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perles-infinite-fictional-love · 2 years

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Milk Cookie x reader (part 9)

Content: Fluff, adventure, gender neutral reader, SFW.

Plot: You've been turned into a cookie by a witch. Milk Cookie doesn't know that you're human, but he's still trying to help you get back home! In this episode, you fight a dragon even though you have no experience fighting whatsoever.

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/304676013-milk-cookie-x-reader-by-my-side

(Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one. I'm still going through my finals BTW. I still write, but I might stop posting if my assignments don’t chill out in the next weeks. WHICH really annoys me because I was finally getting to the part of the story I’ve been SO excited for. I had so many ideas I was excited about for the next chapters 😭 I hate finals so much.)

"Y/N~... Y/N~..." Milk Cookie's voice gently pulled me out of my sleep.

"Huh..." I said, refusing to open my eyes.

"Look what I found~..." I heard him move something closer to me, and managed to catch the hot scent of... cocoa?

My eyes shot open so I could look at what the bowl of steaming chocolate milk he was holding. "What-... Where did you get that??..."

He was smiling excitedly. "I was taking a morning walk- everyone else is still asleep... I don't know why. I did tell Purple Yam Cookie to rest sooner... But anyway, I stumbled upon a formation of chocolate lava cakes! Some of them had their molten chocolate flowing out! So naturally, I picked a few marshmallows growing on sticks nearby and made breakfast."

"Oh... cool!..." I felt so hungry looking at it... Didn't eat much yesterday, the food was just.. so spicy.

"This is your bowl." He specified with an amused smile.

"Oh!! Oh thank you!!" Hot cocoa in a blazing weather didn't hit the same as drinking cocoa in the cold, but hey, cocoa is cocoa!

"Be careful though! it's very hot!"

"I'm fine! I've got this!...~" I carefully held the bowl, and slowly blew on my lava-infused breakfast.

"Ah..." He smiled a bit, looking at me fondly. "...How are you feeling for today's journey?"

"..." I took a moment to ask myself the same question... "...Actually... I feel surprisingly okay about it!... Even a little bit excited!..."

He beamed with one of his happiest-looking smiles yet. "Oh, that's so great to hear!... I have to say, It brings me much joy that you're enjoying our journey together, Y/N." He ended that sentence with a blush.

I stared at him with a smile, definitely blushing back. "...Well I'm... really happy you like it! I mean- that you like me enjoying you-- uh-... your... companionship...?"

He chuckled with amusement. "Indeed I do!..." He hesitated a little bit. "...I love traveling with someone who enjoys my stories!... Purple Yam Cookie is a good friend, but... sometimes I feel like my stories bother him a little bit..." He sighed, frowning a little for a moment, then stood up. "Anyway. Drink up! I'll wake up the others." He gave me a smile to end the conversation and left.

"...Your stories are great!..." I managed to blurt out just as he exited, but I'm sure he heard... I smiled and took a good sip of hot cocoa... it was still burning a little bit, but that was okay... This stuff was like coffee, the hotter it is, the more alive it makes you feel inside.

~~~

The trip was painful! What a surprise. The heat and climbing of out previous adventure, tripled. Milk Cookie was eventually carrying me over his shoulder, and surprisingly, I didn't even feel that guilty about it anymore. After all, he didn't sound tired, he still acted as optimistic as ever... Maybe my companion was actually strong enough to help me without inconveniencing himself... I was just grateful I could take a break.

But finally, we found it. Or at least we knew it had to be 'it'.

Giant gates of stone, decorated with the carving of a dragon spreading its wings and a ruby crowned by emeralds in the center, resembling the frame of the stone gates themselves, which was red and surrounded by flame-like green leaves... It felt surreal that the only greenery in all of the Dragon's Valley was on top of... a volcano.

Mala Sauce Cookie laughed with excitement, as Milk Cookie chuckled and set me down to pat my back.

"We made it, Y/N!" He was beaming with excitement. "It has to be it!"

"Yeah!... I think so too!..." I stared at the door with admiration. The surrealism of it all... The way it looked ancient, yet well-kept and colorful. Maybe it was because of the journey we had to go through to look at it, but it looked really cool.

"How do you feel?" Milk Cookie asked me eagerly.

"Huh?? Ah... Well, it was pretty rough, but... It's still kind of exciting!!..." I said with a guilty grin. "Uh, as long as I didn't give you any back pain!!"

He laughed in absolute delight. "Oh, not at all! Don't worry about me! You're very light, actually!" He said with a bright smile. I guess everything must feel light to him...

As we were talking though, Mala Sauce was already pushing the doors open to rush inside, shortly followed by Purple Yam Cookie.

We glanced at each other and quickly followed, as we entered the circle of volcanic stones floating in the middle of the volcano. Very reminiscent of an arena for a boss battle... And the heat. I think I would have been dead from a heat stroke if I were human at that moment. Thankfully, I guess cookies could endure heat better than humans, being born from ovens and all...

We looked around at the empty ground like a bunch of lost kids for a moment.

"WHERE'S THAT DRAGON!?" Purple Yam Cookie finally roared.

Mala Sauce Cookie was starting to look worried... but a shadow fell from the sky and crashed before us in a cloud of smoke.

Before the smoke even faded, two red glowing eyes opened to stare at us avidly. "Hhhhaaaaahhhhhh...." A voice hissed. "I knew I sssmelled.... Cookiesss..."

The smoke started to clear up, we could finally make out a... cookie. A cookie with dragon-like wings, fangs, a tail... covered in red-greenish scale-like leaves. White hair-like cream floated behind him, full of tiny black... seeds...? Ohh. A pitaya fruit. Of course...

I was a little bit disappointed, yet a little bit relieved.

"But whyy... do I also sssmell..." He took a long sniff... "A huumaann......"

I felt a shiver go down my spine, anxiety skyrocketing.

"Oh, my friend Y/N probably has a bit of a scent because they spend a lot of time around humans!" Milk Cookie said with a smile.

"....Hhrrrrr......." The dragon squinted a little.

"Dragon!" Mala Sauce Cookie finally spoke. "Is it really you!? The red dragon of legends!?"

"Mmmmm~..." He dragon grinned. "Yessss~ it is I~... Pitaya Dragon~ Basssk in my glory, cookiesss~..."

"Okay listen," Mala Sauce Cookie continued. "I'm here on behalf of my Tribe! Something strange is happening in the Dragon's Valley, and I know your powers can help-"

"Ahhhh... You ssseek a favor from me...."

"Well... yeah."

"Defeat me in battle!! and I will grant you your wishh!" He demanded, eyes glowing with excitement.

"Wh-what!?"

"It hasss been long sssince I've had a good battle... The lassst cookie that gave me a proper challenge wasss a real blassst!~... I remember hisss scent of chocolate..."

Milk Cookie gasped loudly. His mouth was as round as his eyes. "Dark Choco Cookie...! Dark Choco Cookie!! I knew He came through here!!" He was to the moon, the sugar of his eyes glittering with awe.

"Dark Choco Cookie defeated that dragon??" Purple Yam Cookie said. "...If he could do it, THEN I CAN!!" He roared, clenching his mace with a wide grin. "YOUR FLAMES ARE NOTHING TO ME!"

The dragon smiled widely with excitement at Purple Yam Cookie's reaction, and readied his sword. "Isss that ssso~...?"

"So we're really doing this, then... Are you all with me??" Mala Sauce Cookie said, turning to Milk Cookie and me.

"All the way!" Milk Cookie said confidently. "You have my shield!"

I just. stood there. Now regretting that I tagged along.

But there was no time for regret! Milk Cookie grabbed my hand and pulled me into the battle field!

"Ah- AHH! WAIT! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT!" I panicked, but I wasn't able to make him stop.

"You don't have to, but I'm afraid you must stay close behind me for me to guarantee your safety!" Milk Cookie replied.

This crazy guy charged at the dragon to block his sword with his shield. I was right there, awkwardly holding Milk Cookie's hand on the safe side of the shield, and I could hear the dragon's snarled breathing like it was right next to my ear...

The dragon distracted, Purple Yam and Mala Sauce Cookie were able to land direct hits on the dragon, causing it to roar and leave Milk Cookie to chase after his attackers.

"Milk Cookie, that's insane! You can't fight AND hold my hand!!"

"...Y/N, You trust me, don't you?"

".... Yes. But..."

"You'll be okay as long as you're close, I promise. Nothing comes through this shield...!"

"..." I stared at him, until the distant sound of metal clashing pushed me to choose quickly. "...Okay."

Just as the dragon opened his mouth wide, filling up with bright green flames, Purple Yam and Mala Sauce Cookie jumped behind us as Milk Cookie raised his shield and summoned his winged screen of light. A huge blast of flames flattened against the shield, but nothing came through, not even a bit of heat.

As soon as the flames died out, Purple Yam and Mala Sauce Cookie unleashed hell upon a surprised dragon.

Thank God we already had two reckless fighters in the team... Milk Cookie and I chased the action to block or tackle the dragon when it was needed. With Purple Yam and Mala Sauce Cookie throwing endless punches, the dragon never focused on us for too long.

Suddenly, as the dragon was starting to pant from his efforts, he burst out laughing and sank his sword into the ground. "Enough!... Count me sssatissfied, for now~... Come clossser, cookie of the Mala Tribe..."

My friends slowly lowered their weapons, hesitantly, as Mala Sauce approached the dragon. But as soon as he handed her what appeared to be a fresh scale from his own armor, we finally relaxed.

Milk Cookie took the opportunity to check on me. "...Unharmed!" He said with a smile. "See? Just like I told you!..."

My heart was trying to thump out of my chest from all the adrenalin and running, on top of all the heat and the climbing we did to come here. I felt lightheaded... "Hhh... Uh-huh... Yeah..." I replied, crouching over to pant and wheeze.

"Oh? Are you okay? Do you need some milk, Y/N?" Milk Cookie asked, blinking with a worried frown.

As Milk Cookie patted my back, the Pitaya Dragon Cookie spread his wings and flew away... Mala Sauce Cookie joined us with a serious, thoughtful expression.

"Why the long face?? Didn't we WIN??" Purple Yam Cookie asked.

"Yeah but... the dragon said this scale will only work for a while... He says that something weird is going on... 'unnatural collapse' he says... and that the Valley will continue to cool down..."

Milk Cookie frowned. "Oh... Mala Sauce Cookie... I'm really sorry..."

"...But then he said other dragons might have a better solution!"

"MORE DRAGONS!!?" Purple Yam Cookie said, then stared at Milk Cookie. "...Milk Cookie, I SWEAR, if you say what I think you'll say..." He growled through his teeth.

Milk Cookie stared back at him. Obliviously. "....We have to help her find the dragons, Purple Yam Cookie!"

"GAHH! THAT’S IT! ENOUGH!... You can’t keep helping EVERY SINGLE cookie we COME across, Milk Cookie!! IT NEVER ENDS!... We have our OWN QUEST, TO DEAL WITH!!” He growled, and walked away. “I'M LEAVING! I CAN FIND DARK CHOCO COOKIE MYSELF!"

"Purple Yam Cookie... wait!-...." Milk Cookie was interrupted as a low rumble came from below...

Purple Yam Cookie froze, tensing up.

The stone platform violently shifted under our feet, causing us all to lose our balance, yet Milk Cookie grabbed my hand by reflex.

“AHh-!!??...”

The lava under the stone lowered deeper into the volcano, taking us down like a rocky whirlpool... Within just a minute, it was already too late for us to climb out.

"...Oh... Celestials... No...!!!" Milk Cookie said, expressing panic for maybe the first time.

Purple Yam Cookie was not moving. He could only stare with wide eyes as lava was surrounding us.

"...The volcano... it's... it’s gonna erupt..!!" Mala Sauce Cookie said, jumping to Purple Yam Cookie's aid, who seemed to be in a state of shock. To be honest, I think I was too.

Milk Cookie pulled me close, holding me tight between him and his shield. “MALA SAUCE COOKIE! HERE, QUICKLY!” He called out as he attempted to join his friends.

I just kept getting into progressively more dangerous situations, huh? This was my life, now. Insane life or death situations... But this one might just be the last. I held tight onto Milk Cookie and closed my eyes, trying not to think about imminent death.

Suddenly, I felt gravity forcing us down against the stone as we were launched upwards... and then everything just faded away, as I drifted into unconsciousness.

#milk cookie #milk cookie x reader #cookie run #crk #crob #crk x reader #crob x reader #purple yam cookie #mala sauce cookie #pitaya dragon cookie #yes i know this chapter probably feels rushed #i was just really desperate to get to the good part before my finals...#The dragon valley story was pretty much just a retelling #but now I get to be CREATIVE. HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

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duchesschameleon · 3 years

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what if - chapter 6

summary: a long lost letter leads to an adventure in Italy for three people who find love and healing along the way. a letters to juliet au

pairing: Aaron Hotchner x GN!Reader words: 1521 a/n: THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER 6!!! it is here and we get to see what these crazy kids are up to. we are now hitting big plots and some big feelings. so be warned and remember - this is based on a romcom so expect a little angst before our happy ending. thanks again to @qvid-pro-qvo for the beta! warnings: discussions of death

what if masterlist

That afternoon passes quickly as you cross more Carolyn’s off your list. None of them prove to be the right Carolyn, but it’s a worthwhile day for the stories. More husbands who would love for Dave to take their wives, women who fawn over Dave, and some more out-there lifestyles that Dave’s Carolyn Bartolini would never take on.

Still feeling worn down, Dave retires early, leaving you and Aaron for the evening. Considering the progress you’d made on your story so far, you suggest going back into Siena and finding a bar.

“Oh so what would you do if you were Romeo?” Because of course, the conversation turned to Romeo and Juliet and how Aaron hates the story and the ending. Especially Romeo’s actions.

“Not lose the girl! I wouldn’t prance around the gardens shouting at the moon and wait,” Aaron says passionately, hands animated. “I would just grab her from that damn balcony and be done with it.”

You snort and shake your head. “Okay Mr. Romantic.”

“What?” Aaron asks, eyebrows raised.

“Nothing,” you say, waving a hand. He widens his eyes at you, still wanting an explanation. You sigh and shrug your shoulders explaining, “I can just tell you haven’t dated in a while, that’s all.”

Aaron’s jaw drops. He stares at you in silence and you shrug again while taking a sip of your drink. His eyes blink as he processes your words.

“What, cat got your tongue?” you ask teasingly after a few moments of silence.

“I just can’t believe you said that.” He shakes his head and takes a sip of his drink. “I mean, that’s the way to do it. Make your intentions clear and don’t leave any room for error, right?”

You tilt your head to the side, contemplating this. “Maybe,” you start, “but there are better ways to do it than grabbing someone off a balcony.”

He shrugs. “To each their own. I don’t mind a little dirty work to get what I want.”

Your eyes widen in surprise and you turn your head to the side, trying to hide your face. You can feel a flutter in your chest and try to ignore it, tamp it down.

You leave the bar not long after that, both still laughing and talking. When you look over at Aaron, you think there’s a spark in his eye and his smile is a little bigger, but you can’t be certain. You chalk it up to the street lamps and alcohol, nothing more.

The next morning, you meet Dave and Aaron at the breakfast area. Dave is back in his usual high spirits, smiling and asking how your night with Aaron was.

“It was good, we just grabbed some drinks at a bar in Siena.” Dave nods and shoots a look at Aaron, something suggestive you think, but you ignore it. “So, which Carolyn’s are we visiting today?”

Aaron pulls the map out and you two bend your heads over it, deciding on the best route for the day. This close to Aaron, you can smell his cologne. It’s something spicy and earthy, definitely something you would expect Aaron to wear. You blink your eyes and shake your head slightly to clear the scent from your nostrils and turn back to the map. Aaron’s pointing to different dots and talking about possible routes, so you refocus yourself and add your input.

Fifteen minutes later, you’re piling into the car and hitting the road. As you’ve almost come to expect, the first few Carolyn’s are a bust, none of them being the right age or in the right place, or having the right eyes. But Dave’s spirits are as high as ever, a smile plastered to his face as you travel around the Tuscan countryside. He jokes throughout your lunch at a small local restaurant, wine glass waving around as he talks. He tells more stories about his adventures and misadventures with Carolyn, making you and Aaron laugh so hard there are tears streaming down your face.

At one point during lunch, your hand finds its way onto Aaron’s arm, stabilizing yourself as you laugh at another one of Dave’s stories. After you stop laughing, you look at where your hand is and freeze. Aaron notices, and looks at you. When he realizes that your hand is on him, he shoots you a small smile. You yank your hand back and look down at your lap, cheeks flaming with embarrassment. You don’t know why - both you and Aaron are single - but it feels weird to be touching him and feeling…more than friendly with him. So you twist in your seat, turning more towards Dave and ignore the way you can feel Aaron looking at you.

When you’re back in the car, driving towards the next Carolyn, you take out your notebook to start documenting the morning’s events. Every once in a while, you look up to reorient yourself and shake out your cramping hand. You keep catching Aaron’s eyes in the rearview mirror, holding each other's gaze for a moment. Every time, his lips quirk into a smile and you feel your cheeks heat up when you look away.

You ignore it, focusing on your notebook and the words you're putting down. Each stop brings a new story for you to add, more tales to the web of Dave and Carolyn. As Aaron drives towards the last stop of the day, you find yourself crossing your fingers and hoping that this one goes better, that this is Dave’s Carolyn.

But it’s to no avail.

No one answers the door. The three of you look around, trying to find an open window or something to get someone’s attention. A vespa comes into the alleyway and the driver knows who you’re looking for, so he offers to show you to Carolyn. You follow him back out of town, to a cemetery.

No one wants to leave the car. All three of you pause, realizing where you are. You can see a bit of Aaron’s face in the rearview mirror, his eyes hardened and cold. Dave lets out a sigh as he opens his door and starts up the steps to the cemetery, to find Carolyn Bertolini.

You follow behind him slowly, Aaron hurrying ahead of you. When you finish the climb, you see Dave standing at the foot of a freshly dug grave and Aaron a few steps away.

You make your way over to them, trying to step around Aaron to get to Dave, but he grabs your arm, stopping you.

“This is what I was most afraid of,” he says, eyes dark and brow furrowed. “He’s lost Carolyn once, and now he’s lost her again. Happy?” You open your mouth to respond but Aaron’s not finished. “You know, this whole thing was ridiculous and selfish. You just wanted your story, a happy ending,” he spits out. “But you forget that we’re real people, that Dave is a real person with feelings! This is it, this is the last one.”

“No!” you cry out. “We can’t leave it here, we can’t stop now. There are more Carolyn’s, we can still find her!”

“No, this is it. It ends here. I won’t let you put Dave through this anymore. This is over.” Aaron takes a breath and finally lets go of your arm, as if he’d just realized he’d been holding it. He shakes his head and starts walking towards Dave before stopping and turning back towards you. “You know, I shouldn’t be surprised you’re still pushing this search.”

You arch an eyebrow at him, “Oh, why is that?”

“Because,” Aaron starts, eyes narrowed, “you don’t know a damn thing about real loss.”

You let out a hollow laugh. “I don’t know a thing about real loss?”

“No! That’s the only reason you’d have this much hope and be pushing to continue. You don’t know a thing about losing someone you love, someone you care about.”

You nod, biting your lip. “Right, okay.” And you walk away. You walk past Dave and towards the edge of the cemetery, where you can see the sun lowering behind the hills in the distance.

Back at the fresh grave, Dave turns towards Aaron. “You’re wrong you know.” Aaron looks at him in confusion. He explains what you had told him during that long drive from Verona to Siena. About the accident, about your partner. Aaron listens silently, turning to you for a moment before looking down at his feet, ashamed.

Back at the hotel, you go to your room without a word to Aaron. You don’t leave, getting dinner delivered, and shower away the day, and your tears. You put on your pajamas afterwards, and sit at the desk, your red eyes staring back at you. And that’s when Dave knocks.

He takes one look at you and sighs. “C’mere, on the bed. I’ve got a book and we’re gonna read together. Because reading together is one of life’s greatest joys.”

And that’s how you spend your evening, sitting on the bed with Dave, as he reads to you until you fall asleep.

taglist: @qvid-pro-qvo @averyhotchner @kelstark @hurricanejjareau @oreogutz @whentheautumnleavesfall message me to be part of the taglist!

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner x reader #gender neutral reader #aaron hotchner x gn!reader #what if tag #letters to juliet au #my writing #fic stuff

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dorovahkiin · 4 years

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SのK Chapter 132 - My personal thoughts

I'm glad so many people enjoyed this chapter, but for me it was pretty meh tbh. It had some great moments, but the general writing felt super rushed to me.

- So they arrived in Odiha already... I was hoping for more talk and bonding on the ship, but at least we got some talk in Odiha

- The bombs Armin mentioned will definitely be important. I hope it won't be another suicide mission, suicide missions got really repetitive at this point

- Falco finally showed more reaction to the deaths of his loved ones, was waiting for this!

- I loved the MikAnnie conversation! I think it's pretty fitting Annie doesn't want to fight and I'm glad she didn't change her mind. Of course there is a possibility she might join the fight later, but I personally hope she won't. Give her some rest

- Love Mikasa and Annie bonding!!

- The way Mikasa noticed Annie's feelings was really funny. Now we got the confirmation Annie has feelings for Armin either, there is no ship that's more canon at this point

- AruAni haters would say it's character regression of Annie, but I think it's the opposite. Annie always hid her emotions and was a loner, she'd never open up to anyone except Hitch maybe. So her allowing Armin to love her, someone she has feelings for either, is good development. It would have been different if AruAni were toxic, but it's pretty healthy imo

- F if one of them dies lmao I hope they both make it out alive

- When Mikasa said she has the scarf... Does she mean she has it somewhere in Paradis or with her right now? I'm really looking forward to the EreMika confrontation. I used to be both EreMika and JeanKasa, but not EreMika anymore since timeskip because Eren is an ass and a genocidal maniac. But I'm still fond of it and really looking forward to its closure

- Mikasa however is still delusional if she believes she can bring old Eren back. Not to mention old Eren was already a maniac. I can't blame Mikasa though, everyone would be biased in this situation

- Levi's finally talking since chapters again, I missed him! Isayama trolled himself when Levi said "I'll be forgotten if I sleep more" because he got so little screentime 😀

- Same as Pieck when she said "I have nothing to do". I love Pieck, but what's her character arc right now? I don't know and I am afraid she will die soon. But I think she will play a part in the ZeVi confrontation since she was part of rts, has nothing else to do and she was next to Levi in the plane, maybe they'll have a talk next chapter?

- I loved Pieck mentioning her death comrades, I want her to react to Porco's death more, maybe that's the closest reaction we'll get 😔

- So Yelena indeed knows where Eren is going, I thought she was bluffing

- He is aiming for the flying boats in port Salta. I wonder if those flying boats are going to have some importance - I hope. Some people could save themselves by using those planes and they have a military base there, so maybe the military will be more useful than in 130?

- I also had this crack thought: Imagine the military in port Salta decides to take their planes/airships to attack Paradis. A desperate attempt to stop the rumbling "If rumbling won't be stopped immediately, we'll attack Paradis with our planes". It would be a horrible thought, but not impossible. Paradis is totally unprotected right now and an easy target. All shifters gone and a lot of soldiers dead. This would also be a good opportunity to introduce Historia to the story again

- Lmao Yelena wanting approval of euthanasia. Of course euthanasia is not cool at all, but imo way better than genocide. Btw Zeke coming back when? Pls next chapter

- My favourite moment was probably the conversation between Reiner and Annie. I waited so long for Reiner apologising to her and I'm happy Isayama made it happen

- That AruAni goodbye wow. No words could express the same amount of emotions as this eye contact did

- Floch comeback.. Floch dead. I'm not a fan of Floch, but his death and closure was very underwhelming, rushed and one reason I didn't like this chapter so much. He was a plot device this chapter. A plot device for drama and to kill off Hanji indirectly for more drama. I expected more. In this case it would have been better if he died in the port battle or not die at all

- Engineer-kun is a hero

- Too late, rumbling is there. Reiner and Armin arguing who's gonna sacrifice themselves was a bit pathetic. They are both suicidal af. Especially my boy Reiner. I feel like he mainly did it because he still wishes to die as hero. Similar to Historia back then in the snow with Ymir and Daz. That's the main reason I want Reiner to survive this series because his wish to die got so pathetic at this point

- Reiner saying "Armin will stop Eren" started a fight between Reiner Helos and Armin Helos fans which is annoying lol. Of course I tend to Reiner Helos because Reiner is my fav, but tbh I think stopping Eren will be a group effort, so more like Alliance Helos

- Now let's talk about Hanji's sacrifice. Next to Floch's death it's the main reason this chapter was meh to me. I am biased because I loved Hanji and mourn, but imo the death was unnecessary, avoidable and only there to create some drama. I don't know if I'll ever get over it. But still: Hanji is the goat and will be very missed. Now I am afraid we'll have more unnecessary deaths for drama, I'm tired of the repetitive suicide missions

- Levi and Hanji - oh well my heart hurts. Levi yet again lost another important person, how will it effect him? Who is able to hold him back now? He is so alone. But I don't want him to die, even if he could reunite with his comrades again. Levi putting his hand on Hanji saying "Shinzou wo sasageyo" fuck. I wasn't ready for this. And I still can't accept Hanji's death 😭

- So when Erwin and the scouts appeared... Was it a vision or afterlife? Imo it was the latter because we saw Hanji's blood and more importantly we saw Keith Shadis, Hanji doesn't know he's dead. And how is afterlife far fetched if we have paths fckery and titans?

- Some people support afterlife especially because characters could reunite with dead characters again. Dead ships could become alive again. Somewhat. I understand it, but I don't like this thought process at all. Like I am a huge NejiTen fan (never accept Neji's death, it was as unnecessary as Hanj's), and of course I hope they'd reunite again once Tenten dies - but not now, Tenten shall live a long happy life first and Neji would want the same. What I mean is: I'd never wish for a character's death only for the sake of my ship

- MVP of this chaper: Hanji

- My rating: 6 out of 10 maybe? Chapter felt rushed and the deaths were poorly written imo. Other than that it was good

- What happens next chapter? I guess they will either meet Eren or Zeke. Or both? It's getting spicy from now on and I am not ready. Nobody is

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hydrospanners · 4 years

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fic masterlist: swtor

at the request of literally no one, i’ve created a masterlist of all my swtor fic. first is a chronological collection of all the swtor fic i’ve written in my “canon”. it’s broken up into snippets of time relative to the events of swtor. aus and gift fics are at the end. this is more for me than anything else, but if you have a bunch of time on your hands and want to read some fic--enjoy!!!

i am the most self-indulgent author known to man so there are numerous fics that don’t feature any canon characters in any significant way. i’m not sorry, but i did mark them with an asterisk for everyone’s edification. i also wrote actually vaguely descriptive descriptions instead of whatever bullshit i put in the descriptions on ao3. all links go to ao3 because tumblr was not designed for reading and it shows.

53 fics below the cut... what a trip, y’all.

backstory these fics are about things that happened before the opening of the class story.

* a very velaran life day - snippets of different life days in the velaran family history. no canon characters in it yet, but maybe this christmas i’ll get to some fics that aren’t solely about my own ocs.

* the shape of things to come - the story about how rea finally joined the jedi at the ripe old age of sixteen.

* a dimming star - the first steps on rea’s jedi path. they aren’t fun ones, lads!

* necessary sacrifice - like three years down the timeline and still no canon characters! rea continues to struggle with this whole being a jedi thing, and it continues to struggle with her! this one features a haircut as a symbol of a turning point in the story.

bars and stripes - canon characters??? in my fic????? its more likely than you think. this is a shameless ripoff of an episode of m*a*s*h masquerading as doc backstory. does it have cameos and/or mentions of other healer companions? maybe!!!

prelude these are fics set during the prologue of the class stories, everything that happens between the start and completing the capital planet missions.

* memories - rhese? do you finally get a say in all this??? this is the moment rhese and rea finally see each other for the first time since they were recruited to the jedi, set at the very start of the class story.

attachments - kira and rea talk about rhese. that’s it. that’s the fic.

act one all the stories set between killing tarnis and beginning preparations to capture the emperor (everything after coruscant ending and pubside balmorra starting). rip orgus. one day ill finish all those wips about how sad it was when he bit it. in the mean time, can i interest you in some gifsets?

lessons - now rea’s padawan, kira reflects on how bad rea is at teaching, though maybe without as much clarity as i just implied.

a tangled web - so stupid it’s basically crack, kira has to rescue rea from an embarrassing situation.

of flowers, failure, and the virtues of friendship - kira and rhese start to bond over the shared torment of having to be around rea. rivals to friends (one day i’ll write the “to lovers” part that comes after).

act two all the stories during the time when the knight is prepping for the assault on the emperor’s fortress and then assaulting it. everything between pubside balmorra starting and breaking free from the emperor’s fortress after that super successful plan to bring him in alive. great job jedi!

filling the table - is that shipfic????? the reason i started writing swtor fic in the first place??? this is rea being thirsty disguised as me sewing seeds for the eventual doc x rea romance. pazaak themed for some reason? (doc x rea)

when the wicked play - this is me being obsessed with the translation of video game violence to vaguely realistic circumstances posing as doc feeling some kind of way about rea murdering a whole bunch of dudes who wanted to hurt her but weren’t powerful enough. not primarily romantic but definitely some setup for their relationship.

night shift - everything is doc x rea and nothing hurts. rea’s got work to do but who can work when there’s a horny mustachio’d doctor trying to persuade her back to bed??? it’s not love it’s just good sex!!!!! honest!!!!(doc x rea)

these nights never seem to go to plan - rea isn’t yearning for affection, she’s just too tired to get out of doc’s bed after so much boning. okay maybe this is about slightly more than good sex after all... doc x rea TENDERNESS.

somewhere we’ve not been before - this is the good shit lads!!!! doc x rea!!! first dates!!!! shenanigans!!!! honest to goodness falling in love between all that fucking that do!!!!!!!!!!!! (doc x rea)

no better taste - a sequel to the last fic featuring the morning after!!! some post-horniness introspection!! tenderness!!!!!! hints of yearning!!! god i miss the days before the mind control and the carbonite when the problems were normal things like commitment and abandonment issues. (doc x rea)

heart - rea sends doc a rocking “thanks for the great sex” gift!! rhese is disgusted by every part of it! this is comedy folks!!!! (doc x rea... i guess)

interruptions - rea takes a work call while she’s boning doc. that’s the whole fic. i think this was my first spicy fic?? i can’t remember. (doc x rea)

* where you go to rest your bones - sibling tenderness!!!! their relationship is super complicated, but rhese is reminded that underneath all the bullshit rea really does love him a lot.... it’s both sad and not sad at the same time. schroedinger’s sadness.

gifts - the crew tries to plan a gift for rea, but what do you get for the woman who’s banned from everything?? so dumb it’s basically crack and i’m not sorry for it.

crapshoot - the crew takes bets on what rea’s next Bad Idea TM will be. she shows them you can’t predict chaos. basically crack but i don’t care.

spoonful of sugar - vignettes about the jedi knight crew dealing with sickness. almost entirely comedy and/or fluff. doc x rea content is present and rhese x kira content is suggested.

a little eggstra - grocery shopping gone awry, based on an old tumblr text post. hella stupid, yet hella fun. doc x rea is in the background.

to break our bones for kindling - you thought we were just having good times??? you’re a fool. doc’s job is to heal people and rea’s job is to break them. sometimes they have work-related disagreements!!! be sad with me. doc x rea.

* when a problem comes along, you must whip it - i can only stop being stupid for so long, so here’s the story about how rea came to possess her lightwhip, the stupidest weapon known to man. these events do not go well for rhese.

things unsaid - a dumb doc x rea drabble about stupid shit rea says when she’s been mortally wounded. if doc were to just let her die, no one would blame him.

* the things you do for love are gonna come back to you one by one - a bit of a character/relationship study about what rhese is willing to sacrifice for love of his sister, no matter how complicated things are between them. a second chapter about what rea sacrifices for rhese is in my wips and will be completed... .eventually.

lovesick - doc x rea ship content. my interpretation of that one conversation where doc’s like “hey would your jedi powers tell me if im going crazy also do you love me? check yes or no. i will not elaborate.”

* the things we left behind - oh no lads.... we’re building up to the fortress shit.... our good times are over. rea does some underhanded shit to make sure her brother doesn’t go on this mission to capture the emperor cause the plan does not seem like a great one.

act three wow wasn’t act two fun??? so much silly nonsense and love. now get a drink assholes it’s Time To Be Sad. act three covers everything in the class stories after coming back from that super successful assault on the emperor’s fortress (great job jedi!) to finally stabbing the bastard in the dark fortress and hoping that gets the job done at last. (spoilers: it doesn’t!!!!!) aka stories from belsavis to the final assault on dromund kaas.

everything we left there - it’s trauma time!!! rea’s fucked up from the fortress and feeling the pressure (thanks for the prophecy scourge!!! love that!!!!) so she hurts people she cares about to protect them. it’s her signature move!

the only thing that’s real - rea continues to be fucked up from what happened on the fortress but hey... at least she isn’t fucked up alone??? sad doc x rea content.

into the jungle - the gang is on belsavis and no one is having a good time! since rea isn’t herself, doc tries to pick up the slack and reassure kira that it’ll all be okay! it goes about as well as you’d expect.

interlude now that i’m looking at it, there are some serious gaps in my fic coverage. anyway, sad hours are over, the emperor is (kind of but not really) dead and there may still be a war on but things are looking up! this covers everything between the emperor’s death and the beginning of kotfe, including forged alliances and the shadow of revan.

hands too hungry - doc finally takes rea on that honeymoon she didn’t really care about in the first place! tragically, rea is way too horny to be impressed by what an amazing vacation he planned for himself them. peak rea x doc content.

no kind of romantic - it’s doc and rea’s one year anniversary but they are both working on opposite sides of the galaxy. sad! it’s doc x rea fluff disguised as angst.

a little help from a friend - rea and theron are worst/best friends and i recycle romance tropes into annoying friendship ones. this is the least sexy sharing body heat fic you’ve ever (not?) read. bite me.

retirement - rea has some feelings about her very violent, stressful job and how it interferes with her husband doing things that actually help and heal. doc x rea content.

the dreaded kotfe content these are sad hours!!! this is everything from arcann’s invasion on, cause i’m not breaking it up by post-carbonite storyline you bastards. i don’t know why i’m being so hostile no one asked me to do this.

every doubt we had - after watching what may have been his sister’s death by exploding starship, rhese is having trouble sleeping. no one is more surprised than him when seeks out doc for comfort! doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity. carbonite angst...

love is a waiting game - rea’s been MIA for six months since the ship she was on bit it and her crew is finally making some changes. doc is sad about it. doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity again. doc x rea angst.

waiting - some time has passed and now rhese is the sad one again!!! grief is so funny isn’t it??? hahahaha haha hahahaha why is no one else laughing? doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity yet again.

the greatest distance - rea’s back baby!!!! oh but this isn’t a celebration. she’s taking a tour of her long lost ship now that all the people she loved aren’t in it. it’s a sad one, fellas.

* when the stars are the only thing we share - rea tracks down some people from her past to help her track down her brother since he went missing while she was having a nap. no canon characters were used in the making of this fic.

leave her sleeping a little longer - rea has a dream and wakes up missing doc even more than she was before. sad hours. doc x rea angst.

take back what the kingdom stole - after theron pulls some Shenanigans (you know the ones) his friendship with rea is in peril. they both break character and actually talk shit out for once.

a wish your heart makes - rea dreams a dream. so does doc. it’s a wet one. this makes it sound lighthearted but actually it’s angst with a side of porn. doc x rea supreme spicy/sad content.

overserved - back to crack baby!! rea gets drunk and acts a fool based on a joke made in a discord server. this is the best shit i’ve ever written.

thrusting back into my skin i feel anew - the band is back together again and everything is fine!!!! just kidding -- actually people change a lot in six years and rea and doc are having some trouble fitting back into the marriage they had back then. doc x rea angst but with a hopeful ending!

non-canon fics i’ve written a couple of things with my dumb characters that are too stupid even for me to put into their canon story or are otherwise aus. these are them, listed in no particular order.

the lies we tell ourselves - a sadder (yet possibly more realistic) take on the ossus reunion and what follows. a bit experimental. doc x rea angst au.

archiban frodrick’s kennel - a romance au where doc is a vet and rea has a pet with a health issue, inspired by my own stupid dog whom i love very much. doc x rea. spiciness suggested but not detailed; sorry horndogs.

fallen - a fun au where rea’s shittiness as a teacher and everything being bad leads to kira falling to the dark side... its angst lads.

the new recruit - rusk’s squad adopts a kitten. that’s the fic.

cruel - ever wonder how things would have turned out if rea was never smuggled off eriadu and got plucked up by the sith?? no??? well i have and i wrote about it. the self-indulgence never ends.

fill my lungs with sweetness - a gift fic for @hoiist; flower-themed vignettes about doc expressing his love for hoiist’s knight, vii. this is some real soft shit, lads.

remember me, love - another gift fic for @hoiist; this time some ossus-flavored angst about doc seeing through vii’s eyes in his dreams. what he sees is not comforting!!! all aboard the angst train--choo choo!!

#swtor #swtor fic #jedi knight #hydrostuff #hydrofic #hydroswstuff #hydroswfic #this was.... a lot

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spartanguard · 6 years

Text

something in the water, part 4

Emma is sent to investigate a mysterious sea monster appearance in her hometown. Thankfully, her family there knows her secret: that at night, she transforms into a swan. And she knows that whoever the universe thinks her soulmate is, as dictated by the tattoo on her side, won't be there. Though maybe she was wrong to assume that. And when did a merman start hanging out in the ocean near Storybrooke?

A/N: Life continues to be busy, so thank you for your patience as I take my sweet time in updating my @cssns story!! It shouldn’t be *quite* as long until the next chapter, though! and thanks to @optomisticgirl for looking things over!!

The next morning saw Emma shuffling into the diner at what she would usually call an ungodly hour (8 am), but she was too awake to go back to sleep. After she transitioned back, she wrapped herself in a blanket in her car and continued to watch the cove for any sign of what she’d seen last night, but two hours of staring produced nothing. She was starting to think that she’d imagined it, which of course led to other concerns—like, maybe she was destined to take over Cruella’s mantle as the town crazy lady.

(Or maybe her eyes weren’t deceiving her, and there really was a merperson in town. What did she do then? Did it have anything to do with her mark? Did she even want it to?)

Coffee. Coffee would help.

She didn’t let the door close behind her before she plopped on a stool at the counter, ancient bell still ringing. The eternally grumpy Leroy, sitting two seats down, looked her way, grunted, and went back to his bacon and grits.

Thank God for Ruby. A steaming mug was in front of her without having to say a word. “Rough night down at the cove?”

“Not so much rough as weird,” Emma complained before taking a long sip. It certainly wasn’t Starbucks, but it was hot and made from beans—she’d take it. The burn it gave as it hit her tongue and moved through her roused her up just as much as the caffeine did. “I think I may have actually seen something, but I’m also not sure it wasn’t a fatigue-from-milking-cows-induced hallucination.”

“Well, like I said last night, I haven’t seen or heard about anything over there; but who knows? The ocean is a mysterious place. And so is Storybrooke, for that matter.”

“True that.” How many cities could boast that their little ice cream shop didn’t need a freezer because its owner kept things cool with her own ice magic? (Which reminded Emma—she needed to pay Ingrid a visit before this trip was done. Best rocky road ever.) “And how does Dorothy fit into that mix?”

Ruby blushed almost as red as the streaks in her hair. Emma had discovered over their dinner last night that just about any mention of Ruby’s new fling would do that to her—which was probably a good sign that it was going to be more than a fling.

“I’m not sure,” she said quietly, refilling Emma’s mug. “We haven’t gotten to that conversation yet; she was visiting her family back in Kansas this week so she...missed all that.”

It did worry Emma a bit, given her own history, that a significant other of Ruby’s would react poorly to the revelation of her other side. She’d definitely done the whole hiding-it thing for a long time with Neal; probably too long, in hindsight, but there was also the matter of keeping things a bit under wraps so as to not terrify society as a whole. “You’ll know when the time is right,” she assured Ruby.

“I hope so. I really don’t want to mess this one up.”

“From what you’ve told me, she’s nothing like Peter.” Ruby’s first boyfriend had ran away screaming when she transitioned in front of him, literally crying wolf, but the citizens of Storybrooke were well aware of their local pack, even if they didn’t all know that the owner of their favorite diner was a member of it. “I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about once you get there.”

Ruby gave her an uncharacteristically small smile, compared to her normal wolfish grins; that was how you knew she was actually worried. But it quickly melted away to something a bit more hungry. “And what about you? When are you gonna shake your tail feathers for a certain someone?”

Emma’s defensives immediately went up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that you went on a date with this town’s sexiest librarian and you didn’t tell me!”

“I’m gonna tell Belle you said that,” Emma said evasively and took another sip of coffee. “And just when did you hear that? You told me you were going to ‘sext Dorothy until I come and/or pass out’ after I left.”

“I can multitask,” she replied, coy as ever. “You really think Snow could keep that quiet?”

“No,” Emma grumbled, slumping back over her mug.

“Well? How was it?”

She mused on it over a long pull of coffee. “I...don’t know?” she finally said. “Like, 90% good?”

“Bad kisser?”

“Ruby!” She glared at her friend.

“Hey, just making a guess. So he didn’t kiss you? Is that it?”

“Rubyyy.” She was whining now.

“Fiiiine,” Ruby sighed back, and turned to grab some dishes that were ready to go out. “But this conversation is not done.”

Emma just groaned again, and lamented the small size of Granny’s mugs. As she drained her second cup, the bell on the door sounded again, and just like in any small town, all eyes turned to it. But only Emma’s eyes lingered after everyone else went back to their meals; at least the newcomer was staring back.

She should have known it would be impossible to avoid Killian here, and the wide-eyed look he was giving her said he was thinking the same.

Ruby, of course, didn’t miss a beat. “Hey, Killian! I’ll be right with you; just sit at your normal seat.” Which, judging from his hesitant steps toward the counter, was the one next to Emma. And even if it wasn’t, his options were to sit next to her, or to Dr. Hopper down at the other end and risk an involuntary psychoanalysis before breakfast.

She didn’t need to look to know that he was scratching that spot behind his ear as he stood hesitantly a few feet away, while she was trying to find something interesting at the bottom of her empty mug.

But then she picked up the faintest scent of leather, paired with that crisp salty-and-spicy smell she’d come to recognize as his, and it immediately brought back the memory of being wrapped in his jacket. It had been a long time since she had felt so warm and safe from a simple gesture like that, which either meant her bar was very low—or, more likely, that she was a fool for trying to ignore him.

It was completely possible to still be friends and keep her distance, though, right? Right. Okay, she could do that. So she took a deep breath, turned on her seat, put a smile on her face, looked up and him, and spoke.

“Hi,” they both blurted out at the same time. Because of course they did. Uneasy smiles quickly melted into easy giggles, as if their mutual awkwardness made everything more relaxed.

He slid onto the stool next to her and stared at the counter for a moment before looking back up at her, a penitent look on his face. “Emma...I just want to say I’m sorry for the way things ended the other night. I apologize if anything made you uncomfortable.”

“I…” she started, not quite expecting that. Her plan had just been to pretend it had never happened, but she couldn’t deny that his was probably a bit better (or at least more mature). “Uh, me too. Things got a bit heavier than I expected, and I know I’m at fault for that. Sorry.”

“It happens,” he shrugged. “That said, I do value that you trusted me enough to share with me; I know how hard that can be.”

No shit he did. “Hey, same; it had to be even tougher for you. Thank you.” She placed her hand over his where it rested on the counter and gave a quick squeeze.

“Did you two fuck or something?”

They both jumped at the gruff—and loud—question from the down the counter, where Leroy was giving a stern look.

“W-what?” Emma stammered, and could feel a flush rising on her cheeks.

“Sure sounds like you did,” he huffed, returning to his bacon.

She was speechless—partly because of the implication that Leroy figured they had; partly because yeah, it really had sounded like that; and maybe a bit because she was now imagining what that would be like. (Probably amazing.)

Killian nudged her shoulder with his and tugged her out of her silent shock. If he’d been embarrassed, he’d clearly gotten over it and was giving her one of those ridiculous dimpled smirks. “He clearly isn’t aware of your first-date rule,” he said quietly.

“Huh?”

“That you don’t pillage and plunder on the first one,” he finished for her, winking.

She snorted a bit. “He must think we’ve been on two or three.”

“Oh? Is that when pirate activities are permitted to begin?”

“Somewhere in there,” she quipped playfully. “You’ll just have to find out.”

“Is that you asking me out?” he queried, almost cheekily.

“Maybe,” she answered coyly—a bit because she was trying to rein in the flirting, and a bit because she was finding it harder to resist the more time she spent with him. Wasn’t this why she was avoiding him in the first place? But now also: why was she, again? That was silly of her.

A voice cleared; apparently Ruby had slipped back behind the counter and was now standing in front of them, grinning wolfishly at their banter. “So, what’ll it be for breakfast, lovebirds?” she asked, winking at Emma.

Emma rolled her eyes, but at the exact same time, they both blurted out their orders. “Pancakes.” And then promptly dissolved into quiet laughter at their synchronicity.

Ruby just turned towards the kitchen to put their orders in, but Leroy had one more thing to say, apparently.

“Well, if you ain’t fuckin’, you should be.” And then he slapped some cash on the counter and left, leaving a stunned and blushing pair behind him. Emma was pretty sure her face had never been more on fire.

Thankfully, Granny came by to refill their coffees, and Emma hoped beyond hope that the old wolf would have some sort of reassurance for them—that Leroy shouldn’t be taken seriously before noon or something. But to her eternal anguish, it was nothing of the sort.

“He’s right, you know,” she said all-too casually, glancing between them and walking off.

Well, now she was completely mortified. And remembered why she was avoiding him.

“Allow me to apologize again,” Killian murmured in an equally embarrassed tone.

“No, you don’t need to,” she sighed. “This is just...Storybrooke. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re just now being subjected to this.”

“And why’s that?”

“Seriously? Look at you!” she exclaimed.

His smirk back made her realize what she said. Dammit, this was why she usually wasn’t part of the world this early. “Oh, fuck me,” she groaned, shoving her face into her hands.

“Are you sure? Sounds like that’s what everyone wants to happen.”

She just groaned even louder and collapsed against the counter. “Let me know when my food gets here; until then, I’m hiding and shutting my mouth.”

“So I can drink your coffee, then?”

“No!” She sat straight up and tugged her mug to her chest, slopping a bit of the scalding liquid on her hand. “Shit,” she cursed as she shook it off; why was Granny’s coffee the same temperature as lava?

(Also: why was this shaping up to be such a terrifically terrible morning?)

“Oh, bloody hell—I’m sorry, love,” Killian said, actually having an acceptable reason to apologize this time. “Let me help you with that.” He grabbed her flailing hand with his right one, and set it in his left palm. Then he took a napkin and dipped it in a glass of water that had been left out, and, leaning forward to inspect, gently pressed it on her burned skin. She let out an exhale; that felt perfect. “Better?” he asked, looking up at her through his ridiculous lashes.

“Yeah,” she breathed, both in relief and because she was still getting used to just how damn blue his eyes were.

He straightened his spine, but his eyes didn’t leave her gaze. And suddenly, the air in the few inches between them was nearly as hot as her coffee.

She wasn’t sure why, but her eyes flitted to his lips—his extraordinary, full, luscious lips, and she could still see a bit of coffee left on them. It’d be a shame to waste it; maybe she should just lean forward and—

“Food’s up,” Granny nearly shouted, and the clatter of their plates on the counter made them jump apart. That was either the best- or worst-timed delivery—she couldn’t decide—but they both thanked Granny nonetheless.

Wordlessly, they busied themselves with their dishes, but still managed to reach for the lone bottle of syrup they’d been left with at the same time. The fingers of her left hand brushed the back of his right, and the light dusting of dark hair there. And for some reason, they just froze like that for much longer than they should have, and part of her kind of wanted to grab the rest of his hand, but he then he pulled it back.

“Ladies first,” he said, smiling politely, but she could see the rosy color on his cheeks. Was this how it was always going to be with them? (And part of her was wondering just how long “always” would be.)

“Thanks,” she replied, and poured a healthy amount of syrup over her hotcakes—or at least, what she deemed a healthy amount. Killian had an eyebrow arched in disbelief when she handed the now-lighter bottle to him. “What?”

He took the container and said, “I’m not generally one to judge, but were you planning on having any pancakes with that syrup?”

“They’re still in there,” she protested, cutting into her stack with her fork. Sure, they were drowning in syrup, and it dripped off when she lifted her first bite, but that was just how she liked it. “You’ve clearly never had great syrup, have you?” she continued as she licked it off her lips, a bit seductively.

He arched an eyebrow and bit into his much drier pancakes, but she saw his eyes go wide as he swallowed. “No, I don’t believe I have.” And proceeded to pour significantly more on.

“Told ya,” she teased, taking another bite. “Granny gets hers fresh, and New England has the best there is.”

“I believe it,” he agreed. “Although I’m still getting used to having something so sweet for breakfast.”

“Oh? What do you usually have?”

“Mackerel, mostly.”

She choked down her next bite. “Fish? For breakfast?”

“Pretty much every meal, really. Coastal England,” he explained with a shrug.

It made sense, but she had to wonder: “So...you’ve never had a Pop Tart?”

He chuckled. “Afraid not.”

“Oh my god. I grew up on those. Probably because they were cheap for foster homes, but oh man. So good.”

Conversation continued to flow as they ate, discussing the kinds of foods they had as kids (him: fish; her: Lunchables and Happy Meals), her telling him what schooling was like in the US (he was homeschooled, apparently), and then chatting about favorite movies, since they didn’t get to that the other night (where they discovered they still shared a love of The Princess Bride).

“If you still need anything for your job, I’m sure there’s something in the library, if you wanted to stop by,” he offered, far from nonchalantly, sneaking glances at her as he carefully scraped up the last of his scrambled eggs (which she guessed he’d discovered also tasted great with maple syrup).

“I just might have to take you up on that,” she replied, equally not casual, especially as she used a finger to wipe a stripe of syrup from her dish and then licked it off, turning to look at him as she did. It was totally a Ruby move and she’d completely blame it on her friend’s terrible influence.

“I look forward to it,” he replied, popping the ‘t’ and letting his tongue poke out to lick his lips; she wasn’t sure if that was just to get any last drops of syrup, in response to her lewd gesture, or both. She was leaning towards the latter...as well as towards Killian.

But just then, her phone lit up with a text from Regina and both eyes instinctively jumped to it. “Oh shit, the time,” Killian cursed, and hopped off his stool in a panic. He quickly pulled some cash from a pocket, tossed it on the counter, and grabbed his satchel from where it had been forgotten on the floor ever since he sat down. “I apologize for dashing out, love, but if I don’t leave now, I’ll be facing Belle’s wrath. See you soon?” It was more a question than a farewell.

“Yeah, you will,” she told him, smiling—at the idea of their next meeting, and at how adorable he was when he was flustered.

“Can’t wait. Until then,” he finished, nodding his head in some sort of bow, and then dashing off. She followed him with her eyes, swiveling on the stool as he left. He gave her one last grin as he pushed the door open, and she released what could only be described as a happy sigh as she watched him head down the stairs and down the street.

“I heard that,” Granny said matter-of-factly, once again filling Emma’s mug.

“No, you didn’t,” she tossed back, defenses going up again.

“You really want to argue with what I did or did not hear?” Granny sassed back; they both knew the answer was a resounding no. “I may be old, but my senses are still sharper than yours, sweetheart, and I know what I’m seeing.” Then she leaned in and whispered, “And honey, between us? It doesn’t take extra-strength senses to see it.”

Shit. She was really falling for him, wasn’t she?

(And she wasn’t entirely sure that was a bad thing.)

As she meandered across town back to the house, she replied to Regina’s message; they hadn’t talked since Emma arrived in Storybrooke so she was looking for an update, even if neither of them were terribly pressed to solve the maybe-mystery and she still had over a week. She texted back that things were going well, and that there was possibly a lead but she had to research it more. She still wasn’t sure she trusted her eyes or brain to tell the truth about whatever she’d seen, but it at least warranted more investigation, regardless of any personal reservations.

And she thanked whatever gods were up there that Regina had texted and not called—while her boss was much more chill than the entirety of Storybrooke when it came to matchmaking (and completely understood Emma in that regard, having her own broken-hearted history), she would have immediately picked up on the chipper tone Emma would have been unable to hide and wondered just how “well” things were going and if “going well” had a name.

It had seriously been ages since she’d felt anything like this—not since Neal, maybe even since her last high school crush (Graham, who had just moved to Storybrooke from Ireland back then; clearly, she had a thing for guys with British Isles accents...but who didn’t?). She just didn’t do this—she’d never let herself, and let alone had met a guy worth pursuing. And while she knew she should be a bit more cautious, for the first time, she was finding she didn’t want to be.

She had to force herself to avoid the library that day, electing for another day of farm work and internet research. She briefly continued her search for info on ashrays, but given what she may or may not have seen last night, she decided she better delve more into merpeople—but that took her to increasingly weird and obscure corners of the internet, and more than once had led her to DeviantArt or some odd piece of fan fiction. (Who the hell wrote mermaid sex?) (And what did that mean in regards to her mark?) (Though, it was kind of hot…)

That left her with basically no choice other than to go there the next day, and she just hoped she could restrain herself enough from either making Killian think she was completely insane, or pressing him against the stacks and kissing the crap out of him.

She didn’t even make it that long before seeing him, though: she, David, and Snow went out for ice cream after dinner and there he was, picking up a pint of rum raisin from Ingrid. Of course, he joined them as they all ate their treats (Emma finally getting her Rocky Road), falling yet again into easy conversation that ended with Snow inviting him over for dinner the next night.

That was the thing with Killian: aside from the awkward end to their conversation the other night, everything was just...easy. It wasn’t forced, and there was no pretense: they just seemed to flow together. It really should have frightened her, especially after that conversation, but she knew that avoiding him was futile, so why bother?

And she just really didn't want to anymore.

That night, at the cove again, she got a couple more glimpses of the creature. They were brief—the moon glinting off of dark-colored scales and outline of a fin before it disappeared below the surface—but it was enough for her to be almost certain it was a merperson. What to do next, she wasn’t sure. She knew where to start, though; the real challenge would be in not coming off insane.

The next day, she headed to the library after lunch, a couple coffees in hand.

“Emma,” he greeted immediately, looking up from the computer at the circulation desk. His glasses were slipping down his nose a bit; paired with the huge, dimpled grin he was giving her, he’d never looked more adorable.

But the bulge of his biceps in that barely buttoned shirt sure said something else.

That wasn’t why she was here, though. (Well...not entirely.) “Hey,” she answered. “Thought you might need an afternoon pick-me-up...and maybe might be able to help me find a few more books?”

“Bribing me?” he insinuated as he strode around the desk. “That doesn’t seem your style.”

“Oh? And what is my style?”

He stood in front of her, practically invading her space; his warm scent mixed with that of the coffee and she was pretty sure that nothing had ever smelled as delicious. “You strike me as the type to go after what you want, and to hell with what anyone else says.”

He wasn’t far off, but she probably wasn’t as bold as he assumed. Then again, he definitely brought out a side of her that not even she had seen in years, possibly ever—it was one thing to put on a front and play a role as part of her job; it was a whole other thing to do it genuinely, and was both thrilling and terrifying.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she tossed back coyly. It was an instinctive response and probably a bit cool for where they were at, but those old walls of hers weren’t completely gone, and every now and then, they tried to get in her way.

“You know I do, Emma.” His sincerity tamped them back down for now, though.

She hid her responding smile in her coffee, taking a long sip as she handed Killian his. And she didn’t miss his own genuine, gentle grin as he took it.

“So, you were after marine biology?” he asked after swallowing a sip, but then stared down at the cup, surprised. “Oh—you got my order right!”

“I’m a PI; I notice things,” she responded as they headed to a different part of the library. “And it’s pretty hard to mess up black coffee.”

“You’d be surprised,” he answered, complainingly.

“Oh, no, I’m aware.” She hadn’t added that the reason it caught her attention was because it was her coffee preference, too. “But yeah, anything else we can turn up on sea life would help. And I could probably use some more fantasy books, to help pass the time. It’s not that exciting a cove,” she added, chuckling for reinforcement.

Thankfully, he laughed in agreement. “Aye, I’m sure we can find something for you there. Anything in particular strike your fancy?” he asked as he browsed the shelves in front of him.

“Well, if I’m hanging out by the sea, maybe some more stories like that? Like mermaids or something?” she answered as casually as she could muster.

He was silent as he pulled some books off the shelf and set them on the table in the nook. “Aye, I know we have a few,” he answered solemnly. “However, I’m not sure how accurate they’ll be.”

That took her by surprise—did he know something? “Oh? They’re not? How so?”

He shrugged. “I mean, growing up on the coast, you hear all the old fishermen’s stories, the legends,” he explained, returning to the shelf. “About how you shouldn’t get too close to sirens, how they lure sailors to their deaths. That sort of thing.” He chuckled as he grabbed another volume. “There’s this one story about a group of mermen in Scotland who basically challenge ship’s captains to rap battles. Bloody ludicrous,” he laughed.

She giggled with him, partly because his laugh was infectious and she loved its sound, but also because she knew it might not be as ridiculous as he thought.

“But I’ll see what we have. Maybe there’s something even crazier in those books,” he said with a wink and placed his damaged hand on the small stack he’d gathered. “This looks like everything else that we have; I’ll leave you to it and see what else I can find you for pleasure reading.”

“Thanks,” she called after him, and settled in for some completely unnecessary skimming. Unless there was a tiny breed of whale with really narrow, thin tails, she wasn’t going to get any leads in here. But at least she got to enjoy the view as he walked away.

An hour or so later, she was half glancing at the field guide in front of her and half texting Ruby while sipping her coffee when he came back, more books in hand. “There wasn’t a ton, but I managed to find a few things that should hold your interest.” She perked up as he came in, for multiple reasons, and looked over the spines when he set them on the table next to her. Some were old, some were clearly meant for children, one looked like a romance novel (since she now knew that that was a thing), but there was one that said Merfolk in gold foil that looked promising.

“Thanks! These will definitely keep me entertained.” She was itching to start going through them, but knew how that would look.

Thankfully, he redirected the subject. “How goes it here?” he asked, nodding at what she’d been half-reading.

“Pretty good,” she fibbed. “This one has a lot of good stuff in it—just what I was looking for, really.” (She’d at least had the courtesy to make it seem like she’d looked at the others, rearranging them into a messy stack.)

“Glad I could help,” he grinned back. God, she hated lying to that smile—but then it fell. “I hate to do this, or make it seem like I’m kicking you out,” he started, “but I have to head over to the elementary school in a bit so I’ll need to lock up. But obviously, you can check out anything you need, or come back later.”

“Oh! No, I don’t want to hold you up; let me just check out this one,” she said, adding the field guide to the top of the mermaid books, “and these, and I should be good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah; Snow probably has something for me to do before dinner tonight.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he agreed, chuckling. And without a word, he picked up the stack while she gathered the rest of her things, and walked with her to the circulation desk.

While she was digging out her library card for him, she could tell he was chewing his lower lip in thought. “I need to ask, just because I’m curious: where exactly have you been doing your surveillance for this job from?”

“Oh, Cruella offered me a spot by her place,” she said casually, handing over the dinged-up card. At least that wasn’t a lie, even if it wasn’t exactly what she did. (Though telling him she spent the night skinny dipping might not be the worst thing.)

He scanned the card and handed it back. “Have you actually seen anything?”

“Nothing conclusive. Thus: the books.”

“Fair point,” he conceded, then continued scanning while obviously thinking about something, brow slightly furrowed. “Well,” he finally said, “why don’t you investigate with me?”

He said it casually, looking up with another easy smile, but it made her freeze. Not at the idea of spending more time with him, obviously, but...it could be dangerous.

Because she knew that, come 11 pm, she wouldn’t want to leave, but she wasn’t sure if she was quite ready for any major revelations yet. And what if there really was something supernatural out there? How would he react to even that?

Although...it could be a good way to test the waters, in that regard.

She swallowed, hoping he didn’t notice her momentary nerves. “I could be probably be persuaded to. What’s in it for me?”

He scanned the last book and finalized the checkout in the computer. “Well, you know how comfortable my chairs are, and what my beer selection looks like,” he offered. “I’m right in the middle of the cove, so you’d have a good view of the whole thing.” As if to emphasize his point about a good view, he lifted the stack of books to set them on the counter by her, shifting open the V of his shirt in the process as the muscles of his chest moved underneath it. “And the added benefit of my delightful company,” he finished with his flawless grin.

“Hm, you make a mighty compelling case,” she mused as he walked around the counter. “I think I’ll have to take you up on that.”

“Excellent! That can be our next date,” he stated as she took the books in her arms.

“Next?” she queried, slightly jesting. “I don’t remember asking.”

“You’ll just have to forgive me for going out of turn,” he threw back, stepping into her space and smiling. But then his face became quite serious. “Will you go out with me again, Emma?”

His proximity was overwhelming her senses—his warmth radiated off him, carrying his scent with it, and the earnest hope in those sea blue eyes was all she could see.

She blamed her next action on her momentary intoxication: she rose ever so slightly on her toes and placed a small kiss on the apple of his cheek, where an old scar met a pair of freckles. “Yes,” she said quietly as she went back down on her heels.

His fingers brushed the now-rosy spot where her lips had just been and his eyes were wide in a shocked, bashful expression; heck, she was blushing herself from it, and how bold she was and how adorable he looked.

(She was totally screwed, wasn’t she?)

But of course, now she didn’t know what to say since she’d gone and done that, even if it was such a playground thing to do; it was obviously a huge deal for both of them. Better to get out now before the inevitable panic came. “See you later?” she said, for some reason saying it like a question even though she knew she would.

“O-of course,” he stammered back. “Snow would have my head if I bailed.”

Their shared chuckle set them both back ease. “Yup, she would. Til then.”

“I look forward to it.”

(Definitely, completely, 100% screwed.)

Somehow, Snow actually didn’t have anything for Emma to do at home other than some quick dusting; she even had the table set already. So Emma took advantage of the free time to dig into the new books.

The kids’ books were quickly tossed aside, cute as they were, but were clearly fiction. The older one was practically written in Old English and therefore indecipherable, so she ruled that one out until she could pick Killian’s British brain about some of it.

The romance novel...just, no. (Although she took a peek...and held onto it for later.)

She finally got to the one that had grabbed her attention earlier. The cover was blue leather embossed with images of a mermaid, merman, and other fish and shells surrounding the golden title. And inside was exactly what she needed: everything about merfolk, from where they lived, to when they were most visible, to how to avoid being drowned by a siren, even reproduction. (Which had her wondering if the author of the romance novel ever saw this, because the artists online sure hadn’t...oh God, why was she becoming an expert on this?)

She fell so deep into her research that she jumped a mile when the doorbell rang. And then it was a mad dash to make sure she didn’t look like a hot mess before heading downstairs; she tended to sprawl on her bed while reading, leaving her hair and clothes all sorts of rumpled. She changed into a not-wrinkled shirt and braided her hair before pounding down the stairs gracelessly and nearly stumbling at the bottom—right into Killian.

He caught her, though, and righted her on her feet. “Hello to you, too, love,” he joked.

“Ah, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine; don’t worry. Just glad I’d already handed off the wine,” he assured her, nodding toward Snow, who stood to the side in the entryway.

Emma cast a glance at her sister-in-law, but she knew what she was going to see: a cheesy, excited grin plastered all over her face at the sight of Emma in someone’s arms.

Oh, right—Killian was still holding her. It felt so comfortable—so natural—that she’d hardly noticed. So it probably looked exactly like whatever Snow was thinking.

He seemed to realize that, too, and gently squeezed her sides before stepping back. Uncertainty on his face told her that he wasn’t sure if he’d crossed a line or not, so she decided to tell him he hadn’t by grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the dining room, throwing a cheeky grin over her shoulder that he responded to in kind.

Thankfully, the rest of the night went by far less eventfully, in that regard, but she didn’t miss the way Snow seated them next to each other. (And then lit candles and dimmed the lights. It was basically a double date.)

(But, where she once thought she’d roll her eyes at something as cheesy as that, she not only enjoyed herself, but found herself looking forward to the possibility of more. That was definitely new. With Neal, she basically tried to keep him as far away from David as possible; whereas he and Killian almost got along too well.)

After dessert, Emma walked Killian down to the pond. The sun was still out, and Killian had already said he couldn’t stay terribly late, but she still wanted to show it to him. Even if she couldn’t explain the entire role of the pond in her life, it felt like a fair trade after he’d somewhat bared his soul on his ship.

They didn’t even talk much; just held hands and sat at the end, watching the sun set. It was simple, casual, slightly romantic, and just...easy. She even went so far as to rest her head on his shoulder; his spine momentarily stiffened at the contact, but then he sort of leaned back into her and she felt him place a kiss in her hair. How she didn’t melt on the spot was a question she couldn’t answer—maybe, in a cosmic play on words, she’d molt later?

The sun finally finished its descent, and Killian morosely declared that he should go. “But I’ll see you tomorrow night, right?” he asked as she walked him to the end of the gravel driveway.

“Definitely. I’ll bring pizza.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Another brief moment of awkwardness hit—neither was really sure how to say goodbye, and she kind of felt like the ball was in his court, placed there by her earlier peck on the cheek. But then there was his at the pond...so where were they?

He decided. Much like she had earlier, he leaned over her—immediately making her heart race—lightly gripped her shoulders, placed a kiss just to the side of her mouth, and murmured his goodbye. She somehow managed not to dissolve again while giving her own farewell as he started his walk home.

She waited until he was out of sight to head back into the house. That weird twinge in her side was back but she didn’t give a single damn—she was flying and she didn’t even have wings yet.

If Snow or Dave noticed her goofy grin or girlish sigh as she climbed the stairs, they didn’t say anything. And she didn’t even bother to go to the pond for her transformation—when her alarm went off, she just threw open her window, stripped down, and once in her swan form, flew out into the night.

She swooped around town a bit, slowly making her way to Killian’s cove (she knew it had a proper, contrived name, but that was what she was gonna call it now). The wind in her feathers made her feel as free as her heart felt light—the first time in ages she’d been able to say that.

But she was glad for the anonymity of her swan form, too; it was only because of that she felt able to express her joy. If Ruby or Granny were out tonight, they might have caught a glimpse of her flying, but it wasn’t like much could be deduced by a lazy flight pattern, right?

And she just wasn’t ready for it to be public knowledge yet. She trusted Killian, but not many other people or the kind of pressure they might put in them when they were both clearly so damaged by their pasts. Snow and David being aware was unavoidable; the rest of Storybrooke could wait.

She landed gracefully on the surface of the cove, swimming around in some happy little circles before starting what had become her usual rounds. Killian wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and neither was the merperson, but that was okay—she still had time to see them both.

Since nothing was happening and she didn’t want to risk passing out so far from home—even if showing up naked at Killian’s door didn’t seem like a completely terrible idea—she flew home to her pond, waiting for tomorrow.

The next day at lunch, Ruby tried to sniff out what was different about Emma, because apparently “the only way more endorphines would be rolling off of you would be if you’d had sex, and then I’d be smelling more than just you.”

Emma just rolled her eyes, laughed, and ate her onion rings, content to keep it to herself for the time being.

“I’ll figure it out!” Ruby promised.

“I’m sure you will.”

Ruby leaned over the counter conspiratorially. “Especially if it has to do with all the ones Killian was giving off this morning.”

Emma was equally concerned by that statement and thrilled by that fact.

Her hands had never been so shaky when holding a pizza as they were after she rang Killian’s doorbell. She took a deep breath to calm herself a bit lest the pizza become a tragic victim of her excitement—and no food as exquisite as pizza deserved that fate.

The door swung open only a moment later to reveal a grinning Killian, dressed in just a T-shirt and some ratty jeans but still looking terribly attractive.

“Hello, love; that smells delicious.” The leer on his face told her he wasn’t just talking about the pizza.

Ever the gentleman, he escorted her through his house—a cute little seaside cottage decorated in dark marine hues, both light and masculine at the same time—and then out the back door to the porch that connected to his dock.

“Well, it’s a nice evening; hopefully that’s amenable for your mystery creature,” he commented as they strode out to the end of it.

Anything she’d read said that merfolk typically only went to the surface once the sun started going down, to reduce risk of being seen. “Hope so,” she agreed, but she also had a feeling she might get a bit distracted.

He was glancing around at the water as they sat down. “This thing—it wouldn’t happen to be a swan, would it?”

Her heart skipped a beat and she froze in her seat. Shit. Did he know it was her? Had David said something? Or Ruby?

“I keep seeing one around here,” he continued casually, unaware of her distress as he opened his beer—and, she reminded herself, he wouldn’t have reason to suspect it might cause her that because he was a normal person, and normal people don’t expect their girlfriends to be the Swan Princess. He finished his observation with, “But I only ever see the one.”

She calmed herself and recovered quickly. “Oh? I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for, based on the description I was given, but what’s so unusual about that? Swans are pretty common.”

“They are, but don’t swans mate for life? So it’s weird to see just one by itself. I kind of feel bad for it,” he added as he opened the pizza box; even though logically she knew better, she still couldn’t tell if he was aware or not that he was actually talking to the swan.

“Well,” she started, choosing her words carefully. Maybe it was better to speak for herself as much as any hypothetical single swan (and, having been on the unwanted receiving end of a few aggressive male swans’ advances, she could speak from plenty of experience). “Maybe she just hasn’t found the right mate yet,” she stated, and then shoved a slice of pizza in her mouth before she could potentially stick her foot in it or reveal too much.

He seemed to catch her drift, though, reading her all too well. “Let’s hope it’s that, then, and she does find her mate someday,” he said, smiling softly.

She swallowed her bite (and her nerves, and possibly her sanity) and added, “I’m sure she will.”

They mostly spent the rest of the evening in companionable silence as they kept a lookout and watched the sunset. The sky put on a spectacular show but nothing from the ocean did, save for a few fish that flopped up and out. (“Is that what you’re after?” he teased. “I sure hope not,” she replied.)

And she’d been right—10:30 came around way too soon for her liking, even if they’d only held hands and drank beer the whole time. But it was just so relaxing and easy and nice; she’d had so little of that and was loathe to give it up.

The alternative—staying and revealing everything—wasn’t an option, though, so she pried herself away with the promise of returning the next night and another quick kiss on the cheek.

But just because she had to leave him didn’t mean she had to leave-leave. She drove to her secluded spot by Cruella’s, let the transformation happen, and headed back out on the water, hoping Killian had returned to the dock.

Alas, he hadn’t, and the house was dark—but he’d left his beer bottle on his chair, and his sweatshirt from earlier. She was chuckling internally (since she couldn’t out loud) at the adorableness of it when she heard a splash from the open water.

Her eyes jumped toward the sound in an instant. There wasn’t anything there, but she saw the ripples from where it had been. She dove under in an attempt to catch a glimpse, but it was too murky.

When she surfaced, it was to the sound of another splash and the sight of another ripple. Damn.

It got quiet for a few minutes, so she picked a dock (that wasn’t Killian’s) to hang out under and watch, hoping for another sighting.

And she didn’t have to wait long until she saw it: the same blue fin from the other night. Her mind hadn’t been playing tricks on her—it really did look like that: a gorgeous, deep blue, with light-colored specks and edges.

It slipped back under quickly and gracefully, but there was no denying anymore that it could be anything but a merperson—likely a man, judging by the size and shape of the fin (per the book).

She was actually kind of happy that Killian wasn’t here to see this; she was glad that she wasn’t completely rocking his world just yet. That bandaid covering knowledge of the supernatural could stay on a little bit longer before she ripped it off.

The merman surfaced (breached? No, that’s whales—she actually had read the field guide a bit, to be polite) a few more times, but then seemed to settle in for the night and everything went quiet.

She went back closer to her car for the night, slept, and woke just before dawn, as usual. There still wasn’t any action, but she’d noticed that Killian had gone out at some point to get the stuff he’d left behind—and she wasn’t at all surprised; she could easily picture him waking from a dead sleep to realize something was untidy.

She chuckled to herself—out loud this time—and drove home.

The next few nights passed very much the same: she’d bring food, or he’d already have some there (he made excellent seafood alfredo, it turned out) and they hung out on the dock, keeping watch and hanging out until she had to leave, which got harder and harder to do each night.

He started each evening hoping they’d have better luck than the night before, making Emma bite her tongue about the merperson; it became quickly apparent to her that it (he?) only came out later, making her wonder if their chatter frightened him away. It would make sense, if he was trying to avoid being seen. But Emma certainly wasn’t about to put the kibosh on these nights together.

One night, they talked a bit more about their pasts and mementos they carried—for her, some odds and ends from childhood but mainly her necklace and how it was the last thing Ruth gave her (but stopping at that, for obvious reasons); for him, a ring that had been his brother’s and the leather cuff on his wrist that had been passed down his mother’s family. (“Is that why you freaked out about the water on our date? You didn’t want to get it wet?” “Essentially.” That made sense now.)

On another, he pointed out the constellations to her and told how he used them to help navigate when he moved here. He didn’t want to rely on the GPS in the middle of the ocean, and it did cut out on him a few times. “Which one did you follow then?” she asked, laying next to him on a blanket spread out on the dock.

“That bright one there—Deneb,” he said pointing. “It’s part of the Northern Cross, which is also known as Cygnus—the swan.” She tried really hard to ignore the fact that a swan had led him to her.

And on the next, they’d scooted their chairs closer together in an attempt to cuddle; it had gotten chilly again, because Maine. He gave her his hoodie after they finished dinner—pancakes from Granny’s—but she was still shivering, so he just hauled her into his lap. She protested at first, but he really was warm.

And he was close—so close. She could see the golden flecks in the center of his irises and the faint freckles across his nose and the lush pinkness of his lips and then—and then they were on hers, soft and firm within the scratch of his scruff, and tasting like maple syrup. It didn’t last long, but it didn’t need to—it was perfect like that. (But she was also pretty sure her heart was beating so hard that her wings were going to sprout right then and there.)

Leaving was terribly difficult that night—especially because now that the seal was broken, they couldn’t stop kissing. Quick pecks, deeper kisses, a bit of tongue action—she wasn’t entirely sure how she got from the dock to her car without throwing him against every single vertical surface. (She somehow kept it to three.) They were even awkwardly kissing through the open Bug window before she slowly backed out.

But, like each night, she drove to her hiding spot, just barely throwing her car into park and getting her shirt off before the transformation took this time. (She was glad she’d at least gotten that far; there was definitely a night when she was a teenager that she spent tangled in a t-shirt.)

And there was the merman, like he had been the last few nights. He still never fully broke the surface, and eventually disappeared down there, but she did get some glimpses of pale skin that shined in bright contrast to the dark scales in the moonlight.

And now she wondered—just how close could she get to him? (Or should she even try?) She was being paid to, for one, but also to sate her curiosity.

She tried to decide what to do as she drifted off to sleep, but all she could really focus on was Killian—how incredible it was to kiss him, and how amazing other things might be.

And then she was taking a shower the next day and caught a glimpse of her soulmark; somehow, she’d forgotten about it in the past few days—completely Killian’s fault, she had to assume—but it almost seemed to mock her now.

So no, she decided; she probably wouldn’t try to meet the merman. That sounded like tempting fate, and even if fate was potentially tempting, she was pretty sure she had something even better now.

thanks for reading and sticking with me! tagging @kat2609 @thesschesthair @optomisticgirl @fergus80 @xpumpkindumplingx @shipsxahoy @selfie-wench @mryddinwilt @cocohook38 @annytecture @wingedlioness @initiala @fairytalesandtimetravel @word-bug @pirateherokillian @bleebug @its-imperator-furiosa @queen-mabs-revenge @flipperbrain @sherlockianwhovian @laschatzi @ive-always-been-a-pirate @jscoutfinch @nfbagelperson @stubble-sandwich @killian-whump @lenfaz @phiralovesloki @athenascarlet @kmomof4 @ilovemesomekillianjones @whimsicallyenchantedrose @snowbellewells @jackieorioncat @bmbbcs4evr @branlovesouat @jennjenn615 @jaiabean @therooksshiningknight @a-faekindagirl @technicallysizzlingcloud @deathbycaptainswan @superadam54

#cs ff #cs modern au #swan!emma #something in the water #my ff

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storiesandgarbage · 5 years

Text

Rescue You - Chapter 3

An Ask for Permission

Pairings: Featuring: Avenger!OC // OC x Steve Rogers, OC x Loki Laufeyson

Style: Multi-chapter fic // Chapter 3 / ?

Word Count: 2.4 k

Warnings (chapter specific): Some fluff, The Fast and Furious (movie 1) spoiler [if I didn’t include this there would be someone who was upset, I promise]

Summary: Chapter 3 of Rescue You. Loki definitely has feelings for Amelia, but can he really act on them? It seems as though there is a brick wall shaped Super Soldier standing in his way.

A/N: Hi my lovelies! Chapter 3 of Rescue You is finally here! I hope you guys like it. Please, as always hit me with asks, requests are open and so is my taglist! Thank you for reading and for your support x

Chapter 1 I Chapter 2 I Chapter 3 I Rescue You Masterlist I Main Masterlist

Amelia woke up that morning with one thought: why is it so cold?

October had taken over quickly, time passing without much regard for the people it affected. This particular October morning was especially chilled. Amelia put on leggings and a hoodie featuring Mjlonir and headed down for training, for once anxious to get her blood pumping. Maybe she would be able to warm up a bit.

“Ah, Lady Amelia, I see you have finally come to your senses,” Thor was smiling smugly, pointing to her hoodie, “the best weapon from none other than the strongest Avenger.” She smiled at him and winked, practically being able to hear Tony’s head begin to explode.

“Point Break, I think the hoodie was just a lapse in judgement,” Tony argued, “Maybe it’s laundry day.” Cap nodded next to him.

“Yeah, it would have to be laundry day for her to wear the hammer.” Steve’s smile was one full of mischief. “Otherwise she would have worn the shield.” Tony scoffed in response as he started another set of reps. Amelia just shook her head at the boys before joining Nat on the treadmills.

“Cardio.” Amelia scrunched her nose in disgust and Nat just laughed. The pair chatted while they ran and Amelia couldn’t help but let her eyes wander all around the gym. Whether they were her best friends or not, the team was certainly eye candy.

“If you start drooling I’m going to vomit” Nat said in a low tone, following the girl’s gaze to a certain Norse god who was skillfully throwing daggers at practice dummies.

“Shut up,” Mel giggled, “just because you only have eyes for Banner doesn’t mean that I can’t have a look around.” Natasha immediately got red in the face, her and Bruce’s relationship was still in its rocky beginnings, neither one wanting to get hurt but both wanting very desperately to be with one another. The girls continued their banter throughout their run.

By the time the workout for the day was complete Amelia’s legs were nothing but jello. She trudged to the elevator and fell in when the doors opened. Dragging herself to the shower she turned the water a bit more warm than necessary, the chill of the day already settling back in. She was finishing getting dressed when there was a knock on her door.

She opened it to two very excited super soldiers, they were holding snacks and blankets and the girl spotted a set of DVD’s in their hands, she caught sight of the words Fast and Furious on one of the covers. She smiled.

“Come on guys, those are action movies,” she faked her complaint, “can’t we watch something romantic?”

“There’s a love story included, they’re very well rounded films, I hear.” Bucky’s response was exactly what she anticipated.

“Fine,” she sighed dramatically, smiling the entire time, “but you have to carry me, Nat killed my legs.” She pouted and reached her arms out, and waited for Steve to scoop her into his arms, which he did with ease, he was a sucker and they all knew it, but at least Amelia didn’t have to use her fatigued legs. The group hurried down the hall to the elevator.

“Wait!” Amelia cried just before Buck stepped in, he paused and turned to her and Steve. “Let’s invite Loki!” Her voice was firm and the guys had no qualms so they turned and headed back down the hall. The prince had been listening to the entire exchange and was prepared when Bucky knocked lightly on his door.

“Loki,” the man asked, “Are you in there?”

The door opened and Loki stepped out into the hall. He was wearing sweatpants that hung just right on his hips. Amelia’s eyes lingered a second too long on his form before she cleared her throat. Loki on the other hand openly stared at the girl and Steve. He had he cradled in his arms and her hand reached up to grasp his neck, steadying herself against his body. Loki couldn’t help the fire he felt building in his chest. Gods he was incredibly jealous.

“Hey pal,” Amelia spoke to him, interrupting his inner rage, “we are gonna watch these really boring movies, they’re all action and no romance.” Bucky rolled his eyes at her, she ignored it. “You wanna join us? Only requirement is bringing a blanket because it’s freezing in this damn tower.” Amelia was smiling. Loki knew from the moment they arrived at the door that he would do anything she asked him to. He hadn’t realized it would be so incredibly mundane. He also hadn’t realized how much he craved the mundane after the last few years of his life. He nodded.

“Okay, but there better be good snacks and you have to make me some tea,” he turned back into his room and picked up the quilt that Amelia had made for him, draping it over his arm before returning and following the three to the den.

Steve placed Amelia gently on a couch and she patted the cushion next to her, motioning for Loki to sit next to her. Steve sat on her other side and Bucky fell in next to Steve. The group barely made it through the first movie without Amelia becoming completely too involved in the story. She cried when the young Jesse was shot, Steve chuckled at her and Loki conjured her a box of tissues. By the third movie they were all lounging, Amelia started to get tired and she laid down, resting her head in Steve’s lap and draping her legs over Loki’s own. Loki only panicked for a moment at her action before placing his hands on top of her shins and relaxing, enjoying the physical contact. He however couldn’t help but watch her interaction with Steve, the second she laid her head in his lap he began playing with her hair, massaging her scalp and running his fingers through the entire length of her chocolate colored locks. She sighed in contentment at the sensation and Loki’s heart felt like it would explode. Why did he have to fall for the girl he couldn’t have? Watching their interaction it was obvious to Loki that Steve and Amelia were more than friends. He wondered how Steven felt about her using him as the second part of her human pillow. However, when Steve noticed him observing their interaction he just shook his head.

“Mel’s a cuddle bug,” Steve said aloud and Bucky nodded almost immediately, “can’t get her to stay in her own space.” He laughed when she reached up and smacked him lazily in the chest. He grabbed her hand and held on to it, giving it a tight squeeze.

Loki felt somber then, seeing their bond and knowing there was nothing he could do about it. But he did wonder, if they were together, why had he never seen them kiss or embrace more romantically that this? He pondered this, the movie just background noise for him. He decided he would find out for sure, after all, it would probably be easier to step to the wayside if he knew that she was taken and not just assuming.

The third movie ended and Amelia groaned, “I’m hungry for real food,” she tossed a bag of candy onto the table away from her to emphasize her statement, “what is for dinner?”

“Let’s order Chinese,” Bucky suggested, getting the now fourth movie in the series ready to play.

“Loki, do you like Chinese?” Amelia sat up on her elbows looking up at him.

“I will admit that I have not yet found a Midguardian food that I don’t enjoy, I would be willing to try some Chinese.” Loki responded and Amelia nodded. She reached her hands out for Loki to take, he did, pulling her up from her horizontal position until she was practically sitting in his lap, Loki fought the blush which crept to his cheeks, thankful that no one seemed to be watching them. Amelia stood then, muttering about where the take out menu had been left last as she wandered from the room.

She quickly returned, menu help triumphantly in her hand. She handed the paper to Loki and leaned over the couch, reading over his shoulder. They were cheek to cheek, Loki could feel the woman’s breath on his shoulder but found that he could hardly breathe himself. Her scent was intoxicating him.

“What do you think you might like?” Amelia asked, her voice was low so as not to yell in his ear but the pitch sent pleasant vibrations throughout him. He almost shivered in delight but held it back.

“I like shrimp,” Loki said, looking to that section of the menu, “Do they have anything spicy?” Amelia pointed to a menu item and Loki read the description. He nodded, “yeah, I’ll try that he said.”

“Okay but I’m ordering extra egg rolls and crab Rangoon. You have to try them, they’re a staple in any Americanized Chinese meal.” She laughed and stood up straight then. Her phone was already in hand and she dialed the take out restaurant. Apparently already knowing the other two men’s orders by heart she placed the order and then hung up the phone.

“Should be about 20 minutes.” She declared as she took her spot back on the couch. “It is fucking cold in here.” She shivered visibly and wrapped herself up in the blanket she brought from her own room. Loki lifted his extra-large blanket and used some of it to cover her even more.

“Ah, much better,” she said and scooted closer to Loki on the couch, resting her head on his shoulder. He shot a sideways glance at Steve who seemed unbothered by the interaction though Bucky did raise an eyebrow at all of it for a brief moment before returning his attention to the movie.

The night passed on and soon Amelia was asleep on the couch, Steve went to pick her up and take her to her room when Loki offered instead, stating he was too going to retire. Steve nodded and Loki stood, scooping the girl and her massive cocoon of blankets and started up to their shared floor. Laying her down in her bed he covered her with her comforter and smoothed her hair out of her face.

He turned to leave when he was surprised by her grabbing his hand. She squeezed it gently and murmured.

“Thanks Lok,” smiling with her eyes still closed.

“You’re sneaky, little one,” Loki laughed, realized that she had been awake but still let Loki carry her to her bed. She laughed softly at him.

“I’m resourceful.” She yawned and cuddled down into the blankets.

“Good night dear,” Loki said as he pulled her bedroom door shut and went to his own.

He laid in bed, staring at the ceiling and letting his fingers trace the pattern on his quilt for hours before he decided to fix the issue that kept him awake. Throwing the covers back he left his room and headed for Steve’s praying he was awake.

He knocked on the door and Steve almost immediately opened it, inviting him in and sitting on the edge of his bed while Loki stood before him, fiddling with his fingers.

“Steven, I was hoping to ask you a rather personal question.” Loki’s voice was low, he was bracing himself for the coming blow.

“I mean, I’m a pretty open book,” Steve was being truthful but he still had his guard up, not able to anticipate what would come from Loki next.

“I wanted to ask you if you were involved with Amelia.” Loki looked down as he spoke the words, slightly afraid that if he offended this man that he would come out swinging. Instead, he earned a laugh.

“Oh um, no Loki I can’t say I am, but if I’m sensing the reason that you’re asking the question then I would suggest that you are not either.”

To describe Loki’s facial expression as bewildered would have been an understatement. He was absolutely baffled, who was Steve Rogers to tell him he couldn’t pursue someone who was not taken?

“I know what you’re thinking,” Steve said, reading Loki’s expression, “and this isn’t me trying to control you or tell you what to do. I have my reasons.”

“Would you care to elaborate then?” Loki’s voice was low and angry.

“Listen, I have always admired Mel, I think she’s truly the most gorgeous woman to walk this planet.”

“Most gorgeous woman in the nine realms.” Loki interjected and Steve paused for a moment before continuing.

“Yes, that too,” he said smiling, “but I would never pursue her.”

“And why not? I am struggling to understand.”

Steve sighed, “Amelia is 22 years old Loki, I have existed on this planet for 100 years. You have existed in this universe for over 1000 years. We are, for lack of a better way to put it, too old for her.” Loki pondered this. Steve was correct, Amelia could not begin to fathom the things the pair had seen and done before she was even a thought in the cosmos.

“I suppose I see your point Steven, but Amelia is wise beyond her years. Do you not see this in her as I do?”

“Of course I do, I realize that she’s the most amazing human to exist, I see it. It just feels like if someone like you or I were to be with her, we would be robbing her of the normalcy she deserves.”

Loki’s heart sunk in his chest. Yes, of course, Amelia could never have a normal existence with him. He would even consider trying to extend her lifespan if he could find a way. But was that what she deserved? No, probably not. Loki managed a nod at Steve who felt the same sadness in his heart.

“Sometimes, we have to do the right thing for the person we love, we cannot be selfish.” Steve said and placed a hand on Loki’s shoulder. “Amelia is in our lives and the best we can do for her is to be good friends. I know, how hard it is to push those other thoughts to the side, but perhaps we can be there for one another. Support system of sorts I guess.”

Loki smiled, “Are you asking to be my friend Rogers?”

“I suppose I am,” Steve smiled and reached out a hand they shook on it and Loki left the room. Not necessarily feeling any better, but feeling at peace with the circumstances.

#rescue you #marvel #marvel fanfiction #imagine marvel #marvel imagine #Steve Rogers #Bucky Barnes #loki fanfic #Loki Laufeyson #captain america #Avengers #avenger!oc #Amelia #Healer!OC #fluff chapter #fluff #loki imagine #steve rogers imagine #chapter 3

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the-oeuvre · 3 years

Text

ROAD TO HELL

WRITTEN UNDER PSEUDONYM ANN LEIGH. PREVIOUS CHAPTER: click here

ㅤ

Seoul with all its beauty, makes Raveena begin to be lulled whether consciously or not. She hasn’t been in Korea for three months, yet it doesn’t feel like it. The arrival that was never carefully planned made Raveena seem unable to schedule her return date as well. Raveena had purposefully ‘disappeared’ from everyone but Aldric, because her life had become desperate recently.

The issue isn’t just with her ex-lover; it’s with everything in her life, from Sem Atchley’s selfishness to minor details about her unrequited love story. Raveena had no idea whether she was loved or not. Since her departure to Korea, Gesang’s attitude has evolved. But when she asked him, the answer was still the same, he said he didn’t want Raveena to have any faith in him because Gesang couldn’t give her all she wanted. Raveena tries to appreciate it, despite her indecisiveness and fear of hurting his feelings if she looks for a person who can give Raveena a real commitment. Raveena, on the other hand, believes that she is entitled to happiness. Raveena’s wish was thwarted once more by the thought that she would come to regret not waiting for Gesang any longer. It also makes Raveena believe that whether or not Raveena is paired with Gesang is only a matter of fate. Her thoughts didn’t stop there; the voices in her head continued to generate doubts regarding the first argument. And that was almost how Raveena spent the remainder of the day.

Raveena's grumpiness was worsened by memories of her one-week stay with Gesang prior to her departure to Korea. The recurrence of these memories is not without reason. When Raveena was browsing her Instagram page, she came across the social media of a woman Gesang knew. The woman was hugging Gesang’s arm there, despite the fact that Gesang was clearly unresponsive with what she did at the moment. Even yet, it managed to sway her heart for a little period.

Raveena decides to take off all of her clothes and replace them with a short red satin dress without further thought. When the cold air of autumn arrived, the light brown coat hanging behind the door become the current priority for her hand to take and wear as a cover as well as a body warmer.

It is still possible to go outside, since it is not too late yet. Many inhabitants of Seoul continue to drive their personal autos alongside pedestrians and roadways. Certainly, in a nightclub with a reputation for attracting international patrons. Of course, the huge number of visitors there will make it easier for Raveena to communicate if it necessary.

The crowd is out in force and eager to party as Raveena enters the entry door. The beat reverberating off the walls. Conversation is loud and people are difficult to hear over the thundering music, and the dance floor is packed with sweaty bodies swaying to the beat. This is exactly how Raveena going to spend her rest of night even though she can see how chaotic it is by her naked eyes. As she walks further, the drinks are flowing across the tables just as fast as the bartenders can make them. Raveena grabs one too. Something that can make her feel the sweet and spicy taste as she gulps her drink. Spicy sherry, rich caramel, and a hint of dried fruit can all be detected by her taste receptors; kind of suitable as a starter for the gloomy night.

Raveena starts to writhing on the dance floor, as though tipsy by the alcohol quantity that had reached her body. Her body moves uncontrollably in response to the thumping sound emanating from a disc jockey on the stage. She makes contact with the individuals around her several times before, but this time the touch was different. Someone grabs her shoulders and drew his face close to her ears. Raveena’s instinct is to spin around and stare at the young man in front of her, who she could tell that he is tall and attractive enough.

“당신은 매력적으로 보입니다.”

(You look pretty.)

Raveena smiled in response to his compliment. “감사.”

“너 춤추 니?”

(Do you dance?)

A smirk appeared on her beautiful face. Raveena nodded as well, as if allowing the young man, she had just met to be her partner this time on the dance floor.

It is obvious what they were going to do tonight and how they begin to move their bodies into sensual gestures, which were first only to following the rhythm of the song. Raveena doesn’t hesitate to bring her back body close to the young man’s lower part. Meanwhile, despite merely groping Raveena’s tummy and waist, the young man had dared to grope her entire body. When Raveena watched another lady having fun with Gesang, she believed she had won this time since she had managed to redeem her pain. Raveena shifted her gaze back to the man in front of her and tugged at his collar. Screw it if anyone else notices, and fuck the worries that occupy her mind all day. Raveena will be concerned with proving that she, too, can have fun like people around her. Their faces got closer to each other at that point, until their lips finally met. There hasn’t been any further form of kiss, just two lips pressed together because it’s still hard to face their first touch from a stranger. Raveena, on the other hand, secretly took a photograph of herself kissing him at the time. Raveena’s face was clearly covered by the young man for half of the time. Although not very clear, but the photo captured by Raveena must have succeeded in making anyone who saw it thought that they were making out passionately.

“한잔 하자, 응?”

(Let’s get a drink, shall we?)

“Sure.”

Soon after, they return to the table where his companions had congregated. Some were drinking, while others were having affairs with other foreign women. She doesn’t know since her vision is quite fuzzy and she can’t focus like she used to. Raveena was obsessed with continuing the kiss that had been postponed earlier. Their kiss was even more passionate than previously. Peck after peck formed, eventually morphing into sucks and moans.

“조금만 기다려주세요.”

(Wait.)

“네.”

Raveena is still half-lulled by the event she had just witnessed when the young man whose name she doesn’t know yet got up from his seat and left her. Raveena got a chance to see how his cell phone was turning on before he let go of his lips, so it appears that he had to take an important call from someone. Raveena, to be honest, did not seem to care. Truthfully, she is more curious with her phone. What she’s doing right now is checking her cell phone for a new message from Gesang.

The time difference which is only two hours apart made Raveena sure that currently in Jakarta it is not that late for Gesang not to reply to the last message sent by Raveena. Raveena just laughs bitterly at the thought of how Gesang is currently making out in his room with the same woman earlier. Annoyed, she also sent a photo of her kiss earlier to Gesang without adding any caption on it. After that, Raveena re-locked her phone yet still grabbed it on her hand.

Not long after, her phone vibrated, indicating an incoming call. Without seeing who the caller was, Raveena picked it up. “See? I am much happier than you. I don’t fucking care anymore. What are you gonna say?”

The caller cleared his throat for a moment. If Raveena was in a fully conscious state right now, she would have recognized that all-too-familiar mumble voice.

“Where are you now, Vee?”

“Doesn’t matter, I am nowhere.”

“I know you’re in a nightclub, in Seoul right now. Just call me when you’re fully sober, will you?”

“I don’t want to talk about us, Mas. I’m done hurting by you.”

“I’m not even your ‘Mas’, Vee! I’m your father!”

“Such a liar.”

The call was disconnected unilaterally. With that, Raveena went back to spending the rest of the night with the stranger she had just met earlier on the dance floor.

ㅤ ㅤ

Raveena woke the next day with a headache and was still dizzy. She was not sure how many drinks she had with Jaeseop — the real name of the man Raveena met on the dance floor — last night. Raveena had never pictured herself doing something like this with a random person. Although it is obvious that Jaeseop’s charm has enchanted Raveena since last night.

Her right foot was the first to tread on the wooden floor, followed by her left foot. Raveena gingerly picked up her red satin dress from the floor so as not to wake up Jaeseop, who was still fast asleep after expending a lot of energy the night before. Raveena covered her naked body with the dress she wore in front of her breast while grabbing for her phone near the table and heading into the bathroom to clean herself.

“Shit. Ramai sekali.”

Raveena was the one who first read Sem Atchley’s message. Raveena had no idea to recall of what had occurred the night before.

ㅤ ㅤ iMessage : Dad.

ㅤ ㅤ ᠂ Call me when you are fully sober later.

ㅤ ㅤ ᠂ I’m not your ‘Mas’.

ㅤ ㅤ ᠂ Don’t make any mess there.

Raveena gulped her saliva as a reflex. Her heart began to race as her brain processed the events that had occurred while she was not fully awake. Raveena hurriedly checked the call history to make sure her fears were unfounded.

“Shit! I thought it was dream.”

Raveena hastily put the cell phone on her right ear until the ringing tone that sounded very monotonous and boring was replaced by Sem Atchley’s low voice.

“Are you fully sober now?”

“Uh, yes. What happened?”

“Never mind. Just answer me, when will you go home?”

“Me? I don’t know?”

“Do you have any unfinished business there?”

“Not really, Dad. Why? Though I came here to keep my mind stay sane.”

“I am sorry for what happened on you. It was your mother’s idea to ask Ansel be in a relationship with you. I hope you don’t hurt too much.”

“Wait. Mom’s what?”

“Long story, Raveena. I will tell you the whole story when you come home. Though I want you to know that I won’t ever abandoned you and Gavin.”

“Make sure you promise me nothing but the truth, Dad.”

Though as soon as she heard an okay from him, she disconnected the call. Raveena let out a heavy sigh afterwards. Her hand brushed her hair back so that it no longer covered part of her face as she looked down while staring at the her phone, opening one by one incoming messages other than messages from his father. Finally. One familiar name. One name that became the biggest reason why Raveena ended up in a hotel bed with a stranger she had just met last night. One name that made her heart beat wildly. Nervous, to be exact.

ㅤ

NEXT CHAPTER: click here

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ninjakitty15 · 3 years

Text

Chapter 8: Fear The Reaper (Loki X OFC Pairing)

To say Loki was a complicated demi god, would be more of an understatement than saying Tony Stark is a decent techie or engineer. He had more facets than the world's most perfectly cut diamond and more layers than an ogre made of onions. Lucky for me, the first few layers were just leather and metal and some really fancy fabric from a destroyed planet/realm. He wasn't kidding about the not sharing part either, in that he became not so much overly possessive per say but he was prepared to let the multiverse know no one could have me but him. Case and point, propping himself up and over me, an arm on either side of my head almost as if he was using himself to keep me in and others out. There was also love bites in several very visible spots I didn't have the heart to tell him would heal before I would leave the bedroom we ended up in. He paused between kisses he stole from me to watch me intently below him and lifted one hand up to cup my face, tilting a bit so his eyes met my heavily lidded ones. "No matter how much death comes for me, I still want more."

I chuckled at his blatant pun. "We could keep going but I think at some point you'd be pegged a necrophiliac."

"Isn't that how most people want to go out, death by violently passionate love?" he purred. "Am I too much for you then, love?"

I snickered at the challenge. "Heavens to murgatroid no, not a bad way to go though, you're right on that."

"Then pray tell, why the pause? You shouldn't be thinking as hard as I feel right now."

"I'd have more energy if certain polarities were reversed."

It was his turn to pause then as he was trying to figure out what I was getting at. "My magic is making you more mortal than necessary, but wouldn't changing that make you numb again?"

"I told you I can still feel extremes normally, not when you're switching me back to life."

"Why do I feel like there's another reason you want to do that?"

Damn him and his clever mischievous natural scheming detector. "What other reason could there be?"

"Why don't you tell me?" he dropped his head to bury itself in my neck, finding the sweet spot and sucking, nipping on it till I squirmed under him.

"I've had you as an Asgardian god, now I wanna try a Frost Giant."

"Ever the curious creature you are. You sure you want this, the effects could be dangerous."

"What? Like frostbite? That's just flesh dying of the cold, I'm already dead, no biggie. Stop asking if I'm sure, you glorified smurf." And suddenly emeralds turned to glittering rubies and the room became much cooler. I reached up with both hands and pulled his head to mine, kissing him passionately, the cold never bothered me anyway.

"You two are worse than bunnies," Tony commented much later while we were all in one of his meeting rooms for the next mission.

"Says the man that used to take a different woman home every other night," Loki quipped.

"We'd be worse than bunnies if I was prego right now but literally nothing is alive in me so your argument is invalid," I told Tony. "Bunnies aren't that great to begin with anyway, oh sure they look all cute and fuzzy but they poop everywhere, aren't great housepets and die quite easy in extreme tempts which is unfortunately the kind of temps New England is known for. Great waste of fluff and space bunnies."

Everyone in the meeting room turned to me then with different expressions but the same basic principle of "wtf" about my little rant.

"What kind of pets do you like then?" asked Clint.

"Cats. Mostly self sufficient, don't need to be constantly cared for, don't hog the bed when they want cuddles, what more can you want in a pet. Anyway, why are we all here? You interrupted my naptime."

"Spoken like a true cat person," mused Tony. "Seems there's some undead activity nearby that requires our attention."

"Don't look at me, they only come when I ask."

"Which means that there's another necromancer around that's not playing by the rules you do."

"Well you know how it is, suddenly you have the power to raise an army and it gets to your head. In an unrelated story, beheading works best in stopping power hungry necromancers."

"Does shooting the head work the same or do we have to actually separate the skull from the body?" asked Steve.

"Afraid to get a little messy, Steve-o? You're dealing with monsters here, you're gonna get messy or you're next."

"Did you just threaten Captain America?" asked Tony in mock shock. "I'm liking you more and more."

I smirked. "Depending on the level of power they have, even the most lethal of shots or slashes can heal if its clean. Loki, a dagger please?" Loki straightened an arm and one slid out of his sleeve and into an open palm which he then handed to me almost uncertainly. I took the blade and slid it against my wrist as an example. For a moment blackened blood oozes out of the cut before it sealed itself back up and the blood was absorbed back into my body. "If clean wounds are all you know, I strongly suggest any number of horror films with gore and violence warnings on the rating for ideas."

"I'm sorry I'm slightly confused here, earlier you were telling us how there's so few of you guys left yet here you are telling us how to cut you down more..." Clint spoke up.

"There's two types of necromancers, those that do their job and those that steal from the honeypot, I don't care about the latter, they disrupt the natural order we're meant to abide by. If that means we reach white rhino status, then so be it, I can live with that."

"Remind us again what white rhino status means?" asked Steve.

"You can count how many of those beasties are in existence today on one hand and still have a few free fingers, they've been hunted by poachers for their horn to near extinction and the few left are now under armed guards to ensure that doesn't happen."

"I've got a question about dead animals," Tony spoke up. "Have you tried raising them?"

"They've been on this planet a lot longer than we have and we cause them enough grief destroying it and them along with it, I leave them alone as they deserve to rest more than we do."

"What about dinosaurs, think of what you could do with your own T-rex," Clint noted.

"Ok firstly there's an entire franchise of movies explaining exactly why it's a terrible idea to resurrect dinosaurs, i mean their name even means terrible lizard. Secondly there wouldn't be much left of them to resurrect, they're millions of years old and there's a reason we only see casts and not the actual bones of them. They're brittle as fuck, the actual bones are kept in a temperature controlled vault in a basement somewhere. Sure, it would look cool as hell having an army of angry monster skeletons behind you but the second they get close to the enemy, they're literally dust. Nice try though."

"So just stick to humans then," Tony noted.

"Fuck yeah."

"So you couldn't resurrect someone old enough, say George Washington?" Clint asked.

"Putting aside the fact that every single person that knows about him or seen his portraits remembers him as a stiff stoic and heroic first president and bringing back a grinning corpse because if there's anything left of him still hanging around its gonna be bones and tattered clothes aka nightmare fuel. It also takes a lot more effort to bring back moldy oldies because not only would they have probably been at peace in their final resting place a lot longer and don't wanna go back to the fucked up world we made it in their absence, theres a lot more effort in putting them together before they rise. Any other erroneous questions and misconceptions?"

"I've got one," Tony piped up. "You've said you only feel extremes most of the time and I'm curious, can you taste pain too? I'm convinced you're actually Liv Moore under an alias."

"She couldn't control other zombies, just support and help them survive the human population that didn't like them. I could stomach a lot of spices when I was still human I think, so I can only assume I'd be ok now, why?"

"Ever had a Carolina Reaper?"

"You've been dying to challenge someone on that haven't you, pun intended."

"What's a Carolina Reaper?" Loki murmured beside me.

"One of the most painfully edible things ever bred," Clint answered for me.

"If it's so painful, why eat it then, food's meant to be enjoyed."

"Some people don't taste the pain, they taste the spice, the heat and that's what they want. So I highly recommend you don't try what I'm about to do. Tony, I accept your challenge...I'd smack you with a gauntlet but this is the 21st century," I replied.

"Why shouldn't I try this reaper, I'm a god you dead creature."

"God or not, you are a Frost Giant and this food is barely edible fire, you will be one of the reasons it's called a reaper and I'm not sure I want to bring you back to life, I only ever resurrect mortals." Tony handed me one of the bright red peppers, a whole one, not something seasoned with a reaper, not a slice, a whole fucking pepper. I took it carefully, touching as little as possible in the event I needed to rub my eyes after this ordeal and examined it curiously. "Well, it was nice knowing you all, Loki, if I don't make it back, avenge me, you have my blessing." I looked Tony in the eyes and took all but the stem and leaves in my mouth before biting down.

"How exactly does this pepper kill someone though?" Loki asked while watching me.

"The spiciness irritates the inside of your mouth so much that it inflames it, causing you to choke and suffocate essentially while you're sweating like you've run a marathon through hell so not only are you essentially becoming dehydrated but you're oxygen is cut off," explained Tony.

I chewed the evil pepper and all at once it was like eating a piece of hell itself, my entire body felt like it was on fire, not just my mouth and I had to shut my eyes to swallow like a frog, my whole body going stiff from the pain, and slammed a fist down on the meeting table before finally getting rid of it in my stomach. "That's a spicy meatball-a," I stated in a horrible Italian accent. "Anyone else wanna try food from hell? Where's Thor, he's always up for doing stupid shit like this."

Loki snorted unceremoniously. "Off playing hero somewhere or making sure his people don't get into more trouble than he does, no doubt. Give me one."

"You can try a slice of Jalapeno before you play with the big guns."

"Are you actually denying the god of mischief some fun?" Clint asked me.

It was my turn to snort. "I've given him more fun in bed than he'd find from anyone else on this planet, what I'm doing is making sure he doesn't die from a dumb challenge. The only thing missing from this redneck fun is someone saying hold my beer."

"That's because my brother is elsewhere," replied Loki. "I'll have your Holopino."

Tony disappeared to the nearest kitchen and then returned with chips and Jalapeno dip with actual slices mixed into the cheesy goodness. "You're not lactose intolerant are you?"

"I highly doubt that's actual cheese and not the processed american cheese most cheese dips here are made of," I noted.

Loki took a chip and pretty much coated the entire piece in the dip then shoved it in his mouth all at once. He didn't break out in a sweat like most weak stomached people would but then maybe Frost Giants don't do that, he also didn't choke or spit it out and managed to swallow the whole thing without complaint though he was a master of lies for a reason, his poker face was second to none. "On the scale of pain, where is the Holopino?"

"It's one of the least spicy peppers this planet has though still pretty spicy. The seeds of any spicy pepper though are what you want to avoid more than the flesh or juice though you don't want the juice either as that shit can get anywhere, people have gone blind because they got the juice on their hands, didn't wash it off well or at all and then rubbed their eyes for whatever reason. Smart people that cook with spicy peppers wear latex gloves, everyone else tempts fate."

"You're worried something spicy and edible could kill me," he mused.

"Everything is edible once," I retorted. "And there's plenty of edible things that can kill anyone, just add poison, hell we eat at least two kinds of poisonous plants without realizing its potential, potatoes and tomatoes are both belladonnas which is the most poisonous plant this planet has."

"How exactly do you know all that about poisons?" Nat asked.

"Like no one else has ever thought about ways to sneak poison into someone's drink before, if you tell me otherwise then you're a liar. There's a song by my favorite band about slipping cleaning solution into someone's coffee."

"No wonder you two are so close, so much potential to do good but so tempted to do otherwise, meant for each other really," Tony mused.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"We'll see. Now that I had my initial fun though, back to what I called you all here for. We have ourselves a zombie outbreak...never thought I'd say that, but there's a first time for everything. While I get the feeling you could probably handle zombies on your own, this should still be a team effort for damage control and whatnot so everyone suit up and ship out."

I grinned." You heard him, Autobots, let's roll out!"

"Sometimes you're worse than Peter with the pop culture references," muttered Tony.

"Where is the little bug anyway?"

"At school like the good genius he is, it is a week day after all and no longer summer."

"Wait a sec, it's...the fall?" I asked excitedly.

"...Yes?"

I grinned. "Things are starting to turn up Milhouse."

"Why is it a good thing for it to be autumn?" asked Loki as we made our way to the jet thing.

"I'm strongest during that season."

There were definitely zombies afoot, not a whole lot thankfully which usually meant the rogue necromancer that raised them was either doing something small scale or wasn't that much a threat and didn't have the power to raise a full army. Either way sucks to be them. I hung back in the jet as zombies themselves were super easy to handle, it was just a matter of finding the weasel that got them there and dealing with them. Loki hung back as well as you really didn't need god powers to deal with the walking dead, just something to separate the head from the body. So it was basically Clint, Nat, Tony, and America's Ass knocking heads and taking names.

"You think Thor will be pissed he's not part of the party?" I mused to Loki.

The golden god grinned at the thought of his brother being the whiny baby he knew he was. "He did particularly enjoy a similar situation to this one, fighting off the undead, despite losing our home in the end. He's not needed though so he can bloody deal with it."

"Maybe we shouldn't tell him and pretend like nothing's happened that he'd miss." Our eyes met for a moment before we both grinned wickedly. "Nah." I pressed my com out of curiosity to see how things were going outside. "Found the rogue yet?"

"All I see are dead people," came Clint's response first, causing me to crack up at the quote.

"Ha, it's not just me quoting movies now, Tony, check and mate."

"Clint, don't encourage her," grumbled Tony on the com.

"This is way easier than I expected zombies to be, I feel like I'm in a video game and this is like one of the first few levels," Clint stated.

"If the music changes, get ready for the big boss fight," I warned him.

"Anything we should look for in finding said big boss? Features that sets him apart like with you?" asked Nat.

"Only the more advanced look like death for reasons, I highly doubt this one is so look for the one that stationary or moving at a normal pace and not currently rotting at the same time. The zombies are either a distraction or sentinels so go in the opposite direction as them to find the boss. On that note, can I have a go at whoever it is, they're under my department, I feel like I should take some responsibility for it...adulting and what not."

"If there's anything else after we're done, maybe," Tony answered.

"Sharing is caring."

"Good thing I don't care then."

Another few minutes went by. "You say its easy dealing with zombies yet there's still no progress otherwise, what's going on out there? Has the music changed yet?"

"Still can't find the bastard, even when I switch to heat vision to seek out living from undead it's still all dead things," grumbled Tony. "Are we even sure he's in this area? Maybe this whole thing is a diversion from another place?"

I groaned in frustration and stood up stiffly. "This is taking too long, I'm gonna miss the Farmers Market!" I stormed out of the jet, Loki in tow of course, and walked out into the battlefield, power flowing into my hands before I shot it at every dead body near me still walking that collapsed immediately, the connection from them to their initial power source cut off.

"Nell, what the hell are you doing?" demanded Tony.

"Your job for you, I want a raise after this too." I grabbed hold of a zombie's head without cutting the connection and instead followed the connection to the source while Loki made sure there were no interruptions. "Found em." I cut the connection of that zombie after and had Loki teleport me right to the source which thankfully was still in the area just very well hidden. I let go of Loki's hand from him teleporting us and took a bee line right to the bastard who's back was turned to me. I grabbed him by the head and smashed it against the wall of the building he was hidden in. Thankfully, he was still conscious for me to play with and held his head with a grown before turning around onto his back to face me and the look on his face was just too perfect to post on instagram.

"Nell! Y-you're...you're," he stuttered in terror.

"I'm what?" I growled at him, not wasting any time as I reached down and grabbed him by the shirt, throwing him into another wall and going after him before he could scamper away.

"You're back," he squeaked. "They told me..."

"Who told you?" I demanded, a hand wrapping around his neck tight and holding him hard against the wall behind him.

One hand of his was around the hand around his neck trying to get me off him while I wasn't so blind to not notice the other reaching for something behind his back, a flash of metal telling me exactly what he was planning and even before Loki would take out his own blades, I caught his free hand that held a certain lethal dagger and broke his wrist while my nails dug into his neck so he couldn't catch his dagger as it dropped. I kicked it away from both of us. "You know who I am, then you know what your options are now. Who told you?"

Both his hands were now trying to pry my one off him and I only gave him enough air to speak and not die just yet. "We're either the hunted or the hunters, that's what they told me. They told me your head would be mounted on a wall when they caught you."

I pulled him from the wall only to slam him back against it in rage, he was working for the people, helping them hunt the rest of us, that caught me. "How did they find me?"

"I don't know!" he croaked.

"Try again." Another slam against the wall.

"I swear I don't know! I was told about you after it had already happened!"

"Nell," Steve of all people said suddenly behind me. "He's more useful to us alive."

"I disagree," I growled. "The dead are so much more cooperative."

A new level of fear filled the traitor's face, he definitely knew what his options were now. He looked past me to Loki who was simply watching the whole scene play out without a word or a motion otherwise then to Steve. "Help me! Please!"

"He's not in the business of helping people he's been trying to shut down his entire life," I reminded him coldly.

"Loki, can't you stop this?" Steve asked him.

"I am not her commander nor master, I do not as you would say, call the shots."

"Nell, drop him," Nat came in saying. "I know what you're feeling, I know what you've been through, this isn't the way to handle it."

I vaguely wondered what would happen if I killed the rat in my grasp, would the Avengers come at me, kick me out of the compound? Would I be their next mission? Would Loki come with me or stay with them? That last one got my attention and I glanced back at Loki then and our eyes met. "You aren't my master, but I still need you."

Loki was silent for a moment, taking in the hidden message I hoped his caught from that statement. It probably wasn't fair to make him choose between the ones he had probably sworn to team up with, and some dead chick he just met and banged a bunch but I needed to know who I could trust when my own people were turning on me. "And you have me," he finally responded.

I relaxed the smallest bit at the answer and was about to finish off my prey before Tony in all his armored glory burst in from the ceiling, his iron mask off so he was legit staring me down with his blaster hands poised. "You want answers from him as much as we do, right? We can get more out of him alive when all his nerve endings are still working. I don't want you to be our next big enemy here but if you kill him, you will be, and Hydra will be the least of your worries."

While the threat was barely accurate considering Hydra had more intel than Tony did on us and had a lot more minions to give the intel to, I really didn't want more enemies than I already had. I grumbled in annoyance and threw the rat to Tony then before picking up the dagger that had threatened to kill me for good and examined it, Loki stepping over to me and eyeing the blade curiously. "Did you mean that?" I asked.

"I might be known as the Lord of Lies but I always keep my word."

The rat was grabbed by Tony and surrounded by the other Avengers who guarded and guided him out of the building, Loki and myself taking the tail end. The second the rat stepped outside however, he crumbled with a bullethole in his skull, a larger one as small bullets don't always do the trick with death mages. Clint took out the Hydra sniper instantly without a second thought but the prisoner was already dead. I cackled when Nat took his nonexistent pulse at the pure irony of the situation. "You see what happens, the universe always provides. You had your chance, now it's my turn. You might wanna take the body back first before they actively try to keep it from rising again though."

Tony just frowned at my reaction and shook his head. "You are a piece of work, you know that?"

I grinned and shrugged. "Thought you liked a challenge?"

He just shook his head again. "Not even Loki was this chaotic when he first joined us."

"That's because you forced contraptions on me that dampened my powers till I behaved like you wanted," Loki retorted dryly.

"You put a fucking bark collar on him? He's a god, not a dog, you dyslexic dildo!"

"Whoa, easy there, Night Queen, this is the same guy that tried to take NYC some years back."

I snorted. "Fuck NYC, their sports teams suck and so do they."

Loki took my hand in his and I felt calm suddenly and glanced over at him questionably. "You don't have to defend me, you know?"

"Yeah well, I got my vengeance stolen by the universe just now and nowhere else to direct my rage, so sue me."

"The universe doesn't steal, it takes what belongs to it, therefore you weren't meant to kill him so relax for now," he argued.

I frowned at the questionable but near flawless logic and grumbled under my breath. "Stupid sexy Frost Giant."

#loki fanfiction #loki fanfic #loki romance #avengers #lokixNell #lokixocf #loki x original female character #necromancer #necromancy #zombies #nell the necromancer

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emospritelet · 7 years

Text

Empty Corridors

It’s @wipweek and it’s AU WIP day, and so I’m posting the first chapter (3,717 words) of my new Golden Lace fic (Once Upon a Time). The fic will be rated E eventually, but I’d say it’s currently T-M due to some of the themes. The title is from a Ben Howard song of the same name, which I was listening to tonight and which completely fits the vibe of this story. I can see myself getting very frustrated with these two.

AO3 link

Lacey French bent a little lower over the pool table, huffing a strand of chestnut hair out of her eyes as she lined up her shot, one final red ball remaining on the table against her opponent’s three. She had missed the last shot, and she was blaming hunger for her lack of focus. It was way past lunchtime, and she hadn’t eaten a proper breakfast either, unless coffee and Oreos counted. Drinking shots and playing pool probably wasn’t the best use of her afternoon, but then time had no meaning in The Rabbit Hole, so she figured she may as well try to lift the boredom of living in Storybrooke in one of the few ways she knew. The bar itself was windowless and dimly-lit, an underground pit reeking of stale beer, cheap body spray and desperation. Her shoes were sticking to the floor as she moved, and she wrinkled her nose, looking along the shining length of the cue.

“A little lower, sweet cheeks!”

Lacey looked over her shoulder, scowling, and a dark-haired man raised his beer glass, winking at her. Keith Nott was a lech, if a good-looking one. She had kissed him once, but he was too creepy for her to want to take it beyond that. Besides, he was the type to tell the entire bar exactly how far he got with a woman, and she had no desire to have her skills discussed by his drunken friends. Keith put his head to the side, miming lifting a skirt, and she curled her lip.

“In your dreams!” she said witheringly, and he scowled.

“Don’t be such an uptight bitch, I’m only playing around.”

“Yeah, well I’m not.”

She turned back to her shot, eyeing Tom Clark and hoping he wouldn’t sneeze at a critical moment. He was watching her nervously, twisting his own pool cue in his hands. A pile of dollar bills sat on the edge of the table, weighted down with the chalk. Twenty bucks to the winner. She needed to take this game if she was to stand any chance of making rent. Okay, she needed to win about a dozen more similar games, but at least this would be a start. A pity the bar was almost empty; she had no one lined up after Tom, and Keith had refused to play against her after she beat him three times in a row.

She let the cue slide over her fingers as she lined up the shot. A sharp strike, and her ball rattled the edges of the top right hand pocket before dropping in. Lacey let out a breath, straightening up, and Tom groaned, raising his eyes to the ceiling.

“Sorry, buddy,” she said, grinning, and he sighed.

“You’re a damn hustler,” he grumbled, but winked at her, and she smirked and picked up the money.

“Another game?” she asked. “Go on, winner takes all!”

“Do i look like I have money to burn?” he asked. “Maybe next time, Lacey.”

He put his cue on the table and wandered off again, and she sighed, pocketing the money. Twenty bucks to add to what I have at home. Only another two hundred and ten to go!

She tried not to panic at the thought of how much money she had still to find, and how little time she had to find it. Work had been thin on the ground these past few weeks, and the cash she usually put aside to make her rent for the next month just hadn’t been there. She had her reasons for not having the cash, what she thought were good reasons, but Mr Gold wasn’t known for his generosity in granting extensions, and she was getting desperate.

A shadow moved out from behind one of the pillars, the light shining along the dark length of a cane before picking out the shape of a man. A short, thin man in a dark suit, which she suspected had cost more than he charged her for three months’ rent combined. His hair hung around his face, shining silver at his temples, and she licked her lips, suddenly wary. Speak of the devil…

Mr Gold glanced at her, his face impassive, a glint of something unfamiliar in his dark eyes. On any other man she would have thought it was hunger, desire, but Gold wasn’t like that. At least not as far as she knew. Say what you wanted about him (and people did), he wasn’t a creep. Not in that way. She suspected he could smell fear on people though, and could taste lies in the air. Money was all he seemed to care about, and being Storybrooke’s only landlord gave him power over pretty much everyone in town.

She imagined he enjoyed his status, but there was a tiny part of her that suspected that he had once been as poor and powerless as she. There was an air of darkness about him, of ancient pain and loss and violence, a wall of shadows that no one could get through. Perhaps that was why he had closed himself off from everyone in town, wrapped in his silk shirts and fine suits and hoarding the beautiful things in his shop like some sort of ageless dragon that was too weary to roar and burn its way across the town it had once terrorised. She wondered if there had ever been anyone in his life that he loved, but she dismissed the thought almost at once. He was always alone, and it seemed that he preferred it that way. Probably into some weird, kinky shit anyway, she thought, and snickered. He raised an eyebrow.

“Something amusing you, Miss French?”

He always talked that way. Calm, polite, and at the same time sounding as though he could kill you with a teaspoon if he had to. It was kind of sexy if she thought about it for too long.

“Only my own weird thoughts, Mr Gold,” she said carelessly, and stood with a hip cocked to the side, leaning on the pool table. “I was wondering whether you play pool. Twenty bucks says I can beat you.”

“I believe today is the day you give me money,” he said dryly. “I have no interest in reversing our roles.”

She chewed her lip. Dammit!

“Sure, no worries,” she said, shrugging. “I have a few hours left, right?”

“You have until the shop closes at six,” he said. “You’re well aware of my charges for late payments, I’m sure.”

“Is there anyone in this town who isn’t?”

His eyes narrowed.

“Six o’clock, Miss French.”

“Okay, okay, I heard you the first time!” She rolled her eyes. “Let a girl finish her drink, at least.”

“Oh, by all means,” he said sardonically. “Don’t let me stand in the way of your developing alcoholism.”

He stepped past her, heading for the bar, and Lacey glared at his back.

“Asshole!” she muttered, as she turned back to the pool table. The whisper of what felt like wind at her back made her shiver, and all of a sudden the air was too thick to breathe, catching in her throat as the spicy scent of cologne drifted into her nose.

“What was that, Miss French?”

Lacey yelped at the sound of his voice in her ear, at the feel of his breath on her skin, and she staggered, one arm flying out to the side to steady herself. A soft chuckle made her blood boil, and she spun on the balls of her feet to face him. Gold was very, very close, his eyes glinting wickedly, and she squared her jaw.

“You almost made me jump out of my skin!” she snapped, and he raised an eyebrow, gold tooth glinting in the light.

“Humble apologies,” he said softly. “I could have sworn you said something to me, but perhaps I was mistaken.”

She glared at him, and his grin widened a little as he looked her up and down, the gold tooth on his lower jaw flashing in the light.

“I can always take that rent payment now,” he said lazily, and she sniffed, trying to look down her nose at him.

“You’ll get it when I bring it over.”

“Six o’clock,” he said, his voice soft. “Don’t make me come looking for you, Miss French.”

There was a warning in his voice, darkness swathed in a soft accent and low tones, and she shivered. Great, now he has me marked! Why the hell couldn’t I keep my fucking mouth shut?

“I won’t,” she said, wondering how the hell she was going to get out of this. “I’ll be there before you close up.”

“The anticipation is almost too much to bear.”

He gave her a small bow, still grinning, and swaggered off, his cane tapping on the floor. Strange that he could be silent as death when he wanted to be. She watched him warily as he approached the nervous-looking bartender, and glanced around. The few patrons that had been there before Gold’s arrival had mysteriously disappeared, and she hissed in frustration.

Two hundred and ten dollars. How the hell am I gonna come up with that in two hours?

“You have to be kidding me,” said Ruby flatly, stacking glasses on a tray. “Where do you think I’m hiding that kind of cash? Down my bra?”

“Rubes, I’m desperate!” Lacey pleaded, leaning on one of the diner tables.

“I get that, honey, but I can’t help you.” Ruby slammed the glasses down with a little more force than was necessary. “Tips have been crappy the past few weeks, and I had to get the car serviced. There’s only so much work Billy can do for free before his boss gets suspicious.”

“Dammit!” Lacey pushed herself upright again, chewing her lip, and Ruby put her head to the side.

“What do you need it for, anyway?” she asked curiously, and Lacey grimaced.

“Rent,” she admitted, and Ruby’s eyes widened.

“You don’t have the rent?”

“I know, I know!” Lacey began to pace, high heels clicking. “I thought I could make more cash playing pool, but the guys haven’t really been around.”

Ruby shot her a knowing look.

“You mean they’ve all realised you’re a much better player than they thought?” she said dryly. “Might want to switch to poker or something.”

“I can worry about that tomorrow,” said Lacey, still pacing. “Right now I need to find two hundred and ten bucks or Gold’s gonna flip his shit. Any thoughts?”

Ruby shrugged, lifting the tray of glasses.

“Beyond offering to blow him? Sorry.”

“Ruby!”

“You asked.”

Ruby sauntered off to the kitchen with the tray, and Lacey sighed. A quick glance at the clock showed the seconds ticking by. Less than an hour now. There was no one else she could ask. No one who’d be willing to help, anyway. She hadn’t spoken to her father in months, and if she turned up asking for money it would only make things worse between them. Not that he ever had any; she was pretty sure he would be hiding from Gold himself that evening. Ruby had been her last, forlorn hope.

Huffing in frustration, she stomped out of the diner, shoving her hands into the pockets of the little jacket she wore. She shivered; it was almost October, and she supposed it was time to wear something that covered her a bit more. Her tiny dress left little to the imagination. She hurried along the street, scowling up at the clock tower, which was permanently stuck at eight-fifteen. What a pity she herself couldn’t freeze time. She reached her tiny apartment, trotting up the stairs and ducking inside to find her stash of money, wedged between the pages of a hardback edition of Persuasion. Counting it again made no difference to the amount she had. Still two hundred and ten short. Sighing to herself, she stuffed the wad of cash into the inside pocket of the jacket. There was nothing for it. She was going to have to ask Gold for an extension.

She hurried along the street, head down, nodding impatiently to anyone that spoke to her. The shop sign was lit, and she heaved a breath as she pushed open the door, the bell jingling cheerfully. Gold’s shop was silent, and seemingly empty, and she looked around for a moment, her eyes running over the myriad objects set on shelves. Entering his shop had always felt like stepping back in time, and not just because it was filled with antiques. It was something about the air in the place, the scent of beeswax and old paper and the dust of ages past, the polished floor of dark wood and the old glass counters. Even the lamps seemed dimmer than they ought to be, beautiful shades in hand-painted silk and jewel-coloured frosted glass, spilling light the colour of old gold across the polished surfaces of dressers and shelves. Clocks ticked on the walls, their tone low and calm, and she took a step further inside, peering at a shelf of old books with cloth-bound covers.

“Miss French.”

His voice made her jump again, and she turned to the back of the shop. Gold had slipped silently into the room, and was standing behind the counter with his hands braced on the tips of splayed fingers, watching her. He wasn’t wearing his jacket, and gold sleeve garters encircled his arms just below the elbows, pushing the black silk shirt up a little. She swallowed hard, and raised her chin.

“Hey,” she said, walking to the counter and digging in her pocket.

She slapped the roll of money down in front of him, and he eyed her as he reached out, long fingers folding around it with a muted crackle of paper and pulling it towards him. For a moment she thought about just leaving, but he had spoken the truth earlier. He would come looking for her. The thought made her shiver, and she was surprised to find that the feeling wasn’t completely unpleasant. Gold licked his thumb, flicking through the bills. He looked up at the end, dark eyes fixed on hers, and she held her breath.

“It’s short,” he said quietly.

“I know,” she said. “I know it is, I - I don’t have the rest.”

“Why ever not?”

“Work was kind of patchy this month,” she admitted. “And - and I had some expenses. I just couldn’t get it all together, I’m sorry.”

Gold braced his hands on the counter again, shoulders hunching a little, watching her steadily.

“And yet when I saw you earlier this evening, you seemed to be drinking whisky and playing pool,” he said, and she rolled her eyes.

“I was trying to make money!” she said. “I can usually win twenty bucks a game, but hardly anyone wants to play me anymore. It’s not like I haven’t tried to find the rent, it’s just - well, I’m not a magician.”

Gold drummed the fingers of one hand on the counter, a slow, rhythmic, somehow ominous sound. She licked her lips nervously, and he sucked in a breath, his dark eyes fixed on hers. He didn’t seem to blink as often as normal people.

“You’ve always been one of my more reliable tenants, Miss French,” he said at last. “Unlike your father. I have no doubt I’ll hear the same pathetic excuses when I visit him to collect later this evening.”

Lacey folded her arms. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t know,” she grumbled. “We don’t exactly talk much.”

“No, I don’t suppose you do.”

He sounded amused, as though he knew something he shouldn’t, and it was grating on her, but the mention of her father had triggered a memory. A memory of when she had once thought Gold might not be the bastard everyone made him out to be.

“Dad still hasn’t forgiven you for evicting him that time,” she added. “That was when I moved out. You let me rent my apartment, remember?”

“I did.”

She hesitated, unsure whether he wanted to pretend that he hadn’t offered that to her for less than it was worth. He’d said it was because it was damp, but she had never found any damp in there. Or seen any sign of the ghost that was supposed to haunt the place.

“I didn’t have the deposit,” she said. “And you said I could pay it in instalments. Thirty extra bucks every week.”

“Your memory is flawless,” he said dryly. “I trust this doesn’t mean that you plan on taking advantage of my generous nature, Miss French.”

She almost choked at that, her eyes wide. Generous? His mouth had pulled up at one corner, as though he was amused by making her squirm. As though he wanted to see her beg. Fuck him if he thinks I’ll give him the satisfaction.

“Actually, I was thinking that we have a history,” she said, giving him her best smile. “A history where I promised to pay you back, and I did. See how that works?”

Gold raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed.

“You promised to pay me when you signed the rental agreement,” he said. “I may have made an exception regarding the deposit due to you being barely more than a child, but that was some years ago. You are now an adult, with all the responsibilities that entails. The exception no longer applies.”

“Dammit, Gold!”

Lacey took a deep breath, trying to keep her temper in check, and his twisted smile grew a little more.

“So you won’t budge even a tiny bit?” she said. “I can’t make rent, I can’t stay, is that it?”

“Well, you’ll have time to gather your things, of course,” he said easily. “I need to serve you with notice, after all. You know the rules, Miss French.”

“I know you’re a fucking bastard!”

“Oh my!” He chuckled, looking amused. “I ask for you to adhere to our agreement, which you fail to do and it’s me that’s unreasonable?”

Lacey leaned on the counter, so close she could smell his cologne again. She was well aware that the angle gave him an excellent view down the front of her dress. His eyes flicked over her, so quickly that if she hadn’t been watching for it, she wouldn’t have noticed.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and she let her voice lower in cadence. “That was rude, I just - I can’t bear to think about going back to my dad’s place, that’s all.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Gold, his eyes glinting. “From the look of the place, you’d spend all your time cleaning up after him. The flower shop is all he cares about.” He lifted a hand, spreading his fingers. “Well, that and cheap whisky.”

“At least he’s family,” she said. “I’m his daughter, his only kid. That - that has to mean something, right.”

“Apparently not, as far as he’s concerned,” he said, and she felt herself bristle.

“I know he’s not gonna win any prizes for World’s Greatest Father,” she said, “but it’s not like I have anyone else to turn to.”

Gold shrugged.

“Move back home if you want,” he said. “I highly suspect you’ll be begging me for your old apartment back within two weeks, but perhaps I’m just a pessimist when it comes to Moe French.”

Lacey pushed back from the counter, hands on hips.

“Look, if anyone’s gonna insult that bastard, it’s gonna be me!” she snapped. “You don’t know anything about him beyond how much he owes you every month!”

Gold smiled, his eyes twinkling with dark amusement, and straightened up, reaching for the handle of his cane to steady himself.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he said softly. “I think I know exactly what sort of man he is.”

“I know, a bloody deadbeat who’s always late with payments,” she sighed. “I’ve heard it all before, believe me. I’ve been lending him money since I got my first job. He’s kinda free with his fists when he’s drunk, too, if you want something else to add to the list.”

Gold watched her, hands clasped over the handle of his cane. He was looking as though he had something to say, but was unsure whether to say it. It was bloody annoying.

“What?” she said, a little more aggressively than was necessary, and he smiled, shaking his hair back from his face.

“D’you know, when I lent your father the money to buy that delivery van of his, I gave him two potential payment options,” he said. “The first was for an unsecured loan, the higher interest rate of the two. The second was for a loan secured on some form of collateral. Clearly this carried less risk, and would have been the option I would have taken, in his position. Had he any collateral, of course.”

“Let me guess, he made the wrong choice?”

Gold showed his teeth. “Well, I suppose that depends on your point of view. He offered me you.”

It was like a punch to the gut, and for a moment Lacey was breathless.

“I - what?”

His smile widened. “Your virtue, to be precise. He thought you worth the price of a van, at least. That’s the sort of man he is, Miss French.”

She shook her head, her heart thumping.

“I don’t believe you,” she said numbly, and Gold shrugged.

“That doesn’t make it any less true, but think whatever makes you feel better.”

The worst part of it was that she did believe him. She turned away, running her hands over her face before whirling back to face him.

“You said no,” she said, almost accusingly and he blinked.

“Of course I said no,” he said. “You couldn’t have been any more than sixteen, what do you take me for?”

Great. The town monster is a better man than my dad. Fucking fantastic.

“Excuse me,” she muttered, and pushed away from the counter.

“Your rent, Miss French,” he called after her, and she waved a hand, unseeing.

“I’ll be back, I just have to - have to…”

She cut off, wrenching open the shop door and making the bell jingle merrily again as she stomped out into the evening air. She had a visit to make.

#golden lace #rumbelle #rumbelle fic #golden lace fic #wipweek #fic: empty corridors #mentions of alcoholism #implied abuse

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agreementtale · 3 years

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Chapter 22: They were having a bad hare day

Yesterday had been full of telling stories about the surface, and how big and different it was. Flowey pretended to be annoyed, but listened with rapt attention, appreciating this foreign concept of countries and continents.

Today they would go one step closer to make those tales a reality.

With healed legs and arms, or as healed as they would get considering they refused to let Flowey exhaust himself trying to heal it properly, and had only ate one Bisicle today, they marched on.

They ran their fingers through their hair for the tenth time this afternoon, it didn’t matter what they tried, it always looked like a bird’s nest. Maybe laying down for so long on a icy environment had frozen the hair strands.

“Now go that way” Flowey pointed to the wrong direction, just as they left the Gyftrot’s territory, reaching the intersection.

“You know that’s where we came from, right?” their hair felt pointy like dried straw, they wished they could take a bath.

“You missed something” A warm bath on their cozy home, they could eat a pie when they finished, and could help Mom with the dishes “Look alive! I have something to show you! And quit touching your hair, its not gonna get better than this”

“You think that too, huh?” they dropped their arms and slid down the path where he had pointed, at least sliding didn’t put any weight in their foot.

“Hard to miss when you keep shaking me every time you raise your arm”

“Sorry”

He huffed annoyed.

They struggled not to absentminded touch their hair again, just enjoying the slide and keeping their hands down.

“Here, now slide over there” he pointed to the abyss below the puzzle.

“Hm… Flowey?” when was the last time they saved? “I know the Ruins may have given you the wrong impression, but you know humans do take fall damage, don’t you?” maybe they should try to save now?

“Just trust me on this” and who were they not to? They trusted their brother after all.

If he was wrong and made them die, at least they could rub it in his face the next reload.

With a deep breath they moved forward, to the abyss, fully expecting to fall from the puzzle into certain death.

And fell they did.

But instead of a long descend, they quickly were rescued by a soft path of snow.

“Look!” Flowey faked enthusiasm “You have a star right over there!” As if he didn’t know exactly what he was doing “You should go there and…” he didn’t even tried to pretend anymore, his face showing all of his mockery “pet it”

“Pfff” the absurdity of the situation… “You know me so well!” if he wanted them to save he could just had said so. They touched the shining light, feeling refreshed by the unusual amount of positivity it gave out.

Opening their eyes, there were bits of snow still on their clothes, they patted themselves, looking upwards they could see the light going through the ice in the puzzle, the path with the soft snow was impossible to see from above.

Maybe only those who failed it had the chance to find this soft piece of land.

Maybe that was the reason why this snow was so white.

“It’s pretty” said still taking in the view

“I found it a while ago, thought you would like it – And look!” He pointed to the star, no… past the star…

“Is that a snowman?” They came closer to the red caped figure.

“Better” They could hear the smile on his voice “Is a snow Papyrus!”

He was right!

It was the spitting image of Papyrus! His lean figurine, and the red cape, it even had the scar over the eye!

Which… honestly didn’t felt right… why would Papyrus have a scar over his eye? It didn’t seemed right…like it didn’t belong there.

“Its black marker” they stopped themselves from reaching to touch the black line, turning to their brother instead “Don’t ask me why, but Sans always carries a black marker with him, so when Papyrus made a snowman, he painted the scars”

They stared at the snowman again “How did Papyrus got this scar?” it still felt out of place.

“He always had it” said dismissively “look there” he pointed to a big lump of snow “there is one of Sans too”

“It don’t look like him” they had a smile on their face, somehow seeing how despite everything the brothers took time to play in the snow together was just what they needed.

“Of course it does! It has his scars too!”

Indeed, the lump of snow had three black dots on his… ��head’ … imitating the scars on sans face. Two near the mouth and one on the side of the cranium.

“And he is just lying on the ground doing nothing, while Papyrus does all the job, it’s like a mirror image”

The rest of the day was spent with Flowey telling stories about the brothers and his findings from the underground, they didn’t know why he was being so nice, but were extremely grateful, he wasn’t even as annoyed for their eventual puns, just ignoring instead of actually complaining.

When the night fell they slept on Lesser dog station with a smile on their face and their brother at their side. Thinking about the day and how much they had progressed made them so happy they unintentionally created a save point then and there.

And thank god for that, because the next day they were awoken by a suspicious Lesser dog, if it wasn’t for their grogginess waking up the encounter would have been quick, but since they had just been awoken it took 3 failed attempts for them to pet him.

And after a useful tip from Flowey they even played together! It was a good morning and put them in a great mood. Talking about greatness… Greater Dog was a bit more difficult to manage, he threw them down 6 times before they manage to win.

But it was midday and they had already petted two dogs! At this pace they would reach Snowdin today, they knew it!

Their leg was finally as good as normal so they didn’t need to sit down to down the mustard, it was a bit too spicy for them, but was what they had and nothing would sour their mood.

“What’s wrong?” he asked just as they finished the condiment.

“I don’t know…” said sheepishly “Getting so close to the city” seeing and taking the opportunity “Just getting a little… never mind”

“Tell me” he was too attentive and nice since they hurt their foot, weirdly nice “A little what?”

“I don’t know… a bit” they raised their already healed foot, making him look at it concerned for a second before delivering the punch line “cold feet” ended up smiling at him, he was not amused.

“… I can’t believe an idiot like you managed to get this far…”

And there it was their brother back to normal.

“At least get different jokes”

“You love my puns”

“I hate your puns” he didn’t “and I hate you” Nope, he didn’t

“I wonder if they are ok” But it was nice seeing his annoyed self again, it was better than overly nice and secretly concerned.

“Who?”

“Sans and Papyrus”

“Papyrus is a royal guard, don’t worry about him, worry about him finding you”

“But how will I know if they are ok if they don’t find me?”

“Because they are strong enough to protect themselves, unlike certain people”

“I still worry. What if something happened while I was resting?”

“…” he was looking like he knew something, they stared at him until he rolled his eyes and spoke “I saw Papyrus looking for you the other day, he was fine”

This made them smile in relieve “I hope I can see them soon, I want to tell him how I completed the puzzles” despite the deadliness of some, completing the puzzles were the most fun they had since they left the Ruins “I hope he has more”

A vine hit them in the head.

“Hey!” they shot him an angry look “Why did you do that?”

“To knock some sense into your head”

Part of them wanted to say how rude that was, the other wanted to laugh at the pun, they decided to do neither and deny him of any reaction.

The closer they got to Snowdin more common were the saving stars, they wondered if this was for a reason or just a coincidence, meanwhile they took advantage of the great amount of condensed magic, each time feeling the energy wash over them and refreshing their determination.

For their relief, it wasn’t long until they found the brothers again.

They were on the other side of a stone bridge and loudly announced the final trap, Papyrus detailed it in a very proud manner, and in fact it looked like this would be a real challenge.

The bridge was filled with traps, all more than ready to snap their head off, metal spikes, barbed wire, even a flamethrower sat there, ready to fire.

“Regret asking for more puzzles yet?”

“Nope”

“Then you are an idiot”

“I thought you already knew that at this point” they smiled defiantly as he rolled his eyes.

Banter aside, they had a challenge to win.

Focus.

At the first step on the bridge Flowey was already shattering a rock with his vines, they didn’t even saw it coming, but it was a good start, on the third step he healed their skin torn by the barbed wire and pulled them to the side avoiding being hit by a second rock.

Despite his apparent knowledge of how the bridge worked, they ended up dying on the fifth step. There were thirteen, Flowey told them at some point, along with the order of the traps.

Every time they tried they died, until a sort of rhythm fell over them.

Walking a few steps, finding the brothers, hearing Papyrus, rushing to the bridge, Flowey always ended up falling off the bridge at the seventh step, thankfully it spared him from the more gruesome deaths, and by the little time the bridge took to get the job done he wouldn't have hit the ground, but that wouldn't do, if they ever got past the bridge, he had to be securely attached to them.

But no matter how hard they tied the bandanas, the boot always ended up falling. At least he didn’t seemed to mind too much.

On their ninth attempt they had figured out a better option.

“Wait! Before you turn it on...” they waved to get the skeleton’s attention.

“RECONSIDERING YOUR OPTIONS HUMAN? TOO AFRAID TO FACE ME?”

“I actually have to admit the deadliness of you trap”

His chest puffed in pride, and they couldn’t contain a smile at the sight.

“WELL OF COURSE YOU DO, TREMBLE IN FEAR OF THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS AND BE PREPARED TO SUFFER THE MOST PAINFUL OF DEATHS” his cape flew heroically with the strong wind.

“ya can always surrender” Sans offered dismissively “no need to get mauled” and if they weren’t a red soul they would have accepted.

Yeah, they would avoid getting mauled if they could, unlike the traps on the path, the ones on the bridge were less deadly and more leg snare bone breaking, all while the flamethrower and stone shooter did the dirty job.

Being stoned to death still beat burning…

But that wasn’t the point.

“So, seeing that I will die at any wrong step” they paused pointing at the bridge like they were counting each one “and that would give me about thirteen chances of screwing this up in…” eyeing the flamethrower regretfully “several very painful ways… Papyrus, could you hold Flowey for me?”

“WHAT?”

“What?!”

“what?”

There was tree degrees of confusion there. Honestly four, part of them didn’t know what they were doing either.

“What are you doing, you idiot?” Of course he would oppose to the idea, always looking after them, he was even insisting he was fine with all the falling.

“I don’t want to make an error and cause him to die” they said loudly, Papyrus’ expression was unreadable, Sans seemed amused.

“Don’t ignore me! You think you have any chance of doing it on your own!?” They had less chances, but not null.

“And what? I take you with me, and make you burn and bleed and suffer?” he recoiled at the mention “Risking losing you forever to a deadly fall?” he remembered, but somehow it wasn’t enough to discourage him.

“If we are doing this, we are doing this together! You can’t dodge all that, you'll need healing! I'm staying right where I am!” they could see the determination in him, and he got a point, it would be harder to do it without healing, but…

“Flowey, I know you want to stay” they looked to the other side of the bridge “But is not up to you”

Papyrus stared at them unimpressed, they felt Flowey start a retort when he interrupted “I’LL ALLOW IT” thank god “SANS”

The boot flew over the bridge surrounded by blue magic, the bandages fell undone easily with the strong tug.

They didn’t expect it to be that sudden, neither Flowey, given his long screech.

“YOU SEEM SURPRISED” if they had one chance to guess what was his expression, they would say he was looking smug “DON’T YOU SAY THAT YOU WERE EXPECTING ME TO FALL UNDER THIS HORRIBLE PRETENSE AND LET YOU CROSS THE BRIDGE UNHARMED TO ‘HAND ME’ FLOWEY?”

“No, that just scared me a bit” they admitted, for a short moment they thought the sudden tug would push them down the bridge “Didn’t know you could reach me from all that distance” and move objects above all things… “It’s really impressive, Sans” souls should be easy, but objects? Someone had been practicing magic control.

“that ain’t…” he muttered something under his breath, they couldn’t hear what, but were sure they heard at least two swears, but that was muffled by whatever complaints Flowey was shouting at the skeleton, their voices were not so understandable over all the wind.

“And Papyrus, the bridge” as far as they knew “seems to be fool proof, you must have worked really hard on it, the flamethrowers specially look really cool and terrifying at the same time” said loudly, in hope they could be heard.

“FLATTERY WON’T HELP YOU, HUMAN” his strong voice traveled above the wind with no trouble.

“Oh, no, don’t worry. I know someone as great as you wouldn’t let yourself be fooled by words of a mere human, as true as those words might be” Flattery wouldn’t help, but it wouldn’t make it harder either, so they would use it in moderation.

They took a deep breath, concentrating on the challenge ahead. They had a clear idea of the traps until the middle of the bridge, and there were a few instances where being wounded was inevitable. The secret would be making sure the wounds didn’t slow their pace in any way.

Flowey struggled in the distance, loudly proclaiming his dissatisfaction with the idea. But he was safe, and that was all that mattered.

Focus!

Another deep breath, they aligned their shoulders and flexed their legs, they could take the barbed wire if that meant dodging the first and second stones.

“Take me back!” Flowey shouted, struggling on the boot held by Sans’ magic.

And the flamethrowers could be –/

“AAAAAAAAA!!”

Nope, impossible, no way.

They had to deal with him first.

“I know you are worried” they shouted closing their hands way too tight “But could you please shut up?” they wouldn’t be able to concentrate with his constant noise.

“Don’t tell me to shut up, you idiot! You can’t do this alone!” He kept screaming… and screaming…

This was absurd, he knew they could go back, why he insisted in making things difficult? Why couldn’t he just shut up for a second? They gritted their teeth, they would not be able to memorize the rest of the path with him screaming like that.

“Look” they said loudly, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation “Flowey” they breathed deeply so the words didn’t sound too rash “You are my best friend, and I love you, but we both know I’m gonna die here, and that’s why I’m not taking you with me!” Too much… they were being too aggressive “So…” Deep breaths “Just…” Calm down “Just let me focus, ok?! So I have the minimal chance of learning something” they took a few seconds to breathe, they had to memorize the patterns, he was in the way, but he was not an enemy. He was their brother and he would be safe over there while they were torn apart a few times over here. That was more than what they could ask for.

There was no response from the other side.

Good.

That way they could concentrate on the challenge ahead.

Their breathing was uneven, so they took a few seconds to correct that.

Their legs and arms were cold, so they warmed them up with a couple of movements, jumping from one feet to the other.

They noticed how one of their legs was still faintly weaker than the other and adjusted it by fastening the shoelaces around their ankle, so they would not feel it for a brief time.

They puffed their chest, filling their lungs with the cold air, put their shoulders back and opened their eyes, vision focusing only in the bridge.

“I’m ready” said bending their knees, preparing to sprint.

* Knowing your brother won’t suffer for your mistakes fills you with Determination

The loud sound of the wind was replaced by mechanical noises when Papyrus pressed the button. And the roaring of the engine fully started… only to die down moments later.

“What happened?” it didn’t sound like the other times, abandoning their posture, they looked at the other side for answers.

“IT APPEARS THE MACHINE IS BROKEN” why? It hadn’t broken on the other timelines, it shouldn’t break in this one. What could possibly have changed?

“it sounds like the source of energy died down” Sans said, scratching his neck “I don’t smell any burning so –/”

“IT’S NO USE, SANS, IT’S BROKEN. IT SEEMS THE HUMAN HAVE TO WALK OVER A DEACTIVATED TRAP, HOW PATHETIC” maybe… wait, they remembered something similar.

“What are you waiting for, you idiot?! Get in here before the trap turn back on!” Oh Flowey was livid. But it was really like that that this was supposed to go? They didn’t remember the puzzle being a failure...

“But… isn’t that like cheating a puzzle?” Flowey kept screaming and for some reason Sans facepalmed, Papyrus didn’t answer though, so they didn’t move.

“Get in here!!!” But maybe this was how they crossed it last time? They didn’t remember so clearly.

In the middle of all the curses, they crossed the bridge, being careful with the barbed wire and the ankle snares, the flamethrower and rock thrower threatened to turn on a few times, but died down soon after.

They ended up crossing with just some minor scratches.

“Hm, sorry for that, I’m sure it would be deadly” Now this close they could see that Papyrus seemed utterly dissatisfied, they felt bad for him “We can try again when it’s fixed … but maybe instead of the rock thrower, could it maybe be water?” the comment earned them a glare “To be soaked with cold water can be very deadly on this freezing temperature, and kinda would be like an opposition of the flamethrower?” he wasn’t speaking to them “you know, water opposites with fire, and air opposites with earth?” and very irritated “sorry, I’m just rambling, feel free to ignore it” and angry “are you ok?”

He turned around and walked away silently. They knew they had done something wrong, but couldn’t guess what.

“are ya that stupid or just have a death wish?” They turned to Sans.

“Hm?” he had a funny face now, it had anger on there, but it was mixed with something else.

“They are that stupid” Flowey deadpanned with his ‘I’m done face’ while floating in the air.

“What did I do?” Everyone was unhappy, maybe they should reload and try again?

“ ‘Try again when its fixed?’ ” it was weird to hear their exact voice coming from his mouth “Are you insane?!”

“Papyrus was disappointed, he probably worked very hard on that trap” and didn’t had the chance to see it in action, like they did, it should be frustrating.

“yep, death wish fer sure” he moved his hand and the boot was shoved on their chest “here’s yer Weed” and followed his brother’s steps shaking his head.

“Flowey?” Ok, reloading may be a bit extreme.

“What?” But they still felt like they had to do something, like they were missing something.

“I’m not happy with this ending” And they had no idea of what it was or where to start.

“Welcome to the underground” he said simply, looking them in the eyes “no one is happy here”

*--------------------*

“This is Snowdin” Said to the stupid human carrying him.

“Finally” they had a smile on their face, like the ones they had at the end of a day of exploring when got to mother’s house.

“We have to find somewhere to sleep, staying out after curfew will draw too much attention” It was night, people were not supposed to be out at this time, unless they were walking home, and anyone disobeying it could be arrested by the guard or fined.

“There is an inn somewhere around here, isn’t it” they asked without a care in the world.

He pointed them to the right direction.

They didn’t waste time in getting inside the warm house.

“And remember to eat. You’ve been running on just mustard all day, it won’t help your foot, do you want to be–/”

“They’re so cute!” they interrupted him and before he could complain, he was dragged to the little bunny on the inn

“Don’t talk to them, they are a kid!”

“So am I” they put him on the counter, so they could get to the bunny’s eye level.

“You are a middle stripe, people will think you are bullying them” and would make getting a room here either harder or more expensive.

“Why would people think that?” aaand they were already petting the little bunny.

“Why else would an older child be interested in a Full stripes?” and stretching their little bunny cheeks.

“Because they’re cute?” by the way the little one smiled, they liked the attention.

“Whatever” he would have more luck convincing someone to hug Jerry than convincing them not to pet a ‘fluffy’ monster, why were all humans so obsessed with soft fur? “Just finish petting before anyone sees us”

“Little late for that, traveler”

He spun to face the Innkeeper, the tall bunny was smiling at the interaction of the two idiots, but quickly turned to him.

“Welcome to the Snowed Inn, are you staying the night?”

“Yes, bed for one” he quickly answered.

“Didn’t plan for the curfew?”

“I did, but this idiot wanted to see the trees from the bridge”

“I heard the guards weren’t letting anyone past that bridge, how did that go?”

“We aren’t home after the curfew, and now have to pay for a room, that’s how it went”

“Lucky me then, it will be 80g”

“Here” they interrupted, but instead of putting the money in the balcony, like any normal monster after interrupting people, they took their time to go through their inventory, and they took way too long.

“Are they always this aloof?” She eyed him suspiciously, could they be more suspicious than that?

“Don’t look at me, I’m just trying to keep the idiot alive”

“Just a moment” they said apologetically, using the two hands to mess with what he assumed was their inventory... is not like any other monster could see each other’s items.

“Here” she handed him the key “Just pay me tomorrow” while they kept fussing over the invisible window.

He nodded before turning to them “Are you listening?” they weren’t.

He jingled the keys in front of their eyes, that seemed to grab their attention.

“She said we can pay tomorrow”

“Oh, Thank you!” they smiled at her, without insisting to pay right away, so they probably didn’t understand what ‘pay tomorrow’ meant.

Maybe tomorrow they would try to pay her when they found the ‘The Inn is no charity, next time get home before curfew’ note. That would guilt trip them to be faster.

“You’re welcome” she said smiling at them “Honey, show them their room, would you? I have something to talk with this one” the little bunny got upstairs and they followed, leaving him alone with the Innkeeper.

She looked at him curiously. There it was…

“So what are two stripes doing in Snowdin?”

It always came to a point where she would ask him the same questions. She was the only one in Snowdin that ever implied he was a child. Every other monster saw no stripes and took him for a full grown monster.

Maybe it was because she was the only one in Snowdin that had had a child. But he couldn’t know for sure.

“First of all, I’m not a stripe” He gestured to his stem “And no, I didn’t just took of my shirt” the next question should be about how long “I got out of them a while ago” if she asked it meant she was still suspicious.

“How long?”

“A few weeks” he lied, if he tried to say it was any longer she wouldn’t believe him, and if it was less than a week, she would make more questions to try to find his parents

She nodded “Not my business then”

“Exactly”

“How about the other one?”

…

He never had this bit of conversation before, but he knew her tics enough to survive it without raising suspicion.

“Mother asked to take care of them”

“You’re their brother?”

“No!” her brows were a bit furrowed, it meant she didn’t believe him “Kinda” she kept the same questioning face “They call me that… but I’m not convinced, being a brother is too much of a responsibility, I don’t like them that much” she was almost believing him, just one more thing. Flowey stood on the boot with a menacing face “But don’t go on telling anyone that, or you will have problems, got it?”

“None of my business” She raised her hands in a peace offering, and by her smile she got what she wanted from the conversation.

So this timeline he would be a monster fresh out of stripes, taking care of his sibling, but not so attached to them… he had to remember that… and also, he had to convince them to use the same story so no one blew up the cover.

She disappeared on the Inn and he waited for them to come back and pick him up, if they took more than ten minutes he would go upstairs by himself and scream at their face.

It would be a hassle to climb the stairs carrying the boot, but it would be worth it to get to the room and see their apologetic face the moment they realized their mistake, then he would chastised them for forgetting about him.

He could already see the scene and hear their apologies and declamations that he ‘was important to them’ and they ‘would never leave him behind’ in a panicky voice.

He smiled at the thought, they could be so emotive at times, and so easy to manipulate, he hadn’t had this much fun in forever!

He wouldn’t wait, he would go upstairs right away, so he could have the upper hand and yell that they ‘made him’ climb the stairs all by himself.

He would start yelling the exact moment he opened the door.

Unless they were sleeping… then he would leave them be, sleeping in the snow for so long must be tiring for their body. And since they would be unconscious he could heal their foot a little bit more, just for safety.

The fun and yelling could wait until the next morning.

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#AgreementTale #undertale #AGF!Flowey #AGF!Human #AGF!Sans #AGF!Papyrus #fanfiction #archieve of our own #long fic

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