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nosunwithoutshadow · 3 years

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finally posting for day 1 of darklina week! (I have no concept of time)

Rating: M Chapters: 1/1 Words: 2k Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Universe, Fluff and Angst, Character Study, Loneliness, Angst with a Happy Ending, Feels

Summary: It’s the worst kind of cliche, but Aleksander doesn’t realize what he’s missing until it’s gone.

also on ao3

Aleksander misses it. The light.

He didn’t realize it at first, in those lost few months after he tore the world apart to protect his people. Time stretched oddly then, as he adjusted to his new reality. He felt off balance, constantly teetering on the edge of falling into the abyss he created. The merzost coiled in his soul, making a home in his bones, craving more with each breath. He’d known the magic required a sacrifice before he stepped in front of the dead king’s army, accepted it, but a martyr never knows what they will have to give up to their cause before it’s ripped from them.

(cont. under the cut)

He only discovers what’s missing later. After emerging from the other side of the void into a new world, one he has shaped, will continue to shape. He gathers what self possession he has left and returns to the capital, presenting himself as a tame housecat for the throne to use at their pleasure, repentant for the misdeeds of his family and content to hunt mice for the reward of a warm hearth and occasional pat. He blunts his fangs, hides his claws, and bats at toys tossed his way for the crown’s amusement, a domesticated predator biding his time. He returns to the tatters of the sanctuary he had begun to build and teaches every Grisha he can save how to sharpen their own claws so when the world comes for them, as it inevitably will, they will be ready.

And when he has time to think again, when the urge to plunge the entire palace into a darkness they cannot escape has lessened enough that his bones don’t ache with the need, he stands in the courtyard of the Little Palace and breathes. He hasn’t lived without burdens since the day in his long-ago childhood when he realized that he and everyone like him would never be safe. It’s different now though, rather than weighing on him, the darkness drags him down, anchoring him to the earth like it would swallow him at any moment. And when he spreads his arms, exhaling and letting his eyes slip closed for the briefest moment, he feels…

Nothing.

The days in Ravka are rarely truly warm, but dressed in all black, he’s used to the sun slanting down and soaking into his kefta. He sees the sun overhead, the near cloudless sky, feels a cool breeze rustle the fur at his cuffs, but the warmth he expects to feel doesn’t reach his skin. It’s as if he’s no longer quite part of this world, truly the abomination they call him, shunned even by the sun’s light.

The small part of him that’s still human wants to strip off his layers in the lost hope that if he can only bare himself to the sun, it’ll be different. As if there’s any way he could ever give enough of himself to buy back what he’s sacrificed. He tilts his face up to the sky and feels nothing but the chill of the afternoon against his cheeks.

His heart, that traitorous organ, hesitates before resuming its regular beat. He draws a deep breath, collects himself, and continues on his walk. He’d hardly been unaware that there would be a cost to his actions. Out of all the possible consequences, this is far from something that can’t be borne. He will find other ways to keep warm.

Years pass, nearly too many to count, and yet he numbers every one. The time is counted in the lives he could not save, the indignities thrust upon his Grisha he cannot protect them from. The walls of the Little Palace grow higher, blocking the outside world and its taunting sun. Its light only serves to remind him of what he still can’t do: he can’t control the fold, can’t use it as the weapon he needs to protect his people, can’t stop them from being slaughtered beyond his limited reach, can’t promise them the true security they deserve.

He wears his layers like armor and tries to forget the missing pieces of his soul. He keeps the fireplaces of the Little Palace well stocked to ward off the cold. He nearly forgets what it feels like to have sunlight play across his skin, warming him even through winter’s chill.

But then.

And then.

Oh.

He’s spent centuries planning, but he could never have planned for Alina. Even less for what she would do to him. He touches her, and walls built over hundreds of years fracture, their foundations no longer solid. He sees her power, and he remembers dreams he no longer has any right to. He feels her warmth, and he finds he might give up what’s left of his soul to stay close enough for her heat to burn.

It’s another small sacrifice to let go of her after that first touch, but he comforts himself with the knowledge that she won’t go far. He’s found her now, and the blinding potential of what that means threatens every ounce of his hard-won restraint. He rediscovers parts of himself he thought long-dead, pushing through dirt and cobwebs like a dormant seed, reaching out towards her sun.

He will keep her close, there’s no question of that. Losing part of himself was torture enough the first time; he doesn’t know how he could bear it again. He’s endured so much, but not this. And she’s so much more than his scattered missing pieces. She’s life to his emptiness, the rushing river to his steady mountain, the celestial light to his earth-bound darkness.

If he’d known just how much she was, he’s not sure he would have wanted her, the him before he met her. No blessing as potent as her comes without danger. And she is dangerous, all fire and fury, telling him “no” and crashing headlong into centuries worth of careful plans. Even so, he’s no fool to cast aside such a treasure, if he even could. He’ll hide her in his fortress, its defenses built for this day, and hone her into the weapon she was meant to be.

It has to be said, his plans usually proceed much more smoothly.

People are the fatal flaw to any plan, Aleksander knows, and that has never been more true than with Alina. Every time he thinks he’s learned to understand her, she surprises him again. He wants to hate her for that, at first. Even then, he can’t bring himself to, not really. His only consolation is those moments when he’s certain that she feels it too. That he’s not alone in this maddening need. She fills the empty spaces inside of him to overflowing, and even then, it’s still not enough. He’s never thought himself greedy, merely wanting what he’s earned, but for her, he might be.

Even when their goals finally align, when at last she accepts him as her ally rather than her enemy, it’s still barely enough. It’s consuming, this need, more dangerous than merzost and infinitely more seductive. He can almost forget the hunger clawing at his soul when he’s with her, the warmth of her bathing his skin, sinking deep. She’s so powerful it’s blinding, and yet so unbearably human. A mess of contradictions, his Alina, and he wants to take the time to explore all of them.

In the early days they don’t have much time for exploration, as one age gives way to another. The first time they bed each other is fast and desperate, fueled by all the times they’ve been denied before. It can’t even properly be called bedding, since they don’t make it farther than the nearest table. They manage to fall into bed together by the third time around, and the sense of completion as he slides into her, their eyes locked on each other, is enough to make all the centuries it took to get there worth it. Anger still simmers between them, and he can’t be certain that she won’t try to kill him before morning, but for this, he might let her.

In the aftermath, he foolishly thinks that this must be the pinnacle. He holds her to him, reveling in the heat of her body and how perfectly it fits against his. Her light calls to his shadows, even lying quietly together like this, their bodies and spirits tangling into a single whole.

He doesn’t have the frame of reference then to imagine how anything could be better, but then time stretches before them, and the walls between them slowly crumble. They rebuild and their lives mesh into one another, weaving around each other until they become inseparable. She reminds him of things he’d left behind, and he shows her what could lie ahead. He finds his shadows reaching out to her without realizing, what should be an unforgivable loss of control, but he can’t deny them their other half. He doesn't ask if she feels it too, conditioned by centuries to avoid any hint of weakness.

And he knows that there's no way he can complete her the way she fills the ache in his soul. It's an emptiness that's only grown over those same centuries, widened and deepened into a chasm he could never admit existed. She's his match in every way, but she's only lived a mere couple of decades. He can barely remember being that young, that long ago time when he knew so little about what was to come, what real loneliness meant.

He clutches her to him at night, without meaning to, his body reacting to his mind’s unspoken fear that she may yet disappear. She lets him, sometimes tucking her body into the contours of his, other times turning in his hold to wrap her arms around him in return.

They’re laying like this one night, her head against his chest, his nose brushing her hair, both sated and drifting on the edge of sleep. Aleksander idly considers his tasks for the next day, while his sun summoner traces patterns of light over his skin. She draws back, and he relaxes his hold enough to look down at her. Her thoughts are heavier than he expected, some inner struggle creasing her brow. He doesn’t expect the question that follows.

"Did you feel it, before me?" She hesitates, as if searching for the right word. "The… emptiness?"

And he remembers that he didn’t feel that much older than her when he'd opened the Fold, tearing apart the very fabric of the world out of his grief and desperation and fear of losing the people he had left. She may not be able to match the age-worn depth of his feelings, but he shouldn't underestimate the depth of them. The young feel everything so much more fiercely, he remembers.

His mother had tried to tell him, back then, that what he felt would fade. He'd known she was wrong then, but he knows it with earned certainty now. Age may have dulled the edges of that grief, but to lose it would be to lose a part of himself. Time has given him perspective for those emotions as it held onto their all-consuming breadth.

One forgot the passion of youth at their own peril. He'd made that mistake with Alina already. So many years, and still so much to learn.

“Yes,” he answers. It costs him a small sliver of his pride, but the price is well worth it. In his arms, Alina relaxes, losing a small thread of tension he hadn’t realized she held. “I thought it was my burden to bear,” he continues. “I never thought we could have this.”

Her lips curve in the slightest smile. “I didn’t know what I was missing,” she admits. “Until I found you, I thought that’s how it was.”

He tightens his arms around her, pulling her up for a kiss. He takes his time, exploring the lips he’s come to know so well, reminding them both of what they’ve found together.

“It might’ve been,” he says as they break apart. “But in a world where we met, I could never have stayed apart from you.”

She responds with a blush and a contented sigh as her lips return to his. They lay there together in their bed, passing kisses back and forth for nothing more than the pleasure of sharing them. The night deepens and, eventually, sleep catches up to them.

Alina relaxes in his arms, eyes fluttering closed. His shadows slip across the room and extinguish the last lamp. Comfortable darkness settles over the room while in the bed, Alina wraps Aleksander in her light.

#darklina #darklina week #darklina week 2021 #darklina fic #darklina fanfic #if you saw the first post no you didnt #thank you alexandra for letting me know I had the link wrong #bc I never would have noticed #my fic

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ladydimitrescuspet · 3 years

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A Nightmare Dressed Like A Daydream - Chapter 1

ao3 link! a fic based on two taylor swift songs, you belong with me and blank space! enjoy and tell me what you think!

prompt from @thepokyone's soulmate prompts list

47. You have your soulmate’s name on one wrist and your enemy’s on the other, and have no idea which one is which

***

It always pained you to see Lady Dimitrescu dote on Esmeralda the way that she did. Doing whatever she was told to do, caught up in every word Esmeralda said, she was hopelessly in love with someone who treated her like a servant. Which struck you as odd since Esmeralda was a mortal much like yourself.

You never thought you could dislike Lady Bucur, but you let the meaning of her last name fool you when you first arrived at the castle. The smile she presented to you the night you arrived had been the kindest smile you’d seen in a while and you knew instantly that you would take a liking to working for her. Or at least you thought you would.

“Y/N, I am so pleased to see that you’ve arrived safe and sound. I hope the trip was good.” Esmeralda said as she pulled you into a quick hug.

You smiled back at her when she pulled away. “I’m grateful to be here. Thank you for considering me for this position.” You replied.

Esmeralda clapped her hands together. “Well, let’s get you settled in, my dear. Alcina’s expecting you to join us for dinner and I know she’ll be just delighted to see you.” Esmeralda turned on her heels and heading up the stairs, you trailed behind her with your luggage.

“Oh, I was just going to ask if I was meeting Alcina tonight, Esmeralda. It’s like you read my mind.” You said with a small laugh.

Esmeralda turned abruptly, a stern look on her face. “You will refer to the Lady as Lady Dimitrescu, Mistress, or My Lady. And you will refer to me as those last two titles and Lady Bucur, understand?” Esmeralda asked.

You nodded your head. “I understand, My Lady, I apologise.” You replied.

Esmeralda huffed, but continued the trek to your chambers. “You’ll be residing in the room across from Alcina’s since you are her personal handmaiden. You’ll find the rules and your daily tasks when you enter. See that you memorise what is expected of you and if you fail to obey them then myself or Alcina will punish you as we see fit. Understand?” You nodded your head again. “Good. Now, wash yourself up, I’ll send a maid up to escort you down when dinner is ready.”

“Thank you, My Lady.” You replied quietly before heading into your room and closing the door. You put your luggage by the door and then plopped onto the bed. You let out a small sigh, staring at the wall for a moment before pushing yourself up to get ready. You roamed around the room that you were given as you waited for the maid Esme- Lady Bucur said she’d send up for you when you heard a soft knock. “Come in.” You said.

“I was sent up by Lady Bucur to escort you downstairs.” The girl said. You gave her a small nod and soft smile. “My name’s Alexandra, I’m Lady Bucur’s personal handmaiden.” Alexandra said.

“A pleasure to meet you.” You replied. You noticed her staring at something. “Is something wrong?” You asked.

“Your wrists. You should cover them up, the Lady’s won’t appreciate what you have on them.” You looked down at the A and D on your right wrist and the E and B on your left. “If the Lady’s were to see that you have their initials on your wrists, they won’t take kindly to you, Y/N.” You nodded your head and found your wrist bracelets that you usually wore to cover the initials up. “Much better. Come along, they don’t take kindly to tardiness either.”

You followed after her. You hadn’t put two and two together that the initials on your wrists belonged to the two Head Lady’s of the Castle. So, which one was your soulmate, and which one was your enemy? You asked yourself.

“Oh, it seems we’ve arrived a tad bit earlier than everyone. You’re more than welcome to sit at the table, on Lady Dimitrescu’s left side of course.” Alexandra said, gesturing to a chair. “I will see if dinner will be out soon.” She gave you a smile before disappearing. You sat in silence until you heard voices.

“Alcina, what an absolute fuck up you are. I gave you one simple task and you couldn’t even do it right!” Esmeralda exclaimed; you’d know her voice anywhere. You felt a little awkward being able to hear her. You heard a resounding sound and then a small whimper, presumably from Lady Dimitrescu. “You will do it over and over again until you get it right, but we’ve a guest tonight so straighten yourself up.” Esmeralda said before entering the dining area. “Oh, Y/N, you’re here! Where’s Alexandra?”

“She went to go check on dinner, My Lady.” You replied. Esmeralda hummed as she sat down in the chair closest to the door as Lady Dimitrescu came into the room. You stood up. “My Lady, a pleasure to meet you.” You bowed your head a bit.

Lady Dimitrescu smiled. “Well, you’re a charming one, I see.” Lady Dimitrescu said. “Please, sit, you’re our guest, no need for formalities right now, draga mea.” You nodded your head but didn’t sit down instead you pulled out Lady Dimitrescu’s chair. “Oh, I see my love didn’t inform you that your duties won’t start for a few more days.”

You flushed. “Oh, no, I wasn’t aware. Apologies, My Lady.” You said before taking your own seat. You could feel Lady Bucur’s eyes on you, but you didn’t dare look at her.

“Alcina, where are your daughters? You know how I am about them being late for dinner.” Esmeralda said to break the silence in the room.

“They’re not here. I told you that they were going to Heisenberg’s.” Lady Dimitrescu replied.

The three of you fell into an awkward silence once more until you heard the door open and the clattering of plates. You thanked the servant that served you your food. The three of you ate in that awkward silence that fell over the table until you heard someone clear their throat.

“I will be in my chambers if you need me.” Lady Bucur said as she stood up from the table. “Alexandra! My chambers. Now!” Lady Bucur shouted at the handmaiden who quickly appeared by her side to follow her upstairs.

You set your fork down, feeling rather full yourself. You turned your gaze to look up Lady Dimitrescu who was staring back at you. “I, um, how are you, My Lady?” You asked. She raised her eyebrow at the question. “I heard a, um, noise before the two of you came in.” You said quietly.

She hummed. “I’m quite alright, darling, I can take care of myself.” She replied quite defensively. “I’m sorry, Y/N. Thank you for asking.” She stood up from her chair. “I should head up to my own chambers. I bid you goodnight, draga mea.” The Lady gave you the biggest smile she could muster before taking her leave, leaving you at the table by yourself.

You waited until you could no longer hear her heels before getting up from the table yourself and gathering the plates and glasses from the table to bring them to the kitchen. You knew you didn’t start your work for a few more days, but you decided to wash the dishes before heading upstairs. You noticed the door to Lady Dimitrescu’s room was cracked open a bit and decided that you’d knock on the door once you readied yourself for bed if it was still cracked open. The door wasn’t cracked anymore when you went back out, but you still knocked and waited for a reply.

“Y/N, what are you doing?” You jumped at the question to see the Lady you’d been waiting on behind you. “Apologies, little one, how may I help you?” Lady Dimitrescu asked.

You scratched the back of your head. “I, um, I, well, you see…” You trailed off and she gave you an amusing smile. “Oh, I wanted to thank you for this job, My Lady.” You said.

“You’re welcome, dear. Is that all?” She asked. You nodded your head. “Well then, you’d better be off to sleep. Wouldn’t want you out and about in the halls when it’s dark.” Lady Dimitrescu said. As she grabbed your hand. “What’s this?”

“Um, it’s nothing.” You replied. She raised her eyebrows and you let out a sigh. “They’re initials. Something about one wrist having the ones of my enemy and the other one has my soulmates.” You explained. Lady Dimitrescu hummed. “And the just so happen to be yours and Lady Bucur’s initials.”

“Most interesting, my dear. And dare I ask which one I am? Your soulmate or your enemy?” You opened your mouth to say something, but no words came out. The Lady chuckled to herself. “Choose wisely, draga mea, your choice could cost you dearly. Good night.” Lady Dimitrescu said as she opened the room to her door and closed it.

You entered your own room and closed the door softly, leaning and sliding down it. How were you supposed to know if which of the Lady’s was your soulmate? Little did you know that Lady Dimitrescu had initials of her own, but she only had one pair, on the back of her neck. A pair of initials that just so happened to be yours.

#lady dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu x reader #lady dimitrescu x oc #resident evil #resident evil village #resident evil 8 #soulmate au

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aeonghaseyo · 3 years

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Around You

Summary: The actions of a street cat taught you to shoot your shot and approach the older Kambal. But it didn't necessarily mean you had to change into a cat yourself to get his attention. ...right?

Word Count: 1459 AO3 link

Relationships: Crispin x CatSigbin!Reader Category: F/M Characters: Manang Muning, Crispin, Basilio Languages used: English, Tagalog Author's Note: I saw @adarlingwrites's sigbin OC in her Tumblr and I thought, why not write a fic with a cat sigbin reader? And here we are. 'Sup Crispin simps, I dedicate this to you. I hc that he's fond of cats, but that will have to wait until the next chapter. Enjoy! Inspired by the song Around You by LOONA Hyunjin

Chapter 1

“Halika dito anak, kumain ka muna.”

Manang Muning’s hushed tone beckoning you to join her and the rest of her feline family for dinner gave you a sense of comfort amidst the turbulent feelings that stirred your being. Normally, someone like you, who thrive among the middle-class folk in Malate, would help themselves to a pint of ice cream just for love troubles. But then again, you couldn’t refuse freshly-cooked daing straight from the old woman herself, which was why you went to her stall that one peaceful evening.

Out of the need to seek comfort through food prepared by your favorite vendor by the church, you quickly wolfed down the pieces of smoked fish in your plate, of course trying not to ingest the spines that clung to the meat. It didn’t take long before Manang Muning noticed your troubled disposition mid-meal and placed a hand on your back soothingly.

“(Y/n), anak, parang nagdadalamhati ka yata,” she spoke, which got your heart fluttering in surprise.

After swallowing that one last bite of your meal, you turned to her and said, “Okay lang po ako Manang. Wala lang ‘tong iniisip ko.”

Another wave of surprise caught you on your toes when Manang Muning once again asked, “Tungkol ba ito kay Crispin?”

Eyes widened, you mustered a quick response that turned into yet another question, “P-paano niyo po nalaman?”

Your inquiry made the old woman laugh heartily while a tuxedo cat nearby sauntered towards her, nudging her forearm to ask for more pets. As she let the cat settle on her lap, Manang Muning finally replied, “Anak, malapit ang loob natin sa isa’t-isa. Tuwing nakikita ko ang paningin mo, parati kong nakikita ang pagmumukha ng lalaking yun. Mukhang sinusundan mo yata pagkatapos mong samahan ang aking mga pusa kapag malapit sila sa pinanggalingan nila ng munting Trese.”

You didn’t think that every time you would be in your cat form tailing after Alexandra Trese and her adoptive twin brothers, your beloved old friend would tap into your vision just to see how you were doing. It was apparent that you weren’t bound to make advances of your own towards the trio in black, especially the short-haired twin, and even in plain sight you weren’t much noticeable. After all, who would pay mind to a small house cat, let alone think that it had emotions of its own?

Your heart sinking within your chest, you let your head bow down and your eyes closed as you dwelled in your disappointment. Trusting in Manang Muning, you let out the woes that plagued you that involved you, Crispin, your habit of stalking him whenever he’s nearby, and how you couldn’t get yourself to approach him and let him know you exist.

A chuckle made its way through the old woman, then she wrapped her arm around you, squeezing the farthest arm of yours from her soothingly and began to impart advice of her own. “Anak, talagang hindi mo makukuha yung taong gusto mo kapag naghihinayang ka masyado. Talagang kailangan mo siyang lapitan para mapansin ka niya.”

It didn’t help that whenever Manang Muning would soothe you with advice of her own in such a comforting manner that your eyes would tear up automatically. As you heard her tranquil voice speaking to you, your eyes were glossed with tears which also somewhat accumulated on your lower eyelids.

So you inadvertently looked like the puppy eyes emoji in Facebook Messenger when you looked at her and said, “Di ko po alam kung paano.”

“Anak,” Manang Muning calmly chided as she stroked the tuxedo cat who was nestled on her lap, “tignan mong mabuti itong alaga ko. Kanina, gusto niyang haplusin siya kaya niya hiningi ‘to sa akin. Hinaplos ko siya at hanggang ngayo’y hinehele ko siya gamit ang haplos ko. Alam mo kung bakit nakuha niya ang haplos na gustong-gusto niya?”

You glanced both at the cat in question and looked back at the old woman. It was then that you realized what you could do to charm the demigod you were yearning for.

---

From the way you held your ice cream cup as you feasted on the frozen dairy treat, you were nervous as hell, and it was very telling. You could have sworn that your ice cream permanently rendered your hands akin to popsicles as you stared at the dessert on your non-dominant hand. You knew what to do the next time you encounter Crispin, but how would you pull it off smoothly?

Remembering that one night when Manang Muning imparted a valuable lesson to you to limit your hesitations and shoot your shot with the demigod, you knew very well that she meant to tell you to just approach him. It didn’t mean she recommended you to change into your cat form and get his attention the way that other cat did to your beloved manang. But then again, it was your idea. You told her you were going to get Crispin’s attention as a cat. Everyone loves cats right? Besides, it was better than stalking your object of adoration from the alleys and in plain sight, even just as a regular house cat. (Or street cat? Technically, you did have a home.) Love really makes you come up with stupid ideas for sure.

Speak of the devil.

The demigod twins were right at your proximity, and you could tell from the ringing of the entrance door which revealed the both of them entering the premises. Basilio, the younger, long-haired twin, was chattering away while Crispin seemingly paid no mind to him. It seemed strange, however, that their Bossing was not with them. It didn’t take long for you to notice that you were staring at them as the older twin glanced at you for a moment, prompting you to look away and finish your ice cream. What you failed to see next was him smirking to himself before he went to the food aisle.

Your thoughts plagued you as you paused and stared at your now empty cup.

‘God, I can’t believe that shameless idea came to mind. If this backfires I’ll never find love again. Why is this so hard?!’

The stress that accompanied your thought made you unknowingly snap your tiny spoon in two with one hand. It did not help that since the twins were nearby, the sound was enough to make them notice, so their heads immediately turned to where you sat.

“Yikes, the spoon did nothing wrong,” said Basilio in a joking manner as he got a bag of chips from the display rack.

Clearing your throat, you muttered a "sorry" as you got up from where you were and walked to the cashier with your wallet in one hand, wishing to buy another cup of ice cream to calm yourself down. You immediately asked the cashier to serve you that same flavor of ice cream that you loved so much, but as you fished through your wallet for a smaller bill, you noticed that all you had was a 1000-peso bill. As soon as the young man behind the cash register handed you the frozen treat, you blurted out, "I'm sorry, I don't have a smaller bill, do you have change for 1000 pesos?"

The cashier, checking the cash register for enough money for your change, grimaced slightly as he said, "Sorry ma'am, we don't have enough change for that."

Your heart sank all the more as you realized you technically had nothing to pay with, but all of a sudden, you felt as if that heart of yours was caught and gently lifted up as someone handed the cashier the exact amount of money you were supposed to pay the him. You looked closely at the arm and the man it belonged to, and your heart skipped a beat as you noticed that it was actually Crispin who handed the money.

A blush formed on your cheeks as you thanked him for the treat. "I-I have to repay you that same amount next time, don't I?"

Crispin winked at you and replied, "Of course not. Unless you wanna see me again. Now go enjoy your ice cream before it melts."

That smooth motherfucker.

'Jokes on you. I'm the one who's melting, not the ice cream.'

You walked back to that same table you sat by, savoring your first small scoops of ice cream with a new spoon as you glanced back at your crush and his twin brother. By the looks of it, the younger twin seemed to be teasing his kuya, nudging him a few times with a shit-eating grin on his face. Maybe you finally got through to Crispin?

Now you began to second-guess turning into a cat to get his attention.

#trese on netflix #trese comics #trese fanfiction #reader insert #trese x reader #crispin x reader #crispin trese #basilio trese

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ray-ray-writings · 5 years

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Wizards of Waverly Place-You’re Alex’s Tomboy Twin

This was a request from someone on Wattpad. They asked me to write a preference where you are Alex’s tomboy twin and you play a prank on her. For revenge, Alex casts a spell to make you look and act like a girly girl. The twin’s name is Liz, but feel free to imagine it as your own name or something else!

Find my Masterlist here!

*This gif doesn’t have to do with anything. I just love it*

Background:

I smirked as I heard Alex shriek out my name. I gave it a few moments before I waltzed out to see her mouth blue. “Hey sis. Why so blue huh?” I asked laughter lacing my voice. “Liz what the heck did you do?!” She shrieked. “Why do you always assume it was me. Maybe it was Max that put blue dye in your toothpaste.” Alex glared at me. “I never mentioned toothpaste or brushing my teeth you idiot.” My eyes widened slightly at my slip but shrugged it off. “Oops. Hey, at least now you won’t have to eat Skittles to taste the rainbow…. At least part of it.” Alex just kept glaring at me, before pulling her wand out. Now I was really starting to get nervous. “Alex, my twin, my favorite sibling ever, let’s think about this for a moment. It was only a little bit of dye it will be gone in no time. A little dye isn’t a good reason to cause me to die.” I said, my laughter now only nervous. Alex smirked evilly at me. “Oh no Elizabeth, I’m going to do something that in your eye is worse than death.” I felt my heart beating super fast. “What is that?” Alex twirled her wand and began to chant, “A tomboy is what you call yourself I guess, but now it’s time for girly girl to take over your look, talk, and dress.” As if it were even possible, my eyes widened, “Alex NO!” But I was too late, the magic hit me and I could feel myself transforming. Something was bubbling over me. Makeup brushes came flying from upstairs and started beating on my face. Pink clothes ambushed me. And the last thing I saw before it all went black was my sister’s smug face.

Alex: *Alex’s POV* I was very proud of my prank in response to her prank. Liz prides herself on being a tomboy and not following all the trends normal girls do, such as wearing makeup and ‘girly’ clothes. But now with this spell, she’s going to look, act and dress like a ‘girly girl’ until I decide I’ve had enough. The clothes flew upstairs, I assume toward her room, and the makeup brushes flew away from her face and she looked so different. Had I not watched the makeup and clothes surround her, I would have no idea that was my fraternal twin sister. Liz rushed over to the mirror and gasped. At first I thought that the act part hadn’t gone through, but I was proven wrong when she whipped around with a grin on her face. “I look amazing! Thank you Alex!” Liz gushed, rushing toward me and wrapping my in a great big hug. I was shocked at the contact, nevertheless, I hugged her back. “Anytime Liz.” I chuckled out. Liz pulled away from the hug and gasped. “Let’s go shopping.” I smirked and wrapped my arm through hers, “Let’s.” Together we walked down the stairs and out of the sub station.

The two of us went to the mall and hit up a bunch of different stores. The Liz I experienced today was one I’d never thought I’d get to see, and I honestly loved it. Don’t get me wrong, I love and respect my tomboy sister, it’s just nice to have someone that will willing let you dress them up in as many outfits as you want. “I’m having so much fun” Liz exclaimed as we waltzed out of the store, bags of new outfits lining our arms. “Me too!” I chimed, grinning ear to ear. Liz checked her watch and sighed, “We should probably be getting back home.” I looked over at her watch and saw that she was right. “Yeah” The two of us linked arms as best we could with all our bags and skipped back home.

We arrived to the sub station and stopped at the doors. “Liz, I know you’re going to hate me once this spell is broken, but I had a lot of fun today.” Liz tilted her head in confusion, “Spell. What spell.” I shook my head and shushed her. “Nothing.” Liz shrugged and we both turned toward the door and entered the sub shop.

Justin and Max: *Justin’s POV* The door to the sub shop opened and in walked my little sisters, Alex and Elizabeth. Only Liz did NOT look like Liz. “Woah. Something’s different about Liz.” Max said from beside me. I rolled my eyes, “Yeah. She’s wearing pink and her face is caked with makeup.” Max furrowed his brow, shook his head and placed his index finger on his chin. “No, That’s not it.”

I rolled my eyes and turned toward the door. I watched as Alex took the bags from Liz’s arms and motioned over to us. Liz looked over and her eyes lit up. The younger of the twins all but sprinted over to where the two of us were and she threw her arms around us. “My favorite brothers! How are you?!” The girl asked in a slightly preppy tone, completely unlike her. “We’re fine,” I answered tangling myself from her. “How are you? Are you feeling okay?” I asked, placing my hand on her forehead to check for a fever. Liz giggled and swatted my hand away, “Never better! Alex and I went to the mall and bought a bunch of outfits.” I raised my eyebrow at her words. The real Liz would never go shopping willingly, let alone at the mall. “Right.” I said trailing off looking over at Max. The younger boy snapped his fingers and pointed at Liz, “That’s it! I’ve figured it out! Liz is wearing pink and wearing makeup!” I rolled my eyes at Max, “Yeah. I know. I said that already.” Max looked at me disbelieving. “Nah, I’m pretty sure I came up with that on my own.”

I looked away from Max and caught sight of Liz’s furrowed face, “What do you mean different? This is how I look everyday.” I was about to answer when Alex rushed over and grabbed Liz’s shoulder. “Liz hey, I need your help upstairs. Our closet needs to be reorganized because of all of the clothes we bought today.” Liz’s face unfurrowed and she smiled. “Okay.” She chirped and skipped over to the stairs, completely forgetting our conversation. “Alex what the heck did you do?” I asked. Alex smirked, “Just a little payback for a prank she pulled on me,” Max let out a little laugh but I crossed my arms in disapproval, “Don’t you think that’s a little far?” I questioned her. Alex shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, “There are worse things I could do. Besides, I have a reversal spell already planned out. I’m just going to wait until the end of the day, then she’ll be back to normal.” I sighed, “Okay fine. Just don’t forget to switch her back.” Alex waved her hand, “Yeah yeah.” She walked away from us and upstairs.

I looked over to Max, “Can you believe this?” I asked. Max shrugged, “I think it’s funny. We’ve never seen Liz like this. What’s the harm?” “The harm is, that if we’re not careful she’ll kill all of us when she comes back to her normal self.” “Huh,” Max began thoughtfully, “I didn’t think about that. We’re screwed.” “Only if we tell her that we knew. I say we don’t mention it at all.” Max shrugged at my suggestion. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Theresa and Jerry: *Jerry’s POV*: I rubbed my hands in excitement as Theresa and I walked downstairs into the kitchen, “Pudding time!” I exclaimed as opened the fridge and grabbed a chocolate pudding. I closed the fridge and made my way past my wife, who was cooking dinner, to grab a spoon. “Really Jerry?” Theresa exclaimed, pointing a spatula at me. “What?” I asked with a mouthful of pudding. Theresa rolled her eyes and went back to the hot pan in front of her. “I’m making dinner right now. You couldn’t have waited for 10 more minutes?” She asked incredulously. I looked at her like a deer caught in the headlights. “No. When you want a pudding, you gotta get a pudding. You can’t put it off.” My wife rolled her eyes again and opened her mouth.

But before she could get any words out the call of one of the twins cut her off. “Hi Momma. Hey Daddy.” We both turned toward the stairs and there was Liz. Wait a minute. “Liz?” I asked, moving toward her after setting my pudding down. “Is that you.” the girl giggled, giggled my Liz doesn’t giggle, she chuckles, snorts and laughs. She doesn’t giggle. “Of course it’s me daddy? Who else would it be?” The pink imposter giggled again. Theresa walked over to where I was standing. “Liz, did someone put you up to this? If so blink twice.” Liz rolled her eyes. “Why is everyone being so weird today? This is how I’ve always been and you guys are acting as if I’ve had a big shift.” Theresa and I turned and stared at each other.

Just then the answer came walking up the stairs. “Alright Liz, you ready.” Alex said to her twin. Liz turned to her and smiled, “Yep!” The two turned to walk upstairs. “Alexandra Margarita Russo.” Theresa said firmly. Her words caused the two girls to turn around. “Explain now.” Alex gave a nervous smile. “Liz, go upstairs and I’ll be up in a bit.” Liz nodded and jogged away. “Okay. Liz pranked me this morning by putting blue dye on my toothbrush and in retaliation I made up a spell that turned her into a girly girl until I turn her back to normal.” Alex spilled. “Alex!” The two of us exclaimed together. “You know I don’t like you using magic! Let alone on your sister!” Theresa exclaimed. “It’s perfectly safe and I know the reversal spell. She’ll be back to normal. It’s completely harmless.” Alex stated rolling her eyes.

Theresa and I were just plain baffled. I couldn’t think of anything other than, “You better turn her back.” Alex rolled her eyes again, “I will. As much as I love girly girl Liz, I miss the tomboy Liz.” Alex turned and jogged upstairs. “I can’t believe her” Theresa said going back to making dinner. I shrugged, “You gotta admit it’s a pretty funny prank.” Theresa glared at me, “Yes but you know she’s going to kill all of us when she gets switched back.” “You right.”

Ending:

Alex’s POV: After re-organizing our closet, Liz and I made our way downstairs for dinner. By the time we got to the bottom of the stairs, I decided that I would switch Liz back to her normal tomboy self. “Smells amazing momma.” Liz chimed to our mom. “Thank you Liz.” Mom said as she set the dish down on the table. Justin and Max sat with dad around the table, waiting for us. “Come on. Sit down.” Mom said sitting down herself. Liz moved to sit but I grabbed her arm.

“Hey, what are you doing?” She asked. “Just hold on for a second.” I told her while grabbing my wand out of my boot. “Alex what are you doing?” Liz questioned. I ignored her and began to speak. “I’ve had my fun, but now I’m done. Bring back the daughter that acts and dresses like a son.” (Sorry about that, I couldn’t think of anything else.).

Just like before, a bunch of clothes came flying at Liz’s face. Makeup remover wipes remove any trace of makeup and the clothes changed her outfit. When the frenzy subsided, there stood the Liz we all knew and loved, that everyone let out a collective sigh of relief at the sight of her.“Thank the Lord.” Justin exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

Liz looked around with wide eyes before they landed on me, “What the hell just happened?” She questioned. “Well, you see, as revenge for putting blue dye in my toothbrush, I created a spell that made you act like a girly girl all day until just now.” I explained. Everyone held their breath as Liz stared at me.

After a while, Liz let out a chuckle. “You know, I really should be mad but that’s pretty good.” Everyone let out another breath and laughed along with her. Slowly everyone stopped laughing and the two of us sat down for dinner. The six of us had a nice dinner just talking about the day and how weird it was to see Liz as a girly girl.

After we were all done and clearing the table. Everything was cleaned up and Liz began to make her way upstairs to change into sweats, “Oh and Alex?” Liz called from the first step. I turned around on the couch and looked at her. “Yeah Liz?” Liz’s sweet smile changed into a devilish smirk, “It really was a good prank, but you better watch your back.”

And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed and if you did enjoy, please don’t forget to like and maybe reblog! Requests are open!

#wizards #wizards of waverly place #wizards of waverly place imagine #alex russo #justin russo #max russo #magic #disney #disney channel #disney channel imagines #disney imagines #twin #prank #preference #wizard preference #wizards of waverly place preference #WOWP preferences #WOWP imagine #ray-ray-writings

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swearwolf-writes · 4 years

Text

The Paradox - Previously...

991 AD

"Jemima get back here!" The young mother yelled at her second youngest to get back in line. "Come on love, be a lady-" "But I'm only 10; why do I have to-" Short hair obscured her vision, green eyes glaring moodily at the ground in front of her boots. "Because she said so. Listen to your mum Jemmie." Her father ruffled her chestnut hair, smiling kindly. "We've got to show these people that we can live with them and cause no problems, eh?" He leaned down with a twinkle in his eyes, "after they let us in we can be annoying, hmm?" He winked, making his children giggle and his wife lightly cuff him on the arm. "Erik-" The young lady glared playfully at her husband, shaking her head a little. "Mary." He smiles cheekily in return.

"Are we there yet?" A soft voice spoke up from behind the married couple. "Not yet Alley Cat," Edmund Erikson, the eldest of the four children, replied, "but we should be there soon", he added with a soft smile at the youngest of his siblings. Alice Erikson shuffled alongside her parents, the seven year old being the apple of everyone's eye, as she hummed a tune in boredom.

The group arrived abruptly, the site of the town not fifty paces from them seeming daunting. "Here already? We should be another ten minutes or so to my reckoning." Edmund rolled his eyes at his sister. If he continues at the rate he rolls his eyes, they'll fall out of his head. "Don't try to act so smart Jemima Alexandra. Mother and Father took a short cut and we all just followed along." "He's right. This is definitely the place." He looked at her, gratified that one of his sisters wasn't arguing with him. "Thank you Fran," he said, pointedly staring at the youngest twin. "Oh! So she's Fran and I'm Jemima Alexandra?" she huffs, hands on her hips, "and you Francesca Elizabeth Erikson, what happened to twin solidarity?" She pouted. The eldest of the arguing three simply sighed and looked up to the skies and heavens as if asking God 'What did I do to deserve this?'. "Fine Jemima." "I think you mean Jem." "Fine Jem." He rolled his eyes once more, making the younger giggle and run next to her sister, linking their arms. "Honestly that was betrayal." "Was not." "Was too." "Was n-"

"They're funny.", a small voice whispered, a smile slipping on the little girl's face.

Unbeknownst to the new family who were absorbed in each other's conversations, they were being watched from within the town borders, now not twenty paces from them.

A man stood there: tall with cruel eyes and a harsh smile. He scoffed, "yes. Very amusing: children squabbling." "Mikael,", a woman's voice sounded, "they're just children and new to this environment. They were simply arguing as children do. It does not do to scold them in such a manner when we know not their names nor their reason for being here."

The Eriksons looked in the direction of the voices and saw them all standing there, listening to the woman's words.

She was a pretty lady, dressed in the traditional pale green of heretics of England. A witch. Like them.

The couple were surrounded by five children, four boys and a girl.

The eldest was maybe a year older than the eldest Erikson child with the pale eyes of his father and dark hair like the bark of an old tree.

Next to him was a boy roughly the same age as Edmund, a friendly smile on his face as brown eyes welcomed the family from behind a curtain of dark untamed hair. His hand rested on a blond boy's shoulder, a shy smile on his lips as he fiddled with a small lump of what appeared to be wood. His pale eyes glanced over the new people's faces before moving back down to study that which was in hands.

The youngest boy smiled brightly, a mischievous grin spread across his face as dark eyes twinkled at them, a short nod in greeting sent in their direction, brown hair bobbing in the mild breeze of early autumn. He appeared to be around the twins' age.

The youngest, the girl who spoke up earlier, brushed her pale hair from her eyes, a sweet smile dressing her face, her age almost aligning with Alice's.

"Apologies." He spoke up, this time directing himself towards the new family. "How about we start again, hmm?", Mikael spoke. "I am Mikael. This is my wife Esther." He gestured to the witch by his side. "And these are my children: Finn," the eldest, "Elijah," the boy the same age as Ed, "Niklaus," the fair haired boy, "Kol," the child the same age as Jem and Fran, "and Rebekah.", the girl of roughly Alice's age.

The children smiled curiously at each other while further greetings were exchanged between the adults.

Upon realising who the family were, Esther smiled sympathetically. "The travel over from the Angles must not have been easy." Esther said, hugging Mary loosely, "welcome to Mystic Falls."

The children looked at one another and waved hello, Elijah amiably striking up a conversation with Finn and Edmund as Rebekah introduced the girls to herself, Kol and Niklaus. They had a feeling they were going to be fast friends.

1001 AD

They were right. From that day on they were thick as thieves, together through thick and thin for a decade. When anyone received any beatings (more often than not Niklaus) they would comfort each other. When the youngest Mikaelson, Henrik, was born, they all helped to looked after him. When they left their childhoods behind, they all celebrated together. It was how they were and how they wished always to be.

----------

On this particular night, the Erikson twins were sound asleep in their homes, when a scream tore away the silence. They woke with a start, worried beyond compare as they left the hut and set off towards were the noise had come from.

There was already a small crowd gathered, their whispers muffling the loud sobbing coming the centre. They pushed their way through the people and stopped abruptly, the sight knocking the breath from their lungs. Niklaus. He cradled a small body that hung in his arms, still and unmoving. Henrik. A sob escaped them as they held on to each other, stumbling back and bumping into Edmund who was on patrol. The two were covered in crimson, the flames of the torches illumating the true colour of the liquid as the rest laid black on the ground in the moonlight. The Mikaelsons ran past the siblings, mere seconds after their own arrival. Their lips moved and formed words, cries for their fallen one, but Jemima could hear nothing. Silent tears streamed down her face as she held her sobbing sister, for Henrik, the sweetest little boy in all of Mystic Falls, was gone.

----------

Over the next year, Esther had become withdrawn from the loss her child, frequently working till the early hours on a mysterious project the other witches knew only mere elements of, the whole picture becoming no clearer as the days went by. Except one day, everything was perfectly clear. Who were witches to say no such an proposition? If Esther was right, and her equations made perfect sense, they could grant eternal youth along with endowments of strength and speed to whomever they wished. Esther laid down her terms: the spell would be tested on the Erikson children first to ensure it was safe (without the concent of their mother who was to be kept naive about the situation) and then it would be bestowed upon her children and husband. If things went wrong with the Eriksons then her children would remain unscathed and it could all be written off as a tragic accident - if all went well, her family would have an eternity to spend together with those they love.

Things however don't always go exactly to plan.

The spell worked and it was a success - to a degree.

All that was expected occurred and more. All magic comes with a cost and apparently theirs was to be the loss of true humanity. They could no longer walk in the sun or bask in its warmth; some herbs burnt them; a weapon made of the wood from a white oak tree could kill them - immortality it seemed did not also include invulnerability. Worst of all was that in order to survive they would have to feed of the blood of the living. The hunger they felt was indescribable. As if that was not enough, they also looked different should their inhuman tendencies get the better of them. If their blood lust overcame then for even a moment, their eyes because dark, red veins surrounding the eye, with sharp, fang-like canines protruding from their gums. Even that which they were born with they lost - Finn, Kol, Francesca, Jemima and Alice all appeared to lose their ability to do magic.

The town feared them.

They were known as abominations.

Esther turned them into monsters. She turned them into vampires.

----------

Jemima was sat on her bed, avoiding both the sun, upon Rebekah's advise, and the other villagers when a loud knock on the door interrupted her train of thought. Kol's voice rang though the door, "Jemma, I have a gift for you which you will only get once you open this door." She said nothing, only rolled her eyes at his words, thinking back to the last time he had a 'gift'. He bribed her with a sugar sweet only to sling her over his shoulder and throw her in the lake. "Look," he sighed. "You and I both know I can come in whenever I want but, being the benevolent person I am, I will not. Please just open the door." She had kept quiet for long enough. "Why should I? Because you have a gift? The last gift I was given took my humanity from me - from us. We can no longer do magic or have children or walk in the sun or-" He walked in, cutting her off by hugging her tight."Some things are easier to fix than others." They broke from their embrace. "Now," he said, wiping away her tears, "I wasn't lying when I said I had a gift." He produced a ring, set with a sparkling blue stone engraved with the Erikson family crest. "Our rivalry to the sun was fixed by a simple daylight ring - a ring fit with an enchanted stone, the enchantment an adaptation of werewolves' moonlight ring spells." He explained, gently lifting her right hand and slipping the ring onto her finger. "There we go. Fits like a glove." He smiled and pat her hand. "As for the magic - I can't change much on that but maybe you can; you always were different." "You mean wrong." "I mean different." "All I could do was steal magic - I never had any of my own, not truly." A fact she was bitterly reminded of every time she attended her magic classes. "Well therefore you can't lost what you never had and your siphoning is a skill so try it on me. We were reborn by magic so it should work-" Kol babbled on about the details as he did when I came to magic, not noticing her other hand resting upon his. She closed her eyes and took a short breath, the two of them gasping in shock as she slowly siphoned off some of his magic. She lifted her hand into the air and breathed out a quiet spell. All of a sudden a small spark linked at her palm, growing in size and brightness till a ball of fire hovered in the air, its flames dancing in the air before slowly blinking out.

They sat in silence for a moment, in shock of everything. "My brilliant paradox." He smiled but his expression quickly became grave and fearful. "Look we don't have much time now. Father found out Mother had an affair with a werewolf and forced Mother to curse Nik with a suppression of his werewolf side before he killed her. We believe Mikael wishes to kill us too so we are running away from here; to where? - even we don't know. Nik has gone to give Fran her ring and Rebekah to Ed and Elijah to Alice. After saying our goodbyes we are to find Finn and leave for good." "You're all leaving us?" Kol looked at her as if she was insane. "My mother is dead, my father murdered her and is now trying to kill us and that was all that you got? That we're leaving? Woman you need to get your priorities sorted out." he stated, shaking his head at her. Tears sprung to her eyes as she wrung her wrists. "You're my best friend you numbskull, even closer to me than Rebekah believe it or not and I will always be upset when you leave us.", she explained, pulling the boy into a hug, "will you ever return?" "Maybe one day we will however I must leave soon my dear paradox but remember that we'll find you all again someday."

They sat in silence in each other's embrace, tense as they listened for the other Mikaelsons, stealing as much time as they could before the friends would be torn apart.

"Are they really doing a bloody sibling pact without two of their siblings-?" Kol muttered humorously, his eyes however tired and hurt. "Is that Eli?" Jem mumbled back, trying to discern whose voice it was. "With Niklaus and Rebekah," he confirmed sitting up properly. "I can hear them calling for me: I've got to go now. Goodbye Jemmie." he said, kissing her forehead before leaving her home and Mystic Fall with the rest of her family for around a millennium.

#insert fic #oc insert #oc - Jemima Erikson #my works #fics - the paradox #the vampire diaries #the originals #the vampire diaries fanfic #the originals fanfic #tvd fanfic #Elijah Mikaelson #Finn Mikaelson #Klaus Mikaelson #Kol Mikaelson #Rebekah Mikaelson

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fuckyeahalexjo · 5 years

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Hey, I've been stuck with this idea since a watched the last episode, could you please write a fic where Alexandra is in a car accident on Seattle and the family ends up at the hospital where Vicki begs Jo to save her sister and the family learns about Jo's existence?

A crowd had gathered outside in the ambulance bay with available staff gowning for the incoming trauma. Jo rolled her shoulders as she listened to Teddy explain the situation after a passenger van with UW students had collided with a transfer truck. She could sense Alex’s worried expression before she even glanced his way, “What?”

He shrugged casually, “Nothin’. Was just about to ask how your day was going.”

“Seriously? How does it look like it’s going?”

Alex cringed slightly, but still sported a small smirk, “Good point.” He then turned more fully towards her, “But really, how are you feeling? Kind of a rush for your first day back on rotation.”

“Sure as hell beats staying exclusively in the lab one more day.” She looked at him lovingly, “I promise I’m fine. I’m glad I eased back into working, but now I’m ready to get back into the meat of things….so to speak.”

“Well Karev, looks like you’ll get your wish,” Bailey directed towards her as the paramedic wheeled a gurney in her direction. “Possible abdominal and head injuries with multiple lacerations. Trauma 3.”

“I can give a hand….,” Alex started only to be cut off by Bailey.

“Did I say Karevs with an S, Trauma 3. No I said one Karev. We need you on the next one coming in.”

Jo shook her head at her husband as she walked in while trying to suppress her laughter, “I’ll be fine.”

In the trauma room, she quickly checked for abdominal injuries by ultrasound as Amelia assessed the patient’s head injury. After she was left alone with the patient, Jo made quick work of suturing the various cuts on the patient’s legs and head. She was just finishing the last calf wound when the door banged open, “Alexandra?”

Jo looked up in horror upon recognizing the voice and slowly stood from the stool she had been perched on, “Wha-“

“What’s wrong with her? Is she going to be okay?”

Jo took a breath to calm herself, wanting desperately to keep her wits about her, “She will be. She was alert at the scene, but was given medicine to help calm her which has made her sleep. She needs a CT to rule out a brain bleed but the neurosurgeon believes it may just be a bad concussion.” Jo could feel her mother’s eyes on her and could sense that her mouth was agape, but she ignored that to finish her assessment, “She does have an abdominal wound that will need surgery, but it’s not an immediate emergency, just something that will need to be done today. She had multiple lacerations, but those are stitched up. She appears to have a broken wrist, which will be x-rayed when she goes to CT.” Jo bit her bottom lip as she mustered the courage to look up, “Do you have any questions for me?”

Her mother continued to look at her in amazement, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly, “I…”

“Don’t worry, another surgeon will take over. I didn’t….none of the students had ID from what I was told and I never would have imagined….”

“No, I know.” Vicky pulled a stool up to the bedside and took her daughter’s hand, “It was a tour for the incoming freshman. They uh…had a parent’s orientation at the same time so I held onto her purse since they were going to be walking around campus for a while so she only had her cell phone. Josh, my…., well he was already bored yesterday so my husband, Daniel, he took him out of the city to hike somewhere.” She held her cell phone up, “Apparently somewhere out of service.”

“We can keep trying for you if you’d like.”

“You know, I’ve worried. Ever since she decided she wanted to go to school on the west coast, I have worried about what all could go wrong.” She looked up with tears in her eyes, “I don’t have to explain to you why, you’re one of the very few people on the planet who would understand why but I couldn’t tell her. And I couldn’t stop her, I mean, she’s just like me. I traveled halfway across the country to go to college myself so in her mind, I should understand.” Vicky shook her head ruefully, “I ran through every horrible scenario in my head, but never did I anticipate wrecking at orientation to be one of them. Please, you have to make sure she’s okay. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if…please make sure she’s okay.”

Jo tried to speak, but found herself unable to. Her phone broke the silence and she looked up with a small smile, “CT is ready for her. I’ll….I’ll show you where you can wait.”

Jo made sure Vicky was settled before rushing to CT, learning the good news that the head injury would just need to be monitored to make sure it did not bleed further. Jo escorted Alexandra to x-ray, feeling responsible for her biological sister in ways she was not expecting. Now that she understood the connection, Jo found herself almost in a trance staring at her younger sibling, suddenly focusing on how much they seemed to have in common, from the shape of their eyebrows to their stubby thumbs. While in the abdominal CT, Alex rushed up behind her, grabbing her by the hips, “Hey. I heard you had an abdominal wound I need to take.”

Jo nodded quickly, “Yep.”

Alex looked at the scans with his eyebrows slowly arching in question, “Jo, what’s up? You’d be able to do this in your sleep and it’s not a pediatric case.”

“I know.” When he continued to look at her, unable to drop the subject, she took a deep breath and let it out with her eyes closed, “She’s my sister, so I can’t be her surgeon.”

Alex looked at her in bewilderment, “Your what? How?” When she looked at him incredulously, he rolled his eyes, “Why is she here? For you?”

“No, she apparently wants to attend UW in the fall. According to her mother anyway.” She cut her eyes down at him, “What?”

“You’re not okay.”

“Which is why I’m handing this off.” She then muttered more to herself than anything, “Should’ve stayed in the stupid lab.”

Alex stood and rubbed her shoulders, “Let me hand this off to Webber.” When she started to protest, he shrugged, “I can’t operate on my sister-in-law anyway.”

Jo was about to respond when she noticed movement from the gurney, “She’s awake.” Jo rushed in and rubbed her hand over her sister’s, “Alexandra? Hey, I’m Dr. Karev, you were in a car accident and need surgery, but you’re going to be okay.”

The younger girl’s voice broke as she tried to hold in her fear, “My mom?”

Jo gave a sad smile, “She’s here, in the waiting room. Probably anxious for an update by now.”

“She’s probably going insane.”

Jo looked up to see Link and Webber walk in, who both explained the procedure she would be having. When they were done, Jo looked back at Alexandra, “Do you have any questions?” When the younger girl shook her head no, Jo smiled softly, “Okay, I’m going to go get your mom and see if your brother and dad have arrived yet, okay?”

Jo rushed out of the room with Alex hot on her trail, “You handled that well.”

Jo looked at him in surprise, “Really, cause I feel like I could hurl.”

“Why don’t I go update the…your….her instead,” he suggested, fumbling all over himself with how to address Vicky.

Jo shook her head, “No, I need to follow through with this,” she explained as they paused in the waiting area. Jo rubbed his arm, hoping he would get the message to give her a little space as she moved towards Vicky, “Ms. Rudin?”

Her mother looked up in surprise at the greeting, “Yes?”

“Alexandra is now awake. She’s asking for you, so I can take you to her if you would like.”

Vicky grabbed her chest and let out a sigh of relief, “Oh thank God. You scared me with that voice and formality.”

Jo looked around, trying desperately to keep a professional demeanor, “I’m sorry. I guess I don’t really know what to call you. Nothing seems to feel right so I’m sorry if I…”

“No, no that’s my fault. Put that on me.” She stared at Jo with sincerity, “I’m ready whenever you are.”

Jo’s voice softened to a near whisper, “Okay.” She looked over to see Alex silently standing guard, waiting to jump in if needed and knew she should take the opportunity to introduce him, “While you’re both in the same room, I’d like you to meet my husband.” Vicky glanced up in surprise, her eyes wide at the sudden revelation as they walked over, “This is Alex.” Jo then looked at him with a smile, “Alex, this is my birth mother, Vicky Rudin.”

Vicky immediately stuck out her hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Alex grinned, “You too, you just don’t know how much.” He then looked at Jo with worry, “I’m getting paged back to the ER….are you okay?”

Jo nodded and rubbed his forearm, “Yeah. I’m good. I’ll probably be back down soon.”

With that, Alex nodded at them both and quickly left, looking back over his shoulder occasionally. Vicky was the first to speak, “He seems lovely. Looks like you’ve done well for yourself.”

Jo nodded in agreement as she hit the elevator button to take them upstairs, “He is, I lucked out.”

“Seems to me that he did too. I know I don’t know you really at all, but in those two seconds I didn’t know it was you and you didn’t know it was me, you seemed entirely competent. And then, I don’t know if you know or not, but in the waiting room there are multiple accolades about you and the work you do here.” There was a brief pause with neither really knowing what to say, with Vicky starting to speak again but slower and more deliberate, “I told my husband about you after our meeting.” Jo looked at her with eyes wide in surprise as she continued, “It wasn’t easy. At all. But he knew something was up and I couldn’t hide it from him anymore. I started counseling again…I just kind of got lost in my own mind for a bit. Daniel and I are going together as well, just trying…” She glanced away and quickly swiped at her cheek, “I say that to say that I haven’t told Josh or Alexandra yet, but I want you to know I plan to.”

Jo shook her head, “You don’t have to. Not for me anyway.”

Vicky nodded quickly as they exited the elevator and met up with the surgical team for her to visit Alexandra and ask questions of Link and Webber. As they moved Alexandra towards the operating rooms, Jo escorted Vicky to the surgical waiting area, “Do you know them? Are they good?”

Jo smiled with a slight nod, “She’s in really good hands.” Jo studied Vicky for a moment, having difficulty leaving her, “Is there anything you need?”

Vicky shook her head quickly, “I know I don’t have the right to ask, and I know you’re incredibly busy, but could you visit a bit?” Jo stared at her in confusion for a moment as Vicky rambled on, “I’m sorry, that’s out of line. Of course you don’t want to, not after last time. I just…”

“No, no that’s not it,” Jo interrupted as she sat in the seat beside her mother, “I just had the impression you never wanted to see me again, so I….I guess I’m just surprised is all.”

Vicky nodded, “I get why you would think that. I just…I’m sorry, so sorry, for the way I acted last time. I just…I wasn’t ready. I should have been. I know that. Thirty-two years I had to prepare but I guess….I don’t know. All I know is I’m sorry. And I’ve replayed that day in the diner so many times and wish I could have a do over.”

Jo smiled and closed her eyes briefly, “Me too. Every day. I just….I had thirty-two years worth of anger and hostility and hope stored up and ready to go and I…I didn’t handle that well. And I didn’t handle it well after I got back. I…checked myself into inpatient psych for a while. I…I did everything backwards. I’m in therapy now and I’m processing through everything, but I should have gone before. I probably would have been better prepared for other scenarios that I may have been confronted with other than you being a hateful bitch.”

Vicky tilted her head, her voice questioning, “Thank you?” Both women laughed softly together as Vicky stretched her back, “You know…all those years…I thought of you every single day.” Jo looked up in surprise as Vicky continued without looking at her, “Every day. Where you were. What you were up to. What color your hair and eyes were. What kind of home you were in. What your favorite subject in school was. The…when Alexandra and Josh hit school everything they did caused me to think about what experience you would have had. What field trips did you go on? Did you play sports? What did you wear for picture day? A million questions. But since you came to Pittsburgh it’s changed.” She looked up to catch Jo’s eyes, “Now its ‘I wonder if Jo’s seen that commercial.’ ‘I wonder if she’s watching this same movie at this same time.’ I changed shampoo not too long ago and as I walked down the grocery aisle, I found myself smelling every bottle to see if I could find yours, just to smell it again. It’s like you’ve somehow become more tangible. Which doesn’t make sense, I know, but it does. Maybe because so many questions got erased by meeting you and now I’ve just replaced them with a whole other gamut of things I don’t know. That’s my new therapist’s guess anyway.” Vicky looked up to meet Jo’s eyes that were brimming with tears, “What I’m trying to say is that I would like to get some of those questions answered if you’d be willing to let me have the privilege of getting to know you.”

Jo sat back in surprise, unsure of how to respond, when suddenly two figures appeared and rushed towards them, “Mom!”

Jo stood quickly and took the opportunity to wipe her eyes as Vicky hugged her son and husband. She suddenly felt very awkward and out of place, so she began to ease herself away when Vicky caught her leaving and summoned her quickly, “Dr. Karev!” At Vicky’s motion for her to return, Jo stepped forward insecurely as Vicky turned to her husband and son, “This is Dr. Karev, she was one of the doctors that worked on Alexandra.” She then turned to her husband giving him a pointed look, “Dr. Josephine Karev.”

Jo nodded politely, “I’ll just go check…”

But she was cut off by Daniel Rudin putting the pieces together. He quickly took her hand and shook it excitedly, “It is really nice to meet you Dr. Karev.”

She smiled shyly, “Jo, please. I’m glad you all are here.”

He let go of her hand and pulled out his wallet, giving Josh a couple of bills and asking him to get a soda for them. When he was out of earshot, Vicky turned back to Jo as her husband put his arm around her shoulders in support, “Before we go home…whenever that may be now. I’d really love to have dinner, maybe the two of us and you with your husband?” Jo was surprised to see Daniel nodding so excitedly, “I probably won’t be able to tell the kids about….everything before then, but I would really love to see you again.”

“That would be nice.” Jo glanced down the hallway to see Josh returning and as a habit reached out to touch her forearm in comfort, ecstatic when Vicky did not jerk away as she had in Pittsburgh, “I’ll go get an update on Alexandra.”

#jolex #fanfiction #alex karev #jo wilson #grey's anatomy #ask #anonymous

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1-1snailxd-art · 5 years

Text

The Shield to your Sword

Masterlist ———- Chapter 4

Warnings: swearing, crude humour?, suicide implied in a statement, blind character, mild injury, discomfort around abuser (please message me if more need to be added)

Tag Support Team - Thank you for your support 💜

@small-reptile-cake @daflangstlairde @quoth-the-sparrow @it-me-the-phi @soul-of-a-vixen @the-real-wholesome-bitch @phe-purple-parade-ts @littleladynightshade @thequeensphinx

Summary: Different places. Different people. Though they are all connected.

Beginning note:

Just FYI, I’m uploading this on my iPad and without my normal spelling/grammar checks so sorry for any mistakes in advance.

Also, have you seen the art in the previous chapter? 😱

Update: added art to this chapter from @fanartfunart Click the link to view it and send them some love*

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Chapter 5 - The views of many

The forest looked peaceful from the tower window. The view could almost be considered beautiful if it wasn’t for the fact that it was forced, and the viewers had been condemned to look at it for the past 4 years.

Wind caused Snake’s hair to shift in front of his eyes, and he was quick to swipe it away and slick it flat into place. Pushing away from the windowsill with a sigh, he looked down at the tattered rags he called clothes; rough thread-pulled pieces of brown and grey fabric stitched together and scratched against his skin. It was hard to see himself in these clothes, compared to what he wore in his astral form. He wished he could spend all his time outside of his tower prison but shifting into astral or animal form was a risky process.

With a sigh, Snake scratched at his yellow scales and turned to look at the still figure on the bed in the rooms centre. They had been out for almost 5 hours and he was beginning to worry that something had gone wrong. As if on cue, the man jolted upright with a gasp; arms flailing around as tears streamed from grey eyes.

*click here to give some love to Firefly for their wonderful art of Snake*

“Snake? Snake?”

It took two steps and Snake was by his side, grabbing their hands and pulling them up to his face. “I’m here. It’s okay. You’re back.”

Vacant eyes stared ahead as the man ran his fingers across Snake’s face, feeling the change from skin to scales and scales to skin, before accepting it was his friend and slumping heavily against them.

“You were gone for a long time,” Snake held the man close and as he tried to catch his breath, “Did you learn anything?”

Nodding, he kept his head pressed against Snake’s chest; long grey hairs falling across his eyes.

“Did you find your brother?” There was another nod and they burst into sobs again. “Shhh. Shhh. It’s okay. Everything is okay, Spirit.”

Though they were lies, he knew the words would help Spirit calm down and he desperately needed news before their captor arrived. Stroking his grey hair, Snake hummed softly until Spirit’s breathing calmed slightly.

“I-I-I got to s-s-see Logan a-again.” Spirit smiled recalling their face and the feeling of their magic healing his leg.

“Are they okay?”

“Yes.” He nodded against Snake’s chest and wiped the tears away from his cheeks. “They looked healthy and happy and the forest was immaculate.”

“I’m glad to hear that. What else did you learn?”

The smile faded from Spirit’s face. “Virgil.”

“What!” Snake fruitlessly pushed Spirit back to look at their face clearly. “Virgil was there?”

Silent tears fell again as Spirit shook his head. “He wasn’t there. Logan only spoke of him, and it didn’t sound good. They worry they won’t get to him in time. Someone is already hurting him, Snake, and all I could do was cry and run away. I’m sorry. I should have done more.”

“No, no, no,” pulling him close again, Snake rocked slowly to quell their sobs. “I’m sorry. I need to do more. And I promise I will. We will stop your vision from coming to light. You have my word.”

********************

In a puff of black smoke, the crow appeared inside an unlit fireplace with a squawk and ruffled feathers. Flying out, the bird perched on the edge of a chair as a man burst through the door dressed in a green blouse with black lace trimmings and purple eyeshadow ringing his eyes.

“Squawk squawk birdie!” he cried, dancing over to the bobbing bird. “What has been done? Something fun I hope.”

Cawing and bouncing its head, the bird watched as the man mimicked the action before running out the door with flapping arms. Pausing briefly to shake its head, the bird took off to follow the man down the stone halls.

A wooden door burst open, slamming against the wall with a shower of dust as the man spun into the room and stopped with a bow in front of the rooms two occupants.

He smirked up at the tired looking man and disgusted woman, wiggling his upper lip to make his obviously fake moustache wiggle.

“Hellooooooooooooo, lady and germ.”

“Who is this?” The woman asked, screwing up her face at the scene before them.

“I’m what the cat drags in.” He replied, rising back up to his normal height. “And who are you? The monkey’s uncle?”

The woman fumed and the gentleman beside her sighed in exasperation. “That will do, Remus. Wren, you are excused.”

“Oh, I thought someone farted, but I didn’t want to point fingers at anyone.” Remus giggled, fanning his nose as the woman huffed and stormed out. “See ya, stinky.”

“Shut up, Remus, and bring me the bird.”

“Sure. Fresh or fried?”

“Remus!” The man demanded, fixing them with an angered gaze.

“Fried it is.”

Clapping and hopping on the spot, Remus scanned the room and spotted the crow sitting on an upper rafter. With a giggle, he summoned a flaming dagger and threw it towards the bird; singeing its feathers as it fell from its perch and into his awaiting hands.

“One magic fried birdie for the wicked old hag.”

A glass spine slid into Remus’s shoulder, producing only a widening smile in reaction.

“Stab me harder, daddy,” he laughed and lit his eyes up green to match that of the crow in his hands.

“What do you see?” The man growled, pushing the spine deeper into the others shoulder.

“Wow, oh sweet sheep suckling on sweet corn, this is goooood.”

“Speak, simpleton!”

“Wellll, my brothers got himself a hot little boy toy to play with. I mean, 10 out of 10 I would do him on hard gravel. Such a wasted opportunity for my innocent sibling. He’s practically naked and he’s just rubbing his arm. Rub lower, brother. Kiss ‘im! Tear his pants of and suck that-“

“Remus!” A second spine struck his other shoulder as the man roared. “I’m not interested in learning about your sexual fantasies. Facts only.”

“Calm ya farm; big dog bro is being let off the leash. No babysitters anymore. Got his big boy pants on and taking some time outside alone.”

“And Thomas? Any news on the artefact?”

“Hmmm, don’t know, don’t care.” Eyes returning to normal, Remus shrugged, and glass quickly passed his face and sliced a fine line along his cheek. “Shame your wit isn’t as sharp as your glass, Leon.”

“Maybe I should just kill you and shut that trap of yours permanently.” A thick glass blade slid from their wrist and pressed against Remus’s throat.

“Go ahead, oh ancient one. I really don’t mind. I’ll even start you off,” he lent against the blade, eyes daring Leon to go through with the action. “But what would you do without me, I wonder.”

Both men remained locked in eye contact; a trail of red colouring the clear glass against Remus’s throat. With a squawk, the crow flapped out of Remus’s loosening grip and began snapping at Leon’s hand, causing him to recoil before any skin was broken. Laughing, Remus removed the spines from his shoulders and smashed them on the stone floor with great glee.

“Such a shame, master.” The crow perched on his shoulder, and Remus carefully removed the scroll from its leg. “Knight still had some special stuff left over from our little rat.”

Leon looked confused, but realisation dawned on him as he read the scroll Remus had offered.

“Shame to lose our eyes on the inside.”

“Oh, don’t worry; Knight will still make trips and the only squeaks the rat will make is when he’s opening those pearly gates.”

“I hope your word is true.”

“I’m not one to be trusted at all, Dark one, and you know it.”

“Indeed,” Leon turned and walked over to a metal table to pour themselves a glass of amber liquid. “Unfortunately, that is what makes you the most trustworthy, Remus.”

“Flattery will get you know where, sir. I’ve seen the package you are working with and I am not interested.”

“You are excused, Remus.” They groaned, downing the glass and massaging their temples as Remus released a loud fart.

“Why, thank you for that honour.” The drinking glass struck the back of Remus’s head as he ran from the room; crow flapping alongside the wide-eyed man. “And they say I have a twisted and sadistic mind.”

********************

The dining room had a calm feel despite Val’s fingers nervously strumming a guitar in time with her performing partner. From the moment she entered the room, she knew tonight was going to be tense from the King’s stiff demeanour alone; Virgil also wary and sitting perfectly straight in his chair. In stark contrast to everyone else, Roman was glowing; smile never faltering as the Queen entered and took her seat to the King’s right.

“Pleasure to join you for a meal again,” Alexandra nodded at her husband and son before noticing Virgil’s placement at the far end of the table. “Are we expecting more company?”

“Not this evening, my dear,” The King gestured for the staff to begin the service. “I thought it best not to risk a large audience while you are still unwell.”

“If that is the case, then Virgil,” the Queen gestured to the seat beside her, “would you please move closer. It seems unfair to be seated so far away from the conversation.”

After watching for the King’s slight nod of approval, Virgil stood and relocated to the position beside the Queen.

“Thank you, my Queen.”

“Oh, please Virgil. Those formalities are not required during a basic dinner, right Rupert?” Virgil swore he could see the disgust flair in the King’s eyes before he nodded.

“Of course. Virgil knows that he doesn’t have to be so formal during dinner.”

Virgil was about to apologise when Roman let out a breathy laugh. “He is always formal at dinner, Mother. Don’t dwell on it too much.”

Joining Roman’s laugh, Alexandra reached around to give Virgil’s back a loving rub; noticing how he stiffened at the action.

“You have always been such a well-mannered boy. If only manners came as easily to Roman as they had to you.”

“Hey,” The Prince whined, “I got better.”

“You did,” she giggled, “after Virgil joined our family. That truly was the best decision I made for us.”

“I second that,” Roman declared; raising his goblet of wine in agreement.

“Thank you…” the King’s gaze sharpened, and Virgil swallowed to dispel the rising bile in his throat. “Mother.”

Satisfied, Alexandra returned her hand to her lap and sat back as the staff entered to serve the meal.

The dinner shifted into silence as the group ate, Val keeping a watchful eye on the King as he glanced at Virgil’s slowly clearing plate. Tired of the silence, Roman cleared his throat and started talking between mouthfuls of food.

“So, father has given Virgil and I permission to venture beyond the city unescorted and take on more advanced missions.”

“That sounds exciting,” Alexandra breathed deeply, reaching for her water to clear her throat. “What are your plans now, boys?”

“Well,” raising his elbows to rest them on the table, Roman placed his hands together and rested his chin on top. “I have a few ideas. First, I just want to take Stella out for a good long ride. Then, I absolutely must take Virgil to see the Guardian Falls - oh - and possibly visit the village he’s from too. Beyond that, it comes down to what other missions Father decides to assign us to.”

“Well…that sounds wonderful.”

Val’s brow furrowed as she noticed how the Queen’s face dropped at the mention of Virgil’s village. She made note to talk to him about it at a later point and returned her observations to the King.

“And what have you been up to, Virgil?” Adjusting her position, Alexandra turned in her chair to get a better look at her adoptive son.

“Nothing of interest, Mother.” The lie was sour on his tongue as his mind pulled his recent torments to the surface. “I’m sure Roman, on the other hand, has much more to tell you.”

Deflated, Alexandra returned her attention to Roman as he thought of what to talk about. His mind ran through possible ideas, but he gathered that Virgil wasn’t in a storytelling mood and didn’t want to talk about anything that involved him.

“Well, I did have a crazy dream last night about a dark sorcerer.”

The King and Queen straightened in their chairs simultaneously at the mention of the sorcerer.

“You didn’t mention that this morning.”

Roman shrugged at the King’s statement, “I didn’t think it was important or anything. It was just a dream anyway. This snake faced guy droned on about me being arrogant and meeting the same fate as my brother; which is all utterly ridiculous, I’m sure you would agree.”

Fear gripped Alexandra’s chest as the memory of the fates warning returned to the forefront of her mind; reaching for Rupert’s hand under the table to hold for comfort.

“Yes,” Rupert accepted Alexandra’s secret hand and took a long drink from his glass. “I’m sure it was nothing but a ridiculous dream, Roman. No sorcerer would be close enough to perform such mind trickery; I have made sure of that.”

“Yeah, and I don’t believe in the fates, so they hold no power over me regardless.”

“Don’t ignore all of the fates warnings, Roman,” his mother warned, “not all their words are untrustworthy.”

“Your mother has a point. When you are King the fates will seek you out more and you will need to consider their words carefully.”

“Maybe that’s how you two work,” Roman pointed between his two parents and lent back in his chair,” but I don’t. I refuse to be driven to madness and kill myself like Grandmother did.”

“Roman, it isn’t that simple.” His mother pleaded, squeezing Rupert’s hand tighter.

“Seems pretty simple from where I’m sitting. You’re with me, right Virgil?”

All eyes turned to the thin man that had been enjoying blending into the folds of his chair. Eyes searching each staring face, trying to work out the best answer to calm them all; deciding it was best to just stick with the truth.

“I’m rather indifferent on the matter.”

“Oh, come on, Virgil!” Hands tossed in the air in exasperation, Roman lent forward in irritation. “Honestly, just pick a side already.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because the fates speak in your dreams.” Virgil’s voice cracked with emotion on the final word. “H-how can I honestly pick a side if I don’t even know if the fates have ever even spoken to me. I won’t pick a side without reason.”

“Agh,” Roman drooped back into his chair again, “this is just like our debate about sorcerers. You really can’t just pick a side?”

“What was that about sorcerers?”

The music skipped a few beats and blood chilled in Virgil’s veins at the King’s tone. The servers cautiously cleared plates, eager to escape the growing tension in the room. Virgil silently cursed Roman’s loose lips, knowing this wasn’t a subject that would be let go lightly.

“Virgil won’t say whether he is for or against the sorcerer ban for that exact same reason.”

“I-I just don’t think it’s fair to-to make a judgement on something without evidence.”

“So, you disagree with my ban against sorcerers?” Rupert questioned, leaning closer and resting his chin on clasped hands.

“I’m not s-s-saying that.”

A deep laugh from Roman sent chills down Virgil’s spine.

“By not choosing a side that is exactly what you’re saying, Virgil. Can’t you see it? Just say your truth; I have.”

“I have said my truth, Roman.” Voice practically begging his friend to stop pushing the matter. “I’m indifferent on matters until given reason to believe otherwise. Can’t you just be satisfied with that?”

“No, I cannot.”

“Roman, stop.” The Prince froze at his mother’s small voice. “Virgil, are you okay?”

“May I be excused?” Virgil looked at Rupert for approval; hands clenched in tight fists to prevent their trembling from being too obvious.

The moment the King nodded, Virgil left and Roman watched with an open mouth before requesting his leave as well. After planting a brief kiss on his mother’s cheek, Roman headed out and left his parents in the dining room alone.

“Glad I could experience a complete family dinner.” Alexandra admitted sadly, accepting Rupert’s assistance to stand and head out of the room. “Is this what you always do without me?”

“No. Virgil is usually much less vocal.”

“I’m glad to see he has a strong voice.”

The King scoffed in disgust. “He should align his beliefs with the King that houses him.”

“Don’t be like that, Rupert. Virgil is good for Roman. He will keep him safe and I’m sure the fates will agree; though that snake message is new.”

“Roman’s dream was nothing more than a dream, Alexandra.”

“But he spoke of his brother.”

Rupert sighed as they rounded the corner and got closer to their chambers.

“He could imagine that detail easily. Don’t over think this, my dear. We have ensured Roman’s safety since the day he was born. There isn’t a sorcerer around and the fortune of the fates will not come to pass. Trust me.”

Nodding, Alexandra allowed the journey to continue in silence. Sorcerers were not what concerned the Queen, it was the type of Sorcerers that caused her fear. Accepting her return to her chambers, Alexandra was happy to have her husband’s assistance in preparing for bed; only needing a brief visit from Clara before slipping into sleep.

“Stay close this evening.” Rupert commanded when Clara went to leave. “I want you within earshot should anything go wrong following this evenings events.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

After Rupert left the room, Clara moved to the side room and set up for another evening of sleeping away from her family; hoping all would still be well in the morning.

********************

Virgil and Roman didn’t see each other for the rest of the evening; both emotional from the discussion. Roman turned to knife throwing in his room to quell his thoughts; frustrated that Virgil’s views didn’t match his own. He felt that Virgil almost purposefully avoided agreeing with him on all matters. Sorcerers, the fates, sutures, red or green apples; Virgil never agreed with him and it hurt. He used to think Virgil would grow and eventually see that his beliefs were superior, but he was starting to think that just wasn’t going to happen. Blades struck wood repeatedly as Roman replayed conversations in his mind and tried to piece his friend’s motives together.

Virgil on the other hand, simply drank the potion Logan had been kind enough to leave and tried to calm his mind enough to sleep before his early morning duties. Unable to find peace, he turned to the books in his side table and started reading the text Logan had lent to him; thoughts quieting as he took in the information text on rune marked animals. He was almost halfway through the book when his eyes started sliding closed and he allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

********************

The full moon cast a light across the lands. Silver beams glittered off reflective surfaces and the natural magic of the land surged around the city as the fates whispered into the ears of the chosen.

One saw a wolf falling in love with a deer, before the wolf had its back plastered in a rain of arrows.

Another saw red berries blanketing the shore of a stream and heard the promise of a plentiful harvest. But the plants wilted and shrivelled away to reveal a stone grave.

A woman stirred with the warning that death was approaching someone close to her.

A snake slithered across a horse’s path and the horse wasn’t afraid; lowering its head for the snake to meet its eye. The word ‘trust’ echoed through their ears as the snake slithered away.

Flames filled a room of the castle and a figure with glowing eyes stood in the centre. A sword and shield discarded in the flames beside a cloak bearing the royal crest.

The final person blessed with the fates fortune struggled to see their message. Screams drowned out their words and a blinding light hid their vision. All that remained was a feeling. A feeling of loss and achievement. A burning pain that danced across their skin before being chilled by ice.

Each blessed soul woke with differing reactions. Some fear, some ignorance, some sadness, and one with a cry that had a Prince fleeing his chambers to find their closest friend.

Next Chapter

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End Note:

I’m sorry I disappeared for so long...but it will happen again. I’m not gone gone, just busy. But I’m always watching for comments or trying to post something else (maybe having multiple WIPs was a bad idea). Also, make sure you are checking out the art for the previous chapters. They look so good. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It really hints to a lot of stuff I have planned. Can you work out how everyone is connected? Have you guessed everyone’s motives yet? (Oh the suspense is killin’ me) 💜🐌

Don’t forget to check out the art Firefly did for me and send them some love

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Looking for more Snail 💜🐌 writing? Check out my writing master post

Or check out my main blog @snail-giggles for fandom reblogs and whatever

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prophetandprincess · 4 years

Text

Tin Man - The Lost Chapter

This is the first part of my multichapter Marvel fic. If you prefer to read on Ao3 here is the link.

Summary: Alexandra is a 22 year old college sophomore studying Biochemistry. Since she moved to the city from a small Midwest town 2 years before she has had a colorful dating history, but all of her exes have taught her skills to survive in the city. However, walking home one night, one of the exes, Markus, decides that Alex’s smart mouth needs to learn a lesson. She is saved by a mysterious stranger who doesn’t have a lot to say and has a metal arm. This act of kindness sets off a series of events that turn her life into something straight out of a movie.

Trigger Warnings: Attempted sexual assault, threatening language, blood, violence Author Note: Sometimes, you are reading through a previous work because you're attempting to get back into the story but have forgotten everything you have written. And sometimes, while you are reading through a work, the page numbers are off, which is VERY aggravating. So, you go where you published the story to see if something accidentally got deleted. You find that it wasn't, but that when you published the story literally years ago, you missed posting a whole ass chapter.So, here is the lost chapter, which takes place between Chapter 5-6. If I have completely lost my mind and this chapter IS somewhere in the story, sorry about the second posting. Things are a little crazy over here these days.

Alex pulled out her phone, mainly to have something to do because she was still shaken up. She had a missed call and a text message from Mr. Malone. She sighed and opened the text. They were putting in a new door when I came in. Left bags inside. Looks like it has been mauled by a bear. What happened? Alex thought about answering, but decided she didn’t have the energy to think up a convincing lie. She texted back a simple thank you and threw the phone back into her purse. “Why are there so many damaged buildings?” James asked as they headed for the subway station. “Left over damage from the Battle of New York. Most areas have been so worried about rebuilding the destroyed buildings that they haven’t taken care of the cosmetic stuff. Brooklyn really didn’t even get the worst of it, not compared to places like Hell’s Kitchen, but Brooklyn’s been slow to deal with the damage.” Alex explained. The Battle had happened the summer before Alex was supposed to move to the city. She had been trying to figure out what to tell her parents about deciding to go to New York University, which had offered her a full ride scholarship. They had all watched in horror as the city was blasted to pieces and a hole opened in the sky. Alex remembered looking for Stark Tower on the news, because if it still stood, then everything else would somehow be okay. If Tony Stark had kept his tower safe than the rest of New York couldn’t be the hell that it looked like. Her heart sank when she saw that the portal was coming from the Tower itself. That’s when she knew New York, the world, would never be the same. After that, she decided she wasn’t going to tell her parents that she was going to New York until a week before she was leaving for freshman orientation. They had been horrified, her mother breaking down into tears and her father spending all night out in the barn. They had called Jake to fly home and talk some sense into her. She had moved up her flight time and left before he ever touched down in the city. “The Battle of New York,” James said the words slowly. “You didn’t know it happened did you?” Alex said as they headed down the steps to the subway. “Are you are missing that part of your memory as well? Or is that when you were overseas?” “I don’t think I was awake for it.” Alex turned, thinking he was being funny, but James’s face was still and serious. Had he been in a coma? What the hell was this guy’s story? The subway train was a lot less crowded and they both got a seat, James hesitated before sitting down next to Alex. Alex made a point to look out the window during the whole trip, her arms burning and her legs shaking. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to tell herself it was just the cold. She tried not to think about the number of times she had been attacked in the last forty-eight hours. She tried to retreat behind her walls of calm and collectedness. She failed. She felt James’s eyes fall on her multiple times, but he made no move to comfort her or speak. When they got off the subway, Alex stopped to buy herself a coffee from a street cart. She didn’t offer to buy James one, it didn’t even cross her mind. He didn’t say anything. Alex unlocked the door to the apartment building and trudged up the flight of stairs, only to be greeted by a new door and a sticky note saying that Jason, the maintenance man, had the new set of keys. Alex knew that she could pick the lock if she needed to, but she didn’t have the energy. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” Alex sighed as she walked down to the basement, where Jason’s apartment was. She knocked loudly on the door, knowing that he probably had his Xbox headset on, and waited for him to get untangled to open the door. “Hey A.J.,” Jason said with a yawn as he opened the door. He was the normal maintenance man in a rundown apartment building, late twenties, single, not exactly known for his hygiene, but extremely pleasant. He was the landlord’s younger brother and while he was pretty good was a hammer and a wrench, Alex got the feeling that he was shoved down here almost to hide him from the rest of the world. “Hey Jason, what are we playing today?” It was forced cheerfulness, but Alex didn’t want another person to ask her what was wrong. She might start crying. “Oh, Destiny. I just got it and it is wicked,” Jason said with a smile. “You want to come in a watch?” “Sorry, I have a test to study for. They said you had my new keys?” “Right, right. That door was annihilated, girl. You need to be more careful with those guys.” Jason said as he reached into the bowl by the door and pulled out a set of keys. “If you ever need help, you can always come down and get me. Or call, you have my number.” “Thanks Jason,” Alex said with a sigh as she took the keys from him. She loved that everyone wanted to keep her safe, but if one more person showed concern she might scream. She was a twenty-two year old woman who could, under most circumstances, take care of herself. The references to her dating history was also starting to get old. They were assholes, that is why she broke up with them. Alex got back up to the fifth floor and everything hurt. She didn’t think she had ever been more tired. James was leaning against the door frame. He’s eyes questioned her, but Alex just unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Son of a bitch,” Alex said as she tripped over the shopping bags from earlier, completely forgetting that Mr. Malone said he had left them right inside the door. Alex felt tears start to well up in her eyes and became even more furious with herself. “Are you alright?” James asked, but Alex just kicked the bag out of the way, slammed her coffee cup down on the counter, and stomped into her bedroom. She slammed the door shut and dropped onto her bed. A few tears leaked out of her eyes, she brushed them away furiously. “Alex?” James voice called through the door. “Just give me a minute, Jesus.” Alex called back, angry that her voice shook. She buried her face in the pillow, and screamed. After she was out of breath, she let herself cry silently for a solid ten minutes. It wasn’t just the fight with James, it was just everything that had happened in the past two days. A lot of it was James’s fault, but if hadn’t been around, she knew she would be dead. Alex finally rolled onto her back and took a few deep breaths. Alex hated crying, she found it completely unhelpful because that time could be used to work toward a solution. However, sometimes you just needed a good cry. It was also supposed to help clear your skin or something else too. But you can’t cry forever. Alex sat up and used a tissue to blow her nose. She then stripped out of her clothes and pulled on a pair of oversized sweatpants and a hoodie. Alex braided her hair and used makeup remover to scrub her wrecked makeup off her face. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before emerging from her room. James jumped off the couch when she entered the living room, worry and guilt written all over his face. Alex took a good deal satisfaction in that look. James didn’t try to say anything, but his blue eyes searched for some sort of answer. She didn’t have one. “I…I cleaned up the coffee. It splattered everywhere,” James explained. “Well at least you’re good for something,” Alex mumbled as she walked into the kitchen. She knew she was being unreasonable, but she didn’t care. She had to channel her emotions somewhere and James was standing right there. “I’m going to make some hot cider, do you want any?” Alex asked as she poured water into the kettle and put it over the flames. “Do you have tea?” James asked. Alex snorted. “Orange or Chamomile?” She asked as she grabbed two mugs from the cabinet. “You don’t just have regular tea?” James asked. Alex just stopped and glared at him for a few seconds. “Orange will be fine,” James said as he took a seat at the table. Alex got out the milk and sugar for James as she waited for the water to heat up. She also pulled a bottle of aspirin out of a drawer and took two, dry. All of her aches and pains were starting to get to her. Finally the kettle started to whistle and she made the drinks. Both were silent as she put the mugs on the table and James fixed his tea the way he wanted it. As Alex waited for him to start she started to become more and more unsure if this was a story she wanted to hear. If she could emotionally handle it right now. However, the longer they sat there sipping their drinks the more restless she became. She really did have a test that she had to study for. Alex knew that her priorities were out of order, but it was the only way to keep herself sane. Plus, she needed to keep that scholarship. “I am not going to tell you specifics,” James finally said setting his tea mug down. “Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t want to put you in more danger.” James folded his hands, the metal flashing in the afternoon light. Alex wanted to protest, but a bit of the truth would be better than no truth at all. She folded her feet underneath herself and wrapped her fingers around her coffee mug. The picture of friendly interest. James picked at a scar on his hand, collecting his thoughts. “I was a solider of the U.S. military, part of a specialized group of fighters.” “Like Black ops?” Alex asked. She knew she shouldn’t interrupt, but just listening had never been her strong suit. “Yeah, I guess. Anyway, we worked on a number of high risk and dangerous missions. On one of these missions I got injured and separated from my team. They thought I was dead, I should be dead, but I survived.” James stopped here. “Is that how you got the metal arm? This accident?” Alex asked. “The bones were basically turned to powder. Considering the fall, my entire body should have looked like that, but I survived.” James flexed the fingers on his metal hand. “Maybe it would have been better if it had turned out the other way.” They both sat for a few seconds thinking about this statement. Alex’s knee-jerk reaction was to comfort James, but she was worried that if she interrupted the story she would never hear all of it. She had also out of emotional energy for the day. “Anyway, I was found, treated, and brought back to good health. My memories, everything, were erased gone. The only thing I knew was what the people who saved me told me. So I worked for them and were until recently when my memories started coming back.” “That’s why you came to New York,” Alex said connecting the dots. James nodded. “I got here and nothing looked familiar. My memory would come and go and I got disorientated. That’s why I was walking around that night I saw you forced into the alley.” James said finishing the story. “I have a question,” Alex said as she finished her cider. “I’m pretty sure you have more than one,” James said with a small smile. “True, but that will take hours,” Alex said with an answering smile. “How did you get back to the states? You said you got injured in the war, that’s a long way from home.” “I was on a mission in the states when my memories started to come back,” James explained. Alex nodded as she digested this information. This wasn’t really anything that Alex hadn’t figured out on her own, but the news about him working for someone other than the military was interesting. Not only that, but it sounded like it was also some sort of mercenary organization. Then a thought popped into her head that chilled her. “The people, who saved you…” Alex picked her next words carefully. “They are not exactly friendly are they?” Not as laid back as she wanted it to sound, but the general meaning was there. “That’s one way of putting it,” James said with a ghost of as laugh before turning serious. “They have a view of the world and how it should be. They don’t like opinions that aren’t in line with theirs and will destroy anyone in their way.” “Terrorists?” Alex’s voice was a lot shakier that she planned it to be. Terrorists and terrorism were buzz words that had almost always been a part of Alex’s life. The life of any kid that grew up in American since 2001. However, talking to someone who might have worked for a terrorist organization terrified her. And here she thought she did have any more terror to expend. “I don’t know if they would classify themselves that way. Hey,” James reached across the table to take her hand, but she flinched despite herself. James pulled his hand back and cleared his throat. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” James said seriously. “Even if it’s you?” Alex asked without looking up at him. “Especially if it’s me,” James said without hesitation. Alex looked up and he met her gaze without flinching. Alex was suddenly filled with such a surge of emotion that she felt the self-control she had been holding onto crumble. She wasn’t sure if it was James’s determination to protect her or the stress of the last couple days, but Alex started to cry. It was just a few tears at first, traitors that escaped from her eyes without thinking. Then they turned into sobs that made her whole body shake. She knocked her mug over as she put her hand to her mouth to try and stifle the sound. Alex closed her eyes and tried to hold onto her runaway emotions. Arms came around her and she leaned against James’s chest. Alex turned her head and sobbed into his shoulder as he held her close. At one point Alex was crying so hard that she felt as if James’s arms were the only thing that was keeping her in one piece. James put his head against hers as she cried, speaking to her softly, though the words were lost in her sobs. Slowly the sobs subsided and Alex got herself under control. She was still almost hyperventilating and nauseous, but the tears finally stopped. She was drained. The warmth and comfort in James’s arm made it so that she didn’t try to move. She just leaned there until hiccups set in. “Well, that was embarrassing,” Alex said shakily as she leaned back. Another hiccup made her jump as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Do you need anything?” James asked as he continued to rub her arm. “Probably a tissue,” Alex said with a sniff. “And I wouldn’t be against a glass of water.” James got up from his kneeling position on the floor and got her the water and a napkin. Alex blew her nose not caring that it sounded like an elephant trumpeting. “Deep breaths,” James said as he resumed his position kneeling next to her chair. He reached up and pushed damp hair out of her face while she concentrated on slowing down her breathing. She took small sips of the water and finally got the hiccups taken care of. “I’m better now,” Alex said both to herself and James. Her head throbbed from how hard she cried and her throat is raw. She went to reach for her mug and realized what was left of her cider was now all over the table and the floor. “I’ll make you some tea,” James said as he got up. He got out a clean mug and filled it was water. It wasn’t lost on Alex that he grabbed the bag of Chamomile and dropped it into the mug. Alex blew her nose again as he brought the mug over. “Drink it slowly,” James advised as he placed the mug in her hand. He then grabbed some paper towels and cleaned up the remnants of her cider. “You don’t need to do that,” Alex said as she sipped the tea. It felt fantastic on her throat and she closed her eyes to enjoy the sensation. James didn’t say anything as he finished cleaning up the spilled cider as well as the two dirty mugs. “What time is it?” Alex asked as James finished playing maid. “Just after three,” he said, wiping his hands on a towel. “Shit, I still have to study.” Alex leaned her head back and sighed at the ceiling. “Chemistry isn’t going to learn itself.” It didn’t matter that it felt as if someone had smacked her in the face with said Chemistry book. She was exhausted and felt as if her body was jelly. “Maybe some rest would be best,” James said as he took the mug from Alex’s hand, worried she was going to drop it. “I have to study,” Alex protested weakly. “The test is tomorrow.” “Are you really going to remember anything that you read in this condition? An hour nap isn’t going to kill you.” James said evenly. The pounding headache was more convincing that James was, but his argument was compelling. “Will you wake me?” She asked. She picked up the mug of tea and took another sip. “I can do that,” James said with a small smile. Alex got to her feet and, while her headache got worse, she could stand. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge before trudging to her bedroom. James walked with her and stood in the doorway as she crawled into bed. “One hours,” Alex said around a yawn. “See you in two hours,” James said. “That’s not-” but he closed the door before she could finish. Alex smiled a little and shook her head. It wasn’t long until she fell into dreamless sleep. Something was brushing against Alex’s cheek and forehead. She turned and rubbed her face against the pillow and snuggled deeper under the blankets. However, whatever was rubbing against his forehead didn’t go away. Alex flicked her hand up to flick the annoying piece of hair out of her face. “God damn it,” Alex grumbled as her hand smacked against metal. “It’s your own fault for not waking up when I called you from the door,” James said with a laugh. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking like he belonged there. Alex rolled onto her back and rubbed her knuckles. “I didn’t hear you,” Alex groaned as she sat up. She felt as if she had been asleep for years, but also that she just closed her eyes. Either way, she did not feel rested. “You were pretty much dead,” James agreed. He reached out and took her hand. After examining her knuckles in an exaggerated fashion, he brought the hand up to his lips. He kissed each one softly in turn. Alex stopped breathing. He might have scared her earlier, she hadn’t forgotten that, but she also hadn’t forgotten all the times he had protected her either. James stopped, his eyes looking up to stare into hers. That’s when her heart stopped. The slight smirk, the feel of his lips just barely on her skin, it woke her up pretty quickly. “You were brushing the hair out of my face,” Alex said softly as the pieces started to fall into place. “I guess I should have used my soft hand. You really can’t help hurting yourself,” James reached out with his other hand and pushed her hair away again. His fingers lingered against her skin, tucking it behind her ear. He was careful of her piercings. Without realizing it Alex had leaned toward him so they were mere inches apart. James slowly lowered her hand and inched forward a little. His lower lip trembled. “You…you have studying to do,” James said as he got up and cleared his throat. His departure was so abrupt that all Alex could do was blink after him as he left the room. Suddenly the room seemed very cold. “What are you doing to yourself, Alexandra?” She said, flopping back on the bed. Restless energy made it impossible for her to go back to sleep. With a growl, she threw off the covers and prowled around her room. She grabbed a brush and yanked it through her hair in such force that it brought tears to her eyes. The act soothed her though, and helped her compose herself. “So what have you been doing for the past two,” Alex looked at the clock, “and a half hours. What, don’t you know how to tell time, Tin Man?” “Someone didn’t wake up when I first called her,” James said from the kitchen. “And I’ve been reading.” “Anything good,” Alex asked, as she moved into the kitchen. “Anthem,” James waved to the book on the kitchen table. He hadn’t turned to look at her since she came out of the bedroom. “Ayn Rand is pretty heavy stuff. Not exactly light reading. I got it for a class,” Alex went back into the living room and grabbed her Chemistry book. She didn’t know what to do now. The chances of her focusing on Chemistry after what just happened in the bedroom was next to none. “If you’re hungry, I made something,” James called from the kitchen. “Like food?” Alex asked as she brought her book with her back into the other room. “No, a bomb.” James said as he put a bowl of steaming soup on the table. There was also a glass of Coke and crackers at her place. “You made soup,” Alex almost started crying again. “The directions are on the can, wasn’t that hard.” James said with a smile. “Now if you had a whole chicken and vegetables, I would have shown you what soup was.” “You cook?” Alex asked as she folded herself into the chair. “You’re just full of surprises.” “This, this isn’t cooking,” James flung the ladle about as he spoke. “Roasted chicken, fried potatoes, carrots, fresh bread and butter. That is cooking and that’s a meal.” Alex felt her mouth water at him describing it. “You could cook all that?” Alex asked and James gave her a look. “Don’t look at me like that. Not many men can cook all that. Though with your strong mothering instinct I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” “When you grow up in a rough spot in Brooklyn with a best friend that decides that he wants to get into back alley fights you develop some mothering instincts.” James countered as he sat across from Alex with his own bowl of soup. “Not a lot of back alley fights back home. Not a lot of alleys period,” Alex said with a small smile. “Though I did get in my fair share of recess brawls. People stopped bothering me after about fifth grade.” “You got a reputation by then?” James asked with a laugh. “Nope, started developing boobs. Suddenly boys didn’t want to fight me and girls had evolved to talking behind my back.” Alex said as she took a sip of her soup. It wasn’t just canned soup, he had spiced it. “I hit a growth spurt about the same time. Girls started noticing me and guys decided they would find other prey. Unfortunately, it was usually Steve.” “Your best friend?” Alex guessed. James nodded. “Me and Jake were inseparable, even as kids. I hung around with mostly his friends, who were mostly male and mostly older. They kept me safe from everyone else. I had two friends I kept most of the way through school. Haven’t talked to them since I left home, though…” Alex hadn’t thought about Georgia and Diana in months. “I get the feeling that you burned a lot of bridges when you came to the city.” “Not burned…more like put up detour signs. Most of the people in my town never left, they lived there all their life. I didn’t want that to be me and suddenly that made me uppity. My father didn’t think his baby girl could handle herself in the big city and my mom just didn’t want an empty nest. I still talk to my parents, but we aren’t as close as we use to be.” Alex shrugged. She tried to act as if it didn’t bother her, and on most days it didn’t, but with everything that had been happening she was a bit homesick. She wanted to talk to her mom. Grace Harper always knew what to do. Then again, she would probably start crying again. “You shouldn’t stay away from home too long. You never know when you might not be able to go back.” James grabbed a cracker and dunked it into his soup. “I’ll head home over break, but until then I have chemistry to study.” Alex was done with the subject of her family. “I always was interested in science, but didn’t really get a chance to explore it. I was into technology, though. I was always reading about the latest Stark invention as a kid.” James said as Alex flipped open her book. “Which Stark?” Alex asked. Howard Stark had died when she was a toddler and Tony took over the company. She had the feeling that James was a few years older than her, so he might remember Howard. “What?” James looked confused by the question. “Howard or Tony?” James still looked confused so Alex dropped it. “I was never really into explosions or fire that was the staple of Stark Industries for so long. The new Arc Reactor was pretty amazing, but I’m more interested in biology based science.” “Is that why you were so interested in my arm?” James asked. “I was interested in your arm because that is some seriously wicked metal work not to mention the mechanics that went into it. I’m more into what goes on in the brain.” Alex explained. She had decided that she was going to major in Biochemistry in high school, but part of her was starting to wonder if Neurobiology was the way to go. Alex decided to get through the chemistry test first before she rethought her whole life plan. “You can finish your food before hitting the books.” James said as he got up and refilled her soup bowl. “It’s called multitasking,” Alex countered as she bit into a cracker. “Well, then I’ll take a page out of your book,” James said as he grabbed the novel and resumed his seat across from her. They sat there eating and pretending to read, but their eyes would stray to the other when they weren’t looking. Instead of seeing the words on the page or the definitions, she kept thinking about his blue eyes. The feeling of his hands against her skin, both of his hands. There was still the lingering pull to reach across the table and grab him. His brow was furrowed and his lips moved ever so slightly as he read. Lips she wanted to sink her teeth into. “I…I need a change of scenery.” Alex said when she couldn’t take it anymore. “Was I bothering you?” James asked as he pushed a piece of hair out of his face. “I’m just not feeling the vibe in here.” Alex lied as she gathered up her materials. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.” After Alex closed the door she leaned against it and sighed. Alex had been in her fair share of relationships and causal hook-ups, but this was the first time she couldn’t control her emotions. It was frightening and exhilarating, but not when you had a test at nine the next morning. Not with a man that might have been part of a terrorist cell or something else equally shady until a few days ago. Alex grabbed her IPod and put in her earbuds. She turned on her study playlist, which consisted of mostly dubstep and house music. As the bass slowly replaced the thoughts of James, Alex started to make notecards to help her study. Four hours and almost a hundred notecards later Alex was feeling a lot more confident about the test. She was also pretty sure her eyes were going to start bleeding. Hitting the pause button on her IPod she got up and stretched. It was definitely time for a snack. “How’s the book coming?” Alex asked as she passed James on the couch. “I’ve read it before, but it is a lot more interesting now.” James said as he marked his placed before closing the cover. Alex pulled a bag of popcorn of the cupboard and stuck it in the microwave. Alex had brought her notecards out with her and flipped through them as she waited for the popcorn to pop. “Not much of a study break if you don’t stop studying,” James said as he padded into the kitchen. He had pulled his hair out of the ponytail it had been in all day, which gave it a slight wave. Alex was pretty sure there were male models that didn’t look as good as he did. Alex jumped when the microwave dinged and dropped the cards that she had in her hands. Swearing under her breath, she turned and popped the microwave door open. She turned to start picking up the cards to see James already kneeling down to collect them. “You don’t need to do that,” Alex said quickly getting down to get the few remaining that James hadn’t picked up. “You need to start letting people do things for you,” James said with a small laugh. Once again the two of them were nose to nose and once again Alex felt a charge between them. Part of her wanted to just reach over and kiss him, the other part knew that he was lost and confused. It wouldn’t be fair for her to complicate things further. If he decided to kiss her, however, all bets were off. “Your popcorn is going to get cold,” James said. It was the same type of dismissal that he had used before, but this time he didn’t move to put distance between them. “I’m not worried,” Alex’s voice was soft. James’s eyes darted to her lips and then back to her eyes. They were questioning, but they were also confused. As much as it killed her, Alex knew that she didn’t want to push him into anything that he would regret. She got to her feet and grabbed the popcorn bag. “Do you want any of this before I go back into my study hole?” She ripped the bag open a bit more furiously than needed. With all this pent up frustration she might need to pull out her little friend with the batteries before she went insane. Then she remembered she hadn’t gotten batteries when they were out. “I’ll take a handful.” James got to his feet and reached into the bag. Alex looked anywhere but him. She didn’t just trust herself not to jump him if they shared another one of those looks. She was only human after all. “You’re good to go,” James said. “Feel free to grab something if you get hungry,” Alex said as she almost ran back to her bedroom. She closed the door and was starting to wonder when she became a hormone monster that in which she had to cage herself. You’d think with her current run in with men she would want nothing to do with them. She put her headphones back in, propped the popcorn against her leg, and turned her thoughts back to studying. It wasn’t that long before she heard a knock on the door. She pulled out her headphones and looked up at James. “I’ve been thinking,” he said from the doorway. “Though I smelled something burning,” Alex said as she flipped over a notecard and looked up. “What’s on your mind?” “I’m going to be leaving tomorrow.” It took a few moments before the words made their way into her brain around all the Chemistry facts. “What, why?’ She asked, putting all her study materials down. “I can’t just stay here until I figure out what to do with myself. That isn’t fair to you,” James explained, but he wouldn’t look her in the eyes. “This isn’t about this afternoon is it?” “No,” James raked his hand through his hair. “Okay, yes it is. But it isn’t just that. It’s not safe for me to be here. I can’t stay any place too long or the people looking for me would find me.” James paced into the room to remove nervous energy. “The people you use to work for?” Alex’s brain was furiously trying to think of a way to make him stay. “Them, and other people…” James continued to pace. “Either way it’s time for me to move on.” “I just don’t understand why now? Did I do something?” Alex was trying to understand. “What? No! That’s not it.” James blew out and stopped moving. “Alexandra…I just…you make me feel things that I haven’t in a while. That scares me because I can’t control it and that makes me unstable. This afternoon was proof of that. I don’t want to do that to you and I can’t do that to myself.” James stopped and looked out her bedroom window. Alex felt as if her heart was about to pound out of her chest, every one of his words both made her happy and terribly scared. “So you are doing this to protect yourself.” Alex couldn’t blame him, but that didn’t mean that she had to like it. It almost scared her how comfortable she had become with him around in just a few days. “It isn’t that I don’t want to stay with you. Actually, it is the exact opposite,” James said slowly, “but the people I worked for are going to come for me. When they do, I don’t want you in the crossfire. I am trying to keep you safe, to keep us both safe.” “But I feel safer when you are here,” Alex didn’t want to whine, but that is exactly what she was doing. James’s blue eyes were sad, but he shook his head. “Sometimes, and sometimes you have to wonder if I’m going to turn on you. Alex,” he said when she opened his mouth to protest, “I can see it. I don’t blame you. If anything, you aren’t nearly as scared of me as you should be. This is not how you should live.” “There’s nothing I can say that will change your mind, is there?” Alex knew by the tone of his voice that he made up his mind. “The fact that you want to makes me worry about your mental state,” James said, giving her a small smirk. She sat there for a few moments, letting it all sink in. Alex felt panic rising in her, but she squelched it. She had no right to keep him here. “Just…just do me a favor. Wait until I get out of class before you leave?” Alex asked clearing her throat. “I have my exam in the morning and then we can get lunch before you head out.” “I can do that. We’ll have lunch together and then I’ll disappear as easily as I appeared.” James said and his voice held a conviction that Alex knew she couldn’t shake. Alex felt her heart constrict, but nodded her head. He was right, it was better that they parted ways before anyone got hurt or got attached. But Alex knew it was already too late for that.

#tin man #My writing #fanfic #james bucky barnes #bucky x oc #Bucky Barnes #marvel #The Lost Chapter

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katie-dub · 6 years

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The Princess of White Chapel (12/12)

Dr Killian Jones is having a terrible day. He’s got a mission, he’s got a time machine, he’s got … drunk. What could possibly go wrong?

AO3 | Tumblr

Rated M for alcohol use, violence, minor character death, frank discussions of depression and grief.

I can’t believe we’re at the end - thank you to all of you for reading, to my betas, the ever fantastic @distant-rose and @ultraluckycatnd, and to the talented @princesse-swan for creating beautiful art for me.

Now, on with the show!

One Year Later

He was on a pirate ship, hand and hook on the ship’s wheel. The salty sea breeze felt good against his skin, soothing the heat of the hot, summer sun. Princess Emma was leaning against the railings, smiling brighter than any star in the sky and giggling as the breeze wafted her curls across her face.

Lily circled lazily overhead, on guard for attack from pirates, the Evil Queen, or the villain Rumplestiltskin. But those dark clouds on the horizon could not spoil this moment, for he was here with his love. He was at peace.

“Dr Jones, Dr Jones, calling Dr Jones!” Despite being fast asleep just moments ago, Killian's reactions were laser fast. His arm shot out and he answered the phone as he yanked it to his ear.

“I can send you to another bloody realm you know, Scarlet,” he growled. “Don’t test me.”

“Oh really?” Belle replied. He pulled the phone away from his ear to squint at it in confusion. Will’s face pouted up at him in a ridiculous kiss face.

“Why are you using Will’s phone?”

“Forgot to put mine on charge last night.”

“You never forget to put your phone on charge.” Killian could practically hear her blush at his unspoken accusation.

“Yeah, well, we were.. Um. Busy,” she blustered.

“Well, well, well Miss French. Find yourself busy with our dear Will often? If so, I'd suggest you get your jabs. You don't know where that boy's been.”

“Killian!” Belle was equal parts indignant and embarrassed. “What we - if I - look, if you're still coming to book group, can you bring that book you told me about?”

“I wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“Really? I thought you might feel a bit uncomfortable, what with the subject matter…”

He glanced over at his copy of Atonement on his nightstand. “Lovers cruelly torn apart before their love story had truly begun? Yeah, I know that feeling.”

“Sorry.” Killian felt as though he could hear Belle's wince through the phone. “Honestly, I'll understand if it's too much.”

“It's fine, love. The counselling is helping me to cope with everything. At least this couple got their happily ever after, if only in fiction.”

He briefly wondered what he and Emma’s fictional happy ending would have been. He could practically see it, him gazing at her in adoration as they said their vows, her radiant smile as he dipped her into their first kiss as husband and wife.

He realised that he hadn't been listening to Belle at all, caught up in a love story that could never be. “... Should I stop by your place on the way?”

“Sure, you can tell me all about how Will finally tricked you into accepting that date.”

“I heard that!” Will shouted in the background.

“I meant you to!” Killian called back.

Belle sighed. “I'll see you at 7.”

“Bye. Don’t do anything I wouldn't do.” He raised his voice. “And, yes, that includes Will.” He was expecting the sudden silence that greeted his words. He may give Belle a hard time, but he really was pleased that they'd finally got their act together.

His eyes flicked to the time on his phone. 8:15am. Too late to go back to sleep, but he didn't quite feel ready to leave the comfort of his bed behind and face the world.

Instead, he pulled up Facebook and scrolled through his feed.

Cute baby.

Woah, seriously ugly baby. Bloody hell, what an unfortunate face, Killian thought to himself, swiping just a little faster away from the photo.

Robin Locksley shared a post from The Guardian:

A Crocodile in our Midst

“One year on from the appearance of the London Dragon, and the start of the Enchanted Disaster, we now know one man was behind it all. Robert Gold. Now that the scale of Gold’s influence and empire built on favours, deceit and corruption at the highest levels has been revealed, we ask; what lessons can we learn?”

He hesitated. Stared at the post long and hard. He should have known his feed would be full of stories like this today.

He couldn’t read it now. Perhaps he never would be able to. He’d been through enough in the past year, reporting to the Darling Inquiry, to the police, to the university.

He was finally in a better place. People finally knew what a monster Gold really was, had always been. He was working alongside Dr Smee at Imperial College London. He was getting out more. He was having regular sessions with Dr Hopper.

But still.

He sighed and continued to scroll.

Holiday photos.

Cute children.

Cute dog.

Cute baby.

Aurora Rosen shared a post from The Daily Mail “People are so mean!!! Leave this family alone!!!”:

‘Leave our princess in peace!’ plead Ashley and Sean Herman

Alexandra Herman stole all of our hearts as the face of the Enchanted Disaster, a beautiful little girl lost in another world. Her parents’ campaign for her safe return had a happy ending, but now that she is safely home, they beg for privacy.

Cute baby.

Holiday photos.

Ironic “wish you were here” post of a dowdy living room presumably intended to get a laugh, but coming off a little too bitter.

Ruby Lucas shared a post from OK! Magazine UK “Get it girls ;)”:

A Royal Romance for Rapunzel

“Singer Rapunzel and Princess Elsa open up for the first time about how their shared ordeal kidnapped by Gold led to them finding love.”

So many people had been brought together by the strange happenings in town, and what did he have to show for it? Two pictures on his wall. Emma’s sketch of a swan and the recent painting he’d done of a swan on the Thames that had made him smile. The first painting he’d done since she’d left that he actually thought worthy of hanging on the wall. Yes, it was lovely to feel that Emma had helped him to rediscover his love of painting, which gave him a link to both of his lost loves, but still... A painting couldn't ask about his day, couldn’t hold him at night, couldn’t borrow his phone when it forgot to charge its own phone because of their more enjoyable activities.

God he never thought he’d be jealous of Will bloody Scarlett.

Killian sighed and put his phone to one side. It was no good. Everything was making him think of Emma. It was still several hours until he had to be at their spot, he needed a better distraction than social media.

He’d been putting off deep cleaning his fridge. No time like the present.

***

He was at their spot and the sun was shining. It wasn’t the harsh, oppressive and overwhelming heat of the previous year, but instead a gorgeous sunny day.

He should have been grateful that on his and Emma’s day, the weather was glorious, but he felt angry. There should be storms raging, torrential rain, unnatural, unseasonable fog. Something, anything to show that the world understood what he had lost.

This resentment wasn’t a new feeling to him. He’d spent years biting his tongue at the way his friends prodded him about his love life or how an acquaintance would casually refer to the loss of Milah or at the sight of Gold. His short time with Emma and the healing that he’d done in the past year had helped him to not feel overwhelmed by it. On a normal day.

But today, it was all too much.

Twice he had loved wholly, honestly and truly; and twice that love and joy had been ripped from him.

He could see how much more to life there was than just romantic love now. His therapy had helped him to appreciate the richness and beauty in all aspects of his life. But he was a passionate man and he longed to share his heart with another. The absence of that love left an emptiness inside him that caused a deep ache if he dwelt on it for long, because whoever heard of lightning striking thrice?

The beautiful day made him feel like the world was taunting him. It was just so unfair. Where was the sense in anything that had happened? As he seethed, questions whirled through his mind, he could feel his wrath taking over. His muscles tensed, he clenched his teeth, his chest felt tight as the tempest grew.

No.

Not today.

He needed to reclaim today as a celebration of his short time with Emma. He couldn’t let his fury win.

He stared at the water and tried to remember the mindfulness exercises that Dr Hopper had taught him to help him to cope. Eyes unfocused. Deep breaths. Feel the bench beneath him. Listen to the sounds around him. Notice how he felt. Don’t try to change it. Accept it. Sit with his feelings.

He caught a glimpse of golden hair.

“Swan?”

The woman spun, he knew it wouldn’t be her. He’d done this so many times before. Especially in the beginning. She had magic. She was from an entire realm full of magic. She could find a way. She would… He’d always been disappointed.

“Yes?” Green eyes looked back at him. She had soft cheeks, a dimpled chin, she was perfect. She couldn’t possibly be real. Then she frowned at him. “Do I know you? Because you said my name and now you’re doing some kind of creepy stalker thing and I’m really not into that.”

“Are you Emma Swan?”

She held up her hands and stepped back from him. “Listen, buddy -”

Killian shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m being so weird. Um, you know the Enchanted Disaster that happened?”

“Yeah! Is it bad if I say that I thought it was cool as fuck? I may have snuck a niffler home. Kind of regretted that when the little fucker tore my purse to shreds looking for treasure.”

“OK, well, I met another you, from the Enchanted Forest.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“But I didn’t end up the other realm?”

“Not everyone switched places. Some people stumbled through portals. She was the first. Faced off against the London Dragon?”

“Oh god, I remember that! People kept asking where I’d learned how to do magic, didn’t like it when I said Hogwarts. But if you’re going to ask a dumb question...”

Killian laughed and nodded. This was so weird. She was Emma, but not Emma. She had the same dry sense of humour, but with the addition of pop culture references. He realised that he’d waited too long to say more, still overawed. “The dragon was actually friends with Emma,” he said, desperate for the conversation to continue.

Emma frowned at him and shook her head incredulously. “Oh come on! Now I know you’re making this up.”

“No really! I didn’t much like her, kind of a bitch and a major fire hazard. Honestly, I don’t miss having her in my flat.”

“You had Maleficent in your apartment?”

“I believe she’s Lily’s mother actually.”

Emma smirked at him. “Bullshit.” He just raised his eyebrows and cocked his head, trying to give off a “you keep telling yourself that” vibe as he grinned. “If I believe you then I have to accept that the street art I keep seeing of her looking like some kind of badass female Saint George is all anti-dragon propaganda. You have to let me have that vision, people buy me drinks because they think I’m her, I’ve gotten laid because of it.”

He laughed. “Far be it from me to cramp your style, Emma may not have actually slain the dragon, but she was definitely a badass. Have you seen the one of her looking like Wonder Woman with the lightsaber?”

“In the parking lot on Brick Lane? I love that one!”

“She loved it too. Of course, she didn’t actually know what a lightsaber was.” He laughed at the memory.

“Tell me you fixed that immediately or I’m not sure we can be friends.”

He laughed. “As if I would deny anyone a proper Star Wars education.” Emma nodded her approval. “Hey would you like to get a coffee?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Emma shook her head and his face fell. “Sorry, er, what did you say your name was?”

“Killian,” he said, trying not to feel too sad. He studied his feet, wondering if the ground could just open up and swallow him. Of course she wouldn’t want to get coffee, this was so strange and he’d approached her in the weirdest possible way.

“Maybe we could get a hot chocolate instead?” He looked up at her in surprise. She shrugged. “I don’t drink coffee,” she said apologetically. “Is that ok?”

“Yeah.” He was dazed, stunned into stupidity by this new Emma Swan.

“Come on, I want to hear all about how awesome I am.” She winked at him. And for the first time since Princess Emma had stepped through that portal he felt that powerful feeling surging through him and lighting him up inside. For the first time since she left, Killian had hope.

#csbb #cs ff #captain swan #ouat ff #katie dub writes #tpowc

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littleshebear · 6 years

Text

The Narrow Road, Part 3: Dreams.

Aaaaand we’re back. New’s year’s resolution: Finish my damn wips. This chapter turned out far sadder than I expected. It starts out fairly humorous then takes a sharp left into angst-ville.

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2

You the butterfly - I, Chuang Tzu’s dreaming heart.

-Matsuo Bashō

“Ow!” Zavala jerks his head back, sucking a short, sharp breath through his teeth. Normally, his Ghost would have healed him by now but this is not a normal situation. He’s accustomed to pain, just not hands-on medical care.

“Bear it, weakling.” Alexandra smirks down at him before she resumes dabbing at a cut on his forehead. Zavala supposes that whatever is on the pad she’s using is some sort of disinfectant but the way it stings and burns makes it feel like liquid torture.

He looks around the room to distract himself, from both the pain and from the fact that the first human he’s laid eyes on since being rezzed has her face inches from his own. The room can only be described as functional. In terms of furniture, there’s the bed which he’s seated on, a plain wardrobe and a couple of battered-looking easy chairs. The back half of the room houses what seems to double as a work space and kitchen area. A tiny-plug in cooker sits on top of a work-bench beside scattered tools and what are most likely gun parts and empty rounds. The only decorative pieces he can see are a small statue of a seated, robed man and what looks like a two-stringed musical instrument, with a headstock carved into the shape of a horse’s head. He lets his eyes rest anywhere except on her while he keeps as still as possible. As gentle as her touch is, there’s every possibility she might pull a knife on him again if he’s a bad patient.

“You live here?” He asks, still casting his gaze around the spartan abode.

“No,” she replies. “I live on The Road, this is just where I keep my stuff.” She smiles down at him as she sets about closing his wound with butterfly bandages.

“Ah. I see.” He doesn’t really see it. If he stopped to think about it, he wouldn’t understand why anyone would trade the comfort of a home for the danger of The Road. As it is, he’s decided now is the time to look back up at her. He’s not thinking about much except how different she looks when she smiles.

[Zavala? Are you all right?] Izanami intrudes over their neural link. A tiny frown clouds his decidedly battered and bruised features. What an odd question. He’s been beaten up, one eye is swelling shut, it hurts to breathe, he’s fairly sure his nose is broken and he can’t ask his Ghost to heal him. Not yet, anyway. Of course he’s not all right.

[Why are you asking me that?]

[You’re tachycardic!] She exclaims, sending ripples of worry through the link. [Your heart rate is pushing one-ninety, is something wrong? Is it your injuries, did I miss something? I should heal you.]

[No.] Zavala replies. [You want us to keep a low profile, how do you think she’ll react if you suddenly pop out and start beaming Light at me? Relax. I’m fine.]

[Then why are you-] Izanami pauses as Alexandra frames Zavala’s face with her hands and tips his head up towards her.

“Look at me.” She rests her thumbs on his cheekbones, gently stroking either side of his nose and gazing intently at him. He obliges, his frown instantly dissolving. He avoids her eyes and finds himself staring at her nose. The freckles he noticed when they first met catch his attention. He decides he likes freckles.

[Now you’ve stopped breathing! There’s definitely something not ri-] There’s a sudden, stony silence across their neural link. [Oh. All right. I see what’s happening here. Never mind.]

Alexandra removes her hands and straightens up before Zavala can respond. “I think your nose is broken.” She crosses over to the kitchen area and retrieves an ice pack from a small fridge. She places it in his hand and guides it to his nose. “Keep an eye on it. You might need to get to the infirmary and have it reset.”

“That won’t be necessary, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” she shrugs. “If you’re fine with long term breathing problems and your nose healing all crooked.” She flops down into one of the chairs, sending up a small cloud of dust and causing the springs to creak. She clearly wasn’t kidding about not spending much time here. “Why didn’t you fight back? That long on The Road, you must be able to handle yourself.”

“I tend to favour running away. I’m good at that. Usually.”

Alexandra laughs. “That’s as good a survival strategy as any, I guess. So where did you get the spear? That’s a Fallen blade, you didn’t get that by running away.”

“I scavenged it.” He omits the part where he scavenged it from the body of a vandal he’d despatched minutes before. Alexandra doesn’t reply to this. She merely stares back as if studying him. “Is this an interrogation?”

“The others,” she hesitates no doubt searching for a tactful way to say ‘they don’t want you here.’ “The others are sceptical. The Road is a dangerous place, you’d have to be stupendously lucky to survive out there alone, for any length of time. Lucky or…” her lips twitch in amusement. “Extremely good at running away.”

“Well, can I ask you something?” He winces as he shifts the ice pack. “Who is Fulgrim and why do people keep asking me if I work for him?”

“Ah, well.” All traces of amusement desert Alexandra when she hears that name. “That’s Lord Fulgrim, to the likes of us. He’s a Warlord, he has territory not far from here. We’ve had the odd skirmish with his people but he hasn’t tried to take the town. Not yet, anyway. He’s ruthless. He’ll give protection in exchange for tribute but if people won’t pay…” She trails off, staring at nothing in particular. She shakes her head and comes to. “He’s a Lightbearer, do you know what that means?”

“I’ve heard the term.” His voice is even but his blood has run as cold as the bag of ice in his hand.

“They have abilities. Powers, like something out of an old comic book. And you can’t kill them. They have these little drones that follow them around, they bring them back to life somehow.” She regards him seriously. “Take my advice. You see someone with one of those drones floating beside them? You do that running away thing you told me about.” She gets to her feet with a sigh. “Anyway. I need to go, I’m on watch soon. You can sleep here tonight, I won’t be back til morning.”

“I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not. Make yourself at home, there’s food in the fridge, bathroom’s through that door. I’d give you the tour but that’s pretty much it. Only one rule: Don’t touch my morin khuur or the Buddha.”

Zavala stands, removes the ice pack from his face and casts a puzzled, uncertain look around the room. “The what?”

Alexandra purses her lips to suppress a smile. “You are so far from home, aren’t you? Don’t touch that,” she points to the horse-head stringed instrument, then the statuette sitting on the shelf, “Or that.”

“Ah. I won’t.” He bobs his head, something between a bow and respectful nod, unsure of the etiquette for a situation like this. “Thank you Alexandra Ivanova. You’ve been very kind.”

“Don’t be so formal. Call me Sasha. And don’t worry about it. It’s my job.”

“Even so. I’m grateful.”

She nods back to him in response before opening the door to leave. “Sleep well, Just Zavala.”

He shuts the door after her and listens closely for the sound of her footsteps receding into the distance. “Okay, come out.”

Izanami immediately coalesces beside him. “I thought she’d never leave!” She projects a cone of Light towards Zavala’s chest and he sighs in relief. “That’s your ribs intact again. Better?”

He takes another deep breath and exhales slowly. “So much better.” He puts up a hand to shield his face when she starts healing the bruises there. “What are you doing? How obvious did you want to make this?”

She stares back at him with as much incredulity as a floating drone can muster. “Zavala. We’re not staying. We have to to go!”

Zavala closes his eyes and sighs, visibly deflating. “Iz, I am tired. I am so tired. Let me rest.”

“Did you hear what she said? And the way she said it? She hates Lightbearers. She practically spat the word out. If she finds out what you are I…” Her shell gives a little shudder. “I don’t want to think about what she might do. We can’t stay here.”

“Just a couple of days.” He kicks off his boots and eases himself down on the bed. “Give me two night’s decent sleep and we’ll move on? Deal?”

Izanami turns her shell this way and that. “Fine,” she eventually forces the word out. “So long as it’s temporary. At least let me deal with some of the deep tissue damage. Let me take the swelling down, just a little bit?”

“Okay.” He settles down on top of the blankets and groans in contentment despite the throbbing pain in his head. So this is what sleeping in a bed feels like, he thinks as his eyes fall shut.

Izanami shoots small, hesitant beams of Light towards him. “She was right. Your nose is broken. Want me to fix it? Zavala?” He doesn’t respond, having fallen asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. “I’ll fix it,” she whispers. “Sweet dreams.”

She sits in the corner of a darkened room. Her face is obscured, her head bowed. So much about her is different; her hair is shorter, she wears strange armour bearing sigils he doesn’t recognise but he knows it’s her. Somehow he knows. She cradles a large, black and white pistol in her hands with tender reverence.. When she eventually raises her head to look at him, she does so slowly, as though it’s a burden too heavy for her to carry. She looks at him with tear-filled eyes and when she speaks, her voice is quiet and strained.

“I’m sorry, Luchik.”

Zavala woke with a start, barely suppressing the urge to call her name. He sat up and looked around frantically until he remembered where he was. It was pitch black but his keen Awoken eyes could make out the sleeping form of Shaxx on a pallet on the other side of their shared yurt. He lay back down on his own bed and stared into the darkness, contemplating the dream that had so rudely shaken him awake. Of all his recurring dreams about Sasha, this was a common one but its frequency did nothing to help him understand it.

What’s wrong, Sashenka? What are you trying to tell me?

There were no answers forthcoming in the night’s silence. He had been so sure the dreams would stop once he reached the Traveler. That was their goal, they had been determined that at least one of them would make it. He did. He thought she’d be at peace after that. Clearly, he was wrong.

He rose from his pallet, having no desire to go back to sleep. He dressed as quietly as he could then picked up his spear and opened the door to the hut. Shaxx snorted and stirred as he did so.

“Mmph? Effie? Where’re y’goin?”

Zavala can’t help but smile at that. “Efrideet’s not here, Shaxx. Go back to sleep.” It was good of his new friend to put him up the way he had, but Zavala was eager to get his own space. These disruptive, sleepless nights weren’t fair on Shaxx. As much as Shaxx's energy seemed boundless, he needed his rest. Zavala headed toward the centre of the settlement, to the fire that always burned brightly, no matter the hour. He sat down, fished out a whetstone from a pouch in his belt and set to sharpening the blade of his spear. He carried on with the repetitive, meditative movements when he sensed, rather than heard his Ghost approach.

“I don’t think that spear can get much sharper.” Izanami hovered just behind his shoulder. “There’ll be nothing left of it.”

“It’s soothing.”

“Can’t sleep?” He shook his head. “Bad dream?” His only response was to draw the whetstone across the blade once more. “You can talk to me, you know.”

The Ghost’s assurance was met with silence. He rose to trudge over to the nearby wood pile. Sparks, like tiny amber stars, scattered into the surrounding darkness as he threw extra logs onto the fire. Once he was satisfied the fire was sufficiently stoked, flopped back down into his seat and resumed honing the spear resting in his lap. A not entirely comfortable silence ensued. The fire spat and crackled, the blade sang with each stroke of the whetstone and Izanami’s shell whirred softly as she considered what to say next.

“I miss her too, Zavala.”

He abruptly ceased his ministrations and looked up at his Ghost for the first time since she’d approached him. “Really?” He asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow. “You two didn’t always see eye to eye.”

“We agreed on some things; She loved you.”

She could tell she’d touched a nerve with that comment. A tense muscle worked in his jaw, his adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed down his emotions, then there was his smile. It was barely discernible and it didn’t come close to reaching his eyes but Izanami knew it was there. He held his hand out, palm up and beckoned. She sped over to him, straight past the proffered hand and nuzzled in between his neck and shoulder. Zavala gave a sad chuckle, musing on how his scarf served a dual purpose; protection from both cold and the shell points of an affectionate Ghost.

“I’m alright, Iz,” he whispered, covering her shell with his hand.

“No you’re not.” Her shell pressed into his scarf, muffling her voice. “You haven’t let yourself grieve, not properly. We were so focused on getting here, you didn’t have much time to think about anything else. You have time now.”

His Ghost had a point, he had to admit. As keenly as he'd felt the loss of Sasha, those feelings had necessarily taken a backseat to the daily drudgery of their pilgrimage: On your feet. Keep going. Don’t give up. Be brave.

“I just…” he tailed off, experiencing a flare up of what he’d come to think of as stealth grief. He understood the agony of the initial loss. There was an honesty about it, he was supposed to suffer, he could accept that. Bear it, weakling, he’d told himself. And he did. What he resented in the weeks that followed was how the pain would wait to ambush him without warning. He’d been lied to, grief didn’t go through stages, it came in waves, as relentless as the tide. Anything could remind him of her and set him off. A scent. A piece of music. An anecdote that he wanted to tell her. The thought of life plans altered or abandoned completely. And the worst: Those damn dreams of things that had never happened and never would. It was underhand. It was sneaky. It wasn’t fair.

“I just thought we’d have more time,” he said, in his second attempt at explaining his feelings. “I saw a future so clearly. I didn’t think I’d be doing this alone.”

[You’ll never be alone.] Izanami switched to the neural link to emphasise her point. [I’m here.] She floated back a little, extricating herself from this approximation of an embrace. [Try getting back to sleep?]

Zavala shook his head. “There’s little point, the sun will be up soon. Besides, I’m not tired.” That was a lie. He was worn out but he wouldn’t tell his perpetually worried Ghost the truth, that if he didn’t sleep, he wouldn’t dream.

#destiny fanfiction #commander zavala #my writing #zavala x female oc #zavala x sasha #oc: sasha #angst #grief cw #partner loss cw #character death

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abdicatedarchive · 3 years

Text

give and take || cody x alexandra

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: throwback // 2017.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: cody x alexandra.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: rudeness.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: a look into cody and alexandra’s relationship

After spending the whole day with a group of her friends, it was finally time for Alexandra and Cody to leave. She promised him that she was meeting up with them just to pick up her cardigan, but then they checked out the nearest boutique and suddenly it turned into hours of shopping. It's not like he could complain, his last football practice went over 26 minutes than planned. Now they were even in her eyes and she loved balance in her life. She gave a little bit, and it was only natural for her to receive something afterwards. Balance was essential for a healthy life. "Thank you so much for taking us here, babe. You're the sweetest." she looked up at Cody with a sweet smile. "I'm so lucky to have you in my life." Alexandra always loved to play up how happy she was in her relationship when she was around her friends. She wanted them to think she had to best guy in town. "But we gotta go, Cody said he had a surprise for me. I'll text you girlies later, bye!" she linked her arm around her boyfriend's as she waved her friends goodbye. There was no surprise he had, she was just putting on her little act for the other girls. Once they turned away and got into her car, she slammed her door shut and immediately went on her phone. "How absolutely draining, how could they all be so ridiculously stupid? They talk about the same shit all the time." Alexandra usually made it a habit to not curse around her friends, she was lady, but she was so fed up. "Can't they ever talk about something real? Something meaningful? Wendy looked so trashy too. Disgusting." Alexandra looked over at Cody with a straight face, "Get me something to eat? My headache is really getting to me and you know I can't think straight when I have a headache."

To say Cody was absolutely whipped in his relationship was an understatement. He hadn't spent quality time with his friends in about a year, his relationship had been all consuming. They were coming up on a year now and he needed to think of something that was both instagram worthy for her, but also made her feel special. Having someone two years older dating him was somewhat intimidating, but nothing was more intimidating than the age old tales of Charlie permeating through the halls. Of course, fucking Charlie had to go above and beyond for his girlfriend in high school and then go off to college with her and have one of those legendary high school relationships that last a lifetime. Charlie was only a freshman in college right now ... but they had already made it past thanksgiving break, Christmas break, and spring break ups. The two were locked and loaded for the long hall, which put the pressure on. AP was graduating in the spring. Cody needed to make sure that he was worthy of her. Cody started up the car, he had just gotten his license and never let her drive anymore, it made him feel more grown up. "Your friends could listen better, you're so much more interesting than them" Cody agreed. He didn't really have too much of a problem with her friends, they were your basic Hastings girls. But Alex viewed them as accessories, so Cody did too. He thought that Wendy looked nice but knew better than to say anything. "I already mobile ordered your favorite, I'll run in and pick it up" said the boy as he drove across the town square and parked, running in to pick up their food and heading back to the car "for you." Cody was getting good at predicting her needs, even down to the fact that she wanted a healthy lunch but would want his fries so he got extra. He also pretended to want a cookie, and he knew she would eat it and pretend to be cute about it.

If there was one thing Cody could do, it was say the right thing, at least most of the time. Alexandra wouldn't be wasting her time with someone if she didn't think he could provide something for her. He was already two years younger, but he was a Summers, that was automatic brownie points in this town. "I just care about what really matters. People need to tap into their spirituality a little more. It literally transforms your life. I'm thriving in all areas." She couldn't go ten minutes without talking about herself, it was a nasty habit. But a habit she wasn't going to break anytime soon. It's not like people were calling her out for it, they wouldn't want to cross her like that. She huffed and puffed like a brat throughout the whole drive to get her food, but once she got it, her eyes lit up. That was the thing with Alex, she'd do a complete 180 when she got what she wanted. She knew how to play up the whole grateful girlfriend act. "You're the best baby, you know that?" she leaned over to Cody and gave him a quick kiss before taking her food and checking to see what he got her. They've been together for almost a year, he should know what she would want. "My favorite. This is why we work so well." Alexandra eyes went straight to the cookie and without asking, she took it and bit into it. "I can have a piece, right?" she asked after the fact, putting on a sweet innocent face. How could he say no this face? "I'm so excited for our anniversary. I have something so nice planned out for you, but we both know you're the better gift giver." She had absolutely no plans yet, it was just her way to make sure Cody was going above and beyond for her. "I bet you've had everything ready for weeks now. It's just such an important milestone in our relationship, the most important. I wouldn't be surprised if you did something before the day and on it. A nice two part gift. You're just so giving like that."

Cody forgot how huffy and annoyed she had been the second he brought her her food, seeing her eyes light up was more than enough for him. Before he could even say yes, she had already taken a bite, "only because you are so beautiful" he said with a smile as he mixed up his salad. The pressure was definitely on, and what he had planned did not seem big enough. Fuck, he was going to have to talk to Charlie about this. How embarrassing. Maybe he should just ask his mom, or maybe his dad. Or maybe both. Maybe he should ask everybody. This needed to be perfect and huge if she was going to stay with him next year. He had planted the seeds to encourage her to go to Brindleton or Prence, keep her near by. He couldn't imagine being far from her. He looked old enough to get into college parties as a freshman, he could be with her every step of the way. Then she added the two day thing, "You're reading my mind" he said as he made a mental note that he most definitely needed to bring out the big guns and ask for help. Cody absolutely hated asking for help, he liked everything to be fair and even. If he got anything from someone, he had to give back. The only person that was mildly an exception was Alex, and when she looked at him it was more than enough to make him do anything. She'd taken his virginity and his heart, and he was never going to let her go. "I have a family dinner with the Langstons tonight, Nathaniel got hired through a college connection from Dad so we're celebrating. But I was thinking maybe we could hang out now and then hangout later? I was thinking you might want to help me get these clothes off?" he suggested as he put his lunch in the back seat and started to drive.

Alexandra gave Cody a pleased smile, whether he had something already planned or not, she knew she'd be getting something really good now. Sometimes you just had to take matters into your own hands to get what you want, and she didn't mind putting in that kind of work. It was to benefit herself and her life, and the most important person in someone's life should always be themselves. She continued to eat the cookie until there was enough for one bite left, and decided to leave that for Cody. Just another selfless act. The mention of a family dinner with the Langston's made Alex furrow her brows in confusion. Hang out and now and ... after? Didn't he want her there for the dinner? Why wouldn't he want her to go with him? "Are their daughters going? Or the cousins? That's a lot of pretty girls, and who know's how sneaky they are. I don't want them trying anything with you. Why do you even need to go? You can just stay with me at my house, and we could do whatever you want." she smirked. That was a bold face lie, but she'll say anything to get her way. When it came to sex, it was about her needs most of the time. "Or I could tag along, you know how much I love seeing your parents." she put on her signature smile, hoping Cody wouldn't disappoint her. She even gave him options, she was being more than reasonable here.

Cody took the last bite of the cookie, happy that he got any. "It's just Nathaniel's family. I think it's kind of a thank you to Dad. It's: me, Charlie, Channing, Courtney, and Claire plus Nathaniel, Veronica, Fiona, and Bella. Then my parents, their parents, and the Windsors. Very full table, so they said no girlfriends or boyfriends. Cordelia isn't even invited and they're basically engaged, same with Alice" Cody explained. If he had been able to have her there, he would have. Especially if Bella was bringing the little man. He didn't understand why Landon disliked him so much, they were in the same grade after all. When Alexandra said they could do whatever he liked, Cody immediately hatched a plan. "I'll take care of it" he said as he pulled into her driveway and called his mom, "Hey Mom, some guys on the football team copied my homework answers and got us all in trouble for plagarizing. I didn't do anything wrong, it was my work" he said, pausing for his mother to give him a little grief, "I know I told her that. It's not my fault they didn't do their work. It was peer pressure" he said, coaxing her a little. "But I argued my way into doing some extra credit, and it's way harder than the original assignment. I don't think I can make it to the Langston dinner" he said as he moved his hand to Alex's knee, moving it up her thigh a little. "I will be at home, and yes I will feed Archer. So sorry I'm going to miss it. Gives a little extra room for everybody at the kids table" he said with a laugh. His mother would enjoy the joke, "Bye, Love you" Cody said as he hung up the phone. "I am all yours" said Cody with a smile to his girlfriend. He was pretty excited that she wanted to do whatever he wanted for a change, that never happened. Not that he wasn't very invested in what they did do.

If there was no girlfriend and boyfriend rule for this dinner, than Cody wasn't going. It seemed simple enough to Alexandra. But she did make a mental note to ask Landon if he went to this dinner or not. Cody never gave her a reason not to trust him, he did everything she wanted, he always did what he was supposed to do, but everyone needed to be tested every now and then. If Cody was telling the truth, then Landon would tell her that he wasn't going to this dinner, and for her boyfriend's sake, that better be the case. She could definitely see Landon somehow squeezing his way into that dinner, but Alexandra would see it more as Cody lying to her and not wanting her there. She would just be so devastated and he'd have to do quite a bit to get her trust back. But out of the kindness of her heart, she was willing to see Cody put in that kind of effort. She wanted to see just how much he loved her. She waited for her boyfriend to finish up her call, placing her hand on top of his as he talked to his mother. "You're all mine, just the way I like it." she said with a big smile, tapping his nose lightly with her finger. "But are you sure you want to miss this dinner? I don't want to make anything difficult for you and your family. I just love spending time with you, I can't get enough of you." Alexandra was already making sure this decision of his didn't fall on her. Sure she kind of backed him into a corner, but she didn't want the dirt on her hands.

"Anything for you" he reassured her. It felt so good that she was so into him, Cody felt really confident in this relationship. He didn't always feel that way, but she was with him for a reason. "It's not going to be a problem, they wouldn't notice even if I was there. The nights about Nathaniel, and I'm sure Claire will make it about her" said the boy, "I didn't want to go anyways." Which wasn't particularly a lie. He liked being with the Langstons it was just a lot with everyone together all at once. It was the closest thing they had to family time though: when they went presenting around to other families. It wasn't like they were eating family dinners at home, everyone just ate in their rooms. Each individual relationship was okay, but it was when they were a group that things were tough. That's why it was best to add other people into that. "I am so lucky to have you" said Cody giving her a quick kiss before turning off the car and getting out.

"Perfect." Alexandra dropped the little considerate act she was pulling and smiled big at her boyfriend, "I can make up for that and give you all my attention." It was a nasty way of thinking, but in her head, if Cody's family gave him less attention, he would always be searching for it through her. That would mean he'd want to keep her attention by doing and giving her everything she wants, and that was perfect for Alex. "Aw you're so sweet." she answered back. Alex didn't think she was necessarily lucky to have Cody in her life. She could easily find someone to fill his role, but she was happy about snatching up someone from the Summers family. It's not like she would try and date Channing, she did have standards. "I wanna eat my food first though. I don't want all your money to go to waste." This was a plan she'd pull out every once in a while. Make him wait long enough before the sex to then act like she's oh so tired so she could ask if he could just put in all the work this time. She had no problem sleeping with Cody, but if there was a way for her to get the same end result without her having to do all that extra work just to please him, she would do it. Being with her should be enough pleasure for him anyways.

Cody definitely get that much attention at home. Everything was always about the girls, and Charlie shirked any and all attention he got. Sometimes Charlie got "man talks" with Dad, which made Cody a little jealous. Charlie was also the favorite, but then the girls got extra attention so they wouldn't feel left out. Not that anyone noticed Cody was still out there. "Yeah of course babe" said Cody with a smile, he didn't know what was less desirable ... her being hangry or the way she always got too tired after she ate. It was a routine at this point, not that he minded. Some of his friends weren't even having sex yet, so it was exciting that he got to do that. Especially with someone as pretty and smart and caring as her. She was just so worldly and interesting, and Cody had passed up on going abroad for a semester like Charlie did. He saw how much it weighed on his parents for Charlie to leave, and for Courtney to leave. When they came back it was harder to be at school too, which he didn't really want. He also didn't want to leave Alex, so he decided not to go.

Alexandra was already walking over to the dining room when he was speaking, it didn't matter whether he wanted to eat now or later, they were going to eat now. She sat down at the table and took out her food, "You're not doing anything next Friday, right?" Alex didn't really take Cody's plans into consideration. He could hang out with his friends whenever he wanted, as long as it didn't interfere with the plans she'd make for the two of them. "You have to come to our family dinner. Landon's brining his weird girlfriend and I don't want to be alone with the two. I get massive headaches when she starts yapping." she rolled her eyes. It seemed pretty rude that she basically prevented him from going to a dinner with his family, but was making him go to a family dinner for her. Alexandra wasn't thinking about that though, it was all about herself. "Fries, please." she basically demanded as she looked over at his food.

"I mean sure" said Cody, "I'd love to." He really meant it, he would do anything for her. "Not that I really want to be eating with BJ either" Cody added. Bella was maybe the weirdest person he had ever met, not that he noticed her that much until Alex started complaining about her. To be honest, he hadn't really had a problem with her until she entered Alex's life by dating her brother. Cody unpacked his food and put the fries out, moving them over to Alexandra's side of the table, knowing perfectly well that he wasn't going to get any fries. He was well trained at this point to put her needs above his, because that's what love is. "Only because I love you" said Cody with a smirk as he opened up his salad.

"Just ignore her, that's what I try to do. I'm sure she's used to that anyways." Alexandra shrugged her shoulders carelessly. All she really cared about was seeming like she had the better relationship in the family. She wanted everyone in town to look at her and think she was the best. Alexandra smiled back at Cody once he said he loved her and began to eat his fries, not realizing along the way that she had pretty much eaten all of them. Once they were done with all their food, she asked Cody to clean everything up before walking over to him and tugging on his arm. "We still have some time before everyone else gets home, and I just want you so bad right now." she smirked up at her boyfriend.

Cody suddenly felt almost bad for her, being ignored. Being ignored really hit home sometimes. He shrugged it off best as he could as he was cleaning up the dishes and throwing everything away. As he was standing in the kitchen alone, he realized how lonely he still was. Alex was the only thing that felt like home. She appeared and tugged on his arm, and he smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Yeah baby? Let's make the most of the time we have" said the boy as he led her upstairs. It felt so good to be loved, to be seen, to be heard. She understood him, and she loved him. It was good, they were good.

As they reached her bedroom, Alexandra got on her toes as she placed her hands on Cody's shoulders, pushing down on them a bit so she could kiss him deeply. Her hands travelled down to his chest to grab onto his shirt and pull him closer as she moved back onto her bed. "You're so amazing, I don't know what I'd do without you." she spoke sweetly. Alex usually only talked like this to him when she was around other people or when she wanted something from him. She had to make him good for a minute to make sure she got her way with her boyfriend.

Cody was pretty used to be crouched for Alex. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm all yours. I love you so much" said Cody between kissing down her neck. He was obsessed with her, she was the most amazing person he had ever met. He was never going to feel this strongly about anyone ever again. This is what everyone was talking about, this feeling right here. "We're going to be in college together before you know it" he said with a big smile. He was so excited to spend time with her for the rest of their lives, Charlie had found it. Why couldn't he? Lightning can strike twice in the same place.

Alexandra knew she had Cody right where she wanted him, she could tell in the way he spoke to her. He'd practically do anything for her, and that's mainly why she stuck around for this long, but she knew it wouldn't last. This relationship was temporary for her, so when he started talking about college and how they'd be together by then, she almost rolled her eyes. He was talking too much at this point, and she wanted him to shut up. "Baby, I'm just like so tired and my headache's coming back and I don't want waste this beautiful moment we're having." she started to whine. "You think you could just go down on me this time, and I promise next time it'll be all about you." she lied, yet again. She only cared about her needs and wants, never his.

He knew it was too good to be true when she said that it would be all about him today, or even that they were going to have actual sex. But he loved her, and he wanted her to feel better. "Of course, anything for you" said Cody in a soft voice as he pushed some of her hair back before kissing her again. -Fade to black, he really put that effort in because he's a summers man- Cody laid down on the bed, catching his breath a little. "So, do you want to hang out for the rest of the night? Maybe I can sleep over? My parents aren't going to be back until late and they're not going to check my room." He wanted to stay, the nights she let him sleep over were always the best. Cody loved just being next to her, it felt more comfortable than his house.

Alexandra, yet again, got what she wanted, so there wasn't much need for him to be here anymore. She put on a sad smile as she turned over to kiss him quickly, "I don't want to get you in trouble with your parents, you already missed out on that dinner." she tried to sound as sincere as possible, as if she really cared. "Maybe you still have time to go to that, or maybe you should already just be at the house before they get there. Act like you're doing that extra credit you lied about. I wouldn't want you to get caught for lying."

"Yeah, you're right" said Cody, it was redundant to say because she was always right. "You are so smart, I love you and I will see you soon" said the boy giving her a kiss on the forehead, "don't miss me too much." He was going to miss her a bunch, "I'll text you when I'm home safe" the boy added before he headed out, "love you." //END

#codyxalexandra #threads || alexandra and cody #alexandra and cody || 001 #cody: thread

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imgilmoregirl · 6 years

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Notes: WARNING: This chapter has mentions to suicide and abortion.

The Truth About Him

It took Belle almost two months to decide that being a housewife wasn’t healthy for her. She felt absolutely bored during the first week but tried to convince herself that if she tried harder, it wouldn’t look so bad, so she started doing some non-stoppable cleaning, reorganised all the things Gold had gotten out of place – well, actually out of the place Belle considered right for them – brought all her stuff back from the library’s apartment, made research about Sarah’s future treatment with the stem cell, read lots of books and even tried to cook, but that life wasn’t for her.

She could do a million things in a day and she would still feel useless. It was during an afternoon tea with Alice and Grace in which she complained about how stagnated her life was that her friend suggested Belle could take a job at the school. Alice Madden was a teacher. One of the good ones, all the kids loved her and her joyful way of presenting new things. Belle had a Literature degree, but she had only ever worked in the library, so at the beginning she wasn’t sure if that could work.

Alice insisted in taking her there anyway and she met Jasmine Shirin, another teacher who was in need of an assistant. Belle had taken a walk around the corridors, seeing the children running around with notebooks in hand and suddenly, she smiled for herself, knowing it was something she could do and that would bring her a lot of joy, so she accepted the job and went home to tell the happy news to her husband.

Gold of course, was thrilled for her, he wanted her to take a rest from what was making her mind troubled and he was glad she had now found something that was healthy for her to do. Sarah spread the news about her mama working at her school in the next day, so then most of Storybrooke was knowing and whispering about it. She didn’t care. Belle told Archie this new job made her feel good and secure about herself in a way she hadn’t felt in months and he also supported her decision of taking it, so that was enough for her.

On Monday morning, Gold dropped Belle and Sarah at Granny’s for a special breakfast while he went on his journey of collecting the rent. It was her first day at the school, he had bought her a diamond necklace to celebrate it and they made passionate love in the night prior, which made Belle a bit sore in actual fact, but she couldn’t quite believe how happy she was feeling. She had a scan booked for the weekend, they would see their baby, discuss the plans for the birth and Sarah’s treatment and everything would be fine. Except for the one thing she didn’t want to think about.

After the scan, she planned on going to the cemetery and take some flowers to Bae and she hoped it wouldn’t affect her. The more her pregnancy advanced and the happier she felt, she was also reminded that Baden was no longer there to enjoy any of this with them.

Taking a long sip of her tea, she looked up at Sarah who was currently playing on the other side of the counter at Granny’s, being all spoiled by Mrs. Lucas, Ruby’s grandmother, while Ruby herself shoved a few – much more than a few – questions at Belle, who tried not to get annoyed at her best friend’s clear concern.

"Are you sure about that?"

"About my work?" Belle inquired. "Of course, I am. Alice was very gentle to help me getting it and I can't wait to start."

"But you quit from the library because you didn't want to face people," Ruby pointed out.

Sighing, Belle lifted her cup again, drinking all that was left of her tea before pushing it into Ruby's direction. She knew everybody had reasons to believe she couldn't do it, she was reluctant at first too, but Belle understood that her problem wasn't dealing with children nor with books as she did her whole life, but other people. Will, Regina and Hades were the main reasons why she decided to quit from the library.

"Yeah, cruel adults I mean," she shrugged. "I'll be working with kids, there is nothing wrong with that. Jasmine said they are learning how to read. It will be fascinating."

"I'm glad that makes you happy, Belle..." Ruby trailed off gesticulating towards her middle section. "But you're pregnant."

Oh, she was pretty aware of that. Her stomach was getting bigger and, in most clothes, people already see the solid curve of her bump, even with the loose dress she had chosen today it was pretty visible. She would never do anything that could put her child at risk, it was the sparkle that was shining from within her, bringing hope back to her life with the promise of saving Sarah too. Belle was careful, but she needed to do things for herself too.

"Ruby, I appreciate your concern, but you're not my mom! I will be fine, I promise."

"Alright," she snorted. "Guess I'll have to trust you."

"Good," the brunette smiled touching her shoulder before standing up. "Come on, Sarah, let Granny work, you and I have to go to school."

Rolling her eyes, Granny picked up a cookie and gave it to Sarah, pinching her rosy cheeks tenderly before letting the little girl follow her mother out of the diner. The school wasn't far from there and Belle thought a good walk was a nice way to start the day. She wasn't wearing any of her beloved high heels, which made it easier, but she considered earlier that the school wasn't the right place for this kind of shoes. And God forbid her from accidentally tripping and falling in her condition.

Belle took Sarah to her classroom first, leaving her with Mary Margaret and Alexandra who had also already arrived as her mother always had to go to work pretty earlier. She was glad Sarah didn't have to stay there all alone and went to the teacher's room with a lighter heart for knowing the two girls were currently colouring together in a good mood. The greatest part about being back home with Robert was that they could give her all those family moments she had been lacking in the past few months. Sarah never complained but both of them knew how much happier she was now. It was clear in the way she laughed and jumped cheerfully around the house.

Her dreams about Bae hadn't quite stopped, most mornings she would tell them about how they had spent hours talking and playing in a beautiful garden and how glad Baden was that their parents were back together and expecting a new child. Bobby and Belle got to the conclusion that Sarah missed him too much to simply let go. She looked healthier now that the meds were working, although sometimes she would still be too tired to do anything and would just want to sleep.

Caressing her bump, Belle told herself that very soon she would be cured and be back to who she was. She pushed the door open and peeked a look inside to see a bunch of women talking around a big table, some of them writing in notebooks, some just having a delayed breakfast. A petite brunette lifted her eyes to Belle and smile widely, waving at her.

"Hey, Belle, it is very nice to see you," she started, standing up and making her way towards her. "I think the kids will love having you around."

"Thanks, Jasmine."

She joined the teachers, being introduced to everyone and feeling nice for the first time in the presence of so many people. When the time came, Jasmine guided her to their classroom on the second floor and they waited until all of the children were settled on their tables before Jasmine stood in front of them.

"Alright you all," she started, gesticulating for Belle to stand up too. "Say hello to Mrs. Gold, our new class assistant."

"Hello, Mrs. Gold," the kids answered in unison.

Jasmine started her lessons and Belle sat back by her table, taking a few notes before she stood up and started to walk around the classroom to see if any of the children were having trouble doing them. She stopped by a little blonde girl and kneeled beside her, seeing how she stared confused at the words.

"Do you want some help with that?"

The girl nodded and presented herself as Amy and Belle helped her to put the letters together, repeating the sound of each one of them with her like she used to do with Bae and Sarah.

"Did you eat too much?" Amy asked at some point, dropping her eyes to her bump. "You have a full tummy."

"Oh, it is not food," Belle chuckled. "I'm having a baby."

Amy's eyes got wide and she had a few questions to Belle before she moved to the next child. Apparently that girl had never seen a pregnant woman before, which was quite amusing. She kneeled beside a skinny boy with a way too pale skin and black curled hair.

"My mom is afraid of your husband," he said as soon as she approached him.

"Is she?" Belle blinked.

"He always wants his rent and we never have enough money."

The kids had an interesting opinion about her husband, Belle found out. That was probably due to all the gossip about him and although she didn't agree with the way Gold used to threaten his tenants, but she knew that if he was a soft man with everybody he would never get his payment. It just didn't make her feel any less sorry for the people who really didn't have money to pay for the rent every month, like that poor boy.

By the end of the day, Belle was exhausted, but also very happy. She gathered her things and picked Sarah up from her class, thanking Mary Margaret for her day of work and going out of the school to find her husband waiting for them with a bouquet of red roses in his hand. Smiling at him Belle kissed his lips, tucking Sarah inside the car alongside with their things and the roses which she thanked Gold for. He caught her in his arms, kissing the top of her head as he caressed her stomach.

"So, what do you think of your first day of teaching?"

"I think we are lucky parents," she said with a sigh. "They are a bunch of curious brats, but I like it."

"I'm glad you found something to do," he answered nuzzling his face at her neck. "I'd be sad if knitting was your only hobby."

A laugh escaped her at the remembrance of Gold and Sarah arriving home after a long day just to find her curled up on the couch, knitting white baby hats. She had never been good at it, but she got way too bored of everything, Belle opened her laptop and searched for video tutorials, thinking it would be a great way spending her time. Robert made fun of her whenever he found her knitting, telling Belle how much she reminded him of his aunties when she was doing that.

Stealing another kiss from his lips, she considered murmuring on his ear all the things she wished him to do with her that night, but Belle didn't quite have time for it, as a man approached them with a perfect sceptical smile on his lips.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gold," Jonathan Hades greeted them. "Hello."

Clutching her husband close, Belle felt her heart race in that painful pace it hadn't reached in weeks.

"Mr. Hades," Robert murmured back, nodding at him and trying to swallow the lump on his throat.

"Lovely afternoon, right? Sometimes I like taking long walks, watching the town moves and remember about remarkable events. The tool bridge and the park have seen quite memorable ones," Hades said with a dark smile that made her stomach twist and a shiver pass through her body. "I thought you weren't together anymore, but that's not a big surprise I guess."

Gold was still in her arms, his jaw clenched and his arms possessively wrapped around Belle, one holding her back as his left hand remained splayed on her bump.

"We should always fight for the ones we love," the brunette answered, wishing he would just go away.

"Oh, you're right, my dear," Hades agreed. "Now what really is surprising is that you have another bread on the oven."

Looking down, Belle noticed that her biggest fear was becoming true. Hades had found out about her pregnancy, well that counting that he hadn't yet heart about that. She knew every single person in town would eventually know about it, as her belly grew bigger to nestle that new life, but out of all the grumpy old people who could spread all the bad humours about them, the only one she feared knowing about that was Hades. Robert still knew things that could put him in jail and he could still want them dead.

"Our miracle," Belle finally replied, joining her hand with Gold's above her stomach.

"That's just touching," Hades said. "Miracles happen once in a while, but of course, you need to take care to not let them die or fade away."

"What - " Gold started but Belle interrupted him.

"Have a good afternoon, Mr. Hades," she finished off, letting it clear to him that this conversation was over.

"You too."

Hades dived his hands into his coat's pockets and followed his way down the street, leaving Isabelle and Robert Gold alone again. She saw as her husband released the air he was holding and his hands tightened in fists as he dropped them to his sides.

"God help me, Belle, I'm going to kill him."

"No," she exclaimed. "No, my love, you have to promise me you won't do this! I was wrong when I said I wanted Hades dead, we shall not avenge Bae with our own hands."

"He has just threatened our baby and he killed our boy," he yelled back and Belle was glad there was no one else around to hear it.

She took a look inside the car and saw that Sarah was thankfully distractedly playing with a stuffed duck singing to herself and not paying attention at all at her parents.

"I know," Belle whispered, covering her belly with a protective hand.

"The gun is still in my safe," Robert confided her, talking about the objected he had acquired right before Robin was killed and it became clear that Storybrooke was no longer a safe place to live. "I thought about taking my own life with it many times during our separation but now I think it can be of better use."

"Bobby..." Belle trailed off, taking a step into his direction and palming his cheek. "Please, don't speak like that anymore, I don't want you to ever feel like this again."

He snorted, but nodded, taking her back into his arms and pressing his forehead against hers.

"I won't," Gold promised. "I thought I would never find happiness again, but you are right, Belle, we must fight for the ones we love and that's why I must get rid of Hades."

"Look at my eyes," she asked as he had them shut close. "We have what we need and we will stay very far away from him, alright? Now, please take me home."

Kissing her wrist, Gold nodded, opening the car’s door for her and making his way to the driver’s side, not quite ready to forget Hades’ threat, but willing to take a break from his murderous thoughts towards him to take care of his family.

Rogers initially had plans of going straight to San Francisco as soon as Will Scarlet told him about Zelena Mills, but when in the next morning after it, he found out the idiot had been arrested for harassment, he decided to be careful and not trust his words so easily. Along the next few weeks, he made the most innocent questions he could to people around town about Robin as he tried to take any information about Zelena from her sister, the mayor.

When she confirmed that Zelena had moved to San Francisco, Rogers decided to invest everything in trying to find her. He couldn’t simply ask Regina for an address, because the stress of the whole situation would only cause a bomb to explode in town and, if Hades was crazy enough to kill Robin and sabotage the Gold’s car, then Rogers was pretty sure he would anything to shut up anyone who tried to put in in prison.

He went back to his home in Seattle, the agitated Hyperion Heights, so he could use the precinct’s resources to make a proper research, while he caught up some lost time with Sabine, his girlfriend, who was really upset by his absence. Tilly was happy to be back and spend some time with her soon-to-be step-mother too, mainly because Sabine was always cooking for her and well, Tilly loved food.

Those were nice weeks but work still called him – most literally as his phone usually had a hundred missing calls from Regina daily – and he had to meet up with Zelena at some point. He left Tilly behind, for safety reasons and begged Sabine to not let Eloise, the little girl’s mother, get any near to her.

He spent a whole day at the hotel, revising his notes about the case and trying to memorize every detail about this twisted story that he had collected before going to the gym where she worked as a spin instructor. Rogers waited outside her class for almost an hour, annoyed by the loud music until the people started to come out of there and he could finally enter the room. Zelena was all alone, drying her sweaty face with a towel.

"Zelena Mills?"

For a second, she went still, then her hand disappeared inside the opened pure in front of her to appear again a moment later with a gun in it. One that was being pointed right at his chest.

"Who are you?" Zelena inquired, wildly. "Who the hell are you?"

"Whoa, calm down," he begged, opening his distinctive for her, which made Zelena drop her hands to her sides, lowering the gun. "I'm detective Rogers, I'm investigating the murder of Robin de Locksley. Can we talk?"

She bit down her lip, getting her purse in hands and gesticulating towards the door behind them.

"Come inside."

He followed her to what looked like a mini-kitchen, very, very tiny, will dark walls, a huge fridge that took most of the room’s space and a counter with four stools in front of it. Zelena opened the refrigerator’s door and took a bottle of whiskey from it, pouring a glass for her and taking a second with a question shining in her eyes.

"Do you want a drink?"

"Ah... No, thank you."

Nodding, she took a seat and, after a moment, so did Rogers. He didn’t quite know how to start talking, for the very first time in his entire career, because Zelena looked scared as hell as she took a long sip of whiskey and sighed deeply, avoiding his glance.

"You want to know why Hades killed him," it was her who started.

"Yes."

"Robin was trying to help me," she confessed. "It was my fault."

Well, it seems Scarlet was really right about that. He took an attentive look at Zelena, trying to catch all the emotions she was feeling, but only noticing how different she and Regina were. The woman in front of him was a tall redhead with light blue eyes, with Regina was way smaller and had chocolate hair and eyes. His best guess was that they were just half-sisters, but then, it didn’t matter now.

"I've hear you were going to marry Hades."

"Yeah, I was," she murmured. "I loved him, very much. In the beginning he was sweet and full of love, but then things changed, he wanted to rule my life, he wouldn't allow me to work or to visit my sister… I was all alone and when I tried to stand up for myself, he beat me. I had to run away."

"I understand," Rogers said, sincerely. "But how exactly did Robin get involved?"

Along his years as a detective, Rogers had seen a lot of cases with women like her involved, but most of them ended-up being killed by their abusive partners, or simply disappearing without leaving a clue. Never a second person other than the female victim died. At least, that was what most experiences showed him, but this story somehow, had a unique ending. One which’s reasons Roger’s needed to find out.

Truth be told, he thought it would be way harder to get anything from Zelena, but she seemed to have the need to speak up. Probably because she had spent years holding the truth for herself.

"He used to do some gardening for us once a week, so one day when he came over I begged him to help me," she told him. "I knew it was dangerous and I would anger Hades, but I needed to go, so he drove me to New York first. I spent a full month hidden in there, changing from hotel to hotel until Will Scarlet managed to fake an ID for me and I came to San Francisco."

"But why didn't Hades kill Robin all those years ago when you first disappeared?"

"He didn’t know what I did," Zelena said, drinking more from her whiskey before lifting her cold blue eyes to him. "Listen, Regina has no idea of what really happened, she thinks we just broke up and I moved out of town, so one day she told Hades I had a daughter."

Rogers blinked. Now things were starting to make more sense.

"You were hiding his child?"

"No," she said with a shook of her head, tracing the border of her glass. "Thank God, my sweet Margot is not his, but my husband's, Chad. Hades just didn't know that until very recently as I was pregnant when I left. He spent years looking for me because he thought I was keeping his child from him, but when he finally decided to give up on his search and went back to Storybrooke, Regina told him I had a daughter and was living in here, so he came looking for me."

She hissed at the thought as if just the remembrance of that day made her feel some kind of invisible – and maybe psychological – pain. Rogers must not know every detail of this story yet, but he could already say that Hades was a bastard who should be sentenced to many years in prison.

"Did he hurt you?"

"He tried. Chad stopped him," Zelena snorted. "When I told him that I had made an abortion he went mad. I thought he was going to kill me."

"So instead he came back home and killed Robin," Rogers concluded.

The redhead nodded and a tear slid down her face, falling on the dark counter in front of them.

"Yeah. Robin was my saviour. He booked the appointment at the clinic and held my hand while the doctor worked..." Now she was shaking and Rogers could tell none of this had been easy for her. Whoever Zelena Mills was and whatever she had done, she still suffered for it. "I wanted to have that child, but I couldn't bear to be bonded to Hades forever."

"I'm not judging you. I just wanted the truth," Rogers affirmed. "You need to come to Storybrooke with me, Zelena, so we can put Hades in prison."

Waving her head at him, Zelena slid down from her tall stool, grabbing her purse and leaving her half-empty glass on the counter.

"You don't have any real proof that he killed Robin," she started. "When you do, we can talk again, so I'll be sure I won't expose myself for nothing."

Opening up the door again, Zelena Mills disappeared, leaving Rogers alone to wonder what the hell he could do with the truth if she was totally right and he had no real ways of arresting Hades. At least, not yet.

Ultrasounds always got Belle nervous. She would be pacing around the room if Ariel hadn’t already covered her skirt with towels so the gel wouldn’t ruin it, but she guessed that having her husband sat by her side, murmuring how much he loved her was a great incentive to be still while they waited. Doctor Whale appeared after what seemed to be a long hour but was actually just a few minutes.

He was holding a red folder in his hands, which he was calling “the miracle” folder as it contained all of Belle and Sarah’s medical story, from their diagnostics of infertility and multiple organs failure to a surprisingly pregnancy and a sudden waken from the coma. Ever since she found herself expecting, he was tracing down the best ways of doing every single thing and she was glad to have someone as dedicated as him taking care of them.

"Hey," Whale greeted them. "Nice to see you two again, although I'm happy our meetings are not so frequent anymore. I'm glad Sarah is alright for now."

"And so are we," Gold said, petting Belle’s hair. "But I can help worrying about her all the time, I think that sometimes she looks way too pale and she is always tired."

"It all will come to pass when we start the treatment with the stem cells, which leads me to something I want to discuss," the doctor started, taking a seat on his tiny stool by the ultrasound machine. "I think this baby should be delivered with a C-section. I know you must want a natural birth, Belle, but this way we will make sure everything goes according the plan and both the baby and the cells are perfectly safe."

She wetted her lips. Belle hadn’t thought about that. Her previous delivery had been natural and she just assumed this one would be too, painful contractions and all, but now the reality hit her. She needed to understand that the child wasn’t the only factor to be considered, but the blood that contained the cells too and without it, they would lose Sarah, so she better agree with anything the doctors proposed.

"I - I think we can do this."

"Right," Whaled smiled. "I have two friends from Seattle who would love to work with us. They are very interested in you and Sarah, for medical boring reasons, so if you allow you'll have the best paediatrician and the best neo-natal surgeons coming over to Storybrooke to take care of you."

"Oh, that's fine," she said, amused with the fact anyone would want to come all the way from Seattle just to help with a labour and an anaemia treatment.

"And suddenly it becomes a show down…" Gold trailed off, also impressed.

Whale laughed, picking up the bottle of gel and spreading some on Belle’s stomach with the help of his probe. She had to admit that she didn’t enjoy being pressed by that thing, but then it was needed if she ever wanted to see her precious miracle baby on the black and white screen.

"Doctors have funny hobbies, Mr. Gold," Whale said. "Now, let's see the little one."

For a moment, Belle closed her eyes. It was her fear of something – anything – going wrong that made her feel so anxious again, although not in the way she had been feeling after the accident. Some days were so good and so normal lately that she considered if she had been cured of her anxiety, but then, all of the sudden her heart raced and she knew she would never be truly free of it.

"Everything seems to be just fine," the doctor murmured.

"Can you see if it is a boy or a girl?" Belle asked.

"Yes. Do you want to know?"

She looked up at Gold and he nodded, excitedly.

"We do."

Whale moved the probe down on her belly and pointed at the lower parts of the baby, making a red circle with a button of his machine.

"Here," he said, pointing it out. "No doubt a boy."

The whole world stopped. She wanted to cry. Curl herself in a corner and just weep because she was so overwhelmed with this that she couldn’t really find words to say how much. Gold helped her to clean herself of the gel when Whale left and then, took Belle to the corridor, but she was walking as if she was blind, only focused in the thoughts of little Baden walking around with small chubby legs and a giggle that warmed her heart in the most special way.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?"

"We are not replacing Bae, right?"

"Oh, Belle, of course not," Gold guaranteed, cupping her cheeks and kissing the top of her nose. "He wanted a little brother, remember? You've said it yourself."

"But he won't be here to play with him,” she sniffled. “I miss our Baden."

"We will miss him forever," Robert whispered. "I can't spend a day without thinking about him, remembering his laugh or the times he crawled into bed with us, talking about a bad dream."

Some tears were falling from her eyes, but he promptly brushed them away. Belle was glad he was there, because if she was doing all of this alone, then she thought that she wouldn’t be able to take it.

"It breaks my heart to remember."

"Let's not be sad right now, we should be celebrating this news," Gold said. "We have a healthy son on the way, Belle."

A little smile appeared on her lips and she felt for the very first time a quick coming from within her. She took Gold’s hand above the place and it kicked again. Their son, making his presence known, assuring her that her fears were stupid, because she would never stop loving Bae just because she now loved him too. And oh, how much did Belle love him!

"I already love him very much, Bobby,” she felt the need to say. “I want him to look just like you."

"Poor thing," Gold chuckled.

The moment was interrupted by a shout that came from the other end of the hallway, which led to the maternity waiting room.

"Robert!"

"Jefferson?” Gold inquired, glancing up at their friend that looked way too messy, as if he had come straight from his bed. “What are you doing here?"

"She is born," Jefferson exclaimed. "My daughter is born! Come and see her!"

Belle blinked but got a hold of Gold’s hand and followed them to the room where lots of babies were laying, some of them sleeping peacefully, some screaming loudly. Jefferson pointed at a tiny baby girl, wrapped in a white blanked with a pink hat on her small head.

"There my dear friends, is Margaret Elizabeth Madden."

They smiled, the babies cried, the little boy that was still to be born kicked and Belle Gold felt hope.

#rumbelle #rumbelle fic #mine #writing #rumplestiltskin #belle french #baelfire #neal cassidy #ao3 #fanfic

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alexandrasirowy · 7 years

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Post Title: YA Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to this October's YA Scavenger Hunt! Hi, I'm Alexandra Sirowy, author of the YA thrillers THE CREEPING, THE TELLING, and the just released FIRST WE WERE IV. I'm excited to be hosting special content from author Clara Kensie. At this hunt, you not only get access to content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive a book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 120 hours, until Sunday, October 8th!

There are SEVEN contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the PURPLE TEAM! If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've included a hidden number (hint: not so hidden). Collect the numbers of all the authors on the PURPLE TEAM, and then add them up.

Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, October 8th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

SCAVENGER HUNT POST

Okay, on to the good stuff! I'm hosting Clara Kensie for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Clara Kensie grew up near Chicago, reading every book she could find and using her diary to write stories about a girl with psychic powers who solved mysteries. She purposely did not hide her diary, hoping someone would read it and assume she was writing about herself. Since then, she’s swapped her diary for a computer and admits her characters are fictional, but otherwise she hasn’t changed one bit.

Today Clara is an award-winning author of dark fiction for young adults. Her debut, the super-romantic psychic thriller Deception So series, was named an RT Book Review Editors Pick for Best Books of 2014, and Deception So Book One: Deception So Deadly is the winner of the prestigious 2015 RITA© Award for Best First Book. A little about Clara’s book DECEPTION SO DEADLY!

It’s all sixteen-year-old Tessa Carson has ever known. Hunted by a telepathic killer, Tessa and her family have fled home after home, hiding behind aliases to survive. Her scars are more than just physical, and as the only one in her family without a psychic ability, she lives a life of secrets, lies, and fear. After the Carsons flee to a new hideout and take on new identities yet again, Tessa meets confident, carefree Tristan Walker. Their attraction burns fierce, but she runs from him too, knowing their love can never be true when she can’t even tell him her real name.

But Tristan has secrets as well—secrets that will either save Tessa, or destroy her. The only way Tessa can save her family—and uncover the real reason they’ve been hunted all these years—is to forget everything she’s learned from a lifetime of running away, and run straight into danger head-on."

Find out more by visiting Clara's website here!

Clara's EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

How a Bullet List Inspired the Award-Winning Deception So Series and Changed My Life!

My Deception So series is a super-romantic YA thriller about a psychic family on the run from a deadly past, and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies, and danger. The first book in the series, Deception So Deadly, is the winner of the RITA© Award for Best First Book. But I never set out to write an award-winning book. In fact, I never set out to be an author at all! Here’s how the series, and my career, came to be:

If you’re reading this and participating in the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt, you’re probably a huge reader. Me too. I even did YASH as a reader before I participated as an author! I’ve always loved reading. Some characters I love so much that I never want their book to end. I’m never ready to say goodbye to them. (Seriously, JK Rowling could write a thousand-page book entirely about Luna Lovegood going grocery shopping, and I’d read it.) A few years ago, I realized that the only way that I’d never have to say goodbye to books I love would be to write them myself. I could develop characters I love, and write and write and write their stories. I could then spend years with my characters, instead of just a few days. A perfect plan, right?

Excited by the idea that I could spend years with beloved characters of my own, I sat at my computer and made a bullet list of all of my favorite elements to include in the book:

Young adult Psychic powers Realistic heroine - not perfect, but relatable Devoted hero - mysterious and hot Sweet, knock-your-socks-off romance Dark plot – Danger – Scary villain Huge, never-saw-it-coming plot twists

I had a vague idea that it would be cool if the characters had secret identities. And that’s as far as it went. I was stuck.

A few weeks later on a cloudy November day, I was pulling out of a parking spot at the store when I was hit with a series of “what ifs:”

What if there was a teenage girl who was the only member of her family who didn’t have a psychic power?

And what if they moved from place to place, taking on new identities at each new hideout, because they were being hunted by a killer—and that killer had psychic powers too?

And what if that girl met a boy who was hiding some shocking secrets of his own…

It went on from there. I went home and wrote the story in a whirlwind of inspiration, being sure to include my bulleted list of favorite elements. That story became Deception So Deadly, and holy cow, it won a RITA© Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the industry! I loved the Deception So characters so much that I gave them a sequel, Deception So Dark. Now I’m writing the third book in the series, Deception So Dangerous. If I’m still having fun after that, I’ll continue the series with even more Deception So books. I’m thrilled that readers love these books as much as I do. Best of all, I’ve been able to spend years and years with the characters I love. I’ll never have to say goodbye to them.

Want a sneak peek of the book that started it all? Read the first page of Deception So Book One: Deception So Deadly by Clara Kensie

My cell phone rang, loud and shrill, shattering the classroom’s silence. He found us. He was coming.

The teacher scowled, reaching out her puffy hand to confiscate my phone as I slid it open and held it to my ear. Answer on the first ring—that was the rule.

One word, my mother’s panicked command: “Run.”

With trembling hands, I swept my American History notebook into my bag. Leave nothing personal behind—that was another rule.

Every second, he was getting closer. I stumbled toward the door.

“Maddie, where are you going?” Mrs. Landon demanded, then her voice softened. “Is something wrong?”

I rushed past her and out of the classroom, my breath coming in stuttery little gasps. Dennis Connelly was coming. How did he find us again?

I raced to my locker—the combination, what’s the combination?—and cleaned it out, stuffing everything into my bag. Flew down the stairs. Dashed down the hall, almost colliding with a girl carrying an armful of books. Sprinted past the office, reached the exit—

“Hey!” A security guard, belly hanging over his belt, grabbed my arm. “Where’s your pass?”

My brother darted over, lugging his book bag and saxophone. “Let her go,” he said, his calm and firm tone betrayed by the terror in his eyes. He pulled me away, and when I stumbled, he pushed me out the door. “Tessa, run!”

We were in public, but Logan used my real name. We no longer needed our aliases.

I glanced behind me. “Where’s Jillian?”

The doors burst open and our sister shot outside, her blond hair flying behind her like a shiny cape.

Its engine running, our getaway car waited in the pickup lane with our dad holding the back door open. We ran and dove in. Dad jumped in the passenger seat, slamming his door closed as Mom stomped on the gas pedal and sped us away.

********************** I hope you enjoyed reading the first page and learning how the Deception So series (and my career as an author!) was inspired by my bullet list of favorite book elements.

What are your favorite elements of a book? List them in the comments!

Thanks so much, Clara, for giving us a glimpse at your book! You can get your hands on Clara's book here! And thank you to all you hunters playing along.

Remember, in order to enter to win a prize pack of team purple's books, including my YA dark thriller THE CREEPING, you need to find the hidden number on each post. My third book FIRST WE WERE IV came out this year and it’s my favorite yet. Secret societies, friendship, romance, a small town mystery, and events spiraling out of control. It made this year – 2017 – one of my best yet (psst, 17 is my hidden number!). Add up all the hidden numbers of the authors on the purple team and you'll have the secret code to enter for the prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest, check out Aleah Raynes's blog post here!

I'm also giving away a copy of my most recent YA thriller FIRST WE WERE IV - open internationally!FWWIV is about four best friends who invent a secret society that ratchets out of control and ultimately costs one of the friends their life. To enter to win a copy, all you need to do is to take the IV challenge. Comment on this post or tweet me @AlexandraSirowy using #YASH and #FIRSTWEWEREIV with your favorite four spooky books, your favorite literary foursomes, or your favorite four secretive/shady fictional characters. I'll announce the winner in the comments below and on the YA Scavenger Hunt's site at the end of the hunt! Good luck and happy hunting!!

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