. In your head, there’s a loud debate going on. You need to hurry up and choose. All factions have pros and cons, you’re overthinking it now.

It’s not that serious.

Except for the fact that it is. You will not be able to choose again. If you fail initiation, you will land yourself factionless. Is that what you really want? Do you want to live your life driving buses and cleaning up trash off the road, not knowing when your next meal will be? You know you’re strong, but you’re not that strong. The only thing that takes more courage than switching factions, is leaving a faction because your hand was forced. It happens more often than you like.

Not to mention, one of those factionless degenerates is the reason why you lost your second parent.

You stand in front of the large metal bowls, eyes quickly sweeping over them. They’re all stained in some way by now. The Erudite water has gone from clear to a dark pink and the Candor glass is now reflecting red. The only bowls that will not show a difference are Dauntless and Amity. You haven’t gotten to see Abnegation just yet.

Haymitch offers you the knife. It will only be used once, and it will only be used by you. Haymitch gives you a curt nod, and you are left to decide by yourself. The knife you hold now is nowhere near as heavy as the one you held during the aptitude test. This one is lighter, and sharper.

You bring the blade to your palm, carefully dragging it across. You grit your teeth tightly as you watch the rich colored blood spring to life, outside of your body. You stare at it for a second, and then you shift your body to the left, where the Abnegation and Dauntless bowls are waiting for you. You are not cut out for Amity, you are too mean. You are not cut out for Candor, you are a liar. And you are too smart for Erudite to have.

The blood begins to pool in your hand the more you wait. You don’t know how Mox did it. How he so effortlessly chose Amity. He came down here easily, cut his palm and held it over Amity as if his mind had been made up for years. He didn’t think twice, he didn’t hesitate. He just went.

This decision is not so easy for you.

You’ve figured this much: you want to leave. As much as you want to stay, you don’t think you can. And it’s not because of Reed and what happened last night. There have been plenty of times where you’ve straddled the border of pushing it. If you stay here in Abnegation, it means that you’ll be subjecting yourself to getting to know the people who once knew your parents. You will see their pity, and they will tell you what your parents once did when they were alive.

You know this because it’s already happened. Naida still talks about your mother as if you’ll find comfort in it. But really, it digs at you. She uses the same knife, the same look, the same words. It’s having the opposite effect than what she’s intending to do. Both of your parents fell in love with this faction, and they died inside of it. If you leave, you get to start over.

But it also means that you will be starting over without a family. Reed and Alyssum are all you have left. Mox left years ago, you haven’t seen him since the day of the Choosing Ceremony, and Reed never brought you to see him on Visiting Day. If he could do it to Mox, who is only two years younger than him, he will do it to you too. Reed doesn’t change.

He needs help with Alyssum. He can’t take care of her alone, he’s already pushing it with the next door neighbors. Alyssum is only three, too. She needs an older sister, someone she can relate to, to look up to. If you leave, she’ll never see you again. All the memories she’ll have of you will be hazy. And Reed won’t be much help, because he won’t speak of you.

Reed will cut you off as if he didn’t just take care of you for the past three years. You know this because it’s the exact thing that he did to Mox. Mox is never spoken of, not even when the two of you are alone. And he left only a couple of months after Alyssum was born, a couple of weeks after your father died. You were already hurt enough by the fact that you lost two parents, and with Mox gone, it made it all worse.

Reed would rather choose silence than remembrance.

By the time Alyssum will get to choose a faction of her own, she won’t know Mox, and she won’t know you. You and your older brother will just be two faces on the old family photos. The only person that she’ll know is Reed. Not mom, not dad, not Mox, not you. You will hold the memory of her forever, and she won’t even have something to hold onto besides dusty family photos.

If you can’t do it for yourself, then you have to do it for her.

You bring your hand near Abnegation, not quite tipping your hand over the stones just yet. You can see the drops of blood on them from teens who have come from you. All of them transferred without hesitation, they had their minds made up. And you do too, so why aren’t you spilling your blood over the stones?

One reason. You’re waiting for one good reason why you shouldn’t stay. That’s all it will take.

You’ve been in Abnegation your whole life.

You have done nothing but follow the rules. You wore their clothes, you never talked out of line, you gave up your seat on the bus, you walked up the stairs, you never looked at yourself in the mirror. You did the dishes, did your homework, made dinner, never got into trouble. You have never once uttered a complaint even when circumstances were bad. You have been grateful.

You have always put everyone first before you. You have lost yourself in your surroundings too many times. So many times that it took a long time to put yourself back together. You have done more than your part in Abnegation. Don’t you think it’s time to finally be selfish?

Abnegation is home--do you really want to start over as much as you say you do? You know what to expect here. You know that the initiation is volunteering. You know that you will not fail it. With Dauntless, they have people that fail all the time. You’re more likely to end up factionless. You will join your father’s murderer. Do you like that chance? You don’t know Dauntless as much as you think you do. You don’t even know anyone that’s there. You will have no one to lean on for help.

Finnick will leave you behind.

And you’ll only have your brother and family friends to lean on.

Think, is that what you really want? Be honest.

No, it’s not.

What about Reed? He’ll be mad. And he’s the only family that you have left. If you don’t have him, you won’t have anyone…

What are the chances that Finnick chooses Dauntless?

A big chance, actually. Finnick won’t choose Amity, Erudite or Abnegation. Which leaves Candor and Dauntless, but Finnick is not known for being honest. And Finnick is Finnick.

You think… you think that it will be an even trade. Reed for Finnick. Reed and Alyssum for Finnick.

You hope that you aren’t choosing wrong.

You hang your hand over the Dauntless flames, feeling the heat lick at the back of your hand. You have spent your entire life being selfless in Abnegation. You know how to help everyone else, a trait that will be with you for the rest of your life, even if you don’t stay with Abnegation. You think that will be good enough.

It’s time to start focusing on yourself.

You let out the air you’re holding, turning your palm downward. You watch and listen as your blood sizzles over the hot coals. The sound is satisfying, the only noise that fills the room for a beat or two. And then the Dauntless section explodes into cheers, welcoming you in their classic fashion. With how loud they are, you can’t help the smile that creeps its way onto your face.

You bow your head slightly, face feeling hot, but there is definitely a feeling of wholeness in your chest. You head up the steps to stand behind the Dauntless faction with the rest of the initiates. You can feel hands on your arm, pats on your back, there’s whooping. By the time you’ve made it to the top, you can confidently stand there with a smile. However, you are not confident enough to see the look on Reed’s face. This afternoon, you will follow in Moxs’ footsteps of a silent transfer. A clean cut.

The ceremony continues, still going down the alphabet. Most of the people who join Dauntless now, are Dauntless-born. Only a few from other factions aren’t. A girl from Candor, a bunch of boys and girls from Dauntless, a girl from Erudite. With every person that leaves the line, the closer Finnick’s turn draws. You feel nervous for him.

When his name is called, he moves down the steps without hesitation, almost like he glides down. Haymitch offers him the knife, and he takes it, turning his back to Candor, Amity and Erudite. The only two factions that he’s facing are Dauntless and Abnegation. If there’s one thing that you know for sure today, it’s that he won’t be choosing Abnegation.

You can see him in Dauntless black.

Finnick lifts the knife, drags the silver blade across his hand, and patiently waits for the blood to build up. To anyone else, this might look like he’s stalling. To you, it seems like he’s trying to make it as excruciating as possible for the people in Abnegation. Hardly anyone ever transfers because Abnegation is supposed to be a good faction. But they have already lost one of their children. In a moment, they’re about to lose another.

A cheeky smile appears on his face just before his hand flies over the Dauntless flames. He shakes his hand down, the blood smearing down his hand, landing straight onto the coals.

Dauntless explodes again, whistles filling the air. Finnick turns towards the stairs, heading up them at his own pace. When you look to check Abnegation’s reactions, you’re careful to avoid your family, and you make it brief. The most you can see is a few dirty looks towards Dauntless, as if they’re somehow to blame for this.

Finnick stops beside you, laughing. You bump his shoulder with yours, using the end of your shirt to clean the blood off your hand, “Why am I not surprised?”

“You didn’t have to switch for me, you know.”

You look at him to see that his eyebrows are raised. You snort, “Don’t worry, I’m doing this for me.”

Half an hour later, the Choosing Ceremony is over. Dauntless leaves first, which means you have to walk past your former faction. Men and women dressed in grey stare forward, at the back of someone else’s head. Inside of this section sits your only family, Reed and Alyssum, who may or may not visit you on Visiting Day. This is your last chance to look to say goodbye, and to keep yourself from falling into temptation’s trap, you turn to give Finnick a smile.

The people leading the Dauntless pack immediately choose the stairs instead of the elevators. You walked up these stairs hours ago with half the intention of staying with your brother and sister. And now, you’re walking down them with your new faction. Your new family. This is how you will leave your old life behind and find comfort in the new.

As soon as you step foot into the stairwell, you break into a sprint to keep with everyone else’s pace. There’s whoops, cheers, shouts and laughter that echoes off the cement walls. The sound of feet pounding on cement stairs join it, like a pack of wild animals. Among the shouting is Finnick’s voice, who seems to have finally found himself. Instead of taking the stairs, he’ll slide down the railing, causing people behind him to do the same. In order not to trip, you pull up the loose fabric of your pants. You watch as Finnick takes your hand, squeezing it tightly as he pulls you along, making sure that you won’t lose each other.

You can hear the sound of the door hitting the wall as the first few Dauntless burst through the exit doorway. Outside, the sun is setting, splashing bright colors of orange, pink and yellow into the sky. After spending hours inside of the warm Choosing Ceremony room, the outside coolness washes over your skin in a refreshing wave.

You have to run to keep up with the Dauntless.

The crowd thins out the further you go. Together, you take over the entire street, blocking a bus’s way. Finnick and you pace yourselves, not allowing the other to fall behind. Every now and then, you’ll share a look with him. The realization never stops hitting. This life won’t be so bad, it’s been less than five minutes and you can already feel yourself lifting higher and higher.

You’re weightless now that the restraints have been lifted off of your shoulders. No wonder why Finnick has been itching for this feeling. You haven’t felt this good in years.

The running makes your calves burn, almost making it hurt to run. Your throat is dry from how much air you suck in to keep going. You follow everyone down the street and around a corner, until you’re all coming to a stop. It’s a momentary break, before the sound of gasping is replaced by the horn of the train, signaling what you’ll have to do next.

You hand slips from Finnick’s. You know what happens next.

A long, single-filed line forms. The lights on the train are flashing, horn blasting to let you know a second time that it’s coming. Every single door is open to allow easy access for you to get inside. The train whirrs past you, flattening your clothes on your body because of the wind.

Group by group, people pull themselves in and disappear into the cars. Only when one is full, does someone stick their head out to let the others know. In no time, it’s only you initiates left. However, the Dauntless-born have been doing this for years, so they too, are able to get in without a worry. Which means that it’s time for the transfers to give it a try.

And you’re at the front of the line.

You’ve only seen this happen a couple of times. It was always after school, in front of the building while you waited for Finnick. Normally it’s you who’s late to get out there, but on occasion, Finnick found himself held up in a classroom or hallway, waiting for people to get out of his way. If anything, you think that Finnick could do this better than you can. But he’s not at the front, you are.

The last train car is about to come around, so you take off running to keep up with it. This is going to be significantly harder to catch, especially for the people behind you. You have nothing to fall back on if you fail. This could be your first and last test before you find yourself factionless.

Don’t think like that.

The faster you run, the more your legs burn, but it’s a good burn. You hold up your baggy pants with one hand so that you don’t have to worry about tripping over the ends. As you get closer to the train, you remember how the other Dauntless had pulled themselves inside. One step at a time.

You give yourself one last burst, and then you throw yourself to the left, grabbing a hold of the handle with one hand. With the other, you reach up and grab the inside of the doorway. The cut on your hand stings from the sudden use, causing a hiss to rise out of your throat. You arch your back inwards, which is just enough to push you inside.

You stumble a little, catching yourself on the far wall. A laugh rises out of you, a smile appearing on your face. You did it. You turn and head right back to the open car door, looking out to see who’s next. You know that you made it inside by yourself, but it wasn’t easy. Others will need help.

Finnick is running right next to the train. You hold your hand out for him, giving him a wider smile, “Come on, Finnick!”

He jumps, his left hand grabbing the handle, his right grabbing yours. You pull him inside, give him a slight slap on the back, and then you turn to grab the next person. They jump, grab your hand, and get pulled inside. One after another, all of them looking just as dazed as you feel. The only people who don’t take your help are the Erudite girls, who get help from the Candor instead.

You and Finnick take a back corner, away from the door. It’s quieter, and not as dangerous. Next to the door, all it would take is shifting your foot the wrong way and you’d end up falling out. On the other side of the car, stands and sits the group of Candor and Erudite, and the one Amity girl.

“You could’ve just told me you were going to Dauntless!” you throw your arms out, “I mean, it’s not much of a surprise!”

“I wanted it to be dramatic!” Finnick defends, he smiles as he runs a hand through his hair, “What about you? I thought you were staying?”

“I almost did.” you say, and then shrug, “But I couldn’t. I wanted a fresh start of my own.”

“And that’s a good reason.” Finnick says, “You’re sure that Dauntless was the way to go? Not Amity or Erudite or something?”

“Didn’t qualify for either of those. And I knew that you’d come here, so I decided that I’d rather be with you than by myself.” you give him a smile, “Hope you’re ready to put up with me for the rest of your life.”

“I’ve survived so far.” Finnick winks.

It’s over half an hour later before you’re finally getting a clue as to what happens next. Unfortunately, in this time, you and Finnick were able to establish a rivalry with the Erudite girls. Mostly because Finnick said that the faction was for assholes a little too loudly when you were talking about what factions you could have gone to instead. And that’s really all it took before the girls were all pissed.

They’re both blonde, but one of them is taller. The taller one has also made friends with two out of four of the Candor initiates too, and the both of them are also extraordinarily tall. The two of you were almost at a disadvantage, but all it took was Finnick straightening out to his full height and rolling up his sleeves to get the point across.

Back home, you’re not allowed to get into physical fights. And you never really had a reason to, it takes a lot to get under your skin. Being Abnegation is to have a target on your back all the time, the Erudite reports just made them shinier. You have to have thick skin if you’re going to survive. This doesn’t mean that you haven’t had it out with someone once. However, like you’ve been saying, there are rulebreakers. And there are also ways to get around it to make sure that you don’t get caught.

Finnick was one of those kids who always found a way. There’s a couple of rules he has to follow, though. The first is to keep away from Candor and Amity, they have this safety blanket that keeps them protected. Candor kids aren’t supposed to lie, therefore there whatever they say automatically has to be true. The Amity are peace keepers, their natural instinct isn’t to fight, it’s to resolve the problem through words or whatever.

The second rule is to make sure that there aren’t witnesses. You take the kid out to some part of town that’s abandoned, oftentime the factionless areas because no one’s going to intervene. And the third rule is not to get hit. At all. It’s hard to claim it was a fight if one person is beat to hell and the other doesn’t have a scratch on them. Also, the feud probably shouldn’t be public knowledge.

Only recently did Finnick begin to get into fights like that, and it’s always with the Erudite kids because they don’t know how to keep their mouths shut. Since he didn’t plan on staying, he didn’t see a need to not fight. Of course, it could always come out later and hurt his family. But why would an Erudite want to admit that they got their ass kicked by someone in Abnegation? It’s almost embarrassing for them.

You’ve had plenty of time to watch and take note of the way Finnick interacts with people. It’s typically nonchalant, but if someone wants to fight, his first instinct will be to match them. To some extent, this must be good survival instincts. To another, Finnick is always itching for a fight. He’ll fit right in with Dauntless.

Needless to say, a fight didn’t break out in this train car. But it’s only a matter of time before one does.

You, Finnick, and a few others gather near the opening of the train car to see what’s going on. You knew that getting off the train would have to include jumping off. You just didn’t know where, you’ve never been out this far. You’ve never ridden the train before at all, actually.

The train is moving slower now to make it easier for all of you to jump off and not hurt yourselves. You watch as a group of Dauntless adults jump from the train, over a gap, and onto a roof. Most land on their feet, there’s a few that land on their knees, dusting the gravel off. They’re all laughing, sparing glances behind them, at cars like yours to see who’s coming next.

A sick feeling sprouts in your stomach, throat growing tight. You have to swallow your spit multiple times to get it to loosen up enough to breathe comfortably. You place a shaky hand against the wall so that you can lean out and see how far away the ground is from where you are now.

You grit your teeth, inhaling deeply as you back off.

You’re more than ten stories up, a fall from this height can kill you. All it would take is a slip, or a jump not strong enough to push you to the roof. You lock your knees to keep from collapsing.

“You’re pale.” Finnick says, he’s eyeing your face, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

You chose this life. You have to live with it. If you don’t jump onto this roof, you will have failed initiation before it’s even begun. You will be factionless, and you can’t be factionless. But if you do jump and you don’t make it, you’ll die. Death or factionless, which one will be easiest to live with?

You’re overthinking it again.

You force yourself to look out and watch more people jump. The gap is small enough to cross, you know this because all the Dauntless are making it across. If you try hard enough, you too can easily make this jump. All you have to do is get a headstart and leap. You got onto the train, you can get off the train.

The roof draws closer and closer, with every person out, is another empty car. The Dauntless that have made it to the other side, move out of the way to allow more to spill over. Soon, in less than a minute, you will be one of them.

You can’t jump with everyone in the way.

“Back up!” you shout, motioning for all of them to get away from the door. You place yourself on the wall the opposite of the doorway. Finnick joins your side, the two of you bracing for a run.

You wipe your palms on your pants. The gap is small. The train has a height advantage. You will make it to the other side.

Finnick counts down from three, and on one, the two of you take off running. Just as your foot hits the edge of the train floor, you push off. The wind is howling in your ears, your stomach swarms with butterflies, and then you hit the ground. Your left foot first, and the right one following after. You stumble a couple of steps, hands out to balance yourself. You’re on the other side. You had nothing to worry about, you didn’t even come close to the edge.

Finnick’s on his feet too, stretching his legs behind himself. The two of you stare at each other for a long moment. Laughter begins in your chest and bubbles out of your throat. Finnick joins the laughter, and follows you to the other side of the roof. More initiates jump out of the train, landing onto the roof. But none of them are nearly as graceful as you.

What amplifies that thought, is the sudden scream that comes from the other side of the roof.

You turn, eyes landing on the girl. It’s the taller Erudite, staring straight down. You look over who did make it, making everyone off one by one. The Amity girl dressed in red is here, the two Candor girls and the two Candor boys dressed in black and white, and one Erudite girl, dressed in blue. Which means the other didn’t make it.

One of the Candor girls has a strong grip on the Erudite girl’s arm, pulling her away from the edge. If it weren’t for her, she'd fall straight over the edge too, joining her friend at the bottom. You’re not cruel, so you don’t wish death upon her. But karma can be cruel. Especially when attacks on others aren’t deserved.

There were nine of you, and now there’s eight.

You shake your head slightly, turning back around to face the man standing on the edge of the roof, hands in his pockets. His eyes are on the Erudite girl, who has now broken into a sob, the Candor girl comforting her. But when he sees you and Finnick drawing closer, his eyes follow. It must be strange to see two Abnegation initiates.

“Listen up!” he begins, people fall silent. Except for the Erudite girl, who’s still crying, “My name is Damon, I’m one of the leaders of your new faction!” Damon has dark skin, his dreadlocks are long, pulled into a ponytail at the back of his head. Only one of them is loose, and it’s tucked behind his ear, “Several stories below us is the members’ entrance to our compound. If you can’t muster the will to jump off, you don’t belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first.”

The sick feeling in your stomach returns, you grind your teeth to keep from focusing on it. A girl just fell to her death trying to get onto this roof, and now you guys are supposed to jump off.

“Let me get this straight.” The Erudite girl snaps, her voice raising, “You want us to jump off? What kind of joke is this?”

“It’s not.” Damon gives her a smile, “You can jump off and start initiation, or you can stay up here and be factionless. You always have a choice.”

You will not be factionless.

“What do you think’s at the bottom?” Finnick asks, leaning over.

“Cement.” you say.

The crowd in front of you initiates splits. Some go right, others go left. It leaves a wide enough path for you to take to where Damon is standing to jump off. No one moves from where they stand, though. Not even Finnick, who’s normally eager to do anything dangerous and rule-breaking. The Dauntless-born could do this in their sleep, and they don’t move an inch.

A beat passes, and then two. At this rate, you’ll all end up factionless. In your head pops the image of the Erudite girl that had been the first to switch factions. Before her, no one else had gone. In a way, it’s like what happened in school after tests. All it would take is one person to turn it in, for all the rest to follow.

“I’m going to jump.” you tell Finnick, “Make sure you’re next.”

“What?” he says.

You start forward.

Damon raises a half-shaved eyebrow, giving you a challenging look, as if you won’t actually be able to go through with it. If you’re being honest, halfway through the walk, you start regretting it. But you’ve come this far, you can’t turn back now. You won’t be seen as a coward.

It could all be a trick, you know this. The Dauntless don’t have to be kind, they’re not held up by the same virtues that Abnegation and Amity are. But they wouldn’t just kill you. They don’t know you or your story. Only that you switched from Abnegation. You’ll have to admit that them allowing the initiates to go first is a red flag. Which is all the more reason to go first.

This is a test of courage.

Damon steps off to the side, motioning for you to take his place when you stand right in front of them. There’s thousands of alarm bells going off in your head, all warning you to take a step back and realize what you’re about to do. You’re going to jump off of a roof, you should have more common sense than this. What the fuck are you doing?

You stand on the edge of the building, your toes hanging over the edge. The wind picks up, making your clothes snap violently. The building you’re standing on is one side of a square. In the middle of the square, is a hole. When you look down, all you can see is concrete, with one single hole in the middle. You can’t see beyond that.

Your heart skips at the bare thought of jumping, the butterflies taking over your body again. You take in deep breaths through your nose, gritting your teeth, “This will not kill you.”

You turn to face away.

“This will not kill you.”

You lean back.

“This will not kill you.”

And fall.

The wind howls in your ears loud enough for them to pop. A scream rises in your throat, which you’re barely able to hold down. Your stomach makes home in your chest, every muscle in your body tenses. You suck in a breath when you see the hole draw closer. Either you die, or you live.

You picture your body laying on the cement.

You’re engulfed in darkness in an instant. And then you hit something hard that eventually sinks under your weight. You let out the air you were holding, dizziness sprouting when you do. Your fingers glide over the thing beneath you, and you find that it’s a net. You’re not dead. You’re very much alive.

You lay your head against the net for a second, staring up at where you had just jumped from. And then, you’re laughing, not being able to control yourself when you sit up to see where you go next. You’re greeted with hands, all out to help you off. You grab one of them, allowing them to pull you the distance.

Your feet connect with a wooden floor. Your hands glide to your hand, fingers hooking around your hair tie to pull the knot on the back of your head free. It’s grown considerably awful since you’ve jumped off a train, and now a roof. It’s only down for a brief moment, then you’re pulling it into a ponytail on the back of your head.

Your eyes become adjusted to the dark quickly to see that you’re standing on a platform that’s ten feet above the regular ground. Around you is an open cavern. You are now inside of the Dauntless headquarters. You look over to the person that just helped you off of the net to find it’s a woman. You have to look up to see her face.

Laurel has a smug look on her face, “What name do you want to give us?”

There’s a lot of things that you have left behind today, but your name won’t be one of them, “(Y/n).”

Laurel gives you a nod, it’s obvious she recognizes you. She looks over her shoulder, “First jumper--(Y/n)!”

You watch in slight horror as a crowd comes from the cavern’s walls. You hadn’t even noticed that they were there. And in classic Dauntless fashion, they immediately cheer, pumping their fists in the air, whistling, stomping, some clap. You give them a smile.

“Welcome to Dauntless.” Laurel says.

You look back at the net just in time to see another initiate fall from the roof. They bounce on the net once or twice, hair going in every direction. It isn’t until they sit up, do you realize that it’s Finnick, heeding your advice. There’s a grin on his face, you can hear him laughing to himself.

The Dauntless standing around the net reach over for him. He takes one of their hands, helping him off. Laurel leans over to get his name, and then turns, “Second jumper--Finnick!”

The cheering coming from the crowd is loud. Finnick joins you where you stand, eyes wild, he runs a hand through his hair to tame it, “Holy shit.”

“Tell me about it.” you breathe.

When the rest of the initiates stand on solid ground again too, Laurel and a woman named Pleurisy lead you down a narrow tunnel. Everything is made of stone, and the ceiling slopes downwards. Most of it goes unlit, which means you have to rely on your senses to get through the dark. However, after a few close encounters, you wrap your arm around Finnick’s to keep you steady, letting him decide your fate.

When Damon, Laurel and Pleurisy come to a stop, you do too. They all face you, Pleurisy is the only one to speak, “This is where we split. The Dauntless-born initiates are with me, I’m pretty sure you don’t need a tour of the place.”

Pleurisy starts her way into the darkness, you watch as most of the crowd goes with her. You count them as they pass, and end up with the number ten. In total, combining both the transfers and the Dauntless-born, there’s eighteen of you. Damon takes the end of the crowd that’s leaving, wishing Laurel good luck.

“My name is Laurel,” Laurel says, loud enough to cut over the voices speaking behind you, “I’m going to be your instructor for the next few weeks during your initiation. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me after the tour.” She turns her back to you all, and starts walking, “This is the Pit.”

She pushes open a set of doors at the end of the hallway, you and the others walk out to see what she means. Like the hallway, the Pit is also an underground cavern. It’s an open space out here, though. It’s huge, you can’t see the bottom, and you can’t see the other end of the Pit from where you are. There’s several stories above you, and inside of the walls are built-in stores. Food, clothing, supplies, places to build hobbies. The paths leading up are narrow, and it doesn’t have railings to keep you from falling off.

At the very top of the Pit, is the roof. It’s made out of glass, allowing sunlight to come in and light up the area. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t blue lanterns strategically placed around the paths. The sunlight covers only so much distance. As the sun sets, the lanterns become more reliable.

There are Dauntless members everywhere, caught in their own little bubbles. They shout and laugh, and their children run along the hole in the ground as if it’s not dangerous. All of them are dressed in black, with varying amounts of piercings, different brightly colored hair, and tattoos. Each and every last one of them is unique, unlike in Abnegation.

“Let’s go to the chasm!” Laurel says.

She brings you along the right side of the Pit, straight into the dark. Once again, you place your hand on Finnick’s shoulder. You lean in slightly, “Something tells me that one of us is going to end up tripping and knocking out our entire row of front teeth.”

“Don’t let it be you. I heard that you’re the coolest out of all of us.” Finnick snickers.

You punch his arm slightly.

Laurel brings you to an iron barrier, a railing at last. You can hardly see through the darkness, but there’s an unmistakable sound of rushing water. You let go of Finnick and head forward, firmly placing your hand onto the railing before you lean over the side to see down. A couple stories down, is a river. It’s making so much noise because it’s constantly crashing into the jagged rock wall. One particular wave hits the wall hard enough to send a spray of water up, it doesn’t reach you.

“The chasm is a reminder that there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity!” Laurel shouts over the noise, “One jump off this railing--” she slaps the metal, “--will end your life. It’s happened many times before you, do not be one of them. This is your only warning.”

With that, she leads you all down another hallway, across the Pit and to one of those holes in the wall that you mentioned earlier. The room alone is bright enough to light up the hallway. When you get closer, it’s clear that it’s some sort of dining hall, full of the Dauntless.

Laurel brings you in, and steps aside. For half a second, the entire dining hall falls silent. And then the crowd is roaring, loud. They all get to their feet, slamming their shoes against the concrete, whistling, clapping, cheering. The noise lasts for minutes on end, you can’t help the smile that appears on your face.

When it does end, you’re all left to find seats by yourself to get comfortable. And since FInnick is taller than you, he easily spots a table on the far side of the dining hall. He moves quickly through the aisles, so you have to grab a hold of the back of his shirt to keep from falling behind.

He takes a seat, you’re sure to sit on his left. It’s only a few moments later when you’re being joined by some of the other transfer initiates. The only Amity girl takes a seat across from you and Finnick, tucking some of her curly dark hair behind her ear as she serves herself without a word. While the only Erudite girl comes through with the Candor boy and girl that she was talking to on the train. Her eyes are bloodshot, she spins a strand of her blonde hair around her finger, puckering her lips before she sits down in a flourish. Her friends sit beside her.

You wonder when you’ll finally know all of their names.

“How bad do you think initiation is going to be?” you ask, looking over at Finnick.

Finnick’s currently staring at the food that’s in the middle of the table. None of it do you recognize, and it sits on large silver plates. You two are used to frozen chicken and canned vegetables. Fancy food in Abnegation is, of course, self-indulgent. But there’s also the fact that farms are far away from where you used to live. Even if Abnegation were allowed to eat the food, you wouldn’t be able to get it.

“Well, considering that we’ve jumped off a moving train and a building, I think that it can only get worse from here.” Finnick barely spares you a glance, “Okay, seriously, what the hell is this?”

He picks up a… sandwich…? off of one of the platters. He turns it slightly, being careful not to let it disassemble itself, “I’m kinda missing the chicken right now.”

“The Abnegation transfers don’t know what a hamburger is?” A loud voice says.

And right on beat, Finnick asks, “What the fuck is a hamburger?”

You let out a snort that develops into a loud laugh. Even the Amity girl sitting across from you two is laughing, covering her mouth with her hand. She raises her eyebrows, and looks over at the Erudite girl. If her intention is to embarrass either of you, she’s going to have to try harder than that. Last time you checked, you three were the first to jump off the building. She took her sweet time coming down.

“Hamburgers in Amity are typically for special occasions.” The girl speaks, “We normally eat fresh fruits and vegetables, but sometimes we’re able to have stuff like this.” She smiles, “My name is Thyme.”

“Nice to meet you,” you give her a smile, “I’m (Y/n).”

“Finnick Odair.” Finnick says, he also smiles, “Am I supposed to eat this dry?”

“No, you can use this.” Thyme pushes forward a couple of bowls of different colored sauces, “Put it on the top bun.”

Out of instinct, you glance at the other transfers. But you have to look again when you see that the Erudite girl has got her eyes on you, glaring.

“If you’re going to say something, do it. Otherwise, stop fucking staring at me like a freak.” you snap, pressing your palm to the table.

She turns away, so do you.

“Wow, had I known that your personality would change completely, I would’ve told you to go to Dauntless in the first place.” Finnick says, he gives you a grin.

“I’m surprised that you haven’t killed any of them yet, yourself. What happened to violence first, words second?”

“I’m eating.” he says, holds up the hamburger like he’s cheering, and then takes a bite.

“You’ll have plenty of time for that in the first stage of initiation.” A familiar voice says, you look up to see it’s Laurel. She takes a seat beside Thyme, “I wouldn’t worry about it now. In fact, enjoy the peace while you can.”

Your face twists, “That doesn’t sound good.”

She shrugs.

You go ahead and help yourself. For about fifteen minutes, you, Finnick and Thyme are between eating and getting to know each other. Or rather, getting to know Thyme better and telling her bits and pieces about yourselves. Like the rest of you, Thyme is sixteen, she’s from Amity, she has two sisters and a younger brother. She’s the only one in her family to have switched factions. And her face darkens when she mentions it’s because of Amity’s values.

Guess they’re too sunshine-y for her? Not that you want to ask what she means, because the tone of her voice was pretty set. But you don’t get the chance to anyway. The doors to the dining hall open to reveal one person. He must be important, because he’s able to make the entire fall quiet, only whispers being heard. You watch as he comes down the aisles.

You wipe your hands on your napkin, and then your mouth, “Is he another leader?”

“Yup.” Laurel says, she looks over her shoulder slightly to see.

You and Finnick fall completely quiet. And then he chokes, coughing and covering his mouth with his hand. You pat his back without looking at him, it’s only when he shakes your shoulder, do you see his face. It’s red, he struggles for a moment, and then says; “He looks familiar.”

The leader coming down the aisle is blonde. The sides of his head are shaved, but the top is long enough for him to pull it into an acceptable ponytail. His hair is only a couple of inches long, not long enough to reach the back of his neck. You think that it would barely reach the back of his head, actually. But the blonde hair sticks up, wavy and fanned. He’s got a piercing through his nose, and two through his bottom lip on opposite sides. Tattoos snake up his arm.

Finnick is right. There’s something about him that’s familiar. And it doesn’t hit you until he smiles. You can practically hear his laugh in your ears, riding right along with your brother’s.

An unintentional gasp leaves you, hands curling into fists, “Caspian.”

Laurel backs up slightly, looking over you, “Yeah, how’d you know?”

“He was best friends with my older brother.”

The sudden urge to call out his name to gain his attention fills you, but you don’t have to. He takes a turn toward your guys’ table, eyes seeping down until they land on you. You stand from your spot, a smile coming over your face.

“Caspian!”

Caspian gives you a white grin, “And for a second, I thought I’d get the jump on you. How are you?”

When he sits, you do too, “Good, actually. You look so different.”

“All part of the Dauntless scheme.” he then gives a look to Laurel, “Except for her.”

“I got a tattoo.” she defends.

“And your brothers?” Caspian looks back to you.

You give a half-hearted shrug, “Mox is in Amity, he switched a couple of weeks after the accident. Reed is still Reed, but Naida and the kids are doing good!”

You can’t directly mention that it’s his family. Technically, when you switch factions, you’re supposed to forget who you were before. Family, mannerisms, friends. The saying is ‘faction before blood’. You’re sure that Caspian wouldn’t jeopardize his position here to ask about his family, anyway. So you thought that you might as well answer the questions that he won’t ask.

He gives you a sincere smile, a silent thank you. But then he’s grinning, “Dauntless, huh? Thought you were all about Abnegation, Stiff.”

“Couldn’t do it, it’s too stuffy there.” you loosen up a little, jabbing your thumb at Finnick, “Plus, I knew that this idiot would come here. And I couldn’t just leave him to fend for himself.”

“Haha.” Finnick says, rolling his eyes, “You should’ve seen her so far, though. She’s fearless.”

You can feel your face grow hot, “For now.”

“Well, keep up the spirit.” Caspian says, “You’re going to need it.”

At the end of dinner, Caspian takes you and the rest of the transfers down a series of hallways. Laurel had split. An end of a hallway is signified by a single blue lamp, and then you’re submerged back into darkness for long periods of time. The ground is uneven, so you rely on Finnick’s occasional complaining and the sound of him tripping, to let you know when to step up or down.

During this, he eventually grabs a hold of your shoulder.

Finally, Caspian stops in front of a side of large wooden doors, and then turns to you all, “My name is Caspian, I’m one of five leaders here in Dauntless. We take initiation seriously, so I’ve taken the liberty of volunteering to oversee most of your training.”

Volunteering. Very funny, Caspian.

“Here’s some rules!” He shouts, “Be in the training room by eight everyday, training will take place from eight to six, with a break for lunch. After six, you’re free to do whatever the hell you want. Between each initiation stage, you’ll get some time off.”

Time off? That, right there, is already a big difference between Abnegation and Dauntless. In Abnegation, you’re not allowed to put yourself first, much less your interests. If you had free time, you needed to fill it by helping out Reed, Alyssum, a neighbor, somebody. The only time you would get to yourself would be at night, when you were supposed to be in bed, sleeping.

“You can only leave the compound if you have a Dauntless buddy, not one of your shitty initiate friends. If you leave without one, you will have to answer to one of the Dauntless leaders.” He grins, “Probably me. Behind the door is where you’ll be staying for the initiation process. There’s ten beds, eight of you. Pick whatever you want.

“During the first stage of initiation, you’ll be kept separate from the Dauntless-born initiates, but you’re still being compared to each other. When initiation ends, your rankings will be decided depending on what the Dauntless-borns have gotten. Long story short, it’s all rigged.

“Depending on your rank by the end of all of this, you’ll get to pick your job. The higher the rank, the better the job. Also, only the top ten initiates are made members. In total, there’s eighteen initiates this year, four of you will be cut on the first stage, and the rest will happen after the final test. However, you always have the option of dropping out and becoming factionless.”

He pauses to let this sink in. It’s so quiet in this hallway, that you can hear when someone shifts on their feet.

Ten initiates will become members. Dauntless practically cuts all of their initiates, no matter what happens. Dauntless is more ruthless than you anticipated. But if Caspian of all people can get through initiation and be good enough to become a leader, then you can pass too.

And you will.

ANTERIC IS A SPIN-OFF DIVERGENT AU //MASTERLIST//

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#ilguna #finnick odair #finnick odair imagine #finnick odair x reader #finnick odair fanfic #finnick odair oneshot #finnick odair anteric #anteric #anteric chapter two

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crimson-dxwn · 4 years

Text

At Odds: Chapter 3

Summary: Hey all, so I decided to change this from a Reader Insert fic into third person (?). Tbh I hate this chapter but it sets up some necessary things. Decided to just bite the bullet and just post since I’m probably gonna die in a snowy ditch in MT tomorrow.

Kal thinks about some things, Laseema gets the deets, and doc comes back to Kyrimorut

Warnings: Sexual harassment? idk there’s not much to warn for here. Slight mutual pining

Words: 4040

Kyrimorut, Northern Mandalore

Spring

Kal suspected the situation with Parja had been a lot hairier than the doc had let on; it was just a feeling really, he didn’t have any knowledge about anatomy or birth or babies. But he did have a keen eye for how people worked under pressure, and that woman had nerves of steel. Like he told her before, she was mandokarla, she had that rare combination of daring and compassion that he’d once seen in Etain. The right stuff. People didn’t realize that the right stuff was different in everyone. Besany had proven it when she chose to commit espionage against her own government, Parja had showed it every tough day with Fi when he couldn’t even remember his own name, let alone walk. Laseema raised Kad without even a question, because she loved the boy and Atin.

She had raged at him, managing to hit him in that well of self-loathing that he usually kept carefully covered with his hatred for the Empire. Etain and Darman, the men and boys he’d lost, being disowned by his own sons, all of it he could bear, but he couldn’t - wouldn’t - seem to forgive himself for anything. He felt like a failure in every way that mattered. He wondered when it would break him.

If he dwelled on his failures too long, he would drown in their sheer volume, and he realized that when Kal watched the doc work, he simply couldn’t recall any of them, or at least they didn’t weigh so heavy. And then somehow they’d fallen into bed together like two teenagers, practically ripping each other’s clothes off. It turned out that her sharp mind and nimble hands were good for more than just delivering babies. He didn’t think he could recall the last time he’d gotten that hard that fast - definitely before Kamino. A mistake, she called it. Maybe it was, but he couldn’t deny that there was an undeniable attraction between them.

“Buir?” Ordo’s voice rings out behind him and Kal turns to meet his eyes, finding concern there. Ordo had always been protective of him, more so the older they both got. His mind had a hard time reconciling how fast his boys grew up with how much time had actually passed.

“What is it, son?

“I...uh,” he says, “wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Fine, Ordo. Just seeing the doc out. Let’s get back to breakfast before it’s gone.”

They walk in companionable silence down the hall, though Kal can tell that something is bothering Ordo. By now, he knew all of his sons’ anxious tics and twitches as if they were his own.

“Something on your mind?”

Kal wasn’t able to wheedle it out of him, as they’d reached the door to the karyai and the chaos that made up breakfast time in the huge household. Ordo made his way back to Besany’s side, where Mird was still chirping and wagging his tail furiously and Walon was considering the scene with a shit eating grin on his face. Oh.

Guess he’d get to see the doc again after all.

Laseema, sitting with Kad on her lap, just rolled her eyes knowingly and shoveled a bite of food into her mouth. The blue twi’lek seemed to know everything before the rest of them, as if all the news and gossip of the family flowed through her first and then filtered out to the rest. Kal decides he can’t bother to try and comprehend women. It isn’t a new feeling for him.

He thinks on the hurry that the doc left in and what she’d said when he caught up with her. Kal was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to upset her, after all she was just fine when he left her in his room. No, it must have been something else.

Walon Vau finally breaks the awkward silence.

“Mird seems to think you two have something to announce,” he says, an amused look still on his patrician face. Vau sips his strig as if he has all the time in the world and Kal half expects the man to rest his boots on the table, only his manners are too good.

Ordo looks at his wife with a bewildered expression - he’s at a loss as to what to say, that much is obvious. The null is trying in vain to shoo Mird back to where Walon is sitting.

Laseema raises a tattooed eyebrow, still bouncing a silent Kad. Scorch and Sev are at the table in their shorts and undershirts, and they glance between their buir and the null ARC expectantly like two vultures. They’re ready for a fight.

“Spit it out, Ordo,” teases Scorch, oblivious.

“I’m pregnant,” Besany blurts out tearfully, and stands so fast her chair tips over behind her. Mird scrabbles backwards as she storms past it and out of the room.

If there wasn’t going to be a fight before, there certainly was now. Ordo, unable to stand seeing Besany upset in any way, rounds on Scorch. Kal does see a flare of contrition on his face, but Ordo’s imminent anger flips a switch in the commando and he clamps down, readying himself for what comes next. Vau’s boys always did have skewed self-preservation instincts. They were all feeling cooped up lately, and it was obviously making tensions run high.

“Enough,” he says, from the vantage point of his appointed chair. A harsh word from Kal is typically enough to make just about anyone who lived in the vicinity stop what they were doing, even two oversized grown men fighting over nothing. Ordo and Scorch remain standing, but their postures have relaxed, if only marginally.

“She wanted to wait to tell people,” Ordo growls, looking from Vau to Scorch to Mird and back.

“Ordo, son, why don’t you go make sure Bes is okay.” Maybe he wasn’t the best with emotion, but Kal could infer that she probably didn’t want to be alone right now. And it had the added benefit of keeping at least a few solid stone walls between Ordo and Scorch until the tension simmered down.

They ate in silence until Sev and Scorch traipsed off to get ready for the day and Walon decided to open his mouth again.

“Men need a good fight,” he says, staring into his strig, “been cooped up too long.”

“I think for once, you and I agree,” answers Kal.

“You may get what you wish for,” Laseema pipes up. Her mouth is set in a grim line. Never one to underestimate, Vau considers her with another vaguely amused look. “When I was in Keldabe, there was talk of an Imperial garrison being set up there.”

Vau’s amused look is gone. It was a surprise to both of them. Imperial transports had been making their way in and out of the system for a while, that they already knew. Mereel had been monitoring transmissions, but an occupation of the Mandalorian capital hadn’t been in the list of encrypted messages they’d managed to decipher. The Empire had been smart enough to ditch the dead Republic’s encryption after Order 66. Smart, he thought, but really kriffing inconvenient for them. Jaing and Mereel were only able to make out a word or two, rarely full sentences from the transmissions they were able to intercept. Nothing about a garrison.

He kicks himself for not utilizing Laseema’s skills earlier. Women could go where soldiers, even ones trained to infiltrate, could not. Twi’leks especially. As unfortunate as it was, the fact that her species was an oft-chosen one for slaves and servants had a sort of advantage. And something about Laseema made people want to tell her things. It might do for her to make another trip into Keldabe soon. Atin wouldn’t love the idea, but Kal had a feeling that Laseema would be on board.

“I believe it’s time for a proper recon mission.” Vau stares intently at Laseema, who returns his sharp gaze. She’s come a long way from Qibbu’s.

The mood on the planet, or at least what Kal had gathered from their excursions to Enceri, was becoming increasingly grim. Even more unsettling was the news trickling in from the core and the inner rim as Palpatine’s new Empire gradually tightened its hold. And to top it all off, the last time Kal had seen Mij Gilamar his old friend hadn’t cracked a smile the entire time. There was an outbreak in Sundari, something like Candorian Plague, sweeping through the shelters of people left unhoused after the Republic had taken back the city from Maul. It was the first time Kal had seen the man look his age. It was just another worry to stack on top of all the others.

----

Two weeks later, Keldabe, Mandalore

Spring

Keldabe is a mash of buildings and dwellings of various ages. Pale brick, duracrete, steel, even wood and thatch mix together on the blocks. It makes for good hidey-holes, places to meet in secret, in the shadows thrown by the rooms stacked on top of one another lining narrow alleys. Keldabe is the unofficial capital of the planet, and the oldest city, older than Sundari by far and located in a much more hospitable location.

Laseema is on Baker street, one of the oldest in the city, pretending to be just another citizen doing their shopping for the day, comparing prices and quality. It’s Keldabe’s market day, and the crowds make for good cover and good listening; the vendors are always eager to trade gossip for business. She even buys a pan of the sweet rolls that she knew Atin likes. Baker street, near the outskirts of the city, is one of the most popular and packed avenues, and every so often Laseema can see the gleam of a pure white helmet over hair and beskar-clad heads.

She still finds it hard to call them stormtroopers. They’re clone troopers, her brain tells her, you’re safe, it’s Atin’s brothers under there. But she is wrong, and these stormtroopers would haul her off to goddess knows where if they knew who she was connected to. A rush of cold comes over her and she burrows back into the crowd, away from the nearest white helmet. There are more this trip, almost twice as many as her last time in the city, some on patrols and others on leave, weaving through the throng of people with their helmets off, chatting with their buddies. Some are nat-borns, as Atin called them, and others are clones. You can tell the difference by the way they carried themselves. The nat-borns are sloppy, slouching, the ones who joke with their friends and flirt with pretty girls whether they were on leave or on duty, and more often wearing officer uniforms. The former clone troopers walk in solemn silence, forever in sync, without even their painted armor to distinguish them.

She has a mission here. She’d offered because she wanted to help and because Kal had asked, though he’d never make her do anything she didn’t want to do. But Laseema wanted to feel useful outside of making food and taking care of Kad. It felt like everyone else was in danger constantly and she felt horribly guilty being the one who got to stay safe at home.

She can handle playing the dumb twi’lek role. At Qibbu’s it had always been the most reliable way to get the best tips, and she played it well, even now, years after she’d danced around a pole. The downside was that it made her seem like an easy target, which is why she always approached the slimiest, fattest, slowest-looking officer she could manage. Laseema wasn’t big, but she was fast and now she had her knife hidden on her person for anyone who decided to try something. She hoped it didn’t come to that.

She already has good intel from the merchants she’s seen so far. But she wants more; to get it she’ll have to take on a proportional amount of risk. She is on Baker Street for its popularity, but also for its proximity to the bathhouse positioned on the corner at the end of the street. She has...unpleasant memories associated with such establishments that try to bubble up, despite knowing that this wasn’t that sort of place.

It’s old, made of cracked creamy yellow brick, with a domed top and big wooden doors. Surreptitiously, she brushes her hand up against the credits Kal had given her in an inside pocket of her tunic, and makes her way up the stairs and through the great doors. The old woman at the desk smiles warmly at her.

“Su cuy’gar,” the woman greets.

“Su cuy’gar,” replies Laseema. She can tell they are alone in the atrium out of the corner of her eyes, but gets up close to her nonetheless. With any luck, Kal had been able to contact her and smooth things along. If not, she’s prepared. Fortunately, few Mandalorians in the North, including Keldabe, were sympathetic to the Empire. Yet.

“A towel for you,” the owner says, handing the article to Laseema.

“Thank you.” She moves to press the credits into the older woman’s hand, but the woman pushes her fist back.

“There’s no need. Tell our friend Ayati says hello.” Ayati jerks her head towards the locker room on her right. “You’ll be working steam room two today.”

Laseema only nods and heads to the changing room, and quick peek reveals a worker’s uniform hidden within the folds of the towel. She stashes her old clothes and quickly dons the new tunic and cropped flowy trousers that were unisex and ubiquitous throughout the facility. Steam room two, she reminds herself. That must be where the good pickings are. It would be officers, preferably; the grunts never got the full scope of information, let alone plans for the future.

Grabbing a stack of towels, she exits the locker room and heads past the pools and baths, down a long hallway at the back of the complex that houses the private steam rooms. Numbered doors are cut out of the paneled wood wall. Laseema is alone in the hallway, standing outside steam room two, towels in hand. She positions her ear cone close to the crack between the door and its frame, listening.

Four voices, maybe five come from inside. Her heart beating is making her blood rush in her ears and she wills it to slow, unable to hear much over the sound of her anxiety. Finally, she can hear more of the conversation from inside.

“- not the worst place I’ve been stationed.”

“Me either.”

“You never know what you’ll get with these Mando girls with their helmets and armor on though”

“Just keep the helmet on!”

They laugh.

“- more troopers coming in a month,” one says, “Should add a little variety that won’t stab you in the back when you’re taking your pants off.”

More laughter. A bench creaks and Laseema holds her breath.

“New barracks better have nice beds than what they’ve got us in now-“

“Beds on the floor, what kind of savages-“

“It’s 1500. Better get back, boys.”

“Aye, captain,” come echoed voices

Laseema makes for a quick exit and then changes her mind. She can handle a little risk, after all, this wasn’t the worst situation she’d been in. And if it helped Atin and their family, the risk was worth it. A hand rattles on the doorknob as it opens and Laseema scampers to position herself where they’ll see her, a little down the hall, holding fresh towels in outstretched arms.

Four men exit the room and she keeps her eyes down, praying they’ll ignore her and keep talking. She thanks the goddess they’re in shorts and not naked. Atin had been...less than keen of this plan for multiple reasons, this being one of them.

Three take a towel without a word or second glance. Laseema is not so lucky with the fourth, who takes a towel and pauses to look her up and down. He’s one of the younger ones, tall with a forgettable pinched face.

“Now here’s something you don’t see every day.” She dares look him in the eye, remembering the knife in its sheath around her waist, hidden by her tunic.

“A Mandalorian tailhead?” The man’s lips twist into a smirk and he directs his attention back down towards her, amused by his own cleverness. “How much?”

“How much what?” Laseema knows what. She’s been asked before, many times. It’s a phrase men like him keep at the tip of their tongues, because in their minds anything can be bought, including - especially - people.

“For you.” He looms over her as the other men watch from a distance.

“I’m not for sale,” she spits out, barely containing herself. If she starts something here, she won’t be able to finish it, not four against one.

The man runs his knuckle down one of her lekku and she yanks it away, scandalized, and shudders. The man laughs under his breath. Laseema lets her eyes focus on a bandage that hangs half off his upper arm instead of on his face.

“I have to get back to work,” she says, still avoiding his eyes, “please excuse me.” And she walks away, slowly and calmly, barely able to restrain herself from breaking into a run. Atin would’ve broken his fingers one by one, she thinks, and I would help. It was probably best her husband didn’t know about her run-in with the tall imperial.

It was worth it, even for the small amount of information she’d gleaned. New barracks. More troopers. One month.

Back at the compound, Kal, Walon, Ordo and Laseema digest the information.

“Sounds like an invasion,” says Ordo, his mouth full of food.

Kal knew Laseema would pull through for them. Initially Atin had seemed a little put out by the notion but had said nothing, only shooting Kal an angry glance when she came home in one piece, if not a little shaken up.

“We knew it was only a matter of time.” Walon Vau somehow looks even more grim than usual. He runs a hand through his grey hair, thinking. “A month…”

“You know there aren’t enough of us,” Kal says, and Vau nods in agreement.

“I know,” he replies.

“Then we’ll just have to get creative.”

———

The long speeder ride from Keldabe to Kyrimorut gives her time to think.

She’d been lonely for a long time, at least as long as she can remember, the short sorry course of her dating life culminating in a few brief relationships that ended sourly. Long, punishing hours were usually the answer to any painful thoughts, and it had worked well for her, at least until Kyrimorut, where every emotion she’d worked so hard to ignore had threatened to spill over and drown her.

And there was Kal. At first she was sure he hated her guts, but the way he watched her work during Parja’s delivery and the absolute awe in his voice and on his features was as sincere as she’d ever seen. It touched a part of her that she’d thought was long gone, deadened by years of loss and rejection. Somehow she feels they had forged a small connection, that he understood in some small way that she couldn’t quite put a finger on.

She’d left the foolish hope of her twenties behind, and with it the illusion of finding someone who would and could keep up with her long hours and nights away. So far she’d been disappointed, but not surprised.

Kyrimorut was remote and well hidden, though not too far from Enceri, the nearest trading post, by speeder. She’ll have to face Kal again, but any apprehension would be easy enough to hide behind the real reason she were at the compound.

It feels like almost no time has gone by since she’d stormed out two weeks ago. Gently, she reminds herself that she is here for business and not to fall back into bed with the patriarch of Clan Skirata.

A familiar face answers the door when she knocks. Fi stands in the open doorway, looking much too chipper for a new parent.

“Sorry, baby factory’s closed.”

“Feels like I never left,” she replies, wishing she hadn’t.

“Come on in. You should stay for dinner, Atin and Laseema are cooking tonight and it’s bound to be something good. If you want your tastebuds burned off, that is.”

She laughs. “I’m Mando, how could I not?” Loving spicy food was practically a cultural requirement.

Fi leads her through the halls and they chat about he and Parja’s little one. Lael was a quiet little thing, much to the chagrin of his talkative father. They reach Ordo and Besany’s pod of rooms and Fi takes his leave, giving her a little hug and a peck on the cheek as he goes.

The couple is sitting inside, Ordo looking both elated and horrendously nervous at the same time. She wonders if he needs a garbage can nearby and make a mental note to have him sit in the delivery room when the time comes. Fainting husbands were a very unwelcome addition to the stress of a birth.

The appointment goes well, with the exception of Ordo’s constant questioning and Besany’s futile attempts to calm him down. She suspects some of his anxiety is compensation for the guilt of putting her in this situation. She’s been sick, and these soldiers aren’t suited to sitting around and watching people they love suffer.

“Only a few more weeks to go and you’ll probably be feeling better, cyar’ika.” Besany smiles weakly back at her, unconvinced.

A normal sonogram later, they’re both happy and relieved, fawning over the sono printout and she leaves them to it.

Much to her displeasure, Kal is waiting outside Besany and Ordo’s door. He’s wearing his armor, the gold of the beskar gleaming subtly in the morning light. Her stomachs drops into her feet at the sight of him, having to face him again.

“We’d feel better if you were here instead of alone in Keldabe,” he says. Kal’s hand is wrapped around her upper arm, gently pulling her back towards him. She can feel her heart pick up at his hand on her bare skin. “There’s some osik going on with the Empire and we’re not sure what it is yet.”

“I can take care of myself, Kal. Kyrimorut is too far from my patients and the hospital to make it work.” Never one to take no for an answer, he tries again.

“I don’t think you understand. They’re planning something big.”

“Why me?”

“What?” He stares at her, annoyance plain on his face. It’s always easy to get Kal riled up, but today it takes no effort at all. He must truly be concerned about what’s going on with the Empire; it gives her pause for the first time that day.

“Why do you want me to stay?”

“Bes is going to need you,” he replies.

“So what you’re telling me is that you’re gathering up all your tools and closing up shop? Besany isn’t the only person who needs me, Kal. I can’t just quit my job and come live here, as attractive as that might sound right now.”

She can tell his frustration is mounting as his expression sets on his lined face. A tired, lonely part of her brain is begging her to just say yes, to let someone else take care of her for once instead of the other way around. She wants to stay with him, wants to feel protected, wanted, valued outside of her work.

What if the Empire did dare invade Mandalore? For some reason it seemed unfathomable until this point, having lived on the planet her whole life with the exception of medical school, she’s used to being surrounded by warriors; the idea of occupation has never even crossed her mind.

She’s seen the stormtroopers in Keldabe, but so far nothing has transpired. Talks with the Empire’s representatives were going well according to the Mand’alor - Fenn Shysa still believed that Mandalore could avoid occupation.

Taglist:

@clonewarslover55 @leias-left-hair-bun @cherry-cokes-world @wolfangelwings

@nelba @passionofthesith @808tsuika

#Republic Commando #Kal Skirata #OC #my writing #At Odds #At Odds 3

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elementalwriter67 · 4 years

Text

The Void Chapter Twelve

Word Count: 4079

Pairing: (Eventual) Jason Todd x Reader

Tag List: @wittedhat, @clea-nightingale, @undertheredhood, @reclusive-chicken-nugget, @grey-water-colors, @jasonlovertodd, @ximaginx, @lexythedepressy, @e-bendy

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7a, 7b, 8, 9, 10, 11

Summary: The Void is a hellish place filled with screams that echoed throughout the place at all the hours of the night, and where pain is a very close friend. You’ve spent your entire life in the Void, having been there since you were ten and you’ve just recently gotten a new cellmate… Who’s a little more hopeful than you are that either of you are going to make it out of this place alive. Though you have to admit that maybe his hope is rubbing off on you because you slowly find yourself hoping that the two of you do get out of here.

“Maria! Samantha! Oh it’s been too long since I’ve seen the two of you! How have you two been?” Selina exclaimed as she stood up from her seat in the outdoor cafe a large smile on her face as she made her way over to Barbara and Kate as they walked up to her.

“I’ve been good, how’s the family? How’s dad?” Barbara asked as she hugged Selina. As the two of them hugged, Selina scanned the crowd behind the both of them before letting go of her and moving towards Kate and pulling her into a hug as well. When Selina was certain that there was nothing behind the two of them she pulled away from Kate and held on to her shoulders smiling widely at her. Nodding her head just slightly Selina let go of Kate and moved back to her seat.

“Oh the family’s doing well, we had a little scare with grandpa last week while he was at the grocery store but that turned out to be a false alarm but it put your father more on edge than he already has been with your grandfather’s health but what can you do?” Selina said with a shrug of her shoulders as she sat back down in her chair crossing one leg over the other as she picked up her cup of coffee from the table.

“Have you-” Kate cut herself off as she looked towards the waitress who was walking towards them with a smile on her face.

“Hi, I’m Cathy. I'll be your server for the evening. Is there anything I can get the two of you?” Cathy asked as Barbara and Kate sat down. Kate and Barbara shared a look before Barbara grabbed the menu and quickly scanned it as Kate looked back at Cathy.

“I’ll take a black coffee, with no sugar please.” Kate said and Cathy nodded as she jotted down her order before looking up at Barbara.

“Aaaaannnnndddd I’ll have a chamomile tea with a chocolate scone please.” Barbara told her as she returned the menu to its spot in the middle of the table, flashing Cathy a quick smile.

“Alright, I’ll get that stuff right out for you.” Cathy stated as she tucked her order pad into her apron and walked away. Kate waited until she was sure that Cathy was out of ear shot before focusing on Selina again.

“Have you guys heard anything from J since he went on that road trip of his?” Kate asked and Selina shook her head a worried expression flashing across her face before it was replaced with an easy relaxed look.

“No we haven’t heard anything from him since his last phone call home over two weeks ago. You’re brothers and father are worried but I’m sure he’s doing fine. He's just too busy having fun to worry about contacting us.” Selina told them and the two of them nodded worried looks crossing their faces for a second before they forced smiles on to their faces. Barbara opened her mouth to ask Selina another question but before she could she caught Cathy walking out from the Cafe and over to them.

“Here you go one chamomile tea with a chocolate scone and a black coffee.” Cathy said as she set down Barbara and Kate’s orders in front of them sending them a small smile.

“Is there anything else I can get the two of you?” She asked as she looked between Barbara and Kate who both shook their heads.

“No thanks we’re all set.” Barbara said and Cathy nodded before turning and walking away from the table.

“So how’s the business going? Have Dad and Tim made any headway on their new project?” Barbara asked and Selina nodded her head around a sip of her coffee.

“Surprisingly they’ve made quite a bit of headway. As the two of you know Tim was able to find a location for that new building of theirs but he’s also managed to draw up the blueprints of it as well. They’ve even got Roy in to help them on their project and he’s done some research on the area and apparently it used to belong to the government. So how have your new jobs been going?” Selina asked as she set her cup of coffee down on the table and leaned back in her chair watching the two of them.

“The new job in the morgue has been going well. It's a lot calmer than the GCPD morgue which is honestly nice but if anything it’s weirder than the GCPD morgue.” Barbara told her at which Selina raised her eyebrow at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Well for starters for a hospital we get more Jane and John Does than I ever got at the morgue and when I asked my boss about it he said that it was a normal occurrence because they have a lot of homeless people who get brought in an alot of the time they don’t give us their names. Then there are the bodies that don’t match up with their actual medical records and every time I ask about it my boss tells me not to worry about it because that’s an upstairs thing.” Barbara explained and Kate nodded her head as she looked over at her.

“Yeah the same shit happens upstairs with the emergency room people get brought in their records don’t match anything about them and the other nurses disappear for large periods of time randomly throughout the day and if I ask where they went I’m told they go on lunch or they had to go home, and then minutes later there they are working again when they should have gone home. It’s just all so weird and if the pay wasn’t so good I don’t think I would even bother staying.” Kate explained before taking a large sip of her coffee with a disgruntled look on her face. Selina frowned as she looked between the two of them concerning marking the lines of her face as she did so.

“The nurses there aren’t exactly the most friendly of people to the new guys, at least they're not to me anyways.” Kate added on when she set down her drink. Selina’s face turned sympathetic as she reached out a hand and gave Kate an affectionate squeeze as she did so.

“I’m sorry Samantha but you know if you ever get tired of working in the emergency room there’s always room in your father’s company for you he could use someone like you when it comes to the advancement of modern medicine, he could use both of you.” Selina told them as she looked over at Barbara giving her a pointed look that she returned with a smile. Giving Kate’s hand one more affectionate squeeze she let go and sat back in her seat.

Clenching her hand Kate smiled at Selina before she moved her hand off the table and set it in her lap, looking over at Babs out of the corner of her eyes and giving her a small nod. Focusing on Selina again as she sighed and stood up from the table.

“As fun as this has been Emilia I’m afraid that I at the very least have to get going, my shift at the hospital starts in a couple of hours and I gotta go get ready.” Kate said as she grabbed her purse slinging it over her shoulder as she gave Barbara and Selina a sad look.

“Alright well, have a good day at work, it was nice seeing you again.” Selina said as she stood up from the table and gave Kate another hug.

“It was nice seeing you again too. Maria I’ll see you back at the apartment yeah?” Kate said as she pulled away from Selina and looked towards Barbara who nodded her head.

“Have fun at work.” Barbara said, waving bye to Kate as she did and Kate flashed her a smile before turning and walking away from.

~Back at the Hospital~

Kate smiled as she walked into the hospital a few hours later her work bag slung over her shoulder and her strides purposeful as she walked through the doors of the emergency room.

“Hey Samantha.” The nurse at the front desk said when she caught sight of Kate.

“Hey Kim.” Kate offered back as she forced a small friendly smile on to her face and gave a small wave as acknowledgement before scanning her badge and walking through the doors and into the actual ER.

Casting a quick glance around the locker room as she entered it Kate sighed in relief when she noticed that it was surprisingly empty. Shoving her things into the locker Kate slipped the device that Selina had given her into the pocket of her scrubs before closing her locker and throwing her hair up into a ponytail as she walked out of the locker room. Walking up to the main desk in the ER Kate shoved her hands into her pockets, her fingers brushing against the device as she leaned over the counter.

“So, what’s on the menu for today Sarah?” Kate asked as her eyes skimmed over the contents on the front desk and then the people rushing around the ER. Besides her Sarah sighed as she rolled back in her seat towards the filing cabinet grabbing a file off the top she rolled back towards the desk and flipped it open.

“Looks like today is shaping up to be one of the slower days in Gotham so there’s not much to do today other than the usual.” Sarah said as she started typing on the computer while glancing at the file every now and again. Sighing Kate pushed herself off the counter and pulled her hands from her pockets.

“Alright, where am I starting first?” Kate asked and Sarah looked up at her for a brief second before rolling away from the desk again, grabbing a blue folder off of a pile she rolled back over to Kate handing it to her.

“Carla Francheska came in this morning victim of a drive by in Crime Alley she’s in critical condition, Dr. Roberts wants you to check on her and make sure she’s still stable. Once that’s done you need to go change 209’s catheter and 210’s bedpan, after that the medical waste needs to be taken out, and the surgery rooms need restocking.” Sarah ordered as Kate took Carla’s file from her. Mentally Kate sighed as she looked over the file, getting the gist of Carla’s situation.

“Alright, I’ll get started on that.” Kate said as she wandered away from the desk. She needed to do the things that Sarah had listed off first. Flipping the file closed Kate sighed as she closed her eyes for a few brief moments before opening them again and continuing towards Carla’s room. It was going to take longer to do her part of the mission than she originally thought.

Kate huffed out a relieved sigh as she fell back against the wall resisting the temptation to slowly slide down the wall, she had finally finished restocking the operation rooms and even helping out in a couple of the surgeries themselves when no one else could. Reaching up she wiped the sweat from her brow before letting her shoulders slump. It wasn’t until someone cleared their throat that Kate even bothered moving and even then it was only to look towards the person who had cleared their throat to see Dr. Jekyll standing a few feet away from her holding a couple of files in his hands. Pushing herself off the wall she straightened out her scrubs as she forced a smile on to her face.

“Hello Dr. Jekyll I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.” Kate said and he nodded his head, offering her what he probably assumed was a small friendly smile but only served to look slightly pissed.

“No need to worry my dear, I just wanted to congratulate you on your splendid performance in the operating room today. I've never seen a new nurse handle a situation like what we found ourselves in as well as you did.” He told her, his tone sounding genuinely sincere as he looked at her. Kate’s smile turned genuine for the first time since she had started her undercover work here, and she stood up a little straighter as she smiled at him.

“Oh, thank you sir, you have no idea how much that means to me.” Kate said and Dr. Jekyll nodded his head.

“Of course, now I need you to take these files to Dr. Roberts office for me please, I need him to sign off on these files and then I need a second opinion on the top file.” Dr. Jekyll said as he held out the files in his hand for her to take. Internally Kate smiled widely to herself as she took the files from Dr. Jekyll with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, sure, no problem Dr. Jekyll I’ll get right on that.” She said and he nodded his head.

“Good, once you're done why don’t you go on lunch, you look like you’ve been going since you started.” He mentioned and she nodded her head, widening her eyes just a little to emphasize her point.

“That’s because I have been a doctor, anyways I’ll get right on this for you.” Kate said and Dr. Jekyll nodded before walking away. She waited until he had rounded the corner before letting a large smile spread across her face and turning and walking in the opposite direction. She loved when things magically worked out for her especially when an excuse is handed directly to her.

Walking over to Dr. Roberts office Kate hugged the files to her chest and weaved her way in and out of the people that she passed. She stopped in front of Dr. Roberts office hesitating for a few seconds before knocking on his door and pressing her ear against it listening. She knocked again when she didn’t hear anything the first time and when she still didn’t hear anything the second time she tested the handle to find that it wasn’t locked. Pushing the door open she stepped into the office and stood in the doorway for a few seconds, her eyes glancing around the room searching for a hidden camera. When she was satisfied that there weren’t any cameras in the office she walked in, softly kicking the door closed behind her before walking up to his desk. Setting the files down on Dr. Roberts desk Kate pulled the two listening devices out of her pocket and slowly looked around the room again looking for a good place to put the devices. After a few seconds of looking she made her way over to the book shelf that was pressed along the wall next to the desk popping up onto the tip of her toes she pressed one of the devices into the little out cropping where the walls of it met the top of the bookcase. Stepping back she peered up at the top of the book case making sure that it wasn’t noticeable without feeling around before walking back over to his desk. Grabbing one of the files off the desk she dropped it on the floor before crouching down and pressing the second device on to the wires running out of the computer.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” A voice sounded from behind her suddenly causing Kate to jump, bashing the back of her head into the underside of the desk in the process.

“Fuck.” Kate cursed as she crawled out from underneath the desk, grabbing one of the papers that had fallen out of the file as she went. Sitting back on her knees she looked up at Marge who was standing over her with her arms crossed over her chest and a glare that would stop most people in their tracks.

“Oh, hey Marge.” Kate gave her a small wave before turning back to grabbing the papers that had fallen out of the file, and shoving them back into the file.

“I repeat what the hell are you doing in her Smith?” Marge bit out her stance widening and Kate swallowed, pretending to be nervous as she looked up at her again. She had always been told to avoid Marge as much as possible and to never piss her off, and well she was finally learning as to why she had to avoid the head nurse as much as possible.

“Ah, Dr. Jekyll asked me to bring these files to Dr. Roberts because he needs a few of them signed off and a consultation on another one but he wasn’t here so I decided that I would just put them on his desk but one of them fell off and everything spilled out so I’m cleaning it up.” Kate said as she motioned to the files on the desk and then to the mess on the floor that was only half cleaned up. Marge was silent for a moment as she looked at Kate watching her for any sign of a lie when she didn’t find any she nodded her head once.

“Right, well hurry up and pick all that stuff up, I need you back in the ER as quickly as possible.” She ordered and Kate nodded hurrying to shove the papers back in the folder all while Marge watched over her. Standing up she set the folder down on the desk again and rushed out of the room, and Marge just stood there watching as Kate hurried out of the room. Once Kate had left she cast a quick glance around the room before nodding once to herself when she didn’t see anything out of place and leaving Dr. Roberts office.

~The Void~

Your lungs burned and your feet ached with the force that they were slapping against the ground as you pushed yourself to run faster, harder, anything to get away from the things chasing you. Whipping yourself around a corner you slammed into the wall, a grunt escaping you as you barely managed to catch yourself to stop yourself from falling, pushing yourself off the wall you took off running again. Glancing over your shoulder again you watched as the darkness advanced on you the sound of growling and screeching coming from the darkness as clawed hands reached out dragging the darkness forward after you. Looking back forward you raced around another corner stumbling slightly as you tripped over your own feet. Before you could really pick up the speed again you felt a hand wrap around your ankle, sharp claws digging into your skin there and the next thing that you knew you were on the ground again.

“No! No! Let go of me! Let go!” You screeched as you kicked at the darkness with your other foot. Clawing at the ground you tried to drag yourself away from the darkness as it dragged you backwards the sounds of growling and screeching growing louder as the sound of tearing flesh reached your ears as well.

“No! Let go! Let go!” You screamed as you felt more hands grab you pulling and tugging at you as you were flipped over onto your back the hands gripping at your clothes and shoulders as the darkness started to swallow up your legs. Shaking your head you twisted and turned, bucking and pulling against the hands dragging you forward. Just as the darkness had reached your knees the lights in the hallway suddenly brightened to the point of blinding but just as suddenly as it had come it was gone.

Blinking several times you brought your hands up to shield your eyes from the blinding light. It took several minutes for the light to finally subside just enough to for you to see that you where standing in one of the torture rooms only you wheren’t on the rack this time.

“Wh… What’s going on?” You muttered as you lowered your hands, squinting into the lights as you tried to see who was strung up on the rack, fully expecting to see a reflection of yourself after all that was how this usually went. But nothing could have prepared you for what you saw. A sense of cold washed through you as your eyes widened, your whole body shook as you took a terrified step forward.

“No. No, Jason, no.” You muttered as you took another step forward only to see the darkness from behind Jason's hands flying out of it wrapping around Jason’s beaten and battered body, pulling him closer despite the chains holding him up.

“No! NO! JASON!” Your voice cracked as you raced forward straight into the darkness. When the darkness cleared you were no longer trying to save Jason from the darkness, you were now the one strung up on the rack.

Your heart jumped into your throat as your hands wrapped around the chains and your breath came in short quick bursts, your knuckles turned white. No, no, no, this isn’t good, this isn’t good, you weren’t supposed to be here, you hadn’t done anything wrong, you weren’t supposed to be here, what had happened to you? What did you do? You could feel your heart beating against your rib cage as your whole body began to shake and your eyes frantically jumping around the room searching for anyone else. When the door opened your heart stopped when you saw who was walking through it.

“Jason?” You asked as you watched him walk towards you, picking up a whip as he went. Your blood ran cold as he smiled maliciously at you, his hand stretching out the whip as his eyes traveled up and down the length of your body.

“Where to start, where to start.” Jason muttered but it wasn’t with his voice and through your confusion your brow furrowed just the tiniest bits. He sounded like Dr. Roberts and you weren’t sure what terrified you more the whip in his hands or his voice.

“Oh I know, how about right here?” He asked as he reached out with the handle of the whip tracing a line from your shoulder down across your chest. Shaking your head you tried to push yourself back away from Jason as he raised the whip in the air.

“No, no, no, Jason no, please, Jason don’t. Jason don’t! Jason DON’T PLEASE DON’T!” You begged him as he brought the whip down causing you to scream in pain as he brought the whip up again and then down again on your other shoulder creating an X across your chest.

“No! NO! NO! Jason please! Please! Stop! PLEASE!” You screamed as he continued to whip you.

~Jason’s P.O.V~

Jason jolted out of the light sleep that he had fallen into his hand tightening around yours as he sat up straight his eyes jumping around the room searching for a threat only to find nothing, not even a guard standing outside the door. Turning his attention back to you he watched in shock as you moved for the first time in literal days. He watched as you twitched and jerked slightly, your face contorting into one of confusion and then pain as a weak sounding whimper escaped your throat. Jason felt his heart break as he watched you and he climbed on to his knees reaching out he grabbed your shoulders, shaking you lightly.

“(Y/N), (Y/N) wake up, come on wake up it’s just a dream, wake up.” Jason murmured as he shook you lightly trying to get you to wake up. When that didn’t work he stared at you for a few seconds trying to think of another way to wake you up but he didn’t want to hurt you yet it killed him to see you in such pain and not be able to do anything. Sighing he climbed up to his feet before sitting on the edge of you bed, carefully he shifted around picking you up he set your head on his lap. Running his hands through your hair he whispered calming words trying to comfort you as best he could. It took a good several minutes before you finally calmed down you expression turning peaceful once again as your body went lax in his arms and your breathing evened.

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fandom-writer642 · 5 years

Text

It’s Been a While (Batfam x Sister!Reader)

Summary: Years ago (Y/n) Al Ghul- Wayne had disappeared from the world without a trace. When she comes back her family has a lot of questions for her and her her two friends, Artemis Fowl II and Holly Short

Warnings: It’s long and I got carried away

Request: No

Pairing?: Family; Batfamily x Sister!Reader

———

Age Ten

(Y/n) scowled from the rooftop, making sure to be unseen by those below her as her brother chased the clawed man. Fighting him into the streets of Gotham wasn’t a smart idea, it was rash with little thought that would only cause trouble. She didn’t need to be part of that, no matter how angry she was she needed something to do instead of sit around the cave all day. Quickly she jumped off the roof and twisted herself and grabbing the streetlight so she didn’t hit the ground. Flipping herself to stand on the light before bounce off the tops of cars and trucks to make sure her brother wasn’t overly harmed. Landing on top of the fence she watched as metal clanged metal before jumping to sit on the streetlight above.

She would stop the fight when she thought necessary, after all, Damian wasn’t exactly a normal child, neither was she but that was different. While she was trained to be a killer she found the works of being a criminal mastermind much more enduring than the works of a mindless assassin. It was when he was bring his sword to lay the final blow did she get ready to leap into action. However, a man in black and blue beat her, kicking her twin through the fence before he could kill the injured man. (Y/n) recognized the vigilante from her grandfather’s and mother’s learnings, his name was Nightwing.

He caught the sword but (Y/n) took action flipping above him and grabbing the sword from his grasp. Sheathing it in her holder as she landed beside him.

“The psychos keep getting younger,” Nightwing muttered, keeping an eye on the girl next to him. She seemed harmless but she had also been watching the scene unfold and took the sword away from him. He knew if she had the intention of harming him she would have done it, he could tell she was a force to be reckoned with just by the glint in her eye that gleamed. It was as if she was sending the message of “I know something you don’t” with her eyes.

“Watch out,” she muttered toward the hero as her twin cane charging toward the pair, mainly the man that had knocked him away. Damian has no reason to go after his sister, she knew when to pick her fights but for once she wasn’t by his side on this one. She helped Nightwing fight him, even going to hand-to-hand combat with her brother who was typically superior in that field but she was much smarter than her brother.

It took some time but soon enough Damian was tied to the streetlight with a gag looking furious. (Y/n) chuckled at the sight before turning toward the scratched up hero with a frown. “Sorry about that. With the sword and all. It’s not easy fighting your own brother especially when their better than you.”

He gave a chuckle, “It’s fine, who are you kids?”

“I’m (Y/n) Al Ghul-Wayne. This is my twin brother Damian. We snuck out of the manor while dad was out on patrol, I just followed so no one would get killed.”

“Nearly failed,” Nightwing commented on.

“What ever you say Grayson. Believe me, my plans never fail.” Once again the glint was in her eye as she smirked, “Call dad, he won’t be happy but he may as well be called.”

The man nodded while the girl walked over to her hanging brother who was spitting curses into the gag while glaring at his sister. In less than twenty minutes all of them were back at the manor and being checked on by Alfred. Dick was getting stitches from Alfred due to Damian’s stricken with a sword while (Y/n) hacked into the government systems at the bat computer, looking bored.

“Maybe you should remember who the blood son is,” Damian hissed at the older man.

“Maybe you should remember who saved your ass back home before the attack,” (Y/n) snipped calmly, seemingly ineffected by her brother’s withering glare. “Now quit glaring at me, I have something to figure out.”

“Besides, it’s more like blood thirsty,” Dick supplied with an ease. Alerting both twins that this wasn’t the first time he had an arguement of insults with someone their age. Dick only seemed to react when Damian went looking through the costumes of the old Robins.

“You can never be too cautious,” Alfred told her as he appeared at her side, in front of the computer. “But never be paranoid, that will bring you a horrible life.”

She blinked at him before glancing up at the pair of males above.

“Thank you Mr. Pennyworth.”

She would keep that information handy for the rest of her life.

Age Eleven

Why Bruce sent her and Tim to Ireland was beyond her. There wasn’t a lot of major crime around that would cause them to go out of country. She didn’t mind time like Damian did, the pair actually got along very well but disagreed on many different topics. She didn’t train to go on the field like her brothers did but she was trained well enough to be able to keep up with what they did. She was smart and worked with technology everyday, so she wasn’t very happy about the mission. She traveled around the city of Dublin calmly, hoping to find something of use of the pointless mission.

They were here to find a supposed criminal mastermind that had gone missing, with no name and little leads, he just lived in Ireland and had quiet a bit of money. It was what brought Tim and (Y/n) to the view tower of The Guinness Factory, surrounded by important people from all over Ireland and some from different countries. She let Tim do the talking to all the others, she was very calm but she wasn’t fond of having a low intellect conversation with someone in the beer factory.

She walked around in her (Favorite color) dress as she rarely stopped to chat. As soon as she got to the bar she was surprised how empty it was for a party. “Not enjoying the party?”

She looked over to her right, only to see a boy that she could have easily mistaken for a young Wayne boy. He had raven black hair and deep blue eyes that took her by surprise, he was pale like a vampire and even wore a smile of one. He seemed to be her age and as deeply as bored as her.

“It’s not my kind of thing,” (Y/n) told the boy in the Armani suit. She had only seen on one man wearing a suit of the same designer, that man was Domovoi Butler who was a manservant and a bodyguard to the Fowl family. “I’m guessing it’s not yours either Artemis Fowl?”

“Why you picked up the clues rather quickly, didn’t you (Y/n) Wayne?”

She rolled her eyes, she had heard of the Fowl family and knew that the man they were looking for has been missing for a year. She could at least have a competent chat with someone her age about things that do not make sense. She had heard of his mother which barely anyone knew about and she had heard of him dropping from boarding school and she had no doubt on why.

“If you’re going to make alliances with those of this higher society to keep your plans under wraps then I would suggest you get talking to them.”

“Well, if your brother and you are looking for my father he was killed a year ago.”

“So it seems Mr. Fowl,” (Y/n) stared with a click of her tongue. “But things aren’t always what they seem. Your family was rich and now you a young eleven-year-old are trying to bring it back up. No one would suspect that you would be as smart as you are today but yet here you are in land of higher life that is much more dangerous.”

“Well Miss Wayne, perhaps we should chat about it somewhere else. After all if anyone heard it would be a shame if your own family secret got out to the press.”

“Black mail doesn’t work on me. I want to help you.”

“With?”

“Your father and mother. You can’t believe that something isn’t going on? The problem is, my family can’t know where I am.”

“Why should I let you help me?”

“How many people do either of us know that are as intelligent or competent as us? Besides, I know more about people, so if we need something socially I can talk.”

“You say you need to hide, who’s believe you are who you say?”

“Artemis, this is the underground network. Things can be well hidden, even my father hasn’t figured out all of the darkest secrets in Gotham. What makes you think he’ll figure this one out?”

“True but, how are you to die? Needs to be something believable.”

“Obviously,” she hissed with an eye roll. “Tim is coming, smile.”

He gave a vampire smile and she put up a false front as her older brother came over. “Hello,” he greeted them both. “You seemed to be missing out on the party sister.”

“I prefer talking to certain people more than others.” Tim frowned and took his leave after grabbing a drink. After at least thirty minutes of silence between the two pre-teens did something happen. Men walked in, guns in hand with a greedy look in their eyes. Butler grabbed Artemis and Artemis grabbed (Y/n), pulling her back with them, into the corner. Butler hide the pair behind him while the two kids shared a look. A gunshot rung out, followed by some more. Tim looked around wildly for his sister, only to see a few men walking over towards the group of three. Guns pointed pointed at them as one shot the window behind them.

“Oh, wonderful,” Tim muttered as he watched the boy and his sister share a look. The pair backed up toward the edge of the window, looking calm and content. Two rings went out and the pair fell from the height. (Y/n) had taken both shots, one right in her left shoulder and another in her right arm. Pain seared through her as the pair free fell. The boy pulled something and a parachute came out and he caught her.

“You’re just prepared for anything aren’t you?” She asked as she clung to him. So she didn’t fall to early.

“Butler always taught me to be prepared for anything.”

The pair ditched the chute in a dumpster and ran, she would guess to his car. It was on that day that (Y/n) Al Ghul-Wayne was said to be dead and the day Damian nearly killed Tim.

Age Twenty-One

(Y/n) had grown since the night of her death. Far more intelligent and far more prepared for the world. She gained friends and helped save the world without her family knowing she was alive. That is what made this so nerve wracking as she stood in front of her father’s home. She had been dead for a decade with not even a sliver of anyone thinking she was alive. Artemis had kept his agreement, he never told a soul about you being alive unless needed. It was her death day and she felt a twist of guilt run through her.

Tim had blamed himself for her death, he was there for it but he was too slow. He would believe anything if it meant she was possibly alive, he would do anything to get her back.

Damian, her twin brother, how she missed him. Was he still as cold and closed off as they were when they were kids? Had he changed?

Dick was the caring eldest brother that had lost yet another sibling. He’d blame himself because he had Bruce put her on that mission.

Jason would understand in a different way, he didn’t know (Y/n) but he had heard about her. The only person that could truly calm Damian with a look if she pleased.

Bruce would blame himself more than anything, he sent her on the mission so he thought it was his fault. She had become very close to everyone in the family which only made her death worse.

“Come on (Y/n),” Holly said. “You’ve saved the world how many times and know you’re afraid to knock on a simple door?”

“Holly, this is different! It’s not like Opal is in there and ready to take over the world again, this is my family who thinks I’ve been dead for the past decade!”

Artemis sighed and just knocked on the door, much to (Y/n)’s alarm. “I’m helping you, whether you like it or not.”

The door was opened by Alfred as always,who as soon as he saw the three dropped the tray in his hands. He knew those eyes anywhere, the glint of “I know something you don’t” was still there with a mix of pain from the past and nerves from the present. The residents of Wayne manor stood at the door, looking in shock as Alfred hugged the girl with (Eye color) eyes that had the same look as always. Some wanted this to be a nightmare but the short auburn haired female was smiling so wide as if she had never smiled before. The male was one Tim recognized from the party all those years ago, Artemis Fowl II.

Alfred held the girl at arms length, “Is it really you Mistress (Y/n)?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “It’s me. I’m alive Alfred. I’m here. Thank Artemis, he was the one who knocked.”

“Yeah, Mudgirl here chickened out,” Holly stated from her spot.

(Y/n) rolled her eyes wiping away the tears and smiled at her family.

“Hi guys, it’s been a while.”

———

Note: This was bad, very bad. But it was fun to write. I got very carried away with it and I didn’t write the characters well but I’m stil posting this because what the hell, why not?

#batfam x batsis #batsiblings #batsis imagine #damian wayne #dick grayson #tim drake #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #holly short #captain holly short #artemis fowl #artemis fowl x reader #friendship #fake your death #it’s been a while

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