#the distance is killer. i wish i could rip my fucking skin off.

[queenofthieves]

/

[gr0vndz3ro]

More -pt.2

Bakugou x reader

Warnings: Angst, cursing, mentions/use of alcohol, almost harasment?,  mention/use of drugs??, my heart just hurt ok, mentions of fwb

Word count:3,220

A/N: thank you for the responses on the first part, this is pretty soon after but I still felt really inspired for it. But ask and you shall receive. Here is part two for More, I hope yall like it (: 

Read part one here: pt.1

You regretted saying goodbye.

From the moment you had walked away from him and left in the rain you were filled with regret. The thought of if he watched you leave haunting your thoughts. You doubted it. It had been just over 2 months since you ended things between the two of you, but the ache in your heart made it feel like so much longer. Maybe I should have just kept things the same, at least then I’d still have him. Thoughts like this constantly circling your mind as you laid in bed, engulfed in darkness, the only comfort you felt was from the warmth of your blanket.

You cursed yourself for feeling like this, for being this dumb. This whole situation was just so fucking clique. The fuck buddy falling in love for the other when everything had started on a strict no feelings, no strings attached agreement. Thinking that you were strong enough not to fall in love with the way that his fingers left goosebumps across your skin. That you could listen to his endless sweet nothing that he would whisper into your ear and not fall in love with the man behind each and every word. Thinking that every time you were thinking of him that maybe he was thinking of you too. Eventually you were ripped out of this hope with every day that had passed with out a response from him. 

With every morning that you woke up to no new notifications from the only person you wanted to hear from, you felt your chest get heavier. You figured that the best way for you to get over him was to try talking to someone new, but you couldn’t help but want to leave every flirt on read. They weren’t him. But you needed some way to get him off your mind. So you drowned yourself in men. Not spending a moment alone, because you knew that as soon as you did he’d creep back in to your thoughts.

At first your friends brushed it off as a typical rebound, but after a while they started getting concerned. You constantly ditch them and cancel plans saying that your busy, just to find you in a bar or with some guy. They couldn’t keep track of you any more, you were all over the place. Your best friend Mina couldn’t stand to see you like this anymore. It broke her heart every night that she found you at some bar and managed to bring you home, hearing the way that you spilled your emotions to her in your drunken state. She knew she needed to do something.

You woke up in your bed, a throbbing pain in your head. On your nightstand there was a cup of water, a pain killer, and a note. You swallow the pill while picking up the note, “Hey I left you some food in your fridge, don't forget to eat. The gang all wants to go to the movies the weekend, and I hope you’ll join us. I love you hun-Mina” You small smile makes it’s way to your lips as you read the note. She was probably the reason you were at home. Pulling the sheets up the body, you let your head hit the pillow again, not wanting to deal with the real world yet. You closed your eyes, wanting nothing more than to fall back to sleep. 

But begrudgingly you got up from your vibe, pulling the sheets away from you and walk over to the mirror. Geez I look like a mess. Was the only thought that came to your head as you looked at yourself. You walk over to your closet to pick out some clothes before making your way to the shower. You turn it on and let it heat up before stepping in. The feeling of the hot water hitting your back relaxes you but you can’t help but start to think. 

Had all of this really been a smart idea. Should you have even started all of this with the angry blond? You had to have known that he couldn’t feel the same. After all those years in high school and he only came out with one best friend and only a handful that he tolerated. So what made you think you were different. What made you think that you could be the one to bring down his giant walls and make him bring someone into his life. That he would ever be able to see you more than just another extra in the way of his personal success. You shake your head in attempt to get those thoughts out of your head but you had ignored them for to long. 

But a part of you wished that you could have been the one to get him to open up. Be able to see the softer side that you know he has, the one that he keeps hidden away from the rest of the world so well. To be able to have him come home from a particularly rough day at work and the first thing he does is hold you in his arms, kissing your forehead as he vents to you about everything that is on his mind. To be able to have him pull you close to him in the dead of the night like you had caught him the few times you woke up in the middle of the night. The way he squeezed onto you while you were dead asleep making uou think that maybe, just maybe he had felt the same for you. But as the water trails down your back and into the drain, and your standing alone in your bathroom shower, you are abruptly reminded of how alone you really are. That it was only you that felt that way and nothing more. 

“Fuck this, I can’t keep feeling like this” You say to yourself as you finish washing. You put on your clothes and walk over to your vanity to start getting ready. “Lets go get rid of these pesky emotions what do you say.” You say to your reflection as you grab a brush and get ready for the night.

~time skip~

When Bakugou got off of work he wasn’t expecting the first thing he sees to be text from his old friend Mina. But what he was expecting even less then that was the contents of the texts. He understood why Mina was concerned but why did she think he would be the best person to call in this situation. None the less here he was, standing in some random club on a side of town he had never been too. If the drive wasn’t enough to tick him off, then the booming sound coming from the pack venue was. You just have to find her then you can go the fuck home, was the only thought that was pushing him through this crowd. Had it been anyone else, he would have probably just said fuck it and went home, but he felt he owed you this at least. 

But his search was starting to prove useless as he had been in the club for almost 2 hours without even so much of a glimpse of you. He started heading to the door so that he could call Mina back and let her know he couldn’t find you until he spotted you at the bar. You were sitting there with some mans arm wrapped around your shoulder. Bakugou didn’t recognize him as any of your friends so he made his way over. When he had made it over to the duo he could tell for sure that it for sure wasn’t someone you knew. His eye brow raised at the view of the mans lips attaching to your neck, the two of your eyes meeting. He could see it in your eyes that something was off.

“Who’s this?” Bakugou lets out, annoyed that he even has to be asking this question. The said person in question paid no attention and continued his grouping. 

“Thiis -hick- is my new boyfriend for toniight. So if you don't miiind, im -hick- buuussssyyyy” the words slurring for your mouth, barely able to put together a coherent sentence. Bakugou rolled his eyes at your state. He went to turn around and leave when his eyes caught sight of your drink, a small empty capsule beside it, and suspicious trail of bubbles leading from the bottom to the top of your drink and it clicked in his head. 

“I think it’s time to get you home.” he reaches over to grab your hand but is quickly shut down by the man beside you. His arms caging around your frame acting as a barrier between the two of you. “Move out of my way extra.”

“Can’t you see that we’re kinda busy here pal. Why don’t you go fuck off and find something else to get your dick wet in alright, this ones mine for the night.” The man grabbing a hold of your face to pull you into a kiss, as you’re unable to fully process everything that he is saying. A crackling sound can be heard from behind you as the man that was attacking your mouth was ripped off of you. You gasp for a breath of air feeling previously suffocated by the stranger you had met a half hour ago.

“I’m going to be nice since she’s here and give you one warning. You are going to back the fuck up and leave her the hell alone before I blast you head off do you understand? Or you would you like to stay will I get someone to test out this drink to see what the fuck you put into it? Its your choice you fucking lowlife, so what is it going to be?” The man that was previously latched on to you was quickly fleeing to the door, trying to create as much distance as he could between you and the raging blond as he could. “That's what I thought, fucking coward” His attention now turning over to you as he notices you starting to lose your balance just sitting in the stool. You start leaning heavily and Bakugou is quick to catch you before you hit the floor. “shit, shit. Fuck. Okay we need to get you out of here” Is all that is able to leave his mouth as he picks you up bridal style and heading to the door. 

“Nooooo I was just having -hick- fuuuun” you head dropping back as you watch all the people passing you by as he walks out the door. Bakugou pays no attention to your ramblings as he makes his way further out the club, the bouncer giving him a suspicious look before realizing the situation and clear the exit to allow for the two of you to leave quicker. He makes it to his car and manages to unlock it while still holding it and puts you into the passenger seat. As he goes to reach across your body to grab the seat belt. “Ooo a hug?” You reach up to try to wrap your arms around him but he moves away from your reach. He shuts your door before walking over to his side of the car and stepping in. A pout across your face as you speak up again, “Why no hug?” He looks over to meet your stare.

“Because I know that if you weren’t in the state you’re in right now you wouldn’t want to hug me, and un like that asshole I know some fucking manners.” His grip on the wheel tightening as he thinks back to the scumbag who had the fucking audacity to lay his hands on you and take advantage of you in this mess of a state. The drive back to his apartment was quite from then on, seeing as you passed out half way through his sentence. When the two of you had arrived he carried you up to his apartment. He walked you into your room before trying to decide on whether to change you out of your outrageous outfit. He didn’t want you to feel like he was taking advantage of you, but he couldn’t let you sleep in those uncomfortable clothes. After struggling with the tightness of the dress and the lack of help for your semi comatose bod, he finally managed to get you out of your dress and into one of his shirt, quickly swallowing you in its size. He very well could have put you in some of your own clothes that you had managed to leave here but he couldn’t stop himself from needing to see you wrapped up in his shirt. He layed you in his bed and pulled the blankets over your body before walking out of the room, making sure to look back a final time at you before exiting the room completely.

~the next morning~

You woke up with a pounding in your head, this time different from before. You look down at the blanket that covered your body before taking in your surroundings. There was no way. How were you back in his room. You quickly get out of bed, quickly regretting it by the feeling that takes over when you get to your feet. You felt like you were going to throw up, and not just because of the feeling in your head, but because of the all to familiar smell of caramel. Your eyes quickly meet the door what you hear a knock as you walk over to open it not wanting to meet the eyes of the person on the other side.

“You look like shit” You quickly go to slam the door shut, but your stopped by a hand in the frame. The door pushing open as you fail to keep it shut, Bakugou winning and taking a step inside of his room, you wanted nothing more than to lock yourself away forever. “What the fuck are you doing with yourself? It’s bad enough you don't talk to anyone but I have to come home to a call from Mina to come and rescue you? What the hell are you doing? You can’t keep kissing strangers, pretending that it’ll make all of your problems go away.” He looked down, taking you in. The way you stood infront of him making him want to do nothing more than to hug you but he couldn’t help himself from putting up his wall, trying to block you out

“I don't owe you an explanation Bakugou. Thank you for whatever you did but I’m going to be leaving now.” You go to try to slip past him to get to the front door, but soon are stopped by his grip on your wrist.

“Your friends are starting to get concerned. They’re worrying about you and honestly I’m starting to see why.” You couldn’t help but scoff at his words. He was concerned about you?? You could really tell by the way that he checked up on you, Your eyes just rolling at the thought. You didn’t have the energy to play these games with him. Pulling your arm out of his wrist you take a step toward him, anger starting to take over as you speak up.

“You’re concerned Bakugou? That’s just fucking rich. I could really feel your worry over the countless calls and messages you left, oh wait, my bad that wasn’t you, was it? That’s right because you never fucking called or texted or anything. But now all of a sudden you think you’re going to swoop in here and save the day, pull me out of the despair that apparently is my life and make everything better?”

“Y/N-” He goes to speak up but you cut him off.

“You know what I think I’m finally starting to understand you. Your the kind of person who loves toying with others emotions. You give them messages and make them feel like you care with sweet words, but leave in the middle of the night making them feel all alone. You make them grow used to your constant attention and texts and then when they pour their heart to you, you fall off the face of the earth. You choose to have friends with benefits because you are so fucking afraid of commitment it hurts. Why is it so impossible for you to let someone care about you?!” Your finger are prodding his chest roughly as your voice starts breaking at the raw emotion pouring out of you.

“Would you just listen to me for a second?” His hand grabbing your wrist again to stop your tiny attacks on his chest.

“What can you say that would possibly make any of this better Bakugou?”

“You’re right okay.” You were half tempted to pinch yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming. The Bakugou Katsuki admitting you were right? You never thought you’d live to see the day. But you were taken out of your thoughts as he continued. “You’re right. I am scared of commitment. But it’s not because I’m afraid of someone leaving me or people caring about me. It’s because I’m scared I’m never going to live up to your expectations. That I’m never fucking going to be good enough for someone like you. So yeah I thought that being friends with benefits would just be easier. But -fuck- being around you, it was so fucking hard not to fall in love with you. With all the little shit that you do, constantly making me think about you. I’ll admit that I was a coward. Letting you leave that day, when I wanted nothing more than to run after you and make you come back. To tell you exactly how I felt about you. But I let you go, so I didn’t feel like I deserved a second chance. So I’m sorry that I never texted you okay? But you deserved more than that.” 

You had never felt so much emotion pour out of him before, the wall he had built crumbling infront of you. And that’s when his words hit you.

“You love me?” Your voice soft as you look up, looking into his eyes, hoping that what you heard hadn’t been a mistake. He stepped forward, his hand coming up to meet the side of your face. You melt into his touch, almost forgetting how warm it was. He held your face in his hands as a look you had never seen crossed his face.

“Did it take you that long to realize?” Your eyes start to tear up as you find yourself looking at his lips, not believing what you had heard. You close you eyes, as he leans down, his lips meeting yours in a soft but passionate kiss. Emotion poured out of both of you as your lips moved in perfect sync. 

You knew that you both had a lot you need to talk through, but for the first time in months the ache in your heart was gone. You were once again wrapped up in his arms and for the moment that's all that mattered. And there wasn’t anything you craved more.

[colorfullfalls]

Saddle up

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Being an old member of Agent Coulson’s team meant that you knew all too well about the wanted man, Grant Ward. Ward thinks you are the link to reaching Daisy, and he takes you as a hostage. He completely missed out on  the information concerning a certain Winter Soldier that is very much in love with you. Bucky will find you. 

Coulson’ s team saved you and your best friend, Skye. Two girls that stuck together after they were too old to be in fostercare anymore. Coulson found you guys and gave you a home. A purpose. An actual life. S.H.I.E.L.D came with it’s ups and downs, the  first world shattering event for you was the betrayal of Grant Ward. 

He infiltrated the team so easily. He was a protective team mate, or so you thought. He truly made you feel like you were family. You foolishly grew to love him, just as you did with the other members. Finding out that he was HYDRA was one of the worst days of your life. Skye crying frantically was in imagine forever burned within your memory. 

At the time she weak and unable to do much to fight him. Skye went through  terrigenesis, found her true identity-now going by her birth name of Daisy Johnson- and became the strongest hero you knew. Quake was now a well known hero that even saved the Avenger’s ass more than once. 

The team working with the Avengers caused your connection with Bucky Barnes to bloom. He was enamored with your intelligence and humility. You were refreshing compared to the intense heroes he was always surrounded with. Sooner than anyone expected, you two were in a fully committed relationship. At first your team was weary of him, him being the most terrifying assassin. But once they saw him look at you, there was no doubt that he was smitten. 

Bucky and you went off the grid for a bit of a vacation. The team had been so busy lately that he only really saw you at night or if he visited the lab. He complained about it to Coulson and sure enough you had a week off. Bucky was stoked about getting you to himself. 

A cabin in the middle of nowhere sat close to a small lake. A red canoe rested against the worn dock, the stain chipping terribly. You smiled at the sight of Bucky starting a fire- upon your request. Smores sounded irresistible and since you were irresistible to him, he made quick work to create roaring flames. 

“Buck. I think we forgot the chocolate.” You sadly pointed out. He walked over and gently grabbed the bag from you to search. No luck, he gave you a sympathetic smile that shifted into a real smile when he saw your pout.

“Seems so. Dammit, the fire is going too.” 

Flames licked the wood, enveloping it to create a barrier of heat. From where you were standing you could feel the heat radiating, or maybe that feeling was because Bucky was standing so close to you, his flesh arm brushing against yours.

“No biggie. I’ll go get some and you keep that fire going, mister.” You said, grabbing your bag and keys.

His metal hand grabbed your waist, pulling you close to press a chaste kiss to your lips. His forehead rested against yours for a second before he pulled away and kissed above your left eyebrow. Butterflies swam in your stomach at how absolutely gentle he was. The badass winter soldier was the softest teddy bear around you. It was almost hard to believe that he could kill a man with a knife in one hundred different ways.

“Be safe.” He mumbled against your skin.

You scoffed, pushing away, “Buck, I don’t need to be. Look how swole I got!” You flexed your arms and pointed at the small amount of muscle you gained from Bucky dragging you to the gym three times a week.

A ripple of laughter barked from him as he grabbed a large piece of wood and set it on the fire. His blue eyes shimmered from the flames.

“Okay, tough guy- seriously though. Be cautious. You never know what the world will throw your way.” He warned.

He was right. Being in S.H.I.E.L.D. proved that danger was around every corner. Nightmares of little kids were very much real and a lot of horror manifested in the world. You tried your best to fight evil with science but when it came to physically warding it off, you were sort of lost.

Bucky worried about your safety at all times. Being a scientist with the expertise of human anatomy meant that HYDRA would be interested. The current goal was to create super soldiers from scratch and he had a feeling that they knew about your set of skills. He would not let you get caught by them. His eyes conveyed how intense he was about you returning unharmed.

“Aye aye Sergeant Barnes. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Chocolate secured, you walked around the end of the store to purchase it. In the corner of your eye you saw someone behind you in the distance but when you turned no one was there. This occurred a few times before you got out of the store. Starting to grow paranoid you briskly walked to your car.

As you were about to open the door you were pushed harshly so that your face smacked off the car. Your arms were quickly restrained and a hand snuck around to clamp your mouth shut. Your heart beat out of your chest as you realized what was going on. You were caught by HYDRA and you were going to die or be used as bait to lure in Bucky.

“Don’t scream and I’ll take my hand away.”

Blood drained out of your face as you recognized the voice. Fucking Grand Ward found you.

You tried to scream but Ward managed to haul your body effortlessly onto the backseat of his car without anyone noticing. Your muffled cries for help angered him as he tied your hands and feet together with rope. He slammed the door shut and climbed into the driver seat. You regretted asking Bucky to make a fire now. You could’ve made out in the nice cabin instead but you buttered him up to make a fire. You decided that the chocolate wasn’t worth it and that s’mores weren’t that great.

Your eyes watched out the window as he drove, trying to memorize the area you could see from laying down so that if you possibly escaped you would have an idea where to go. Ward was sort of dumb for not blind folding you, you thought as he pulled into long lane that held a large house.

He got out of the car and man handled you inside. You grew nervous as you saw about twenty hydra agents spread through out the house. He kicked open the basement door and sat you down at a table. The stone walls covered with cobwebs made you shiver. Clearly this wasn’t as welcoming as the cute cabin you should’ve already been back to.

“You’re a dick.” You threw out.

He rolled his eyes, “You’re insufferable.”

You guffawed loudly as your hands fought to get out of the rope, “You’re a killer! How did you even find me?”

He grabbed a nearby chair and sat in it nonchalantly as if he hadn’t kidnapped a rival agent, “I didn’t plan to, I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Better take an opportunity when it presents itself.”

His stupid smug voice made your insides burn with hate. A knife wedged between his eyes danced around your mind. Oh boy did you wish that you had Daisy’s powers in that moment. You would quake him until his insides turned to jelly.

“No, I think you’re a stalker.”

He clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth, “I don’t care what you think, I care about what you know. Where is Daisy?”

Laughter bubbled in your throat, ripping out in a furious wave of sound. You carried on until tears were running down your face. Granted, your situation was not funny but you were nervous and him thinking Daisy wouldn’t kill him really humored you.

“Stop laughing and tell me.” He gritted out.

“Grant Ward, you’re a demon on this earth, but never before did I think you were this dumb! I mean come on man, as if Daisy wouldn’t end your life the second she saw you? Lincoln died to kill you and Hive, but you somehow lived and made your way back here- surviving like a parasite. She will never forgive you, especially not after that.”

He punched you as soon as you finished your words, landing a blow to mostly your nose and mouth. You blinked in surprise as he drew his fist back. Grant grimaced as he noticed your busted lip. Once again his anger got ahold of him. Daisy hating him exposed his true monster because he loved her. As fucked up as it was he was still in love with her even though she rather him be dead. And the truth of that hurt. Daisy would really hate him for harming you.

“I didn’t-“

“Fuck you.” You spat, glaring at him with pure resentment, “It is not my fault that you messed up your life so bad, not my fault you ruined your friendships. For god sake, you plunged Fitzsimmons into the depths of the ocean without batting an eye. Our forgiveness is not in your future.”

“I’m not asking for your forgiveness.”

Your tongue swiped against your bottom lip that had a small amount of blood on it. Metallic tasting liquid invaded your taste buds, making you wince.

“You’re asking for hers. Tough luck, killer, you won’t get it!”

He slammed his fist against the table causing your body to flinch at the bang. Your face pulsed in pain remember the punch delivered moments ago. You were trying to be strong but you were scared. Grant Ward was a murderer and he had you locked up in a basement in the middle of nowhere. You were extremely helpless and vulnerable in your chair due to being tied up. You wished more than anything for Bucky to kick that door down and save you.

Bucky waited thirty minutes before jumping in his vehicle and making a beeline for the store you two had visited earlier. Getting chocolate would not take that long and his gut knew something was wrong. He pulled in and saw your car in the lot. He lunged out of his and ran over to yours. His blue eyes became darker as he noticed two hand marks and a smudged face mark that wasn’t there before you left. Someone harmed you.

Bucky looked around the lot for any suspicious vehicles but nothing looked out of the ordinary. His heart was hammering furiously in his chest at the idea of someone daring to lay their filthy hands on you. Bucky punched the pole beside him, denting it considerably.

“Fuck!”

Grant Ward stared at you as you attempted for the tenth time to get the ropes off of you. You didn’t even have a plan for if you got them off, but that was the first step. He rolled his eyes at your actions.

“Will it take torture for you to speak up? Hmm? Maybe a knife in your thigh? Another punch? I am tired of playing nice here.”

You ignored his words, only trying to loosen the ties around you even more. Bucky would’ve already been out of this chair and had killed Ward if he had been where you were. Unfortunately, you were not a trained assassin and you were very worried how this day would end. Bucky had to have known you were taken and you knew he was looking for you. And when he found Ward, all hell would break loose.

“You’re not going to get those off. Stop fussing, you’re annoying me.”

“I don’t care what annoys you,” you seethed, “Let me go! I’m not telling you anything about Daisy so keeping me is useless. It’s signing your death warrant, really.”

He hummed in a condensing manner, “My death warrant? I’m alive for a reason, princess. I’m better at killing than my opponents.”

The condescending pet name irritated you to no end. Princess was a generalization of a snobby girl who got whatever she wanted. You were a educated woman who knew worlds more intellectual information than the man in front of you.

You dryly laughed, “Not more skilled than the Winter Soldier and when he gets here, you better saddle up because he will beat the ever loving shit out of you.”

Ward nodded in amusement, “S.H.I.E.L.D keeps a tight rope on him- I’m sure. Coulson doesn’t have the authority to send him out. Daisy is the rescue team and we both know that.”

You felt paranoid that he knew so much about your team, that he knew Daisy was the key factor in saving you guys and the world again and again. Had he been keeping tabs on her? It made your skin crawl to think that he watched her every move. What all did he know? Apparently not enough to know that you were the Winter Soldier’s darling. Grant Ward was doomed the second Bucky walked in the door, you decided.

Ward was one of the best agents after Natasha and he skillfully took down so many people. But Bucky was so far above him. Not only in combat skills but your boyfriend was a freaking super solider that had serum that granted him strength and reflexes no one could fathom.

“You idiot, I’m his girlfriend!”

Ward shifted in his seat at your reveal. He studied your face to see if you were bluffing or not. By the look on his face a few moments later he could tell that he realized it was true. He clenched his eyes shut in frustration.

“You were here with him, weren’t you?” He asked.

You grinned cheekily, “Bullseye!”

Bucky paced back and forth in front of your car before a black SUV pulled in front of him. Out jumped Daisy Johnson, fully suited up. She hugged him quickly before pulling away.

“She came here to get chocolate and she never came back! I didn’t know what else to do.” He rambled.

She calmly grabbed his arm for him to look at her, “We got intell on a house close to here that HYDRA agents are hiding at. Word has it that Grant Ward is there too.”

Bucky squinted his eyes, “Grant Ward? I thought he died?”

“Apparently not. That parasite just can’t stay dead. She’s there, I know it.”

Bucky grit his teeth. HYDRA would crumble to the ground if one hair on your head was damaged. He promised himself to kill each and every one of those bastards that dared to take his girl. Bucky knew of Grant Ward and the emotional toll that the man’s betrayal had on you.

His first clenched as the metal whirled in his arm. Anger engulfed him to the point that he punched the same pole again. The large pole crashed to the ground, catching attention of the fellow shoppers around them. People ignored it because they weren’t about to get in the way of an angry man strong enough to do something like that.

Daisy looked at the pole before looking back at Bucky, “I’m sure they can deal with that. We gotta go.”

Ward disappeared upstairs leaving you to patiently wait until Bucky arrived. A part of you was worried for him. There were twenty agents here plus a maniac killer who May even used to struggle to defeat. Sure, he was the Winter Soldier but that didn’t mean he wasn’t human. A shot to the wrong place and he could be dead within seconds.

You also had a feeling that they would try to summon the Soldat and then everyone here would be screwed.

A man slipped quietly through the door and your breath caught in your throat. He had a sinister smile as he crossed the room to duck down in front of you.

One time Bucky explained that HYDRA agents weren’t that well trained if they were basic agents. The organization spent most of its dedication to training about ten top skilled people to get the job done. The man in front of you probably wasn’t one of the top ten, but he still posed a threat.

“You’re prettier than we assumed. When Ward told us that the Winter Soldier would be here any second to rescue you, we assumed he was pussy wipped.” He grabbed a knife off the table and twirled it between his fingers.

“Charming” you sarcastically noted.

“But looking at you now, I get it.”

You shifted yourself to lean away from him, “Get what?”

His hand roughly grabbed your jaw and turned your head to look at him. His green eyes were not kind like Bucky’s blue eyes. Your boyfriends gorgeous blue eyes could stop a war before it even started. Those blue eyes were home.

“You’re ethereal, babe.”

A loud shot rang in your ears as blood sprayed your face. You let out a blood curdling scream as his body fell on you. Grant Ward stalked over as he put his gun back in his holster. He shoved the body off as if it was a dead pesky fly.

Your adrenaline was going through the roof as you realized that a man was shot and killed on top of you. His warm blood clung to the soft skin, tainting it in the most sinful way. Tears welled up as you looked at the murder in front of you.

How could someone be so utterly cruel? So vile that the devil himself would turn away at his acts. Bruised heart not caring about the lives of other human beings. His face showed no remorse. It never did unless Daisy was involved.

“What the hell.” You whispered, gazing at him.

“Today isn’t the day to test the winter soldiers rage when he finds out one of my agents sexually assaulted you. Because that’s what he was going to do.”

Vomit crawled up the back of your throat at the idea of the man touching you like that. You shoved it back down with a gulp. Bucky hurry up, you internally pleaded. Wrapped in his thick arms always made you feel safe and right now that’s all you wanted.

Lights in the room shook, an earthquake force ripping through the room. Ward’s eyes got wide as he realized your rescue team was here. Not only did Bucky find you, but so did Daisy.

He grabbed your body and pulled your back to his chest, barrel of his gun kissing your temple wickedly. Screams and cries sounded off like a war zone. And a war zone it was. Bucky would kill everyone here, even if Daisy didnt approve of it. He didn’t care to hold back his impending wrath.

Daisy quakes three agents back so that they slammed against the wall, knocked unconscious. She was really trying to deter Bucky from killing them all but he knew how protective he could get. And how revenge was wrapping itself around his very bones.

“I didn’t want to kill you but it looks like you’re my bargaining chip, y/n.”

You whimpered at the implication of him using your body to get Daisy and Bucky not to kill him. You heard heavy footsteps clambering down the stairs and you held your breath.

Mistaking the power of Daisy Johnson was the dumbest thing Ward could have done. She quaked the door until it flew against the wall, broken off of its hinges. Bucky raced into the room, large gun sweeping the room to look for you. You had to be here. He heard a whimper and his eyes set on the nightmare before him.

You, pressed up against Grant Ward with a fucking barrel to your head. Crippling fear took over for a second. You were so vulnerable unlike him and that shot would surely kill you. His darling’a life was threatened and that alert his senses into kill mode.

Daisy held her hand out for Bucky to stop as she slowly walked closer to you two.

“Let her go, you sick son a bitch. You wanted me and here I am.” Venom seeped out of her voice.

Ward glanced at the super soldier who would gut him as soon as he let you go. He regretted his decision to take you. He was going to die today. “I didn’t want it to go like this.” He pulled your closer, the metal of the gun digging painfully into your skin.

Your eyes connected with Bucky’s and you conveyed all of your love for him in one look. Relief washed through your veins like a river being undammed just by knowing he was in the same room as you. No one could protect you like he could, love you like he could. He was it for you and you wanted to be in his arms instead of where you were.

Bucky slowly grabbed his beloved knife, twirling it in between his metal fingers. Ward was too distracted by Daisy to notice his movements. The knife launched out of Bucky’s hands and right into the hand that Ward was holding the stupid fucking gun with.

Ward yelped and let go enough that you ran out of his arms and behind Daisy. Bucky made sure you were safe before charging. His body threw Ward’s to the ground, going in to land a punch. Ward dodged his attempt and rolled to the side, pulling the knife out of his hand.

Ward thrust the knife towards Bucky’s body but Bucky grabbed his wrist and twisted hard, breaking it. Ward grunted out in pain. Bucky grabbed the knife and stabbed his opponent in the side. Flashes of you with a gun to your head spurred him on to stab him again and again and again.

Ward was gasping for breath when Bucky heard a gun shot. You touched your shoulder, wincing in pain as a straggling agent shot again, this time the bullet embedding itself in your leg. You gasped as you hunched down to hold your leg in pain.

Daisy quaked the agent and he fell unconscious.

Bucky left his knife in Ward’s dead body as he crossed the ground and had you in his arms within seconds. His lips attached itself to your temple, holding you impossibly close to him. Ignoring the pain was easy when such a handsome man was grasping onto you like his life depended on it.

“You’re safe now. We gotta get you outta here doll.” He murmured against your skin as he hoisted you up in his arms.

“Simmons is waiting for us at the compound. She can take care of her.” Daisy spoke, bending down to grab the knife out of Ward’s body. She shook her head before leading the way out of the building.

Bodies littered the floor, deep red stains soaking into the carpet. Necks were broken, arms dislocated, faces bloody. Your hand ghosted you’re cheek, knowing that blood of a man laid on you. Saying you weren’t a bit traumatized would be a lie. Especially when you looked at the dead agents sprawled out in different areas of the house.

Bucky gripped you close to his body on the car ride back to the cabin. Daisy drove silently, well aware that you needed a moment. His nose nuzzled into your neck, scenting you like a damn wolf. You were irrecoverably his and he would never let anything bad happen to you again. He had to calm his mind down because all he could see was you with that gun to your head. A weapon that could’ve easily ended your life and his in return.

Fitzsimmons greeted you with warm smiles containing roof level high amounts of love. They were so relived to see you in one piece. The couple knew all too well of how brutal Grant Ward could be. Bucky stood close by as Simmons withdrew the bullets. You clenched your teeth in pain as they were pulled out. Bucky’s hand reached out and intertwined your fingers and she stitched you up. Daisy walked in to see how you were doing. The bus kids were once again untied, plus Bucky Barnes.

“So he’s dead this time? Like really dead? Dead dead..” Fitz asked.

“As hard as it is to believe, yes.” Daisy retorted, handing Fitz a pop as she sat down by him on the stool, “That sicko is gone for good. Bucky stabbed him too many times to count.”

Bucky blushed slightly, shifting his hand slightly against yours as all of your team mates looked at him like the hero he was.

“Thank heavens,” Simmons mumbled, working her nimble fingers diligently against your warm skin. You felt Bucky’s hand squeeze a bit for reassurance. You smiled gratefully up at him.

“Y/n isn’t this your first time getting shot?” Fitz asked, slurping his drink.

“Uh huh, doesn’t feel too great.” Your leg was throbbing by the time Simmons got to work on it. Your pants had to be cut off and you gave a very solemn look at the discarded material lying on the floor. You liked those pants...

“You’ll get used to it.”

You choked out a laugh at the harsh glare Bucky was giving Fitz. You rubbed your thumb against the flesh of his hand to calm him down. Bucky didn’t think you getting harmed was something to joke about. You were uneffected by the jesting, it was how your team worked to deal with all of the tragedy. Bucky was Bucky and he would always be over sensitive about how people spoke to you.

“Ahh, I don’t think so. I’ve been shot many times and it hurts all the same. Ian shooting me in the stomach was the worst.” Daisy added to the conversation.

You shivered as you recalled the time where your best friend was on the brink of death, her body laying limp as Simmons worked over her frail body. You blinked away the memory, focusing on Bucky’s metal hand moving to rest comfortably on your thigh as Simmons finished up your leg.

“That was a bloody horrible time.” Gemma snorted, “Not as horrible as when Fitz unleashed Aida on us all.”

Fitz opened his mouth to protest, “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry about that!”

“Probably for life, you’ll get used to it.” Bucky retorted, “As much as we would love to stay and chat, I think y/n should get some rest. Thank you for the help, Gemma.”

Simmons smiled, “Of course. Anything for her.”

He led you into your shared bathroom and cleaned the blood off of your face, taking the burden of the pain with him, helping you deal with it. You silently watched him as he wrung out the washcloth. You were so enamored that such a strong man was so soft when it came to you. God, you adored him.

Bucky helped you change into clothes that weren’t bloody. Unsurprisingly, he chose to put his red Henley on you. A shirt that you loved seeing on him as much as he loved you in it. The soft cotton swallowed you, encapsulating you in his cologne left over on it. You two crawled under the comforter, his arms holding you to his chest as he laid on his side with you facing him. You were just so pretty, he decided as he bent down to stuff his face in the crook of your neck.

“Comfy?” His deep voice rumbled against the skin of your throat as he peppered a few kisses there, centering himself.

“Around you? Always.” You whispered, his kisses growing wet as he slot his lips lovingly against your skin. You shifted, moving so that his thick thigh was trapped between yours. He hummed in appreciation as he pulled you closer, his hands roaming your body. His metal arm rested on your behind as he ground himself into you, moaning at the feeling. His flesh hand glided across your hip and moved down.

You hissed in pain when his hand pressed down near the bullet wound.

He quickly pulled away, “Shit! Sorry, sorry I wasn’t even thinking about your leg, doll.”

You huffed out a “it’s fine” before moving to just cuddle him, “I think we both got caught up in the moment.”

He gently ran his flesh hand through your hair, “I guess so. I’m just thankful that you’re safe in my arms. Seeing him- with that.... to your.. it broke my heart.”

You situated yourself so that your eyes were level with his, the beautiful blue was swarming with sadness. You smiled sympathetically.

“You saved me, Buck. You took away my biggest nightmare.” You whispered, “you should’ve seen the look on his face when I told him I was your girlfriend.”

The idea of Grant Ward knowing that death was on its way had Bucky feeling like a winner. Ward terrorized your thoughts and knowing he put an end to your fear made him feel high on life. Protecting you was in his nature, and getting rid of Ward was like winning the lottery. Your mind at ease made your boyfriend happy. The idea of you knowing that he will always be there for you made his heart soar. God he wanted you forever.

He grinned, “Bastard had it coming, had the right to be be fucking scared- daring to take away my girl from me.”

His lips pecked yours a few times before his cheek rested comfortably against yours. Your eyes fluttered shut, finally feeling peaceful enough to fall asleep. Peace was always easy to find around him.

Around your Bucky.

[lon3lynation]

Day 1: Forbidden Love (Detective/Criminal)

Read Here Or On AO3

Lexa groans in pain as she rests against the wall of the vacant warehouse.

"Shooting me in the shoulder was a bit excessive, don't you think?" She clutches her wounded arm to her side.

Clarke scoffs as she closes in with her gun, aiming at the killer that's become her much sought out nemesis over the years.

"You had a gun pointed at me."

Lexa gestures to the gun that fell from her hand a foot away from where she currently sits.

"I've held you at weapons point several times before. I wouldn't have shot you," she protests, feeling quite insulted by the assumption.

Clarke tries to hide the sudden awareness of guilt as she holsters her gun away and squats warily beside Lexa.

"Let me stop the bleeding."

"Now she wants to undo her offense," Lexa grouches. "You should have thought --"  she hisses at the rude interruption of Clarke prodding at her shoulder.

"Shut up. It appears the bullet went through. Keep pressure on it. I need to find something to tie it off."

Clarke guides Lexa's hand to apply pressure to slow the bleeding. Surprisingly, Lexa only grunts in response.

Glancing around the abandoned building, Clarke knew it was a lost cause to find anything clean and usable. She looks back to Lexa and quickly comes to a solution.

Reaching down to the criminal's dark tank top with her hands, the detective rips a long enough piece to use. She quickly fastens it around the shoulder wound and ties it off tightly.

"That should do it. You'll live," Clarke sighs with relief as she let her hands fall away from the makeshift bandage.

It finally occurs to her that Lexa has been unnervingly silent throughout the process. Clarke allows herself to glance at her nemesis' face and swallows at what she finds.

Lexa features have softened to allow her affection for Clarke to shine through. Her eyes roam over Clarke almost greedily so.

It was overwhelming how much yearning Clarke was suddenly witnessing. It wasn't a new revelation to her as Lexa usually didn't hide her feelings from her whenever they met. It scares Clarke each time because she knew she was close to matching that yearning with her own for Lexa.

Lexa finally breaks the comfortable silence between them.

"When is your backup supposed to arrive?"

Clarke slightly shakes her head.

"I haven't called for them yet."

Lexa hums happily after hearing that. Clarke didn't have to look to know there was a smug smile on that face.

"Interesting." Lexa slowly reaches down to her stomach and caresses the top of Clarke's hand. "We have some time, then."

Clarke was busy feeling betrayed by her hand, not noticing it had settled on the exposed skin of Lexa's stomach. She doesn't remove it and lets Lexa lay her hand over it.

Lexa licks her lips and guides the hand higher on her stomach until it reaches right under her breast.

Clarke shakes at the flexing muscles beneath her palm.

"Come here, Clarke," Lexa urges.

Clarke follows the slight tug on her wrist and finds herself settling on the brunette's lap.

Suddenly, it was hard to breathe.

"Clarke. Clarke, listen to me. Breathe. Don't overthink this. Just breathe. In and out."

Lexa reluctantly removes her hand from Clarke's to grab the other one and place it on her sternum.

"Feel that? Breathe with me. It's alright."

Clarke was squeezing her eyes shut, but she listened and found herself calming down. Soon she found herself slumping into Lexa's body, her forehead resting against her neck.

"This is crazy. We're both insane." Clarke chuckles.

"Maybe, but I think it suits us."

Lexa shrugs her uninjured shoulder before moving her hand again to loosen and remove the band that held Clarke's hair in a bun. Soon her fingers thread through the locks to untangle any knots. She liked it when it was down.

Clarke felt herself relaxing even more. It should frighten her how well Lexa seemed to know her and how to calm her down.

"Will you look at me now?"

Lexa bites her lip when Clarke eventually lifts her head and let their eyes meet again.

"I shouldn't want this. I should be arresting you."

"It's okay to want. No matter how taboo. Just..." Lexa trails off, tightening her grip on blonde locks. "Be here, Clarke. Be here with me. Let yourself feel. Forget everything else for a while."

Lexa stares imploringly at Clarke, hoping that the fight would leave her just for this moment. When Clarke finally lowers her head to meet her lips, she grins victoriously into the kiss.

It starts soft and searching before they both find themselves surging into the kiss. Clarke whimpers, letting herself freefall into what Lexa made her feel. It was dangerous and intoxicating,

Lexa bites and licks before groaning when their tongues glide together. Her hand leaves Clarke's head to grasp at the hand she left just under her breast.

Clarke gasps at the reminder and instantly let her hands roam beneath Lexa's torn shirt. One slides under the bra to cup a breast while the other scratches over subtle abs.

Lexa moans pleasingly before leaving Clarke's hands to their work to grab ahold of the blonde's ass. She pulls Clarke more into her, pulling another gasp out of the woman.

Clarke breathes heavily but doesn't dare stop kissing Lexa just yet. Sucking on the other woman's bottom lip, she adjusts her position to grind on the thigh beneath her.

"Use me, Clarke. Grind away." Lexa pants as she encourages the movement with her hand. She wished she could be using both hands, but she would make due.

Clarke groans and begins griding against the offered thigh as the pleasure increases. She wanted nothing more than for them to be naked, but it was not the time nor place.

Lexa pulls back from the aggressive kiss, needing to regain her breath but found it difficult as Clarke set on attacking her neck. She throws her head back, barely noticing how it thudded against the concrete wall, to give more access.

Clarke licks up Lexa's throat, sucking kisses and bites along the skin.

"That's it. Mark me. I'm yours,' Lexa sighs, smiling softly at the ceiling as she clenched tighter onto one of Clarke's butt cheeks.

"Lexa," Clarke moans at the grip, rocking harder and faster, feeling the nails digging in. Only her jeans were preventing them from leaving bloody crescents into her skin.  "Fuck."

Lexa rocks her thigh up, keeping with the fast pace Clarke was setting and admiring the lack of restraint the detective was showing.

After a particularly hard bite that had Lexa hissing in response, Clarke drew back to recapture Lexa's lips. She was getting closer.

Sensing this, Lexa forces her hand away from its spot on Clarke's behind to sneak up Clarke's top and bra to circle her fingers around her nipple.

"Good decision forgoing the bulletproof vest. It would have made this harder for me," Lexa murmurs after pulling out of the kiss to get her turn of tasting Clarke's neck.

Later on, Clarke would wonder how the hell Lexa knew that she was told to wear one earlier and chose not to because some small part of her knew Lexa wouldn't harm her.

"Yes," Clarke shudders at the onslaught of touches. "Keep doing that. Pinch my nipples."

Clarke shows Lexa what she wants by pinching and tugging on Lexa's nipples, making the girl jerk beneath her. It was a delicious feeling to get such reactions out of a cold-blooded killer.

Lexa nibbles on Clarke's throat, leaving bruises in her wake. She knew others would not see them later on because Clarke will cover them up, but it was enough to know they will serve as a reminder of their time to Clarke. It will not be something that Clarke will force herself to forget. She'll make sure of it.

Pinching roughly at the nipples Lexa wishes that were not hiding beneath clothes, she closes her eyes to take in every sound, movement, and emotions waring inside her.

"Come for me, Clarke," Lexa demands, and Clarke does beautifully.

Lexa sits back to observe as Clarke falls over the edge, twitching on her lap and circling her hips to drag it out as long as she could.

Lexa loves her.

A few minutes later, Clarke finds herself snuggling against Lexa's chest, feeling safe and satisfied. Lexa's hand was rubbing back and forth across her slumped back.

"Next time, the clothes have got to go. I want to see and feel every bare inch of you," Lexa purrs contently. Now that the adrenaline was fading, she was feeling sleepy, and the pain was making itself known.

Clarke startles upright, her hands shooting out to grasp Lexa's shoulders before jerking back when it caused Lexa to groan loudly in protest.

"Oh, shit! Sorry! I forgot about that."

Lexa huffs out an amused laugh while clutching her hand over her wounded shoulder. "Good to know that I'm that distracting. Feel free to hurt me again if this is the result every time."

Clarke almost smiles at the joke, well, at least she hopes it is a joke. She never knew with Lexa. With a reluctant sigh, she removes herself from Lexa and stands up.

"There's not going to be a next time, Lexa. This was..." A mistake, she wanted to say but couldn't let the lie escape her mouth. "Get out of here before I change my mind and arrest you. Your shoulder needs tending to."

Lexa couldn't help but show her disappointment in Clarke attempting to distance herself from her again. She was used to it, but for a moment, she thought she finally got through to her.

Gratefully, Clarke was letting her escape, and Lexa knew that meant something despite whatever Clarke may be telling herself. One day Clarke will just let herself feel and be free of any shame she held.

"There's no need for shame in this. You don't need to keep resisting, Clarke." Lexa struggles back to her feet, using the wall to keep her balance.

"I have to. This is wrong."

"It is not wrong!" Lexa snaps, her voice echoing off the walls. "What you and I feel for each other is not wrong. It is the most righteous feeling I've ever felt. It's the one pure thing in my life. It can't be wrong."

"Lexa," Clarke chokes, eyes turning watery. "I don't know how to do this. I don't know what you want from me and how I could find it inside myself to give it to you. I don't think I can."

"I believe you can someday. You'll find that you owe it to yourself and be with me. I will give this life all up for you. It can be just you and I together."

Clarke stays silent, holding herself within her arms as a tear drips down her cheek. Lexa simply nods in understanding.

"It was lovely to see you again, Clarke. We shall continue our game. Until next time..."

Lexa steps forward to lay a soft kiss to the tear trail on Clarke's cheek.

"Lexa," Clarke whispers, causing Lexa to pause in her step away. "I don't know how I'm going to process this and if I actually can. All I can give you right now is a..." Clarke nervously licks her lips, "Not yet."

Lexa gazes into Clarke's eyes and feels she is genuine. She just needed time to cope with and accept her feelings for what they are.

"I'll wait however long you need."

Clarke heaves a breath as Lexa leaves the building and sits where Lexa was seated. She could feel the lingering warmth beneath her body.

She'll give Lexa 5 more minutes before calling backup to arrive and survey the scene. She would have to come up with a cover story on how Lexa escaped capture once again.

[fangirlingtodeath513]

Mischief Night | a destiel fic for the Promptus Exchangarama on the @writersofdestiel server

written by myself and @gii-heylittleangel

Summary:  Dean and Cas are the last ones to leave the graveyard after they wrap filming for the day and they see a bit more than they bargained for.

read here on ao3 or continue reading below the cut

Julian ducks behind one of the large marble headstones, cradling the wound on his side. Wincing, he yanks off his henley, ripping two strips off and folding the rest into a thick square, pressing it over the wound and tying the strips around his torso to hold the fabric to his side. It’s a terrible bandage, but it’ll do until he manages to get out of this graveyard and back to his car. Carefully, Julian peeks around the side of the headstone and immediately regrets it.

He comes face to face with a pair of bowed legs that he’d know anywhere. “Bet you’re wishing you’d kept running, Agent Shurley,” the man sneers, a sliver of moonlight glinting off his blade. 

Julian grunts, grabbing onto the headstone as he forces himself to his feet, defiant in the face of the serial killer he’s been hunting for nearly a year. “I’m not running from you, Decker. Only one of us is making it out of this cemetery and it won’t be you.”

Smirking, Decker steps closer and grabs him by the throat. “I guess we’ll see about that.”

“Cut! Great take, let’s reset and we’ll go once more,” Gabriel yells, already turning to talk to his assistant. 

Dean quickly releases Cas’s throat, thumb stroking down the side. “That was a really good take.”

Castiel hums, leaning back against the fake headstone behind them. “You did well. Very scary.”

Dean and Cas are shuffled off the set under Gabriel’s orders so it can be reblocked before the next take. They end up in their chairs far behind the camera setup, shoulders brushing as they relax.

“I hate filming in graveyards,” Dean whines, gazing hopelessly around the spacious, dark graveyard their camera crew is currently set up in. 

Castiel, his boyfriend of nearly three years and co-star for this movie, smirks. “You’d think after six years doing horror movies, you’d be used to it by now.”

Scowling, Dean leans his head on Cas’s shoulder. “I am used to it, that’s the problem. They’re so creepy. I mean, there are dead people six feet under us.” He shudders.

Castiel smiles, patting Dean’s cheek gently. “Not right under us, but nearby. Only two more scenes and then we can go back to the hotel.”

Dean catches a movement in the corner of his eye, but by the time he turns to look, there’s nothing there. Writing it off as the semi-darkness playing tricks on him, Dean turns to press a kiss to Cas’s temple. “We don’t have to be on set until the afternoon tomorrow,” Dean grins, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Castiel shoots him a dry look of exasperation, but Dean knows it’s just for show.

They film two more takes before wrapping for the night. Dean and Cas both stick around to help the crew pack up until, eventually, they’re the only two left in the graveyard. Wrinkling his nose, Dean reaches over to grab Cas’s hand. “Let’s get out of here, this is creepy.”

Castiel grins. “What, you don’t want to spend the night strolling through this beautiful graveyard? It could be very romantic.”

Dean shoots him a glare, tugging on his hand to get him moving. “No, I’d like to be out of here as quickly as possible, thanks.”

Castiel laughs, allowing Dean to tug him along. “You don’t want to wait and see if the ghosts decide to show themselves? It is Mischief Night, after all.”

Dean scoffs, turning back to look at his boyfriend. “You can’t really believe in that stuff, can you? Mischief Night is just a night for kids to pull pranks on their neighbors and get away with it, there’s nothing spooky or scary going on.” 

Castiel hums, falling into step beside Dean. “Some people say the veil is thinner tonight, with it being the night before Halloween and everything. Perhaps we’ll get the chance to see a real ghost.”

Rolling his eyes, Dean shoulders the bag he’d left near where the crew had been set up, slipping his hand back into Castiel’s almost immediately. “I hope for both our sakes that we don’t.”

Laughing, Castiel squeezes Dean’s hand and the two of them start their long trek through the cemetery. The state of Massachusetts had been kind enough to lend their movie the use of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. It’s a huge cemetery and the first garden cemetery in the entire United States. There are more than a few sections that are still unoccupied, so they’d set up shop in an unused part of the cemetery out of respect for people who had loved ones buried there. The set designers had dressed it up with a few fake headstones and some random flowers dotted around, just enough to make it look like a real cemetery. It still didn’t make Dean any less nervous. Cemeteries are objectively creepy, no matter what Castiel says. 

“I hope Baby hasn’t been egged,” Cas says idly, peeking at Dean out of the corner of his eye. 

Scoffing, Dean rolls his eyes. “Anyone in their right mind would know better than to egg a beauty like her, Cas. Besides, it’s usually houses that get egged, not cars.”

Cas freezes beside him, which tugs Dean to a stop since they’re still holding hands. Frowning, Dean turns to look at him. Cas’s got a mix of terror and awe on his face, which is more than a little disconcerting. “Cas? You okay?”

Hushing him, Castiel nods at a spot to their left. “Tell me you see it too.”

Dean narrows his eyes at his boyfriend before following his line of sight. His heart stops when he finally sees what Cas is looking at. There, off in the distance, is a person. The cemetery closed hours ago, they only had special clearance to be here because of filming. Dean nervously reaches for the pocketknife he keeps in his bag. “Hey, you okay? What’re you doing here so late?”

Castiel slaps a hand over Dean’s mouth, glaring at him. “Sh! You’ll scare it off.”

Dean scoffs. “It? What do you mean by it?”

Castiel just shakes his head, which doesn’t help at all. Frowning, Dean turns back to find the figure gone. “Where’d he go?”

Castiel rolls his eyes. “They disappeared. Back to wherever they came from, I presume.”

Dean raises an eyebrow at Castiel. “You don’t honestly believe that was a ghost, do you?”

Cas cocks an eyebrow at him. “Is it really that unbelievable? We’re in a cemetery on the night people claim the veil is thin.”

“You should believe him.” Dean jumps, head whipping around so he comes face-to-face with a cheery redhead who has her arms crossed over her chest.

“I should? Why’s that?” Dean asks cautiously, scanning the woman from head to toe. She certainly doesn’t look like a ghost.

“It’s not every day you get to talk to a real dead person,” she answers with a grin, eyes flickering between Dean and Castiel. “I’m Charlie, I was murdered by the straights a few years ago.”

Dean snorts, quickly slapping a hand over his mouth in abject horror. Castiel smirks. “The straights can be quite awful, truly.” 

Charlie grins. “I’m glad someone finally gets it, jeez. Straight white dudes, right?”

Dean squints at her. “You can’t really be dead. You don’t look like a ghost.”

“Oh, right, because you’ve seen a ghost before?” In the blink of an eye, she disappears entirely, reappearing behind them and prompting Dean to fall flat on his ass in shock.

“Holy fuck, you’re a ghost?”

Castiel’s stifling laughs as Charlie just grins at him. Castiel offers him a hand to help him up, which Dean grudgingly takes. 

“Believe me yet?”

Dean scowls at her. “Unfortunately. Shouldn't you be in Heaven or something?”

“Technically, yeah. As far as the angels are concerned, I am. I like to take a few nights to have some fun on Earth, though, and the veil is particularly thin for the next couple of nights, which means people can see me.” She grins, slipping her hands in her pockets. “It’s fun to scare you, mortals. Gives me a break from all the dumb Heaven stuff for a little while.”

Dean squints at her, glancing at Castiel. “You planned this, didn’t you? You hired her to prank me or something?”

Castiel rolls his eyes. “I apologize for my boyfriend, he’s very resistant to things like this, especially when they’re in front of his face like you are. It’s a gift.” 

Charlie smirks, raising her eyebrows. “Boyfriend, huh?”

Castiel turns to smile at Dean, lacing their fingers. “A very good one.”

Dean blushes, rubbing the back of his neck.

“She botherin’ you, boys?” A gruff, distinctly New Orleans-tinged voice asks. Dean and Cas turn to find a burly man standing behind them, wearing suspenders over a dark henley and a flat cap perched on his head. 

“Oh, Benny, relax. I’m just having some fun!”

Benny smirks, eyes sliding between Dean and Castiel before ultimately settling on Charlie. “Best to keep them away from Alastair. And probably Crowley too, just to be safe.”

Dean glances between them, eyebrows pinched in confusion. “Right, uh, Cas and I should be going anyway, so… nice to meet you.” He grabs Cas’s hand and heads in the direction of the cemetery entrance. Castiel doesn’t fight him on it, thankfully, and they make it a couple of roads up before they encounter another ghost, this one watching them with interest and a smirk that makes Dean’s skin crawl. 

“Out here all alone, hm?” he asks, barely glancing at Castiel as his eyes settle on Dean. “Probably not a good idea.” 

Dean grips Cas’s hand tighter, clearing his throat nervously. “We’re leaving.” 

Before either of them get a chance to move, the ghost is charging at them, eyes entirely white. Dean dives out of the way, dragging Castiel to the ground with him. Both of them are quick to scramble to their feet, only to find themselves face to face with the ghost. 

“You’ll be a perfect vessel,” he purrs, grabbing Dean by the throat. 

“Alastair! Hands off the humans.” 

Dean stumbles back a few steps when he’s released, looking around for whoever had just saved them. He finds a man in a dark black suit, so dark that he nearly blends in with the night. 

Alastair smirks. “I found them first, Crowley. I’ve got dibs on Green Eyes.”

Dean takes a few steps back warily, dragging Castiel with him. “Listen, we don’t want any trouble, we just want to get back to our hotel room.”

Crowley sneers, stepping closer. “Oh, you’ll get back to your hotel room alright. Just not in the driver’s seat.”

Crowley takes one step in their direction and Dean pulls Cas to him, taking a few steps back. They look behind them only to find Alastair staring at them with his unnervingly white eyes. Dean lets out a squeak of surprise as he stumbles back, his hand letting go of Cas’s. 

“Come on, Green Eyes. We’ll have some fun, maybe scare some humans, huh? I can’t exactly leave the cemetery in this form.” Alastair’s hand comes to Dean’s cheek but Dean ducks, stepping away from the ghost. Alastair sneers, turning to Dean with an annoyed face. “You can’t run, Pretty. Not from me.”

“Okay, you two, leave the humans alone,” Charlie’s voice comes from behind Cas, who jumps as he turns to face her. “You know you’re not supposed to possess any humans and me and Benny won’t let you anyway.”

Crowley snorts, crossing his arms over his chest. “As if you two could stop us.”

Benny raises an eyebrow. “Y’all both know we can, and without even breakin’ a sweat.”

Dean slowly walks to Cas, grabbing his hand when he’s close enough. Dean puts his other hand over Cas’s mouth before he can say anything that will bring the ghosts’ attention back to them and starts pulling him away from them, using their distraction as an advantage.

The four ghosts start to bicker at each other, discussing who’s stronger and how easily they could take the other out. Dean and Cas stare at them for a moment, not sure if they should be scared or consider it a comedy. Cas is the first one to take a few steps back, pulling Dean with him. Dean doesn’t even resist, letting Cas pull him backwards as they stare at the ghosts. 

They manage to walk a few feet like that, which makes them start to think they’ll be able to escape the cemetery without the ghosts noticing. They turn to run through the last roads but before they can take two steps, Crowley appears in front of them. “Hello, boys.” He shakes his head lightly, lips pursed in disappointment. “So, you two thought you could just sneak out of here? You do remember we are ghosts, right? Not that easy to trick us.”

Alastair materializes on Cowley’s right, his arms crossed over his chest. “Very naughty of you two. Leaving without us? Tsk, tsk, that’s not our agreement.”

Dean and Cas turn to run in the other direction, getting separated when their hands untangle. Dean runs towards the right, but Alastair appears in his view and makes him stop in his tracks. Alastair smiles at him. “I thought we covered this, Green Eyes. You can’t hide, not forever, and I’m the only one here that has eternity to play seek.”

Cas runs towards the left and he’s able to take a few more steps than Dean before Crowley appears in front of him with a snarky smile. “Come on now, angel. We can have some fun, don’t you think?”

Cas shakes his head, dodging Crowley as he keeps running, trying to get away from him. Crowley only smirks, disappearing again. He appears in front of Dean, who is trying to make his way to the cemetery’s gate. Dean stops so suddenly that he almost falls on his back. 

“Oh, c’mon. What, you two get your kicks chasing humans?”

Crowley shrugs. “Well, it is fun, especially when the humans are as dumb as you two are.”

Dean rolls his eyes but doesn’t stay still long enough to reply, starting to run to his right, toward Cas. They meet in the middle and run towards the gate, not even worrying about their stuff. Alastair materializes in front of them, making them stop in their tracks and start running in a different direction.

Crowley and Alastair play with them for a long time, each time making them run back into the cemetery and getting them as far away from the gate as they can. Dean and Cas start to get tired, their steps losing intensity and not long after, their breath comes out shallow, and they don’t have enough time to get it back to normal.

Charlie watches the two with a smile on her face, laughing every time Dean or Cas almost fall on the ground. Benny has an annoyed expression, his brows furrowed and arms crossed over his chest as he stares at Crowley and Alastair playing with the humans. 

After what must be almost an hour or more, he pokes Charlie in her ribs, taking her attention away from the humans. “We should do somethin’, Charlie. Help those two before Crowley and Alastair get tired of just playin’ with them and actually possess them.”

Charlie sighs but nods. “Yeah, fine. The last thing we need is those two dicks out there in the world, again. But you have to admit, it’s pretty funny.” She waggles her eyebrows at him.

Benny tries to fight the smile on his lips but ends up giving up. “Alright, yeah, it is. But I think they’ve suffered enough.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”

Charlie and Benny disappear only to appear in front of Dean and Cas, making the two stop on their tracks. Alastair and Crowley materialize themselves in front of Charlie and Benny, who have their arms crossed over their chests and brows arched. Crowley and Alastair stare at the two ghosts, squinting their eyes at them.

“You two are going to protect the weak humans, eh?” Alastair’s the first one to speak, giving a snarky smile. 

Charlie shrugs. “You can count it more as trying to keep you two idiots here. I don’t think the world needs to have you two out there again.”

Benny looks at Dean and Cas, nodding towards the cemetery gate. “Get your things and go. We’ll keep ‘em here.”

Dean grabs Cas’s hand and they start taking a few steps back to where Dean’s bag had been discarded earlier. The sunrise illuminates their path as they walk slowly, still keeping their gazes locked on the four ghosts.

Charlie sighs as she rolls her eyes. “C’mon, man, me and Benny can take care of these two, just go!” She waves her hand at them, an invisible force pushing them to walk faster or they would both fall on the ground.

Dean and Cas look at each other, then at the ghosts, before looking at each other again. They give a small nod to each other and start running towards Dean’s bag, Dean grabbing it as they keep running to the gate.

Charlie chuckles, rolling her eyes softly as she turns to the other ghosts. “These humans, always so scared.”

Crowley and Alastair scoff at her, Crowley walking closer to her. “Why would you let them get away? They were ours.”

Charlie shrugs as Benny answers, “They’re not yours and they deserve to get out of this cemetery as themselves, not as you two.”

Alastair growls and disappears. Benny also disappears, reappearing in front of Dean and Cas again, with Alastair in front of him. “Face it, Alastair, you’re not gettin’ ‘em,” Benny’s voice sounds flat as if he’s just bored with Alastair. He looks at Dean and Cas and waves his hand at them. “Go on, he won’t get to you.”

Dean and Cas walk past the two ghosts, walking backwards as they stare at them, worried to let them out of their sight. Benny sighs and waves at them again, making them turn and a force pushes them to run. They don’t even fight it, just start running to the Impala, which is now only ten feet from them.

When they get to the car, they turn to look at the ghosts as the sun finally gets full in the sky. The four ghosts vanish before their eyes, Dean and Cas’s eyes widening. They stare at each other, not knowing what to do.

Dean shakes himself and stares at Cas in annoyance. “Are you happy now? We saw four ghosts and two of them wanted to use as meat suits.”

Cas sighs as he opens the passenger’s door. “Can we please just go, Dean? I don’t want to see any other ghosts.”

Dean scoffs, sliding behind the wheel. “Oh, now you don’t wanna. You better not. I think we’ve had enough experience for a lifetime.”

They sit in silence for a few minutes, staring at the road in front of them, until Dean starts to laugh. Cas stares at him with his brows frowned and his head tilted. “Dean, why are you laughing?”

“Dude, we just spent a night in a fucking cemetery, running from ghosts who wanted to use us as meat suits. This would be a hell of a story for a movie.”

Cas chuckles lightly. “Yeah, just not a horror one. But I’m sure Gabriel would love to direct it anyway.”

Dean nods softly, wiping the tears from his eyes. “I’m sure he would.”

[twice-the-twice-love]

Dammit Sako Fic and Art under the cut

Ao3 link

4.4K words 

Jin x Sako 

Season 4 spoilers for BNHA

He had the best of rash intentions. Jumping to be the first one in action after Twice brought a deranged gangster, killer to the base. Sako was not the youngest but not outdated like that man was. He barely heard Shigaraki call out for him to stop but he was in motion now and was not going to be easily stopped. He was just going to keep his alliance members safe. 

“This guy’s bad news! I’ll imprison him!”

He felt a small hint on his side almost like another small miniscule chunk of this abandoned place’s ceiling was falling down then he was there beside Overhaul hand on the man and his quirk failed him. Very faintly under his breath that the only two who could guess what he said was Overhaul and himself, “I can’t activate it.”

There was the tones of distraught in his voice as he spoke but it was drowned out by the rage and utter disgust in the other man’s shout, “Don’t touch me!”

With a sweep of an arm Sako found himself in a world of blinding pain no thought behind his scream. That was instinct as he stumbled and fell back trying to push himself from the gangster falling on his left side and writhing in pain. His body wanting to do nothing more than curl into the fetal position and to just have this nightmare stopped. Sako still managed push away and push up as Shigaraki dashed right past him.

His blood was pumping in his ears as the world was becoming fuzzy as he felt a warm wet sensation on his side, under his mask his mouth falling open as he tried to breathe through it all. He made it another few feet before he felt someone grab under one of his arms and around his waist. He saw darkness no matter where he looked and then heard Twice shout out, “I’ll fucking kill you! You bastard!”

Twice was so loud it seemed but then he focused on the man beside him and saw the colours on his outfit, “Twice could you-”

“Make him take Responsibility!” Twice sounded coherent but close to breaking. Almost like he was fighting back tears, now that would be a sight to see.

The pain was intense but the adrenalin was slowly leaving his system and he could hear the others talk, though what good it did him was not something he needed to dwell on now. They must have left because Twice was back to looking at him and trying to get Sako to look him in the eyes despite both of them hiding behind masks, “Compress? Come on I am going to help you.”

He wished Twice gave more of a warning before practically lifting him to his feet. He moved his arm and a bit out to stabilize himself but then could not stop the whine or sucking air through his teeth to stop himself from screaming at the pain, “Twice please I can walk, it was just-”

No one expected him to say it yet. If anyone spoke it, then this nightmare might become a reality. He took a few steps towards the opposite exit and then felt Twice move beside him and tried to make Sako lean on him the non wet side, “If you can walk can you run?”

Sako nodded dully and picked up the pace feeling Twice steadying him to keep him moving. Though he let out a small whimper of pain when some strands of his coat touched the exposed nerves in his arm then collapsed. Twice was right beside him. Ripping off his tape measure  and constricting it around the top part of the remnants of his arm. Painfully so as he knew he tried to move away. Twice held him there carefully moving would make it worse. Things that would scar do that. Thought the scars would be very different but still change a man.

“Twice it’s a little tight.” He grit his teeth together and let his leg bounce as the man moved closer locking him down from running away, “What are-”

It dissolved into a groan as Twice pushed his bleeding stump up, “Keep it up Mr. Compress.”

“Shut up Twice.” Sako grumbled as Twice gently this time helped him stand up and start to move. The arm was still in great pain and was throbbing dully.

“Can you walk?” Twice asks again more force in his voice as he goes back to supporting Sako.

Sako nods and mumbles out, “I can walk, I’m fine.”

Toga was talking to Shigaraki who had to be held back from chucking a dagger at the gangsters, “Stop looking for revenge and we have to get moving everyone come-”

Shigaraki looked at the fresh blood splatter that was very recently big sis. Twice was still moving with the teammate that was still with them as they were at the door. Shigaraki saw Toga running to catch up but he stopped and saw the card by his foot. Looking at it carefully, it was a show of power, and what that to of date gangster said made sense. They needed his resources or to remove the competition.

One last glance at the group leaving was enough to show their motivation for this assignment. He was slower moving towards Magnes gear and gently moved the magnet away from the pooling blood placing his hand on her pants letting her not be bound in half a body, letting her be free. Just as she wanted all along. In the fading distance he heard Twice swear and he knew he should be there for the shaken team as well.

“Fucking come on Mr Compress!” Twice was frantic more so than usual, and hearing it all set in for Sako as he was panting and having trouble keeping up. Twice kept up an unforgiving pace as he half dragged half carried him.

“Twice slow… down.” Sako asked hoping the mans first name would get him to listen, “Jin.”

Twice gently shook his head and just grasped Sako under the arm and pushed forwards. Toga was right beside him and moved ahead of the pair pushing against the door, “Twicey be nice to him.”

Jin looked ahead but Toga and Sako could see the worried glances and Sako knew that this was being done for his own good. He just had to keep telling himself that as they moved. With no Dabi there was no quick fix to these injuries it seemed. Though Sako did hate to be reliant on those high school dropouts even when they are nice to an old man like himself. They had better sense to themselves too it seems.

Shigaraki caught up with them and saw Toga with her phone out she was getting Giran to tell them where to take Sako but Twice looked like he knew where he was going, “Come on Compress, a few more blocks then you can rest for a bit.”

Twice looked as he heard leather scraping on the pavement glancing to see Sako was practically leaning on him head dropping as Jin dragged him. Jin say Sako’s hat drop off his head and he knew more action had to be taken, “Sako! Sako come on.”

Jin stopped and gently tried re-arranging Sako so he could start to pick him up. Shigaraki saw Jin stop and scratched the side of his neck, “You can’t stop he is losing too much blood Twice hurry the fuck up!”

Jin almost thought about flipping his boss off but then decided against it as Sako was needing him more. He slipped his hand under the man's leg and knew that under any other circumstance there might have been a bridal style joke for them being a couple but no one really felt like cracking a joke. Jin started running with Sako in his arms not caring what was happening to his suit or even his mask at this point.

“Toga run ahead tell them we got an emergency!”

Toga nodded and was just barely outpacing Twice who was running hearing the man groan in his arms and muttering to himself.

“I can walk, I’m fine he says. Fucking idiot!”

Shigaraki moved ahead knowing right now there was no way to fix this problem by him lagging behind. It was not like he could help carry Compress, if he slipped up one bit then they would be down <em>another- they would be down another person today and it would be his fault.</em> He sniffled and gently pushed father out of his face to rub angrily at his nose with his sleeve shoving the hand in his kangaroo pouch grabbing other hands off his coat so they would not draw extra attention.

Jin made sure Sako’s remnants of an arm was pointing up the tape measure was leaving an indent in the skin but it was helping slow down the blood flow. Though not enough it seemed. Jins tone was even quieter somehow looking down he whispered to the unconscious man, “You can't go now. Curtains not closing yet. Please don't leave Sako.”

Sako did vaguely hear Jin. Some part that was trying to not be a damn damsel in distress but fuck did this hurt. He tilted his head so it was not lolling like a corpse and looked up at Jin then sae the arm, “Overhaul had quite a magic trick Jin don't you say?”

“Yes that bastard has a quirk alright.” Jin nodded. He was glad Sako was up for talking at this point. He stopped when he felt Sakos good arm grab him, “Sako what-?”

“We have to talk to him again.”

“What!” Twices voice rang out as he slowed down wondering if Sako was already getting delusional, “We have to go back!”

“I seem to have lost my hat Jin.” Sako said giving a smile that was not going to show under the mask, nor world the grimace of pain from moving. Though the gasp and arched back seemed to show that.

Jin let out some nervous laughter that edged on crying at this point as he picked up pace, “Toga lost it.”

Toga hearing her name looked back at Twice and Compress and saw that Compress was awake at this point heading back to the pair as Shigaraki ran ahead, “Hey whats the-”

Mr. Compress heard the girl and looked over and saw his hat in her hands and stared at it dumbly for a few seconds before trying to shift in Twice’s arms and let out a shriek of agony as he processed what just happened to his arm feeling a sickening bile rising up in his throat. He leaned back into Twice his legs trying to move to free himself but that writhing only brought more pain to him. He swallowed and felt Twice hold him closer to stop him from moving to some extent. He saw blinding light as Twice removed his mask his comfort but he guessed it was for vitals or something.

“Almost there Sako. Then you can rest. Just a bit further you moron-” Jin kept up the mantra but Sako couldn’t hear it anymore. There was shouting and a lot more going on than he hoped for. The place they were supposed to go was closed. Sako felt Jins hands wrap around him more pulling him painfully close.

A few more shouts then they were off again Shigaraki leading the charge. Spinner running into traffic trying to get someone to get out of the car. Twice was quicker in going to the side of the car and breaking the window with his elbow a flick of the wrist had the measuring tape around someones neck and he pulled till there was no more problem. Togaw was reaching in the window to get the car locks. Shigaraki and Spinner argued on who got to drive but none of that mattered.

Sako to be safe Jin positioned him between his thighs and held him there as Spinner started to drive off. Sakos arm in the air and Sako felt his heartstrings pull a bit. Being jostled slightly back and forth was the only reason he was awake at all. He grabbed onto Jins suit the fabric straining under the nails his glove lost some time ago, Twi-”

“Shh shhh keep up your strength Mister C.” Twice communicates slowly his mask off and he looks down. He sees Jin mouth something then shove the mask back on.

Sako let his eyes close as his vision swam, “I don’t want to die.”

The car went oddly quiet after that. Sako heard his heartbeat flush with the world as he focused on breathing and holding onto Twice. Spinner focused on the road and Shigaraki stopped his commentary. Toga who was curled up in the corner of the car found something to look to in the distance. No one wanted to let that happen but they had their limits they were afraid Sako was at his.

Sako felt warm breath on him the hands moved to hold him closer, “It’s okay. I got you.” Sako felt the hug deepen, his head sinking to the crook of Jins arm. This might not have been the best way to go, but it would not be the worst.

“You are going to be alright. I promise Sako.” Jin said to the man who couldn’t hear now.

He was in and out of conscience as he was rushed to some blinding white room and felt them stick him with something before waking up in a dingy motel room on a bed with most of the mess pushed to the side of the room.

He still felt woozy but he had no idea what day or time it was because the blinds were down on him. He slowly tried to sit up but halfway through he saw one hand out of the corner of his eye and decided to lay back down. A few minutes later he heard noise on the other side of the door he could feel his quirk in his arm again. Just the one arm though. He let out small cough before speaking up, “Hello?”

He heard the noise from the other room and the door handle slowly opened, “Your asleep? Awake?”

“I do think I am at least.”

It was good to have a normal Twice conversation at least. The door opened and Sako saw through his mask to see Twice in a plain tank top and pants of a sorts. Blonde hair with an almost alarming scar that was supposedly hidden under that mask of his. Twice often left little to the imagination with that spandex suit, but he was glad the other man had some muscle to be able to have carried him.

Twice carried him to the hospital then the car to a different hospital, he remembered that, he started to look away from Twice but the man spoke up trying to get him talking, “Well you need the rest. It's important Mr. Compress that you get some rest.”

He had never seen Twice so distressed before. And never thought that the loud personality from the day previous could be quiet. Though it was nice but he didn't need his team worrying about him. He was a grown man at least. He pushed at the blankets and deftly moved to the right hand side standing up and then sitting back down as the blood rushed to his head.

Twice looked somehow even more worried but went down to his knees and looked up at Sako. He decided to talk first, “Twice. I just woke up I think I might be able to do something.”

They both had a moment of silence before Twice looked away, “Pushing yourself is not going to help Sako.”

“Are we going by last names now Bubaigawara?” It was formal for the both of them as professionals, and not whatever last night was. He broke being professional when be called the man Jin but that was a spur of the-? Twice was talking, and here he was zoning out.

“- it is fine if you want to say Jin instead. Bit easier to say.” Jin ended off the statement with a scratch on the back of his head. Sako might have blamed what whatever he should have been given but Jin almost looked nervous.

“Jin. How long have I been out?”

Those grey eyes met his own and then Sako almost on instinct looked away seeing some makeshift IV stand he followed the little line to his wrist and then found his way to look back at Jin, “How long?”

“About thirteen hours since you made it to the doctors, ten hours since I brought you here.” Jin admits plainly standing up almost looking like he was about to bite his tongue, “Lie, back, down.”

Slow and calculated words, nothing like the Twice he had come to know. Was it all an act he put on? Sako knew he was not the only one to wonder that when they heard him focus on a subject and the statements he made were added in like he remembered he did that. Though the worry and the reminder of what happened coupled with the blood beginning to pound in his ears again he had to agree with Jin. He saw Jin fiddle with some of the supplies.

“What are you doing Jin?”

“Just... trying to get you some relief.”

It was working. Sako felt the bit of relief that was given to him from the drug cocktail but it was a simple muscle relaxant at this point but anything more and it would have been knocking him out. He let out a sigh, “Jin would it be possible to get something to eat?”

Jin was damn near silent in his own home Sako guessed since Jin got up and left the room. How different this man was… Sako didn’t want to be zoning out but it was guessed to be expected since he- he gulped and looked to his left. There is wasn’t it. His arm was gone.

He felt his a stub and nearly threw up whatever was left in his stomach. His mind started to race and he wished he had his mask or was able to put it on easily if he could do it at all. No. He had to get those thoughts out of his mind but he would have to confront them sooner rather than later. Staring straight ahead he almost found the courage to chance looking at it again but then Jin walked in with some dark toast with probably too much butter on it.

“Thank you Jin for this.” Sako almost let a dramatic tear fall from his eye as he saw the toast was cut into little triangles, “This is adorable.”

“No problem Sako just glad to help.” Jin glares not at Sako but around the man and Sako does pick up on those subtle movements.

Before he could ask anything Jin stands up and leaves. It was different being left alone, it really was no matter how Sako put it, this made him realize how much Twice was often in the leagues faces in a good way. The man was close and full of energy but Sako knew something was different here but accepted that as Jin’s personal life.

Sako finished the food quickly. He was hungrier that he had known but as he was just down an arm not paralyzed in bed he could go and get some food with Jins help. There was a moment's pause when he stood up and removed the IV from his arm and despite feeling woozy he moved to the door, reaching across his body to open the door as he turns the doorknob.

The door opened and the smell of mid price smokes wafted to him as he scanned the dirty other room. Strewn all over the room were some beer can, mostly filled ashtrays, some chaos of general disorganization from someone living there. Permanently without getting cleaners to service the place. He saw Jin’s back as the man looked out the window, “Jin?”

The man turned around at Sako, “You’re up. How are you feeling?”

Sako was surprised to see Jin with the mask on in his own home. Sako looked at Jin with some wonderment as he took a step back to the other room, “Are we about to be attacked?”

Jins eyes widened as he looked back out to the street, then to Sako, “Yeah we are under attack. No we are safe why you asking Sako?” There was confidence and confusion in the mans words and this was the Jin that he had known. The Jin with the mask.

“I must still be out of it, sorry for causing concern.”

Jin was moving closer to Sako and started to gently ask what Sako needed pulling the mask down. Jin cleared part of the only other sitting space and tossed about what Sako guessed was the only other clean article in the apartment over the area as it was instantly covered with reammants with soot, “Thank you Jin for this.”

Jin placed down some chopped microwavable meal so that it only needed a single hand to eat with. He watched Jin go back to a smoke and look out to the street again. Was this what he did in the morning, or was it all day. The difference was still astounding him or it was the only thing he could focus on at his point. When Jin turned on the television to have background noise to some sitcom. Sako kept watch as Jin pulled another smoke eventually rolling his mask off after the second smoke finished he tried to start a conversation with him desperate to talk and distract himself.

“Why are you so quiet at home?”

Jin looked at Sako and let out a small sigh, “It’s pretty loud here most times. Don’t stop talking most mornings. Just keep up the conversations as it happens.”

“Are you always alone Jin?” Sako asked and as the words came out of his mouth he wished he hadn’t have asked. His mask hid his face but Jin’s managed to show everything he was thinking.

“Better this way, place is barely meant for one permanent resident it’s worse here.”

What Jin said was right, he almost fell off the bed and Jin was leaning against the counter while Sako had the only seat in the room. He wanted to ask Jin more but there was a distinct look on the mans face that it was not something to talked about though the conversation was here, “Well what is in the area at least?”

“Few things a nice shop or two. It’s horrible everything thats happening, fake little gangs getting on the leagues coattails. We have inspired the masses and now they are trying to make it big but we- we got to… sort through them better.” Jin was animated for a moment before the understanding of his words got to him, “We will sort through them better I swear.”

“Jin which part of the city do you used to live in?”

Jin started to look anxious at the questions into his past and before he could say something. Sako waved some toast crust in front of him, “I am sorry. Just want to distract myself. Do you have anything you want to talk about?”

Jin thought for a few moments about what they could do right now and then just shrugged, “I am not as loud outside the league. But we can try to find a common ground, like any movies?”

Ahhh, yes. The commonplace that people love to talk about, movies and other little nonsensical things that can make a person up. Though he did not think that was anything good for him to start with, Sako let it slide.

“I often watch theater performances when I am not attending to league or personal business. I guess you find it easier to walk about because you often have that mask of yours on as you do league work. Though I do think I can hide a bit now from heroes, they are looking for two handed villains.” Sako saw the crestfallen look on Jins face before he realized the statement he said. There was a moment he thought that whatever was given to him was nice and it felt nice. He looked away, “Gallows humor I suppose is already hitting me.”

“Sako just take things easy. Though theater would be your thing I suppose.” Jin responds taking the mask off his face to be open, “Musical theater?”

“If you are asking if I like the sound of mucus, I can tell you the answer is no. Though some smaller musicals are more my taste. I do not like big budget sing alongs.” Sako smiles as he sees Jin move to the small movie cabinet.

“I have a recorded copy of chess.” Jin offers to Sako who raised his eyebrows, “It is some political drama with music and chess games it's horrible bullshit.”

Sako still had no idea why Jin said things wrong and at some part it worried him but that was because the distressed look that passed over Jins face as well at the statement was not usually a way to make someone at ease, “I think a show would be nice. And thank you for this Twice.”

“Just youtube old man.” Twice says scratching at his neck a bit much rubbing it raw. He dropped the hand.

Sako could say that the man was a silent film to watch. The scar suggest tragedy, something that could have been better. The lifestyle said drama, to thriller. Romantic at heart? Sako shook his head and nearly tapped his stub to his head as he was about to massage his temple. He was remembering last night that was not something he wanted to remember. Or did he?

Jin got the laptop set up had a wire for it to plug into the screen so it was a bit bigger. He pulled out a smoke and lit it to used to many days of his morning ritual. The sounds filtered in gently as Sako watched Twice look at the world. Mask on and off his head. This is a good distraction until things can change.

Sako leaned back and knew there is time to do many things like get the arm. Possibly a bit more food, and discover whatever happened to Jin Bubaigawara to make him into this man of today.

[formerlyrunephoenix6769]

Fields of Gold.  (Bumbleby fic)

She was loath to leave behind a good job with a reputable newspaper that she had worked hard for, but things with her ex-boyfriend had gone too far, so she had packed her most cherished belongings into her car, she had hugged her housemate goodbye, n tearfully parted, not telling Sienna where she was moving too so as not to put either of them in danger. Plus she had no idea where she was going. Absconding in the middle of the night, she had driven to a dealership,which coming to think of it had seemed at bit sketchy, swapped her car, bought a new sim card  and deactivated all her social media accounts.

She couldn’t remember how far she had driven, Route 66 meandering across America, she was sure she passed a number of state lines, she had stopped off at diners in the small nondescript towns.. 

None of them taking her fancy.

It was in Oklahoma, 10 or so miles outside of somewhere called Clearwater that the engine gave out. Spewing up steam n making a bit of a gurgling sound as she willed the car to keep going, inch by laborious inch the noise became too loud to ignore giving one last pathetic squeal before the lights on the dash flickered and died and Blake thunked her forehead against her steering wheel in defeat. 

It was only when she was rummaging through her purse she remembered that she had forgotten to purchase data, so there was no googling mapping where she was or figure out if there was any local tow companies.

Maybe if she got lucky she would be near one of the orange emergency phones that were dotted along the highways of America in case of this exact emergency.

With a deep sigh, she collected her purse and got out of the car to be instantly hit by a bank of oppressive heat and the glare of the midday sun. Shielding her eyes, she scanned the horizon and was meet with nothing but two fields either side of the highway, tall grain, rippling as far as the eye could see spread out like a vast yellow ocean.

The highway stretched like a snake, basking in the rays, heat shimmered off the surface and in the far distance a twinkle, more than likely a mirage.

She wasn't dressed for this vastly different weather, clad in heavy black jeans, a black tank top and leather jacket.

Reaching back through the car door, she retrieved her sunglasses from her visor and peeled out of the jacket, tossing it haphazardly on the back seat. She began rummaging through the trash she had accumulated over course of her journey in the already sweltering car, sifting through candy wrappers, crisp packets and sandwich covers, stretching out, she blindly searched under the passenger seat, and let out a squeak of triumph when her fingers coiled round the familiar feeling plastic of a water bottle but her victory short lived as when she retrieved it, there was barely a drop left.  The  ground beneath her feet began to vibrate. like the very asphalt itself was coming alive and a deep rumble began reverberate the car. Blake crawled backwards, trying to get out of driver’s side door only to hit the back of her head on the roof.

“ Fuck! ... God damnit!”  She cursed, outloud to no one in particular

In a fit of temper and mounting frustration, she threw the bottle back into the depths of the car as the rumbling noise almost became deafening. 

Turning to investigate the hellish sound, the journalist saw in the distance a huge green tractor approaching at a speed that surprised her. She had always been under the impression that tractors where slow and lumbering. This was anything but, it was large, much larger than she ever anticipated and it was fast approaching. Maybe whoever was driving was local? Maybe they would know a tow company or maybe they were a country bumpkin serial killer and all they would find of blake was her busted car?

She could be easily buried in a field  and turn into one of those cold case shows her mother liked to watch. It's not like anyone knew where she was.. OR, She could stand on the side of the road, roast to death and  die of thirst. They were her options! looking up at the cloudless cerulean skie, she spotted a bird hovering over the field... .  I'll die here and my bones will get picked clean by vultures, what a fitting end! In university, she hadn't been voted most likely to die in a freak accident and she had  no intentions of putting herself in the running.. Death by country bumpkin serial killer it is then! Wiping her already damp hands on her jeans, she stepped out giving the universal  symbol of hookers everywhere and "Im available to be mass murdered." , stuck her arm n thumb out and shielded her sunglasses from staring in the direction of the sun. The tractor ate up the asphalt,  leaving a plume of what looked like off coloured clouds from its side attached exhaust pipes. The machine looked monstrous, as it drew closer, Blake could make out the height n width of the tyres, at least another foot towering over her decent 5ft 7 in ,and she tried not to imagine being squished underneath them instinctively causing her to take a step back from the road.  The wind screen was tinted making it near impossible to make out the driver.

The noise of the machinery clunked and clonked, almost as if making a mockery of Blake's car's plight, its cabin rocking and bouncing with its suspension,even on the supposedly flat surface of the road and did not seem to be slowing down any time soon.

In desperation, Blake flipped her long silky dark hair over her shoulder and flashed what she hoped was a megawatt inviting smile. With a deafening roar the tractor sped past, with a rush of wind, leaving Blake in a cloud of dust, dirt and nasty exhaust fumes that stuck in the back of the throat, causing her to cough and splutter. With watering eyes, she was about to flip the jackass the bird when she noticed the tractor beginning to slow down before  coming to a halt up ahead on the side of the road.

Nobody alighted from the cabin and Blake remained cautiously beside her car, the driver’s door open, in case she needed to hastily duck back in and lock the doors. Not that it would offer much protection from a LeatherFace kind of creature hell bent on ripping her limb from limb. 

After what seemed like an agonisingly long moment, the door to the cabin opened and someone hung out.  From this distance, Blake could just about make out a brown cowboy hat, the sun glinting off a pair of glasses and a mass of unruly blond locks. A voice called out that invoked images of apple pie,  iced peach tea on the wrap around porch, nights spent plinking a guitar round a campfire on the plains, and lazy summer evenings watching the fireflies  dump into each other.  "Is everythin alright there, darlin?" Ignoring the slight electric shock down her spine,  and the 'darlin' part of the question, two very conflicting feelings, which right now was not the most opportune moment to act upon. Blake took a step forward, n away from the car. Holding up her hands so the other woman could she see wasn't armed.  "My car..." She called out,  "It conked out.. and my phone.." She gestured, " has no data...  was wondering if you might know a tow company I could call." The blond paused, almost as if she was weighing the options as Blake stood there  sweating her tits off in the midday sun in the middle of the road in buttsville county in whatever the fucking state she was in. Finally, coming to a decision, the woman climbed down from the cabin. As she approached, Blake began to wish she hadn't.  As the Cowgirl, as Blake was beginning to think of her, came closer she could see the glasses were aviators. The blonde moved in confident strides, a roll to her hips n shoulders. worn brown cowboy boots, skin tight blue jeans held up with a chunky buckled belt. a yellow n brown flannel undone, but knotted just on the tummy, accentuating the woman's flat stomach and the rather impressive assets currently been held back by a straining bright white tank top. 

The only words that the journalist could bring to mind was ‘breathtakingly beautiful.’  As she came to a halt just in front of Blake, the journalist could make out a slight honeysuckle brown texture to the skin of her collar bones and her strong looking forearms, no doubt gained from long hours spent outside.  Blake licked her lips, finding her mouth suddenly dry. The blond woman's teeth were bright white and her lips were moving. Her ears finally getting the attention of her brain, Blake realised the blond woman had been talking as she had been staring. She sputtered,  "I'm sorry... I didn't quite catch that." With her fingers in the loop of her belt and a relaxed cock to her hips, the blond regarded her, making Blake suddenly conscious of the fact she had been practically living in her car for the past few weeks and the last time she had showered properly was at a truck stop. She attempted to draw her fingers through her hair. The blond removed her glasses and asked,  "How long you been out here? Did you get a touch of the sun fever?"

At first Blake bristled until she caught the hint of a smirk playing on the blonde's lips. She's damn well knows and she’s she's teasing me about it, the journalist thought. It was both parts hot and infuriating, but she couldn't help it when a laugh bubbled from her stomach and erupted from her chest, causing the blonde to break into a huge grin, with a devilish glint in her eye. Blake stuck out her hand in introduction. "Blake!  From New York."  The blonde took her hand shaking it with a firm grip. Her palm was surprisingly cool in heat of the day. This close blake could make out a smattering of sun dapples across the bridge of the blondes nose and apples of her cheeks and in the light her eyes looked almost lilac. As she shook her hand, she replied in that easy going almost teasing way,

 " I was gonna say, you dont look like you're from round these parts.". "Its that obvious?". “ Yup..... 1)  No one wears black out here, not on a day like today. 2) You're waving down strangers on the side of the road and 3) i know every one round here and I mean everyone  and you, I  don't recognise.... So you're either new to town or passing through.!” She paused,  "Also...... Imma gonna need my hand back if you want me to have a look under the hood"  And that's when Blake, the supposedly sophisticated big city slicker,  realised she had been grinning like a buffoon, her sweaty palm still pumping the cowgirl's hand. She let go, giving an embarrassed cough, mumbling,  "Of course.. of course." Once again the cowgirl regarded her with a look Blake couldn't fathom, as the flustered woman tried to regain some composure. Her cheeks were burning that had nothing to do with being under the sun's intense glare. In an attempt to hide her blush, Blake gestured with a incline of the head,  "I’ll just go pop the hood..... shall I ?"  "That would be ideal. "  Blake ducked back into the car and almost yelped when her hand touched the metal of the door, it was scorching to the touch. Sucking on her fingers, she slid into the driver's seat trying to ignore the pair of ever so slightly mocking lilac eyes watching her intently. 

Reaching underneath the steering wheel, she fumbled about. With it being a new car she wasn't entirely sure where anything was. Atleast she could duck her head n find some respite. Fingers clasped solid metal and she yanked hard to hear something click  and the bonnet of the car popped open. The blond flashed her a thumbs up before lifting the bonnet and disappearing from view. Blake hastily checked her reflection in the rear view mirror and quickly brushed her fingers through her hair before alighting from the car and returning to the front to come across the cowgirl bent over inspecting the engine, giving Blake a view of a very firm and pert backside, the skin tight jeans leaving nothing to the imagination. The white vest top had ridden up slightly showing off a muscular lower back and the ever so  slight hint of a red thong poking out of the lip of the jeans. Blake swallowed, biting back the urge to fan herself, just as the cowgirl straightened up. She removed her cowboy hat, taking a brief moment to look around before popping it on Blake's head and returning to what she was doing.  Blake parked her backside ever so slightly on the bumper and watched as the blond began checking the oil and water gauge. "I didnt catch your name."  "Cause i never gave it to you." Echoed from the depths of the engine straightening up the cowgirl gave Blake another annoying smirk,   "I'm Yang..... From down the road."  The two women held each other's gaze, before Blake once again broke out in laughter. As Yang removed a hair tie from her wrist and tried to bundle her unruly thick hair into a ponytail, Blake was certain she caught hints of gold glittering as it caught the sun light. "Would you have some water?" Yang asked. Blake shook her head,  "I'm sorry."  Yang gave a playful roll of her eyes.  "Now i definitely know you ain't from round here." Bracing herself on edge of the bonnet with her hands, Yang added. "Theres some in the tractor."  "You want me to go to the tractor?" Blake replied in slight disbelief, "Are you not afraid that I might just abscond with it?"  "Do you know how to drive it?"  "No." Blake admitted.  "Then I think i'll take my chances." There came another pause, ".... It's under the seat." Blake seemed to stutter at the trust she was being given as Yang's eyes raked her up and down watching in interest. Pushing herself off the car, the journalist set off in the direction of the tractor. Arriving at the monstrous vehicle, it took her two attempts to climb up the awkwardly shaped steps. She almost fell off when she yanked the door only to find that it swung from left to right rather than a car door, right to left. She hung precariously for a few moments as her trainers slipped on the steps and she was able to nimbly correct herself.  The cabin was surprisingly cool, tidy and smelt of freshly cut grass with a hint of lavender. With minimal effort she found the bottle of water retrieving it before ungracefully stumbling back down the steps, though she tried to be extra aware of her foot placement and closing the door with a slam. Head long, she rushed back only to find Yang casually sitting on the bumper of the car bonnet, flicking through her phone. At her approach, the blonde looked up and Blake spotted a dash of dark oil on her cheek.  Handing  over the bottle of water, she watched in fascination the way the column of Yang's neck bobbed as she swallowed the clear liquid. How it met the collar bones opening out to an expanse of honey coloured skin that looked soft to the touch, leading down to her cleavage that rose and fell ever so slightly. 

 For the second time in 10 minutes Blake was reminded just how dry her mouth  really was.  Another sickle of a smirk was her greeting alerting the brunette to the fact that she had been caught staring again.  Offering out the bottle, Yang innocently asked,  "Thirsty?"  A second, seemed to last an eon, as the implication hung there, crackling like an electron, and Blake caught the wicked flash of mischief.  Two could play at this game.   Blake reached out for the bottle, allowing her finger to graze Yang's as she took it. With a smirk of her own, she held Yang's gaze, as she replied with a sultry,  "Parched!"  She continued to hold the other woman's gaze as she drank and she was delighted to see a bit of colour blossom across the cowgirl's cheeks and a bite of her bottom lip.  Finished, she screwed the cap back on the bottle, slowly and deliberately drawing her thumb across her bottom lip to catch the slight moisture left there Without a word, Yang pushed herself off the lip of the car, closed the bonnet with a bang. She stepped up close to Blake, the other woman registered how the purple of her eyes was barely a thin ring, bordering huge black pupils that almost reflected her back.  She leaned closer,  her eyes darting all over Blake's chest hungrily before coming back to her face. Leaning closer still, she breathed against the brunette's ear,  "Bring only the essentials and come with me.” Blake barely had time to drink in the intoxicating smell of the cowgirl so close, before Yang deftly plucked the cowboy hat from Blake's head, popping it on her own, giving her a down right salacious wink and setting off back to the tractor.  Unable to move, Blake stood there in a stupor as her brain short circuited and a shock went straight from her stomach to her core, it was only when she heard Yang  shout from up the road,   "Unless you got better things to do."  that she was finally able to move It was almost like a jump start . She flailed and tripped over herself, yanking on the door, scrabbling around the backseat, tearing open bags in an attempt to find a change of clothes, underwear,a towel  and stuff them in a small backpack. She rammed in her toiletries bag, grabbed her laptop  and her purse. Closing the door with a slam as the sounds of the tractor's engine roared to life, she had  to retrace her steps so she could lock the door. 

She rushed almost head long across the bleached tarmac in the sweltering heat on a road in the middle of buttsville, wherever the fuck she was, about to willingly and very eagerly jump into a stranger's vehicle, leaving  behind no trace as to being there and as she scrambled to up the awkward steps and a strong yet cool hand reached to take her belongings, coupled with a warm megawatt smile, Blake realised, that she couldnt find it in herself to care. Her stuff safe stashed, she hovered a little awkwardly, as there was only one seat and tractors were not designed for two, until Yang patted her firm muscular thigh.  "Come mere, darlin, you ever ridden a cowgirl's knee before?"  Blake shook her head, trying not to laugh, instead she cheekily leaned forward, breathing against yang's ear,  "But i'm a tryer, i'll try anything once."  Before swiftly snatching Yang's hat from her head and placing it on her own once more. This time is was Yang's turn to laugh. "You're a feisty one, that's for sure." Blake grinned, wickedly,  "You have no idea"  "But I'd sure like to find out, Darlin."  Hands reached, helping turn Blake around  and pulling the slightly smaller woman on her lap on her lap, sitting her side saddle so Yang could see the road and reach the wheel. Blake lay one arm round Yang's shoulders and back, the other holding onto the stability handle to brace herself. "You comfy, darlin?"  And for the first time in over a year, Blake truly was. As Yang pressed the throttle, the tractor lurched forward, causing Blake to let out a surprised yelp and a giggle and Yang to guffaw.  As they thundered down the road, the cabin shaking and bouncing, which from Blake's vantage point gave her a very jiggly eyeful, she yelled out.  "High ho Silver.. Awaaaaaay!"  Much to Yang's amusement and a shake of her head. Never in her life had Blake ever imagined she would find a fresh start in the cabin of a tractor that smelt of freshly cut grass and lavender, wearing a cowboy hat from a girl from in the middle of the road in Buttsville, wherever the fuck she was. 

[novelelitist]

Idea I had. Scáthach is summoned as a masters first servant during the events of F:GO. Then the unthinkable happens. Her wish is granted, and following a climatic fight with a mighty foe, she is mortally wounded. An emotional master is there, beside her. I'm curious to see how you'll interpret the situation, thank you in advance if this does happen to get chosen.

WOW, ANON. Don’t you know I’m an asshole that thinks Scathach doesn’t deserve care? /s

Thank you so very much for this submission. You’ve let me play with a style closer to my own. I am completely taken with this prompt and I hope I’ve done it justice to create something you like. And that it makes up for people’s previous sass about my interpretation of Scathach. It’s not professional-level or anything, but I did try to create something decent. Let me know what you think, please.

Aaaand I put it under the cut aside from that cute little teaser because it was ridiculously fucking long by Tumblr-post standards at over 1,200 words.

TW: Violence, gore, character death, depressing shit.

Scathach’s Wish Fulfilled by the Holy Grail

Spears. 

Infinite daggers pierced Scathach’s flesh, leaving her dripping in the poison of manufactured hatred. 

A rain of spears, protruding from your very body.

The Noble Phantasm Gae Bolg slipped from her fingers and clattered against the ground. She could make out the sound of Master’s shrieking in the distance. It was drowned out by the laughter of the tyrant queen and the snarling of her hound.

This is what has become of you, then?

Once upon a time, the hands dug into her shoulders wielded that same spear she carried. It was her most prized possession and the most valuable weapon in her arsenal. She had passed on Gae Bolg under the pretense that this man would go down in history as a hero–the hero she could never be from the Land of Shadows.

There was no way to find him under the dense fog of the tainted Grail’s summoning. His humanity was long gone and in its place was a machine built for slaughter without honor, without law. To see him in a monstrous form such as this, she wondered if she had herself to blame.

Cu Chulainn grinned as he dangled her in the air with his ridged tail stabbed through her stomach. The sound of her insides crunching could have thrilled her killer. Perhaps this was why he had done it.

The beast’s snarl spread to a jagged grin. “Wish granted,” he growled. 

My… wish?

“You thought you were going to defeat the ultimate beast of war?” Queen Medb sang from across the field. “It was a cute effort, but I’m sorry to tell you that you’re in way over your pretty little head, Master of Chaldea. You and grandma over here didn’t have a chance from the start.”

Berserker threw Scathach’s lifeless body in the direction of her master and returned to his own. The sudden removal of spikes made an audible rip in her skin and turned her into a fountain of blood.

Master caught Scathach just barely and tumbled to the ground with her in arm. Gravel crunched beneath their fall. They rolled their servant onto her side to ensure she wouldn’t choke. They tore off their shirt and pressed the bundle against the gaping hole in her body. With each attempted breath, the woman gurgled and coughed.

“Scathach, can you hear me?” Master called. “Please, please say something. You’re going to be okay. Okay? I’m calling Roman and DaVinci now. They’ll get us out of here and take care of you.” 

Their watch glowed, signaling to Chaldea. 

This was… my wish. I see. Battling against him reminded me so much of his youth… of mine.

For the first time in history, Scathach felt ancient. She had spent eternity in this ageless body, trapped between heaven and hell when neither would take her. It seemed nothing could take her life away. At last that had been proven false. Remnants of a smile tugged at her drooling lips. 

A quiet beep from Master’s watch let them know that Chaldea could not be reached. They dug their nails into the soaked shirt.

“Scathach, don’t you dare fucking leave me,” Master cried. 

She didn’t respond.

Their two remaining Command Seals illuminated in response. “By the power of my Command Spell I order you.”

She trembled at the sudden intake of mana. Her eyes shot open.

Do not ask this of me.

“Scathach!” They shook her shoulder violently. “You are not allowed to die here, do I make myself clear?”

She gasped, thrashed, clawed at her chest, desperate to catch her breath beyond the blood overflowing from her mouth and her burning lungs. Her bones cracked and muscles tore and insides toppled out of place.

With a heavy dry heave and great resolve she rolled onto her stomach and propped herself on her forearm. A pool of rusty red liquid formed under her. It caused her to slip as she attempted to gain ground.

Tears stung Master’s eyes but would not fall. They refused to let her see weakness. They needed to be a proper master, command their servant with pride and keep them standing until the end. 

“Answer me. Do I make myself clear?” they screamed.

“Do not waste your Command Spells,” she coughed. “It is not worth it.”

“You are not leaving me. You’re not allowed to leave.”

Master scrambled to her. They flailed, appearing unsure of what to do with their hands. It looked like they didn’t know how to help her at that point. They reached out to touch Scathach but she waved their hand away before they could. They cringed. Frustration. Rejection. Why did she have to carry burdens on her own? They resulted in nothing but pain.

To be so young and full of feeling… My students… Do they remember that feeling, too? I wonder.

Scathach tried clearing her throat and turned her head cautiously to face them. She winced, agony grinding every bone and stabbing every muscle. 

Every inch of her body had been ravaged by Berserker’s Noble Phantasm. Her spirit core was shattered. Only the demands of Master’s Command Spell kept her conscious for these final moments.

One of her eyes remained closed, blood oozing from under the damaged eyelid. 

She forced a smile. “Let me go, Master.”

Drip.

“Please.”

Words destroyed the dams of Master’s scratchy throat. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help you. Please tell me what to do. You’re my mentor, you’re supposed to have all the answers, right?”

They floundered for a safe spot to grip on Scathach’s arm. They settled for her shredded sleeve. It tore off between their fingernails. 

“Why won’t you tell me what to do? You’re always telling me what to do, why is this the one fucking time you can’t?” they shrieked, tearing their voice in two. “I listened to everything you said, I did everything you fucking told me and you’re leaving me.”

“Nothing can be done,” she said. Her attempts to speak clearly through the blood passing through her mouth failed.

“What type of bullshit is that? That’s not something you’ve ever said. That’s not what you taught everyone else, not what you taught me. You always find a way. What do I do, teacher? What am I supposed to do?”

I was to be eternal, unmoving, cursed to never say goodbye to those I loved. To be so free… You are fortunate, Master.

She let her numbing arm sink back to the ground. Her hair stuck to her reddened face. “I apologize. I’ve never given a farewell speech.”

Master choked. “Don’t say that. You’re not going. By the power of my Command Spell I order you to–”

“If you’re going to waste your last Command Spell,” she interrupted, “wish that my journey be a peaceful one.” 

Their lower lip quivered with escaped whimpers. They clutched the remains of Scathach’s clothing in their stained hands. “I can’t do this without you.”

She closed her eyes and let her shoulders relax. The sharp pains throughout her body eased. The calm washing over her could have been mistaken for sleep. “As all the warriors I trained before you, you can do anything.” 

“No I can’t. I haven’t learned anything from you. You’re not ready to go. I’m not ready for you to go. Nobody can defeat you, Scathach. Especially not–”

“My protege? The man I wished to take my life?” She tilted her head in the direction Cu Chulainn and Queen Medb left in. “I would have it no other way.”

She felt her feet go numb and noticed golden sparkles drifting into the air above her. A sigh rolled off her body. It was time.

I am with no knowledge of how to pass… and yet, I am not afraid. Though this is not what I expected, I suppose my wish was granted.

“Scathach, I…”

The spearwoman fought to remove her arm out from under her and produced crunching sounds in doing so. She squinted her closed eyes, reaching for her master. They refused to touch her.

“You’ll let me go alone?” she asked, her voice teasing. 

Master took her disjointed hand, careful not to break her fragile grasp further. Their tears rained down on Scathach without reservation.

“That’s better,” she muttered. “Thank you, Master.”

For the first time, the Queen of the Land of Shadows stepped into the light.

In the Land of Shadows, I could not see nighttime nor daylight. Purgatory was my home, and all I was to know. Black. Gray. White. No color outside of those my pupils brought in flowers and parchment paper.

My greatest achievement was preparing those that would change history in ways I could not.

I hope someday you could see that, Master.

[loki-hargreeves]

Curiosity Killed The Cat - Bucky Imagine [PART 4]

[PART 3]  [PART 5]

Warning(s): gore

Your P.O.V.

Ever since I knocked over that guard, the people in here had treated me like I was the Hulk himself. There were constantly armed guards around me and I was never free. It had been just a couple days, or so I thought, yet it felt like I had been here forever. It didn’t seem like I would be getting out of here anytime soon which meant I would have to take the pain and suffer just like they wanted me to.

All this because I couldn’t stop looking into my case. Everything bad had happened because I bumped into a certain someone!

I hadn’t seen the super soldier since he was in that chair with its monitors and other gadgets. The first time I saw it, I had been so drugged thanks to whatever the fuck they injected in me, so I hadn’t thought straight. Now that I was ‘sober’, I knew it was an electroshock machine, most likely used to brainwash people. But it was way bigger than normal ones. I assumed it was more powerful as well, probably invented by some mad scientist. Just the thought of having to sit in that chair myself scared the hell out of me.

But what could I do?

I glanced around me and stared at a brown haired guard who held a gun in his strong arms. Once we made eye contact, he aimed at me so I looked away in a hurry. I didn’t want to die although right now, everything was as shitty as it could possibly get. In two days, I had cried so much that now I just lied here and stared into nothing with a blank expression on my face. 

All of a sudden, the door opened and a very familiar man walked in, Alexander Pierce. Immediately, I narrowed my eyes and looked at him with so much hatred it almost hurt. He on the other hand just smiled at me and checked me out, enjoying the sight of me in a white straitjacket more than he should. ‘’Are you ready?’’ He asked me casually and once again, I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Frankly, I didn’t care. I just wanted out of this hellhole!

‘‘Still not feeling chatty?’‘ Pierce sighed disappointingly. ‘’It’s such a shame. We have so much to talk about, sweetheart’’ He called me that just to piss me off. I would’ve snarled at him to not call me that but it wasn’t worth a slap. How did he expect me to speak to a scumbag like him? He was the reason I was here! He was using me as an experiment and it fucking terrified me, no matter how tough I tried to be. It wasn’t easy when I was held at gunpoint 24/7. Even when I had to use the restroom, damn, even when I slept! I just watched as Pierce walked over to a table and grabbed a key. He opened a black box and revealed that it was full of needles with the same shit they put in my body earlier. Once he grabbed one, my tough act disappeared completely.

‘‘No, please - don’t!’‘ I whimpered with a small voice, eyes glued to the sharp tip of the needle. Pierce squirted some of it out to test it worked and so he got back right next to me, meeting my eyes. In that moment, I saw deep into his ugly soul. I saw that he felt no mercy at all, in fact, I learned he enjoyed this. There was this sick darkness to him that sent shivers down my spine. I had to look away. ‘‘So now you’re talking! I’d say this is a good thing, it makes you open your mouth’‘ He chuckled like this was all a game to him. 

Just like that, a guard began to loosen my straitjacket as another held a gun against my head. I couldn’t defend myself. Tears rolled down my face quietly as I simply sat there and let Pierce inject that crap into me, again. The needle tip pierced my skin and sank deep into me. That wasn’t the worst part. Once the substance entered my blood flow, the same, stinging and burning pain came back to me, taking over my entire body. I tried to best to shut up and take it. It felt like all my veins had glass shards in them and soon, painful cries left my mouth and I was sure everyone could hear me.

Yet nobody tried to help me.

‘‘It’s time’‘ Pierce cheered for the millionth time. Although I had heard him say that for days now, it didn’t feel any easier. I was too weak to do anything anymore. For so many goddamn days he had stuck a needle in my arm and put me through hell. If I did one thing wrong, someone would punish me. I had bruises and cuts all over my body from being kicked and punched. One guard even broke my pinky finger and now it was numb. As I looked at it, it didn’t even resemble the finger it once was. The skin looked dead and it was swollen. 

I expected Pierce to grab another needle but to my surprise, he didn’t. Instead, he just watched and smiled as a guard pushed me off the table. I landed on my knees and then my face hit the floor. I was still wearing the stupid straitjacket so that’s why I couldn’t stop the fall. It felt like someone punched me in the jaw but I swallowed the moan of pain. ‘’Get up’’ Pierce spat at me. By this point, I knew better. Although it was humiliating and blood-boiling, I got up on my feet as told. I was ordered to follow him and so I did, holding myself back from the urge to leap at him and smash his head against the floor.

‘‘Where are you taking me?’‘ I wondered as we got to the hallway. The hopeful side of me thought they would let me go but the realistic side told me it was not going to happen. ‘‘You’ll see’‘ He just shrugged mysteriously. Something about this gave me a really bad gut feeling. Would he finally kill me?

My questions were soon answered as he opened a door to a room I saw earlier. The one place I didn’t want to enter, one that gave me nightmares. The same room where I last saw James Barnes. The room where they fried his head. So instead of walking in, I stopped. There was no way in hell I’d go in there! ‘’No’’ I whispered seriously which displeased Pierce.

‘‘Must I remind you that you don’t have a choice?’‘ He reminded me. What a sick fuck! ‘‘I’m not going in there!’‘ I made myself pretty clear. Then I began to fight the restrains, hoping I could loosen them. It surprised both me and Pierce when the material actually ripped a little bit and I felt more free, although I was still in it. ‘‘Guard’‘ Pierce called out worriedly. Seeing him afraid gave me a boost of adrenaline and now I was determined to fight my way out of this place.

I clenched my jaw and used all my strength I didn’t even know I had. Then all of a sudden, my arms were free. My eyes widened in pure shock. For a moment, everything slowed down around me. It was so unreal that I broke out of a straitjacket like this one. I actually did that! And it happened so fast even the guard was too dumbfounded to stop me.

And judging on the look of Pierce’s face, he was terrified. I noticed that he tried to reach for a gun he had in his jacket but I was quicker. I leapt at him, jumping higher than I ever had and I landed straight on him. Pierce tried to dodge but he was too slow and soon, I got him down. I was on top of him and I knew I could kill him. It felt so natural when I grabbed his own gun, loaded it and aimed at his head. Something was wrong, seriously wrong with me. I didn’t even feel bad nor did I think straight. It wasn’t until I heard guards running over here that I snapped out of my dark place.

Yes Pierce was a nut job and a cruel man but I wasn’t a killer! 

Once he noticed I hadn’t pulled the trigger yet, he laughed. I sat on him, straddling his body and I just listened to him laughing at my pathetic attempt of killing him. Why couldn’t I just do it? I had the perfect opportunity! And I wasted it.

Somebody grabbed me by my waist and I dropped the gun. ‘’Let me go!’’ I screamed as I was pulled on my feet. My heart was beating wildly, so hard I was sure it could explode. I felt like an animal that was being captured. No matter how hard I tried to wiggle myself free, I couldn’t. So I stopped trying and accepted my fate. That’s when I saw who was holding me,

it was James!

He was stiff as a rock and his grip on me was strong. I wasn’t surprised. By now, it was obvious I wasn’t the only person in here with some weird super strength. Bucky, James - whatever, was like me. But worse. His mind had been wiped too. As I thought about both his situation and mine, I got emotional all over again. Would this be my death? Would they just dump my body in the sea once they were done with me? Or would they make me one of their murderous dogs?

‘‘Put her on the chair, soldier’‘ Pierce demanded as he got up again. He brushed dust off his black jacket and shot me an angry glare. ‘‘Please, don’t. I’m begging you’‘ I whimpered, terrified. But there was little I could do. James already listened and he picked me up like I was as light as a feather. ‘‘No!’‘ I screamed at him. There had to be a way to crack him! To pull the true him out of that dark shell! ‘‘James! Think about..Steve’‘ I remembered a person who definitely had to be important to him. Everyone around us froze and watched the situation. Damn, even James stopped walking. 

Did he remember?

‘‘Who is Steve?’‘ He asked me coldly and continued walking forward. My eyes widened and in that very moment, I was doomed. ‘‘Steve! He’s..your best friend, Captain America. You grew up together! You were-’‘ I tried to remember everything I knew about them. I truly wished I could’ve broken this evil spell they had cast on him. ‘‘Enough!’‘ Pierce snapped harshly. I wasn’t dumb so I knew he was worried. I also knew now for sure that there was a way to pull James Buchanan Barnes out of this. Pierce just confirmed that.

Maybe that’s why they had to put him in this seat again?

He dropped me on it harshly and it hurt. Before I got the chance to get up, the guards already attached my arms to it. Then someone kept my legs steady and another one made sure that I couldn’t get out of this. I just stared at James who stepped back and watched from a small distance. Again, people were just watching as I would get tortured, slowly turned into a completely different person. 

And once again, I could see for a fraction of a second the sorry in the super soldier’s eyes. He knew what this was like, he definitely did. Perhaps he hadn’t regained his memories but I just knew he had a sense of good and bad. The real him had to be in there and sometimes, it showed though. 

The rubber piece was forced in my mouth and I almost gagged. It tasted awful! They probably never washed it either which made it even more disgusting. I didn’t even want to know how many people had bit into it while they were suffering. The scientist attacked the machine to my head and basically locked me in place.

There was no way out of this now.

So I just stared into James’ eyes with tears in my own. Then the session began and I knew it wouldn’t be easy. The scientist said something in Russian and right after that, the first electric pulse was sent though my head. A horrible pain spread through all my body, tensing my muscles, especially my brain so bad that it was impossible not to shriek out in pure agony. 

Another Russian word, another awful pulse. The third, fourth, fifth.. I lost count. The pain was all I could think about and I was convinced it would kill me just like that.

The oh so strong super soldier had to look away.

Third Person P.O.V.

Two weeks had passed since Y/N had visited Tony. It had been fourteen full days since she had left and no one had seen her since. Her boss was gone as well but as a lonely woman in New York, no one had reported her missing. That's why it surprised Tony when he found her apartment, empty. He had been investigating what she had too with his Avenger friends and it had come to a point where they needed her for a minute. Since she hadn’t picked up the phone or answered emails, Tony decided to visit her job. Nobody had seen her there but he got her address and headed to the block of flats.

Although Tony had no confirmed facts about her, he just knew something bad had happened. ‘’Hello?’’ He called out as he walked into her small apartment. He had invited himself in since the front door was already open. The floor was full of unopened mail. He saw her shoes by the door. At least, the same shoes she wore when she visited him. He even saw her keys in a small bowl on the table. The air was bad, like no one had opened the windows in a while. The first important thing he found was her laptop that was on her couch. A box of pizza was on the table and the food in it had dried.

So something had definitely happened. But what? Had Bucky gotten to her? Or the people behind this all, whoever they were..

‘‘Y/N? You in here?’‘ Tony tried again although he knew there would be no answers. Shit. He hated himself for not sending her to a safer place until things were good again. After all, Tony had the money to keep her safe. He was also smart enough to know she was in danger for snooping around like that. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, he couldn’t deny the feeling of guilt he experienced. 

Now he definitely had to search for clues. He had to get access to the security cameras, get her phone and any proof of her case. Maybe, just maybe she had figured out something they still hadn’t. Although it seemed highly unlikely, he couldn’t cross that out. 

So Tony grabbed his phone and decided to check with the police first, to do things lawfully, for now. ‘’Hello, it’s Tony Stark. I was uhm.. just wondering if someone has reported my friend missing - her name is Y/N Y/L/N - yeah, it’s been a couple weeks now - great - what? Murder?’’ Tony’s skin cooled down immediately. Her neighbor was found dead! That too was two weeks ago. He wanted to curse but he was still on the phone. He just hoped Y/N hadn’t killed anyone. It had to be someone else.

‘‘Is there a chance I could take a look at the security tapes? - no? What if I pay you? - Pleasure doing business with you, officer Ryder. I’m on the way’‘ Tony ended the call with a sigh. Although this was a lead closer to Steve’s friend, Bucky, he didn’t like it. He had this awful feeling that if Y/N was alive, she would never be the same..

[PART 5]

Author’s Note: Okay this was kind of a filler chapter but also, I really wanted to try third person pov again. I haven’t written in it for soooo long because I kept messing up all the time. At least, now someone’s looking for you so thumbs up for that! I’d love and appreciate it a lot if I could hear your thoughts <3

TAGS:  @buckysleftarm1 @twigleektribute23 @anxietywolfsdmn @geeksareunique  @iraniq  @embrycallsgirl  @blackroseyaz @puddins-princess  @r-alexandra01

[brassfannibal]

37.“I tried my best to not feel anything for you. Guess what? I failed.”-silverflint

This is light-hearted (probably one of the lightest things I’ve written). There is a bit of angst but it’s mostly light lol so I hope you like it! Takes place between S3-S4 when they are at the maroon camp

Silver attempts to write a love confession to Flint - 1581 words

–

To Fail

The quill could snap between his fingers like a bone if he lets it. He can press until the ink bled into his fingers, staining the palms of his hands. He’d have all the words he can never fit onto parchment marking his skin.

He wasn’t any good at letters or poetry of any fashion. He’s attempted it and couldn’t stop laughing at himself. He had thrown himself into a fit of manic depression afterward that would be blamed on this bout of madness. Why exactly was he attempting to write James Flint a letter when the man resides a few quarters down from his?

Their training sessions had ended abruptly a week ago when Silver had pressed his mouth to Flint’s. He hadn’t known what to expect but the anger he received was not it. Flint had been furious with him as if this was a form of manipulation, a tactic to gain an advantage over the lessons. Perhaps, Silver could be that petty but not with this, not with him.

Although, that sounds too noble. He, of course, thought it would be a distraction but a distraction for them both. From the heat, from the future. He didn’t expect anything but a small reprieve.

That wasn’t true either though. He always expects things from Flint, more with each day. Another glance his way, a possible smile given to him that he can claim. A tired story about myths conjured out of the sea. Silver wanted to read to him, he wanted to hear what he thought of his musing. Where had that come from? What had any of this come from?

Flint had said: ‘I let you crawl around in my skull’ almost with a snarl to match.

The crawling was the easy part, Flint had let him into all those dark spaces and he had thought he’d make a small home there but he hadn’t let Flint into all those spaces of his own mind. He hadn’t.

He writes uselessly with the drying ink: ‘You miserable fuck’

See…he’s not much of a poet. Although, Silver thinks that is addressed more to himself than it is to Flint. He was a miserable fuck. He didn’t allow anyone to examine his history. It was already made by someone else’s hand why mar the sunlight by collapsing it into the space between them.

He’d imagine Flint sifting through the pile of rubbish that is his past and he’d examine each groove as if it’s something worthy to note.

He scratches out the words messily and dips the pen in ink once again. He writes: ‘I’m sorry’

But that wasn’t true either. He wasn’t sorry for attempting to push their dance a little further. He wants to do it again, so that wouldn’t make him sorry. He scribbles out the words, almost tearing the page with the force of it. He writes: ‘Fuck off’ three times in a row and then gently pushes the parchment aside for a new one.

This time he pours himself onto the page, the pen scribbling furiously and scratching out his thoughts, plucking them forward for Flint to read and examine like that twisted iron wreckage of the cage his heart waits in.

He reaches the edge of the parchment and tosses the pen angrily before folding the page. The ink may not have dried properly, but he didn’t wish to reread it. He didn’t need to see it, he just required Flint to.

He spends the better part of an hour pacing around his cot, wobbling on his crutch and mumbling to himself like a gibbering drunk. He’s lost his goddamn mind.

He gathers up the pages after spending far too much time in his head and folds them neatly along the creases. Hadn’t he already folded the page?

He thought about addressing it to ‘James’ but decided not to address it at all. Formalities were never his strong suit. He stalks across the camp, as much stalking his crutch will allow him to do and reaches the open door of Flint’s sleeping quarters. He knocks once on the doorway and steps inside without much announcement. Flint is reading by candlelight on his cot and sits up bewildered by his appearance.  Silver watches the moment Flint remembers he’s supposed to be angry and he shuts the book loudly to punctuate it.

“What do you want?” He coolly asks.

“I wrote you a letter.” Silver replies and Flint squints at him with suspicious confusion.

“A letter? Whatever for?”

Silver holds it out to him and states, “If I am to stand here and explain it to you then the whole point of this fucking letter would be void, would it not?”

Flint sighs and stands, padding over to him barefoot. Silver surmises he is the only one that can appear sleepy and enraged all at once.  He rips it from Silver’s fingers and unfolds it with indifference.

Silver, however, is slowly regretting his decision and is tempted to limp down to the beach and let the waves carry him away. He observes Flint’s expression as his eyes glide over the parchment as if they are examining Silver’s heart and the look of utter confusion he presents him sinks any growing expectations.

“It says ‘fuck off’ three times…” Flint relays, creasing his brow.

“Jesus Christ…” Silver breathes with stalk-still horror. He had given him the wrong letter.

Flint eyes the page some more as if such a thing were fascinating and continues, “What exactly is this?”

Silver grabs it from his grasp and tears the parchment in two by the effort of it.

“Couldn’t you have told me this, Mr. Silver?” Flint questions and he still appears more confused than angry.

“It wasn’t…I wrote a different letter. I gave..you the wrong one.” Silver replies with the wave of his hand, towards the shredded pieces of what he suspects are now his dignity.

Flint hums and then slowly breaks into a low rumbled chuckle. He was laughing at him.

“I’m so very glad you find it so fucking amusing.” Silver snaps.

“What did the original say?” Flint asks and he’s trying to hide the laughter behind his words.

The original letter was a scribbled mess of thoughts that he is exceptionally glad didn’t reach Flint’s eyes.  

“About our last training session…” Silver begins and Flint’s small smile immediately fades from his face.

“I think we’re done here, Mr. Silver. If you can kindly see yourself out. I have a busy day ahead.” Flint replies coldly. He was well practiced with shutting people out, Silver recognizes the disconcerting likeness between them. Such as when chaos meets chaos, it never balances. There is always a scramble to retrieve normalcy but neither of them will ever achieve it between them.

Flint is glaring at him and soon would come the insults, Silver realizes this.

He blurts, “I tried my best to not feel anything for you. Guess what? I failed.”

It wasn’t the chaotic scribble of his letter or the attempt at pulling something free from his heart. It just was. He failed.

Flint’s expression evolves into something resembling fear as if Silver had presented him with a ship killer and perhaps he did.

They stand there in equal heavy silence before Silver finally takes his leave. His thoughts suddenly bursting at the lively busy camp in front of him. The laughter of a far-off conversation grates on his nerves and he limps slowly away from any prying eyes. He finds a secluded spot by the murky lake and dares not lean to view his reflection. He stopped looking at reflective surfaces long ago, for that is the true abyss. 

He hears from behind him, “I thought it was a manipulation.”

Silver startles and turns to see Flint, barefoot still and standing in the line of sunlight cradling the lake.

“It wasn’t.” Is all Silver manages.

“I thought after I told you of my past that you were trying to use it against me, to your advantage.” Flint continues and Silver shakes his head.

“I wouldn’t do that…” Silver replies and at least he hopes he wouldn’t do that.

“Tell me why then.” Flint commands and Silver’s lips break out into a bitter grin.

“I believe I already stated how I felt a moment ago. I won’t be repeating it.” Silver replies and he feels as though his chest could open up to shrivel his heart.

Flint walks closer, cringing when he steps on a bundle of acorns. The bitterness in Silver’s expression evolves into hidden adoration.

“I also failed,” Flint replies and Silver’s heart thuds loudly like a drum. The hopeful stillness and quiet chirping of birds is the only background noise.

“How did you fail?” Silver questions and tries to keep the growing hope out of his expression.

Flint sighs in frustration, “You’ve made me into a fool.”

Silver shrugs and grimaces when the throbbing familiar pain wraps around his thigh like a vise.

“Perhaps, you already were one, Captain.” Silver supplies and Flint closes the small distance between the bright dancing light.

Silver’s face breaks into a grin when he notices Flint’s sharp intake of breath, another small acorn patch has been thwarted by Flint’s bare feet. His small rumble of laughter is stolen from him when Flint presses his lips to his.

Silver can’t help but think in inconsistencies, the threading of time and the light as a guiding form between them but one thing is certain, John Silver will never attempt to write another letter again.

[afaye1999]

Ever At Your Side [Final Fantasy XV Fanfic]

Tagging: @jojopitcher @momokitty27 @its-lunafreya @alice250598 @amicitonia

I want to thank you guys for encouraging me to continue and leaving really nice comments about my story. Here is chapter 2.

I want to apologize for any mistakes and misspellings or if it feels rushed, I was trying to get it out as a new years gift ❤. This chapter isn't as long as the first and in my opinion it's not as good as the first either lol. I want to thank everyone for reading and I hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 2:

Bruised. Broken. He may be the light, but what good is the light when all it exposes is chaos and ruin?

Noctis sat on his knees, his hands gripping at his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. His blade laying at his side. The all to familiar feeling of defeat coursing through his veins.

"Not bad. Need a little more practice on your parrying, but you did good, kid." Gladio complemented him as he wiped the sweat from his brow. All Noctis could do was nod in response as he let out a tired whine. His head wasn't in his training, but he must have been doing something right for his sheild not to notice, let alone complement him. He tried pushing himself up but his muscles burned and screamed at him to sit back down. 

"See you in Kings Knight?" He manged to let out, words spaced apart between breaths as he took Gladiolus's large hand into his, lifting him from the ground to his feet. Gladio shot a smirk at the tired prince and Noctis took that as a yes. He pulled out his phone and saw that Prompto had text him letting him know he was at his apartment. He swiped it left and dialed Ignis's number.

"Hey, come get me." 

Noctis made his way through the hall, not paying any mind to the people he passes until he heard something a little to familiar. A voice; Her voice. The Mystery woman from his dream.

"Prince." 

He turned back watching as she made her way into the throne room, words stuck in his throat and his mouth suddenly dry. 

She pulled her bike into her reserved parking spot and slipped off the helmet, shaking her hair out in the process. Unmounted, she made her way through the palace, passing someone she hadn't seen for a while.

"Prince." She tilted her head at the raven haired male as she passed, not giving him a second glance. A small smile made its way to her lips before she opened up the doors to the throne room and threw herself down to a kneel in front of her King.

"Your Majesty." She greeted. Not raising her head until his booming voice met her ears after echoing through the room. On either side stood her commanders, Cor and Drautos. She gave a small nod to them as well after standing to her feet.

"I can always count on you, [Y/N]. You never cease to please me." The king smiled his benevolent smile at his trusted glaive. She made her way up the flight of stairs to her king.

"Your wish is my command, your Highness." She did a small curtsy, and gave a soft smile.

"It is safe to assume that you'll handle the task that has been sent to you with the same amount of haste." She nodded at his question, which sounded as more of a demand than a question and handed him a small envelope before making her way down the steps and out the door. Drautos shortly following after her. Once he caught up he gripped her shoulder, whipping her around, burying his fist into the collar of her Kingsglaive garb before lifting her from the ground slightly to face him. Her small fist encased his as she glared at her superior.

"Know your place in the Glaive, [Y/N]. You may be in the Kings graces, but you are nothing but a mere tool. A machine at his disposal." He spat in her face before dropping her down to her knees and shoving past her. She rubbed her throat and coughed slightly before pushing to her feet and continuing on.

"[Y/N]!" 

Cor had caught up with her quickly on the steps outside of the Citadel, "I understand that the Kings orders come before all else, but be sure not to neglect your duties to yourself." He said, stopping her in her tracks.

"I have not been neglecting my duties as a fellow Glaive nor as a living human being. Although, I am nothing more than a mere tool at the Kings disposal than anything else." She said looking down to her feet. Cor was always a father figure to her. No matter how good she was, he always pushed her to be better. Always criticizing and making sure she was doing what needs to be done.

He nodded,  same classic Cor frown painted on his face. Before heading to his office inside, "I heard what Drautos said, don't pay him no mind. He may be your superior, but you're far more superior than he." She watched as he left, then looked down at her hands, clenching them tightly and releasing after a few seconds.

Cor's words stuck with her. Has she been neglecting herself? She was trained to be this way; raised to be a cold blooded killer. Proving truth to Drautos's words she was trained by only the best, she learned to be ruthless and merciless. Numb to those around her. A psychopath of some sorts. A hand made personal attack dog surrounded by guard dogs.

She's the thing you fear in the dark.

"Ignis, who is that?" Noctis pointed at her through his tinted windows. Ignis carefully following his finger watched as she made her way down the steps after her small meeting with Cor.

"You should know who that is Noctis, That's [Y/N], the King's personal attack dog. She handles all of his most confidential missions. Also, an old childhood friend of yours." He answered matter-of-factly as he started the car and began to pull off. Noctis took in as much of her as he could see before she was too far into the distance. 

"[Y/N], huh.." He whispered out before sliding down in his seat, "I didn't know she was apart of the Kingsglaive."

Ignis hummed slightly before answering, "She is the youngest of all the recruits and very good at what she does. Gladiolus may be able to provide more information on the subject. Why the sudden interest, Noct?

The prince shrugged his shoulders, "No reason..." he mumbled out fidgeting with his fingers, "No reason at all."

Everything was set a flame. Magetiek soilders dispersed into smoke  and Imperial ships crashed around her. Her hands, body even, covered in blood, dirt, and sweat. Deamons roared and ran causing the earth to tremble underneath her feet. For the first time fear coursed through her veins as she took in what was left of Insomnia; Left of Eos. A scream broke through the raging flames and she smirked, moving closer.

She couldn't control herself; her body. Her body moved on it's own accord, dodging flying blades and lonely, broken pieces of metal. Deamons lunged at her, but with a strength she never knew she possessed, she merely waved off their attacks.

"Congratulations..." She started. This voice, her voice, but these weren't the words she was speaking. "My king."

Noctis was facing her now, inching closer with a smirk pressed to those beautiful lips of his. He fell to his knees before her, his forehead pressed against her lower stomach as his hands gripped her hips, keeping her in place. Her hands laced through his sweaty raven locks.

"You did it. All of Eos is yours, My king." She whispered as she gazed up to the darkened sky, covered in smoke from the flames. Noctis placed a small kiss against her skin between the ripped cloth of her shirt just under her belly button.

"We did it. All of Eos is Ours, My queen.."

She dropped to her knees as well, placing her forehead against his, "Ours.."

She shot up gripping her chest, beads of sweat finding their way down her exposed skin.

"Prince..."

Noctis sat up in his bed, the game of Kingsknight long over. He could hear Prompto's faint snoring from the living area, but he couldn't sleep. He was too afraid to sleep. What if he it's the same sick twisted shit? Could he handle killing Luna a second time? Granted it was only a dream, but what if it wasn't? It felt real enough. The feeling of her blood painting him red was very real. The heat from the flames against his skin was real. So real he woke from this so called dream broke out in a sweat.

He threw his pillow across the room. He's the prince Of Lucis for fuck sake's, why is scared about some lousy dream? Isn't the Chosen King supposed to bring the light? At least, that's what Luna told him, so why were his dreams filled with destruction?

Is that the fate of Insomnia? Of Eos?

Is it his destiny to bring chaos and ruin upon his home? Upon himself?

[minhele]

paper hearts.

pairing: jungkook x reader prompt: living abroad is tough already. doing it with a relationship on the line is twice as difficult. word count: 1,571  note: hello everyone! this is my first fic on this site, i hope you all like it! this is ofc inspired by the song paper hearts and slightly by weightlifting fairy kim bok joo warnings!: mentions of sensitive topics like disease, please don’t read if you’re offended by these things.

Living in America was hard at first. He was a native Korean to begin with, and extremely shy to add. He wishes you were with him. He wanted to hold your hand, to hug you, to kiss you. He wishes just to be with you.

“No,” You said. “These are your dreams and I’m not going to stop you from achieving them. Besides, you’re only going to train for one year. You can handle one year without my nagging ass. But once you come back, you better win all the golden medals, or else I’ll kick your ass.”

“I love you.” He blurted out randomly.

You looked at him. “I know, Jungkook. I love you too. Don’t think I won’t miss you, because I will, with every fiber of my being. It’s just… I could never forgive myself if I was the reason you stayed home.” You replied, taking one of his hands and tracing the prominent veins.

“Jungkook, what are you doing? Get your shit together!” His coach yelled, bringing him out of his memories.

Jungkook shook his head, slapping both his cheeks with hands.

“Sorry coach, I’ll work harder!” He yelled back.

“You better! This kid…” His coach muttered.

‘Do it for ___.’ Jungkook thought to himself, attempting to motivate himself. Wit that in mind, he swam even harder, and before he knew it, practice was already over.

Jungkook made his way towards his small dorm, a towel still on his head. It was 6:00 on a Friday, meaning it was 8 AM in Seoul, and knowing you, he knew that you probably wouldn’t wake up by 10 AM.

‘That’s okay, I’ll just wait till 8 to try and call her.’ He said to himself.

It was approximately 6 months and a week(yes, he was counting) since the last time the two of you saw each other in person. As time passes, Jungkook’s longing for you increases, by every day, every hour, every minute, every second.

Jungkook looks down at his desk, realizing that he had been drawing hearts unconsciously. He smiles at this, finding that he’s picked up your habit of doodling. Pulling out his phone, he takes a picture of the hearts and sends it to you. He decides to start making paper hearts monthly.

5 months pass more quickly than Jungkook thinks and he can barely keep hi excitement in. Just a few more weeks, and he would finally get to see you, his beloved girlfriend again. He couldn’t wait to hold you, to kiss you, to make love to you. He was so distracted with the thought of seeing you again, that he didn’t see who was holding his bicep. Looking down, he sees her.

Soo Jung.

Soo Jung was a girl who’d been pestering him for the past 2 months. After every practice, she would approach him, asking if he wanted to go drinking or to the club. The first time she asked, he declined politely, not wanting to offend her.

“I’m sorry,” He began. “I have a girlfriend.”

Soo Jung replied with an exaggerated pout, adding a small “OK.” and then leaving.

The next time she’d done it, Jungkook stood firm and declined with a simple “No.”

Soo Jung’s eyebrows furrowed. “Where is this so-called girlfriend? How come I never see her?” she said.

“She lives in Seoul. We have a long distance relationship.” Jungkook said calmly.

Soo Jung rolled her eyes and scoffed, walking away while swaying her hips, making Jungkook’s blood boil.

Refocusing on the girl tightly grasped around his bicep, he shakes his arm trying to free himself from her hold. Unfortunately, the girl had a vice grip on him, and clung onto him like glue.

“Hey Jungkook.” She cooed, looking up at him with a dreamy expression.

Jungkook wants to throw up.

“Soo Jung.” He replied coolly.

Soo Jung’s smile widens, grasping him tight to her body. “So, wanna go-”

“Soo Jung, for the last fucking time, I don’t want to go anywhere with you. I. Have. A. Girlfriend.” Jungkook explained, clapping to exaggerate his point.

She still doesn’t get it.

Soo Jung frowns, drawing circles into Jungkook’s arm. “Come on, it’ll be fun. All you ever do when you’re off is stay inside.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes, scoffing. “Yes. Staying inside is fun.”

Soo Jung laughs, letting out a high titter and hits his chest lightly. She regains her composure and looks up at him innocently, trailing her fingers over his pecs. “Just join me once… I’ll show you how to have real fun.”

Jungkook is really uncomfortable. Will he get in trouble if he punches her in self-defense? ���My girlfriend in Seoul already knows how, so it’s fine, don’t waste your time.”

Soo Jung lets out a high-pitched whine. “Aw, let loose for once.”

Ouch. That was right in his ear. There’s a ringing in his ears. Is he deaf now?

Jungkook shakes his head. “I said no.”

Soo Jung pouts, pulling his arm with her as she attempts to do some weird aegyo. “Come on Kookie-”

Jungkook tenses up, cutting her off before she could finish her sentence. “Don’t call me that.”

“Kookie.” Soo Jung cooed, eyes sparkling with amusement as she inches closer to his lips.

“Stop.” Jungkook replied, forcefully ripping his arm away from Soo Jung and pushing her away.

Jungkook briskly made his way towards his dorm, running away from the direction of Soo Jung as if she was a killer.

Well, technically she was. She killed his vibe every time she talked.

Jungkook slams open the door to his room, throwing his things down in a child-like manner. He wrestles his phone from his bag, fumbling with the zippers and strings, making him regret choosing this complicated messenger bag over the simple drawstring bag.

Once his phone is in his hands, he automatically clicks on your number, desperately needing to hear your voice.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up.” Jungkook chanted desperately. He waits anxiously for your reply, wanting to talk to you about how he’s coming soon.

The only thing that greets him are the words “missed call.”

To his relief, Soo Jung had been leaving him alone for the past couple of weeks, but in return, he hadn’t bee hearing from you as of late. He scrolled through the texts he had with you, and as days passed, each reply became shorter and you were becoming more and more unavailable. He knew that college life was busy, but this was unusual.

The door opens, and Jungkook looked up at the sudden intruder.

“Hello Jungkook.” She whispered provocatively. Her fingers slide down to the buttons and tie that were holding her trench coat together. They come undone, and revealed the red corset exposing her porcelain skin.

Jungkook turns away from her and cringes. “How the fuck did you get in, Soo Jung?”

“You left it unlocked, dummy.” She replied cheerfully. “But that doesn’t matter right now.” She says, her heels clicking towards the bed. She lays down on the bed, and Jungkook stands up, not wanting to be anywhere near her.

Soo Jung tilts her head at him. “Come on, Jungkook, don’t you want me?”

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows. “After countless times, I’ve told you no over and over again. Why in fuck’s name would you think I want you?”

“I mean, look at me. Who wouldn’t want me?” Soo Jung replied, gesturing to herself.

Jungkook snorts and rolls his eyes at her. “I don’t. The only person I want is my girlfriend.”

Soo Jung groans, adjusting her corset. “Oh my God, stop pretending you have a girlfriend. You’re just playing hard-to-get and I’m tired of it. I’ve seen the way you look at me. You even touched my breast the last time we saw each other!”

Jungkook is 101% sure that Soo Jung is delusional.

“Are you dumb? I was pushing you away! Why would you think I was trying to grope you?”

Soo Jung crosses her arms. “Hard-to-get. Now stop resisting, you’ve got me where you want me.”

Scratch that, Soo Jung is 200% batshit insane.

Jungkook grabs her coat off the floor and wraps her in the cloth. “You need to go.”

Soo Jung shrugs it off. “No.”

Jungkook puts her in the coat again and ties it around her. He strangely feels like a middle-aged mom trying to clothe her naked, devil of a child who won’t get dressed. “Come on.” He said, dragging her off the bed and taking her to the exit.

Soo Jung stumbles, trying to rip away from his grip. “Jungkook, long distance relationships don’t work! It’s not gonna last. I know you at least feel something for me.”

Jungkook laughs bitterly. “Yes, I feel hatred for you.”

Soo Jung weakly beats at his chest. “Let go of me! I’m gonna ruin your career here! You’ll never have a chance at making the American team.”

They arrive at the door, and Jungkook shoves her out, remembering to lock the door this time. “Go ahead. I wasn’t trying to anyways.”

And with that, Jungkook slams his door closed, locking his door and puts the chain in place.

He collapses on his bed, running his hands down his tired face.

Suddenly, your ringtone comes on and Jungkook has literally never been happier.

He opens his phone quickly to see the text.

‘We’re sorry for not telling you soon enough, but ___ has leukemia.’

note: thank you for taking the time to read my fic! it’s been in my drafts for quite a while, but since it’s jungkook’s birthday i decided to post it in honor of him turning 20 (is he 21 or 22 in korea? i still get confused about this sometimes asdfghjkl) i’m sorry if the fic’s details were confusing and/or inaccurate, but i hope you enjoyed reading nevertheless!

[howboutdemwings]

In which I boss @Luchas_L around...

Lassiter - <The walls of the mansion weren't as sound proof as the occupants liked to think they were, if I listened hard enough, I could generally catch a convo or two happening near by. Generally speaking, I avoided eavesdropping on the ones that were more sounds and grunts than words. The doggen were some of my more entertaining group to listen to. The things they spoke about when they thought nobody was around to hear was comedy. Fritz actually was a bit of a mess when he cooked but only because he liked spending his time in the kitchen more than anywhere else. Then there were the rambles of Piper. I never knew what she was going on about but that was endless entertainment too. The Chosen also gave me a chuckle or two from time to time. Their wonder and amazement at things on this side of the earth was so very innocent and pure. To the point of concern but I always left that worry to Phury and the brothers. Until today. A telephone conversation between one of the females here and another up at the Chosen camp had me deep in the bowels of the mansion. Past V's forging area and into a tiny locked Harry Potter under the stairs cupboard. The lock had been no problem in picking but the low ceiling height and tight quarters had me cursing any time I smacked my head against the floor supports or when my wings brushed up against something or another causing it to crash to the floor. Sneaky like a ninja, I was not. But thankfully it didn't take me long to find the item I sought. The branding iron Wrath had used on the male was long since cold but the memory attached to the item was fully intact and because it had served to completely alter the life of someone, I could use it to trace him which was exactly what I needed to do. Rumours floating through the mansion of a male stumbling past the mhis and onto the grounds of the Chosen's compound was not ideal and would send every male in the joint crazy. And since the only vampire I could think of to be related to a brother was the one who had been marked as a traitor, my hunch made the most sense and would be the exact same conclusion Wrath or Phury would make. Chances were good that Q's brother probably became a bit of a wandering soul and given the mark that marred his hand, he was likely having a difficult time finding a female to feed from. He needed a warning before one of the brothers hunted his ass down to give him something worse. Tucking the brand into the back of my jeans and using my wings to conceal the bulk of it beneath my shirt, I tidied up the mess of fallen boxes then closed the heavy wooden door before slipping the lock back in place before I made my way back to my room so I could do a little tracking to make sure my suspicions were correct. > Luchas: *The hike back to my humble shack was full of aching muscles and a headache that resembled what I always imagined a hangover to be like. That symphath had done a number on me. Even though I know he… she… hadn’t laid a finger on me, the mental torture had done the trick just fine, scrambling the neurons up in my brain and lighting them on fire. It was like sparklers going off under my skull. As the small cabin appeared before me, dawn’s warm warning on the back of my neck, I half expected to find the Scribe Virgin herself waiting for me on the other side of the door. No doubt she would take action after a traitor such as myself touched another of her purest creations, then went trudging into the Symphath Colony. But I was greeted with nothing but an empty cabin, the faint smell of fire lingering in the air. My shoulders sagged. In relief or disappointment? I couldn’t quite come to terms with whether I was happy I was alive or regretted that the King let me live. Death would bring an end to this burden of guilt I carried. Death was easy. Which I knew is why the King did what he did. He knew I’d suffer much worse trying to survive in a world I’d betrayed than getting my head ripped off. He didn’t want me to have easy. He wanted to punish me. I locked up for the day, checking the boarded up windows once before starting a small fire and stretching out on the couch. Despite all that had just happened, I still slipped into a deep sleep. Maybe it was like the humans after a large Thanksgiving Day meal. A full, warm, sated belly made them sleepy.* Lassiter: <After closing and locking the door to my room, I crossed over to the large French doors in a few long strides and stepped out onto the terrace that overlooked the grounds. The sun shone bright and felt warm on my skin, filling me with energy despite the temperature of the frigid air. The mansion was mostly asleep which was the reason I had chosen to go snooping around in the basement in the first place. I reached behind me to pull the branding iron out from the back of my jeans and inspected the image, picturing the mirrored version that was imprinted upon the male vampire’s hand. What an awful way to be labeled and in the same instant ostracized from an entire species. My hair fell around my face as I shook my head in disbelief. This was not the way the Creator wished for one of his children to be treated. Even if said child had disobeyed a few of the commandments along the way. Forgiveness was his thing. Always. If remorse was genuine, the bossman would forgive anything. I felt a pull to male begin to form and stitch itself to my insides, similar in the way that I had felt with Tohr, and every other one of my previous charges. It was one I knew I would not be able to deny. My eyes rose to the heavens and I blew out a breath.> Point taken, boss. <Both hands closed around the head of the iron and without trying or needing to force the memory out, it slammed into me. Screams and the sound of searing flesh filled my ears as if I were in the room as it had happened. Wrath’s deep and menacing voice echoed as he kicked the male out on his ass and stripped him of everything that was important to a vampire. I sighed and pulled myself out of the assault of images. The guilt that must weight on his shoulders would be undoubtedly overwhelmingly heavy. I wouldn't need to trace or search out his location. I could already feel the distance between us and the direction in which he was at this moment. Any time I’d been assigned a soul to save, an invisible bond was formed that allowed me to know where they were at all times and gave me the ability to see them within my mind’s eye. Right now, he was in some run down cabin, asleep. Of course. It was daylight hours so I’d have some time to execute my plan. First, I’d make a quick pit stop for my usual soul saving fare. Big Macs and fries. Perhaps a double round given the size of him and how his limbs spilled over the edges of the couch he was currently crashed upon. Then I’d flash myself inside, set the food on the table and wait for him to wake. Hopefully the peace offering would be enough for him to listen to reason and if not…well, it wouldn't be the first time I went toe to toe with a male vampire.> Luchas: *I don’t think I’d dreamed in a long time. Seemed like the less I fed, the less it happened. Maybe my brain was trying to conserve energy, grabbing onto all the rest it could get and not bothering with letting my subconscious come out to play. But today my mind took a fantastical trip. I wandered these hills and valleys, met other vampires, found a home for myself. They didn’t judge me by what I’d done, they didn’t care what my past was, we just all needed a safe place to live. I knew there had to be others out there like me. Vampires lived a millenia, pure bloodlines maybe even longer. Those kinds of miles had to had a few bumps in the road. I know I couldn’t be the first vampire to fuck up royally, and then get the royal exile from the King himself. I was pretty sure I was the only vampire that had gone full Lesser. But there had to be other criminals, other serial killers, other deviants that either met their demise or were cast off like I was with their tail between their legs. In my dream we were sitting down for Last Meal, the night giving way to early dawn as windows were locked up and deadbolts turned. Faces gathered at the table, smiles and tales of one another’s nights on the tips of our tongues. Something smelled delicious, like a warm memory from a life long ago. I searched for the source of the smell but couldn’t find it. I reached across the table, lifting plates, checking dishes, but to no avail. It was sweet, salty, and my mouth was watering for it. Then the sound of a brown paper bag caught my ear, swinging my head around to seek out the source of the most incredible smell. My eyes fluttered open, still half in my dream, the steamy aroma of burgers and fries fresh in my brain. I hummed low, hand rubbing over my stomach. That was one of the best dreams I’d had in a really long time. Usually my days were filled with bad memories and dreams that left me shaking, covered in sweat. But this was different. It was so lifelike, I could still smell the delicious meal. Movement to my side caught my eyes suddenly, my hand going still on my shirt. Someone was there, just a few feet away.* Lassiter: <My arrival to the tiny cabin in the woods was without fanfare or an announcement. One moment I had been standing in the parking lot of Mickey Ds, hands filled with bags of salty, calorie laden, artery clogging goodness and the next, I found myself standing on creaky floorboards next the blond vamp who was sawing logs and had a tiny bit of drool running out of the corner of his mouth. I peered down at him for a few moments, waiting to see if he was one of those light sleepers who roused at the sound of a feather dropping on the floor. I checked behind me to make sure all of mine were still in place then set down one of the bags on the little coffee table close to him then moved around and dragged the chair that had seen better days over to the other end of the table and parked my ass in it. As I fished out my fries and Big Mac, I could feel the wood beneath me moan and groan under my weight but it remained intact, thankfully. To keep my hands busy and away from dipping into his mind to see what he was dreaming about, I shoved a handful of fries into my mouth and chewed as I looked around. The cabin needed some love and elbow grease and a fresh coat of...something...paint maybe. I wasn’t sure it belonged to the boy, and I was pretty sure it didn’t belong to his family either. But I couldn’t blame him for squatting after he had been tossed out on his ass by Wrath. Twisting in my chair after taking a mouth full of two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, onions, pickles and a sesame seed bun, my eyes caught sight of the small wannabe kitchen and barren pantry, he was probably rationing what ever was in there and wasn’t too far from running out. No doubt, he’d be grateful for my thoughtfulness when he woke. Bite by bite, I made my way through my meal then sat back on the chair and propped my vans up on the table, waiting for him to wake. Before I could get impatient and start making a ruckus, he stirred and began to run that scarred and branded hand over his chest and stomach. A wide smile stretched my lips and just as his eyes landed on me, I smirked.> Sleeping beauty finally wakes and I didn’t even have to kiss you. <My head nodded toward the bag of food that awaited him.> You hungry, boy? <Shifting up from the chair but moving slowly, not wanting to startle him more than I already had, I moved my softly glowing hand over the bag to warm the food back up for him then sat back down.> Eat. And before you ask, no, you’re not seeing things. And yes, I really have wings. Luchas: *My eyes cleared as some sort of celestial fast-food worker appeared in front of me. What the Scribe……..were those wings? And that hair…. His face was like one of those greek statues, and his skin glowed like he drank glow-sticks for breakfast. My arms started back stroking, swimming me in reverse up the couch until I was as far away as possible from the stranger that sat in my cabin. How had he gotten in here? And I don’t mean the obvious, through the makeshift front door. I meant how did he get in here without opening it up, making noise, waking me, or burning me to ash by letting the sunshine in? I glanced down at my phone as it lay on the coffee table. It was barely one in the afternoon. But what sat next to the little rectangle with the blinking lights made all the air in my lungs whoosh out. McDonald’s. A big, steaming bag of greasy fast food. My stomach roared to life, crying over the cans of baked beans and other assorted salty vegetables and soups I’d managed to force down over the past few weeks. I slid back over on the couch and opened the bag. Fucking Fade… I was two bites into the oversized burger when my brain finally caught up. As his words replayed in my head, the questions started. Who was this guy? What’s with the radiation? How did he find me? Oh shit…* Is this your cabin? Scribe, I’m so sorry. I just needed a place to crash and came upon it. I didn’t think anyone lived here. I ah… I’m sorry about the furniture. And the doors… Lassiter: <My laugh was loud and obnoxious, the kind of laugh I saved only for the brothers when I wanted them to know they had read a situation all wrong. The kid thought I owned this POS cabin? What an assumption to make. I couldn't fault him seeing as I parked my ass on the chair like I owned it. I did that with everything though. It was just my style. When I had sucked in a couple lungfuls of oxygen, I shook my head and let my amusement filter into my voice as I spoke.> Not mine. Do you honestly think someone like me… <my wings ruffled a little to draw his attention purposely> ...would own a place like this? It looks like you're barely surviving, buddy. And I prefer more than the bare essentials if I have my way. <I gave him have a few moments to let his paranoia fade away before I spoke again, this time all humour was gone and seriousness filled the space between us.> I'm Lassiter. My halo is back at the Manse, where I heard some little chatterbugs talking about a vamp who stumbled his tall ass onto the Chosen compound. You wouldn't have any idea what I'm talking about would you? <I popped a pierced brow at the male, letting him know there would be zero room for lying or beating around the bush.> Luchas: *That one eyebrow arched so high I swear it brushed the heavens. And his wings seemed to fill the room even though he was neatly perched on the lounge chair next to me. I recognized the feeling that came over me. I had felt it before, back at the mansion. When one oversized, badass of a warrior male in leathers and wraparounds had given me the scolding of a lifetime. Branded me a traitor, cast me out, and sentenced me to a life of solitude. Power. In massive quantities. That's what this angel, Lassiter was oozing out into the cabin. I’d been good about staying off the Brotherhood’s radar, not even contacting mine own brother, Qhuinn. I kept away from vampires altogether, managing to only run into a few from my past. A victim or two, even. But I never harmed them, never showed any aggression. In fact, it frightened me to see them, the way they looked at me. A flash of the Chosen I’d fed from flashed across my mind as Lassiter questioned me like a father who caught his son sneaking in past curfew. Was she just another victim on my tab? Is that how every vampire I encountered would be labeled going forward for the rest of my life? I swallowed an unchewed bite of greasy goodness, forcing it down as I set the burger back on the wrapper. Funny how the lump in my throat remained, even as the food slid past.* The Brotherhood knows I was at the Chosen compound? I mean… Scribe, of course they do. I didn’t realize where I was until I was already through the mhis. And then there this female was, coming towards me. I hadn’t fed in so long… she offered, I didn’t force her. I’d never do that, you know. *I stared at the rest of the food, my appetite suddenly gone.* Are you here to punish me? Lassiter: <It was interesting to watch the metamorphosis of emotions fade in and out on the kid’s face. I didn't need to delve into his mind to know what he was thinking, the remorse... the guilt were all as clear as my hair was awesome. His question surprised me though and I slowly shook my head before nodding toward his food, not wanting it to be wasted. It was a Big Mac after all and that was against my code.> I'm not here to dole out any sort of punishment. Seems to me you've already endured a lifetime of that. <I couldn't help the disappointment that crept into my voice for Wrath’s choice as my eyes landed on his branded hand and my brows knit together, wondering if he knew I could remove it for him. I filed that under conversations for another time and focused on the more important matters.> None of the brothers or Wrath for that matter know you were at the compound. Not yet. I heard one of the Chosen talking on the phone about it. They simply believe you to be a brother or trainee or something like that. <easing back on the chair and folding my arms behind my head in an effort to make the kid less jumpy, I held his eyes and spoke in earnest.> I came here to help you. And warn you that a mistake like that could get you dead if you're not careful in the future. I believe it was an honest mistake and I will take care of things at the mansion for you because second chances and forgiveness seem to be lacking when it comes to you. <My eyes stayed on his until I could tell he was feeling uncomfortable before they moved around the tiny cabin again and I let out a sigh.> What exactly was your plan, Luchas? You know you can't hide here forever. Luchas: *I was so sure, so sure the fates had once again had it out for me. That one slip would define me. I hadn’t been up in the mansion proper much during my time there, but I had heard enough down in the med suite to know that the Brothers and their trainees screwed up all the time. Mine own brother was a terrific example of that. He was as stubborn as the night was long, especially when he was trying to protect the ones he loved or the Brotherhood. But with Blay at his side, he was able to find his place--and forgiveness--among Wrath’s most trusted males. I knew there were times when they fought amongst themselves, even attacked one another. Scribe knew members had even been suspended or removed over the centuries. Or simply needed some separation and time to heal. My fingers absentmindedly rubbed over my scar on the opposite hand. Now that Wrath had made my status known, I had taken a similar path. Where would it lead? I wasn’t sure yet.* I came up here looking for others like me, other outcasts. I’d heard there were groups settled north of Caldwell, I figured maybe if I came up this way I would eventually find them. And maybe they’d let me stick around. If none of us are welcome in Caldwell, then maybe we can find a place up here that’s safe. So far I haven’t found much… *I knew I’d never be welcomed at the Chosen Compound, but my mind drifted to the Symphath Colony. Sure, I had been mentally bitch-slapped by whichever one had found me near their borders. But maybe if I went back and asked again… or simply never stopped asking… they’d let me live there. Could a vampire live off of Symphath blood? I honestly didn’t know. It had to be stronger than human blood, right?* I know I can’t stay here. Even if no one is around, this cabin does belong to someone. I will fix it, the furniture and doors, and then I’ll move on. It was just a place to stay out of the sun while I looked for other vampires. Lassiter: <My head was shaking, sending my multi-coloured hair into my eyes as he spoke of seeking out others in the area. Surely he was smarter than that? Surely God wouldn't have stuck me with a charge who really did have a death wish...not even Tohr had been /that/ stupid when it came down to living and dying. I sighed out a long breath and pushed my hair back with both hands before levelling him with a piercing white gaze that left no room to argue.> Dude, that aimless wandering around to find somewhere to belong has already led to me showing up on your doorstep. If I could find you, you best believe any of the brothers could, all they'd have to do was find that lovely Chosen you fed from and she'd locate you through the blood connection. They wouldn't be so forgiving this time and you know it. They’d boot your ass out the door at high noon and think nothing of it. <My fingers tapped my temple while I spoke> Get smarter, please. The Sympath colony isn't too far from here and I can guaran-fucking-tee they won't be welcoming you with open arms unless it's to mind fuck you into insanity. <My frustrations mounted within me and I stood from my chair to pace around the small living room, as I always did when my mind was running through scenarios. I cursed under my breath knowing the rules I had to follow when trying to save a soul, he had to do the work himself and I couldn't give him the answers on how, he had to want it for himself above all else.> Luchas, you belong in Caldwell. It's not safe anywhere around here. Not after crossing the mhis like you did. <pausing in my pacing, I turned toward him and planted my fists at my sides, hoping perhaps the look might beat home the gravity of the situation he was in.> Get your life back together, find something worth living for. Something that doesn't involve wallowing over that damn mark on your hand. It's just a scar, nothing more, and when you start thinking like that rather than feeling sorry for yourself, you’ll be free of the mistakes you've made. Maybe you’ll even find a way to forgive yourself. I’ll do my best to help you along the way but if you truly want your life to be yours again, it's going to take some hard work. Luchas *I could tell there was a lot the angel wasn’t telling me. But I could guess as good as any that this was how it worked. He couldn’t interfere, he could only guide others. This wasn’t a spirit guide to hold my hand and take me on a magical adventure through the forest to get in touch with my soul. Lassiter was more like a distant but loving father. “I gave you the tools you need, figure it out yourself. And if you fail, pick up the pieces and try again until you succeed.” Maybe that’s how the humans felt about their God. Distant… requiring blind faith. I stared up at the glowy, show, f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s winged creature pacing my cabin. He seemed a bit too big a presence to thought of as distant in any way. As if he’d heard my thoughts and felt the need to personify the very God I was considering, he suddenly vanished from the room. I waited a moment to see if he’d return, but all that was left proving he’d ever been here was the rest of my Big Mac and fries. I took another bite, chewing as his words ran through my head. So the Brotherhood had it out for me if I slipped up again. No real surprise there. I know Wrath wanted me to suffer a lifetime of guilt, and so far I’d done a pretty damn good job of sticking to that punishment. But Lassiter wanted me to rebel against that, start a new life, find some purpose. It’s not that I wanted to just waste away up here in this cabin, I really did want to find other vampires to coexist with. Make a few friends, have an acquaintance to offer my blood too in return for some of theirs. I just wanted a simple life. Wasn’t that enough? Apparently to Lassiter, no, it wasn’t. Could I really be destined for more? I had been so sure my first and second act had already been played. Rather than be an old diva hanging around backstage, hanging on to nostalgia like one last aria, I’d left the theater completely. I had been cruel to mine brother Qhuinn in the first set. Paid dearly at the hands of the Lessening Society before joining the Omega himself. What else was there for a male like me? I was of no use to the race anymore. /You belong in Caldwell./ How could that be true if the King banished me? /Find something worth living for./ I looked down at my branded hand. It was like Lassiter wanted me to sign up for the volunteer firefighter department. Maybe scoop some meals at the local soup kitchen. ...Help the humans? I had gotten along well with the males at CHEMLAB. It was easy enough to blend in as long as I was out at night. Feeding would still be a problem, but up here wasn’t any better at the moment. So that was it, then. I’d go back to Caldwell and back to living with humans. And that’s when the cabin’s owner walked through the door. #BigWingsAndBigMacs

[calcinators-blog]

FN-2187, TR-8R

I can’t tell you what it was like. And by it, I really do mean all of it.

“Indoctrination” was one hell of a thing. But then, well… back then, I didn’t know any different. It was all one way up until it wasn’t, until Dr. Thos pulled me out of my mental stasis and I could really think for myself. Do you understand what I mean?

I guess that’s maybe not for me to wonder in the first place; I know your mind has been yours the whole time. I know you choose this and you know I couldn’t. Insinuating it’s possible for you to place yourself where I’ve been is out of the question, not that you wouldn’t try to because I know you well enough, but I couldn’t explain even if I had all the time in the world to. And I don’t.

I’m still coming to terms with it. I know that we’ve already said goodbye. Maybe I’m only talking myself through because it’s too quiet and no one else has said anything to me in hours. Maybe because I still feel like I’m going to see you later and I’m practicing re-telling this story.

If you could hear me, right now, I don’t even know what would I say to you. Maybe that watching the hatch seal over your face was death enough for me. But that’s not the important stuff that I should have said. The one chance I had, I kept it back. Everything. All the nitty-gritty details, the stuff that a part of me would rather get vaped than admit to you. I wanted to come clean, really, but I just couldn’t burden you like that. I held my tongue then and I hold it now, inching closer to the great wipe.

Being reconditioned feels like a joke. But, I’m not laughing.

As I was saying, I broke out of it all, sure, then came pretending like I hadn’t, which was easier than you’d think since you can never really forget what it’s like. I mean, it was both a barrier and an alarm. It was an invisible wall blocking a spectrum of thought, protecting me from revelation and natural impulse. It was an inaudible siren, influencing my brain to duck and run or stand in line. To lay my life out for the cause and all that.

In time, you can imagine, that you’d grow to tolerate it. And I did. Fighting against it only makes headaches. Real bad ones. Ones that grind and pound at your brain like it’s the Resistance itself. I think it’s because our minds were conditioned not to do what they want to do.

Well, I’ll call them headaches, but in truth, they were more than that. The programming and programmers, the ones who do this to us, they are not our allies and they are not our friends.

The end feels all too similar to the beginning. I blame the hallways. The repetition of steel and stone. These worn down boots of mine are ticking like a detonator against the floors, slick with polish. I’m amazed I can walk without falling on my ass.

Hell, now I can’t see anything but Slip’s face. I’ve been in my share of accidents but he was by far the clumsiest trooper I’ve ever seen. I mean it lovingly when I say his dexterity was fictional… ‘Cuz he was also as sharp as a sarlacc’s tooth and that’s why they kept him around. Slip, walking to reconditioning and tripping on his way, would have been the greatest “fuck you” to the General over here. I’m sure it’s a mood killer. It’s gotta be.

Anyways, he’s at my left and a psytech I can’t recognize is at my right. So, there’s a black coat on one side and white at the other. It feels almost like a devil and angel on my shoulders but neither is interested in mercy.

I should also mention that Hux here, has been staring at the back of my head so intently I can feel his glare burning away at my scalp. On one hand, I want to ignore it but on the other, I can’t help but feel he’s annoyed that my hair is  redder than. I must have established myself as the alpha. And I say that as if, wherever you are right now, you’ll stop what you’re doing and laugh– or at least roll your eyes in that way you do when I say something unbelievably corny. I know this look well from too many sour jokes.

I think suddenly to when you told me my hair was as red as poppies. I’m not sure why, but it’s always stuck with me. Maybe I liked the association to something organic and innocent, maybe I just liked how your face lit up when you told me. I think about how you had mentioned they would stain your palms  because you would hold onto them, collect them. Keep them close.

I hope I haven’t left a mark.

Everything aside, I just wish you could hear me. You know, even still, as I march on knowing what’s coming, I don’t think I can take this moment seriously. I don’t think so, but it sneaks up on me. I’m fine in one step, a mess in another.

I contemplate decking the General, then running as he’s stunned. He’s confident that I won’t. I don’t have cuffs. But where would I go then?

It’s hard to stomach how close we were to— it. I guess the absolute worst thing that I could do is measure the distance between here and freedom. I’ll forget about freedom soon enough but damn, if I wasn’t right there.

It’s just ahead now. I’d be lying if I told myself that I didn’t feel scared, or worse, alone. It’s intimidating to know I’ll be fine on the other side or that I won’t remember this moment of not being fine.

I’m not okay right now. I’m the exact opposite. I’m shaking under these outer plates. I feel it breaking like sheets of ice, shifting and crackling along moving water. This armor, my second skin, won’t prevent what they plan on doing to me. Can’t.

I always imagined, in the end, you would show me your home world. I thought about what it would be like to see it with order restored because that’s why you were here. In some vague, ridiculous way, I’m thankful that it pushed you here. I’m not, for one second, pleased that your planet is suffering now but we met and that’s something I would never regret. The universe is too big to not host such happy coincidences and if my memory serves me right, you did say I was like your brother.

Yeah. Happy.

Starkiller isn’t going to get some ceremonious goodbye from me. No one did– not even my Captain. She handed me over; they must have not trusted that I could do it myself for sending her as a chaperone. She came to collect me before any of the others had woken up. We marched soundlessly from the barracks to the main bridge all to find the General waiting for me, sipping tea and reading something on his holopad. He gave me this look, like I was a dog on a leash or something, and told Captain that he was “sorry it came down to this.”

Sorry... Can you believe that? That he was sorry?

She didn’t.

We didn’t have to talk, you know. I mean, I respect the hell out of that woman– under the armor, I wouldn’t be surprised if her flesh was also chromed– but she was thrown through a loop. I don’t think I’ve ever been so quiet; maybe she was waiting for me to brush it all off my shoulders. She didn’t think I could bear the weight of it all without comedic relief to shake the tension loose. But I did.

They’re connecting me to the machines now.

They’ve kept to themselves how potentially dangerous this procedure is. They haven’t warned me that it’s excruciating, that I might wake up in the night with sweat-soaked sheets from nightmares of this life. Dr. Thos forewarned us. You know if it were simple, being reset, they would have done this to me the moment I started laughing more than I blasted things to bits. They don’t do this to wise-mouths; only turncoats… and I wouldn’t have made it as an FN without faking my undying devotion. I’ve never shown that my allegiance is outside this white skeleton.

They look at me, close-lipped. No one has explained to me why I’m here. The only disclaimer they’ve made is that this is what is going to happen. I’m lead to believe our secret is about to make itself known if they do not already know. But I don’t want to entertain that. Thinking about the others… They just can’t.

I’m suddenly terrified of what will happen to the rest. I can’t do anything, secured tightly to this chair, each limb pressed down to the surface. I can only blink and move my head. Neither action is sufficient, so I do nothing.

I put so much belief in the plan. I depended on inertia, and maybe to a fault, that it would just keep us all creeping forward undetected. I never thought I’d be halted. I’m trying to be okay with it. If the skifflin is out of the sack, I only hope it means that you’re right on the edge of figuring it out too.

Damn.

I just couldn’t risk it though. I couldn’t include you in it all when I knew how unsafe it was to house these thoughts. Sometimes I would rip myself out of sleep and have to fight not rocketing down the hall to tell you… It’s just that there is so much happening beneath.

Maybe I should have told you– I should have said something, right? I can’t say anything now. No. Nothing. Not in a metaphorical sense either. Stars, they’ve tied a strip of ashen, flimsy fabric over my mouth. It tastes like gauze and I can’t help but think of being stitched up in the medbay a few cycles back for being a little too reckless. I can’t help but think while I still can. I can’t help it at all. I’m not going to make a sound– untie it. Please, General. I can’t go through my final moments like this. And why do you have to look at me like that? Like I’m a wounded animal about to be put down. My limbs are transformed to claws and wings. Let me go. Let me go.

Am I awake for this procedure? There was no countdown. It’s happening. God. I can feel parts of me going numb and cold. It’s a submersion into ice water. I’m not ready. I’m not ready. I don’t want to forget your face. I’m thinking really hard about you. I’m not ready to give you up. They can try to steal you and everyone else from me but I refuse to let you go.

I feel something moving down the pathways of my memory. There’s no way to describe this feeling, only that I’m all too aware of something slithering about inside my head. Starkiller is absorbing my mind in preparation for total annihilation.

I won’t forget you. I won’t forget you when you had been watching the interstellar dust. We had everything then– the one last perfect moment.

General Hux has his hand on the controls. I can’t see much but I see him from the corner of my eye. The techs, in ghostly white robes around him, are supervising. He must think he’s deleting the problem; that it began and so dies with me.

I can only hope this buys you enough time.

Whatever happens after this, you’ll make it out. I know you will. You’ll go back to your planet and see the poppies. I don’t know where I came from but I trust you don’t mind if I go there too. It feels like it’s home enough for me. I hope you know my consciousness will be there, preserved and flowing through the stems of every single flower, bursting into petals you used to admire.

We’re all finally free there. Everyone. Please, you have to keep holding on.

You just have to.

I wonder if they can see it in my eyes, the brilliance of the view we had. I’m thinking about it hard enough that I’m surprised that my skin hasn’t become one with the darkness we hang in.

You’re here. With me. You’re next to me. I feel our last hug become our last once more. I feel you holding me together, but you’re fading to quickly to keep me in tact. But I’m not ready to let you go.

The fabric over my mouth slips; it falls down my chin and hangs at my neck like a noose. This vision of you, the last I’ll see of you and know who you are, but I whisper to you regardless:

 "We will escape. We will all escape."

The man with red hair, whose name and face have left me, cannot control his rage. He slams his hand on a button and I’m shocked with so much invisible electricity that I–