#the humans apologized to the survivor and gave them as much food as they could spare but the damage was done

[attractthecrows]

Ilithra my beloved. Ilithra my darling my doll

[tea-and-la]

“Katara is Hot-Headed”

.... okay, so i’ve seen this ICE cold take enough time to warrant a formal post. i’ve seen and strongly agree with the posts i’ve seen that refute this, like @shewhotellsstories post here. but unfortunately, this sentiment is still something that’s widely accepted in the atla fandom. it’s no surprise that “katara is hotheaded” is the common argument for “why zutara doesn't work.” and while it’s more than irritating that zutara antis love to align them in ways that are only negative in nature, i’m not going to get into that. i’m going to focus on katara. 

one of the key defining aspects of katara’s personality is her patience. she is unwavering in her faith of aang (through their numerous supportive talks), as well as her encouragement of her friends when they need it (ex. toph in the runaway and sokka in sokka’s master.) but most notably? let’s talk about the desert episode because this is where katara’s patience really shines. 

there are a lot of things going on in that episode. aang is dealing with grief from the loss of appa and lashes out at both toph and katara while also intermittently flying away from the group. what would a “hot headed” or quick-tempered person do in this situation? let’s look at some of the dialogue: 

aang: [Enraged.] How could you let them take Appa?! ‌ Why didn't you stop them‌?!

toph: [Defensively.] I couldn't! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and-

aang: [Snaps at Toph in a harsh way.] You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!

aang looks extremely furious at Toph as Katara walks over to him. She puts her hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.

katara: We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now.

in that dialogue, katara inserts herself in to mediate. she recognizes that he’s in a dark place, and she sees past the harshness of his words to see that they come from a place of hurt, not malice. she reacts with empathy and understanding. 

a quick-tempered person would not have responded in this way.

the majority of this episode, katara is essentially the leader of the group. it’s swelteringly hot, which is enough for any hot headed person to get irritated, but she doesn’t. 

toph: Katara, can I have some more water?

katara: Okay, but we've got to try to conserve it.

sokka: [As he points to his mouth.] We're drinking your bending water. [He tries to define the taste of the water, smacking his lips. Disgustedly he exclaims.] You used this on the swamp guy! Urch!

toph: It does taste swampy.

katara: [Sad tone.] I'm sorry, it's all we have.

in this scene, even momo complains about the taste of the water, the only water they have. and katara’s response was to apologize for something she can’t control. 

after this point, she has to lead toph through the sand, while sokka is high on cactus juice and aang is upset. instead of getting frustrated, she tries to inspire hope into them all: 

aang: [Hopelessly.] What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it.

katara: [Encouraging.] Come on, Aang. We can do this if we work together. Right Toph?

toph: As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'.

katara: [Hopeful.] Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba Sing Se?

Sokka and Momo lie side by side on their backs, arms and legs stretched out. Sokka smiles blissfully.

she does get annoyed, but she doesn’t direct that frustration at any of them, unlike a quick tempered person would do.

katara: [Grabs her head in annoyance.] Ugh ... We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together! Aang, get up. Everybody, hold hands. We can do this. We have to.

the point of these excerpts isn’t to say that anyone else in the gaang is horrible. i just wanted to point out the moments when she could’ve gotten frustrated and lashed out, but didn’t. not once. 

patience and quick temperedness are antonyms of each other. and imo, the fact that so much of katara’s character is defined by her patience (even outside of this specific episode) and nurturing (for over 80% of the show)  is enough to refute her “hotheadedness.” especially, when the other members of the gaang are allowed to be upset and/or angry on occasion and their dispositions/temperaments are not immediately associated with hotheadedness. maybe unpack why that is. 

let’s take the instance when she and toph argue in the chase. first of all, this episode is characterized by all of the members of the gaang being sleep deprived (i.e. not in their normal states), so their attitudes should be taken with a grain of salt. (what humans do you know that are happy-go-lucky when they haven’t slept enough?)

 anyway, the episode starts with katara attempting to lightly hint to toph about  group dynamics. 

katara: So Toph, usually when setting up camp, we try to divide up the work.

toph: [Shrugging casually.] Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go.

katara: Well, actually what I'm trying to say is, [Holds arms out in gesture.] some of us might fetch water, while someone else might set up the fire pit, or put up the tent. [Momo flies over to her, dropping several berries he had collected into her hands.] Even Momo does his fair share.

toph: [Breezily.] Katara, I'm fine. I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire, [Pats bag.] I've already collected my own food and look, [Earthbends a rock tent over her.] my tent's all set up.

katara: [Slightly irritated.] Well, that's great for you, but we still need to finish 

toph: [Angered.] I don't understand what's the problem here!

katara: Waves her hand dismissively and walks away.] Never mind.

from the above excerpt, she drops the issue and doesn’t lash out. later, she even goes back and tries to make amends with toph. she even tries smiling before she heads over there.

Cuts to Katara, who sets down a jug of water. She looks over at Toph, sitting comfortably beneath her earth tent. Her dull expression changes to one of slight happiness. She approaches Toph who is eating some sort of food item.

katara: [Rubs back of head sheepishly.] Hey Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I think we're all just a little tired and getting on each other's nerves.

toph: [Casually.] Yeah, you do seem pretty tired.

katara: [Growing disgusted.] I meant all of us.

Cuts to shot of inside Toph's earth tent as she lazily tosses the food item onto the ground and lays her head down to rest.

toph: Well, good night.

katara: [Slightly irked.] Good night.

none of her mannerisms and word choices are characteristic of someone with a temper. despite toph’s slight unintentional antagonistic remarks, katara doesn’t react. 

later, after they managed to evade the azula’s tank train for the night, they land appa. and katara tries, again:

toph: [Leaping off Appa and lying on the ground, relieved.] Ah, land sweet land! [Rises and says cheerfully.] See you guys in the morning!

katara: Actually, can you help us unload?

toph: [Points a finger at Katara in irritation.] Look! I didn't ask you to help unload my stuff! [Turns and begins walking away.] I'm carrying my own weight.

katara: [Angrily.] That's not the point. [Approaches Toph.] Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!

toph: [Enraged.] What? Look here, sugar queen, [Points finger at Katara.] I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being selfish!

the only times when katara reacts in anger that could be perceived as impulsive, is when she is insulted by Pakku and when Sokka suggests that she leave the Fire Nation town without helping. Both of these are hardly instances of hotheadedness, and moreso a reflection of who she is as a character: someone who doesn’t turn her back on people who needs her and someone who fights injustice. 

why would we call katara hotheaded for not settling for being antagonized by a misogynistic asshole? she was a trailblazer in that scene and it meant so much to the little girls of the Northern Water Tribe. similarly, why would we call her hotheaded for not being able to turn away from people who are in need? after all, that’s a core part of her character’s trauma: feeling of survivor’s guilt that there was something she could’ve done to save her mom. it’s part of why she has to act to help others. her passion isn’t synonymous with hotheadedness. 

[underfell-crystal]

~~Cetaphobia~~

Written for @kiokodoodles mermaid pirate AU! This one-shot will cover Harp's life from right before she got attacked by the orca mermaid to when she met Alkai.

TW: Blood, gore, injury, assault, being chased

'Don't stray too far from the island'

It was a simple rule, and one that had good reason behind it. There always seemed to be danger lurking around Seal Island, as Harp's home was creatively named. Harp was careful to follow that rule whenever she wanted to break off from her family while they were out searching for food.

But that was before Otaria and Mother had fallen ill. Father had to tend to Mother and Otaria, so that only left her and Hali. Hali was on the other side of the island where there were the most fish. Harp didn't mind. She knew she was quite absent-minded at times, and her sister was faster than her. Harp looked around, sighing. There were hardly any fish due to the currents this time of year.

Harp continued making slow patrols on the southern side of the island, her disappointment and frustration growing as several passes yielded hardly any fish. She only had two fish in her satchel, and it was making her anxious. What if Mother and Otaria didn't eat enough? She didn't want to think about that.

There.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She turned her head and her excitement skyrocketed as she saw several fish disappear into the distance. Harp gave chase.

.

.

.

Gosh, why were fish so fast?! She'd only caught two more out of.... at least a hundred. It was frustrating, but at least she HAD a food source for tonight's dinner. She lunged again, snagging a third fish from the group, making it five in total. She bit the fish just below its head, making it stop struggling. She added it to her bag and turned- then paused. Something big was moving in the distance. Perhaps a larger school of fish? She swam closer, curious. Twenty feet later, she stopped swimming forward. There it was, fifty feet away.

It wasn't a school of fish. It was a half human, half..... half....

'Black and white, Harp. Remember that. If you see those colors, you swim away as fast as you can.'

Half orca. Harp gulped. Both of her parents had told her about how dangerous orcas were on their own, but this one was even smarter. It had a human brain.

It was just... floating there. Staring at her. Watching. Was it hungry? Stars she hoped it wasn't hungry. But just in case..... With slow, trembling fingers, she opened her bag and pulled a fish out, tossing it to the side. The orca mermaid didn't react, just kept staring at her with a creepy, too-wide grin. Maybe if she went slow....?

She slowly started to swim backward, but a moment later, the orca mermaid moved. It was FAST. Harp gasped and turned, swimming as fast as she could back to the island, but she knew she wasn't fast enough.

She knew he was getting close. All the fish had vanished. The island was still so far away-

Her back suddenly exploded in pain, and she let out a strangled scream as the water turned red around her.

Stars, it hurt. Her vision was spinning and white at the edges, and every movement sent waves of pain down her spine. She did her best to keep moving, but it hurt so much. She saw something big and dark coming at her from below, and she wasn't fast enough to move out of the way.

Teeth clamped down on her back and tail, piercing the skin easily. She didn't think it could hurt any worse. She was wrong. Her vision went completely white, and she let out a scream she didn't even know she could make. Her hands scrabbled at the orca's head, and she dimly remembered that eyes were generally weak spots for animals. She raised her hand, and with a scream of pain, she slammed her hand into the orca's eye, her nails tearing skin and cartilage. The orca was stunned and in pain, loosening his grip on Harp's tail just a bit.

Harp seized the chance to plant her hands against his snout and shove, his sharp teeth tearing through the skin on her back down to her tail- but she was freed. She didn't waste a moment. She took off toward the island and could sense the orca coming after her, making her panic spike. She had to hide! She had to get away! She remembered the strange hole in the side of the southern part of the island- mostly covered by rocks- that she'd never explored. She could only pray to the stars that the orca wouldn't be able to fit.

Her dark eyes scanned the shore frantically until they locked on a dark hole- indeed, mostly covered by large rocks. She took a deep breath and dove down, squeezing past the rocks and going deeper into the cave. The cave narrowed as she went, which relieved her immensely. He wouldn't be able to fit down here even in his human form.

Harp spared a glance backward and saw a single black, beady, hunger-filled eye staring back at her. A moment later, the opening cleared. Did he think she was stupid? She wasn't falling for that!

The water slowly grew red around her. She whimpered and hugged herself.

.

.

.

'It was a very close call', her Father murmured as he applied a green paste to the cuts on her back. 'You're not allowed out there alone ever again.'

Harp was fine with that. More than fine with that. But she wasn't fine with how achy and sore her body was. The green paste helped a lot, but the cuts still stung and it was still difficult to move. She still saw that spotted pattern and beady black eye whenever she closed her eyes. Mother, Otaria, and Hali were resting- Hali had exhausted herself chasing down food. Harp flinched as a spike of pain shot up her spine, and her father murmured an apology, rubbing the skin next to the cuts. 'Be strong, little one. You are a survivor. Remember that.'

Harp sniffed and nodded, finally allowing tears to gather in her eyes, turning and burying her face in her father's plain white tunic. She didn't want to go hunting ever again.

.

.

.

The journey to their new home was long. It took over a week to get there. Father smiled and told them 'It'll be worth it. I promise.'

.

.

.

She still had nightmares that she'd wake up screaming to, certain that orca had come back to finish her off. She couldn't go back to sleep after that.

.

.

.

Their home was quiet. Too quiet. There weren't as many souls there as there should've been. But... That was okay. She still had Hali and Father.

.

.

.

Hali was screaming, something metal embedded in her tail. Father was trying to pull her back, but whatever the metal thing was attached to was way stronger. Well, actually, she knew what the metal thing was attached to. A boat.

Hali and Father disappeared above the surface.

.

.

.

There was nothing left for her here. Her family was gone. The nightmares remained. She knew her mother and father had left a chest of keepsakes back at their old island. She had to find it. It was all she had of their once happy family.

.

.

.

Hunting was still hard. The constant paranoia about orcas lurking around made her so hungry. Hungry enough that she became desperate and snuck onto a passing human ship. She was certain she'd be found and killed. She hugged her coat close, reaching for the crate of vegetables.

.

.

.

There was somebody odd on the ship. They weren't human, Harp knew that much. They looked human, sure- but they smelled like.... something else. She didn't know what it was. They had pretty brown hair and an affinity for shiny things. They looked surprised to see her- like she'd caught them doing something wrong. Were they... not supposed to be holding all that gold?

A shout of anger made her startle, and she ran to the deck and leapt off, changing back into her seal form and swimming away with her precious cargo.

.

.

.

She kept running into that person. Always on different ships. Always looking for gold and jewels.

.

.

.

"I'm not sharing any of my gold with you."

The brown haired person looked irritated. Harp nodded. "I know. I don't.... want... the treasure. I.... wanna be friends."

They stared at her. "Uh....... no."

Harp frowned slightly. "Why?"

"Nunya."

"What's.... What's Nunya?"

"Nunya business."

Harp blinked at them. "What's business?"

They stared at her. "...... Oh you're serious??"

"Um.... why wouldn't I be?"

They pinched the bridge of their nose. "Look, lady-"

"Harp."

"Huh?"

"My name. It's.... It's Harp. What's your name?"

They turned away from her. "Pat."

Harp frowned again. "Pat..... Anyway, um.... Why are you pretending to be a human?"

They froze. Slowly turned and looked at her. "What."

"I-I mean, you're obviously not a human... So.... why-"

They were suddenly directly in front of her. Harp yelped and stumbled back as they loomed over her. "How."

"H.... How what....?"

"How. Did. You. Know."

Harp gulped. "Um....."

"Don't lie to me."

Harp watched their hand drift to the scabbard at their side. She looked up at them with wide eyes. "I-"

Their hand was on her shoulder, touching her coat-

She jerked away. "Don't touch me!"

They stared at her for a moment before scoffing and turning away. "Get lost. I don't have time for this."

Harp obliged, scampering out of the room, heart pounding in her chest.

.

.

.

Another ship. Someone was tied to the mast- Pat. Their head was bowed, which made her approach easier. She climbed up the side of the ship, changing into her human form and throwing on her damp dress. She saw a dagger laying on a barrel and grabbed it, wasting no time in hacking at the ropes.

Their head shot upright, and they twisted to get a good look at what was happening. They made eye contact with Harp, gaze widening in recognition. "It's.... you... What are you doing here?"

"Saving you."

The ropes fell away, and they turned to stare at her in disbelief. Harp fidgeted in place. "Um...."

There was a shout from the other side of the ship. "OI!! GET BACK HERE!!"

They both turned and saw one of the crew members standing there, looking furious. Harp and Pat looked at each other and bolted for the railing, leaping over and plunging into the water together.

.

.

.

"Alkai."

Harp sat up and looked at her friend. "Huh?"

They gave her a small smile. "Alkai. That's my real name. Nice to meet you."

(Alkai belongs to @mochamashi )

[dinosaurtsukki]

❀ facets | “i don’t want you to see me like this” feat. chuuya nakahara

⇢ day 4 of angstcember

⇢ synopsis: you and chuuya both have sides to yourselves that you don’t want the other to see and unfortunately, the mafia brings out the worst in everyone

⇢ a/n: so here’s the chuuya angst you guys have been waiting for !! i,,, really hope that it was worth the wait i guess cause i know some of you were excited but if it’s not apologies in advance ;-;

⇢ pairing: chuuya nakahara x gn!reader

⇢ word count: 2.7k words

ANGSTCEMBER MASTERLIST (feat. haikyuu!! and bungou stray dogs)

━━━━━━━━✿ ━━━━━━━━

it was difficult to be in the mafia without spilling blood. after all, it was what the job entailed. just like everyone who joined the port mafia, you had been accepted because of your skill in eliminating targets. you always did so quickly and oftentimes mercilessly. more than a few times, mori himself had gave you solo missions to specifically assassinate unneeded targets.

and yet, you hated having to kill. you hated that from a young age, it was the only way you ever knew when it came to surviving the world you lived in. after being orphaned, you were immediately taken in by a criminal syndicate and trained to be an assassin before eventually joining the port mafia. as much as you tried to outrun this, you gave in and grew apathetic to your job requirements. ‘just do it as quick as possible, forget, and then move on,’ you told yourself during every job. 

that was until you had met chuuya nakahara.

well, it’s not like you had met him for the first time there at a local bar. everyone in the port mafia knew about the young, mafia executive with the powerful gravity manipulation ability. in fact, you had worked under him on a few assignments. despite the reputation about his temper, you found him to be quite level-headed when it came to leading your group and making difficult decisions on the spot. there was a side to chuuya that was a bit caring too and he always checked on everyone after a mission. sometimes, you’d even watch him remove his hat in respect when a fallen mafioso was reported.

“nakahara-san,” you were about to get up and bow when he waved a hand, signaling not to.

“you don’t need to do that. we’re not at work,” he scoffed, sitting on the bar stool next to you. “this is my first time here. recommend anything good?”

you were surprised at his casual-ness, especially since he was technically your boss too, but you answered his question nonetheless. “well, they always have really good whiskey.”

“can’t go wrong with that then,” chuuya said, requesting the drink from the bartender. “so, you’re l/n, right?” 

“you... remember my name?” you blinked in surprise. 

“i mean, you have worked for me. what kind of a boss would i be if i didn’t even know your name?” chuuya raised an eyebrow at you before sipping from his drink.

“makes sense,” you shrugged. “it’s just that you happen to be the first.”

“you’re also the one koyou ane-san spoke highly of,” chuuya added. “although, i heard you turned down her offer of a promotion.”

“i’m not really in great need of money,” you reasoned. “and besides, it’s pretty much the same job content anyway but i’d have to do more things.”

“well, the doing more things part you got right,” he chuckled, downing his glass before ordering a refill. “although, i get the feeling you have another reason for turning down that promotion.” chuuya looked at you expectantly and you felt as though you’ve underestimated his intuition just a bit. you looked down at your half-empty glass and sighed.

“i don’t really like being in the mafia. i’m good at my job but, i don’t care much for it, nor do i think i’m particularly good at anything else. in the end, i just feel like i’m being used?” you shook your head and laughed. “sorry, i know that sounds terribly pathetic.” 

“if you don’t like something, can you really help it?” chuuya pointed out.

“i thought you didn’t like people who chickened out?” you dared to tease him.

“that’s not the same as chickening out,” chuuya wagged a finger. “because you still do what’s being asked of you.”

“fair enough.”

“i don’t know if this helps but, you’re pretty good at tying bandages too,” he said, puzzling you slightly. “one of the doctors at the infirmary told me that tomura-san wouldn’t have made it if you hadn’t stopped the bleeding quickly.” chuuya downed his second glass of whiskey before placing it on the counter and paying for his drinks. “just some food for thought,” he added, before getting off the bar stool and leaving you alone.

...

whether or not chuuya had intended it, his comment did get you thinking quite a bit. you did have good knowledge of the human body, thanks to your assassin training that taught you which were the best points of the human body to strike. the port mafia boss himself was also a doctor, so who’s to say that killing people and saving lives were separate forms of knowledge.

slowly, you began to pick up on chuuya’s way of reinforcing that idea he had initially planted. when you were put in missions with him, he’d often order you to help patch up the wounded, even encouraging you to take your ‘patients’ to the infirmary. there, you’d intently watch the nurses and paramedics do their valuable work. at times, you wondered if you were really of use because you were no longer in the front lines but chuuya reassured you that what you were doing was more than enough.

finally, you decided to file in a request to transfer to the medical department. it took quite a long time for it to be processed, since you knew that you were still valuable to the organization as an assassin, but you managed to convince the higher-ups of being able to work as an on-site paramedic who could also defend themselves in the front lines.

after being accepted, you went to your usual bar for a celebratory drink. it didn’t come as a surprise anymore to see chuuya already there, waiting for you.

...

aside from holding up his reputation of being a powerful member of the port mafia, chuuya also wanted it to be known that he was a leader his subordinates could trust. ‘what’s the point of mistreating them if you know they’re ready to lay down their lives to follow your orders?’ chuuya would always reason. he wasn’t one to dote, but when he knew someone wasn’t exactly working at their very best, chuuya took it quite seriously.

you had already caught his eye the first time you worked with him on a job. there was nothing to complain about when it came to your skill. in fact, chuuya was particularly impressed with how cleanly and efficiently you eliminated your targets. it’s just that the expression on your face, one of boredom, caught his attention just as much. it almost reminded him of his own. sure, chuuya loved fighting and the adrenaline rush he got from it was like nothing else. but at one point, he had grown tired with knowing that he would win anyway no matter what. it was why he decided to put on his gloves and refrain from using his fists. 

at first, chuuya was mainly concerned with what was bothering you so he took a page out of dazai’s book -- which wasn’t something he wanted to particularly confess to -- and decided to coerce you a bit into doing something that would interest you. it wasn’t fully manipulative though, because chuuya genuinely knew you were quite good at the new skill you picked up and he could see you enjoyed that more. 

then, he noticed that there was an inarguable gentleness to you. chuuya happened to read your file out of curiosity and learned about your past being trained as a young assassin. he felt a bit sorry that a different life was robbed from you and was therefore even more motivated to help steer you down the path you wanted more.

chuuya was genuinely happy that you had joined the medical department but he did find that he was seeing you less and less. you joined a few more missions as a frontline paramedic but spent most of your time in the infirmary. it was only after it hit him that he was missing you that chuuya began to realize maybe there was something else underlying his intentions.

he didn’t like chickening out of anything but that also meant he shouldn’t chicken out with facing his feelings. chuuya couldn’t come see you at the infirmary because he never got injuries. instead, he decided to meet you again at your favorite bar, the place where he first met you for real. 

this time, he came with a confession. and so did you.

...

the first thing you noticed when you opened your eyes was the ringing in your ears and the dust that had seeped into your lungs. you blinked that same dust from your eyes before sitting up in a panic when you realized what had just happened. according to the higher-ups, the port mafia was going to be engaging with a very powerful enemy organization and you and your fellow paramedics and nurses in the infirmary were expected to be working all through the next few days. you were prepared as the bodies came flooding in and you just hoped and prayed that the fight would be over.

you had just finished stitching a particularly ugly gash when you heard an explosion from within the infirmary. and then, the screaming, and then, it occurred to you that the enemy had done the unthinkable.

there was rubble all around you and you struggled to get out but thankfully, you were still in one piece. but as you looked around what used to be an operating room, you realized the extent and gravity of the damage dealt. the enemy had just bombed a hospital. it wasn’t just port mafia members they were treating there but yokohama residents who had unfortunately been caught in the crossfire. sure, you were part of a mafia and used to be an assassin and you did kill people. but there was no dignity in bombing a hospital. 

rage flooded you as you walked around the ruins, your eyes picking up the ugly sights of what was left of the survivors and those who were terribly unlucky. and above all else, there was a terrible sadness. if you were in the frontlines, would you have prevented this?

...

chuuya’s blood ran cold when he heard the news about the infirmary being bombed by the enemy, enough to bring him to use his fist to finish off an enemy before sprinting over to where he had heard the explosions. the enemy had dealt a low blow and chuuya wanted nothing more than to finish everyone off. along with that anger came a feeling of fear that almost blinded him as he sprinted off to where the explosions came from. you were working in that hospital. if anything had happened to you, there’s no telling what chuuya would do in his anger.

only, he quickly realized that you weren’t in danger. meters away from the hospital, still dressed in your lab coat, chuuya found you with a scalpel in each hand, killing enemy attackers. only, you weren’t just killing them. chuuya could only assume it was rage that consumed you as you straddled an enemy’s corpse, driving your scalpel repeatedly into his face. 

“y/n!” he cried, grabbing onto your wrist before you could bring it down. slowly, you turned to look up at your lover. the rage in your eyes quickly turned into fear as you looked down and saw what you had done.

“i... i’m...” 

“that’s enough, y/n,” you heard chuuya say softly behind you. you dropped the scalpel and looked down at your shaking hands.

“maybe i could have stopped it,” you said shakily. “i should have been on the frontlines. i just want to help people and even now, i couldn’t even do that.” chuuya watched as you covered your face in your hands.

“what am i even good for?”

he knelt down in front of you and pulled your hands away from your face. you turned away from him.

“i don’t want you to see me like this.”

“nothing can change what i think about you,” chuuya said seriously, turning your chin to look at him. with a deft hand, he removed his gloves and slipped them over yours. “all i know is, nobody is born with hands that are meant to kill.” 

you looked down at your now-gloved hands and then up at your lover. he smiled and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“i’ll be heading out now. do what you do best, okay y/n?”

you returned his smile and nodded with renewed determination. “alright.” 

...

you’ve always known about chuuya’s powerful ability and prowess in martial arts, but it was only after you got together with him that you learned about your boyfriend being the arahabaki. at first, you thought it was pretty cool, until you saw the pained expression on chuuya’s face as he talked about how he never really knew why he ended up connected to the arahabaki in the first place. because of his memory loss at a young age and with his terribly powerful special ability, chuuya often felt that he was inhuman.

‘maybe... that’s why he chose to help me,’ you thought, as you watched the vulnerable expression on his face that he only showed around you. 

that said, you’ve only heard about the sheer destructive ability of Corruption but because chuuya only used it in the most dire of times, you’ve never really see it for yourself. that is, until now.

you could tell that chuuya was no longer himself with the markings that covered what was visible on his skin and a grin that stretched across his face. he only activated Corruption when he knew dazai was there to stop him but it just so happened that right now, he was out of reach: floating in the sky while hurling gravity bullets around him.

“y/n,” dazai called out to you. he was heavily injured but somehow still standing. “you’ll get hurt if you stay here!”

“i need to help him!” 

with a loud explosion, chuuya dropped back down to the ground, causing the earth to cave in a circle around him. he turned with his sights set on you.

“chuuya,” you backed away slowly, terrified by his empty gaze. “it’s me, y/n! you can snap out of this!” you pleaded.

“y/n!” you heard dazai yell again. he was running towards chuuya from the other side of the forest clearing. “get out of here, he--”

you couldn’t hear the rest of what he said because with a wave of his arm, chuuya sent you flying backwards until you hit a tree before crumpling down to the ground. you felt your eyes fall shut just as dazai sprinted the last few meters to touch the back of chuuya’s hand.

with his ability nullified, chuuya fell to his knees. his body was wracked with pain from having used Corruption longer than he knew he should have. he felt dazai fall to the ground behind him and turned to find that he had promptly passed out, most likely because of the blood loss from his injuries. ‘so that’s why he couldn’t stop me quicker,’ chuuya thought. it was only after he scanned the ruined area around him that he found your crumpled form lying under a tree.

it couldn’t be.

“y/n!” he cried, hauling himself to his feet despite the roaring pain in his body. he hobbled over as quickly as he could over to you before lifting you in his arms. “y/n?” chuuya called your name again. with a groan, you stirred back into consciousness.

“you’re... back,” you smiled up at him. 

“fuck, i’m so sorry. i did this to you, didn’t i?” chuuya shook his head, feeling his hands tremble as he saw your injuries. “i’m so sorry.”

“you weren’t yourself.”

“i could have stopped myself, somehow!” he exclaimed. “i shouldn’t have let you come along on this mission. i shouldn’t have used Corruption.”

“chuuya--”

“i don’t want you to see me like this,” he hung his head. despite all his strength and connection to the arahabaki, chuuya was still human. and you didn’t care if you had to spend every day reminding him of that. 

“you’re human, chuuya,” you said softly, lifting your hand to his face and turning it to look at you. no one else would be able to see the sheer emotional vulnerability on chuuya’s face as you said those words. only you could make him feel this way. “i wouldn’t be what i am now if it weren’t for you.”

“are you really sure you want this... that you want... me?” chuuya asked. you smiled, sitting up to brush your lips against his.

“i’m sure.” 

━━━━━━━━✿ ━━━━━━━━

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[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

So I rewatched Raya.

And I was really trying to watch it without a skeptical lens. I wanted to be able to act like the oblivious kids in that theater and just enjoy the movie. But I just couldn't. I've mentioned it before it's a gorgeous movie but there are so many things wrong with it that just bug me. And I’ve mentioned before the changes that could be made to fix it and the main one being just completely scrapping the movie and starting from scratch with a tv show. And because I’m on spring break and I have nothing to do (also I’m a perfectionist and I tend to hyper-fixate on things that I know have easy solutions) I broke down how I would make it better in two different categories. The first one being kind of baseline stuff like animation and character designs and other stuff I had small problems with and the second being plot.

Section One:

Okay so I know we all hate Sisu’s design. As someone who grew up with Naga carvings and paintings all around my house seeing this Elsa fursona was like a slap to the face. Like I know I really shouldn’t expect more from Disney but I did. I mentioned in this post that I would have loved to see a longer series even if it meant the animation quality went down. And I feel like Neeith_ on TikTok did a great job of drawing what Sisu could have looked like which only disappointed me more. Caldatelier on Twitter also pointed out the many flaws with Raya’s outfit design which fully proved to me that Disney did little to no research and chose style points over historical accuracy. I also felt like the designs of the main characters were very unremarkable and before you’re like “that the whole point it’s supposed to be normal people saving the world” I don't mean that I mean it feels like they took previous designs and just made them Asian. Like my sister and I were talking about it and she said the baby just reminded her of the boss baby and Tong reminded her of one of the twins from rapunzel with a little more depth. This is also kind of a small thing but it kind of bugged me that they were all the same skin tone if not lighter. SEA is incredibly diverse and if they weren’t going to represent all of the cultures in full then they could at least shown their features. I feel like the food should have been more important. I know I mentioned it in my last post but food is an incredibly important part of our culture. It’s not a placeholder or a set-piece to make a scene look more aesthetically pleasing. It’s a way for us to bond and show each other we care it’s a way we show genuine love and appreciation. And when you have a main character who is emotionally stunted it felt like food was a perfect way for her to show her love and they blew it. Like can you imagine Raya and her dad getting into huge fights and then bringing each other food as an apology sitting in front of that window not needing to say a word because they simply get each other? Can you imagine Raya visiting Namaari and stocking up on foods that she knows Namaari loves but also hasn’t been able to eat for a while? We could have had genuinely heartwarming scenes centered around food but instead, we got set pieces and props. And one more thing that stuck with me was the voice acting this movie should have been a change for SEA voice actors to really put their names out there and be a part of a really big Disney project but as always out voiced were overshadowed by someone lighter.

Section Two:

(I’m going to warn you this is gonna be really long because I’m essentially rewriting the entire plot because as I said before I’m a perfectionist)

I feel like the first ep should be dedicated to the backstory and the lore

How were the Druuns made how where they defeated

I feel like it would have been interesting to see them fighting over the gem

But I think it would have been really interesting to see from the get-go how Sisu wasn’t the one who made the gem

So instead of having this big reveal alongside Raya, we would know that her hope of finding this all powerful Naga is hopeless because the story was a lie

Another thing I think another person who should have had more screentime was Raya’s dad

I think it would have been interesting to know his backstory and get some questions answered like “why does he have so much faith in the other rulers to help him on his journey to make Kumandra a thing?” “When did he become the protector of the gem?” “And how many attempts of stealing the gem has he thwarted”

Also as much as I love him I feel like his personality incredibly unrealistic because all SEA men I’ve met have been really emotionally stunted

Idk it’s just a small thing that made me go “eh he talks to his daughter. What kind of magic world is this?”

I would have liked to see Raya’s various attempts at becoming a protector of the gem

I think it would have been a really good way to show how resilient she is from a very young age

And when she finally succeeds the audience could have celebrated with her like a small “yes she finally got it and all her hard work finally paid off” moment

I feel like we should have gotten more Raya and Namaari moments right from the start

Like how they meet is basically the same but Raya doesn’t trust her with the gem’s location an hour after meeting her

It's a trust that both of them fought for in their own way

Like you get to see them bond over their mutual understanding of “well the worlds fucked”

So when Namaari finally stabs Raya in the back when she betrays her for the first time it hurts when she says the throwaway line about them being friends in another world in burns Raya

Because she thought they were friends and she genuinely trusted Namaari

Which would have really justified her distrust in the world

And again I feel like we should have seen that 6 year period of Raya trying to find Sisu

We would get to experience the frustration of building up the hope of finally finding her just to have it knocked down when she’s not there

It could also do two more things

Raya making genuine connections with people

And Raya and Namaari’s strange alliance forming

Now for the first one, I feel like it would have been really cool for Raya to be introduced to the different lands

And yeah sure I feel like it would make her feel like kind of a tourist but I feel like it would be really interesting to see her go through culture shock

Because she really thought she knew these places but boom they’re completely different from what she was told

And while she’s making her way around she learns about the different lands and the people inhabiting them and also their culture

We could have seen Raya make genuine connections outside of the main cast

And if you’re feeling a little masochistic we could see her lose those people because of the druune or simply because they died

But the main point is we would be able to see her become less and less selfish

Now back to Raya and Namaari’s alliance/romance later on

I mentioned in my other post that when Raya trusted Namaari to put the gem back together it felt very flat very fake

So I feel like it would be cool for the series to be split into two parts the first part being from Raya’s perspective and the second part being Namaari’s

I also feel like Namaari would have to be a constant in Raya’s journey

And what I mean by that is like she’s there every other episode either trying to stop Raya or she’s trying to save her from life or death situations

And later on down the line, we find out the main reason why she kept helping Raya (in her own way) was that she didn’t want to see her get seriously hurt

But anyway that’s mostly backstory and now we’re in the present tense

And like I said before we know that Sisu wasn’t the one who made the gem so we know that Raya’s quest is pointless

But because we’ve seen her various attempts at becoming the protector of the gem and the six years of looking for Sisu we know she’s too stubborn to give up just yet

So she and Sisu head out to find the other gem pieces

Now with context, her and Namaari’s standoff has more tension because for the first time in years Namaari doesn’t know the motives behind Raya’s actions

I don’t really have many ideas for Sisu other than she starts to trust people less and less

Like she’s still really innocent for the most part but there’s a small part of her a really small part that’s kind of lost faith in humanity

And after this, we meet Boun

I feel like we should have known more about Boun considering the fact he’s the first side characters we met

But it’s very clear they gave no thought to his character I’m sure they just wrote down “funny kid who lost his family”

This is such a shame because he could have been so much more than just “Raya’s funny younger brother”

Like he could have been this selfless kid who hands out food to the orphans around and offering his ship to homeless people during the night

Next with the baby and the monkeys, there’s really not much you can do with them unless you seriously age them up

Like at the very least have Noi be a grade-schooler who can express more emotions than mad and hungry

Like she can still be the baby of the group while taking care of herself and expressing her emotions a great example of this is Polly from amphibia (which is a great show with a SEA main character you should check it out)

With Tong, I have two words: Survivors Guilt which is something Raya would be able to relate to in fact they all would

I feel like Tong’s entire character arc would be him realizing that he can’t save everyone

Which yeah sure would seem pretty contradictory with the ending being them literally saving everybody but I have a fix for that too

And finally, we get to Namaari who is selfless to a fault

Giving me very much typical Disney princess she gives up food to kids who seem particularly hungry

She’s usually the one who tells the stories to the kids but her mom was taking over that day

She helps her people in any way she can and honestly, she’s wearing herself a little thin

Because while she’s doing all that she’s also saving Raya & co from their own mistakes

Giving me very much burning the candle at both ends

So you see all these characters bonding over the course of at least a year

Making and losing more allies along the way

And because Namaari has been helping them they trust her… for the most part

But there have been times when she trips them up and makes their end goal all the more difficult

And because they haven’t known her as long as Raya has each character has at least one moment when they look up at the sky and scream in frustration “What is this binturi’s deal!”

But anyway they finally get to fang and Raya is more open to the idea of just talking to Namaari because she trusts her not because Sisu told her to but because she’s seen Namaari do good

And Namaari is even more reluctant to take the gem pieces by force because she has a decent relationship with Raya like yeah sure they’re not best friends but they’re in a good place

And shocker shocker she’s maybe just maybe head over heels in love with the princess of heart

But her mother gives her an ultimatum and that is “either you take it from her or I will”

Because here’s the thing, Queen Virana isn't a moron the exact opposite in fact and she knows her daughter has been going easy on Raya these past six years

She also knows that she could squash Raya under her shoe if she damn well pleased and Namaari knows this too

So when Namaari gets her necklace back she doesn’t even hesitate to take her crossbow when she leaves

The meet up goes basically the same except its more Raya talking Namaari down than Sisu

And while they’re having their little heart to heart Sisu notices Namaari’s finger twitch and she goes to jump in front of Raya

And Namaari was shaken by the sudden movement and fires and kills Sisu

I feel like this would make Raya furious for two reasons one she killed her best friend and two she deep down trusted Namaari to do the right thing

So when the fight goes down instead of the whole “I don't care if you trust me because Sisu did” it would be “I trusted you and you murdered her”

And when the dust settles Raya realizes that this battle doesn’t matter because fighting Namaari isn’t going to bring Sisu and she’s also sick and tired of hurting the people she loves

And she decides to help people instead not because Sisu would want her to but because its the right thing to do

Which is cliche sure but its better than the scene they gave us which really wasn’t faithful to her character arc of not caring for people who aren't close to her

And I feel like Namaari joining her makes more sense with my context if anything else

And here’s how I would fix this scene even with them fighting the Druune off to the best of their abilities there are still falling buildings and the gem can’t really save people from that

So they lose some people not because of the Druune but because death happens even when the heroes are fighting their hardest

And because I feel like this would just affirm Tong’s character arc because there are people dying under these buildings he knows it’ll take too long to save them and its not time they have

So he leaves them behind prioritizing the people he knows he can save

Anyway, after a long battle scene, they finally end up underground

And it goes basically the same except it doesn’t take Raya as long to convince them

And instead of Raya’s reasoning of “Sisu told us to” it's more “all this fighting isn't going to bring Sisu back” and “I know she’s done something terrible and you can be mad at her after this but for now trust her”

So when they all make their sacrifices it’s less “I’m doing this for Raya” and more “I’m doing this because deep down I know you’ll do the right thing”

And Namaari does do the right thing obviously

Sisu comes back and it's all “yay we saved the world!” but it doesn’t really end there

Because I hate the “lifetime” ending of “even though we all went through incredibly traumatic events we’re all fine months later” no they’re running around for months and years fixing their mess

And while this is happening Raya and Namaari is mending their relationship they’ve apologized for all the terrible things they’ve done to each other

And when they’re fixing their world they’re helping each other become the best versions of themselves

That’s when they really fall in love

Like don't get me wrong they loved each other when all the bad shit was going down but there was too much bad blood them to really process it and talk it out

But that’s exactly what they do when it’s all over they talk it out for hours

In fact, they both said its the most they’ve heard the other speak

They both agree they’re in the best place to start a relationship and so they do

[albino-whumpee]

Fix me

Anonymous asked:

28. for Albus

Sorry for taking this long for this one!! Hope you like it

Taglist: @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @giggly-evil-puppy @cowboysrappin @haro-whumps @burtlederp @neuro-whump @comfortforthepain @whumps-the-word @whole-and-apart-and-between @broken-horn @ashintheairlikesnow @rosesareviolentlyread @crowned-avery @starnight-whump @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @as-a-matter-of-whump  @whumpasaurus101 @grizzlie70 @boxboysandotherwhump

CW// Institutionalized whump, pet whump, box boy universe blanket warning, heavy dehumanization, human trafficking, slavery, manipulation, brain washing, whumper as caretaker, PTSD, dissoci@tion, fucky mind space of abuse survivor and implied torture.

Harry Coleman didn´t particularly hated his job. It payed well despite the crazy long shifts and the strict protocols to go back to his apartment close to the city. He didn´t have many people outside the concrete building to care about, however. So he mostly stayed in the handler rooms the company kept around available inside the facility, mostly used by the Romantic division handlers.

Harry had been working enough years to see all types of trainees. The ones that had come banging and screaming, the ones that were so fearful that they complied and the ones that he rolled his eyes whenever they appeared. The real volunteers. The ones that looked so broken already and obeyed without really needing to be told how.

He hated the blank stares, the commands flawlessly followed. If there wasn´t a single inch of defiance for him to take out, what was the point? It made it too easy, and there was always, always, screaming.

He had been assigned to a handful of volunteers before, and hated every second of it. The ones that didn´t get an owner soon enough would stay on a limbo of the basic training until they were sold and the designation specific training started.

When he saw his new trainee get his number tattooed, red eyes lost in infinity, curling on the floor with a blanket with the lower half of his body bandaged up, he knew he was one of those.

He knew before he began screaming.

The intercommunicator on his shoulder was still buzzing after he was warned the trainee was acting up on his room again. Room… He could laugh about that. The trainee rooms were hardly bigger than a closet, really. They were always kept on the verge of claustrophobia… He brushed the thougt aside like always. Focused on his task.

Harry had been ordered to take him to the Drip again, with the reason that he might be relapsing. Memories not quite yet wiped out of him stopping the progress of his training.

Whatever trauma he´s dragging, his body remembers, even if his brain forgets. So it’s obvious everything in training is gonna trigger him, idiots. If you stopped letting whoever inside my job would be much easier! The thought came from somewhere inside his brain, yet again, putting it aside to be what they were paying him to be: the watcher keeping the product on check until shipping.

He had never had the intention of being anything else.

He stomped his way through the hall of metal doors to the seventeenth, pulled his card to the lector, hearing the wry cries of a kid terrified of another nightmare loud enough for the sound to slip through the supposedly, sound canceling walls.

The albino, with his hair clipped short now, with the shock collar wrapped around his throat, recoiled in the corner with an eerie cry when he saw him enter. His eyes jumped and trembled along his sickly thin body when Harry stepped closer.

“P-Please! Pl-ple- no! Stop, please!” the boy begged him curling tighter into himself, trying to protect himself from the steel point of the man´s boots. Or maybe something else, as he lifted his hands to cover his face as well. “Coronel please! Don´t touch her!”

The man took a deep breath and lowered himself, crouching to be on the same level. “Easy, trainee. Easy. I´m Handler Coleman. I won´t hurt you” Now at least, Harry thought to himself watching his face soaked in tears. Soothing them when necessary was just as part of his job as it was to break them “C´mon, I´m handler Harry, ´900. There´s only the two of us here. Tell me, ´900, where are you now?”

He knew the lost look on this one already. Had seen it plenty of times. Most of the them, it meant the trainee wasn´t present. Not really here. Just reliving something from his past that overlapped with the training, mixed up with whatever he had been dreaming about.

The boy´s breathing was labored and harsh. Wide, terrified eyes looked back at him weighting his words -processing them, maybe- and after a moment of hesitation he replied with a shaky voice “T-Trainee room, s-se-seventeen”

“That´s right” Harry said making a vague gesture with his hand “Do you see anybody else here with us?” the boy looked around, surprise and fear equally scattered on his face before shaking his head. “Words trainee”.

“No, sir. Only us” the boy rushed to answer. Harry took a step forward and the boy flinched away. “P-Please…”

“Relax boy, nothing has to hurt if you let me help you” the man saw him gulp as he took another step. Watched the boy shake violently trying to prevent himself from flinching away from his gloved hand. Harry retreated it to his lap, watched him for one more second.

Thin and small and battered, was what the albino trainee was. The bandages on his thighs peaked slightly from underneath his shorts, changed every day to check up the scarring. If he wasn´t bought to be a romantic then it would be no problem, he had been told.

The handler looked back up to meet the boy´s wide terrified eyes settled on him. Chest rising up and down too quickly.

“Give me your hands” the man ordered and the boy put his over the gloved hands that were never warm. He held them tight and put his best unthreatening voice “Breath boy, you´ve not earnt a punishment” he half lied watching the boy take big, desperate gasping breaths through the snot and tears. “There you go, easy. Go with me” he began to breath, and soon enough, the other joined him and relaxed, almost slouching over him from the tiredness.

“Thank you” the boy said to him in a hoarse voice. He checked below the shock collar and saw the bruise on his neck had already faded to a smear of yellow. The albino squeezed his hands before the man yanked them back. The boy quickly pulled his hands to his chest defensively. Knowing the baton on the man´s hip could swat them over if he decided he had done wrong at any moment.

“900, you know you shouldn´t scream”

“I´m sorry” the boy jumped to reply, panic taking over for a moment “I didn´t mean- I´m sorry. I know…But I-” Harry saw the trainee cast his eyes down, Looking through the bangs that fell over his face “I think I saw someone I remembered in…” he opened his mouth but never finished the thought.

“Trainees often have false memories, 900. You should know that” The man said, watching the boy hunch, sink on his narrow shoulders.

“B-but I have a feeling this one is real, Handler” he said barely above a whisper.

“How could you know?” Coleman said coldly, watching him press his lips into a tight line “Those memories don´t serve any purpose now, either. You don´t have a name any longer, 778900. Those memories don´t belong to you anymore”

“I-I know but-”

“If you know, then why are you arguing with me about it, 778900? You´re lying”

“I´m not lying!”

Coleman arched an eyebrow, “You´re talking back at me now?”

“N-No, I´m sorry, sir. I just-”

“Don´t bother apologizing” the man terminated, the boy´s jaw shut close in surrender. No fun at all, the man thought to himself. He still had to take him to the Drip as well… “There´s no need to worry, boy. Look what remembering does to you. Do you really need them?” He asked him, seeing him tense up and open his mouth. “The memories, they are terrifying aren´t they?” he interrupted him.

“Yes, sir…”

“Why would you want them, then?”

The boy stayed quiet and started rounding his thumbs before he settled his hand over them, before putting the other gloved on his cheek as he looked again with glassy eyes.

“Are you afraid of losing those memories, trainee? You came to have a better life. You chose this path for yourself. You wanted this when you signed to never again think for yourself. You chose leaving that to someone else and not having to worry about anything else″ he wiped the tears flowing down his cheek, already pink and shiny “What happened before is not important now, 900″ he said tilting his head as the boy let his hands fall to his lap. Still, like he was trained to, “We can fix you. Make it better for you. But you´ve gotta let go, yes?”

“How broken I was that now I only can hope to forget everything. Even the good.” he whispered under his breath and the boy could´ve sounded sharp and impress Coleman, but his voice was barely a murmur of something, or someone, who had that sharpness on them but at some moment, gave it up.

Harry Coleman had done nothing but to help that detachment.

“We just want the best for you” so we get payed just as well, Coleman kept to himself.

The boy looked at him through his pale, wet eyelashes with something close to hope. The naive hope of “better” the company made them aspire to within the cold walls of the facility and the exhaustion, plain to the view on his face. It was in order to make them be so grateful to whoever takes them out, they never think they could deserve something better than a mat on the floor and warm, not tasteless food, every now and then.

In Harry Coleman´s eyes there was never an inch of true mercy, of true empathy towards his trainees when he smiled.

Sooner or later, this trainee would understand that too. But for now, he bowed to him and begged.

“P-Please…” the boy said in an strangled sob “Please fix me”

The handler smiled and took the trainee to the drip. Even if he couldn´t stop shaking under his hand, his face was hopeful. The handler saw that look on him until the very moment he was restrained and the IV from the Drip was connected to the inside of his arm.

When 778900 closed his eyes, Coleman didn´t hear what he muttered. Voice too small to catch as trusted the technicians around him told him to wait outside until it was over.

The boy took a deep breath.

“Please help me forget everything” Were the words heard by no one before the Drip´s drug rushed a fire through his body. 

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Welcome to Backwater ch.14 (spicyhoney)

Summary: Hey, Stretch might hate to see Edge leaving, but he sure does love to watch him walk away.

~~*~~

Read ‘All In The Jeans’ on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Stretch let Edge lead him outside, towards the winding front walkway. But instead of heading down the stone path to where Stretch’s bike was sitting there like a steampunk nightmare invading their gingerbread fairytale, he drew Stretch down to sit on the front steps of the porch. The bricks were soothingly cool beneath him in the waning heat of the day and Edge sat next to him, his knee bumping lightly against Stretch’s.

“You don’t have to rush off just yet,” Edge told him quietly. “There’s still some time before sunset.” He still had a hold on Stretch’s hand and a bony thumb rubbed gently across the backs of his knuckles. “But you looked like you needed some air.”

“yeah,” Stretch agreed, numbly. He stared down at yard in front of him, the riotously colorful flowerbeds amidst rocky outcroppings that led their way up the little hill to the house. It was a little cooler here in the woods out of the stark sun overhead in town, closer to another season than summer or so it felt to him. It was all so inviting, welcoming, and his first thought upon seeing it that this was a trap of some sort seemed a little insulting now that he’d been fed and released. He’d eaten Red’s food, hell, moved right into his home without a qualm, and a well-kept cabin in the woods was where he drew the line?

But then, it wasn’t the house where the real problems lay, was it, it was the people living in it.

Monsters and a Human from another multiverse, again, and not just any Monsters, but another set of mirror images here in the Aboveground. He’d been worried about a Stephen King effect around this place and it turned out he should’ve been more concerned with Isaac Asimov, ‘cause the shift from gothic horror to sci-fi was not one he’d been braced for, with a ‘little invasion of the body snatchers’ vibe tossed in for extra flavor.

Only, that wasn’t fair, was it. Doppelgängers, Edge had mentioned earlier almost like it was a joke, but it was true, just like Sans and Papyrus were and he’d adjusted to them okay. It hadn’t been easy hanging out with someone who wore his brother’s face, but he’d adjusted. And despite the somewhat otherworldly location, these guys had been nothing but kind to Stretch, kinder than the Humans who’d greeted them when they’d popped out from the mountain, for sure.

Hell, Red took him in like a mama dog adopting a stray kitten. The glossy veneer of Stretch’s knowledge-dump panic was cracking and with it his weird sense of numbness, the void it left behind filling with dawning horror.

They were the only three who got out, Frisk said, they’d lost everything and everyone, and fled all the way here, and Stretch was the one about to have a panic attack about it. Exactly what kind of asshole was he trying to be here?

When Sans and Papyrus showed up under similar circumstances, he and Blue opened their lives and homes to them, all tea and sympathy. Well, mostly the tea was from Blue, but still. He was out here in Backwater crying in his soup over a breakup and he couldn’t even dredge up some compassion for versions 2.0?

“i’m sorry,” Stretch blurted thoughtlessly. He turned his hand in Edge’s, shifting to grip his slender fingers tightly. Bare bones against bare bones, weirdly intimate for all that they were only holding hands. He didn’t think he’d ever touched another skeleton like this except his own brother, back when he was little and Stretch was still trying to keep him from running off after every other damn shiny thing he ever saw.

Holding Edge’s hand was a lot different than trying to hang on to his squirmy wormy little brother. Edge only held on just as tight, his brow bone furrowing. “You don’t need to apologize, it’s a lot to take in. You’re honestly taking this all much better than I expected. Theorizing about a multiverse is a great deal different than being confronted with living specimens.”

“no, not that. i get that. i mean—i’m sorry.” Stretch waved his free hand around them vaguely, trying to indicate the entire world with one helpless gesture, “for everything. it must’ve been rough.”

Yeah, nice to see that Stretch’s gift for understatement hadn’t been affected by his personal traumas. Rough was a really great way of describing being the only survivors of their entire world. Next, he’d describe water as slightly damp, maybe fire could be ‘a little burny’.

Edge’s expression cleared, a certain tightness forming around his sockets. “Ah.” He looked away, eye lights rising to the sky where scattered pools of blue showed through the leafy branches. His eye lights were the orangey-red glow of a banked campfire, the crack running through his left socket lent him a sort of strangely thoughtful look. “It’s all right, it was a long time ago for us.”

“about ten years, right?” Stretch winced inwardly, yeah, sure, keep on talking about his painful past, that was a great payback for a yummy dinner. “i mean, that’s what i got from the book you gave me.”

“Yes,” Edge agreed. He didn’t seem to mind talking about it, maybe time really did pad on the emotional distance; Stretch’d have to check back on his own history in a couple years, give his memories a poke and see what bruises came back. “A third of my lifetime.”

Huh. If the math was right, that actually put Edge as a little older than him, who would’ve thunk it, the little brother mythos tipped on its axis, just for him.

Edge slanted a considering glance his way. “We knew other Monsters came to the surface. I kept tabs on the news from the world outside Backwater, just in case—” he hesitated and whatever awful scenario he was thinking about got lost in a shrug. “Well. Just in case. We saw you and your brother on the news with the other Human, and realized you were from a different Underground. They referred to you as Papyrus and Sans then and before you ask, we’d already changed our names before you came to the surface. When we came to this town, actually, and if you ask me why, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Sometimes in Backwater, certain things simply make sense. One day, everyone started calling me Edge and that’s who I’ve been since.”

He stretched his long legs out in front of him, his slim, bare feet next to Stretch’s grubby sneakers. Edge’d changed out of his grimy gardening clothes before dinner into a fresh t-shirt, still only plain black but the way it clung to his ribcage and along the line of his broad shoulders was worth a second look. His jeans, too, and Stretch was hyper aware of his own baggie shorts and t-shirt that declared he was the taco king of Minnesota, of the differences between them.

“so you already knew about me,” Stretch said, “i mean, before i got here.” There was an unfair advantage if he’d ever heard one.

“In the abstract, yes,” Edge shrugged. “It didn’t seem very important until you showed up in my brother’s living room and tried to hit me with a lamp.”

Fair. Stretch looked back at their feet, at the visibly healed cracks in Edge’s metatarsals, nothing at all like his own undamaged bones. He understood the multiverse theory, wasn’t exactly that complicated. In theory, he and Edge were different version of the same person, each another facet to a complex jewel; that was the theory, anyway. After hanging out with Sans and Papyrus, Stretch had a few theories of his own and the most important one was one he wanted to be sure Edge understood.

“you aren’t really me, you know that, right? not me me.” It seemed important to him that Edge knew that or maybe Stretch had it backwards, maybe it should be that he wasn’t Edge, since Edge was here first by several years. He sort of had dibs, didn’t he.

For some reason, that statement made one corner of Edge’s mouth curled up in a smirk. “That seems rather obvious,” Edge said dryly. “For one, as fascinating as you seem to find my jeans, you wouldn’t fit in them very well.”

“no!” Stretch sputtered, holy shit, abort, abort, do not look at his hips right now, do not do it, “i mean in the context of the multiverse! like how chara and frisk are alike, right? they look alike, but believe you me, chara ain’t like frisk. you and me, we might’ve had the same names once, but we aren’t the same, not really.”

“Chara and Frisk have some ten years of distance between their ages that might account for that,” Edge pointed out, “but I’m no scientist, not even on the weekends. It isn’t me you should be discussing this with.”

Then who…? “i’ve got some data to back it up, i’ve met someone else from another multiverse, you know. two someones, other versions of…well…us.”

Well, now, looked like it was Edge’s turn for a shock, how about that, nice to see it on someone else’s face for a change. “You have?”

“yeah. another set of Sans-and-Papyrus skeleton brothers ended up with us before we ever got the surface. they wanted to stay out of the news and the queen let ‘em.” Stretch shrugged, “i don’t know all their story, they don’t like to talk about it. but it’s been a couple years since they showed up and we definitely aren’t very similar past being skeletons and having brothers.” For one, Blue might not cook as well as Edge, but at least his spaghetti never landed anyone in the hospital with acute food poisoning like some other skeletons who would not be named coughpapyruscough.

But Edge didn’t seem interested in another set of skeleton brothers to add to the collection, not even in the interest of making a full six-pack. He’d shifted to his knees and faced Stretch, his sockets wide, “There’s another Human that fell, then? Into their Underground?” Edge asked, urgently.

“probably, but not that came with them,” Stretch shook his head, “i. uh. i get the feeling their story is a little like yours, only more so and a lot more recent.”

That urgency faded. “Ah.” Edge settled back to sit on the step again. “I see.”

Stretch didn’t ask why Edge was so interested in there being another Human kid, that was a surefire way to wander off the path, but he made a mental note about it. “what i’m getting at is, you knew who i was when you first saw me. what i was.”

“I’m hardly going to mistake the framework of my own face.”

Yeah, see, that was another mark in the column of the differences between the ‘verses not simply being nature vs nurture, but them being different people entirely despite the whole names-and-also-skeleton thing, ‘cause Stretch had been looking at his own face in the mirror for a long damn time and he didn’t look like Edge, fuck no, he’d be the first person to know if he was that gorgeous.

Probably better not to bring that up. “and you guys have been here on the surface for ten years now, taking care of the town, and you never tried to contact anyone?”

Edge only shrugged. “What was the point? It isn’t as if we actually knew any of you. I expected that more Monsters would find us eventually and you did.”

“yeah, by accident.”

Edge slanted him another look, coolly raising a browbone, “You’ve been in Backwater a little while now. Do you truly believe you’re here completely by accident?”

Yeah, okay, that was a pretty good point. “but if you were expecting other monsters to show up eventually, then why didn’t you want me to stay?”

“Maybe because my brother was very quick to adopt a person who is wearing something like my face?” That stung and Stretch looked away, his fingers going helplessly stiff in their shared grip. “Or maybe because the longer you stay, the less likely you’ll be able to leave,” Edge sighed. “That’s how Backwater is.”

“wait.” Hold on, back that up. “you can’t leave?”

“I didn’t say that.” Yeah, and that was a backpedal if Stretch ever heard one. “Frisk has willingly tied their life to this town, and I’m sworn to protect them. I can hardly do that from another city.”

“but nothing is physically stopping you from leaving.” Because if the corn was gonna sprout little legs and come after him if he drank the water here too long, that would be important information to have.

“Where would I go?” Edge countered. “Back to Ebott? Unlike my brother and I, you have ties there. We do not and I’ve very little interest in revisiting the mountain ten years away from it. I have everything I’ve ever needed right here and as for wants, I’ve long since accepted the truth.”

There was a certain bitterness there and Stretch should let it go, he’d already poked that wound enough. He should, but he still ended up asking, softly, “what truth?”

“That sometimes people don’t get what’s coming to them.” The words were so loaded that Stretch winced and hunched down, almost expecting to hear a gunshot. Instead, Edge sighed, let his anger go on an exhaled breath and he sounded calmer as he asked, “Now you’ve heard my secrets. What about you?”

“me?” Stretch snorted. He kept his gaze on the flowerbeds, tracing the flat round stones of the path, and did not meet Edge’s crimson gaze. “heh, you guys are determined to ferret something out, aren’t you. i keep telling you, i don’t have any secrets. my boyfriend dumped me, and it brought me down, couldn’t get past it, so i left town. ended up here…i should be writing this down, it’s like the start of a country song. shame i don’t have a truck.”

“You’d look terrible in a cowboy hat. And your soul?” Edge asked, gentle but implacable.

“that’s not a secret,” Stretch muttered, “i just don’t want to talk about it.” He’d talked about it plenty back in Ebott, for all the good it did him, and he’d hoped to leave those chats behind when he got on the bus.

“Fair enough,” Edge tugged on his hand suddenly, pulling Stretch to his feet, “Come on.”

He barely gave Stretch a minute to catch his balance before he started to run, heedless of his bare feet as Stretch stumbling on after him. His brief, absurd surge of fear that they were, ‘oh, fuck, running from something,’ faded as Edge laughed aloud, pulling him past trees and through flowerbeds, around the corner of the house into the backyard again. Off to the side of the garden beneath a large tree was a massive pile of fallen leaves in a messy sprawl of browns and golds, and Stretch only realized what Edge intended when it was too late to stop him, barely stuttering out a “wait--!” before he leapt and yanked Stretch along with him.

They landed together in a cacophony of brittle crunching and the blinding, whispering surge of leaves launching into the air. Stretch sputtered and flailed, wallowing in the pile that was somehow soft and weirdly crisp at the same time, billowing around him as he floundered.

Somehow, he managed to find out which way was upright again and burst out on the surface, swimming through leaves, and through the madness, he could hear Edge laughing, that deep, rich voice sharing out happiness. For the first time in what felt like an endless dry spell, his soul felt like it was full, joy pouring into it, filling up the empty space in his chest.

“you’re crazy,” Stretch laughed, spitting out a leaf, and watched as Edge flopped back in the leaves, arms and legs moving and sending up another wild swirl of crunchy browns and golds.

“Perhaps,” Edge called, raising his voice over the cronch. “But I made you smile.”

“the technique could use work, but i can’t argue with the results.” He looked up and for the first time, Stretch noticed that not all the trees here were loaded with green. His grin slowly faded. “the leaves are falling.”

“Yes,” Edge’s smile eased down, understanding dawning, and he shuffled through the leaves to Stretch, reaching for him, “It’s a late summer heat right now, but yes. The corn is ripe, autumn is coming and soon.”

Autumn was coming, too fast, and there was nothing Stretch could do to stop it, but that didn’t mean he had to let it go. He was a little sick of letting things just happen around him and Backwater was getting him into the habit of doing something about it. “i want to see edgar allen again. you think if i went back to the field, the corn would give me a pass?”

“I think that a visit can be arranged without that being an issue.” Between the two of them, they managed to wade out of the pile onto solid ground, both of them shedding leaves as Edge headed back into the garden. He skirted the wall of sunflowers, leading Stretch deeper into the rows. Right into a small patch of corn, the tips of the leaves already yellowed and curling.

Stretch stopped abruptly, his sneakers sinking into the soft soil as he stared, “is that…?” In the middle of the little field there was a scarecrow hanging from a crossbar. It looked exactly like Edgar Allen, from the greasepaint face down to the plaid shirt, only now, there was a scarf looped around his neck, the very same one Stretch left in offering.

“It is,” Edge agreed softly. “He is every scarecrow. They awaken when needed or summoned.” He gave Stretch a nudge, hard enough for him to stumble forward a step deeper into the field. “Talk to him. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Talk to him. Right. Stretch swallowed hard, trying to shuffle aside his sudden misgivings. His voice creaked like a rusty hinge as he managed a weak, “edgar?

Then he watched, fascinated. He could nearly see the life filling those limp limbs, the burlap sack of his head lifting as he raised it, and he knew the exact moment Edgar caught sight of Stretch in front of him.

“Well, hey pal! Good ta see ya!” That croaky voice was the same as Stretch remembered and he smiled helplessly, watching Edgar unwind an arm from the bar that held him up to touch the bandana around his neck, “Wanted ta thank ya for the new gear!”

“it looks good on you,” Stretch managed. The turkey-red fabric was bright against the faded plaid of his shirt and Stretch wondered how long it would take for the sun to bleach it out. Would there even be time before Edgar…ended? Did his clothes vanish with him or was he left out in the field to rot after his seasonal duty? He didn’t know and found he didn’t want to ask. For fuck’s sake, Stretch barely even knew the guy, if he was a guy, and still his soul heavy with sorrow.

“Corn thought so, too,” Edgar Allen said gleefully. “Nattered on ‘bout it for hours. Kept me awake for an age, I tell ya.” For all that his face never changed from that greasepaint sneer, Stretch could almost feel the sudden surge of sleepiness rising in the air, the way Edgar took hold of his support again, and slumped back down, “Still restin’ up from it. Thanks, again. See ya around, pal, give me a call if ya need me?”

“i will,” Stretch said and as he watched, that animation faded, life seeping away and leaving behind a nothing but straw-filled bundle of clothes.

A gentle hand settled on his shoulder and Stretch turned to look at Edge, trying to swallow down the thickness of absurd grief in his throat. He’d met Edgar Allen for a total of ten minutes, tops, and it still hurt.

“It’s difficult for him to stay awake when he isn’t needed,” Edge told him softly.

“yeah,” Stretch managed, blinking hard, his sockets aching. “he’ll be dying in a few weeks.”

“Yes, for the season,” Edge agreed, “It’s not really a death, but it is something like it.”

“that sucks, big time.” He understood it, sure, the whole ghost of gyftmas present sort of visit. Didn’t make it suck any less.

“He’s earned his rest and his spirit will return. Perhaps in the spring you can came back to Backwater and meet his recreation.” Edge held out a hand and after swiping angrily at his sockets, Stretch took it, folding their fingers together again. “Come on, it’s starting to get dark.”

It was, Stretch saw dismally, the sunlight creeping through the trees faded and soft with oncoming dusk. He’d already been here a helluva lot longer than he’d meant and it might be an interesting trip back to Red’s if he didn’t hurry; he’d be wandering off the path simply because he couldn’t see the damn thing and he really didn’t feel up to testing the monster bear theory, not today.

The two of them hurried their way back around front. He’d left his bike on the side of the driveway and before Stretch could reach it, the hand in his that had been faithfully leading him all afternoon betrayed him. Suddenly, Stretch found himself yanked around, a tree trunk hard beneath his back.

He looked up with wide sockets and all he could see Edge looming in front of him, stark crimson eye lights boring into his own and arms braced against the tree on either side of him. They weren’t touching, not quite, but he was close, so close Stretch could feel the warmth pouring off of him and it was ridiculous that it made him shiver in the waning heat of the day, an uneasy trill tickling its way up his spine. Something that was not fear was swelling inside him, not fear at all.

“What is it about you?” Edge said abruptly. His eye lights were burning, bright coals in his dark, narrowed sockets.

“what do you—” Stretch started, too weak and a little lost.

He broke off on a confused sound as Edge leaned in suddenly, tried to jerk back but there was nowhere to go as Edge murmured close to Stretch’s audial canal, his breath damp, nearly as solid as a physical touch, “If you think I haven’t noticed your attraction to me, you may wish to redefine the word subtle.”

“uhhhh.” Not that it wasn’t true but getting called out on it right now was a little unexpected, hell, he hadn’t even been looking at Edge’s ass this time. Any reasonable answer slipped away from his fumbling reach. “that’s…i mean…”

“It’s not that you’re unappealing, but as you’ve said several times, you’re getting over a breakup.” A gentle thumb slid along his cheekbone in defiance of what Edge was saying, making Stretch suck in a sharp gasp of breath.

‘Not unappealing.’ Wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement but eh, reviews didn’t always match the product.

“yeah,” Stretch said inanely. “yeah, i am.” As if that meant anything, as if he could even think of anything outside this singular moment. Edge was so close to him, the lines of their bodies separated by bare inches as Stretch breathed out a faint, “sorry.”

He didn’t even know what he was apologizing for.

“I’m not. You aren’t alone in this,” Edge exhaled a soft half-laugh. “I’ve felt an attraction to you since the moment you tried to hit me with that damn lamp. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.”

“yeah, uh,” Stretch swallowed hard, trying to add some starch to his voice, but it was so damned hard (fuck, don’t think that, don’t, shuffle that pun right to the end of the queue). Edge was so close, and the bark of the tree was rough through the back of his t-shirt, lighting digging into his ribcage like a goad, urging him to move, to step forward, to complete that circuit. Stretch didn’t move. “i mean, the way the multiverse theory goes, i’m sort of you. or you’re me. something like that.”

A low chuckle filled the air between them and Stretch closed his sockets, holy fuck, that voice rumbled through him like a miniature earthquake, “That isn’t what I meant at all. You don’t want to talk about your past and that’s fine. But that doesn’t mean the effects don’t linger.” The very tip of Edge’s nasal nodule brushed the side of Stretch’s skull as he sniffed delicately, his warm breath gusting.

Slim fingertips came to rest on his sternum over his damage soul and that single light touch affected him more than the entire groping session in the library. “I can smell your pain, such a deep hurt in your soul. I don’t want to make it worse.”

“edge,” Stretch whispered, closed his sockets against the answering whisper of his own name. There was the slightest pressure of a knee against his own and the temptation was there to spread his legs, to give it a place to rest, and he shouldn’t, they shouldn’t, but that warning voice was getting softer, distant, caught by a shepherd’s hook and hauled off the stage. He’d gone through half a dozen shocks since he woke up this morning, added them to the pile he'd gotten since he’d stepped off that bus. What was one more?

“I know all of that. I know it. So why am I so drawn to you?” Edge murmured distractedly, “What is it about you? Why can’t I leave you alone?” He reeled back, shaking his head as if to clear it, then, nearly pleading, “Don’t let me hurt you.”

A warning, a plea tangled together as one, and Stretch lurched after him, arms reaching with purely reckless intent, “you won’t, you aren’t, don’t go—"

The sudden klaxon of a horn made them jerk apart, Edge stumbling back and putting space between them. Stretch looked up see a rusty old pickup truck making its bumpy way down the path, coming to a stop with a wheezy squeal of brakes.

They watched it together, Edge with tight annoyance creasing his face and Stretch with panting confusion, struggling to get his breathing under control. It turned out to be a hell of a lot easier when the window rolled down the window and Red poked his head out, like getting doused with a bucket of ice water as he called with deliberate cheer, “hey, you two.”

“Brother,” Edge said, the greeting coming from between clenched teeth.

“you have a car?” Stretch asked, outraged. Shame was taking a hasty backseat because holy shit, he’d spent all afternoon on that bike when Red already had a set of wheels?

Red only grinned, a slash of a smile with his golden tooth winking in the dwindling light. “nah, i got a truck.”

“you never said!”

“you never asked,” Red countered. “it was gettin’ late and i got worried. didn’t want ya trying to scooter your way home in the dark, ya didn’t add a headlight to that rustbucket. toss the bike in the back and hop in.”

It wasn’t a question and yeah, somehow, he didn’t think Red was gonna buy that he and Edge were only talking, not this time.

Stretch felt a guilty flush heat his cheekbones, meekly obeying. It was for the best, he told himself, holy shit, yes, he should be grateful that Red showed up when he did, no matter what kind of protest his crotch was currently bleating up at him. The last thing he needed right now was any other attachments and not only because he felt like getting into another relationship right around never, (yeah, never worked for him) and rebound sex with the boss’s little brother was supposed to be off the table.

Getting into anything past friendship with Edge was a Bad Idea all the way around, ‘cause when it came down to it, Edgar Allen wasn’t the only person leaving, now was he. Stretch didn’t want to think about it, kept trying to avoid it, but the knowledge still came up in the back of his head, readying itself to bite him in the ass.

Eventually, Stretch was gonna have to find his own way home.

~~*~~

tbc

[mickmarstookmyheart]

Life's a Sick Joke pt 16

Would like to start from the beginning? Here is Part 1!

Pairing: Mick Mars x Reader

A/N: Good morning/night/afternoon, you beautiful creatures! I know this story hasn't been really active recently but here you go the next chapter. There isn't much action in it, although it contains emotions and deep conversations. I hope you will like it. Stay safe, drink water and listen to music louder than hell!

16. Being There For You

After you got Mick from jail, which was pretty hilarious regarding that he never did anything to be in there, not even this time. He was at the wrong place, at the wrong time. He was still angry with you for not helping him immediately, but you let him fume a bit.

You were concentrated on something else. It was finally the day your brother would be out so you intended to get him, too. You seriously were tired of getting everyone out of jail. You were driving the car, staring at the road, your fingers drumming on the wheel along the music; Accept's Balls to the Wall was on and you couldn't help but silently sing along.

"I'm glad you have the energy to sing, but I couldn't sleep last night since someone let me rot in a fucking cell!" Mick snapped and you turned the music down. You took a long breath not to say anything you would regret.

"Mick, you only spent 6 hours there. You could've slept while waiting you know. And don't be angry with me, I wasn't the one who got you there." You arched a brow still not believing he was mad at you instead of Tommy.

"Speaking of, I can't wait to slap drummer. With a chair." He barked looking out the window. "And I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh on you, I'm just grumpier than usual for not sleeping."

"It's okay, I understand." You were smirking at him. He placed his hand on your right hand which you rested on the gear shift. "But you have to wait with your revenge until next Monday. You know we have the whole week off."

"Finally. We can be alone for a bit. Without anyone harassing us." He stated, closing his eyes and leaning back his head. You bit your lip down fearing his reaction to what you were about to say.

"Umm...but I hope it's okay if Dylan will be around for a bit. Or I can go back to our old apartment and let you rest at your house. I would like to spend some time with Dylan before we hit the road again." You turned in the next corner after looking in both directions. It felt like ages until Mick said something.

"Babe, it's totally okay. Your brother needs you. And he won't bother me unless he runs in the hallway screaming and almost naked smashing everything in sight." You chuckled knowing exactly whom he was talking about. Luckily, Dylan has never acted like that. Alright, maybe a few months ago but that wasn't the true him. Sharon exclaimed that he was improving and was on a good path. You had every reason to believe her so you weren't so worried about being with him in one room again. On the other hand, you were thinking of how jail time might break him. He was always so strong, although terrible things happen to people in jail who spend months in.

"I'm sure he won't cause any harm. So you truly don't have any excuse to have him in your house for the week?" You asked him cautiously for reassurance. To be honest, you were the scared one. You were scared as hell since you have never been to his home. You got together during the camping you brought them on and since then you weren't home or nearby even. The tour and then the hospital, the travel to your sister.

"(Y/N), there are a few guest rooms so he can crash at my place if he wants to. Or if you think environment change is the last thing he needs right now, we can bring back him to your shared apartment." He said warming your heart how kind he was with you, with your family. How much he cared for your well-being. Your eyes welled up and you got rid of the tears by wiping them away with the top of your hand. "(Y/N), what is it?" He stiffened thinking through what he has just said. "Did I say something?"

"Yes. But nothing bad, don't worry." He relaxed a bit but still couldn't understand why you were crying. "It's just, in my whole life I only got hatred, stating with our parents. I always I was just giving and giving until nothing remained for me. I started to drain out from goodness but kept going as Isabelle and Dylan needed me. It's not that I don't love them or they don't deserve it. I didn't have anyone I could rely on, or just have a nice decent talk about what is bothering me. And after meeting you, I thought I hit jackpot. And still, you keep amazing me with your kindness, selflessness, and your big heart." You exhaled when you finished your monologue making Mick speechless again. In the meantime, you parked the car in the prison's parking lot and stopped the car. Your hands rested in your lap playing with the key. Mick got out of the car and closed the door after himself before leaning on the car with his back. You were truly afraid. You hesitated at first but then got out of the car and walked next to him, leaning on the car. You didn't say a word. About Mick, he was fighting back tears, his chest rose and fell rapidly and you couldn't help but notice his jaws were tightened.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being there for you." He begun, finally breaking the silence. Although, what he said made your brows knitted.

"Mick, we hadn't met, you wouldn't have been able to do much about it." You leaned your head on his shoulder making him calm.

"I know, but it's so unfair. You deserve the world, (Y/N). And if someone dares to tell me otherwise I will beat the shit out of them. And may your parents rot in hell, what they did to you is unforgivable. And I'm admiring you, (Y/N), for being able to smile and keep making everyone happy after all those horrible things happened to you. You are a survivor and I have fallen in love with you madly, deeply, and undeniably." You looked up at him, feeling lost in his blue eyes. You cracked a smile and hugged him tightly, filling your lungs with his scent. He pressed a soft kiss on your forehead, his arms resting on your waist pulling you closer.

"I love you, too, Mick. With every cell of my body." You whispered. You didn't know how quickly you found each other. You completed each other, you were partners, not just lovers. You were soulmates. A loud screeching noise broke the moment making both of you look towards the source of the sound. It was the huge rusty gates opening. Your heart was hammering and you were grabbing Mick's hand strongly.

"Hey, easy, Tiger." He whispered in your ear making you loosen your grip. At first, you only saw guards but then you noticed your brother in the distance. You were grinning and couldn't believe he was finally free after months. When the guards went back inside and the gates were closed Dylan looked in your way and dropped his bag on the ground. You let go of Mick and started running towards him. When you two met you jumped on him almost making him fell.

"Hey, (Y/N)." He greeted and spun you around as you were still hanging on him like a monkey.

"Hey." You could only say this. You were so happy to have him in your arms again. The real Dylan. Not the one who hurt you or left you alone. This was the Dylan you knew in your whole life. The caring, the funny, the goofy.

"I would love to carry you like this all the way home but it's either that you eat too much recently or I am out of shape." You chuckled letting him go. You were on your feet again when Mick approached you and you saw Dylan bow his head from embarrassment and guilt.

"Hello, Dylan." He said casually. No emotions, just words.

"Hi, Mick." He muttered still not looking in his eyes. He balled his fists then loosened them again by his side. He was still battling. It broke your heart seeing him like this. "I would like to apologize. For all the things I have said and done. For acting crazy and almost hitting you in the face. I wasn't myself. And I would like to thank you for taking care of (Y/N) when I couldn't. It means a lot to me." He offered his hand to Mick as an apology. Mick glanced at you and after you nodded he shook Dylan's hand.

"Apology accepted." He gave a half-smile and winked. He knew it wasn't Dylan's fault, well, mostly. He inherited anger issues from your parents, but he should've asked for help. "So, are you hungry?"

"Hell yes. The food was horrible in there." He complained, dropping his bag on his shoulder lazily. "Sadly, they didn't serve (Y/N)'s famous spaghetti Bolognese. You could say, I'm craving that."

"I didn't know a chef lives inside you." Mick laughed arching a brow.

"I haven't had the chance to show it." You crossed your arms in front of your chest like a shield.

"Then it's high time. So, Dylan, it's your decision. Where would you like to go?" Mick asked. Dylan's eyes googled from the shock but then went back to normal.

"I'm sure your kitchen is much bigger than ours. Right, (Y/N)?" You burst into laughter from that statement because you knew damn well how small that kitchen was and barely one person could fit there, not even three.

"Then, it's settled then."

∆

"Woah, you didn't mention you live in a fucking castle." You admired the beautiful house which was settled in a forest far away from any human. It was definitely something Mick appreciated.

"It's not much. But come inside." You got your bags from the back where Dylan stood.

"Are you nervous?" He asked noticing you were biting your lip and struggling to breathe properly. And the son of a bitch was smirking. Righ in your face.

"Fuck you, Dylan." He just laughed and took the bag from your hand. Mick has already opened the door and was waiting for you.

"My lady." He gestured with his hands, letting you go first. When you stepped into the house your eyebrows were nearly invisible. When you thought about Mick and his personality you were sure he lived in a dark castle, like vampires or just a dirty apartment. You expected everything but not this. The living room was bigger than your apartment, it was light and neat. There were two huge black leather sofas in front of the fireplace with a glass table between them. The walls were white and pure.

"Like it?" Mick asked smirking and wandering his eyes in the room.

"It's freaking beautiful." You stated.

"Bloody hell, this is awesome." Dylan had almost the same reaction as you.

"This way." Mick said, you and Dylan followed him. "So this is the kitchen, I know it's not much but I hope it is big enough. And the bedrooms are upstairs.

"(Y/N), don't droll. So nasty." Dylan joked earning a scoff from you. You had to admit, this was the most fascinating kitchen you have ever seen. You quickly wiped your mouth but there was nothing.

"You are nasty!" You elbowed him in the stomach when Mick didn't pay attention earning a groan from Dylan.

"You haven't changed a bit." He murmured, trying to keep up with you.

"So, Dylan, your room will be at the end on the right. You will find towels in the wardrobe, too." He noted.

"Thanks, man. I think I will go, I don't want to bother." He winked and headed to the room but before he entered he winked and gave you a thumb up.

"Sometimes, I feel the urge just to choke him. Just a little bit." You said. Mick chuckled and took your hand into his. Butterflies in your stomach kept reminding you that you were in his house and apart from Dylan, only the two of you were there. No Nikki, no Tommy, no Vince. No concerts, no shouting, screaming, or breaking glasses. Just quiet, peace, and you.

"I'm pretty curious about your reaction so close your eyes and don't open until I say so." You nodded and did as told. He helped you not to hit anything. "Okay, now you can open it."

You cautiously and slowly opened your eyes from the sudden brightness. Huge windows were in charge of the light. However, many other things drew your attention. At least, 10 guitars were hanging on the wall along with pieces of vinyl. He knew guitars were your weakness and he was right there smiling from seeing your reaction. You were speechless.

"Dear Satan, this is beautiful." You held up your hand to hide your open mouth.

"I knew, you would like it!" He snickered and showed you around in his room. There were some bookshelves, tapes, and other types of vinyl as well. You noticed some family pictures as well. "Yeah, well, Susie hasn't changed a bit."

"These photos are adorable." You put down the frame and turned to him. "So, do you have any plans for the day?"

"What about your famous Spaghetti Bolognese Dylan was talking about?" He asked pulling you closer his eyes not leaving yours. You could feel his breath on your skin and his hands on your hips. "Or we could let him rest a bit and try if we fit in the bed?"

"Oh, I thought I would get a guest room as well." You joked earning a small laugh from him.

∆

"Gosh, how much I missed this!" Dylan was filling his mouth with your spaghetti and it appeared that Mick loved it, too. You were holding a glass full of wine and were watching them.

"It's nothing special, actually. Just some secret ingredients, that's all." You noted. "However, I'm glad that criminals love my food." You added while taking a sip.

"What?" Dylan inquired with raised brows. "Don't- don't tell me you were arrested, too. Cause I won't believe it."

Mick rolled his eyes and kept his attention on his plate.

"It wasn't me, alright? And can we just forget about it?"

"Then welcome to the club, man. Don't worry, you are not bad. She also sat in there for a few days." He tilted his head towards you making you choke on your wine.

"Nothing surprises me anymore." Mick chuckled shaking his head.

That day, you felt loved. By Mick, and by Dylan. Both are a different kind of love, but you felt special. For a long period, it was the first day, you felt safe. No fire, no drunk people trying to flirt with you, no drugs. Of course, only for a week. Then you will have to go back, but first, you wanted the enjoy every minute of being with Mick and your brother.

∆

Taglist: @leatherandheels @safari-karrot @cmft-jr-winchester @crazyrockrlady @savageandnikkiapproved <3

Feel free to message me, comment on any story or ask me if you want to be tagged or add yourself HERE!

[enithinggoes]

The witch’s teachings, lesson 4: Power and its price

Lyssa’s presence changed our day-to-day slightly, about one hour before meals the witch would ask one of us to do chores such as looking for food(I was more adept at gathering, roots and fruit, while Lyssa had an easier time hunting), and she would use the time to teach the other one.

What made me curious was that from what I’d seen, we were not being taught the same things, while I had by this point been Morgana’s apprentice for a few months and she’d taught me next to nothing about combat, though she’d given me a knife, mostly for cutting ingredients, I had yet to touch a sword. Meanwhile Lyssa was already about as good of a swordsman as any from my home town, though she’d prefered to use two shortswords instead of the witch’s one.

When asked about this during one of my own lessons, My master, her unequivocal tone giving an impression closer to a consultation with an ancient goddess than a questioning of a human teacher, told me “When you asked me to take you on, did you ask for my power? Was your wish to match me as a fighter, or as a scholar? What you begged me for was wisdom, so that’s what I am attempting to give you, knowledge of the properties of all sorts of natural and supernatural, one day you shall be able to see as deeply or more than I am into the forces most struggle to even comprehend. However, I am myself a multi-faceted creature, and what Lyssa needs from me isn’t the knowledge you crave, that won’t help her protect herself from greed, hate and weapons from people whose reason for attacking her can’t be circumvented without fighting back. Right now, she needs to become a warrior, she wants to become a guardian, so her mastery of the blade is more important than that over the land. Of course I want to have you know how to defend yourself and her know how to use subtler methods than swordfighting, but it is better to prioritize.”

While I took in her explanation, her expression softened as she sat down close to the fire and ushered me to do the same. She took a deep breath, then spoke once more “It is good that you asked me that, it reminded me of something I feel I should tell you, and I’ll explain later why I do not plan on doing the same for Lyssa yet,” she stared into the flames, “It’s about how I got these hands, and the power they hold.”

“I grew up in the village of Krymmen, a place that no longer exists, outside of the reach of the duke that owns this tenure, I do not know how  much you’ve heard about him, maybe less than I, since I assume his rule is all you’ve known, but the common way of doing things here and now hasn’t always existed. Where I was born there was no use for silver and gold except for fighting werewolves and making accessories, there was enough food and housing for all of us and all who contributed to the community had access to it. My function, much as it is now, was to protect people from supernatural threats and their effects on body and mind.”

“One day, emissaries from “duke Louis of Drakenguard”  appeared, we hosted our visitors well, interested in what knowledge they could have to share with us. But they were measuring us up, learning about our defenses and armed forces, making sure they could easily destroy us. They came back, with numbers and weapons, an emergency exodus was declared. Me and my comrades stayed behind to hold them back, we were fierce fighters, but there were too many of them, we drove them back, just barely, but I was the only survivor, and it would not be long before they caught up with the civilians after the next wave was done with me.

“So I got desperate,” she clenched her fist, “There was a legend in Krymmen, about a cave from which none who ventured returned, the stories told of a slumbering dragon, at least as large as an elephant and as smart as a person, I headed to the cave, planning to beg the beast to protect the people who had coexisted with it for all of our centuries long history.

“Once I arrived, I was awed by the creature’s bright red scales, gigantic wings and terrifying maw. However its eyes surprised me most of all, they were orange and slitted like those of a crocodile, but they regarded me  with such superiority, curious interest at best, like how a man may look at a cat. It gave me time to say my piece, but seemed to disregard it entirely, instead lazily turning to my sword and offering it’s own proposal. It’s deep grumble echoing through the cave’s chambers.

“I have no intention of concerning myself with the squabbles between you pitiful creatures. Still, I can feel some fire within you, if you wish for my assistance, prove to me you are worthy of my time,” it stood from the pile of bone and discarded armor where it sat, “If you are capable of landing a single blow upon my flesh, I shall grant you a morsel of my power.”

“For many moments it was all I could do to stand frozen still, its glare made it clear that the moment I moved forward, that could be the end of my life, still it was my only chance to protect the Krymmen people, and if my comrades could give their life for that before, so could I now. I started to dash forward, but the dragon’s claw was even faster than I could expect, I did my best to deflect it with my blade, but the force from the clash still sent me rolling over the ground. The dragon simply raised its head and looked down on me as I scrambled back onto my feet, as if waiting for me to continue the challenge it had issued. I felt as if it had held back on the last strike, trying to bring the most out of me, and to be honest, it made me furious, I was determined to prove the power of humanity.

“I sprinted forward, goading it into striking before quickly stepping back, then dashing ahead once more, It’s next attack I evaded by rolling behind a rock, using it for cover by crouching. The beast lowered its head, and I beheld it open it’s enormous jaws and a bright orange flame gather inside it, too wide to dodge to the side and too powerful for my stone cover to protect me. In a final desperate gambit I climbed onto the rock and, as it approached to launch its attack. I lept towards it, plunging my blade onto its snout with a fierce battlecry.

  “The sword pierced only a few centimeters through  my foe’s scales, but it ceased its fire breathing, and for a few instants, we were both so still we could only hear the dimm whistle of the wind through the cave. I saw the dragon stare towards me with something entirely foreign in its eyes, recognition, perhaps even respect. It lowered me gently to the floor, backing away as I pulled my blade from its snout.

“Very well,”said the dragon, “you’ve proved yourself tenacious and brave beyond any human I’ve seen before. I shall offer you a magnanimous offer, accept the pact, and you will be given power over the most powerful element in creation. The flames that herald both oblivion and rebirth, there is but one condition.

“Though after such an arduous trial almost nothing could deter me from accepting, I still asked “What is the condition?”

“The dragon explained, “You will yourself become forever bound to the changing winds and the flicker of the flames. If you ever fall idle, without a mission or destination, the very powers you will be given shall turn agains you, destroying your body”

“I nodded, accepting these terms, “Very well,” spoke the dragon, “extend your arms, and the pact will be sealed,” I did as I was told, and did not back down, even when the beast opened its maw wide, waiting for a moment, as if precisely measuring  its position. Before snapping its jaws closed in but a split second. I felt immense pain, like my arms had been cut in half, before a powerful burning sensation accompanied by the same orange light Inside the dragon’s mouth I’d seen before. I clenched my teeth so as not to scream, and in a few seconds, the dragon released my arms, satisfied, revealing that, from the forearm down, my arms were now as black and hard as coal, and I could feel heat like never before emanating from them.

“You’ve risen closer to a dragon than most could ever hope, the last thing I have to give you is my name. Names have power, child, so when you wish to use your new power, remember the name Gorchfygwr and all flames shall obey you.” The dragon explained.

The witch clapped her hands and turned to me. “And that’s how I got these hands, I apologize for not telling you sooner, but I needed to be sure to not give information about the source of my power to someone who would get themselves killed trying to obtain them, or worse, who would be able to gain this sort of power and use it for evil. In time I learned more about pacts like these, they are the main way for humans to obtain power beyond our physical limitations, but, and you may consider this your fourth lesson, power always has a price, and with time I learned the dragon had truly been relatively generous with mine, likely because he had gotten his entertainment out of testing me first. Some creatures, like demons and fae may cause their lords to lose their minds or commit atrocities they could never imagine.”

I nodded in agreement. “I understand. There are some questions I wish to ask, if you’ll pardon my curiosity, What did you do after sealing your pact? Did you face the duke’s armies once again? And why did you not want Lyssa to know this story?” for all that her fierceness had unnerved me initialy, my “colleague” did certainly seem to have good motives, more surprisingly, she was gentler than I’d imagined, never once commenting on my obvious lack of strenght when compared to her and offering to guard me from possible dangerous animals when searching for food.

Morgana sighed and turned back towards the fire. “I killed them, I went back into my ruined village and I slaughtered wave after wave of those soldiers until the futility of expecting them to stop coming solidified in my mind. By now there was no way they’d catch up to what remained of my people, there was no longer any reason for fighting. I felt so purposeless I just… wandered. Eventually I learned that I could use the skills from my old profession to earn a living and help people still, and memorized the optimal routes I could use to travel from town to town.”

She continued, her head hung low, betraying a fatigue I hadn’t before seen. “I’ve been doing this for years, familiar, long enough to obtain a large arsenal of magic not as powerful as what I received from the pact, that’s how I could make you my familiar. In some way I feel I’ve been delaying an inevitable direct conflict with the duke, I mean, look at Lyssa! aren’t I one of the only people with a chance to stop this for good? As for why I’ve avoided informing Lyssa of the source of my flames, I have no doubt her reasons for fighting are good, but with her current fervor, I fear she may seek out a patron before she’s ready and put herself and others in danger, although I have a feeling she may inevitably attract the interest of one by living the eventful life she is currently seeking. It is a difficult balance I am attempting to strike, too soon and her haste may be her doom, too late and she won’t be aware of the consequences when she receives an offer.”

I was a bit hesitant to question my master’s judgement, but still I couldn’t help but ask “don’t you feel you should put a little more trust in her prudence?”

She turned to me and smiled. “That may be so, still It’s best to be cautious. Thank you for telling me this. It’s part of a familiar’s function to council the witch in times of decision. Now scram, you, I see Lyssa coming back and we’re gonna need some fresh water from that creek to cook the hares she brought,” she waved me away gently.

As I walked away, Lyssa greeted me, her muscles had been steadily growing more defined as she’d been training for combat, I also noticed she’d been binding her breasts recently and respected her commitment to agility. “Hey… cat, can I call you cat?” she asked, a bit embarassed, to which I smiled and nodded in agreement, “alright, cat, did Morgana say anything about me? I haven’t exactly been apprentice to a witch before, and she did tell me a familiar is something different, but you’re my best point of  comparison and I’d like to know if I’ve been doing well.”She seemed excited to compare our experiences, and I felt a pang of guilt about witholding some information from her.

“Don’t worry, she’s very impressed with your growth, thinks you’ll soon be a match for her at this rate, though your parry could use some work.” I answered, and it was true, despite me omitting the witch’s concerns about her impetuosity. “Now get going, master’s waiting for you and she doesn’t like to wait. .” I told her, continuing my towards the creek.

“You too.” She said, and I could tell my answer had made her happy.

[fiction-fun]

So cause Im in a Rangers mood, take this:

Fandom: Power Rangers in Space

Pairings: Andros/OC

Words: 3083

Warnings: N/A

Kaley sighed as she walked onto the bridge of the Astro Megaship. She looked around seeing that no one else was there.

“Deca, where are the others?” she asked voice soft and a bit distant

The computer took a few seconds to respond.

“Andros, Carlos and T.J. are in the gym. While Cassie and Ashley are in the holodeck. Would you like for me to get one of them for you?” the helpful A.I. asked.

Kaley settled into what normally was Andros’s chair and sighed gently.

“No, it’s alright. Thank you though.” She said her tone still distant.

Deca went silent at that and she didn’t know whether or not to be grateful for that. She sighed again and gently tapped her bracelet, causing it to pop open, where she removed a small silver disk from within. She gave it a sad look, before pressing it gently into the player and turning to the large screen. She watched silently as a few of the images passed over the screen. At one picture which looked like a party of some sort, she reached over and paused the slideshow, just staring at the picture that was still on the screen. It showed two small children, one a young girl with reddish brown hair, lightly tanned skin, two small cat like ears perched on top of her head, and a large grin on her face as she looked towards the other child. This one was a young boy, with dark brown almost black hair, the same ears as the little girl and a bit darker of a tan, he was turned smiling up at the girl. Kaley sighed sadly and reached up to brush the tears from her cheeks as she looked at the photo. She was so focused on it, she didn’t hear the automatic doors slide open with a gentle hiss.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll just…” Came the voice of her team leader and she stood and shook her head.

“No, it’s ok. I shouldn’t have taken over the main viewing screen, I’ll just…. grab my disk and go.” She said quickly as she moved to do that.

Before she could hit the eject button, Andros had reached her and gently grabbed her hand stopping her movements.

“It’s ok, you have full right to use the screen as much as I or any of the others do.” Andros said in an uncharacteristically soft tone of voice.

Kaley slowly blinked at that before nodding.

“Alright, thank you.” She said softly, not sure how else to respond.

Andros nodded and turned slightly to see the screen, still holding her hand gently. Kaley saw the movement and looked as well, reaching up again with her free hand to rub her eyes.

“Who are they?” Andros asked curiosity in his tone.

Kaley let a small smile slide across her lips.

“That’s Cara and Sam my little sister and brother.” Kaley said tone soft as she spoke.

Andros looked at her and saw the sadness in her eyes and the pain in her face.

“What happened to them?” He asked dreading the answer.

Kaley bit her lip gently, pinching it between her fangs.

“When I was on KO-35, Anamaria was attacked by the United Alliance of Evil, as far as I know, there were no survivors.” She said her voice soft and hitching a bit as she spoke.

Andros pulled her close by the hand he still held, knowing she needed the comfort, he wrapped his arms around her and let her rest against him for a few minutes.

“I’m so sorry.” He said voice barely above a whisper.

Kaley shook her head.

“It’s not your fault, you have no reason to apologies.” She said gently, her arms coming to wrap around him as well.

They stood like that for a while, before she slowly pulled back, looking at the screen.

“They were, 8 and 6 in that picture. Well in human years they were. In our ages they were 56 and 42. They where just babies.” She said softly.

Andros took time to look at the children on the screen, noticing the many similarities between both of them and Kaley. He turned when she tugged her hand from his gently and went to sit back down, looking at him, and pointing to his chair. He nodded and sat down. He reached over and pressed play. The pictures started rolling slowly across the screen, she’d occasionally stop the photo slide and tell him a bit about what or who was in the photo.

“I didn’t realize Anamaria had such a deep history.” Andros said softly after a few slides where she told him about the ruins and legends of her world.

Kaley smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, not a lot of people do, but Anamaria history is something we start learning at a young age. I remember I asked my parents why once, they looked at each other before looking at me, and then they just smiled a bit sadly and said, ‘you’ll understand when you get older.’ I think they knew if the Alliance got strong enough Anamaria would be one of the first attacked, since we didn’t have a true military, and no rangers. I think they taught all the children the history so young in case they were the only ones to survive an attack.” Kaley explained softly as she reached over and hit the play button.

They sat quietly through a few more pictures before Kaley burst out laughing and paused the slide again. Andros looked and saw a pair of kids smiling widely at the camera a little girl who was clearly Kaley, and a small boy with…something…on his head.

“Who’s that? And what is on his head?” Andros asked quirking an eyebrow.

Kaley smiled softly and shook her head.

“That was Joel, he was such a weird kid, but he was my best friend. And your guess is as good as mine as to what’s on his head. Although we had a serious case of red eye in this picture.” She said laughing a bit more.

Andros smiled softly at that and gave a small laugh as well. Kaley reached over and grabbed the little remote.

“The next few might drag, sorry.” She said with a small smile at him.

Andros shook his head.

“No, this is interesting, I’m learning a lot about you.” He said offering her a smile.

She nodded and leaned back a bit in her seat hitting play and letting a few more pictures of her and Joel slide through before she paused at a picture of another girl with brown hair.

“That’s my sister Kat. She was about….7 in that? Her biggest dream was to become a technical developer, and she could have done it. She was brilliant, they all were.” She said quietly.

Andros looked at the picture closer and saw a small robotic creature next to Kat in the photo.

“What’s the robot?” he asked.

Kaley looked up and her eyes seemed to brighten briefly.

“That’s Octo, Kats best friend, no one else really hung out with her. So, she made a friend, and he could do anything.” She said softly.

Andros nodded and Kaley let a few more photos slip over the screen. Some holding one or two of her siblings some holding all four of them. She paused on one picture that was just a little slanted in front of a small pale blue house, all four of them stood there with who Andros thought had to be their parents.

“That’s the house where I grew up, I heard mom and dad sold it a bit after I left, but I never knew for sure. But according to the last message from Kat, whoever owned it really made improvements. Fixed a lot of the broken roof and the fence too. We didn’t have a lot as kids, mom and dad both worked as hard as they could to support us, that’s part of the reason I went to KO-35, so one day I could repay them and help them. Even though we didn’t have a lot we never went without, always had meals and clothes, we were encouraged to follow our dreams, nothing could stand in our way and it took a bit for me to realize. We, the kids, didn’t go without, but mom and dad did.” Kaley said softly voice choked up a bit as she spoke.

Andros stayed silent but reached over and gave her hand a small squeeze. She offered him a small sad smile before she turned back to the screen and hit play, more pictures from the house popped in, some inside some outside, but Andros saw the state of disrepair the house was really in. When one picture popped onto the screen Kaley paused the slideshow again.

“The second floor had this, balcony thing. You would think that would make it easier for sneaking out right?” she asked him.

Andros nodded.

“It seems like it would.” He said in agreement.

She laughed a bit and shook her head.

“It probably would but the darn thing squeaked if you hit the wrong spot and you heard that squeak through the whole house, and if you were lucky you had about 10 seconds to either dive over the edge and into the bushes to hide or try your luck at getting back to your room without getting caught.” Kaley said softly looking at the shot of the balcony from the outside.

She shook her head as Andros looked at her with wide eyes.

“Did you get caught?” He asked curiosity evident.

Kaley smiled and nodded.

“Oh yeah, a couple different times, but when I explained why I was sneaking out mom and dad understood and just kind of let me go. See I had a friend who was in a bad situation and when it got really bad, I’d go and find her and help her out. Food, clothes bandages etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So, I never got in trouble.” Kaley explained.

Andros nodded and she hit play once more. Stopping at one picture showed four now grown teenagers standing in front of a brick building all four smiling brightly. Andros could pick Kaley out easily but the others he wasn’t sure on.

“On the end is Kat then Cara, me and then Sam. Kat and I had just graduated, maybe two weeks before but this was the day of the ceremony. Kat had been accepted to study at the leading lab on Anamaria and I was accepted into the Academy, as you know. It’s funny, we almost didn’t graduate.” Kaley said smiling gently at the picture.

Andros turned sharply at that to look at her.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

Kaley shrugged lightly and smiled as a small tear trailed down her cheek.

“Kat, Joel and I broke into the school a few times, our sealed records say twice, but it must have been…half a dozen or more times.” She said softly.

Andros was watching her, letting her collect herself. She took a deep breath.

“I got into a pretty bad spot for a while after…. after my dad’s accident, I just didn’t care about anything anymore. But I eventually got my head on straight.” Kaley continued before giving a sigh and looking at him.

“If I didn’t graduate, I never would have been able to go to KO-35, we never would have met, I wouldn’t be a ranger, hell I probably wouldn’t even be here. But at the time, I figured if It came to it, when life got better, I could just go back. They probably wouldn’t let me in but who knows. But my mom sat me down and had a talk with me, which helped me knock my head back into place and I stepped back into the right area, graduated and now here we are.” She said quietly.

Andros recognized that long lost look on her face, and reached over to pull her into another hug, she wrapped her arms around him and tucked her face into his neck, sitting there for a few minutes before sitting up and offering him a small smile, she pressed play and showed him a few places around town. An arcade, a store, a small field. Then a picture of her and a guy popped up.

“That’s Tyzon. He was my first boyfriend, not much to say on him, he just kind of existed in my life for a while, then as quickly as he blew in, he blew out, with a girl about 3 years younger than me.” Kaley said blandly.

Andros shot the photo a look, which Kaley noticed and smiled softly at reaching over she grabbed his hand softly.

“He was an idiot.” She said softly.

He nodded and flipped his hand, to hold hers and give it a squeeze. Kaley smiled softly and hit play letting the rest of the photos play out. She sighed as she stood and took the photo disk from the player, slipping it away into the bracelet she wore. Andros pulled her back and she stumbled and landed on his lap, and he just wrapped his arms around her. She smiled and curled into him a bit.

“I might miss the town and the people, but I love what I have now.” She said softly.

Andros offered her a small smile and nodded.

“Although I’m sure you’d rather have your family here.” Andros said softly.

Kaley nodded before looking him in the eyes.

“And I know you’d rather the same, but life doesn’t always give up wants, sometimes it gives us needs.” She said softly.

He smiled gently and leaned forward, her meeting him halfway as they shared a small kiss.

*Almost a decade later*

Andros held the door to S.P.D open as Kaley walked through, she turned and shot him a smile.

“Thanks, I just wish Keevon wasn’t so vague when he said we had to come here.” Kaley said with a sigh.

Andros laughed and shook his head.

“You know how Keevon is. Besides, he did at least tell us it was with their tech developer.” Andros said as the two stopped in front of the security desk.

Kaley sighed and rolled her eyes but smiled none the less. The two of them showed their badges and returned the salutes before turning on their boot heels and heading towards the elevators. Once inside Kaley turned to Andros again.

“I still don’t get it, their prison cell is in perfect orbit the suits work, why do they need us?” Kaley asked.

Andros shrugged and reached up to run a hand through his hair, the dim light of the elevator glinting on the silver band sitting on his ring finger.

“Who knows, maybe they need us to upgrade B-teams’ suits.” Andros suggested.

Kaley groaned and leaned back against the wall of the elevator.

“And that’s another thing! We made do just fine with one team, why do they have two?” she asked a bit of jealous frustration sliding into her tone.

Andros smiled at her and stepped over to her.

“Because their enemies are stronger.” He said quietly.

That seemed to appease Kaley and the two stood to attention as the elevator slowly stopped and the doors began to open. They nodded when one of the cadets stepped forward to lead them to the tech lab even though they knew where it was, since they helped build it. They reached the lab and the cadet entered first.

“Dr. Manx! Two Karoven officers are here to speak with you, Ma’am.” The cadet said saluting,

A brown-haired woman with a welding mask on lifted it and turned to the cadet.

“I may be 147 but there’s no need to call me ma’am, especially since that makes me barely 21. Hello, I’m Dr. Kat Manx and you are?” she asked walking over to them.

“I’m Andros and this is my wife and work partner Kaley.” Andros said stepping forward to shake her hand.

Kat nodded and the three began to speak for a few minutes.

“The place looks well kept.” Kaley mused softly.

Kat turned and nodded.

“I do my best to maintain it.” She said as she reached up and finally noticed the welding mask still on her head.

With a sigh she pulled the thing off her head, letting her own cat ears twitch free, Andros’s eyes went wide when he finally placed why she looked familiar.

“Kaley.” He called over to where she had her back to them.

“Yeah?” she asked not looking up.

Andros sighed.

“Look over here a second.” He said.

Kaley sighed and stood up straight reaching up to fluff out her hair as it was falling into her face, she turned to look at Andros and had to suppress a small gasp. Seeing a similar reaction in Dr. Manx. Andros sighed and smiled softly as he leaned back waiting for them to react. It was almost instantaneous the two dropped what they where holding and walked towards each other, before breaking into a run and before Andros could blink, they had each other wrapped in hugs, with heads buried in each other’s shoulders. After that the two spent time catching up. After a few hours they went to dinner and spent a few days relaxing with the three getting to know each other. As Andros and Kaley where boarding their ship, Kat stood at the end and smiled waving.

“Don’t be a stranger.” Kat called.

Kaley looked at Andros and nodded.

“Don’t worry! We won’t be! You make sure to visit as well!” Kaley called back.

With that they closed the ramp door and walked into the bridge, settling into their seats. Kaley turned and smiled at Andros.

“I may have to both, hit and hug Keevon for this.” She said with a small smile.

Andros laughed at that and nodded.

“If you hit him, I’m recording it so we can laugh at the memory.” He said.

Kaley smiled and leaned over kissing him.

“Thank you, for being amazing.” She said softly.

He smiled and kissed her back.

“You’re the amazing one. Now let’s go home.” He said smiling and laying in the course.

Kaley nodded and sat back.

“Yeah, we have to tell the rest of the family that it just got a little bigger.” Kaley said smiling softly.

Andros nodded, happy that she had found at least one of her siblings alive and well.

[maaaaaatryoshka0325]

Shattered Sky - Hwang Hyunjin Zombie AU Part 15

(<- Previous Part) (Next Part ->)

Warnings: Character death (I’m BIG sad over this one)

“This is impossible.” Changbin rasped, looking down at the pictures of your blood work and all the walkers.

“Look at Y/N, guys. She’s still hasn’t changed!” Woobin said, his eyes sparkling.

You sat down in Hyunjin’s office with them, Hyunjin directly beside you. You were nervous, as you didn’t know what to expect from everyone. You felt Hyunjin’s warm hand wrap around your own, his eyes reassuring. You gave him a soft smile before looking at the group of men in front of you.

“This is amazing.” Chan said, looking over the pictures.

“How will the other survivors react to this?” Seungmin asked.

“This may give them some hope. Y/N is proof that we still have hope against these things.” Jisung said, his eyes shining.

“Jisung’s right.” Chan began, his eyes meeting yours. “We have living proof that there’s still hope for humanity.”

You smiled at him and he smiled back, before bowing to you.

“I’m sorry I raised my gun to you.” He said.

“There’s no need to apologize Chan. No one knew I was immune. You would’ve done the same to everyone else.” You said lightly, giving him a reassuring smile.

Hyunjin smiled at you and squeezed your hand. You looked over at him, and all of your anxiety went away.

“We should show you to the survivors.” Hyunjin suggested.

“What if they don’t react well?” You asked, your voice quivering a bit.

“Then we’ll protect you, Y/N.” Felix said.

Everyone agreed, their eyes on you, hope in them. You sighed in relief and nodded.

“Okay.”

All of the survivors gathered in the center in front of the tower, and you stood inside in the entrance, waiting for Hyunjin to call you out. Minho and Changbin took up both your sides, their demeanors the most intimidating, besides Hyunjin’s.

“As you know, yesterday Y/N was bitten by a walker that got through.” Hyunjin’s voice rang out.

“How long did it take her to change?” A voice called in the crowd.

“That’s why I called you here.” Hyunjin said, beckoning for you to step out.

You stepped out the door, Minho and Changbin taking up either side of you, guns in their hands. Gasps of shock echoed throughout the crowd, voices ringing in your ears.

“Impossible!”

“Was she really bitten?”

“She was! I saw it with my own eyes!”

Jeongin gently pulled the bandage from your neck, your bite wound on full display. Gasps once again echoed throughout the crowd, all eyes wide.

“Jeongin took blood samples from her, and found no trace of the virus. Y/N is the first that we know of that is immune.” Hyunjin’s voice rung throughout the crowd, everyone falling silent at his words.

The silence made your stomach churn, your nerves wracking. You felt a hand grab yours, and when you turned your head, Woobin gave you a warm smile.

“This means hope for all of us.” He said, his voice strong. “If one person is immune, it means we can find a solution to make others immune.”

Words of agreement went through the crowd, but you still saw some suspicious survivors. You squeezed Woobin’s hand harder, and he gave your hand a comforting squeeze in return.

“How would the cure be made?” A survivor called.

“I’m afraid I don’t believe there is a cure... But there HAS to be a way to make us immune to the infection, like Y/N.” Woojin spoke up.

“If Y/N lets us,” Jeongin started, looking at you. “I’d like to take more blood tests and see what I can do to help all of us.”

You raised your chin high and nodded. Cheers of hope went through the crowd, most of them with friendly faces. Though there were still others who looked doubtful, you still felt hope in your heart.

You sat in the clinic to, once again, give Jeongin blood samples. He’s been taking a little bit of blood as the days go by. Yuna sat beside you, her hand in yours. She’s been with you ever since you appeared in front of everyone, over joyed to see you still alive, and human.

“That should be the last of them Y/N, thank you.” Jeongin said with a smile.

You smiled back at him as you hopped off the table, Yuna giving you a huge smile.

“Let’s go to the cantina and get you some snacks so you don’t pass out.” Yuna said with a smile.

“You need some too, you’re eating for two.” You giggled.

She smiled at you as you both bowed to Jeongin, Woojin, and Seungmin.

“We’ll run as many tests as possible to figure this out.” Seungmin reassured you both.

You both nodded and headed off to the cantina, grabbing a few snacks and sitting down to eat. You both ate your food as you felt eyes on you. You once again felt self conscious eating with everyone else, your body shivering.

“Where’s Hyunjin?” Yuna asked.

“He’s been talking with Chan and then for awhile. I think they’re trying to figure this out too.” You said.

Yuna nodded in understanding, a small smile on her face.

“I’m glad the two of you finally confessed.” She giggled.

You stopped chewing and gave her a confused look.

“What do you mean finally? You asked.

“Oh Y/N, anyone with eyes could tell the two of you were falling for each other.” She giggled. “The way you two look at each other says it all.”

You blushed and smiled, swallowing the food you had in your cheek. Yuna giggled and held your hand, her eyes soft.

“I’m so happy for you Y/N. You deserve to be loved after everything you’ve been through.” She said with a big smile.

“Thank you Yuna, I hope you can find happiness again.” You said with a smile, squeezing her fingers.

“I already had my own, and now I’m going to have his child.” She said with a sad smile.

“You don’t want to fall in love again?” You asked.

She gave her head a sad shake, wiping the corners of her eyes.

“I can’t imagine myself with anyone else. I’ll be happy with just our baby.” She said.

You held her hand again, your eyes comforting.

“You’re very strong Yuna.” You said.

“Thank you Y/N. You are too.” She said back.

You both smiled at each other before she yawned.

“I think I’m gonna head back to my cottage early. I’ve been so tired lately.” She sighed.

“You’ve been taking care of the children and carrying a child too, of course you’d be tired!” You giggled.

She smiled at you as you walked her back to her cottage. She waved you goodbye as she stepped inside, and you smiled to her. You turned around and jumped, almost bumping into someone’s chest.

“Jeez Hyunjin! You scared me!” You gasped.

He chuckled as he looked down at you, a small smile on his face.

“Sorry, I tend to do that.” He said.

“I noticed.” You said, looking up at him. “What’s up?”

He shrugged, his eyes on the ground.

“Something bothering you Hyunjin?” You asked.

He chuckled and shook his head before wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you against him.

“I came over to see you, silly.” He chuckled.

You blushed and hid your face in his chest. He stroked your hair before pulling away and beckoning for you to follow. You followed him to the tower and he led you to a room connected to his office, and you could it was his room. Your face heated up as you saw a massive bed in the middle.

“Jeongin and Seungmin should have something soon, Woojin is doing comparisons to other blood samples. He’s trying to see what exactly is in your system that made you immune.” He said.

You nodded and sat on his bed. He sat down beside you, leaning back against the pillows. Your eyes were focused on your hands, your mind not all there. There were so many questions you had about what was going on, and you were hoping Jeongin and then could find the answers.

You were snapped out of your thoughts by Hyunjin grabbing your waist and pulling you down on your back. His body hovered over yours, his eyes looking into your own.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked.

You let out a small laugh and reached your hand up, stroking his cheek. Your thumb ran over his soft skin, his eyes still glued to your own.

“Just about everything that’s happened recently. Like everyone else, I want answers.” You sighed.

“If anyone can find those answers, it’s Jeongin, Seungmin, and Woojin.” He reassured you, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

“You think they’ll find it?” You asked.

“No.” He said gently, a small smile on his face. “I know they’ll find it.”

You smiled at him as you pressed a soft kiss to his nose.

“You believe in them so much.” You said with a soft smile.

“They’ve always done everything they can.” He said, pressing a soft kiss to your lips.

You closed your eyes as you melted into his soft lips. Your lips moved in sync as he deepened the kiss, your hands softly bunching his shirt at his shoulders. He licked your bottom lip and you allowed him entry as your tongues began to dance together. His hands went to your waist as he pressed himself against you, his tongue easily over powering your own. He pulled away from your lips as you gasped for air, your hands clutching his shirt tightly.

He smiled down at you as he pressed warm kisses to your jaw and down your neck, his hands grabbing your ass as he sat you up on his lap. He nipped at your neck, admiring the way you leaned your head back, a small whimper leaving your lips as he gently bit down on a spot on your throat. His hands went to your hair as he brought your face back to his own, the kiss hot and messy.

A knock at his door made you both stop. His eyes were dark, a small smile stretching across his face as he placed one last kiss in your lips before getting up and opening the door.

“What’s up Felix?” He asked casually.

“Woojin found something that might interest you and Y/N.”

You and Hyunjin followed Felix to the clinic, walking through the hallways until you came to a room where Woojin was looking under a microscope, and back at some pictures.

“What is it Woojin?” You asked, noticing the way his brows furrowed.

He looked up at you and Hyunjin and beckoned you both over to him. You both sat on the clinic bed in front of where he was looking at the microscope. He placed two pictures in front of you both, his eyes bewildered.

“This picture,” He started, pointing to the first one. “Is Y/N’s blood tests we took after the fire. Those little things aren’t in her blood here.”

Hyunjin stared at the two pictures intently, his eyes flashing.

“So Y/N wasn’t born with this immunity?” He asked.

“No, and I don’t see how she could’ve been. The infection is new, so there’s no way her body could’ve been born immune.” Woojin said. “I have to keep looking into what had caused it.”

Hyunjin nodded, standing up and taking your hand.

“We’ll leave you to think. When you think of something, let me know.” Hyunjin said.

Woojin nodded and smiled before watching you both walk out. Your smaller hand felt warm inside Hyunjin’s larger hand. His long fingers were gently wrapped around your own as you both walked down the halls. You glanced over and saw Jeongin sitting at a desk, his head in his hands. You stopped and Hyunjin gave you a confused look, then noticed why you stopped. You both walked into the room and Jeongin raised his head, his hair slightly messy from his fingers.

“What’s wrong?” You asked.

“I don’t understand a single thing. No matter how many times I try and figure out what those things are, I get nothing. Woojin showed me you weren’t born immune, and for some reason it feels like it just got harder.” He sighed.

You gently rubbed his shoulder, feeling slightly guilty that you couldn’t help.

“Why don’t you take a rest? You don’t have to figure it all out right away.” Hyunjin said, stroking Jeongin’s hair.

“Are you sure? I can keep looking into them.” Jeongin said.

“I’m sure, get some rest. It won’t be any good if you drive yourself crazy. Tell Seungmin and Woojin to rest whenever they need too.” Hyunjin said gently.

Jeongin sighed and nodded, getting up and bowing to you both.

“Thank you.” He said lowly before walking out of the room.

You and Hyunjin walked out of the clinic, and you glanced at him. His eyes seemed distant as he bit his lip.

“I’m gonna go talk to the others, why don’t you go and get some rest?” He said, looking down at you.

You nodded, a little sad you couldn’t spend more time with him. He lifted your hand and gave it a kiss before pulling you close and kissing your head.

“Rest well okay? And don’t worry, leave it all to us.” He whispered.

You closed your eyes at his touch and nodded, a small smile on your face.

“Okay, don’t over work yourself.” You said softly.

He nodded with a smile before heading off to the tower. You slowly walked back to your cottage, a meow catching your attention. C/N came prancing over to you, and you picked her up. You noticed a mouse in her mouth and you chuckled.

“You’re a good hunter, aren’t ya?” You asked with a small giggle.

You brought her back into your cottage and put her down so she could eat her catch. You sat on your bed and ran your fingers through your hair, your mind still racing.

“This is crazy C/N.” You sighed.

She looked up at you, her pretty green eyes on you. You smiled and stroked her fur as she rubbed against your legs. You picked her up and wiped the mouses blood from her chin, a purr sounding from her throat. She rubbed your face against the side of your neck and you giggled before placing her down.

“I guess I should shower, maybe that’ll take my mind off of it. Or maybe I can think more clearer.” You sighed to her as you stepped into your bathroom.

You lathered your hair in the shampoo and closed your eyes as the hot water ran over your body. The steam made your body relax as you stood there, your eyes on the wall of the shower. There has to be something you’re all missing, but what is it?

You stepped out of the shower and wiped your mirror before brushing your teeth. When you looked back up, you looked at the two scars in your neck. The bite mark was over the scar from being stabbed. You ran your fingers over them as you got dressed. Your hands froze in your towel as you dried your hair, your eyes wide.

“That’s it!”

Your feet pounded on the ground as you ran towards the tower, your body shaking with excitement. Jisung was standing guard outside, a confused look on his face as he watched you run up.

“Y/N? What’s wrong?” He asked, slightly concerned.

“I have to talk to Hyunjin!” You gasped out, heaving in air.

“Woah woah, breathe.” He said, his one hand on your arm. “What’s wrong?”

You grabbed his hand and held it, your eyes sparkling.

“I think I realized how this happened!” You breathed.

His eyes widened and he immiediatly followed you into the building. You both ran to the office where Hyunjin was with the other guys. Chan, Changbin, Minho, Felix, Seungmin, Jeongin, and Woobin were all there. Chan looked up, tapping Hyunjin’s shoulder. Hyunjin looked at you, hisbeyes widening when he saw you.

“Are you alright?” He asked, immiediatly walking over to you and grabbing your face.

“I’m fine!” You said with a big smile, still cacthing your breath. “I figured it out Hyunjin!”

Everyone’s eyes went wide as they looked at you. Hyunjin looked into your eyes, his eyes starting to sparkle.

“What is it?” Changbin asked.

“Woojin, where I was stabbed, what room was that?” You asked.

“Uh... Our infirmary.” He said.

“Right, and what was I stabbed with?” You asked.

“A syringe.” Woojin said, his eyes going wide after.

“What does that mean?” Felix asked.

“It means it’s at the prison! Whatever made me immune, was in that syringe!” You said.

Gasps came from most of them, smiles stretching across their faces.

“Of course! Why didn’t I fucking thing of that!” Seungmin gasped, shaking his head.

Hyunjin smiled at you, his eyes bright. You smiled back at him as he pressed his forehead to yours.

“Slight problem.” Woobin piped up. “The prison is over run by walkers.”

Hyunjin looked back at everyone, then to you, a small smile on his face as he looked at you.

“Are you all willing to risk it all to save humanity?” Hyunjin asked, turning and looking at them.

The men around you both smiled, all nodding their heads. Hyunjin smiled brightly, his eyes determined.

“We leave tomorrow morning.” He said.

Everyone nodded and departed, leaving you and Hyunjin together. Hyunjin looked at you and gave you a soft smile.

“You okay?” He asked.

“I’m going tomorrow, right?” You asked.

Hyunjin fell silent, pulling his lip into his mouth.

“I think it’s better if you stay here.” He said.

“No.” You said, shaking your head.

“Y/N, it’ll be better if you do.” He said, turning away from you.

“I’m going whether you want me too or not Hyunjin.” You said firmly.

“And what makes you think you are?” He asked, his eyes narrowed as he turned back to look at you.

“You all can drive off without me, you all can go. I’ll just walk. You can’t force me to stay.” You said, crossing your arms and looking up at him.

He stepped close to you, anger flashing in his eyes.

“Why are you like this? Why can’t you just fucking listen to me?” He asked firmly.

“Because Hyunjin, I lost so much already. I-I can’t imagine losing you or any of them. I’m immune Hyunjin. I should be the first you choose to go.” Your voice slightly broke as tears filled your eyes.

You just wanted to help. You just wanted to be there for him, you wanted to protect him. His eyes softened when you wiped at your eyes, his hand coming out and pulling your head into his chest. He sighed as he bit his lip, shaking his head.

“If I let you come, you follow my orders. Got it?” He sighed.

You nodded and looked up at him. His long fingers gently caressed your cheeks, his eyes soft.

“You wanna sleep with me tonight?” He asked.

You smiled and nodded as he led you into his room. You slid into his bed and under his covers, his scent all around you. He slid in next to you, pulling you into his warm embrace. He stroked your hair as you hid your face into his chest, closing your eyes.

“Are you scared?” He asked.

“A little bit. I’m more afraid of losing any of you.” You whispered.

“Everything will be okay.” He whispered, his fingers threading through your hair as he held you close to him. “I promise.”

You and Hyunjin were the first ones to get up and get ready. Neither of you really talked, but you found comfort being close to him that morning. You both packed your weapons as the others began to appear, preparing their own weapons. Chan walked over to you and gave you a smile.

“You’re coming Y/N?” He asked.

“Of course.” You said with a smile.

“I’m surprised Hyunjin allowed you too.” Woobin said with an amused smile.

“She wouldn’t let me say no and threatened to walk if we left her.” Hyunjin grumbled.

Chuckles came from the group of men around you and you couldn’t help but giggle at Hyunjin’s grumpy state. You walked passed him to get to the passenger seat and pulled him down by the front of his shirt, giving him a small peck. He watched you walk away with a small smile on his face.

“I guess you really have met your match.” Jisung giggled.

“Yeah yeah, shut up.” Hyunjin mumbled.

After you finished putting your weapons beside your seat, you walked over to the back of the trucks where Hyunjin was going over the plan.

“We’ll go through the gate first.” Hyunjin said, talking about you, him, Chan, Woobin, and Jeongin. “And then the second car will go in. Chan and Woobin will be firing out the windows to get the walkers in the courtyard so we can make our way inside. Woojin, Felix, and Jisung will also start shooting when the courtyard comes into view. After that we head straight for the infirmary with Chan in the lead.”

You all nodded, when Seungmin piped up.

“We need to think of a way out. There’s too many walkers for us to kill them all.” Seungmin sighed.

“We do have that self destruct thing.” Changbin said.

“.... What?” You asked.

“Oh.... That.” Chan said awkwardly. “Okay before any of you get the wrong idea, everyone agreed on it.”

“.... You made a self destruct button?” Hyunjin asked.

“.... Yes.... Yes I did.” Chan said.

Everyone fell silent, and you made eye contact with Hyunjin.

“Listen, we all agreed if the place was too over run we’d just blow the whole thing up.” Chan said, throwing his arms up.

“... So where is that button?” Hyunjin asked.

“It’s on the first floor, in my office. No one else knew where it was located but me and Changbin.” Chan said.

“We might just need it.” Hyunjin said, earning a nod from everyone else.

“... Slight problem.” Chan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What is it?” Hyunjin asked.

“If you hit the button it blows up right away.” Changbin said awkwardly.

“.... Never mind.” Hyunjin sighed.

With that, everyone got into their assigned trucks and you all got ready to head out.

“... A self destruct button though?” Woobin asked.

“It sounded like a good idea at first okay.” Chan sighed.

You and Hyunjin laughed as you all headed for the prison. As you got closer, you felt your nerves wracking again. You felt Hyunjin’s hand on your thigh, warm and comforting.

“It’s going to be okay.” Hyunjin reassured you.

You gave him a soft smile and nodded. You felt one of Woobin’s hands on your shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. You looked back at him and smiled, feeling thankful for the comfort.

“We’ll be together the whole time.” Jeongin reassured you.

You smiled at him as the prison began to come into view. You looked up and an idea popped up in your head.

“Hyunjin, open the sun roof.” You said.

“Why?” He asked. 

“Just do it.” You said, loading your gun.

He did as you said and you raised your body until your upper half was out of the truck. You saw fired your gun and hit as many as you could as Hyunjin drove into the fence, breaking it open. You heard firing behind you and watched gunfire fly below you as Woobin and Chan shot at the walkers. More gunshots rung in your ears from the others in the other car. Hyunjin hit the breaks and you hopped out from the sun roof and stood on the car, shooting down the walkers that ran out.

“I see you Y/N!” Felix yelled as he got out of the other truck, his eyes sparkling.

You smiled as you hopped down and followed the group to the entrance. Chan took the lead and took a deep breath.

“You okay?” You asked.

“All Hell is about to break loose.” He said.

“We’re right here with you Hyung.” Felix reassured him.

Chan smiled as Changbin took up the spot beside him, giving him a reassuring nod. Chan took a deep breath before kicking the door open, sending a walker flying from the force. Snarls and growls echoed throughout the prison as they all began to run for the group. You were in the middle of the group, Hyunjin and Woobin protectively on either side of you. Walkers dropped left and right as you all made your way to the infirmary.

“Y/N, Woojin, go in the infirmary and get what we need! We’ll hold them off!” Hyunjin yelled.

You and Woojin ran through the infirmary door. Two walkers ran towards you both and you quickly put a bullet in the both of them before running over to where you had been stabbed. You froze when you saw Ed’s body, his face blown off. You shook your head and found the syringe he had used to stab you, your dried blood on it. You took a good look at it, seeing a dried, yellow fluid in it. You rummaged around until you found multiple bottles and syringes of it.

“I found them Woojin!” You yelled.

Woojin ran over and grabbed them, a smile on his face as he took one of the doctor robes and wrapped them all up in them and stuffed them in his bag. You both smiled at each other before running back out of the room. Hyunjin cracked one of his guns over a walkers head and then shot it point blank under it’s jaw. He looked back at you both and you smiled and nodded.

“Let’s get out of here.” He said. “Lets go!”

You all hurried down the stairs, your heart stopping when you realized how many walkers were coming.

“There’s too many! They’re going to catch up to us!” Minho yelled.

You pushed your legs harder as you headed for the exit. You turned your head and saw Woobin running up last. He turned around and watched asall of the walkers came charging, going to be able to get out of the doors. He looked at you before pushing you out.

“Thank you for everything, kid.” He said before slamming the door shut and sticking his gun through the handles.

“Woobin!” You screamed, trying to get to the door.

“Y/N don’t!” Hyunjin yelled, grabbing you and dragging you away.

“No! We can’t leave him Hyunjin!” You screamed as he lifted you and pulled you back to where the trucks were.

Woobin ran through the first floor, walkers grabbing and snapping at him. He felt a sharp pain in his thigh as one bit down on it. He grunted and smacked it’s head off the wall, before running into Chan’s office. He pushed over the desk and found the button under a false part of the rug. He looked up as the walkers rushed in, about to get him, when he slammed his hand down on the button, everything turning white.

“Thank you, Y/N.”

A loud bang echoed throughout the air as the prison went up in flames and fell as you cried out for Woobin.

“No! Woobin!” You cried, tears pouring down your face as Hyunjin covered you as smoke swept through the courtyard.

“He... Used the button.... He sacrificed himself...” Chan rasped, his eyes covered by his arms from the smoke.

You sobbed into Hyunjin’s chest as he clutched you tightly. Your hands gripped his shirt as your body shook. Grief filled your heart as you stayed in Hyunjin’s arms.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, his voice shaking. “I’m so sorry.”

[flutteringphalanges]

                                        Caught in a Riptide 

Summary: After the infamous Count Dracula is discovered and taken into custody by the Jonathan Harker Foundation, former nun and now guardian to her young niece, Zoe, Agatha Van Helsing is tasked with keeping tabs on the vampire after a mishap leads to his release into modern day society. Can Agatha remain levelheaded, or will fate turn her onto a new path?

Pairing: Dracula/Agatha Van Helsing

Rated: M

Read on FFN and AO3

A/N:  Hello Dracula fandom again! It's me, ya gal, who has way too many story ideas in her head. Anyway, I hope you guys will enjoy this one! This first chapter is very heavy on backstory so I promise future chapters won't be like that. I just wanted to set the scene. Alright, here we go! Feedback’s greatly loved and appreciated!-Jen

                                                Chapter One

Theology. Quite an expansive, intriguing study that, like a tree, holds many branches. Biblical, Systemic, Practical, all subjects that have been delved into for centuries. Perhaps one of the more fascinating topics centers around Renaissance theology-more importantly, the possibility of a love bond between man and demon. Outwardly, the aspect of falling in love with something deemed evil is seemingly preposterous. But can a singular trait be forced upon another? At what point can romance, love, conquer these barriers? Is it possible to find humanity in such dark things? These questions must be kept in mind as two unlikely paths cross, testing these uncertain waters. A riptide.

Agatha set down a plate of eggs and bacon onto the table. It was early in the morning-a school day, and getting her niece ready and out the door in time to drop her off before heading into work was a task in itself.

For nearly three years, Zoe had remained under her care. It had been a tragic car accident that took the lives of her brother and sister-in-law, and seeing as they had no other family, Agatha left St. Mary's Convent to take in the seven year old. There were no regrets to be held. The woman dearly loved the child. But returning to society and seeking out a new job had been difficult. That was, until she found the Jonathan Harker Foundation. Or rather, they found her.

"Zoe," she called out, pouring a glass of orange juice. "Come on, we can't afford being late again today."

"I'm hurrying, Aunt Aggie," chirped a voice down the hall. "I was getting dressed!"

A small girl skidded into the kitchen, her mismatched socks causing her to nearly glide into the counter. Agatha grabbed her just in time, the drink in her hand dangerously close to sloshing onto the floor. Zoe peered up at her aunt with bright, blue eyes and a toothy grin. Her hair, the same shade of chestnut brown as her aunt's, still tousled from sleep.

"Were you planning to go into school today with your hair like that?" Zoe merely shrugged, sitting down happily to her breakfast. Agatha snorted softly, her mouth curving into a small smile. "Well, start eating and I'll grab a brush. "We don't want people to think you live in a zoo, yes?"

"I wanna live in a zoo," the child replied, biting into a piece of bacon. "I like animals!"

"Then perhaps we can get a dog one day," the woman chuckled, booping the girl on the nose. "Now finish your food so we can get on the road."

The Van Helsing surname held quite a history to it, the most notable member Abraham Van Helsing. The man was a well accomplished doctor, respected by all who knew him. However, Abraham's interests extended far past the average medical background. In particular, his study and expertise on vampirism. On the infamous Count Dracula of Transylvania.

The legend had been passed down from generation to generation. Tales recounted of the dangerous beast. Yet, as time wore on, the words had become a mere myth. Silly stories meant to scare a child into being good. Nevertheless, Agatha found them truly fascinating. Memorizing. And even the slightest idea that they were possibly true sparked a flame within her.

For those reasons alone, Agatha found herself taking the three vows of a nun and joining St. Mary's Convent. A thirst to learn more by combining her own knowledge and the teachings of Christianity. If her great, great grandfather was correct, then her efforts would not be in vain. That she wouldn't seem so air-headed as her brother had claimed from the beginning when she invested everything into proving Abraham's legacy.

It was only years later that she finally found the one thing that tied the loose ends. The Jonathan Harker Foundation. The very institution that was right under her nose. An organization that shared the same ideals to her cause. If only she had learned about the mysterious medical facility with an underground secret from the start, how different things might've been.

Agatha pulled up to the curb in front of the primary school watching as other children hopped out of their cars and headed towards the main entrance like a school of fish. In her rear view mirror, she caught sight of Zoe freeing herself from the confines of her seat belt, humming a nonsensical tune she'd just come up with.

"Do you have your backpack?" Her aunt inquired as the little girl swung it over her shoulders. "Lunch box?"

"Mhm," Zoe nodded, gripping the fabric handle of the floral decorated bag. "I made sure not to forget anything this time!"

"Good girl," Agatha smiled. She really didn't want to have to rush out of another meeting due to a call from the school that she'd forgotten to bring her food. "Kisses." Zoe gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Remember Mrs. Avery will be picking you up today."

"But I don't want to go to Mrs. Avery's," the girl whined. "She makes me watch The Price is Right and it's so boring!"

"Maybe she'll have cookies," the woman replied. "You like her cookies."

"I guess," Zoe answered, letting out a long, dramatic sigh. "You won't forget to pick me up?"

"I promise as soon as I get off, I will head straight over there," Agatha said with a smile. "Before dinner. I'll make something nice. Say...pizza?"

The young girl seemed to perk up a bit. "Okay!"

"Now run along, I'll see you later," she said as the child opened the car door. "I love you."

"Love you too!" Zoe called out as she exited the car. "Don't forget me!"

Forget. The more Agatha thought about it, the more it stung. Zoe had only just turned four when her parents died. She, of course, had still been in Budapest at the time, unaware until a few days later when someone finally contacted her. Apparently the girl had been in nursery school when the wreck happened. She'd watched all of the other children go home, confused as to where her mother and father were. Hours she spent there, waiting to be picked up. Believing that perhaps her they had forgotten her. Abandoned her. Zoe had been forced to learn about death early on. Something no child should ever have to face.

It had been rough, those first few months together. She and Zoe hadn't exactly been well acquainted, seeing as the former nun lived in Budapest while she called England home. Agatha didn't have a lot of experience with children and it showed in the beginning. Things were awkward. She didn't know popular shows, toys, activities, but she tried her damnedest. For Zoe. And with time and the compassion she held, the two eventually grew very close. After all, they were the only family each other had.

The parking lot outside of the institution was semi filled as Agatha, finding her usual shady spot, fished her identification badge out of her purse. She frowned at the photo on the key card, noting how ridiculous wide and unnatural her smile was. Why couldn't she ever get a decent picture right? Shaking her head, she exited the vehicle and headed inside.

"Good morning, Joe," Agatha smiled, nodding her head. "Ted."

The two lobby guards looked up from their hot drinks, their attention turning to the woman. Things had been slow, relatively speaking. Not much excitement had happened since Agatha became a part of the Foundation. Which, she supposed, in a way was good. But she craved true confirmation of Dracula's existence. A need to have real, physical evidence on top of everything she'd gathered from her own exploration.

The long stretch of hallway leading through the locked doors and into the belly of the building was rather bare. Except for a single portrait-that of Jonathan Harker. He had a kind face, soft expression that was welcoming. And yet, each time she came across it and gave it a hard stare, something didn't sit right. A strange, unsettling feeling that despite the friendliness of it was almost off putting.

"Agatha!"

Just as the former nun began to slide her card through the reader, a young man hurried up to her. Dr. Jack Seward. He, like her, had been hired around the same time by the Foundation. Fresh out of medical school, Jack was a brilliant man paired with a caring heart. She thought very fondly of him, almost as if he were a younger brother.

"Hello, Jack," she greeted. "I thought you were taking the day off today. Weren't you supposed to visit an old friend…" she paused. "Lucy was it?"

The man visibly flinched and Agatha was momentarily taken aback. Had she said something wrong? Before she could ask, or rather, apologize, another researcher came bursting through the set of doors. Very winded. Very excited. Meg.

"Oh, thank god," she panted. "You're finally here!"

"I didn't think I was running late," the former nun replied almost hesitantly, glancing over at Jack. "Did we have a meeting or…"

"No," Meg waved her hand, shaking her head. "No, we found something! Off of the mainland!" The researcher's smile was wide, a look of excitement that one does not usually see that early in the morning. "They sent out a team! They found it, Agatha!"

"Found what exactly?" She still wasn't quite following the other woman. "What did they find, Meg?"

"The Demeter! The wreckage! We bloody found it!"

For well over a century, The Harker Foundation had been searching for the vessel. It was believed, as a few survivors claimed, that Count Dracula had been one of the passengers onboard the ship set for England. But disaster struck, and mayhem with it, and the boat never made it to port. No one had known of its final location. Until now.

"What?!" Agatha asked in disbelief. "Are you-are they quite sure?!"

"It bloody says The Demeter on the side of it," Meg laughed. "I don't know what else it could be!"

She might as well have been a child on Christmas morning. Finally something. Evidence. A missing puzzle piece to it all. Someone was laughing and it took Agatha a moment to realize the noise was coming from her.

"What else have they found?! Any indication of Count Dracula? Are you currently in contact with them?" Agatha began to bombard the poor woman with questions. "Is Bloxham out there?"

"It's been over thirty minutes since they last radioed in," Meg responded. "Bloxham says they don't exactly know the extent of it. But they've begun to put markers down. The news is calling for a storm, so we might be forced to come in early and return tomorrow."

A storm. One hundred and twenty three years since The Demeter disaster and they were going to let a bloody storm step in their way of searching? The corners of Agatha's mouth twitched into a frown and suddenly she found herself wishing she was out there along with them. Her impatience was not allowing her to rationally consider the safety of it all. What exactly did the ship hold? And more importantly, where was Dracula?

"I want to be kept updated," she finally said, in the same firm voice she used to scold Zoe. "If anything happens, even the most minute detail, I want to be made aware."

Meg gave her a nod. "I'll keep you posted," she promised.

"Thank you," Agatha smiled, turning to Jack. "I suppose this is one for the books."

As the day wore on, the former nun's restlessness only grew as she anxiously awaited for any word from Bloxham and the rest of the crew. To distract herself, she tried to focus on her notes. It didn't help much, but at least it was something. Glancing at the clock, she was surprised to see it was nearly time for her to pick Zoe up. As much as she didn't want to go, she knew she must.

"Please keep me posted," Agatha said, gathering all of her things from off her desk. "I don't care if it's the middle of the night, wake me up."

"They'll be coming back in soon enough," Jack said, grabbing her key card before it fell to the floor. "I'm sure you won't miss anything."

"Nevertheless, I want to be in the loop," she replied, exhaling as she adjusted her belongings in her arms. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jack. Hopefully we'll have something."

Not in a million years would she have believed that her research on Count Dracula would've gone this far. Upon moving to England with Zoe, she wasn't quite sure what to expect until the day she received the life altering phone call. Evidently, it wasn't just Abraham Van Helsing who'd been hellbent on studying Count Dracula. Even more surprising was that he was at least aware of the construction of the institution and its purpose.

Bloxham had been the one to reach out to Agatha expressing her condolences. It was clear, though, that her intentions went further than mere well wishes. According to the head researcher, the Foundation had first contacted her brother, who immediately turned them down. He'd never believed in the existence of vampires and found the institution just as absurd as his sister. It was only when the former nun agreed to a position, that the Harker Foundation finally had a Van Helsing heir.

Agatha walked up to the front door of the tiny, blue house and wrapped three times. Almost immediately, it swung open and Zoe through her arms around her aunt's waist. She acted as if she hadn't seen the woman in years, much less a few hours. Old Mrs. Avery had just made it to the door by the time the little girl had grabbed her belongings.

"Aunt Aggie, I missed you," she exclaimed. "You didn't forget me!"

"I'd never forget you," Agatha smiled, patting the top of her head. "Were you good for Mrs. Avery?"

"She was very well behaved," the older woman smiled. "Why, we five episodes of The Price is Right together! I've never met someone who enjoyed it as much as I do."

"There were cookies," Zoe explained. "Can we go?"

"Tell Mrs. Avery thank you first," the former nun instructed, giving the other woman a smile. "Thank you, Jane."

"Of course. Anytime, Agatha," Mrs. Avery replied. "She's always a joy to have."

Zoe sang loudly, and off key to a pop song in the back seat as Agatha drove them home. At least she seemed to be in a pretty good mood. By the time she started dinner, the sun had already begun to set over the horizon.

"James Hopkins blew milk out of his nose today," her niece informed her as Agatha set a plate in front of her. "It was pretty cool. But then he got in trouble."

"Well I certainly hope you won't try doing the same," she exhaled, joining her at the table. "Did anything else happen today?"

"Hm…" Zoe pondered. "I painted in art!"

"Oh? What did you paint?"

"A toad," she answered, taking a bite out of her pizza. "I glued googly eyes to it."

Just as Agatha opened her mouth to reply, her cell phone rang. Excusing herself, she stood up and retrieved the device from where it sat on the counter. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw the name on the screen. Jack Seward.

"Jack?"

"Zoe," came the voice on the other line. "They found him. They found Count Dracula."

[leolupus]

The Last of Us Au (3/4)

Fall

Winter

You were able to find refuge in one of the stores in an abandoned mall. As soon as you were able to help Ellie inside and on to a mattress while Yukio lead Callus the Horse in, you started searching for anything to stop the bleeding for Ellie’s wound. You were able to find duct tape in one of the drawers and used one of your clean shirts to cover Ellie’s wound while using the duct tape to hold it, buying you some time to search for a medical kit.

You told Yukio to stay and watch over Ellie and told Callus to watch over the two while you’re gone. You closed the garage gate to the store and locked it before you started your search for supplies in the mall.

Just when you started to lose hope, you spotted a military helicopter that crashed as you entered the center of the mall. As you made a cautious effort to get into the helicopter, you came out victorious with medical supplies needed to save Ellie.

On your way back to the store Ellie, Yukio, and Callus resides in, you run into some more survivors from the college that attacked you. Using your wits, you lured some infected towards the group to take each other out before taking care of the ones who survive.

When you got to the store, you notice how there’s more survivors, on of them trying to break open the lock you put on the garage gate. You took care of them, but before you could open the garage, more survivors came.

Being pissed off about this, you initiate a shoot out with them. The gunshots attracted some infected, so not only do you have to deal with the survivors, but with the infected as well.

While all this was happening, Yukio became concerned for your well being. Out of instinct to help, she tried to open the garage door with her good arm, but couldn’t for it was locked by you on the other side. So, here she was pacing back and forth wondering if you survived or not as the gunshots slowly ceased.

There were only silent as she waited to hear anything from the other side. Just when she’s about to assumed the worst, she faintly hear you threatening out loud to not surprise you or else you’ll kill them just like you did with their friends.

The moment you unlock and open the garage door, Yukio immediately hugs you. You’re shocked at first before you quickly return the hug before making your way towards Ellie. You’ve stitched a wound before, not as bad as Ellie’s, but you sure know what you are doing.

As you finished stitching up Ellie, you told Yukio what happened and that the three (four if you like to add Callus the Horse) need to move as soon a possible.

Once done, you made a makeshift sled for Ellie to lay on, help Yukio get on Callus before joining her, then made your way to find a hideout to survive winter.

You were able to find a neighborhood in a Lakeside Resort and seek refugee in one of the houses. You started a routine for yourself: go out, search for supplies or hunt for food, return with said supplies/food, redress Yukio’s and Ellie’s bandages, sleep, and wake up to start said routine over again.

It’s a routine you stuck with for weeks; and throughout the time Ellie remains unconscious, you and Yukio snuggle against her to keep her and each other warm throughout the cold night.

For weeks, all you focused on was keeping the four of you alive. You rarely talked to Yukio, the only time you do is during the nights before you fall asleep. To say the least, Yukio feels like you’re drifting away again, just like before.

One day, you were able to catch a rabbit and a deer... well, you injured a deer before you tracked it down as it was slowly dying. You found the deer collapsed near a barn next to an old coal mine.

As you approach the deer, you heard footsteps that weren’t your own and immediately draw your bow and arrow towards the sound. You order those who were hiding to come out.

Two men come out, both showing their hands to show they are unarmed and said they just want to talk. You cut to the chase and asked what they want. One of them introduced himself as David and his friend, James.

He mentions how they’re with a large group with women and children who needs food. You told them how you’re also have a group who needs to be fed as well.

David offers to trade any supplies in exchanges for some of the meat. You asked if they have any medicine and will give the whole deer if they bring antibiotics. David said that they do and offered you to follow them.

You shot that offer down, saying that he stays and that James go get the medicine. He must return with the medicine alone or else you’ll kill him.

With that decided, James left to get the medicine while you and David wait for him to return. Being the paranoid person you are, you ordered David to give you his rifle, which he complied. He suggests you wait in shelter away from the cold. You agreed and told him to bring the deer.

David tried to get to know you, but you refused to give him any information about you. Before long, the two of you were ambushed by infected and David revealed he has another gun on him to kill the clicker that was about to attack you. He apologize for that before the two of you fought off the infected.

The two of you were able to fend off the infected, David making a comment about how the two of you made a great team while you told him it was just luck; but he says that there’s no such thing as luck and that he believes everything happens for a reason.

He then tells you about how a few weeks back he sent a group of men to search for food in a nearby town... only a few of them came back saying how the men were slaughtered by a trio of teenagers; but the craziest thing is that only one of the teenagers took on the ones that went after them.

You noticed how this story is similar to what happened to you a few weeks back. You immediately aim the rifle at David, who remains calm and told you it’s not your fault, that you’re just kids. He then order James to lower his gun, which caused you to point the rifle at James.

James did not want to let you go considering how you kill (in self defense!) his people. David again ordered him to lower the gun and give you the medicine. James mentions how the others won’t be happy and David said he’ll worried about it. You picked up the antibiotic and before you left, David says you won’t survive that long, but that he can protect you. You disagreed and quickly made your way to Callus.

You made it back to the house you reside in, and brought Callus inside the the garage before making your way to the basement. Yukio’s glad to see that you made it back safely and gave you the news that Ellie’s still alive. You gave her the news that your were able to get little food, but was able to get some antibiotics for her and Ellie.

Yukio was glad to hear that, but wonders where you got them from. You told her it doesn’t matter right now as you prepare a dose for her before injecting it to her shoulder. To say the least, Yukio’s shoulder was able to heal to the point to where she’s able to move it with slight pain.

You then did the same for Ellie. You gently moved her hand from her stomach and moved her shirt up just enough to reveal the stitches on her stomach. Ellie flinched as you inject the antibiotics to the wound, which you apologize and said it over as you lowered her shirt and cover her with a comforter.

Both you and Yukio snuggle against Ellie, and as much as Yukio wants to question where you got the medicine, you were tired from today’s event.

The following morning, you and Yukio woke up to voice outside. You immediately got up and check outside to see a few of David’s men out in the street. You cursed, saying that you’ve been tracked before telling Yukio that you’re going to lead them away.

Yukio wanted to argue with you, but you said that’s there’s not much time. You told her to stay with Ellie to protect her and that you promise to come back.

You took Callus and rode into the neighborhood hoping to get their attention. However, you were taken by surprise when one of the men snuck and grabbed a hold of you. You were able to kick him off before making your escape, catching the men attention and leading them away from the house Yukio and Ellie were in.

Yukio could hear the sounds of gunfire and you shouting at them to come after you. She so badly wanted to go out there and start shooting back, but can’t for it will draw attention towards her and Ellie, something that you are trying to get away from them.

You weren’t able to get that far as they shot Callus, killing him as you to fell down the hill. There’s no time to mourn for him as you quickly made your way towards the cabin.

While taking out men along the way, you heard how David wanted you alive, but the others want revenge for what you did back at the university and mall. You made it to an inn and just as you were about to leave, David showed up behind you and start choking you, forcing you to fall unconscious.

You woke up sometime later, locked up in a cell. You then heard the sound of chopping and looked outside your cell to see James butchering something. You then noticed him slide off a severed arm off the table and onto the floor next to other arms.

You’re shocked, almost disgusted about the fact that this man is cutting up another human being. He turned around when he noticed a sound from you before scoffing at you as he leaves the room. You then tried to forcefully open the gate despite it be chained and locked.

David then showed up into the room, causing you to back away from the gate. He gave you some food, promised that it was just deer meat when you asked if there was human meat along side.

You ate it as David talked, mentioning about the number of men you and your friends killed. You told him that they didn’t give you much of a choice while he respond if you think they have a choice.

He then started comparing his group with yours: how both of you kill to survive, how the both of you have to take care of your own by any means necessary.

You don’t like how he’s comparing your group with his, so you change the subject by asking if he’s going to cut you into little pieces. He told you that he rather not and ask for your name once more, which you refused to give.

He then told you how he’s been honest with you all this time, and how it’s your turn to be honest as well if he’s going to convince the others that you can turn around. He goes on about how you were someone with a heart, that you’re loyal, that you were... special.

You broke his finger the moment he put his hand on the bar before trying to grab his keys. You failed and only gotten yourself hurt as David rants about you being stupid, that you’re making it difficult to keep you alive, and how is he going to explain to the others about his broken finger.

You then told him your your name, so that he can tell the others how (Y/N) is the one who broken his finger. Having enough with you, he then asked how you referred to them about cutting you into little pieces and that he’ll see you in the morning.

It was difficult to get any sleep that night. You can’t believe that you’re going to be killed and eaten by a bunch of cannibals, or the fact that you broke your promise to Yukio about returning later that day.

Yukio was pacing, worried about how you have yet to return before being surprised by Ellie suddenly woke up. Ellie tried to get up, calling for both you and Yukio, who is trying to calm her down. Yukio tells her to take it easy as she told her what is going on, how you’ve been leading the survivors that followed you away from them; but you have yet to come back.

Despite telling her not to, Ellie went outside, followed by Yukio, in search for you. Both were worried for your safety as Ellie calls out for you before Yukio could stop her. The two ran into some of David’s men that were about to leave before they made their escape as they fire at the two.

Ellie and Yukio killed most of them out of anger before capturing two of them to interrogate to know where you’re at. To say the least, it wasn’t pretty as the two (Ellie and Yukio) took their anger out on them to ‘soften’ them up before asking for a location. Once they got the location of where you are taken, both Ellie and Yukio killed the two men before heading out on foot to get you.

You were forceful woken up by David and grabbed you to set you on a table. You bit David’s hand in retaliation before they do so. While they both hold you down, you yelled out that you were infected before David could chop your arm off and told him that he’s now infected.

They didn’t believe you at first when you encourage them to look at your arm. David decided to play along as he strikes his machete inches from your head before rolling up you sleeve. When he did, both him and James were shocked at your bite mark as you mock David that “Everything happens for a reason”. While they were distracted, you grabbed the machete and slash at James before ducking behind table when David tried to shoot you.

You made your escape as James bled to death while David shoots at you. You found and grabbed your switchblade, a gift from your once alive friend gave you, along the way.

There was a blizzard once you got outside, perfect to use as an advantage as you make your way through the town. You heard from the men you avoided that not only were they out to kill you, but they have to evacuate women and children as well.

The town you were in was like walking through a maze without getting yourself killed by David’s men. You were able to enter an abandoned restaurant, but before you could leave through the front door, David found you and locked the exit before setting it on fire. The two of you fought, trying to kill each other before eventually knocking each other out.

Meanwhile, no blizzard is stopping Ellie and Yukio from getting to you. Both made it to the town you were in and fought their way though as they search for you. Along the way, they found your backpack with your belongings in one of the building amongst other clothes on shelves. They grew more determined to find you when they enter the next room to see human bodies hung up like pigs in a slaughter house.

You woke up to a building on fire. You were weak from all the beating and near slashes from David. You spotted his discarded machete under a booth not far from you. You slowly crawl your way to it before being kicked in the stomach by David before mocking to you that there’s no shame of giving up.

You still ignore him as you continue your way to the machete, who comments that it’s must not be your style to give up before kicking you in the stomach again onto you back. He then gets on top of you and starts chocking you. As he does, he tells you that you don’t know anything about him, how you don’t know what’s he capable of.

You started to panic, afraid of what he’s going to do to you, afraid to die. You reached for the machete, able to grab it before slicing David off of you. You then got on top of him and started hacking at his face.

You did this multiple times, not caring that you’re in a burning building. You just kept hacking again and again with righteous fury. You thought you hear your name before you were pulled away from David, voices telling you to stop.

You tried to struggle your way out of their grasp, telling who ever is holding you to “Let go” and not to touch you.

When Yukio and Ellie exited the building and saw another building on fire, they both assume that you were in it; and they were right as the two see you chopping a man’s face off the moment they entered the building. Ellie immediately ran to you and grabbed you from behind to pull you away before forcing you to look at her to know that you’re safe as Yukio kneel next to the two of you.

And that’s where the three of you reunited with each other: in a burning building, the two hugging you in order to comfort you. It was short since the three of you need to leave the burning building, to leave the town;and the three of you did.

You were never the same after that. You noticed, Ellie noticed, Yukio noticed, but you refused to acknowledge it at all.

You were no longer the person they met at the beginning of this journey: the cheerful, comic-loving person they know and love. Now you were someone who rarely speak, an empty shell of your former self, and it’s eating Yukio and Ellie apart.

Once Ellie was well enough to travel, they tried everything to not only cheer you up, but to get you to at least talk. Making jokes, telling you that they found another one of those comics, they were even able to find some batteries for your cassette player; but none of them got a reaction out of you.

The only time Ellie and Yukio hear your voice is when you wake up screaming from a nightmare at night, and it’s hurts them as they tried to calm you down. You don’t even cuddle up with the two for warmth anymore, preferring to sleep alone away from physical contact, not caring if you freeze to death.

Ellie learned the hard way that you no longer want physical contact anymore when she places a hand on your shoulder. This causes you to flinch as a quick flashback of David appears. You quickly shrugged her hand off of your shoulder as your breathing quickens. She is shocked at your reaction as you tried to calm yourself down; but before anything could be said, you immediately grabbed your bow & arrow and left saying that you’re going out to hunt.

You just can’t get the memories you have from the cannibals incident out of your head, the idea of what David could’ve done to you before you hacked his face with his own machete. You became more reckless, not caring what happens to you when you were endangered, and that scares the two girls you travel with.

*Unfortunately for you, Yukio didn’t learn the same lesson Ellie did. Yukio notices that you’re waking up colder and colder every day. She can see it in the way your hands shake.

*So, one night, after you fall asleep, she bundles you up in her arms. She’s missed holding you like this, to the point where tears well up in her eyes. She’s missed you.

*But, all good things must come to an end. The instant you wake up, you wrestle her away, and she’s just awake enough to see the look of utter betrayal in your eyes before they lose all emotion.

*You don’t move after that. At least before you were going out to hunt and gather, but now you’re frozen. It seems Yukio’s plan to warm you up had the opposite effect.

*“C’mon, don’t you have to pee or something?” Even Ellie tried to lighten the mood, but it’s no use. You’ve been through something worse than what life is already throwing at the three of you. You wouldn’t explain what happened before. You definitely won’t, now.

*Yukio breaks first. If you were even a smidgen less dissociated, you probably would’ve started crying, too, and comforting her.

*But you’re gone. Neither of the girls have seen anything like this. If you weren’t breathing, or blinking, they’d think you were dead.

*“I- I gotta go out for a little while,” Yukio announced one day. The food supply had been running low, but she’d stayed in hopes of you returning to yourself.

*Ellie sits with you.

*“You know she didn’t mean to hurt you, right?”

“...”

“I’m taking your silence as a yes.”

*“Do you plan to ever talk again? Or move? We’ll have to find a new safehouse eventually, y’know.”

*Being ignored by you hurts. Ellie hopes she’s never made you feel this way. She shut you out when you first met, she’d been instantly enchanted by you and that scared her to death.

*Now, you’re scaring her for different reasons. Very different reasons.

She still had emotions when she shut you out. They were rarely positive ones, but emotions none the less. You don’t show any emotions, just an blank state.

And for the first time in a long time, she cried. She cried as she apologized to you, for failing to protect you:

“I told you this would happen if you stayed with me! I told you I couldn’t protect you! I’M SORRY!”

Ellie dropped her tough persona and cried. She didn’t care she was showing weakness, she lost one of the people she fell in love with; and she didn’t ceased crying, at least until she felt arms wrapped around her

* “Ellie.”

* It was a soft, dry whisper, but there was no one else who could’ve said it.

* She sobbed harder, now with relief. She missed you so fucking much.

* “I- I love you,” Ellie finally admitted, stumbling over her tears. “I need you.”

* You just rubbed her back, and she eventually felt you begin to shake with tears, too.

* “I love you, too,” you told her.

* That’s when Yukio finally made her return.

Yukio stared as she sees you hugging Ellie as she cried. The first movement she sees from you in a long time is you hugging Ellie.

You looked over Ellie’s shoulder to see Yukio standing at the doorway.

“Yukio.” You called to her as you reach out one of your arms to her, silently asking her to join.

And she does, she holds both you and Ellie close to her as the three of you cried.

“I love you, Yukio. Both you and Ellie.”

“I love you too, (Y/N).”

* The three of you just held each other and cried for an unknown amount of time. It felt infinite and yet so short at the same time.

* After that, slowly but surely, things returned to normal. Well, normal under the circumstances.

* You haven’t told them about everything that happened yet, but you work with them to avoid triggers, and you’ve opened up about it bit by bit.

* It encouraged them to open up about their pasts, too, and the whole ordeal brought you all closer.

To be continued...

Author’s Note: Shout out to @negasonicteenageimagines for helping me out with the last two seasons as well as the previous two seasons! I’m not great when it comes to romance side of things, so I truly appreciate you helping me out with that.

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 12

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 12 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 12/? SUMMARY: The Doctor’s death is looming on the horizon and Elise is growing every day. What the Doctor doesn’t know is that he has 200 years to teach Elise all he knows. Amy, Rory, and River let Elise in on their secret, because River knows she will keep it. What will Elise do when he’s gone?

[A/N - I’ve been waiting for this chapter because it has one my favorite moments that I’ve ever written in it.]

As the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Elise were exploring they heard, “Thief!”

“Shush, shush, shush,” the Doctor said as they stopped.

“So, as soon as the TARDIS is refueled, we go, yeah?” Rory asked.

“No. There are Time Lords here. I heard them and they need me.”

“You told me about your people, and you told me what you did,” Amy said.

Elise didn’t understand what they were talking about.

“Yes, yes, but if they're like the Corsair, they're good one and I can save them.”

“And then tell them you…?” Amy trailed off looking at Elise. She knew the Doctor still hadn’t told her about what he had done.

“I can explain. Tell them why I had to.”

“You want to be forgiven.”

“Don't we all?”

Amy nodded. “What do you need from me?”

“My screwdriver. I left it in the TARDIS. It's in my jacket.”

“You're wearing your jacket,” Rory commented.

“My other jacket.”

“You have two of those? Can’t you just use Elise’s?”

“Hers doesn’t have all the apps I need.”

“Okay, I'll get it. But Doctor, listen to me. Don't get emotional because that's when you make mistakes,” Amy told him.

He gave her a lazy salute. “Yes, boss.”

Amy tossed him her mobile phone. “I'll call you from the TARDIS. Rory, look after him.” Amy walked off.

“Rory, look after her.”

The Doctor and Elise continued exploring.

“Daddy?” Elise asked.

“Yes Ellie?”

“What happened to the Timelords?”

The Doctor froze in his tracks. He’d been avoiding that question for years now.

“You always say that we’re the last of the Timelords. How is that possible?”

The Doctor knelt down in front of her. “Elise, you have to understand something. What I did…”

Elise looked at him confused.

“Do you remember the Naismith Mansion?”

Elise nodded.

“You escaped something called the Timelock. It was a device designed to trap the Time War in a moment. We can never go back to Gallifrey because it doesn’t exist anymore. There are only two Timelords left in the universe. Me and you.” The Doctor watched as her blue eyes filled with tears.

“So they’re all gone? Everyone?”

“I’m sorry.” Elise sniffled and wiped her face, trying to hold back the tears. Her entire family, all her friends. They were all gone and she’d never see them again.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her as she started crying. “I am so sorry,” he told her.

Elise tried pulling away from him, hitting him on the chest and shoulders.

The Doctor continued to hold her as she let out her anger and sadness. He never meant to do this to her. He never thought he’d have to face the result of his decision. If he regretted what he had done before, he regretted it even more knowing that he taken everything from the girl he now called his daughter.

The Doctor pulled her away from him to look her in the eye. “Ellie, listen to me. What I did, I did to stop it all. I regret it every minute of every day. I ask myself if I could have done something differently. I know apologies will never bring them back, but you are the most important thing to me. You are my entire universe. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you. As long as I am alive, I will protect you.”

Elise sniffled and he kissed her head.

Amy’s phone started ringing in the Doctor’s pocket. He stood up and answered it. “Yeah, it's around somewhere. Have a good look.” He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket and pressed the button, locking the TARDIS door.

Elise and the Doctor continued to search House.

“Come on. Where are you? Now, where are you all? Where are you?” the Doctor asked. He closed his eyes and honed in on the whispers of the Timelords. He pulled back a curtain and revealed a small alcove. “Well, they can't all be in here.”

Elise could hear the voices now.

The Doctor opened a cupboard and found the message boxes.

“Please do you read me?” “Structural integrity failure. Damage to dimensional stabilizer.” “If you can hear, come and help.”

Elise didn’t recognize any of the voices, but her hearts broke for them.

Auntie and Uncle came up behind them.

“Just admiring your Timelord distress signal collection. Nice job. Brilliant job. Really thought I had some friends here, but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead.” The Doctor turned to face them. “How many Timelords have you lured here the way you lured me, and what happened to them all?”

“House. House is kind and he is wise,” Auntie said.

“House repairs you when you break! Yes, I know!”

Elise could tell the Doctor was becoming increasingly angry.

“But how does he mend you?” He scanned Uncle. “You've got the eyes of a twenty year old.”

“Thank you.”

“No. Oh, no, I mean it literally. Your eyes are thirty years younger than the rest of you.” He pulled off Uncle’s hat, revealing two mismatched ears. “Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than you're left, and how's your dancing? Because you've got two left feet. Patchwork people. You've been repaired and patched up so often, I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you. I had an umbrella like you once.” The Doctor grabbed Auntie’s forearm.

It had the same tattoo as the box. A snake eating its tail.

“Oh, now, it's been a great arm for me, this.”

“Corsair.”

“He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle?”

“Big fellow,” Uncle agreed.

“I got the arm and then Uncle got the spine and the kidneys.”

“Kidneys.”

“You gave me hope, and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me. Basically, run!”

Auntie took off.

“Poor old Timelord. Too late. House is too clever,” Uncle told them. He walked off as Amy’s phone started ringing.

“Timelord stuff. Needed you out of the way. The boxes will make you angry. How could she know? Stay put. Stay exactly where you are.” He hung up and took off running.

They found Idris sitting there in a cage.

The Doctor walked up to the bars. “How did you know about the boxes? You said they'd make me angry. How did you know?”

“Ah, it's my thief and my little survivor.”

“Who are you?”

“It's about time.”

“I don't understand. Who are you?”

“Do you not know me? Just because they put me in here?”

“They said you were dangerous.”

“Not the cage, stupid. In here.” Idris raised up on her knees and put her hands on her face. “They put me in here.” She placed her hands on the bars and looked up at him, her face framed by the bars. “I'm the… Oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go…”

The sound of the TARDIS came out of her mouth.

“The TARDIS?” the Doctor asked.

Elise smiled. That’s why she felt so familiar!

“Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me.” Idris stood up. “I'm the TARDIS.”

The Doctor turned away from her and paced. “No, you're not. You're a bitey, mad lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box.”

“Yes, that's me. A Type Forty TARDIS. I was already a museum piece when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said…”

“I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known.”

“And then you stole me. And I stole you.”

“I borrowed you.”

“Borrowing implies the intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?”

The Doctor slowly turned back to her. “You're the TARDIS?”

“Yes.”

“My TARDIS?”

Elise hit him on the leg.

“Sorry. Our TARDIS”.

“My Doctor and my little Survivor. Oh. We have now reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock.” Idris stepped back from the bars and the Doctor soniced the cage door. Idris stepped out and walked up to the Doctor. “Are all people like this?” she asked.

“Like what?”

“So much bigger on the inside. I'm…Oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad.”

“But why? Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?”

Idris circled the Doctor, sniffing him. “Oh, it doesn't want me.”

“How do you know?”

“House eats TARDIS’s.”

“House what? What do you mean?”

“I don't know. It's something I heard you say.”

“When?”

“In the future.”

“House eats TARDIS’s?”

Elise giggled at their back and forth. It almost like watching him and River go at it.

“There you go.” Idris put her finger on his lips. “What are fish fingers?”

“When do I say that?” “Any second.” She took her finger off his lips.

“Of course. House feeds on rift energy and TARDIS’s are bursting with it. And not raw, all lovely and cooked. Processed food. Mmm, fish fingers.”

“Do fish have fingers?”

“But you can't eat a TARDIS. It would destroy you. Unless, unless…”

“Unless you deleted the TARDIS Matrix first.”

The Doctor laughed. “So it deleted you.”

“But House can't just delete a TARDIS's consciousness. That would blow a hole in the universe. So he pulls out the Matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and then it feeds off the remaining Artron energy.” Idris gasped. “You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now.”

“I sent Amy and Rory in there. They'll be eaten.” The Doctor pulled out Amy’s phone and flipped it open. “Amy! Amy? Rory? Get the hell out of there!” He took off running, leaving Elise with Idris.

“Are you really the TARDIS?” she asked.

“Of course I am.”

“What color is my blanket?”

“It’s blue of course. With gold threads in the shape of the stars.”

Elise smiled and hugged Idris.

Idris stroked Elise’s brown hair. She loved the little Timelord like the Doctor did.

As a daughter.

[boltjacksonstories]

LIVING AMONGST GIANTS!

I fight for survival amongst giants.

Every step was a danger to me. I had no home among the giants and made a new bed from night to night. I spent my days foraging and my evenings nesting with a watchful eye over each shoulder.

I didn’t know how, and I still cannot remember when it started, but I lived my life alone amongst giants back then. Real life giants. Mean, ugly, monstrous giants, often so tall and shadowy that I couldn’t make out their faces. They loomed over me everywhere I went. They seemed almost human except that they were large enough to squish me beneath their heel. And they wanted to squish me! They tried.

Every waking minute was a matter of survival. These giants shadowed over me like unsurmountable mountains. What’s worse, they hated me. Whenever they saw me, they would point and scream at me. They would chase me off stomping the ground and threatened to destroy me if I ever came near. I couldn’t tell if I was the only non-giant or just the only survivor. While I scavenged for food, I felt they would scavenge for me.

I developed a nervous disposition, you might say. Or perhaps you may call it an itchy trigger finger. Whatever you call it, loud noises made me jump. I’m became a cautious walker, always on eggshells. I’d often trip over my own inability to watch the road ahead of me, but hey, I’d rather trip over myself than be tripped on.

I was foraging near one of their settlements when I heard one approaching. I did what I could to hide but their strides are much longer than mine, so I didn’t have time. I recognized her as soon as she saw me… and I still don’t understand how. She looked so familiar, yet I’m not sure I had ever seen her before. She looked straight at me and, much to my surprise, did not seem to hate me. She looked me in the eye and asked what I was doing down there. Assuming this to be a trap, I told her that if she wanted to kill me then she should just go ahead and do it. I told her that I was tired of being down here. I told her that I’d rather die than keep living like this. She looked at me with even more confusion and asked me to follow her. I felt I had no choice, so I did.

I was shocked to find her shop filled, not with torture devices and large shoes, but with fantastic glass spheres as far as my eyes could see. At that time, it looked to me it looked to me to be the size of the entire universe. She told me to sit down. I looked at the chair leg that towered a hundred feet over me and told her I preferred to stand. She bent down and handed me a pair of glasses fourteen times my size. A strange thing happened, though, as her hand got closer to me. With the glasses in her palm, her hand shrank down to my size, right before my eyes. I was too stunned to move, so she put them on me.

The next thing I knew, the room that once encompassed the entire universe now seemed to me more of a cramped broom closet at best. She called to me from below my eyeline and asked me if I could see it now. I looked down and told her that I could. Not only am I not small, I’m actually the largest. She said that when she saw me so low on the street, she knew my vision was bad. I started laughing so hard that I cried. My new sight brought me new powers, and I knew it was time for revenge.

Before she could stop me, I was gone. I found every giant who ever tried to stomp on me and put them under my heel. I found every giant who ever pointed or screamed and me and I ran them off pointing and screaming. I was no longer living amongst the giants; I had become the giant.

During the melee, a loud crash caused me to trip. Old habits are hard to break. My fall caused an earthquake. That earthquake caused a tsunami wave, the crash of which destroyed the town. At first, I laughed, but then I saw the lady who had helped me struggling to escape the floodwaters.  I picked her up and started to apologize but she stopped me. She told me that this was why they were cruel to me: they were always afraid of me. She told me I had become the monster they feared. She told me I had no one else to blame.

I never knew the giants were afraid of me. I never knew that they were protecting themselves. I never knew that I could be a threat to them.

I tried to apologize again, and this time she let me. With her on my shoulder, I pushed the water back into the ocean where it belonged. We began to rebuild her town. At first it was only us two, but soon the other giants were able to help. It took some time, but we were able to rebuild what the wave had destroyed.

Many of the other giants forgave me. Some did readily, others needed more convincing, and others may never forgive me. I understand their hesitance. I am a giant, after all.

That woman and I are still dear friends. When we finished rebuilding, I took off the glasses she gave me and broke them in half. I handed her a monocle while I kept one for myself. I asked her to only give me the other half of the glasses when we thought it would be helpful to the giants. She agreed.

Broken glasses – that’s how I live amongst giants. That’s how I see the truth - I live amongst giants because I am one myself.

[shankmyman]

Frank roams Ormond, taking some time to think. He tosses his knife into a tree and it sticks by the blade.

A small startled yelp could be heard from behind the tree. A long, scaly, blue and orange spotted tail was visible from the side of the base of the tree. Frank narrows his eyes and goes to grab it, peeking around the side of the tree. A 5'5 blue and orange lizard could be seen behind the tree. She wore some weird dark blue clothing. The lizard looked fairly confused about... everything.

Frank smirks. "Hello there. Are you lost~?" He apologizes for almost hurting her.

"Hi! My names shuya!" Shuya exclaimed, "I am quite lost! Where am i? And whats your name?" Shuyas tail was wagging side to side.

He smiles at her, removing his mask.

"I'm Frank. It's a pleasure to meet you. You're in the realm of the entity now. Welcome~"

"Hi frank! Whats the entity? What is this place? What's on your neck?" Shuya asked, she seemed to be chock-full of questions and she didn't seem to sense franks flirty nature. Frank tries his best to explain.

"This is Ormond. Not sure what the entity is-it's kind of like a god. This thing on my neck is a tattoo."

"Whats a tattoo? Why am I here? Why am I asking so many questions?" Shuya asked, shuya obviously had a couple screws loose in her noggin.

Frank sighs softly, explaining as much as he knew to her.

"Alright! My knowledge is quenched for now!" Shuya exclaimed, "this place is weird. Thats a cool knife. Why is it so cold here?"

Frank doesn't bother to answer her question on why it's cold, hoping that the landscape of snow would give her all the knowledge she needed. Shuya looked at the ground.

"Oooooh! Its snowy! I don't like it. I'm really cold. Is there anywhere thats warm and comfy?" Shuya asked frank. Frank takes her hand and leads her into the lodge, where a massive bonfire is burning in the middle of the floor. Joey is smoking weed (as usual) Julie is sitting around with Susie and humming softly.

Shuyas eyes went wide before she ran over to the fire and sat down right in front of it. Her tail was wagging like a fucking maniac.

"Its so warm!!" Shuya exclaimed. Jake shakes his head. Frank smiles and tosses a blanket around her shoulders. "It is, isn't it?"

"It is! Oh yeah! Hi my names shuya! Whats your names?" Shuya asked the other members of the legion as she practically turned into a blanket burrito. Joey ignores her but Susie and Julie introduce themselves. Frank then introduces Joey.

"Hi Susie! Hi Julie! Is Joey mute? I have a friend who is mute, he's cool! And purple. And he has antlers. And he liked fish. He was great." Shuya rambled.

Frank shrugs. "He doesn't talk a lot."

"Okay!" Shuya said smiling. She was sitting yet she was always moving. She was just full of energy, it was like she ate an entire bag of candy in 2 seconds.

Joey hits that blunt. "Hey, you guys know that rings are just short straws?"

"Whats a straw?" Shuya asked joey, she was extremely confused on what the hell a straw was. Joey hits it again. "An elongated ring."

"Oooh! Like this but longer?" Shuya asked as she took this silver ring decorated with various glistening gems and pointed at it.

Joey nods. "Ye."

"Who would want such a long ring? You can't close your hand then." Shuya asked as she put the ring back on her hand.

"You drink through it." Frank chuckles.

"Why? Can't you just drink straight from the cup?" Frank shrugs. "I...don't know."

"Well its dumb. Just drink from the cup. Whatever if you get a couple splinters from the damn thing, its made of wood and you should be careful with it." Shuya said putting the blanket over her head.

Frank shrugs again. "People are weird."

"More like humans are weird... oh yeah, I'm hungry, is there something I can eat?" Shuya asked frank, "I haven't eaten in 3 days."

Frank shrugs. "You...don't really need to eat here."

Shuya gasped.

"What do you mean you don't have to eat???" Shuya asked extremely panicked, "thats the best part of the day! There's so many good foods! Elk! Bear! People! They all are so good! I refuse to believe that eating isn't necessary!"

Frank laughs. "People? Oh my, are you in luck. You can eat people here if you want to. We eat for taste, not because it gives us anything."

Shuyas face lit up immediately.

"Really???" Shuya asked happier than before, "YAY! Where are these people I can eat?"

Frank laughs.

"Oi, Spider god. You mind bringing us one?" The entity's tendrils pull a wriggling, fighting Dwight up through the ground and deposit him at their feet. "Here you are. An appetizer." He smirks. Shuya started to jump up and down in glee. She jumped onto dwight and started to eat the poor man like a rabid dog except with opposable thumbs.

Dwight's wails of agony make Joey come out of the lodge to watch. He tries to fight back, but his throat is soon torn out and he can't yell any longer, his cries turning to gurgles and then to silence. Shuya continued to devour the poor dudes body before she was satisfied. She ate a shit ton of the dude.

"He was delicious!" Shuya exclaimed as she jumped up and down in absolute excitement. Dwight's mangled body slowly begins to disintegrate after he dies. His arms and thighs were chewed down to the bone, and the skin of his face was torn apart, parts of his skull showing. His stomach had been totally torn apart, and his guts spread around him. The mess vanished completely.

Frank pats Shuya's back with a bright smile. "Nice." He couldn't help but feel a bit turned on by that sight. Damn. She'd absolutely decimated Dwight. He kind of wanted that. Shuya smiled wide.

"Thank you! But isn't anything like the time I killed a person, ate most of their body in front of one their friends, and framed the other friend for the murder." Shuya said looking at frank.

Frank smirks. "That's kind of hot. I've killed a lot of people too." He says it proudly, smiling softly.

"... no it wasn't hot, it was lukewarm at best that day." Shuya said bluntly.

Frank laughs. "That's...not what I meant." He goes back inside to sit down. Shuya followed frank back inside and sat next to the blanket. She didnt want to get the blanket bloody so she hoped the blankets warmth would just go over to her. The blood on her slowly disintegrates, and leaves her clean. Frank goes off somewhere to do something. Shuya looked at the flames for a bit.

"Hey... where did frank go?" Shuya asked. Joey snickers.

"Probably to jack off. He likes watching people get killed."

"What... what is that?" Shuya asked as she cocked her head to the side, "I have no idea what that is."

He takes his hand and makes the motion above his groin just once. "You know-?"

"Uh... What?" Shuya was even more confused now, "that didn't help me understand that at all."

He honestly doesn't know how else to explain it. "Male masturbation."

"Whats that????" Shuya asked even more confused, "im so confused..."

Joey gives up.

"Sorry, it's hard to explain."

"Im so confused... why are humans so weird..." shuya groaned.

"You right. But I dunno why. It's kind of irritating." Joey offers her his blunt. "Wanna try? No pressure." "What is it?" Shuya asked looking at the blunt of the good kush.

Joey explains."Drugs. Not addictive, just makes you feel all floaty and calm. Helps clear the head. You don't have to smoke if you don't want to."

"Whats a drug?" Shuya asked, holy shit was she oblivious to the world and its things. Joey sighs, and can't help thinking 'oh fuck, here we go again'

"It's a substance that causes pleasure when taken. There are worse drugs. This is called Marijuana. Or Weed. Or skunk. It's got lotsa names." He takes another hit, and blows it out his nose.

"No thank you but why do you use it?" Shuya asked.

Joey shrugs. "Keeps me calm. I've got a bad temper, and I anger easily. I'm just a better person when I do."

"Well if it makes you a better person and you aren't hurting anyone out of anger than you do you joey!" Shuya gave Joey a thumbs up and a smile. Joey smiles at her and gives her a thumbs up. Shuya went back to just being warm in blankets, Waiting for something exciting to happen.

Shuya got annoyed by the long time without things happening so she went off to go find frank. Perhaps he was done with what the fuck he was doing.

Frank wasn't done with his work, and when she opens the door he just looks up at her. "You kidding me? Can you knock?" He has his dick out, and had stopped mid-fap. Shuya cocked her head to the side.

"Okay," shuya said before she knocked on the door, "im bored. Wanna go do things?"

"lemme finish first." He nods at her. "Then we can go kill some survivors."

"Okay!" Shuya said before she closed the door and went back to the bonfire.

"That was weird. You humans are so weird." Shuya said as she sat down.

Joey can't help but crack up. Frank comes downstairs after a few more minutes, sighing softly. "Alright, let's go kill some bitches."

Shuya jumped up from the ground and cheered

"Yay! Let's go!" Shuya exclaimed before she ran out the building. Frank grins and runs after her, knife in hand. Shuya stopped.

"Wait... i have no idea where I'm going..." shuya whispered to herself.

Frank takes shuyas hand and leads her along.

"This way. We're gonna fight someone I hate." The other 3 members of the legion run up behind them, all laughing and chatting behind him.

"What did they do?" Shuya asked, "why do you hate them?" Shuya wanted to make sure that she wasn't gonna eat someone she was gonna regret eating.

"They're pricks. The dude broke my nose with a brick. And the girl beat me within an inch of my life." He snickers. "They're gonna come back to life, so don't worry about butchering them. That's part of the fun~" he hums and walks with her towards the shack. Shuya decided to go on ahead. She started to run but she tripped on a rock and fell into the fire. Shuya started to scream as she scrambled out of the fire, her clothes turning to char and her scales and flesh burning. Frank frowns.

"Hmm. That's gonna leave a mark." Philip runs away, afraid because he was literally made of wood. Frank reaches into the fire, grabbing her arm and trying to pull her out, but her flesh comes off in his hand, leaving the bones of her forearm bear.

"Oh." He drops the handful of charred flesh and sighs softly. "Well, she'll come back. I'll just end her suffering." He stabs her right in the forehead, breaking through her skull with brutal strength and twisting the knife, killing her almost immediately. Seconds later shuya showed back up in the campfire. She looked kinda dazed yet overall okay.

"Why'd you stab me??" Shuya yelled before she kicked frank lightly in the leg, "don't yall have a healer around here??" Shuya was getting more and more angry. Frank sighs.

"You were cooking. And I thought it would be best to end your pain." He frowns. "We don't have a healer, no. We just reincarnate."

Shuya lightly kicked frank again.

"Im gonna go do some recon, ill be back in a bit." Shuya said still pretty ticked. Shuya left to go to the area they were going to.

Frank nods, and fucks around with his gang. Shuya found the shack and knocked on the door.

"Hello?" Shuya asked. Annabell heard the knock.

"Someone new? I don't recognize that voice." Annabell muttered.

Jake looks to the door and shyly peeks his head out of it. "Hello?" Jake came face to face with shuya.

"Hello! I'm new around here and I was just meeting the other people here!" Shuya said with a smile. Annabell kept her eyes on jake to make sure he was gonna be okay. Jake gasps.

"Woah! I've never seen anyone quite like you before!" He seems mystified. "Your scales are rather pretty." He smiles brightly. "Welcome! I'm Jake...this is Annabell. And this is our home!"

"Thank you!" Shuya thanked jake before she took a look inside to see annabell on the bed, "wait a minute... i know you. You're the slave master killer in Vendar?" Shuya asked annabell. Annabell narrowed her eye.

"Yeah, what about it?" Annabell asked.

"Nothing! I was just wondering if I knew the right person!" Shuya said with a smile, " oh yeah, im shuya!" Annabell didnt trust this lizardfolk.

"Perhaps you should leave... we were in the middle of something important." Annabell said hoping that jake would get the whole 'dude i don't trust her'. Jake senses it and sighs softly.

"Ah...sorry....." He walks back to Annabell's side, hugging the doll he had in his arms.

"Its alright!" Shuya said before she went back to the campfire, "So uh... i don't think we should beat them up." Shuya told the legion. Frank frowns.

"And why not?" He had put his mask on, and was tossing his knife into a stump at his feet, then retrieving it, and doing it again.

"2 reasons," shuya said raising a hand with two fingers up, "1. They were cuddling and that just disrespectful to kill them, 2. The woman in there is a serial killer from where I'm from and she is pretty serious, she like... who's a really big serial killer known for stealing peoples body parts and turning them into jewelry and is somewhat cannibalistic?" Frank shrugs.

"I mean, where we're from, we four are a group of serial killers." He says it proudly. "We'd killed a decent amount of people before we got here, and the body count just keeps getting higher, trial after trial." He scoffs. "Besides, we reincarnate. Why should we care if she hurts us?"

"She's known for holding a grudge... she killed the person who got her into the slave system almost a decade after escaping slavery..." shuya said.

"pretty sure she already hates me. If you don't wanna do it, then we will." A half hearted "yeah!" Comes out of Susie.

"So what if she hates you? You can just ignore her and her boyfriend. You don't have to even associate with them if you don't want to." Shuya said trying to difuse the situation.

"no, that's not possible. If he gets matched with me in a trial, I have to kill him." He sighs. "the situation's gonna happen either way. Besides. I hate em."

"I'm sure she understands the whole situation of being forced to kill people that you would rather not," shuya said, "i could talk to her if you would like." Frank growls lowly.

"I enjoy it very much, thank you."

"... frank. I will tell the entire group what I saw if you fucking go over there and hurt them. Apperantly that's disgusting to humans so yeah." Shuya threatened. Frank shrugs.

"Bold of you to assume they havent seen me doing that before."

"Bold of you to assume that I still have an idea what you were doing and why." Shuya said to try to change the subject.

"I was pleasuring myself." He humms, not really giving a fuck because he knew he was a disgusting person.

"WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?" Shuya yelled in pure confusion, "THE MONASTERY DIDNT PREPARE ME FOR THIS!"

Frank laughs. "Yeah, if you were at a monastery you wouldn't know. Do you even know what sex is?"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??" Shuya yelled even more confused.

Frank can't help cackling as he gives her a crude rundown of sex ed. If Sally could make a face, she'd be looking incredibly disgusted right about now.

Shuya was still not understanding.

"I still don't understand!" Shuya yelled, "that sounds fake and if it was real it sounds painful and dumb!"

"Want me to show ya-?" Frank laughs, but Joey grabs the back of his hoodie and pulls him back. he'd been leaning closer to Shuya.

"No! It sound painful and I bet it makes you shit out eggs!" Shuya yelled.

"it's not painful if ya do it right!" He laughs. "and you won't shit eggs-!"

"How do you know you virgin!" Shuya yelled.

"Bold of you to assume I haven't slayed coochie before!"

"BOLD OF YOU TO SAY THAT IN LEG EATTING DISTANCE!" Shuya yelled before she fucking dived and started to devour franks leg.

Frank moans. "Oh fuck yeah~"

Shuya stopped and moved a couple feet away.

"You know I thought you were kinda cute and nice but you're just another one of those people you find drunk at a tavern!" Shuya hissed, "i thought you were cool but you're really not!" Shuya then yelled what can be guessed is a slur in a different language. Frank frowns and sighs.

"Ok." He turns and leaves, limping away-heading back to the lodge. "Ugh..." He didn't show it, but that really hurt. Shuya had a 'holy shit that worked' moment. She felt accomplished yet... disappointed. She was sad that the first person she met in this realm ended up being a dick. Shuya walked away from the campfire, found an uninhabited area and claimed it for herself while Frank runs off to hide so he can cry. Shuya made a small shelter and she felt... really sad. Shuya shook her head and went back to her business. She made a small campfire. The teen killer bandages up his wound, sterilizing it so that he wouldn't get any kind of infection. The pain makes him wail, but he recovers rather quickly. Shuya sat next to her small fire, she felt bored and just... no, no no, he was a dick so she shouldn't go find him and apologize... she went and started to look for frank. Frank was sitting silently in the lodge, wiping the occasional tear from under his mask. Shuya knew she wasn't gonna be welcome in the lodge after what just happened but it was the only place she thought he would go. Shuya attempted to scale the side of the building with no windows nearby. Frank didn't care regardless and lays down on his mattress, facing the wall and trying to fall asleep. He didn't bother trying to remove his mask. Shuya got to the balcony and snuck through the place. She found frank and she started to regret even coming into vicinity of the building. She walked over and sat down quietly.

"Im sorry, frank." Shuya apologized to frank. He ignores her completely, pulling the blanket tighter to his body. "I didnt mean any of it... i was angry and... i take full responsibility for what happened... im... really sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?" Shuya felt extremely guilty for everything.

"Nothing, go away." His voice cracks halfway through the sentence, and trails off at the end like it was difficult got him to speak. "Im not leaving," shuya said, "youre hurting and I don't want you to." Shuya set a hand on franks shoulder gently. He flinches away at the touch.

"Just leave."

"... when you're ready, come find me... im not that far from the campfire..." shuya said before she left through the window and went back to her new place.

Frank continues his ugly crying fit until he's done, and then takes a nap while Shuya went under her little shelter and laid down. Soon enough, Frank goes to see Shuya. He's limping rather badly, and hides it badly. Shuya was sitting in front of her little fire. She looked up to see frank, obviously limping.

"Hey frank, welcome to my new home." Shuya said as she stood up. He flinches a little bit as she stands up, growling softly. "Urgh."

"How about we sit down," shuya suggested, "maybe that will make talking easier." Frank plops down across from her with a pained sigh. Shuya sat back down.

"I need to ask, you don't seem to care what people think of you yet... why did my words hurt you?" Shuya asked. Frank sighs.

"I don't know."

Shuya sighed.

"Im... really really sorry," Shuya apologized, "I didn't really mean any of it, I just wanted to make sure you didn't do something you would regret... but I ended up doing something I regret... could you ever forgive me?"

Frank shakes his head.

"It's fine." He sighs. "I'll live. And I don't regret." He frowns, slipping off his mask. He looked like he'd been crying, and his nose was running so he wipes it away on the back of his hand. Shuya crawled over, sat down next to him, and hugged him.

"I don't think you're okay." Shuya said as she raised a hand up to the side of franks face. Frank sighs. "Don't pity me." He flinches at the touch of her hand on his cheek. "Pity? I don't think I'm pitying you," shuya said as she lightly rubbed the side of franks face with her thumb, "i think im comforting you. There's a difference, like stalking someone and regularly breaking into their house."

Frank sighs. "You wouldn't comfort someone you didn't feel bad for." He can't admit it, but he did like her gentle touch.

"Would you rather be pityed and comforted or not pityed and alone?" Shuya asked. He frowns. "You...got me there..."

"Nobody wants to be alone," shuya said, "even the most serious of people need to have someone to talk to." Frank goes silent and lets himself relax. "I'm sorry for saying such nasty things to you...before."

"To be honest I don't even remember what we were yelling about. I only remember you being sad and me being mad. I don't remember alot of things." Shuya said. Frank nods.

"We both said some rather mean things."

"What did I say?" Shuya asked genuinely curious about what she said.

"you bit my leg, I moaned, and then you told me that I was 'just like the men at the tavern'. And then you cussed me out in another language." He sighs. "After you asked what you caught me doing... I tried to explain, but you're really dense..." He speaks rather angrily, not quite realizing how mean he sounded. "... I don't remember any of that, and you sound really mad," Shuya said as she put her hand down, "but I guess you're right about the dense part, my old leader joy would yell at me because I didn't understand my part of the plans sometimes." Frank calms his voice.

"Sorry. You didn't deserve that outburst." He sighs and looks away.

"its okay!" Shuya said, "sometimes you just gotta yell." Shuya smiled. Frank nods and just sighs.

"Ugh."

"What wrong?" Shuya asked, She was still pretty energetic. Frank shrugs.

"My leg hurts. And not in the good way."

"This is why we have healers! Oh wait... we don't have any healers here..." shuya said.

Frank nods, chuckling softly.

"Are we gonna have to cut your leg off?" Shuya asked.

Frank shakes his head. "You could kill me."

"... oh yeah!" Shuya exclaimed before she tackled frank and absolutely decimated the dude. Frank stays still, trying not to moan as she tears him to bits.

Shuya continued to eat frank, she didnt even notice any sound coming from frank. He soon dies, laying there underneath her.

Shuya didn't seem to notice that frank was dead until it turned to dust.

"Awww..." shuya groaned as she stood up.

Frank stumbles around to the campfire, dazed from having been killed. He rubs his head and groans.

Shuya turned around to see frank, dazed and stumbling. Shuya ran up and hugged him.

"Heyyy!" Shuya exclaimed. Frank hugs her back tightly, if only to catch his balance.

"Hugs!" Shuya exclaimed before she blepped. Frank bleps back, laughing softly. Shuya smiled wide before she lightly headbutt frank before he laughs and gives her a light noogie. Shuya giggled. She tapped frank before running off.

"Tag you're it!" Shuya exclaimed as she run off. Frank laughs and gives chase. Shuya hid in a pretty good spot so she didn't have to run the whole time. She watched frank look for her for a bit. Frank plops down on the ground after awhile of searching.

Shuya snuck behind frank and tackled him.

"Hey Frank!" Shuya exclaimed, "that was fun!"

Frank laughs and nods. "Yeah!"

"Do you think the other would wanna play???" Shuya asked very excitedly, her tail going absolutely insane.

Frank laughs.

"Maybe! We'll see!"

Shuya jumped up and down in excitement.

"Lets go let's go!" Shuya exclaimed as she started running to the lodge. Frank makes pace easily with her. Shuya and frank made it to the lodge and shuya went into the lodge. She was asking them extremely fast but it was too fast and excited to even attempt to decipher her. Frank regurgitates a similar message, and both Julie and Joey jump at the opportunity, while Susie resolves to count scores.

Shuya was so excited and happy, she was practically vibrating in excitement. They start up the game. Joey is it, and he moves with frightening speed as he rushes towards Shuya. Julie hops up a tree and Frank runs away.

"Oh shit!" Shuya yelled before she ran off in a random direction. Hopefully the years of running around the monastery would keep her from getting caught. Joey rushes after her, laughing softly and tossing his knife into a tree. He uses it as a foothold and hops up into it, tackling Julie out of it. They land in a pile of leaves and Susie ticks it off. Julie runs off to try and catch either Frank or Shuya, searching through the brush like a predator. Shuya started to hide. She listened for footsteps and overall human sounds. Frank jumps out at her from the shadows. "Shhhhhh." Somehow he'd approached her silently.

Shuya stayed quiet.

"Why did you jump at me???" Shuya signed out.

"dunno." He signs back, laying beside her on the brush.

"Im guessing you're not it?" Shuya signed before she peeked around the tree.

Frank shakes his head. "not the case, my dear."

"So... you're it?" Shuya signed as she backed away a bit.

"no, I'm not. Julie is."

"You signed the wrong thing you stinky rat." Shuya signed with a smile, it wasn't really sure if she was joking about the stinky rat thing. Shuya moved back to where she was behind the tree. Frank feels insulted but doesn't betray it. "Rude." He says out loud. "Jules, she's over here!"

Shuya started to run in a random direction because holy shit she wasn't gonna lose. Frank gets tackled from behind by Julie. "Oof-"

Shuya ran past the campfire and stopped for a second.

"Hey...! Sorry about earlier...! Bye!" Shuya said out of breath before going back to running. Frank chases her, a stick in his hand. He seems frenzied, and bops her lightly over the head as he chases her.

"Hey! Don't hit me with a stick!" Shuya yelled at frank.

Frank smacks her again as he gets closer, then tosses it to the side and tackles her. They spin midair and it's Frank that hits the ground first.

"Owie..!" Shuya groaned, "oh no! Frank are you okay?"

Frank nods.

"Mhm. But you lost." He laughs softly.

"Technically I win because I was the last to get caught!" Shuya exclaimed with a smile. Frank frowns.

"You're right...fuck." he lets her go and just lays there. "shit."

"Yay! I win!" Shuya exclaimed but she noticed frank looking bummed out, "hey... whats wrong?" Shuya poked frank.

Frank shrugs. "Nothing. I'm a sore loser. Nice job."

"Well you got second! Thats still good!" Shuya said with a smile.

Frank shrugs. "Yeah, I guess."

Shuya smiled, stood up, and held her hand out.

"Wanna go back to the others?" Shuya asked with a friendly smile. Frank takes it and nods, standing up to follow her. Shuya kept holding franks hand when they got back to the others. Frank doesn't willingly let go of hers and whispers something that's barely auditable.

"Step on me."

"Huh?" Shuya was extremely confused, she barely heard him and wasn't sure if she heard him right, "what did you say?"

Frank hums. "Stop holding." He drops her hand.

"Oh sorry!" Shuya said as she stopped holding his hand. Frank smiles.

"It's ok." He goes back to the group and immediately gets locked into a noogie by Julie. Shuya skipped on over with a wide smile.

"That was alot of fun!" Shuya exclaimed.

Joey laughs. "yeah. It was." Frank tries to fend off Julie to no avail.

"I haven't ran that much since I angered joys dire wolf!" Shuya chuckled, "fenrir was always feisty!"

All four teens look confused by this. "Like...the Norse wolf titan, Fenrir?" Susie speaks up.

"Huh? No fenrir was big but he wasn't THAT big. He's only as tall as joey." Shuya said not understanding what's going on. Joey oohs. "Damn. That's a bigass dog."

"Yeah but fenrir wasn't the tallest in the group, not by a long shot. Our healer, galas is 8 feet tall. No joke, we measured." Shuya said with a smile. Frank oohs and climbs on Joey's back, making them both about as tall as Galas may have been. "Like this?"

"Yeah! Now the opposite of galas was our other healer, rabies. She was about... 3 feet tall? Something like that." Shuya was excited to talk about her friends. Frank settles down on Joey's back and hums softly.

"That's cool! Very short."

"Yeah, she had some fixation on 'flirting with people? She actually spent a night with the captain of the city guard in a city we were staying in. No idea what they were doing but she got info from him." Shuya said with a smile.

Frank snorts at that. "oH?!"

"Yeah she joined the group at the same time as a tabaxi named mikaela. She stole an entire stores products in the night once with the help of our leader joy. She got alot of money out of it though." Shuya said. After a while shuya ran out of people to talk about. The teens nod along with this story, Frank smiling at her the whole time.

"And that's the story of how Joy killed king Matias!" Shuya exclaimed, "anyways I think that's all the storys of my group of friends! Other than the stuff I promised joy to not talk about." Frank laughs softly and hops off Joey's shoulders to walk over and take Shuya's hand again. Shuya smiled and held onto franks hand.

"Im getting cold. I don't like being cold. I really don't like being cold. I wanna go back to a place with warmth." Shuya rambled about being cold. Frank takes his coat off and puts it around her shoulders. It was rather warm inside.

"Here, I'll take you back to the lodge."

"Ooo this is really warm. I like it! Actually I love it! Very warm. Alright, lodge time." Shuya said as she stood up, "time for warmth. Warm warm. Warmth time." Frank holds her gently to him as he walks, trying to keep in her warmth. Shuya was happy and getting warm. When they got back to the lodge shuya plopped down right in front of the bonfire. Frank sits beside her, smiling like a giddy child. Shuya curled into a scaly ball on the floor just enjoying franks jacket and the fires warmth. Frank lays down behind her to cuddle her. Shuyas tail finally stopped moving and she was now really calm. Frank holds her close to him, sighing contentedly. Shuya flipped herself to face frank and hugged him for more warmth. Shuya ended up resting her head on franks chest. Frank gently pats her head, holding her close.

Shuya smiled as she got head pats. She started to make some clicking noises, it was the lizard equivalent to purring. Frank smiles at this and holds her still closer, petting her head with one hand and holding her close by her waist with the other. Shuya looked up at frank and blepped again. Frank cuddles her gently, keeping her warm. Shuya lightly headbutt frank. Shuya slipped out of franks grasp and started running.

"Im not giving this back by the way!" Shuya yelled before she ran out the building laughing. Frank groans and just lays there. He'd loved having her in his arms, but...now she was gone, and he was cold. He curls up on the floor. He'd have to steal back his jacket sometime. Shuya stopped when she realized frank wasn't gonna chase her. Shuya frowned.

"I left warm area for nothing? Aww..." shuya groaned. Frank sits up and warms his hands at the fire, shivering a bit.

"Urgh...so fucking cold here-" Shuya walked back to find a very cold frank. She sneaked over to frank and hugged him from behind. He blushes, and then smiles at this.

"Heh~ thanks." He was shivering.

"Ill be right back." Shuya said as she ran over to franks bed, took the blanket, ran back, and wrapped the blanket around frank and herself. He pulls her into his lap, tucking his face into the nape of her neck. Shuya smiled as she wrapped the blanket like a loose burrito. She loved physical affection but she didnt really understand vocal affection. He holds her tightly, so incredibly touch starved that he longed for her touch. Shuya giggled as frank tightened his grip around her. Shuya didnt fully understand why frank was holding her so closely but she really liked the attention. Frank just hugs her, trying his best to keep himself from being horny to her and basically just cuddles her. He felt...strange around her. And not in a gross way. He felt warm, and fuzzy. She was like chicken soup for his soul. Shuya started to lizard purr/click again. Shuya was so happy in franks arms. Shuya poked franks nose.

"Boop!" Shuya said with a wide smile. He laughs softly, and pets her head, in awe at the feel of her scales under his fingertips. Shuya looked up at frank again.

"Hey frank? Have you ever met a lizardfolk other than me before?" Shuya asked. Frank tells her he hasn't, and leans his head against her neck.

"Really? I don't think my race is rare... did you live in a really cold place?" Shuya asked.

"Where I'm from, everyone's a human."

"Really??? That's so weird! Wait... if everyone's a human where are are from... why didn't you freak out when you saw me?" Shuya asked.

"I don't care. I thought you might've realized that by now-" he chuckles softly.

"I thought you mightve realized I'm not smart." Shuya said bluntly.

Frank shrugs. "Smarter than me, I'd say. Just a little slow with retaining information."

"... joy says I'm an idiot. But I'm fine with that." Shuya said.

"you're not an idiot." He insists. Shuya stared at him for a bit.

"... why do you think that?" Shuya asked.

"everyone has issues with some things. I just think you need a little more time than other people. That doesn't make you an idiot."

"Thats a good wisdom," Shuya said, "thank you for the wisdom." Frank kisses the back of her neck. "You're welcome. I mean it. I don't think you're an idiot."

"What did you just do?" Shuya asked.

"I kissed you." He smiles softly. "Sorry...was that too much?"

"Being kissed is weird... do it again." Shuya said looking up at frank. He does it again.

"Usually, if you kiss someone, you'd do it on the lips, but I think this way is rather nice, too."

"Why on the lips?" Shuya asked, "that sounds like it would just spread mouth germs."

"it's a thing people do when they like each other. It's an affectionate thing. I'm trying to show you that I like you." He blushes. "Maybe...I love you?"

"Why?" Shuya asked, "is spreading mouth germs affectionate?"

"no...it's..." He sighs softly and just ignores her question, he just didn't have a good answer, kissing her neck again. "Mmn."

"What does it mean when you get kissed on the neck?" Shuya asked.

"Erm...usually it's strong affection, also a bit because that's all I can reach of you." He smiles nervously, holding her gently in his lap. Shuya moved so she was facing frank and she was still on his lap.

"Does this make it easier for you?" Shuya asked. He blushes brightly.

"Ah...I mean...do you like being kissed like that?" He was getting flustered. This was bad. He didn't want to drive her away.

"I've never really been kissed before so this is all new for me." Shuya shrugged.

Frank sighs softly.

"But is it alright? Do you mind it or is it bad?"

"Being kissed on the neck? It was weird but its alright." Shuya said. Frank blushes.